av
In a low or soft voice (Italian).
aw
See endnote 1 to chapter 17.
ax
Hidden (French).
ay
Scottish kinship is by marriage as well as blood.
az
That is, a relation as close as if it were a blood relation.
ba
See the Bible, 1 Corinthians 9:22.
bb
Songs (French).
bc
Final examination for an honors B.A. degree.
bd
Wrangler is the top division of honors; senior wrangler is the highest honor.
be
That is, he’ll have a scholarship to remain and study; ironically, this is what Osborne meant to achieve.
bf
Admiring of nothing; indifferent (Latin).
bg
Not timid (Scottish dialect).
bh
Prayer from the Bible, Psalm 31:9.
bi
False or disingenuous shame (French).
bj
That is, the clock at Whitehall in London, famed for its accuracy.
bk
Fretful (Scottish dialect).
bl
From the Bible, Luke 15:12; the words of the prodigal son.
bm
The law courts in London; Osborne is contemplating studying the law.
bn
Become a clergyman in the Church of England.
bo
Slang for Napoleon Bonaparte.
bp
Crapaud is French for “toad”; early slur for the French that later becomes “frog.”
bq
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine and Quarterly Review; influential monthly journals.
br
Rustic long pipe for smoking tobacco.
bs
Long poem by Lord Byron, written in 1816.
bt
Somewhat deprecatory term for a female intellectual.
bu
Therefore (Latin).
bv
William Cowper, “The Diverting History of John Gilpin” (1782), an English comic narrative poem.
bw
You will repent if you take a wife, Colin (French).
bx
Inappropriate (French).
by
Mishap (French).
bz
It was the custom to wear new clothing in symbolic celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
ca
Mrs. Gibson reads Burke’s General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom, published by John Burke in London in 1826; known as the Peerage or Burke’s Peerage.
cb
Special trains scheduled for holidays; popular starting in the 1840s.
cc
Strong-mindedness (French).
cd
Piece of jewelry consisting of a loved one’s tiny portrait.
ce
Choice; exquisite (French).
cf
Like a child (French); the duchess wears an inappropriately girlish dress.
cg
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century science of facial expression and features.
ch
The Animal Kingdom (1817), by Georges Cuvier, French pioneer of modern zoology and paleontology.
ci
The Age of Louis XIV (1751), by Voltaire.
cj
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), important French zoologist and comparative anatomist.
ck
See endnote 4 to chapter 1.
cl
Scholar; scientist (French).
cm
Nursery maid.
cn
Colloquial term for the Peerage (see footnote on p. 274).
co
Reference to The Thousand and One Nights, a.k.a. The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, in which Alnaschar concocts unreahzed dreams of riches and marrying a wealthy woman.
cp
Star used in navigation.
cq
Cleaning work.
cr
That is, literally.
cs
Letter folded rather than contained in an envelope.
ct
University fellows could not marry.
cu
Eagerness; willingness (French).
cv
See endnote 1 to chapter 17.
cw
Improved technology of using tiles to drain marshy soil.
cx
Fire; stop employing.
cy
From Lycidas (1637). a poem by John Milton.
cz
In London, church courts that handled civil legal business such as wills.
da
Tiny stinging darts sent by the miniature Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
db
Lord Bridgewater endowed a prize for essays connecting science and religion.
dc
Allusion to the biblical account of the time Jacob waited and worked for Rachel (Genesis 29).
dd
In such a serious vein (French).
de
In French, tapis is “carpet”; mettre sur le tapis means “to bring up for discussion.”
df
Those who are away are always wrong (French).
dg
The eastern horn of Africa; site of exploration by Europeans in the 1830s.
dh
Important classical writers on natural history.
di
Queen’s counsel.
dj
Armed escorts to judges.
dk
Annual painting exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.
dl
Improved type of road surface common starting in the 1820s.
dm
The Malvern Hills are located in the county of Worcestershire in England.
dn
Half-year (French); term at school.
do
Literally, “always partridge” (French); that is, monotonous, always the same.
dp
Inappropriate (French).
dq
Literally, apropos of nothing (French idiom); akin to “out of the blue.”
dr
Chimney sweep; a humble occupation.
ds
Inconsistency; thoughtlessness (French).
dt
Twilight.
du
Awkwardness; clumsiness (French).
dv
Reference to Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605), with Lady Harriet as the knight and Miss Phoebe as the faithful squire.
dw
Talk of the ass and you’ll see its ears (French idiom); akin to “speak of the devil.”
dx
Well dressed; correct in detail (French).
dy
Whipping boy, underdog (French); on the receiving end of annoyances.
dz
The Cape of Good Hope; Roger has traveled the length of eastern Africa.
ea
Language from the Bible, Genesis 27:34: “And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry...” (King James Version; henceforth, KJV).
eb
Bread and milk (French) .
ec
Allusion to the Bible, Job 14:14: “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (KJV).
ed
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Christabel (1816).
ee
Happy medium (French).
ef
A new railway line, actually opened in 1838.
eg
Barristers, unlike solicitors, could represent clients in the high courts.
eh
Gaius Marius (157-8 B.C.); Roman general turned politician.
ei
Literally, “I do not know what”; that is, “something” (French).
ej
Without heed to consequence (French).
ek
“Crossing” was a frugal custom of writing the second “page” of a letter at a right angle to the first.
el
Allegorical figure of falsehood (the daughter of Deceit and Shame) in Edward Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590).
em
Suitor, admirer (French).
en
First published in the Cornhill Magazine from November 1863 to February 1864.
eo
Gaskell novel published in 1863.
ep
Gaskell’s first novel, published in 1848.