But the British character lay underneath it all, and that never changed. Many of the stories I covered had to do with the question Britons have asked themselves incessantly since their empire fell: Who are we, and what is our place in the world? It wasn’t until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last summer, with its music medleys and dancing nurses and quotes from Shakespeare and references to Mary Poppins and sly inclusion of the queen and depictions of the Industrial Revolution and compendiums of key moments in British television history, that the country seemed to have found some sort of answer.
In passing, the reader may care to become more fully acquainted with the two serving-men of whom I have spoken. Naturally, they were not persons of much note, but merely what folk call characters of secondary, or even of tertiary, importance. Yet, despite the fact that the springs and the thread of this romance will not DEPEND upon them, but only touch upon them, and occasionally include them, the author has a passion for circumstantiality, and, like the average Russian, such a desire for accuracy as even a German could not rival.
To what the reader already knows concerning the personages in hand it is therefore necessary to add that Petrushka usually wore a cast-off brown jacket of a size too large for him, as also that he had (according to the custom of individuals of his calling) a pair of thick lips and a very prominent nose. In temperament he was taciturn rather than loquacious, and he cherished a yearning for self-education. That is to say, he loved to read books, even though their contents came alike to him whether they were books of heroic adventure or mere grammars or liturgical compendia.
An entire book on the "Carol"-era Dickens alone could be created from the material that Mr. Slater includes in this compendious and fascinating biography. He seems to have consulted every scrap—and there were tens of thousands—that Dickens scribbled on in his 58 years, to produce exactly what the book's subtitle promises: "a life defined by writing."
com·pen·di·ous (kəm-pĕn'dē-əs)
compendious
adj.
Containing or stating briefly and concisely all the essentials; succinct.
[Middle English, from Late Latin compendiōsus, from Latin compendium, a shortening. See compendium.]
compendiously com·pen'di·ous·ly adv.compendium[com・pen・di・um]
- 発音記号[kəmpéndiəm]
[名]（複〜s, -di・a 〔-di
〕compendia）((形式))
〕compendia）((形式))
1 解説, 概論, 概説, 要約, 摘要.
2 明細表.
3 ((英))箱にはいった幾種類かのゲームのセット.
liturgical art ：禮儀藝術：泛指對天主、天使、聖人公開敬禮所用的藝術作品。
liturgical assembly ： (1) 禮儀集會：舉行彌撒或公誦日課等。 (2) 參加禮儀的會眾。
liturgical books ：禮書；禮儀書。
liturgical commission ：禮儀委員會。
liturgical movement ：禮儀運動：提倡教友積極參與禮儀之運動，始於十九世紀，本篤會功不可沒。
liturgical music ：禮儀音樂：禮儀中所使用的歌曲或音樂。
mainspring
(mān'sprĭng')
n.
- The principal spring in a mechanical device, especially a watch or clock, that drives the mechanism by uncoiling.
- The chief motivating force: the mainspring of a reform movement.
[名]
1 （時計などの）主ぜんまい.
2 ((通例the 〜))（…の）主因, 主（原）動力, 推進力((of, for ...))
Agriculture is the mainspring of the economy.
農業が経済の推進力である.
circumstance
noun1 [C usually plural] a fact or event that makes a situation the way it is:
I think she coped very well under the circumstances.
Obviously we can't deal with the problem until we know all the circumstances.
She died in suspicious circumstances.We oppose capital punishment in/under any circumstances.
Under no circumstances should you (= You must not) approach the man.
The meeting has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control.
2 [U] FORMAL events that change your life, over which you have no control:
They were victims of circumstance.
We were obliged to go by force of circumstance.
3 circumstances how much money someone has:
Grants are available depending on your circumstances.
By now she was alone and living in reduced circumstances (= with little money).
circumstantial Show phonetics
adjectivecontaining information, especially about a crime, which makes you think something is true but does not definitely prove it:circumstantial evidence
The case against her was circumstantial.
cir・cum・stan・tial
━━ a. 情況による; 詳細な (a ～ report); 偶然な, 付随的な; 儀式ばった.
"Could 'shebang' be a variant of 'sharra-bang'? Well, it's certainly possible, although the evidence to support that view is entirely circumstantial. "
circumstantial evidence 情況証拠.
"Taking into account the circumstantial evidence we have so far, we cannot help suspecting crime,'' Masuzoe told reporters.
A total of 3,742 people have said they became sick after eating the dumplings, the health ministry said in its latest figures, though it noted only 10 were diagnosed with pesticide poisoning.
circumstantiality[cir・cum・stan・ti・al・i・ty]
- 発音記号[sə`ːrkəmstæ`nʃiǽləti]
[名]（複 -ties）
1 [U]詳しさ, 精密.
2 事情；（事の）詳細.tertiary
- [形]1 第三（次, 位, 期）の. ⇒PRIMARY, SECONDARY2 《化学》第三（級）の.3 《鳥》＝tertial.4 ((T-))《地質学》第三紀の.━━[名]1 《鳥》＝ter...
- tertiary college
- ((英))高等専門学校：中等学校に続く国立の職業専門学校；工業・農業・芸術系などがあり修業年限は3-4年間. ⇒EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM（図）
- tertiary education
- [U]((形式))第三次教育：大学および職業専門教育.
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