“Her Grace, the duchess of Devonshire,” he writes, July 6th, 1823, “on leaving Bologna, commissioned me to forward to you the second volume of the Eneid, translated by Caro. In order to secure its safe and punctual delivery, I begged the good offices of the Abate Crescini, who had just then arrived; and he at once undertook it with his usual courtesy. This edition has won the admiration of all our artists; and the duchess, not content with its present illustrations, has gone to Mantua, taking with her another excellent landscape-painter, our fellow-citizen, Signor Fantuzzi, to make a sketch of Pietole, to be added to the other plates, which already adorn this splendid work of art.” In August, 1823, died the venerable Pope Pius VII. The desire, which, on his return from captivity, he expressed to secure Mezzofanti’s services in his own capital, had been repeated subsequently on more than one occasion. The new Pope, Leo XII., regarded him with equal favour; but his attachment to home still remained unchanged; and the Pope named him, in 1824, a member of the Collegio dei consultori at Bologna. Of his correspondence during this year no portion has come into my hands; but there is one of his letters of 1825, (dated April 8th,) which, although it is but an answer to a commonplace letter written to him by Cavedoni, with the catalogue of an expected sale of books, seems worthy to be preserved, at least as an indication of the direction and progress of his studies. “It is always difficult,” he writes, “to fix the fair price of a class of books which either are not in the market at all, or which appear but seldom for sale, chiefly because there are but few who seek for such publications. In my case, it becomes almost impossible to determine it, as I have no opportunity of seeing the books, and very little leisure even to examine the catalogue, being obliged to return it in so short a time. “I only venture, therefore, to select a few, which I should be disposed to take, provided the price of all together shall not exceed forty Roman crowns. Try to make a bargain for me, or at all events, endeavour to prevent the books from being either scattered or buried in some inaccessible corner. “I should wish then to take the following:— The ‘nine MSS., either extracted from printed books, or of uncertain value.’ The ‘Grammatica Japonica,’ Romæ No. 22, in the Catalogue. The ‘Grammatica Marasta,’[409] number 32. The ‘Grammatica Linguæ Amharicæ,’[410] number 43. The ‘Osservazioni sulla Lingua albanese,’ number 44. The ‘Grammatica Damulica,’[411] number 46. Benjamin Schulz’s, ‘Grammatica Hindostanica,’ number 50. ‘Chilidugu; sive ses Chilenses,’[412] number 67. And the ‘Catecismo en Lengua Española y Moxa,’[413] No 71. I shall await your reply.”