3. merchandized: commercialized.   esteeming: value.

4. publish: advertise.

6. lays: short lyric or narrative poems intended to be sung; songs.

7. Philomel: the nightingale.   front: beginning.

10. mournful hymns: reference to the tragic tale of Philomela (princess of Athens) in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," a tale of rape and mutilation, wherein the victim is silenced when her rapist rips out her tongue. Philomela resourcefully weaves her story into a tapestry and sends it to her rapist's wife. Eventually the Olympian gods turn her into a nightingale.

11. wild: unrestrained; profuse.   burthens: burdens; loads, overloads.

12. sweets: candy, desserts.   common: i.e., eaten too often.

13. hold my tongue: —Perhaps this a black humor reference to Philomela's mutilation.

14. dull: satiate; bore.