me, and on account of the memory of Keats--who was a poet of great
genius, let the classic party say what it will.'

Earlier than the latest of these extracts Shelley had sent to Mr. Severn
a copy of _Adonais_, along with a letter which I append.


'Pisa, Nov. 29th, 1821.

'DEAR SIR,

'I send you the Elegy on poor Keats, and I wish it were better worth
your acceptance. You will see, by the preface, that it was written
before I could obtain any particular account of his last moments. All
that I still know was communicated to me by a friend who had derived his
information from Colonel Finch, I have ventured [in the Preface] to
express as I felt the respect and admiration which _your_ conduct
towards him demands.

'In spite of his transcendent genius, Keats never was, nor ever will be,
a popular poet; and the total neglect and obscurity in which the
astonishing remains of his mind still lie was hardly to be dissipated by
a writer who, however he may differ from Keats in more important
qualities, at least resembles him in that accidental one, a want of
popularity.

'I have little hope therefore that the poem I send you will excite any
attention, nor do I feel assured that a critical notice of his writings
would find a single reader. But for these considerations, it had been my
intention to have collected the remnants of his compositions, and to