[414] The Political Litany appeared in 1817.
[415] That is, Castlereagh's.
[416] The well-known caricaturist (1792-1878), then only twenty-nine years old.
[417] Robert Stewart (1769-1822) was second Marquis of Londonderry and Viscount Castlereagh. As Chief Secretary for Ireland he was largely instrumental in bringing about the union of Ireland and Great Britain. He was at the head of the war department during most of the Napoleonic wars, and was to a great extent responsible for the European coalition against the Emperor. He suicided in 1822.
[418] John Murray (1778-1843), the well-known London publisher. He refused to finish the publication of Don Juan, after the first five cantos, because of his Tory principles.
[419] Only the first two cantos appeared in 1819.
[420] Proclus (412-485), one of the greatest of the neo-Platonists, studied at Alexandria and taught philosophy at Athens. He left commentaries on Plato and on part of Euclid's Elements.
[421] Thomas Taylor (1758-1835), called "the Platonist," had a liking for mathematics, and was probably led by his interest in number mysticism to a study of neo-Platonism. He translated a number of works from the Latin and Greek, and wrote two works on theoretical arithmetic (1816, 1823).
[422] There was an earlier edition, 1788-89.
[423] Georgius Gemistus, or Georgius Pletho (Plethon), lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was a native of Constantinople, but spent most of his time in Greece. He devoted much time to the propagation of the Platonic philosophy, but also wrote on divinity, geography, and history.