We rose up from the fountain-side; 65
  And down the smooth descent
  Of the green sheep-track did we glide;
  And through the wood we went;

  And, ere we came to Leonard’s rock,
  He sang those witty rhymes 70
  About the crazy old church-clock,
  And the bewildered chimes.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1820.

  Now, Matthew, let us try to match 1800.]

[Variant 2: 

1837.

  Down to the vale this water steers, 1800.

  Down to the vale with eager speed
  Behold this streamlet run,
  From subterranean bondage freed,
  And glittering in the sun.  C.

  From subterranean darkness freed,
  A pleasant course to run.  C.

  Down to the vale this streamlet hies,
  Look, how it seems to run,
  As if ’t were pleased with summer skies,
  And glad to meet the sun.  C.

  And glad to greet the sun.  MS.

  No guide it needs, no check it fears,
  How merrily it goes! 
  ’Twill murmur on a thousand years,
  And flow as now it flows.  C.

  Down towards the vale with eager speed,
  Behold this streamlet run
  As if ’twere pleased with summer skies
  And glad to meet the sun.  C.]

[Variant 3: 

1837.

  The blackbird in the summer trees,
  The lark upon the hill, 1800.]

[Variant 4: 

1832.

  ... is .... 1800 and MS.]

[Variant 5: 

1815.

  ... his hands, ... 1800.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: 

  “Pour me plaindre a moy, regarde noti tant ce qu’on moste, que ce qui
  me reste de sauvre, et dedans et dehors.”

Montaigne, ‘Essais’, iii. 12.

Compare also: 

  “Themistocles quidem, cum ei Simonides, an quis alius artem memoriae
  polliceretur, Oblivionis, inquit, mallem; nam memini etiam quae
  nolo, oblivisci non possum quae volo.”

Cicero, ‘De Finibus’, II. 32.—­Ed.]

* * * * *

TO A SEXTON

Composed 1799.—­Published 1800

[Written in Germany, 1799.—­I.F.]

One of the “Poems of the Fancy.”—­Ed.

  Let thy wheel-barrow alone—­
  Wherefore, Sexton, piling still
  In thy bone-house bone on bone? 
  ’Tis already like a hill
  In a field of battle made, 5
  Where three thousand skulls are laid;
  These died in peace each with the other,—­
  Father, sister, friend, and brother.