39. Falls River, N.J.: there is no such place as ‘Falls River, New Jersey’ and Dowell almost certainly has in mind the city of Fall River, Massachusetts.
40. Martingales, Chiffney bits: a ‘martingale’ is ‘A strap or arrangement of straps fastened at one end to the noseband, bit, or reins of a horse and at the other to its girth, to prevent it from rearing or throwing back its head and to strengthen the action of the bit’ (NSOED). A ‘Chiffney bit’ is a special kind of mouthpiece on a bridle invented by the jockey Samuel Chiffney (c.1753–1807).
41. rode a plater down the Khyber cliffs: a ‘plater’ is an inferior racehorse, more likely to win one of the runner-up plates than the main prize. The Khyber Pass is a strategic mountain pass, forty-five miles long, in the Safid Kuh range of the Hindu Kush mountains connecting Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, with Peshawar in northern Pakistan, then part of the Northwest Frontier region of the British Indian Empire.
42. 42 Burlington Arcade: Burlington Arcade was designed in 1819 but has since been remodelled on a number of occasions, most recently after it was damaged in the Second World War. It runs north off Piccadilly and houses a number of well-known shops.
43. Gadarene swine: Matt. 8:28–32 describes how a herd of swine at Gadara in ancient Palestine all rushed violently down a slope and perished in the sea.
44. Brindisi: a seaport in Apulia, southeast Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. In the Middle Ages, it was an embarkation port for the Crusaders.
45. Wiesbaden… the Bonner Hussaren: Wiesbaden is a spa city in central Germany on the River Rhine at the foot of the Taunus Mountains. The Bonner Hussaren were a cavalry regiment based in the Westphalian city of Bonn.
46. Lelöffel: Ford and Violet Hunt met a ‘Count Lelöffel, one of the “favourite officers of the Kaiser”’, when they stayed at Nauheim in 1910 (Max Saunders, Ford Madox Ford, i, 313).
47. ‘And so the whole round table is begun’… Avanti!: in Arthurian legend, King Arthur received the Round Table from Leodegraunce of Cameliard when he married his daughter, Guinevere. Her adulterous love for Lancelot led to the break up of the Round Table and Arthur’s death. ‘Avanti’ means ‘forward’ in Italian.
48. Fachingen water: from the mineral springs of Fachingen, then in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau.
49. Nassau Schwerin: Nassau was until 1866 an independent and sovereign German duchy, while Schwerin, 129 miles north of Berlin, was capital of the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. ‘Nassau Schwerin’, however, is one of Dowell’s inventions.
50. bonne bouche: literally a pleasant taste in the mouth, a treat (French).
51. his nephew, the Emperor: that is, Wilhelm II (1859–1941), Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (1888–1918).
52. traps: baggage.
53. Kü mmel: sweet liqueur from north Germany. It is flavoured with cumin and caraway seeds, which give it digestive qualities.
54. Episcopalian… Quaker: an Episcopalian is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA founded in 1787. A ‘Quaker’ is a member of what used to be called the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian sect with no ordained ministers, sacraments or formal doctrine. The Quakers were founded by George Fox (1624–91) in the late 1640s and almost immediately suffered persecution in England. In 1682 William Penn led a colony of Quakers to the area of America which would soon take his name, Pennsylvania.
55. the cock… Aesculapius: Aesculapius (or Asclepius) was the Greek god of medicine, the son of Apollo and the father of Hygeia. The usual offering to Aesculapius was a cock, hence to ‘sacrifice a cock to Aesculapius’ means to give thanks – or pay the medical bills – after recovery from illness.
56. Baedeker: a series of international guide books, once considered indispensable, published by the German publisher Karl Baedeker (1801–59). Baedeker produced his first guide, to Koblenz, in 1829.
57. M—… like Windsor: the ancient university town of Marburg has an 11th-century gothic castle containing an important library. It is also home to the oldest Protestant university in Germany (1527). Far from being a square, the site of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, begun by William the Conqueror as a stockaded earthwork, is an irregular parallelogram.
