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 Waltz, 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