Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 8.djvu/12

 also made of a mass of material, bearing more or less directly on Byron's life, which was accumulated by the grandfather and father of Mr. Murray. The notes thus contain, it is believed, many details of biographical interest, which are now for the first time published.

It is necessary to make these comparisons, in order to define the position which this edition claims to hold with regard to its predecessors. On the other hand, no one can regret more sincerely than myself — no one has more cause to regret — the circumstances which placed this wealth of new material in my hands rather than in those of the true poet and brilliant critic, who, to enthusiasm for Byron, and wide acquaintance with the literature and social life of the day, adds the rarer gift of giving life and significance to bygone events or trivial details by unconsciously interesting his readers in his own living personality.

Byron's letters appeal on three special grounds to all lovers of English literature. They offer the most suggestive commentary on his poetry; they give the truest portrait of the man; they possess, at their best, in their ease, freshness, and racy vigour, a very high literary value.

The present volume, which covers the period from 1798 to August, 1811, includes the letters written by Byron from his eleventh to his twenty-third year. They therefore illustrate the composition of his youthful poetry, of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers and of the first two cantos of Childe Harold. They carry his history down to the eve of that morning in March, 1812, when he awoke and found himself famous — in a degree and to