Variant 1:
 
1827
... beside ...
1800
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Variant 2:
 
1827
No habitation there is seen; but such
As journey thither ...
1800
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Variant 3:
 
1827
There is ...
1800
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Variant 4:
 
1836
And to that place a story appertains,
Which, though it be ungarnish'd with events,
Is not unfit, ...

1800
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Variant 5:
 
1827
... It was the first,
The earliest of those tales ...
1800
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Variant 6:
 
1827
... he had learn'd ...
1800
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Variant 7:
 
1836
... the hills, which he so oft
Had climb'd with vigorous steps; ...

1800
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Variant 8:
 
1832
... linking to such acts,
So grateful in themselves, the certainty
Of honourable gains; these fields, these hills
Which were his living Being, even more
Than his own Blood—what could they less? had laid



1800
... gain ...
1805
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Variant 9:
 
1815
He had not passed his days in singleness.
He had a Wife, a comely Matron, old

1800
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Variant 10:
 
1836
... their ...
1800
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Variant 11:
 
1836
... their ...
 1800
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Variant 12:
 
1836
... their ...
1800
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Variant 13:
 
1827
Which ...
1800
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Variant 14:
 
1836
Did with a huge projection overbrow
 1800
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Variant 15:
 
1827
... was in his ...
1800
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Variant 16:
 
1836
... while late ...
1800
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Variant 17:
 
Not with a waste of words, but for the sake
Of pleasure, which I know that I shall give
To many living now, I of this Lamp
Speak thus minutely: for there are no few
Whose memories will bear witness to my tale.
These lines appeared only in the editions of 1800 and 1802.

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Variant 18:
 
1815
The ...
1800
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Variant 19:
 
1832
The ...
1800
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Variant 20:
 
1827
... yet more dear—
Effect which might perhaps have been produc'd
By that instinctive tenderness, ...


1800
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Variant 21:
 
1836
Blind Spirit, which is in the blood of all,
1800
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Variant 22:
 
1827
Or ...
1800
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Variant 23:
 
This line was first printed in the edition of 1836.
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Variant 24:
 
From such, and other causes, to the thoughts
Of the old Man his only Son was now
The dearest object that he knew on earth.

Only in the editions of 1800 to 1820.
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Variant 25:
 
1827
For dalliance ...
1800
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Variant 26:
 
1836
His cradle with a woman's gentle hand.
 1800
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Variant 27:
 
1836
... when he
Had work by his own door, or when he sate
With sheep before him on his Shepherd's stool,
Beneath that large old Oak, which near their door
Stood, and from its enormous breadth of shade




1800
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Variant 28:
 
1815
While this good household thus were living on
1800
While in the fashion which I have described
This simple Household thus were living on
1800 (2nd issue).
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Variant 29:
 
1836
As soon as he had gather'd so much strength
That he could look his trouble in the face,
It seem'd that his sole refuge was to sell


1800
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Variant 30:
 
1827
... itself
 1800
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Variant 31:
 
1836
May come again to us ...
1800
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Variant 32:
 
Italics were first used in 1827.
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Variant 33:
 
1836
... for the two last nights
1800
... through the
1815
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Variant 34:
 
1815
The Lad ...
1800
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Variant 35:
 
1820
Next morning ...
1800
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Variant 36:
 
1815
... which close to the brook side
 1800
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Variant 37:
 
1836
... should speak
Of things ...

1800
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Variant 38:
 
1827
... as it befalls
1800
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Variant 39:
 
1836
When ...
1800
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Variant 40:
 
1815
... in ...
1800
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Variant 41:
 
1827
... from sixty years.
1800
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Variant 42:
 
I for the purpose brought thee to this place.
This line appears only in the edition of 1800.

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Variant 43:
 
1827
... stout; ...
1800
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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
return



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



Variant 46:
 
1815
Next morning, as had been resolv'd, the Boy
 1800
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Variant 47:
 
1820
Would break the heart:—Old Michael found it so.
 1800
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Variant 48:
 
1836
... look'd up upon the sun,
 1800
... towards the sun,
1832
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Variant 49:
 
1836
Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog,
1800
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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.

return to footnote mark



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.'