1836.
There, by the door a h.o.a.ry-headed Sire Touched with his withered hand an ancient lyre; 1820.]
[Variant 43:
1836.
This and the following line were expanded from
Beneath an old-grey oak, as violets lie, 1820.]
[Variant 44:
1836.
... joined the holy sound; 1820.]
[Variant 45:
1836.
While ... 1820.]
[Variant 46:
1845.
Bend o"er th" abyss, the else impervious gloom 1820.
Hang o"er th" abyss:--... 1827.
... the abyss:--... 1832.]
[Variant 47:
1836.
Freshening the waste of sand with shades and springs.
--_She_, solitary, through the desart drear Spontaneous wanders, hand in hand with Fear. 1820.
By choice or doom a gipsy wanders here, Companionless, or hand in hand with fear; Lo! where she sits beneath yon s.h.a.ggy rock, A cowering shape half-seen through curling smoke. MS.]
[Variant 48:
1836.
The Grison gypsey here her tent hath placed, Sole human tenant of the piny waste; Her tawny skin, dark eyes, and glossy locks, Bend o"er the smoke that curls beneath the rocks.[iii] 1820.]
[Variant 49:
1845.
Lines 179-185 were subst.i.tuted in 1845 for
A giant moan along the forest swells Protracted, and the twilight storm foretels, And, ruining from the cliffs, their deafening load Tumbles,--the wildering Thunder slips abroad; On the high summits Darkness comes and goes, Hiding their fiery clouds, their rocks, and snows; The torrent, traversed by the l.u.s.tre broad, Starts like a horse beside the flashing road; In the roofed bridge, at that terrific hour, She seeks a shelter from the battering show"r.
--Fierce comes the river down; the crashing wood Gives way, and half it"s pines torment the flood; [iv] Fearful, beneath, the Water-spirits call, And the bridge vibrates, tottering to its fall. 1820.
When rueful moans along the forest swell Protracted, and the twilight storm foretel, And, headlong from the cliffs, a deafening load Tumbles,--and wildering thunder slips abroad; When on the summits Darkness comes and goes, Hiding their fiery clouds, their rocks, and snows; And the fierce torrent, from the l.u.s.tre broad, Starts, like a horse beside the flashing road-- She seeks a covert from the battering shower In the roofed bridge; the bridge, in that dread hour, Itself all quaking at the torrent"s power. 1836.]
[Variant 50:
1845.
Lines 186-195 were subst.i.tuted in 1845 for
--Heavy, and dull, and cloudy is the night; No star supplies the comfort of it"s light, Glimmer the dim-lit Alps, dilated, round, And one sole light shifts in the vale profound; [s1]
While, [s2] opposite, the waning moon hangs still, And red, above her [s3] melancholy hill.
By the deep quiet gloom appalled, she sighs, [s4]
Stoops her sick head, and shuts her weary eyes.
She hears, upon the mountain forest"s brow, The death-dog, howling loud and long, below; --Breaking th" ascending roar of desert floods, And insect buzz, that stuns the sultry woods, [s5]
On viewless fingers [s6] counts the valley-clock, Followed by drowsy crow of midnight c.o.c.k.
--Bursts from the troubled larch"s giant boughs The pie, and, chattering, breaks the night"s repose. [s7]
The dry leaves stir as with the serpent"s walk, And, far beneath, Banditti voices talk; Behind her hill, [s8] the Moon, all crimson, rides, And his red eyes the slinking Water hides.
--Vexed by the darkness, from the piny gulf Ascending, nearer howls the famished wolf, [s9]
While thro" the stillness scatters wild dismay Her babe"s small cry, that leads him to his prey. 1820.
s1-s9: see Sub-Variants below. txt. Ed.]
[Variant 51:
1836.
Now, pa.s.sing Urseren"s open vale serene, Her quiet streams, and hills of downy green, Plunge with the Russ embrowned by Terror"s breath, Where danger roofs the narrow walks of death; 1815.
Plunge where the Reuss with fearless might has rent His headlong way along a dark descent. MS.
In the edition of 1836 these two couplets of 1815 were compressed into one, and in that edition lines 200-201 preceded lines 198-199. They were transposed in 1840.]