[Variant 40: 

1815.

  ... in ... 1800.]

[Variant 41: 

1827.

  ... from sixty years. 1800.]

[Variant 42: 

  I for the purpose brought thee to this place.

This line appears only in the edition of 1800.]

[Variant 43: 

1827.

  ... stout; ... 1800.]

[Variant 44: 

1802.

... should evil men Be thy companions, let this Sheep-fold be Thy anchor and thy shield; amid all fear And all temptation, let it be to thee An emblem of the life thy Fathers liv’d, 1800.]

[Variant 45:  This line was added in the edition of 1815.]

[Variant 46: 

1815.

  Next morning, as had been resolv’d, the Boy 1800.]

[Variant 47: 

1820.

  Would break the heart:—­Old Michael found it so. 1800.]

[Variant 48: 

1836.

  ... look’d up upon the sun, 1800.

  ... towards the sun, 1832.]

[Variant 49: 

1836.

  Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog, 1800.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  The Rev. Thomas Hutchinson, Kimbolton, tells me that in his copy of the edition of “Lyrical Ballads” of 1800 there is

  “on the blank page facing the announcement, written in Wordsworth’s
  handwriting, the following lines: 

    ‘Though it be in th’ humblest rank of life,
    And in the lowest region of our speech,
    Yet is it in that kind as best accords
    With rural passion.’”

Ed.]

[Footnote B:  The following lines were written before April 1801, and were at one time meant to be inserted after “summer flies,” and before “Not with a waste of words.”  They are quoted in a letter of Wordsworth’s to Thomas Poole of Nether Stowey, dated April 9th, 1801.

    ’Though in their occupations they would pass
    Whole hours with but small interchange of speech,
    Yet were there times in which they did not want
    Discourse both wise and prudent, shrewd remarks
    Of daily providence, clothed in images
    Lively and beautiful, in rural forms
    That made their conversation fresh and fair
    As is a landscape;—­And the shepherd oft
    Would draw out of his heart the obscurities
    And admirations that were there, of God
    And of His works, or, yielding to the bent
    Of his peculiar humour, would let loose
    The tongue and give it the wind’s freedom,—­then
    Discoursing on remote imaginations, story,
    Conceits, devices, day-dreams, thoughts and schemes,
    The fancies of a solitary man.’

Ed.]

[Footnote C:  Clipping is the word used in the North of England for shearing.—­W.  W. 1800]