monto

In figure: detail of Monto from Plan of the city of Dublin. Letts’s popular atlas (1883) by Letts, Son & Co. Limited, London, via David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

The Mabbot street entrance of nighttown, before which stretches an uncobbled tramsiding set with skeleton tracks, red and green will-o’-the-wisps and danger signals. Rows of grimy houses with gaping doors. Rare lamps with faint rainbow fans. Round Rabaiotti’s halted ice gondola stunted men and women squabble. They grab wafers between which are wedged lumps of coral and copper snow. Sucking, they scatter slowly. Children. The swancomb of the gondola, highreared, forges on through the murk, white and blue under a lighthouse. Whistles call and answer.

J. Joyce, Ulysses, 1922

Well, if you’ve got a wing-o,
Take her up to Ring-o
Where the waxies sing-o all the day;
If you’ve had your fill of porter, And you can’t go any further
Give your man the order: “Back to the Quay!”

And take her up to Monto, Monto, Monto
Take her up to Monto, lan-ge-roo,
To you!

G. D. Hodnett, Monto, 1958