appellation a name or title that describes or identifies a person or thing.
ignominious shameful; dishonorable; disgraceful.
deportment the manner of conducting or bearing oneself; behavior; demeanor.
Elixir of Life a subject of myth, a substance that was supposed to extend life indefinitely.
pharmacopoeia a stock of drugs.
Oxford Oxford University in England.
importunate urgent or persistent in asking or demanding; insistent; refusing to be denied; annoyingly urgent or persistent.
New Jerusalem might mean Boston, the city on the hill.
healing balm an ointment used for healing.
Gobelin looms a tapestry factory in Paris that made the finest tapestries.
David and Bathsheba the biblical story of King David's adultery with Bathsheba.
Nathan the Prophet the biblical prophet who condemned David's adultery.
erudition learning acquired by reading and study; scholarship.
vilified defamed or abused.
commodiousness the condition of having plenty of room; spaciousness.
Sir Thomas Overbury and Dr. Forman the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England. Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover. Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned.
