er. His translation of the first canto of Pulci's _Morgante Maggiore_
(published in the _Liberal_, No. IV., July 30, 1832), a laborious and
scholarly achievement, was the work of the first two months of the year.
From April to July he was at work on the composition of _Marino Faliero,
Doge of Venice_, a tragedy in five acts (published April 21, 1821). The
plot turns on an episode in Venetian history known as _La Congiura_, the
alliance between the doge and the populace to overthrow the state. Byron
spared no pains in preparing his materials. In so far as he is
unhistorical, he errs in company with Sanudo and early Venetian chronicles.
Moved by the example of Alfieri he strove to reform the British drama by "a
severer approach to the rules." He would read his countrymen a "moral
lesson" on the dramatic propriety of observing the three unities. It was an
heroic attempt to reassert classical ideals in a romantic age, but it was
"a week too late"; Byron's "regular dramas" are admirably conceived and
finely worded, but they are cold and lifeless.

Eighteen additional sheets of the _Memoirs_ and a fifth canto of _Don Juan_
were the pastime of the autumn, and in January 1821 Byron began to work on
his second "historical drama," _Sardanapalus_. But politics intervened, and
little progress was made. He had been elected _capo_ of the "_Americani_,"
a branch of the Carbonari, and his time was taken up with buying and
storing arms and ammunition, and consultations with leading conspirators.
"The poetry of politics" and poetry on paper did not go together. Meanwhile
he would try his hand on prose. A controversy had arisen between Bowles and
Campbell with regard to the merits of Pope. Byron rushed into the fray. To
avenge and exalt Pope, to decry the "Lakers," and to lay down his own
canons of art, Byron addressed two letters to **** ****** (_i.e._ John
Murray), entitled "Strictures on the Life and Writings of Pope." The first
was published in 1821, the second in 1835.

The revolution in Italy came to nothing, and by the 28th of May, Byron had
finished his work on _Sardanapalus_. The _Two Foscari_, a third historical
drama, was begun on the 12th of June and finished on the 9th of July. On
the same day he began _Cain, a Mystery_. _Cain_ was an attempt to dramatize
the Old Testament; Lucifer's apology for himself and his arraignment of the
Creator startled and shocked the orthodox. Theologically the offence lay in
its detachment. _Cain_