Dr Thorne (91 page)

‘Therefore, according to the traditional rules of inheritance, Mary should not have been the donee, but it can be argued that the knowledge in the possession of Dr Thorne, together with Sir Roger's instructions, constituted adequate identification and Mary could inherit.'

1
(p. 531)
Our Pet Fox
: The fox is, of course, Mary herself. In the Aesop fable the fox who lost his tail tried to persuade the other foxes that it was
better to be without one but changed his mind when he regained it. It may be too far-fetched to suggest that Trollope is making a pun here and that ‘tail' (see pp. 534, 535, 551) implies ‘entail'.

2
(p. 534)
Mrs Radcliffe
: Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), novelist. She was the founder of a school of highly suspenseful romantic fiction and author of
The Mysteries of Udolpho
.

1
(p. 553)
Dr Thorne… was going to marry her
. A hint at things to come (see Introduction)?

2
(p. 554)
He will never know
: Traditionally the wedding breakfast was held in the bride's home, not the bridegroom's.

3
(p. 555)
Archdeacon Grantley
: The archdeacon first makes his appearance in
The Warden
and figures in four other novels of the series. Elsewhere Trollope invariably spells his name Grantly.

4
(p. 555)
Mrs Grantley's sister
; Eleanor Arabin, who appears in five of the chronicles of Barsetshire.