When

word. His was once used as a neuter as well as a masculine genitive-of 'hit' as well as of 'he.' The t is a neuter affix like the d in id and illud, but was in course of time supposed to be part of the original word. grammatical gender came to have an invariable relation to sex, a separate form of possessive was required for the neuter gender. It was at first used, as in several passages of Shakespeare (e. g. Constance's speech in King John, ii. 1), and in the Bible of 1611 (Leviticus xxv. 5, 'it own accord'). Then from it the anomalous genitive its was formed, but did not obtain currency among the best writers till about 1660. Cf. note on Paradise Lost, i. 176. 1. 252. it refers to darkness. The raven down of darkness' = darkness; black as the raven's down. So the palace of eternity' (line 14)=the eternal palace.

1. 253. In this passage Milton has followed the poetic traditions of his own time. (Browne's Mask.) In Homer, Circe sings, but not her nymphs, nor has she anything to do with the Sirens, whom Horace mentions with her (Epistles, i. 2. 23). (Keightley.) A 'kirtle' was in Shakespeare's and in Milton's time a woman's garment, though anciently a man's also, worn by bishops and by Knights of the Garter at their installation.

1. 257. Cf. L'Allegro 136.

1. 258. Multis circumlatrantibus undis' (Aeneid vii. 588). Cf. Paradise Lost, ii. 660.

1. 260.

'My senses lulled are in slumber of delight.'

(Faery Queene, Bk. III. Introduction, iv.)

1. 262. bome-felt;-heart-felt. So 'home-thrust.'

1: 265. Cf. Ferdinand's address to Miranda (Tempest i. 2).

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1. 267. Unless [thou be] the goddess,' &c.

1. 270. Insinuating that the wood had grown tall by her benignant influCf. Arcades 44.

ence.

1. 271. ill is lost;-male perditur, a Latinism. (Keightley.)

1. 273. extreme like utmost, line 617, the last device I could think of. éxtreme is thus accented in Hotspur's speech 1 Henry IV. i. 3 and in the line quoted by Todd from Sackville's Mirror for Magistrates:

'In rustie armour, as in extream shift.'

1. 277. The following passage is an imitation of those scenes of Greek tragedy wherein the dialogue runs in alternate lines.

1. 289. Cf. Paradise Lost, iii. 637, &c.

1. 291. Cf. Iliad xvi. 779; Virgil, Eclogues, ii. 66; Horace, Odes, iii. 6. 42. The notation of time here follows classical precedent, but 1. 293 is entirely English in phrase and subject.

1. 293. swink't;—tired (A.S. swincan, to labour.) Chaucer has it, Prologue, Canterbury Tales 186, 188, and Spenser sweat and swinke' (Faery Queene, II. vii. 8; VI. iv. 32).

1. 297. port;-bearing, deportment. Cf. Paradise Lost, xi. 8. 'The port of Mars' (Henry V. i. Chorus);

And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze'

(Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 12);

A modern gentleman,

Of stateliest port' (Tennyson, Morte D'Arthur).

as they stood;-pleonasm, as in Epitaph on Marchioness of Winchester 21.

1. 299. element;-sky. See note on Paradise Lost, ii. 490.

1. 301. plighted;-folded, pleated or plaited. The verb to 'plight' (fold) is used by Chaucer and Spenser, and the noun by Chaucer. Cf.

Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides.'

(King Lear, i. 1.) 1. 303. Referring either to the difficulty of the way, or (more probably) to the happiness of finding them.

=

1. 312. Dingle means a valley between two steep hills; dell dale. Spenser uses delve' (from A.S. delfan to dig), Faery Queene, II. viii. 4. See also Glossary to Bk. II. bourn, a winding, deep, narrow valley, with a rivulet (Scotch burn) at the bottom. Such bourns are natural boundaries (French borner) of districts and parishes. bosky shrubby, bushy (from Italian bosco).

1. 317. Keightley remarks that the ideas here belong to the hen-house rather than to the resting-place of the lark, which has no thatch over it, and in which, as it is upon the ground, he cannot roost.'

1. 325. This derivation is Spenser's (Faery Queene, VI. i. 1). tapestry from French tapis, Latin tapes. Spenser uses 'tapets' for 'hangings' (Faery Queene, III. xi. 29).

1. 327. warranted ;-guarded (French garanti).

1. 329. square;-adjust, measure. Troilus, when undeceived, will not

square the general sex

By Cressid's rule.' (Troilus and Cressida, v. 2.)

1. 331. unmuffle ;-A 'muffler' was a sort of veil or wrapper covering the chin and throat (Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2). To 'muffle' was to cover the face as Caesar did when he fell (Julius Caesar, iii. 2); or to blindfold, as in All's Well that Ends Well. iv. 3.

1. 332. Spenser says of the moon shining forth from dark clouds'Of the poore traveller that went astray

With thousand blessings she is heried' (honoured).

