gan" is a solecism common in the newspaper writing of
to-day.

[255] Literally, laws of the _by_ (town). In modern usage, "by-law" is
used to designate a rule less general and less easily amended than a
constitutional provision.

[256] "Sheriff" is equivalent to _shire-reeve_ (magistrate of the county
or shire). London had, and still has, two sheriffs.

[257] Acted.

[258] The inspection, according to ordinance, of weights, measures, and
prices.

[259] "Pretty many," i.e., a fair number of.

[260] The officers.

[261] Were.

[262] "Falls to the serious part," i.e., begins to discourse on serious
matters.

[263] See note, p. 28. The Mohammedans are fatalists.
{Transcriber's note: The reference is to footnote 28.}

[264] A growth of osseous tissue uniting the extremities of fractured
bones.

[265] Disclosed.

[266] The officers.

[267] Leading principle.

[268] Defoe means, "can burn only a few houses." In the next line he
again misplaces "only."

[269] Put to confusion.

[270] Left out of consideration.

[271] The distemper.

[272] A means for discovering whether the person were infected or not.

[273] Defoe's ignorance of microscopes was not shared by Robert Hooke,
whose Micrographia (published in 1664) records numerous discoveries made
with that instrument.

[274] Roup is a kind of chicken's catarrh.

[275] Them, i.e., such experiments.

[276] From the Latin _quadraginta_ ("forty").

[277] From the Latin _sexaginta_ ("sixty").

[278] Kinds, species.

[279] Old age.

[280] Abscesses.

[281] Himself.

[282] The essential oils of lavender, cloves, and camphor, added to
acetic acid.

[283] In chemistry, balsams are vegetable juices consisting of resins
mixed with gums or volatile oils.

[284] Supply "they declined coming to public worship."

[285] This condition of affairs.

[286] Collar.

[287] Economy.

[288] Supply "they were."

[289] Action (obsolete in this sense). See this word as used in 2 Henry
IV., act iv. sc. 4.

[290] Which.

[291] Sailors' slang for "Archipelagoes."

[292] An important city in Asia Minor.

[293] A city in northern Syria, better known as Iskanderoon or
Alexandretta. The town was named in honor of Alexander the Great, the
Turkish form of Alexander being Iskander.

[294] Though called a kingdom, Algarve was nothing but a province of
Portugal. It is known now as Faro.

[295] The natives of Flanders, a mediaeval countship now divided amon