Linenotes

Title] Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladie M. P.: Fragment, S. T. Coleridge English Minstrelsy, 1810.

Opening stanzas

O leave the Lilly on its stem;
O leave the Rose upon the spray;
O leave the Elder-bloom, fair Maids!
And listen to my lay.

A Cypress and a Myrtle bough,
This morn around my harp you twin'd,
Because it fashion'd mournfully
Its murmurs in the wind.

And now a Tale of Love and Woe,
A woeful Tale of Love I sing:
Hark, gentle Maidens, hark! it sighs
And trembles on the string.

But most, my own dear Genevieve!
It sighs and trembles most for thee!
O come and hear what cruel wrongs
Befel the dark Ladie.

The fifth stanza of the Introduction finds its place as the fifth stanza of the text, and the sixth stanza as the first.

All are] Are all S. L. (For Are all r. All are. Errata, p. [xi]).

[5-6]

O ever in my waking dreams
I dwell upon

M. P., MS. erased.

lay] sate M. P.

lay] harp M. P., MS., L. B.

soft] sad M. P., MS. erased.

sang] sung E. M.

suited] fitted M. P., MS., L. B.

That ruin] The Ruin M. P., MS., L. B.: The ruins E. M.

that] who M. P.

that] how M. P.

The low, the deep MS., L. B.

In which I told E. M.

That] Which MS., L. B. that] this M. P., MS., L. B.

And how he roam'd M. P. that] how MS. erased.

Between 44-5

And how he cross'd the Woodman's paths [path E. M.]
Tho' briars and swampy mosses beat,
How boughs rebounding scourg'd his limbs,
And low stubs gor'd his feet.

M. P.

That] How M. P., MS. erased.

that] how M. P., MS. erased.

that] how M. P., MS. erased.

murderous] lawless M. P.

ever] meekly M. P. For still she MS. erased.

that] how M. P., MS. erased.

virgin-] maiden-M. P., MS., L. B.

murmur] murmurs M. P.

Between 80-1

I saw her bosom

heave
rise and swell,

Heave and swell with inward sighs—
I could not choose but love to see
Her gentle bosom rise.

M. P., MS. erased.

Her wet cheek glowed M. P., MS. erased.

fled] flew M. P.

virgin] maiden MS. erased.

so] thus M. P.

After

And now once more a tale of woe,
A woeful tale of love I sing;
For thee, my Genevieve! it sighs,
And trembles on the string.

When last I sang [sung E. M.] the cruel scorn
That craz'd this bold and lonely [lovely E. M.] knight,
And how he roam'd the mountain woods,
Nor rested day or night;

I promis'd thee a sister tale
Of Man's perfidious Cruelty;
Come, then, and hear what cruel wrong
Befel the Dark Ladie.

End of the Introduction M. P.