Примечания

1

Dundreary whiskers – long and bushy (muttonchop) sideburns, called after whiskers worn by actor Edward A. Sothern as Lord Dundreary, a character in the play “Our American Cousin” (1858) by Tom Taylor.

2

Quilpish – an allusion to Dickens, whose Mr Daniel Quilp from “Old Curiosity Shop” is a cold-hearted, cruel monster.

3

mot – a word (French).

4

French grey – warm, rich shade of colour.

5

consols. – consolidated annuities, loan securities.

6

very small beer – ale, beer with very little alcohol; metaphorically, a thing of little importance.

7

rumty-too – ordinary, common.

8

Married Women’s Property Act – from 1882 it granted married women the right to control their own property.

9

to have gone to the dogs – to go to the dogs = to be broke, to go to hell.

10

underwriter – a member of insurance union.

11

bombazine – fabric made of silk and wool.

12

vieux jeu – out of date (French).

13

cut-away coat – a coat whith its skirts cut off in the front.

14

William Morris (1834–1896) – a textile designer, artist and socialist, representative of the so-called Pre-Raphaelite group.

15

Marlborough days – the annual street festival held on the Saturday before Mother’s Day.

16

put her oar in – an idiom, meaning “giving one’s opinion, even unasked for”.

17

be behind-hand – in debt.

18

daverdy – dialectal for “dowdy”: unkept, faded.

19

‘La Donna mobile’ – from Guiseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto”.

20

the Indian Civil – Indian Civil Service, administrative elite, composed of officers recruited by competitive examination (Government of India Act of 1858).

21

swing a cat – an idiom “no room to swing a cat” means an awkwardly small space. They assume that “a cat” here is a whip used to punish sailors.

22

‘R.S.V.P.’ — Répondez s’il vous plaît. – Answer please (if you would come). (French).

23

opoponax – sweet myrrh.

24

welshed – to welsh = to cheat, not to pay the debt.

25

Taglioni – Marie Taglioni (1804–1884) was a prominent Italian ballet dancer.

26

pooty – pretty.

27

long-headed – shrewd, wise.

28

‘Down-by-the-starn’ – undertaker’s, funeral office.

29

to buttonhole – to detain in conversation.

30

in toto – completely, entirely (Latin).

31

sociable – an open four-wheeled carriage with two double seats facing each other.

32

Victoria – an elegant French carriage (a phaeton) that had one forward-facing seat for two passengers.

33

brougham – a carriage, had an enclosed body with two doors and it sat two.

34

dawgs – slang, meaning “men,” “buddies,” “dudes” etc.

35

knicknack – a dainty little trinket or ornament.

36

Bart. – a traditional abbreviation from baronet, the holder of hereditary title.

37

infra dig – from infra dignitatem (Latin) – humiliating.

38

wallflowers – girls without partners to a dance.

39

when the shoe pinched – from the proverb “Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches,” meaning “it’s hard to know how much someone else is suffering”.

40

Baedeker – German publishing house, pioneer in the business of worldwide travel guides.

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