496. The plot requires that the choleric Captain should at this stage be removed from the presence of Alden and Priscilla, leaving the issue in a state of suspense. For this purpose the author finds the material of the annals almost ready shaped. The only alteration required was to change the time when the expedition under Standish started to relieve the threatened Weymouth Colony. This took place in March, 1623, but in the poem it is made to happen in April, 1621. 559. Alden’s position with one foot on the gunwale and one on the rock is a striking visualization of a mood. 572. _Adamantine._ “By him forbidden to unlock these adamantine gates.” (_Paradise Lost_, Book II, 853.) 597. The shipmaster, like Standish, is not a devout Puritan. 601. _Songs._ Not songs, but rather a series of rhythmic sounds accompanying their work. 605. _Gurnet Point._ A headland at the entrance to Plymouth harbor, on the north side. 606. Before landing at Plymouth the Pilgrims had spent some time in looking for a suitable locality. A party of them had gone on shore and examined the environs here. They had then met some Indians; hence the name, “First Encounter.” 607. _Took the wind on her quarter._ Holding a course such that the wind struck the vessel at a point “between abeam and astern.” What must have been the exact course of the vessel? 626. _Like the spirit of God._ Reference to Genesis i: 2. 657. _Dissolves the spell of its silence._ Old superstition. So in Hamlet, (Act I, sc. 1, l. 44,) where Bernardo says, “It [the ghost] would be spoke to.” 665. _Havilah._ Genesis ii: 10-14. 755. _Goliath of Gath._ 1 Sam. xvii: 14. _Og, king of Bashan._ Numbers xxi: 33. 815. The details of this expedition and the resulting encounter are taken from Winslow’s _Relation of Standish’s Expedition_ as given in Dr. Young’s _Chronicles_. Here we are informed that such an expedition took place in 1623, under command of Captain Standish. Other details worked into the poem are also mentioned here: the defiance of Wattawmat (771-781); Pecksuot (783-787); the observation of Hobomak (813-815); and the grim trophy placed by the Captain on the roof of the fort when he returned to the colony. 828. _Merestead._ “Meer” and “mear” are old terms, meaning boundary. Hence, the plot of ground inclosed by boundaries. 829. _Glebe._ Sod or turf. 846. The original homestead is still owned by the descendants of John Alden. It is in Duxbury, on the coast, a short distance southeast from Boston. 858-864. An almost literal rendering of verses 11, 12, 13, and 21 of Proverbs xxxi. 872. _Bertha the Beautiful Spinner._ According to one account she was the daughter of Burkhard of Swabia. In 921 she became the wife of Rudolph II., king of Burgundy beyond Jura. She is represented on the monuments of the time as sitting on her throne, spinning. 927. A complete description of the garb of a Hebrew high priest is given in Exodus, xxviii: 4-43. 936. _Ruth and Boaz._ Ruth iv: 10-12.