The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (78 page)

12
.
There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace
: The Persian saying Holmes uses
is not one attributed to Hafiz (Shams-ud-Din Mohammed, fourteenth-century Persian poet). Horace is Quintus Horatius Flaccus (63–8 BC), Roman poet best known for
Odes
and
Satires
.

First published in the
Strand
in August 1891. Conan Doyle ranked ‘The Red-Headed League' second in the list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories (excluding those that appeared in
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
), as revealed in the
Strand
in June 1927. The story is set in 1890.

1
.
the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland
: This line would have confused those who read the story when it first appeared in the
Strand
as it refers to ‘A Case of Identity' which at that time, owing to a mix-up, had been received but not published by the
Strand
.

2
.
a square pierced bit of metal
: Although we later discover this to be a Chinese coin, China did not mint any square coins. Until the end of the nineteenth century there was only one coin in currency in China, the tsein, which was round but did have a small square hole cut in the centre.

3
.
Freemason
: The Free and Accepted Masons are one of the world's best-known secret societies; its rituals are based on the ancient practices of stonemasons and its aims include ‘keeping a tongue of good report, maintaining secrecy and practising charity'. Conan Doyle was a member of the Phoenix Lodge, No. 257, Portsmouth.

4
.
arc and compass breastpin
: This should be ‘square and compass breastpin', the emblems of masonry.

5
.
peculiar to China
: At the time tattooing was considered abhorrent in China and used mainly for marking criminals. Fishes would not have been used.

6
.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico
: ‘Everything unknown passes for something splendid', Tacitus, from
The Life and Character of Julius Agricola
(
c.
ad 98). Tacitus was a favourite of Conan Doyle, who avidly collected second-hand editions of his books when he was a medical student in Edinburgh.

7
.
Lebanon, Penn.
: City in Pennsylvania, eight miles north-west of Philadelphia.

8
.
Pope's Court, Fleet Street
: This is probably Poppins Court, which runs north off Fleet Street at its eastern end, although some scholars have cited Pope's Head Court, which could then be found on the western side of Chancery Lane north of Fleet Street. If the League's office was in Pope's Head Court then it would have been Chancery Lane rather than Fleet Street that was filled with red-heads after the publication of the advert.

9
.
Morning Chronicle
: Georgian-and Victorian-era newspaper, once edited by Gladstone.

10
.
27 April 1890. Just two months ago
: But at the beginning of the story Watson calls upon Holmes ‘in the autumn of last year'.

11
.
Coburg Square, near the City
: Based on Charterhouse Square, which is named after the Carthusian monastery founded there in 1370 and was later occupied by Charterhouse school until it moved to Surrey in 1875. The few remaining medieval buildings and their antiquated-looking rebuilt neighbours are now used by St Bartholomew's Hospital.

12
.
coster's orange barrow
: The barrow of a costermonger, a street hawker of fruit and vegetables.

13
.
copy out the Encyclopedia Britannica
: A plot development inspired by the Oliver Wendell Holmes story ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table'(1858), in which a man memorizes the first volume of the encyclopedia.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica
was first published in Edinburgh in 1771.

14
.
that I might get on to the B's before very long
: Assuming that Wilson would have been working from the 1875 edition of the encyclopedia, which doesn't reach ‘Attica' until p. 794 of Volume II, it is unlikely that he could have written quite as much as he claimed in two months.

15
.
The Red-Headed League is Dissolved Oct. 9, 1890
: It would have made more sense for the League to keep Wilson away from his shop until some time after it had accomplished its nefarious task than allow him the opportunity to seek help. Note that it is now supposedly October even though Wilson has done eight weeks of work on the encyclopedia, having begun soon after his interview in April.

16
.
the gentleman at No. 4
: The League was based at No. 7.

17
.
his name was William Morris
: A strange choice, given that this is of course the name of the major Victorian artist, writer and designer (1834–96).

18
.
17 King Edward Street
: The building, then the address of a carpet-maker, has since been demolished. The street was once known as Stinking Lane on account of the rubbish from nearby markets which collected there.

19
.
But he could nothelp me in anyway
: Surely Spaulding/Clay as ‘the fourth smartest man in London', according to Holmes's later description, should have tried harder to placate Wilson given his need not to arouse the latter's suspicions.

20
.
to say nothing of the minute knowledge… letter
A: But surely as far as Holmes was concerned Wilson's knowledge would be purposeless? When in
A Study in Scarlet
Watson shows his astonishment at Holmes's claim that he wasn't aware that the earth travelled round the sun, Holmes replies that now he knows he will do his best to forget it so that he doesn't lumber his ‘brain-attic' with unnecessary information.

21
.
Sarasate
: Spanish violinist Pablo Martín Melitón Sarasate y Navascues (1844–1908). Though linked regularly with St James's Hall Sarasate did not play in London in October 1890.

22
.
St James's Hall
: The hall, which opened in 1858, was situated at the north-east end of Piccadilly between Swallow Street and Piccadilly Circus. It was demolished in 1905 and replaced by a hotel.

23
.
as far as Aldersgate
: Aldersgate Station was renamed Barbican in 1968 following the construction of the adjacent Barbican luxury high-rise flats. The name Aldersgate, that of one of the original City gates, survives in Aldersgate Street, the name given to the A1 as it enters the City.

