scribbling scarecrows Probably a reference to The Scribbler (see note to I, 1-2 above). Wilcocke supported Hagan’s “Address” and criticized “X.Y.Z.” (see note to I, 4 above) for his depiction [Page 66] of French-Canadian youths: “The Canadian youths, are the only part of our young men, who have any learning, or comparative education at all.” He then attacks “our soi-desant British population,” and perhaps implicitly Adams, with “the most sovereign contempt and pity.” See The Scribbler 121 (May 13, 1824).

Parnassus In Greek mythology, the mountain sacred to the Muses. Cf. Byron, Beppo 402-04, for the wish to “scale / Parnassus, where Muses sit inditing / Those pretty poems never known to fail.”

Jade colloquial for “horse.”

Pegasus In Greek mythology, the flying horse who started the fountain of Hippocrene, which became a source of poetic inspiration. Ironic references to Pegasus abound in the satirical tradition admired by Adams. See Peter Pindar, “An Apolegetic Postscript to Ode Upon Ode”: “my hack”; Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers 85: “jaded Pegasus”; and Longmore, The Charivari 8: “old           Pegasus, thy jaded hack!”

virtu’so Virtuoso: “a connoisseur, freq., one who carries on such pursuits in a dilettante or trifling manner” (O.E.D.).

‘kerchiefs Handkerchiefs.

sattin Satin.

Item cum multis Latin: And so on (literally, “likewise with many”).       

this stiff, wayward rhyme In this, the first of many self-deprecatory references in the poem, Adams associates his own poem with such burlesques as Hudibras (see epigraph and note).

supplicate Beg in a humble manner.

Another blubbers…Parnassus” A close echo and perhaps a parody of Longmore, The Charivari 7-8: “Still, still inspire me ‘midst thy rhyming pack / Lend me, old Pegasus, thy jaded hack!” See note to I, 8 above.

recriminate Accuse.

such obsequious votaries The poets described in stanzas IV and V in general, and perhaps Longmore in particular.

gentle reader A conventional address used by Byron (Beppo 397) and Longmore, The Charivari 49: “Now, gentle reader…”.

Of the many parallels in Byron, see English Bards and Scotch Reviewers 401-03: “I’ve learned to think, and sternly speak the truth; / Learned to deride the critic’s starch decree, / And break him on the wheel he meant for me.”

mal-intention Malice.

perchance Perhaps.

weazon Achaic for “weasand,” meaning “gullet.”

shew Show.

half a score Ten.

Cf. Byron’s satire on the experiments with humble subjects by Wordsworth and Coleridge, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers 201-02: “Yet none in lofty numbers can surpass / The Bard who soars to elegize an ass.”

‘twill Contraction: it will.

Phthisic Tuberculosis.

a lecture upon skulls…The subject of phrenology held that character was determined by the shape of the skull.

“verbum sat” The short form of “verbum sapienti sat est”; “a word to the wise is sufficient.”

note Colman’s Terence George Colman the Elder (1732-1785) trans-lated The Comedies of Terence, the Roman dramatist, into blank verse (1765).

patience o’ercame Troy! Probably refers to the ruse of the Trojan horse, by which the Greeks entered Troy.

Paris The trojan whose seduction of Helen led to the Trojan War.

Nero The Emperor who is proverbial for fiddling while Rome burned.

Plato The great Greek philosopher (circa 427-347 B.C.).

et cetera Cf. Byron, Don Juan III.1: “Hail Muse! et cetera.”

beggar Outdo.

“stricto sensu” Latin: “strict sense.”

tarry Wait.

Fond Foolish. [Page 69]

Jean Baptiste The French form of John the Baptist, and “a name used to personify French-Canadian males since at least 1818” (Bentley, Introd., The Charivari xxi). The digression on other national nick-names in Canto II confirms that Baptiste is such a type. As Bentley has noted, Baptiste may also be based on Louis-Michel Viger (1785-1855), a prominent Montreal lawyer and cousin of Louis-Joseph Papineau. Viger’s military background, taste for fine living, interest in freedom, and July 19, 1824 wedding all seem to be echoed in the poem.

