M&D Deep Duck: Contract with the City

[Keith Davis]

The Iceland Spar?

On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Term" and "a function of simple Density" also have that TRP mathematical
> subtext:
>
> a term in an equation
>
> an equation balances the terms on each side of the =, as a contract
> balances "what I/you give" and "what I/you get"
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 1:39 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The Social Contract.
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 9:00 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > IN M&D's first meeting, at 14.16, Dixon asks how Londoners avoid brawls
>> and
>> > duels. Mason replies :
>> >
>> > " 'Oh, one may, if one wishes, find Insult at ev'ry step,-- from
>> insolent
>> > Stares to mortal Assault, an Orgy of Insult uninterrupted,-- yet how
>> does one
>> > proceed to call out each offender in turn, or choose among 'em, and in
>> > obedience to what code? So, one soon understands it, as yet another
>> Term in
>> > the Contract between the City and oneself,-- a function of simple
>> Density,
>> > ensuring that there never be time enough to acknowledge, let alone to
>> > resent, such a mad Variety of offer'd Offense.' "
>> >
>> >
>> > Over the next few pages, while it is clear that they are finding each
>> other
>> > congenial, it is also clear that they are negotiating their own
>> contract:
>> >
>> >
>> > "Taking it for the joke it must be, Dixon laughs..."
>> >
>> >
>> > "Dixon decides to register only annoyance..."
>> >
>> >
>> > "...Dixon...  finds himself laughing without... honest Mirth..."
>> >
>> >
>> > "Mason has been edging away..."
>> >
>> >
>> > "Mason retreats from  [Dixon's clasp] in a Flinch..."
>> >
>> >
>> > "...in some Uncertainty as to how the power may come to be sorted out
>> > betwixt 'em"
>> >
>> >
>> > Dixon "...seems disappointed in Mason, --or so the Astronomer, ever
>> inclined
>> > to suspicion, fears."
>> >
>> >
>> > It's a perverse strength of this friendship that it will never lack for
>> > variety of offer'd offense.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>


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