said to be like the morn?

760. when vice can bolt her arguments. There are two verbs, spelled
alike, _bolt_. One means to sift, and is used often of arguments and
reasonings. To bolt arguments is to construct them with logical care and
precision. The other _bolt_ means to shoot forth or blurt out. We may
take our choice of the two words.

773. How is the line to be scanned?

780. Or have I said enow? In the edition of Comus published in 1645 this
passage reads, _Or have I said enough?_ In the edition of 1673, the
latest that he revised, Milton changed _enough_ to _enow_. Grammatically,
_enough_ is the better form, as the Elizabethan usage favored _enough_
for the form of the adjective with singular nouns and for the adverb, and
_enow_ as the adjective with plurals. It would seem that the poet must
have had some motive of euphony for the change he made.

788. thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know. A Latinism: _dignus es
qui non cognoscas_.

793. the uncontrolled worth Of this pure cause: the invincible power
inherent in the cause by virtue of its nature.

804. Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus To some of Saturn's crew:
pronounces sentence upon his foes, condemning them to the punishments
named. _Erebus_--Darkness--is one of the numerous names of the lower
world, the kingdom of Pluto.

808. the canon laws: the fundamental laws, or the Constitution. Canon
law, generally speaking, is ecclesiastical law, or the law governing the
church.

817. And backward mutters of dissevering power. The "many murmurs" with
which his incantations have been mixed must be spoken backward in order
to undo their effect. This backward repetition of the charm has the power
to break the spell which the charm has wrought.

822. Meliboeus is yet another of the stock names of pastoral poetry.

823. The soothest shepherd. The ancient adjective _sooth_ means
essentially nothing more than _true_.

826. Sabrina is her name. The story of Sabrina is told by Geoffrey of
Monmouth, whose history is included in the volume of Bohn's Antiquarian
Library, entitled _Six Old English Chronicles_. The book is easily
accessible.

827. Whilom is derived from the dative plural _hwilum_ of the Old English
noun _hwil_, and originally meant _at times_.

831. What does Sabrina do in this line?

835. aged Nereus was one of the numerous Greek deities of the water. He
and his wife Doris had fifty or a hundred daughters, who are called
Nereids.