Chapter 40: 399-409
Contents
Page 399
Mason leaves the Forks of Brandywine
February 11, 1765.
arriving in New-York by way of the Staten Island Ferry
February 16, 1765.
New York City grew in importance as a trading port while under British rule. The city hosted the seminal John Peter Zenger trial in 1735, helping to establish the freedom of the press in North America. In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October of 1765 as the Sons of Liberty organized in the city, skirmishing over the next ten years with British troops stationed there. From WIKI
In the 1700s ferry service between Staten Island and the city of New York (then occupying only the southern tip of Manhattan) was conducted by private individuals with "periaugers", shallow-draft, two-masted sailboats used for local traffic in New York harbor. From WIKI
Trinity Church... where he will attend services on Sunday.
on Sunday, February 17, 1765
Trinity Church (also known as Trinity Wall Street) at 79 Broadway, New York City, is an historic, full-service parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Trinity Church is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. From WIKI
But then there is Monday Night.
Monday, February 17, 1765
Presently he has fallen in...
The journals indicate that this is February 19, 1765, since the next day is marked as "In Long Island."
Brooklyn
In 1683, the British reorganized the Province of New York into twelve counties, each of which was sub-divided into towns. Over time, the name evolved from Breuckelen, to Brockland, to Brocklin, to Brookline, and eventually, to Brooklyn. Kings County was one of the original counties, and Brooklyn was one of the original six towns within Kings County. The county was named in honor of King Charles II of England. From WIKI
Pearl-Street
The name Pearl Street is an English translation of the Dutch Parelstraat (written as Paerlstraet around 1660). This street along the eastern shore of New Amsterdam was named for the many oysters found in the river. From WIKI
Styx
The River Styx (Greek: Στύξ, Stux, also meaning "hate" and "detestation") was a river in Greek mythology which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (often called Hades which is also the name of this domain's ruler). It circles the Underworld nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh. The other important rivers of the underworld are Lethe and Eridanos, and Alpheus, a real river that runs in Italy partially underground and undersea. The ferryman was called Charon (also spelled Kharon in older texts). From WIKI
Page 400
ornamental Dirk
Dirk is a Scots word for a short dagger; sometimes a cut-down sword blade mounted on a dagger hilt, rather than a knife blade. The word dirk could have possibly derived from the Gaelic word sgian dearg (red knife), via dearg [ˈdʒʲɛrəɡ],[dubious – discuss] shifting to Scots "dirk" [ˈdɪɾk]. It may also have been a corruption of the Low German terms Dulk or Dolk. From WIKI
Page 401
the inconvenient Dilemma of stepping in as a Gentleman must
inconvenient, once again, as interacting with life, here almost a foreshadowing of what the Chums of Chance do from Inconvenience the airship, in ATD.
bum-bailiff
an officer: The French pousse-cul seems to favour the notion that bum-bailiff is no corruption. These officers are frequently referred to as bums. “Scout me for him at the corner of the orchard, like a bum-bailiff.” Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, iii. 4.--Brewer Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Cadastral Surveyor
Surveyor of property lines and boundaries
Page 402
"Cad! Ass? - Eeeoo!"
Amelia misunderstands Mason to be a surveyor of cad (young, roguish sorts) ass - This is a roundabout pun on the old "Butt Pirate," I presume.
"Quotha."
Indeed - archaic variation of modern slang "true that" or "amen" - in other words, the word is saying agreeably "quoth he" or "quoth she"
Page 403
Sobriquet
A sobriquet (pronounced so-brik-ay or so-brik-et) is a nickname or a fancy name, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. From WIKI
The Telescope stands...
map of Brooklyn from 1766
I would guess that they are a little north the "Brookland Ferry" on this map. But, would that be enough elevations that the telescope is pointing "down?"
This drawing from the 1770s shows a veiw from Brooklyn. Might even be the inspiration for the location.
White-Hall Slip
Near the foot of the street is the site of the Governor's house built by Peter Stuyvesant; when the British took over New Amsterdam from the Dutch, they christened the street and the building "Whitehall" for England's seat of government, Whitehall, London. On the Castello map (1660, illustration) Whitehall, with its white roof, stands on a jutting piece of land at Manhattan's tip, facing along the waterfront strand that extends along the East River. The only extensive pleasure gardens in seventeenth-century Nieuw Amsterdam/New York are seen to extend behind it, laid out in a patterned parterre of four squares. Other grounds in the center of blocks behind houses are commons and market gardens. The mansion is long since gone, and now the name survives only as the short north-south Whitehall Street. From WIKI
Page 406
"We are in correspondence." In 1765, after the Stamp Act, people in the New York area fromed the Sons of Liberty, these gentlemen are probably them. More on the Committees of Correspondence.
Page 408
Capt. V.
Captain Volcanoe abbreviated in what seems to be a Pynchon allusion to V. and other V-named characters in his works. See ATD.
Wednesday Morning
Well, February 20th was a Wednesday. However, the Journals show Mason traveling from Long Island back to Staten Island and then the Jerseys on the 21st.
Met some boys,
Sunday,February 24, 1765.
The text of the Journal follows the passage as Pynchon gives it, but adds: "...However I got up as did my Horse after some time and I led him by the Meeting House, (the Friends pouring out) very serene, as if all had been well. But" and it cuts off with with word "But".
All thro' the Monday he lies in bed...
February 25, 1765.<br.
Horses may detect Spirits invisible to human Sensoria
See the mysterious horses in ATD.
Page 409
I Corinthians, Chapter 15
here
"39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
See, also Great Chain of Being.
