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 quae 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 (pp. 104-113), he gives, by way of a "fair specimen," 156 "lines of the still-unpublished poem; and, as these extracts are taken from the first 211 lines, and his text corresponds with proof B (see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 390, variants ii., iii.),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 _Athenaeum_, 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./ [8.
_Collation_--
Half-title (R. _London: Printed by C.H. Riynell, Broad-Street, Golden-Square_), pp. 1, 2, Title, one leaf, pp. 3, 4; Author's Advt., p. 6; Text, pp. 7-79 + Appendix, pp. 81-94. The Imprint, as above, is at the foot of p. 94.
_Note_.--A Second and a Third Edition, identical with the First, were published by John Hunt in 1823. _The Island_ forms part (pp. 193-244) of a collection of Miscellaneous Poems, _Hebrew Melodies, The Deformed Transformed_, etc., printed and published by W. Dugdale, 23, Russell Court, Drury Lane, in 1825.
II.
The Island;/ or/ Christian and His Comrades./ By The Right Hon. Lord Byron./ Paris:/ Published by A. and W. Galignani,/ At the French, English, Italian, German, and Spanish Library,/ No. 18, Rue Vivienne./ 1823/ [12.
_Collation_--
Half-title (R. _Paris: Printed by A. Belin_), one leaf; Title, one leaf; Second Half-title, pp. 1, 2; Author's Advt., pp. 3, 4; Text + App., pp.
5-95.
III.
_The Island, or Christian and His Comrades_. New York. 1823. [12.
[Cat. of Books in Bates Hall of Pub. Library of Boston.]
_Translations of The Island_.
_German_.
_Die Insel_, ober Christian u. seine Kameraden. Aus d. Engl. (v. F.L.
Breuer). Mit gegenubersteh. Originaltext. Leipzig, Brockhaus. 1827. [8.
[Kayser, 1834.]
_Italian_.
_L'Isola_, poema di lord Byron, traduzione di Morrone. Napoli, tipographia di De Muro, 1840. [8.
[_Bibliographia Italiana_, Oct., 1840.]
_Polish_.
Wyspa czyli Chrystyan i jego towarzysze ...Przeklad Adama Pajgerta. pp.
62, _druk. "Czasu": Krakow_, 1859. [8.
_Swedish_.
on/ Eller/.. Christian och Hans Stallbroder./ Af/ Lord Byron./ ofversattning. [Af/ Talis Qualis.] Stockholm,/ J.L. Brudins Forlag./ [1856.] [8.
_Collation_--
Pp. 88.
_Note_.--No. 8 of "Byron's Poetiska Berattelser."
_The Lament of Tasso_.
I.
The/ Lament of Tasso./ By Lord Byron./ London:/ John Murray, Albemarle-Street./ 1817./ [8.
_Collation_--
Title, one leaf, pp. 3, 4; Note (on MSS., etc.), pp. 5, 6; Text, pp.
7-19 + p. [20], Advt. of Poems. The Imprint (_T. Davison, Lombard-Street,/ Whitefriars, London./_) is at the foot of p. [20].
_Note_.--The Half-title (? missing) is not in the Museum copy.
II.
The/ Lament of Tasso./ By Lord Byron./ Second Edition./ London:/ John Murray, Albemarle-Street./ 1817/./ [8.
_Collation_--
Title, one leaf, pp. 3, 4; Advt., pp. 5, 6; Text, pp. 7-18.