Mason & Dixon (29 page)

"In Paris," comments Cousin DePugh, his father happening for a Moment to be out of the Room, " 'tis all the Rage— indeed, / have been Mesmeriz'd."

"What,— " Ethelmer needling in among a general murmur of Dubiety, "by Mesmer himself, I suppose."

"Yes and Dr. M. was also kind enough to instruct some of us in what he knew,—

"Mesmer charges an hundred Louis, 'tis well known," cries Euphie, "That's eighty-five pounds Brit, where's your poor Father getting money like that?"

"Oh, Franz gave us a Price, as there were so many of us, who wish'd to learn. By forgoing one Pint per Evening, for a Stretch somewhat longer than Lent, I soon had replenish'd my Funds. In fact, I don't ever recall telling Pa about it, and would be oblig'd, dear Cousin, um, that is..."

"Peach Not is ever my Policy, DePugh."

"I've become quite good at the Mesmerick Arts,— indeed I'm thinking of setting up a practice in America."

"New-York's the Place," advises Brae, "they've ev'rything there. But stay out of this Town, Coz, if you're looking to turn any Profit.”

"Brae!" cries her father in a mock-offended Tone. "Anyone with the necessary Drive can make a go of it here. As Mr. Tox says in his Penn-sylvaniad,— twenty-first or -second Book,

'A young man seeking to advance himself,

Will get him to the nearest Source of Pelf.—

And few of these are more distinctly Pelfier,

Than,— Long Life, Queen of Schuylkill!— Philadelphia.'''

"I was thinking more of the West," says DePugh. "Little or no Medical equipment to weigh down one's Progress...the necessary Herbs, in those Wilds,— so 'tis said,— ev'rywhere to be found...and the Powers being already long known to Indian medicine-men, Business opportunities await the alert Practitioner, among Red, even as White, customers."

"More likely," his Uncle suggests, "any Doctors who're already there will run you out of town, if they don't kill you first, because they don't want the Competition."

"But it's America, Sir! Competition is of her Essence!"

"Nobody here wants Competition," Ives LeSpark re-entering, shaking his head gravely. "All wish but to name their Price, and maintain it, without the extra work and worry all these damn'd Up-starts require."

"More work for you, Nunk," supposes Ethelmer.

"We are like Physicians, there is always enough Work for us, as we treat the Moral Diseases," replies the Attorney, "nor are we any more dispos'd than our Brother Doctors to meeting other folks' Prices,— hence our zeal in defending Monopoly."

"A form of Sloth," notes the Revd, "that only Brutality can maintain for long, soon destroy'd if 'tis not abandon'd first."

"Rubbish," several Voices pronounce at once.

"Looks as if I'll need Fire-Arms," reckons DePugh.

"You know the Uncle to see, then," advises Aunt Euph.

"Already your Load increases," Brae puts in. "A Man oughtn't to be too weigh'd down."

"Franz told us we need bring but the proper Gaze."

"Hmm. Let us see.”

"Be warn'd, Cousin...."

"He's Magnetick," says Thelmer.

Most of Hurworth (the Revd has meanwhile continu'd) believe William Emerson a practicing Magician. Sheep-tenders have reported flights, usually at dusk, Passages of shadows aloft that can only have been one of Emerson's classes out upon a Field-Trip, for he is teaching them to fly. Toward Sunset, when ev'ry least Ruffle in the Nap of the Terrain is magnified as Shadow, they'll be out looking for traces of Roman and earlier ruins. In the Twilight they ascend, one by one, dutiful Pupils, Caps tied firmly down, Rust Light upon the Wrinkles in their Clothing, to flock above the Village, before moving out across the Fells, following southwesterly the Ley-Lines he shows them, sighting upon the Palatine Residence at Bishop Auckland, whilst Chapel-Spires, roadside Crosses, pre-historic standing Stones, holy Spring-heads, one by one in perfect Line, go passing directly beneath,— until just at the river, over ancient Vinovium, the Flock will pause to re-group. He is teaching them to sense rather than see this Line, to learn exactly what it feels like to yaw too much to its port or starboard. The Ley seems to generate, along its length, an Influence,— palpable as that of Earth's Magnetism upon a Needle,— "That is," Dixon will avow years later to Mason, with every appearance of sincerity, "I knew I could feel those Lines."

