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Eggs, Beans and Crumpets
(1940) [EBC] - Quick Service
(1940) [QS] - Money in the Bank
(1946) [MB] - Joy in the Morning
(1947) [JM] - Full Moon
(1947) [FM] - Spring Fever
(1948) [SpF] - Uncle Dynamite
(1948) [UD] - The Mating Season
(1949) [MS]
QUICK SERVICE QS, Chapter 1 "What are those things sheep have?" "Lambs?" "Yes, but some special breed of lambs." "Ewe lambs?" "That's right. The Paramount Ham is old Duff's ewe lamb." 2 Samuel 12:3 / But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. I am not at all sure if this or any other biblical text is the direct source of the expression "my ewe lamb". She seemed so young, so frail to go up against one who even on his good mornings resembled something out of the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation, or "Apocalypse of John", is the last book of the New Testament and of the entire Bible. Like other apocalyptic literature, its aim is to reveal hidden things, especially what will happen when this world ends. The language used in this sort of writing is highly symbolic, and its visions of horror and destruction should not be taken literally. The true message of the Book of Revelation is a hopeful one: God protects his persecuted Church and will lead her to victory. QS, Chapter 2 The Paramount Ham, in its capacity of ewe lamb to the managing director, has a shrine to itself. See above . QS, Chapter 6 His frame of mind resembled in almost equal proportions that of Mariana in the Moated Grange and that of those priests of Baal who gashed themselves with knives. 1 Kings 18:28 / And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. In 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah sets up a competition between 450 priests of Baal (a pagan divinity) and himself, as the representative of the God of Israel. In spite of their impressive self-mutilation, the priests of Baal were unable to make their god ignite a sacrificial bull. QS, Chapter 9 "This is a lovely place," he said. "I'm glad you like it." "An earthly Paradise, absolutely." Genesis 2:8 / And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. The Hebrew word for "garden" was translated as "paradise" in the Greek version of the Old Testament. I pointed out to him that it is of the essence of a barmaid's duties that she be all things to all men 1 Corinthians 9:22 / To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. You seem to go from strength to strength. Psalm 84:7 / They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. QS, Chapter 10 This extraordinary behaviour on his part convinced him that the fellow was a broken reed. Isaiah 36:6 / Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. QS, Chapter 11 When she went off unexpectedly under their feet like a bomb, strong men were apt to lose their poise and skip like the high hills. Psalm 114:4 / The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. One of Wodehouse's favourite biblical gags. This Psalm deals with the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, as related in Exodus, chapter 14. Although the book of Exodus does not mention any "skipping mountains", this and other extraordinary phenomena are part of the metaphorical language the Bible uses to evoke the power and glory of God. The "high hills" instead of "mountains" may be found in Psalm 68:16 / Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. He put forward the rather interesting theory that this was quite possibly the selfsame song that found a path through the sad heart of Ruth when, sick for home, she stood in tears amid the alien corn. The Book of Ruth tells the story of Ruth, a Moabitess, who had married a Hebrew and determined to live in Judah with her mother-in-law, where she was to become the great-grandmother of king David through her marriage with Boaz. The poet Keats, in his "Ode to a Nightingale", wrote these famous lines: "... the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn." He was at a loss to account for its presence there, but it seemed to him to come under the head of manna from heaven. Psalm 78:24 / And [the Lord] had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. John 6:31 / Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. After their flight from Egypt, God provided the Israelites in the desert with a miraculous sort of food, called "manna" (full story in Exodus 16:1-36). QS, Chapter 13 Giving her an uncomfortable shock as if scales had fallen from her eyes Acts 9:18 / And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. Acts 9:1-19 relate the conversion of Saul, as the apostle Paul was known then. He was travelling to Damascus, in order to persecute Jesus' disciples there, when there came a light from heaven, causing him to fall to the ground, and a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul got up, he could see nothing at all, until a disciple who lived in Damascus, Ananias, laid his hands on him, whereupon the "scales fell away from Saul's eyes". "Feet of clay" was the distasteful phrase that forced itself on the mind. Daniel 2:33 / His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. In the second chapter of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar has a puzzling dream, which only Daniel is able able to reveal: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces" (Daniel 2:31-34). Daniel's interpretation of the dream is too long to be discussed in detail (read Daniel 2:36-45), but we must note the meaning of the "feet of clay": "And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken" (Daniel 2:42). Hence the modern use of the expression "feet of clay" to indicate a flaw in the character of an admired person. It would be alright with him if the entire town of Loose Chippings were to be submerged in molten lava like the Cities of the Plain Genesis 19:24-25 / 24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. QS, Chapter 16 Because we've got to face it, I'm not fit to button your shoes. Mark 1:7 / And [John] preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. John the Baptist, speaking of Christ, states he is not even worthy to serve him in a way usually reserved to slaves. Back to top MONEY IN THE BANK MB, Chapter 1 With that air of welcoming a prodigal son which always endeared her to her employer. The "prodigal son" is the name usually given to the younger of two sons in the parable told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32. Having demanded of his father his share of the estate, he left for a distant country and "wasted his substance