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The Character Of Dogs
by
[Note 19: Jesuit confessors. The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, one of the most famous religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church, was founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola and a few others.]
[Note 20: Modified by Cheeryble. The Cheeryble Brothers are characters in Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby (1838-9). Dickens said in his Preface, “Those who take an interest in this tale, will be glad to learn that the BROTHERS CHEERYBLE live: that their liberal charity, their singleness of heart, their noble nature … are no creations of the Author’s brain.”]
[Note 21: “Rake the backets.” The “backet” is a small, square, wooden trough generally used for ashes and waste.]
[Note 22: Woggs (and Note: Walter, Watty, Woggy, Woggs, Wog, and lastly Bogue; under which last name he fell in battle some twelve months ago. Glory was his aim and he attained it; for his icon, by the hand of Caldecott, now lies among the treasures of the nation.) Stevenson’s well-beloved black Skye terrier. See Balfour’s Life, I, 212, 223. Stevenson was so deeply affected by Woggs’s death that he could not bear ever to own another dog. A Latin inscription was placed on his tombstone…. This Note was added in 1887, when the essay appeared in Memories and Portraits. “Icon” means image (cf. iconoclast); the word has lately become familiar through the religious use of icons by the Russians in the war with Japan. Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) was a well-known artist and prominent contributor of sketches to illustrated magazines.]
[Note 23: “Stammering Professors.” A “professor” here means simply a professing Christian. Stevenson alludes to the fact that dogs howl fearfully if some one in the house is dying.]
[Note 24: “Carneying.” This means coaxing, wheedling.]
[Note 25: Louis Quatorze. Louis XIV of France, who died in 1715, after a reign of 72 years, the longest reign of any monarch in history. His absolutism and complete disregard of the people unconsciously prepared the way for the French Revolution in 1789.]