1920-1929
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The Coming of Bill (1920) [CB] - Jill the Reckless (1921) [JR] - Indiscretions of Archie (1921) [IA] - The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922) [CC] - The Girl on the Boat (1922) [GOB] - The Adventures of Sally (1922) [AS] - The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) [IJ] - Leave it to Psmith (1923) [LP] - Ukridge (1924) [U] - Bill the Conqueror (1924) [BC] - Carry On, Jeeves (1925) [COJ] - The Heart of a Goof (1926) [HG] - The Small Bachelor (1927) [SB] - Meet Mr Mulliner (1927) [MMM] - Money for Nothing (1928) [MFN] - Mr Mulliner Speaking (1929) [MMS] - Summer Lightning (1929) [SL] THE COMING OF BILL CB, Book One, Chapter 4 Old Mrs. Dingle had refused to be comforted Jeremiah 31:15 / Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Several Bible texts speak of persons who refuse to be comforted, but the verse quoted above is more likely to have left its marks in the memory of P.G. Wodehouse, as it is quoted by the evangelist Matthew to illustrate the distress of the mothers of the slaughtered innocents. 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. "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Matthew 2:17-18). CB, Book One, Chapter 5 I'm not fit to shine her 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. CB, Book One, Chapter 7 Sufficient Unto Themselves Matthew 6:34 / Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. A possible adaptation of the gospel text which is quoted elsewhere in the Wodehouse canon? She was the angel with the flaming sword who guarded their paradise. (...) The angel with the flaming sword stood between them. 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. He was certainly a whole-hearted convert. As to Saul of Tarsus, so to him there had come a sudden blinding light. Acts 9:3-4 / 3 And as he [Saul] journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Acts 9:1-19 relate the conversion of Saul, as the apostle Paul was known then. He was born in Tarsus, in Asia Minor. Saul 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 had weighed him in the balance against wealth and comfort Daniel 5:27 / Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Belshazzar, whom the book of Daniel calls "king" of Babylon and son of Nebuchadnezzar (he was, in fact, the son of Nabonidus and was never king), was giving a great banquet - one of these "Babylonian orgies" to which the Master periodically refers - when suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall: "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin". Daniel was able to interpret this "writing on the wall", and gave the meaning of the word "tekel": "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting". That same night, Belshazzar was murdered. But she was of a chatty disposition and no respecter of persons. Acts 10:34 / Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. CB, Book One, Chapter 9 William Bannister (...) would not be comforted See above . William Bannister (...) weighed him up in one long stare, found him wanting See above . CB, Book One, Chapter 10 She has a habit of splitting up and altering the face of the world Psalm 104:30 / Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. A possible reminiscence of the Psalm verse; "face of the world/earth" is a biblical phrase. CB, Book One, Chapter 11 Instead of comforting me like this, and making me think I'm rather a fine sort of a fellow, you ought to be lashing me with scorpions. 1 Kings 12:11 / And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. After his father Solomon's death, Rehoboam, when asked to lighten his predecessor's severity, gave the above harsh answer. CB, Book One, Chapter 12 Till the thoughts leaped and ran like tongues of fire scorching him. Acts 2:3 / And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. The phrase "tongues of fire" may have been inspired by this verse, describing the Holy Ghost descending on the Apostles on the feast of Pentecost. CB, Book Two, Chapter 2 It was unlucky money, grudgingly given 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. It is curious what a large part hair and its treatment may play in the undoing of strong men. The case of Samson may be recalled in this connection. 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. He felt like a stranger in a strange world. 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". He could not bring himself to realize Ruth as one of the great army of cranks preaching and carrying out the gospel of Lora Delane Porter. Matthew 4:23 / And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. This is the first time the expression "preaching the gospel" occurs in the New Testament. The "gospel" is the "good news" of the impending coming of the kingdom of God. CB, Book Two, Chapter 3 A future in which she was driven from Bill's presence into outer darkness 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. In the light of Wodehouse's fondness for this verse (see the Biblical Index), we may assume that the "outer darkness" Mr Crocker slid into is another reference to the same text. CB, Book Two, Chapter 5 This cotton-wool existence was stealing from the child the birthright of courage which was his from both his parents. Genesis 25:29-34 / 29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. CB, Book Two, Chapter 6 Cast them into a burning fiery furnace. 