CHARACTER SKETCHES I
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1
by Brewer
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF
ROMANCE, FICTION
AND THE DRAMA
A REVISED AMERICAN EDITION OF THE READER'S HANDBOOK
BY
THE REV. E. COBHAM BREWER, LL.D.
EDITED BY MARION HARLAND
VOLUME I
NEW YORK — SELMAR HESS — PUBLISHER
M D C C C X C I I
Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLUME I.
PHOTOGRAVURES AND ETCHINGS.
Illustration..................Artist
ICHABOD CRANE (colored).......E.A. ABBEY
CONSTANCE DE BEVERLEY................TOBY ROSENTHAL
LADY BOUNTIFUL.......................ROB. W. MACBETH
SYDNEY CARTON........................FREDERICK BARNARD
BERNHARDT AS CLEOPATRA...............From a Photograph from Life
ABBÉ CONSTANTIN......................MADELEINE LEMAIRE
CAPTAIN CUTTLE.......................FREDERICK BARNARD
THE TRUSTY ECKART....................JULIUS ADAM
ELAINE...............................TOBY ROSENTHAL
WOOD ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES.
ABELARD..............................A. GUILLEMINOT
ÆNEAS RELATING HIS STORY TO DIDO....P. GUÉRIN
ALBERICH'S PURSUIT OF THE NIBELUNGEN RING...HANS MAKART
ALETHE, PRIESTESS OF ISIS............EDWIN LONG
ALEXIS AND DORA......................W. VON KAULBACH
ALICE, THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER.........DAVIDSON KNOWLES
ANCIENT MARINER (THE)................GUSTAVE DORÉ
ANDROMEDA............................
ANGÉLIQUE AND MONSEIGNEUR DE HAUTECOEUR...JEANNIOT
ANGUS AND DONALD.....................W.B. DAVIS
ANTIGONE AND ISMENE..................EMIL TESCHENDORFF
ANTONY AND THE DEAD CÆSAR...........
ARCHIMEDES...........................NIC BARABINO
ARGAN AND DOCTOR DIAFOIRUS...........A. SOLOMON
ASHTON (LUCY) AND RAVENSWOOD.........SIR EVERETT MILLAIS
ATALA (BURIAL OF)....................GUSTAVE COURTOIS
AUGUSTA IN COURT.....................A. FORESTIER
AUTOMEDON............................HENRI REGNAULT
BALAUSTION...........................F.H. LUNGREN
BALDERSTONE (CALEB) AND MYSIE.......GEORGE HAY
BAREFOOT (LITTLE)....................F. VON THELEN-RÜDEN
BARKIS IS WILLIN'....................C.J. STANILAND
BAUDIN (THE DEATH OF)................J.-P. LAURENS
BAYARD (THE CHEVALIER)...............LARIVIÈRE
BEDREDEEN HASSAN (MARRIAGE OF) AND NOUREDEEN...F. CORMON
BELLENDEN (LADY) AND MAUSE HEADRIGG..WM. DOUGLAS
BENEDICK AND BEATRICE................HUGHES MERLE
BIRCH (HARVEY), THE PEDDLER-SPY.....
BLANCHELYS (QUEEN) AND THE PILGRIM...J. NOEL PATON
BOABDIL-EL-CHICO'S FAREWELL TO GRENADA...E. CORBOULD
BOADICEA.............................THOS. STOTHARD
BONNICASTLE (ARTHUR) AND MILLIE BRADFORD...
BOTTOM AND TITANIA...................SIR EDWIN LANDSEER
BRABANT (GENEVIÈVE DE)...............ERNST BOSCH
BRÄSIG, LINING AND MINING............CONRAD BECKMANN
BROOKING'S (JOHN) STUDIO.............A. FORESTIER
CÆSAR (THE DEATH OF).................J.L. GÉRÔME
CANTERBURY PILGRIMS (THE)............THOS. STOTHARD; WM. BLAKE
CAREW (FRANCIS) FINDING THE BODY OF DERRICK...HAL LUDLOW
CARMEN...............................J. KOPPAY
CATARINA.............................
CHARLES IX. ON THE EVE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW...P. GROTJOHANN
CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND MARAT..........JULES AVIAT
CHATTERTON'S HOLIDAY AFTERNOON.......W.B. MORRIS
CHILDREN (THE) IN THE WOOD...........J. SANT
CHILLON (THE PRISONER OF)............
CHRISTIAN ENTERING THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION...F.R. PICKERSGILL
CINDERELLA AND THE FAIRY GOD-MOTHER..GUSTAVE DORÉ
CIRCE AND HER SWINE..................BRITON RIVIÈRE
CLARA (DONNA) AND ALMANZOR...........
CLARA, JACQUES AND ARISTIDE..........ADRIEN MARIE
CLAUDIO AND ISABELLA.................HOLMAN HUNT
COLUMBUS AND HIS EGG.................LEO. REIFFENSTEIN
CONSUELO.............................
COSETTE..............................G. GUAY
COSTIGAN (CAPTAIN)...................F. BARNARD
COVERLEY (SIR ROGER DE) COMING FROM CHURCH...CHAS. R. LESLIE
CYMON AND IPHIGENIA..................SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON
DAPHNIS AND CHLOE....................GÉRARD
DARBY AND JOAN IN HIGH-LIFE..........C. DENDY SADLER
D'ARTAGNAN...........................
DEANS (EFFIE) AND HER SISTER IN THE PRISON...R. HERDMAN
DERBLAY (MADAME) STOPS THE DUEL......EMILE BAYARD
DIDO ON THE FUNERAL PYRE.............E. KELLER
DOMBEY (PAUL AND FLORENCE)..........
EGMONT AND CLÄRCHEN..................C. HUEBERLIN
ELECTRA..............................E. TESCHENDORFF
ELIZABETH AND MARY STUART............W. VON KAULBACH
ELIZABETH, THE LANDGRAVINE...........THEODOR PIXIS
ELLEN, THE LADY OF THE LAKE..........J. ADAMS-ACTON
ELLIE (LITTLE).......................
ERMINIA AND THE SHEPHERDS............DOMENICHINO
ESMERALDA............................G. BRION
ESTE (LEONORA D') AND TASSO..........W. VON KAULBACH
EVANGELINE...........................EDWIN DOUGLAS
EVE'S FAREWELL TO PARADISE...........E. WESTALL
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.
A'RON, a Moor, beloved by Tam'ora, queen of the Goths, in the tragedy of Titus Andron'icus, published among the plays of Shakespeare (1593).
(The classic name is Andronicus, but the character of this play is purely fictitious.)
Aaron (St.), a British martyr of the City of Legions (Newport, in South Wales). He was torn limb from limb by order of Maximian'us Hercu'lius, general in Britain, of the army of Diocle'tian. Two churches were founded in the City of Legions, one in honor of St. Aaron and one in honor of his fellow-martyr, St. Julius. Newport was called Caerleon by the British.
... two others ... sealed their doctrine withtheir blood;
St. Julius, and with him St. Aaron, have their
room
At Carleon, suffering death by Diocletian's doom.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv, (1622).
Aaz'iz (3 syl.), so the queen of Sheba or Saba is sometimes called; but in the Koran she is called Balkis (ch. xxvii.).
Abad'don, an angel of the bottomless pit (Rev. ix. 11). The word is derived from the Hebrew, abad, "lost," and means the lost one. There are two other angels introduced by Klopstock in The Messiah with similar names, but must not be confounded with the angel referred to in Rev.; one is Obaddon, the angel of death, and the other Abbad'ona, the repentant devil.
Ab'aris, to whom Apollo gave a golden arrow, on which to ride through the air.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Abbad'ona, once the friend of Ab'diel, was drawn into the rebellion of Satan half unwillingly. In hell he constantly bewailed his fall, and reproved Satan for his pride and blasphemy. He openly declared to the internals that he would take no part or lot in Satan's scheme for the death of the Messiah, and during the crucifixion lingered about the cross with repentance, hope, and fear. His ultimate fate we are not told, but when Satan and Adramelech are driven back to hell, Obaddon, the angel of death, says—
"For thee, Abbadona, I have no orders. How long thou art permitted to remain on earth I know not, nor whether thou wilt be allowed to see the resurrection of the Lord of glory ... but be not deceived, thou canst not view Him with the joy of the redeemed." "Yet let me see Him, let me see him!"—Klopstock, The Messiah, xiii.
Abberville (Lord), a young nobleman, 23 years of age, who has for travelling tutor a Welshman of 65, called Dr. Druid, an antiquary, wholly ignorant of his real duties as a guide of youth. The young man runs wantonly wild, squanders his money, and gives loose to his passions almost to the verge of ruin, but he is arrested and reclaimed by his honest Scotch bailiff or financier, and the vigilance of his father's executor, Mr. Mortimer. This "fashionable lover" promises marriage to a vulgar, malicious city minx named Lucinda Bridgemore, but is saved from this pitfall also.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).
Abbot (The), the complacent churchman in Aldrich's poem of The Jew's Gift, who hanged a Jew "just for no crime," and pondered and smiled and gave consent to the heretic's burial—
"Since he gave his beard to the birds." (1881.)
Abdal-azis, the Moorish governor of Spain after the overthrow of king Roderick. When the Moor assumed regal state and affected Gothic sovereignty, his subjects were so offended that they revolted and murdered him. He married Egilona, formerly the wife of Roderick.— Southey, Roderick, etc., xxii. (1814).
Ab'dalaz'iz (Omar ben), a caliph raised to "Mahomet's bosom" in reward of his great abstinence and self-denial.—Herbelot, 690.
He was by no means scrupulous; nor did he think with the caliph Omar ben Abdalaziz that it was necessary to make a hell of this world to enjoy paradise in the next.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).
Abdal'dar, one of the magicians in the Domdaniel caverns, "under the roots of the ocean." These spirits were destined to be destroyed by one of the race of Hodei'rah (3 syl.), so they persecuted the race even to death. Only one survived, named Thal'aba, and Abdaldar was appointed by lot to find him out and kill him. He discovered the stripling in an Arab's tent, and while in prayer was about to stab him to the heart with a dagger, when the angel of death breathed on him, and he fell dead with the dagger in his hand. Thalaba drew from the magician's finger a ring which gave him command over the spirits. —Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, ii. iii. (1797).
Abdalla, one of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert's slaves.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Abdal'lah, brother and predecessor of Giaf'fer (2 syl.), pacha of Aby'dos. He was murdered by the pacha.—Byron, Bride of Abydos.
Abdallah el Hadgi, Saladin's envoy.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Abdals or Santons, a class of religionists who pretend to be inspired with the most ravishing raptures of divine love. Regarded with great veneration by the vulgar.—Olearius, i. 971.
Ab'diel, the faithful seraph who withstood Satan when he urged those under him to revolt.
... the seraph Abdiel, faithful found;Among the faithless faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmoved.
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.
Milton, Paradise Lost, v. 896, etc. (1665).
Abelard and Eloise, unhappy lovers, whose illicit love was succeeded by years of penitence and remorse. Abelard was the tutor of Heloise (or Eloise), and, although vowed to the church, won and returned her passion. They were violently separated by her uncle. Abelard entered a monastery and Eloise became a nun. Their love survived the passage of years, and they were buried together at Père la Chaise.—Eloise and Abelard. By Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
Abensberg (Count), the father of thirty-two children. When Heinrich II. made his progress through Germany, and other courtiers presented their offerings, the count brought forward his thirty-two children, "as the most valuable offering he could make to his king and country."
Abes'sa, the impersonation of abbeys and convents in Spenser's Faëry Queen, i. 3. She is the paramour of Kirkrapine, who used to rob churches and poor-boxes, and bring his plunder to Abessa, daughter of Corceca (Blindness of Heart).
Abigail, typical name of a maid.—See Beaumont and Fletcher, Swift, Fielding, and many modern writers.
Abney, called Young Abney, the friend of colonel Albert Lee, a royalist.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, the Commonwealth).
Abon Hassan, a young merchant of Bag dad, and hero of the tale called "The Sleeper Awakened," in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. While Abon Hassan is asleep he is conveyed to the palace of Haroun-al-Raschid, and the attendants are ordered to do everything they can to make him fancy himself the caliph. He subsequently becomes the caliph's chief favorite.
Shakespeare, in the induction of Taming of the Shrew, befouls "Christopher Sly" in a similar way, but Sly thinks it was "nothing but a dream."
Philippe le Bon, duke of Burgundy, on his marriage with Eleonora, tried the same trick.—Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, ii. 2,4.
Abou Ben Adhem, "awakening one night from a deep dream of peace," sees an angel writing the names of those who love the Lord. Ben Adhem's name is registered as "one who loves his fellow-men." A second vision shows his name at the head of the list.
Abou Ben Adhem. By Leigh Hunt (1784-1859).
Abra, the most beloved of Solomon's
concubines.
Fruits their odor lost and meats their taste,
If gentle Abra had not decked the feast;
Dishonored did the sparkling goblet stand,
Unless received from gentle Abra's hand; ...
Nor could my soul approve the music's tone
Till all was hushed, and Abra sang alone.
M. Prior, Solomon (1664-1721).
Ab'radas, the great Macedonian pirate.
Abradas, the great Macedonian pirate, thought every one had a letter of mart that bare sayles in the ocean.—Greene, Penelope's Web (1601).
Abroc'omas, the lover of An'thia in the Greek romance of Ephesi'aca, by Xenophon of Ephesus (not the historian).
Ab'salom, in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for the duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II. (David). Like Absalom, the duke was handsome; like Absalom, he was beloved and rebellious; and like Absalom, his rebellion ended in his death (1649-1685).
Ab'solon, a priggish parish clerk in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. His hair was curled, his shoes slashed, his hose red. He could let blood, cut hair, and shave, could dance, and play either on the ribible or the gittern. This gay spark paid his addresses to Mistress Alison, the young wife of John, a rich but aged carpenter: but Alison herself loved a poor scholar named Nicholas, a lodger in the house.—The Miller's Tale (1388).
Absolute (Sir Anthony), a testy but warm-hearted old gentleman, who imagines that he possesses a most angelic temper, and when he quarrels with his son, the captain, fancies it is the son who is out of temper, and not himself. Smollett's "Matthew Bramble" evidently suggested this character. William Dowton (1764-1851) was the best actor of this part.
Captain Absolute, son of sir Anthony, in love with Lydia Languish, the heiress, to whom he is known only as ensign Beverley. Bob Acres, his neighbor, is his rival, and sends a challenge to the unknown ensign; but when he finds that ensign Beverley is captain Absolute, he declines to fight, and resigns all further claim to the lady's hand.—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
Absyrtus, brother of Medea and companion of her flight from Colchis. To elude or delay her pursuers, she cut him into pieces and strewed the fragments in the road, that her father might be detained by gathering up the remains of his son.
Abu'dah, in the drama called The Siege of Damascus, by John Hughes (1720), is the next in command to Caled in the Arabian army set down before Damascus. Though undoubtedly brave, he prefers peace to war; and when, at the death of Caled, he succeeds to the chief command, he makes peace with the Syrians on honorable terms.
Abu'dah, in the Tales of the Genii, by H. Ridley, is a wealthy merchant of Bag dad, who goes in quest of the talisman of Oroma'nes, which he is driven to seek by a little old hag, who haunts him every night and makes his life wretched. He finds at last that the talisman which is to free him of this hag [conscience] is to "fear God and keep his commandments."
Acade'mus, an Attic hero, whose garden was selected by Plato for the place of his lectures. Hence his disciples were called the "Academic sect."
The green retreats of Academus. Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, i (1721-1770).
Acas'to (Lord), father of Seri'no, Casta'lio, and Polydore; and guardian of Monimia "the orphan." He lived to see the death of his sons and his ward. Polydore ran on his brother's sword, Castalio stabbed himself, and Monimia took poison.—Otway, The Orphan (1680).
Aces'tes (3 syl.). In a trial of skill, Acestes, the Sicilian, discharged his arrow with such force that it took fire from the friction of the air.—The Æneid, Bk. V.
Like Acestes' shaft of old,The swift thought kindles as it flies.
Longfellow, To a Child.
Achates [A-ka'-teze], called by Virgil "fidus Achates." The name has become a synonym for a bosom friend, a crony, but is generally used laughingly.—The Æneid.
He, like Achates, faithful to the tomb.Byron, Don Juan, i. 159.
Acher'ia, the fox, went partnership with a bear in a bowl of: milk. Before the bear arrived, the fox skimmed off the cream and drank the milk; then, filling the bowl with mud, replaced the cream atop. Says the fox, "Here is the bowl; one shall have the cream, and the other all the rest: choose, friend, which you like." The bear told the fox to take the cream, and thus bruin had only the mud.—A Basque Tale.
A similar tale occurs in Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands (iii. 98), called "The Keg of Butter." The wolf chooses the bottom when "oats" were the object of choice, and the top when "potatoes" were the sowing.
Rabelais tells the same tale about a farmer and the devil. Each was to have on alternate years what grew under and over the soil. The farmer sowed turnips and carrots when the under-soil produce came to his lot, and barley or wheat when his turn was the over-soil produce.
Achille Grandissime, "A rather poor specimen of the Grandissime type, deficient in stature, but not in stage manner."—The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable (1880).
Achil'les (3 syl.), the hero of the allied Greek army in the siege of Troy, and king of the Myr'midons.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
The English Achilles, John Talbot, first earl of Shrewsbury (1373-1453).
The duke of Wellington is so called sometimes, and is represented by a statue of Achilles of gigantic size in Hyde Park, London, close to Apsley House (1769-1852).
The Achilles of Germany, Albert, elector of Brandenburg (1414-1486).
Achilles of Rome, Sicin'ius Denta'tus (put to death B.C. 450).
Achit'ophel, "Him who drew Achitophel," Dryden, author of the famous political satire of Absalom and Achitophel. "David" is Charles II.; his rebellious son "Absalom" is the king's natural son, the handsome but rebellious James duke of Monmouth; and "Achitophel," the traitorous counsellor, is the earl of Shaftesbury, "for close designs and crooked counsels fit."
Can sneer at him who drew Achitophel.Byron, Don Juan, iii. 100.
There is a portrait of the first earl of Shaftesbury (Dryden's "Achitophel") as lord chancellor of England, clad in ash-colored robes, because he had never been called to the bar.—E. Yates, Celebrities, xviii.
A'cis, a Sicilian shepherd, loved by the nymph Galate'a. The monster Polypheme (3 syl.), a Cyclops, was his rival, and crushed him under a huge rock. The blood of Acis was changed into a river of the same name at the foot of mount Etna.
Not such a pipe, good reader, as that which Acis did sweetly tune in praise of his Galatea, but one of true Delft manufacture.—W. Irving (1783-1859).
Ack'land (Sir Thomas), a royalist.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, the Commonwealth).
Ac'oe (3 syl.), "hearing," in the New Testament sense (Rom. x. 17), "Faith cometh by hearing." The nurse of Fido [faith]. Her daughter is Meditation. (Greek,, "hearing.")
With him [Faith] his nurse went, careful Acoë,Whose hands first from his mother's womb
did take him,
And ever since have fostered tenderly.
Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, ix. (1633).
Acras'ia, Intemperance personified. Spenser says she is an enchantress living in the "Bower of Bliss," in "Wandering Island." She had the power of transforming her lovers into monstrous shapes; but sir Guyon (temperance), having caught her in a net and bound her, broke down her bower and burnt it to ashes.—Faëry Queen, ii. 12 (1590).
Acra'tes (3 syl.), Incontinence personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher. He had two sons (twins) by Caro, viz., Methos (drunkenness) and Gluttony, both fully described in canto vii. (Greek, akrates, "incontinent.")
Acra'tes (3 syl.), Incontinence personified in The Faëry Queen, by Spenser. He is the father of Cymoch'lês and Pyroch'lês.—Bk. ii. 4 (1590).
Acres (Bob), a country gentleman, the rival of ensign Beverley, alias captain Absolute, for the hand and heart of Lydia Languish, the heiress. He tries to ape the man of fashion, gets himself up as a loud swell, and uses "sentimental oaths," i.e. oaths bearing on the subject. Thus if duels are spoken of he says, ods triggers and flints; if clothes, ods frogs and tambours; if music, ods minnums [minims] and crotchets; if ladies, ods blushes and blooms. This he learnt from a militia officer, who told him the ancients swore by Jove, Bacchus, Mars, Venus, Minerva, etc., according to the sentiment. Bob Acres is a great blusterer, and talks big of his daring, but when put to the push "his courage always oozed out of his fingers' ends." J. Quick was the original Bob Acres.—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
As thro' his palms Bob Acres' valor oozed,So Juan's virtue ebbed, I know not how.
Byron, Don Juan.
Joseph Jefferson's impersonation of Bob Acres is inimitable for fidelity to the spirit of the original, and informed throughout with exquisite humor that never degenerates into coarseness.
Acris'ius, father of Dan'aê. An oracle declared that Danaê would give birth to a son who would kill him, so Acrisius kept his daughter shut up in an apartment under ground, or (as some say) in a brazen tower. Here she became the mother of Per'seus (2 syl.), by Jupiter in the form of a shower of gold. The king of Argos now ordered his daughter and her infant to be put into a chest, and cast adrift on the sea, but they were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman. When grown to manhood, Perseus accidentally struck the foot of Acrisius with a quoit, and the blow caused his death. This tale is told by Mr. Morris in The Earthly Paradise (April).
Actae'on, a hunter, changed by Diana into a stag. A synonym for a cuckold.
Divulge Page himself for a secure and wilfulActæon [cuckold].
Shakespeare, Merry Wives, etc., act iii. sc. 2 (1596).
Acte'a, a female slave faithful to Nero in his fall. It was this hetæra who wrapped the dead body in cerements, and saw it decently interred.
This Actea was beautiful. She was seated onthe ground; the head of Nero was on her lap,
his naked body was stretched on those winding-sheets
in which she was about to fold him, to lay
him in his grave upon the garden hill.—Ouida,
Ariadnê, i. 7.
Actors and Actresses. The last male actor that took a woman's character on the stage was Edward Kynaston, noted for his beauty (1619-1687). The first female actor for hire was Mrs. Saunderson, afterwards Mrs. Betterton, who died in 1712.
Ad, Ad'ites (2 syl.). Ad is a tribe descended from Ad, son of Uz, son of Irem, son of Shem, son of Noah. The tribe, at the Confusion of Babel, went and settled on Al-Ahkâf [the Winding Sands], in the province of Hadramant. Shedâd was their first king, but in consequence of his pride, both he and all the tribe perished, either from drought or the Sarsar (an icy wind).—Sale's Koran, 1.
Woe, woe, to Irem! Woe to Ad!Death, has gone up into her palaces!....
They fell around me. Thousands fell around.
The king and all his people fell;
All, all, they perished all.
Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, i. 41, 45 (1797).
A'dah, wife of Cain. After Cain had been conducted by Lucifer through the realms of space, he is restored to the home of his wife and child, where all is beauty, gentleness, and love. Full of faith and fervent in gratitude, Adah loves her infant with a sublime maternal affection. She sees him sleeping, and says to Cain—
How lovely he appears! His little cheeksIn their pure incarnation, vying with
The rose leaves strewn beneath them.
And his lips, too,
How beautifully parted! No; you shall not
Kiss him; at least not now. He will awake soon—
His hour of midday rest is nearly over.
Byron, Cain.
Adam. In Greek this word is compounded of the four initial letters of the cardinal quarters:
Arktos, [Greek: arktos]. north.Dusis, [Greek: dusis]. west.
Anatolê, [Greek: anatolae]. east.
Mesembria, [Greek: mesaembria]. south.
The Hebrew word ADM forms the anagram of A [dam], D [avid], M [essiah].
Adam, how made. God created the body of Adam of Salzal, i.e. dry, unbaked clay, and left it forty nights without a soul. The clay was collected by Azrael from the four quarters of the earth, and God, to show His approval of Azrael's choice, constituted him the angel of death.—Rabadan.
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. After the fall Adam was placed on mount Vassem in the east; Eve was banished to Djidda (now Gedda, on the Arabian coast); and the Serpent was exiled to the coast of Eblehh.
After the lapse of 100 years Adam rejoined Eve on mount Arafaith [place of Remembrance], near Mecca.—D'Ohsson.
Death of Adam. Adam died on Friday, April 7, at the age of 930 years. Michael swathed his body, and Gabriel discharged the funeral rites. The body was buried at Ghar'ul-Kenz [the grotto of treasure], which overlooks Mecca.
His descendants at death amounted to 40,000 souls.—D'Ohsson.
When Noah, entered the ark (the same writer says) he took the body of Adam in a coffin with him, and when he left the ark restored it to the place he had taken it from.
Adam, a bailiff, a jailer.
Not that Adam that kept the paradise, but that Adam that keeps the prison.—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, act iv. sc. 3 (1593).
Adam, a faithful retainer in the family of sir Eowland de Boys. At the age of fourscore, he voluntarily accompanied his young master Orlando into exile, and offered to give him his little savings. He has given birth to the phrase, "A Faithful Adam" [or man-servant].—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).
Adam Bell, a northern outlaw, noted for his archery. The name, like those of Clym of the Clough, William of Cloudesly, Robin Hood, and Little John, is synonymous with a good archer.
Adamastor, the Spirit of the Cape, a hideous phantom, of unearthly pallor; "erect his hair uprose of withered red, his lips were black, his teeth blue and disjointed, his beard haggard, his face scarred by lightning, his eyes shot livid fire, his voice roared." The sailors trembled at sight of him, and the fiend demanded how they dared to trespass "where never hero braved his rage before?" He then told them "that every year the shipwrecked should be made to deplore their foolhardiness."—Camöens, The Lusiad, v. (1569).
Adam'ida, a planet on which reside the unborn spirits of saints, martyrs, and believers. U'riel, the angel of the sun, was ordered at the crucifixion to interpose this planet between the sun and the earth, so as to produce a total eclipse.
Adamida, in obedience to the divine command, flew amidst overwhelming storms, rushing clouds, falling mountains, and swelling seas. Uriel stood on the pole of the star, but so lost in deep contemplation on Golgotha, that he heard not the wild uproar. On coming to the region of the sun, Adamida slackened her course, and advancing before the sun, covered its face and intercepted all its rays.—Klopstock, The Messiah, viii. (1771).
Adams (John), one of the mutineers of the Bounty (1790), who settled in Tahiti. In 1814 he was discovered as the patriarch of a colony, brought up with a high sense of religion and strict regard to morals. In 1839 the colony was voluntarily placed under the protection of the British Government.
Adams (Parson), the beau-ideal of a simple-minded, benevolent, but eccentric country clergyman, of unswerving integrity, solid learning, and genuine piety; bold as a lion in the cause of truth, but modest as a girl in all personal matters; wholly ignorant of the world, being "in it but not of of it."—Fielding, Joseph Andrews (1742).
His learning, his simplicity, his evangelical purity of mind are so admirably mingled with pedantry, absence of mind, and the habit of athletic ... exercise ... that he may be safely termed one of the richest productions of the muse of fiction. Like Don Quixote, parson Adams is beaten a little too much and too often, but the cudgel lights upon his shoulders ... without the slightest stain to his reputation.—Sir W. Scott.
Ad'dison of the North, Henry Mackenzie, author of The Man of Feeling (1745-1831).
Adelaide, daughter of the count of Narbonne, in love with Theodore. She is killed by her father in mistake for another.—Robt. Jephson, Count of Narbonne (1782).
Adelaide Fisher, daughter-in-law of Grandpa and Grandma Fisher in Sallie Pratt McLean Greene's Cape Cod Folks. She has a sweet voice and an edged temper, and it would seem from certain cynical remarks of her own, and Grandma's "Thar, daughter, I wouldn't mind!" has a history she does not care to reveal (1881).
Adelaide Yates, the wife of Steve Yates and mother of Little Moses in Charles Egbert Craddock's In the "Stranger People's" Country. Her husband has been seized and detained by the "moonshiners" in the mountains, and the impression is that he has wilfully deserted her. She cannot discredit it, but "She's goin' ter stay thar in her cabin an' wait fur him," said Mrs. Pettengill. "Sorter seems de-stressin', I do declar'. A purty, young, good, r'ligious 'oman a-settin' herself ter spen' a empty life a-waitin' fur Steve Yates ter kum back!" (1890.)
Adeline (Lady), the wife of lord Henry Amun'deville (4 syl.), a highly educated aristocratic lady, with all the virtues and weaknesses of the upper ten. After the parliamentary sessions this noble pair filled their house with guests, amongst which were the duchess of Fitz-Fulke, the duke of D----, Aurora Raby, and don Juan, "the Russian envoy." The tale not being finished, no key to these names is given. (For the lady's character, see xiv. 54-56.)—Byron, Don Juan, xiii. to the end.
Ad'emar or Adema'ro, archbishop of Poggio, an ecclesiastical warrior in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Adic'ia, wife of the soldan, who incites him to distress the kingdom of Mercilla. When Mercilla sends her ambassador, Samient, to negotiate peace, Adicia, in violation of international law, thrusts her Samient out of doors like a dog, and sets two knights upon her. Sir Artegal comes to her rescue, attacks the two knights, and knocks one of them from his saddle with such force that he breaks his neck. After the discomfiture of the soldan, Adicia rushes forth with a knife to stab Samient, but, being intercepted by sir Artegal, is changed into a tigress.—Spenser, Faery Queen, v. 8 (1596).
The "soldan" is king Philip II. of Spain; "Mercilla" is
queen Elizabeth; "Adicia" is Injustice personified, or the bigotry of
popery; and "Samient" the ambassadors of Holland, who went to Philip for
redress of grievances, and were most iniquitously detained by him as
prisoners.
Ad'icus, Unrighteousness personified in canto vii. of The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. He has eight sons and daughters, viz., Ec'thros (hatred), Eris (variance), a daughter, Zelos (emulation), Thumos (wrath), Erith'ius (strife), Dichos'tasis (sedition), Envy, and Phon'os (murder); all fully described by the poet. (Greek, adikos, "an unjust man.")
Adie of Aikenshaw, a neighbor of the Glendinnings.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Adme'tus, a king of Thessaly, husband of Alcestis. Apollo, being condemned by Jupiter to serve a mortal for twelve months for slaying a Cyclops, entered the service of Admetus. James R. Lowell has a poem on the subject, called The Shepherd of King Admetus (1819-1891).
Ad'mirable (The): (1) Aben-Ezra, a Spanish rabbin, born at Tole'do (1119-1174). (2) James Crichton (Kry-ton), the Scotchman (1551-1573). (3) Roger Bacon, called "The Admirable Doctor" (1214-1292).
Adolf, bishop of Cologne, was devoured by mice or rats in 1112. (See HATTO.)
Ad'ona, a seraph, the tutelar spirit of James, the "first martyr of the twelve."—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).
Adonai, the mysterious spirit of pure mind, love, and beauty that inspires Zanoni, in Bulwer's novel of that name.
Adonais, title of Percy Bysshe Shelley's elegy upon John Keats, written in 1821.
A'donbec el Hakim, the physician, a disguise assumed by Saladin, who visits sir Kenneth's sick squire, and cures him of a fever.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Ado'nis, a beautiful youth, beloved by Venus and Proser'pina, who quarrelled about the possession of him. Jupiter, to settle the dispute, decided that the boy should spend six months with Venus in the upper world and six with Proserpina in the lower. Adonis was gored to death by a wild boar in a hunt.
Shakespeare has a poem called Venus and Adonis. Shelley calls his elegy on the poet Keats Adona'is, under the idea that the untimely death of Keats resembled that of Adonis.
(Adonis is an allegory of the sun, which is six months north of the horizon, and six months south. Thammuz is the same as Adonis, and so is Osiris).
Adoniram Penn, the obstinate and well-to-do farmer in Mary E. Wilkins's Revolt of "Mother". He persists in building a new barn which the cattle do not need instead of the much-needed dwelling for his family. In his absence, "Mother," who was wont to "stand before her husband in the humble fashion of a Scripture woman," moves household and furniture into the commodious barn.
"Adoniram was like a fortress whose walls had no active resistance, and went down the instant the right besieging tools were used" (1890).
Ad'oram, a seraph, who had charge of James the son of Alphe'us.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).
Adosinda, daughter of the Gothic governor of Auria, in Spain. The Moors having slaughtered her parents, husband, and child, preserved her alive for the captain of Alcahman's regiment. She went to his tent without the least resistance, but implored the captain to give her one night to mourn the death of those so near and dear to her. To this he complied, but during sleep she murdered him with his own scymitar. Roderick, disguised as a monk, helped her to bury the dead bodies of her house, and then she vowed to live for only one object, vengeance. In the great battle, when the Moors were overthrown, she it was who gave the word of attack, "Victory and Vengeance!"—Southey, Roderick, etc., iii. (1814).
Adram'elech (ch=k), one of the fallen angels. Milton makes him overthrown by U'riel and Raphael (Paradise Lost, vi. 365). According to Scripture, he was one of the idols of Sepharvaim, and Shalmane'ser introduced his worship into Samaria. [The word means "the mighty magnificent king."]
The Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adramelech.—2 Kings xvii. 31.
Klopstock introduces him into The Messiah, and represents him as surpassing Satan in malice and guile, ambition and mischief. He is made to hate every one, even Satan, of whose rank he is jealous, and whom he hoped to overthrow, that by putting an end to his servitude he might become the supreme god of all the created worlds. At the crucifixion he and Satan are both driven back to hell by Obad'don, the angel of death.
Adraste' (2 syl.), a French gentleman, who inveigles a Greek slave named Isidore from don Pèdre. His plan is this: He gets introduced as a portrait-painter, and thus imparts to Isidore his love, and obtains her consent to elope with him. He then sends his slave Zaïde (2 syl.) to don Pèdre, to crave protection for ill treatment, and Pèdre promises to befriend her. At this moment Adraste appears, and demands that Zaïde be given up to him to punish as he thinks proper. Pèdre intercedes; Adraste seems to relent; and Pèdre calls for Zaïde. Out comes Isidore instead, with Zaïde's veil. "There," says Pèdre, "take her and use her well." "I will do so," says the Frenchman, and leads off the Greek slave.—Molière, Le Sicilien, ou L'Amour Peintre (1667).
Adrian'a, a wealthy Ephesian lady, who marries Antiph'olus, twin-brother of Antipholus of Syracuse. The abbess Aemilia is her mother-in-law, but she knows it not; and one day when she accuses her husband of infidelity, she says to the abbess, if he is unfaithful it is not from want of remonstrance, "for it is the one subject of our conversation. In bed I will not let him sleep for speaking of it; at table I will not let him eat for speaking of it; when alone with him I talk of nothing else, and in company I give him frequent hints of it. In a word, all my talk is how vile and bad it is in him to love another better than he loves his wife" (act v. sc. 1).—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1593).
Adria'no de Arma'do (Don), a pompous, fantastical Spaniard, a military braggart in a state of peace, as Parolles (3 syl.) was in war. Boastful but poor; a coiner of words, but very ignorant; solemnly grave, but ridiculously awkward; majestical in gait, but of very low propensities.—Shakespeare, Love's Labour Lost (1594).
(Said to be designed for John Florio, surnamed "The Resolute," a philologist. Holofernes, the pedantic schoolmaster, in the same play, is also meant in ridicule of the same lexicographer.)
You may remember, scarce five years are pastSince in your brigantine you sailed to see
The Adriatic wedded to our duke.
T. Otway, Venice Preserved, i. 1 (1682).
Ad'riel, in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, the earl of Mulgrave, a royalist.
Sharp-judging Adriel, the Muses' friend;Himself a muse. In sanhedrim's debate
True to his prince, but not a slave to state;
Whom David's love with honours did adorn,
That from his disobedient son were torn.
Part i.
(John Sheffield, earl of Mulgrave (1649-1721) wrote an Essay on Poetry.)
Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress, said to have been poisoned by flowers sent to her by a rival. Died in 1730.
AE'acus, king of Oeno'pia, a man of such integrity and piety, that he was made at death one of the three judges of hell. The other two were Minos and Rhadaman'thus.
Aege'on a huge monster with 100 arms and 50 heads, who with his brothers, Cottus and Gygês, conquered the Titans by hurling at them 300 rocks at once. Homer says men call him "Aege'on," but by the gods he is called Bri'areus (3 syl.).
Briáreos or Typhon, whom the denBy ancient Tarsus held.
—Milton, Paradise Lost, I. 199.
Aege'on, a merchant of Syracuse, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1593).
Aemylia, a lady of high degree, in love with Am'yas, a squire of inferior rank. Going to meet her lover at a trysting-place, she was caught up by a hideous monster, and thrust into his den for future food. Belphoebê (3 syl.) slew "the caitiff" and released the maid (canto vii.). Prince Arthur, having slain Corflambo, released Amyas from the durance of Paea'na, Corflambo's daughter, and brought the lovers together "in peace and joyous blis" (canto ix.).—Spencer, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).
Aemil'ia, wife of Aege'on the Syracusian merchant, and mother of the twins called Antiph'olus. When the boys were shipwrecked, she was parted from them and taken to Ephesus. Here she entered a convent, and rose to be the abbess. Without her knowing it, one of her twins also settled in Ephesus, and rose to be one of its greatest and richest citizens. The other son and her husband Ægeon both set foot in Ephesus the same day without the knowledge of each other, and all met together in the duke's court, when the story of their lives was told, and they became again united to each other.—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1593).
Aene'as, a Trojan prince, the hero of Virgil's epic called Aeneid. He was the son of Anchi'ses and Venus. His first wife was Creu'sa (3 syl.), by whom he had a son named Asca'nius; his second wife was Lavinia, daughter of Latinus king of Italy, by whom he had a posthumous son called Aene'as Sylvius. He succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom, and the Romans called him their founder.
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth "Brutus," the first king of Britain (from whom the island was called Britain), was a descendant of Æneas.
Aene'id, the epic poem of Virgil, in twelve books. When Troy was taken by the Greeks and set on fire, Aene'as, with his father, son, and wife, took flight, with the intention of going to Italy, the original birthplace of the family. The wife was lost, and the old father died on the way; but after numerous perils by sea and land, Æneas and his son Asca'nius reached Italy. Here Latïnus, the reigning king, received the exiles hospitably, and promised his daughter Lavin'ia in marriage to Æneas; but she had been already betrothed by her mother to prince Turnus, son of Daunus, king of Ru'tuli, and Turnus would not forego his claim. Latinus, in this dilemma, said the rivals must settle the dispute by an appeal to arms. Turnus being slain, Æneas married Lavinia, and ere long succeeded his father-in-law on the throne.
Book I. The escape from Troy; Æneas and his son, driven by a tempest on the shores of Carthage, are hospitably entertained by queen Dido.
II. Æneas tells Dido the tale of the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, and his flight with his father, wife, and son. The wife was lost and died.
III. The narrative continued. The perils he met with on the way, and the death of his father.
IV. Dido falls in love with Æneas; but he steals away from Carthage, and Dido, on a funeral pyre, puts an end to her life.
V. Æneas reaches Sicily, and celebrates there the games in honor of Anchises. This book corresponds to the Iliad, xxiii.
VI. Æneas visits the infernal regions. This book corresponds to Odyssey, xi.
VII. Latinus king of Italy entertains Æneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage, but prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raises an army to resist Æneas.
VIII. Preparations on both sides for a general war.
IX. Turnus, during the absence of Æneas, fires the ships and assaults the camp. The episode of Nisus and Eury'alus.
X. The war between Turnus and Æneas. Episode of Mezentius and Lausus.
XI. The battle continued.
XII. Turnus challenges Æneas to single combat, and is killed.
N.B.—1. The story of Sinon and taking of Troy is borrowed from Pisander, as Macrobius informs us.
2. The loves of Dido and Æneas are copied from those of Medea and Jason, in Apollonius.
3. The story of the wooden horse and the burning of Troy are from Arcti'nus of Miletus.
Ae'olus, god of the winds, which he keeps imprisoned in a cave in the Æolian Islands, and lets free as he wishes or as the over-gods command.
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,And twice by awkward wind from England's bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?...
Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer,
But left that hateful office unto thee.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act v, sc. 2 (1591).
Aescula'pius, in Greek, Askle'pios, the god of healing.
What says my Æsculapius? my Galen?...Ha! is he dead?
Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii.
sc. 3 (1601).
Ae'son, the father of Jason. He was restored to youth by Medea, who infused into his veins the juice of certain herbs.
In such a night,Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs
That did renew old Aeson.
Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, act v. sc. I
(before 1598).
Æsop, the fabulist, said to be humpbacked; hence, "an Æsop" means a humpbacked man. The young son of Henry VI. calls his uncle Richard of Gloster "Æsop."—3 Henry VI. act v. sc. 5.
Aesop of Arabia, Lokman; and Nasser (fifth century).
Aesop of England, John Gay (1688-1732).
Aesop of France, Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695).
Aesop of Germany, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).
Aesop of India, Bidpay or Pilpay (third century B.C.).
Afer, the south-west wind; Notus, the full south.
Notus and Afer, black with thundrous clouds. Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 702 (1665).
African Magician (The), pretended to Aladdin to be his uncle, and sent the lad to fetch the "wonderful lamp" from an underground cavern. As Aladdin refused to hand it to the magician, he shut him in the cavern and left him there. Aladdin contrived to get out by virtue of a magic ring, and learning the secret of the lamp, became immensely rich, built a superb palace, and married the sultan's daughter. Several years after, the African resolved to make himself master of the lamp, and accordingly walked up and down before the palace, crying incessantly, "Who will change old lamps for new!" Aladdin being on a hunting excursion, his wife sent a eunuch to exchange the "wonderful lamp" for a new one; and forthwith the magician commanded "the slaves of the lamp" to transport the palace and all it contained into Africa. Aladdin caused him to be poisoned in a draught of wine.—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").
Af'rit or Afreet, a kind of Medusa or Lamia, the most terrible and cruel of all the orders of the deevs.—Herbelot, 66.
From the hundred chimneys of the village,Like the Afreet in the Arabian story [Introduct.
Tale],
Smoky columns tower aloft into the air of amber.
Longfellow, The Golden Milestone.
Agag, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achit'ophel, is sir Edmondbury Godfrey, the magistrate, who was found murdered in a ditch near Primrose Hill. Dr. Oates, in the same satire, is called "Corah."
Corah might for Agag's murder call,In terms as coarse as Samuel used to Saul.
Part i.
Agamemnon, king of the Argives and commander-in-chief of the allied Greeks in the siege of Troy. Introduced by Shakespeare in his Troilus and Cres'sida.
Vixere fortes ante Agamem'nona, "There were brave men before Agamemnon;" we are not to suppose that there were no great and good men in former times. A similar proverb is, "There are hills beyond Pentland and fields beyond Forth."
Agandecca, daughter of Starno king of Lochlin [Scandinavia], promised in marriage to Fingal king of Morven [north-west of Scotland]. The maid told Fingal to beware of her father, who had set an ambush to kill him. Fingal, being thus forewarned, slew the men in ambush; and Starno, in rage, murdered his daughter, who was buried by Fingal in Ardven [Argyll].
The daughter of the snow overheard, and leftthe hall of her secret sigh. She came in all her
beauty, like the moon from the cloud of the east.
Loveliness was around her as light. Her step
was like the music of songs. She saw the youth,
and loved him. He was the stolen sigh of her
soul. Her blue eyes rolled in secret on him, and
she blessed the chief of Morven.—Ossian ("Fingal,"
iii.)
Aganip'pe (4 syl.), fountain of the Muses, at the foot of mount Helicon, in Boeo'tia.
From Helicon's harmonious springsA thousand rills their mazy progress take.
Gray, Progress of Poetry.
Ag'ape (3 syl.) the fay. She had three sons at a birth, Primond, Diamond, and Triamond. Being anxious to know the future lot of her sons, she went to the abyss of Demogorgon, to consult the "Three Fatal Sisters." Clotho showed her the threads, which "were thin as those spun by a spider." She begged the fates to lengthen the life-threads, but they said this could not be; they consented, however, to this agreement—
When ye shred with fatal knifeHis line which is the eldest of the three,
Eftsoon his life may pass into the next:
And when the next shall likewise ended be,
That both their lives may likewise be annext
Unto the third, that his may so be trebly wext.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 2 (1590).
Agapi'da (Fray Antonio), the imaginary chronicler of The Conquest of Granada, written by Washington Irving (1829).
Agast'ya (3 syl.), a dwarf who drank the sea dry. As he was walking one day with Vishnoo, the insolent ocean asked the god who the pigmy was that strutted by his side. Vishnoo replied it was the patriarch Agastya, who was going to restore earth to its true balance. Ocean, in contempt, spat its spray in the pigmy's face, and the sage, in revenge of this affront, drank the waters of the ocean, leaving the bed quite dry.—Maurice.
Ag'atha, daughter of Cuno, and the betrothed of Max, in Weber's opera of Der Freischütz.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Agath'ocles (4 syl.) tyrant of Sicily. He was the son of a potter, and raised himself from the ranks to become general of the army. He reduced all Sicily under his power. When he attacked the Carthaginians, he burnt his ships that his soldiers might feel assured they must either conquer or die. Agathoclês died of poison administered by his grandson (B.C. 361-289).
Voltaire has a tragedy called Agathocle, and Caroline Pichler has an excellent German novel entitled Agathoclés.
Agathon, the hero and title of a philosophic romance, by C. M. Wieland (1733-1813). This is considered the best of his novels, though some prefer his Don Sylvia de Rosalva.
Agdistes, the name given by Spenser to our individual consciousness or self. Personified in the being who presided over the Acrasian "bowre of blis."
That is our selfe, whom though we do not seeYet each doth in himselfe it well perceive to bee.
Therefore a God him sage Antiquity
Did wisely make, and good Agdistes call—
Spenser, Faerie Queene, ii. 12.
Agdistis, a genius of human form, uniting the two senses and born of an accidental union between Jupiter and Tellus. The story of Agdistis and Atys is apparently a myth of the generative powers of nature.
Aged (The), so Wemmick's father is called. He lived in "the castle at Walworth." Wemmick at "the castle" and Wemmick in business are two "different beings."
Wemmick's house was a little wooden cottage,in the midst of plots of garden, and the top of
it was cut out and painted like a battery mounted
with guns.... It was the smallest of houses,
with queer Gothic windows (by far the greater
part of them sham), and a Gothic door, almost
too small to get in at.... On Sundays he ran
up a real flag.... The bridge was a plank, and
it crossed a chasm about four feet wide and two
deep.... At nine o'clock every night "the gun
fired," the gun being mounted in a separate fortress
made of lattice-work. It was protected
from the weather by a tarpaulin ... umbrella.—
C. Dickens, Great Expectations, xxv. (1860).
Ag'elastes (Michael), the cynic philosopher.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Agesila'us (5 syl.). Plutarch tells us that Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was one day discovered riding cock-horse on a long stick, to please and amuse his children.
A'gib (King), "The Third Calender" (Arabian Nights' Entertainments). He was wrecked on the loadstone mountain, which drew all the nails and iron bolts from his ship; but he overthrew the bronze statue on the mountain-top, which was the cause of the mischief. Agib visited the ten young men, each of whom had lost the right eye, and was carried by a roc to the palace of the forty princesses, with whom he tarried a year. The princesses were then obliged to leave for forty days, but entrusted him with the keys of the palace, with free permission to enter every room but one. On the fortieth day curiosity induced him to open this room, where he saw a horse, which he mounted, and was carried through the air to Bag dad. The horse then deposited him, and knocked out his right eye with a whisk of its tail, as it had done the ten "young men" above referred to.
Agitator (The Irish), Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847).
Aglae, the unwedded sister in T. B. Aldrich's poem, The Sisters' Tragedy (1891).
Two sisters loved one man. He being dead,Grief loosed the lips of her he had not wed,
And all the passion that through heavy years,
Had masked in smiles, unmasked itself in tears.
Agnei'a (3 syl.), wifely chastity, sister of Parthen'ia or maiden chastity. Agneia is the spouse of Encra'tês or temperance. Fully described in canto x. of The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). (Greek, agneia, "chastity.")
Ag'nes, daughter of Mr. Wickfield the solicitor, and David Copperfield's second wife (after the death of Dora, "his child wife"). Agnes is a very pure, self-sacrificing girl, accomplished, yet domestic.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Agnes, in Molière's L'École des Femmes, the girl on whom Arnolphe tries his pet experiment of education, so as to turn out for himself a "model wife." She is brought up in a country convent, where she is kept in entire ignorance of the difference of sex, conventional proprieties, the difference between the love of men and women, and that of girls for girls, the mysteries of marriage, and so on. When grown to womanhood she quits the convent, and standing one evening on a balcony a young man passes and takes off his hat to her, she returns the salute; he bows a second and third time, she does the same; he passes and repasses several times, bowing each time, and she does as she has been taught to do by acknowledging the salute. Of course, the young man (Horace) becomes her lover, whom she marries, and M. Arnolphe loses his "model wife." (See PINCH-WIFE.)
Elle fait l'Agnès. She pretends to be wholly unsophisticated and verdantly ingenuous.—French Proverb (from the "Agnes" of Molière, L'École des Femmes, 1662).
Agnes (Black), the countess of March, noted for her defence of Dunbar against the English.
Black Agnes, the palfry of Mary queen of Scots, the gift of her brother Moray, and so called from the noted countess of March, who was countess of Moray (Murray) in her own right.
Agnes (St.), a young virgin of Palermo, who at the age of thirteen was martyred at Rome during the Diocletian persecution of A.D. 304. Prudence (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens), a Latin Christian poet of the fourth century, has a poem on the subject. Tintoret and Domenichi'no have both made her the subject of a painting.—The Martyrdom of St. Agnes.
St. Agnes and the Devil. St. Agnes, having escaped from the prison at Rome, took shipping and landed at St. Piran Arwothall. The devil dogged her, but she rebuked him, and the large moor-stones between St. Piran and St. Agnes, in Cornwall, mark the places where the devils were turned into stone by the looks of the indignant saint.—Polwhele, History of Cornwall.
Agnes of Sorrento, heroine of novel of same name, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The scene of the story is laid in Sorrento, Italy.
Agraman'te (4 syl.) or Ag'ramant, king of the Moors, in Orlando Innamorato, by Bojardo, and Orlando Furioso, by Ariosto.
Agrawain (Sir) or Sir Agravain, surnamed "The Desirous," and also "The Haughty." He was son of Lot (king of Orkney) and Margawse half-sister of king Arthur. His brothers were sir Gaw'ain, sir Ga'heris, and sir Gareth. Mordred was his half-brother, being the son of king Arthur and Margawse. Sir Agravain and sir Mordred hated sir Launcelot, and told the king he was too familiar with the queen; so they asked the king to spend the day in hunting, and kept watch. The queen sent for sir Launcelot to her private chamber, and sir Agravain, sir Mordred, and twelve others assailed the door, but sir Launcelot slew them all except sir Mordred, who escaped.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 142-145 (1470).
Agrica'ne (4 syl.), king of Tartary, in the Orlando Innamorato, of Bojardo. He besieges Angelica in the castle of Albracca, and is slain in single combat by Orlando. He brought into the field 2,200,000 troops.
Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,When Agrican, with all his northern powers,
Besieged Albracca.
Milton, Paradise Regained, iii. (338).
Agricola Fusilier, a pompous old creole, a conserver of family traditions, and patriot who figures in George W. Cable's Grandissimes (1880).
He seemed to fancy himself haranguing acrowd; made another struggle for intelligence,
tried once, twice to speak, and the third time
succeeded: "Louis—Louisian—a—for—ever!"
and lay still. They put those two words on his
tomb.
Ag'rios, Lumpishness personified; a "sullen swain, all mirth that in himself and others hated; dull, dead, and leaden." Described in canto viii. of The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1635). (Greek, agrios; "a savage.")
Agrippina was granddaughter, wife, sister, and mother of an emperor. She was granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Claudius, sister of Caligula, and mother of Nero.
Lam'pedo of Lacedaemon was daughter, wife, sister, and
mother of a king.
Agripy'na or Ag'ripyne (3 syl.), a princess beloved by the "king of Cyprus'son, and madly loved by Orleans."—Thomas Dekker, Old Fortunatus (a comedy, 1600).
Ague-cheek (Sir Andrew), a silly old fop with "3000 ducats a year," very fond of the table, but with a shrewd understanding that "beef had done harm to his wit." Sir Andrew thinks himself "old in nothing but in understanding," and boasts that he can cut a caper, dance the coranto, walk a jig, and take delight in masques, like a young man.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).
Woodward (1737-1777) always sustained "sir Andrew Ague-cheek" with infinite drollery, assisted by that expression of "rueful dismay," which gave so peculiar a zest to his Marplot.—Boaden, Life of Siddons Charles Lamb says that "Jem White saw James Dodd one evening in Ague-cheek, and recognizing him next day in Fleet Street, took off his hat, and saluted him with 'Save you, sir Andrew!' Dodd simply waved his hand and exclaimed, 'Away, fool!'"
A'haback and Des'ra, two enchanters, who aided Ahu'bal in his rebellion against his brother Misnar, sultan of Delhi. Ahu'bal had a magnificent tent built, and Horam the vizier had one built for the sultan still more magnificent. When the rebels made their attack, the sultan and the best of the troops were drawn off, and the sultan's tent was taken. The enchanters, delighted with their prize, slept therein, but at night the vizier led the sultan to a cave, and asked him to cut a rope. Next morning he heard that a huge stone had fallen on the enchanters and crushed them to a mummy. In fact, this stone formed the head of the bed, where it was suspended by the rope which the sultan had severed in the night.—James Ridley, Tales of the Genii ("The Enchanters' Tale," vi.).
Ahasue'rus, the cobbler who pushed away Jesus when, on the way to execution. He rested a moment or two at his door. "Get off! Away with you!" cried the cobbler. "Truly, I go away," returned Jesus, "and that quickly; but tarry thou till I come." And from that time Ahasuerus became the "wandering Jew," who still roams the earth, and will continue so to do till the "second coming of the Lord." This is the legend given by Paul von Eitzen, bishop of Schleswig (1547).—Greve, Memoir of Paul von Eitzen (1744).
Aher'man and Ar'gen, the former a fortress, and the latter a suite of immense halls, in the realm of Eblis, where are lodged all creatures of human intelligence before the creation of Adam, and all the animals that inhabited the earth before the present races existed.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).
Ah'med (Prince), noted for the tent given him by the fairy Pari-banou, which would cover a whole army, and yet would fold up so small that it might be carried in one's pocket. The same good fairy also gave him the apple of Samarcand', a panacea for all diseases.—Arabian Nights' Entertainments ("Prince Ahmed, etc.").
Aholiba'mah, granddaughter of Cain, and sister of Anah. She was loved by the seraph Samias'a, and like her sister was carried off to another planet when the Flood came.—Byron, Heaven and Earth.
Proud, imperious, and aspiring, she denies thatshe worships the seraph, and declares that his
immortality can bestow no love more pure and
warm than her own, and she expresses a conviction
that there is a ray within her "which,
though forbidden yet to shine," is nevertheless
lighted at the same ethereal fire as his own.—Finden,
Byron Beauties.
Ah'riman or Ahrima'nes (4 syl.), the angel of darkness and of evil in the Magian system, slain by Mithra.
Aikwood (Ringan), the forester of sir Arthur Wardour, of Knockwinnock Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary.
Aimee, the prudent sister, familiarly known as "the wise one" in the Bohemian household described by Francis Hodgson Burnett in Vagabondia (1889).
Aim'well (Thomas, viscount), a gentleman of broken fortune, who pays his addresses to Dorin'da, daughter of Lady Bountiful. He is very handsome and fascinating, but quite "a man of the world." He and Archer are the two beaux of The Beaux' Stratagem, a comedy by George Farquhar (1705).
I thought it rather odd that Holland should be the only "mister" of the party, and I said to myself, as Gibbet said when he heard that "Aimwell" had gone to church, "That looks suspicions" (act ii. sc. 2).—James Smith, Memoirs, Letters, etc. (1840).
Aircastle, in the Cozeners, by S. Foote. The original of this rambling talker was Gahagan, whose method of conversation is thus burlesqued:
Aircastle: "Did I not tell you what parson Prunello said? I remember, Mrs. Lightfoot was by. She had-been brought to bed that day was a month of a very fine boy—a bad birth; for Dr. Seeton, who served his time with Luke Lancet, of Guise's.—There was also a talk about him and Nancy the daughter. She afterwards married Will Whitlow, another apprentice, who had great expectations from an old uncle in the Grenadiers; but he left all to a distant relation, Kit Cable, a midshipman aboard the Torbay. She was lost coming home in the channel. The captain was taken up by a coaster from Eye, loaded with cheese—" [Now, pray, what did parson Prunello say? This is a pattern of Mrs. Nickleby's rambling gossip.]
Air'lie (The earl of), a royalist in the service of king Charles I.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose.
Airy (Sir George), a man of fortune, in love with Miran'da, the ward of sir Francis Gripe.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Busylody (1709).
A'jax, son of Oïleus [O.i'.luce], generally called "the less." In conseqnence of his insolence to Cassan'dra, the prophetic daughter of Priam, his ship was driven on a rock, and he perished at sea.—Homer, Odyssey, iv. 507; Virgil, Æneid, i. 41.
A'jax Tel'amon. Sophoclês has a tragedy called Ajax, in which "the madman" scourges a ram he mistakes for Ulysses. His encounter with a flock of sheep, which he fancied in his madness to be the sons of Atreus, has been mentioned at greater or less length by several Greek and Roman poets. Don Quixote had a similar adventure. This Ajax is introduced by Shakespeare in his drama called Troilus and Cressida. (See ALIFANFARON).
The Tuscan poet [Ariosto] doth advanceThe frantic paladin of France [Orlando Furioso];
And those more ancient [Euripides and Seneca] do enhance
Alcidês in his fury [Herculês Furens];
And others, Ajax Telamon;—
But to this time there hath been none
So bedlam as our Oberon;
Of whom I dare assure you.
M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1536-1631).
Ajut and Anningait, in The Rambler.
Part, like Ajut, never to return.Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).
Ala'ciel, the genius who went on a voyage to the two islands, Taciturnia and Merry land [London and Paris].—De la Dixmerie L'isle Taciturne et l'isle Enjouée, ou Voyage du Génie Alaciel dans les deux Iles (1759).
Aladdin, son of Mustafa, a poor tailor, of China, "obstinate, disobedent, and mischievous," wholly abandoned "to indolence and licentiousness." One day an African magician accosted him, pretending to be his uncle, and sent him to bring up the "wonderful lamp," at the same time giving him a "ring of safety." Aladdin secured the lamp, but would not hand it to the magician till he was out of the cave, whereupon the magician shut him up in the cave, and departed for Africa. Aladdin, wringing his hands in despair, happened to rub the magic ring, when the genius of the ring appeared before him, and asked him his commands. Aladdin requested to be delivered from the cave, and he returned home. By means of his lamp, he obtained untold wealth, built a superb palace, and married Badroul'boudour, the sultan's daughter. After a time, the African magician got possession of the lamp, and caused the palace, with all its contents, to be transported into Africa. Aladdin was absent at the time, was arrested and ordered to execution, but was rescued by the populace, with whom he was an immense favorite, and started to discover what had become of his palace. Happening to slip, he rubbed his ring, and when the genius of the ring appeared and asked his orders, was instantly posted to the place where his palace was in Africa. He poisoned the magician, regained the lamp, and had his palace restored to its original place in China.
Yes, ready money is Aladdin's lamp.
Byron, Don Juan, xii. 12.
Aladdin's Lamp, a lamp brought from an underground cavern in "the middle of China." Being in want of food, the mother of Aladdin began to scrub it, intending to sell it, when the genius of the lamp appeared, and asked her what were her commands. Aladdin answered, "I am hungry; bring me food;" and immediately a banquet was set before him. Having thus become acquainted with the merits of the lamp, he became enormously rich, and married the sultan's daughter. By artifice the African magician got possession of the lamp, and transported the palace with its contents to Africa. Aladdin poisoned the magician, recovered the lamp, and retranslated the palace to its original site.
Aladdin's Palace Windows. At the top of the palace was a saloon, containing tweny-four windows (six on each side), and all but one enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. One was left for the sultan to complete, but all the jewellers in the empire were unable to make one to match the others, so Aladdin commanded "the slaves of the lamp" to complete their work.
Aladdin's Ring, given him by the African magician, "a preservative against every evil."—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp").
Al'adine, the sagacious but cruel king of Jerusalem, slain by Raymond.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Al'adine (3 syl.), son of Aldus, "a lusty knight."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 3 (1596).
Alaff, Anlaf, or Olaf, son of Sihtric, Danish king of Northumberland (died 927). When Aethelstan [Athelstan] took possession of Northumberland, Alaff fled to Ireland, and his brother Guthfrith or Godfrey to Scotland.
Our English Athelstan,In the Northumbrian fields, with most victorious might,
Put Alaff and his powers to more inglorious flight.
Drayton, Potyolbion, xii. (1612).
Alain, cousin of Eos, the artist's wife, in Desert Sands, by Harriet Prescott Spofford (1863).
Alar'con, king of Barca, who joined the armament of Egypt against the crusaders, but his men were only half armed.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Alaric Cottin. Frederick the Great of Prussia was so called by Voltaire. "Alaric" because, like Alaric, he was a great warrior, and "Cottin" because, like Cottin, satirized by Boileau, he was a very indifferent poet.
Alas'co, alias DR. DEMETRIUS DOBOOBIE, an old astrologer, consulted by the earl of Leicester.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Alas'nam (Prince Zeyn) possessed eight statues, each a single diamond on a gold pedestal, but had to go in search of a ninth, more valuable than them all. This ninth was a lady, the most beautiful and virtuous of women, "more precious than rubies," who became his wife.
One pure and perfect [woman] is ... like Alasnam's lady, worth them all.—Sir Walter Scott.
Alasnam's Mirror. When Alasnam was in search of his ninth statue, the king of the Genii gave him a test mirror, in which he was to look when he saw a beautiful girl; "if the glass remained pure and unsullied, the damsel would be the same, but if not, the damsel would not be wholly pure in body and in mind." This mirror was called "the touchstone of virtue."—Arabian Nights ("Prince Zeyn Alasnam").
Alas'tor, a surname of Zeus as "the Avenger." Or, in general, any deity or demon who avenges wrong done by man. Shelley wrote a poem, Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude.
Cicero says he meditated killing himself that he might become the Alastor of Augustus, whom he hated.—Plutarch, Cicero, etc. ("Parallel Lives.")
God Almighty mustered up an army of mice against the archbishop [Hatto], and sent them to persecute him as his furious Alastors.—Coryat, Crudities, 571.
Al'ban (St.) of Ver'ulam, hid his confessor, St. Am'phibal, and changing clothes with him, suffered death in his stead. This was during the frightful persecution of Maximia'nus Hercu'lius, general of Diocle'tian's army in Britain, when 1000 Christians fell at Lichfield.
Alban—our proto-martyr called.Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. [1622],
Al'berick of Mortemar, the same as Theodorick the hermit of Engaddi, an exiled nobleman. He tells king Richard the history of his life, and tries to dissuade him from sending a letter of defiance to the archduke of Austria.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Al' berick, the squire of prince Richard, one of the sons of Henry II. of England.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Albert, commander of the Britannia. Brave, liberal, and just, softened and refined by domestic ties and superior information. His ship was dashed against the projecting verge of Cape Colonna, the most southern point of Attica, and he perished in the sea because Rodmond (second in command) grasped one of his legs and could not be shaken off.
Though trained in boisterous elements, his mindWas yet by soft humanity refined;
Each joy of wedded love at home he knew,
Abroad, confessed the father of his crew....
His genius, ever for th' event prepared,
Rose with the storm, and all its dangers shared.
Falconer, The Shipwreck, i. 2 (1756).
Albert, father of Gertrude, patriarch and judge of Wyo'ming (called by Campbell Wy'oming). Both Albert and his daughter were shot by a mixed force of British and Indian troops, led by one Brandt, who made an attack on the settlement, put all the inhabitants to the sword, set fire to the fort, and destroyed all the houses.—Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming (1809).
Albert, in Goethe's romance called The Sorrows of Werther, is meant for his friend Kestner. He is a young German farmer, who married Charlotte Buff (called "Lotte" in the novel), with whom Goethe was in love. Goethe represents himself under the name of Werther (q. v.).
Albert of Gei'erstein (Count), brother of Arnold Biederman, and president of the "Secret Tribunal." He sometimes appears as a "black priest of St. Paul's," and sometimes as the "monk of St. Victoire."—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Albertaz'zo married Alda, daughter of Otho, duke of Saxony. His sons were Ugo and Fulco. From this stem springs the Royal Family of England.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Albia'zar, an Arab chief, who joins the Egyptian armament against the crusaders.
A chief in rapine, not in knighthood bred. Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xvii. (1575).
Al'bion. In legendary history this word is variously accounted for. One derivation is from Albion, a giant, son of Neptune, its first discoverer, who ruled over the island for forty-four years.
Another derivation is Al'bia, eldest of the fifty daughters of Diocle'sian king of Syria. These fifty ladies all married on the same day, and all murdered their husbands on the wedding night. By way of punishment, they were cast adrift in a ship, unmanned, but the wind drove the vessel to our coast, where these Syrian damsels disembarked. Here they lived the rest of their lives, and married with the aborigines, "a lawless crew of devils." Milton mentions this legend, and naïvely adds, "it is too absurd and unconscionably gross to be believed." Its resemblance to the fifty daughters of Dan'aos is palpable.
Drayton, in his Polyolbion, says that Albion came from Rome, was "the first martyr of the land," and dying for the faith's sake, left his name to the country, where Offa subsequently reared to him "a rich and sumptuous shrine, with a monastery attached."—Song xvi.
Albion, king of Briton, when O'beron held his court in what is now called "Kensington Gardens." T. Tickell has a poem upon this subject.
Albion wars with Jove's Son. Albion, son of Neptune, wars with Her'culês, son of Jove. Neptune, dissatisfied with the share of his father's kingdom, awarded to him by Jupiter, aspired to dethrone his brother, but Hercules took his father's part, and Albion was discomfited.
Since Albion wielded arms against the son ofJove.
M. Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).
Albo'rak, the animal brought by Gabriel to convey Mahomet to the seventh heaven. It had the face of a man, the cheeks of a horse, the wings of an eagle, and spoke with a human voice.
Albuma'zar, Arabian astronomer (776-885).
Chaunteclere, our cocke, must tell what is o'clocke,By the astrologye that he hath naturally
Conceyued and caught; for he was never taught
By Albumazar, the astronomer,
Nor by Ptholomy, prince of astronomy.
J. Skelton, Philip Sparoiv (time, Henry VIII.).
Alcestis or Alcestes, daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetus (q. v.) On his wedding-day Admetus neglected to offer sacrifice to Diana and was condemned to die, but Apollo induced the Fates to spare his life if he could find a voluntary substitute. His wife offered to give her life for his, and went away with death; but Hercules fought with Death and restored Alcestes to her husband. This story is the subject of a tragedy Alcestes, by Euripides. Milton alludes to the incident in one of his sonnets:
Methought I saw my late espoused saintBrought to me like Alcestes from the grave.
John Milton, Sonnet On his deceased Wife.
William Morris has made Alcestes the subject of one of the tales in his Earthly Paradise.
A variation of the story is found in Longfellow's The Golden Legend, Henry of Hoheneck when dying was promised his life if a maiden could be found who would give up her life for his. Elsie, the daughter of Gottlieb, a tenant-farmer of the prince offered herself as a sacrifice, and followed her lord to Sorrento to give herself up to Lucifer; but Henry heard of it, and, moved by gratitude, saved Elsie and made her his wife.
Alceste, the hero of Molière's comedy Le Misanthrope. He has a pure and noble mind that has been soured and disgusted by intercourse with the world. Courtesy he holds to be the vice of fops, and the manners of society mere hypocrisy. He courts Célmène, a coquette and her treatment of his love confirms his bad opinion of mankind.
Al'chemist (The), the last of the three great comedies of Ben Jonson (1610). The other two are Vol'pone (2 syl.), (1605), and The Silent Woman (1609). The object of The Alchemist is to ridicule the belief in the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life. The alchemist is "Subtle," a mere quack; and "sir Epicure Mammon" is the chief dupe, who supplies money, etc., for the "transmutation of metal." "Abel Drugger" a tobacconist, and "Dapper" a lawyer's clerk, are two other dupes. "Captain Face," alias "Jeremy," the house-servant of "Lovewit," and "Dol Common" are his allies. The whole thing is blown up by the unexpected return of "Lovewit."
Alcib'ades (5 syl.), the Athenian general. Being banished by the senate, he marches against the city, and the senate, being unable to offer resistance, open the gates to him (B.C. 450-404). This incident is introduced by Shakespeare in Timon of Athens.
Alcibi'ades' Tables represented a god or goddess outwardly, and a Sile'nus, or deformed piper, within. Erasmus has a "curious dissertation on these tables" (Adage, 667, edit. R. Stephens); hence emblematic of falsehood and dissimulation.
Whose wants virtue is compared to theseFalse tables wrought by Alcibiades;
Which noted well of all were found t've bin
Most fair without, but most deformed within.
Wm. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, i. (1613).
Alci'des, a name sometimes given to Hercules as the descendent of the hero Alcoeus through his son Amphitryon (q. v.) The name is applied to any valiant hero.
The Tuscan poet [Ariosto] doth advanceThe frantic paladin of France [Orlando Furioso];
And those more ancient do enhance
Alcidês in his fury.
M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1563-1631).
Where is the great Alcidês of the field,Valiant lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury?
Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI. act. iv. sc. 7 (1589).
Alci'na, Carnal Pleasure personified. In Bojardo's Orlando Innamorato she is a fairy, who carries off Astolfo. In Ariosto's Orlando Furioso she is a kind of Circê, whose garden is a scene of enchantment. Alcina enjoys her lovers for a season, and then converts them into trees, stones, wild beasts, and so on, as her fancy dictates.
Al'ciphron, or The Minute Philosopher, the title of a work by bishop Berkeley, so called from the name of the chief speaker, a freethinker. The object of this work is to expose the weakness of infidelity.
Al'ciphron, "the epicurean," the hero of T. Moore's romance entitled The Epicurean.
Like Aleiphron, we swing in air and darkness,and know not whither the wind blows us.
—Putnam's Magazine.
Alcme'na (in Molière, Alcmène), the wife of Amphitryon, general of the Theban army. While her husband is absent warring against the Telebo'ans, Jupiter assumes the form of Amphitryon; but Amphitryon himself returns home the next day, and great confusion arises between the false and true Amphitryon, which is augmented by Mercury, who personates Sos'ia, the slave of Amphitryon. By this amour of Jupiter, Alcmena becomes the mother of Her'culês. Plautus, Molière, and Dryden have all taken this plot for a comedy entitled Amphitryon.
Alcofri'bas, the name by which Rabelais was called, after he came out of the prince's mouth, where he resided for six months, taking toll of every morsel of food that the prince ate. Pantag'ruel gave "the merry fellow the lairdship of Salmigondin."—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 32 (1533).
Al'colomb, "subduer of hearts," daughter of Abou Aibou of Damascus, and sister of Ganem. The caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, in a fit of jealousy, commanded Ganem to be put to death, and his mother and sister to do penance for three days in Damascus, and then to be banished from Syria. The two ladies came to Bag dad, and were taken in by the charitable syndic of the jewellers. When the jealous fit of the caliph was over he sent for the two exiles. Alcolomb he made his wife, and her mother he married to his vizier.—Arabian Nights ("Ganem, the Slave of Love ").
Alcy'on "the wofullest man alive," but once "the jolly shepherd swain that wont full merrily to pipe and dance," near where the Severn flows. One day he saw a lion's cub, and brought it up till it followed him about like a dog; but a cruel satyr shot it in mere wantonness. By the lion's cub he means Daphne, who died in her prime, and the cruel satyr is death. He said he hated everything—the heaven, the earth, fire, air, and sea, the day, the night; he hated to speak, to hear, to taste food, to see objects, to smell, to feel; he hated man and woman too, for his Daphne lived no longer. What became of this doleful shepherd the poet could never ween. Alcyon is sir Arthur Gorges.—Spencer, Daphnaida (in seven fyttes, 1590).
And there is that Alcyon bent to mourn,Though fit to frame an everlasting ditty.
Whose gentle sprite for Daphne's death doth turn
Sweet lays of love to endless plaints of pity.
Spenser, Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1591).
Alcy'one or Halcyone (4 syl.), daughter of Aeolus, who, on hearing of her husband's death by shipwreck, threw herself into the sea, and was changed to a kingfisher. (See HALCYON DAYS.)
Aldabel'la, wife of Orlando, sister of Oliver, and daughter of Monodan'tês.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, etc. (1516).
Aldabella, a marchioness of Florence, very beautiful and fascinating, but arrogant and heartless. She used to give entertainments to the magnates of Florence, and Fazio was one who spent most of his time in her society. Bian'ca his wife, being jealous of the marchioness, accused him to the duke of being privy to the death of Bartoldo, and for this offence Fazio was executed. Bianca died broken-hearted, and Aldabella was condemned to spend the rest of her life in a nunnery.—Dean Milman, Fazio (a tragedy, 1815).
Alden (John), one of the sons of the Pilgrim fathers, in love with Priscilla, the beautiful puritan. Miles Standish, a bluff old soldier, wishing to marry Priscilla, asked John Alden to go and plead for him; but the maiden answered archly, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John!" Soon after this, Standish being reported killed by a poisoned arrow, John spoke for himself, and the maiden consented. Standish, however, was not killed, but only wounded; he made his reappearance at the wedding, where, seeing how matters stood, he accepted the situation with the good-natured remark:
If you would be served you must serve yourself;and moreover
No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season
of Christmas.
Longfellow, Courtship of Miles Standish (1858).
Aldiborontephoscophornio [Al'diboron'te-fos'co-for'nio], a character in Chrononhotonthologos, by H. Carey.
(Sir Walter Scott used to call James Ballantyne, the printer, this nickname, from his pomposity and formality of speech.)
Al'diger, son of Buo'vo, of the house of Clarmont, brother of Malagi'gi and Vivian.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Al'dine (2 syl.), leader of the second squadron of Arabs which joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. Tasso says of the Arabs, "Their accents were female and their stature diminutive" (xvii.).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Al'dingar (Sir), steward of queen Eleanor, wife of Henry II. He impeached the queen's fidelity, and agreed to prove his charge by single combat; but an angel (in the shape of a little child) established the queen's innocence. This is probably a blundering version of the story of Gunhilda and the emperor Henry.—Percy, Reliques, ii. 9.
Aldo, a Caledonian, was not invited by Fingal to his banquet on his return to Morven, after the overthrow of Swaran. To resent this affront, he went over to Fingal's avowed enemy, Erragon king of Sora (in Scandinavia), and here Lorma, the king's wife, fell in love with him. The guilty pair fled to Morven, which Erragon immediately invaded. Aldo fell in single combat with Erragon, Lorma died of grief, and Erragon was slain in battle by Graul, son of Morni.—Ossian ("The Battle of Lora").
Aldrick the Jesuit, confessor of Charlotte countess of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Aldrovand (Father), chaplain of sir Raymond Berenger, the old Norman warrior.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Aldus, father of Al'adine (3 syl), the "lusty knight."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 3 (1596).
Alea, a warrior who invented dice at the siege of Troy; at least so Isidore of Seville says. Suidas ascribes the invention to Palamëdês.
Alea est ludus tabulae inventa a Graecis, in otio Trojani belli, a quodam milite, nomine ALEA, a quo et ars nomen accepit.—Isidorus, Orig. xviii. 57.
Alec'tryon, a youth set by Mars to guard against surprises, but he fell asleep, and Apollo thus surprised Mars and Venus in each others' embrace. Mars in anger changed the boy into a cock.
And from out the neighboring farmyardLoud the cock Alectryon crowed.
Longfellow, Pegasus in Pound.
Alec Yeaton, the Gloucester skipper in T. B. Aldrich's ballad, Alec Yeaton's Son.
The wind it wailed, the wind it moaned,And the white caps flecked the sea;
"An' I would to God," the skipper groaned,
"I had not my boy with me!"
Long did they marvel in the town
At God His strange decree;
That let the stalwart skipper drown,
And the little child go free. (1890.)
Ale'ria, one of the Amazons, and the best beloved of the ten wives of Guido the Savage.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Alessandro, husband of the Indian girl Ramona, in Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona. The story of the young couple is a series of oppressions and deceits practised by U. S. officials (1884). Alessio, the young man with whom Lisa was living in concubinage, when Elvi'no promised to marry her. Elvino made the promise out of pique, because he thought Ami'na was not faithful to him, but when he discovered his error he returned to his first love, and left Lisa to marry Alessio, with whom she had been previously cohabiting.—Bellini's opera, La Sonnamlula (1831).
Ale'thes (3 syl.), an ambassador from Egypt to king Al'adine (3 syl.); subtle, false, deceitful, and full of wiles.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Alexander Patoff, brother of the young Russian who figures most prominently in F. Marion Crawford's novel Paul Patoff. Alexander's mysterious disappearance in a mosque leads to suspicions involving his brother, even the mother of the two brothers accusing Paul of fratricide (1887).
Alex. Walton, physician and suitor of Margaret Kent in The Story of Margaret Kent, by Henry Hayes (Ellen Olney Kirke) (1886).
Alexander the Great, a tragedy by Nathaniel Lee (1678). In French we have a novel called Roman d'Alexandre, by Lambert-li-cors (twelfth century), and a tragedy by Racine (1665).
Alexander an Athlete. Alexander, being asked if he would run a course at the Olympic games, replied, "Yes, if my competitors are all kings."
The Albanian Alexander, George Castriot (Scanderbeg or Iscander beg, 1404-1467).
The Persian Alexander, Sandjar (1117-1158).
Alexander of the North, Charles XII. of Sweden (1682-1718).
Alexander deformed.
Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high.Pope, Prologue to the Satires, 117.
Alexander and Homer. When Alexander invaded Asia Minor, he offered up sacrifice to Priam, and then went to visit the tomb of Achilles. Here he exclaimed, "O most enviable of men, who had Homer to sing thy deeds!"
Which made the Eastern conqueror to cry,
"O fortunate young man! whose virtue foundSo brave a trump thy noble deeds to sound."
Spenser, The Ruins of Time (1591).
Alexander and Parme'nio. When Darius, king of Persia, offered Alexander his daughter Stati'ra in marriage, with a dowry of 10,000 talents of gold, Parmenio said, "I would accept the offer, if I were Alexander." To this Alexander rejoined, "So would I, if I were Parmenio."
On another occasion the general thought the king somewhat too lavish in his gifts, whereupon Alexander made answer, "I consider not what Parmenio ought to receive, but what Alexander ought to give."
Alexander and Perdiccas. When Alexander started for Asia he divided his possessions among his friends. Perdiccas asked what he had left for himself. "Hope," said Alexander. "If hope is enough for Alexander," replied the friend, "it is enough for Perdiccas also;" and declined to accept anything.
Alexander and Raphael. Alexander encountered Raphael in a cave in the mountain of Kaf, and being asked what he was in search of, replied, "The water of immortality." Whereupon Raphael gave him a stone, and told him when he found another of the same weight he would gain his wish. "And how long," said Alexander, "have I to live?" The angel replied, "Till the heaven above thee and the earth beneath thee are of iron." Alexander now went forth and found a stone almost of the weight required, and in order to complete the balance, added a little earth; falling from his horse at Ghur he was laid in his armor on the ground, and his shield was set up over him to ward off the sun. Then understood he that he would gain immortality when, like the stone, he was buried in the earth, and that his hour was come, for the earth beneath him was iron, and his iron buckler was his vault of heaven above. So he died.
Alexander and the Robber. When Dion'idês, a pirate, was brought before Alexander, he exclaimed, "Vile brigand! How dare you infest the seas with your misdeeds?" "And you," replied the pirate, "by what right do you ravage the world? Because I have only one ship, I am called a brigand, but you who have a whole fleet are termed a conqueror." Alexander admired the man's boldness, and commanded him to be set at liberty.
Alexander's Beard, a smooth chin, or a very small beard. It is said that Alexander the Great had scarcely any beard at all.
Disgracèd yet with Alexander's bearde.G. Gascoigne, The Steele Glas (died 1577).
Alexander's Runner, Ladas.
Alexan'dra, daughter of Oronthea, queen of the Am'azons, and one of the ten wives of Elba'nio. It is from this person that the land of the Amazons was called Alexandra.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Alex'is, the wanton shepherd in The Faithful Shepherdess, a pastoral drama by John Fletcher (1610).
Alfa'der, the father of all the Asen (deities) of Scandinavia, creator and governor of the universe, patron of arts and magic, etc.
Alfonso, father of Leono'ra d'Este, and duke of Ferrara, Tasso the poet fell in love with Leonora. The duke confined him as a lunatic for seven years in the asylum of Santa Anna, but at the expiration of that period he was released through the intercession of Vincenzo Gonzago, duke of Mantua. Byron refers to this in his Childe Harold, iv. 36.
Alfonso XI of Castile, whose "favorite" was Leonora de Guzman.—Donizetti, La Favorita (an opera, 1842).
Alfon'so (Don), of Seville, a man of fifty and husband of donna Julia (twenty-seven years his junior), of whom he was jealous without cause.—Byron, Don Juan, i.
Alfon'so, in Walpole's tale called The Castle of Otranto, appears as an apparition in the moonlight, dilated to a gigantic form (1769).
Alfred as a Gleeman. Alfred, wishing to know the strength of the Danish camp, assumed the disguise of a minstrel, and stayed in the Danish camp for several days, amusing the soldiers with his harping and singing. After he had made himself master of all he required, he returned back to his own place.—William of Malmesbury (twelfth century).
William of Malmesbury tells a similar story of Anlaf, a Danish king, who, he says, just before the battle of Brunanburh, in Northumberland, entered the camp of king Athelstan as a gleeman, harp in hand; and so pleased was the English king that he gave him gold. Anlaf would not keep the gold, but buried it in the earth.
Algarsife (3 syl.), and Cam'ballo, sons of Cambuscan' king of Tartary, and Elfêta his wife. Algarsife married Theodora.
I speak of Algarsife,How that he won Theodora to his wife.
Chaucer, The Squire's Tale Al'gebar' ("the giant"). So the Arabians call the constellation Orion.
Begirt with many a blazing star,Stood the great giant Algebar—
Orion, hunter of the beast.
Longfellow, The Occultation of Orion.
Al'i, cousin and son-in-law of Mahomet. The beauty of his eyes is proverbial in Persia. Ayn Hali ("eyes of Ali") is the highest compliment a Persian can pay to beauty.—Chardin.
Ali Baba, a poor Persian wood-carrier, who accidentally learns the magic words, "Open Sesamê!" "Shut Sesamê!" by which he gains entrance into a vast cavern, the repository of stolen wealth and the lair of forty thieves. He makes himself rich by plundering from these stores; and by the shrewd cunning of Morgiana, his female slave, the captain and his whole band of thieves are extirpated. In reward of these services, Ali Baba gives Morgiana her freedom, and marries her to his own son.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba or the Forty Thieves").
Al'ice (2 syl.), sister of Valentine, in Mons. Thomas, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619).
Al'ice (2 syl.), foster-sister of Robert le Diable, and bride of Rambaldo, the Norman troubadour, in Meyerbeer's opera of Roberto il Diavolo. She comes to Palermo to place in the duke's hand his mother's "will," which he is enjoined not to read till he is a virtuous man. She is Robert's good genius, and when Bertram, the fiend, claims his soul as the price of his ill deeds, Alice, by reading the will, reclaims him.
Al'ice (2 syl.), the servant-girl of dame Whitecraft, wife of the innkeeper at Altringham.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Al'ice, the miller's daughter, a story of happy first love told in later years by an old man who had married the rustic beauty. He was a dreamy lad when he first loved Alice, and the passion roused him into manhood. (See ROSE.)—Tennyson, The Miller's Daughter.
Al'ice (The Lady), widow of Walter, knight of Avenel (2 syl).—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Al'ice [GRAY], called "Old Alice Gray," a quondam tenant of the lord of Ravenswood. Lucy Ashton visits her after the funeral of the old lord.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Alice Munro, one of the sisters taken captive by Indians in Cooper's Last of the Mohicans (1821).
Alichi'no. a devil in Dante's Inferno.