1. 333. Cf. Il Penseroso 71, and

(Faery Queene, III. i. 43.)

Appear, no longer thy pale visage shroud

But stoop thy silver horns quite through a cloud.'
(Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, i. 1.)

1. 334. disinherit;-dispossess. inherit was used for 'possess,' as Tempest iv. I, all that it inherit'; and inheritance for possession,' as 'Thine inheritance' (Liturgy). Cf. Samson Agonistes 1012.

1. 342. Calisto, daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was changed into the Greater Bear (called also Helice) and her son Arcas into the Lesser (called also Cynosura.) Cf. note on L'Allegro 80.

1. 344. Cf. Paradise Lost, iv. 185.

1. 345. The stops are the holes in an oaten pipe. So Hamlet says of the ventages of the recorder, or pipe, 'Look you, these are the stops.'

1. 349. Cf. Paradise Lost, vii. 455. innumerous is the Latin innumerus, unnumbered, innumerable.

1. 352. bur is the prickly head of the burdock. If we walk not in the trodden paths,' says Celia, 'our very petticoats will catch them.' (As You Like It, i. 3.)

1. 355. fraught;-freighted. So fraught is used as a noun for 'freight,' 'burden,' in Othello iii. 3,

'Swell, bosom, with thy fraught.'

Milton (Apology for Smectymnuus) speaks of his own early rising, 'to read good authors, or to cause them to be read, till the attention be weary or memory have its full fraught.'

1. 359. exquisite ;-curious, sought out (Lat. exquisitus). Here, however, it is used for seeking out, inquisitive. The same use of a passive word in an active sense occurs in Paradise Lost, i. 603.

1. 360. to cast;-here in sense of predicting, to cast a nativity.'
1. 366. to seek ;-at a loss. Crashaw, in his poem on the Nativity:
'No, no; your king's not yet to seek

Where to repose his royal head.'

1. 367. unprincipl'd;-ignorant of the principia, the beginnings of Virtue's lore. Cf. Samson Agonistes 760. So unprincipled in virtue' occurs in Milton's Tractate on Education.

1. 373. Cf. Faery Queene, I. i. 12. Reconciled to Virtue, sings of Virtue—

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Ben Jonson, in his mask, Pleasure

She, she it is in darkness shines,
'Tis she that still herself refines
By her own light, to every eye.'

1. 375. flat sea;-cf. Lycidas 98.

1. 376. To seek to is a common construction in our authorised translation. Deut. xii. 5; Isaiah xi. 10.

1. 377. In Sidney's Arcadia, Solitude is the nurse of Contemplation.

1. 378. Cf. Faery Queene, II. iii. 36. plume=prune, arrange. proin (from French provigner) is the form used by Chaucer. It signifies the cutting away superfluous shoots of trees, pruning,' and that operation which birds perform upon themselves, of picking out damaged feathers. Gower uses it of an eagle, 'he pruneth him and piketh.'

1. 380. all to-ruffl'd;-There is no hyphen in ed. 1645 (nor in Judges ix. 53). Richardson gives all-to' entirely but the 'to' is an augment to the verb (Germ. zu), and much used in Chaucer: e. g.

'The pot to-breaketh, and farewell, all is go.'

Prologue to Chanon Yeoman's Tale.

1. 382. the centre;-sc. of the earth, by an ellipse common in older writers. So Polonius (Hamlet ii. 2) boasts that he would find truth' though it were hid indeed within the centre.'

1. 385. Cf. Samson Agonistes 156.

1. 386. affects;—is inclined to, prefers. In this sense the word is generally used by Shakespeare (Lear i. 1, Kent's first speech; Twelfth Night ii. 5). 1. 387. Cf. II Penseroso 169.

1. 388. Cf. Paradise Lost, iii. 46.

1. 393. The Hesperian apples were those presented by Ge to Hera at her wedding with Zeus. Hera committed them to the charge of the nymphs, the Hesperides, and the dragon Ladon. To obtain this fruit was one of the labours of Hercules. (Cf. Faery Queene, II. vii. 54.)

1. 395. unenchanted;-not to be enchanted, as unfellowed,' that cannot be fellowed (Hamlet v. 2), and unparalleled.' Cf. note on L'Allegro 40.

1. 398. unsunn'd ;-kept in the dark. Mammon is said to sun his gold when he counts it. (Faery Queene, II. viii. 4.)

1. 401. wink on is used by Shakespeare as=' 'give a signal to a confederate,' or shut the eye,' 'refuse to see.' Either sense will fit here. The whole passage is enlarged from Rosalind's single line Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold' (As You Like It, i. 3).

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1. 404. It recks me not;-I take no account of (from A.S. recan, to reckon).

1. 405. To dog;-to follow like a dog.

'Death and danger dog the heels of worth.'

