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PDF1836.
’Tis said, a child was
in her womb,
As now to any eye was plain;
1798.
’Tis said, her lamentable
state
Even to a careless eye was
plain; 1820.
Alas! her lamentable state 1827.]
[Variant 14:
1836.
... she was... 1798.]
[Variant 15:
1820.
Oh me! ten thousand times
I’d rather
That he had died, that cruel
father! 1798.]
[Variant 16:
1820.
Last Christmas when we talked
of this,
Old Farmer Simpson did maintain,
That in her womb the infant
wrought 1798.]
[Variant 17:
1827.
No more I know, I wish I did,
And I would tell it all to
you; 1798.]
[Variant 18:
1827.
There’s none that ever knew: 1798.]
[Variant 19:
1827.
And if a child was born or
no,
There’s no one that
could ever tell; 1798.]
[Variant 20:
1827.
There’s no one knows, as I have said, 1798.]
[Variant 21:
1827.
... I’ve described ... 1798.]
[Variant 22:
1845.
... in faith, ... 1798.]
[Variant 23:
1798.
In truth, it was ... 1800.
The edition of 1815 returns to the text of 1798.]
[Variant 24:
1827.
... and what’s the pond?
And what’s the hill
of moss to her?
And what’s the ...
1798.]
[Variant 25:
1800.
I’ve heard the scarlet moss is red 1798.]
[Variant 26:
1845.
But then the beauteous hill of moss 1798.
It might not be—the Hill of moss 1827.
But then the beauteous Hill
of moss 1832.
(Returning to the text of
1798.)
But then the speckled hill of moss 1836.]
[Variant 27:
1827.
But ... 1798.]
[Variant 28:
1845.
... is buried ... 1798.]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A:
“March 19, 1798. William and
Basil and I walked to the hill tops. A
very cold bleak day. William wrote
some lines describing a stunted
Thorn” (Dorothy Wordsworth’s
Alfoxden Journal).—Ed.
“April 20. Walked in the evening
up the hill dividing the coombes.
Came home the Crookham way, by the Thorn,
and the little muddy pond”
(Dorothy Wordsworth’s Alfoxden Journal).—Ed.]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE VARIANT
