



Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive.)









English Men of Letters

EDITED BY JOHN MORLEY


KEATS




  KEATS


  BY SIDNEY COLVIN


  MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
  ST MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
  1909




  _First Edition 1887._
      _Reprinted 1889, 1898, 1899, 1902, 1909._
  _Library Edition 1902._
      _Reprinted 1906._
  _Pocket Edition 1909._




PREFACE.


With the name of Keats that of his first biographer, the late Lord
Houghton, must always justly remain associated. But while the sympathetic
charm of Lord Houghton's work will keep it fresh, as a record of the
poet's life it can no longer be said to be sufficient. Since the revised
edition of the _Life and Letters_ appeared in 1867, other students and
lovers of Keats have been busy, and much new information concerning him
been brought to light, while of the old information some has been proved
mistaken. No connected account of Keats's life and work, in accordance
with the present state of knowledge, exists, and I have been asked to
contribute such an account to the present series. I regret that lack of
strength and leisure has so long delayed the execution of the task
entrusted to me. The chief authorities and printed texts which I have
consulted (besides the original editions of the Poems) are the
following:--

1. Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries. By Leigh Hunt. London, 1828.

2.