7 AUGUST 1982, page 20

Byronic

Gavin Ewart Choiseul and Talleyrand Charles Johnston (The Bodley Head £5.25) CharlCharl es Johnston now has four recent es of verse to his credit — Poems and Journeys (1979),......

Un-byronic

Peter Quennell Byron Frederic Raphael (Thames & Hud- son £8.95) A though Byron's portrait has always occupied a large and brightly il- luminated niche in the history of English......