Of the two works which you mention, that of Father Giorgi still maintains the reputation which its author commanded during life by his prodigious learning. Will you let me know whether the little work in Georgian that you refer to is printed or manuscript? You are quite right in supposing that I have not thought of that language since the departure of the young physician of Teflis, who took his medical degree in our university. Alas! what a large proportion of my life is spent in teaching! If I but did that well, I might be content; but when one does too much, he does nothing as it ought to be done.
I had not heard a word of Signor Baraldi’s affliction, for which I am much concerned. I trust that, when you write again, you will have better news for me. Pray present my special compliments to the Librarian.
Do not forget me; and, in order that I may know you do not, write often to assure me that it is so. Don Giuseppino sends you a thousand greetings, and I myself more than a thousand.
Ever your most devoted servant and friend,
D. Joseph Mezzofanti.
In this year, Mezzofanti made the acquaintance of the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, during one of her visits to the north of Italy. The success of her magnificent edition of Horace’s Fifth Satire—his journey to Brundusium—had suggested to her the idea of a similar edition of the Eneid. The first volume, with a series of illustrations, scenical, as well as historical, (of Troy, Ithaca, Gaeta, Gabii, &c.,) had appeared in Rome in 1819;[408] and the object of the duchess in this visit, was to procure sketches in the locality of Mantua, and especially a sketch of Pietole, the supposed site of the ancient Andes, the place of the poet’s birth, upon that plain,
————tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat
Mincius.
One of Mezzofanti’s letters, addressed to his friend Pezzana, shews the lengths to which this eccentric lady carried her zeal for the illustration of this really magnificent work. Although the second volume had been already published, and many of the copies had been distributed, she continued to add to the number of the illustrations.