MDMD(7): sundry notes & questions

[Andre Buys & Nicole Slagter]

200.8-9 `must I instruct you, that 'tis universal, upon this Planet 
for a young widower to seek a new wife as soon as decency permits?'
These words echo (to my ear, anyway) the famous opening sentence of 
_Pride and Prejudice_. Quoting from memory (don't have a copy to 
hand) `It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man, in
possesion of a good fortune, must be in need of a wife.' Delicia 
does not mention the fortune, but she is no doubt well aware of 
Mason's financial standing.

>>209.5 `chicken Nabobs' OED does not list chicken as a qualifier.
>>I suspect it means either `budget' or `phoney'.
It means `budget' or `minor' if my recollection of the reading of a 
misspent youth (historical romances by Georgette Heyer, big on period 
idiom) serves me.

>>212.21 `Basso' Ital = bass Anyone understand this Soprano/Basso image?
To quote in full : `Mason has pimp'd for Maskelyne, that is his sin, what 
they whisper of even before his trailing Boot-sole has left the Carpet 
of the Foyer,--he has acquiesc'd in an elaborate Seduction of not only 
the Soprano within, but the comickal Basso at the Door as well.' 
I think the allusion is generic rather than to any particulat opera. Many, 
many Sopranos are kept locked in by comical Bassos, while the Tenors 
attempt to get at them--usually succesfully. Konstanze and Osmin in _Die 
Entfuhrung aus dem Serail_ fit the bill, for instance. Mason is relegated 
to a very minor role in this imaginary opera, Maskelyne's (the Tenor-Hero, 
presumably) pimp. Remembering Maskelyne's proclivities (great word), it 
would be the Basso he was interested in seducing, rather than the Soprano. 

all the best

Nicole Slagter