65

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1820.

From which immediately leaps out
A Dog, and yelping runs about. 1807.

And instantly a Dog is seen,
Glancing from that covert green. 1815.]

[Variant 2:

1820.

... does ... 1807.]

[Variant 3:

1837.

binds 1807.]

[Variant 4:

1815.

Not knowing what to think 1807.]

[Variant 5:

1837.

Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones, 1807.]

[Variant 6:

1815.

Sad sight! the Shepherd with a sigh 1807.]

[Variant 7:

And signs and circumstances dawned
Till everything was clear;
He made discovery of his name. MS.]

[Variant 8:

1815.

But hear a wonder now, for sake
Of which this mournful Tale I tell! 1807.]

[Variant 9:

1827.

On which the Traveller thus had died 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Tarn is a _small_ Mere or Lake mostly high up in the
mountains,--W. W.]

[Footnote B: Compare the reference to Helvellyn, and its "deep coves,
shaped by skeleton arms," in the 'Musings near Aquapendente' (1837).
Wordsworth here describes Red Tarn, under Helvellyn, to the east; but
Charles Gough was killed on the Kepplecove side of Swirell Edge, and not
at Red Tarn. Bishop Watson of Llandaff, writing to Hayley (see
'Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop Watson', p. 440), writes about Charles
Gouche (evidently Gough). He had been lodging at "the Cherry Inn," near
Wytheburn, sometime before his death.--Ed.]

[Footnote C: Compare 'The Excursion', book iv. ll. 1185-94.--Ed.]

Thomas Wilkinson--referred to in the notes to 'The Solitary Reaper',
vol. ii. pp. 399, 400, and the verses 'To the Spade of a Friend', in
vol. iv.--alludes to this incident at some length in his poem, 'Emont
Vale'. Wilkinson attended the funeral of young Gough, and writes of the
incident with feeling, but without inspiration. Gough perished early in
April, and his body was not found till July 22nd, 1805. A reference to
his fate will be found in Lockhart's 'Life of Scott' (vol. ii. p. 274);
also in a letter of Mr. Luff of Patterdale, to his wife, July 23rd,
1805. Henry Crabb Robinson records (see his 'Diary, Reminiscences',
etc., vol. ii. p. 25) a conversation with Wordsworth, in which he said
of this poem, that "he purposely made the narrative as prosaic as