Hints from Horace.

Note.—Two sets of proofs of a portion of Hints from Horace, formerly the property of R. C. Dallas, are preserved in the British Museum (Eg. 2029). Proof A consists of 100 lines of the English translation (lines 173-272); Proof B, pp. [87]-128, consists of 272 lines of the English translation (lines 1-272) and (on opposite pages) 188 lines of the original Latin. These proof-sheets, which must have followed proofs of the Fifth Edition of English Bards, etc., are preceded by a Half-title, Hints from Horace (Gothic characters), and by the following subsidiary title:—

Hints from Horace:/ Being a/ Partial Imitation, in English Verse, of the Epistle,/ "Ad Pisones de Arte Poetica;"/ And intended as a Sequel to/ English Bards and Scotch Reviewers./ [Gothic characters.] "Ergo fungar vice Cotis, acutum/ Reddere quæ ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi."/ Hor. De Arte Poet. 304-5./ "Rhymes are difficult things; they are stubborn things, sir."/ Fielding's Amelia, Vol. III./ Book and Chap. V./ Athens, Franciscan Convent,/ March 12, 1811./

The publication of Hints from Horace had been entrusted by Dallas to Cawthorn in July-August, 1811. It may be gathered from various sources (Letters, 1898, ii. 24, 54, 56) that Byron was at work on the proofs as late as September 4; that by October 11 he had resolved to defer the publication of the Hints; and that, accordingly on October 13, 1811, "they stood still." It was not, however, till after the appearance of Childe Harold's, etc. (May-June, 1812) that Byron determined to suppress the already printed Fifth Edition of English Bards, and at the same time to abandon the publication of his two other Satires. At this time, says Dallas (Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron, 1898, p. 241), "the Hints from Horace was far advanced." In his Recollections, etc. (pp. 104-113), he gives, by way of a "fair specimen," 156 "lines of the still-unpublished poem; and, as these extracts are taken from the first 211 lines, and his text corresponds with proof B (see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 390, variants ii., iii.), it may be inferred that Dallas transcribed them from his fragmentary proof-sheets, and that the press was stopped at line 272. In 1830, in his Notices of the Life of Lord Byron (vol. i. pp. 263-269), Moore printed 165 lines of the "Paraphrase;" but his selections are drawn from lines 1-458, and it is evident that he had access to an original MS. (MS. M.), which is now in Mr. Murray's possession. The full text, which follows the same MS., was first published in vol. v. pp. 273-327 of the six-volume edition of 1831 (vide ante, [No. xliii.] of "Collected Editions").

The Irish Avatar

Byron wrote the Irish Avatar at Ravenna, September 16, 1821. On the 17th he sent a copy of the verses to Moore, then resident at Paris; and on September 20 he desired Moore to get "twenty copies of the whole carefully and privately printed off." A copy is in the possession of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., and I am indebted to his kindness for the following description: "The pamphlet consists of four 8vo leaves, viz. half-title ('The Irish Avatar,' in bold capitals, with blank verse), pp. [1], [2] + Text, pp. 3-8. The poem begins on the third page with a dropped head, 'The Irish Avatar' again, and the first four verses. Pp. 4-7 contain six verses each, and p. 8 the remaining four, making up thirty-two in all. The date at the end of p. 8 is 'September 16, 1821.' There is no title-page proper; a headline, 'The Irish Avatar,' occurs on pp. 4-8, which pages are numbered in Arabic figures in the outside corners, and the thirty-two stanzas are also numbered in Arabic figures. The poem is printed on a half-sheet of a peculiar fine-ribbed paper." Twenty stanzas of The Irish Avatar were printed by Medwin in Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824, pp. 216-220, and in a second edition, 1824, pp. 332-338. In a "new edition" of the Conversations, etc., 1824, pp. 264-270, the entire poem, numbering thirty-two stanzas, was published for the first time in England (see Athenæum, July 27, 1901). The Irish Avatar was first published by Murray in 1831 (Works, vi. 419-425).

The Island

I.

The Island,/ or/ Christian and His Comrades./ By the/ Right Hon. Lord Byron./ London, 1823:/ Printed for John Hunt,/ 22, Old Bond Street./ [8º.

Collation—