"Venice, January 24. 1817.
"I have been requested by the Countess Albrizzi here to present her
with 'the Works;' and wish you therefore to send me a copy, that I
may comply with her requisition. You may include the last
published, of which I have seen and know nothing, but from your
letter of the 13th of December.
"Mrs. Leigh tells me that most of her friends prefer the two first
Cantos. I do not know whether this be the general opinion or not
(it is _not hers_); but it is natural it should be so. I, however,
think differently, which is natural also; but who is right, or who
is wrong, is of very little consequence.
"Dr. Polidori, as I hear from him by letter from Pisa, is about to
return to England, to go to the Brazils on a medical speculation
with the Danish consul. As you are in the favour of the powers that
be, could you not get him some letters of recommendation from some
of your government friends to some of the Portuguese settlers? He
understands his profession well, and has no want of general
talents; his faults are the faults of a pardonable vanity and
youth. His remaining with me was out of the question: I have enough
to do to manage my own scrapes; and as precepts without example are
not the most gracious homilies, I thought it better to give him his
congé: but I know no great harm of him, and some good. He is clever
and accomplished; knows his profession, by all accounts, well; and
is honourable in his dealings, and not at all malevolent. I think,
with luck, he will turn out a useful member of society (from which
he will lop the diseased members) and the College of Physicians. If
you can be of any use to him, or know any one who can, pray be so,
as he has his fortune to make. He has kept a _medical journal_
under the eye of _Vacca_ (the first surgeon on the Continent) at
Pisa: Vacca has corrected it, and it must contain some valuable
hints or information on the practice of this country. If you can
aid him in publishing this also, by your influence with your
brethren, do; I do not ask you to publish it yourself, because that
sort of request is too personal and embarrassing. He has also a
tragedy, of which, having seen nothing, I say nothing: but the very
circumstance of his having made these efforts (if they are only
efforts), at one-and-twenty, is in his favour, and proves him to
have good dispositions for his own improvement. So if, in the way
of commendation or recommendation, you can aid his objects with
your government friends, I wish you would, I should think some of
your Admiralty Board might be likely to have it in their power."
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