The Midwinter Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Three Adventures & The Grand Gift of Sherlock (34 page)

[333]
Watson may have be inspired to write his name in his books by the action of Gulielmi ‘William’ Whyte, as shown in a 1642 book found by Holmes in Chapter V of
A Study in Scarlet
.

[334]
“You have a grand gift of silence, Watson,” said Holmes. “It makes you quite invaluable as a companion” (
The Man with the Twisted Lip
).

[335]
The same salutation was used in Holmes’ ‘final’ letter to Watson written at Reichenbach Falls (
The Final Problem
).

[336]
The Great War began on 28 July, 1914 and lasted until 11 November, 1918.

[337]
Alas, Holmes’ heartfelt wish was not to be granted. Less than twenty-one years after the ‘War to End all Wars,’ England was forced to declare war upon Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939.

[338]
We have no formal mention in the Canon of Mycroft’s role during the Great War, but given his prominence within the British government, we can only assume it was a large one.

[339]
The details of Watson’s time with his old service (that he planned in
His Last Bow
) have unfortunately not been maintained for posterity.

[340]
The Victoria Cross is the highest military medal awarded in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. It was introduced in 1856 to honor valor during the Crimean War. This is the only record we have that Watson was awarded one, as his name cannot be found in the official list of the some 1300 recipients throughout history.

[341]
A ‘Bar’ is the term used for a second awarding of the Victoria Cross. Preciously few men in history have been so worthy.

[342]
Here Holmes echoes his sentiments from
His Last Bow
regarding Watson’s role in stopping the spy Von Bork.

[343]
“Damon and Pythias” is an idiomatic expression for ‘true friendship.’ It derives from a Greek legend told originally by Aristoxenus, and then related by Cicero among others. Although the tale has primarily vanished from the contemporary mind, the allusion would have been obvious to Watson, who would have known of it from such references as
Hamlet
(Act III, Scene II) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[344]
Holmes quotes himself here, from Chapter V of
The Hound of the Baskervilles
.

[345]
Again, Holmes quotes himself, this time from
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
.

[346]
When Watson volunteers to accompany Holmes on his illegal house-breaking, Holmes responds: “We have shared the same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell” (
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
).

[347]
Holmes references Watson’s “occasional week-end visit” to his retirement home on the South Downs in
The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
.

[348]
Although Holmes could go without food for some time while on a case, he was also a gourmand when the case allowed. The two finest examples are in Chapter X of
The Sign of Four
and
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
.

[349]
The English Channel is famous for not allowing a successful invasion since that of William the Conqueror in 1066, despite determined attempts from Napoleon and others to come later.

[350]
That Holmes did consider higher matters is plain from the reports of this thoughts in
The Adventures of the Cardboard Box
and
The Retired Colourman
.

[351]
Watson reports his and Holmes’ weakness for Turkish baths in
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
. It should be recalled that Holmes was sixty-four years old (born in 1854) and Watson sixty-six years old (born in 1852) in 1918. Watson mentions Holmes’ rheumatism in the Preface to the collection found in
His Last Bow
.

[352]
By this we can assume Holmes is referring to palimpsests, manuscript pages from which the text has been scraped or washed off so it can be used again. Holmes mentioned this interest in
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
.

[353]
Presumably Holmes is referring primarily to Lassus’ Polyphonic Motets, which he published as a monograph. However, given his talents on the violin, perhaps he did more research on the music of the Middle Ages, as obliquely mentioned in
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
?

[354]
Oddly, the canonical reference is to “miracle plays” (Chapter X,
The Sign of Four
). Presumably Watson misremembered what Holmes was actually discoursing on, given the broad range of subjects at the time.

[355]
Holmes reported his special study of medieval pottery in Chapter X of
The Sign of Four
.

[356]
At first, this appears to be an uncharacteristic mistake by Holmes, for most English barrows date from the Neolithic and Bronze ages. However, early Anglo-Saxons in the 6th and 7th Century CE also constructed them for their princes. Holmes likely compiled his knowledge of these burials from two sources: 1) Discussions with Dr. James Mortimer, who excavated a “prehistoric” barrow at Long Down (Chapter VIII,
The Hound of the Baskervilles
); and 2) A hands-on experience during his investigation of the singular contents of an ancient British barrow during the investigation of the Addleton tragedy (
The Adventure of the Golden Pince Nez
).

[357]
Holmes was so interested in the topic of English charters that he almost turned down a case in order to continue his researches of them (
The Adventure of the Three Students
).

[358]
Holmes was correct, of course. The final Canonical publication, entitled
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
, took place in 1927. The result was uneven, to say the least, perhaps reflecting the waning of the seventy-five year-old Watson’s literary powers.

