253. the Sirens dwelt on an island near Sicily, and by their sweet song allured mariners to destruction. See Odyssey XII. 254. the Naiades were nymphs attendant on Circe and the Sirens. 257. And lap it in Elysium. Compare L'Allegro 136. 257-259. Scylla and Charybdis were dangerous rocks and whirlpools on opposite sides of the strait of Messina. They were personified as cruel sea-monsters. 260. Yet they: Circe and the Sirens. 267. Unless the goddess. Supply _thou art_. 273. extreme shift: a pressing necessity of devising some expedient. 289. Were they of manly prime or youthful bloom? Were they in the prime of adult manhood, or in the bloom of youth? 277-290. These fourteen lines are an instance of "stichomythia, or conversation in alternate lines, which was always popular on the Attic stage. This scheme of versification is used chiefly in excited discussions, where the speakers are hurried along by the eagerness of their feelings."--Haigh, _The Tragic Drama of the Greeks_. 292. An ox in traces would now be a rare sight. 294. a green mantling vine. See Par. Lost IV 258. 299. gay creatures of the element: creatures of the air,--supernatural beings. 301. And play i' the plighted clouds. Probably the poet means the _plaited_, or _pleated_, clouds, conceiving the clouds as appearing folded together. I was awe-strook. See Hymn on the Nativity 95. 316. Or shroud within these limits. _Shroud_ as a noun we saw above, line 147. 318. From her thatched pallet rouse. The lark builds on the ground, seeking a spot protected by overarching stems of grass or grain, which may be called a natural thatch; and if this protection is destroyed by mowers or reapers, the bird will at once take pains to build a roof or thatch over the nest, completely covering it, and for a door will make an opening on the side. 325. where it first was named. The derivation of the words _courteous_ and _courtesy_ from _court_ is obvious. 327. Less warranted than this, or less secure. The lady says that she cannot be in any place less guaranteed than this against evil, and that she cannot anywhere be less free from anxiety. Her situation she conceives to be as bad as it can be. 329. square my trial To my proportioned strength: make my trial proportionate to my strength. 332. That wont'st to love. _Wont'st_, in the present tense, means, as we say, art wont. 333. Stoop thy pale visage. Stoop is thus used, transitively, Richard II. III 1 19, "myself ... have stooped my neck." 334. And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here. _Chaos_, "the formless void of primordial matter," is personified by Milton here and, much more conspicuously, in Par. Lost III.