Alicia gave her heart to Mosby, but married Arden for his position. As a wife, she played falsely with her husband, and even joined Mosby in a plot to murder him. Vacillating between love for Mosby and respect for Arden, she repents, and goes on sinning; wishes to get disentangled, but is overmastered by Mosby's stronger will. Alicia's passions impel her to evil, but her judgment accuses her and prompts her to the right course. She halts, and parleys with sin, like Balaam, and of course is lost. —Anon., Arden of Feversham (1592).
Alic'ia, "a laughing, toying, wheedling, whimpering she," who once held lord Hastings under her distaff, but her annoying jealousy, "vexatious days, and jarring, joyless nights," drove him away from her. Being jealous of Jane Shore, she accused her to the duke of Gloster of alluring lord Hastings from his allegiance, and the lord protector soon trumped up a charge against both; the lord chamberlain he ordered to execution for treason, and Jane Shore he persecuted for witchcraft. Alicia goes raving mad.—Rowe, Jane Shore (1713).
Alic'ia (The lady), daughter of lord Waldemar Fitzurse.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Alick [POLWORTH], one of the servants of Waverley.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Alifan'faron, emperor of the island Trap'oban, a Mahometan, the suitor of Pentap'olin's daughter, a Christian. Pentapolin refused to sanction this alliance, and the emperor raised a vast army to enforce his suit. This is don Quixote's solution of two flocks of sheep coming in opposite directions, which he told Sancho were the armies of Alifanfaron and Pentapolin.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 4 (1605).
Ajax the Greater had a similar encounter. (See AJAX.)
Alin'da, daughter of Alphonso, an irascible old lord of Sego'via.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Pilgrim (1621).
(Alinda is the name assumed by young Archas when he dresses in woman's attire. This young man is the son of general Archas, "the loyal subject" of the great duke of Moscovia, in the drama by Beaumont and Fletcher, called The Loyal Subject, 1618.)
Aliprando, a Christian knight, who discovered the armor of Rinaldo, and took it to Godfrey. Both inferred that Rinaldo had been slain, but were mistaken.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Al'iris, sultan of Lower Buchar'ia, who, under the assumed name of Fer'amorz, accompanies Lalla Rookh from Delhi, on her way to be married to the sultan. He wins her love, and amuses the tedium of the journey by telling her tales. When introduced to the sultan, her joy is unbounded on discovering that Feramorz the poet, who has won her heart, is the sultan to whom she is betrothed.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh.
Alisaunder (Sir), surnamed LORFELIN, son of the good prince Boudwine and his wife An'glides (3 syl.). Sir Mark, king of Cornwall, murdered sir Boudwine, who was his brother, while Alisaunder was a mere child. When Alisaunder was knighted, his mother gave him his father's doublet, "bebled with old blood," and charged him to revenge his father's death. Alisaunder married Alis la Beale Pilgrim, and had one son called Bellen'gerus le Beuse. Instead of fulfilling his mother's charge, he was himself "falsely and feloniously slain" by king Mark.—Sir T. Malory, History of King Arthur, ii. 119-125 (1470).
Al'ison, the young wife of John, a rich old miserly carpenter. Absolon, a priggish parish clerk, paid her attention, but she herself loved a poor scholar named Nicholas, lodging in her husband's house. Fair she was, and her body lithe as a weasel. She had a rouguish eye, small eyebrows, was "long as a mast and upright as a bolt," more "pleasant to look on than a flowering pear tree," and her skin "was softer than the wool of a wether."—Chaucer, "The Miller's Tale," Canterbury Tales, (1388).
Al'ison, in sir W. Scott's Kenilworth, is an old domestic in the service of the earl of Leicester at Cumnor Place.
Al'ken, an old shepherd, who instructs Robin Hood's men how to find a witch, and how she is to be hunted.—Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd (1637).
All's Well that Ends Well, a comedy by Shakespeare (1598). The hero and heroine are Bertram of Rousillon, and Hel'ena a physician's daughter, who are married by the command of the king of France, but part because Bertram thought the lady not sufficiently well-born for him. Ultimately, however, all ends well.—(See HELENA.)
The story of this play is from Painter's Gilletta of Narbon.
All the Talents Administration, formed by lord Grenville, in 1806, on the death of William Pitt. The members were lord Grenville, the earl Fitzwilliam, viscount Sidmouth, Charles James Fox, earl Spencer, William Windham, lord Erskine, sir Charles Grey, lord Minto, lord Auckland, lord Moira, Sheridan, Richard Fitzpatrick, and lord Ellenborough. It was dissolved in 1807.
On "all the talents" vent your venal spleen.Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.
Allan, lord of Ravenswood, a decayed Scotch nobleman.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Al'lan (Mrs.), colonel Mannering's housekeeper at Woodburne.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Al'lan [Breck Cameron], the sergeant sent to arrest Hamish Bean McTavish, by whom he is shot. Sir W. Scott, The Highland Widow (time, George II.).
Allan-a-Dale, one of Robin Hood's men, introduced by sir W. Scott in Ivanhoe. (See ALLIN-A-DALE.)
Allan Quartermain, hunter and traveller whose adventures are recorded in She, King Solomon's Mines, and Allan Quartermain, by W. Rider Haggard (1886-1891).
Alle'gre (3 syl.), the faithful servant of Philip Chabot. When Chabot was accused of treason, Allegre was put to the rack to make him confess something to his master's damage, but the brave fellow was true as steel, and it was afterwards shown that the accusation had no foundation but jealousy.—G. Chapman and J. Shirley, The Tragedy of Philip Chabot.
Allen (Ralph), the friend of Pope, and benefactor of Fielding.
Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Pope.
Allen (Long), a soldier in the "guards" of king Richard I.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman.
Allen (Major), an officer in the duke of Monmouth's army.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
All-Fair, a princess, who was saved from the two lions (which guarded the Desert Fairy) by the Yellow Dwarf, on condition that she would become his wife. On her return home she hoped to evade this promise by marrying the brave king of the Gold Mines, but on the wedding day Yellow Dwarf carried her off on a Spanish cat, and confined her in Steel Castle. Here Gold Mine came to her rescue with a magic sword, but in his joy at finding her, he dropped his sword, and was stabbed to the heart with it by Yellow Dwarf. All-Fair, falling on the body of her lover, died of a broken heart. The syren changed the dead lovers into two palm trees.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("The Yellow Dwarf," 1682). Allin-a-Dale or Allen-a-Dale, of Nottinghamshire, was to be married to a lady who returned his love, but her parents compelled her to forego young Allin for an old knight of wealth. Allin told his tale to Robin Hood, and the bold forester, in the disguise of a harper, went to the church where the wedding ceremony was to take place. When the wedding party stepped in, Robin Hood exclaimed, "This is no fit match; the bride shall be married only to the man of her choice." Then, sounding his horn, Allin-a-Dale with four and twenty bowmen entered the church. The bishop refused to marry the woman to Allin till the banns had been asked three times, whereupon Robin pulled off the bishop's gown, and invested Little John in it, who asked the banns seven times, and performed the ceremony.—Robin Hood and Allin-a-Dale (a ballad).
All'it. Captain of Nebuchadrezzar's guards in The Master of the Magicians, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward. He is flattered and content to be the queen's favorite until he meets Lalitha, a Jewish damsel. He braves death to save her from runaway horses attached to a chariot, is captivated by her beauty, and forgets his royal mistress in an honorable love (1890).
Allnut (Noll), landlord of the Swan, Lambythe Ferry (1625).
Grace Allnut, his wife.
Oliver Allnut, the landlord's son.—Sterling, John Felton (1852).
Allworth (Lady), stepmother to Tom Allworth. Sir Giles Overreach thought she would marry his nephew Wellborn, but she married lord Lovel.
Tom Allworth, stepson of lady Allworth, in love with Margaret Overreach, whom he marries.—Massinger, A New Way to pay Old Debts (1625).
All'worthy, in Fielding's Tom Jones, a man of sturdy rectitude, large charity, infinite modesty, independent spirit, and untiring philanthropy, with an utter disregard of money or fame. Fielding's friend, Ralph Allen, was the academy figure of this character.
Alma (the human soul) queen of a Castle, which for seven years was beset by a rabble rout. Arthur and sir Guyon were conducted by Alma over this castle, which though not named is intended to represent the human body.—Spenser, The Faërie Queene, ii. 9 (1590).
Almansor ("the invincible"), a title assumed by several Mussulman princes, as by the second caliph of the Abbasside dynasty, named Abou Giafar Abdallah (the invincible, or al mansor). Also by the famous captain of the Moors in Spain, named Mohammed. In Africa, Yacoubal-Modjahed was entitled "al mansor," a royal name of dignity given to the kings of Fez, Morocco, and Algiers.
The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez, and Sus,Marocco and Algiers.
Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 403 (1665).
Almanzor, the caliph, wishing to found a city in a certain spot, was told by a hermit named Bag dad that a man called Moclas was destined to be its founder. "I am that man," said the caliph, and he then told the hermit how in his boyhood he once stole a bracelet and pawned it, whereupon his nurse ever after called him "Moclas" (thief). Almanzor founded the city, and called it Bag dad, the name of the hermit.—Marigny.
Alman'zor, in Dryden's tragedy of The Conquest of Grana'da.
Alman'zor, lackey of Madelon and her cousin Cathos, the affected fine ladies in Molière's comedy of Les Précieuses Ridicules (1659).
Almavi'va, (Count), in The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais. The Follies of a Day by T. Holcroft (1745-1809) is borrowed from Beaumarchais.
Alme'ria, daughter of Manuel king of Grana'da. While captive of Valentia, prince Alphonso fell in love with her, and being compelled to fight, married her; but on the very day of espousal the ship in which they were sailing was wrecked, and each thought the other had perished. Both, however, were saved, and met unexpectedly on the coast of Granada, to which Alphonso was brought as a captive. Here Alphonso, under the assumed name of Osmyn, was imprisoned, but made his escape, and at the head of an army invaded Granada, found Manuel dead, and "the mournful bride" became converted into the joyful wife.—W. Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697).
Almes'bury (3 syl.). It was in a sanctuary of Almesbury that queen Guenever took refuge, after her adulterous passion for sir Lancelot was made known to the king. Here she died, but her body was buried at Glastonbury.
Almey'da, the Portuguese governor of India. In his engagement with the united fleets of Cambaya and Egypt, he had his legs and thighs shattered by chain-shot, but instead of retreating to the back, he had himself bound to the shipmast, where he "waved his sword to cheer on the combatants," till he died from loss of blood.
Similar stories are told of admiral Benbow, Cynaegeros brother of the poet Æschylos, Jaafer who carried the sacred banner of "the prophet" in the battle of Muta, and of some others.
Whirled by the cannons' rage, in shivers torn,His thighs far scattered o'er the waves are borne;
Bound to the mast the godlike hero stands,
Waves his proud sword and cheers his woeful hands:
Tho' winds and seas their wonted aid deny,
To yield he knows not; but he knows to die.
Camoens, Lusiad, x. (1569).
Almirods (The), a rebellions people, who refused to submit to prince Pantag'ruel after his subjugation of Anarchus king of the Dipsodes (2 syl). It was while Pantagruel was marching against these rebels that a tremendous shower of rain fell, and the prince, putting out his tongue "halfway," sheltered his whole army.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 32 (1533).
Alnas'char, the dreamer, the "barber's fifth brother." He invested all his money in a basket of glassware, on which he was to gain so much, and then to invest again and again, till he grew so rich that he would marry the vizier's daughter and live in grandeur; but being angry with his supposed wife, he gave a kick with his foot and smashed all the ware which had given birth to his dream of wealth.—The Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
The Alnaschar of Modern Literature, S.T. Coleridge, so called because he was constantly planning magnificent literary enterprises which he never carried out (1772-1834).
Aloa'din (4 syl.), a sorcerer, who made for himself a palace and garden in Arabia called "The Earthly Paradise." Thalaba slew him with a club, and the scene of enchantment disappeared.—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, vii. (1797).
Alon'so, king of Naples, father of Ferdinand and brother of Sebastian, in The Tempest, by Shakespeare (1609).
Alonzo the brave, the name of a ballad by M.G. Lewis. The fair Imogene was betrothed to Alonzo, but during his absence in the wars became the bride of another. At the wedding-feast Alonzo's ghost sat beside the bride, and, after rebuking her for her infidelity, carried her off to the grave.
Alonzo the brave was the name of the knight;The maid was the fair Imogene.
M.G. Lewis.
Alon'zo, a Portuguese gentleman, the sworn enemy of the vainglorious Duarte (3 syl.), in the drama called The Custom of the Country, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).
Alonzo, the husband of Cora. He is a brave Peruvian knight, the friend of Rolla, and beloved by king Atali'ba. Alonzo, being taken prisoner of war, is set at liberty by Rolla, who changes clothes with him. At the end he fights with Pizarro and kills him.—Sheridan, Pizarro (altered from Kotzebue).
Alonzo (Don), "the conqueror of Afric," friend of don Carlos, and husband of Leonora. Don Carlos had been betrothed to Leonora, but out of friendship resigned her to the conqueror. Zanga, the Moor, out of revenge, persuaded Alonzo that his wife and don Carlos still entertained for each other their former love, and out of jealousy Alonzo has his friend put to death, while Leonora makes away with herself. Zanga now informs Alonzo that his jealousy was groundless, and mad with grief he kills himself.—Edw. Young, The Revenge (1721).
Alonzo Fernandez de Avellaneda, author of a spurious Don Quixote, who makes a third sally. This was published during the lifetime of Cervantes, and caused him great annoyance.
Alp, a Venetian renegade, who was commander of the Turkish army in the siege of Corinth. He loved Francesca, daughter of old Minotti, governor of Corinth, but she refused to marry a renegade and apostate. Alp was shot in the siege, and Francesca died of a broken heart.—Byron, Siege of Corinth.
Alphe'us (3 syl.), a magician and prophet in the army of Charlemagne, slain in sleep by Clorida'no.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Alphe'us (3 syl.), of classic story, being passionately in love with Arethu'sa, pursued her, but she fled from him in a fright, and was changed by Diana into a fountain, which bears her name.
Alphon'so, an irascible old lord in The Pilgrim, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1621).
Alphon'so, king of Naples, deposed by his brother Frederick. Sora'no tried to poison him, but did not succeed. Ultimately he recovered his crown, and Frederick and Sorano were sent to a monastery for the rest of their lives.—Beaumont and Fletcher, A Wife for a Month (1624).
Alphonso, son of count Pedro of Cantabria, afterwards king of Spain. He was plighted to Hermesind, daughter of lord Pelayo.
The young Alphonso was in truth an heirOf nature's largest patrimony; rich
In form and feature, growing strength of limb,
A gentle heart, a soul affectionate,
A joyous spirit, filled with generous thoughts,
And genius heightening and ennobling all.
Southey, Roderick, etc., viii. (1814).
Alqui'fe (3 syl.), a famous enchanter in Amadis of Gaul, by Vasco de Lobeira, of Oporto, who died 1403.
La Noue denounces such beneficent enchanters as Alquife and Urganda, because they serve "as a vindication of those who traffic with the powers of darkness."—Francis de la Noue, Discourses, 87 (1587).
Alrinach, the demon who causes shipwrecks, and presides over storms and earthquakes. When visible it is always in the form and dress of a woman.—Eastern Mythology.
Alscrip (Miss), "the heiress," a vulgar parvenue, affected, conceited, ill-natured, and ignorant. Having had a fortune left her, she assumes the airs of a woman of fashion, and exhibits the follies without possessing the merits of the upper ten.
Mr. Alscrip, the vulgar father of "the heiress," who finds the grandeur of sudden wealth a great bore, and in his new mansion, Berkeley Square, sighs for the snug comforts he once enjoyed as scrivener in Furnival's Inn.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1781).
Al'tamont, a young Genoese lord, who marries Calista, daughter of lord Sciol'to (3 syl). On his wedding day he discovers that his bride has been seduced by Lotha'rio, and a duel ensues, in which Lothario is killed, whereupon Calista stabs herself.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703). (Rowe makes Sciolto three syllables always.)
Altamo'rus, king of Samarcand', who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. He surrendered himself to Godfrey (bk. xx.).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Altascar (Señor). A courtly old Spaniard in Bret Harte's Notes by Flood and Field. He is dispossessed of his corral in the Sacramento Valley by a party of government surveyors, who have come to correct boundaries (1878).
Altemera. Typical far-southern girl, with a lovely face, creamy skin, and a "lazy sweet voice," who takes the leading part in Annie Eliot's An Hour's Promise (1888).
Althaea's Brand. The Fates told Althaea that her son Melea'ger would live just as long as a log of wood then on the fire remained unconsumed. Althaea contrived to keep the log unconsumed for many years, but when her son killed her two brothers, she threw it angrily into the fire, where it was quickly consumed, and Meleager expired at the same time.—Ovid, Metaph. viii. 4.
The fatal brand Althaea burned.Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act i. sc. 1 (1591).
Althe'a (The divine), of Richard Lovelace, was Lucy Saeheverell, also called by the poet, Lucasta.
When love with unconfinèd wingsHovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at my grates.
(The "grates" here referred to were those of a prison in which Lovelace was confined by the Long Parliament, for his petition from Kent in favor of the king.)
Altheetar, one of the seven bridegrooms of Lopluël, condemned to die successively, by a malignant spirit. He is young, beautiful, and endowed with rare gifts of soul and mind. While singing to her, his lyre falls from his hand and he dies in her arms, her loosened hair falling about him as a shroud.
"So calm, so fair,He rested on the purple, tapestried floor,
It seemed an angel lay reposing there."
Lopluel, or the Bride of Seven, by Maria del Occidente (Maria Gowen Brooks) (1833).
Altisido'ra, one of the duchess's servants, who pretends to be in love with don Quixote, and serenades him. The don sings his response that he has no other love than what he gives to his Dulcin'ea, and while he is still singing he is assailed by a string of cats, let into the room by a rope. As the knight is leaving the mansion, Altisidora accuses him of having stolen her garters, but when the knight denies the charge, the damsel protests that she said so in her distraction, for her garters were not stolen. "I am like the man looking for his mule at the time he was astride its back."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 9, etc.; iv. 5 (1615).
Al'ton (Miss), alias Miss CLIFFORD, a sweet, modest young lady, the companion of Miss Alscrip, "the heiress," a vulgar, conceited parvenue. Lord Gayville is expected to marry "the heiress," but detests her, and loves Miss Alton, her humble companion. It turns out that £2000 a year of "the heiress's" fortune belongs to Mr. Clifford (Miss Alton's brother), and is by him settled on his sister. Sir Clement Flint destroys this bond, whereby the money returns to Clifford, who marries lady Emily Gayville, and sir Clement settles the same on his nephew, lord Gayville, who marries Miss Alton.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1781).
Al'ton Locke, tailor and poet, a novel by the Rev. Charles Kingsley (1850). This novel won for the author the title of "The Chartist Clergyman."
Alvira Roberts, hired "girl" and faithful retainer of the Fairchild family. For many years she and Milton Squires, the hired man, have "kept company." In his prosperity he deserts her. When he is convicted of murder, she kisses him. "Ef 'twas the last thing I ever done in my life, I'd dew it. We was—engaged—once't on a time!"—Seth's Brother's Wife, by Harold Frederic (1886).
Alzir'do, king of Trem'izen, in Africa, overthrown by Orlando in his march to join the allied army of Ag'ramant.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Am'adis of Gaul, a love-child of king Per'ion and the princess Elize'na. He is the hero of a famous prose romance of chivalry, the first four books of which are attributed to Lobeira, of Portugal (died 1403). These books were translated into Spanish in 1460 by Montal'vo, who added the fifth book. The five were rendered into French by Herberay, who increased the series to twenty-four books. Lastly, Gilbert Saunier added seven more volumes, and called the entire series Le Roman des Romans.
Whether Amadis was French or British is disputed. Some maintain that "Gaul" means Wales, not France; that Elizena was princess of Brittany (Bretagne), and that Perion was king of Gaul (Wales), not Gaul (France).
Amadis de Gaul was a tall man, of a fair complexion,his aspect something between mild and
austere, and had a handsome black beard. He
was a person of very few words, was not easily
provoked, and was soon appeased.—Cervantes,
Don Quixote, II. i. 1 (1615).
As Arthur is the central figure of British romance, Charlemagne of French, and Diderick of German, so Amadis is the central figure of Spanish and Portuguese romance; but there is this difference—the tale of Amadis is a connected whole, terminating with his marriage with Oria'na, the intervening parts being only the obstacles he encountered and overcame in obtaining this consummation. In the Arthurian romances, and those of the Charlemagne series, we have a number of adventures of different heroes, but there is no unity of purpose; each set of adventures is complete in itself.
Ama'dis of Greece, a supplemental part of Amadis of Gaul, by Felicia'no de Silva. There are also several other Amadises—as Amadis of Colchis, Amadis of Trebisond, Amadis of Cathay, but all these are very inferior to the original Amadis of Gaul.
The ancient fables, whose relickes doe yet remain, namely, Lancelot of the Lake, Pierceforest, Tristram, Giron the Courteous, etc., doe beare witnesse of this odde vanitie. Herewith were men fed for the space of 500 yeeres, untill our language growing more polished, and our minds more ticklish, they were driven to invent some novelties wherewith to delight us. Thus came ye bookes of Amadis into light among us in this last age.—Francis de la Noue, Discourses, 87 (1587).
Amai'mon (3 syl.), one of the principal devils. Asmode'us is one of his lieutenants. Shakespeare twice refers to him, in 1 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 4, and in The Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 2.
Amal'ahta, son of Erill'yab the deposed queen of the Hoamen (2 syl.), an Indian tribe settled on the south of the Missouri. He is described as a brutal savage, wily, deceitful, and cruel. Amalahta wished to marry the princess Goer'vyl, Madoc's sister, and even seized her by force, but was killed in his flight.—Southey, Madoc, ii. 16 (1805).
Amalthae'a, the sibyl who offered to sell to Tarquin nine books of prophetic oracles. When the king refused to give her the price demanded, she went away, burnt three of them, and returning to the king, demanded the same price for the remaining six. Again the king declined the purchase. The sibyl, after burning three more of the volumes, demanded the original sum for the remaining three. Tarquin paid the money, and Amalthaea was never more seen. Aulus Gellius says that Amalthaea burnt the books in the king's presence. Pliny affirms that the original number of volumes was only three, two of which the sibyl burnt, and the third was purchased by king Tarquin.
Amalthe'a, a mistress of Ammon and mother of Bacchus. Ammon hid his mistress in the island Nysa (in Africa), in order to elude the vigilance and jealousy of his wife Rhea. This account (given by Diodorus Sic'ulus, bk. iii., and by sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World, I. vi. 5) differs from the ordinary story, which makes Sem'elê the mother of Bacchus, and Rhea his nurse. (Ammon is Ham or Cham, the son of Noah, founder of the African race.)
... that Nyseian ile,Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham
(Whom Gentiles Ammon call, and Libyan Jove)
Hid Amalthea and her florid son,
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 275 (1665).
Amanda, wife of Loveless. Lord Foppington pays her amorous attentions, but she utterly despises the conceited coxcomb, and treats him with contumely. Colonel Townly, in order to pique his lady-love, also pays attention to Loveless's wife, but she repels his advances with indignation, and Loveless, who overhears her, conscious of his own shortcomings, resolves to reform his ways, and, "forsaking all other," to remain true to Amanda, "so long as they both should live."—Sheridan, A Trip to Scarborough.
Aman'da, in Thomson's Seasons, is meant for Miss Young, who married admiral Campbell.
And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song!Formed by the Graces, loveliness itself.
"Spring," 480, 481 (1728).
Amanda, the victim of Peregrine Pickle's seduction, in Smollett's novel of Peregrine Pickle (1751).
Amanda, worldly woman in Julia Ward Howe's poem, Amanda's Inventory, who sums up her wealth and honors, and is forced to conclude the list with death (1866).
Amaran'ta, wife of Bar'tolus, the covetous lawyer. She was wantonly loved by Leandro, a Spanish gentleman.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).
Am'aranth (Lady), in Wild Oats, by John O'Keefe, a famous part of Mrs. Pope (1740-1797).
Amaril'lis, a shepherdess in love with Per'igot (t sounded), but Perigot loved Am'oret. In order to break off this affection, Amarillis induced "the sullen shepherd" to dip her in "the magic well," whereby she became transformed into the perfect resemblance of her rival, and soon effectually disgusted Perigot with her bold and wanton conduct. When afterwards he met the true Amoret, he repulsed her, and even wounded her with intent to kill. Ultimately, the trick was discovered by Cor'in, "the faithful shepherdess," and Perigot was married to his true love.—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherd (1610).
Amaryllis, in Spenser's pastoral Colin Clout's Come Home Again, was the countess of Derby. Her name was Alice, and she was the youngest of the six daughters of sir John Spenser, of Althorpe, ancestor of the noble houses of Spenser and Marlborough. After the death of the earl, the widow married sir Thomas Egerton, keeper of the Great Seal (afterwards baron of Ellesmere and viscount Brackley). It was for this very lady, during her widowhood, that Milton wrote his Ar'cades (3 syl.).
No less praiseworthy are the sisters three,The honour of the noble family
Of which I meanest boast myself to be ...
Phyllis, Charyllis, and sweet Amaryllis:
Phyllis the fair is eldest of the three,
The next to her is bountiful Charyllis,
But th' youngest is the highest in degree.
Spenser, Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1594).
Am'asisi, Amosis, or Aah'mes (3 syl.), founder of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty (B.C. 1610). Lord Brooke attributes to him one of the pyramids. The three chief pyramids are usually ascribed to Suphis (or Cheops), Sen-Suphis (or Cephrenês), and Mencherês, all of the fourth dynasty.
Amasis and Cheops how can time forgive.Who in their useless pyramids would live?
Lord Brooke, Peace.
Amateur (An), Pierce Egan the younger published under this pseudonym his Real Life in London, or The Rambles and Adventures of Rob Tally-ho, Esq., and his Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall, through the Metropolis (1821-2).
Amaurots (The), a people whose kingdom was invaded by the Dipsodes (2 syl.), but Pantag'ruel, coming to their defence, utterly routed the invaders.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. (1533).
Ama'via, the personification of Intemperance in grief. Hearing that her husband, sir Mordant, had been enticed to the Bower of Bliss by the enchantress Acra'sia, she went in quest of him, and found him so changed in mind and body she could scarcely recognize him; however, she managed by tact to bring him away, but he died on the road, and Amavia stabbed herself from excessive grief.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 1 (1590).
Amazo'na, a fairy, who freed a certain country from the Ogri and the Blue Centaur. When she sounded her trumpet, the sick were recovered and became both young and strong. She gave the princess Carpil'lona a bunch of gilly-flowers, which enabled her to pass unrecognized before those who knew her well.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("The Princess Carpillona," 1682).
Amazons, a fabled race of women-warriors. It was said that in order to use the bow, they cut off one of their breasts.
Amber, said to be a concretion of birds' tears, but the birds were the sisters of Melea'ger, called Meleag'ridês, who never ceased weeping for their dead brother.—Pliny, Natural History, xxxvii. 2, 11.
Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber.That ever the sorrowing sea-birds have wept.
T. Moore, Fire-Worshippers.
Am'brose (2 syl.), a sharper, who assumed in the presence of Gil Blas the character of a devotee. He was in league with a fellow who assumed the name of don Raphael, and a young woman who called herself Camilla, cousin of donna Mencia. These three sharpers allure Gil Blas to a house which Camilla says is hers, fleece him of his ring, his portmanteau, and his money, decamp, and leave him to find out that the house is only a hired lodging.—Lesage, Gil Blas, i. 15, 16 (1715).
(This incident is borrowed from Espinel's romance entitled Vida de Escudero, marcos de Obregon, 1618.)
Am'brose (2 syl.), a male domestic servant waiting on Miss Seraphine and Miss Angelica Arthuret.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George II.).
Ambrose (Brother), a monk who attended the prior Aymer, of Jorvaulx Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Am'brosius (Father), abbot of Kennaquhair, is Edward Glendinning, brother of sir Halbert Glendinning (the knight of Avenel). He appears at Kinross, disguised as a nobleman's retainer.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Ame'lia, heroine of novel of same name. Young daughter of a German inn-keeper, who rises to a high position in society, through native merit, graces of mind and person.—Eliza Leslie (1843).
Ame'lia, a model of conjugal affection, in Fielding's novel so called. It is said that the character was modelled from his own wife. Dr. Johnson read this novel from beginning to end without once stopping.
Amelia is perhaps the only book of which, being printed off betimes one morning, a new edition was called for before night. The character of Amelia is the most pleasing heroine of all the romances.—Dr. Johnson.
Ame'lia, in Thomson's Seasons, a beautiful, innocent young woman, overtaken by a storm while walking with her troth-plight lover, Cel'adon, "with equal virtue formed, and equal grace. Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, and his the radiance of the risen day." Amelia grew frightened, but Celadon said, "'Tis safety to be near thee, sure;" when a flash of lightning struck her dead in his arms.—"Summer" (1727).
Amelia, in Schiller's tragedy of The Robbers.
Or they will learn how generous worth sublimesThe robber Moor, and pleads for all his crimes;
How poor Amelia kissed with many a tear
His hand, blood-stained, but ever, ever dear.
Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).
Amelia Bailey, ambitious woman with "literary tastes," who in pursuit of a suitable sphere, marries a rich Californian, and "shines with the diamonds her husband has bought, and makes a noise, but it is the blare of vulgar ostentation,"—William Henry Rideing, A Little Upstart (1885).
Amelot (2 syl.), the page of sir Damian de Lacy.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Am'giad, son of Camaralzaman and Badoura, and half-brother of Assad (son of Camaralzaman and Haiatal'nefous). Each of the two mothers conceived a base passion for the other's son, and when the young princes revolted at their advances, accused them to their father of designs upon their honor. Camaralzaman ordered his emir Giondar to put them both to death, but as the young men had saved him from a lion he laid no hand on them, but told them not to return to their father's dominions. They wandered on for a time, and then parted, but both reached the same place, which was a city of the Magi. Here, by a strange adventure Amgiad was made vizier, while Assad was thrown into a dungeon, where he was designed as a sacrifice to the fire-god. Bosta'na, a daughter of the old man who imprisoned Assad, released him, and Amgiad out of gratitude made her his wife. After which, the king, who was greatly advanced in years, appointed him his successor, and Amgiad used his best efforts to abolish the worship of fire and establish "the true faith."—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").
Am'yas, a squire of low degree, beloved by Aemylia. They agreed to meet at a given spot, but on their way thither both were taken captives—Amyas by Corflambo, and Aemylia by a man monster. Aemylia was released by Belphoebê (3 syl.), who slew "the caitiff;" and Amyas by prince Arthur, who slew Corflambo. The two lovers were then brought together by the prince "in peace and joyous blis."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 7, 9 (1596).
Ami'das, the younger brother of Brac'idas, sons of Mile'sio; the former in love with the dowerless Lucy, and the latter with the wealthy Philtra. The two brothers had each an island of equal size and value left them by their father, but the sea daily added to the island of the younger brother, and encroached on that belonging to Bracidas. When Philtra saw that the property of Amidas was daily increasing, she forsook the elder brother and married the wealthier; while Lucy, seeing herself jilted, threw herself into the sea. A floating chest attracted her attention, she clung to it, and was drifted to the wasted island. It was found to contain great riches, and Lucy gave its contents and herself to Bracidas. Amidas claimed the chest as his own by right, and the question in dispute was submitted to sir Ar'tegal. The wise arbiter decided, that whereas Armidas claimed as his own all the additions given to his island by the sea, Lucy might claim as her own the chest, because the sea had given it to her.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 4 (1596).
Am'iel, in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for sir Edward Seymour, Speaker of the House of Commons.
Who can Amiel's praise refuse?Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet
In his own worth, and without title great.
The sanhedrim long time as chief he ruled,
Their reason guided, and their passion cooled.
Part i.
A'min (Prince), son of the caliph Haroun-al-Raschid; he married Am'inê, sister of Zobeide (3 syl.), the caliph's wife.—Arabian Nights' Entertainments ("The History of Amine").
Am'ina, an orphan, who walked in her sleep. She was betrothed to Elvi'no, a rich farmer, but being found the night before the wedding in the chamber of count Rodolpho, Elvino rightly refused to marry her. The count remonstrated with the young farmer, and while they were talking, the orphan was seen to get out of a window and walk along the narrow edge of a mill-roof while the great wheel was rapidly revolving; she then crossed a crazy old bridge, and came into the same chamber. Here she awoke, and, seeing Elvino, threw her arms around him so lovingly, that all his doubts vanished, and he married her.—Bellini, La Sonnambula (an opera, 1831).
Am'ine (3 syl.), half-sister of Zobei'dè (3 syl.), and wife of Amin, the caliph's son. One day she went to purchase a robe, and the seller told her he would charge nothing if she would suffer him to kiss her cheek. Instead of kissing he bit it, and Amine, being asked by her husband how she came by the wound, so shuffled in her answers that he commanded her to be put to death, a sentence he afterwards commuted to scourging. One day she and her sister told the stories of their lives to the caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, when Amin became reconciled to his wife, and the caliph married her half-sister.—Arabian Nights'Entertainments ("History of Zobeide and History of Amine").
Am'ine (3 syl.) or Am'ines (3 syl.), the beautiful wife of Sidi Nouman. Instead of eating her rice with a spoon, she used a bodkin for the purpose, and carried it to her mouth in infinitesimal portions. This went on for some time, till Sidi Nouman determined to ascertain on what his wife really fed, and to his horror discovered that she was a ghoul, who went stealthily by night to the cemetery, and feasted on the freshly-buried dead.—Arabian Nights ("History of Sidi Nouman").
One of the Aminês' sort, who pick up theirgrains of food with a bodkin.—O.W. Holmes,
Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
Amin'tor, a young nobleman, the troth-plight husband of Aspatia, but by the king's command he marries Evad'ne (3 syl.). This is the great event of the tragedy of which Amintor is the hero. The sad story of Evadne, the heroine, gives name to the play.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
(Till the reign of Charles II., the kings of England claimed the feudal right of disposing in marriage any one who owed them feudal allegiance. In All's Well that Ends Well, Shakespeare makes the king of France exercise a similar right, when he commands Bertram, count of Rousillon, to marry against his will Hel'ena, the physician's daughter.)
Amis the Priest, the hero of a comic German epic of the 13th century, represented as an Englishman, a man of great wit and humor, but ignorant and hypocritical. His popularity excites the envy of the superior clergy, who seek to depose him from the priesthood by making public exposition of his ignorance, but by his quickness at repartee he always manages to turn the laugh against them.—Ascribed to Stricker of Austria.
Am'let (Richard), the gamester in Vanbrugh's Confederacy (1695). He is usually called "Dick."
I saw Miss Pope for the second time, in the year 1790, in the character of "Flippanta," John Palmer being "Dick Amlet," and Mrs. Jordan "Corinna."—James Smith.
Mrs. Amlet, a rich, vulgar tradeswoman, mother of Dick, of whom she is very proud, although she calls him a "sad scapegrace," and swears "he will be hanged." At last she settles on him £10,000, and he marries Corinna, daughter of Gripe the rich scrivener.
Ammo'nian Horn (The), the cornucopia. Ammon king of Lib'ya gave to his mistress Amalthe'a (mother of Bacchus) a tract of land resembling a ram's horn in shape, and hence called the "Ammonian horn" (from the giver), the "Amalthe'an horn" (from the receiver), and the "Hesperian horn" (from its locality). Amalthea also personifies fertility. (Ammon is Ham, son of Noah, founder of the African race.) (See AMALTHEA.)
[Here] Amalthea pours,Well pleased, the wealth of that Ammonian horn,
Her dower. Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads.
Am'mon's Son. Alexander the Great called himself the son of the god Ammon, but others call him the son of Philip of Macedon.
Of food I think with Philip's son, or ratherAmmon's (ill pleased with one world and one
father).
Byron, Don Juan, v. 31.
(Alluding to the tale that when Alexander had conquered the whole world, he wept that there was no other world to conquer.)
A'mon's Son is Rinaldo, eldest son of Amon or Aymon marquis d'Este, and nephew of Charlemagne.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Am'oret, a modest, faithful shepherdess, who plighted her troth to Per'igot (t sounded) at the "Virtuous Well." The wanton shepherdess Amarillis, having by enchantment assumed her appearance and dress, so disgusted Perigot with her bold ways, that he lost his love for the true Amoret, repulsed her with indignation, and tried to kill her. The deception was revealed by Cor'in, "the faithful shepherdess," and the lovers being reconciled, were happily married.—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess (before 1611).
Amoret'ta or Am'oret, twin-born with Belphoebê (3 syl.), their mother being Chrysog'onê (4 syl.). While the mother and her two babes were asleep, Diana took one (Belphoebê) to bring up, and Venus the other. Venus committed Amoretta to the charge of Psychê (2 syl.), and Psychê tended her as lovingly as she tended her own daughter Pleasure, "to whom she became the companion." When grown to marriageable estate, Amoretta was brought to Fairyland, and wounded many a heart, but gave her own only to sir Scudamore (bk. iii. 6). Being seized by Bu'sirane, an enchanter, she was kept in durance by him because she would not "her true love deny;" but Britomart delivered her and bound the enchanter (bk. iii. 11, 12), after which she became the tender, loving wife of sir Scudamore.
Amoret is the type of female loveliness and wifely affection, soft, warm, chaste, gentle, and ardent; not sensual nor yet platonic, but that living, breathing, warm-hearted love which fits woman for the fond mother and faithful wife.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. (1590).
Amour'y (Sir Giles), the Grand-Master of the Knights Templars, who conspires with the marquis of Montserrat against Richard I. Saladin cuts off the Templar's head while in the act of drinking.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Am'phibal (St.), confessor of St. Alban of Verulam. When Maximia'nus Hercu'lius, general of Diocle'tian's army in Britain, pulled down the Christian churches, burnt the Holy Scriptures, and put to death the Christians with unflagging zeal, Alban hid his confessor, and offered to die for him.
A thousand other saints whom Amphibal had taught ...Were slain where Lichfield is, whose name doth rightly sound
(There of those Christians slain), "Dead-field" or burying-ground.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Amphi'on is said to have built Thebes by the music of his lute. Tennyson has a poem called Amphion, a skit and rhyming jeu d'esprit.
Amphion there the loud creating lyreStrikes, and behold a sudden Thebes aspire.
Pope, Temple of Fame.
Amphis-baena, a reptile which could go head foremost either way, because it had a head at each extremity. Milton uses the word in Paradise Lost, x. 524. (Greek, ampi baino, "I go both ways.")
The amphis-baena doubly armed appears,At either end a threatening head she rears.
Rowe, Pharsalia, ix. 696, etc. (by Lucan).
Amphitryon, a Theban general, husband of Alcme'nê (3 syl.). While Amphitryon was absent at war with Pter'elas, king of the Tel'eboans, Jupiter assumed his form, and visited Alcmenê, who in due time became the mother of Her'culês. Next day Amphitryon returned, having slain Pterelas, and Alcmenê was surprised to see him so soon again. Here a great entanglement arose, Alcmenê telling her husband he visited her last night, and showing him the ring he gave her, and Amphitryon declaring he was with the army. This confusion is still further increased by his slave Sos'ia, who went to take to Alcmenê the news of victory, but was stopped at the door of the house by Mercury, who had assumed for the nonce Sosia's form, and the slave could not make out whether he was himself or not. This plot has been made a comedy by Plautus, Molière, and Dryden.
The scenes which Plautus drew, to-night we show,Touched by Molière, by Dryden taught to glow.
Prologue to Hawksworth's version.
As an Amphitryon chez qui l'on dine, no one knows better than Ouidà the uses of a recherché dinner.—E. Yates, Celebrities, xix.
"Amphitryon": Le véritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon où l'on dine ("The master of the feast is the master of the house"). While the confusion was at its height between the false and true Amphitryon, Socie [Sosia] the slave is requested to decide which was which, and replied—
Je ne me trompois pas, messieurs; ce mot termineToute l'irrésolution;
Le véritable Amphitryon
Est l'Amphitryon où l'on dine.
Molière, Amphitryon, iii. 5 (1668).
Demosthenes and Cicero
Are doubtless stately names to hear,
But that of good Amphitryon
Sounds far more pleasant to my ear.
M.A. Désaugiers (1772-1827).
Amrah, the faithful woman-servant of the household of Ben-Hur in Lew Wallace's novel, Ben-Hur. Through her heroic services, Judah, the son, finds the mother and sister from whom he has been so long separated (1880).
Am'ri, in Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham and lord chancellor. He is called "The Father of Equity" (1621-1682).
To whom the double blessing did belong,With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.
Part ii.
Amun'deville (Lord Henry), one of the "British privy council." After the sessions of parliament he retired to his country seat, where he entertained a select and numerous party, among which were the duchess of Fitz-Fulke, Aurora Raby, and don Juan, "the Russian envoy." His wife was lady Adeline. (His character is given in xiv. 70, 71.)—Byron, Don Juan, xiii. to end.
Am'urath III., sixth emperor of the Turks. He succeeded his father, Selim II., and reigned 1574-1595. His first act was to invite all his brothers to a banquet, and strangle them. Henry IV. alludes to this when he says—
This is the English, not the Turkish court;Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry, Harry.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 2 (1598).
Amusements of Kings. The great amusement of Ardeltas of Arabia Petraea, was currying horses; of Artaba'nus of Persia, was mole-catching; of Domitian of Rome, was catching flies; of Ferdinand VII., of Spain, was embroidering petticoats; of Louis XVI., clock and lock making; of George IV., the game of patience.
Amy March, the artist sister in Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women (1868).
Amy Wentworth, the high-born but contented wife of the "Brown Viking of the Fishing-smack," in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, Amy Wentworth.
She sings, and smiling, hears her praise,But dreams the while of one
Who watches from his sea-blown deck
The ice-bergs in the sun. (1860.)
Amyn'tas, in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, by Spenser, is Ferdinando earl of Derby, who died 1594.
Amyntas, flower of shepherd's pride forlorn.He, whilst he lived, was the noblest swain
That ever pipèd on an oaten quill.
Spenser, Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1591).
Amyn'tor. (See AMINTOR.)
A'mys and Amy'lion, the Damon and Pythias of mediaeval romance.—See Ellis's Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances.
Amytis, the Median queen of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Beautiful, passionate, and conscienceless, she condemns an innocent rival to the worst of fates, without a pang of conscience, and dies a violent death at the hands of one who was once her lover.
The gardens were well-watered and dripped luxuriantly.... At this time of the morning, Amytis amused herself alone, or with a few favored slaves. She dipped through artificial dew and pollen, bloom and fountain, like one of the butterflies that circled above her small head, or one of the bright cold lizards that crept about her feet. She bathed, she ran, she sang, and curled to sleep, and stirred and bathed again.—The Master of the Magicians, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).
Anacharsis [Clootz]. Baron Jean Baptiste Clootz assumed the prenome of Anacharsis, from the Scythian so called, who travelled about Greece and other countries to gather knowledge and improve his own countrymen. The baron wished by the name to intimate that his own object in life was like that of Anacharsis (1755-1794).
Anachronisms. (See ERRORS.)
CHAUCER, in his tale of Troilus, at the siege of Troy, makes Pandarus refer to Robin Hood.
And to himselfe ful soberly he saied,From hasellwood there jolly Robin plaied.
Book v.
GILES FLETCHER, in Christ's Victory, pt. ii. makes the Tempter seem to be "a good old hermit or palmer, travelling to see some saint, and telling his beads!!"
LODGE, in The True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla (1594), mentions "the razor of Palermo" and "St. Paul's steeple," and introduces Frenchmen who "for forty crowns" undertake to poison the Roman consul.
MORGLAY makes Dido tell Æneas that she should have been contented with a son, even "if he had been a cockney dandiprat" (1582).
SCHILLER, in his Piccolomini, speaks of lightning conductors. This was about 150 years before they were invented.
SHAKESPEAKE, in his Coriolanus (act ii. sc. 1), makes Menenius refer to Galen above 600 years before he was born.
Cominius alludes to Roman Plays, but no such things were known for 250 years after the death of Cominius.—Coriolanus, act ii. sc. 2.
Brutus refers to the "Marcian Waters brought to Rome by Censorinus." This was not done till 300 years afterwards.
In Hamlet, the prince Hamlet was educated at Wittemberg School, which was not founded till 1502; whereas Saxo-Germanicus, from whom Shakespeare borrowed the tale, died in 1204. Hamlet was thirty years old when his mother talks of his going back to school (act i. sc. 2).
In 1 Henry IV., the carrier complains that "the turkeys in his pannier are quite starved" (act ii. sc. 5), whereas turkeys came from America, and the New World was not even discovered for a century after. Again in Henry V., Grower is made to say to Fluellen, "Here comes Pistol, swelling like a turkey-cock" (act v. sc. 1).
In Julius Cæsar, Brutus says to Cassius, "Peace, count the clock." To which Cassius replies, "The clock has stricken three."
Clocks were not known to the Romans, and striking-clocks were not invented till some 1400 years after the death of Cæsar.
VIRGIL places Æneas in the port Velinus, which was made by Curius Dentatus.
This list, with very little trouble, might be greatly multiplied. The hotbed of anachronisms is mediaeval romance; there nations, times and places, are most recklessly disregarded. This may be instanced by a few examples from Ariosto's great poem, Orlando Furioso.
Here we have Charlemagne and his paladins joined by Edward king of England, Richard earl of Warwick, Henry duke of Clarence, and the dukes of York and Gloucester (bk. vi.). We have cannons employed by Cymosco king of Friza (bk. iv.), and also in the siege of Paris (bk. vi.). We have the Moors established in Spain, whereas they were not invited over by the Saracens for nearly 300 years after Charlemagne's death. In bk. xvii. we have Prester John, who died in 1202; and in the last three books we have Constantine the Great, who died in 337.
Anac'reon, the prince of erotic and bacchanalian poets, insomuch that songs on these subjects are still called Anacreon'tic (B.C. 563-478).
Anacreon of Painters, Francesco Albano or Alba'ni (1578-1660).
Anacreon of the Guillotine, Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (1755-1841).
Anacreon of the Temple, Guillaume Amfrye, abbé de Chaulieu (1639-1720).
Anacreon of the Twelfth Century, Walter Mapes, "The Jovial Toper." His famous drinking song, "Meum est prepositum ..." has been translated by Leigh Hunt (1150-1196).
The French Anacreon. 1. Pontus de Thiard, one of the "Pleiad poets" (1521-1605). 2. P. Laujon, perpetual president of the Caveau Moderne, a Paris club, noted for its good dinners, but every member was of necessity a poet (1727-1811).
The Persian Anacreon, Mahommed Hafiz. The collection of his poems is called The Divan (1310-1389).
The Sicilian Anacreon, Giovanni Meli (1740-1815).
Anacreon Moore, Thomas Moore of Dublin (1780-1852), poet, called "Anacreon," from his translation of that Greek poet, and his own original anacreontic songs.
Described by Mahomet and Anacreon Moore.Byron, Don Juan, i. 104.
Anagnus, Inchastity personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons by Caro, named Maechus (adultery), Pornei'us (fornication), Acath'arus, and Asel'gês (lasciviousness), all of whom are fully described by the poet. In the battle of Mansoul (canto xi.) Anagnus is slain by Agnei'a (wifely chastity), the spouse of Encra'tes (temperance) and sister of Parthen'ia (maidenly chastity). (Greek, anagnos, "impure.") (1633.)
Anagrams.
CHARLES JAMES STUART (James I.). Claims Arthur's Seat.
DAME ELEANOR DAVIES (prophetess in the reign of Charles I.). Never so mad a ladie.
HORATIO NELSON. Honor est a Nilo.
MARIE TOUCHET (mistress of Charles IX.). Je charme tout (made by Henri IV.).
Pilate's question, QUID EST VERITAS? Est vir qui adest.
SIR ROGER CHARLES DOUGHTY TICHBORNE, BARONET. You horrid butcher, Orton, biggest rascal here.
A'nah, granddaughter of Cain and sister of Aholiba'mah. Japhet loved her, but she had set her heart on the seraph Azaz'iel, who carried her off to another planet when the Flood came.—Byron, Heaven and Earth.
Anah and Aholibamah are very different characters:Anah is soft, gentle, and submissive; her
sister is proud, imperious, and aspiring; the one
loving in fear, the other in ambition. She fears
that her love makes her "heart grow impious,"
and that she worships the seraph rather than the
Creator.—Ed. Lytton Bulwer (Lord Lytton).
Anak of Publishers, so John Murray was called by lord Byron (1778-1843).
An'akim or Anak, a giant of Palestine, whose descendants were terrible for their gigantic stature. The Hebrew spies said that they themselves were mere grasshoppers in comparison of them.
I felt the thews of Anakim,The pulses of a Titan's heart.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, iii.
(The Titans were giants, who, according to classic fable, made war with Jupiter or Zeus, 1 syl.)
Anamnes'tes (4 syl), the boy who waited on Eumnestês (Memory). Eumnestês was a very old man, decrepit and half blind, a "man of infinite remembrance, who things foregone through many ages held," but when unable to "fet" what he wanted, was helped by a little boy yclept Anamnestês, who sought out for him what "was lost or laid amiss." (Greek, eumnêstis, "good memory;" anamne'stis, "research or calling up to mind.")
And oft when things were lost or laid amiss,That boy them sought and unto him did lend;
Therefore the Anamnestes clepêd is,
And that old man Eumnestes.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 9 (1590).
Anani'as, in The Alchemist, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1610).
("Wasp" in Bartholomew Fair, "Corbaccio" in The Fox, "Morose" in The Silent Woman, all by B. Jonson.)
Anarchus, king of the Dipsodes (2 syl.), defeated by Pantag'ruel, who dressed him in a ragged doublet, a cap with a cock's feather, and married him to "an old lantern-carrying hag." The prince gave the wedding-feast, which consisted of garlic and sour cider. His wife, being a regular termagant, "did beat him like plaster, and the ex-tyrant did not dare call his soul his own."—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 31 (1533).
Anasta'sius, the hero of a novel called Memoirs of Anastasius, by Thomas Hope (1770-1831), a most brilliant and powerful book. It is the autobiography of a Greek, who, to escape the consequences of his crimes and villainies, becomes a renegade, and passes through a long series of adventures.
Fiction has but few pictures which will bearcomparison with that of Anastasius, sitting on
the steps of the lazaretto of Trieste, with his
dying boy in his arms.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Romance."
Anastasius Grün, the nom de plume of Anton Alexander von Auersperg, a German poet (1806-1876).
Anasterax, brother of Niquee [ne.kay], with whom he lives in incestuous intercourse. The fairy Zorphee, in order to withdraw her god-daughter from this alliance, enchanted her.—Amadis de Gaul.
An'cho, a Spanish brownie, who haunts the shepherds' huts, warms himself at their fires, tastes their clotted milk and cheese, converses with the family, and is treated with familiarity mixed with terror. The Ancho hates church bells.
Ancient Mariner (The), by Coleridge. For the crime of having shot an albatross (a bird of good omen to seamen) terrible sufferings are visited upon him, which are finally remitted through his repentance; but he is doomed to wander over the earth and repeat his story to others as a warning lesson.
An'derson (Eppie), a servant at the inn of St. Ronan's Well, held by Meg Dods.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
André (2 syl.). Petit-André and Trois Echelles are the executioners of Louis XI. of France. They are introduced by sir W. Scott, both in Quentin Durward and in Anne of Geierstein.
André, the hero and title of a novel by George Sand (Mde. Dudevant). This novel and that called Consuelo (4 syl.) are considered her best (1804-1876).
Andre'os, Fortitude personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (canto x.). "None fiercer to a stubborn enemy, but to the yielding none more sweetly kind." (Greek, andria or andreia, "manliness.")
Andrew, gardener, at Ellangowan, to Godfrey Bertram the laird.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Andrews, a private in the royal army of the duke of Monmouth.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Andrews (Joseph), the hero and title of a novel by Fielding. He is a footman who marries a maid-servant. Joseph Andrews is a brother of [Richardson's] "Pamela," a handsome, model young man.
The accounts of Joseph's bravery and goodqualities, his voice too musical to halloa to the
dogs, his bravery in riding races for the gentlemen
of the county, and his constancy in refusing
bribes and temptation, have something refreshing
in their naïveté and freshness, and prepossess
one in favor of that handsome young hero.—Thackeray.
Androclus and the Lion. Androclus was a runaway Roman slave, who took refuge in a cavern. A lion entered, and instead of tearing him to pieces, lifted up its fore-paw that Androclus might extract from it a thorn. The fugitive, being subsequently captured, was doomed to fight with a lion in the Roman arena, and it so happened that the very same lion was let out against him; it instantly recognized its benefactor, and began to fawn upon him with every token of gratitude and joy. The story being told of this strange behavior, Androclus was forthwith set free.
A somewhat similar anecdote is told of sir George Davis, English consul at Florence at the beginning of the present century. One day he went to see the lions of the great duke of Tuscany. There was one which the keepers could not tame, but no sooner did sir George appear, than the beast manifested every symptom of joy. Sir George entered the cage, when the creature leaped on his shoulder, licked his face, wagged its tail, and fawned like a dog. Sir George told the great duke that he had brought up this lion, but as it grew older it became dangerous, and he sold it to a Barbary captain. The duke said he bought it of the same man, and the mystery was cleared up.
Andromache [An. drom'. a. ky], widow of Hector. At the downfall of Troy both she and her son Asty'anax were allotted to Pyrrhus king of Epirus, and Pyrrhus fell in love with her, but she repelled his advances. At length a Grecian embassy, led by Orestês son of Agamemnon, arrived, and demanded that Astyanax should be given up and put to death, lest in manhood he should attempt to avenge his father's death. Pyrrhus told Andromachê that he would protect her son in defiance of all Greece if she would become his wife, and she reluctantly consented thereto. While the marriage ceremonies were going on, the ambassadors rushed on Pyrrhus and slew him, but as he fell he placed the crown on the head of Andromachê, who thus became the queen of Epirus, and the ambassadors hastened to their ships in flight.—Ambrose Philips, The Distressed Mother (1712).
Andromeda, beautiful daughter of the king of Ethiopia. To appease Neptune, she was bound to a rock to be devoured by Neptune. Perseus slew the monster and made the maiden his wife.
Androni'ca, one of Logistilla's handmaids, noted for her beauty.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Androni'cus (Titus), a noble Roman general against the Goths, father of Lavin'ia. In the play so called, published among those of Shakespeare, the word all through is called Andron'icus (1593).
Marcus Andronicus, brother of Titus, and tribune of the people.
Androph'ilus, Philanthropy personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). Fully described in canto x. (Greek, Andro-philos, "a lover of mankind.")
Andy (Handy), Irish lad in the employ of Squire Egan. He has boundless capacity for bulls and blunders.—Samuel Lover, Handy Andy.
Aneal (2 syl.), daughter of Maä'ni, who loves Djabal, and believes him to be "hakeem'" (the incarnate god and founder of the Druses) returned to life for the restoration of the people and their return to Syria from exile in the Spo'radês. When, however, she discovers his imposture, she dies in the bitterness of her disappointment.—Robert Browning, The Return of the Druses.
L'ange de Dieu, Isabeau la belle, the "inspired prophet-child" of the Camisards.
Angela Messenger, heiress to Messenger's Brewery and an enormous fortune. In order to know the people of the East End she lives among them as a dressmaker. She sees their needs, and to supply these in part, builds The People's Palace—or Palace of Delights.—All Sorts and Conditions of Men, by Walter Besant (1889).
Angel'ica, in Bojardo's Orlando Innamorato (1495), is daughter of Gal'aphron king of Cathay. She goes to Paris, and Orlando falls in love with her, forgetful of wife, sovereign, country, and glory. Angelica, on the other hand, disregards Orlando, but passionately loves Rinaldo, who positively dislikes her. Angelica and Rinaldo drink of certain fountains, when the opposite effects are produced in their hearts, for then Rinaldo loves Angelica, while Angelica loses all love for Rinaldo.
Angelica, in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1516), is the same lady, who marries Medoro, a young Moore, and returns to Cathay, where Medoro succeeds to the crown. As for Orlando, he is driven mad by jealousy and pride.
The fairest of her sex, Angelica,...Sought by many prowest knights,
Both painim and the peers of Charlemagne.
Milton, Paradise Regained, iii. (1671).
Angelica (The Princess), called "The Lady of the Golden Tower." The loves of Parisme'nos and Angelica form an important feature of the second part of Parismus Prince of Bohemia, by Emanuel Foord (1598).
Angelica, an heiress with whom Valentine Legend is in love. For a time he is unwilling to declare himself because of his debts; but Angelica gets possession of a bond for £4000, and tears it. The money difficulty being adjusted, the marriage is arranged amicably.—W. Congreve, Love for Love (1695).
Mrs. Anne Bracegirdle equally delighted in melting tenderness and playful coquetry, in "Statira" or "Millamant;" and even at an advanced age, when she played "Angelica."—C. Dibden.
Angelica, the troth-plight wife of Valère, "the gamester." She gives him a picture, and enjoins him not to part with it on pain of forfeiting her hand. However, he loses it in play, and Angelica in disguise is the winner of it. After much tribulation, Valère is cured of his vice, and the two are happily united by marriage.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Gamester (1705).
Angeli'na, daughter of lord Lewis, in the comedy called The Elder Brother, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1637).
Angelina, daughter of don Charino. Her father wanted her to marry Clodio, a coxcomb, but she preferred his elder brother Carlos, a bookworm, with whom she eloped. They were taken captives and carried to Lisbon. Here in due time they met, the fathers who went in search of them came to the same spot, and as Clodio had engaged himself to Elvira of Lisbon, the testy old gentlemen agreed to the marriage of Angelina with Carlos.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man.
Angelique' (3 syl.), daughter of Argan the malade imaginaire. Her lover is Cléante (2 syl.). In order to prove whether his wife or daughter loved him the better, Argan pretended to be dead, whereupon the wife rejoiced greatly that she was relieved of a "disgusting creature," hated by every one; but the daughter grieved as if her heart would break, rebuked herself for her shortcomings, and vowed to devote the rest of her life in prayer for the repose of his soul. Argan, being assured of his daughter's love, gave his free consent to her marriage with Cléante.—Molière, Malade Imaginaire (1673).
Angelique, the aristocratic wife of George Dandin, a French commoner. She has a liaison with a M. Clitandre, but always contrives to turn the tables on her husband. George Dandin first hears of a rendezvous from one Lubin, a foolish servant of Clitandre, and lays the affair before M. and Mde. Sotenville, his wife's parents. The baron with George Dandin call on the lover, who denies the accusation, and George Dandin has to beg pardon. Subsequently, he catches his wife and Clitandre together, and sends at once for M. and Mde. Sotenville; but Angelique, aware of their presence, pretends to denounce her lover, and even takes up a stick to beat him for the "insult offered to a virtuous wife;" so again the parents declare their daughter to be the very paragon of women. Lastly, George Dandin detects his wife and Clitandre together at night-time, and succeeds in shutting his wife out of her room; but Angelique now pretends to kill herself, and when George goes for a light to look for the body, she rushes into her room and shuts him out. At this crisis the parents arrive, when Angelique accuses her husband of being out all night in a debauch; and he is made to beg her pardon on his knees.—Molière, George Dandin (1668).
An'gelo, in Measure for Measure, lord deputy of Vienna in the absence of Vincentio the duke. His betrothed lady is Maria'na. Lord Angelo conceived a base passion for Isabella, sister of Claudio, but his designs were foiled by the duke, who compelled him to marry Mariana.—Shakespeare (1603).
An'gelo, a gentleman friend to Julio in The Captain, a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1613).
Angels (Orders of). According to Dionysius the Areop'agite, the angels are divided into nine orders: Seraphim and Cherubim, in the first circle; Thrones and Dominions, in the second circle; Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels, in the third circle.
Novem angelorum ordines dicimus, quia videlicetesse, testante sacro eloquio, scimus Angelos,
Archangelos, Virtutes, Potestates, Principatus,
Dominationes, Thronos, Cherubim, atque Seraphim.—St.
Gregory the Great, Homily 34.
(See Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 253, ver. 2, 3.)
Anger ... the Alphabet. It was Athenodo'rus the Stoic who advised Augustus to repeat the alphabet when he felt inclined to give way to anger.
Un certain Grec disait à l'empereur Auguste,Comme une instruction utile autant que juste,
Que, lorsqu' une aventure en colère nous met,
Nous devons, avant tout, dire notre alphabet,
Afin que dans ce temps la bile se tempère,
Et qu'on ne fasse rien que l'on ne doive faire.
Molière, L'École des Femmes, ii. 4 (1662).
Angioli'na (4 syl.), daughter of Loreda'no, and the young wife of Mari'no Faliero, the doge of Venice. A patrician named Michel Steno, having behaved indecently to some of the women assembled at the great civic banquet given by the doge, was kicked out of the house by order of the doge, and in revenge wrote some scurrilous lines against the dogaressa. This insult was referred to "The Forty," and Steno was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, which the doge considered a very inadequate punishment for the offence.—Byron, Marino Faliero.
The character of the calm, pure-spirited Angiolinais developed most admirably. The great
difference between her temper and that of her
fiery husband is vividly portrayed, but not less
vividly touched is that strong bond of union
which exists in the common nobleness of their
deep natures. There is no spark of jealousy in
the old man's thoughts. He does not expect the
fervor of youthful passion in his young wife;
but he finds what is far better—the fearless confidence
of one so innocent that she can scarcely
believe in the existence of guilt.... She thinks
Steno's greatest punishment will be "the blushes
of his privacy."—Lockhart.
Anglan'te's Lord, Orlando, who was lord of Anglantê and knight of Brava.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
An'glides (3 syl.), wife of good prince Boud'wine (2 syl.), brother to sir Mark king of Cornwall ("the falsest traitor that ever was born"). When king Mark slew her husband, Anglides and her son Alisaunder made their escape to Magounce (i.e. Arundel), where she lived in peace, and brought up her son till he received the honor of knighthood.—Sir T. Malory, Hist, of Pr. Arthur, ii. 117, 118 (1470).
An'guisant, king of Erin (Ireland), subdued by king Arthur fighting in behalf of Leod'ogran king of Cam'eliard (3 syl.).— Tennyson, Coming of King Arthur.
Angule (St.), bishop of London, put to death by Maximia'nus Hercu'lius, Roman general in Britain in the reign of Diocletian.
St. Angule put to death, one of our holiest men,At London, of that see the godly bishop then.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Angurva'del, Frithiof's sword, inscribed with Runic characters, which blazed in time of war, but gleamed dimly in time of peace.
Anice, the woman who steals Fenn's fancy, rather than his heart, from his wife, in George Parsons Lathrop's story, An Echo of Passion (1882).
Animula, beauteous being revealed in a drop of water by a microscope of extraordinary and inconceivable power.—The Diamond Lens, by Fitz-James O'Brien (1854).
Anjou (The Fair Maid of), lady Edith Plantagenet, who married David earl of Huntingdon (a royal prince of Scotland). Edith was a kinswoman of Richard Coeur de Lion, and an attendant on queen Berengaria.
[Illustration: symbol] Sir Walter Scott has introduced her in The Talisman (1825).
Ann (The princess), lady of Beaujeu.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Ann (The Lady), the wife who, in John G. Saxe's ballad, The Lady Ann, goes mad at the news of the death of sir John, her husband (1868).
Anna (Donna), the lady beloved by don Otta'vio, but seduced by don Giovanni.—Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni (1787).
An'nabel, in Absalom and Achitophel, by
Dryden, is the duchess of Monmouth, whose maiden name was Anne Scott (countess of Buccleuch). She married again after the execution of her faithless husband.
With secret joy indulgent David [Charles II.]viewed
His youthful image in his son renewed;
To all his wishes nothing he denied,
And made the charming Annabel his bride.
Part i.
Annabel Lee. Edgar A. Poe's poem of this name is supposed to be a loving memorial to his young wife, Virginia Clemm, who died of consumption at Fordham, N.Y., in 1847.
The angels, not half so happy in heavenWent envying her and me;
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. (1848.)
Anna Pastorius, wife of Pastorius in Whittier's poem, The Pennsylvania Pilgrim. At his cry "Help! for the good man faileth!" she points to her aloe-tree, and reminds him that as surely as "the century-moulded bud shall burst in bloom," love and patience will soon or late conquer wrong (1872).
An'naple [BAILZOU], Effie Dean's "monthly" nurse.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
An'naple, nurse of Hobbie Elliot of the Heugh-foot, a young farmer.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Anne (Sister), the sister of Fat'ima, the seventh and last wife of Blue Beard. Fatima, having disobeyed her lord by looking into the locked chamber, is allowed a short respite before execution. Sister Anne ascends the high tower of the castle, with the hope of seeing her brothers, who are expected to arrive every moment. Fatima, in her agony, keeps asking "sister Anne" if she can see them, and Blue Beard keeps crying out for Fatima to use greater despatch. As the patience of both is exhausted, the brothers arrive, and Fatima is rescued from death.—Charles Perrault, La Barbe Bleue.
Anne, own sister of king Arthur. Her father was Uther the pendragon, and her mother Ygerna, widow of Gorloïs. She was given by her brother in marriage to Lot, consul of Londonesia, and afterwards king of Norway.—Geoffrey, British History, viii. 20, 21.
In Arthurian romance this Anne is called Margawse
(History of Prince Arthur, i. 2); Tennyson calls her Bellicent
(Gareth and Lynette). In Arthurian romance Lot is always called king
of Orkney.
Anne Catherick, half-witted girl, the natural sister of Laura Fairlie, to whom she bears a strong resemblance. This circumstance suggests to the villain of the book the deception of showing her dead body as that of Laura, as a step toward securing the fortune of the latter.—The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins (1865).
Anne Douglas, heroine of Anne, a novel by Constance Fenimore Woolson (1882). The scene laid on the Island of Mackinac, Mich.
Annette, daughter of Mathis and Catherine, the bride of Christian, captain of the patrol.—J.E. Ware, The Polish Jew.
Annette and Lublin, by Marmontel, imitated from the Daphnis and Chloe of Longos (q.v.).
Annie Kilburn, the conscientious heiress who returns to a New England homestead after long residence abroad, and endeavors to do her duty in the station to which Providence has called her. Prim, pale, pretty, and not youthful except in heart.—Annie Kilburn, by William Dean Howells (1888).
An'nie Lau'rie, eldest of the three daughters of sir Robert Laurie, of Maxwelton. In 1709 she married James Fergusson, of Craigdarroch, and was the mother of Alexander Fergusson, the hero of Burns's song The Whistle. The song of Annie Laurie was written by William Douglas, of Fingland, in the stewardry of Kirkcud'bright, hero of the song Willie was a Wanton Wag. (See WHISTLE.)
Bayard Taylor has used the ballad with thrilling effect in his poem The Song of the Camp.
They sang of love, and not of fame,Forgot was Britain's glory,
Each heart recalled a different name,
But all sang "Annie Laurie."
Voice after voice caught up the song
Until its tender passion
Rose, like an anthem, rich and strong,
Their battle-eve confession.
Dear girl! her name he dared not speak,
But as the song grew louder,
Something upon the soldier's cheek
Washed off the stain of powder.
An'nie Win'nie, one of the old sibyls at Alice Gray's death; the other was Ailsie Gourlay.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Annir, king of Inis-thona (an island of Scandinavia). He had two sons (Argon and Ruro) and one daughter. One day Cor'malo, a neighboring chief, came and begged the honor of a tournament. Argon granted the request, and overthrew him, which so vexed Cormalo that during a hunt he shot both the brothers secretly with his bow. Their dog Runa ran to the palace, and howled so as to attract attention; whereupon Annir followed the hound, and found both his sons dead, and on his return he further found that Cormalo had carried off his daughter. Oscar, son of Ossian, led an army against the villain, and slew him; then liberating the young lady, he took her back to Inis-thona, and delivered her to her father.—Ossian ("The War of Inis-thona").
An'nophel, daughter of Cas'silane (3 syl.) general of Candy.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Laws of Candy (1647).
Anselm, prior of St. Dominic, the confessor of king Henry IV.—Sir W. Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Anselme (2 syl.), father of Valère (2 syl.) and Mariane (3 syl.). In reality he is don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples. The family were exiled from Naples for political reasons, and being shipwrecked were all parted. Valère was picked up by a Spanish captain, who adopted him; Mariane fell into the hands of a corsair, who kept her a captive for ten years, when she effected her escape; and Anselme wandered from place to place for ten years, when he settled in Paris, and intended to marry. At the expiration of sixteen years they all met in Paris at the house of Har'pagon, the miser. Valère was in love with Elise (2 syl.), the miser's daughter, promised by Harpagon in marriage to Anselme; and Mariane, affianced to the miser's son Cléante (2 syl.), was sought in marriage by Harpagon, the old father. As soon as Anselme discovered that Valère and Mariane were his own children, matters were soon amicably arranged, the young people married, and the old ones retired from the unequal contest.—Molière, L'Avare (1667).
Anselmo, a noble cavalier of Florence, the friend of Lothario. Anselmo married Camilla, and induced his friend to try to corrupt her, that he might rejoice in her incorruptible fidelity. Lothario unwillingly undertook the task, and succeeded but too well. For a time Anselmo was deceived, but at length Camilla eloped, and the end of the silly affair was that Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 5, 6; Fatal Curiosity (1605).
An'ster (Hob), a constable at Kinross village.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Anstiss Dolbeare, heroine of Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney's novel, Hitherto, a sensitive, imaginative, morbid, motherless girl who is "all the time holding up her soul ... with a thorn in it" (1872).
Antae'os, a gigantic wrestler of Libya (or Irassa). His strength was inexhaustible so long as he touched the earth, and was renewed every time he did touch it. Her'culés killed him by lifting him up from the earth and squeezing him to death. (See MALEGER.)
As when earth's son Antaeus ... in Irassa stroveWith Jove's Alcidês, and oft foiled, still rose,
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,
Throttled at length in the air, expired and fell.
Milton, Paradise Regained, iv. (563).
Similarly, when Bernardo del Carpio
assailed Orlando or Rolando at Roncesvallês, as he found his body was
not to be pierced by any instrument of war, he took him up in his arms
and squeezed him to death.
N.B.—The only vulnerable part of Orlando was the sole of his foot.
Ante'nor, a traitorous Trojan prince, related to Priam. He advised Ulyssês to carry away the palladium from Troy, and when the wooden horse was built it was Antenor who urged the Trojans to make a breach in the wall and drag the horse into the city.—Shakespeare has introduced him in Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Anthea, beautiful woman to whom Herrick addresses several poems.
Anthi'a, the lady beloved by Abroc'omas in the Greek romance called De Amoribus Anthiae et Abrocomae, by Xenophon of Ephesus, who lived in the fourth Christian century. (This is not Xenophon the historian, who lived B.C. 444-359.)
Anthonio, "the merchant of Venice," in Shakespeare's drama so called (1598). Anthonio borrows of Shylock, a Jew, 3000 ducats for three months, to lend to his friend Bassanio. The conditions of the loan were these: if the money was paid within the time, only the principal should be returned; but if not, the Jew should be allowed to cut from Anthonio's body "a pound of flesh." As the ships of Anthonio were delayed by contrary winds, he was unable to pay within the three months, and Shylock demanded the forfeiture according to the bond. Portia, in the dress of a law-doctor, conducted the case, and when the Jew was about to cut the flesh, stopped him, saying—(1) the bond gave him no drop of blood; and (2) he must take neither more nor less than an exact pound. If he shed one drop of blood or if he cut more or less than an exact pound, his life would be forfeit. As it was quite impossible to comply with these restrictions, the Jew was nonsuited, and had to pay a heavy fine for seeking the life of a citizen.
Antho'nio, the ursuping duke of Milan, and brother of Pros'pero (the rightful duke, and father of Miranda).—Shakespeare, The Tempest (1609).
Antho'nio, father of Protheus, and suitor of Julia.—Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).
An'thony, an English archer in the cottage of farmer Dickson, of Douglasdale.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
An'thony, the old postillion at Meg Dods's, the landlady of the inn at St. Ronan's Well.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Antid'ius, bishop of Jaen, martyred by the Vandals in 411. One day, seeing the devil writing in his pocket-book some sin committed by the pope, he jumped upon his back and commanded his Satanic majesty to carry him to Rome. The devil tried to make the bishop pronounce the name of Jesus, which would break the spell, and then the devil would have tossed his unwelcome burden into the sea, but the bishop only cried, "Gee up, devil!" and when he reached Rome he was covered with Alpine snow. The chronicler naïvely adds, "the hat is still shown at Rome in confirmation of this miracle."—General Chronicle of King Alphonso the Wise.
Antig'one (4 syl.), daughter of Oe'dipos and Jocas'tê, a noble maiden, with a truly heroic attachment to her father and brothers. When Oedipos had blinded himself, and was obliged to quit Thebes, Antigonê accompanied him, and remained with him till his death, when she returned to Thebes. Creon, the king, had forbidden any one to bury Polyni'cês, her brother, who had been slain by his elder brother in battle; but Antigonê, in defiance of this prohibition, buried the dead body, and Creon shut her up in a vault under ground, where she killed herself. Haemon, her lover, killed himself also by her side. Sophoclês has a Greek tragedy on the subject, and it has been dramatized for the English stage.
The Modern Antigonê, Mariè Therèse Charlotte duchesse d'Angouleme, daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette (1778-1851).
Antig'onus, a Sicilian lord, commanded by king Leontês to take his infant daughter to a desert shore and leave her to perish. Antigonus was driven by a storm to the coast of Bohemia, where he left the babe; but on his way back to the ship, he was torn to pieces by a bear.—Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (1604).
Antig'onus (King), an old man with a young man's amorous passions. He is one of the four kings who succeeded to the divided empire of Alexander the Great.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).
Antin'ous (4 syl.), a page of Hadrian, the Roman emperor, noted for his beauty.
Antin'ous (4 syl.), son of Cas'silane (3 syl.) general of Candy, and brother of An'no-phel, in The Laws of Candy a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).
Anti'ochus, emperor of Greece, who sought the life of Per'iclês prince of Tyre, but died without effecting his desire.—Shakespeare, Pericles Prince of Tyre (1608).
Anti'ope (4 syl.), daughter of Idom'e-neus (4 syl.), for whom Telem'achus had a tendresse. Mentor approved his choice, and assured Telemachus that the lady was designed for him by the gods. Her charms were "the glowing modesty of her countenance, her silent diffidence, and her sweet reserve; her constant attention to tapestry or to some other useful and elegant employment; her diligence in household affairs, her contempt of finery in dress, and her ignorance of her own beauty," Telemachus says, "She encourages to industry by her example, sweetens labor by the melody of her voice, and excels the best of painters in the elegance of her embroidery."—Fénelon, Télémaque, xxii. (1700).
He [Paul] fancied he had found in Virginia the wisdom of Antiope with the misfortunes and the tenderness of Eucharis.—Bernardin de St. Pierre, Paul and Virginia (1788).
Antiph'olus, the name of two brothers, twins, the sons of Aege'on, a merchant of Syracuse. The two brothers were shipwrecked in infancy, and, being picked up by different cruisers, one was carried to Syracuse, and the other to Ephesus. The Ephesian entered the service of the duke, and, being fortunate enough to save the duke's life, became a great man and married well. The Syracusian Antipholus, going in search of his brother, came to Ephesus, where a series of blunders occurs from the wonderful likeness of the two brothers and their two servants called Dromio. The confusion becomes so great that the Ephesian is taken up as a madman. It so happened that both brothers appeared before the duke at the same time; and the extraordinary likeness being seen by all, the cause of the blunders was evident, and everything was satisfactorily explained.—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1593).
Anton (Sir). Tennyson says that Merlin gave Arthur, when an infant, to sir Anton and his lady to bring up, and they brought him up as their own son. This does not correspond with the History of Prince Arthur, which states that he was committed to the care of sir Ector and his lady, whose son, sir Key, is over and over again called the prince's foster-brother. The History furthermore states that Arthur made sir Key his seneschal because he was his foster-brother.
So the child was delivered unto Merlin, and hebare him forth unto sir Ector, and made a holy
man christen him, and named him "Arthur."
And so sir Ector's wife nourished him with her
own breast.—Part i. 3.
So sir Ector rode to the justs, and with him
rode sir Key, his son, and young Arthur that
was his nourished brother.—Ditto.
"Sir," said sir Ector, "I will ask no more of
you but that you will make my son, sir Key,
your foster-brother, seneschal of all your lands."
"That shall be done," said Arthur (ch. 4).—Sir
T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).
Anton, one of Henry Smith's men in The Fair Maid of Perth, by sir W. Scott (time, Henry IV.).
Anto'nio, a sea captain who saved Sebastian, the brother of Vi'ola, when wrecked off the coast of Illyria.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).
Anto'nio, the Swiss lad who acts as the guide from Lucern, in sir W. Scott's Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Anto'nio, a stout old gentleman, kinsman of Petruccio, governor of Bologna.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances (a comedy, before 1621).
Antonio (Don), father of Carlos, a bookworm, and Clodio, a coxcomb; a testy, headstrong old man. He wants Carlos to sign away his birthright in favor of his younger brother, to whom he intends Angelina to be married; but Carlos declines to give his signature, and elopes with Angelina, whom he marries, while Clodio engages his troth to Elvira of Lisbon.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man.
Antonio (Don), in love with Louisa, the daughter of don Jerome of Seville. A poor nobleman of ancient family.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1778).
Antonomas'ia (The princess), daughter of Archipiela, king of Candaya, and his wife Maguncia. She married don Clavijo, but the giant Malambru'no, by enchantment, changed the bride into a brass monkey, and her spouse into a crocodile of some unknown metal. Don Quixote mounted the wooden horse Clavileno the Winged, to disenchant the lady and her husband, and this he effected "simply by making the attempt."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II iii. 4, 5 (1615).
Antony (Saint) lived in a cavern on the summit of Cavadonga, in Spain, and was perpetually annoyed by devils.
Old St. Antonius from the hellOf his bewildered phantasy saw fiends
In actual vision, a foul throng grotesque
Of all horrific shapes and forms obscene,
Crowd in broad day before his open eyes.
Southey, Roderick, etc., xvi. (1814).
An'tony and Cæsar. Macbeth says that "under Banquo his own genius was rebuked [or snubbed], as it is said Mark Antony's was by Cæsar" (act iii. sc. 1), and in Antony and Cleopatra this passage is elucidated thus—
Thy daemon, that's thy spirit which keeps thee, isNoble, courageous, high, unmatchable,
Where Cæsar's is not; but near him thy angel
Becomes a fear, as being overpowered.
Act ii. sc. 3.
Anvil (The Literary). Dr. Mayo was so called, because he bore the hardest blows of Dr. Johnson without flinching.
Aodh, last of the Culdees, or primitive clergy of Io'na, an island south of Staffa. His wife was Reullu'ra. Ulvfa'gre the Dane, having landed on the island and put many to the sword, bound Aodh in chains of iron, then dragging him to the church, demanded where the "treasures were concealed." A mysterious figure now appeared, which not only released the priest, but took the Dane by the arm to the statue of St. Columb, which fell on him and crushed him to death. After this the "saint" gathered the remnant of the islanders together, and went to Ireland.—Campbell, Reullura.
Ape (1 syl.), the pseudonym of M. Pellegrini, the caricaturist of Vanity Fair. Dr. Johnson says "to ape is to imitate ludicrously;" whence the adoption of the name.
Apel'les and the Cobbler. A cobbler found fault with the shoe-latchet of one of Apelles' paintings, and the artist rectified the fault. The cobbler, thinking himself very wise, next ventured to criticise the legs; but Apelles said, Ne sutor ultra crepidam ("Let not the cobbler go beyond his last").
Within that range of criticism where all are equally judges, and where Crispin is entitled to dictate to Apelles.—Encyc. Brit., Art. "Romance."
Apelles. When his famous painting of Venus rising out of the sea (hung by Augustus in the temple of Julius Cæsar) was greatly injured by time, Nero replaced it by a copy done by Dorotheus. This Venus by Apelles is called "Venus Anadyom'-enê," his model (according to tradition) being Campaspê (afterwards his wife).
Apeman'tus, a churlish Athenian philosopher, who snarled at men systematically, but showed his cynicism to be mere affectation, when Timon attacked him with his own weapons.—Shakespeare, Timon of Athens (1600).
Their affected melancholy showed like the cynicism of Apemantus, contrasted with the real misanthropy of Timon.—Sir W. Scott.
Apic'ius, an epicure in the time of Tiberius. He wrote a book on the ways of provoking an appetite. Having spent £800,000 in supplying the delicacies of the table, and having only £80,000 left, he hanged himself, not thinking it possible to exist on such a wretched pittance. Apicia, however, became a stock name for certain cakes and sauces, and his name is still proverbial in all matters of gastronomy.
There was another of the name in the reign of Trajan, who wrote a cooking book and manual of sauces.
No Brahmin could abominate your meal more than I do. Hirtius and Apicius would have blushed for it. Mark Antony, who roasted eight whole boars for supper, never massacred more at a meal than you have done.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover, i. 1 (1780).
Apollo, son of Jupiter and Latona, and model of masculine beauty. He is the sun, in Homeric mythology, the embodiment of practical wisdom and foresight, of swift and far-reaching intelligence, and hence of poetry, music, etc.
The Apollo Belvidere, that is, the Apollo preserved in the Belvidere gallery of the Vatican, discovered in 1503 amid the ruins of An'tium, and purchased by pope Julius II. It is supposed to be the work of Cal'amis, a Greek sculptor of the fifth century B.C.
The Apollo of Actium was a gigantic statue, which served for a beacon.
The Apollo of Rhodes, usually called the colossus, was a gigantic bronze statue, 150 feet high, made by Charês, a pupil of Lysippus, and set up B.C. 300.
Animals consecrated to Apollo, the cock, the crow, the grasshopper, the hawk, the raven, the swan, and the wolf.
Apoll'yon, king of the bottomless pit; introduced by Bnnyan in his Pilgrim's Progress. Apollyon encounters Christian, by whom, after a severe contest, he is foiled (1678).
Apostle or Patron Saint of—
ABYSSINIANS, St. Frumentius (died 360). His day, October 27.ALPS, Felix Neff (1798-1829).
ANTIOCH, St. Margaret (died 275). Her day, July 20.
ARDENNES, St. Hubert (656-730).
ARMENIANS, Gregory of Armenia (256-331).
CAGLIARI (Sardinia), St. Efisio.
CORFU, St. Spiridion (fourth century). His day, December 14.
ENGLISH, St. Augustin (died 607); St. George (died 290).
ETHIOPIA, St. Frumentius (died 360). His day, October 27.
FRANCONIA, St. Kilian (died 689). His day, July 8.
FREE TRADE, Richard Cobden (1804-1865).
FRENCH, St. Denis (died 272). His day, October 9.
FRISIANS, St. Wilbrod (657-738).
GAULS, St. Irenae'us (130-200); St. Martin (316-397).
GENTILES, St. Paul (died 66). His days, June 29, January 25.
GEORGIA, St. Nino.
GERMANY, St. Boniface (680-755). His day, June 5.
HIGHLANDERS, St. Colomb (521-597). His day, June 9.
HUNGARIANS, St. Anastasius (died 628). His day, January 22.
INDIANS, Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566); Rev. John Eliot (1603-1690).
INDIES, St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552). His day, December 3.
INFIDELITY, Voltaire (1694-1778).
IRISH, St. Patrick (372-493). His day, March 17.
LIBERTY, Thomas Jefferson, third president of the U.S. (1743-1826).
LONDON, St. Paul; St. Michael. Days, January 25, September 29.
NETHERLANDS, St. Armand (589-679).
NORTH, St. Ansgar (801-864); Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583).
Padua, St. Anthony (1195-1231). His day, June 13. Paris, St. Genevieve (419-512). Her day, January 3. Peak, W. Bagshaw, so called from his missionary labors in Derbyshire (1628-1702). Picts, St. Ninian. Scottish Reformers, John Knox (1505-1572). Sicily (the tutelary deity is) Cerês. Slaves, St. Cyril (died 868). His day, February 14. Spain, St. James the Greater (died 44.) His day, July 24. Temperance, Father Mathew (1790-1856). Venice, St. Mark; St. Pantaleon; St. Andrew Justiniani. St. Mark's day, April 25; St. Pantaleon's, July 27. Wales, St. David (480-544). His day, March 1. Yorkshire, St. Pauli'nus, bishop of York (597-644).
Apostolic Fathers (The Five): Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Igna'tius, and Polycarp. All contemporary with the Apostles.
