117 Agronomic Society of Rouen: This organization is fictitious, but there did exist a Seine-Inférieure Agricultural Society.
118 promissory notes: A promissory note is a promise, in writing, to pay at first presentation or at a predetermined future time a sum of money to another person or to his or her account.
120 cambric: A very delicate linen fabric.
120 twill: A linen or cotton fabric closely woven in such a way as to appear to be crossed by diagonal lines.
120 vamped: The vamp is the part of the shoe or boot that covers the front of the foot—the instep and toes.
122 landau: A heavy, four-wheeled carriage with a hood divided into two sections that could be folded back.
124 Chariot of State: Le char de l’État is as common a poetical or literary expression for the government of a nation as the English “ship of state,” and could have been translated that way; in Monsieur Lieuvain’s speech, however, this mixed metaphor—the chariot tossing in the waves—not only is Flaubert’s deliberate gibe at the art of speechifying but also foreshadows an important later episode in the novel.
124 undermining the foundations: Toward the end of the book, it is Homais who is, for a short time, undermining the foundations.
130 ex aequo: The beginning of the Latin phrase ex aequo et bono, a legal formulation meaning “according to what is equitable (or just) and good (or fair).” It is used in decisions made according to principles of what is fair and just under the circumstances, overriding the strict rule of law. Here, of course, it is put in the mouth of an official awarding a prize for the best pig, in order to show up his pomposity.
131 Barn dust … hardened them: This is the third instance of Flaubert’s use of an eccentric syntax that matches a series of three subjects to their three respective verbs.
132 shakos: A type of tall, cylindrical military cap with a peak or a visor, sometimes decorated with a plume, chain, or ribbon, and with usually, on the front, a metal badge bearing an emblem or sometimes a regiment number.
133 fiacre: Generally, a carriage available for hire; in this case, the landau in which the Councilor is traveling.
134 dithyrambic lines: A dithyramb is a tribute written in an exalted or grandiloquent style.
134 A Thousand and One Nights: Also known as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, this is a collection of ancient Persian-Indian-Arabian tales, originally in Arabic, arranged in its present form in about 1450 and translated into French and published in France by Antoine Galland from 1707 to 1717. The tales, each self-contained, are linked by their supposed teller, Scheherazade, who, condemned to death by her husband, tells one story each night, postponing the climax of each story until the following night and thereby indefinitely postponing her execution. (She is eventually pardoned.)
135 vestries: The vestry, or sacristy, is the room in the church where the sacred vessels and sacerdotal robes are kept; the word is also used symbolically, as here, to represent religion or clericalism.
135 apostles of Loyola: The Jesuits (see note to p. 106).
138 tricot: A close-knit, sturdy twilled fabric of wool or wool and cotton.
139 blowing: Panting, recovering their breath.
144 pipe: Flaubert himself kept a pipe and a glass of water on his bedside table.
146 oxalic acid … rosin … bone black: Oxalic acid is a strong acid used for bleaching and cleaning, especially for removing rust; rosin is a solid form of resin obtained from pine trees and other plants and is used to make varnish, among other things; bone black is a substance obtained by charring animal bones and is used especially as a pigment or adsorbent.
149 picots: Norman dialect for “turkeys.”
150 poor Emma: For Flaubert himself, “poor” was often a term of affection.
151 furze: A spiny evergreen shrub.
152 strephopodia: The medical term for clubfoot. Terms for different varieties of clubfoot will be employed in this chapter, usually with an accompanying explanation in the text itself.
152 the volume by Doctor Duval: Vincent Duval’s Traité Pratique du Pied-Bot (A Practical Treatise on the Clubfoot, 1839—available online) was Flaubert’s main source for the medical information in this chapter. The book contains the pertinent information that Flaubert’s father, Achille-Cléophas Flaubert, attempted, unsuccessfully, to cure a woman of clubfoot by keeping her leg locked in an iron brace for nine months. In this case Doctor Duval himself subsequently operated successfully on the patient.
