'could wish Lady B. herself to read it, that she may have it in her power to mark anything mistaken or 'misstated; as it may probably appear after my extinction, and it would be but fair she should see it,—that 'is to say, herself willing.

'Perhaps I may take a journey to you in the spring; but I have been ill and am indolent and indecisive, because few things interest me. These fellows first 'abused me for being gloomy, and now they are wroth 'that I am, or attempted to be, facetious. I have got 'such a cold and headache that I can hardly see what I scrawl-the winters here are as sharp as needles. 'Some time ago, I wrote to you rather fully about my 'Italian affairs; at present I can say no more except 'that you shall hear further by and by.

"Your Blackwood accuses me of treating women harshly it may be so, but I have been their martyr; my whole life has been sacrificed to them and by them. 'I mean to leave Venice in a few days, but you will address your letters here as usual. When I fix else'where, you shall know.'

Soon after this letter to Mr. Murray he set out for Ravenna, from which place we shall find his correspondence for the next year and a half dated. For a short time after his arrival, he took up his residence at an inn; but the Count Guiccioli having allowed him to hire a suite of apartments in the Palazzo Guiccioli itself, he was once more lodged under the same roof with his mistress.

LETTER 351.

TO MR. HOPPNER.

'Ravenna, Dec. 31st, 1819.

I have been here this week, and was obliged to put on my armour and go the night after my arrival

'to the Marquis Cavalli's, where there were between 'two and three hundred of the best company I have

seen in Italy, more beauty, more youth, and more 'diamonds among the women than have been seen 'these fifty years in the Sea-Sodom*. I never saw 'such a difference between two places of the same 'latitude (or platitude, it is all one),-music, dancing, ' and play, all in the same salle. The G.'s object appeared to be to parade her foreign lover as much as possible, and, faith, if she seemed to glory in the 'scandal, it was not for me to be ashamed of it.

Nobody seemed surprised;-all the women, on the 'contrary, were, as it were, delighted with the excel'lent example. The vice-legate, and all the other 'vices, were as polite as could be;-and I, who had ' acted on the reserve, was fairly obliged to take the lady under my arm, and look as much like a cicisbeo as I could on so short a notice,-to say nothing of the embarrassment of a cocked hat and sword, much more formidable to me than ever it will be to the enemy.

.

I write in great haste-do you answer as hastily. 'I can understand nothing of all this; but it seems as if the G. had been presumed to be planted, and was determined to show that she was not,-plantation, in 'this hemisphere, being the greatest moral misfortune. But this is mere conjecture, for I know nothing ' about it-except that everybody are very kind to her, and not discourteous to me. Fathers, and all ' relations, quite agreeable. • Yours ever,

'P. S. Best respects to Mrs. H.

*Gehenna of the waters! thou Sea-Sodom!'

· B.

MARINO FALIERO.

I would send the compliments of the season; but 'the season itself is so complimentary with snow and rain that I wait for sunshine."

'Here's a happy new year! but with reason,
'I beg you'll permit me to say-
'Wish me many returns of the season,

'But as few as you please of the day.

My this present writing is to direct you that, if she chooses, she may see the MS. Memoir in your 'possession. I wish her to have fair play, in all cases, 'even though it will not be published till after my 'decease. For this purpose, it were but just that 'Lady B. should know what is there said of her and 'hers, that she may have full power to remark on or ' respond to any part or parts, as may seem fitting to ' herself. This is fair dealing, I presume, in all

' events.

To change the subject, are you in England? I 'send you an epitaph for Castlereagh.

Another for Pitt

With death doom'd to grapple

*

Or

In digging up your bones, Tom Paine,
'Will. Cobbett has done well:

'You visit him on earth again,

'He'll visit you in hell.

'You come to him on earth again,
'He'll go with you to hell.

'Pray let not these versiculi go forth with my name, except among the initiated, because my friend H. has foamed into a reformer, and, I greatly fear, will 'subside into Newgate; since the Honourable House, 'according to Galignani's Reports of Parliamentary 'Debates, are menacing a prosecution to a pamphlet ' of his. I shall be very sorry to hear of anything but good for him, particularly in these miserable squab'bles; but these are the natural effects of taking a ' part in them.

' went.

6 For my own part, I had a sad scene since you Count Gu. came for his wife, and none of 'those consequences which Scott prophesied ensued. 'There was no damages, as in England, and so Scott 'lost his wager. But there was a great scene, for she would not, at first, go back with him—at least, she did go back with him; but he insisted, reasonably 'enough, that all communication should be broken ' off between her and me. So, finding Italy very dull, and having a fever tertian, I packed up my valise, and prepared to cross the Alps; but my daughter fell ill, and detained me.

6

'After her arrival at Ravenna, the Guiccioli fell ill again too; and, at last, her father (who had, all along, opposed the liaison most violently till now) ' wrote to me to say that she was in such a state that ' he begged me to come and see her, and that her husband had acquiesced, in consequence of her

relapse, and that he (her father) would guarantee all this, and that there would be no farther scenes in consequence between them, and that I should not be compromised in any way. I set out soon after, and 'have been here ever since. I found her a good deal 'altered, but getting better:-all this comes of read'ing Corinna.

'The Carnival is about to begin, and I saw about two or three hundred people at the Marquis Cavalli's 'the other evening, with as much youth, beauty, and 'diamonds among the women, as ever averaged in the like number. My appearance in waiting on the 'Guiccioli was considered as a thing of course. The 'marquis is her uncle, and naturally considered me as 'her relation.

paper is

• The is out, and so is the letter. Pray write. 'Address to Venice, whence the letters will be for'warded. Yours, &c.

· B.'

'Ravenna, January 20th, 1820. 'I have not decided anything about remaining at Ravenna. I may stay a day, a week, a year, all my 'life; but all this depends upon what I can neither 'see nor foresee. I came because I was called, and ' will go the moment that I perceive what may render my departure proper. My attachment has neither the blindness of the beginning, nor the microscopic accuracy of the close to such liaisons; but "time and the hour" must decide upon what I do. I can 'as yet say nothing, because I hardly know anything 'beyond what I have told you.

'I wrote to you last post for my moveables, as there is no getting a lodging with a chair or table here