The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 1. Poetry — Inside the Classic

There were four distinct issues of Byron's Juvenilia. The first collection, entitled 'Fugitive Pieces', was printed in quarto by S. and J. Ridge of Newark. Two of the poems, "The Tear" and the "Reply to Some Verses of J. M. B. Pigot, Esq.," were signed "BYRON;" but the volume itself, which is without a title-page, was anonymous. It numbers sixty-six pages, and consists of thirty-eight distinct pieces. The last piece, "Imitated from Catullus. To Anna," is dated November 16, 1806. The whole of this issue, with the exception of two or three copies, was destroyed. An imperfect copy, lacking pp. 17-20 and pp. 58-66, is preserved at Newstead. A perfect copy, which had been retained by the Rev. J. T. Becher, at whose instance the issue was suppressed, was preserved by his family (see 'Life', by Karl Elze, 1872, p. 450), and is now in the possession of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B. A facsimile reprint of this unique volume, limited to one hundred copies, was issued, for private circulation only, from the Chiswick Press in 1886.

Of the thirty-eight 'Fugitive Pieces', two poems, viz. "To Caroline" and "To Mary," together with the last six stanzas of the lines, "To Miss E. P. [To Eliza]," have never been republished in any edition of Byron's Poetical Works.

A second edition, small octavo, of 'Fugitive Pieces', entitled 'Poems on Various Occasions', was printed by S. and J. Ridge of Newark, and distributed in January, 1807. This volume was issued anonymously. It numbers 144 pages, and consists of a reproduction of thirty-six 'Fugitive Pieces', and of twelve hitherto unprinted poems--forty-eight in all. For references to the distribution of this issue--limited, says Moore, to one hundred copies--see letters to Mr. Pigot and the Earl of Clare, dated January 16, February 6, 1807, and undated letters of the same period to Mr. William Bankes and Mr. Falkner ('Life', pp. 41, 42). The annotated copy of 'Poems on Various Occasions', referred to in the present edition, is in the British Museum.

Early in the summer (June--July) of 1807, a volume, small octavo, named 'Hours of Idleness'--a title henceforth associated with Byron's early poems--was printed and published by S. and J. Ridge of Newark, and was sold by the following London booksellers: Crosby and Co.; Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme; F. and C. Rivington; and J, Mawman. The full title is, 'Hours of Idleness; a Series of Poems Original and Translated'. By George Gordon, Lord Byron, a Minor. It numbers 187 pages, and consists of thirty-nine poems. Of these, nineteen belonged to the original 'Fugitive Pieces', eight had first appeared in 'Poems on Various Occasions', and twelve were published for the first time. The "Fragment of a Translation from the 9th Book of Virgil's Æneid" ('sic'), numbering sixteen lines, reappears as "The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus, A Paraphrase from the Æneid, Lib. 9," numbering 406 lines.

The final collection, also in small octavo, bearing the title 'Poems Original and Translated', by George Gordon, Lord Byron, second edition, was printed and published in 1808 by S. and J. Ridge of Newark, and sold by the same London booksellers as 'Hours of Idleness'. It numbers 174 pages, and consists of seventeen of the original 'Fugitive Pieces', four of those first published in 'Poems on Various Occasions', a reprint of the twelve poems first published in 'Hours of Idleness', and five poems which now appeared for the first time--thirty-eight poems in all. Neither the title nor the contents of this so-called second edition corresponds exactly with the previous issue.

Of the thirty-eight 'Fugitive Pieces' which constitute the suppressed quarto, only seventeen appear in all three subsequent issues. Of the twelve additions to 'Poems on Various Occasions', four were excluded from 'Hours of Idleness', and four more from 'Poems Original and Translated'.

The collection of minor poems entitled 'Hours of Idleness', which has been included in every edition of Byron's Poetical Works issued by John Murray since 1831, consists of seventy pieces, being the aggregate of the poems published in the three issues, 'Poems on Various Occasions', 'Hours of Idleness', and 'Poems Original and Translated', together with five other poems of the same period derived from other sources.

