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130 LETTERS.
of course : you wiU not take this instance,
however, I hope, for a very mortal symptom ;
but you will allow it to be equivocal at least.
I have called on Lord Byron, who was
delighted to see me.
We went in his gondola
across the laguna to the Malamocco, a long
sandy island, a sort of breakwater, which
shelters Venice against the inroads of the
Adriatic. On disembarking we found his
horses waiting.
During our ride along the
sands of the sea he kept up a Hvely conversation,
consisting in histories of his grievances,
his wounded feehngs. Lady Byron, his
daughter, his sister, his prospects, intentions.
He seemed to take great interest in my own
affairs, and assured me, that if he had been in
England at the time of the chancery business,
he would have moved heaven and earth to
have prevented Lord Bldon's decision. Byron's
ways are so winning, as to make it impossible
to resist his agaceries: no wonder if women.