I am
indebted
to Mr.
Byron
"The English may
think of Byron as they please" (_Conversations of Goethe_, 1874, p.
171), "but this is certain, that they can show no poet who is to be
compared to him. He is different from all the others, and, for the most
part, greater. " The English may think of him as they please! and for
them, or some of them, there is "a better oenomel," a _vinum Daemonum_,
which Byron has not in his gift. The evidence of a world-wide fame will
not endear a poet to a people and a generation who care less for the
matter than the manner of verse, or who _believe_ in poetry as the
symbol or "_credo_" of the imagination or the spirit; but it should
arrest attention and invite inquiry. A bibliography is a dull epilogue
to a poet's works, but it speaks with authority, and it speaks last.
_Finis coronat opus! _
I must be permitted to renew my thanks to Mr. G. F. Barwick,
_Superintendent of the Reading Room_, Mr. Cyril Davenport, and other
officials of the British Museum, of all grades and classes, for their
generous and courteous assistance in the preparation and completion of
the Bibliography. The consultation of many hundreds of volumes of one
author, and the permission to retain a vast number in daily use, have
entailed exceptional labour on a section of the staff. I have every
reason to be grateful.
I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Pollard, of the British Museum, for advice and
direction with regard to bibliographical formulas; to Mr. G. L. Calderon,
late of the staff, for the collection and transcription of the
title-pages of Polish, Russian, and Servian translations; and to Mr. R.
Nisbet Bain for the supervision and correction of the proofs of Slavonic
titles.
To Mr. W. P. Courtney, the author of _Bibliotheca Cornubiensis_, I owe
many valuable hints and suggestions, and the opportunity of consulting
some important works of reference.
I have elsewhere acknowledged the valuable information with regard to
certain rare editions and pamphlets which I have received from Mr. H.
Buxton Forman, C.
think of Byron as they please" (_Conversations of Goethe_, 1874, p.
171), "but this is certain, that they can show no poet who is to be
compared to him. He is different from all the others, and, for the most
part, greater. " The English may think of him as they please! and for
them, or some of them, there is "a better oenomel," a _vinum Daemonum_,
which Byron has not in his gift. The evidence of a world-wide fame will
not endear a poet to a people and a generation who care less for the
matter than the manner of verse, or who _believe_ in poetry as the
symbol or "_credo_" of the imagination or the spirit; but it should
arrest attention and invite inquiry. A bibliography is a dull epilogue
to a poet's works, but it speaks with authority, and it speaks last.
_Finis coronat opus! _
I must be permitted to renew my thanks to Mr. G. F. Barwick,
_Superintendent of the Reading Room_, Mr. Cyril Davenport, and other
officials of the British Museum, of all grades and classes, for their
generous and courteous assistance in the preparation and completion of
the Bibliography. The consultation of many hundreds of volumes of one
author, and the permission to retain a vast number in daily use, have
entailed exceptional labour on a section of the staff. I have every
reason to be grateful.
I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Pollard, of the British Museum, for advice and
direction with regard to bibliographical formulas; to Mr. G. L. Calderon,
late of the staff, for the collection and transcription of the
title-pages of Polish, Russian, and Servian translations; and to Mr. R.
Nisbet Bain for the supervision and correction of the proofs of Slavonic
titles.
To Mr. W. P. Courtney, the author of _Bibliotheca Cornubiensis_, I owe
many valuable hints and suggestions, and the opportunity of consulting
some important works of reference.
I have elsewhere acknowledged the valuable information with regard to
certain rare editions and pamphlets which I have received from Mr. H.
Buxton Forman, C.
