rounded ends of which the wheels of a carriage revolve,' being replaced in its other significations by 'axle' or axis.' Axle does not occur in Old English at all, but has been taken from the 13th cent. compound axle-tree = ax-tree (O.E. eax, axle; treow = beain, as in roof-tree, saddle-tree, door-tree, boot-tree, etc.). 85. shepherds: see Luke, ii. 8. lawn: see note, L'Alleg. 71, and comp. Par. Lost, iv. 252, "lawns or level downs." = = 86. Or ere. 'Or' ere before: about this there is no dispute, the use of or for ere (A.S. aer) being common enough; comp. Psalm xc. 2; Hamlet, i. 2. 183; Temp. i. 2. 11, etc. But it is disputed whether 'ere' in the combination 'or ere' is (1) a corruption of e'er = ever, so that 'or ere' = before ever; or (2) the prepositionere' before, so that 'or ere' ere ere = before before (a reduplication due to the meaning of or having nearly or altogether died out). The latter is the view favoured by Skeat, who regards such a phrase as 'or ever' as due to a confusion of ere with e'er. The former is adopted by Prof. Hales on the ground that ere, on the analogy of such phrases as 'ere twice' (M. for M. iv. 3. 92), 'ere yet' (Par. Lost, x. 584), is clearly adverbial and modifies a clause: in the text 'or ere the point of dawn' is, therefore, equivalent to 'Before ever the point of dawn (had come). To this explanation there are few objections except that in Early English we have before er,' 'before or,' where the second word can hardly be a corruption of ever, and that it is more likely that ever should replace ere than vice versa. See Abbott, § 131. point of dawn. This is the French point de jour: comp. Genesis, xxv. 32, "at the point to die"; Davies' Immor. of Soul, "when time's first point began.' 88. than, then. Than and then are radically the same word: usage has differentiated them. The 89. mighty Pan. Pan being the god of flocks and shepherds among the Greeks, and Christ being spoken of in Scripture as 'the Good Shepherd' (John, x. 11, Heb. xiii. 20), Milton here follows Spenser in speaking of Christ as the true Pan-the true God of shepherds. See Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar, May, 54: "When great Pan account of shepherds shall ask," with the Gloss: Great Pan is Christ, the very God of all shepheards which calleth himselfe the greate, and good shepheard. name is most rightly (methinkes) applyed to Him; for Pan signifieth all, or omnipotent, which is onely the Lord Jesus. And by that name (as I remember) he is called of Eusebius, in his fifte book De Preparat. Evang., who thereof telleth a proper storye to that purpose. Which story is first recorded of Plutarch, in his booke of the ceasing of Oracles; and of Lavetere translated, in his booke of walking sprightes; who sayth, that about the same time that our Lord suffered His most bitter passion, for the redemption of man, certain passengers sayling from Italy to Cyprus, and passing by certaine Iles called Paxae, heard a voyce calling alowde Thamus, Thamus! (now Thamus was the name of an Ægyptian, which was Pilote of the ship) who, giving care to the cry, was bidden, when he came to Palodes, to tel that the great Pan was dead : which he doubting to doe, yet for that when he came to Palodes, there sodeinly was such a calme of winde, that the shippe stoode still in the sea unmoved, he was forced to cry alowd that Pan was dead; wherewithall there was heard suche piteous outcryes and dreadfull shriking, as hath not bene the like. By whych Pan, though of some be understoode the great Satanas, whose kingdome at that time was by Christ conquered, the gates of hell broken up, and death by death delivered to eternal death (for at that time, as he sayth, all Oracles surceased, and enchaunted spirits, that were wont to delude the people, thenceforth held theyr peace :) and also at the demaund of the Emperoure Tiberius, who that Pan should be, answere was made him by the wisest and best learned, that it was the sonne of Mercurie and Penelope; yet I thinke it more properly meant