The Small House at Allington
Chapters 7 to 9

chapter list

[4-6]   [10-12]

Chapter 7
The Beginning of Troubles

Apollo
The narrator refers to Crosbie as Apollo.  The narrator uses this name to denote Crosbie in order to show that Bernard, Bell, Lily, and Adolphus or "Apollo" are on a comfortable, even joking first name basis.  See commentary on Chapter 2.  [AM]

Humours
This word is referring to Hippocrates' theory of the bodily humours which were four types of fluids thought to permeate the body and influence its health.  An imbalance in the distribution of the humours was thought to affect each individual's personality.  Lily Dale asks her sister Bell about why their mother should have to go to their uncle to please his humours. The reference to Hippocrates' humours conveys how Bell understands that the ill-ease of their uncle would be swayed into contentment by their mother's influence.
OCD  [AM]

Elysium
Elysium, in classical mythology, is the paradisiacal place where the blessed dead reside in Hades. This allusion refers to what Mr. Crosbie's life would not be like if he chose to marry Lily Dale with his small income.  Mr. Crosbie would have to give up his seemingly splendid life of London luxuries such as fashion and clubs in exchange for the domestic life in which he would live a humdrum existence in a small house full of babies and mouths to feed.  This idea of married life does not seem like a paradise to him. 
OED

Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology
 [AM]  

Apollo of Beaufort
The narrator uses Apollo to contrast Crosbie's usual social smoothness with the lack of finesse with which Crosbie tries to explain that his marriage to Lily would be delayed due to his small income.  See commentary on Chapter 2.  [AM]

Chapter 8
It Cannot Be

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Chapter 9
Mrs. Dale's Little Party

Calf-like victim caught for the sacrifice and bound with ribbon at the alter
Greco-Roman sacrificial imagery is used again to convey the present and anxious state of mind of Mr. Crosbie.  In this section of the text, Crosbie has the "calf-like feeling" because in order for him to marry Lily Dale, he must give up his ambitions and the luxuries to which he had become accustomed.  Additionally, Crosbie feels like a sacrificial victim because by marrying Lily Dale, he is presenting himself as one who will loose his independence.  Even though giving up his own autonomy will make Lily Dale happy, he feels that it would be no benefit to him what so ever.  See above commentary for Chapter 7.  [AM] 

Slip between the cup and the lip
This is a proverbial phrase that implies how anything can go wrong even if something appears to be sure to happen. The source of this quotation is Erasmus' Adagia, a book of classical proverbs. The mythical background of the proverb concerns Ancaeos, who was the helmsman of the Argo.  According to Robert Graves, this story is told in the scholia for Apollonius' Argonautica 1.185.  Ancaeos was told by a slave that he would never taste the wine from his own vineyards.  When a bottle made from his own grapes was sent to him, the slave stated, "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip."  At this instant a messenger came in and told Ancaeos that a wild boar was laying his vineyard waste, whereupon he set down his cup, went out against the boar, and was killed in the encounter.  This section of the text shows how Lily Dale is under the assumption that her love and matrimonial plans are in no danger of being thwarted. The classical reference is used to contrast Lily's idealism and naivete with the fact that the most predictable things can go wrong and that nothing is sure unless it has already passed. The allusion creates a parallel between Lily and Anacaeos.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology
The
Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology

Robert Graves, The Greek Myths:  Complete Edition London:  Penguin, 1992.  [AM]

Crosbie came forward and shone like an Apollo
It is the narrator who states that Crosbie shines like the sun god Apollo. Trollope uses this reference to Apollo in order to illustrate the confidence that Crosbie exudes within a crowd of people.  See commentary on Chapter 2.  [AM]

Like the moon? - well; I fancy I like the sun better
This is Crosbie's response to Lily's question if he likes the moon.  This is a fitting assertion, given the fact that Crosbie has been identified with Apollo, who is associated with the sun.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology  [AM & RR] 

Laurels
The laurels that surround Crosbie and Lily Dale on the lawn invoke the myth of Apollo and Daphne from Book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses.  The laurel tree in this story becomes associated with Apollo and his failed attempt at love with Daphne.  In this story, Daphne becomes the laurel tree in order to prevent Apollo from having her as his wife.  For more on laurels, see commentary on Chapter 2.  [AM]

Tantalized
This word evokes the underworld punishments of Tantulus, eternally thirsty and leaning toward water and also eternally hungry and stretching toward fruit.  In a broader sense, "tantalize" means to present something that is desired but is seemly out of reach.  This image of Tantulus and alluring but ungraspable desires is used to show how the curate who attends Mrs. Dale's party feels tortured and perhaps envious of the activities and pleasures experienced by the other guests at the party which he cannot partake in or enjoy.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology
OED  [AM]

Greek Kalends
An expression used to refer to a time that will never come. The humor of this phrase is derived from the fact that "kalends" was a Roman term which denoted the first day of the month in the Roman calendar and the Greeks did not reckon time according to Roman kalends. Trollope uses this figure of speech when describing Mr. Crosbie's unconscious desire "to postpone his marriage to some Greek kalends."  This allusion is used to convey how Mr. Crosbie secretly wishes that the day of his marriage will never come. 
OED [AM]

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