281 y So learned Taliacotius &c.] Taliacotius was an Italian surgeon, that found out a way to repair lost and decayed noses.  This Taliacotius was chief surgeon to the Great Duke of Tuscany, and wrote a treatise, De Curtis Membris, [Of Cut-off Parts] which he dedicates to his great master wherein he not only declares the models of his wonderful operations in restoring of lost members, but gives you cuts of the very instruments and ligatures he made use of therein; from hence our Author (cum poetica licentia [with poetic licence]) has taken his simile.

289 z For as Aeneas, &c.] AEneas was the son of Anchises and Venus; a Trojan, who, after long travels, came to Italy, and after the death of his father-in-law, Latinus, was made king of Latium, and reigned three years.  His story is too long to insert here, and therefore I refer you to Virgil’s AEneids.  Troy being laid in ashes, he took his aged father Anchises upon his back, and rescued him from his enemies.  But being too solicitous for his son and household gods, he lost his wife Creusa; which Mr. Dryden, in his excellent translation, thus expresseth.

Haste my dear father (tis no time to wait,)
And load my shoulders with a willing freight. 
Whate’er befals, your life shall be my care;
One death, or one deliv’rance, we will share. 
My hand shall lead our little son; and you,
My faithful consort, shall our steps pursue.

337 a —­ For Arthur, &c.] Who this Arthur was and whether any ever reigned in Britain, has been doubted heretofore, and is by some to this very day.  However, the history of him, which makes him one of the nine worthies of the world, is a subject, sufficient for the Poet to be pleasant upon.

359 b —­ Toledo trusty, &c.] The capital city of New Castile, Spain, with an archbishopric and primacy.  It was very famous, amongst other things, for tempering the best metal for swords, as Damascus was and perhaps may be still.

389 c But left the trade, as many more
      Have lately done, &c. 
Oliver Cromwell and Colonel Pride had been both brewers.

433 d That CAESAR’s Horse, who, as Fame goes,
      Had corns upon his Feet and Toes. 
Julius Caesar had a horse with feet like a man’s.  Utebatur equo insigni; pedibus prope humanis, modum digitorum ungulis fissis. [He rode a horse with this distinction; it had feet like a man’s, having the hooves split like toes] Suet. in Jul.  Cap. 61.

467 c The mighty Tyrian Queen, that gain’d
      With subtle Shreds a Tract of Land. 
Dido, Queen of Carthage, who bought as much land as she could compass with an ox’s hide, which she cut into small thongs, and cheated the owner of so much ground as served her to build Carthage upon.

476 f As the bold, &c.] AEneas, whom Virgil reports to use a golden bough for a pass to hell; and taylors call that place Hell where they put all they steal.

526 g As three, &c.] Read the great Geographical Dictionary, under that word.