l. [140]. Hot Egypt's pest, the plague of Egypt.
ll. [145-52]. As in Lycidas Milton apologizes for the introduction of his attack on the Church, so Keats apologizes for the introduction of this outburst of indignation against cruel and dishonourable dealers, which he feels is unsuited to the tender and pitiful story.
l. [150]. ghittern, an instrument like a guitar, strung with wire.
[Page 59]. ll. [153-60]. Keats wants to make it clear that he is not trying to surpass Boccaccio, but to give him currency amongst English-speaking people.
l. [159]. stead thee, do thee service.
l. [168]. olive-trees. In which (through the oil they yield) a great part of the wealth of the Italians lies.
[Page 60]. l. [174]. Cut . . . bone. This is not only a vivid way of describing the banishment of all their natural pity. It also, by the metaphor used, gives us a sort of premonitory shudder as at Lorenzo's death. Indeed, in that moment the murder is, to all intents and purposes, done. In stanza xxvii they are described as riding 'with their murder'd man'.
[Page 61]. ll. [187-8]. ere . . . eglantine. The sun, drying up the dew drop by drop from the sweet-briar is pictured as passing beads along a string, as the Roman Catholics do when they say their prayers.
[Page 62]. l. [209]. their . . . man. Cf. l. 174, [note]. Notice the extraordinary vividness of the picture here—the quiet rural scene and the intrusion of human passion with the reflection in the clear water of the pale murderers, sick with suspense, and the unsuspecting victim, full of glowing life.
l. [212]. bream, a kind of fish found in lakes and deep water. Obviously Keats was not an angler.