Arrived a neighbour with his horse;
Peter went forth with him straightway;
And, with due care, ere break of day,
Together they brought back the Corse. 1125
And many years did this poor Ass,
Whom once it was my luck to see
Cropping the shrubs of Leming-Lane,
Help by his labour to maintain
The Widow and her family. 1130
And Peter Bell, who, till that night,
Had been the wildest of his clan,
Forsook his crimes, renounced [121] his folly,
And, after ten months' melancholy,
Became a good and honest man. [K] 1135
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1: 1827.
And something 1819.]
[Variant 2:
1849.
Whose shape is like 1819.
For shape just like 1845.]
[Variant 3:
1845.
The noise of danger fills 1819.]
[Variant 4:
1827.
Meanwhile I from the helm admire 1819.
... I soberly admire C.]
[Variant 5:
1827.
Or deep into the heavens 1819.
Or into massy clouds 1820.]
[Variant 6:
1820.
... between ... 1819.]
[Variant 7:
1827.
... are ill-built,
But proud let him be who has seen them; 1819.]
[Variant 8:
1827.
... between ... 1819.]
[Variant 9:
1827.
That darling speck ... 1819.]
[Variant 10:
1836.
And there it is, ... 1819.]
[Variant 11:
1827
... heartless ... 1819.]
[Variant 12:
In the editions of 1819 and 1820 only.
Out--out--and, like a brooding hen,
Beside your sooty hearth-stone cower;
Go, creep along the dirt, and pick
Your way with your good walking-stick,
Just three good miles an hour!]
[Variant 13:
1827.
... the land ... 1819.]
[Variant 14:
1845.
My radiant Pinnace, you forget 1819.]
[Variant 15:
1827.
For I myself, in very truth, 1819.]
[Variant 16:
1845.
Off flew my sparkling Boat in scorn,
Yea in a trance of indignation! 1819.
Spurning her freight with indignation! 1820.]
[Variant 17:
1845.
... to my stone-table
Limp'd on with some vexation. 1819.
... tow'rd my stone-table 1827.]
[Variant 18:
1827.
... promptly ... 1819.]
[Variant 19:
1827.
Breath fail'd me as I spake--but soon
With lips, no doubt, and visage pale,
And sore too from a slight contusion,
Did I, to cover my confusion,
Begin the _promised_ Tale. 1819.]
[Variant 20:
1820.
All by the moonlight river side
It gave three miserable groans;
"'Tis come then to a pretty pass,"
Said Peter to the groaning Ass,
"But I will _bang_ your bones!" 1819.]
[Variant 21:
In the two editions of 1819 only.
"Good Sir!"--the Vicar's voice exclaim'd,
"You rush at once into the middle;"
And little Bess, with accent sweeter,
Cried, "O dear Sir! but who is Peter?"
Said Stephen,--"'Tis a downright riddle!"]
[Variant 22:
1836.
The Squire said, "Sure as paradise
Was lost to man by Adam's sinning,
This leap is for us all too bold; 1819.
Like winds that lash the waves, or smite
The woods, the autumnal foliage thinning--
"Hold!" said the Squire, "I pray you, hold! 1820.
The woods, autumnal foliage thinning--1827.]
[Variant 23:
1845.
... its ponderous knell,
Its far-renowned alarum! 1819.
... his ponderous knell,
A far-renowned alarum! 1836.
... that ponderous knell--
His far-renowned alarum! 1840.]
[Variant 24:
1820.
With Peter Bell, I need not tell
That this had never been the case;--1819.]
[Variant 25:
1819.
... placid ... 1820.
The text of 1827 returns to that of 1819.]
[Variant 26:
1836.
... cheerfully ... 1819.]
[Variant 27:
1827.
Till he is brought to an old quarry, 1819.]
[Variant 28: In the two editions of 1819 only.
"What! would'st thou daunt me grisly den?
Back must I, having come so far?
