ew cantos of Don Juan ready. I
obtained permission from the female Censor Morum of _my_ morals to
continue it, provided it were immaculate; so I have been as decent
as need be. There is a deal of war--a siege, and all that, in the
style, graphical and technical, of the shipwreck in Canto Second,
which 'took,' as they say, in the Row.

Yours, &c.

"P.S. That * * * Galignani has about ten lies in one paragraph. It
was not a Bible that was found in Shelley's pocket, but John
Keats's poems. However, it would not have been strange, for he was
a great admirer of Scripture as a composition. _I_ did not send my
bust to the academy of New York; but I sat for my picture to young
West, an American artist, at the request of some members of that
Academy to _him_ that he would take my portrait,--for the Academy,
I believe.[88]

"I had, and still have, thoughts of South America, but am
fluctuating between it and Greece. I should have gone, long ago, to
one of them, but for my liaison with the Countess Gi.; for love, in
these days, is little compatible with glory. _She_ would be
delighted to go too; but I do not choose to expose her to a long
voyage, and a residence in an unsettled country, where I shall
probably take a part of some sort."

[Footnote 87: The particulars of this event had, it is evident, not yet
readied him.]

[Footnote 88: This portrait, though destined for America, was, it
appears, never sent thither. A few copies of it have since been painted
by Mr. West, but the original picture was purchased by Mr. Joy, of
Hartham Park, Wilts; who is also the possessor of the original portrait
of Madame Guiccioli, by the same artist.]

* * * * *

Soon after the above letters were written, Lord Byron removed to Genoa,
having taken a house, called the Villa Saluzzo, at Albaro, one of the
suburbs of that city. From the time of the unlucky squabble with the
serjeant-major at Pisa, his tranquillity had been considerably broken in
upon, as well by the judicial enquiries consequent upon that event, as
by the many sinister rumours and suspicions to which it gave rise.
Though the wounded man had recovered, his friends all vowed vengeance
with the dagger: and the sensation which the affair and its various
consequences had produced was,--to Madame Guiccioli more particularly,
from the situation in wh