Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends

by John Keats

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CONTENTS

LETTER		DATE	PAGE
	Preface		[xi]
[1.]	To Charles Cowden Clarke	Oct. 13, 1816	[1]
[2.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Nov. 20, 1816	[1]
[3.]	" "	Nov. 20, 1816	[2]
[4.]	To Charles Cowden Clarke	Dec. 17, 1816	[2]
[5.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Mar. 2, 1817?	[3]
[6.]	" "	Mar. 17, 1817	[4]
[7.]	To George and Thomas Keats	April 15, 1817	[4]
[8.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	April 17, 1817	[6]
[9.]	To Leigh Hunt	May 10, 1817	[10]
[10.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	May 10, 1817	[13]
[11.]	To Messrs. Taylor and Hessey	May 16, 1817	[17]
[12.]	" "	July 8, 1817	[19]
[13.]	To Mariane and Jane Reynolds	Sept. 5, 1817	[19]
[14.]	To Fanny Keats	Sept. 10, 1817	[21]
[15.]	To Jane Reynolds	Sept. 14, 1817	[24]
[16.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Sept. 21, 1817	[28]
[17.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Sept. 28, 1817	[32]
[18.]	To Benjamin Bailey	Oct. 8, 1817	[33]
[19.]	" "	About Nov. 1, 1817	[36]
[20.]	" "	Nov. 5, 1817	[39]
[21.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	Nov. 1817	[40]
[22.]	To Benjamin Bailey	Nov. 22, 1817	[40]
[23.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Nov. 22, 1817	[44]
[24.]	To George and Thomas Keats	Dec. 22, 1817	[46]
[25.]	" "	Jan. 5, 1818	[48]
[26.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Jan. 10, 1818	[53]
[27.]	To John Taylor	Jan. 10, 1818	[53]
[28.]	To George and Thomas Keats	Jan. 13-20, 1818	[54]
[29.]	To John Taylor	Jan. 23, 1818	[56]
[30.]	To George and Thomas Keats	Jan. 23, 1818	[57]
[31.]	To Benjamin Bailey	Jan. 23, 1818	[61]
[32.]	To John Taylor	Jan. 30, 1818	[64]
[33.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Jan. 31, 1818	[65]
[34.]	" "	Feb. 3, 1818	[67]
[35.]	To John Taylor	Feb. 5, 1818	[71]
[36.]	To George and Thomas Keats	Feb. 14, 1818	[71]
[37.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Feb. 19, 1818	[73]
[38.]	To George and Thomas Keats	Feb. 21, 1818	[75]
[39.]	To John Taylor	Feb. 27, 1818	[77]
[40.]	To Messrs. Taylor and Hessey	Mar. 1818?	[78]
[41.]	To Benjamin Bailey	Mar. 13, 1818	[78]
[42.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Mar. 14, 1818	[82]
[43.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Mar. 21, 1818	[85]
[44.]	To Messrs. Taylor and Hessey	Mar. 21, 1818	[88]
[45.]	To James Rice	Mar. 24, 1818	[88]
[46.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Mar. 25, 1818	[90]
[47.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	April 8, 1818	[94]
[48.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	April 9, 1818	[96]
[49.]	" "	April 10, 1818	[98]
[50.]	To John Taylor	April 24, 1818	[99]
[51.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	April 27, 1818	[100]
[52.]	" "	May 3, 1818	[103]
[53.]	To Benjamin Bailey	May 28, 1818	[109]
[54.]	" "	June 10, 1818	[111]
[55.]	To John Taylor	June 21, 1818	[114]
[56.]	To Thomas Keats	June 29-July 2, 1818	[114]
[57.]	To Fanny Keats	July 2-4, 1818	[118]
[58.]	To Thomas Keats	July 2-9, 1818	[123]
[59.]	" "	July 10-14, 1818	[127]
[60.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	July 11-13, 1818	[132]
[61.]	To Thomas Keats	July 17-21, 1818	[136]
[62.]	To Benjamin Bailey	July 18-22, 1818	[142]
[63.]	To Thomas Keats	July 23-26, 1818	[147]
[64.]	" "	Aug. 3, 1818	[153]
[65.]	To Mrs. Wylie	Aug. 6, 1818	[158]
[66.]	To Fanny Keats	Aug. 18, 1818	[161]
[67.]	" "	Aug. 25, 1818	[162]
[68.]	To Jane Reynolds	Sept. 1, 1818	[162]
[69.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	Sept. 21, 1818	[163]
[70.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	About Sept. 22, 1818	[165]
[71.]	To Fanny Keats	Oct. 9, 1818	[166]
[72.]	To James Augustus Hessey	Oct. 9, 1818	[167]
[73.]	To George and Georgiana Keats	Oct. 13-31, 1818	[168]
[74.]	To Fanny Keats	Oct. 16, 1818	[182]
[75.]	" "	Oct. 26, 1818	[183]
[76.]	To Richard Woodhouse	Oct. 27, 1818	[183]
