“One of my great objects, as you will see in reading me, is to keep my style down to as much simplicity as I am capable of; for nothing could be imagined more discordant than the mixture of any of our Asiatico-Hibernian eloquence with the simple English diction of Byron’s letters.”

Murray showed the early part of “Byron’s Life” to Lockhart, who replied to him at once: 

Mr. Lockhart to John Murray.

February 23, 1829.

“I can’t wait till tomorrow to say that I think the beginning of ‘Byron’ quite perfect in every way—­the style simple, and unaffected, as the materials are rich, and how sad.  It will be Moore’s greatest work—­at least, next to the ‘Melodies,’ and will be a fortune to you.  My wife says it is divine.  By all means engrave the early miniature.  Never was anything so drearily satisfactory to the imagination as the whole picture of the lame boy’s start in life.”

Moore was greatly touched by this letter.  He wrote from Sloperton: 

Mr. Moore to John Murray.

“Lockhart’s praise has given me great pleasure, and his wife’s even still greater; but, after all, the merit is in my subject—­in the man, not in me.  He must be a sad bungler who would spoil such a story.”

As the work advanced, Sir Walter Scott’s opinion also was asked.

Mr. Lockhart to John Murray.

September 29, 1829.

“Sir Walter has read the first 120 pages of Moore’s ‘Life of Byron’; and he says they are charming, and not a syllable de trop.  He is now busy at a grand rummage among his papers, and has already found one of Lord Byron’s letters which shall be at Mr. Moore’s service forthwith.  He expects to find more of them.  This is curious, as being the first of ‘Byron’ to Scott.”

The first volume of “Lord Byron’s Life and Letters,” published on January 1, 1830, was read with enthusiasm, and met with a very favourable reception.  Moore says in his Diary that “Lady Byron was highly pleased with the ‘Life,’” but among the letters received by Mr. Murray, one of the most interesting was from Mrs. Shelley, to whom a presentation copy had been sent.

Mrs. Shelley to John Murray.

January 19, 1830.

Except the occupation of one or two annoyances, I have done nothing but read, since I got “Lord Byron’s Life.”  I have no pretensions to being a critic, yet I know infinitely well what pleases me.  Not to mention the judicious arrangement and happy tact displayed by Mr. Moore, which distinguish the book, I must say a word concerning the style, which is elegant and forcible.  I was particularly struck by the observations on Lord Byron’s character before his departure to Greece, and on his return.  There is strength and richness, as well as sweetness.

The great charm of the work to me, and it will have the same to you, is that the Lord Byron I find there is our Lord Byron—­the fascinating, faulty, philosophical being—­daring the world, docile to a private circle, impetuous and indolent, gloomy, and yet more gay than any other.  I live with him again in these pages—­getting reconciled (as I used in his lifetime) to those waywardnesses which annoyed me when he was away, through the delightful tone of his conversation and manners.