Loretta reports:
Venice, January 28th, 1817
"...in walked a well-looking and (for an Italian) bionda girl of about nineteen....we had some talk ... when lo! in a very few minutes, in marches, to my very great astonishment, Marianna S[egati],* in propria persona, and after making a very polite courtesy to her sister-in-law and to me, without a single word seizes her said sister-in-law by the hair, and bestows upon her some sixteen slaps, which would have made your ear ache only to hear their echo. I need not describe the screaming which ensued. The luckless visitor took flight. I seized Marianna, who, after several vain efforts to get away in pursuit of the enemy, fairly went into fits in my arms; and, in spite of reasoning, eau de Cologne, vinegar, half a pint of water, and God knows what other waters beside, continued so till past midnight...."
"After about an hour, in comes--who! why, Signior S[egati], her lord and husband, and finds me with his wife fainting upon the sofa, and all the apparatus of confusion, dishevelled hair, hats, handkerchief, salts, smelling-bottles--and the lady as pale as ashes...."
"It is very well known that almost all the married women have a lover; but it is usual to keep up the forms, as in other nations. I did not, therefore, know what the devil to say....I thought the best way would be to let her explain it as she chose (a woman being never at a loss--the devil always sticks by them)--only determining to protect and carry her off, in case of any ferocity on the part of the Signior."Byron's Letters & Journals, Volume 5, 'So late into the night'
*Byron's mistress of the moment in Venice
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