Perhaps your Mother is not at home and so you must wait till she comes. You must see me to-night and let me hear1 you promise to come to-morrow.

Brown told me you were all out.

stage the whole afternoon.

remain'd so silent all day.

I have been looking for the Had I known this I could not have

CLIV.

To FANNY KEATS.

Rd. Abbey Esqre Pancras Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside.

My dear Sister,

Wentworth Place

Sunday Morning. [Postmark, 7 February 1820.]

I should not have sent those Letters without some notice if Mr. Brown had not persuaded me against it on account of an illness with which I was attack'd on Thursday. After that I was resolved not to write till I should be on the mending hand; thank God, I am now so. From imprudently leaving off my great coat in the thaw I caught cold which flew to my Lungs. Every remedy that has been applied has taken the desired effect, and I have nothing now to do but stay within doors for some time. If I should be confined long I shall write to Mr. Abbey to ask permission for you to visit me. George has been running great chance of a similar attack, but I hope the sea air will be his Physician in case of illness-the air out at sea is always more temperate than on land-George mentioned, in his Letters to us, something of Mr. Abbey's regret concerning the silence kept up in his house. It is entirely the fault of his Manner. You must be careful always to wear warm cloathing not only in frost but in a Thaw.-I have no news to tell you. The half built houses opposite us stand just as they were and seem dying of old age before they are brought up. The grass looks very dingy, the Celery is all gone, and there is nothing to enliven one but a few Cabbage Sta[1]ks that seem fix'd on the supera[n]nuated List. Mrs. Dilke has been ill but is better. Several of my friends have been to see me. Mrs. Reynolds was here this morning and the two Mr. Wylie's. Brown has 'been very alert about me, though a little wheezy himself this weather. Every body is ill. Yesterday evening Mr. Davenport, a gentleman of Hampstead, sent me an invitation to supper, instead of his coming to see us, having so bad a cold he could

1 In the original 'have' is cancelled in favour of 'hear'.

OLIV. Thursday the 3rd of February 1820 was the date upon which Keats was taken ill; and by Sunday the 6th he was writing this letter to his sister.

not stir out-so you [see] 'tis the weather and I am among a thousand. Whenever you have an inflam[m]atory fever never mind about eating. The day on which I was getting ill I felt this fever to a great height, and therefore almost entirely abstained from food the whole day. I have no doubt experienc'd a benefit from so doing-The Papers I see are full of anecdotes of the late King1: how he nodded to a Coal-heaver and laugh'd with a Quaker and lik'd boiled Leg of Mutton. Old Peter Pindar is just dead: what will the old King and he say to each other? Perhaps the King may confess that Peter was in the right, and Peter maintain himself to have been wrong. You shall hear from me again on Tuesday.

Your affectionate Brother

John.

CLV.

To FANNY KEATS.

R! Abbey Esqre Pancras Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside.

My dear Fanny

Wentworth Place,

Tuesday morn [8 February 1820]. [Postmark, 9 February 1820.]

I had a slight return of fever last night, which terminated favourably, and I am now tolerably well, though weak from [the] small quantity of food to which I am obliged to confine myself: I am sure a mouse would starve upon it. Mrs. Wylie came yesterday. I have a very pleasant room for a sick person. A Sopha bed is made up for me in the front Parlour which looks on to the grass plot as you remember Mrs. Dilke's does. How much more comfortable than a dull room up stairs, where one gets tired of the pattern of the bed curtains. Besides I see all that passes-for instance now, this morning-if I had been in my own room I should not have seen the coals brought in. On sunday between the hours of twelve and one I descried a Pot boy. I conjectured it might be the one o'clock beer-Old women with bobbins and red cloaks and unpresuming bonnets I see creeping about the heath. Gipseys after hare skins and silver spoons. Then goes by a fellow with a wooden clock under his arm that strikes a hundred and more.

Then comes

the old French emigrant (who has been very well to do in France) with his hands joined behind on his hips, and his face full of political schemes. Then passes Mr. David Lewis, a very good-natured, good-looking old gentleman who has 2 been very

George III died on the 29th of January 1820. Dr. Wolcot had, I believe, died over a year before that date, according to several Encyclopædias on the 14th of January 1819. 2 In the manuscript 'whas has'.

kind to Tom and George and me. As for those fellows the Brickmakers they are always passing to and fro. I mus❜n't forget the two old maiden Ladies in Well Walk who have a Lap dog between them that they are very anxious about. It is a corpulent Little beast whom it is necessary to coax along with an ivory-tipp'd cane. Carlo our Neighbour Mrs. Brawne's dog and it meet sometimes. Lappy thinks Carlo a devil of a fellow and so do his Mistresses. Well they may-he would sweep 'em all down at a run; all for the Joke of it. I shall desire him to peruse the fable of the Boys and the frogs: though he prefers the tongues and the Bones. You shall hear from me again the day after to-morrow

If illness makes such an agreeable variety in the manner of your eyes I should wish you sometimes to be ill. I wish I had read your note before you went last night that I might have assured you how far I was from suspecting any coldness. You had a just right to be a little silent to one who speaks so plainly to you. You must believe-you shall, you will-that I can do nothing, say nothing, think nothing of you but what has its spring in the Love which has so long been my pleasure and torment. On the night I was taken ill-when so violent a rush of blood came to my Lungs that I felt nearly suffocated-I assure you I felt it possible I might not survive, and at that moment though[t] of nothing but you. When I said to Brown "this is unfortunate" I thought of you. 'Tis true that since the first two or three days other subjects have entered my head.2 I shall be looking forward to Health and the Spring and a regular routine of our old Walks.

