GLOSSARY

Act I.

Mrs. Partlet, a pew-opener:

A pew opener went up and down the aisles of a church, opening the private boxed pews which were rented by wealthy members of the congregations.

Knells:

Funereal bell-ringing.

Lay:

Song.

Amatory numbers:

Romantic music.

Belted Earls:

This phrase refers to the belt and spurs with which knights and others were invested when raised to their titles.

Curate:

Ordained assistant to a vicar or rector.

Comely:

Pleasant to look at.

Tush:

An expression of contempt or impatience.

Puling:

Whining.

Auspicious plighting:

Fortunate engagement.

Sol:

Roman name of the sun god.

Reverie:

A fit of abstracted musing, a day dream.

Helen of Troy:

In Greek legend, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and wife of Meneleus, king of Sparta, whose elopement with Paris brought about the siege and destruction of Troy.

Cloy:

Satiate, glut, surfeit, fill to loathing.

Apostrophe:

Exclamatory address in the course of a public speech to a person or object.

Navvy:

Labourer employed in excavating etc. for canals, railways, roads, etc. From "navigator".

St. Mary Axe:

(pronounced “Simmary Axe”) A street in the City of London.

Necromancy:

Magic; particularly, foretelling the future by communicating with the dead.

Amulet:

Thing worn as a charm against evil.

Cast a nativity:

Draw up a horoscope based on a person’s date and time of birth.

Abudah chest:

In the pseudo-Persian fairy tale by James Ridley, Abudah had a box containing an old woman prophet.

Melt a rich uncle in wax:

Hasten his death by melting down a wax image him.

Djinn:

A genie; supernatural spirit in Arabian mythology.

Posthumous shade:

Ghost.

Bogies:

Goblins, or bogey men.

Tetrapods:

A form of verse used by ancient Greek tragedians.

'Lectrobiology:

(Electrobiology) Originally the science of the electrical phenomena of living beings. By the middle of the nineteenth century the word had come to be used for a form of hypnosis practised by popular entertainers ostensibly based on the so-called principles of animal magnetism.

Nosology:

The classification of diseases.

Philology:

The science of language, love of learning and literature.

Puffing our goods:

Advertising our goods with exaggerated or false claims.

Wood:

Cask or unbottled storage for wine etc.

Pipe:

A cask usually containing about 105 imperial gallons.

Hogshead:

Large cask containing 52 ½ imperial gallons.

Army and Navy Stores:

The store began as a co-operative society, The Army & Navy Co-operative Society, formed in 1871 by a group of army and navy officers. The intention was to supply “articles of domestic consumption and general use to its members at the lowest remunerative rates”. Membership of “The Stores” was open only to those in the higher ranks of the armed forces and the widows of officers.

Noisome:

Harmful, noxious, ill-smelling, disgusting.

Fell:

Fierce, ruthless, terrible, destructive.

Sally Lunn:

A plain, light tea-cake, usually served split and toasted with jam named after an eighteenth-century street vendor in Bath.

Brindisi:

A drinking song.

Go bail for:

Vouch for.

Jorum:

A large drinking vessel, or its contents.

Garner:

Granary, storehouse.

Act II.

Meet:

Fitting or appropriate

K. C. B.:

Knight Commander of the Bath, the second class of the Order of the Bath.

Q. C.:

Queen’s Counsel, a senior barrister appointed by the Crown on the nomination of the Lord Chancellor.

Al-fresco-ly:

Outdoors.

Guinea:

Twenty one shillings.

Lowering:

Scowling, threatening.

One Tree Hill:

A hill in Greenwich Park. In the days of Greenwich Fair the hill was often rolled down.

Rosherville:

A pleasure-garden, with zoo, amusements and theatrical entertainment near Gravesend which was particularly popular with working-class Londoners.

Ahrimanes:

The personification of evil in Persian mythology.