Dr. John Arbuthnot
The Art of Political
Lying
1712
***************
Thanks to an excellent article in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Arbuthnot,
I am relieved of the task of giving any more than a brief
introduction. John Arbuthnot, (1667-1737) was born in
Scotland. He had a distinguished career as a classical scholar
and mathematician, and took MD degrees from both Edinburgh and
Cambridge. In 1706 he was appointed personal physician to Queen
Anne (reigned 1702-1714).
Arbuthnot was a good friend of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John
Gay, and other poets and writers, with whom he formed the Scriblerus
Club. He is said to have been the funniest and most affable
member of this select literary group, but he preferred to give hints to
others rather than seek fame himself. The present treatise
was long attributed to Swift, but became known to be
authored by Arbuthnot after Swift's Journal to Stella was
discovered. [1]
From 1701 onwards England in alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and
the Dutch had been at war with France and Spain, the War of the Spanish
Succession. This war had been launched by William III and the
Whigs, the party then in power. By 1709 Queen Anne had come to
detest the Whigs, as she suspected that the commander-in-chief, the
Duke of Marlborough, and his wife (formerly the queen's best friend)
were manipulating her and prolonging the war for their private
gain. The Whigs fell, and the Tories formed a government.
Arbuthnot was at the very center of these events. Party strife
was very high through all these years, and things certainly were
"interesting."
The Tories' aim was to end the war with France. Jonathan Swift
joined the cabinet as de facto minister of propaganda and wrote many
pamphlets and papers to persuade the public to make peace. His
friend Arbuthnot helped also by writing The History of John Bull (available
at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2643).
The personification of Britain as "John Bull" is Arbuthnot's
invention. Another poet and friend---and also the leading British
economist---Matthew Prior, negotiated and concluded the Peace of
Utrecht in 1713, and so the futile slaughter was ended at last.
Arbuthnot's essay of 1712 (still before the Peace) takes the form of a
fake prospectus for a book. The Augustan satirists loved fakes
and put-ons. Its satire is not savage, like Swift's, nor are its
observations more than mildly cynical. Its humor is dry, and the
whole piece may strike a modern reader as too genial. Please note
that Arbuthnot uses semi-colons and colons in a way peculiar to his
time and extinct now. There is also a sprinkling of Greek, in
Unicode. This should display in Times New Roman unicode font, but
one can pick up a free Unicode Greek font at http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pinax/greekkeys/Atheniandownload.htm
But Arbuthnot---and Swift---stood at the very heart of power in their
day and knew what power was. Many features of modern political
life first took shape in the years around the turn of the 17th
and 18th centuries, and I believe that era is worth
study. The Tory writers were deeply concerned with the nature,
technology, and effect of propaganda and publicity. It is to
their credit that they used this skill (that has by now acquired such a
bad name) to end a useless and wasteful war and make a peace that
satisfied all sides.
See also Swift's essay in the Examiner
of Thursday, November 9, 1710, in which he allegorizes Arbuthnot's
idea. http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/swift/examiner/chap14.htm
My copy-text for the first posting of The Art of Political Lying was
taken from The Works of Jonathan
Swift, edited by Thomas Roscoe, H. G. Bohn, London, 1850.
As of this date I have inspected a copy of the
original in Yale's Beinecke Library and made corrections to
the text and formatted it to bring it nearer to the typography of
the original. The reader will note that in at least one case the
use of capitals is not mere convention but makes an ironic point.
Otto Steinmayer, Lundu, Sarawak, 2 Nov 2005 / Stonington,
Connecticut
3 April 2006
otto@tm.net.my
Go to Otto Steinmayer's Home Page
THere is now in the press a curious piece,
entitled 
; or, A
Treatise of the Art of 
Consisting
of Two Volumes in 4to.
The
Proposals are,
I. That if the Author meets with
suitable Encouragement, he intends to deliver the First Volume to the
subscribers by Hilary Term next.
II. The Price of both Volumes will
be, to the Subscribers, Fourteen Shillings, Seven whereof are to be
paid down, and the other Seven at the delivery of the Second Volume.
III. Those that Subscribe for Six,
shall have Seventh gratis; which
reduces the price to less than Six Shillings a volume.
IV. That the Subscribers shall have
their Names and Places of Abode Printed at length.
