Doubtless this summary of _Lo Spirito_ fails to bring out any convincing parallelisms between it and _Beppo_; and it must be granted at once that the alleged relationship is somewhat elusive. But there are some features common to the two poems: an easy-going tolerance towards gallantry and the social vices; a pretence of taking the reader into the author’s confidence; a general lack of formality and rigidity in stanza structure; and a witty and burlesque manner of turning phrases. Although one or two of these characteristics had appeared singly in Byron’s work before 1818, they had appeared in conjunction in no poem of his previous to _Beppo_, with the possible exception of _The Devil’s Drive_, which was not in ottava rima. Obviously he could not have learned the secret of this new mood from Frere. Thus, when we consider that until Byron’s acquaintance with Casti’s work, this specific quality of mockery had not existed in his satire, we have reason for thinking that he was indebted to some extent to the Italian poet. Somehow the English writer, once a pretended defender of clean morals, began to take a tolerant attitude towards lapses from virtue; he changed from formal and dignified discourse to a style easy and colloquial; and he partly abandoned savage invective for scornful and ironic mockery. In _Beppo_ we realize the full purport of the transformation which had been taking place in Byron’s satiric mood ever since his return from Greece. Credit for this development must be given partly to Moore and partly to Frere; but it must be assigned even more to Casti, who first put Byron in touch directly with the Italian burlesque spirit. If only the _Novelle_ were considered, however, Byron’s obligation to Casti would be confined chiefly to _Beppo_, for in his tales the Italian seldom leaves his theme, as Byron does in _Don Juan_, to assail individuals or institutions. He touches lightly on the weaknesses of human nature, on the frailties and illicit indulgences of full-blooded men and women, but he is swayed by no impelling purpose, and he wants the fundamental seriousness of the genuine satirist. Byron, on the other hand, in _Beppo_, and still more in _Don Juan_, never quite forgot the vituperative vigor which he had shown in _English Bards_. But before he had seen the _Novelle_, Byron had read _Gli Animali Parlanti_, a mammoth work which, in its scope, in its antipathies, and in its manner, has some likeness to _Don Juan_. Published first in Paris in 1802, it was pirated in a London edition a year later, and before long had been translated into several languages. An English version in a greatly abridged paraphrase appeared in 1816 under the title _The Court of Beasts_, in seven cantos, without the translator’s name.[203] The same volume, with revisions and additions, was reprinted in 1819 as _The Court and Parliament of Beasts_,--freely translated, by Wm. St. Rose.