PREFACE TO THE SIXTH VOLUME.


The text of this edition of _Don Juan_ has been collated with original
MSS. in the possession of the Lady Dorchester and Mr. John Murray. The
fragment of a Seventeenth Canto, consisting of fourteen stanzas, is now
printed and published for the first time.

I have collated with the original authorities, and in many instances
retranscribed, the numerous quotations from Sir G. Dalzell's _Shipwrecks
and Disasters at Sea_ (1812, 8vo) [Canto II. stanzas xxiv.-civ. pp.
87-112], and from a work entitled _Essai sur l'Histoire Ancienne et
Moderne de la Nouvelle Russie_, par le Marquis Gabriel de Castelnau
(1827, 8vo) [Canto VII. stanzas ix.--liii. pp. 304-320, and Canto VIII.
stanzas vi.--cxxvii. pp. 331-368], which were first included in the
notes to the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of the edition of 1833, and
have been reprinted in subsequent issues of Lord Byron's _Poetical
Works_.

A note (pp. 495-497) illustrative of the famous description of Newstead
Abbey (Canto XIII. stanzas lv.-lxxii.) contains particulars not hitherto
published. My thanks and acknowledgments are due to Lady Chermside and
Miss Ethel Webb, for the opportunity afforded me of visiting Newstead
Abbey, and for invaluable assistance in the preparation of this and
other notes.

The proof-sheets of this volume have been read by Mr. Frank E. Taylor. I
am indebted to his care and knowledge for many important corrections and
emendations.