34. ~nursed in princely lore~, brought up in a manner worthy of their high position. It is to be noted that the Bridgewater family was by birth distantly connected with the royal family. Milton may allude merely to their connection with the court. _Lore_ is cognate with _learn_.
35. ~their father's state~. This probably refers to the actual ceremonies connected with the installation of the Earl as Lord President. The old sense of 'state' is 'chair of state': comp. _Arc._ 81, and Jonson's _Hymenaei_, "And see where Juno ... Displays her glittering _state and chair_."
36. ~new-intrusted~, an adjective compounded of a participle and a simple adverb, _new_ being = newly; comp. 'smooth-dittied,' l. 86. Contrast the form of the epithet "blue-haired," where the compound adjective is formed as if from a noun, "blue-hair": comp. "rushy-fringed," l. 890. Strictly speaking, the Earl's power was not 'new-intrusted,' though it was newly assumed. See Introduction.
37. ~perplexed~, interwoven, entangled (Lat. _plecto_, to plait or twist). The word is here used literally and is therefore applicable to inanimate objects. The accent is on the first syllable.
38. ~horror~. This word is meant not merely to indicate terror, but also to describe the appearance of the paths. Horror is from Lat. _horrere_, to bristle, and may be rendered 'shagginess' or 'ruggedness,' just as _horrid_, l. 429, means bristling or rugged. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 563, "a _horrid_ front Of dreadful length, and dazzling arms." ~shady brows~: this may refer to the trees and bushes overhanging the paths, as the brow overhangs the eyes.
39. ~Threats~: not current as a verb. ~forlorn~, now used only as an adjective, is the past participle of the old verb _forleosen_, to lose utterly: the prefix _for_ has an intensive force, as in _forswear_; but in the latter word the sense of _from_ is more fully preserved in the prefix. See note, l. 234.
40. ~tender age~. Lady Alice Egerton was about fourteen years of age; the two brothers were younger than she.
41. ~But that~, etc. Grammatically, _but_ may be regarded as a subordinative conjunction = 'unless (it had happened) that I was despatched': or, taking it in its original prepositional sense, we may regard it as governing the substantive clause, 'that ... guard.' ~quick command~: the adjective has the force of an adverb, quick commands being commands that are to be carried quickly. ~sovran~, supreme. This is Milton's spelling of the modern word _sovereign_, in which the _g_ is due to the mistaken notion that the last syllable of the word is cognate with _reign_. The word is from Lat. _superanum_ = chief: comp. l. 639.