Dedication
TO
POST WHEELER, LITT. D.
My history will furnish materials for a pretty little Romance which shall be entitled and denominated the loves of Lord B.
Byron, 1804
I hate things all fiction; and therefore the Merchant and Othello have no great associations to me; but Pierre has. There should always be some foundation of fact for the most airy fabric, and pure invention is but the talent of a liar.
Byron, 1817