M&D - Chapter 17 - Nick Mournival

[Johnny Marr]

Mournival is an obsolete word referring to four in a kind composed of aces,
kings, queens, or jacks (OED)

Another gambling reference in a book which at times suuggests the aleatory
nature of so much of life seems to form part of an inevitable destiny. The
certainty of chance.

Nick may also be a mocking reference to the devil. After all, Mournival is
fallen: "formerly Esquire, now your servant".

He's appeared earlier in the novel, as Mason recalls he's Florinda's ex
boyfriend - we encountered him 60 pages earlier, when he was described as
looking like Death. Florinda's now left him for a "Chicken-nabob" - TRP's
social pecking order is defined in painfully acute detail.

Mason would rather be left in peace to view the Ear by himself, but
Mournival insists on putting on a show  about the "Fateful Eat" for his
visitor. Mournival insists that the ear wasn't cut off ina fit or pique, or
as an intimidatory gesture, but in order to  steal Jenkins' Ruby Earring.
"For one silver shilling, you may view this remarkable Jewel, red as a
wound, pluck'd from the Navel of an importantly connected Nauhct-Dancer, by
a Mate off a Coaster, who should've known better- passing then from
Scoundrel to Scoundrel ... till it settl'd in to dangle beneath the fateful
Lobe of Mr Jenkin, and wait, a-throb with unluckiness, the Spaniard's
blade".

The Spaniard's blade has an untold story of it's own. The Pyncon wiki has a
choice quote from Lavengro, George Barrow's mid19th century roman a
clef-cum-memoir described by historian GM Trelevayne as "a book that
breathes the spirit of that period of strong and eccentric characters" (If
that doesn't sound Pynchonian, what does?)

’Tis the sword of Cordova, won in bloodiest fray off Saint Vincent’s
promontory, and presented by Nelson to the old capital of the much-loved
land of his birth. Yes, the proud Spaniard’s sword is to be seen in yonder
guildhouse, in the glass case affixed to the wall: many other relics has
the good old town, but none prouder than the Spaniard’s sword.


TRP successfully manages to make this all sound like a hellish visit to a
country heritage site, particularly the proud curator's grand recital of
Jenkins' CV. In the meantime, Mason's attention has wandered to the
Chronoscope, a device measuring very small intervals of time. He soon picks
up from the recounted sequence of Jenkins' contretemps that he was
intercepted by the Spaniards whilst aboard the brig Rebecca.Mason can't
help but see "the ship's name is a Message from across some darker Sea"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavengro#cite_note-2>
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