58. St Elizabeth of Hungary: (1207–31), lived as a Franciscan nun at Marburg. She built a hospital in the town and the Elisabethkirche was built to contain her tomb. She was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1235.
59. Prussia… disagreeable to go into that country: following Prussia’s victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the German Empire was declared under Prussian leadership and her imperial rivalry with Britain began in earnest. Prussian society was highly militarized and widely regarded as unappealingly totalitarian.
60. the Lahn: the River Lahn, a tributary of the River Rhine, runs through Marburg.
61. pour le bon motif!: with the best intentions! (French).
62. Ludwig the Courageous… one after the other: Dowell actually has in mind Philip the Magnanimous (1504–67), Landgrave of Hesse (1509–67). The German Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) allowed Philip to marry a second, but not a third, wife. Henry VIII married six women in succession: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr.
63. one of the dark places of the earth: this phrase had previously been uttered by Charlie Marlow, the principal narrator of Heart of Darkness (1902) by Ford’s friend Joseph Conrad. Referring to England at the time of the Roman Conquest, Marlow’s first words are: ‘And this also… has been one of the dark places of the earth.’
64. Arminians and Erastians: Arminians followed the teachings of the Dutch Protestant theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609), who believed that predestination was conditional, whereas his Calvinist opponents believed it was absolute. ‘Erastians’ followed the teachings of Thomas Erastus (1524–83), a Swiss theologian who maintained ecclesiastical affairs were always subject to secular authority.
65. 65 Mrs Markham: pseudonym of Mrs Elizabeth Penrose (1780–1837), writer of popular, sanitized, historical and other books for children, the best known being Mrs Markham’s History of England (1823) and Mrs Markham’s History of France (1828).
66. Schloss: castle (German).
67. Ranke’s History of the Popes… Table Talk: the books in question are as follows: Leopold von Ranke, The Ecclesiastical and Political History of the Popes of Rome During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1837–9; trans. S. Austin, 1840); John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy (1875–6); J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856); and Martin Luther, The Table Talk or Familiar Discourse of Martin Luther (1566; trans. W. Hazlitt, 1848).
68. Droschke: a four-wheeled carriage (German).
69. Pennsylvania Duitsch: the German spoken by German immigrants to Pennsylvania. The word should properly be Deutsch, but Duitsch is a possible form in the Low German (Plattdeutsch) dialect, as spoken in the northern part of Germany.
70. Trinkgeld: literally, ‘drink money’, i.e., a tip (German).
71. Rittersaal… the Reformer: literally, ‘knights’ room’, i.e., a state room (German). The ‘Reformer’ was Martin Luther. He instigated the Protestant Reformation when, as a professor of theology at Wittenberg University, he nailed his 95 theses to the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral on 31 October 1517, attacking the sale of papal indulgences. He was excommunicated in 1521. Luther’s original intention was reform, not schism, but by 1530 a separate Protestant church had emerged.
72. the Protest… the Courageous…: actually, the document in question is not the ‘Protest’ itself, but the fifteen-point doctrinal statement drawn up at the Marburg Colloquy of 1529, and signed by, among others, the Swiss Protestant reformer Ulrich Zwingli (1484 – 1531), Martin Luther, the German Protestant reformer Martin Bucer (1491–1551), a former Dominican friar who was eventually made Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and Philip the Magnanimous. The statement was not signed by Ludwig the Courageous because he had long been de
ad.
73. ‘thank’ee-marms’: a ‘thank-you-ma’am’ is an American colloquialism for ‘a hollow or ridge in a road, which causes people passing over it in a vehicle to nod the head involuntarily, as if in acknowledgement of a favour’ (NSOED).
74. Free City: since the Reformation, there had been three sovereign city states within Germany: Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck.
75. Spa: the original health spa, in the Ardennes region of Belgium.
76. Burma: in southeast Asia, on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, Burma had been ruled as part of British India since 1885. In 1937 it attained a measure of self-government and was separated from India. In 1948 it became an independent republic.
