MDDM23: A Magician in the Neighborhood

[Dave Monroe]

"Mistress of a diverting repertoire of conjuring
tricks with Playing-Cards, Dice, Coins, Herbs, Liquids
in Flasks, Gentlemen's Watches, Handkerchiefs,
Weapons, Beetles and Bugs and short Excursions up the
Chain of Being therefor,-- to Pigeons upon occasion,
and Squirrels,-- she has brought, to the mud
courtyards of trans-Susquehannian inns, Countryfolk
from miles about to gather into a crepsucular Murmur,
no fabl'd Telegraph so swift as this Diffusion among
them of word that a Magician is in the Neighborhood. 
In this Autumn cold, out in the Rain, beneath the
generally unseen rising of the Pleiades, has she been
trouping on, cheerfully rendering subjunctive, or
contrary to fact, familiar laws of nature and of
common sense." (M&D, Ch. 36, p. 365)


"Chain of Being"

See ...

Lovejoy, Arthur O.  The Great Chain of Being:
   A Study of the History of an Idea.
   Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1936.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/reviews/LOVGRX_R.html

As well as ...

http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/201/intro2_medieval/estates&chain_of_being_notes.htm

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/courses/re/chain.htm

http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/great%20chain%20of%20being.htm


Main Entry: cre·pus·cu·lar 
Pronunciation: kri-'p&s-ky&-l&r
Function: adjective
Date: 1668
1 : of, relating to, or resembling twilight : DIM
2 : active in the twilight <crepuscular insects>

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

"Dimdown" = crepuscular?  Hm ...


"fabl'd Telegraph"

Cf. ...

"... via the Jesuit Telegraph, they enjoy their d---'d
Marvel of instant communication,'-- far-reaching and
free of error, thanks to giant balloons sent to great
Altitudes, Mirrors of para-(not to mention
dia-)bolickal perfection, beams of light focused to
hitherto unimagined intensities ..." (M&D, Ch. 28, p.
287)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0201&msg=64440&sort=date

And from John Bailey ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0202&msg=64948&sort=date


"Diffusion"

Main Entry: dif·fu·sion 
Pronunciation: di-'fyü-zh&n
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : the action of diffusing : the state of being
diffused
2 : PROLIXITY, DIFFUSENESS
3 a : the process whereby particles of liquids, gases,
or solids intermingle as the result of their
spontaneous movement caused by thermal agitation and
in dissolved substances move from a region of higher
to one of lower concentration b (1) : reflection of
light by a rough reflecting surface (2) : transmission
of light through a translucent material : SCATTERING
4 : the spread of cultural elements from one area or
group of people to others by contact ...

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

See ...

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie.
   The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren.
   New York: NYRB Books, 2001 [1959].

http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?product_id=24

And cf. not only ...

"Hark, the herald angels sing: Mrs. Simpson's pinched
our King" (GR, Pt. I, p. 177)

But also ...

http://www.cooper.edu/engineering/projects/gateway/ee/solidmat/modlec2/node6.html

http://support.wolfram.com/mathematica/mathematics/numerics/pde3.html

But why IS Mrs. Edgewise a magician?  A
sleight-of-hand artist, at any rate (a la ...).  Let
me know ...


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