Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 8: 77-86

2007-08-05T11:19:51Z

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==Page 77==

'''Etesian''' 
Prevailing northerly monsoonal winds in the summer and early fall. The word originates from latin ''aetas'', summer.

'''not whistle''' 
Such a fun "vice" was not allowed on ship.

'''Torpedick''' 
Like an eel.

'''''Bandieten''''' 
Armed thieves in a band of thieves. Still in use in contemporary Dutch.

'''Pumplenose''' 
A large citrus fruit (''Citrus maxima''); the ancestor of grapefruit (or the tree itself).

Etymologically, an alternate form of the South African “pampelmoes”—commonly known elsewhere as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomelo pomelo], Chinese grapefruit, jabong, or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaddock shaddock] (after Captain Shaddock, who introduced the fruit to the West Indies in the 17th C.). The OED lists 18 alternate forms of "pampelmoes," including, most comically, pimple-nose and pummel-nose. In Dutch it is ''pompelmoes'' and pretty popular.

My local grocer offered a small stash of pomelos last year, and I bought one out of curiosity. It was quite similar to yellow grapefruit, but much larger—though I discovered that the size is due to an extraordinarily thick and pulpy rind. The fruit itself was smaller, dryer, and somewhat less tart than most grapefruits. Though worth a try, I doubt if most readers would be so taken as to make the pumplenose a regular part of their diet.

==Page 78==

'''monitory''' 
Conveying an admonition or a warning

'''the Watch''' 
Closely observing an area as in a neighborhood watch.

'''his Fell''' 
hide: the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

'''virid''' 
Etymology: From the Latin viridis, from virere ‘to be green’. 
Pronunciation:/'vɪrɪd/ 
Noun,Singular: virid; Plural,virids 
virid (plural virids):(colour) a bright green colour 
virid colour: Adjective: virid, more virid, most virid 
(colour) having a bright green colour 
1977: His protruberant eyeballs were veined with red like certain kinds of rare marble. He urged me to meditate upon the virid line of the whirling universe. — Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve

'''''Voorhuis''''' 
Dutch: fronthouse

==Page 79==

'''"Tell me, what'd I say?"''' 
Perhaps a reference to Ray Charles' 1959 hit song, "What'd I say," which features this line. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What'd_I_Say Wikipedia entry]

'''lock'd his front door''' 
(Traditional?)

'''Fumulus''' 
fumulus—A contraction of the words fume and cumulus, indicating water-droplet clouds that form within the top of rising plumes from smokestacks.

==Page 80==

'''''Stoep''''' 
Entered English as 'stoop' in 1789.

'''Theater of the Japanese''' 
Called Noh. See wikipedia. Here is the relevancy for the text:When hand props other than fans are used, they are usually introduced or retrieved by stage attendants who fulfill a similar role to stage crew in contemporary theater. Like their Western counterparts, stage attendants for Noh traditionally dress in black, but unlike in Western theater they may appear on stage during a scene, or may remain on stage during an entire performance, in both cases in plain view of the audience.

'''the Range of their Desires''' 
Must be compared, it would seem, to the name of Part 1 of ATD: Light Over the Ranges.

'''Younkers''' 
youn·ker: Pronunciation: 'y&[ng]-k&r 
Etymology: Dutch: jonker--young nobleman 
Noun
1 : a young man
2 : CHILD, YOUNGSTER Merriam-Webster Dict.

'''delegated the sighing''' 
Jet will not sigh over the romantic overtures; her sisters will.

==Page 81==

'''Jesuit part''' 
his penis, that is part of his lap, where the Guitar is? A(nother) small penis joke with an aware allusion to "Jesuitical", arguing small points?

==Page 82==

'''''lengkua''''' 
the word should be lengkuas, a Malay word for the spice whose Linnean name is Alpinia galanga. Now, this site has a slew of names for it: siamese ginger, siamese galanga, java galangal, greater galangal, el galangal, el adkham, hang dou kou, stor kalanga, galanga, galanga de l'inde, laos, galgant, kulanjan, naukyo, lenkuas, galanga maior, kha, ka, riêng, großer galgant, herbe indienne, da liang jiang, grand galanga, galanga majeur. But the form galangal seems to be the current English name, used alongside galanga. OED shows this word {galanga] in Chaucer
Is Pynchon's lengkua a simple mistake or typo for lengkuas, or could it be a legitimate (though rare) alternate form? I have too much respect for Pynchon and his love of variant forms to assume the former, but I don't see much evidence for the latter. From a linguist online.

'''Bilimbi pickles''' 
AVERRHOA Bilimbi, or Vilimbipuli or Irumpanpuli (in Malayalam), is a fruit seen in the backyard of most homes in Kerala. Unlike other fruits, it has not found a place in the market or been used in the food preservation industry.[2003 article] It belongs to Oxalidaceae, the sorrel family, and is a small pinnate-leaved tree cultivated in the tropics. The fruit resembles a small green cucumber and grows on the trunk and the older branches. The fruit is about two to five centimetres long and acidic in nature with a sour taste. The flowers are tiny five-petalled and maroon.

The fruit is a rich source of Vitamin C. It fights cholesterol, and is used as a tonic and a laxative. Syrup made from the fruit is used in French Guyana to cure ailments arising from jaundice. The fruit is also known to stop internal bleeding in the stomach.

The fruit was hitherto known to be used only in curries and in the making of pickles. 

