ful than he is
skilful in music; and from the nature of his occupation he is most
likely to be at hand should any emergency arise.

92. ~viewless~, invisible: comp. _The Passion_, 50, "_viewless_ wing";
_Par. Lost_, iii. 518. Masson calls this a peculiarly Shakespearian
word: see _M. for M._ iii. 1. 124, "To be imprisoned in the viewless
winds." The word is obsolete, but poets use great liberty in the
formation of adjectives in _-less_: comp. Shelley's _Sensitive Plant_,
'windless clouds.' See note, l. 574. ~charming-rod~: see note, l. 52: also
l. 653. ~rout~, a disorderly crowd. The word is also used in the sense of
'defeat,' and is cognate with _route_, _rote_, and _rut_. All come from
Lat. _ruptus_, broken: a 'rout' is the breaking up of a crowd, or a
crowd broken up; a 'route' is a way broken through a forest; 'rote' is a
beaten track; and a 'rut' is a track left by a wheel. See _Lyc._ 61, "by
the _rout_ that made the hideous roar."

93. ~star ... fold~, the evening star, Hesperus, an appellation of the
planet Venus: comp. _Lyc._ 30. As the morning star (called by
Shakespeare the 'unfolding star'), it is called Phosphorus or Lucifer,
the light-bringer. Hence Tennyson's allusion:

"Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,...
Sweet _Hesper-Phosphor_, double name."--

_In Memoriam_, cxxi.

Lines 93-144 are in rhymed couplets, and consist for the most part of
eight syllables each. The prevailing accentuation is iambic.

94. ~top of heaven~, etc., _i.e._ is far above the horizon. So in _Lyc._
31, it is said to slope "toward heaven's _descent_," _i.e._ to sink
towards the horizon. Comp. Virgil, _Aen._ ii. 250, "Round rolls the sky,
and on comes Night from the ocean."

95. ~gilded car~: Apollo, as the god of the Sun, rode in a golden chariot.
Comp. Chaucer, _Test. of Creseide_, 208, "Phoebus' golden cart"; and
"Phoebus' wain," line 190.

96. ~his glowing axle doth allay~. In the _Hymn of the Nativity_ Milton
alludes to the "burning axle-tree" of the sun: comp. _Aen._ iv. 482,
"Atlas _Axem_ umero torquet." There is here an allusion to the opinion
of the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean was
accompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). 'Allay' would
thus denote 'quench' or 'cool.' _His_, in this line, = _its_. _Its_
occurs only three times in Milton's poems, _Od. Nat._ 106; _Par. Lost_,
i. 254; _Par. Lost_, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes'
dedication of _Comus