l. [92]. Miltonic construction and phraseology.
[Page 9]. l. [98]. weary tendrils, tired with holding up the boughs, heavy with fruit.
l. [103]. Silenus, the nurse and teacher of Bacchus—a demigod of the woods.
[Page 10]. l. [115]. Circean. Circe was the great enchantress who turned the followers of Ulysses into swine. Cf. Comus, ll. 46-54, and Odyssey, x.
[Page 11]. l. [132]. swoon'd serpent. Evidently, in the exercise of her magic, power had gone out of her.
l. [133]. lythe, quick-acting.
Caducean charm. Caduceus was the name of Hermes' staff of wondrous powers, the touch of which, evidently, was powerful to give the serpent human form.
l. [136]. like a moon in wane. Cf. the picture of Cynthia, Endymion, iii. 72 sq.
l. [138]. like a flower . . . hour. Perhaps a reminiscence of Milton's 'at shut of evening flowers.' Paradise Lost, ix. 278.