De Quincey's Revolt of the TartarsDe Quincey, Thomas
History
De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars
De Quincey, Thomas
Kalmyks; Tatars
30 5. romantic misery. How _romantic_? Compare this phrase with
similar uses of the word _romantic_.
30 10. River Jaik. The Ural.
30 33. scenical propriety. Compare the statement with similar ones
made by the author elsewhere.
31 11. decrement. Compare with its positive correspondent, _increment_.
31 20. acharnement. Fury.
31 26. The first stage, etc. A time mark in the essay.
32 10. liable. Another instance of a word often misused, correctly
employed in the text. Compare note on _aggravate_, p. 26, l. 28.
32 23. Bactrian camels. There are two species of camel, the
dromedary, single humped, and the Bactrian, with two humps. The former
is native to Arabia, the latter to central Asia. The dromedary is the
swifter of the two. _Bactria_ is the ancient name of that district
now called Balkh, in Afghanistan.
33 7. evasion. Compare with its positive correspondent _invasion_;
compare _decrement_, p. 31, l. 11.
34 8. champaign savannas. Both words mean about the same, an open,
treeless country, nearly level. What is the linguistic source of both
words?
37 19. hills of Moulgaldchares. Spurs of the Urals running southwest.
38 10. Polish dragoons. "The adjective refers not to the
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account