Ravensdale Page 3

18.Notes

  Toper

  A drunkard

  Mr. Fox

  The French folk tales of the outlaw and trickster fox 'Le Roman de Reynart' date from before the twelfth century and were so well known that 'reynart' is a French term for a fox. Reynaud Ravensdale's family, with their French ties, would certainly know them, and he has chosen this name for himself as an outlaw as a joke.

  Purse

  Men often used purses rather than wallets in this era.

  Mercury

  Venereal disease was treated at this time with mercury.

  Gibbeted Corpse

  In the eighteenth century, highwaymen's corpses were often displayed on chains by the highways where they had carried out their raids, preserved in tar and with the eyes removed, supposedly as a deterrent. At least one highwayman was in fact gibbeted alive. The practice was abolished in 1834.