any of whom kept
up an intermitting communication with Oxford. But I speak of those only who
were steadily pursuing their academic studies, and of those who resided
constantly as _fellows_.]

[NOTE 4.

"_Snobs_," and its antithesis, "_nobs_," arose among the internal fractions
of shoemakers perhaps ten years later. Possibly enough, the terms may have
existed much earlier; but they were then first made known, picturesquely
and effectively, by a trial at some assizes which happened to fix the
public attention.]

[NOTE 5.

"_False echoes_"--yes, false! for the words ascribed to Napoleon, as
breathed to the memory of Desaix, never were uttered at all.--They stand
in the same category of theatrical inventions as the cry of the foundering
_Vengeur_, as the vaunt of General Cambronne at Waterloo, "_La Garde meurt,
mais ne se rend pas_," as the repartees of Talleyrand.]

[NOTE 6.

"_Privileged few_." The general impression was, that this splendid costume
belonged of right to the mail-coachmen as their professional dress. But
that was an error. To the guard it _did_ belong, as a matter of course, and
was essential as an official warrant, and a means of instant identification
for his person, in the discharge of his important public duties. But the
coachman, and especially if his place in the series did not connect him
immediately with London and the General Post-Office, obtained the scarlet
coat only as an honorary distinction after long or special service.]

[NOTE 7.

"_Households_."--Roe-deer do not congregate in herds like the fallow or the
red deer, but by separate families, parents, and children; which feature
of approximation to the sanctity of human hearths, added to their
comparatively miniature and graceful proportions, conciliate to them
an interest of a peculiarly tender character, if less dignified by the
grandeurs of savage and forest life.]

[NOTE 8.

"_However visionary_."--But _are_ they always visionary? the unicorn, the
kraken, the sea-serpent, are all, perhaps, zoological facts. The unicorn,
for instance, so far from being a lie, is rather _too_ true; for, simply
as a _monokeras_, he is found in the Himalaya, in Africa, and elsewhere,
rather too often for the peace of what in Scotland would be called the
_intending_ traveller. That which really _is_ a lie in the account of the
unicorn--viz., his legendary rivalship with the lion--which lie may God
preserve, in preserving the mighty imperial shield