Notes

Saint Theresa: Saint Teresa (1515-1582) of Avila, the Spanish saint, mystic and Carmelite, whose "epic life" is familiar from her famous autobiographical account.:

Beaumont and Fletcher: Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625) frequently collaborated on plays.

Pascal's Pensées: Blaise Pascal (1623-62), the great French philosopher and mathematician.

Jeremy Taylor: English Anglican theologian and bishop (1613-67).

Mr. Peel: Sir Robert Peel, who had previously opposed religious and political freedom for Catholics, came out in favor of Catholic emancipation in 1829.

Hooker: Richard Hooker (1554-1600), theologian and author of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1594-7).

Henrietta-Maria style: in the fashion of Charles I's queen, Henrietta-Maria (1609-69), who was often pictured wearing a pearl choker (though not, alas, in the Van Dyck portrait I found of her).

Davy's Agricultural Chemistry: i.e., the Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (1813) by the scientist Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829).

Adam Smith: the Scottish economist (1723-90), author of The Wealth of Nations (1776).

Wilberforce: William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the philanthropist and reformer, prime mover in the abolition of the British slave trade.

cochon de lait: suckling pig

Bossuet: the French bishop and writer Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704).

machine-breaking and rick-burning: industrial and agricultural turmoil frequently issued as destructive protest in the period following the Napoleonic wars.

"Female Scriptural Characters": published in 1813 by Mrs. Frances Elizabeth King. Sara was the wife of Abraham (Genesis 9); Dorcas was a woman "full of good works," in Acts 9:36. "Dispensation" here means Testament.

Murr the Cat: in E.T.A. Hoffmann's novel Kater Murr (1819-21).

sonnets to Delia: a collection published in 1592 by Samuel Daniel (1562-1619).

Thirty-Nine Articles: the doctrinal articles of the Church of England.

Saturday pie: a dish made of leftovers.

varium et mutabile semper: always changing and fickle. The quotation is from Virgil's Aeneid Book IV, 569, referring to women.

Moravian Brethren: a religious sect founded in Germany in 1722.

Piacer e popone...: pleasure and melons need the same weather.

Henry of Navarre: the French King Henry IV (1553-1610), raised a Protestant, converted to Catholicism in 1593 to secure his kingdom. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (849-901), reputedly marked his candles to measure the passing hours as they burnt.

Xisuthrus: the equivalent of Noah in the Sumerian myth of the flood.

Renaissance-Correggiosities: i.e. figures in the style of the Italian Renaissance painter Antonio Correggio (1494-1534).

More to come, particularly several MP3 and image files in the next few chapters!

Questions? E-mail me.

This page last updated 10 May 2000.