Mrs. Dalloway (Annotated)

by Virginia Woolf

  [>] Tottenham Court Road: Road running north from Charing Cross Station into Bloomsbury. Furniture stores are prevalent among the commercial businesses it houses.

  [>] Aeschylus: Poet (515–456 B.C.) who developed enduring traditions of Greek theater. Major plays: Agamemnon from the Oresteia trio, Prometheus Bound, and Seven Against Thebes.

  [>] the Tower: Tower of London. Famous fortress and royal residence built into the city wall on the north bank of the Thames. Begun around 1076 for William the Conqueror. Setting for famous imprisonments and executions.

  [>] Victoria and Albert Museum: Outstanding museum of applied arts of numerous cultures and eras, designed by Aston Webb, opened 1909. Located on Cromwell Road in South Kensington among numerous other museums.

  [>] bromide: Salt of hydrobromic acid. Some varieties were commonly used as a sedative.

  [>] Bedford Square: Stylish Georgian residential neighborhood in Bloomsbury.

  [>] Harley Street: Favored address of London’s most prestigious doctors, a short walk south of Regent’s Park [map 18S]. The Smiths are en route via Portland Place.

  [>] It was precisely twelve: The first English edition had a section break before this, though the corrected American proofs do not, and the break may not have been intended by Woolf.

  [>] Eton: Eton College. One of England’s most exclusive private schools for boys, founded 1440. Set in Berkshire near Windsor Castle.

  [>] shindy: A rumpus.

  [>] question of rest: Septimus is recommended a rest cure comparable to Woolf’s own therapy at Burley Park, Twickenham, 1910 and 1912, as recommended by Dr. George Savage.

  [>] It was a question of law: Suicide remained illegal in England until 1961. Until a law was passed against the practice in 1823, suicides were routinely buried at crossroads.

  [>] sense of proportion: Woolf’s consultation with a Harley Street physician, Dr. Sainsbury, in August 1922 brought the advice, “practise equanimity, Mrs. Woolf,” recorded sarcastically in her diary (Diary 2: 189), and revised slightly as this.

  [>] seven stone six . . . twelve: A stone is fourteen pounds, hence a rise from 104 to 168 pounds. Excessive feeding of mental patients was another cure favored by Dr. Savage.

  [>] Hyde Park Corner: Woolf probably means Speaker’s Corner (DB), at the northeast corner, where, since 1872, common people have been speaking their minds to passersby. Hyde Park Corner is on the southeast corner of the park.

  [>] Oxford Street . . . Messrs. Rigby and Lowndes: Imaginary department store. In the days when not everyone had a wristwatch, stores did provide a real service in offering public clocks. This places Hugh Whitbread on Oxford Street, en route to Brook Street, and lunch with Lady Bruton [map 19H].

  [>] Norfolk: County of England northeast of London in East Anglia. Celebrated for its agriculture, scenic landscapes, and outdoor sports, including bird-watching. Richard has nostalgia for nature in Norfolk, his place of origin (110, 119).

  [>] Portsmouth: City with an important naval harbor. On the south coast of England, southwest of London.

  [>] Mayfair: One of the most exclusive parts of London, bounded by Bond Street to the east and Park Lane to the west. Named for a fair held there in May in the seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries.

  [>] Lovelace or Herrick: So-called Cavalier poets, supporters of Charles I in the English Civil War. Richard Lovelace (1618–1657) and Robert Herrick (1591–1674) both composed light, graceful, gallant lyrics, typically on the subject of love.

  [>] come a cropper: To fall headlong, as from a horse. To fail.

  [>] Brook Street: The street in Mayfair where Lady Bruton resides [map 20HR]. It runs west from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. Clarissa stood on the corner of Brook and Bond Streets earlier, on her early morning walk.

  [>] prospect of doing well in Canada: Woolf is representing satirically arguments that actually appeared in the Times in 1923, calling for eugenically sound immigrants who would help rather than harm Canada. The British felt indebted to the Canadians for their losses in World War I (DB).

  [>] the Labour Government: She anticipated what did happen on January 22, 1924, when the first Labour government came to power. As a Conservative, Richard could be voted out, and thus have time on his hands to write her family history.

  [>] Devonshire: Large scenic county in southwest England that has both a north and a south coast, moors, hills, and forests.

  [>] Conduit Street: In the company of Hugh, Richard has headed southeast, back toward Parliament and his home. They seem to have walked east on Brook Street, then south on Bond Street to its intersection at Conduit Street. In a lethargic moment, Richard accompanies Hugh into a nearby shop [map 21RH]. Interestingly, Bruton Street runs into Conduit from the west.

  [>] costermongers: Sellers of fruit, vegetables, fish, etc., from carts or wheelbarrows set on the sidewalk or in the street.