Stretch as thou wilt thy gloomy jaws,
I'll on, nor would I give two straws
For lantern or for star!"]
[Variant 29:
1820.
And so, where on the huge rough stones
The black and massy shadows lay,
And through the dark, ... 1819.]
[Variant 30:
1827.
... made ... 1819.]
[Variant 31: In the two editions of 1819 only.
Now you'll suppose that Peter Bell
Felt small temptation here to tarry,
And so it was,--but I must add,
His heart was not a little glad
When he was out of the old quarry.]
[Variant 32:
1827.
Across that ... 1819.]
[Variant 33:
1836.
And now he is among the trees; 1819.]
[Variant 34:
"No doubt I'm founder'd in these woods--
For once," quoth he, "I will be wise,
With better speed I'll back again--
And, lest the journey should prove vain,
Will take yon Ass, my lawful prize!"
Off Peter hied,--"A comely beast!
Though not so plump as he might be;
My honest friend, with such a platter,
You should have been a little fatter,
But come, Sir, come with me!" 1819.
(The first of these stanzas was omitted in 1827 and afterwards;
the second was withdrawn in 1820.)]
[Variant 35:
1836.
But first doth Peter deem it fit
To spy about him far and near; 1819.
"A prize," cried Peter, stepping back
To spy ... 1827.]
[Variant 36:
1827.
... Ass's back, ... 1819.]
[Variant 37:
1836.
With ready heel the creature's side; 1819.
With ready heel his shaggy side; 1827.]
[Variant 38: In the editions of 1819 to 1832 only.
"What's this!" cried Peter, brandishing
A new-peel'd sapling white as cream;
The Ass knew well what Peter said,
But, as before, hung down his head
Over the silent stream. 1819.
A new-peeled sapling;--though, I deem,
The Ass knew well what Peter said,
He, as before, ... 1820.
...--though I deem,
This threat was understood full well,
Firm, as before, the Sentinel
Stood by the silent stream. 1827.]
[Variant 39:
1827.
"I'll cure you of these desperate tricks"--
And, with deliberate action slow,
His staff high-raising, in the pride
Of skill, upon the Ass's hide C. and 1819.]
[Variant 40:
1836.
What followed?--yielding to the shock
The Ass, as if ... 1819.]
[Variant 41:
1836.
And then upon ... 1819.]
[Variant 42:
1840.
... as ... 1819.]
[Variant 43:
1819.
The Beast on his tormentor turned
A shining hazel eye. 1827.
His shining ... 1832.
The edition of 1836 returns to the text of 1819.]
[Variant 44:
1836.
Towards the river ... 1819.]
[Variant 45:
1832.
Heav'd his lank sides, ... 1819.]
[Variant 46: 1836. In the two editions of 1819 this stanza formed two
stanzas, thus:
All by the moonlight river side
He gave three miserable groans,
"'Tis come then to a pretty pass,"
Said Peter to the groaning ass,
"But I will _bang_ your bones!"
And Peter halts to gather breath,
And now full clearly was it shown
(What he before in part had seen)
How gaunt was the poor Ass and lean,
Yea wasted to a skeleton! 1819.
In the editions of 1820-1832, only the second of these stanzas is
retained, with the following change of text in 1827:
And, while he halts, was clearly shown
(What he before in part had seen)
How gaunt the Creature was, and lean, 1827.
In the final text of 1836 the two stanzas of 1819 are compressed into
one (ll. 446-50).]
[Variant 47:
1836.
But, while upon the ground he lay, 1819.
That instant, while outstretched he lay, 1827.]
[Variant 48:
1836.
A loud and piteous bray! 1819.]
[Variant 49:
1820.
Joy on ... 1819.]
[Variant 50:
1836.
... an endless shout,
The long dry see-saw ... 1819.]
[Variant 51:
1836.
And Peter now uplifts his eyes;
Steady the moon doth look and clear,
And like themselves the rocks appear,
And tranquil are the skies, 1819.
