Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends Part 18

Red-Crag, my Spectacles! Now let me see!

Good Heavens Lady how the gemini Did you get here? O I shall split my sides!

I shall earthquake----

_Mrs. C._

Sweet Nevis do not quake, for though I love Your honest Countenance all things above Truly I should not like to be convey'd So far into your Bosom--gentle Maid Loves not too rough a treatment gentle Sir-- Pray thee be calm and do not quake nor stir No not a Stone or I shall go in fits--

_Ben Nevis._

I must--I shall--I meet not such t.i.t bits-- I meet not such sweet creatures every day-- By my old night cap night cap night and day I must have one sweet Buss--I must and shall!

Red Crag!--What Madam can you then repent Of all the toil and vigour you have spent To see Ben Nevis and to touch his nose?

Red Crag I say! O I must have them close!

Red Crag, there lies beneath my furthest toe A vein of Sulphur--go dear Red Crag, go-- And rub your flinty back against it--budge!

Dear Madam I must kiss you, faith I must!

I must Embrace you with my dearest gust!

Block-head, d'ye hear--Block-head I'll make her feel There lies beneath my east leg's northern heel A cave of young earth dragons--well my boy Go thither quick and so complete my joy Take you a bundle of the largest pines And when the sun on fiercest Phosphor s.h.i.+nes Fire them and ram them in the Dragon's nest Then will the dragons fry and fizz their best Until ten thousand now no bigger than Poor Alligators--poor things of one span-- Will each one swell to twice ten times the size Of northern whale--then for the tender prize-- The moment then--for then will Red Crag rub His flinty back--and I shall kiss and snub And press my dainty morsel to my breast.

Block-head make haste!

O Muses weep the rest-- The Lady fainted and he thought her dead So pulled the clouds again about his head And went to sleep again--soon she was rous'd By her affrighted servants--next day hous'd Safe on the lowly ground she bless'd her fate That fainting fit was not delayed too late.

But what surprises me above all is how this Lady got down again. I felt it horribly. 'Twas the most vile 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 and one from f.a.n.n.y--and one from Dilke. I would set about crossing this all over for you but I will first write to f.a.n.n.y and Mrs. Wylie. 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 here a few days.

Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist!

I look into the chasms, and a shroud Vapourous doth hide them,--just so much I wist Mankind do know of h.e.l.l; I look o'erhead, And there is sullen mist,--even so much Mankind can tell of heaven; mist is spread Before the earth, beneath me,--even such, Even so vague is man's sight of himself!

Here are the craggy stones beneath my feet,-- Thus much I know that, a poor witless elf, I tread on them,--that all my eye doth meet Is mist and crag, not only on this height, But in the world of thought and mental might!

Good-bye till to-morrow.

Your most affectionate Brother

JOHN ----.

LXV.--TO MRS. WYLIE.

Inverness, August 6 [1818].

My dear Madam--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 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 Mr. Haslam, with a newspaper giving an account of a gentleman in a Fur cap falling over a precipice in Kirkcudbrights.h.i.+re. 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 daresay was the unfortunate one. I daresay 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 daresay his name was Jones. All I hope is that the gaunt Ladies said not a word about hanging; if they did I shall repent 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 lose so fine an opportunity of making my fortune. No romance lady could resist me--none. Being run under a Waggon--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 wholesome 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 languis.h.i.+ngly on a rock, and long for some famous Beauty to get down from her Palfrey in pa.s.sing, approach me, with--her saddle-bags, and give me--a dozen or two capital roastbeef 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 linendrapers, Spies, Excis.e.m.e.n, and many things I have no idea of. When I asked for letters at Port Patrick, the man asked what regiment? I have had a peep also at little Ireland. Tell Henry I have not camped quite on the bare Earth yet, but nearly as bad, in walking through Mull, for the Shepherds'

huts you can scarcely breathe in, for the Smoke which they seem to endeavour to preserve for smoking on a large scale. Besides riding about 400, we have walked above 600 Miles, and may therefore reckon ourselves as set out.

I a.s.sure you, my dear Madam, that one of the greatest pleasures I shall have on my return, will be seeing you, and that I shall ever be

Yours, with the greatest respect and sincerity,

JOHN KEATS.

LXVI.--TO f.a.n.n.y KEATS.

Hampstead, August 18 [1818].

My dear f.a.n.n.y--I am afraid you will think me very negligent in not having answered your Letter--I see it is dated June 12. I did not arrive at Inverness till the 8th of this Month so I am very much concerned at your being disappointed so long a time. I did not intend to have returned to London so soon but have a bad sore throat from a cold I caught in the island of Mull: therefore I thought it best to get home as soon as possible, and went on board the Smack from Cromarty. We had a nine days'

pa.s.sage and were landed at London Bridge yesterday. I shall have a good deal to tell you about Scotland--I would begin here but I have a confounded toothache. Tom has not been getting better since I left London and for the last fortnight has been worse than ever--he has been getting a little better for these two or three days. I shall ask Mr. Abbey to let me bring you to Hampstead. If Mr. A. should see this Letter tell him that he still must if he pleases forward the Post Bill to Perth as I have empowered my fellow traveller to receive it. I have a few Scotch pebbles for you from the Island of Icolmkill--I am afraid they are rather shabby--I did not go near the Mountain of Cairn Gorm. I do not know the Name of George's s.h.i.+p--the Name of the Port he has gone to is Philadelphia whence he will travel to the Settlement across the Country--I will tell you all about this when I see you. The t.i.tle of my last Book is Endymion--you shall have one soon.--I would not advise you to play on the Flageolet--however I will get you one if you please. I will speak to Mr.

Abbey on what you say concerning school. I am sorry for your poor Canary.

You shall have another volume of my first Book. My toothache keeps on so that I cannot write with any pleasure--all I can say now is that your Letter is a very nice one without fault and that you will hear from or see in a few days if his throat will let him,

Your affectionate Brother

JOHN.

LXVII.--TO f.a.n.n.y KEATS.

Hampstead, Tuesday [August 25, 1818].

My dear f.a.n.n.y--I have just written to Mr. Abbey to ask him to let you come and see poor Tom who has lately been much worse. He is better at present--sends his Love to you and wishes much to see you--I hope he will shortly--I have not been able to come to Walthamstow on his account as well as a little Indisposition of my own. I have asked Mr. A. to write me--if he does not mention anything of it to you, I will tell you what reasons he has though I do not think he will make any objection. Write me what you want with a Flageolet and I will get one ready for you by the time you come.

Your affectionate Brother

JOHN ----.

LXVIII.--TO JANE REYNOLDS.

Well Walk, September 1st [1818].

My dear Jane--Certainly your kind note would rather refresh than trouble me, and so much the more would your coming if as you say, it could be done without agitating my Brother too much. Receive on your Hearth our deepest thanks for your Solicitude concerning us.

I am glad John is not hurt, but gone safe into Devons.h.i.+re--I shall be in great expectation of his Letter--but the promise of it in so anxious and friendly a way I prize more than a hundred. I shall be in town to-day on some business with my guardian "as was" with scarce a hope of being able to call on you. For these two last days Tom has been more cheerful: you shall hear again soon how he will be.