153 claudication: Lameness, limping.
154 Ambroise Paré … Celsus … Dupuytren … Gensoul: Ambroise Paré (c. 1510–90), surgeon to four kings of France, introduced more humane medical treatments and promoted the use of artificial limbs. Aulus Cornelius Celsus (fl. A.D. 14) wrote an eight-volume work on medicine, De re medicina, that became very influential when it was rediscovered and published during the Renaissance. Guillaume Dupuytren (1777–1835), prominent French surgeon, lecturer, and author, described a contraction of the hand that bears his name. Joseph Gensoul (1797–1858), French surgeon specializing in the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, performed the first removal of the upper jaw.
154 encephalon … ablation … superior maxilla … tenotomy knife … lint: Encephalon, brain; ablation, surgical removal; superior maxilla, upper jaw; tenotomy knife, a surgeon’s slender knife with a blunt curved tip, for the subcutaneous cutting of tendons; lint, a soft, fluffy material for dressing wounds, prepared by scraping or fraying linen or cotton cloth.
155 de visu: Legal phrase, in Latin, meaning “having seen it ourselves.”
156 entrechats: In ballet an entrechat is a jump into the air during which the dancer repeatedly and rapidly crosses the legs back and forth alternately.
156 ecchymoses … edema … tumefaction … phlyctenae: Again, Flaubert is offering a succession of specialized medical terms: ecchymoses, bruises; edema, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in connective tissue; tumefaction, swelling; phlyctenae, small blisters containing transparent fluid.
157 poultices: A poultice is a soft mass of bran, bread, or another substance, spread on cloth and usually heated, and applied to bruises or infected areas of the body; it was another favorite remedy for a wide range of ailments.
158 Bon-Secours: Notre-Dame du Bon Secours in Blosseville, a richly decorated pilgrimage church in the vicinity of Rouen to the southeast, on an elevation overlooking the Seine.
158 holy water: Water that has been blessed by a priest used as a purifying agent in Christian ritual.
159 strabismus, chloroform, lithotrity:Strabismus is the abnormal alignment of the eyes because of a muscle imbalance—perhaps the doctor is referring to an operation to correct this; chloroform, a colorless, sweet-smelling toxic liquid once popular as a general anesthetic; lithotrity, a surgical operation to crush stones in the bladder or urethra so that they can be passed out of the body.
160 apoplexy: The older term for a stroke—a rupture or obstruction of an artery in the brain.
164 cold cream: In English in the original.
164 dimity: A lightweight, sheer cotton fabric with fine cords.
165 centimes: A centime was one-hundredth of a franc.
165 Saint Peter’s Day: June 29.
166 fifteen napoleons: A napoleon was a twenty-franc gold coin.
166 Amor nel cor: Italian for “Love in the heart.” Flaubert’s mistress, Louise Colet, had given him a cigar case (or holder) with the same motto on it. By the time the novel was published,
their affair had ended. She was hurt by his inclusion of this detail, and in revenge she wrote and published a poem called “Amor Nel Cor” in which she referred to a certain novel as the work of a “traveling salesman.”
168 Duke of Clarence in his butt of malmsey: George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449–78), a troublesome royal relative, was rumored to have been “privately executed” in the Tower of London by being drowned in a vat of malmsey wine. Shakespeare included him as a character in Richard III.
175 Hôtel de Provence: A fictitious Rouen hotel on the banks of the Seine. Emma will later stay there with Léon on their “honeymoon.”
178 manchineel tree: An evergreen tree native to tropical regions. It produces a small, applelike poisonous fruit, and standing under it is dangerous because of the toxic effect of contact with its blistering, milky sap.
178 A Dieu!: Literally, “to God”; the preceding adieu, “goodbye” or “farewell,” is a one-word form of the original à Dieu, just as the English “good bye” is a contraction of the original “God be with ye.”
183 snuff box: Snuff is pulverized tobacco to be inhaled through the nostrils.
