58 Cowlists] Nothing to do (as I at first thought) with Cowley's early vogue, but one of Whiting's coinages, and frequently repeated infra, for 'monk'. Cf. l. 1945.
79-80 entitle—stifle] One of those assonances which we have seen frequently in Marmion, and which were among the rather too numerous licences of mid-seventeenth century prosody.
88 'crystals' = eyes.
100 deck] = 'pack' as with cards.
102 Whether 'L.' stands merely for 'Love', or whether the 'Signora Inconstanza' &c. bore the initial, or what else it means, one cannot say. Let us hope that Whiting's 'L.' wore better than Sterne's.
Mart. Lib. 4] This epigram, the 86th of the Book, is partly compressed, and the three final lines are different from those of the usual texts, which run:
Si damnaverit, ad salariorum
Curras scrinia protinus licebit,
Inversa pueris arande charta.
But I suppose Whiting did not choose to use evil words.