[Footnote 1: I here give the original version of this poem, which Forster
found in Swift's handwriting at Narford; and which has never been
published. It is well known that, at Addison's suggestion, Swift made
extensive changes in this, "one of the happiest of his poems," concerning
which Forster says, in his "Life of Swift," at p. 165: "The poem, as
printed, contains one hundred and seventy-eight lines; the poem, as I
found it at Narford, has two hundred and thirty; and the changes in the
latter bringing it into the condition of the former, by which only it has
been thus far known, comprise the omission of ninety-six lines, the
addition of forty-four, and the alteration of twenty-two. The question
can now be discussed whether or not the changes were improvements, and,
in my opinion, the decision must be adverse to Addison."--_W. E. B_.]
[Footnote 2: The "village hard by Rixham" of the original has as little
connection with "Chilthorne" as the "village down in Kent" of the altered
version, and Swift had probably no better reason than his rhyme for
either.--_Forster_.]
[Footnote 3: See the next poem for note on this line.
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