“Thanks for your letter and for Madame’s. I will answer it directly. Will you recollect whether I did not consign to you one or two receipts of Madame Mocenigo’s for house rent—(I am not sure of this, but think I did—if not, they will be in my drawers)—and will you desire Mr. Dorville* to have the goodness to see if Edgecombe has receipts to all payments hitherto made by him on my account, and that there are no debts at Venice? On your answer, I shall send order of further remittance to carry on my household expenses, as my present return to Venice is very problematical; and it may happen—but I can say nothing positive—every thing with me being indecisive and undecided, except the disgust which Venice excites when fairly compared with any other city in this part of Italy. When I say Venice, I mean the Venetians—the city itself is superb as its history—but the people are what I never thought them till they taught me to think so.
The best way will be to leave Allegra with Antonio’s spouse till I can decide something about her and myself—but I thought that you would have had an answer from Mrs. V——r†. You have had bore enough with me and mine already.
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* The Vice-Consul of Mr. Hoppner. |
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† An English widow lady, of considerable property in the north of England, who, having seen the little Allegra at Mr. Hoppner’s, took an interest in the poor child’s fate, and having no |
| 226 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1819. |
“I greatly fear that the Guiccioli is going into a consumption, to which her constitution tends. Thus it is with every thing and every body for whom I feel any thing like a real attachment;—‘War, death, or discord, doth lay siege to them.’ I never even could keep alive a dog that I liked or that liked me. Her symptoms are obstinate cough of the lungs, and occasional fever, &c. &c., and there are latent causes of an eruption in the skin, which she foolishly repelled into the system two years ago; but I have made them send her case to Aglietti; and have begged him to come—if only for a day or two—to consult upon her state. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * If it would not bore Mr. Dorville, I wish he would keep an eye on E—— and on my other ragamuffins. I might have more to say, but I am absorbed about La Gui. and her illness. I cannot tell you the effect it has upon me.
“The horses came, &c. &c., and I have been galloping through the pine forest daily.
“P.S. My benediction on Mrs. Hoppner, a pleasant journey among the Bernese tyrants, and safe return. You ought to bring back a Platonic Bernese for my reformation. If any thing happens to my present Amica, I have done with the passion for ever—it is my last love. As to libertinism, I have sickened myself of that, as was natural in the way I went on, and I have at least derived that advantage from vice, to love in the better sense of the word. This will be my last adventure—I can hope no more to inspire attachment, and I trust never again to feel it.”
