Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to Richard Belgrave Hoppner, 31 May 1821
“Ravenna, May 31st, 1821.
“I enclose you another letter, which will only confirm what
I have said to you.
“About Allegra—I will
take some decisive step in the course of the year; at present, she is so happy where she
is, that perhaps she had better have her alphabet imparted in her
convent.
“What you say of the Dante is the first I have heard
of it—all seeming to be merged in the row about the tragedy.
Continue it!—Alas! what could Dante himself now prophesy about
Italy? I am glad you like it, however, but doubt that you will be singular in your
opinion. My new tragedy is completed.
“The B * *
is right,—I ought to have mentioned her humour and amiability, but I thought at her sixty, beauty would be most agreeable or least likely. However, it
shall be rectified in a new edition; and if any of the parties have either looks or
qualities which they wish to be noticed, let me have a minute of them. I have no private
nor personal dislike to Venice, rather the contrary, but I merely
speak of what is the subject of all remarks and all writers upon her present state. Let
me hear from you before you start. Believe me,
“Ever, &c.
“P.S. Did you receive two letters of Douglas Kinnaird’s in an ![]()
| A. D. 1821. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 491 |
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endorse from me? Remember me to Mengaldo, Soranzo, and all who
care that I should remember them. The letter alluded to in the enclosed, ‘to
the Cardinal,’ was in answer to some queries of the government, about a poor devil of a Neapolitan, arrested at
Sinigaglia on suspicion, who came to beg of me here; being without breeches, and
consequently without pockets for halfpence, I relieved and forwarded him to his
country, and they arrested him at Pesaro on suspicion, and have since interrogated me
(civilly and politely, however), about him. I sent them the poor man’s
petition, and such information as I had about him, which, I trust, will get him out
again, that is to say, if they give him a fair hearing.
“I am content with the article.
Pray, did you receive, some posts ago, Moore’s lines, which I enclosed to you, written at Paris?”
Allegra Byron (1817-1822)
Byron's illegitimate daughter by Claire Clairmont.
Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872)
The son of John Hoppner, R.A. (1758-1810) and likewise a painter; he was English consul
at Venice (1814-25). He married Marie Isabella May, of Bern, in 1814.
Angelo Mengaldo (1785-1869)
Former soldier in Napoleon's army who was a Venetian friend of Byron and Alexander
Scott.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet and biographer, author of the
Irish Melodies (1807-34),
The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and
Lalla
Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.
Seranzo (1821 fl.)
Not identified, a Venetian acquaintance of Byron and Richard Belgrave Hoppner.
