TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, May 3. 1821.

"Though I wrote to you on the 28th ultimo, I must acknowledge yours
of this day, with the lines[35]. They are sublime, as well as
beautiful, and in your very best mood and manner. They are also but
too true. However, do not confound the scoundrels at the _heel_ of
the boot with their betters at the top of it. I assure you that
there are some loftier spirits.

"Nothing, however, can be better than your poem, or more deserved
by the Lazzaroni. They are now abhorred and disclaimed nowhere more
than here. We will talk over these things (if we meet) some day,
and I will recount my own adventures, some of which have been a
little hazardous, perhaps.

"So, you have got the Letter on Bowles[36]? I do not recollect to
have said any thing of _you_ that could offend,--certainly, nothing
intentionally. As for * *, I meant him a compliment. I wrote the
whole off-hand, without copy or correction, and expecting then
every day to be called into the field. What have I said of you? I
am sure I forget. It must be something of regret for your
approbation of Bowles. And did you _not_ approve, as he says? Would
I had known that before! I would have given him some more
gruel.[37] My intention was to make fun of all these fellows; but
how I succeeded, I don't know.

"As to Pope, I have always regarded him as the greatest name in our
poetry. Depend upon it, the rest are barbarians. He is a Greek
Temple, with a Gothic Cathedral on one hand, and a Turkish Mosque
and all sorts of fantastic pagodas and conventicles about him. You
may call Shakspeare and Milton pyramids, if you please, but I
prefer the Temple of Theseus or the Parthenon to a mountain of
burnt brick-work.

"The Murray has written to me but once, the day of its publication,
when it seemed prosperous. But I have heard of late from England
but rarely. Of Murray's other publications (of mine), I know
nothing,--nor whether he has published. He was to have done so a
month ago. I wish you would do something,--or that we were
together.

"Ever yours and affectionately,

"B."

[Footnote 35: "Aye, down to the dust with them, slaves as they are," &c.
&c.]

[Footnote 36: I had not, when I wrote, _seen_ this pamphlet, as he
supposes, but had merely heard from som