1
Doyle: an English artist noted for his humorous and satirical designs.
2
Matriculating: entering.
3
Yeomen: small independent farmers. They have generally constituted the best part of the English army.
4
Cloth-yard shaft:
1
Doyle: an English artist noted for his humorous and satirical designs.
2
Matriculating: entering.
3
Yeomen: small independent farmers. They have generally constituted the best part of the English army.
4
Cloth-yard shaft: an arrow a yard in length.
5
Cressy and Agincourt: English victories over the French in 1346 and 1415.
6
Bill: a combined spear and battle-axe.
7
Culverin and demi-culverin: ancient forms of cannon.
8
Hand-grenade: a kind of bomb or shell thrown by hand.
9
Rodney, etc.: famous English naval and military commanders.
10
Talbots, etc.: noted family names of the English nobility.
11
"Sacer vates": inspired bard or poet.
12
Throw his stone, etc.: help to build their cairn or monument.
13
Clanship: here, the holding together of a class, tribe, or family.
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.
24
The Louvre: an ancient palace in Paris, containing vast collections of sculptures and paintings.
25
Sauer-kraut: a German dish, prepared from cabbage.
26
Bee-orchis (orkis): a wild-flower resembling a bee.
27
Down: a barren hill of chalk or sand.
28
Civil wars: those between Parliament and King Charles I., in the seventeenth century.
29
Butts: targets for archery practice. Before the invention of gunpowder they were set up by law in every parish.
30
Laid: dispelled by religious ceremonies.
31
Dulce domum: sweet home.
32
Black Monday: the end of the holidays.
33
Cosmopolites: citizens of the world at large, familiar with all countries.
34
Backsword play: the game of single-stick, or fencing with cudgels.
35
Gorse: a thick, prickly, evergreen shrub, which grows wild and bears beautiful yellow flowers.
36
Spinney: a small grove filled with undergrowth.
37
Charley: a fox.
38
Cover: a retreat, or hiding-place.
39
Old Berkshire: an association of hunters.
40
Thatched: roofed with straw or reeds.
41
Richard Swiveller: a jolly character who lives by his wits. See Dickens's "Old Curiosity Shop."
42
Mr. Stiggins: a hypocritical parson. See Dickens's "Pickwick Papers."
43
Roman camp: the Romans, when they conquered England, about 78 A.D., built a stronghold here.
44
Eyrie: the nest of a bird of prey; here, a gathering-place for Roman soldiers.
45
Cairn: a heap of stones set up to mark a spot.
46
Sappers and miners: usually, soldiers employed in working on trenches and fortifications or in undermining those of an enemy; here, engaged in surveying.
47
Ordnance Map: an official or government map.
48
Balak: see Numbers xxii.
49
Alfred: Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, 871. He defeated the Danes, who had overrun most of England, at Ashdown, and compelled them to make a treaty of peace. He is justly considered one of the noblest and wisest of the English sovereigns; and the thousandth anniversary of his birth was celebrated in 1849, at Wantage, Berks.
50
Asser: a contemporary of Alfred; he wrote his life.
51
Saxons: a name given to certain German tribes who conquered Britain, in the fifth century. The name England came from the Angles, a people of the same stock, who settled in the east and north of the island. From these Anglo-Saxons the English have in great part descended.
52
Alma: a river in the Crimea where a desperate battle was fought between the Russians and the allied English and French in 1854.
53
Chronicler: Asser, from whom this is quoted.
54
St. George: the patron saint of England.
55
More by token: as a sign or proof that this is so.
56
Privet: a shrub much used for hedges.