HERBERT: VIRTUE 120. 15. Coal. I. e., on the Day of Judgment. THE COLLAR 6. In suit. Suing for the favor of a superior. 8. Me. For me; an example of the socalled ethical dative. 22. The attempt to weave a rope of sand was a typical example of folly. CRASHAW: IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OUR LORD GOD She 122. 91 f. She sings Thy tears asleep, etc. The stanza offers a typical example of a "conceit." It is thus explained by Schelling (Seventeenth Century Lyrics): "The Virgin sings to her babe until, falling asleep, his tears cease to flow. And dips her kisses in Thy weeping eye,' she kisses lightly his eyes, suffused with tears. Here the lightness of the kiss and the over-brimming fullness of the eyes suggest the hyperbole and the implied metaphor, which likens the kiss to something lightly dipped into a stream. spreads the red leaves of thy lips,' i. e., kisses the child's lips, which lie lightly apart in infantile sleep, and which are like rosebuds in their color and in their childish undevelopment. 'Mother-diamonds' are the eyes of the Virgin, bright as diamonds and resembling those of the child. Points' are the rays or beams of the eye, which, according to the old physics, passed, in vision, from one eye to another. Lastly, the eyes of the child are likened to those of a young eagle, and the Virgin tests them against her own as the mother eagle is supposed to test her nestling's eyes against the sun." VAUGHAN: THE RETREAT 123. The idea of this poem suggests Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality, and it is probable that Wordsworth was influenced by Vaughan. MARVELL: HORATIAN ODE 124. Written in 1650 after Cromwell had returned from putting down a rising in Ireland. 125. 15. His own side. In 1647 the Puritan party was split between Independents and Presbyterians, the latter advocating the immediate disbanding of the army which was largely made up of Independents; Cromwell led the army to London, and forced the Presbyterians to yield. 17-20. An ambitious man makes no distinction between enemies (of an opposing party) and rivals (in his own party), and in the case of such a man ("with such ") it is more difficult to restrain him than to oppose him. 125. 23. Cæsar's. Charles the First's. 24. Through his laurels. In spite of his royal crown. 29. His private gardens. Until the outbreak of the Civil War Cromwell had lived in retirement. 41. Nature, that hateth emptiness. A variant of the well known phrase "Nature abhors a vacuum." 42. Allows of penetration less. Two bodies cannot occupy the same space. 47. Hampton. It was long believed that Cromwell connived at the flight of Charles from Hampton Court to Carisbrooke Castle in 1647. 57. He. The King. This fine passage has done much to keep the poem alive. 66. Assured the forced power. Made the Commonwealth secure. 69. A bleeding head. Pliny tells, in his Natural History (xxviii. 4), an anecdote of the finding of a head while workmen were digging on the Tarpeian hill for the foundation of a temple to Jupiter; the was interpreted as indicating a prosperous future for Rome. omen 82. In the republic's hand. Submissive to the Commonwealth's wishes. 86. A Kingdom. Ireland. 92. Heavy. I. e., with her prey. 126. 101, 2. Cromwell shall be to France what Cæsar was, to Italy what Hannibal was. 104. Climacteric. The force that brings about the result at a critical time. 106. Parti-colored. Variegated, i. e., fickle. There is a play on the word Pict, derived from "pictus," painted, applied to the ancient Celts who were accustomed to paint their bodies. III. Lay . . . in. To send dogs into cover. DORSET: TO ALL YOU LADIES NOW AT LAND 127. "Written in 1665, when the author, at the age of twenty-eight, had volunteered under the Duke of York in the first Dutch war. It was composed at sea the night before the critical engagement in which the Dutch admiral Opdam was blown up, and thirty ships destroyed or taken. It may be considered as inaugurating the epoch of vers-de-societé." (E. Gosse, in Ward's English Poets.) 128. 27. Whitehall stairs. The royal palace of Whitehall was situated on the bank of the Thames. 44. A merry main. To throw a main was to cast dice in a game of chance. BROWNE HYDRIOTAPHIA The Urn-Burial sets out to be an historical account of the methods of dealing with the dead, but turns into a meditation upon the brevity and vanity of the life of man. It was suggested by the digging up of some Roman burial urns in Norfolk. 128. 10. Sic ego, etc. Thus I should wish to be laid at rest when I am become bones. 20. Considerable. Worthy of consideration. 24. To retain a stronger propension unto them. I. e., such souls clung more strongly to the bodies. 129. 36. Archimedes. The famous Syracusan mathematician and physicist of the third century B. C. 37. The life of Moses his man. The life of man as described by Moses, in the socalled Prayer of Moses, the ninetieth Psalm. 42. One little finger. According to the ancient arithmetic of the hand, wherein the little finger of the right hand contracted, signified an hundred." (Browne's note). 