Among the first who called attention to the "inextricable tangle" of the several editions of English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers was Mr. Leicester Warren, better known as Lord de Tabley, who communicated some notes in 1877 to Notes and Queries (Series V. vol. vii. pp. 145, etc.); but it was reserved to the late Mr. Dykes Campbell, Mr. Bertram Dobell, and other correspondents to the AthenÆum (May 5 to July 7, 1894), to point out that the problem was still farther complicated by the existence of spurious issues of at least three out of the five or six distinct editions of the Satire.

All editions, genuine or spurious, claim as their publisher "James Cawthorn, British Library, No. 24 Cockspur Street," but different printers were employed. The First Edition bears the imprint of "T. Collins, Printer, No. 1, Harvey's Buildings, Strand;" the Second Edition, that of "Deans and Co. Hart Street, Covent Garden;" the Third Edition, that of "T. Collins," etc.; the Fourth Edition of 1810, that of "T. Collins," etc.; the Fourth Edition of 1811 ("James Cawthorn and Sharpe and Hailes"), that of "Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street, London." No printer's name was attached to the suppressed Fifth Edition of 1812.

Genuine First Editions have the water-mark, "E. and P. 1804," or "E. and P. 1805," or, possibly, no water-mark at all. A copy of the spurious First Edition, in Mr. Murray's possession, has the water-mark, "S. and C. Wise, 1812." In addition to at least eleven variants in punctuation, the spurious copy prints (p. 5, line 47) "Wizzard" (p. 20 n.), "Medeira," and, in the same note, "Anna d'Afert;" whereas the genuine copies print correctly "Wizard," "Madeira," and "Anna d'Arfet."

A genuine copy of the Second Edition, which belonged to the late Mr. Dykes Campbell, bears the water-mark "Budgen and Willmot, 1808." On p. 80, line 1007, "Abedeen" is misprinted for "Aberdeen;" and the same misprint occurs in a copy of the Second Edition in the British Museum. In all probability there was no spurious issue of the Second Edition.

Of the Third Edition (1810), copies bearing the water-mark, "E.&P. 1804," or "G.&R.T.," may be regarded as genuine—rare exceptions among a host of forgeries which either lack a water-mark altogether or bear water-marks of a later period. Mr. Gilbert R. Redgrave, in an article (The Library, December 1, 1899, Series II. vol. i. pp. 18-25), notes two distinct and divergent forgeries bearing the water-mark "Pine, and Thomas, 1812." Forgery A prints "myse" for "muse" (line 4), "rove" for "rave" (line 384), etc.; while forgery B, in a footnote to p. 30, prints "Bowle'ss" for "Bowles's," and, at the end of p. 85, "we" for "me," and "farther" for "further." Other copies bear the water-marks, "Allnutt, 1816," "Smith & Allnutt, 1816," "Ivy Mills, 1817," and "I.&R. Ansell, 1818." A copy of a spurious issue of the Third Edition in the British Museum prints "crawl" for "scrawl" (line 47), and "p. 73" for "p. 85."

It has been surmised, but conclusive proof is not forthcoming, that a so-called Fourth Edition of 1810 (1050 lines), which purports to have been published by James Cawthorn, and bears the imprint, "Printed by J. Collins, Harvey's Buildings, Strand, London," is a spurious issue. It is practically a reprint of the Third Edition; but in some copies there are misprints not to be found in other piracies—e.g. "crouds" for "crowds" (line 269), and "alter" for "altar"(line 285).

Copies of the Fourth Edition of 1810, which may possibly be genuine, bear a water-mark, "G.&R.T.," or are on plain paper. Copies which are manifestly forgeries bear the water-marks, "J.X. 1810" and "W. Pickering, 1816."

