[148.] Some virgin sure, sc. ‘it is.’
[150.] charms ... wily trains; i.e. spells ... cunning allurements. Charm is the Lat. carmen, a song, also used in the sense of ‘magic verses’; wily = full of wile (etymologically the same as guile). Train here denotes an artifice or snare as in ‘venereal trains’ (Sams. Agon. 533): “Oh, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note” (Com. of Errors, iii. 2. 45). See Index, Globe Shakespeare. Some would take ‘wily trains’ as = trains of wiles.
[151.] ere long: ere has here the force of a preposition; in A.S. it was an adverb as well = soon, but now it is used only as a conjunction or a preposition.
[153.] Thus I hurl, etc. “Conceive that at this moment of the performance the actor who personates Comus flings into the air, or makes a gesture as if flinging into the air, some powder, which, by a stage-device, is kindled so as to produce a flash of blue light. In the original draft among the Cambridge MSS. the phrase is powdered spells; but Milton, by a judicious change, concealing the mechanism of the stage-trick, substituted dazzling” (Masson).
[154.] dazzling. This implies both brightness and illusion. spells. A spell is properly a magical form of words (A.S. spel, a saying): here it refers to the whole enchantment employed. spongy air: so called because it holds in suspension the magic powder.
[155.] Of power to cheat ... and (to) give, etc. These lines are attributive to ‘spells.’ The preposition ‘of’ is thus used to denote a characteristic; thus ‘of power’ = powerful; comp. l. [677]. blear illusion; deception, that which deceives by blurring the vision. Shakespeare has ‘bleared thine eye’ = dimmed thy vision, deceived (Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120). Comp. “This may stand for a pretty superficial argument, to blear our eyes, and lull us asleep in security” (Sir W. Raleigh). Blur is another form of blear.
[156.] presentments, appearances. This word is to be distinguished from presentiment. A presentiment is a “fore-feeling” (Lat. praesentire): while a presentment is something presented (Lat. praesens, being before). Shakespeare, Ham. iii. 4. 54, has ‘presentment’ in the sense of picture. quaint habits, unfamiliar dress. Quaint is from Lat. cognitus, so that its primary sense is ‘known’ or ‘remarkable.’ In French it became coint, which was treated as if from Lat. comptus, neat; hence the word is frequent in the sense of neat, exact, or delicate. Its modern sense is ‘unusual’ or ‘odd.’
[158.] suspicious flight: flight due to suspicion of danger.
[160.] I, under fair pretence, etc.: ‘Under the mask of friendly intentions and with the plausible language of wheedling courtesy, I insinuate myself into the unsuspecting mind and ensnare it.’
[161.] glozing, flattering, wheedling. Compare Par. Lost, ix. 549,