96. ~his glowing axle doth allay~. In the _Hymn of the Nativity_ Milton alludes to the "burning axle-tree" of the sun: comp. _Aen._ iv. 482, "Atlas _Axem_ umero torquet." There is here an allusion to the opinion of the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean was accompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). 'Allay' would thus denote 'quench' or 'cool.' _His_, in this line, = _its_. _Its_ occurs only three times in Milton's poems, _Od. Nat._ 106; _Par. Lost_, i. 254; _Par. Lost_, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes' dedication of _Comus_. The word does not occur in English at all until the end of the sixteenth century, the possessive case of the neuter pronoun _it_ and of the masculine _he_ being _his_. This gave rise to confusion when the old gender system decayed, and the form _its_ gradually came into use, until, by the end of the seventeenth century, it was in general use. Milton, however, scarcely recognised it, its place in his involved syntax being taken by the relative pronouns and other connectives, or by _his_, _her_, _thereof_, etc. 97. ~steep Atlantic stream~. To the ancients the Ocean was the great _stream_ that encompassed the earth: _Iliad_, xiv., "the deep-flowing Okeanos (βαθύρροος)." With this use of 'steep' compare the phrase 'the high seas.' 98. ~slope sun~, sun sunk beneath the horizon, so that the only rays visible shoot up into the sky. _Slope_ = sloped; also used by Milton as an adverb = aslope (_Par. Lost_, iv. 591), and as a verb (_Lyc._ 31). 99. ~dusky~. Milton first wrote 'northern.' 100. ~Pacing toward the other goal~, etc. Comp. _Psalm_ xix. 5: "The sun as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." 102. The spirit of lines 102-144 may be contrasted with that of _L'Allegro_, 25-40. Both pieces are calls upon Mirth and Pleasure, and both are therefore suitably expressed in the same tripping measure and with many similarities of language. But the pleasures of _L'Allegro_ begin with the sun-rise and yet are "unreproved"; those of _Comus_ and his crew begin with the darkness and are "unreproved" only if "these dun shades will ne'er report" them. The "light fantastic toe" of the one is not the "tipsy dance" of the other; and the laughter and liberty that betoken the absence of "wrinkled Care" have nothing in common with the "midnight shout and revelry" that can be enjoyed only when Rigour, Advice, strict Age, and sour Severity have "gone to bed." The "quips and cranks" of _L'Allegro_ have given way to the magic rites of _Comus_, and the wreathed smiles and dimples that adorn the face of innocent Mirth are ill replaced by the wine-dropping "rosy twine" of revelry. 104. ~jollity~: has here its modern sense of boisterous mirth. In Milton occasionally the adjective 'jolly' (Fr. _joli_, pretty) has its primary sense of pleasing or festive. 105. ~Braid your locks with rosy twine~; 'entwine your hair with wreaths of roses.'