_ A telling
expression
for the dread of loss
which haunts so many wealthy people.
Keats
l. 112. _rich-ored driftings._ The sand of the river in which gold was
to be found.
PAGE 57. l. 124. _lazar_, leper, or any wretched beggar; from the
parable of Dives and Lazarus.
_stairs_, steps on which they sat to beg.
l. 125. _red-lin'd accounts_, vividly picturing their neat
account-books, and at the same time, perhaps, suggesting the human blood
for which their accumulation of wealth was responsible.
l. 130. _gainful cowardice.
_ A telling
expression
for the dread of loss
which haunts so many wealthy people.
l. 133. _hawks . . . forests._ As a hawk pounces on its prey, so they
fell on the trading-vessels which put into port.
ll. 133-4. _the untired . . . lies._ They were always ready for any
dishonourable transaction by which money might be made.
