glance will show them, and, I hope, has shown 'them; and, if it were ever so fit, I will never have anything to do willingly with the theatres.

'I differ from you about the Dante, which I think 'should be published with the tragedy. But do as you please: you must be the best judge of your own 'craft. I agree with you about the title. The play may be good or bad, but I flatter myself that it is original as a picture of that kind of passion, which 'to my mind is so natural, that I am convinced that I 'should have done precisely what the Doge did on 'those provocations.

I am glad of Foscolo's approbation.

Excuse haste. I believe I mentioned to you that
-I forget what it was; but no matter.

Thanks for your compliments of the year. I hope that it will be pleasanter than the last. I speak with reference to England only, as far as 'regards myself, where I had every kind of disappointment-lost an important lawsuit-and the trus'tees of Lady Byron refusing to allow of an advantageous loan to be made from my property to Lord Blessington, &c. &c., by way of closing the four seasons. These, and a hundred other such things, 'made a year of bitter business for me in England. Luckily, things were a little pleasanter for me here, 'else I should have taken the liberty of Hannibal's 'ring.

'Pray thank Gifford for all his goodnesses. The winter is as cold here as Parry's polarities. I must

now take a canter in the forest; my horses are

waiting.

Yours ever and truly.'

LETTER 411.

TO MR. MURRAY.

• Ravenna, February 2d, 1821..

Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter, but do not admit the excuses, except in courtesy; as when a man treads on your toes and begs your pardon, the pardon is granted, but the joint ' aches, especially if there be a corn upon it. How' ever, I shall scold you presently.

In the last speech of the Doge, there occurs (I 'think, from memory) the phrase

"And Thou who makest and unmakest suns:"

'change this to

"And Thou who kindlest and who quenchest suns;"

that is to say, if the verse runs equally well, and Mr. Gifford thinks the expression improved. Pray ' have the bounty to attend to this. You are grown quite a minister of state. Mind if some of these days you are not thrown out. ** will not be 'always a Tory, though Johnson says the first Whig was the devil.

-

You have learnt one secret from Mr. Galignani's (somewhat tardily acknowledged) correspondence: this is, that an English author may dispose of his 'exclusive copyright in France, a fact of some consequence (in time of peace) in the case of a popular 'writer. Now I will tell you what you shall do, and take no advantage of you, though you were scurvy ' enough never to acknowledge my letter for three 'months. Offer Galignani the refusal of the copy

right in France; if he refuses, appoint any book'seller in France you please, and I will sign any 'assignment you please, and it shall never cost you a 'sou on my account.

'Recollect that I will have nothing to do with it, 'except as far as it may secure the copyright to your'self. I will have no bargain but with the English 'booksellers, and I desire no interest out of that 'country.

Now, that's fair and open, and a little handsomer 'than your dodging silence, to see what would come 'of it. You are an excellent fellow, mio caro Moray, 'but there is still a little leaven of Fleet-street about you now and then-a crum of the old loaf. You ' have no right to act suspiciously with me, for I have 'given you no reason. I shall always be frank with 'you; as, for instance, whenever you talk with the ' votaries of Apollo arithmetically, it should be in guineas, not pounds-to poets, as well as physicians, ' and bidders at auctions.

6

'I shall say no more at this present, save that I am, Yours, &c.

'P.S. If you venture, as you say, to Ravenna this ' year, I will exercise the rites of hospitality while you live, and bury you handsomely (though not in holy ground), if you get "shot or slashed in a 'creagh or splore," which are rather frequent here of 'late among the native parties. But perhaps your 'visit may be anticipated; I may probably come to your country; in which case write to her ladyship 'the duplicate of the epistle the King of France wrote 'to Prince John.'

In the month of March will arrive from Barcelona Signor Curioni, engaged for the Opera. He is an 'acquaintance of mine, and a gentlemanly young man, high in his profession. I must request your personal kindness and patronage in his favour. Pray 'introduce him to such of the theatrical people, edi'tors of papers, and others, as may be useful to him. in his profession, publicly and privately.

The fifth is so far from being the last of Don Juan, that it is hardly the beginning. I meant to take him the tour of Europe, with a proper mixture of 'siege, battle, and adventure, and to make him finish. as Anacharsis Cloots, in the French Revolution. To 'how many cantos this may extend, I know not, nor 'whether (even if I live) I shall complete it: but 'this was my notion. I meant to have made him a 'cavalier servente in Italy, and a cause for a divorce ' in England, and a sentimental "Werter-faced man” ' in Germany, so as to show the different ridicules of 'the society in each of those countries, and to have displayed him gradually gâté and blasé as he grew 'older, as is natural. But I had not quite fixed whether to make him end in hell, or in an unhappy 'marriage, not knowing which would be the severest: the Spanish tradition says hell; but it is probably only an allegory of the other state. You are now in possession of my notions on the subject.

'You say the Doge will not be popular: did I ever 'write for popularity? I defy you to show a work of 'mine (except a tale or two) of a popular style or complexion. It appears to me that there is room for a 'different style of the drama; neither a servile follow

ing of the old drama, which is a grossly erroneous ' one, not yet too French, like those who succeeded 'the older writers. It appears to me, that good English, and a severer approach to the rules, might combine something not dishonourable to our litera'ture.

I have also attempted to make a play without 'love; and there are neither rings, nor mistakes, nor starts, nor outrageous ranting villains, nor melodrame ' in it. All this will prevent its popularity, but does 'not persuade me that it is therefore faulty. What' ever faults it has will arise from deficiency in the conduct, rather than in the conception, which is 'simple and severe.

'So you epigrammatize upon my epigram? I will pay you for that, mind if I don't, some day. I never 'let any one off in the long run (who first begins). Remember ***, and see if I don't do you as good a ' turn. You unnatural publisher! what! quiz your ' own authors? you are a paper cannibal!

'In the Letter on Bowles (which I sent by Tues'day's post) after the words "attempts had been made," (alluding to the republication of " English Bards," add the words, " in Ireland;" for I believe 'that English pirates did not begin their attempts till ' after I had left England the second time. Pray ' attend to this. Let me know what you and your synod think on Bowles.

'I did not think the second seal so bad; surely it ' is far better than the Saracen's head with which you have sealed your last letter; the larger, in profile, was surely much better than that.

So Foscolo says he will get you a seal cut better 'in Italy? he means a throat-that is the only thing they do dexterously. The Arts-all but Canova's,