ong evidence (only assertions) that Keats
took greatly to heart the attacks upon him, whether in the _Quarterly_
or in _Blackwood_. Shelley seems to be the principal authority, and
Shelley, unless founding upon some adequate information, is next to no
authority at all. He had left England in March 1818, five months before
the earlier--printed in August--of these spiteful articles. Were there
nothing further, we should be more than well pleased to rally to the
opinion of Lord Houghton, who came to the conclusion that the idea of
Keats's extreme sensitiveness to criticism was a positive delusion--that
he paid little heed to it, and pursued his own course much as if no
reviewer had tried to be provoking. But there is, in fact, a direct
witness of high importance--Haydon. Haydon knew Keats very intimately,
and saw a great deal of him; he admired and loved him, and had a
vigorous, discerning insight into character and habit of mind, such as
makes his observations about all sorts of men substantial testimony and
first-rate reading. He took forcible views of many things, and sometimes
exaggerated views: but, when he attributed to Keats a particular mood of
feeling, I should find it very difficult to think that he was either
unfairly biassed or widely mistaken. In his reminiscences proper to the
year 1817-18 occurs the following passage:--

"The assaults on Hunt in _Blackwood_ at this time, under the
signature of Z, were incessant. Who Z was nobody knew, but I
myself strongly suspect him to have been Terry the actor. Leigh
Hunt had exasperated Terry by neglecting to notice his theatrical
efforts. Terry was a friend of Sir Walter's, shared keenly his
political hatreds, and was also most intimate with the Blackwood
party, which had begun a course of attacks on all who showed the
least liberalism of thinking, or who were praised by or known to
_The Examiner_. Hunt had addressed a sonnet to me. This was
enough: we were taken to be of the same clique of rebels,
rascals, and reformers, who were supposed to support that
production of so much power and talent. On Keats the effect was
melancholy. He became morbid and silent; would call and sit
whilst I was painting, for hours, without speaking a word."

This counts for something--not very much. But another passage forming an
entry in Haydon's diary, written on March 29, 1821, perhaps as soon as
he had heard of Keats's death, carries the matter