Ap'petizer. A Scotchman being told that the birds called kittiewiaks were admirable appetizers, ate six of them, and then complained "he was no hungrier than he was before."
Aquarius, Sagittarius. Mrs. Browning says that "Aquarius" is a symbol of man bearing, and "Sagittarius" of man combatting. The passive and active forms of human labor.
Eve. Two phantasms of two men.Adam. One that sustains,
And one that strives, so the ends
Of manhood's curse of labor.
E. B. Browning, A Drama of Exile (1851).
A'quilant, son of Olive'ro and Sigismunda; a knight in Charlemagne's army. He was called "black," and his brother Gryphon "white" from the color of their armor.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
A'quiline (3 syl.), Raymond's steed, whose sire was the wind.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, vii. (1575).
(Solinus, Columella, and Varro relate how the Lusitanian mares "with open mouth against the breezes held, receive the gales with warmth prolific filled, and thus inspired, their swelling wombs produce the wondrous offspring."—See also Virgil, Georgics, in. 266-283.)
Aquin'ian Sage. Juvenal is so called, because he was born at Aqui'num, in Latium (fl. A.D. 100).
Arabel'la, an heiress left under the guardianship of justice Day. Abel Day, the son of justice Day, aspires to her hand and fortune, but she confers both with right good will on captain Manly.—T. Knight, The Honest Thieves.
Ara'bia Fe'lix ("Araby the blest"). This name is a blunder made by British merchants, who supposed that the precious commodities of India bought of Arab traders were the produce of Arabia.
Ara'bian Bird (The), the phoenix, a marvellous man, one sui generis.
O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, act iii. sc. 2.
Arach'ne (3 syl.), a spider, a weaver. "Arachnê's labors," spinning or weaving. Arachnê was a Lydian maiden, who challenged Minerva to compete with her in needle tapestry, and Minerva changed her into a spider.
No orifice for a pointAs subtle as Arachnê's broken woof
To enter.
Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act v. sc. 2 (1602).
Aragnol, the son of Arachnê (the "most fine-fingered of all workmen," turned into a spider for presuming to challenge Minerva to a contest in needlework). Aragnol entertained a secret and deadly hatred against prince Clarion, son of Muscarol the fly-king; and weaving a curious net, soon caught the gay young flutterer, and gave him his death-wound by piercing him under the left wing.—Spenser, Muiopotmos or The Butterfly's Fate (1590).
Aramin'ta, the wife of Moneytrap, and friend of Clarissa (wife of Gripe the scrivener).—Sir John Vanbrugh, The Confederacy (1695).
Aranza (The duke of). He marries Juliana, eldest daughter of Balthazar. She is so haughty, arrogant, and overbearing, that after the marriage he takes her to a mean hut, which he calls his home, and pretends to be only a peasant who must work for his living, and gives his bride the household duties to perform. She chafes for a time, but firmness, manliness, and affection win the day; and when the duke sees that she loves him for himself, he leads her to his castle, and reveals to her that the peasant husband is after all the duke of Aranza.—J. Tobin, The Honeymoon (1804).
Ar'aphil or Ar'aphill, the poetic pseudonym of Win. Habington. His lady-love, Miss Lucy Herbert, he calls Castara.
Aras'pes (3 syl.), king of Alexandria, who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Arba'ces (3 syl.), king of Ibe'ria, in the drama called A King or no King, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619).
Arbate (2 syl.), governor of the prince of Ithaca, in Molière's comedy La Princesse d'Elide (1664). In his speech to "Euryle" prince of Ithaca, persuading him to love, he is supposed to refer to Louis XIV., then 26 years of age.
Je dirai que l'amour sied bien à vos pareil ...Et qu'il est malaisé que, sans etre amoureux
Un jeune prince soit et grand et généreux.
Act i. 1.
Arbate, in Racine's drama of Mithridate (1673).
Ar'biter El'igantiæ. C. Petro'nius was appointed dictator-in-chief of the imperial pleasures at the court of Nero, and nothing was considered comme il faut till it had received the sanction of this Roman beau Brummel.
Behold the new Petronius of the day,The arbiter of pleasure and of play.
Byron, English Bards and Scottish Reviewers.
Arbre Sol foretold, with audible voice, the place and manner of Alexander's death. It figures in all the fabulous legends of Alexander.
Arbutus, sturdy yeoman usually known as "Bute," in Bayard Taylor's novel Hannah Thurston. Rugged and sound as the New England granite underlying the farm he tills.
Arc (Joan of), or Jeanne la Pucelle, the "Maid of Orleans," daughter of a rustic of Domrémy, near Vaucouleurs, in France. She was servant at an inn when she conceived the idea of liberating France from the English. Having gained admission to Charles VII., she was sent by him to raise the siege of Orleans, and actually succeeded in so doing. Schiller has a tragedy on the subject, Casimir Delavigne an elegy on her, Southey an epic poem on her life and death, and Voltaire a burlesque.
In regard to her death, M. Octave Delepière, in his Doute Historique, denies the tradition of her having been burnt to death at Rouen; and Vignier discovered in a family muniment chest the "contract of marriage between" Robert des Armoise, knight, and Jeanne d'Arc, surnamed "The Maid of Orleans."
Ar'cades Ambo, both fools alike; both "sweet innocents;" both alike eccentric. There is nothing in the character of Corydon and Thyrsis (Virgil's Eclogue, vii. 4) to justify this disparaging application of the phrase. All Virgil says is they were both "in the flower of their youth," and both Arcadians, both equal in setting a theme for song or capping it epigrammatically; but as Arcadia was the least intellectual part of Greece, an "Arcadian" came to signify a dunce, and hence "Arcades ambo" received its present acceptation.
Arcala'us (4 syl.), an enchanter who bound Am'adis de Gaul to a pillar in his courtyard, and administered to him 200 stripes with his horse's bridle.—Amadis de Gaul (fifteenth century).
Arca'nes (3 syl.), a noble soldier, friend of Cas'silane (3 syl.) general of Candy.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Laws of Candy (1647).
Archan'gel. Burroughs, the puritan preacher, called Cromwell "the archangel that did battle with the devil."
Archas, "the loyal subject" of the great duke of Moscovia, and general of the Moscovites. His son is colonel Theodore.
Young Archas, son of the general. Disguised as a woman, he assumes the name of Alinda.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).
Archbsh'op of Grana'da told his secretary, Gil Blas, when he hired him,
"Whenever thou shalt perceive my pen smack of old age and my genius flag, don't fail to advertise me of it, for I don't trust to my own judgment, which may be seduced by self-love." After a fit of apoplexy, Gil Blas ventured in the most delicate manner to hint to his grace that "his last discourse had not altogether the energy of his former ones." To this the archbishop replied, "You are yet too raw to make proper distinctions. Know, child, that I never composed a better homily than that which you disapprove. Go, tell my treasurer to give you 100 ducats. Adieu, Mr. Gil Blas; I wish you all manner of prosperity, with a little more taste."—Le-sage, Gil Blas, vii. 3 (1715).
Ar'cher (Francis), friend of Aimwell, who joins him in fortune-hunting. These are the two "beaux." Thomas viscount Aimwell marries Dorinda, the daughter of lady Bountiful. Archer hands the deeds and property taken from the highwaymen to sir Charles Freeman, who takes his sister, Mrs. Sullen, under his charge again.—George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).
Archibald (John), attendant on the duke of Argyle.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Archima'go, the reverse of holiness, and therefore Satan the father of lies and all deception. Assuming the guise of the Red Cross Knight, he deceived Una; and under the guise of a hermit, he deceived the knight himself. Archimago is introduced in bks. i. and ii. of Spenser's Faëry Queen. The poet says:
... he could takeAs many forms and shapes in seeming wise
As ever Proteus to himself could make:
Sometimes a fowl, sometimes a fish in lake,
Now like a fox, now like a dragon fell.
Spenser, The Faëry Queen, I. ii. 10 (1590).
Archimedes, Syracusan philosopher, who discovered, among other great scientific facts, the functions of the lever. The solution of an abstruse problem having occurred to him while in the bath, he leaped out of the water, and ran naked through the city, shouting, "Eureka!"
Ar'chy M'Sar'casm (Sir), "a proud Caledonian knight, whose tongue, like the dart of death, spares neither sex nor age ... His insolence of family and licentiousness of wit gained him the contempt of every one" (i. 1). Sir Archy tells Charlotte, "In the house of M'Sarcasm are two barons, three viscounts, six earls, one marquisate, and two dukes, besides baronets and lairds oot o' a' reckoning" (i. 1). He makes love to Charlotte Goodchild, but supposing it to be true that she has lost her fortune, declares to her that he has just received letters "frae the dukes, the marquis, and a' the dignitaries of the family ... expressly prohibiting his contaminating the blood of M'Sarcasm wi' onything sprung from a hogshead or a coonting-house" (ii. 1).
The man has something droll, something ridiculous in him. His abominable Scotch accent, his grotesque visage almost buried in snuff, the roll of his eyes and twist of his mouth, his strange inhuman laugh, his tremendous periwig, and his manners altogether—why, one might take him for a mountebank doctor at a Dutch fair.—C. Macklin, Love à-la-mode, i. 1 (1779).
Sir Archy's Great-grandmother. Sir Archy M'Sarcasm insisted on fighting Sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan on a point of ancestry. The Scotchman said that the Irish are a colony from Scotland, "an ootcast, a mere ootcast." The Irishman retorted by saying that "one Mac Fergus O'Brallaghan went from Carrickfergus, and peopled all Scotland with his own hands." Charlotte [Goodchild] interposed, and asked the cause of the contention, whereupon Sir Callaghan replied, "Madam, it is about sir Archy's great-grandmother."—C. Macklin, Love à-la-mode, i. I (1779).
We shall not now stay to quarrel about sir Archy's great-grandmother.—Maepherson, Dissertation upon Ossian.
Archy'tas of Tarentum made a wooden pigeon that could fly; and Regiomonta'nus, a German, made a wooden eagle that flew from Koenigsberg to meet the emperor, and, having saluted him, returned whence it set out (1436-1476).
This engine may be contrived from the same principles by which Archytas made a wooden dove, and Regiomontanus a wooden eagle.—Dr. John Wilkins (1614-1672).
Ar'cite (2 syl.) and Pal'amon, two Theban knights, captives of duke Theseus, who used to see from their dungeon window the duke's sister-in-law, Emily, taking her airing in the palace garden, and fell in love with her. Both captives having gained their liberty, contended for the lady by single combat. Arcite was victor, but being thrown from his horse was killed, and Emily became the bride of Palamon.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
Richard Edwards in 1566 produced a drama entitled Palamon and Arcite.
Ar'den (Enoch), the hero of a poetic tale by Tennyson. He is a seaman wrecked on a desert island, who returns home after the absence of several years, and finds his wife married to another. Seeing her both happy and prosperous, Enoch resolves not to mar her domestic peace, so leaves her undisturbed, and dies of a broken heart.
Ar'den of Fev'ersliam, a noble character, honorable, forgiving, affectionate, and modest. His wife Alicia in her sleep reveals to him her guilty love for Mosby, but he pardons her on condition that she will never see the seducer again. Scarcely has she made the promise when she plots with Mosby her husband's murder. In a planned street-scuffle, Mosby pretends to take Arden's part, and thus throws him off his guard. Arden thinks he has wronged him, and invites him to his house, but Mosby conspires with two hired ruffians to fall on his host during a game of draughts, the right moment being signified by Mosby's saying, "Now I take you." Arden is murdered; but the whole gang is apprehended and brought to justice.
(This drama is based on a murder which took place in 1551. Ludwig Tieck has translated the play into German, as a genuine production of Shakespeare. Some ascribe the play to George Lillo, but Charles Lamb gives 1592 as the date of its production, and says the author is unknown.)
Areous'ki, the Indian war-god, war, tumult.
A cry of Areouski broke our sleep. Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming, i, 16 (1809).
Arethu'sa, daughter of the king Messi'na, in the drama called Philaster or Love Lies a-bleeding, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1638).
Arethusa, a nymph pursued by Alpheos the river-god, and changed into a fountain in the island of Ortygia; but the river-god still pursued her, and mingled his stream with the fountain, and now, "like friends once parted grown single-hearted," they leap and flow and slumber together, "like spirits that love but live no more."
This fable has been exquisitely turned into poetry by Percy B.
Shelley (Arethusa, 1820).
Argali'a, brother of Angel'ica, in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1516).
Ar'gan, the malade imaginaire and father of Angelique. He is introduced taxing his apothecary's bills, under the conviction that he cannot afford to be sick at the prices charged, but then he notices that he has already reduced his bills during the current month, and is not so well. He first hits upon the plan of marrying Angelique to a young doctor, but to this the lady objects. His brother suggests that Argan himself should be his own doctor, and when the invalid replies he has not studied either diseases, drugs, or Latin, the objection is overruled by investing the "malade" in a doctor's cap and robe. The piece concludes with the ceremonial in macaronic Latin.
When Argan asks his doctor how many grains of salt he
ought to eat with an egg, the doctor answers, "Six, huit, dix, etc., par
les nombres pairs, comme dans les médicaments par les nombres
impairs."—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire, ii. 9 (1673).
Argan'te (3 syl.), a giantess called "the very monster and miracle of lust." She and her twin-brother Ollyphant or Oliphant were the children of Typhoe'us and Earth. Argantè used to carry off young men as her captives, and seized "the Squire of Dames" as one of her victims. The squire, who was in fact Britomart (the heroine of chastity), was delivered by sir Sat'yrane (3 syl.).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 7 (1590).
Argante' (2 syl.), father of Octave (2 syl.) and Zerbinette (3 syl.). He promises to give his daughter Zerbinette to Leandre (2 syl.), the son of his friend Géronte (2 syl.); but during his absence abroad the young people fall in love unknown to their respective fathers. Both fathers storm, and threaten to break off the engagement, but are delighted beyond measure when they discover that the choice of the young people has unknowingly coincided with their own.—Molière, Les Fourteries de Scapin (1671).
(Thomas Otway has adapted this play to the English stage, and called it The Cheats of Scapin. "Argante" he calls Thrifty; "Géronte" is Gripe; "Zerbinette" he calls Lucia; and "Leandre" he Anglicizes into Leander.)
Argan'tes (3 syl.), a Circassian of high rank and undoubted courage, but fierce and a great detester of the Nazarenes. Argantês and Solyman were undoubtedly the bravest heroes of the infidel host. Argantês was slain by Rinaldo, and Solyman by Tancred.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Bonaparte stood before the deputies like the Argantês of Italy's heroic poet.—Sir Walter Scott.
Ar'genis, a political romance by Barclay (1621).
Ar'gentile (3 syl.), daughter of king Adelbright, and ward of Edel. Curan, a Danish prince, in order to woo her, became a drudge in her house, but being obliged to quit her service, became a shepherd. Edel, the guardian, forcing his suit on Argentile, compelled her to flight, and she became a neatherd's maid. In this capacity Curan wooed and won her. Edel was forced to restore the possessions of his ward, and Curan became king of Northumberland. As for Edel, he was put to death.—William Warner, Albion's England (1586).
Ar'gentin (Le sieur d'), one of the officers of the duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geiersiein (time, Edward IV.).
Arge'o, baron of Servia and husband of Gabrina. (See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.)—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Arges'tes (3 syl.), the west wind.
Wingèd Argestes, faire Aurora's sonne,Licensed that day to leave his dungeon,
Meekly attended.
Wm. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 5 (1613).
Arges'tes (3 syl.), the north-east wind; Cæ'cias, the north-west; Bo'reas, the full north.
Boreas and Cæcias and Argestes loud... rend the woods, and seas upturn.
Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 699, etc. (1665).
Ar'gillan, a haughty, turbulent knight, born on the banks of the Trent. He induced the Latians to revolt, was arrested, made his escape, but was ultimately slain in battle by Solyman.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, viii. ix. (1575).
Argon and Ruro, the two sons of Annir, king of Inis-thona, an island of Scandinavia. Cor'malo, a neighboring chief, came to the island, and asked for the honor of a tournament. Argon granted the request, and overthrew him, and this so vexed Cormalo that during a hunt he shot both the brothers with his bow. Their dog Runo, running to the hall, howled so as to attract attention, and Annir, following the hound, found his two sons both dead. On his return he discovered that Cormalo had run off with his daughter. Oscar, son of Ossian, slew Cormalo in fight, and restored the daughter to her father.—Ossian ("The War of Inis-thona").
Argonauts, heroes and demi-gods, who sailed to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece, guarded by a sleepless dragon. Jason was their leader.
Argonauts (The). Title applied to adventurers who, in 1849, sought gold in California. Bret Harte has seized upon the name as the theme of tales and ballads of the "Forty-niners."
Ar'gus, the turf-writer, was Irwin Willes, who died in 1871.
Argyle (Mac Callum More, duke of), in the reign of George I.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (1818).
Mac Callum More, marquis of Argyle, in the reign of Charles I., was commander of the parliamentary forces, and is called "Gillespie Grumach;" he disguises himself, and assumes the name of Murdoch Campbell.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (1819).
(Duke and duchess of Argyle are introduced also in the Heart of Midlothian, by Sir W. Scott, 1818.)
Ariad'ne (4 syl.), daughter of Minos king of Crete. She gave Theseus a clew of thread to guide him out of the Cretan labyrinth. Theseus married his deliverer, but when he arrived at Naxos (Dia) forsook her, and she hung herself.
Surely it is an Ariadnê.... There is dawning womanhood in every line; but she knows nothing of Naxos.—Ouidà, Ariadnê, i. 1.
Ar'ibert, king of the Lombards (653-661), left "no male pledge behind," but only a daughter named Rhodalind, whom he wished duke Gondibert to marry, but the duke fell in love with Bertha, daughter of As'tragon, the sage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).
Arideus [A.ree'.de.us], a herald in the Christian army.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
A'riel, in The Tempest, an airy spirit, able to assume any shape, or even to become invisible. He was enslaved to the witch Syc'orax, mother of Caliban, who overtasked the little thing, and in punishment for not doing what was beyond his strength, imprisoned him for twelve years in the rift of a pine tree, where Caliban delighted to torture him with impish cruelty. Prospero, duke of Milan and father of Miranda, liberated Ariel from the pine-rift, and the grateful spirit served the duke for sixteen years, when he was set free.
And like Ariel in the cloven pine tree,For its freedom groans and sighs.
Longfellow, The Golden Milestone.
A'riel, the sylph in Pope's Rape of the Lock. The impersonation of "fine life" in the abstract, the nice adjuster of hearts and necklaces. When disobedient he is punished by being kept hovering over the fumes of the chocolate, or is transfixed with pins, clogged with pomatums, or wedged in the eyes of bodkins.
A'riel, one of the rebel angels. The word means "the Lion of God." Abdiel encountered him, and overthrew him.—Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 371 (1665).
Ariella, an invalid girl, the daughter of Malachi and Hagar his wife, in Come Forth, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward. Her name signifies STRENGTH OF GOD. She has lain a helpless cripple for nine years, when she is healed by a word from The Christ (1891).
Ariman'es (4 syl.), the prince of the powers of evil, introduced by Byron in his drama called Manfred. The Persians recognized a power of good and a power of evil: the former Yezad, and the latter Ahriman (in Greek, Oroma'zes and Ariman'nis). These two spirits are ever at war with each other. Oromazes created twenty-four good spirits, and enclosed them in an egg to be out of the power of Arimanês; but Arimanês pierced the shell, and thus mixed evil with every good. However, a time will come when Arimanês shall be subjected, and the earth will become a perfect paradise.
Arimas'pians, a one-eyed people of Scythia, who adorned their hair with gold. As gold mines were guarded by Gryphons, there were perpetual contentions between the Arimaspians and the Gryphons. (See GRYPHON.)
Arimaspi, quos diximus uno oculo in frontemedia in signes; quibus assidue bellum esse
circa metella cum gryphis, ferarum volucri genere,
quale vulgo traditur, eruente ex cuniculis
aurum, mire cupiditate et feris custodientibus,
et Arimaspis rapientibus, multi, sed maxime
illustres Herodotus et Aristeas Proconnesius scribunt.—Pliny,
Nat. Hist. vii. 2.
Ar'ioch ("a fierce lion"), one of the fallen angels overthrown by Abdiel.—Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 371 (1665).
Ariodan'tes (5 syl.), the beloved of Geneu'ra, a Scotch princess. Geneura being accused of incontinence, Ariodantês stood forth her champion, vindicated her innocence, and married her.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Ari'on. William Falconer, author of The Shipwreck, speaks of himself under this nom de plume (canto iii). He was sent to sea when a lad, and says he was eager to investigate the "antiquities of foreign states." He was junior officer in the Britannia, which was wrecked against the projecting verge of cape Colonna, the most southern point of Attica, and was the only officer who survived.
Thy woes, Arion, and thy simple taleO'er all the hearts shall triumph and prevail.
Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).
Ari'on, a Greek musician, who, to avoid being murdered for his wealth, threw himself into the sea, and was carried to Tæ'naros on the back of a dolphin.
Ari'on, the wonderful horse which Herculês gave to Adrastos. It had the gift of human speech, and the feet on the right side were the feet of a man.
(One of the masques in Sir W. Scott's Kenilworth is called "Arion.")
Ario'sto of the North, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
And, like the Ariosto of the North,Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 40.
Aristæ'us, protector of vines and olives, huntsmen and herdsmen. He instructed man also in the management of bees, taught him by his mother Cyrenê.
In such a palace Aristæus foundCyrenê, when he bore the plaintive tale
Of his lost bees to her maternal ear.
Cowper, The Ice Palace of Anne of Russia.
Aristar'chus, any critic. Aristarchus of Samothrace was the greatest critic of antiquity. His labors were chiefly directed to the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. He divided them into twenty-four books each, marked every doubtful line with an obelos, and every one he considered especially beautiful with an asterisk. (Fl. B.C. 156; died aged 72.)
The whole region of belle lettres fell under my inspection.... There, sirs, like another Aristarch, I dealt out fame and damnation at pleasure.—Samuel Foote, The Liar, i. 1.
"How, friend," replied the archbishop, "has it [the homily] met with any Aristarchus [severe critic]?"—Lesage, Gil Blas, vii. 4 (1715).
Ariste (2 syl.), brother of Chrysale (2 syl.), not a savant, but a practical tradesman. He sympathizes with Henriette, his womanly niece, against his sister-in-law Philaminte (3 syl.) and her daughter Armande (2 syl.), who femmes savantes.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Ariste'as, a poet who continued to appear and disappear alternately for above 400 years, and who visited all the mythical nations of the earth. When not in the human form, he took the form of a stag.—Greek Legend.
Aristi'des (The British), Andrew Marvell, an influential member of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II. He refused every offer of promotion, and a direct bribe tendered to him by the lord treasurer. Dying in great poverty, he was buried, like Aristidês, at the public expense (1620-1678).
Aristip'pos, a Greek philosopher of Cyre'nê, who studied under Soc'ratês, and set up a philosophic school of his own, called "he'donism" ([Greek: aedonae] "pleasure").
C. M. Wieland has an historic novel in German, called
Aristippus, in which he sets forth the philosophical dogmas of this
Cyrenian (1733-1813).
An axiom of Aristippos was Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res (Horace, Epist. i. 17, 23); and his great precept was Mihi res, non me rebus subjungere (Horace, Epist. i. I, 18).
I am a sort of Aristippus, and can equally accommodate myself to company and solitude, to affluence and frugality.—Lesage, Gil Blas, v. 12 (1715).
Aristobu'lus, called by Drayton Aristob'ulus (Rom. xvi. 10), and said to be the first that brought to England the "glad tidings of salvation." He was murdered by the Britons.
The first that ever told Christ crucified to us,By Paul and Peter sent, just Aristob'ulus ...
By the Britons murdered was.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Aristom'enes (5 syl.), a young Messenian of the royal line, the "Cid" of ancient Messe'nia. On one occasion he entered Sparta by night to suspend a shield from the temple of Pallas. On the shield were inscribed these words: "Aristomenês from the Spartan spoils dedicates this to the goddess."
A similar tale is told of Fernando Perez del Pulgar, when serving
under Ferdinand of Castile at the siege of Grana'da. With fifteen
companions he entered Granada, then in the power of the Moors, and
nailed to the door of the principal mosque with his dagger a tablet
inscribed "Ave Maria!" then galloped back, before the guards recovered
from their amazement.—Washington Irving, Conquest of Granada, 91.
Aristoph'anes (5 syl.), a Greek who wrote fifty-four comedies, eleven of which have survived to the present day (B.C. 444-380). He is called "The Prince of Ancient Comedy," and Menander "The Prince of New Comedy" (B.C. 342-291).
The English or Modern Aristophanes, Samuel Foote (1722-1777).
The French Aristophanes, J. Baptiste Poquelin de Molière (1622-1673).
Aristotle. The mistress of this philosopher was Hepyllis; of Plato, Archionassa; and of Epicurus, Leontium.
Aristotle of China, Tehuhe, who died A.D. 1200, called "The Prince of Science."
Aristotle of Christianity, Thomas Aqui'nas, who tried to reduce the doctrines of faith to syllogistic formulæ (1224-1274).
Aristotle of the Nineteenth Century, George Cuvier, the naturalist (1769-1832).
Ar'istotle in Love. Godfrey Gobilyve told sir Graunde Amoure that Aristotle the philosopher was once in love, and the lady promised to listen to his prayer if he would grant her request. The terms being readily accepted, she commanded him to go on all fours, and then, putting a bridle into his mouth, mounted on his back, and drove him about the room till he was so angry, weary, and disgusted, that he was quite cured of his foolish attachment.—Stephen Hawes, The Pastime of Plesure, xxix. (1555).
Armadale (Allan), bluff young Englishman, devoted to the sea and ship-building, and prone to fall in love. He is betrothed, first to Miss Milroy, a winning lass of sixteen, then to Miss Gwilt, her governess, again and lastly to Miss Milroy, whom he marries.—Wilkie Collins, Armadale.
Armado (Don Adriano de), a pompous, affected Spaniard, called "a refined traveller, in all the world's new fashion planted, that had a mint of phrases in his brain. One whom the music of his own vain tongue did ravish." This man was chosen by Ferdinand, the king of Navarre, when he resolved to spend three years in study with three companions, to relate in the interim of his studies "in high-born words the worth of many a knight from tawny Spain lost in the world's debate."
His humor is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, and his general behavior vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical.... He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument.—Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, act v. sc. 1 (1594).
Armande (2 syl.), daughter of Chrysale (2 syl.), and sister of Henriette. Armande is a femme savante, and Henriette a "thorough woman." Both love Clitandre, but Armande loves him platonically, while Henriette loves him with womanly affection. Clitandre prefers the younger sister, and after surmounting the usual obstacles, marries her.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Armi'da, a sorceress, who seduces Rinaldo and other crusaders from the siege of Jerusalem. Rinaldo is conducted by her to her splendid palace, where he forgets his vows, and abandons himself to sensual joys. Carlo and Ubaldo are sent to bring him back, and he escapes from Armida; but she follows him, and not being able to allure him back again, sets fire to her palace, rushes into the midst of the fight, and is slain.
[Julia's] small handWithdrew itself from his, but left behind
A little pressure ... but ne'er magician's wand
Wrought change with, all Armida's fairy art,
Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart.
Byron, Don Juan, i. 71.
When the young queen of Frederick William of Prussia rode about in military costume to incite the Prussians to arms against Napoleon, the latter wittily said, "She is Armida in her distraction setting fire to her own palace."
(Both Glück and Rossini have taken the story of Armida as the subject of an opera.)
Armida's Girdle. Armida had an enchanted girdle, which, "in price and beauty," surpassed all her other ornaments; even the cestus of Venus was less costly. It told her everything; "and when she would be loved, she wore the same."—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Arm'strong (John), called "The Laird's Jock." He is the laird of Mangerton. This old warrior witnesses a national combat in the valley of Liddesdale, between his son (the Scotch chieftain) and Foster (the English champion), in which young Armstrong is overthrown.—Sir W. Scott, The Laird's Jock (time, Elizabeth).
Armstrong (Grace), the bride-elect of Hobbie Elliot of the heugh-foot, a young farmer.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Armstrong (Archie), court jester to James I., introduced in The Fortunes of Nigel, by Sir Walter Scott (1822).
Ar'naut, an Albanian mountaineer. The word means "a brave man."
Stained with the best of Arnaut blood. Byron, The Giaour, 526.
Arnheim (2 syl.). The baron Herman von Arnheim, Anne of Geierstein's grandfather.
Sibilla of Arnheim, Anne's mother.
The baroness of Arnheim, Anne of Geierstein.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Arnold, the deformed son of Bertha, who hates him for his ugliness. Weary of life, he is about to make away with himself, when a stranger accosts him, and promises to transform him into any shape he likes best. He chooses that of Achilles, and then goes to Rome, where he joins the besieging army of Bourbon. During the siege, Arnold enters St. Peter's of Rome just in time to rescue Olimpia, but the proud beauty, to prevent being taken captive by him, flings herself from the high altar on the pavement, and is taken up apparently lifeless. As the drama was never completed, the sequel is not known.—Byron, The Deformed Transformed.
Ar'nold, the torch-bearer at Rotherwood.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Ar'nold of Benthuysen, disguised as a beggar, and called "Ginks."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggar's Bush (1622).
Arnold Brinkworth, frank, whole-souled sailor, in love with and betrothed to Blanche Lundie. Through his friendship for the man who has betrayed Anne Silvestre, and desire to serve the hapless woman, he is the bearer of a message to her from Geoffrey Delamayne, and is mistaken for her husband. Through this blunder he finds himself married by Scotch law to Anne, while he is engaged to Blanche.—Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife.
Arnol'do, son of Melchtal, patriot of the forest cantons of Switzerland. He was in love with Mathilde (3 syl.), sister of Gessler, the Austrian governor of the district. When the tyranny of Gessler drove the Swiss into rebellion, Arnoldo joined the insurgents, but after the death of Gessler he married Mathilde, whose life he had saved when it was imperilled by an avalanche.—Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (1829).
Arnol'do, a gentleman contracted to Zeno'cia, a chaste lady, dishonorably pursued by the governor, count Clodio.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Ar'nolphe (2 syl.), a man of wealth, who has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme on Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant's hut, and intends in time to make his wife. She is brought up, from the age of four years, in a country convent, where difference of sex and the conventions of society are wholly ignored; but when removed from the convent Agnes treats men like school-girls, nods to them familiarly, kisses them, and plays with them. Being told by her guardian that married women have more freedom than maidens, she asks him to marry her; however, a young man named Horace falls in love with her, and makes her his wife, so Arnolphe, after all, profits nothing by his pains.—Molière, L'École des Femmes (1662).
Dans un petit couvent loin de toute pratiqueJe le fis élever selon ma politique
C'est-à-dire, ordonnant quels soins on emploieroit
Pour le rendre idiote autant qu'il se pourroit.
Act i. I.
Ar'not (Andrew), one of the yeomen of the Balafre [Ludovic Lesly].—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Aron'teus (4 syl.), an Asiatic king, who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Arpa'sia, the betrothed of Mone'sês, a Greek, but made by constraint the bride of Baj'azet sultan of Turkey. Bajazet commanded Monesês to be bow-strung in the presence of Arpasia, to frighten her into subjection, but she died at the sight.—N. Eowe, Tamerlane (1702).
Ar'rot, the weasel in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498).
Arrow-head, Indian warrior in Cooper's Pathfinder, the husband of Dew-in-June (1840).
Arrow-maker, father of Minnehaha, in Longfellow's Hiawatha (1855).
Ar'saces (3 syl.), the patronymic name of the Persian kings, from Arsaces, their great monarch. It was generally added to some distinctive name or appellation, as the Roman emperors added the name of Cæsar to their own.
Cujus memoriae hunc honorem Parthi tribueruntut omnes exinde reges suos Arsacis nomine
nuncupent.—Justin, Historiarae Philippicae, xli.
Arse'tes (3 syl.), the aged eunuch who brought up Clorinda, and attended on her.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Arsinoë, prude in Molière's comedy Le Misanthrope.
Ar'tamenes (3 syl.) or Le Grand Cyrus, a "long-winded romance," by Mdlle. Scudéri (1607-1701).
Artaxam'inous, king of Utopia, married to Griskinissa, whom he wishes to divorce for Distaffi'na. But Distaffina is betrothed to general Bombastês, and when the general finds that his "fond one" prefers "half a crown" to himself, he hates all the world, and challenges the whole race of man by hanging his boots on a tree, and daring any one to displace them. The king, coming to the spot, reads the challenge, and cuts the boots down, whereupon Bombastês falls on his majesty, and "kills him," in a theatrical sense, for the dead monarch, at the close of the burletta, joins in the dance, and promises, if the audience likes, "to die again to-morrow."—W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso.
Ar'tegal or Arthegal (Sir), son of Gorloïs prince of Cornwall, stolen in infancy by the fairies, and brought up in Fairyland. Brit'omart saw him in Venus's looking-glass, and fell in love with him. She married him, and became the mother of Aurelius Conan, from whom (through Cadwallader) the Tudor dynasty derives descent. The wanderings of Britomart, as a lady knight-errant and the impersonation of chastity, is the subject of bk. iii. of the Faëry Queen; and the achievements of sir Artegal, as the impersonation of justice, is the subject of bk. v.
Sir Artegal's first exploit was to decide to which claimant a living woman belonged. This he decided according to Solomon's famous judgment respecting "the living and dead child" (canto 1). His next was to destroy the corrupt practice of bribery and toll (canto 2). His third was the exposing of Braggadoccio and his follower Trompart (canto 3). He had then to decide to which brother a chest of money found at sea belonged, whether to Bracidas or Am'idas; he gave judgment in favor of the former (canto 4). He then fell into the hands of Rad'igund queen of the Amazons, and was released by Britomart (cantos 5 and 6), who killed Radigund (canto 7). His last and greatest achievement was the deliverance of Ire'na (Ireland) from Grantorto (rebellion), whom he slew (canto 12).
N.B.—This rebellion was that called the earl of Desmond's, in 1580. Before bk. iv. 6, Artegal is spelled Arthegal, but never afterwards.
"Sir Artegal" is meant for lord Gray of Wilton, Spenser's
friend. He was sent in 1580 into Ireland as lord-lieutenant, and the
poet was his secretary. The marriage of Artegal with Britomart means
that the justice of lord Gray was united to purity of mind or perfect
integrity of conduct.—Spenser's Faëry Queen, v. (1596).
Artemis'ia, daughter of Lygdamis and queen of Carlia. With five ships she accompanied Xerxes in his invasion of Greece, and greatly distinguished herself in the battle of Salamis by her prudence and courage. (This is not the Artemisia who built the Mausoleum.)
Our statues ... sheThe foundress of the Babylonian wall [Semirfa-mis];
The Carian Artemisia strong in war.
Tennyson, The Princess, ii.
Artemis'ia, daughter of Hecatomnus and sister-wife of Mauso'lus. Artemisia was queen of Caria, and at the death of her fraternal husband raised a monument to his memory (called a mausole'um), which was one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." It was built by four different architects: Scopas, Timotheus, Leocharês, and Bruxis.
This made the four rare masters which began
Fair Artemysia's husband's dainty tomb
(When death took her before the work was done,
And so bereft them of all hopes to come),
That they would yet their own work perfect make
E'en for their workes, and their self-glories sake.
Lord Brooke, An Inquiry upon Fame, etc. (1554-1628).
Artemus Ward, travelling showman and philosopher, whose adventures and sayings as given by Charles Brown were a new departure in the history of American dialect literature (1862).
Artful Dodger, the sobriquet of John Dawkins, a young thief, up to every sort of dodge, and a most marvellous adept in villainy.—Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Arthgallo, a mythical British king, brother of Gorbonian, his predecessor on the throne, and son of Mor'vidus, the tyrant who was swallowed by a sea-monster. Arthgallo was deposed, and his brother El'idure was advanced to the throne instead.—Geoffrey, British History, iii. 17 (1142).
Arthur (King), parentage of. His father was Uther the pendragon, and his mother Ygernê (3 syl.), widow of Gorloïs duke of Cornwall. But Ygernê had been a widow only three hours, and knew not that the duke was dead (pt. i. 2), and her marriage with the pendragon was not consummated till thirteen days afterwards. When the boy was born Merlin took him, and he was brought up as the foster-son of sir Ector (Tennyson says "sir Anton"), till Merlin thought proper to announce him as the lawful successor of Uther, and had him crowned. Uther lived two years after his marriage with Ygernê.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 6 (1470).
Wherefore Merlin took the childAnd gave him to sir Anton, an old knight
And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife
Nursed the young prince, and reared him with her own.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
Coming of Arthur. Leod'ogran, king of Cam'eliard (3 syl.), appealed to Arthur to assist him in clearing his kingdom of robbers and wild beasts. This being done, Arthur sent three of his knights to Leodogran, to beg the hand of his daughter Guenever in marriage. To this Leodogran, after some little hesitation, agreed, and sir Lancelot was sent to escort the lady to Arthur's court.
Arthur not dead. According to tradition Arthur is not dead, but rests in Glastonbury, "till he shall come again full twice as fair, to rule over his people." (See BARBAROSSA.)
According to tradition, Arthur never died, but was converted into a raven by enchantment, and will, in the fulness of time, appear again in his original shape, to recover his throne and sceptre. For this reason there is never a raven killed in England.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I ii. 5 (1605).
Arthur's Twelve Battles (or victories over the Saxons). I. The battle of the river Glem (i.e. the glen of Northumberland). 2 to 5. The four battles of the Duglas (which falls into the estuary of the Ribble). 6. The battle of Bassa, said to be Bashall Brook, which joins the Ribble near Clithero. 7. The battle of Celidon, said to be Tweeddale. 8. The battle of Castle Gwenion (i.e. Caer Wen, in Wedale, Stow). 9. The battle of Caerleon, i.e. Carlisle; which Tennyson makes to be Caerleon-upon-Usk. 10. The battle of Trath Treroit, in Anglesey, some say the Solway Frith. 11. The battle of Agned Cathregonion (i.e. Edinburgh). 12. The battle of Badon Hill (i.e. the Hill of Bath, now Bannerdown).
Then bravely chanted they The several twelve pitched fields he [Arthur] with the Saxons fought. M. Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).
Arthur, one of the Nine Worthies. Three were Gentiles: Hector, Alexander, and Julius Cæsar; three were Jews: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabæus; three were Christians: Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.
Arthur's Foster-Father and Mother, sir Ector and his lady. Their son, sir Key (his foster-brother), was his seneschal or steward.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 8 (1470).
N.B.—Tennyson makes sir Anton the foster-father of Arthur.
Arthur's Butler, sir Lucas or Lucan, son of duke Corneus; but sir Griflet, son of Cardol, assisted sir Key and sir Lucas "in the rule of the service."—History of Prince Arthur, i. 8 (1470).
Arthur's Sisters [half-sisters], Morgause or Margawse (wife of king Lot); Elain (wife of king Nentres of Carlot); and Morgan le Fay, the "great clark of Nigromancy," who wedded king Vrience, of the land of Corê, father of Ewayns le Blanchemayne. Only the last had the same mother (Ygraine or Ygernê) as the king.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2.
Arthur's Sons—Urien, Llew, and Arawn. Borre was his son by Lyonors, daughter of the earl Sanam.—History of Prince Arthur, i. 15. Mordred was his son by Elain, wife of king Nentres of Carlot. In some of the romances collated by sir T. Malory he is called the son of Morgause and Arthur; Morgause being called the wife of king Lot, and sister of Arthur. This incest is said to have been the cause of Mordred's hatred of Arthur.—Pt. i. 17, 36, etc.
Arthur's Drinking-Horn. No one could drink from this horn who was either unchaste or unfaithful.—Lai du Corn and Morte d'Arthur. (See CHASTITY.)
Arthur's Shield, Pridwin. Geoffrey calls it Priwen, and says it was adorned with the picture of the Virgin Mary.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).
Arthur's Spear, Rone. Geoffrey calls it Ron. It was made of ebony.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).
His spere he nom an honde tha Ron wes ihaten.Layamon. Brut, (twelfth century).
Arthur's Sword, Escal'ibur or Excal'ibur. Geoffrey calls it Caliburn, and says it was made in the isle of Avallon.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).
The temper of his sword, the tried Escalabour,The bigness and the length of Rone, his noble
spear,
With Pridwin, his great shield.
Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).
Arthur's Round Table. It contained seats for 150 knights. Three were reserved, two for honor, and one (called the "siege perilous") for sir Galahad, destined to achieve the quest of the sangreal. If any one else attempted to sit in it, his death was the certain penalty.
There is a table so called at Winchester, and Henry VIII.
showed it to François I. as the very table made by Merlin for Uther the
pendragon.
prefers,
Whose old round table yet she vaunteth to be
hers.
M. Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).
Arthur (King), in the burlesque opera of
Tom Thumb, has Dollallolla for his queen, and Huncamunca for his daughter. This dramatic piece, by Henry Fielding, the novelist, was produced in 1730, but was altered by Kane O'Hara, author of Midas, about half a century later.
Arthurian Romances.
King Arthur and the Round Table, a romance in verse (1096).
The Holy Graal (in verse, 1100).
Titurel, or The Guardian of the Holy Graal, by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Titurel founded the temple of Graalburg as a shrine for the holy graal.
The Romance of Parzival, prince of the race of the kings of Graalburg. By Wolfram of Eschenbach (in verse). This romance (written about 1205) was partly founded upon a French poem by Chrétien de Troyes, Parceval le Gallois (1170).
Launcelot of the Lake, by Ulrich of Zazikoven, contemporary with William Rufus.
Wigalois, or The Knight of the Wheel, by Wirnd of Graffenberg. This adventurer leaves his mother in Syria, and goes in search of his father, a knight of the Round Table.
I'wain, or The Knight of the Lion, and Ereck, by Hartmann von der Aue (thirteenth century).
Tristan and Yseult (in verse), by Master Grottfried of Strasburg (thirteenth century). This is also the subject of Luc du Grast's prose romance, which was revised by Elie de Borron, and turned into verse by Thomas the Rhymer, of Erceldoune, under the title of the Romance of Tristram.
Merlyn Ambroise, by Robert de Borron.
Roman des diverses Quétes de St. Graal, by Walter Mapes (prose).
La Morte d'Arthur, by Walter Mapes.
A Life of Joseph of Arimathea, by Robert de Borron.
The Idylls of the King, by Tennyson, in blank verse, containing "The Coming of Arthur," "Gareth and Lynette," "Geraint and Enid," "Merlin and Vivien," "Lancelot and Elaine," "The Holy Graal," "Peleas and Ettarre" (2 syl.), "The Last Tournament," "Guinevere" (3 syl.) and "The Passing of Arthur," which is the "Morte d'Arthur" with an introduction added to it.
(The old Arthurian Romances have been collated and rendered into English by sir Thomas Malory, in three parts. Part i. contains the early history of Arthur and the beautiful allegory of Gareth and Linet; part ii. contains the adventures of sir Tristram; and part iii. the adventures of sir Launcelot, with the death of Arthur and his knights. Sir Frederick Madden and J.T.K. have also contributed to the same series of legends.)
Sources of the Arthurian Romances. The prose series of
romances called Arthurian, owe their origin to: 1. The legendary
chronicles composed in Wales or Brittany, such as De Excidio
Britanniae of Gildas. 2. The chronicles of Nennius (ninth century). 3.
The Armoric collections of Walter [Cale'nius] or Gauliter, archdeacon of
Oxford. 4. The Chronicon sive Historia Britonum of Geoffrey of
Monmouth. 5. Floating traditions and metrical ballads and romances. (See
CHARLEMAGNE.)
Ar'thuret (Miss Seraphina the papist and Miss Angelica), two sisters in sir W. Scott's novel called Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Arthur Kavanagh, the new pastor in the Fairmeadow parish, endowed "with the zeal of Peter and the gentleness of John," who writes on his study-door Dante's injunction—
Think that To-day will never dawn again. Kavanagh. A Tale, by H.W. Longfellow (1872).
Arthur Livingston, an American traveller in Egypt who falls in love, at first leisurely, finally desperately, with the heroine of Kismet by George Fleming (Julia C. Fletcher) (1877).
Arthur Ripley, young New York lawyer employed in the criminal case that is the pivotal centre of interest in Sidney Luska's (Harry Harland) novel, Mrs. Peixada (1886).
Ar'turo (lord Arthur Talbot), a cavalier affianced to Elvi'ra "the puritan," daughter of lord Walton. On the day appointed for the wedding, Arturo has to aid Enrichetta (Henrietta, widow of Charles I.) in her escape, and Elvira, supposing he is eloping with a rival, temporarily loses her reason. On his return, Arturo explains the circumstances, and they vow never more to part. At this juncture Arturo is arrested for treason, and led away to execution; but a herald announces the defeat of the Stuarts, and free pardon of all political offenders, whereupon Arturo is released, and marries "the fair puritan."—Bellini's opera, I Puritani (1834).
Ar'turo [BUCKLAW]. So Frank Hayston is called in Donizetti's opera of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). (See HAYSTON.)
Ar'valan, the wicked son of Keha'ma, slain by Ladur'lad for attempting to dishonor his daughter Kail'yal (2 syl.). After this, his spirit became the relentless persecutor of the holy maiden, but holiness and chastity triumphed over sin and lust. Thus when Kailyal was taken to the bower of bliss in paradise, Arvalan borrowed the dragon-car of the witch Lor'rimite (3 syl.) to carry her off; but when the dragons came in sight of the holy place they were unable to mount, and went perpetually downwards, till Arvalan was dropped into an ice-rift of perpetual snow. When he presented himself before her in the temple of Jaganaut, she set fire to the pagoda. And when he caught the maiden waiting for her father, who was gone to release the glendoveer from the submerged city of Baly, Baly himself came to her rescue.
"Help, help, Kehama! help!" he cried.But Baly tarried not to abide
That mightier power. With irresistible feet
He stampt and cleft the earth. It opened wide,
And gave him way to his own judgment-seat.
Down like a plummet to the world below
He sank ... to punishment deserved and endless woe.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xvii. 12 (1809).
Arvi'da (Prince), a noble friend of Gustavus Vasa. Both Arvida and Gustavus are in love with Christi'na, daughter of Christian II. king of Scandinavia. Christian employs the prince to entrap Gustavus, but when he approaches him the better instincts of old friendship and the nobleness of Gustavus prevail, so that Arvida not only refuses to betray his friend, but even abandons to him all further rivalry in the love of Christina.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).
Arvir'agus, the husband of Do'rigen. Aurelius tried to win her love, but Dorigen made answer that she would never listen to his suit till the rocks that beset the coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." By the aid of magic, Aurelius caused all the rocks of the coast to disappear, and Dorigen's husband insisted that she should keep her word. When Aurelius saw how sad she was, and was told that she had come in obedience to her husband's wishes, he said he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dianora and Gilberto, day x. 5. See DIANORA.)
Arvir'agus, younger son of Cym'beline (3 syl.) king of Britain, and brother of Guide'rius. The two in early childhood were kidnapped by Bela'rius, out of revenge for being unjustly banished, and were brought up by him in a cave. When they were grown to manhood, Belarius, having rescued the king from the Romans, was restored to favor. He then introduced the two young men to Cymbeline, and told their story, upon which the king was rejoiced to find that his two sons whom he thought dead were both living.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Aryan Languages (The)—
1. Sanskrit, whence Hindustanee.2. Zend, whence Persian.
3. Greek, whence Romaic.
4. Latin, whence Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Wallachian
(Romance).
5. Keltic, whence Welsh, Irish, Gaelic.
6. Gothic, whence Teutonic, English, Scandinavian.
7. Slavonic, whence European Russian, and Austrian.
As You Like It, a comedy by Shakespeare. One of the French dukes, being driven from his dukedom by his brother, went with certain followers to the forest of Arden, where they lived a free and easy life, chiefly occupied in the chase. The deposed duke had one daughter, named Rosalind, whom the usurper kept at court as the companion of his own daughter Celia, and the two cousins were very fond of each other. At a wrestling match Rosalind fell in love with Orlando, who threw his antagonist, a giant and professional athlete. The usurping duke (Frederick) now banished her from the court, but her cousin Celia resolved to go to Arden with her; so Rosalind in boy's clothes (under the name of Ganymede), and Celia as a rustic maiden (under the name of Alie'na), started to find the deposed duke. Orlando being driven from home by his elder brother, also went to the forest of Arden, and was taken under the duke's protection. Here he met the ladies, and a double marriage was the result—Orlando married Rosalind, and his elder brother Oliver married Celia. The usurper retired to a religious house, and the deposed duke was restored to his dominions.—(1598.)
Asaph. So Tate calls Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel.
While Judah's throne and Zion's rock stand fast,The song of Asaph and his fame shall last.
Part ii.
Asaph (St.) a British [i.e. Welsh] monk of the sixth century, abbot of Llan-Elvy, which changed its name to St. Asaph, in honor of him.
So bishops can she bring, of which her saints shall be:As Asaph, who first gave that name unto that see.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Ascal'aphos, son of Acheron, turned into an owl for tale-telling and trying to make mischief.—Greek Fable.
Asca'nio, son of don Henrique (2 syl.), in the comedy called The Spanish Curate, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).
As'capart or As'cupart, an enormous giant, thirty feet high, who carried off sir Bevis, his wife Jos'ian, his sword Morglay, and his steed Ar'undel, under his arm. Sir Bevis afterwards made Ascapart his slave, to run beside his horse. The effigy of sir Bevis is on the city gates of Southampton.—Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).
He was a man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk ... would have enabled him to enact "Colbrand," "Ascapart," or any other giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even by the altitude of a chopin.—Sir W. Scott.
Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throwCharing Cross for a bar.
Dr. Donne (1573-1631).
Thus imitated by Pope (1688-1744)—
Each man an Ascapart of strength to tossFor quoits both Temple Bar and Charing Cross.
Ascræ'an Sage, or Ascræan poet, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascræan."
Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, MusæAscræo quos ante seni.
Ecl. vii. 70.
As'ebie (3 syl.), Irreligion personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (idolatry), Phar'makeus (3 syl.) (witchcraft), Hæret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, asebeia, "impiety.")
Asel'ges (3 syl.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (inchastity), his three brothers being Mæchus (adultery), Pornei'us (fornication), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother Porneius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (maidenly chastity), Aselgês rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i' the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek, aselgês, "intemperate, wanton.")—Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, xi. (1633).
As'en, strictly speaking, are only the three gods next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally.
Ashburton (Mary), heroine of Hyperion, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).
Ash'field (Farmer), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, noble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is "Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.
Dame Ashfield, the farmer's wife, whose bête noire is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too.
Susan Ashfield, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.—Thom. Morton, Speed the Plough (1764-1838).
Ash'ford (Isaac), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."—Crabbe, Parish Register (1807).
Ashpenaz, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.—The Master of the Magicians, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).
Ash'taroth, a general name for all Syrian goddesses. (See ASTORETH.)
[They] had general namesOf Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male,
These feminine.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 422 (1665).
Ash'ton (Sir William), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton.
Lady Eleanor Ashton, wife of sir William.
Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton, eldest son of sir William.
Lucy Ashton, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called Lucia di Lammermoor, 1835.)
Asia, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses; but she was taken alive into paradise.—Sale, Al Korân, xx., note, and Ixvi., note.
Mahomet says, "Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; and Fatima, his own daughter."
As'ir, the twelve chief gods of Scandinavian mythology—Odin, Thor, Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti.
Sometimes the goddesses—Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked among the Asir also.
As'madai (3 syl.) the same as As-mode'us (4 syl.) the lustful and destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands (Tobit iii. 8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means "the destroyer."—Paradise Lost, vi 365 (1665).
Asmode'us (4 syl.), the demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud "king of the devils." As "dress" is one of the bitterest evils of modern life, it is termed "the Asmodeus of domestic peace," a phrase employed to express any "skeleton" in the house of a private family.
In the book of Tobit Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of Rag'uël, and causes the successive deaths of seven husbands each on his bridal night, but when Sara married Tobit, Asmodeus was driven into Egypt by a charm made of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes.
(Milton throws the accent on the third syl., Tennyson on the second.)
Better pleasedThan Asmodeus with the fishy fume.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 168.
Abaddon and Asmodëus caught at me.Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylitês.
Asmode'us, a "diable bon-homme," with more gaiety than malice; not the least like Mephistophelês. He is the companion of Cle'ofas, whom he carries through the air, and shows him the inside of houses, where they see what is being done in private or secrecy without being seen. Although Asmodeus is not malignant, yet with all his wit, acuteness, and playful malice, we never forget the fiend.—Le Sage, Le Diable Boiteux.
(Such was the popularity of the Diable Boiteux, that two young men fought a duel in a bookseller's shop over the only remaining copy, an incident worthy to be recorded by Asmodeus himself.)
Miss Austen gives us just such a picture of domestic life as Asmodeus would present could he remove the roof of many an English home.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Romance."
Aso'tus, Prodigality personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher, fully described in canto viii. (Greek, asotos, "a profligate.")
Aspa'tia, a maiden the very ideal of ill-fortune and wretchedness. She is the troth-plight wife of Amintor, but Amintor, at the king's request, marries Evad'ne (3 syl.). "Women point with scorn at the forsaken Aspatia, but she bears it all with patience. The pathos of her speeches is most touching, and her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the drama."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
As'pramonte (3 syl.), in Sir W. Scott's Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
The old knight, father of Brenhilda.The lady of Aspramonte, the knight's wife.
Brenhilda of Aspramonte, their daughter, wife of count Robert.
As'rael or Az'rael, an angel of death. He is immeasurable in height, insomuch that the space between his eyes equals a 70,000 days' journey.—Mohammedan Mythology.
As'sad, son of Camaral'zaman and Haiatal'nefous (5 syl.), and half-brother of Amgiad (son of Camaralzaman and Badoura). Each of the two mothers conceived a base passion for the other's son, and when the young men repulsed their advances, accused them to their father of gross designs upon their honor. Camaralzaman commanded his vizier to put them both to death; but instead of doing so, he conducted them out of the city, and told them not to return to their father's kingdom (the island of Ebony). They wandered on for ten days, when Assad went to a city in sight to obtain provisions. Here he was entrapped by an old fire-worshipper, who offered him hospitality, but cast him into a dungeon, intending to offer him up a human victim on the "mountain of fire." The ship in which he was sent being driven on the coast of queen Margiana, Assad was sold to her as a slave, but being recaptured was carried back to his old dungeon. Here Bosta'na, one of the old man's daughters, took pity on him, and released him, and ere long Assad married queen Margiana, while Amgiad, out of gratitude, married Bostana.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").
Astag'oras, a female fiend, who has the power of raising storms.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Astar'te (3 syl.), the Phoenician moon-goddess, the Astoreth of the Syrians.
With theseCame Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 438 (1665).
As'tarte (2 syl.), an attendant on the princess Anna Comne'na.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Eufus).
Astarte a woman, beloved by Manfred.—Byron, Manfred.
We think of Astarte as young, beautiful, innocent,—guilty, lost, murdered, judged, pardoned; but still, in her permitted visit to earth, speaking in a voice of sorrow, and with a countenance yet pale with mortal trouble. We had but a glimpse of her in her beauty and innocence, but at last she rises before us in all the moral silence of a ghost, with fixed, glazed, and passionless eyes, revealing death, judgment, and eternity.—Professor Wilson.
The lady Astarte his? Hush! whocomes here? (iii. 4.)
...The same Astarte? no! (iii. 4.)
As'tery, a nymph in the train of Venus; the lightest of foot and most active of all. One day the goddess, walking abroad with her nymphs, bade them go gather flowers. Astery gathered most of all; but Venus, in a fit of jealousy, turned her into a butterfly, and threw the flowers into the wings. Since then all butterflies have borne wings of many gay colors.—Spenser, Muiopotmos or the Butterfly's Fate (1590).
Astol'pho, the English cousin of Orlando; his father was Otho. He was a great boaster, but was generous, courteous, gay, and singularly handsome. Astolpho was carried to Alci'na's isle on the back of a whale; and when Alcina tired of him, she changed him into a myrtle tree, but Melissa disenchanted him. Astolpho descended into the infernal regions; he also went to the moon, to cure Orlando of his madness by bringing back his lost wits in a phial.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
As'ton (Sir Jacob), a cavalier during the Commonwealth; one of the partisans of the late king.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (period, Commonwealth).
As'ton (Enrico). So Henry Ashton is called in Donizetti's opera of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). (See ASHTON.)
As'torax, king of Paphos and brother of the princess Calis.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (before 1618).
As'toreth, the goddess-moon of Syrian mythology; called by Jeremiah, "The Queen of Heaven," and by the Phoenicians, "Astar'tê."
With these [the host of heaven] in troopCame Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
Astartê, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 438 (1665).
(Milton does not always preserve the difference between Ashtaroth and Ashtoreth; for he speaks of the "moonèd Ashtaroth, heaven's queen and mother.")
As'tragon, the philosopher and great physician, by whom Gondibert and his friends were cured of the wounds received in the faction fight stirred up by prince Oswald. Astragon had a splendid library and museum. One room was called "Great Nature's Office," another "Nature's Nursery," and the library was called "The Monument of Vanished Mind." Astragon (the poet says) discovered the loadstone and its use in navigation. He had one child, Bertha, who loved duke Gondibert, and to whom she was promised in marriage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).
Astre'a (Mrs. Alphra Behn), an authoress. She published the story of Prince Oroonoka (died 1689).
The stage now loosely does Astrea tread. Pope.
Astringer, a falconer. Shakespeare introduces an astringer in All's Well that Ends Well, act v. sc. 1. (From the French austour, Latin austercus, "a goshawk.") A "gentle astringer" is a gentleman falconer.
We usually call a falconer who keeps that kind of hawk [the goshawk] an austringer.—Cowell, Law Dictionary.
As'tro-fiamman'te (5 syl.), queen of the night. The word means "flaming star."—Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (1791).
Astronomer (The), in Rasselas, an old enthusiast, who believed himself to have the control and direction of the weather. He leaves Imlac his successor, but implores him not to interfere with the constituted order.
"I have possessed," said he to Imlac, "for five years the regulation of the weather, and the distribution of the seasons: the sun has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds, at my call, have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the Dog-star, and mitigated the fervor of the Crab. The winds alone ... have hitherto refused my authority.... I am the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted."—Dr. Johnson, Rasselas, xli.—xliii. (1759).
As'trophel (Sir Philip Sidney). "Phil. Sid." may be a contraction of philos sidus, and the Latin sidus being changed to the Greek astron, we get astron philos ("star-lover"). The "star" he loved was Penelopê Devereux, whom he calls Stella ("star"), and to whom he was betrothed. Spenser wrote a poem called Astrophel, to the memory of Sir Philip Sidney.
But while as Astrophel did live and reign,Amongst all swains was none his paragon.
Spenser, Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1591).
Astyn'ome (4 syl.) or Chryseïs, daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. When Lyrnessus was taken, Astynomê fell to the share of Agamemnon, but the father begged to be allowed to ransom her. Agamemnon refused to comply, whereupon the priest invoked the anger of his patron god, and Apollo sent a plague into the Grecian camp. This was the cause of contention between Agamemnon and Achillês, and forms the subject of Homer's epic called The Iliad.
As'wad, son of Shedad king of Ad. He was saved alive when the angel of death destroyed Shedad and all his subjects, because he showed mercy to a camel which had been bound to a tomb to starve to death, that it might serve its master on the day of resurrection.—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer (1797).
Ataba'lipa, the last emperor of Peru, subdued by Pizarro, the Spanish general. Milton refers to him in Paradise Lost, xi. 409 (1665).
At'ala, the name of a novel by François Auguste Chateaubriand. Atala, the daughter of a white man and a Christianized Indian, takes an oath of virginity, but subsequently falling in love with Chactas, a young Indian, she poisons herself for fear that she may be tempted to break her oath. The novel was received with extraordinary enthusiasm (1801).
(This has nothing to do with Attila, king of the Huns, nor with Atlialie (queen of Judah), the subject of Racine's great tragedy.)
Atalanta, of Arcadia, wished to remain single, and therefore gave out that she would marry no one who could not outstrip her in running; but if any challenged her and lost the race, he was to lose his life. Hippom'enês won the race by throwing down golden apples, which Atalanta kept stopping to pick up. William Morris has chosen this for one of his tales in Earthly Paradise (March).
In short, she thus appeared like another Atalanta.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Fortunio," 1682).
Atalanta, the central figure in Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem after Æschylus Atalanta in Calydon (1864).
Atali'ba, the inca of Peru, most dearly beloved by his subjects, on whom Pizarro makes war. An old man says of the inca—
The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people and the benign regard of heaven.—Sheridan, Pizarro; ii. 4 (from Kotzebue),(1799).
Atê (2 syl.), goddess of revenge.
With him along is come the mother queen. An Atê, stirring him to blood and strife. Shakespeare, King John, act ii. sc. I (1596).
Atê (2 syl.), "mother of debate and all dissension," the friend of Duessa. She squinted, lied with a false tongue, and maligned even the best of beings. Her abode, "far under ground hard by the gates of hell," is described at length in bk. iv. I. When Sir Blandamour was challenged by Braggadoccio (canto 4), the terms of the contest were that the conqueror should have "Florimel," and the other "the old hag Atê," who was always to ride beside him till he could pass her off to another.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).
Ath'alie (3 syl.), daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and wife of Joram king of Judah. She massacred all the remnant of the house of David; but Joash escaped, and six years afterwards was proclaimed king. Athalie, attracted by the shouts, went to the temple, and was killed by the mob. This forms the subject and title of Racine's chef-d'oeuvre (1691), and was Mdlle. Rachel's great part.
(Racine's tragedy of Athalie, queen of Judah, must not be confounded with Corneille's tragedy of Attila, king of the Huns.)
Atheist's Tragedy (The), by Cyril Tourneur. The "atheist" is D'Amville, who murders his brother Montferrers for his estates.—(Seventeenth century.)
Ath'elstane (3 syl.), surnamed "The Unready," thane of Coningsburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
"Unready" does not mean unprepared but injudicious (from
Anglo-Saxon raed, "wisdom, counsel").
Athe'na (Pallas) once meant "the air," but in Homer this goddess is the representative of civic prudence and military skill; the armed protectress of states and cities. The Romans called her Minerva.
Athe'nian Bee, Plato, so called from, the honeyed sweetness of his composition. It is said that a bee settled on his lip while he was an infant asleep in his cradle, and indicated that "honeyed words" would fall from his lips, and flow from his pen. Sophoclês is called "The Attic Bee."
Ath'liot, the most wretched of all women.
Her comfort is (if for her any be),That none can show more cause of grief than she.
Wm. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 5 (1613).
Ath'os. Dinoc'ratês, a sculptor, proposed to Alexander to hew mount Athos into a statue representing the great conqueror, with a city in his left hand, and a basin in his right to receive all the waters which flowed from the mountain. Alexander greatly approved of the suggestion, but objected to the locality.
And hew out a huge mountain of pathos,As Philip's son proposed to do with Athos.
Byron, Don Juan, xii. 86.
At'imus, Baseness of Mind personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. "A careless, idle swain ... his work to eat, drink, sleep, and purge his reins." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, atimos, "one dishonored.")
A'tin (Strife), the squire of Pyr'ochlês.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 4, 5, 6 (1590).
Atos'sa. So Pope calls Sarah duchess of Marlborough, because she was the great friend of lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he calls Sappho.
But what are these to great Atossa's mind?Pope.
(The great friend of Sappho was Atthis. By Atossa is generally understood Vashti, daughter of Cyrus and wife of Ahasuerus of the Old Testament.)
At'ropos, one of the Fates, whose office is to cut the thread of life with a pair of scissors.
... nor shines the knife,Nor shears of Atropos before their vision.
Byron, Don Juan, ii. 64.
Attic Bee (The), Soph'oclês (B.C. 495-405). Plato is called "The Athenian Bee."
Attic Boy (The), referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, is Ceph'alos, who was beloved by Aurora or Morn, but was married to Procris. He was passionately fond of hunting.
Till civil-suited Morn appear,Not tricked and flounced, as she was wont
With the Attic boy to hunt,
But kerchiefed in a comely cloud.
II Penseroso (1638).
Attic Muse (The), a phrase signifying the whole body of Attic poetry.
Atticus. The surname of T. Pomponius, the intimate friend of Cicero, given to him on account of his long residence in Athens. His biography is found in Nepor.
The English Atticus. Joseph Addison.
Who but must laugh if such a man there be.Who would not weep if Atticus were he?
Pope, Prologue to the Satires.
At'tila, one of the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (1667). This king of the Huns, usually called "The Scourge of God," must not be confounded with "Athalie," daughter of Jezebel and wife of Joram, the subject and title of Racine's ches-d'oeuvre, and Mdlle. Rachel's chief character.
Aubert (Thérèse), the heroine of C. Nodier's romance of that name (1819). The story relates to the adventures of a young royalist in the French Revolutionary epoch, who had disguised himself in female apparel to escape detection.
Aubrey, a widower for eighteen years. At the death of his wife he committed his infant daughter to the care of Mr. Bridgemore, a merchant, and lived abroad. He returned to London after an absence of eighteen years, and found that Bridgemore had abused his trust, and his daughter had been obliged to quit the house and seek protection with Mr. Mortimer.
Augusta Aubrey, daughter of Mr. Aubrey, in love with Francis Tyrrel, the nephew of Mr. Mortimer. She is snubbed and persecuted by the vulgar Lucinda Bridgemore, and most wantonly persecuted by lord Abberville, but after passing through many a most painful visitation, she is happily married to the man of her choice.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).
Au´bri's Dog showed a most unaccountable hatred to Richard de Macaire, snarling and flying at him whenever he appeared in sight. Now Aubri had been murdered by some one in the forest of Bondy, and this animosity of the dog directed suspicion towards Richard de Macaire. Richard was taken up, and condemned to single combat with the dog, by whom he was killed. In his dying moments he confessed himself to be the murderer of Aubri. (See DOG.)
Le combat entre Macaire et le chien eut lieu à Paris, dans l'île Louviers. On place ce fait merveilleux en 1371, mais ... il est bien antérieur, car il est mentionné dès le siècle précédent par Albéric des Trois-Fontaines.—Bouillet, Dict. Universel, etc.
Auch´termuch´ty (John), the Kinross carrier.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Audhum´bla, the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking dew from the rocks.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Au´drey, a country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. She is an excellent specimen of a wondering she-gawky. She thanks the gods that "she is foul," and if to be poetical is not to be honest, she thanks the gods also that "she is not poetical."—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).
The character of "Audrey," that of a femalefool, should not have been assumed [i.e. by Miss
Pope, in her last appearance in public]; the last
line of the farewell address was, "And now poor
Audrey bids you all farewell" (May 26, 1808).—
James Smith, Memoirs, etc. (1840).
Augus´ta, mother of Gustavus Vasa. She is a prisoner of Christian II. king of Denmark, but the king promises to set her free if she will induce her son to submission. Augusta refuses, but in the war which follows, Gustavus defeats Christian, and becomes king of Sweden.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).
Augusta, a title conferred by the Roman emperors on their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and even concubines. It had to be conferred; for even the wife of an Augustus was not an Augusta until after her coronation.
1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both Augusta; so were Julia (wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia, Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an emperor is spoken of as Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra; Divina Augusta, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we read, "Domitian uxorem suam Augustam jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [i.e. Pertinax] Augusta est appellata."
2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was created Augusta. Claudius made his mother Antonia Augusta after her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa Augusta," in honor of his grandmother;
Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled Augusta on coins; and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.
3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis Augusta germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana Augusta."
4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of Didius Julianus, were both Augusta. Titus inscribed on coins his daughter as "Julia Sabina Augusta;" there are coins of the emperor Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla Augusta," and "Sallustia Augusta," sisters of the emperor Decius.
5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called Augusta on coins; Constantine Monomachus called his concubine Augusta.
Augusta Hare, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney's novel Hitherto.
Augusti´na, the Maid of Saragossa. She was only twenty-two when, her lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French, after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.
Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa,who by her valor elevated herself to the
highest rank of heroines. When the author
was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado,
decorated with medals and orders, by order of
the Junta.—Lord Byron.
Auld Robin Gray was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay, and her father was earl of Balcarras.
Aullay, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep. King Baly of India rode on an aullay.
The aullay, hugest of four-footed kind,The aullay-horse, that in his force,
With elephantine trunk, could bind
And lift the elephant, and on the wind
Whirl him away, with sway and swing,
E'en like a pebble from a practised sling.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xvi. 2 (1809).
Aure´lius, a young nobleman who tried to win to himself Do´rigen, the wife of Arvir´agus, but Dorigen told him she would never yield to his suit till all the rocks of the British coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic made all the rocks disappear, but when Dorigen went, at her husband's bidding, to keep her promise, Aurelius, seeing how sad she was, made answer, he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dimora and Gilberto, x. 5. See DIANORA.)
Aurelius, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur, but he died before the hero was born.
Even sicke of a flixe [ill of the flux] as he was, he caused himself to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie.—Holinshed, History of Scotland, 99.
... once I readThat stout Pendragon on his litter sick
Came to the field, and vanquishèd his foes.
Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI., act iii. sc. 2 (1589).
Aurora Leigh, daughter of an Englishman and an Italian woman. At her father's death Aurora comes to England to live with a severe, practical aunt. In time she becomes a poet, travels far, sees much, and thinks much of life's problems. She marries her cousin Romney, a philanthropist, blinded by an accident.—Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1856).
Aurora Nuncanou, beautiful Creole widow in The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable. In her thirty-fifth year, she "is the red, red, full-blown, faultless joy of the garden. With her it will be always morning. That woman is going to last forever; ha-a-a-a!--even longer!" (1880).
Austin, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title of the count of Narbonne.—Robert Jephson, Count of Narbonne (1782).
Austins (The). Miss Susan, old maid resident at Whiteladies, concerned in a conspiracy to introduce a false heir to the estate.
Miss Augustine, saintly sister, who tries to "turn the curse from Whiteladies, by her own prayers and those of her almsmen."—Whiteladies, by M.O.W. Oliphant.
Aus´tria and the Lion's Hide. There is an old tale that the arch-duke of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion's hide which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the arch-duke:
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare, King John, act iii. sc. 1 (1596).
(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)
Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, a mythical personage who indites Oliver Wendell Holmes's breakfast-table conversations.
Autol´ycos, the craftiest of thieves. He stole the flocks of his neighbors, and changed their marks. Sis´yphos outwitted him by marking his sheep under their feet.
Autol´ycus, a peddler and witty rogue, in The Winter's Tale, by Shakespeare (1604).
Avare (L'). The plot of this comedy is as follows: Harpagon the miser and his son Cléante (2 syl.) both want to marry Mariane (3 syl.), daughter of Anselme, alias don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples. Cléante gets possession of a casket of gold belonging to the miser, and hidden in the garden. When Harpagon discovers his loss he raves like a madman, and Cléante gives him the choice of Mariane or the casket. The miser chooses the casket, and leaves the young lady to his son. The second plot is connected with Elise (2 syl.), the miser's daughter, promised in marriage by the father to his friend Anselme (2 syl.); but Elise is herself in love with Valère, who, however, turns out to be the son of Anselme. As soon as Anselme discovers that Valère is his son, who he thought had been lost at sea, he resigns to him Elise, and so in both instances the young folks marry together, and the old ones give up their unnatural rivalry.—Molière, L'Avare (1667).
Ave´nel (2 syl.), Julian, the usurper of Avenel Castle.
Lady Alice, widow of sir Walter.
Mary, daughter of Lady Alice. She marries Halbert Glendinning.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (date 1559).
Ave´nel (Sir Halbert Glendinning, knight of), same as the bridegroom in The Monastery.
The lady Mary of Avenel, same as the bride in The Monastery.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
The White Lady of Avenel, a spirit mysteriously connected with the Avenel family, as the Irish banshee is with true Mile´sian families. She announces good or ill fortune, and manifests a general interest in the family to which she is attached, but to others she acts with considerable caprice; thus she shows unmitigated malignity to the sacristan and the robber. Any truly virtuous mortal has commanding power over her.
Noon gleams on the lake,Noon glows on the fell;
Awake thee, awake,
White maid of Avenel!
Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Aven´ger of Blood, the man who had the birthright, according to the Jewish, polity, of taking vengeance on him who had killed one of his relatives.
... the Christless codeThat must have life for a blow.
Tennyson, Maud, II. i. 1.
Avery (Parson), a missionary "to the souls of fishers starving on the rocks of Marblehead." He is wrecked with his crew, one wintry midnight, and dies praying aloud.—J.G. Whittier, The Swan Song of Parson Avery (1850).
Av´icen or Abou-ibn-Sina, an Arabian physician and philosopher, born at Shiraz, in Persia (980-1037). He composed a treatise on logic, and another on metaphysics. Avicen is called both the Hippo´cratês and the Aristotle of the Arabs.
Of physicke speake for me, king Avicen ...Yet was his glory never set on shelfe,
Nor never shall, whyles any worlde may stande
Where men have minde to take good bookes in hande.
G. Gascoigne, The Fruits of Warre, lvii. (died 1577).
Avis, a New England girl, heroine of The Story of Avis, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward. She is forced by genius to be an artist, and through her art loses hope of domestic happiness (1877).
Ayl'mer (Mrs.), a neighbor of sir Henry Lee.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Ay'mer (Prior), a jovial Benedictine monk, prior of Jorvaulx Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Ay'mon, duke of Dordona (Dordogne). He had four sons, Rinaldo, Guicciardo, Alardo, and Ricciardetto (i.e. Renaud, Guiscard, Alard, and Richard), whose adventures are the subject of a French romance, entitled Les Quatre fils Aymon, by H. de Alleneuve (1165-1223).
Aza'zel, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom. These jinn inhabited the earth before man was created, but on account of their persistent disobedience were driven from it by an army of angels. When Adam was created, and God commanded all to worship him, Azâzel insolently made answer, "Me hast Thou created of fire, and him of earth; why should I worship him?" Whereupon God changed the jinnee into a devil, and called him Iblis or Despair. In hell he was made the standard-bearer of Satan's host.
UprearedHis mighty standard; that proud honor claimed
Azâzel as his right.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 534 (1665).
Az'la, a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of Keha'ma.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, i. 10 (1809).
Az'o, husband of Parisi'na. He was marquis d'Este, of Ferrara, and had already a natural son, Hugo, by Bianca, who, "never made his bride," died of a broken heart. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina before she married the marqnis, and after she became his mother-in-law, they loved on still. One night Azo heard Parisina in sleep express her love for Hugo, and the angry marquis condemned his son to death. Although he spared his bride, no one ever knew what became of her.—Byron, Parisina.
Az´rael (3 syl.), the angel of death (called Raphael in the Gospel of Barnabas).—Al Korân.
Az´tecas, an Indian tribe, which conquered the Hoamen (2 syl.), seized their territory, and established themselves on a southern branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan as their imperial city. When Madoc conquered the Aztecas in the twelfth century, he restored the Hoamen, and the Aztecas migrated to Mexico.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Azuce´na, a gipsy. Manri´co is supposed to be her son, but is in reality the son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna).—Verdi, Il Trovato´rê (1853).
Azyoru´ca (4 syl.), queen of the snakes and dragons. She resides in Patala, or the infernal regions.—Hindû Mythology.
There Azyoruca veiled her awful formIn those eternal shadows. There she sat,
And as the trembling souls who crowd around
The judgment-seat received the doom of fate,
Her giant arms, extending from the cloud,
Drew them within the darkness.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xxiii 15 (1809).
aal, plu. Baalim, a general name for all the Syrian gods, as Ash´taroth was for the goddesses. The general version of the legend of Baal is the same as that of Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, and the Arabian myth of El Khouder. All allegorize the Sun, six months above and six months below the equator. As a title of honor, the word Baal, Bal, Bel, etc., enters into a large number of Phoenician and Carthaginian proper names, as Hanni-bal, Hasdrubal, Bel-shazzar, etc.
... [the] general namesOf Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male;
These female.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 422 (1665).
Bab (Lady), a waiting maid on a lady so called, who assumes the airs with the name and address of her mistress. Her fellow-servants and other servants address her as "lady Bab," or "Your ladyship." She is a fine wench, "but by no means particular in keeping her teeth clean." She says she never reads but one "book, which is Shikspur." And she calls Lovel and Freeman, two gentlemen of fortune, "downright hottenpots."—Rev. J. Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1763).
Ba´ba, chief of the eunuchs in the court of the sultana Gulbey´az.—Byron, Don Juan, v. 82, etc. (1820).
Baba (Ali), who relates the story of the "Forty Thieves" in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He discovered the thieves' cave while hiding in a tree, and heard the magic word "Ses´amê," at which the door of the cave opened and shut.
Cassim Baba, brother of Ali Baba, who entered the cave of the forty thieves, but forgot the pass-word, and stood crying "Open Wheat!" "Open Barley!" to the door, which obeyed to no sound but "Open Sesamê!"
Baba Mus´tapha, a cobbler who sewed together the four pieces into which Cassim's body had been cleft by the forty thieves. When the thieves discovered that the body had been taken away, they sent one of the band into the city, to ascertain who had died of late. The man happened to enter the cobbler's stall, and falling into a gossip heard about the body which the cobbler had sewed together. Mustapha pointed out to him the house of Cassim Baba's widow, and the thief marked it with a piece of white chalk. Next day the cobbler pointed out the house to another, who marked it with red chalk. And the day following he pointed it out to the captain of the band, who instead of marking the door studied the house till he felt sure of recognizing it.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba, or The Forty Thieves").
Bababalouk, chief of the black eunuchs, whose duty it was to wait on the sultan, to guard the sultanas, and to superintend the harem.—Habesci, State of the Ottoman Empire, 155-6.
Babes in the Wood, insurrectionary hordes that infested the mountains of Wicklow and the woods of Enniscarthy towards the close of the eighteenth century. (See CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.)
Babie, old Alice Gray's servant-girl.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Babie´ca (3 syl.), the Cid's horse.
I learnt to prize Babieca from his head unto hishoof.
The Cid (1128).
Baboon (Philip), Philippe Bourbon, duc d'Anjou.
Lewis Baboon, Louis XIV., "a false loon of a grandfather to Philip, and one that might justly be called a Jack-of-all-trades."
Sometimes you would see this Lewis Baboonbehind his counter, selling broad-cloth, sometimes
measuring linen; next day he would be
dealing in mercery-ware; high heads, ribbons,
gloves, fans, and lace, he understood to a nicety
... nay, he would descend to the selling of
tapes, garters, and shoebuckles. When shop
was shut up he would go about the neighborhood,
and earn half-a-crown, by teaching the
young men and maidens to dance. By these
means he had acquired immense riches, which he
used to squander away at back-sword [in war],
quarter-staff, and cudgel-play, in which he took
great pleasure.—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John
Bull, ii. (1712).
Baby Bell, the infant whose brief beautiful life is given in the poem that first drew the eyes of the world to the young American poet, T.B. Aldrich, then but nineteen years of age.
Have you not heard the poets tellHow came the dainty Baby Bell
Into this World of ours?
The gates of heaven were left ajar:
With folded hands and dreamy eyes,
Wandering out of Paradise,
She saw this planet like a star
Hung in the glistening depths of even,—
Its bridges, running to and fro,
O'er which the white-winged angels go,
Bearing the holy dead to heaven.
She touched a bridge of flowers—those feet
So light they did not bend the bells
Of the celestial asphodels,
They fell like dew upon the flowers;
Then all the air grew strangely sweet!
And thus came dainty Baby Bell
Into this world of ours. (1854.)
Bacchan'tes (3 syl.), priestesses of Bacchus.
Round about him Bacchus fair Bacchantês,Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses,
Wild from Naxian groves, or Zantê's
Vineyards, sing delirious verses.
Longfellow, Drinking Song.
Bacchus, in the Lusiad, an epic poem by Camoens (1569), is the personification of the evil principle which acts in opposition to Jupiter, the lord of Destiny. Mars is made by the poet the guardian power of Christianity, and Bacchus of Mohammedanism.
Backbite (Sir Benjamin), nephew of Crabtree, very conceited, and very censorious. His friends called him a great poet and wit, but he never published anything, because "'twas very vulgar to print;" besides, as he said, his little productions circulated more "by giving copies in confidence to friends."—Sheridan, School for Scandal (1777).
When I first saw Miss Pope she was performing"Mrs. Candour," to Miss Farren's "lady
Teazle," King as "sir Peter," Parsons "Crab-tree,"
Dodd "Backbite," Baddeley "Moses,"
Smith "Charles," and John Palmer "Joseph"
[Surface].—James Smith, Memoirs, etc.
Bactrian Sage (The), Zoroas'ter or Zerdusht, a native of Bactria, now Balkh (B.C. 589-513).
Bade'bec (2 syl.), wife of Gargantua and mother of Pantag'ruel. She died in giving him birth, or rather in giving birth at the same time to nine dromedaries laden with ham and smoked tongues, 7 camels laden with eels, and 25 wagons full of leeks, garlic, onions, and shallots.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 2 (1533).
Badger (Will), sir Hugh Robsart's favorite domestic.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Bad'ger (Mr. Bayham), medical practitioner at Chelsea, under whom Richard Carstone pursues his studies. Mr. Badger is a crisp-looking gentleman, with "surprised eyes;" very proud of being Mrs. Badger's "third," and always referring to her former two husbands, captain Swosser and professor Dingo.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Badinguet [Bad´.en.gay] one of the many nicknames of Napoleon III. It was the name of the mason in whose clothes he escaped from the fortress of Ham (1808, 1851-1873).
Badou´ra, daughter of Gaiour (2 syl.), king of China, the "most beautiful woman ever seen upon earth." The emperor Gaiour wished her to marry, but she expressed an aversion to wedlock. However, one night by fairy influence she was shown prince Camaral´zaman asleep, fell in love with him, and exchanged rings. Next day she inquired for the prince, but her inquiry was thought so absurd that she was confined as a madwoman. At length her foster-brother solved the difficulty thus: The emperor having proclaimed that whoever cured the princess of her [supposed] madness should have her for his wife, he sent Camaralzaman to play the magician, and imparted the secret to the princess by sending her the ring she had left with the sleeping prince. The cure was instantly effected, and the marriage solemnized with due pomp. When the emperor was informed that his son-in-law was a prince, whose father was sultan of the "Island of the Children of Khal´edan, some twenty days' sail from the coast of Persia," he was delighted with the alliance.—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
Badroul´boudour, daughter of the sultan of China, a beautiful brunette. "Her eyes were large and sparkling, her expression modest, her mouth small, her lips vermilion, and her figure perfect." She became the wife of Aladdin, but twice nearly caused his death; once by exchanging "the wonderful lamp" for a new copper one, and once by giving hospitality to the false Fatima. Aladdin killed both these magicians.—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").
Bag dad. A hermit told the caliph Almanzor that one Moclas was destined to found a city on the spot where he was standing. "I am that man," said the caliph, and he then informed the hermit how in his boyhood he once stole a bracelet, and his nurse ever after called him "Moclas," the name of a well-known thief.—Marigny.
Bagshot, one of a gang of thieves who conspire to break into the house of lady Bountiful.—Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1705).
Bagstock (Major Joe), an apoplectic retired military officer, living in Princess's Place, opposite to Miss Tox. The major has a covert kindness for Miss Tox, and is jealous of Mr. Dombey. He speaks of himself as "Old Joe Bagstock," "Old Joey," "Old J.," "Old Josh," "Rough and tough old Jo," "J.B.," "Old J.B.," and so on. He is also given to over-eating, and to abusing his poor native servant.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Bah´adar, master of the horse to the king of the Magi. Prince Am´giad was enticed by a collet to enter the minister's house, and when Bahadar returned, he was not a little surprised at the sight of his uninvited guest. The prince, however, explained to him in private how the matter stood, and Bahadar, entering into the fun of the thing, assumed for the nonce the place of a slave. The collet would have murdered him, but Amgiad, to save the minister, cut off her head. Bahadar, being arrested for murder, was condemned to death, but Amgiad came forward and told the whole truth, whereupon Bahadar was instantly released, and Amgiad created vizier.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").
Bahman (Prince), eldest son of the sultan Khrossou-schah of Persia. In infancy he was taken from the palace by the sultana's sisters, and set adrift on a canal, but being rescued by the superintendent of the sultan's gardens, he was brought up, and afterwards restored to the sultan. It was the "talking bird" that told the sultan the tale of the young prince's abduction.
