The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Wells, Charles Jeremiah
WELLS, Charles Jeremiah, English poet:
b. probably London, about 1799; d. Marseilles,
France, 17 Feb. 1879. He was a schoolfellow
of a younger brother of the poet John Keats,
and was the subject of a sonnet by the poet;
later, however, he lost his friendship, as well
as that of Haslitt. He wrote extensively but
not successfully, and upon his wife's death he
destroyed most of his work. He was for a

time a solicitor in London, but retired to Wales
about 1830, removed to Hertfordshire in 1835,
and after 1840 lived abroad. Of his work there
remains a volume of prose “Stories After
Nature” (1822; reprinted 1891); and the Biblical
drama, “Joseph and His Brethren” (1824). The
drama met with little favor until it came to the
notice of Rossetti in 1863 and was warmly
praised by him, a judgment later confirmed by
Swinburne. It was reprinted in 1876 and
brought a considerable meed of praise to the
author in his last years.