I add some of the poet's other expressions regarding _Adonais_, which he
evidently regarded with more complacency than any of his previous
works--at any rate, as a piece of execution. Hitherto his favourite had
been _Prometheus Unbound_: I am fain to suppose that that great effort
did not now hold a second place in his affections, though he may have
considered that the _Adonais_, as being a less arduous feat, came nearer
to reaching its goal. (To Peacock, August, 1821.) 'I have sent you by
the Gisbornes a copy of the Elegy on Keats. The subject, I know, will
not please you; but the composition of the poetry, and the taste in
which it is written, I do not think bad.' (To Hunt, 26 August.) 'Before
this you will have seen _Adonais_. Lord Byron--I suppose from modesty on
account of his being mentioned in it--did not say a word of
_Adonais_[13], though he was loud in his praise of _Prometheus_, and
(what you will not agree with him in) censure of _The Cenci_.' (To
Horace Smith, 14 September,) 'I am glad you like _Adonais_, and
particularly that you do not think it metaphysical, which I was afraid
it was.
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