Bilimbi pickle 

Ingredients:
Small or medium sized Bilimbi cut lengthwise 1/4 kg
Green chillies 5
Garlic 10 lobes
Ginger 2 pieces about one inch in length
Wheat flour 1/4 dsp (desert spoon — 3 tsps)
Gram flour 1/4 dsp
Chilli powder 1 1/2 dsp
Mustard and fenugreek 1/4 tsp each
Asafoetida powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Vinegar 2 oz.
Gingelly oil 2 to 3 oz.

Method:

Add a little salt to the bilimbi and keep in the sun for two days, in a wide-mouthed, shallow earthen vessel. Pour the oil in a deep vessel, and season with the mustard, fenugreek and curry leaves. Then sauté the garlic and ginger after ground to a fine paste. Add the chillies and sauté. (Heat the wheat and gram flour and keep aside). Lower the fire and add the chilli powder and asafoetida. Add the salt and vinegar and bring to a boil. Then add the bilimbi and the fried powders. Remove from fire and bottle when cool.

'''''Bobotie''''' 
From Wikipedia (and confirmed with the OED): “[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobotie Bobotie] is a South African dish … of spiced [curried], minced meat baked with an egg-based topping … [It] probably originates from the [[Dutch East India Company]] colonies in Batavia … [and has been] known in the [[Cape of Good Hope]] since the 17th century … Some recipes also call for chopped onions … Traditionally, bobotie incorporates dried fruit … It is often garnished with walnuts, chutney and bananas … Bobotie was transported by South African settlers to colonies all over Africa.”

'''''Frikkadel''''' 
Typical Afrikaner dish, spiced meatball. [http://funkymunky.co.za/meat.html Recipe]

==Page 84==

'''Satay''' 
sa·tay also sa·té or sa·te (sä'tā)
n.
A dish of southeast Asia consisting of strips of marinated meat, poultry, or seafood grilled on skewers and dipped in peanut sauce.
[Malay saté, satai or Indonesian sate, both perhaps of Tamil origin.]

'''Rakhman''' 
A popular indonesian name which seems to be used jokingly.

'''even better, as Eve''' 
(No missing rib? Gets to be disobedient?)

==Page 85==

'''B-st-rd''' 
Who's censoring here? A convention in 18th century literature.

'''a Tun short... law''' 
Tun:large cask especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 butts or 252 gals
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - Definition in context

'''Fence-Runner''' 
Not in OED? He means surveyer, insinuating that all surveyers do is measure property lines.

==Page 86==

'''recreations including running ''Amok''''' 
Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok (also spelled amuck or amuk), is derived from the Malay word mengamuk, meaning "to go mad with rage" (uncontrollable rage). In typical cases, a man who has shown no previous sign of anger and no inclination to resort to violence will take up a weapon in a sudden frenzy and attempt to kill everyone he meets. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the amok-runner being killed by bystanders. The contrast between what was seen as the normal placid character of Malays and a sudden outburst of frenzied violence played to Western perceptions of the 'irrational' East. Wikipedia

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Chapter 7: 58-76

2007-08-05T11:13:17Z

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==Page 58==

'''sepia-shadow'd''' 
sepia: NOUN: 1a. A dark brown ink or pigment originally prepared from the secretion of the cuttlefish. b. A drawing or picture done in this pigment. c. A photograph in a brown tint. 2. A dark grayish yellow brown to dark or moderate olive brown.
ADJECTIVE: 1. Of the color sepia. 2. Done or made in sepia. 
Orwell uses this phrase about street shadows--like tea-- in Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

'''Herren XVII''' 
Modern Dutch spelling "de Heeren XVII," the 17 Lords, board of governors of the V.O.C. 
When the Herren XVII ordered the Cape government in 1717 to stop granting land in freehold ... heard by the Herren XVII—who ruled in their favor in 1706, ...

'''Eighteenth Lord... never be acknowledg'd''' 
Here is what Pynchon may be meaning, as I piece it together. An expert on Holland or The East India Company can correct this. The Dutch East India Company really ran Holland at this time, until 1815 when the British took it back. So, the Eighteenth Lord who was Lord of Holland, had no power, no acknowledged existence. The Eighteenth Lord was: 
Lord Forbes is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in circa 1444 for Alexander Forbes, feudal Baron of Forbes... His [descendant], the eighteenth Lord, fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wikipedia 
 
Okay, so the DEIC never "ran Holland." The British never "took Holland back in 1815, that is when the United Kingdom of the Netherlands took Halland back from Napolean. Since the book is taking place in the 1760s it is unlikely that "The eighteenth lord" refers to anyone in the future. This is not a time-travel novel.

'''V.O.C.''' 
Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company.

==Page 59==

'''Slaves''' 
Pynchon appears to have cast around for a politically correct subtheme for the Capetown episodes, and picked slavery for want of anything more Pynchonian He picks slavery because it is the underbelly of the enlightenment. It is the centeral rift that forms along the Mason-Dixon Line, and it is the paradox of America, i.e. libery for some. What could be more Pynchonian than that?

'''set against''' 
Imperialist strategy of divide-and-conquer.

==Page 60==

'''Droster''' 
drosters' - runaways from service contracts. South African usage.

'''Vroom''' 
[http://onelook.com/?w=vroo*&ls=a vroo*]. Dutch for ''pious''

'''Jethro's Tent''' 
Biblical:Jethro was a Midean priest into whose tent entered Moses, where he met his future wife, Zippora.

'''Nimrods''' 
Biblical: Son of Cush, a founder of Babylon. A hunter. Informal. A person regarded as silly, foolish, or stupid.

