20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

was dead against smth. = was strongly against smth.

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Providence  – God or some power that intervenes in human lives and affairs of the world

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the Eesraelites  – the Israelites, people of Jewish origin, members of the twelve tribes of Israel; in the 10th century BC, ten tribes established the Kingdom of Israel, and two tribes the Kingdom of Judah

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the West-end  – the fashionable part of London known for its palaces, mansions, parks and shops

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laudanum  – a sedative made from opium

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delusion  – a false opinion that may be a symptom of madness

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Metz  – a city in northeastern France; it was founded by a Gallic tribe and later fortified by the Romans

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the River Moselle  – a river in northeastern France and western Germany, a tributary of the Rhine River

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Moselle wine  – famous wine produced in Germany from the vineyards on the banks of the Moselle River

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lunatic asylum  – a mental hospital for the care and treatment of mental patients

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delirium  – mental excitement during illness (usually fever) accompanied by senseless, incoherent speech

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pâté = paste

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demon  – a wicked or cruel spirit or supernatural creature

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Bombay  – now Mumbai, a large city in southwestern India, India’s commercial, financial and religious centre, the main port on the Arabic Sea

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Candahar  – Kandahar, a city in south-central Afghanistan on the way to India; the city has a long history of wars and conquests

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the Berkshires  – soldiers from the county of Berkshire

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Ghazis  – hist. warriors for the Islamic faith

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Peshawur  – a city and capital of province in northern Pakistan

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Portsmouth  – a city on the English Channel, in the historic county of Hampshire

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Barts  – Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital, the oldest hospital in London founded in 1123

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By Jove!  – an exclamation of surprise

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Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) – a famous British historian and essayist

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the Copernican Theory  – the heliocentric or Sun-centred system; Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was a Polish astronomer who said that the Sun is a fixed point, and the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun

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belladonna  – a drug made from a poisonous plant of the same name

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opium  – a narcotic drug made from poppy and used to relieve pain

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Mendelssohn  – Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), a German composer, conductor and pianist of the Romantic period

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Lieder  – songs ( German )

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Euclid (the 2nd century BC) – an outstanding Greek mathematician of the antique period who is best known for his works in geometry

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Niagara  – the Niagara River flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario on the USA-Canadian frontier; the Niagara Falls lie on the border between Ontario, Canada and New York state

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deduction  – a conclusion made in the process of reasoning from the general to the particular

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chimerical  – unreal; from chimera  – a horrible creature of imagination, or some impossible idea or fancy

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Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) – an American writer and poet who is best known as the author of tales of horror and detective stories

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Gaboriau  – Émile Gaboriau (1833–1873), a French novelist, the father of the detective novel

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Cleveland  – a city and port in northeastern Ohio, the USA, on the southern shore of Lake Erie

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Ohio  – a state in the Middle West of the USA

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status quo  – the situation as it is now

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Cremona  – a city in northern Italy, southwest of Milan, founded in 218 BC by the Romans; the city is famous for its school of violin making

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Stradivarius  – Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737), a famous Italian violin maker whose violins are still considered the best

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Amati  – a family of famous Italian violin makers in Cremona in the 16th-17th centuries; Nicolo Amati was the teacher of Stradivari.

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cataract  – a disease of the eye; the illus at eye

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Utrecht  – a city in the central Netherlands

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masonic  – related to masons, a worldwide esoteric brotherhood; their teaching includes ancient wisdom, mysticism and religious beliefs of the past

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Boccaccio  – Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), an Italian writer and poet of the early Renaissance period, the author of the famous ‘Decameron’

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Decameron  – a book of tales written by Boccaccio in about 1350, a masterpiece of early Italian prose

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(the) Strand  – one of the main streets in central London, between the West End and the City

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Trichinopoly  – a city in southeastern India

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Parthian shot  – idiom smth. said or done as a final reply at parting

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Halle  – Sir Charles Halle (1819–1895), a British pianist and conductor of German origin, the founder of the famous Halle Orchestra

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Chopin  – Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), a famous Polish-French pianist and composer of the Romantic period

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