



Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi, and the Online
Distributed Proofreaders Team at http://www.pgdp.net






TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

This etext contains only characters from the Latin-1 set. The original
work contained a few phrases of Greek text. These are represented here
as Beta-code transliterations in brackets, e.g. [Greek: Liakyra].

The original text used a few other characters not found in the Latin-1
set. These have been represented using bracket notation: [=a], [=i] [=e]
represent those letters with a macron. A few instances of superscript
letters are indicated by carets, as in "Concluded, Canto 2^d, Smyrna,
March 28^th^."

An important feature of this edition is its copious notes, which are of
three types. Notes indexed with a number and a letter, for example
[4.B.], are end-notes provided by Byron or, following Canto IV, by J. C.
Hobhouse. These notes follow each Canto.

Poems and end-notes have footnotes. Footnotes indexed with lowercase
letters (e.g. [c], [bf]) show variant forms of Byron's text from
manuscripts and other sources. Footnotes indexed with arabic numbers
(e.g. [17], [221]) are informational. In the original, footnotes are
printed at the foot of the page on which they are referenced, and their
indices start over on each page. In this etext, footnotes have been
collected at the end of each section, and have been numbered
consecutively throughout the book. Within each block of footnotes are
numbers in braces, e.g. {321}. These represent the page number on which
the following notes originally appeared. To find a note that was
originally printed on page 27, search for {27}.

Text in footnotes and end-notes in square brackets is the work of Editor
E. H. Coleridge. Note text not in brackets is by Byron or Hobhouse. In
certain notes on variant text, the editor showed deleted text struck
through with lines. The struck-through words are noted here with braces
and dashes, as in {-deleted words-}.







                                The Works

                                    OF

                                LORD BYRON.


                  A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION,
                            WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.


                              Poetry. Vol. II.

                                  EDITED BY

                     ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE, M.A.



                                   LONDON:
                      JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
                    NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

                                     1899.




                      PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME.

The text of the present edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ is based
upon a collation of volume i. of the Library Edition, 1855, with the
following MSS.: (i.) the original MS. of the First and Second Cantos, in
Byron's handwriting [MS. M.]; (ii.) a transcript of the First and Second
Cantos, in the handwriting of R. C. Dallas [D.]; (iii.) a transcript of
the Third Canto, in the handwriting of Clara Jane Clairmont [C.]; (iv.)
a collection of "scraps," forming a first draft of the Third Canto, in
Byron's handwriting [MS.]; (v.) a fair copy of the first draft of the
Fourth Canto, together with the MS. of the additional stanzas, in
Byron's handwriting. [MS. M.]; (vi.) a second fair copy of the Fourth
Canto, as completed, in Byron's handwriting [D.].

The text of the First and Second Cantos has also been collated with the
text of the First Edition of the First and Second Cantos (quarto,
1812); the text of the Third and of the Fourth Cantos with the texts of
the First Editions of 1816 and 1818 respectively; and the text of the
entire poem with that issued in the collected editions of 1831 and 1832.

Considerations of space have determined the position and arrangement of
the notes.

Byron's notes to the First, Second, and Third Cantos, and Hobhouse's
notes to the Fourth Canto are printed, according to precedent, at the
end of each canto.

Editorial notes are placed in square brackets. Notes illustrative of the
text are printed immediately below the variants. Notes illustrative of
Byron's notes or footnotes are appended to the originals or printed as
footnotes. Byron's own notes to the Fourth Canto are printed as
footnotes to the text.

Hobhouse's "Historical Notes" are reprinted without addition or comment;
but the numerous and intricate references to classical, historical, and
archaeological authorities have been carefully verified, and in many
instances rewritten.

In compiling the Introductions, the additional notes, and footnotes, I
have endeavoured to supply the reader with a compendious manual of
reference. With the subject-matter of large portions of the three
distinct poems which make up the five hundred stanzas of _Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage_ every one is more or less familiar, but details
and particulars are out of the immediate reach of even the most
cultivated readers.

The poem may be dealt with in two ways. It may be regarded as a
repertory or treasury of brilliant passages for selection and quotation;
or it may be read continuously, and with some attention to the style and
message of the author. It is in the belief that _Childe Harold_ should
be read continuously, and that it gains by the closest study, reassuming
its original freshness and splendour, that the text as well as Byron's
own notes have been somewhat minutely annotated.

