51 19. post equitem, etc.:
Behind the horseman sits black care.
—Horace's Odes, III, 1, 40.
51 20. undying worm. Isaiah, lxvi, 24.
51 29. "from morn till dewy eve." Paradise Lost, I, 742.
52 33. On a fine morning. Study this paragraph carefully with reference to the rhetorical effect. The entire scene is the product of De Quincey's imagination; do you consider it truthful?
53 24. yagers. German Jäger; used of a huntsman or a forester, also in parts of Germany and Austria used to indicate light infantry or cavalry. Compare with Polish dragoons, p. 38, l. 10.
54 21. indorsed. Look up the etymology. Has De Quincey, in his note, quoted Milton accurately? See Paradise Regained, III, 329.
56 13. rather in a diagonal. This is another characteristic of De Quincey; he is sometimes tediously exact in his details; perhaps the minuteness is justifiable in this instance, as the statement increases the realistic effect of an imaginary scene.
56 18. a large fresh-water lake. The Lake of Tengis here referred to, mentioned by name in the paragraph following this, is evidently Lake Balkash, into which flows the river Ily. It is one of the largest lakes in the steppes, but its water is really salt.
59 21. globes and turms. Latinisms. Milton uses globe in Paradise Lost, II, 512, and turms in Paradise Regained, IV, 66.