[273] There is less of the mock-heroic in _Don Juan_ than is ordinarily supposed. It has little in common with the classical Mock-Epic, represented in English by the _Dunciad_, the _Scribleriad_, and the _Dispensary_, poems which use the epic machinery of gods and goddesses, ridiculing the manner of the Greek and Roman epics through the method of parody. _Don Juan_, on the other hand, is unrelated to the work of either Homer or Virgil. Nor does it burlesque the Italian epics: its characters, modern and unconventional as they are, are not, even in a humorous sense, heroic, and the matter dealt with is borrowed from none of the Italian romances. The fact that exalted emotions are made absurd, or that fine feelings are jeered at does not warrant us in classing _Don Juan_ with the mock-heroic poems. Indeed, the mere absence of the typical addresses to the Muse--they occur only twice in _Don Juan_ (II., 7; III., 1)--indicates that Byron did not imitate the epic form. [274] _Letters_, vi., 50. [275] _Letters_, iv., 217. [276] “This poem [_Don Juan_] carries with it at once the stamp of originality and defiance of imitation.” (Shelley, Letter to Byron, Oct. 21, 1821). [277] _Don Juan_, II., 105; II., 166; V., 4; VI., 5–6. [278] Ibid., V., 33–39. [279] _Don Juan_, IX., 41. [280] _Letters_, iv., 342. [281] _Don Juan_, I., 200. [282] _Don Juan_, XII., 55. [283] _Letters_, iv., 260. [284] _Letters_, vi., 155. [285] _Don Juan_, XIV., 99. [286] It was begun at Venice, September 6, 1818, and the first two cantos were published anonymously, July 15, 1819, by Murray. Despite much hostile comment, and the reluctance and eventual refusal of Murray to print the work, Byron continued with his project, entrusting the publication of the poem, after Canto V., to John Hunt. Canto XVI. was completed May 6, 1823, and appeared with Canto XV. on March 26, 1824. Fourteen stanzas of an unfinished Canto XVII. were among his papers at the time of his death. [287] _Beppo_, 79. [288] _Don Juan_, VIII., 135. [289] _Childe Harold_, II., 74–76. [290] _Ode to the French_, 91–104. [291] _Childe Harold_, IV., 92. [292] _Don Juan_, IX., 24. [293] _Don Juan_, VIII., 50. [294] Many details of Byron’s satire may be traced to corresponding passages in the works of Moore, whose _Fudge Family in Paris_ (1818) was familiar to him, and whose _Fables for the Holy Alliance_ (1823), many of which were written while the two poets were together in Venice, was dedicated to Byron. Moore denounced Castlereagh as a despot, a bigot, and a time-server, ridiculing him especially for the absurdity of his speeches, which were notorious for their mixed metaphors and poorly chosen phrasing. [295] Shelley in many short squibs, and particularly in the _Mask of Anarchy_ (1819), had assailed the ministry. He had compared Castlereagh and Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, to “two vultures, sick for battle” and “two vipers tangled into one” (_Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819_).