by Daniel Defoe
it," i.e., hard pressed.
[208] There are numerous references in the Hebrew Scriptures to parchedcorn as an article of food (see, among others, Lev. xxiii. 14, Ruth ii.14, 2 Sam. xvii. 28).
[209] Supply "(1)."
[210] Soon.
[211] Substitute "would."
[212] Whom.
[213] Familiar intercourse.
[214] Evidently a repetition.
[215] "For that," i.e., because.
[216] Singly.
[217] Supply "to be."
[218] Buildings the rafters of which lean against or rest upon the outerwall of another building.
[219] Supply "of."
[220] The plague.
[221] "Middling people," i.e., people of the middle class.
[222] At the mouth of the Thames.
[223] Awnings.
[224] Two heavy timbers placed horizontally, the upper one of which canbe raised. When lowered, it is held in place by a padlock. Notches inthe timbers form holes, through which the prisoner's legs are thrust,and held securely.
[225] The constables.
[226] The carters.
[227] The goods.
[228] In spite of, notwithstanding.
[229] Supply "who."
[230] "Cum aliis," i.e., with others. Most of the places mentioned inthis list are several miles distant from London: for example, Enfield isten miles northeast; Hadley, over fifty miles northeast; Hertford,twenty miles north; Kingston, ten miles southwest; St. Albans, twentymiles northwest; Uxbridge, fifteen miles west; Windsor, twenty mileswest; etc.
[231] Kindly regarded.
[232] Which.
[233] The citizens.
[234] Such statements.
[235] For "so that," substitute "so."
[236] How.
[237] It was not known in Defoe's time that minute disease germs may becarried along by a current of air.
[238] Affected with scurvy.
[239] "Which," as applied to persons, is a good Old English idiom, andwas in common use as late as 1711 (see Spectator No. 78; and Matt. vi.9, version of 1611).
[240] Flung to.
[241] Changed their garments.
[242] Supply "I heard."
[243] At.
[244] Various periods are assigned for the duration of the dog days:perhaps July 3 to Aug. 11 is that most commonly accepted. The dog dayswere so called because they coincided with the heliacal rising of Siriusor Canicula (the little dog).
[245] An inn with this title (and probably a picture of the brothers)painted on its signboard.
[246] Whom.
[247] The Act of Uniformity was passed in 1661. It required allmunicipal officers and all ministers to take the communion according tothe ritual of the Church of England, and to sign a document declaringthat arms must never be borne against the King. For refusing obedienceto this tyrannical measure, some two thousand Presbyterian ministerswere deprived of their livings.
[248] Madness, as in Hamlet, act iii. sc. 1.
[249] "Represented themselves," etc., i.e., presented themselves to mysight.
[250] "Dead part of the night," i.e., from midnight to dawn. Compare,
"In the dead waste and middle of the night."
_Hamlet_, act i. sc 2.
[251] "Have been critical," etc., i.e., have claimed to have knowledgeenough to say.
[252] Being introduced.
[253] The plague.
[254] "First began" is a solecism common in the newspaper writing ofto-day.
[255] Literally, laws of the _by_ (town). In modern usage, "by-law" isused to designate a rule less general and less easily amended than aconstitutional provision.
[256] "Sheriff" is equivalent to _shire-reeve_ (magistrate of the countyor shire). London had, and still has, two sheriffs.
[257] Acted.
[258] The inspection, according to ordinance, of weights, measures, andprices.
[259] "Pretty many," i.e., a fair number of.
[260] The officers.
[261] Were.
[262] "Falls to the serious part," i.e., begins to discourse on seriousmatters.
[263] See note, p. 28. The Mohammedans are fatalists.{Transcriber's note: The reference is to footnote 28.}
[264] A growth of osseous tissue uniting the extremities of fracturedbones.
[265] Disclosed.
[266] The officers.
[267] Leading principle.
[268] Defoe means, "can burn only a few houses." In the next line heagain misplaces "only."
