["I was laid," says Lord Byron, "on my back, when this schoolboy thing was written, or rather dictated-expecting to rise no more, my physician having taken his sixteenth fee." In the private volume the poem opened differently: "Hence! thou unvarying song of varied loves, 88.-Page 90, line 6. To dazzle, though they please, my aching sight. [The next fifty-six lines, to "Here first remember'd be the joyous band," were added in the first edition of "Hours of Idleness."] 89.--Page 91, line 12. POMPOSUS' virtues are but known to few: [Dr. Butler, then head-master of Harrow. Had Lord Byron published another edition of these poems, it was his intention to replace these four lines by the four which follow: "If once my muse a harsher portrait drew, Warm with her wrongs, and deem'd the likeness true, 90.-Page 91, line 22. Who hail'd me chief, obedient to command; [On the retirement of Dr. Drury, three candidates for the vacant chair presented themselves-Messrs. Drury, Evans, and Butler. On the first movement to which this contest gave rise in the school, young Wildman was at the head of the party for Mark Drury, while Byron held himself aloof from any. Anxious, however, to have him as an ally, one of the Drury faction said to Wildman-" Byron, I know, will not join, because he does not choose to act second to any one, but, by giving up the leadership to him, you may at once secure him." This Wildman did, and Byron took the command.-MOORE.] 91.-Page 91, line 26. Or all the sable glories of his gown; [Instead of this couplet, the private volume has these lines: "Careless to soothe the pedant's furious frown, Scarcely respecting his majestic gown; 92.-Page 91, line 31. PROBUS, the pride of science, and the boast, Dr. Drury. This most able and excellent man retired from his situation in March, 1805, after having resided thirty-five years at Harrow; the last twenty as head-master; an office he held with equal honour to himself and advantage to the very extensive school over which he presided. Panegyric would here be superfluous: it would be useless to enumerate qualifications which were never doubted. A considerable contest took place between three rival candidates for his vacant chair: of this I can only say, Si mea cum vestris valuissent vota, Pelasgi! [Lord Byron's letters from IIarrow contain the same high praise of Dr. Drury. In one, of Nov. 2, 1804, he says-"There is so much of the gentleman, so much mildness, and nothing of pedantry in his character, that I cannot help liking him, and will remember his instructions with gratitude as long as I live." A week after, he adds-"I revere Dr. Drury. I dread offending him; not, however, through fear, but the respect I bear him makes me unhappy when I am under his displeasure." Dr. Drury has related the secret of the influence he obtained: the glance which told him that the lad was "a wild mountain colt," told him also that he could be "led with a silken string."] 93.-Page 91, line 38. POMPOSUS governs,—but, my muse, forbear: [This passage also, was, in a new edition, to have had a different turn: "Another fills his magisterial chair; Oh! may like honours crown his future name: 94. Page 92, line 38. Beneath one common stroke of fate expire: [During a rebellion at Harrow, the poet prevented the school-room from being burnt down, by pointing out to the boys the names of their fathers and grandfathers on the walls.] 95.-Page 93, line 12. Nor bolts nor bars against their strength avail'd; [Lord Byron elsewhere thus describes his usual course of life while at Harrow" always cricketing, rebelling, rowing, and in all manner of mischiefs." One day he tore down the gratings om the window of the hall; and when asked by Dr. Butler his reason for the outrage, coolly answered, "because they darkened the room."] 96.-Page 94, line 2. And friendship's feelings triumph'd over love. [This description of his emotions, in 1806, on encountering his former schoolfellows, falls far short of what occurred in an accidental meeting with Lord Clare, on the road between Imola and Bologna, in 1821. "This meeting," says Lord Byron, "annihilated for a moment all the years between the present time and the days of Harrow. It was a new and inexplicable feeling, like rising from the grave, to me. Clare too was much agitated-more in appearance than was myself; for I could feel his heart beat to his fingers' ends, unless, indeed, it was the pulse of my own which made me think so. We were but five minutes together, and on the public road; but I hardly recollect an hour of my existence which could be weighed against them." The sudden arrival at Pisa, in 1822, of another invaluable friend, produced kindred effects. "We were one evening seated," says Madame Guiccioli, "in the garden of the Palazzo Lanfranchi. At this moment a servant announced Mr. Hobhouse. The slight shade of melancholy diffused over Lord Byron's face gave instant.place to the liveliest joy; but it was so great, that it almost deprived him of strength. A fearful paleness came over his cheeks, and his eyes were filled with tears as he embraced his friend: his emotion was so great that he was forced to sit down."] 97.