There is strength and richness, as well as sweetness.
The great charm of the work to me, and it will have the same to you, is
that the Lord Byron I find there is _our_ Lord Byron--the fascinating,
faulty, philosophical being--daring the world, docile to a private
circle, impetuous and indolent, gloomy, and yet more gay than any other.
I live with him again in these pages--getting reconciled (as I used in
his lifetime) to those waywardnesses which annoyed me when he was away,
through the delightful tone of his conversation and manners.
His own letters and journals mirror himself as he was, and are
invaluable. There is something cruelly kind in this single volume. When
will the next come? Impatient before, how tenfold more so am I now.
Among its many other virtues, this book is accurate to a miracle. I have
not stumbled on one mistake with regard either to time, place, or
feeling.
I am, dear Sir,
Your obedient and obliged Servant,
MARY SHELLEY.
The preparation of the second volume proceeded more rapidly than the
first, for Lord Byron's letters to Murray and Moore during the later
years of his life covered the whole period, and gave to the record an
almost autobiographical character.
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