for the benefit of
Westland Marston. [Sir] Henry Irving appeared as "Werner," Miss Ellen
Terry as "Josephine," Mr. Alexander as "Ulric." (See for an appreciation
of Sir Henry Irving's presentation of _Werner_, the _Athenaeum_, June 4,
1887.)]

INTRODUCTION TO _WERNER_.

_Werner; or, The Inheritance_, was begun at Pisa, December 18, 1821, and
finished January 20, 1822. At the end of the month, January 29, Byron
despatched the MS., not to Murray, but to Moore, then in retreat at
Paris, intending, no doubt, that it should be placed in the hands of
another publisher; but a letter from Murray "melted him," and on March
6, 1822 (_Letters_, 1901, vi. 34), he desired Moore to forward the
packet to Albemarle Street. The play was set up in type, and revised
proofs were returned to Murray at the end of June; but, for various
reasons, publication was withheld, and, on October 31, Byron informed
John Hunt that he had empowered his friend Douglas Kinnaird to obtain
_Werner_, with other MSS., from Murray. None the less, milder counsels
again prevailed, and on Saturday, November 23, 1822, _Werner_ was
published, not in the same volume with _Heaven and Earth_, as Byron
intended and expected, nor by John Hunt, as he had threatened, but by
itself, and, as heretofore, by John Murray. _Werner_ was "the last of
all the flock" to issue from Murray's fold.

In his Preface to _Werner_ (_vide post_, p. 337) Byron disclaims all
pretensions to originality. "The following drama," he writes, "is taken
entirely from the 'German's Tale, Kruitzner,' published ... in Lee's
_Canterbury Tales_.... I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the
language, of many parts of this story." _Kruitzner_ seems to have made a
deep impression on his mind. When he was a boy of thirteen (_i.e._ in
1801, when the fourth volume of the _Canterbury Tales_ was published),
and again in 1815, he set himself to turn the tale into a drama. His
first attempt, named _Ulric and Ilvina_, he threw into the fire, but he
had nearly completed the first act of his second and maturer adaptation
when he was "interrupted by circumstances," that is, no doubt, the
circumstances which led up to and ended in the separation from his
wife. (See letter of October 9, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 391.)

On his leaving England for the Continent, April 25, 1816, the fragment
was left behind. Most probably the MS. fell into his sister's hands, for
in October, 1821,