187. ~kind hospitable woods~: an instance of the pathetic fallacy which
attributes to inanimate objects the feelings of men: comp. ll. 194, 195.
_As_ in this line (after _such_) has the force of a relative pronoun.
188. ~grey-hooded Even~. Comp. "sandals grey," _Lyc._ 187; "civil-suited,"
_Il Pens._ 122; both applied to morning.
189. ~a sad votarist~, etc. A votarist is one who is bound by a vow (Lat.
_votum_): the current form is _votary_, applied in a general sense to
one _devoted_ to an object, _e.g._ a votary of science. In the present
case, the votarist is a _palmer_, _i.e._ a pilgrim who carried a
palm-branch in token of his having been to Palestine. Such would
naturally wear sober-coloured or homely garments: comp. Drayton, "a
palmer poor in homely russet clad." In _Par. Reg._ xiv. 426, Morning is
a pilgrim clad in "amice grey." On ~weed~, see note, l. 16.
190. ~hindmost wheels~: comp. l. 95: "If this fine image is optically
realised, what we see is Evening succeeding Day as the figure of a
venerable grey-hooded mendicant might slowly follow the wheels of some
rich man's chariot" (Masson).