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mafiefBRUC – notes
BRUC
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
His Last Bow
Words: 10697
Where was Watson living? Baker Street
Pre/Post Reichenbach (May 1891)? Post. 1895
Characters:
Sherlock Holmes
John Watson
Mycroft
Cadogan West
Miss Violet Westbury – fiancée
Mason – plate-layer
Lestrade
Sir James Walter - government expert/scientist, has keys to building with plans, died
Admiral Sinclair
Colonel Valentine Walter - thief
Mr. Sidney Johnson - senior clerk and draughtsman, other guy with keys
Hugo Oberstein
Hugo Oberstein’s valet
Locations:
Baker Street
outside Aldgate Station
Underground
Woolwich
Barclay Square
Woolwich Station
house in the outskirts of the town where Valentine Westbury lived with her mom
Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington
Gloucester Road Station
Caulfield Gardens
Charing Cross Hotel
Other crimes/criminals/cases mentioned:
“fifty men who have good reason for taking my life”
Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
Other studies mentioned:
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus – “is said by experts to be the last word upon the subject”
Questions/thoughts about the story
“Brooks or Woodhouse” who?
Mycroft’s cycle - Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes Club, Whitehall
- “absolutely and indignantly declined to climb the railings”
“the bimetallic question”?
“plate-layer”?
Aldgate Station – the area near this station looks completely covered. Guessing it wasn’t earlier.
“either fell or was precipitated from a train” what? Precipitate is to fall out of solution or rain.
“two pounds fifteen”?
Woolwich Theatre - http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/WoolwichTheatres.htm
“British government—Woolwich” that connection doesn’t make sense to me.
“most jealously guarded of all government secrets” and yet everyone has heard it.
“a network of points” points?
“fog-girt”?
“curacao”?
The life-preserver is back!
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus – no idea what this is. Look up later.
“lady's august name” phrase meaning?
Other things about Holmes
Keeps references – “cross-indexing his huge book of references”
Hobby - music of the Middle Ages
Bored – “He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.”
“how long could I survive against my own pursuit? A summons, a bogus appointment, and all would be over.”
It was one of my friend's most obvious weaknesses that he was impatient with less alert intelligences than his own.
mouse-coloured dressing-gown
his power of throwing his brain out of action and switching all his thoughts on to lighter things
emerald tie-pin
Other things about Watson
Tolerant, very tolerant
“I had none of this power of detachment”
BRUC
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
His Last Bow
Words: 10697
Where was Watson living? Baker Street
Pre/Post Reichenbach (May 1891)? Post. 1895
Characters:
Sherlock Holmes
John Watson
Mycroft
Cadogan West
Miss Violet Westbury – fiancée
Mason – plate-layer
Lestrade
Sir James Walter - government expert/scientist, has keys to building with plans, died
Admiral Sinclair
Colonel Valentine Walter - thief
Mr. Sidney Johnson - senior clerk and draughtsman, other guy with keys
Hugo Oberstein
Hugo Oberstein’s valet
Locations:
Baker Street
outside Aldgate Station
Underground
Woolwich
Barclay Square
Woolwich Station
house in the outskirts of the town where Valentine Westbury lived with her mom
Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington
Gloucester Road Station
Caulfield Gardens
Charing Cross Hotel
Other crimes/criminals/cases mentioned:
“fifty men who have good reason for taking my life”
Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
Other studies mentioned:
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus – “is said by experts to be the last word upon the subject”
Questions/thoughts about the story
“Brooks or Woodhouse” who?
Mycroft’s cycle - Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes Club, Whitehall
- “absolutely and indignantly declined to climb the railings”
“the bimetallic question”?
“plate-layer”?
Aldgate Station – the area near this station looks completely covered. Guessing it wasn’t earlier.
“either fell or was precipitated from a train” what? Precipitate is to fall out of solution or rain.
“two pounds fifteen”?
Woolwich Theatre - http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/WoolwichTheatres.htm
“British government—Woolwich” that connection doesn’t make sense to me.
“most jealously guarded of all government secrets” and yet everyone has heard it.
“a network of points” points?
“fog-girt”?
“curacao”?
The life-preserver is back!
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus – no idea what this is. Look up later.
“lady's august name” phrase meaning?
Other things about Holmes
Keeps references – “cross-indexing his huge book of references”
Hobby - music of the Middle Ages
Bored – “He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.”
“how long could I survive against my own pursuit? A summons, a bogus appointment, and all would be over.”
It was one of my friend's most obvious weaknesses that he was impatient with less alert intelligences than his own.
mouse-coloured dressing-gown
his power of throwing his brain out of action and switching all his thoughts on to lighter things
emerald tie-pin
Other things about Watson
Tolerant, very tolerant
“I had none of this power of detachment”
no subject
Date: 2017-10-28 09:42 pm (UTC)It turns out the bimetallic question has to do with how currencies are valued - in those days a currency had a standard, normally a gold standard - a bimetallic standard would use two metals - it wasn't commonplace.
A platelayer would inspect the railway tracks, which was why he found the body in the course of his work.
A lot of building work has happened in London since 1896, so Aldgate station may well have been partially uncovered.
Precipitated can be used to indicate an action was forced to happen. In this case the action would be in the same direction as falling rain.
Two pounds 15 means Two pounds and 15 shillings (see last week's monetary explanation).
Woolwich Arsenal was the major armaments manufacturer in England at that time. It was also used for research. Hence the government connection.
I presume the secret was regarding the details of the plans, rather than the name.
Points are where a two train tracks meet and cross, so a train can change to another direction. The train normally jolts slightly as it does so.
I'm not entirely sure about fog-girt, but would guess it means fog-bound in that there was a thick fog outside which seemed to encircle the room at the beginning of the story.
Curacao is a liqueur.
There was a renaissance composer called Lassus, who died in 1594 who wrote motets (a type of song) in a polyphonic fashion, i.e. the singers each had their own line of music which unlike most choral work now didn't copy or mirror that of the other singers.
The lady's august name means a lady with a very important name - in this case, Queen Victoria is being hinted at.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-29 04:48 pm (UTC)Btw, welcome back!