Chapter XL: Letter 311: To Mr. Moore

"Venice, March 16. 1818.

"My dear Tom,

"Since my last, which I hope that you have received, I have had a
letter from our friend Samuel. He talks of Italy this summer--won't
you come with him? I don't know whether you would like our Italian
way of life or not.

"They are an odd people. The other day I was telling a girl, 'You
must not come to-morrow, because Margueritta is coming at such a
time,'--(they are both about five feet ten inches high, with great
black eyes and fine figures--fit to breed gladiators from--and I
had some difficulty to prevent a battle upon a rencontre once
before,)--'unless you promise to be friends, and'--the answer was
an interruption, by a declaration of war against the other, which
she said would be a 'Guerra di Candia.' Is it not odd, that the
lower order of Venetians should still allude proverbially to that
famous contest, so glorious and so fatal to the Republic?

"They have singular expressions, like all the Italians. For
example, 'Viscere'--as we would say, 'My love,' or 'My heart,' as
an expression of tenderness. Also, 'I would go for you into the
midst of a hundred _knives_.'--'_Mazza ben_,' excessive
attachment,--literally, 'I wish you well even to killing.' Then
they say (instead of our way, 'Do you think I would do you so much
harm?') 'Do you think I would _assassinate_ you in such a
manner?'--'Tempo _perfido_,' bad weather; 'Strade _perfide_,' bad
roads,--with a thousand other allusions and metaphors, taken from
the state of society and habits in the middle ages.

"I am not so sure about _mazza_, whether it don't mean _massa_,
_i.e._ a great deal, a _mass_, instead of the interpretation I have
given it. But of the other phrases I am sure.

"Three o' th' clock--I must 'to bed, to bed, to bed,' as mother S *
* (that tragical friend of the mathematical * * *) says.

"Have you ever seen--I forget what or whom--no matter. They tell me
Lady Melbourne is very unwell. I shall be so sorry. She was my
greatest _friend_, of the feminine gender:--when I say 'friend,' I
mean _not_ mistress, for that's the antipode. Tell me all about you
and every body--how Sam is--how you like your neighbours, the
Marquis and Marchesa, &c. &c.

"Ever," &c.

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