The Works LORD 11 OF BYRON. A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, Letters and Journals. Vol. IV. EDITED BY ROWLAND E. PROTHERO, M.A., FORMERLY FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, Oxford. FLONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1900. PREFACE. WITHIN the dates covered by the fourth volume (November, 1816-March, 1820) are included Byron's residence in Venice, his visit to Rome, and a portion of his sojourn at Ravenna in the Palazzo Guiccioli. It is the time of Manfred, of the last Canto of Childe Harold, of the first four Cantos of Don Juan. To this period belong 173 letters, 56 of which are, it is believed, now published for the first time. Among the new materials are seven letters to Richard Belgrave Hoppner, as well as those to Mrs. Leigh, the Hansons, John Murray, and Wedderburn Webster. The letters. to Mrs. Leigh are printed, by permission of the owners of the copyright, from the originals in the possession of Mr. Murray. The text of 138 letters has been prepared by collation with the originals. No collation has been possible in the case of 31 of the letters printed by Moore, including 15 to himself, 9 to Hoppner, 3 to William Bankes, 2 to Countess Guiccioli, I to the Editor of Galignani's Messenger, 1 to Captain Hall. The letter to Colonel Wildman (p. 270) is reprinted from Washington Irving's Miscellanies, and that to Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire (p. 178) is printed from a copy in the possession of Mr. Murray, compared with the text given in Mr. Vere Foster's Two Duchesses. The two letters to Lady Byron (pp. 66 and 268) are printed from the drafts only. It may be worthy of notice that the last letter in the volume, dated March 31, 1820, and addressed to Hoppner, is numbered 366 in Moore's Life (1830); in Halleck's American edition of Byron's Works (1849) it is numbered 431; in this edition it is the 785th. R. E. PROTHERO. October, 1899. |