This etext contains only characters from the Latin 1 set. The original work contained a few phrases or lines of Greek text. These are represented here as Beta code transliterations in brackets, for example [Greek: Oi~moi].

The original text used a few other characters not found in the Latin 1 set. These have been represented using bracket notation, as follows: [=e], [=i], [=N], [=S] represent those letters with a macron (bar) above; [)i] represents and i with a breve (curved line). In a few places superscript letters are shown by carets, as in May 27^th^.

An important feature of this edition is its copious footnotes. Footnotes indexed with letters (e.g. [c], [bf]) show variant forms of Byron's text from manuscripts and other sources. Footnotes indexed with arabic numbers (e.g. [17], [221]) are informational. Text in notes and elsewhere in square brackets is the work of editor E. H. Coleridge. Text not in brackets is by Byron himself.