9. earthly…devilish: James iii, 15. Refers to ‘this wisdom’, the earthly product of strife and despair, the opposite of peace and heavenly wisdom.
10. king’s evidence…them: This remarkable passage analyses the contradictions of a spiritual power-system run by God in terms of a law-court in the name of the king.
11. in ancient story…pursuit: To help Jason to escape from her father, Aëetes, after Jason had stolen the golden fleece, Medea tore her brother, Absyrtus, into pieces and strewed them in the path of Aëetes.
CHAPTER XI
1. Shakespeare, II Henry VI, III, iii, 14. Beaufort’s speech in extremis, as he lies dying, in raving mad despair. The scene is used as a model.
2. Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, V, i, 90: Adriana’s speech about the accusations of the Abbess, when asked why she doesn’t defend herself: ‘She did betray me to my own reproof.’ The analogy is with the interrogatory techniques of the Inquisition.
3. a…wild…absence: The conventional impossibility of the Wanderer’s position: being outside History, and yet present within it as an eye-witness.
4. Henriette: Henrietta Maria (1609–69), queen consort of Charles I.
5. the death of the Duchesse d’Orleans: Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1640–1701), and brother of Louis XIV, married Henrietta of England as his first wife in 1661. She died in 1670, amidst suspicions that she had been poisoned. Her funeral oration was delivered by Bossuet (1627–1704), not by the Jesuit Louis Bourdaloue (1622–1704). One hundred and ninety-three sermons of Bourdaloue, edited by J. Bretonneau, came out between 1702 and 1734, which included ‘Sur le jugement dernier’ and ‘Sur la mort’.
6. the wife of James II: Mary of Modena (1658–1718).
7. thought it scorn: Esther iii, 6. Mordechai did not bow down to Haman, and the King then knew that he was a Jew: this is the King’s ominous thought – that he scorned to lay hands on only one individual: instead, he set about destroying all the Jews in the territory of Ahasuerus.
8. The incident is actually related in Letters Writ By a Turkish Spy, Bk III, Letter iii (Grant). Jew and Turk have become conflated in Maturin’s mind, perhaps because of their ‘underground’ status, their popular association with secrecy.
9. the belief…state: Reflects the idea of a ‘future state’ (i.e. life after death) as part of the fundamental tenets of Christianity. The remark is thus doubly blasphemous.
10. enemy of mankind: Traditional euphemism for Satan.
11. You…supreme: ‘Cell’ is ambiguous: holy, and prison-like. Here language is conceived of as an instrument to mould thought.
Supreme: Suprema, the Council of the Spanish Inquisition.
12. through…St Dominic: The conjunction is sarcastic. St Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order, members of which are often referred to, punningly, as ‘domini canes’: ‘the dogs of the Lord’, because of their inquisitorial zeal in hunting down heretics.
13. all…Goa: The Spanish Inquisition was founded in 1480 under Ferdinand and Isabella. St Francis Xavier (1506–52) laid the foundations, and after his death the Portuguese Inquisition at Goa in Western India was established in 1561.
14. Al-Araf: See The Koran, Ch. VII. Here the Muslim concept of a ‘cuspid state’, a kind of limbo between heaven and hell, is used satirically to oppose two less preferred options: the Inquisition and the Infernal Spirit. But the idea is of some importance in this novel as a whole. The probable source is a note to Southey’s Thalaba the Destroyer, BkXIII, v. 30, 11–13:
Araf is a place between the Paradise and the Hell of the Mohammedans; some deem it a veil of separation, some a strong wall. Others hold it to be a Purgatory, in which those believers will remain, whose good and evil works have been so equal, that they were neither virtuous enough to enter Paradise, nor guilty enough to be condemned to the fire of Hell. From whence they see the glory of the blessed, and are near enough to congratulate them; but their ardent desire to partake the same happiness becomes a great pain…Saadi says that Araf appears a Hell to the happy, and a Paradise to the damned – d’Herbelot.
For an elaborate commentary on the idea, possibly taken from Maturin, see Poe’s earliest poem, ‘Al-Araaf’, and the notes to it written by Poe.
15. san benitos: Penitential robes which the Inquisition made those who were convicted of heresy wear.
