波西·比希·雪莱致约翰·济慈
P. B. Shelley to John Keats
My dear Keats，
I hear with great pain the dangerous accident that you have undergone， and Mr. Gisborne who gives me the account of it， adds that you continue to wear a consumptive appearance. This consumption is a disease particularly fond of people who write such good verses as you have done， and with the assistance of an English winter it can often indulge its selection. I do not think that young and amiable poets are at all bound to gratify its taste； they have entered into no bond with the Muses to that effect... But seriously (for I am joking on what I am very anxious about) I think you would do well to pass the winter after so tremendous an accident in Italy， and (if you thinks it as necessary as I do) so long as you could find Pisa or its neighborhood agreeable to you， Mrs. Shelley unites with myself in urging the request， that you would take up your residence with us. You might come by sea to Leghorn(France is not worth seeing， and the sea air is particularly good for weak lungs)， which is within a few miles of us. You ought， at all events to see Italy， and your health， which I suggest as a motive， might be an excuse to you. I spare declamation about the statues and the paintings and the ruins—and what is a greater piece of forbearance—about the mountains the streams and the fields， the colors of the sky， and the sky itself...
I have lately read your "Endymion" again and even with a new sense of the treasures of poetry it contains， though treasures poured forth with indistinct profusion—This， people in general will not endure， and that is the cause of the comparatively few copies which have been sold. I feel persuaded that you are capable of the greatest things， so you but will. I always tell Ollier to send you Copies of my books.—"Prometheus Unbound" I imagine you will receive nearly at the same time with this letter. "The Cenci" I hope you have already received—it was studiously composed in a different style "Below the good how far！ but far above the great" . In poetry I have sought to avoid system and mannerism； I wish those who excel me in genius would pursue the same plan...