For the Encouragement of so useful a
Work, it is thought that the Publick should be inform'd of the Contents
of the First Volume, by one who has with great Care perused the
Manuscript.
The Author, in his Preface, makes some very
judicious Reflexions upon the Original of Arts and Sciences; that at
first they consist of scatter'd Theorems and Practices, which are
handed about among the Masters, and only reveal'd to the Filii Artis,[2]
till such time as some great Genius appears, who collects these
disjointed propositions, and reduces them into a regular System.
That this is the Case of that Noble and Useful Art of Political Lying,
which in this last Age having been enrich'd with several new
Discoveries, ought not to Lye any longer in Rubbish and Confusion, but
may justly claim a place in the
Encyclopædia, especially such as serves for a Model of Education
for an able Politician; That he proposes to himself no small Stock of
Fame in future Ages, in being the first who has undertaken this Design;
and for the same Reason he hopes the Imperfection of his Work will be
excused. He invites all Persons who have any Talents that way, or any
new Discovery, to communicate their Thoughts, assuring them that
honourable mention shall be made of them in his Work.
The
First Volume consists of Eleven Chapters.
In the first Chapter of his excellent Treatise he
reasons Philosophically concerning the Nature of the Soul of Man, and
those Qualities which render it susceptible of Lyes. He supposes the
Soul to be of the Nature of a Plano-Cylindrical
Speculum, or Looking-glass; that the plain side was made by God
Almighty, but that the Devil afterwards wrought the other side into a
Cylindrical Figure. The plain side represents Objects just as they are;
and the Cylindrical side, by the Rules of Catoptricks, must needs
represent true Objects false, and false Objects true; but the
Cylindrical side being much the larger Surface, takes in a greater
Compass of visual Rays. That upon the Cylindrical side of the Soul of
Man depends the whole Art and Success of Political Lying. The Author,
in this Chapter, proceeds to reason upon the Qualities of the Mind: as,
its great Fondness of the Malicious
and the Miraculous. The
Tendency of the Soul toward the Malicious, springs from Self-love, or a
pleasure to find Mankind more wicked, base, or unfortunate than
ourselves. The Design of the Miraculous
proceeds from the Inactivity of the Soul, or its Incapacity to be moved
or delighted with anything that is vulgar or common. The Author
having establishd the Qualities of the Mind, upon which his Art is
founded, he proceeds,
In his Second Chapter, to treat of the nature of Political Lying; which he defines
to be, the Art of convincing the
People of Salutary Falshoods, for
some good End. He calls it an Art to distinguish it from
that of telling Truth, which does not seem to want Art; but then he
would have this understood only as to the invention, because there is
indeed more Art necessary to convince the People of a Salutary Truth than a Salutary Falshood. Then he
proceeds to prove that there are Salutary
Falshoods, of which he gives a great many Instances, both before and
after the Revolution; and demonstrates plainly, that we could not have
carried on the War so long without several of those Salutary Falshoods. He gives
Rules to calculate the Value of a Political
Lye, in Pounds, Shillings, and Pence. By Good, he does not
mean that which is absolutely so, but what appears so to the Artist,
which is a sufficient Ground for him to proceed upon; and he
distinguishes the Good, as it commonly is, into Bonum utile, Dulce & Honestum.[3] He shews you that
there are Political Lyes of a
mix'd nature,
which include all the Three in different respects : that the Utile reigns generally about the Exchange, the Dulce and Honestum at the Westminster End of the Town. One
Man spreads a Lye to sell or Buy Stock to greater Advantage; a second,
because it is honourable to serve his Party; and a third, because it is
sweet to gratify his Revenge. Having explain'd the several Terms
of his Definition, he proceeds,
In his Third Chapter, to treat of the Lawfulness of Political Lying; which he deduces
from its true and genuine Principles, by inquiring into the several
Rights that Mankind have to Truth. He shows that People have a Right to
private Truth from their Neighbours, and œconomical Truth from their
own Family; that they should not be abused by their Wives, Children,
and Servants; but, that they have no Right at all to Political Truth:
That the People may as well all pretend to be Lords of Manors, and
possess great Estates, as to have Truth told them in matters of
Government. The Author, with great Judgment, states the several
Shares of Mankind in this matter of Truth, according to their several
Capacities, Dignities, and Professions; and shews you, that Children
have hardly any share at all; in consequence of which, they have very
seldom any Truth told them. It must be own'd that the Author, in
this Chapter, has some seeming Difficulties to answer, to explain texts
of Scripture, and a Sermon lately preach'd before Her Majesty at Windsor.
