MDDM "the swifter passenger conveyances" (651)

[Doug Millison]

"Festive Lanthorns, by contrast, shine thro' the Glass of the switer
passenger conveyances that go streaking by above the Fields, one after
another, all hours of the day and night...." (651)

A rather obvious anachronism, mixing 20th century airships of some sort
(zeppelins, perhaps, or airplanes) in this 18th century scene.

I think it was Dave that poined us to "Sari, Sorry and the Vortex of
History:  Calendar Reform, Anachronism, and Language Change in _Mason &
Dixon_" by Elizabeth Jane Wall Hinds.  She says, "Pynchon intervenes in the
process of history itself with a ubiguitous deployment of anachronism" --
near the beginning of a essay well worth reading.  I don't have the url
handy now.