Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 53: 511-524

2014-03-09T09:09:08Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 522 */

==Page 511==
'''Kitchen Garden''' 
The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas. Most vegetable gardens are still miniature versions of old family farm plots, but the kitchen garden is different not only in its history, but also its design. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_garden WIKI]

'''a Life that was like a Flirtation with the Day in all its humorless Dignity''' 
Another reference to "the Day" as developed further in ATD; here straightforward unironic dignified life, one would gloss.

'''Vendue''' 
A public sale. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vendue WIKI]

==Page 512==
'''the dark and wild men''' 
In a gloss on the play within The Crying of Lot 49, three men in black on
horseback come to assassinate. 
There are some recurring stealthy black horses in visions/events within ATD.

'''Battoes''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_28:_275-288#Page_285 285].

==Page 513==
'''Blue Mountain''' 
Blue Mountain is a ridge that forms the eastern edge of the Appalachian mountain range in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It cuts across the eastern half of the state from New Jersey to Maryland, providing a distinct boundary between a number of Pennsylvania's geographical and cultural regions. To its northwest side are the southern and central mountains and valleys, the "coal region," and the Poconos. To its southeast side are the Cumberland Valley, the "capital region," Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and the Lehigh Valley. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountain_%28Pennsylvania%29 WIKI]

'''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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniata_River WIKI]

'''Six Nations Country''' 
The Iroquois, also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power". The original Iroquois League was often known as the Five Nations, and comprised the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. After the Tuscarora nation joined the League in the 18th century, the Iroquois have often been known as the Six Nations. The League is embodied in the Grand Council, an assembly of 50 hereditary sachems. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois WIKI]

'''Gyrfalcons''' 
The gyrfalcon or Falco rusticolus, also spelled gerfalcon, is the largest of all falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia. It is mainly resident, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrfalcons WIKI]

'''Voles''' 
A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes. There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America. Vole species form the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voles WIKI]

'''Bark canoe''' 
Aboriginal canoes were constructed much more easily than previous types of vessels, such as bark canoes. This ease of construction played a significant role in the dugout canoes’ widespread use. While earlier vessels required a great deal of labor and time-consuming sewing to make, dugout canoes were constructed easily and in a shorter period of time. First, one would have to cut down a tree and shape the exterior into an even form. The sides of the canoe were shaped in one of two ways. They were either carved straight up and down or in a "u" shape, curving in towards the center of the boat. Next, one would literally dig out the inner wood of the log to make space for the oarsmen to sit and paddle. In some early dugout canoes, aboriginals would not make the bottoms of the canoes smooth, but would instead carve "ribbing" into the vessel. Ribbing (literally sections of wood that looked like ribs) was used to stabilize bark canoes, and though not necessary to dugout canoes, was a carryover in the transition from one canoe type to the other. Both the chopping down of the tree and the digging out of the log were easily done with an iron-axe. They also made there canoes out of tree bark, sticky tree sap to hold it together, and fallen tree limbs. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Dugout_Canoes WIKI]

==Page 514==
'''Quebec''' 
Quebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level. From/See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec WIKI]

'''Jesuit College''' 
See this [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001759 LINK] to Canadian Encyclopedia entry for Le College des Jesuites in Quebec.

==Page 515==
'''Rococo''' 
Rococo (less commonly roccoco) is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings. It was largely supplanted by the Neoclassic style. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo WIKI]

'''Chops''' 
A chop is a signature or identifying mark made by a furniture or cabinet maker to identify his work. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chop_%28furniture%29 WIKI]

'''Kite-wires and Balloon-cables rise into clouds... the Jesuit Telegraphy''' 
Here, finally, the specifics of the mysterious Jesuit Telegraph of the novel are revealed, in wonderful detail. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_28:_275-288#Page_287 287] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_472 472].

==Page 516==
'''''Portes-Cocheres''''' 
Freight depot

'''''Soutane''... Cassock''' 
The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, and some clerics of the Reformed, and Lutheran churches. The cassock derives historically from the tunic that was formerly worn underneath the toga in classical antiquity. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassock WIKI]

'''Tourmaline''' 
Tourmaline is a crystal silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classed as a semi-precious stone and the gem comes in a wide variety of colors. The name comes from the Sinhalese word "turamali" or "toramalli", which applied to different gemstones found in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourmaline WIKI]

==Page 517==
'''the smell of Ozone''' 
Ozone, the first allotrope of a chemical element to be recognized by science, was proposed as a distinct chemical compound by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840, who named it after the Greek verb ozein (ὄζειν, "to smell"), from the peculiar odor in lightning storms. The formula for ozone, O3, was not determined until 1865 by Jacques-Louis Soret[3] and confirmed by Schönbein in 1867. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone WIKI]

'''Catalepsies''' 
Catalepsy is a nervous condition characterized by muscular rigidity and fixity of posture regardless of external stimuli, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy WIKI]

==Page 518==
'''La Viudas de Cristo''' 
The Widows of Christ, which M&D were hipped to at Lepton Castle, ie. the female that could have been Austra had been of the Order. See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_41:_410-421#Page_419 419].

'''''White Roses''''' 
History and meaning of white roses [http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/rosemeanings/whiterose-meanings.aspx?ref=organicgglgeneric HERE] - of course here Eliza is the flower spoken of.

'''Doxy''' 
A beggar

More accurately, a beggar's female companion; later, a prostitute or mistress. Recall, Mason referred to Molly and Dolly as such; he is unlikely to have implied them to be a beggar's companions, as this would be a slight to Franklin, an unlikely intention. Hence, it is more likely to mean prostitute, esp. considering the character in question is frequently mistaken for a "blowsy and cheeky [doxy]".

==Page 519==
'''''moment musicale''''' 
Musical time

'''Sister Grincheuse''' 
Sister Grumpy

'''Sister Crosier''' 
A crosier (crozier, pastoral staff, paterissa, pósokh) is the stylized staff of office (pastoral staff) carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates. The other typical insignia of most of these prelates, but not all, are the mitre and the episcopal ring. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosier WIKI]

==Page 522==
'''Wolf of Jesus''' 
The Spanish Visitor from a few pages previous

'''Crofter''' 
A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofter WIKI]

'''Ortholatry of the Roman Empire''' 
A nice twist here, playing on Orthodoxy; Here, the "rightness" is in angles, not doctrine.

'''no true soldier of Christ''' 
A sly reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman No true Scotsman] fallacy? The line of reasoning exhibited is echoed by the Spanish Visitor's thoughts on those of other religious backgrounds on p. 524.

'''''la Obra''''' 
The Work

==Page 523==
'''''Feng Shui''''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_228 228].

'''"''Pues Entonces''..."''' 
For Then...

'''''Siempre Alguien derrama la Judias''''' 
Someone Always spills the Beans

'''Kabbalism''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_356 356].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 53: 511-524

2014-03-09T09:08:49Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 522 */

==Page 511==
'''Kitchen Garden''' 
The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas. Most vegetable gardens are still miniature versions of old family farm plots, but the kitchen garden is different not only in its history, but also its design. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_garden WIKI]

'''a Life that was like a Flirtation with the Day in all its humorless Dignity''' 
Another reference to "the Day" as developed further in ATD; here straightforward unironic dignified life, one would gloss.

'''Vendue''' 
A public sale. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vendue WIKI]

==Page 512==
'''the dark and wild men''' 
In a gloss on the play within The Crying of Lot 49, three men in black on
horseback come to assassinate. 
There are some recurring stealthy black horses in visions/events within ATD.

'''Battoes''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_28:_275-288#Page_285 285].

==Page 513==
'''Blue Mountain''' 
Blue Mountain is a ridge that forms the eastern edge of the Appalachian mountain range in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It cuts across the eastern half of the state from New Jersey to Maryland, providing a distinct boundary between a number of Pennsylvania's geographical and cultural regions. To its northwest side are the southern and central mountains and valleys, the "coal region," and the Poconos. To its southeast side are the Cumberland Valley, the "capital region," Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and the Lehigh Valley. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountain_%28Pennsylvania%29 WIKI]

'''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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniata_River WIKI]

'''Six Nations Country''' 
The Iroquois, also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power". The original Iroquois League was often known as the Five Nations, and comprised the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. After the Tuscarora nation joined the League in the 18th century, the Iroquois have often been known as the Six Nations. The League is embodied in the Grand Council, an assembly of 50 hereditary sachems. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois WIKI]

'''Gyrfalcons''' 
The gyrfalcon or Falco rusticolus, also spelled gerfalcon, is the largest of all falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia. It is mainly resident, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrfalcons WIKI]

'''Voles''' 
A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes. There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America. Vole species form the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voles WIKI]

'''Bark canoe''' 
Aboriginal canoes were constructed much more easily than previous types of vessels, such as bark canoes. This ease of construction played a significant role in the dugout canoes’ widespread use. While earlier vessels required a great deal of labor and time-consuming sewing to make, dugout canoes were constructed easily and in a shorter period of time. First, one would have to cut down a tree and shape the exterior into an even form. The sides of the canoe were shaped in one of two ways. They were either carved straight up and down or in a "u" shape, curving in towards the center of the boat. Next, one would literally dig out the inner wood of the log to make space for the oarsmen to sit and paddle. In some early dugout canoes, aboriginals would not make the bottoms of the canoes smooth, but would instead carve "ribbing" into the vessel. Ribbing (literally sections of wood that looked like ribs) was used to stabilize bark canoes, and though not necessary to dugout canoes, was a carryover in the transition from one canoe type to the other. Both the chopping down of the tree and the digging out of the log were easily done with an iron-axe. They also made there canoes out of tree bark, sticky tree sap to hold it together, and fallen tree limbs. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Dugout_Canoes WIKI]

==Page 514==
'''Quebec''' 
Quebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level. From/See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec WIKI]

'''Jesuit College''' 
See this [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001759 LINK] to Canadian Encyclopedia entry for Le College des Jesuites in Quebec.

==Page 515==
'''Rococo''' 
Rococo (less commonly roccoco) is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings. It was largely supplanted by the Neoclassic style. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo WIKI]

'''Chops''' 
A chop is a signature or identifying mark made by a furniture or cabinet maker to identify his work. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chop_%28furniture%29 WIKI]

'''Kite-wires and Balloon-cables rise into clouds... the Jesuit Telegraphy''' 
Here, finally, the specifics of the mysterious Jesuit Telegraph of the novel are revealed, in wonderful detail. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_28:_275-288#Page_287 287] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_472 472].

==Page 516==
'''''Portes-Cocheres''''' 
Freight depot

'''''Soutane''... Cassock''' 
The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, and some clerics of the Reformed, and Lutheran churches. The cassock derives historically from the tunic that was formerly worn underneath the toga in classical antiquity. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassock WIKI]

'''Tourmaline''' 
Tourmaline is a crystal silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classed as a semi-precious stone and the gem comes in a wide variety of colors. The name comes from the Sinhalese word "turamali" or "toramalli", which applied to different gemstones found in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourmaline WIKI]

==Page 517==
'''the smell of Ozone''' 
Ozone, the first allotrope of a chemical element to be recognized by science, was proposed as a distinct chemical compound by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840, who named it after the Greek verb ozein (ὄζειν, "to smell"), from the peculiar odor in lightning storms. The formula for ozone, O3, was not determined until 1865 by Jacques-Louis Soret[3] and confirmed by Schönbein in 1867. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone WIKI]

'''Catalepsies''' 
Catalepsy is a nervous condition characterized by muscular rigidity and fixity of posture regardless of external stimuli, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy WIKI]

==Page 518==
'''La Viudas de Cristo''' 
The Widows of Christ, which M&D were hipped to at Lepton Castle, ie. the female that could have been Austra had been of the Order. See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_41:_410-421#Page_419 419].

'''''White Roses''''' 
History and meaning of white roses [http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/rosemeanings/whiterose-meanings.aspx?ref=organicgglgeneric HERE] - of course here Eliza is the flower spoken of.

'''Doxy''' 
A beggar

More accurately, a beggar's female companion; later, a prostitute or mistress. Recall, Mason referred to Molly and Dolly as such; he is unlikely to have implied them to be a beggar's companions, as this would be a slight to Franklin, an unlikely intention. Hence, it is more likely to mean prostitute, esp. considering the character in question is frequently mistaken for a "blowsy and cheeky [doxy]".

==Page 519==
'''''moment musicale''''' 
Musical time

'''Sister Grincheuse''' 
Sister Grumpy

'''Sister Crosier''' 
A crosier (crozier, pastoral staff, paterissa, pósokh) is the stylized staff of office (pastoral staff) carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates. The other typical insignia of most of these prelates, but not all, are the mitre and the episcopal ring. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosier WIKI]

==Page 522==
'''Wolf of Jesus''' 
The Spanish Visitor from a few pages previous

'''Crofter''' 
A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofter WIKI]

'''Ortholatry of the Roman Empire''' 
A nice twist here, playing on Orthodoxy; Here, the "rightness" is in angles, not doctrine.

'''no true soldier of Christ''' 
A sly reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman No true Scotsman] fallacy? The line of reasoning exhibited is echoed by the Spanish Visitor's thoughts on those of other religious backgrounds on p. 524.

'''''la Obra''''' 
The Work

==Page 523==
'''''Feng Shui''''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_228 228].

'''"''Pues Entonces''..."''' 
For Then...

