PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME.
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he text of the present edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ is basedupon a collation of volume i. of the Library Edition, 1855, with thefollowing MSS.: (i.) the original MS. of the First and Second Cantos, inByron's handwriting [MS. M.]; (ii.) a transcript of the First and SecondCantos, in the handwriting of R. C. Dallas [D.]; (iii.) a transcript ofthe Third Canto, in the handwriting of Clara Jane Clairmont [C.]; (iv.)a collection of "scraps," forming a first draft of the Third Canto, inByron's handwriting [MS.]; (v.) a fair copy of the first draft of theFourth Canto, together with the MS. of the additional stanzas, inByron's handwriting. [MS. M.]; (vi.) a second fair copy of the FourthCanto, as completed, in Byron's handwriting [D.]. The text of the First and Second Cantos has also been collated with thetext of the First Edition of the First and Second Cantos (quarto,1812); the text of the Third and of the Fourth Cantos with the texts ofthe First Editions of 1816 and 1818 respectively; and the text of theentire poem with that issued in the collected editions of 1831 and 1832. Considerations of space have determined the position and arrangement ofthe notes. Byron's notes to the First, Second, and Third Cantos, and Hobhouse'snotes to the Fourth Canto are printed, according to precedent, at theend of each canto. Editorial notes are placed in square brackets. Notes illustrative of thetext are printed immediately below the variants. Notes illustrative ofByron's notes or footnotes are appended to the originals or printed asfootnotes. Byron's own notes to the Fourth Canto are printed asfootnotes to the text. Hobhouse's "Historical Notes" are reprinted without addition or comment;but the numerous and intricate references to classical, historical, andarchaeological authorities have been carefully verified, and in manyinstances rewritten. In compiling the Introductions, the additional notes, and footnotes, Ihave endeavoured to supply the reader with a compendious manual ofreference. With the subject-matter of large portions of the threedistinct poems which make up the five hundred stanzas of _ChildeHarold's Pilgrimage_ every one is more or less familiar, but detailsand particulars are out of the immediate reach of even the mostcultivated readers. The poem may be dealt with in two ways. It may be regarded as arepertory or treasury of brilliant passages for selection and quotation;or it may be read continuously, and with some attention to the style andmessage of the author. It is in the belief that _Childe Harold_ shouldbe read continuously, and that it gains by the closest study, reassumingits original freshness and splendour, that the text as well as Byron'sown notes have been somewhat minutely annotated. In the selection and composition of the notes I have, in addition toother authorities, consulted and made use of the following editions of_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:_--
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