Даниэль Дефо - Roxana

a Suit of Lace upon my Head : a set of lace upon my head-dress.

gentile : lady-like, elegant.

Painted : wearing make-up.

six : in other places in the novel Roxana says she had five children by her husband.

pretend : propose, intend.

Sence : sensation.

gay : immoral or dissipated. However, the word also meant brilliant or charming and Roxana probably intends to suggest the splendour of her life as well.

doubt : fear.

She-Butchers : Foster-mothers who took deserted children in return for a fee (usually between two and five guineas) were notoriously callous, frequently allowing children to die in order to save the money. See note 30.

Bend : bend sinister, commonly thought to be one of the signs of bastardy on a coat of arms.

Escapes : transgressions, peccadilloes.

the Guard du Corps of France : the largest cavalry troop of the King’s Household, enjoying considerable distinction and many privileges.

Parts : matters.

hansell’d : tried out (i.e., sexually).

a Mantua-Maker’s : A mantua (called after the Italian town once famous for silks) was a loose gown worn by women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

the fine Palace of Meudon : The magnificent château, built in the sixteenth century at Meudon, about six miles east of Versailles, became the residence of the dauphin. The splendid terrace had been added by Abel Servien, Marquis de Sablé, who had acquired the chateau in 1664.

Dauphine : Louis, ‘ le grand dauphin ’ (1661–1711), son and heir of Louis XIV, who predeceased his father.

Madam the Dauphiness, who was then living : The dauphine , Marie Anne Christine Victoire, Princess of Bavaria, died in 1690.

an Admiration : an exclamation of astonishment.

artificially : artfully.

shou’d not be above four Year : Protestant reformers considered desertion (variously, from four to ten years) equivalent to divorce and a sufficient condition for remarriage. In his Tetrachordon Milton argued the liberal Protestant case for dissolving marriage after a man was absent and not heard from for four years, but England was much slower than Protestant continental countries to permit legal divorce with the right of remarriage.

Shifts : tricks, dodges.

ten Thousand Crowns, instead of eight Thousand Livres : the French crown (as the écu was commonly called in England) was worth slightly less than the English crown or five shilling piece. Ten thousand French crowns were worth £2,300. Eight thousand livres were worth only £490.

chop upon : run into, chance suddenly upon.

chargeable : expensive.

get : beget.

Cordial-Water : an alcoholic stimulant (for the heart).

Citron : citron-water, a liquor made from brandy flavoured with lemon-peel.

Incog. as hecall’d it : incognito. Abbreviating words was a fashionable affectation. Swift complains of abbreviations such as ‘Rep for Reputation’ and ‘Incog for Incognito’ in his essay on Polite Conversation . See Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting the English Tongue. Polite Conversation, Etc ., ed. by Herbert Davis with Louis Landa (Basil Blackwood, 1957), pp. 114–15.

Excursion … Excursions : impropriety… outbursts.

couzening : cheating, beguiling.

Pont a Voisin : Pont-de-Beauvoisin.

Storm : violent blow.

12000 Pistoles : £10,320.

pretended : professed a desire (without a sense of feigning).

meer . perfect, absolute.

the Question : judicial torture.

the Chatellette : Originally a castle, the Châtelet contained several courts, including that of the lieutenant-general of police, and of a series of prisons for common criminals.

cast : condemned.

Roan : Rouen.

seven Thousand eight Hundred Pistoles : slightly more than £6,70 (see note 53).

a Copy of an Assignment on the Town-House : a copy of the legal transfer of the leasehold of the house.

a Procuration : a formal document giving legal authority for someone else to act for one; in effect, a letter of power of attorney.

as far as relates to second Causes : as far as man was responsible. The first or original cause is the creator of the universe; secondary causes are derived from the first cause.

Rochelle : La Rochelle was the port of embarkation for large numbers of Protestant refugees leaving Poitou.

Hurry : agitation, commotion.

Sup : sip.

Naught : naughty, wicked.

Stupidity : stupor, depression.

4000 Pistoles…a Thousand two Hundred Crowns : £3,400… £276.

protested : see note 42.

an Upper-Servant : an unmarried woman enjoyed essentially the same legal rights as a man, but upon marriage she lost those rights, including control over any money she might bring to the marriage. Defoe complains of the treatment of women by their husbands in Conjugal Lewdness (1727): ‘I don’t take the State of Matrimony to be designed as that of Apprentices who are bound to the Family, and that the Wife is to be us’d only as the upper Servant in the House’ (p. 26).

Pin-Money : An amount of money, often stipulated in the marriage contract, given regularly by a husband to his wife for her private expenses. In The Spectator , No. 295 (7 February 1712), Addison complains that pin-money is a recent innovation that should not be allowed to spread.

laid by the Heels : arrested (originally, put in leg irons).

the Concergerie : the Conciergerie, the prison attached to the law courts in Paris.