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). He no longer sat down when the spirit moved him Judges 13:25 / And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. This verse - speaking of Samson - is a possible source for the phrase which sounds very biblical indeed, but which is difficult to trace back to any passage in particular. The superficial observer (...) would say that I ought to be singing psalms of joy. James 5:13 / Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. A psalm is any of the religious songs and hymns which together form the biblical "Book of Psalms". CB, Book Two, Chapter 7 He did that which was right in his own eyes Judges 17:6 / In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. For days Mr. Penway had been hinting that the time had arrived for a folding of the hands. 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. CB, Book Two, Chapter 10 She had never known what the morrow might bring forth Proverbs 27:1 / Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. It was not their business to watch his comings in and his goings out. Psalm 121:8 / The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. CB, Book Two, Chapter 12 She ate the bread of sorrow in captivity. Psalm 127:2 / It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. In the last few days the 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". CB, Book Two, Chapter 15 There are always possibilities of a return to the gods of wood and stone Deuteronomy 28:36 / The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. CB, Book Two, Chapter 16 If ever money was the root of all evil, this had been. 1 Timothy 6:10 / For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. To-morrow must look after itself. See above . Back to top JILL THE RECKLESS JR, Chapter 1, section 1 The spirit was willing, but the jolly old flesh would have none of it. Matthew 26:41 / Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. JR, Chapter 1, section 2 They may put away childish things 1 Corinthians 13:11 / When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. The friend that sticketh closer than a brother Proverbs 18:24 / A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. JR, Chapter 1, section 3 She was a woman of great will-power and accustomed to triumph over the weaknesses of the flesh. See above , for the "weak flesh". In the language of the Bible, "flesh" denotes man considered as a frail and mortal being. Acting as the spirit moves us Judges 13:25 / And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. This verse - speaking of Samson - is a possible source for the phrase which sounds very biblical indeed, but which is difficult to trace back to any passage in particular. JR, Chapter 1, section 4 She always puts the fear of God into me. Proverbs 1:7 / The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. One of the countless mentions of the "fear of the Lord" in the Bible. It may be useful to remark that this "fear" has nothing to do with feelings of danger or terror, but is practically synonymous with reverence and devotion. JR, Chapter 2, section 1 "Better a dinner of 'erbs where love is than a stalled ox and 'atred therewith", said Barker, helping himself to a walnut. Proverbs 15:17 / Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Barker's partaking of a sober walnut puts this bit of biblical wisdom in a nutshell! JR, Chapter 2, section 2 During an earthquake or a shipwreck and possibly on the Day of Judgment, yes. 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. JR, Chapter 4, section 1 However she might have strayed in those early days from the straight and narrow path Matthew 7:14 / Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. JR, Chapter 4, section 3 There might be specks upon her idol - that its feet might be clay she could never believe 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. JR, Chapter 4, section 4 So you buzzed out of the fiery furnace all right? (...) ...but to be called on at a moment's notice to play Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rolled into one, without rehearsal or make-up, is a bit too thick! 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). JR, Chapter 5, section 2 All the time she had felt that Freddie 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. JR, Chapter 6, section 1 He followed Jill into the house, 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. On that occasion I set sail for the land of promise Genesis 12:7 / And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. Hebrews 11:9 / By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. JR, Chapter 7, section 1 With the land of promise within biscuit-throw See above . JR, Chapter 7, section 2 Neither was Uncle Chris' picture of it as an earthly paradise. 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. JR, Chapter 7, section 3 It was a small thing, but it had the significance of that little cloud that arose out of the sea like a man's hand. 1 Kings 18:44 / And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he [Elijah] said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. 1 Kings 18:41-46 describe how God, at the prophet Elijah's prayer, puts an end to a period of great drought. Seven times Elijah, on Mount Carmel, tells his servant to go and look out to the sea. The seventh time, the apparition of a small cloud heralds the arrival of torrential rains. JR, Chapter 10, section 1 The rank and file of the profession were greeted, like Moses on Pisgah, with a fleeting glimpse of the promised land Deuteronomy 34:1-4 / 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3 and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4 And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. For some shortage of faith, which remains obscure, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. On the peak of Pisgah, he was granted a sight of it. JR, Chapter 12, section 1 They have been so busy wrenching money away from the widow and the orphan Exodus 22:21 / You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry. (Jerusalem Bible) JR, Chapter 14, section 1 Once the company found its feet, it would be returned to him a hundred-fold. Matthew 19:29 / And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. JR, Chapter 14, section 2 He reminds me of the troops of Midian in the hymn. The chappies who prowled and prowled around. 