24
.
Three gilt balls
: The pawnbroker's sign adapted from the arms of the wealthy Medici family of Lombardy, merchants and bankers who ruled Florence in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

25
.
to the Strand
: The Strand is the main thoroughfare linking the City of Westminster with the City of London, but its inclusion is amusing given that it is the name of the magazine in which the story was first printed.

26
.
Third right, fourth left
: Various commentators have pointed out that there is no square in London from which the Strand could be reached using these directions.

27
.
The road in which we found ourselves
: If Saxe-Coburg Square is based on Charterhouse Square, then Holmes and Watson are now on Aldersgate Street.

28
.
It is a hobby… exact knowledge of London
: Adapted from Charles Dickens's
Pickwick Papers
, chapter 20: Sam Weller's ‘knowledge of London was extensive and peculiar'.

29
.
the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank
: There was a branch of the County & Westminster Bank at 134 Aldersgate Street (now a branch of the NatWest). However, if this is the bank which features in the story it's odd that Holmes doesn't mention Aldersgate Station in his list of businesses and premises.

30
.
black-letter editions
: Heavy black Gothic or German type used in the early days of printing.

31
.
Kensington
: Luxurious west London district two miles south-west of Baker Street which developed around the court of Kensington Palace.

32
.
pea-jacket
: Not, as commonly believed, meaning a green jacket but a jacket whose name originated in the Dutch
pie
or
pij
– coat.

33
.
Sholto murder and the Agra treasure
: i.e. the story recounted in
The Sign of Four
.

34
.
rubber
: Whist, not bridge as would be the case today, bridge not being invented until the early years of the twentieth century.

35
.
Farringdon Street
: It is strange that Farringdon Street is mentioned, given that it would not be a significant landmark on the journey from Baker Street to Charterhouse Square (on which Saxe-Coburg Square was based).

36
.
It is our French gold
: Conan Doyle may have been reading an article which appeared in
Tit-Bits
(which like the
Strand
was owned by George Newnes) on 28 February 1891 entitled ‘A Journey with a Million of Money', which told how gold bullion was transferred from the Bank of England to the Bank of France.

37
.
thirty thousand napoleons
: A napoleon was a 20-franc gold coin.

38
.
partie carrée
: A party of four. Nowadays the term is used as a euphemism for a wife-swapping quartet.

39
.
Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it
: An odd thing to say which has caused Holmes scholars much consternation. Is Clay sarcastically referring to the noose that awaits him for murder or murders he may have committed if Archie's blundering allows him to be caught, or is he simply advising his accomplice and himself on the best method of escape?

40
.
derbies
: Slang for handcuffs.

41
.
running a tunnel
: In 1890 the
Toronto Telegram
reported on the story of four men and a woman who for eight months burrowed a tunnel 3 feet high and 53 feet long 8 feet underground from the basement of their house towards a nearby bank, but were discovered with only a few feet to go.

42
.
ennui
: A contemporary usage: in Oscar Wilde's
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1891 edn), Lord Henry Wotton muses ‘The only horrible thing in the world is
ennui
, Dorian.'

43
.
L'homme… c'est tout
: The quote should be ‘
L'Homme n'est rien, l'œuvre tout
' – ‘Man is nothing; work is everything', which Flaubert wrote in a letter to George Sand in December 1875.

First published in the
Strand
in October 1891. Alternative title: ‘The Mystery of Boscombe Valley'(
St Louis Post-Dispatch
). The story could be set in or around 1888.

1
.
Boscombe Valley
: There is a small valley, the Boscombe Chine, near Bournemouth, Dorset.

2
.
Paddington
: London terminus for the Great Western Railway, situated on Praed Street just west of central London.

3
.
long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap
: Sidney Paget drew the ‘closefitting cloth cap' as a deerstalker in his
Strand
illustration, thereby introducing one of the best-known Holmes images.

4
.
Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire
: There
is no Boscombe Valley near Ross, a market town on the River Wye in Herefordshire.

5
.
the Colonies
: Australia comprised six colonies before federation in 1900.

6
.
who have retained Lestrade
: Implying that Lestrade, the Scotland Yard detective, has gone into private practice. Yet we soon discover (see below) that Lestrade acting in his official Scotland Yard capacity is convinced of McCarthy's guilt.

7
.
Cooee
: An aboriginal call now in common use.

8
.
my pocket Petrarch
: Francesco Petrarca (1304–74), Italian poet.

9
.
broad gleaming Severn
: The River Severn, the longest river in Britain, rises in North Wales and flows east and south for 210 miles before entering the Bristol Channel.

10
.
Lestrade, of Scotland Yard
: Now Lestrade is a representative of the official force rather than working in a private capacity, as previously implied.

11
.
Twenty-nine
: Barometric pressure is measured according to the height of a column of mercury in a glass tube. Twenty-nine would imply rain.

12
.
Victoria
: The smallest state in Australia.

13
.
yellow-backed novel
: Cheap popular novels were often bound in a hard yellow cover at that time.

14
.
Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale
: ‘Well, thereby hangs a tale', Mistress Quickly from Shakespeare's
The Merry Wives of Windsor
I.iv.144; ‘And thereby hangs a tale', Jaques from Shakespeare's
As You Like It
II.vii.28;‘And thereby hangs a tale', Grumio from Shakespeare's
The Taming of the Shrew
IV.i.51.

15
.
George Meredith
: English novelist and poet (1828–1909), author of
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel
(1859). Conan Doyle gave a talk entitled ‘The Genius of George Meredith' to the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society in November 1888.

16
.
Ballarat
: Third-biggest city in Victoria, Australia.