265. =they give to get esteem.= They flatter others in order that others may flatter them in return. 266. Flatterers credit them with qualities which should make them blest, and being credited with these qualities they naturally try to live up to them. 267. =this softer art.= Flattery or adulation. 271. =within itself unblest.= finding no happiness in its own thoughts. 273. They attempt to win praise by an external show of shabby finery. 276. =frieze.= A kind of coarse woollen cloth. =copper lace.= Gold lace was commonly used in eighteenth century fashions. Copper lace would be a poor imitation. 277. People who were poor but proud lived sparingly from day to day in order to have one feast in the year to make a show of wealth before the world. 279-80. They continue to follow the changing fashions and do not stop to consider how much better it would be to have the approval of their own better selves. 282. Holland is in parts below the level of the sea, and hence ‘embosomed in the deep.’ 284. =leans against the land.= Presses against the dykes or embankments. 285. =sedulous.= Industrious, diligent. Both the adjective _sedulous_ and the verb _lift_ relate to _sons_ l. 283. 286. =rampire.= Rampart; here, the bank or dyke which has been made by man (hence ‘artificial’) and which rises proudly above the sea. 291. =pent.= Confined, limited, shut out. =rising o’er the pile.= Rising up along the sides of the dyke. 292. =amphibious.= Generally applied to animals which are able to live both on land and in water. Holland is said to be _amphibious_ because it naturally belongs to the sea but has been reclaimed as part of the land. 297. =wave-subjected soil.= This soil in its natural condition is under control of the sea. 305-6. These lines probably refer to the political struggles and intrigues which long disturbed the Netherlands. 313. =Belgic sires.= The tribes known as the Belgae who inhabited the Netherlands in the time of Caesar. 317. =the sound.= The sound of the name ‘Britain.’ =genius.= The poetic muse. 318. Britain receives the warm winds from the west, and Spring is earlier here than in other European countries. 319. =lawns.= Stretches of meadow land. =Arcadian.= Arcadia was a division of Greece. Because of the simple pastoral life of its people the name Arcadia came to stand in poetry for any imaginary country of ideal beauty and simplicity. 320. =Hydaspes.= A river of India (now called Jelum) flowing into the Indus. It was the eastern boundary of the kingdom of Alexander the Great. 323-4. Extremes are not found in the climate, but only in the minds of the people. 325. They are controlled by reason; but their aims are daring, and hence great in an unusual way. The aims of men in other countries may be great, but they follow the regular lines of thought and there is nothing daring or irregular about them.