"And here are the details."

(611.3-613.7)  I agree with Tindall when he notes that today's passage is one of the more obscure parts of the Wake.  The debate between Balkelly/Bilkilly/Belkelly/Balkally (whatever you want to call him) and Patrick is a nuanced one exploring the nature of human perception and knowledge.  I'll keep my discussion of it brief, as the daily nature of the blog doesn't give me much time to ponder the nuances here (i.e., I need a lot of time to think about this part).

Berkeley (let's call him that today, since McHugh notes that a significant portion of this passage is based upon the philosopher's Theory of Vision) represents the ancient Irish druid tradition (he's the "archdruid of islish chinchinjoss").  To put it in a crude summary, his theory is that fallen humanity can only see an object by the one of the seven "gradationes of solar light" that the object is unable to absorb.  This seems inadequate, to say the least, since we identify things (in particular, their colors) by what they are not.  The enlightened being, the "seer in seventh degree of wisdom," however, is knowledgeable of the "true inwardness of reality" and can see things as they truly are, particularly the six colors/"gloria of light" that they actually retain.  Like the reader, for whom much of this is obscure, Patrick is not able to "catch all that preachybook."  By means of explanation, Berkeley uses the king, who is standing nearby, as an example.  Berkeley points to six features of the king's appearance that Patrick perceives, respectively, as the colors red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet.  Each of these, Berkeley explains, retains the color green.  Berkeley, being the enlightened Irish native, sees that color green in everything.

When it's Patrick's turn to respond, his company of monks is unsure of who will win the debate, given the "possible viriditude" of Berkeley's argument and the "probable eruberuption" of Patrick's.  His argument is less intricate.  He wipes his nose with a handkerchief and (according to my understanding) says that we know an object simply by what it is, "the sound sense sympolin a weedwayedwold of the firethere the sun in his halo cast.  Onmen."  The sun, like God's light, shines upon everything and illuminates it as it is, and we know it as such.

Patrick's argument wins the day, as the helots shout, "Good safe firelamp!" (both "God save Ireland!" and "the good, safe sun!").