4 The love of Venus and her paramour 5 The fair Adonis, turned to a flower,
Adonis > (Son of Cintyras by his daughter Myrrha (see note at 101.9:6). Venus loved him, but while hunting he was wounded by a boar and died. The anemone sprang from his blood. Venus's grief was such that the gods of the lower world allowed him to spend six months of each year with her on earth. See Met. 10.519-559, 10.708-739; Myth. 5.16; and Shakespeare's poem, Venus and Adonis)
6 A work of rare device, and wondrous wit.
device > ingenuity wit > intelligence, skill
7 First did it show the bitter baleful stour
stour > tumult; distress
8 Which her assayed with many a fervent fit,
assayed > assailed; put to the test
9 When first her tender heart was with his beauty smitten.
301.35