with riotous living." Came a famine, and he hired himself out to one of the inhabitants who made him feed his pigs. "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." So he decided to go home. Instead of rebuking him, his father clasped him in his arms, kissed him, and ordered his servants to bring out the best clothes and to kill the fatted calf. One of the most beautiful parables of the Gospel, illustrating God's mercy. MB, Chapter 2 But they were not the sort of eyes which go with a meek and contrite heart Isaiah 57:15 / For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. She was a stranger in a strange land Exodus 2:22 / And she [Zipporah] bare him [Moses] a son, and he called his name Gershon: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. This is one of the many examples of popular etymology in the Bible, "ger" being the Hebrew word for "stranger". MB, Chapter 3 She had trained her little flock to come at her call Luke 12:32 / Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The carver flexed his muscles and behaved like a war horse at the sound of a bugle. See Job 39:25. Curiously enough, this is one of the passages where Wodehouse does not quote the Authorised Version, which he uses elsewhere ("He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha"), but a different translation, in which the war-horse starts at the sound of the bugle. On the internet, I have found only one version that comes close to our text, the so-called "New Living Translation": "It snorts at the sound of the bugle." Unfortunately, this translation was only published in 1996! Could someone help me to identify the version used by Wodehouse? MB, Chapter 5 Something that did not merely cheer without inebriation but bit like a serpent and stung like an adder. Proverbs 23:31-32 / 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. With its hideous peril averted only at the eleventh hour Matthew 20:6 / And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? In the "Parable of the vineyard labourers", Jesus tells us of a landowner going out several times a day to hire workers for his vineyard: at daybreak, at the third hour (about 9 a.m.), at the sixth hour (midday), at the ninth hour (3 p.m.) and, surprisingly, even at the eleventh hour (about 5 p.m.)! In the end, those who were hired at the eleventh hour receive the same wages as those who have been working all day. This story thus illustrates God's generosity, which exceeds the human understanding of justice. And it was as if a sudden bright light had shone upon him. Isaiah 9:2 / The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. The theory was one which would have been scouted by anyone at all intimate with Chimp Twist, but it really looked as if he must have been snatched up to heaven in a fiery chariot. 2 Kings 2:11 / And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. MB, Chapter 6 After having preserved for some five minutes the appearance of being one of those loved ones far away, of whom the hymnal speaks Isaiah 26:3 / Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteh in thee. Isaiah 57:19 / Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord. The hymn "Peace, perfect peace" was written by Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr. (1825-1906) in 1875, and contains the lines: "Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away? / In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they". MB, Chapter 11 There's a squirt, if you want one. A Hivite and a Jebusite, no less. Exodus 3:8 / And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The Hivites and the Jebusites are two of six or seven pre-Israelite Palestinian peoples mentioned in the Bible. MB, Chapter 12 He stood staring at them, his manner that of one from whose eyes the scales have fallen. Acts 9:18 / And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. Acts 9:1-19 relate the conversion of Saul, as the apostle Paul was known then. He was travelling to Damascus, in order to persecute Jesus' disciples there, when there came a light from heaven, causing him to fall to the ground, and a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul got up, he could see nothing at all, until a disciple who lived in Damascus, Ananias, laid his hands on him, whereupon the "scales fell away from Saul's eyes". She shot a swift glance of approval at her helpmeet for the timely suggestion. Genesis 2:18 / And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. MB, Chapter 13 In fact, I have been through the furnace. Isaiah 48:10 / Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. There are many other passages in the Bible which compare chastening experiences to the fire of a furnace. A mighty hunter. Genesis 10:8-9 / 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. Nimrod's name has become a synonym for a hunter. He hated to be the bearer of bad news. Isaiah 52:7 / How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace: that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Possibly the negative version of a biblical expression which Wodehouse uses elsewhere more literally. MB, Chapter 14 He cast a hopeful glance at his pensive helpmeet See above . MB, Chapter 16 A little sleep, a little folding of the hands, may be all right for the man of leisure Proverbs 6:9-11 / 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. They prowled and prowled around, like the hosts of Midian Allusion to a hymn by John Mason Neale (1818-1866), first published for congregational use in his Parish Hymn Book (1863): "Christian, dost thou see them / On the holy ground? / How the troops of Midian / Prowl and prowl around? / Christian, up and smite them, / Counting gain but loss; / Smite them by the merit / Of the holy cross." In the Old Testament, the Midianites lived to the south of the Promised Land. Their raids on the neighbourhood lead them to blows with the Hebrews. Judges 6-8 describe how Gideon delivered Israel from their oppression. He could see that it would be a snug fit, but he yearned for it as the hart yearns for the water-brooks. Psalm 42:1 / As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. The simple question "Do you hide in wardrobes?" is a handy means of separating the sheep from the goats in this world. Matthew 25:31-32 / 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. Housemaids, after all, are but broken reeds to lean upon in such an emergency. Isaiah 36:6 / Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. MB, Chapter 17 To Mr Trumper there came the growing conviction that he had feet of clay, and