28. bask'd him ;-'sunned himself'; a reflexive verb: cp. 1. 925, ' turn him from the spoil'; 4. 64, 'I've taught me other tongues.' 30. his little day;-the metaphor is still that of an insect, which lives only for a day.

32. long ere scarce a third of his pass'd by ;- -the combination of qualifying adverbs is curious; 'long before a third of his short life had hardly passed.'

36. Eremite ;--another form of the word 'hermit'; Gr. èpnuíTNs, 'one who dwells in the desert (èpĥμos),' as the early hermits did; cp. 2. 235.

37. Sin's long labyrinth ;—' labyrinth' here signifies 'tortuous, varied, misleading paths,' as we speak of the mazes of sin.'

39. though he loved but one;—the reference is to Byron's early love, Miss Chaworth: see Introd. p. 8.

42. Had been ;-' would have been.'

aught; any being'; the neuter conveys no sense of depreciation, as it does in 2. 398, where woman is ironically spoken of as 'lovely, harmless thing.' Cp. 2. 168.

44. spoil'd her goodly lands to gild his waste;—' squandered her property in order that he might live in elegant extravagance.' The next line is a sad anticipation of his own married life.

49. ee; archaic for 'eye.'

52. visit scorching climes;—it was a part of Byron's plan on leaving England to visit India.

54. would seek;-'was willing to seek.'

55. his father's hall;-Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire was the hereditary residence of the Byron family.

57. only not; 'all but,'' almost'; like μóvov oВk in Greek; cp. 2. 817.

58. strength was pillar'd in each massy aisle ;-'the massive aisles were supported by strong pillars.' For a corresponding mode of speech, cp. 4. 1385, of St. Peter's at Rome:

'Power, Glory, Strength, and Beauty all are aisled

In this eternal ark of worship undefiled.'

60. Where Superstition once had made her den;-superstition (the religious observances of the monks in the Abbey) is conceived under the figure of a lurking wild beast.

61. Paphian girls ;-votaries of Venus, the goddess of Paphos in Cyprus; 'courtesans.'

62. agen;—another form of 'again,' now obsolete, but common in popular pronunciation.

64. maddest mirthful mood;-observe the alliteration, and cp. 2. 154, 262, 596; 3. 207.

65. Strange pangs would flash;—' flash' here implies both keenness and suddenness: cp. 2. 215, a flashing pang.'

72. mote;-cp. note on 1. 8.

73. And none did love him;-this declaration of unpopularity on the poet's part looks more like self-disgust than desire of notoriety: see Introd. p. 25.

75. flatt'rers of the festal hour;—' of'=' suited to.'

77. lemans;-'mistresses.'

78. But pomp, &c. ;- but [that is natural, for] pomp, &c.'

79. Eros; the Greek name for the God of Love.

feere;-'a consort'; cp. 1. 176.

85. begun; this might stand for was begun,' but Byron elsewhere uses 'begun' for 'began'; cp. 3. 1067.

90. such partings;-final interviews. The warmth of Byron's affections is shown by the terms in which he speaks of his friends: see 1. 927; 2. 73.

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91. His house, his home;-the 'house' is the dwelling-place, the 'home' the family surroundings.

94. Might shake the saintship of an anchorite;—' might tempt an anchorite to forfeit his character as a saint.' As distinguished from 'saintliness,' i. e. ‘saintly qualities,' ' saintship' is ‘position, estimation, as a saint.' For similar uses of the termination cp. 'citizenship,' and in this poem 'goddess-ship' (4. 453), and, as a sort of title, 'connoisseurship' (4. 471), like 'lordship.' • Anchorite, Gr. ἀναχωρητής,

'one who retires from the world,' 'a hermit.'

96. brimm'd;-' filled to the brim.'

98. the brine;-poet. for 'the sea'; cp. Gr. äλs, Lat. salum.

