s_ (Art of Poetry), and (March 17) _The Curse of
Minerva_ (published 1815), a skit on Lord Elgin's deportation of the
metopes and frieze of the Parthenon.

He left Athens in April, passed some weeks at Malta, and landed at
Portsmouth (c. July 20). Arrived in London his first step was to consult
his literary adviser, R.C. Dallas, with regard to the publication of _Hints
from Horace_. Of _Childe Harold_ he said nothing, but after some hesitation
produced the MS. from a "small trunk," and, presenting him with the
copyright, commissioned Dallas to offer it to a publisher. Rejected by
Miller of Albemarle Street, who published for Lord Elgin, it was finally
accepted by Murray of Fleet Street, who undertook to share the profits of
an edition with Dallas.

Meanwhile Mrs Byron died suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy. Byron set off
at once for Newstead, but did not find his mother alive. He had but little
affection for her while she lived, but her death touched him to the quick.
"I had but one friend," he exclaimed, "and she is gone." Another loss
awaited him. Whilst his mother lay dead in his house, he heard that his
friend Matthews had been drowned in the Cam. Edleston and Wingfield had
died in May, but the news had reached him on landing. There were troubles
on every side. On the 11th of October he wrote the "Epistle to a Friend"
("Oh, banish care," &c.) and the lines "To Thyrza," which, with other
elegies, were appended to the second edition of _Childe Harold_ (April 17,
1812). It was this cry of desolation, this open profession of melancholy,
which at first excited the interest of contemporaries, and has since been
decried as morbid and unreal. No one who has read his letters can doubt the
sincerity of his grief, but it is no less true that he measured and
appraised its literary significance. He could and did turn it to account.

Towards the close of the year he made friends with Moore. Some lines in
_English Bards_, &c. (ii. 466-467), taunting Moore with fighting a duel
with Jeffrey with "leadless pistol" had led to a challenge, and it was not
till Byron returned to England that explanations ensued, and that the
challenge was withdrawn. As a poet Byron outgrew Moore, giving back more
than he had received, but the friendship which sprang up between them still
serves Byron in good stead. Moore's _Life of Byron_ (1830) is no doubt a
picture of the man at his best, but it is a genuine likeness. At the end of
October Byron move