Concurrently15 the King took steps, not always with great effect, to check the still existing abuse of false masters.[65] A more real service was the prevention of illegal deductions16 from the pay of the men, a vice6 from which hardly a regiment8 was wholly free, by the regulation of all stoppages by warrant.[66] As part of the same principle, he endeavoured also to ensure honesty towards the country and towards the soldiery in the matter of clothing. In fact, wherever the hand of King George the First can be traced in the administration of the Army, it is found working for integrity, economy, and discipline; and it is sufficiently evident that when he [31]gave decided17 orders the very officials at the War Office knew better than to disregard them.
It is melancholy18 to record the fact that he was ill supported by the General Officers of the Army. The Board of Generals, to which the settlement of all purely military questions was supposed to be referred, seems to have been lazy and inert19, requiring occasionally to be reminded of its duty in severe terms.[67] It may well be that this supineness was due to the general arrogation20 of military authority by civilians22, but even so it remains23 unexcused. Colonels again appear to have been scandalously negligent24 and remiss25 in every respect; and it may have been as a warning to them that the King on one occasion dismissed seven of their number in one batch26 from his service.[68] But issue orders as he might, the King could never succeed, owing to the prevailing27 indiscipline, in making a certain number of officers ever go near their regiments at all. This habit of long and continued absence from duty, especially on colonial stations, is said to have troubled him much, and to have caused him greater uneasiness than any other abuse in the Army. It will be seen when we read of the opening of the Seven Years' War that he had all too good ground for misgiving29. Yet the regimental officers must not be too hardly judged. In foreign garrisons32, as shall presently be shown, they were exiles, neglected and uncared for; at home they were subject to incessant33 provocation34, to malicious35 complaints, and in every quarter and at all times to the control of civilians. Lastly, though frequently called out in aid of the civil power, they had the fate of Captain Porteous before their eyes, and indeed took that lesson so speedily to heart that for want of their interposition the life of that unlucky man was sacrificed.[69]
[32]
When officers flagrantly neglected their duty and civilians deliberately36 fostered indiscipline, it is hardly astonishing that there should have been much misconduct among the men. It was natural, in the circumstances, that after the Peace of Utrecht the profession of the soldier should have fallen in England into disrepute. The greatest captain of his time, and one of the greatest of all time, had been rewarded for his transcendent services with exile and disgrace. Many officers had quitted the service in disgust, some of them abandoning even regiments which they loved as their own household. Wholesale37 and unscrupulous disbandment did not mend matters; and the survivors38 of that disbandment were confronted with the railings of the House of Commons, the malice39 of municipalities, the surliness of innkeepers and the insults of the populace. The most honest man in England had but to don the red coat to be dubbed40 a lewd41 profligate42 wretch43. Small wonder that, clothed with such a character, ready made and unalterable, soldiers should have made no scruple44 of living their life in accordance with it.
The standard of the recruit, socially and morally, appears at the accession of George the First to have sunk to the level of the worst days of Elizabeth, of the Restoration, or of William the Third. It is abundantly evident that the ranks were filled in great measure by professional criminals, who passed from regiment to regiment, spreading everywhere the infection of discontent, debauchery, and insubordination. The noxious45 weeds of desertion and fraudulent enlistment46 flourished with amazing exuberance47, and no severity of punishment had power to root them out. Week after week deserters were brought out into Hyde Park, tied up to the halberds, or simply to a tree, and flogged with hundreds of lashes48. Every variety of scourging49 was tried that ingenuity50 could suggest. Sometimes the instrument employed was the cat, sometimes the rod, sometimes a twig51, varied52 in the case of the cavalry53 by cloak-straps and stirrup-leathers. Sometimes the whole[33] regiment did the part of executioners,[70] sometimes the guard, sometimes the drummers only. Sometimes the culprit ran the gantlope, accomplishing the unpleasant journey as quickly as he could, sometimes he walked it with a halberd's point before him, lest he should hurry unduly54. Sometimes he took the whole of his punishment at one time and place, sometimes in instalments of a hundred lashes before the quarters of each detachment of his regiment, a practice akin28 to "flogging round the fleet."[71] Often he received two or three floggings in as quick succession as the state of his back would permit, the execution of the sentence being followed in many cases by "drumming out," with every circumstance of degradation55.[72] The sentence of death was often pronounced by courts-martial and not unfrequently carried out, a deserter convicted for the third time rarely escaping with his life. Many a man was shot in Hyde Park during the twenty years of peace, and no opportunity was lost to enhance the terror of the penalty, the firing party sometimes consisting solely57 of fellow-deserters, who were spared in consideration of the warning given by the ghastly body which their own bullets had pierced.[73]
The newspapers record such matters with little ceremony, dwelling58 with greater relish59 on incidents of the cart's tail, of the pillory60, or of Tyburn. The picketing61 of a soldier was indeed for a time a sufficient [34]novelty to attract crowds,[74] but the interest in the process appears to have been short-lived. People were not squeamish in those days, and men would lay a wager63 to receive so many hundred lashes without flinching64, as calmly as if it were to run so many miles or drink so many pots of ale. It is, however, noteworthy that both of the first of the Guelphic kings were prone65 to lighten the sentences of courts-martial, constantly reducing the number of lashes and remitting66 the penalty of death. Whether this was due to policy or humanity it is a little difficult to determine, for the populace certainly sympathised with deserters, and would help to rescue them, while there were "malicious persons" who were glad to denounce the severity of military punishments as a reproach against the Government.[75] I am, however, inclined to believe that both kings were inspired by the higher of the two motives67, and should receive due honour for the same. The like, I believe, can hardly be said of the malicious persons above named, considering that the House of Commons had the scandalous evils of the London prisons before it in 1729, but left the whole work of reform to be done by John Howard in 1774.
