"So _glozed_ the temper, and his proem tuned:
Into the heart of Eve his words made way."
_Gloze_ is from the old word _glose_, a gloss or explanation (Gr.
_glossa_, the tongue): hence also glossary, glossology, etc. Trench, in
his lecture on the Morality of Words, points out how often fair names
are given to ugly things: it is in this way that a word which merely
denoted an explanation has come to denote a false explanation, an
endeavour to deceive. The word has no connection with _gloss_ =
brightness.
162. ~Baited~, rendered attractive. Radically _bait_ is the causative of
_bite_; hence a trap is said to be baited. Comp. _Sams. Ag._ 1066, "The
_bait_ of honied words."
163. ~wind me~, etc. The verbs _wind_ (_i.e._ coil) and _hug_ suggest the
cunning of the serpent. The easy-hearted man is the person whose heart
or mind is easily overcome: 'man' is here used generically. Burton, in
_Anat. of Mel._, says: "The devil, being a slender incomprehensible
spirit, can easily insinuate and _wind_ himself into human bodies."
_Me_ is here used reflexively: see note, l. 61. This is not the ethic
dative.
165. ~virtue~, _i.e._ power or influence (Lat. _virtus_). This radical
sense is still found in the phrase 'by virtue of' = by the power of. The
adjective _virtuous_ is now used only of moral excellence: in line 621
it has its older meaning.
166. The reading of the text is that of the editions of 1637 and 1645.
In the edition of 1673 the reading was:
"I shall appear some harmless villager,
And hearken, if I may, her business here.
But here she comes, I fairly step aside."
But in the errata there was a direction to omit the comma after _may_,
and to change _here_ into _hear_. In Masson's text, accordingly, he
reads: "And hearken, if I may her business hear."
167. ~keeps up~, etc., _i.e._ keeps occupied with his country affairs even
up to a late hour. _Gear_: its original sense is 'preparation' (A.S.
_gearu_, ready); hence 'business' or 'property.' Comp. Spenser, _F. Q._
vi. 3. 6, "That to Sir Calidore was _easy gear_," _i.e._ an easy matter,
fairly, softly. _Fair_ and _softly_ were two words which went together,
signifying _gently_ (Warton).
170. ~mine ear ... My best guide~. Observe the juxtaposition of _mine_ and
_my_ in these lines. _Mine_ is frequent before a vowel, especially when
the possessive adjective is not emphatic. In Shakespeare 'mine' is
almost always found before "eye," "ear," etc., where no emphasis is
intended (Abbott, § 237).
171. ~Methought~, _i.e._ it seemed to me. In the verb 'methinks' _me_ is
the dative, and _thinks_ is an impersonal verb (A.S. _thincan_, to
appear), quite distinct from the causal verb 'I think,' which is from
A.S. _thencan_, to make to appear.
173. ~jocund~, merry. Comp. _L'Allegro_, 94, "the _jocund_ rebecks sound."
~gamesome~, lively. This word, like many other adjectives in _-some_, is
now less common than it was in Elizabethan English: many such adjectives
are obsolete, _e.g._ laboursome, joysome, quietsome, etc. (see Trench's
_English, Past and Present_, v.).