MDMD (6)--Notes & Queries, Ch 19

[RICHARD ROMEO]

Notes & Queries, Ch 19 (AD=Andrew's Comments)

190.1--The George.  Any signifigance?

190.6 `Macclesfield' cf 192.35 (AD)

190.7--"Eleven Days Off the Calendar"--There were two major calendar 
changes introduced in 1752. First, the church and historical calendars 
were brought together - both were to run from January 1st to December 
31st. Secondly, the Gregorian calendar, which had been in use in Catholic 
countries since 1582 or shortly thereafter, was adopted in place of the 
Julian calendar. By 1752 the two calendars differed by 11 days, and the 
change was accomplished by naming the day after September 2nd, 1752, as 
September 14th, 1752. (ME GOD, I WASN'T EVER BORN!!!)

190.12 `the Battlefields we know, situated in Earth's three
Dimensions, have also their counterparts in Time' !!! (AD)

192.1--Mr. Swivett.  swivet--state of extreme agitation

192.11 `Time, ye see, . . . is the money of Science, isn't it. The
Philosophers need a Time, common to all, as Traders do a common
coinage' !!! (AD)

193.1 `Walpole-Gang' ??? (AD).  Walpole was noted for running things 
like, in modern terms,  a Chicago political machine (RR)

193.3--"My father required but 4 yrs as Earl Of Macclesfield to bring the 
name down....".  We know Macc, Sr. was a lawyer--is that why?

193.6 `Attainder' 1) Hist the action or process of attainting; spec
the legal consequences of a sentence of death or outlawry
i.e. forfeiture fo estate, deprivation of rank or title and loss of
civil rights generally, LME 2) fig condemnation; dishonour; slander
L16-M18. (AD)

193.8 `Shirburn Castle' Shirburn is a small village in Oxfordshire
near Stokenchurch, about half way between High Wycombe and Amersham. (AD)

193.22 `Cloud Hill' why two suns?? anyone know the Staffs locale?

193.35 `Plexity' complexity?

194.4--"older man was in perpetual bad health...married 
foolishly...entirely purchased long ago..."--Leads one to believe 
Bradley's marriage was arranged, or is this refracted through Mason and 
his present state of peevishness?

194.6 `Nutation' an oscillation of the axis of a spinning body. Now
usu spec a variation in the inclination of an axis from the
vertical,esp that whihc makes the precession of the Earth's poles
follow a wavy rather than a circular path. (AD)

194.16-17--Right Ascension & Declination--right ascension is the anglular 
distance measured eastward from the vernal equinox along the celestial 
equator to its intersection with the body's hour circle.  Declination is 
angular distance north or south of the celestial equator meaured along 
it's hour circle. (hour circle=great circle on celestial sphere that 
passes through both the body and north celestial pole)

195.21 `What of love triangles' e.g. Mason, Susannah and Rebekah? or
maybe Bradley, Mason and Rebekah? Probably the latter since Rebekah's
death would make the triangle a quadrilateral. (AD).  Not sure, if there 
is evidence linking Bradley and Rebekah romantically.  I'd say the 
former. (RR)

195.31 `They were like the stars to him' Well?

195.35 `Count Paradicsom' ???

195.36 `Aliens' i.e. the men from Stepney (AD)

196.2 `Antimony' OED gives no derivation for this element's name but I
seem to remember some cock and bull story about monks and poison.
Anyone know of any relevant associations with this element. (AD)

196.4--"their music proceeding, not straight ahead...no beginning, nor 
end"--fine description of jazz that those "aliens" are playing.

197.5 `strange little fellow' Who is this? Sounds like the Dalai Lama 
(AD)

197.12 `Macaroni' cf MDMD(1) 21.30 (AD)

197.25--Rev. Cromorne--"crooked horn" in French

197.27 `Albedo' the perfect choice of word! albedo is a measure of
reflectivity, specifically the proportion of incident radiation
reflected by a surface. It is usually used of planets or moons, rather
than eyeballs. Did Pynchon not use the word in GR? (AD)

198.3 `Defenestration of the Clothiers in '56' Is this the problems
with clothiers referred to earlier at 168.2? Is it also a real event
which just happens to have occurred in The George in Sapperton? (AD)





Richard Romeo
Coordinator of Cooperating Collections
The Foundation Center-NYC
212-807-2417
rromeo at fdncenter.org