'''''Siempre Alguien derrama la Judias''''' 
Someone Always spills the Beans

'''Kabbalism''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_356 356].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 49: 476-483

2014-03-05T14:15:20Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 478 */

==Page 476==
'''York''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_393 393].

'''Gunpowder Creek''' 
The Gunpowder River is a river in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of Big Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls. Big Gunpowder begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's York County. From there, the "Big Gunpowder" flows in a generally southeast direction through the length of Baltimore County until it reaches Joppatowne where it is joined by the "Little Gunpowder" and the Bird River becoming simply the "Gunpowder River" once it passes the Amtrak train bridge that runs from Chase to Joppa. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_River WIKI]

==Page 477==
'''"Ensign Cheer."''' 
Is this Dixon making a sarcastic remark, implying Mason is being pessimistic or discouraging about his Fire-flies plans?

'''Quartz-scryer''' 
Jonas Everybeet, first on page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_44:_440-447#Page_442 442].

'''Torpedo''' 
See [[t#torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''marimbas''' [[File:MarimbaGourds.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Folk marimba with gourds, Highland Guatemala]]
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. Keys or bars (usually made of wood) are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimba WIKI]

'''"Pepinazos"''' 
Anthem of the Expedition. There is a translation on [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/p.html ThomasPynchon.com], that translates this as "Blows", however, I think the translation of "Bangs" is a bit better (as pepinazo is closer to an explosion or loud blast from a cannon, etc). To me, "Blows" brings to mind punches which isnt in line with the word's meaning. I had other translation differences as well. That in mind, the lyrics in English may read something like:

''Bangs, never'' 
''Hugs, If I'' 
''Want, Yes'' 
''For real'' 
''Listen!-'' 
''Let yourself be,'' 
''The Ba-a-nngg--ss!''

Is the song a play off of "Tree Hugger"? As the Line progresses, it's Bangs not Hugs? The Ax-men's persistent Banging, the Bangs of guns and cannons past & future, the Bangs of their mallets? Also, maybe this was a tune influenced by the Lightning strikes a number of pages previous?

==Page 478==
'''Codorus''' 
Codorus Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Codorus Creek (Native American for "rapid water"), formed by the confluence of the West and South branches approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) upstream of the Pennsylvania Route 182 crossing, flows for approximately 15.2 miles (24.5 km) to join the Susquehanna River near the community of Saginaw. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codorus_Creek WIKI]

'''Conewago''' 
Conewago Creek is a 77.6 mile (125 km) long tributary of the Susquehanna River located in Adams and York Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States, with its watershed also draining a small portion of Carroll County, Maryland... The name of the creek comes from the Lenape, meaning at the rapids, although "the rapids are not at the Conewago". Instead, the rapids are the Conewago Falls beyond the creek's mouth in the Susquehanna River, which also give their name to the other Conewago Creek, whose mouth is on the east bank of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin and Susquehanna Counties, only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of the mouth of this Conewago Creek. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conewago_Creek_(west) WIKI]

'''Piney Run''' 
Carroll County is bordered on the north by the Mason-Dixon Line. The Piney Run Reservoir is in the southern part of the county. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_County,_Maryland WIKI]

'''South Mountain''' 
see [[s#southmountain|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Groat''' 
Groat is the traditional name of an English silver coin worth four English pennies, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and a shilling. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groat_(coin) WIKI]

'''Eyre Coote''' 
See [[c#coote|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''"Bit steep, isn't i'...?"''' 
Dixon is of course calling Mason harsh in accusing him of being his penalty, but his dropping of the ''t'' in "it" allows for an interpretation unintended by Dixon—that he is a steep penalty for Mason.

==Page 479==
'''Kabbalists of the Second Century as ''Gematria''''' 
Gematria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The word "gematria" is generally held to derive from Greek geōmetriā, "geometry", which was used a translation of gēmaṭriyā, though some scholars believe it to derive from Greek grammateia, rather; it's possible that both words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word. It has been extant in English since the 17th century from translations of works by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts of Tanakh and Talmud, notably in those associated with the Kabbalah... Many researchers connect the "Number of the Beast", referred to in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, with either Greek or Hebrew Gematria as used by the early Christians. According to such interpretations, the number in question, 666, was originally derived via Gematria from the name of the Roman Emperor of the time, Nero. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria WIKI]

'''"simple son of the Pit"''' 
Of course Dixon comes from Pitmens' (Miners) territory, and grew up while hanging at The Jolly Pitman, but also, this comment brings to mind Peter Redzinger's revelation through drowning in Hops. See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_359 359].

'''East India Company''' 
See [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=East_India_Company HERE]

'''John Company''' 
After a rival English company challenged its monopoly in the late 17th century, the two companies were merged in 1708 to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, commonly styled the Honourable East India Company, and abbreviated, HEIC; the Company was colloquially referred to as John Company. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Company WIKI]

'''Sarong''' 
A sarong or sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a kilt by men and as a skirt by women throughout much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and on many Pacific islands. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarong WIKI]

'''Sari''' 
A sari is a female garment in the Indian Subcontinent. A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari WIKI]

==Page 481==
'''Golems''' [[File:Golem_by_Philippe_Semeria.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Illustration of a golem by [http://www.philippe-semeria.com Philippe Semeria]]]
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem (גלם), which means "raw material". Alternatively, some sources indicate that it is a corruption of the Hebrew go′al 'enu (גואלנו) our redeemer or our avenger... The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be, but a shadow of one created by God... Owning and activating golems: Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem WIKI]

'''Germanickal Mystics''' 
Wicks is surely writing about folks like Peter Redzinger here, German mystics in the New World, however, traditionally: German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso. Other notable figures include Rulman Merswin and Margaretha Ebner, and the Friends of God. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_mysticism WIKI]

==Page 482==
'''"Epsilons, usually. Miserable little... sort of things."''' 
This exchange is a reference to mathematical analysis and the rigorous foundations of the calculus of limits. Typically epsilon denotes an arbitrary positive number which a certain quantity is shown to be smaller than, in order to show that this quantity is in fact zero. This allusion is anachronistic because this idea of a limit first appears only in the writings of Augustin Louis Cauchy in 1821, and was only formally stated by Karl Weierstrass some decades later. Any student of mathematics will no doubt fondly remember having to master the epsilon-delta argument.

Also, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilonics WIKI] for further expo on (ε, δ)-definition of limit.

==Page 483==
'''Black Hole of Calcutta''' 
See [[b|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''symmetry''' 
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection. The second meaning is a precise and well-defined concept of balance or "patterned self-similarity" that can be demonstrated or proved according to the rules of a formal system: by geometry, through physics or otherwise. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry WIKI]

==Annotations Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 49: 476-483

2014-03-05T14:13:09Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 478 */

==Page 476==
'''York''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_393 393].

'''Gunpowder Creek''' 
The Gunpowder River is a river in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of Big Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls. Big Gunpowder begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's York County. From there, the "Big Gunpowder" flows in a generally southeast direction through the length of Baltimore County until it reaches Joppatowne where it is joined by the "Little Gunpowder" and the Bird River becoming simply the "Gunpowder River" once it passes the Amtrak train bridge that runs from Chase to Joppa. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_River WIKI]

==Page 477==
'''"Ensign Cheer."''' 
Is this Dixon making a sarcastic remark, implying Mason is being pessimistic or discouraging about his Fire-flies plans?

'''Quartz-scryer''' 
Jonas Everybeet, first on page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_44:_440-447#Page_442 442].

'''Torpedo''' 
See [[t#torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''marimbas''' [[File:MarimbaGourds.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Folk marimba with gourds, Highland Guatemala]]
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. Keys or bars (usually made of wood) are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimba WIKI]

'''"Pepinazos"''' 
Anthem of the Expedition. There is a translation on [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/p.html ThomasPynchon.com], that translates this as "Blows", however, I think the translation of "Bangs" is a bit better (as pepinazo is closer to an explosion or loud blast from a cannon, etc). To me, "Blows" brings to mind punches which isnt in line with the word's meaning. I had other translation differences as well. That in mind, the lyrics in English may read something like:

''Bangs, never'' 
''Hugs, If I'' 
''Want, Yes'' 
''For real'' 
''Listen!-'' 
''Let yourself be,'' 
''The Ba-a-nngg--ss!''

Is the song a play off of "Tree Hugger"? As the Line progresses, it's Bangs not Hugs? The Ax-men's persistent Banging, the Bangs of guns and cannons past & future, the Bangs of their mallets? Also, maybe this was a tune influenced by the Lightning strikes a number of pages previous?

==Page 478==
'''Codorus''' 
Codorus Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Codorus Creek (Native American for "rapid water"), formed by the confluence of the West and South branches approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) upstream of the Pennsylvania Route 182 crossing, flows for approximately 15.2 miles (24.5 km) to join the Susquehanna River near the community of Saginaw. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codorus_Creek WIKI]

'''Conewago''' 
Conewago Creek is a 77.6 mile (125 km) long tributary of the Susquehanna River located in Adams and York Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States, with its watershed also draining a small portion of Carroll County, Maryland... The name of the creek comes from the Lenape, meaning at the rapids, although "the rapids are not at the Conewago". Instead, the rapids are the Conewago Falls beyond the creek's mouth in the Susquehanna River, which also give their name to the other Conewago Creek, whose mouth is on the east bank of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin and Susquehanna Counties, only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of the mouth of this Conewago Creek. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conewago_Creek_(west) WIKI]

'''Piney Run''' 
Carroll County is bordered on the north by the Mason-Dixon Line. The Piney Run Reservoir is in the southern part of the county. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_County,_Maryland WIKI]

'''South Mountain''' 
see [[s#southmountain|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Groat''' 
Groat is the traditional name of an English silver coin worth four English pennies, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and a shilling. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groat_(coin) WIKI]

'''Eyre Coote''' 
See [[c#coote|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''"Bit steep, isn't i'...?"''' 
Dixon is of course calling Mason harsh in accusing him of being his penalty, but his usual dropping of the ''t'' in "it" allows for an interpretation unintended by Dixon—that he is a steep penalty for Mason.

==Page 479==
'''Kabbalists of the Second Century as ''Gematria''''' 
Gematria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The word "gematria" is generally held to derive from Greek geōmetriā, "geometry", which was used a translation of gēmaṭriyā, though some scholars believe it to derive from Greek grammateia, rather; it's possible that both words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word. It has been extant in English since the 17th century from translations of works by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts of Tanakh and Talmud, notably in those associated with the Kabbalah... Many researchers connect the "Number of the Beast", referred to in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, with either Greek or Hebrew Gematria as used by the early Christians. According to such interpretations, the number in question, 666, was originally derived via Gematria from the name of the Roman Emperor of the time, Nero. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria WIKI]

'''"simple son of the Pit"''' 
Of course Dixon comes from Pitmens' (Miners) territory, and grew up while hanging at The Jolly Pitman, but also, this comment brings to mind Peter Redzinger's revelation through drowning in Hops. See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_359 359].

'''East India Company''' 
See [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=East_India_Company HERE]

'''John Company''' 
After a rival English company challenged its monopoly in the late 17th century, the two companies were merged in 1708 to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, commonly styled the Honourable East India Company, and abbreviated, HEIC; the Company was colloquially referred to as John Company. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Company WIKI]

'''Sarong''' 
A sarong or sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a kilt by men and as a skirt by women throughout much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and on many Pacific islands. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarong WIKI]

'''Sari''' 
A sari is a female garment in the Indian Subcontinent. A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari WIKI]

==Page 481==
'''Golems''' [[File:Golem_by_Philippe_Semeria.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Illustration of a golem by [http://www.philippe-semeria.com Philippe Semeria]]]
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem (גלם), which means "raw material". Alternatively, some sources indicate that it is a corruption of the Hebrew go′al 'enu (גואלנו) our redeemer or our avenger... The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be, but a shadow of one created by God... Owning and activating golems: Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem WIKI]

'''Germanickal Mystics''' 
Wicks is surely writing about folks like Peter Redzinger here, German mystics in the New World, however, traditionally: German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso. Other notable figures include Rulman Merswin and Margaretha Ebner, and the Friends of God. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_mysticism WIKI]

==Page 482==
'''"Epsilons, usually. Miserable little... sort of things."''' 
This exchange is a reference to mathematical analysis and the rigorous foundations of the calculus of limits. Typically epsilon denotes an arbitrary positive number which a certain quantity is shown to be smaller than, in order to show that this quantity is in fact zero. This allusion is anachronistic because this idea of a limit first appears only in the writings of Augustin Louis Cauchy in 1821, and was only formally stated by Karl Weierstrass some decades later. Any student of mathematics will no doubt fondly remember having to master the epsilon-delta argument.

Also, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilonics WIKI] for further expo on (ε, δ)-definition of limit.

==Page 483==
'''Black Hole of Calcutta''' 
See [[b|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''symmetry''' 
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection. The second meaning is a precise and well-defined concept of balance or "patterned self-similarity" that can be demonstrated or proved according to the rules of a formal system: by geometry, through physics or otherwise. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry WIKI]

==Annotations Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 49: 476-483

2014-03-05T14:12:28Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 478 */

==Page 476==
'''York''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_393 393].

