ABSTRACT
Byron, The Giaour (5th edition, 1813); Christian Observer, XII (Nov. 1813), 731-737. The opening paragraph of this review shows how complete was Byron’s ascendancy over the reviewers as long as he retained his popularity among readers. The reviewer, the same who treated Childe Harold, is obviously not well grounded in antiquities; he confuses the Pantheon with the Parthenon (p. 732), a mistake that few of the secular reviewers would tolerate in a poet, much less make themselves. The prudential morality advocated on pages 734 and 737 violates both classical and Christian canons of ethics. According to an anonymous reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement (May 19, 1972, p. 573), the author of this review of The Giaour “was probably J. W. Cunningham.” Cunningham (1780-1861; DNB) was associated with the “Clapham sect,” and after 1811 he was vicar of Harrow.