Calling these lines the one “mild response” to Longmore’s attack on various “scribblers” in The Charivari, Bentley adds, “little wonder: once flayed, twice shy” (Introd., The Charivari xxxiv).

Yclept See note to I, 8 above.

The quotation marks probably indicate that Adams is referring to generally-held attitudes towards bachelors’s lives, not to any specific source.

stonny Stony.

And say who’d be a Bachelor Adams was a bachelor at this time; he eventually married in 1830.

lot Fate.

hie me Archaic: hurry.

the altar/ Of Hymen Marriage; Hymen was the Greek and Roman god of marriage.

gentle cupid’s halter Another periphrastic synonym for marriage. Cupid was the Roman god of love.

Because of his depiction of women, Euripides has often been considered a misogynist.

high life blade A dashing figure with a taste for the good life. This is one of several references that suggest Louis-Michel Viger (see note to I, 135 above).

“tissue, tinsel, quaze and shew” I have been unable to trace this quotation.

phiz Face.

quiz An eccentric.

N’importe French: no matter. [Page 70]

voltigeur French: soldier. Viger (see note to I, 135 above) had served in the War of 1812.

abating Decreasing.

“in spots, all over so!” I have been unable to trace this quotation.

not taken my degree, / In Cupid’s College Another reference to being a bachelor; see notes to I, 169 and I, 179 above.

all who claim connection! Those more experienced in matters of love and marriage.

The criticism of “female propriety” recalls Byron’s various attacks on “blue-stockings”; see for instance the commandments in Don Juan I. 1643: “Thou shalt not bear false witness like ‘the “Blues.’”

perforce Necessarily.

deeming Judging.

Hebe The daughter of Zeus and Hera and the personification of youth, she eventually married Hercules.

Helen The legendary beauty who was the wife of Menelaus, and, after her abduction by Paris, the origin of the Trojan War.

Paris See note to I, 114 above.

limner Painter.

ergo Latin: therefore.

the graces Also called the Charites, the three goddesses of beauty who lived on Olympus and influenced artistic works.

no matter where Cf. Longmore, The Charivari 65: “In Canada’s cold clime—no matter where.”

“False friends will smile” I have been unable to trace either this quotation or the one in line 273.

Cf. Longmore, The Charivari 66-67: “(For it might put a fetter on my lay, / To tell you it was such a spot…”

forefend Avert.

ere Before.

saturnine Gloomy; under the influence of the planet Saturn.

batteries Military term for emplacements of weapons.

nostrums Remedies, medicines.

“A dart well parried, may perchance rebound.” I have been unable to trace this quotation, perhaps because it is proverbial.

her shafts The “shafts of ridicule” in I, 368 above.

sate Sat.

minions Servants.

prate Chatter.

“Civil List” “in colonial Canada, a list of monies to be appropriated [Page 72] for the civil administration of a province, including the salaries of the governor, executive counsellors, judges, civil servants, under the control of the British parliament” (Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 1967). Such government expenditures were always a source of contention in Lower Canada at this time.

“Religion et Liberté” French: religion and liberty; here a code for the French-Canadian desire for autonomy that Baptiste fears.

our superb / Constitution Probably refers to both the English con-stitution and the Constitutional Act of 1791 that created the separate provinces of Lower and Upper Canada. Since the Act was designed to ensure the development of British parliamentary institutions, Baptiste speaks for a British conservatism.

dear Valuable.

invoke St. Thomas! Since Thomas was “the doubting apostle,” Adams implies that a loss of the present constitution would have dire effects.

E’en Even.

palid Pallid, pale.

canker Infect.

Elysian Heavenly; the Elysian fields were the place for the blessed after death.

fairy Eden An ideal realm such as the Elysian fields of Greek [Page 73] myth (see the previous note).

