ondon, 1825, p. 284.)

It has been generally held that the _Siege of Corinth_ was written in
the second half of 1815 (Koelbing's _Siege of Corinth_, p. vii.). "It
appears," says John Wright (_Works_, 1832, x. 100), "by the original
MS., to have been begun in July, 1815;" and Moore (_Life_, p. 307), who
probably relied on the same authority, speaks of "both the _Siege of
Corinth_ and _Parisina_ having been produced but a short time before the
Separation" (i.e. spring, 1816). Some words which Medwin
(_Conversations_, 1824, p. 55) puts into Byron's mouth point to the same
conclusion. Byron's own testimony, which is completely borne out by the
MS. itself (dated J^y [i.e. January, not July] 31, 1815), is in direct
conflict with these statements. In a note to stanza xix. lines 521-532
(_vide post_, pp. 471-473) he affirms that it "was not till after these
lines were written" that he heard "that wild and singularly original and
beautiful poem [_Christabel_] recited;" and in a letter to S. T.
Coleridge, dated October 27, 1815 (_Letters_, 1899, iii. 228), he is
careful to explain that "the enclosed extract from an unpublished poem
(i.e. stanza xix. lines 521-532) ... was written before (not seeing your
_Christabelle_ [sic], for that you know I never did till this day), but
before I heard Mr. S[cott] repeat it, which he did in June last, and
this thing was begun in January, and more than half written before the
Summer." The question of plagiarism will be discussed in an addendum to
Byron's note on the lines in question; but, subject to the correction
that it was, probably, at the end of May (see Lockhart's _Memoir of the
Life of Sir W. Scott_, 1871, pp. 311-313), not in June, that Scott
recited _Christabel_ for Byron's benefit, the date of the composition of
the poem must be determined by the evidence of the author himself.

The copy of the MS. of the _Siege of Corinth_ was sent to Murray at the
beginning (probably on the 2nd, the date of the copy) of November, and
was placed in Gifford's hands about the same time (see letter to Murray,
November 4, 1815, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 245; and Murray's undated letter
on Gifford's "great delight" in the poem, and his "three critical
remarks," _Memoir of John Murray_, 1891, i. 356). As with _Lara_, Byron
began by insisting that the _Siege_ should not be published separately,
but slipped into a fourth volume of the collected works, and once again
(possibly when he had at last made up his min