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PREFACE

In writing the life of Byron in the form of a novel I have endeavoured, as in The Divine Lady and in my other books, to touch biography with imagination and to present the essential truth as I see it, clothing the historic record with speech and action. From historic truth I have never knowingly departed, having consulted the best sources of information, such as Lord Lovelace, Miss Mayne, Moore, and many other authorities.

The letters though often condensed are all authentic, with the exception of a note from Lady Melbourne to Miss Milbanke in Chapter VI. Miss Milbanke's verses are also imaginary. I do not know whether any of her verses (which Byron commended) have survived.

The sequence of events must be crowded into a smaller stage than that set by Life, the great Romancer, and therefore exactitude in dates is sometimes impossible.

It has not been my part to moralize this tremendous story, but simply to set down the facts and their issues as I see them.

Canada.

E. BARRINGTON.

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