he made. In 1820 appeared the small volume entitled Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and other Poems; and amongst the "other Poems was the magnificent fragment Hyperion. But before this year his delicate health had already given way, and consumption had set in. After vain endeavours to gain strength by change of climate in England, it was at last arranged, in 1820, that he should winter at Naples. He sailed with his friend the painter, Severn (still living), who so tenderly nursed him to the end. From Naples the two friends proceeded to Rome. But the poet's strength could hold out no longer, and in February 1821, murmuring "Thank God, it has come," he sank quietly into the arms of "easeful Death." He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, where, some eighteen months afterwards, Shelley too was laid. In all, or nearly all, that Keats has left, there are evident signs that he had not arrived at the full perfection of his powers when death took him from us. But in such poems as the odes To a Nightingale and On a Grecian Urn, and, still more, in The Eve of St. Agnes and Hyperion, it is quite as manifest that his powers were of the very highest order; as indeed Shelley and Byron both saw. No man ever had a keener, deeper sense of beauty, or richer, wider enjoyment of beauty for beauty's sake. Every line breathes with it, every pulse throbs with it. No doubt the expression of this is often too wild and wayward and profuse; but with him, at least, it was no feigned enthusiasm; the words come straight from his heart, and we learn to forgive the occasional lack of due proportion, and sober judgment, and artistic skill, for the sake of the rich music and colour, and the genuine power of imagination and expression; while in many of the poems of his last volume, and especially in Hyperion, we can plainly see how fast the poet was gaining a truer and deeper understanding of his art. LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI (THE BEAUTIFUL LADY WITHOUT PITY.) Keats seems to have borrowed the name of this beautiful little ballad from an old French poem, written, early in the fifteenth century, by Alain Chartier, and translated into English by Sir Richard Ros. The subjects of the two poems are, on the whole, very different. Keats refers to the older one in The Eve of St. Agnes, 1. 292. The story he uses here is only one from out of the many which, in many languages, tell of the terrible punishment which awaits all dealings with supernatural beings-or, as some would have it, of the evil effects of Christians intermarrying with the wild heathen folk about them-(cf. the children of Israel being forbidden to marry the "daughters of the land")—or, again, of the inevitable result of the love of mere fleshly beauty. The best known forms of the legend are, perhaps, those of Circe and The Sirens or of the bard Tanhäuser; while we, too, have our Thomas of Ercildoune, who was carried off by the Elfin Queen. As to Keats's way of telling the tale, no one can fail, I suppose, to be alive to the exquisite music of the words, and the genuine skill and self-restraint which he shows. It was written in 1819. P. 36, 1. 1. Knight-at-arms—At = occupied with, as in the common expressions," at work," ," "at supper," &c. P. 36, 1. 2. Palely loitering = loitering in a state of paleness. A peculiar use of the adverb: but cf. The Burial of Sir John Moore, 1. 5. P. 37, 1. 6. by distress and P. 37, 1. 6. Haggard = having an expression of being worn Is with treasure so full begone." Cf. GOWER, Confessio Amantis, v. "Such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone." P. 37, 1. 9. P. 37, 1. 10. produces. P. 37, 1. 11. SHAKSPERE, 2 Henry IV. i. 1, 70. A lilya lily-whiteness, paleness. Fever dew=the clammy sweat which fever Rose = redness, the hue of health. P. 37, 1. 13. Meads=fields (cf. meadow) = that which is mowed (A.S. maed, past part. of máwanto mow); then, the place where mowing is done. P. 37, 1. 26. Manna dew-a reference to the substance collected by the Jews in the wilderness, and which seemed to them to come like dew (see Exodus xvi. 13, 14; Psalm lxxviii. 24). The Arabian physician Avicenna (died 1057 A.D.) gives the following description of the manna which was used at his time as a medicine:- "Manna is a dew which falls on stones or bushes, becomes thick like honey, and can be hardened so as to be like grains of corn." The manna at present used is the gum of the tamarisk. It drops from the thorns on the sticks and leaves with which the ground is covered, and must be gathered early in the day, or it will be melted in the sun. In the Valley of the Jordan, Burckhardt found it lying like dew on the leaves of the tree gharrob (Salix babylonica). P. 37, 1. 