… .’ 8 Hester Thrale also belonged to her circles. In 1778, Thrale remembers a ‘Talk one Evening at Mrs Montagu’s of the present State of Politicks’, an anecdote which immediately leads her on to ‘Another Night – at Mrs Boscawen’s’ where … were polite any more, she claimed: ‘Formerly people were accus’d of ‘being so obliging that they ne’er oblig’d’ the present Age has entirely clear’d it self of that Imputation, & takes very good care not to offend by too much Assiduity’. …