Prince Bahman's Knife. When prince Bahman started on his exploits, he gave to his sister Parazadê (4 syl.) a knife, saying, "As long as you find this knife clean and bright, you may feel assured that I am alive and well; but if a drop of blood falls from it, you may know that I am no longer alive."—Arabian Nights ("The Two Sisters," the last tale).
Bailey, a sharp lad in the service of Todger's boarding-house. His ambition was to appear quite a full-grown man. On leaving Mrs. Todgers's, he became the servant of Montague Tigg, manager of the "Anglo-Bengalee Company."—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Bailie (General), a parliamentary leader.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Bailie (Giles), a gipsy; father of Gabrael Faa (nephew to Meg Merrilies).—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Bailly, (Henry or Harry), the host of the Tabard Inn, in Southwerk, London, where the nine and twenty companions of Chaucer put up before starting on their pilgrimage to Canterbury.
A semely man our hoste was withalFor to han been a marshal in an halle,
A fairer burgeis is ther non in Chepe.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue.
Bailiff's Daughter of Islington (in Norfolk). A squire's son loved the bailiff's daughter, but she gave him no encouragement, and his friends sent him to London "an apprentice for to binde." After the lapse of seven years, the bailiff's daughter, "in ragged attire," set out to walk to London, "her true love to inquire." The young man on horseback met her, but knew her not. "One penny, one penny, kind sir!" she said. "Where were you born?" asked the young man. "At Islington," she replied. "Then prithee, sweetheart, do you know the bailiff's daughter there?" "She's dead, sir, long ago." On hearing this the young man declared he'd live an exile in some foreign land. "Stay, oh stay, thou goodly youth," the maiden cried, "she is not really dead, for I am she." "Then farewell grief and welcome joy, for I have found my true love, whom I feared I should never see again."—Percy, Relics of English Poetry, ii. 8.
Bailzou (Ann´aple), the nurse of Effie Deans in her confinement.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Bajar´do, Rinaldo's steed.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Baja´zet, surnamed "The Thunderbolt" (ilderim), sultan of Turkey. After subjugating Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor, he laid siege to Constantinople, but was taken captive by Tamerlane emperor of Tartary. He was fierce as a wolf, reckless, and indomitable. Being asked by Tamerlane how he would have treated him had their lots been reversed, "Like a dog," he cried. "I would have made you my footstool when I mounted my saddle, and when your services were not needed would have chained you in a cage like a wild beast." Tamerlane replied, "Then to show you the difference of my spirit, I shall treat you as a king." So saying, he ordered his chains to be struck off, gave him one of the royal tents, and promised to restore him to his throne if he would lay aside his hostility. Bajazet abused this noble generosity; plotted the assassination of Tamerlane; and bow-strung Mone´ses. Finding clemency of no use, Tamerlane commanded him to be used "as a dog, and to be chained in a cage like a wild beast."—N. Rowe, Tamerlane (a tragedy, 1702).
Bajazet, a black page at St. James's Palace.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Baker (The), and the "Baker's Wife." Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were so called by the revolutionary party, because on the 6th October, 1789, they ordered a supply of bread to be given to the mob which surrounded the palace at Versailles, clamoring for bread.
Ba´laam (2 syl.), the earl of Huntingdon, one of the rebels in the army of the duke of Monmouth.
And, therefore in the name of dulness, beThe well-hung Balaam.
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel.
Ba´laam, a "citizen of sober fame," who lived near the monument of London. While poor he was "religious, punctual, and frugal;" but when he became rich and got knighted, he seldom went to church, became a courtier, "took a bribe from France," and was hung for treason.—Pope, Moral Essays, iii.
Balaam and Josaphat, a religious novel by Johannes Damascenus, son of Almansur. (For plot, see JOSAPHAT.)
Balack, Dr. Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, who wrote a history called Burnet's Own Time, and History of the Reformation.—Dryden and Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii.
Balafré (Le), alias Ludovic Lesly, an old archer of the Scottish Guard at Plessis les Tours, one of the castle palaces of Louis XI. Le Balafré is uncle to Quentin Durward.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
¤¤¤ Henri, son of Francois second duke of Gruise, was called Le Balafré ("the gashed"), from a frightful scar in the face from a sword-cut in the battle of Dormans (1575).
Balâm´, the ox on which the faithful feed in paradise. The fish is called Nûn, the lobes of whose liver will suffice for 70,000 men.
Balan´, brother of Balyn or Balin le Savage, two of the most valiant knights that the world ever produced.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 31 (1470).
Balan, "the bravest and strongest of all the giant race." Am´adis de Gaul rescued Gabrioletta from his hands.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul, iv. 129 (fourteenth century).
Balance (Justice), father of Sylvia. He had once been in the army, and as he had run the gauntlet himself, he could make excuses for the wild pranks of young men.—G. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer (1704).
Ba´land of Spain, a man of gigantic strength, who called himself Fierabras.—Mediaeval Romance.
Balatsu-usur, the name given to the captive Jew Daniel in Babylon, meaning "May Bel protect his life!"
Prostrate upon his royal face, prostrate beforethe court, the queen, the people—down like a
pleading conscience or a suppliant faith, Nebuchadrezzar
the Great lay in the dust, and worshipped
him right royally.
"Thou art the Master of the Magicians!" said
the king. "For thou commandest the power of
thy God and thou controllest the spirit of
man!" ...
Plain moral purity and religious fervor had
done for the young man what a lifetime of political
scheming had failed to do for many a
grey-headed disappointed adventurer. Then, as
in all ages, intrigue regarded the success of sincerity
with astonishment.—The Master of the
Magicians, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert
D. Ward (1890).
Balchris´tie (Jenny), housekeeper to the laird of Dumbiedikes.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Baldassa´re (4 syl.) chief of the monastery of St. Jacopo di Compostella.—Donizetti's opera, La Favorite (1842).
Bal´der, the god of light, peace, and day, was the young and beautiful son of Odin and Frigga. His palace, Briedablik ("wide-shining"), stood in the Milky Way. He was slain by Höder, the blind old god of darkness and night, but was restored to life at the general request of the gods.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Balder the beautiful,God of the summer sun.
Longfellow, Tegnier's Death.
(Sydney Dobell has a poem entitled Balder, published in 1854.)
Bal´derstone (Caleb), the favorite old butler of the master of Ravenswood, at Wolf's Crag Tower. Being told to provide supper for the laird of Bucklaw, he pretended that there were fat capon and good store in plenty, but all he could produce was "the hinder end of a mutton ham that had been three times on the table already, and the heel of a ewe-milk kebbuck [cheese]" (ch. vii.).—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Baldrick, an ancestor of the lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed." He was murdered, and lady Eveline assured Rose Flammock that she had seen his ghost frowning at her.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Bal´dringham (The lady Ermengarde of), great-aunt of lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Baldwin, the youngest and comeliest of Charlemagne's paladins, nephew of sir Roland.
Baldwin, the restless and ambitious duke of Bologna, leader of 1200 horse in the allied Christian army. He was Godfrey's brother, and very like him, but not so tall.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
¤¤¤ He is introduced by sir Walter Scott in Count Robert of Paris.
Baldwin. So the Ass is called in the beast-epic entitled Reynard the Fox (the word means "bold friend"). In pt. iii. he is called "Dr." Baldwin (1498).
Bald´win, tutor of Rollo ("the bloody brother") and Otto, dukes of Normandy, and sons of Sophia. Baldwin was put to death by Rollo, because Hamond slew Gisbert the chancellor with an axe and not with a sword. Rollo said that Baldwin deserved death "for teaching Hamond no better."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Bloody Brother (1639).
Baldwin (Count), a fatal example of paternal self-will. He doted on his elder son Biron, but because he married against his inclination, disinherited him, and fixed all his love on Carlos his younger son. Biron fell at the siege of Candy, and was supposed to be dead. His wife Isabella mourned for him seven years, and being on the point of starvation, applied to the count for aid, but he drove her from his house as a dog. Villeroy (2 syl.) married her, but Biron returned the following day. Carlos, hearing of his brother's return, employed ruffians to murder him, and then charged Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeached, Carlos was arrested, and Isabella, going mad, killed herself. Thus was the wilfulness of Baldwin the source of infinite misery. It caused the death of his two sons, as well as of his daughter-in-law.—Thomas Southern, The Fatal Marriage (1692).
Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury (1184-1190), introduced by sir W. Scott in his novel called The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Baldwinde Oyley, esquire of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert (Preceptor of the Knights Templars).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Balin (Sir), or "Balin le Savage," knight of the two swords. He was a Northumberland knight, and being taken captive, was imprisoned six months by king Arthur. It so happened that a damsel girded with a sword came to Camelot at the time of sir Balin's release, and told the king that no man could draw it who was tainted with "shame, treachery, or guile." King Arthur and all his knights failed in the attempt, but sir Balin drew it readily. The damsel begged him for the sword, but he refused to give it to any one. Whereupon the damsel said to him, "That sword shall be thy plague, for with it shall ye slay your best friend, and it shall also prove your own death." Then the Lady of the Lake came to the king, and demanded the sword, but sir Balin cut off her head with it, and was banished from the court. After various adventures he came to a castle where the custom was for every guest to joust. He was accommodated with a shield, and rode forth to meet his antagonist. So fierce was the encounter that both the combatants were slain, but Balin lived just long enough to learn that his antagonist was his dearly beloved brother Balan, and both were buried in one tomb.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 27-44 (1470).
¤¤¤ "The Book of Sir Balin le Savage" is part i. ch. 27 to 44 (both inclusive) of sir T. Malory's History of Prince Arthur.
Balinverno, one of the leaders in Agramant's allied army.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Ba´liol (Edward), usurper of Scotland, introduced in Redgauntlet, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).
Ba´liol (Mrs.), friend of Mr. Croftangry, in the introductory chapter of The Fair Maid of Perth, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Henry IV.).
Ba´liol (Mrs. Martha Bethune), a lady of quality and fortune, who had a house called Baliol Lodging, Canongate, Edinburgh. At her death she left to her cousin Mr. Croftangry two series of tales called The Chronicles of Canongate (q.v.), which he published.—Sir W. Scott, The Highland Widow (introduction, 1827).
Balisar´da, a sword made in the garden of Orgagna by the sorceress Faleri´na; it would cut through even enchanted substances, and was given to Roge´ro for the express purpose of "dealing Orlando's death."—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, xxv. 15 (1516).
He knew with Balisarda's lightest blows,Nor helm, nor shield, nor cuirass could avail,
Nor strongly tempered plate, nor twisted mail.
Book xxiii.
Baliverso, the basest knight in the Saracen army.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, (1516).
Balk or Balkh ("to embrace"), Omurs, surnamed Ghil-Shah ("earth's king"), founder of the Paishdadian dynasty. He travelled abroad to make himself familiar with the laws and customs of other lands. On his return he met his brother, and built on the spot of meeting a city, which he called Balk; and made it the capital of his kingdom.
Balkis, the Arabian name of the queen of Sheba, who went from the south to witness the wisdom and splendor of Solomon. According to the Koran she was a fire-worshipper. It is said that Solomon raised her to his bed and throne. She is also called queen of Saba or Aaziz.—Al Korân, xxvi. (Sale's notes).
She fancied herself already more potent thanBalkis, and pictured to her imagination the genii
falling prostrate at the foot of her throne.—W.
Beckford, Vathek.
Balkis queen of Sheba or Saba. Solomon being told that her legs were covered with hair "like those of an ass," had the presence-chamber floored with glass laid over running water filled with fish. When Balkis approached the room, supposing the floor to be water, she lifted up her robes and exposed her hairy ankles, of which the king had been rightly informed.—Jallalo'dinn.
Ballenkeiroch (Old), a Highland chief and old friend of Fergus M'Ivor.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, Greorge II.).
Balmung, the sword of Siegfried forged by Wieland the smith of the Scandinavian gods. In a trial of merit Wieland cleft Amilias (a brother smith) to the waist; but so fine was the cut that Amilias was not even conscious of it till he attempted to move, when he fell asunder into two pieces.—Niebelungen Lied.
Balrud´dery (The laird of), a relation of Godfrey Bertram, laird of Ellangowan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Baltha´zar, a merchant, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1593).
Baltha´zar, a name assumed by Portia, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (1598).
Baltha´zar, servant to Romeo, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1597).
Baltha´zar, servant to don Pedro, in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing (1600).
Baltha´zar, one of the three "kings" shown in Cologne Cathedral as one of the "Magi" led to Bethlehem by the guiding star. The word means "lord of treasures." The names of the other two are Melchior ("king of light"), and Gaspar or Caspar ("the white one"). Klopstock, in The Messiah, makes six "Wise Men," and none of the names are like these three.
Balthazar, father of Juliana, Volantê, and Zam´ora. A proud, peppery, and wealthy gentleman. His daughter Juliana marries the duke of Aranza; his second daughter the count Montalban; and Zamora marries signor Rinaldo.—J. Tobin, The Honeymoon (1804).
Balue (Cardinal), in the court of Louis XI. of France (1420-1491), introduced by sir W. Scott in Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Balugantes (4 syl.), leader of the men from Leon, in Spain, and in alliance with Agramant.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Balveny (Lord), kinsman of the earl of Douglas.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Balwhidder [Bal´wither], a Scotch presbyterian pastor, filled with all the old-fashioned national prejudices, but sincere, kind-hearted, and pious. He is garrulous and loves his joke, but is quite ignorant of the world, being "in it but not of it."—Galt, Annals of the Parish (1821).
The Rev. Micah Balwhidder is a fine representationof the primitive Scottish pastor; diligent,
blameless, loyal, and exemplary in his life, but
without the fiery zeal and "kirk-filling eloquence"
of the supporters of the Covenant.—R.
Chambers, English Literature, ii. 591.
Baly, one of the ancient and gigantic kings of India, who founded the city called by his name. He redressed wrongs, upheld justice, was generous and truthful, compassionate and charitable, so that at death he became one of the judges of hell. His city in time got overwhelmed with the encroaching ocean, but its walls were not overthrown, nor were the rooms encumbered with the weeds and alluvial of the sea. One day a dwarf, named Vamen, asked the mighty monarch to allow him to measure three of his own paces for a hut to dwell in. Baly smiled, and bade him measure out what he required. The first pace of the dwarf compassed the whole earth, the second the whole heavens, and the third the infernal regions. Baly at once perceived that the dwarf was Vishnû, and adored the present deity. Vishnû made the king "Governor of Pad´alon" or hell, and permitted him once a year to revisit the earth, on the first full moon of November.
Baly builtA city, like the cities of the gods,
Being like a god himself. For many an age
Hath ocean warred against his palaces,
Till overwhelmed they lie beneath the waves,
Not overthrown.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xv. 1 (1809).
Ban, king of Benwick [Brittany], father of sir Launcelot, and brother of Bors king of Gaul. This "shadowy king of a still more shadowy kingdom" came over with his royal brother to the aid of Arthur, when, at the beginning of his reign, the eleven kings leagued against him (pt. i. 8).
Yonder I see the most valiant knight of theworld, and the man of most renown, for such
two brethren as are king Ban and king Bors are
not living.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince
Arthur, i. 14 (1470).
Banastar (Humfrey), brought up by Henry duke of Buckingham, and advanced by him to honor and wealth. He professed to love the duke as his dearest friend; but when Richard III. offered £1000 reward to any one who would deliver up the duke, Banastar betrayed him to John Mitton, sheriff of Shropshire, and he was conveyed to Salisbury, where he was beheaded. The ghost of the duke prayed that Banastar's eldest son, "reft of his wits might end his life in a pigstye;" that his second son might "be drowned in a dyke" containing less than "half a foot of water;" that his only daughter might be a leper; and that Banastar himself might "live in death and die in life."—Thomas Sackville, A Mirrour for Magistraytes ("The Complaynt," 1587).
Banberg (The Bishop of), introduced in Donnerhugel's narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Banbury Cheese. Bardolph calls Slender a "Banbury cheese" (Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 1); and in Jack Drum's Entertainment we read, "You are like a Banbury cheese, nothing but paring." The Banbury cheese alluded to was a milk cheese, about an inch in thickness.
Bandy-legged, Armand Gouffé (1775-1845), also called Le panard du dix-neuvième siecle. He was one of the founders of the "Caveau moderne."
Banks, a farmer, the great terror of old mother Sawyer, the witch of Edmonton.—The Witch of Edmonton (by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford, 1658).
Banquo, a Scotch general of royal extraction, in the time of Edward the Confessor. He was murdered at the instigation of king Macbeth, but his son Fleance escaped, and from this Fleance descended a race of kings who filled the throne of Scotland, ending with James I. of England, in whom were united the two crowns. The witches on the blasted heath hailed Banquo as—
(1) Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.(2) Not so happy, yet much happier.
(3) Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
Shakespeare, Macbeth, act i. sc. 3 (1606).
(Historically no such person as Banquo ever existed, and therefore Fleance was not the ancestor of the house of Stuart.)
Ban´shee, a tutelary female spirit. Every chief family of Ireland has its banshee, who is supposed to give it warning of approaching death or danger.
Bantam (Angela Cyrus), grand-master of the ceremonies at "Ba-ath," and a very mighty personage in the opinion of the élite of Bath.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Bap, a contraction of Bap'liomet, i.e. Mahomet. An imaginary idol or symbol which the Templars were accused of employing in their mysterious religious rites. It was a small human figure cut in stone, with two heads, one male and the other female, but all the rest of the figure was female. Specimens still exist.
Bap'tes (2 syl.), priests of the goddess Cotytto, whose midnight orgies were so obscene as to disgust even the very goddess of obscenity. (Greek, bapto, "to baptize," because these priests bathed themselves in the most effeminate manner.)
Baptis'ta, a rich gentleman of Padua, father of Kathari'na "the shrew," and Bianca.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).
Baptisti Damiotti, a Paduan quack, who shows in the enchanted mirror a picture representing the clandestine marriage and infidelity of sir Philip Forester.—Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.).
Bar'abas, the faithful servant of Ealph Lascours, captain of the Uran'ia. His favorite expression is "I am afraid;" but he always acts most bravely when he is afraid. (See BARRABAS.)—E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).
Bar'adas (Count), the king's favorite, first gentleman of the chamber, and one of the conspirators to dethrone Louis XIII., kill Richelieu, and place the duc d'Orleans on the throne of France. Baradas loved Julie, but Julie married the chevalier Adrien de Mauprat. When Richelieu fell into disgrace, the king made count Baradas his chief minister, but scarcely had he so done when a despatch was put into his hand revealing the conspiracy, and Richelieu ordered Baradas' instant arrest.—Lord Lytton, Richelieu (1839).
Barak el Hadgi, the fakir´, an emissary from the court of Hyder Ali.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
Barbara, the widowed heroine whose vacillations of devotion to her buried husband and the living cousin who might be his twin, furnish the motif for Amelie Rives's story, The Quick or the Dead? (1888).
Barbara Floyd, lonely-hearted wife in George Fleming's (Julia C. Fletcher) novel, The Head of Medusa. The scene of the story is laid in modern Rome; Barbara, married to an Italian nobleman, has an inner and purer life with which the corruptions of the gay capital meddle not.—(1880.)
Barbara Frietchie, heroic old woman of Frederick, Maryland, who took up the flag the men had hauled down at the command of Stonewall Jackson.—John Greenleaf Whittier, Barbara Frietchie (1864).
Barbara Frietchie's work is o'erAnd the Rebel rides on his raids no more.
Honor to her! and let a tear
Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.
Over Barbara Frietchie's grave
Flag of Freedom and Union wave.
Peace and order and beauty draw
Bound thy symbol of light and law,
And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick Town.
Barbara Holabird, the rattle-pate of the Holabird sisters in A.D.T. Whitney's We Girls. She coins words and bakes lace-edged griddle-cakes and contrives rhymes, and tells on the last page of the book how it was made. "We rushed in, especially I, Barbara, and did little bits, and so it came to be a Song o' Sixpence, and at last four Holabirds were 'singing in the pie.'"—(1868.)
Barbara's History, story of young, untrained but bright and attractive girl who marries a man of the world. The conflict of two strong, wayward natures is long and fierce, resulting in temporary separation, and the discipline of sorrow and absence in reconciliation.—Amelia B. Edwards.
Barbarossa ("red beard"), surname of Frederick I. of Germany (1121-1190). It is said that he never died, but is still sleeping in Kyffhauserberg in Thuringia. There he sits at a stone table with his six knights, waiting the "fulness of time," when he will come from his cave to rescue Germany from bondage, and give her the foremost place of all the-world. His beard has already grown through the table-slab, but must wind itself thrice round the table before his second advent. (See MANSUR, CHARLEMAGNE, ABTHUR, DESMOND, SEBASTIAN I., to whom similar legends are attached.)
Like Barbarossa, who sits in a cave,Taciturn, sombre, sedate, and grave.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
Barbarossa, a tragedy by John Brown. This is not Frederick Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany (1121-1190), but Horne Barbarossa, the corsair (1475-1519). He was a renegade Greek, of Mitylenê, who made himself master of Algeria, which was for a time subject to Turkey. He killed the Moorish king; tried to cut off Selim the son, but without success; and wanted to marry Zaphi'ra, the king's widow, who rejected his suit with scorn, and was kept in confinement for seven years. Selim returned unexpectedly to Algiers, and a general rising took place; Barbarossa was slain by the insurgents; Zaphira was restored to the throne; and Selim her son married Irenê the daughter of Barbarossa (1742).
Bar'bara (St.), the patron saint of arsenals. When her father was about to strike off her head, she was killed by a flash of lightning.
Barbason, the name of a demon. Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer well; Barbason well; yet they are ... the names of fiends.—Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2.
I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me.—HenryV. ii. 1.
Bar'bason, the name of a demon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 2 (1596).
I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me.—Shakespeare,Henry V. act ii. sc. I (1599).
Barby Elster, sharp-tongued and sweet-hearted "help" in the Rossiter family in Susan Warner's Queechy. She considers herself her employers' more-than-equal and loses no opportunity of expressing the conviction.—(1852.)
Barclay of Ury, an Aberdeen laird, persecuted
as a "Quaker coward" by a mob
of former friends and dependents, offers
no resistance and refuses defence from the
sword of an ancient henchman.
"Is the sinful servant more
Than his gracious Lord who bore
Bonds and stripes in Jewry?"
J.G. Whittier, Barclay of Ury.
Barco'chebah, an antichrist.
Shared the fall of the antichrist Barcochebar.—ProfessorSelwin, Ecce Homo.
Bard of Avon, Shakespeare, born and buried at Stratford-upon-Avon (1564-1616).
Bard of Ayrshire, Robert Burns, a native of Ayrshire (1759-1796).
Bard of Hope, Thomas Campbell, author of The Pleasures of Hope (1777-1844).
Bard of the Imagination, Mark Akenside, author of The Pleasures of the Imagination (1721-1770).
Bard of Memory, S. Rogers, author of The Pleasures of Memory (1762-1855).
Bard of Olney, W. Cowper [Coo'-per], who lived for many years at Olney, in Bucks (1731-1800).
Bard of Prose, Boccaccio.
He of the hundred tales of love.Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 56 (1818).
Bard of Rydal Mount, William Wordsworth, who lived at Rydal Mount; also called "Poet of the Excursion," from his principal poem (1770-1850).
Bard of Twickenham, Alexander Pope, who lived at Twickenham (1688-1744).
Bardell (Mrs.), landlady of "apartments for single gentlemen" in Groswell Street. Here Mr. Pickwick lodged for a time. She persuaded herself that he would make her a good second husband, and on one occasion was seen in his arms by his three friends. Mrs. Bardell put herself in the hands of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (two unprincipled lawyers), who vamped up a case against Mr. Pickwick of "breach of promise," and obtained a verdict against the defendant. Subsequently Messrs. Dodson and Fogg arrested their own client, and lodged her in the Fleet.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Barde'sanist (4 syl.), a follower of Barde'san, founder of a Gnostic sect in the second century.
Bardo Bardi, aged blind scholar, father of Romola. She is his colaborer in the studies he pursues despite his infirmity.—George Eliot, Romola.
Bar'dolph, corporal of captain sir John Falstaff, in 1 and 2 Henry IV. and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Henry V. he is promoted to lieutenant, and Nym is corporal. Both are hanged. Bardolph is a bravo, but great humorist; he is a lowbred, drunken swaggerer, wholly without principle, and always poor. His red, pimply nose is an everlasting joke with sir John and others. Sir John in allusion thereto calls Bardolph "The Knight of the Burning Lamp." He says to him, "Thou art our admiral, and bearest the lantern in the poop." Elsewhere he tells the corporal he had saved him a "thousand marks in links and torches, walking with him in the night betwixt tavern and tavern."—Shakespeare.
We are much of the mind of Falstaff's tailor.We must have better assurance for sir John than
Bardolph's.—Macaulay.
(The reference is to 2 Henry IV. act i. sc. 2. When Falstaff asks Page, "What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak and slops!" Page replies, "He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph. He ... liked not the security.")
Bardon (Hugh), the scout-master in the troop of lieutenant Fitzurse.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Barefoot Boy, reminiscence of the author's own boyhood in Whittier's poem, The Barefoot Boy.
Prince thou art,—the grown-up manOnly is republican.
Barère (2 syl.), an advocate of Toulouse, called "The Anacreon of the Guillotine." He was president of the Convention, a member of the Constitutional Committee, and chief agent in the condemnation to death of Louis XVI. As member of the Committee of Public Safety, he decreed that "Terror must be the order of the day." In the first empire Barère bore no public part, but at the restoration he was banished from France, and retired to Brussels (1755-1841).
The filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo of thefiction was a noble creature compared with the
Barère of history.—Lord Macaulay.
Barfüsle, pretty German child, left an orphan at a tender age, and cast upon the world. She maintains herself reputably and resists many temptations until she is happily married.—Bernard Auerbach, Barfüsle.
Bar'guest, a goblin armed with teeth and claws. It would sometimes set up in the streets a most fearful scream in the "dead waste and middle of the night." The faculty of seeing this monster was limited to a few, but those who possessed it could by the touch communicate the "gift" to others.—Fairy Mythology, North of England.
Bar'gulus, an Illyrian robber or pirate.
Bargulus, Illyrius latro, de quo est apud Theopompummagnas opes habuit.—Cicero, De Officiis,
ii. 11.
Baricondo, one of the leaders of the Moorish army. He was slain by the duke of Clarence.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Barker (.Mr.), friend to Sowerberry. Mrs. Barker, his wife.—W. Brough, A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock.
Bar'kis, the carrier who courted [Clara] Peggot'ty, by telling David Copperfield when he wrote home to say to his nurse "Barkis is willin'." Clara took the hint and became Mrs. Barkis.
He dies when the tide goes out, confirming thesuperstition that people can't die till the tide goes
out, or be born till it is in. The last words he
utters are "Barkis is willin'."—C. Dickens, David
Copperfield, xxx. (1849).
(Mrs. Quickly says of sir John Falstaff, "'A parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at the turning o' the tide."—Henry V. act ii. sc. 3, 1599.)
Bar'laham and Josaphat, the heroes and title of a minnesong, the object of which was to show the triumph of Christian doctrines over paganism. Barlaham is a hermit who converts Josaphat, an Indian prince. This "lay" was immensely popular in the Middle Ages, and has been translated into every European language.—Rudolf of Ems (a minnesinger, thirteenth century).
Barley (Bill), Clara's father. Chiefly remarkable for drinking rum, and thumping on the floor.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Barleycorn (Sir John), Malt-liquor personified. His neighbors vowed that sir John should die, so they hired ruffians to "plough him with ploughs and bury him;" this they did, and afterwards "combed him with harrows and thrust clods on his head," but did not kill him. Then with hooks and sickles they "cut his legs off at the knees," bound him like a thief, and left him "to wither with the wind," but he died not. They now "rent him to the heart," and having "mowed him in a mow," sent two bravos to beat him with clubs, and they beat him so sore that "all his flesh fell from his bones," but yet he died not. To a kiln they next hauled him, and burnt him like a martyr, but he survived the burning. They crushed him between two stones, but killed him not. Sir John bore no malice for this ill-usage, but did his best to cheer the flagging spirits even of his worst persecutors.
This song, from the English Dancing-Master (1651), is generally
ascribed to Robert Burns, but all that the Scotch poet did was slightly
to alter parts of it. The same may be said of "Auld lang Syne," "Ca' the
Yowes," "My Heart is Sair for Somebody," "Green grow the Rashes, O!" and
several other songs, set down to the credit of Burns.
Barlow, the favorite archer of Henry VIII. He was jocosely created by the merry monarch "Duke of Shoreditch," and his two companions "Marquis of Islington" and "Earl of Pancras."
Barlow (Billy), a jester, who fancied himself a "mighty potentate." He was well known in the east of London, and died in Whitechapel workhouse. Some of his sayings were really witty, and some of his attitudes truly farcical.
Bar'mecide. Schacabac "the hare-lipped," a man in the greatest distress, one day called on the rich Barmecide, who in merry jest asked him to dine with him. Barmecide first washed in hypothetical water, Schacabac followed his example. Barmecide then pretended to eat of various dainties, Schacabac did the same, and praised them highly, and so the "feast" went on to the close. The story says Barmecide was so pleased that Schacabac had the good sense and good temper to enter into the spirit of the joke without resentment, that he ordered in a real banquet, at which Schacabac was a welcome guest.—Arabian Nights ("The Barber's Sixth Brother").
Bar'nabas (St.), a disciple of Gamaliel, cousin of St. Mark, and fellow-laborer with St. Paul. He was martyred at Salamis, A.D. 63. St. Barnabas' Day is June 11.—Acts iv. 36, 37.
Bar'naby (Widow), the title and chief character of a novel by Mrs. Trollope (1839). The widow is a vulgar, pretentious husband-hunter, wholly without principle. Widow Barnaby has a sequel called The Barnabys in America, or The Widow Married, a satire on America and the Americans (1840).
Barnaby Rudge, a half-witted whose companion is a raven. He is enticed into joining the Gordon rioters.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Budge (1841). (See RUDGE.)
Barnacle, brother of old Nicholas Cockney, and guardian of Priscilla Tomboy of the West Indies. Barnacle is a tradesman of the old school, who thinks the foppery and extravagance of the "Cockney" school inconsistent with prosperous shop-keeping. Though brusque and even ill-mannered, he has good sense and good discernment of character.—The Romp (altered from Bickerstaff's Love in the City).
Barnadine, malefactor, condemned to death, "who will not die that day, upon any man's persuasion."—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.
Barnes (1 syl.), servant to colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Barney, a repulsive Jew, who waited on the customers at the low public-house frequented by Fagin and his associates. Barney always spoke through his nose.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Barn'stable (Lieutenant), in the British navy, in love with Kate Plowden, niece of colonel Howard of New York. The alliance not being approved of, Kate is removed from England to America, but Barnstable goes to America to discover her retreat. In this he succeeds, but being seized as a spy, is commanded by colonel Howard to be hung to the yardarm of an American frigate called the Alacrity. Scarcely is the young man led off, when the colonel is informed that Barnstable is his own son, and he arrives at the scene of execution just in time to save him. Of course after this he marries the lady of his affection.—E. Fitzball, The Pilot (a burletta).
Barnwell (George), the chief character and title of a tragedy by George Lillo. George Barnwell is a London apprentice, who falls in love with Sarah Millwood of Shoreditch, who leads him astray. He first robs his master of £200. He next robs his uncle, a rich grazier at Ludlow, and murders him. Having spent all the money of his iniquity, Sarah Millwood turns him off and informs against him. Both are executed (1732).
For many years this play was acted on boxing-night, as a useful
lesson to London apprentices. Baron (The old English), a romance
by Clara Reeve (1777).
Bar'rabas, the rich "Jew of Malta." He is simply a human monster, who kills in sport, poisons whole nunneries, and invents infernal machines. Shakespeare's "Shylock" has a humanity in the very whirlwind of his resentment, but Marlowe's "Barrabas" is a mere ideal of that "thing" which Christian prejudice once deemed a Jew. (See BARABAS.)—Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (1586).
Bar'rabas, the famous robber and murderer set free instead of Christ by desire of the Jews. Called in the New Testament Barab'has. Marlowe calls the word "Barrabas" in his Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare says:
"Would any of the stock of Bar'rabasHad been her husband, rather than a Christian."
Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1 (1598).
Barry Cornwall, the nom de plume of Bryan Waller Procter. It is an imperfect anagram of his name (1788-1874).
Barsad (John), alias Solomon Pross, a spy.
He had an aquiline nose, but not straight,having a peculiar inclination towards the left
cheek; expression, therefore, sinister.—C. Dickens,
A Tale of Two Cities, ii. 16 (1859).
Barsis'a (Santon), in The Guardian, the basis of the story called The Monk, by M. G. Lewis (1796).
Barston, alias captain Fenwicke, a jesuit and secret correspondent of the conntess of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Barthol'omew (Brother), guide of the two Philipsons on their way to Strasburg.
—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Bartholomew (St.). His day is August 24, and his symbol a knife, in allusion to the knife with which he is said to have been flayed alive.
Bartley Hubbard, the "smart" newspaper-man in A Modern Instance, by William Dean Howells (1883). He also plies his trade and exhibits his assurance in The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).
Bartoldo, a rich old miser, who died of fear and want of sustenance. Fazio rifled his treasures, and on the accusation of his own wife was tried and executed.—Dean Milman, Fazio (1815).
Bartoldo, same as Bertoldo (q.v.).
Bartoli (in French Barthole, better known, however, by the Latin form of the name, Bartolus) was the most famous master of the dialectical school of jurists (1313-1356). He was born at Sasso Ferrata in Italy, and was professor of Civil Law at the University of Perugia. His reputation was at one time immense, and his works were quoted as authority in nearly every European court. Hence the French proverb, applied to a well-read lawyer, He knows his "Barthole" as well as a Cordelier his "Dormi" (an anonymous compilation of sermons for the use of the Cordelier monks). Another common French expression, Résolu comme Barthole ("as decided as Barthole"), is a sort of punning allusion to his Resolutiones Bartoli, a work in which the knottiest questions are solved with ex cathedra peremptoriness.
Bar'tolus, a covetous lawyer, husband of Amaran'ta.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).
Barton (Sir Andrew), a Scotch sea-officer, who had obtained in 1511 letters of marque for himself and his two sons, to make reprisals upon the subjects of Portugal. The council-board of England, at which the earl of Surrey presided, was daily pestered by complaints from British merchants and sailors against Barton, and at last it was decided to put him down. Two ships were, therefore, placed under the commands of sir Thomas and sir Edward Howard, an engagement took place, and sir Andrew Barton was slain, bravely fighting. A ballad in two parts, called "Sir Andrew Barton," is inserted in Percy's Reliques, II. ii. 12.
Bartram, the lime-burner, an obtuse, middle-aged clown in Ethan Brand by Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he finds the suicide's skeleton in the kiln, the heart whole within the ribs, he congratulates himself that "his kiln is half a bushel richer for him" (1846).
Baruch. Dites, donc, avez-vous lu Baruch? Said when a person puts an unexpected question, or makes a startling proposal. It arose thus: Lafontaine went one day with Racine to tenebrae, and was given a Bible. He turned at random to the "Prayer of the Jews," in Baruch, and was so struck with it that he said aloud to Racine, "Dites, donc, who was this Baruch? Why, do you know, man, he was a fine genius;" and for some days afterwards the first question he asked his friends was, Diles, done, Mons., avez-vous lu Baruch?
Barzil'lai (3 syl.), the duke of Ormond, a friend and firm adherent of Charles II. As Barzillai assisted David when he was expelled by Absalom from his kingdom, so Ormond assisted Charles II. when he was in exile.
Barzillai, crowned with honors and with years,...In exile with his god-like prince he mourned,
For him he suffered, and with him returned.
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i.
Basa-Andre, the wild woman, a sorceress, married to Basa-Jaun, a sort of vampire. Basa-Andre sometimes is a sort of land mermaid (a beautiful lady who sits in a cave combing her locks with a golden comb). She hates church bells. (See BASA-JAUN.)
Basa-Jaun, a wood-sprite, married to Basa-Andre, a sorceress. Both hated the sound of church bells. Three brothers and their sister agreed to serve him, but the wood-sprite used to suck blood from the finger of the girl, and the brothers resolved to kill him. This they accomplished. The Basa-Andre induced the girl to put a tooth into each of the footbaths of her brothers, and lo! they became oxen. The girl crossing a bridge saw Basa-Andre, and said if she did not restore her brothers she would put her into a red-hot oven, so Basa-Andre told the girl to give each brother three blows on the back with a hazel wand, and on so doing they were restored to their proper forms.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends, 49 (1877).
Bas Bleu, nickname applied to literary women in the days succeeding the French Revolution, made familiar in America by J. K. Paulding's Azure Hose.
Bashaba, sachem in J. G.L. Whittier's poem, The Bridal of Pennacock. His beautiful daughter, scorned by the chief to whom Bashaba gave her in marriage, and detained against her will by her angry father, steals away by night in a canoe and is drowned in a vain attempt
To seek the wigwam of her chief once more.Bashful Man (The), a comic drama by
W. T. Moncrieff. Edward Blushington, a young man just come into a large fortune, is so bashful and shy that life is a misery to him. He dines at Friendly Hall, and makes all sorts of ridiculous blunders. His college chum, Frank Friendly, sends word to say that he and his sister Dinah, with sir Thomas and lady Friendly, will dine with him at Blushington House. After a few glasses of wine, Edward loses his shyness, makes a long speech, and becomes the accepted suitor of Dinah Friendly.
Basil, the blacksmith of Grand Pré, in Acadia (now Nova Scotia), and father of Gabriel the betrothed of Evangeline. When, the colony was driven into exile in 1713 by George II., Basil settled in Louisiana, and greatly prospered; but his son led a wandering life, looking for Evangeline, and died in Pennsylvania of the plague.—Longfellow, Evangeline (1849).
Basil March, a clever, cynical, and altogether charming man of letters who takes one of the leading parts in William Dean Howells's Their Wedding Journey. A Chance Acquaintance, and A Hazard of New Fortunes.
Ba'sile (2 syl.), a calumniating, niggardly bigot in Le Mariage de Figaro, and again in Le Barbier de Séville, both by Beaumarchais. Basile and Tartuffe are the two French incarnations of religious hypocrisy. The former is the clerical humbug, and the latter the lay religious hypocrite. Both deal largely in calumny, and trade in slander.
Basilis'co, a bully and a braggart, in Solyman and Perseda (1592). Shakespeare has made Pistol the counterpart of Basilisco.
Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.Shakespeare, King John, act i. sc. 1 (1596).
(That is, "my boasting like Basilisco has made me a knight, good mother.")
Basilisk, supposed to kill with its gaze the person who looked on it. Thus Henry VI. says to Suffolk, "Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent gazer with thy sight."
Natus in ardente Lydiæ basiliscus arena,Vulnerat aspectu, luminibusque nocet.
Mantuanus.
Basilius, a neighbor of Quiteria, whom he loved from childhood, but when grown up the father of the lady forbade him the house, and promised Quiteria in marriage to Camacho, the richest man of the vicinity. On their way to church they passed Basilius, who had fallen on his sword, and all thought he was at the point of death. He prayed Quiteria to marry him, "for his soul's peace," and as it was deemed a mere ceremony, they were married in due form. Up then started the wounded man, and showed that the stabbing was only a ruse, and the blood that of a sheep from the slaughter-house. Camacho gracefully accepted the defeat, and allowed the preparations for the general feast to proceed.
Basilius is strong and active, pitches the baradmirably, wrestles with amazing dexterity, and
is an excellent cricketer. He runs like a buck,
leaps like a wild goat, and plays at skittles like
a wizard. Then he has a fine voice for singing,
he touches the guitar so as to make it speak, and
handles a foil as well as any fencer in Spain.—Cervantes,
Don Quixote, II. ii. 4 (1615).
Basrig or Bagsecg, a Scandinavian king, who with Halden or Halfdene (2 syl.) king of Denmark, in 871, made a descent on Wessex. In this year Ethelred fought nine pitched battles with the Danes. The first was the battle of Englefield, in Berkshire, lost by the Danes; the next was the battle of Beading, won by the Danes; the third was the famous battle of Æscesdun or Ashdune (now Ashton), lost by the Danes, and in which king Bagsecg was slain.
And Ethelred with them [the Danes] nine sundry fields that fought ...Then Reading ye regained, led by that valiant lord,
Where Basrig ye outbraved, and Halden sword to sword.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. (1613).
Next year (871) the Danes for the first time entered Wessex.... The first place they came to was Reading.... Nine great battles, besides smaller skirmishes, were fought this year, in some of which the English won, and in others the Danes. First, alderman Æthelwulf fought the Danes at Englefield, and beat them. Four days after that there was another battle at Reading ... where the Danes had the better of it, and Æthelwulf was killed. Four days afterwards there was another more famous battle at Æscesdun ... and king Æthelred fought against the two kings, and slew Bagsecg with his own hand.—E. A. Freeman, Old English History (1869); see Asser, Life of Alfred (ninth century).
Bassa'nio, the lover of Portia, successful in his choice of the three caskets, which awarded her to him as wife. It was for Bassanio that his friend Antonio borrowed 3000 ducats of the Jew Shylock, on the strange condition that if he returned the loan within three months no interest should be required, but if not, the Jew might claim a pound of Antonio's flesh for forfeiture.—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1598).
Bas'set (Count), a swindler and forger, who assumes the title of "count" to further his dishonest practices.—C. Cibber, The Provoked Husband (1728).
Bassia'nus, brother of Satur'nius emperor of Rome, in love with Lavin'ia daughter of Titus Andron'icus (properly Andronicus). He is stabbed by Deme'trius and Chiron, sons of Tam'ora queen of the Goths.—(?) Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus (1593).
Bassi'no (Count), the "perjured husband of Aurelia" slain by Alonzo.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Perjured Husband (1700).
Bassanio, a youth of noble birth but crippled fortunes, whose desire to win the hand of Portia, a rich heiress, is the moving spring of the action of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Portia's father has left three caskets, and has ordered in his will that his daughter is to marry only the man who chooses the casket that holds her portrait. That Bassanio may enter the list of Portia's suitors, his friend Antonio borrows money of Shylock, a Jew, who, out of hatred to the merchant, entraps him into pledging a pound of his flesh as surety for the loan. Bassanio marries Portia, but misfortune overtakes Antonio, he forfeits his bond, and his life is only saved by a quibble devised by Portia.
Bastard of Orleans, in Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 1, is Jean Dunois a natural son of Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI.
Bat (Dr.), naturalist in Cooper's Prairie, who mistakes his ass at night for a monster described in his note-book.
Bates (1 syl.), a soldier in the army of Henry V. He with Court and Williams are sentinals before the English camp at Agincourt, and the king disguised comes to them during the watch, and talks with them respecting the impending battle,—Shakespeare, Henry V.
Bates (Charley), generally called "Master Bates," one of Fagin's "pupils," training to be a pickpocket. He is always laughing uproariously, and is almost equal in artifice and adroitness to "The Artful Dodger" himself.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Bates (Frank), the friend of Whittle. A man of good plain sense, who tries to laugh the old beau out of his folly.—Garrick, The Irish Widow (1757).
Bath (King of), Richard Nash, generally called Beau Nash, master of-the ceremonies for fifteen years in that fashionable city (1674-1761).
Bath (The Maid of), Miss Linley, a beautiful and accomplished singer, who married Richard B. Sheridan, the statesman and dramatist.
Bath (The Wife of), one of the pilgrims travelling from Southwark to Canterbury, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. She tells her tale in turn, and chooses "Midas" for her subject (1388).
Bathsheba in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel is Louisa de Queronailles, a young French lady brought into England by the Duchess of Orleans, and who became the mistress of Charles II. The King made her Duchess of Portsmouth.
My father [Charles II.] whom with reverence I name ...Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old.
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, ii.
Bathsheba Everdeiie, handsome heiress of an English farmstead, beloved by two honest men and one knave. She marries the knave in haste, and repents it at leisure for years thereafter. Released by his death, she marries Gabriel Oak.—Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874).
Battar (Al), i.e. the trenchant, one of Mahomet's swords.
Battus, a shepherd of Arcadia. Having witnessed Mercury's theft of Apollo's oxen, he received a cow from the thief to ensure his secrecy; but, in order to test his fidelity, Mercury re-appeared soon afterwards, and offered him an ox and a cow if he would blab. Battus fell into the trap, and was instantly changed into a touchstone.
When Tantalus in hell sees store and starves;And senseless Battus for a touchstone serves.
Lord Brooke, Treatise on Monarchie, iv.
Bau'cis and Philemon, an aged Phrygian woman and her husband, who received Jupiter and Mercury hospitably when every one else in the place had refused to entertain them. For this courtesy the gods changed the Phrygians' cottage into a magnificent temple, and appointed the pious couple over it. They both died at the same time, according to their wish, and were converted into two trees before the temple.—Greek and Roman Mythology.
Baul'die (2 syl.), stable-boy of Joshua Geddes the quaker.—Sir W. Scott, Red-gauntlet (time, George III.).
Baul'die (2 syl.), the old shepherd in the introduction of the story called The Black Dwarf, by sir W. Scott (time, Anne).
Bavian Fool (The), one of the characters in the old morris-dance. He wore a red cap faced with yellow, a yellow "slabbering-bib," a blue doublet, red hose, and black shoes. He represents an overgrown baby, but was a tumbler, and mimicked the barking of a dog. The word Bavian is derived from bavon, a "bib for a slabbering child" (see Cotgrave, French Dictionary). In modern French bave means "drivel," "slabbering," and the verb baver "to slabber," but the bib is now called bavette. (See MORRIS-DANCE.)
Bavie'ca, the Cid's horse. He survived his master two years and a half, and was buried at Valencia. No one was ever allowed to mount him after the death of the Cid.
Bavius, any vile poet. (See MÆVIUS.)
Bawtry. Like the saddler of Baivtry, who was hanged for leaving his liquor. (Yorkshire Proverb.) It was customary for criminals on their way to execution to stop at a certain tavern in York for a "parting draught." The saddler of Bawtry refused to accept the liquor, and was hanged, whereas if he had stopped a few minutes at the tavern his reprieve, which was on the road, would have arrived in time to save him.
Ba'yard, Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche; born in France in 1475. He served under Charles VIII. and Louis XII.; bore a gallant part in the "Battle of the Spurs," and died in 1524 of wounds received while in action.
The British Bayard, sir Philip Sidney (1554-1584).
The Polish Bayard, prince Joseph Poniatowski (1763-1814).
The Bayard of India, sir James Outram (1803-1863). So called by sir Charles Napier.
Ba'yard, a horse of incredible speed, belonging to the four sons of Aymon. If only one mounted, the horse was of the ordinary size, but increased in proportion as two or more mounted. (The word means "bright bay color.")—Villeneuve, Les Quatre fils Aymon.
Bayard, the steed of Fitz-James.—Sir W. Scott, Lady of the Lake, v. 18 (1810).
Bayar'do, the famous steed of Rinaldo, which once belonged to Amadis of Gaul. It was found in a grotto by the wizard Malagigi, along with the sword Fusberta, both of which he gave to his cousin Rinaldo.
His color bay, and hence his name he drew—Bayardo called. A star of silver hue
Emblazed his front.
Tasso, Rinaldo, ii. 220 (1562).
Bayes (1 syl.), the chief character of The Rehearsal, a farce by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (1671). Bayes is represented as greedy of applause, impatient of censure, meanly obsequious, regardless of plot, and only anxious for claptrap. The character is meant for John Dryden.
C. Dibdin, in his History of the Stage, states that Mrs.
Mountford played "Bayes" "with more variety than had ever been thrown
into the part before."
severer trial, since it not only resigns all Bayes'
pretensions "to elevate the imagination," ... but
places its productions within the range
of [general] criticism.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Romance."
Baynard (Mr.), introduced in an episode in the novel called Humphrey Clinker, by Smollett (1771).
Bea'con (Tom), groom to Master Chiffinch (private emissary of Charles II.).—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Bea'gle (Sir Harry), a horsy country gentleman, who can talk of nothing but horses and dogs. He is wofully rustic and commonplace. Sir Harry makes a bargain with lord Trinket to give up Harriet to him in exchange for his horse. (See GOLDFINCH.)—George Colman, The Jealous Wife (1761).
Beak. Sir John Fielding was called "The Blind Beak" (died 1780). Bean Lean (Donald), alias Will Ruthven, a Highland robber-chief. He also appears disguised as a peddler on the roadside leading to Stirling. Waverley is rowed to the robber's cave and remains there all night.
Alice Bean, daughter of Donald Bean Lean, who attends on Waverley during a fever.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Bear (The Brave). Warwick is so called from his cognizance, which was a bear and ragged staff.
Bearcliff (Deacon), at the Gordon Arms or Kippletringam inn, where colonel Mannering stops on his return to England, and hears of Bertram's illness and distress.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Bearded (The). (1) Geoffrey the crusader. (2) Bouchard of the house of Montmorency. (3) Constantine IV. (648-685). (4) Master George Killingworthe of the court of Ivan the Terrible of Russia, whose beard (says Hakluyt) was five feet two inches long, yellow, thick, and broad. Sir Hugh Willoughby was allowed to take it in his hand.
The Bearded Master. Soc'ratês was so called by Persius (B.C. 468-399).
Handsome Beard, Baldwin IV. earl of Flanders (1160-1186).
John the Bearded, John Mayo, the German painter, whose beard touched the ground when he stood upright.
Bearnais (Le), Henri IV. of France, so called from his native province, Le Béarr. (1553-1610).
Beaton, the artist of Every Other Week, the story of which periodical is told in W. D. Howells's A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889).
His name was Beaton—Angus Beaton. His father was a Scotchman, but Beaton was born in Syracuse, New York, and it had taken only three years to obliterate many traces of native and ancestral manner in him. He wore his thick beard cut shorter than his moustache, and a little pointed; he stood with his shoulders well thrown back, and with a lateral curve of his person when he talked about art which would alone have carried conviction, even if he had not had a thick, dark bang coming almost to the brows of his mobile gray eyes, and had not spoken English with quick, staccato impulses, so as to give it the effect of epigrammatic and sententious French.
Be'atrice (3 syl.), a child eight years old, to whom Dantê at the age of nine was ardently attached. She was the daughter of Folco Portina'ri, a rich citizen of Florence. Beatrice married Simoni de Bardi, and died before she was twenty-four years old (1266-1290). Dantê married Gemma Donati, and his marriage was a most unhappy one. His love for Beatrice remained after her decease. She was the fountain of his poetic inspiration, and in his Divina Commedia he makes her his guide through paradise.
Dantê's Beatrice and Milton's Eve Were not drawn from their spouses you conceive. Byron, Don Juan, iii. 10 (1820).
(Milton, who married Mary Powell, of Oxfordshire, was as unfortunate in his choice as Dantê.)
Beatrice, wife of Ludov'ico Sforza.
Beatrice, daughter of Ferdinando king of Naples, sister of Leonora duchess of Ferrara, and wife of Mathias Corvi'nus of Hungary.
Beatrice, niece of Leonato governor of Messina, lively and light-hearted, affectionate and impulsive. Though wilful she is not wayward, though volatile she is not unfeeling, though teeming with wit and gaiety she is affectionate and energetic. At first she dislikes Benedick, and thinks him a flippant conceited coxcomb; but overhearing a conversation between her cousin Hero and her gentlewoman, in which Hero bewails that Beatrice should trifle with such deep love as that of Benedick, and should scorn so true and good a gentleman, she cries, "Sits the wind thus? then, farewell, contempt. Benedick, love on; I will requite you." This conversation of Hero's was a mere ruse, but Benedick had been caught by a similar trick played by Claudio, don Pedro, and Leonato. The result was they sincerely loved each other, and were married.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).
Beatrice Cenci, the Beautiful Parricide (q.v.).
Beatrice D'Este, canonized at Rome.
Beatrice Giorgini, an Italian contessa whose parents contract a secret marriage, an unequal match as to birth and fortune, and, dying young, one by violence, leave their child in charge of Betta, a faithful nurse, who takes her to her mother's mother, an old peasant. At her grandmother's death she becomes companion to a relative of her father; marries don Leonardo, her father's cousin and one of the witnesses to the secret marriage, and uses him to prove her legitimacy and his own treachery.—Mary Agnes Tincker, Two Coronets (1889).
Beau Brummel, George Bryan Brummel, son of a London pastry-cook, who became the fashion at the court of George III. and reigning favorite of the Prince of Wales. His story has been made the foundation of a brilliant American play by Clyde Fitch, in which Richard Mansfield takes the part of Brummel (1890).
Beau Clark, a billiard-maker at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was called "The Bean," assumed the name of Beauelerc, and paid his addresses to a protégée of lord Fife.
Beau Fielding, called "Handsome Fielding" by Charles II., by a play on his name, which was Hendrome Fielding. He died in Scotland Yard.
Beau Hewitt was the original of sir George Etherege's "Sir Fopling Flutter," in the comedy called The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676).
Beau Nash, Richard Nash, called also "King of Bath;" a Welsh gentleman, who for fifteen years managed the bath-rooms of Bath, and conducted the balls with unparalleled splendor and decorum. In his old age he sank into poverty (1674-1761).
Beau d'Orsay (Le), father of count d'Orsay, whom Byron calls "Jeune Cupidon."
Beau Seant, the Templars' banner, half white and half black; the white signified that the Templars were good to Christians, the black, that they were evil to infidels.
Beau Tibbs, in Goldsmith's Citizen of the World, a dandy noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty.
Beauclerk, Henry I. king of England (1068, 1100-1135).
Beaufort, the lover of Maria Wilding, whom he ultimately marries.—A. Murphy, The Citizen (a farce).
Beaujeu (Mons. le chevalier de), keeper of a gambling-house to which Dalgarno takes Nigel.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Beaujeu (Mons. le comte de), a French officer in the army of the Chevalier Charles Edward, the Pretender.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Beaumains ("big hands"), a nickname which sir Key (Arthur's steward) gave to Gareth when he was kitchen drudge in the palace. "He had the largest hands that ever man saw." Gareth was the son of king Lot and Margawse (king Arthur's sister). His brothers were sir Gaw'ain, sir Agravain, and sir Gaheris. Mordred was his half-brother.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 120 (1470).
His achievements are given under the name "Gareth" (q.v.).
Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, makes sir Key tauntingly address Lancelot thus, referring to Gareth:
Fair and fine, forsooth!Sir Fine-face, sir Fair-hands? But see thou to it
That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day,
Undo thee not.
Be it remembered that Key himself called Gareth "Beaumain" from the extraordinary size of the lad's hands; but the taunt put into the mouth of Key by the poet indicates that the lad prided himself on his "fine" face and "fair" hands, which is not the case. If "fair hands" is a translation of this nickname, it should be "fine hands," which bears the equivocal sense of big and beautiful.
Beau'manoir (Sir Lucas), Grand-Master of the Knights Templars.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Beaupre [Bo-pray'], son of judge Vertaigne (2 syl.) and brother of Lami'ra.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).
Beauté (2 syl). La dame de Beauté. Agnes Sorel, so called from the château de Beauté, on the banks of the Marne, given to her by Charles VII. (1409-1450).
Beautiful Corisande (3 syl). Diane comtesse de Guiche et de Grammont. She was the daughter of Paul d'Andouins, and married Philibert de Grammont, who died in 1580. The widow outlived her husband for twenty-six years. Henri IV., before he was king of Navarre, was desperately smitten by La belle Corisande, and when Henri was at war with the League, she sold her diamonds to raise for him a levy of 20,000 Gascons (1554-1620).
(The letters of Henri to Corisande are still preserved in the Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal, and were published in 1769.)
Beautiful Parricide (The), Beatrice Cenci, daughter of a Roman nobleman, who plotted the death of her father because he violently defiled her. She was executed in 1605. Shelley has a tragedy on the subject, entitled The Cenci. Guido Reni's portrait of Beatrice is well known through its numberless reproductions.
Beauty (Queen of). So the daughter of Schems'edeen' Mohammed, vizier of Egypt, was called. She married her cousin, Bed'redeen' Hassan, son of Nour'edeen' Ali, vizier of Basora.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête'), from Les Contes Marines of Mde. Villeneuvre (1740), the most beautiful of all nursery tales. A young and lovely woman saved her father by putting herself in the power of a frightful but kind-hearted monster, whose respectful affection and melancholy overcame her aversion to his ugliness, and she consented to become his bride. Being thus freed from enchantment, the monster assumed his proper form and became a young and handsome prince.
Beauty of Buttermere (3 syl.), Mary Robinson, who married John Hatfield, a heartless impostor executed for forgery at Carlisle in 1803.
Beaux' Stratagem (The), by George Farquhar. Thomas viscount Aimwell and his friend Archer (the two beaux), having run through all their money, set out fortune-hunting, and come to Lichfield as "master and man." Aimwell pretends to be very unwell, and as lady Bountiful's hobby is tending the sick and playing the leech, she orders him to be removed to her mansion. Here he and Dorinda (daughter of lady Bountiful) fall in love with each other, and finally marry. Archer falls in love with Mrs. Sullen, the wife of squire Sullen, who had been married fourteen months but agreed to a divorce on the score of incompatibility of tastes and temper. This marriage forms no part of the play; all we are told is that she returns to the roof of her brother, sir Charles Freeman (1707).
Bede (Adam and Seth), brothers, carpenters. Seth loves the fair gospeller Dinah Morris, but she marries Adam.—George Eliot, Adam Bede.
Bede (Cuthbert), the Rev. Edward Bradley, author of The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman (1857).
Bed'er ("the full moon"), son of Gulna'rê (3 syl.), the young king of Persia. As his mother was an under-sea princess, he was enabled to live under water as well as on land. Beder was a young man of handsome person, quick parts, agreeable manners, and amiable disposition. He fell in love with Giauha'rê, daughter of the king of Samandal, the most powerful of the under-sea empires, but Giauharê changed him into a white bird with red beak and red legs. After various adventures, Beder resumed his human form and married Giauharê.—Arabian Nights ("Beder and Giauharê").
Bed'ivere (Sir) or Bed'iver, king Arthur's butler and a knight of the Round Table. He was the last of Arthur's knights, and was sent by the dying king to throw his sword Excalibur into the mere. Being cast in, it was caught by an arm "clothed in white samite," and drawn into the stream.—Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur is a very close and in many parts a verbal rendering of the same tale in sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, iii. 168 (1470).
Bedloe (Augustus), an eccentric Virginian, an opium-eater, and easily hypnotized, in Edgar Allan Poe's Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1846).
Bedott (Widow). (See HEZEKIAH BEDOTT.)
Bed'ouins [Bed'.winz], nomadic tribes of Arabia. In common parlance, "the homeless street poor." Thus gutter-children are called "Bedouins."
Bed'redeen' Has'san of Baso'ra, son of Nour'edeen' Ali grand vizier of Basora, and nephew to Schems'edeen' Mohammed vizier of Egypt. His beauty was transcendent and his talents of the first order. When twenty years old his father died, and the sultan, angry with him for keeping from court, confiscated all his goods, and would have seized Bedredeen if he had not made his escape. During sleep he was conveyed by fairies to Cairo, and substituted for an ugly groom (Hunchback) to whom his cousin, the Queen of Beauty, was to have been married. Next day he was carried off by the same means to Damascus, where he lived for ten years as a pastry-cook. Search was made for him, and the search party, halting outside the city of Damascus, sent for some cheese-cakes. When the cheese-cakes arrived, the widow of Nouredeen declared that they must have been made by her son, for no one else knew the secret of making them, and that she herself had taught it to him. On hearing this, the vizier ordered Bedredeen to be seized, "for making cheese-cakes without pepper," and the joke was carried on till the party arrived at Cairo, when the pastry-cook prince was reunited to his wife, the Queen of Beauty.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Bedwin (Mrs.), housekeeper to Mr. Brownlow. A kind, motherly soul, who loves Oliver Twist most dearly.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Bee of Attica, Soph'oclês the dramatist (B.C. 495-405). The "Athenian Bee" was Plato the philosopher (B.C. 428-347).
The Bee of Attica rivalled Æschylus when inthe possession of the stage.—Sir W. Scott, The
Drama.
Beef'ington (Milor), introduced in The Rovers. Casimir is a Polish emigrant, and Beefington an English nobleman exiled by the tyranny of king John.—Anti-Jacobin.
"Will without power," said the sagacious Casimir,to Milor Beefington, "is like children playing
at soldiers."—Macaulay.
Be'elzelbub (4 syl.), called "prince of the devils" (Matt. xii. 24), worshipped at Ekron, a city of the Philistines (2 Kings i. 2), and made by Milton second to Satan.
One next himself in power and next in crime—Beëlzebub.Paradise Lost, i. 80 (1665).
Bee'nie (2 syl.), chambermaid at Old St. Ronan's inn, held by Meg Dods.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Bees (Telling the), a superstition still prevalent in some rural districts that the bees must be told at once if a death occur in the family, or every swarm will take flight. In Whittier's poem, Telling the Bees, the lover coming to visit his mistress sees the small servant draping the hives with black, and hears her chant:
"Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence,Mistress Mary is dead and gone."
Befa'na, the good fairy of Italian children. She is supposed to fill their shoes and socks with toys when they go to bed on Twelfth Night. Some one enters the bedroom for the purpose, and the wakeful youngters cry out, "Ecco la Befana!" According to legend, Befana was too busy with house affairs to take heed of the Magi when they went to offer their gifts, and said she would stop for their return; but they returned by another way, and Befana every Twelfth Night watches to see them. The name is a corruption of Epiphania.
Beg (Callum), page to Fergus M'Ivor, in Waverley, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).
Beg (Toshach), MacGillie Chattanach's second at the combat.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Beggar of Bethnal Green (The), a drama by S. Knowles (recast and produced, 1834). Bess, daughter of Albert, "the blind beggar of Bethnal Green," was intensely loved by Wilford, who first saw her in the streets of London, and subsequently, after diligent search, discovered her in the Queen's Arms inn at Romford. It turned out that her father Albert was brother to lord Woodville, and Wilford was his truant son, so that Bess was his cousin Queen Elizabeth sanctioned their nuptials, and took them under her own conduct. (See BLIND.)
Beggars (King of the), Bampfylde Moore Carew. He succeeded Clause Patch (1693, 1730-1770).
Beggar's Daughter (The), "Bessee the beggar's daughter of Bethnal Green," was very beautiful, and was courted by four suitors at once—a knight, a country squire, a rich merchant, and the son of an inn-keeper at Romford. She told them all they must first obtain the consent of her poor blind father, the beggar of Bethnal Green, and all slunk off except the knight, who went and asked leave to marry "the pretty Bessee." The beggar gave her for a "dot," £3000, and £100 for her trousseau, and informed the knight that he (the beggar) was Henry, son and heir of sir Simon de Montfort, and that he had disguised himself as a beggar to escape the vigilance of spies, who were in quest of all those engaged on the baron's side in the battle of Evesham.—Percy's Reliques, II. ii 10.
The value of money was about twelve times more than its present purchase value, so that the "dot" given was equal to £36,000.
Beggar's Opera (The), by Gay (1727). The beggar is captain Macheath. (For plot, see MACHEATH.)
Beggar's Petition (The), a poem by the Rev. Thomas Moss, minister of Brierly Hill and Trentham, in Staffordshire. It was given to Mr. Smart, the printer, of Wolverhampton.—Gentleman's Magazine, lxx. 41. Beguines [Beg-wins], the earliest of all lay societies of women united for religious purposes. Brabant says the order received its name from St. Begga, daughter of Pepin, who founded it at Namur', in 696; but it is more likely to be derived from le Bègue ("the Stammerer"); and if so, it was founded at Liège, in 1180.
Beh'ram, captain of the ship which was to convey prince Assad to the "mountain of fire," where he was to be offered up in sacrifice. The ship being driven on the shores of queen Margia'na's kingdom, Assad became her slave, but was recaptured by Behram's crew, and carried back to the ship. The queen next day gave the ship chase. Assad was thrown overboard, and swam to the city whence he started. Behram also was drifted to the same place. Here the captain fell in with the prince, and reconducted him to the original dungeon. Bosta'na, a daughter of the old fire-worshipper, taking pity on the prince, released him; and, at the end, Assad married queen Margiana, Bostana married prince Amgiad (half-brother of Assad), and Behram, renouncing his religion, became a mussulman, and entered the service of Amgiad, who became king of the city.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").
Bela'rius, a nobleman and soldier in the army of Cym'beline (3 syl.) king of Britain. Two villains having sworn to the king that he was "confederate with the Romans," he was banished, and for twenty years lived in a cave; but he stole away the two infant sons of the king out of revenge. Their names were Guide'rius and Arvir'agus. When these two princes were grown to manhood, a battle was fought between the Romans and Britons, in which Cymbeline was made prisoner, but Belarius coming to the rescue, the king was liberated and the Roman general in turn was made captive. Belarius was now reconciled to Cymbeline, and presenting to him the two young men, told their story; whereupon they were publicly acknowledged to be the sons of Cymbeline and princes of the realm.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Bel Bree, wide-awake country girl in The Other Girls, by A.D.T. Whitney. Dissatisfied with rustic life, she accompanies aunt Blin, a dressmaker, to Boston, works hard, is exposed to the temptations that beset a pretty girl in a city, but resists them. She is thrown out of work by the Boston fire, and "enters service" with satisfactory consequences to all concerned.
Belch (Sir Toby), uncle of Olivia the rich countess of Illyria. He is a reckless roysterer of the old school, and a friend of sir Andrew Ague-cheek.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).
Belcour, a foundling adopted by Mr. Belcour, a rich Jamaica merchant, who at death left him all his property. He was in truth the son of Mr. Stockwell, the clerk of Belcour, senior, who clandestinely married his master's daughter, and afterwards became a wealthy merchant. On the death of old Belcour, the young man came to England as the guest of his unknown father, fell in love with Miss Dudley, and married her. He was hot-blooded, impulsive, high-spirited, and generous, his very faults serving as a foil to his noble qualities; ever erring and repenting, offending and atoning for his offences.—Cumberland, The West Indian (1771).
Be'led, one of the six Wise Men of the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus. He was a king, who gave to his enemy who sought to dethrone him half of his kingdom, and thus turned a foe into a fast friend.—Klopstock, The Messiah, v. (1747).
Belerma, the lady whom Durandarte served for seven years as a knight-errant and peer of France. When, at length, he died at Roncesvalles, he prayed his cousin Montesi'nos to carry his heart to Belerma.
I saw a procession of beautiful damsels in mourning, with white turbans on their heads. In the rear came a lady with a veil so long that it reached the ground: her turban was twice as large as the largest of the others; her eyebrows were joined, her nose was rather flat, her mouth wide, but her lips of a vermilion color. Her teeth were thin-set and irregular, though very white; and she carried in her hand a fine linen cloth, containing a heart. Montesinos informed me that this lady was Belerma.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. ii. 6 (1615).
Bele'ses (3 syl.), a Chaldaean soothsayer and Assyrian satrap, who told Arba'ces (3 syl.) governor of Me'dia, that he would one day sit on the throne of Nineveh and Assyria. His prophecy came true, and Beleses was rewarded with the government of Babylon.—Byron, Sardanapalus (1819).
Bel'field (Brothers). The elder brother is a squire in Cornwall, betrothed to Sophia (daughter of sir Benjamin Dove), who loves his younger brother Bob. The younger brother is driven to sea by the cruelty of the squire, but on his return renews his acquaintance with Sophia. He is informed of her unwilling betrothal to the elder brother, who is already married to Violetta, but parted from her. Violetta returns home in the same ship as Bob Belfield, becomes reconciled to her husband, and the younger brother marries Sophia.—Rich. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).
Bel'ford, a friend of Lovelace (2 syl.). They made a covenant to pardon every sort of liberty which they took with each other.—Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe (1749).
Belford (Major), the friend of colonel Tamper, and the plighted hnsband of Mdlle. Florival.—G. Colman, sen., The Deuce is in Him (1762).
Belge (2 syl.), the mother of seventeen sons. She applied to queen Mercilla for aid against Geryon'eo, who had deprived her of all her offspring except five.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10 (1596).
"Beige" is Holland, the "seventeen sons" are the
seventeen provinces which once belonged to her; "Geryoneo" is Philip II.
of Spain; and "Mercilla" is queen Elizabeth.
Belial, sons of, in the Bible passim means the lewd and profligate. Milton has created the personality of Belial:
Belial came last; than whom a spirit more lewdFell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself. To him no temple stood
Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he
In temples, and at altars, when the priest
Tarns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled
With lust and violence the house of God?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers
And injury and outrage; and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 490
On the other side up roseBelial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed
For dignity composed, and high exploit.
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue.
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful.
Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 108.
Belia'nis of Greece (Don), the hero of an old romance of chivalry on the model of Am'adis de Gaul. It was one of the books in don Quixote's library, but was not one of those burnt by the cure as pernicious and worthless.
"Don Belianis," said the curé, "with its two, three, and four parts, hath need of a dose of rhubarb to purge off that mass of bile with which he is inflamed. His Castle of Fame and other impertinences should be totally obliterated. This done, we would show him lenity in proportion as we found him capable of reform. Take don Belianis home with you, and keep him in close confinement."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).
Belinda, niece and companion of lady John Brute. Young, pretty, full of fun, and possessed of £10,000. Heartfree marries her.—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).
Belin'da, the heroine of Pope's Rape of the Lock. This mock heroic is founded on the following incident:—Lord Petre cut a lock of hair from the head of Miss Arabella Fermor, and the young lady resented the liberty as an unpardonable affront. The poet says Belinda wore on her neck two curls, one of which the baron cut off with a pair of scissors borrowed of Clarissa, and when Belinda angrily demanded that it should be delivered up, it had flown to the skies and become a meteor there. (See BERENICE.)
Belinda, daughter of Mr. Blandford, in love with Beverley the brother of Clarissa. Her father promised sir William Bellmont that she should marry his son George, but George was already engaged to Clarissa. Belinda was very handsome, very independent, most irreproachable, and devotedly attached to Beverley. When he hinted suspicions of infidelity, she was too proud to deny their truth, but her pure and ardent love instantly rebuked her for giving her lover causeless pain.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).
Belin'da, the heroine of Miss Edgeworth's novel of the same name. The object of the tale is to make the reader feel what is good, and pursue it (1803).
Belin'da, a lodging-house servant-girl, very poor, very dirty, very kind-hearted, and shrewd in observation. She married, and Mr. Middlewick the butter-man set her husband up in business in the butter line.—H. J. Byron, Our Boys (1875).
Beline (2 syl.), second wife of Argan the malade imaginaire, and step-mother of Angelique, whom she hates. Beline pretends to love Argan devotedly, humors him in all his whims, calls him "mon fils," and makes him believe that if he were to die it would be the death of her. Toinette induces Argan to put these specious protestations to the test by pretending to be dead. He does so, and when Beline enters the room, instead of deploring her loss, she cries in ecstasy:
"Le ciel en soit loué! Me voilà délivrée d'un pesant fardeau!... de quoi servait-il sur la terre? Un homme incommode à tout le monde, malpropre, dégoûtant ... mouchant, toussant, crachant toujours, sans esprit, ennuyeux, de manvaise humeur, fatiguant sans cesse les gens, et grondant jour et nuit servantes et valets."—(iii. 18).
She then proceeds to ransack the room for bonds, leases, and money; but Argan starts up and tells her she has taught him one useful lesson for life at any rate.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire (1673).
Belisa'rius, the greatest of Justinian's generals. Being accused of treason, he was deprived of all his property, and his eyes were put out. In this state he retired to Constantinople, where he lived by begging. The story says he fastened a label to his hat, containing these words, "Give an obolus to poor old Belisarius." Marmontel has written a tale called Belisaire, which has helped to perpetuate these fables, originally invented by Tzetzês or Caesios, a Greek poet, born at Constantinople in 1120.
Bélise (2 syl.), sister of Philaminte (3 syl.), and, like her, a femme savante. She imagines that every one is in love with her.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Bell (Adam), a wild, north-country outlaw, noted, like Robin Hood, for his skill in archery. His place of residence was Englewood Forest, near Carlisle; and his two comrades were Clym of the Clough [Clement of the Cliff] and William of Cloudesly (3 syl.). William was married, but the other two were not. When William was captured at Carlisle, and was led to execution, Adam and Clym rescued him, and all three went to London to crave pardon of the king, which, at the queen's intercession, was granted them. They then showed the king specimens of their skill in archery, and the king was so well pleased that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the two others yeomen of the bedchamber.—Percy, Reliques ("Adam Bell," etc.), I. ii. I.
Bell. Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Bronté assumed the noms de plume of Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell (first half of the nineteenth century). Currer Bell or Bronté married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She was the author of Jane Eyre.
It will be observed that the initial letter of both names is in every case preserved throughout—Acton (Anne), Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily), and Bell (Bronté).
Bell (Bessy). Bessy Bell and Mary Gray were the daughters of two country gentlemen near Perth. When the plague broke out in 1666 they built for themselves a bower in a very romantic spot called Burn Braes, to which they retired, and were supplied with food, etc., by a young man who was in love with both of them. The young man caught the plague, communicated it to the two young ladies, and all three died.—Allan Eamsay, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray (a ballad).
Bell (Peter), the subject of a "tale in verse" by Wordsworth. Shelley wrote a burlesque upon it, entitled Peter Bell the Third.
Bell (The Old Chapel) J. G. Saxe's poem under this title is founded upon a legend of a boy, who, wandering in a churchyard, hears a musical articulate murmur from a disused bell hidden by matted grass.
Its very name and date concealedBeneath a cankering crust. (1859.)
Bell-the-Cat, sobriquet of Archibald Douglas, great-earl of Angus, who died in 1514.
The mice, being much annoyed by the persecutions of a cat, resolved that a bell should be hung about her neck to give notice of her approach. The measure was agreed to in full council, but one of the sager mice inquired, "Who would undertake to bell the cat?" When Lauder told this fable to a council of Scotch nobles, met to declaim against one Cochran, Archibald Douglas started up and exclaimed in thunder, "I will;" and hence the sobriquet referred to.—Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, xxii.
Bella, sweet girl-cousin, the first love and life-long friend of the hero of Dream-Life, by Ik Marvel. Re-visiting his native place after years of foreign travel, he learns that Bella is dead, and goes to her grave, where dry leaves are entangled in the long grass, "giving it a ragged, terrible look" (1851).
Bella Wilfer, a lovely, wilful, lively spoilt darling. She married John Rokesmith (i.e., John Harmon).—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).
Bellamy, a steady young man, looking out for a wife "capable of friendship, love, and tenderness, with good sense enough to be easy, and good nature enough to like him." He found his beau-ideal in Jacintha, who had besides a fortune of £30,000.—Dr. Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1761).
Bella'rio, the assumed name of Euphrasia, when she put on boy's apparel that she might enter the service of prince Philaster, whom she greatly loved.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding (1622).
Bellaston (Lady), a profligate, from whom Tom Jones accepts support. Her conduct and conversation may be considered a fair photograph of the "beauties" of the court of George II.—Fielding, History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1750).
The character of Jones, otherwise a model ofgenerosity, openness, and manly spirit, mingled
with thoughtless dissipation, is unnecessarily degraded
by the nature of his intercourse with lady
Bellaston.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Fielding."
Belle Cordiere (La), Louise Labé, who married Ennemond Perrin, a wealthy rope-maker (1526-1566).
Belle Corisande (La), Diane comtesse de Gruiche et de Grammont (1554-1620).
Bellefontaine (Benedict), the wealthy farmer of Grande Pré [Nova Scotia] and father of Evangeline. When the inhabitants of his village were driven into exile, Benedict died of a broken heart as he was about to embark, and was buried on the sea-shore.—Longfellow, Evangeline (1849).
Bel'lenden (Lady Margaret), an old Tory lady, mistress of the Tower of Tillietudlem.
Old major Miles Bellenden, brother of lady Margaret.
Miss Edith Bellenden, granddaughter of lady Margaret, betrothed to lord Evendale, of the king's army, but in love with Morton (a leader of the covenanters and the hero of the novel). After the death of lord Evendale, who is shot by Balfour, Edith marries Morton, and this terminates the tale.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Bellero'phon was falsely accused by Antea, wife of Proetos, King of Argos, and the enraged husband sent him to Lycia, to King Iobates, the father of Antea, with sealed tablets, asking that the bearer might be put to death. Iobates sent the youth on dangerous errands, but he came off unharmed from all. Among other exploits he killed the Chimæra and slew the Amazons. Later, he tried to mount to Olympus on the winged horse Pegasus, but he fell and wandered about in melancholy madness on the Aleian field until he died. This peculiar form of madness is called morbus Bellerophonteus. Homer tells the story of Bellerophon in the Iliad, Book VI. Milton alludes to him, Paradise Lost, VII. 15-20. Hawthorne has told the story of the Chimæra in A Wonder Book.
Belle'rus is the name of a personage invented by Milton as the supposed guardian of Land's End in Cornwall, the Bellerium of the Romans. In questioning as to where the body of the drowned Lycidas q.v. has been carried by the waves, he asks:
Or whether thou to our moist vows deniedSleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old.
Lycidas, 159-60.
Belle's Stratagem (The). The "belle" is Letitia Hardy, and her stratagem was for the sake of winning the love of Doricourt, to whom she had been betrothed. The very fact of being betrothed to Letitia sets Doricourt against her, so she goes unknown to him to a masquerade, where Doricourt falls in love with "the beautiful stranger." In order to accomplish the marriage of his daughter, Mr. Hardy pretends to be "sick unto death," and beseeches Doricourt to wed Letitia before he dies. Letitia meets her betrothed in her masquerade dress, and unbounded is the joy of the young man to find that "the beautiful stranger" is the lady to whom he has been betrothed.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem (1780).
Belle the Giant. It is said that the giant Belle mounted on his sorrel horse at a place since called mount Sorrel. He leaped one mile, and the spot on which he lighted was called Wanlip (one-leap); thence he leaped a second mile, but in so doing "burst all" his girths, whence the spot was called Burst-all; in the third leap he was killed, and the spot received the name of Bellegrave.
Belleur', companion of Pinac and Mirabel ("the wild goose"), of stout blunt temper; in love with Rosalu'ra, a daughter of Nantolet.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild Goose Chase (1652).
Bell Hamlyn, young American girl, engaged to one man and in love with another, in Kismet, by George Fleming (Julia C. Fletcher, 1877).
Bellicent, daughter of Gorloïs lord of Tintag'il and his wife Ygernê or Igerna. As the widow married Uther the pen-dragon, and was then the mother of king Arthur, it follows that Bellicent was half-sister of Arthur. Tennyson in Gareth and Lynette says that Bellicent was the wife of Lot king of Orkney, and mother of Gaw'ain and Mordred, but this is not in accordance either with the chronicle or the history, for Geoffrey in his Chronicle says that Lot's wife was Anne, the sister (not half-sister) of Arthur (viii. 20, 21), and sir T. Malory, in his History of Prince Arthur says:
King Lot of Lothan and Orkney wedded Margawse;Nentres, of the land of Carlot, wedded
Elain; and that Morgan le Fay was [Arthurs]
third sister.—Pt. i. 2, 35, 36.
Bel'lin, the ram, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox. The word means "gentleness" (1498).
Bellingham, a man about town.—D. Boucicault, After Dark.
Bel'lisant, sister of king Pepin of France, and wife of Alexander emperor of Constantinople. Being accused of infidelity, the emperor banished her, and she took refuge in a vast forest, where she became the mother of Valentine and Orson.—Valentine and Orson.
Bellmont (Sir William), father of George Bellmont; tyrannical, positive, and headstrong. He imagines it is the duty of a son to submit to his father's will, even in the matter of matrimony.
George Bellmont, son of sir William, in love with Clarissa, his friend Beverley's sister; but his father demands of him to marry Belinda Blandford, the troth-plight wife of Beverley. Ultimately all comes right.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).
Bello'na's Handmaids, Blood, Fire, and Famine.
The goddesse of warre, called Bellona, had these thre handmaids ever attendynge on her: BLOOD, FIRE, and FAMINE, which thre damosels be of that force and strength that every one of them alone is able and sufficient to torment and afflict a proud prince; and they all joyned together are of puissance to destroy the most populous country and most richest region of the world.—Hall, Chronicle (1530).
Bellum (Master), war.
A difference [is] 'twixt broyles and bloudie warres,—Yet have I shot at Maister Bellum's butte,
And thrown his ball, although I toucht no tutte [benefit].
G. Gascoigne, The Fruites of Warre, 94 (died 1577).
Belmont (Sir Robert), a proud, testy, mercenary country gentleman; friend of his neighbor, sir Charles Raymond.
Charles Belmont, son of sir Robert, a young rake. He rescued Fidelia, at the age of twelve, from the hands of Villard, a villain who wanted to abuse her, and taking her to his own home, fell in love with her, and in due time married her. She turns out to be the daughter of sir Charles Raymond.
Rosetta Belmont, daughter of sir Robert, high-spirited, witty, and affectionate. She is in love with colonel Raymond, whom she delights in tormenting.—Ed. Moore, The Foundling (1748).
Belmont (Andrew), the elder of two brothers, who married Violetta (an English lady born in Lisbon), and deserted her. He then promised marriage to Lucy Waters, the daughter of one of his tenants, but had no intention of making her his wife. At the same time he engaged himself to Sophia, the daughter of sir Benjamin Dove. The day of the wedding arrived, and it was then discovered that he was married already, and that Violetta his wife was actually present.
Robert Belmont, the younger of the two brothers, in love with Sophia Dove. He went to sea in a privateer under captain Ironside, his uncle, and changed his name to Lewson. The vessel was wrecked on the Cornwall coast, and he renewed his acquaintance with Sophia, but heard that she was engaged in marriage to his brother. As, however, it was proved that his brother was already married, the young lady willingly abandoned the elder for the younger brother.—K. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).
Belmour (Edward), a gay young man about town.—Congreve, The Old Bachelor (1693).
Belmour (Mrs.), a widow of "agreeable vivacity, entertaining manners, quickness of transition from one thing to another, a feeling heart, and a generosity of sentiment." She it is who shows Mrs. Lovemore the way to keep her husband at home, and to make him treat her with that deference which is her just due.—A. Murphy, The Way to Keep Him (1760).
Beloved Disciple (The), St. John "the divine," and writer of the fourth Gospel.—John xiii. 23, etc.
Beloved Physician (The), St. Luke the evangelist.—Col. iv. 14.
Bel'phegor, a Moabitish deity, whose orgies were celebrated on mount Phegor, and were noted for their obscenity.
Belphoe'be (3 syl.). "All the Graces rocked her cradle when she was born." Her mother was Chrysog'onê (4 syl.), daughter of Amphisa of fairy lineage, and her twin-sister was Amoretta. While the mother and her babes were asleep, Diana took one (Belphoebê) to bring up, and Venus took the other.
Belphoebe is the "Diana" among women, cold, passionless, correct,
and strong-minded. Amoret is the "Venus," but without the licentiousness
of that goddess, warm, loving, motherly, and wifely. Belphoebê was a
lily; Amoret a rose. Belphoebê a moonbeam, light without heat; Amoret a
sunbeam, bright and warm and life-giving. Belphoebê would go to the
battle-field, and make a most admirable nurse or lady-conductor of an
ambulance; but Amoret would prefer to look after her husband and family,
whose comfort would be her first care, and whose love she would seek and
largely reciprocate.—See Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. vi. (1590).
"Belphoebê" is queen Elizabeth. As queen she is Gloriana, but as
woman she is Belphoebê, the beautiful and chaste.
Or in Belphoebe fashioned to be;
In one her rule, in the other her rare chastitie.
Spenser, Faery Queen (introduction to bk. iii.).
Belted Will, lord William Howard, warden of the western marches (1563-1640).
His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt,Hung in a broad and studded belt;
Hence in rude phrase the Borderers still
Called noble Howard "Belted Will."
Sir W. Scott.
Belten'ebros (4 syl.). Amadis of Graul assumes the name when he retires to the Poor Rock, after receiving a cruel letter from Oria'na his lady-love.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul, ii. 6 (before 1400).
One of the most distinguishing testimonieswhich that hero gave of his fortitude, constancy,
and love, was his retiring to the Poor Rock when
in disgrace with his mistress Oriana, to do penance
under the name of Beltenebros or the Lovely
Obscure.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 11 (1605).
Belvide'ra, daughter of Priu'li a senator of Venice. She was saved from the sea by Jaffier, eloped with him, and married him. Her father then discarded her, and her husband joined the conspiracy of Pierre to murder the senators. He tells Belvidera of the plot, and Belvidera, in order to save her father, persuades Jaffier to reveal the plot to Priuli, if he will promise a general free pardon. Priuli gives the required promise, but notwithstanding, all the conspirators, except Jaffier, are condemned to death by torture. Jaffier stabs Pierre to save him from the dishonor of the wheel, and then kills himself. Belvidera goes mad and dies.—Otway, Venice Preserved (1682).
