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While looking for something entirely different in the GM I took note of the appearance of poems by or attributed to Byron in the years 1812 through 1824. They are, in order of appearance, as titled in the GM:

1. Address on the opening of Drury Lane Theater. Written by Lord Byron; and spoken by Mr. Elliston (1812.ii,470).
2. To a Beautiful Quaker (1813.i,256).
3. Love, By Lord Byron (1812.ii,366).
4. The Skull Goblet. Attributed to Lord Byron (1814.iii,575-576). [With a three-word epigraph from the Greek of Lucian; the epigraph is not in Coleridge's edition of the poems.]
5. The Eye of Blue! "From 'Hebrew Melodies', set to Music by Mr. Braham and Mr. Nathan" (1815.i,450). [Titled "I Saw Thee Weep" in Coleridge.]
6. Fare Thee Well! (Ascribed to Lord Byron) (1815.i,351-2).
7. The AEnigma—By Lord Byron (1818.ii,447-8).
8. Ode to Venice (1819.ii,256-7).
9. Lord Byron to Mr. T. Moore (1821.i,73).
10. Stanzas (1824.ii,361).

Except for accidentals, the Drury Lane address in the GM is textually identical with the received text, i.e. the Oxford Byron based on E. H. Coleridge's edition of the poems (7 vols., 1904). That the GM text should not differ in the seventy-three lines of that poem is of significance for what follows, for there are textual differences in four of the other poems as printed in the GM. Since one of the poems (No. 7) is not in the accepted canon, that leaves four other poems (5, 6, 8, and 9) textually identical to the Oxford edition,

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although in the reprinting of No. 8 lines 42 through 124 are omitted in the GM. In number 6, however, it should be noted that the GM text, taken from the pamphlet in which the poem originally appeared, has two readings preferred to the text of Leigh Hunt's Examiner in which the poem was reprinted on April 29, 1816.[13] The two preferred readings in the GM may be thought to be offset by four others which differ from the received text, although two of the four are the change of "Even" to "Ev'n." Number 3 is an excerpt from The Giaour, ll. 1131 ff.[14]

In what follows I give the received reading first and then the GM's. Number 2: (l. 14) in/a; (l. 15) falsehoods/language; (l. 29) This/Thus; (l. 36) make/ makes; (l. 44) dictate/dictates; (l. 46) never can/ne'er can; (l. 47) [omitted in GM];[15] (l. 48) bliss/bless'd. The GM readings in ll. 15, 36, and 44 are demonstrably wrong; those in ll. 29, 46, and 48 are all possible readings, while that in l. 14 is the reading in Coleridge, but not in the Oxford edition.[16] One is left with the impression of a faulty transcription, although there is the one, possibly inadvertent, true reading in l. 14. But whatever conclusions are to be reached about the value, or lack thereof, in the GM texts must depend upon analysis of all the texts in the periodical. GM differs from Oxford in five lines in Number 4: (l. 8) hath/has; (l. 13) Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone/And, where perchance my wit has shone; (l. 14) others'/others; (l. 18) like me/alike; (l. 21) since/when. While the readings in l. 14 is preferable in Oxford, the other four readings in the GM are possible. Perhaps the curious may wish to know that Byron uses "hath" six times and "has" four times in the entire corpus of his poetry. Professor McGann (see note 14) writes, "No. 4 is an interesting case; it could be a bad copy of the original (1814) printing, but I doubt it. It seems a transcription from a MS., and so— since the surviving MSS vary from it—the GM text (not previously known to me) is important." The greatest number of textual differences occur in Number 9: (l. 3) before/ere; (l. 5) to those who love me/for those I love; (l. 6) to those who hate/for those I hate; (l. 7) above me/above; (l. 8) a heart/heart; (l. 10) Yet it/It! (l. 13) Were't/Were it; (l. 14) upon/on; (l. 15) spirit/spirits; (l. 17) With/In; (l. 19) with/to. One would think that even the most careless transcriber would not make eleven errors in a poem of twenty lines. Possibly the transcriber officiously sought to make ll. 3, 8, 10, and 14 conform to the metrical scheme he thought the poem followed. This would explain why he changed ll. 5, 6; i.e. so that "above," his rhyme-word for l. 7, would have something to rhyme with in l. 5. Possibly, however, the transcription is a

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faithful one from a foul copy, although there is no mention of a manuscript in the GM, nor indeed of anything, for the poem is printed without comment. It is at this point that I would recall to attention the fact that the text of the 73-line address at the opening of Drury Lane theatre in the GM is identical to the received text. So, too, are the seventy-seven lines of the abbreviated poem on Venice (No. 8). How does one account for a high degree of fidelity in the two long poems and eleven differences in a poem of twenty lines? One can, of course, predicate two transcribers at work, only one of whom bothered with verbal niceties. However, Professor McGann writes, "Your text of this poem is derived from the text printed in The Traveller of 8 Jan. 1821. I have not been able to trace an earlier version, MS or otherwise, for this particular variant of the poem."

One poem remains, and with it a problem. Coleridge prints a poem, On the Death of the Duke of Dorset, from "an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed. . . . It is endorsed 'Bought of Markham Thorpe, August 29, 1844'" (III, 425, n.1). Coleridge was, of course, wrong in stating that the poem had not been printed before. What is more, there are five differences in the GM text of this sixteen-line poem: (l. 3) wast/wert; (l. 5) my/mine; (l. 6) The/Its; (l. 7) it bids me dry/its lids deny; (l. 9) dull/deep. Whatever the poetic superiority of any one of these readings over another, one is still faced with the fact of the difference. Curiously enough, Oxford does not print the poem, although it does not seem to fall into the category of "shorter pieces—mostly juvenile verses and jeux d'esprit" avowedly there although present in Coleridge. Again I quote Professor McGann: "no. 10 as you have it is a reprint from the 1824 printing in Arliss's Pocket Magazine. The textual problems you note are a function of Coleridge's miscopyings, or misreadings, of his MS (there is another MS as well . . . which agrees largely with the one Coleridge used)."

The AEnigma (No. 7) is by Catherine Maria Fanshawe, whose "best" known poem is the riddle on the letter H, which has been often attributed to Lord Byron, and has been included in at least two editions of his works" (DNB). She was in Byron's company at least once, her account of which meeting appearing in at least two publications.