but in England, not China. The whole proceedings are English; likewise the insurance offices (123), which, needless to say, had no existence in ancient China. 128. John Locke was a great English philosopher of the seventeenth century. 142. mundus edibilis, world of things to eat. 143. princeps obsoniorum, chief of tidbits. 147. amor immunditiæ, love of dirt. 150. præludium, prelude. The Latin terms and the high-sounding words are part of Lamb's burlesque tone.

153. tegument, skin. 165. ambrosian, like ambrosia, the food of the gods. 178. conversation, mode of life; a use of the word common in the Authorized Version of the Bible

-e.g., in Psalms XXXVII, 14. 180. Ere, etc. From Coleridge's Epitaph on an Infant. 182. clown, rustic. 184. hath a fair sepulchre, etc. A humorous allusion to the last two lines of Milton's On Shakspere:

"And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie

That kings for such a tomb would wish to die."

187. Sapors, flavors. 213. villatic, belonging to the villa or farm. The quoted phrase is from Milton's drama, Samson Agonistes. 217. like Lear. See Shakspere's King Lear, 2. 4. 253. 253. nice, discriminating. 258. intenerating and dulcifying, making tender and sweet. 265. St. Omer's, a college in France, which Lamb never attended. 268. per flagellationem extremam is translated by the phrase preceding. 276. barbecue, roast whole. Lamb here distinguishes between the whole hogs (grown porkers of line 144) and the weakling (the young and tender suckling of line 145). shalots are a kind of onion, which he would permit in roasting the hog, but not the young pig.

Dream-Children.

This essay in connection with the preceding shows how well Lamb understood "the intertwining of the ludicrous and pathetic elements in human nature." Such an understanding is an essential characteristic of every real humorist. Lamb had a grandmother named Field who was housekeeper “in a great house"; and other details of the essay are known to come from the author's life and experiences. There is, however, insufficient evidence for the existence of a real Alice W- -n whom he courted for seven years; and Lamb's well-known "habit of embroidering fiction upon fact" forbids us to accept readily any identification of her.

14. the Robin Redbreasts covered the murdered children's bodies with leaves. 41. Psaltery, the book of Psalms. 96. John L

reincarnation.

or James Elia (line 151), is Lamb's older brother, whose death started the train of thought that produced this essay. 137. re-presentment, 147. Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the other world. 151. Bridget Elia was the name under which Lamb's sister Mary often appeared in his essays.

DE QUINCEY. Meeting with Lamb. When this meeting took place, Lamb was not a distinguished writer; and De Quincey “sought his acquaintance rather under the reflex honor he had enjoyed of being known as Coleridge's friend than for any which he yet held directly and separately in his own person." 2. The Temple was the residence of lawyers and law students. 30. no man, etc. This was "late in 1804 or early in 1805"; that is, some six or seven years after the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge. See our introductory note on Wordsworth. 34. that Coleridge and that Wordsworth, the men as they seemed at that time.

40. Pariahs, outcasts. 44. bravura, pretentious exhibition; alluding to the two preceding paragraphs. 45. a position, etc. In 1838, when this passage was written, Wordsworth and Coleridge were universally recognized as great poets. 57. let the reader figure, I say. Repeated from line 48 to remind the reader of the point of the sentence. De Quincey was much given to digressions, but rarely failed to use this excellent means of keeping the reader on the main track of his thought. 72. canon, standard. 75. allow yourself in, permit yourself to indulge in. An uncommon but correct idiom.

80. The many men, etc. Ancient Mariner, 236–7. ping. See note on 167, 21.

83. Wap

Apostrophe to Opium. De Quincey began the use of opium to alleviate suffering from neuralgia while he was a student at Oxford. He knew nothing of the drug; but he lived to discover that the suffering it can cause is infinitely greater than that arising from the bodily ills it aims to abate. The first three quotations in this passage are from Wordsworth: the pangs, etc., from White Doe of Rylstone; Wrongs unredressed, etc., from book III of The Excursion; from the anarchy, etc., from book IV c? The Excursion; dishonour of the grave is apparently an allusion to 1 Corinthians XV, 43. 15. Phidias and Praxiteles were great Greek sculptors. 16. Babylon became famous for its magnificence under Nebuchadnezzar, sixth century B.C. Hekatompylos means the "hundred-gated," and

designates the Egyptian city of Thebes. The Grecian Thebes was "seven-gated."

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Incident of the Malay. When the genuineness of this incident was questioned, De Quincey said it was recorded most faithfully." 6. amongst English mountains. The author was living at Grasmere in Westmoreland County, northwestern part of England. 7. De Quincey may have had in mind any one of several seaports on the western coast. 49. Anastasius, an anonymous novel, very popular when the Confessions were written. 50. Adelung's "Mithridates," 88. a-muck.

a work on languages by a famous German philologist. "See the common accounts in any eastern traveler or voyager of the frantic excesses committed by Malays who have taken opium, or are reduced to desperation by ill luck at gambling." (De Quincey's note.)

"Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring

Of woes unnumbered."

Cicero in one of his letters to Atticus says: "An Iliad of woes [Latin malorum] hangs over us.'

On Reading Aloud. - 1. in medias res, into the middle of the subject. 3. acme, highest point. 13. Kemble and Mrs. Siddons were the foremost Shaksperean actors of De Quincey's day. 17. Overstep, etc. Quoted from Hamlet's advice to the players: Hamlet, act 3, scene 2. 20. Samson Agonistes, hero of Milton's drama of that name. 23. Margaret was Mrs. De Quincey.

SCOTT. The time of The Bride of Lammermoor is the end of the seventeenth century. Sir William Ashton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, had acquired the estate of Ravenswood, of the former owners of which he had been an enemy. Edgar, called the Master of Ravenswood, was the last representative of the dispossessed family.

Soldier, Rest! is the song sung by Ellen Douglas to James FitzJames on his arrival at the Douglas castle.

Here's a Health. Woodstock is a Royalist picture of the period of the Commonwealth (1652). The king treated is Charles II, restored to the throne eight years after the time of the story.

Escape of Marmion. - Marmion, having been sent on a mission to Scotland by Henry VIII, was entertained by Douglas at the request of King James of Scotland. Douglas had evidence that his guest was guilty o. forgery and worse crimes, and therefore declined to take his hand at parting. 3. Surrey was commander of the English forces, which met the Scottish at Flodden Field shortly after the scene given here. 8. Clara was an heiress whom Marmion hoped to marry. 13. plain, complain. 16. Tantallon was Douglas's

58.

56. Saint

castle. 39. Douglas had the title of Earl of Angus. Bride, or Bridget, was the favorite saint of Angus. There was a shrine to her in Bothwell Castle, near Glasgow. portcullis, a gate, usually of iron, which ran up and down in grooves. 60. rowel, spur. 82. Gawain Douglas was a poet (see introductory note to Tam O'Shanter), and later, though not at the time of Marmion, a bishop.

AUSTEN.

The passage from Pride and Prejudice illustrates well Sir Walter Scott's criticism of the author's work: "That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with." It would be well to compare it with the selection from The Bride of Lammermoor, in which there is so much more action than here, and so much less clear portrayal of character. Miss Austen's conversation, in which she always excelled, should also be compared with Sir Walter's.

Elizabeth Bennet stands for the "Prejudice" of the title; Mr. Darcy (page 317), nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, for the "Pride." After a long period of failure to understand each other, a mutual attraction had arisen, rumor of which had finally reached Lady Catherine. 42. Rosings, the De Bourgh estate. 43. Sir William Lucas, friend of the Bennets, whose daughter Charlotte (line 52) had married Mr. Collins (line 49), rector of the parish in which Lady Catherine lived. 235. Lady Catherine did not know that her nephew Darcy had a much larger hand in the "business" of the marriage, and that only love of Elizabeth had moved him to do so. 241. Pemberley, Mr. Darcy's estate in Derbyshire.

MACAULAY. -8. Who wrote, etc. See note on Goldsmith's The Retaliation, page 470. 9. La Fontaine, the famous French writer of fables, was exceedingly absent-minded, and otherwise peculiar; but

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Macaulay forces the point in calling him a simpleton. 10. Hierocles, a Greek philosopher of the fifth century. The humorous stories to which Macaulay refers are now known to be not the work of Hierocles. 19. Paul Pry, a character in a comedy by John Poole, described as an idle, inquisitive, meddlesome fellow, who has no occupation of his own, and is forever poking his nose into other people's affairs." 27. Tacitus, Roman historian, wrote a biography of Agricola, Roman governor of Britain in the first century. Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon, English statesman of the seventeenth century, and Count Vittorio Alfieri, Italian dramatist of the eighteenth century, wrote autobiographies. Samuel Johnson wrote lives of a number of English poets. This selection shows Macaulay's literary style in characteristic fashion. He is always clear and forcible; but his prejudices and his fondness for antithesis led him to great exaggerations. Note, for example, line 12, If . . . writer; and the last sentence; and compare Carlyle's estimate of Boswell a few pages further on.

Trial of Hastings. — 1. Court. See lines 19-23. Hastings, the first governor-general of India, was impeached by the House of Commons for high crimes and misdemeanors, and was tried by the House of Lords. 5. Westminster, that part of London where the Houses of Parliament are located. 22. Hastings had deposed Cheyte Sing, Rajah of Benares, and had obtained money illegally from him and from the Begums of Oude.

25. the hall of William Rufus, so called because begun by that king, is now a vestibule to the Houses of Parliament. 27. Francis Bacon, the essayist, was convicted of corruption as a judge. 28. Somers, Lord Chancellor from 1696 to 1700, was impeached after leaving office, but was acquitted when his accusers declined to appear against him. The Earl of Strafford, Charles the First's chief adviser, despite his eloquence, was executed early in the session of the Long Parliament. 30. Charles the First was condemned to death as "tyrant, traitor, and murderer." 36. Garter King-at-arms, head of the heralds' college, which had supervision over coats-of-arms, genealogies, etc. 39. Upper House, House of Lords. 47. Prince of Wales, afterward King George IV.

49 ff. This paragraph is another fine specimen of Macaulay's style, which some critics condemn as rhetoric." The writer certainly knew what he wanted to accomplish to present a striking picture, and scarcely any will question his success. The use of the