The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged Penguin) (211 page)

3
.
:
Tele graphein
; ‘distance writing’. Montalivet was Minister of the Interior from 1837 to 1839, succeeded by Duchâtel.

1
.
Delacroix
: See note 1 to
Chapter
XLI
.

1
.
like Vatel at Chantilly
: Vatel was chef to the Prince de Condé, and committed suicide in 1671 because, one fast day when the prince was playing host to the king, the fish for dinner failed to arrive.

1
.
cupitor impossibilium
: ‘One who desires the impossible’. In fact, what Tacitus says of Nero (
Annals
, XV, 42) is
cupitor incredibilium
– ‘one who desires the incredible’.

2
.
the Marquise de Ganges… Desdemona
: The Marquise de Ganges was assassinated in 1667 by her two brothers-in-law; another of Dumas’
Crimes célèbres
. Desdemona was strangled by Othello (
Othello
, V, 2).

3
.
Ugolino’s tower
: For Ugolino, see
Chapter
XV
, note 2. The poet Torquato Tasso spent seven years in prison, after a bout of madness. Francesca da Rimini married Giovanni Malatesta, but fell in love with her husband’s younger brother, Paolo. Giovanni ran them through with a single thrust of his sword. They figure among those tossed on the winds of passion in a celebrated passage in Dante’s
Inferno
(Canto V).

4
.
Lucina
: Goddess of childbirth.

1
.
nil admirari
: ‘Not to be impressed by anything’. See Horace,
Epistles
, I, 6.

2
.
Bossuet
: Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), an eminent orator and theologian.

3
.
Number one hundred and six
: In
Chapter
LXXXII
, however, Caderousse says that his number was 58 and Andrea’s 59.

1
.
like Nathan in Athalie
: In Racine’s tragedy (III, 5), the character shows his inner turmoil by his inability to find the way out. Debray’s actions,
bumping into the wall, are not in Racine’s text and must reflect a memory of the play in performance.

2
.
Don Carlos
: See note 2 to
Chapter
XXXIX
.

1
.
fat cows… lean cows
: See Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41.

2
.
Jupiter… mixing species
: The Roman god ‘became a Proteus to gratify his passions. He introduced himself to Danae in a shower of gold, he corrupted Antiope in the form of a satyr and Leda in the form of a swan. He became a bull to seduce Europa, and he enjoyed the company of Aegina in the form of a flame of fire. He assumed the habit of Diana to corrupt Callisto, and became Amphitryon to gain the affections of Alcmena…’ (Lemprière,
Classical Dictionary
).

1
.
Queen Mab… Titania
: See Shakespeare,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and
Romeo and Juliet
(I, 4).

1
.
Homer… Belisarius
: The engravings of works by Gérard and Morel both in fact represent the Byzantine general, Belisarius.

2
.
Battle of Navarino… King Otto
: The Greek war of independence against the Turks began in 1821. It was supported by Britain, France and Russia, who defeated the Egyptian and Turkish fleets at the Battle of Navarino (1827). In 1832, Frederick of Bavaria was appointed King of Greece, under the name Otto I. He ruled until 1862.

1
.
the cachucha
: An Andalusian dance, very popular in the early part of the nineteenth century. The scene in which the two leading female characters dance the cachucha, in Coralli and Burat de Gurgy’s ballet
Le Diable boiteux
(1836), had been made famous by Fanny Elssler’s performance.

2
.
the Institut
: Set up in 1795 to combine the functions of the two major existing learned societies, the Académie Française and the Académie des Inscriptions. In 1803, the two académies were reinstated, together with the Académie des Sciences and the Académie des Beaux-Arts, under the umbrella of the Institut.

3
.
to design them a coat
: Morcerf is quite right about the republican period: it did like dressing up. In fact, it was not the painter David but the more humble embroiderer Picot who designed the Academician’s dress, a frock-coat heavily embroidered in gold.

4
.
July Monarchy
: See note 1 to
Chapter
XLVIII
.

5
.
Partons pour la Syrie
: A song, with music by Philippe Droult and words variously attributed to Queen Hortense and to Count Alexandre de Laborde, which became a Bonapartist anthem.

1
.
Hamlet
: In Shakespeare’s play, Act I, Scene 2.

2
.
Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin
: See note 3 to
Chapter
XV
.

1
.
Don Juan
: At the end of the story (eg. in Molière’s play,
Don Juan
, Act V, Scene 5) the statue of the Commander comes to lead Don Juan down to hell.

2
.
I have no pretensions to be Manfred or Antony
: See note 6 and note 4 to
Chapter
XXXVI
.

