and should have sent the promised criticism for the second edition, had I not mislaid, and in vain sought for, the volume that contains _Hyperion_.' (To Ollier, 14 November.) 'I am especially curious to hear the fate of _Adonais_. I confess I should be surprised if that poem were born to an immortality of oblivion.' (To Ollier, 11 January, 1822.) 'I was also more than commonly interested in the success of _Adonais_. I do not mean the sale, but the effect produced; and I should have [been] glad to have received some communication from you respecting it. I do not know even whether it has been published, and still less whether it has been republished with the alterations I sent.' As to the alterations sent nothing definite is known, but some details bearing on this point will be found in our Notes, p. 105, &c. (To Gisborne, 10 April) 'I know what to think of _Adonais_, but what to think of those who confound it with the many bad poems of the day I know not.' This expression seems to indicate that Mr. Gisborne had sent Shelley some of the current criticisms--there were probably but few in all--upon _Adonais_: to this matter I shall recur further on. (To Gisborne, 18 June.) 'The _Adonais_ I wished to have had a fair chance, both because it is a favourite with 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 have published them with a Life and criticism. Has he left any poems or writings of whatsoever kind, and in whose possession are they? Perhaps you would oblige me by information on this point.