In the selection and composition of the notes I have, in addition to
other authorities, consulted and made use of the following editions of
_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:_--

i. _Edition Classique_, par James Darmesteter, Docteur-es-lettres.
Paris, 1882.

ii. Byron's _Childe Harold_, edited, with Introduction and Notes, by H.
F. Tozer, M.A. Oxford, 1885 (Clarendon Press Series).

iii. _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_, edited by the Rev. E.C. Everard Owen,
M.A. London, 1897 (Arnold's British Classics).

Particular acknowledgments of my indebtedness to these admirable works
will be found throughout the volume.

I have consulted and derived assistance from Professor Eugen Koelbing's
exhaustive collation of the text of the two first cantos with the Dallas
Transcript in the British Museum (_Zur Textueberlieferung von Byron's
Childe Harold, Cantos I., II. Leipsic_, 1896); and I am indebted to the
same high authority for information with regard to the Seventh Edition
(1814) of the First and Second Cantos. (See _Bemerkungen zu Byron's
Childe Harold, Engl. Stud._, 1896, xxi. 176-186.)

I have again to record my grateful acknowledgments to Dr. Richard
Garnett, C.B., Dr. A. S. Murray, F.R.S., Mr. R. E. Graves, Mr. E. D.
Butler, F.R.G.S., and other officials of the British Museum, for
constant help and encouragement in the preparation of the notes to
_Childe Harold._

I desire to express my thanks to Dr. H. R. Mill, Librarian of the Royal
Geographical Society; Mr. J. C. Baker, F.R.S., Keeper of the Herbarium
and Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Mr. Horatio F. Brown
(author of _Venice, an Historical Sketch_, etc.); Mr. P. A. Daniel, Mr.
Richard Edgcumbe, and others, for valuable information on various points
of doubt and difficulty.

On behalf of the Publisher, I beg to acknowledge the kindness of his
Grace the Duke of Richmond, in permitting Cosway's miniature of
Charlotte Duchess of Richmond to be reproduced for this volume.

I have also to thank Mr. Horatio F. Brown for the right to reproduce the
interesting portrait of "Byron at Venice," which is now in his
possession.

                        ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE.

_April_, 1899.




INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST AND SECOND CANTOS OF _CHILDE HAROLD_.

The First Canto of _Childe Harold_ was begun at Janina, in Albania,
October 31, 1809, and the Second Canto was finished at Smyrna, March 28,
1810. The dates were duly recorded on the MS.; but in none of the
letters which Byron wrote to his mother and his friends from the East
does he mention or allude to the composition or existence of such a
work. In one letter, however, to his mother (January 14, 1811,
_Letters_, 1898, i. 308), he informs her that he has MSS. in his
possession which may serve to prolong his memory, if his heirs and
executors "think proper to publish them;" but for himself, he has "done
with authorship." Three months later the achievement of _Hints from
Horace_ and _The Curse of Minerva_ persuaded him to give "authorship"
another trial; and, in a letter written on board the _Volage_ frigate
(June 28, _Letters_, 1898, i. 313), he announces to his literary Mentor,
R. C. Dallas, who had superintended the publication of _English Bards,
and Scotch Reviewers_, that he has "an imitation of the _Ars Poetica_ of
Horace ready for Cawthorne." Byron landed in England on July 2, and on
the 15th Dallas "had the pleasure of shaking hands with him at Reddish's
Hotel, St. James's Street" (_Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron_,
1824, p. 103). There was a crowd of visitors, says Dallas, and no time
for conversation; but the _Imitation_ was placed in his hands. He took
it home, read it, and was disappointed. Disparagement was out of the
question; but the next morning at breakfast Dallas ventured to express
some surprise that he had written nothing else. An admission or
confession followed that "he had occasionally written short poems,
besides a great many stanzas in Spenser's measure, relative to the
countries he had visited." "They are not," he added, "worth troubling
you with, but you shall have them all with you if you like." "So," says
Dallas, "came I by _Childe Harold_. He took it from a small trunk, with
a number of verses."

