why would one pretend to be longsighted? (could he be hiding illiteracy?)
"William the Conk" was a comic song about ancestry sung by Beatrice Lillie in drag in 1922 (she may also have contributed to the walrus moustaches and Sophy's humour).
[whitelock]
there's a little Gladstone trivia, for some reason
[put wise... scatterguns... dulsi] from O. Henry
[♬ where the... preties grow]
[♬ For he kinned Jom Pill with his court so gray and his haunts in his house in the mourning]
Beatrice Lillie singing about Wm the Conk:
Supposedly the earwigs crawl up into the pot!
Is the king asking about earwigs as bait for lobsters? (if he's longsighted he should see the flowerpot fine.) There's no (saltwater) lobsters in the (freshwater) Liffey, but Joyce conceived this scene in Bognor on the (salty) English coast, where there are. Is HCE catching the 'bluggy' earwigs instead because they're a pest in some way? They can damage some crops but their scary appearance has led to other suspicions. Also, why the high perch? The earwigs wouldn't climb it, would they?
magg... blugg... wugg...gugg
18thC Worcester gugglet:
are those their fates which we read in prophecy between possible/right and impossible/wrong?
FDV: "Forgetful of all but his fealty he hastened out on to the road holding aloft a long perch atop of which a flowerpot was affixed. On his majesty, who was rather longsighted from early youth, inquiring whether he had been engaged in lobstertrapping Humphrey bluntly answered: 'No, my liege, I was only a cotching of them bluggy earwigs'. The king upon this smiled heartily and, giving way to that none too genial humour which he had inherited from his great aunt Sophy, turned towards two of his retinue, the lord of Offaly and the mayor of Waterford (the syndic of Drogheda according to a later version) remarking 'How our brother of Burgundy would fume did he know that he have this trusty vassal
4DV: "On his majesty, who was, or often feigned to be, noticeably longsighted from green youth, and had been meaning to inquire what, in effect, had caused yon causeway to be so potholed, asking, substitutionally, to be put wise as to whether paternoster and silver doctors were not now more fancied bait for lobstertrapping honest blunt Haromphreyld answered in no uncertain tones very similarly with a fearless forehead: Naw, yer maggers, aw war jist a cotchin on thon bluggy earwuggers. Our Sailor King, who was draining a gugglet of obvious water, upon this, ceasing to swallow, smiled most heartily beneath his walrus moustaches and indulging that none too genial humour which William the Conk on the spindle side had inherited with the hereditary whitelock and some shortfingeredness from his great aunt Sophy, turned towards two of his retinue of gallowglasses, Michael, etheling lord of Leix in Offaly and the jubilee mayor of Drogheda, Elcock, (the two scatterguns being Michael Manning, protosyndic of Waterford and an Italian excellency named Giubilei according to a later version cited by the learned scholarch Canavan of Canmakenoise) and remarked dilsydulsily: Holybones, how our red brother of Pouringrainia would audibly fume did he know that we have for trusty bailiwick a turnpiker who is by turns a pikebailer no seldomer than an earwigger! Comes the question are these the facts as recorded in both or either of the collateral andrewpomurphyc narratives."
mysteries: among the... tree
[1:33-3:36]
Healy gets 'Drogheda' right, I think: DRAWhedah
I.2: 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
On his majesty,
ReplyDeletewho was, or often feigned to be,
noticeably longsighted from green youth
and had been meaning to inquire what, in effect,
had caused yon causeway to be thus potholed,
asking, substitutionally, to be put wise
as to whether paternoster and silver doctors
were not now more fancied bait for lobstertrapping,
honest blunt Haromphreyld answered in no uncertain tones
very similarly with a fearless forehead:
Naw, yer maggers, aw war jist a cotchin on thon bluggy earwuggers.
Our sailor king, who was draining
a gugglet of obvious adamale, gift both and gorban,
upon this, ceasing to swallow,
smiled most heartily beneath his walrus moustaches
and, indulging that none too genial humour
which William the Conk on the spindle side
had inherited with the hereditary whitelock and some shortfingeredness
from his greataunt Sophy,
turned towards two of his retinue of gallowglasses,
Michael, etheling lord of Leix and Offaly,
and the jubilee mayor of Drogheda, Elcock,
the two scatterguns being Michael M. Manning, protosyndic of Waterford,
and an Italian excellency named Giubilei
according to a later version
cited by the learned scholarch Canavan of Canmakenoise
(in either case a triptychal religious family
symbolising puritas of doctrina,
business per usuals
and the purchypatch of hamlock where the paddish preties grow),
and remarked dilsydulsily:
Holybones of Saint Hubert,
how our red brother of Pouringrainia would audibly fume
did he know that we have for surtrusty bailiwick
a turnpiker who is by turns a pikebailer
no seldomer than an earwigger!
For he kinned Jom Pill with his court so gray
and his haunts in his house in the mourning.
(One still hears that pebblecrusted laughter,
japijap cheerycherrily,
among the roadside tree the lady Holmpatrick planted
and still one feels
the amossive silence of the cladstone
allegibelling: Ive mies outs ide Bourn.)
Comes the question: are these the facts of his nominigentilisation
as recorded and accolated in both or either
of the collateral andrewpaulmurphyc narratives?
Are those their fata which we read in sibylline
between the _fas_ and its _nefas_?
No dung on the road?
Character list: "Michael (Manning?), Elcock (Giubilei), Aunt Sophy"
ReplyDeletemessage motif:
king meant to ask but inquired instead
HCE answered
king made snarky putdown to his pals
(this anecdote is questioned)
Spy magazine in 1988 famously called Donald Trump a 'short-fingered vulgarian' ...which I thought implied kleptomania?
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