О. Шаповалова - Лучшие расследования Шерлока Холмса / The Best of Sherlock Holmes

150

Charles the First – Charles I (1600–1649), the King of England who came into conflict with the Parliament which resulted in the beginning of the English Civil War and the execution of the King.

151

Cavalier – cavaliers were the Royalist party, supporters of Charles I and his son Charles II (1630–1685) who left the country during the English Civil War and became the King of England in 1660.

152

this battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the brows of the royal Stuarts – the House of Stuart (also spelled Stewart or Steuart) is a royal House that ruled England since 1603 till 1714. The Stuart reign was interrupted in 1649 by the execution of Charles I and restored in 1660 when Charles II acceded to the throne. The crown of Stuart House is believed to be destroyed by the Parliament after Charles I’s execution.

153

Pope’s ‘Homer’– Alexander Pope (1688–1744) was an English poet best known for his translation of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. The translation was published by volumes during many years. It was absurd to steal only one piece of a Pope’s Homer set.

154

to crack a crib – Conan Doyle loved criminal slang, and peppered his stories with it whenever the occasion arose. Francis Grose’s 1811 “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” defines “to crack a crib” as “to break open a house.”

155

parishis a political subdivision of a British county, usually corresponding in boundaries to an original ecclesiastical parish (church division)

156

Queen Anne – the queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1702–1707), then the queen of Great Britain (1707–1714). During her reign the most popular architecture style was the English baroque.

157

Malplaquet – the battle of Malplaquet (11 September 1709) took place during the War of the Spanish Succession

158

you will find it useful at the trial – in the 19th century ballistics technology level didn’t allow identification of a certain gun as the murder weapon. It was only possible to determine if the bullet in question could have been fired from a gun of that type.

159

You may not be aware that the deduction of a man’s age from his writing is one which has brought to considerable accuracy by experts. In normal cases one can place a man in his true decade with tolerable confidence. – It was widely believed in the 19th century that a competent handwriting-expert could determine gender, age, character and so on from handwriting, but nowadays this manner of reading personality is proved to be impossible.

160

The Guild of St. Georgewas founded in 1871 by John Ruskin (famous English art critic, philosopher and philanthropist of Victorian era) to reduce the grave social effects of the industrial capitalism. The Guild still exists in the form of a charitable Education Trust.

161

in the dock – a dock is a part of a courtroom where a person charged with a crime stands

162

Warrantis a legal document issued in order to authorise a restriction of individual’s rights, such as a search or an arrest.

163

Street Arabis a homeless child.

164

harum-scarumrefers to an irresponsible person

165

marked for the sword-belt – that means that Barclay was going to be granted a knighthood

166

the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba – Holmes refers to the Bible story of King David’s seduction of Bathsheba who was the wife of a soldier named Uriah. King David fell in love with Bathsheba and in order to get rid of Uriah sent him in the first lines of the battle where Uriah was killed.

167

tour de force – feat of strength ( French )

168

Scylla and Charybdisare two sea monsters of Greek mythology. They threatened Odyssey from the opposite banks of narrow waters. The proverb “between Scylla and Charybdis” has the meaning of “having to choose between two evils.”

169

a ramblemeans a walk for pleasure without a certain aim

170

general practitioneris a doctor who deals with acute and chronic illnesses and treats patients of all ages and sexes

171

sanctum – holy place ( Latin ). Here it means a private place.

172

London University – founded in 1836, the University of London is the third oldest university in England and the second largest university in the UK. It incorporates several Colleges that are the main educational and research bodies.

173

King’s College Hospitalwas opened in 1840 in one of the poorest areas of London in order to train medical students of King’s College, one of the two Colleges that formed the original University of London.

174

Lady-dayis the day of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (march 25). Lady-day is one of the four days in which traditionally rents are paid in England.

175

Fool’s errand(aka snipe hunt) is a type of joke that consists in giving an impossible, imaginary or useless task.

176

Impis a mythological creature of a nasty character. Here it refers to a naughty child.

177

Vernetwas the surname of three French painters of the same dynasty: Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714–1789), a landscape and marine painter; Claude-Joseph’s son Antoine-Charles-Horace Vernet (1758–1836), a battle painter; and Claude-Joseph’s grandson Émile-Jean-Horace Vernet (1789–1863), sport and military painter.

178

Whitehallis a street in the City of Westminster where the buildings of His/Her Majesty Government of the UK are placed. It is also a metonym for the Government itself.

179

bona-fide – good faith ( Latin ). Here: real.

180

common – common land is an area on which people have certain traditional collective rights such as to let their livestock graze freely or to collect firewood and so on

181

The Daily Newswas a national British newspaper published from 1846 to 1960 (since 1912 under different names). Its founder and first editor was Charles Dickens.

182

X2473 – in Victorian Britain most newspapers maintained anonymous post-boxes with identification numbers for personal use. Communication through such a newspaper box allowed both the poster and the respondent to conceal their identity.

183

A life preserveris a self-defense weapon, for example a bludgeon.

184

Mesmericrefers to hypnotic. The term derives from the name of Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) a German physician, the author of the “animal magnetism” theory. Mesmer was a skilled hypnotist.

185

The Triple Alliancewas a secret military alliance of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy opposed to Triple Entente Alliance between Russia, the UK and France. The Triple Alliance was formed in 1882 and lasted until the start of World War I in 1914.

186

Paisley shawl – Paisley is a town in Scotland where copies of Indians Kashmir shawls were woven during the 19th century

187

Coldstream Guards – Her Majesty’s Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards is a still-existing Foot Guard regiment of the British Army. In the 19th century it took part in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, Egypt expeditions, the Second Boer War.