Dallas was "delighted," and on the evening of the same day (July
16)--before, let us hope, and not after, he had consulted his "Ionian
friend," Walter Rodwell Wright (see _Recollections_, p. 151, and _Diary_
of H.C. Robinson, 1872, i. 17)--he despatched a letter of enthusiastic
approval, which gratified Byron, but did not convince him of the
extraordinary merit of his work, or of its certainty of success. It was,
however, agreed that the MS. should be left with Dallas, that he should
arrange for its publication and hold the copyright. Dallas would have
entrusted the poem to Cawthorne, who had published _English Bards, and
Scotch Reviewers,_ and with whom, as Byron's intermediary, he was in
communication; but Byron objected on the ground that the firm did not
"stand high enough in the trade," and Longmans, who had been offered but
had declined the _English Bards_, were in no case to be approached. An
application to Miller, of Albemarle Street, came to nothing, because
Miller was Lord Elgin's bookseller and publisher (he had just brought
out the _Memorandum on Lord Elgin's Pursuits in Greece_), and _Childe
Harold_ denounced and reviled Lord Elgin. But Murray, of Fleet Street,
who had already expressed a wish to publish for Lord Byron, was willing
to take the matter into consideration. On the first of August Byron lost
his mother, on the third his friend Matthews was drowned in the Cam, and
for some weeks he could devote neither time nor thought to the fortunes
of his poem; but Dallas had bestirred himself, and on the eighteenth was
able to report that he had "seen Murray again," and that Murray was
anxious that Byron's name should appear on the title-page.

To this request Byron somewhat reluctantly acceded (August 21); and a
few days later (August 25) he informs Dallas that he has sent him
"exordiums, annotations, etc., for the forthcoming quarto," and has
written to Murray, urging him on no account to show the MS. to Juvenal,
that is, Gifford. But Gifford, as a matter of course, had been already
consulted, had read the First Canto, and had advised Murray to publish
the poem. Byron was, or pretended to be, furious; but the solid fact
that Gifford had commended his work acted like a charm, and his fury
subsided. On the fifth of September (_Letters_, 1898, ii. 24, note) he
received from Murray the first proof, and by December 14 "the Pilgrimage
was concluded," and all but the preface had been printed and seen
through the press.

The original draft of the poem, which Byron took out of "the little
trunk" and gave to Dallas, had undergone considerable alterations and
modifications before this date. Both Dallas and Murray took exception to
certain stanzas which, on personal, or patriotic, or religious
considerations, were provocative and objectionable. They were
apprehensive, not only for the sale of the book, but for the reputation
of its author. Byron fought his ground inch by inch, but finally
assented to a compromise. He was willing to cut out three stanzas on the
Convention of Cintra, which had ceased to be a burning question, and
four more stanzas at the end of the First Canto, which reflected on the
Duke of Wellington, Lord Holland, and other persons of less note. A
stanza on Beckford in the First Canto, and two stanzas in the second on
Lord Elgin, Thomas Hope, and the "Dilettanti crew," were also omitted.
Stanza ix. of the Second Canto, on the immortality of the soul, was
recast, and "sure and certain" hopelessness exchanged for a pious, if
hypothetical, aspiration. But with regard to the general tenor of his
politics and metaphysics, Byron stood firm, and awaited the issue.

