ew
copies struck off in the cheapest manner. If you have interest enough in
the subject, I could wish that you enquired of some of the friends and
relations of Keats respecting the circumstances of his death, and could
transmit me any information you may be able to collect; and especially
as [to] the degree in which (as I am assured) the brutal attack in the
_Quarterly Review_ excited the disease by which he perished.'

The criticism which Shelley intended to write on _Hyperion_ remained, to
all appearance, unwritten. It will be seen, from the letter of Shelley
to Mr. Severn cited further on (p. 34), that, from the notion of writing
a criticism on _Hyperion_ to precede _Adonais_, his intention developed
into the project of writing a criticism and biography of Keats in
general, to precede a volume of his entire works; but that, before the
close of November, the whole scheme was given up, on the ground that it
would produce no impression on an unregardful public.

In another letter to Ollier, 11 June, the poet says: 'Adonais is
finished, and you will soon receive it. It is little adapted for
popularity, but is perhaps the least imperfect of my compositions.'

Shelley on 16 June caused his Elegy to be printed in Pisa, 'with the
types of Didot': a small quarto, and a handsome one (notwithstanding his
project of cheapness); the introductory matter filling five pages, and
the poem itself going on from p. 7 to p. 25. It appeared in blue paper
wrappers, with a woodcut of a basket of flowers within an ornamental
border. Its price was three and sixpence: of late years L40 has been
given for it--perhaps more. Up to 13 July only one copy had reached the
author's hands: this he then sent on to the Gisbornes, at Leghorn. Some
copies of the Pisa edition were afterwards put into circulation in
London: there was no separate English edition. The Gisbornes having
acknowledged the Elegy with expressions of admiration, the poet replied
as follows:

'Bagni [di Pisa], July 19.

'MY DEAREST FRIENDS,

'I am fully repaid for the painful emotions from which some verses of my
poem sprung by your sympathy and approbation; which is all the reward I
expect, and as much as I desire. It is not for me to judge whether, in
the high praise your feelings assign me, you are right or wrong. The
poet and the man are two different natures: though they exist together,
they may be unconscious of each other, and incapable of deciding on each
other's po