He gott him to a secrett place,
And there he dyed without releeffe.
[And there forlorn, despairing, hid, etc.] The first edition for this and the next two stanzas substitutes the following:—
And there in shelt’ring thickets hid,
I’ll linger till I die;
’Twas thus for me my lover did,
And so for him will I.
‘Thou shalt not thus,’ the Hermit cried,
And clasp’d her to his breast;
The astonish’d fair one turned to chide,—
’Twas Edwin’s self that prest.
For now no longer could he hide,
What first to hide he strove;
His looks resume their youthful pride,
And flush with honest love.
[’Twas so for me, etc.] Cf. Gentle Herdsman:—
Thus every day I fast and pray,
And ever will doe till I dye;
And gett me to some secret place,
For soe did hee, and soe will I.
[Forbid it, Heaven.] Vicar of Wakefield, first edition, like the version of 1765, has ‘Thou shalt not thus.’
[My life.] Vicar of Wakefield, first edition, has ‘O thou.’
[No, never from this hour, etc.] The first edition reads:—
No, never, from this hour to part,
Our love shall still be new;
And the last sigh that rends thy heart,
Shall break thy Edwin’s too.
The poem then concluded thus:—