Book 1

Chapter 2 HCE: his name and reputation

In Chapter I.2 of James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake," the origin of the name Earwicker is explored, revealing layers of meaning and symbolism that reflect the complexities of human identity. The name itself is thought to derive from the phrase "ear-wicker," suggesting a figure who listens and weaves narratives from the sounds around him. This aligns with the themes presented in Chapter 2, where the character HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker) is portrayed as a multifaceted individual whose life story is interwoven with the myths and histories of Dublin. The exploration of Earwicker's name serves as a gateway to understanding the intricate relationships between personal identity, memory, and the collective consciousness of a community. For further insights, you can explore resources such as [The Modernist Journals Project](https://www.modjourn.org/) and [The James Joyce Centre](https://www.jamesjoyce.ie/). Additionally, AI-generated images of HCE can be found on platforms like [Artbreeder](https://www.artbreeder.com/) or [DeepAI](https://deepai.org/). 

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030.01      Now (to forebare for ever solittle of Iris Trees and Lili O'Ran-

030.02 gans), concerning the genesis of Harold or Humphrey Chimp-

030.03 den's occupational agnomen (we are back in the presurnames

030.04 prodromarith period, of course just when enos chalked halltraps)

030.05 and discarding once for all those theories from older sources which

030.06 would link him back with such pivotal ancestors as the Glues, the

030.07 Gravys, the Northeasts, the Ankers and the Earwickers of Sidles-

030.08 ham in the Hundred of Manhood or proclaim him offsprout of

030.09 vikings who had founded wapentake and seddled hem in Herrick

030.10 or Eric, the best authenticated version, the Dumlat, read the

030.11 Reading of Hofed-ben-Edar, has it that it was this way. We are

030.12 told how in the beginning it came to pass that like cabbaging

030.13 Cincinnatus the grand old gardener was saving daylight under his

030.14 redwoodtree one sultry sabbath afternoon, Hag Chivychas Eve,

030.15 in prefall paradise peace by following his plough for rootles in the

030.16 rere garden of mobhouse, ye olde marine hotel, when royalty was

030.17 announced by runner to have been pleased to have halted itself on

030.18 the highroad along which a leisureloving dogfox had cast fol-

030.19 lowed, also at walking pace, by a lady pack of cocker spaniels. For-

030.20 getful of all save his vassal's plain fealty to the ethnarch Humphrey

030.21 or Harold stayed not to yoke or saddle but stumbled out hotface

030.22 as he was (his sweatful bandanna loose from his pocketcoat) hast-

030.23 ing to the forecourts of his public in topee, surcingle, solascarf and

030.24 plaid, plus fours, puttees and bulldog boots ruddled cinnabar with

031.01 flagrant marl, jingling his turnpike keys and bearing aloft amid

031.02 the fixed pikes of the hunting party a high perch atop of which a

031.03 flowerpot was fixed earthside hoist with care. On his majesty, who

031.04 was, or often feigned to be, noticeably longsighted from green

031.05 youth and had been meaning to inquire what, in effect, had caused

031.06 yon causeway to be thus potholed, asking substitutionally to be

031.07 put wise as to whether paternoster and silver doctors were not

031.08 now more fancied bait for lobstertrapping honest blunt Harom-

031.09 phreyld answered in no uncertain tones very similarly with a fear-

031.10 less forehead: Naw, yer maggers, aw war jist a cotchin on thon

031.11 bluggy earwuggers. Our sailor king, who was draining a gugglet

031.12 of obvious adamale, gift both and gorban, upon this, ceasing to

031.13 swallow, smiled most heartily beneath his walrus moustaches and

031.14 indulging that none too genial humour which William the Conk

031.15 on the spindle side had inherited with the hereditary whitelock

031.16 and some shortfingeredness from his greataunt Sophy, turned to-

031.17 wards two of his retinue of gallowglasses, Michael, etheling lord

031.18 of Leix and Offaly and the jubilee mayor of Drogheda, Elcock,

031.19 (the two scatterguns being Michael M. Manning, protosyndic of

031.20 Waterford and an Italian excellency named Giubilei according to

