11 2–4. Hampden, Falkland, Clarendon. In the case of these three statesmen, as well as in the case of Laud, the context shows which of them were supporters of Charles I and which resisted him. Does Macaulay imply that Johnson would have been excusable if he had sympathized with Hampden's refusal to pay "ship money"?
11 5. Roundheads. If you do not know why they were so called, see The Century Dictionary.
11 20–21. Great Rebellion. If in doubt as to which rebellion Macaulay refers, see The Century Dictionary or Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
12 2, 8, 10. Juvenal. Dryden has translated five of the poems of this great Roman satirist. It is worth while to compare Johnson's London, a free imitation of the Third Satire, with Dryden's version. Johnson's poem may be found in Hales's Longer English Poems.
12 19. Boswell, too, asks us to remember Pope's candor and liberal conduct on this occasion. Let us not forget it.
13 8. Psalmanazar. Pretending to be a Japanese, this Frenchman wrote what he called a History of Formosa. Although fabulous, it deceived the learned world.
13 14–15. blue ribands. Worn by members of the Order of the Garter.
13 16. Newgate. The notorious London prison.
13 26. Piazza here has its first meaning,—"an open square in a town surrounded by buildings or colonnades, a plaza." This space was once the "convent" garden of the monks of Westminster. For a brief sketch of it down to the time its "coffee houses and taverns became the fashionable lounging-places for the authors, wits, and noted men of the kingdom," see The Century Dictionary.
14 11–12. Grub Street. "Originally the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called grubstreet.