"The only sad one; for thou didst not hear

"The soft, lute-finger'd Muses chaunting clear, "Nor even Apollo when he sang alone,

"Deaf to his throbbing throat's long, long melodious

moan.

"I dreamt I saw thee, rob'd in purple flakes,

75

"Break amorous through the clouds, as morning breaks,

"Strike for the Cretan isle; and here thou art!

"Too gentle Hermes, hast thou found the maid?" Whereat the star of Lethe not delay'd

80

His rosy eloquence, and thus inquired:
"Thou smooth-lipp'd serpent, surely high inspired!
"Thou beauteous wreath, with melancholy eyes,

"Possess whatever bliss thou canst devise,

85

"Telling me only where my nymph is fled,—

"Where she doth breathe!" "Bright planet, thou hast

said,"

Return'd the snake, "but seal with oaths, fair God!"

"I swear," said Hermes, "by my serpent rod,

"And by thine eyes, and by thy starry crown!"

90

Light flew his earnest words, among the blossoms blown.

Then thus again the brilliance feminine: \

"Too frail of heart! for this lost nymph of thine, "Free as the air, invisibly, she strays

"About these thornless wilds; her pleasant days
"She tastes unseen; unseen her nimble feet
"Leave traces in the grass and flowers sweet;

(78) In the manuscript—

And, swiftly as a mission'd phobean dart,

95

a reading which shifts the accent from the second to the first syllable of the word Phabean.

(93) Cancelled manuscript reading, Superb of heart!

"From weary tendrils, and bow'd branches green,
"She plucks the fruit unseen, she bathes unseen :
"And by my power is her beauty veil'd
"To keep it unaffronted, unassail'd

"By the love-glances of unlovely eyes,

"Of Satyrs, Fauns, and blear'd Silenus' sighs.
"Pale grew her immortality, for woe
"Of all these lovers, and she grieved so

"I took compassion on her, bade her steep

"Her hair in weird syrops, that would keep
"Her loveliness invisible, yet free
"To wander as she loves, in liberty.

"Thou shalt behold her, Hermes, thou alone,
"If thou wilt, as thou swearest, grant my boon!"
Then, once again, the charmed God began
An oath, and through the serpent's ears it ran
Warm, tremulous, devout, psalterian.
Ravish'd, she lifted her Circean head,

Blush'd a live damask, and swift-lisping said,

"I was a woman, let me have once more

་་

"A woman's shape, and charming as before.

"I love a youth of Corinth-O the bliss!

"Give me my woman's form, and place me where he is. 120

Stoop, Hermes, let me breathe upon thy brow,

(104) The manuscript has wor in place of grew.

(106) In the manuscript, bad, not bade as in the printed text. (114-16) There is an Alexandrine here in the manuscript—Warm, tremulous, devout, bright-ton'd, psalterian.

And the next line is

Ravish'd she lifted up her circean head,

a reading which, like that of line 78, shifts backwards the accent on the last word but one. Line 116 begins with Blush'd to live

damask.

"And thou shalt see thy sweet nymph even now." The God on half-shut feathers sank serene,

She breath'd upon his eyes, and swift was seen

Of both the guarded nymph near-smiling on the green. 125 It was no dream; or say a dream it was,

Real are the dreams of Gods, and smoothly pass

Their pleasures in a long immortal dream.

One warm, flush'd moment, hovering, it might seem
Dash'd by the wood-nymph's beauty, so he burn'd; 130
Then, lighting on the printless verdure, turn'd
To the swoon'd serpent, and with languid arm,
Delicate, put to proof the lythe Caducean charm.
So done, upon the nymph his eyes he bent
Full of adoring tears and blandishment,

135

And towards her stept: she, like a moon in wane,
Faded before him, cower'd, nor could restrain

Her fearful sobs, self-folding like a flower
That faints into itself at evening hour:

But the God fostering her chilled hand,

140

She felt the warmth, her eyelids open'd bland,
And, like new flowers at morning song of bees,
Bloom'd, and gave up her honey to the lees.
Into the green-recessed woods they flew ;

Nor grew they pale, as mortal lovers do.

Left to herself, the serpent now began

To change; her elfin blood in madness ran,

Her mouth foam'd, and the grass, therewith besprent, Wither'd at dew so sweet and virulent;

145

Her eyes in torture fix'd, and anguish drear,
Hot, glaz'd, and wide, with lid-lashes all sear,

150

(123) The manuscript reads sunk for sank.

(132) The manuscript reads langrous arm.

(142) Cancelled manuscript reading, And she like flowers...

Flash'd phosphor and sharp sparks, without one cooling

tear.

The colours all inflam'd throughout her train,

She writh'd about, convuls'd with scarlet pain:

A deep volcanian yellow took the place

And, as the lava ravishes the mead,

155

Of all her milder-mooned body's grace;

Spoilt all her silver mail, and golden brede;

Made gloom of all her frecklings, streaks and bars,

Eclips'd her crescents, and lick'd up her stars:

160

So that, in moments few, she was undrest
Of all her sapphires, greens, and amethyst,
And rubious-argent: of all these bereft,
Nothing but pain and ugliness were left.

Still shone her crown; that vanish'd, also she
Melted and disappear'd as suddenly;

165

And in the air, her new voice luting soft,

Cry'd, "Lycius! gentle Lycius!"-Borne aloft
With the bright mists about the mountains hoar

These words dissolv'd: Crete's forests heard no more. 170

Whither fled Lamia, now a lady bright, A full-born beauty new and exquisite ?

(155) The manuscript reads vulcanian, the first edition volcanian. It seems to me more likely that the manuscript accords with the poet's intention than that the printed text does, for this old orthography is the more characteristic of the vocabulary of this particular poem, as introducing the more conspicuously the mythic personal origin of the common noun volcano or vulcano. (167-8) The manuscript reads

And her new voice, softluting in the air

Cried "Lycius! gentle Lycius, where, ah where!"

(171-2) In the manuscript, according to a good practical method Keats had in such cases, the note of interrogation is after Lamia, and a full-stop at exquisite.

She fled into that valley they pass o'er
Who go to Corinth from Cenchreas' shore;
And rested at the foot of those wild hills,
The rugged founts of the Peræan rills,
And of that other ridge whose barren back
Stretches, with all its mist and cloudy rack,
South-westward to Cleone. There she stood
About a young bird's flutter from a wood,
Fair, on a sloping green of mossy tread,
By a clear pool, wherein she passioned
To see herself escap'd from so sore ills,
While her robes flaunted with the daffodils.

Ah, happy Lycius !-for she was a maid More beautiful than ever twisted braid,

175

180

185

Or sigh'd, or blush'd, or on spring-flowered lea
Spread a green kirtle to the minstrelsy:

A virgin purest lipp'd, yet in the lore

Of love deep learned to the red heart's core:
Not one hour old, yet of sciential brain

190

(173-4) The manuscript reads

She fled into that valley they must pass
Who go from Corinth out to Cencreas,

another instance of change for the sake of altering the accent. There is yet another instance in line 176, which stands thus in the manuscript

The rugged paps of little Perea's rills,

though here there is an additional and perhaps stronger reason for the change.

(182) See note to Endymion, Book I, line 248.

(185) The manuscript has three lines in place of this one

Ah! never heard of, delight never known

Save of one happy mortal! only one,-
Lycius the happy for she was a Maid...