1. 408. infer;-argue.

(All's Well that Ends Well, iii. 4.)

That need must needs infer this principle.'

(King John, iii. 1.)

'Infer the bastardy of Edward's children.'

(Richard III. iii. 5.)

ascaunce' (Faery Queene,

1..413. Spenser makes Suspicion always look III. xii. 15) or asquint. See Glossary to Bk. II. 1. 421. cómplete steel is thus accented in Hamlet i. I.

1. 422. Thyer notices the resemblance of this description to Spenser's Belphoebe.

1. 423. to trace;-to track. See Glossary to Faery Queene, Bk. I. Oberon would breed his changeling henchman to trace the forests wide. (Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1). Cf.

Your tender lambs that by you trace.'

unharbour'd ;-unsheltered.

(Shepherd's Calendar, June.)

1. 424. Infámous;-ill spoken of. Horace applies the word to the Acroceraunian promontory on the coast of Epirus, dangerous to ships.

perilous is disyllabic; the form parlous is frequent in Shakespeare, c. 8. e. g. Richard III. iii. 1, ‘O 'tis a parlous boy!'

1. 430. unblench't; —unblinded, unconfounded, according to Warton. But in Hamlet 'blench' apparently means 'blanch, turn pale,' and unblenched would therefore mean 'unblanched.' Cf Macbeth, iii. 4:

Keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

While mine are blanched with fear.'

1. 434. 'Ghost unlaid forbear thee!' sings Guiderius over Imogen (Cymbeline, iv 2). The foul fiend Flibbertigibbet begins at curfew and walks till the first cock.' (Lear, iii. 4). The elves in the Tempest (v. 1) rejoice to hear the solemn curfew. Curfew is still rung from the bell-tower of Canterbury Cathedral at eight o'clock.

1. 439. The previous instances had been from mediæval legend.

1. 441. In one of Lucian's dialogues, Cupid expresses his fear of Minerva and the Gorgon on her breast, and adds that Diana was so swift in the chase that he could not overtake her.

1. 445. Cf. Oberon's speech (Midsummer Night's Dream. ii. 2) beginning 'My gentle Puck, come hither.'

1. 451. to dash;-to confound, cast down.

This hath a little dash'd your spirits.' (Othello, iii. 3.)

(Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.)

1. 453. Spenser (Faery Queene, III. viii. 29) speaks of Heaven's

Voluntary grace,

And soveraine favour towards chastity.'

1. 455. lackey;-accompany as a servant. The discourteous Knight (Faery Queene, VI. ii. 15) drives a lady on foot,

Unfit to tread

And lackey by him, 'gainst all womanhead.'

1. 457. Visions are a clearer revelation of God than dreams' is the Rabbinical opinion quoted in Bacon's Essay on Youth and Age. Cf. Paradise Lost, xii. 611.

1. 460. This opinion of Plato is expounded in a passage of the Phaedo, translated by Warton in his note. Spenser, in his Hymn of Beauty, maintains that 'Of the soul the bodie form doth take;

For soul is form, and doth the body make.'

1. 463. oft-frequent, as thine often infirmities' (1 Tim. v. 23).
1.478. Cf.
'As sweet and musical,

As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair.'

(Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3.)

1. 483. Cf. Paradise Lost, i. 204; whereon see note.
1. 495. buddling ;-Cf.

'Et properantes aquae per amoenos ambitus agros.'
(Horace, De Arte Poetica, 17.)

Both Lawes and the elder Milton composed madrigals.
508. bow chance;-how happens it that—a frequent phrase in Shake-

speare.

1. 599. sadly;-seriously.

'The conference was sadly borne' (Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3); 'Sadly tell me who' (Romeo and Juliet, i. 1). See Glossary to Faery Queene, Bk. I.

1. 515. Cf. Paradise Lost, iii. 19. L'Allegro 17; Il Penseroso 117. 1. 517. Cf. Paradise Lost, ii. 628. The Chimaera, a monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail, is placed by Virgil (with the Hydra, the Centaurs, &c.) at the gates of Hell. (Aeneid, vi. 288). 1. 518. rifted;-riven, cleft. Cf.

'Rifted Jove's stout oak

With his own bolt.' (Tempest, v. 1.)

1. 520. navel;-for centre. So Delphi was called the navel of the earth.

1. 526. Tasso's enchanter murmurs at his spells. Cf. Arcades 60.

1. 530. charácter'd;—Julia (Two Gentlemen of Verona ii. 7) speaks of the table

'Wherein all her thoughts,

Are visibly character'd and engrav'd.'

The word is similarly accented in Polonius' advice to Laertes (Hamlet i. 2), but generally in Shakespeare has the modern pronunciation. Yet Wotton, writing at least ten years after Shakespeare's death speaks of character as 'a word which hath gotten already some entertainment among us.' (Quoted by Marsh.)