the ruin of the Spanish monarchy. The defeat and dispersal of the Armada in 1558.
5. the tail of a blazing star. Comets have always been held to foretell disaster.
11. into meetings and conventicles. That is, to Dissent.
12. trunk-breeches. Very full, short breeches, reaching to the knee or half-way down the thigh.
16. it is recorded of Alexander the Great in Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. 'He first contrived many vain and sophistical things to serve the purposes of fame; among which were arms much bigger than his men could use … left scattered up and down.' This report is probably baseless, as it is opposed to the magnanimity of Alexander's character.
28. Rotunda. A building of circular shape both outside and inside, such as the Pantheon in Rome.
31. a little black monkey enshrined. Each Egyptian village had its sacred animal or fetish.
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8. the sensitive plant. Mimosa pudica, whose leaflets fold together at a touch.