“That . . . oer the seas broad blue” (MS VIII; Poems [1891]; Works [1903])—This version of the phrase in manuscript was altered in Poems (1891) to “broad seaʼs blue”. Restored to “seaʼs broad blue” in the Library Edition (Ruskin, Works, 2:378).

“Of various trees a vista green” (MS VIII; Poems [1891]; Works [1903])—In MS VIII, twenty-six lines beginning with this line first appear on 64r–v, divided by a horizontal line from the preceding titled draft of the poem, “Lago di Como”, and divided by another line space from the following untited poem, “It was an eve of summer, mild” [“Lago Maggiore”]. On 79r, Ruskin repeats the line “Of various trees a vista green”, followed by a metadiscursive mark &c. He also copies the next two lines from 64r, again followed by a metadiscursive mark &., plus the final line of the earlier poem, from 64v (lines 1395–98 of “Genoa” in MS VIII). A metamark above the final line copied from the earlier poem, XXX, perhaps signifies the end of the lines previously composed. The metadiscursive marks presumably indicate that the full twenty‐six lines on 64r–v are to be inserted at that designated point of the draft of “Genoa”, an intention that is supported by the correspondingly metadiscursive symbol of four asterisks that follow the final, twenty‐sixth line of the earlier poem on 64r–v. As another metadiscursive mark confirming this intention, Ruskin notated the line from the earlier poem, “Whose living crystal shot between &.” with the numeral 50, and the line “When all that there you look upon”—the latter line (deleted in MS VIII) marking the end of the inserted passage (along with a few additionally composed lines), which do approximately number thirty lines. Taking all these cues, W. G. Collingwood without comment inserted the lines transferred from the earlier poem into the text of “Genoa” printed in Poems (1891) (but omitting the additional lines that Ruskin deleted in the MS VIII), and the editors of the Library Edition followed suit, without remarking on the transferred lines forming a separate unit earlier in the manuscript.

Since Ruskin might have added these asterisks to the earlier poem after starting “Genoa” later in MS VIII, there are no grounds for necessarily treating the twenty‐six lines of “Of various trees a vista green” as a fragment; Ruskin may initially have considered these lines as forming a self‐standing poem about the journey from Milan to the Mediterranean Sea. Similarly, there are no grounds for supposing that Ruskin jumped ahead from 64r–v to compose “Genoa” fifteen pages later, or that he in any way departed from the sequential composition as the poems and essays appear in this section of the notebook.

Respecting the sequence of composition at this stage in MS VIII, one can broadly remark that, following draft of a cluster of poems concerning crossing the Alps (see “Passing the Alps” and glosses), Ruskin reverted to drafting prose for the earlier Belgian segment of the journey, presumably in order to keep pace with his simultaneous fair‐copying and illustration of that portion of the "Account" in MS IX. Interspersed with these essays, he introduced verse about northern Italy, his invention logically adverting first to the Italian lakes, as the geographical introduction to Italy following an Alpine crossing from the north. He composed a poem about Chiavenna, “Oh softly blew the morning breeze”, and “Lago di Como”, and then this poem about the journey south to Genoa. He skipped writing about Milan, because he had already composed “Milan Cathedral” in MS IA, g.2. Thus, the vista of a “rich and mighty plain” that opens at the start of this poem refers to the country south of Milan, and the poem surveys a wide panoramic arc from north to south.

“Thither and thither” (MS VIII; Poems [1891]; Works [1903])—Collingwood altered this phrase to “Hither and thither”, and the Library Edition silently accepted the emendation (Poems [4^o, 1891], and Poems [8^o, 1891], 1:154; Ruskin, Works, 2:378). Ruskinʼs additional modifier “fast” suggests, however, that he did intend that the “sportive light ran / Thither and thither fast”, receding rapidly away from the spectator “through / That natural arched avenue”, and not that the light ran randomly “hither and thither” on the surface of the water.

“Pale gleams of icy sun came forth” (MS VIII; Poems [1891]; Works [1903])—Collingwood read a smeared word in the manuscript as “sun”, and the Library Edition silently accepted this reading, though the intended word may be “snow” (Poems [4^o, 1891], and Poems [8^o, 1891], 1:154; Ruskin, Works, 2:379). A definitive reading may not be possible, but the following adjectival phrases, “White as the wreathed salt sea spray / With the snow wreaths that ever press”, read less redundantly if modifying the whiteness of sunlight rather than snow.

“Call its soothed billows from their sleep” (MS VIII; Works [1903])—“soothed” in MS VIII is altered to “smooth” in Poems (1891) and the Library Edition.

Pause–period (MS IX)—See Editorial and Encoding Rationale and Methodology: Element, Attribute, and Value Usage—Commas, Periods, and Other Punctuation.

“When far away to seaward show / Her first beams solitary glow” (MS VIII; Works [1903])—Couplet omitted in Poems (1891) and restored in the Library Edition (Ruskin, Works, 2:379).