cxiv
Grown old in Love from Seven till Seven times Seven,
I oft have wish'd for Hell, for Ease from Heaven.
MS. Book, p. 54. Apparently written in or after 1806. WMR, EY
('Coupl.'v).
cxv
1Why was Cupid a Boy,
And why a boy was he?
He should have been a Girl,
For aught that I can see.
5For he shoots with his bow,
And the Girl shoots with her Eye,
And they both are merry & glad,
And laugh when we do cry.
9And to make Cupid a boy
Was the Cupid girl's mocking plan;
For a boy can't interpret the thing
Till he is become a man.
13And then he's so pierc'd with cares,
And wounded with arrowy smarts,
That the whole business of his life
Is to pick out the heads of the darts.
MS. Book, p. 56. Ri, DGR, WMR, EY (iii. 69), WBY, all with title
' Cupid ' and omission of last stanza (except R1. ) which is printed separately
by Swinb. (p. 144), EY i. 225, and WBY (notes, p. 248).
6 the] a WBY. 9-12 And . . . man] All edd. print the infinitely
preferable first draft of this stanza : —
- *9 ' Then to make Cupid a Boy
- Was surely a Woman's plan,
- For a boy ne'er learns so much
- Till he is become a man ' ;
all reading 'never' for 'ne'er' (l. *11), all except R' 'has ' for ' is' (l. *12)
and WBY ' And ' for ' Then ' (l. *9) and ' to mock ' for ' so much ' (l. *11),
13 he 's . . . cares] he is so pierced through WBY.