'''Gunpowder Creek''' 
The Gunpowder River is a river in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of Big Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls. Big Gunpowder begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's York County. From there, the "Big Gunpowder" flows in a generally southeast direction through the length of Baltimore County until it reaches Joppatowne where it is joined by the "Little Gunpowder" and the Bird River becoming simply the "Gunpowder River" once it passes the Amtrak train bridge that runs from Chase to Joppa. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_River WIKI]

==Page 477==
'''"Ensign Cheer."''' 
Is this Dixon making a sarcastic remark, implying Mason is being pessimistic or discouraging about his Fire-flies plans?

'''Quartz-scryer''' 
Jonas Everybeet, first on page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_44:_440-447#Page_442 442].

'''Torpedo''' 
See [[t#torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''marimbas''' [[File:MarimbaGourds.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Folk marimba with gourds, Highland Guatemala]]
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. Keys or bars (usually made of wood) are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimba WIKI]

'''"Pepinazos"''' 
Anthem of the Expedition. There is a translation on [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/p.html ThomasPynchon.com], that translates this as "Blows", however, I think the translation of "Bangs" is a bit better (as pepinazo is closer to an explosion or loud blast from a cannon, etc). To me, "Blows" brings to mind punches which isnt in line with the word's meaning. I had other translation differences as well. That in mind, the lyrics in English may read something like:

''Bangs, never'' 
''Hugs, If I'' 
''Want, Yes'' 
''For real'' 
''Listen!-'' 
''Let yourself be,'' 
''The Ba-a-nngg--ss!''

Is the song a play off of "Tree Hugger"? As the Line progresses, it's Bangs not Hugs? The Ax-men's persistent Banging, the Bangs of guns and cannons past & future, the Bangs of their mallets? Also, maybe this was a tune influenced by the Lightning strikes a number of pages previous?

==Page 478==
'''Codorus''' 
Codorus Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Codorus Creek (Native American for "rapid water"), formed by the confluence of the West and South branches approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) upstream of the Pennsylvania Route 182 crossing, flows for approximately 15.2 miles (24.5 km) to join the Susquehanna River near the community of Saginaw. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codorus_Creek WIKI]

'''Conewago''' 
Conewago Creek is a 77.6 mile (125 km) long tributary of the Susquehanna River located in Adams and York Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States, with its watershed also draining a small portion of Carroll County, Maryland... The name of the creek comes from the Lenape, meaning at the rapids, although "the rapids are not at the Conewago". Instead, the rapids are the Conewago Falls beyond the creek's mouth in the Susquehanna River, which also give their name to the other Conewago Creek, whose mouth is on the east bank of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin and Susquehanna Counties, only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of the mouth of this Conewago Creek. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conewago_Creek_(west) WIKI]

'''Piney Run''' 
Carroll County is bordered on the north by the Mason-Dixon Line. The Piney Run Reservoir is in the southern part of the county. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_County,_Maryland WIKI]

'''South Mountain''' 
see [[s#southmountain|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Groat''' 
Groat is the traditional name of an English silver coin worth four English pennies, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and a shilling. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groat_(coin) WIKI]

'''Eyre Coote''' 
See [[c#coote|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''"Bit steep, isn't i'...?"''' 
Dixon is of course calling Mason harsh in accusing him of being his penalty, but his usual dropping of the ''t'' in "it" allows for another interpretation—that Dixon is a steep penalty for Mason.

==Page 479==
'''Kabbalists of the Second Century as ''Gematria''''' 
Gematria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The word "gematria" is generally held to derive from Greek geōmetriā, "geometry", which was used a translation of gēmaṭriyā, though some scholars believe it to derive from Greek grammateia, rather; it's possible that both words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word. It has been extant in English since the 17th century from translations of works by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts of Tanakh and Talmud, notably in those associated with the Kabbalah... Many researchers connect the "Number of the Beast", referred to in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, with either Greek or Hebrew Gematria as used by the early Christians. According to such interpretations, the number in question, 666, was originally derived via Gematria from the name of the Roman Emperor of the time, Nero. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria WIKI]

'''"simple son of the Pit"''' 
Of course Dixon comes from Pitmens' (Miners) territory, and grew up while hanging at The Jolly Pitman, but also, this comment brings to mind Peter Redzinger's revelation through drowning in Hops. See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_359 359].

'''East India Company''' 
See [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=East_India_Company HERE]

'''John Company''' 
After a rival English company challenged its monopoly in the late 17th century, the two companies were merged in 1708 to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, commonly styled the Honourable East India Company, and abbreviated, HEIC; the Company was colloquially referred to as John Company. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Company WIKI]

'''Sarong''' 
A sarong or sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a kilt by men and as a skirt by women throughout much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and on many Pacific islands. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarong WIKI]

'''Sari''' 
A sari is a female garment in the Indian Subcontinent. A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari WIKI]

==Page 481==
'''Golems''' [[File:Golem_by_Philippe_Semeria.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Illustration of a golem by [http://www.philippe-semeria.com Philippe Semeria]]]
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem (גלם), which means "raw material". Alternatively, some sources indicate that it is a corruption of the Hebrew go′al 'enu (גואלנו) our redeemer or our avenger... The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be, but a shadow of one created by God... Owning and activating golems: Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem WIKI]

'''Germanickal Mystics''' 
Wicks is surely writing about folks like Peter Redzinger here, German mystics in the New World, however, traditionally: German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso. Other notable figures include Rulman Merswin and Margaretha Ebner, and the Friends of God. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_mysticism WIKI]

==Page 482==
'''"Epsilons, usually. Miserable little... sort of things."''' 
This exchange is a reference to mathematical analysis and the rigorous foundations of the calculus of limits. Typically epsilon denotes an arbitrary positive number which a certain quantity is shown to be smaller than, in order to show that this quantity is in fact zero. This allusion is anachronistic because this idea of a limit first appears only in the writings of Augustin Louis Cauchy in 1821, and was only formally stated by Karl Weierstrass some decades later. Any student of mathematics will no doubt fondly remember having to master the epsilon-delta argument.

Also, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilonics WIKI] for further expo on (ε, δ)-definition of limit.

==Page 483==
'''Black Hole of Calcutta''' 
See [[b|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''symmetry''' 
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection. The second meaning is a precise and well-defined concept of balance or "patterned self-similarity" that can be demonstrated or proved according to the rules of a formal system: by geometry, through physics or otherwise. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry WIKI]

==Annotations Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 48: 466-475

2014-03-05T11:14:30Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 469 */ when Mason says "last winter" he just means "the most recent winter." the alternate explanation, that they had encountered felipe prior to coming to the US and TP/Revd didn't mention it, is unlikely

__TOC__

==Page 466==
'''begin the Day''' 
see [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page'' Against the Day''], thematic, passim.

'''simple Diurnal Rhythms,- going ever with the Sun, was not the same as this going against it.''' 
Thematic to TRP's vision. Most blatant in [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Against the Day''], from title and
passim.

==Page 467==
'''Jamoke''' 
Didnt surface until the 20th century, seems Pynchon is having Overseer Barnes be the originator, notice how M&D dont understand what it means: Appearing at the end of the 19th century, as a blend of java and mocha. By the 1920's, it became slang for someone who lacked mental abilities beyond that of a cup of coffee, probably influenced by moke. In the 1960's, it began to also be used as slang for male genitalia. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jamoke WIKI]

'''Mason prefers to switch to Tea... Dixon replies, "Coffee is an art, where precision is all..."''' 
Parallels Mason & Dixon's argument over Wine vs. Beer, earlier in the novel.

'''Monongahela''' 
The Monongahela Valley was the site of a famous, if small battle that was one of the first in the French and Indian War (Braddock Expedition). It resulted in a sharp defeat for British and Colonial forces against those of the French and their Native American allies. The Monongahela Valley was the site of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongahela_River WIKI]

==Page 468==
'''Laurel Hill''' 
Laurel Hill, also known as Laurel Ridge or Laurel Mountain, is a 70-mile (110 km) long mountain in Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains. This mountain is flanked by Negro Mountain to its east and Chestnut Ridge to its west. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_Hill_(Pennsylvania) WIKI]

==Page 469==
'''Cecil County''' 
Cecil County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is part of the Delaware Valley. It was named for Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-1675), who was the first Proprietary Governor of the colony of Maryland from 1632 until his death in 1675. The county seat is Elkton (see Head of Elk). The newspaper of record is the Cecil Whig. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_County WIKI]

'''Torpedo''' 
See [[t#torpedo |Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Wedge''' 
See [[w#wedge|Alphabetical Entry]]

==Page 470==
'''Dumbledores''' 
Olde English for bumblebees

'''Iron Hill''' 
See [http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=781&COUNTY=Cecil&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Cecil LINK]

'''Elf Communities''' 
So given the Tolkienish vibe here, with the mysterious, unowned [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Hills Iron Hill], and now this... Maybe Squire Haligast is an Elf??? He is beginning to seem to me to represent the era when people still believed in "magic" etc... Maybe he is from the Wedge? See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366],
[http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_42:_422-435#Page_435 435] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_474 474].

'''"Delaware"''' 
Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were themselves forcibly removed by a British expedition under the direction of James, the Duke of York. Fighting off a prior claim by Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware" from the Duke. Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682. However, by 1704 the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large that their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own, one at Philadelphia, and the other at New Castle. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique. During much of the colonial period, New York and New Jersey shared a governor, as did Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Dependent in early years on indentured labor, Delaware imported more slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better economic conditions in England. The colony became a slave society and cultivated tobacco as a cash crop. Before the Revolution, it had begun to shift to mixed agriculture. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware WIKI]

'''William Penn''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_335 335].

'''the Duke''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_337 337].

'''Proclamation Line''' 
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. The purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. The Royal Proclamation continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_Line WIKI]

==Page 472==
'''John Bird''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_43:_436-439#Page_436 436].

'''Jesuit Telegraph''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_28:_275-288#Page_287 287].

==Page 473==
'''Stichomythia''' 
Stichomythia is a technique in drama in which single alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters. The term originated in the theatre of Ancient Greece, though many dramatists since have used the technique. Etymologically it derives from the Greek stichos ("rows") + mythos ("plot"). Stichomythia is particularly well suited to sections of dramatic dialogue where two characters are in violent dispute. The rhythmic intensity of the alternating lines combined with quick, biting ripostes in the dialogue can be quite powerful. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichomythia WIKI]

'''Mathesis''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_19:_190-198#Page_194 194].

'''loxodromick''' 
In navigation, a rhumb line (or loxodrome) is a line crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle, i.e. a straight line path derived from a defined initial bearing. That is, upon taking an initial bearing, one proceeds along the line defined by it, and continues this line without changing one's true (not magnetic) direction. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxodromic WIKI]

==Page 474==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366],
[http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_42:_422-435#Page_435 435].

'''Peach Bottom Ferry''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_47:_460-465#Page_461 461].

'''a black Barb''' 
Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the Barb is a desert horse with great hardiness and stamina. Due to the amount of cross-breeding, it is difficult to find a purebred Barb today. The Barb generally possesses a fiery temperament and an atypical sport-horse conformation, but nevertheless has had an incredible impact on today's modern breeds. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barb_(horse) WIKI]

'''Tricorne''' 
The tricorne (also tricorn, tri-cornered hat or three-cornered hat) is a style of hat that was popular during the late 17th century and 18th century, falling out of style shortly before the French Revolution. At the peak of its popularity, the tricorne was worn as civilian dress and as part of military and naval uniforms. Its distinguishing characteristic was a practical one: the turned-up portions of the brim formed gutters that directed rainwater away from the wearer's face, depositing most of it over his shoulders. Before the invention of specialized rain gear, this was a distinct advantage. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorne WIKI]

'''Fr. Boscovich's Book, ''De Solis et Lunae Defectibus''''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_22:_215-227#Page_215 215].

'''Maskelyne''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_7:_58-76#Page_74 74].

'''Umbrian Appenines''' 
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (Greek: Απεννινος; Latin: Appenninus — in both cases used in the plural; Italian: Appennini) is a mountain range stretching c. 1,200 km from the north to the south of Italy along its east coast, traversing the entire peninsula, and forming the backbone of the country... The Umbrian Apennines extend from the sources of the Tiber to (or perhaps rather beyond) the pass of Scheggia near Cagli, where the ancient Via Flaminia crosses the range. The highest point is the Monte Catria (1,701 m). The chief river is the Tiber itself: the others, among which the Foglia (Pisaurus), Metauro and Esino (This river (anc. Aesis) was the boundary of Italy proper in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC) may be mentioned, run north-east into the Adriatic, which is some 50 km from the highest points of the chain... By some geographers, indeed, it is treated as a part of the central Apennines. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appenines WIKI]

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 46: 452-459

2014-03-02T02:08:14Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 453 */ this shouldn't be here; none of the linked annotation has any bearing on this one other than saying it's the army from Prussia which is kind of obvious. the unnecessary annotation makes it seem relevant and breaks flow

__TOC__

==Page 452==
'''Octarara''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_352 352].

==Page 453==

'''Ehud''' 
The name "Ehud" is not attested as a first name among Jews until the 20th Century. However, Zionism—as part of its nation-building process—strongly encouraged using the names of Jewish heroes and warriors of ancient times, including that of Ehud. As a result, it has become a common name in contemporary Israel.