The Fourth Chapter is wholly employed in this
question, Whether the Right of
Coinage of political lyes be wholly in the Government. The
Author, who is a true Friend to English
Liberty, determines in the Negative, and answers all the Arguments of
the opposite Party with great Acuteness: that, as the government of England has a mixture of
Democratical in it, so the Right of Inventing and Spreading Political
Lyes is partly in the People; and their obstinate Adherence to this
just Privilege has been most conspicuous, and shin'd with great Lustre
of late Years: That it happens very often, that there are no
other Means left to the good People of England to pull down a Ministry and
Government they are weary of, but by exercising this their undoubted
Right: that Abundance of Political
Lying is a sure sign of true English
Liberty: that as ministers do sometimes use Tools to support their
Power, it is but reasonable that the People should employ the same
Weapon to defend themselves, and pull them down.
In his fifth Chapter, he divides Political Lyes into their several
Species and Classes, and gives Precepts about the Inventing, Spreading,
and Propagating the several sorts of them: He begins with the Rumores, and Libelli famosi,[4]
such as concern the Reputation of men in Power; where he finds Fault
with the common Mistake, that takes Notice only of one sort, viz. the
Detractory or Defamatory; whereas in truth there are three sorts, the
Detractory, the Additory, and the Translatory. The Additory gives
to a Great Man a larger share of Reputation than belongs to him, to
enable him to serve some good End or Purpose. The Detractory, or
Defamatory, is a Lye which takes from a Great Man the Reputation that
justly belongs to him, for fear he should use it to the Detriment of
the Publick. The Translatory is a Lye, that a transfers the Merit of a
Mans good Action to another, who is in himself more deserving; or
transfers the Demerit of a bad Action from the true Author to a Person
who is in himself less deserving. He gives several Instances of
very great Strokes in all the Three Kinds, especially in the last, when
it was necessary for the Good of the Publick to bestow the Valour and
Conduct of one Man upon another, and that of many to one Man: nay, even
upon a good Occasion, a Man may be rob'd of his Victory by a Person
that did not Command in the Action.[5] The
Restoring and Destroying the Publick may be ascrib'd to Persons who had
no hand in either. The Author exhorts all Gentlemen Practitioners
to exercise themselves in the Translatory, because the Existence of the
Things themselves being visible, and not demanding any Proof, there
wants nothing to be put upon the Publick, but a false Author, or a
false Cause, which is no great Presumption upon the Credulity of
Mankind, to whom the secret Springs of things are for the most part
unknown.
The Author proceeds to give some Precepts as to the
Additory. That when one ascribes any thing to a Person which does
not belong to him, the Lye ought to be calculated not quite
contradictory to his known qualities; Ex.
gr. One would not make the French
king present at a Protestant Conventicle; nor, like Queen Elizabeth, restore the Overplus of
Taxes to her Subjects. One would not bring in the Emperor giving two Months Pay in
Advance to his Troops; nor the Dutch
paying more than their Quota. One would not make the same Person
zealous for a Standing Army, and Publick Liberty; nor an Atheist
support the Church; nor a lewd Fellow a Reformer of Manners; nor a
hot-headed, crack-brain'd Coxcomb forward for a Scheme of
Moderation. But, if it is absolutely necessary that a Person is
to have some good adventitious Quality given him, the Authors Precept
is, that it should not be done at first in extremo gradu.[6]
For Example: they should not make a covetous Man give away all at once
Five thousand Pounds in a charitable, generous way; Twenty or Thirty
may suffice at first. They should not introduce a Person of remarkable
Ingratitude to his Benefactors, rewarding a poor Man for some good
Office that was done him thirty Years ago; but they may allow him to
acknowledge a Service to a Person who is capable still to do him
another. A Man whose personal Courage is suspected, is not at
first to drive whole Squadrons before him; but he may be allowd the
merit of some Squabble, or throwing a Bottle at his Adversary's head.
