"I mean to remain here till the spring, so address to me _directly_
to _Venice, poste restante_.--Mr. Hobhouse, for the present, is
gone to Rome, with his brother, brother's wife, and sister, who
overtook him here: he returns in two months. I should have gone
too, but I fell in love, and must stay that over. I should think
_that_ and the Armenian alphabet will last the winter. The lady
has, luckily for me, been less obdurate than the language, or,
between the two, I should have lost my remains of sanity. By the
way, she is not an Armenian but a Venetian, as I believe I told you
in my last. As for Italian, I am fluent enough, even in its
Venetian modification, which is something like the Somersetshire
version of English; and as for the more classical dialects, I had
not forgot my former practice much during my voyaging.

"Yours, ever and truly,

"B.

"P.S. Remember me to Mr. Gifford."

* * * * *

LETTER 256. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Venice, Dec. 9. 1816.

"In a letter from England, I am informed that a man named Johnson
has taken upon himself to publish some poems called a 'Pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, a Tempest, and an Address to my Daughter,' &c., and
to attribute them to me, adding that he had paid five hundred
guineas for them. The answer to this is short: _I never wrote such
poems, never received the sum he mentions, nor any other in the
same quarter, nor_ (as far as moral or mortal certainty can be
sure) _ever had, directly or indirectly, the slightest
communication with Johnson in my life_; not being aware that the
person existed till this intelligence gave me to understand that
there were such people. Nothing surprises me, or this perhaps
_would_, and most things amuse me, or this probably would _not_.
With regard to myself, the man has merely _lied_; that's natural;
his betters have set him the example. But with regard to you, his
assertion may perhaps injure you in your publications; and I desire
that it may receive the most public and unqualified contradiction.
I do not know that there is any punishment for a thing of this
kind, and if there were, I should not feel disposed to pursue this
ingenious mountebank farther than was necessary for his
confutation; but thus far it may be necessary to proceed.