1. tables: writing tablets. —"Tables" were made of slate. Notes were taken or pictures drawn with a stylus.

2. Full . . . memory: Written all over in my lasting memory.

3. above that idle rank: i.e., the rank or importance of ordinary things.

6. Have faculty: are able.

7. razed oblivion: obliterating forgetfulness.

8. miss'd: lost.

9. retention: i.e., the actual tablet or book, an instrument for retaining memoranda.

10. tallies: sticks on which accounts were recorded by the use of notches or cuts.   to score: to keep account of.

11. them: i.e., the paper tablets.

12. those tables: i.e., the tablet of memory.

13. adjunct: aid; assistant.

14. import: impute.