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NOTES ON ISSUE 8: HISTORICAL GLOSSARY
PART 1 OF 2
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Her
father was usually sifting and sifting at his parliamentary cinder-heap
in London (without being observed to turn up many precious articles
among the rubbish), and was still hard at it in the national dust-yard.
Heaps of dust-yards (that is, garbage dumps) surrounded London, largely composed of ashes from the many coal fires in the metropolis's homes. They were literally "sifted" by the very poor, who were looking for valuables as well as any saleable material. According to Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor, a great amount of the city's trash was reusable and could be sold: old boots and shoes were sold to manufacturers of Prussian blue, bricks and oyster shells went to builders (for foundations) and road-builders, cinders went to brick-makers for burning bricks, and fine soil went to brick-makers. Mayhew includes this illustration, which shows the dust-sifters at work.
anchorite
A hermit.
Alderney
Alderney cattle were a breed of dairy
cow from the Channel Islands, known for their milk (like the
better-known Jersey cattle). This illustration of Alderney cattle
appeared in the Illustrated London News on December 9,
1848.
under the rose
That is, secretly (a translation of the
Latin phrase "sub rosa").
this new Giants' Staircase
This phrase refers to the staircase in
the Doges' Palace in Venice; at the top of the steps are found
the "giants"—statues of Mars and Neptune. Dickens visited Venice
in 1844 and 1853 and wrote about the staircase in Pictures
from Italy (1846): "Descending from the palace by a staircase,
called, I thought, the Giant's—I had some imaginary recollection
of an old man abdicating, coming, more slowly and more feebly,
down it, when he heard the bell, proclaiming his successor…"
"a lamb chop and walnut ketchup,
with a glass of India ale"
In Victorian times, ketchup was not exclusively
a tomato-based condiment; walnut ketchup was a strongly flavored
sauce of pickled walnuts with anchovies, shallots, and other
seasonings. India ale was India Pale Ale, brewed in England
for export to the Indian market but often sold domestically.
This style of ale remains popular today.
Mrs. Beeton gives two recipes for walnut ketchup in her Book
of Household Management:
"He is shooting in Yorkshire,"
said Tom. "Sent Loo a basket half as big as a church, yesterday."
Shooting at country estates was a seasonal
hobby for the upper classes, who shot such game as grouse, partridges,
and pheasant on the property of large land owners during the
autumn and winter hunting seasons. Tenants on the estates were
generally not allowed to hunt for such game; their leases reserved
it for the squires and nobility who owned the land. Baskets
of game, therefore, were a special treat for those connected
with the upper class.
The Illustrated London News frequently marked the hunting
season with an illustration of shooting. This engraving depicting
a pheasant-shooting party appeared on February 4, 1843.
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