Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 563-593

p 564 | terzo incomodo: third wheel

p 567 | Charles de Sévigné (1648–1713) was a French aristocrat and  soldier; also the son of French literary icon (and Mamma's favorite) Madame de Sévigné.

p 578 | Benjamin Godard (1849-95), a writer of successful operas; Proust found his music facile. (Storrock)

p 583 | Martingale: a strap, or set of straps, attached to the noseband or reins of a horse and at the other end to the girth. It is used to prevent the horse from raising its head too high.

p 587 | "Work and you will achieve fame...." Chateaubriand cites these words as having been written to him in 1798 by the Marquis Louis de Fontanes (1757-1821), a writer with whom he had become friendly during his exile in England. A collection of Napoleon's letters to Josephine was published in 1913 under the title Tendresses imperiales, or Imperial Tendernesses. (Sturrock)

p 593 | A Cartier gold vanity case might look something like this: