[Footnote 9: The above are all the variations from the present text in the Wrightson MS. which are noted by the authorities on whom we have depended; but we suspect that the following readings, mentioned by Mitford as in the MS., belong to _that_ MS., as they are _not_ found in the other: in the 7th stanza, "sickles" for "sickle;" in 18th, "shrines" for "shrine." Two others (in stanzas 9th and 27th) are referred to in our account of the Pembroke MS. below.] The Pembroke MS. has the following variations from the present version: In the 1st stanza, "wind" for "winds." 2d stanza, "_Or_ drowsy," etc. 5th stanza, "_and_ the ecchoing horn." 6th stanza, "_Nor_ climb his knees." 9th stanza, "_Awaits_ alike." Probably this is also the reading of the Wrightson MS. Mitford gives it as noted by Mason, and it is retained by Gray in the ed. of 1768. The 10th stanza begins, "_Forgive_, ye Proud, _th' involuntary_ fault If Memory _to these_," etc., the present readings ("Nor you," "impute to these," and "Mem'ry o'er their tomb") being inserted in the margin. The 12th stanza has "_reins_ of empire," with "rod" in the margin. In the 15th stanza, the word "lands" has been crossed out, and "fields" written above it. The 17th has "_Or_ shut the gates," etc. In the 21st we have "fame and _epitaph_ supply." The 23d has "_And_ in our ashes _glow_," the readings "Ev'n" and "live" being inserted in the margin. The 27th stanza has "_would he_ rove." We suspect that this is also the reading of the Wrightson MS., as Mitford says it is noted by Mason. In the 28th stanza, the first line reads "_from_ the custom'd hill." In the 29th a word which we cannot make out has been erased, and "aged" substituted. Before the Epitaph, two asterisks refer to the bottom of the page, where the following stanza is given, with the marginal note, "Omitted in 1753:" "There scatter'd oft, the earliest of the Year, By Hands unseen, are Show'rs of Violets found; The Red-breast loves to build, and warble there, And little Footsteps lightly print the Ground." The last two lines of the 31st stanza (see note below) are pointed as follows: "He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a Tear, He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a Friend." Some of the peculiarities of spelling in this MS. are the following: "Curfeu;" "Plowman;" "Tinkleings;" "mopeing;" "ecchoing;" "Huswife;" "Ile" (aisle); "wast" (waste); "village-Hambden;" "Rhimes;" "spell't;" "chearful;" "born" (borne); etc. Mitford, in his Life of Gray prefixed to the "Eton" edition of his Poems (edited by Rev. John Moultrie, 1847), says: "I possess many curious variations from the printed text, taken from a copy of it in his own handwriting." He adds specimens of these variations, a few of which differ from both the Wrightson and Pembroke MSS. We give these in our notes below. See on 12, 24, and 93.