In the present issue a general heading, "Hours of Idleness, and other Early Poems," has been applied to the entire collection of Early Poems, 1802-1809. The quarto has been reprinted (excepting the lines "To Mary," which Byron himself deliberately suppressed) in its entirety, and in the original order. The successive additions to the 'Poems on Various Occasions', 'Hours of Idleness', and 'Poems Original and Translated', follow in order of publication. The remainder of the series, viz. poems first published in Moore's 'Life and Journals of Lord Byron' (1830); poems hitherto unpublished; poems first published in the 'Works of Lord Byron' (1832), and poems contributed to J. C. Hobhouse's 'Imitations and Translations' (1809), have been arranged in chronological order. (For an important contribution to the bibliography of the quarto of 1806, and of the other issues of Byron's Juvenilia, see papers by Mr. R. Edgcumbe, Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., and others, in the 'Athenaeum', 1885, vol. ii. pp. 731-733, 769; and 1886, vol. i. p. 101, etc. For a collation of the contents of the four first issues and of certain large-paper copies of 'Hours of Idleness', etc., see 'The Bibliography of the Poetical Works of Lord Byron', vol. vi. of the present edition.)

[text of facsimile pages of two different editions mentioned above:]

A SERIES OF POEMS, ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATED,

BY GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON,

[Greek: Maet ar me mal ainee maete ti neichei.]

Virginibus puerisque Canto.

He whistled as he went for want of thought.

Printed and sold by S. and J. RIDGE;

SOLD ALSO BY B CROSBY AND CO. STATIONER'S COURT; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW; F. AND C. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; AND J. MAWMAN, IN THE POULTRY; LONDON. 1807

POEMS ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATED BY GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON,

[Greek: Maet ar me mal ainee maete ti neichei.]

He whistled as he went for want of thought.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE TO ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS.

The MS. ('MS. M.') of the first draft of Byron's "Satire" (see Letter to Pigot, October 26, 1807) is now in Mr. Murray's possession. It is written on folio sheets paged 6-25, 28-41, and numbers 360 lines. Mutilations on pages 12, 13, 34, 35 account for the absence of ten additional lines.

After the publication of the January number of 'The Edinburgh Review' for 1808 (containing the critique on 'Hours of Idleness'), which was delayed till the end of February, Byron added a beginning and an ending to the original draft. The MSS. of these additions, which number ninety lines, are written on quarto sheets, and have been bound up with the folios. (Lines 1-16 are missing.) The poem, which with these and other additions had run up to 560 lines, was printed in book form (probably by Ridge of Newark), under the title of 'British Bards, A Satire'. "This Poem," writes Byron ['MSS. M.'], "was begun in October, 1807, in London, and at different intervals composed from that period till September, 1808, when it was completed at Newstead Abbey.--B., 1808." A date, 1808, is affixed to the last line. Only one copy is extant, that which was purchased, in 1867, from the executors of R.C. Dallas, by the Trustees of the British Museum. Even this copy has been mutilated. Pages 17, 18, which must have contained the first version of the attack on Jeffrey (see 'English Bards', p. 332, line 439, 'note' 2), have been torn out, and quarto proof-sheets in smaller type of lines 438-527, "Hail to immortal Jeffrey," etc., together with a quarto proof-sheet, in the same type as 'British Bards', containing lines 540-559, "Illustrious Holland," etc., have been inserted. Hobhouse's lines (first edition, lines 247-262), which are not in the original draft, are included in 'British Bards'. The insertion of the proofs increased the printed matter to 584 lines. After the completion of this revised version of 'British Bards', additions continued to be made. Marginal corrections and MS. fragments, bound up with 'British Bards', together with forty-four lines (lines 723-726, 819-858) which do not occur in MS. M., make up with the printed matter the 696 lines which were published in March, 1809, under the title of 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers'. The folio and quarto sheets in Mr. Murray's possession ('MS. M.') may be regarded as the MS. of 'British Bards; British Bards' (there are a few alterations, e.g. the substitution of lines 319-326, "Moravians, arise," etc., for the eight lines on Pratt, which are to be found in the folio MS., and are printed in 'British Bards'), with its accompanying MS. fragments, as the foundation of the text of the first edition of 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers'.

