The Way We Live Now (134 page)

2
(p.
51
).
Sam Slick's
: He was a Yankee clockmaker in T.C. Haliburton's collections of 'shrewd sayings' (Sutherland).

Chapter 9

1
(p.
70
).
Abchurch Lane
: A small street joining Lombard Street and King William Street, not far from the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.

Chapter 10

1
(p.
78
).
esculents
: Any kind of food, especially (but probably not in this case) vegetables.

2
(p.
78
).
‘Heathen Chinee'
: From a poem by the American writer Bret Harte (1836–1902).

Chapter 11

1
(p.
86
).
cut the pages
: The practice of leaving the sheets uncut, common in the period, meant, of course, that without the use of a paper-knife one could read only half of the pages. It seems to have been given up in England by the turn of the century, but it persisted in France at least until the 1940s.

Chapter 12

1
(p.
96
).
the funds
: The Consolidated Funds, government sponsored and constituting the national debt, were a safe investment.

Chapter 13

1
(p.
98
).
Medea
: She restored men's youth by boiling them with magic herbs; an allusion made also in
He Knew He Was Right.

2
(p.
102
).
the annual migration
: The London Season, now taken to be from May to July, began later in Trollope's day, and ended with the start of grouse shooting (12 August).

Chapter 14

1
(p.
108
).
Newgate
: A prison in the City.

2
(p.
111
).
hampered by no entail
: If it had been, Roger's estate, on his death without issue, would pass automatically to Sir Felix. That this is not so gives him a choice.

Chapter 16

1
(p.
124
).
boodying
: Sulking.

2
(p.
124
).
telegraph
: The electric telegraph became practical in the 1840s, and by the time of this novel it was in extensive use.

3
(p.
126
).
model bishop
: T.'s notes show that his model for the model bishop was Thomas Longley, Headmaster of Harrow when T. was a pupil there, and later Archbishop of Canterbury. His confrontation with Fr. Barham must have been arranged when T. wanted to give more attention to Roger Carbury's religious doubts; but the bishop, as these pages show, was not easily drawn into religious discussion.

4
(p.
129
).
‘Silly Suffolk'
: A proverbial insult, according to the
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
used by the inhabitants of Essex, who were called ‘Essex calves' in return.

Chapter 17

1
(p.
135
).
most-favoured-nation
: ‘Treaties often contain a clause providing that each of the contracting powers shall allow to the other all the advantage, with regard to customs duties, permission to trade, etc., that
are granted to “the most favoured nation”' (
O.E.D.
) The application of the expression to the reception of the Melmottes at Caversham is explained in the next sentences.

Chapter 18

1
(p.
145
).
novels
: T. credits Ruby, an intelligent but ignorant girl, with unrealistic aspirations, some derived from the reading of fiction, somewhat as in the manner of Emma Bovary. Reading novels was a bourgeois pastime, a little above Ruby's station and the more dangerous for that.

Chapter 19

1
(p.
149
).
leader of a majority
: i.e., Prime Minister. Appointments to bishoprics, though nominally by the crown, were, and are still, made by the Prime Minister on the advice of a secretary appointed to research the field.

2
(p.
150
).
good work
: A theological point. Anglicans were required by the Xlth of the Articles of Religion to believe that ‘we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings…' Article XII allows that Good Works may be evidence of Faith; Article XIII, however, says that Works done without grace ‘have the nature of sin.' The difference between Protestant and Catholic doctrine on Good Works, though real, is finer than is sometimes supposed. T.'s was an age of theological dispute, and he would not in this place use the expression inadvertently.

Chapter 23

1
(p.
179
).
pelican
: Alluding to the legend, enshrined in the medieval Bestiaries, that the female pelican would succour her young with her own blood (used as a figure for the sacrifice of Christ).

2
(p.
183
).
Marquis of Westminster
: He owned large tracts of London; the present Duke of Westminster still does.

Chapter 24

1
(p.
190
).
loo
: A card game in which a player failing to take a trick is ‘looed', that is, must pay into the pool a predetermined sum. Sutherland shrewdly observes that Grendall chooses loo because it is a game that does not call for the dealing of the whole pack; so a card or cards – Grendall's ‘trumps', for instance – might be secreted in a sleeve.

Chapter 25

1
(p.
194
).
Lothario
: Rake, libertine; from a character in Nicholas Rowe's The Fair Penitent, a play of 1703.

Chapter 26

1
(p.
200
).
horsehair
…
pearl powder
: T. repeatedly attached the fashin of the chignon. Pearl powder was a cosmetic meant to give a white or pearly shade to the skin.

2
(p.
205
).
bated
: Lowered in intensity.

3
(p.
205
).
Winifred
: T. often reminds us of the forms of address proper to a particular stage of a relationship; the use of a first name signified an accepted intimacy, as between persons engaged to be married, or beyond that stage. As Montague was rejecting her he is reproved for not reverting to ‘Mrs Hurtle.'

Chapter 27

1
(p.
212
).
Mentor
: T. uses a capital letter because Mentor was originally a character, adviser to Telemachus in the
Odyssey
(actually the goddess Athene in disguise).

2
(p.
213
).
dine… bonnet
: Bonnets were outdoor wear; he means that the arrangements were not formal.

3
(p.
216
).
Creusa
: For whom Jason left Medea.

