Paints itself black to imitate her brow.
Page 2.
6. depending. Undetermined. In law, pending. Cf. Shakespeare, Cymbeline, iv. iii. 23:
We'll slip you for a season; but our jealousy
Does yet depend.
24. public exercises. Academic discussions maintained by candidates for degrees at the older universities. Traces appear in the term 'Wrangler' (Cambridge) and in the supplementary viva voce examination.
Page 3.
5-10. I made … satisfaction. Addison is alluding to John Greaves, who journeyed to Egypt in 1638 and published a learned work entitled Pyramidographia.
17 et seq. Will's, v. Appendix I, On Coffee-houses. Also for Child's (3. 19), St. James's (22), the Grecian (25), the Cocoa-Tree (25), and Jonathan's (29).
20. the Postman, edited by a Frenchman, M. Fonvive, is mentioned in a contemporary account by John Dunton as the best of the newspapers. It was published weekly.
23. politics was frequently used for politicians. Perhaps so used here.