[194] _Letters_, iv., 193. [195] _The Monks, and the Giants_, III., 59. [196] Eichler’s _Frere_, 184. [197] In his _Studies in Poetry and Criticism_ (London, 1905), Churton Collins pointed out Byron’s indebtedness to Casti, but mentioned only Casti’s _Novelle_. See Collins’s volume, pp. 96–98. [198] Eichler’s _Frere_, 163. [199] _Letters_, iv., 217. [200] Born in 1721 in Italy, Casti had been a precocious student at the seminary of Montefiascone, where he became Professor of Literature at the age of sixteen. In 1764 he moved, with the musician, Guarducci, to Florence, where he was created Poeta di Corte by the Grand Duke Leopold. Here he came to the attention of Joseph II., who invited him to Vienna and bestowed upon him several posts of honor. A lucky friendship with Count Kaunitz enabled him to visit most of the capitals of Europe in company with that Prime Minister’s son, and he gained in this way an inside knowledge of court life in several countries. In 1778 he took up his residence in St. Petersburg, where Catharine II. received him cordially. Later he returned to Vienna and was crowned Court Poet by the Emperor Leopold. The attraction of the French Revolution drew him to Paris in 1796, where he lived until his death, February 16, 1804. [201] _Quarterly Review_, April, 1819. [202] Churton Collins, however, makes the statement that “_Don Juan_ is full of reminiscences of the _Novelle_,” and points out definite parallelisms between Novella IV., _La Diavolessa_, and the plot of _Don Juan_. He adds: “To Casti, then, undoubtedly belongs the honour of having suggested and furnished Byron with a model for _Don Juan_.” (_Studies in Poetry and Criticism_, pp. 97–98.) It seems probable, however, that Byron took even more from _Il Poema Tartaro_ than he did from the _Novelle_. Casti’s _Gli Animali Parlanti_ and _Il Poema Tartaro_ are not mentioned in Collins’s study. [203] To this work Byron refers in a letter to Murray, March 25, 1818: “Rose’s _Animali_ I never saw till a few days ago,--they are excellent.” (_Letters_, iv., 217.) [204] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, VII., 6 ff. [205] _Ibid._, III., 37. [206] _Ibid._, III., 32. [207] _Ibid._, XX., 69. [208] _Ibid._, XIV., 47; XVII., 36, 56. [209] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, I., 52. [210] _Don Juan_, X., 25. [211] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, XVIII., 33. [212] _Don Juan_, VII., 68. [213] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, IV., 13. [214] _Don Juan_, XIV., 13. See also _Gli Animali Parlanti_, X., 1; XVIII., 32, and _Don Juan_, VII., 26, 41; VIII., 124. [215] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, IV., 73. [216] _Don Juan_, XV., 19. See also _Gli Animali Parlanti_, III., 95; VII., 38; _Don Juan_, VI., 8; VIII., 89; _The Vision of Judgment_, 34. [217] _Gli Animali Parlanti_, IV., 107. [218] _Don Juan_, I., 231. See also _Gli Animali Parlanti_, XX., 126, and _Don Juan_, IV., 117; V., 159; VI., 120; VII., 35; IX., 85; XV., 98.