War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [800]
41. Breguet: A well-known “repeater” pocket watch made by the French-Swiss clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823).
42. the capitals: It was customary to refer to Russia as having two capitals, the old capital of Moscow and the new imperial capital of Petersburg, founded in 1703 by a decree of Peter the Great, which became the administrative center of the country.
43. Héloïse: The old prince is referring sarcastically to the epistolary novel Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse (1761), by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which had considerable influence on the evolution of sensibilities in the later eighteenth century. Tolstoy based the letters of Princess Marya and Julie Karagin on a large collection of similar letters exchanged by two young ladies, M. A. Volkov and B. I. Lanskoy, which he read with great interest in 1863.
44. Key to the Mystery: The occult treatise A Key to the Mysteries of Nature, by Bavarian-born Karl von Eckartshausen (1752–1803), was widely read in Europe during the later eighteenth century and was translated into Russian several times. It was especially popular in Masonic circles. Eckartshausen was a prolific writer on such spiritual topics as magic, alchemy, and number mysticism.
45. a Dusek sonata: The Czech composers Frantisek Xaver Dusek (1731–99) and Jan Ladislav Dusek (1760–1812) both wrote piano sonatas.
46. Mikhelson…Tolstoy…Sweden…Pomerania: Wintzingerode’s complex general plan (see note 7) involved attacking the French from several sides, with armies led by Mikhelson from the east, P. A. Tolstoy from the north, and Kutuzov from the south. The coalition of Swedish, English, and Russian troops led by Tolstoy was to cross from Sweden to Pomerania (a region on the Baltic, formerly part of Germany, now of Poland) and on through Hanover.
47. Malbroug…reviendra: Lines from a French popular song going back to the Wars of Spanish Succession in the Low Countries in the early eighteenth century, in which the English armies were led by John Churchill, duke of Marlborough (1650–1722).
48. Suvorov…Moreau: Prince Andrei misstates the facts about Suvorov, perhaps deliberately (see note 35). Not only was he not caught in Moreau’s trap, but his troops defeated Moreau at the battle of Cassano in 1799.
49. Hofs-kriegs-wurst-schnapps-rath: The old prince makes fun of the Austrian Court Council of War (Hofkriegsrath), and of the German language, by calling it the “Court-war-sausage-schnapps-council.”
50. their own: A play on the Slavonic translation of John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
51. the German Pahlen…Moreau: Moreau was exiled for taking part in a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon in 1804 and went to America. In 1805 Alexander I sent Count P. A. von Pahlen to invite him to serve in the Russian army, but von Pahlen turned back when he received news of the battle of Austerlitz and the end of the war.
52. As Sterne says: The English writer Laurence Sterne (1713–68) had a marked influence on the young Tolstoy, particularly with his Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), which stands behind Tolstoy’s first piece of fiction, “A History of Yesterday” (1851), and part of which Tolstoy translated. Sterne’s novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760–67) has been seen as a formal precursor of War and Peace.
53. a Lombard note: “Lombard” was a general term for a private banker, money changer, or pawnbroker.
Part Two
1. the Tsaritsyn Field: A square in Petersburg used as a parade ground. In 1818 the name was changed to Marsovo Polie (“the Field of Mars”).
2. Izmail comrade: Kutuzov served under Suvorov in the war with Turkey during the reign of Catherine the Great. In 1790 they took the Turkish fortress of Izmail on the Danube delta.
3. the Germans sent us carriages: That is, the Austrians (who, along with other central Europeans, are often referred to by Russian