-Page 94, line 37. Alonzo! best and dearest of my friends, [The Hon. John Wingfield, of the Coldstream Guards, brother to Richard, fourth Viscount Powerscourt. He died in his twentieth year. Lord Byron at one time gave him the preference over all other friends.] 98.-Page 95, line 18. DAVUS, the harbinger of childish joy ; [The Rev. John Cecil Tattersall, B.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, who died Dec. 8, 1812, at Hall's Place, Kent, aged twenty-four.] 99.-Page 95, line 26. The rustic's musket aim'd against my life: [The "factious strife" was brought on by the breaking up of school, and the dismissal of some volunteers from drill, both happening at the same hour. The butt-end of a musket was aimed at Byron's head, and would have felled him to the ground, but for the interposition of Tattersall.-MOORE.] 100.-Page 95, line 35. An act like this can simple thanks repay [In the private volume: "Thus did you save that life I scarcely prize- 101.-Page 95, line 39. LYCUS! on me thy claims are justly great: [John Fitzgibbon, second Earl of Clare, afterwards Governor of Bombay, of whom Lord Byron said, in 1822, "I have always loved him better than any male thing in the world."-"I never," was his language in 1821, "hear the word' Clare' without a beating of the heart even now; and I write it with the feelings of 1803-4-5, ad infinitum." A remonstrance which Lord Clare addressed to him at school, was found among his papers (as were most of the notes of his early favourites), and on the back of it was an endorsement which is a fresh testimony of his affection:-"This and another letter were written at Harrow, by my then and, I hope, ever beloved friend, Lord Clare, when we were both schoolboys; and sent to my study in consequence of some childish misunderstanding, the only one which ever arose between us. It was of short duration, and I retain this note solely for the purpose of submitting it to his perusal, that we may smile over the recollection of the insignificance of our first and last quarrel."] 102.-Page 95, line 42. The feeble efforts of my lengthen'd song. [In the private volume, the following lines conclude this character: "For ever to possess a friend in thee, Was bliss unhoped, though not unsought by me. Thy softer soul was form'd for love alone, To ruder passions and to hate unknown; Thy mind, in union with thy beauteous form, Proclaim'd a heart abstracted from the earth. Oft, when depress'd with sad foreboding gloom, With kind compassion for thy comrade's woe; 103.-Page 96, line 11. Shall fair EURYALUS pass by unsung? [George John, fifth Earl of Delawarr.-"I am happy enough, and comfortable here," says Lord Byron, in a letter from Harrow of Oct. 25, 1804. "My friends are not numerous, but select. Among the principal, I rank Lord Delawarr, who is very amiable, and my particular friend.""Nov. 2, 1804. Lord Delawarr is considerably younger than me, but the most good-tempered, amiable, clever fellow in the universe. To all which he adds the quality (a good one in the eyes of women) of being remarkably handsome. Delawarr and myself are, in a manner, connected; for one of my forefathers, in Charles I.'s time, married into their family." The allusion in the text to their subsequent quarrel, receives further light from a letter which the poet addressed to Lord Clare in 1807 :-"You will be astonished to hear I have lately written to Delawarr, for the purpose of explaining (as far as possible, without involving some old friends of mine in the business), the cause of my behaviour to him during my last residence at Harrow, which you will recollect was rather en cavalier. Since that period I have discovered he was treated with injustice, both by those who misrepresented his conduct, and by me in consequence of their suggestions. I have, therefore, made all the reparation in my power, by apologising for my mistake, though with very faint hopes of success. However, I have eased my own conscience by the atonement, which is humiliating enough to one of my disposition; yet I could not have slept satisfied with the reflection of having, even unintentionally, injured any individual. I have done all that could be done to repair the injury."] 104.-Page 96, line 36. See honest, open, generous CLEON stand; [Edward Noel Long, Esq.] 105.-Page 97, line 3. As speakers each supports an equal name, This alludes to the public speeches delivered at the school where the author was educated. 106,-Page 97, line 13. Yet with the retrospection loves to dwell, [Thus in the private volume : "Yet in the retrospection finds relief, |