There were additions as well as omissions. The first stanza of the First
Canto, stanzas xliii. and xc., which celebrate the battles of Albuera
and Talavera; the stanzas to the memory of Charles Skinner Matthews,
nos. xci., xcii.; and stanzas ix., xcv., xcvi. of the Second Canto, which
record Byron's grief for the death of an unknown lover or friend,
apparently (letter to Dallas, October 31, 1811) the mysterious Thyrza,
and others (_vide post_, note on the MSS. of the First and Second
Cantos of _Childe Harold_), were composed at Newstead, in the autumn of
1811. _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_, quarto, was published on Tuesday,
March 10, 1812--Moore (_Life_, p. 157) implies that the date of issue
was Saturday, February 29; and Dallas (_Recollections_, p. 220) says
that he obtained a copy on Tuesday, March 3 (but see advertisements in
the _Times_ and _Morning Chronicle_ of Thursday, March 5, announcing
future publication, and in the _Courier_ and _Morning Chronicle_ of
Tuesday, March 10, announcing first appearance)--and in three days an
edition of five hundred copies was sold. A second edition, octavo, with
six additional poems (fourteen poems were included in the First
Edition), was issued on April 17; a third on June 27; a fourth, with the
"Addition to the Preface," on September 14; and a fifth on December 5,
1812,--the day on which Murray "acquainted his friends" (see
advertisement in the _Morning Chronicle_) that he had removed from Fleet
Street to No. 50, Albemarle Street. A sixth edition, identical with the
fifth and fourth editions, was issued August 11, 1813; and, on February
1, 1814 (see letter to Murray, February 4, 1814), _Childe Harold_ made a
"seventh appearance." The seventh edition was a new departure
altogether. Not only were nine poems added to the twenty already
published, but a dedication to Lady Charlotte Harley ("Ianthe"), written
in the autumn of 1812, was prefixed to the First Canto, and ten
additional stanzas were inserted towards the end of the Second Canto.
_Childe Harold_, as we have it, differs to that extent from the _Childe
Harold_ which, in a day and a night, made Byron "famous." The dedication
to Ianthe was the outcome of a visit to Eywood, and his devotion to
Ianthe's mother, Lady Oxford; but the new stanzas were probably written
in 1810. In a letter to Dallas, September 7, 1811 (_Letters_, 1898, ii.
28), he writes, "I had projected an additional canto when I was in the
Troad and Constantinople, and if I saw them again, it would go on." This
seems to imply that a beginning had been made. In a poem, a hitherto
unpublished fragment entitled _Il Diavolo Inamorato_ (_vide post_, vol.
iii.), which is dated August 31, 1812, five stanzas and a half, viz.
stanzas lxxiii. lines 5-9, lxxix., lxxx., lxxxi., lxxxii., xxvii. of the
Second Canto of _Childe Harold_ are imbedded; and these form part of
the ten additional stanzas which were first published in the seventh
edition. There is, too, the fragment entitled _The Monk of Athos_, which
was first published (_Life of Lord Byron_, by the Hon. Roden Noel) in
1890, which may have formed part of this projected Third Canto.

No further alterations were made in the text of the poem; but an
eleventh edition of _Childe Harold_, Cantos I., II., was published in
1819.

The demerits of _Childe Harold_ lie on the surface; but it is difficult
for the modern reader, familiar with the sight, if not the texture, of
"the purple patches," and unattracted, perhaps demagnetized, by a
personality once fascinating and always "puissant," to appreciate the
actual worth and magnitude of the poem. We are "o'er informed;" and as
with Nature, so with Art, the eye must be couched, and the film of
association removed, before we can see clearly. But there is one
characteristic feature of _Childe Harold_ which association and
familiarity have been powerless to veil or confuse--originality of
design. "By what accident," asks the Quarterly Reviewer (George Agar
Ellis), "has it happened that no other English poet before Lord Byron
has thought fit to employ his talents on a subject so well suited to
their display?" The question can only be answered by the assertion that
it was the accident of genius which inspired the poet with a "new song."
_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ had no progenitors, and, with the exception
of some feeble and forgotten imitations, it has had no descendants. The
materials of the poem; the Spenserian stanza, suggested, perhaps, by
Campbell's _Gertrude of Wyoming_, as well as by older models; the
language, the metaphors, often appropriated and sometimes stolen from
the Bible, from Shakespeare, from the classics; the sentiments and
reflections coeval with reflection and sentiment, wear a familiar hue;
but the poem itself, a pilgrimage to scenes and cities of renown, a song
of travel, a rhythmical diorama, was Byron's own handiwork--not an
inheritance, but a creation.

But what of the eponymous hero, the sated and melancholy "Childe," with
his attendant page and yeoman, his backward glances on "heartless
parasites," on "laughing dames," on goblets and other properties of "the
monastic dome"? Is Childe Harold Byron masquerading in disguise, or is
he intended to be a fictitious personage, who, half unconsciously,
reveals the author's personality? Byron deals with the question in a
letter to Dallas (October 31): "I by no means intend to identify myself
with _Harold_, but to _deny_ all connection with him. If in parts I may
be thought to have drawn from myself, believe me it is but in parts, and
I