ABSTRACT
Count Maddalo is a Venetian nobleman of ancient family and of great fortune, who, without mixing much in the society of his countrymen, resides chiefly at his magnificent palace in that city. Julian is an Englishman of good family, passionately attached to those philosophical notions which assert the power of man over his own mind. The Julian & Maddalo & the accompanying poems are all the poet's saddest verses raked up into one heap. The Maniac's soliloquy may, therefore, be in part an expression of S/s remorse about Harriet also. None of the biographical connections is watertight or exclusive; S/s figure draws on his interest in Tasso and on the literary conventions of sensibility. After Maddalo's emphasis on the Maniac's seriousness and sensitivity, 'humourist' concedes that he had a sense of humour. The same context informs the debate between Julian and Maddalo and the reader's shifts in sympathy between them.
