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ROMER.
Frank Danvers (a British Naval Officer, just arrived from the Indies)
................... MR. WM.
BIRD.
Robert Danvers (his younger brother, a ruined roue, pigeoned by the clackers)
.............. MR.
L. MELVIN.
Mr. Hawksworth Shabner (Principal Proprietor of a West-End Clacking-Hall,
Bill-Discounter, and
Anythingarian where there is Anything to be Got) . . . MR. P. WILLIAMS.
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Bob Yorkner (a Duffer, tired of the Lay) . . . MR. W. JONES.
Ned Brindle (the Magsman, a half-and-half cove)
........................ MR C. AUBREY.
Tom Fogg, alias Old Deady, alias The Animal, (a laudanum fiend suffering under
delirium-tremens)
MR. A. CORENO.
Joe Onion, alias The Crocodile, (a bully-rock, and creature of Shabner's).
.............. MR. G.
VELASCO.
Dickey Smith (the Wakeful Bird, a young Engine-clerk in no ways particklar,
pecking out a living as best he can) ....................... MR. G. MASKELL.
Ikey Bates (Landlord of Rat's Castle, proprietor of two-penny dabs and a
scandalous bagatelle board, having cut the bumblepuppy as too low!)
.........MR. GOTOBED.
Waiter at the Cat-and-Bagpipes Tavern . . . MR. SMITHSON.
The Bow Street Special Inspector ....... MR. FRANKS.
Louisa Truehait (the Victim of an ill-requited attachment)...................
MISS CAROLINE
BARNETT.
Charlotte Willers (a young lady with her cat from the country)
.................... MISS MARTHA
WELLS
DRESS CIRCLE, 3S. BOXES, 2S. PIT, 5D. GALLERY, 2D.
BOX OFFICE OPEN DAILY FROM TEN O'CLOCK UNTIL FIVE.
========
A Poem of Farewell
[Mori Yujo, a samurai and classical scholar of Satsuma Province, wrote the
following ceremonial poem upon his son's departure for England, in 1854. it is
translated from Sinicized Japanese.]
My child rides the unfathomable deep, In pursuit of noble ambition;
Far must he sail -- ten thousand leagues --
Outpacing the breezes of spring.
Some say that East and West
Have naught in common;
But I say the same heaven
Overarches both.
His own life he risks, on command of his han.
Braving great danger to learn from far places;
For family's sake, he spares no effort, Seeking for wisdom in face of great
hardship.
He travels far beyond
The fabled rivers of China;
His scholarly labors shall someday
Bear fruit in splendid achievement.
========
A Letter Home
As always, I searched that day for land, in all four directions, but could
still find none.
How melancholy it was! Then by chance, with the Captain's permission, I
climbed up one of the masts. From the great height, with sails and smokestack
far below me, I was amazed to make out the coast of Europe -- a mere
hair's-breadth of green, above the watery horizon. I shouted down to
Matsumura: "Come up! Come up!" And up he came, very swiftly and bravely.
Together atop the mast, we gazed upon Europe. "Look!" I told him. "Here is our
first proof file:///F|/rah/New%20Folder/Difference%20Engine,%20The.txt (174 of
178) [1/14/03 11:24:15 PM]
file:///F|/rah/New%20Folder/Difference%20Engine,%20The.txt that the world is
really round! While we were standing down there on deck we could not see a
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thing; but up here, land is distinctly visible. This is proof that the surface
of the sea is curved! And if the sea is curved, why, then, so is the whole
earth!"
Matsumura exclaimed, "It's fantastic -- it's just the way you say! The Earth
indeed is round!
Our first real proof!"
-MORI ARINORI, 1854.
========
Modus
It seemed that Her Ladyship had been ill-served by the Paris publicists, for
the lecture-hall, modest as it was, was less than half-filled.
Dark folding-seats, in neat columnar rows, were precisely dotted by the shiny
pates of balding mathematicians. Here and there among the savants sat
shifty-eyed French clackers in middle-age, the summer linen of their
too-elegant finery looking rather past the mode. The last three rows were
filled by a Parisian women's club, fanning themselves in the summer heat and
chattering quite audibly, for they had long since lost the thread of Her
Ladyship's discourse.
Lady Ada Byron turned a page, touched a gloved finger to her bifocal
pince-nez. For some minutes, a large green bottle-fly had been circling her
podium. Now it broke the intricacy of its looping flight to alight on the
bulging archipelago of Her Ladyship's padded, lace-trimmed shoulder. Lady Ada
took no apparent notice of the attentions of this energetic vermin, but
continued on gamely, in her accented French.
The Mother said:
"Our lives would be greatly clarified if human discourse could be interpreted
as the exfoliation of a deeper formal system. One would no longer need ponder
the grave ambiguities of human speech, but could judge the validity of any
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