nationality, but to the equipment of the cavalry. Thus there was at
one time in the French army a corps called _Chasseurs d'Afrique_, and
in both the French and that of the Northern troops in our own Civil
War a corps of Zouaves. Similarly at p. 53, l. 24, De Quincey speaks
of _yagers_ among the Chinese troops. Perhaps both Polish dragoon and
yager were well-known military terms in 1837. At any rate there is no
gain in scrutinizing them too closely, since the context in both cases
seems to be pure invention."--BALDWIN.
38 11. cuirassiers. From the French. Soldiers protected by a
cuirass, or breastplate, and mounted.
38 20. River Igritch. The Irgiz-koom.
39 21. concurrently. Etymology?
39 33. sad solitudes, etc. Notice this as one of the points in a
very effective paragraph.
40 3. aggravations. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
40 5. howling wilderness. Why so called? Compare with a previous use
of the same expression (p. 12, l. 5).
40 18. spectacle. Compare with other references to the theatrical
quality of the _Flight_.
40 21. myriads. Is this literal? Notice the contrast in tone between
this sentence and those which close the paragraph.
41 12. adust. "Latin, _adustus_, burned. Looking as if burned or
scorched."--_Century Dictionary_.
41 15. erected their speaking eyes. Study this expression until its
forcefulness is felt. The camel is notorious for its unresponsive
dullness; indeed its general apathy to its surroundings is all that
accounts for its apparent docility. De Quincey, therefore, is speaking
by the book when he describes these brutes as "without the affections
or sensibilities of flesh and blood." Their very submissiveness is due
to their stupidity.
41 20. those of Xerxes. See Crete's _History of Greece_, Chap. XXXVIII.
41 29. untread. A dictionary word, but uncommon. Recall similar
words used by De Quincey which add picturesqueness in part because of
their novelty.
41 31. their old allegiance. 1616. See the close of this paragraph.
41 33. scapegoat. _Leviticus_, xvi, 7-10; 20-22.
42 32, 33. land of promise ... house, etc. _Deuteronomy_, viii, 14;
ix, 28.
43 8. Orsk. Upon the river Or.
43 9. Oriembourg. A fort.
43 23. sinister. Etymology?
43 29. transpiring. Like _aggravate_ and _liable_, a word often
misused. What does it mean?
44 10. were dispersed. Note the variety of phrases in the following
ten lines used to indicate separation.
46 16. Hetman. Chief. Compare Germ. _Hauptmann_, Eng. _captain_, Fr.
_chef_.
47 1. evasion. See previous note on p. 33, l. 7.
48 2. carabines. Old-fashioned spelling. Short rifles adapted to the
use of mounted troops.
49 13. without a parallel. As has been seen, De Quincey is fond of
superlative statements. A writer may or may not be true in his claims;
the habitual assumption, however, predisposes his reader to doubt his
judgment.
49 16. Desultors. This word is not in common use, but _desultory_
is. Look up the derivation and note the metaphor concealed in the
latter word.
49 19. at the rate of 200 miles. Compare preceding note on p. 24, 1. 26.
50 27. "more fell," etc. From the last speech in Shakespeare's
Othello, addressed to Iago:
O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work.
51 17. "fierce varieties." Misquoted. See _Paradise Lost_, II, 599;
VII, 272.
51 19. post equitem, etc.:
Behind the horseman sits black care.
--Horace's _Odes_, III, 1, 40.
51 20. undying worm. _Isaiah_, lxvi, 24.
51 29. "from morn till dewy eve." Paradise Lost, I, 742.
52 33. On a fine morning. Study this paragraph carefully with
reference to the rhetorical effect. The entire scene is the product of
De Quincey's imagination; do you consider it truthful?
53 24. yagers. German _Jäger_; used of a huntsman or a forester,
also in parts of Germany and Austria used to indicate light infantry
or cavalry. Compare with _Polish dragoons_, p. 38, l. 10.
54 21. indorsed. Look up the etymology. Has De Quincey, in his note,
quoted Milton accurately? See _Paradise Regained_, III, 329.
