Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net LIFE OF LORD BYRON: WITH HIS LETTERS AND JOURNALS. BY THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. IN SIX VOLUMES.--VOL. V. NEW EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1854. CONTENTS OF VOL. V. LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF LORD BYRON, WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE, from October, 1820, to November, 1822. NOTICES OF THE LIFE OF LORD BYRON. LETTER 394. TO MR. MOORE. "Ravenna, October 17. 1820. "You owe me two letters--pay them. I want to know what you are about. The summer is over, and you will be back to Paris. Apropos of Paris, it was not Sophia _Gail_, but Sophia _Gay_--the English word _Gay_--who was my correspondent.[1] Can you tell who she is, as you did of the defunct * *? "Have you gone on with your Poem? I have received the French of mine. Only think of being _traduced_ into a foreign language in such an abominable travesty! It is useless to rail, but one can't help it. "Have you got my Memoir copied? I have begun a continuation. Shall I send it you, as far as it is gone? "I can't say any thing to you about Italy, for the Government here look upon me with a suspicious eye, as I am well informed. Pretty fellows!--as if I, a solitary stranger, could do any mischief. It is because I am fond of rifle and pistol shooting, I believe; for they took the alarm at the quantity of cartridges I consumed,--the wiseacres! "You don't deserve a long letter--nor a letter at all--for your silence. You have got a new Bourbon, it seems, whom they have christened 'Dieu-donné;'--perhaps the honour of the present may be disputed. Did you write the good lines on ----, the Laker? * * "The Queen has made a pretty theme for the journals. Was there ever such evidence published? Why, it is worse than 'Little's Poems' or 'Don Juan.' If you don't write soon, I will 'make you a speech.' Yours," &c. [Footnote 1: I had mistaken the name of the lady he enquired after, and reported her to him as dead. But, on the receipt of the above letter, I discovered that his correspondent was Madame Sophie Gay, mother of the celebrated poetess and beauty, Mademoiselle Delphine Gay.] * * * * * LETTER 395. TO MR. MURRAY. "Ravenna, 8bre 25°, 1820. "Pray forward the enclosed to Lady Byron. It is on business.