Round which is heard a spring-head of clear waters
Babbling so wildly of its lovely daughters
The spreading blue bells: it may haply mourn
That such fair clusters should be rudely torn
From their fresh beds, and scatter'd thoughtlessly

45

By infant hands, left on the path to die.

On many harps, which he has lately strung;
And when again your dewiness he kisses,
Tell him, I have you in my world of blisses:
So haply when I rove in some far vale,
His mighty voice may come upon the gale.

55

Here are sweet peas, on tip-toe for a flight:

With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings.

Linger awhile upon some bending planks

That lean against a streamlet's rushy banks,
And watch intently Nature's gentle doings:

60

(61-80) Clarke says Keats told him this passage was the recollection of the friends' "having frequently loitered over the rail of a foot-bridge that spanned . . . a little brook in the last field upon entering Edmonton." Keats, he says, "thought the picture correct, and acknowledged to a partiality for it." Lord Houghton prints the following alternative reading of the passage beginning with line 61

"Linger awhile among some bending planks
That lean against a streamlet's daisied banks,

They will be found softer than ring-dove's cooings.
How silent comes the water round that bend;

Not the minutest whisper does it send

65

To the o'erhanging sallows: blades of grass
Slowly across the chequer'd shadows pass.

Why, you might read two sonnets, ere they reach

To where the hurrying freshnesses aye preach
A natural sermon o'er their pebbly beds;

70

Where swarms of minnows show their little heads,
Staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams,
To taste the luxury of sunny beams

Temper'd with coolness. How they ever wrestle

75

With their own sweet delight, and ever nestle
Their silver bellies on the pebbly sand.

If you but scantily hold out the hand,

That very instant not one will remain ;

But turn your eye, and they are there again.
The ripples seem right glad to reach those cresses,
And cool themselves among the em'rald tresses;
The while they cool themselves, they freshness give,
And moisture, that the bowery green may live :
So keeping up an interchange of favours,
Like good men in the truth of their behaviours.
Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low hung branches; little space they stop;
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek;
Then off at once, as in a wanton freak:

Or perhaps, to show their black, and golden wings,
Pausing upon their yellow flutterings.

Were I in such a place, I sure should pray

And watch intently Nature's gentle doings:
That will be found as soft as ringdoves' cooings.
The inward ear will hear her and be blest,
And tingle with a joy too light for rest."

That nought less sweet, might call my thoughts away, Than the soft rustle of a maiden's gown

Fanning away the dandelion's down;

Than the light music of her nimble toes
Patting against the sorrel as she goes.

How she would start, and blush, thus to be caught
Playing in all her innocence of thought.

O let me lead her gently o'er the brook,
Watch her half-smiling lips, and downward look ;
O let me for one moment touch her wrist;
Let me one moment to her breathing list;
And as she leaves me may she often turn
Her fair eyes looking through her locks auburne.
What next? A tuft of evening primroses,
O'er which the mind may hover till it dozes;

95

100

105

O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep,

But that 'tis ever startled by the leap

ΠΟ

Of buds into ripe flowers; or by the flitting

Of diverse moths, that aye their rest are quitting;
Or by the moon lifting her silver rim

Above a cloud, and with a gradual swim
Coming into the blue with all her light.
O Maker of sweet poets, dear delight
Of this fair world, and all its gentle livers;

115

(96) Mr. F. Locker possesses a single leaf of the autograph manuscript of this poem, beginning with line 96 and ending with line 182. It seems to have been preserved by Haydon, who has written upon it, "Given me by my Dear Friend Keats-B. R. Haydon". The verbal variations are given below.

(99) The manuscript reads will for would.

(106) In the manuscript, peeping for looking.

(115) Lord Houghton notes, presumably from some other manuscript, the following variation :

Floating through space with ever-living eye,

The crowned queen of ocean and the sky.

Spangler of clouds, halo of crystal rivers,

Mingler with leaves, and dew and tumbling streams,
Closer of lovely eyes to lovely dreams,
Lover of loneliness, and wandering,

Of upcast eye, and tender pondering!
Thee must I praise above all other glories
That smile us on to tell delightful stories.
For what has made the sage or poet write
But the fair paradise of Nature's light?
In the calm grandeur of a sober line,
We see the waving of the mountain pine;
And when a tale is beautifully staid,
We feel the safety of a hawthorn glade:
When it is moving on luxurious wings,
The soul is lost in pleasant smotherings :

120

125

130

Fair dewy roses brush against our faces,

And flowering laurels spring from diamond vases;
O'er head we see the jasmine and sweet briar,
And bloomy grapes laughing from green attire;
While at our feet, the voice of crystal bubbles
Charms us at once away from all our troubles :
So that we feel uplifted from the world,

135

Walking upon the white clouds wreath'd and curl'd. 140
So felt he, who first told, how Psyche went
On the smooth wind to realms of wonderment;

What Psyche felt, and Love, when their full lips

(128) In the manuscript we read a mountain Pine. (141) Compare Endymion, final couplet :

Peona went

Home through the gloomy wood in wonderment.

(144) This was originally written in the manuscript, What fondleing and amourous nips; but the words are marked to be transposed.

First touch'd; what amorous, and fondling nips
They gave each other's cheeks; with all their sighs, 145
And how they kist each other's tremulous eyes:
The silver lamp,-the ravishment,-the wonder-
The darkness,-loneliness,-the fearful thunder;
Their woes gone by, and both to heaven upflown,
To bow for gratitude before Jove's throne.
So did he feel, who pull'd the boughs aside,
That we might look into a forest wide,
To catch a glimpse of Fauns, and Dryades
Coming with softest rustle through the trees;
And garlands woven of flowers wild, and sweet,
Upheld on ivory wrists, or sporting feet:

150

155

Telling us how fair, trembling Syrinx fled

Arcadian Pan, with such a fearful dread.

Poor nymph,-poor Pan,-how he did weep to find,

Nought but a lovely sighing of the wind

160

Along the reedy stream; a half heard strain,

Full of sweet desolation-balmy pain.

What first inspir'd a bard of old to sing
Narcissus pining o'er the untainted spring?
In some delicious ramble, he had found

A little space, with boughs all woven round;
And in the midst of all, a clearer pool
Than e'er reflected in its pleasant cool,

165

(151) Cancelled manuscript reading, So do they feel who pull; and in the next line, may for might.

(153) In the manuscript, and in the original edition, Fawns for Fauns.

(155) Cancelled manuscript reading, And curious garlands oj flowers &c.

(156) The manuscript has sportive for sporting.

(159) In the manuscript, how did he weep.