To Berni, whom he, at one time, considered to be the true master of the Italian burlesque _genre_, Byron has few references. We have seen how he was induced to revise his first opinion and to recognize in Pulci “the precursor and model of Berni altogether.” In the advertisement to the translation of the _Morgante_ he asserted that Berni, in his _rifacimento_, corrected the “harsh style” of Boiardo. These meagre data, however, furnish no clue to the possible influence of Berni’s work upon _Don Juan_. Francesco Berni (1496?-1535)[265] is important here chiefly because of his _rifacimento_, or revision, of Boiardo’s _Orlando Innamorato_. In accomplishing this task he completely made over Boiardo’s romance by refining the style, polishing the verse-structure, inserting lengthy digressions of his own and following a scheme instituted by Ariosto, prefacing each canto with a sort of essay in verse. Berni’s purpose, indeed, was to make the _Innamorato_ worthy of the _Furioso_. His version, however, owing probably to the malice of some enemy, has reached us only in a mutilated form. As it stands, nevertheless, it possesses certain features which distinguish it from the work of Pulci on the one hand and that of Casti on the other. The influence which Berni may have had on Byron’s satires comes mainly from two features of the former’s work: his introductions to separate cantos, and his admirable style and versification. It was Berni’s habit to soliloquize before beginning his story: thus Canto IX of the _Innamorato_ commences with a philosophical disquisition on the unexpected character of most human misfortunes, leading, by a natural step, to the plot itself. So, in _Don Juan_, only one canto--the second--begins with the tale itself; every other has a preliminary discussion of one sort or another.[266] It was also Berni’s custom to take formal leave of his readers at the end of each canto, and to add a promise of what was to come.[267] This habit, all but universal with the Italian narrative poets, Byron followed, although his farewell occurs sometimes even before the very last stanza. A typical example may be quoted: “It is time to ease This Canto, ere my Muse perceives fatigue. The next shall ring a peal to shake all people, Like a bob-major from a village steeple.”[268]