Dead Souls

10

Clicquot is the name of one of the finest champagnes. Nozdryov uses it in lowercase as an adjective, and combines it superlatively but absurdly with matradura, the name of an old Russian dance. Plebeian kvass is made from fermented rye bread and malt.

11

A balyk is made from a special dorsal section of flesh running the entire length of a salmon or sturgeon, which is removed in one piece and either salted or smoked. It is especially fancied in Russia.

12

Opodeldoc (originally oppodeltoch) was the name given by the Swiss alchemist and physician Theophrastus Bombastus von Ho-henheim, known as Paracelsus (1493—1541), to various medicinal plasters; it is now applied to soap liniments mixed with alcohol and camphor. Nozdryov applies it to Chichikov in a far-fetched pun on delo, the Russian word for 'deal.' Hence our spelling.

13

Fenardi was an actual street acrobat and conjurer, well known in the 1820s.

14

Sophron is a Greek common noun meaning a wise, sensible, intelligent person.

15

The popular French song 'Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre' expressed the pleasure the French took in the misfortunes of John Churchill, duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), who led the English forces in the War of the Spanish Succession in the Low Countries. The duke's name is variously misspelled in French transcriptions as 'Malbrough,' 'Malborough,' and even 'Malbrouk.'

16

Nozdryov probably means haut sauternes, a nonexistent variety of the great sweet white wines of Bordeaux. Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800), the greatest Russian general of his time, successfully led Russian forces against the Turks at Iz-mayil, put down the Polish insurrection in 1794, and led the opposition to the French revolutionary armies until he was stopped by Marechal Massena at Zurich in 1799.

17

Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800), the greatest Russian general of his time, successfully led Russian forces against the Turks at Iz-mayil, put down the Polish insurrection in 1794, and led the opposition to the French revolutionary armies until he was stopped by Marechal Massena at Zurich in 1799.

18

Colonies of soldier-farmers were first created by the emperor Alexander I (1777-1825), and were placed mainly in Ukraine. The empress Catherine II began the inviting of German settlers to Russia, particularly to the province of Saratov.

19

Mikhailo, or Mikhail—Misha or Mishka in the diminutive— is the common Russian name for a bear.

20

Alexander Mavrocordato (1791-1865), a Greek statesman born in Constantinople, and the admirals Andreas Vokos Miaoulis (1768-1835) and Constantine Canaris (1790-1877) all distinguished themselves in the Greek war of independence (1821-28). Bobelina, an Albanian woman, outfitted three ships at her own expense and fought on the Greek side in the same war. Prince Pyotr Bagration (1765—1812), a Russian general born in Georgia, was a leader of the opposition to Napoleon's invasion and was mortally wounded at the battle of Borodino.

21

In Ezekiel (38:2, 3, 18; 39:11, 15) Gog is named as prince of Meshech and Tubal, in some unclear relation with 'the land of Magog.' In Revelation (20:8) Gog and Magog are called 'the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.' But in the popular mind, the rhyming names suggest two evil monsters.

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