And this huge Castle, standing here sublime, 1 love to see the look with which it braves, 50 Cased in the unfeeling armour of old time, The lightning, the fierce wind, and trampling waves. Farewell, farewell the heart that lives alone, Housed in a dream, at distance from the Kind! Such happiness, wherever it be known, 55 Is to be pitied; for 'tis surely blind. But welcome fortitude, and patient cheer, And frequent sights of what is to be borne! Such sights, or worse, as are before me here.-- Not without hope we suffer and we mourn. 60 * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1807. and add a gleam, The lustre, known to neither sea nor land, But borrowed from the youthful Poet's dream; 1820. ... the gleam, 1827. The edition of 1832 returns to the text of 1807. [a]] [Variant 2: 1845. ... a treasure-house, a mine 1807. The whole of this stanza was omitted in the editions of 1820-1843.] [Variant 3: 1815. ... delusion ... 1807.] [Variant 4: 1837. A faith, a trust, that could not be betray'd. 1807.] * * * * * FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: The original title, in MS, was 'Verses suggested', etc,--Ed.] * * * * * SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT [Sub-Footnote a: Many years ago Principal Shairp wrote to me, "Have you noted how the two lines, 'The light that never was,' etc., stood in the edition of 1827? I know no other such instance of a change from commonplace to perfection of ideality." The Principal had not remembered at the time that the "perfection of ideality" was in the original edition of 1807. The curious thing is that the prosaic version of 1820 and 1827 ever took its place. Wordsworth's return to his original reading was one of the wisest changes he introduced into the text of 1832.--Ed.] There is a Peele Castle, on a small rocky island, close to the town of Peele, in the Isle of Man; yet separated from it, much as St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall is separated from the mainland. This castle was believed by many to be the one which Sir George painted, and which gave rise to the foregoing lines. I visited it in 1879, being then ignorant that any other Peele Castle existed; and although, the day being calm, and the season summer, I thought Sir George had idealized his subject much--(as I had just left Coleorton, where the picture still exists)--I accepted the customary opinion. But I am now convinced, both from the testimony of the Arnold family, [B] and as the result of a visit to Piel Castle, near Barrow in Furness, that Wordsworth refers to it. The late Bishop of Lincoln, in his uncle's 'Memoirs' (vol. i. p. 299), quotes the line "I was thy neighbour once, thou rugged pile," and adds,