An Introduction to the Prose and Poetical Works of John Milton / Comprising All the Autobiographic Passages in His Works, the More Explicit Presentations of His Ideas of True Liberty.

by John Milton

[332]. wont'st: art accustomed; benison: blessing.

[333]. stoop: the same idea, or impression, rather, in regard to the moon, is expressed in 'Il Penseroso,' 72:

'And oft, as if her head she bowed,

Stooping through a fleecy cloud.'

'And those thin clouds above, in flakes and bars,

That give away their motion to the stars.'

—Coleridge's Dejection: an Ode.

[336]. influence: (astrological) the effect flowing in, or upon, from the stars. See 'P. L.,' vii. 375, viii. 513, ix. 107, x. 662; 'L'Al.,' 122; 'Od. Nat.,' 71.

[340]. rule: long horizontal beam of light.

[341]. Star of Arcady: the constellation of the Greater Bear, by which, or by some star in which, the Greek mariner steered his course.