till the spring of 1818. He began the first canto of _Don Juan_ in the
autumn of 1818, and he was still at work on a seventeenth canto in the
spring of 1823. Both poems were issued in parts, and with long intervals
of unequal duration between the parts; but the same result was brought
about by different causes and produced a dissimilar effect. _Childe
Harold_ consists of three distinct poems descriptive of three successive
travels or journeys in foreign lands. The adventures of the hero are but
the pretext for the shifting of the diorama; whereas in _Don Juan_ the
story is continuous, and the scenery is exhibited as a background for
the dramatic evolution of the personality of the hero. _Childe Harold_
came out at intervals, because there were periods when the author was
stationary; but the interruptions in the composition and publication of
_Don Juan_ were due to the disapproval and discouragement of friends,
and the very natural hesitation and procrastination of the publisher.
Canto I. was written in September, 1818; Canto II. in December-January,
1818-1819. Both cantos were published on July 15, 1819. Cantos III., IV.
were written in the winter of 1819-1820; Canto V., after an interval of
nine months, in October-November, 1820, but the publication of Cantos
III., IV., V. was delayed till August 8, 1821. The next interval was
longer still, but it was the last. In June, 1822, Byron began to work at
a sixth, and by the end of March, 1823, he had completed a sixteenth
canto. But the publication of these later cantos, which had been
declined by Murray, and were finally entrusted to John Hunt, was spread
over a period of several months. Cantos VI., VII., VIII., with a
Preface, were published July 15; Cantos IX., X., XI, August 29; Cantos
XII., XIII., XIV., December 17, 1823; and, finally, Cantos XV., XVI.,
March 26, 1824. The composition of _Don Juan_, considered as a whole,
synchronized with the composition of all the dramas (except _Manfred_)
and the following poems: _The Prophecy of Dante_, (the translation of)
_The Morgante Maggiore, The Vision of Judgment, The Age of Bronze_, and