How can a modern reader engage this text?

I opened Carlyle's The French Revolution last evening after I finally finished up Vonnegut, and exclaimed "Hey what?" Archived it, and then later changed my mind and reloaded it, but I was wondering if there is anyone out there, perhaps kiki?, who can advise me how to approach this text.

He opens with an epigram in mid-sentence and litters the first page with names of people I don't know, and yes, I can Google everything and put as many footnotes in the text as I like, but a body can't read a book that way. Does he at any time clarify what he's talking about? Should I foot note and Google every Tom Dick and Harry?

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Originally Posted by Jozanny

I opened Carlyle's The French Revolution last evening

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First of all, why? Are you reading this for professional reasons, or is this just something you're doing in your leisure?

Well, one, I am more of a latent Francophile than kiki might suppose, one, and two, I do not mind abandoning novels, even poetry, but I want to do a few scholarly things in my old age, and that means not abandoning source texts, although I have to say Carlyle's opening is sloppy. His readers might have been shocked by the bloodlust of The French Revolution, but if he was such a gifted student, he should have had the foresight to reference these individuals in some way.

I just discovered part of the problem is where the kindle opens, and that I had to go to the cover, but still, between page 1 and 3 he mentions a *President, Dubarry, a Duke, a Madame someone, and it is confusing.

*President Henault is actually an 18th century historian and not a political leader.