Ehud ben‑Gera (Hebrew: אֵהוּד בֶּן‑גֵּרָא‎, Standard Ehud ben‑Gera Tiberian ʾĒhûḏ ben‑Gērāʾ; in the Biblical Book of Judges (3:12–4:1) was the judge who fought against the Moabites, which were ruled by King Eglon. Ehud had made a short double-edged sword about a foot and a half long useful for a stabbing thrust. He then hid the sword by strapping it to his right thigh under his clothing and met the king under the pretense of giving him tribute. Being left-handed, he could conceal the sword on the side where it was not expected. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud WIKI]

==Page 455==
'''College in Williamsburg''' 
The College of William & Mary in Virginia (colloquially known as The College of William & Mary, The College, William & Mary, or W&M) is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 by a Royal Charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_College_of_William_%26_Mary WIKI]

'''Macheath''' 
A character in ''The Beggar's Opera''. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_27:_266-274#Page_270 270] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

The Peachums discover that Polly, their daughter, has secretly married Macheath, the famous highwayman. They ask how she will support such a husband "in Gaming, Drinking and Whoring". Nevertheless, they conclude that the match may make sense if the husband can be killed for his money. They leave to carry out this errand. However, Polly has hidden Macheath. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macheath WIKI]

'''Factotum''' 
A factotum is a general servant or a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. The word derives from the Latin command (imperative construction) fac totum ("do/make everything"). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factotum WIKI]

'''Mrs. Eggslap''' 
"EGGSLAP" is the mnemonic we learned in Quiz Bowl team for the seven
deadly sins: envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, lust, anger and pride - from Anville Azote, Pynchon-L.

'''"Yingle-Yangle"''' 
Yin and Yang - in Swedish?

==Page 456==
'''Pile of Accompts''' 
Pile of Accounts, from root "computus", to add up, etc.

'''Moses supposes''' 
Anachronous allusion to a key song in the movie ''Singin' in the Rain'' starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. 1952. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_in_the_rain Wikipedia]. Gene Kelly is credited with the catchy, humorous lyrics: 

"Moses supposes his toeses are Roses, 
But Moses supposes Erroneously, 
Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses, 
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!... 
A mose is a mose! 
A rose is a rose! 
A toes is a toes! 
Hooptie doodie doodle 
(etc. simile ad nauseam)

Talk about his characters "breaking into silly songs," as Pynchon does in his
words about ATD...

'''hasty Puddin'''' 
Hasty pudding is a porridge-like dish of cooked grain. It is now most often associated with the American version made of ground maize or corn, but may have started out as an English oat porridge. Hasty pudding was used as a term for an oatmeal porridge in England when Hannah Glasse wrote her 18th-century book The Art of Cookery. 

Also known as corn mush or Indian mush, hasty pudding in its simplest form is corn meal cooked slowly in water until it thickens. It may be eaten hot, or left to cool and solidify. Slices of the cold pudding may then be fried. Hasty pudding was once a popular American food because of its low cost, long shelf life, and versatility, and was eaten with both sweet and savory accompaniments, such as maple syrup, molasses, or salted meat. Count Rumford, an American inventor who disapproved of the Revolution and went to live in Europe, still liked his hasty pudding, hot, in a bowl of milk. 

Hasty pudding, itself, is memorialized in a verse of the early American song "Yankee Doodle": 

Father and I went down to camp 
Along with Captain Goodin, 
And there we saw the men and boys 
As thick as hasty puddin'

'''Jasmine Absolute''' 
Absolute is the solvent extracted product of Jasmine. It is rendered through the process explained by Mandy Aftel, quoted below. The solvent extracts are supplied from the Jasmine extraction units located in South India where several thousand acres of Jasmine farms exist in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"Flowers are placed on racks in a hermetically sealed container. A liquid solvent, usually hexane, is circulated over the flowers to dissolve the essential oils. This produces a solid waxy paste called a 'concrete'. The concrete is then repeatedly treated with pure alcohol (ethanol) which dissolves the wax and yields the highly aromatic liquid known as an absolute. This method is also used for extracting resins and balsams and for rendering the animal essences, such as civet, musk, ambergris and castoreum." - (source: Mandy Aftel, ''Essence and Alchemy''. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_mallige#Jasmine_absolute WIKI]

==Page 457==
'''''The Ghastly Fop''''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_17:_175-182#Page_178 178] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_347 347].

==Page 458==
'''Tidewater''' 
The Tidewater region of Virginia is a term used to refer to the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The term "Tidewater" may be correctly applied to all portions of Virginia where the water level is affected by the tides. In general, this is most of the land east of I-95, which runs between major cities along the fall line, and north of U.S. 460. It includes Hampton Roads, the rest of the Virginia Peninsula, the Middle Peninsula, the Northern Neck, and the Eastern Shore. Most people of the southeastern area of Virginia refer to Tidewater as the areas of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, James City County, Yorktown, Poquoson, Williamsburg , and Gloucester. Collectively, these localities are understood to form Hampton Roads. Planters in the early American colonies extended their tobacco productions above the "fall line," where waterfalls or rapids mark the end of the Tidewater and the beginning of the foothill region known as the Piedmont. By 1700s, slaves were included in a majority of upcountry households and as many as three-quarters of the households in the Tidewater. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_region_of_Virginia WIKI]

'''Milkmaid's Douceur''' 
Milkmaid's Sweetness (Softness, Gentleness, Smoothness, etc)

'''Specie''' 
Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity out of which it is made. It is objects that have value in themselves as well as for use as money. Examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, salt, peppercorns, large stones, decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, candy, barley etc. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or price system economies. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specie WIKI], which also gives 'Coins or other metal money in mass circulation' as one of several disparate usages.

'''''The Beggar's Opera''''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_27:_266-274#Page_270 270], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_46:_452-459#Page_455 455].

==Page 459==
'''Tailor of Gloucester's Mice''' 
Reference to children's novel by Beatrix Potter titled ''The Tailor of Gloucester'' in which the mice living in the tailor's quarters help him finish his work. It seems, however, that the basic tale may have been around for some time as apparently Beatrix first heard it from a cousin, then adapted it: from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailor_of_Gloucester WIKI]: Potter had heard of this story while visiting a cousin, Caroline Hutton, though in fact the work had been secretly done by the tailor's very human assistants.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T06:02:36Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 432 */ another accent

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden'. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321]

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Cíclica, así eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T06:02:13Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 432 */ that's an accent. not really sure this is necessary anyway...

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden'. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321]

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Cíclica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T05:56:03Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 431 */ removed the second link, which just points to the same first link.

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden'. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321]

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Ci'clica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T05:52:54Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 427 */ also a spoiler, but I feel bad because the information is helpful for first-time readers and could maybe be phrased differently. if anyone is watching these edits...

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden'. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_360 360].

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Ci'clica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T05:22:00Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 427 */ removed spoiler

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden'. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

'''in payment of a Debt forever unexplain'd to me''' 
"Perhaps Austra incurred this debt by failing to lure Charles into fathering a child by her. Oh Complicity! Oh Complexity!" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_360 360].

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Ci'clica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T05:20:14Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 426 */ the text says this in very obvious language so the annotation serves no purpose

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden' and it is Austra from the Cape. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

'''in payment of a Debt forever unexplain'd to me''' 
"Perhaps Austra incurred this debt by failing to lure Charles into fathering a child by her. Oh Complicity! Oh Complexity!" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_360 360].

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Ci'clica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 42: 422-435

2014-02-28T05:17:06Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 422 */ this is not relevant to M&D—just confuses things.

==Page 422==
'''Weather-gage''' 
"Sh OED lists 'have or keep the weather gauge of' as be windward of, fig get the better of." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

See also: [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22449&sort=author More Discussion on Dinn's notes]

'''Dromonds''' 
The dromons (from Greek δρόμων, dromon, i.e. "runner") were the most important warships of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD. They were indirectly developed from the ancient trireme and were usually propelled by both oar and sail, a configuration that had been used by navies in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromon Wikipedia]

'''Spielers''' 
"Anglicized plural of German 'player' (as in Mabuse, Der...)" ([http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']). Possibly spelled as an "anglicized plural" in order to pun off spoilers, spies...?

==Page 423==
'''hey? right out of G. Rex's Purse it came''' 
"G Rex being King George" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes''], see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

'''The Tub!''' 
Cf. ''[[T#tub|A Tale of a Tub]]'', a satire by Jonathon Swift? Read it in [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikisource], or read about it in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tub Wikipedia], which describes it in such a Pynchonian light:
:"the book is constructed like a layer cake, with Digression and Tale alternating. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume [...] Many critics have followed Swift's biographer Irvin Ehrenpreis in arguing that there is no single, consistent narrator in the work [...] The digressions individually frustrate readers who expect a clear purpose [...] Some, such as the discussion of ears or of wisdom being like a nut, a cream sherry, a cackling hen, etc., are outlandish and require a militantly aware and thoughtful reader."

Wikipedia also notes that satire targeted "indexers, note-makers." I found myself squirming as I read this paragraph while working on this wiki:
:"Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw 'dark matter' in books. Attacking criticism generally, he appears delighted that one of his enemies, William Wotton, offered to explain the Tale in an 'answer' to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic."

On the other hand, I delighted in the Pynchonian names: Curll and William Wotton.

'''Laws of Leverage''' 
The principle that describes how a tool such as a lever can amplify a force, allowing a massive object to be moved.

[The Law of the Lever] was proven by Archimedes using geometric reasoning. It shows that if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force. If the distance from the fulcrum to the input force is less than from the fulcrum to the output force, then the lever reduces the input force. Recognizing the profound implications and practicalities of the law of the lever, Archimedes has been famously attributed with the quotation "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage WIKI]

'''Library at Alexandria, circa 390 A.D.''' 
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria WIKI]

==Page 425==
'''Oh Ruddier than the Cherry''' 
"Aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea of c 1720" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author ''Dinn's Notes'']

I believe that the words were written by John Gay (1688–1732) and that Handel set them to music. In this operatic scene, "the giant Polyphemus [a love-stricken cyclops], more used to wreaking terror and devastation than feelings of love, attempts to woo Galatea (O ruddier than the cherry) but Galatea flees in terror" ([http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/mozhanacisdetail.htm Bampton Classic Opera]). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Wikipedia] for more on the tale.

Listen to it, hear: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyxE9QWPfc&mode=related&search= YouTube]

Read along while you listen:
:O RUDDIER than the cherry!
:O sweeter than the berry!
::O nymph more bright
:Than moonshine night,
:Like kidlings blithe and merry!
:Ripe as the melting cluster!
:No lily has such lustre;
::Yet hard to tame
::As raging flame,
:And fierce as storms that bluster!

:Ripe as the melting cluster,
:no lily has such luster;
:yet hard to tame as raging flame
:and fierce as storms that bluster.

:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O ruddier than the cherry,
:O sweeter than the berry,
:O nymph more bright
:than moonshine night
:like kidlings blithe and merry.

'''It flies through the Air, in a curious, as it seems ''directed'', Arc, hits the Tub with a solid ''bong'', flattening its Point''' 
Cf. p. 5, opening line to novel: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings"

'''Hungarian Vampirism''' 
Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire WIKI]

'''[[V#voam|Professor Voam]] , Philosophical Operator''' 
"Voam appeared a hundred pages [p. 321] back as the 'camp naturalist' that Dixon consulted about Emerson's watch. That incident must have been a 'flash forward.'" -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

In addition to Voam's striking job titles ("camp naturalist" and "Philosophical Operator"), note that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey there is an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. — and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter.

==Page 426==
<div id="Torpedo"></div>'''Torpedo''' 
Electric eel, here - though this is incorrect as a "torpedo," when speaking of electric naval life, is an electric ray, order Torpediniformes (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray Wikipedia]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_23:_228-237#Page_234 234]. The professor himself acknowledges the erroneousness of the term on page 431. See [[T#Torpedo|Alphabetical Entry]].

'''Ferric Prodigy''' 
Ferric refers to iron-containing materials or compounds. In chemistry the term is reserved for iron with an oxidation number of +3, also denoted iron(III) or Fe3+. On the other hand, ferrous refers to iron with oxidation number of +2, denoted iron(II) or Fe2+. Iron(III) is usually the most stable form of iron in air, as illustrated by the pervasiveness of rust, an insoluble iron(III)-containing material. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric WIKI]

'''"You'd be flatter'n a Griddle-Cake" [...] "Excuse me,-- to what End? Gazing at it, as it fries? saying Oh you're so Circular...your Airr-Bubbles, they're so intriguing,--"''' 
" "*Than*, *than*" Took me a few parse errors before I realizes that Voam's intended 'flatter than' is read by Mason as 'flattering'." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

<div id="felipe"></div>'''Felipe''' 
Professor Voam's pet Torpedo. See [[F#felipe | Alphabetical Entry]]

==Page 427==
'''Dixon, emerging coprophagously a-grin''' 
coprophagous -- "Feeding on excrement" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coprophagous Wiktionary]); i.e., a sh*t eating grin

'''''exeunt''''' 
Latin for "they leave." Used as a stage direction in theater scripts, though the term is now obsolete. (See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exeunt Wiktionary])

'''the Slave who spoke to Dixon earlier''' 
"earlier being [page] 419.25 where he meets the 'pretty Bondmaiden' and it is Austra from the Cape. cf also [page] 431.5." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''Love-Jobbers''' 
Pynchon having more playful fun with the job title of "Jobbers"--"Love," of course, being used euphemistically. Cf. [[B|Body Jobbers]], [[L|Land Jobbers]]

'''Fly-Whisks''' 
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_whisk WIKI]

'''in payment of a Debt forever unexplain'd to me''' 
"Perhaps Austra incurred this debt by failing to lure Charles into fathering a child by her. Oh Complicity! Oh Complexity!" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

'''Novitiate''' 
novitiate (per [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/novitiate Wiktionary]):
#the period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training
#the place where a novice lives and studies
#a novice

'''Rapprochement''' 
"The establishment of or state of having cordial relations; an agreement, accord, or reconciliation." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapprochement Wiktionary]

'''Dutch Rifle... with a Five-pointed Star... inverted.''' 
Here it is again. See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101].

