"......Sophia Streatfeild, the friend of Dr. Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. Sophia was a blue stocking and a classical scholar. She had a large collection of Greek and Latin authors which she had bound in leather with 'S.S.' on the back. Dr. Johnson said : "Sophy is a sweet creature and I love her very much, but my little Burney writes a better letter", and later he added, "Take away her Greek and she is ignorant as a butterfly". Mrs Thrale did not care for her and acidly remarked that "She was everybody's admiration and nobody's choice". She left London towards the end of the 18th century and settled in Tonbridge Wells where she died "
Buried in Chiddingstone Church |