183 Bois-Guillaume: A town just outside Rouen.
183 sternutative: Homais’s fancy word for a substance that causes one to sneeze—for example, snuff.
183 emollients, dulcifiers: An emollient is a substance that softens or soothes inflamed tissues; a dulcifier is a form of tranquilizer.
183 That is the question!: A rather irrelevant, but popular, quotation from Hamlet’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, act 3, scene 1.
184 mustard plasters: A mustard plaster was a pharmaceutical preparation, one of whose ingredients was powdered mustard, stiffer than ointment and usually applied to the body spread on a piece of cloth; it was a counterirritant and was used to bring the blood to the surface of the skin.
186 tisanes: A tisane is a drink containing a small amount of a medicinal plant substance.
187 host … ciborium: The host is the eucharistic bread (made of unleavened wheat and natural water) symbolizing the body of Christ in the Christian sacrament of Communion. The ciborium is a goblet-shaped vessel used to hold the host.
187 reliquary: A container for a religious relic—that is, for an object venerated because of its association with a saint or martyr.
188 Monseigneur: The archbishop of Rouen.
188 Monsieur de Maistre: Joseph de Maistre (c. 1754–1821), writer, was a passionate Roman Catholic, fine stylist, and literary enemy of eighteenth-century rationalism; he believed the world should be ruled absolutely by the pope as spiritual leader. Flaubert’s contempt for this thinker is indicated by his referring to him with an ironic “Monsieur” instead of giving his whole name.
188 troubadour seminarists or repentant bluestockings: Seminary students striving to be poets; “bluestocking” was a derisive term originally applied to certain eighteenth-century women who held, or attended, evening salons devoted to intellectual discussions.
188 Think On It Well … Intended for the Young: The first title is Pensez-y, ou refléxions sur les quatre fins dernières by the Jesuit Paul de Barry (1587–1661); the second, Homme du monde aux pieds de Marie (1836) by Victor d’Anglars; and the third, an adaptation of the anti-Voltairean Des Erreurs de Voltaire (1762) by the Jesuit Claude-Adrien Nonnotte (1711–93).
189 Good Friday … sausage: In Christian ritual, Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, is the anniversary of Christ’s death on the cross and is observed as a day of mourning. Meat is not eaten on that day (or on any Friday, in Catholic practice); the elder Bovary’s behavior would therefore be very offensive to his pious wife.
190 catechism class: A class of instruction in Christian doctrine, using the catechism.
191 the famous tenor Lagardy: A fictional character.
191 Castigat ridendo mores: “It corrects our morals with laughter”—eventually to become the motto of classical comedy, it was composed by the poet (and champion of “living Latin”) Jean de Santeuil (1630–97) for the Italian harlequin Dominique to use in his theater.
191 Voltaire’s tragedies: See note to p. 68.
191 The Urchin of Paris: A vaudeville play (1836) in two acts by Jean-François-Alfred Bayard (1796–1853) and Émile Vanderbruch (1794–1862).
191 Galileo: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who upheld the Copernican theory that the earth revolved around the sun—a theory denounced as dangerous to the faith—and was tried by the Inquisition in 1633. Threatened with torture, he was forced to recant the theory of the Copernican solar system and sent into exile in Siena under house arrest.
191 the Fathers: The Church Fathers: early Christian writers from the first century A.D. to Saint Gregory I (c. 540–604); they formulated doctrines and codified religious observances, and their scholarly works were subsequently used as precedent.
193 Sieur Lheureux: The word sieur (literally, “lord”) is a formal title equivalent to monsieur (literally, “my lord”), now either obsolete or restricted to legal use. It could also be used ironically. In one of his letters to Louise Colet, Flaubert referred irritably to their friend Maxime as “sieur Du Camp”; Du Camp had suggested he needed to live in Paris in order to succeed as a writer. Du Camp caused further irritation by suggesting that Flaubert wear a “small wig” to disguise his premature baldness.
