Chapter 40: 399-409
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.
Trinity Church...where he will attend services on Sunday...
on Sunday, February 17, 1765
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."
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 Inconveniencem 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.
Page 403
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.
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
