so easily. He quarreled with his publisher, Mr. Ollier, who doubtless was not at all in fault, and maintained that his book did not sell and was not read for other reasons than the lack of interest the public had in him and his poems. Indeed, his faith in himself had an effect upon his appearance, for Haydon says in his autobiography that Wordsworth and Keats were the only men he had ever seen who looked conscious of a lofty purpose. It is not likely, therefore, that this first failure should have killed his ardor; and it did not, for by the time he realized that his book was a failure he was well on his way toward the completion of "Endymion," which was certainly not neglected, however much it was abused.

Before "Endymion" was fairly begun, Keats gave up all idea of practicing his profession. That acute sensibility which had so fine an influence upon his work spoiled him as a surgeon. He said that he was unable to perform an operation with security and comfort, on account of his apprehension of the possible injury he might inflict. The last operation he performed the opening of a temporal artery — was entirely successful; but his very success appears to have frightened him, for he said that his dexterity seemed to him a miracle, and he declared that he would never take up an instrument again.

"Endymion" was begun at Margate in May, 1817. Keats had spent some time just previous to this in the Isle of Wight, where he had attempted to work, but the solitude and his own company were too much for him, as he declared in one of his VOL. II.

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letters. The next eight months were given up to his poem, and he completed it on the 28th of November. It was, however, two months after the poem was completed before Messrs. Taylor & Hessey received the first book. Whatever may have been the merits of the quarrel between Keats and his first publisher, he certainly never had a right to complain of the treatment he received at the hands of Taylor & Hessey. They were not only generous to him, but friendly and sympathetic, anticipating his wants very frequently, and never failing to respond to the calls he made upon them. for pecuniary aid. It was at first proposed to publish the book in quarto, and Haydon was to have drawn a frontispiece. The painter agreed very readily to make a finished picture from the poem, and also a chalk sketch of Keats's head to prefix to the book. This plan, in some way not explained by Keats's correspondence, miscarried, and the book finally appeared in octavo without picture or portrait.

At this time, the winter of 1817-18 and the succeeding spring, the affairs of the Keatses were by no means prosperous. John had given up his profession, in acquiring which he had spent a large part of his patrimony; George had quarreled with Mr. Abbey and left his employ, while Tom was already far gone in consumption. Under these circumstances George Keats, who was a young man of much determination and self-reliance, decided to emigrate to America, and here try to better his fortune and relieve his brothers from the distress of their condition. Before starting for America he

was married to Miss Georgiana Augusta Wiley, a daughter of an officer in the Royal Navy. Joseph Severn, the painter and last companion of Keats, made portraits of the three brothers, which were brought by the young couple to their Western home. James Freeman Clarke, who obtained his facts from George Keats, with whom the Unitarian clergyman was on most intimate terms of friendliness when he lived in Louisville, thus described the journey down the Ohio:

"Mr. Keats bought a carriage and horses in Philadelphia, with which he traveled to Pittsburg, and thence descended the Ohio in a keel boat. This voyage of six hundred miles down the river was full of romance to these young people. No steam-boat then disturbed, with its hoarse pantings, the sleep of those beautiful shores. Day after day they floated tranquilly on, as through a succession of fairy lakes, sometimes in the shadow of the lofty and wooded bluff, sometimes by the side of the widespread meadows, or beneath the graceful overhanging branches of the cottonwood and sycamore. At times, while the boat floated lazily along, the young people would go ashore and walk through the woods across a point around which the river made a bend. All uncertain as their prospects were, they could easily, amid the luxuriance of nature, abandon themselves to the enjoyment of the hour."

The affairs of George Keats did not prosper in America for a long time. In some business transactions with Audubon, the naturalist, George lost all of the money he had drawn from his father's estate. Many allusions to this will be found in the letters in these volumes, and I call attention to it because it is not fair that Audubon should be re

garded longer as the friend and benefactor of this inexperienced young Englishman, when, as a matter of fact, Audubon was the real cause of George Keats's serious pecuniary distress at the beginning of his American life. His financial straits compelled him to go to England, where he appeared in the winter of 1819. Some account of his visit there is contained in a letter written during the visit, by John Keats to his sister-in-law. Returning to America in the beginning of 1820, George Keats began a career which for twenty years was prosperous and honorable. Of him and his character, I quote from James Freeman Clarke's memoir in the "Dial": "In the prime of life and in the midst of usefulness, George Keats passed into the spiritual world. The city of Louisville lost in him one of its most public spirited and conscientious citizens. The Unitarian Society of that place lost one who, though he had been confirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, was too honest not to leave the popular and fashionable Church for an unpopular faith, since this was more of a home to his mind. For myself, I have ever thought that it was quite worth my while to have lived in Louisville, even if I had gained thereby nothing but the knowledge and friendship of such a man. I did not see him in his last days. I was already in a distant region. But when he died I felt that I had indeed lost a friend. We cannot hope to find many such in this world. We are fortunate if we find any. Yet I could not but believe that he had gone to find his brother again among

The spirits and intelligences fair,

And angels waiting on the Almighty's chair.'"

I trust I will be pardoned for saying so much of George Keats. But he was much abused in England by the zealous and impulsive admirers of John Keats after the poet's death. He was not only accused of deserting his brother, but of taking more than his share of his father's estate. Surely it is proper and kind to the memory of John Keats to exhibit Mr. Clarke's testimonial to George Keats's worth, together with Lord Houghton's judgment on these accusations after he had seen the evidence. Lord Houghton said: "He certainly was not aware that John was at that time almost wholly dependent on his friends for subsistence, and he (George) tried to buoy him (John) up with the hope that he (George) should soon earn enough to place both at ease. His voluntary payment of his brother's debts, after his death, including what had been advanced by Mr. Brown, certainly showed no niggard spirit; and in America he bore the highest character for uprightness and generosity."

After seeing his brother off at Liverpool, John took a rambling walking tour though the Lake country and the Highlands. A disjointed description of this tour exists in his letters to his brothers and his friends.

The youngest brother, Tom Keats, died in December, 1818, of the family disease, consumption. He had been ill for many years, and his suffering did much to sadden the life of his brother. In disposition and appearance he was much like John, who loved him "with a love surpassing the love of woman." Brown, to cheer up Keats, took him