fully, oh! mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie.

V Some close behind, some side by side, 45
Like clouds in stormy weather;
They run, and cry, "Nay, let us die,
And let us die together."
A lake was near; the shore was steep;
There never foot had been; 50
They ran, and with a desperate leap
Together plunged into the deep, [3]
Nor ever more were seen.
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie. 55

VI The stream that flows out of the lake,
As through the glen it rambles,
Repeats a moan o'er moss and stone,
For those seven lovely Campbells.
Seven little Islands, green and bare, 60
Have risen from out the deep:
The fishers say, those sisters fair,
By faeries all are buried there,
And there together sleep.
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, 65
The solitude of Binnorie.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1836.

I could ... 1807.]

[Variant 2:

1807.

The Irish Rovers ... MS.]

[Variant 3:

1807.

The sisters ran like mountain sheep MS.

And in together did they leap MS.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: It is a well-known Scottish Ballad. In Jamieson's 'Popular
Ballads', vol. i. p. 50 (1806), its title is "The Twa Sisters." In
Walter Scott's 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border', vol. iii. p. 287, it
is called "The Cruel Sisters." In 'The Ballads of Scotland', collected
by W. Edmonstone Aytoun (1858), vol. i. p. 194, it is printed
"Binnorie." In 1807 Wordsworth printed the sub-title 'The Solitude of
Binnorie'.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: In Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal there is an entry,
under date August 16, 1800,

"William read us 'The Seven Sisters'."

It is uncertain whether this refers to his own poem or not, but I
incline to think it does.--Ed.]

[Footnote C: In a MS. copy this note runs thus:

"This poem, in the groundwork of the story, is from the German of
Frederica Brun."

Ed.]

* * * * *

RURAL ARCHITECTURE

Composed 1800.--Published 1800