t to be prefixed y^e Poem_.--[MS. B.M.]

[b] _Professes to describe_.--[MS. B.M.]

[c] ----_that in the fictitious character of "Childe Harold" I may incur
the suspicion of having drawn "from myself." This I beg leave once for
all to disclaim. I wanted a character to give some connection to the
poem, and the one adopted suited my purpose as well as any other_.--[MS.
B.M.]

[d] {4} _Such an idea_.--[MS. B.M.]

[e] _My readers will observe that where the author speaks in his own
person he assumes a very different tone from that of_

"_The cheerless thing, the man without a friend_,"

_at least, till death had deprived him of his nearest connections_.

_I crave pardon for this Egotism, which proceeds from my wish to discard
any probable imputation of it to the text_.--[MS. B.M.]

[2] ["In the 13th and 14th centuries the word 'child,' which signifies a
youth of gentle birth, appears to have been applied to a young noble
awaiting knighthood, e.g. in the romances of _Ipomydon_, _Sir Tryamour_,
etc. It is frequently used by our old writers as a title, and is
repeatedly given to Prince Arthur in the _Faerie Queene_"--(_N. Eng.
Dict._, art. "Childe").

Byron uses the word in the Spenserian sense, as a title implying youth
and nobility.]

[3] [John, Lord Maxwell, slew Sir James Johnstone at Achmanhill, April
6, 1608, in revenge for his father's defeat and death at Dryffe Sands,
in 1593. He was forced to flee to France. Hence his "Good Night."
Scott's ballad is taken, with "some slight variations," from a copy in
Glenriddel's MSS.--_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, 1810, i.
290-300.]

[4] [Amongst others, _The Battle of Talavera_, by John Wilson Croker,
appeared in 1809; _The Vision of Don Roderick_, by Walter Scott, in
1811; and _Portugal, a Poem_, by Lord George Grenville, in 1812.]

[f] _Some casual coincidence_.--[MS. B.M.]

[5] {5} Beattie's Letters. [See letter to Dr. Blacklock, September 22,
1766 (_Life of Beattie_, by Sir W. Forbes, 1806, i. 89).]

[g] _Satisfied that their failure_.--[MS. B.M.]

[6] [See _Quarterly Review_, March, 1812, vol. vii. p. 191: "The moral
code of chivalry was not, we admit, quite pure and spotless, but its
laxity on some points was redeemed by the noble spirit of gallantry
which courted personal danger in the defence of the sovereign ... of
women because they are often lovely, and always helpless; and of the
priesthood.... Now, _Childe Harold_, if not absolutely craven a