When Mr. Browning was little more than a child he heard a woman one Guy
Fawkes's Day sing, in the street a strange song whose burden was
"Following the Queen of the Gypsies, O!" The singular refrain haunted
his memory for many years, and out of it was ultimately born this poem.
6-31. The Duke's medieval castle was apparently in Northern Germany,
near the sea.
78. _Rough-foot merlin._ A species of hawk formerly trained to pursue
other birds and game. A "falcon-lanner" is a long-tailed hawk. The word,
when used in falconry, is restricted to the female hawk, which is larger
than the male.