MDDM Ch. 19 Summary, notes

[jbor]

The local pub at Stroud. A few of the regulars offer a belligerent
anti-Catholic commentary on the English Calendar Act of 1751. Chas listens
in with a mix of embarassment and impatience. He recalls briefly his own
father's irrational opposition to the scheme, as well as the feel of the
paternal boot.

The consensus at the pub is that the Act was a plot devised by the European
"Philosophers", one both blasphemous and treasonous. Mason, prompted, spins
a yarn about the "stolen Eleven Days" in order to satirise the yokels'
ignorant prejudices.

The disquisition which follows - fabulation and fact intermingled - is
apparently Wicks's version of Mason's tale of Macclesfield and Bradley's
conversation about the "regiment" of "Asiatick Pymies" who were hired "to
colonize th' Eleven Days." Chas's outrageous tale has the lads going, but
the scene ends on a distinct note of humility and pathos.

***

190.6 "Macclesfield and that gang, that stole the Eleven Days right off the
Calendar"

http://www.lexscripta.com/articles/actof1751.html

http://www.lexscripta.com/articles/calendar.html

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw97/stolen_time.html

190.10 "Thank you, Rev,-- now when do I get to sell Ale in your Chapel?
Sunday be all right?" - cf. those signs people have which say something like
'We don't swim in your toilet so please don't pee in our pool'

192 Mr Swivett ? Mr Hailstone ? (Rev.d Cromorne ?)

192.34 "'Twas in that Schizochronick year of '52, that Macclesfield became
President of the Royal Society, continuing so for twelve more years, till
his Unfortunate passing." So what year is it? Bradley died in 1762, his
death is still the topic of conversation at the pub, so how come Mason knows
that Macclesfield dies in 1764? Is this an error? (Or Wicks's interpolation?
Or another narrator?)

193.21 "I grew up knowing the Sun might set twice."

Dr Plot and the Amazing Double Sunset: Double Sunset in Leek, Staffordshire:

http://www.u-net.com/ph/mas/leek/sunset.htm

194.11 "*noblesse oblige*" Noble birth imposes the obligation of high-minded
principles and noble actions.

194.14 "Mathesis" ?

195.15 "an Hungarian Intermediary" ? 195.34 "Count Paradicksom" ?

196.23 "the breeze off the Hoogli" Hooghly. a river in NE India, in West
Bengal: the westernmost and commercially most important channel by which the
Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal

197.10 "a good number of Citizens ... displaying Headgear Messages a-plenty"
Fact or fabulation?

198.3 "the Defenestration of the Clothiers in '56" Seems to be a reference
to a real historical incident from the history of Luddism, though I couldn't
locate anything other than oblique references to it:

    The Riots of 1825
    Social upheaval
    The riots were a culmination of unrest among the weavers who has seen
    the nature of their work change and wages gradually diminishing and also
    individual manufacturers refused to pay a uniform rate for the job.
    There had been disorder in 1756 and further confrontations in 1803 but
    in 1825 all the workers went on strike and membership of the Stroud
    Valley Weavers Union increased from 400 to 5000. There were a number of
    affrays and disturbances. There were also large gatherings such as the
    6000 people who congregated on Selsley Common to listen to what the
    manufactures had to offer.

    The unrest became worse, the troops were called in and a number of
    rioters were imprisoned.

    However, eventually the clothiers all agreed to a single rate which the
    weavers also agreed upon. But the strike was followed by a recession;
    then a lot of the work was taken in-house and then the Power Loom was
    introduced all of which caused an increase in unemployment among the
    weavers. 

http://www.grahamthomas.com/history11.html

198.5 "Good Eggs far outnumber Bad Hats" Pickled boiled eggs in tall jars
are a common repast in English pubs.

best