38. (p. 58) I: the 1750 edition reads ‘he’.
39. (p. 61) Poverty is the strongest Incentive: Defoe often expresses this idea in his writings, sometimes proverbially as ‘Give me not Poverty lest I steal’, a paraphrase of Proverbs 30:8–9. See Robinson Crusoe, ed. Angus Ross (Penguin Books, 1965), p. 28; Moll Flanders, ed. Juliet Mitchell (Penguin Books, 1978), p. 188; Colonel Jack, ed. S. H. Monk (Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 165; and The Compleat English Gentleman, ed. Karl D. Bülbring (David Nutt, 1890), pp. 102–3.
40. (p. 63) of meer Hunger: simply for hunger.
41. (p. 63) tight: tidy, neat.
42. (p. 69) a Foreign Bill: the principal means before the invention of the cheque for settling foreign accounts. A bill of exchange is an agreement in writing to pay a certain sum of money on a future date (or on demand, if so agreed). The buyer of the bill pays the drawer of the bill (i.e., the moneylender, who ‘draws’ the bill) a sum of money and obtains the bill of exchange, which he then sends to the person to whom he owes money. That person presents the bill to the drawee (usually a financial correspondent of the drawer), who ‘accepts’ the bill, that is, agrees to pay the stipulated amount. If (as sometimes happens) the drawee refuses to honour the bill, it is said to be ‘protested’, and the unpaid bill, with the formal ‘protest’, is then returned to the original buyer. As protested bills meant a great deal of financial inconvenience and embarrassment, Roxana’s landlord would naturally go to some trouble to avoid a protest. There were also inland bills of exchange, which functioned in much the same way as foreign bills, but were usually for smaller amounts and did not have the same standing in law.
43. (p. 70) sounded: understood.
44. (p. 71) you may certainly take one another fairly: Neither wilful desertion nor adultery was an adequate ground for divorce. Moreover, Canon 107 of the 1604 canons of the Church of England forbids remarriage after separation or divorce, even of the innocent party. Many Puritan (and some Anglican) divines, however, argued that the innocent party ought to be allowed to sue for divorce and to remarry (as was briefly the case when the Cromwellian Marriage Act of 1653 was in force), and there is evidence that among the Puritans private (i.e., extra-legal) divorce existed and that remarriage took place. In the debate that follows Roxana accurately represents Defoe’s own conservative attitude to divorce and remarriage. See Conjugal Lewdness (1727), pp. 118–19, and cf. Moll Flanders (Penguin Books, 1978), pp. 171–3.
45. (p. 72) in several Countries abroad: In continental Protestant countries divorce laws were more liberal than in England.
46. (p. 72) Engine: snare or trap; the means by which the devil operates.
47. (p. 73) as Rachel did to Jacob: Genesis 30:1–8.
48. (p. 75) Leaden-Hall: a large London market where meat, poultry, fish, herbs, leather and other goods were sold.
49. (p. 76) my Assigns: those to whom the money is legally transferred; heirs.
50. (p. 79) this had thus made a Hole in my Heart: that is, Roxana’s conscience gnaws at her heart, so that she experiences pleasure and misery together.
51. (p. 84) Travel: travail, labour of childbirth.
52. (p. 85) Jointure: dower, that is, the annual income which a man at marriage settled on his wife in case she survived him.
53. (p. 85) Pistoles: Pistole was the popular name for the Spanish gold coin officially called the double escudo. After the marriage of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa in 1660, Spanish pistoles circulated in France, with an exchange rate of ten livres. The name also came to be used, as is probably the case here, of the Louis d’or and of other European gold coins of roughly the same value as the pistole (£0.86). In 1700 3,000 pistoles would have been worth about £2,580.
54. (p. 86) Conveniences: coaches for hire.
55. (p. 86) Figure: (social) position.
56. (p. 86) shagreen: rough, untanned leather, often dyed green.
57. (p. 86) being: having, intending.
58. (p. 86) laid out: set down.
59. (p. 87) Scrutore: escritoire, writing desk.
60. (p. 88) vapourish Fancy: hysterical imagination. The vapours were thought to be corrupt exhalations which developed in the lower organs, particularly the spleen, and rose to the head, where they had a malign effect upon physical and mental health. See also Introduction.
61. (p. 89) Mounting: outfit, clothing.
62. (p. 89) as decently as the Place would permit a Protestant Stranger to be Buried: Even under the terms of the Edict of Nantes (see note 1) Protestant services were not permitted within five leagues of Paris.
