Take all that’s mine “beneath the moon,” [A]
  If I with her but half a noon
  May sit beneath the walls 15
  Of some old cave, or mossy nook,
  When up she winds along the brook [4]
  To hunt the waterfalls.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1807.

  Though, by a sickly taste betrayed,
  Some will dispraise the lovely Maid,
  With fearless pride I say 1836.

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 2: 

1845.

  That she is ruddy, fleet, and strong; 1807.

  That she is healthful, ... 1836.]

[Variant 3:  In the editions of 1807 to 1843 occurs the following verse, which was omitted from subsequent editions: 

  And she hath smiles to earth unknown;
  Smiles, that with motion of their own
  Do spread, and sink, and rise;
  That come and go with endless play,
  And ever, as they pass away,
  Are hidden in her eyes.]

[Variant 4: 

1807.

  When she goes barefoot up the brook MS.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  Compare Young’s ‘Night Thoughts’, where the phrase occurs three times.  See also ‘Lear’, act IV. scene vi. l. 26: 

  ‘For all beneath the moon.’

Haywood, ‘The English Traveller’, v. 1: 

  ‘All things that dwell beneath the moon.’

It was also used by William Drummond, in one of his sonnets,

  ‘I know that all beneath the moon decays.’

Ed.]

Wordsworth gave as the date of the composition of this poem the year 1805; but he said of the following one, ’To a Young Lady, who had been Reproached for taking Long Walks in the Country’—­“composed at the same time” and “designed to make one piece”—­that it was written in 1803.

But it is certain that these following lines appeared in ’The Morning Post’, on Feb. 12, 1802, where they are headed ’To a beautiful Young Lady, who had been harshly spoken of on account of her fondness for taking long walks in the Country’.  There is difficulty, both in ascertaining the exact date of composition, and in knowing who “Louisa” or the “Young Lady” was.  Mrs. Millicent G. Fawcett wrote to me several years ago, suggesting, with some plausibility, a much earlier date, if Dorothy Wordsworth was the lady referred to.  She referred me to Dorothy’s letter to her aunt, Mrs. Crackenthorpe, written from Windybrow, Keswick, in 1794, when staying there with her brother; and says