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“But you’re wearing very well, Wimsey,” pursued Mr. Peake, benevolently. “Kept your waist-line. Still good for a sprint between the wickets. Can’t say I’m much use now, except for the Parents’ Match, eh, Jim? That’s what marriage does for a man—makes him fat and lazy. But you haven’t changed. Not an atom. Not a hair. Absolutely unmistakable. And you’re quite right about these louts on the river. I’m sick and tired of being barged into and getting their beastly punts over my bows. They don’t even know enough to apologise. Think it’s dashed funny. Stupid oafs. And gramophones bawling in your ears. And look at ’em! Just look at ’em! Enough to make you sick. Like the monkey-house at the Zoo!” “Noble and nude and antique?” suggested Harriet. “I don’t mean that. I mean the pole-climbing. Watch that girl—hand over hand, up she goes! And turning round to shove as if she was trying to clear a drain. She’ll be in if she isn’t careful.” “She’s dressed for it,” said Wimsey. “I’ll tell you what,” said Mr. Peake, confidentially. “That’s the real reason for the costume. They expect to fall in. It’s all right to come out with those beautiful creases down your flannels, but if you do go in it makes it all the funnier.”

--Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Chapter XIV, 1936.

(Follows directly from the effects of Wimsey of Balliol on the unwitting.)

Harriet quotes “noble and nude and antique” from the poem “Dolores (Notre-Dame des Sept Douleurs)” by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), published in Poems and Ballads (1866). In the poem, the narrator applies the phrase to the titular figure of Dolores. The connection to monkeys appears to be Harriet’s own flight of fancy. (x)

Images: Sketches of University Life, 1902. (x)

#dorothy l. sayers #lord peter wimsey #harriet vane #gaudy night #mr peake #punting #oxford #algernon charles swinburne #dolores

Wimsey put his head between his hands. “We were accustomed to lay bets,” went on Mr. Peake, who seemed to have preserved an undergraduate taste in humour, owing, no doubt, to continuous contact with First-Year mentality, “upon what they would say about him afterwards. The Americans mostly said, ‘My, but isn’t he just the perfect English aristocrat!’ but some of them said, ‘Does he need that glass in his eye or is it just part of the costoom?’” Harriet laughed, thinking of Miss Schuster-Slatt. “My dear—” said Mrs. Peake, who seemed to have a kindly nature. “The country cousins,” said Mr. Peake remorselessly, “invariably became speechless and had to be revived with coffee and ices at Buol’s.” “Don’t mind me,” said Peter, whose face was invisible, except for the tip of a crimson ear.

--Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Chapter XIV, 1936.

(Follows directly from Wimsey of Balliol laying down the law with exquisite insolence.)

Image 1: Menu from Buol’s Restaurant, which had premises on Broad St. from 1893-1915 and Cornmarket St. from 1901-1919. (x)

Image 2: The Cornmarket location of Buol’s. (x)

#dorothy l. sayers #lord peter wimsey #harriet vane #gaudy night #mr peake #mrs peake #buol's #oxford #wimsey of balliol #monocle #poor peter

Wimsey shipped the pole and sat down. “Have pity, old son, have pity! Let the dead bury their dead.” “You know,” said Mr. Peake to the world at large, “when we were up together—shocking long time ago that is—never mind! If anyone got landed with a country cousin or an American visitor who asked, as these people will, ‘What is this thing called the Oxford manner?’ we used to take ’em round and show ’em Wimsey of Balliol. He fitted in very handily between St. John’s Gardens and the Martyrs’ Memorial.” “But suppose he wasn’t there, or wouldn’t perform?” “That catastrophe never occurred. One never failed to find Wimsey of Balliol planted in the centre of the quad and laying down the law with exquisite insolence to somebody.”

--Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Chapter XIV, 1936.

Image 1: Gardens, St. John’s College, Oxford. (x)

Image 2: The Martyrs’ Memorial and Balliol College, Oxford. (x)