PREFACE TO VOLUME V. The fluctuation of dates which the reader will notice in going through the letters consecutively arises, of course, from the impossibility of interrupting the course of any one of the long journal-letters to George Keats. The first few letters in the present volume cover about the same period as the journal-letter standing last in Volume IV. It seemed better to reserve these than that for the opening of the new volume, seeing that by this arrangement the story of poor Thomas Keats is consecutively wound up. The journal-letters in the present volume are placed according to the dates up to which they extend, not on which they were begun. The letter to William Haslam numbered CVIII and given at page 59 should have an address in the heading, namely, "Frampton & Co., Leadenhall Street"— the holograph being addressed "Mr. William Haslam, Frampton & Co., Leadenhall Street." This address suggests the explanation of Keats's statements that the Framptons behaved well to Haslam after his father's death, and that he had got his father's situation (page 39). It would seem that father and son were both employed by a firm of Framptons in Leadenhall Street "Frampton & Co." I have not traced; but old directories reveal the existe. of Frampton and Sons, wholesale grocers and tea-dealers of 34 Leadenhall Street; and, as Keats's guardian, Richard Abbey, was in that line, Keats's acquaintance with Haslam would thus be accounted for. The intention in the present edition of Keats's Letters has been to add the address to the name of the correspondent in every case in which the holograph letter has been accessible and has borne an address. The journal-letters do not bear addresses or superscriptions of any kind, having been "dowled up" (as Keats says) in packets as occasion served for their transit to America. The letters to Fanny Brawne, which all appear in this final volume, were on the other hand almost invariably addressed to "Miss Brawne," although the greater number of them, sent by hand from house to house, have no further address, and two, whether for purposes of disguise or through inadvertence, are addressed to "Mrs. Brawne." Those which bear full directions for the postman are the ten which passed through the post to Wentworth Place, either from the Isle of Wight or Winchester or from the other side of London. This series affords an excellent example of Keats's proverbial negligence in the matter of dates; for, of the whole thirty-nine, not one is beholden to the poet's hand for a year date, only two go so far as to specify in writing the day of the month or even the name of the month, and in one of those two Keats's written date is a day later than the date of the infallible post-mark. Hence, it is possible that the letters have not invariably been placed in their true chronological position, although I do not think that there has been any important failure in this respect. H. B. F. 46 Marlborough Hill, St. John's Wood, London. April 1901. PUBLISHERS' NOTE in explanation of the different types employed. In order to prevent a difficulty that sometimes arises of distinguishing between the author and the editor, especially when author's and editor's notes to a text both occur, the following plan has been adopted. The text of the author and its variants have been printed throughout in 'old style' type, while all notes &c. added by the editor have been set in 'condensed' type. It is hoped that this innovation will be found of no small service to the general reader as well as to the student. |