[359]
The two cases that most come to mind are
The Five Orange Pips
(in which Holmes fails to prevent the murder of John Openshaw) and
The Adventure of the Dancing Men
(in which he fails to prevent the killing of Hilton Cubbit).

[360]
Holmes mentions handling “five hundred capital cases” in Chapter V of
The Hound of the Baskervilles
, which took place roughly at the midpoint of his career. Shortly afterwards, he speaks of investigating over a thousand total cases (
The Final Problem
). By the time of his retirement, the tally mentioned in this letter may actually be rather low.

[361]
Holmes reiterates a point he made in
The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
. In the recorded cases, he is noted as having directly aided the rulers of Bohemia, Holland (
A Scandal in Bohemia
), Scandinavia (
The Noble Bachelor
), and Great Britain (
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
).

[362]
Holmes paraphrases himself: “But the quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast of coming events, the triumphant vindication of bold theories - are these not the pride and the justification of our life's work” (Chapter VII,
The Valley of Fear
).

[363]
Unfortunately, Holmes deigns to elaborate much upon how he trained himself for this unusual profession when pressed to do so by Watson in
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
.

[364]
Although there are sixty Canonical tales of Sherlock Holmes, two were written in a third-person voice (presumed to be that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and two were penned by Holmes himself.

[365]
It is with uncharacteristic modesty that Holmes refers to his brain as an attic (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet & The Five Orange Pips
) or box-room (
The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
), since the ‘method of loci’ is commonly referred to as the ‘memory palace.’ It is a mnemonic device that dates back as far as ancient Greek and Roman treatises. Simply put, it is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualization to organize and recall information.

[366]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) wrote about the ‘method of loci’ in his work
De Oratore
.

[367]
Holmes references this vague perception in
The Adventure of the Three Gables
.

[368]
It is odd that Holmes decided not to use his own personal library in the garret of his little house upon the South Downs, which he refers to in
The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
, where presumably his rare old copy of
Der jure inter Gentes
can be found (Chapter V,
A Study in Scarlet
). As a garret is itself a type of attic, perhaps he found it too either too similar to his original mental “room?” Or perhaps he preferred the more formal library to be found in the home of “a man of letters” like Waston (
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
)?

[369]
An extreme example of the ‘pot calling the kettle black’ from a man who indexed the case of
The ‘Gloria Scott’
under ‘V’ for ‘Voyage’ (
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
)!

[370]
Perhaps Watson did this on purpose to entertain his friend, knowing his passion for such things?

[371]
Watson has clearly replaced the picture of Henry Ward Beecher that occupied this place during the time of
The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
, with that of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftsbury. An interesting choice by Watson, Shaftsbury was no military hero. He was, due to his constant advocacy for the better treatment of the working classes, known as the ‘Poor Man's Earl.’ One of his biographers, Georgina Battiscombe, went so far as to claim that: “No man has in fact ever done more to lessen the extent of human misery or to add to the sum total of human happiness.”

[372]
As reported in
The Adventures of Solitary Cyclist
and
The Veiled Lodger
.

[373]
As reported in The
Adventure of the Golden Pince Nez
.

[374]
As reported in
The Problem of Thor Bridge
.

[375]
Sensational novels bound in vividly illustrated yellow boards, intended for railway travelers. We can presume that Holmes meant this metaphorically, and not every volume upon the shelf was literally yellow-backed. Watson tried to interest himself in one during the
Boscombe Valley Mystery
, and Miss Violet Hunter read one to her employer in
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
.

[376]
Mentioned in Chapter II of the non-Canonical novel
The Isle of Devils
.

[377]
Presumably Watson studied this work in an attempt to wean his acquaintance Isa Whitney off this drug, as mentioned in
The Man with the Twisted Lip
. It also may be the source of some of Watsons’ knowledge about Johann Paul ‘Jean Paul’ Friederich Richter (Chapter VII,
The Sign of Four
).

[378]
Mentioned in the non-Canonical story
The Adventure of the First Star
.

[379]
Mentioned in Chapter VIII of the non-Canonical novel
The Isle of Devils
.

[380]
Watson was clearly familiar with this work, for he compared the “king of all the blackmailers” to Mr. Pickwick in terms of physical appearance in
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
.

[381]
Mentioned in Chapter II of
The Valley of Fear
.

[382]
Mentioned in Chapter II of
A Study in Scarlet
.

[383]
Presumably Watson found this remarkable for the similarities of its hero Allen Quartermain with Dr. Leon Sterndale, individual of interest in
The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot
.

[384]
In Chapter V of the non-Canonical novel
The Isle of Devils
Watson is introduced to the short story ‘The Three Kings of Bermuda,’ originally printed in this book.

[385]
Holmes and Watson discuss Meredith’s work in
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
, without referencing a particular volume.

[386]
Mentioned in Chapter V of
A Study in Scarlet
.