Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

11. 29, 30. many ..... itself, many loosenings of the folds of the fan that from the easy grace with which it is handled seems to open of itself.

1. 32. discovers, reveals. Cp. p. 22, 1. 23.

11. 32-4. an infinite number... figures, the fans being painted in a variety of designs.

P. 51, 1. 2. one general crack, a report, like that of a feu de joie with muskets, caused by all the fans being sharply closed at the same instant; the word Discharge keeping up the metaphor of the discharge of a fire-arm.

1. 5. their first entrance, their first admission to the academy. give a pop, produce a report.

1. 9. letting off, discharging; again keeping up the same metaphor.

1. 11. may come in properly, may be used with propriety and to advantage.

1. 17. in course, in the regular order of things; as in musketry exercise the grounding of the musket follows upon discharging it. 1. 22. with an air, with a fashionable, graceful, gesture.

11. 27, 8. like ladies... visit, as ladies are wont to do, after paying a long visit, as an excuse for leaving.

1. 30. Recover, another military term, used when, after 'standing at ease,' the troops being drilled again bring their muskets to the proper position for using them.

1. 35. lay aside, reserve as the proper season for their exercise. dog-days, in the middle of summer, so called because the dog-star, canicula, is then overhead, and is supposed to cause extreme heat.

P. 52, 1. 12. a disciplined lady, a lady who has been well drilled in the exercise of the fan.

1. 15. come within the wind of it, ventured within range of the fierce blast caused by its being waved with such anger.

11. 16-8. that I have been glad... from it, as otherwise the lover would have been likely to take an undue advantage of the encouragement to his hopes which the languishing air of the fan seemed to imply. a prude, one who affects an excess of modesty.

11. 27, 8. of gallanting a fan, of carrying, fetching, handing, the fan in the way that a gallant, graceful-mannered, admirer of a lady should do.'

1. 29. plain fans, fans that are not decorated like those used by ladies, and that can be handled by untrained youths without damage from their awkwardness.

SIR ROGER AT HOME. No. 106.

P. 53, 11. 14, 5. without... merry, without worrying me by efforts to make me seem more cheerful; letting me alone when not inclined to mirth.

1. 16. only shows. distance, knowing my natural shyness.

...

1. 17, 8. stealing a sight, furtively trying to get a glimpse of me.

1. 22. staid, sedate.

1. 25. are all in years, are all getting old.

11. 26, 7. valet de chambre, personal servant, one who attends him in his bed-room, helping to dress and undress him, etc.

1. 29. a privy-councillor, a member of the sovereign's Privy Council, and therefore presumed to be a man of wisdom and discretion.

1. 30. even... house-dog, even in the ways of the old house-dog, who shows in his behaviour the affectionate treatment to which he has been used.

1. 31. pad, horse ridden on a pad, or stuffed saddle. So we speak of a 'pad' elephant as opposed to one carrying a hauda. P. 54, 1. 10. tempered, mixed.

1. 12. humanity, kindness of manner.

affection.

...

engages, binds with

1. 13. is pleasant. them, makes jokes in a pleasant way at their expense.

1. 14. family, household.

1. 17. concern, anxiety. Cp. p. 15, 1. 23.

11. 26, 7. in the nature of a chaplain, as a sort of domestic priest. In those days gentlemen of means, especially those living in the country, generally had a private chaplain attached to the household.

1. 35. extravagance, wildness, exuberance.

P. 55, 1. 1. cast, see note on p. 17, 1. 18.

1. 8. insulted... Greek, humiliated by a display of learning which his own education had neglected.

1. 11. aspect, personal appearance.

1. 12. backgammon, a game played with moveable pieces, as in draughts, upon a board marked with 'points' or divisions, the moves of the pieces being regulated by the numbers thrown by a pair of dice, and the object being with each player to move his pieces from his own 'table,' or division of the board, to that of

his opponent and then to be the first to get them off the board altogether, a result in the main due to luck in throwing the dice, though considerable skill is required in moving the pieces. The game, though still played, is not so much in vogue as in Addison's day; the origin of the word is uncertain.

1. 18. he shall find, the shall indicates determination, not mere futurity.

1. 31. pronounce, deliver.

1. 32. digested, arranged.

P. 56, 1. 1. preached, was to preach, i.e. whose sermon was to be read.

1. 2. the Bishop of St. Asaph, at that time Dr. William Fleetwood.

11. 3-6. South, Tillotson, Saunderson, Barrow, Calamy, all famous divines of the period.

1. 18. endeavour after, aim at.

11. 18, 9. a handsome elocution, an agreeable manner of delivery, due to the words being clearly and accurately pronounced, the sentences well marked, the emphasis placed where it should be, etc.

1. 20. proper to enforce, suited to impress, calculated to lay due stress upon.

1. 22. edifying, instructive; originally used in the literal sense of 'building up'; now confined to figurative building up.

CHARACTER OF WILL WIMBLE. No. 108.

