808. ~canon laws of our foundation~, _i.e._ the established rules of our
society. "A humorous application of the language of universities and
other foundations" (Keightley).
809. ~'tis but the lees~, etc. _Lees_ and _settlings_ are synonymous =
dregs. The allusion is to the old physiological system of the four
primary humours of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy
(see Burton's _Anat. of Mel._ i. 1, § ii. 2): "Melancholy, cold and dry,
thick, black, and sour, begotten of the more feculent part of
nourishment, and purged from the spleen"; Gk. +melancholia+, black bile.
See _Sams. Agon._ 600, "_humours black_ That mingle with thy fancy";
and Nash's _Terrors of the Night_ (1594): "(Melancholy) sinketh down to
the bottom like the lees of the wine, corrupteth the blood, and is the
cause of lunacy."
811. ~straight~, immediately. The adverb _straight_ is now chiefly used of
direction; to indicate time _straightway_ (= in a straight way) is more
usual: comp. _L'Alleg._ 69: "Straight mine eye hath caught new
pleasures."
814. ~scape~, a mutilated form of 'escape,' occurs both as a noun and a
verb in Shakespeare and Milton: see _Par. Lost_, x. 5, "what can _scape_
the eye of God?"; _Par. Reg._ ii. 189, "then lay'st thy _scapes_ on
names adored."
816. ~without his rod reversed~. This use of the participle is a Latinism:
see note, l. 48. At the same time it is to be noted that a phrase of
this kind introduced by 'without' is in Latin frequently rendered by the
ablative absolute: such construction is here inadmissible because
'without' also governs 'mutters.'
817. ~backward mutters~. The notion of a counter-charm produced by
reversing the magical wand and by repeating the charm backwards occurs
in Ovid (_Met._ xiv. 300), who describes Circe as thus restoring the
followers of Ulysses to their human forms. Milton skilfully makes the
neglect of the counter-charm the occasion for introducing the legend of
Sabrina, which was likely to interest an audience assembled in the
neighbourhood of the River Severn. On 'mutters,' see note, l. 526.
820. ~bethink me~. The pronoun after this verb is reflexive. "The
deliverance of their sister would be impossible but for supernatural
interposition, the aid afforded by the Attendant Spirit from Jove's
court. In other words, Divine Providence is asserted. Not without higher
than human aid is the Lady rescued, and through the weakness of the
mortal instruments of divine grace but half the intended work is
accomplished." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.
821. In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separated
from the antecedent: see note, l. 2.
822. ~Meliboeus~. The name of a shepherd in Virgil's _Eclogue_ i.
Possibly the poet Spenser is here meant, as the tale of Sabrina is given
in the _Faerie Queene_, ii. 10, 14. The tale is also told by Geoffrey of
Monmouth and by Sackville, Drayton and Warner. As Milton refers to a
'shepherd,' _i.e._ a poet, and to 'the soothest shepherd,' _i.e._ the
truest poet, and as he follows Spenser's version of the story in this
poem, we need not hesitate to identify Meliboeus with Spenser.
823. ~soothest~, truest. The A.S. _sóth_ meant _true_; hence also 'a true
thing' = truth. It survives in _soothe_ (lit. to affirm to be true),
_soothsay_ (see l. 874), and _forsooth_ (= for a truth).
824. ~from hence~. _Hence_ represents an A.S. word _heonan_, _-an_ being
a suffix = from: so that in the phrase 'from hence' the force of the
preposition is twice introduced. Yet the idiom is common: it arises from
forgetfulness of the origin of the word. Comp. _Arc._ 3: "which _we from
hence_ descry."
825. ~with moist curb sways~: comp. l. 18. Sabrina was a _numen fluminis_
or river-deity.
826. ~Sabrina~: The following is Milton's version of the legend:--"After
this, Brutus, in a chosen place, builds Troja Nova, changed in time to
Trinovantum, now London; and began to enact laws (Heli being then High
Priest in Judea); and, having governed the whole isle twenty-four years,
died, and was buried in his new Troy. His three sons--Locrine, Albanact,
and Camber--divide the land by consent. Locrine had the middle part,
Loëgria; Camber possessed Cambria or Wales; Albanact, Albania, now
Scotland. But he, in the end, by Humber, King of the Huns, who, with a
fleet, invaded that land, was slain in fight, and his people driven back
into Loëgria. Locrine and his brother go out against Humber; who now
marching onward was by them defeated, and in a river drowned, which to
this day retains his name. Among the spoils of his camp and navy were
found certain young maids, and Estrilidis, above the rest, passing fair,
the daughter of a king in Germany, from whence Humber, as he went wasting
the sea-coast, had led her captive; whom Locrine, though before
contracted to the daughter of Corineus, resolves to marry. But being
forced and threatened by Corineus, whose authority and power he feared,
Gwendolen the daughter he yields to marry, but in secret loves the other;
and, ofttimes retiring as to some sacrifice, through vaults and passages
made underground, and seven years thus enjoying her, had by her a
daughter equally fair, whose name was Sabra. But when once his fear was
off by the death of Corineus, not content with secret enjoyment,
divorcing Gwendolen, he makes Estrilidis his Queen. Gwendolen, all in
rage, departs into Cornwall; where Pladan, the son she had by Locrine,
was hitherto brought up by Corineus, his grandfather; and gathering an
army of her father's friends and subjects, gives battle to her husband by
the river Sture, wherein Locrine, shot with an arrow, ends his life. But
not so ends the fury of Gwendolen, for Estrilidis and her daughter Sabra
she throws into a river, and, to have a monument of revenge, proclaims
that the stream be thenceforth called after the damsel's name, which by
length of time is changed now to _Sabrina_ or Severn."--_History of
Britain_ (1670).
827. ~Whilom~, of old. An obsolete word, lit. 'at time'; A.S. _hwílum_,
instr. or dat. plur. of _hwil_, time.
830. ~step-dame~. For the actual relationship, see note, l. 826. The
prefix _step_ (A.S. _steóp-_) means 'orphaned,' and applies properly to
a child whose parent has re-married: it was afterwards used in the words
'step-father,' etc. _Dame_ (Fr. _dame_, a lady) retains the sense of
mother in the form _dam_.