It will not be allow'd to make a Great Man that is a known Despiser of
Religion spend whole Days in his Closet at his Devotion; but, you may
with Safety make him sit out publick Prayers with Decency. A Great Man,
who has never been known willingly to pay a just Debt, ought not all of
a sudden to be introducd making restitution of Thousands he has
cheated; let it suffice at first, to pay Twenty Pounds to a friend who
has lost his Note.
He lays down the same Rules in the Detractory or
Defamatory kind; that they should not be quite opposite to the
Qualities the Persons are supposed to have. Thus it will not be found,
according to the sound Rules of Pseudology
to report of a pious and religious Prince that he neglects his
Devotion, and would introduce Heresy; but you may report of a merciful
Prince, that he has Pardon'd a Criminal who did not deserve it. You
will be unsuccessful if you give out of a Great Man, who is remarkable
for his Frugality for the Publick, that he squanders away the Nation's
Money; but you may safely relate that he hoards it: You must not affirm
he took a Bribe, but you may freely censure him for being tardy in his
Payments; because, though neither may be true, yet the last is
credible, the first not. Of an open-hearted, generous Minister, you are
not to say, that he was in an Intrigue to Betray his Country; but you
may affirm with some probability, that he was in an Intrigue with a
Lady. He warns all Practitioners to take good heed to these
Precepts for want of which Many of their Lyes of late have prov'd
abortive or short-liv'd.
In the Sixth Chapter, he treats of the Miraculous;
by which he understands any thing that exceeds the common Degrees of
Probability. In respect of the People, it is divided into two
sorts, the 
, or the 
,[7]
Terrifying Lye, and Animating or Encouraging Lye, both being extremely
useful on their proper Occasions. Concerning the ,
he gives several Rules; one of which is, that terrible Objects should
not be too frequently shewn to the People, lest they grow familiar. He
says, it is absolutely necessary that the People of England should be
frighted with the French King
and the Pretender once
a-Year; but that
the Bears should be chain'd up again till that time Twelve-month.
The want of Observing this so necessary a Precept, in bringing out the
Raw-head and Bloody-bones upon every trifling
Occasion, has produc'd
great Indifference in the Vulgar of late Years. As to the
Animating or Encouraging Lyes, he gives the following Rules: That
they shall not far exceed the common degrees of Probability, and that
there should be variety of them, and the same Lye not obstinately
insisted upon: that the Promissory or Prognosticating Lyes should not
be upon short Days, for fear the Authors should have the Shame and
Confusion to see themselves speedily contradicted. He examines, by
these Rules, that well-meant, but unfortunate Lye of the Conquest of
France which continued near
twenty Years together;[8]
but
at last, by being too obstinately insisted upon, it was worn
threadbare, and became unsuccessful.
As to the 
, or the Prodigious,
he has little
to advise, but that their Comets, Whales and Dragons should be
sizeable; their Storms, Tempests, and Earthquakes, without the reach of
a Day's Journey of a Man and Horse.
The Seventh Chapter is wholly taken up in an
Enquiry, Which of the two Parties are the greatest Artists in Political
Lying. He owns the Tories
have been better believed of
late; but, that the Whigs
have much the greater Genius's amongst
them. He attributes the ill success of the Whig-Party to their
glutting the Market, and retailing too much of a bad Commodity at once:
When there is too great a quantity of Worms, it is hard to catch
Gudgeons. He proposes a Scheme for the Recovery of the Credit of the
Whig Party, which indeed seems
to be somewhat Chimerical, and does not
savour of that sound Judgment the Author has shown in the rest of
the Work. It amounts to this, That the Party should agree to vent
nothing but Truth for three Months together, which will give them
Credit for six Months Lying afterwards. He owns, that he believes
it almost impossible to find fit Persons to execute this
Scheme. Towards the end of the Chapter, he inveighs severely
against the Folly of Parties, in retaining Scoundrels and Men of Low
Genius to retail their Lyes; such as most of the present News-Writers
are, who, besides a strong Bent and Inclination towards the Profession,
seem to be wholly ignorant in the Rules of Pseudology, and not at all
qualified for so weighty a Trust.
In his Eighth Chapter he treats of some
extraordinary Genius's, who have appear'd of late Years, especially in
their disposition towards the Miraculous.
He advises those
hopeful Young-men to turn their Invention to the Service of their
Country, it being inglorious, at this time, to employ their Talent in
prodigious Fox-Chases, Horse-Courses, Feats of Activity in Driving of
Coaches, Jumping, Running, Swallowing of peaches, Pulling out whole
Sets of Teeth to clean, &c. when their Country stands in so much
need of their Assistance.