Ben [LEGEND], sir Sampson Legend's younger son, a sailor and a "sea-wit," in whose composition there enters no part of the conventional generosity and open frankness of a British tar. His slang phrase is "D'ye see," and his pet oath "Mess!"—W. Congreve, Love for Love (1695). I cannot agree with the following sketch:—
What is Ben—the pleasant sailor which Bannister gives us—but a piece of satire ... a dreamy combination of all the accidents of a sailor's character, his contempt of money, his credulity to women, with that necessary estrangement from home?... We never think the worse of Ben for it, or feel it as a stain upon his character.—C. Lamb.
C. Dibdin says: "If the description of Thom. Doggett's performance of this character be correct, the part has certainly never been performed since to any degree of perfection."
Ben Bolt, old schoolmate with whom Thomas Dunn English exchanges reminiscences in the ballad, Ben Bolt, beginning:
Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown;
Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,
And trembled with fear at your frown. (1845.)
Ben-Hur, a young Jew, who, for accidentally injuring a Roman soldier, is condemned to the galleys for life. Escaping, after three years of servitude, through the favor of Arrius, a Roman Tribune, he seeks his mother and sister to find both lepers. They are healed by Christ, whose devoted followers they become.—Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880).
Ben Israel (Nathan) or Nathan ben Samuel, the physician and friend of Isaac the Jew.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Ben Joc'hanan, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for the Rev. Samuel Johnson, who suffered much persecution for his defence of the right of private judgment.
Let Hebron, nay, let hell produce a manSo made for mischief as Ben Jochanan.
A Jew of humble parentage was he,
By trade a Levite, though of low degree.
Part ii.
Benai'ah (3 syl.), in Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for general George Edward Sackville. As Benaiah, captain of David's guard, adhered to Solomon against Adonijah, so general Sackville adhered to the duke of York against the prince of Orange (1590-1652).
Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,Of steady soul when public storms were high.
Dryden and Tate, part ii.
Benas'kar or Bennaskar, a wealthy merchant and magician of Delhi.—James Ridley, Tales of the Genii ("History of Mahoud," tale vii., 1751).
Benbow (Admiral). In an engagement with the French near St. Martha on the Spanish coast in 1701, admiral Benbow had his legs and thighs shivered into splinters by chain-shot, but supported in a wooden frame he remained on the quarter-deck till morning, when Du Casse sheered off.
Similar acts of heroism are recorded of Almeyda, the Portuguese governor of India, of Cynaegiros brother of the poet AEschylos, of Jaafer the standard-bearer of "the prophet" in the battle of Muta, and of some others.
Benbow, an idle, generous, free-and-easy sot, who spent a good inheritance in dissipation, and ended life in the workhouse.
Benbow, a boon companion, long approvedBy jovial sets, and (as he thought) beloved,
Was judged as one to joy and friendship prone,
And deemed injurious to himself alone.
Crabbe, Borough, xvi. (1810).
Bend-the-Bow, an English archer at Dickson's cottage.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Benedick, a wild, witty, and light-hearted young lord of Padua, who vowed celibacy, but fell in love with Beatrice and married her. It fell out thus: He went on a visit to Leonato, governor of Messina; here he sees Beatrice, the governor's niece, as wild and witty as himself, but he dislikes her, thinks her pert and forward, and somewhat ill-mannered withal. However, he hears Claudio speaking to Leonata about Beatrice, saying how deeply she loves Benedick, and bewailing that so nice a girl should break her heart with unrequited love. This conversation was a mere ruse, but Benedick believed it to be true, and resolved to reward the love of Beatrice with love and marriage. It so happened that Beatrice had been entrapped by a similar conversation which she had overheard from her cousin Hero. The end was they sincerely loved each other, and became man and wife.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600). Benedict [BELLEFONTAINE], the wealthiest farmer of Grand Pré, in Acadia, father of Evangeline ("the pride of the village"). He was a stalwart man of seventy, hale as an oak, but his hair was white as snow. Colonel Winslow in 1713 informed the villagers of Grand Pré that the French had formally ceded their village to the English, that George II. now confiscated all their lands, houses, and cattle, and that the people, amounting to nearly 2000, were to be "exiled into other lands without delay." The people assembled on the sea-shore; old Benedict Bellefontaine sat to rest himself, and fell dead in a fit. The old priest buried him in the sand, and the exiles left their village homes forever.—Longfellow, Evangeline (1849).
Ben'engel'i (Cid Hamet), the hypothetical Moorish chronicler from whom Cervantês pretends he derived the account of the adventures of don Quixote.
The Spanish commentators ... have discovered that cid Hamet Benengeli is after all no more than an Arabic version of the name of Cervantês himself. Hamet is a Moorish prefix, and Benengeli signifies "son of a stag," in Spanish Cervanteno.—Lockhart.
Benengeli (Cid Hamet), Thomas Babington lord Macaulay. His signature in his Fragment of an Ancient Romance (1826). (See Cid, etc.)
Benev'olus, in Cowper's Task, is John Courtney Throckmorton, of Weston Underwood.
Benjamin Penguillan. The Pioneers, by J. F. Cooper. A servant in the family of Judge Temple. His sobriquet is "Ben Pump." (1823.)
Benjie (Little), or Benjamin Colthred, a spy employed by Cristal Nixon, the agent of Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Ben'net (Brother), a monk at St. Mary's convent.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Ben'net (Mrs.), a demure, intriguing woman in Amelia, a novel by Fielding (1751).
Ben'oiton (Madame), a woman who has been the ruin of the family by neglect. In the "famille Benoiton" the constant question was "Où est Madame?" and the invariable answer "Elle est sortie" At the dénouement the question was asked again, and the answer was varied thus, "Madam has been at home, but is gone out again."—La Famille Benoiton.
Ben'shee, the domestic spirit or demon of certain Irish families. The benshee takes an interest in the prosperity of the family to which it is attached, and intimates to it approaching disaster or death by wailings or shrieks. The Scotch Bodach Glay or "grey spectre" is a similar spirit. Same as Banshee (which see).
How oft has the Benshee cried!How oft has death untied
Bright links that glory wove,
Sweet bonds entwined by love!
T. Moore, Irish Melodies, ii.
Benvo'lio, nephew to Montague, and Romeo's friend. A testy, litigious fellow, who would quarrel about goat's wool or pigeon's milk. Mercutio says to him, "Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun" (act iii. sc. 1),—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).
Beowulf, the name of an Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the sixth century. It received its name from Beowulf, who delivered Hrothgar king of Denmark from the monster Grrendel. This Grendel was half monster and half man, and night after night stole into the king's palace called Heorot, and slew sometimes as many as thirty of the sleepers at a time. Beowulf put himself at the head of a mixed band of warriors, went against the monster and slew it. This epic is very Ossianic in style, is full of beauties, and is most interesting.—Kemble's Translation.
(A.D. Wackerbarth published in 1849 a metrical translation of this Anglo-Saxon poem, of considerable merit.)
Beppo. Byron's Beppo is the husband of Laura, a Venetian lady. He was taken captive in Troy, turned Turk, joined a band of pirates, grew rich, and after several years returned to his native land. He found his wife at a carnival ball with a cavaliero, made himself known to her, and they lived together again as man and wife. (Beppo is a contraction of Guiseppe, as Joe is of Joseph, 1820.)
Beppo, in Fra Diavolo, an opera by Auber (1836).
Beralde (2 syl.), brother of Argan the malade imaginaire. He tells Argan that his doctors will confess this much, that the cure of a patient is a very minor consideration with them, "toute l'excellence de leur art consiste en un pompeux galimatias, en un spécieux babil, qui vous donne des mots pour des raisons, et des promesses pour des effets." Again he says, "presque tous les hommes meurent de leur remèdes et non pas de leurs maladies." He then proves that Argan's wife is a mere hypocrite, while his daughter is a true-hearted, loving girl; and he makes the invalid join in the dancing and singing provided for his cure.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire (1673). Berch'ta ("the white lady"), a fairy of southern Germany, answering to Hulda ("the gracious lady") of northern Germany. After the introduction of Christianity, Berchta lost her first estate and lapsed into a bogie.
Berecynthian Goddess (The). Cybelê is so called from mount Berecyntus, in Phrygia, where she was held in especial adoration. She is represented as crowned with turrets, and holding keys in her hand.
Her helmèd headRose like the Berecynthian goddess crowned
With towers.
Southey, Roderick, etc., ii. (1814).
Berecyn'thian Hero (The), Midas king of Phyrgia, so called from mount Berecyn'tus (4 syl.), in Phrygia.
Berenga'ria, queen-consort of Richard Coeur de Lion, introduced in The Talisman, a novel by sir W. Scott (1825). Berengaria died 1230.
Berenger (Sir Raymond), an old Norman warrior, living at the castle of Garde Doloureuse.
The lady Eveline, sir Raymond's daughter, betrothed to sir Hugo de Lacy. Sir Hugo cancels his own betrothal in favor of his nephew (sir Damian de Lacy), who marries the lady Eveline, "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Bereni'ce (4 syl.), sister-wife of Ptolemy III. She vowed to sacrifice her hair to the gods if her husband returned home the vanquisher of Asia. On his return, she suspended her hair in the temple of the war-god, but it was stolen the first night, and Conon of Samos told the king that the winds had carried it to heaven, where it still forms the seven stars near the tail of Leo, called Coma Berenices.
Pope, in his Rape of the Lock, has borrowed this fable to account for the lock of hair cut from Belinda's head, the restoration of which the young lady insisted upon.
Bereni'ce (4 syl.), a Jewish princess, daughter of Agrippa. She married Herod king of Chalcis, then Polemon king of Cilicia, and then went to live with Agrippa II. her brother. Titus fell in love with her and would have married her, but the Romans compelled him to renounce the idea, and a separation took place. Otway (1672) made this the subject of a tragedy called Titus and Berenicê; and Jean Racine (1670), in his tragedy of Bérénice, has made her a sort of Henriette d'Orleans.
(Henriette d'Orleans, daughter of Charles I. of England, married Philippe due d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIV. She was brilliant in talent and beautiful in person, but being neglected by her husband, she died suddenly after drinking a cup of chocolate, probably poisoned.)
Berenice, heroine of a tragic-comic fantasy by Edgar Allan Poe, in which Berenice's teeth hold a position as conspicuous as ghastly (1845).
Beringhen (The Sieur de), an old gourmand, who preferred patties to treason; but cardinal Richelieu banished him from France, saying:
Sleep not another night in Paris,Or else your precious life may be in danger.
Lord Lytton, Richelieu (1839).
Berin'thia, cousin of Amanda; a beautiful young widow attached to colonel Townly. In order to win him she plays upon his jealousy by coquetting with Loveless.—Sheridan, A Trip to Scarborough (1777).
Berke'ley (The Old Woman of), a woman whose life had been very wicked. On her death-bed she sent for her son who was a monk, and for her daughter who was a nun, and bade them put her in a strong stone coffin, and to fasten the coffin to the ground with strong bands of iron. Fifty priests and fifty choristers were to pray and sing over her for three days, and the bell was to toll without ceasing. The first night passed without much disturbance. The second night the candles burnt blue and dreadful yells were heard outside the church. But the third night the devil broke into the church and carried off the old woman on his black horse.—R. Southey, The Old Woman of Berkeley (a ballad from Olaus Magnus).
Dr. Sayers pointed out to us in conversation a story related by Olaus Magnus of a witch whose coffin was confined by three chains, but nevertheless was carried off by demons. Dr. Sayers had made a ballad on the subject; so had I; but after seeing The Old Woman of Berkeley, we awarded it the preference.—W. Taylor.
Berke'ly (The lady Augusta), plighted to sir John de Walton, governor of Douglas Castle. She first appears under the name of Augustine, disguised as the son of Bertram the minstrel, and the novel concludes with her marriage to De Walton, to whom Douglas Castle had been surrendered.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Berkshire Lady (The), Miss Frances Kendrick, daughter of sir William Kendrick, second baronet; his father was created baronet by Charles II. The line, "Faint heart never won fair lady," was the advice of a friend to Mr. Child, the son of a brewer, who sought the hand of the lady.—Quarterly Review, cvi. 205-245.
Bernard. Solomon Bernard, engraver of Lions (sixteenth century), called Le petit Bernard. Claud Bernard of Dijon, the philanthropist (1588-1641), is called Poor Bernard. Pierre Joseph Bernard, the French poet (1710-1755), is called Le gentil Bernard.
Bernard, an ass; in Italian Bernardo. In the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox, the sheep is called "Bernard," and the ass is "Bernard l'archipêtre" (1498).
Bernard Langdon, fine young fellow of the "Brahmin Caste," who teaches school while preparing for a profession.—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elsie Venner (1861).
Bernar'do, an officer in Denmark, to whom the ghost of the murdured king appeared during the night-watch at the royal castle.—Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).
Bernardo del Carpio, one of the favorite subjects of the old Spanish minstrels. The other two were The Cid and Lara's Seven Infants. Bernardo del Carpio was the person who assailed Orlando (or Rowland) at Roncesvalles, and finding him invulnerable, took him up in his arms and squeezed him to death, as Hercules did Antae'os.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. ii. 13 (1615).
The only vulnerable part of Orlando was the sole of the
foot.
Berser'ker, grandson of the eight-handed Starka'der and the beautiful Alfhil'de. He was so called because he wore "no shirt of mail," but went to battle unharnessed. He married the daughter of Swaf'urlam, and had twelve sons. (Baer-syrce, Anglo-Saxon, "bare of shirt;" Scotch, "bare-sark.")
You say that I am a Berserker, and ... bare-sark I go to-morrow to the war, and bare-sark I win that war or die.—Rev. C. Kingsley, Hereward the Wake, i. 247.
Bertha, the supposed daughter of Vandunke (2 syl.), burgomaster of Bruges, and mistress of Goswin, a rich merchant of the same city. In reality. Bertha is the duke of Brabant's daughter Gertrude, and Goswin is Florez, son of Gerrard king of the beggars.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggars' Bush (1622).
Ber'tha, daughter of Burkhard duke of the Alemanni, and wife of Rudolf II. king of Burgundy beyond Jura. She is represented on monuments of the time as sitting on her throne spinning.
Yon are the beautiful Bertha the Spinner, the queen of Helvetia; ...Who as she rode on her palfrey o'er valley, and meadow, and mountain,
Ever was spinning her thread from the distaff fixed to her saddle.
She was so thrifty and good that her name passed into a proverb.
Longfellow, Courtship of Miles Standish, viii.
Bertha, alias AGATHA, the betrothed of Hereward (3 syl.), one of the emperor's Varangian guards. The novel concludes with Hereward enlisting under the banner of count Robert, and marrying Bertha.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Ber'tha, the betrothed of John of Leyden. When she went with her mother to ask count Oberthal's permission to marry, the count resolved to make his pretty vassal his mistress, and confined her in his castle. She made her escape and went to Munster, intending to set fire to the palace of "the prophet," who, she thought, had caused the death of her lover. Being seized and brought before the prophet, she recognized in him her lover, and exclaiming, "I loved thee once, but now my love is turned to hate," stabbed herself and died.—Meyerbeer, Le Prophète (an opera, 1849).
Bertha Amory, wife of Richard Amory and used by him in political intrigues, in Through One Administration, by Francis Hodgson Burnett. Secretly, and against her will, in love with Trevannion, an army officer whom she has known from childhood (1883).
Berthe an Grand-Pied, mother of Charlemagne, so called from a club-foot.
Bertie Cecil, noble young Englishman who assumes his brother's crime to save the family name, and exiles himself as a soldier in the French army of Algiers. Eventually his fame is cleared and he returns to England as lord Royalieu.—Ouida, Under Two Flags.
Bertie the Lamb, professional dude, with a heart yet softer than his head, in The Henrietta, a play of New York life, by Bronson Howard. Stuart Robson's impersonation of "Bertie" is without a flaw (1887).
Bertolde (3 syl.), the hero of a little jeu d'esprit in Italian prose by Julio Cæsare Crocê (2 syl.). He is a comedian by profession, whom nothing astonishes. He is as much at his ease with kings and queens as with those of his own rank. Hence the phrase Imperturbable as Bertolde, meaning "never taken by surprise," "never thrown off one's guard," "never disconcerted."
Bertoldo (Prince), a knight of Malta, and brother of Roberto king of the two Sicilies. He was in love with Cami'ola "the maid of honor," but could not marry without a dispensation from the pope. While matters were at this crisis, Bertoldo laid siege to Sienna, and was taken prisoner. Camiola paid his ransom, but before he was released the duchess Aurelia requested him to be brought before her. As soon as the duchess saw him, she fell in love with him, and offered him marriage, and Bertoldo, forgetful of Camiola, accepted the offer. The betrothed then presented themselves before the king. Here Camiola exposed the conduct of the knight; Roberto was indignant; Aurelia rejected her fiancé with scorn; and Camiola took the veil.—Massinger, The Maid of Honor (1637).
Bertol'do, the chief character of a comic romance called Vita di Bertoldo, by Julio Cesare Crocê, who flourished in the sixteenth century. It recounts the successful exploits of a clever but ugly peasant, and was for two centuries as popular in Italy as Robinson Crusoe is in England. Same as, Bertolde and Bartoldo.
Bertoldo's Son, Rinaldo.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Bertram (Baron), one of Charlemagne's paladins.
Ber'tram, count of Rousillon. While on a visit to the king of France, Helena, a physician's daughter, cured the king of a. disorder which had baffled the court physicians. For this service the king promised her for husband any one she chose to select, and her choice fell on Bertram. The haughty count married her, it is true, but deserted her at once, and left for Florence, where he joined the duke's army. It so happened that Helena also stopped at Florence while on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand. In Florence she lodged with a widow whose daughter Diana, was wantonly loved by Bertram. Helena obtained permission to receive his visits in lieu of Diana, and in one of these visits exchanged rings with him. Soon after this the count went on a visit to his mother, where he saw the king, and the king observing on his finger the ring he had given to Helena, had him arrested on the suspicion of murder. Helena now came forward to explain matters, and all was well, for all ended well.—Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well (1598).
I cannot reconcile my heart to "Bertram," a man noble without generosity, and young without truth; who marries Helena as a coward, and leaves her as a profligate. When she is dead by his unkindness he sneaks home to a second marriage, is accused by a woman whom he has wronged, defends himself by falsehood, and is dismissed to happiness.—Dr. Johnson.
Bertram (Sir Stephen), an austere merchant, very just but not generous. Fearing lest his son should marry the sister of his clerk (Charles Ratcliffe), he dismissed Ratcliffe from his service, and being then informed that the marriage had already taken place, he disinherited his son. Sheva the Jew assured him that the lady had £10,000 for her fortune, so he relented. At the last all parties were satisfied.
Frederick Bertram, only son of sir Stephen; he marries Miss Ratcliffe clandestinely, and incurs thereby his father's displeasure, but the noble benevolence of Sheva the Jew brings about a reconciliation and opens sir Bertram's eyes to "see ten thousand merits," a grace for every pound.—Cumberland, The Jew (1776).
Ber'tram (Count), an outlaw, who becomes the leader of a band of robbers. Being wrecked on the coast of Sicily, he is conveyed to the castle of lady Imogine, and in her he recognizes an old sweetheart to whom in his prosperous days he was greatly attached. Her husband (St. Aldobrand), who was away at first, returning unexpectedly is murdered by Bertram; Imogine goes mad and dies; and Bertram puts an end to his own life.—C. Maturin, Bertram (1782-1825).
Bertram (Mr. Godfrey), the laird of Ellangowan.
Mrs. Bertram, his wife.
Harry Bertram, alias captain Vanbeest Brown, alias Dawson, alias Dudley, son of the laird, and heir to Ellangowan. Harry Bertram is in love with Julia Mannering, and the novel concludes with his taking possession of the old house at Ellangowan and marrying Julia.
Lucy Bertram, sister of Harry Bertram. She marries Charles Hazlewood, son of sir Robert Hazlewood, of Hazlewood.
Sir Allen Bertram, of Ellangowan, an ancestor of Mr. Godfrey Bertram.
Dennis Bertram, Donohoe Bertram, and Lewis Bertram, ancestors of Mr. Godfrey Bertram.
Captain Andrew Bertram, a relative of the family.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Bertram, the English minstrel, and guide of lady Augusta Berkely; when in disguise she calls herself the minstrel's son.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Ber'tram, one of the conspirators against the republic of Venice. Having "a hesitating softness, fatal to a great enterprise," he betrayed the conspiracy to the senate.—Byron, Marino Faliero (1819).
Bertra'mo, the fiend-father of Robert le Diable. After alluring his son to gamble away all his property, he meets him near St. Ire'nê, and Hel'ena seduces him to join in "the Dance of Love." When at last Bertramo comes to claim his victim, he is resisted by Alice (the duke's foster-sister), who reads to Robert his mother's will. Being thus reclaimed, angels celebrate the triumph of good over evil.—Meyerbeer, Roberto il Diavolo (an opera, 1831).
Bertrand, a simpleton and a villain. He is the accomplice of Robert Macaire, a libertine of unblushing impudence, who sins without compunction.—Daumier, L'Auberge des Adrets.
Bertrand du Gueslin, a romance of chivalry, reciting the adventures of this connétable de France, in the reign of Charles V.
Bertrand du Gueslin in prison. The prince of Wales went to visit his captive Bertrand, and asking him how he fared, the Frenchman replied, "Sir, I have heard the mice and the rats this many a day, but it is long since I heard the song of birds," i.e. I have been long a captive and have not breathed the fresh air.
The reply of Bertrand du Gueslin calls to mind that of Douglas, called "The Good sir James," the companion of Robert Bruce, "It is better, I ween, to hear the lark sing than the mouse cheep," i.e. It is better to keep the open field than to be shut up in a castle.
Bertulphe (2 syl.), provost of Bruges, the son of a serf. By his genius and energy he became the richest, most honored, and most powerful man in Bruges. His arm was strong in fight, his wisdom swayed the council, his step was proud, and his eye untamed. He had one child, most dearly beloved, the bride of sir Bouchard, a knight of noble descent. Charles "the Good," earl of Flanders, made a law (1127) that whoever married a serf should become a serf, and that serfs were serfs till manumission. By these absurd decrees Bertulphe the provost, his daughter Constance, and his knightly son-in-law were all serfs. The result was that the provost slew the earl and then himself, his daughter went mad and died, and Bouchard was slain in fight.—S. Knowles, The Provost of Bruges (1836).
Ber'wine (2 syl.), the favorite attendant of lady Er'mengarde (3 syl.) of Baldringham, great-aunt of lady Eveline "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Ber'yl Mol'ozane (3 syl.), the lady-love of George Geith. All beauty, love, and sunshine. She has a heart for every one, is ready to help every one, and is by every one beloved, yet her lot is most painfully unhappy, and ends in an early death.—F.G. Trafford [J.H. Riddell], George Geith.
Beso'nian (A), a scoundrel. From the Italian, bisognoso, "a needy person, a beggar."
Proud lords do tumble from the towers of their high descents; and be trod under feet of every inferior besonian.—Thomas Nash, Pierce Pennylesse, His Supplication, etc. (1592).
Bess (Good queen), Elizabeth (1533, 1558-1603).
Bess, the daughter of the "blind beggar of Bethnal Green," a lady by birth, a sylph for beauty, an angel for constancy and sweetness. She was loved to distraction by Wilford, and it turned out that he was the son of lord Woodville, and Bess the daughter of lord Woodville's brother; so they were cousins. Queen Elizabeth sanctioned their nuptials, and took them under her own especial conduct.—S. Knowles, The Beggar of Bethnal Green (1834).
Bess o' Bedlam, a female lunatic vagrant, the male lunatic vagrant being called a Tom o' Bedlam.
Bessus, governor of Bactria, who seized Dari'us (after the battle of Arbe'la) and put him to death. Arrian says, Alexander caused the nostrils of the regicide to be slit, and the tips of his ears to be cut off. The offender being then sent to Ecbat'ana, in chains, was put to death.
Lo! Bessus, he that armde with murderer's knyfeAnd traytrous hart agaynst his royal king,
With bluddy hands bereft his master's life.
What booted him his false usurped raygne.
When like a wretche led in an iron chayne,
He was presented by his chiefest friende
Unto the foes of him whom he had slayne?
T. Sackville, A Mirrour for Magistraytes
("The Complaynt," 1587).
Bes'sus a cowardly bragging captain, a sort of Bobadil or Vincent de la Rosa. Captain Bessus, having received a challenge, wrote word back that he could not accept the honor for thirteen weeks, as he had already 212 duels on hand, but he was much grieved that he could not appoint an earlier day.—Beaumont and Fletcher, King and No King (1619).
Rochester I despise for want of wit.So often does he aim, so seldom hit ...
Mean in each action, lewd in every limb,
Manners themselves are mischievous in him ...
For what a Bessus has he always lived!
Dryden, Essay upon Satire.
Beth March, the third and gentlest sister in Louisa M. Alcott's novel "Little Women" (1868).
Betsey, the wife in Will Carleton's farm ballad, Betsey and I are Out. In dictating to a lawyer the terms of separation, the farmer reminds himself of the many excellent points of the offending spouse, and how "she and I was happy before we quarrelled so."
And when she dies, I wish that she would be laid by me,And, lyin' together in silence, perhaps we will agree;
And, if ever we meet in heaven I wouldn't think it queer
If we loved each other better because we quarrelled here.
(1873.)
Betsey Bobbet, the sentimental spinster who wears out the patience of Josiah Allen's wife with poetry and opinions.
"She is fairly activ' to make a runnin' vine of herself.... It seems strange to me that them that preach up the doctrine of woman's only spear don't admire one who carries it out to its full extent."—Marietta Holley, My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet's (1872).
Bettina Ward, a Southern girl, poor and proud, in Constance Fenimore Woolson's story of Rodman the Keeper. "A little creature that fairly radiated scorn at thought of receiving charity from a Yankee" (1880).
Betty Doxy, Captain Macheath says to her, "Do you drink as hard as ever? You had better stick to good wholesome beer; for, in troth, Betty, strong waters will in time ruin your constitution. You should leave those to your betters."—Gray, The Beggar's Opera, ii. 1 (1727).
Betty Foy, "the idiot mother of an idiot boy "—W. Wordsworth (1770-1850).
Betty [Hint], servant in the family of sir Pertinax and lady McSycophant. She is a sly, prying tale-bearer, who hates Constantia (the beloved of Egerton McSycophant), simply because every one else loves her.—C. Macklin, The Man of the World (1764).
Betty Leicester, "vivacious, whole-souled girl of the period," whose summer residence in a New England village introduces elements of fuller and sweeter life. A home-missionary of the better sort.—Sarah Orne Jewett, Betty Leicester (1889).
Beulah, a poor girl taken from an orphan asylum and brought up in a family of refinement and education. She develops strong traits of character and much intellectual ability. Her long struggles through the mists of rationalism result in clear views of and high faith in revealed religion. Her guardian, and long her teacher, loves her, and after years of waiting, wins her.
"Have you learned that fame is an icy shadow?" he asks upon his return from the protracted wanderings that have taught both how much they need one another. "That gratified ambition cannot make you happy? Do you love me?"
"Yes."
"Better than teaching school and writing learned articles?"
"Rather better, I believe, sir."
Beulah, a novel by Augusta Evans Wilson (1859).
Beuves (1 syl.), or Buo'vo of Ay'gremont, father of Malagigi, and uncle of Rinaldo. Treacherously slain by Ga'no.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Beuves de Hantone, French form for Bevis of Southampton (q.v.). "Hantone" is a French corruption of Southampton.
Bev'an (Mr.), an American physician, who befriends Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley in many ways during their stay in the New World.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Bev'erley, "the gamester," naturally a good man, but led astray by Stukely, till at last he loses everything by gambling, and dies a miserable death.
Mrs. Beverley, the gamester's wife. She loves her husband fondly, and clings to him in all his troubles.
Charlotte Beverley, in love with Lewson, but Stukely wishes to marry her. She loses all her fortune through her brother, "the gamester," but Lewson notwithstanding marries her.—Edward Moore, The Gamester (1712-1757).
Beverley, brother of Clarissa, and the lover of Belinda Blandford. He is extremely jealous, and catches at trifles light as air to confirm his fears; but his love is most sincere, and his penitence most humble when he finds out how causeless his suspicions are. Belinda is too proud to deny his insinuations, but her love is so deep that she repents of giving him a moment's pain.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).
Beverley Thurston, a lawyer, belonging to an old New York family, in love with Claire Twining, The Ambitious Woman of Edgar Fawcett's society novel (1883).
He was a man of about forty years old, who had never married. His figure was tall and shapely; his face, usually grave, was capable of much geniality. He had travelled, read, thought, and observed. He stood somewhat high in the legal profession, and came, on the maternal side, of a somewhat noted family.
Bev'il, a model gentleman, in Steele's Conscious Lovers.
Whatever can deck mankindOr charm the heart, in generous Bevil shewed.
Thomson, The Seasons ("Winter," 1726).
Bevil (Francis, Harry, and George), three brothers—one an M.P., another in the law, and the third in the Guards—who, unknown to each other, wished to obtain in marriage the hand of Miss Grubb, the daughter of a rich stock-broker. The M.P. paid his court to the father, and obtained his consent; the lawyer paid his court to the mother, and obtained her consent; the officer paid his court to the young lady, and having obtained her consent, the other two brothers retired from the field.—O'Brien, Cross Purposes.
Be'vis, the horse of lord Marmion.—Sir W. Scott, Marmion (1808).
Be'vis (Sir) of Southampton. Having reproved his mother, while still a lad, for murdering his father, she employed Saber to kill him; but Saber only left him on a desert land as a waif, and he was brought up as a shepherd. Hearing that his mother had married Mor'dure (2 syl.), the adulterer, he forced his way into the marriage hall and struck at Mordure; but Mordure slipped aside, and escaped the blow. Bevis was now sent out of the country, and being sold to an Armenian, was presented to the king. Jos'ian, the king's daughter, fell in love with him; they were duly married, and Bevis was knighted. Having slain the boar which made holes in the earth as big as that into which Curtius leapt, he was appointed general of the Armenian forces, subdued Brandamond of Damascus, and made Damascus tributary to Armenia. Being sent, on a future occasion, as ambassador to Damascus, he was thrust into a prison, where were two huge serpents; these he slew, and then effected his escape. His next encounter was with Ascupart the giant, whom he made his slave. Lastly, he slew the great dragon of Colein, and then returned to England, where he was restored to his lands and titles. The French call him Beuves de Hantone.—M. Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).
The Sword of Bevis of Southampton was Morglay, and his steed Ar'undel. Both were given him by his wife Josian, daughter of the king of Armenia.
Beza'liel, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for the marquis of Worcester, afterwards duke of Beaufort. As Bezaliel, the famous artificer, "was filled with the Spirit of God to devise excellent works in every kind of workmanship," so on the marquis of Worcester—
... so largely Nature heaped her store,There scarce remained for arts to give him more.
Dryden and Tate, part ii.
Bezo'nian, a beggar, a rustic. (Italian, bisognoso, "necessitous.")
The ordinary tillers of the earth, such as we call husbandmen; in France, pesants; in Spane, besonyans; and generally cloutshoe.—Markham, English Husbandman, 4.
Bian'ca, the younger daughter of Baptista of Pad'ua, as gentle and meek as her sister Katherine was violent and irritable. As it was not likely any one would marry Katherine "the shrew," the father resolved that Bianca should not marry before her sister. Petruchio married "the shrew," and then Lucentio married Bianca.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).
Bianca, daughter of a noble family in "The Young Italian," one of the Tales of a Traveller, by Washington Irving. She is beloved passionately by the young Italian and betrothed to him. In his absence Filippo, the false friend of her lover, weds her. The betrayed friend on learning the truth kills Filippo, and is ever afterwards haunted by his dying face (1824).
Bian'ca, a courtesan, the "almost" wife of Cassio. Iago, speaking of the lieutenant, says:
And what was he?Forsooth a great arithmetician.
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife,
Shakespeare, Othello, act i. sc. I (1611).
Bian'ca, wife of Fazio. When her husband wantons with the marchioness Aldabella, Bianca, out of jealousy, accuses him to the duke of Florence of being privy to the death of Bartol'do, an old miser. Fazio being condemned to death, Bianca repents of her rashness, and tries to save her husband, but not succeeding, goes mad and dies.—Dean Milman, Fazio (1815).
Bibbet (Master), secretary to major-general Harrison, one of the parliamentary commissioners.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Bibbie'na (Il), cardinal Bernardo, who resided at Bibbiena, in Tuscany. He was the author of Calandra, a comedy (1470-1520).
"Bible" Butler, alias Stephen Butler, grandfather of Reuben Butler, the presbyterian minister (married to Jeanie Deans).—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Bib'lis, a woman who fell in love with her brother Caunus, and was changed into a fountain near Mile'tus.—Ovid, Met. ix. 662.
Not that [fountain] where Biblis dropt, too fondly light,Her tears and self may dare compare with this.
Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, v. (1633).
Bib'ulus, a colleague of Julius Cæsar, but a mere cipher in office; hence his name became a household word for a nonentity.
Bic'kerstaff (Isaac), a pseudonym of dean Swift, assumed in the paper-war with Partridge, the almanac-maker, and subsequently adopted by Steele in The Tatler, which was announced as edited by "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., astrologer."
Bickerton (Mrs.), landlady of the Seven Stars inn of York, where Jeanie Deans stops on her way to London, whither she is going to plead for her sister's pardon.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Bid'denden Maids (The), two sisters named Mary and Elizabeth Chulkhurst, born at Biddenden in 1100. They were joined together by the shoulders and hips, and lived to the age of thirty-four. Some say that it was Mary and Elizabeth Chulkhurst who left twenty acres of land to the poor of Biddenden. This tenement called "Bread and Cheese Land," because the rent derived from it is distributed on Easter Sunday in doles of bread and cheese. Halstead says, in his History of Kent, that it was the gift of two maidens named Preston, and not of the Biddenden Maids.
Biddy, servant to Wopsle's great-aunt, who kept an "educational institution." A good, honest girl who falls in love with Pip, is loved by Dolge Orlick, but marries Joe Grargery.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Biddy [Bellair] (Miss), "Miss in her teens," in love with captain Loveit. She was promised in marriage by her aunt and guardian to an elderly man whom she detested; and during the absence of captain Loveit in the Flanders war, she coquetted with Mr. Fribble and captain Flash. On the return of her "Strephon," she set Fribble and Flash together by the ears; and while they stood menacing each other, but afraid to fight, captain Loveit entered and sent them both to the right-about.—D. Garrick, Miss in Her Teens (1753).
Bidéford Postman (The), Edward Capern, a poet, at one time a letter-carrier in Bidéford (3 syl).
Bide-the-Bent (Mr. Peter), minister of Wolf's Hope village.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Bid'more (Lord), patron of the Rev Josiah Cargill, minister of St. Ronan's.
The Hon. Augustus Bidmore, son of lord Bidmore, and pupil of the Rev. Josiah Cargill.
Miss Augusta Bidmore, daughter of lord
Bidmore, beloved by the Rev. Josiah Cargill—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Bie'derman (Arnold), alias count Arnold of Geierstein [Gi'.er.stine], landamman of Unterwalden. Anne of Geierstein, his brother's daughter, is under his charge.
Bertha Biederman, Arnold's late wife.
Ru'diger Biederman, Arnold Biederman's son.
Ernest Biederman, brother of Rudiger.
Sigismund Biederman, nicknamed "The Simple," another brother.
Ulrick Biedermen, youngest of the four brothers.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Big-en'dians (The), a hypothetical religious party of Lilliput, who made it a matter of "faith" to break their eggs at the "big end." Those who broke them at the other end were considered heretics, and called Little-endians.—Dean Swift, Gulliver's Travels (1726).
Big'low (Hosea), the feigned author of The Biglow Papers (1848), really written by Professor James Russell Lowell of Boston, Mass. (1819-1891).
Big'ot (De), seneschal of prince John.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Big'ot, in C. Lamb's Essays, is John Fenwick, editor of the Albion newspaper.
Bil'dai (2 syl.), a seraph and the tutelar guardian of Matthew the apostle, the son of wealthy parents and brought up in great luxury.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).
Billings (Josh). A.W. Shaw so signs His Book of Sayings (1866).
Ef a man hezn't a well-balanced mind I du admire to see him part his hair in the middle.
Ef thar iz wun sayin' trewer than anuther it is that the devil iz allwaies ready fur kumpany.
Josh Billings's Alminax (1870).
Billingsgate (3 syl.). Beling was a friend of "Brennus" the Gaul, who owned a wharf called Beling's-gate. Geoffrey of Momnouth derives the word from Belin, a mythical king of the ancient Britons, who "built a gate there," B.C. 400 (1142).
Billy Barlow, a merry Andrew, so-called from a semi-idiot, who fancied himself "a great potentate." He was well known in the east of London, and died in Whitechapel workhouse. Some of his sayings were really witty, and some of his attitudes truly farcical.
Billy Black, the conundrum-maker.—The Hundred-pound Note.
When Keeley was playing "Billy Black" at Chelmsford, he advanced to the lights at the close of the piece, and said, "I've one more, and this is a good un. Why is Chelmsford Theatre like a half-moon? D'ye give it up? Because it is never full."—Records of a Stage Veteran.
Bimater ("two-mother"). Bacchus was so called because at the death of his mother during gestation, Jupiter put the foetus into his own thigh for the rest of the time, when the infant Bacchus was duly brought forth.
Bimbister (Margery), the old Ranzelman's spouse.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Bind'loose (John), sheriff's clerk and banker at Marchthorn.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Bingen (Bishop of), generally called bishop Hatto. The tale is that during a famine, he invited the poor to his barn on a certain day, under the plea of distributing corn to them; but when the barn was crowded he locked the door and set fire to the building; for which iniquity he was himself devoured by an army of mice or rats. His castle is the Mouse-tower on the Rhine.
They almost devour me with kisses,Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the bishop of Bingen,
In his Mouse-tower on the Rhine.
Longfellow, Birds of Passage.
Binks (Sir Bingo), a fox-hunting baronet, and visitor at the Spa.
Lady Binks, wife of sir Bingo, but before marriage Miss Rachael Bonnyrigg. Visitor at the Spa with her husband.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, Greorge III.).
Bi'on, the rhetorician, noted for his acrimonious and sharp sayings.
Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro.Horace, Epist. ii. 2, 60.
Biondel'lo, one of the servants of Lucentio the future husband of Bianca (sister of "the shrew"). His fellow-servant is Tra'nio.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).
Biorn, the son of Heriulf, a Northman, who first touched the shores of the New World.
Across the unpathwayed seas,Shot the brave prow that cut on Vinland sands
The first rune in the Saga of the West.
James Russell Lowell, The Voyage to Vinland.
Birch (Harvey), a prominent character in The Spy, a novel by J.F. Cooper.
Bird (My). Fanny Forester (Emily Chubbuck Judson) thus addressed her baby daughter (1848).
There's not in Ind a lovelier bird:Broad earth owns not a happier nest.
Oh, God! Thou hast a fountain stirred
Whose waters never more shall rest.
The pulse first caught its tiny stroke.
The blood its crimson hue from mine;
The life which I have dared invoke
Henceforth is parallel with THINE!
Bird (The Little Green), of the frozen regions, which could reveal every secret and impart information of events past, present, or to come. Prince Chery went in search of it, so did his two cousins, Brightsun and Felix; last of all Fairstar, who succeeded in obtaining it, and liberating the princes who had failed in their attempts.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Chery," 1682).
This tale is a mere reproduction of "The Two Sisters," the last tale of the Arabian Nights, in which the bird is called "Bulbulhezar, the talking bird."
Bird Singing to a Monk. The monk was Felix.—Longfellow, Golden Legend, ii.
Bire'no, the lover and subsequent husband of Olympia queen of Holland. He was taken prisoner by Cymosco king of Friza, but was released by Orlando. Bireno, having forsaken Olympia, was put to death by Oberto king of Ireland, who married the young widow.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, iv. v. (1516).
Bire'no (Duke), heir to the crown of Lombardy. It is the king's wish that he should marry Sophia, his only child, but the princess loves Pal'adore (3 syl.), a Briton. Bireno has a mistress named Alin'da, whom he induces to personate the princess, and in Paladore's presence she casts down a rope-ladder for the duke to climb up by. Bireno has Alinda murdered to prevent the deception being known, and accuses the princess of unchastity—a crime in Lombardy punished by death. As the princess is led to execution, Paladore challenges the duke, and kills him. The villainy is fully revealed, and the princess is married to the man of her choice, who had twice saved her life.—Robert Jephson, The Law of Lombardy (1779).
Birmingham Poet (The), John Freeth, the wit, poet, and publican, who wrote his own songs; set them to music, and sang them (1730-1808).
Biron, a merry mad-cap young lord, in attendance on Ferdinand king of Navarre. Biron promises to spend three years with the king in study, during which time no woman is to approach his court; but no sooner has he signed the compact, than he falls in love with Rosaline. Rosaline defers his suit for twelve months and a day, saying, "If you my favor mean to get, for twelve months seek the weary beds of people sick."
A merrier man,Within the limit of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal.
His eye begets occasion for his wit:
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest;
Which his fair tongue (conceit's expositor)
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That agéd ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished.
Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, act ii. sc. 1 (1594).
Biron (Charles de Gontaut due de), greatly beloved by Henri IV. of France. He won immortal laurels at the battles of Arques and Ivry, and at the sieges of Paris and Rouen. The king loaded him with honors: he was admiral of France, marshal, governor of Bourgoyne, duke and peer of France. This too-much honor made him forget himself, and he entered into a league with Spain and Savoy against his country. The plot was discovered by Lafin; and although Henri wished to pardon him, he was executed (1602, aged 40).
George Chapman has made him the subject of two tragedies, entitled Biron's Conspiracy and Biron's Tragedy (1557-1634).
Biron, eldest son of count Baldwin, who disinherited him for marrying Isabella, a nun. Biron now entered the army and was sent to the siege of Candy, where he fell, and it was supposed died. After the lapse of seven years, Isabella, reduced to abject poverty, married Villeroy (2 syl.), but the day after her espousals Biron returned, whereupon Isabella went mad and killed herself.—Thomas Southern, Isabella, or the Fatal Marriage.
During the absence of the elder Macready, hisson took the part of "Biron" in Isabella. The
father was shocked, because he desired his son
for the Church; but Mrs. Siddons remarked to
him, "In the Church your son will live and die
a curate on £50 a year, but if successful, the
stage will bring him in a thousand."—Donaldson,
Recollections.
Birtha, the motherless daughter and only child of As'tragon the Lombard philosopher. In spring she gathered blossoms for her father's still, in autumn, berries, and in summer, flowers. She fell in love with duke Grondibert, whose wounds she assisted her father to heal. Birtha, "in love unpractised and unread," is the beau-ideal of innocence and purity of mind. Grondibert had just plighted his love to her when he was summoned to court, for king Aribert had proclaimed him his successor and future son-in-law. Gondibert assured Birtha he would remain true to her, and gave her an emerald ring which he told her would lose its lustre if he proved untrue. Here the tale breaks off, and as it was never finished the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).
Bishop Middleham, who was always declaiming against ardent drinks, and advocating water as a beverage, killed himself by secret intoxication.
Bishops. The seven who refused to read the declaration of indulgence published by James II. and were by him imprisoned for recusancy, were archbishop Sancroft (Canterbury), bishops Lloyd (St. Asaph), Turner (Ely), Kew (Bath and Wells), White (Peterborough), Lake (Chichester), Trelawney (Bristol). Being tried, they were all acquitted (June, 1688).
Bisto'nians, the Thracians, so called from Biston (son of Mars), who built Bisto'nia on lake Bis'tonis.
So the Bistonian race, a maddening train,Exult and revel on the Thracian plain.
Pitt's Statius, ii.
Bit'elas(3 syl.), sister of Fairlimb, and daughter of Rukenaw the ape, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
Bit'tlebrains (Lord), friend of sir William Ashton, lord-keeper of Scotland.
Lady Bittlebrains, wife of the above lord.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Bit'zer, light porter in Bounderby's bank at Coketown. He is educated at M'Choakumchild's "practical school," and becomes a general spy and informer. Bitzer finds out the robbery of the bank, and discovers the perpetrator to be Tom Gradgrind (son of Thomas Gradgrind, Esq., M.P.), informs against him, and gets promoted to his place.—C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854).
Bizarre [Be.zar'(1)], the friend of Orian'a, forever coquetting and sparring with Duretete [Dure.tait], and placing him in awkward predicaments.—G.K. Farquhar, The Inconstant (1702).
Black Ag'nes, the countess of March, noted for her defence of Dunbar during the war which Edward III. maintained in Scotland (1333-1338).
Sir Walter Scott says: "The countess was called 'Black Agnes' from her complexion. She was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, earl of Murray."—Tales of a Grandfather, i. 14. (See BLACK PRINCE.)
Black Colin Campbell, general Campbell, in the army of George III., introduced by sir W. Scott in Redgauntlet.
Black Douglas, William Douglas, lord of Nithsdale, who died 1390.
He was tall, strong, and well made, of a swarthycomplexion, with dark hair, from which he was
called "The Black Douglas."—Sir Walter Scott,
Tales of a Grandfather, xi.
Black Dwarf (The), of sir Walter Scott, is meant for David Ritchie, whose cottage was and still is on Manor Water, in the county of Peebles.
Black-eyed Susan, one of Dibdin's sea-songs.
Black George, the gamekeeper in Fielding's novel, called The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1750).
Black George, Greorge Petrowitsch of Servia, a brigand; called by the Turks Kara George, from the terror he inspired.
Black Horse (The), the 7th Dragoon Guards (not the 7th Dragoons). So called because their facings (or collar and cuffs) are black velvet. Their plumes are black and white; and at one time their horses were black, or at any rate dark.
Black Knight of the Black Lands (The), sir Pereard. Called by Tennyson "Night" or "Nox." He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Dangerous, and was overthrown by sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 126 (1470); Tennyson, Idylls ("Gareth and Lynette").
Black Lord Clifford, John ninth lord Clifford, son of Thomas lord Clifford. Also called "The Butcher" (died 1461).
Black Prince, Edward prince of Wales, son of Edward III. Froissart says he was styled black "by terror of his arms" (c. 169). Similarly, lord Clifford was called "The Black Lord Clifford" for his cruelties (died 1461). George Petrowitsch was called by the Turks "Black George" from the terror of his name. The countess of March was called "Black Agnes" from the terror of her deeds, and not (as sir W. Scott says) from her dark complexion. Similarly, "The Black Sea," or Axinus, as the Greeks once called it, received its name from the inhospitable character of the Scythians.
Black'acre (Widow), a masculine, litigious, pettifogging, headstrong woman.—Wycherly, The Plain Dealer (1677).
Blackchester (The countess of), sister of lord Dalgarno.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Blackguards (Victor Hugo says), soldiers condemned for some offence in discipline to wear their red coats (which were lined with black) inside out. The French equivalent, he says, is Blaqueurs.—L'Homme qui Rit, II. in. 1.
It is quite impossible to believe this to be the true derivation of the word. Other suggestions will be found in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Blackless (Tomalin), a soldier in the guard of Richard Coeur de Lion.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Blackmantle (Bernard), Charles Molloy Westmacott, author of The English Spy (1826).
Black'pool (Stephen), a power-loom weaver in Bounderby's mill at Coketown. He had a knitted brow and pondering expression of face, was a man of the strictest integrity, refused to join the strike, and was turned out of the mill. When Tom Gradgrind robbed the bank of £150, he threw suspicion on Stephen Blackpool, and while Stephen was hastening to Coketown to vindicate himself he fell into a shaft, known as "the Hell Shaft," and although rescued, died on a litter. Stephen Blackpool loved Rachael, one of the hands, but had already a drunken, worthless wife.—C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854).
Blacksmith (The Flemish), Quentin Matsys, the Dutch painter (1460-1529).
Blacksmith (The Learned), Elihu Burritt, United States (1810-1879).
Blackwood's Magazine. The vignette on the wrapper of this magazine is meant for George Buchanan, the Scotch historian and poet (1506-1582). He is the representative of Scottish literature generally.
The magazine originated in 1817 with William Blackwood of Edinburgh, publisher.
Blad'derskate (Lord) and lord Kaimes, the two judges in Peter Peeble's lawsuit.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Blade o' Grass, child of the gutter, bright, saucy, and warm-hearted. She is taken from her wretched environment by philanthropists, who would aid her to lead a different life. However great the outward change, she is ever Bohemian at heart.—B.L. Farjeon, Blade o' Grass.
Bla'dud, father of king Lear. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that "This Prince Bladud was a very ingenious man and taught necromancy in his kingdom; nor did he leave off pursuing his magic operations till he attempted to fly to the upper regions of the air with wings which he had prepared, and fell down upon the temple of Apollo in the city of Trinovantum, where he was dashed to pieces."
Blair (Adam), the hero of a novel by J.G. Lockhart, entitled Adam Blair, a Story of Scottish Life (1794-1854).
Blair (Father Clement), a Carthusian monk, confessor of Catherine Glover, "the fair maid of Perth."—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Blair (Rev. David), sir Richard Philips, author of The Universal Preceptor (1816), Mother's Question Book, etc. He issued books under a legion of false names.
Blaise, a hermit, who baptized Merlin the enchanter.
Blaise (St.), patron saint of wool-combers, because he was torn to pieces with iron combs.
Blake (Franklin), handsome, accomplished, and desperately in love with his cousin Rachel. Almost wild concerning the safety of the Moonstone which he has conveyed to her, he purloins it while under the influence of opium, taken to relieve insomnia, and gives it to the plausible villain of the book—Godfrey Ablewhite. The latter pawns it to pay his debts, and is murdered by East Indians, who believe that he still has the gem.—Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone.
Blanche (1 syl.), one of the domestics of lady Eveline "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Blanche (La reine), the queen of France during the first six weeks of her widowhood. During this period of mourning she spent her time in a closed room, lit only by a wax taper, and was dressed wholly in white. Mary, the widow of Louis XII., was called La reine Blanche during her days of mourning, and is sometimes (but erroneously) so called afterwards.
Blanche (Lady) makes a vow with lady Anne to die an old maid, and of course falls over head and ears in love with Thomas Blount, a jeweller's son, who enters the army, and becomes a colonel. She is very handsome, ardent, brilliant, and fearless.—S. Knowles, Old Maids (1841).
Blanche Lombard, girl of the period, who solaces herself for the apparent defection of one lover by flirting with a new acquaintance; registered in his note-book as "Blonde; superb physique; fine animal spirits; giggles."—Robert Grant, The Knave of Hearts (1886).
Blanche´fleur (2 syl.), the heroine of Boccaccio's prose romance called Il Filopoco. Her lover Flores is Boccaccio himself, and Blanchefleur was the daughter of king Robert. The story of Blanchefleur and Flores is substantially the same as that of Dor´igen and Aurelius, by Chaucer, and that of "Diano´ra and Ansaldo," in the Decameron.
Bland´mour (Sir), a man of "mickle might," who "bore great sway in arms and chivalry," but was both vainglorious and insolent. He attacked Brit´omart, but was discomfited by her enchanted spear; he next attacked sir Ferraugh, and having overcome him took him from the lady who accompanied him, "the False Florimel."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 1 (1596).
Blande´ville (Lady Emily), a neighbor of the Waverley family, afterwards married to colonel Talbot.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Bland´ford, the father of Belin´da, who he promised sir William Bellmont should marry his son George. But Belinda was in love with Beverley, and George Bellmont with Clarissa (Beverley's sister). Ultimately matters arranged themselves, so that the lovers married according to their inclinations.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).
Blan´diman, the faithful man-servant of the fair Bellisant, and her attendant after her divorce.—Valentine and Orson.
Blandi´na, wife of the churlish knight Turpin, who refused hospitality to sir Calepine and his lady Sere´na (canto 3). She had "the art of a suasive tongue," and most engaging manners, but "her words were only words, and all her tears were water" (canto 7).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).
Blandish, a "practised parasite." His sister says to him, "May you find but half your own vanity in those you have to work on!" (act i. 1).
Miss Letitia Blandish, sister of the above, a fawning timeserver, who sponges on the wealthy. She especially toadies to Miss Alscrip "the heiress," flattering her vanity, fostering her conceit, and encouraging her vulgar affectations.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1781).
Blane (Niell), town piper and publican.
Jenny Blane, his daughter.—Sir W, Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Bla´ney, a wealthy heir, ruined by dissipation.—Crabbe, Borough.
Blarney (Lady), one of the flash women introduced by squire Thornhill to the Primrose family.—Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield (1765).
Blas´phemous Balfour. Sir James Balfour, the Scottish judge, was so called from his apostacy (died 1583).
Bla´tant Beast (The), the personification of slander or public opinion. The beast had 100 tongues and a sting. Sir Artegal muzzled the monster, and dragged it to Faëry-land, but it broke loose and regained its liberty. Subsequently sir Cal´idore (3 syl.) went in quest of it.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. and vi. (1596).
"Mrs. Grundy" is the modern name of Spenser's "Blatant
Beast."
Blath´ers and Duff, detectives who investigate the burglary in which Bill Sikes had a hand. Blathers relates the tale of Conkey Chickweed, who robbed himself of 327 guineas.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Blat´tergrowl (The Rev. Mr.), minister of Trotcosey, near Monkbarns.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, Elizabeth).
Bleeding-heart Yard (London). So called because it was the place where the devil cast the bleeding heart of lady Hatton (wife of the dancing chancellor), after he had torn it out of her body with his claws.—Dr. Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions.
Bleise (1 syl.) of Northumberland, historian of king Arthur's period.
Blem´myes (3 syl.), a people of Africa, fabled to have no head, but having eyes and mouth in the breast. (See GAOKA.)
Blemmyis traduntur capita abesse, ore et oculispectori affixis.—Pliny.
Ctesias speaks of a people of India near the Gangês, sine cervice, oculos in humeris habentes. Mela also refers to a people quibus capita et vultus in pectore sunt.
Blenheim Spaniels. The Oxford electors are so called, because for many years they obediently supported any candidate which the duke of Marlborough commanded them to return. Lockhart broke through this custom by telling the people the fable of the Dog and the Wolf. The dog, it will be remembered, had on his neck the marks of his collar, and the wolf said he preferred liberty.
(The race of the little dog called the Blenheim spaniel, has been preserved ever since Blenheim House was built for the duke of Marlborough in 1704.)
Blet´son (Master Joshua), one of the three parliamentary commissioners sent by Cromwell with a warrant to leave the royal lodge to the Lee family.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Bli´fil, a noted character in Fielding's novel entitled The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1750).
¤¤¤ Blifil is the original of Sheridan's "Joseph Surface" in the School for Scandal (1777).
Bligh (William), captain of the Bounty, so well known for the mutiny, headed by Fletcher Christian, the mate (1790).
Blimber (Dr.), head of a school for the sons of gentlemen, at Brighton. It was a select school for ten pupils only; but there was learning enough for ten times ten. "Mental green peas were produced at Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the year round." The doctor was really a ripe scholar, and truly kind-hearted; but his great fault was over-tasking his boys, and not seeing when the bow was too much stretched. Paul Dombey, a delicate lad, succumbed to this strong mental pressure.
Mrs. Blimber, wife of the doctor, not learned, but wished to be thought so. Her pride was to see the boys in the largest possible collars and stiffest possible cravats, which she deemed highly classical.
Cornelia Blimber, the doctor's daughter, a slim young lady, who kept her hair short and wore spectacles. Miss Blimber "had no nonsense about her," but had grown "dry and sandy with working in the graves of dead languages." She married Mr. Feeder, B.A., Dr. Blimber's usher.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, Henry, son and heir of sir Simon de Montfort. At the battle of Evesham the barons were routed, Montfort slain, and his son Henry left on the field for dead. A baron's daughter discovered the young man, nursed him with care, and married him. The fruit of the marriage was "pretty Bessee, the beggar's daughter." Henry de Montfort assumed the garb and semblance of a blind beggar, to escape the vigilance of king Henry's spies.
Day produced, in 1659, a drama called The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, and S. Knowles, in 1834, produced his amended drama on the same subject. There is [or was], in the Whitechapel Road a public-house sign called the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green.—History of Sign-boards.
Blind Emperor (The), Ludovig III. of Germany (880, 890-934).
Blind Harper (The), John Parry, who died 1739.
John Stanley, mnsician and composer, was blind from his birth (1713-1786).
Blind Harry, a Scotch minstrel of the fifteenth century, blind from infancy. His epic of Sir William Wallace runs to 11,861 lines. He was minstrel in the court of James IV.
Blind Mechanician (The). John Strong, a great mechanical genius, was blind from his birth. He died at Carlisle, aged sixty-six (1732-1798).
Blind Poet (The), Luigi Groto, an Italian poet called Il Cieco (1541-1585). John Milton (1608-1674).
Homer is called The Blind Old Bard (fl. B.C. 960).
Blind Traveller (The), lieutenant James Holman. He became blind at the age of twenty-five, but, notwithstanding, travelled round the world, and published an account of his travels (1787-1857).
Blin´kinsop, a smuggler in Redgauntlet, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George III.).
Blister, the apothecary, who says, "Without physicians, no one could know whether he was well or ill." He courts Lucy by talking shop to her.—Fielding, The Virgin Unmasked.
Blithe-Heart King (The). David is so called by Caedmon.
Those lovely lyrics written by his handWhom Saxon Caedmon calls "The Blithe-heart King."
Longfellow, The Poet's Tale (ref. is to Psalm
cxlviii. 9).
Block (Martin), one of the committee of the Estates of Burgundy, who refuse supplies to Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Blok (Nikkel), the butcher, one of the insurgents at Liege.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Blondel de Nesle [Neel], the favorite trouvère or minstrel of Richard Coeur de Lion. He chanted the Bloody Vest in presence of queen Berengaria, the lovely Edith Plantagenet.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Blon´dina, the mother of Fairstar and two boys at one birth. She was the wife of a king, but the queen-mother hated her, and taking away the three babes substituted three puppies. Ultimately her children were restored to her, and the queen-mother with her accomplices were duly punished.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Fairstar," 1682).
Blood (Colonel Thomas), emissary of the duke of Buckingham (1628-1680), introduced by sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak, a novel (time, Charles II.).
Bloods (The Five): (1) The O'Neils of Ulster; (2) the O'Connors of Connaught; (3) the O'Brians of Thomond; (4) the O'Lachlans of Meath; and (5) the M'Murroughs of Leinster. These are the five principal septs or families of Ireland, and all not belonging to one of these five septs are accounted aliens or enemies, and could "neither sue nor be sued," even down to the reign of Elizabeth.
William Fitz-Roger, being arraigned (4th Edward II.) for the murder of Roger de Cantilon, pleads that he was not guilty of felony, because his victim was not of "free blood," i.e. one of the "five bloods of Ireland." The plea is admitted by the jury to be good.
Bloody (The), Otho II. emperor of Germany (955, 973-983).
Bloody-Bones, a bogie.
As bad as Bloody-bones or Lunsford (i.e. sirThomas Lunsford, governor of the Tower, the
dread of every one).—S. Butler, Hudibras.
Bloody Brother (The), a tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1639). The "bloody brother" is Rollo duke of Normandy, who kills his brother Otto and several other persons, but is himself killed ultimately by Hamond captain of the guard.
Bloody Butcher (The), the duke of Cumberland, second son of George II., so called from his barbarities in the suppression of the rebellion in favor of Charles Edward, the young pretender. "Black Clifford" was also called "The Butcher" for his cruelties (died 1461).
Bloody Hand, Cathal, an ancestor of the O'Connors of Ireland.
Bloody Mary, queen Mary of England, daughter of Henry VIII. and elder half-sister of queen Elizabeth. So called on account of the sanguinary persecutions carried on by her government against the protestants. It is said that 200 persons were burned to death in her short reign (1516,1553-1558).
Bloomfield (Louisa), a young lady engaged to lord Totterly the beau of sixty, but in love with Charles Danvers the embryo barrister.—C. Selby, The Unfinished Gentleman.
Blount (Nicholas), afterwards knighted; master of the horse to the earl of Sussex.
—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Blount (Sir Frederick), a distant relative of sir John Vesey. He had a great objection to the letter r, which he considered "wough and wasping." He dressed to perfection, and though not "wich," prided himself on having the "best opewa-box, the best dogs, the best horses, and the best house" of any one. He liked Greorgina Vesey, and as she had £10,000 he thought he should do himself no harm by "mawy-wing the girl."—Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Blount (Master), a wealthy jeweller of Ludgate Hill, London. An old-fashioned tradesman, not ashamed of his calling. He had two sons, John and Thomas; the former was his favorite.
Mistress Blount, his wife. A shrewd, discerning woman, who loved her son Thomas, and saw in him the elements of a rising man.
John Blount, eldest son of the Ludgate jeweller. Being left successor to his father, he sold the goods and set up for a man of fashion and fortune. His vanity and snobbism were most gross. He had good-nature, but more cunning than discretion, thought himself far-seeing, but was most easily duped. "The phaeton was built after my design, my lord," he says, "mayhap your lordship has seen it." "My taste is driving, my lord, mayhap your lordship has seen me handle the ribbons." "My horses are all bloods, mayhap your lordship has noticed my team." "I pride myself on my seat in the saddle, mayhap your lordship has seen me ride." "If I am superlative in anything, 'its in my wines." "So please your ladyship, 'tis dress I most excel in ... 'tis walking I pride myself in." No matter what is mentioned, 'tis the one thing he did or had better than any one else. This conceited fool was duped into believing a parcel of men-servants to be lords and dukes, and made love to a lady's maid, supposing her to be a countess.
Thomas Blount, John's brother, and one of nature's gentlemen. He entered the army, became a colonel, and married lady Blanche. He is described as having "a lofty forehead for princely thought to dwell in, eyes for love or war, a nose of Grecian mould with touch of Rome, a mouth like Cupid's bow, ambitious chin dimpled and knobbed."—S. Knowles, Old Maids (1841).
Blouzelin´da or BLOWZELINDA, a shepherdess in love with Lobbin Clout, in The Shepherd's Week.
My Blouzelinda is the blithest lass,Than primrose sweeter, or the clover-grass.
My Blouzelind's than gilliflower more fair,
Than daisie, marygold, or kingcup rare.
Gay, Pastoral, i. (1714).
Sweet is my toil when Blowzelind is near,
Of her bereft 'tis winter all the year ...
Come, Blowzelinda, ease thy swain's desire,
My summer's shadow, and my winter's fire.
Ditto.
Blower (Mrs. Margaret), the shipowner's widow at the Spa. She marries Dr. Quackleben, "the man of medicine" (one of the managing committee at the Spa).—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Blucher was nicknamed "Marshal Forward" for his dash and readiness in the campaign of 1813.
Blue Beard (La Barbe Bleue), from the contes of Charles Perrault (1697). The chevalier Raoul is a merciless tyrant, with a blue beard. His young wife is entrusted with all the keys of the castle, with strict injunctions on pain of death not to open one special room. During the absence of her lord the "forbidden fruit" is too tempting to be resisted, the door is opened, and the young wife finds the floor covered with the dead bodies of her husband's former wives. She drops the key in her terror, and can by no means obliterate from it the stain of blood. Blue Beard, on his return, commands her to prepare for death, but by the timely arrival of her brothers her life is saved and Blue Beard put to death.
Dr. C. Taylor thinks Blue Beard is a type of the castle-lords in the days of knight-errantry. Some say Henry VIII. (the noted wife-killer) was the "academy figure." Others think it was Giles de Retz, marquis de Laval, marshal of France in 1429, who (according to Mézeray) murdered six of his seven wives, and was ultimately strangled in 1440.
Another solution is that Blue Beard was count Conomar´, and the young wife Triphy´na, daughter of count Guerech. Count Conomar was lieutenant of Brittany in the reign of Childebert. M. Hippolyte Violeau assures us that in 1850, during the repairs of the chapel of St. Nicolas de Bieuzy, some ancient frescoes were discovered with scenes from the life of St. Triphyna: (1) The marriage; (2) the husband taking leave of his young wife and entrusting to her a key; (3) a room with an open door, through which are seen the corpses of seven women hanging; (4) the husband threatening his wife, while another female [sister Anne] is looking out of a window above; (5) the husband has placed a halter round the neck of his victim, but the friends, accompanied by St. Gildas, abbot of Rhuys in Brittany, arrive just in time to rescue the future saint.— Pélerinages de Bretagne.
Blue Knight (The), sir Persaunt of India, called by Tennyson "Morning Star" or "Phosphorus." He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 131 (1470); Tennyson, Idylls ("Gareth and Lynette").
It is evidently a blunder in Tennyson to call the Blue Knight
"Morning Star," and the Green Knight "Evening Star." The reverse is
correct, and in the old romance the combat with the Green Knight was at
day-break, and with the Blue Knight at sunset.
Blue-Skin, Joseph Blake, an English burglar, so called from his complexion. He was executed in 1723.
Bluff (Bachelor), celibate philosopher upon social, domestic, and cognate themes.
"Give me," he says emphatically, "in ourhousehold, color and cheeriness—not cold art,
nor cold pretensions of any kind, but warmth,
brightness, animation. Bring in pleasing colors,
choice pictures, bric-à-brac, and what-not. But
let in, also, the sun; light the fires; and have
everything for daily use."—Oliver Bell Bunce,
Bachelor Bluff (1882).
Bluff (Captain Noll), a swaggering bully and boaster. He says, "I think that fighting for fighting's sake is sufficient cause for fighting. Fighting, to me, is religion and the laws."
"You must know, sir, I was resident in Flandersthe last campaign ... there was scarce
anything of moment done, but a humble servant
of yours ... had the greatest share in't....
Well, would you think it, in all this time ...
that rascally Gazette never so much as once mentioned
me? Not once, by the wars! Took no
more notice of Noll Bluff than if he had not been
in the land of the living."—Congreve, The Old
Bachelor (1693).
Bluff Hal or BLUFF HARRY, Henry VIII.
Ere yet in scorn of Peter's pence,And numbered bead and shrift,
Bluff Harry broke into the spence,
And turned the cowls adrift.
Tennyson, The Talking Oak.
Blun'derbore (3 syl.), the giant who was drowned because Jack scuttled his boat.—Jack the Giant-killer.
Blunt (Colonel), a brusque royalist, who vows "he'd woo no woman," but falls in love with Arbella, an heiress, woos and wins her. T. Knight, who has converted this comedy into a farce, with the title of Honest Thieves, calls colonel Blunt "captain Manly."—Hon. sir R. Howard, The Committee (1670).
Blunt (Major-General), an old cavalry officer, rough in speech, but brave, honest, and a true patriot.—Shadwell, The Volunteers.
Blushington (Edward), a bashful young gentleman of twenty-five, sent as a poor scholar to Cambridge, without any expectations, but by the death of his father and uncle, left all at once as "rich as a nabob." At college he was called "the sensitive plant of Brazenose," because he was always blushing. He dines by invitation at Friendly Hall, and commits ceaseless blunders. Next day his college chum, Frank Friendly, writes word that he and his sister Dinah, with sir Thomas and lady Friendly, will dine with him. After a few glasses of wine, he loses his bashful modesty, makes a long speech, and becomes the accepted suitor of the pretty Miss Dinah Friendly.—W.T. Moncrieff, The Bashful Man.
Bo or Boh, says Warton, was a fierce Gothic chief, whose name was used to frighten children.
Boadicea, queen of a tribe of ancient Britons. Her husband having been killed by the Romans, she took the field in person. She was defeated and committed suicide.
Boaner´ges (4 syl.), a declamatory pet parson, who anathematizes all except his own "elect." "He preaches real rousing-up discourses, but sits down pleasantly to his tea, and makes hisself friendly."—Mrs. Oliphant, Salem Chapel.
A protestant Boanerges, visiting Birmingham,sent an invitation to Dr. Newman to dispute
publicly with him in the Town Hall.—E. Yates,
Celebrities, xxii.
Boanerges or "sons of thunder" is the name given by Jesus
Christ to James and John, because they wanted to call down fire from
heaven to consume the Samaritans.—Mark iii. 17.
Boar (The), Richard III., so called from his cognizance.
The bristled boar,In infant gore,
Wallows beneath the thorny shade.
Gray, The Bard (1757).
In contempt Richard III. is called The Hog, hence the popular distich:
The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell the dog,Rule all England, under the Hog.
("The Cat" is Catesby, and "the Rat" Ratcliffe).
Boar (The Blue). This public-house sign (Westminster) is the badge of the Veres earls of Oxford.
The Blue Boar Lane (St. Nicholas, Leicester) is so named from the cognizance of Richard III., because he slept there the night before the battle of Bosworth Field.
Boar of Ardennes (The Wild), in French Le Sanglier des Ardennes (2 syl.), was Guillaume comte de la Marck, so called because he was as fierce as the wild boar he delighted to hunt. The character is introduced by sir W. Scott in Quentin Durward, under the name of "William count of la Marck."
Bob'adil, an ignorant, shallow bully, thoroughly cowardly, but thought by his dupes to be an amazing hero. He lodged with Cob (the water-carrier) and his wife Tib. Master Stephen was greatly struck with his "dainty oaths," such as "By the foot of Pharaoh!" "Body of Cæsar!" "As I am a gentleman and a soldier!" His device to save the expense of a standing army is inimitable for its conceit and absurdity:
"I would select 19 more to myself throughout the land; gentlemen they should be, of a good spirit and able constitution. I would choose them by an instinct,... and I would teach them the special rules ... till they could play [fence] very near as well as myself. This done, say the enemy were 40,000 strong, we 20 would ... challenge 20 of the enemy; ... kill them; challenge 20 more, kill them; 20 more, kill them too; ... every man his 10 a day, that's 10 score ... 200 a day; five days, a thousand; 40,000, 40 times 5,200 days; kill them all."—Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 7 (1598).
Since his [Henry Woodward, 1717-1777] time the part of "Bobadil" has never been justly performed. It may be said to have died with him.
—Dr. Doran.
The name was probably suggested by Bobadilla first governor of Cuba, who superseded Columbus sent home in chains on a most frivolous charge. Similar characters are "Metamore" and "Scaramouch" (Molière); "Parolles" and "Pistol" (Shakespeare); "Bessus" (Beaumont and Fletcher). (See also BASILISCO, BOROUGHCLIFF, CAPTAIN BRAZEN, CAPTAIN NOLL BLUFF, SIR PETRONEL FLASH, SACRIPANT, VINCENT DE LA ROSE, etc.)
Bobolinkon. Christopher Pearse Cranch calls the bobolink:
Still merriest of the merry birds, andPied harlequins of June.
O, could I share without champagne
Or muscadel, your frolic;
The glad delirium of your joy,
Your fun unapostolic;
Your drunken jargon through the fields,
Your bobolinkish gabble,
Your fine Anacreontic glee,
Your tipsy reveller's babble!
Christopher Pearse Cranch, The Bird and the Bell (1875).
Bodach Glay or "Grey Spectre," a house demon of the Scotch, similar to the Irish banshee.
Bodley Family, an American household, father, mother, sisters, and brothers, whose interesting adventures at home and abroad are detailed by Horace E. Scudder in The Bodley Books (1875-1887).
Boe´mond, the Christian king of Antioch, who tried to teach his subjects arts, law, and religion. He is of the Norman race, Roge´ro's brother, and son of Roberto Guiscar´do.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Boeuf (Front de), a gigantic, ferocious follower of prince John.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Boffin (Nicodemus), "the golden dustman," foreman of old John Harmon, dustman and miser. He was "a broad, round-shouldered, one-sided old fellow, whose face was of the rhinoceros build, with overlapping ears." A kind, shrewd man was Mr. Boffin, devoted to his wife, whom he greatly admired. Being residuary legatee of John Harmon, dustman, he came in for £100,000. Afterwards, John Harmon, the son, being discovered, Mr. Boffin surrendered the property to him, and lived with him.
Mrs. Boffin, wife of Mr. N. Boffin, and daughter of a cat's-meatman. She was a fat, smiling, good-tempered creature, the servant of old John Harmon, dustman and miser, and very kind to the miser's son (young John Harmon). After Mr. Boffin came into his fortune she became "a high flyer at fashion," wore black velvet and sable, but retained her kindness of heart and love for her husband. She was devoted to Bella Wilfer, who ultimately became the wife of young John Harmon, alias Rokesmith.—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).
Bo'gio, one of the allies of Charlemagne. He promised his wife to return within six months, but was slain by Dardinello.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Bohemian (A), a gipsy, from the French notion that the first gipsies came from Bohemia.
A Literary Bohemian, an author of desultory works and irregular life.
Never was there an editor with less about him of the literary Bohemian.—Fortnightly Review ("Paston Letters").
Bohemian Literature, desultory reading.
A Bohemian Life, an irregular, wandering, restless way of living, like that of a gipsy.
Bo'hemond, prince of Antioch, a crusader.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Bois'grelin (The young countess de), introduced in the ball given by king René at Aix.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Bois-Guilbert (Sir Brian de), a preceptor of the Knights Templars. Ivanhoe vanquishes him in a tournament. He offers insult to Rebecca, and she threatens to cast herself from the battlements if he touches her. "When the castle is set on fire by the sibyl, sir Brian carries off Rebecca from the flames. The Grand-Master of the Knights Templars charges Rebecca with sorcery, and she demands a trial by combat. Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert is appointed to sustain the charge against her, and Ivanhoe is her champion. Sir Brian being found dead in the lists, Rebecca is declared innocent."—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe time, (Richard I.).
Boisterer, one of the seven attendants of Fortu´nio. His gift was that he could overturn a windmill with his breath, and even wreck a man-of-war.
Fortunio asked him what he was doing. "Iam blowing a little, sir," answered he, "to set
those mills at work." "But," said the knight,
"you seem too far off." "On the contrary," replied
the blower, "I am too near, for if I did not
restrain my breath I should blow the mills over,
and perhaps the hill too on which they stand."—Comtesse
D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Fortunio,"
1682).
Bold Beauchamp [Beech´-am], a proverbial phrase similar to "an Achilles," "a Hector," etc. The reference is to Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, who, with one squire and six archers, overthrew a hundred armed men at Hogges, in Normandy, in 1346.
So had we still of ours, in France that famous were,Warwick, of England then high-constable that was,
...So hardy, great, and strong,
That after of that name it to an adage grew,
If any man himself adventurous happed to shew,
"Bold Beauchamp" men him termed, if none so bold as he.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xviii. (1613).
Bold Stroke for a Husband, a comedy by Mrs. Cowley. There are two plots: one a bold stroke to get the man of one's choice for a husband, and the other a bold stroke to keep a husband. Olivia de Zuniga fixed her heart on Julio de Messina, and refused or disgusted all suitors till he came forward. Donna Victoria, in order to keep a husband, disguised herself in man's apparel, assumed the name of Florio, and made love as a man to her husband's mistress. She contrived by an artifice to get back an estate which don Carlos had made over to his mistress, and thus saved her husband from ruin (1782).
Bold Stroke for a Wife. Old Lovely at death left his daughter Anne £30,000, but with this proviso, that she was to forfeit the money if she married without the consent of her guardians. Now her guardians were four in number, and their characters so widely different that "they never agreed on any one thing." They were sir Philip Modelove, an old beau; Mr. Periwinkle, a silly virtuoso; Mr. Tradelove, a broker on 'Change; and Mr. Obadiah Prim, a hypocritical quaker. Colonel Feignwell contrived to flatter all the guardians to the top of their bent, and won the heiress.—Mrs. Centlivre (1717).
Boldwood (Farmer), one of the wooers of Bathsheba Everdene. He serves for her seven years and loses her at last, after killing her husband to free her from his tyranny. He is sentenced to penal servitude "during Her Majesty's pleasure."—Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874).
Bolster, a famous Wrath, who compelled St. Agnes to gather up the boulders which infested his territory. She carried three apronfuls to the top of a hill, hence called St. Agnes' Beacon. (See WRATH'S HOLE.)
Bol'ton (Stawarth), an English officer in The Monastery, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Elizabeth).
Bolton Ass. This creature is said to have chewed tobacco and taken snuff.—Dr. Doran.
Bomba (King), a nickname given to Ferdinand II. of Naples, in consequence of his cruel bombardment of Messi'na in 1848. His son, who bombarded Palermo in 1860, is called Bombali'no ("Little Bomba").
A young Sicilian, too, was there...[Who] being rebellious to his liege,
After Palermo's fatal siege,
Across the western seas he fled
In good king Bomba's happy reign.
Longfellow, The Wayside Inn (prelude).
Bombardin'ian, general of the forces of king Chrononhotonthologos. He invites the king to his tent, and gives him hashed pork. The king strikes him, and calls him traitor. "Traitor, in thy teeth," replies the general. They fight, and the king is killed.—H. Carey, Chrononhotonthologos (a burlesque).
Bombastes Furioso, general of Artaxam'inous (king of Utopia). He is plighted to Distaffi'na, but Artaxaminous promises her "half-a-crown" if she will forsake the general for himself. "This bright reward of ever-daring minds" is irresistible. When Bombastês sees himself flouted, he goes mad, and hangs his boots on a tree, with this label duly displayed:
Who dares this pair of boots displace,Must meet Bombastês face to face.
The king, coming up, cuts down the boots, and Bombastês "kills him." Fusbos, seeing the king fallen, "kills" the general; but at the close of the farce the dead men rise one by one, and join the dance, promising, if the audience likes, "to die again to-morrow."—W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso.
This farce is a travesty of Orlando
Furioso, and "Distaffina" is Angelica, beloved by Orlando, whom she
flouted for Medoro, a young Moor. On this Orlando went mad, and hung up
his armor on a tree, with this distich attached thereto:
But such who'll meet him face to face.
In the Rehearsal, by the duke of Buckingham, Bayes' troops are killed, every man of them, by Drawcansir, but revive, and "go off on their legs."
See the translation of Don Quixote, by C. H. Wilmot, Esq., ii. 363 (1764).
Bombastes Furioso (The French), capitaine Fracasse.—Théophile Gautier.
Bombas'tus, the family name of Paracelsus. He is said to have kept a small devil prisoner in the pommel of his sword.
Bombastus kept a devil's birdShut in the pommel of his sword,
That taught him all the cunning pranks
Of past and future mountebanks.
S. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3.
Bonas'sus, an imaginary wild beast, which the Ettrick shepherd encountered. (The Ettrick shepherd was James Hogg, the Scotch poet.)—Noctes Ambrosianae (No. xlviii., April, 1830).
Bonaventu're (Father), a disguise assumed for the nonce by the chevalier Charles Edward, the pretender.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Bondu'ca or Boadice'a, wife of Præsutagus king of the Ice'ni. For the better security of his family, Præsutagus made the emperor of Rome co-heir with his daughters; whereupon the Roman officers took possession of his palace, gave up the princesses to the licentious brutality of the Roman soldiers, and scourged the queen in public. Bonduca, roused to vengeance, assembled an army, burnt the Roman colonies of London, Colchester [Camalodunum], Verulam, etc., and slew above 80,000 Romans. Subsequently, Sueto'nius Paulinus defeated the Britons, and Bonduca poisoned herself, A.D. 61. John Fletcher wrote a tragedy entitled Bonduca (1647).
Bone-setter (The), Sarah Mapp (died 1736).
Bo'ney, a familiar contraction of Bo'naparte (3 syl.), used by the English in the early part of the nineteenth century by way of depreciation. Thus Thom. Moore speaks of "the infidel Boney."
Bonhomme (Jacques), a peasant who interferes with politics; hence the peasants' rebellion of 1358 was called La Jacquerie. The words may be rendered "Jimmy" or "Johnny Goodfellow."
Bon'iface (St.), an Anglo-Saxon whose name was Winifrid or Winfrith, born in Devonshire. He was made archbishop of Mayence by pope Gregory III., and is called "The Apostle of the Germans." St. Boniface was murdered in Friesland by some peasants, and his day is June 5 (680-755).
... in Friesland first St. Boniface our best,Who of the see of Mentz, while there he sat possessed,
At Dockum had his death, by faithless Frisians slain.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Bon'iface,(Father), ex-abbot of Kennaquhair. He first appears under the name of Blinkhoodie in the character of gardener at Kinross, and afterwards as the old gardener at Dundrennan. (Kennaquhair, that is, "I know not where.")—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Bon'iface (The abbot), successor of the abbot Ingelram, as Superior of St. Mary's Convent.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Boni'face, landlord of the inn at Lichfield, in league with the highwaymen. This sleek, jolly publican is fond of the cant phrase, "as the saying is." Thus, "Does your master stay in town, as the saying is?" "So well, as the saying is, I could wish we had more of them." "I'm old Will Boniface; pretty well known upon this road, as the saying is." He had lived at Lichfield "man and boy above eight and fifty years, and not consumed eight and fifty ounces of meat." He says:
"I have fed purely upon ale. I have eat myale, drank my ale, and I always sleep upon my
ale."—George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem,
i. I (1707).
Bonne Reine, Claude de France, daughter of Louis XII. and wife of François I. (1499-1524).
Bonnet Rouge, a red republican, so called from the red cap of liberty which he wore.
Bonnibel, southern beauty in Constance Cary Harrison's tale, Flower de Hundred.
The perfection of blonde prettiness, with amouth like Cupid's bow, a tiny tip-tilted nose,
eyes gold-brown to match her hair, a color like
crushed roses in her cheeks (1891).
Bonnivard (François de), the prisoner of Chillon. In Byron's poem he was one of six brothers, five of whom died violent deaths. The father and two sons died on the battle-field; one was burnt at the stake; three were imprisoned in the dungeon of Chillon, near the lake of Geneva. Two of the three died, and François was set at liberty by Henri the Bearnais. They were incarcerated by the duke-bishop of Savoy for republican principles (1496-1570).
Bonstet'tin (Nicholas), the old deputy of Schwitz, and one of the deputies of the Swiss confederacy to Charles duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Bon'temps (Roger), the personification of that buoyant spirit which is always "inclined to hope rather than fear," and in the very midnight of distress is ready to exclaim, "There's a good time coming, wait a little longer." The character is the creation of Béranger.
Vous, pauvres pleins d'envie,
Vous, riches désireux;
Vous, dont le char dévie
Aprés un cours heureux;
Vous, qui perdrez peut-être
Des titres éclatans,
Eh gai! prenez pour maître
Le gros Roger Bontemps.
Béranger (1814).
Bon'thorn (Anthony), one of Ramorny's followers; employed to murder Smith, the lover of Catherine Glover ("the fair maid of Perth"), but he murdered Oliver instead, by mistake. When charged with the crime, he demanded a trial by combat, and being defeated by Smith, confessed his guilt and was hanged. He was restored to life, but being again apprehended was executed.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Bon Ton, a farce by Garrick. Its design is to show the evil effects of the introduction of foreign morals and foreign manners. Lord Minikin neglects his wife, and flirts with Miss Tittup. Lady Minikin hates her husband, and flirts with colonel Tivy. Miss Tittup is engaged to the colonel. Sir John Trotley, who does not understand bon ton, thinks this sort of flirtation very objectionable. "You'll excuse me, for such old-fashioned notions, I am sure" (1760).
Boo'by (Lady), a vulgar upstart, who tries to seduce her footman, Joseph Andrews. Parson Adams reproves her for laughing in church. Lady Booby is a caricature of Richardson's "Pamela."—Fielding, Joseph Andrews (1742).
Boon Island. In Celia Thaxter's poem, The Watch of Boon Island, is told the story of two wedded lovers who tended the lighthouse on Boon Island until the husband died, when the wife
Bowed her head and let the light die out,For the wide sea lay calm as her dead love,
When evening fell from the far land, in doubt,
Vainly to find that faithful star men strove.
(1874.)
Boone (1 syl.), colonel [afterwards "general"] Daniel Boone, in the United States' service, was one of the earliest settlers in Kentucky, where he signalized himself by many daring exploits against the Red Indians (1735-1820).
Of all men, saving Sylla the man-slayer...The general Boone, the back-woodsman of Kentucky,
Was happiest among mortals anywhere, etc.
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 61-65 (1821).
Booshal'loch (Neil), cowherd to Ian Eachin M'Ian, chief of the clan Quhele.—Sir W. Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Boo'tes (3 syl.), Arcas son of Jupiter and Calisto. One day his mother, in the semblance of a bear, met him, and Arcas was on the point of killing it, when Jupiter, to prevent the murder, converted him into a constellation, either Boötês or Ursa Major.—Pausanias, Itinerary of Greece, viii. 4.