==Page 61==

'''Fascination''' 
Pynchon needed a personality-contrast between M and D, and chose (arbitarily?) to make M melancholy but charismatic (cf Byron?) and Dixon the opposite. It's hard to see from TRP's descriptions what women see in M. 
The Journal of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon is full of passages where Mason's normally scientific writtings give way to poetic and gothic images of ghosts and devils. In the Journals he frequents massacre sites.

'''Portable Soup... Slabs''' 
An extremely reduced meat stock (not freeze-dried, just boiled down and then dried) in cakes or slabs. Heat in a pan of water and you have soup. Most users regarded it as a necessity rather than a pleasure.

'''Darlington Market''' 
In Darlington , County Durham. Still a good market today--21st Century-- says an online British guidebook.

==Page 62==

'''Kezia''' 
the name of Job's second daughter (42:14), born after prosperity had returned to him. Also Cassia.

'''Kerenhappuch''' 
(the horn of beauty ), the youngest of the daughters of Job, born to him during the period of his reviving prosperity. (Job 42:14)
Source: Smith's Bible Dictionary

==Page 63==

'''Imp from Hell''' 
Cf. Imp allusions and Poe story cited. Three uses so far in M & D. Here Eels impulsiveness is an apt allusion to impishness, overstated as in speech.

'''Rattle-Watch''' 
the rattle watch, appointed at the request of the burghers to relieve them of night-watch duty. 
"First, the said rattle watch shall be held to appear at the burghers' guard house after the ringing of the nine o'clock bell and together at ten o'clock shall begin making their rounds, giving notice of their presence in all the streets of the village by sounding their rattle and calling [out the hour], and this every hour of the night, until 4 o'clock in the morning. From an Orange County decree, 1859 online.

'''English Tea-Pot''' 
Free associating, Mason to English to English tea to teapot? 
"I'm a little tea-pot, short and stout" allusion? Old song.

==Page 64==

'''Vrou''' 
Dutch: lady, woman, wife. Vroom Vroom!

'''cackling''' 
# To make the shrill cry characteristic of a hen after laying an egg.
# To laugh or talk in a shrill manner.
Often said of "witches".

'''fatally but not yet mortally''' 
fatally: with fatal consequences or implications; "he was fatally ill
equipped for the climb" 
mortally: fatal 'unto death"--to an extreme. ''American Heritage Dictionary''

Is the economics behind slavery what TRP is getting at here through Austra?

==Page 65==

'''''Dagga''''' 
A drug. It consists of dry khaki-green leaves, twigs and pips. It is usually sold to the public in the form of a "stoo" (dagga rolled into a small packet) or a cigarette called a zol, stick, reefer, skyf or joint. It smells and looks quite different from a tobacco cigarette. It is estimated that the drug dagga has been with us since 1 000 BC.

==Page 66==

'''dorsal 'Scape''' 
Dorsal landscape = shapely rear end.

'''five Sprites''' 
The women?

'''Asian parlor-game''' 
see [[Chapter_18:_183-189#farces|four-door farces, p. 184]] and [[Chapter_18:_183-189#parlour|Parlour Game, p. 184]]

==Page 67==

'''Indifference-Draught''' 
Traditionally saltpetre. Mason wants a drug to reduce his libido.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphrodisiac Anaphrodisiac]

==Page 68==

'''the wrongs committed daily...invisible, yet possessing mass and velocity''' 
Cf. gravity in GR and mass in ATD. Very Pychonesque motif and phrasing here.

'''need to keep the Ghost propitiated''' 
see the ghosts and major dark spirit in ATD.

'''keep to the margins''' 
Dixon stays where Pynchon's valued characters live. See "Low-Lands" and passim in other works. This paragraph is so fine in expressing a kind
of place beyond all the ways of being mapped, known, predicted, so to speak. Off the grid, so to speak. Where some anarchists argue we should strive to be. Another deep Pynchon theme.

==Page 69==

'''Velleity''' 
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. vel·le·i·ties
1. Volition at its lowest level. 2. A mere wish or inclination.
ETYMOLOGY: New Latin velleits, from Latin velle, to wish. American heritage Dictionary

'''Rix-Dollar''' 
Reichsdollar, a Dutch coin.

German ''Reichsthaler,'' Dutch ''Rijksdaalder''; current throughout the European colonies.

'''Dutch Company which is ev'rywhere & ev'rything''' 
East India Company pervades as "[the Deists']God?"--Dixon 

'''Late Blow''' 
Mason suggests Dixon threw an illegal punch with that last metaphor comparing the East India Company with God.

'''Butter-Bag Castle''' 
Butter-Bag was slang for a Dutchman.

==Page 70==

'''''karis''''' 
The word was later adapted into English as ''curries.'''

'''Senoi''' 
This tribe is/was real, although I did not think they were known about until the later age of anthropological study. They did share dreams and conquered their fears this way. If a child had a dream of falling, say, when shared with all, the adults would tell him to just fly next time--and he would. Their dream life was incorporates into their whole life and they were a happy, contented people. Researching.

==Page 71==

'''Routs''' 
See especially in this context, with ridottoes, definition #5--a fashionable gathering...with other attendant resonances of meaning. 
rout (rout) 
n. 1A)A disorderly retreat or flight following defeat. 
1B)An overwhelming defeat. 

2A) A disorderly crowd of people; a mob. 
2B) People of the lowest class; rabble. 
3) A public disturbance; a riot. 
4) A company, as of knights or wolves, that are in movement. See synonyms at flock 1. 
5) A fashionable gathering. 
tr.v., rout·ed, rout·ing, routs. 

