mb of the
first was at Naples (see Milton's _Ad Leonaram_, iii., "Credula quid
liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes fana
Acheloeiados," etc.). Ligea, described by Virgil (_Georg._ iv. 336) as a
sea-nymph, is here represented as seated, like a mermaid, in the act of
smoothing her hair with a golden comb.

881. ~Wherewith~ = with which. The true adjective clause is "sleeking ...
locks" = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is
"she sits ... rocks" = seated on ... rocks.

882. ~Sleeking~, making sleek or glossy. The original sense of 'sleek' is
greasy: comp. _Lyc._ 99, "On the level brine _Sleek_ Panope with all her
sisters played."

885. ~heave~, raise. Comp. the similar use of the word in _L'Alleg._ 145,
"Orpheus' self may heave his head."

887. ~bridle in~, _i.e._ restrain.

888. ~have~: subjunctive after _till_, as frequently in Milton.

890. ~rushy-fringed~, fringed with rushes. The more usual form would be
rush-fringed: we may regard Milton's form as a participle formed from
the compound noun "rushy-fringe": comp. 'blue-haired,' l. 29;
"false-played," Shakespeare, _A. and C._ iv. 14.

891. ~grows~. A singular with two nominatives connected by _and_: the verb
is to be taken with each. But the compound subject is really equivalent
to "the willow with its osiers dank," osiers being water-willows or
their branches. ~dank~, damp: comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 441, "oft they quit
the _dank_" (= the water).

893. ~Thick set~, etc., _i.e._ thickly inlaid with agate and beautified
with the azure sheen of turquoise, etc. There is a zeugma in _set_.
~azurn sheen~. Sheen = brightness: it occurs again in l. 1003; see note
there. 'Azurn': modern English has a tendency to use the noun itself as
an adjective in cases where older English used an adjective with the
suffix _-en_ = made of. Most of the adjectives in _-en_ that still
survive do not now denote "made of," but simply "like," _e.g._ golden
hair, etc. _Azurn_ and _cedarn_ (l. 990), _hornen_, _treen_, _corden_,
_glassen_, _reeden_, etc., are practically obsolete; see Trench,
_English Past and Present_. Comp. 'oaten' (_Lyc._ 33), 'oaken' (_Arc._
45). As the words 'azurn' and 'cedarn' are peculiar to Milton some hold
that he adopted them from the Italian _azzurino_ and _cedrino_.

894. ~turkis~; also spelt turkoise, turquois, and turquoise: lit. 'the
Turkish stone,' a Persian gem so called because it came through Turkey
(Pers. _turk