horse, and at my worst even in quarantine, summoned up more puns, in a sort of desperation, in one week than in any year of my life. There is one thought enough to kill me; I have been well, healthy, alert, the etc., walking with her, and now knowledge of contrast, feeling for light and shade, all that information (primitive sense) necessary for a poem, are great enemies to the recovery of the stomach. There, you rogue, I put you to the torture; but you must bring your philosophy to bear, as I do mine, really, or how should I be able to live? Dr. Clark is very attentive to me; he says there is very little the matter with my lungs, but my stomach, he says, is very bad. I am well disappointed in hearing good news from George, for it runs in my head we shall all die young. I have not written to Reynolds yet, which he must think very

I. POEMS

Page 1. IMITATION OF SPENSER.

A transcript of this poem in a copy-book of Tom Keats contains two variations from the text of 1817. Line 12 reads,

'Whose silken fins, and golden scales light' and in line 29 glassy for glossy. The first reading is required by the rhythm; but the absence of the mark of the possessive case leads one to think that the accent mark may have been a hasty reading of the proper mark as printed.

Page 9. ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER.

That it was Balboa and not Cortez who first saw the Pacific Ocean, an American school-boy could have told Keats; but it is not such slips as these that unmake poetry.

Page 9. EPISTLE TO GEORGE FELTON MA

Page 11. To

The original valentine of which these lines are an enlargement was as follows:

Hadst thou lived in days of old,
Oh, what wonders had been told
Of thy lively dimpled face,
And thy footsteps full of grace:
Of thy hair's luxurious darkling,
Of thine eye's expressive sparkling,
And thy voice's swelling rapture,
Taking hearts a ready capture.
Oh! if thou hadst breathed then,
Thou hadst made the Muses ten.
Couldst thou wish for lineage higher

Than twin sister of Thalia ?

At least for ever, ever more
Will I call the Graces four.'

Then follow lines 41-68, and the valentine closes,

'Ah me! whither shall I flee ?
Thou hast metamorphosed me.
Do not let me sigh and pine,
Prythee be my valentine.'

Page 13. SONNET: TO ONE WHO HAS BEEN

LONG IN CITY PENT.

Mr. Forman points out Keats's echo in the first line of Milton's line,

Floating through space with ever-living eye, The crowned queen of ocean and the sky.' Page 18. SLEEP AND POETRY. Line 274. Rhythm seems to require the emendation proposed by Mr. Forman :

'Ere the dread thunderbolt could reach me? How'

Page 27. SPECIMEN OF AN INDUCTION TO A POEM.

Line 61. Libertas is the name which his friends gave to Leigh Hunt. See later the EPISTLE TO CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE, line 44. Mrs. Clarke confirms the application.

Page 28. CALIDORE.

Leigh Hunt's competing sonnet is as follows:

'Green little vaulter in the sunny grass

Catching your heart up at the feel of June,
Sole voice that 's heard amidst the lazy noon,
When ev'n the bees lag at the summoning brass;
And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
With those who think the candles come too soon,
Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune
Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;
Oh sweet and tiny cousins, that belong,

One to the fields, the other to the hearth,

Both have your sunshine; both though small are strong
At your clear hearts; and both were sent on earth
To sing in thoughtful ears this natural song, —
In doors and out, summer and winter, Mirth.'

Page 40. LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN. Sir Charles Dilke has a manuscript copy of which the four closing lines are:

Our freshening River through you birchen

grove :

Do come now!' Could he gainsay her who strove,

So soothingly, to breathe away a Curse?

Lines 440-442.

When last the Harvesters rich armfuls took.
She tied a little bucket to a Crook,

Ran some swift paces to a dark well's side,
And in a sighing-time return'd, supplied
With spar-cold water; in which she did squeeze
A snowy napkin, and upon her knees
Began to cherish her poor Brother's face;
Damping refreshfully his forehead's space,
His eyes, his Lips: then in a cupped shell
She brought him ruby wine; then let him
smell,

Time after time, a precious amulet,
Which seldom took she from its cabinet.
Thus was he quieted to slumbrous rest:

Line 466.

A cheerfuller resignment, and a smile
For his fair Sister flowing like the Nile
Through all the channels of her piety,
He said: 'Dear Maid, may I this moment die,
If I feel not this thine endearing Love.

Lines 470-472.

From woodbine hedges such a morning feel,
As do those brighter drops, that twinkling steal
Through those pressed lashes, from the blos-
som'd plant

Lines 494, 495.

More forest-wild, more subtle-cadenced
Than can be told by mortal; even wed
The fainting tenors of a thousand shells
To a million whisperings of lily bells;
And mingle too the nightingale's complain
Caught in its hundredth echo; 't would be
vain:

Lines 539, 540.

And come to such a Ghost as I am now! But listen, Sister, I will tell thee how.

Lines 545, 556.

And in this spot the most endowing boon
Of balmy air, sweet blooms, and coverts fresh
Has been outshed; yes, all that could enmesh
Our human senses
make us fealty swear
To gadding Flora. In this grateful lair
Have I been used to pass my weary eves.

Line 555. Ditamy. So Keats unmistakably in manuscript and print. The prevailing form is dittany.

Line 573. Mr. Forman says that in the manuscript something was written over this line in pencil, but then rubbed out. He suggests that after all Keats decided to leave the reader to accent the first syllable of enchantment, and so correct the otherwise faulty rhythm.

Lines 600, 601.

And to commune with them once more I rais'd My eyes right upward: but they were quite dazed.

An example of the freedom of accent which Keats uses in common with other poets who have a mastery of line.

Line 632. Handfuls of bud-stars.
Line 646.

But lapp'd and lull'd in safe deliriousness;
Sleepy with deep foretasting, that did bless
My Soul from Madness, 't was such certainty.
Line 651.

There hollow sounds arous'd me, and I died.
Line 665.

Our feet were soft in flowers. Hurry o'er
O sacrilegious tongue the best be dumb;
For should one little accent from thee come
On such a daring theme, all other sounds
Would sicken at it, as would beaten hounds
Scare the elysian Nightingales.

Through wilderness, and brittle mossed oaks.
Line 56.

Bends lightly over him, and he doth see.
Line 83.

Went swift beneath the flutter-loving guide.

His sullen limbs upon the grass
What airy whisperer spoilt his angry rest?

Line 102.

And carelessly began to twine and twist.

Lines 143, 144.

His soul to take a city of delight

O what a wretch is he: 't is in his sight.

Line 227.

Whose track the venturous Latmian follows bold.