A second Fourth Edition (1052 lines), published by "James Cawthorn and Sharp & Hailes, 1811," and printed by "Cox, Son, & Baylis," was certainly recognized by Byron as a genuine Fourth Edition, and must have passed through his hands, or been subject to his emendation, before it was sent to press. Copies of this edition bear his MS. emendations of 1811-1812, and marginal notes of 1816. Genuine copies (e.g. Leigh Hunt's copy, now in the Forster Collection at the South Kensington Museum) are printed on paper bearing a water-mark, "J. Whatman, 1805." There was, however, another issue of the Fourth Edition of 1811, printed on plain paper. Mr. Redgrave notes certain minute differences between these two issues. In the edition on plain paper there is a hyphen to "Cockspur-Street" on the title-page, and the word "Street" is followed by a comma instead of a semicolon. Again, in the plain-paper copies "Lambe" is spelt with an e, and in the water-mark copies the word is correctly spelt "Lamb." In the plain-paper copies the misprint "Postcript" for "Postscript" is repeated, and in the copies bearing a water-mark the word is correctly spelt "Postscript." There are other differences in the advertisements at the end of the volume.

A spurious Fourth Edition in Mr. Murray's possession, which has been enriched with a series of prints of persons and places, bears the water-marks, "1811," "1814." Each page has been inserted into a folio sheet bearing the water-mark, "J. Whatman, 1816." A full-sized octavo, in small print (B.M. 11645 P. 15), which purports to be the Fourth Edition of 1811, is probably spurious. It is the survival of a distinct issue from other genuine or spurious copies of the Fourth Edition.

The spurious issues of the Third and Fourth Editions, whether they were printed in Ireland or were secretly thrown upon the market by James Cawthorn after Byron had definitely selected Murray as his publisher, were designed for the general reader and not for the collector. The issue of a spurious First Edition after the improved and enlarged editions of 1809-11 were published, must have been designed for the Byron enthusiast, if not the collector of First Editions.

The Grangerized Fourth Editions prepared by Mr. W. M. Tartt and Mr. Evans in 1819, 1820, and a Third, by John Murray at about the same period, and, more remarkable still, a copy of the Fourth Edition of 1811, prefaced by a specially printed "List of Names mentioned in the English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers" interleaved with the additions made in the Fifth Edition (B.M.), point to the existence of a circle of worshippers who were prepared to treat Byron's Juvenilia as seriously as the minute critics of the present generation. They seem to have been sufficiently numerous to make piracy, if not forgery, profitable.

Additions in the Second, Third, and Fourth (a) Editions.

[The lines are numbered as in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions.]

696–16 (Hobhouse's lines) = 680 + 370 = 1050.

Addition in Fourth Edition (1811).

1050 + 2 = 1052.

Additions in the Fifth (Present) Edition.

1052 + 18 = 1070.

Emendations of the Text of the Fourth Edition (b) included in the text of the Fifth and Present Edition.

Fourth Edition.Fifth Edition.

Note (3).—The Annotated Copies of the Fourth Edition of 1811.

Two annotated copies of the genuine Fourth Edition of English Bards, etc. [1811], with MS. corrections in Byron's handwriting, are extant—one in Mr. Murray's possession, and a second in the Forster Library at the South Kensington Museum. The former, which contains the marginal comments marked "B. 1816," has been assumed to have been prepared as a press copy for the Fifth Edition; but, as the following collation reveals, the latter, which belonged to Leigh Hunt, represents a fuller and later, though not a final revision. The half-title bears the inscription, "Byron, Dec. 31^st, 1811. N—d. A^y [i.e. Newstead Abbey] B.

and the verso the words, "Given me by the author on my birthday, Oct. 19, 1815. Leigh Hunt."

u

P. 5. ingenious. [The misprint is a note of a genuine copy.]

Lines 173, 174.

Low may they sink to merited contempt
And scorn remunerate the mean attempt.
Still for stern Mammon may they toil in vain,
And sadly gaze on Gold they cannot gain.

[This emendation is not given in the Murray copy.]

Lines 257, 258.

So
How well the subject suits his noble mind!
"A fellow feeling makes us wond'rous kind,"
He brays the Laureat of the long-eared kind!

