—Paradise Lost, VIII, 512.
[17.] For. Notwithstanding.
[18.] Lucifer. The morning star. The idea of Lucifer appearing to warn the stars of the approach of the sun is a happy figure. See note 7, page [80].
[19.] axle-tree. Axis. Tree in O. E. is used to signify beam. We still have single-tree, double-tree, whiffle-tree, etc. Compare "Comus," 95:
"The gilded car of day
His glowing axle doth allay."
[20.] lawn. Used in its original sense of a pasture, or open, grassy space. Formerly laund. Similarly we have lane, an open passage between houses or fields.
[21.] Or ere. Or is here used in its old sense, meaning before, from A.-S. ær. Ere = e'er, ever. Compare Ecclesiastes xii. 6: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed." Also "King Lear," Act ii, sc. 4:
"But this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I'll weep."
[22.] Pan. See note, page [72]. The application of the name Pan to Christ is evidently derived from Spenser. See "Shepheards Calendar," July:
"And such, I ween, the brethren were
That came from Canaän,
The brethren Twelve, that kept yfere
The flocks of mightie Pan."