[256] Miswritten 'strainest' in MS. G.
[257] 'heavenly' written and erased. G.
[258] Spelled here and elsewhere 'yu.' It may be noted here, that throughout these Poems, as with the Psalms, my rule has been to extend mere contraction-forms. The few left have a place for philological ends. A kind of flourish at the end of a number of words, I was disposed to regard as intended to represent 's,' but instances occur in the MS. to show that it is a mere ornamental addition: and so I leave it unrepresented. G.
[259] Founthill or Fonthill in Wilts. See Prefatory Note to these hitherto unpublished MSS. G.
[260] Cf. Harleian MS. lines 'Of Tobacco' in Epigrams pp. 32-35, ante. G.
[261] Miswritten 'Honnour.' G.
[262] Cf. an Epigram 'Of Tobacco,' 36. The first edition thereof in its reading 'Hekens' is an obvious misprint, probably through Davies' ill writing. The reading here 'Nepen ye Hellens' in the MS. is a scribe's misreading of 'Nepenthe Hellen's'—he having taken the ending 'the' for the article. Both point to the true reading, 'Nepenthe Helen's drink.' It is impossible that a scholar like Davies could have supposed 'Nepenthe' to be the drink of the gods, and equally impossible that he could have thought it drink of the Hellenes. G.
[263] Rheum. G.
[264] The handwriting of the six preceding pieces seems to be the same. G.
[265] = freckled? G.