cold ones, at that. Daniel 2:33 / His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. In the second chapter of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar has a puzzling dream, which only Daniel is able able to reveal: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces" (Daniel 2:31-34). Daniel's interpretation of the dream is too long to be discussed in detail (read Daniel 2:36-45), but we must note the meaning of the "feet of clay": "And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken" (Daniel 2:42). Hence the modern use of the expression "feet of clay" to indicate a flaw in the character of an admired person. So far, he had had the misfortune to draw either deaf adders who stopped their ears and sang "You're The Tops" Psalm 58:3-5 / 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. These verses are certainly among the Bible texts most often alluded to by Wodehouse. The Gadarene swine, rounding into the straight, must have experienced much the same uneasy sensation. Mark 5:11-13 / 11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. For the full story, read Mark 5:1-20, and the parallel versions in Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39. The incident, takes place in the country of the "Gadarenes" or "Gerasenes", east of the Sea of Galilee. MB, Chapter 18 He was just feeling what a Paradise the world would be without women (...) when these dreams of an Eveless Eden were shattered with an abruptness which caused him to bump his head on a projecting hook. Genesis 2:8 / And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. The Hebrew word for "garden" was translated as "paradise" in the Greek version of the Old Testament. Genesis 3:20 / And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. MB, Chapter 22 The comfortable conclusion that all things had worked together for good Romans 8:28 / And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. It was just these little acts of kindness, he had reflected, that raised Man, the Boy Scout, above the beasts that perish. Psalm 49:12 / Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. The scales had fallen from her eyes. See above . No Israelite, contemplating a wholly unforeseen consignment of manna, could have been less in touch for the time being with extraneous things. Deuteronomy 8:16 / Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. John 6:49 / Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. After their flight from Egypt, God provided the Israelites in the desert with a miraculous sort of food, called "manna" (full story in Exodus 16:1-36). MB, Chapter 23 Nothing, not even tidings of the gladdest joy Luke 2:10-11 / 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. MB, Chapter 24 Not since the November afternoon (...) had Jeff experienced so strong and sudden an urge to break the sixth Commandment. Exodus 20:13 / Thou shalt not kill. MB, Chapter 25 He was a man who liked the dead past to bury its dead. Matthew 8:21-22 / 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. The actual quotation, however, comes from Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life": "Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! / Let the dead Past bury its dead! / Act, - act in the living Present! / Heart within, and God o'erhead!" Threatening a deadlock at the eleventh hour See above . Tell her Lord Cakebread's inside, raising Cain. See Genesis 4:1-26. Cain is the first son of Adam and Eve, and a tiller of the soil, while his brother Abel was a shepherd. When both made gifts to God of their produce, the Lord accepted the latter's offering, but not the former's. Cain killed Abel and was condemned by God to be "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." Making trouble is raising the spirit of Cain. MB, Chapter 27 He started like a war horse. (...) Pawing the air and snorting valiantly Job 39:21 / He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. Job 39:25 / He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. See above . Let me tell you, you greasy Tishbite 2 Kings 1:7-8 / 7 And he [king Ahaziah] said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? 8 And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Elijah is called a Tishbite, because he came from the town of Tishbe in Gilead. The derogatory use of "Tishbite" appears to be school slang, based on the above bit of biblical dialogue - especially the "hairy man" - which does sound rather funny, and not only to a schoolboy's ears! "Tishbite" thus seems to be the equivalent of "hairy ape" or "ugly brute". Back to top JOY IN THE MORNING Title Joy in the Morning Psalm 30:5 / For his anger endureth but a moment: in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. JM, Chapter 1 Having shaken the dust of Steeple Bumpleigh from our tyres Matthew 10:14 / And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Jewish gesture, signifying that the place or the house that refuses Jesus' word is to be considered as "unclean", i.e. unworthy to approach God. "Something about Joy doing something." "Joy cometh in the morning, sir?" "That's the baby. Not one of your things, is it?" "No, sir." "Well, it's dashed good," I said. See above . Talk about exulting in my youth! Ecclesiastes 11:9 / Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. "The young lady tells me the fish are biting well there just now." "No, Jeeves. I'm sorry. Not even if they bite like serpents do I go near Steeple Bumpleigh." Proverbs 23:31-32 / 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Even if in the fulness of time she wore him down and at length succeeded in making him jump through hoops, she would know she had been in a fight. Galatians 4:4 / But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. The "fulness of time" is the moment, foretold by the prophets, for the Messiah to come. The thing having been broken off and self saved from the scaffold at the eleventh hour Matthew 20:6 / And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? In the "Parable of the vineyard labourers", Jesus tells us of a landowner going out several times a day to hire workers for his vineyard: at daybreak, at the third hour (about 9 a.m.), at the sixth hour (midday), at the ninth hour (3 p.m.) and, surprisingly, even at the eleventh hour (about 5 p.m.)