The
building
seems, wall, roof, and tower, 1819.
William Wordsworth
Like one intent upon a book--1819. ]
[Variant 58:
1836.
And drops, a senseless weight, . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 59:
1827.
A happy respite! --but he wakes;--
And feels the glimmering of the moon--
And to stretch forth his hands is trying;--
Sure, when he knows where he is lying,
He'll sink into a second swoon. 1819. ]
[Variant 60:
1827.
. . . placid . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 61:
1827.
So, faltering not in _this_ intent,
He makes his staff an instrument
The river's depth to sound--1819.
So toward the stream his head he bent,
And downward thrust his staff, intent
To reach the Man who there lay drowned. --1820. ]
[Variant 62:
1836.
The meagre Shadow all this while--
What aim is his? . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 63:
1836.
That Peter on his back should mount
He shows a wish, well as he can,
"I'll go, I'll go, whate'er betide--
He to his home my way will guide,
The cottage of the drowned man. " 1819. ]
But no--his purpose and his wish
The Suppliant shews, well as he can;
Thought Peter whatsoe'er betide
I'll go, and he my way will guide
To the cottage of the drowned man. 1820. ]
[Variant 64:
1836.
This utter'd, Peter mounts forthwith 1819.
This hoping, 1820.
Encouraged by this hope, he mounts 1827.
This hoping, Peter boldly mounts 1832. ]
[Variant 65:
1827.
The 1819. ]
[Variant 66:
1836.
And takes his way . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 67:
1840.
Holding . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 68:
1840 and c.
What seeks the boy? --the silent dead! 1819.
Seeking for whom? --. . . 1836. ]
[Variant 69:
1836.
Whom he hath sought . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 70:
1820.
. . . doth rightly spell; 1819. ]
[Variant 71:
1836.
. . . noise . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 72:
1820.
. . . to gain his end 1819. ]
[Variant 73:
1845.
. . . footstep . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 74:
1836.
. . . along a . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 75: In the editions of 1819 and 1820 the following stanza
occurs:
The verdant pathway, in and out,
Winds upwards like a straggling chain;
And, when two toilsome miles are past,
Up through the rocks it leads at last
Into a high and open plain. ]
[Variant 76:
1827.
The . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 77:
1836.
How blank! --but whence this rustling sound
Which, all too long, the pair hath chased!
--A dancing leaf is close behind, 1819.
But whence that faintly-rustling sound 1820.
But whence this faintly rustling sound
By which the pair have long been chased? c. ]
[Variant 78:
1836.
When Peter spies the withered leaf,
It yields no cure to his distress--1819. ]
[Variant 79:
1836.
Ha! why this comfortless despair? 1819. ]
[Variant 80:
1819.
. . . the Creature's head; 1827.
The text of 1845 returns to that of 1819. ]
[Variant 81:
1836.
. . . those darting pains,
As meteors shoot through heaven's wide plains,
Pass through his bosom--and repass! 1819. ]
[Variant 82:
1827.
Reading, as you or I might read
At night in any pious book, 1819. ]
[Variant 83:
1836.
. . . the good man's taper, 1819. ]
[Variant 84:
1836.
The ghostly word, which thus was fram'd, 1819.
. . . full plainly seen, 1827. ]
[Variant 85:
1836.
. . . to torment the good 1819. ]
[Variant 86:
1836.
I know you, potent Spirits! well,
How with the feeling and the sense
Playing, ye govern foes or friends.
Yok'd to your will, for fearful ends--1819. ]
[Variant 87:
1836.
. . . I have often . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 88:
1836.
And well I know . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 89:
1836.
. . . and danc'd . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 90:
1836.
. . . clearly . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 91:
1836.
. . . hath . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 92:
1836.
. . . to confound . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 93:
1836.
But now the pair have reach'd a spot
Where, shelter'd by a rocky cove, 1819.
Meanwhile the pair 1820. ]
[Variant 94:
1836.
The building seems, wall, roof, and tower, 1819. ]
[Variant 95:
1836.
Deep sighing as he pass'd along,
Quoth Peter, "In the shire of Fife,
'Mid such a ruin, following still
From land to land a lawless will, 1819. ]
[Variant 96:
1827.
Making, . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 97:
1836.
As if confusing darkness came 1819.
And a confusing 1832.
While clouds of swimming darkness came
Over his eyesight with the sound. C. ]
[Variant 98: _Italics_ were first used in the edition of 1820. ]
[Variant 99:
1836.
A lonely house her dwelling was, 1819. ]
[Variant 100:
1819.
. . . her name . . . 1820.
The edition of 1827 returns to the text of 1819. ]
[Variant 101:
1820.
Distraction reigns in soul and sense,
And reason drops in impotence
From her deserted pinnacle! 1819. ]
[Variant 102:
1820.
. . . ears . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 103:
1836.
Though clamorous as a hunter's horn
Re-echoed from a naked rock,
'Tis from that tabernacle--List! 1819.
The voice, though clamorous as a horn
Re-echoed by a naked rock,
Is from . . . . 1832. ]
[Variant 104:
1819.
. . . pious . . . c. ]
[Variant 105:
1836.
'Tis said, that through prevailing grace 1819. ]
[Variant 106:
1836.
. . . shoulders scored
Meek beast! in memory of the Lord 1819.
Faithful memorial of the Lord c. ]
[Variant 107:
1836.
In memory of that solemn day 1819. ]
[Variant 108:
1836.
Towards a gate in open view
Turns up a narrow lane; . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 109:
1836.
Had gone two hundred yards, not more;
When to a lonely house he came;
He turn'd aside towards the same
And stopp'd before the door. 1819. ]
[Variant 110:
1836.
In hope . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 111:
1827.
Close at . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 112:
1832.
What could he do? --The Woman lay 1819. ]
[Variant 113:
1836.
. . . the sufferer . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 114:
1819.
. . . stair . . . 1820.
The edition of 1827 returns to the text of 1819. ]
[Variant 115:
1836.
And to the pillow gives . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 116:
1827.
And resting on . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 117:
1827.
He turns . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 118:
1836.
. . . his inward grief and fear--1819.
. . . his sorrow and his fear--C. ]
[Variant 119:
1827.
. . . had . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 120:
1836.
Towards . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 121:
1832.
. . . repressed . . . 1819. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: The title in the two editions of 1819 was 'Peter Bell: A
Tale in Verse. '--Ed. ]
[Footnote B: In Dorothy Wordsworth's Alfoxden Journal the following
occurs, under date April 20, 1798: "The moon crescent. 'Peter Bell'
begun. "--Ed. ]
[Footnote C: 'Romeo and Juliet', act II. scene ii. l. 44. This motto
first appeared on the half-title of 'Peter Bell', second edition, 1819,
under the advertisement of 'Benjamin the Waggoner', its first line being
"What's a Name? " When 'The Waggoner' appeared, a few days afterwards,
the motto stood on its title-page. In the collective edition of the
Poems (1820), it disappeared; but reappeared, in its final position, in
the edition of 1827. --Ed. ]
[Footnote D: 'Julius Caesar', act I. scene ii. l. 147. --Ed. ]
[Footnote E: Compare 'The Prelude', book iv. l. 47:
'the sunny seat
Round the stone table under the dark pine. '
Ed. ]
[Footnote F: In the dialect of the North, a hawker of earthen-ware is
thus designated. --W. W. 1819 (second edition). ]
[Footnote G: Compare 'The Prelude', book v. l. 448:
'At last, the dead man, 'mid that beauteous scene
Of trees and hills and water, bolt upright
Rose, with his ghastly face, a spectre shape
Of terror. '
Ed. ]
[Footnote H: This and the next stanza were omitted from the edition of
1827, but restored in 1832. --Ed. ]
[Footnote I: The notion is very general, that the Cross on the back and
shoulders of this Animal has the origin here alluded to. --W. W. 1819. ]
[Footnote J: I cannot suffer this line to pass, without noticing that it
was suggested by Mr. Haydon's noble Picture of Christ's Entry into
Jerusalem. --W. W. 1820. Into the same picture Haydon "introduced
Wordsworth bowing in reverence and awe. " See the essay on "The Portraits
of Wordsworth" in a later volume, and the portrait itself, which will be
reproduced in the volume containing the 'Life' of the poet. --Ed. ]
[Footnote K: The first and second editions of 'Peter Bell' (1819)
contained, as frontispiece, an engraving by J. C. Bromley, after a
picture by Sir George Beaumont. In 1807, Wordsworth wrote to Sir George:
"I am quite delighted to hear of your picture for 'Peter Bell' . . . .
But remember that no poem of mine will ever be popular, and I am
afraid that the sale of 'Peter' would not carry the expense of
engraving . . . .
