On leaving this place, she was attacked with a dangerous illness on the road, and arrived half dead at Ravenna; nor was it found possible to revive or comfort her till an assurance was received from Lord Byron, expressed with all the fervour of real passion, that, in the course of the ensuing month, he would pay her a visit.  Symptoms of consumption, brought on by her state of mind, had already shown themselves; and, in addition to the pain which this separation had caused her, she was also suffering much grief from the loss of her mother, who, at this time, died in giving birth to her fourteenth child.  Towards the latter end of May she wrote to acquaint Lord Byron that, having prepared all her relatives and friends to expect him, he might now, she thought, venture to make his appearance at Ravenna.  Though, on the lady’s account, hesitating as to the prudence of such a step, he, in obedience to her wishes, on the 2d of June, set out from La Mira (at which place he had again taken a villa for the summer), and proceeded towards Romagna.

From Padua he addressed a letter to Mr. Hoppner, chiefly occupied with matters of household concern which that gentleman had undertaken to manage for him at Venice, but, on the immediate object of his journey, expressing himself in a tone so light and jesting, as it would be difficult for those not versed in his character to conceive that he could ever bring himself, while under the influence of a passion so sincere, to assume.  But such is ever the wantonness of the mocking spirit, from which nothing,—­not even love,—­remains sacred; and which, at last, for want of other food, turns upon himself.  The same horror, too, of hypocrisy that led Lord Byron to exaggerate his own errors, led him also to disguise, under a seemingly heartless ridicule, all those natural and kindly qualities by which they were redeemed.

This letter from Padua concludes thus:—­

“A journey in an Italian June is a conscription; and if I was not the most constant of men, I should now be swimming from the Lido, instead of smoking in the dust of Padua.  Should there be letters from England, let them wait my return.  And do look at my house and (not lands, but) waters, and scold;—­and deal out the monies to Edgecombe[32] with an air of reluctance and a shake of the head—­and put queer questions to him—­and turn up your nose when he answers.

     “Make my respect to the Consules—­and to the Chevalier—­and to
     Scotin—­and to all the counts and countesses of our acquaintance.

     “And believe me ever

     “Your disconsolate and affectionate,” &c.

[Footnote 32:  A clerk of the English Consulate, whom he at this time employed to control his accounts.]

* * * * *

As a contrast to the strange levity of this letter, as well as in justice to the real earnestness of the passion, however censurable in all other respects, that now engrossed him, I shall here transcribe some stanzas which he wrote in the course of this journey to Romagna, and which, though already published, are not comprised in the regular collection of his works.