77. Chitral: situated about 129 miles north of Peshawar, Chitral was in Ash- burnham’s time a remote, northwestern outpost of the British Indian Empire close to the border with Afghanistan. It is now in Pakistan. In 1885, a small British force withstood siege there by local tribes.
78. Linlithgowshire: formerly a Scottish county, now part of West Lothian.
79. pipped: hurt him financially.
80. Circe — at Antibes: Circe is the goddess in Homer’s Odyssey (Book 10) who turns Odysseus’ men into swine on the island of Aeaea. Antibes is a fashionable resort on the Côte d’Azur in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France.
81. General Trochu… in i870: the French soldier Jules Louis Trochu (1815–96) was made Military Governor of Paris on 17 August 1870 during the Franco- Prussian War (1870–71). Regarded as timid and too passive, General Trochu resigned his governorship on 22 January 1871. Food shortages forced the Government of National Defence to ask for an armistice with the Prussians the following month.
82. Scarlet Woman… in Arch Street: the description of the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17:1–18, ‘clothed in purple and scarlet’, was often applied to the Roman Catholic Church by its opponents. The largest Quaker Meeting House in the world is on Arch Street, Philadelphia.
83. ‘Requiem… aeterna erit’: ‘Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. The just shall be in everlasting remembrance.’ From the Gradual of the Tridentine Mass. In Dowell’s source, the word ‘Justus’ follows ‘erit’.
84. a northern light: possibly a reference to the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.
85. ‘I did not know you wanted… hardly literate: Maisie’s error, presumably, is that she uses ‘for’, rather than ‘as’ or ‘to be’.
86. Reiseverkehrsbureau: travel agency (German).
87. Schreibzimmer: writing-room (German).
88. a white lily: ‘There is a tradition that the lily sprang from the repentant tears of Eve as she went forth from Paradise. In Christian art the lily is an emblem of chastity, innocence and purity’ (Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1999).
89. Balmoral Castle: in Aberdeenshire is one of the holiday homes of the British Royal Family and its principal country residence in Scotland. The house was bought by Queen Victoria in 1848 and rebuilt for her in 1853–6 by William Smith of Aberdeen.
90. Stratford to Strathpeffer… Ledbury: Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire is world famous as the birthplace of Shakespeare; Strathpeffer, a resort town in the Highland region of Scotland, has a noted medicinal spring, and Ledbury is a market town in Herefordshire, twelve miles east of Hereford.
91. in the year 1688: suggests the English Hurlbirds may have been Catholics, as the Glorious Revolution of 1688–9 led to the ‘abdication’ of the unpopular Catholic James II (reigned 1685–8) and the accession to the throne of the Protestant William III and Mary II. The Bill of Rights (1689), among other things, barred Catholics from succeeding to the crown.
92. General Braddock: Edward Braddock (1695–1755) was a British general who was killed in an ambush by French troops and native Americans while crossing the River Monongahela in Pennsylvania in July 1755.
93. General Washington… War of Independence: George Washington (1732–99) was the first President of the United States of America (1783–97) and Commander in Chief of the Congress forces during the American War of Independence (1775–83).
94. ‘Pocahontas’: the daughter of the native American chief Powhatan, Pocahontas (c.1595–1617) was brought to England, baptized, and married the English colonist John Rolfe. She died of smallpox at Gravesend as she was about to return to America.
95. Rye Station… cars to Waterbury: Rye is a suburb of New York City on Long Island Sound. In colonial times, Rye was the first stop on the Boston Post Road after New York City. The ‘cars’ must refers to railway carriages: for Waterbury, see Note 31.
96. Sandy Hook: is a low, sandy peninsula situated in northeast New Jersey, projecting five miles north towards New York City. The Sandy Hook Lighthouse (1763) is the last American landmark before the Atlantic.
97. Julien’s: Ford has in mind one of the Paris studios which specifically catered for young foreign men (particularly Americans and Britons) who wanted a solid training in drawing and painting without the obstacle of competitive entry.
98. cinquecento: sixteenth-century (Italian).
