Byron was less dissatisfied with his second Turkish tale than he had been with the Giaour. He apologizes for the rapidity with which it had been composed—stans pede in uno—but he announced to Murray (November 20) that "he was doing his best to beat the Giaour," and (November 29) he appraises the Bride as "my first entire composition of any length."
Moreover, he records (November 15), with evident gratification, the approval of his friend Hodgson, "a very sincere and by no means (at times) a flattering critic of mine," and modestly accepts the praise of such masters of letters as "Mr. Canning," Hookham Frere, Heber, Lord Holland, and of the traveller Edward Daniel Clarke.
The Bride of Abydos was advertised in the Morning Chronicle, among "Books published this day," on November 29, 1813. It was reviewed by George Ellis in the Quarterly Review of January, 1814 (vol. x. p. 331), and, together with the Corsair. by Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review of April, 1814 (vol. xxiii. p. 198).
NOTE TO THE MSS. OF THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.
The MSS. of the Bride of Abydos are contained in a bound volume, and in two packets of loose sheets, numbering thirty-two in all, of which eighteen represent additions, etc., to the First Canto; and fourteen additions, etc., to the Second Canto.
The bound volume consists of a rough copy and a fair copy of the first draft of the Bride; the fair copy beginning with the sixth stanza of Canto I.
The "additions" in the bound volume consist of—
1. Stanza xxviii. of Canto II.— here called "Conclusion" (fifty-eight lines). And note on "Sir Orford's Letters."
2. Eight lines beginning, "Eve saw it placed," at the end of stanza xxviii.
3. An emendation of six lines to stanza v. of Canto II., with reference to the comboloio, the Turkish rosary.