The consequences of filling the ranks with rogues68, together with the evils of indiscipline and neglect, did not end with desertion and fraudulent enlistment. That soldiers in their private quarrels should have fought desperately69, wounding and killing70 each other on the slightest provocation, is nothing remarkable71, for [35]such encounters were common in the poorer classes of the urban population. But the newspapers report a sufficient number of mishaps72 through the use of loaded instead of blank cartridges73 at drill, to show that such occurrences were not wholly accidental. Again, we find a corps74 so much favoured as the First Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards breaking into open mutiny, because one of their number was sentenced to the picket62.[76] On one very scandalous occasion the officers in command of the Prince of Wales's guard were so careless as to allow the troopers to get drunk when actually in attendance on His Royal Highness. The guard was turned out, and after some delay three troopers appeared who, though egregiously75 tipsy, were able to stagger to their places and stand more or less firmly on their legs. "This," we read, "the Prince complained of as shameful76, as well he might"; but at this distance of time the reader, with the self-important figure of the prince who became King George the Second before him, will have no eye except for what was probably the most ludicrous spectacle ever witnessed at the Horse Guards.[77] But the climax77 of scandal was reached when a burglary was actually committed in Kensington Palace, and when, on the calling of the roll of the guard, but two men were found to be present, the rest being engaged apparently79 in rendering80 assistance to the burglars.[78] Certainly the soldiers of some regiments did their best to merit the bad name which was attached impartially81 to all who wore the red coat.
It may be asked why the system of enlistment for three years, which had produced such excellent results in Queen Anne's time, should have been abandoned. The reply, judging from the arguments of a later time, is that there was apprehension82 lest men should pass [36]through the ranks of the British Army to strengthen those of the Pretender. There are signs that a reintroduction of the system was talked of in 1731, and was received by at least one observer with joy at the prospect83 of converting the whole nation into a sort of militia84,[79] but I can find no official trace of such a revival85. If it be asked how the Army survived a period of such discouragement and distress86 at all, the answer, I cannot doubt, is that it was saved, as it has often been saved, by the spirit, the pride, and the self-respect of individual regiments. There were always officers who worked hard and conscientiously87 for the credit of their own corps, and always men who were proud to take service with them and help them to maintain it. After the Peace of Utrecht, as at the present day, the War Office did its best to subvert88 regimental feeling by a return to the practice, expressly condemned89 by Marlborough, of strengthening the weaker corps by drafts from the stronger, but then as now regimental traditions preserved the War Office from the consequences of its own incapacity, and the Army from total dissolution.
So much for purely British affairs: but the British Empire, then as now, was not bounded by the shores of the British Isles90, and it is necessary to examine next the broader question of Imperial defence. As the reader will have gathered in the course of my narrative92, the system of home defence, up to the birth of the New Model and beyond it, had, apart from the fleet, been always the same. A few gunners and a few weak independent companies were maintained rather as caretakers than as defenders93 of the fortified94 places; in the event of an invasion there was the militia; while in case of an expedition beyond sea, a special force was raised, and disbanded as soon as its work was done. The standing95 Army gradually swept the independent garrison31-companies out of existence, though there were still a few at Hampton Court, Windsor, and one or two similar places in the last year of King William the[37] Third; but as has already been seen, the standing Army voted by Parliament just sufficed to furnish garrisons for the most important British fortresses96 and no more. Practically, therefore, the new system differed little from the old: if England were called upon to fight an enemy outside her own borders she must still raise a new army before she could send a man beyond sea. The only difference was that there were sufficient skeleton regiments, with their officers complete, to absorb several thousand men.
In our possessions abroad the old English system was followed exactly. British colonies were expected to raise their own militia and to provide for their own defence, as though each one of them had been an England in herself; and they fulfilled that expectation with a readiness which in those days seems astonishing. In the case of the American colonies, and in particular of the northern provinces, the problem of forming a national militia presented little difficulty; for theirs was a country where the white population could increase and multiply, and where white children could grow up to a vigorous manhood. The reader will shortly be able to judge the American militia by test of active service. But in the tropical islands of the West Indies, and to some extent in the southern provinces of Virginia and Carolina, the conditions were different. There the white man could not thrive and rear a healthy progeny98, while a horde99 of negro slaves, sound, strong, and prolific100, made an element of danger which was only kept in awe101 by systematic102 intimidation103 of almost incredible severity.[80]
Failing the natural increase of a white population, the ranks of the militia in the West Indies were kept full by continual exportation of white "servants" from[38] England, that is to say, of men, women, and children saved from the gaol104 or the gallows105, plucked naked and starving out of the gutter106, trepanned by scoundrelly crimps, or kidnapped bodily in the streets and spirited, as the phrase went, across the Atlantic. From the earliest days of English colonisation the seeds to be sown in the great continent of the West had been gathered from the weeds that grow by the roadside. In 1610 three hundred disorderly persons were sent to Virginia, in 1617 and 1618 a cargo107 of poor and impressed emigrants108, in 1620 "a parcel of poor and naughty children." New England, with higher ideals and a deeper insight than her sisters, resolved to accept only youths untainted by vice, but even so did not escape an infusion109 of the very scum of the earth.[81] An enlightened Frenchman did indeed formulate110 a scheme for recruiting old soldiers as emigrants for Virginia, but for the most part the white servants were drawn111 almost exclusively from the unprofitable classes.
