dvertise the books in question. Yours, &c.

"P.S. As I tell you that the Guiccioli business is on the eve of
exploding in one way or the other, I will just add that, without
attempting to influence the decision of the Contessa, a good deal
depends upon it. If she and her husband make it up, you will,
perhaps, see me in England sooner than you expect. If not, I shall
retire with her to France or America, change my name, and lead a
quiet provincial life. All this may seem odd, but I have got the
poor girl into a scrape; and as neither her birth, nor her rank,
nor her connections by birth or marriage are inferior to my own, I
am in honour bound to support her through. Besides, she is a very
pretty woman--ask Moore--and not yet one and twenty.

"If she gets over this and I get over my tertian, I will, perhaps,
look in at Albemarle Street, some of these days, _en passant_ to
Bolivar."

[Footnote 60: The following curious particulars of his delirium are
given by Madame Guiccioli:--"At the beginning of winter Count Guiccioli
came from Ravenna to fetch me. When he arrived, Lord Byron was ill of a
fever, occasioned by his having got wet through;--a violent storm having
surprised him while taking his usual exercise on horseback. He had been
delirious the whole night, and I had watched continually by his bedside.
During his delirium he composed a good many verses, and ordered his
servant to write them down from his dictation. The rhythm of these
verses was quite correct, and the poetry itself had no appearance of
being the work of a delirious mind. He preserved them for some time
after he got well, and then burned them."--"Sul cominciare dell' inverno
il Conte Guiccioli venne a prendermi per ricondurmi a Ravenna. Quando
egli giunse Ld. Byron era ammalato di febbri prese per essersi bagnato
avendolo sorpreso un forte temporale mentre faceva l' usato suo
esercizio a cavallo. Egli aveva delirato tutta la notte, ed io aveva
sempre vegliato presso al suo letto. Nel suo delirio egli compose molti
versi che ordino al suo domestico di scrivere sotto la sua dittatura. La
misura dei versi era esatissima, e la poesia pure non pareva opera di
una mente in delirio. Egli la conservo lungo tempo dopo restabilito--poi
l' abbruccio."

I have been informed, too, that, during his ravings at this time, he was
constantly haunted by the idea of his mother-in-law,--taking every one