S: FW 8, 9. As Finn is laid out and the keening commences, we Slo Pan his mythshapen bodyscape, i.e. Dublin’s farce city, as far as his phallus. Dissolve to: Ext, Day. Wellington Museum.
The Wellington Monument, or more correctly the Wellington Testimonial (Teistiméireacht Wellington), is a granite obelisk situated at the southeast end of the Phoenix Park, Dublin. It celebrates the Duke of Wellington’s military exploits, among them his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The structure is 203 feet (62 meters) tall, making it the largest such erection in Europe since the rigor mortis of Finn McCool.
Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, known as “the Iron Duke,” was born in Dublin on 1 May 1769 and educated at Trim in County Meath. He left home to attend Eton College in 1781. In 1787, he returned to Dublin as aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and served in that post until March 1793. Elected to the Irish parliament in Dublin as MP for Trim, he represented the constituency until 1797. Thus, he’d lived in Ireland for 22 of his first 28 years. Yet he famously denied being Irish. “Being born in a stable does not make one a horse,“ said he, as he flicked his tail to keep the flies off his arse. “bornstable ghentleman” FW 10. 17.
There is, in fact, no Wellington Museum in Dublin. There is, however, a James Joyce Museum, comummerating the Irony Duke.
Wellington’s (imaginary) museum is introduced as the “Wallingstone national museum.” FW 8. 1. Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein was a ruthless general in the service of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War. Wallenstein or Wellington, one general’s as good (bad) as another. Wellington becomes Willingdone – no excuses, they done it on purpose.
Our guide, a decent wee docent, is the Museyroom janitrix, the mistress Kathe. Of arms and the several men she sings, her performance a tour de forces. She points out several Prooshious (precious Prussian) trophies of war, then ‘the triplewon hat of Lipoleum.” FW 8. 15.
There were Micks, as might be expected, fighting and dying on both sides. “the bog lipoleum mordering the lipoleum beg.” FW 8. 24.
Napoleons’ “Legion Irlandaise,” consisted of 2,000 (give or take) Irish ex-pats. They encountered the British at Flushing in 1809, fought against Wellington’s army in Portugal in 1810–11, and served with distinction at the Battle of Bautzen. The Legion was finally destroyed, on the banks of the Bober River, by the Army of Silesia under Field Marshall Blücher, in August 1813.
An Ulster-Irish regiment of the British Army, the 27th (Inniskilling) had been formed in 1689. (inimyskilling inglis FW 8. 23). According to the Duke of Wellington, the Inniskillings saved the centre of his line at Waterloo, taking the full brunt of a French cavalry charge. Of the 15 officers, 14 were killed and 498 of the 670 other ranks were either killed or wounded.
sum mer de le wake 