Linenotes

In the silent summer heat MS. alternative reading.

Why these three graves all in a row

MS. alternative reading.

Stretch out their dark and gloomy length

MS. erased.

turned] strove MS. erased.

happy] wedding MS. variant.

A deadly] The ghastly MS. erased.

Part III] III MS. erased.

foll. In The Friend the lines were printed continuously. The division into stanzas (as in the MS.) dates from the republication of the poem in Sibylline Leaves, 1817.

as ripe] as they MS.

High on the hedge-elms in the lane MS. erased.

spikes] strikes Sibylline Leaves, 1817. [Note. It is possible that 'strikes'—a Somersetshire word—(compare 'strikes of flax') was deliberately substituted for 'spikes'. It does not appear in the long list of Errata prefixed to Sibylline Leaves. Wagons passing through narrow lanes leave on the hedge-rows not single 'spikes', but little swathes or fillets of corn.]

over boughed] over-bough'd MS.

they] he MS. The Friend, 1809.

So five months passed: this mother foul MS. erased.

dark] dank MS. The Friend, 1809.

swinging] singing MS. The Friend, 1809: swaying S. L.

You could not hear the Vicar. MS. The Friend, 1809.

you] thou The Friend, 1809.

Part IV] The Three Graves, a Sexton's Tale, Part the IVth MS.

O Sir!] Oh! 'tis S. L.

you're] how MS.

we] one MS. The Friend, 1809.

Lone] Some MS. The Friend, 1809.

a] the MS. The Friend, 1809.

friends] dears MS. erased.

in] in MS. The Friend, 1809.

inserted by S. T. C. MS.

[530-1]

He sat upright; and with quick voice
While his eyes seem'd to start

MS. erased.