Chapter 3

Wanting the manage of unruly jades.

25. _stone-horse_. Stallion.

26. _staked himself_. Impaled himself on a stake in jumping.

29. _beagles_. Small hounds formerly employed in hunting the hare. Cf. White's _Selborne_, Letter VI, 'One solitary grey hen was sprung by some beagles in beating for a hare.' They are now superseded by harriers, which are still sometimes called by their name.

30. _Stop-hounds_. So called because when one of them found the scent he stopped and squatted 'to impart more effect to his deep tones, and to get wind for a fresh start' (Wills).

32. _mouths_. Voices. Cf. Shakespeare, _Henry V_., II. iv. 70:

For coward dogs Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten Runs far before them.

33. _cry_. Pack. Cf. Shakespeare, _Coriolanus_, III. iii. 120,

'You common cry of curs.'

34. _nice_. Fastidious. Cf. Shakespeare, _Love's Labour's Lost_, v. ii. 219, 'We'll not be nice; take hands.'

Page 50.

5. _counter-tenor_. Alto.

8. iv. i. 124. Shakespeare was not in Budgell's day so common a reservoir of quotations as he has since become. Dryden had appreciated him, but he was in general very little known, even among men of letters.

15. Hunting in July must have entailed great loss on the farmers before it was forbidden by the Game Laws of 1831.

17. _pad_. v. note on p. 12, 1. 31.

19. _rid_. v. note on p. 24, 1. 17.

20. _benevolence_. In its literal meaning of _goodwill_.

25. _rid_. Now obsolete: _ridden_.

Page 51.

7. _chace_. v. note on p. 46, 1. 22.

35. _took_. Betook herself to. Cf. Shakespeare, _Comedy of Errors_, v. i. 36:

Run, master, run; for God's sake, take a house!

Page 52.

2. _chiding_. Barking. Cf. Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, iv. i. 120:

Never did I hear Such gallant chiding.

10. _his pole_. The huntsman followed on foot, carrying a long leaping-pole, which permitted him to keep a straighter course than he could have done on horseback, owing to the state of the country.

26. _Monsieur Paschal_, the great French philosopher of the seventeenth century, who died in 1662.

Page 53.

12. _habit_. State, condition.

17. But the Spectator's hunting has only consisted of watching the chase from a rising ground!

24. _Epistle to John Dryden_, 73-4, 88-95.

SPECTATOR 117.

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4. _neuter_. Neutral, Cf. Shakespeare, _Richard II_., II. iii. 159, 'Be it known to you I do remain as neuter.'

_engaging_. Pledging. Cf. Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_, III. ii. 264:

I have engaged myself to a dear friend.

6. _determination_. Decision. Cf. Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_, III. ii. 258, 'He humbles himself to the determination of justice.'

15. _particular_. Individual. Cf. Shakespeare, _All's Well that Ends Well_, I. i. 97:

That I should love a bright particular star.

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7. _applied herself_. Cf. Shakespeare, _Antony and Cleopatra_, v. 2. 126:

If you apply yourself to our intents,

where the word is used in a somewhat different sense. It is now used reflexively only in the sense of applying oneself to the performance of an action.

8. _Otway_, the poet and playwright, died in 1685. The quotation is from his play of _The Orphan_, II. i. The first line should run:

Through a close lane....

36. _palmed_. Foisted, falsely attributed.

Page 60.

16. _tabby_. Brindled or sometimes female, as opposed to tom-cat. The meaning is derived from the word _tabby_, a name for watered silk.

28. _a bounty_. The concrete sense of this word has been lost.

33. _trying experiments with her_. Testing her by ordeal.

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1. Sir Roger's doubtfulness on the subject of witchcraft was not exceptional. In 1664 Sir Thomas Browne had assisted in the condemnation of a witch. In 1711 there were two executions for witchcraft, and in 1712 Jane Wenham was sentenced, but afterwards pardoned. In 1716 there were again two executions, and although the Act was repealed in 1736, an old woman was done to death by the mob as late as 1751.

3. _bound her over to_. sc. appear at.

14. _commerce and familiarities_ with the devil or evil spirits.

SPECTATOR 118.

Page 68.

9. _of all others_. A classic construction. For a similar inaccurate phrase cf. Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 324, 'The fairest of her daughters Eve.' The phrase occurs also on p. 41, 1. 33.

24. _salute_. Kiss. Cf. Shakespeare, _As You Like It_, III.