"La Mira, near Venice, August 7, 1817
"Your letter of the 18th, and, what will please you, as it did me,
the parcel sent by the good-natured aid and abetment of Mr. Croker,
are arrived.--Messrs. Lewis and Hobhouse are here: the former in
the same house, the latter a few hundred yards distant.
"You say nothing of Manfred, from which its failure may be
inferred; but I think it odd you should not say so at once. I know
nothing, and hear absolutely nothing, of any body or any thing in
England; and there are no English papers, so that all you say will
be news--of any person, or thing, or things. I am at present very
anxious about Newstead, and sorry that Kinnaird is leaving England
at this minute, though I do not tell him so, and would rather he
should have _his_ pleasure, although it may not in this instance
tend to my profit.
"If I understand rightly, you have paid into Morland's 1500
_pounds_: as the agreement in the paper is two thousand _guineas_,
there will remain therefore _six_ hundred _pounds_, and not five
hundred, the odd hundred being the extra to make up the specie. Six
hundred and thirty pounds will bring it to the like for Manfred and
Tasso, making a total of twelve hundred and thirty, I believe, for
I am not a good calculator. I do not wish to press you, but I tell
you fairly that it will be a convenience to me to have it paid as
soon as it can be made convenient to yourself.
"The new and last Canto is 130 stanzas in length; and may be made
more or less. I have fixed no price, even in idea, and have no
notion of what it may be good for. There are no metaphysics in it;
at least, I think not. Mr. Hobhouse has promised me a copy of
Tasso's Will, for notes; and I have some curious things to say
about Ferrara, and Parisina's story, and perhaps a farthing
candle's worth of light upon the present state of Italian
literature. I shall hardly be ready by October; but that don't
matter. I have all to copy and correct, and the notes to write.
"I do not know whether Scott will like it; but I have called him
the '_Ariosto_ of the North' in my _text_. _If he should not, say
so in time._
"An Italian translation of 'Glenarvon' came lately to be printed at
Venice. The censor (Sr. Petrotini) refused to sanction the
publication till he had seen me on the subject. I told him that I
did not recognise the slightest relation between that book and
myself; but that, whatever opinions might be upon that subject, _I_
would never prevent or oppose the publication of _any_ book, in
_any_ language, on my own private account; and desired him (against
his inclination) to permit the poor translator to publish his
labours. It is going forwards in consequence. You may say this,
with my compliments, to the author.
"Yours."
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