Critical and Historical Essays Volume 1
by
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Part 16 out of 16
had defended the Seven Bishops) and patron of literature (1650-
1716).
Spinola, Spanish marquis and general who served his country with
all his genius and fortune for naught (1571-1630).
Sporus, a favourite of Nero. Owing to his resemblance to that
emperor's wife he was, after her death, dressed as a woman, and
went through a marriage ceremony with Nero.
Stafford, Lord, executed in 1680, on a false charge of complicity
in Oates's Popish Plot.
Stanley, Mr., fourth Earl of Derby, the "Rupert of Debate."
Stella, Esther Johnson, the daughter of one of Lady Giffard's
friends.
St. Martin's Church, the site of the present G. P. 0., formerly a
monastery, church, and "sanctuary."
Sudbury and Old Sarum, rotten boroughs, the one in Suffolk
disfranchised in 1844, the other near Salisbury in 1832.
Sudder Courts, courts of criminal and civil jurisdiction which,
in Macaulay's day, existed alongside the Supreme Court, but
which, since 1858, have with the Supreme Court, been merged in
the "High Courts."
Sunnuds, certificates of possession.
Surajah Dowlah, better Suraj-ud-daulah.
Swan River, in the S.W. of Australia, to which country the name
of New Holland was at first given.
Switzer, that brave, Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, who fell
at Cappel in 1531.
TALLEYRAND, French diplomatist (1754-1831), rendered good service
to the Revolution, was influential under Buonaparte and Louis
Philippe's ambassador to England,
Talma, Francis Joseph, a famous French actor of tragic parts, who
passed part of his life in England (1763-1826).
Talus, Sir Artegal's iron man, who in Spenser's Faery Queen, Book
v., represents the executive power of State Justice.
Tamerlane, the Tartar who invaded India in 1398, and whose
descendant, Baber, founded the Mogul dynasty.
Tanjore, a district of Madras, noted for its fertility; ceded to
the East India Company by the Marathas in 1799. The town of
Tanjore is about 300 miles south from Madras.
Temple, Lord Pitt's brother-in-law. Cf. Macaulay's severe
description of him in the second " Essay on Chatham." (vol. v. of
this edition).
Themis, Justice.
Theodosius, emperor of the East 378-395, and for a short time of
the West also. He partly checked the Goths' advance.
Theramenes, Athenian philosopher and general (third century
B.C.), unjustly accused and condemned to drink hemlock.
Theseus, the, one of the most perfect statues in the "Elgin
marbles," of the British Museum.
Thurtell, John, a notorious boxer and gambler (b. 1794), who was
hanged at Hertford on January 9th, 1824, for the brutal murder of
William Weare, one of his boon-companions.
Thirty-Ninth, i.e. the Dorsets.
Thyrsis, a herdsman in the Idylls of Theocritus; similarly a
shepherd in Virgil's Eclogues; hence a rustic or shepherd.
Timoleon, the Corinthian who expelled the tyrants from the Greek
cities of Sicily (415-337 B.C.).
Tindal, Nicholas, clergyman and miscellaneous author (1687-1774).
Topehall, Smollett's drunken fox-hunter in Roderick Random.
Torso, lit. "trunk," a statue which has lost its head and
members.
Torstenson, Bernard, pupil of Gustavus Adolphus, and General-in-
Chief of the Swedish army from 1641. He carried the Thirty Years'
War into the heart of Austria.
Trapbois, the usurer in Scott's Fortunes of Nigel ch. xvii.-xxv.
Trissotin, a literary fop in Moliere's Les Femmes Savantes.
Turcaret, the title-character in one of Le Sage's comedies.
Turgot, the French statesman (1727-81) who for two years managed
the national finances under Louis XVI., and whose reforms, had
they not been thwarted by the nobility and the king's indecision,
would have considerably mitigated the violence of the Revolution.
Turk's Head. The most famous coffeehouse of this name was in the
Strand, and was one of Johnson's frequent resorts.
UGOLINO See Dante's Inferno, xxxii., xxxiii.,
VANSITTART, was governor of Bengal in the interval between
Clive's first and second administrations.
Vattel, the great jurist whose Droit des Gens, a work on Natural
Law and its relation to International Law, appeared in 1758.
Vellore, west of Arcot.
Verres, the Roman governor of Sicily (73-77 B.C.), for plundering
which island he was brought to trial and prosecuted by Cicero.
Virgil's foot race. In Aeneid v. 325 ff it is told how Nisus, who
was leading, tripped Salius, his second, that his, friend
Euryalus might gain the prize.
WALDEGRAVE, Lord, Governor to George III. before the latter's
accession; married Walpole's niece.
Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, the ablest commander on the
Catholic side in the Thirty Years' War
Warburg, like Minden 1759, a victory gained by Ferdinand of
Brunswick over the French (1760).
Watson, Admiral, made no protest against his name being signed,
and claimed his share of the profits.
Western, Mrs. See Fielding's Tom Jones.
Whithed, Mr. W., Poet-laureate from 1757 to 1785; author of the
School for Lovers, etc.
Wild, Jonathan, a detective who turned villain and was executed
for burglary in 1725; the hero of one of Fielding s stories.
Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, Ambassador to Berlin (1746-49),
His satires against Walpole's opponents are easy and humorous (d.
1759).
Winnington. In turn Lord of the Admiralty, Lord of the Treasury,
And Paymaster of the Forces. He had infinitely more wit than
principle.
Wood's patent the permission granted to Wood of Wolverhampton to
mint copper coin for Ireland, which called forth Swift's Drapier Letters.
YORKE, Attorney-General; Earl of Hardwicke (q.v.).
ZEMINDARS, landholders,
Zincke and Petitot, eighteenth and seventeenth century enamel
painters who came to England from the Continent.
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