Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues away

Into the devious air.'

[212]. pretend they ne'er so wise: claim they to be never so wise; the idea of falseness is not in the word 'pretend' as in its present use.

[219]. The first I saw at Timna: Judges xiv.

[221]. The daughter of an infidel: Milton probably had his first wife, Mary Powell, in his mind, whose family was infidel to his own political creed.

[222]. motioned: proposed.

[223]. intimate: inward, inmost.

[228]. fond: foolish.

[229]. vale of Sorec: a valley (and stream) between Askelon and Gaza, not far from Zorah.—Judges xvi. 4.

[230]. specious: good appearing.