"Fret means primarily the rippling of the cloud—as sea by wind; secondarily, the breaking it asunder for light to come through. It implies a certain degree of vexation, some dissolution, much order, and extreme beauty. The reader should have seen 'Daybreak,' and think what is broken and by what. The cloud of night is broken up, by Day, which breaks out, breaks in, as from heaven to earth, with a breach in the cloud wall of it. The thing that the day breaks up is partly a garment rent, the blanket of the dark torn to be peeped through...."
[7] For the rhyme of after and daughter, cf. T. of S. i. 1. 245, 246, W.T. iv. 1. 27, 28, and Lear, i. 4. 341, 344.
[8] Praed alludes to this affection of the "salad days" of youth in The Belle of the Ball-room:—
"Through sunny May, through sultry June,
I loved her with a love eternal."
That is about the average span of its "eternity." In Romeo's case it did not last even two months, as we may infer from the fact (i. 1. 136) that his parents have not found out the cause of it, and from what his friends say about it.
Transcriber's notes:
Fixed various punctuation.
P.73. 'thorough the ear' is in another volume, keeping.