Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley and Keats Part 15

[86] Garnett, _Age of Dryden_, p. 32.

[87] From Homer, Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Anacreon, and Catullus.

[88] p. 13.

[89] Hunt, _Correspondence_, I, p. 115.

[90] Byron, _Letters and Journals_, IV, p. 238.

[91] Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke, _Recollections of Writers_, p. 132.

[92] _Ibid._, p. 133.

[93] Hunt, _Lord Byron and Some of His Contemporaries; with Recollections of the Author's Life and of his Visit to Italy_, p. 247.

[94] _Ibid._, p. 251.

[95] _Ibid._, pp. 246-272.

[96] _Autobiography_, II, pp. 27, 59.

[97] Colvin, _Keats_, p. 222.

[98] This refers to Keats's first published poem, the sonnet _O Solitude, if I must with thee dwell_, published (without comment) in _The Examiner_ of May 5, 1816.

[99] Colvin, _Keats_, p. 34.

[100] _Lord Byron and Some of His Contemporaries_, p. 257.

[101] _Ibid._, pp. 257-258.

[102] Sharp, _Life and Letters of Joseph Severn_, p. 163.

[103] _Works_, I, p. 30.

[104] Mr. Forman, after a systematic search has been able to find no proof in either direction. (_Works_, III, p. 8.)

[105] _Works_, I, p. 5.

[106] _Foliage_, p. 125.

[107] Colvin, _Keats_, p. 66.

[108] A further account of the disastrous effects of his partisans.h.i.+p will be found in the discussion of the c.o.c.kney School, Ch. V.

[109] The _Century Magazine_, XXIII, p. 706.

[110] Palgrave, _Poetical Works of John Keats_, p. 269.

[111] _Autobiography_, II, p. 266.

[112] _Works_, IV, p. 16.

[113] Haydon and Hunt had originally been very intimate, as is shown by the letters written by the former from Paris during 1814, and by his attentions to Hunt in Surrey Gaol. A letter to Wilkie, dated October 27, 1816, gives an attractive portrait of Hunt, and from this evidence it is inferred that the change in Haydon's att.i.tude came about in the early part of 1817, and that a small unpleasantness was allowed by him to outweigh a friends.h.i.+p of long standing. After two weeks spent with Hunt he had written of him as "one of the most delightful companions. Full of poetry and art, and amiable humour, we argue always with full hearts on everything but religion and Bonaparte.... Though Leigh Hunt is not deep in knowledge, moral metaphysical or cla.s.sical, yet he is intense in feeling and has an intellect forever on the alert. He is like one of those instruments on three legs, which, throw it how you will, always pitches on two, and has a spike sticking for ever up and ever ready for you. He "sets" at a subject with a scent like a pointer. He is a remarkable man, and created a sensation by his independence, his disinterestedness in public matters; and by the truth, acuteness and taste of his dramatic criticisms, he raised the rank of newspapers, and gave by his example a literary feeling to the weekly ones more especially. As a poet, I think him full of the genuine feeling. His third canto in _Rimini_ is equal to anything in any language of that sweet sort. Perhaps in his wis.h.i.+ng to avoid the monotony of the Pope school, he may have shot into the other extreme; and his invention of obscene [sic] words to express obscene feelings borders sometimes on affectation. But these are trifles compared with the beauty of the poem, the intense painting of the scenery, and the deep burning in of the pa.s.sion which trembles in every line. Thus far as a critic, an editor and a poet. As a man I know none with such an affectionate heart, if never opposed in his opinions. He has defects of course: one of his great defects is getting inferior people about him to listen, too fond of s.h.i.+ning at any expense in society, and love of approbation from the darling s.e.x bordering on weakness; though to women he is delightfully pleasant, yet they seem more to handle him as a delicate plant. I don't know if they do not put a confidence in him which to me would be mortifying. He is a man of sensibility tinged with morbidity and of such sensitive organization of body that the plant is not more alive to touch than he.... He is a composition, as we all are, of defects and delightful qualities, indolently averse to worldly exertion, because it hara.s.ses the musings of his fancy, existing only by the common duties of life, yet ignorant of them, and often suffering from their neglect."

(Haydon, _Life, Letters and Table Talk_, ed. R. H. Stoddard, pp. 155-156.)

Haydon said that the rupture came about because Hunt insisted upon speaking of our Lord and his Apostles in a condescending manner, and that he rebelled against Hunt's "audacious romancing over the Biblical conceptions of the Almighty." (Haydon, _Life, Letters and Table Talk_, p.

65.) This view, in the light of Haydon's general unreliability, may be mere romancing; for Keats, writing on January 13, 1818, gave the following explanation of the quarrel: "Mrs. H. (Hunt) was in the habit of borrowing silver from Haydon--the last time she did so, Haydon asked her to return it at a certain time--she did not--Haydon sent for it--Hunt went to expostulate on the indelicacy, etc.--they got to words and parted for ever." (Keats, _Works_, IV, p. 58).

[114] _Works_, IV, p. 20.

[115] Milnes, _Life, Letters and Literary Remains of John Keats_, II, p.

44.

[116] _Works_, IV, p. 114.

[117] _Ibid._, V, p. 142.

[118] _Life, Letters and Table Talk_, p. 208.

[119] _Works_, IV, p. 31.

[120] _Ibid._, IV, p. 60.

[121] _Ibid._, IV, pp. 37-38.

[122] _Ibid._, IV, p. 38, Keats gives his argument in favor of a long poem.

[123] _Ibid._, IV, p. 38.

[124] _Ibid._, IV, p. 49.

[125] _Ibid._, IV, p. 193.

[126] _Ibid._, IV, pp. 195-196.

[127] _Ibid._, IV, p. 12.

[128] _Ibid._, IV, p. 90.

[129] _Ibid._, I, p. 34.

[130] _Ibid._, V, p. 198.

[131] Haydon attempted also to make trouble between Wordsworth and Hunt, by telling the former that Hunt's admiration for him was only a "weather c.o.c.k estimation" and by insinuations concerning his sincerity in friends.h.i.+ps. (Haydon, _Life, Letters and Table Talk_, p. 197.)

[132] J. Ashcroft n.o.ble, _The Sonnet in England, and Other Essays_, p.

108.