who have little to occupy their time, very few resources in their own minds. 11. 21, 2. if I may ... phrase, the ordinary phrase being to retire into the country, where solitude is so much easier. 1. 23. in order to be alone, an allusion to the saying, "Never less alone than when alone": raise, sc. in his own mind, as though they were spectres. 11. 30, 1. rallies... way, banters me in his somewhat clumsy fashion. 1. 33. picking of, for of, following the verbal noun, see Abb. § 178. 1. 34. smelling to, now an obsolete construction, and probably intended by Addison to indicate the writer's old-fashioned style: Taylor, the Water Poet, uses the expression "lock of hay," and oddly enough the construction,' smell unto,' in the same passage, "For never would he touch a locke of hay, or smell unto a heape or provender": a lock, a wisp, bundle. P. 94, 1. 1. cursedly, terribly; as he says below and we still say colloquially, 'confoundedly.' 1. 4. stories of a cock and bull, idle and incredible stories; the origin of this phrase, which is of early use, lies probably in some fable. Murray, Eng. Dict., points out that the French have a parallel phrase, coq-à-l'âne. 11. 5, 6. Thy speculations... meadows, i.e. are not such as townbred men find any delight in ; are altogether too rustical for us. 1. 8. Service, compliments. 1. 9. is grown the cock of the club, plumes himself upon being the most important person among us; rules the roost. For Sir Andrew, see Essay No. 2. 1. 11. every mother's son of us, a common colloquial expression which is supposed to emphasize the totality, as though it were something more than 'every one of us': commonwealth's-men, thorough republicans. A SCENE IN A STAGE COACH. No. 132. P. 94, 1. 28. the chamberlain, the groom of the chambers, the servant whose duty it was to look after the rooms oocupied by the various people staying at the inn, and who would consequently know which of them were going by the next day's coach. 1. 30. Mrs., here used of an unmarried lady, in whose case we now write Miss; both terms are abbreviations of the same word, Mistress: the great fortune, the well-known heiress. 1. 31-P. 95, 1. 1. who took... go, sc. with the object of making M their acquaintance during the journey, and, if possible, of getting into the good graces of the heiress. 11. 3, 4. a gentleman... dumb, sc. the Spectator himself, whose reticence has so often been confessed, and who would naturally have got the reputation among the country folk of being dumb. 11. 5, 6. that according ... intelligence, that, as was natural in a man like himself, who was always coming in contact with a number of people of all sorts, he picked up a good deal of news on various topics and also conveyed a good deal to others; dealt in, trafficked in, giving and receiving. 1. 9. called, roused from sleep. 1. 14. half pike, the pike was a kind of lance, and the half pike, a shortened form of the same weapon, was of old carried by infantry officers. 1. 16. equipage, retinue; more usually of material apparatus: was very loud that, etc., loudly, authoritatively, demanded that, etc. 1. 18. cloke-bag, portmanteau, as we should now say; in common use in Elizabethan English, and applied to Falstaff (i. H. IV. ii. 4. 497, "that stuffed cloak-bag of guts") in one of those 'unsavoury similes' with which he reproached the Prince: the seat, apparently here the "well" of the coach, as we should now call it, underneath the feet of the inside passengers. 1. 21. to look sharp, to take good care. 1. 22. the place... coach-box, the most comfortable place in a coach, the motion being less felt there than when sitting back to the horses and so nearer to them. 1. 24. not too good-natured, not over-burdened with goodnature, with no superabundance of kindly feeling in their nature. 1. 26. jumbled... familiarity, obliged us by being thrown into such close contact to behave with a certain amount of friendliness. To jumble is to mix together confusedly, to jolt or shake about together; in a similar figurative sense we speak of matters shaking down, i.e. gradually coming to a more peaceful, more harmonious, state. 1. 34. plain, outspoken. P. 96, 1. 1. a soldier of fortune is, in common use, a soldier who is ready to serve under any flag so long as he can benefit himself by so doing; but here there is a veiled allusion to the fortune of the heiress: vain, conceited, affected. ... 1. 3. I had it, there was nothing left for me to do, after this rude speech of the officer, but to pretend to fall fast asleep, i.e. all conversation was rendered so impossible by this rude speech, that I was quite at a loss what to do, and thought it best to affect to sleep and so appear unconscious of the unpleasant state of affairs and of any further remarks the officers might make. 1. 7. brideman, "best man," as we now say; the friend who stands in the same relation to the bridegroom as the bridesmaids to the bride, the assistance rendered in both cases being of a purely formal and ornamental character. 1. 9. what is what, i.e. the fitness of things; what the occasion requires. "From two of the absurd questions asked in old systems of logic, 'Quid est?' ('What is it?') and 'Quid est quid?' (What is what?') we have the noun quiddity (essence) and the phrase 'to know what's what" "... (Salmon). 1. 10. shall give... father, shall act the part of father in giving the bride away. At the marriage ceremony of the English Church, in answer to the question put by the priest, "Who giveth this woman in marriage?" the father, or in his absence some person chosen to act for him, answers "I do." 1. 11. smartness, ready wit. 11. 11, 2. I take... part, I am obliged to you for the compliment you have paid me. 1. 12. thou hast, in the Quaker manner of speech the second person singular is always used in addressing a person, as being more literally in accordance with truth than the plural you. 1. 14. if I have... her, if it rests with me to give her in marriage. 11. 