! In the end, those who were hired at the eleventh hour receive the same wages as those who have been working all day. This story thus illustrates God's generosity, which exceeds the human understanding of justice. JM, Chapter 2 I headed for my destination like a hart streaking towards cooling streams, when heated in the chase Psalm 42:1 / As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. However, the immediate source for this quotation appears to be the hymn "Converting Grace 230", from "A New Version of the Psalms": "As pants the hart for cooling streams / When heated in the chase; / So longs my soul, Oh God, for Thee, / And Thy refreshing grace". JM, Chapter 4 Sorry to have to rub it in like this, but it's only kind to remove the scales from your eyes Acts 9:18 / And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. Acts 9:1-19 relate the conversion of Saul, as the apostle Paul was known then. He was travelling to Damascus, in order to persecute Jesus' disciples there, when there came a light from heaven, causing him to fall to the ground, and a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul got up, he could see nothing at all, until a disciple who lived in Damascus, Ananias, laid his hands on him, whereupon the "scales fell away from Saul's eyes". JM, Chapter 7 Well, you might have had the sense to send a wire. I'd have killed the fatted calf. Luke 15:23 / And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry. The "prodigal son" is the name usually given to the younger of two sons in the parable told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32. Having demanded of his father his share of the estate, he left for a distant country and "wasted his substance with riotous living." Came a famine, and he hired himself out to one of the inhabitants who made him feed his pigs. "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." So he decided to go home. Instead of rebuking him, his father clasped him in his arms, kissed him, and ordered his servants to bring out the best clothes and to kill the fatted calf. One of the most beautiful parables of the Gospel, illustrating God's mercy. Well, you know me when I hear rumours of these entertainments. The war horse and the bugle. See Job 39:25. Curiously enough, this is one of the passages where Wodehouse does not quote the Authorised Version, which he uses elsewhere ("He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha"), but a different translation, in which the war-horse starts at the sound of the bugle. On the internet, I have found only one version that comes close to our text, the so-called "New Living Translation": "It snorts at the sound of the bugle." Unfortunately, this translation was only published in 1996! Could someone help me to identify the version used by Wodehouse? JM, Chapter 11 Edwin did that. There's a lad, Jeeves. There's a boy who makes you feel that what this country wants is somebody like King Herod. Matthew 2:16 / Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. When Herod, king of Judaea, heard of the birth of an infant who was to be king of the Jews, he ordered the massacre of all the children of two years and younger, expecting the newborn king to be among the victims. This event is called the "massacre" or "slaughter of the innocents". Only recently, he was speaking about killing fatted calves. See above . "One false step, and he'll swoop on me like the - who was it who came down like a wolf on the fold?" "The Assyrian, sir." Allusion to the opening lines of "The Destruction of Sennacherib", by Lord Byron: "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, / And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; / And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, / When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee." According to the Bible, when Hezekiah, king of Judah, refused to become an Assyrian feudatory, Sennacherib marched on Jerusalem. Isaiah promised Hezekiah that God would not allow the Assyrian king to take the holy city. "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses" (2 Kings 19:35). Wee Nooke was burning lower now, but its interior was still something which only Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could have entered with any genuine enjoyment. Daniel 3:20 / And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. These three friends of Daniel - perhaps the most popular biblical characters in the Wodehouse canon - had refused to worship the statue of king Nebuchadnezzar, and were thrown in the furnace. But the fire had no power on them, "nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them" (Daniel 3:27). JM, Chapter 12 "You remember the deaf adder?" "What deaf adder?" "The one that stopped its ear, and would not listen to the voice of the charmers, charming never so wisely. That's Stilton." Psalm 58:3-5 / 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. These verses are certainly among the Bible texts most often quoted by Wodehouse. JM, Chapter 14 To a man, I mean, who, like myself, had twice tonight been forced to skip like the high hills on finding himself unexpectedly addressed from the shadows. Psalm 114:4 / The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. One of Wodehouse's favourite biblical gags. This Psalm deals with the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, as related in Exodus, chapter 14. Although the book of Exodus does not mention any "skipping mountains", this and other extraordinary phenomena are part of the metaphorical language the Bible uses to evoke the power and glory of God. The "high hills" instead of "mountains" may be found in Psalm 68:16 / Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. JM, Chapter 15 "Well, this lets me out," said Boko. "I wash my hands of the whole affair." Matthew 27:24 / When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. But though seeing his viewpoint, I mourned. In fact, I would go further, I groaned in spirit. John 11:33 / When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. JM, Chapter 16 To Boko, who had actually been in the ring with the young geezer while she was exploding in all directions, it had naturally seemed that the end of the world had come and Judgment Day set in with unusual severity. 