16. Elizabeth of France (1545–68): The wife of Philip II of Spain. The ‘I believe’ here suggests an editorial intervention rather than Alonzo Monçada, who would probably know it. The ‘young Jewess’ is a propaganda example of an oppressed religion.
17. Misericordia por amor di Dios: Pity, for the love of God.
18. Appius Claudius (c.307–280BC): In 280BC, blind and at an advanced age, he addressed the Roman Senate and persuaded them to reject the peace proposals of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, over which they were undecided.
blessing his loss of sight: This was a rhetorical ploy. He went on to say: ‘I regret I did not lose my hearing also, for never did I expect to see or hear deliberations of this kind from you.’ The incident is recorded in Appian, Roman History, ‘The Samnite History’, X, 2.
19. that…mankind: Fernando Valdes, Cardinal-Archbishop of Seville and Grand Inquisitor, is reported to have quoted this parallel when advising Philip II of Spain to execute his son, Don Carlos.
20. Salvator Rosa: The Neapolitan painter (1615–73), beloved of Ann Radcliffe, specializing in sublime landscapes. The point is the assimilation of the description of the event to the painterly, so that it becomes a ‘wildly painted picture of the last day’.
21. Alcaide: Governor of a jail.
22. king of Spain: Charles IV (1748–1819). He abdicated in favour of Napoleon in 1808.
23. spicula: Sharp points.
24. Orate pro anima: Pray for the soul of…(in this case, Juan Monçada).
CHAPTER XII
1. Juravi…gero: ‘My tongue has sworn; the mind I have has sworn no oath’ (Cicero, De Officiis, III, xxix, 108). The quotation applies to the Jew’s denial of his own religion and his adoption of Christianity, under the eye of the Inquisition.
2. James Shirley, St Patrick for Ireland, 1640.
3. Samaritan points: The Samaritans preserved the Pentateuch as the basis of their religion. In biblical texts, points and commas are used to mark the middle and end of verses by the Hebrew Masioretes (Scholars) – indications of which verse, word, and letter marked the centre of the text, so future emendation could be detected.
4. Quilibet postea paterfamilias…etc.’: ‘Then some head of the household comes forward first into the centre bearing a cock before him in his hands. He then approaches the expiation and strikes the cock three times on his own head accompanying each blow with these words, ‘Let this cock be a substitute for me, etc.” Then placing his hands on the cock he slays it at once’ (Grant). The ceremony is the Jewish ceremony of expiation.
5. Dr Magee: William Magee (1766–1831), Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin, 1800, and later Archbishop of Dublin, published Discourse on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice in 1801.
6. every where…against: Acts xxviii, 22. The phrase, used to Paul by the Jews of Rome about the early Christians, often refers to Protestant dissenters, by analogy.
7. an Israelite…his sentiments: Rom. ix, 4–5. The next words are: ‘Christ came, who is over all.’
8. two Messias: The Qumran sect held a doctrine – found also in late Jewish sects – of a messianic pair: a priestly Messiah of the House of Aaron (the brother of Moses) and a royal Messiah of the House of David. The ‘anointed ones’ were not thought of as saviours, as in late Christian thought – but rather as ideal leaders.
9. Statim…gallum’: At once he slays the cock. He quotes the instructions as he performs the action.
10. oubliettes: Dungeons (from Fr. oublier, to forget) – i.e. a place where one is forgotten.
11. Suprema: Normally used to denote the Council of the Inquisition, here used as a singular,
denoting the head of the council.
12. εν-ιoνιω-νικa: By this, Conquer. Emperor Constantine, on his way to invade Italy in AD312, had a sudden vision of a cross in the mist and these words beneath. Early Christians put it on their shields.
13. Regulus: Marcus Attilus Regulus in his second consulship was taken prisoner by Hamilcar in the first Punic War (255BC). He was returned to Rome on parole, sworn to return to Carthage if certain noble prisoners were not returned to the Carthaginians. He returned voluntarily and was put to exquisite torture. See Cicero, De Officiis, III, XXVI. Maturin’s source for the details of his torture is probably Dio, History of Rome, I, XI, 431 and 439.
14. the unfortunate Dr Hamilton: William Hamilton (1755–97), naturalist and antiquary, murdered at Sharon, Donegal.
15. Oh, Father Abraham…are!: Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, I, iii, 160. Shylock’s irony at the distrust between Bassanio and Antonio.
