Northanger Abbey (Barnes & Noble Classics) Read online

  v Way of bearing himself.

  w Mischievous irony.

  x Honored with your presence.

  y Marked with a sprig (leaf or small flower) design.

  z Periods.

  aa Scarves worn around the neck; neckties.

  ab City in Wiltshire (southern England) on the River Avon; site of a celebrated cathedral.

  ac Exhausting journey.

  ad County in southwestern England.

  ae Affability.

  af Oxford University, one of the principal English seats of higher learning.

  ag London school founded by the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1561.

  ah Lightweight cloak.

  ai Eccentric or teasing men.

  aj Royal Tunbridge Wells, a town in Kent (southeastern England).

  ak Or Royal Crescent; townhouses near the Upper Assembly Rooms that faced a park.

  al Formal or informal.

  am Drivers of two-wheeled, two-horse carriages.

  an Mild teasing.

  ao Secured the long hem of each others' dresses so they would not drag on the floor and impede dancing.

  ap The basic formation in the dance.

  aq Fictions that focus on personality rather than melodrama (romance) or humor (satire) but can contain elements of both.

  ar Genuine.

  as Hypocritical use of conventional concepts.

  at Feigned.

  au Orange-red.

  av Small notebook.

  aw Open-mesh weaving.

  ax On George Street, a short distance from the Upper Assembly Rooms.

  ay Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe are in the vicinity of the various pump rooms on Stall Street. They are going toward the buildings called Union Passage (on Union Street) and must cross the heavily trafficked Cheap Street (which intersects with High Street, one of the entries to the London Road). They are heading straight toward Edgar's Buildings.

  az Hats.

  ba Reined in.

  bb Respects.

  bc Bow while drawing back one foot along the ground.

  bd Familiar.

  be Given a sign of distress.

  bf Part of the horse in front of the rider.

  bg Gig: a lightly framed two-wheeled, one-horse carriage; town built: made in London.

  bh One of the colleges of Oxford University.

  bi Suspended by a pole, rather than a shaft, like the open two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage known as a curricle.

  bj Or splash-board: a panel to protect against splashes.

  bk North-south street that connects to Union Street and leads directly to the Edgar's or Edgar Buildings.

  bl Another Oxford University college.

  bm Just northwest of Pulteney Bridge; the hill, which overlooks Bath, was the scene of a 1643 battle in the first English Civil War.

  bn That's a promise.

  bo Bizarre specimen.

  bp Tedious chatterbox.

  bq Muff: a cylinder-shaped hand-warmer made of fur or cloth; tippet: in this case, a shoulder cape, also of fur or cloth, with hanging ends.

  br One of four rooms of the Upper Assembly Rooms, it connects the Ball Room (which held 1,200 people), the Tea or Concert Room, and the Card Room.

  bs That is, when you men want to have your way, you stop at nothing.

  bt In an uproar.

  bu Tease.

  bv First-rate.

  bw East of Bath; current site of the University of Bath. ++ Fuss.

  bx Susceptible to gout. John Thorpe assumes Mr. Allan's gout derives from drinking.

  by Drunk.

  bz Rickety.

  ca Sincere but naive.

  cb Embroidered.

  cc Mull: sheer cotton; jackonet. thin, soft muslin.

  cd Give us moral support.

  ce Ridden or broken to the saddle.

  cf Desire to please.

  cg Lavender-scented toilet water.

  ch Two weeks'.

  ci Chair, often covered, carried on poles by two men; the usual means whereby people of Catherine Morland's class would travel to social events, especially balls.

  cj Heavy overcoat made of wool, often with a short, layered cape attached.

  ck Suburb of Bristol on the River Avon, known for its hot springs.

  cl Kingsweston and Blaize (or Blaise) Castle are sites west of Bath, near Bristol. Blaise Castle, built in 1766, is actually a private summer house, so Catherine's longing for medieval gloom would have been frustrated.

