Despite what Re-assurances you may have had from Mr. Bird and Mr. Emerson, and I hope others, as to my suitability,— yet, yourself being Adjunct to the Prime Astronomer of the Kingdom, 'twould be strange,— not odd of course, but unexpected, rather, — if you did not entertain a professional Doubt, or even two, as to my Qualifications.
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Line 76 Vulgarized:
I know I'm just a small-time amateur astronomer and surveyor and you're a big time second-in-command to the ultimate astronomer in Great Britain, so it would be weird if you didn't have some worries about my effectiveness on this trip, even after hearty recommendations from fellow astronomer John Bird and esteemed mathematician William Emerson.
Subtext:
Jeremiah Dixon writes a sentence like he's posting it on Twitter and knows five million Internet trolls are just waiting to jump all over him with their purposeful misunderstanding of what he's saying. So he clarifies multiple times, just to increase the likelihood that the message can't be willfully misinterpreted. This is probably just the style of the time. Being abundant letter writers, they probably knew much better than modern communicators how easy it was for somebody to misinterpret something in a letter that would be easily clarified in a face-to-face conversation.
Dixon also sounds a little bit like he's humble bragging. He's saying he believes it would be normal for Mason to doubt his ability in the same breath that he's saying, "Look at these big names vouching for me. And I'm sure some others as well. But I don't want you, a big time astronomer with a fat dick yourself, to think I'm swinging my big old surveyor's dick around, so I'll put in this bit that acknowledges that maybe you might still have a doubt or two. But, I mean, you shouldn't. You did read those names backing me right? Bird? Emerson? Fwee-hooo! Them's some smart cookies suggested me for this trip!"
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