031.21 a later version cited by the learned scholarch Canavan of Canmake-

031.22 noise), in either case a triptychal religious family symbolising

031.23 puritas of doctrina, business per usuals and the purchypatch of

031.24 hamlock where the paddish preties grow and remarked dilsydul-

031.25 sily: Holybones of Saint Hubert how our red brother of Pour-

031.26 ingrainia would audibly fume did he know that we have for sur-

031.27 trusty bailiwick a turnpiker who is by turns a pikebailer no sel-

031.28 domer than an earwigger! For he kinned Jom Pill with his court

031.29 so gray and his haunts in his house in the mourning. (One still

031.30 hears that pebble crusted laughta, japijap cheerycherrily, among

031.31 the roadside tree the lady Holmpatrick planted and still one feels

031.32 the amossive silence of the cladstone allegibelling: Ive mies outs

031.33 ide Bourn.) Comes the question are these the facts of his nom-

031.34 inigentilisation as recorded and accolated in both or either of the

031.35 collateral andrewpaulmurphyc narratives. Are those their fata

031.36 which we read in sibylline between the fas and its nefas? No dung

032.01 on the road? And shall Nohomiah be our place like? Yea, Mulachy

032.02 our kingable khan? We shall perhaps not so soon see. Pinck

032.03 poncks that bail for seeks alicence where cumsceptres with scen-

032.04 taurs stay. Bear in mind, son of Hokmah, if so be you have me-

032.05 theg in your midness, this man is mountain and unto changeth

032.06 doth one ascend. Heave we aside the fallacy, as punical as finikin,

032.07 that it was not the king kingself but his inseparable sisters, un-

032.08 controllable nighttalkers, Skertsiraizde with Donyahzade, who

032.09 afterwards, when the robberers shot up the socialights, came down

032.10 into the world as amusers and were staged by Madame Sudlow

032.11 as Rosa and Lily Miskinguette in the pantalime that two pitts

032.12 paythronosed, Miliodorus and Galathee. The great fact emerges

032.13 that after that historic date all holographs so far exhumed ini-

032.14 tialled by Haromphrey bear the sigla H.C.E. and while he was

032.15 only and long and always good Dook Umphrey for the hunger-

032.16 lean spalpeens of Lucalizod and Chimbers to his cronies it was

032.17 equally certainly a pleasant turn of the populace which gave him

032.18 as sense of those normative letters the nickname Here Comes

032.19 Everybody. An imposing everybody he always indeed looked,

032.20 constantly the same as and equal to himself and magnificently well

032.21 worthy of any and all such universalisation, every time he con-

032.22 tinually surveyed, amid vociferatings from in front of Accept these

032.23 few nutties! and Take off that white hat!, relieved with Stop his Grog

032.24 and Put It in the Log and Loots in his (bassvoco) Boots, from good

032.25 start to happy finish the truly catholic assemblage gathered together

032.26 in that king's treat house of satin alustrelike above floats and foot-

032.27 lights from their assbawlveldts and oxgangs unanimously to clap-

032.28 plaud (the inspiration of his lifetime and the hits of their careers)

032.29 Mr Wallenstein Washington Semperkelly's immergreen tourers

032.30 in a command performance by special request with the courteous

032.31 permission for pious purposes the homedromed and enliventh

032.32 performance of the problem passion play of the millentury, running

032.33 strong since creation, A Royal Divorce, then near the approach

032.34 towards the summit of its climax, with ambitious interval band

032.35 selections from The Bo' Girl and The Lily on all horserie show

032.36 command nights from his viceregal booth (his bossaloner is ceil-

033.01 inged there a cuckoospit less eminent than the redritualhoods of

033.02 Maccabe and Cullen) where, a veritable Napoleon the Nth, our

033.03 worldstage's practical jokepiece and retired cecelticocommediant

033.04 in his own wise, this folksforefather all of the time sat, having the

033.05 entirety of his house about him, with the invariable broadstretched

033.06 kerchief cooling his whole neck, nape and shoulderblades and in

033.07 a wardrobe panelled tuxedo completely thrown back from a shirt

033.08 well entitled a swallowall, on every point far outstarching the

033.09 laundered clawhammers and marbletopped highboys of the pit

033.10 stalls and early amphitheatre. The piece was this: look at the lamps.

