The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth
Chapter 128 : And to the pillow gives ... 1819.][Variant 116: 1827.And resting on ... 1819.][Variant

And to the pillow gives ... 1819.]

[Variant 116:

1827.

And resting on ... 1819.]

[Variant 117:

1827.

He turns ... 1819.]

[Variant 118:

1836.

... his inward grief and fear--1819.

... his sorrow and his fear--C.]

[Variant 119:

1827.

... had ... 1819.]

[Variant 120:

1836.

Towards ... 1819.]

[Variant 121:

1832.

... repressed ... 1819.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The t.i.tle in the two editions of 1819 was 'Peter Bell: A Tale in Verse.'--Ed.]

[Footnote B: In Dorothy Wordsworth's Alfoxden Journal the following occurs, under date April 20, 1798: "The moon crescent. 'Peter Bell'

begun."--Ed.]

[Footnote C: 'Romeo and Juliet', act II. scene ii. l. 44. This motto first appeared on the half-t.i.tle of 'Peter Bell', second edition, 1819, under the advertis.e.m.e.nt of 'Benjamin the Waggoner', its first line being "What's a Name?" When 'The Waggoner' appeared, a few days afterwards, the motto stood on its t.i.tle-page. In the collective edition of the Poems (1820), it disappeared; but reappeared, in its final position, in the edition of 1827.--Ed.]

[Footnote D: 'Julius Caesar', act I. scene ii. l. 147.--Ed.]

[Footnote E: Compare 'The Prelude', book iv. l. 47:

'the sunny seat Round the stone table under the dark pine.'

Ed.]

[Footnote F: In the dialect of the North, a hawker of earthen-ware is thus designated.--W. W. 1819 (second edition).]

[Footnote G: Compare 'The Prelude', book v. l. 448:

'At last, the dead man, 'mid that beauteous scene Of trees and hills and water, bolt upright Rose, with his ghastly face, a spectre shape Of terror.'

Ed.]

[Footnote H: This and the next stanza were omitted from the edition of 1827, but restored in 1832.--Ed.]

[Footnote I: The notion is very general, that the Cross on the back and shoulders of this Animal has the origin here alluded to.--W. W. 1819.]

[Footnote J: I cannot suffer this line to pa.s.s, without noticing that it was suggested by Mr. Haydon's n.o.ble Picture of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem.--W. W. 1820. Into the same picture Haydon "introduced Wordsworth bowing in reverence and awe." See the essay on "The Portraits of Wordsworth" in a later volume, and the portrait itself, which will be reproduced in the volume containing the 'Life' of the poet.--Ed.]

[Footnote K: The first and second editions of 'Peter Bell' (1819) contained, as frontispiece, an engraving by J.C. Bromley, after a picture by Sir George Beaumont. In 1807, Wordsworth wrote to Sir George:

"I am quite delighted to hear of your picture for 'Peter Bell' ....

But remember that no poem of mine will ever be popular, and I am afraid that the sale of 'Peter' would not carry the expense of engraving .... The people would love the poem of 'Peter Bell', but the _public_ (a very different thing) will never love it."

Some days before Wordsworth's 'Peter Bell' was issued in 1819, another 'Peter Bell' was published by Messrs. Taylor and Hessey. It was a parody written by J. Hamilton Reynolds, and issued as 'Peter Bell, a Lyrical Ballad', with the sentence on its t.i.tle page, "I do affirm that I am the _real_ Simon Pure." The preface, which follows, is too paltry to quote; and the stanzas which make up the poem contain allusions to the more trivial of the early "Lyrical Ballads" (Betty Foy, Harry Gill, etc.).

Wordsworth's 'Peter Bell' was published about a week later; and Sh.e.l.ley afterwards published his 'Peter Bell the Third'. Charles Lamb wrote to Wordsworth, in May 1819: