The new college, though happily inaugurated, did not attract so many students to the lessons in the Italian language and literature as might have been anticipated, and the expected emoluments of the Professor fell proportionately short; nevertheless his reputation as a sound scholar and acute critic increased daily, and his circle of friends widely extended. Mr. Brougham, who assiduously cultivated his society, lost no opportunity of introducing him to the leading literary personages of the period, and to the most prominent members of the Liberal party. Among the former was Lady Dacre, whose translations from Petrarch were highly valued, yet not beyond their merit, by some of the ablest critics of the time. To her Panizzi was introduced in the following note from Brougham:— ‘March 3, 1829. “My dear Lady Dacre,—This will be presented to you by Professor Panizzi, of whom my brother has already spoken to you, and of whom it is quite impossible to say too much, either as regards his accomplishments or his excellent amiable qualities. Yours, etc., etc., H. BROUGHAM.” The acquaintance thus formed ripened into a lasting friendship. Of the frequent correspondence which this led to the chief and most interesting examples are the views exchanged on the interpretation of various passages from Dante and Petrarch. Lady Dacre, in fact, began very shortly to regard Panizzi as her literary adviser; and some years later, on the publication of her work, “Translations from the Italian” (1836), makes the following grateful mention of him:—“I have of late years been so fortunate as to make the acquaintance of Mr. Panizzi, of the British Museum, and to obtain also his approbation of these English versions of his great national poet. It is by his advice and that of other high authorities that I now make this collection of my attempts.” Lady Dacre’s letters are beyond measure charming. The elegance of mind and purity of taste pervading them, with the rare beauty of their tone and style, must cause any one who may happen to have read them, though knowing nothing before, nor having even heard of Lady Dacre, to regret that the amiable and accomplished translator of Petrarch is not more extensively appreciated. A passage from one of her earlier letters seems worth extracting, as showing her estimate of the best known English translator of Dante, although the comments it calls for may lead to a slight digression from the line of the narrative:—“As to Cary’s translation of ‘La Divina Commedia,’ I still hold translating Dante as an impossibility.... Cary does not satisfy me, for, as he gave himself all the latitude of blank verse, I cannot help thinking he might have done more justice to the gems.”