35. Latest = last. He had not slept since. glómung. Gloam-put for gloaming = twilight, A.S. It is a common poetic license to put a prominent part for the whole-so lips in this line. The word is especially happy here; for not only are gaping lips a very prominent symptom of horror, but lips and kisses had played a very prominent part in the warrior's undoing. This variety of reference in a word or a phrase, is one of the best marks of a skilled use of language; especially in poetry. Starved shrunk with the cold, or, simply, dead. = P. 38, . 42. Horrid literally, bristling; hence making your hair stand on end; inspiring dread or aversion. LONDON: PRINTED BY ENGLISH BY H. C. BOWEN, M.A. GRAMMAR FOR BEGINNERS. Fcp. 8vo. cloth limp, price 1s. 'Mr. Bowen does much to clear away the difficulties which are often a great puzzle to beginners, by dwelling with emphasis on the rule that "the part of speech to which a word belongs depends entirely upon what it tells us in the sentence in question." The book is marked by great clearness of expression and directness of aim.'-JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. STUDIES IN ENGLISH. FOR THE USE OF MODERN SCHOOLS. Small crown 8vo. cloth, price 1s. 6d. Arranged with unerring taste and judgment. The selections are made from forty-three authors, many of whom may be new to a young student, but all of whom will probably come to be regarded as dear friends. Mr. Bowen supplies a very useful introduction.'-NOTES AND QUERIES. ESSENTIALS of ENGLISH GRAMMAR. FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. By Professor WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY, Author of 'Life and Growth of Language,' &c. Crown 8vo. cloth, price 3s. 6d. 'There are few who will not get some new and clearer ideas from his book on a great and, as it will seem, increasing interest.'-SPECTATOR. 'We can cordially recommend these "Essentials of English Grammar" to all who are interested in grammatical teaching.' ACADEMY. SCHOOL HISTORY OF GREECE. By the Rev. Sir GEORGE W. Cox, M.A., Bart. With Maps. Fcp. 8vo. cloth, price 3s. 6d. THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. FROM THE HISTORIES OF HERODOTUS. By the Rev. Sir GEORGE W. Cox, M.A., Bart. New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. cloth, price 3s. 6d. A MANUAL OF MYTHOLOGY. IN THE FORM OF QUESTION AND ANSWER. By the Rev. Sir GEORGE W. Cox, M.A., Bart. New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. cloth, price 38. London: C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., 1 Paternoster Square. FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY. DESIGNED TO CULTIVATE THE OBSERVING POWERS OF CHILDREN. By ELIZA A. YOUMANS. With 300 Engravings. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth, price 2s. 6d. 'It is but rarely that a school book appears which is at once so novel in plan, so successful in execution, and so suited to the general want as to command universal and unqualified approbation, but such has been the case with Miss Youmans' "First Book of Botany." . . . It has been everywhere welcomed as a timely and invaluable contribution to the improvement of primary education.'-PALL MALL GAZETTE. TENNYSON FOR THE YOUNG, AND FOR RECITATION. SPECIALLY ARRANGED. Fcp. 8vo. price 1s. 6d. This little volume deserves, and is likely to obtain, a welcome in every family. The selections are made with judgment, and a better introduction to the poetry of Mr. Tennyson it would be difficult to imagine. The charm of his verse may be in great measure enjoyed by the perusal of this selection, or, better still, by committing to memory the poems contained in it. And Mr. Tennyson's poetry is so musical in flow and distinct in utterance, so rich in the combination of exquisitely arranged words, that the memory lays hold of it without effort.' PALL MALL GAZETTE. A SPECIAL EDITION FOR SCHOOLS, price 1s. 6d. THE CHILDHOOD of RELIGIONS: EMBRACING A SIMPLE ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS. BY EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S. The style is very charming: there is something in the author's enthusiasm, something in the pellucid simplicity of his easy prose, which beguiles the reader along.'-ACADEMY. A SPECIAL EDITION FOR SCHOOLS, price 1s. THE CHILDHOOD of the WORLD. A SIMPLE ACCOUNT OF MAN IN EARLY TIMES. By EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S. 'This little book is intended for the "youthful reader," whose interest it will excite and whose attention it will retain by the simplicity of its style and the legendary character of a great portion of its contents.'-BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW. London: C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., 1 Paternoster Square. |