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. JR, Chapter 16, section 1 At least, he said that he washed his hands of the piece. 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. JR, Chapter 16, section 2 "Don't you worry, honey!" advised the well-meaning girl who would have been in her element looking in on Job with Bildad the Shuhite and his friends. Job 2:11 / Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. Job is a God-fearing and honest man, who loses his possessions and his children, and whose own body is afflicted with horrible ulcers. Three friends then turn up to offer sympathy, each of them giving a different answer to the question why God allows such a good man to suffer. In fact, Job thinks their words are no more than Dutch comfort: "I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all" (Job 16:2). JR, Chapter 17, section 1 Mr. Pilkington groaned in spirit. See above . JR, Chapter 18, section 2 I refuse to stand by and see the slaughter of the innocents. 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 massacre is also called the "slaughter of the innocents". JR, Chapter 19, section 1 "Headache?" said Uncle Chris, starting like a war-horse that had heard 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? The seed fell on stony ground. Mark 4:3-5 / 3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 and it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. In the "Parable of the sower", Jesus describes the different ways people listen to his word, symbolised by the seed. As he explains in Mark 4:16-17, those who receive the seed on stony ground "are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once" (Jerusalem Bible). In the context of JR, the simile simply means Mrs Peagrim is not receptive to Major Selby's glad tidings about Nervino. JR, Chapter 20, section 2 It might be the blazing and crackling of thorns, but is was not the fire. Ecclesiastes 7:6 / For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. Is there a reminiscence here of this verse, which Wodehouse quotes elsewhere (see the Biblical Index)? JR, Chapter 20, section 3 The jolly good scales seemed to fall, if you follow me, from my good old eyes. (...) For the second time in the evening the jolly old scales had fallen from Freddie's good old 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". Back to top INDISCRETIONS OF ARCHIE IA, Chapter 1 The blighter whose head I want on a charger is the bally manager. Mark 6:27-28 / 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his [i.e. John the Baptist's] head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 and brought his head on a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. Salome's dancing so pleased her stepfather Herod Antipas, that he promised to give her anything she might demand, "unto the half of my kingdom". At her mother Herodias' request, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist, who had denounced Herodias' illegal marriage with Herod Antipas. The unforgivable insult had been offered. Matthew 12:32 / And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. The "unforgivable insult" maybe a reminiscence of the one unpardonable sin, according to the teaching of Jesus, viz. the "sin against the Holy Spirit", i.e. deliberately and consciously resisting God's grace. IA, Chapter 4 Detesting all that therein is Psalm 146:6 / Which [God] made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever. The phrase "all that therein is" can be found elsewhere in the Bible, but Wodehouse is more likely to have picked it up in the Psalms. "I always looked on you as one of our leading lilies of the field," he said. "Why this anxiety to toil and spin?" Matthew 6:28-29 / 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. IA, Chapter 5 Jelly-backboned son of Belial Deuteronomy 13:13 / Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known. "Belial" is a Hebrew word of uncertain etymology, probably meaning "worthlessness" or "wickedness". It gradually came to be taken as the proper name of an evil spirit. I don't mind telling you that, in the fullness of time, I believe this is going to spread a good deal of sweetness and light. 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. A sudden bright light had been vouchsafed to Archie 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. IA, Chapter 6 I know th'sort well! Trampling on th'face av th'poor! Isaiah 3:15 / What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts. IA, Chapter 7 Mourning over his lost home-brew and refusing, like Niobe, to be comforted Jeremiah 31:15 / Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Several Bible texts speak of persons who refuse to be comforted, but the verse quoted above is more likely to have left its marks in the memory of P.G. Wodehouse, as it is quoted by the evangelist Matthew to illustrate the distress of the mothers of the slaughtered innocents. 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. "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Matthew 2:17-18). Niobe, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of Tantalus. She was changed into stone while weeping for her children. Bringing together the biblical quotation and Niobe's grief is rather orginal! Was his little Garden of Eden on the fifth floor of the Cosmopolis Hotel likely to be improved by the advent of even the most amiable and winsome of serpents? 