151 Explanatory Notes to Juno and the Paycock
Explanatory Notes to Act 1
1. Jumper. A cardigan sweater.
2. Beyant Finglas. Beyond Finglas, a suburb on Dublin’s northside.
3. Diehard . A member of the IRA who rejected the treaty creating the Irish Free State in 1922.
4. Samaritan . See Luke 10: 30-36. The stranger who helped the man who had fallen among thieves; thus an exemplar of Christian charity.
5. Novena. In Roman Catholic devotions, a prayer for some special object or occasion extended over nine days.
6. Easter Week . Reference to the 1916 Rising led by Padraic Pearse and James Connolly.
7. In 1920, the fight in O’Connell St. occurred during the Irish war of independence.
8. Free State. Name of the former state of southern Ireland 1922–37, established as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921). It was replaced by Eire in 1937 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
9. Snug. A small drinking area in a public-house.
10. Rathmines. A suburb on the southside of Dublin.
11. “Sweet Spirit, hear my prayer!” From the romantic opera Lurline (1860) by Irish composer William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865).
12. Affeydavey. Juno’s rendering of ‘affadavit’, a written statement confirmed by oath.
13. Juno. Roman goddess of women and childbirth, queen of the gods and of heaven. The peacock drove her chariot.
14. Deirdre of the Sorrows. In Irish myth, the beautiful Deirdre deserted King Conchubar to run off with Naoise, as prophesied, thus bringing ruin upon Ulster.
15. Killesther. A small suburb of Dublin on the northside.
16.Collier. A ship used to transport coal.
17. Forage, look out for.
18. Hod. A tray or trough with a pole handle and that is borne on the shoulder for carrying bricks, mortar or similar loads.
19. Chiselurs. Children.
20. Chassis. Chaos.
21. Trench coats were commonly worn by members of the IRA.
22. Bog of Allen . An extensive area of bog, now partially reclaimed, twenty-five miles west-southwest of Dublin.
23. The Doll’s House, Ghosts, The Wild Duck. Three tragedies by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), mistakenly considered by Boyle to be children’s books
24. Elizabeth, or the Exile of Siberia, a popular tale by Madame Sophil Cottin (1770-1807).
25. Virol. A malt-extract given to children as a health food.
26. Wicklow. A county and town in the Mid-East region of Ireland.
27. ‘47 from seizin’ the corn.’ The height of the Great Famine in 1847.
28. Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891). Irish Nationalist politician. He became President of the Home Rule Party in 1877, but his career was ruined when his affair with Katherine O’Shea was exposed in 1890.
29. Fenians. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, founded in 1858 as a radical, militarist form of nationalism.
30. Confraternity. Roman Catholic organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy.
31. ‘How can a man die betther…’ Lines from Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859) Lays of Ancient Rome , “Horatius at the Bridge”