Chapter 29

1
(p.
223
).
Scotland
: Until 1856 it was possible to be married without prior notice by the blacksmith at Gretna Green.

2
(p.
225
).
beastliness
: i.e.,
bêtise
, a folly.

3
(p.
226
).
chop… pieces
: A curious reminiscence of
Othello
, combining III.iii.431 (‘I'll tear her all to pieces'), and IV.i.200, (‘I will chop her into messes').

Chapter 30

1
(p.
229
).
In utrumque paratus
: Ready for either outcome.

2
(p.
230
).
Paides Pallados
: The children of Pallas (wisdom).

3
(p.
231
).
make a spoon… horn
: Achieve either great success or fail completely; in modern terms, ‘go for broke.' The proverb alludes to spoons or scoops made of animal horn, which could break in the process of manufacture.

Chapter 32

1
(p.
245
).
Lares
: Household gods (as defined in the paragraph).

Chapter 33

1
(p.
257
).
merry-thought
: Wishbone.

Chapter 34

1
(p.
266
).
two counties
: Norfolk and Suffolk.

Chapter 35

1
(p.
269
).
Goodwood
: Famous for its racecourse, and the seat of the Duke of Richmond.

2
(p.
269
).
Conservative
: T. gives Melmotte to the party he himself opposed.

3
(p.
269
).
the ballot
: Much disliked by Trollope, it was introduced in 1872. In the
Autobiography
T. explains his dislike by saying he thought it worthy of a great people to free itself from the evil results of vicious conduct [e.g., bribery, drink, intimidation] by unmanly restraints.'

4
(p.
271
).
poet laureate
: Tennyson, since the death of Wordsworth in 1850.

5
(p.
272
).
Catullus
: Gladstone was a classical scholar and translator but his interests seem not to have extended to Catullus, who was sometimes obscene.

Chapter 36

1
(p.
278
).
teres atque rotundas
: Smoothly rounded, polished (Horace,
Sat.
II. vii.86).

Chapter 37

1
(p.
285
).
gazette
: i.e., have it recorded in the
London Gazette.

2
(p.
290
).
21st July
: Sutherland points out that this must be a mistake for 21st June.

Chapter 39

1
(p.
305
).
Hansom
: Two-wheeled, two-passenger cab, the driver outside on an elevated seat; patented by J.A. Hansom in 1834

2
(p.
308
).
declared his love
: At the beginning of Chapter
39
we are told that the question whether Montague had broken his promise to Roger Carbury by declaring his love must be left to readers to decide. Here they have the matter decided for them.

Chapter 40

1
(p.
309
).
trussed
: Trestles.

2
(p.
310
).
Moldavian loan
: Sutherland sees a reference to a Rumanian financial crisis of 1872.

Chapter 41

1
(p.
316
).
tidal boat
: A ferry dependent on the time of the tide.

2
(p.
316
).
White Star
: The fast transatlantic liners of this company began operations in 1870.

3
(p.
317
).
There is a tide
… :
Julius Caesar
, IV.iii.18.

Chapter 42

1
(p.
324
).
speak daggers: Hamlet
, III.ii.396.

2
(p.
325
).
the Queen's place
: Osborne House.

Chapter 43

1
(p.
328
).
trenching hard
: Alluding to the uncertain line dividing music halls from brothels.

2
(p.
328
).
Tom-and-Jerry bat
: The description derives from Pierce Egan's
Life in London: Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom
(1821). ‘Tom-and-Jerrying' was roistering; though ‘Tom-and-Jerry' (adj.) was applied to pubs,
O.E.D.
does not recognize its application to hats. Still, one can guess the sort of thing intended.

Chapter 44

1
(p.
337
).
the Peabodys and the Bairds
: Philanthropists. George Peabody was an American who came to England and made a fortune, which he spent on educational projects in the USA and on working-class housing in London. James Baird, a Scottish ironmaster, endowed schools and made benefactions to the Church of Scotland.

2
(p.
338
).
Milesian
: Jocular word for ‘Irishman'; Milesius, a Spanish king, was supposed to have conquered Ireland in 1300 BC.

3
(p.
338
).
Point de Galle
: in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Chapter 45

1
(p.
344
)
Carlton
: Conservative Club.

Chapter 46

1
(p.
352
)
hunx
: Miser.

2
(p.
353
)
Huggery-Muggery
: Concealment, secrecy. Usually, as in
Hamlet
, IV.v.84, ‘hugger-mugger.'

3
(p.
353
)
Sax'nam
: Saxmundham.

4
(p.
354
)
Bury
: Bury St Edmunds, site of the county prison.

Chapter 48

1
(p.
373
).
skin deep
: The saying is proverbial, not biblical.

Chapter 50

1
(p.
384
).
Mr Scudamore
: Scudamore, a colleague and rival of T.'s at the Post Office, was responsible for its takeover of the telegraph companies (Sutherland).

Chapter 52

1
(p.
398
).
Cato
: Roman republican suicide.

Chapter 53

1
(p.
407
).
mulled it
: Muffed it.

2
(p.
407
).
drunk as Chloe
: First recorded in 1823 as Turf slang, still in use early in the present century
(Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs).

Chapter 54

1
(p.
416
).
the City
: Melmotte would thus be taking on the huge task of unseating the established Whig incumbent, Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (Sutherland).