he _Quarterly_ critique was
captious and ill-tempered; but the _Blackwood_ article was a personal
insult.

It is impossible to consider in detail the vexed question of the
influence which these reviews had upon Keats. In Mr. W.M. Rossetti's
_Life of Keats_, pp. (83-106) there is a full discussion of the evidence
on the subject. Within a few months after the appearance of the
articles, Keats wrote:--"Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on
the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic
of his own works. My own domestic criticism has given me pain without
comparison beyond what _Blackwood_ or _The Quarterly_ could possibly
inflict." Some weeks later he wrote that the _Quarterly_ article had
only served to make him more prominent among bookmen. After some time
he expressed himself less confidently and deprecated the growing power
of the reviews, but there is no evidence that he fretted over the
critiques. Haydon tells us that Keats was morbid and silent for hours at
a time; but it is quite likely that the consciousness of his physical
affliction--hereditary consumption--was oppressing his mind. His death
occurred on February 23, 1821--about two and a half years after the
appearance of the _Endymion_ critiques.

Shelley had gone to Italy before the reviews were published. He heard of
the _Quarterly_ article, but knew nothing of _Blackwood's_ while writing
_Adonais_; hence in both poem and preface, the former review is charged
with having caused Keats' death. Shelley declared that Keats' agitation
over the review ended in the rupture of a blood vessel in the lungs with
an ensuing rapid consumption. These statements, which Shelley must have
had indirectly, have not been substantiated. We are forced to the
conclusion now generally accepted--that Keats, although sensitive to
personal ridicule, was superior to the stings of review criticism and
that the distressing events of the last year of his life were sufficient
to assure the early triumph of the inherent and unconquerable disease.

141. _Miss Baillie_. Joanna Baillie (1762-1851) authoress of numerous
forgotten plays and poems which enjoyed great popularity in their day.

142. _Land of Cockaigne_. Here means London, and refers specifically to
the Cockney poets. An old French poem on the _Land of Cockaigne_
described it as an ideal land of luxury and ease. The best authorities
do not accept Cockney as a derivative form. The Cockney School was