  [>] Green Park: Its greenery is set amid Piccadilly, Constitution Hill, and the Mall. Clarissa passed through earlier (8) and from here Richard largely follows her path in reverse [map 22R].

  [>] descendant of Horsa: Of Saxon lineage. The brothers Horsa and Hengist are said in legend to have led the Saxons into England in the fifth century.

  [>] Dean’s Yard: Once part of the gardens of Westminster Abbey, and hence the yard of its dean. Now a residential area [map 23R].

  [>] Armenians . . . Albanians: Armenians in northeast Turkey, a Christian minority, suffered repeated massacres at the hands of the Turks. Some 1.75 million Armenians were forced to emigrate to Syria, Mesopotamia, and what became Soviet Armenia (1915–21). The press and Parliament continued the discussion of the plight they shared with other ethnic minorities.

  [>] Bayswater: London borough north of Hyde Park. White stucco apartments are typical architecture.

  [>] Mongol: Person from the Asian region of Mongolia. The eyes of Mongols typically have a fold extending from the eyelid over the inner angle of the eye.

  [>] Chinese eyes: Eyes of this shape may suggest independence or inscrutability, a quality often attributed to “orientals” by the British. Lily Briscoe of Woolf’s To the Lighthouse also has Chinese eyes.

  [>] hyacinth: Plant grown from a bulb. Its fragrant blooms are composed of bell-shaped flowers massed on a stalk. In myth, the flower sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, a beautiful boy loved and accidentally killed by Apollo.

  [>] the Friends: Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers. Pacifist sect founded by George Fox around 1650. Their headquarters is on the Euston Road in London.

  [>] Extension lecturing: Instruction of students who are not matriculated for a complete course of study, often done in the evening.

  [>] the Stores: The Army and Navy Stores. Originally a cooperative run by military officers to supply inexpensive goods to military families. The Victoria Street location opened to the general public in 1918. Elizabeth and Miss Kilman arrive here a few minutes later (126) [map 24EK].

  [>] Addison: Joseph Addison (1672–1719), essayist who made regular contributions to periodicals (Tatler, Spectator), often in association with Richard Steele. He also wrote poetry and plays.

  [>] Kensington: Borough of London where many museums and educational institutions are housed.

  [>] Westminster Cathedral: Byzantine-style Catholic church designed by J. F. Bentley and erected 1895–1903. Its bell tower rises 284 feet.

  [>] the Abbey: Westminster Abbey. Anglican church where monarchs are crowned and buried. Architecture in its present form begun in 1245 by King Henry III [map 25 K].

  [>] wax works: Wax effigies of monarchs buried in the Abbey, including Elizabeth I and Charles II, housed in the Treasure Museum. Woolf’s essay “Waxworks at the Abbey” was later published in the New Republic (1928).

  [>] tomb of the Unknown Warrior: Memorial at the west end of the nave, where the remains of an unknown World War I soldier lie in earth brought from the battlefields of Flanders. He was interred November 11, 1920.

  [>] K.C.: King’s Counsel, or law
yer.

  [>] Somerset House: Large Palladian building erected 1776–86 on the site of a building begun by the Lord Protector Somerset. Situated between the Strand and the Thames, it houses government offices including the Inland Revenue (tax bureau) and the General Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths (useful for genealogy).

  [>] Chancery Lane: Narrow street running from Fleet Street north to High Holborn, in the heart of the legal establishment of London. It is named for the Inns of Chancery, which were always subordinate in the legal profession and gradually yielded to the Inns of Court. Lincoln’s Inn, one of the Inns of Court, and the offices of the Law Society are on its west side. The Public Record Office stands on its east side.

  [>] the Temple: The Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, established by James I (1609), two of the four Inns of Court, at the foot of Chancery Lane between Fleet Street and the Thames. Another of the Inns of Court, Lincoln’s Inn, is mentioned by Peter Walsh, who goes there after Regent’s Park (45).

  [>] the Church: Temple Church, shared by the Middle and Inner Temple. It has a round part in transitional Norman style consecrated in 1185, where lawyers once awaited their clients.

  [>] Fleet Street: Center of the British newspaper industry, named for a submerged river. It continues east from the Strand [map 26E].

  [>] Fear no more: Septimus here echoes a line from Cymbeline recited twice by Clarissa (9, 182). He is back at home off Tottenham Court Road [map 27S].

  [>] Prince Consort: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819–1861), husband of Queen Victoria.

  [>] Hull: City in Yorkshire, northeast England, situated on the north bank of the Humber River, where it intersects with the Hull River, and twenty miles from its entry to the North Sea. Major seaport.

  [>] Surrey was all out: Newspaper headline indicating Surrey cricket team had ended their first innings in a match against Yorkshire. Peter reads a later edition that reports “Surrey was all out once more,” in a final at bat. This does not match anything that appears in the Cricketers’ Almanac for the year (DB).