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 3:1 / Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The serpent symbolises a force hostile to God and mankind. The New Testament and the Christian tradition identify this being with the Devil or Satan. IA, Chapter 8 When he had come to man's estate and had put off childish things 1 Corinthians 13:11 / When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. IA, Chapter 9 "How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isaiah xiv. 12). Isaiah 14:12 / How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Isaiah 14:3-21 is a satire on the king of Babylon's death. The name "Lucifer", Latin for "light-bearer", is used in classical mythology for the planet Venus. The Fathers of the Church saw in the fall of this "morning star" a symbol of that of the devil. That was how "Lucifer" became a synonym for Satan. I have little doubt that all will be well with me and that I shall not fall like a sparrow to the ground. Matthew 10:29 / Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. "I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Psalms xxxvii. 25). Psalm 37:25 / I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head" (Romans xii. 20). Romans 12:20 / Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. The apostle Paul cites from Proverbs 25:21. "A wise son maketh a glad father" (Proverbs x. 1). Proverbs 10:1 / The Proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. IA, Chapter 10 Archie was glad of the moral support of even such a wobbly reed as Reggie van Tuyl. 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. IA, Chapter 11 I don't know why they make such a fuss about Job. Job never had anything like you around! Job is a God-fearing and honest man, who loses his possessions and his children, and whose own body is afflicted with horrible ulcers. The Book of Job chiefly consists of long discussions between Job and three of his friends who, while trying to comfort him, are more trying than comforting. IA, Chapter 12 In Archie's opinion, practically all a place needed to make it an earthly Paradise, was for Mr Daniel Brewster to be about forty-seven miles away from it. See above . He regarded the eternal hills with the comfortable affection of a healthy man who is breakfasting well. Genesis 49:26 / The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Recovering a certain amount of that intelligence which raises man above the level of the beasts of the field. 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. Job was the only man that ever lived who was really qualified to write a play, and he would have found it pretty tough going if his leading woman had been anyone like Vera Silverton! See above . IA, Chapter 14 He felt, like Herbert Parker, that the righteous was not forsaken. See above . The jeweller eyed him approvingly, a man after his own heart 1 Samuel 13:14 / But now thy [Saul's] kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart [David], and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. The good old Dove of Peace flapping its little wings fairly briskly and all that? Genesis 8:11 / And the dove came in to him [Noah] in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. The olive leaf or branch, heralding the end of the flood, has become the universal symbol of peace and goodwill. IA, Chapter 15 There is a time for all things. Ecclesiastes 3:1 / To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. He groaned in bitterness of 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. Slip it across on a lordly dish! Judges 5:24-25 / 24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25 He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. Judges 4:17-22 tells how Jael, one of the Master's all-time favourites, managed to kill Sisera, the commander of the armies of Jabin, king of Canaan. She first assisted the fleeing Sisera in her tent, and when he was fast asleep, drove a nail into his temples. IA, Chapter 16 You could trample on the poor man's face See above . IA, Chapter 19 Lucille's voice was the voice of one who sees light in darkness. See above . It's no good trying to explain to him that your Mabel is in the chorus but not of the chorus, so to speak. John 17:11 / And now I [Jesus] am no more in the world, but these [his disciples] are in the world , and I come to thee... John 17:14 / I have given them [Jesus' disciples] thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world , even as I am not of the world. The italics are mine, of course! Wandering about as if the cares of the world were on his shoulders Mark 4:19 / And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. IA, Chapter 20 "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings," he said, picking a piece of banana off his right eyebrow. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings." Psalm 8:2 / Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Jesus quotes this verse in Matthew 21:16, to justify the behaviour of the children shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David" in the temple, on the day of his solemn entry in Jerusalem. IA, Chapter 21 And close the door. The fatted calf is getting cold. 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. He'll fight the good fight for you. 2 Timothy 4:7 / I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. The apostle Paul, shortly before his martyrdom in 67, looks back on a well-spent life. This poor egg's nominee has given him the raspberry 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. IA, Chapter 22 Swore off pie at the eleventh hour See above . IA, chapter 23 Who am I to cast the first stone? John 8:7 / So when they continued asking him, he [Jesus] lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. In John 8:3-11, the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman along who has been caught committing adultery, the penalty for which offence is death by stoning, according to the law of Moses. Looking for something to use against him, they ask Jesus what he thinks of the matter. After his