MDDM Ch. 28 Notes & Questions

[John Bailey]

276.8 ‘owing to the state of his teeth’

“According to his accounts, he received the standard medical treatments of 
the day, which included heavy doses of the infamous calomel (mercurous 
chloride) that can lead to destruction of the teeth. This, combined with 
what may have been naturally poor teeth, led to dental problems beginning 
when Washington was twenty-two. Over the next thirty-five years, he would 
lose all his teeth despite daily brushing, use of dentifrice and mouthwash.”
>From http://www.americanrevolution.org/dental.html

-.16 ‘surrounded by our tithables’  tithe = a portion, usually a tenth, of 
one’s pay. ‘Tithable’ in 16th /17th Virginia referred to a person who paid, 
or for whom someone else paid, one of the taxes that the General Assembly 
imposed for the support of the civil government in the colony.

-.35 ‘Scoundrel Pontiac’ Native American chief who managed to unite 3 
previously feuding Ottowa tribes against the English, but was ultimately 
unsuccessful. Also enlisted French aid.

277.4 ‘Mr Cresap tried to bribe the General…’ Mr Cresap seems to have been a 
fairly notable figure in this area, and the Cresap Society traces his 11,000 
descendants (!). He must have done something right.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~cresap/one.htm
“To [Cresap’s] houses travelled every person, white or Indian, moving along 
the river. George Washington stopped here often on his travels; the Indians 
called Cresap "Big Spoon" in recognition of his plentiful hospitality.”

-.10 ‘as he was not offering his Services out of love for those inexpensive 
Tokens with which he is synonymous...” Who, Cresap? Or Bouquet? Either way, 
I can’t make much sense of this sentence, beyond the obvious later part of 
the paragraph, ie. it’s all about the money.

-.24 ‘Proclamation-Shmocklamation’ Ha ha ha. Anachronistic-Shmanachronistic, 
I say.

-.24 ‘Ulster Scots’ Anyone? Pynchon presents, in a few short sentences, a 
group of ‘dispossessed’, there’s a word that should set off the bells, but 
doesn’t really give us that much info, expecting us to look it up ourselves. 
I’ve come across people describing Pynchon’s novels as echoing hypertext, 
but there’s a lot more effort required than a simple point-and-click, IMHO.

-.34 ‘Grenville Ministry’ George Grenville was Pitt's brother-in-law and the 
brother of Lord Temple. Grenville already had much political experience as 
First Lord of the Admiralty. He was extremely able and a competent 
administrator but he appeared to be self-willed, and politically was limited 
because a) he was shallow, humourless and verbose b) he had incurred Pitt's 
wrath for serving under Bute and c) he did not have the King's wholehearted 
support. He further alienated George by demanding that the King should have 
nothing to do with Bute.Grenville's ministry fell finally over problems in 
America and over the issue of the freedom of the individual, started by John 
Wilkes. It appeared that the government was trying to silence the North 
Briton, a newspaper written by Wilkes, and thus was attacking the freedom of 
the individual which had been established by the Bill of Rights.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/mbloy/c-eight/grenvill.htm

-.34 ‘Data’ is italicised in Washington’s speech. Is this because, at this 
point, the word was a relatively new addition to the language, and was still 
considered a foreign (if Latin can be considered foreign) expression?

278.14 ‘the New Harvest’ Col. Washington’s hemp. There’s a lot of info on 
Washington’s hemp-growing ways, and it’s been well documented elsewhere. 
Pynchon doesn’t seem to use it for much more than stoner’s humour, however, 
and given his self-professed predilection for these sort of jokes (in the SL 
intro), it’s not surprising. At least we don’t get anyone shouting ‘Legalise 
it!’

-.17/18 ‘male and fimble’ Washington documents in his diaries his separation 
of male and female hemp plants, which supposedly suggests medicinal or 
drug-related uses of the crop. Fimble is an archaic term for female hemp.

-.19 Gershom – there’s plenty to say about Gershom, one of the more 
memorable minor players in M&D, but I won’t say it here. For the time being, 
I’ll note that Gershom is a relatively common Jewish name.

-.20 ‘Where you be at, my man!’ I’m not sure how to read this line. It’s a 
different tone of address than we’ve had so far from Washington. In one 
sense, I can sort of imagine it as the words of a white southern plantation 
owner to a servant, adopting a dominant voice (note, it’s printed as an 
exclamation, not a question). On the other hand, it also seems like the 
familiar vernacular of black street-talk, or at least a stereotypical 
version of it.

-.26-27 ‘recognising John 1:49’ I’ve got John 1:47 for that line (King James 
bible)...maybe it’s just a COL49 joke. Maybe not. The line is spoken by 
Jesus to Nathaniel, who replies ‘Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art 
the King of Israel.’ A few decades earlier, the Bishop of Durham was named 
Nathaniel. Charming, yes?

.279.10 ‘peruke’ A white peri-wig. Of note…the smaller black circle on a 
larger white circle. We’ll come across this image later in the chapter, 
signifying the Transit of Venus. But, in this context, what could the 
Transit signify?

-.13 ‘kasha varnishkies’ Washington’s pronounciation of ‘kasha vernishkes’, 
traditional Jewsih meal. HyperArts site has the recipe… 
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/extra/kasha.html

-.26 ‘Joe Miller’ ?

-.32 ‘Dismal Swamp’ …Washington owned a 5,000 acre share in the Dismal Swamp 
Land Co. (thus explaining his desire for Gersh to invest in it). For 
details: http://www.northeast-nc.com/dismalswamp/

.281.10 ‘Ohio Company’ We’re treated to a fairly lengthy excursion through 
the history of this Company, but I’m not certain why. Washington begins in a 
way that suggests he is going somewhere, but rambles a bit too much. What’s 
his point? Does he have one? Does he need one?

-.25 ‘emmeshed’ Archaic spelling? Or typo?

282.1 ‘Bishop-of-Durham clause’… ‘Baltimore brought to the king a charter 
for his new colony modeled, not on the charter of Virginia, nor on that of 
Massachusetts - the two English colonies already established - but on that 
of the Palatinate of Durham, a survival from the Middle Ages. That charter 
had given the Bishop of Durham practically royal power over his city. Aside 
from setting forth the metes and bounds of the grant, Calvert scarcely 
altered the wording of the old charter, except to write in "Maryland" 
instead of "Durham" and "Lord Proprietary" for "Bishop." Thus, if the king's 
enemies challenged his charter, he could assert that it was nothing new, 
only a revival of an old English political system.’ See 
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000025/html/intro.html



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