Cf. Longmore, The Charivari 97-104 for a similar apostrophe to the changing scenes of Canadian nature.

savage man Canada’s native peoples.

scarce other care intrudes Conventional expression of primitivist nostalgia for the supposedly carefree life of the native.

cataracts Waterfalls.

I lov’d once tenderly See note to I, 468 above. [Page 74]

life’s low glass The shortness of life is evoked in the flowing sands of an hourglass.

“Care to our coffin adds a nail” See Peter Pindar (pen name of Dr. John Wolcott, 1738-1819), Expostulatory Odes 15: “Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt; / But every grin so merry draws one out.”

Pindar See note to II, 25 above.

bedoom’d Doomed.

“jovial merry, song”… “will draw it out” See note to II,25 above.

visages Faces.

our good city Montreal.

love consumption Fatal disease caused by disappointment in love; consumption is tuberculosis.

Cupid The Roman god of love referred to at I, 179 above. He is usually depicted as a blind boy who fires arrows (see II, 43) randomly.

draw the nail out See II, 25 and II, 32 and notes above.

“gutta cavet” See I, 79-80 and note above.

Vide Latin: See.

ensample Archaic: example.

evanish Vanish.

Klinck (Introd., Jean Baptiste 1) sees these lines as offering “some support” for the view that Adams spent a pleasant youth on his father’s farm.

grot Grotto or cave.

lambkins Diminutive form of lambs; hence little lambs.

hoary Greying or whitening with age.

“Yet there are thoughts that cannot die.” Proverbial.

“throne of silent loneliness” I have been unable to locate the source of this quotation.

See note to I, 433-34.

“evening’s silent slumbers” I have been unable to locate the [Page 75] source of this quotation.

warbling songsters Singing birds.

chaunt Sing (from French “chanter”: to sing).

feet Metrical units.

ensuite Corruption of French “tout de suite”: at once.

“There’s music in all things, if men had ears” Exact quotation from Byron, Don Juan XV 39, and possibly a further allusion to various passages in the New Testament, such as Mark 4:23: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus uses the words repeatedly when teaching by parables.

stational Stationary.

lucubrations Meditations.

Jonathan A type-name for an American male.

“curious” as “tarnation” Very curious; mildly obscene expression, since “tarnation” means damnation. Adams attempts to imitate rough American colloquial speech in order to satirize American democracy.

van Winnow or fan.

“home-made education” An education in American terms, and probably (from Adams’ perspective) a provincial education.

ape Imitate.

He’ll soon become If the American is not already a “man of letters,” the “home-made education” must be lacking.

ere while Before long.

catechised Instructed by question-and-answer, as in religious learning (Catechism).

equality By-word of American democracy, enshrined in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal…”

not to imitate his neighbours To be nationally distinctive: what is [Page 76] now sometimes called “the myth of American exceptionalism.”

“John Bull” A type name for an English male since at least John Arbuthnot’s History of John Bull (1712). George Colman the Younger (see note to I, 297-98 above) wrote a popular comedy called John Bull; or the Englishman’s Fireside (1803). Longmore uses the name in The Charivari 1065; see also Bentley’s note.

common sense Stereotypical English value.

suited to the skull Another phrenological reference; see note to I, 100 above.

blustering Also part of the English stereotype.

Paddy A type name for an Irish male.

Bulls An Irish bull is a statement containing a contradiction in terms, the verbal   equivalent of the “oddities” and “blunders” mentioned in II, 201-02.

och! Gaelic: oh!

wit from reason Stereotypical association of Irish manners with eccentricity and derangement.

Pat diminutive of Paddy (see II, 201 and note above.)

“odds ’sblood it is” Mild profanity in the Irish vernacular (“God’s blood”).

arrah Attempt to imitate Irish pronunciation of “ah.”

Sawney A type name for a Scottish male, at least since the time of John Lacy’s play Sawney the Scot; an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, it was     first performed in 1667. “Sawney” is a form of Sandy, a common Scottish name.