And quiet are the skies. 1820.]
[Variant 52:
1836.
Whereat, in resolute mood, once more
He stoops the Ass's neck to seize--
Foul purpose, quickly put to flight!
For in the pool a startling sight
Meets him, beneath the shadowy trees. 1819.]
[Variant 53:
1819.
... the gallows ... 1832.
The text of 1836 returns to that of 1819.]
[Variant 54:
1836.
Or a gay ring of shining fairies,
Such as pursue their brisk vagaries 1819.]
[Variant 55: In the two editions of 1819 only.
Is it a party in a parlour?
Cramm'd just as they on earth were cramm'd--
Some sipping punch, some sipping tea,
But, as you by their faces see,
All silent and all damn'd! [a]]
[Variant 56:
1827.
A throbbing pulse the Gazer hath--
Puzzled he was, and now is daunted; 1819.]
[Variant 57:
1836.
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 Cæsar', 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. Taylor and Hessey. It was a parody
written by J. Hamilton Reynolds, and issued as 'Peter Bell, a Lyrical
Ballad', with the sentence on its title page, "I do affirm that I am the
_real_ Simon Pure." The preface, which follows, is too paltry to quote;
and the stanzas which make up the poem contain allusions to the more
trivial of the early "Lyrical Ballads" (Betty Foy, Harry Gill, etc.).
Wordsworth's 'Peter Bell' was published about a week later; and Shelley
afterwards published his 'Peter Bell the Third'. Charles Lamb wrote to
Wordsworth, in May 1819:
"Dear Wordsworth--I received a copy of 'Peter Bell' a week ago, and I
hope the author will not be offended if I say I do not much relish it.
The humour, if it is meant for humour, is forced; and then the
price!--sixpence would have been dear for it. Mind, I do not mean
_your_ 'Peter Bell', but _a Peter Bell_, which preceded it about a
week, and is in every bookseller's shop window in London, the type and
paper nothing differing from the true one, the preface signed W. W.,
and the supplementary preface quoting, as the author's words, an
extract from the supplementary preface to the 'Lyrical Ballads.' Is
there no law against these rascals? I would have this Lambert Simnel
whipt at the cart's tail." ('The Letters of Charles Lamb', edited by
A. Ainger, vol. ii. p. 20.)
Barron Field wrote on the title-page of his copy of the edition of
'Peter Bell', 1819,
"And his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it."
1 Kings xiii. 24.--Ed.]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: This stanza, which was deleted from every edition of
'Peter Bell' after the two of 1819, was prefixed by Shelley to his poem
of 'Peter Bell the Third', and many of his contemporaries thought that
it was an invention of Shelley's. See the note which follows this poem,
p. 50. Crabb Robinson wrote in his 'Diary', June 6, 1812:
"Mrs. Basil Montagu told me she had no doubt she had suggested this
image to Wordsworth by relating to him an anecdote. A person, walking
in a friend's garden, looking in at a window, saw a company of ladies
at a table near the window, with countenances _fixed_. In an instant
he was aware of their condition, and broke the window. He saved them
from incipient suffocation."
Wordsworth subsequently said that he had omitted the stanza only in
deference to the "unco guid." Crabb Robinson remonstrated with him
against its exclusion.--Ed.]
* * * * *
LINES,[A] COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY, ON REVISITING THE
BANKS OF THE WYE DURING A TOUR, JULY 13, 1798 [B]
Composed July 1798.--Published 1798
[July 1798. No poem of mine was composed under circumstances more
pleasant for me to remember than this. I began it upon leaving Tintern,
after crossing the Wye, and concluded it just as I was entering Bristol
in the evening, after a ramble of four or five days, with my sister. Not
a line of it was altered, and not any part of it written down till I
reached Bristol. It was published almost immediately after in the little
volume of which so much has been said in these Notes, the "Lyrical
Ballads," as first published at Bristol by Cottle.--I.F.]
Included among the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.