31. Moll White. v. Spectator 117.
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8. hogs-puddings. Large sausage-shaped bags stuffed with minced pork.
18. for twelve days, that is, till Twelfth Night, January 6, which puts an end to the Christmas festivities.
22. smutting. A trick, the victim of which is made unconsciously to blacken his own face. Cf. Goldsmith:
The swain mistrustless of his smutted face
While secret laughter tittered round the place.
27. the late act of Parliament for securing the Church of England. The Act of Occasional Uniformity, 1710, attempted to exclude Dissenters from political power and office by strengthening the Test Act of 1673. Dissenters who had once taken the sacrament in order to qualify for civil, military, or magisterial office, were prohibited under very severe penalties from appearing afterwards in sectarian places of worship.
28. securing. Making safe. Cf. Shakespeare, Tempest, II. i. 310, 'We stood here securing your repose.'
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6. the Pope's procession was a Whig demonstration performed annually on November 17, the anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth, to relieve the feelings of the Anti-Papal party. This year a particularly riotous procession had been prepared, but it was prevented by the seizure of all the images and accessories by the police in the middle of the preceding night.