His own letters and journals mirror himself as he was, and are invaluable.  There is something cruelly kind in this single volume.  When will the next come?  Impatient before, how tenfold more so am I now.  Among its many other virtues, this book is accurate to a miracle.  I have not stumbled on one mistake with regard either to time, place, or feeling.

I am, dear Sir,

Your obedient and obliged Servant,

MARY SHELLEY.

The preparation of the second volume proceeded more rapidly than the first, for Lord Byron’s letters to Murray and Moore during the later years of his life covered the whole period, and gave to the record an almost autobiographical character.  It appeared in January 1831, and amongst many other readers of it Mrs. Somerville, to whom Mr. Murray sent a present of the book, was full of unstinted praise.

Mrs. Somerville to John Murray.

January 13, 1831.

You have kindly afforded me a source of very great interest and pleasure in the perusal of the second volume of Moore’s “Life of Byron.”  In my opinion, it is very superior to the first; there is less repetition of the letters; they are better written, abound more in criticism and observation, and make the reader better acquainted with Lord Byron’s principles and character.  His morality was certainly more suited to the meridian of Italy than England; but with all his faults there is a charm about him that excites the deepest interest and admiration.  His letter to Lady Byron is more affecting and beautiful than anything I have read; it must ever be a subject of regret that it was not sent; it seems impossible that it should not have made a lasting impression, and might possibly have changed the destinies of both.  With kind remembrances to Mrs. Murray and the young people,

Believe me, truly yours,

MARY SOMERVILLE.

Mr. Croker’s opinion was as follows: 

“As to what you say of Byron’s volume, no doubt there are longueurs, but really not many.  The most teasing part is the blanks, which perplex without concealing.  I also think that Moore went on a wrong principle, when, publishing any personality, he did not publish all.  It is like a suppression of evidence.  When such horrors are published of Sir S. Romilly, it would have been justice to his memory to show that, on the slightest provocation, Byron would treat his dearest friend in the same style.  When his sneers against Lady Byron and her mother are recorded, it would lessen their effect if it were shown that he sneered at all man and womankind in turn; and that the friend of his choicest selection, or the mistress of his maddest love, were served no better, when the maggot (selfishness) bit, than his wife or his mother-in-law.”

The appearance of the Life induced Captain Medwin to publish his “Conversations with Lord Byron,” a work now chiefly remembered as having called forth from Murray, who was attacked in it, a reply which, as a crashing refutation of personal charges, has seldom been surpassed. [Footnote:  Mr. Murray’s answer to Medwin’s fabrications is published in the Appendix to the 8vo edition of “Lord Byron’s Poems.”]