is humorous maledictions, gave a
vigorous kick to the door and burst it open; on which we at once entered
into an apartment not only spacious and elegant, but wearing an aspect
of comfort and habitableness which to a traveller's eye is as welcome as
it is rare. "Here," he said, in a voice whose every tone spoke kindness
and hospitality,--"these are the rooms I use myself, and here I mean to
establish you."

He had ordered dinner from some Tratteria, and while waiting its
arrival--as well as that of Mr. Alexander Scott, whom he had invited to
join us--we stood out on the balcony, in order that, before the daylight
was quite gone, I might have some glimpses of the scene which the Canal
presented. Happening to remark, in looking up at the clouds, which were
still bright in the west, that "what had struck me in Italian sunsets
was that peculiar rosy hue--" I had hardly pronounced the word "rosy,"
when Lord Byron, clapping his hand on my mouth, said, with a laugh,
"Come, d----n it, Tom, don't be poetical." Among the few gondolas
passing at the time, there was one at some distance, in which sat two
gentlemen, who had the appearance of being English; and, observing them
to look our way, Lord Byron putting his arms a-kimbo, said with a sort
of comic swagger, "Ah! if you, John Bulls, knew who the two fellows
are, now standing up here, I think you _would_ stare!"--I risk
mentioning these things, though aware how they may be turned against
myself, for the sake of the otherwise indescribable traits of manner and
character which they convey. After a very agreeable dinner, through
which the jest, the story, and the laugh were almost uninterruptedly
carried on, our noble host took leave of us to return to La Mira, while
Mr. Scott and I went to one of the theatres, to see the Ottavia of
Alfieri.

The ensuing evenings, during my stay, were passed much in the same
manner,--my mornings being devoted, under the kind superintendence of
Mr. Scott, to a hasty, and, I fear, unprofitable view of the treasures
of art with which Venice abounds. On the subjects of painting and
sculpture Lord Byron has, in several of his letters, expressed strongly
and, as to most persons will appear, heretically his opinions. In his
want, however, of a due appreciation of these arts, he but resembled
some of his great precursors in the field of poetry;--both Tasso and
Milton, for example, having evinced so little tendency to such
tastes[49], that, throughout the