"Fine by degrees, and beautifully less"

This line is from Prior's "Henry and Emma," a poem, upon the model of the "Nut-brown Maid." I copy part of the passage in which it occurs, for the sake of any of your readers who may be lovers of *context*, and may not have the poem at hand to refer to. "*Henry* [addressing Emma]. "Vainly thou tell'st me what the woman's care 420 Shall in the wildness of the woods prepare; Thou, ere thou goest, unhappiest of thy kind, Must leave the habit and the sex behind. No longer shall thy comely tresses break In flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck; Or sit behind thy head, an ample round, In graceful braid…