FOOTNOTES
[1] Read the touching account of his father's death. The Tatler, No. 181.
[2] No. 235.
[3] I.e. of dark complexion. But it will be seen later in the paper that the Spectator decides not to gratify the curiosity of his readers on this point.
[4] We should now say, "pending."
[5] A child's toy, made of a piece of coral, usually with a whistle at one end and bells at the other.
[6] Non+age, i.e. the years before the youth comes of age.
[7] A blot, in backgammon, is a man left uncovered and so liable to capture.
[8] Disclosures.
[9] Is this word correctly used?
[10] Note the careless use of pronouns in this sentence; Addison would hardly have written it.
[11] Justice of the peace. See Century Dictionary for explanation of the Latin phrase quorum unum A.B. esse volumus in the commission issued to justices.
[12] A criminal court held once a quarter, in the counties, by justices of the peace.
[13] Is this a correct modern use of the word?
[14] Can you express Steele's meaning in this clause more precisely?
[15] Another example of Steele's careless structure; correct the sentence.
[16] Costumes, styles of dress.
[17] Fashion.
[18] Change into a modern idiom.
[19] What is the meaning of this word here?
[20] I.e. the fellow above mentioned.
[21] A term used in hunting. But is Sir Roger bewildering himself?
[22] Attentively.
[23] Notice that the word is used in the broad sense of conduct.
[24] Fashion.
[25] Politeness, fine manner. Does this sentence seem obscure or cumbrous? Can you improve it?
[26] I.e. what seems nowadays so ridiculous.
[27] The vice of disrespect for age.
[28] Correct the bad grammar.
[29] What is the antecedent?
[30] Whose?
[31] "A person formerly hired to take the place of another at the muster of a military company, or to hide deficiency in its number when it was not full."—Century Dictionary.
[32] Rearrange this sentence.
[33] Turtle doves.
[34] Concert.
[35] An easy-riding horse.
[36] In the capacity of a chaplain.
[37] The earlier and more proper sense of the word—a person of pleasing eccentricity.
[38] I.e. stripped of his livery, dismissed.
[39] Cast-off.
[40] I.e. humorous on this matter.
[41] I.e. while the man was wearing that coat.
[42] Economist. The verb is still used in that sense.
[43] A fine, in English law, is a sum of money paid by a tenant at the beginning of his tenancy, usually to reduce his rent.
[44] When the right to occupy a house or lands terminates, by expiration of lease or otherwise. The usual term is "falls in." The meaning of the whole passage is that when a tenement—house or lands—is to be rented, Sir Roger often grants it to one of his servants without requiring payment of the customary "fine" on taking possession; or, if the servant choose to remain with Sir Roger, he may have the fine paid by the "stranger" who leases the property.
[45] Recent, former.
[46] Can you criticise the use of pronouns in this sentence?
[47] A pickerel, or small pike.
[48] Rank.
[49] I.e. hunts with.
[50] An artificial fly for fishing.
[51] I.e. trained.
[52] A pipe to imitate the call of a quail.
[53] Unfit.
[54] Costume.
[55] The law of the tournament.
[56] The estate.
[57] Representative of the shire in Parliament.
[58] Economist.
[59] Is the thought expressed with precision?
[60] What is the meaning of the word here?
[61] Short for "Exchange."
[62] Peculiarities.
[63] Correct the English.
[64] I.e. who have an income of five hundred pounds a year.
[65] Outcome, issue. Notice the etymology of the word.
[66] With a plague upon her!
[67] The word seems not to be used with precision here. To pose is to silence or nonplus one by puzzling or unanswerable questions; it was the sphinx that posed all comers with her famous riddle till [OE]dipus answered it.
[68] Mortgaged.
[69] Interest, not necessarily illegal interest.
[70] Disposition, spirit; not frequently used in this sense, as here, with the adjective "proud."
[71] Represent, keep up the appearance of owning.
[72] Correct the English.
[73] In what sense here used?
[74] At variance with.