99. Rue de la Paix: ironically, Peace Street (French).
100. Hoboken: a New Jersey city, lying across the Hudson River from Manhattan, New York City.
101. D.S.O.: the Distinguished Service Order is an order of military merit founded on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria, its object being to recognize the exceptional service of officers in the army or navy.
102. Royal Humane Society’s: founded in 1774 ‘to encourage the saving of human life’, the Royal Humane Society is still in existence today.
103. V.C.: the Victoria Cross is the highest British decoration for ‘conspicuous bravery or devotion to the country in the presence of the enemy’. It was founded by Queen Victoria in 1856.
104. the Beefeaters: the more common name for the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London, originally appointed by Edward VI (reigned 1547–53). Their uniform is very similar to that of the sovereign’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (1485), the oldest royal bodyguard and the oldest military corps in the world. There are six officers and sixty-six men, and it is almost certainly this bodyguard that Dowell has in mind.
105. Lohengrin and the Chevalier Bayard: in Arthurian legend, Lohengrin was the courageous son of Percival (Parzifal) and a Knight of the Holy Grail who was drawn on by Richard Wagner (1813–83) in his opera Lohengrin (1850). Pierre Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard (c.1473–1524) was a French soldier known as ‘le bon chevalier sans peur et sans reproche’ (the good knight without fear and without reproach). He gained particular distinction at the battles of Fornovo (1495) and Marignano (1515).
106. the Cid: the Spanish hero Rodrigo (Ruy) Diáz de Vivar (c.1043–99) was better known as El Cid (from the Moorish Suit, ‘lord’) or El Campeador (‘The Warrior’). He survived as a soldier of fortune, fighting for both the Spanish and the Moors, and his greatest achievement was the capture of the kingdom of Valencia (1094). He became its ruler until his death.
107. put him at it: a hunting phrase, meaning to make a horse jump a fence.
108. nitrate of amyl: a yellow liquid with a penetrating odour used in medicine for angina pectoris (see note 110) owing to its power of producing vascular dilation and of stimulating the heart’s action. Ironically, amyl nitrate is also abused as an aphrodisiac; it is supposed to extend or intensify orgasm.
109. au mieux: on the best of terms (French).
110. angina pectoris: ‘Severe pain in the chest, and often also the arms and neck due to inadequate blood supply to the heart muscles’ (NOED) .
111. ‘Zum Befehl, Durchlaucht’: ‘At your command, Serene Highness’ (German).
112. it’s the business of a novelist… things clearly: recalls Joseph Conrad’s Preface to The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ (1897): ‘My task… is, by the power of the written word to make you… see!’
113. Rakocsy March: composed by the Hungarian János Bihari (1764–1827) in c.1810.
114. al
l for love and the world well lost: All for Love, or The World Well Lost (1678) is a tragedy by John Dryden (1631–1700).
115. Bowery: a street, and by the 1880s a notoriously skid-row neighbourhood, of Lower Manhattan, New York City.
116. affaisement: depression or mental breakdown (French).
117. 117 Maenad: the Maenads were women inspired to frenzy by Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, son of Zeus and Semele.
118. Corpus Christi: in the western Christian Church the Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin: ‘Body of Christ’) is observed on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday in honour of the Real Presence of the body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The chief feature of the Feast is the procession of the Blessed Sacrament.
119. Roehampton: the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, southwest London, was a prestigious boarding school with many of its girls being drawn from the great European Catholic families.
120. Fort William: a town in the Highlands region of Scotland at the head of Loch Linnhe and the foot of Ben Nevis.
121. Belgian Congo… hang humanity!’: the Congo Free State (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo) was established in the 1880s as the private holding of a group of European investors headed by Leopold II (1835–1909, King of the Belgians, 1865–1909). In 1908 it was annexed by Belgium after years of international outcry at the brutality which held sway in the territory (the population of the Congo Free State is said to have declined from between 20 and 30 million to just 8 million before Leopold II was forced to transfer his powers to the Belgian government). The Congo Free State is the setting of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and this passage in The Good Soldier clearly picks up the humanitarian concerns of the earlier work.
122. Winchester: founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Winchester College in Hampshire is England’s oldest public school.
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