Between the first edition, published in March, and the second edition in October, 1809, the difference is even greater than between the first edition and 'British Bards'. The Preface was enlarged, and a postscript affixed to the text of the poem. Hobhouse's lines (first edition, 247-262) were omitted, and the following additional passages inserted, viz.: (i.) lines 1-96, "Still must I hear," etc.; (ii.) lines 129-142, "Thus saith the Preacher," etc.; (iii.) lines 363-417, "But if some new-born whim," etc.; (iv.) lines 638-706, "Or hail at once," etc.; (v.) lines 765-798, "When some brisk youth," etc.; (vi.) lines 859-880, "And here let Shee," etc.; (vii.) lines 949-960, "Yet what avails," etc.; (viii.) lines 973-980, "There, Clarke," etc.; (ix.) lines 1011-1070, "Then hapless Britain," etc. These additions number 370 lines, and, together with the 680 lines of the first edition (reduced from 696 by the omission of Hobhouse's contribution), make up the 1050 lines of the second and third editions, and the doubtful fourth edition of 1810. Of these additions, Nos. i., ii., iii., iv., vi., viii., ix. exist in MS., and are bound up with the folio MS. now in Mr. Murray's possession.

The third edition, which is, generally, dated 1810, is a replica of the second edition.

The first issue of the fourth edition, which appeared in 1810, is identical with the second and third editions. A second issue of the fourth edition, dated 1811, must have passed under Byron's own supervision. Lines 723, 724 are added, and lines 725, 726 are materially altered. The fourth edition of 1811 numbers 1052 lines.

The suppressed fifth edition, numbering 1070 lines (the copy in the British Museum has the title-page of the fourth edition; a second copy, in Mr. Murray's possession, has no title-page), varies from the fourth edition of 1811 by the addition of lines 97-102 and 528-539, and by some twenty-nine emendations of the text. Eighteen of these emendations were made by Byron in a copy of the fourth edition which belonged to Leigh Hunt. On another copy, in Mr. Murray's possession, Byron made nine emendations, of which six are identical with those in the Hunt copy, and three appear for the first time. It was in the latter volume that he inscribed his after-thoughts, which are dated "B. 1816."

For a complete collation of the five editions of 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers', and textual emendations in the two annotated volumes, and for a note on genuine and spurious copies of the first and other editions, see 'The Bibliography of the Poetical Works of Lord Byron', vol. vi.

[Facsimile of title-page of first edition, including Byron's signature. To view this and other facsimiles, and the other illustrations mentioned in this text, see the html edition. text Ed.]

I had rather be a kitten, and cry, mew! Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers.

Such shameless Bards we have; and yet 'tis true, There are as mad, abandon'd Critics too.

HOURS OF IDLENESS, AND OTHER EARLY POEMS.

Preface to the Poems Bibliographical Note to "Hours of Idleness and Other Early Poems" Bibliographical Note to "English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers" On Leaving Newstead Abbey To E---- On the Death of a Young Lady, Cousin to the Author, and very dear to Him To D---- To Caroline To Caroline [second poem] To Emma Fragments of School Exercises: From the "Prometheus Vinctus" of Æschylus Lines written in "Letters of an Italian Nun and an English Gentleman, by J.J. Rousseau: Founded on Facts" Answer to the Foregoing, Addressed to Miss---- On a Change of Masters at a Great Public School Epitaph on a Beloved Friend Adrian's Address to his Soul when Dying A Fragment To Caroline [third poem] To Caroline [fourth poem] On a Distant View of the Village and School of Harrow on the Hill, 1806 Thoughts Suggested by a College Examination To Mary, on Receiving Her Picture On the Death of Mr. Fox To a Lady who Presented to the Author a Lock of Hair Braided with his own, and appointed a Night in December to meet him in the Garden To a Beautiful Quaker To Lesbia! To Woman An Occasional Prologue, Delivered by the Author Previous to the Performance of "The Wheel of Fortune" at a Private Theatre To Eliza The Tear Reply to some Verses of J.M.B. Pigot, Esq., on the Cruelty of his Mistress Granta. A Medley To the Sighing Strephon The Cornelian To M---- Lines Addressed to a Young Lady. [As the Author was discharging his Pistols in a Garden, Two Ladies passing near the spot were alarmed by the sound of a Bullet hissing near them, to one of whom the following stanzas were addressed the next morning] Translation from Catullus. 'Ad Lesbiam' Translation of the Epitaph on Virgil and Tibullus, by Domitius Marsus Imitation of Tibullus. 'Sulpicia ad Cerinthum' Translation from Catullus. 'Lugete Veneres Cupidinesque' Imitated from Catullus. To Ellen