The Civil War, the conquest of Ireland, the subdual of Scotland, and the crushing of royalism introduced a new element into the exported white servants. Irish men and Irish girls, grouped under the generic112 name of Tories, were shipped off to the West Indies by hundreds and even thousands.[82] English and Scottish prisoners of war, the vanquished113 of Dunbar and of Worcester among them, followed the Irish; and, finally, all ranks of the Royalists who dashed themselves in vain against the iron will of the Protector, many of them men of birth and high character, were, in the phrase of the day, Barbadosed. After the Restoration the supply of white servants, though swelled114 for a moment by the rebellion of Monmouth and by the innocent victims of Jeffreys, reverted115 to its dependence117 on the gaol, the crimp, and [39]the "spirit." Transportation, though not long obsolete118, has been well-nigh forgotten as a means of penal56 discipline, and quite forgotten as the first foundation of our system of colonial defence.
The white servants might, in the majority of cases, have been termed white slaves. They were frequently sold for money at so much a head without the least concealment119, and were granted away in scores both by Oliver Cromwell and by James the Second as a means of profit and reward to good servants or to favourites. The practice was thoroughly120 recognised; and not a voice, except that of the younger Vane, was ever raised against the principle.[83] Theoretically the white servants were bound apprentices121 for a term of years, rarely exceeding ten, at the close of which they received their freedom with, as a rule, a grant of Crown-land to encourage them to settlement.[84] During their period of servitude they were obliged to serve in the ranks of the colonial militia, not as free men, but as the subjects of their masters. Every planter was bound by law to furnish his quota122 of men, and old colonial muster-rolls frequently consist only of a list of masters, with a figure showing the number of servants to be supplied by each of them, not unlike the provincial123 muster-rolls of Queen Elizabeth's day in England. Having furnished their men to the ranks, the masters took their places at their head, in such numbers as were required, as their officers.
Three causes conspired124 to clothe the colonial militia with an efficiency unknown to the militia of England,—the presence of powerful neighbours, native or European; the knowledge that little help was to be expected from the mother country; and, in the tropics, the eternal dread125 of a rising of the negroes. Barbados, an island no larger than the Isle91 of Wight, could at the close of [40]King Charles the Second's reign30 show six regiments of foot and two of horse, or a total of six thousand men; while Jamaica, a less fortunate island and a full generation later in settlement, produced in the same year seven regiments of four thousand men. Jamaica, it may be observed, owing to the presence of wild tribes of runaway126 slaves called Maroons127, lived in more than ordinary terror of a servile war, and therefore kept her militia up to a high standard of efficiency. The reader should take note, in passing, of these Maroons, for we shall meet with them again at a very critical time. Even so, colonies frequently observed the true English spirit of apathy128.[85] The main point, however, is that each colony, tropical or temperate129, made provision for its own defence in respect of trained men and of fortification. Magazines were replenished130 partly by local laws, which compelled all vessels131 trading regularly from England to pay dues of gunpowder132 in proportion to their tonnage; the mother country making frequent grants of guns and of other stores from the depots133 of the Ordnance134 in England, and occasionally doling135 out even a small subvention of money. As a rule, moreover, the Crown was careful to appoint men of some military experience to be governors, in order that the local forces might not want a competent commander; and it is noteworthy, as a curious survival of old military traditions, that the civilian21 who performs the functions of sheriff in the West Indian Islands still bears, in a great many cases, the title of provost-marshal.
But even in the days of Charles the Second this primitive136 method of colonial defence showed signs of breaking down. At St. Kitts, which island was shared by the French and English until the Peace of Utrecht, the French kept a small permanent garrison. The English were of course bound to do likewise, and accordingly two independent companies of red-coats were stationed there at the cost of the Crown—stationed, not maintained, for they were left at first without pay,[41] clothing, or attention of any kind from home, for whole years together.[86] In times of emergency such companies were quartered also in other colonies, such as Jamaica and Virginia, but these were never retained for longer than could be helped, the colony receiving the option of maintaining them at its own expense or of dispensing137 with them altogether. As the men were generally mutinous138 for want of pay, they sometimes proved to be an element of danger rather than of security.[87] Where settlements were granted out by charter to companies or to proprietors140, the burden of defence of course fell on them, and was almost invariably borne by a local militia. There were, however, exceptions, notably141 the East Indian and African Companies, which, as they concerned themselves not with colonisation, but solely with trade, will be more conveniently discussed elsewhere. New York, from its supreme142 importance as a commercial and strategic station, was provided by its proprietor139, James, Duke of York,[88] with two regular independent companies of English.
Time went on, and the system of defence by transportation became more and more unstable143. White men, chafing144 against servitude, ran away from the West Indian Islands by scores to join the pirates that swarmed145 in the Caribbean Seas. The long war from 1689 to 1714 finally cut off the supply of white servants altogether for a time, every possible recruit having been seized by the press-gang or by the parish constable146 to serve in the regular army or navy. At the accession of King William the only British garrisons in the colonies were one company at the Leeward147 Islands and two at New York; by 1692 the West Indies alone had one complete regiment[89] and four independent companies of red-coats. At the accession [42]of Queen Anne the independent companies for a time disappeared from the West Indies, and gave place to regular regiments of the Line, which have furnished the garrison ever since.[90] Elsewhere, however, the old principle still held its own. In 1695 two companies at New York were increased to four, and in 1696 another company took charge of Bermuda and Newfoundland. The close of the War of the Spanish Succession found England in exclusive possession of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Minorca, and Gibraltar, all of them requiring permanent garrisons, and not one with the means of providing a militia of its own.
