Sigh he did often, as if inward grief And melancholy at that instant would Choke up his vital spirits.... When from the maintop A sail's descried, all thoughts that do concern Himself laid by, no lion pinched with hunger Rouses himself more fiercely from his den, Then he comes on the deck; and then how wisely He gives directions," etc. The _Corsair_, together with the _Bride of Abydos_, was reviewed by Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh Review_ of April, 1814, vol. xxiii. p. 198; and together with _Lara_, by George Agar Ellis in the _Quarterly Review_ of July, 1814, vol. ii. p. 428. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON _THE CORSAIR_. In comparison with the _Giaour_, the additions made to the _Corsair_ whilst it was passing through the press were inconsiderable. The original MS., which numbers 1737 lines, is probably the fair copy of a number of loose sheets which have not been preserved. The erasures are few and far between, and the variations between the copy and the text are neither numerous nor important. In one of the latest revises stanza x. was added to the First Canto. The last four lines of stanza xi. first appeared in the Seventh Edition. The Second Canto suffered no alteration except the substitution of lines 1131-1133 for two lines which were expunged. Larger additions were made to the Third Canto. Lines 1299-1375, or stanza v. (included in a revise dated January 6, 1814), stanzas xvii. and xxiii., numbering respectively 77, 32, and 16 lines, and the two last lines of stanza x., 127 lines in all, represent the difference between the text as it now stands and the original MS. In a note to Byron's _Poetical Works_, 1832, ix. 257, it is stated that the _Corsair_ was begun on the 18th and finished on the 31st of December, 1813. In the Introduction to the _Corsair_ prefixed to the Library Edition, the poem is said to have been composed in ten days, "at the rate of 200 lines a day." The first page of the MS. is dated "27th of December, 1813," and the last page "December 31, 1813, January 1, 1814." It is probable that the composition of the first draft was begun on the 18th and finished on the 27th of December, and that the work of transcription occupied the last five days of the month. Stanza v. of Canto III. reached the publisher on the 6th, and stanzas xvii. and xxiii. on the 11th and 12th of January, 1814. The First Edition amounted to 1859 lines (the numeration, owing to the inclusion of broken lines, is given as 1863), and falls short of the existing text by the last four lines of stanza xi. It contains the first dedication to Moore, and numbers 100 pages. To the Second Edition, which numbers 108 pages, the following poems were appended:-- _To a Lady Weeping_. _From the Turkish_. _Sonnet to Genevra_ ("Thine eyes' blue tenderness," etc.). _Sonnet to Genevra_ ("Thy cheek is pale with thought," etc.). _Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog_. _Farewell_.