of the death of Christ, the onely and very Pan then suffering for his flock." Mrs. Browning has a poem entitled "The Dead Pan," which is founded on the same tradition. Comp. Cowley's lines : "And though Pan's death long since all or'cles broke, 90. Was... come: see note, Lycidas, 97. With some intransitive verbs of motion (e.g. to go, come, arrive, enter), either of the auxiliaries be and have is used; in Elizabethan writers both forms are common thus I am arrived' expresses my present state, while I have arrived' expresses the activity which preceded the present state. This distinction of meaning is not now strictly observed, and the auxiliary have is in general use. 92. Was. The verb is singular because their loves' and 'their sheep' each form a single subject or topic of conversation. silly thoughts, simple thoughts. This is evidently suggested by Spenser's H. of Heavenly Love: "When Him the silly Shepherds came to see, Whom greatest Princes sought on lowest knee." On the changes of meaning undergone by many words which first signified goodness, and finally foolishness, see Trench's Study of Words, and Select Glossary: "silly' (the same as German selig) has successively meant (1) blissful (so the Prompt. Parv.), (2) innocent, (3) harmless, (4) weakly foolish. 'O sely woman, full of innocence,' Chaucer, Legend of Fair Women, 1252." The M. E. form was sely; A.S. sælig or gesælig, happy. Comp. No. XLVII., 1. 9. 93. such as see note, L'Alleg. 29. 95. strook, produced. Milton uses three forms of the parti ciple-strook (Com, 301, Par. Lost, ii. 165, vi. 863, x. 413, xi. 264, Par. Reg. iv. 576), struck (Sams. Agon. 1686), strucken (Par. Lost, ix. 1064), his choice being determined by the demands of rhyme and rhythm. There is also a form stricken. "To strike music' is, of course, applicable to stringed instruments: comp. Alexander's Feast, 99; Collins' Ode on The Passions, 23. 96. Divinely-warbled voice. As in warbled string' (Arcades, 87) 'warbled' may be taken in an active sense = warbling, or passively made to warble or trill. The perfect participle frequently occurs in Elizabethan English in this sense: comp. Sams. Agon. 119, languished' = languishing; ib. 186, festered' = festering; Par. Lost, iv. 699, 'flourished' = = flourishing. 97. stringéd noise, i.e. the music of the heavenly harps (see No. LXIII., 1. 13). On this sense of 'noise,' see note, Il Pens. 61, and comp. "God is gone up with a merry noise," Book of Common Prayer, Psalms, xlvii. 5; one noise (i.e. company) of fiddlers," Ben Jonson's Epicone; "that melodious noise," No. LXIII., 1. 18; also F. Q. i. 12. 39. 66 98. As such as or as (which).' in blissful rapture took. On this use of 'take'-charm, captivate, compare note on 'taketh,' No. xxxvI., 1. 6: and see Comus, 558: "Silence was took ere she was ware." On 'rapture,' see note, Il Pens. 46. 99. loth, reluctant. The same as 'loath' (M.E. loth: A.S. láth, hateful). That which we are loath to do is loathsome or loathly (Temp. iv. 1; 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4). 100. thousand: see Abbott, § 87. close. Here used in its technical sense the final cadence of a piece of music: Rich. II. ii. 1. 12, and Com. 548; also Dryden's Fables, "At every close she made, the attending throng Reply'd." Curiously enough Dryden also has close in the sense of beginning: "In the close of night Philomel begins her heavenly lay," the close of day being the beginning of night. 101. Nature: nom. to 'was' (line 104). 102. hallow.. seat. Either implying that the Moon is a hollow shell or that the sound fills the vault of heaven in which the Moon is placed. 103. Cynthia's: see notes, No. XVIII. ; and Il Pens. 59. aery region comp. Com. 231, "thy airy shell" the atmosphere. thrilling: attributive to 'sound,' 1. 101 = warbling, or perhaps with some reference to its radical sense of piercing (comp. nostril). 104. won, persuaded. In this sense followed by an infinitive: comp. Par. Lost, xii. 502, "They win great numbers to receive With joy the tidings." 