Vanity Fair (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
Page 98
oy That is, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
oz Vanished city of the Solomonic Empire.
pa I who speak with you (French).
pb Alexander Kinglake, author of Eothen (1844), visited Lady Hester in the Middle East.
pc Gathering, or a select few friends (French).
pd Charles X of France, monarch from 1824 to 1830.
pe On excellent terms (French).
pf Fashionable assembly rooms that held weekly balls for an exclusive social set.
pg Debrett and Burke: guides to the British aristocracy.
ph Difficulties (French).
pi Equerry, or master of horses, a ceremonial court post.
pj Guidetta Pasta, famous nineteenth-century soprano.
pk Interpreter.
pl Leg-of-mutton sleeves.
pm Villain from Sir Walter Scott‘s Ivanhoe (1819).
pn Fez-like cap with a tassel.
po Hookah.
pp Mesrour the Nubian: executioner from The Arabian Nights‘ Entertainments; yataghans: curved knives.
pq Female slaves, or concubines.
pr Maiden name indicating Jewish heritage.
ps Turkish coins.
pt 1791 opera by Mozart.
pu Leader of men (Greek); Homeric epithet for Agamemnon.
pv Reference to the final act of Mozart‘s Don Giovanni (1787).
pw Sleep, sleep, dear loves (French).
px Oh, what a pleasure travel is! (French).
py In classical myth Philomèle was transformed into a nightingale.
pz Ravishing (French).
qa Famous singers of the early nineteenth century.
qb Well-known ballet teacher at the Paris Opera.
qc Caution, reserve (French).
qd Well-known dancers.
qe Crushed (French); defeated.
qf Paid torch-carriers who lit the way in nighttime London.
qg In public-school parlance, an underclassman who is required to serve an up- perclassman.
qh London amphitheater where exhibitions were held.
qi That is, deed of ownership.
qj Kindnesses (French).
qk Charming wife (Latin).
ql Fractured French for table d‘hôte, or fixed-price meal.
qm My poor little dear (French).
qn “A very ugly look” and “smelled of gin” (French).
qo At top speed (French).
qp Literally, sad visit to my uncle (French); slang for a trip to a pawnbrokers.
qq Plenty (French).
qr My poor prisoner (French).
qs Powerful opiate.
qt The Duke of York, the brother of George IV; the duke died in 1827.
qu Sad (French).
qv Slang for “horse.”
qw That is, without notice.
qx Reference to Louis Philippe, who fled the February 1848 revolution in like fashion.
qy Mistress of Louis XV
qz Feast (French).
ra Frightfully robbed (French).
rb Refers to shooting pigeons released from traps.
rc That is, fixed.
rd Slang for women of dubious reputation.
re Slang for 25 pounds.
rf See the Bible, Proverbs 12:4; the line continues, “but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones” (KJV).
rg Maid of honor (French).
rh In gold.
ri Reference to William West, well-known builder of toy theaters.
rj Mechanical model of the solar system.
rk Conversations (Italian); term used to describe “intellectual” gatherings.
rl Athene (Greek); goddess of wisdom.
rm ln Greek, Latin, and French, best, best, and very good, respectively.
rn In advance (French).
ro Footmen (French).
rp That is, in mourning clothes (in black).
rq Latude and Trenck were well-known prison escapees who wrote popular accounts of their escapes.
rr Brandy and water.
rs Fenced with wooden sticks.
rt Anglicized French: distingué, distinguished.
ru Refers to Lord William Bentinck, governor-general of Bengal and, later, India.
rv Both written by Jane Porter, published in 1819 and 1810, respectively.
rw Great waters (French); comic reference to the fountains at the French royal residence in Versailles.
rx Caused the Achaians many woes (Greek); from the second line of Homer‘s Iliad.
ry Oriental luxury (Latin); from Horace, Odes.
rz lndian term of respect for the British, here employed ironically.
sa Reference to Shakespeare‘s Othello, in which Cassio pays court to Desdemona in order to be reappointed Othello‘s lieutenant.
sb In Shakespeare‘s The Tempest, the subhuman Caliban is in love with Prospero‘s daughter Miranda.
sc Lodgers (French).
sd That is, from the three administrative districts of the East India Company.
se Reference to the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta, where British prisoners were incarcerated in 1746.
sf Members, that is, of the East India Company‘s administrative Council.
sg Friend of the family (French).
sh Usually lakhs, worth 100,000 rupees.
si Change the name [and the tale is told of thee] (Latin); from Horace, Satires.
sj Reference to Jacob‘s partiality for his son Benjamin over his eleven other children; see the Bible, Genesis 37 and 43.
sk What do you expect? (French).
sl Dealer in dry and salted foods.
sm Derogatory slang term, derived from “bluestocking,” for an educated female.
sn Well-known lecturer on scientific matters.
