naïve description. Rocca, the judge, very clever and quick, rising; know little of him. Been seven years in the courtship of Miss Saladin; she neither refuses nor accepts him, but keeps him in her train. Miss Randall, sister to Mrs. Norgate. Monsignor Brema, friend of Ugo Foscolo, enthusiastic for Italy, encomiast in all, Grand Almoner of Italy, hater of Austrians. Dumont, a thick, heavy-thoughted body, editor of Bentham. Bonstetten, friend of Gray.
The first time L[ord] B[yron] went, there was Mrs. Hervey there; talkative, sister and a great friend of the Noels; she thought proper to faint out of the house, though her curiosity brought her back to speak with him.
Bonstetten told me that, upon his saying to Gray that he must be happy, he took and read to him the criticism of Johnson, which happens to have been written after Gray's death; he used to go in the evening to tea, and remain all night reading the English authors with him. Gray introduced him to society;[1] and, one of the professors having asked him if he understood what he said, he replied he thought
- ↑ The word "society" is perfectly clear in Charlotte Polidori's transcript. From the context, I question whether it ought not to be "Shakespear." As to "the criticism of Johnson" on Gray in the Lives of the Poets, many of my readers will recollect that this criticism is somewhat adverse, Gray being treated as a rather nebulous writer.
