The scheme of the poet's admirers
Is to buy the place, which has been
ofTered to thorn at a prlne of ?3,500,
restore It to its condition In Kkats'r
time, fireproof It and equip it as a
Keats museum. The late Sir Chari.fs (
DttKE bequeathed a valuable collec
tion of Keats sourenlrs to the Bor
ough of ITnmpstend and It Is planned
to keep and exhibit them In the old
house. For the necessary expenses
and n permanent provision for np
krep on estimated sum of ?4,000 Is re
paired. According to latest reports, all
the money has been obtained except
about S2,B0n, and a number of Amer
ican poetry lovers are raising this sum
as a demonstration of American In
terest In the enterprise. They aim to I
make the subscription as wide as pos-!
slble and Miles M. Dawson, tfie treas-j
urer, will be glad to receive any con-;
tributions, even though email, at 20
West Forty-fourth street, this city.
Hampstead Is the Keats neighbor- j
hood In a special way. It was there
that the young poet visited Leigh
Hunt, living at his cottage for some1
time. Fan n y Bkawne, Keats's sweet- (
lie-art, lived next door to Wentworth i
Place. In the villa itself he wrote j
both versions of "Hyperion," "La ,
Belle Dame Sans Merci" and other j
poems. In the grounds a plum tree
under which tradition says he wrote)
the "Ode to a Nightingale" still j
flourishes.