63. (p. 89) Curate: curé;, parish priest.
64. (p. 89) St Sulpitius: St-Sulpice, an ancient parish on the left bank of the Seine. The large and imposing church was rebuilt in the first half of the eighteenth century.
65. (p. 90) the Second-Sight: Defoe was greatly interested in clairvoyance, apparitions, and occult knowledge. His main writings on these subjects are A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs Veal (1705), Serious Reflections during the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720), The Political History of the Devil (1726), A System of Magick (1726), and An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions (1727).
66. (p. 90) 12000 Livres: about £734 in 1703, the year of the death of the jeweller.
67. (p. 91) Bills: bills of exchange.
68. (p. 91) Amende: reparation, compensation.
69. (p. 92) the second Bill: In order to insure against loss of the bill of exchange in the mail, the drawer of the bill provided several copies (known as a ‘set’), payment of any one of which cancelled the others. For bills of exchange see note 42.
70. (p. 92) discover’d: exposed.
71. (p. 92) a Process in Dower: an action at law for the jointure (or dower). See note 52.
72. (p. 92) Parliament: the parlement of Paris, the highest court of judicature under the ancien régime, consisting of a close corporation of hereditary lawyers.
73. (p. 94) saluted: kissed.
74. (p. 94) a hundred Thousand Livres: well over £6,000.
75. (p. 95) an Assignment: a negotiable document secured by revenue or property.
76. (p. 97) Levez vous donc, then arise.
77. (p. 97) had turn’d off my Weeds: had given up wearing full widow’s mourning.
78. (p. 97) my Head: ‘Head’ was the general term for a headdress, anything from an indoor cap to an elaborate arrangement of the hair, drawn up over a cushion, powdered and pomaded, and decorated with ribbons and lace.
79. (p. 97) Au Boir: bring something to drink.
80. (p. 97) Champaign: In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries champagne generally referred to a well-known, still, red wine (in England often fortified with brandy), rather than to the sparkling white wine, discovered in the late seventeenth century, which we know today.
81. (p. 99) une Deshabile: a house-dress, or informal morning dress (from the French déshabillé).
82. (p. 102) disappoint: deceive, thwart.
83. (p. 103) When deep Intrigues… the first that spy: untraced.
84. (p. 103) Humane: human.
85. (p. 104) In Things we wish… we willingly believe: probably Defoe’s versification of a commonplace idea he had expressed elsewhere in his writings. See Due Preparations for the Plague in Romances and Narratives by Daniel Defoe, ed. George A. Aitken (Dent, 1895), XV, 118, and cf. An Essay upon the Trade to Africa (1711), p. 3.
86. (p. 105) a Protestant Whore: probably an allusion to Nell Gwynn, Charles II’s popular, and Protestant, mistress. Once when her carriage was surrounded by a hostile mob that took her for her unpopular rival, the Duchess of Portsmouth, Nell Gwynn put her head out of the window and said: ‘Pray, good people, be civil; I am the Protestant whore.’
87. (p. 105) the Stupidity that my intellectual Part was under: the stupor that affected my rational faculty.
88. (p. 105) what Lethargick Fumes doz’d the Soul: the fumes or vapours of corrupted humours (see note 60) rising to the he
ad would cloud the understanding and the conscience.
89. (p. 107) a Suit of Lace upon my Head: a set of lace upon my head-dress.
90. (p. 107) gentile: lady-like, elegant.
91. (p. 108) Painted: wearing make-up.
92. (p. 109) six: in other places in the novel Roxana says she had five children by her husband.
93. (p. 110) pretend: propose, intend.
94. (p. 111) Sence: sensation.
95. (p. 111) gay: immoral or dissipated. However, the word also meant brilliant or charming and Roxana probably intends to suggest the splendour of her life as well.
96. (p. 112) doubt: fear.
97. (p. 116) She-Butchers: Foster-mothers who took deserted children in return for a fee (usually between two and five guineas) were notoriously callous, frequently allowing children to die in order to save the money. See note 30.
98. (p. 117) Bend: bend sinister, commonly thought to be one of the signs of bastardy on a coat of arms.
99. (p. 118) Escapes: transgressions, peccadilloes.
100. (p. 119) the Guard du Corps of France: the largest cavalry troop of the King’s Household, enjoying considerable distinction and many privileges.
101. (p. 120) Parts: matters.
102. (p. 120) hansell’d: tried out (i.e., sexually).
