MDDM Ch. 78

[jbor]

759.17 his Midnight Junto  junto n. a small group of men, cabal, faction,
clique

759.29 Sercial

http://www.madeirawine.com/html/sercial.html

761.5 Franklin, to Mary Mason: "we transacted honorably some items of
Philosophick Business"

An outright lie?

762.13 the Longitude tables of Mayer [...] 768.31 the Nautical Almanack

http://www.math.hcmuns.edu.vn/~algebra/history/history/Mathematicians/Mayer_
Tobias.html

764-5 Franklin and Ingvarr  Cf. Dr Frankenstein and Igor

764.34 "Fine with me, as Howard says to Howard ... "  ?

765.15 "Stellium"  a star chart?

765.18 "yet *Vis Martis* enough, and more, for the Journey"  *Vis Martis* =
strength/power of Mars? (I.e., Jere's physical bravery and willingness to
fight, and cf. his violent assault on the slave-driver in Baltimore)

766.12 the Drum-Head of the Day  drumhead 2. the head of a capstan, pierced
with holes for the capstan bar (?)

766-7 Doc Isaac: " ... High Tobers of Greenwich, rambling Bearward, and Zoot
Cheroot sez me early-and-late, or 'tis be-wary of the Frigidary, for the
Gloak that quiddles"

A bit of Dixon-like double-talk from Mason's second son, the gist of which
is "don't mess with us", followed up by a shout for the bar.

>From Andrew Dinn's MDMD notes to this chapter:

"Ghastly-Fop speak, apparently. Cove,
M16 perh fr Romany cova = thing, person or related to coff = to buy or
purchase, A fellow; a chap. Tober, slang L19 fr Shelta (an old gypsy
Romany language) tobar = road cf tobyman = highwayman, The site
occupied by a circus, fair or market. I suspect the direct implication
i sthat M&M are highwaymen, although the notion of Road-men or even
Line-men is not far away. Zoot cheroot, any takers? early-and-late,
sounds like Cockney rhyming slang for mate. Frigidary? The nearest i
can find is the latin frigidarium, meaning the final cold bath in a
Roman bath house. Gloak we saw in MDMD(13) (401.11) meaning, A man; a
fellow. Quiddle, now chiefly dial & US M16, prob fr quiddity after
fiddle etc, A 1 Speak in a trifling way, M16, 2 Trifle or waste time
with, M19, B A fastidious person, E19."

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9807&msg=29383&keywords=tober

767.13 the Footpads  ? (walkers, journeymen, "Tobers"?)

767.14 the Brum Kiddy  I.e., from Birmingham

767.14 "London Canting" = London swearing

767.15 "Clozay le Gob" I.e., "Shut your mouth", in bastardised French.

767.26 "this Tohu-Vabohu"

state of chaos, disorder, and utter confusion

This expression comes from a similar-sounding Hebrew phrase for "emptiness
and desolation." In fact, it's the phrase used early in the book of Genesis,
where the earth is described as being "without form and void." The modern
English adaptation of this Hebrew phrase is spelled several ways, including
tohu-bohu, tohu-vavohu, tohu-vabohu, and tohu and bohu.

http://funwords.com/library/t.htm

Cf. Mason's apocalyptic sighting of "Beings from the New Planet" (769) and
also the first stanza of Tim Tox's poem at 760.1, with the reference to the
"puissant Prince,/ Before whom, Chaos reign'd, and Order since...."

768-9 the £5,000 Prize offer'd by the Board of Longitude

More info here:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Longitude2.html#116

770.1 Royal Society "Men of Science" vs. "Macaronis" ... 1783-84 (?)

770.2 Mr. Hutton 

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Hutton.html

... Henry Cavendish (cf. 730.20-22)

http://www.mada.co.il/website/html/eng/2_1_1-22.htm

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Cavendish.html

... Mr. Joseph Banks

http://155.187.10.12/biography/banks.biography.html

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/Frank/People/banks.html

771.18 Petroglyph = carved rock

772.4 what went on between Newton and Flamsteed

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Flamsteed.html

best