Despréaux, i.e. Boileau. As Boileau was one of the strongest supporters of the Ancients, it has been suggested that the name Despréaux is a mistake for Desportes. But it is more likely that Boileau is intended as he was put forward as a sort of Modern Horace. Cf. T. iii. 489: and Wotton's Reflections, Chapter IV.
P. 22, l. 14. the bowmen, the philosophers.
P. 22, l. 15. Gassendi, Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) was a French philosopher and mathematician, and an opponent of Descartes.
Descartes, Gassendi, and Hobbes are mentioned together in Wotton's Refections, Chapter XX.
P. 22, l. 18. like that of Evander. Swift is referring to the arrow of Acestes (Aen. v. 525-8).
P. 22, l. 19. Paracelsus, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), was a philosopher, chemist, and physician. He is mentioned by Swift because of the changes which he introduced into medical science in opposition to the theories of Galen and other ancient physicians. Cf. T. iii. 515.
P. 22, l. 20. stink-pot-flingers, a reference to the chemical experiments of the Paracelsians.
P. 22, l. 2l. Rhaetia. Paracelsus was a native of Switzerland.
P. 22, l. 22. dragoons, writers on medical subjects.
P. 22, l. 23. Harvey (1578-1657), the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. Cf. Temple, p. 58 of Appendix, and Wotton's Reflections, Chap. XVIII.
Aga; an aga is a commander or chief officer in the Ottoman Empire. Cf. Robert Curzon, Monasteries in the Levant, 'He did not care for a monk, and not much for an agou-
