[Page 92]. ll. [155-6]. churchyard . . . toll. Unconscious prophecy. Cf. The Bedesman, l. 22.
l. [168]. While . . . coverlet. All the wonders of Madeline's imagination.
l. [171]. Since Merlin . . . debt. Referring to the old legend that Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism. Thus his 'debt' to the demon was his existence, which he paid when Vivien compassed his destruction by means of a spell which he had taught her. Keats refers to the storm which is said to have raged that night, which Tennyson also describes in Merlin and Vivien. The source whence the story came to Keats has not been ascertained.
[Page 93]. l. [173]. cates, provisions. Cf. Taming of the Shrew, ii. i. 187:—
Kate of Kate Hall—my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all cates.
We still use the verb 'to cater' as in l. [177].
l. [174]. tambour frame, embroidery-frame.
l. [185]. espied, spying. Dim, because it would be from a dark corner; also the spy would be but dimly visible to her old eyes.