viewers." The note upon the
latter poem, which had been the lucky origin of our acquaintance, was
withdrawn in this edition, and a few words of explanation, which he had
the kindness to submit to my perusal, substituted in its place.

In the month of January, the whole of the two Cantos being printed off,
some of the poet's friends, and, among others, Mr. Rogers and myself,
were so far favoured as to be indulged with a perusal of the sheets. In
adverting to this period in his "Memoranda," Lord Byron, I remember,
mentioned,--as one of the ill omens which preceded the publication of
the poem,--that some of the literary friends to whom it was shown
expressed doubts of its success, and that one among them had told him
"it was too good for the age." Whoever may have pronounced this
opinion,--and I have some suspicion that I am myself the guilty
person,--the age has, it must be owned, most triumphantly refuted the
calumny upon its taste which the remark implied.

It was in the hands of Mr. Rogers I first saw the sheets of the poem,
and glanced hastily over a few of the stanzas which he pointed out to me
as beautiful. Having occasion, the same morning, to write a note to Lord
Byron, I expressed strongly the admiration which this foretaste of his
work had excited in me; and the following is--as far as relates to
literary matters--the answer I received from him.

[Footnote 40: If there could be any doubt as to his intention of
delineating himself in his hero, this adoption of the old Norman name of
his family, which he seems to have at first contemplated, would be
sufficient to remove it.]

[Footnote 41: In the MS. the names "Robin" and "Rupert" had been
successively inserted here and scratched out again.]

[Footnote 42: Here the manuscript is illegible.]

[Footnote 43: Among the acknowledged blemishes of Milton's great poem,
is his abrupt transition, in this manner, into an imitation of Ariosto's
style, in the "Paradise of Fools."]

* * * * *

LETTER 83. TO MR. MOORE.

"January 29. 1812.

"My dear Moore,

"I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state of
ludicrous tribulation. * * *

"Why do you say that I dislike your poesy? I have expressed no such
opinion, either in _print_ or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it
was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite
charge of immorality, because I could discover no other,