99. Paynim ;—originally 'Pagan,' and applied to heathens only, but came to be used of infidels also; cp. 1. 385, 'The Paynim turban,' of the Moors.

Earth's central line ;-the Equator; see note on 1. 52.

101. As glad;—' as [if they were] glad.'

native home;-the epithet is not superfluous; 'home of his birth.'

102. the white rocks;-with reference to Albion's isle' of 1. 10. 103. circumambient ;-this hardly means more than washing round the shores.'

105. slept The silent thought;—the thought remained, and was not uttered'; the use of the epithet is proleptic (anticipatory): see Essay on Style, 1. g. (7), p. 35.

108. reckless;-'inattentive,' 'which paid no heed to them'; ironical or unsympathetic epithet: see Essay on Style, 1. g. (3), P. 34. 112. strange ear;-' stranger's ear.'

114. twilight ;-acoent the last syllable, and see note on 1. 158. 115. on her snowy wing;-cp. 3. 801,

'This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing.'

The use of the preposition 'on' here can only be justified by regarding the ship as a bird on the wing.'

118, foll. This song, the poet tells us in his Preface, was suggested by Lord Maxwell's Good Night in Scott's Border Minstrelsy. Notice the frequent alliterations which occur in it- an element almost entirely wanting in the song to Inez towards the end of this Canto, the style of which is intentionally severe.

120. the breakers roar;-as breakers are waves which break against the shore or rocks, the word is somewhat incorrectly used here.

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122. Yon sun... we follow, &c.;-they were sailing to the west. 126. A few short hours, &c.;—in prose this would be, when a few short hours shall have passed, he will rise;' but in ballad poetry coordinate clauses with simple conjunctions are preferred to subordinate ones with relatives, &c.

133. My dog howls at the gate;-in consequence of the loneliness. 134. my little page;-this was Robert Rushton, the son of one of Lord Byron's tenants, whom he took with him as far as Gibraltar. 136. Or... or ;—for either . . . or'; cp. 3. 965.

140. Our fleetest falcon ;-the falcon, like the page and yeoman, is introduced as one of the surroundings of the 'Childe.'

147. A mother;-[' and from] a mother.'

149. But thee—and one above;—the affectionateness and piety of the page are intended to contrast with the absence of these qualities in his

master.

158. my staunch yeoman -William Fletcher, Byron's valet, who accompanied him through his journey. 'Yeoman' and 'foeman,' which rhymes with it, are to be accented on the last syllable, notwithstanding that in l. 170 'yeoman' is pronounced in the usual way. Cp. Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel, Cant. 4, st. 5:

'While thus he spoke the bold yeoman

Enter'd the echoing barbican.'

English poets allow themselves a certain amount of licence in shifting the accent; perhaps the boldest venture is Shelley's in the following: 'I love all that thou lovést,

Spirit of Delight!

The fresh earth in new leaves drest,

And the starry night.'

160. a French foeman;-England was at this time at war with France; see Prefatory Note to this Canto.

165. will blanch;-'is wont to, has the power to, blanch,'

a faithful cheek ;-i.e. because he is faithful to his wife'; not, 'even though he is faithful to his master.'

167. the bordering lake ;—the piece of water that is close to Newstead Abbey.

171. gainsay;-' declare to be unreal.'

176. feeres; see note on 1. 79.

181. no thing that claims a tear ;-'no object or person whom I am bound to regret leaving.'

186. will whine in vain ;-no stress on 'in vain'; 'will utter his unavailing whines.'

189. where he stands ;—' on the spot,' 'then and there.' It is curious to contrast this sarcastic depreciation of the faithfulness of dogs with Byron's epitaph on his dog Boatswain, in which he speaks of him as possessing all the virtues of man without his vices.' As a matter of fact, the poet was attacked by his dog on his return from abroad.

