ir-Shades. [_A sultry eve pursu'd a sultry day_] 32

Considerable differences are to be observed between the
text of the Manuscript of _Elvir-Shades_ and that of the
printed version. For example, as printed the second
stanza reads:

_I spurr'd my courser_, _and more swiftly rode_,
_In moody silence_, _through the forests green_,
_Where doves and linnets had their lone abode_.

In the Manuscript it reads:

_Immers'd in pleasing pensiveness I rode_
_Down vistas dim_, _and glades of forest green_,
_Where doves and nightingales had their abode_.

The Heddybee-Spectre. [_I clomb in haste my dappled 37
steed_]

In 1829 Borrow discarded his original (1826) version of
_The Heddybee-Spectre_, and made an entirely new
translation. This was written in couplets, with a
refrain repeated after each. In 1854 the latter version
was revised, and represents the final text. It
commences thus:

_At evening fall I chanced to ride_,
_My courser to a tree I tied_.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.

_Against a stump my head I laid_,
_And then to slumber I essay'd_
_So wide thereof the story goes_.

From the Manuscript of 1854 the ballad was printed
(under the amended title _The Heddeby Spectre_) in
_Signelil_, _A Tale from the Cornish_, _and Other
Ballads_, 1913, pp. 22-24. Borrow afterwards described
the present early version as 'a paraphrase.'

Sir John. [_Sir Lave to the island stray'd_] 40

There is extant a Manuscript of _Sir John_ which
apparently belongs to an earlier date than 1826. The
text differs considerably from that of the _Romantic
Ballads_. I give a few stanzas of each.

1826.

_The servants led her then to bed_,
_But could not loose her girdle red_!
"_I can_, _perhaps_," _said John_.

_He shut the door with all his might_;
_He lock'd it fast_, _and quench'd the light_:
"_I shall sleep here_," _said John_.

_A servant to Sir Lave hied_:--
"_Sir John is sleeping with the bride_:"
"_Aye_, _that I am_," _said John_.

_Sir Lave to the chamber flew_:
"_Arise_, _and straight the door undo_!"
"_A likely thing_!" _said John_.

_He struck with shield_, _he struck with spear_--
"_Come out_, _thou Dog_, _and fight me here_!"
"_Another time_," _said John_.

_Early MS._

_They carried the bride to the