remarkable reply, the accusers withdraw, and Jesus dismisses the woman with the words: "Neither do I condemn you; go away, and don't sin any more." IA, Chapter 25 What are you talking about, you 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". You misguided son of Belial See above . Back to top THE CLICKING OF CUTHBERT CC, Chapter 1 (The Clicking of Cuthbert) "Be of good cheer," said the Oldest Member. Matthew 9:2 / And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer: thy sins be forgiven thee. The only occasion during the year on which the lion, so to speak, lay down with the lamb Isaiah 11:6-7 / 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The "lion lying down with the lamb" is a mixture of images taken from Isaiah 11:1-9, a poem which describes the marvels to be accomplished by the Messiah. It announces that in the messianic era the peace and harmony will be restored which once reigned supreme in Eden. The mantle of the great Russians has descended on Mr. Devine. 2 Kings 2:13 / He [Elisha] took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan. When the prophet Elijah went up to heaven in a chariot of fire, he dropped his mantle, as a symbol of his spiritual legacy to his disciple Elisha. And now her hero had been shown to have feet of clay. 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. Before her very eyes the stone which the builders had rejected had become the main thing Psalm 118:22 / The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Psalm 118 is a hymn of thanksgiving. Verse 22 is an allusion to the destruction of the Temple in 587 B.C. and its rebuilding towards the end of the 6th century B.C.. The "head stone of the corner" is a messianic theme which the New Testament applies to Jesus Christ: he was refused by the "builders" (the Jewish establishment), but became the "keystone" of God's covenant with mankind, by his resurrection. CC, Chapter 2 (A Woman Is Only a Woman) Who can trace to its first beginnings the love (...) of David for Jonathan 1 Samuel 18:1 / And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. The friendship of David and Jonathan, son of Saul, is celebrated by the Bible. And then the Woman came into their lives, like the Serpent in the Links of Eden 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 3:1 / Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The serpent symbolises a force hostile to God and mankind. The New Testament and the Christian tradition identify this being with the Devil or Satan. CC, Chapter 3 (A Mixed Threesome) I experience the emotions of a creator. Here, I say to myself, is a semi-sentient being into whose soulless carcass I am breathing life. Genesis 2:7 / And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. CC, Chapter 4 (Sundered Hearts) After breaking a statuette of the Infant Samuel in Prayer A picture of the Infant Samuel in prayer, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, apparently inspired the little statuette which could be found in nearly every respectable protestant household in the days of yore. Sir Joshua may have based his painting on 1 Samuel 3:1-18, where the child Samuel is called by the Lord and replies: "Speak; for thy servant heareth." And so, in the fullness of time, they came home 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 "fullness of time" is the moment, foretold by the prophets, for the Messiah to come. CC, Chapter 5 (The Salvation of George Mackintosh) How many a young man have I seen go out with Herbert Pobsley exulting in his 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. As 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. Women have to learn to bear anecdotes from the men they love. It is the curse of Eve. Genesis 3:16 / Unto the woman he [the Lord God] said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve received each a specific punishment. Eve - and all her sex - was condemned to bear children in pain and to be dominated by the male. A rather similar action, under far less provocation, once made Jael the wife of Heber the most popular woman in Israel. Judges 4:21 / Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. Judges 4:17-22 tells how Jael, one of the Master's all-time favourites, managed to kill Sisera, the commander of the armies of Jabin, king of Canaan. I am unclean, unclean! Leviticus 13:45 / And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering on his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. In the Old Testament, that is "unclean" which makes a person unfit for ritual worship. CC, Chapter 6 (Ordeal by Golf) When it looked into yours you saw in it that perfect peace Isaiah 26:3 / Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 57:19 / Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord. A probable allusion to the hymn "Peace, perfect peace", which was written by Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr. (1825-1906) in 1875, and which contains the lines: "Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away? / In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they". That peace beyond understanding, which comes at its maximum only to the man who has given up golf. Philippians 4:7 / And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It was as if my ball had fallen into the pit which my niblick had digged. Psalm 57:6 / They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. CC, Chapter 9 (The Rough Stuff) There might have come his way in the fullness of time some nice, homely girl See above . "Madam," he said, "in similar circumstances I would have kicked the Archangel Gabriel!" Luke 1:19 / And the angel answering said unto him [Zacharias], I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. In the New Testament, the archangel Gabriel foretells the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias, and announces the conception of Jesus to the Virgin Mary. CC, Chapter 10 (The Coming of Gowf) Quoting from the well-known treatise of Nimrod, the recognized text-book on the sport 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. The High Priest was refreshing himself in the vestry (...) with a small milk and honey. 