Within a Budding Grove (vol II pp 467-81)

p 467 | Monomotapa was a Kafir territory in SE Africa, thought to be mythological, but attested to by Portuguese & Dutch sources from the 16th century onward, and continuing as far northward as beyond the Zambezi. La Fontaine (1621-95) seems to have chosen it as an example of an exotic distant land.  [fn 1, re: The Two Friends (VIII, 11), p. 423, The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, by Jean de La Fontaine, Norman R. Shapiro. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007} See also Wikipedia for Kingdom of Mutapa.

Alfred de Musset

p 475 | Alfred de Musset  (1810 – 57; Académicien): French dramatist, poet, novelist & lover of George Sand. L'espoir en Dieu was a poem published in La Revue des Deux Mondes in 1838.

p 476 | Mme Cornuel: Anne-Marie Bigot, dame Cornuel (1614 (?) - 94), French salonista, aphorist, and wit of the 17th century. She is credited with saying "No man is a hero to his valet."
| ... swallow-tail coat: The front is cut away, leaving just the tails in back. See this page and Wikipedia.

p 478 | ... pepla: variant of peplum (flounce or short, flared flap attached at the waist of a dress, blouse, coat, etc., and extending around the hips).
|... fandangle: variant of fandango (foolish act, nonsense).
|... calumniate: slander
|... rigmarole: foolish or incoherent rambling talk or nonsense; an involved, fussy, time-wasting procedure
 p 480 | ...consanguinity: blood relationship, or other close association or connection

Duke d'Aumale

| Duke d'Aumale: (Prince) Henri Louis d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (1822–97), 5th son of Louis-Philippe, King of the French & Duc d'Orléans and Marie Amalie of Bourbon-Sicilies, was a leader for the Orleanist cause of a constitutional monarchy in France (Wiki).
| ...Princesse Murat/Queen of Naples: This was Caroline Bonaparte.

p 481| Victoria carriage: French carriage, named for Queen Victoria at least by 1844, and renowned for its elegance. It was first imported into England by the Prince of Wales in 1869, where it rapidly gained popularity. It was usually pulled by one or two horses. The victoria was a low, light, four-wheeled, doorless vehicle with a forward-facing seat for two persons covered with a folding top, or calash, and a removable, elevated coachman’s seat above the front axle. The graceful body curved down from the coachman’s seat to the floorboards, and up again like a gently sloping chair. The Grand Victoria had a rumble seat for two extra passengers.  (Brittanica)