"Bisley Church," recalls Mason, "with a history of unending village Meannesses,— false Surveys, 'cursed Wells, vicious Hoaxes, ruin'd ceremonies, switch'd Corpses...and on into Stultification unending, traditional accounts of its construction suggesting, if not the intervention,

then at least the cooperative presence of the D——l,— was meant for a

field near Chalford,— but each night the stones were removed and transported in a right line, through the air, at brisk speed, to the church's present site. You can take a Map, draw a straight line from the Barrow near Great Badminton we call the Giant's Caves, to the Long Barrow near The Camp, and you'll observe it passes directly over Bisley, and might have been the church stones' route of transport, the ancient Barrows being known sources of, and foci for, the Tellurick Energies.”

"Oh,— well our Leys were nowhere near as evil as thah'...? Flying them was indeed quite pleasant, yes quite pleasant indeed,—

Over Wearside, here at Nightfall, exactly upon this Edge between sunlight too bright to see much by and moonlight providing another reading in coal-blue or luminous bone,— when spirits also are said in these parts to come out,— so beneath them now do the Dark-Age Maps, the long, dogged Roman Palimpsest, the earlier contours of Brigantum itself, emerge at a certain combination of low Sun-angle and Scholarly Altitude above the Fell,— coming up through the Spoil-heaps and the grazing, in colors of evening, in Map-makers' ink-washes, green Walnut, Weld, Brazil-wood, Lake, Terra-Sienna, Cullens-Earth, and Burnt Umber,— as Emerson meanwhile points out to his Flock the lines of the Roman baths and barracks and the temples to Mithras, the crypts in which the mysteries were pass'd on to novices, once long ago invisibly nested at the Camp's secret core, now open to anyone's curiosity. "The moral lesson in this," declares Emerson, "being,— Don't Die."

"The Romans," he continues, in class the next day, "were preoccupied with conveying Force, be it hydraulic, or military, or architectural,— along straight Lines. The Leys are at least that old,— perhaps Druidic, tho' others say Mithraic, in origin. Whichever Cult shall gain the honor, Right Lines beyond a certain Magnitude become of less use or instruction to those who must dwell among them, than intelligible, by their immense regularity, to more distant Onlookers, as giving a clear sign of Human Presence upon the Planet.

"The Argument for a Mithraic Origin is encourag'd by the Cult's known preference for underground Temples, either natural or man-made. They would have found a home in Durham, here among Pit-men and young Plutonians like yourselves,— indeed, let us suppose the earliest Coal-Pits were discover'd by Mithraist Sappers...? from the Camp up at Vinovia, poking about for a suitable Grotto,— who, seeking Ormazd, God of Light, found rather a condens'd Blackness which hides Light within, till set aflame.. .mystickal Stuff, Coal. Don't imagine any of you notice that, too busy getting it all over yerselves, or resenting it for being so heavy, or counting Chaldrons. Pretending it solid, when like light and Heat, it indeed flows. Eppur' si muove, if yese like."

Flow is his passion. He stands waist-deep in the Tees, fishing, con
templating its currents, believing, as Dixon will one day come to believe
of the Wear, that 'twill draw out the Gout from his leg. Emerson has no
patience with analysis. He loves Vortices, may stare at 'em for hours, if
he's the Time, so far as they remain in the River,— yet, once upon Paper,
he hates them, hates the misuse,— and therefore hates Euler, for exam
ple, at least as much as he reveres Newton. The first book he publish'd
was upon Fluxions. He is much shorter than Dixon. He has devis'd a
sailing-Scheme, whereby Winds are imagin'd to be forms of Gravity act
ing not vertically but laterally, along the Globe's Surface,— a Ship to
him is the Paradigm of the Universe. "All the possible forces in play
are represented each by its representative sheets, stays, braces, and
shrouds and such,— a set of lines in space, each at its particular angle.
Easy to see why sea-captains go crazy,— godlike power over realities so
simplified
              
"

The Telescope, the Fluxions, the invention of Logarithms and the frenzy of multiplication, often for its own sake, that follow'd have for Emerson all been steps of an unarguable approach to God, a growing clarity,— Gravity, the Pulse of Time, the finite speed of Light present themselves to him as aspects of God's character. It's like becoming friendly with an erratic, powerful, potentially dangerous member of the Aristocracy. He holds no quarrel with the Creator's sovereignty, but is repeatedly appall'd at the lapses in Attention, the flaws in Design, the squand'rings of life and energy, the failures to be reasonable, or to exercise common sense,— first appall'd, then angry. We are taught,— we believe,— that it is love of the Creation which drives the Philosopher in his Studies. Emerson is driven, rather, by a passionate Resentment.

Upon concluding their Course of Study, Dixon's Class are brought in for a Valedictory Chat with Emerson.

"Your turn, Jeremiah. What's your aim in life?"

"Surveyor."

"What, Fool!— Staring yourself Blind...? Chaining through the Glaur...? Another damn'd Lamentation's added to the List,— 'Oink, oink.' "

A head-Shake, a Deferential Grin, yet, "These are busy times in Durham, Sir, the Demand for Enclosure having made Nabobs already of

 
more than one plain Dodman. It may happen overnight, upon the Proceeds of but one Commission,— for, prudently invested,—

"Assuming you know what 'prudently' is, even so,— there are only so many of these big spenders. What happens when you run out of 'Squireocracy ? "

"Business can but increase,— between enclosure and subdivision...? why there's work enough in Durham, the very day, for an hundred Surveyors."

Emerson gazes at nothing anyone can make out, for a long time. "You and your Class-mates all know," he murmurs at last, "of my confidence in Astrology,— yet here, facing thee, Plutonian Counter-example, must my Faith halt, and tremble. Regard th'self,— born under the Sign of the Lion, destin'd thereby for optimism, ambition, power in the larger World,— yet what do I behold instead, but a tepid, slothful Mope, with the Passions of a Pit-prop, whose dreams extend no further than siting Gazebos for jump'd-up Mustard-Farmers from Tow Law? whose naked Aim is but to accumulate Money, ever more Money, with as little work as possible? Tell me,— what natal Sign does that, I would have to say, exclusively, suggest to you?"

"The Bull," mumbles Dixon, aware this is also Emerson's natal Sign, but not wishing to seem too pleas'd with it. "Don't think I haven't had the same thought, Sir, but I looked for it in the Parish records, and there I am, end of July."

"Happen you've somewhat in the region of Pisces I don't know about? For there's the Sign of Enclosure... Leonian Fire kept ever within... ? artfully hidden... ? Aye, of course,— that must be it."

"Why then advise me, as tha did from the outset, that my Destiny was to inscribe the Earth...? Why show any of us the Leys as tha did, and the great Roman streets,— direct as Shafts of Light's what tha call'd them...."

"To weed out you who are too content with Spectacle," Emerson replies.

"Of the Pupils thou've declined to teach further, there are enough of us to form a Club," complains Dixon.

"You wanted only the flying, Jeremiah. 'Twas never about Flying."

"What else could it've been...?”

"Fret not, you will execute Maps of breath-taking beauty, which is a form of Flight not at all dishonorable."

"Not what Ah have in mind, tho' Ah do thank thee, may I say Friend Emerson, now we're no longer master and—

"Tha may not...? I am still Sir to you. Chain-carrier, go,— some fool's stately Ditches await thee."

Not that many years later, here is Dixon in his Teacher's Parlor, trying not to look at, much less eat, the Refreshments, observing instead the wordless messages between Emerson and Maire, and speculating as to who might have ow'd whom what, in arranging this Conference, in which Dixon seems to be some sort of desirable Package, if not Prize.

"I am off to St. Omer," the Priest says, "the merciless Environment of children, the company of most of whom I would not willingly have sought."

"Is it your Oath of Obedience?" The Geordie 0, as if a Comment upon Maire's failure to seem Jesuit enough, prolonged only just short of giving offense.

Maire sighs. "You have never met one of us before?"

"Aye, mind yourself, Dixon, you've studied De Litteraria Expeditions et Soforthia,— show some respect."

Dixon, whose hat until now has been upon his head Quaker style, sweeps it off smartly enough, blurting, "Pray thee Sir, my admiration for thah' great Traverse, is match'd only by some of my feelings about Newton...?"

It gets him a wan smile. "I can imagine how you taught them that, William,— the march from Rome to Rimini, across plains and over mountains, with galloping Horses, Telescopes,— perhaps, knowing your ways, a few Brigands as well. How could it fail to appeal to boys' imaginations? I should be taking down Memoranda."

"I've tried to scribble an Angle or two whilst upon horseback," says Dixon, "— I stand 'maz'd to hear of Father Boscovich's long poem of the Tale at first Hand, that he wrote, as you went...?"

"Indeed, and in Scribe as fair as that produc'd upon an oak desk in a solid house far from the sea. 'Twill soon, I'm told, be printed in London. He did also alight now and then to attend to less literary Tasks, such as measuring two degrees of Latitude, for the first time in History, but,— let

 
me draw back from the brink of Conjugate Capital Sin, and only add, that I commend and celebrate mio cam Ruggiero, as much as will satisfy you,— and may God be with him, in his present sojourn in London." His (as many suppos'd) secret Arrival the year before last, having been intended to reassure the British as to the continu'd Neutrality, in the present War, of the strategic Dalmatian Port of Ragusa,— Fr. Boscovich's birth-place, as it happen'd.