Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 376 pages of information about Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV.

Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 376 pages of information about Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV.
do you so much harm?’) ’Do you think I would assassinate you in such a manner?’—­’Tempo perfido,’ bad weather; ‘Strade perfide,’ bad roads,—­with a thousand other allusions and metaphors, taken from the state of society and habits in the middle ages.

     “I am not so sure about mazza, whether it don’t mean massa,
     i.e. a great deal, a mass, instead of the interpretation I have
     given it.  But of the other phrases I am sure.

     “Three o’ th’ clock—­I must ‘to bed, to bed, to bed,’ as mother S *
     * (that tragical friend of the mathematical * * *) says.

“Have you ever seen—­I forget what or whom—­no matter.  They tell me Lady Melbourne is very unwell.  I shall be so sorry.  She was my greatest friend, of the feminine gender:—­when I say ‘friend,’ I mean not mistress, for that’s the antipode.  Tell me all about you and every body—­how Sam is—­how you like your neighbours, the Marquis and Marchesa, &c. &c.

     “Ever,” &c.

* * * * *

LETTER 312.  TO MR. MURRAY.

     “Venice, March 25. 1818.

     “I have your letter, with the account of ‘Beppo,’ for which I sent
     you four new stanzas a fortnight ago, in case you print, or
     reprint.

“Croker’s is a good guess; but the style is not English, it is Italian;—­Berni is the original of all.  Whistlecraft was my immediate model!  Rose’s ‘Animali’ I never saw till a few days ago,—­they are excellent.  But (as I said above) Berni is the father of that kind of writing, which, I think, suits our language, too, very well;—­we shall see by the experiment.  If it does, I shall send you a volume in a year or two, for I know the Italian way of life well, and in time may know it yet better; and as for the verse and the passions, I have them still in tolerable vigour.
“If you think that it will do you and the work, or works, any good, you may put my name to it; but first consult the knowing ones.  It will, at any rate, show them that I can write cheerfully, and repel the charge of monotony and mannerism.

     “Yours,” &c.

* * * * *

LETTER 313.  TO MR. MURRAY.

     “Venice, April 11. 1818.

“Will you send me by letter, packet, or parcel, half a dozen of the coloured prints from Holmes’s miniature (the latter done shortly before I left your country, and the prints about a year ago); I shall be obliged to you, as some people here have asked me for the like.  It is a picture of my upright self done for Scrope B. Davies, Esq.[18]
“Why have you not sent me an answer, and list of subscribers to the translation
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Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.