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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is the first thing Diana writes in her commonplace book (32)?

2. Which of the following is the name of one of Matthew’s mastiffs at Woodstock?

3. Which of the following disturbs Diana and Matthew in the church where his first wife and son are buried?

4. What meaning is ascribed to the name of Matthew’s late son with Bianca?

5. Which of the following titles does Thomas achieve at Saturnalia?

Short Essay Questions

1. What defensive structures does Diana note as she and Matthew make their final approach to Sept-Tours at Philippe’s summons?

2. What reason does Matthew give for marrying Diana at the door to the local church, rather than inside it?

3. What advice does Lord Burghley give to Diana when he first meets her?

4. Following her forspell, as Diana consults with the London witches regarding how to control her firedrake familiar, what does she realize about the commonalities between her magical and historical practices?

5. Why does Philippe note there is no key to a library in his home?

6. In what does Diana see Matthew’s assumption of a princely demeanor after they make landfall on the Continent en route to Sept-Tours?

7. What significance does Matthew attribute to Hubbard grabbing Diana’s wrist?

8. What reasons does Diana note for asserting that “Walter’s was the only opinion that mattered” (24)?

9. How does Diana note expecting Dr. Dee’s library to look?

10. What in Baynard’s Castle indicates its aristocratic use when Diana first enters it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the symbolism of Matthew being known as Gabriel among the Jewish community in Prague.

Essay Topic 2

As Diana makes for an apothecary to purchase sealing wax and search for a magical tutor, her companion waxes eloquent on the subject of publication, opining “on whether writers were now required to publish too much in order to survive” (244). Are writers obliged to do so? What in the text and experience suggests that they are or are not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Diana notes that, passing near St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, she “felt a surge of energy that reminded [her] of the temple to the goddess near Sept-Tours. Deep under the cathedral, something sensed [her] presence. It responded with a whisper, a slight stirring beneath [her] feet, a sigh of acknowledgement—and then it was gone” (241). Based on the novel and what it reveals of the author’s outside reading, what might that “something” be? Why might it be so?

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