[252-3] Workhouses are establishments where paupers are cared for, a certain amount of labor being expected from those who are able. [252-4] In England formerly there existed a device for the punishment of prisoners which was known as the _treadmill_. A huge wheel, usually in the form of a long hollow cylinder, was provided with steps about its circumference, and made to revolve by the weight of the prisoner as he moved from step to step. [253-5] Links are torches made of tow and pitch. In the days before the invention of street lights, they were in common use in England, and they are still seen during the dense London fogs. [254-6] Saint Dunstan was an English archbishop and statesman who lived in the tenth century. [254-7] This is one of the best-known and oftenest-sung of Christmas carols. In many parts of England, parties of men and boys go about for several nights before Christmas singing carols before people's houses. These troops of singers are known as "waits." [258-8] The splinter-bar is the cross-bar of a vehicle, to which the traces of the horses are fastened. [261-9] There is a play on the word _bowels_ here. What Scrooge had heard said of Marley was that he had no bowels of compassion--that is, no pity. [277-10] Scrooge sees and recognizes the heroes of the books which had been almost his only comforters in his neglected childhood. [284-11] "Sir Roger de Coverley" is the English name for the old-fashioned country-dance which is called in the United States the "Virginia Reel." [300-12] Biffins are an excellent variety of apples raised in England. [301-13] _Baker's_ here does not mean exactly what it means with us. In England the poorer people often take their dinners to a baker's to be cooked. [303-14] A _bob_, in English slang, is a shilling. [311-15] _Five-and-sixpence_ means five shillings and sixpence, or about $1.32. [319-16] In what sense has Scrooge "resorted to the sexton's spade that buried Jacob Marley" to cultivate the kindnesses of life? [320-17] "I love my love" is an old game of which there are several slightly different forms. The player says "I love my love with an _A_ because he's--," giving some adjective beginning with _A_; "I hate him with an _A_ because he's--; I took him to--and fed him on--," all the blanks being filled with words beginning with _A_. This is carried out through the whole alphabet. [346-18] The Laocooen is a famous ancient statue of a Trojan priest, Laocooen, and his two sons, struggling in the grip of two monstrous serpents. You have doubtless seen pictures of the group. Dickens's figure gives us a humorously exaggerated picture of Scrooge and his stockings. [349-19] This is a slang expression, used to express incredulity. It has somewhat the same meaning as the slang phrase heard in the United States--"Over the left."