103. (p. 121) a Mantua-Maker’s: A mantua (called after the Italian town once famous for silks) was a loose gown worn by women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
104. (p. 121) the fine Palace of Meudon: The magnificent château, built in the sixteenth century at Meudon, about six miles east of Versailles, became the residence of the dauphin. The splendid terrace had been added by Abel Servien, Marquis de Sablé, who had acquired the chateau in 1664.
105. (p. 121) Dauphine: Louis, ‘le grand dauphin’ (1661–1711), son and heir of Louis XIV, who predeceased his father.
106. (p. 121) Madam the Dauphiness, who was then living: The dauphine, Marie Anne Christine Victoire, Princess of Bavaria, died in 1690.
107. (p. 124) an Admiration: an exclamation of astonishment.
108. (p. 126) artificially: artfully.
109. (p. 127) shou’d not be above four Year: Protestant reformers considered desertion (variously, from four to ten years) equivalent to divorce and a sufficient condition for remarriage. In his Tetrachordon Milton argued the liberal Protestant case for dissolving marriage after a man was absent and not heard from for four years, but England was much slower than Protestant continental countries to permit legal divorce with the right of remarriage.
110. (p. 130) Shifts: tricks, dodges.
111. (p. 130) ten Thousand Crowns, instead of eight Thousand Livres: the French crown (as the écu was commonly called in England) was worth slightly less than the English crown or five shilling piece. Ten thousand French crowns were worth £2,300. Eight thousand livres were worth only £490.
112. (p. 131) chop upon: run into, chance suddenly upon.
113. (p. 132) chargeable: expensive.
114. (p. 132) get: beget.
115. (p. 135) Cordial-Water: an alcoholic stimulant (for the heart).
116. (p. 135) Citron: citron-water, a liquor made from brandy flavoured with lemon-peel.
117. (p. 138) Incog. as hecall’d it: incognito. Abbreviating words was a fashionable affectation. Swift complains of abbreviations such as ‘Rep for Reputation’ and ‘Incog for Incognito’ in his essay on Polite Conversation. See Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting the English Tongue. Polite Conversation, Etc., ed. by Herbert Davis with Louis Landa (Basil Blackwood, 1957), pp. 114–15.
118. (p. 139) Excursion… Excursions: impropriety… outbursts.
119. (p. 140) couzening: cheating, beguiling.
120. (p. 142) Pont a Voisin: Pont-de-Beauvoisin.
121. (p. 147) Storm: violent blow.
122. (p. 149) 12000 Pistoles: £10,320.
123. (p. 150) pretended: professed a desire (without a sense of feigning).
124. (p. 151) meer. perfect, absolute.
125. (p. 152) the Question: judicial torture.
126. (p. 156) the Chatellette: Originally a castle, the Châtelet contained several courts, including that of the lieutenant-general of police, and of a series of prisons for common criminals.
127. (p. 156) cast: condemned.
128. (p. 157) Roan: Rouen.
129. (p. 158) seven Thousand eight Hundred Pistoles: slightly more than £6,70 (see note 53).
130. (p. 158) a Copy of an Assignment on the Town-House: a copy of the legal transfer of the leasehold of the house.
131. (p. 158) a Procuration: a formal document giving legal authority for someone else to act for one; in effect, a letter of power of attorney.
132. (p. 160) as far as relates to second Causes: as far as man was responsible. The first or original cause is the creator of the universe; secondary causes are derived from the first cause.
133. (p. 161) Rochelle: La Rochelle was the port of embarkation for large numbers of Protestant refugees leaving Poitou.
134. (p. 161) Hurry: agitation, commotion.
135. (p. 162) Sup: sip.
136. (p. 164) Naught: naughty, wicked.
137. (p. 167) Stupidity: stupor, depression.
138. (p. 169) 4000 Pistoles…a Thousand two Hundred Crowns: £3,400… £276.
139. (p. 169) protested: see note 42.
140. (p. 170) an Upper-Servant: an unmarried woman enjoyed essentially the same legal rights as a man, but upon marriage she lost those rights, including control over any money she might bring to the marriage. Defoe complains of the treatment of women by their husbands in Conjugal Lewdness (1727): ‘I don’t take the State of Matrimony to be designed as that of Apprentices who are bound to the Family, and that the Wife is to be us’d only as the upper Servant in the House’ (p. 26).
141. (p. 170) Pin-Money: An amount of money, often stipulated in the marriage contract, given regularly by a husband to his wife for her private expenses. In The Spectator, No. 295 (7 February 1712), Addison complains that pin-money is a recent innovation that should not be allowed to spread.
