Dedication of Don Juan.
The following note was attached to the "Dedication" which was prefixed to the First Canto in 1833 (Works, 1833, xv. 101):—
"Note(1). [This 'Dedication' was suppressed in 1819, with Lord Byron's reluctant consent; but, shortly after his death, its existence became notorious, in consequence of an article in the Westminster Review, generally ascribed to Sir John Hobhouse, and for several years the verses have been selling in the streets as a broadside. It could therefore serve no purpose to exclude them on the present occasion.]" See, too, Poetical Works, 1903, vi. 3.
I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., for the following description of one of these "broadsides," now in his possession:—
"Single sheet foolscap 8vo, consisting of Half-title, 'Dedication/ to/Don Juan,/' with Imprint on verso ('London:/ printed by C. and W. Reynell, Broad Street,/ Golden Square'); Title-page, 'Dedication/ to/ Don Juan./ by/ Lord Byron./ London:/ Published by Effingham Wilson,/Royal Exchange./ 1833./' On the verso of this is a note—
"'[Why the following Dedication did not appear with the two first published Cantos of the Poem cannot be explained—unless the connection between Mr. Murray and Mr. Southey sufficiently explains it.]'
"The first page of the Text (p. 5, but not numbered) contains the dropped head 'Don Juan./ Dedication.' and one stanza. Pp. 6-10 contain two stanzas each, and p. 11 one. The headline 'Don Juan' runs from p. 6 to p. 11, and the stanzas are numbered in Roman capital figures. P. 12 is blank, and is followed by a Half-title, 'Notes,' with a blank verso. The Notes occupy pp. 15 and 16, of which 15 is not numbered, but has a dropped head, 'Notes.' Page 16 is numbered, and has the headline 'Notes.'"
Diadem Hill (Annesley Park), Where Lord Byron Parted From Mary Chaworth.