[269] Put to confusion.
[270] Left out of consideration.
[271] The distemper.
[272] A means for discovering whether the person were infected or not.
[273] Defoe's ignorance of microscopes was not shared by Robert Hooke,whose Micrographia (published in 1664) records numerous discoveries madewith that instrument.
[274] Roup is a kind of chicken's catarrh.
[275] Them, i.e., such experiments.
[276] From the Latin _quadraginta_ ("forty").
[277] From the Latin _sexaginta_ ("sixty").
[278] Kinds, species.
[279] Old age.
[280] Abscesses.
[281] Himself.
[282] The essential oils of lavender, cloves, and camphor, added toacetic acid.
[283] In chemistry, balsams are vegetable juices consisting of resinsmixed with gums or volatile oils.
[284] Supply "they declined coming to public worship."
[285] This condition of affairs.
[286] Collar.
[287] Economy.
[288] Supply "they were."
[289] Action (obsolete in this sense). See this word as used in 2 HenryIV., act iv. sc. 4.
[290] Which.
[291] Sailors' slang for "Archipelagoes."
[292] An important city in Asia Minor.
[293] A city in northern Syria, better known as Iskanderoon orAlexandretta. The town was named in honor of Alexander the Great, theTurkish form of Alexander being Iskander.
[294] Though called a kingdom, Algarve was nothing but a province ofPortugal. It is known now as Faro.
[295] The natives of Flanders, a mediaeval countship now divided amongHolland, Belgium, and France.
[296] Colonies. In the reign of Charles II., the English colonies weregoverned by a committee (of the Privy Council) known as the "Council ofPlantations."
[297] The east side.
[298] On the west side.
[299] See map of England for all these places. Feversham is in Kent,forty-five miles southeast of London; Margate is on the Isle of Thanet,eighty miles southeast.
[300] Commission merchants.
[301] Privateers. _Capers_ is a Dutch word.
[302] Supply "he."
[303] Supply "the coals."
[304] "One another," by a confusion of constructions, has been used herefor "them."
[305] By a statute of Charles II. a chaldron was fixed at 36 coalbushels. In the United States, it is generally 261/4 hundredweight.
[306] Opening.
[307] "To seek," i.e., without judgment or knowledge.
[308] Mixing.
[309] Him.
[310] This unwary conduct.
[311] Think.
[312] Were.
[313] Accept.
[314] Personal chattels that had occasioned the death of a human being,and were therefore given to God (_Deo_, "to God"; _dandum_, "a thinggiven"); i.e., forfeited to the King, and by him distributed in alms.This curious law of deodands was not abolished in England until 1846.
[315] The southern coast of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to theAtlantic.
[316] Censure.
[317] Afterward.
[318] "Physic garden," i.e., a garden for growing medicinal herbs.
[319] Since.
[320] Lord mayor of London, 1679-80, and for many years member ofParliament for the city.
[321] The workmen.
[322] Recognized.
[323] Fenced.
[324] Members of the Society of Friends, a religious organizationfounded by George Fox about 1650. William Penn was one of the earlymembers. The society condemns a paid ministry, the taking of oaths, andthe making of war.
[325] See p. 105, next to the last paragraph.
[326] Die. "Of the plague" should immediately follow "died."
[327] See Note 3, p. 26.{Transcriber's note: the reference is to footnote 26.}
[328] The act of indemnity passed at the restoration of Charles II.(1660). In spite of the King's promise of justice, the Parliamentarianswere largely despoiled of their property, and ten of those concerned inthe execution of Charles I. were put to death.
[329] Family and personal peace.
[330] The Established Church of England, nearly all of whose ministerswere Royalists. The Presbyterians were nearly all Republicans.
[331] The dissenting ministers.
[332] The Churchmen.
[333] Of.
[334] What we should call an assistant minister is still called a curatein the Church of England.
[335] "I had not said this," etc., i.e., I would not have said this, butwould rather