MDMD2: Imps of the Apprehensive

[Dave Monroe]

   Wishing you a journey south as safe as His Ways how
strange, may allow, I wait your arrival in a Spirit
happily rescu'd by your universally good Name, from
all Imps of the Apprehensive,-- an Exception most
welcome, in th generally uneasy Life of
   y'r obdt. Svt.,
   Charles Mason (M&D, Ch. 2, p. 13)

Again, in an exchange of letters and a couple of
paragraphs of narration at al., Chapter 2 does much
economically to establish the contrasting,
complementary characters of (Pynchon's) Mason and
Dixon.  "Apprehensive," indeed ...

ap·pre·hend 
"a-pri-'hend
verb
Middle English, from Latin apprehendere,literally, to
seize, from ad- + prehendere to seize -- more at GET
15th century
transitive senses
1 : ARREST, SEIZE <apprehend a thief>
2 a : to become aware of : PERCEIVE b : to anticipate
especially with anxiety, dread, or fear
3 : to grasp with the understanding : recognize the
meaning of intransitive senses : UNDERSTAND, GRASP

ap·pre·hen·sion 
"a-pri-'hen(t)-sh&n
noun
Middle English, from Late Latin apprehension-,
apprehensio, from Latin apprehendere
14th century
1 a : the act or power of perceiving or comprehending
<a person of dull apprehension> b : the result of
apprehending mentally : CONCEPTION <according to
popular apprehension>
2 : seizure by legal process : ARREST
3 : suspicion or fear especially of future evil :
FOREBODING 

ap·pre·hen·sive 
"a-pri-'hen(t)-siv
adjective
14th century
1 : capable of apprehending or quick to do so :
DISCERNING
2 : having apprehension : COGNIZANT
3 : viewing the future with anxiety or alarm
synonym see FEARFUL
- ap·pre·hen·sive·ly adverb
- ap·pre·hen·sive·ness noun

http://m-w.com/dictionary/

"Wishing you a journey south as safe as His ways how
starnge, may allow," there's some apprehension for
you, no?  And note later ...

   "'This dog,' Mason singing sotto voce, 'is causing
me ap-pre-hen-sion,--'" (M&D, Ch. 3, p. 20)

The syllabication there, by the way, leads me to
believe that an allusion to some actually (and,
possibly, probably, presumably twentieth-century,
present day) song is being made there, but I'm at a
loss to hear just what it might be. And why "Imps of
the Apprehensive," for that matter ...

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