Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 9.djvu/13



THE second volume of Mr. Murray's edition of Byron's Letters and Journals carries the autobiographical record of the poet's life from August, 1811, to April, 1814. Between these dates were published Childe Harold (Cantos I., II.), The Walts, The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte. At the beginning of this period Byron had suddenly become the idol of society; towards its close his personal popularity almost as rapidly declined before a storm of political vituperation.

Three great collections of Byron's letters, as was noted in the Preface to the previous volume, are in existence. The first is contained in Moore's Life (1830); the second was published in America, in FitzGreene Halleck's edition of Byron's Works (1847); of the third, edited by Mr. W. E. Henley, only the first volume has yet appeared. A comparison between the letters contained in these three collections and in that of Mr. Murray, down to December, 1813, shows the following results: Moore prints 152 letters; Halleck, 192; Mr. Henley, 231. Mr. Murray's edition adds 236 letters to