A situation so novel called for an entirely148 new departure in English military policy, but no one appears to have perceived any necessity for the same, possibly from the conviction that, however clearly a soldier's eye might see, the eyes of the country and of the House of Commons would certainly be blinded. The authorities, therefore, held fast to the tradition of the Tudors, that the garrison of a strong place must be irremovably attached to it. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland required special attention, and were accordingly furnished with four independent companies apiece, which in 1717 were merged149, by some brilliant inspiration at headquarters, into a single regiment of ridiculous weakness, now living in our midst as the Fortieth Foot. The Leeward Islands having received their regiment of the Line during the war, were allowed to keep it during the peace, on condition of providing barracks and extra pay for all ranks; but a colonial garrison, even though it were a regiment of the Line, was still a garrison, and therefore irremovable; and so it came to pass that the Thirty-eighth Foot remained in the Leeward Islands unrelieved for sixty years. But meanwhile it was found indispensable to keep a small garrison also at Jamaica. The temptation to revert116 to the old system was irresistible150, so two independent[43] companies took charge of Port Royal.[91] Then Carolina was perceived to require defence, and in 1720 another independent company was sent there; then the Bahamas and Bermuda, which had hitherto shared a company between them, asked for a company apiece and received them; and at this strength the colonial garrisons remained until 1735. Then Jamaica was seen to be in serious peril151 from a rising of negroes, and everything pointed152 to the permanent quartering of a whole regiment in the Island; but still the old expedient was followed. Six independent companies were drafted from the regiments at Gibraltar, making with the two already in existence a total of eight independent companies; nor was it until 1743 that these were at last combined into Trelawny's regiment, or, to give it its modern name, the Forty-ninth Foot.
But meanwhile, in 1737-38, the needs of a new colony forced the War Office to provide yet another garrison for the defence of Georgia; and it was boldly resolved to form a whole regiment for that service and for that alone. Its colonel was the governor and founder153 of Georgia, General James Oglethorpe; and it was formed by the simple process of turning over the whole of the effective privates of the Twenty-fifth Foot to that estimable man.[92] This incident marks the furthest limit to which the principle of separating Colonial and Imperial service was pushed by the War Office. Another quarter of a century was to see, not the impressment of English soldiers for a colonial regiment, but the embodiment of colonists154 into an English, and a famous English, regiment.
But it was not in respect of the localisation of foreign garrisons only that the War Office showed itself hide-bound by ancient tradition. The authorities were amazingly slow to recognise that the conditions of service at Portsmouth and Annapolis, at Hull155 and at Gibraltar, were not and could not be identical. In [44]a previous chapter I hinted at the neglect which drove the garrison of Gibraltar to burn their huts for fuel. The experience of twenty years seems to have taught the War Office but little, for in 1730 the men were still without a roof over their heads and suffering terribly from exposure and from dysentery.[93] In Minorca the quarters of the troops were equally bad, the fortifications were in as ill condition as the quarters, and the unhappy soldiers begged in vain for new bedding to replace that which they had fairly worn out by ten years of service.[94] At Annapolis and Placentia the barracks were falling down; and from Bermuda came complaints in 1739 that no stores of any kind had been received since 1696. In New York the tale of misery156 and hardship almost passes belief. There, men on the frontier-guards marched to their posts knee-deep in snow and lay down in their clothes, for want of bedding, when relieved: the sergeant157 having orders to wake them from time to time, lest they should be frozen to death in the guard-room. Yet the officers begged in vain for the supply of their wants. The Office of Ordnance, in abject158 fear of swelling159 the sum of its estimates, pleaded that Parliament had made no provision for such services: and the result was that forty-nine men out of two weak companies perished in a single winter for lack of a blanket to cover them.[95]
But the story of helplessness and neglect does not end here. The War Office appears to have imagined that all the world over there were, as in England, not only alehouses, wherein troops could be quartered, but landlords who would provide them, according to the tariff13 of the Mutiny Act, with food, fire, and candle. It would seem not to have occurred to it that supplies in an isolated160 barren fortress97 like Gibraltar must of necessity be limited; nor was it until 1720 that, at the [45]King's instance, it was ordered that Gibraltar should be provided always with victuals161 for two months in advance. The feeding of the garrisons there, in Minorca, in Nova Scotia and in Newfoundland was entrusted162 to contractors163, but in the contracts the most obvious necessities were overlooked. Thus, though Minorca was supplied with brandy, oil, bread, salt, and tobacco, the item of meat was entirely omitted, and it was actually necessary for the governor to explain that the five articles above enumerated164 were insufficient165 for the nourishment166 of the British soldier.[96] At Annapolis—loneliest, dullest, and dreariest167 of quarters—the soldiers were expected to content themselves with water for their only beverage168. Not unnaturally169 they mutinied; and their officers were fain to purchase molasses at their own expense and brew170 them beer.[97] Deadly though the climate of the West Indies then was, men could think themselves fortunate to be quartered there, for Jamaica and the Leeward Islands showed far more generosity171 to the British soldier than the British Parliament.[98]
The greatest hardship of service on foreign stations remains yet to be noticed, namely, the absence of any system of periodic reliefs. Englishmen did not accept exile so readily in those days as in these. Ordinary soldiers did not conceive that they enlisted172 for service in foreign garrisons; that duty was for men especially recruited, as they thought; and they constantly deserted173 in sheer despair of ever returning home.[99] A distinguished174 officer, the Duke of Argyll, went the [46]length of saying that a long term of duty at Mahon was equivalent to a punishment, and that his only surprise was that the troops had not mutinied both at Minorca and Gibraltar.[100] The Board of General Officers urged the question at least once upon the King,[101] but without result. A still more cruel matter was that the War Office refused to grant to invalided175 soldiers a free passage home. Even in these days of sanitary176 science the amount of sickness among our troops in the tropics is sufficiently great: the reader may calculate for himself what it must have been when malarial177 fever, yellow fever, and smallpox[102] were allowed to run their course unchecked. But the only answer of the War Office to an appeal from the Governor of Jamaica for the return of invalided soldiers was the usual plea of no funds, urged with something more than the usual warmth of indignation.