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. It is written in the sacred book of Hec, your Majesty, "Thou shalt not follow after strange gods". Psalm 81:9 / There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. Thou art well stricken in years Genesis 18:11 / Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age... Luke 1:7 / And they [Zacharias and Elisabeth] had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. Back to top THE GIRL ON THE BOAT GOB, Chapter 1 Windles was as the breath of life to her. Genesis 2:7 / And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Although Wodehouse is certainly not deliberately quoting the Bible, the modern expression "breath of life" finds its origin in the book of Genesis. Sam, who had imagined that he had long since grown to man's estate and put off childish things 1 Corinthians 13:11 / When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. GOB, Chapter 2, section 2 About now, the sheep would be separating from the goats; the passengers would be on deck and their friends returning to the shore. 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. GOB, Chapter 3 Realizing this 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. GOB, Chapter 4, section 2 "This is the end," said Eustace Hignett, turning his face to the wall. 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... And then I saw you! It was like the gate of heaven opening. Genesis 28:17 / And he [Jacob] was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. GOB, Chapter 4, section 3 The idea of your trying to hide your light under a bushel! Matthew 5:15-16 / 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. GOB, Chapter 4, section 4 I had always thought him romantic, and when this happened the scales seemed to fall from my 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". GOB, Chapter 7 I put you on a pedestal and I find you have feet of clay. 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. GOB, Chapter 8, section 1 Why, then, was Sam Marlowe visiting this ozone-swept Gehenna? Joshua 15:8 / And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward. "Gehenna" literally means "valley of Hinnom", which is how it is translated in the Authorised Version. From early times the valley, to the southwest of Jerusalem, was a place of human sacrifice. That is the reason why later Jewish writings considered it to be a place of divine punishment. In the New Testament the word "gehenna" is used to designate the final place or state of torment for the wicked after death. In the English versions of the Bible, the word "gehenna" is nearly always translated as "hell". "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!" 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. Miss Milliken is quoting Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life". GOB, Chapter 10, section 1 Mr Bennett, who had lived his life in a country of warmth and sunshine, the thing affected in much the same way as the early days of the Flood must have affected Noah. Genesis 7:11-12 / 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. GOB, Chapter 11 The more Mr Bennett examined his conduct, the deeper the iron entered into his soul. Psalm 105:18 / Whose feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul (Book of Common Prayer). He resented being dragged out of the valley of the shadow of death by the scruff of his neck like this. 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. GOB, Chapter 15 It was the nearest thing modern civilization has seen to the lion lying down with the lamb. Isaiah 11:6-7 / 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The "lion lying down with the lamb" is a mixture of images taken from Isaiah 11:1-9, a poem which describes the marvels to be accomplished by the Messiah. It announces that in the messianic era the peace and harmony will be restored which once reigned supreme in Eden. GOB, Chapter 17, section 1 He recognized the truth of the scriptural adage that there is a time for dancing, and that this was not it. Ecclesiastes 3:4 / A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. GOB, Chapter 17, section 3 Eustace became aware, as never before, of the truth of that well-known ligne - "Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away." 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". Back to top THE ADVENTURES OF SALLY AS, Chapter 1, section 2 In that last hectic scene three years ago, which had ended in their going out into the world together like a second Adam and Eve, the verbal victory had been hers. 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. AS, Chapter 2, section 3 He did not look like a dove of peace Genesis 8:11 / And the dove came in to him [Noah] in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. The olive leaf or branch, heralding the end of the flood, has become the universal symbol of peace and goodwill. Until presently all that was left of Armageddon was one solitary small Scotch terrier, thoughtfully licking a chewed leg. Revelation 16:16 / And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Armageddon means "the mountains of Megiddo". The second Book of Kings (23:29-30) relates the defeat of King Josiah, killed in battle against Egypt near this town of Megiddo, making the place symbolise disaster for any armies assembling there. AS, Chapter 2, section 5 In these days of cheap books of instruction on every subject under the sun 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. Jules (...) lowered