193. So not; 'so [it be] not,' ' provided that it be not.' 195. when you fail my sight ;-i. e. after I have landed.

199. Biscay's sleepless bay;—referring to the proverbially tempestuous character of the bay of Biscay.

200. anon; at once,'' immediately.'

201. New shores descried; the sight of new shores'; the idiom is derived from the classical languages; e.g. Caesar occisus for 'the murder of Caesar.'

202. Cintra's mountain greets them on their way;-as Cintra is northwest of Lisbon, on the ground which intervenes between the estuary of the Tagus and the sea, its hills are visible before Lisbon is approached. 204. His fabled golden tribute;-the Tagus, like the Pactolus in Lydia, and other streams, was believed by the ancients to bring down gold in its waters. At the present day particles of gold are still found in its sands, but in very small quantities; and from the first, in all probability, its fame in this respect was for the most part legendary.

bent ;—'eager'; the idea being suggested by the rapidity of the

stream.

205. Lusian;—for ‘Lusitanian,' i. e. 'Portuguese,' Lusitania having been the classical name of that country.

pilots;-to guide the vessel up the Tagus into Lisbon.

206. yet;—' notwithstanding the fertility.'

207. Oh, Christ! it is a goodly sight to see;-it was an oversight on the author's part that this line was introduced with slight variation three times into the poem; viz. again in l. 432, 'By Heaven! it is a splendid sight to see,' and in 2. 643, In sooth, it was no vulgar sight to see.' Another slip in the present passage is the occurrence of the epithet 'goodly' twice within four lines.

209. fruits of fragrance;-'fragrant fruits'; see note on 1. 21. 211. would mar them ;—' would'=' designs to.'

214. will his hot shafts urge;-' will his thunderbolts pursue.'

215. Gaul's locust host;-'the ravaging French army.' For the circumstances of the French invasion of Portugal, see Prefatory Note to this Canto.

216. Lisboa;-the Portuguese form of the name Lisbon.

217. Her image floating;-a pendent construction; as she is reflected.'

218. vainly;-'indulging their vain fancy'; see note on 1. 204. 219. But now whereon;-'but on which at that time.'

a thousand keels;—Virgil's mille carinae (Aen. 2. 198). In 'keels' and carinae the part is put for the whole by the figure synecdoche. 220. was allied, &c.;-' was allied with the Portuguese, and afforded them, &c.'

222. swoln;—' puffed up'; cp. 2 Pet. 2. 18, 'great swelling words of vanity.' Lat. tumens.

223. waves ;- brandishes.'

226. sheening far;-' when glistening at a distance.' 228. ee;-cp. 1. 49.

229. shew like filthily;—' present alike a filthy aspect.'

231. Ne-archaic for 'no'; cp. 2. 460.

233. Though shent with Egypt's plague, unkempt, unwash'd, unhurt ;— they do not suffer (unhurt), notwithstanding that they are disgraced (shent) with lice (Egypt's plague), and are neither combed nor washed.' Shent' is participle of an obsolete verb 'shend.'

236. Cintra's glorious Eden;—in a letter to his mother Byron thus describes Cintra :-'The village of Cintra, about fifteen miles from the capital. is, perhaps in every respect, the most delightful in Europe; it contains beauties of every description, natural and artificial. Palaces and gardens rising in the midst of rocks, cataracts, and precipices; convents on stupendous heights—a distant view of the sea and the Tagus.' Moore's Life, p. 92. Cintra is now a town of 4000 inhabitants.

intervenes ;-' presents itself to the eye'; or, possibly, 'checks our reflexions.'

237. maze; intricate combination'; cp. 3. 579.

239. half on which ;-half [of that] on which': for other instances of the omission of the antecedent, see Essay on Style, 3. d. (3), p. 41. the eye dilates; in order to try to take it all in.

240. ken;-'observation,' 'view': cp. 2. 342.

241. such things;—' such wonderful things'; cp. 1. 381, 'so noted.' the bard, &c.;-Dante in his Paradiso.