Such petty economies, of course, cost the country incredibly dear. The hardships of foreign service led not only to desertion but to extreme difficulty in obtaining recruits for the independent companies abroad. To overcome these obstacles three separate devices were employed. The first was to offer large bounties178, which from between 1720 and 1739 grew swiftly from thirty shillings to seventy-five.[103] This proving very costly179, recourse was made to the mischievous180 practice of drafting men from regiments at home, thereby181 transferring the expense from the state to the regimental officers, who were compelled to pay as much as five pounds a head for the men drafted to them.[104] The system being simple was soon carried to outrageous182 lengths. The bounty183 failing to attract recruits for Carolina, a draft of pensioners184 was sent out in their place, and the same principle was [47]shortly after extended to Gibraltar.[105] Thus not only was cruel hardship inflicted185 on the pensioners, but the one reserve which England possessed186 for her defence in time of emergency was frittered away in service abroad. Finally, on the rare occasions when a relief was sent to the Mediterranean187 garrisons, the relieving regiment was generally so much weakened by desertion before its departure that it was necessary to turn over to it bodily the two junior companies of the relieved, and to call for volunteers from the remaining companies. If the requisite188 men could not be obtained by these means, the orders were to select as many more as were required by lot.[106] The inevitable189 result was that the garrison was composed mainly of discontented men, ready to desert at the first opportunity, with an infusion of lazy, cunning old soldiers, who had contracted an attachment190 to the wine or the women of the country, and were content to pass the rest of their lives in chronic191 insobriety.
The difficulties of the whole situation became so pressing that the Board of General Officers advised the King to make transportation to service abroad an alternative penalty for desertion, and to show no mercy in inflicting192 it.[107] The King declined, nor can it be denied that there was wisdom in his decision; but it is none the less certain that abundance of deserters received pardon on condition of enlisting193 in corps that were quartered in the colonies, and particularly in Carolina.[108] The principle of sending off bad characters to wear their red coats on the other side of the Atlantic received final sanction in 1742, when over a hundred mutinous deserters from a Highland194 regiment were divided between the Mediterranean garrisons, the West Indies, and Carolina.[109] Such a windfall did not come every day.
[48]
It is now easy to see why foreign service should have been no less unpopular with officers than with men. Their soldiers were discontented and miserable195 through evils which they had no power to remedy; their regiments were filled with the worst characters, for whom they were obliged to pay an extravagant196 price; no better provision was made for their comfort than for that of the men: and the life was insufferably dull and monotonous197. Nothing, however, can excuse the systematic evasion198 of duty which was so common among them, still less the hopeless indiscipline which nullified the King's repeated orders for their attendance. Altogether it is clear that England was not yet the least awake to the fact that she had entered upon possession of an Empire, and that an Empire must be defended by the sword. There was no definite scheme of defence, no attempt to realise the extent of the country's military resources, no effort to discover how they might be turned to most effective account. To live from hand to mouth, from budget to budget, was sufficient for Robert Walpole, while the King, if ever he looked beyond the sea, gazed eastward199 and not westward200, and then not at India, but at Hanover.
It remains for me to mention such improvements as were effected in the Army during the period under review, which, though they were few, were none the less far-reaching. The first was the permanent organisation201 of the Artillery202. As has been seen, the Commonwealth203 latterly maintained a field-train ready and equipped for the field, while William the Third improved upon this by distributing the train into two companies. In the chaos204 which followed upon the Peace of Utrecht this organisation was suffered to collapse205, and the Board of Ordnance, when ordered to fit out a train in 1715, was absolutely unable to do so. It was therefore determined206 to revert to the system of King William by the establishment of four permanent companies of Artillery, which was duly ordained207 by Royal Warrant of 26th May 1716. Two companies[49] only were created at first, with a total strength of nine officers and ninety-two men, but the number was increased to four companies in 1727, with the title of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, a designation which still covers about a hundred companies and over a hundred batteries of garrison, field, and horse artillery. The first colonel was a foreigner, Albert Borgard by name, who had entered the British service in time to fight at Steenkirk, and had afterwards served through the War of the Succession in Spain, distinguished more than once by grievous wounds and always by excellent and honourable208 service. We shall see that the career of the corps has been like unto that of its first colonel.[110]
A second novelty in the Army during this period has enwoven itself even more closely into its traditions. In 1725 General Wade209 was sent up to Scotland armed with instructions for the disarmament of the Highland clans210, and with statutory powers to send all clansmen that did not surrender their arms to serve the King in a red coat beyond sea. Whether any recruits were obtained by those means is uncertain, for Wade exercised his authority in a judicious211 and tactful spirit, and earned immortality212 by employing his troops in the construction of roads, whereby he not only kept them from the idleness which begets213 indiscipline, but endowed the country with a lasting214 benefit. To enforce the disarmament, overawe the disaffected215, and preserve order among the clans, there were raised in that same year four companies of Highlanders, under Captains Lord Lovat, Sir Duncan Campbell, John Campbell, and George Grant.[111] There had been independent companies for service in the Highlands since 1710, but these had been disbanded in 1717, though the officers were subsequently reappointed. The new companies wore their national dress, which, as it consisted principally of black, blue, and green tartan, presented a sombre appearance, [50]and gained for its wearers the name of the Black Watch.[112]