the car to the ground floor, where, after a glance of infinite longing at the keys on the distant desk, the sort of glance which Moses must have cast at the Promised Land from the summit of Mount Pisgah, he sagged down in a heap and resumed his slumbers. Deuteronomy 34:1-4 / 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3 and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4 And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. For some shortage of faith, which remains obscure, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. On the peak of Pisgah, he was granted a sight of it. AS, Chapter 3, section 3 At least he had assumed that she was French, and it was startling to be addressed by her now in fluent English. How had she suddenly acquired this gift of tongues? Acts 2:4 / And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This verse describes one of the phenomena of the Pentecost miracle, when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles: the "gift of tongues". AS, Chapter 5 She has the face of an angel and the histrionic ability of that curious suet pudding which our estimable Mrs. Meecher is apt to give us on Fridays. Acts 6:15 / And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him [Stephen], saw his face as it had been the face of angel. A possible allusion to the only person thus described in the Bible, Stephen, one of seven deacons, the first Christian martyr. AS, Chapter 6, section 4 And at the same time Mr. Reginald Cracknell hurried on to the stage, his whole demeanour that of the bearer of evil 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! Negative version of a biblical expression Wodehouse uses elsewhere. It rang through the empty theatre like the last trump 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. AS, Chapter 7 If the Millennium had arrived, the members of the Primrose Way Company could not have been on better terms with themselves. Revelation 20:4 / And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The thousand-year period or "millennium" described here in the Book of Revelation, has been explained in different ways throughout the ages. "Millenarianists" are those who interpret these texts literally, and who believe in a future millennium of blessedness, either in heaven or on earth. AS, Chapter 8, section 2 The Family have washed their hands of him. 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. AS, Chapter 8, section 3 "He's had good news. His brother's dead." "What!" "Not, I don't mean, that that was good news, far from it, though, come to think of it, all flesh is as grass and we all got to be prepared for somep'n of the sort breaking loose..." Isaiah 40:6 / The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. 1 Peter 1:24 / For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. AS, Chapter 12 He is staying at the Savoy, and they took me off there to lunch, whooping joyfully as over a strayed lamb. Matthew 18:12-13 / 12 How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. There were uncles and aunts all over the place. I felt like a small lion in a den of Daniels. Daniel 6:16 / Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said to Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. The satraps of the kingdom of Darius, resenting Daniel's promotion, had set a trap for him by inducing Darius to sign a decree banning prayer to anyone but the king. When Daniel was seen praying to his God, the king had no choice but to order him to be thrown into a den of lions. Next morning, Daniel was found, unhurt, and his accusers were thrown to the lions instead. - But why does Sally feel like a small lion in a den of Daniels, and not like Daniel in a den of lions? Is this an allusion to Daniel's reputation as an arbiter? "A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! / O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!" Shakespeare, Jeeves? Yes, sir, his "Merchant of Venise". The Swan of Avon's words echo the "History of Susanna", in the protestant Bible one of the apocryphal books, but in the catholic tradition chapter 13 of the Book of Daniel. Daniel 13:1-64 tells the story of two elders who surprise Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joakim, while she is bathing in her garden. The elders want her to yield to their passions, and when Susanna refuses, they accuse her in public of having made love to a young man. She is tried and condemned to death, but a young boy of the name of Daniel, by shrewdly questioning the two elders separately, manages to establish Susanna's innocence. - Sally goes on writing to Ginger: "I know exactly now what you mean about the Family. They look at you! Of course, it's all right for me, because I am snowy white clear through, but I can just imagine what it must have been like for you with your permanently guilty conscience. You must have had an awful time." It sometimes seems as though they were weighing me in the balance. Well let 'em weigh! (...) Yours in the balance, Sally. Daniel 5:27 / Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Belshazzar, whom the book of Daniel calls "king" of Babylon and son of Nebuchadnezzar (he was, in fact, the son of Nabonidus and was never king), was giving a great banquet - one of these "Babylonian orgies" to which the Master periodically refers - when suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall: "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin". Daniel was able to interpret this "writing on the wall", and gave the meaning of the word "tekel": "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting". That same night, Belshazzar was murdered. AS, Chapter 13, section 2 If ever a man had an excuse for leaping like a young ram, Fillmore had it. Psalm 114:4 / The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. This Psalm deals