VIII.] BYRON'S FROLICKSOME GAIETY. 471 APPENDIX VIII. MOORE'S VISIT TO VENICE IN OCTOBER, 1819. (See p. 369, and note 1.) IN Moore's Life of Byron, pp. 409-423, will be found an interesting account of his visit to Byron. The following passages from Moore's Diary (Memoirs, etc., vol. iii. pp. 24-29) also refer to his stay in Venice in October, 1819: "October 7th. . . . Left Padua at twelve, and arrived at Lord Byron's country house, La Mira, near Fusina, at two. He was but just up and in his bath; soon came down to me; first time we have met these five years; grown fat, which spoils the picturesqueness of his head. The Countess Guiccioli, whom he followed to Ravenna, came from thence with him to Venice by the consent, it appears, of her husband. Found him in high spirits and full of his usual frolicksome gaiety. He insisted upon my making use of his house at Venice while I stay, but could not himself leave the Guiccioli. He drest, and we set off together in my carriage for Venice; a glorious sunset when we embarked at Fusina in a gondola, and the view of Venice and the distant Alps (some of which had snow on them, reddening with the last light) was magnificent; but my companion's conversation, which, though highly ludicrous and amusing, was anything but romantic, threw my mind and imagination into a mood not at all agreeing with the scene. Arrived at his palazzo on the Grand Canal, (he having first made the gondolier row round in order to give me a sight of the Piazetta,) where he gave orders with the utmost anxiety and good nature for my accommodation, and dispatched persons in search of a laquais de place, and his friend Mr. Scott, to give me in charge to. No Opera this evening. He ordered dinner from a traiteur's, and stopped to dine with me. Had much curious conversation with him about his wife before Scott arrived. He has written his memoirs, and is continuing them; thinks of going and purchasing lands under the Patriotic Government in South America. Much talk about Don Juan; he is writing a third canto; the Duke of Wellington; his taking so much money; gives instances of disinterested men, Epaminondas, etc., etc., down to Pitt himself, who, 472 MOORE'S VISIT TO VENICE IN OCTOBER, 1819. [VIII. "As minister of state, is Renown'd for ruining Great Britain gratis.' "At nine o'clock he set off to return to La Mira, and I went with Mr. Scott to two theatres; at the first a comedy, 'Il Prigioniero de Newgate,' translated from the French; at the second, a tragedy of Alfieri, Ottavia;' actors all disagreeable. Forgot to mention that Byron introduced me to his Countess before we left La Mira: she is a blonde and young; married only about a year, but not very pretty. "8th.... Among the portraits of the Doges, in the library, there is a blank left for that of Faliero, who, after his eightieth year, conspired against his country, on account of an insult he received. Instead of his portrait are the words, Locus Marini Falieri decapitati pro criminibus. Must examine his history. Lord B. meant to write a tragedy on this subject; went to one of the churches to look for his tomb, and thought he trod upon it on entering, which affected his mind very much; but it was a tomb of one of the Valeri. B. very superstitious; won't begin anything on a Friday.... Lord B. came up to town at six o'clock, and he and I dined with Scott at the Pellegrino showed us a letter which his Countess had just received from her husband, in which, without a word of allusion to the way in which she is living with B., he makes some proposal with respect to money of B.'s being invested in his hands, as a thing advantageous to both; a fine specimen of an Italian husband. Went afterwards to the theatre for a short time, and thence to the Contessa d'Albrizzi's. . . . From the Contessa d'Albrizzi we went to Madame B. who, they tell me, is one of the last of the Venetian ladies of the old school of nobility; thoroughly profligate, of course, in which she but resembles the new school. Her manners very pleasant and easy. She talked to me much about Byron; bid me scold him for the scrape he had got into; said that, till this, Il se conduisait si bien. Introduced me to another old countess, who, when I said how much I admired Venice, answered, Oui, pour un étranger tout ça doit être bien drôle. “9th. . . . Dined with Lord B. at the Pellegrino. What the husband wants is for Lord B. to lend him 1000/. at five per cent. ; that is, give it to him; though he talks of giving security, and says in any other way it would be an avvilimento to him! Scott joined us in the evening, and brought me a copy of the Italian translation of Lalla Rookh. Lord B., Scott says, getting fond of money: he keeps a box into which he occasionally puts sequins; he has now collected about 300, and his great delight, Scott tells me, is to open the box, and contemplate his store. "10th. Lord B., Scott, and I dined at the Pellegrino; before we went Lord B. read me what he has done of the third canto of Don Juan. In the evening all went to the Opera together, and from thence at twelve o'clock to a sort of public-house, to drink hot punch; forming a strange contrast to a dirty cobbler, whom we saw in a nice room delicately eating ice. Lord B. took me home in his gondola at two o'clock; a beautiful moonlight, and the reflection VIII.] FIRST AND SECOND IMPRESSIONS. 