923. ~Anchises line~: see note, l. 827. Locrine was the son of Brutus, who
was the son of Silvius, who was the grandson of the great Aeneas, who
was the son of old Anchises.
924. ~may ... miss~. This verb is optative: so are '(may) scorch,' '(may)
fill,' 'may roll,' and 'may be crowned.'
925. ~brimmèd~. The passive participle is so often used where we now use
the active that 'brimmed' may mean 'brimming' = full to the brim. On the
other hand, 'brim' is frequent in the sense of _bank_ (comp. l. 119), so
that some regard 'brimmed' as = enclosed within banks.
928. ~singèd~, scorched. We should rather say 'scorching.' On the good
wishes expressed in lines 924-937 Masson's comment is: "The whole of
this poetic blessing on the Severn and its neighbourhood, involving the
wish of what we should call 'solid commercial prosperity,' would go to
the heart of the assemblage at Ludlow."
933. ~beryl~: in the Bible (_Rev._ xxi. 20) this precious stone forms one
of the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The word is of Eastern origin:
comp. Arab, _billaur_, crystal. ~golden ore~. As a matter of fact gold has
been found in the Welsh mountains.
934. ~May thy lofty head~, etc. The grammatical construction is: 'May
thy lofty head be crowned round with many a tower and terrace, and here
and there (may thy lofty head be crowned) with groves of myrrh and
cinnamon (growing) upon thy banks.' This makes 'banks' objective, and
'upon' a preposition: the only objection to this reading is that the
notion of crowning the head upon the banks is peculiar. The difficulty
vanishes when we recollect that Milton frequently connects two clauses
with one subject rather loosely: the subject of the second clause is
'thou,' implied in 'thy lofty head.' An exact parallel to this is found
in _L'Alleg._ 121, 122: 'whose bright eyes rain influence and _judge_
the prize'; also in _Il Pens._ 155-7; 'let my due feet never fail to
_walk ... and love_, etc.': also in _Lyc._ 88, 89. The explanation
adopted by Prof. Masson is that Milton had in view two Greek
verbs--+peristephanoô+, 'to put a crown round,' and +epistephanoô+, "to
put a crown upon": thus, "May thy lofty head be _crowned round_ with
many a tower and terrace, and thy banks here and there be _crowned upon_
with groves of myrrh and cinnamon." This makes 'banks' nominative, and
'upon' an adverb.
In the Bridgewater MS. the stage direction here is, _Song ends_.
942. ~Not a waste~, etc., _i.e._ 'Let there not be a superfluous or
unnecessary sound until we come.' 'waste' is an attributive: see note,
l. 728.