POEMS ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS. To M.S.G. Stanzas to a Lady, with the Poems of Camoëns To M.S.G. [second poem] Translation from Horace. 'Justum et tenacem', etc. The First Kiss of Love Childish Recollections Answer to a Beautiful Poem, Written by Montgomery, Author of "The Wanderer in Switzerland," etc., entitled "The Common Lot" Love's Last Adieu Lines Addressed to the Rev. J.T. Becher, on his advising the Author to mix more with Society Answer to some Elegant Verses sent by a Friend to the Author, complaining that one of his descriptions was rather too warmly drawn Elegy on Newstead Abbey

HOURS OF IDLENESS. To George, Earl Delawarr Damætas To Marion Oscar of Alva Translation from Anacreon. Ode I From Anacreon. Ode 3 The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus. A Paraphrase from the 'Æneid', Lib. 9 Translation from the 'Medea' of Euripides [L. 627-660] Lachin y Gair To Romance The Death of Calmar and Orla To Edward Noel Long, Esq. To a Lady

POEMS ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATED. When I Roved a Young Highlander To the Duke of Dorset To the Earl of Clare I would I were a Careless Child Lines Written beneath an Elm in the Churchyard of Harrow

EARLY POEMS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Fragment, Written Shortly after the Marriage of Miss Chaworth. First published in Moore's 'Letters and Journals of Lord Byron', 1830, i. 56 Remembrance. First published in 'Works of Lord Byron', 1832, vii. 152 To a Lady Who Presented the Author with the Velvet Band which bound her Tresses. 'Works', 1832, vii. 151 To a Knot of Ungenerous Critics. 'MS. Newstead' Soliloquy of a Bard in the Country. 'MS. Newstead' L'Amitié est L'Amour sans Ailes. 'Works', 1832, vii. 161 The Prayer of Nature. 'Letters and Journals', 1830, i. 106 Translation from Anacreon. Ode 5. 'MS. Newstead' [Ossian's Address to the Sun in "Carthon."] 'MS. Newstead' [Pignus Amoris.] 'MS. Newstead' [A Woman's Hair.] 'Works', 1832, vii. 151 Stanzas to Jessy. 'Monthly Literary Recreations', July, 1807 The Adieu. 'Works', 1832, vii. 195 To----. 'MS. Newstead' On the Eyes of Miss A----H----. 'MS. Newstead' To a Vain Lady. 'Works', 1832, vii. 199 To Anne. 'Works', 1832, vii. 201 Egotism. A Letter to J.T. Becher. 'MS. Newstead' To Anne. 'Works', 1832, vii. 202 To the Author of a Sonnet Beginning, "'Sad is my verse,' you say, 'and yet no tear.'" 'Works', 1832, vii. 202 On Finding a Fan. 'Works', 1832, 203 Farewell to the Muse. 'Works', 1832, vii. 203 To an Oak at Newstead. 'Works', 1832, vii. 206 On Revisiting Harrow. 'Letters and Journals', i. 102 To my Son. 'Letters and Journals', i. 104 Queries to Casuists. 'MS. Newstead' Song. Breeze of the Night. 'MS. Lovelace' To Harriet. 'MS. Newstead' There was a Time, I need not name. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 200 And wilt Thou weep when I am low? 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 202 Remind me not, Remind me not. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 197 To a Youthful Friend. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 185 Lines Inscribed upon a Cup Formed from a Skull. First published, 'Childe Harold', Cantos i., ii. (Seventh Edition), 1814 Well! Thou art Happy. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 192 Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 190 To a Lady, On Being asked my reason for quitting England in the Spring. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 195 Fill the Goblet Again. A Song. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 204 Stanzas to a Lady, on Leaving England. 'Imitations and Translations', 1809, p. 227

ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS

AND OTHER EARLY POEMS.

