MD3PAD 193-195

[Toby G Levy]

        Macclesfield was given the post of President of the Royal
Society as a political reward by the "Walpole-Gang" referring to Horace
Walpole, who is famous for being the originator of the Gothic novel, but
also was a member of parliament and active in politics. Mason imagines a
conversation between Macclesfield and Bradley in which Macclesfield
rails against the popular opposition to the loss of the eleven days.
Bradley plays devil's advocate and stokes Macclesfield's disgruntlement.

        In 1752 Bradley was 59 and Macclesfield was 55.  Macclesfield
thinks of Bradley as being in perpetual bad health and having married
"foolishly." They discuss the lies politicians must tell as opposed to
scientific measurements which must be as truthful as possible.

        Mason spins a tale to his listeners in The George:
Macclesfield assembles a group of "Strangers" from the far east where
time was much less important.  He then gets into a discussion about
three "genders:" male, female and dead. In a parenthetical mention of
Wicks, Pynchon injects the possibility that these views are more Wicks'
than Mason's.

        Mason invents a leader of the group of eastern strangers: Count
Paradicsom. Paradicsom is the hungarian word for paradise.

Toby