ht, 1713.

SAUL

1. _Abner._ The cousin of Saul and the commander of his army. _I Samuel_
xiv, 50.

9. _Saul and the Spirit._ For the conflict between Saul and the evil
spirit, and the refreshment that came to him when David played, see _I
Samuel_ xvi, 14-23.

12. _Gracious gold hair._ For the personal appearance of David, see _I
Samuel_ xvi, 12, 18; xvii, 42.

12. _Those lilies ... blue._ Mrs. Coleridge wrote to Mr. Kenyon to know
whether Mr. Browning had any authority for "blue lilies." Mr. Browning
answered, "Lilies are of all colors in Palestine--one sort is
particularized as _white_ with a dark blue spot and streak--the water
lily, lotus, which I think I meant, is _blue_ altogether." (_Letters of
R. B. and E. B. B._, i, 523, 556.)

31. _The king-serpent._ Probably the boa-constrictor. In poetry the
characteristic most often attributed to a snake is malignancy. But in
this picture of the serpent lying dormant and waiting for the sloughing
of its old skin in the springtime, when it will come forth with new
beauty and power, the idea presented is that of tremendous force
temporarily in abeyance.

42. _Then the tune._ The boy, alone in the field, tries all sorts of
experiments in musical attraction on the animals about him. Professor
Albert S. Cook suggests that Browning is here indebted to the Greek
pastoral romance of _Daphnis and Chloe_. See Smith's translation in the
Bohn edition. The passages read in part as follows: "He ran through all
variations of pastoral melody; he played the tune which the oxen obey,
and which attracts the goats--that in which the sheep delight.

"He took his pipe from his scrip, and breathed into it very gently. The
goats stood still, merely lifting up their heads. Next he played the
pasture tune, upon which they all put down their heads and began to
graze. Now he produced some notes soft and sweet in tone; at once his
herd lay down. After this he piped in a sharp key, and they ran off to
the woods as if a wolf were in sight." These quotations serve at least
to show how old is the fancy that animals are affected by music.

60. The service enjoined on the men of the House of Levi is described in
_I Chronicles_ xxiii, 24-32.

65. _Male-sapphires._ The male sapphire exhibits, through some
peculiarity of crystalline structure, a star of bright rays. It is also
known as "the star sapphire" and "the asteriated sapphire." The ruby
shows a clear red light at the center.

76. _Locus