EXPLANATORY NOTES 1 2. Butler. Samuel Butler (1612-1680), author of Hudibras, a witty, mock-epic poem, of which Carlyle was very fond, satirizing the Puritans. The poem attained great popularity, but the author was neglected, and died in poverty. 1 6. Spinning-jenny. A machine invented in 1767 that opened the way for great improvements in the manufacture of cotton. The inventor, James Hargreaves, did not reap "his reward in his own day." His patent was set aside, and he died a poor man. 1 13. Prime of his manhood. See Introduction, iv., or Chronological Table. 1 14. Brave mausoleum. In the churchyard at Dumfries. Notice the somewhat unusual sense in which brave is here used. As a matter of fact, the monument is covered with a tin dome, and Carlyle may have been punning when he speaks of the mausoleum as "shining" over his dust. There is certainly irony in his "brave." 1 21. Lockhart. John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) is best known from his famous biography of Sir Walter Scott, whose son-in-law he was. 2 1. No man is a hero to his valet. An epigram commonly attributed to Madame de Sévigné, but its origin is doubtful. 2 10. Sir Thomas Lucy's. The legend is that Sir Thomas prosecuted Shakspere, then a young man, for "deer-stealing " on his estate, near Stratford. The poet is said to have revenged himself by composing an abusive ballad upon his prosecutor, and then to have fled to London to escape the consequences of his boldness. John a Combe's. John a Combe was a wealthy 98 neighbor of Shakspere's at Stratford, supposed also to have been an object of his satire. A is another spelling of o', of. 2 14. The wool-trade. The woollen industry was then the largest in England, and a natural subject of conversation between country gentlemen. 2 17. Bowels. We now usually say "heart," but the expression was then a common one. See the concordance to the Bible, and the Century Dictionary. 2 20. Caledonian Hunt. An aristocratic organization of Scotch noblemen and gentlemen. 2 22. Ayr Writers. The word "writer" is applied in Scotland to lawyers and legal agents, as well as sometimes to their chief clerks. New and Old Light Clergy. The two parties into which the church in Scotland was divided. The "New Lights" were the more liberal and progressive, while the "Auld Lights" were more conservative, holding strict Calvinistic views. See Introduction, iv. 3 33. Constable's Miscellany. A series of original and of standard works reprinted in a cheap form, the earliest and most famous of the attempts to popularize wholesome literature.— Encyclop. Brit. The founder of the series was Archibald Constable, the famous Edinburgh publisher. 47. Mr. Morris Birkbeck. An English emigrant to the territory of Illinois, the author of two interesting series of lettersNotes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Virginia to the Territory of Illinois (1818), and Letters from Illinois (1818). Though Carlyle's tone is sarcastic, Birkbeck's impression of American kindness, courtesy, and simple good breeding is not, on the whole, exaggerated. The besetting vice of Americans, it is interesting to notice, he thought to be indolence. 5 17. "Nine Days." The proverbial expression "nine days' wonder" has been in common use since the time of Chaucer. 5 27. He had his very materials to discover. Burns's poetry Idealt with what was then new material-the life and emotions of the common people, expressed in their native dialect. 6 19. Fergus[s]on or Ramsay. Robert Fergusson (1751-1774), and Allan Ramsay (1686-1758), both precursors of Burns in his peculiar vein. See the selections in Ward's English Poets, vol. iii., and Minto's The Historical Relationships of Burns, in his Lit erature of the Georgian Era. Over the neglected grave of Fergusson, Burns raised a stone, bearing the lines : "No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay, No storied urn or animated bust; To pour her sorrows o'er her poet's dust." 7 21. Sir Hudson Lowe. A British general, governor of the island of St. Helena during Napoleon's captivity, 1815-1821. "Amid the melancholy main." Quoted from Thompson's Castle of Indolence, xxx. 735. "Eternal Melodies." Evidently, from other passages in Carlyle, a quotation from the German. 8 21. The "Daisy.' Referring to one of Burns's most famous poems. Ruined nest, etc. (8 22). Referring to the characteristic verses To a Mouse. Both poems are printed below. TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY. (On turning one down with the plough in April, 1786.) Thou's met me in an evil hour; To spare thee now is past my pow'r, |