will come up in prime order as we speak of such and such things. Remember me to all, including Mr. and Mrs. Bentley.' Your most affectionate brother We have made but poor progress lately, chiefly from bad weather, for my throat is in a fair way of getting quite well, so I have had nothing of consequence to tell you till yesterday when we went up Ben Nevis, the highest Mountain in Great Britain. On that account I will never ascend another in this empire-Skiddaw is 1 The young Keatses occupied the first floor at a house in Well Walk, Hampstead,—the house of Bentley, who, says Mr. Dilke, “was Postman of the district." Mrs. Bentley is described by the same authority as "a well-behaved kind and motherly person." (LVII) In the note to the Sonnet on Ben Nevis (Volume II, page 312) it was suggested that the ascent took place "about the Ist" of August. If Keats's date is right, it took place on the 2nd; but I had not seen this letter when the second volume passed through the press. The interval between the beginning of the letter and its consignment to the Post Office would seem to have been three days; and in the mean time the sore throat appears to have held its own even by Keats's own admission at the close; and a day later Brown wrote very seriously of it (Volume II, page 312). Letterfinlay is about twelve miles (as the crow flies) from Ben Nevis, in the direct line for Inverness, and is close to the banks of Loch Lochy. nothing to it either in height or in difficulty. It is above 4300 feet from the Sea level, and Fortwilliam stands at the head of a Salt water Lake, consequently we took it completely from that level. I am heartily glad it is done-it is almost like a fly crawling up a wainscoat. Imagine the task of mounting ten Saint Pauls without the convenience of Staircases. We set out about five in the morning with a Guide in the Tartan and Cap, and soon arrived at the foot of the first ascent which we immediately began upon-after much fag and tug and a rest and a glass of whiskey apiece we gained the top of the first rise and saw then a tremendous chap above us, which the guide said was still far from the top. After the first Rise our way lay along a heath valley in which there was a Loch-after about a Mile in this Valley we began upon the next ascent, more formidable by far than the last, and kept mounting with short intervals of rest until we got above all vegetation, among nothing but loose Stones which lasted us to the very top-the Guide said we had three Miles of a stony ascent-we gained the first tolerable level after the valley to the height of what in the Valley we had thought the top and saw still above us another huge crag which still the Guide said was not the top-to that we made with an obstinate fag, and having gained it there came on a Mist, so that from that part to the very top we walked in a Mist. The whole immense head of the Mountain is composed of large loose stones -thousands of acres. Before we had got halfway up we passed large patches of snow and near the top there is a chasm some hundred feet deep completely glutted with it.—Talking of chasms they are the finest wonder of the whole-the[y] appear great rents in the very heart of the mountain though they are not, being at the side of it, but other huge crags arising round it give the appear ance to Nevis of a shattered heart or Core in itself. These Chasms are 1500 feet in depth and are the most tremendous places I have ever seen-they turn one giddy if you choose to give way to it. We tumbled in large stones and set the echoes at work in fine style. Sometimes these chasms are tolerably clear, sometimes there is a misty cloud which seems to steam up and sometimes they are entirely smothered with clouds. After a little time the Mist cleared away but still there were large Clouds about attracted by old Ben to a certain distance so as to form as it appeared large dome curtains which kept sailing about, opening and shutting at intervals here and there and everywhere: so that although we did not see one vast wide extent of prospect all round we saw something perhaps finer-these cloudveils opening with a dissolving motion and showing us the mountainous region beneath as through a loophole -these cloudy loopholes ever varying and discovering fresh prospect east, west, north and south. Then it was misty again, and again it was fair-then puff came a cold breeze of wind and bared a craggy chap we had not yet seen though in close neighbourhood. Every now and then we had overhead blue Sky clear and the sun pretty warm. I do not know whether I can give you an Idea of the prospect from a large Mountain top. You are on a stony plain which of course makes you forget you are on any but low ground-the horizon or rather edges of this plain being above 4000 feet above the Sea hide all the Country immediately beneath you, so that the next object you see all round next to the edges of the flat top are the Summits of Mountains of some distance off. As you move about on all side[s] you see more or less of the near neighbour country according as the Mountain you stand upon is in different parts steep or rounded-but the most new thing of all is the sudden leap of the eye from the extremity of what appears a plain into so vast a distance. On one part of the top there is a handsome pile of Stones done pointedly by some soldiers of artillery; I clim[b]ed onto them and so got a little higher than old Ben himself. It was not so cold as I expected-yet cold enough for a glass of W[h]iskey now and then. .There is not a more fickle thing than the top of a Mountain-what would a Lady give to change her head-dress as often and with as little trouble! There are a good many red deer upon Ben Nevis-we did not see one-the dog we had with us kept a very sharp look out and really languished for a bit of a worry. I have said nothing yet of our2 getting on among the loose stones large and small sometimes on two, sometimes on three, sometimes four legs—sometimes two and stick, sometimes three and stick, then four again, then two, then a jump, so that we kept on ringing changes on foot, hand, stick, jump, boggle, s[t]umble, foot, hand, foot (very gingerly), stick again, and then again a game at all fours. After all there was one Mrs. Cameron of 50 years of age and the fattest woman in all Invernessshire who got up this Mountain some few years ago-true she had her servants-but then she had her self. She ought to have hired Sisyphus,-" Up the high hill he heaves a huge round-Mrs. Cameron." 'Tis said a little conversation took place between the mountain and the Lady. After taking a glass of W[h]iskey as she was tolerably seated at ease she thus began-* 1 In the original manuscript, keep instead of kept. 2 The word out for our is written in the letter. 3 Keats wrote Sysiphus. 4 It is hardly necessary to apologize for the absence of this doggerel from Volume II; but as I should certainly, for uniformity's MRS. C. Upon my Life Sir Nevis I am pique'd Is plain, and in the eye of all Mankind 5 1Ο 15 20 Here the Lady took some more w[h]iskey and was putting even more to her lips when she dashed [it] to the Ground for the Mountain began to grumble-which continued for a few minutes before he thus began, BEN NEVIS. What whining bit of tongue and Mouth thus dares sake, have included it in the series of Scottish poems had I been able, I may explain that this letter, like Number LIII, was only found in Haydon's journal after Volume II had passed the press. 1 In the manuscript, distur'd. |