Worn out by hunting feats—­bereft
    By time of friends and kindred, see! 
    Old Simon to the world is left
    In liveried poverty. 
    His Master’s dead, ... 1827.

The fourth stanza of the final edition being second in 1827, and the second stanza being third in 1827.]

[Variant 6: 

1827.

    ... race ... 1798.]

[Variant 7: 

    Of strength, of friends, and kindred, see.

In MS. letter to Allan Cunningham, Nov. 1828.]

[Variant 8: 

1832.

    His hunting feats have him bereft
    Of his right eye, as you may see: 
    And then, what limbs those feats have left
    To poor old Simon Lee! 
    He has no son, he has no child,
    His wife, an aged woman,
    Lives with him, near the waterfall,
    Upon the village common. 1798.

    His hunting feats have him bereft
    Of his right eye, as you may see,
    And Simon to the world is left,
    In liveried poverty. 
    When he was young he little knew
    Of husbandry or tillage;
    And now is forced to work, though weak,
   —­The weakest in the village. 1820.]

[Variant 9: 

1798.

    But ... 1820.

The text of 1832 reverts to that of 1798.]

[Variant 10: 

1827.

    His little body’s half awry,
    His ancles they are swoln and thick;
    His legs are thin and dry. 
    When he was young he little knew
    Of husbandry or tillage;
    And now he’s forced to work, though weak,
   —­The weakest in the village. 1798.

    His dwindled body’s half awry, 1800.

    His ancles, too, are swoln and thick; 1815.

    And now is forced to work, 1815.

    His dwindled body half awry,
    Rests upon ancles swoln and thick;
    His legs are thin and dry. 
    He has no son, he has no child,
    His Wife, an aged woman,
    Lives with him, near the waterfall,
    Upon the village Common. 1820.]

[Variant 11: 

1845.

    But what avails the land to them,
    Which they can till no longer? 1798.

    “But what,” saith he, “avails the land,
    Which I can till no longer?” 1827.

    But what avails it now, the land
    Which he can till no longer? 1832.

    ’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.]

[Variant 12: 

1827.

    Old Ruth works out of doors with him,
    And does what Simon cannot do;
    For she, not over stout of limb, 1798.]