Part 26 (2/2)

~Hamburg~ was a member of the Hanseatic League.

~The screen~ was presented to the Church of All Hallows the Great, Thames Street, in 1710, by the Hanseatic merchants.

44. TRADE. PART II.

~Incubus~: something that weighs down and hinders.

~religious wars in the Netherlands~: between the Protestant Dutch and the Catholic Spaniards, who were oppressing the country through great part of the sixteenth century.

~Bourse~: the same as ~Exchange~, where merchants meet to transact their business.

~English wool~ in Bruges, because it was much exported thither from England before the growth of home manufactures.

~Flemings~: the natives of Flanders; who were the chief manufacturers of Europe long before England took the lead.

~14 per cent.~: the height of this rate may be seen by comparing it with the 2 per cent., which is all England now pays as interest upon her debt.

~Bethlehem Hospital~, corrupted into Bedlam, is still a hospital, but only for the insane.

45. TRADE. PART III.

~Bruges ... civil wars~: that is, the religious wars referred to in Chapter XLIV.

~Venetians~: before the discovery of the sea route to India and the East Venice was the first maritime and commercial power in the world. The route round the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Vasco de Gama in 1497.

~Moluccas~: a group of tropical islands between Celebes and New Guinea, rich in pearls, spices, and precious woods.

~Calicut~: the port in Madras, where Vasco de Gama first landed in May 1498. The cotton cloth called _calico_ was first brought thence.

~Moorish pirates~: North Africa has always been a haunt of pirates. In 1816 Lord Exmouth had to bombard Algiers, and even as late as 1860 the European Powers had to suppress piracy in Morocco.

~Dordrecht~: a commercial town in the south of Holland, near Rotterdam.

~The South Sea Company~ is celebrated above the other trading companies for the great speculation in its shares called the ~South Sea bubble~ in 1720.

46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART I.

~Mummers~: men who played in entertainments masked and in various disguises.

~masque~: a kind of play in which the actors wore masks. Milton's 'Comus' is a well-known masque of high character.

~mystery~: a name for a religious play representing some scene from the Bible or scenes from the life of a saint.

~admonition~: warning.

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