106. ~dropping odours~: comp. l. 862-3. 108. ~Advice ... scrupulous head~. 'Advice,' now used chiefly to signify counsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel or deliberation. See Chaucer, _Prologue_, 786, "granted him without more _advice_"; and comp. Shakespeare, _M. of V._ iv. 2. 6, "Bassanio upon more _advice_, Hath sent you here this ring"; also _Par. Lost_, ii. 376, "_Advise_, if this be worth Attempting," where 'advise' = consider. See also l. 755, note. _Scrupulous_ = full of scruples, conscientious. 110. ~saws~, sayings, maxims. _Saw_, _say_, and _saga_ (a Norwegian legend) are cognate. 111. ~of purer fire~, _i.e._ having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as = divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the Stoics held that whatever consisted of _pure fire_ was divine, _e.g._ the stars: hence the additional significance of line 112. 112. ~the starry quire~: an allusion to the music of the spheres; see lines 3, 1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted sounds proportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestial concert too melodious to affect the "gross unpurgèd ear" of mankind: comp. l. 458 and _Arc._ 63-73. Shakespeare (_M. of V._ v. 1. 61) alludes to the music of the spheres: "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins," etc. _Quire_ is a form of _choir_ (Lat. _chorus_, a band of singers); in Greek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of the audience. _Quire_ (of paper) is a totally different word, probably derived from Lat. _quatuor_, four. 113. ~nightly watchful spheres~. Milton elsewhere alludes to the stars keeping watch: "And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright," _Hymn Nat._ 21. 'Nightly,' used as an adjective in the sense of 'nocturnal': comp. _Il Pens._ 84, "To bless the doors from _nightly_ harm"; _Arc._ 48, "_nightly_ ill"; and Wordsworth's line: "The _nightly_ hunter lifting up his eyes." Its ordinary sense is "night by night." 114. ~Lead in swift round~. Comp. _Arc._ 71: "And the low world in measured motion draw, After the heavenly tune." 115. ~sounds~, straits: A.S. _sund_, a strait of the sea, so called because it could be _swum_ across. See Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ _s.v._ 116. ~to the moon~, _i.e._ as affected by the moon. For similar uses of 'to,' comp. _Lyc._ 33, "tempered _to_ the oaten flute"; _Lyc._ 44, "fanning their joyous leaves _to_ thy soft lays." ~morrice~. The waters quiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorish dance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced into England by John of Gaunt. We read also of a "morris-pike"--a weapon used by the Moors in Spain. 117. ~shelves~, flat ledges of rock.