The ranks were filled with a number of young men of respectable families who had joined the corps to gain the Highlanders' beloved privilege of bearing arms, and many were wealthy enough to keep their gillies to attend them in their quarters and to carry their arms and kits216 on the march. The privates were taken indiscriminately from all the clans, but the officers from the Whig clans only. The service seems to have been popular, for the companies, though increased almost immediately from four to six, were within eighteen months raised to a strength of one hundred and ten men each. The fact that within the same period they had worn out their arms by sheer hard work proves sufficiently that their life was no easy one. At length, on the 7th of November 1739, orders were issued for the raising of four additional companies, and for the formation of a Highland regiment, seven hundred and eighty strong. The colonel appointed to command them, John, Earl of Crawford, was suffering at the time from a wound received in battle against the Turks five months before at Krotzka,[113] and was therefore unable to take immediate217 charge of them. Finally, a few weeks later, a sergeant and a private[114] were brought down to London, the first kilted soldiers ever seen in the capital, and were duly exhibited to the King, presumably with satisfaction to his sartorial218 mind. Thus came into being the famous regiment which, ranking originally as the Forty-third of the Line, is still with us as the Forty-second Highlanders.[115]
[51]
For the rest, it must be noted219 that with the accession of a foreign dynasty the Army began early to show signs of subjection to foreign influence. In not a few directions the strict German precision of George the First worked decidedly for good. Before he had been on the throne two years he instituted a regular system of inspection220 of all regiments by General Officers,[116] and shortly after, observing that every corps used such methods of drill as happened to be preferred by the colonel, he ordered an uniform exercise to be drawn up for all.[117] More curious, however, was his interference with the arming of the infantry221, for while on the one hand he insisted that every man should carry a sword as well as a bayonet, a curious old-fashioned prejudice,[118] yet within two years he introduced the steel ramrod, which was the newest of new improvements.[119] This steel ramrod is emblematic222 of much, since it was the invention of a veteran who had fought among the Prussian troops throughout Marlborough's campaigns, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, famous in Prussian history as the "Old Dessauer."
Perforce we must turn our eyes for a moment towards the military reforms which were going forward in Prussia under that half-demented, half-inspired monarch223, King Frederick William. Of the really important lessons which the British learned from him and from his far greater son, it is not yet time to speak: for our present purpose it must be remarked, and remarked not wholly with a light heart, that he was the first great military tailor that sat on a throne. He was also, unfortunately, an admirable soldier into the bargain, and thus has led many monarchs224 into the delusion225 that the most important military manual is the book of patterns, and that a soldier is made not by training and discipline but by tape, goose, and shears226. His influence soon made itself felt in England, for as [52]early as 1718 we find Colonel Cosby of the Eighteenth Royal Irish insisting that every man of his regiment should wear ruffles227 at the sleeves and bosom228 of his shirt;[120] and three years later, when Frederick William visited England in person, the grenadiers of the Guards were bidden to let their whiskers grow, to do him honour on his arrival.[121] Thus dawned the era of powder, pigtail, and tight clothing.
With the accession of King George the Second the reign of the military tailor in England began in good earnest. George did not love his brother-in-law, Frederick William, but he envied him not a little the reputation of his army. He had little capacity for military duties beyond the sphere of a sergeant-major, though he had won his spurs gallantly229 enough at the head of a squadron at Oudenarde, but being ambitious of military distinction he threw himself with all the enthusiasm of a narrow nature into the pleasing excitement of dressing230 his army. Before he had been on the throne four months he announced his desire that every regiment should have "fixed231 clothing," and by a single edict swept away all lace from the buff belts of the cavalry.[122] In the following year the headdress of the Horse-Grenadiers was altered,[123] and in the next year again the Foot Guards were prohibited from wearing perukes except in case of sickness.[124] And so the process went on, barely interrupted even by war, until finally it culminated232 in an elaborate table of regulations as to colours, clothing, facings, and lace,[125] and, to the great good fortune of posterity233, in the depiction234 of a private of almost every regiment in the Army.
In such trifles were the great lessons taught by Marlborough forgotten. The great Duke's mantle235 had descended236 on one man, but even if he had been suffered [53]to wear it, the Secretary-at-War would not have heeded237 him the more. Until 1742 he remained obscure, and meanwhile the better known officers died fast. Cadogan, the Duke's successor, died in 1726, and was laid with his great chief in Henry the Seventh's chapel238, not with military pomp, but, by his own express desire, with all possible privacy. It should seem that he shrank above all things from even the semblance239 of a share in his master's glory. Of the veterans who outlived him, Lord Orkney and the Duke of Argyll were made field-marshals in 1736, while Wade, the kindly240 administrator241 of the Highlands, and Lord Stair took their part, as shall be seen, in the next war. Beyond them no one knew whither to look for an English general. Some perhaps counted on little Prince William who, dressed as a corporal, was often to be seen drilling a miniature company of the Coldstream Guards,[126] not yet dreaming that he would one day be called the butcher of Culloden. None thought of looking into a little house at Westerham, in Kent, where Colonel Edward Wolfe, a veteran of Flanders, was educating his little son James, a remarkably242 ugly boy with a shock of red hair and a turned-up nose, who had been born to him in 1727. None guessed again that a natural genius for war lay in another boy two years older than Wolfe, who was the scourge243 of every orchard244, the terror of every tradesman, and the ringleader of all mischief245 in and about Market Drayton, and who bore the name of Robert Clive. Yet these two, the one frail246 and delicate, the other an incorrigible247 scapegrace, were the instruments appointed to carry on the work begun by Cromwell and by Marlborough. Marvellous to relate there were still alive in 1731 two old men, the one a Royalist officer aged78 one hundred and eighteen, the other a Puritan soldier aged one hundred and eleven, who had fought at the battle of Edgehill and yet shared some few years of the world with Wolfe and Clive. They had seen[54] Oliver Cromwell as a simple captain, and they lived to see William Pitt gazetted a cornet of horse.