16. Lord Kilwarden: Arthur Wolfe, Viscount Kilwarden (1739–1803), Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, was murdered by the rebels in the course of Robert Emmett’s insurrection.
17. children of Belial: Deut. xiii, 13. The issue is once again that of worshipping false Gods.
18. the matter of the wife of the Benjamite: Judges xix, 22: The sons of Belial surround the house of the Benjamite in Gibeah and beat on the door, concerned at the fact that he has taken in an Israelite and his wife. When the wife is shown to them, they abuse her repeatedly all night until in the morning she lies on the threshold dying. The biblical text is about racial hatred and oppression. Maturin’s figure of Rebekah here is a potential victim, and the biblical analogy allows a rather cold current to run beneath the comedy of Maturin’s text.
19. the black blood of Grenada: Granada was the last Moorish stronghold, which fell in 1492. This is also the year in which Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews, or forced them to convert.
CHAPTER XIII
1. Thalaba the Destroyer, Book IX, 35, 1–2.
2. Cheops: IV dynasty king of Egypt (c.2600BC) who built the largest of the Pyramids. His tomb is at the heart of the Pyramid, at the end of long and complicated passages.
3. Samson: Judges xiii-xvi.
4. Nazarene: A follower of Jesus of Nazareth, a Christian.
5. Adonijah: Self-appointed successor to David, dispossessed of the Kingdom by Solomon, David’s official heir.
6. peep and mutter: Isaiah viii, 19.
7. leach: Leech, a physician, one who practises the healing art.
8. in the language…earth: Cf. Gen. i, 1–3.
CHAPTER XIV
1. Unde…merentur: ‘Why should they fear the anger of the Gods, who deserve their favour?’ (untraced).
2. Aer…longevitatem: ‘The shutting out of draughts contributes to longevity’ (not identified).
3. the silver cord…abated: Eccl. xii, 6.
4. behold…off: Isaiah xxxiii, 17.
5. a power: i.e. the Wanderer.
6. the sons of Dominick: i.e. the Dominicans, who, along with the Franciscans, staffed the Inquisition.
7. Behold…safety: Ps. xii, 5: ‘I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.’
8. being…alive: The link between embedded narrative and frame tale is portrayed as a kind of resurrection.
9. the manuscript I was to copy: This changes the relation between Monçada, John Melmoth, and the reader, because we are no longer simply ‘overhearing’ an oral tale. Monçada ‘hears’ the story through reading, and through having re-written, the manuscript which we read.
10. Hoogly: The Hooghly River in West Bengal State, India, provides access to Calcutta from the Bay of Bengal, and is an arm of the Ganges. At Calcutta, it is regarded as holy, and many Indians commit their dead to its banks and waters.
11. Dr Coke: Thomas Coke (1747–1814), A Commentary on the Holy Bible, 1801.
12. the black goddess Seeva: i.e. Siva: a Hindu god, not a goddess, of nature and destruction, one of whose three faces appears more female than the others.
13. tufaun: Typhoon.
14. Juggernaut: Jaggernath, an image of Vishnu.
15. Maurice: Thomas Maurice, Indian Antiquities, 1806.
16. Haree: Hara, the universal destroyer, mate to Durga, with whom he was worshipped in bloody orgiastic rites.
17. voluntary humility: Col. ii, 18: Again the theme is idolatry; St Paul warns the Colossians: ‘Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels…’
18. setons: A thread, or piece of tape, drawn through a fold of skin so as to maintain an issue for discharges or drawn through a sinus or cavity to prevent it from healing up.
19. Flora: The Goddess of the Spring, in, for example, Botticelli’s Primavera, whose garments have flowers worked into them. The analogy is with the garlanded Vishnu.
20. Solomon…them: Matt, vi, 28–9. Christ’s words.
21. paradise of leaves: Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, Bk VI, v.20, 11. 26–7.
22. bombex: Bombax, raw silk. A tree which cocoons its seeds in silky fibre (i.e. OED gives bombax, a corruption of ‘bombyx’: the silkworm).
23. sounds and sweet airs: Shakespeare, The Tempest, III, ii, 135–6. Caliban’s magical description of the isle.
