Keats and Chapman met one Christmas Eve and fell to comparing notes on the Christmas present each had bought himself. Keats had bought himself a ten-glass bottle of whiskey and paid thirty shillings for it in the black market.
‘That is for too dear,’ Chapman said. ‘Eighteen shillings is plenty to pay for a ten-glass bottle.’
Chapman then explained that he had bought a valuable Irish manuscript, one of the oldest copies of the Battle of Ventry, or Cath Fionntragha. He explained that the value of the document was much enhanced by certain interlineal Latin equivalents of obscure Irish words.
‘How many such interlineal comments are there?’ Keats asked.
‘Ten,’ Chapman said.
‘And how much did you pay for this thing?’ Keats asked.
‘Forty-five shillings,’ Chapman said defiantly.
‘Eighteen shillings is plenty to pay for a ten-gloss battle,’ Keats said crankily.