if you can, give a peep at the Berth if the Vessel is [in] our river. Your sincere friend John Keats. P.S. Somehow a copy of Chapman's Homer, lent to me by Haydon, has disappeared from my Lodgings-it has quite flown I am afraid, and Haydon urges the return of it so that I must get one at Longman's and send it to Lisson Grove-or you must-or as I have given you a job on the River-ask Mistessey.1 I had written a Note to this effect to Hessey some time since but crumpled it up in hopes that the Book might come to light. This morning Haydon has sent another messenger. The copy was in good condition with the head. Damn all thieves! Tell Woodhouse I have not lost his Blackwood. Testamentary Paper enclosed in the foregoing. My Chest of Books divide among my friends.2 In case of my death this scrap of paper may be serviceable in your possession. All my Estate real and personal consists in the hopes of the sale of books publish'd or unpublish'd. Now I wish Brown and you to be the first paid Creditors-the rest is in nubibusbut in case it should shower pay my Taylor the few pounds I owe him. Handwriting without date on which I have endorsed a memorandum to this effect for the purpose of identifying it & for better security it is hereunto annexed. 22 Sept 1820 The endorsement on the Testamentary Paper runs thus :— John Taylor" "N.B. On the 14th August or the 15th 1820 I received this paper which is in John Keats's Handwriting inclosed in the annexed Letter which came by the 3dy post. 22 Sept 1820 1 Mr. Hessey. John Taylor" 2 Whether this testamentary wish was carried out I do not know; but, from the following passage in a letter of George Keats's dated the 20th of April 1825, it seems likely that it was :-"Since it has fallen on me to pay my Brother's debts I should in Justice have some books or other relicks he may have left behind him. My conduct has been liberally censured, I have been industriously made acquainted with demands against the estate but not a single volume, Picture, bust, Cast-is reserved for me, who I have no hesitation in saying am more nearly allied to poor John in feeling as I am more closely connected in Blood than any other in the whole circle of his Friendships.... Those effects in the possession of Friends who value them as having been once John's are most heartily welcome to them, I however hope some trifles may be collected for me so that I be not left entirely relickless! The Shakespeare folio of 1808, containing his manuscript notes and the Sonnet on Sitting down to read 'King Lear' once again was in Mrs. Lindon's possession CCX. TO CHARLES ARMITAGE BROWN. My dear Brown, or You may not have heard from or in any way, that an attack of spitting of blood, and all its weakening consequences, has prevented me from writing for so long a time. I have matter now for a very long letter, but not news : so I must cut everything short. I shall make some confession, which you will be the only person, for many reasons, I shall trust with. A winter in England would, I have not a doubt, kill me ; so I have resolved to go to Italy, either by sea or land. up to the time of her death; and the Shakespeare's Poems containing Keats's last sonnet was similarly guarded by Severn. Both are now the property of Sir Charles Dilke, who allows them to be exhibited in the Chelsea Free Library with the rest of his priceless collection of Keats relics. These include a folio Livy with the inscription "B. Bailey, Magdalen Hall, Oxon, presents this volume to his friend John Keats, July 1818"; a much damaged copy of Bacon's 'Advancement of Learning,' possessed by Keats when young, and containing many manuscript notes; a copy of Lemprière's Classical Dictionary formerly Keats's but without his autograph; and an Ovid of 1806 with his autograph. Then of course there is the Milton which he annotated and gave to Mrs. Dilke; and the Beaumont and Fletcher volumes given to Keats by his brother George. These are three volumes out of a set of four containing the dramatic works of Ben Jonson and Beaumont and Fletcher. Volume II has the inscription "Geo. Keats to his affectionate brother John"; and in Volume IV are the holograph poems 'Bards of Passion and of Mirth' and 'Spirit here that reignest.' The volumes accompanied Brown to New Zealand, as did the annotated volume of Burton's 'Anatomy' described in Volume III of this edition. They were sent to Sir Charles Dilke by Brown's son, Major Charles Brown of Taranaki. Now and again books formerly owned by Keats fall into the hands of collectors; but it is not often that they are to be had. Some forty years ago a copy of Lemprière's Classical Dictionary bearing his autograph was acquired for a trifle by one who did not value it much, and who is now dead. Where the book is I know not. It would seem however that he must have had two copies in his time. In my own collection, besides the little Dante and Hunt's Foliage given by Keats to Fanny Brawne, and therefore not left in the Chest, is a beautiful folio which probably was from the Chest. It is of the third edition of Selden's Titles of Honour (1672), has the autograph "John Keats 1819" on the title-page, and, more interesting, the commencement of a manuscript index. On a blank leaf at the beginning he has made a complete set of capitals, duly spaced out for the entries to be added; but only two entries were made. CCX. This letter, which first appeared in 'Papers of a Critic' (Volume I, pages 9-10), clearly belongs to the latter part of August. If Keats heard from Shelley on the 13th, as indicated in his letter of the 14th to Fanny Keats, it may reasonably be supposed that the letter to Brown was written about the 20th of August 1820 from Hampstead. Referring to the last sentence but one, it is to be recorded that, on Keats's return from Kentish Town, Hunt sent him the following letter from Mortimer Terrace, addressed to "Mrs. Brawn [e]'s, Wentworth Place":Giovani Mio, I shall see you this afternoon, and most probably every day. You judge rightly when you think I shall be glad at your putting up awhile where Not that I have any great hopes of that, for, I think, there is a core of disease in me not easy to pull out. If I should die . I shall be obliged to set off in less than a month. Do not, my dear Brown, teaze yourself about me. You must fill up your time as well as you can, and as happily. You must think of my faults as lightly as you can. When I have health I will bring up the long arrears of letters I