  [>] Brighton: Resort city on south coast of England in Sussex. Woolf vacationed there with her family after her mother’s death.

  [>] British Museum: Neoclassical building designed by Robert Smirke (begun 1823), which occupies a city block, fronting on Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury. It houses art and artifacts from ancient and living cultures around the world, including the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the magnificent reading room featured in Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Jacob’s Room. Peter is a block away from Tottenham Court Road, so he could hear an ambulance carrying Septimus Smith [map 28P]. He has come a bit out of his way in walking from Lincoln’s Inn to his hotel.

  [>] Caledonian market: Street market held on Fridays at the site of a cattle market in the borough of Islington, north London. Clarissa’s treasures were probably bargains.

  [>] Shaftesbury Avenue: Route through the theater district in the West End of London in Soho.

  [>] Severn: River, 210 miles in length, that rises in central Wales and flows through western England, entering the Bristol Channel.

  [>] wagtail: Small European bird that habitually wags its long narrow tail up and down.

  [>] To get that letter to him: In London in the 1920s, there were several mail deliveries a day, making it possible to write a letter and have it be received the same day.

  [>] Bodleian: Oxford University’s main library, which began with Duke Humphrey’s library (1409). Scholar Thomas Bodley restored and enlarged it (1602).

  [>] to come up to the scratch: To measure up to expectations. Literally, to approach the starting line for a race.

  [>] Liverpool: Major port city in northwest England, where the wide Mersey River flows into the Irish Sea.

  [>] Bartlett pears: Large yellow juicy variety of pear first distributed in the nineteenth century by Enoch Bartlett of Dorchester, Massachusetts.

  [>] Mr. Willett’s summer time: Daylight Saving Time, proposed by William Willett and put into force through spring and summer in 1916 to save power during World War I.

  [>] Oriental Club: Founded in 1824 to serve members of the East India Company, it was located in Hanover Square in 1923.

  [>] Littré’s dictionary: Four-volume French-language dictionary compiled by philosopher and lexicographer Maximilien-Paul-Emile Littré, published 1863–73.

  [>] a copper: A penny coin.

  [>] Bedford Place: Peter is setting out from his hotel near Russell Square for the party [map 29P], passing south through Whitehall, into Westminster. We do not know the name of “her street, this, Clarissa’s” (160). But there the mapping ends where it began.

  [>] The Prime Minister: Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947), Conservative Party statesman, held this office 1923–24, 1924–29, and 1935–37.

  [>] dampers: Movable part that permits regulation of the draft, and hence the heat, of a stove. They might actually be pushed, rather than pulled in.

  [>] Imperial Tokay: Aromatic dessert wine produced near city of that name in northeast Hungary; this brand has presumably been stocked in the cellars of royalty.

  [>] birds of Paradise: Birds native to New Guinea. Males have colorful, ornamental plumage. The flight of the curtains is mentioned again (166).

  [>] public school man: In England, what Americans would consider a private school is called a public school, and hence it is a place of privilege.

  [>] Sir Joshua: Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), eighteenth-century English portrait painter in the “grand style.”

  [>] Mrs. Durrant and Clara: Mother and daughter who appear in Woolf’s Jacob’s Room. Clara is the sister of Jacob’s friend Timothy Durrant, and one of several love interests.

  [>] St. John’s Wood: Residential area northwest of Regent’s Park in London, where artists (including Academicians—members of the Royal Academy) and writers resided. Woolf mentions George Eliot’s living there in A Room of One’s Own. Sir Edwin Landseer, who developed the style attributed to Sir Harry, was also a resident.

  [>] will-o’-the-wisp: Flitting phosphorescent light seen at night, attributable to marsh gas, and thus something deluding or misleading.

  [>] old Mrs. Hilbery: Character who appears in Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day.

  [>] Hampstead: Village in North London dating from the eighteenth century, where artists and freethinkers have resided. Adjacent is the preserved open space of Hampstead Heath.

  [>] Lords: The cricket ground mentioned early in the novel (5).

  [>] a green frill: Woolf imagines a similar putting out of a frill by her character Jinny in The Waves.

  [>] Burma: Now known as Myanmar, a country in southeast Asia on the Bay of Bengal. It was gradually annexed by the British colonial government of India during the three Burma Wars (1824–86).

  [>] this isle of men, this dear, dear land: Reminiscent of speech praising England by John of Gaunt in Shakespeare’s Richard II, Act II, Scene i: “This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land.”

  [>] armoured goddess: Though this could be the Greek goddess Athena, whose various charges include warfare, the female symbol of the empire is Britannia, represented with trident and helmet, in a seated position.

  [>] Union Jack: Great Britain’s national flag, which combines Saint George’s red cross, representing England; Saint Andrew’s white cross on a blue field, representing Scotland; and Saint Patrick’s diagonal red on white cross, representing Ireland. Originally flown from the jack staff of a ship.