Chapter 58

"Ravenna, September 17. 1821.

"The enclosed lines[52], as you will directly perceive, are written by the Rev. W.L.B * *. Of course it is for _him_ to deny them if they are not.

"Believe me yours ever and most affectionately,

"B.

"P.S. Can you forgive this? It is only a reply to your lines against my Italians. Of course I will _stand_ by my lines against all men; but it is heart-breaking to see such things in a people as the reception of that unredeemed * * * * * * in an oppressed country. _Your_ apotheosis is now reduced to a level with his welcome, and their gratitude to Grattan is cancelled by their atrocious adulation of this, &c. &c. &c."

[Footnote 52: "The Irish Avatar." In this copy the following sentence (taken from a letter of Curran, in the able Life of that true Irishman, by his son) is prefixed as a motto to the Poem,--"And Ireland, like a bastinadoed elephant, kneeling to receive the paltry rider."--_Letter of Curran, Life_, vol. ii. p. 336. At the end of the verses are these words:--"(Signed) W.L. B * *, M.A., and written with a view to a Bishoprick."]

* * * * *