'Tis his, but what avails the land
Which he can till no longer? 1837.

The time, alas! is come when he
Can till the land no longer. 1840.

The time is also come when he
Can till the land no longer. C.


From this it will be seen that the text adopted in the first edition of
"Lyrical Ballads" in 1798 was retained in the editions of 1800, 1802,
1805, 1815, and 1820; that it was altered in each of the editions of
1827, 1832, 1837, 1840, as also in the MS. readings in Lord Coleridge's
copy of the works, and in the edition of 1845; and that the version of
1845 was retained in the edition of 1849-50. It should be added that
when a verse, or stanza, or line--occurring in one or other of the
earlier editions--was omitted from that of 1849, the footnote simply
contains the extract along with the date of the year or years in which
it occurs; and that, in such cases, the date does not follow the
reference number of the footnote, but is placed for obvious reasons at
the end of the extract.

The same thing is true of 'Descriptive Sketches'. In the year 1827,
there were scarcely any alterations made on the text of the poem, as
printed in 1820; still fewer were added in 1832; but for the edition of
1836 the whole was virtually rewritten, and in that state it was finally
left, although a few significant changes were made in 1845.

Slight changes of spelling which occur in the successive editions, are