PAGE 88. ll. 82 seq. Compare the situation of these lovers with that of Romeo and Juliet. l. 90. _beldame_, old woman. Shakespeare generally uses the word in an uncomplimentary sense--'hag'--but it is not so used here. The word is used by Spenser in its derivative sense, 'Fair lady,' _Faerie Queene_, ii. 43. PAGE 89. l. 110. _Brushing . . . plume._ This line both adds to our picture of Porphyro and vividly brings before us the character of the place he was entering--unsuited to the splendid cavalier. l. 113. _Pale, lattic'd, chill._ Cf. l. 12, note. l. 115. _by the holy loom_, on which the nuns spin. See l. 71 and note on St. Agnes, p. 224. PAGE 90. l. 120. _Thou must . . . sieve._ Supposed to be one of the commonest signs of supernatural power. Cf. _Macbeth_, I. iii. 8. l. 133. _brook_, check. An incorrect use of the word, which really means _bear_ or _permit_. PAGE 92. ll. 155-6. _churchyard . . . toll._ Unconscious prophecy. Cf. _The Bedesman_, l. 22. l. 168. _While . . . coverlet._ All the wonders of Madeline's imagination. l. 171. _Since Merlin . . . debt._ Referring to the old legend that Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism. Thus his 'debt' to the demon was his existence, which he paid when Vivien compassed his destruction by means of a spell which he had taught her. Keats refers to the storm which is said to have raged that night, which Tennyson also describes in _Merlin and Vivien_. The source whence the story came to Keats has not been ascertained. PAGE 93. l. 173. _cates_, provisions. Cf. _Taming of the Shrew_, II. i. 187:-- Kate of Kate Hall--my super-dainty Kate, For dainties are all cates. We still use the verb 'to cater' as in l. 177. l. 174. _tambour frame_, embroidery-frame. l. 185. _espied_, spying. _Dim_, because it would be from a dark corner; also the spy would be but dimly visible to her old eyes. l. 187. _silken . . . chaste._ Cf. ll. 12, 113. l. 188. _covert_, hiding. Cf. _Isabella_, l. 221. PAGE 94. l. 198. _fray'd_, frightened. l. 203. _No uttered . . . betide._ Another of the conditions of the vision was evidently silence. PAGE 95. ll. 208 seq. Compare Coleridge's description of Christabel's room: _Christabel_, i. 175-83. l. 218. _gules_, blood-red. PAGE 96. l. 226. _Vespers._ Cf. _Isabella_, l. 21, ll. 226-34. See Introduction, p. 213. l. 237. _poppied_, because of the sleep-giving property of the poppy-heads. l. 241. _Clasp'd . . . pray._ The sacredness of her beauty is felt here. _missal_, prayer-book. PAGE 97. l. 247. _To wake . . . tenderness._ He waited to hear, by the sound of her breathing, that she was asleep. l. 250. _Noiseless . . . wilderness._ We picture a man creeping over a wide plain, fearing that any sound he makes will arouse some wild beast or other frightful thing. l. 257. _Morphean._ Morpheus was the god of sleep. _amulet_, charm.