The historical events described here form a backdrop to the novel. Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) came from a wealthy Irish Catholic family. He was educated in the law, which he practiced most successfully, and developed a passion for religious and political liberty. In 1823, together with Lalor Sheil and Thomas Wyse, he organized the Catholic Association, whose major goal was Catholic emancipation. This was achieved by act of parliament the following year. O'Connell served in parliament in the 1830's and was active in the passage of bills emancipating the Jews and outlawing slavery. In 1840 he formed the Repeal Association, whose goal was repeal of the 1800 Act of Union which joined Ireland to Great Britain. In 1842, after serving a year as Lord Mayor of Dublin, O'Connell challenged the British government by announcing that he intended to achieve repeal within a year. Though he openly opposed violence, Prime Minister Peel's government considered him a threat and arrested O'Connell and his associates in 1843 on trumped-up charges of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assembly. They were tried in 1844, and all but one were convicted, although the conviction was later overturned in the House of Lords. O'Connell did serve some time in jail and was considered a martyr to the cause of Irish independence. (return)
Footnote 2:
The Irish often referred to Daniel O'Connell as "the liberator." (return)
Footnote 3:
enfranchisement—being set free. This is a political observation by Trollope. (return)
Footnote 4:
traversers—Trollope repeatedly refers to the defendants as "traversers." The term probably comes from the legal term "to traverse," which is to deny the charges against one in a common law proceeding. Thus, the traversers would have been those who pled innocent.] (return)
Footnote 5:
sang froid—(French) coolness in a trying situation, lack of excitability (return)
Footnote 6:
The Four Courts was a landmark courthouse in Dublin named for the four divisions of the Irish judicial system: Common Pleas, Chancery, Exchequer, and King's Bench. (return)
Footnote 7:
Conciliation Hall, Dublin, was built in 1843 as a meeting place for O'Connell's Repeal Association. (return)
Footnote 8:
gauger—a British revenue officer often engaged in the collection of duties on distilled spirits. (return)
Macbeth, Act I, Sc. 3 "Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." (return)
Footnote 18:
dura ilia messorum—(Latin) the strong intestines of reapers—a quotation from Horace's Epodes III. Trollope was an accomplished Latin scholar and later wrote a Life of Cicero. His books are full of quotations from many Roman writers. (return)
Footnote 19:
collops—portions of food or slices of meat (return)
Footnote 20:
The text says "Tuam," but the destination is really Dunmore. (return)
post obit—a loan that need not be repaid until the death of a specified individual, usually someone from whom the borrower expected to inherit enough to repay the loan (return)
A tapis was a small cloth or tapestry sometimes used to cover a table; hence the expression "on the tapis" meant "on the table" or "under consideration." (return)
Footnote 27:
malgrÉ—(French) in spite of; notwithstanding (return)
bill discounted—A common way for young men to borrow money in nineteenth century Britain was to sign a promissory note (an "I.O.U."), often called a "bill," to repay the loan at a specified time. The lender gave the borrower less than the face value of the note (that is, he "discounted" the note), the difference being the interest. Sometimes these notes were co-signed by a third party, who became responsible for repaying the loan if the borrower defaulted; this is one of the major themes in Trollope's later book Framley Parsonage. Trollope himself was quite familiar with methods of borrowing, having gotten into debt in his youth. (return)
squireen—diminutive of squire; a minor Irish gentleman given to "putting on airs" or imitating the manners and haughtiness of men of greater wealth (return)
en dÉshabille—(French) partly or scantily dressed (return)
Footnote 41:
gallipots—A gallipot was a small ceramic vessel used by apothecaries to hold medicines. The term was also used colloquially to refer to apothecaries themselves and even physicians (Trollope so uses the term in later chapters). (return)
Footnote 42:
cottier—an Irish tenant renting land directly from the owner, with the price determined by bidding (return)
Footnote 43:
triste—(French) sad, mournful, dull, dreary (return)
Amadis . . . du Guesclin—mediaeval heroes. Amadis de Gaul was the title hero of a 14th century romantic novel, probably first written in Spanish, which was popular throughout Europe. Bertrand du Guesclin was a historical figure, a fourteenth century French soldier and Marshall of France. (return)
Footnote 46:
Puseyite—a follower of Edward Pusey (1800-1882), one of three scholars at Oxford who started a movement critical of the Church of England. One of the three, John Henry Newman, converted to Catholicism, and Pusey and his followers were accused of advocating Catholic practices. (return)
Footnote 47:
Lavater—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801), Swiss writer whose only widely read book was a tract on physiognomy (Physiognomische Fragmente zur BefÖrderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe). The Victorians put much stock in physiognomy. (return)
Footnote 48:
ne exeat—(Latin) "let him not leave"; a legal writ forbidding a person to leave the jurisdiction of the court (return)
Roman father—Lucius Junius Brutus, legendary founder of the Roman republic, was said to have passed sentence of death on his two sons for participating in a rebellion. (return)
Footnote 51:
Veni; Vidi; Vici—(Latin) Julius Caesar's terse message to the Senate announcing his victory over King Pharnaces II of Pontus in 47 B.C.: "I came, I saw, I conquered." (return)
Footnote 52:
Orangeman—a member of the Orange Order, a militant Irish protestant organization founded in 1746 and named after William of Orange, who in 1688 deposed his father-in-law, Catholic King James II, became King William III, and helped establish protestant faith as a prerequisite for succession to the English throne. The Orange Order is still exists and remains rabidly anti-Catholic. (return)
Footnote 53:
Anathema Maranatha—an extreme form of excommunication from the Catholic church formulated by the Fathers of the Fourth Council of Toledo. The person so excommunicated is also condemned to damnation at the second coming. (return)
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