2 Peter 3:7 / But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The New Testament teaches that Christ will return in glory on the "day of the Lord", which will also be the "day of judgment", when the dead will rise to be judged. JM, Chapter 18 I groaned in spirit. See above . In spite of the fact that, as I say, I had practically known it was coming, I skipped like the high hills. See above . The sudden arrival of a burglar must have seemed to him manna from heaven. Psalm 78:24 / And [the Lord] had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. John 6:31 / Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. After their flight from Egypt, God provided the Israelites in the desert with a miraculous sort of food, called "manna" (full story in Exodus 16:1-36). JM, Chapter 19 This awful thing that had come upon me had practically turned me into a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26 / But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. When Lot, Abraham's nephew, was summoned by angels to take his wife and his daughters and leave the city of Sodom, which was soon to be destroyed, he was told that they should not look behind them. Lot's wife did, however, with desastrous results. This anecdote is probably a popular explanation of some strangely shaped mass of rock which is still pointed out to tourists near the Dead Sea. And I shall go on saying it. Even unto seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22 / 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. JM, Chapter 20 In the trees outside my window the ear detected the twittering of a covey or platoon of the local fowls of the air. Matthew 6:26 / Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? It was the kind of thing a minor prophet of the Old Testament might have thrown together on one of his bilious mornings The last twelve books of the Old Testament, all attributed to different prophets, are called the "Minor Prophets", not because they are less important than the "major" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel), but because their writings are much shorter. They are, in the traditional order, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Like that of all prophets, their message is a melange of threat and consolation. In the Wodehouse canon, a Minor Prophet is practically the equivalent of a Scottish elder rebuking sin from the pulpit. It needed but a glance to inform me that the man had good tidings. Isaiah 52:7 / How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace: that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! The scales had fallen from my eyes. See above . JM, Chapter 21 I (...) shot down the passage that led to the relative's sanctum and dived in. The Latin word means "holy place" (Exodus 26:33, Authorised Version). In the Temple of Jerusalem, the Holy (Place) was the middle room, between the Porch and the Holy of Holies. JM, Chapter 22 The rear was brought up by Uncle Percy, waving a cigar menacingly like the angel expelling Adam from the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:24 / So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. After the Fall, Adam and Eve were banished from paradise, while cherubs, one of the two highest orders of angels, were posted at the entry. Nothing was clearer than that by the time the latter reached his sanctum he would have drifted away like thistledown. See above . And, by George, that is what Bumpleigh Hall wants, to make it an earthly Paradise - fewer and better Fittleworths. Genesis 2:8 / And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. The Hebrew word for "garden" was translated as "paradise" in the Greek version of the Old Testament. Clam's psychology was a sealed book to me. Isaiah 29:11 / And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed. Revelation 5:1 / And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. The sealed book symbolises God's secret decrees. Only the Lamb (i.e. Jesus Christ) is worthy "to take the scroll and break the seals of it" (Revelation 5:9). JM, Chapter 23 Well, dash it, already I am practically Uncle Percy's ewe lamb. That will make me still ewer. (...) So that you can become more than ever the ewe lamb 2 Samuel 12:3 / But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. I am not at all sure if this or any other biblical text is the direct source of the expression "my ewe lamb". "Fancy dress, I take it, is obligatory. In other words, we come up against the snag the Wedding Guest ran into." "Which Wedding Guest? The one who beat his breast?" "No, the chap in the parable, who was invited to a wedding but, having omitted to dress the part, got slung out on his ear like -" I had been about to say "like Boko from the precincts of Bumpleigh Hall", but refrained, fearing lest it might wound. Matthew 22:11-13 / 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The "Parable of the wedding feast", in Matthew 22:1-14, is an allegorical lesson about the kingdom of heaven. The wedding guest who is not dressed for the feast symbolises the believer whose moral conduct does not correspond to his faith. JM, Chapter 24 To prevent him issuing an eleventh hour nolle prosequi See above . JM, Chapter 25 I had no wish to grind the man into the dust but he had the wages of sin coming to him. Romans 6:23 / For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you had been an Israelite in the wilderness, you wouldn't have passed up your plateful of manna, would you? Deuteronomy 8:16 / Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. John 6:49 / Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. For the meaning of manna, see above . Here, at the eleventh hour (...) an admirable custom has been sent from Heaven See above . JM, Chapter 26 The sight of a policeman's uniform lying on the river bank would, he maintained, call to such a Scout like deep calling to deep Psalm 42:7 / Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Waters are often used in the Bible as a symbol of deadly peril. I thought it best to speak the word in season. Proverbs 15:23 / A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good it is! JM, Chapter 27 Oh, as a matter of fact, I had just been saying to myself at that very moment, for the wings of a dove. Psalm 55:6 / And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest. And I was just about to fling wide the gates Psalm 24:7 / Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. A passage in Tales of St Austin's proves that Wodehouse is referring to this psalm here, although he does not quote the Authorised Version. Contemporary translations, such as "Today's English Version", read: "Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in". Wodehouse may be quoting from "The Crucifixion", a composition by Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) - words by the Rev. J. Sparrow-Simpson - in which the choir sings: "Fling wide the gates / for the Saviour waits / to tread in His royal way / He has come from above / in His power and love, / to die on this Passion day." JM, Chapter 28 I had almost forgotten how like the Assyrian swooping down on the fold