Doth not Orion worthily deserveA higher place ...
Than frail Boötês, who was placed above
Only because the gods did else foresee
He should the murderer of his mother be?
Lord Brooke, Of Nobility.
Booth, husband of Amelia. Said to be a drawing of the author's own character and experiences. He has all the vices of Tom Jones, with an additional share of meanness.—Fielding, Amelia (1751).
Borach'io, a follower of don John of Aragon. He is a great villain, engaged to Margaret, the waiting-woman of Hero.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).
Borach'io, a drunkard. (Spanish, borracho, "drunk;" borrachuélo, "a tippler.")
"Why, you stink of wine! D'ye think myniece will ever endure such a borachio? You're
an absolute Borachio."—W. Congreve, The Way
of the World (1700).
Borachio (Joseph), landlord of the Eagle Hotel, in Salamanca.—Jephson, Two Strings to your Bow (1792).
Bor'ak (Al), the animal brought by Gabriel to convey Mahomet to the seventh heaven. The word means "lightning." Al Borak had the face of a man, but the cheeks of a horse; its eyes were like jacinths, but brilliant as the stars; it had eagle's wings, glistened all over with radiant light, and it spoke with a human voice. This was one of the ten animals (not of the race of man) received into paradise.
Borak was a fine-limbed, high-standing horse, strong in frame, and with a coat as glossy as marble. His color was saffron, with one hair of gold for every three of tawny; his ears were restless and pointed like a reed; his eyes large and full of fire; his nostrils wide and steaming; he had a white star on his forehead, a neck gracefully arched, a mane soft and silky, and a thick tail that swept the ground.—Groquemitaine. ii. 9.
Border Minstrel (The), sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
My steps the Border Minstrel led.W. Wordsworth, Yarrow Revisited.
Bo'reas, the north wind. He lived in a cave on mount Hæmus, in Thrace.
Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer.G. A. Stephens, The Shipivreck.
Bor'gia (Lucrezia di), duchess of Ferra'ra, wife of don Alfonso. Her natural son Genna'ro was brought up by a fisherman in Naples, but when he grew to manhood a stranger gave him a paper from his mother, announcing to him that he was of noble blood, but concealing his name and family. He saved the life of Orsi'ni in the battle of Rin'ini, and they became sworn friends. In Venice he was introduced to a party of nobles, all of whom had some tale to tell against Lucrezia: Orsini told him she had murdered her brother; Vitelli, that she had caused his uncle to be slain; Liverotto, that she had poisoned his uncle Appia'no; Gazella, that she had caused one of his relatives to be drowned in the Tiber. Indignant at these acts of wickedness, Gennaro struck off the B from the escutcheon of the duke's palace at Ferrara, changing the name Borgia into Orgia. Lucrezia prayed the duke to put to death the man who had thus insulted their noble house, and Gennaro was condemned to death by poison. Lucrezia, to save him, gave him an antidote, and let him out of prison by a secret door. Soon after his liberation the princess Negroni, a friend of the Borgias, gave a grand supper, to which Gennaro and his companions were invited. At the close of the banquet they were all arrested by Lucrezia after having drunk poisoned wine. Gennaro was told he was the son of Lucrezia, and died. Lucrezia no sooner saw him die than she died also.—Donizetti, Lucrezia di Borgia (an opera, 1835).
Boros'kie (3 syl.), a malicious counsellor of the great-duke of Moscovia.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).
Bor'oughcliff (Captain), a vulgar Yankee, boastful, conceited, and slangy. "I guess," "I reckon," "I calculate," are used indifferently by him, and he perpetually appeals to sergeant Drill to confirm his boastful assertions: as, "I'm a pretty considerable favorite with the ladies; arn't I, sergeant Drill?" "My character for valor is pretty well known; isn't it, sergeant Drill?" "If you once saw me in battle, you'd never forget it; would he, sergeant Drill?" "I'm a sort of a kind of a nonentity; arn't I, sergeant Drill?" etc. He is made the butt of Long Tom Coffin. Colonel Howard wishes him to marry his niece Katharine, but the young lady has given her heart to lieutenant Barnstable, who turns out to be the colonel's son, and succeeds at last in marrying the lady of his affection.—E. Fitzball, The Pilot.
Borre (1 syl.), natural son of king Arthur, and one of the knights of the Bound Table. His mother was Lyonors, an earl's daughter, who came to do homage to the young king.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 15 (1470).
Sir Bors de Granis is quite another person, and so is
king Bors of Gaul.
Borro'meo (Charles), cardinal and archbishop of Milan. Immortalized by his self-devotion in ministering at Mil'an to the plague-stricken (1538-1584).
St. Roche, who died 1327, devoted himself in a similar manner to those stricken with the plague at Piacenza; and Mompesson to the people of Eyam. In 1720-22 H. Francis Xavier de Belsunce was indefatigable in ministering to the plague-stricken of Marseilles.
Bors (King) of Gaul, brother of king Ban of Benwicke [Brittany?]. They went to the aid of prince Arthur when he was first established on the British throne, and Arthur promised in return to aid them against king Claudas, "a mighty man of men," who warred against them.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).
There are two brethren beyond the sea, and they kings both ... the one hight king Ban of Benwieke, and the other hight king Bors of Gaul, that is, France.—Pt. i. 8.
(Sir Bors was of Ganis, that is, Wales, and was a knight of the Round Table. So also was Borre (natural son of prince Arthur), also called sir Bors sometimes.)
Bors (Sir), called sir Bors de Ganis, brother of sir Lionell and nephew of sir Launcelot. "For all women he was a virgin, save for one, the daughter of king Brandeg'oris, on whom he had a child, hight Elaine; save for her, sir Bors was a clean maid" (ch. iv.). When he went to Corbin, and saw Galahad the son of sir Launcelot and Elaine (daughter of king Pelles), he prayed that the child might prove as good a knight as his father, and instantly a vision of the holy greal was vouchsafed him; for—
There came a white dove, bearing a little censerof gold in her bill ... and a maiden that
bear the Sancgreall, and she said, "Wit ye well,
sir Bors, that this child ... shall achieve the
Sancgreall" ... then they kneeled down ... and
there was such a savor as all the spicery in the
world had been there. And when the dove took
her flight, the maiden vanished away with the
Sancgreall.—Pt. iii. 4.
Sir Bors was with sir Galahad and sir
Percival when the consecrated wafer assumed the visible and bodily appearance of the Saviour. And this is what is meant by achieving the holy greal; for when they partook of the wafer their eyes saw the Saviour enter it.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 101, 102 (1470).
N.B.—This sir Bors must not be confounded with sir Borre, a natural son of king Arthur and Lyonors (daughter of the earl Sanam, pt. i. 15), nor yet with king Bors of Gaul, i.e., France (pt. i. 8).
Bortell, the bull, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
Bos'can-[Almoga'và], a Spanish poet of Barcelona (1500-1543). His poems are generally bound up with those of Garcilasso. They introduced the Italian style into Castilian poetry.
Sometimes he turned to gaze upon his book,Boscan, or Garcilasso.
Byron, Don Juan, i. 95 (1819).
Boscosel, mysterious being, who brings about a reunion on earth of friends who have long ago departed for the spirit-world.—Francis Howard Williams, Boscosel (1888).
Bosmi'na, daughter of Fingal king of Morven (north-west coast of Scotland).—Ossian.
Bos'n Hill. In Poems by John Albee (1883) we find a legend of a dead Bos'n (boatswain) whose whistle calls up the dead on stormy nights when
The wind blows wild on Bos'n Hill,But sailors know when next they sail
Beyond the hilltop's view,
There's one amongst them shall not fail
To join the Bos'n's crew.
Bossu (Réné le), French scholar and critic (1631-1680).
And for the epic poem your lordship bademe look at, upon taking the length, breadth,
height, and depth of it, and trying them at
home upon an exact scale of Bossu's, 'tis out, my
lord, in every one of its dimensions.—Sterne
(1768).
Bossut (Abbé Charles), a celebrated mathematician (1730-1814).
(Sir Richard Phillips assumed a host of popular names, among others that of M. l'Abbé Bossut in several educational works in French.)
Bosta'na, one of the two daughters of the old man who entrapped prince Assad in order to offer him in sacrifice on "the fiery mountain." His other daughter was named Cava'ma. The old man enjoined these two daughters to scourge the prince daily with the bastinado and feed him with bread and water till the day of sacrifice arrived. After a time, the heart of Bostana softened towards her captive, and she released him. Whereupon his brother Amgiad, out of gratitude, made her his wife, and became in time king of the city in which he was already vizier.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").
Bostock, a coxcomb, cracked on the point of aristocracy and family birth. His one and only inquiry is "How many quarterings has a person got?" Descent from the nobility with him covers a multitude of sins, and a man is no one, whatever his personal merit, who "is not a sprig of the nobility."—James Shirley, The Ball (1642).
Bot'any (Father of English), W. Turner, M.D. (1520-1568).
J.P. de Tournefort is called The Father of Botany (1656-1708).
Antoine de Jussieu lived 1686-1758, and his brother Bernard
1699-1777.
Bothwell (Sergeant), alias Francis Stewart, in the royal army.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Bothwell (Lady), sister of lady Forester.
Sir Geoffrey Bothwell, the husband of lady Bothwell.
Mrs. Margaret Bothwell, in the introduction of the story. Aunt Margaret proposed to use Mrs. Margaret's tombstone for her own.—Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.).
Bottled Beer, Alexander Nowell, author of a celebrated Latin catechism which first appeared in 1570, under the title of Christianæ pietatis prima Institutio, ad usum Scholarum Latine Scripta. In 1560 he was promoted to the deanery of St. Paul's (1507-1602).—Fuller, Worthies of England ("Lancashire").
Bottom (Nick), an Athenian weaver, a compound of profound ignorance and unbounded conceit, not without good-nature and a fair dash of mother-wit. When the play of Pyramus and Thisbe is cast, Bottom covets every part; the lion, Thisbê, Pyramus, all have charms for him. In order to punish Titan'ia, the fairy-king made her dote on Bottom, on whom Puck had placed an ass's head.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream.
Bottom. An' I may hide my face; let me playThisby, too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice.
Let me play the lion, too; I will roar that I will
do any man's heart good to hear me.
Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 2.
Boubekir' Muez'in, of Bag dad, "a vain, proud, and envious iman, who hated the rich because he himself was poor." When prince Zeyn Alasnam came to the city, he told the people to beware of him, for probably he was "some thief who had made himself rich by plunder." The prince's attendant called on him, put into his hand a purse of gold, and requested the honor of his acquaintance. Next day, after morning prayers, the iman said to the people, "I find, my brethren, that the stranger who is come to Bag dad is a young prince possessed of a thousand virtues, and worthy the love of all men. Let us protect him, and rejoice that he has come among us."—Arabian Nights ("Prince Zeyn Alasnam").
Bouchard (Sir), a knight of Flanders, of most honorable descent. He married Constance, daughter of Bertulphe provost of Bruges. In 1127 Charles "the Good," earl of Flanders, made a law that a serf was always a serf till manumitted, and whoever married a serf became a serf. Now, Bertulphe's father was Thancmar's serf, and Bertulphe, who had raised himself to wealth and great honor, was reduced to serfdom because his father was not manumitted. By the same law Bouchard, although a knight of royal blood became Thancmar's serf because he married Constance, the daughter of Bertulphe (provost of Bruges). The result of this absurd law was that Bertulphe slew the earl and then himself, Constance went mad and died, Bouchard and Thancmar slew each other in fight, and all Bruges was thrown into confusion.—S. Knowles, The Provost of Bruges (1836).
Bou'illon (Godfrey duke of), a crusader (1058-1100), introduced in Count Robert of Paris, a novel by Sir W. Scott (time, Rufus).
Bounce (Mr. T.), a nickname given in 1837 to T. Barnes, editor of the Times (or the Turnabout, as it was called).
Bound'erby (Josiah), of Coketown, banker and mill-owner, the "Bully of Humility," a big, loud man, with an iron stare and metallic laugh. Mr. Bounderby is the son of Mrs. Pegler, an old woman, to whom he pays £30 a year to keep out of sight, and in a boasting way he pretends that "he was dragged up from the gutter to become a millionaire." Mr. Bounderby marries Louisa, daughter of his neighbor and friend, Thomas Gradgrind, Esq., M.P.—C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854).
Bountiful (Lady), widow of sir Charles Bountiful. Her delight was curing the parish sick and relieving the indigent.
"My lady Bountiful is one of the best of women.Her late husband, sir Charles Bountiful, left her
with £1000 a year; and I believe she lays out
one-half on't in charitable uses for the good of
her neighbors. In short, she has cured more
people in and about Lichfield within ten years
than the doctors have killed in twenty; and that's
a bold word."—George Farquhar, The Beaux'
Stratagem, i. 1 (1705).
Bounty (Mutiny of the), in 1790, headed by Fletcher Christian. The mutineers finally settled in Pitcairn Island (Polynesian Archipelago). In 1808 all the mutineers were dead except one (Alexander Smith), who had changed his name to John Adams, and became a model patriarch of the colony, which was taken under the protection of the British Government in 1839. Lord Byron, in The Island, has made the "mutiny of the Bounty" the basis of his tale, but the facts are greatly distorted.
Bous'trapa, a nickname given to Napoleon III. It is compounded of the first syllables of Bou [logne], Stra [sbourg], Pa[ris], and alludes to his escapades in 1836, 1840, 1851 (coup d'état).
No man ever lived who was distinguished by more nicknames than Louis Napoleon. Besides the one above mentioned, he was called Badinguet, Man of December, Man of Sedan, Ratipol, Verhuel, etc.; and after his escape from the fortress of Ham he went by the pseudonym of count Arenenberg.
Bower of Bliss, a garden belonging to the enchantress Armi'da. It abounded in everything that could contribute to earthly pleasure. Here Rinal'do spent some time in love-passages with Armi'da, but he ultimately broke from the enchantress and rejoined the war.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Bower of Bliss, the residence of the witch Acras'ia, a beautiful and most fascinating woman. This lovely garden was situated on a floating island filled with everything which could conduce to enchant the senses, and "wrap the spirit in forgetfulness."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 12 (1590).
Bowkit, in The Son-in-Law.
In the scene where Cranky declines to accept Bowkit as son-in-law on account of his ugliness, John Edwin, who was playing "Bowkit" at the Haymarket, uttered in a tone of surprise, "Ugly?" and then advancing to the lamps, said with infinite impertinence, "I submit to the decision of the British public which is the ugliest fellow of us three: I, old Cranky, or that gentleman there in the front row of the balcony box?"—Cornhill Magazine (1867).
Bowley (Sir Joseph), M.P., who facetiously calls himself "the poor man's friend." His secretary is Fish.—C. Dickens, The Chimes (1844).
Bowling (Lieutenant Tom), an admirable naval character in Smollett's Roderick Random. Dibdin wrote a naval song in memoriam of Tom Bowling, beginning thus:
Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling,The darling of the crew ...
Bowyer (Master), usher of the black rod in the court of queen Elizabeth.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Bowzybe'us (4 syl.), the drunkard, rioted for his songs in Gray's pastorals, called The Shepherd's Week. He sang of "Nature's Laws," of "Fairs and Shows," "The Children in the Wood," "Chevy Chase," "Taffey Welsh," "Rosamond's Bower," "Lilly-bullero," etc. The 6th pastoral is in imitation of Virgil's 6th Ecl., and Bowzybëus is a vulgarized Silenus.
That Bowzybeus, who with jocund tongue,Ballads, and roundelays, and catches sung.
Gay, Pastoral, vi. (1714).
Box and Cox, a dramatic romance, by J. M. Morton, the principal characters of which are Box and Cox.
Boy Bachelor (The), William Wotton, D.D., admitted at St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, before he was ten, and to his degree of B.A. when he was twelve and a half (1666-1726).
Boy Bishop (The), St. Nicholas, the patron saint of boys (fourth century).
(There was also an ancient custom of choosing a boy from the cathedral choir on St. Nicholas' Day (December 6) as a mock bishop. This boy possessed certain privileges, and if he died during the year was buried in pontificalibus. The custom was abolished by Henry VIII. In Salisbury Cathedral visitors are shown a small sarcophagus, which the verger says was made for a boy bishop.)
Boy Blue (Little) is the subject of a poem in Eugene Field's Little Book of Western Verse.
The little toy-dog is covered with dust,But sturdy and staunch he stands;
And the little toy-soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy-dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair,
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
* * * * *
Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,Each in the same old place,
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face. (1889.)
Boy Crucified. It is said that some time during the dark ages, a boy named Werner was impiously crucified at Bacharach, on the Rhine, by the Jews. A little chapel erected to the memory of this boy stands on the walls of the town, close to the river. Hugh of Lincoln and William of Norwich are instances of a similar story.
See how its currents gleam and shine ...As if the grapes were stained with the blood
Of the innocent boy who, some years back,
Was taken and crucified by the Jews
In that ancient town of Bacharach.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
Boyet', one of the lords attending on the princess of France.—Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost (1594).
Boythorn (Laurence), a robust gentleman with the voice of a Stentor; a friend of Mr. Jarndyce. He would utter the most ferocious sentiments, while at the same time he fondled a pet canary on his finger. Once on a time he had been in love with Miss Barbary, lady Dedlock's sister. But "the good old times—all times when old are good—were gone."—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
("Laurence Boythorn" is a caricature of W. S. Landor; as "Harold Skimpole," in the same story, is drawn from Leigh Hunt.)
Boz, Charles Dickens. It was the nickname of a pet brother dubbed Moses, in honor of "Moses Primrose" in the Vicar of Wakefield. Children called the name Bozes, which got shortened into Boz (1812-1870).
Bozzy, James Boswell, the gossipy biographer of Dr. Johnson (1740-1795).
Braban'tio, a senator of Venice, father of Desdemo'na; most proud, arrogant, and overbearing. He thought the "insolence" of Othello in marrying his daughter unpardonable, and that Desdemona must have been drugged with love-potions so to demean herself.—Shakespeare, Othello (1611).
Brac'cio, commissary of the republic of Florence, employed in picking up every item of scandal he could find against Lu'ria the noble Moor, who commanded the army of Florence against the Pisans. The Florentines hoped to find sufficient cause of blame to lessen or wholly cancel their obligations to the Moor, but even Braccio was obliged to confess. This Moor hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues would plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the council which should censure him.—Robert Browning, Luria.
Brac'idas and Am'idas, the two sons of Mile'sio, the former in love with the wealthy Philtra, and the latter with the dowerless Lucy. Their father at death left each of his sons an island of equal size and value, but the sea daily encroached on that of the elder brother and added to the island of Amidas. The rich Philtra now forsook Bracidas for the richer brother, and Lucy, seeing herself forsaken, jumped into the sea. A floating chest attracted her attention, she clung to it, and was drifted to the wasted island, where Bracidas received her kindly. The chest was found to contain property of great value, and Lucy gave it to Bracidas, together with herself, "the better of them both." Amidas and Philtra claimed the chest as their right, and the dispute was submitted to sir Ar'tegal. Sir Artegal decided that whereas Amidas claimed as his own all the additions which the sea had given to his island, so Lucy might claim as her own the chest which the sea had given into her hands.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 4 (1596).
Braekenbury (Lord), English peer of nomadic tastes. He disappears from his world, leaving the impression that he has been murdered, that he may live unhampered by class-obligations.—Amelia B. Edwards, Lord Brackenbury.
Bracy (Sir Maurice de), a follower of prince John. He sues the lady Rowen'a to become his bride, and threatens to kill both Cedric and Ivanhoe if she refuses. The interview is interrupted, and at the close of the novel Rowena marries Ivanhoe.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Brad'amant, daughter of Amon and Beatrice, sister of Rinaldo, and niece of Charlemagne. She was called the Virgin Knight. Her armor was white, and her plume white. She loved Roge'ro the Moor, but refused to marry him till he was baptized. Her marriage with great pomp and Rogero's victory over Rodomont form the subject of the last book of Orlando Furioso. Bradamant possessed an irresistible spear, which unhorsed any knight with a touch. Britomart had a similar spear.—Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato (1495); Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Brad'bourne (Mistress Lilias), waiting-woman of lady Avenel (2 syl.), at Avenel Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Bradwardine (Como Cosmyne), baron of Bradwardine and of Tully Veolan. He is very pedantic, but brave and gallant.
Rose Bradwardine, his daughter, the heroine of the novel, which concludes with her marriage with Waverley, and the restoration of the manor-house of Tully Veolan.
Malcolm Bradwardine of Inchgrabbit, a relation of the old baron.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Brady (Martha), a young "Irish widow" twenty-three years of age, and in love with William Whittle. She was the daughter of sir Patrick O'Neale. Old Thomas Whittle, the uncle, a man of sixty-three, wanted to oust his nephew in her affections, for he thought her "so modest, so mild, so tenderhearted, so reserved, so domestic. Her voice was so sweet, with just a soupçon of the brogue to make it enchanting." In order to break off this detestable passion of the old man, the widow assumed the airs and manners of a boisterous, loud, flaunting, extravagant, low Irishwoman, deeply in debt, and abandoned to pleasure. Old Whittle, thoroughly frightened, induced his nephew to take the widow off his hands, and gave him £5000 as a douceur for so doing.—Garrick, The Irish Widow (1757).
Brag (Jack), a vulgar boaster, who gets into good society, where his vulgarity stands out in strong relief.—Theodore Hook, Jack Brag (a novel).
Brag (Sir Jack), general John Burgoyne (died 1792).
Braganza (Juan duke of). In 1580 Philip II. of Spain claimed the crown of Portugal, and governed it by a regent. In 1640 Margaret was regent, and Velasquez her chief minister, a man exceedingly obnoxious to the Portuguese. Don Juan and his wife Louisa of Braganza being very popular, a conspiracy was formed to shake off the Spanish yoke. Velasquez was torn to death by the populace, and don Juan of Braganza was proclaimed king.
Louisa duchess of Braganza. Her character is thus described:
Bright Louisa,To all the softness of her tender sex, Unites the noblest qualities of man: A genius to embrace the amplest schemes... Judgment most sound, persuasive eloquence... Pure piety without religious dross, And fortitude that shrinks at no disaster.
Robert Jephson, Braganza, i. 1 (1775).
Mrs. Bellamy took her leave of the stage May 24, 1785. On this occasion Mrs. Yates sustained the part of the "duchess of Braganza," and Miss Farren spoke the address.—F. Reynolds.
Bragela, daughter of Sorglan, and wife of Cuthullin (general of the Irish army and regent during the minority of king Cormac).—Ossian, Fingal.
Braggado´cio, personification of the intemperance of the tongue. For a time his boasting serves him with some profit, but being found out, he is stripped of his borrowed plumes. His shield is claimed by Mar´inel; his horse by Guyon; Talus shaves off his beard; and his lady is shown to be a sham Florimel.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 8 and 10, with v. 3.
It is thought that Philip of Spain was the academy figure of "Braggadocio."
Braggadocio's Sword, San´glamore (3 syl).
Bragmar´do (Jano´tus de), the sophister sent by the Parisians to Gargantua, to remonstrate with him for carrying off the bells of Notre-Dame to suspend round the neck of his mare for jingles.—Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantag´ruel´, ii. (1533).
Brahmin Caste of New England, term used by Oliver Wendell Holmes in Elsie Venner to describe an intellectual aristocracy: "Our scholars come chiefly from a privileged order just as our best fruits come from well-known grafts."—Elsie Venner (1863).
Brain'worm, the servant of Knowell, a man of infinite shifts, and a regular Proteus in his metamorphoses. He appears first as Brainworm; after as Fitz-Sword; then as a reformed soldier whom Knowell takes into his service; then as justice Clement's man; and lastly as valet to the courts of law, by which devices he plays upon the same clique of some half-dozen men of average intelligence.—Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humour (1598).
Brakel (Adrian), the gipsy mountebank, formerly master of Fenella, the deaf and dumb girl.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Bramble (Matthew), an "odd kind of humorist," "always on the fret," dyspeptic, and afflicted with gout, but benevolent, generous, and kind-hearted.
Miss Tabitha Bramble, an old maiden sister of Matthew Bramble, of some forty-five years of age, noted for her bad spelling. She is starched, vain, prim, and ridiculous; soured in temper, proud, imperious, prying, mean, malicious, and uncharitable. She contrives at last to marry captain Lismaha'go, who is content to take "the maiden" for the sake of her £4000.
Bramble (Sir Robert), a baronet living at Blackberry Hall, Kent. Blunt and testy, but kind-hearted; "charitable as a Christian, and rich as a Jew;" fond of argument and contradiction, but detesting flattery; very proud, but most considerate to his poorer neighbors. In his first interview with lieutenant Worthington, "the poor gentleman," the lieutenant mistook him for a bailiff come to arrest him, but sir Roflert nobly paid the bill for £500 when it was presented to him for signature as sheriff of the county.
Frederick Bramble, nephew of sir Robert, and son of Joseph Bramble, a Russian merchant. His father having failed in business, Frederick is adopted by his rich uncle. He is full of life and noble instincts, but thoughtless and impulsive. Frederick falls in love with Emily Worthington, whom he marries.—G. Colman, The Poor Gentleman (1802).
Bra´mine (2 syl.) and Bra´min (The), Mrs. Elizabeth Draper and Laurence Sterne. Sterne being a clergyman, and Mrs. Draper having been born in India, suggested the names. Ten of Sterne's letters to Mrs. Draper are published, and called Letters to Eliza.
Bran, the dog of Lamderg the lover of Gelchossa (daughter of Tuathal).—Ossian, Fingal, v.
Fingal king of Morven had a dog of the same name, and
another named Luäth.
strength of Luäth.—Ossian, Fingal, vi.
Brand (Ethan), an ex-lime burner in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of the same name, who, fancying he has committed the Unpardonable Sin, commits suicide by leaping into the burning kiln.
Brand (Sir Denys), a county magnate, who apes humility. He rides a sorry brown nag "not worth £5," but mounts his groom on a race-horse "twice victor for a plate."
Bran´damond of Damascus, whom sir Bevis of Southampton defeated.
That dreadful battle where with Brandamond he fought. And with his sword and steed such earthly wonders wrought As e'en among his foes him admiration won. M. Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).
Bran'dan (Island of St.) or ISLAND of SAN BORANDAN, a flying island, so late as 1755 set down in geographical charts west of the Canary group. In 1721 an expedition was sent by Spain in quest thereof. The Spaniards say their king Rodri'go has retreated there, and the Portuguese affirm that it is the retreat of their don Sebastian. It was called St. Brandan from a navigator of the sixth century, who went in search of the "Islands of Paradise."
Its reality was for a long time a matter of firm belief ... the garden of Armi'da, where Rinaldo was detained, and which Tasso places in one of the Canary Isles, has been identified with San Borandan.—W. Irving.
(If there is any truth at all in the legend, the island must be ascribed to the Fata Morgana.)
Bran'deum, plu. Brandea, a piece of cloth enclosed in a box with relics, which thus acquired the same miraculous powers as the relics themselves.
Pope Leo proved this fact beyond a doubt, for when some Greeks ventured to question it, he cut a brandeum through with a pair of scissors, and it was instantly covered with blood.—J. Brady, Clavis Calendaria, 182.
Bran'dimart, brother-in-law of Orlando, son of Monodantês, and husband of For'delis. This "king of the Distant Islands" was one of the bravest knights in Charlemagne's army, and was slain by Gradasso.—Bojardo, Orlando Innamorata (1495); Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Brand, a term often applied to the sword in medaeval romances.
Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur,Which was my pride—
Tennyson, The Morte d'Arthur.
Brangtons (The), vulgar, jealous, malicious gossips in Evelina, a novel by Miss Burney (1778).
Branno, an Irishman, father of Evirallin. Evirallin was the wife of Ossian and mother of Oscar.—Ossian.
Brass, the roguish confederate of Dick Amlet, and acting as his servant.
"I am your valet, 'tis true; your footmansometimes ... but you have always had the
ascendant, I confess. When we were school-fellows,
you made me carry your books, make your
exercise, own your rogueries, and sometimes take
a whipping for you. When we were fellow-'prentices,
though I was your senior, you made
me open the shop, clean my master's boots, cut
last at dinner, and eat all the crusts. In your
sins, too, I must own you still kept me under;
you soared up to the mistress, while I was content
with the maid."—Sir John Yanbrugh, The Confederacy,
iii. 1 (1695).
Brass (Sampson), a knavish, servile attorney, affecting great sympathy with his clients, but in reality fleecing them without mercy.
Sally Brass, Sampson's sister, and an exaggerated edition of her brother.—C. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop (1840).
Brave (The), Alfonzo IV. of Portugal (1290-1357).
The Brave Fleming, John Andrew van der Mersch (1734-1792).
The Bravest of the Brave, Marshal Ney, Le Brave des Braves (1769-1815).
Bray (Mr.), a selfish, miserly old man, who dies suddenly of heart-disease, just in time to save his daughter from being sacrificed to Arthur Gride, a rich old miser.
Madeline Bray, daughter of Mr. Bray, a loving, domestic, beautiful girl, who marries Nicholas Nickleby.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
Bray (Vicar of), supposed by some to be Simon Aleyn, who lived (says Fuller) "in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. In the first two reigns he was a protestant, in Mary's reign a catholic, and in Elizabeth's a protestant again." No matter who was king, Simon Aleyn resolved to live and die "the vicar of Bray" (1540-1588).
Others think the vicar was Simon Symonds, who (according to Ray) was an independent in the protectorate, a high churchman in the reign of Charles II., a papist under James II., and a moderate churchman in the reign of William III.
Others again give the cap to one Pendleton.
The well-known song was written by an officer in colonel
Fuller's regiment, in the reign of George I., and seems to refer to some
clergyman of no very distant date.
Bray´more (Lady Caroline), daughter of lord Fitz-Balaam. She was to have married Frank Rochdale, but hearing that her "intended" loved Mary Thornberry, she married the Hon. Tom Shuffleton.—G. Colman, jun., John Bull (1805).
Brazen (Captain), a kind of Bobadil. A boastful, tongue-doughty warrior, who pretends to know everybody; to have a liaison with every wealthy, pretty, or distinguished woman; and to have achieved in war the most amazing prodigies.
Brazen Head. The first on record is one which Sylvester II. (Gerbert) possessed. It told him he would be pope, and not die till he had sung mass at Jerusalem. When pope he was stricken with his death-sickness while performing mass in a church called Jerusalem (999-1003).
The next we hear of was made by Rob. Grosseteste (1175-1253).
The third was the famous brazen head of Albertus Magnus, which cost him thirty years' labor, and was broken to pieces by his disciple Thomas Aqui´nas (1193-1280).
The fourth was that of friar Bacon, which used to say, "Time is, time was, time comes." Byron refers to it in the lines:
Like friar Bacon's brazen head, I've spoken,"Time is, time was, time's past [?]"
Don Juan, i. 217 (1819).
Another was made by the marquis of Vilena of Spain (1384-1434). And a sixth by a Polander, a disciple of Escotillo an Italian.
Brazen Head (The), a gigantic head kept in the castle of the giant Fer´ragus of Portugal. It was omniscient, and told those who consulted it whatever they desired to know, past, present, or future.—Valentine and Orson.
Breakfast Table (Autocrat of). See AUTOCRAT.
Breaking a Stick is part of the marriage ceremony of the American Indians, as breaking a glass is still part of the marriage ceremony of the Jews.—Lady Augusta Hamilton, Marriage Rites, etc., pp. 292, 298.
In one of Raphael's pictures we see an unsuccessful suitor of the Virgin Mary breaking his stick, and this alludes to the legend that the several suitors of the "virgin" were each to bring an almond stick which was to be laid up in the sanctuary over night, and the owner of the stick which budded was to be accounted the suitor God ordained, and thus Joseph became her husband.—B.H. Cowper, Apocryphal Gospel ("Pseudo-Matthew's Gospel," 40, 41).
In Florence is a picture in which the rejected suitors break their sticks on the back of Joseph.
Brec´an, a mythical king of Wales. He had twenty-four daughters by one wife. These daughters, for their beauty and purity, were changed into rivers, all of which flow into the Severn. Brecknockshire, according to fable, is called after this king. (See next art.)
Brecan was a prince once fortunate and great(Who dying lent his name to that his noble seat),
With twice twelve daughters blest, by one and only wife.
They, for their beauties rare and sanctity of life,
To rivers were transformed; whose pureness doth declare
How excellent they were by being what they are ...
...[they] to Severn shape their course.
M. Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).
Brec'han (Prince), father of St. Cadock and St. Canock, the former a martyr and the latter a confessor.
Breck (Alison), an old fishwife, friend of the Mucklebackits.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, Greorge III.).
Breck (Angus), a follower of Rob Roy M'Gregor, the outlaw.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, Greorge I.).
Breitman (Hans), the giver of the entertainment celebrated in Charles Godfrey Leland's dialect verses, Hans Breitman gave a Party. A favorite with parlor and platform "readers." (1871.)
Bren´da [TROIL], daughter of Magnus Troil and sister of Minna.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Breng´wain, the confidante of Is´olde (2 syl.) wife of sir Mark king of Cornwall. Isolde was criminally attached to her nephew sir Tristram, and Brengwain assisted the queen in her intrigues.
Breng´wain, wife of Gwenwyn prince of Powys-land.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Brennett (Maurice), a man whom "life had always cast for the leading business" and who "bears himself in a manner befitting the title rôle." In pursuance of this destiny he becomes a mining speculator, betrays his confiding partner and everybody else who will trust, and when success seems within his grasp is thwarted by the discovery of a man he had supposed to be dead. The woman he would have married to secure her fortune, around which he had woven the fine web of his schemes, breaks out impetuously:
"If you will prove his complicity ... I will pursue him to the ends of the earth."
At that moment through the window she sees the head-light of the train that is bearing Maurice Brennett away into the darkness. The thorough search made for him afterward is futile.—Charles Egbert Craddock, Where the Battle was Fought (1885).
Brenta´no (A), one of inconceivable folly. The Brentanos, Clemens and his sister Bettina, are remarkable in German literary annals for the wild and extravagant character of their genius. Bettina's work, Göthe's Correspondence with a Child (1835), is a pure fabrication of her own.
At the point where the folly of others ceases,that of the Brentanos begins.—German Proverb.
Brentford (The two kings of). In the duke of Buckingham's farce called The Rehearsal (1671), the two kings of Brentford enter hand-in-hand, dance together, sing together, walk arm-in-arm, and to heighten the absurdity the actors represent them as smelling at the same nosegay (act ii. 2).
Bretwalda, the over-king of the Saxon rulers, established in England during the heptarchy. In Germany the over-king was called emperor. The bretwalda had no power in the civil affairs of the under-kings, but in times of war or danger formed an important centre.
Brewer of Ghent (The), James van Artevelde, a great patriot. His son Philip fell in the battle of Rosbecq (fourteenth century).
Brewster (William). The Life and Death of William Brewster, elder in the first church planted in Massachusetts, was written by his colleague William Bradford (1630-1650). After a feeling eulogy upon his departed friend, he remarks, parenthetically: "He always thought it were better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the same (except upon solemn and special occasions, as in days of humiliation and the like). His reason was that the hearts and spirits of all, especially the weak, continue and stand bent (as it were) so long towards God as they ought to do in that duty without flagging and falling off." This is a remarkable deliverance for a day when two-hour prayers were the rule, and from a man who, his biographer tells us, "had a singular good gift in prayer."
Bria´na, the lady of a castle who demanded for toll "the locks of every lady and the beard of every knight that passed." This toll was established because sir Crudor, with whom she was in love, refused to marry her till she had provided him with human hair sufficient to "purfle a mantle" with. Sir Crudor, having been overthrown in knightly combat by sir Calidore, who refused to pay "the toll demanded," is made to release Briana from the condition imposed on her, and Briana swears to discontinue the discourteous toll.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 1 (1596).
Bri´anor (Sir), a knight overthrown by the "Salvage Knight," whose name was sir Artegal.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 5 (1596).
Briar´eos (4 syl.), usually called Briareus [Bri´.a.ruce], the giant with a hundred hands. Hence Dryden says, "And Briareus, with all his hundred hands" (Virgil, vi.); but Milton writes the name Briareos (Paradise Lost, i. 199).
Then, called by thee, the monster Titan came,Whom gods Briareos, men Ægeon name.
Pope, Iliad, i.
Bri´areus (Bold), Handel (1685-1757).
Bri´areus of Languages, cardinal Mezzofanti, who was familiar with fifty-eight different languages. Byron calls him "a walking polyglot" (1774-1849).
Bribo´ci, inhabitants of Berkshire and the adjacent counties.—Cæsar, Commentaries.
Brick (Jefferson), a very weak pale young man, the war correspondent of the New York Rowdy Journal, of which colonel Diver was editor.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Bride of Aby´dos (The), Zulei´ka (3 syl.), daughter of Giaffer (2 syl.), pacha of Abydos. She is the troth-plight bride of Selim; but Giaffer shoots the lover, and Zuleika dies of a broken heart.—Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813).
Bride of Lammermoor, Lucy Ashton, in love with Edgar master of Ravenswood, but compelled to marry Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw. She tries to murder him on the bridal night, and dies insane the day following.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
The Bride of Lammermoor is one of the most finished of Scott's
novels, presenting a unity of plot and action from beginning to end. The
old butler, Caleb Balderston, is exaggerated and far too prominent, but
he serves as a foil to the tragic scenes.
the dark spirit of fatalism—that spirit which
breathes on the writings of the Greek tragedians
when they traced the persecuting vengeance of
destiny against the houses of Laius and Atreus.
From the time that we hear the prophetic rhymes
the spell begins, and the clouds blacken round us,
till they close the tale in a night of horror.—Ed.
Rev.
Bride of the Sea, Venice, so called from the ancient ceremony of the doge marrying the city to the Adriatic by throwing a ring into it, pronouncing these words, "We wed thee, O sea, in token of perpetual domination."
Bridge. The imaginary bridge between earth and the Mohammedan paradise is called "Al Sirat´."
The rainbow bridge which spans heaven and earth in Scandinavian mythology is called "Bif´rost."
Bridge of Gold. According to German tradition, Charlemagne's spirit crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge, at Bingen, in reasons of plenty, and blesses both cornfields and vineyards.
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,Upon thy bridge of gold.
Longfellow, Autumn.
Bridge of Sighs, the covered passageway which connects the palace of the doge in Venice with the State prisons. Called "the Bridge of Sighs," because the condemned passed over it from the judgment hall to the place of execution. Hood has a poem called The Bridge of Sighs.
Bridgemore (Mr.), of Fish Street Hill, London. A dishonest merchant, wealthy, vulgar, and purse-proud. He is invited to a soirée given by lord Abberville, "and counts the servants, gapes at the lustres, and never enters the drawing-room at all, but stays below, chatting with the travelling tutor."
Mrs. Bridgemore, wife of Mr. Bridgemore, equally vulgar, but with more pretension to gentility.
Miss Lucinda Bridgemore, the spiteful, purse-proud, malicious daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bridgemore, of Fish Street Hill. She was engaged to lord Abberville, but her money would not out-balance her vulgarity and ill-temper, so the young "fashionable lover" made his bow and retired.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).
Bridgenorth (Major Ralph), a roundhead and conspirator, neighbor of sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak, a staunch cavalier.
Mrs. Bridgenorth, the major's wife.
Alice Bridgenorth, the major's daughter and heroine of the novel. Her marriage with Julian Peveril, a cavalier, concludes the novel.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Brid´get (Miss), the mother of Tom Jones, in Fielding's novel called The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1750).
It has been wondered why Fielding shouldhave chosen to leave the stain of illegitimacy on
the birth of his hero ... but had Miss Bridget
been privately married ... there could have
been no adequate motive assigned for keeping the
birth of the child a secret from a man so reasonable
and compassionate as Allworthy.—Encyc.
Brit. Art. "Fielding."
Brid´get (Mrs.), in Sterne's novel called The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent. (1759).
Bridget (Mother), aunt of Catherine Seyton, and abbess of St. Catherine.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Bridget (May), the milkwoman at Falkland Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Bridge´ward (Peter), the bridgekeeper of Kennaquhair ("I know not where").—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Bridgeward (Peter), warder of the bridge near St. Mary's Convent. He refuses a passage to father Philip, who is carrying off the Bible of lady Alice.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Bridle. John Grower says that Rosiphele princess of Armenia, insensible to love, saw in a vision a troop of ladies splendidly mounted, but one of them rode a wretched steed, wretchedly accoutred except as to the bridle. On asking the reason, the princess was informed that she was disgraced thus because of her cruelty to her lovers, but that the splendid bridle had been recently given, because the obdurate girl had for the last month shown symptoms of true love. Moral—Hence let ladies warning take—
Of love that they be not idle,And bid them think of my bridle.
Confessio Amantis ("Episode of Rosiphele,"
1325-1402).
Bridlegoose (Judge), a judge who decided the causes brought before him, not by weighing the merits of the case, but by the more simple process of throwing dice. Rabelais, Pantag´ruel, iii. 39 (1545.)
Bri´dlesly (Joe), a horse-dealer at Liverpool, of whom Julian Peveril buys a horse.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Brid´oison [Bree.dwoy.zong´], a stupid judge in the Mariage de Figaro, a comedy in French, by Beaumarchais (1784).
Bridoon (Corporal), in lieutenant Nosebag's regiment.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Brien´nius (Nicephorus), the Cæsar of the Grecian empire, and husband of Anna Comne´na (daughter of Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Greece).—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Brigado´re (4 syl.), sir Guyon's horse. The word means "Golden saddle."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 3 (1596).
Brigan´tes (3 syl.), called by Drayton Brig´ants, the people of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Durham.
Where in the Britons' rule of yore the Brigants swayed,The powerful English established ... Northumberland [Northumbria].
Drayton, Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Briggs, one of the ten young gentlemen in the school of Dr. Blimber when Paul Dombey was a pupil there. Briggs was nicknamed the "Stoney," because his brains were petrified by the constant dropping of wisdom upon them.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Brigliadoro [Bril´.ye.dor´.ro], Orlando's steed. The word means "Gold bridle."—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Sir Guyon's horse, in Spenser's Faëry Queen, is called by a similar name.
Brilliant (Sir Philip), a great fop, but brave soldier, like the famous Murat. He would dress with all the finery of a vain girl, but would share watching, toil, and peril with the meanest soldier. "A butterfly in the drawing-room, but a Hector on the battle-field." He was a "blade of proof; you might laugh at the scabbard, but you wouldn't at the blade." He falls in love with lady Anne, reforms his vanities, and marries.—S. Knowles, Old Maids (1841).
Brilliant Madman (The), Charles XII. of Sweden (1682, 1697-1718).
Brillianta (The lady), a great wit in the ancient romance entitled Tirante le Blanc, author unknown.
Here (in Tirante le Blanc) we shall find the famous knight don Kyrie Elyson of Montalban, his brother Thomas, the knight Fonseca ... the stratagems of the widow Tranquil ... and the witticisms of lady Brillianta. This is one of the most amusing books ever written.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).
Bris (Il conte di San), governor of the Louvre. He is father of Valenti'na and leader of the St. Bartholomew massacre.—Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots (1836).
Brisac' (Justice), brother of Miramont.
Charles Brisac, a scholar, son of justice Brisac.
Eustace Brisac, a courtier, brother of Charles.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Elder Brother (1637).
Brise'is (3 syl.), whose real name was Hippodamï'a, was the daughter of Brisês, brother of the priest Chrysês. She was the concubine of Achillês, but when Achillês bullied Agamemnon for not giving Chryse'is to her father, who offered a ransom for her, Agamemnon turned upon him and said he would let Chryseis go, but should take Briseis instead.—Homer, Iliad, i.
Brisk, a good-natured conceited coxcomb, with a most voluble tongue. Fond of saying "good things," and pointing them out with such expressions as "There I had you, eh?" "That was pretty well, egad, eh?" "I hit you in the teeth there, egad!" His ordinary oath was "Let me perish!" He makes love to lady Froth.—W. Congreve, The Double Dealer (1694).
Bris'kie (2 syl.), disguised under the name of Putskie. A captain in the Moscovite army, and brother of general Archas "the loyal subject" of the great-duke of Moscovia.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).
Bris'sotin, one of the followers of Jean Pierre Brissot, an advanced revolutionist. The Brissotins were subsequently merged in the Girondists, and the word dropped out of use.
Bristol Boy (The), Thomas Chatterton, the poet, born at Bristol. Also called "The Marvellous Boy." Byron calls him "The wondrous boy who perished in his pride" (1752-1770).
Britan'nia. The Romans represented the island of Great Britain by the figure of a woman seated on a rock, from a fanciful resemblance thereto in the general outline of the island. The idea is less poetically expressed by "An old witch on a broomstick."
The effigy of Britannia on British copper coin dates from the reign of Charles II. (1672), and was engraved by Roetier from a drawing by Evelyn. It is meant for one of the king's court favorites, some say Frances Theresa Stuart, duchess of Richmond, and others Barbara Villiers, duchess of Cleveland.
British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth, is a translation of a Welsh Chronicle. It is in nine books, and contains a "history" of the Britons and Welsh from Brutus, great-grandson of Trojan Æneas to the death of Cadwallo or Cadwallader in 688. This Geoffrey was first archdeacon of Monmouth and then bishop of St. Asaph. The general outline of the work is the same as that given by Nennius three centuries previously. Geoffrey's Chronicle, published about 1143, formed a basis for many subsequent historical works. A compendium by Diceto is published in Gale's Chronicles.
Brit'omart, the representative of chastity. She was the daughter and heiress of king Ryence of Wales, and her legend forms the third book of the Faëry Queen. One day, looking into Venus's looking-glass, given by Merlin to her father, she saw therein sir Artegal, and fell in love with him. Her nurse Glaucê (2 syl.) tried by charms "to undo her love," but love that is in gentle heart begun no idle charm can remove. Finding her "charms" ineffectual, she took her to Merlin's cave in Caermarthen, and the magician told her she would be the mother of a line of kings (the Tudors), and after twice 400 years one of her offspring, "a royal virgin," would shake the power of Spain. Glaucê now suggested that they should start in quest of sir Artegal, and Britomart donned the armor of An'gela (queen of the Angles), which she found in her father's armory, and taking a magic spear which "nothing could resist," she sallied forth. Her adventures allegorize the triumph of chastity over impurity: Thus in Castle Joyous, Malacasta (lust), not knowing her sex, tried to seduce her, "but she flees youthful lust, which wars against the soul." She next overthrew Marinel, son of Cym'oent. Then made her appearance as the Squire of Dames. Her last achievement was the deliverance of Am'oret (wifely love) from the enchanter Busirane. Her marriage is deferred to bk. v. 6, when she tilted with sir Artegal, who "shares away the ventail of her helmet with his sword," and was about to strike again when he became so amazed at her beauty that he thought she must be a goddess. She bade the knight remove his helmet, at once recognized him, consented "to be his love, and to take him for her lord."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. (1590).
She charmed at once and tamed the heart, Incomparable Britomart.
Sir W. Scott.
Briton (Colonel), a Scotch officer, who sees donna Isabella jump from a window in order to escape from a marriage she dislikes. The colonel catches her, and takes her to the house of donna Violante, her friend. Here he calls upon her, but don Felix, the lover of Violante, supposing Violante to be the object of his visits, becomes jealous, till at the end the mystery is cleared up, and a double marriage is the result.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1714).
Brob'dingnag, a country of enormous giants, to whom Gulliver was a tiny dwarf. They were as tall "as an ordinary church steeple," and all their surroundings were in proportion.
Yon high church steeple, yon gawky stag. Your husband must come from Brobdingnag. Kane O'Hara, Midas.
Brock (Adam), in Charles XII., an historical drama by J. E. Planché.
Broken-Girth-Flow (Laird of), one of the Jacobite conspirators in The Black Dwarf, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Anne).
Broker of the Empire (The). Dari´us, son of Hystaspês, was so called by the Persians from his great care of the financial condition of his empire.
Bro´mia, wife of Sosia (slave of Amphitryon), in the service of Alcme´na. A nagging termagant, who keeps her husband in petticoat subjection. She is not one of the characters in Molière's comedy of Amphitryon.—Dryden, Amphitryon (1690).
Bromton's Chronicle (time, Edward III.), that is, "The Chronicle of John Bromton" printed among the Decem Scriptores, under the titles of "Chronicon Johannis Bromton," and "Joralanensis Historia a Johanne Bromton," abbot of Jerevaux, in Yorkshire. It commences with the conversion of the Saxons by St. Augustin, and closes with the death of Richard I. in 1199. Selden has proved that the chronicle was not written by Bromton, but was merely brought to the abbey while he was abbot.
Bron´tes (2 syl.), one of the Cyclops, hence a blacksmith generally. Called Bronteus (2 syl.), by Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 5 (1596).
Not with such weight, to frame the forky brand,The ponderous hammer falls from Brontês' hand.
Jerusalem Delivered, xx. (Hool's translation).
Bronzely (2 syl.), a mere rake, whose vanity was to be thought "a general seducer."—Mrs. Inchbald, Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are (1797).
Bron´zomarte (3 syl.), the sorrel steed of sir Launcelot Greaves. The word means a "mettlesome sorrel."—Smollett, Sir Launcelot Greaves (1756).
Brook (Master), the name assumed by Ford when sir John Falstaff makes love to his wife. Sir John, not knowing him, confides to him every item of his amour, and tells him how cleverly he has duped Ford by being carried out in a buck-basket before his very face.—Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
Brooke (Dorothea), calm, queenly heroine of Middlemarch, by George Eliot.
Broo'ker, the man who stole the son of Ralph Nickleby out of revenge, called him "Smike," and put him to school at Dotheboy's Hall, Yorkshire.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
Brooks of Sheffield, name by which Murdstone alludes to David Copperfield in novel of that name.
Brother Jon'athan. When Washington was in want of ammunition, he called a council of officers; but no practical suggestion being offered, he said, "We must consult brother Jonathan," meaning his excellency Jonathan Trumbull, the elder governor of the state of Connecticut. This was done, and the difficulty surmounted. "To consult brother Jonathan" then became a set phrase, and "Brother Jonathan" became the "John Bull" of the United States.—J. R. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms.
Brother Sam, the brother of lord Dundreary, the hero of a comedy based on a German drama, by John Oxenford, with additions and alterations by E. A. Sothern and T. B. Buckstone.—Supplied by T. B. Buckstone, Esq.
Browdie (John), a brawny, big-made Yorkshire corn-factor, bluff, brusque, honest, and kind-hearted. He befriends poor Smike, and is much, attached to Nicholas Nickleby. John Browdie marries Matilda Price, a miller's daughter.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
Brown (Hablot) illustrated some of Dickens's novels and took the pseudonym of "Phiz" (1812-).
Brown (Jonathan), landlord of the Black Bear at Darlington. Here Frank Osbaldistone meets Rob Roy at dinner.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
Brown (Mrs.), the widow of the brother-in-law of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton. She had one daughter, Alice Marwood, who was first cousin to Edith (Mr. Dombey's second wife). Mrs. Brown lived in great poverty, her only known vocation being to "strip children of their clothes, which she sold or pawned."—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Brown (Mrs.), a "Mrs. John Bull," with all the practical sense, kind-heartedness, absence of conventionality, and the prejudices of a well-to-do but half-educated Englishwoman of the middle shop class. She passes her opinions on all current events, and travels about, taking with her all her prejudices, and despising everything which is not English.—Arthur Sketchley [Rev. George Rose].
Brown (Tom), hero of Tom Brown's School-Days and Tom Brown at Oxford, by Thomas Hughes.
Brown (Vanbeest), lieutenant of Dirk Hatteraick.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Brown, Jones, and Robinson, three Englishmen who travel together. Their adventures, by Richard Doyle, were published in Punch. In them is held up to ridicule the gaucherie, the contracted notions, the vulgarity, the conceit, and the general snobbism of the middle-class English abroad.
Brown of Calaveras, a dissipated blackleg and ne'er-do-weel, whose handsome wife, arriving unexpectedly from the East, retrieves his fortune and risks his honor by falling in love with another man, a brother-gambler.—Bret Harte, Brown of Calaveras (1871).
Brown the Younger (Thomas), the nom de plume of Thomas Moore in The Two-Penny Post-Bag, a series of witty and very popular satires on the prince regent (afterwards George IV.), his ministers, and his boon companions. Also in The Fudge Family in Paris, and in The Fudges in England (1835).
Browne (General), pays a visit to lord Woodville. His bedroom for the night is the "tapestried chamber," where he sees the apparition of "the lady in the sacque," and next morning relates his adventure.—Sir W. Scott, The Tapestried Chamber (time, George III.).
Brownlow, a most benevolent old gentleman, who rescues Oliver Twist from his vile associates. He refuses to believe in Oliver's guilt of theft, although appearances were certainly against him, and he even takes the boy into his service.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Browns. To astonish the Browns, to do or say something regardless of the annoyance it may cause, or the shock it may give to Mrs. Grundy. Anne Boleyn had a whole clan of Browns, or "country cousins," who were welcomed at court in the reign of Elizabeth. The queen, however, was quick to see what was gauche, and did not scruple to reprove them for uncourtly manners. Her plainness of speech used quite to "astonish the Browns."
Brox´mouth (John), a neighbor of Happer the miller.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Bruce (Mr. Robert), mate on a bark trading between Liverpool and St. John's, N.B., sees a man writing in the captain's cabin, a stranger who disappears after pencilling certain lines on the slate. These prove a providential warning by which the vessel escapes certain destruction. The story is told by Robert Dale Owen in Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World, and vouched for as authentic (1860).
Bruce (The), an epic poem by John Barbour (1320-1395).
Bru´el, the name of the goose in the tale of Reynard the Fox. The word means the "Little roarer" (1498).
Bru´in, the name of the bear, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox. Hence a bear in general.
The word means "the brown one" (1498).
Bru´in, one of the leaders arrayed against Hudibras. He is meant for one Talgol, a Newgate butcher, who obtained a captain's commission for valor at Naseby. He marched next to Orsin [Joshua Gosling, landlord of the bear-gardens at Southwark].—S. Butler, Hudibras, i. 3.
Bruin (Mrs. and Mr.), daughter and son-in-law to sir Jacob Jollup. Mr. Bruin is a huge bear of a fellow, and rules his wife with scant courtesy.—S. Foote, The Mayor of Garratt (1763).
Brulgrud'dery (Dennis), landlord of the Red Cow, on Muckslush Heath. He calls himself "an Irish gintleman bred and born." He was "brought up to the church," i.e. to be a church beadle, but lost his place for snoring at sermon-time. He is a sot, with a very kind heart, and is honest in great matters, although in business he will palm off an old cock for a young capon.
Mrs. Brulgruddery, wife of Dennis, and widow of Mr. Skinnygauge, former landlord of the Red Cow. Unprincipled, self-willed, ill-tempered, and over-reaching. Money is the only thing that moves her, and when she has taken a bribe she will whittle down the service to the finest point.—G. Colman, jun., John Bull (1805).
Brun'cheval "the Bold," a paynim knight, who tilted with sir Satyrane, and both were thrown to the ground together at the first encounter.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 4 (1596).
Brunel'o, a deformed dwarf, who at the siege of Albracca stole Sacripan'te's charger from between his legs without his knowing it. He also stole Angelica's magic ring, by means of which he released Roge'ro from the castle in which he was imprisoned. Ariosto says that Agramant gave the dwarf a ring which had the power of resisting magic.—Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato (1495); and Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
"I," says Sancho, "slept so soundly upon Dapple, that the thief had time enough to clap four stakes under the four corners of my pannel and to lead away the beast from under my legs without waking me."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. i. 4 (1615).
Brunetta, mother of Chery (who married his cousin Fairstar).—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Fairstar," 1682).
Brunetta, the rival beauty of Phyllis. On one occasion Phyllis procured a most marvellous fabric of gold brocade in order to eclipse her rival, but Brunetta arrayed her train-bearer in a dress of the same material and cut in the same fashion. Phyllis was so mortified that she went home and died.—The Spectator.
Brunhild, queen of Issland, who made a vow that none should win her who could not surpass her in three trials of skill and strength: (1) hurling a spear; (2) throwing a stone; and (3) jumping. Günther king of Burgundy undertook the three contests, and by the aid of Siegfried succeeded in winning the martial queen. First, hurling a spear that three men could scarcely lift: the queen hurled it towards Günther, but Siegfried, in his invisible cloak, reversed its direction, causing it to strike the queen and knock her down. Next, throwing a stone so huge that twelve brawny men were employed to carry it: Brunhild lifted it on high, flung it twelve fathoms, and jumped beyond it. Again Siegfried helped his friend to throw it further, and in leaping beyond the stone. The queen, being fairly beaten, exclaimed to her liegemen, "I am no longer your queen and mistress; henceforth are ye the liegemen of Günther" (lied vii.). After marriage Brunhild was so obstreperous that the king again applied to Siegfried, who succeeded in depriving her of her ring and girdle, after which she became a very submissive wife.—The Niebelungen Lied.
Bru´no (Bishop), bishop of Herbipolita´num. Sailing one day on the Danube with Henry III. emperor of Germany, they came to Ben Strudel ("the devouring-gulf"), near Grinon Castle, in Austria. Here the voice of a spirit clamored aloud, "Ho! ho! Bishop Bruno, whither art thou travelling? But go thy ways, bishop Bruno, for thou shalt travel with me tonight." At night, while feasting with the emperor, a rafter fell on his head and killed him. Southey has a ballad called Bishop Bruno, but it deviates from the original legend given by Heywood in several particulars: It makes bishop Bruno hear the voice first on his way to the emperor, who had invited him to dinner; next, at the beginning of dinner; and thirdly, when the guests had well feasted. At the last warning an ice-cold hand touched him, and Bruno fell dead in the banquet hall.
Brush, the impertinent English valet of lord Ogleby. If his lordship calls he never hears unless he chooses; if his bell rings he never answers it till it suits his pleasure. He helps himself freely to all his master's things, and makes love to all the pretty chambermaids he comes into contact with.—Colman and Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage (1766).
Brute (1 syl.), the first king of Britain (in mythical history). He was the son of Æneas Silvius (grandson of Ascanius and great-grandson of Æneas of Troy). Brute called London (the capital of his adopted country) Troynovant (New Troy). The legend is this: An oracle declared that Brute should be the death of both his parents; his mother died in child-birth, and at the age of fifteen Brute shot his father accidentally in a deer-hunt. Being driven from Alba Longa, he collected a band of old Trojans and landed at Totness, in Devonshire. His wife was Innogen, daughter of Pandra'sus king of Greece. His tale is told at length in the Chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the first song of Drayton's Polyolbion, and in Spenser's Faëry Queen, ii.
Brute (Sir John), a coarse, surly, ill-mannered brute, whose delight was to "provoke" his young wife, who he tells us "is a young lady, a fine lady, a witty lady, and a virtuous lady, but yet I hate her." In a drunken frolic he intercepts a tailor taking home a new dress to lady Brute; he insists on arraying himself therein, is arrested for a street row, and taken before the justice of the peace. Being asked his name, he gives it as "lady John Brute," and is dismissed.
Lady Brute, wife of sir John. She is subjected to divers indignities, and insulted morn, noon, and night by her surly, drunken husband. Lady Brute intrigues with Constant, a former lover; but her intrigues are more mischievous than vicious.—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).
Brute Green-Shield, the successor of Ebranc king of Britain. The mythical line is: (1) Brute, great-great-grandson of Æneas; (2) Locrin, his son; (3) Guendolen, the widow of Locrin; (4) Ebranc; (5) Brute Green-Shield. Then follow in order Leil, Hudibras, Bladud, Leir [Shakespeare's "Lear"], etc.
... of her courageous kings,Brute Green-Shield, to whose name we providence impute
Divinely to revive the land's first conqueror, Brute.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Brutus (Lucius Junius), first consul of Rome, who condemned his own two sons to death for joining a conspiracy to restore Tarquin to the throne, from which he had been banished. This subject has been dramatized by N. Lee (1679) and John H. Payne, under the title of Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin (1820). Alfieri has an Italian tragedy on the same subject. In French we have the tragedies of Arnault (1792) and Ponsard (1843). (See LUCRETIA.)
The elder Kean on one occasion consented to appear at the Glasgow theatre for his son's benefit. The play chosen was Payne's Brutus, in which the father took the part of "Brutus" and Charles Kean that of "Titus." The audience sat suffused in tears during the pathetic interview, till "Brutus" falls on the neck of "Titus," exclaiming in a burst of agony, "Embrace thy wretched father!" when the whole house broke forth into peals of approbation. Edmund Kean then whispered in his son's ear, "Charlie, we are doing the trick."—W. C. Russell, Representative Actors, p. 476.
Junius Brutus. So James Lynch Fitz-Stephen has been called, because (like the first consul of Rome) he condemned his own son to death for murder, and to prevent a rescue caused him to be executed from the window of his own house in Galway (1493).
The Spanish Brutus, Alfonso Perez de Gruzman, governor of Tarifa in 1293. Here he was besieged by the infant don Juan, who had revolted against his brother, king Sancho IV., and having Guzman's son in his power threatened to kill him unless Tarifa was given up to him. Guzman replied, "Sooner than be guilty of such treason I will lend Juan a dagger to slay my son;" and so saying tossed his dagger over the wall. Sad to say, Juan took the dagger, and assassinated the young man there and then (1258-1309).
Brutus (Marcus), said to be the son of Julius Cæsar by Servilia.
Brutus' bastard handStabb'd Julius Cæsar.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act iv. sc. 1 (1591).
This Brutus is introduced by Shakespeare in his tragedy of Julius Cæsar, and the poet endows him with every quality of a true patriot. He loved Cæsar much, but he loved Rome more.
Brutus. Et tu, Brute. Shakespeare, on the authority of Suetonius, puts these words into the mouth of Cæsar when Brutus stabbed him. Shakespeare's drama was written in 1607, and probably he had seen The True Tragedy of Richard duke of York (1600), where these words occur; but even before that date H. Stephens had said:
Jule Cesar, quand il vit que Brutus aussi estoit de ceux qui luy tirient des coups d'espee, luy dit, Kai sy tecnon? c'est à dire.... Et toy mon fils, en es tu aussi.—Deux Dial. du Noveau Lang. Franc (1583).
Brutus and Cicero. Cicero says: [Latin: "Cæsare interfecto, statim, cruentum alte extollens M. Brutus pugionem Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit, atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus."]—Philipp. ii. 12.
When Brutus rose, Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate,... [he] called aloud On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, And bade the "father of his country" hail.
Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, i.
Bry'done (Elspeth), or Glendinning, widow of Simon Glendinning, of the Tower of Glendearg.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Bubas'tis, the Dian'a of Egyptian mythology. She was the daughter of Isis and sister of Horus.
Bubenburg (Sir Adrian de), a veteran knight of Berne.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Bucca, goblin of the wind in Celtic mythology, and supposed by the ancient inhabitants of Cornwall to foretell shipwreck.
Bucen'taur, the Venetian state galley used by the doge when he went "to wed the Adriatic." In classic mythology the bucentaur was half man and half ox.
Buceph'alos ("bull-headed"), the name of Alexander's horse, which cost £3500. It knelt down when Alexander mounted, and was thirty years old at its death. Alexander built a city called Bucephala in its memory.
The Persian Bucephalos, Shibdiz, the famous charger of Chosroes Parviz.
Buck Cheever, mountaineer and "moonshiner" in Charles Egbert Craddock's In the Stranger People's Country.
He had been a brave soldier, although the flavor of bushwhacking clung to his war record; he was a fast friend and a generous foe; what one hand got by hook or by crook—chiefly, it is to be feared, by crook—the other made haste to give away (1890).
Buck Fanshawe, a popular Californian in the days when Lynch Law was in vogue in mining districts. He dies, and his partner seeks a clergyman to arrange for the funeral, which "the fellows" have determined shall be the finest ever held in the region. The divine questions in his professional vein and the miner answers in his, each sorely puzzled to interpret the meaning of his companion.
"Was he a—ah—peaceable man?""Peaceable! he jest would have peace, ef he
had to lick every darned galoot in the valley to
git it."—Mark Twain, Buck Fanshawe's Funeral,
(1872).
Buck Grangerford, a spirited son of the Grangerford clan, who pays with his life for fealty to family and feud.—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
Buck'et (Mr.), a shrewd detective officer who cleverly discovers that Hortense, the French maid-servant of lady Dedlock, was the murderer of Mr. Tulkinghorn, and not lady Dedlock, who was charged with the deed by Hortense.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Buckingham (George Villiers, duke of). There were two dukes of this name, father and son, both notorious for their profligacy and political unscrupulousness. The first (1592-1628) was the favorite of James I., nicknamed "Steenie" by that monarch from his personal beauty, "Steenie" being a pet corruption of Stephen, whose face at martyrdom was "as the face of an angel." He was assassinated by Fenton. Sir Walter Scott introduces him in The Fortunes of Nigel, and his son in Peveril of the Peak. The son (1627-1688) also appears under the name of "Zimri" (q.v.) in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel. He was the author of The Rehearsal, a drama upon which Sheridan founded his Critic, and of other works, but is principally remembered as the profligate favorite of Charles II. He was a member of the famous "CABAL" (q.v.), and closed a career of great splendor and wickedness in the most abject poverty.
Buckingham (Henry de Stafford, duke of) was a favorite of Richard III. and a participator in his crimes, but revolted against him, and was beheaded in 1483. This is the duke that Sackville met in the realms of Pluto, and whose "complaynt" is given in the prologue to A Mirrour for Magistraytes (1587). He also appears in Shakespeare's Richard III. His son in Henry VIII.
Buckingham (Mary duchess of), introduced by sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Bucklaw (The laird of), afterwards laird of Girnington. His name was Frank Hayston. Lucy Ashton plights her troth to Edgar master of Ravenswood, and they exchange love-tokens at the Mermaid's Fountain; but her father, sir William Ashton, from pecuniary views, promises her in marriage to the laird of Bucklaw, and as she signs the articles Edgar suddenly appears at the castle. They return to each other their love-tokens, and Lucy is married to the laird; but on the wedding night the bridegroom is found dangerously wounded in the bridal chamber, and the bride hidden in the chimney-corner insane. Lucy dies in convulsions, but Bucklaw recovers and goes abroad.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Buckthorne, a conspicuous figure in Tales of a Traveller, by Washington Irving. He is gentleman student, dancing buffoon, lover, poet, and author by turns, and nothing long unless it be a royally good fellow (1824).
Buffoon (The Pulpit). Hugh Peters is so called by Dugdale (1599-1660).
Bug Jargal, a negro, passionately in love with a white woman, but tempering the wildest passion with the deepest respect.—Victor Hugo, Bug Jargal (a novel).
Bulbul, an Oriental name for a nightingale. When, in The Princess (by Tennyson), the prince, disguised as a woman, enters with his two friends (similarly disguised) into the college to which no man was admitted, he sings; and the princess, suspecting the fraud, says to him, "Not for thee, O bulbul, any rose of Gulistan shall burst her veil," i.e., "O singer, do not suppose that any woman will be taken in by such a flimsy deceit." The bulbul loved the rose, and Gulistan means the "garden of roses." The prince was the bulbul, the college was Gulistan, and the princess the rose sought.—Tennyson, The Princess, iv.
Bulbul-He'zar, the talking bird, which was joined in singing by all the song-birds in the neighborhood. (See TALKING BIRD.)—Arabian Nights ("The Two Sisters," the last story).
Bulis, mother of Egyp'ius of Thessaly. Egypius entertained a criminal love for Timandra, the mother of Neoph'ron, and Neophron was guilty of a similar passion for Bulis. Jupiter changed Egypius and Neophron into vultures, Bulis into a duck, and Timandra into a sparrow-hawk.—Classic Mythology.
Bull (John), the English nation personified, and hence any typical Englishman.
Mrs. Bull, queen Anne, "very apt to be choleric." On hearing that Philip Baboon (Philippe duc d'Anjou) was to succeed to lord Strutt's estates (i.e. the Spanish throne), she said to John Bull:
"You sot, you loiter about ale-houses and taverns,spend your time at billiards, ninepins, or
puppet-shows, never minding me nor my numerous
family. Don't you hear how lord Strutt
[the king of Spain] has bespoke his liveries at
Lewis Baboon's shop [France]?... Fie upon it!
Up, man!... I'll sell my shift before I'll be so
used."—Chap. iv.
John Bull's Mother, the Church of England.
John Bull's Sister Peg, the Scotch, in love with Jack (Calvin).
John had a sister, a poor girl that had beenreared ... on oatmeal and water ... and lodged
in a garret exposed to the north wind.... However,
this usage ... gave her a hardy constitution....
Peg had, indeed, some odd humors and
comical antipathies,... she would faint at the
sound of an organ, and yet dance and frisk at
the noise of a bagpipe.—Dr. Arbuthnot, History
of John Bull, ii. 2 (1712).
Bullamy, porter of the "Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Insurance Company." An imposing personage, whose dignity resided chiefly in the great expanse of his red waistcoat. Respectability and well-to-doedness were expressed in that garment.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Bullcalf (Peter), of the Green, who was pricked for a recruit in the army of sir John Falstaff. He promised Bardolph "four Harry ten-shillings in French crowns" if he would stand his friend, and when sir John was informed thereof, he said to Bullcalf, "I will have none of you." Justice Shallow remonstrated, but Falstaff exclaimed, "Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature?... Give me the spirit, master Shallow."—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2 (1598).
Bull-dogs, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in his rounds to assist him in apprehending students who are violating the university statutes, such as appearing in the streets after dinner without cap and gown, etc.
Bullet-head (The Great), George Cadoudal, leader of the Chouans (1769-1804).
Bull´segg (Mr.), laird of Killancureit, a friend of the baron of Bradwardine.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Bulmer (Valentine), titular earl of Etherington, married to Clara Mowbray.
Mrs. Ann Bulmer, mother of Valentine, married to the earl of Etherington during the life-time of his countess; hence his wife in bigamy.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Bum´ble, beadle of the workhouse where Oliver Twist was born and brought up. A stout, consequential, hard-hearted, fussy official, with mighty ideas of his own importance. This character has given to the language the word bumbledom, the officious arrogance and bumptious conceit of a parish authority or petty dignitary. After marriage the high-and-mighty beadle was sadly henpecked and reduced to a Jerry Sneak.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Bum'kinet, a shepherd. He proposes to Grub'binol that they should repair to a certain hut and sing "Gillian of Croydon," "Patient Grissel," "Cast away Care," "Over the Hills," and so on; but being told that Blouzelinda was dead, he sings a dirge, and Grubbinol joins him.
Thus wailed the louts in melancholy strain,Till bonny Susan sped across the plain;
They seized the lass in apron clean arrayed,
And to the ale-house forced the willing maid;
In ale and kisses they forgot their cares,
And Susan Blouzelinda's loss repairs.
Gay, Pastoral, v. (1714).
(An imitation of Virgil's Ecl. v. "Daphnis.")
Bumper (Sir Harry), a convivial friend of Charles Surface. He sings the popular song, beginning—
Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen,Here's to the widow of fifty, etc.
Sheridan, School for Scandal (1777).
Bumppo (Natty), the Leather Stocking of Cooper's Pioneers; Hawk-Eye of The Last of the Mohicans; the Deer Slayer and the Pathfinder of the novels of those names; and the trapper of The Prairie, in which his death is recorded. A white man who has lived so long with Indians as to surpass them in skill and cunning, retains native nobility of character, and in his countenance "an open honesty and total absence of guile" that inspires trust.
Bunce (Jack), alias Frederick Altamont, a ci-devant actor, one of the crew of the pirate vessel.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Bunch (Mother), an alewife, mentioned by Dekker in his drama called Satiromastix (1602). In 1604 was published Pasquil's Jests, mixed with Mother Bunch's Merriments.
There is a series of "Fairy Tales" called Mother Bunch's Fairy Tales.
Bunch (Mother), the supposed possessor of a "cabinet broken open" and revealing "rare secrets of Art and Nature," such as love-spells (1760).
Bun'cle, messenger to the earl of Douglas.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Bun'cle (John), a prodigious hand at matrimony, divinity, a song, and a glass. He married seven wives, and lost all in the flower of their age. For two or three days after the death of a wife he was inconsolable, but soon became resigned to his loss, which he repaired by marrying again.—Thos. Amory, The Life, etc., of John Buncle, Esq.
Bundle, the gardener, father of Wilelmi'na and friend of Tom Tug the waterman. He is a plain, honest man, but greatly in awe of his wife, who nags him from morning till night.
Mrs. Bundle, a vulgar Mrs. Malaprop, and a termagant. "Everything must be her way or there's no getting any peace." She greatly frequents the minor theatres, and acquires notions of sentimental romance.
Bun'gay (Friar), one of the friars in a comedy by Robert Green, entitled Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. Both the friars are conjurors, and the piece concludes with one of their pupils being carried off to the infernal regions on the back of one of friar Bacon's demons (1591).
Bungay, publisher in History of Pendennis, by W.M. Thackeray.
Bungey (Friar), personification of the charlatan of science in the fifteenth century.
In The Last of the Barons, by lord Lytton, friar Bungey
is an historical character, and is said to have "raised mists and
vapors," which befriended Edward IV, at the battle of Barnet.
Buns'by (Captain John or Jade), owner of the Cautious Clara. Captain Cuttle considered him "a philosopher, and quite an oracle." Captain Bunsby had one "stationary and one revolving eye," a very red face, and was extremely taciturn. The captain was entrapped by Mrs. MacStinger (the termagant landlady of his friend captain Cuttle) into marrying her.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Bunting, the pied piper of Ham'elin. He was so called from his dress.
Bur (John), the servant of Job Thornberry, the brazier of Penzance. Brusque in his manners, but most devotedly attached to his master, by whom he was taken from the workhouse. John Bur kept his master's "books" for twenty-two years with the utmost fidelity.—G.R. Colman, Jun., John Bull (1805).
Bur'bon (i.e. Henri IV. of France). He is betrothed to Fordelis (France), who has been enticed from him by Grantorto (rebellion). Being assailed on all sides by a rabble rout, Fordelis is carried off by "hell-rake hounds." The rabble batter Burbon's shield (protestantism), and compel him to throw it away. Sir Ar´tegal (right or justice) rescues the "recreant knight" from the mob, but blames him for his unknightly folly in throwing away his shield (of faith). Talus (the executive) beats off the hellhounds, gets possession of the lady, and though she flouts Burbon, he catches her up upon his steed and rides off with her.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 2 (1596).
Burchell (Mr.), alias sir William Thornhill, about thirty years of age. When Dr. Primrose, the vicar of Wakefield, loses £1400, Mr. Burchell presents himself as a broken-down gentleman, and the doctor offers him his purse. He turns his back on the two flash ladies who talked of their high-life doings, and cried "Fudge!" after all their boastings and remarks. Mr. Burchell twice rescues Sophia Primrose, and ultimately marries her.—Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield (1765).
Burgundy (Charles the Bold, duke of) introduced by sir W. Scott in Quentin Durward and in Anne of Geierstein. The latter novel contains the duke's defeat at Nancy´, and his death (time, Edward IV.).
Bu´ridan's Ass. A man of indecision is so called from the hypothetical ass of Buridan, the Greek sophist. Buridan maintained that "if an ass could be placed between two hay-stacks in such a way that its choice was evenly balanced between them, it would starve to death, for there would be no motive why he should choose the one and reject the other."
Burleigh (William Cecil, lord), lord treasurer to queen Elizabeth (1520-1598), introduced by sir W. Scott in his historical novel called Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
He is one the principal characters in The Earl of Essex, a tragedy by Henry Jones (1745).
Burleigh (Lord), a parliamentary leader in The Legend of Montrose, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Charles I.).
A lord Burleigh shake of the head, a great deal meant by a look or movement, though little or nothing is said. Puff, in his tragedy of the "Spanish Armada," introduces lord Burleigh, "who has the affairs of the whole nation in his head, and has no time to talk;" but his lordship comes on the stage and shakes his head, by which he means far more than words could utter. Puff says:
Why, by that shake of the head he gave youto understand that even though they had more
justice in their cause and wisdom in their measures,
yet, if there was not a greater spirit shown
on the part of the people, the country would at
last fall a sacrifice to the hostile ambition of the
Spanish monarchy.
Sneer. Did he mean all that by shaking his
head?
Puff. Every word of it.—Sheridan, The Critic,
ii. 1 (1779).
The original "lord Burleigh" was Irish Moody (1728-1813).—Cornhill Magazine (1867).
Burlesque Poetry (Father of), Hippo'nax of Ephesus (sixth century B.C.).
Burlong, a giant whose legs sir Try'amour cut off.—Romance of Sir Tryamour.
Burnbill, Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin and lord justice of Ireland, in the reign of Henry III. It is said that he fraudulently burnt all the "bills" or instruments by which the tenants of the archbishopric held their estates.
Burns of France (The), Jasmin, a barber of Gascony. Louis Philippe presented to him a gold watch and chain, and the duke of Orléans an emerald ring.
Bur'ris, an honest lord, favorite of the great-duke of Muscovia.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).
Burroughs (George), a Salem citizen whose trial for witchcraft is recorded by Rev. Cotton Mather. The counts are many, and in the opinion of the court are proven, George Burroughs being condemned to die. In the story of his crimes set down by Dr. Mather, the climax would seem to be a paper handed by the accused to the jury, "wherein he goes to evince 'That there neither are, nor ever were, witches that, having made a compact with the devil, can send a devil to torment other people at a distance.'"
"When he came to die, he utterly denied the fact whereof he had been convicted."—Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693).
Bu'sirane (3 syl.), an enchanter who bound Am'oret by the waist to a brazen pillar, and, piercing her with a dart, wrote magic characters with the dropping blood, "all for to make her love him." When Brit'omart approached, the enchanter started up, and, running to Amoret, was about to plunge a knife into her heart; but Britomart intercepted the blow, overpowered the enchanter, compelled him to "reverse his charms," and then bound him fast with his own chain.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 11, 12 (1590).
Busi'ris, king of Egypt, was told by a foreigner that the long drought of nine years would cease when the gods of the country were mollified by human sacrifice. "So be it," said the king, and ordered the man himself to be offered as the victim.—Herod, ii. 59-61.
'Tis said that Egypt for nine years was dry;Nor Nile did floods nor heaven did rain supply.
A foreigner at length informed the king
That slaughtered guests would kindly moisture bring.
The king replied, "On thee the lot shall fall;
Be thou, my guest, the sacrifice for all."
Ovid, Art of Love, i.
Busi'ris, supposed by Milton to be the Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea.
Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrewBusiris and his Memphian chivalry.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 306 (1665).
Bus'ne (2 syl.). So the gipsies call all who do not belong to their race.
The gold of the Busnê; give me her gold. Longfellow, The Spanish Student.
Busqueue (Lord), plaintiff in the great Pantagruelian lawsuit known as "lord Busqueue v. lord Suckfist," in which the parties concerned pleaded for themselves. Lord Busqueue stated his grievance and spoke so learnedly and at such length, that no one understood one word about the matter; then lord Suckfist replied, and the bench declared "We have not understood one iota of the defence." Pantag'ruel, however, gave judgment, and as both plaintiff and defendant considered he had got the verdict, both were fully satisfied, "a thing without parallel in all the annals of the court."—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. (1533).
Busy Body (The), a comedy by Mrs. Centlivre (1709). Sir Francis Gripe (guardian of Miranda, an heiress, and father of Charles), a man sixty-five years old, wishes to marry his ward for the sake of her money, but Miranda loves and is beloved by sir George Airy, a man of twenty-four. She pretends to love "Gardy," and dupes him into yielding up her money, and giving his consent to her marriage with "the man of her choice," believing himself to be the person. Charles is in love with Isabinda, daughter of sir Jealous Traffick, who has made up his mind that she shall marry a Spaniard named don Diego Babinetto, expected to arrive forthwith. Charles dresses in a Spanish costume, passes himself off as the expected don, and is married to the lady of his choice; so both the old men are duped, and all the young people wed according to their wishes.
Butcher (The), Achmet pasha, who struck off the heads of seven of his wives at once. He defended Acre against Napoleon I.
John ninth lord Clifford, called "The Black Clifford" (died 1461).
Oliver de Clisson, constable of France (1320-1407).
Butcher (The Bloody), the duke of Cumberland, second son of Gleorge II.; so called for his great barbarities in suppressing the rebellion of Charles Edward, the young pretender (1726-1765).
Butcher of England, John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, a man of great learning and a patron of learning (died 1470).
On one occasion in the reign of Edward IV. he ordered Clapham (a squire to lord Warwick) and nineteen others, all gentlemen, to be impaled. —Stow, Warkworth Chronicle ("Cont. Croyl.")
Yet so barbarous was the age, that this same learned man impaled forty Lancastrian prisoners at Southampton, put to death the infant children of the Irish chief Desmond, and acquired the nickname of "The Butcher of England."—Old and New London, ii. 21.
Butler (Reuben), a presbyterian minister, married to Jeanie Deans.
Benjamin Butler, father of Reuben.
Stephen Butler, generally called "Bible Butler," grandfather of Reuben and father of Benjamin.
Widow Judith Butler, Reuben's grandmother and Stephen's wife.
Euphemia or Femie Butler, Reuben's daughter.
David and Reuben Butler, Reuben's sons.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Butler (The Rev. Mr.), military chaplain at Madras.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
Buttercup (John), a milkman.—W. Brough, A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock.
Buttercup (Little), Bumboat woman, who in her youth, took to baby-farming, and "mixed those babies up," i.e. Ralph Rackstraw and the Captain of the Pinafore.—W.S. Gilbert, Pinafore (1877).
Buxo´ma, a shepherdess with whom Cuddy is in love.
My Brown Buxoma is the featest maidThat e'er at wake delightsome gambol played ...
And neither lamb, nor kid, nor calf, nor Tray,
Dance like Buxoma on the first of May.
Gay, Pastoral, i. (1714).
Buz´fuz (Sergeant), the pleader retained by Dodson and Fogg for the plaintiff in the celebrated case of "Bardell v. Pickwick." Sergeant Buzfuz is a driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who proved that Mr. Pickwick's note about "chops and tomato sauce" was a declaration of love; and that his reminder "not to forget the warming-pan" was only a flimsy cover to express the ardor of his affection. Of course the defendant was found guilty by the enlightened jury. (His junior was Skimpin.)—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Buz'zard (The), in The Hind and the Panther, by Dryden (pt. iii.), is meant for Dr. Gilbert Burnet, whose figure was lusty (1643-1715).
Bycorn, a fat cow, so fat that its sides were nigh to bursting, but this is no wonder, for its food was "good and enduring husbands," of which there is good store, (See CHICHI-VACHE.)
Byron (Miss Harriet), a beautiful and accomplished woman of high rank, devotedly attached to sir Charles Grandison, whom ultimately she marries.—Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison (1753).
Byron (The Polish), Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).
Byron (The Russian), Alexander Sergeivitch Puschkin (1799-1837).
Byron and Mary. The Mary of Byron's song is Miss Chaworth. Both Miss Chaworth and lord Byron were wards of Mr. White. Miss Chaworth married John Musters, and lord Byron married Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke: both were equally unhappy.
I have a passion for the name of "Mary,"For once it was a magic name to me.
Byron, Don Juan, v. 4 (1820).
Byron and Teresa Guiccioli. This lady was the wife of count Guiccioli, an old man, but very rich. Moore says that Byron "never loved but once, till he loved Teresa."
Byron and the Edinburgh Review. It was Jeffrey and not Brougham who wrote the article which provoked the poet's reply.
(in Notes and Queries), the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.
acafo'go, a rich, drunken usurer, stumpy and fat, choleric, a coward, and a bully. He fancies money will buy everything and every one.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640).
Cacur'gus, the fool or domestic jester of Misog'onus. Cacurgus is a rustic simpleton and cunning mischief-maker.—Thomas Rychardes, Misogonus (the third English comedy, 1560).
Ca'cus, a giant who lived in a cave on mount Av'entine (3 syl.). When Herculês came to Italy with the oxen which he had taken from Ger'yon of Spain, Cacus stole part of the herd, but dragged the animals by their tails into his cave, that it might be supposed they had come out of it.
If he falls into slips, it is equally clear they were introduced by him on purpose to confuse like Caeus, the traces of his retreat.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Romance."
Cad, a low-born, vulgar fellow. A cadie in Scotland was a carrier of a sedan-chair.