'''Ridottoes''' 
The ridotto was a space behind the theatres, much like a foyer, where visitors of all layers of society mingled and engaged in discussion, gambling, or other spirited forms of entertainment. Most visitors wore masks. It was the famous black and white bauta which made recognition virtually impossible. Started in Venice. 
In all of the approximately 20 ridotti of Venice, gambling was the main activity. Young aristocrats sold their military duty to poor souls in need of money. Servants, poets, flower girls, singers, merchants, foreign visitors, and dignitaries all passed through the ridotto. Casanova praised the beautiful women, playwright Goldoni found willing listeners to his fantastic stories in the ridotto. The painters Longhi, Guardi, and Tiepolo all found inspiration in the dark-lit establishments.

==Page 72==

'''Blight''' 
A direct address use of this verb as a noun to describe Dixon ruining [blighting] Mason's fantasies with common-sense.

'''''terre mauvais''''' 
badlands. GR: terre mauvais: "badlands" 87

==Page 73==
'''Spanish Inquisitors''' 
equated with [all] 'Authorities'!

'''two Punches in a Droll-booth''' 
As in Punch-and-Judy slapstick puppets.

'''Jesuits... Invisible College''' 
philosophical riff on whether M & D are "free" or controlled by others, Jesuits, Dixon and the Invisible College, Mason. 
The Invisible College was a precursor to the Royal Society of United Kingdom. It consisted of a group of scientists including Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, John Wallis, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren and William Petty. In letters in 1646 and 1647, Boyle refers to "our invisible college" or "our philosophical college". The society's common theme was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation.[1]

The idea of an invisible college became influential in seventeenth century Europe, in particular, in the form of a network of savants or intellectuals exchanging ideas (by post, as it would have been understood at the time). The invisible college idea is exemplified by the network of astronomers, professors, mathematicians, and natural philosophers in 16th century Europe. Men such as Johannes Kepler, Georg Joachim Rheticus, John Dee and Tycho Brahe passed information and ideas to each other in an invisible college. One of the most common methods used to communicate was through annotations written in personal copies of books that were loaned, given, or sold from person to person.

'''''Nervus Probandi''''' 
nervus probandi (L): the crux of the argument; the most conclusive and decisive proof

'''Mr. Peach''' 
Spoiler Alert: Husband of the Susannah Peach who Mason fantasizes over?

'''Spotted Cubes''' 
Dice.

'''Sector Wallah''' 
"Wallah," in British India, a specialist or tradesman. Sector Wallah, the person in charge of the Sector.

==Page 74==

'''Stuffata''' 
whole onions and meat as a stew. Also "stifado." However, see OED 1688 "stuffado" and 1771 "stuffata." Also stufata. The latter two are probably Italian. This dish is Greek.

'''dating back to Walpole''' 
Sir Robert Walpole, who held the influential office of First Lord of the Treasury.4 April 1721 – 11 February 1742.
Previous holders of the post had often been important figures in government, but not to such a degree as Walpole. His influence grew even stronger because the King, George I, was not active in English politics, preferring to concentrate on his native Hanover. Walpole is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister, not just because of his influence in Government, but because he could persuade (or force) his colleagues in the Cabinet to act in a harmonious and unified fashion, instead of intriguing against each other for more power. Walpole's office, First Lord of the Treasury, became strongly associated with the leadership of the Government; it became the position which the Prime Minister almost always held.

Though Walpole is considered the first "Prime Minister," ...the powers of the monarch were slowly diminished, and those of the Prime Minister gradually increased, over the course of the following years.

'''Clive''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clive,_1st_Baron_Clive Clive of India.]

'''Maskelyne''' 
Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne. Astronomer, Lunarian, enemy of John Harrison, 5th Astronomer Royal.

'''Robert Waddington''' 
from an old established English family. 27 M iv. Robert Waddington was born in 1743. Waddington genealogy online.

'''Bleak''' 
Bleak \Bleak\, n. [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] (Zo["o]l.) 
A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the
family Cyprinid[ae]; the blay. [Written also blick.] Source: Webster's unabridged Dictionary 1913.

'''if Beetles be your Passion, why the Beetle Variety there!''' 
Anachronistic allusion to Charles Darwin and a famous remark about evolution? For years, after dropping out of medical school, Darwin had a passion for collecting beetles. 
And, "the contemplation of nature can give rise to some curious reflexions. There is a famous (possibly apocryphal) story about the great biologist J.B.S. Haldane.[20th Century] At a major British public occasion, Haldane was sitting next to an Anglican bishop, who asked him what biology had shown him about the designs and predilections of the Creator. Haldane is supposed to have replied "An inordinate fondness for beetles."

'''Piggotts... A long stare''' 
Piggotts were evidently a British family with members into astronomy. Later, the Victorian age, the family seemed to found a lighting company.
Piggotts have been providing Christmas Illuminations since the Victorian Age. We provide a range of modern innovative schemes: across the street' designs, building fasciae, lamp columns and themed displays. We also provide striking mall illuminations to a diverse range of customers and individuals. Piggotts service includes the design, manufacture, installation, maintenance, refurbishment and storage of your scheme.

==Page 75==

'''Bodkin''' 
medieval type of arrowhead designed to shoot through protective chain mail usually worn by Knights.

'''History is the Dance of our Hunt for Christ''' 
Nice.

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

H

2007-08-05T11:02:46Z

Stencil:

'''Hadley, John (1682-1744)''' 
270; English mathematician who invented the reflecting telescope and the
reflecting (Hadley's) quadrant.

'''Hadrian's Wall''' 
282; The Wall, located in Britain, was built by order of the Emperor Hadrian, probably given during his visit to Britain in AD 122. Hadrian wanted to mark the northern boundary of his Empire. Expansion further north came later when from AD 140 to 163 Hadrian's Wall was briefly replaced by the Antonine Wall. The frontier soon moved south again, back to Hadrian's Wall. Interestingly, there is little evidence of major conflict on Hadrian's Wall. <ref>[http://www.hadrians-wall.org/ Hadrian's Wall - World Heritage Site]</ref>; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_wall Wikipedia entry]

'''Ha-Ha''' 
17; a ditch with a wall on its inner side below ground level, forming a boundary to a garden or park without interrupting the view from within, being visible only from a close proximity (OED, 18th Ed.)

'''Hailstone, Mr.''' 
192

'''Haimo of Halberstadt''' 
385; doctor

'''Half-Hunter''' 
298

'''Halfpenny, Mr.''' 
722; author of ''Rural Architecture in the Chinese Taste''

'''Halifax Packet''' 
554; transports M&D back to England; 704

'''Haligast, Squire''' 
366;435

'''Halley, Dr. Edmund (1656-1742)''' 
131; English astronomer & mathematician; in 1676 he went to St. Helena to
make the first catalogue of the stars in the southern hemisphere; he was the
first to recommend observing the Transit of Venus to determine the sun's
parallax; he predicted the return of the comet that was thereafter named for
him; 152; 187; 438; 631

'''Hammerfost Island''' 
738; where Dixon stayed on his way to the Hollow Earth; a small town (pop. 9,561 in 1995) in Finnmark co., No. Norway, on Kvaløy island. It is the northernmost town of Europe, but its harbor is always ice-free. Tourists are attracted by its uninterrupted daylight from May 17 to July 29. There are fish-processing plants. Chartered c.1795, Hammerfest was heavily damaged by British naval bombardment in 1809, by fire in 1890, and by retreating German forces in 1944. <ref>[http://www.bartleby.com Bartleby.com]</ref>

'''Handel, George Friederic (1685-1759)''' 
229; German-English composer of great reknown

'''Hanger''' 
365; a sword worn at the side; especially, in the 18th century, a short, curved sword. This is what Dimdown uses to attack Armand Allegre; 381; 386

'''Hannings, John''' 
460

'''Hanover''' 
226; 551

'''Hansel''' 
551

'''Harland, Mr. & Mrs. John''' 
330; M&D set up their observatory on his farm; 393; 441

'''Harris's Ferry''' 
310; river crossing ferry at the site of present-day
Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania and not too many miles (c. 50
miles?) north of the M-D line on the Susquehanna River

'''Harris''' 
658; Philadelphia land speculator at the M-D Line

'''Harrison, John (1693-1776)''' 
201; English horologist who invented a timekeeper (chronometer) capable of
compensating for errors due to variations of climate, thus solving the problem
of determining longitude at sea and finally claiming the huge prize offered by
the government; 213; 322; 436; 728

'''Harrold, Captain''' 
99

'''''Hatchoir''''' 
381

<div id="hawke"></div>'''Hawke, Edward, Admiral (1710-81)''' 
27; British admiral in command of the fleet blockading the French naval station of Brest in 1759. The French fleet was badly needed to assist the French army in Canada and in 1759, the French admiral Count de [[C#conflans|Conflans]] made a run at breaking the blockade. However, Hawke's fleet caught up to them and drove them into [[Q#quiberon|Quiberon Bay]] where nine French ships were destroyed, virtually incapacitating the fleet. This was key in Britains taking Canada from the French; 52

'''Head of Elk''' 
397; refers to the head of Maryland's Elk River. It flows through
Cecil County and into Chesapeake Bay in the NE corner of Maryland just west
of the Delaware border. Head of Elk was of strategic significance in the
Revolutionary War: [http://www.ushistory.org/march/phila/elk.htm MORE]

'''"Hearts of Oak"''' 
53

'''Heinz''' 
551

'''Helen of Troy''' 
176; 179

'''Helgi''' 
634; See [[F#finnbogi|Finnbogi]]

'''Heliotrope''' 
549; reddish-purple colour

<div id="hellfire"></div>'''Hellfire Club''' 
110; indulged in orgies at [[M#medmenham|Medmenham Abbey]]; 418; ''See also'' [[W#wilkes|Wilkes, John]]

'''Henry, Patrick (1736-99)''' 
395; American statesman & lawyer born in Hanover county, Virginia; 488

'''Henry VIII (1491-1547)''' 
392; king of England from1509, and quite rotund

'''Hepatomachy''' 
378; "hepato" = relating to the liver; "-machy" = dispute, controversy; the ancients considered the liver the seat of love; thus "Hepatomachy" might very well be "romantic intrigues"

'''Hercules''' 
249; "labor like"

'''Heriulfsson, Biarni''' 
634;

'''Hermuthruda''' 
352; Queen of Scotland

'''Herod''' 
632

'''Herodotus''' 
350

'''Herren, the''' 
152; German: "Masters"

'''Herren XVII''' 
58; This might be an erratum. The Dutch spelling at the time was ''Heeren'', spelled nowadays ''Heren'', and always pronounced with a long ''e''. The spelling used here is German. These 17 gentlemen formed together the representants of the shareholders of the VOC.

'''Herschel, Sir William (1738-1822)''' 
213; British astronomer who, in 1781, discovered Uranus; 708

<div id="hesperus"></div>'''Hesperus''' 
96; Hesperos was the god of the Evening Star (the Planet Venus). He was depicted as a white-winged god crowned with a starry oreole - a male version of Astraia. In vase-paintings usually only his face was shown shining in the heavens <ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Ouranos/Hesperos.html Theoi Project - A Guide to Greek Gods, Spirits & Monsters]</ref>

'''Hester, Aunt''' 
199; Charles Mason's sister, married to Elroy; 762

'''Hetty, Aunt''' 
200; aka Aunt Hester; 763

'''Hia Emperors''' 
623; The Xia Dynasty, established by Yu, ran from ca. 2205-1766 BC. This is said to be the empire that introduced slavery to China. The emperor was Chung K'ang, said to have ruled from 2159-2147 BC.

'''Hibernia''' 
309; aka Ireland

'''Hickman, Thomas''' 
450; on M-D Line kitchen crew; 460; veteran of Braddock's defeat, 614

'''Hindoo''' 
567

'''Hipparchus''' 
574

'''History''' 
44; 68; 75; 349-51; 530; 565; 579; Bad, 615; 629; 708; 747

'''H.M.S. ''Emerald''''' 
738

'''Hob Headless''' 
215; goblin; 505

'''Hobab''' 
297; working on Obs in Philadelphia

'''''Hogarthian Society'', Gin's''' 
247; English satirical painter and caricaturist, William Hogarth (1697-1764) painted "modern moral subjects," including ''Gin Lane'', a series of cartoons depicting the appalling levels of alcoholism and public drunkenness that resulted from the development of gin as the first drinkable distilled liquor that the urban poor could afford to abuse. The term "Hogarthian" often refers more to scenes of squalor and depravity than to Hogarth himself.

<div id="hollow"></div>'''Hollow-Earthers''' 
"A complete, largely unsens'd World, held within our own [...] waiting for some Summons to Light" 548; Dixon, 603; "the ancient City he has discover'd beneath the Earth" 707; Mason taken by Being with "Very large eyes" 739; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_earth Plenty more at Wikipedia...]

'''Honorable John''' 
252

'''Hood, Zacharia''' 
570; Maryland's Stamp Distributor

'''Hoogli''' 
196; river in East Bengal, on which Calcutta (as in "Black Hole of") is
located

'''Hooke, Dr.''' 
188

'''Hoomp''' 
602

'''Horst, Young''' 
661

'''Hothouse Rose''' 
520

'''Hottentot-Land''' 
7;

'''Hounslow Heath''' 
208

'''Howard''' 
764; "Fine with me, as Howard says to Howard, only please try not to kick
that Switch to the main Battery, lest Mr. Dixon, -- oh dear. -- Ingvarr.
What did I just say?" - a reference to the Three Stooges: Larry Fine, Moe Howard & Curly Howard [Thanks to Joe Gioia]

'''Howdah''' 
562; a seat or covered pavilion on the back of an elephant; 572

'''Hsi and Ho''' 
622-28; The earliest recorded solar eclipse was 22 October 2134 BC. Ancient Chinese records note that "the Sun and Moon did not meet harmoniously." The two Chinese royal astronomers, Hsi and Ho, failed to predict it and were executed by the unhappy emperor; Court Astronomers for one of the Hia Emperors of China, 622-28; [[Hsi and Ho|The Historickal Personages]]

'''''Hsiu''''' 
623; "or Moon-station of Fang"; The Hsiu are twelve constellations analogous to western zodiacal signs, used to identify position around the Celestial Equator (as the zodiac locates it on the ecliptic). These twelve are also related to the twelve branches in Feng Shui. Fang is the constellation known as Ti-Chieh (Earth's Triumph) and is located within the 72 stars of evil influence. "Fang is a narrow hsiu, only covering a few degrees. Thus, solar eclipses . . . occurring in Fang . . . are moderately rare" (Newton 64)

'''Huang, Lord''' 
626; "Here we must answer to the Market"; Here are three
possible etymologies:

:'''Huang-En or Huang-Fan''': Gods of their respective stars.

:'''Huang-Chin Li-Shih''': Generic name for the Liu-ting spirits . . . Gold is the elemental force of the West, hence these genii are called the "Athletes of the Western Country," or Region of Gold.

:'''Huang K'un''': The God of incense makers and sellers. In the time of Yu,
lightening having struck one of the trees in Hsi T'ien, the Western
Paradise, one of the branches fell into the Blue River. When cast on the
bank, it gave forth so sweet a perfume that it was taken and presented to
the Emperor. No one but Huang K'un was able to explain its origin. Yu had
incense-sticks made from it and ordered them to be burnt in honor of the
Gods. From that time Huang K'un was regarded as the first promoter of this
nation-wide industry.

<div id="hu"></div>'''Hu Gadarn''' 
600; [[Hu Gadarn|HERE]]; ''See also'' [[C#cymry|Cymry]]

'''Humphrey, Duke''' 
560

'''Hum-strum''' 
228; ''O.E.D.'': fr hum + strum, a roughly made or out of tune musical instrument; a hurdy gurdy

'''Hunter, Elizabeth''' 
239; Thomas Hunter's third wife who married Ralph Dixon (George Dixon's
father) after Thos Hunter died

'''Hunter, Jeremiah''' 
239; Thomas Hunter's brother

'''Hunter, Mary''' 
229; Jeremiah Dixon's mother; 238; from a Newcastle family, 239

'''Hunter, Thomas''' 
239; Mary Hunter's father

'''Hunters''' 
43; Jeremiah Dixon's maternal branch of the family, Quakers all

'''Hurricanoe/Hurricane''' 
413; aka "Hurricane" (a large private party - 18th cent.); at Castle Lepton; 527

'''Hurworth''' 
215; town about 3.5 miles south of Darlington and one mile east
of Croft Bridge in Durham County, England

'''Hutchinson, Governor''' 
128; of St. Helena

<div id="hynes"></div>'''Hynes, Tom''' 
7; eventual husband of Catherine Wheat; 575; [[Proceedings of the Council of Maryland|Historical Sources]]

'''Hynes, William''' 
575; Tom's father

'''Hysteresis''' 
630: ''Oxford English Dictionary'': "A phenomenon observed in some physical systems, by which changes in a property (e.g. magnetization, or length) lag behind changes in an agent on which they depend (e.g. magnetizing force, or stress), so that the value of the former at any moment depends on the manner of the previous variation of the latter (e.g. whether it was increasing or decreasing in value)"; [http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/hysteresis/hysteresis.html MORE]

===References===
<references/>

{{MD Alpha Nav}}

Main Page

2007-08-05T10:56:22Z

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[[Image:MD_cover_sm.jpg|300px|right]]<big>'''Welcome to the ''Mason & Dixon'' Wiki'''</big>

To become a contributor/editor, [http://pynchonwiki.com/mycaptcha/captcha-page.php '''Create an account.''']

:[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312423209/sr=1-1/qid=1156005821/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&tag2=hyperartspynchon'''Order ''Mason & Dixon''''']

This is the newly created Wiki for [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''Mason & Dixon'', joining the wikis for Pynchon's other "big" novels, [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Gravity's Rainbow''] and [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Against the Day'']. We will soon be adding wikis for ''V.'' (the guide is currently hosted at [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/v/ ThomasPynchon.com]), as well as ''Vineland'', ''The Crying of Lot 49'' and ''Slow Learner'', so that registered users of this wiki can create pages and make changes for those works' guides.

Besides using the Alphabetical Index and the page-by-page annotation, you can take a look at [[Mason & Dixon covers|''Mason & Dixon'' covers]] or read the [[Mason & Dixon Reviews|reviews]].

==How to Use this Wiki==

There are two major ways to use this wiki. The first is the '''''Mason & Dixon'' Alphabetical Index''', used to keep track of the myriad characters, real and imagined, as well as events, arcana, and lots of other stuff. The second is the '''Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page''', which allows the reader to look up and contribute allusions and references while reading the book, in a convenient and spoiler-free manner. These two sections are so far almost entirely different, but we're working on integrating them.

Apart from those, it's up to you!

==Alphabetical Index==
Information on the characters, events, and everything else in ''Mason & Dixon'', organized alphabetically:{{MD_Alpha_Nav}}

==Page by Page Annotations==
{{MD PbP}}

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Chapter 18: 183-189

2007-08-05T10:51:49Z

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==Page 183==

'''Ploughman's Lunch''' 
A ploughman's lunch is a cold snack or meal, comprising at a minimum a thick piece of cheese (usually Cheddar, Stilton, or other local cheese), pickle (often Branston Pickle, sometimes piccalilli and/or pickled onions), crusty bap or chunk of bread, and butter.
It is often accompanied by a green salad; other common additions are half an apple, celery, pâté, sliced hard-cooked egg or beetroot.
It is a common menu item in English pubs, often shortened when ordering to 'a ploughman's.'
The familiarity of the ploughman's lunch has led catering companies to describe a sandwich containing Cheddar, pickle and salad as a 'ploughman's sandwich.'
The authentic ploughman's lunch consisted of stale bread or a crusty loaf, and an English Cheddar or Stilton, and some variety of pickle. An apple would be included with the lunch to take away the spicy taste of the pickle and to provide a sweet finish, perhaps to be complemented by cider. Ideally, the apple would be of the same variety as that the cider was made from.

Much doubt has been cast on the authenticity of the ploughman's lunch, not least by the 1983 film of that name starring Jonathan Pryce (scripted by Ian McEwan) in which it is claimed that the ploughman's was the invention of an advertising company in the 1950s that was trying to boost the habit of buying meals in British pubs.
The question is: did the ploughman's exist (albeit without that name) before the ad agency, or was it all a fiction that drew on the other fiction of Merrie England? Just the sort of postmodern conundrum you can rely on Pynchon to serve up.

Fascinating, and we know Pynchon and McEwan are friends. (TRP borrowed at least one book from him once, ''The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers'', a book which surely TRP read while composing ''Mason & Dixon''). Here's wikipedia on the phrase--goes back to Sir Walter Scott--- and the history/controversy. The Oxford English Dictionary dates this phrase back to at least 1837, in the book ''Memoirs of the life of Sir Walter Scott'' by John G. Lockhart; but this stray early use may have meant merely the sum of its parts, "a lunch for a ploughman". 
Until recently, the OED's next citation was only from 1970, indicating a long period of time when the meal was virtually unknown in its native land. It is this long disuse and recent rediscovery that has led some people, such as the writer Ian McEwan (in his film ''The Ploughman's Lunch''), to portray the dish as being a recent invention dressed up as a traditional meal.

''Ploughman's Lunch'' was one of the expressions examined in the first series of the BBC 'Balderdash and Piffle' television program in 2006. The evidence for a 19th century origin proved to be rather inconclusive. 

'''Staindrop''' 
Staindrop is an attractive village near Raby Castle, former stronghold of the Nevills, and has always been associated with the Lords of Raby.

'''devoirs''' 
expressions of respect: expressions or acts of courtesy and respect. It is French for 'duty', and as a verb it means ''must''. It also denotes a school kid's home work.

'''Rockingham Whigs''' 
After a decade of factional chaos,.., a new system emerged, with two separate opposition groups. The Rockingham Whigs claimed the mantle of "Old Whigs," as the purported successors of the party of the Pelhams and the great Whig families. With such noted intellectuals as Edmund Burke behind them, the Rockingham Whigs laid out a philosophy which for the first time extolled the virtues of faction, or at least their faction. Wikipedia '''[Please do linking for a Wikipedia reference -- not enough linking! Thanks.]'''

==Page 184==

'''Cock Lane Ghost''' 
The story of the Cock Lane ghost attracted mass public attention in eighteenth-century England. Cock Lane is a short alleyway adjacent to London's Smithfield market and only a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral. The tall buildings and narrowness of this road give it a dark, foreboding presence and help to retain a sense of its origins as a medieval red-light district. In the eighteenth century this district housed London's working poor. It was this environment that, in January 1762, gave rise to an extraordinary scandal that engulfed all London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cock_Lane_Ghost

'''Garrick, David (1717-79)''' 
British actor; Garrick and [w.html#woffington">Woffington</a> were amorously linked and lived together from 1742-45. Apparently Woffington never married and the "Mrs." was more along the lines of an honorary title. Although Garrick married in 1749 and remained so until his death there seems some evidence that he retained an attachment to Woffington (e.g. he wore the shoe buckles she gave him until his death). He was also author of the play, Florizel and Perdita, "A Dramatic Pastoral, in Three Acts."; Garrick was also a pupil of Dr. Samuel Johnson and a member of his literary club, along with James Boswell and others. Garrick Quotes; 405

'''bum-boat''' 
bumboat ( ) n. A small boat used to peddle provisions to ships anchored offshore. [Probably partial translation of Low German bumboot , ship's boat]

==Page 185==
'''Pope Joan''' 
Pope Joan is the name of a female pope who supposedly reigned for less than two years in the 850s,[1] based on a legend that circulated in the Middle Ages.[citation needed] Pope Joan is regarded by most modern historians and religion scholars as fictitious, possibly originating as an anti-papal satire, but her existence is still debated. Wikipedia

'''Piquet''' 
Piquet is a card game for two players, using a shortened pack of 32 cards which omits 2 to 6 in each suit. In ascending order, the cards rank 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A (high). A number of French terms are traditionally used for various features of the game and these are included below. 
A game consists of a set of 6 deals called a partie, with the deal alternating. Each player is dealt 12 cards, with 8 left as a talon. A deal consists of three parts: discarding a number of cards and replacing them from the talon to try to improve the hand, declaring various features in the hand, and then playing the cards in tricks. 
Piquet is a very old game. It was well established by 1650 with similar rules to the present ones (it differed in using a 36 card pack with a 12 card talon, elder hand being allowed to change 7 cards, and a partie was ended by the first to reach 100, a variant still sometimes played). It was mentioned by Rabelais in 1535 although whether this was the same game is unclear. It has retained its popularity to the present day as one of the best and most skilful card games for two players. The rules described are those published by Cavendish in 1882.

<div id="parlour"></div>'''Parlour Game''' 
A parlour game is a group game played indoors. During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the USA, these games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes. They were often played in a parlour, hence the name. 
There are a variety of historic Parlour Games and Pynchon here seems to be defining this one in the subsequent lines. But one old possibly relevant version for M & D was called Consequences: Consequences is an old parlour game similar to the surrealist game exquisite corpse or Mad Libs.[1]

Each person takes a turn choosing a word for one of six questions, in this order.

:Man's name 
:Woman's name 
:Place name 
:A comment 
:Another comment 
:An outcome

Then the story is read: #1 met #2 at #3, and he said #4, she said #5, and the consequence was #6. In some versions of the game the man gets to reply to the woman, thus the consequence moves to #7. Another version includes 'the world said' at #7, which is meant to represent the response of the public to the consequence.

<div id="farces"></div>'''four-door Farces?''' 
This exact phrase is repeated in Against the Day. P. 567 "four-door farce". One of the recurring physical jokes in such plays involves sets with many doors and people coming in and out, just missing each other. A French writer,
George Feydeau, was famous for writing them at the time of ATD, which makes the possible pun on his last name--Feydeau, four-door--anachronous
in M & D but still resonant, perhaps. See a modern example, Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up Doc?, the movie.

'''Some of us are Outlaws, and some Trespassers upon the very world''' 
Pynchonian thematic....of course, Trespassers are part of the plot of ''Against The Day''.

==Page 186==
'''Morning Tussah''' 
tus·sah (tŭs'ə, tŭs'ô') also tus·sore (tŭs'ôr', -ōr')
n.
An Asian silkworm, the larva of a large saturniid moth (Antheraea paphia), that produces a coarse brownish or yellowish silk.
The silk produced by this worm or a fabric woven from it.
[Hindi tasar, from Sanskrit tasaram, shuttle (probably from the shape of its cocoon).]

==Page 187==
'''buzz-men''' 
slang for pickpockets

'''Prie-Dieux''' 
custom-built Church kneelers

'''quotinoctian''' 
occurring every night

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}