56 13. rather in a diagonal. This is another characteristic of De
Quincey; he is sometimes tediously exact in his details; perhaps the
minuteness is justifiable in this instance, as the statement increases
the realistic effect of an imaginary scene.
56 18. a large fresh-water lake. The Lake of Tengis here referred
to, mentioned by name in the paragraph following this, is evidently
Lake Balkash, into which flows the river Ily. It is one of the largest
lakes in the steppes, but its water is really _salt_.
59 21. globes and turms. Latinisms. Milton uses _globe_ in _Paradise
Lost_, II, 512, and _turms_ in _Paradise Regained_, IV, 66.
60 4. retributary. What more common form is used synonymously?
60 21. "La nation des Torgotes," etc. "'The nation of the Torgouths
(_to wit the Kalmucks_) arrived at Ily wholly shattered, having
neither victuals to live on [_sic_] nor clothes to wear. I had
foreseen this, and had given orders for making every kind of
preparation necessary for their prompt relief; which was duly done.
The distribution of lands was made; and there was assigned to each
family a portion sufficient to serve for its support, whether by
cultivating it or by feeding cattle on it [_sic_]. There were given to
each individual materials for his clothing, corn for his sustenance
for the space of one year, utensils for household purposes, and other
things necessary; besides some ounces of silver wherewith to provide
himself with anything that might have been forgotten. Particular
places were marked out for them, fertile in pasture; and cattle and
sheep, etc., were given them, that they might be able for the future
to work for their own support and well-being.'--This is a note of Kien
Long subjoined to his main narrative; and De Quincey, I find, took the
above transcript of it from the French translation of Bergmann's book.
That transcript, it is worth observing, is not quite exact to the
original French text of the Pekin missionaries."--MASSON.
61 12. "Lorsqu'ils arrivèrent," etc. "'When they arrived on our
frontiers (to the number of some hundreds of thousands, although
nearly as many more had perished by the extreme fatigue, the hunger,
the thirst, and all the other hardships inseparable from a very long
and very toilsome march), they were reduced to the last misery, they
were in want of everything. The Emperor supplied them with everything.
He caused habitations to be prepared for them suitable for their
manner of living; he caused food and clothing to be distributed among
them; he had cattle and sheep given them, and implements to put them
in a condition for forming herds and cultivating the earth; and all
this at his own proper charges, which mounted to immense sums, without
counting the money which he gave to each head of a family to provide
for the subsistence of his wife and children.'
"This is from a eulogistic abstract of Kien Long's own narrative by
one of his Chinese ministers, named Yu Min Tchoung, a translation of
which was sent to Paris by the Jesuit missionary, P. Amiot, together
with the translation of the imperial narrative itself. The transcript
is again by the French translator of Bergmann, and is again rather
inaccurate."--MASSON.
63 17. lex talionis. Law of retaliation.
63 18. "lex nec justior," etc. "Nor is there any law more just than
that the devisers of murder should perish by their own device."--OVID,
_Ars Amatoria_, I, 655.
63 25. lares. The minor deities of a Roman household.
63 30. Arcadian beauty. Arcadian is synonymous with rural simplicity
and beauty. Arcadia, the central province of Greece, was a pastoral
district and lacked the vices--as well as some of the virtues--of the
surrounding states.
64 1. extirpation. Etymology?
64 23. music. One who has listened to Mongolian attempts at harmony
must suspect that De Quincey is again inspired by his imagination when
he characterizes this part of the commemoration as "rich and solemn."
64 28. columns of granite and brass. This feature of the narrative,
as well as many other details of apparent fact, including the entire
inscription said to have been placed upon the monument, are evidently
the pure invention of De Quincey's fancy, no mention of these details
being found in his historical sources.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] "Some years ago I published a paper on the Flight of the Kalmuck
Tartars from Russia. Bergmann, the German from whom that account was
chiefly drawn, resided a long time among the Kalmucks," etc.--Essay on
_Homer and the Homeridæ._
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