[P. 18.] Lords of the Articles.—A well-known body in the older Scottish
Constitution, through whom only legislation could be originated, and who
thus almost nullified the powers of Parliament.
[P. 20.] Squeaziness = 'squeamishness,' 'queasiness.' It is impossible.—Another form of 'No bishop no king.' The new converts.—After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
[P. 22.] T.W. is, of course, a mere fancy signature. It might stand for
'True Wellwisher' or anything. The wiseacres took it as ='W.T.,' William
Temple.
[P. 27.] Neither, for 'too,' is colloquial but rather picturesque. Cf. the
famous 'And yet but yaw neither' in Hamlet.
[P. 47.] I have not thought it desirable to reproduce the abundance of italics
with which the original is furnished. They no doubt appealed to the
vulgar, as where poor Mr. Wood is described (p. 50) as 'a mean ordinary
man, a hard-ware dealer.' But the vigour of the onslaught is wholly
independent of them.
[P. 54.] Bere, or 'bear,' also 'bigg,' a kind of barley largely cultivated
in Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England. It has six rows in the ear,
and will grow in much poorer ground and a much damper and rougher
climate than the two-rowed variety. It is also, I believe, still thought
to give the best whisky, if not the best beer, when malted.
[P. 55.] Conolly.—Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
[P. 60.] Brought to the bullion seems here to have the meaning of the
French billonner or envoyer au billon, 'to melt for recoining.'
[P. 74.] Our Cæsar's statue.—The statue of George I. on Essex Bridge,
Dublin.
[P. 89.] Contignation.—This rather pedantic, and now, I think, quite
obsolete word (from tignum, 'beam') means 'having a common or
continuous roof.'
[P. 99.] The slackness of England in taking advantage of the Vendéan and Chouan
movements, of which Burke here complains, has never been fully
explained. The poltroonery of the Bourbon princes, and the factions of
the emigrants, throw a certain but not a complete light on it; and
though conjectural explanations are obvious enough, there is little
positive evidence to support them.
[P. 107.] But when the possibility ... that the.—It will probably seem
to a modern reader that either 'that' or 'the' has crept in improperly.
It might be so; but Burke still maintained the authoritative but rather
inelegant tradition by which 'that,' like the French que, could
replace any such antecedent word as 'when,' 'because,' etc.
[P. 112.] Louis the Sixteenth.—To this is appended a note in the editions
beginning, 'It may be right to do justice to Louis XVI. He did what he
could to destroy the double diplomacy of France.' The subject has of
late years received considerable illustration in the Duke of Broglie's
Le Secret du Roi, and other works by the same author.
[P. 114.] Montalembert.—Marc René, Marquis de (1714-1800), a voluminous
military writer.
[P. 134.] Dear Abraham.—'Peter Plymley' addresses his Letters to
'my brother Abraham, who lives in the country,' and is a
parson.
[P. 136.] Baron Maseres.—Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, a descendant
of Huguenots, very well thought of by his contemporaries. Dr. Rennel I
know not, unless he was the Herodotus man.
[P. 138.] Dr. Duigenan.—A delightful person who, in his hot youth, as a
junior Fellow of T.C., D., threatened to 'bulge the Provost's' [Provost
Hely Hutchinson's] 'eye,' and was afterwards a pillar of Protestantism.
[P. 144.] This light and frivolous jester was not the Rev. Sydney
Smith, but George Canning, Esq.
[P. 154.] The pecuniary Rose.—'Old George' Rose, Pitt's right hand. He
was rather heavily rewarded with places and pensions; but even Liberals
now admit that the country has hardly had an abler official. Lord Hawkesbury, Jenkinson, better known as Lord Liverpool.
[P. 193.] Paint in the most horrid colours.—See, for instance, The
Bloody Buoy and The Cannibal's Progress, by William Cobbett.
[P. 225.] Flogging.—Some of the militia mutinied at Ely, and were
punished, the guard on the occasion being furnished by the cavalry of
the German Legion. Cobbett noticed this in the most inflammatory
manner, and it being war time, was indicted, tried, found guilty, and
sentenced as he describes.
[P. 229.] Monks and friars.—A time came when Cobbett thought and wrote
very differently of these persons. But that was his way.
[P. 245.] Foundal.—I do not know whether Cobbett invented this equivalent
for trouvaille, 'windfall,' or not. His notable scheme for breaking
the Bank is a good example of him in his insaner moods.
[P. 288.] Cessio, sc. bonorum, whereby a debtor on giving up his property
could be relieved of liabilities. Adjudication, whereby a creditor could attach landed as
well as personal property.