this stanza shows, the poem originally ended. Later he added a fifth stanza : —
[17]'Down [at first And down] pourd the heavy rain
Over the new reap'd grain,
And Mercy & Pity & Peace descended;
The Farmers were ruined & harvest was ended'
and again indicated the completion of the poem by a fresh terminal line. This stanza Blake afterwards deleted. Lastly follow several attempts at a new stanza, the final form of the only completed couplet of which reads :
[21]'And Miseries' increase
Is Mercy, Pity, Peace';
the rejected readings, which are not very legibly written, being : —
'And Mercy Pity _& del.] Peace
{? Joy'd) at their increase
{? With) Poverty's Increase
Are
And by distress increase
Mercy, Pity, Peace
By Misery to increase
Mercy, Pity, Peace.'
Swinb. (p. 147) re-arranges and prints ll. [17], [18], [21], and [22] as his last stanza: —
'Down poured the heavy rain
Over the new-reaped grain ;
And Misery's increase
Is Mercy, Pity, Peace."'
DGR prints as his third stanza II. 9-14, 1. 5 of ' The Human Abstract ' version (Songs of Experience) and ll. [21], [22] (slightly altered) : —
'I heard a Devil curse
Over the heath and the furze:
"Mercy could be no more
If there were nobody poor,
And Pity no more could be
If all were happy as ye:
And mutual fear brings Peace.
Misery's increase
Are Mercy, Pity, Peace"';
concluding, as a separate couplet, with ll. 15, 16 : —
'At his curse the sun went down,
And the heavens gave a frown.
WMR, EY, and WBY follow DGR. EY however, in their 'Notes to the Poetical Sketches, Songs, &c.' iii. p. 97, print the poem as it is found in the MS. Book, their readings of the partially illegible words being rather different from mine.