ON LEAVING NEWSTEAD ABBEY. [i]

Why dost thou build the hall, Son of the winged days? Thou lookest from thy tower to-day: yet a few years, and the blast of the desart comes: it howls in thy empty court.-OSSIAN. [1]

Through thy battlements, Newstead, [2] the hollow winds whistle: [ii] Thou, the hall of my Fathers, art gone to decay; In thy once smiling garden, the hemlock and thistle Have choak'd up the rose, which late bloom'd in the way.

Of the mail-cover'd Barons, who, proudly, to battle, [iii] Led their vassals from Europe to Palestine's plain, [3] The escutcheon and shield, which with ev'ry blast rattle, Are the only sad vestiges now that remain.

No more doth old Robert, with harp-stringing numbers, Raise a flame, in the breast, for the war-laurell'd wreath; Near Askalon's towers, John of Horistan [4] slumbers, Unnerv'd is the hand of his minstrel, by death.

Paul and Hubert too sleep in the valley of Cressy; For the safety of Edward and England they fell: My Fathers! the tears of your country redress ye: How you fought! how you died! still her annals can tell.

On Marston, [5] with Rupert, [6] 'gainst traitors contending, Four brothers enrich'd, with their blood, the bleak field; For the rights of a monarch their country defending, [iv] Till death their attachment to royalty seal'd. [7]

Shades of heroes, farewell! your descendant departing From the seat of his ancestors, bids you adieu! [v] Abroad, or at home, your remembrance imparting New courage, he'll think upon glory and you.

Though a tear dim his eye at this sad separation, [vi] 'Tis nature, not fear, that excites his regret; [vii] Far distant he goes, with the same emulation, The fame of his Fathers he ne'er can forget. [viii]

That fame, and that memory, still will he cherish; [ix] He vows that he ne'er will disgrace your renown: Like you will he live, or like you will he perish; When decay'd, may he mingle his dust with your own!

[Footnote 1: The motto was prefixed in _Hours of Idleness_.]

[Footnote 2: The priory of Newstead, or de Novo Loco, in Sherwood, was founded about the year 1170, by Henry II. On the dissolution of the monasteries it was granted (in 1540) by Henry VIII. to "Sir John Byron the Little, with the great beard." His portrait is still preserved at Newstead.]

[Footnote 3: No record of any crusading ancestors in the Byron family can be found. Moore conjectures that the legend was suggested by some groups of heads on the old panel-work at Newstead, which appear to represent Christian soldiers and Saracens, and were, most probably, put up before the Abbey came into the possession of the family.]

[Footnote 4: Horistan Castle, in _Derbyshire_, an ancient seat of the B--R--N family [4to]. (Horiston.--4to.)]

[Footnote 5: The battle of Marston Moor, where the adherents of Charles I. were defeated.]

[Footnote 6: Son of the Elector Palatine, and related to Charles I. He afterwards commanded the Fleet, in the reign of Charles II.]

[Footnote 7: Sir Nicholas Byron, the great-grandson of Sir John Byron the Little, distinguished himself in the Civil Wars. He is described by Clarendon (_Hist, of the Rebellion_, 1807, i. 216) as "a person of great affability and dexterity, as well as martial knowledge." He was Governor of Carlisle, and afterwards Governor of Chester. His nephew and heir-at-law, Sir John Byron, of Clayton, K.B. (1599-1652), was raised to the peerage as Baron Byron of Rochdale, after the Battle of Newbury, October 26, 1643. He held successively the posts of Lieutenant of the Tower, Governor of Chester, and, after the expulsion of the Royal Family from England, Governor to the Duke of York. He died childless, and was succeeded by his brother Richard, the second lord, from whom the poet was descended. Five younger brothers, as Richard's monument in the chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church records, "faithfully served King Charles the First in the Civil Wars, suffered much for their loyalty, and lost all their present fortunes." (See _Life of Lord Byron_, by Karl Elze: Appendix, Note (A), p. 436.)]

[Footnote i: 'On Leaving N ... ST ... D.'--[4to] 'On Leaving Newstead.'--('P. on V. Occasions.')]