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120. AS TWO BROAD BEACONS. Kitchin thinks this passage is a reminiscence of
the beacon-fires of July 29, 1588, which signaled the arrival of the Armada
off the Cornish coast.

158. HER FLITTING PARTS, her shifting parts; referring to the instability
of the air.

161. LOW STOUPING, swooping low (to the ground); a term in falconry.

167. HAGARD HAUKE, a wild, untamed falcon.

168. ABOVE HIS HABLE MIGHT, beyond the strength of which he is capable.

172. HE SO DISSEIZED, etc. , i. e.
the dragon being thus dispossessed of his
rough grip. The construction is nominative absolute.

185. AND GREEDY GULFE DOES GAPE, etc. , i. e. the greedy waters gape as if
they would devour the land.

187. THE BLUSTRING BRETHREN, the winds.

228. HIS WIDE DEVOURING OVEN, the furnace of his maw, or belly.

235. THAT GREAT CHAMPION, Hercules. The charmed garment steeped in the
blood of the Centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had slain, was given him by his
wife Dejanira in order to win back his love. Instead of acting as a
philter, the poison-robe burned the flesh from his body. Ovid's
_Metamorphoses_, ix, 105.