Fermiers generaux was the name given in France, before the Revolution of 1789, to a privileged association who "farmed" the public revenues. It was a shocking jobbery, the fermiers being selected either by the minister of finance (who made his selection for a money consideration) or by the king's mistresses. The number was forty but rose to sixty a little before the revolution. These farmers paid the king a fixed sum and made what profit they could out of the taxpayers.

Sans-culottes was a name of contempt given to the democrats in the French Revolution; as much as to say, they were only the tag-rags or rag-a-muffins of society. Subsequently they gloried in the name and even affected negligence of dress, going about in a blouse, red cap, and wooden shoes. The red nightcap adorned with a tricolored cockade was called the "bonnet rouge." Blouse=blooze. The Sans-culottes had a host of songs and a dance (called the Carmagnole) of their own.

It was in 1879, under the auspices of the late Mr. Parnell, that the Irish national movement called the "Land League" was set on foot, with the stated object of purchasing the land of Ireland for the Irish people. Large sums of money were subscribed for its equipment, chiefly in America, but it was suppressed in 1881, on the allegation of outrages committed against landlords. It was succeeded by the National League, still existing, and to both may be largely credited the present standing of the Home Rule agitation.

The seat occupied by the French monarch at the sessions of parliament was called the bed of justice, and historically signified a solemn session, at which the king attended to overrule the acts of parliament or to enforce upon it acts that it had rejected. This was instituted upon the theory of the old constitution that the authority of parliament, being vested in the crown, was merely delegated, and that with the presence of the king the delegated power ceased. The last bed of justice was held by Louis XVI. at Versailles in 1787.

The Chartists were a body of the English people who, on the passage of the Reform Bill (1832), demanded the People's Charter, the points of which were: (1) Universal Suffrage; (2) Vote by Ballot; (3) Annual Parliaments; (4) Payment of Members; (5) Abolition of Property Qualification; (6) Equal Electoral Districts. Great demonstrations and damage done in 1838-9. After demonstration and presentation of petition April 10, 1848, the movement subsided, although the government had meanwhile dealt severely with some of the leaders.

According to the legend, "Thundering Legion" was the popular name given to the twelfth legion of the Roman army after the defeat of the Quadi (174 a.d.). The legion being shut up in a defile and reduced to great straits for want of water, the Christian soldiers united in prayer; and, in answer to their prayers, not only was rain sent, which enabled the Romans to quench their thirst, but the rain was followed by a fierce storm of hail, with thunder and lightning, which threw the enemy into disorder and enabled the Romans to gain a complete victory.

Jacobites (from the Lat. Jacobus, "James") was the name given after the Revolution of 1688 to the adherents of the exiled Stuarts - James II., (1633-1701) and his son and two grandsons, James Francis Edward, the Chevalier de St. George (1688-1766), Charles Edward (1720-88), and Henry Benedict, Cardinal York (1725-1807). Those adherents were recruited from the Catholics, the Nonjurors, the High Churchmen and Tories generally, discontented and place-seeking Whigs, the Episcopalians and Highlanders of Scotland and the great body of the Irish people.

The Independents or Puritans in the reign of Charles I, were called "Roundheads." The royalists were nicknamed "The Cavaliers." The former wore their hair short, and dressed with great simplicity; the latter wore their hair flowing over their shoulders, and dressed showily and expensively. The two came into collision about the expulsion of the bishops from the House of Lords. The Roundheads insisted on their expulsion, and the severance of the clergy from all secular and state offices. It was in this brawl that the two parties gave each other the nicknames of Roundheads and Cavaliers.

The Doomsday Book, or " Domesday Book" (1085-1086), was a statistical survey of that part of England which was under the sway of William the Conqueror. So called, probably, because it was of authority in all dooms, i.e., judgments in disputed questions which afterwards arose on matters contained therein. It was anciently known as the "Liber de Wintonia" (Book of Winchester), because at one time it was preserved in the royal treasury of that city under three locks and keys. It was printed and published in 1783 in two folio volumes. In 1816 two supplementary volumes were published.

The " Ca ira " ( "It will go on ! ")was a popular song which arose in the fever of the French Revolution. It receives its name from its refrain:

Ah! ca. ira, ca ira, ca ira! Les aristocrates a la lanterne!

Like the Marseillaise, the Carmagnole and the Chant da Depart it became a French national song, and was styled the Carillon National. The words, which are worthless rubbish enough, were due to a street singer named Ladre; the melody to Becourt, a stage-drummer. The song was prohibited by the Directory in 1797.

In England there were anciently two ordeals - one of water and the other of fire. The water ordeal was for the laity, and the fire ordeal for the nobility. If a noble was accused of a crime, he or his deputy was tried by ordeal thus: He had either to hold in his hand a piece of red-hot iron, or had to walk blindfold and barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares laid lengthwise at unequal distances. If he passed the ordeal unhurt, he was declared innocent; if not, he was accounted guilty. This method of punishment arose from the notion that "God would defend the right," even by miracle, if needs be.