Glow-worms began to trim their starry lamps,
Thus breath'd he to himself: "Whoso encamps
To take a fancied city of delight,

O what a wretch is he! and when 'tis his,
After long toil and travelling, to miss

145

The kernel of his hopes, how more than vile:

Yet, for him there's refreshment even in toil;
Another city doth he set about,

Free from the smallest pebble-bead of doubt
That he will seize on trickling honey-combs:
Alas, he finds them dry; and then he foams,
And onward to another city speeds.
But this is human life: the war, the deeds,
The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination's struggles, far and nigh,

All human; bearing in themselves this good,
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make us feel existence, and to show

How quiet death is. Where soil is men grow,
Whether to weeds or flowers; but for me,
There is no depth to strike in: I can see

Nought earthly worth my compassing; so stand
Upon a misty, jutting head of land-

150

155

160

Alone? No, no; and by the Orphean lute,
When mad Eurydice is listening to't;

I'd rather stand upon this misty peak,

165

(143) The manner in which the rhyme to this line was lost appears from the draft, where the passage originally stood thus:

Then 'tis in his sight was struck out in favour of and when 'tis his; but nothing was done, in transcribing for the press, to remedy the defect thus produced.

(145) The original reading in the draft was After long siege and travailing; but the finished manuscript reads toil and travelling as in the text.

(147) The draft reads e'en for even.

(149) In the first edition, pebble-head; but in the manuscript, pebble-bead, which reading is restored in the corrected copy in my possession. The draft reads Without for Free from, and in the next line there he'll for he will.

(153) In the draft, acts for war.

(155) Imaginings and searchings, in the draft.

(158) In the first edition, shew.

(159) Here is soil to grow was originally written in the draft. In the draft, Alone? No, heavens !

(164)

(166) Originally written I'd rather bide, in the draft.

With not a thing to sigh for, or to seek,
But the soft shadow of my thrice-seen love,
Than be I care not what. O meekest dove

Of heaven! O Cynthia, ten-times bright and fair!
From thy blue throne, now filling all the air,

170

Glance but one little beam of temper'd light
Into my bosom, that the dreadful might
And tyranny of love be somewhat scar'd!

Yet do not so, sweet queen; one torment spar'd,
Would give a pang to jealous misery,

175

Worse than the torment's self: but rather tie
Large wings upon my shoulders, and point out
My love's far dwelling. Though the playful rout

Of cupids shun thee, too divine art thou,
Too keen in beauty, for thy silver prow

Not to have dipp'd in love's most gentle stream.
O be propitious, nor severely deem

My madness impious; for, by all the stars
That tend thy bidding, I do think the bars
That kept my spirit in are burst - that I
Am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky!
How beautiful thou art! The world how deep!
How tremulous-dazzlingly the wheels sweep

180

185

Around their axle! Then these gleaming reins,

190

How lithe! When this thy chariot attains

Its airy goal, haply some bower veils

Those twilight eyes? Those eyes! my spirit fails -
Dear goddess, help! or the wide-gaping air

Will gulph me — help!"— At this with madden'd stare,

195

(167) The original version of this line in the draft is

With nought to long for, sigh for, or to seek.

(168) For the three occasions on which Endymion had seen Diana, refer to the account given to Peona; beginning with line 540, Book I,—to the passage about the well, line 896, Book I, and to the passage in which he hurried into the grotto, line 971, Book I.

(169) The original reading of the draft was I know not in place of I care not. (181) The word sharp occurs in the draft in place of keen.

(189) In the draft this line has three tentative openings, - How silently and trem ulous, How bright and tremulous, How tremulous and dazzling.

(191) The draft yields the rejected reading, When this thy silent chariot gains; and in the next two lines

In supplying the reading of the text Keats first wrote Those liquid eyes.

(195) The draft reads Oh for help!— and in the next line but one wondering at for mountain'd o'er.

And lifted hands, and trembling lips he stood;
Like old Deucalion mountain'd o'er the flood,
Or blind Orion hungry for the morn.

And, but from the deep cavern there was borne

A voice, he had been froze to senseless stone;

Nor sigh of his, nor plaint, nor passion'd moan

Young mountaineer! descend where alleys bend

Oft hast thou seen bolts of the thunder hurl'd

Had more been heard. Thus swell'd it forth: "Descend,

Into the sparry hollows of the world!

As from thy threshold; day by day hast been
A little lower than the chilly sheen

Of icy pinnacles, and dipp'dst thine arms
Into the deadening ether that still charms
Their marble being: new, as deep profound

As those are high, descend! He ne'er is crown'd
With immortality, who fears to follow

Where airy voices lead: so through the hollow,
The silent mysteries of earth, descend!"

200

205

210

He heard but the last words, nor could contend

One moment in reflection: for he fled

Into the fearful deep, to hide his head

215

From the clear moon, the trees, and coming madness.

T'was far too strange, and wonderful for sadness;

(198) Here the draft yields the reading —

Or blind Orion waiting for the dawn

another evidence of Keats's determination to get rid of the false rhymes where observed. The next line was originally written

And, but from the hollow cavern there was born

and I am not sure that born is not the word intended, though borne, the reading of the first edition, must have the preference.

(201) The original reading of the draft is

Nor sigh of his, nor wild complaint nor moan.

(204) This line originally began in the draft with the word Spiral.

(208) The draft has the readnig and couldst dip thy palms...

(210) Cancelled reading of the manuscript, far for deep.

(211) In the draft

As those were high, descend! He ne'er was crown'd... (214) The draft reads fearful for silent.

(215) In the manuscript, But the last words he heard; but the reading of the text is clearly a revision.

(218) The draft reads night for moon, and in the next line but one Upwinding for Sharpening.

Of sapphire columns, or fantastic bridge
Athwart a flood of crystal. On a ridge
Now fareth he, that o'er the vast beneath
Towers like an ocean-cliff, and whence he seeth

240

A hundred waterfalls, whose voices come
But as the murmuring surge. Chilly and numb
His bosom grew, when first he, far away,
Descry'd an orbed diamond, set to fray

245

Old darkness from his throne: 'twas like the sun

Uprisen o'er chaos: and with such a stun

Came the amazement, that, absorb'd in it,

He saw not fiercer wonders - past the wit

Of any spirit to tell, but one of those

Who, when this planet's sphering time doth close,

(227-30) In the draft this passage was written as follows:

Whose track the venturous Latmian follows bold
Thro' all its lines abrupt and angular:

And sometimes like a shooting meteor star

Past a vast antre's gloom.

250

The reading of the text is in the finished manuscript, where, however, line 230 was first written

Past a large Antre; then the metal woof,...

(231) The draft reads o'er for with, and in the next line a for the.

(236) In the draft this line begins with Dizzy instead of Vexing.

(240) The draft supplies two rejected readings, Sometimes he fares and Some times he went.

(243) The draft reads a in place of the.

(248) In the draft we read this for the.

Will be its high remembrances: who they?
The mighty ones who have made eternal day
For Greece and England. While astonishment
With deep-drawn sighs was quieting, he went
Into a marble gallery, passing through
A mimic temple, so complete and true
In sacred custom, that he well nigh fear'd
To search it inwards; whence far off appear'd,
Through a long pillar'd vista, a fair shrine,
And, just beyond, on light tiptoe divine,

Stepping awfully,

255

260

A quiver'd Dian.

The youth approach'd; oft turning his veil'd eye

Down sidelong aisles, and into niches old.

And when, more near against the marble cold

265

He had touch'd his forehead, he began to thread

All courts and passages, where silence dead

Rous'd by his whispering footsteps murmured faint:

And long he travers'd to and fro, to acquaint
Himself with every mystery, and awe;

270

Till, weary, he sat down before the maw
Of a wide outlet, fathomless and dim,

To wild uncertainty and shadows grim.

There, when new wonders ceas'd to float before,

And thoughts of self came on, how crude and sore
The journey homeward to habitual self!
A mad-pursuing of the fog-born elf,

(253-4) Originally written in the draft

The mighty ones who've shone athwart the day
Of Greece and England.

(256-7) Cancelled reading from the draft

Into a marble gallery that near the roof
Of a fair mimic Temple...

(261-3) Cancelled reading from the draft

Thro' a long vist' of columns a fair shrine
And just beyond lightly diminished

A Dian quiver'd tiptoe, crescented

(264) The draft reads sideway aisles.

(266) In the manuscript tread stands here altered to thread.

(267) The draft reads The for All.

(269) The words to acquaint in the manuscript are contracted to t'acquaint. (270-2) In the draft,

Himself with every mystery, until

His weary legs he rested on the sill

Of some remotest chamber, outlet dim...

(277) The draft reads That for A.

275