54. Alcmena's nights. Jupiter, in love with Alcmena, mother of Hercules, made one night as long as three. 65. What name Achilles assumed. Thetis, mother of Achilles, to prevent him from going on the expedition against Troy, had him disguised as a girl; Ulysses penetrated the stratagem. 69. Ossuaries. Receptacles for bones. 77. Provincial guardians, or tutelary observators. Guardian spirits of the lo cality. 83. Pyramidally extant. Known by a tombstone. 93. Atropos. The one of the three Fates who cuts the thread of life. 99. Meridian. The noon, or middle point, 106. Prophecy of Elias. "That the world 107. Charles the Fifth ... Hector. 115. One face of Janus . . . the other. 130. 136. The mortal right-lined circle. 0, Jan Gruter (1560-1627), a continental scholar; author of Inscriptiones Antiquæ (1603). 157. Cardan. Italian philosopher of the sixteenth century. 160. Hippocrates. Greek physician (460377 B. C.). 164. Entelechia. A word coined by Aristotle to denote the actual being of a thing in distinction to its capacity for being. 167. Canaanitish woman. See Genesis, xlvi: 10. 178. Adrian. Hadrian, Emperor of Rome. 182. Thersites. A foul-mouthed coward in the Iliad, where Agamemnon is leader of the Greek host. 130. 205. Lucina. Goddess of childbirth; here equivalent to midwife. 211. Our light in ashes. According to the custom of the Jews, who place a lighted wax-candle in a pot of ashes by the corpse." (Browne's note.) 212. Brother of death. Sleep. 224. To weep into stones. A reference to the fable of Niobe. 131. 257. Mummy is become merchandise. A medicinal preparation made, or supposed to be made, from mummies, was highly regarded in the old medicine. 258. Mizraim. The Biblical name for Egypt; Browne seems to use it as symbolic of Egypt's great men. 268. Nimrod. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Orion. 269. The dog-star. Sirius. 309. Sardanapalus. Last king of As- 321. Enoch. "And Enoch was not, for God took him." Genesis, v: 24. Elias. Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire; 2 Kings, ii: 1-12. 327. Decretory. Established by decree. 346. Alaricus. King of the Visigoths, who captured and sacked Rome in 410; he was buried, with vast treasure, in the bed of a river. 348. Sylla. Roman general and dictator (138-78 B. C.) 132. 357. That poetical taunt of Isaiah. See Isaiah, xiv: 16-17. 367. St. Innocent's churchyard. In Paris. 371. Moles of Adrianus. Hadrian's Mole, or tomb, now known as the Castle of St. Angelo. FULLER THE GOOD SCHOOLMASTER 133. 1. Cockering. Coddling. 113. Peculiar. A parish exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop within whose diocese it lies; here applied to a condition of exemption from the usual regulations. 132. De insolenti carnificina. Of the excessive torture. Conscindebatur ... singulos. He was lashed with whips seven or eight times a day. 136. Tusser. Thomas Tusser, an English poetaster of the sixteenth century. 143. Udall. Nicholas Udall, headmaster of Eton 1534-1541; best known as author of the first regular English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister. THE LIFE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 32. Compurgator. A person who swore to his belief in the innocence of one on trial. 69. A fit of the mother. A pun on the old meaning of mother-hysteria. 135. 121. Ascham. See note on The Good Schoolmaster, above. 138. Et si... pudor. And if that womanly bashfulness of mine. 136. 188. Latter Lammas. This rendering of Græcas Calendas is explained by the fact that neither a Greek calends nor a later Lammas (a church festival on August first) exists; the latter term was used ironically for "never." 211. Semper eadem. Always the same. 231. This anagrammatist. Edmund Campion, an English Jesuit, executed for treason in 1581. 271. Cordial. Invigorating. WALTON THE COMPLETE ANGLER 137. I. Piscator. The Complete Angler is written in the form of dialogue; the chief characters are Piscator, the Fisherman, and Venator, the Hunter, who is the pupil. 9. Gesner. Conrad Gesner (1516-1565), a Swiss naturalist. 36. Mercator. Gerard Mercator (15121594), famous for his contributions to geographical science. The 138. 125. Albertus. Albertus Magnus (1206?1280), a scholastic philosopher. 160. History of Life and Death. Latin Historia Vita et Mortis, 1623. 139. 221. The Royal Society. The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge was incorporated 15 July, 1662. See Huxley's essay "On the Necessity of Improving Natural Knowledge," p. 720. 275. Make a catch. Sing a "round." 140. 337. Kit Marlow. Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe's song and Raleigh's answer were both printed in England's Helicon (1600). 359. A syllabub of new verjuice. A sort of custard made of cream and fruit juice. 145. 2. Cerberus. A three-headed dog, guardian of the gateway of Hades. 10. Cimmerian. Cimmeria was a land in which, according to Homer, the sun never shone. 12. Euphrosyne. Mirth. 29. Hebe. The goddess of youth. 146. 