me, I was
immediately admitted.

"As every one forms a picture to himself of remarkable characters, I
had depicted his Lordship in my mind as a tall, sombre, Childe Harold
personage, tinctured somewhat with aristocratic hauteur. You may
therefore guess my surprise when the door opened, and I saw leaning
upon the lock, a light animated figure, rather petite than otherwise,
dressed in a nankeen hussar-braided jacket, trousers of the same
material, with a white waistcoat; his countenance pale but the
complexion clear and healthful, with the hair coming down in little
curls on each side of his fine forehead.

"He came towards me with an easy cheerfulness of manner, and after
some preliminary inquiries concerning yourself, we entered into a
conversation which lasted two hours, in the course of which I felt
myself perfectly at ease, from his Lordship's natural and simple
manners; indeed, so much so, that, forgetting all my anticipations, I
found myself conversing with him with as fluent an intercourse of
mind as I ever experienced, even with yourself.

"It is impossible for me at present to overtake a detail of what
passed, but as it produced a kind of scene, I may mention one
incident.

"Having remarked that in a long course of desultory reading, I had
read most of what had been said by English travellers concerning
Italy; yet, on coming to it I found there was no country of which I
had less accurate notions: that among other things I was much struck
with the harshness of the language. He seemed to jerk at this, and
immediately observed, that perhaps in going rapidly through the
country, I might not have had many opportunities of hearing it
politely spoken. 'Now,' said he, 'there are supposed to be nineteen
dialects of the Italian language, and I shall let you hear a lady
speak the principal of them, who is considered to do it very well.'
I pricked up my ears at hearing this, as I considered it would afford
me an opportunity of seeing the far-famed Countess Guiccioli. His
Lordship immediately rose and left the apartment, returning in the
course of a minute or two leading in the lady, and while arranging
chairs for the trio, he said to me, 'I shall make her speak each of
the principal dialects, but you are not to mind how I pronounce, for
I do not speak Italian well.' After the scene had been performed he
resumed to me, 'Now what do you think?' To which I answered, that my
opinion still remained unaltered. He se