"Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind."
The word in this and similar passages is generally printed "'point" by modern editors, but it is not a contraction of appoint.
860. Then plunged, etc. The MS. has "He spoke, and plunged into the tide."
862. Steered him. See on i. 142 above.
865, 866. Darkening... gave. In the 1st ed. these lines are joined to what precedes, as they evidently should be; in all the more recent eds. they are joined to what follows.
Canto Third.
3. Store. See on i. 548 above.
5. That be. in old English, besides the present tense am, etc., there was also this form be, from the Anglo-Saxon beon. The 2d person singular was beest. The 1st and 3d person plural be is often found in Shakespeare and the Bible.
10. Yet live there still, etc. See on ii. 692 above.