It has been shown, then, that Byron’s ideas in his satire were not always entirely his own, and that he reflected, in many cases, the views and sometimes the phraseology of other satirists, notably Pope, Churchill, and Gifford. _English Bards_ belongs to the school of English classical satire, and, as such, has the peculiarities and the established features common to the different types of that _genre_. In the preface to the second edition of his poem, Byron said: “I can safely say that I have attacked none personally, who did not commence on the offensive.”[123] To accept this literally would be to misinterpret Byron’s whole theory of satire. Whether he admitted it or not he was a great personal satirist--in _English Bards_, primarily a personal satirist. Looking back at the time when his wrath was fiercest, he said: “Like Ishmael, my hand was against all men, and all men’s against me.”[124] Even when satirising a principle or a movement, he was invariably led to attack the individuals who represented it. Swift’s satiric code: “Malice never was his aim; He lash’d the vice, but spar’d the name; No individual could resent, Where thousands equally were meant,” was exactly contrary to Byron’s practice. He sought always to contend with persons, to decide questions, not by argument, but by a hand-to-hand grapple. The peculiar features of _English Bards_ are to be explained by the author’s character. He did not let his reason rule. From notes and letters we learn that he was often in doubt whether to praise or censure certain minor figures: it was on the spur of the moment that he changed “coxcomb Gell” to “classic Gell.” He was courageous and aggressive, but he was also unfair and illogical. There is little real humor in _English Bards_, so little that one is inclined to wonder where Jeaffreson discovered the “irresistibly comic verse” of which he speaks. When the satirist tries to be playful, the result is usually brutality. He has not yet acquired the conversational railling mood which he utilized so admirably in _Beppo_. In spite of its crudities, its lack of restraint, and its manifest prejudices, _English Bards_ shows many signs of power. In the light of the greater satire of _Don Juan_, it seems immature and inartistic, but it surpasses any work of a similar kind since the death of Pope. It is Byron’s masterpiece in classical satire. To excel it he had to turn for inspiration to another quarter, and to change both his method and his style. CHAPTER V “HINTS FROM HORACE” AND “THE CURSE OF MINERVA”