he could look, when deeply stirred. See above . JM, Chapter 29 I don't know if the name of Lot's wife is familiar to you, and if you were told about her rather remarkable finish. I may not have got the facts right, but the story, as I heard it, was that she was advised not to look round at something or other or she would turn into a pillar of salt, so, naturally imagining that they were simply pulling her leg, she looked round, and - bing - a pillar of salt. And the reason I mention this now is that the very same thing seemed to have happened to Uncle Percy. Crouching there with his fingers riveted to the marmalade jar, he appeared to have turned into a pillar of salt. See above . Anchovy paste is a slender reed on which to lean in a major crisis. Isaiah 36:6 / Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. Something about Joy... See above . Back to top FULL MOON FM, Chapter 1, section 1 Freddie, when at Blandings, had a way of mooning about looking like a bored and despairing sheep, with glassy eyes staring out over an eleven-inch cigarette holder, which had always been enough to bring a black frost into this Eden of his. Genesis 2:8 / And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. The Hebrew word for "garden" was translated as "paradise" in the Greek version of the Old Testament. FM, Chapter 1, section 3 Even nowadays, I mean, when everybody calls everyone every dashed thing under the sun - "darling" and "angel" and all that sort of thing? Ecclesiastes 1:3 / What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? The expression "under the sun" comes from Ecclesiastes, where it is repeated about thirty times. It is equivalent to "upon the earth", with reference to life in the material world. FM, Chapter 2 "No man ever amounted to anything till he got married." "- man, my best pal and sev -" "Look at Henry the Eighth." "-erest critic." "And Solomon. Once they started marrying, there was no holding them - you just sat back and watched their smoke." 1 Kings 11:1 / But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites / 1 Kings 11:3 / And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hunderd concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. "That will give me nice time to sow the good seed with Aunt Dora and go to the jewel bin." (...) The process of sowing the good seed with his aunt Dora had been attended by none of the success to which he had looked forward with such bright anticipation. Matthew 13:24 / Another parable put he [Jesus] forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. He was realizing how those charmers must have felt who suffered from the sales resistance of the deaf adder. Psalm 58:3-5 / 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. These verses are certainly among the Bible texts most often alluded to by Wodehouse. FM, Chapter 3, section 2 Feeling a little like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego after their passage through the burning fiery furnace, Bill strode past and set off in the direction of the Brompton Road and its registry office. Daniel 3:20 / And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. These three friends of Daniel - perhaps the most popular biblical characters in the Wodehouse canon - had refused to worship the statue of king Nebuchadnezzar, and were thrown in the furnace. But the fire had no power on them, "nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them" (Daniel 3:27). And so it came about that Tipton, flinging wide the door and glancing sharply to right, to left, and in front of him, beheld only emptiness. Psalm 24:7 / Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. A passage in Tales of St Austin's proves that Wodehouse, in using the words "flinging wide", is referring to this psalm here, although he does not quote the Authorised Version. Contemporary translations, such as "Today's English Version", read: "Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in". Wodehouse may be quoting from "The Crucifixion", a composition by Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) - words by the Rev. J. Sparrow-Simpson - in which the choir sings: "Fling wide the gates / for the Saviour waits / to tread in His royal way / He has come from above / in His power and love, / to die on this Passion day." A new respect for E. Jimpson Murgatroyd had begun to burgeon within Tipton Plimsoll. No longer could he regard that medical Jeremiah in the old, off-hand, careless way as a talker of apple-sauce. Jeremiah was a prophet of the 7th century BC. His prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, his rather pessimistic message, and his personal sufferings, caused by the misunderstanding of his people, have made his name a synonym for despair and lamentation. FM, Chapter 3, section 3 He panted for these quick ones as the hart pants for cooling streams when heated in the chase. Psalm 42:1 / As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. However, the immediate source for this quotation appears to be the hymn "Converting Grace 230", from "A New Version of the Psalms": "As pants the hart for cooling streams / When heated in the chase; / So longs my soul, Oh God, for Thee, / And Thy refreshing grace". The supposition that it had no existence outside his imagination and was working in cahoots with E. Jimpson Murgatroyd was so absurd that it made him laugh - merrily, like the crackling of thorns under a pot. Ecclesiastes 7:6 / For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. FM, Chapter 3, section 5 "Don't call her a half-pint!" "Well, don't you be so dashed grovelling about her. She isn't the Queen of Sheba." "Yes, she is." "Pardon me." "Well, just as good, anyway." 