Now, I must say, once for all, that I will not permit any human being to take such liberties with my writings because I am absent. I desire the omissions to be replaced (except the stanza on Semiramis)--particularly the stanza upon the Turkish marriages."--Letter to Murray, August 31, 1821, ibid., p. 351.] [ga] _Meanwhile as Homer sometimes sleeps, much more_ _The modern muse may be allowed to snore_.--[MS.] PREFACE TO CANTOS VI., VII., AND VIII. THE details of the siege of Ismail in two of the following cantos (_i.e._ the seventh and eighth) are taken from a French Work, entitled _Histoire de la Nouvelle Russie._[319] Some of the incidents attributed to Don Juan really occurred, particularly the circumstance of his saving the infant, which was the actual case of the late Duc de Richelieu, then a young volunteer in the Russian service, and afterward the founder and benefactor of Odessa, where his name and memory can never cease to be regarded with reverence. In the course of these cantos, a stanza or two will be found relative to the late Marquis of Londonderry,[320] but written some time before his decease. Had that person's oligarchy died with him, they would have been suppressed; as it is, I am aware of nothing in the manner of his death or of his life to prevent the free expression of the opinions of all whom his whole existence was consumed in endeavouring to enslave. That he was an amiable man in _private_ life, may or may not be true: but with this the public have nothing to do; and as to lamenting his death, it will be time enough when Ireland has ceased to mourn for his birth. As a minister, I, for one of millions, looked upon him as the most despotic in intention, and the weakest in intellect, that ever tyrannised over a country. It is the first time indeed since the Normans that England has been insulted by a _minister_ (at least) who could not speak English, and that Parliament permitted itself to be dictated to in the language of Mrs. Malaprop.