The Eighth Chapter is a Project for Uniting the
several smaller Corporations of Lyars into one Society. It is too
tedious to give a full Account of the whole Scheme; what is most
remarkable is, that this Society ought to consist of the Heads of each
Party; that no Lye is to pass current without their Approbation, they
being the best Judges of the present Exigencies, and what sorts of Lyes
are demanded: That in such a Corporation there ought to be Men of all
Professions, that the 
and the 
,
that is, Decency and Probability, may be observ'd as much as possible:
That, besides the Persons above-mentioned, this Society ought to
consist of the hopeful Genius's about the Town (of which there are
great plenty to be pick'd up in the several Coffee-houses) Travellers,
Virtuoso's, Fox-hunters, Jockeys, Attorneys, Old Sea-men and Soldiers
out of the Hospitals of Greenwich
and Chelsea. To this Society,
so
Constituted, ought to be committed the sole Management of Lying.
That in their outer Room there ought always to attend some Persons
endow'd with a great Stock of Credulity, a Generation that thrives
mightily in this Soil and Climate: he thinks a sufficient Number of
them may be pick'd up any where about the Exchange: these are to
Circulate what the other Coin; for no Man spreads a Lye with so good a
Grace as he that believes it. That the Rule of the Society be to
invent a Lye, and sometimes two, for every Day; in the Choice of which
great Regard ought to be had to the Weather and the Season of the Year:
Your 
, or terrifying Lyes,
do mighty well in November
and
December, but not so well in May and June, unless the Easterly Winds
reign. That it ought to be penal for anybody to talk of any thing but
the Lye of the Day. That the Society is to maintain a sufficient number
of Spies at court, and other Places, to furnish Hints and Topics for
Invention; and a general Correspondence of all the Market-Towns, for
circulating their Lyes: that if any one of the Society were observ'd to
blush, or look out of Countenance, or want a necessary Circumstance in
telling the Lye, he ought to be expell'd, and declar'd incapable.
Besides the roaring Lies, there ought to be a private Committee for
Whispers, constituted of the ablest Men of the Society. Here the Author
makes a Digression in praise of the Whig-Party,
for the right
Understanding and Use of Proof-Lyes.
A Proof-Lye is like a
Proof-Charge
for a Piece of Ordnance, to try a Standard-Credulity. Of such a
nature he takes Transubstantiation to be in the Church of Rome, a
Proof-Article, which if any one swallows, they are sure he will digest
every thing else. Therefore the Whig-Party
do wisely, to try the
Credulity of the People sometimes by Swingers,[9] that
they may be able to judge to what height they may Charge them
afterwards. Towards the end of this Chapter, he Warns the Heads of
Parties against Believing their own Lyes, which has prov'd of
pernicious Consequence of late, both a Wise Party, and a Wise Nation
having regulated their Affairs upon Lyes of their own Invention. The
causes of this he supposes to be, too great a Zeal and Intenseness in
the Practice of this Art, and a vehement Heat in mutual Conversation,
whereby they perswade one another, that what they wish, and report to
be true, is really so. That all Parties have been subject to this
misfortune: The Jacobites
have been constantly infested with it; but
the Whigs of late seem ev'n
to exceed them in this ill Habit and
Weakness. To this Chapter, the Author subjoins a Calendar of Lyes
proper for the Several Months of the Year.
The Ninth Chapter treats of the Celerity and
Duration of Lyes. As to the Celerity of their Motion, the Author says
it is almost incredible: He gives several Instances of Lyes that have
gone faster than a Man can ride Post: your Terrifying Lyes travel at a
prodigious rate, above ten miles an hour; your Whispers move in a
narrow Vortex, but very swiftly. The Author says it is impossible to
explain several Phænomena in
relation to the Celerity of Lyes, without
the supposition of Synchronism
and Combination. As to the
Duration of
Lyes, he says there are of all sorts, from Hours and Days to Ages; that
there are some which, like your Insects, die and revive again in a
different Form; that good Artists, like People who build upon a short
Lease, will calculate the Duration of a Lye surely to answer their
purpose; to last just as long, and no longer, than the Turn is served.
