It was inexact to describe this piece, which Polidori printed in 1843, as a “first attempt”, for The Slave , dated in his fifth year, and a prose romance, never finished, called Sorrentino , written during school years, preceded it. But in writing to Swinburne in 1870 the poet describes a still later piece, written in 1845, as “what I may call my first poem (after still more childish things) I believe, and enclose it you for a lark. Of course it is on nothing less than Napoleon at Waterloo!” ¹ It is called “The End Of It”, and has a biographical interest, showing that the youthful Dante Gabriel was not quite oblivious of the world's events. Here are two of the four stanzas which are printed in Mr. Wise's Catalogue: