V "But now proud thoughts are in your breast-- What grief is mine you see, Ah! would you think, even yet how blest Together we might be! Though of both leaf and flower bereft, 45 Some ornaments to me are left-- Rich store of scarlet hips is mine, With which I, in my humble way, Would deck you many a winter day, [5] A happy Eglantine!" 50 VI What more he said I cannot tell, The Torrent down the rocky dell Came thundering loud and fast; [6] I listened, nor aught else could hear; The Briar quaked--and much I fear 55 Those accents were his last. * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1836. ... a thundering Voice, 1800.] [Variant 2: 1820. A falling Water swoln with snows Thus spake to a poor Briar-rose, 1800.] [Variant 3: 1820. ... in this, our natal spot, 1800.] [Variant 4: 1815. ... wreath ... 1800.] [Variant 5: 1836. ... Winter's day, 1800.] [Variant 6: 1840. The stream came thundering down the dell And gallop'd loud and fast; 1800. The Torrent thundered down the dell With unabating haste; 1815. With aggravated haste; 1827. The Stream came thundering down the dell 1836.] * * * * * FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: Compare 'The Ancient Mariner' (part I. stanza II.): And now the Storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong. Ed.] [Footnote B: Compare 'A Farewell', p. 325, l. 17.--Ed.] The spot referred to in this poem can be identified with perfect accuracy. The Eglantine grew on the little brook that runs past two cottages (close to the path under Nab Scar), which have been built since the poet's time, and are marked Brockstone on the Ordnance Map. "The plant itself of course has long disappeared: but in following up the rill through the copse, above the cottages, I found an unusually large Eglantine, growing by the side of the stream." (Dr Cradock to the editor, in 1877.) It still grows luxuriantly there. The following extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal illustrates both this and the next poem: