When to the bridal he should lead his paramour. Whispering in midnight silence, said the youth, "Sure some sweet name thou hast, though, by my truth, "I have not ask'd it, ever thinking thee "Not mortal, but of heavenly progeny, "As still I do. Hast any mortal name, "Fit appellation for this dazzling frame? "Or friends or kinsfolk on the citied earth, "To share our marriage feast and nuptial mirth?” "I have no friends," said Lamia, no, not one; "My presence in wide Corinth hardly known :

66

She fell asleep, and Lycius to the Shade
Of deep sleep in a moment was betray'd.

The passage beginning at

After the hottest day comes languidest

occurs also in the Houghton Fragment, and shows some variations, as The colour'd eve, half-lidded in the westfor certes they

and again

Scarcely could tell if this was misery.

90

In the next line the Houghton Fragment has the cancelled reading, said then the youth for whisper'd the youth, and a little lower down As now I do stands rejected in favour of As still I do.

a further variation of line 99, namely

Of fit sound for this soft ethereal frame.

There is also

Lamia's avowal that she had no friends is followed by several cancellings :— "I have no friends" said Lamia as you list

Seeing it must be...

Do with your own...

Intreat your many guests. Then all was was [sic] wist
She fell asleep, and Lycius to the shade

when

Of sleep sunk with her dreaming his fancy stray'd

Into a dream...

Of sleep went...

Of deep sleep in a moment was betray'd.

Before this was all struck out and remodelled according to the text, Keats cancelled in the finished manuscript from as you list, and wrote in

no not one;

My presence in wide Corinth is unknown;

and the next six lines as in the text, adding

With any pleasure on me, summon not
Old Apollonius. Lycius ignorant what

Strange thought had led her to an end so blank,

and so on as in the text, lines 103-5.

89-90 In writing these two lines the second time, Keats inserted the word silver before appellation, and put kinsfolks again.

"My parents' bones are in their dusty urns
"Sepulchred, where no kindled incense burns,

66

66

100

Seeing all their luckless race are dead, save me, "And I neglect the holy rite for thee. "Even as you list invite your many guests; "But if, as now it seems, your vision rests "With any pleasure on me, do not bid "Old Apollonius-from him keep me hid." Lycius, perplex'd at words so blind and blank, Made close inquiry; from whose touch she shrank, Feigning a sleep; and he to the dull shade Of deep sleep in a moment was betray'd.

It was the custom then to bring away

The bride from home at blushing shut of day,
Veil'd, in a chariot, heralded along

By strewn flowers, torches, and a marriage song,
With other pageants: but this fair unknown
Had not a friend. So being left alone,
(Lycius was gone to summon all his kin)
And knowing surely she could never win
His foolish heart from its mad pompousness,
She set herself, high-thoughted, how to dress
The misery in fit magnificence.

110

She did so, but 'tis doubtful how and whence
Came, and who were her subtle servitors.
About the halls, and to and from the doors,
There was a noise of wings, till in short space
The glowing banquet-room shone with wide-arched

grace.

120

A haunting music, sole perhaps and lone Supportress of the faery-roof, made moan Throughout, as fearful the whole charm might fade. Fresh carved cedar, mimicking a glade

122 A haunting music lone perhaps and sole...

Houghton Fragment. 125-30 There was also some hesitation as to what line 125 should be.

The carved cedar...

Sweet cedar carv'd there...

Fresh Carved Cedar

appear successively.

spread a

mimicking a glade

There is a rejected reading for line 129—

On either side a forest they...

Of palm and plantain, met from either side,
High in the midst, in honour of the bride:
Two palms and then two plantains, and so on,
From either side their stems branch'd one to one
All down the aisled place; and beneath all
There ran a stream of lamps straight on from wall
to wall.

So canopied, lay an untasted feast.

Teeming with odours. Lamia, regal drest,
Silently paced about, and as she went,
In pale contented sort of discontent,
Mission'd her viewless servants to enrich
The fretted splendour of each nook and niche.
Between the tree-stems, marbled plain at first,
Came jasper pannels; then, anon, there burst
Forth creeping imagery of slighter trees,
And with the larger wove in small intricacies.
Approving all, she faded at self-will,

And shut the chamber up, close, hush'd and still,
Complete and ready for the revels rude,

130

140

When dreadful guests would come to spoil her solitude.

and another of line 130—

All down the aisled-place-far as the eye could view. 133 Teeming a perfume and Teeming wing'd odours MS., cancelled.