All Edinburgh men and boys know that when sedan-chairs were discontinued, the old cadies sank into ruinous poverty, and became synonymous with roughs. The word was brought to London by James Hannay, who frequently used it.—M. Pringle.
M. Pringle assures us that the word came from Turkey.
Cade (Jack), Irish insurgent in reign of Henry VII. Assuming the name of Mortimer, he led a company of rebels from Kent, defeated the king's army, and entered London. His short-lived triumph was ended by his death at Lewes. He appears in Henry VI. by Shakespeare.
Cade´nus (3 syl.) dean Swift. The word is simply de-ca-nus ("a dean"), with the first two syllables transposed (ca-de-nus). Vanessa is Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, a young lady who fell in love with Swift, and proposed marriage. The dean's reply is given in the poem entitled Cadenus and Vanessa [i.e. Van-Esther].
Caduceus meant generally a herald's staff; as an emblem of a peaceful errand it was made of a branch of olive-wood with the twigs, which, later, were transformed to serpents. In this form it is associated with Mercury, the herald and messenger of the gods—that "beautiful golden rod with which he both puts men to sleep and wakens them from slumber." Homer, Odyssey, xxiv.
Cadur´ci, the people of Aquita´nia.
Cad´wal. Arvir´agus, son of Cym´beline, was so called while he lived in the woods with Bela´rius, who called himself Morgan, and whom Cadwal supposed to be his father.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Cadwallader, called by Bede (1 syl.) Elidwalda, son of Cadwalla king of Wales. Being compelled by pestilence and famine to leave Britain, he went to Armorica. After the plague ceased he went to Rome, where, in 689, he was baptized, and received the name of Peter, but died very soon afterwards.
Cadwallader that drave [sailed] to the Armoric shore.Drayton, Polyolbion, ix. (1612).
Cadwallader, the misanthrope in Smollett's Peregrine Pickle (1751).
Cadwallader (Mrs.), character in Middle-march, by George Eliot.
Cadwall'on, son of the blinded Cyne'tha. Both father and son accompanied prince Madoc to North America in the twelfth century.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Cadwal'lon, the favorite bard of prince Gwenwyn. He entered the service of sir Hugo de Lacy, disguised, under the assumed name of Renault Vidal.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Cæ'cias, the north-west wind. Argestês is the north-east, and Bo'reas the full north.
Boreas and Cæcias and Argestes loud...rend the woods, and seas upturn.
Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 699, etc. (1665).
Cælesti'na, the bride of sir Walter Terill. The king commanded sir Walter to bring his bride to court on the night of her marriage. Her father, to save her honor, gave her a mixture supposed to be poison, but in reality it was only a sleeping draught. In due time the bride recovered, to the amusement of the king and delight of her husband.—Th. Dekker, Satiromastix (1602).
Cæ'neus [Se.nuce] was born of the female sex, and was originally called Cænis. Vain of her beauty, she rejected all lovers, but was one day surprised by Neptune, who offered her violence, changed her sex, converted her name to Ceneus, and gave her (or rather him) the gift of being invulnerable. In the wars of the Lap'ithæ, Ceneus offended Jupiter, and was overwhelmed under a pile of wood, but came forth converted into a yellow bird. Æneas found Ceneus in the infernal regions restored to the feminine sex. The order is inverted by sir John Davies:
And how was Caeneus made at first a man,And then a woman, then a man again.
Orchestra, etc. (1615).
Cæsar (Caius Julius).
Somewhere I've read, but where I forget, he could dictateSeven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs....
Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village
Than be second in Rome; and I think he was right when he said it.
Twice was he married before he was twenty, and many times after;
Battles five hundred he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered;
But was finally stabbed by his friend the orator Brutus.
Longfellow, Courtship of Miles Standish, ii.
Longfellow refers to Pliny, vii. 25, where he says that Cæsar "could employ, at one and the same time, his ears to listen, his eyes to read, his hand to write, and his tongue to dictate." He is said to have conquered three hundred nations; to have taken eight hundred cities, to have slain in battle a million men, and to have defeated three millions. (See below, CÆSAR'S WARS.)
Cæsar and his Fortune. Plutarch says that Cæsar told the captain of the vessel in which he sailed that no harm could come to his ship, for that he had "Cæsar and his fortune with him."
Now am I like that proud insulting ship,Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.
Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 2 (1589).
Cæsar saves his Commentaries. Once, when Julius Cæsar was in danger of being upset into the sea by the overloading of a boat, he swam to the nearest ship, with his book of Commentaries in his hand.—Suetonius.
Cæsar's Death. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare say that Julius Cæsar was killed in the capitol. Thus Polonius says to Hamlet, "I did enact Julius Cæsar; I was killed i' the capitol" (Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2). And Chaucer says:
This Julius to the capitolê wente ...And in the capitole anon him hente
This falsê Brutus, and his other soon,
And sticked him with bodëkins anon.
Canterbury Tales ("The Monk's Tale," 1388).
Plutarch expressly tells us he was killed in Pompey's Porch or Piazza; and in Julius Cæsar Shakespeare says he fell "e'en at the base of Pompey's statue" (act iii. sc. 2).
Cæsar's Famous Despatch, "Veni, vidi, vici," written to the senate to announce his overthrow of Pharnacês king of Pontus. This "hop, skip, and a jump" was, however, the work of three days.
Cæsar's Wars. The carnage occasioned by the wars of Cæsar is usually estimated at a million fighting men. He won 320 triumphs, and fought 500 battles. See above, CÆSAR (Caius Julius).
What millions died that Cæsar might be great!Campbell. The Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).
Cæsar, the Mephistoph'elês of Byron's unfinished drama called The Deformed Transformed. This Cæsar changes Arnold (the hunchback) into the form of Achilles, and assumes himself the deformity and ugliness which Arnold casts off. The drama being incomplete, all that can be said is that Cæsar, in cynicism, effrontery, and snarling bitterness of spirit, is the exact counterpart of his prototype, Mephistophelês (1821).
Cæsar (Don), an old man of sixty-three, the father of Olivia. In order to induce his daughter to marry, he makes love to Marcella, a girl of sixteen.—Mrs. Cowley, A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).
Cael, a Highlander of the western coast of Scotland. These Cael had colonized, in very remote times, the northern parts of Ireland, as the Fir-bolg or Belgae of Britain had colonized the southern parts. The two colonies had each a separate king. When Crothar was king of the Fir-bolg (or "lord of Atha"), he carried off Conla'ma, daughter of the king of Ulster (i.e. "chief of the Cael"), and a general war ensued between the two races. The Cael, being reduced to the last extremity, sent to Trathal (Fingal's grandfather) for help, and Trathal sent over Con'ar, who was chosen "king of the Cael" immediately he landed in Ulster; and having reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, he assumed the title of "king of Ireland." The Fir-bolg, though conquered, often rose in rebellion, and made many efforts to expel the race of Conar, but never succeeded in so doing.—Ossian.
Cages for Men. Alexander the Great had the philosopher Callisthenês chained for seven months in an iron cage, for refusing to pay him divine honors.
Catherine II. of Eussia kept her perruquier for more than three years in an iron cage in her bed-chamber, to prevent his telling people that she wore a wig.—Mons. de Masson, Mémoires Secrets sur la Russie.
Edward I. confined the countess of Buchan in an iron cage, for placing the crown of Scotland on the head of Bruce. This cage was erected on one of the towers of Berwick Castle, where the countess was exposed to the rigor of the elements and the gaze of passers-by. One of the sisters of Bruce was similarly dealt with.
Louis XI. confined cardinal Balue (grand-almoner of France) for ten years in an iron cage in the castle of Loches [Losh].
Tamerlane enclosed the sultan Bajazet in an iron cage, and made of him a public show. So says D'Herbelot.
An iron cage was made by Timour's command,composed on every side of iron gratings, through
which the captive sultan [Bajazet] could be seen
in any direction. He travelled in this den slung
between two horses.—Leunclavius.
Caglios´tro (Count de), the assumed name of Joseph Balsamo (1743-1795).
Cain and Abel are called in the Korân "Kâbil and Hâbil." The tradition is that Cain was commanded to marry Abel's sister, and Abel to marry Cain's, but Cain demurred because his own sister was the more beautiful, and so the matter was referred to God, and God answered "No" by rejecting Cain's sacrifice.
The Mohammedans also say that Cain carried about with him the dead body of Abel till he saw a raven scratch a hole in the ground to bury a dead bird. The hint was taken, and Abel was buried under ground.—Sale's Koran, v. (notes).
Cair´bar, son of Borbar-Duthul, "lord of Atha" (Connaught), the most potent of the race of the Fir-bolg. He rose in rebellion against Cormac "king of Ireland," murdered him (Temora, i.), and usurped the throne; but Fingal (who was distantly related to Cormac) went to Ireland with an army, to restore the ancient dynasty. Cairbar invited Oscar (Fingal's grandson) to a feast, and Oscar accepted the invitation, but Cairbar having provoked a quarrel with his guest, the two fought, and both were slain.
"Thy heart is a rock. Thy thoughts are darkand bloody. Thou art the brother of Cathmor
... but my soul is not like thine, thou feeble
hand in fight. The light of my bosom is stained
by thy deeds."—Ossian, Temora, i.
Cair´bre (2 syl.), sometimes called Cair´bar, third king of Ireland, of the Caledonian line. (There was also a Cairbar, "lord of Atha," a Fir-bolg, quite a different person.)
The Caledonian line ran thus: (1) Conar, first "king of Ireland;" (2) Cormac I., his son; (3) Cairbre, his son; (4) Artho, his son; (5) Cormac II., his son; (6) Ferad-Artho, his cousin.—Ossian.
Cai´us (2 syl.), the assumed name of the earl of Kent when he attended on king Lear, after Goneril and Re´gan refused to entertain their aged father with his suite.—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).
Cai´us (Dr.), a French physician, whose servants are Rugby and Mrs. Quickly.— Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
The clipped English of Dr. Cains.—Macau lay.Calandri´no, a character in the Decameron, whose "misfortunes have made all Europe merry for four centuries."—Boccaccio, Decameron, viii. 9 (1350).
Calan´tha, princess of Sparta, loved by Ith´oclês. Ithoclês induces his sister, Penthe´a, to break the matter to the princess. This she does; the princess is won to requite his love, and the king consents to the union. During a grand court ceremony Calantha is informed of the sudden death of her father, another announces to her that Penthea had starved herself to death from hatred to Bass´anês, and a third follows to tell her that Ithoclês, her betrothed husband, has been murdered. Calantha bates no jot of the ceremony, but continues the dance even to the bitter end. The coronation ensues, but scarcely is the ceremony over than she can support the strain no longer, and, broken-hearted, she falls dead.—John Ford, The Broken Heart (1633).
Calan'the (3 syl.), the betrothed wife of Pyth'ias the Syracusian.—J. Banim, Damon and Pythias (1825).
Cal'culator (The). Alfragan the Arabian astronomer was so called (died A.D. 820). Jedediah Buxton, of Elmeton, in Derbyshire, was also called "The Calculator" (1705-1775). George Bidder, Zerah Colburn, and a girl named Heywood (whose father was a Mile End weaver) all exhibited their calculating powers in public.
Pascal, in 1642, made a calculating machine, which was improved by Leibnitz. C. Babbage also invented a calculating machine (1790-1871).
Cal'deron (Don Pedro), a Spanish poet born at Madrid (1600-1681). At the age of fifty-two he became an ecclesiastic, and composed religious poetry only. Altogether he wrote about 1000 dramatic pieces.
Her memory was a mine. She knew by heartAll Cal'deron and greater part of Lopé.
Byron, Don Juan, i. 11 (1819).
"Lope," that is Lopê de Vega, the Spanish poet (1562-1635).
Caleb, the enchantress who carried off St. George in infancy.
Ca'leb, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for lord Grey of Wark, in Northumberland, an adherent of the duke of Monmouth.
And, therefore, in the name of dulness beThe well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free.
Part i.
"Balaam" is the earl of Huntingdon.
Ca'led, commander-in-chief of the Arabs in the siege of Damascus. He is brave, fierce, and revengeful. War is his delight. When Pho'cyas, the Syrian, deserts Eu'menês, Caled asks him to point out the governor's tent; he refuses; they fight, and Caled falls.—John Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).
Caledo´nians, Gauls from France who colonized south Britain, whence they journeyed to Inverness and Ross. The word is compounded of two Celtic words, Cael ("Gaul" or "Celt") and don or dun ("a hill"), so that Cael-don means "Celts of the highlands."
The Highlanders to this day call themselves"Cael" and their language "Caelic" or "Gaelic"
and their country "Caeldock" which the Romans
softened into Caledonia.—Dissertation on the
Poems of Ossian.
Ca´lenders, a class of Mohammedans who abandoned father and mother, wife and children, relations and possessions, to wander through the world as religious devotees, living on the bounty of those whom they made their dupes.—D'Herbelot, Supplement, 204.
He diverted himself with the multitude of calenders,santons, and dervises, who had travelled
from the heart of India, and halted on their way
with the emir.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).
The Three Calenders, three royal princes, disguised as begging dervishes, each of whom had lost his right eye. Their adventures form three tales in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
Tale of the First Calender. No names are given. This calender was the son of a king, and nephew of another king. While on a visit to his uncle his father died, and the vizier usurped the throne. When the prince returned, he was seized, and the usurper pulled out his right eye. The uncle died, and the usurping vizier made himself master of this kingdom also. So the hapless young prince assumed the garb of a calender, wandered to Baghdad, and being received into the house of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the caliph Haroun-al-Raschid.—The Arabian Nights.
Tale of the Second Calender. No names given. This calender, like the first, was the son of a king. On his way to India he was attacked by robbers, and though he contrived to escape, he lost all his effects. In his flight he came to a large city, where he encountered a tailor, who gave him food and lodging. In order to earn a living, he turned woodman for the nonce, and accidentally discovered an underground palace, in which lived a beautiful lady, confined there by an evil genius. With a view of liberating her, he kicked down the talisman, when the genius appeared, killed the lady, and turned the prince into an ape. As an ape he was taken on board ship, and transported to a large commercial city, where his penmanship recommended him to the sultan, who made him his vizier. The sultan's daughter undertook to disenchant him and restore him to his proper form; but to accomplish this she had to fight with the malignant genius. She succeeded in killing the genius, and restoring the enchanted prince; but received such severe injuries in the struggle that she died, and a spark of fire which flew into the right eye of the prince destroyed it. The sultan was so heart-broken at the death of his only child, that he insisted on the prince quitting the kingdom without delay. So he assumed the garb of a calender, and being received into the hospitable house of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the caliph Haroun-al-Raschid.—The Arabian Nights.
Tale of the Third Calender. This tale is given under the word AGIB.
"I am called Agib," he says, "and am the sonof a king whose name was Cassib."—Arabian
Nights.
Calepine (Sir), the knight attached to Sere´na (canto 3). Seeing a bear carrying off a child, he attacked it, and squeezed it to death, then committed the babe to the care of Matilde, wife of sir Bruin. As Matilde had no child of her own, she adopted it (canto 4).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. (1596).
Upton says, "the child" in this incident is meant for M'Mahon, of Ireland, and that "Mac Mahon" means the "son of a bear." He
furthermore says that the M'Mahons were descended from the Fitz-Ursulas,
a noble English family.
Ca´les (2 syl.). So gipsies call themselves.
Beltran Cruzado, count of the Cales.Longfellow, The Spanish Student.
Calf-skin. Fools and jesters used to wear a calf-skin coat buttoned down the back, and hence Faulconbridge says insolently to the arch-duke of Austria, who had acted very basely towards Richard Lion-heart:
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare, King John, act ii. sc. I (1596).
Cal´ianax, a humorous old lord, father of Aspatia, the troth-plight wife of Amin´tor. It is the death of Aspatia which gives name to the drama.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
Caliban, a savage, deformed slave of Prospero (the rightful duke of Milan and father of Miranda). Caliban is the "freckled whelp" of the witch Syc´orax. Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a sort of Caliban.—Shakespeare, The Tempest (1609).
"Caliban" ... is all earth ... he has thedawnings of understanding without reason or the
moral sense ... this advance to the intellectual
faculties without the moral sense is marked by
the appearance of vice.—Coleridge.
Cal´iburn, same as Excalibur, the famous sword of king Arthur.
Onward Arthur paced, with handOn Caliburn's resistless brand.
Sir W. Scott, Bridal of Triermain (1813).
Arthur ... drew out his Caliburn, and ...
rushed forward with great fury into the thickest
of the enemy's ranks ... nor did he give over
the fury of his assault till he had, with his Caliburn,
killed 470 men.—Geoffrey, British History,
ix. 4 (1142).
Cal´idore (Sir), the type of courtesy, and the hero of the sixth book of Spenser's Faëry Queen. The model of this character was sir Philip Sidney. Sir Calidore (3 syl.) starts in quest of the Blatant Beast, which had escaped from sir Artegal (bk. v. 12). He first compels the lady Bria´na to discontinue her discourteous toll of "the locks of ladies and the beards of knights" (canto 1). Sir Calidore falls in love with Pastorella, a shepherdess, dresses like a shepherd, and assists his lady-love in keeping sheep. Pastorella being taken captive by brigands, sir Calidore rescues her, and leaves her at Belgard Castle to be taken care of, while he goes in quest of the Blatant Beast. He finds the monster after a time, by the havoc it had made with religious houses, and after an obstinate fight succeeds in muzzling it, and dragging it in chains after him, but it got loose again, as it did before (canto 12).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. (1596).
Sir Gawain was the "Calidore" of the RoundTable.—Southey.
"Pastorella" is Frances Walsingham
(daughter of sir Francis), whom sir Philip
Sidney married. After the death of sir
Philip she married the earl of Essex. The
"Blatant Beast" is what we now call "Mrs.
Grundy."
Calig´orant, an Egyptian giant and cannibal, who used to entrap travellers with an invisible net. It was the very same net that Vulcan made to catch Mars and Venus with. Mercury stole it for the purpose of entrapping Chloris, and left it in the temple of Anu´bis, whence it was stolen by Caligorant. One day Astolpho, by a blast of his magic horn, so frightened the giant that he got entangled in his own net, and being made captive was despoiled of it.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Cali´no, a famous French utterer of bulls.
Calip´olis, in The Battle of Alcazar, a drama by George Peele (1582). Pistol says to Mistress Quickly:
"Then feed and be fat, my fair Calipolis."—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act ii. sc 4 (1598).
Cal´is (The princess), sister of As´torax, king of Paphos, in love with Polydore, brother of general Memnon, but loved greatly by Siphax.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (1617).
Calis´ta, the fierce and haughty daughter of Sciol´to (3 syl.), a proud Genoese nobleman. She yielded to the seduction of Lotha´rio, but engaged to marry Al´tamont, a young lord who loved her dearly. On the wedding-day a letter was picked up which proved her guilt, and she was subsequently seen by Altamont conversing with Lothario. A duel ensued, in which Lothario fell; in a street row Sciolto received his death-wound, and Calista stabbed herself. The character of "Calista" was one of the parts of Mrs. Siddons, and also of Miss Brunton.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703).
Richardson has given a purity and sanctity to the sorrows of his "Clarissa" which leave "Calista" immeasurably behind.—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 590.
Twelve years after Norris's death, Mrs. Barry was acting the character of "Calista." In the last act, where "Calista" lays her hand upon a skull, she [Mrs. Barry] was suddenly seized with a shuddering, and fainted. Next day she asked whence the skull had been obtained, and was told it was "the skull of Mr. Norris, an actor." This Norris was her former husband, and so great was the shock that she died within six weeks.—Oxberry.
Calis'to and Ar'cas. Calisto, an Arcadian nymph, was changed into a she-bear. Her son Arcas, supposing the bear to be an ordinary beast, was about to shoot it, when Jupiter metamorphosed him into a he-bear. Both were taken to heaven by Jupiter, and became the constellations Ursa Minor and Ursa Major.
Call'aghan O'Brall'aghan (Sir), "a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellona had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster, and the Furies his playfellows" (act i. 1). He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.—C. Macklin, Love à la mode (1779).
Callet, a fille publique. Brantôme says a calle or calotte is "a cap," hence the phrase, Plattes comme des calles. Ben Jonson, in his Magnetick Lady, speaks of "wearing the callet, the politic hood."
Des filles du peuple et de la campagne s'appellant çalles, à cause de la "cale" qui leur servait de coiffure.—Francisque Michel.
En sa tête avoit un gros bonnet blanc, qui l'on appelle une calle, et nous autres appelons calotte, ou bonnette blanche de lagne, nouée ou bridée par dessous le menton.—Brantôme, Vies des Dames Illustres.
A beggar in his drinkCould not have laid such terms upon his callet.
Shakespeare, Othello, act iv. sc. 2 (1611).
Callim'achus (The Italian), Filippo Buonaccorsi (1437-1496).
Callir'rhoe (4 syl.), the lady-love of Chae'reas, in a Greek romance entitled The Loves of Choreas and Callirrhoê, by Char'iton (eighth century).
Callis'thenes (4 syl.), a philosopher who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Oriental expedition. He refused to pay Alexander divine honors, for which he was accused of treason, and being mutilated, was chained in a cage for seven months like a wild beast. Lysimachus put an end to his tortures by poison.
Oh let me roll in Macedonian rays,Or, like Callisthenes, be caged for life,
Rather than shine in fashions of the East.
N. Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. I (1678).
Cal'mar, son of Matha, lord of Lara (in Connaught). He is represented as presumptuous, rash, and overbearing, but gallant and generous. The very opposite of the temperate Connal, who advises caution and forethought. Calmar hurries Cuthullin into action, which ends in defeat. Connal comforts the general in his distress.—Ossian, Fingal, i.
Cal'thon, brother of Col'mar, sons of Rathmor chief of Clutha (the Clyde). The father was murdered in his halls by Dunthalmo lord of Teutha (the Tweed), and the two boys were brought up by the murderer in his own house, and accompanied him in his wars. As they grew in years Dunthalmo fancied he perceived in their looks a something which excited his suspicions, so he shut them up in two separate dark caves on the banks of the Tweed. Colmal, daughter of Dunthalmo, dressed as a young warrior, liberated Calthon, and fled with him to Morven, to crave aid in behalf of the captive Colmar. Accordingly, Fingal sent his son Ossian with 300 men to effect his liberation. When Dunthalmo heard of the approach of this army, he put Colmar to death. Calthon, mourning for his brother, was captured, and bound to an oak; but at daybreak Ossian slew Dunthalmo, cut the thongs of Calthon, gave him to Colmal, and they lived happily in the halls of Teutha.—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.
Cal´ydon (Prince of), Melea´ger, famed for killing the Calydonian boar.—Apollod. i. 8. (See MELEAGER.)
As did the fatal brand Althaea burn'd,Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act i. sc. 1 (1591).
Cal´ydon, a town of Aeto´lia, founded by Calydon. In Arthurian romance Calydon is a forest in the north of our island. Probably it is what Richard of Cirencester calls the "Caledonian Wood," westward of the Varar or Murray Frith.
Calydo´nian Hunt. Artemis, to punish Oeneus [E´.nuce] king of Cal´ydon, in Aeto´lia, for neglect, sent a monster boar to ravage his vineyards. His son Melea´ger collected together a large company to hunt it. The boar being killed, a dispute arose respecting the head, and this led to a war between the Curetês and Calydo´nians.
A similar tale is told of Theseus (2 syl.), who vanquished and killed the gigantic sow which ravaged the territory of Krommyon, near Corinth. (See KROMMYONIAN SOW.)
Calyp´so, in Télémaque, a prose-epic by Fénélon, is meant for Mde. de Montespan. In mythology she was queen of the island Ogyg´ia, on which Ulyssês was wrecked, and where he was detained for seven years.
She essayed after his departure to bring his son Telemachus under her spell. The lad, seeking the world through for his father, was preserved from the arts of the temptress by Mentor—Minerva in disguise.
Calypso's Isle, Ogygia, a mythical island "in the navel of the sea." Some consider it to be Gozo, near Malta. Ogygia (not the island) is Boeo´tia, in Greece.
Cama´cho, "richest of men," makes grand preparations for his wedding with Quite´ria, "fairest of women," but as the bridal party are on their way, Basil´ius cheats him of his bride, by pretending to kill himself. As it is supposed that Basilius is dying, Quiteria is married to him as a mere matter of form, to soothe his last moments; but when the service is over, up jumps Basilius, and shows that his "mortal wounds" are a mere pretense.—Cervantes, an episode in Don Quixote, II. ii. 4 (1615).
Caman´ches (3 syl.), or COMAN´CHES, an Indian tribe of Texas (United States).
It is a caravan, whitening the desert where dwell the Camanches.Longfellow, To the Driving Cloud.
Camaral´zaman, prince of "the Island of the Children of Khal´edan, situate in the open sea, some twenty days' sail from the coast of Persia." He was the only child of Schah´zaman and Fatima, king and queen of the island. He was very averse to marriage; but one night, by fairy influence, being shown Badou´ra, only child of the king of China, he fell in love with her and exchanged rings. Next day both inquired what had become of the other, and the question was deemed so ridiculous that each was thought to be mad. At length Marzavan (foster-brother of the princess) solved the mystery. He induced the prince Camaralzaman to go to China, where he was recognized by the princess and married her. (The name means "the moon of the period.")—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
Cam´ballo, the second son of Cambuscan´ king of Tartary, brother of Al´garsife (3 syl.) and Can´acê (3 syl.). He fought with two knights who asked the lady Canacê to wife, the terms being that none should have her till he had succeeded in worsting Camballo in combat. Chaucer does not give us the sequel of this tale, but Spenser says that three brothers, named Priamond, Diamond, and Triamond were suitors, and that Triamond won her. The mother of these three (all born at one birth) was Ag´apê, who dwelt in Faëry-land (bk. iv. 2).
Spenser makes Cambi´na (daughter of Agapê) the lady-love of Camballo. Camballo is also called Camballus and Cambel.
Camballo's Ring, given him by his sister Canacê, "had power to stanch all wounds that mortally did bleed."
Well mote ye wonder how that noble knight,After he had so often wounded been,
Could stand on foot now to renew the fight ...
All was thro' virtue of the ring he wore;
The which not only did not from him let
One drop of blood to fall, but did restore
His weakened powers, and his dulled spirits whet.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 2 (1596).
Cambel, called by Chaucer Cam´ballo, brother of Can´acê (3 syl.). He challenged Every suitor to his sister's hand, and overthrew them all except Tri´amond. The match between Cambel and Triamond was so evenly balanced, that both would have been killed had not Cambi´na interfered. (See next art.)—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 3 (1596).
Cambi´na, daughter of the fairy Ag´apê (3 syl.). She had been trained in magic by her mother, and when Cam´ballo, son of Cambuscan´, had slain two of her brothers and was engaged in deadly combat with the third (named Tri´amond), she appeared in the lists in her chariot drawn by two lions, and brought with her a cup of nepenthe, which had the power of converting hate to love, of producing oblivion of sorrow, and of inspiring the mind with celestial joy. Cambina touched the combatants with her wand and paralyzed them, then giving them the cup to drink, dissolved their animosity, assuaged their pains, and filled them with gladness. The end was that Camballo made Cambina his wife, and Triamond married Can´acê.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 3 (1596).
Cambuscan´, king of Sarra, in the land of Tartary; the model of all royal virtues.
At Sarra, in the lond of Tartarie,Ther dwelt a king that werreied Russie,
Through which ther died many a doughty man:
This noble king was cleped Cambuscan
Which in his time was of so great renoun
That ther n' as no wher in no regioun,
So excellent a lord in alle thing:
This noble king, this Tartre Cambuscan
Hadde two sones by Elfeta his wif,
Of which the eldest sone highte Algarsif
That other was ycleped Camballo.
A doughter had this worthy king also
That youngest was and highte Canace.
Chaucer, The Squire's Tale.
Milton, in the Penseroso, alludes to the fact that the Squire's Tale was not finished:
Or call up him that left half toldThe story of Cambuscan bold.
Camby´ses (3 syl.), a pompous, ranting character in Preston's tragedy of that name.
I must speak in passion, and I will do it inking Cambyses' vein.—Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV.
act ii. sc. 4 (1597).
Camby´ses and Smerdis. Cambysês king of Persia killed his brother Smerdis from the wild suspicion of a madman, and it is only charity to think that he was really non compos mentis.
Behold Cambisês and his fatal daye ...While he his brother Mergus cast to slaye,
A dreadful thing, his wittes were him bereft.
T. Sackville, A Mirrour for Magistraytes ("The
Complaynt," 1587).
Camdeo, the god of love in Hindû mythology.
Camil´la, the virgin queen of the Volscians, famous for her fleetness of foot. She aided Turnus against Æneas.
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,Flies o'er th' unbending corn, or skims along the main.
Pope.
Camilla, wife of Anselmo of Florence. Anselmo, in order to rejoice in her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to try to corrupt her. This he did, and Camilla was not trial-proof, but fell. Anselmo for a time was kept in the dark, but at the end Camilla eloped with Lothario. Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 5, 6 ("Fatal Curiosity," 1605).
Camilla, English girl, heroine of Miss Burney's novel of same name.
Camilla, the heroine of Signor Monaldini's Niece, by Mary Agnes Tincker, a story of modern Rome (1879).
Camille´ (2 syl.), in Corneille's tragedy of Les Horaces (1639). When her brother meets her and bids her congratulate him for his victory over the three Curiatii, she gives utterance to her grief for the death of her lover. Horace says, "What! can you prefer a man to the interests of Rome?" Whereupon Camille denounces Rome, and concludes with these words: "Oh, that it were my lot!" When Mdlle. Rachel first appeared in the character of "Camille," she took Paris by storm (1838).
Voir le dernier Romain à son dernier soupir,Moi seule en être cause, et mourir de plaisir.
¤¤¤ Whitehead has dramatized the subject and called it The Roman Father (1741).
Camille, one of the Parisian demi-monde. She meets and loves Armand Duval. Camille is besought by Duval père to leave her lover, whose prospects are ruined by the liaison. She quits him, returns to her former life, and dies of consumption in the arms of her lover, who has just found her after a long search.—A. Dumas, La Dame aux Camelias.
Camillo, a lord in the Sicilian court, and a very good man. Being commanded by king Leontês to poison Polixenês, instead of doing so he gave him warning, and fled with him to Bohemia. When Polixenês ordered his son Florizel to abandon Perdita, Camillo persuaded the young lovers to seek refuge in Sicily, and induced Leontês, the king thereof, to protect them. As soon as Polixenês discovered that Perdita was Leontês' daughter, he readily consented to the union which before he had forbidden.—Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (1604).
Cami´ola, "the maid of honor," a lady of great wealth, noble spirit, and great beauty. She loved Bertoldo (brother of Roberto king of the two Sicilies), and when Bertoldo was taken prisoner at Sienna, paid his ransom. Bertoldo before his release was taken before Aurelia the duchess of Sienna. Aurelia fell in love with him, and proposed marriage, an offer which Bertoldo accepted. The betrothed then went to Palermo to be introduced to the king, when Camiola exposed the conduct of the base young prince. Roberto was disgusted at his brother, Aurelia rejected him with scorn, and Camiola retired to a nunnery.—Massinger, The Maid of Honor (1637).
Campas´pe (3 syl.), mistress of Alexander. He gave her up to Apellês, who had fallen in love with her while painting her likeness.—Pliny, Hist. xxxv. 10.
John Lyly produced, in 1583, a drama entitled Cupid and Campaspe, in which is the well-known lyric:
Cupid and my Campaspê playedAt cards for kisses: Cupid paid.
Campbell (Captain), called "Green Colin Campbell," or Bar´caldine (3 syl.).— Sir W. Scott, The Highland Widow (time, George II.).
Campbell (General), called "Black Colin Campbell," in the king's service. He suffers the papist conspirators to depart unpunished.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Campbell (Sir Duncan), knight of Ardenvohr, in the marquis of Argyll's army. He was sent as ambassador to the earl of Montrose.
Lady Mary Campbell, sir Duncan's wife.
Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchenbreck, an officer in the army of the marquis of Argyll.
Murdoch Campbell, a name assumed by the marquis of Argyll. Disguised as a servant, he visited Dalgetty and M'Eagh in the dungeon, but the prisoners overmastered him, bound him fast, locked him in the dungeon, and escaped.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Campbell (The lady Mary), daughter of the duke of Argyll.
The lady Caroline Campbell, sister of lady Mary.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Campeador [Kam.pay´.dor], the Cid, who was called Mio Cid el Campeador ("my lord the champion"). "Cid" is a corruption of saïd ("lord").
Campo-Basso (The count of), an officer in the duke of Burgundy's army, introduced by sir W. Scott in two novels, Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein, both laid in the time of Edward IV.
Can´ace (3 syl.), daughter of Cambuscan´, and the paragon of women. Chaucer left the tale half told, but Spenser makes a crowd of suitors woo her. Her brother Cambel or Cam´ballo resolved that none should win his sister who did not first overthrow him in fight. At length Tri´amond sought her hand, and was so nearly matched in fight with Camballo, that both would have been killed, if Cambi´na, daughter of the fairy Ag´apê (3 syl.), had not interfered. Cambina gave the wounded combatants nepenthe, which had the power of converting enmity to love; so the combatants ceased from fight, Camballo took the fair Cambina to wife, and Triamond married Canacê.—Chaucer, Squire's Tale; Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 3 (1596).
Canacê's Mirror, a mirror which told the inspectors if the persons on whom they set their affections would prove true or false.
Canacê's Ring. The king of Araby and Ind sent Canacê, daughter of Cambuscan´ (king of Sarra, in Tartary), a ring which enabled her to understand the language of birds, and to know the medical virtues of all herbs.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Squire's Tale," 1388).
Candace, negro cook in The Minister's Wooing, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. She reverences Dr. Hopkins, but is slow to admit his dogma of Imputed Sin in Consequence of Adam's Transgression (1859).
Candau´les (3 syl.), king of Lydia, who exposed the charms of his wife to Gy´gês. The queen was so indignant that she employed Gygês to murder her husband. She then married the assassin, who became king of Lydia, and reigned twenty-eight years (B.C. 716-688).
Canday´a (The kingdom of), situate between the great Trapoba´na and the South Sea, a couple of leagues beyond cape Com´orin.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 4 (1615).
Candide´ (2 syl.), the hero of Voltaire's novel of the same name. He believes that "all things are for the best in the best of all possible worlds."
Voltaire says "No." He tells you that CandideFound life most tolerable after meals.
Byron, Don Juan, v. 31 (1820).
Candour (Mrs.), the beau-ideal of female backbiters.—Sheridan, The School for Scandal (1777).
Can´idia, a Neapolitan, beloved by the poet Horace. When she deserted him, he held her up to contempt as an old sorceress who could by charms unsphere the moon.—Horace, Epodes, v. and xvii.
Such a charm were right Canidian.Mrs. Browning, Hector in the Garden, iv.
Canmore or GREAT-HEAD, Malcolm III. of Scotland (1057-1093).—Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, i. 4.
Canning (George), statesman (1770-1827). Charles Lamb calls him:
St. Stephen's fool, the zany of debate.Sonnet in "The Champion."
Cano´pos, Meneläos's pilot, killed in the return voyage from Troy by the bite of a serpent. The town Canöpos (Latin, Canopus) was built on the site where the pilot was buried.
Can´tab, a member of the University of Cambridge. The word is a contraction of the Latin Cantabrig´ia.
Can´tacuzene´ (4 syl.), a noble Greek family, which has furnished two emperors of Constantinople, and several princes of Moldavia and Wallachia. The family still survives.
We mean to show that the Cantacuzenês arenot the only princely family in the world.—D'Israeli,
Lothaire.
There are other members of the Cantacuzenê
family besides myself.—Ditto.
Can´tacuzene´ (Michael), the grand sewer of Alexius Comne´nus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris. (time, Rufus).
Canterbury Tales. Eighteen tales told by a company of pilgrims going to visit the shrine of "St. Thomas à Becket" at Canterbury. The party first assembled at the Tabard, an inn in Southwark, and there agreed to tell one tale each both going and returning, and the person who told the best tale was to be treated by the rest to a supper at the Tabard on the homeward journey. The party consisted of twenty-nine pilgrims, so that the whole budget of tales should have been fifty-eight, but only eighteen of the number were told, not one being on the homeward route. The chief of these tales are: "The Knight's Tale" (Pal´amon and Ar´cite, 2 syl.); "The Man of Law's Tale" (Custance, 2 syl.); "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (A Knight); "The Clerk's Tale" (Grisildis); "The Squire's Tale" (Cambuscan, incomplete); "The Franklin's Tale" (Dor'igen and Arvir'agus); "The Prioress's Tale" (Hugh of Lincoln); "The Priest's Tale" (Chanticleer and Partelite); "The Second Nun's Tale" (St. Cecil'ia); "The Doctor's Tale" (Virginia); "The Miller's Tale" (John the Carpenter and Alison); and "The Merchant's Tale" (January and May) (1388).
Canton, the Swiss valet of lord Ogleby. He has to skim the morning papers and serve out the cream of them to his lordship at breakfast, "with good emphasis and good discretion." He laughs at all his master's jokes, flatters him to the top of his bent, and speaks of him as a mere chicken compared to himself, though his lordship is seventy and Canton about fifty. Lord Ogleby calls him his "cephalic snuff, and no bad medicine against megrims, vertigoes, and profound thinkings."—Colman and Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage (1766).
Can'trips (Mrs.), a quondam friend of Nanty Ewart, the smuggler-captain.
Jessie Cantrips, her daughter.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Cant'well (Dr.), the hypocrite, the English representative of Molière's Tartuffe. He makes religious cant the instrument of gain, luxurious living, and sensual indulgence. His overreaching and dishonorable conduct towards lady Lambert and her daughter gets thoroughly exposed, and at last he is arrested as a swindler.—I. Bicker staff, The Hypocrite (1768).
Dr. Cantwell ... the meek and saintly hypocrite.
L. Hunt.
Canute' or Cnut and Edmund Ironside. William of Malmesbury says: When Canute and Edmund were ready for their sixth battle in Gloucestershire, it was arranged between them to decide their respective claims by single combat. Cnut was a small man, and Edmund both tall and strong; so Cnut said to his adversary, "We both lay claim to the kingdom in right of our fathers; let us therefore divide it and make peace;" and they did so.
Canutus of the two that furthest was from hope ...Cries, "Noble Edmund hold! Let us the land divide."
... and all aloud do cry,
"Courageous kings, divide! 'Twere pity such should die."
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. (1613).
Canute's Bird, the knot, a corruption of "Knut," the Cinclus bellonii, of which king Canute was extremely fond.
The knot, that called was Canutus' bird of old,Of that great king of Danes, his name that still doth hold,
His appetite to please ... from Denmark hither brought.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxv. (1622).
Can´ynge (Sir William) is represented in the Rowley Romance as a rich, God-fearing merchant, devoting much money to the Church, and much to literature. He was, in fact, a Maece´nas of princely hospitality, living in the Red House. The priest Rowley was his "Horace."—Chatterton (1752-1770).
Cap (Charles), uncle of Mabel Dunham in Cooper's Pathfinder (1849). He is a sea-captain who insists in sailing a vessel upon the great northern lakes as he would upon the Atlantic, but, despite his pragmatic self-conceit, is nonplussed by the Thousand Islands.
"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this place without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude, or soundings? Allow me to ask if you think a mariner runs by his nose, like one of Pathfinder's hounds?"
Having by a series of blunders consequent upon this course, brought schooners and crew to the edge of destruction, he shows heart by regretting that his niece is on board, and philosophy with professional pride by the conclusion:—
"We must take the bad with the good in every v'y'ge, and the only serious objection that an old sea-captain can with propriety make to such an event, is that it should happen on this bit of d—d fresh water."
Capability Brown, Launcelot Brown, the English landscape gardener (1715-1783).
Cap'aneus (3 syl.) a man of gigantic stature, enormous strength, and headlong valor. He was impious to the gods, but faithful to his friends. Capaneus was one of the seven heroes who marched against Thebes (1 syl.), and was struck dead by a thunderbolt for declaring that not Jupiter himself should prevent his scaling the city walls.
Capitan, a boastful, swaggering coward, in several French farces and comedies prior to the time of Molière.
Caponsac'chi (Guiseppe), the young priest under whose protection Pompilia fled from her husband to Rome. The husband and his friends said the elopement was criminal; but Pompilia, Caponsacchi, and their friends maintained that the young canon simply acted the part of a chivalrous protector of a young woman who was married at fifteen, and who fled from a brutal husband who ill-treated her.—R. Browning, The Ring and the Book.
Capstern (Captain), captain of an East
Indiaman, at Madras.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
Captain, Manuel Comne´nus of Treb´izond (1120, 1143-1180).
Captain of Kent. So Jack Cade called himself (died 1450).
The Great Captain (el Gran Capitano), Gonzalvo di Cor´dova (1453-1515).
The People's Captain (el Capitano del Popolo), Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-).
Captain (A Copper), a poor captain, whose swans are all geese, his jewellry paste, his guineas counters, his achievements tongue-doughtiness, and his whole man Brummagem. See Copper Captain.
Captain (The Black), lieutenant-colonel Dennis Davidoff of the Russian army. In the French invasion he was called by the French Le Capitaine Noir.
Captain Loys [Lo.is]. Louise Labé was so called, because in early life she embraced the profession of arms, and gave repeated proofs of great valor. She was also called La Belle Cordière. Louise Labé was a poetess, and has left several sonnets full of passion, and some good elegies (1526-1566).
Captain! my Captain! fallen leader apostrophized by Walt Whitman in his lines upon the death of President Lincoln (1865).
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells!Rise up! for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
Here, Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead.
Captain Right, a fictitious commander, the ideal of the rights due to Ireland. In the last century the peasants of Ireland were sworn to captain Right, as chartists were sworn to their articles of demand called their charter. Shakespeare would have furnished them with a good motto, "Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping?" (Hamlet, act ii. sc. 2).
Captain Rock, a fictitious name assumed by the leader of certain Irish insurgents in 1822, etc. All notices, summonses, and so on, were signed by this name.
Cap'ulet, head of a noble house of Verona, in feudal enmity with the house of Mon'tague (3 syl). Lord Capulet is a jovial, testy old man, self-willed, prejudiced, and tyrannical.
Lady Capulet, wife of lord Capulet and mother of Juliet.—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).
Capys, a blind old seer, who prophesied to Romulus the military triumphs of Rome from its foundation to the destruction of Carthage.
In the hall-gate sat Capys,Capys the sightless seer;
From head to foot he trembled
As Romulus drew near.
And up stood stiff his thin white hair,
And his blind eyes flashèd fire.
Lord Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome ("The Prophecy of Capys," xi.).
Car'abas (Le marquis de), an hypothetical title to express a fossilized old aristocrat, who supposed the whole world made for his behoof. The "king owes his throne to him;" he can "trace his pedigree to Pepin;" his youngest son is "sure of a mitre;" he is too noble "to pay taxes;" the very priests share their tithes with him; the country was made for his "hunting-ground;" and, therefore, as Béranger says:
Chapeau bas! chapeau bas!Gloire au marquis de Carabas!
The name occurs in Perrault's tale of Puss in Boots, but it is Béranger's song (1816) which has given the word its present meaning.
Carac´ci of France, Jean Jouvenet, who was paralyzed on the right side, and painted with his left hand (1647-1707).
Carac´tacus or Caradoc, king of the Sil´urês (Monmouthshire, etc.). For nine years he withstood the Roman arms, but being defeated by Osto´rius Scap´ula the Roman general, he escaped to Brigantia (Yorkshire, etc.) to crave the aid of Carthisman´dua (or Cartimandua), a Roman matron married to Venu´tius, chief of those parts. Carthismandua betrayed him to the Romans, A.D. 47.—Richard of Cirencester, Ancient State of Britain, i. 6, 23.
Caradoc was led captive to Rome, A.D. 51, and, struck with the grandeur of that city, exclaimed, "Is it possible that a people so wealthy and luxurious can envy me a humble cottage in Britain?" Claudius the emperor was so charmed with his manly spirit and bearing that he released him and craved his friendship.
Drayton says that Caradoc went to Rome with body naked, hair to the waist, girt with a chain of steel, and his "manly breast enchased with sundry shapes of beasts. Both his wife and children were captives, and walked with him."—Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Caracul (i.e. Caraeatta), son and successor of Severus the Roman emperor. In A.D. 210 he made an expedition against the Caledo´nians, but was defeated by Fingal. Aurelius Antoninus was called "Caracalla" because he adopted the Gaulish caracalla in preference to the Roman toga.—Ossian, Comala.
The Caracul of Fingal is no other than Caracalla, who (as the son of Severus) the emperor of Rome ... was not without reason called "The Son of the King of the World." This was A.D. 210.—Dissertation on the Era of Ossian.
Caraculiam'bo, the hypothetical giant of the island of Malindra'ma, whom don Quixote imagines he may one day conquer and make to kneel at the foot of his imaginary lady-love.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I.i.1 (1605).
Car'adoc or Cradock, a knight of the Round Table. He was husband of the only lady in the queen's train who could wear "the mantle of matrimonial fidelity." This mantle fitted only chaste and virtuous wives; thus, when queen Guenever tried it on—
One while it was too long, another while too short,And wrinkled on her shoulders in most unseemly sort.
Percy, Reliques ("Boy and the Mantle," III. iii. 18).
Sir Caradoc and the Boar's Head. The boy who brought the test mantle of fidelity to king Arthur's court drew a wand three times across a boar's head, and said, "There's never a cuckold who can carve that head of brawn." Knight after knight made the attempt, but only sir Cradock could carve the brawn.
Sir Cradock and the Drinking-horn. The boy furthermore brought forth a drinking-horn, and said, "No cuckold can drink from that horn without spilling the liquor." Only Cradock succeeded, and "he wan the golden can."—Percy, Reliques ("Boy and the Mantle," III. iii. 18).
Caradoc of Men'wygent, the younger bard of Gwenwyn prince of Powys-land. The elder bard of the prince was Cadwallon.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Car´atach or Carac´tacus, a British king brought captive before the emperor Claudius in A.D. 52. He had been betrayed by Cartimandua. Claudius set him at liberty.
And Beaumont's pilfered Caratach affordsA tragedy complete except in words.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).
(Byron alludes to the "spectacle" of Caractacus produced by Thomas Sheridan at Drury Lane Theatre. It was Beaumont's tragedy of Bonduca, minus the dialogue.)
Digges [1720-1786] was the very absolute"Caratach." The solid bulk of his frame, his
action, his voice, all marked him with identity.
—Boaden, Life of Siddons.
Car´athis, mother of the caliph Vathek. She was a Greek, and induced her son to study necromancy, held in abhorrence by all good Mussulmans. When her son threatened to put to death every one who attempted without success to read the inscription of certain sabres, Carathis wisely said, "Content yourself, my son, with commanding their beards to be burnt. Beards are less essential to a state than men." She was ultimately carried by an afrit to the abyss of Eblis, in punishment of her many crimes.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).
Carau´sius, the first British emperor (237-294). His full name was Marcus Aurelius Valerius Carausius, and as emperor of Britain he was accepted by Diocletian and Maxim´ian; but after a vigorous reign of seven years he was assassinated by Allectus, who succeeded him as "emperor of Britain."—See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, etc., ii. 13.
Car´dan (Jerôme) of Pa´via (1501-1576), a great mathematician and astrologer. He professed to have a demon or familiar spirit, who revealed to him the secrets of nature.
Carden (Grace), lovely girl with whom Henry Little (an artisan) and Frederick Coventry, gentleman, are enamored. Beguiled by Coventry into a belief that Little is dead, she consents to the marriage ceremony with his rival. Little reappears on the wedding-day, and she refuses to live with her husband. The marriage is eventually set aside, and Grace Carden espouses Henry Little.—Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place.
Carde´nio of Andalusi´a, of opulent parents, fell in love with Lucinda, a lady of equal family and fortune, to whom he was formally engaged. Don Fernando his friend, however, prevailed on Lucinda's father, by artifice, to break off the engagement and promise Lucinda to himself, "contrary to her wish, and in violation of every principle of honor." This drove Cardenio mad, and he haunted the Sierra Morena or Brown Mountain for about six months, as a maniac with lucid intervals. On the wedding-day Lucinda swooned, and a letter informed the bridegroom that she was married to Cardenio. Next day she privately left her father's house and took refuge in a convent; but being abducted by don Fernando, she was carried to an inn, where Fernando found Dorothea his wife, and Cardenio the husband of Lucinda. All parties were now reconciled, and the two gentlemen paired respectively with their proper wives.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. (1605).
Care, described as a blacksmith, who "worked all night and day." His bellows, says Spenser, are Pensiveness and Sighs.—Faéry Queen, iv. 5 (1596).
Care'less, one of the boon companions of Charles Surface.—Sheridan, School for Scandal (1777).
Care'less (Colonel), an officer of high spirits and mirthful temper, who seeks to win Ruth (the daughter of sir Basil Thoroughgood) for his wife.—T. Knight, The Honest Thieves.
This farce is a mere réchauffé of The Committee, by the hon. sir R. Howard. The names "colonel Careless" and "Ruth" are the same, but "Ruth" says her proper Christian name is "Anne."
Careless, in The Committee, was the part for which Joseph Ashbury (1638-1720) was celebrated.—Chetwood, History of the Stage.
(The Committee, recast by T. Knight, is called The Honest Thieves.)
Careless (Ned), makes love to lady Pliant.—W. Congreve, The Double Dealer (1700).
Careless Husband (The), a comedy by Colley Cibber (1704). The "careless husband" is sir Charles Easy, who has amours with different persons, but is so careless that he leaves his love-letters about, and even forgets to lock the door when he has made a liaison, so that his wife knows all; yet so sweet is her temper, and under such entire control, that she never reproaches him, nor shows the slightest indication of jealousy. Her confidence so wins upon her husband that he confesses to her his faults, and reforms entirely the evil of his ways.
Carême (Jean de), chef de cuisine of Leo X. This was a name given him by the pope for an admirable soupe maigre which he invented for Lent. A descendant of Jean was chef to the prince regent, at a salary of £1000 per annum, but he left this situation because the prince had only a ménage bourgeois, and entered the service of baron Rothschild at Paris (1784-1833).
Carey, innocent-faced rich young dude in Ellen Olney Kirk's novel, A Daughter of Eve (1889).
Carey (Patrick), the poet brother of lord Falkland, introduced by sir W. Scott in Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Car'gill (The Rev. Josiah), minister of St. Ronan's Well, tutor of the hon. Augustus Bidmore (2 syl.), and the suitor of Miss Augusta Bidmore, his pupil's sister.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Cari'no, father of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of Arnoldo (the lady dishonorably pursued by the governor count Clodio).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Car'ker (James), manager in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant. Carker was a man of forty, of a florid complexion, with very glistening white teeth, which showed conspicuously when he spoke. His smile was like "the snarl of a cat." He was the Alas'tor of the house of Dombey, for he not only brought the firm to bankruptcy, but he seduced Alice Marwood (cousin of Edith, Dombey's second wife), and also induced Edith to elope with him. Edith left the wretch at Dijon, and Carker, returning to England, was run over by a railway train and killed.
John Carker, the elder brother, a junior clerk in the same firm. He twice robbed it and was forgiven.
Harriet Carker, a gentle, beautiful young woman, who married Mr. Morfin, one of the employés in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant. When her elder brother John fell into disgrace by robbing his employer, Harriet left the house of her brother James (the manager) to live with and cheer her disgraced brother John.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Carle´ton (Captain), an officer in the Guards.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Carlisle (Frederick Howard, earl of), uncle and guardian of lord Byron (1748-1826). His tragedies are The Father's Revenge and Bellamere.
The paralytic puling of Carlisle...Lord, rhymester, petit-maitre, pamphleteer.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).
Car´los, elder son of don Antonio, and the favorite of his paternal uncle Lewis. Carlos is a great bookworm, but when he falls in love with Angelina he throws off his diffidence and becomes bold, resolute, and manly. His younger brother is Clodio, a mere coxcomb.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man (1694).
Carlos (under the assumed name of the marquis D'Antas) married Ogari´ta, but as the marriage was effected under a false name it was not binding, and Ogarita left Carlos to marry Horace de Brienne. Carlos was a great villain: he murdered a man to steal from him the plans of some Californian mines. Then embarking in the Urania, he induced the crew to rebel in order to obtain mastery of the ship. "Gold was the object of his desire, and gold he obtained." Ultimately, his villainies being discovered, he was given up to the hands of justice.—E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).
Carlos (Don), son of Philip II. of Portugal; deformed in person, violent and vindictive in disposition. Don Carlos was to have married Elizabeth of France, but his father supplanted him. Subsequently he expected to marry the arch-duchess Anne, daughter of the emperor Maximilian, but her father opposed the match. In 1564 Philip II. settled the succession on Rodolph and Ernest, his nephews, declaring Carlos incapable. This drove Carlos into treason, and he joined the Netherlands in a war against his father. He was apprehended and condemned to death, but was killed in prison. This has furnished the subject of several tragedies: i.e., Otway's Don Carlos (1672), in English; those of J.G. de Campistron (1683) and M.J. de Chénier (1789) in French; J.C.F. Schiller (1798) in German; Alfieri in Italian, about the same time.
Car'los (Don), the friend of don Alonzo, and the betrothed husband of Leono'ra, whom he resigns to Alonzo out of friendship. After marriage, Zanga induces Alonzo to believe that Leonora and don Carlos entertain a criminal love for each other, whereupon Alonzo, out of jealousy, has Carlos put to death, and Leonora kills herself.—Edward Young, The Revenge (1721).
Carlos (Don), husband of donna Victoria. He gave the deeds of his wife's estate to donna Laura, a courtesan, and Victoria, in order to recover them, assumed the disguise of a man, took the name of Florio, and made love to her. Having secured a footing, Florio introduced Gaspar as the wealthy uncle of Victoria, and Gaspar told Laura the deeds in her hand were utterly worthless. Laura in a fit of temper tore them to atoms, and thus Carlos recovered the estate and was rescued from impending ruin.—Mrs. Cowley, A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).
Carlton (Admiral George), George IV., author of The Voyage of—in search of Loyalty, a poetic epistle (1820).
Carmen, the fisherman's wife who, in Lufcadio Hearn's story Chita, adopts the baby dragged by her husband from the surf, and takes it to her heart in place of the child she has lost (1889).
Carmen (Eschelle), beautiful, ambitious, and intriguing New York society girl.—Charles Dudley Warner, A Little Journey in the World (1889).
Car´milhan, the "phantom ship." The captain of this ship swore he would double the Cape, whether God willed it or not, for which impious vow he was doomed to abide forever and ever captain in the same vessel, which always appears near the Cape, but never doubles it. The kobold of the phantom ship is named Klabot´erman, a kobold who helps sailors at their work, but beats those who are idle. When a vessel is doomed the kobold appears smoking a short pipe, dressed in yellow, and wearing a night-cap.
Caro, the Flesh or "natural man" personified. Phineas Fletcher says "this dam of sin" is a hag of loathsome shape, arrayed in steel, polished externally, but rusty within. On her shield is the device of a mermaid, with the motto, "Hear, Gaze, and Die."—The Purple Island, vii. (1633).
Caroline, queen-consort of George II., introduced by sir W. Scott in The Heart of Midlothian. Jeanie Deans has an interview with her in the gardens at Richmond, and her majesty promises to intercede with the king for Effie Deans's pardon.
Caros or Carausius, a Roman captain, native of Belgic Gaul. The emperor Maximian employed Caros to defend the coast of Gaul against the Franks and Saxons. He acquired great wealth and power, but fearing to excite the jealousy of Maximian, he sailed for Britain, where (in A.D. 287) he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor. Caros resisted all attempts of the Romans to dislodge him, so that they ultimately acknowledged his independence. He repaired Agricola's wall to obstruct the incursions of the Caledonians, and while he was employed on this work was attacked by a party commanded by Oscar, son of Ossian and grandson of Fingal. "The warriors of Caros fled, and Oscar remained like a rock left by the ebbing sea."—Ossian, The War of Caros.
Carpath'ian Wizard (The), Proteus (2 syl.), who lived in the island of Car'pathos, in the Archipelago. He was a wizard, who could change his form at will. Being the sea-god's shepherd, he carried a crook.
[By] the Carpathian wizard's book [crook]. Milton, Comus, 872 (1634).
Carpet (Prince Housain's), a magic carpet, to all appearances quite worthless, but it would transport any one who sat on it to any part of the world in a moment. This carpet is sometimes called "the magic carpet of Tangu," because it came from Tangu, in Persia.—Arabian Nights ("Prince Ahmed").
Carpet (Solomon's). Solomon had a green silk carpet, on which his throne was set. This carpet was large enough for all his court to stand on; human beings stood on the right side of the throne, and spirits on the left. When Solomon wished to travel he told the wind where to set him down, and the carpet with all its contents rose into the air and alighted at the proper place. In hot weather the birds of the air, with outspread wings, formed a canopy over the whole party.—Sale, Korân, xxvii. (notes).
Carpil'lona (Princess), the daughter of Subli'mus king of the Peaceable Islands. Sublimus, being dethroned by a usurper, was with his wife, child, and a foundling boy thrown into a dungeon, and kept there for three years. The four captives then contrived to escape; but the rope which held the basket in which Carpillona was let down snapped asunder, and she fell into the lake. Sublimus and the other two lived in retirement as a shepherd family, and Carpillona, being rescued by a fisherman, was brought up by him as his daughter. When the "Humpbacked" Prince dethroned the usurper of the Peaceable Islands, Carpillona was one of the captives, and the "Humpbacked" Prince wanted to make her his wife; but she fled in disguise, and came to the cottage home of Sublimus, where she fell in love with his foster-son, who proved to be half-brother of the "Humpbacked" Prince. Ultimately, Carpillona married the foundling, and each succeeded to a kingdom.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Carpillona," 1682).
Car'pio (Bernardo del), natural son of don Sancho, and doña Ximena, surnamed "The Chaste." It was Bernardo del Carpio who slew Roland at Roncesvallês (4 syl.). In Spanish romance he is a very conspicuous figure.
Carras'co (Samson), son of Bartholomew Carrasco. He is a licentiate of much natural humor, who flatters don Quixote, and persuades him to undertake a second tour.
Carrier (Martha), a Salem goodwife, tried and executed for witchcraft. To Rev. Cotton Mather's narrative of her crimes and punishment is appended this memorandum:
This rampant hag, Martha Carrier, was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of Hell.—Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693).
Carril, the gray-headed, son of Kinfe'na bard of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes.—Ossian, Fingal.
Carrlllo (Fray) was never to be found in his own cell, according to a famous Spanish epigram.
Like Fray Carillo, the only place in which one cannot find him Is his own cell.
Longfellow, The Spanish Student, i. 5.
Car'rol, deputy usher at Kenilworth Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Car'stone (Richard), cousin of Ada Clare, both being wards in Chancery interested in the great suit of "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce." Richard Carstone is a "handsome youth, about nineteen, of ingenuous face, and with a most engaging laugh." He marries his cousin Ada, and lives in hope that the suit will soon terminate and make him rich. In the meantime he tries to make two ends meet, first by the profession of medicine, then by that of law, then by the army; but the rolling stone gathers no moss, and the poor fellow dies of the sickness of hope deferred.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Cartaph'ilus, the Wandering Jew of Jewish story. Tradition says he was doorkeeper of the judgment-hall, in the service of Pontius Pilate, and, as he led our Lord from the judgment-hall, struck Him, saying "Get on! Faster, Jesus!" Whereupon the Man of Sorrows replied, "I am going fast, Cartaphilus; but tarry thou till I come again." After the crucifixion, Cartaphilus was baptized by the same Anani'as who baptized Paul, and received the name of Joseph. At the close of every century he falls into a trance, and wakes up after a time a young man about thirty years of age.—Book of the Chronicles of the Abbey of St. Allans.
(This "book" was copied and continued by Matthew Paris, and contains the earliest account of the Wandering Jew, A.D. 1228. In 1242 Philip Mouskes, afterwards bishop of Tournay, wrote the "rhymed chronicle.")
Carter (Mrs. Deborah), housekeeper to Surplus the lawyer.—J. M. Morton, A Regular Fix.
Car'thage (2 syl.). When Dido came to Africa she bought of the natives "as much land as could be encompassed with a bull's hide." The agreement being made, Dido cut the hide into thongs, so as to enclose a space sufficiently large for a citadel, which she called Bursa "the hide." (Greek, bursa, "a bull's hide.")
The following is a similar story in Russian history:—The Yakutsks granted to the Russian explorers as much land as they could encompass with a cow's hide; but the Russians, cutting the hide into strips, obtained land enough for the town and fort which they called Yakutsk.
Carthage of the North. Lübeck was so called when it was the head of the Hanseatic League.
Car'thon, son of Cless'ammor and Moina, was born while Clessammor was in flight, and his mother died in childbirth. When he was three years old, Comhal (Fingal's father) took and burnt Balclutha (a town belonging to the Britons, on the Clyde), but Carthon was carried away safely by his nurse. When grown to man's estate, Carthon resolved to revenge this attack on Balclutha, and accordingly invaded Morven, the kingdom of Fingal. After overthrowing two of Fingal's heroes, Carthon was slain by his own father, who knew him not; but when Clessammor learnt that it was his own son whom he had slain, he mourned for him three days, and on the fourth he died.—Ossian, Carthon.
Car'ton (Sydney), a friend of Charles Darnay, whom he personally resembled. Sydney Carton loved Lucie Manette, but knowing of her attachment to Darnay, never attempted to win her. Her friendship, however, called out his good qualities, and he nobly died instead of his friend.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
Cartouche, an eighteenth century highwayman. He is the French Dick Turpin.
Ca'rus (Slow), in Garth's Dispensary, is Dr. Tyson (1649-1708).
Caryati'des (5 syl.), or Carya'tes (4 syl.), female figures in Greek costume, used in architecture to support entablatures Ca'rya, in Arcadia, sided with the Persians when they invaded Greece, so after the battle of Thermop'ylae, the victorious Greeks destroyed the city, slew the men, and made the women slaves, Praxit'elês, to perpetuate the disgrace, employed figures of Caryan women with Persian men, for architectural columns.
Cas'ca, a blunt-witted Roman, and one of the conspirators who assassinated Julius Cæsar. He is called "Honest Casca," meaning plain-spoken.—Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1607).
Casch'casch, a hideous genius, "hunch-backed, lame, and blind of one eye; with six horns on his head, and both his hands and feet hooked." The fairy Maimou'nê (3 syl.) summoned him to decide which was the more beautiful, "the prince Camaral'zaman or the princess Badou'ra," but he was unable to determine the knotty point.—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
Casel'la, a musician and friend of the poet Dantê, introduced in his Purgatory, ii. On arriving at purgatory, the poet sees a vessel freighted with souls come to be purged of their sins and made fit for paradise; among them he recognizes his friend Casella, whom he "woos to sing;" whereupon Casella repeats with enchanting sweetness the words of [Dantê's] second canzone.
Dantê shall give Fame leave to set thee higherThan his Casella, whom he wooed to sing,
Met in the milder shades of purgatory.
Milton, Sonnet, xiii. (To H. Lawes).
Casey, landlord of the tavern on "Red Hoss Mountain" in Eugene Field's poem Casey's Table d'Hôte.
He drifted for a fortune to the undeveloped West,And he come to Eed Hoss Mountain when the little camp was new,
When the money flowed like likker, an' the folks wuz brave an'
true,
And, havin' been a stewart on a Mississippi boat,
He opened up a caffy, 'nd he run a tabble dote.
(1889.)
Cas'par, master of the horse to the baron of Arnheim. Mentioned in Donnerhugel's narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Cas'par, a man who sold himself to Za'miel the Black Huntsman. The night before the expiration of his life-lease, he bargained for a respite of three years, on condition of bringing Max into the power of the fiend. On the day appointed for the prize-shooting, Max aimed at a dove but killed Caspar, and Zamiel carried off his victim to "his own place."—Weber's opera, Der Freischüte (1822).
Cass (Godfrey), young farmer in Silas Marner, by George Eliot. Father of the heroine.
Cassan'dra, daughter of Priam, gifted with the power of prophecy; but Apollo, whom she had offended, cursed her with the ban "that no one should ever believe her predictions."—Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Cassel (Count), an empty-headed, heart less, conceited puppy, who pays court to Amelia Wildenhaim, but is too insufferable to be endured. He tells her he "learnt delicacy in Italy, hauteur in Spain, enterprise in France, prudence in Russia, sincerity in England, and love in the wilds of America," for civilized nations have long since substituted intrigue for love.—Inchbald, Lovers' Vows (1800), altered from Kotzebue.
Cassi, the inhabitants of Hertfordshire or Cassio.—Cæsar, Commentaries.
Cassib'ellaun or Cassib'elan (probably "Caswallon"), brother and successor of Lud. He was king of Britain when Julius Cæsar invaded the island. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, in his British History, that Cassibellaun routed Cæsar, and drove him back to Gaul (bk. iv. 3, 5). In Cæsar's second invasion, the British again vanquished him (ch. 7), and "sacrificed to their gods as a thank-offering 40,000 cows, 100,000 sheep, 30,000 wild beasts, and fowls without number" (ch. 8). Androg'eus (4 syl.) "duke of Trinovantum," with 5000 men, having joined the Roman forces, Cassibellaun was worsted, and agreed "to pay 3000 pounds of silver yearly in tribute to Rome." Seven years after this Cassibellaun died and was buried at York.
In Shakespeare's Cymbeline the name is called "Cassibelan."
Polyænus of Macedon tells us that Cæsar had a huge
elephant armed with scales of iron, with a tower on its back, filled
with archers and slingers. When this beast entered the sea,
Cassivelaunus and the Britons, who had never seen an elephant, were
terrified, and their horses fled in affright, so that the Romans were
able to land without molestation.—Drayton, Polyolbion, viii.
Such is Rome ... hear it, spirit of Cassivelaun.
Tennyson, Boadicea.
Cas'silane (3 syl.), general of Candy and father of Annophel.—Laws of Candy (1647).
Cassim, brother of Ali Baba, a Persian. He married an heiress and soon became one of the richest merchants of the place. When he discovered that his brother had made himself rich by hoards from the robbers' cave, Cassim took ten mules charged with panniers to carry away part of the same booty. "Open Sesamê!" he cried, and the door opened. He filled his sacks, but forgot the magic word. "Open Barley!" he cried, but the door remained closed. Presently the robber band returned, and cut him down with their sabres. They then hacked the carcass into four parts, placed them near the door, and left the cave. Ali Baba carried off the body and had it decently interred.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves").
Cas'sio (Michael), a Florentine, lieutenant in the Venetian army under the command of Othello. Simple minded but not strong-minded, and therefore easily led by others who possessed greater power of will. Being overcome with wine, he engaged in a street-brawl, for which he was suspended by Othello, but Desdemona pleaded for his restoration. Iago made capital of this intercession to rouse the jealousy of the Moor. Cassio's "almost" wife was Bianca, his mistress.—Shakespeare, Othello (1611).
"Cassio" is brave, benevolent, and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation.—Dr. Johnson.
Cassiodo'rus (Marcus Aurelius), a great statesman and learned writer of the sixth century, who died at the age of one hundred, in A.D. 562. He filled many high offices under Theod'oric, but ended his days in a convent.
Listen awhile to a learned prelectionOn Marcus Aurelius Cassiodorus.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
Cassiopeia, wife of Ce'pheus (2 syl.) king of Ethiopia, and mother of Androm'eda. She boasted herself to be fairer than the sea-nymphs, and Neptune, to punish her, sent a huge sea-serpent to ravage her husband's kingdom. At death she was made a constellation, consisting of thirteen stars, the largest of which form a "chair" or imperfect W.
... had you beenSphered up with Cassiopeia.
Tennyson, The Princess, iv.
Cassius, instigator of the conspiracy against Julius Cæsar, and friend of Brutus. —Shakespeare, Julius Ccesar (1607).
Brutus. The last of all the Romans, fare theewell!
It is impossible that ever Rome
Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe more
tears
To this dead man than you shall see me pay.
I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.
Act. v. sc. 3.
Charles Mayne Young trod the boards with freedom. His countenance was equally well adapted for the expression of pathos or of pride; thus in such parts as "Hamlet," "Beverley," "The Stranger," "Pierre," "Zanga," and "Cassius," he looked the men he represented.—Rev. J. Young, Life of G. M. Young.
"Hamlet" (Shakespeare); "Beverley" (The Gamester,
Moore); "The Stranger" (B. Thompson); "Pierre" (Venice Preserved,
Otway); "Zanga" (Revenge, Young).
Cassy, a colored woman, mistress of Legree, in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Disgusted with her master and with her life, she befriends another woman, even more helpless than herself, and by stratagem and force of will contrives her escape (1852).
Castagnette (Captain), a hero whose stomach was replaced by a leather one made by Desgenettes [Da'.ge.net'], but his career was soon ended by a bomb-shell, which blew him into atoms,—Manuel, A French Extravaganza.
Casta'lio, son of lord Acasto, and Polydore's twin-brother. Both the brothers loved their father's ward, Monim'ia "the orphan." The love of Polydore was dishonorable love, but Castalio loved her truly and married her in private. On the bridal night Polydore by treachery took his brother's place, and next day, when Monimia discovered the deceit which had been practised on her, and Polydore heard that Monimia was really married to his brother, the bride poisoned herself, the adulterer ran upon his brother's sword, and the husband stabbed himself.—Otway, The Orphan (1680).
Casta'ra, the lady addressed by Wm. Habington in his poems. She was Lucy Herbert (daughter of Wm. Herbert, first lord Powis), and became his wife. (Latin, casta, "chaste.")
If then, Castara, I in heaven nor move,Nor earth, nor hell, where am I but in love?
W. Habington, To Castara (died 1654).
The poetry of Habington shows that he possessed ... a real passion for a lady of birth and virtue, the "Castara" whom he afterwards married.—Hallam.
Cas'tlewood (Beatrix), the heroine of Esmond, a novel by Thackeray, the "finest picture of splendid lustrous physical beauty ever given to the world."
Cas'tor (Steph'anos), the wrestler.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Castor, of classic fable, is the son of Jupiter and Leda, and twin-brother of Pollux. The brothers were so attached to each other that Jupiter set them among the stars, where they form the constellation Gemini ("the twins"). Castor and Pollux are called the Dios'curi or "sons of Dios," i.e. Jove.
Cas'triot (George), called by the Turks "Scanderbeg" (1404-1467). George Castriot was son of an Albanian prince, delivered as a hostage to Amurath II. He won such favor from the sultan that he was put in command of 5000 men, but abandoned the Turks in the battle of Mora'va (1443).
This is the first dark blotOn thy name, George Castriot.
Longfellow, The Wayside Inn (an interlude).
Castruc'cio Castraca'ni's Sword.
When Victor Emmanuel II went to Tuscany, the path from Lucca to Pistoia was strewed with roses. At Pistoia the orphan heirs of Pucci'ni met him, bearing a sword, and said, "This is the sword of Castruccio Castracani, the great Italian soldier, and head of the Ghibelines in the fourteenth century. It was committed to our ward and keeping till some patriot should arise to deliver Italy and make it free." Victor Emmanuel, seizing the hilt, exclaimed, "Questa è per me!" ("This is for me.") —E. B. Browning, The Sword of Castruccio Castracani.
Cas'yapa. The father of the immortals, who dwells in the mountain called Hemacû'ta or Himakoot, under the Tree of Life, is called "Casyapa." Southey, Curse of Kehama. Canto vi. (1809).
Cateucla'ni, called Catieuchla'ni by Ptolemy, and Cassii by Richard of Cirencester. They occupied Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire. Drayton refers to them in his Polyolbion, xvi.
Catgut (Dr.), a caricature of Dr. Arne in The Commissary, by Sam. Foote (1765).
Cath'arine, queen-consort of Charles II; introduced by sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak. (See CATHERINE, and also under the letter K.)
Cath'arine (St.) of Alexandria (fourth century), patron saint of girls and virgins generally. Her real name was Dorothea; but St. Jerome says she was called Catharine from the Syriac word Kethar or Kathar, "a crown," because she won the triple crown of martyrdom, virginity, and wisdom. She was put to death on a wheel, November 25, which is her fête day.
To braid St. Catharine's hair means "to live a virgin."
Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catharine'stresses.
Longfellow, Evangeline (1848).
Cath'ba, son of Torman, beloved by Morna, daughter of Cormac king of Ireland. He was killed out of jealousy by Duchô'mar, and when Duchômar told Morna and asked her to marry him she replied, "Thou art dark to me, Duchômar; cruel is thine arm to Morna. Give me that sword, my foe;" and when he gave it, she "pierced his manly breast," and he died.
Cathba, young son of Torman, thou art of the love of Morna. Thou art a sunbeam in the day of the gloomy storm.—Ossian, Fingal, i.
Cath'erine, wife of Mathis, in The Polish Jew, by J. R. Ware.
Catherine, the somewhat uninteresting heroine of Washington Square, by Henry James, a commonplace creature made more commonplace by the dull routine of wealthy respectability (1880).
Catherine (The countess), usually called "The Countess," falls in love with Huon, a serf, her secretary and tutor. Her pride revolts at the match, but her love is masterful. When the duke her father is told of it, he insists on Huon's marrying Catherine, a freed serf, on pain of death. Huon refuses to do so till the countess herself entreats him to comply. He then rushes to the wars, where he greatly distinguishes himself, is created prince, and learns that his bride is not Catherine the quondam serf, but Catherine the duke's daughter.—S. Knowles, Love (1840).
Cath'erine of Newport, the wife of Julian Avenel (2 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth). (See CATHARINE, and under K.)
Cath'leen, one of the attendants on Flora M'Ivor.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, Greorge II.).
Cath'lin of Clu'tha, daughter of Cathmol. Duth-Carmor of Cluba had slain Cathmol in battle, and carried off Cathlin by force, but she contrived to make her escape and craved aid of Fingal. Ossian and Oscar were selected to espouse her cause, and when they reached Rathcol (where Duth-Carmor lived), Ossian resigned the command of the battle to his son Oscar. Oscar and Duth-Carmor met in combat, and the latter fell. The victor carried the mail and helmet of Duth-Carmor to Cathlin, and Cathlin said, "Take the mail and place it high in Selma's hall, that you may remember the helpless in a distant land."—Ossian, Cathlin of Clutha.
Cath'mor, younger brother of Cair'bar ("lord of Atha"), but totally unlike him. Cairbar was treacherous and malignant; Cathmor high-minded and hospitable. Cairbar murdered Cormac king of Ireland, and having inveigled Oscar (son of Ossian) to a feast, vamped up a quarrel, in which both fell. Cathmor scorned such treachery. Cathmore is the second hero of the poem called Tem'ora, and falls by the hand of Fingal (bk. viii.).
Cathmor, the friend of strangers, the brother of red-haired Cairbar. Their souls were not the same. The light of heaven was in the bosom of Cathmor. His towers rose on the banks of Atha; seven paths led to his halls; seven chiefs stood on the paths and called strangers to the feast. But Cathmor dwelt in the wood, to shun the voice of praise.—Ossian, Temora, i.
Cath'olic (The). Alfonso I. of Asturias, called by Gregory III. His Catholic Majesty (693, 739-757).
Ferdinand II. of Ar'agon, husband of Isabella. Also called Rusé, "the wily" (1452, 1474-1516).
Isabella wife of Ferdinand II. of Aragon, so called for her zeal in establishing the Inquisition (1450, 1474-1504).
Catholic Majesty (Catholica Majestad), the special title of the kings of Spain. It was first given to king Recared (590) in the third Council of Toledo, for his zeal in rooting out the "Arian heresy."
Cui a Deo æternum meritum nisi vero Catholico Recaredo regi? Cui a Deo æterna corona nisi vero orthodoxo Recaredo regi?—Gregor. Mag., 127 and 128.
But it was not then settled as a fixed title to the kings of Spain. In 1500 Alexander VI. gave the title to Ferdinand V. king of Aragon and Castile, and from that time it became annexed to the Spanish crown.
Ab Alexandro pontifice Ferdinandus "Catholici" cognomentum accepit in posteros cum regno transfusum stabili possessione. Honorum titulos principibus dividere pontincibus Romanis datur.—Mariana, De Rebus Hesp., xxvi. 12; see also vii. 4.
Ca'thos, cousin of Madelon, brought up by her uncle Gor'gibus, a plain citizen in the middle rank of life. These two silly girls have had their heads turned by novels, and thinking their names commonplace, Cathos calls herself Aminta, and her cousin adopts the name of Polix'ena. Two gentlemen wish to marry them, but the girls consider their manners too unaffected and easy to be "good style," so the gentlemen send their valets to represent the "marquis of Mascarille" and the "viscount of Jodelet." The girls are delighted with these "distinguished noblemen;" but when the game has gone far enough, the masters enter, and lay bare the trick. The girls are taught a useful lesson, without being involved in any fatal ill consequences.—Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules (1659).
Cathul'la, king of Inistore (the Orkneys) and brother of Coma'la (q.v.). Fingal, on coming in sight of the palace, observed a beacon-flame on its top as signal of distress, for Frothal king of Sora had besieged it. Fingal attacked Frothal, engaged him in single combat, defeated him, and made him prisoner.—Ossian, Carrick-Thura.
Cat'iline (3 syl.), a Roman patrician, who headed a conspiracy to overthrow the Government, and obtain for himself and his followers all places of power and trust. The conspiracy was discovered by Cicero. Catiline escaped and put himself at the head of his army, but fell in the battle after fighting with desperate daring (B.C. 62). Ben Jonson wrote a tragedy called Catiline (1611), and Voltaire, in his Rome Sauvée, has introduced the conspiracy and death of Catiline (1752).
Ca'to, the hero and title of a tragedy by J. Addison (1713). Disgusted with Cæsar, Cato retired to U'tica (in Africa), where he had a small republic and mimic senate; but Cæsar resolved to reduce Utica as he had done the rest of Africa, and Cato, finding resistance hopeless, fell on his own sword.
Tho' stern and awful to the foes of Rome,He is all goodness, Lucia, always mild,
Compassionate, and gentle to his friends;
Filled with domestic tenderness.
Act v. 1.
When Barton Booth [1713] first appeared as "Cato," Bolingbroke called him into his box and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator.—Life of Addison.
He is a Cato, a man of simple habits, severe morals, strict justice, and blunt speech, but of undoubted integrity and patriotism, like the Roman censor of that name, the grandfather of the Cato of Utica, who resembled him in character and manners.
Cato and Hortens'ius. Cato of Utica's second wife was Martia daughter of Philip. He allowed her to live with his friend Hortensius, and after the death of Hortensius took her back again.
[Sultans] don't agree at all with the wise Roman,Heroic, stoic Cato, the sententious,
Who lent his lady to his friend Hortensius.
Byron, Don Juan, vi. 7 (1821).
Catul'lus. Lord Byron calls Thomas Moore the "British Catullus," referring to a volume of amatory poems published in 1808, under the pseudonym of "Thomas Little."
'Tis Little! young Catullus of his day,As sweet but as immoral as his lay.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).
The Oriental Catullus, Saadi or Sadi, a Persian poet. He married a rich merchant's daughter, but the marriage was an unhappy one. His chief works are The Gulistan (or "garden of roses") and The Bostan (or "garden of fruits") (1176-1291).
Cau'dle (Mrs. Margaret), a curtain lecturer, who between eleven o'clock at night and seven the next morning delivered for thirty years a curtain lecture to her husband Job Caudle, generally a most gentle listener; if he replied she pronounced him insufferably rude, and if he did not he was insufferably sulky.—Douglas Jerrold, Punch ("The Caudle Papers").
Cau'line (Sir), a knight who served the wine to the king of Ireland. He fell in love with Christabelle (3 syl.), the king's-daughter, and she became his troth-plight wife, without her father's knowledge. When the king knew of it, he banished sir Cauline (2 syl.). After a time the Soldain asked the lady in marriage, but sir Cauline challenged his rival and slew him. He himself, however, died of the wounds he had received, and the lady Christabelle, out of grief, "burst her gentle hearte in twayne."—Percy's Reliques, I. i. 4.
Cau'rus, the stormy west-north-west wind; called in Greek Argestês.
The ground by piercing Caurus seared.Thomson, Castle of Indolence, ii. (1748).
Caustic, of the Despatch newspaper, was the signature of Mr. Serle.
Christopher Caustic, the pseudonym of Thomas Green Fessenden, author of Terrible Tractoration, a Hudibrastic poem (1771-1837).
Caustic (Colonel), a fine gentleman of the last century, very severe on the degeneracy of the present race.—Henry Mackenzie, in The Lounger.
Ca'va, or Florida, daughter of St. Julian. It was the violation of Cava by Roderick that brought about the war between the Goths and the Moors, in which Roderick was slain (A.D. 711).
Cavalier (The). Eon de Beaumont, called by the French Le Chevalier d'Eon (1728-1810). Charles Breydel, the Flemish landscape painter (1677-1744). Francisco Cairo, the historian, called El Chavaliere del Cairo (1598-1674). Jean le Clerc, Le Chevalier (1587-1633). J. Bapt. Marini, the Italian poet, called Il Cavaliere (1569-1625). Andrew Michael Ramsay (1686-1743).
James Francis Edward Stuart, the
"Old Pretender," was styled Le Chevalier de St. George (1688-1765). Charles Edward, the "Young Pretender," was styled The Bonnie Chevalier or The Young Cavalier (1720-1788).
Cavall', "king Arthur's hound of deepest mouth."—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Enid").
Cav'endish, author of Principles of Whist, and numerous guide-books on games, as Bézique, Piquet, Écarté, Billiards, etc. Henry Jones, editor of "Pastimes" in The Field and The Queen newspapers (1831-).
Cax'on (Old Jacob), hairdresser of Jonathan Oldbuck ("the antiquary") of Monkbarns.
Jenny Caxon, a milliner; daughter of Old Jacob.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).
Caxton (Pisistratus), Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, baron Lytton, author of My Novel (1853); What will He do with it? (1859); Caxtoniania (1863); The Boatman (1864).
Cecil, the hero of a novel so called by Mrs. Gore (1790-1861).
Cecil Dreeme, alias Clara Denman. The young woman assumes a man's dress and character, and sustains it so well as to deceive those dearest to her. She is kidnapped and in danger of death, and her rescuers discover the truth.—Theodore Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme (1861).
Cecilia, belle of the village in which H. W. Longfellow's Kavanagh is the clergyman. She wins his affections easily, unconsciously becoming the rival of her dearest friend (1872).
Cecilia (St.), the patroness of musicians and "inventor of the organ." The legend says that an angel fell in love with Cecilia for her musical skill, and nightly brought her roses from paradise. Her husband saw the angel visitant, who gave to both a crown of martyrdom.
Thou seem'st to me like the angelThat brought the immortal roses
To St. Cecilia's bridal chamber.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
Ce'dric, a thane of Rotherwood, and surnamed "the Saxon."—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Cel'adon and Ame'lia, lovers of matchless beauty, and most devoted to each other. Being overtaken by a thunderstorm, Amelia became alarmed, but Celadon, folding his arm about her, said, "'Tis safety to be near thee, sure;" but while he spoke, Amelia was struck by lightning and fell dead in his arms.—Thomson, The Seasons ("Summer," 1727).
Cele'no or Celsae'no, chief of the harpies.
There on a craggy stoneCeleno hung, and made his direful moan.
Giles Fletcher, Christ's Triumph [on Earth]
(1610).
Ce'lia, daughter of Frederick the usurping duke, and cousin of Ros'alind, daughter of the banished duke. When Rosalind was driven from her uncle's court, Celia determined to go with her to the forest of Arden to seek out the banished duke, and for security's sake Rosalind dressed in boy's clothes and called herself "Gan'ymede," while Celia dressed as a peasant girl and called herself "Aliena." When they reached Arden they lodged for a time in a shepherd's hut, and Oliver de Boys was sent to tell them that his brother Orlando was hurt and could not come to the hut as usual. Oliver and Celia fell in love with each other, and their wedding-day was fixed. Ganymede resumed the dress of Bosalind, and the two brothers married at the same time.—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).
Ce'lia, a girl of sixteen, in Whitehead's comedy of The School for Lovers. It was written expressly for Mrs. Cibber, daughter of Dr. Arne.
Mrs. Cibber was at the time more than fifty years old, but the uncommon symmetry and exact proportion in her form, with her singular vivacity, enabled her to represent the character of "Celia" with all the juvenile appearance marked by the author.—Percy, Anecdotes.
