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De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859

"De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars"

'
"This is from a eulogistic abstract of Kien Long's own narrative by
one of his Chinese ministers, named Yu Min Tchoung, a translation of
which was sent to Paris by the Jesuit missionary, P. Amiot, together
with the translation of the imperial narrative itself. The transcript
is again by the French translator of Bergmann, and is again rather
inaccurate."--MASSON.
63 17. lex talionis. Law of retaliation.
63 18. "lex nec justior," etc. "Nor is there any law more just than
that the devisers of murder should perish by their own device."--OVID,
_Ars Amatoria_, I, 655.
63 25. lares. The minor deities of a Roman household.
63 30. Arcadian beauty. Arcadian is synonymous with rural simplicity
and beauty. Arcadia, the central province of Greece, was a pastoral
district and lacked the vices--as well as some of the virtues--of the
surrounding states.
64 1. extirpation. Etymology?
64 23. music. One who has listened to Mongolian attempts at harmony
must suspect that De Quincey is again inspired by his imagination when
he characterizes this part of the commemoration as "rich and solemn."
64 28. columns of granite and brass. This feature of the narrative,
as well as many other details of apparent fact, including the entire
inscription said to have been placed upon the monument, are evidently
the pure invention of De Quincey's fancy, no mention of these details
being found in his historical sources.

FOOTNOTES:
[11] "Some years ago I published a paper on the Flight of the Kalmuck
Tartars from Russia.


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