Sylvester follows the French closely. Du Bartas' source is probably: Quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis Multa elementa vides multis communia verbis, Cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necessest Confiteare et re et sonitu distare sonanti, Tantum elementa queunt permutato ordine solo. Lucretius, _De Rerum Natura_, I. 824-7. Compare Aristotle, _De Gen. et Corr._ I. 2. l. 22. _unfit._ I have changed the semicolon after this word to a full stop. The former suggests that the next two lines are an expansion or explanation of this statement. But the poet is giving a series of different reasons why Flavia may be loved. ll. 41-2. _When Belgias citties, the round countries drowne, That durty foulenesse guards, and armes the towne:_ Chambers, adopting a composite text from editions and MSS., reads: Like Belgia' cities the round country drowns, That dirty foulness guards and arms the towns. Here 'the round country drowns' is an adjectival clause with the relative suppressed. But if the country actually drowned the cities the protector would be as dangerous as the enemy. The best MSS. agree with _1633-54_, and the sentence, though a little obscure, is probably correct: 'When the Belgian cities, to keep at bay their foes, drown (i.e. flood) the neighbouring countries, the foulness thus produced is their protection.' The 'cities' I take to be the subject. The reference is to their opening the sluices. See Motley's _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, the account of the sieges of Alkmaar and Leyden. 'The Drowned Land' ('Het verdronken land') was the name given to land overflowed by the bursting of the dykes. PAGE =82=. ELEGIE III. l. 5. _forc'd unto none_ is a strange expression, and the 'forbid to none' of _B_ is an attempt to emend it; but 'forc'd unto none' probably means 'not bound by compulsion to be faithful to any'. In woman's love and in the arts you may always expect to be ousted from a favoured position by a successful rival. No one has in these a monopoly: Is sibi responsum hoc habeat, in medio omnibus Palmam esse positam, qui artem tractant musicam. Ter. _Phorm._ Prol. 16-17. l. 8. _these meanes, as I,_ It is difficult to say whether the 'these' of the editions and of _D_, _H49_, _Lec_ or the 'those' of the rest of the MSS. is preferable. The construction with either in the sense of 'the same as', 'such as', was not uncommon: Under these hard conditions as this time Is like to lay upon us. Shakespeare, _Jul. Caes._ I. ii. 174.