Priest had said: his early years
Were with him:--his long absence, cherished hopes, [58]
And thoughts which had been his an hour before,
All pressed on him with such a weight, that now, 445
This vale, where he had been so happy, seemed
A place in which he could not bear to live:
So he relinquished all his purposes.
He travelled back [59] to Egremont: and thence,
That night, he wrote a letter to the Priest, [60] 450
Reminding him of what had passed between them;
And adding, with a hope to be forgiven,
That it was from the weakness of his heart
He had not dared to tell him who he was.
This done, he went on shipboard, and is now 455
A Seaman, a grey-headed Mariner.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1815.

... their ... 1800.]

[Variant 2:

1827.

Upon the forehead of a jutting crag
Sit perch'd with book and pencil on their knee,
And look and scribble, ... 1800.]

[Variant 3:

1836.

... youngest child,
Who turn'd her large round wheel in the open air
With back and forward steps.... 1800.]

[Variant 4:

1827.

Which ... 1800.]

[Variant 5:

1815.

... who ere his thirteenth year
Had chang'd his calling, with the mariners 1800.]

[Variant 6:

1840.

... green ... 1800.]

[Variant 7:

1815.

... at length, ... 1800.]

[Variant 8:

1827.

... traffic in ... 1800.]

[Variant 9:

1827.

... which he liv'd there, ... 1800.]

[Variant 10:

1836.

... of one whom he so dearly lov'd, 1800.]

[Variant 11:

1836.

Towards the church-yard he had turn'd aside, 1800.]

[Variant 12:

1836.

... and he had hopes 1800.

... and hope was his 1832.]

[Variant 13:

1815.

As up the vale he came that afternoon, 1800.]

[Variant 14:

1836.

... the ... 1800.]

[Variant 15:

1815.

... he thought that he perceiv'd 1800.]

[Variant 16:

1827.

And the eternal hills, ... 1800.

And the everlasting hills, ... 1820.]

[Variant 17:

1815.

He scann'd him ... 1800.]

[Variant 18:

1800.

... cheeks, ... 1802.

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1800.]

[Variant 19:

1815.

Why, Sir, ... 1800.]

[Variant 20:

1827.

Companions for each other: ten years back,