Pere Goriot (50 page)

The Duchess of La Vallière (1644-1700), mistress of Louis XIV; the Duc de Vermandois was one of the children she bore the King.

See the footnote on p. 197.

Debtors' prison.

Goriot suggests that for a sum of money he might serve in the army in place of someone called up; it is an absurd idea, given his advanced age.

Moses in Egypt,
an opera by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), was a favorite of Balzac's; it was first performed in Paris in 1822.

Reference to the Duchesse de Montpensier, cousin of Louis XIV. Having at first agreed to her marriage to the Duc de Lauzun, Louis then retracted his consent and imprisoned Lauzun for ten years.

Cotton that was burned and then applied to the skin, usually in an attempt to cauterize a wound.

Funerals in France were categorized according to expense. Balzac's father had a third-class funeral in 1829.

First words of the Bible's Psalm 129, meaning “out of the depths.”