'muckle' are current in Scotland in the sense of great. Comp. _Rom.
and Jul._ ii. 3. 15, "O, _mickle_ is the powerful grace that lies In
herbs," etc.

33. ~An old and haughty nation~. The Welsh are Kelts, an Aryan people who
probably first entered Britain about B.C. 500: they are therefore
rightly spoken of as an old nation. Compare Ben Jonson's piece _For the
Honour of Wales_:

"I is not come here to taulk of Brut,
From whence the Welse does take his root," etc.

That they were haughty and 'proud in arms' the Romans found, and after
them the Saxons: the latter never really held more than the counties of
Monmouth and Hereford. In the reign of Edward I. attempts were made by
that king to induce the Welsh to come to terms, but the answer of the
Barons was: "We dare not submit to Edward, nor will we suffer our prince
to do so, nor do homage to strangers, whose tongue, ways and laws we
know not of: we have only raised war in defence of our lands, laws and
rights." By a statute of Henry VIII. this 'haughty' people were put in
possession of the same rights and liberties as the English. ~proud in
arms~: this is Virgil's _belloque superbum_, _Aen._ i. 21 (Warton).

34. ~nursed in princely lore~, brought up in a manner worthy of their high
position. It is to be noted that the Bridgewater family was by birth
distantly connected with the royal family. Milton may allude merely to
their connection with the court. _Lore_ is cognate with _learn_.

35. ~their father's state~. This probably refers to the actual ceremonies
connected with the installation of the Earl as Lord President. The old
sense of 'state' is 'chair of state': comp. _Arc._ 81, and Jonson's
_Hymenaei_, "And see where Juno ... Displays her glittering _state and
chair_."

36. ~new-intrusted~, an adjective compounded of a participle and a simple
adverb, _new_ being = newly; comp. 'smooth-dittied,' l. 86. Contrast the
form of the epithet "blue-haired," where the compound adjective is
formed as if from a noun, "blue-hair": comp. "rushy-fringed," l. 890.
Strictly speaking, the Earl's power was not 'new-intrusted,' though it
was newly assumed. See Introduction.

37. ~perplexed~, interwoven, entangled (Lat. _plecto_, to plait or
twist). The word is here used literally and is therefore applicable to
inanimate objects. The accent is on the first syllable.

38. ~horror~. This word is meant not merely to indicate terror, but also
to describe the appearance of the