in this etext, both in the note following
the title of MANFRED: the year 1348 was corrected to 1834, and the word
"Tschairowsky" was corrected to "Tschaikowsky."

THE WORKS

OF

LORD BYRON.

A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION,

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

Poetry. Vol. IV.

EDITED BY

ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE, M.A., HON. F.R.S.L.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
1901

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH VOLUME.

The poems included in this volume consist of thirteen longer or more
important works, written at various periods between June, 1816, and
October, 1821; of eight occasional pieces (_Poems of July-September_,
1816), written in 1816; and of another collection of occasional pieces
(_Poems_ 1816-1823), written at intervals between November, 1816, and
September, 1823. Of this second group of minor poems five are now
printed and published for the first time.

The volume is not co-extensive with the work of the period. The third
and fourth cantos of _Childe Harold_ (1816-1817), the first five cantos
of _Don Juan_ (1818, 1819, 1820), _Sardanapalus_, _The Two Foscari_,
_Cain_, and _Heaven and Earth_ (1821), form parts of other volumes, but,
in spite of these notable exceptions, the fourth volume contains the
work of the poet's maturity, which is and must ever remain famous. Byron
was not content to write on one kind of subject, or to confine himself
to one branch or species of poetry. He tracked the footsteps now of this
master poet, now of another, far outstripping some of his models; soon
spent in the pursuit of others. Even in his own lifetime, and in the
heyday of his fame, his friendliest critics, who applauded him to the
echo, perceived that the "manifold motions" of his versatile and
unsleeping talent were not always sanctioned or blessed by his genius.
Hence the unevenness of his work, the different values of this or that
poem. But, even so, in width of compass, in variety of style, and in
measure of success, his achievement was unparalleled. Take such poems as
_Manfred_ or _Mazeppa_, which have left th