Even so long my sleep has been secure- MRS. C. Sweet Nevis do not quake, for though I love BEN NEVIS. I must-I shall-I meet not such tit bits- 25 30 35 40 45 It is not quite clear whether the word in the letter is dam'd or darn'd. 2 A domestic of Ben's [KEATS'S NOTE]. 50 55 And rub your flinty back against it-budge! And press my dainty morsel to my breast. 60 O Muses weep the rest The Lady fainted and he thought her dead 70 'Twas the most vile But what surprises me above all is how this Lady got down again. I felt it horribly. descent-shook me all to pieces. Over leaf you will find a Sonnet I wrote on the top of Ben Nevis. We have just entered Inverness. I have three Letters from you III. 1 Another domestic of Ben's [KEATS'S NOTE]. Р and one [from] Fanny-and one from Dilke. I would set about crossing this all over for you but I will first write to Fanny and Mrs. Wylie.1 Then I will begin another to you and not before because I think it better you should have this as soon as possible. My Sore throat is not quite well and I intend stopping herè a few days.2 It was a great regret to me that I should leave all my friends, just at the moment when I might have helped to soften away the time for them. I wanted not to leave my brother Tom, but more especially, believe me, I should like to have remained near you, were it but for an atom of consolation after parting with so dear a daughter. My brother George has ever been more than a brother to me; he has been my greatest friend, and I can never forget the sacrifice you have made for his happiness. As I walk along the mountains here I am full 1 Misspelt Wilie in the original. The Sonnet on Ben Nevis follows here in the manuscript. There is no variation of consequence from the text as printed at pages 312-13 of Volume II. In the fourth line we have the dissyllable Vaprous instead of the trisyllable Vapourous, and in the fifth line Mankind do know instead of Mankind doth know. 3 Mrs. Wylie was the mother of Mrs, George Keats, of these things, and lay in wait, as it were, for the pleasure of seeing you immediately on my return to town. I wish, above all things, to say a word of comfort to you, but I know not how. It is impossible to prove that black is white; it is impossible to make out that sorrow is joy, or joy is sorrow. Tom tells me that you called on Mrs. Haslam, with a newspaper giving an account of a gentleman in a fur cap, falling over a precipice in Kirkcudbrightshire. If it was me, I did it in a dream, or in some magic interval between the first and second cup of tea; which is nothing extraordinary when we hear that Mahomet, in getting out of bed, upset a jug of water, and, whilst it was falling, took a fortnight's trip, as it seemed, to Heaven; yet was back in time to save one drop of water being spilt. As for fur caps, I do not remember one beside my own, except at Carlisle: this was a very good fur cap I met in High Street, and I dare say was the unfortunate one. I dare say that the Fates, seeing but two fur caps in the north, thought it too extraordinary, and so threw the dies which of them should be drowned. The lot fell upon Jones: I dare say his name was Jones. All I hope is that the gaunt ladies said not a word about hanging; if they did I shall repent1 that I was not half-drowned in Kirkcudbright. Stop! let me see!-being half-drowned by falling from a precipice, is a very romantic affair: why should I not take it to myself? How glorious to be introduced in a drawing-room to a lady who reads novels, with "Mr. So-and-so-Miss So-and-so; Miss So-and-so, this is Mr. So-and-so, who fell off a precipice and was half-drowned." Now I refer to you, whether I should In Lord Houghton's editions the word here is repeat; but I think there can be no doubt that repent is the right word. lose so fine an opportunity of making my fortune. No romance lady could resist me-none. Being run under a wagon; side-lamed in a playhouse; apoplectic through brandy; and a thousand other tolerably decent things for badness, would be nothing; but being tumbled over a precipice into the sea-oh! it would make my fortune -especially if you could contrive to hint, from this bulletin's authority, that I was not upset on my own account, but that I dashed into the waves after Jessy of Dumblane, and pulled her out by the hair ;—but that, alas! she was dead, or she would have made me happy with her hand. However, in this you may use your own discretion. But I must leave joking, and seriously aver, that I have been very romantic indeed among these mountains and lakes. I have got wet through, day after day; eaten oat-cake, and drank whisky; walked up to my knees in bog; got a sore throat; gone to see Icolmkill and Staffa; met with unwholesome food, just here and there as it happened; went up Ben Nevis, and-N.B., came down again sometimes, when I am rather tired, I lean rather languishingly on a rock, and long for some famous beauty to get down from her palfrey in passing, approach me, with-her saddle-bags, and give me a dozen or two capital roast-beef sandwiches. When I come into a large town, you know there is no putting one's knapsack into one's fob, so the people stare. We have been taken for spectacle-vendors, razor-sellers, jewellers, travelling linen-drapers, spies, excisemen, and many things I have no idea of. When I asked for letters at Port Patrick, the man asked,—What regiment? I have 'This word has been printed continue in previous editions; but that scarcely makes sense; and, as continue for contrive is one of the commonest of printers' errors, there need be no hesitation about rectifying the apparent inaccuracy. |