Chapter 33: 327-340
Contents
Page 327
Benjamin Chew
See page 297
Whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the 16th game of Trump or Ruff, via Ruff and Honours. Although the rules are extremely simple, there is enormous scope for scientific play. From WIKI
Page 328
In the Summer
this puts the section from Page 327 to 330 as a flashforward to some summer in the future. In the Journal there is a meeting of the commissioners at Christiana Bridge to recognize M&Ds work on the Tangent Line on November 21-25, 1764. I wouldn't call November Summer, though.
Juniata
The Juniata River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately 90 miles (145 km) long, in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The river is considered scenic along much of its route, having a broad and shallow course passing through several mountain ridges and steeply-lined water gaps. It formed an early 18th-century frontier region in Pennsylvania and was the site of Native American attacks against white settlements during the French and Indian War. From WIKI
Harris's Ferry
See page 310.
Proprietarian politics... Anti-Proprietarians
The British kings repeatedly granted territory to an individual or a small group, rather than to a chartered company. These men, called proprietors, or sometimes "Lords Proprietors", were invested not only with property under private law but also with gubernatorial authority to administer it with extraordinary authority, somewhat recalling the earl palatine before the Glorious Revolution. The method was most notably used during the early colonization along the Atlantic coasts of North America and the Caribbean by Great Britain. A good example is the Province of Pennsylvania, granted to William Penn (the state still bears the name meaning "woodlands of Penn") by King Charles II of England. This type of indirect rule eventually fell out of favor as the English Sovereigns sought to concentrate their power and authority, and the colonies were converted to crown colonies, i.e. governed by officials appointed by the King. From WIKI
Page 329
Sugar-Islands
The exploitation of the Caribbean landscape dates back to the Spanish conquistadors around 1600 who mined the islands for gold which they brought back to Spain. The more significant development came when Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain that the islands were made for sugar development. The history of Caribbean agricultural dependency is closely linked with European colonialism which altered the financial potential of the region by introducing a plantation system. Much like the Spanish enslaved indigenous Indians to work in gold mines, the seventeenth brought a new series of oppressors in the form of the Dutch, the English, and the French. By the middle of the eighteenth century sugar was Britain's largest import which made the Caribbean that much more important as a colony. The “New World” plantations were established in order to fulfill the growing needs of the “Old World”. The sugar plantations were built with the intention of exporting the sugar back to Britain which is why the British did not need to stimulate local demand for the sugar with wages. A system of slavery was adapted since it allowed the colonizer to have an abundant work force with little worry about declining demands for sugar. From WIKI
"A sweetness of immorality and corruption."
This conspiratorial talking about sugar boycotts makes me think that the events of these pages are happening after the Sugar Act of April 5, 1764.
Page 330
Sun, January 8, 1764
from the journal: "Fixed on the house of Mr. John Harland's (about 31 miles West of Philadelphia) to bring our instruments to."
However, it appears that they actually returned to Philidelphia on the 9th to get the observatory and tools and then returned to the Harlands on the 14th where they "set up the sector in his Garden (inclosed in a tent), and in the Evening brought the Instruments into the Meridian, and took the following observations..."
Page 333
"By February..." February 28th, 1764
"In March a Company of Axmen...clear a Visto..." March 17- April 12, 1764
Page 334
Tangent Line
diagram
"Alexander Bryant"
listed as Alexander Bryan in the Journal and all historical records.
By June...they are instructed to proceed...
They set out on June 13, 1764.
Page 335
...centered upon the Spire of the Court House in New Castle...
Courthouse
locationphoto
Page 336
Fermat's Last Theorem
In 1636, Fermat claimed--but never offered--a clever proof to a seemingly obvious math theorem. "The fact that the problem's statement is understandable by schoolchildren makes it all the more frustrating, and it has probably generated more incorrect proofs than any other problem in the history of mathematics. No correct proof was found for 357 years, when a proof was finally published by Andrew Wiles in 1994" -- Wikipedia.
Finial upon something of Mr. Chippendale's
Finial - "Forming the crown or completion; crowning" (ODE)
Mr. Chippendale: Thomas Chippendale (ca June 5, 1718 - November 1779) (Wikipedia), a legendary "London cabinet-maker and furniture designer," whose designs--to this untrained poster's eyes--appear extraordinarily ornate?
the dead Hand of the second James
"James II of England (also known as James VII of Scotland; 14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685, and Duke of Normandy on 31 December 1660. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of England, and Kingdom of Ireland. Many of his subjects distrusted his religious policies and supposed despotism, leading a group of them to depose him in the Glorious Revolution. He was replaced not by his Roman Catholic son, James Francis Edward, but by his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary II and William III, who became joint rulers in 1689. The belief that James — not William III or Mary II — was the legitimate ruler became known as Jacobitism (from Jacobus or Iacobus, Latin for James)" -- Wikipedia
the other Fictions that govern'd that unhappy Monarch's Life
Are the fictions Jacobitism and Catholicism (per the Rev. Cherrycoke's POV)?
acufloral
???
Fescue
A pointer, used for lessons with children.
Is this a purposeful hearkening of the sexual tensions related to the Fescue on pages 92-93?
Page 337
Head of Elk
Refers to the head of Maryland's Elk River. It flows through
Cecil County and into Chesapeake Bay in the NE corner of Maryland just west
of the Delaware border. Head of Elk was of strategic significance in the
Revolutionary War: MORE
Calverts
Sir George Calvert (1580-1632) (see page 268), the first Lord Baltimore, was granted the colonial territory of Maryland by James I, but he died just prior to the charter being granted in 1632. Frederick Calvert (see page 301), the sixth Lord Baltimore (from 1751 to 1777), was the man during the surveying of the M-D Line. See, also, Dixon's Calvert connections on page 393.
Page 338
hypnagogic
"The state of intermediate consciousness preceding sleep" (American Heritage Dictionary), associated with hallucinations.
fifteen years ago in the era of Don Vicente Lopez
Who is Don Vicente Lopez?
Vicente Antonio Lopez, 1745-1802 [1] The dates sorta work, but this Vicente Lopez seems wrong, however, since this Vicente Lopez does not seem to have had an era named after him.
Please delete if this is irrelevant.
The great Scepter atop the Court House
See "...centered upon the Spire of the Court House in New Castle..." on page 335, above.
Ridotto
A gathering for music and dancing, often in masquerade, popular in 18th century England.
Page 339
In August they finally go chaining past the eighty-one-mile mark...
happens on August 25, 1764.
waking each glaucous Dawn into sweat and stillness
Glaucous describes color: a green that has been dulled bluish and grayish. Botanically, it describes green vegetation, dulled with powdery bloom.
we must stand in Glaur of uncertain Depth
Glaur: "liquid mud of the filthiest sort" -- Northumbld. Gloss, 1893 (per OED); lowland Scots for mud. "A fool with his eyes in the glaur" (p. 229) is a Pynchonian way of saying "A man of little foresight."
Page 340
"Ehw deah..."
Oh dear?