Your affectionate

J. K.

1It may be that consideration for his correspondent induced this moderation of speech: presumably the scene here referred to is that so graphically given by Lord Houghton (Volume II of the 'Life, Letters' &c.),-where we read, not that he merely "felt it possible" he "migh' not survive," but that he said to his friend, "I know the colour of that blood,-it is arterial blood-I cannot be deceived in that colour; that drop is my death-warrant. I must die."

2 This sentence indicates the lapse of perhaps about a week from the 3rd of February 1820.

CLVII.

TO FANNY BRAWNE

[Wentworth Place

February 1820 ?]

My sweet love, I shall wait patiently till to-morrow before I see you, and in the mean time, if there is any need of such a thing, assure you by your Beauty, that whenever I have at any time written on a certain unpleasant subject, it has been with your welfare impress'd upon my mind. How hurt I should have been had you ever acceded to what is, notwithstanding, very reasonable ! How much the more do I love you from the general result! In my present state of Health I feel too much separated from you and could almost speak to you in the words of Lorenzo's Ghost to Isabella

Your Beauty grows upon me and I feel

A greater love through all my essence steal.

My greatest torment since I have known you has been the fear of you being a little inclined to the Cressid; but that suspicion I dismiss utterly and remain happy in the surety of your Love, which I assure you is as much a wonder to me as a delight. Send me the words "Good night” to put under my pillow. Dearest Fanny,

Your affectionate

J. K.

CLVIII.

To FANNY KEATS.

Rd Abbey Esqre Pancras Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside.

Wentworth Place [Postmark, 11 February 1820.1]

My dear Fanny, I am much the same as when I last wrote. I hope a little more verging towards improvement. Yesterday morning

1On the same day Brown wrote to "Master Henry Snook, at Mr. Lord's Academy, Tooting, Surrey," a letter from which the following passage is extracted as having a certain value in connexion with Keats's story :-"Mr. Keats fell very ill yesterday week, and my office of head Nurse has too much employed me to allow of my answering your letter immediately; he is somewhat better, but I'm in a very anxious state about him. I was in hopes of you and Jack being able, during Easter, to go to the Theatre to witness our Tragedy; but no,-at Drury Lane they engaged to play it next Season, and I, not liking the delay, took it home. Here, to amuse myself, I began to copy some of my favorite Hogarth's heads; they were in Indian ink as usual; when Mr. Severn (I think you know him) put me on another plan, and I hope to succeed. I must tell you about Mr. Severn, whether you know him or not: he is a young Artist, who lately strove with his fellow students for a gold medal, which the Royal Academy gives annually

being very fine, I took a walk for a quarter of an hour in the garden and was very much refresh'd by it. You must consider no news, good news—if you do not hear from me the day after

tomorrow

Your affectionate Brother

CLIX.

John

To FANNY KEATS.

Rd Abbey Esqre Pancras Lane, Queen St Cheapside.

My dear Fanny,

Wentworth Place. Monday Morn— [Postmark, 14 February 1820.]

I

I am improving but very gradually and suspect it will be a long while before I shall be able to walk six miles-The Sun appears half inclined to shine; if he obliges us I shall take a turn in the garden this morning. No one from Town has visited me since my last. I have had so many presents of jam and jellies that they would reach side by side the length of the sideboard. I hope I shall be well before it is all consumed. am vex'd that Mr. Abbey will not allow you pocket money sufficient. He has not behaved well-By detaining money from me and George when we most wanted it he has increased our expences. In consequence of such delay George was obliged to take his voyage to England which will be £150 out of his pocket. I enclose you a note-You shall hear from me again the day after tomorrow.

My dearest Girl,

According to all appearances I am to be separated from you as much as possible. How I shall be able to bear it, or

for the best historical painting; the subject was fixed to be the Cave of Despair as described in Spencer's poem; it was Mr. Severn's second attempt in oil colours, and therefore it might have been supposed he stood no chance of success, and yet he won it!-it has been so much approved of that he will have his expenses paid for three years during his travels on the Continent, and his Majesty is to furnish him with letters of recommendation. What think you of this? I tell it you as a proof there is still some good reward in the world for superior talent; now and then a man of talent is disregarded, but it is an error to believe that such is the common fate of true desert. This does not apply solely to genius in the arts, but to you and me and all of us, as to our general character and capability."