MOORE.
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NTRODUCTION TO _THE GIAOUR_ In a letter to Murray, dated Pisa, December 12, 1821 (_Life_, p. 545),Byron avows that the "Giaour Story" had actually "some foundation onfacts." Soon after the poem appeared (June 5, 1813), "a story wascirculated by some gentlewomen ... a little too close to the text"(Letters to Moore, September 1, 1813, _Letters_, 1898, ii. 258), and inorder to put himself right with his friends or posterity, Byron wrote tohis friend Lord Sligo, who in July, 1810, was anchored off Athens in "atwelve-gun brig, with a crew of fifty men" (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 289,note 1), requesting him to put on paper not so much the narrative of anactual event, but "what he had heard at Athens about the affair of thatgirl who was so near being put an end to while you were there."According to the letter which Moore published (_Life_, p. 178), andwhich is reprinted in the present issue (_Letters_, 1898, ii. 257),Byron interposed on behalf of a girl, who "in compliance with the strictletter of the Mohammedan law," had been sewn in a sack and was about tobe thrown into the sea. "I was told," adds Lord Sligo, "that you thenconveyed her in safety to the convent, and despatched her off at nightto Thebes." The letter, which Byron characterizes as "curious," is by nomeans conclusive, and to judge from the designedly mysterious referencesin the Journal, dated November 16 and December 5, and in the secondpostscript to a letter to Professor Clarke, dated December 15, 1813(_Letters_, 1898, ii. 321, 361, 311), "the circumstances which were thegroundwork" are not before us. "An event," says John Wright (ed. 1832,ix. 145), "in which Lord Byron was personally concerned, undoubtedlysupplied the groundwork of this tale; but for the story socircumstantially set forth (see Medwin's _Conversations_, 1824, pp. 121,124) of his having been the lover of this female slave, there is nofoundation. The girl whose life the poet saved at Athens was not, we areassured by Sir John Hobhouse (_Westminster Review_, January, 1825, iii.27), an object of his Lordship's attachment, but of that of his Turkishservant." Nevertheless, whatever Byron may have told Hobhouse (who hadreturned to England), and he distinctly says (_Letters_, 1898, ii. 393)that he did not tell him everything, he avowed to Clarke that he hadbeen led "to the water's edge," and confided to his diary that to"describe the _feelings_ of _that_ situation was impossible--it is _icy_even to recollect them." For the allusive and fragmentary style of the _Giaour_, _The Voyage ofColumbus_, which Rogers published in 1812, is in part responsible. "Itis sudden in its transitions," wrote the author, in the Preface to thefirst edition, "... leaving much to be imagined by the reader." Thestory or a part of it is told by a fellow-seaman of Columbus, who hadturned "eremite" in his old age, and though the narrative itself is inheroic verse, the prologue and epilogue, as they may be termed, are in"the romance or ballad-measure of the Spanish." The resemblance betweenthe two poems is certainly more than accidental. On the other hand, avivid and impassioned description of Oriental scenery and customs was,as Gifford observed, new and original, and though, by his own admission,Byron was indebted to _Vathek_ (or rather S. Henley's notes to _Vathek_)and to D'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque Orientale_ for allusions and details,the "atmosphere" could only have been reproduced by the creative fancyof an observant and enthusiastic traveller who had lived under Easternskies, and had come within ken of Eastern life and sentiment. In spite, however, of his love for the subject-matter of his poem, andthe facility, surprising even to himself, with which he spun his rhymes,Byron could not persuade himself that a succession of fragments wouldsort themselves and grow into a complete and connected whole. If histhrice-repeated depreciation of the _Giaour_ is not entirely genuine, itis plain that he misdoubted himself. Writing to Murray (August 26,1813) he says, "I have, but with some difficulty, _not_ added any moreto this snake of a poem, which has been lengthening its rattles everymonth;" to Moore (September 1), "The _Giaour_ I have added to a gooddeal, but still in foolish fragments;" and, again, to Moore (September8), "By the coach I send you a copy of that awful pamphlet the_Giaour_." But while the author doubted and apologized, or deprecated "his love'sexcess In words of wrong and bitterness," the public