834. ~pearled wrists~, wrists adorned with pearls. An appropriate epithet,
as pearls were said to exist in the waters of the Severn.
835. ~aged Nereus' hall~, the abode of old Nereus, _i.e._ the bottom of
the sea. Nereus, the father of the Nereids, or sea nymphs, is described
as the wise and unerring old man of the sea; in Virgil, _grandaevus
Nereus_. See also, l. 871, and compare Jonson's _Neptune's Triumph_,
last song: "Old Nereus, with his fifty girls, From aged Indus laden home
with pearls."
836. ~piteous of~, _i.e._ full of pity for; comp. Lat. _miseret te
aliorum_ (genitive). Milton occasionally uses the word in this passive
sense; its active sense is 'causing pity,' _i.e._ pitiful. Comp. Abbott,
§ 3. ~reared her lank head~, _i.e._ raised up her drooping head: comp.
_Par. Lost_, viii.: "In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss: he
_reared_ me." 'Lank,' lit. slender; hence weak. The adjective _lanky_ is
in common use = tall and thin.
837. ~imbathe~, to bathe in: the force of the preposition being
reduplicated, as in Lat. _incidere in_.
838. ~nectared lavers~, etc., baths sweetened with nectar and scented
with asphodel flowers. On 'nectar,' see note, l. 479. ~asphodel~; the
same, both name and thing, as 'daffodil' (see _Lyc._ 150, where it takes
the form 'daffadillies'): Gk. +asphodelos+, M.E. _affodille_. The
initial _d_ in daffodil has not been satisfactorily explained: see l.
851.
839. ~the porch~. So Quintilian calls the ear the vestibule of the mind:
comp. _Haml._ i. 5. 63: "the porches of mine ear"; also the phrase, "the
five gateways of knowledge."
840. ~ambrosial oils~, oils of heavenly fragrance: see note, l. 16, and
compare Virgil's use of _ambrosia_ in _Georg._ iv. 415, _liquidum
ambrosiae diffundit odorem_.