  cm North of Pulteney Bridge, toward the Upper Assembly Rooms.

  cn Doorless, four-wheeled carriage with one or two seats.

  co Northward extension of Broad Street.

  cp Fine-looking horses.

  cq Picturesque site reached by following Lansdown Road.

  cr Square between Great Pulteney Street and Pulteney Bridge.

  cs Tapestries concealing secret passages.

  ct On Argyle Street, which connects Laura Place with Pulteney Bridge

  cu Northwest of Bath.

  cv A jade is a broken-down horse afflicted with emphysema.

  cw House servant who does chores and errands.

  cx Isabella derives satisfaction from spending time with James Morland rather than at a country inn; the expression derives from a card game, "commerce," based on exchanges and deal-making.

  cy They are playing cards, a common amusement during the period.

  cz North from the Great Pump Room, leading to the Edgar Buildings.

  da Nearby.

  db Rumple.

  dc Met him ages ago at the Bedford (possibly the coffee house, in London).

  dd That is, the early afternoon.

  de Between the Royal Crescent and the Circus, northwest of Milsom Street.

  df Not proper.

  dg Improper nature of unmarried couples riding in open carriages together.

  dh South of Bath, across the Avon.

  di Grove of small trees.

  dj Henry Tilney plays with the expression Catherine has acquired from Isabella Thorpe, but uses "amazement" to mean "bewilderment": It would be bewildering or shocking that young men hate novels because they read as many as women read.

  dk Decorative needlework with letters or verses embroidered in various kinds of stitches to show skill.

  dl Henry Tilney again teases Catherine about language. "Nice" can mean neat, proper, or well-executed, as in "a nicely bound book."

  dm Elaborate public praise.

  dn View in nature that resembles a painting; a key element in the late-eighteenth-century rediscovery of nature.

  do Terms derived from art technique: fore-grounds. those nearest the spectator; distances, and second distances: those farther away; side-screens: the use of lateral objects to focus the viewer's eye; perspectives: the organization of pictorial space using the viewer's eye as a point of view.

  dp Or enclosure; the division of public or common land into personal property using physical barriers, such as ditches or fences. The inclosure movement in England began in the twelfth century and increased rapidly during the period 1750 to 1800.

  dq Land owned by the monarch.

  dr Book size, with pages of about 5 by 7 1/2 inches; novels during this period were usually three or four volumes in duodecimo.

  ds Lending library, where patrons paid a small fee to borrow books.

  dt London sites.

  du Hard object such as a brick used as a missile.

  dv Room where guests are entertained.

  dw Requested, ordered.

  dx Probably souvenirs; spars are ornaments made from crystalline minerals.

  dy Flavored crushed ice or sherbet.

  dz Clever or slyly alert.

  ea Or sarcenet: dark, red, thin silk.

  eb London suburb. Isabella coyly says she would rather live in a London suburb than in the city.

  ec Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, interjections, prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns.

  ed Whether ownership of land or bu
ildings was to be signed over.

  ee Whether money held in funds or government bonds was to be signed over.

  ef Settlement in terms of a house and income.

  eg Calling or visiting cards.

  eh Either gold wedding bands or rings set all around with diamonds.

  ei Market town in Wiltshire, between Bath and London.

  ej Arrogant.

  ek Fewer than the usual or requisite number of partners in the dance formation.

  el One of the movements in country-style dancing, which is akin to American square dancing.

  em Seven nights and days, or a week from Saturday.

  en Estate manager.

  eo Made a formal call on.

  ep Ramparts: fortified walls; keep: the strongest, most secure part of a castle.

  eq Part of a monastery to which members of the religious order are restricted.

  er Various names for the manor houses on large estates.

  es Awe-inspiring, terrifying.

  et Fiction writers.

  eu Folding seat.

  ev Four-wheeled pleasure carriage pulled by four horses.

  ew Lap desk whose lid opens to provide storage space.

