When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Hester Chapone (1.3)
- Gaetano Donizetti (4.69)
- Crebillon the younger (10.5)
- Charles Pigault-Lebrun (15.9
- William Guthrie, New Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar (3.26)
- Shakespeare, The Tempest (3.31)
- William Howell, Medulla (4.55)
- Thomas Dilworth, New Guide to the English Tongue (4.55)
- Bell's Life, a boxing magazine (5.34)
- Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers (7.47)
- Fanny Burney, Cecilia (8.5)
- Ann Radcliffe, Udolpho (8.20)
- Debrett, a directory of peerage and nobility family trees (9.15)
- Tobias Smollett, History of England and Humphry Clinker (10.5)
- Richmal Mangall, Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People (12.2)
- Shakespeare, Cymbeline and A Midsummer Night's Dream (12.22)
- Annual Register, a yearly miscellany – (24.30)
- Thomas Morton, Speed the Plough (36.2)
- The Whole Duty of Man (40.4)
- Shakespeare, Othello (43.28)
- Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" (48.20)
Folktale, Biblical, and Mythology References
- Michael Kelly, Bluebeard, an opera based on the folktale (3.26)
- The Arabian Nights (3.26, 5.16)
- Minerva (1.24)
- Francois Fenelon, Telemaque, a mawkish, didactic epic about Odysseus's son, Telemachus (5.43)
- Methuselah, a very old patriarch in Genesis 5:21 (8.13)
- Silenus (8.61)
- Agamemnon and Iphigenia (13.35)
- Dives, a rich man in Luke 16:19 (14.56)
- Croesus (14.57)
- Omphale, the queen who enslaved Hercules (16.3)
- Queen Esther, from the Old Testament Book of Esther (20.3)
- Achilles (45.2)
- Damocles (47.7)
- Agamemnon and Clytemnestra (51.35)
- Athena (56.25)
- Jacob and his sons Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin (61.3)
- Becky as a Siren (64.1)
- Circe (66.23)
Historical References
- Napoleon and his European campaign (throughout)
- East India Company (throughout)
- Prince Regent (later George IV) (throughout)
- Semiramis (1.31)
- Beau Brummel, famous Regency dandy (3.30)
- Vauxhall, famous pleasure garden (4.6)
- Daniel Lambert, famous exhibited obese man (6.26)
- Queen Elizabeth (7.1)
- William Pitt, Sir Robert Walpole, John Churchill, King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Henry Dundas, powerful politicians after whom the Crawleys are named (7.2)
- Gretna Green, a Scotland town famous for being the destination of elopers (16.22)
- Alexis Soyer, famous chef (19.1)
- Frascati's, famous Parisian gambling "hell" (36.9)
- Blue Books, official government reports (45.19)
- Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days (50.26)
- Astley's, famous horse circus (52.11)
- Burke, Thurtell, & Hayes, famous murderers (67.79)