Dutch rifle wheellock, circa 1630: The jaw is normally tightened with the same spanner used to cock the lock. This being a "Dutch" lock.

==Page 428==
'''A Polaris of Evil''' 
At the time of Mason & Dixon, Polaris only literally meant the North Star: "Polaris" comes from Stella Polaris, the Latin form of its common name "Pole Star". The rarely used Greek name Cynosura (Κυνόσουρα) means "tail of the dog". 

Polaris was the name of a famous guided missile system in the 20th Century. 

Here, North as the place from which death and destruction comes in Pynchon's world is clearly alluded to and what is another negative allusion to "man's best friend" may be implied. There is Pugnax the dog in ATD. Arguably, dogs are symbols of the bourgeoisie in Pynchon, complicit in mankind's war-making History in TRP's vision.

'''Patch-Box''' 
"Another change that was made to the old Jaeger ["brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s"] that most scholars consider unique to the American longrifle was the addition of a brass patch box. The Jaegers and the early longrifles had storage compartments in the butt of the gun with sliding carved wood covers. The argument is that these covers were easily lost and something a little more practical was required for the longhunter. Hence, the hinged brass patch box." -- [http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm The Story of the American Longrifle] (an excellent read, incidentally)

'''Piercings''' 
Pierce-work -- "Metalwork, woodwork, etc., incorporating perforations made for decorative or functional effect." -- OED

==Page 429==
'''a Forest Weapon, match'd to a single Prey, heavier than a Squirrel, not quite so heavy as a Deer....''' 
"about the weight of a man, say? Is that maybe why, in which case, evil polarises around this rifle?" -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

'''inverted Star,- in Lancaster Town''' 
Referring to page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_34:_341-348#Page_342 342].

'''form of a Daisy''' 
Possibly an allusion to Daisy brand "Outdoor Products" which would later become famous for their selling of BB Guns to youth etc: Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products WIKI]

==Page 430==
'''the Sharper''' 
A sharper is an older term, common since the seventeenth-century, for thieves who use trickery to part an owner with his or her money possessions. Sharpers vary from what we now call con-men by virtue of the simplicity of their cons, which often were impromptu, rather than carefully orchestrated, though those certainly happened as well. The 1737 Dictionary of Thieving Slang defines a sharper as "A Cheat, One who lives by his wits." In the nineteenth-century, and into today, the term is more closely associated with gambling.

Sharpers were romantic figures in the eighteenth-century, valued as imaginative figures for their perceived social independence and ability to create new social networks of gangs. The appeal of an independent society, operating outside the law, has been imaginative evocative for centuries, but in eighteenth-century London philosophical thought, influenced by Thomas Hobbes and Rousseau's new formulations of social contract, the romanticization of thievery reached new levels. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Henry Fielding's novel Jonathan Wild are only two examples of sharpers as heroes, in these cases, to provide satirical ammunition against the British Prime Minister Horace Walpole. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharper WIKI]

'''Mr LeSpark, as he will come to tell the Tale, declines back into the Couch''' 
Tell the tale *now* (as in to Tenebrae, Ives, Ethelmer, DePugh, etc.) or tell the tale *then* as in rat out M&D's tub theft to Lord Lepton? (This idea was sparked by comments in [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes].)

==Page 431==
'''Mr. Linnaeus''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_321 321] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_360 360].

'''''Gymnotus''''' 
Gymnotus is the among the most species-rich group of electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes) found in the Amazon. Some Gymnotus species live in the leaf litter and root tangles of river banks. Other species are specialized to live on floodplains within the rootmats of floating meadows. Several species are broadly adapted to live in both of these habitats. Gymnotus are nocturnal predators feeding on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. They generate weak electric fields used in locating objects, and also for communication in which the males court females using stereotyped electrical "songs". From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnotus WIKI]

'''''Sí, sí, Cariño''''' 
Literally, Spanish for "Yes, yes, Affection," but cariño can also mean (figuratively) "caress," which is what the Professor is doing to the eel as he's speaking. Perhaps Pynchon offers a clue later on the page in translating the eel's other name, "El Peligroso," as "The Dangerous One." Literally, this translates as "The Danger"; this logic would equate "Cariño" with "Affectionate One."

'''let a Nonelectrickal provide the Thrills for a change''' 
The eel's identity is so wrapped up in being electrical that anything that cannot provide a spark is called "a Nonelectrickal"?!?

==Page 432==
'''El P.''' 
Or LP, long-playing record; certainly a "Cyclickal Creature" with a repetitive life.

'''''una Criatura Ci'clica, asi eres''''' 
"a cyclical creature, so you are" -- [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/s.html HyperArts]

'''worrying about Coach schedules''' 
Perhaps busy travelers in the 18th Century concerned themselves with tight transfers on Coach lines--or perhaps this is more of Pynchon's riffing on Coaches as modern airliners?

<div id="counted-joke"></div>
'''"believe me, he'd be one unhappy Torpedo. How do I know? I counted."''' 
The same joke is used in [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#counted-joke ''Inherent Vice'', p. 18].

'''far off E-do''' 
"Edo is the old name for Tokyo, in use in the 1760s." -- [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22312&sort=author Dinn's Notes]

==Page 433==
'''surcease''' 
"The cessation of something or someone." -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surcease Wiktionary]

'''Rubicon''' 
Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy... "Crossing the Rubicon" is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return. This phrase is often used by journalists in newspapers. It refers to Caesar's 49 BC crossing of the river, which was considered an act of war. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon WIKI]

'''Antillean Cigar''' 
Cuban cigar

'''Should be styl'd a "Monthly"''' 
Because a Journal, from French 'jour', is a daily record.

==Page 435==
'''Squire Haligast''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_391 391] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_48:_466-475#Page_470 470].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 41: 410-421

2014-02-27T21:34:24Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 419 */ this is another case of misunderstanding the annotated text. "these days" could be the 1760s or 1780s, doesn't really matter. "once lay" just means Lady Lepton is wearing older fashions, the time isn't specified.

==Page 410==
'''Ridotto''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_7:_58-76#Page_71 71] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_338 338].

'''Nonpareil''' 
from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonpareil Wiktionary]:
# A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
# A small, flat chocolate drop covered with white pellets of sugar.

'''Lepton Castle''' 
"Lepton" is Greek money. It is also a subatomic particle. See, also, [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9712&msg=22311&sort=date "Dinn's Notes": MDMD(14) Notes & Questions Part 1, 410.16] Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_30:_296-301#Page_301 301].

'''his Lordship''' 
[[L#lepton|Lord Lepton]]

==Page 411==
'''Tallow Dips, and the last feeble Rush-Light''' 
"The first candles probably consisted of dried rushes soaked in grease.
Homemade rushlights were commonly used in England as late as 1800
because, although they smoked and smelled horribly, they were so
cheap ... Eventually someone discovered the method of making a "tallow dip"
with a wick running longitudinally through its center. The wick -- a few
threads of flax, hemp, or cotton, lightly twisted or plaited -- was dipped
in melted tallow and allowed to cool, again and again, until the candle
had a desired thickness" -- [http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/500-599/nb590.htm ''Candles''. Nature Bulletin No. 590. Forest Preserve District of Cook County. February 6, 1960]

Note that the lighting technologies are listed regressively, as if moving back through time.

'''Bloomeries''' 
bloomery -- a forge in which wrought iron is made straight from ore ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bloomery Wiktionary])

'''Invisible Hand''' 
“Adam Smith's notion that rational agents guided by their own self-interest would act in such a way as to promote the public interest, the foundation of laissez-faire economics which caused much of the misery associated with the Industrial Revolution” – [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/i.html HyperArts entry: Invisible Hand]

==Page 412==
'''Gangue''' 
"(mining) The earthy waste substances occurring in metallic ore" -- [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gangue Wiktionary]

'''Equations of Proprietary Happiness''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_328 328].

'''more room inside than could possibly be contained in the sorrowing ruin''' 
Cf. "a Conveyance, wherein the inside is quite noticeably larger than the outside", page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_354 354].

'''Plafond''' 
Plafond, in a broad sense, is any (flat, vaulted or dome) ceiling of any premise. Plafond can be product of monumental and decorative painting and sculpture; subject or ornamental - also is designated by the term "Plafond". Picturesque plafonds can be executed directly on plaster (in technique of fresco, oil, glutinous, synthetic paints, etc.), on a canvas attached to a ceiling (panel), a mosaic, and other methods. As a part of decorative furniture of church and palace stateroom plafonds received a wide circulation in 17 - beginning of 19 centuries. For plafond compositions of this period typically use of effect of illusory break in architectural in open or proceeding behind a ceiling space, the image of figures and architectural details in strong foreshortenings. – from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plafond Wikipedia]

'''silver sconce and Sperm Taper Light''' 
"sperm taper is a candle made from spermaceti or sperm oil. sconce, LME, aphetic fr Fr esconse = hiding place or lantern, or fr med Lat sconsa aphetic fr absconsa (laterna) = dark (lantern), 1 a) A lantern or candlestick with a screen to protect the light from the wind, and a handle for carrying, LMW-M18, b) a flat candlestick with a handle, M19, 2 A bracket for a candle or a light hung on or fixed to an interior wall, rare M19." -- [http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]

==Page 413==
'''from the Oboick Reveries of the Besozzis, as the Imperial Melismata of Quantz''' 
* Besozzis: probably Antonio Besozzi and his son Carlo Besozzi, oboists and composers (numerous gifted woodwind players apparently sprung from the Besozzi family tree)
* Melismata: plural form of melism, “a melody or melodic sequence of notes. Usually spec. (in singing and vocal composition): the prolongation of one syllable over a number of notes; an instance of this” – the OED
* Quantz, Johann Joaquim (1697-1773): German flautist and composer, and court composer for Frederick II, the Great. He wrote a treatise on flute playing and composed a huge quantity of pieces for the flute.

Question: Did Quantz compose a piece entitled "Melismata"?

No, but he wrote a treatise on Flute Playing which deals with ornamentation such as Melismata - see [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Ornamentation.htm]

Trivia: Quantz and Carlo Besozzi were both oboists for the Dresden court: Carlo from 1754 until his death; Quantz seemingly earlier as he entered Frederick the Great's service in 1741.

'''Hurricanoe''' 
“aka "Hurricane" (a large private party - 18th cent.)” – [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/h.html HyperArts entry: Hurricanoe/Hurricane]

==Page 414==
'''Climbers' Discourse''' 
???

Likely of social climbers.

'''behave inconveniently''' 
[[I#inconvenience|Inconvenience]] again, see entry on [[Chapter 40:399-409| page 401]].

'''Churs of Stroud''' 
Churs = electors???
Stroud = Stroud, Gloucestershire UK: [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=stroud+United+Kingdom&ie=UTF8&om=1 Google Map]

'''Calvert agent Captain Dasp''' 
Calvert County Realtors - Calvert Agents In Maryland.

See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_22:_215-227#Page_225 225], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_30:_296-301#Page_301 301] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_393 393].

==Page 415==
'''Raby Castle''' 
[[Image:RubyCastle.jpg|thumb|Raby Castle from Jones' Views (1819)|right]]
"Raby Castle [...] near Staindrop, County Durham is one of the largest inhabited castles in England. It has opulent eighteenth and nineteenth century interiors inside a largely unchanged late medieval shell. It is a Grade I listed building. Raby once belonged to the Neville family, who became one of the most powerful in England" -- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raby_Castle Wikipedia] Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5:_42-46#Page_43 43].

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=raby+castle,+Staindrop,+County+Durham&sll=54.630531,-1.773605&sspn=0.168921,0.460739&ie=UTF8&ll=54.595166,-1.808538&spn=0.010567,0.028796&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1 Google Maps]

'''Brunswick style''' 
worn with a petticoat, the Brunswick was an informal gown or Riding Habit. A riding habit consisted of a petticoat, jacket, and waistcoat.

'''wine-colored Cordovan''' 
a favorite boot color of TRP's. There is a "wine-cordovan boot" on page 121 of ATD, also a female's.

'''French Court heels''' 
Ladies of the French court once carried canes to support themselves on uncomfortable high heels. Heels became lower after the French Revolution, not surprisingly.

'''Iron Nabob''' 
Nabob (from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nabob Wiktionary]):
#an Indian ruler within the Mogul empire; a nawab
#(by extension) someone of great wealth or importance

'''Phrygioid if not Phrygian''' 
According to unvarying tradition the Phrygians were most closely akin to certain tribes of Macedonia and Thrace; and their near relationship to the Hellenic stock is proved by all that is known of their language and
art, and is accepted by almost every modern authority. -- [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Phrygia Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 th edition]. Pynchon's wit makes up the word Phrygioid to mean something like "like Phrygian" that is fake Phyrgian due to the prevalence of 'British modality'--preceding phrase.

"Phrygian Mode - A lot of traditional music, especially Scottish and Irish is termed 'Modal' because it does not follow the conventional modern major or
minor scales. There are seven modes, and Phrygian is the one that starts with E." --[http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/levy_mason_and_dixon.pdf Toby Levy's ''Three Pages Per Day'' Project]
This is not quite accurate; the Phrygian mode starts with E if C is the Parent major (Ionian) scale. The Phrygian mode starts with the 3rd note of a major scale, resulting in a natural minor scale with a flatted 2nd. This gives the following degrees: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7.

==Page 416==
'''pierc'd paint Eyes of Nevilles and Vanes''' 
"Presumably like some Hammer House of Horror movie there is a tunnel passing behind the portraits in the gallery" ([http://osdir.com/ml/culture.literature.thomas-pynchon/2002-03/msg00114.html from MDMD Dinn's notes on Ch. 41]). Raby's castle was once held by the Nevilles ([http://www.rabycastle.com/history/nevills_raby.htm Raby Castle History: Nevilles]) and was later passed to the Vanes ([http://www.rabycastle.com/history/vanes_raby.htm Raby Castle History: Vanes]). Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_22:_215-227#Page_225 225].

'''''Bellezza, che chiama''''' 
"a beauty that beckons" - [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/i.html HyperArts entry: Italian Translations]

'''multiply-bepoxed''' 
An incurable romantic, perhaps.

'''after three of these trans-Stygian Years, become Journeyman''' 
Stygian (from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stygian Wiktionary]):
#Dark and gloomy
#Infernal or hellish
#Of, or relating to the river Styx

Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_40:_399-409#Page_399 399] for Mason's Styx analogies

==Page 417==
'''Chatelaine''' 
from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chatelaine Wiktionary]:
#The mistress of a castle or large household.
#A chain or clasp worn at the waist by women in the 16th to the 19th centuries, with handkerchief, keys, etc., attached.

'''Mignonette''' 
"A type of fine French bobbin lace made in narrow strips and having the consistency of tulle. Occas. more fully mignonette lace. Now hist" -- OED

'''Great Chain of Being this, Great Chain of Being that, [...] this rather lengthy ''Chain'' [...] Is there something [...] dangling from its bottom end?''' [[File:GreatChainofBeing.png|200px|thumb|right|1579 drawing of the great chain of being from Didacus Valades, ''Rhetorica Christiana'']]The great chain of being is a classical and western medieval conception of the order of the universe, whose chief characteristic is a strict hierarchical system. 
It is a conception of the world's structure that was accepted, and unquestioned, by most educated men from the time of Lucretius until the Copernican and Darwinian revolution and the ultimate flowering of the Renaissance. The chain of being is composed of a great number of hierarchal links, from the most basic and foundational elements up through the very highest perfection, in other words, God, or the Prime Mover. 

God, and beneath him the angels, both existing wholly in spirit form, sit at the top of the chain. Earthly flesh is fallible and ever-changing: mutable. Spirit, however, is unchanging and permanent. This sense of permanence is crucial to understanding this conception of reality. One does not abandon one's place in the chain; it is not only unthinkable, but generally impossible. The hierarchy is a chain and not a ladder. 

The natural order, earth (rock) is at the bottom of the chain; these elements possess only the attribute of existence. Moving on up the chain, each succeeding link contains the positive attributes of the previous link, and adds (at least) one other. Rocks, as above, possess only existence; the next link up, plants, possess life and existence. Beasts add not only motion, but appetite as well. 

Man is a special instance in this conception. He is both mortal flesh, as those below him, and also spirit. In this dichotomy, the struggle between flesh and spirit becomes a moral one. -- abridged (slightly) from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chain_of_Being Wikipedia]

Notice Pynchon's multimeaning playfulness with the "chains" of the Chainmen and, one must think, the chains of the slave trade. This joking on the concept by Lord Lepton seems to touch some deep themes of M & D.

What [creature] dangles at the bottom of the chain? Where does it "fall" if it 'fails to hold on'? Stephen Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time, quotes the following story:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

'''Perhaps it is a Helixxx''' 
DNA? Though note the suggestion of a snake. (Cf. "the Serpent," [[Chapter 13: 125-145|Ch. 13, p. 135]]; "Something underground, moving Westward," [[Chapter 30: 296-301|Ch. 30, p. 299]])

==Page 418==
'''You sound like one of those Leveler chaps''' 
Levelers or Levellers, English Puritan sect active at the time of the English civil war. The name was apparently applied to them in 1647, in derision of their beliefs in equality. The Levelers demanded fundamental constitutional reform—a written constitution, a single supreme representative body elected by universal manhood suffrage, proportional representation, and the abolition of monarchy and noble privilege. Their ideals, far in advance of their time, were those of complete religious and political equality. They were adept at the use of mass petitions and extensive pamphleteering to arouse the public. When the Long Parliament did not respond to their ideas, they tried to build support in the ranks of the army, with some success. -- Columbia Encyclopedia

'''fiduciary''' 
A fiduciary duty is a legal or ethical relationship of confidence or trust between two or more parties, most commonly a fiduciary or trustee and a principal or beneficiary. One party, for example a corporate trust company or the trust department of a bank, holds a fiduciary relation or acts in a fiduciary capacity to another, such as one whose funds are entrusted to it for investment. In a fiduciary relation one person justifiably reposes confidence, good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation good conscience requires one to act at all times for the sole benefit and interests of another, with loyalty to those interests. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary WIKI]

'''nitter-natter''' 
??? chitter-chatter? ???

'''Coke''' 
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous... Coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace... In 1709, Abraham Darby I established a coke-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron. Coke's superior crushing strength allowed blast furnaces to become taller and larger. The ensuing availability of inexpensive iron was one of the factors leading to the Industrial Revolution. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel) WIKI]

'''Staithes''' 
plural for Stath (from OED):
#The land bordering on water, a bank, shore.
#A landing-stage, wharf; esp. a waterside depôt for coals brought from the collieries for shipment, furnished with staging and shoots for loading vessels.
#An embankment.

Staithes is an English village at the most northerly point of the North Yorkshire coast [...] Roxby Beck (a small river) running through Staithes is the border between North Yorkshire and neighbouring Redcar and Cleveland. Formerly one of the largest and most productive fishing centres in North-East England, Staithes is now largely a tourist destination thanks to its picturesque appearance [...] Staithes is noted for its sheltered harbour, bounded by high cliffs and two long breakwaters. A mile to the north, Boulby Cliff is the highest cliff in England - from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staithes Wikipedia]

'''Medmenham''' 
There was a Cistercian abbey founded in Medmenham in the 12th century, under the ownership of Woburn Abbey, though it was not officially recognised by royal charter until 1200. In 1547 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey was seized and given to the Moore family, and then sold privately to the Duffields. It was while in the possession of the Duffields that the abbey became infamous as the location of The Hellfire Club, formerly called the Monks of Medmenham. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medmenham WIKI]

'''the Hellfire Club''' 
The Hellfire Club was the popular name for a number of supposed exclusive clubs for high society rakes established all over Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. These clubs were rumoured to be the meeting places of "persons of quality" who wished to take part in immoral acts, and the members were often very involved in politics. Neither the activities nor membership of the club are easy to ascertain. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hellfire_Club WIKI] Also, see pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_11:_105-115#Page_110 110], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_260 260] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_367 367].

==Page 419==
'''Damask Pulse''' 
Damasks were one of the five basic weaving techniques of the Byzantine and Islamic weaving centres of the early Middle Ages, and derive their name from their supposed origin in the city of Damascus, Syria... By the fourteenth century, damasks were being woven on draw looms in Italy. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, most damasks were woven in a single colour, with a glossy warp-faced satin pattern against a duller ground. Two-colour damasks had contrasting colour warps and wefts, and polychrome damasks added gold and other metallic threads or additional colors as supplemental brocading wefts. Medieval damasks were usually woven in silk, but wool and linen damasks were also woven. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damask WIKI]

'''Chrysalis''' 
A chrysalis or nympha is the pupal stage of butterflies. The term is derived from the metallic gold-colouration found in the pupae of many butterflies referred to by the Greek term χρυσός (chrysós) for gold. Because chrysalides are often showy and are formed in the open, they are the most familiar examples of pupae. Most chrysalides are attached to a surface by a Velcro-like arrangement of a silken pad spun by the caterpillar and a set of hooks (cremaster) at the tip of the pupal abdomen. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysalis#Chrysalis WIKI]

'''Majordomos''' 
Plural form of Majordomo (from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/majordomos Wiktionary]):
#The head servant in a wealthy European household
#A butler

'''Soubrette''' 
a lightweight soprano voice or type of soprano role, frequently found in comic operas or operettas; the soubrette usually possesses a flirtatious demeanor and street wise manner, as in the case of Adele in Die Fledermaus, or is a particularly fetching country innocent, like Adina in The Elixir of Love. Webster's online dictionary.

<div id="widows"></div>'''Widows of Christ''' 
See [[W#widows | Alphabetical Entry]]

==Page 420==
'''Otick Catarrh''' 
Mason is suggesting he will get an ear ache (or infection) from Dixon's "loud" and "moist" whisperings:
*Octic - "(anatomy) of, relating/pertaining to, or located near the ear" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Otic Wiktionary]) 
*Catarrh - "inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat" ([http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Catarrh Wiktionary])

'''Ague''' 
Apogee (from [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apogee Wiktionary]):
# (astronomy) That point in the orbit of any object which is at the greatest distance from the center of the central body. For example, the point in the moon's orbit which is the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
# The highest point.

'''Viudas de Cristo''' 
Spanish: "The Widows of Christ"

'''Peace of Paris''' 
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the Seven Years' War. The treaty marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe. Notably, the treaty did not involve either Prussia or Austria who signed a separate Treaty of Hubertusburg. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1763) WIKI]

'''Pepe d'Escaubitte''' 
An escaubitte is a calker's oil-box.

'''Iron-Mask Marthioly''' 
Ercole Antonio Mattioli (1640–1694) was a minister of Duke Charles IV of Mantua. He was kidnapped and imprisoned by Louis XIV of France. He has been associated with the Man in the Iron Mask... In 1679, Louis XIV had his French envoy d'Estrades kidnap Mattioli and take him to France. There Mattioli was imprisoned in the fortress of Pignerol where he was eventually put into solitary confinement. By 1680 he was described as nearly mad. His manservant was also kidnapped and held with him. Ercole Antonio Mattioli died in 1694 while incarcerated on the island of Sainte-Marguerite. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ercole_Antonio_Mattioli WIKI] Also, see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373].

'''Boys from Presque Isle''' 
Fort Presque Isle (also Fort de la Presqu'île) was a fort built by French soldiers in 1753 along Presque Isle Bay at present-day Erie, Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne. The fort was built as part of the French military occupation of the Ohio Country; rival claims to the area by the British led to the French and Indian War. After the 1759 British victory at the Battle of Fort Niagara, the French burned the fort and retreated from the area. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Presque_Isle WIKI]

==Page 421==
'''Paradise of Chance''' 
Cf. [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=C#chums The Chums of Chance in ''Against the Day''].

A-and from an article on the Ancient Greek philosopher perhaps most associated with the concept of Chance, Democritus: "it[chance] seems to be an attempt to show how an apparently ordered arrangement can arise automatically, as a byproduct of the random collisions of bodies in motion. No attractive forces or purposes need be introduced to explain the sorting by the tide or in the sieve: it is probable that this is an attempt to show how apparently orderly effects can be produced without goal-directioned forces or purpose." [http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=democritus Democritus] 
Such a condition would be Paradisaical in Pynchon's anti-determinism vision.

'''E-O Wheel''' 
"Even Odds"; a roulette (French: "small wheel") wheel, a gambling game based on opposing pairs, e.g. black/white, even/odd, in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a table marked to correspond with the compartments of the wheel.

'''Bezique''' 
Bezique (in French, bézique) is a 19th century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players derived from Mariage via Briscan by the addition of more scoring features - notably a peculiar liaison Q ♠and J♦ under the names Bésigue, Binokel, Pinochle, etc., according to the country. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezique WIKI]

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 39: 391-398

2014-02-26T18:39:52Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 394 */ either this annotation simply misunderstands who is speaking, or it's a big spoiler.

==Page 391==
'''Squire Haligast predicts an end...''' 
Which indeed does seem to be what happens; see pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_389 389], [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_373 373] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_36:_362-370#Page_366 366].

