adjective _Haemonian_ is used, in Latin poetry as = _Thessalian_,
Haemonia being the old name of Thessaly. And as Thessaly was regarded as
a land of magic, 'Haemonian' acquired the sense of 'magical' (see Ovid,
_Met._ vii 264, "_Haemonia_ radices valle resectas," etc.), and Milton's
Haemony is simply "the magical plant." Coleridge supposes that by the
prickles and gold flower of the plant Milton signified the sorrows and
triumph of the Christian life.

639. ~sovran use~: see note, l. 41. The use of this adjective with charms,
medicines, or remedies of any kind was so very common that the word came
to imply 'all-healing,' 'supremely efficacious'; see _Cor._ ii. 1. 125,
"The most _sovereign_ prescription in Galen."

640. ~mildew blast~: comp. _Arc._ 48-53, _Ham._ iii. 4. 64, "Here is your
husband; Like a _mildew'd_ ear _Blasting_ his wholesome brother." A
mildew blast is one giving rise to that kind of blight called mildew
(A.S. meledeaw, honey-dew), it being supposed that the prevalence of dry
east winds was favourable to its formation.

642. ~pursed it up~, etc., _i.e._ put it in my wallet, though I did not
attach much importance to it. ~little reckoning~: comp. _Lyc._ 116, where
the very same phrase occurs.

643. ~Till now that~. Here _that_ = when, the clause introduced by it
being explanatory of _now_ (see Abbott, Sec. 284).

646-7. ~Entered ... came off~. 'I entered into the very midst of his
treacherous enchantments, and yet escaped.' _Lime-twigs_ = snares; in
allusion to the practice of catching birds by means of twigs smeared
with a viscous substance (called on that account 'birdlime').
Shakespeare makes repeated allusion to this practice: see _Macbeth_, iv.
2. 34; _Two Gent._ ii. 2. 68; ii. _Hen. VI._ i. 3. 91; etc.

649. ~necromancer's hall~. Warton supposes that Milton here thought of a
magician's castle which has an enchanted hall invaded by Christian
knights, as we read of in the romances of chivalry. _Necromancer_, lit.
one who by magical power can commune with the dead (Gk. +nekros+, a
corpse); hence a sorcerer. From confusion of the first syllable with
that of the Lat. _niger_, black, the art of necromancy came to be called
"the black art."

650. ~Where if he be~, Lat. _ubi si sit_: in English the relative adverb
in such cases is best rendered by a conjunction + a demonstrative
adverb; thus, '_and_ if he be _there_.'

651. ~brandished blade~. Comp. Hermes' advice to Ulysses: "When it shall
be tha