[77.]	To Fanny Keats	Nov. 5, 1818	[185]
[78.]	To James Rice	Nov. 24, 1818	[186]
[79.]	To Fanny Keats	Dec. 1, 1818	[187]
[80.]	To George and Georgiana Keats	About Dec. 18, 1818-Jan. 4, 1819	[187]
[81.]	To Richard Woodhouse	Dec. 18, 1818	[210]
[82.]	To Mrs. Reynolds	Dec. 22, 1818	[211]
[83.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Dec. 22, 1818	[211]
[84.]	To John Taylor	Dec. 24, 1818	[212]
[85.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Dec. 27, 1818	[213]
[86.]	To Fanny Keats	Dec. 30, 1818	[213]
[87.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Jan. 4, 1819	[214]
[88.]	" "	Between Jan. 7 and 14, 1819	[214]
[89.]	" "	Jan. 1819	[215]
[90.]	To Fanny Keats	Jan. 1819	[215]
[91.]	" "	Feb. 11, 1819	[216]
[92.]	To George and Georgiana Keats	Feb. 14-May 3, 1819	[217]
[93.]	To Fanny Keats	Feb. 27, 1819	[262]
[94.]	" "	Mar. 13, 1819	[263]
[95.]	" "	Mar. 24, 1819	[264]
[96.]	To Joseph Severn	Mar. 29? 1819	[265]
[97.]	To Fanny Keats	April 13, 1819	[265]
[98.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	April 13, 1819	[267]
[99.]	To Fanny Keats	April 17, 1819?	[268]
[100.]	" "	May 13, 1819	[270]
[101.]	" "	May 26, 1819	[270]
[102.]	" "	June 9, 1819	[271]
[103.]	To James Elmes	June 12, 1819	[272]
[104.]	To Fanny Keats	June 14, 1819	[272]
[105.]	" "	June 16, 1819	[273]
[106.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	June 17, 1819	[274]
[107.]	To Fanny Keats	July 6, 1819	[275]
[108.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	July 11, 1819	[276]
[109.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	July 31, 1819	[277]
[110.]	To Benjamin Bailey	Aug. 15, 1819	[280]
[111.]	To John Taylor	Aug. 23, 1819	[281]
[112.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Aug. 25, 1819	[282]
[113.]	To Fanny Keats	Aug. 28, 1819	[283]
[114.]	To John Taylor	Sept. 1, 1819	[286]
[115.]	" "	Sept. 5, 1819	[286]
[116.]	To George and Georgiana Keats	Sept. 17-27, 1819	[290]
[117.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Sept. 22, 1819	[319]
[118.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	Sept. 22, 1819	[322]
[119.]	To Charles Brown	Sept. 23, 1819	[325]
[120.]	" "	Sept. 23, 1819	[327]
[121.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	Oct. 1, 1819	[328]
[122.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Oct. 3, 1819	[328]
[123.]	To Fanny Keats	Oct. 16, 1819	[331]
[124.]	To Joseph Severn	Oct. 27? 1819	[332]
[125.]	To John Taylor	Nov. 17, 1819	[333]
[126.]	To Fanny Keats	Nov. 17, 1819	[334]
[127.]	To Joseph Severn	Dec. 6? 1819	[334]
[128.]	To James Rice	Dec. 1819	[335]
[129.]	To Fanny Keats	Dec. 20, 1819	[335]
[130.]	" "	Dec. 22, 1819	[337]
[131.]	To Georgiana Keats	Jan. 13-28, 1820	[338]
[132.]	To Fanny Keats	Feb. 6, 1820	[347]
[133.]	" "	Feb. 8, 1820	[348]
[134.]	" "	Feb. 11, 1820	[350]
[135.]	" "	Feb. 14, 1820	[350]
[136.]	To James Rice	Feb. 16, 1820	[350]
[137.]	To Fanny Keats	Feb. 19, 1820	[352]
[138.]	To John Hamilton Reynolds	Feb. 23 or 25, 1820	[352]
[139.]	To Fanny Keats	Feb. 24, 1820	[353]
[140.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	Mar. 4, 1820	[354]
[141.]	To Fanny Keats	Mar. 20, 1820	[355]
[142.]	" "	April 1, 1820	[356]
[143.]	" "	April 1820	[357]
[144.]	" "	April 12, 1820	[357]
[145.]	" "	April 21, 1820	[357]
[146.]	" "	May 4, 1820	[358]
[147.]	To Charles Wentworth Dilke	May 1820	[359]
[148.]	To John Taylor	June 11, 1820	[360]
[149.]	To Charles Brown	June 1820	[360]
[150.]	To Fanny Keats	June 26, 1820	[362]
[151.]	" "	July 5, 1820	[363]
[152.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	July 1820	[363]
[153.]	To Fanny Keats	July 22, 1820	[364]
[154.]	" "	Aug. 14, 1820	[364]
[155.]	To Percy Bysshe Shelley	Aug. 1820	[365]
[156.]	To John Taylor	Aug. 14, 1820	[367]
[157.]	To Benjamin Robert Haydon	Aug. 1820	[367]
[158.]	To Charles Brown	Aug. 1820	[368]
[159.]	To Fanny Keats	Aug. 23, 1820	[368]
[160.]	To Charles Brown	Aug. 1820	[370]
[161.]	" "	Sept. 28, 1820	[370]
[162.]	To Mrs. Brawne	Oct. 24, 1820	[372]
[163.]	To Charles Brown	Nov. 1,2, 1820	[374]
[164.]	" "	Nov. 30, 1820	[376]