033.11 The cast was thus: see under the clock. Ladies circle: cloaks may

033.12 be left. Pit, prommer and parterre, standing room only. Habituels

033.13 conspicuously emergent.

033.14 A baser meaning has been read into these characters the literal

033.15 sense of which decency can safely scarcely hint. It has been blur-

033.16 tingly bruited by certain wisecrackers (the stinks of Mohorat are

033.17 in the nightplots of the morning), that he suffered from a vile

033.18 disease. Athma, unmanner them! To such a suggestion the one

033.19 selfrespecting answer is to affirm that there are certain statements

033.20 which ought not to be, and one should like to hope to be able to

033.21 add, ought not to be allowed to be made. Nor have his detractors,

033.22 who, an imperfectly warmblooded race, apparently conceive him

033.23 as a great white caterpillar capable of any and every enormity in

033.24 the calendar recorded to the discredit of the Juke and Kellikek

033.25 families, mended their case by insinuating that, alternately, he lay

033.26 at one time under the ludicrous imputation of annoying Welsh

033.27 fusiliers in the people's park. Hay, hay, hay! Hoq, hoq, hoq!

033.28 Faun and Flora on the lea love that little old joq. To anyone who

033.29 knew and loved the christlikeness of the big cleanminded giant

033.30 H. C. Earwicker throughout his excellency long vicefreegal exis-

033.31 tence the mere suggestion of him as a lustsleuth nosing for trou-

033.32 ble in a boobytrap rings particularly preposterous. Truth, beard

033.33 on prophet, compels one to add that there is said to have been

033.34 quondam (pfuit! pfuit!) some case of the kind implicating, it is

033.35 interdum believed, a quidam (if he did not exist it would be ne-

033.36 cessary quoniam to invent him) abhout that time stambuling ha-

034.01 round Dumbaling in leaky sneakers with his tarrk record who

034.02 has remained topantically anonymos but (let us hue him Abdul-

034.03 lah Gamellaxarksky) was, it is stated, posted at Mallon's at the

034.04 instance of watch warriors of the vigilance committee and years

034.05 afterwards, cries one even greater, Ibid, a commender of the

034.06 frightful, seemingly, unto such as were sulhan sated, tropped head

034.07 (pfiat! pfiat!) waiting his first of the month froods turn for

034.08 thatt chopp pah kabbakks alicubi on the old house for the charge-

034.09 hard, Roche Haddocks off Hawkins Street. Lowe, you blondy

034.10 liar, Gob scene you in the narked place and she what's edith ar

034.11 home defileth these boyles! There's a cabful of bash indeed in

034.12 the homeur of that meal. Slander, let it lie its flattest, has never

034.13 been able to convict our good and great and no ordinary Southron

034.14 Earwicker, that homogenius man, as a pious author called him, of

034.15 any graver impropriety than that, advanced by some woodwards

034.16 or regarders, who did not dare deny, the shomers, that they had,

034.17 chin Ted, chin Tam, chinchin Taffyd, that day consumed their

034.18 soul of the corn, of having behaved with ongentilmensky im-

034.19 modus opposite a pair of dainty maidservants in the swoolth of

034.20 the rushy hollow whither, or so the two gown and pinners plead-

034.21 ed, dame nature in all innocency had spontaneously and about the

034.22 same hour of the eventide sent them both but whose published

034.23 combinations of silkinlaine testimonies are, where not dubiously

034.24 pure, visibly divergent, as wapt from wept, on minor points touch-

034.25 ing the intimate nature of this, a first offence in vert or venison

034.26 which was admittedly an incautious but, at its wildest, a partial ex-

034.27 posure with such attenuating circumstances (garthen gaddeth green

034.28 hwere sokeman brideth girling) as an abnormal Saint Swithin's

034.29 summer and, (Jesses Rosasharon!) a ripe occasion to provoke it.

034.30 We can't do without them. Wives, rush to the restyours! Of-

034.31 man will toman while led is the lol. Zessid's our kadem, villa-

034.32 pleach, vollapluck. Fikup, for flesh nelly, el mundo nov, zole flen!

034.33 If she's a lilyth, pull early! Pauline, allow! And malers abushed,

034.34 keep black, keep black! Guiltless of much laid to him he was

034.35 clearly for once at least he clearly expressed himself as being with

034.36 still a trace of his erstwhile burr and hence it has been received of

035.01 us that it is true. They tell the story (an amalgam as absorbing as

035.02 calzium chloereydes and hydrophobe sponges could make it) how

035.03 one happygogusty Ides-of-April morning (the anniversary, as it

035.04 fell out, of his first assumption of his mirthday suit and rights in

035.05 appurtenance to the confusioning of human races) ages and ages

035.06 after the alleged misdemeanour when the tried friend of all crea-

035.07 tion, tigerwood roadstaff to his stay, was billowing across the

035.08 wide expanse of our greatest park in his caoutchouc kepi and

035.09 great belt and hideinsacks and his blaufunx fustian and ironsides

035.10 jackboots and Bhagafat gaiters and his rubberised inverness, he

035.11 met a cad with a pipe. The latter, the luciferant not the oriuolate

035.12 (who, the odds are, is still berting dagabout in the same straw

035.13 bamer, carryin his overgoat under his schulder, sheepside out, so

035.14 as to look more like a coumfry gentleman and signing the pledge

035.15 as gaily as you please) hardily accosted him with: Guinness thaw

035.16 tool in jew me dinner ouzel fin? (a nice how-do-you-do in Pool-

035.17 black at the time as some of our olddaisers may still tremblingly

035.18 recall) to ask could he tell him how much a clock it was that the

035.19 clock struck had he any idea by cock's luck as his watch was

035.20 bradys. Hesitency was clearly to be evitated. Execration as cleverly

035.21 to be honnisoid. The Earwicker of that spurring instant, realising

035.22 on fundamental liberal principles the supreme importance, nexally

035.23 and noxally, of physical life (the nearest help relay being pingping

035.24 K. O. Sempatrick's Day and the fenian rising) and unwishful as

035.25 he felt of being hurled into eternity right then, plugged by a soft-

035.26 nosed bullet from the sap, halted, quick on the draw, and reply-

035.27 in that he was feelin tipstaff, cue, prodooced from his gunpocket

035.28 his Jurgensen's shrapnel waterbury, ours by communionism, his

035.29 by usucapture, but, on the same stroke, hearing above the skirl-

035.30 ing of harsh Mother East old Fox Goodman, the bellmaster, over

035.31 the wastes to south, at work upon the ten ton tonuant thunder-

035.32 ous tenor toller in the speckled church (Couhounin's call!) told

035.33 the inquiring kidder, by Jehova, it was twelve of em sidereal and

035.34 tankard time, adding, buttall, as he bended deeply with smoked

035.35 sardinish breath to give more pondus to the copperstick he pre-

035.36 sented (though this seems in some cumfusium with the chap-

036.01 stuck ginger, which, as being of sours, acids, salts, sweets and

036.02 bitters compompounded, we know him to have used as chaw-

036.03 chaw for bone, muscle, blood, flesh and vimvital,) that where-

036.04 as the hakusay accusation againstm had been made, what was

036.05 known in high quarters as was stood stated in Morganspost, by

036.06 a creature in youman form who was quite beneath parr and seve-

036.07 ral degrees lower than yore triplehydrad snake. In greater sup-

036.08 port of his word (it, quaint anticipation of a famous phrase, has

036.09 been reconstricted out of oral style into the verbal for all time

036.10 with ritual rhythmics, in quiritary quietude, and toosammen-

036.11 stucked from successive accounts by Noah Webster in the re-

036.12 daction known as the Sayings Attributive of H. C. Earwicker,

036.13 prize on schillings, postlots free), the flaxen Gygas tapped his

036.14 chronometrum drumdrum and, now standing full erect, above

036.15 the ambijacent floodplain, scene of its happening, with one Ber-

036.16 lin gauntlet chopstuck in the hough of his ellboge (by ancientest

036.17 signlore his gesture meaning: Ǝ!) pointed at an angle of thirty-

036.18 two degrees towards his duc de Fer's overgrown milestone as

036.19 fellow to his gage and after a rendypresent pause averred with

036.20 solemn emotion's fire: Shsh shake, co-comeraid! Me only, them

036.21 five ones, he is equal combat. I have won straight. Hence my

036.22 nonation wide hotel and creamery establishments which for the

036.23 honours of our mewmew mutual daughters, credit me, I am woo-

036.24 woo willing to take my stand, sir, upon the monument, that sign

036.25 of our ruru redemption, any hygienic day to this hour and to

036.26 make my hoath to my sinnfinners, even if I get life for it, upon

036.27 the Open Bible and before the Great Taskmaster's (I lift my hat!)

036.28 and in the presence of the Deity Itself andwell of Bishop and

036.29 Mrs Michan of High Church of England as of all such of said

036.30 my immediate withdwellers and of every living sohole in every

036.31 corner wheresoever of this globe in general which useth of my

036.32 British to my backbone tongue and commutative justice that

036.33 there is not one tittle of truth, allow me to tell you, in that purest

036.34 of fibfib fabrications.

036.35      Gaping Gill, swift to mate errthors, stern to checkself, (diag-

036.36 nosing through eustacetube that it was to make with a markedly

037.01 postpuberal hypertituitary type of Heidelberg mannleich cavern

037.02 ethics) lufted his slopingforward, bad Sweatagore good mur-

037.03 rough and dublnotch on to it as he was greedly obliged, and

037.04 like a sensible ham, with infinite tact in the delicate situation seen

037.05 the touchy nature of its perilous theme, thanked um for guilders

037.06 received and time of day (not a little token abock all the same that

037.07 that was owl the God's clock it was) and, upon humble duty to

037.08 greet his Tyskminister and he shall gildthegap Gaper and thee his

037.09 a mouldy voids, went about his business, whoever it was, saluting

037.10 corpses, as a metter of corse (one could hound him out had one

037.11 hart to for the monticules of scalp and dandruff droppings blaze

037.12 his trail) accompanied by his trusty snorler and his permanent

037.13 reflection, verbigracious; I have met with you, bird, too late,

037.14 or if not, too worm and early: and with tag for ildiot repeated

037.15 in his secondmouth language as many of the bigtimer's verbaten

037.16 words which he could balbly call to memory that same kveldeve,

037.17 ere the hour of the twattering of bards in the twitterlitter between

037.18 Druidia and the Deepsleep Sea, when suppertide and souvenir to

037.19 Charlatan Mall jointly kem gently and along the quiet darkenings

037.20 of Grand and Royal, ff, flitmansfluh, and, kk, 't crept i' hedge

037.21 whenas to many a softongue's pawkytalk mude unswer u sufter

037.22 poghyogh, Arvanda always aquiassent, while, studying castelles

037.23 in the blowne and studding cowshots over the noran, he spat in

037.24 careful convertedness a musaic dispensation about his hearthstone,

037.25 if you please, (Irish saliva, mawshe dho hole, but would a respect-

037.26 able prominently connected fellow of Iro-European ascendances

037.27 with welldressed ideas who knew the correct thing such as Mr

037.28 Shallwesigh or Mr Shallwelaugh expectorate after such a callous

037.29 fashion, no thank yous! when he had his belcher spuckertuck in his

037.30 pucket, pthuck?) musefed with his thockits after having supped

037.31 of the dish sot and pottage which he snobbishly dabbed Peach

037.32 Bombay (it is rawly only Lukanpukan pilzenpie which she knows

037.33 which senaffed and pibered him), a supreme of excelling peas,

037.34 balled under minnshogue's milk into whitemalt winesour, a pro-

037.35 viant the littlebilker hoarsely relished, chaff it, in the snevel season,

037.36 being as fain o't as your rat wi'fennel; and on this celebrating

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