[Wisdom and worth, etc.] First version, and Vicar of Wakefield, first edition:—
A constant heart was all he had,
But that was all to me.
[And when beside me, etc.] For this ‘additional stanza,’ says the Percy Memoir, p. 76, ‘the reader is indebted to Richard Archdal, Esq., late a member of the Irish Parliament, to whom it was presented by the author himself.’ It was first printed in the Miscellaneous Works, 1801, ii. 25. In Prior’s edition of the Miscellaneous Works, 1837, iv. 41, it is said to have been ‘written some years after the rest of the poem.’
[The blossom opening to the day, etc.] For this and the next two stanzas the first version substitutes:—
Whene’er he spoke amidst the train,
How would my heart attend!
And till delighted even to pain,
How sigh for such a friend!
And when a little rest I sought
In Sleep’s refreshing arms,
How have I mended what he taught,
And lent him fancied charms!
Yet still (and woe betide the hour!)
I spurn’d him from my side,
And still with ill-dissembled power
Repaid his love with pride.
[For still I tried each fickle art, etc.] Percy finds the prototype of this in the following stanza of Gentle Herdsman:—
And grew soe coy and nice to please,
As women’s lookes are often soe,
He might not kisse, nor hand forsoothe,
Unlesse I willed him soe to doe.
[Till quite dejected with my scorn, etc.] The first edition reads this stanza and the first two lines of the next thus:—
Till quite dejected by my scorn,
He left me to deplore;
And sought a solitude forlorn,
And ne’er was heard of more.
Then since he perish’d by my fault,
This pilgrimage I pay, etc.
[And sought a solitude forlorn.] Cf. Gentle Herdsman:—