1
.
King Louis XVIII and King Charles X
: The two kings who reigned during the Restoration, from 1815 to 1830. See note 1 to
Chapter
VI
.

2
.
Tenacem propositi virum
: ‘A man who is firm in his intentions’; Horace,
Odes
, III, 3, line 1. Already quoted (see note 11 to
Chapter
X
).

3
.
Conventionnel
: A member of the revolutionary Convention.

4
.
Marengo… Austerlitz
: Scenes of Napoleon’s great victories in 1800 and 1805.

5
.
eo rus
: ‘I am going to the country.’ No letter of Voltaire’s using this phrase has been identified, but Schopp, in his edition of the novel, points to an anecdote in Voltaire’s
Le Siècle de Louis XIV
in which Voltaire recalls having asked the Abbé de Saint-Pierre how he considered his impending death, to which the abbé replied: ‘Like a journey to the country.’

1
.
Sappho
: Greek poet of the sixth century
BC
, born on Lesbos, whose name has long been associated with female homosexuality: ‘Her tender passions were so violent, that some have represented her attachment with three of her female companions, Telesiphe, Atthis and Megara, as criminal… The poetess has been censured for writing with that licentiousness and freedom which so much disgraced her character as a woman’ (Lemprière,
Classical Dictionary
). Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, noted for her chastity: her breastplate would ward off tender looks and protect against desire. The references confirm the interlinked notions of Eugénie’s lesbianism and her ‘masculine’ independence.

2
.
Antonia in the Violon de Crémone
: A tale by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Antonia has a sublimely beautiful voice, but is forbidden to sing by her doctor, who says that it will kill her. She takes up the violin instead. One night, her father dreams that he hears the sound of his daughter’s voice, singing to the violin. The next morning, he finds her dead.

3
.
three or four days
: According to
Chapter
LXXII
, M. de Saint-Méran had covered only 6 leagues (about 25 kilometres); ‘three or four hours’ seems more plausible.

4
.
as Claudius says to Hamlet
: See
Hamlet
, Act I, Scene 2.

5
.
Thalberg
: Sigismund Thalberg (1812–71), pianist, made his Paris début in 1835.

1
.
Haydée… Lord Byron
: See Byron’s
Don Juan
, Canto II.

2
.
Denys the Tyrant
: Denys the Younger, fourth-century tyrant of Syracuse, who was said to have become a teacher after being expelled from the city in 343
BC
.

3
.
Ali Tebelin
: See note 3 to
Chapter
XXVII
.

4
.
a delightful picture
: A direct reference to the similarity of the scene evoked by Dumas and paintings of Oriental subjects.

5
.
‘He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord’
: Dumas notes the origin of this in Proverbs 19.

6
.
hegumenos
: The bursar.

7
.
cangiar
: A scimitar, or curved sword.

8
.
pythoness
: A female soothsayer or prophetess.

9
.
Palicares
: Greek soldiers during the War of Independence (modern Greek:
palikaris
, ‘brave’).

10
.
seraskier Kurchid
: A
seraskier
is a commander-in-chief under the Turks. Kurchid gave Ali Tebelin his assurance that, if he surrendered, his life would be spared, but broke his word.

11
.
firman
: An edict of the sultan.

1
.
Lucy of Lammermoor
: A reference to Walter Scott’s novel,
The Bride of Lammermoor
(
Chapter
XXXIII
).

1
.
false angostura or St Ignatius’ nut
: The Indian tree
Strychnos nuxvomica
, the seeds of which contain strychnine and other poisons.

1
.
Locusta… Agrippina
: Locusta was employed by Nero to poison Britannicus, then was executed for trying to poison Nero himself. Agrippina, Nero’s mother, poisoned her husband, the emperor Claudius, then, ‘after many cruelties and much licentiousness’ (Lemprière,
Classical Dictionary
) was assassinated by her son. Brunhaut and Fredegonde were rival Frankish queens in the sixth century. Fredegonde seems to have had a particularly murderous career: her rivalry with Brunhaut began when she had Brunhaut’s husband done to death.

2
.
like Polonius in Shakespeare
: Killed accidentally while hiding behind the arras. See
Hamlet
, Act III, Scene 4.

1
.
‘Confiteor’
: ‘I confess’: the start of a prayer in the Latin mass.

1
.
Fiesco
: A reference to Schiller’s play,
Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Gena
, which Dumas had adapted as
Fiesque de Lavagna
, a five-act historical drama turned down by the Comédie-Française in 1828.