“ganging bock again” Attempt to imitate the Scottish pronunciation of “going   back again.”

soncy bonny lasses Buxom good women.

“nae to ken the wily arts o’ Cupid” Scottish expression for “not to know the wily arts of love.”

crescent Waxing, increasing.

growing convalescent Recovering.

clover Traditionally associated with both luck and luxury (as in the expression “in clover”). [Page 77]

the young, romantic mind Those most vulnerable to the throes of the passion that Cupid causes.

thy little darts of ruin Cupid’s arrows (see notes to II, 43 and II, 241 above).

poison to the poet’s liver Probably a reference to the torments of Prometheus, who was doomed to a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle perpetually consumed his liver. See also II, 437 below.

to morrow Tomorrow.

harbinger Forerunner.

Connubial Marital.

burthen Burden.

benighted Darkened (figuratively).

constitution See I, 392-93 and note, and II, 156 and above.

’gregiously Egregiously; shockingly.

a score Twenty.

Apropos Concerning.

savoureth Tastes or smells; hence resembles.

botheration The act of bothering.

salvo Reservation.

musquetoes Mosquitoes; their annoying bites are a source of common complaint among early Canadian writers.

Job Biblical figure proverbial for his patience and long suffering.

old Sol The sun.

trout Given the association of fishing with the search for a wife in the previous stanza, there may be a pun here on the name of the woman who married Louis-Michel Viger (see note to I, 135 above) on July 19, 1824: Marie-Ermine Turgeon. Adams may be [Page 78] punning on “turgeon,” “sturgeon,” and “trout.”

au contraire French: to the contrary.

trés clair French: very clear.

“I hold the world, but as the world” An echo of Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, I.i.77: “I hold the world but as the world…”

“Of shreds and patches” An echo of Hamlet’s speech at III.iv.92: “A king of shreds and patches.”

The legalistic language reflects Adams’ legal training.

bowers Pastoral enclosures.

lowers Frowns.

bark Ship.

bewreck’d amain Quickly ruined.

shoals Shallows.

The reader findeth bitterness in my—digressing Cf. Byron, Beppo 393-96: “I find / Digression is a sin, that by degrees / Becomes exceeding tedious to my mind, / And, therefore, may the reader too displease…”

“Experiencia docet” Latin: experience teaches. From Tacitus, History, Book V, Chapter 6.

ween Think.

was not over slender A litotes, the figure of speech that works by negating the contrary; in this case, the denial that Rosalie is “over slender” implies that she is large.

Tout ensemble French: all together.

not perhaps, what all would idolize An ironic understatement similar to II, 386 (see note above).

pourtray’d Portrayed.

almost The qualification has an ironic effect. See II, 386 and note and II, 392 and note above. [Page 79]

Matins and Vespers In Catholic liturgy, both canonical hours of evening prayer.

faisant la pénitence French: doing penitence.

pin’d Pined: languished.

beaux French: boyfriends.

The quotation is from the widow’s response to Hudibras: Hudibras, The First Part, Canto I, 443-46.

promethean touch Prometheus was punished for stealing fire from the gods to give to humans (see also note to II, 245 above). Adams implies that those seeking a wife may also be over-reaching and therefore liable to punishment.

itching passion—near akin to snow The contradiction between “passion” and “snow” mocks Baptiste’s ardour.

dear bought philosophy Wisdom attained with difficulty.

You would have thought The qualification suggests that Baptiste is not what he appears to be.

en messe French: in the Mass.

parley Conference.

my present MSS. My manuscripts. The device of pretending to be working from an incomplete manuscript has many precedents, notably Swift’s Tale of a Tub (1704).

Whoe’er Contraction: whoever.

amaratos Lovers.

The lines are full of the clichés of love poetry.

the letter of the story The opposition between the letter and the spirit is St. Paul’s: see 2 Corinthians 3: 6: “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

ye have the case before ye The language of the courtroom. [Page 80]

Rosalie passed…if she slept Cf. Pope, The Rape of the Lock I.16: “And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake.”

bedight Array.

chid Past tense of “chide”: rebuked.

notarial Authorized.

