ation that I should not go to any
hotel, but fix my quarters at his house during the period of my stay;
and, had he been residing there himself, such an arrangement would have
been all that I most desired. But, this not being the case, a common
hotel was, I thought, a far readier resource; and I therefore entreated
that he would allow me to order an apartment at the Gran Bretagna, which
had the reputation, I understood, of being a comfortable hotel. This,
however, he would not hear of; and, as an inducement for me to agree to
his plan, said that, as long as I chose to stay, though he should be
obliged to return to La Mira in the evenings, he would make it a point
to come to Venice every day and dine with me. As we now turned into the
dismal canal, and stopped before his damp-looking mansion, my
predilection for the Gran Bretagna returned in full force; and I again
ventured to hint that it would save an abundance of trouble to let me
proceed thither. But "No--no," he answered,--"I see you think you'll be
very uncomfortable here; but you'll find that it is not quite so bad as
you expect."

As I groped my way after him through the dark hall, he cried out, "Keep
clear of the dog;" and before we had proceeded many paces farther, "Take
care, or that monkey will fly at you;"--a curious proof, among many
others, of his fidelity to all the tastes of his youth, as it agrees
perfectly with the description of his life at Newstead, in 1809, and of
the sort of menagerie which his visiters had then to encounter in their
progress through his hall. Having escaped these dangers, I followed him
up the staircase to the apartment destined for me. All this time he had
been despatching servants in various directions,--one, to procure me a
_laquais de place_; another to go in quest of Mr. Alexander Scott, to
whom he wished to give me in charge; while a third was sent to order his
Segretario to come to him. "So, then, you keep a Secretary?" I said.
"Yes," he answered, "a fellow who _can't write_[48]--but such are the
names these pompous people give to things."

When we had reached the door of the apartment it was discovered to be
locked, and, to all appearance, had been so for some time, as the key
could not be found;--a circumstance which, to my English apprehension,
naturally connected itself with notions of damp and desolation, and I
again sighed inwardly for the Gran Bretagna. Impatient at the delay of
the key, my noble host, with one of h