6 JANUARY 1912, Page 26

"KEATS THE CHEMIST."

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] :Silty—I can only plead guilty to a, perhaps, illegitimate use of poetic licence. Your correspondent, of course, is quite right. And in neither of the stricter senses of the word was Keats 'ever a chemist. At the same time, during the period of his .career when his work consisted mainly of labelling bottles, dispensing prescriptions, and keeping his master's books the words " chemist " and " clerk " would surely have described him better than any others. They were terms, at any rate—and this was my point—with which the Sir Walters and Drakes .of his day might in their less generous moments quite easily 113ave dismissed him.—I am, Sir, &c., H. H. BASHFORD.