[75] Can you so paraphrase this sentence as to bring any clear meaning out of it?
[76] Steele's careless English again; recast the sentence so as to express his meaning more correctly.
[77] So different from the common taste.
[78] The otter or Sir Roger? Recast the sentence.
[79] Disagreeable.
[80] Correct the English.
[81] Friends or foxes? Correct the sentence.
[82] Stallion.
[83] Killed by impaling himself on a fence which he was trying to leap.
[84] Hounds trained to stop at a word—as they are said to have done in the following paragraph.
[85] Flews are the chaps or overhanging upper lips of a dog.
[86] Of such a sandy colour.
[87] The dew-laps are the folds of skin hanging under the neck in some animals, especially cattle.
[88] Incorrectly quoted for "mouth," meaning bark or voice.
[89] I.e. at proper musical intervals, like a chime of bells.
[90] I.e. to beat the bushes or undergrowth in order to rouse any game hidden there.
[91] What?
[92] Bayed.
[93] Neutral.
[94] Garments.
[95] Amusing.
[96] Improve the arrangement of clauses here.
[97] Addressed, courted.
[98] Given presents.
[99] Assumed: notice how this meaning comes directly from the etymology of the word.
[100] The widow, not the hussy.
[101] What is the force of this word here?
[102] I.e. leaves her books to come into the garden.
[103] What is the antecedent?
[104] Various.
[105] Social intercourse.
[106] Fashionable.
[107] I.e. the fashions, not the people in the country.
[108] The subject is "town."
[109] Is.
[110] Shoots birds on the wing.
[111] Modern idiom demands "that."
[112] Won and lost his case.
[113] Note the two different senses in which this word is used.
[114] Improve the arrangement.
[115] Salutations.
[116] Disclosed.
[117] Of a different opinion.
[118] As a stick partly in the water and partly out.
[119] Assumptions, propositions taken for granted in argument. If the Latin form is used, the plural should be postulata.
[120] Exert his authority as justice of the peace.
[121] The lines or wrinkles in the palm of the hand supposed to indicate the fortune.
[122] The line beginning at the middle of the wrist and sweeping round the base of the thumb. As this is the line upon which are based predictions as to length of life and not as to marriage relations, Mr. Spectator probably did not report the gipsy correctly.
[123] Gave him up for drowned.
[124] Humorously used of the captain's one attendant, the drummer.
[125] I.e. in the box under the seat.
[126] Presuming, offensive because presuming.
[127] Acuteness, quick wit.
[128] Quizzical, humorous: "to smoke" one, in the slang of the day, was to quiz or ridicule. See the word in No. XXIX, page 199.
[129] Fell under the charge of.
[130] Genuine.
[131] Shortly, presently.
[132] I.e. the soldiers competing for quarters, the carmen and coachmen for right of way in the narrow streets.
[133] Workmen, mechanics.
[134] To fail, become bankrupt.
[135] Unwarrantably.
[136] The tariff, or duty.
[137] Shares.
[138] Returns, income.
[139] To vacate, be turned out of.
[140] Sausages.
[141] Correct the careless grammar.
[142] In what sense?
[143] The guide, or verger.
[144] I.e. for sitting down in the chair.
[145] Snared, caught. It is more properly spelled trapanned, and is not to be confused with the verb trepan, to remove a piece of the skull.
[146] Perhaps in black masks.
[147] Sticks, cudgels.
[148] This form of the possessive was still occasionally used when the noun ended in s.
[149] Ridicule, chaff.
[150] Rustic, clown.
[151] Property or estate settled on a wife to be enjoyed after the death of her husband.
[152] Intimate union.
[153] I.e. a woman wearing a mask.
[154] Good courage.
[155] The society of.
[156] Livings.
[157] Getting their living in some way.
[158] Apprentice.
[159] A minor, one not twenty-one years of age.
[160] Those who have given security for him. But it is difficult to get any precise meaning from the sentence—another instance of Steele's carelessness of expression.
[161] Varied.
[162] Marcus Tullius Cicero.