ll. [107 seq.] In Saturn's reign was the Golden Age.
[Page 152]. l. [125]. of ripe progress, near at hand.
l. [129]. metropolitan, around the chief city.
l. [131]. strings in hollow shells. The first stringed instruments were said to be made of tortoise-shells with strings stretched across.
[Page 153]. l. [145]. chaos. The confusion of elements from which the world was created. See Paradise Lost, i. 891-919.
l. [147]. rebel three. Jove, Neptune, and Pluto.
[Page 154]. l. [152]. covert. Cf. Isabella, l. [221]; Eve of St. Agnes, l. [188].
ll. [156-7]. All the dignity and majesty of the goddess is in this comparison.
[Page 155]. l. [171]. gloom-bird, the owl, whose cry is supposed to portend death. Cf. Milton's method of description, 'Not that fair field,' etc. Paradise Lost, iv. 268.
l. [172]. familiar visiting, ghostly apparition.