100

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1815.

... I have been, 1798.]

[Variant 2:

1836.

Then with his coat he made essay 1798.]

[Variant 3:

1832.

... a ewe ... 1798.]

[Variant 4:

1836.

As sweet ... 1798.]

[Variant 5:

1836.

Upon the mountain did they feed; 1798.]

[Variant 6:

1800.

Ten ... 1798.]

[Variant 7:

1836.

... upon the mountain ... 1798.]

[Variant 8:

1827.

They dwindled one by one away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798.]

[Variant 9:

1836.

Oft-times I thought to run away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798.

Bent oftentimes to flee from home,
And hide my head where wild beasts roam. 1827.]

* * * * *

THE IDIOT BOY

Composed 1798.--Published 1798.

[Alfoxden, 1798. The last stanza, 'The cocks did crow to-whoo,
to-whoo, and the sun did shine so cold,' was the foundation of the
whole. The words were reported to me by my dear friend Thomas Poole;
but I have since heard the same repeated of other idiots. Let me add,
that this long poem was composed in the groves of Alfoxden, almost
extempore; not a word, I believe, being corrected, though one stanza
was omitted. I mention this in gratitude to those happy moments, for,
in truth, I never wrote anything with so much glee.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--Ed.

* * * * *

THE POEM

'Tis eight o'clock,--a clear March night,
The moon is up,--the sky is blue,
The owlet, in the moonlight air,
Shouts from [1] nobody knows where;
He lengthens out his lonely shout, 5
Halloo! halloo! a long halloo!

--Why bustle thus about your door,
What means this bustle, Betty Foy?
Why are you in this mighty fret?
And why on horseback have you set 10
Him whom you love, your Idiot Boy?
[2]

Scarcely a soul is out of bed: [3]
Good Betty, put him down again;
His lips with joy they burr at you;
But, Betty! what has he to do 15
With stirrup, saddle, or with rein?
[4]

But Betty's bent on her intent;
For her good neighbour, Susan Gale,
Old Susan, she who dwells alone,
Is sick, and makes a piteous moan,