194 parterre … loges: The parterre is the part of the floor of a theater behind the orchestra; the loges are the boxes or small compartments in various sections of a theater, containing a few seats.
194 Lucie de Lammermoor: The French version of Lucia di Lammermoor (1836), an opera by the popular Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848), was first performed in Paris in 1839. It was based on Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor (1819).
195 cavatina: In opera, a short aria.
196 doublet … dirk: A doublet is a man’s close-fitting jacket; dirk is the Scots word for “dagger.”
198 barley water: Also called orgeat, a drink based on a syrup originally made using barley, later with an emulsion of sweet and bitter almonds; during these years it was customarily served at evening dancing parties as well as at the theater.
201 O bel ange, ma Lucie!: The last words sung by Edgar, Lucie’s lover, after he stabs himself (in act 3, scene 2, in the French version).
201 Tamburini, Rubini, Persiani, Grisi: Respectively, Antonio Tamburini, an Italian baritone; Giovanni Battista Rubini, an Italian tenor; Fanny Tacchinardi-Persiani, an Italian soprano; and Giulia Grisi, an Italian soprano, all famous opera singers of the early nineteenth century.
PART III
205 La Chaumière: La Grande Chaumière was a dance hall on the boulevard Montparnasse near the boulevard Raspail (then known as the boulevard d’Enfer [Hell]). It was started as a combination amusement park and beer garden by an Englishman, Tickson, in 1783, the name coming from the fact that it was then a collection of thatched cottages (chaumières). After a change of ownership in 1837, it eventually became so popular that the boulevard Montparnasse was called “the boulevard that leads to La Grande Chaumière.” Its customers were mostly students, and the polka and the cancan were danced there for the first time.
205 Luxembourg: The Luxembourg Garden, a large park in Paris bordering the Latin Quarter.
205 Code: This is the Napoleonic, or Civil, Code, promulgated by Napoléon I in 1804 and embodying the private law (i.e., regulating relations between individuals) of France. A version of it is still in force.
&
nbsp; 205 grand apartment … garret: The original French text contrasts entresol (entresol or mezzanine) with quatrième étage (fourth floor). The entresol apartment was one located on a mezzanine floor, usually between the ground floor and the second floor. In the sort of tenancy arrangement that existed in Paris at that time, the wealthier families occupied the lower floors of a building, with tenants becoming progressively poorer as one ascended, since the upper floors, being less attractive—colder and with lower ceilings, besides being harder to reach in the days before elevators—were cheaper to rent.
208 clematis: A vine with three leaflets and usually white or purple flowers.
209 four scenes from The Tower of Nesle: La Tour de Nesle was an immensely popular historical drama (1832) by Frédéric Gaillardet (1808–82), rewritten by the elder Alexandre Dumas (1802–70); set in the early fourteenth century, it was based on a legend concerning torrid love affairs that took place there involving the daughters-in-law of Philip IV. The tower itself was an early-thirteenth-century guard tower on the Left Bank of the Seine opposite the old castle of the Louvre, on the present site of the Institut de France.
212 parvis: From the word for “paradise,” a court, a square, or an enclosed space in front of a church.
212 trefoiled: Ornamented with a stylized leaf having three rounded leaflets.
212 verger: A church official in charge of looking after the church, keeping order during services, or serving as an usher or a sacristan (see note to p. 75).
212 Marianne Dancing: The folk name for the thirteenth-century stone carving, on the left-hand portal, of Salome dancing before her father, King Herod of Palestine, who ordered the execution of John the Baptist. The descriptions of the cathedral in this chapter are entirely faithful, except concerning the holy-water basins that reflect the nave; these are to be found in another Rouen church, Saint-Ouen.
213 holy-water basins: Small basins attached to a pillar or wall inside the entrance to a church containing water blessed by the priest; the devout, upon entering the church and, often, before leaving it (see p. 216), may dip three fingers (symbolizing the Trinity) or five (symbolizing Jesus’s wounds) or any other number or combination of fingers in the water and cross themselves.