Mr Power asked:
—How is the concert tour getting on, Bloom?
—O, very well, Mr Bloom said. I hear great accounts of it. It’s a good idea, you see…
—Are you going yourself?
—Well no, Mr Bloom said. In point of fact I have to go down to the county Clare on some private business. You see the idea is to tour the chief towns. What you lose on one you can make up on the other.
—Quite so, Martin Cunningham said. Mary Anderson is up there now.
Have you good artists?
—Louis Werner is touring her, Mr Bloom said. O yes, we’ll have all topnobbers. J. C. Doyle and John MacCormack I hope and. The best, in fact.
—And Madame, Mr Power said smiling. Last but not least.
Mr Bloom unclasped his hands in a gesture of soft politeness and clasped them. Smith O’Brien. Someone has laid a bunch of flowers there. Woman. Must be his deathday. For many happy returns. The carriage wheeling by Farrell’s statue united noiselessly their unresisting knees.
Oot: a dullgarbed old man from the curbstone tendered his wares, his mouth opening: oot.
—Four bootlaces for a penny.
Wonder why he was struck off the rolls. Had his office in Hume street. Same house as Molly’s namesake, Tweedy, crown solicitor for Waterford. Has that silk hat ever since. Relics of old decency. Mourning too. Terrible comedown, poor wretch! Kicked about like snuff at a wake. O’Callaghan on his last legs.
And Madame. Twenty past eleven. Up. Mrs Fleming is in to clean. Doing her hair, humming. voglio e non vorrei. No. vorrei e non. Looking at the tips of her hairs to see if they are split. Mi trema un poco il. Beautiful on that tre her voice is: weeping tone. A thrush. A throstle. There is a word throstle that expresses that.
annotation:
I was very interested to see the caliber of singer with whom Molly was performing. I couldn’t find any references to JC Doyle, but John McCormack was a world class Irish Tenor ( source ). There are many recordings of him available on Youtube. Obviously Molly is a very talented singer. I also find the way Mr. Power refers to her as “last but not least” with a smile to be a bit condescending. It seems that most people feel Bloom does not deserver Molly.
I initially thought of drawing the image of the old man selling shoe laces next to Farrell’s statue, but I couldn’t figure out exactly which statue that would have been. I put the question out on twitter and got an answer, but I also relish the chance to draw Molly and the next paragraph had a description of her that I just couldn’t resist.
@crackedlooking @ReadingJoyce @JJ_Gazette a statue of William Smith O'Brien was at the south foot of O'Connell bridge. Sculptor was Farrell.
— robert berry (@UlyssesSeen) September 18, 2016
@crackedlooking Per @UlyssesSeen: William Smith O’Brien statue.
Sculptor: Thomas Farrell.
More: https://t.co/1yejBrHHy5 via @DubCityCouncil— James Joyce Gazette (@JJ_Gazette) September 19, 2016
@crackedlooking @JJ_Gazette @DubCityCouncil It then stood at intersection of Westmoreland and D'Olier streets.
— robert berry (@UlyssesSeen) September 19, 2016