had the organ in Haddington Road played the organ at St. Mary's Church on Haddington Road, in south-central Dublin.
Adam and Eve's a nickname for the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in southwest-central Dublin.
back answers back-talk; insolence.
screwed (slang) drunk.
palaver flattery; cajolery.
Guttapercha a rubberlike gum produced from the latex of various southeast Asian trees.
Christy Minstrels a popular nineteenth-century American theatrical troupe featuring white performers made up to look like stereotypical black characters.
the famous Mrs. Cassidy, who is reported to have said "Now, Mary Grimes, if I don't take it, make me take it, for I feel I want it." apparently the punch line to a popular joke of the day.
Quadrille a square dance of French origin, consisting of several figures, performed by four couples.
the two murdered princes in the Tower the two sons of England's King Edward IV, put to death in the Tower of London by their uncle, most likely, who would become Richard III.
tabinet a poplin-like fabric made of silk and wool.
man-o'-war suit presumably a child's costume intended to resemble a soldier's outfit.
curate a clergyman who assists a vicar or rector.
Lancers a nineteenth-century quadrille.
an Irish device a Celtic emblem.
a crow to pluck (slang) a bone to pick.
West Briton a sympathizer with the English in Ireland.
the University question the issue of Irish higher education. At the time the story is set, the country's main university, Trinity College, was Protestant affiliated, while the vast majority of the population was Roman Catholic.
go visiting perform a particular square dance figure.
embrasure an opening (for a door, window, and so on), especially one with the sides slanted so that it is wider on the inside than on the outside.
the park Phoenix Park, prominently featured in "A Painful Case."
Three Graces the three sister goddesses who have control over pleasure, charm, and beauty in human life and in nature.
Paris in Greek legend, a son of Priam, king of Troy. Of three goddesses (Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera), Paris chose to award the golden apple of Discord to Aphrodite; she, in turn, granted him Helen, wife of Menelaus, thus causing the Trojan War. A reference is made to golden apples in "A Little Cloud."
An irregular musketry a sound like many guns being fired, though not simultaneously.
"Arrayed for the Bridal" a song from I Puritani, an opera by Vincenzo Bellini.
refractory hard to manage; stubborn; obstinate.
the pope to turn out the women out of the choirs Pius X, pope at the time this story is set, excluded women from singing in church choirs.
the other persuasion Protestant.
To take a pick itself to have a bite to eat.
beannacht libh (Irish) goodbye.
blancmange a sweet, molded, jellylike dessert made with starch or gelatin, milk, flavoring, and other ingredients.
minerals mineral water.
the Gaiety a theater in south-central Dublin.
pantomime a drama played in action and gestures to the accompaniment of music or of words sung by a chorus.
a pass free admission.
prima donna the principal woman singer in an opera or concert.
slept in their coffins Trappist monks were mistakenly believed to sleep in their coffins.
last end mortality.
Fifteen Acres a lawn or field in Dublin's Phoenix Park.
laid on here like the gas made permanently available.
trap a light, two-wheeled carriage with springs.
stock a former type of large, wide, stiff cravat.
King Billy's statue an equestrian statue of King William III, the Protestant conqueror of Ireland.
old Irish tonality a pentatonic or five-tone scale.
the palace of the Four Courts a building in north-central Dublin; the location of Ireland's central courts.
heliotrope reddish-purple.
the statue a statue of the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell, known as "The Liberator."
toilet-table dressing table.
cheval-glass a full-length mirror mounted on swivels in a frame.
delicate suffering from tuberculosis.
gasworks a plant where gas for heating and lighting is prepared.
pennyboy errand boy.
great with him close to him, though not sexually intimate.
convent a convent school.
Oughterard a village north of Galway.
Nuns' Island a district within the city of Galway.
Shannon a river in west-central Ireland, flowing southwestward into the Atlantic.
