next post on the subject of that poem;
and should have sent the promised criticism for the second edition, had
I not mislaid, and in vain sought for, the volume that contains
_Hyperion_.' (To Ollier, 14 November.) 'I am especially curious to hear
the fate of _Adonais_. I confess I should be surprised if that poem were
born to an immortality of oblivion.' (To Ollier, 11 January, 1822.) 'I
was also more than commonly interested in the success of _Adonais_. I do
not mean the sale, but the effect produced; and I should have [been]
glad to have received some communication from you respecting it. I do
not know even whether it has been published, and still less whether it
has been republished with the alterations I sent.' As to the alterations
sent nothing definite is known, but some details bearing on this point
will be found in our Notes, p. 105, &c. (To Gisborne, 10 April) 'I know
what to think of _Adonais_, but what to think of those who confound it
with the many bad poems of the day I know not.' This expression seems to
indicate that Mr. Gisborne had sent Shelley some of the current
criticisms--there were probably but few in all--upon _Adonais_: to this
matter I shall recur further on. (To Gisborne, 18 June.) 'The _Adonais_
I wished to have had a fair chance, both because it is a favourite with
me, and on account of the memory of Keats--who was a poet of great
genius, let the classic party say what it will.'

Earlier than the latest of these extracts Shelley had sent to Mr. Severn
a copy of _Adonais_, along with a letter which I append.

'Pisa, Nov. 29th, 1821.

'DEAR SIR,

'I send you the Elegy on poor Keats, and I wish it were better worth
your acceptance. You will see, by the preface, that it was written
before I could obtain any particular account of his last moments. All
that I still know was communicated to me by a friend who had derived his
information from Colonel Finch, I have ventured [in the Preface] to
express as I felt the respect and admiration which _your_ conduct
towards him demands.

'In spite of his transcendent genius, Keats never was, nor ever will be,
a popular poet; and the total neglect and obscurity in which the
astonishing remains of his mind still lie was hardly to be dissipated by
a writer who, however he may differ from Keats in more important
qualities, at least resembles him in that accidental one, a want of
popularity.

'I have little hope therefore that the poem I send you will exc