[ [154] 105. Gossip originally meant a sponsor at baptism (God-sib), then a boon companion, and finally a tattler.
[ [155] 115. Holy loom. [See Introductory Note.]
[ [156] 120. Witch's sieve. This refers to the superstition that witches could hold water in sieves and could sail in them. Cf. Macbeth, I. 3. 1, 8:—
"But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do."
[ [157] 126. Mickle; much.
[ [158] 135. Lap.
"Madeline is asleep in her bed; but she is also asleep in accordance with the legends of the season; and therefore the bed becomes their lap as well as sleep's."
—Leigh Hunt.
[ [159] 138. How make purple riot in his heart?
[ [160] 171. Merlin was the sorcerer in Arthur's court. Vivien succeeded in getting from him a secret by which she shut him up in a hollow tree. See Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien. Malory has another version of the story.