1. 27. Mr. William Wimble, "A Yorkshire gentleman, whose name was Mr. Thomas Morecraft" (Ferguson).

1. 28. with his service, with an expression of his good-will; with his compliments, as we now say.

P. 57, 1. 4. a jack, a pike, a river fish of a very voracious character and one affording considerable sport to the fisherman; in some parts of the country the name 'jack' is used only of young pike.

1. 8. the bowling-green, in former days the game of bowls was a very favourite pastime, and few country seats were without their bowling green; nowadays these greens are rarely to be seen except in the Fellows' Gardens at the Universities.

11. 11, 2. I have not... past, i.e. have been constantly on horseback for the last six days, riding about the country round Eaton. 1. 13. hugely, with the keenest appetite; a word that in a figurative sense seems to be growing obsolete.

1. 26. a May-fly, an artificial fly made in imitation of a fly so called which trout take greedily in that month.

11. 26, 7. to a miracle, with extraordinary skill in imitating the real fly.

1. 27. angle-rods, fishing rods; originally the word 'angle' was used of the rod with its line, as e.g. A.Č. ii. 5. 10, "Give me mine angle; we'll to the river." Nowadays 'angling,' i.e. bottom fishing, fishing with a bait that is allowed to fall to the bottom, is contrasted with fly-fishing, in which the bait is thrown upon the surface of the water and drawn along to tempt the fish by imitating the course of the natural fly.

1. 28. officious, ready to do a kindness; at present the word is always used in a bad sense of over-eagerness to meddle in any matter.

1. 29. upon... family, in consequence of his belonging to a good family, being well born.

1. 31. a tulip root, in Addison's day, owing to the introduction of Dutch fashions by William the Third, Prince of Orange, and his followers, tulip growing was more cared for than at present. Here this carrying of a tulip root is merely an instance of the small civilities in which Will Wimble delighted.

1. 32. exchanges, arranges the exchange between, etc.

1. 36. a setting dog, a 'setter,' as we now call a spaniel trained to sit as soon as it marks down the game which the sportsmen are beating for; other spaniels are called 'pointers,' as being trained to point' by lifting up the paw when coming near the game, and others 'retrievers' from their retrieving, bringing back, the game when brought down by the gun. made, trained; a technical term still in use.

P. 58. 1. 1. of his own knitting, which he had knitted himself.

11. 3, 4. how they wear, whether they were wearing well or are nearly worn out; they, because his modesty does not like to mention the name of the article.

1. 5. humours, fanciful ways.

1. 7. make up to us, approach us.

1. 15. shuttle-cocks, pieces of cork stuck round the edge with small feathers and bandied backwards and forwards by a kind of raquet in the game of battle-dore and shuttle-cock, a game still played by children and sometimes by grown up people, more commonly in doors on a rainy day.

1. 19. sprung, disturbed and caused to fly out from its place of concealment in the grass or underwood.

11. 21, 2. the game that I look for, the game I try to hunt down, the objects of my search.

1. 30. in a most sumptuous manner, Addison probably refers to the fennel with which it is customary to deck a pike when -served at table.

11. 31, 2. played with it, a fish is said to be 'played with,' or nowadays 'played,' when the line is loosened so as to allow it free play in the water, then tightened to bring it up towards the bank, the operation being repeated time after time until the fish is completely tired out and can be landed. foiled, baffled its attempts to get off the hook or break the line.

1. 33. all the first course, all the time we were eating the first course; the dinner is divided into several courses, ordinarily three or four, consisting of various kinds of food, but sometimes prolonged to as many as seven or more.

1. 34. furnished conversation, Will Wimble discoursing all the time upon his experiences in shooting wild fowl.

1. 36. the quail-pipe, a pipe or reed used in luring quail; it is thus described by Bate, quoted in Nares's Glossary, "A quaile pipe or call is a small whistle, and there is over the top of it some writhed wyer [i.e. twisted wire], which must be wrought over with leather; hold the whistle in your left hand, and the top of the leather betweene the fore finger and top of the thumbe of your right hand, and by pulling streight the said leather, and letting it slacke nimbly, it will sound like the cry of a quaile."

P. 59, ll. 8, 9. might have... esteem, might have raised him to a position in which he would have gained the esteem of his fellowmen.

1. 14. had rather see, would prefer to see.

11. 14, 5. like gentlemen, retaining the position of a gentleman. 1. 16. quality, birth and breeding. humour, caprice, fanciful notions. Cp. p. 58, 1. 5.

1. 17. happiness, good fortune, fortunate custom.

1. 19. any liberal... profession, such as divinity, law, physic. 1. 22. launched, a metaphor from sending a vessel into the water from the slips on which it rests while in the building dock. 1. 28. improper, unsuited in his qualifications.

1. 29. turned, formed, adapted.

RURAL MANNERS. No 119.

P. 60, 1. 8. By manners... . morals, Addison probably says this

because the Latin mores includes both manners and morals.

1. 12. articie, particular, matter; literally a little joint (of the body).

M

« VorigeDoorgaan »