[14] Bout: contest.
[15] Curacy: parish.
[16] Chambers: law offices.
[17] Quixotic: romantic or visionary
[18] Crotchet: whim, notion, "hobby."
[19] Old man with a scythe: Father Time.
[20] Treadmill: a wheel on which prisoners were formerly compelled to work.
[21] Berks: Berkshire, a county west of London. It is called "Royal" because it is the seat of Windsor Castle. The Vale of the White Horse gets its name from the gigantic image of a horse cut through the turf in the side of a chalk hill. Tradition says it was done over a thousand year ago, to commemorate a great victory over the Danes by Alfred.
[22] Three pound ten (shillings): the English shilling is about twenty five cents, and the pound may be called five dollars.
[23] Dresden: a city of Germany, noted for its treasures of art.