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'My library book now is "Byron in Italy" by Peter Quennell. I have not read much of Byron's poetry for many, many years. You probably remember the large volume of his work in C.V. with its voluptuous illustrations. I had that, but it has vanished with all my other books which were taken to Marten by my family. The book I am now looking at does not impress me with the bits of verse it quotes. I suppose that Byron could rhyme "beautiful" and "full" and "annul" and get away with it, but they don't seem to be right to me. I expect that he wrote "Don Juan" from his own experiences.'
Saturday 29 February 1936: 'I read Quennel [sic] on Byron: dont like that young mans clever agile thin blooded mind'.