My poem is finished,
and consists of about forty Spenser stanzas [fifty-five as published]. I
shall send it to you, either printed at Pisa, or transcribed in such a
manner as it shall be difficult for the reviser to leave such errors as
assist the obscurity of the _Prometheus_. But in case I send it printed,
it will be merely that mistakes may be avoided. I shall only have a few
copies struck off in the cheapest manner. If you have interest enough in
the subject, I could wish that you enquired of some of the friends and
relations of Keats respecting the circumstances of his death, and could
transmit me any information you may be able to collect; and especially
as [to] the degree in which (as I am assured) the brutal attack in the
_Quarterly Review_ excited the disease by which he perished.'
The criticism which Shelley intended to write on _Hyperion_ remained, to
all appearance, unwritten. It will be seen, from the letter of Shelley
to Mr. Severn cited further on (p. 34), that, from the notion of writing
a criticism on _Hyperion_ to precede _Adonais_, his intention developed
into the project of writing a criticism and biography of Keats in
general, to precede a volume of his entire works; but that, before the
close of November, the whole scheme was given up, on the ground that it
would produce no impression on an unregardful public.
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