106. its. One of the three instances of the occurrence of the word its in Milton's poetry (the other two being in Par. Lost, i. 254, iv. $13): see notes, Il Pens. 128, and line 139 of this poem. 107. alone, by itself. Nature was therefore no longer required. The meaning is not 'and no other,' for Nature had hitherto done so. 108. in happier union. The sense is compressed: She knew that such harmony as was now heard could by itself hold all heaven and earth in union'; and further, 'She knew that this anion would be happier than that produced by Nature,' viz. the harmony of the spheres. Comp. Arcades, 71. 109. surrounds, encompasses. Milton is said to be the first author of note who used the word in this current sense, which it has acquired through a supposed connection with round. speare does not use it. Its original sense is 'to overflow' (Lat. super-undare). = Shake their sight them seeing: see note, Lyc. 184; and comp. Ham. v. 1. 286. 110. globe of circular light. Put, by hypallage, for a circular globe (or body) of light.' For this use of globe comp. Par. Lost, 312, "a globe of fiery seraphim"; so that the phrase 'circular globe' is not necessarily redundant. Milton's language regarding gures, e.g. circle, wheel, globe, orb, cube, sphere, etc., is somewhat confusing: see Sams. Agon. 172 ('sphere'= circle); Par. Lost, v. 593 (orb' = circle); ib. vi. 552 (‘cube ' = square) ; etc. Comp. Marsh's Lect. on Eng. Lang. xxvi. 111. with long beams array'd: clothed the modest night with its long rays. Comp. Comus, 340, "long-levelled rule of streaming light": Sams. Agon. 549, "Heaven's fiery rod." shamefaced: corrupted from shame-fast; comp. F. Q. iv. 10. 50, shamefastness." The termination fast firm: see notes, Il Rs. 32, and line 70, above. 112. helméd, helmeted (A.S. helm, that which protects: helmet as a dimin.). Cherubim... Seraphim: Hebrew plurals; the English ble has the irregular double plural cherubims (Gen. iii. 24; Arod. xxv. 18). Shakespeare has cherubim as a singular (Othello, . 2. 63) and Dryden cherubin. When the word cherub is applied a beautiful child, the plural now current is cherubs: cherubim or cherubims being used of celestial spirits only. For other words with their original plural and an English plural both in wse, see Morris, Eng. Accidence § 84; beau, focus, appendix, Formula, etc. Comp. At a Solemn Music, 10, 12. 114. display'd. Comp. Il Pens. 149. 116. unexpressive: see notes, Lycidas, 176, 64; and comp. As You Like It, iii. 2. 28, "The fair, the chaste and unexpressive 117. Such music. Warton refers to Par. Lost, vii. 558 et seq. 119. The allusions to the sons of the morning' and the creation of earth, sea, and sky are explained by Job xxxviii. 4-11, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.' See also Isaiah xiv. 12. : sung, sang. See note on 'sunk,' Lyc. 102. 122. well-balanced world: comp. Par. Lost, iv. 1000, "The pendulous round Earth with balanced air In counterpoise," hinges comp. Par. Reg. iv. 413, "From the four hinges of the world. A hinge is strictly that upon which anything hangs. 123. cast, laid (Lat. jacere): comp. 2 Kings, xix. 32, and P.L. vi. 869. 124. weltering: see note, Lyc. 13. oozy see note, Lyc. 175; and comp. Par. Lost, vii. 303, Vac. Ex., 92, Tempest, i. 2. 252. 125. Ring out, ye crystal spheres. Milton's references to the music of the spheres are numerous: comp. Arcades, 62: "Then listen I To the celestial Siren's harmony, That sit upon the nine infolded spheres," etc. Also Comus, 112, "the starry quire"; ib. 243, “give resounding grace to all Heavens harmonies"; ib. 1021, "Higher than the sphery chime"; Par. Lost, v. 620, Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere Of planets and of fixed in all her wheels Resembles nearest, mazes intricate, Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular, Then most, when most irregular they seem; And in their motions harmony divine So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear Also No. LXIII., 1. 2, "Sphere-born harmonious Sisters, Voice and |
