diminished; and I could not help laughing at the figure I must have
cut before you. At any rate, I shall be with you at six, with the
advantage of twilight.

Ever most truly, &c.

"Eleven o'clock.

"P.S. I wrote the above at three this morning. I regret to say that
the whole of the skin of about an _inch_ square above my upper lip
has come off, so that I cannot even shave or masticate, and I am
equally unfit to appear at your table, and to partake of its
hospitality. Will you therefore pardon me, and not mistake this
rueful excuse for a '_make-believe_,' as you will soon recognise
whenever I have the pleasure of meeting you again, and I will call
the moment I am, in the nursery phrase, 'fit to be seen.' Tell Lady
B. with my compliments, that I am rummaging my papers for a MS.
worthy of her acceptation. I have just seen the younger Count Gamba,
and as I cannot prevail on his infinite modesty to take the field
without me, I must take this piece of diffidence on myself also, and
beg your indulgence for both."


LETTER 515. TO THE COUNT ----.

"April 22. 1823.

"My dear Count ---- (if you will permit me to address you so
familiarly), you should be content with writing in your own language,
like Grammont, and succeeding in London as nobody has succeeded since