read, and editionfollowed edition with bewildering speed. The _Giaour_ was reviewed by George Agar Ellis in the _Quarterly_ (No.xxxi., January, 1813 [published February 11, 1813]) and in the_Edinburgh Review_ by Jeffrey (No. 54, January, 1813 [published February24, 1813]). BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON _THE GIAOUR_ The bibliography of the _Giaour_ is beset with difficulties, and it isdoubtful if more than approximate accuracy can be secured. Thecomposition of the entire poem in its present shape was accomplishedwithin six months, May-November, 1813, but during that period it wasexpanded by successive accretions from a first draft of 407 lines(extant in MS.) to a seventh edition of 1334 lines. A proof is extant ofan edition of 28 pages containing 460 lines, itself an enlargement onthe MS.; but whether (as a note in the handwriting of the late Mr.Murray affirms) this was or was not published is uncertain. A portion ofa second proof of 38 pages has been preserved, but of the publication ofthe poem in this state there is no record. On June 5 a first edition of41 pages, containing 685 lines, was issued, and of this numerous copiesare extant. At the end of June, or the beginning of July, 1813, a secondedition, entitled, a "New Edition with some Additions," appeared. Thisconsisted of 47 pages, and numbered 816 lines. Among the accretions isto be found the famous passage beginning, "He that hath bent him o'erthe dead." Two MS. copies of this _pannus vere purpureus_ are in Mr.Murray's possession. At the end of July, and during the first half ofAugust, two or more issues of a third edition were set up in type. Thefirst issue amounted to 53 pages, containing 950 lines, was certainlypublished in this form, and possibly a second issue of 56 pages,containing 1004 lines, may have followed at a brief interval. A reviseof this second issue, dated August 13, is extant. In the last fortnightof August a fourth edition of 58 pages, containing 1048 lines,undoubtedly saw the light. Scarcely more than a few days can haveelapsed before a fifth edition of 66 pages, containing 1215 lines, wasready to supplant the fourth edition. A sixth edition, a reproduction ofthe fifth, may have appeared in October. A seventh edition of 75 pages,containing 1334 lines, which presented the poem in its final shape, wasissued subsequently to November 27, 1813 (a seventh edition wasadvertised in the _Morning Chronicle_, December 22, 1813), the date ofthe last revise, or of an advance copy of the issue. The ninth, tenth,eleventh, and twelfth editions belong to 1814, while a fourteenthedition is known to have been issued in 1815. In that year andhenceforward the _Giaour_ was included in the various collected editionsof Byron's works. The subjoined table assigns to their several editionsthe successive accretions in their order as now published:-- Lines. _Giaour_. Edition of---- 1--6. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 7--20. Second edition. [47 pages, 816 lines.] Approximate date,June 24, 1813. 21--45. Third edition. [53 pages, 950 lines.] July 30, 1813. 46--102. Second edition. 103--167. Fifth edition. [66 pages, 1215 lines.] August 25, 1813. 168--199. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 200--250. Third edition. 251--252. Seventh edition. [75 pages, 1334 lines.] November 27, 1813. 253--276. Third edition. 277--287. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 288--351. Third edition. (Second issue?) August 11, 1813.[56 pages, 1004,? 1014 lines.] 352--503. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 504--518. Third edition. 519--619. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 620--654. Second edition. 655--688. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 689--722. Fourth edition. [58 pages, 1048 lines.] August 19. 723--737. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._733-4 not in the MS., but inFirst edition of 28 pages. 738--745. _First edition of_ 41 _pages_. June 5, 1813. 746--786. First edition of 28 pages. Not in the MS. 787--831. _MS. First edition of 28 pages_. 832--915. Seventh edition. 916--998. _First edition of 41 pages_.937-970 no MS. 999--1023. Second edition. 1024--1028. Seventh edition. 1029--1079. _First edition of 41 pages_. 1080--1098. Third edition. 1099--1125. _First edition of 41 pages_. 1126--1130. Seventh edition. 1131--1191. Fifth edition. 1192--1217. Seventh edition. 1218--1256. Fifth edition. 1257--1318. _First edition of 41 pages_. 1319--1334. _MS. First edition of 28 pages_.
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