20
John Keats died at Rome of a consumption, in his twenty-fourth year, on
the [23rd] of [February] 1821; and was buried in the romantic and lonely
cemetery of the protestants in that city, under the pyramid which is the
tomb of Cestius, and the massy walls and towers, now mouldering and
desolate, which formed the circuit of 25 ancient Rome. The cemetery is
an open space among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and
daisies. It might make one in love with death to think that one should
be buried in so sweet a place.
30 The genius of the lamented person to whose memory I have dedicated
these unworthy verses was not less delicate and fragile than it was
beautiful; and, where canker-worms abound, what wonder if its young
flower was blighted in the bud? The savage criticism on his _Endymion_
which appeared in the _Quarterly Review_ produced the 35 most violent
effect on his susceptible mind. The agitation thus originated ended in
the rupture of a blood-vessel in the lungs; a rapid consumption ensued;
and the succeeding acknowledgments, from more candid critics, of the
true greatness of his powers, were ineffectual to heal the wound thus
wantonly inflicted.
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