点击收听单词发音
1 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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2 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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3 legacies | |
n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 );遗留之物;遗留问题;后遗症 | |
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4 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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5 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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6 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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7 exorbitant | |
adj.过分的;过度的 | |
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8 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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9 regiments | |
(军队的)团( regiment的名词复数 ); 大量的人或物 | |
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10 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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11 superannuated | |
adj.老朽的,退休的;v.因落后于时代而废除,勒令退学 | |
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12 tariffs | |
关税制度; 关税( tariff的名词复数 ); 关税表; (旅馆或饭店等的)收费表; 量刑标准 | |
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13 tariff | |
n.关税,税率;(旅馆、饭店等)价目表,收费表 | |
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14 precept | |
n.戒律;格言 | |
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15 concurrently | |
adv.同时地 | |
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16 deductions | |
扣除( deduction的名词复数 ); 结论; 扣除的量; 推演 | |
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17 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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18 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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19 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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20 arrogation | |
n.诈称,霸占,篡夺 | |
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21 civilian | |
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
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22 civilians | |
平民,百姓( civilian的名词复数 ); 老百姓 | |
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23 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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24 negligent | |
adj.疏忽的;玩忽的;粗心大意的 | |
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25 remiss | |
adj.不小心的,马虎 | |
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26 batch | |
n.一批(组,群);一批生产量 | |
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27 prevailing | |
adj.盛行的;占优势的;主要的 | |
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28 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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29 misgiving | |
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕 | |
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30 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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31 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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32 garrisons | |
守备部队,卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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33 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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34 provocation | |
n.激怒,刺激,挑拨,挑衅的事物,激怒的原因 | |
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35 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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36 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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37 wholesale | |
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售 | |
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38 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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39 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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40 dubbed | |
v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 );把…称为;配音;复制 | |
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41 lewd | |
adj.淫荡的 | |
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42 profligate | |
adj.行为不检的;n.放荡的人,浪子,肆意挥霍者 | |
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43 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
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44 scruple | |
n./v.顾忌,迟疑 | |
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45 noxious | |
adj.有害的,有毒的;使道德败坏的,讨厌的 | |
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46 enlistment | |
n.应征入伍,获得,取得 | |
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47 exuberance | |
n.丰富;繁荣 | |
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48 lashes | |
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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49 scourging | |
鞭打( scourge的现在分词 ); 惩罚,压迫 | |
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50 ingenuity | |
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
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51 twig | |
n.小树枝,嫩枝;v.理解 | |
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52 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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53 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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54 unduly | |
adv.过度地,不适当地 | |
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55 degradation | |
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变 | |
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56 penal | |
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的 | |
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57 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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58 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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59 relish | |
n.滋味,享受,爱好,调味品;vt.加调味料,享受,品味;vi.有滋味 | |
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60 pillory | |
n.嘲弄;v.使受公众嘲笑;将…示众 | |
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61 picketing | |
[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班,工人纠察线 | |
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62 picket | |
n.纠察队;警戒哨;v.设置纠察线;布置警卫 | |
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63 wager | |
n.赌注;vt.押注,打赌 | |
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64 flinching | |
v.(因危险和痛苦)退缩,畏惧( flinch的现在分词 ) | |
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65 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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66 remitting | |
v.免除(债务),宽恕( remit的现在分词 );使某事缓和;寄回,传送 | |
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67 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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68 rogues | |
n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 );无赖;调皮捣蛋的人;离群的野兽 | |
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69 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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70 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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71 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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72 mishaps | |
n.轻微的事故,小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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73 cartridges | |
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头 | |
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74 corps | |
n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组 | |
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75 egregiously | |
adv.过份地,卓越地 | |
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76 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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77 climax | |
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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78 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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79 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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80 rendering | |
n.表现,描写 | |
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81 impartially | |
adv.公平地,无私地 | |
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82 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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83 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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84 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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85 revival | |
n.复兴,复苏,(精力、活力等的)重振 | |
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86 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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87 conscientiously | |
adv.凭良心地;认真地,负责尽职地;老老实实 | |
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88 subvert | |
v.推翻;暗中破坏;搅乱 | |
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89 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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90 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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91 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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92 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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93 defenders | |
n.防御者( defender的名词复数 );守卫者;保护者;辩护者 | |
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94 fortified | |
adj. 加强的 | |
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95 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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96 fortresses | |
堡垒,要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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97 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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98 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
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99 horde | |
n.群众,一大群 | |
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100 prolific | |
adj.丰富的,大量的;多产的,富有创造力的 | |
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101 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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102 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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103 intimidation | |
n.恐吓,威胁 | |
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104 gaol | |
n.(jail)监狱;(不加冠词)监禁;vt.使…坐牢 | |
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105 gallows | |
n.绞刑架,绞台 | |
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106 gutter | |
n.沟,街沟,水槽,檐槽,贫民窟 | |
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107 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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108 emigrants | |
n.(从本国移往他国的)移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
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109 infusion | |
n.灌输 | |
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110 formulate | |
v.用公式表示;规划;设计;系统地阐述 | |
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111 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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112 generic | |
adj.一般的,普通的,共有的 | |
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113 vanquished | |
v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 );战胜;克服;抑制 | |
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114 swelled | |
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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115 reverted | |
恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 ); 重提; 回到…上; 归还 | |
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116 revert | |
v.恢复,复归,回到 | |
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117 dependence | |
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
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118 obsolete | |
adj.已废弃的,过时的 | |
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119 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
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120 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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121 apprentices | |
学徒,徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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122 quota | |
n.(生产、进出口等的)配额,(移民的)限额 | |
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123 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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124 conspired | |
密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 ); 搞阴谋; (事件等)巧合; 共同导致 | |
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125 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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126 runaway | |