45. Then to come in spite of sorrow. The passage has been much disputed about. The interpretation which seems most satisfactory is that L'Allegro finds pleasure in hearing the song of the lark in the early morning, and then in coming to the window to look out through sweet briar and eglantine, to bid good morrow to the new day. 67. Tells his tale. Counts his sheep. Persons who are 125. Hymen. The god of marriage. 147. 145. Orpheus. According to the Greek myths, Orpheus was the most wonderful of all human musicians. Pluto consented to let Eurydice return with her husband to the earth, but Orpheus, by looking back to be sure she was following, broke the terms of his agreement with Pluto. and Eurydice remained in Hades. Hence the phrase," half-regained." IL PENSEROSO 10. Morpheus. The god of sleep. 18. Prince Memnon's sister. Memnon was a handsome king of the Ethiopians, according to Homer. Milton here assumes 88. Thrice-great Hermes. Hermes Trismegistus, a learned Egyptian. 99. Thebes ... Pelops' line . . . Troy. All subjects of Greek tragic poetry. IOI. The reference here may be to Shakespeare's tragedies. 102. Buskined. The buskin was the high-heeled boot worn by actors in classical tragedy; opposed to the sock of L'Allegro, l. 132. 104. Musæus. A mythical Greek poet, sometimes called the son of Orpheus. 109. Him that left half-told. The reference is to Chaucer, who left his Squire's Tale unfinished. 120. Where more is meant than meets the ear. Where there is an allegorical meaning. Milton probably had Spenser's Faerie Queene in mind. 122. Civil-suited. Soberly dressed, like a citizen. 124. Attic boy. Cephalus, whom Aurora loved. 134. Sylvan. Sylvanus, one of the woodland deities. 148. His wings. Sleep's wings. 158. Massy proof. Able to support the weight resting on them. 159. Storied. With Biblical stories in stained glass. LYCIDAS Lycidas. A pastoral name, taken from classical poetry. A learned friend. Edward King, a fellow student with Milton at Christ's College, Cambridge. 1. Yet once more. Milton is taking up the writing of poetry after a lapse of a few years since the time Comus was written. 149. 15. Sisters of the sacred well. The Muses; the Pierian spring, on Mount Helicon. 23. Nursed upon the self-same hill. Attended the same university. Milton adopts the poetical convention of representing his characters as shepherds. 36. Damætas. The reference is possibly to Milton's college tutor. 54. Mona. The island of Anglesey. 55. Deva. The river Dee. 58. The Muse. Calliope. 62. His gory visage. Orpheus was slain by Thracian women, and his head cast into the river Hebrus. 149. 65. Shepherd's trade. The art of poetry. 68. Amaryllis ... Neæra. Conventional pastoral names for women. 75. Blind Fury. Atropos, not one of the Furies, but the Fate who cuts the thread of life. 150. 77. Phœbus. The god of poetry. 79. Glistering foil. Glittering tinsel; gold leaf. 85. Arethuse. Arethusa, a Sicilian spring, symbolic of Greek pastoral poetry. 86. Mincius. A stream in Italy, near which Virgil was born. Vocal. Used for shepherds' pipes. 88. Oat. Oaten pipe; symbolic of pas toral verse. of Neptune, comes "in Neptune's plea "; 96. Hippotades. Æolus, god of the winds. 104. Sedge. Coarse grass and reeds along 106. That sanguine flower. The hyacinth, 115. The fold. The church. 119. Blind mouths. For an excellent exposition of the phrase cf. Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies. 126. Wind and rank mist. False teachings of the unprincipled clergy. 128. The grim wolf. The Roman Catho- 130. Two-handed engine. Milton has in 151. 149. Amaranthus. The amaranth, symbolic of immortality. 151. Laureate. Crowned with laurel. 158. The monstrous world. The ocean, abode of monsters. 160. Bellerus. The Latin name for 161. The guarded mount. St. Michael's 184. In thy large recompense. ward. As a re 189. His Doric lay. His pastoral song. 158. 288. The Tuscan artist. Galileo, whom Milton met while travelling in Italy. 289. Fesole. Fiesole, a hill near Florence. 290. Valdarno. The valley of the Arno. 303. Vallombrosa. Near Florence, in Tuscany, the ancient Etruria. 305. Orion. The constellation Orion, or the Huntsman, supposed to bring foul weather. 307. Busiris. Here meaning the Pharaoh of the exodus. Memphian. Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt. 309. Goshen. The portion of Egypt in which the Jews resided before the exodus. 159. 341. Warping. Usually explained as flying with a bending motion, twisting from side to side. Perhaps, however, it describes a progress by short stages, instead of continuous flight, as a ship is warped into harbor: the locusts advance a short distance, then settle down, and after devouring everything green, fly on to the next vegetation, and so on. 351. A multitude like which the populous north. Referring to the various invasions of the Roman Empire by the barbarians" from the north. 392. Moloch. Human sacrifice, particularly of children, played an important part in the worship of Moloch. 397-9. Rabba. The capital of Ammon. Argob, Basan, Arnon. The first two, districts east of Palestine; the third, a river emptying into the Dead Sea from the east. Heaven Chaos Before the fall of the Angels Heaven Chaos Hell After the fall of the Angels Heaven The World Chaos Hell After the creation of the World |
