id="n8">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.
57
Keeper: the gamekeeper, a man kept on great estates to look after the game.
58
Cromlech: a rude tomb built by the first inhabitants of Britain.
59
Wayland Smith's Cave: a "supernatural smith" who shod horses on payment of sixpence.
60
Sir Walter: Sir Walter Scott.
61
Inigo Jones: a celebrated architect of the 17th century.
62
Lord Craven: the owner of the estate on which the "White Horse" is located.
63
Sheep-walks: sheep pastures, for which the "downs" are much used.
64
Barrows: ancient burial mounds.
65
Public: a public house.
66
Toby Philpot jug: a large brown pitcher, shaped like a jolly old gentleman of the olden time.
67
Antediluvian: before the deluge.
68
Un: it; also him or her.
69
Grewsome: frightful.
70
Um: they.
71
Fiery cross: a cross, the ends of which had been fired and then extinguished in blood. It was sent round by the chiefs of clans in time of war, to summon their followers.
72
Plantations: groves of trees set out in regular order.
