On Exhibition

Notes on the text

(by David Page)

 

[Page 245, line 17] chabutrasor chubutras, garden pavilions.

[Page 246, line 17] Concertina it does not seem possible to identify the weekly review intended here. The ORG suggests that it might be the Athenaeum or the Academy.

[Page 246, line 25] Sally Lunn a tea cake containing sultanas and served buttered. The city of Bath in the west of England is the home of the Sally Lunn bun, as it was claimed to be of the original baker of that name. The entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is less sure of her historical existence, but carries an interesting article about her supposed origins.

[Page 247, line 4] Inman liner The Inman Line was established in 1850 as the Liverpool and Philadelphia Steamship Company. It operated on the transatlantic route and had a fleet of fast vessels, which included the City of Berlin, City of New York, and City of Paris.

[Page 247, line 18] five-thousand-ton four-master The Inman Line City of Chicago, built in 1883, carried four masts and was of 5,202 tons gross. (https://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=cichi)

[Page 247, lines 21-22] eight-thousand-ton palace Cunarder The Cunard Line Umbria and her sister ship, the Etruria were built in 1884, were of 7,718 tons and fitted with three masts and twin funnels. (https://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=umbri)

[Page 247, line 22] Cunarder The Cunard Line was founded in 1840 as the North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and operated on the transatlantic route. Among their well-known vessels were the Campania, Caronia, Lusitania, Mauretania, and the Queen Mary.

[Page 248, line 1] farouche socially inexperienced and lacking polish.

[Page 248, line 7] maidan park or open space.

[Page 248, line 7] chukkering him exercising him.

[Page 248, line 8] chota hazri early morning tea or breakfast.

[Page 248, line 23] Lothario a libertine or seducer, from the character of that name in Nicholas Rowe’s tragedy The Fair Penitent (1703).
Pre-Rafaelite or ‘Pre-Raphaelite’, originally a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (D. G. Rossetti, W. M. Rossetti, W. Holman Hunt, J. E. Millais, James Collinson, Thomas Woolmer and F. G. Stephens), 1848. The group’s intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach adopted by the Mannerist artists who followed Raphael and Michelangelo. The expression also applied to those who painted in the same style, chiefly their disciples, Arthur Hughes, Edward Burne-Jones (Kipling’s Uncle Ned) and William Morris (Deputy ‘Uncle Topsy’).

[Page 249, line 13] Down in the Doldrums appears to be an invented title, and it does not seem possible to identify Kipling’s novelist friend. The ORG comments that the first two whom he met in London in 1889 were Rider Haggard (1856-1925) and “F. Anstey” (Thomas Anstey Guthrie, 1856-1934).

[Page 249, line 14] crumpets are small flat disc-shaped yeast cakes, about 5 inches in diameter and half an inch thick, with a resilient texture and are noted for having a multitude of small holes in the top. They are usually toasted and then spread with butter and/or honey, treacle or jam. The topping runs into the holes and they taste delicious – just forget about counting calories!

[Page 249, line 17] muffins in 19th century Britain these were soft round bread-like cakes, eaten hot with butter.

[Page 249, line 22] Mulvaney the Irish member of Kipling’s Soldiers Three.

[Page 251, line 10] dharzee tailor.

[Page 252, line 18] peg a measure of spirits, usually whisky.

[Page 252, line 20] khitmatgars table servants.

[D. P.]
©David Page 2007 All rights reserved