Lord Byron's Corsair
The Earl of Dudley, in his Letters, (1814) says:--"To me Byron's
Corsair appears the best of all his works. Rapidity of execution is
no sort of apology for doing a thing ill, but when it is done well,
the wonder is so much the greater. I am told he wrote this poem at ten
sittings--certainly it did not take him more than three weeks. He is a
most extraordinary person, and yet there is G. Ellis, who don't feel his
merit. His creed in modern poetry (I should have said contemporary) is
Walter Scott, all Walter Scott, and nothing but Walter Scott. I cannot
say how I hate this petty, factious spirit in literature--it is so
unworthy of a man so clever and so accomplished as Ellis undoubtedly
is."
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