As weeping Beauty's cheek at Sorrow's tale![hj][193] NOTE TO _THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS_. CANTO II. STANZA XX. After the completion of the fair copy of the MS. of the _Bride of Abydos_, seventy lines were added to stanza xx. of Canto II. In both MSS. the rough and fair copies, the stanza ends with the line, "The Dove of peace and promise to mine ark!" Seven MS. sheets are extant, which make up the greater portion of these additional lines. The _First Addition_ amounts to eight lines, and takes the narrative from line 880 to line 893, "Wait--wave--defend--destroy--at thy command!" Lines 884-889 do not appear in the first MS. Fragment, but are given in three variants on separate sheets. Two of these are dated December 2 and December 3, 1813. The _Second Fragment_ begins with line 890, "For thee in those bright isles is built a bower," and, numbering twenty-two lines, ends with a variant of line 907, "Blend every thought, do all--but disunite!" Two lines of this addition, "With thee all toils are sweet," find a place in the text as lines 934, 935. The _Third Fragment_ amounts to thirty-six lines, and may be taken as the first draft of the whole additions--lines 880-949. Lines 908-925 and 936-945 of the text are still later additions, but a fourth MS. fragment supplies lines 920-925 and lines 936-945. (A fair copy of this fragment gives text for Revise of November 13.) Between November 13 and November 25 no less than ten revises of the _Bride_ were submitted to Lord Byron. In the earliest of these, dated November 13, the thirty-six lines of the Third Fragment have been expanded into forty lines--four lines of the MS. being omitted, and twelve lines, 908-919, "Once free,"--"social home," being inserted. The text passed through five revises and remained unaltered till November 21, when eighteen lines were added to the forty, viz.: (4) "Mark! where his carnage,"--"sabre's length;" (6) "There ev'n thy soul,"--"Zuleika's name;" and (8) "Aye--let the loud winds,"--"bars escape." Of these the two latter additions belong to the _Fourth Fragment_. The text in this state passed through three more revises, but before the first edition was issued two more lines were added--lines 938, 939, "The deepest murmur of this lip shall be, No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee!" Even then the six lines, "Blest--as the Muezzin's,"--"endears," are wanting in the text; but the four lines, "Soft--as the melody,"--"endears," are inserted in MS. in the margin. The text as it stands first appears in the Seventh Edition. * * * * * [_First_ Draft of 880, _sq_., of Canto II. Stanz xx. of the _Bride of Abydos_.]