The Last Chronicle of Barset
Chapters 31 to 33

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[28-30]   [34-36]

Chapter 31
Showing how Major Grantly Returned to Guestwick

She has spirit enough for a goddess
Lily describes Grace to her mother with this phrase, which compares her generally to a goddess. This is fitting given the associations between Grace's name and the three classical goddesses known as the Graces.  [EB]

Major Grantly was fond of Greek
Since John has not heard a great deal about Grace's beauty, he assumes here that Grantly must be attracted to her intellectual accomplishments.  Again, the Crawleys' classical knowledge becomes a central aspect of their characters.  [EB]

 

Chapter 32
Mr Toogood

In forma pauperis
This Latin phrase means "in the form of a pauper," and Crawley uses it to describe his inability to pay Toogood for his legal assistance.  [EB]

Thais
The woman mentioned in the poem that Toogood quotes is a famous courtesan of ancient Greece, who was said to have traveled with Alexander the Great.  Toogood does not know this background information, and is only amused by his children picking up Dryden's use of "Thais" and referring to their mother with this name.  Crawley, who does know of this historical figure, is shocked and questions Toogood's character.
Encyclopedia Britannica online available through Hendrix College  [EB & RR]

Use the goods the gods provide you
Toogood describes this as the best form of gratitude for the good fortune he has enjoyed.  This phrase hearkens back to a similar statement made by Paris in line 3.65 of the Iliad, as well as to the poem by John Dryden that Toogood directly quotes.  [EB]

By Jove
Toogood uses this common exclamation, which makes use of the name of the Roman god Jove, or Jupiter.  [EB]

In forma pauperis
See above.  [EB]

I know myself as no one else can know me, in spite of the wise man's motto
Mr. Crawley says this in reference to his difficulty in remembering the events surrounding the alleged theft.  The "motto" he references is possibly a phrase found in Diogenes Laertius' account of Thales, who supposedly said that "to know one's self" is most difficult.
http://www.bartleby.com/100/720.html  [EB & RR]

 

Chapter 33
The Plumstead Foxes

Stogpingum = Stoke Pinguium
The word "Pinguium" in the original name of this parish is a form of the Latin word pinguis, meaning "fat" or "fertile."  The narrator comments that its current name, "Stogpingum," is the result of "barbarous Saxon tongues [having] clipped it of its proper proportions." This phrase satirizes those who prefer the aesthetics of Latin to other languages.  [EB]

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