539. ~unweeting~; unwitting, unknowing. This spelling is found in Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, both in the compounds and in the simple verb _weet_, a corruption of _wit_ (A.S. _witan_, to know). Compare _Par. Reg._ i. 126, "_unweeting_, he fulfilled The purposed counsel." _Sams. Agon._ 1680; Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, "Virginius came _to weet_ the judge's will."
540. ~by then~, _i.e._ by the time when. The demonstrative adverb thus implies a relative adverb: comp. the Greek, where the demonstrative is generally omitted, though in Homer occasionally the demonstrative alone is used. Another rendering is to make line 540 parenthetical.
542. ~knot-grass~. A grass with knotted or jointed stem: some, however, suppose marjoram to be intended here. ~dew-besprent~, _i.e._ besprinkled with dew: comp. _Lyc._ 29. _Be_ is an intensive prefix; _sprent_ is connected with M.E. _sprengen_, to scatter, of which _sprinkle_ is the frequentative form.
544. ~canopied, and interwove~. Comp. _M. N. D._ ii. 2. 49, 'I know a bank,' etc. In sense 'canopied' refers to 'bank,' and 'interwove' to 'ivy.' There are two forms of the past participle of _weave_, viz. _wove_ and _woven_: see _Arc._ 47.
545. ~flaunting~, showy, garish. In _Lyc._ 146, the poet first wrote 'garish columbine,' then 'well-attired woodbine.'
547. ~meditate ... minstrelsy~, _i.e._ to sing a pastoral song: comp. _Lyc._ 32. 66. _To meditate the muse_ is a Virgilian phrase: see _Ecl._ i. and vi. The Lat. _meditor_ has the meaning of 'to apply one's self to,' and does not mean merely to ponder.
548. ~had~, should have: comp. l. 394. ~ere a close~, _i.e._ before he had finished his song (Masson). _Close_ occurs in the technical sense of 'the final cadence of a piece of music.'
550. ~barbarous~: comp. _Son._ xii. 3, "a _barbarous_ noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, etc."
551. ~listened them~. The omission of _to_ after verbs of hearing is frequent in Shakespeare and others: comp. "To listen our purpose"; "List a brief tale"; "hearken the end"; etc. (see Abbott, § 199). 'Them': this refers to the _sounds_ implied in 'dissonance.'
552. ~unusual stop~. This refers to what happened at l. 145, and the "soft and solemn-breathing sound" to l. 230.