"This copy purports on the title-page to be the fourth edition, but is in truth the fifth. Having pointed out to Murray, the bookseller, a variation between the copy of the fifth edition and this, he borrowed it from me, that he might show it to Lord Byron to have the circumstance explained; that his lordship told him he had printed the fifth edition, but, before its publication, having repented of the work altogether, he determined to destroy the whole impression. But the printer, as he observed, must have retained at least this one copy, and, by putting a false title-page, had sold it as the fourth edition," etc.—Notes and Queries, 1887, Series V. vol. vii. pp. 203, 204.
Mr. Murray's copy of the Fifth Edition contains, on the fly-leaves at the beginning of the volume, MS. versions of (1) The Curse of Minerva, pp. [i.]-[xi.]; (2) The Answer to Fitzgerald's Epigram, written at the "Alfred," on English Bards, etc., p. [xv.]; and on p. xvi. the following MS. Title-page:—
English Bards/ and Scotch Reviewers; a/ Satire/ By Lord Byron./ I had rather be a kitten, and cry, mew!/ Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers./ Shakspere./ Such shameless Bards we have; and yet 'tis true,/ There are as mad, abandon'd critics too./ Pope./ Fifth Edition,/ Unpublished; with considerable additions./ London:/ Printed for James Cawthorne,/ Cockspur Street./ 1812./
At the end of the volume a MS. version of "Lines on the Removing Lady Jersey's Portrait from the Gallery of Beauties," is on pp. [85], [86], and a MS. version of "On a Recent Discovery, 1813," on p. [89].
P. xiv. is headed by the following MS. note: "Lord Byron has two copies of this work, R. C. Dallas, Esq., has likewise two copies, and Mr. Leigh Hunt one."
VIII.
English Bards, etc.; a Satire. 1st Amer. from 3rd London Ed. Philadelphia. 1811. [8º.
[Cat. of Boston Athenæum Library, 1874.]
IX.
English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers; A Satire. By Lord Byron. Charleston: Moxford, Wellington & Co., 1811. [8º.