with the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, as related in Exodus, chapter 14. The phrase "skipping like the (high) hills" is one of Wodehouse's favourite biblical gags. But "leaping like a young ram" may be another possible application of the same Psalm. AS, Chapter 13, section 4 He comported himself with the care-free jauntiness of an infant about to demolish a Noah's Ark with a tack-hammer. Genesis 6:13-14 / 13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. The Master's text refers to a toy replica of the vessel in which Noah saved his family and the animal kingdom. If Ginger had seemed a new Ginger to Sally, still more did this seem a new Bugs Butler to Mr. Burrowes, and the manager 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. AS, Chapter 16, section 3 But at this moment Fate, being no respecter of persons, sent into his life the disturbing personality of George Washington Williams. Acts 10:34 / Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. Back to top THE INIMITABLE JEEVES IJ, Chapter 1 (Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum) He can rely on me, even unto half my 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. IJ, Chapter 2 (No Wedding Bells for Bingo) I have had my cross to bear. Matthew 10:38 / And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. IJ, Chapter 7 (Introducing Claude and Eustace) I had just been saying to myself, "Death, where is thy jolly old sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:55 / O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another verse often quoted by P.G. Wodehouse, and always, one regrets to say, used in the wrong way! In the 15th chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul reminds his readers of the fundamental creed of the Christians: the resurrection of the dead, heralded by Christ's own rising from the dead. At the end of his explanation, he exclaims triumphantly: "When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (Jerusalem Bible) IJ, Chapter 9 (A Letter of Introduction) Sort of olive branch, you know. Or do I mean orange blossom? I looked on this chump Bassington-Bassington, when he arrived, more or less as a Dove of Peace Genesis 8:11 / And the dove came in to him [Noah] in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. The olive leaf or branch, heralding the end of the flood, has become the universal symbol of peace and goodwill. IJ, Chapter 11 (Comrade Bingo) On the Sabbath after my return to the good old Metrop Exodus 20:8 / Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the Jewish week, considered as the day of religious rest ordered by the fourth of the Ten Commandments. The word "Sabbath" is often applied, in the protestant tradition, to the Sunday, which the Christians observe as the Lord's day instead of the Jewish Sabbath. His god is his belly Philippians 3:19 / Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. "Tea, pa!" said Charlotte, starting at the word like the old war-horse who hears 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? IJ, Chapter 12 (Bingo Has a Bad Goodwood) It will show you to what an extent the iron had entered into my soul Psalm 105:18 / Whose feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul (Book of Common Prayer). He had a voice like the Last Trump 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. IJ, Chapter 13 (The Great Sermon Handicap) There was one sermon of his on Brotherly Love which lasted forty-five minutes if it lasted a second. Romans 12:10 / Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. I (...) flew downstairs like a mighty, rushing wind. Acts 2:2 / And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. This verse describes the Holy Ghost descending on the Apostles on the feast of Pentecost. IJ, Chapter 14 (The Purity of the Turf) The explosion, when it came, sounded like the end of all things. 1 Peter 4:7 / But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. IJ, Chapter 15 (The Metropolitan Touch) A scene of peace and cheery good-will. Luke 2:14 / Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. The above song of praise, rendered by the angels in Bethlehem, has become the beginning of a hymn sung in both Catholic and Anglican worship, the "Gloria in excelsis Deo". I must once again pay a marked tribute to good old Jeeves. A modern Solomon. 1 Kings 4:29-30 / 29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. IJ, Chapter 16 (The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace) "After which, no doubt," said Claude, "the Lord will provide." Genesis 22:8 / And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. A possible allusion to the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. IJ, Chapter 17 (Bingo and the Little Woman) Causing me to leap like a young ram. Psalm 114:4 / The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. This Psalm deals with the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, as related in Exodus, chapter 14. The phrase "skipping like the (high) hills" is one of Wodehouse's favourite biblical gags. But "leaping like a young ram" may be another possible application of the same Psalm. You go from strength to strength. Psalm 84:7 / They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Fresh from a perusal of this noble work of yours, I cannot harden my heart. Exodus 9:35 / And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses. When Pharaoh remained reluctant to Moses' plea "let my people go", ten plagues befell the Egyptians (see Exodus 7:8-12:34). Only the last one, the death of all the first-borns in the country, broke his resistance. IJ, Chapter 18 (All's Well) What can prevail against a pure and all-consuming love? Neither principalities nor powers, my lord Romans 8:38-39 / 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height