  ex Town 15 miles north of Bath, in southern Gloucestershire.

  ey Riders on the near horses of the four pulling the chaise who serve as guides.

  ez Uniformed.

  fa Attendants riding horses alongside the chaise.

  fb Fabric.

  fc Dressing tables.

  fd Stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body.

  fe Cheerful remark (used ironically here).

  ff Massive.

  fg Entryway to the estate, which would have a house for the gatekeeper.

  fh Traveling clothes.

  fi Window sash with hinges at the side.

  fj Thin covering of gold.

  fk Interwoven initials.

  fl Bedspread.

  fm Protective metal frame in front of a fireplace.

  fn Bundle of sticks.

  fo Heavy black wood of certain tropical trees.

  fp Kind of varnish with a hard, brilliant finish.

  fq Bedclothes; sheets and blankets.

  fr Outdoors.

  fs Her bed is probably a four-poster, with curtains on each side.

  ft Hair-powders: After wigs went out of fashion, men still powdered their hair white; breeches-ball: soap used to restore whiteness to servants' breeches.

  fu Bad penmanship; a servant probably wrote these receipts.

  fv To apply a usually warm, often medicated, mass onto a wound to speed healing.

  fw Bill from a blacksmith or other person who shoed horses.

  fx China used at breakfast.

  fy Lined with fruit trees.

  fz Container in which materials for netting (net-like weaving) were stored.

  ga Area where groups of trees are planted.

  gb In Britain, a county subdivision or, as likely here, the local unit of jurisdiction under the Church of England.

  gc Obsession.

  gd Hothouse that produces pineapples. General Tilney is bragging.

  ge Hothouses.

  gf Gazebo or folly on General Tilney's estate, such as the Auchincruive Tea-house architect Robert Adam built on the grounds of Oswald House in Ayr shire, Scotland, in 1778.

  gg Perfect cunning.

  gh Tired. The sentence is confusing: Catherine regards General Tilney's fatigue with suspicion.

  gi Drawers near the stove and chimney for keeping food warm.

  gj Degenerate; Catherine thinks the modern wing of the house abominable because medieval structures were destroyed to build it.

  gk Girl wearing clogs or sandals with elevated soles to keep her feet out of mud.

  gl Not wearing his full uniform.

  gm Floor or level.

  gn Properly; fittingly.

  go Church of England Sunday services were regularly held in the morning and afternoon, as well as in the evening.

  gp Out of doors.

  gq In the local church, the Tilneys have a pew reserved for them.

  gr Inscription to the memory of Mrs. Tilney that employs highly emotional language.

  gs Cotton fabric in checks or stripes.

  gt Cast-iron stove used to heat rooms.

  gu Small dressing rooms.

  gv That is, the stairs connected work areas like the kitchen and stables to the living quarters.

  gw Fever resulting from a liver disorder.

  gx Dried rhubarb roots were used as a laxative and stomach tonic.

  gy Now a district in Wandsworth, a borough of south London.

  gz Concealed his infatuation.

  ha I wash my hands of him.

  hb Sheep meat; here, a synonym for dinner.

  hc Town in Surrey in southeastern England.

  hd Half a deer.

  he Chandler shops made candles and soap, but the implication is that the village has several different kinds of stores.

  hf Curved bay window.

  hg Separated, with a thin layer of oil on top and viscous sediment at the bottom.

  hh Conceited fool.

  hi Address.

  hj Merry-making; possibly the recitation of humorous verses.

  hk Flirt.

  hl Curacy; the obligations of a clergyman in charge of a parish.

  hm Persons in charge of a station who may provide lodging or fresh horses.

  hn Common hired carriage.

  ho Main entry gate to the house, attached to the wall around the property.

  hp Sensitive.

  hq Delicate lace made in Belgium.

  hr Membership in one of the five ranks of English aristocracy: duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. Eleanor's husband is a viscount.

  hs Year.