Tomaso Chiappini had not confined himself to spreading atrocious calumnies against me; I heard that he was accusing my witnesses of imposture, and that several of them, alarmed by the sinister rumours he circulated, and believing themselves irretrievably ruined, were cursing me and declaring that I had involved them in the greatest trouble.
Amongst these was the Count Borghi, who henceforth became once more my enemy.
The whole country was topsy-turvy; but all these intrigues, all these diabolical plots fell to the ground.
I wrote to the Bishop of Faenza, who could not get over his astonishment, but exhorted me to suspend judgment on the persons whose perfidious inconstancy I was denouncing, and assured me that the truth was too well established for anything henceforth to shake it.
His letter, which I carefully treasure, is dated July 20, 1826.
If that of this venerable prelate, illustrious by his learning and formerly Patriarch of Venice, was flattering and an honour, another, which I received from the Cape of Good Hope, was as vile and filthy.
It can easily be guessed it was the work of that other Chiappini to whom Lord Newborough had shown so much kindness.
The most malignant rage was manifest through the whole of it, beneath the hideous hues of expressions as indescribably ignoble as they were ridiculous.
To do full justice to it, it would doubtless be enough to let it be seen as it is; but I should fear to disgust my readers.