134-7 In the Houghton Fragment, in line 134 silverly occurs in place of silently; line 135 is wanting; and line 137 stands as followsThe splendid finish of each nook and niche. 138 marbled plain] wainscoated MS., cancelled.

140 Forth creeping imagery of { slighter } trees.

tenderer

Houghton Fragment.

141-4 In the Houghton Fragment, in line 141 smallest is cancelled in favour of in small, and between that and line 142 occurs the following passage:

And so till she was sated-then came down

And sprinkled o'er with stars like Ariadne's tiar.

The close of line 144, shows no fewer than four readings rejected in favour of revels rude, namely woeful time, woeful day, time of woe, and day of woe, each of which, preferable in itself to the reading adopted, must have had to give place on account of the exigencies of rhyme

The day appear'd, and all the gossip rout. O senseless Lycius! Madman! wherefore flout The silent-blessing fate, warm cloister'd hours, And show to common eyes these secret bowers? The herd approach'd; each guest, with busy brain, Arriving at the portal, gaz'd amain,

151

And enter'd marveling: for they knew the street,
Remember'd it from childhood all complete
Without a gap, yet ne'er before had seen
That royal porch, that high-built fair demesne;
So in they hurried all, maz'd, curious and keen:
Save one, who look'd thereon with eye severe,
And with calm-planted steps walk'd in austere ;
'Twas Apollonius: something too he laugh'd,
As though some knotty problem, that had daft 160
His patient thought, had now begun to thaw,
And solve and melt:-'twas just as he foresaw.
He met within the murmurous vestibule
His young disciple. ""Tis no common rule,
Lycius," said he, "for uninvited guest
"To force himself upon you, and infest
"With an unbidden presence the bright throng
"Of younger friends; yet must I do this wrong,
"And you forgive me." Lycius blush'd, and led
The old man through the inner doors broad-spread;
With reconciling words and courteous mien
Turning into sweet milk the sophist's spleen.

Of wealthy lustre was the banquet-room,
Fill'd with pervading brilliance and perfume:
Before each lucid pannel fuming stood
A censer fed with myrrh and spiced wood,
Each by a sacred tripod held aloft,

146-7 The day came soon and all the gossip-rout

171

O senseless Lycius Dolt! Fool! Madman! Lout!
Houghton Fragment.
The line following 162

163-72 This passage was an afterthought. in the manuscript in the first instance was

Of wealthy Lustre was the Banquet room. 174 Fill'd with light, music, jewels, gold, perfume

MS., cancelled. 177 The manuscript has slender in lieu of sacred, and in the next line tripple instead of slender.

180

Whose slender feet wide-swerv'd upon the soft
Wool-woofed carpets: fifty wreaths of smoke
From fifty censers their light voyage took
To the high roof, still mimick'd as they rose
Along the mirror'd walls by twin-clouds odorous.
Twelve sphered tables, by silk seats insphered,
High as the level of a man's breast rear'd
On libbard's paws, upheld the heavy gold
Of cups and goblets, and the store thrice told
Of Ceres' horn, and, in huge vessels, wine
Come from the gloomy tun with merry shine.
Thus loaded with a feast the tables stood,
Each shrining in the midst the image of a God. 190
When in an antichamber every guest

Had felt the cold full sponge to pleasure press'd,
By minist'ring slaves, upon his hands and feet,
And fragrant oils with ceremony meet

Pour'd on his hair, they all mov'd to the feast
In white robes, and themselves in order placed
Around the silken couches, wondering

Whence all this mighty cost and blaze of wealth could spring.

Soft went the music the soft air along, While fluent Greek a vowel'd undersong Kept up among the guests, discoursing low At first, for scarcely was the wine at flow; But when the happy vintage touch'd their brains, Louder they talk, and louder come the strains

200

191 This passage occurs in the Houghton Fragment with cancellings thus:

When in an antichamber every guest
With fragrant oils his...

When in an antichamber every guest
Tended by ministering slaves his...

When in an antichamber every guest

Had

felt

had}

the cold full sponge to pleasure press'd.

195-6 In the Houghton Fragment occurs the rejected reading, they all to banquet came

In white robes hymeneal.

203 the happy] Sicilian MS., cancelled.