ker of sea-biscuits at
Wapping, was M.P. for the City of London 1790-1818, Lord Mayor 1795-6.
George IV. affected his society, visited him at Ramsgate, and sailed
with him in his gorgeously appointed yacht. When the king visited
Scotland in August, 1822, Curtis followed in his train. On first landing
at Leith, "Sir William Curtis, who had _celtified_ himself on the
occasion, marched joyously in his scanty longitude of kilt." At the
Levee, August 17, "Sir William Curtis again appeared in the Royal
tartan, but he had forsaken the philabeg and addicted himself to the
trews" (_Morning Chronicle_, August 19, 20, 1822). "The Fat Knight" was
seventy years of age, and there was much joking at his expense. See, for
instance, some lines in "Hudibrastic measure," _Gentleman's Magazine_,
vol. 92, Part II. p. 606--

"And who is he, that sleek and smart one
Pot-bellied pyramid of Tartan?

So mountainous in pinguitude,
_Ponderibus librata_ SUIS,
He stands like _pig_ of lead, so true is,
That his abdomen throws alone
A _Body-guard_ around the Throne!"]

[351] [Lines 771, 772 are not in the MS.]

THE ISLAND

OR,

CHRISTIAN AND HIS COMRADES.

INTRODUCTION TO _THE ISLAND_

The first canto of _The Island_ was finished January 10, 1823. We know
that Byron was still at work on "the poeshie," January 25 (_Letters_,
1901, vi. 164), and may reasonably conjecture that a somewhat illegible
date affixed to the fourth canto, stands for February 14, 1823. The MS.
had been received in London before April 9 (_ibid_., p. 192); and on
June 26, 1823, _The Island; or, The Adventures of Christian and his
Comrades_, was published by John Hunt.

Byron's "Advertisement," or note, prefixed to _The Island_ contains all
that need be said with regard to the "sources" of the poem.

Two separate works were consulted: (1) _A Narrative of the Mutiny on
board His Majesty's Ship Bounty, and the subsequent Voyage of ... the
Ship's Boat from Tafoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch
Settlement in the East Indies_, written by Lieutenant William Bligh,
1790; and (2) _An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands_, Compiled
and Arranged from the Extensive Communications of Mr. William Mariner,
by John Martin, M.D., 1817.

According to George Clinton (_Life and Writings of Lord Byron_, 1824, p.
656)