24. Paria: Pariah, untouchable, member of the lowest Hindu caste.
25. Brahma: Hindu god of creation.
26. Nawaub: Indian governor.
27. Mahadeva: A title of the god Siva.
28. tinging: Tingeing, colouring. Being pure, the water does not ‘colour’ their feet.
29. Elephanta: An island off Bombay on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent which contains a magnificent temple of Shiva and several important sculptures, including one of the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, in which Shiva appears an androgynous young man; the great sculpture of the three heads of Shiva in the temple of Elephanta also contains one head – probably the south-facing one – which appears threatening.
30. Bengalese islands: The Bay of Bengal is on the east coast of the subcontinent. It is not clear which islands the text refers to: the nearest group, which includes Nicobar, are at least 1,500 miles away.
31. loxia: A kind of crossbill which makes a hanging nest.
32. the white goddess: i.e. they have made a goddess who is not in their own image.
CHAPTER XV
1. Queenhoo Hall, a romance by Joseph Strutt (1749–1802), completed by Sir Walter Scott and published in 1808.
2. sombrous: Sombre.
3. My friend lives under the water: An allusion to Milton’s version of Eve’s narcissism in Paradise Lost, IV, 449–68; unlike Milton, Blake in ‘Thel’ and Mary Shelley in Frankenstein (1818), Maturin gives absolute innocence to the speaker and thus subverts the myth of Narcissus as an agency of the Fall.
4. his master when he visited paradise: Paradise Lost, IV, 358–75: Satan contemplating Adam and Eve. Typically, it is the perverse moment of emotional contradiction here that Maturin picks out from Milton.
5. the meaning of these words: The premise of an absolute innocence in which language is matched to an unfallen consciousness is also treated by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein.
6. what thinks…: Cf. Shelley, The Sensitive Plant: ‘That garden sweet, that lady fair,/And all sweet shapes and odours there/In truth have never passed away…’ Immalee here invents neo-platonic idealism for herself.
7. wranglers: Disputants.
8. awless…purity: Shakespeare, King John, I, i, 266: Another portmanteau allusion, the second half of which is unidentified.
9. my friend withdraws its rose: Cf. Paradise Lost, IV, 449–68, Eve’s account of the image in the water with which she fell in love, the rhythm of which is echoed very closely here. Cf. Milton’s ‘I started back,/It started back…’, 462–6.
CHAPTER XVI
1. Più…speranza: I no longer have sweet hope. P. A. D.Metastasio, Didone, Dramma serio in musica, 1795.
2. ranunculus: Buttercup.
3. whetted…pu
rpose: Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, iv, 111.
whet’: To sharpen. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet in his mother’s chamber to urge on his revenge against Claudius. Melmoth is equally distracted from his purpose of damning her by Immalee.
4. Ascend this hill…: The Wanderer echoes Milton, Paradise Lost, XI, 366.
5. Intellige: Understand, i.e. [by which], understand buildings.
6. Tippoo Saib: Tippu Sahib, Sultan of Mysore (1749–99). The footnote suggests Maturin is both constrained by, and rebellious against, historical probability.
7. cut themselves…etc.: i Kings xviii, 28. Elijah is mocking the false prophets of Ba’al who seek to induce his presence by ritual sacrifices of their own blood. The analogy with the Juggernaut reminds us of the idolatry of the latter. Compare also the previous attack on Catholic self-maceration.
8. St Bruno…St Lucia…St Ursula…Undecimilla: St Bruno (1033–1101), founder of the Carthusian Order, who devoted himself to solitude and penitence; St Lucy, martyred in the third century, reputedly by having her eyes put out, often represented holding two eyes in a dish; St Ursula, martyred before the fifth century: her legend, Maturin implies, is the product of an error of transcription.
9. perfected the praise: Matt, xxi, 16. The phrase is a blasphemous euphemism for the boy’s action: after Jesus has thrown the money-changers out of the temple, the children chant hosannas to the son of David, perfecting his praise. The lingam or phallus, as an independent object, is at the centre of the worship of Siva. Presumably the boy is chanting; but the exact nature of the ‘outrageous lubricities’ is unclear. He may be washing the emblem, a frequent daily part of the ritual worship of the phallus, according to Maurice – an action perhaps suggestive to all eyes but Immalee’s.
10. en parenthese: i.e. aside: note the use of the vocabulary of a written text about an oral exchange.
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