e'er before
Did human Creature ... 1807.]

[Variant 10: The following stanza was only in the edition of 1807:

Strong is the current; but be mild,
Ye waves, and spare the helpless Child!
If ye in anger fret or chafe,
A Bee-hive would be ship as safe
As that in which he sails.]

[Variant 11:

1815.

But say, what was it? Thought of fear!
Well may ye tremble when ye hear!
--A Household Tub, like one of those,
Which women use to wash their clothes,
This carried the blind Boy. 1807.]

[Variant 12:

1820.

And one, the rarest, was a Shell
Which he, poor Child, had studied well;
The Shell of a green Turtle, thin
And hollow;--you might sit therein.
It was so wide and deep. 1815.]

[Variant 13:

1820.

'Twas even the largest of its kind,
Large, thin, and light as birch-tree rind;
So light a Shell that it would swim,
And gaily lift its fearless brim
Above the tossing waves. 1815.]

[Variant 14:

1837.

... which ... 1815.]

[Variant 15:

1827.

... in his arms. 1815.]

[Variant 16:

1827.

Close to the water he had found
This Vessel, push'd it from dry ground,
Went into it; and, without dread,
Following the fancies in his head,
He paddled up and down. 1807.

And with the happy burthen hied,
And pushed it from Loch Levin's side,--
Stepped into it; and, without dread, 1815.]

[Variant 17:

1827.

And dallied thus, till from the shore
The tide retreating more and more
Had suck'd, and suck'd him in. 1807.]

[Variant 18: The two previous stanzas were added in the edition of 1815.]

[Variant 19:

1837.

... then did he cry
... most eagerly; 1807.]

[Variant 20:

1807.

... read ... MS.]

[Variant 21:

1837.

Had ... 1807.]

[Variant 22:

1832.

She could not blame him, or chastise; 1807.]

[Variant 23: This stanza was added in the edition of 1815.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The title in the editions of 1807 to 1820 was 'The Blind
Highland Boy. (A Tale told by the Fireside.)'

This poem gave its title to a separate division in the second volume of
the edition of 1807, viz. "The Blind Highland Boy; with other
Poems."--Ed.]

[Footnote B: This reading occurs in all the editions. But Wordsworth,
whose MS. was not specially clear, may