"January 2. 1320.
"My dear Moore,
"'To-day it is my wedding day;
And all the folks would stare,
If wife should dine at Edmonton,
And I should dine at Ware.'
Or _thus_:
"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fair play, in all cases, even though it will not be published till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
Beneath this cold slab, he
Who lied in the Chapel
Now lies in the Abbey.
"The gods seem to have made me poetical this day:--
"In digging up your bones, Tom Paine,
Will. Cobbett has done well:
You visit him on earth again,
He'll visit you in hell.
Or,
"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 any thing but good for him, particularly
in these miserable squabbles; but these are the natural effects of
taking a part in them.
"For my own part I had a sad scene since you went. 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.
"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 reading 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.
"The paper is out, and so is the letter. Pray write. Address to
Venice, whence the letters will be forwarded. Yours, &c. B."
* * * * *