Welcome back Middlemarchers. Well we have met a lot more players in these chapters and even shifted from the Brooke's household to the Vincy's.

SUMMARY

Mr. Casaubon is not particularly excited by wedding plans and tells Dorothea he is disappointed Celia won't be going along on the honeymoon. Mr. Casaubon intends to spend a large part of the honeymoon working (how romantic). Dorothea is annoyed that he thinks she wouldn't be OK with this. Mr. Casaubon is oblivious of her feelings. At the evening's dinner party Dorothea decides she was in the wrong. The men present at the party talk of Dorothea, among other women. The older women discuss their ailments, and gossip about Mr. Lydgate the new surgeon in town with some modern medical ideas from Paris.

Mr. Lydgate is smitten with Miss Vincy, but is in no position to marry. The chapter then focuses on the Vincy family. Rosamond, admired by many men, is her teachers star pupil. Uninterested in the local lads she is quietly hoping her father will invite Mr. Lydgate around. Mr. Vincy and Bob have gone to work, the younger girls are studying and Rosamond and her mother are sewing. Fred is the lazy eldest son who won't finish college or get up before 10.30 unless it's to go hunting. Fred and Rosamond agree to ride to Stone Court, their uncle Mr. Featherstone's place the next day. Mrs. Vincy is pleased as she is woried Mary Garth will win her uncle's favour in place of her own kids, and with it his fortune.

Some references;

• De Quincey mentioned in relation to Ladislaw's opium experimentation: Thomas Penson De Quincey was an English essayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Anyone read this?

• Tartarean shade; relating to Tartarus from Greek mythology, the deep abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked. Also a prison for Titans. A reference to Mr. Casaubon's work.

• Santa Barbara used to emphasise Dorothea's quietude Sometimes when Dorothea was in company, ("there seemed to be as complete an air of repose about her as if she had been a picture of Santa Barbara"); an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. She was locked in a tower by her father to preserve her from the outside world.

• Broussais; a French physician whose advocacy of bleeding, leech treatments, and fasting dominated Parisian medical practice in the early 19th century. Lydgate trained in Paris and actually knew Broussais.

Looking forward to all your thoughts, insights, musings and notes. There are also discussion questions in the comments that you may or may not want to answer. Please feel free to add your own questions to other readers too.