[The Murray copy, which amends line 258 as above, leaves the "How" unerased, but the Fifth Edition prints "So."]

Lines 323-328.

And shows, dissolved in thine own tears.
still whimpering through threescore years.
Whether in sighing-winds thou seek'st relief,
Or consolation in a yellow leaf.
Whether in equal strains thou vent'st thy grief
O'er falling Empires or a yellow leaf.

[The Murray copy gives no emendation. The Fifth Edition adopts the first correction, but, for the variant in lines 327, 328, reads—
Whether thou sing'st with equal ease and grief
The fall of Empires or a yellow leaf.]

Line 336. All love thy strain
rhyme

Line 385. Fresh fish from Helicon
Hippocrene

[The Murray copy adds a note: "The Fifth Edition reads Hippocrene."]

Lines 387, 388.
Too much in turtle Bristol's sons delight,
Too much o'er bowls of Rack prolong the night.
Your turtle-feeder's verse must needs be flat,
Though Bristol bloat him with the verdant fat.

[The Murray copy does not contain this emendation, which was adopted in the Fifth Edition.

P. 36 n. The Hunt copy gives in MS. the note concerning Moore—"I am informed," etc.—which is printed in the Fifth Edition. There is no similar annotation in the Murray copy.

Line 502. For "ranks illustrious" both annotated copies read "oat-fed phalanx."]

Lines 532, 533.
And grateful to the founder of the feast,
Declare his landlord can translate, at least.
And grateful for the dainties on his plate,
Declare his landlord can at least translate.

[The amended lines, which appeared in the Fifth Edition, are not in the Murray copy.]

Lines 552, 553.
While Kenny's World just suffered to proceed,
Proclaims the audience very kind indeed.
While Kenny's World—ah where is Kenny's wit?
listless
Tires the sad Gallery—lulls the listening pit.

[The emendation is given in both annotated copies; but the substitution of "listless" for "listening," which is adopted in the Fifth Edition, does not appear in the Murray copy,]

Line 563. Let Comedy resume
ass

[The correction is not given in the Murray copy.]

Line 569. and Kemble lives to tread.
Siddons

[The substitution of "Siddons" for "Kemble," which dates from the Fifth Edition, is not given in the Murray copy.]

Line 728.
Want your defence, let Pity be your screen
plea
Want is your plea, let Pity be your screen.

Lines 815, 816.
The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair
Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there.
The Spoiler swept that soaring Lyre away,
Which she had sounded an immortal lay.

[The emendation appears in both the annotated copies.]

L. 903. Let Moore be lewd
still sigh [This emendation does not appear in the Murray copy, but the words ["be lewd"] have been underscored with a pencil, and a X placed against them.]

Line 946.
And even spurns the great Scatonian prize.
Even from the tempting ore of Seaton's prize.

[This emendation is given in both the annotated copies.]

Lines 965, 966.
So sunk in dullness and so lost in shame
That Smythe and Hodgson scarce redeem thy fame.
So sunk in dullness that nor Hodgson's verse
Can make thee better—nor poor Hewson's worse.

[This emendation is not in the Murray copy. The Fifth Edition adopts the further correction, "So lost to Phoebus" for "So sunk in dullness."]

Line 969. "is wove,
she wove.

[This correction is not in the Murray copy.]

Line 972. ——justly praise their sires.
——glory in their sires.

[This emendation is not given in the Murray copy.

The Leigh Hunt copy gives twenty MS. emendations (besides "Death" for "death," in line 820, and the alteration of "rapid" to "rabid" in the note on Hewson Clarke, line 962) including the note on Moore. The Murray copy gives nine MS. emendations, of which six are identical with those in the Hunt copy. Three emendations are peculiar to the Murray copy—]

(1) Lines 303-306.
Behold!—ye tarts! etc. (vide ante, p. 309).

(2) Line 614. Raise not your scythe.
Whet not your scythe.

(3) Line 661. ——"a Paget for your wife.
——two Pagets for your wife.