George Mason: Letter to the Committee of Merchants in London

Glossary

• animadvert criticize, express disapproval
• Chimaera chimera; in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing monster; a fantasy
• Constantinople at the time, the capital of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, now called Istanbul
• Divan an Islamic governing body, or its chief official
• Epithets words or phrases, often abusive, used to designate persons or objects
• Incroachments encroachments, or intrusions
• obdt. Servt obedient servant, a conventional closing in a letter at the time
• Posterity descendants
• Sugar-Islands islands in the West Indies where sugar was produced
• Sycophant a flatterer
• Tryal trial
• Tyes ties