The Tenth Chapter treats of the characteristics of
Lyes; how to know when, where, and by whom invented: Your Dutch,
English and French Ware are amply distinguish'd
from one another; an
Exchange-Lye from one Coin'd
at the other End of the Town; Great
Judgment is to be shewn as to the Place where the Species is intended
to Circulate: Very low and base Coin will serve for Wapping: there are
several Coffee-houses that have their particular Stamps, which a
judicious Practitioner may easily know. All your great men have their
proper Phantateustics.[10] The Author says
he has
attained, by Study and Application, to so great Skill in this Matter
that, bring him any Lye, he can tell whose Image it bears so truly, as
the Great Man himself shall not have the face to deny it. The
Promissory Lyes of Great men are known by Shouldering, Hugging,
Squeezing, Smiling, Bowing; and Lyes in Matter of Fact, by immoderate
Swearing.
He spends the whole Eleventh Chapter on one simple
question, Whether a Lye is best
contradicted by Truth, or another
Lye. The Author says, that, considering the large Extent
of the
Cylindrical Surface of the Soul, and the great Propensity to believe
Lyes in the generality of Mankind of late Years, he thinks the
properest Contradiction to a Lye is another Lye. For Example, if
it should be reported that the Pretender was in London, one would not
contradict it by saying he never was in England; but you must prove by
Eye-witnesses that he came no farther than Greenwich, and then went
back again. Thus if it be spread about that a great Person were dying
of some Disease, you must not say the Truth, that they are in health,
and never had such a Disease; but that they are slowly recovering of
it. So there was not long ago a Gentleman, who affirmed, that the
Treaty with France, for
bringing Popery and Slavery
into England, was
sign'd the 15th of September; to which another answered very
judiciously, not by opposing Truth to his Lye, That there was no such
treaty; but that, to his certain knowledge, there were many things in
that Treaty not yet adjusted.
The account of the Second Volume of
this Excellent Treatise, is
reserv'd for another time.
FINIS
Notes:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] (Swift took the MS of
this
pamphlet to the printer, Morphew, who printed most of the works by Tory
authors of that period. ) ---He thus speaks of it in his "Journal to
Stella" of Oct. 9, and Dec. 2, 1712:---"Arbuthnot has sent me, from
Windsor, a pretty discourse upon lying; and I have ordered the printer
to come for it. It is a proposal for publishing a curious piece,
called, 'The Art of Political Lying,' in two volumes. &c.. and then
there is an abstract of the first volume, just like those pamphlets
which they call The Works of the Learned." "The pamphlet of Political
Lying is written by Dr. Arbuthnot, the author of 'John Bull.' It
is very pretty, but not so obvious to be understood." From
Roscoe's note.
[2] "sons of the art,"
i.e., the
initiated
[3] "the good that is
useful,
that which is sweet, that which is honorable"
[4] "rumors and libellous
pamphlets"
[5] "Major-general Webb
obtained
a glorious victory over the French, near Wynedale, in the year 1708. He
was sent with 6000 of the confederate troops to guard a great convoy to
the allied army, besieging Lisle: Count de la Motte came out from
Ghent, with nearly 24,000 men, to intercept them; but major-general
Webb disposed his men with such admirable skill that, notwithstanding
the vast superiority of numbers, by the pure force of order and
disposition, the French were driven back in two or three successive
attempts; and after having lost 6000 or 7000 men, could be brought to
charge no more. This may justly be reckoned among the greatest actions
of that war: but the duke of Marlborough's secretary, in his letter
written to England, gave all the honour of it to general Cadogan, the
duke's favourite, who did not come up till after the engagement. This
was so resented by general Webb, that he left the army in disgust; and
coming into England to do himself justice, received the unanimous
thanks of the house of commons for his eminent services by that great
action; which was also acknowledged, in a distinguishing manner by the
king of Prussia, who bestowed on him the Order of Generosity. "
---Roscoe
[6] "in the highest degree,
extravagantly"
[7] Arbuthnot
translates his own
Greek.
[8] "During the
reigns of king
William and queen Anne."---Roscoe
[9] "Something
forcible or
effective, esp. something very
big; a 'whopper.' "---OED
[10] Arbuthnot's
pseudo-pedantic coinage, on themodel of "hermeneutics" probably meaning
"art of interpreting images," where image is as used in "The US is
campaigning to improve its image in the Middle East."