so Site of early-nineteenth-century temperance meetings.
sp Slang for “prattlings” or “chatterings.”
sq Peel‘s sudden support of the Catholic Emancipation Act occurred in 1829.
sr Infatuated (French).
ss Amelia is probably thinking of Alexander Pope: not the poet, but a well-known actor and painter in the 1820s.
st On the Rhine (German).
su Portable writing desk.
sv Card game.
sw Whose carriage is this? (French).
sx Germanized French: It‘s Kirsch‘s, I think—I saw him just now—taking sandwiches to the carriage.
sy We‘ll have a fine crossing (French).
sz Count Lord von Sedley, and his party, from London (German).
ta Playful translation of the German Durchlaucht, “Excellency,” which is close to durchsichtig, “transparent.”
tb Arias from Mozart‘s Don Giovanni.
tc Famous defeat of the Russians and Austrians by Napoleon in 1805.
td A Rhine wine.
te Ham, roast, and potatoes (German).
tf Naughtiness (French).
tg Guest-artist night (German).
th 1805 opera by Beethoven.
ti Nothing, nothing, my Florestan (German).
tj The Battle of Vittoria (German).
tk Wool wig.
tl Castle (German).
tm Footman.
tn Collapsible top hat.
to Amenities (French).
tp Hunts (French).
tq Torch (French).
tr That is, her heraldic shield had to be “quartered” (divided into sixteen) to fit her various ancestries.
ts Little food vendor (French).
tt Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus, was consoled by Bacchus and married him.
tu A pastry shop, playfully named after a dry, hard biscuit.
tv Early brass instrument.
tw In any case (French).
tx 1831 opera by Vincenzo Bellini.
ty That is, the Bourbon monarchy, symbolized by the lily or fleur-de-lys.
tz Familiar form of address in German.
ua Sir, aren‘t you
a player? (French).
ub Dressed as a marquis (French).
uc Leave me alone. One has to amuse oneself, by God. I‘m not your servant (French).
ud Ahriman: the principle of evil and darkness, and antagonist of Ahura Mazda, in Zoroastrianism.
ue Despondency (French).
uf Lawyers who handled divorce cases in ecclesiastical courts.
ug From John Darby, the founder of the Plymouth Brethren, an evangelical sect.
uh Applesauces.
ui Household gods (Latin).
uj Medals and ribbons (French).
uk Viper (French).
ul Eighteenth-century vagabond known as the King of the Gypsies.
um Cafés that serve liquor.
un Doubling after every loss, a common strategy.
uo Afternoon musical party (French).
up 1825 opera by François-Adrien Boildieu.
uq “Pit” or ground-level of the theater.
ur Italian coin, worth roughly 4 English shillings or one-fifth of a pound.
us Soap.
ut That is, young men on the Grand Tour with their tutors.
uu Thieving associates of Falstaff in several plays by Shakespeare.
uv From Shakespeare‘s Macbeth, the appearance of the ghost of Banquo.
uw A good child or a good sport (French).
ux Word of honor (French).
uy Luggage wagons.
uz Type of spaniel.
va Headquarters (French).
vb Suggestive (French).
vc Nightshirt (German).
vd English angel! (German).
ve Anglicized French: Number ninety-two, please.
vf Germanized French: Ninety-two.
vg Cloak with an attached hood.
vh Literally, breakfast with a fork (French)-that is, with meat.
vi From Virgil‘s Aeneid— that is, the path to the underworld is easy [but to ascend is hard].
vj The lover‘s quarrel [is the rebirth of love] (Latin); from Terence, Andria.
vk Buttered bread (German).
vl Smoke and din (Latin).
vm Fox and philistine (German); gown versus town.
vn express coach.
vo Germanized French: among friends.
vp In the clouds (Latin); that is, imaginary.
vq Fellows (German).
vr Terrible (German).
vs Drinking and singing (German).
vt From Homer‘s Odyssey, the figure that turns Odysseus‘s men into pigs.
vu White horses (German).
vv Blended fabric.
vw Weathered many a storm (German).
vx Off we go, postilion! (German).
vy Reference to Goethe‘s Sorrows of Young Werther (1774, 1787) and his controversial Elective Affinities (1809).
vz Distracted (French).
wa The aria “Though alone, I am not lonely,” from Carl Maria von Weber‘s opera Preciosa (1821).
wb “Loved and lived,” from Friedrich Schiller‘s play The Piccolomini, part of his Wallenstein trilogy.
wc Assembly halls (French).
wd Idiot (slang).
we “A letter; here it is”; from Rossini‘s 1816 opera The Barber of Seville.
wf Smiling through tears (Greek); a citation from the parting of Andromache and Hector in Homer‘s Iliad.
wg As a result of the 1832 Reform Bill, which abolished rotten boroughs.
wh Vanity of vanities (Latin); frequent refrain in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes.