Madam, I never eat muscatel grapes. Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo) makes this statement to Mercedes; her son remarks that Dantes seems to have an Oriental code of honor — that is, he cannot eat or drink whatever is offered to him in his enemy's house. Because Mercedes married Dantes' rival, Fernand Mondego (alias Count de Morcerf), her house is technically the house of an enemy.
a magistrate a judge; to brag that one's father was a magistrate is to suggest that one is well-off, well-bred, and better than most.
the mark of the spade The potato has an incision where the shovel sliced into it.
Maurice Stephen's brother.
Michael Davitt Organizer of the land reform league. Much more of a political agitator than Parnell, Davitt served seven years in prison for attempting to send firearms into Ireland. He advocated nationalization of Irish lands and believed that Parnell was too moderate in his opposition to English rule.
moisty and watery about the dewlaps Dewlaps refer to the loose, wrinkled skin under the throat.
Mr. Fox the pseudonym used by Parnell when he wrote letters to Kitty O'Shea.
a muff someone who's awkward at sports; here, Stephen is using the term to describe his youthful naivete at Clongowes.
Mulier cantat. A woman is singing.
Munster Simon Dedalus' family home is in Cork, county of Munster, which was traditionally a political hotbed of deep national pride.
the national poet of Ireland Thomas Moore (1779-1852).
never to peach on a fellow never to tattle or inform on someone else.
a new emerald exercise The reference is to unlined notebooks, similar to today's bluebooks.
Nos ad manum ballum jocabimus. Let's go play handball.
not foxing not pretending.
not long before the chief died not long before Parnell died.
the noun mare mare is Latin for sea or ocean.
a novena a devotion consisting of prayers on nine consecutive days.
old Paul Cullen another Irish archbishop who was anti-nationalist.
the opening of the national theatre The production that night was The Countess Cathleen. The Catholics hated it, thought that it was blasphemous.
out with your bum expose your buttocks.
outhouse outdoor toilet.
