202. BUT SEELED UP WITH DEATH, but closed in death. "Seel" was a term in falconry, meaning "to sew up" (the eyes of the hawk).
219. THE BITTER BALEFULL STOUND, the bitter, grievous moment during which she listens to the story.
220. IF LESSE THEN THAT I FEARE, etc., if it is less bitter than I fear it is, I shall have found more favor (been more fortunate) than I expected.
231. SORROWFULL ASSAY, the assault of sorrow (on her heart).
236. WAS NEVER LADY, etc., there never was lady who loved day (life) dearer.
249. A GOODLY KNIGHT. Prince Arthur, son of King Uther Pendragon and Queen Ygerne, the model English gentleman, in whom all the virtues are perfected (Magnificence). According to Upton and most editors, Prince Arthur represents Lord Leicester; according to another tradition, Sir Philip Sidney. Could the author have possibly intended in him compliment to Sir Walter Raleigh? See Spenser's _Letter to Raleigh_. Arthur is the beau ideal of knighthood, and upon him the poet lavishes his richest descriptive powers. His armor, his shield Pridwen, his lance Roan, and sword Exculibur, were made by the great enchanter Merlin in the isle of Avallon.
259. SHAPT LIKE A LADIES HEAD, an effigy of Queen Elizabeth, the Faerie Queene.
260. LIKE HESPERUS, the evening star. Cf. Phosphorus, the morning star.
268. The dragon couchant was also the crest of Arthur's father, Uther, surnamed on this account Pen-dragon. The description in this stanza is imitated from Tasso's description of the helmet of the Sultan in _Jerusalem Delivered_, ix, 25, which in turn follows Vergil's _Æneid_, vii, 785 _seq._
284. HIS WARLIKE SHIELD. Spenser here follows closely the description of the shield of the magician Atlante in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 55.
300. SILVER CYNTHIA, the moon. It was popularly supposed that magicians and witches had power to cause eclipses of the moon.
304. All falsehood and deception. Truth and Wisdom are symbolized (Upton).
306. WHEN HIM LIST, when it pleased him. _Him_ is dative.
314. IT MERLIN WAS. Ambrose Merlin, the prince of enchanters, son of the nun Matilda, and an incubus, "half-angel and half-man." He made, in addition to Prince Arthur's armor and weapons, the Round Table for one hundred and fifty knights at Carduel, the magic fountain of love, and built Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. He died spellbound by the sorceress Vivien in a hollow oak. See Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_.