193. ~engaged~, committed: this use of the word may be compared with that
in _Hamlet_, iii. 3. 69, "Art more _engaged_" (= bound or entangled). To
_engage_ is to bind by a _gage_ or pledge.
195. ~stole~, stolen. This use of the past form for the participle is
frequent in Elizabethan English. ~Else~, etc. The meaning is: 'The envious
darkness must have stolen my brothers, _otherwise_ why should night hide
the light of the stars?' The clause 'but for some felonious end' is
therefore to some extent tautological.
197. ~dark lantern~. The stars by a far-fetched metaphor are said to be
concealed, though not extinguished, just as the light of a dark lantern
is shut off by a slide. Comp. More; "Vice is like a _dark lanthorn_,
which turns its bright side only to him that bears it."