Borrow’s Works upon the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Notice regarding the previous appearance of a portion of the work in The Quarterly Review (with blank reverse) pp. v–vi; Contents of Vol. I pp. vii–xi; p. xii is blank; and Text pp. 1–410. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed Wild Wales, whilst each recto is headed with the title of the particular subject occupying it. At the foot of p. 410 the imprint is repeated thus: “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 6 leaves), B to S (17 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus T (2 leaves). The second leaf of Sig. T is a blank.
Vol. II.
Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 413; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Contents of Vol. II pp. v–vii; p. viii is blank; and Text pp. 1–413. The reverse of p. 413 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. At the foot of p. 413 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (4 leaves), B to S (17 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus T (4 leaves). The last leaf of Sig. T is a blank. The volume was issued without any Half-title.
Vol. III.
Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 474; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Contents of Vol. III pp. iii–viii; and Text pp. 1–474. There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. At the foot of p. 474 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (8 leaves), B to U (18 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus X (10 leaves). The last leaf of Sig. H is a blank. The volume was issued without any Half-title.
Issued (in December, 1862) in dark green cloth boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “Wild Wales. / By / George Borrow. / Vol. I [Vol. ii, &c.].” The leaves measure 7⅝ × 4⅞ inches. The published price was 30s.; 1,000 copies were printed.
A Second Edition of Wild Wales was issued in 1865, a Third Edition in 1888, and a Fourth Edition in 1896. The book has since been included in divers series of non-copyright works.
The following Poems made their first appearance in the pages of Wild Wales:
| Vol.
I
|
|
|
| page
|
Chester Ale. [Chester
ale, Chester ale! I could ne’er get it
down]
Another, widely different, version of these lines exist in
manuscript. It reads as follows:
On the Ale of Chester.
Of Chester the ale has but sorry renown,
’Tis made of
ground-ivy, of dust, and of bran;
’Tis as thick as a river belough a hugh town,
’Tis not lap for a
dog, far less drink for a man.
|
18
|
| Saxons and Britons. [A
serpent which coils]
Previously printed in The Quarterly Review,
January 1861, p. 42.
| 48
|
| Translation of a Welsh Englyn upon
Dinas Bran. [Gone, gone are thy gates,
Dinas Bran on the height!]
| 61
|
| Lines Found on the tomb of
Madoc. [Here after sailing far I Madoc
lie]
| 105
|
| The Lassies of County
Merion. [Full fair the gleisiad in the
flood]
This was one stanza only, the fifth, of the complete poem
The Cookoo’s Song in Merion, which Borrow translated
some years later, and which was first printed in Ermeline,
1913, pp. 21–23. The text of the two versions of this
stanza differ considerably.
| 153
|
| Stanza on the stone of Jane
Williams. [Though thou art gone to dwelling
cold]
| 161
|
The Mist. [O ho!
thou villain mist, O ho!]
Although Borrow translated the whole poem, he omitted 24 lines
(the 14 opening and 10 closing lines) when printing it in Wild
Wales. Here are the missing lines, which I give from
the original Manuscript:
A tryste with Morfydd true I made,
’Twas not the first, in greenwood glade,
In hope to make her flee with me;
But useless all, as you will see.
I went betimes, lest she should grieve,
Then came a mist at close of eve;
Wide o’er the path by which I passed,
Its mantle dim and murk it cast.
That mist ascending met the sky,
Forcing the daylight from my eye.
I scarce had strayed a furlong’s space
When of all things I lost the trace.
Where was the grove and waving grain?
Where was the mountain hill and main?
* * * * *
Before me all affright and fear,
Above me darkness dense and drear,
My way at length I weary found,
Into a swaggy willow ground,
Where staring in each nook there stood
Of wry mouthed elves a wrathful brood.
Full oft I sank in that false soil,
My legs were lamed with length of toil.
However hard the case may be
No meetings more in mist for me.
Two of the above lines, somewhat differently worded, were
given in Wild Wales, Vol. i, p. 184.
| 173
|
| Lines Descriptive of the Eagerness of
a Soul to reach Paradise. [Now to my rest I hurry
away]
| 251
|
| Filicaia’s Sonnet on
Italy. [O Italy! on whom dark
Destiny]
| 290
|
| Translation of an englyn foretelling
travelling by steam. [I got up in Mona, as
soon as ’twas light]
| 341
|
| Translation of a Welsh stanza about
Snowdon. [Easy to say ‘Behold
Eryri’]
| 360
|
| Stanzas On The Snow Of
Snowdon. [Cold is the snow on Snowdon’s
brow]
| 365
|
| Vol.
II
|
|
| Lines from Black Robin’s Ode in
praise of Anglesey. [Twelve sober men the muses
woo]
| 33
|
| Lines on a Spring.
[The wild wine of Nature]
| 112
|
| Things written in a
Garden. [In a garden the first of our race was
deceived]
| 158
|
| El Punto de la Vana.
[Never trust the sample when you go your cloth to buy]
| 215
|
| Llangollen’s Ale.
[Llangollen’s brown ale is with malt and hop
rife]
| 275
|
| Poverty and Riches. An Interlude. [O Riches, thy
figure is charming and bright]
A reduced facsimile of the first page of the Manuscript of
this Interlude is given herewith, facing page 99.
| 328
|
| An Ode to Sychark. By Iolo Goch. [Twice have I pledged
my word to thee]
| 392
|
| Vol.
III
|
|
| Translation of a Welsh englyn on the
Rhyadr. [Foaming and frothing from mountainous
height]
| 12
|
| Ode to Owen
Glendower. [Here’s the life I’ve
sigh’d for long]
| 98
|
| Ode to a Yew Tree.
[Thou noble tree; who shelt’rest kind]
| 203
|
| Lines. [From high
Plynlimmon’s shaggy side]
| 219
|
| Ode to a Yew Tree. [O
tree of yew, which here I spy]
This is another, and extended, version of the Ode
printed on p. 203 of Wild Wales. Yet another
version, differing from both, is printed in Alf the Freebooter
and Other Ballads, 1913, p. 27.
| 247
|
| Lines from Ode to the
Ploughman, by Iolo Goch.
[The mighty Hu who lives for ever]
Previously printed, with some verbal differences, in The
Quarterly Review, January 1861, p. 40.
| 292
|
| Lines on a Tomb-stone.
[Thou earth from earth reflect with anxious mind]
| 301
|
| Ode to Griffith ap
Nicholas. [Griffith ap Nicholas, who like
thee]
The first six lines of this Ode had previously appeared in
The Quarterly Review, January 1861, p. 50.
| 327
|
| God’s Better than
All. [God’s better than heaven or aught
therein]
A reduced facsimile of the first page of the Manuscript of
God’s Better than All will be found facing the
present page.
| 335
|
| Ab Gwilym’s Ode to the Sun And
Glamorgan. [Each morn, benign of
countenance]
| 377
|
Of Chester the ale has but sorry renown,
’Tis made of ground-ivy, of dust, and of bran;
’Tis as thick as a river belough a hugh town,
’Tis not lap for a dog, far less drink for a man.