owe you. My book has had good success among the literary people, and I believe has a moderate sale. I have seen very few people we know. has visited me more than any one. I would go to and make some inquiries after you, if I could with any bearable sensation; but a person I am not quite used to causes an oppression on my chest. Last week I received a letter from Shelley, at Pisa, of a very kind nature, asking me to pass the winter with him. Hunt has behaved very kindly to me. shall hear from me again shortly. You Your affectionate friend John Keats CCXI. TO FANNY KEATS. Rd Abbey's Esqre Walthamstow. My dear Fanny, Wentworth Place Wednesday Morning [Postmark, 23 August 1820.] It will give me great Pleasure to see you here, if you can contrive it; though I confess I should have written instead of calling upon you before I set out on my journey, from the wish of avoiding unpleasant partings. Meantime I will just notice some parts of your Letter. The seal-breaking business is over blown. I think no more of it. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Brown, asking him to befriend me with his company to Rome. His answer is not yet come, and I do not know when it will, not being certain how far he may be from the Post Office to which my communication is addressed. Let us hope he will go with George certainly ought to have written to you: his me. you are, instead of that solitary place. There are humanities in the house; and if wisdom loves to live with children round her knees (the tax-gatherer apart), sick wisdom, I think, should love to live with arms about it's waist. I need not say how you gratify me by the impulse that led you to write a particular sentence in your letter, for you must have seen by this time how much I am attached to yourself. I am indicating at as dull a rate as a battered finger-post in wet weather. Not that I am ill: for I am very well altogether. Your affectionate Friend troubles, anxieties and fatigues are not quite a sufficient excuse. In the course of time you will be sure to find that this neglect, is not forgetfulness. I am sorry to hear you have been so ill and in such low spirits. Now you are better, keep so. Do not suffer your Mind to dwell on unpleasant reflexions—that sort of thing has been the destruction of my health. Nothing is so bad as want of health-it makes one envy scavengers and cindersifters. There are enough real distresses and evils in wait for every one to try the most vigorous health. Not that I would say yours are not real-but they are such as to tempt you to employ your imagination on them, rather than endeavour to dismiss them entirely. Do not diet your mind with grief, it destroys the constitution; but let your chief care be of your health, and with that you will meet your share of Pleasure in the world-do not doubt it. If I return well from Italy I will turn over a new leaf for you. I have been improving lately, and have very good hopes of "turning a Neuk" and cheating the consumption. I am not well enough to write to George myself -Mr. Haslam1 will do it for me, to whom I shall write to day, desiring him to mention as gently as possible your complaint. I am my dear Fanny Your affectionate Brother I ought to be off at the end of this week, as the cold winds begin to blow towards evening;-but I will wait till I have your answer to this. I am to be introduced, before I set out, to a Dr. Clark, a physician settled at Rome, who promises to befriend me in every way there. The sale of my book is very slow, though it has been very highly rated. One of the causes, I understand from different quarters, of the unpopularity of this new book, and the others also, is the offence the ladies take at 1 Not, one would have thought, an over fortunate choice, seeing that Mr. Haslam was under monetary obligations to George Keats (page 116 of this volume), and had already shown a not very reassuring attitude in tearing up a letter from George entrusted to him by John (page 60). CCXII. The date upon which Keats left Hampstead on his journey to Italy is somewhat doubtful. He possessed and used a copy of Leigh Hunt's 'Literary Pocket-book' for 1819, which he left in the possession of Miss Brawne; and she also wrote memoranda in it. These latter were probably written in 1820; and one, under the 8th of September, is "Mr. Keats left Hampstead". On the 8th of September 1819 he was at Winchester. On the other hand the 18th of September 1820 is the date recorded at Lloyd's as that of the departure of the "Maria Crowther," on board which Keats and Severn left London. me. On thinking that matter over, I am certain that I have said nothing in a spirit to displease any woman I would care to please; but still there is a tendency to class women in my books with roses and sweetmeats,—they never see themselves dominant. If ever I come to publish "Lucy Vaughan Lloyd," there will be some delicate picking for squeamish stomachs. I will say no more, but, waiting in anxiety for your answer, doff my hat, and make a purse as long as I can. Your affectionate friend, CCXIII. To John Keats. [September 1820.] The passport arrived before we started. I don't think I shall be long ill. God bless you-farewell. John Keats CCXIV. To CHARLES ARMITAGE BROWN. Wentworth Place, Hampstead. My dear Brown, Saturday, Sept. 28 [1820] Off Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. The time has not yet come for a pleasant letter from me. I have delayed writing to you from time to time, because I felt how impossible it was to enliven you with one heartening hope of my recovery; this morning in bed the matter struck me in a different manner; I thought I would write "while I was in some liking," or I might become too ill to write at all; and then if the desire to have written should become strong it would be a great affliction to me. I have many more letters to write, and I bless my stars that I have begun, for time seems to press, -this may be my best opportunity. We are in a calm, and I am easy enough this morning. If my spirits seem too low you may in some degree impute it to our having been at sea a fortnight without making any way. I was very disappointed at CCXIII. The scrap of paper with these few words written upon it bears no date, address, or other indication as to what point of his journey Keats had reached when he wrote it, or as to the person for whom it was destined. CCXIV. The original letter is in the possession of Mr. F. Locker. I give the text from it. |