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A Tale of Two Cities, Ed. by H.g. Buckler and L. Mason
A Tale of Two Cities Ed by Hg Buckler and L Mason Author:Charles Dickens Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES BOOK THE FIRST CHAPTER I In this first chapter Dickens aims to sketch the social and political conditions of England and France in 1775, as a back... more »ground for his story. His description is lacking in simplicity. It is indirect in its manner, and full of obscure allusions, so that the picture left on the reader's mind is somewhat vague. 3:1. It, etc. The period of the French Revolution. The novelist is thinking, in this sentence, of the sharp social contrasts and political inconsistencies of the Revolution. 3 : 15. There were ... on the throne of England, etc. George III and Charlotte Sophia, king and queen of England ; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, king and queen of France. 3 : 21. Mrs. Southcott. A religious fanatic claiming divine inspiration. 4 : 2. The Cock-lane ghost. A notorious spiritualistic imposture. Fraudulent "table-rapping" at a house in Cock-lane, Smithfield, London, deceived many people for a long time. 4 : 12. Her sister of the shield and trident. In England's coat-of-arms, Britannia is always represented as bearing a shield and a trident, emblematic of maritime supremacy. 4 : 20. Sentencing a youth . . . sixty yards. Such an execution actually took place at this time ; but the offence was greater than Dickens indicates. In the immediate presence of a religious ceremony, the offending youth made blasphemous speeches and gestures, and sang sacrilegious songs. Dickens dwarfs the offence to emphasize his point. 4 : 25. A certain movable framework . . . terrible in history. The guillotine, a machine for beheading people. 5 : 20. St. Giles's. A district of London inhabited by the lowest classes. CHAPTER II In this chapter note the skilful way in which Dickens creates an atmosphere of mystery and danger. The interest and ex...« less