p 607 | This castle, Château de Villebon, was the model for the Château de Guermantes. It's located at #3 on this map. More photos here. Proust used it as an early draft name for the Guermantes, but then re-edited (and camouflaged) the family & castle, referring now just to the Villebon - Gallardon - Courvoisier side of the family. Châteaudun is also a community in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France (probably not as grand). The Rue de Grenelle is in Paris.p 610 | Pliny the Younger (Roman writer). Mme Pauline de Simiane (1674-1737) was the granddaughter of Mme de Sévigné.
p 612 | fuliginous = sooty, murky, dark. Sui generis is a Latin phrase, meaning "of its own kind/genus" and hence "unique in its characteristics."
p 613 | Princess Bedr-el-Budur: Aladdin fell in love with this character from the Arabian Nights.
p 615 | Daniel Auber (French composer, 1782-1871) of operas such as Les diamants de la couronne, Le domino noir and Fra Diavolo.
p 616-17 | Prince / Princesse des Laumes: titles for Basin & Oriane before his father died & they became the Duc & Duchesse de Guermantes.
p 616 | "cutting the painter" :: an expression meaning, in terms of ships, making a clandestine departure, but also, in terms of an individual, gaining one's freedome, or departing this life. Ships' boats are secured alongside by means of their painters, and a silent or clandestine departure can only be made by cutting the painter and allowing the boat to drift silently away from the ship until it is out of earshot of those on board. cf. answers.com
p 617 | Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny (1753–1814), French poet, known for love poems & prose poems. Some of his work was banned.
p 619 | Charles Grandmougin (French playwright & librettist, 1850-1930); Gaston Lemaire (French composer, 1854-1928). Marquise de Souvré (friend of the Princesse de Parme).
p 626 | cupidity = inordinate desire for wealth; greed, avarice, lust.