1 Kings 10:1 / And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. FM, Chapter 3, section 7 His eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated Deuteronomy 34:7 / And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. He led his way through the swing doors (...) and settled his little flock at a table in the lounge. Luke 12:32 / Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. FM, Chapter 4, section 1 "My niece Prudence," continued the voice, speaking now from the centre of a rosy mist to the accompaniment of harps, lutes, and sackbuts. Daniel 3:4-5 / 4 Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. A probable allusion (with "lutes" instead of "flute") to the beginning of chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel. Our good friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will not obey the king's order, and be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. FM, Chapter 4, section 4 "Yessir, I'll bet she's fat," said Tipton, groaning in spirit. John 11:33 / When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. FM, Chapter 5, section 1 He saw now that he had come near to missing an opportunity of speaking the word in season. Proverbs 15:23 / A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good it is! FM, Chapter 5, section 3 So if an elderly Scotsman who looks like a minor prophet comes up and gives you the eye, don't be alarmed. The last twelve books of the Old Testament, all attributed to different prophets, are called the "Minor Prophets", not because they are less important than the "major" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel), but because their writings are much shorter. They are, in the traditional order, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Like that of all prophets, their message is a melange of threat and consolation. In the Wodehouse canon, a Minor Prophet is practically the equivalent of a Scottish elder rebuking sin from the pulpit. FM, Chapter 6, section 1 There are fathers, not a few of them, who tend to regard suitors for their daughter's hand with a jaundiced and unfriendly eye, like shepherds about to be deprived of a ewe lamb. Colonel Wedge did not belong to this class. 2 Samuel 12:3 / But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. I am not at all sure if this or any other biblical text is the direct source of the expression "my ewe lamb". FM, Chapter 6, section 2 Even in this bitter mood of his, when he was feeling like some prophet of Israel judging the sins of the people Isaiah 58:1 / Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. FM, Chapter 6, section 6 "I gave her half a crown and asked her to smuggle a note to Prudence." "I see. Yes, I grasp the thing now. And she wipped out the flaming sword and drove you from the garden?" Genesis 3:24 / So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. After the Fall, Adam and Eve were banished from paradise, while cherubs, one of the two highest orders of angels, were posted at the entry. FM, Chapter 7, section 1 What had misled him was the rose in the mouth. Nothing in his association with Veronica had given him the idea that she was a female Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4:32 / And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Towards the end of his life, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, suffered a form of madness which lead him to believe he was an animal. The author of the book of Daniel considered this a punishment for worshipping the wrong gods. Chapter 4 gives the biblical version of this strange disease. I suppose Wodehouse is referring here to this grass (and rose?) eating aspect of Nebuchadnezzar's character, to which he alludes in other novels. FM, Chapter 7, section 2 "What's he grouchy about?" Colonel Wedge made a despairing gesture. "God knows. The boy's mentality is a sealed book to me." Isaiah 29:11 / And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed. Revelation 5:1 / And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. The sealed book symbolises God's secret decrees. Only the Lamb (i.e. Jesus Christ) is worthy "to take the scroll and break the seals of it" (Revelation 5:9). FM, Chapter 7, section 3 It was possibly this stimulation of his mental processes from beyond the veil that enabled him to hit upon a solution of the problem. Hebrews 6:19-20 / 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. The most sacred room of the Temple of Jerusalem, called the "Holy of Holies", was separated from the rest of the edifice by a veil, beyond which only the high priest was allowed to go. The Epistle to the Hebrews presents Jesus as the eternal high priest, who, through his death and resurrection, has passed "beyond the veil" of the heavenly sanctuary, to take place at God's right hand. The phrase "beyond the veil" or "passing the veil" is therefore commonly used with reference to the next world. FM, Chapter 7, section 4 "Well, what price her playing fast and loose with me?" he cried. "Leading me on and then starting the old army game, the two-timing Jezebel." "Don't you mean Delilah?" "Do I?" said Tipton, dubious. "I think so," said Gally, none too sure himself. "Jezebel was the one who got eaten by dogs." "What a beastly idea." "Not pleasant," agreed Gally. "Must have hurt like the dickens." 1 Kings 21:23 / And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 2 Kings 9:35-36 / 35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he [Jehu] said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jizreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, king of Israel. Her despotism and idolatry have made her a symbol of female wickedness. Ahab's general Jehu ordered that she be thrown out of her window. You can read about her in 1 Kings 16-21 and 2 Kings 9. Judges 16:4-5 / 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. Full story in Judges 16:4-22. Samson's wife Delilah betrayed the secret of his great strength - namely that his head had never been shorn - to the Philistines, lulled him to sleep in her lap, and summoned a man who sheared Samson's hair. The Philistines were so enabled to seize him and put out his eyes. Tipton, to whom it came as a complete surprise and who for a moment had mistaken it for the Last Trump, rose an inch or two into the air. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 / 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. / 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. The trumpet is a traditional feature of so-called apocalyptic imagery, i.e. the language describing metaphorically what will happen at the end of time. The instrument symbolises the solemn fulfilment of God's plan. FM, Chapter 7, section 5 And he had just reached the first landing, still in low gear, when something occurred that caused him to go abruptly into high, something that made him throw his head back like a warhorse at the sound of the bugle See Job 39:25. Curiously enough, this is one of the passages where Wodehouse does not quote the Authorised Version, which he uses elsewhere ("He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha"), but a different translation, in which the war-horse starts at the sound of the bugle. On the internet, I have found only one version that comes close to our text, the so-called "New Living Translation": "It snorts at the sound of the bugle." Unfortunately, this translation was only published in 1996! Could someone help me to identify the version used by Wodehouse? FM, Chapter 8, section 1 Lord Emsworth stiffened. He was shocked, not only by the sentiment but by the allusion to his ewe lamb as "that pig". See above . Needless to underline the amusing comparison of a pig with a lamb, however ewe! We rather overstayed our time in Shrewsbury owing to Tippy insisting on buying up the whole place. The two-seater returned laden with apes, ivory, and peacocks like a camel of the epoch of King Solomon. 