5As soon as I went an angel came:
He wink'd at the thief,
And smil'd at the dame;
8And without one word said
Had a peach from the tree,
And still as a maid
Enjoy'd the Lady.
As . . . came] all edd. print as two lines. 6 He] And he MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 8 said] spoke MS. Book 1st rdg. del. and all edd. 10 And . . . maid] And 'twixt earnest & joke MS. Book 1st rdg. del. and all edd. 11 Enjoy'd] He enjoy'd MS. Book 1st rdg. del.
v
1I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing:
'Mercy, Pity, Peace
Is the world's release.'
5Thus he sang all day
Over the new mown hay,
Till the sun went down,
And haycocks looked brown.
9I heard a Devil curse
Over the heath & the furze:
'Mercy could be no more
If there was nobody poor,
13And pity no more could be,
If all were as happy as we.'
At his curse the sun went down
And the heavens gave a frown.
MS. Book, p. 114. An earlier version of ' The human Image ' (engraved under the title ' The Human Abstract ' in the Songs of Experience). DGR and later edd. name this ' The Two Songs.' Swinb. p. 147.
3 Pity, Peace] Pity and Peace all edd. 4 Is] Are all edd. 5 Thus] So all except WBY. 12 was] were all edd. 13 could] would Swinb. 14 as happy] All edd. omit. 15 'as.' we] ye all except Swinb., EY correcting later in note iii. p. 97. 15 At his curse] Thus he sang & MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 16 frown] Here, as Blake's line drawn beneath
