[409] Tournure. Figure; turn of dress,—and so of mind.
[410] Coventry. It is said that the people of Coventry, a city in England, at one time so disliked soldiers that to send a military man there meant to exclude him from social intercourse; hence the expression "to send to Coventry" means to exclude from society.
[411] "If you could see Vich Ian Vohr with his tail on." Vich Ian Vohr is a Scotch chieftain in Scott's novel, Waverley. One of his dependents says to Waverley, the young English officer: "If you Saxon duinhé-wassal [English gentleman] saw but the Chief with his tail on." "With his tail on?" echoed Edward in some surprise. "Yes—that is, with all his usual followers when he visits those of the same rank." See Waverley, chapter 16.
[412] Mercuries. The word here means simply messengers. According to Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the gods.
[413] Herald's office. In England the Herald's College, or College of Arms, is a royal corporation the chief business of which is to grant armorial bearings, or coats of arms, and to trace and preserve genealogies. What does Emerson mean by comparing certain circles of society to this corporation?
[414] Amphitryon. Host; it came to have this meaning from an incident in the story of Amphitryon, a character in Greek legend. At one time Jupiter assumed the form of Amphitryon and gave a banquet. The real Amphitryon came in and asserted that he was master of the house. In the French play, founded on this story, the question is settled by the assertion of the servants and guests that "he who gives the feast is the host."
[415] Tuileries. An old royal residence in Paris which was burned in 1871.
[416] Escurial, or escorial. A celebrated royal edifice near Madrid in Spain.
[417] Hide ourselves as Adam, etc. See Genesis iii. 8.
[418] Cardinal Caprara. An Italian cardinal, Bishop of Milan, who negotiated the famous concordat of 1801, an agreement between the Church and State regulating the relations between civil and ecclesiastical powers.