“the best friend, is a friend in need” Plautus, Epidicus, III.ii.44.

“Precaution is a virtue” Proverbial.

“old saws” Traditional bits of folk wisdom.

Peter Pindar See note to II, 25 above.

he should have known A reference to a notorious incident in Wolcott’s life: charged with adultery by his London landlord in 1807, Wolcott pleaded impotence and was declared innocent.

College Wolcott studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen.

was no F.R.S. himself Not only was Wolcott not a Fellow of the Royal Society (F.R.S.), but he attacked it frequently in his work.

Swift I have been unable to locate this quotation in Swift.

a great king George III, whom Wolcott frequently mocked, particularly in The Lousiad.

“physiology of pies” A reference to Henry James Pye (1745-1813), who became Poet Laureate in 1790, and who was often mocked by Wolcott.

“Dumpling” In “The Apple-Dumplings and a King,” Wolcott depicts George III showing amazement at the making of apple dumplings by a peasant woman. George returns to his palace “to show / The wisdom of an apple-dumpling maker; / And lo! so deep was majesty in dough, / The palace seemed the lodging of a   baker.”

a Samuel An agent of divine wrath, like Samuel when he rebuked Saul.

“par privilege, hypothequé” Preferred and mortgaged.

the “wherewith” the wherewithal; the means.

flounced Pleated.

burning crimson Even without the adjective “burning,” crimson traditionally indicates strong passion.

shoes of the whitest silk A column in the Montreal Herald for November 16, 1825 recommends for “evening dress” “white satin shoes, and short white kid gloves.” The column is reprinted “From Ackerman’s Repository of Art, Fashions, etc.”

bedeck’d Adorned.

kid Soft leather made from the skin of a young goat; see note to II, 552 above.

superfine Affecting refinement.

“à la mode” French: fashionable.

Angélus The bell at a Catholic church.

“blushing, blooming Bride” Adams puts the phrase in quotation marks to indicate that he is using a cliché ironically.

Chaunted Sung (see note to II, 138 above).

winter shocks The sudden and disconcerting indications of the imminence of winter.

verdureless Without vegetation.

en campagne or en ville French: in country or town.

Byron’s poetry Both this stanza and Byronic satire are discussed in the introduction.

cahot In a note to stanza 80 of The Charivari, Longmore writes: “the literal meaning of the word cahot, is jolt,—to the Canadian, or to those who have sojour’d in the country, the explanation of its meaning is superfluous,—to some, however, it may be necessary to describe the term “Cahot,” which is a rut or hollow found in the snow, by the cariole or traineau, passing along its surface on the snow first falling.”

fille d’honneur French: Maid of Honour.

Barouche Four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.

blade Dashing young man.

Demoiselle Single young woman.

chez son père French: At his father’s house.

cavilero Spanish: dashing young man. As Bentley notes, the rhyme of “hero” and “cavilero” also occurs in Byron, Beppo 263-64 and Longmore, The Charivari 1129-33.

“first water” Highest quality.

Avocat and cozen Lawyer and cheat. Adams may be referring to the same figure that Longmore mocks as “lawyer Shark” (The Charivari 857-80). As Bentley    notes, the figure is probably based on Samuel Gale (1783-1865), “a prominent Montreal lawyer.”

“whereas, whys and wherefores, and ergoes” Parody of legal jargon.

cousin german Full cousin.

Venus—roving boy Cupid. (See note to I, 179 and II, 44 above).

jollity without alloy Pure mirth.

Teneriffe Probably wine from that area.

“Monsieur votre” French: the woman returns the toast.

Bedlam Familiar form of Bethlehem, a London hospital for the insane; hence a   name for a madhouse. Cf. Pope, “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” 3-4: “The dog-star rages! nay ‘tis past a doubt / All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out.”

Imprimis Latin: in the first place.

Boeuf à la mode French: a beef dish.

A Jambon ragoo’d A stewed ham.