'''mephitic''' 
of, relating to, or resembling mephitis : foul-smelling <mephitic vapors>

==Page 392==
'''Henry the Eighth''' 
Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy. Although in the great part of his reign he brutally suppressed the influence of the Protestant Reformation in England, a movement having some roots with John Wycliffe in the 14th century, he is more popularly known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_eighth WIKI]

==Page 393==
'''Annapolis''' 
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 26 miles (42 km) south of Baltimore and about 29 miles (47 km) east of Washington D.C. Annapolis is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The city was the temporary capital of the United States in 1783–1784. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis WIKI]

'''York''' 
York, Pennsylvania is one of many cities that lay claim to the title of First Capital of the United States, although historians generally consider it to be the fourth capital, after Philadelphia, Baltimore and Lancaster. The claim arises from the assertion that the Articles of Confederation was the first legal document to refer to the colonies as "the United States of America". The argument depends on whether the Declaration of Independence, which also uses the term, would be considered a true legal document of the United States, being drafted under and in opposition to British rule. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_pa WIKI]

'''Baltimore''' 
The Maryland colonial General Assembly created the Port of Baltimore at Locust Point in 1706 for the tobacco trade. The Town of Baltimore was founded on July 30, 1729, and is named after Lord Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert), who was the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Cecilius Calvert was a son of George Calvert, who became the First Lord Baltimore of County Cork, Ireland in 1625. Baltimore grew swiftly in the 18th century as a granary for sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean. The profit from sugar encouraged the cultivation of cane and the importation of food. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore WIKI]

'''Calvert Connections''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_22:_215-227#Page_225 225] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_30:_296-301#Page_301 301]

'''Hogsheads of Tobacco''' 
A tobacco hogshead was used in American colonial times to transport and store tobacco. It was a very large wooden barrel. A standardized hogshead measured 48 inches (1220 mm) long and 30 inches (760 mm) in diameter at the head (at least 550 L, depending on the width in the middle). Fully packed with tobacco, it weighed about 1000 pounds (450 kg). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogshead WIKI]

==Page 394==

'''Williamsburg''' 
Colonial Williamsburg is the historic district of the independent city of Williamsburg, Virginia. It consists of many of the buildings that, from 1699 to 1780, formed colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of two of the original shires of Virginia, James City Shire (now James City County), and Charles River Shire (now York County). For most of the 18th century, Williamsburg was the center of government, education and culture in the Colony of Virginia. It was here that Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Monroe, James Madison, George Wythe, Peyton Randolph, and dozens more helped mold democracy in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Williamsburg WIKI]

Williamsburg is now also the place where you will hear this phrase more times than you can count: "This isnt the original... but this is the way that it would have looked."

'''Glasgow''' 
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian, which is also the name of the local dialect. Glasgow grew from the medieval Bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow, which contributed to the Scottish Enlightenment. From the 18th century the city became one of Europe's main hubs of transatlantic trade with the Americas. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow WIKI]

==Page 395==
'''The Stamp Act''' 
The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies carry a tax stamp. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and practically all forms of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the Stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America following the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense. The Stamp Act met with great resistance in the colonies. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765 WIKI]

'''western Black-Boy''' 
See [[b#blackboys|Alphabetical Entry]]

'''May Session of the Burgesses''' 
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the elected lower house in the legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619. Over time, the name came to represent the entire official legislative body of the Colony of Virginia, and later, after the American Revolution, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Burgesses WIKI]

'''Mr. Patrick Henry''' 
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799)[1] served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779. A prominent figure in the American Revolution, Henry is known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech, and as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential (and radical) advocates of the American Revolution and republicanism, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_henry WIKI]

<div id="VirginiaResolutions"></div>'''Virginia Resolutions''' 
See [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#VirginiaResolves Alphabetical Entry]

'''Raleigh's Tavern''' 
Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, gained some fame in the pre-Revolutionary War Colony of Virginia as a gathering place for the Burgesses after several Royal Governors officially dissolved the House of Burgesses, the elected legislative body, when their actions did not suit the Crown. Such dissension became more common between the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 and the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1776. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Tavern WIKI]

'''"Vine"''' 
Vine charcoal is created by burning sticks of wood (usually willow or linden/Tilia) into soft, medium, and hard consistencies. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal WIKI]

'''Colonel Byrd''' 
William Byrd II (28 March 1674 – 26 August 1744) was a planter and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Byrd_II WIKI]
[http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00477341&id=g7u8YIKtb_wC&dq=inauthor:byrd&num=100&q=inauthor:byrd&pgis=1 GoogleBooks] [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=william.byrd+1674+1744 Google]

'''tall red-headed youth... "Tom"''' 
This is Thomas Jefferson. Dixon toasts "to the pursuit of Happiness" and a young man named Tom asks if can use that phrase some time, which Thomas Jefferson did in the Declaration of Independence. The passage continues to confirm that this is Jefferson by discussing his interest in surveying, which was a very real interest of Jefferson's.

As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). He was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for 25 years. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793), and second Vice President (1797–1801). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_jefferson WIKI]

'''Professor Fry''' 
Colonel Joshua Fry (1699-1754) was a surveyor, adventurer, mapmaker, member of the House of Burgesses, and soldier. Born in Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England, he moved to Essex County, Virginia as a young man to marry the wealthy widow Mary Micou Hill, who bore him five children who grew to adulthood, viz., John, Henry, Martha, William, and Margaret. In 1743-1744 Fry and his family moved to the not-yet-established Albemarle County, Virginia to claim unclaimed plots of land and take advantage of surveying opportunities. There he built a house called Viewmont that sat on a 800-acre (3.2 km2) plantation bordering the Hardware River. Fry, along with fellow member of the Loyal Land Company, Peter Jefferson, created the famous Maryland-Virginia Fry-Jefferson Map in 1752. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Fry WIKI]

==Page 396==
'''Carolinians''' 
The Province of Carolina from 1663 to 1712, was a colony of British America, controlled by the Lords Proprietary, a group of eight English noblemen led informally by member Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. Dissent over governance of the province led to the appointment of a deputy governor to administer the northern half of the colony in 1691. The division between North and South became complete in 1712, but both colonies remained in the hands of the same group of proprietors. A rebellion against the proprietors broke out in 1719 which led to the appointment of a royal governor for South Carolina in 1720. After nearly a decade in which the British government sought to locate and buy out the proprietors, both North and South Carolina became royal colonies in 1729. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Carolina WIKI]

'''Norfolk''' 
Norfolk grew in the late 1600s as a "Half Moone" fort was constructed and 50 acres were acquired in exchange for 10,000 pounds of tobacco. The House of Burgesses established "Towne of Lower Norfolk County" in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County (present day Norfolk, Chesapeake, and parts of Portsmouth) and Princess Anne County (present day Virginia Beach). Norfolk was incorporated in 1705 and in 1736, George II granted Norfolk a royal charter as a borough. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia. It was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants' numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, Norfolk served as a strong base of Loyalist support during the early part of the American Revolution. After fleeing the colonial capitol of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels, commanded by Colonel Woodford. His departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_VA WIKI]

'''Paronomasia''' 
Fancy word for pun

==Page 397==
'''"Leg before Wicket"''' 
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket (LBW) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a complex series of circumstances that primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body (usually the leg) when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the wicket. The LBW rule is designed to prevent a batsman simply using his body to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket (and so avoid being bowled out) rather than using his bat to do so. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leg_before_wicket WIKI]

It's usage in M&D, however, is anachronistic. The LBW rule was not introduced until 1788, 21 years after the line had been run: "On 30 May 1788, the Marylebone Cricket Club, which had been formed by the leading noblemen and gentlemen playing the game just one year before, produced its first Code of Laws... Previously, as cricket uses a hard ball and leg-pads were not used, players would naturally play with their legs away from the wicket. As batsmen started to wear pads, they became willing to cover their stumps with their legs to prevent the ball hitting the stumps and bowling them out. Therefore a "leg before wicket" rule was introduced so that a batsman preventing the ball hitting his stumps with his legs would be out." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Cricket#Ways_to_get_out WIKI]

'''"Urania"''' 
In Greek mythology, Urania was the muse of astronomy and astrology. Some accounts list her as the mother of the musician Linus. She is usually depicted as having a globe in her left hand. She is able to foretell the future by the arrangement of the stars. She is often associated with Universal Love and the Holy Spirit. She is dressed in a cloak embroidered with stars and keeps her eyes and attention focused on the Heavens. Those who are most concerned with philosophy and the heavens are dearest to her. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania WIKI]

'''Quoiting''' [[File:Quoits.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Newcastle Pit Men playing at Quoits]]
A game similar to horseshoes played with quoits (from the middle english ''coyte'', flat stone) particular to the Northeast. (source: thefreedictionary.com) Quoits (koits, kwoits) is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (sometimes called a hob, mott or pin). The sport of Quoits encompasses several distinct variations. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoits WIKI]

Is there a significance to the choice of quoiting over a pistol dual between Dixon and Fabian, which is independent of Dixon's religious pacifism?

Superficially, the game resembles the West Line: an invisible line defined by staked points along which objects (stones) fly. One could note the same, of course, about a duel -- so perhaps there is some other significance in the choice of quoit?

Ah, perhaps one point is that quoiting might be more 'civilized' a resolution since no one can be killed? [[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 11:55, 16 September 2007 (PDT)

'''...the Metal hurtling thro' the Air, even, if you listen closely enough, a certain Hum--''' 
In parallel with the above discussion of the game resembling the West Line: The quoits themselves (like bullets from a dueling pistol or launched rockets) travel an arc through the air,the path of which creates a gravitational rainbow. This would appear to be another allusion to the rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', especially considering the distinct noise that preempts the arrival of some of the rockets in GR. See also [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_37:_371-381#Page_378 378]

'''the ''Rencontre''''' 
The Match

'''Joppa''' 
Joppa, Maryland in Harford County, Maryland is now a planning region for the county, but there was originally a town at the center called Joppa. Joppa was founded as a British colonial settlement in the early 1700s, and takes its name from the biblical town of Joppa (Jaffa, Israel). The town of Joppa, on the Gunpowder River traded internationally in agricultural products, especially tobacco. At its peak, the port was home to about 50 homes, a church, prison, inns, shops, schools, armament factories, and warehouses. However, with the rise of Baltimore and Annapolis, Joppa declined as a port, and was slowly abandoned. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joppa,_Maryland WIKI]

'''Head of Elk''' 
See pages [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_337 337] & [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_38:_382-390#Page_390 390].

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 34: 341-348

2014-02-23T19:48:04Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 345 */ there have been several others

==Page 341==
'''Lancaster Town''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_33:_327-340#Page_340 340].

'''murder of 26 Indians, Men, Women and Children''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_31:_302-314#Page_305 305] - Paxton Boys entry

'''[[1765#January|January]] 10, 1765'''

==Page 342==
'''the Weapon depicted, Black upon White, is notable for the Device upon its Stock, a Silver Star of five Points, revers'd so that two point up and one down... universally recogniz'd as the Horns of the D--l''' 
See an example of the inverted pentagram [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inverted_pentacle.PNG HERE]. The narrator mentions that they saw similar inverted stars (as well as right-side-up) on rifles at the Cape (see page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_101 101]).

'''Jabez''' 
“And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” -- [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=13&chapter=4&verse=8&end_verse=10&version=9&context=context 1 Chronicles 4:8-10 (King James Version)]

==Page 343==
'''Frizzen and Flint''' 
The frizzen is an "L" shaped piece of steel hinged at the rear used in flintlock firearms. It is positioned over the flash pan so to enclose a small priming charge of black powder next to the flash hole that is drilled through the barrel into where the main charge is loaded. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer or cock -- which includes a shaped piece of flint held into a set of jaws by a scrap of leather or thin piece of lead -- snaps forward causing the flint to scrape down the face of the frizzen, throwing it back to expose the black powder in the pan. The flint scraping the steel causes a shower of sparks to be thrown into the pan, igniting the black powder and sending flames through the touch hole, which in turn ignites the main charge of black powder in the breech of the barrel, shooting the projectile out the barrel. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frizzen WIKI]

==page 344==
'''Mystickal Toilette''' 
This is in reference to the scent of the German, or mystical perfume coming from him. See this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume LINK] and then search page for "toilette".

''''Cigar'''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar WIKI] entry

==Page 345==
''''Stogie'''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stogie WIKI] entry

'''...a Ring like a length of Ribbon clos'd in a Circle, with a single Twist in it, possessing thereby but one Side and one Edge...''' 
“The Möbius strip or Möbius band (pronounced [ˈmøbiʊs]) is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component” – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip Wikipedia]

Topologically, as the correct definition from Wikipedia indicates, a Mobius strip has only one edge. Create the shape as indicated in the text, and run your finger around the "edge". You will see that the former edges are now one continuous 'edge". [[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 07:47, 10 August 2007 (PDT)

'''Prester John''' 
“The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter John), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of Saint Thomas resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which derived the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out. At first, Prester John was imagined to be in India; tales of the "Nestorian" Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves they had found him in Ethiopia. Prester John's kingdom was the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and interreligious tension made such a vision seem distant” – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prester_John Wikipedia]

'''Yet must the Sensorium be nourish’d''' 
sensorium – the brain, especially in reference to its capacity as the seat of the mind or sensation.

==Page 346==
'''The next day...''' 
[[1765#January|January]] 11, 1765 

'''"Acts have consequences, Dixon, they must"''' 
Might be of interest that this passage has a predecessor in ''Vineland'': "What was she [DL] complaining about? Only that acts, deeply moral and otherwise, have consequences - only the workings of karma." (''Vineland'', p. 132)

'''Lethe-Water''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_25:_245-253#Page_253 253].

==Page 347==
'''''The Ghastly Fop''''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_17:_175-182#Page_178 178].

'''"Whom are we working for, Mason?"''' 
'''"I rather thought, one day, you would be the one to tell me."''' 
See page [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_32:_315-326#Page_315 315].

==Page 348==

'''Each milestone passes like another Rung of a Ladder ascended''' 
This would seem to equate [[M#Mason|Mason]] and [[D#Dixon|Dixon]]’s trip away from Lancaster with a vertical climb away from hell and towards heaven. Note that by linking parts of Earth with heaven and hell. Has Pynchon conjured forth an image of geomantic loci, wherein the Paxton Boys have soiled their lot on earth with festering sins that haunt and stain any souls who draw near -- and the Harlands have carved a blessed space?

