rs at auctions.

"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."

* * * * *

LETTER 412. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 16, 1821.

"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, editors 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 _gate_ and _blase_
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
f