The Works of Byron. Poetry, Vol. I., by Ernest Hartley
Coleridge, MA. Letters, Vol. I., by Rowland E. Prettier°. (John Murray. els. per vol.)—We have nothing but praise for these well-printed and pleasantly presented volumes of what is to become, when complete, the final and authoritative edition of Byron's works in verse and prose. When a more important stage is reached both in the development of Byron's poetic genius and of his stormy and unhappy life, we shall return to this most interesting work—one for which all true lovers of our literature should be sincerely grateful to Byron's original publishers—and shall deal with it at length. At present we will only say that those of the early poems which are now published for the first time are of no great interest, but that the notes and general editing are extremely well done. The same may be said of the editing of the letters, though here the new matter is more important, and naturally the scope for the editorial work larger. We get, indeed, from the letters a very striking picture of Byron's boy- hood. The English public is too apt to think that because a man happens to be a Peer he is sure to lead the life of a great noble, or at any rate that he did so a hundred years ago. As a matter of fact, this is not so. Byron never led the life which we associate with the typical great families of England. This is made very plain from the letters hers collected. It is hardly necessary to add that Byron's letters are delightful reading. That has been a literary commonplace ever since Moore's biography.
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