The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 | Page 2

versatile and unsleeping talent were not always sanctioned or
blessed by his genius. Hence the unevenness of his work, the different
values of this or that poem. But, even so, in width of compass, in
variety of style, and in measure of success, his achievement was
unparalleled. Take such poems as _Manfred_ or _Mazeppa_, which
have left their mark on the literature of Europe; as _Beppo_, the _avant
courrier_ of _Don Juan_, or the "inimitable" _Vision of Judgment_,
which the "hungry generations" have not trodden down or despoiled of
its freshness. Not one of these poems suggests or resembles the other,

but each has its crowd of associations, a history and almost a literature
of its own.
The whole of this volume was written on foreign soil, in Switzerland or
Italy, and, putting aside _The Dream_, _The Monody on the Death of
Sheridan_, _The Irish Avatar_, and _The Blues_, the places, the
persons and events, the _matériel_ of the volume as a whole, to say
nothing of the style and metre of the poems, are derived from the
history and the literature of Switzerland and Southern Europe. An
unwilling, at times a vindictive exile, he did more than any other poet
or writer of his age to familiarize his own countrymen with the scenery,
the art and letters of the Continent, and, conversely, to make the
existence of English literature, or, at least, the writings of one
Englishman, known to Frenchmen and Italians; to the Teuton and the
Slav. If he "taught us little" as prophet or moralist; as a guide to
knowledge; as an educator of the general reader--"your British
blackguard," as he was pleased to call him--his teaching and influence
were "in widest commonalty spread."
Questions with regard to his personality, his morals, his theological
opinions, his qualifications as an artist, his grammar, his technique, and
so forth, have, perhaps inevitably, absorbed the attention of friend and
foe, and the one point on which all might agree has been overlooked,
namely, the fact that he taught us a great deal which it is desirable and
agreeable to know--which has passed into common knowledge through
the medium of his poetry. It is true that he wrote his plays and poems at
lightning speed, and that if he was at pains to correct some obvious
blunders, he expended but little labour on picking his phrases or
polishing his lines; but it is also true that he read widely and studied
diligently, in order to prepare himself for an outpouring of verse, and
that so far from being a superficial observer or inaccurate recorder, his
authority is worth quoting in questions of fact and points of detail.
The appreciation of poetry is a matter of taste, and still more of
temperament. Readers cannot be coerced into admiration, or scolded
into disapproval and contempt. But if they are willing or can be
persuaded to read with some particularity and attention the writings of

the illustrious dead, not entirely as partisans, or with the view to
dethroning other "Monarchs of Parnassus," they will divine the secret
of their fame, and will understand, perhaps recover, the "first rapture"
of contemporaries.
Byron sneered and carped at Southey as a "scribbler of all works." He
was himself a reader of all works, and without some measure of
book-learning and not a little research the force and significance of his
various numbers are weakened or obliterated.
It is with the hope of supplying this modicum of book-learning that the
Introductions and notes in this and other volumes have been compiled.
I desire to acknowledge, with thanks, the courteous response of Mons. J.
Capré, Commandant of the Castle of Chillon, to a letter of inquiry with
regard to the "Souterrains de Chillon."
I have to express my gratitude to Sir Henry Irving, to Mr. Joseph
Knight, and to Mr. F. E. Taylor, for valuable information concerning
the stage representation of _Manfred_ and _Marino Faliero_.
I am deeply indebted to Dr. Richard Garnett, C.B., and to my friend,
Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, for assistance in many important particulars
during the construction of the volume.
I must also record my thanks to Mr. Oscar Browning, Mr. Josceline
Courtenay, and other correspondents, for information and assistance in
points of difficulty.
I have consulted and derived valuable information from the following
works: _The Prisoner of Chillon_, etc., by the late Professor Kölbing;
_Mazeppa_, by Dr. Englaender; _Marino Faliero avanti il Dogado_ and
_La Congiura_ (published in the _Nuovo Archivio Veneto_), by Signor
Vittorio Lazzarino; and _Selections from the Poetry of Lord Byron_,
by Dr. F. I. Carpenter of Chicago, U.S.A.
I take the opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments to Miss K.
Schlesinger, Miss De Alberti, and to Signor F. Bianco, for their able

and zealous services in the preparation of portions of the volume.
On behalf