142. (p. 173) laid by the Heels: arrested (originally, put in leg irons).
143. (p. 173) the Concergerie: the Conciergerie, the prison attached to the law courts in Paris.
144. (p. 173) Bridewell: a penitentiary in London, used particularly as a house of correction for vagabonds and loose women. The word is often used as a synonym for prison.
145. (p. 173) teizing: pursuing. Not the modern sense of annoying, but the stronger verb, teise (now obsolete), meaning to drive or chase (a hunted beast).
146. (p. 174) the Maez from Williamstadt: the Mass from Willemstad.
147. (p. 176) Figure: situation.
148. (p. 177) Gust: taste, inclination.
149. (p. 177) Pretensions: intentions, professions.
150. (p. 178) cast: defeated.
151. (p. 179) a Posture to Even: a position to settle.
152. (p. 180) the ordinary Usage of the Dutch: the merchant is probably aware that his countrymen were often accused of avarice and boorishness.
153. (p. 183) Bite: trick, hoax.
154. (p. 184) in order to: to bring about.
155. (p. 184) Conversation: intimacy, relationship.
156. (p. 187) the Servant among the Israelites: Exodus 21:5–6.
157. (p. 188) a Masculine in her politick Capacity: a man in her civil capacity; i.e., she enjoyed the same legal rights as a man.
158. (p. 188) in her separated Capacity: as a single person. The distinction at law that Roxana is clearly aware of throughout her discussion is between the legal status of the feme sole, who is virtually equal to a man, and the feme covert, or married woman, whose legal status is ‘covered’ by that of her husband.
159. (p. 188) O! ‘tis pleasant… is Liberty: Charles Cotton, ‘The Joys of Marriage’, II.127–8, in his Poems On Several Occasions (1689), p. 43.
160. (p. 189) a sincere Affection: the Dutch Merchant pre
sents Defoe’s own views of the proper relationship of marriage partners. See, for example, his Conjugal Lewdness (1727), IV, esp. pp. 118–19.
161. (p. 189) the Mint: a sanctuary for insolvent debtors and others in Southwark, so-called because Henry VIII kept a mint there. It was finally suppressed in the reign of George I.
162. (p. 190) conn: con, direct the steering of.
163. (p. 193) a la Cavalier: cavalierly, without much care.
164. (p. 194) did not use to court: was not trying to flatter.
165. (p. 197) pretended: ventured, tried.
166. (p. 199) my Measure of Wickedness was not yet full: possibly an echo of Matthew 23:31–2.
167. (p. 203) the Bank at Amsterdam: The Bank of Amsterdam was a celebrated exchange bank, founded in 1609 and dissolved in 1796.
168. (p. 203) One and twenty Thousand Pistoles: £18,060.
169. (p. 203) the second Bills: see note 69.
170. (p. 203) the Briel: Brielle, Holland.
171. (p. 203) Travel: travail, labour of childbirth.
172. (p. 204) a Glass-Coach: a coach with glass windows, and hence a private coach hired for so many weeks or months, as distinguished from coaches with unglazed, curtained windows at public stands.
173. (p. 204) Equipage: coach and footmen.
174. (p. 204) the usual Insults of Parish-Enquiries: In order to avoid the expense to the parish of bastard children or legitimate children born to women too poor to care for them, the parish officers were aggressively and often offensively forward in inquiring into the legal ‘settlement’ of pregnant paupers. A poor pregnant woman found in a parish where she had no legal settlement would be unceremoniously returned to the parish she had come from. See notes 29 and 30.
175. (p. 204) the Pall-mall: The houses on the south side of the street overlooked the King’s Garden, next to St James’s Palace, though it is unlikely that any of them had a private door into the garden. Charles II’s mistress, Nell Gwynn, was given a house in this street (on the site of the present No. 79) by the King. Like Roxana, Nell Gwynn had lived for a while in another house near by.
176. (p. 204) Sir Robert Clayton: Clayton (1603–1707) amassed a huge fortune and became a well-known Whig politician, serving as Lord Mayor of London in 1679–80, and frequently thereafter as a Member of Parliament. He acquired a reputation for avariciousness and unscrupulousness and was twice attacked by Defoe, directly in The Reformation of Manners (1702; reprinted in A True Collection of the Writings of the True-Born Englishman, 1703), and obliquely in A Journal of the Plague Year (1722; Penguin Books, 1966), p. 24. At one time he acted as financial adviser to Nell Gwynn.