Chapter 3
1 (p. 30) muscular Christianity: This belief system, which equated moral and physical fitness, became widely accepted in the 1850s. Introduced by Thomas Arnold, a headmaster of Rugby, it is associated with educational reform. The ideal of muscular Christianity is associated most clearly in the novel with Roger Hamley, whose robust physical self corresponds with a strong moral sense.
2 (p. 30) he must be Scotch: Contemporary readers of the novel would have understood the reference to Mr. Gibson’s “Scotch” background as a suggestion of his superiority as a medical man. During the nineteenth century Edinburgh University in Scotland was the premier place for medical education, so to suggest Gibson was Scottish was to suggest that he may have had superior training during a time when most doctors learned their craft through apprenticeships rather than formal university training.
3 (p. 33) apprentices ... bound by indentures, and paying a handsome premium to learn their business: Apprenticeship remained the way in which most “surgeons” or “apothecaries” became qualified to practice. The length of the apprenticeship, which was a binding contract or indentureship, was typically five to seven years; the apprentice exchanged his labor for room, board, and education.
Chapter 4
1 (p. 41 ) the Heptarchy: The vicar is referring to Squire Hamley’s ancient family, which existed before the Norman Conquest. “The Heptarchy” refers to the seven kingdoms that are said to have existed in England in the seventh and eighth centuries.
2 ,. (p. 44) the fable of the lap-dog and the donkey: In this fable from Aesop, a donkey, who is envious of the petting the lap-dog receives, tries to get similar attention but is beaten instead. Osborne is more like the lap-dog, delicate and much petted, while Roger, though neither beaten nor neglected, is more like the donkey in being larger and less doted on by his mother. The sons are metaphorical opposites: Osborne is associated with culture and refinement, Roger with nature and a constitutional hardiness.
3 (p. 47) the pomfret cakes, and the conserve of hips, and on Sundays he shall have a taste of tamarinds: Mr. Gibson is somewhat making fun of his old acquaintance, who had asked Mr. Gibson to give his son preferential treatment. The father is unhappy that his son’s apprenticeship would include the making of pills (medicine often was manufactured and sold by doctors), but this is an essential task for a young apprentice. Mr. Gibson’s assurance that he will be given pomfret cakes, conserve of hips, and tamarinds is a sardonic one. It sounds as if he is promising that he will have many pleasures—cake, conserves, and tamarind, which was often made into a candy—but the three entities are also related to medicine: Pomfret cakes are licorice lozenges, conserve of hips is not a jam but a pill-manufacturing substance, and tamarind, besides being used in some candies, was also prized in the nineteenth century as a laxative.
Chapter 6
1 (p. 75) time of Queen Anne: Queen Anne reigned from 1702 to 1714; because she had no heirs, Parliament created the Act of Settlement, which made her successors the Hanoverian descendants of King James I of England, events that are understood as the beginning of the modern British state. By asking where the Cumnors were in the time of Queen Anne, Squire Hamley is implying that their status as members of the peerage, or aristocracy, is a new one, in contrast to his own ancient if untitled family. This is an early but important reference to the way in which the Hamleys represent ancient English traditionalism and the Cumnors represent progress and newness.
Chapter 14
1 (p. 160) withes of green flaxe: A biblical allusion (to Judges 16) that Molly does not understand. Samson had allowed Delilah to bind him, but he broke through the bonds easily. Here Lady Harriet is suggesting that Molly will be able to thwart her stepmother’s strictures if she wants to do so. The allusion directly contradicts what Lady Harriet then says out of prudence: “Be a good girl, and suffer yourself to be led.”
Chapter 17
1 (p. 191) he has been spending ever so much money in reclaiming that land... and is very hard pressed himself: Mrs. Hamley is here referring to the improvements that Squire Hamley is making to his estate, a process of land reclamation that includes draining land to make it farmable (and thus able to be rented out). This capital improvement will double the value of the estate, but the expenditure required to implement it is threatened by the debt that Osborne has run up. The work is referred to below as “the draining-works.”
2 (p. 199) like Major Dugald Dalgetty: Mr. Gibson is referring to a character in a novel by Walter Scott, A Legend of Montrose (1819). Major Dugald Dalgetty is a soldier who claims that a soldier should eat whenever the opportunity arises, as he never knows when he will be able to dine again. Gibson’s reference is an indirect criticism of Mrs. Gibson’s running of the household, which he had hoped would be regularized for his comfort when he married.
Chapter 23
1 (p. 259) Catholic emancipation had begun to be talked about by some politicians: Osborne’s wife, Aimee, would be considered an unsuitable wife for Osborne for a number of reasons, including her class status, her national origin, and particularly her religion. Here the narrator is alluding to the fact that when the novel is set (in the late 1820s) the question of “catholic emancipation” was under discussion but had yet to be settled. After the Reformation in England all non-Anglicans were discriminated against in not having the right to vote or hold public office; since 80 percent of Ireland was Catholic, the discrimination against Catholics was deeply felt there. The “Catholic Emancipation Bill” of 1829 encountered wide public disapproval, an opinion that Osborne understands would have been shared by his father. After 1829 Catholics could become members of Parliament and were eligible for most but not all public offices; however, one of the concessions made in the process of enacting the bill was that the land requirement for the right to vote in Ireland was increased, which drastically decreased the electorate in Ireland.
Chapter 24
1 (p. 265) comparative osteology: Osteology is a discipline that studies the structure and arrangement of bones. Comparative osteology—a branch of study central to the evolutionary debates that circulated in the decades prior to Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859)-was concerned with the likenesses and dissimilarities among various species (especially apes and humans).
Chapter 26
1 (p. 290) Could it be the duchess?: The people at the ball had been anticipating all evening the arrival of the family from “the Towers” and their guest, a duchess. In particular, as is repeatedly mentioned, they had hoped to catch sight of her “diamonds” and “coronet.” The duchess, who arrives with flowers rather than jewels adorning her person, not only disappoints but offends the ball-goers. In the hierarchy of the nobility, dukes and duchesses ranked the highest; a duchess would wear a small crown to signify that identity. This small crown, and expensive jewels, is what is absent from the duchess’s person, and this, in combination with a choice of dress that seems inappropriately informal, is what leads to the feeling of having been insulted—as if they are not adequate audience for the display of her “diamonds.” Lady Harriet is cunning enough to understand that their guests’ lateness of arrival, and the absence of the distinguishing diamonds, is an affront to an established code of behavior.