No More Learning

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 . . . . The people would love the poem of 'Peter Bell', but the
_public_ (a very different thing) will never love it. "

Some days before Wordsworth's 'Peter Bell' was issued in 1819, another
'Peter Bell' was published by Messrs.