n.逃走的人,逃亡,亡命者;adj.逃亡的,逃走的 | |
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127 maroons | |
n.逃亡黑奴(maroon的复数形式)vt.把…放逐到孤岛(maroon的第三人称单数形式) | |
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128 apathy | |
n.漠不关心,无动于衷;冷淡 | |
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129 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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130 replenished | |
补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 ); 重新装满 | |
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131 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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132 gunpowder | |
n.火药 | |
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133 depots | |
仓库( depot的名词复数 ); 火车站; 车库; 军需库 | |
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134 ordnance | |
n.大炮,军械 | |
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135 doling | |
救济物( dole的现在分词 ); 失业救济金 | |
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136 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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137 dispensing | |
v.分配( dispense的现在分词 );施与;配(药) | |
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138 mutinous | |
adj.叛变的,反抗的;adv.反抗地,叛变地;n.反抗,叛变 | |
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139 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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140 proprietors | |
n.所有人,业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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141 notably | |
adv.值得注意地,显著地,尤其地,特别地 | |
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142 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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143 unstable | |
adj.不稳定的,易变的 | |
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144 chafing | |
n.皮肤发炎v.擦热(尤指皮肤)( chafe的现在分词 );擦痛;发怒;惹怒 | |
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145 swarmed | |
密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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146 constable | |
n.(英国)警察,警官 | |
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147 leeward | |
adj.背风的;下风的 | |
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148 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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149 merged | |
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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150 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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151 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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152 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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153 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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154 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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155 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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156 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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157 sergeant | |
n.警官,中士 | |
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158 abject | |
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的 | |
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159 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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160 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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161 victuals | |
n.食物;食品 | |
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162 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163 contractors | |
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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164 enumerated | |
v.列举,枚举,数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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165 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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166 nourishment | |
n.食物,营养品;营养情况 | |
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167 dreariest | |
使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的最高级 ); 阴沉的; 令人厌烦的; 单调的 | |
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168 beverage | |
n.(水,酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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169 unnaturally | |
adv.违反习俗地;不自然地;勉强地;不近人情地 | |
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170 brew | |
v.酿造,调制 | |
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171 generosity | |
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为 | |
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172 enlisted | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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173 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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174 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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175 invalided | |
使伤残(invalid的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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176 sanitary | |
adj.卫生方面的,卫生的,清洁的,卫生的 | |
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177 malarial | |
患疟疾的,毒气的 | |
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178 bounties | |
(由政府提供的)奖金( bounty的名词复数 ); 赏金; 慷慨; 大方 | |
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179 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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180 mischievous | |
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的 | |
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181 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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182 outrageous | |
adj.无理的,令人不能容忍的 | |
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183 bounty | |
n.慷慨的赠予物,奖金;慷慨,大方;施与 | |
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184 pensioners | |
n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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185 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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186 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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187 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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188 requisite | |
adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
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189 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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190 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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191 chronic | |
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的 | |
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192 inflicting | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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193 enlisting | |
v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的现在分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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194 highland | |
n.(pl.)高地,山地 | |
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195 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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196 extravagant | |
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的 | |
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197 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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198 evasion | |
n.逃避,偷漏(税) | |
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199 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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200 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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201 organisation | |
n.组织,安排,团体,有机休 | |
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202 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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203 commonwealth | |
n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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204 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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205 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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206 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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207 ordained | |
v.任命(某人)为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 );授予(某人)圣职;(上帝、法律等)命令;判定 | |
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208 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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209 wade | |
v.跋涉,涉水;n.跋涉 | |
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210 clans | |
宗族( clan的名词复数 ); 氏族; 庞大的家族; 宗派 | |
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211 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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212 immortality | |
n.不死,不朽 | |
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213 begets | |
v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 );产生,引起 | |
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214 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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215 disaffected | |
adj.(政治上)不满的,叛离的 | |
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216 kits | |
衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 ); 成套用品; 配套元件 | |
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217 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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218 sartorial | |
adj.裁缝的 | |
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219 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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220 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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221 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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222 emblematic | |
adj.象征的,可当标志的;象征性 | |
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223 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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224 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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225 delusion | |
n.谬见,欺骗,幻觉,迷惑 | |
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226 shears | |
n.大剪刀 | |
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227 ruffles | |
褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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228 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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229 gallantly | |
adv. 漂亮地,勇敢地,献殷勤地 | |
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230 dressing | |
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
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231 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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232 culminated | |
v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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233 posterity | |
n.后裔,子孙,后代 | |
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234 depiction | |
n.描述 | |
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235 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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236 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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237 heeded | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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238 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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239 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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240 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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241 administrator | |
n.经营管理者,行政官员 | |
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242 remarkably | |
ad.不同寻常地,相当地 | |
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243 scourge | |
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏 | |
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244 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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245 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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246 frail | |
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的 | |
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247 incorrigible | |
adj.难以纠正的,屡教不改的 | |
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