said Committee, having in part served its
time to time-serving, may have kept back the acknowledgment of an
obnoxious politician's name in their lists; and third, I feel
pretty sure that I shall one day be twitted by the government
scribes for having been a professor of love for Ireland, and not
coming forward with the others in her distresses.

"It is not, as you may opine, that I am ambitious of having my name
in the papers, as I can have that any day in the week gratis. All I
want is to know if the Reverend Thomas Hall did or did not remit
my subscription (200 scudi of Tuscany, or about a thousand francs,
more or less,) to the Committee at Paris.

"The other day at Viareggio, I thought proper to swim off to my
schooner (the Bolivar) in the offing, and thence to shore
again--about three miles, or better, in all. As it was at mid-day,
under a broiling sun, the consequence has been a feverish attack,
and my whole skin's coming off, after going through the process of
one large continuous blister, raised by the sun and sea together. I
have suffered much pain; not being able to lie on my back, or even
side; for my shoulders and arms were equally St. Bartholomewed. But
it is over,--and I have got a new skin, and am as glossy as a snake
in its new suit.

"We have been burning the bodies of Shelley and Williams on the
sea-shore, to render them fit for removal and regular interment.
You can have no idea what an extraordinary effect such a funeral
pile has, on a desolate shore, with mountains in the background and
the sea before, and the singular appearance the salt and
frankincense gave to the flame. All of Shelley was consumed, except
his _heart_, which would not take the flame, and is now preserved
in spirits of wine.

"Your old acquaintance Londonderry has quietly died at North Cray!
and the virtuous De Witt was torn in pieces by the populace! What a
lucky * * the Irishman has been in his life and end.[87] In him
your Irish Franklin est mort!

"Leigh Hunt is sweating articles for his new Journal; and both he
and I think it somewhat shabby in _you_ not to contribute. Will you
become one of the _properrioters_? 'Do, and we go snacks.' I
recommend you to think twice before you respond in the negative.

"I have nearly (_quite three_) four n