New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-16


or partly published, forty years ago, In Lord
Haughton's then Mr.. Monckton Mines oi-
ography of the poet. But the collection al tnaO
time far from complete, and the editor actihs
upon the consideration that many persons spoken
of in the correspondence were yet living, thousht
il necessary to make changes and 10 suppress many
passages The letters then published were. more
over in many instances incorrectly printed, so
that there is ample justification Tor new ana
complete edition. such as Mr.. Sidney GOWN mas
been enabled 10 prepare. In his preface TO this
volume he enumerates the ADDITIONS lhat haVc
been made to the original collection One highly
important Improvement upon Lord HoughtOns
edition consists in the complete restoration OF
Keatss own text In the case OF the letters 10
his brother and sister in the United States. 1t has
been possible to establish many corrections ana
often to restore omitted passages. MI GOWN mas
also taken great pains in regard to the dates ana
sequence of the letters; difficult task, as heabS
not seldom forgot TO date his correspondence IN
the letters concerning the Scotch tour this re-
arrangement involved careful study1'Of the ground
gone over by the poet and his friend .ChalleS
Brown, and this study was not easy, lnsSinuch US
Keats frequently gave merely phonetic approx
nation 20 the names of his stopping places, i'm
perfectly caught from the lips of GaellcSpealung
Scotchmen whose vernacular he did not under
stand.
Mr.. Colvin has borrowed somewhat from Mr.
Buxton Fornan, especially the correspondence
with Fanny Keats The American letters as pub
lished originally by Lord Houghton were seriously
injured by the editing OF Mr.. jeffrey, the second
husband of Keatss sister-in-aw, and Lord
Houghton himself further pruned and altered them
They are now for the first time printed from the
autographs precisely as they were written III VIII
thus he seen that Mr.. Colvin has been enabled TO
present the public with what is in many respects
O new work. and one which certainly for the hrst
time puts the letters of Keats in chronological
order, without omission He has moreover given
in full all the pOetica quotations which are III the
autographs, all former editors having been content
10 print merely the first lines. This is point of
no little importance and interest. for, as Mr.. Col
win observes: ut is indeed from these that the
letters derive a great part of their character.
Writing TO his nearest relatives or most intimate
friends he is always quoting for their pleasure po
ems of his own now classical, then warm from his
BRAIN sent forth uncertain whether TO live or die.
or snatches of doggercl nonsense as the humor of
the moment takes him. The former, familiar as
we may be with them, gain interest and
freshness from the context; the latter are nothing
apart from it, and to print them gravely as has
been done, among the poetical works, is to punish
the levities of genius too hard In all of this we
agree very heartily, and we find ourselves even
more in accord with the editor in what he has
to say concerning the letters of Fanny Brawne
which-possibly TO the disappointment of
persons he has decided not to print in this col
lection. In days when vicious and arti
ficiay stimulated curiosity has attained such mon
strous proportions that the plea Of any right to
privacy is apt TO be treated offence in itself
it may seem TO demand some courage in an editor
20 draw the line as Mr.. Colvin has done, but he
will be approved and supported by all whose judg-
ment upon SO deliberate a question is Of real
value
Mr. Colvin says: @There is one thing which |
have not chosen to do, ard that is to include i'll
this collection the poets love-letters to Fanny
Brawne. AS it is. the intimate nature of the
correspondence must sometimes give the reader
sense of eavesdroppng, of being admitted TO
petty private matters with which he has con-
Germ. If this is TO extent inevitable, IL is By
no rrAans inevitable that the public should he
further asked to look over the shoulders of the
sick and presently dying youth while he declares
the impatence and torment of his passion to the
object, careless and unrespOnsive she seems 10
have been who inspired it, These letters too have
been printed. IS matter of feeling l cannot
put myself in the place of the reader who desires
TO possess them while as matter Of literature
vhey are in different key from the rest-not
lacking passages of beauty, but constrained and
painful in the main, and quite without the genial
ease and play of mind which makes the letters to
his family and friends so attractive Therefore, in
this, which | hope may become the standard
edition of his correspondence. they shall find no
place" These are brave words, and all the more
so because unfortunately it is indubitable that the
commercial fortunes of Mr.. Colvin'S book would
have been bettered by the insertion of the love-
Lott Flo iS in
and tends to refinement but slowly and the editor
who caters TO the lower tastes of his readers may
count confidently upon finding his financial reward
in the lowering OF his own standards. Mr. Colvin
has very manfully Refused to entertain such con-
sideratiOns at all. simply doing right because it
was right,-a line of conduct which, though it
does not sound heroic, is nevertheless not infre-
Quently above and beyond the attainment of the
average man.
1t ought not to be necessary to introduce the
letters of Keats, but probably it is necessary
Lord Houghton's :" Life of Keats is forty years
old, and Mr. Buxton Forman's edition of the
poets work, though full and quite recent, is an
expensive work, and has not, perhaps, had a large
circulation. John Keats was, in truth a brilliant
and original letter-writer He lived his brief
span before letter-writng had become one of the
lost arts, moreover. generation has elapsed
since people ceased 10 correspond upon folio Sheets
and wrote their letters pecemeal from day to
day, adding line upon line and precept upon pre-
cept, until the payment of postage upon these
parcels became heavy burden. Keats, too, was
u prose-writer Of genius In reading his letters
one recalls involuntarily Jeffrey's query about
Macauay, Where the deuce did he get that
style? ?" For it is wholly unlike the style of any
of his contemporaries successors, and while it
occasionally reminds one of several much older
writer's, it is assuredly imitation of none.
There is a dash, q phantasy, quick, wild, quaint
humor, wealth of imagination, profusion Of
figures, delicate fancy, love Of grotesquerie,
besides many other qualities, in this wonderful
style of John Keats.
The nnef enenI1s lnndlv In the Letters OF