Note 368 — Chapter IX · “THE VISION OF JUDGMENT”

In the only public retort which Southey undertook, a Letter to the Courier, December 8, 1824, he could do little more than make charges of misrepresentation, and repeat his accusation that Byron was one “who played the monster in literature, and aimed his blows at women.” Southey unwittingly had engaged with too powerful an antagonist and only his want of a sense of humor kept him from appreciating the fact.