"he used sometimes to call him,) conjured 66 66 66 up some frightful woman of an acquaint ance of his at home, a kind of Medusa, who was suspected of having eyes in "her breasts. 66 Perhaps Polidori had strictly no right "to appropriate my story to himself; but "it was hardly worth it: and when my 66 66 66 letter, disclaiming the narrative part, was written, I dismissed the matter from my memory. It was Polidori's own fault "that we did not agree. I was sorry when 66 66 66 we parted, for I soon get attached to people; and was more sorry still for the scrape he afterwards got into at Milan. "He quarrelled with one of the guards 66 at the Scala, and was ordered to leave "the Lombard States twenty-four hours after; which put an end to all his Con "tinental schemes, that I had forwarded 66 by recommending him to Lord ; " and it is difficult for a young physician 66 66 to get into practice at home, however clever, particularly a foreigner, or one "with a foreigner's name. From that 66 66 time, instead of making out prescrip tions, he took to writing romances; a very unprofitable and fatal exchange, as it turned out. "I told you I was not oppressed in spirits last night without a reason. Who can help being superstitious? Scott be"lieves in second-sight. Rousseau tried whether he was to be d-d or not, by 66 66 66 66 66 aiming at a tree with a stone: I forget whether he hit or missed. Goëthe trusted to the chance of a knife's striking the water, to determine whether he was "to prosper in some undertaking. The "Italians think the dropping of oil very 66 unlucky. Pietro (Count Gamba) drop ped some the night before his exile, and "that of his family, from Ravenna. Have 66 you ever had your fortune told? Mrs. "Williams told mine. She predicted that 66 twenty-seven and thirty-seven were to "be dangerous ages in my life.* One has 66 come true." 66 Yes," added I, "and did she not prophecy that you were to die a monk and a miser? I have been told so." 66 "I don't think these two last very likely; but it was part of her prediction. He was married in his twenty-seventh, and died in his thirty-seventh year. "But there are lucky and unlucky days, 66 as well as years and numbers too. Lord - was dining at a party, where "observed that they were thirteen. 'Why "don't you make us twelve?' was the re 66 ply; and an impudent one it was-but "he could say those things. You would "not visit on a Friday, would you? You "know you are to introduce me to Mrs. 66 It must not be to-morrow, for it " is a Friday." "A fine day," said I, as I entered; 66 a " An old wag of a world!" replied he, shaking me by the hand. "You should "have been here earlier. T has "been here with a most portentous and obstetrical countenance, and it seems he "has been bringing forth an ode—a birth day ode-not on Ada, but on a lady. "An odious production it must have been! “He threatened to inflict, as Shelley calls 66 66 66 66 66 it; but I fought off. As I told him, Stellas are out of date now: it is a bad 'compliment to remind women of their age. 66 Talking of days, this is the most wretched day of my existence; and I say and do all sorts of foolish things* to * "So that it wean me from the weary dream Of selfish grief, or gladness!-so it fling Forgetfulness around me!" 66 Childe Harold, Canto III. Stanza 4. "And if I laugh at any mortal thing, " 'Tis that I may not weep ;--and if I weep, |