16, 7. thy drum ... empty, cp. H. V. iv. 4. 70-3, "I never did know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart; but the saying is true, 'The empty vessel makes the greater sound" Lear, i. 1. 156, 7, "Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound Reverbs no hollowness"; and Lyly's Euphues, "The emptie vessel giveth a greater sound than the full barrel." 1. 20. the great city, sc. London. 1. 21. we cannot... way, we cannot, in order to please you, who are only one of the partners to the hire of this coach, turn out of our way and go to the nearest town as you propose. 1. 25. thy courageous countenance, the boldness which is natural to you as a soldier. 1. 26. children of peace, with none of your martial courage. 1. 27. give quarter to us, be merciful to us. 1. 28. fleer, jeer, speak tauntingly. 11. 29, 30. what he containeth, what thoughts he had in his mind though he refrained from uttering them. 1. 34. hasped up, shut up, fastened so that we cannot get out; not literally, but in the sense that it was impossible to get rid of his company except by discontinuing their journey and being set down on the high road without any means of proceeding on their way; hasped, a verb formed from the substantive hasp, a clasp, a bolt, a bar. 11. 34, 5. is in some degree... road, is little better than the behaviour of a highway robber; differs only in degree from an assault on the public road, a criminal offence. 1. 36. happy, felicitous, well-timed in its jocularity. P. 97, 11. 1, 2. which can... time, which though found guilty is not abashed. 1. 2. Faith, here and throughout his speech the captain with merry impudence mimics the Quaker's phraseology. 11. 4, 5. a smoky old fellow, an equivalent in the slang of the day to such modern slang as "one up to snuff," "a downy old cove." "An old smoker," in former days, was one who was well experienced in any matters. The verb to smoke, as a slang term, was used in the sense of to detect, e.g. A. W. iv. 1. 30, "they begin to smoke me," and also for to make fun of, or abuse. See p. 109, 1. 15. 1. 9. was so far... ruffle, was so far from being seriously disturbed by this little breeze; the waters were ruffled, but only ruffled: the incident was but a storm in a saucer. 11. 11, 2. their different company, each his own function in providing for the comfort of the party. ... 11. 12, 3. Our reckonings. accommodation, sc. when they stopped to bait at an inn. 1. 16. taking place, taking the best, the middle, of the roadway, and compelling those whom they met to wait till they had passed. 1. 18. entertain, afford amusement, be of interest. 1. 30. a right inward man, a really fine character. 1. 34. knowing, well versed, skilled. P. 98, 1. 4. modes, fashions of dress. 1. 7. affections, feelings, dispositions. SIR ROGER IN TOWN. No. 269. P. 98, 1. 23. Gray's-inn walks, or Gray's Inn Gardens, were planted by Lord Bacon, who was Treasurer of Gray's Inn, in 1597. They were a fashionable promenade of Charles the Second's time. Pepys, writing in May 1662, says, "When church was done, my wife and I walked to Gray's Inne, to observe the fashions of the ladies, because of my wife making some clothes." Lamb, Essays of Elia, On some of the old Actors, writes, "I am ill at dates, but I think it is now better than five-and-twenty years ago, that walking in the gardens of Gray's Inn-... they are still the best gardens of any of the Inns of Court, my beloved Temple not forgotten-have the gravest character; their aspect being altogether reverend and law-breathing-Bacon has left the impress of his foot upon their gravel walks," etc. Gray's Inn, Holborn, was in the time of Edward I. the manor of Reginald de Gray, but was leased to the lawyers about the middle of the 14th century, and in Ben Jonson's time stood at the head of the Inns of Court, though now only the fourth in importance. Here Bacon wrote his Novum Organum, and among the members of the Society were Sir William Gascoigne, who committed Henry V., then Prince of Wales, to prison for contempt of court; Cromwell, Earl of Essex; Bishop Gardiner; Lord Burleigh; Sir Nicholas Bacon, and his greater son; Archbishop Whitgift, Bishop Hall, and Archbishop Laud. 1. 26. Prince Eugène, François, Prince of Savoy, 1663-1367, son of Eugène Maurice, Count of Soissons, entered the Austrian service, distinguished himself against the Turks in 1683, and was present at the siege of Belgrade in 1688. Later on he took part in the War of the Succession in Spain, joined Marlborough in 1704, being present at the battle of Blenheim, and again in Flanders in 1708, at Malplaquet and Oudenarde. Subsequently he distinguished himself against the Turks at the battles of Peterwaradin and Belgrade. Being of an Italian family, he signed himself Eugenio (as Sir Roger styles him). 1. 28. curiosity, keen interest. P. 99, 1. 2. Scanderbeg, George Castriota, 1464-1467, an Albanian prince; he escaped from the Turks, among whom he had been brought up as a hostage, and having recovered his throne and renounced Muhammadanism, maintained a long and successful war against his enemies. Jonson, Every man in his Humour, i. 2, uses his name as an intensive, "Whoreson Scanderbag rogue!" The name was given him by the Turks in derision and is made up of Scandar, i.e. Iskandar, the Turkish transliteration of Alexander (the Great), and beg, a chief, now used in the form bey. 1. 5. to clear his pipes, to clear his throat; the pipes being the bronchial tubes. 11. 7, 8. the strength... hems, as showing him still to be a hale, hearty, old man; hems, ejaculations in clearing his throat. To hem, or to cry hem, is often used of an ejaculation of warning or encouragement. 1. 11. an alms, we usually say "alms" without the indefinite article, but an is quite correct, the word being really a singular noun, contracted from A.S. almæsse, a corruption of ecclesiastical Lat. eleëmosyna, from Gk. éλenμoσúvn, compassion, charity. 1. 19. much at my service, merely a complimentary form of salutation. |