If you can don your hip-waders and bear with me while I attempt to stretch this metaphor a bit, read on.

For me, this metaphor also conjures the image of the [[C#chain|Great Chain of Being]], (which is explicitly mentioned in subsequent chapters); this somewhat more complex metaphorical image aligns M & D’s physical journey with a movement towards moral purity alongside beings shackled to the Great Chain, no more able to increase their base goodness than dirt is able to transform itself into gold. (You are wearing your hip-waders, right?) So I wonder: Are M & D alchemists, able to travel freely up and down the Great Chain? Is alchemy simply the exercising of free will? Do the [[P#Paxton|Paxton Boys]] have free will? Have they chosen their evil lot in life anymore than the [[H#Harlands|Harlands]] have chosen theirs?

And further: To what extent does the [[I#invisible|invisible]] past linger around us physically, as if wrenched out of time to remain fixed in place like beings shackled to the Great Chain? Are we haunted by the past? Can a place be damned: America by slavery, Indian slaughter, [[L#ley-lines|ley-lines]] scarred across her earth? Or are the Harlands some vision of salvation—and if so, how is it obtained? Perhaps by the alchemistic exercising of free will?

Like I said, it’s a stretch, but hip waders be doffed: Since this metaphor concludes M & D’s Lancaster expedition, it’s worth pausing here to consider the role this trip-within-a-trip plays in the greater narrative.

One final question: As the chapter concludes with M & D scaling the ladder, who is “Voicing disconsolate, of Regret at their flight?”

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 17: 175-182

2014-02-17T16:03:40Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 175 */ doesn't appear on this page

==Page 175==
'''Jenkins Ear Museum''' 
'''War of 39''' 
War of Jenkins' Ear
1739-1743, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear WIKI].

Robert Jenkins (fl. 1730s-40s) was an British master mariner, famous as the protagonist of the "Jenkins's ear" incident, which became a contributory cause of the War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain in 1739.

Returning home from the West Indies in command of the brig Rebecca in 1731, Jenkins' ship was stopped and boarded by the Spanish guarda-costa La Isabela (Jenkins was involved in contraband and piracy). Her commander, Captain Julio León Fandiño, had Jenkins bound to a mast and then sliced off one of his ears with his sword then told him to say to his King "same will happen to him (the king) if cought doing the same". On arriving in England, Jenkins addressed his grievances to the king, and a report was furnished by the Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies confirming Jenkins' account. At the time the incident received little attention, but in 1738 Jenkins repeated his story with dramatic details before a committee of the House of Commons, producing what he claimed to be his ear that had been cut off. As a result of this incident England declared war to Spain... In 1741 he was sent from England to St. Helena to investigate charges of corruption brought against the acting governor, and from May 1741 until March 1742 he administered the affairs of the island. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jenkins_(master_mariner) WIKI]

'''Cross-Ruff''' 
A crossruff is a play where tricks are made by taking alternate ruffs in each hand. In order to use a crossruff, each player in the partnership must have shortness in a non-trump suit, accompanied with appropriate length in the opposite hand. Also, each partner must be short in the suit that his partner is long in. It is preferable that both players have an equal number of cards in the trump suit, otherwise a regular ruff is usually more effective, as it has the added benefit of establishing the trump suit. Wikipedia

==Page 177==
'''Spaniard's Blade''' 
’Tis the sword of Cordova, won in bloodiest fray off Saint Vincent’s promontory, and presented by Nelson to the old capital of the much-loved land of his birth. Yes, the proud Spaniard’s sword is to be seen in yonder guildhouse, in the glass case affixed to the wall: many other relics has the good old town, but none prouder than the Spaniard’s sword.
? From Lavengo.

'''Chronoscope''' 
chronoscope
n. instrument measuring very small intervals of time; chronometer in which figures are seen through apertures in dial. chronoscopy, n.
© From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia.
Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.

==Page 178==
'''The Ghastly Fop''' 
A title that sounds like an Edward Gorey homage but is a seemingly made up serial pornographic tale of the time.

'''Rix-Dollar''' 
The Nederlandse Rijksdaalder, known in the colonies as the "rix dollar," was actually a variety of different coins each averaging about 448 grains in weight of .885 fine silver. These coins were independently minted by individual cities or provinces in the United Netherlands and passed at a value of two and a half guilders (50 stuivers). Although not as widespread as Spanish silver or the lion dollar, the silver rider ducatoon and various rix dollars were certainly familiar in the colonies throughout the Seventeenth and into the early Eighteenth century. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Rix-Dollar.intro.html

==Page 179==
'''Guarda-Costa''' 
Coast Guard. Commission of a Spanish Guarda Costa 16 April 1729
By Don Dionysio Martines de la Vega, Brigadier in His Majesty's army, His Governor and Captain General of this city of the Havanna, and island of cuba &c.

'''reclaiming of light''' 
ATD motif.

'''mutatis mutandis''' 
A direct translation from Latin of mutatis mutandis would read, 'with those things having been changed which need to be changed'. More colloquially, it can be interpreted as 'the necessary changes having been made,' where "the necessary changes" are usually implied by a prior statement assumed to be understood by the reader. Wikipedia

==Page 180==
'''brighter indeed than the Day allows''' 
The day, again, Cf. Against the Day.

'''uncoah''' 
Unco is Scots for unknown, strange or unusual
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/u.html

'''Wearside''' 
Sunderland (pronounced: /'sundələnd/, /'sʌndələnd/ or /'sun(d)lən/) is a former county borough now part of the City of Sunderland, in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England.
The name "Sunderland" is reputed to come from Soender-land: "jacob-ariola"(soender/sunder being the Anglo-Saxon infinitive, meaning "to part"),[1] likely to be reference to the valley carved by the river Wear that runs through the heart of the city. Sunderland was also known as 'Sunderland-near-the-Sea'.[2]
A small fishing village called Sunderland, located toward the mouth of the river (modern day Hendon) was granted a charter in 1179. Over the centuries, Sunderland grew as a port, trading coal and salt. Ships began to be built on the river in the fourteenth century.
A person born in Sunderland is sometimes called a Mackem or a Wearsider.

==Page 181==
'''Frome''' 
The Frome (formerly Stroudwater) is a river in Gloucestershire, running through Sapperton and Stroud. It should not to be confused with several other rivers in the south west of England with the same name.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 13: 125-145

2014-02-16T19:09:58Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 142 */ he's saying he studied the observations made by Zhang previously, not that he worked with him personally. hence this is not anachronistic

==Page 125==
'''against the Day swelling near''' 
just note.

'''whiten'd Rock Walls''' 
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.

'''James's Town''' 
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".

==Page 128==

'''Governor Hutchinson''' 
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_%28governor%29 WIKI].

==Page 129==

'''Etesian Winds''' 
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian Wiki]

'''the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd''' 
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.

==Page 134==
'''Mathesis''' 
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis WIKI]

'''Saint Brendan''' 
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century ''Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator''. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan WIKI].

'''Paradise''' 
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.

==Page 135==
'''Motto of Jacob Bernouilli''' 
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bernouilli WIKI].

==Page 137==
'''Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening''' 
Cherrycoke skips over Mason & Maskelyne's walk back to their observatory; the time gap explains why Mason reacts this way to Maskelyne's question.

==Page 139==
'''common acquaintance but lately withdrawn''' 
The absent God, again.

==Page 141==
'''Longitude Act of 1714''' 
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions WIKI] entry for Jesuit China missions.

'''Dr. Zhang''' 
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng WIKI] for much more.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 13: 125-145

2014-02-16T19:08:28Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 137 */ this is really clear in context.

==Page 125==
'''against the Day swelling near''' 
just note.

'''whiten'd Rock Walls''' 
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.

'''James's Town''' 
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".

==Page 128==

'''Governor Hutchinson''' 
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_%28governor%29 WIKI].

==Page 129==

'''Etesian Winds''' 
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian Wiki]

'''the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd''' 
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.

==Page 134==
'''Mathesis''' 
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis WIKI]

'''Saint Brendan''' 
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century ''Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator''. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan WIKI].

'''Paradise''' 
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.

==Page 135==
'''Motto of Jacob Bernouilli''' 
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bernouilli WIKI].

==Page 137==
'''Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening''' 
Cherrycoke skips over Mason & Maskelyne's walk back to their observatory; the time gap explains why Mason reacts this way to Maskelyne's question.

==Page 139==
'''common acquaintance but lately withdrawn''' 
The absent God, again.

==Page 141==
'''Longitude Act of 1714''' 
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions WIKI] entry for Jesuit China missions.

'''Dr. Zhang''' 
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. An anachronism, Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng WIKI] for much more.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 13: 125-145

2014-02-16T19:05:00Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 130 */ the hypothesis mentioned here isn't as relevant as it's made out to be, even putting aside the fact that Jaynes claimed the bicameral mind broke down thousands of years before the events of M&D

==Page 125==
'''against the Day swelling near''' 
just note.

'''whiten'd Rock Walls''' 
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.

'''James's Town''' 
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".

==Page 128==

'''Governor Hutchinson''' 
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_%28governor%29 WIKI].

==Page 129==

'''Etesian Winds''' 
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian Wiki]

'''the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd''' 
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.

==Page 134==
'''Mathesis''' 
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis WIKI]

'''Saint Brendan''' 
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century ''Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator''. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan WIKI].

'''Paradise''' 
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.

==Page 135==
'''Motto of Jacob Bernouilli''' 
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bernouilli WIKI].

==Page 137==
'''Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening''' 
Tent? This conversation started on p.134 with them standing 'in the scent of an orange grove... they have been searching for it all the long declining Day... in the volcanic meadow where the two stand.' If the meadow was only three pages of conversation from Maskelyne's observatory, surely they would have found the orange grove easily?

==Page 139==
'''common acquaintance but lately withdrawn''' 
The absent God, again.

==Page 141==
'''Longitude Act of 1714''' 
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions WIKI] entry for Jesuit China missions.

'''Dr. Zhang''' 
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. An anachronism, Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng WIKI] for much more.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 13: 125-145

2014-02-16T19:01:08Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 132 */ again, this has nothing to do with America

==Page 125==
'''against the Day swelling near''' 
just note.

'''whiten'd Rock Walls''' 
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.

'''James's Town''' 
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".

==Page 128==

'''Governor Hutchinson''' 
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_%28governor%29 WIKI].

==Page 129==

'''Etesian Winds''' 
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian Wiki]

'''the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd''' 
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.

==Page 130==
'''strange mind-to-mind throb''' 
Many believe that in pre-modern communities, the community inhabitants
thought and felt much as if of one mind. See J. James book, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. See an early Powell movie......[to be researched]

==Page 134==
'''Mathesis''' 
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis WIKI]

'''Saint Brendan''' 
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century ''Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator''. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan WIKI].

'''Paradise''' 
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.

==Page 135==
'''Motto of Jacob Bernouilli''' 
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bernouilli WIKI].

==Page 137==
'''Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening''' 
Tent? This conversation started on p.134 with them standing 'in the scent of an orange grove... they have been searching for it all the long declining Day... in the volcanic meadow where the two stand.' If the meadow was only three pages of conversation from Maskelyne's observatory, surely they would have found the orange grove easily?

==Page 139==
'''common acquaintance but lately withdrawn''' 
The absent God, again.

==Page 141==
'''Longitude Act of 1714''' 
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions WIKI] entry for Jesuit China missions.

'''Dr. Zhang''' 
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. An anachronism, Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng WIKI] for much more.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 13: 125-145

2014-02-16T19:00:47Z

Sixsevenfiftysix: /* Page 129 */ someone who edited this page seems to be confusing St. Helena with St. Helens. No Americans are present in this chapter. the line annotated was about people not owning mirrors

==Page 125==
'''against the Day swelling near''' 
just note.

'''whiten'd Rock Walls''' 
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.

'''James's Town''' 
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".

==Page 128==

'''Governor Hutchinson''' 
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_%28governor%29 WIKI].

==Page 129==

'''Etesian Winds''' 
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian Wiki]

'''the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd''' 
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.

==Page 130==
'''strange mind-to-mind throb''' 
Many believe that in pre-modern communities, the community inhabitants
thought and felt much as if of one mind. See J. James book, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. See an early Powell movie......[to be researched]

==Page 132==
'''violent explosion''' 
Internal metpahor re America? Founded with violence, as many including D.H.Lawrence famously emphasised, which can erupt again at any moment?

==Page 134==
'''Mathesis''' 
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis WIKI]

'''Saint Brendan''' 
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century ''Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator''. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan WIKI].

'''Paradise''' 
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.

==Page 135==
'''Motto of Jacob Bernouilli''' 
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bernouilli WIKI].

==Page 137==
'''Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening''' 
Tent? This conversation started on p.134 with them standing 'in the scent of an orange grove... they have been searching for it all the long declining Day... in the volcanic meadow where the two stand.' If the meadow was only three pages of conversation from Maskelyne's observatory, surely they would have found the orange grove easily?

==Page 139==
'''common acquaintance but lately withdrawn''' 
The absent God, again.

==Page 141==
'''Longitude Act of 1714''' 
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions WIKI] entry for Jesuit China missions.

'''Dr. Zhang''' 
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. An anachronism, Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng WIKI] for much more.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}