Chapter 20: 199-206
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pongee gown
Embroidered white silk pongee gown with sweetheart neckline, trimmed at neckline with tulle ruffle matching the deep tulle flounce of the skirt
Sally Lunn
Sally Lunn's is the oldest house in Bath.It's famous for the Sally Lunn bun (served here since 1680).Sally Lunn. Lunn, Sally (supp. fl. 1680x1800), supposed baker.
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a certain subterranean Rotation
Rebekah turning in her grave
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Mr. Harrison's Watch
John Harrison (March 24, 1693–March 24, 1776) was an English clockmaker who revolutionized and extended the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age of Sail by inventing a long-sought and critically-needed key piece in the problem of accurately establishing the East-West position, or longitude, of a ship at sea. The problem was so intractable that the English Parliament offered a huge fortune for the day (£20,000, roughly £6 million in 2007 terms),[1] for a solution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
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but by me
This is a direct quote from Jesus: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). This connection between Jesus and Mason's father begins in chapter 8.
I warned you of Sam Peach
Oh no he didn't! A rare instance of plot leakage. The conversation in which Mason's father tells him that Sam Peach is not his friend (p.208, a few pages later, though chronologically much earlier, before Mason marries Rebekah), is a 'subjunctive' or possible one: 'Had he gone to his father, this might have been the conversation'.
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He believes that bread is alive
This is perhaps another way to describe the Catholic idea of transubstantiation. See also chapter 8.
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Succedaneum
A substitute, replacement for something else, particularly of a medicine used in place of another. From WIKI