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PREFACE

The object of the present volume is to supply the want, which many readers must have felt, of a separate and convenient edition of the letters of Keats to his family and friends. He is one of those poets whose genius makes itself felt in prose-writing almost as decisively as in verse, and at their best these letters are among the most beautiful in our language. Portions of them lent an especial charm to a book charming at any rate—the biography of the poet first published more than forty years ago by Lord Houghton. But the correspondence as given by Lord Houghton is neither accurate nor complete. He had in few cases the originals before him, but made use of copies, some of them quite fragmentary, especially those supplied him from America; and moreover, working while many of the poet’s friends were still alive, he thought it right to exercise a degree of editorial freedom for which there would now be neither occasion nor excuse. While I was engaged in preparing the life of Keats for Mr. Morley’s series some years since, the following materials for an improved edition of his letters came into my hands:—

(1) The copies made by Richard Woodhouse, a few years after Keats’s death, of the poet’s correspondence with his principal friends, viz. the publishers, Messrs. Taylor and Hessey; the transcriber, Woodhouse himself, who was a young barrister of literary tastes in the confidence of those gentlemen; John Hamilton Reynolds, solicitor, poet, humourist, and critic (born 1796, died 1852); Jane and Mariane Reynolds, sisters of the last-named, the former afterwards Mrs. Tom Hood; James Rice, the bosom friend of Reynolds, and like him a young solicitor; Benjamin Bailey, undergraduate of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, afterwards Archdeacon of Colombo (1794?-1852), and one or two more.

(2) The imperfect copies of the poet’s letters to his brother and sister-in-law in America, which were made by the sister-in-law’s second husband, Mr. Jeffrey of Louisville, and sent by him to Lord Houghton, who published them with further omissions and alterations of his own.