961. ~trippings ... lighter toes ... court guise~: words used to describe the graceful movements of the Lady and her brothers: comp. _L'Alleg._ 33: "trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe." _Trod_ (or trodden), past participle of _tread_: 'to tread a measure' is a common expression, meaning 'to dance.' 'Court guise,' _i.e._ courtly mien; _guise_ is a doublet of _wise_ = way, _e.g._ 'in this wise,' 'like_wise_,' 'other_wise_.' In such pairs of words as _guise_ and _wise_, _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, the forms in _gu_ have come into English through the French. 963. ~Mercury~ (the Greek Hermes) was the herald of the gods, and as such was represented as having winged ankles (Gk. πτηνοπέδιλος): his name is here used as a synonym both for agility and refinement. 964. ~mincing Dryades~. The Dryades are wood-nymphs (Gk. δρῦς, a tree), here represented as mincing, _i.e._ tripping with short steps, unlike the clumsy striding of the country people. Comp. _Merch. of V._ iii. 4. 67: "turn two _mincing_ steps Into a manly stride." Applied to a person's gait (or speech), the word now implies affectation. 965. ~lawns ... leas~. On 'lawn,' see note, l. 568: a 'lea' is a meadow. 966. This song is sung by Lawes while presenting the three young persons to the Earl and Countess of Bridgewater. 967. ~ye~: see note, l. 216. 968. ~so goodly grown~, _i.e._ grown so goodly. _Goodly_ = handsome (A.S. _gódlic_ = goodlike). 970. ~timely~. Here an adverb: in l. 689 it is an adjective. Comp. the two phrases in _Macbeth_: "To gain the _timely_ inn," iii. 3. 7; and "To call _timely_ on him," ii. 3. 51. 972. ~assays~, trials, temptations. _Assay_ is used by Milton in the sense of 'attempt' as well as of 'trial': see _Arc._ 80, "I will _assay_, her worth to celebrate." The former meaning is now confined to the form _essay_ (radically the same word); and the use of _assay_ has been still further restricted from its being used chiefly of the testing of metals. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 932, "hard _assays_ and ill successes"; _Par. Reg._ i. 264, iv. 478. 974, 5. ~To triumph~. The whole purpose of the poem is succinctly expressed in these lines. _Stage Direction_: ~Spirit epiloguizes~, _i.e._ sings the epilogue or concluding stanzas. In one of Lawes' manuscripts of the mask, the epilogue consists of twelve lines only, those numbered 1012-1023. From the same copy we find that line 976 had been altered by Lawes in such a manner as to convert the first part of the epilogue into a prologue which, in his character as Attendant Spirit, he sang whilst descending upon the stage:--