Dr Thorne - Anthony Trollope [301]
CHAPTER X
1 (p. 127) Louis Philippe: Louis-Philippe (1773-1850) was king of France from 1830 until 1848.
CHAPTER XII
1 (p. 140) When Greek meets Greek, then Comes the Tug-of-War; the line is misquoted from a seventeenth-century play, The Rival Queens by Nathaniel Lee, and should read: ‘When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war’.
2 (p. 146) post-chaise: A carriage would be the equivalent of a car one owned oneself; a post-chaise was hired, like a taxi.
3 (p. 147) Burley… Bothwell: A reference to antagonists in Old Mortality by Sir Walter Scott.
4 (p. 147) Achilles… Hector. Achilles was the hero of the Iliad, Hector a Trojan leader and eldest son of King Priam. Achilles killed Hector in battle, having chased him three times around the walls of the city of Troy.
CHAPTER XIV
1 (p. 163) Plutus… Venus: Plutus was the Greek god of wealth. Zeus deprived him of sight so that he might distribute his gifts without regard to merit. Venus was a Roman goddess, identified with Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty. One of the temples built to her was dedicated to Venus Verticordia, the goddess who turns the human heart.
2 (p. 167) Gamaliel: Mentioned in Acts 5:34 and again in Acts 22:3. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a teacher and a doctor of the law. The Apostle Paul said that he was ‘brought up at the feet of Gamaliel’.
CHAPTER XV
1 (p. ’77) William III: King of Great Britain and Prince of Orange (1650-1701).
2 (p. 178) Freetraders, Tallyhoes, and Royal Mails: A Freetrader was one who supported trade without the interference of customs tuties or bounties. Tally-ho was the name given to a fast day coach, originally (1832) to the fast day coach between London and Birmingham. The Royal Mail was a stage coach used primarily for conveying the mail.
3 (p. 182) the Manchester school: A term applied (derisively by Disraeli in 1848) to a group of Radicals and Freetraders originating from among businessmen of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and sponsors of the Anti-Corn Law League.
4 (p. 182) He delighted in gold sticks. The Gold Stick was, and is, the gilt rod carried on occasions of state by the colonel of the Life Guards or the captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms. The term came to be applied to the bearer of this.
5 (p. 183) Prince Albert: Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819-61), prince consort of Queen Victoria.
6 (p. 183) Bishop of Barchester… Mrs Proudie: Dr and Mrs Proudie, important characters in the Barsetshire novels, make their first appearance in Barchester Towers.
CHAPTER XVII
1 (p. 199) go to war: Trollope sets his novel in 1854 and tells us that it is summer, but in fact Britain and France had already declared war on Russia in the previous March, though no armies landed in the Crimea until the middle of September. Perhaps he was referring to the orders that were given in June to Raglan to attack Sebastopol.
2 (p. 202) ‘wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win’: Macbeth, I, v, 22-3.
3 (p. 204) ten-pound freeholders, and such like: By the Reform Act of 1832 the franchise was extended to include £10 copyholders and leaseholders, thus giving the vote to the middle classes and increasing the electorate from about 478,000 to 814,000.
4 (p. 206) Sir Edwin Landseer: English painter (1802-73), best known for his paintings of animals.
CHAPTER XIX
1 (p. 228) Dr Stanhope: A bon viveur and absentee parson who first makes his appearance in Barchester Towers and whose children are three of the principal characters ofthat novel.
CHAPTER XXI
1 (p. 252) Balaclava gallop: The Battle of Balaclava, in the Crimean War, took place on 25 October 1854. Trollope’s ‘gallop’ must refer to one of the two cavalry charges in that battle, the first by the Heavy and the second by the Light Brigade.
2 (p. 254) Sir Richard: Sir Richard Mayne