[895.] That ... strays. Milton does not imply that these stones were found in the Severn, nor does he in lines [932-937] imply that cinnamon grows on its banks.
[897.] printless feet. Comp. Temp. v. i. 34: “Ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune”; also Arc. 85: “Where no print of step hath been.”
[902.] It will be noticed that the Spirit takes up the rhymes of Sabrina’s song (‘here,’ ‘dear’; ‘request,’ ‘distressed’), and again Sabrina continues the rhymes of the Spirit’s song (‘distressed,’ ‘best’).
[913.] of precious cure, of curative power. See [note] on this use of ‘of,’ l. 155.
[914.] References to the efficacy of sprinkling are frequent, e.g. in the English Bible, in Spenser, in Virgil (Aen. vi. 229), in Ovid (Met. iv. 479), in Par. Lost, xi. 416.
[916.] Next: an adverb modifying ‘touch.’
[917.] glutinous, sticky, viscous. The epithet is transferred from the effect to the cause.
[921.] Amphitrite: the wife of Neptune (Poseidon) and goddess of the Sea.
[923.] Anchises line: see [note], l. 827. Locrine was the son of Brutus, who was the son of Silvius, who was the grandson of the great Aeneas, who was the son of old Anchises.
[924.] may ... miss. This verb is optative: so are ‘(may) scorch,’ ‘(may) fill,’ ‘may roll,’ and ‘may be crowned.’