The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth
Chapter 29 : A garden-plot the mountain air perfumes, Mid the dark pines a little orchard blooms; A

A garden-plot the mountain air perfumes, Mid the dark pines a little orchard blooms; A zig-zag path from the domestic skiff, Threading the painful crag, surmounts the cliff. 1815.

... wood-cabin on the steeps. 1820.

... the desert air perfumes, 1820.

Thridding the painful crag, ... 1832.

Yet, wheresoe'er amid the savage scene Peeps out a little spot of smiling green, Man with his babes undaunted thither creeps, And hangs his small wood-hut upon the steeps.

A garden-plot ... 1836.]

[Variant 64:

1845.

--Before those hermit doors, that never know 1815.

--Before those lonesome doors, ... 1836.]

[Variant 65:

1845.

The gra.s.sy seat beneath their cas.e.m.e.nt shade The pilgrim's wistful eye hath never stayed. 1815.

The shady porch ne'er offered a cool seat To pilgrims overpowered by summer's heat. 1836.]

[Variants 66 and 67: See Appendix III.--Ed.]

[Variant 68:

1845.

Lines 246 to 253 were previously:

--There, did the iron Genius not disdain The gentle Power that haunts the myrtle plain, There might the love-sick Maiden sit, and chide Th' insuperable rocks and severing tide, There watch at eve her Lover's sun-gilt sail Approaching, and upbraid the tardy gale, There list at midnight, till is heard no more, Below, the echo of his parting oar, There hang in fear, when growls the frozen stream, [v]

To guide his dangerous tread, the taper's gleam. 1815.

There might the maiden chide, in love-sick mood, The insuperable rocks and severing flood; 1836.

At midnight listen till his parting oar, And its last echo, can be heard no more. 1836.

Yet tender thoughts dwell there, no solitude Hath power youth's natural feelings to exclude; There doth the maiden watch her lover's sail Approaching, and upbraid the tardy gale. C.]

[Variant 69:

1845.

Mid stormy vapours ever driving by, Where ospreys, cormorants, and herons cry; 1815.

Where ospreys, cormorants, and herons cry, 'Mid stormy vapours ever driving by, 1836.]

[Variant 70:

1836.

Where hardly given the hopeless waste to cheer, Denied the bread of life the foodful ear, 1815.

Hovering o'er rugged wastes too bleak to rear That common growth of earth, the foodful ear; 1820.]

[Variant 71:

1820.

Dwindles the pear on autumn's latest spray, And apple sickens pale in summer's ray; 1815.]

[Variant 72:

1845.

Ev'n here Content has fixed her smiling reign 1815.]

[Variant 73:

1845.

And often grasps her sword, and often eyes: Her crest a bough of Winter's bleakest pine, Strange "weeds" and alpine plants her helm entwine, And wildly-pausing oft she hangs aghast, While thrills the "Spartan fife" between the blast. 1815.

Flowers of the loftiest Alps her helm entwine; And, wildly pausing, oft she hangs aghast, As thrills ... 1836.

And oft at Fancy's call she stands aghast, As if some old Swiss air had checked her haste, Or thrill of Spartan fife were caught between the blast. C.]

[Variant 74:

1845.

'Tis storm; and, hid in mist from hour to hour, 1815.]

[Variant 75: