The two men are walking from "the tiny square of Crampton
court," which is slightly east and two blocks south of
the Grattan Bridge, to the Ormond hotel, just north and west
of the bridge. The narrative shows them "Going down the path
of Sycamore street beside the Empire musichall,"
heading north. But at "the Dolphin," a hotel and
restaurant on the corner of Sycamore Street and Essex Street
East, Lenehan takes them on a detour to the east: "— This
way, he said, walking to the right. I want to pop into Lynam's
to see Sceptre's starting price. What's the time by your gold
watch and chain?" M'Coy responds to this jocose request by
peering in the windows of a tea merchant on the corner of
Essex and Eustace Street ("Marcus Tertius Moses' sombre
office"), then looking to a clock posted on the wall of
a second tea merchant across Eustace Street ("O'Neill's
clock"), and reporting that it is now "After three."
This means that on London time it is after 3:25, so, as Gifford
points out, "the race has already been run; but the news,
which was to come by telegraph, was not due to reach Dublin
until 4:00, so Dublin bookmakers would still take bets at
3:00." Lenehan leads M'Coy forward and leaves him waiting "in
Temple bar," the continuation of Essex Street East going
east. He returns a moment later, reports that it's "Even
money," and then directs him "Through here," into the narrow
passageway that leads from Temple Bar to Wellington Quay.
After going "up the steps and under Merchants' arch,"
they are looking at the metal pedestrian bridge usually called
the Ha'penny Bridge, but Lenehan and M'Coy do not cross the
river here. Instead they turn west toward the Grattan Bridge:
"They crossed to the metal bridge and went along Wellington
quay by the riverwall."
In an essay on "Lynam's" on James Joyce Online Notes,
John Simpson observes that in 1904 British law "imposed severe
restrictions" on betting. It was "essentially only legal on
racecourses or (through bookmakers or their ‘commission
agents’) on credit. It was illegal to hand over cash—in the
street, or in a private or a public house, in order to place a
bet," but the practice was nevertheless "rife" in Dublin. In a
1902 government report one of the people interviewed by the
commission testified, "I understand there are a number of boys
employed here in Dublin by newspapers, who go out early in the
mornings with betting sheets—I think they call them
tissues—and they take these to the public-houses, and I think
that is a very bad thing."
Simpson observes that the 1901 census recorded a bookmaker
named Richard Lynam living at 90 Lower Gardiner Street, a
sketchy part of town. In the 1911 census he had moved to
Mountjoy and no longer reported an occupation, but his younger
brothers Denis and Patrick lived nearby and described
themselves respectively as "bookmaker" and "commission agent."
The three Lynam brothers were tough customers ("Dick" was a
former boxing champion) known for their connections to horse
racing. In the 1870s their father Patrick, who had a police
record, lived at number 2 Lower Fownes Street, a one-block
street running between Temple Bar and Wellington Quay that
Lenehan and M'Coy pass on their way to Merchant's Arch. He too
worked as a bookmaker.
Patrick Sr. died in 1895, so it is hard to understand
Simpson's suggestion that "we should also consider the
possibility that it was their father Patrick to whom Lenehan
turned in Ulysses." But his connection to Lower Fownes
Street provides good evidence that the Lynam family may have
conducted business on this street or in some other location
very close to Temple Bar. Simpson has discovered stories in
1904 and 1907 issues of the Irish Times which mention
three police reports of illegal betting operations run on or
near Temple Bar.
