Frosted the springing verdure of his heart ;
For as he lifted up his eyes to swear

How his own goddess was past all things fair,
He saw far in the concave green of the sea
An old man sitting calm and peacefully.
Upon a weeded rock this old man sat,
And his white hair was awful, and a mat

Of weeds were cold beneath his cold thin feet;
And, ample as the largest winding-sheet,
A cloak of blue wrapp'd up his aged bones,
O'erwrought with symbols by the deepest groans
Of ambitious magic: every ocean-form
Was woven in with black distinctness; storm,
And calm, and whispering, and hideous roar,

(188) In the draft thus

Blighted the

Stemm'd quick the

}flowing river of his heart.

190

195

200

(201) This line stands rhymeless in the finished manuscript, as in the printed text of the first edition; but in the original draft occurs the fellow line now restored to the text. Its omission was clearly an error of transcription, which poet, publisher, and printer alike failed to discover. The case is similar to that of the long-lost rhyme in Shelley's Julian and Maddalo, only restored in 1877, when the poet's beautiful little manuscript came into my hands. The following is the passage—

Fierce yells and howlings and lamentings keen,
And laughter where complaint had merrier been,
Moans, shrieks, and curses, and blaspheming prayers
Accosted us. We climbed the oozy stairs...

The third of these lines was the one lost and recovered. No doubt in the present case as in that the omission arose in copying, the sense being complete in each instance without the rhyme. The only difference is that Keats was his own copyist for the press and saw his poem in print, while Shelley's only appeared when the poet was "beyond the stars." Otherwise, the one case perfectly illustrates the other.

Quicksand, and whirlpool, and deserted shore,
Were emblem'd in the woof; with every shape
That skims, or dives, or sleeps, 'twixt cape and cape.
The gulphing whale was like a dot in the spell,
Yet look upon it, and 'twould size and swell

To its huge self; and the minutest fish

Would pass the very hardest gazer's wish,
And show his little eye's anatomy.

Then there was pictur'd the regality

Of Neptune; and the sea nymphs round his state,

Beside this old man lay a pearly wand,

205

210

In beauteous vassalage, look up and wait.

And in his lap a book, the which he conn'd

So stedfastly, that the new denizen

215

Had time to keep him in amazed ken,

To mark these shadowings, and stand in awe.

The old man rais'd his hoary head and saw

The wilder'd stranger-seeming not to see,
His features were so lifeless. Suddenly

He woke as from a trance; his snow-white brows
Went arching up, and like two magic ploughs
Furrow'd deep wrinkles in his forehead large,
Which kept as fixedly as rocky marge,
Till round his wither'd lips had gone a smile.
Then up he rose, like one whose tedious toil
Had watch'd for years in forlorn hermitage,
Who had not from mid-life to utmost age
Eas'd in one accent his o'er-burden'd soul,

(206) In the draft

Yet look upon it long, 'twould grow and swell... (226) The draft reads studious for tedious.

220

225

Even to the trees. He rose: he grasp'd his stole,
With convuls'd clenches waving it abroad,

And in a voice of solemn joy, that aw'd

230

Echo into oblivion, he said :—

"Thou art the man! Now shall I lay my head

In peace upon my watery pillow: now

235

Sleep will come smoothly to my weary brow.
O Jove! I shall be young again, be young!

O shell-borne Neptune, I am pierc'd and stung

With new-born life! What shall I do? Where go,
When I have cast this serpent-skin of woe?—
I'll swim to the syrens, and one moment listen
Their melodies, and see their long hair glisten;
Anon upon that giant's arm I'll be,
That writhes about the roots of Sicily:
To northern seas I'll in a twinkling sail,

240

245

And mount upon the snortings of a whale
To some black cloud; thence down I'll madly sweep

On forked lightning, to the deepest deep,

Where through some sucking pool I will be hurl'd

With rapture to the other side of the world!

250

O, I am full of gladness! Sisters three,

I bow full hearted to your old decree!

Yes, every god be thank'd, and power benign,
For I no more shall wither, droop, and pine.
Thou art the man!" Endymion started back
Dismay'd; and, like a wretch from whom the rack

255

(230) In the finished manuscript, Not even,-Not being however crossed through with a pencil.

(240) Cancelled manuscript reading, Now for When.

(244) It is not clear whether the reference is to Briareus or to Enceladus, since both were supposed to have been imprisoned under Mount Etna.

Tortures hot breath, and speech of agony,
Mutter'd: "What lonely death am I to die
In this cold region? Will he let me freeze,
And float my brittle limbs o'er polar seas?
Or will he touch me with his searing hand,
And leave a black memorial on the sand?
Or tear me piece-meal with a bony saw,
And keep me as a chosen food to draw

260

His magian fish through hated fire and flame?
O misery of hell! resistless, tame,

265

Am I to be burnt up? No, I will shout,

Until the gods through heaven's blue look out!-
O Tartarus! but some few days agone

Her soft arms were entwining me, and on

270

Her voice I hung like fruit among green leaves :

Her lips were all my own, and-ah, ripe sheaves
Of happiness! ye on the stubble droop,

But never may be garner'd. I must stoop

My head, and kiss death's foot. Love! love, farewell! 275
Is there no hope from thee? This horrid spell
Would melt at thy sweet breath.-By Dian's hind
Feeding from her white fingers, on the wind

I see thy streaming hair! and now, by Pan,
I care not for this old mysterious man!"

He spake, and walking to that aged form,
Look'd high defiance. Lo! his heart 'gan warm
With pity, for the grey-hair'd creature wept.
Had he then wrong'd a heart where sorrow kept?
Had he, though blindly contumelious, brought

(266) In the draft, Oh hell for of hell.

280

285

(269) Cancelled reading of the manuscript, hours for days, and in the next line but one, lips for voice.

Rheum to kind eyes, a sting to humane thought,
Convulsion to a mouth of many years?

He had in truth; and he was ripe for tears.
The penitent shower fell, as down he knelt
Before that care-worn sage, who trembling felt
About his large dark locks, and faultering spake :

"Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake!
I know thine inmost bosom, and I feel
A very brother's yearning for thee steal
Into mine own: for why? thou openest
The prison gates that have so long opprest

My weary watching. Though thou know'st it not,
Thou art commission'd to this fated spot

290

295

For great enfranchisement. O weep no more;
I am a friend to love, to loves of yore:

300

Aye, hadst thou never lov'd an unknown power,

I had been grieving at this joyous hour.

But even now most miserable old,

I saw thee, and my blood no longer cold
Gave mighty pulses: in this tottering case
Grew a new heart, which at this moment plays
As dancingly as thine. Be not afraid,
For thou shalt hear this secret all display'd,

305

Now as we speed towards our joyous task."

So saying, this young soul in age's mask

310

(286) In the finished manuscript, humane: in the first edition human, which must surely be an error undiscovered by Keats. (291) The draft reads, haltingly, The youths in place of About his.

(294) Cancelled reading of the manuscript, father's for brother's. (307) The draft reads As youthfully as thine.

(309) In the draft, The while we speed...