175. ~granges~, granaries, barns (Lat. _granum_, grain). The word is now
applied to a farm-house with its outhouses.
176. ~Pan~, the god of everything connected with pastoral life: see _Arc._
106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were."
177. ~thank the gods amiss~. _Amiss_ stands for M.E. _on misse_ = in
error. "Perhaps there is a touch of Puritan rigour in this. The gods
should be thanked in solemn acts of devotion, and not by merry-making"
(Keightley). See Introduction.
178. ~swilled insolence~, etc., _i.e._ the drunken rudeness of those
carousing at this late hour. _Swill_: to swill is to drink greedily,
hence to drink like a pig. ~wassailers~; from 'wassail' [A.S. _waes hael_;
from _wes_, be thou, and _hál_, whole (modern English _hale_)], a form
of salutation, used in drinking one's health; and hence employed in the
sense of 'revelling' or 'carousing.' The 'wassail-bowl' here referred to
is the "spicy nutbrown ale" of _L'Allegro_, 100. In Scott's _Ivanhoe_,
the Friar drinks to the Black Knight with the words, "_Waes hale_, Sir
Sluggish Knight," the Knight replying "Drink _hale_, Holy Clerk."
180. ~inform ... feet~. Comp. _Sams. Agon._ 335: "hither hath _informed_
your younger _feet_." This use of 'inform' (= direct) is well
illustrated in Spenser's _F. Q._ vi. 6: "Which with sage counsel, when
they went astray, He could _enforme_, and then reduce aright."