rene. 40

Then, Beaumont, Friend! who would have been the Friend,
If he had lived, of Him whom I deplore,
This work of thine I blame not, but commend;
This sea in anger, and that dismal shore.

O 'tis a passionate Work!--yet wise and well, 45
Well chosen is the spirit that is here;
That Hulk which labours in the deadly swell,
This rueful sky, this pageantry of fear!

And this huge Castle, standing here sublime,
1 love to see the look with which it braves, 50
Cased in the unfeeling armour of old time,
The lightning, the fierce wind, and trampling waves.

Farewell, farewell the heart that lives alone,
Housed in a dream, at distance from the Kind!
Such happiness, wherever it be known, 55
Is to be pitied; for 'tis surely blind.

But welcome fortitude, and patient cheer,
And frequent sights of what is to be borne!
Such sights, or worse, as are before me here.--
Not without hope we suffer and we mourn. 60

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1807.

and add a gleam,
The lustre, known to neither sea nor land,
But borrowed from the youthful Poet's dream; 1820.

... the gleam, 1827.

The edition of 1832 returns to the text of 1807. [a]]

[Variant 2:

1845.

... a treasure-house, a mine 1807.

The whole of this stanza was omitted in the editions of 1820-1843.]

[Variant 3:

1815.

... delusion ... 1807.]

[Variant 4:

1837.

A faith, a trust, that could not be betray'd. 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The original title, in MS, was 'Verses suggested',
etc,--Ed.]

* * * * *

SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Sub-Footnote a: Many years ago Principal Shairp wrote to me,

"Have you noted how the two lines, 'The light that never was,' etc.,
stood in the edition of 1827? I know no other such instance of a
change from commonplace to perfection of ideality."

The Principal had not remembered at the time that the "perfection of
ideality" was in the original edition of 1807. The curious thing is that
the prosaic version of 1820 and 1827 ever took its place. Wordsworth's
return to his original reading was one of the wisest changes he
introduced i