Diversions of Purley. John Horne Tooke’s book was published in 1786–1805. See vol. IV. The Spirit of the Age, p. 231.
Interminable babble. ‘Intarissable babil’ in the Magazine.
Tongue with a garnish of brains. Goldsmith, Retaliation, 6.
Wimbledon. Where Horne Tooke lived.
With a nostrum in his mouth. See Alexander Stephens’s Memoirs of John Horne Tooke, Esq., vol. II. p. 445, ‘While yet in perfect possession of his senses, and uncertain of his impending fate, although conscious it could not be long protracted, the patient eagerly inquired’ [of Sir Francis Burdett] ‘concerning the effect produced on the House of Commons by the motion relative to the punishment of soldiers?...
‘As he had once more been relieved by cordials, notwithstanding he was told it was now in vain, the member for Westminster prepared to administer one with his own hand. Having knelt for this purpose, the dying man opened his eyes for the last time, and seeing who it was that presented the potion, he swallowed it with avidity.’
The late Professor Porson. Richard Porson (1759–1808), Greek scholar and critic.
[198]. The Member for Old Sarum. See ante, note to p. 6.
The man of perhaps the greatest ability now living. Coleridge. Cf. The Spirit of the Age.
[199]. Duns Scotus to Jacob Behmen. John Duns, the ‘subtle doctor’; Jacob Bœhmen (1575–1624), German mystic.