He sat upright; and ere the dream 530 Had had time to depart, "O G.o.d, forgive me!" (he exclaimed) "I have torn out her heart."
Then Ellen shrieked, and forthwith burst Into ungentle laughter; 535 And Mary shivered, where she sat, And never she smiled after.
1797-1809.
_Carmen reliquum in futurum tempus relegatum._ To-morrow! and To-morrow!
and To-morrow!
FOOTNOTES:
[267:1] Parts III and IV of the _Three Graves_ were first published in _The Friend_, No. VI, September 21, 1809. They were included in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Parts I and II, which were probably written in the spring of 1798, at the same time as Parts III and IV, were first published, from an autograph MS. copy, in _Poems_, 1893. [For evidence of date compare ll. 255-8 with Dorothy Wordsworth"s _Alfoxden Journal_ for March 20, 24, and April 6, 8.] The original MS. of Parts III and IV is not forthcoming. The MS. of the poem as published in _The Friend_ is in the handwriting of Miss Sarah Stoddart (afterwards Mrs. Hazlitt), and is preserved with other "copy"
of _The Friend_ (of which the greater part is in the handwriting of Miss Sarah Hutchinson) in the Forster Collection which forms part of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. The preface and emendations are in the handwriting of S. T. C. The poem was reprinted in the _British Minstrel_, Glasgow, 1821 as "a modern ballad of the very first rank". In a marginal note in Mr. Samuel"s copy of _Sibylline Leaves_ Coleridge writes:--"This very poem was selected, notwithstanding the preface, as a proof of my judgment and poetic diction, and a fair specimen of the style of my poems generally (see the _Mirror_): nay! the very words of the preface were used, omitting the _not_," &c. See for this and other critical matter, _Lyrical Ballads_, 1798, edited by Thomas Hutchinson, 1898. _Notes_, p. 257.
[268:1] in the common ballad metre _MS._
[268:2] mistaking _The Friend_.
[269:1] In the first issue of _The Friend_, No. VI, September 21, 1809, the poem was thus introduced:--"As I wish to commence the important Subject of--_The Principles_ of political Justice with a separate number of THE FRIEND, and shall at the same time comply with the wishes communicated to me by one of my female Readers, who writes as the representative of many others, I shall conclude this Number with the following Fragment, or the third and fourth [second and third _MS. S. T.
C._] parts of a Tale consisting of six. The two last parts may be given hereafter, if the present should appear to have afforded pleasure, and to have answered the purpose of a relief and amus.e.m.e.nt to my Readers.
The story as it is contained in the first and second parts is as follows: _Edward a young farmer_, etc."
[271:1] It is uncertain whether this stanza is erased, or merely blotted in the MS.
[271:2] _Oth.e.l.lo_ iii. 3.
[271:3] The words "Part II" are not in the MS.
[276:1] In the MS. of _The Friend_, Part III is headed:--"The Three Graves. A s.e.xton"s Tale. A Fragment." A MS. note _erased_ in the handwriting of S. T. C. is attached:--"N. B. Written for me by Sarah Stoddart before her brother was an entire Blank. I have not _voluntarily_ been guilty of any desecration of holy _Names_." In _The Friend_, in _Sibylline Leaves_, in 1828, 1829, and 1834, the poem is headed "The Three Graves, &c." The heading "Part III" first appeared in 1893.
LINENOTES:
[4] In the silent summer heat MS. alternative reading.
[14]
Why these three graves all in a row
MS. alternative reading.
Stretch out their dark and gloomy length
MS. erased.
[33] turned] strove MS. erased.
[49] happy] wedding MS. variant.
[81] A deadly] The ghastly MS. erased.
Part III] III MS. erased.
[220 foll.] In _The Friend_ the lines were printed continuously. The division into stanzas (as in the MS.) dates from the republication of the poem in Sibylline Leaves, 1817.
[221] as ripe] as they MS.
[224] High on the hedge-elms in the lane MS. erased.
[225] spikes] strikes Sibylline Leaves, 1817. [_Note._ It is possible that "strikes"--a Somersetshire word--(compare "strikes of flax") was deliberately subst.i.tuted for "spikes". It does not appear in the long list of _Errata_ prefixed to Sibylline Leaves. Wagons pa.s.sing through narrow lanes leave on the hedge-rows not single "spikes", but little swathes or fillets of corn.]
[230] over boughed] over-bough"d MS.
[242] they] he MS. The Friend, 1809.
[260] So five months pa.s.sed: this mother foul MS. erased.
[278] dark] dank MS. The Friend, 1809.
[308] swinging] singing MS. The Friend, 1809: swaying S. L.
[309] You could not hear the Vicar. MS. The Friend, 1809.
[315] you] thou The Friend, 1809.
Part IV] The Three Graves, a s.e.xton"s Tale, Part the IVth MS.
[395] O Sir!] Oh! "tis S. L.
[447] you"re] how MS.
[473] we] one MS. The Friend, 1809.
[483] Lone] Some MS. The Friend, 1809.
[487] a] the MS. The Friend, 1809.
[490] friends] dears MS. erased.
[507] in] in MS. The Friend, 1809.
[511] _inserted by S. T. C._ MS.
[530-1]
He sat upright; and with quick voice While his eyes seem"d to start
MS. erased.