1 Kings 10:22 / For the king [Solomon] had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. In the Bible, "T(h)arshish" stands for the western limits of the earth. It is interesting to note that modern translations read "baboons" instead of "peacocks". FM, Chapter 8, section 2 Gally said that he had never been able to understand his brother's objections to London, a city which he himself had always found an earthly Paradise. See above . Only to discover, after they had been on a binge together one evening, that the fellow was the salt of the earth. Matthew 5:13 / Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Hence the use of this phrase to indicate a person who is thought to make the world a better place. FM, Chapter 9, section 3 When we are feeling that ours is the world and everything that's in it Psalm 24:1 / The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (New International Version). Wodehouse is quoting Kipling's famous poem "If": "If you can fill the unforgiving minute / With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, / Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, / And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!" One cannot but wonder whether the poet had the Psalm in mind when he wrote that line. His eye, resting on Freddie, had not actual brotherly love in it Romans 12:10 / Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. FM, Chapter 9, section 4 "We won't weaken." "Not an iota." Matthew 5:18 / For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The "jot" (or "jod") is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as the "iota" is the smallest of the Greek. The Greek text of the New Testament says "iota", by the way, and some English translations read therefore: "not an iota shall pass". Jesus means that the slightest detail of God's law is so sacred that it shall not be abolished. FM, Chapter 10, section 3 There was the realization that he had passed through the valley of the shadow and come up smiling on the other side. Psalm 23:4 / Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. FM, Chapter 10, section 5 I got the impression that he was so much obliged to you for not being a spectre that you would be able to ask of him anything you wished, even unto half his kingdom. Mark 6:22-23 / 22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, she danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it to thee. 23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. Whereupon, at her mother Herodias' request, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist, who had denounced Herodias' illegal marriage with Herod Antipas. Back to top SPRING FEVER SpF, Chapter 2 "The day of retribution is at hand," I says, "when there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 22:13 / Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Traditional biblical description of damnation. The variant "wailing" can be found in Matthew 13:42 and 13:50. Let your Yea be Yea and your Nay be Nay, as the Good Book says. James 5:12 / But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. It's like in the Good Book, where the feller said "Go" and they goeth and "Come" and they cometh. Matthew 8:8-9 / 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. SpF, Chapter 3 The modernized section where the family lived and had their being. Acts 17:28 / For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. The curious expression "lived and had their being" can probably be traced back to the above excerpt - referring to God - from the apostle Paul's speech before the council of the Areopagus, which itself may be an indirect quotation of the poet Epimenides of Cnossos. He would have turned his face to the wall and given up the struggle 2 Kings 20:1-2 / 1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord... Leading him to break Commandments Ezra 9:14 / Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? SpF, Chapter 4 For a proper slap-up binge, of course, on the lines of Belshazzar's Feast, five pounds is an inadequate capital Daniel 5:1-4 / 1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. This banquet, given by Belshazzar, in reality son of the last king of Babylon, Nabonidus, may well be the prototype of the "Babylonian orgy" to which Wodehouse periodically refers. It was during this meal that the "writing on the wall" appeared, announcing Belshazzar's downfall. It was only that he did wish that some angel could have descended from on high and increased his holdings to ten Matthew 28:2 / And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. The angel announcing Christ's resurrection to the women come to see the sepulchre is the most likely blueprint for Plum's angel descending "from on high". Terry (...) was stunned by a father's tale of manna in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8:16 / Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. John 6:49 / Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. After their flight from Egypt, God provided the Israelites in the desert with a miraculous sort of food, called "manna" (full story in Exodus 16:1-36). SpF, Chapter 5 "If I don't do what he tells me to, he'll slice off my allowance. It's like in the Bible," said Stanwood, searching for an illustration and recalling Augustus Robb's observations on the subject. "You remember? Where the bozo said 'Come' and they goeth." See above . SpF, Chapter 8 I wonder if you've ever considered the risk you're running of everlasting fire? Matthew 25:41 / Then he shall say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Sinful pride, of course, like Jeshurun who waxed fat and kicked, but there you are. Deuteronomy 32:15 / But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. The name Jeshurun, of uncertain etymology, is applied to Israel, who "waxed fat and kicked" like a bull ("shor" in Hebrew, to which "Jeshurun" may be alluding) and did not remain faithful to God amidst the riches of the Promised Land. The Wages of Sin you might call it. Romans 6:23 / For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. |