Chapter I
Mr Scougall gives a sermon. See Memories and Opinions (1945) by Q, Chapter 1. This can be dated to the time of the threat of invasion from Napoleon's army at Boulogne, which ended in August 1805. See Bertha Couch's Life of Jonathan Couch (1891), Chapter I and Q's Mayor of Troy (1906), Chapter XVI.)
Chapter IV
Myth: Corineus and Gogmagog; In The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1136), the four founders of the nations of Britain were refugees from Troy, with Corineus defeating the giants of Cornwall and their champion Gogmagog at Lamgogmagog.
In Genesis 10:2, Magog is a grandson of Noah, and in Ezekiel 38 & 39 Gog of the land of Magog is prophesied against. In Revelation 20, Satan is to gather Gog and Magog so as to do battle with the 'saints'.
Geoffrey of Monmouth has united Greek myth with Scripture.
Robert Hunt, FRS, of Devonport, in his series Romances and Drolls of the west of England (1871), a series Dr Thomas Quiller Couch of Bodmin contributed to, provides two conflicting stories under the heading 'Corineus and Gogmagog'.
- Brutus and Corineus travelled from Aquitaine and landed at Totnes to confront Gogmagog and the giants;
- Brutus, Corineus and the Trojans landed at Plymouth, with the fight between Corineus and Gogmagog taking place on what is now Plymouth Hoe, with Kernow or Cornwall going to the victor. The appendix has the same in a poem from Drayton's Polyolbion. In a footnote, Hunt draws attention to similar legends from Hugh Miller's Scenes and legends of the North of Scotland.
Family History: Amelia Plinlimmon's father had died heavily in debt (as had Q's), while her brother, Arthur, had married an extravagant woman (which Q's mother was). By 1807 Arthur was a widower with a 20 year-old son, Archibald, who had been too poor to afford a commission. The buying of commissions remained until the Gladstone ministry of 1868-74, when its suppression caused a parliamentary storm (see the 'Army Purchase' dispute in Shining Ferry, XXIV). Archibald lives with his father, Captain Plinlimmon, in Lancaster.
Chapter VIII
(For Ben Jope and Bill Adams of the Vesuvius and the Bedford see: The Mayor of Troy and 'Merry Garden'from Merry Garden and Other Stories.)
Chapter XVII
The history of the Leicester family: Archibald Plinlimmon is the second cousin of George Leicester, with any child of his to inherit the Leicester estate. However, as any child of Isabel Brooks and Archibald Plinlimmon would be illegitimate, the marriage being irregular, the estate would possibly fall to George Leicester as the sole legitimate although discredited heir.
As Plinlimmon is to sail for Portugal on the morrow, the Rector requires the licence possessed by Whitmore so as to conduct a legitimate wedding ceremony on the arrival of Plinlimmon at Minden to say goodbye to Isabel Brooks. The search reveals Whitmore as having been on the point of eloping with Lydia Belcher, who immediately arrives wearing a diamond engagement ring, presumably purchased by Whitmore from the guineas of Rodriguez. Lydia Belcher has a casement window opened which effects the escape of Whitmore, who proceeds to Portugal.