Array Коллектив авторов - 30 лучших рассказов британских писателей / 30 Best British Short Stories

W.– West

brougham– a four-wheeled one-horse carriage designed in 1838 by Henry Brougham, a former lord chancellor of England

kept me on tenter-hooks– idiom kept me in a state of anxiety

Dionysius(430 BC–367 BC) – a tyrant of Syracuse, an ancient Greek city on the east coast of Sicily

Pall Mall– Pall Mall Gazette, a British newspaper, one of the ‘poplars’

tetradrachm– an ancient Greek coin used for trade with the Scythians and the Celts

Offa– the king of Mercia (757–796), one of the most powerful kings of Anglo-Saxon England

Mercia– one of the most powerful kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England in the 7th–9th centuries

Richmond– an outer borough (an incorporate town or district with special privileges) of London, along the River Thames

Padua– a city in northern Italy, west of Venice, first mentioned in 302 BC

Euclideas– here: one of ancient Greek coins

Belgravia– an area in the borough of Westminster in London, east of Chelsea and south of Hyde Park

Popish priest= Catholic priest

Buckingham Palace– royal residence in London; the famous architect John Nash converted the house built in 1705 for the Duke of Buckingham into a royal residence for king George IV

the Exchequer– the government department responsible for receiving and distributing the public revenue, founded in the 12th century; later the Exchequer was joined with the Treasury

Tory party– the byname of the Conservative party founded in 1830, one of the two major parties dominating the British political life

Gladstone– William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), four-time prime minister of Great Britain

synod– in the Christian church, a local assembly of church officials

Burmah– Burma (now Myanmar), a country in Southeast Asia

St. Peter– the Apostle, one of Christ’s disciples; when asked thrice, after Jesus Christ’s arrest, if he knew Him, St. Peter said ‘No.’

rococo– a style in painting, sculpture, architecture and decorative arts, originated in Paris in the early 19th century

archangel– in the hierarchy of angels, one of the chief angels

omnibus– a large vehicle designed to carry passengers on a fixed route, a bus

Liverpool– a city and port on the Irish Sea in northeastern England

the Palais Royal– an area and a famous theatre in Paris

Frascati’s– a casino in Paris

sou– a French coin of low value (no longer in use)

Rouge et Noir– Red and Black (French) , a French card game played in casinos of France, Italy and Monte Carlo

the Theory of Chances– a theory used in gambling to predict the outcome of a game, the result of which may be determined by chance, or accident, or miscalculation

napoleons– old French gold coins equal to 20 francs

Sacre mille bombes!– French exclamation of anxiety

Mille tonnerres!– French exclamation of encouragement

croupier– a person who gathers money and pays out winnings in a gambling house

Sacre petit polisson de Napoleon!– Oh, little prankster of Napoleon! (French)

Austerlitz– the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, one of the greatest victories of Napoleon over joined Russian-Austrian forces

Nom d’une pipe!– an exclamation ‘listen’, ‘oh’, ‘there’ (French)

Vive le vin!– Long live the wine! (French)

grenadier– a soldier trained to hurl grenades, small explosive bombs

cabriolet– a two-wheeled, one-horse open carriage, first used in France in the 18th century

Le Maistre– Antoine Le Maistre (1608–1658), a French religious figure and theologian

‘Voyage autour de ma chambre’– ‘A Trip around My Room’ (French)

Guido Fawkes– Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an active participant of the famous Gunpowder Plot against James I of England in 1605

desperado– a bandit, a ruffian

‘Childe Harold’– ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’, a poem by George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), a famous British Romantic poet

the Inquisition– an institution of the Roman Catholic Church established in the 13th century to combat heresy

the Harz Mountains– a northern mountain range in Germany

Westphalia– a historic region in northwestern Germany

canopy– a hood or cover over a door, bed, fireplace, etc.

cravat– a piece of linen or lace worn as a tie

posse comitatus– a group of armed men who help to maintain order, catch criminals, etc.

le Sous-préfet– sub-prefect (French)

le Garçon– waiter, servant (French)

proces verbal– transcript of interrogation

au revoir– goodbye (French)

myrmidons– here: accomplices

compagnons de voyage– voyage companions (French)

olla podrida– ragout made of red beans, pork and sausage ( Spanish )

ulster– a long, loose overcoat with a belt

quartermaster– an officer responsible for the quartering and movement of troops; on a ship, an officer in charge of steering and signals

mal de mer– sea-sickness (French)

the New York Herald– an American daily newspaper published from 1835 till 1924

The Horror of the Heights

R. N.– Royal Navy

Kent– a county in England facing the European continent across the Strait of Dover

Sussex– a historic county in southeastern England along the English Channel coast

Salisbury Plain– a treeless area, a chalk plateau, in the county of Wiltshire, famous for its prehistoric monuments, the best known of which is Stonehenge

Rheims– a city in northeastern France; most French kings were crowned there since 1429

the Pau-Biarritz district– a district along the Bay of Biscay in southwestern France, near the Spanish border

the Homburg-Wiesbaden district– a district in the south and southwest of Germany

Bayonne– a town in southwestern France

Leicestershire– a county in England, in the East Midlands region

Venetian blind– a wind screen made of horizontal stripes of wood or plastic

barograph– a barometer that records changes of barometric pressure

tourbillon– whirlwind, turbulence (French)

Mannheim– a city in southwestern Germany on the Rhine River, famous for the manufacture of instruments and equipment