473 of the palaces in the water, and the stillness and grandeur of the whole scene (deprived as it was of its deformities by the dimness of the light) gave a nobler idea of Venice then I had yet had. "11th.... Left Venice at one o'clock, and got to Lord Byron's at three; a handsome dinner ready for me. Saw the Countess again, who looked prettier than she did the first time. Guiccioli is her name, nata Gamba. Lord B. came on with me to Stra, where we parted. He has given me his Memoirs to make what use I please of them. Arrived at Padua at seven." APPENDIX IX. REPLY TO BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH (See p. 385, note 1.) SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON AN ARTICLE IN BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. No. XXIX., AUGUST, 1819. "Why, how now, Hecate? you look angrily." "TO J. D. ISRAELI, ESQ., Macbeth. THE AMIABLE AND INGENIOUS AUTHOR OF THE CALAMITIES AND QUARRELS OF AUTHORS; THIS ADDITIONAL QUARREL AND CALAMITY IS INSCRIBED BY ONE OF THE NUMBER. "Ravenna, March 15, 1820. "THE life of a writer' has been said, by Pope, I believe, to be 'a warfare upon earth.' As far as my own experience has gone, I have nothing to say against the proposition; and, like the rest, having once plunged into this state of hostility, must, however reluctantly, carry it on. An article has appeared in a periodical work, entitled 'Remarks on Don Juan,' which has been so full of this spirit, on the part of the writer, as to require some observations on mine. "In the first place, I am not aware by what right the writer assumes this work, which is anonymous, to be my production. He will answer, that there is internal evidence; that is to say, that there are passages which appear to be written in my name, or in my manner. But might not this have been done on purpose by another? He will say, why not then deny it? To this I could answer, that of all the things attributed to me within the last five years,-Pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Deaths upon Pale Horses, Odes to the Land of the Gaul, Adieus to England, Songs to Madame La Valette, Odes to St. Helena, Vampires, and what not,-of which, God knows, I never Ix.] REMARKS ON DON JUAN. 475 composed nor read a syllable beyond their titles in advertisements,— I never thought it worth while to disavow any, except one which came linked with an account of my 'residence in the isle of Mity. lene,' where I never resided, and appeared to be carrying the amusement of those persons, who think my name can be of any use to them, a little too far. "I should hardly, therefore, if I did not take the trouble to disavow these things published in my name, and yet not mine, go out of my way to deny an anonymous work; which might appear an act of supererogation. With regard to Don Juan, I neither deny nor admit it to be mine-every body may form their own opinion; but, if there be any who now, or in the progress of that poem, if it is to be continued, feel, or should feel themselves so aggrieved as to require a more explicit answer, privately and personally, they shall have it. "I have never shrunk from the responsibility of what I have written, and have more than once incurred obloquy by neglecting to disavow what was attributed to my pen without foundation. "The greater part, however, of the Remarks on Don Juan' contain but little on the work itself, which receives an extraordinary portion of praise as a composition. With the exception of some quotations, and a few incidental remarks, the rest of the article is neither more nor less than a personal attack upon the imputed author. It is not the first in the same publication: for I recollect to have read, some time ago, similar remarks upon Beppo (said to have been written by a celebrated northern preacher); in which the conclusion drawn was, that Childe Harold, Byron, and the Count in Beppo, were one and the same person;' thereby making me turn out to be, as Mrs. Malaprop says, like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once.' That article was signed Presbyter Anglicanus;' which, I presume, being interpreted, means Scotch Presbyterian. I must here observe, and it is at once ludicrous and vexatious to be compelled so frequently to repeat the same thing,—that my case, as an author, is peculiarly hard, in being everlastingly taken, or mistaken for my own protagonist. It is unjust and particular. I never heard that my friend Moore was set down for a fire-worshipper on account of his Guebre; that Scott was identified with Roderick Dhu, or with Balfour of Burley; or that, notwithstanding all the magicians in Thalaba, any body has ever taken Mr. Southey for a conjuror; whereas I have had some difficulty in extricating me even from Manfred, who, as Mr. Southey slily observes in one of his articles in the Quarterly, 'met the devil on the Jungfrau, and bullied him:' and I answer Mr. Southey, who has apparently, in his poetical life, not been so successful against the great enemy, that, in this, Manfred exactly followed the sacred precept,-Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.'-I shall have more to say on the subject of this personnot the devil, but his most humble servant Mr. Southey-before I conclude; but, for the present, I must return to the article in the Edinburgh Magazine. "In the course of this article, amidst some extraordinary observations, there occur the following words :-'It appears, in short, as if this miserable man, having exhausted every species of sensual |