st in the waters of the Severn.

835. ~aged Nereus' hall~, the abode of old Nereus, _i.e._ the bottom of
the sea. Nereus, the father of the Nereids, or sea nymphs, is described
as the wise and unerring old man of the sea; in Virgil, _grandaevus
Nereus_. See also, l. 871, and compare Jonson's _Neptune's Triumph_,
last song: "Old Nereus, with his fifty girls, From aged Indus laden home
with pearls."

836. ~piteous of~, _i.e._ full of pity for; comp. Lat. _miseret te
aliorum_ (genitive). Milton occasionally uses the word in this passive
sense; its active sense is 'causing pity,' _i.e._ pitiful. Comp. Abbott,
Sec. 3. ~reared her lank head~, _i.e._ raised up her drooping head: comp.
_Par. Lost_, viii.: "In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss: he
_reared_ me." 'Lank,' lit. slender; hence weak. The adjective _lanky_ is
in common use = tall and thin.

837. ~imbathe~, to bathe in: the force of the preposition being
reduplicated, as in Lat. _incidere in_.

838. ~nectared lavers~, etc., baths sweetened with nectar and scented
with asphodel flowers. On 'nectar,' see note, l. 479. ~asphodel~; the
same, both name and thing, as 'daffodil' (see _Lyc._ 150, where it takes
the form 'daffadillies'): Gk. +asphodelos+, M.E. _affodille_. The
initial _d_ in daffodil has not been satisfactorily explained: see l.
851.

839. ~the porch~. So Quintilian calls the ear the vestibule of the mind:
comp. _Haml._ i. 5. 63: "the porches of mine ear"; also the phrase, "the
five gateways of knowledge."

840. ~ambrosial oils~, oils of heavenly fragrance: see note, l. 16, and
compare Virgil's use of _ambrosia_ in _Georg._ iv. 415, _liquidum
ambrosiae diffundit odorem_.

841. ~quick immortal change~: comp. l. 10.

842. ~Made Goddess~, etc. This participial construction is frequent in
Milton as in Latin: it is equivalent to an explanatory clause.

844. ~twilight meadows~: comp. "twilight groves," _Il Pens._ 133;
"twilight ranks," _Arc._ 99; _Hymn Nat._ 188.

845. ~Helping all urchin blasts~, remedying or preventing the blighting
influence of evil spirits. 'Urchin blasts' is probably here used
generally for what in _Arcades_, 49-53, are called "noisome winds and
blasting vapours chill," 'urchin' being common in the sense of 'goblin'
(_M. W. of W._ iv. 4. 49). Strictly the word denotes the hedgehog, which
for various reasons was popularly regarded with great dread, and hence
mischievous spirits were supposed to assume its form: comp. Shakespeare,
_