57. _Those Pans and Nymphs._ The underlying paganism of the Bishop
produces a strangely incongruous mixture on his tomb--the Savior, St.
Praxed, Moses, Pan, and the Nymphs.
58. _Thyrsus._ The ivy-coiled staff or spear stuck in a pine-cone,
symbol of the Bacchic orgy.
68. _Travertine._ A white limestone, the name being a corruption of
Tiburninus, from Tibur, now Tivoli, near Rome, whence this stone comes.
77. _Choice Latin._ The Bishop's scholarship was as good as his taste in
marbles. The _Elucescebat_ ("he was illustrious") of l. 99 Browning
called "dog-latin" and he called "Ulpian, the golden jurist, a copper
latinist." (See letter to D. G. Rossetti. Quoted by A. J. George,
_Select Poems of Browning_, p. 366.) Tully's Latin was Cicero's (Marcus
Tullius Cicero), the purest classic style. The Grammarian in "The
Grammarian's Funeral" was equally intense on a point of elegance or
correctness in the ancient languages.
80-84. The Bishop rejoices in all that has to do with the forms and
ceremonies of the church. Note in ll. 119-121 his insistence on form and
order.
91. _Strange thoughts._ From this point on the Bishop's mind seems to
wander.
108. _A visor and a Term._ The visor is a mask. A term is any bust or
half-statue not placed upon but incorporated with, and as it were
immediately springing out of, the square pillar which serves as its
pedestal.