Ce'lia, a poetical name for any lady-love: as "Would you know my Celia's charms ...?" Not unfrequently Streph'on is the wooer when Celia is the wooed. Thomas Carew calls his "sweet sweeting" Celia; her real name is not known.
Ce'lia (Dame), mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity. She lived in the hospice called Holiness. (Celia is from the Latin, coelum, "heaven.")—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 10 (1590).
Celia Shaw, a gentle-hearted mountain girl who, learning that her father and his clan intend to "clean out" a family fifteen miles up the mountain, steals out on a snowy night and makes her way to their hut to warn them of their danger. She takes cold on the fearful journey, and dies of consumption.—Charles Egbert Craddock, In the Tennessee Mountains (1884).
Célimène (3syl.), a coquette courted by Alceste (2 syl.) the "misanthrope" (a really good man, both upright and manly, but blunt in behavior, rude in speech, and unconventional). Alceste wants Célimène to forsake society and live with him in seclusion; this she refuses to do, and he replies, as you cannot find, "tout en moi, comme moi tout en vous, allez, je vous refuse." He then proposes to her cousin Eliante (3 syl.), but Eliante tells him she is already engaged to his friend Philinte (2 syl), and so the play ends.—Molière, Le Misanthrope (1666).
"Célimène" in Molière's Les Précieuses Ridicules is a mere dummy. She is brought on the stage occasionally towards the end of the play, but never utters one word, and seems a supernumerary of no importance at all.
Celin'da, the victim of count Fathom's seduction.—Smollett, Count Fathom (1754).
Cel'lide (2 syl.), beloved by Valentine and his son Francisco. The lady naturally prefers the younger man.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas (1619).
Celtic Homer (The), Ossian, said to be of the third century.
If Ossian lived at the introduction of Christianity, as by all appearances he did, his epoch will be the latter end of the third and beginning of the fourth century.
The "Caracul" of Fingal, who is no other than Caracalla (son of Seve'rus emperor of Rome), and the battle fought against Caros or Carausius ... fix the epoch of Fingal to the third century, and Irish historians place his death in the year 283. Ossian was Fingal's son.—Era of Ossian.
Cenci. Francesco Cenci was a most profligate Roman noble, who had four sons and one daughter, all of whom he treated with abominable cruelty. It is said that he assassinated his two elder sons and debauched his daughter Beatrice. Beatrice and her two surviving brothers, with Lucretia (their mother), conspired against Francesco and accomplished his death, but all except the youngest brother perished on the scaffold, September 11, 1501.
It has been doubted whether the famous portrait in the Barberini palace at Rome is really of Beatrice Cenci, and even whether Guido Eeni was the painter.
Percy B. Shelley wrote a tragedy called The Cenci (1819).
Cenimag'ni, the inhabitants of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge.—Cæsar, Commentaries.
Centaur (The Blue), a human form from the waist upwards, and a goat covered with blue shag from the waist downwards. Like the Ogri, he fed on human flesh.
"Shepherds," said he, "I am the Blue Centaur. If you will give me every third year a young child, I promise to bring a hundred of my kinsmen and drive the Ogri away." ... He [the Blue Centaur] used to appear on the top of a rock, with his club in one hand ... and with a terrible voice cry out to the shepherds, "Leave me my prey, and be off with you!"—Comtesse d'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Carpillona," 1682).
Cen'tury White, John White, the nonconformist lawyer. So called from his chief work, entitled The First Century of Scandalous, Malignant Priests, etc. (1590-1645).
Ce'phal (Greek, Kephalê), the Head personified, the "acropolis" of The Purple Island, fully described in canto v. of that poem, by Phineas Fletcher (1633).
Ceph'alus (in Greek, Kephalos). One day, overcome with heat, Cephalus threw himself on the grass, and cried aloud, "Come, gentle Aura, and this heat allay!" The words were told to his young wife Procris, who, supposing Aura to be some rival, became furiously jealous. Resolved to discover her rival, she stole next day to a covert, and soon saw her husband come and throw himself on the bank, crying aloud, "Come, gentle Zephyr; come, Aura, come, this heat allay!" Her mistake was evident, and she was abont to throw herself into the arms of her husband, when the young man, aroused by the rustling, shot an arrow into the covert, supposing some wild beast was about to spring on him. Procris was shot, told her tale, and died.—Ovid, Art of Love, iii.
(Cephalus loves Procris, i.e. "the sun kisses the dew." Procris is killed by Cephalus, i.e. "the dew is destroyed by the rays of the sun.")
Ceras'tes (3 syl.), the horned snake. (Greek, keras, "a horn.") Milton uses the word in Paradise Lost, x. 525 (1665).
Cerberus, a dog with three heads, which keeps guard in hell. Dantê places it in the third circle.
Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange,Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog ...
His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard,
His belly large, and clawed the hands with which
He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs
Piecemeal disparts.
Dantê, Hell, vi. (1300, Cary's translation).
Cer'don, the boldest of the rabble leaders in the encounter with Hu'dibras at the bear-baiting. The original of this character was Hewson, a one-eyed cobbler and preacher, who was also a colonel in the Rump army.—S. Butler, Hudibras, i. 2 (1663).
Ceres (2 syl.), the Fruits of Harvest personified. In classic mythology Cerês means "Mother Earth," the protectress of fruits.
Ceres, the planet, is so called because it was discovered from the observatory of Palermo, and Cerês is the tutelar goddess of Sicily.
Cer'imon, a physician of Ephesus, who restored to animation Thaisa, the wife of Per'iclês, prince of Tyre, supposed to be dead.—Shakespeare, Pericles Prince of Tyre (1608).
Chab'ot (Philippe de), admiral of France, governor of Bourgoyne and Normandy under François I. Montmorency and the cardinal de Lorraine, out of jealousy, accused him of malversation. His faithful servant Allegre was put to the rack to force evidence against the accused, and Chabot was sent to prison because he was unable to pay the fine levied upon him. His innocence, however, was established by the confession of his enemies, and he was released; but disgrace had made so deep an impression on his mind that he sickened and died. This is the subject of a tragedy entitled The Tragedy of Philip Chabot, etc., by George Chapman and James Shirley.
Chad'band (The Rev. Mr.), type of a canting hypocrite "in the ministry." He calls himself "a vessel," is much admired by his dupes, and pretends to despise the "carnal world," but nevertheless loves dearly its "good things," and is most self-indulgent.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Chaffington (Mr. Percy), M.P., a stockbroker.—T. M. Morton, If I had a Thousand a Year.
Chalbroth, the giant, the root of the race of giants, including Polypheme (3 syl.), Goliath, the Titans, Fierabras, Gargantua, and closing with Pantag'ruel. He was born in the year known for its "week of three Thursdays."—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. (1533).
Chal'ybes (3 syl.), a people on the south shore of the Black Sea, who occupied themselves in the working of iron.
On the left hand dwellThe iron-workers called the Chalybês,
Of whom beware.
E. B. Browning, Prometheus Bound (1850).
Cham, the pseudonym of comte Amédée de Noé, a peer of France, a great wit, and the political caricaturist of Charivari (the French Punch). The count was one of the founders of the French Republic in 1875. As Cham or Ham was the second son and scapegrace of Noah, so Amédée was the second son and scapegrace of the comte de Noé [Noah].
Cham of Literature, (The Great), a nickname given to Dr. Samuel Johnson by Smollett in a letter to John Wilkes (1709-1784).
Cham of Tartary, a corruption of Chan or Khan, i.e. "lord or prince," as Hoccota Chan. "Ulu Chan" means "great lord," "ulu" being equal to the Latin magnus, and "chan" to dominus or imperator. Sometimes the word is joined to the name, as Chan-balu, Cara-chan, etc. The Turks have also had their "Sultan Murad chan bin Sultan Selim chan," i.e. Sultan Murad prince, son of Sultan Selim prince.—Selden, Titles of Honor, vi. 66 (1672).
Cham'berlain (Matthew), a tapster, the successor of Old Roger Raine (1 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Chamont, brother of Monimia "the orphan," and the troth-plight husband of Seri'na (daughter of lord Acasto). He is a soldier, so proud and susceptible that he is forever taking offence, and setting himself up as censor or champion. He fancies his sister Monim'ia has lost her honor, and calls her to task, but finds he is mistaken. He fancies her guardian, old Acasto, has not been sufficiently watchful over her, and draws upon him in his anger, but sees his folly just in time to prevent mischief. He fancies Castalio, his sister's husband, has ill-treated her, and threatens to kill him, but his suspicions are again altogether erroneous. In fact, his presence in the house was like that of a madman with fire-brands in a stack-yard.—Otway, The Orphan (1680).
There are characters in which he [C. M. Young] is unrivalled and almost perfect. His "Pierre" [Venice Preserved, Otway] is more soldierly than Kemble's; his "Chamont" is full of brotherly pride, noble impetuosity, and heroic scorn.—New Monthly Magazine (1822).
Champagne (Henry earl of), a crusader.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Cham'pernel', a lame old gentleman, the husband of Lami'ra, and son-in-law of judge Vertaigne (2 sy).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).
Champion of the Virgin. St. Cyril of Alexandria is so called from his defence of the "Incarnation" or doctrine of the "hypostatic union," in the long and stormy dispute with Nesto'rius bishop of Constantinople.
Champneys (Sir Geoffry), a fossilized old country gentleman, who believes in "blue blood" and the "British peerage." Father of Talbot, and neighbor of Perkyn Middlewick, a retired butterman. The sons of these two magnates are fast friends, but are turned adrift by their fathers for marrying in opposition to their wishes. When reduced to abject poverty, the old men go to visit their sons, relent, and all ends happily.
Miss Champneys, sir Geoffry's sister, proud and aristocratic, but quite willing to sacrifice both on the altar of Mr. Perkyn Middlewick, the butterman, if the wealthy plebeian would make her his wife and allow her to spend his money.—H. J. Byron, Our Boys (1875).
Talbot Champneys, a swell with few brains and no energy. His name, which is his passport into society, will not find him salt in the battle of life. He marries Mary Melrose, a girl without a penny, but his father wants him to marry Violet the heiress.
Chan'ticleer (3 syl.), the cock, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498), and also in "The Nonne Preste's Tale," told in The Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer (1388).
Chaon'ian Bird (The), the dove; so called because doves delivered the oracles of Dodona or Chaon'ia.
But the mild swallow none with, toils infest,And none the soft Chaonian bird molest.
Ovid, Art of Love, ii.
Chaonian Food, acorns, so called from the oak trees of Dodona, which gave out the oracles by means of bells hung among the branches. Beech mast is so called also, because beech trees abounded in the forest of Dodona.
Charalois, son of the marshal of Burgundy. When he was twenty-eight years old his father died in prison at Dijon, for debts contracted by him for the service of the State in the wars. According to the law which then prevailed in France, the body of the marshal was seized by his creditors, and refused burial. The son of Charalois redeemed his father's body by his own, which was shut up in prison in lieu of the marshal's.—Philip Massinger, The Fatal Dowry (1632).
(It will be remembered that Milti'adês, the Athenian general, died in prison for debt, and the creditors claimed the body, which they would not suffer to be buried till his son Cimon gave up himself as a hostage.)
Char'egite (3 syl.). The Charegite assassin, in the disguise of a Turkish marabout or enthusiast, comes and dances before the tent of Richard Coeur de Lion, and suddenly darting forward, is about to stab the king, when a Nubian seizes his arm, and the king kills the assassin on the spot.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Charicle'ia, the fiancée of Theag'enês, in the Greek romance called The Loves of Theagenês and Charicleia, by Heliodo'ros bishop of Trikka (fourth century).
Chari'no, father of Angelina. Charino wishes Angelina to marry Clodio, a young coxcomb; but the lady prefers his elder brother Carlos, a young bookworm. Love changes the character of the diffident Carlos, and Charino at last accepts him for his son-in-law. Charino is a testy, obstinate old man, who wants to rule the whole world in his own way.—C. Cibber, Love Makes the Man (1694).
Char'lemagne and His Paladins. This series of romances is of French origin, as the Arthurion is Welsh or British. It began with the legendary chronicle in verse, called Historia de Vita Carola Magni et Rolandi, erroneously attributed to Turpin archbishop of Rheims (a contemporary of Charlemagne), but probably written two or three hundred years later. The chief of the series are Huon of Bordeaux, Guerin de Monglave, Gaylen Rhetore (in which Charlemagne and his paladins proceed in mufti to the Holy Land), Miles and Ames, Jairdain de Blaves, Doolin de Mayence, Ogier le Danais, and Maugis the Enchanter.
Charlemagne and the Ring. Pasquier says that Charles le Grand fell in love with a peasant girl [Agatha], in whose society he seemed bewitched, insomuch that all matters of state were neglected by him; but the girl died, to the great joy of all. What, however, was the astonishment of the court to find that the king seemed no less bewitched with the dead body than he had been with the living, and spent all day and night with it, even when its smell was quite offensive. Archbishop Turpin felt convinced there was sorcery in this strange infatuation, and on examining the body, found a ring under the tongue, which he removed. Charlemagne now lost all regard for the dead body; but followed Turpin, with whom, he seemed infatuated. The archbishop now bethought him of the ring, which he threw into a pool at Aix, where Charlemagne built a palace and monastery, and no spot in the world had such attractions for him as Aix-la-Chapelle, where "the ring" was buried.—Recherches de la France, vi. 33.
Charlemagne and Years of Plenty. According to German legend, Charlemagne appears in seasons of plenty. He crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge, and blesses both corn-fields and vineyards.
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,Upon thy bridge of gold.
Longfellow, Autumn.
Charlemagne not dead. According to legend, Charlemagne was crowned and armed in Odenberg (Hesse) or Untersberg, near Saltzburg, till the time of antichrist, when he will wake up and deliver Christendom. (See BARBAROSSA.)
Charlemagne's Nine Wives: (1) Hamiltrude, a poor Frenchwoman, who bore him several children. (2) Desidera'ta, who was divorced. (3) Hildegarde. (4) Fastrade, daughter of count Rodolph the Saxon. (5) Luitgarde the German. The last three died before him. (6) Maltegarde. (7) Gersuinde the Saxon. (8) Regina. (9) Adalinda.
Charlemagne's Stature. We are told that Charlemagne was "eight feet high," and so strong that he could "straighten with his hands alone three horseshoes at once." His diet and his dress were both as simple as possible.
Charlemagne's Sword, La Joyeuse.
Charlemagne of Servia, Stephen Dushan.
Charles "the Bold," duke of Burgundy, introduced by sir W. Scott in two novels, viz., Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein. The latter novel contains an account of the battle of Nancy, where Charles was slain.
Charles prince of Wales (called "Babie Charles"), son of James I., introduced by sir W. Scott in The Fortunes of Nigel.
Charles "the Good," earl of Flanders. In 1127 he passed a law that whoever married a serf should become a serf: thus if a prince married a serf, the prince would become a serf. This absurd law caused his death, and the death of the best blood in Bruges.—S. Knowles, The Provost of Bruges (1836).
Charles II. of England, introduced by sir W. Scott in two novels, viz., Peveril of the Peak and Woodstock. In this latter he appears first as a gipsy woman, and afterwards under the name of Louis Kerneguy (Albert Lee's page).
Charles IX. of France. Instigated by his mother, Catherine de Medici, he set on foot the massacre of St. Bartholomew (1550-1574).
Charles XII. of Sweden. "Determined to brave the seasons, as he had done his enemies, Charles XII. ventured to make long marches during the cold of the memorable winter of 1709. In one of these marches two thousand of his men died from the cold."
(Planché has an historical drama, in two acts, called Charles XII.; and the Life of Charles XII., by Voltaire, is considered to be one of the best written historical works in the French language.)
Charles Edward [Stuart], called "The Chevalier Prince Charles Edward, the Young Pretender," introduced by sir W. Scott in Redgauntlet (time, George III.), first as "father Bonaventure," and afterwards as "Pretender to the British crown." He is again introduced in Waverley (time, George II.).
Charles Emmanuel, son of Victor Amade'us (4 syl.) king of Sardinia. In 1730 his father abdicated, but somewhat later wanted his son to restore the crown again. This he refused to do; and when Victor plotted against him, D'Orme'a was sent to arrest the old man, and he died. Charles was brave, patient, single-minded, and truthful.—R. Browning, King Victor and King Charles, etc.
Charles Knollys, an English bridegroom, who falls into a crevasse on his wedding-trip, and is found by his wife in the ice, still young and beautiful in his icy shroud, forty-five years later.—J. S. of Dale (Frederic Jesup Stimson), Mrs. Knollys (1888).
Charley, plu. Charlies, an old watchman or "night guardian," before the introduction of the police force by sir Robert Peel, in 1829. So called from Charles I., who extended and improved the police system.
Charley Keene, merry little doctor in The Grandissimes, in love with the beautiful Creole girl Clotilde (1880).
Charlie, alias "Injin Charlie," alias "Old Charlie," a "dark white man" in Belles Demoiselles' Plantation, by George W. Cable. "Sunk in the bliss of deep ignorance, shrewd, deaf, and by repute, at least, unmerciful" (1879).
Chariot, a messenger from Liëge to Louis XI—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Charlotte, the faithful sweetheart of young Wilmot, supposed to have perished at sea.—Geo. Lillo, Fatal Curiosity (1736).
Charlotte, the dumb girl, in love with Leander; but her father, sir Jasper, wants her to marry Mr. Dapper. In order to avoid this hateful alliance, Charlotte pretends to be dumb, and only answers, "Han, hi, han, hon." The "mock doctor" employs Leander as his apothecary, and the young lady is soon cured by "pills matrimoniac." In Molière's Le Médecin Malgré Lui Charlotte is called "Lucinde." The jokes in act ii. 6 are verbally copied from the French.—H. Fielding, The Mock Doctor.
Charlotte, daughter of sir John Lambert, in The Hypocrite, by Is. Bickerstaff (1768); in love with Darnley. She is a giddy girl, fond of tormenting Darnley; but being promised in marriage to Dr. Cantwell, who is fifty-nine, and whom she utterly detests, she becomes somewhat sobered down, and promises Darnley to become his loving wife. Her constant exclamation is "Lud!"
In Molière's comedy of Tartuffe Charlotte is called "Mariane," and Darnley is "Valère."
Charlotte, the pert maid-servant of the countess Wintersen. Her father was "state coachman." Charlotte is jealous of Mrs. Haller, and behaves rudely to her (see act ii. 3).—Benjamin Thompson, The Stranger (1797).
Charlotte, servant to Sowerberry. A dishonest, rough servant-girl, who ill-treats Oliver Twist, and robs her master.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Charlotte, a fugitive slave whose hairbreadth escapes are narrated in J. T. Trowbridge's story of Neighbor Jackwood (1857).
Charlotte (Lady), the servant of a lady so called. She assumes the airs with the name and address of her mistress. The servants of her own and other households address her as "Your ladyship," or "lady Charlotte;" but though so mighty grand, she is "noted for a plaguy pair of thick legs."—Rev. James Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1759).
Charlotte Corday, devoted patriot of the French Revolution. Believing Marat to be the worst enemy of France, she stabbed him in the bath; was arrested and guillotined.
Charlotte Elizabeth, whose surname was Phelan, afterwards Tonna, author of numerous books for children, tales, etc. (1825-1862).
Charlotte Goodchild, a merchant's orphan daughter of large fortune. She is pestered by many lovers, and her guardian gives out that she has lost all her money by the bankruptcy of his house. On this all her suitors but one depart, and that one is sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan, who declares he loves her now as an equal, and one whom he can serve, but before he loved her "with fear and trembling, like a man that loves to be a soldier, yet is afraid of a gun."—C. Macklin, Love-à-la-mode (1779).
Charlotte Temple, the daughter of an English gentleman, whose seduction by an officer in the British army, her sad life and lonely death, are the elements of a novel bearing her name, written by "Mrs. Rowson." Charlotte Temple is buried in Trinity church-yard, New York.
Char'mian, a kind-hearted, simple-minded attendant on Cleopatra. After the queen's death, she applied one of the asps to her own arm, and when the, Roman soldiers entered the room, fell down dead.—Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (1608).
Char'teris (Sir Patrick), of Kinfauns, provost of Perth.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Chartist Clergyman (The), Rev. Charles Kingsley (1809-1877).
Charyllis, in Spenser's pastoral Colin Clout's Come Home Again, is lady Compton. Her name was Anne, and she was the fifth of the six daughters of sir John Spenser of Althorpe, Lancaster, of the noble houses of Spenser and Marlborough. Edmund Spenser dedicated to her his satirical fable called Mother Hubbard's Tale (1591). She was thrice married; her first husband was lord Monteagle, and her third was Robert lord Buckhurst (son of the poet Sackville), who succeeded his father in 1608 as earl of Dorset.
No less praiseworthy are the sisters three,The honor of the noble family
Of which I meanest boast myself to be,...
Phyllis, Charyllis, and sweet Amaryllis:
Phyllis the fair is eldest of the three,
The next to her is bountiful Charyllis.
Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1594).
Chaste (The), Alfonso II. of Asturias and Leon (758, 791-835 abdicated, died 842).
Chatookee, an Indian bird, that never drinks at a stream, but catches the raindrops in falling.—Account of the Baptist Missionaries, ii. 309.
Less pure than these is that strange Indian bird,Who never dips in earthly streams her bill,
But, when the sound of coming showers is heard,
Looks up, and from the clouds receives her fill.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xxi. 6 (1809).
Chat'tanach (M'Gillie), chief of the clan Chattan.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Chat'terley (Rev. Simon), "the man of religion" at the Spa, one of the managing committee.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Chaubert (Mons.), Master Chaffinch's cook.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, George II.).
Chaucer of France, Clément Marot (1484-1544).
Chau'nus, Arrogance personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). "Fondly himself with praising he dispraised." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, chaunos, "vain".)
Cheat'ly (2 syl.), a lewd, impudent debauchee of Alsatia (Whitefriars). He dares not leave the "refuge" by reason of debt; but in the precincts he fleeces young heirs of entail, helps them to money, and becomes bound for them.—Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia (1688).
Che'bar, the tutelar angel of Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany.—Klopstock, The Messiah, xii. (1771).
Ched'eraza'de (5 syl.), mother of Hem'junah and wife of Zebene'zer, sultan of Cassimir. Her daughter having run away to prevent a forced marriage with the prince of Georgia, whom she had never seen, the sultana pined away and died.—Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley], Tales of the Genii ("Princess of Cassimir," tale vii., 1751).
Cheder'les (3 syl.), a Moslem hero, who, like St. George, saved a virgin exposed to the tender mercies of a huge dragon. He also drank of the waters of immortality, and lives to render aid in war to any who invoke it.
When Chederlês coniesTo aid the Moslem on his deathless horse,
... as [if] he had newly quaffed
The hidden waters of eternal youth.
Southey, Joan of Arc, vi. 302, etc. (1837).
Cheeney (Frank), an outspoken bachelor. He marries Kate Tyson.—Wybert Reeve, Parted.
Cheerly' (Mrs.), daughter of colonel Woodley. After being married three years, she was left a widow, young, handsome, rich, lively, and gay. She came to London, and was seen in the opera by Frank Heartall, an open-hearted, impulsive young merchant, who fell in love with her, and followed her to her lodging. Ferret, the villain of the story, misinterpreted all the kind actions of Frank, attributing his gifts to hush-money; but his character was amply vindicated, and "the soldier's daughter" became his blooming wife.—Cherry, The Soldier's Daughter (1804).
Miss O'Neill, at the age of nineteen, made her début at the Theatre Royal, Crow Street, in 1811, as "The Widow Cheerly."—W. Donaldson.
Cheeryble Brothers (The), brother Ned and brother Charles, the incarnations of all that is warm-hearted, generous, benevolent, and kind. They were once homeless boys running about the streets barefooted, and when they grew to be wealthy London merchants were ever ready to stretch forth a helping hand to those struggling against the buffets of fortune.
Frank Cheeryble, nephew of the brothers Cheeryble. He married Kate Nickleby.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
Cheese (Dr.), an English translation of the Latin Dr. Caseus, that is, Dr. John Chase, a noted quack, who was born in the reign of Charles II., and died in that of queen Anne.
Chemistry (The Father of, Arnaud do Villeneuve (1238-1314)).
Che'mos (ch = k), god of the Moabites; also called Baal-Pe'ör; the Pria'pus or idol of turpitude and obscenity. Solomon built a temple to this obscene idol "in the hill that is before Jerusalem" (1 Kings xi. 7). In the hierarchy of hell Milton gives Chemos the fourth rank: (1) Satan, (2) Beëlzebub, (3) Moloch, (4) Chemos.
Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons, Peör his other name.
Paradise Lost, 406, 412 (1665).Cheney, a mighty hunter in the northern woods, whose story is told in The Adirondack, by Joel Tyler Headley (1849).
Cherone'an (The) or THE CHERONE'AN SAGE (ch = k), Plutarch, who was born at Chaerone'a, in Boeo'tia (A.D. 46-120).
This praise, O Cheronean sage, is thine.Beattie, Minstrel (1773).
Cher'ry, the lively daughter of Boniface, landlord of the inn at Lichfield.—Geo.
Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1705). (See CHERY.)
Cherry (Andrew), comic actor and dramatist (1762-1812), author of The Soldier's Daughter. All for Fame, Two Strings to Your Bow. The Village, Spanish Dollars, etc. He was specially noted for his excellent wigs.
Shall sapient managers new scenes produceFrom Cherry, Skeffington, and Mother Goose?
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
(1809).
Mother Goose is a pantomime by C. Dibdin.
Cher'ubim (Don), the "bachelor of Salamanca," who is placed in a vast number of different situations of life, and made to associate with all classes of society, that the author may sprinkle his satire and wit in every direction.—Lesage, The Bachelor of Salamanca (1737).
Cher'y, the son of Brunetta (who was the wife of a king's brother), married his cousin Fairstar, daughter of the king. He obtained for his cousin the three wonderful things: The dancing water, which had the power of imparting beauty; the singing apple, which had the power of imparting wit; and the little green bird, which had the power of telling secrets.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("The Princess Fairstar," 1682).
Ches'ter (Sir John), a plausible, foppish villain, the sworn enemy of Geoffrey Haredale, by whom he is killed in a duel. Sir John is the father of Hugh, the gigantic servant at the Maypole inn.
Edward Chester, son of sir John, and the lover of Emma Haredale.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).
Chesterfield (Charles), a young man of genius, the hero and title of a novel by Mrs. Trollope (1841). The object of this novel is to satirize the state of literature in England, and to hold up to censure authors, editors, and publishers as profligate, selfish, and corrupt.
Chesterton (Paul), nephew to Mr. Percy Chaffington, stock-broker and M.P.—T.M. Morton, If I had a Thousand a Year (1764-1838).
Chevalier d'Industrie, a man who lives by his wits and calls himself a "gentleman."
Denicheur de fauvettes, chevalier de l'ordre del'industrie, qui va chercher quelque bon nid,
quelque femme qui lui fasse sa fortune.—Gongam
ou L'Homme Prodigieux (1713).
Chevalier Malfet (Le), so sir Launcelot calls himself after he was cured of his madness. The meaning of the phrase is "The knight who has done ill," or "The knight who has trespassed."—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 20 (1470).
Cheveril (Hans), the ward of Mordent, just come of age. Impulsive, generous, hot-blooded. He resolves to be a rake, but scorns to be a villain. However, he accidentally meets with Joanna "the deserted daughter," and falls in love with her. He rescues her from the clutches of Mrs. Enfield the crimp, and marries her.—Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (altered into The Steward).
The part that placed me [Walter Lacy] in theposition of a light comedian was "Cheveril," in
The Steward, altered from Holcroft's Deserted
Daughter.—W. Lacy, Letter to W.C. Russell.
Chibia'bos, the Harmony of Nature personified; a musician, the friend of Hiawatha, and ruler in the land of spirits. When he played on his pipe, the "brooks ceased to murmur, the wood-birds to sing, the squirrel to chatter, and the rabbit sat upright to look and listen." He was drowned in Lake Superior by the breaking of the ice.
Most beloved by HiawathaWas the gentle Chibiabos;
He the best of all musicians,
He the sweetest of all singers.
Longfellow, Hiawatha, vi. and xv.
Chibiabos, venerable chief in The Myth of Hiaiwatha and Other Oral Legends of North American Indians, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1856).
Chicaneau (She'.ka.no'), a litigious tradesman in Les Plaideurs, by Racine, (1668).
Chich'i-Vache (3 syl.), a monster that fed only on good women. The word means the "sorry cow." It was all skin and bone, because its food was so extremely scarce. (See BYCORN.)
O noble wyvês, full of heigh prudence,Let noon humilitie your tongês nayle.,
Lest Chichi-Vache you swalwe in her entraile.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("Clerk's Tale," 1388).
Chick (Mr.), brother-in-law of Mr. Dombey; a stout gentleman, with a tendency to whistle and hum airs at inopportune moments. Mr. Chick is somewhat henpecked; but in the matrimonial squalls, though apparently beaten, he not unfrequently rises up the superior and gets his own way.
Louisa Chick, Mr. Dombey's married sister. She is of a snappish temper, but dresses in the most juvenile style, and is persuaded that anything can be accomplished if persons will only "make an effort."—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Chicken (The), Michael Angelo Taylor, barrister, so called because in his maiden speech, 1785, he said, "I deliver this opinion with great deference, being but a chicken in the profession of the law."
Chicken (The Game), a low fellow, to be heard of at the bar of the Black Badger. Mr. Toots selects this man as his instructor in fencing, betting, and self-defence. The Chicken has short hair, a low forehead, a broken nose, and "a considerable tract of bare and sterile country behind each ear."—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Chickens and the Augurs. When the augurs told Publius Claudius Pulcher, the Roman consul, who was about to engage the Carthaginian fleet, that the sacred chickens would not eat, he replied, "Then toss them into the sea, that they may drink."
Chick'enstalker (Mrs.), a stout, bonny, kind-hearted woman, who keeps a general shop. Toby Veck, in his dream, imagines her married to Tugby, the porter of sir Joseph Bowley.—C. Dickens, The Chimes (1844).
Chick'weed (Conkey, i.e. Nosey), the man who robbed himself. He was a licensed victualler on the point of failing, and gave out that he had been robbed of 327 guineas "by a tall man with a black patch over his eye." He was much pitied, and numerous subscriptions were made on his behalf. A detective was sent to examine into the "robbery," and Chickweed would cry out, "There he is!" and run after the "hypothetical thief" for a considerable distance, and then lose sight of him. This occurred over and over again, and at last the detective said to him, "I've found out who done this here robbery." "Have you?" said Chickweed. "Yes," said Spyers, "you done it yourself." And so he had.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxi. (1837).
Chif'finch (Master Thomas), alias Will Smith, a friend of Richard Ganlesse (2 syl.). The private emissary of Charles II. He was employed by the duke of Buckingham to carry off Alice Bridgenorth to Whitehall, but the captive escaped and married Julian Peveril.
Kate Chiffinch, mistress of Thomas Chiffinch.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Chignon [Shin.yong], the French valet of Miss Alscrip "the heiress." A silly, affected, typical French valet-de-chambre.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1718).
Chi'lax, a merry old soldier, lieutenant to general Memnon, in Paphos.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (1617).
Child (The), Bettina, daughter of Maximiliane Brentano. So called from the title of her book, Goethe's Correspondence with a Child.
Child of Nature (The), a play by Mrs. Inchbald. Amantis was the "child of Nature." She was the daughter of Alberto, banished "by an unjust sentence," and during his exile he left his daughter under the charge of the marquis Almanza. Amantis was brought up in total ignorance of the world and the passion-principles which sway it, but felt grateful to her guardian, and soon discovered that what she called "gratitude" the world calls "love." Her father returned home rich, his sentence cancelled and his innocence allowed, just in time to give his daughter in marriage to his friend Almanza.
Childe Harold, a man sated with the world, who roams from place to place, to kill time and escape from himself. The "childe" is, in fact, lord Byron himself, who was only twenty-two when he began the poem, which was completed in seven years. In canto i. the "childe" visits Portugal and Spain (1809); in canto ii. Turkey in Europe (1810); in canto iii. Belgium and Switzerland (1816); and in canto iv. Venice, Rome, and Florence (1817).
("Childe" is a title of honor, about tantamount to "lord," as childe Waters, childe Rolande, childe Tristram, childe Arthur, childe Childers, etc.)
Chil'ders (E.W.B.), one of the riders in Sleary's circus, noted for his vaulting and reckless riding in the character of the "Wild Huntsman of the Prairies." This compound of groom and actor marries Josephine, Sleary's daughter.
Kidderminster Childers, son of the above, known in the profession as "Cupid." He is a diminutive boy, with an old face and facetious manner wholly beyond his years.—C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854).
Children (The Henneberg). It is said that the countess of Henneberg railed at a beggar for having twins, and the beggar, turning on the countess, who was forty-two years old, said, "May you have as many children as there are days in a year," and sure enough, on Good Friday, 1276, the countess brought forth 365 at one birth; all the males were christened John, and all the females Elizabeth. They were buried at a village near La Hague, and the jug is still shown in which they were baptized.
Children in the Wood, the little son (three years old) and younger daughter (Jane) left by a Norfolk gentleman on his death-bed to the care of his deceased wife's brother. The boy was to have £300 a year on coming of age, and the girl £500 as a wedding portion; but if the children died in their minority the money was to go to the uncle. The uncle, in order to secure the property, hired two ruffians to murder the children, but one of them relented and killed his companion; then, instead of murdering the babes, he left them in Wayland Wood, where they gathered blackberries, but died at night with cold and terror. All things went ill with the uncle, who perished in gaol, and the ruffian, after a lapse of seven years, confessed the whole villainy.—Percy, Reliques, III. ii. 18.
Children of the Mist, one of the branches of the MacGregors, a wild race of Scotch Highlanders, who had a skirmish with the soldiers in pursuit of Dalgetty and M'Eagh among the rocks (ch. 14).—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Chillip (Dr.), a physician who attended Mrs. Copperfield at the birth of David.
He was the meekest of his set, the mildest of little men.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield, i. (1849).
Chillon' (Prisoner of) François de Bonnivard, of Lunes, the Genevese patriot (1496-1571) who opposed the enterprises of Charles III. (the duke-bishop of Savoy) against the independence of Geneva, and was cast by him into the prison of Chillon, where he was confined for six years. Lord Byron makes him one of six brothers, two of whom died on the battle-field; one was burnt at the stake, and three were imprisoned at Chillon. Two of the prisoners died, but François was set at liberty by the people of Berne.—Byron, Prisoner of Chillon (1816).
Chimène (La Belle) or Xime'na, daughter of count Lozano de Gormaz, wife of the Cid. After the Cid's death she defended Valentia from the Moors with great bravery, but without success. Corneille and Guihem de Cantro have introduced her in their tragedies, but the rôle they represent her to have taken is wholly imaginary.
Chinaman (John), a man of China.
Chindasuin'tho (4 syl.), king of Spain, father of Theod'ofred, and grandfather of Roderick last of the Gothic kings.—Southey, Roderick, etc. (1814).
Chinese Philosopher (A). Oliver Goldsmith, in the Citizen of the World, calls his book "Letters from a Chinese Philosopher residing in London to his Friends in the East" (1759).
Chingachgook, the Indian chief, called in French Le Gros Serpent. Fenimore Cooper has introduced this chief into four of his novels, The Last of the Mohicans. The Pathfinder. The Deerslayer, and The Pioneer.
Chintz (Mary), Miss Bloomfield's maid, the bespoken of Jem Miller.—C. Selby, The Unfinished Gentleman.
Chi'os (The Man of), Homer, who lived at Chios [Ki'.os]. At least Chios was one of the seven cities which laid claim to the bard, according to the Latin hexameter verse:
Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios,Argos, Athenae.—Varro.
Chirn'side (Luckie), poulterer at Wolf's Hope village.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Chi'ron, a centaur, renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and prophecy. He numbered among his pupils Achilles, Peleus, Diomede, and indeed all the most noted heroes of Grecian story. Jupiter took him to heaven, and made him the constellation Sagittarius.
... as Chiron erst had doneTo that proud bane of Troy, her god-resembling
son [Achilles].
Drayton, Polyolbion, v. (1612).
Chirrup (Betsey), the housekeeper of Mr. Sowerberry, the misanthrope.—W. Brough, A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock.
Chita, the child orphaned by the fearful tragedy detailed in Lufcadio Hearn's Chita: A Memory of Last Island. The little one is dragged from her dead mother's neck while she has still the strength to cry out "Maman! maman!" and borne through the surf by the fisherman Felix, to the arms of his wife. Brought up as the child of the humble pair, she never suspects that the stranger who, years after, dies of yellow fever brought from New Orleans to Felix's hut is her father (1888).
Chitling (Tom), one of the associates of Fagin the Jew. Tom Chitling was always most deferential to the "Artful Dodger."—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Chivalry (The Flower of), William Douglas, lord of Liddesdale (fourteenth century).
Chlo'e [Klo'.e], the shepherdess beloved by Daphnis, in the pastoral romance called Daphnis and Chloé, by Longus. St. Pierre's tale of Paul and Virginia is based on this pastoral.
Chloe or rather Cloe. So Prior calls Mrs. Centlivre (1661-1723).
Chloe (Aunt), the faithful wife of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous book Uncle Tom's Cabin. She hires herself out to a pastry-cook to help redeem her husband after he is "sold South." Her exhortation, "Think o' your marcies, chillen! think o' your marcies!" is sincere, yet when Tom quotes, "Pray for them that despitefully use you," she sobs out, "Lor'! it's too tough! I can't pray for 'em!" (1852.)
Chloe (Aunt), "a homeless widow, of excellent Vermont intentions and high ideals in cup-cake, summoned to that most difficult of human tasks, the training of another woman's child.... She held it to be the first business of any woman who undertook the management of a literary family like her brother's to attend properly to its digestion."—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, The Story of Avis (1877).
Chlo'ris, the ancient Greek name of Flora.
Around your hauntsThe laughing Chloris with profusest hand
Throws wide her blooms and odors.
Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads.
Choe'reas (ch = k), the lover of Callirrhoê, in the Greek romance called The Loves of Choereas and Callirrhoê, by Char'iton (eighth century).
Choke (General), a lank North American gentleman, "one of the most remarkable men in the country." He was editor of The Watertoast Gazette, and a member of "The Eden Land Corporation." It was general Choke who induced Martin Chuzzlewit to stake his all in the egregious Eden swindle.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Cholmondeley [Chum'.ly], of Vale Royal, a friend of sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Choppard (Pierre), one of the gang of thieves, called "The Ugly Mug." When asked a disagreeable question, he always answered, "I'll ask my wife, my memory's so slippery."—Edward Stirling, The Courier of Lyons (1852).
Chriemhil'da. (See under K.)
Chrisom Child (A), a child that dies within a month of its birth. So called because it is buried in the white cloth anointed with chrism (oil and balm) worn at its baptism.
"He's in Arthur's [Abraham's] bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom [chrisom] child. 'A parted just ... at turning o' the tide." (Quickly's description of the death of Falstaff.)—Shakespeare, Henry V. act ii. sc. 3 (1599).
Why, Mike's a child to him ... a chrism child.Jean Ingelow, Brothers and a Sermon.
Chris'tabel (ch = k), the heroine of a fragmentary poem of the same title by Coleridge.
Christabel, the heroine of an ancient romance entitled Sir Eglamour of Artois.
Christabelle [Kris.'ta.bel], daughter of "a bonnie king of Ireland," beloved by sir Cauline (2 syl.). When the king knew of their loves he banished sir Cauline from the kingdom. Then as Christabelle drooped the king held a tournament for her amusement, every prize of which was carried off by an unknown knight in black. On the last day came a giant with two "goggling eyes, and mouthe from ear to ear," called the Soldain, and defied all comers. No one would accept his challenge save the knight in black, who succeeded in killing his adversary, but died himself of the wounds he had received. When it was discovered that the knight was sir Cauline, the lady "fette a sighe, that burst her gentle hearte in twayne."—Percy, Reliques ("Sir Cauline," I. i. 4).
Christian, the hero of Bunyan's allegory called The Pilgrim's Progress. He flees from the City of Destruction and journeys to the Celestial City. At starting he has a heavy pack upon his shoulders, which falls off immediately he reaches the foot of the cross. (The pack, of course, is the bundle of sin, which is removed by the blood of the cross. 1678.)
Christian, a follower of Christ. So called first at Antioch.—Acts xi. 26.
Christian, captain of the patrol in a small German town in which Mathis is burgomaster. He marries Annette, the burgomaster's daughter.—J. R. Ware, The Polish Jew.
Christian, synonym of "Peasant" in Russia. This has arisen from the abundant legislation under czar Alexis and czar Peter the Great, to prevent Christian serfs from entering the service of Mohammedan masters. No Christian is allowed to belong to a Mohammedan master, and no Mohammedan master is allowed to employ a Christian on his estate.
Christian II. (or Christiern), king of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. When the Dalecarlians rose in rebellion against him and chose Gustavus Vasa for their leader, a great battle was fought, in which the Swedes were victorious; but Gustavus allowed the Danes to return to their country. Christian then abdicated, and Sweden became an independent kingdom.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).
Chris'tian (Edward), a conspirator. He has two aliases, "Richard Gan'lesse" (2 syl.) and "Simon Can'ter."
Colonel William Christian, Edward's brother. Shot for insurrection.
Fenella alias Zarah Christian, daughter of Edward Christian.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, George II.).
Christian (Fletcher), mate of the Bounty, under the command of captain Bligh, and leader of the mutineers. After setting the captain and some others adrift, Christian took command of the ship, and, according to lord Byron, the mutineers took refuge in the island of Toobouai (one of the Society Islands). Here Torquil, one of the mutineers, married Neuha, a native. After a time a ship was sent to capture the mutineers. Torquil and Neuha escaped, and lay concealed in a cave; but Christian, Ben Bunting, and Skyscrape were shot. This is not according to fact, for Christian merely touched at Toobouai, and then, with eighteen of the natives and nine of the mutineers, sailed for Tahiti, where all soon died except Alexander Smith, who changed his name to John Adams, and became a model patriarch.—Byron, The Island.
Christian Doctor (Most), John Charlier de Gerson (1363-1429).
Christian Eloquence (The Founder of), Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704).
Christian King (Most). So the kings of France were styled. Pepin le Bref was so styled by pope Stephen III. (714-768). Charles II. le Chauve was so styled by the Council of Savonnières (823, 840-877). Louis XI. was so styled by Paul II. (1423, 1461-1483).
Christian'a (ch = k), the wife of Christian, who started with her children and Mercy from the City of Destruction long after her husband's flight. She was under the guidance of Mr. Greatheart, and went, therefore, with silver slippers along the thorny road. This forms the second part of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1684).
Chris'tie (2 syl.) of the Clint Hill, one of the retainers of Julian Avenel (2 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Chris'tie (John), ship-chandler at Paul's wharf.
Dame Nelly Christie, his pretty wife, carried off by lord Dalgarno.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Christi'na, daughter of Christian II. king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. She is sought in marriage by prince Arvi'da and by Gustavus Vasa; but the prince abandons his claim in favor of his friend. After the great battle, in which Christian is defeated by Gustavus, Christina clings to her father, and pleads with Gustavus on his behalf. He is sent back to Denmark, with all his men, without ransom, but abdicates, and Sweden is erected into a separate kingdom.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).
Christina Purcell, a happy, pure girl, whose sheltered life and frank innocence contrast strongly with the heavy shadows glooming over outcast "Nixy" in Hedged In.
She [Nixy], looking in from the street at mother and child, wondered if the lady here and the white daughter were religious; if it were because people were white and religious that they all turned her from their doors,—then, abruptly, how she would look sitting in the light of a porcelain lamp, with a white sack on.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Hedged In (1870).
Chris'tine (2 syl.), a pretty, saucy young woman in the service of the countess Marie, to whom she is devotedly attached. After the recapture of Ernest ("the prisoner of state"), she goes boldly to king Frederick II., from whom she obtains his pardon. Being set at liberty, Ernest marries the countess.—E. Stirling, The Prisoner of State (1847).
Christine Dryfoos, the undisciplined, showy daughter of a self-made man in W. D. Howells's A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889).
She was self-possessed because she felt that a knowledge of her father's fortune had got around, and she had the peace which money gives to ignorance. She is madly in love with Beaton, whose attentions have raised expectations he concluded not to fulfill. At their last meeting she felt him more than life to her, and knew him lost, and the frenzy that makes a woman kill the man she loves or fling vitriol to destroy the beauty she cannot have for all hers possessed her lawless soul.... She flashed at him, and with both hands made a feline pass at the face he bent towards her.
Christmas Treasures. Eugene Field, in A Little Book of Western Verse, gives a father's soliloquy over such treasures as
The little toy my darling knew,A little sock of faded hue,
A little lock of golden hair,
all that remains to him who,
As he lisped his evening prayerAsked the boon with childish grace,
Then, toddling to the chimney-place,
He hung his little stocking there.
(1889.)
Chris'topher (St.), a saint of the Roman and Greek Churches, said to have lived in the third century. His pagan name was Offerus, his body was twelve ells in height, and he lived in the land of Canaan. Offerus made a vow to serve only the mightiest; so, thinking the emperor was "the mightiest," he entered his service. But one day the emperor crossed himself for fear of the devil, and the giant perceived that there was one mightier than his present master, so he quitted his service for that of the devil. After awhile. Offerus discovered that the devil was afraid of the cross, whereupon he enlisted under Christ, employing himself in carrying pilgrims across a deep stream. One day, a very small child was carried across by him, but proved so heavy that Offerus, though a huge giant, was well-nigh borne down by the weight. This child was Jesus, who changed the giant's name to Christoferus, "bearer of Christ." He died three days afterwards, and was canonized.
Like the great giant Christopher, it standsUpon the brink of the tempestuous wave.
Longfellow, The Lighthouse.
Christopher Wright, otherwise "Uncle Christopher," is the consequential oracle of the neighborhood, and the father of six daughters, in Clovernook, by Alice Cary (1851).
Christ's Victory and Triumphs, a poem in four parts, by Giles Fletcher (1610): Part i. "Christ's Victory in Heaven," when He reconciled Justice with Mercy, by taking on Himself a body of human flesh; part ii. "Christ's Triumph on Earth," when He was led up into the wilderness, and was tempted by Presumption, Avarice, and Ambition; part iii. "Christ's Triumph over Death," when He died on the Cross; part iv. "Christ's Triumph after Death," in His resurrection and ascension. (See PARADISE REGAINED.)
Chroniclers (Anglo-Norman), a series of writers on British history in verse, of very early date. Geffroy Gaimar wrote his Anglo-Norman chronicle before 1146. It is a history in verse of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Robert Wace wrote the Brut d'Angleterre [i.e., Chronicle of England] in eight-syllable verse, and presented his work to Henry II. It was begun in 1160 and finished in 1170.
Chroniclers (Latin), historical writers of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Chroniclers (Rhyming), a series of writers on English history, from the thirteenth century. The most noted are: Layamon (called "The English Ennius") bishop of Ernleye-upon-Severn (1216). Robert of Gloucester, who wrote a narrative of British history from the landing of Brute to the close of the reign of Henry III. (to 1272). No date is assigned to the coming of Brute, but he was the son of Silvius Aene'as (the third generation from Æneas, who escaped from Troy, B.C. 1183), so that the date may be assumed to be B.C. 1028, thus giving a scope of 2300 years to the chronicle. (The verse of this chronicle is eight and six syllables displayed together, so as to form lines of fourteen syllables each.) Robert de Brunne's chronicle is in two parts. The first ends with the death of Cadwallader, and the second with the death of Edward I. The earlier parts are similar to the Anglo-Norman chronicle of Wace. (The verse is octo-syllabic.)
Chronicles of Canongate, certain stories supposed to have been written by Mrs. Martha Bethune Baliol, a lady of quality and fortune, who lived, when in Edinburgh, at Baliol Lodging, in the Canongate. These tales were written at the request of her cousin, Mr. Croftangry, by whom, at her death, they were published. The first series contains The Highland Widow, The Two Drovers, and The Surgeon's Daughter [afterwards removed from this series]. The second series contains The Fair Maid of Perth.—Sir W. Scott.
"Chronicles of Canongate" (introduction to The Highland Widow).
Chronology (The father of), J. J. Scaliger (1540-1609).
Chronon—Hoton—Thol'ogos (King). He strikes Bombardin'ian, general of his forces, for giving him hashed pork, and saying, "Kings as great as Chrononhotonthologos have made a hearty meal on worse." The king calls his general a traitor. "Traitor in thy teeth!" retorts the general. They fight, and the king dies.—H. Carey, Chrononhotonthologos (a burlesque).
Chrysalde' (2 syl.), friend of Arnolphe.—Molière, L'École des Femmes (1662).
Chrysale (2 syl.), a simple-minded, henpecked French tradesman, whose wife Philaminte (3 syl.) neglects her house for the learned languages, women's rights, and the aristocracy of mind. He is himself a plain practical man, who has no sympathy with the bas bleu movement. He has two daughters, Armande (2 syl.) and Henriette, both of whom love Clitandre; but Armande, who is a "blue-stocking," loves him platonically; while Henriette, who is a "thorough woman," loves him with a woman's love. Chrysale sides with his daughter Henriette, and when he falls into money difficulties through the "learned proclivities" of his wife, Clitandre comes forward like a man, and obtains the consent of both parents to his marriage with Henriette.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Chrysa'or (ch = k), the sword of sir Ar'tegal, which "exceeded all other swords." It once belonged to Jove, and was used by him against the Titans, but it had been laid aside till Astraea gave it to the Knight of Justice.
Of most perfect metal it was made, Tempered with adamant ... no substance was so ... hard But it would pierce or cleave whereso it came. Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. (1596).
The poet tells us it was broken to pieces by Radigund
queen of the Amazons (bk. v. 7), yet it reappears whole and sound (canto
12), when it is used with good service against Grantorto (the spirit of
rebellion). Spenser says it was called Chrysaor because "the blade was
garnished all with gold."
Chrysa'or, son of Neptune and Medu'sa. He married Callir'rhoê (4 syl.), one of the sea-nymphs.
Chrysaor rising out of the sea,Showed thus glorious and thus emulous,
Leaving the arms of Callirrhoê.
Longfellow, The Evening Star.
Chryseis [Kri see'.iss], daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. She was famed for her beauty and her embroidery. During the Trojan war Chryseis was taken captive and allotted to Agamemnon king of Argos, but her father came to ransom her. The king would not accept the offered ransom, and Chrysês prayed that a plague might fall on the Grecian camp. His prayer was answered, and in order to avert the plague Agamemnon sent the lady back to her father not only without ransom but with costly gifts.—Homer, Iliad, i.
Chrysostom, a famous scholar, who died for love of Marcella, "rich William's daughter."
Chucks, the boatswain under Captain Savage.—Captain Marryat, Peter Simple (1833).
Chuffey, Anthony Chuzzlewit's old clerk, almost in his dotage, but master and man love each other with sincerest affection.
Chuffey fell back into a dark corner on one side of the fire-place, where he always spent his evenings, and was neither seen nor heard.... save once, when a cup of tea was given him, in which he was seen to soak his bread mechanically.... He remained, as it were, frozen up; if any term expressive of such a vigorous process can be applied to him—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xi. (1843).
Chunée (À la), very huge and bulky. Chunée was the largest elephant ever brought to England. Henry Harris, manager of Covent Garden, bought it for £900 to appear in the pantomime of Harlequin Padmenaba, in 1810. It was subsequently sold to Cross, the proprietor of Exeter 'Change. Chunée at length became mad, and was shot by a detachment of the Guards, receiving 152 wounds. The skeleton is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons. It is 12 feet 4 inches high.
Church built by Voltaire. Voltaire, the atheist, built, at Ferney, a Christian church, and had this inscription affixed to it "Deo erexit Voltaire." Campbell, in the Life of Cowper (vol. vii., 358) says, "he knows not to whom Cowper alludes in these lines:"
Nor his who for the bane of thousands born,Built God a church, and laughed His word to scorn.
Cowper, Retirement (1782).
Churm. Guide, philosopher, and friend of Robert Byng, in Cecil Dreeme. A noted philanthropist, the fame of whose benevolence is the Open Sesame to an insane asylum in which his child is incarcerated. —Theodore Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme (1861).
Chuzzlewit (Anthony), cousin of Martin Chuzzlewit, the grandfather. Anthony is an avaricious old hunks, proud of having brought up his son, Jonas, to be as mean and grasping as himself. His two redeeming points are his affection for his old old servant, Chuffey, and his forgiveness of Jonas after his attempt to poison him.
The old established firm of Anthony Chuzzlewit and Son, Manchester warehousemen ... had its place of business in a very narrow street somewhere behind the Post Office.... A dim, dirty, smoky, tumble-down, rotten old house it was ... but here the firm ... transacted their business ... and neither the young man nor the old one had any other residence.—Chap. xi.
Jonas Chuzzlewit, son of Anthony, of the "firm of Anthony Chuzzlewit and Son, Manchester warehousemen." A consummate villain of mean brutality and small tyranny. He attempts to poison his old father, and murders Montague Tigg, who knows his secret. Jonas marries Mercy Pecksniff, his cousin, and leads her a life of utter misery. His education had been conducted on money-grubbing principles; the first word he was taught to spell was gain, and the second, money. He poisons himself to save his neck from the gallows.
This fine young man had all the inclination of a profligate of the first water, and only lacked the one good trait in the common catalogue of debauched vices—open-handedness—to be a notable vagabond. But there his griping and penurious habits stepped in.—Chap. xi.
Martin Chuzzlewit, sen., grandfather to the hero of the same name. A stern old man, whose kind heart has been turned to gall by the dire selfishness of his relations. Being resolved to expose Pecksniff, he goes to live in his house, and pretends to be weak in intellect, but keeps his eyes sharp open, and is able to expose the canting scoundrel in all his deformity.
Martin Chuzzlewit, jun., the hero of the tale called Martin Chuzzlewit, grandson to old Martin. His nature has been warped by bad training, and, at first, he is both selfish and exacting; but the troubles and hardships he undergoes in "Eden" completely transform him, and he becomes worthy of Mary Graham, whom he marries.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Cyndo'nax, a chief druid, whose tomb (with a Greek inscription) was discovered near Dijon, in 1598.
Ciacco' (2 syl.), a glutton, spoken to by Dantê, in the third circle of hell, the place in which gluttons are consigned to endless woe. The word means "a pig," and is not a proper name, but only a symbolical one.—Dantê, Hell, vi. (1300).
Ciacco, thy dire affliction grieves me much.Hell, vi.
Cicero. When the great Roman orator was given up by Augustus to the revenge of Antony, it was a cobbler who conducted the sicarii to Formiae, whither Cicero had fled in a litter, intending to put to sea. His bearers would have fought, but Cicero forbade them, and one Herennius has the unenviable notoriety of being his murderer.
It was a cobbler that set the murderers on Cicero.—Ouida, Ariadnê, i. 6.
Cicero of the British Senate, George Canning (1770-1827).
Cicero of France, Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742).
Cicero of Germany, John, Elector of Brandenburg (1455, 1486-1499).
Cicero's Mouth, Philippe Pot, Prime Minister of Louis XL (1428-1494).
The British Cicero, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708-1778).
The Christian Cicero, Lucius Coelius Lactantius (died 330).
The German Cicero, Johann Sturm, printer and scholar (1507-1589).
Cicely (Sweet). Heroine of novel by Marietta Holley, better known as "Josiah Allen's wife." (1885).
Cicely Humphreys. Putative daughter of Bothwell and Marie Stuart; who is made the companion of her mother's journeyings and captivity.—C.M. Yonge, Unknown to History (1885).
Cyclinius, mistake in one only manuscript of Chaucer for Cyllenius, a name of Mercury, from his birth-place, Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia.
Cyclinius (Cyllenius) riding in his chevauchie. Chaucer, Complaint of Mars and Venus.
Cid (The) = Seid or Signior, also called Campeador [Cam.pa'.dor] or "Camp hero." Rodrigue Diaz de Bivar was surnamed "the Cid." The great hero of Castille, he was born at Burgos, 1030, and died, 1099. He signalized himself by his exploits in the reigns of Ferdinand, Sancho II., and Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castille. In the wars between Sancho II. and his brother (Alphonso VI.), he sided with the former; and, on the assassination of Sancho, was disgraced, and quitted the court. He then assembled his vassals and marched against the Moors, whom he conquered in several battles, so that Alphonso was necessitated to recall him. Both Corneille and Guilhem de Cantro have admirable tragedies on the subject; Ross Neil has an English drama called The Cid; Sanchez, in 1775, wrote a long poem of 1128 verses, called Poema del Cid Campeador. Southey, in his Chronicle of the Cid (1808), has collected all that is known of this extraordinary hero. (It was The Cid (1636) which gained for Corneille the title of "Le Grand Corneille.")
The Cid's Father, Don Diego Lainez.
The Cid's Mother, Doña Teresa Nnñez.
The Cid's Wife, Xime'na, daughter of the Count Lozano de Gormaz. The French called her La Belle Chimène, but the rôle ascribed to her by Corneille is wholly imaginary.
Never more to thine own castleWilt thou turn Babieca's rein;
Never will thy loved Ximena
See thee at her side again.
The Cid.
The Cid's Children. His two daughters were Elvi'ra and Sol; his son, Diego Rodriquez, died young.
The Cid's Horse was Babieca [either Bab.i.e'.keh or Ba.bee.'keh]. It survived its master two years and a half, but no one was allowed to mount it. Babieca was buried before the monastery gates of Valencia, and two elms were planted to mark the spot.
Troth it goodly was and pleasantTo behold him at their head,
All in mail on Babieca,
And to list the words he said.
The Cid.
(Here "Babieca" is 4 syl., but in the verse above it is only 3 syl.).
The Cid's Swords, Cola'da and Tizo'na ("terror of the world"). The latter was taken by him from King Bucar.
Cid (The Portuguese), Nunez Alva'rez Perei'ra (1360-1431).
Cid Hamet Benengeli, the hypothetical author of Don Quixote. (See BENENGELI).
Spanish commentators have discovered this pseudonym to be only an Arabian version of Signior Cervantes. Cid, i.e., "signior;" Hamet, a Moorish prefix; and Ben-en-geli, meaning "son of a stag." So cervato ("a young stag") is the basis of the name Cervantes.
Cidli, the daughter of Jairus, restored to life by Jesus. She was beloved by Sem'ida, the young man of Nain, also raised by Jesus from the dead.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iv. (1771).
Cigarette. Vivandiére in the French army in Algiers. Passionate, wilful, tender and brave, she gives her life to save that of the man she loves.—Ouida, Under Two Flags.
Cimmerian Darkness. Homer places the Cimmerians beyond the Oceanus, in a land of never-ending gloom; and immediately after Cimmeria, he places the empire of Hadês. Pliny (Historia Naturalis, vi. 14) places Cimmeria near the Lake Avernus, in Italy, where "the sun never penetrates." Cimmeria is now called Kertch, but the Cossacks call it Prekla (Hell).
Cincinnatus, virtuous Roman patriot called from the plough to serve the State.
Cincinna'tus of the Americans, George Washington (1732-1799).
Cinderella, the heroine of a fairy tale. She was the drudge of the house, "put upon" by her two elder sisters. While the elder sisters were at a ball, a fairy came, and having arrayed the "little cinder-girl" in ball costume, sent her in a magnificent coach to the palace where the ball was given. The prince fell in love with her, but knew not who she was. This, however, he discovered by means of a "glass slipper" which she dropped, and which fitted no foot but her own.
(This tale is substantially the same as that of Rhodopis and Psammitichus in Ælian [Var. Hist., xiii., 32]. A similar one is also told in Strabo (Geog. xvii).)
The glass slipper should be the fur slipper, pantoufle en vair, not en verre; our version being taken from the Contes de Fees of C. Perrault (1697).
Cindy, maid-of-all-work in the Derrick household, in Susan Warner's Say and Seal. With the freedom of Yankee help she is "'boun' to confess" whatever occurs to her mind in season and out of season. (1860).
Cinna, a tragedy by Pierre Corneille (1637). Mdlle. Rachel, in 1838, took the part of Emilie the heroine, and made a great sensation in Paris.
Cinq-Mars, (H. Coiffier de Ruze, marquis de), favorite of Louis XIII. and protégé of Richelieu (1620-1642). Irritated by the cardinal's opposition to his marriage with Marie de Gonzague, Cinq-Mars tried to overthrow or to assassinate him. Gaston, the king's brother, sided with the conspirator, but Richelieu discovered the plot, and Cinq-Mars, being arrested, was condemned to death. Alfred de Vigny published, in 1826, a novel (in imitation of Scott's historical novels) on the subject, under the title of Cinq-Mars.
Cinquecento (3 syl.), the fifteenth century of Italian notables. They were Ariosto (1474-1533), Tasso (1544-1595), and Giovanni Rucellai (1475-1526), poets; Raphael (1483-1520), Titian (1480-1576), and Michael Angelo (1474-1564), painters. These, with Machiavelli, Luigi Alamanni, Bernardo Baldi, etc., make up what is termed the "Cinquecentesti." The word means the worthies of the '500 epoch, and it will be observed that they all flourished between 1500 and the close of that century. (See SEICENTA).
Ouida writes in winter mornings at a Venetianwriting-table of cinquecento work that
would enrapture the souls of the virtuosi who
haunt Christie's.—E. Yates, Celebrities, xix.
Cipan'go or Zipango, a marvellous island described in the Voyages of Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller. He described it as lying some 1500 miles from land. This island was an object of diligent search with Columbus and other early navigators, but belongs to that wonderful chart which contains the El Dorado of Sir Walter Raleigh, the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, the Atlantis of Lord Bacon, the Laputa of Dean Swift, and other places better known in story than in geography.
Circe (2 syl.), a sorceress who metamorphosed the companions of Ulysses into swine. Ulysses resisted the enchantment by means of the herb moly, given him by Mercury.
Who knows not Circe,The daughter of the sun, whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a grovelling swine?
Milton, Comus (1634).
Circuit (Serjeant), in Foote's farce called The Lame Lover.
Cis'ley or Ciss, any dairy-maid. Tusser frequently speaks of the "dairy-maid Cisley," and in April Husbandry tells Ciss she must carefully keep these ten guests from her cheeses: Gehazi, Lot's wife, Argus, Tom Piper, Crispin, Lazarus, Esau, Mary Maudlin, Gentiles and bishops. (1)Gehazi, because a cheese should never be a dead white, like Gehazi the leper. (2) Lot's wife, because a cheese should not be too salt, like Lot's wife. (3) Argus, because a cheese should not be full of eyes, like Argus. (4) Tom Piper, because a cheese should not be "hoven and puffed," like the cheeks of a piper. (5) Crispin, because a cheese should not be leathery, as if for a cobbler's use. (6) Lazarus, because a cheese should not be poor, like the beggar Lazarus. (7) Esau, because a cheese should not be hairy, like Esau. (8) Mary Maudlin, because a cheese should not be full of whey, as Mary Maudlin was full of tears. (9) Gentiles, because a cheese should not be full of maggots or gentils. (10) Bishops, because a cheese should not be made of burnt milk, or milk "banned by a bishop."—T. Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, ("April," 1557).
Citizen (The), a farce by Arthur Murphy. George Philpot is destined to be the husband of Maria Wilding, but as Maria Wilding is in love with Beaufort, she behaves so sillily to her betrothed that he refuses to marry her, whereupon she gives her hand to Beaufort (1757).
City Madam (The), a comedy by Philip Massinger (1633). She was the daughter of a farmer named Goodman Humble, and married a merchant, Sir John Frugal, who became immensely wealthy, but retired from business, and by a deed of gift transferred his wealth to his brother Luke, whereby madam and her daughter were both dependent on him. During her days of wealth the extravagance of Lady Frugal was unbounded, and her dress costly beyond conception; but Luke reduced her state to that of farmers' daughters in general. Luke says to her:
You were served in plate;Stirred not a foot without a coach, and going
To church, not for devotion, but to show
Your pomp.
The City Madam is an extraordinarily spirited picture of actual life, idealized into a semi-comic strain of poetry.—Professor Spaulding.
Cladpole (Tim), Richard Lower, of Chiddingly, author of Tom Cladpole's Journey to Lunnun (1831); Jan Cladpole's Trip to 'Merricur (1844), etc.
Claimant (The). William Knollys, in in The Great Banbury Case, claimed the baronetcy, but was non-suited. This suit lasted 150 years (1660-1811).
Douglas v. Hamilton, in The Great Douglas Case, was settled in favor of the claimant, who was at once raised to the peerage under the name and title of Baron Douglas of Douglas Castle, but was not restored to the title of duke (1767-1769).
Tom Provis, a schoolmaster of ill repute, who had married a servant of Sir Hugh Smithes of Ashton Hall, near Bristol, claimed the baronetcy and estates, but was non-suited and condemned to imprisonment for twenty-one years (1853).
Arthur Orton, who claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne (drowned at sea). He was non-suited and sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment for perjury (1871-1872).
Claire Twining, daughter of a refined man, the scion of an old English family and a vulgar woman who marries him to escape from poverty. After his death, the daughter begins her career of rising in the social scale, using a wealthy school-fellow as the first step, a well-born husband as the last. The emptiness and vanity of what she gained are well set forth in An Ambitious Woman, by Edgar Fawcett. (1883).
Clandestine Marriage (The). Fanny Sterling, the younger daughter of Mr. Sterling, a rich city merchant, is clandestinely married to Mr. Lovewell, an apprentice in the house, of good family; and Sir John Melvil is engaged to Miss Sterling, the elder sister. Lord Ogleby is a guest in the merchant's house. Sir John prefers Fanny to her elder sister, and, not knowing of her marriage, proposes to her, but is rejected. Fanny appeals to Lord Ogleby, who, being a vain old fop, fancies she is in love with him, and tells Sterling he means to make her a countess. Matters being thus involved, Lovewell goes to consult with Fanny about declaring their marriage, and the sister, convinced that Sir John is shut up in her sister's room, rouses the house with a cry of "Thieves!" Fanny and Lovewell now make their appearance. All parties are scandalized. But Fanny declares they have been married four months, and Lord Ogleby takes their part. So all ends well.—G. Colman and D. Garrick (1766).
This comedy is a réchauffé of The False Concord, by Rev. James Townley, many of the characters and much of the dialogue being preserved.
Cla'ra, in Otway's comedy called The Cheats of Scapin, an English version of Les Fourberies de Scapin, by Molière, represents the French character called "Hyacinthe." Her father is called by Otway "Gripe," and by Molière "Géronte" (2 syl.); her brother is "Leander," in French "Leandre;" and her sweetheart "Octavian" son of "Thrifty," in French "Octave" son of "Argante." The sum of money wrung from Gripe is £200, but that squeezed out of Géronte is 1,500 livres.
Clara [d'Almanza], daughter of Don Guzman of Seville, beloved by Don Ferdinand, but destined by her mother for a cloister. She loves Ferdinand, but repulses him from shyness and modesty, quits home and takes refuge in St. Catherine's Convent. Ferdinand discovers her retreat, and after a few necessary blunders they are married.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1773).
Clara (Donna), the troth-plight wife of Octavio. Her affianced husband, having killed Don Felix in a duel, was obliged to lie perdu for a time, and Clara, assuming her brother's clothes and name, went in search of him. Both came to Salamanca, both set up at the Eagle, both hired the same servant, Lazarillo, and ere long they met, recognized each other, and became man and wife.—Jephson, Two Strings to your Bow (1792).
Clara [DOUGLAS], a lovely girl of artless mind, feeling heart, great modesty, and well accomplished. She loved Alfred Evelyn, but refused to marry him because they were both too poor to support a house. Evelyn was left an immense fortune, and proposed to Georgina Vesey, but Georgina gave her hand to Sir Frederick Blount. Being thus disentangled, Evelyn again proposed to Clara, and was joyfully accepted.—Lord L. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Clarchen [Kler'.kn], a female character in Goethe's Egmont, noted for her constancy and devotion.
Clare (Ada), cousin of Richard Carstone, both of whom are orphans and wards in Chancery. They marry each other, but Richard dies young, blighted by the law's delays in the great Chancery suit of "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce."—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Clarence (George Duke of), introduced by Sir W. Scott in Anne of Geierstein (time Edward IV.).
Clarence and the Malmsey Butt. According to tradition, George, Duke of Clarence, having joined Warwick to replace Henry VI. on the throne, was put to death, and the choice being offered him, was drowned in a butt of malmsey wine (1478).
Clarendon (The Earl of), Lord Chancellor to Charles II. Introduced by Sir W. Scott in Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Claribel (Sir), surnamed "The Lewd." One of the six knights who contended for the false Florimel.—Spenser, Faery Queen, iv. 9 (1593).
Clar'ibel, the pseudonym of Mrs. Barnard, author of numerous popular songs (from 1865 to).
Clar'ice (3 syl.), wife of Rinaldo, and sister of Huon of Bordeaux. Introduced in the romances of Bojardo, Ariosto, Tasso, etc.
Clarin or Clarin'da, the confidential maid of Radigund, queen of the Am'azons. When the queen had got Sir Ar'tegal into her power, and made him change his armor for an apron, and his sword for a distaff, she fell in love with the captive, and sent Clarin to win him over by fair promises and indulgences. Clarin performed the appointed mission, but fell in love herself with the knight, and told the queen that Sir Artegal was obstinate, and rejected her advances with scorn.—Spenser, Faery Queen, v. 5 (1596).
Clarinda, the heroine of Mrs. Centlivre's drama The Beau's Duel (1703).
"Estifania," in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, by Beaumont and
Fletcher.
Clarin'da, a merry, good-humored, high-spirited lady, in love with Charles Frankly. The madcap Ranger is her cousin.—Dr. Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1747).
Clarinda of Robert Burns, was Mrs. Maclehose, who was alive in 1833.
Clarion, the son and heir of Muscarol. He was the fairest and most prosperous of all the race of flies. Aragnol, the son of Arachnê (the spider), entertained a deep and secret hatred of the young prince, and set himself to destroy him; so, weaving a most curious net, Clarion was soon caught, and Aragnol gave him his death-wound by piercing him under the left wing.—Spenser Muiopotmos or The Butterfly's Fate (1590).
Claris'sa, wife of Gripe the scrivener. A lazy, lackadaisical, fine city lady, who thinks "a woman must be of mechanic mold who is either troubled or pleased with anything her husband can do" (act i. 3). She has "wit and beauty, with a fool to her husband," but though "fool," a hard, grasping, mean old hunks.
Claris'sa, sister of Beverley, plighted to George Bellmont.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong, (1761).
Clarissa Harlowe. (See HARLOWE.)
Clark (The Rev T.)., the pseudonym of John Gall, the novelist (1779 1839).
Clarke (The Rev. C. C.), one of the many pseudonyms of Sir Richard Phillips, author of The Hundred Wonders of the World (1818), Readings in Natural Philosophy.
Clarsie, the mountain maid who, going out at dawn to "try her fortune," discovers the "Harnt" that walks Chilhowee.—Charles Egbert Craddock (Mary Noailles Murfree), In the Tennessee Mountains (1884).
Cla'tho, the last wife of Fingal and mother of Fillan, Fingal's youngest son.
Claude (The English), Richard Wilson (1714-1782).
Clau'dine (2 syl.), wife of the porter of the hotel Harancour, and old nurse of Julio "the deaf and dumb" count. She recognizes the lad, who had been rescued by De l'Epée from the streets of Paris, and brought up by him under the name of Theodore. Ultimately, the guardian Darlemont confesses that he had sent him adrift under the hope of getting rid of him; but being proved to be the count, he is restored to his rank and property.—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).
Claudio (Lord) of Florence, a friend of Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, and engaged to Hero (daughter of Leonato, governor of Messina)—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).
Claudio, condemned to die for betraying his mistress Juliet, tries to buy his life at the sacrifice of his sister Isabella's honor, shamefully pursued by Angelo, the Duke's deputy.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.
Clau'dius, King of Denmark, who poisoned his brother, married the widow, and usurped the throne. Claudius induced Laertes to challenge Hamlet to play with foils, but persuaded him to poison his weapon. In the combat the foils got changed, and Hamlet wounded Laertes with the poisoned weapon. In order still further to secure the death of Hamlet, Claudius had a cup of poisoned wine prepared, which he intended to give Hamlet when he grew thirsty with playing. The queen, drinking of this cup, died of poison, and Hamlet, rushing on Claudius, stabbed him and cried aloud, "Here, thou incestuous, murderous Dane.... Follow my mother!"—Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).
In the History
of Hamblet, Claudius is called "Fengon," a far better name for a Dane.
Claudius, the instrument of Appius the decemvir for entrapping Virginia. He pretended that Virginia was his slave, who had been stolen from him and sold to Virginius.—J. S. Knowles, Virginius (1820).
Claudius (Mathias), a German poet born at Rheinfeld, and author of the famous song called Rheinweinlied ("Rhenish wine song"), sung at all convivial feasts of the Germans.
Claudius, though he sang of flagons,And huge tankards filled with Rhenish,
From the fiery blood of dragons
Never would his own replenish.
Longfellow, Drinking Song.
Claus (Peter). (See under K.)
Claus (Santa), a familiar name for St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. On Christmas Eve German children have presents stowed away in their socks and shoes while they are asleep, and the little credulous ones suppose that Santa Claus or Klaus placed them there.
St. Nicholas is said to have supplied three destitute maidens with marriage portions by secretly leaving money with their widowed mother, and as his day occurs just before Christmas, he was selected for the gift-giver on Christmas Eve.—Yonge.
"Claverhouse," or the Marquis of Argyll, a kinsman of Ravenswood, introduced by Sir W. Scott in The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Claver'house (3 syl.), John Graham of Claverhouse (Viscount Dundee), a relentless Jacobite, so rapacious and profane, so violent in temper and obdurate of heart, that every Scotchman hates the name. He hunted the Covenanters with real vindictiveness, and is a by-word for barbarity and cruelty (1650-1689).
Clavijo (Don), a cavalier who "could touch the guitar to admiration, write poetry, dance divinely, and had a fine genius for making bird-cages." He married the Princess Antonomesia of Candaya, and was metamorphosed by Malambru/no into a crocodile of some unknown metal. Don Quixote disenchanted him "by simply attempting the adventure."— Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 4, 5 (1615).
Clavilen'o, the wooden horse on which Don Quixote got astride in order to disenchant the Infanta Antonoma'sia, her husband, and the Countess Trifaldi (called the "Dolori'da Dueña"). It was "the very horse on which Peter of Provence carried off the fair Magalone, and was constructed by Merlin." This horse was called Clavileno or wooden Peg, because it was governed by a wooden pin in the forehead.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 4, 5 (1615).
There is one peculiar advantage attending this horse; he neither eats, drinks, sleeps, nor wants shoeing.... His name is not Pegasus, nor Bucephalus; nor is it Brilladoro, the name of the steed of Orlando Furioso; neither is it Bayarte, which belonged to Reynaldo de Montalbon; nor Bootes, nor Peritoa, the horses of the sun; but his name is Clavileno the Winged.—Chap. 4.
Claypole (Noah), alias "Morris Bolter," an ill-conditioned charity-boy, who takes down the shutters of Sowerberry's shop and receives broken meats from Charlotte (Sowerberry's servant), whom he afterwards marries.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Clay and Randolph. In his Thirty Years' View, Thomas Hart Benton gives a graphic description of the famous duel between Henry Clay and John Randolph, of Roanoke (April 8, 1826).
After two shots had been exchanged without injury to either, the two statesmen shook hands, Randolph remarking: "You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay," a bullet having passed through his; and Mr. Clay answered: "I am glad the debt is no greater!" (1854).
Cleante (2 syl.), brother-in-law of Orgon. He is distinguished for his genuine piety, and is both high-minded and compassionate.—Molière, La Tartuffe (1664).
Cléante (2 Syl.), son of Har'pagon the miser, in love with Mariane (3 syl.). Harpagon, though 60 years old, wished to marry the same young lady, but Cléante solved the difficulty thus: He dug up a casket of gold from the garden, hidden under a tree by the miser, and while Harpagon was raving about the loss of his gold, Cléante told him he might take his choice between Mariane and the gold. The miser preferred the casket, which was restored to him, and Cléante married Mariane.—Molière, L'Avar (1667).
Cléante (2 syl.), the lover of Angelique, daughter of Argan the malade imaginaire. As Argan had promised Angelique in marriage to Thomas Diafoirus, a young surgeon, Cléante carries on his love as a music-master, and though Argan is present, the lovers sing to each other their plans under the guise of an interlude called "Tircis and Philis." Ultimately, Argan assents to the marriage of his daughter with Cléante.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire (1673).
Clean'the (2 syl.), sister of Siphax of Paphos.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (1617).
Cleanthe (3 syl.), the lady beloved by Ion.—Talfourd, Ion (1835).
Clean'thes (3 syl.), son of Leon'idês and husband of Hippolita, noted for his filial piety. The Duke of Epire made a law that all men who had attained the age of 80 should be put to death as useless incumbrances of the commonwealth. Simonidês, a young libertine, admired the law, but Cleanthês looked on it with horror, and determined to save his father from its operation. Accordingly, he gave out that his father was dead, and an ostentatious funeral took place; but Cleanthês retired to a wood, where he concealed Leon'idês, while he and his wife waited on him and administered to his wants.—The Old Law (a comedy of Philip Massinger, T. Middleton, and W. Rowley, 1620).
Clegg (Holdfast), a Puritan mill-wright.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Cleish'botham (Jededi'ah), schoolmaster and parish clerk of Gandercleuch, who employed his assistant teacher to arrange and edit the tales told by the landlord of the Wallace Inn of the same parish. These tales the editor disposed in three series, called by the general title of The Tales of My Landlord (q.v.). (See introduction to The Black Dwarf.) Of course the real author is Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
Mrs. Dorothea Cleishbotham, wife of the schoolmaster, a perfect Xantippê, and a "sworn sister of the Eumen'idês."
Cle'lia or Cloe'lia, a Roman maiden, one of the hostages given to Por'sena. She made her escape from the Etruscan camp by swimming across the Tiber. Being sent back by the Romans, Porsena not only set her at liberty for her gallant deed, but allowed her to take with her a part of the hostages. Mdlle. Scudéri has a novel on the subject, entitled Clélie, Histoire Romaine.
Our statues—not those that men desire—Sleek odalisques [Turkish slaves] ... but
The Carian Artemisia ... [See Artemisia.]
Clelia, Cornelia ... and the Roman brows
Of Agrippina.
Tennyson, The Princess, ii.
Cle'lia, a vain, frivolous female butterfly, with a smattering of everything. In youth she was a coquette; and when youth was passed, tried sundry means to earn a living, but without success.—Crabbe, Borough (1810).
Clelie (2 syl.), the heroine of a novel so called by Mdlle. Scudéri. (See CLELIA.)
Clement, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Clem'ent (Justice), a man quite able to discern between fun and crime. Although he had the weakness "of justices' justice." he had not the weakness of ignorant vulgarity.
Knowell. They say he will commit a man for taking the wall of his horse.
Wellbred. Ay, or for wearing his cloak on one shoulder, or serving God. Anything, indeed, if it comes in the way of his humor.—B. Jonson, Every Man in His Humor, iii. 2 (1598).
Clementi'na (The Lady), an amiable, delicate, beautiful, accomplished, but unfortunate woman, deeply in love with Sir Charles Grandison. Sir Charles married Harriet Byron.—S. Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753).
Cle'ofas (Don), the hero of a novel by Lesage, entitled Le Diable Boiteux (The Devil on Two Sticks). A fiery young Spaniard, proud, high-spirited and revengeful; noted for gallantry but not without generous sentiment. Asmode'us (4 syl.) shows him what is going on in private families by unroofing the houses (1707).
Cleom'brotus or Ambracio'ta of Ambrac'ia, (in Epirus). Having read Plato's book on the soul's immortality and happiness in another life, he was so ravished with the description that he leaped into the sea that he might die and enjoy Plato's elysium.
He who to enjoyPlato's elysium leaped into the sea,
Cleombrotus.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 471, etc. (1665).
Cleom'enes (4 syl.), the hero and title of a drama by Dryden (1692). As Dryden came out of the theatre a young fop of fashion said to him: "If I had been left alone with a young beauty, I would not have spent my time like your Spartan hero." "Perhaps not," said the poet, "but you are not my hero."—W. C. Russell, Representative Actors.
Cleom'enes (4 syl.). "The Venus of Cleomenês" is now called "The Venus de Medici." Such a mere moist lump was once ... "the Venus of Cleomenês."—Ouida, Ariadné, i. 8.
Cle'on, governor of Tarsus, burnt to death with his wife Dionys'ia by the enraged citizens, to revenge the supposed murder of Mari'na, daughter of Per'iclês, Prince of Tyre.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
Cle'on, the personification of Glory.—Spenser, Faëry Queen.
Cleop'atra, Queen of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy Dionysius, her brother. She was driven from her throne, but re-established by Julius Cæsar, B.C. 47. Antony, captivated by her, repudiated his wife, Octavia, to live with the fascinating Egyptian. After the loss of the battle of Actium, Cleopatra killed herself by an asp.
E. Jodelle wrote in French a tragedy called Cléopâtre Captive (1550); Jean Mairet one called Cléopâtre (1630); Isaac de Benserade (1670); J. F. Marmontel (1750), and Mde. de Girardin (1847) wrote tragedies in French on the same subject. S. Daniel (1600) wrote a tragedy in English called Cleopatra; Shakespeare one called Antony and Cleopatra (1608); and Dryden one on the same subject, called All for Love or the World Well Lost (1682).
Mrs. Oldfield (1683-1730) and Peg (Margaret) Woffington
(1718-1760) were unrivalled in this character.
Cleopatra and the Pearl. The tale is that Cleopatra made a sumptuous banquet, which excited the surprise of Antony; whereupon the queen took a pearl ear-drop, dissolved it in a strong acid and drank the liquor to the health of the triumvir, saying: "My draught to Antony shall exceed in value the whole banquet."
When Queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, Sir Thomas
Gresham pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone
crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000.
Here £15,000 at one clap goes Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl Unto his queen and mistress. Pledge it; love it!--Th. Heywood, If You Know not Me. You Know Nobody.
Cleopatra in Hades. Cleopatra, says Rabelais, is "a crier of onions" in the shades below. The Latin for a pearl and onion is unio, and the pun refers to Cleopatra giving her pearl (or onion) to Antony in a draught of wine, or, as some say, drinking it herself in toasting her lover.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 30 (1553).
Cleopat'ra, Queen of Syria, daughter of Ptolemy Philome'ter, King of Egypt. She first married Alexander Bala, the usurper (B.C. 149); next Deme'trius Nica'nor. Demetrius, being taken prisoner by the Parthians, married Rodogune (3 syl.), daughter of Phraa'tes (3 syl.) the Parthian king, and Cleopatra married Antiochus Sidetês, brother of Demetrius. She slew her son Seleucus (by Demetrius) for treason, and as this produced a revolt, abdicated in favor of her second son, Anti'ochus VIII., who compelled her to drink poison which she had prepared for himself. P. Corneille has made this the subject of his tragedy called Rodogune (1646).
This is not the Cleopatra of Shakespeare's and Dryden's
tragedies.
Cleopatra. In his Graffiti d'Italia, William Wetmore Story gives a passionate soliloquy of the Egyptian Queen, beginning:—
"Here, Charmian, take my bracelets;They bar with a purple stain
My arms."
(1868).
Clere'mont (2 syl.), a merry gentleman, the friend of Dinant'.—"Beaumont and Fletcher" The Little French Lawyer (1547).
Cler'imond, niece of the Green Knight, sister of Fer'ragus the giant, and bride of Valentine the brave.—Valentine and Orson.
Clerks (St. Nicholas's), thieves, also called "St. Nicholas's Clergymen," in allusion to the tradition of "St. Nicholas and the thieves." Probably a play on the words Nich-olas and Old Nick may be designed.—See Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 1 (1597).
Cless'ammor, son of Thaddu and brother of Morna (Fingal's mother). He married Moina, daughter of Reutha'mir (the principal man of Balclutha, on the Clyde). It so happened that Moina was beloved by a Briton named Reuda, who came with an army to carry her off. Reuda was slain by Clessammor; but Clessammor, being closely pressed by the Britons, fled, and never again saw his bride. In due time a son was born, called Carthon; but the mother died. While Carthon was still an infant, Fingal's father attacked Balclutha, and slew Reuthama (Carthon's grandfather). While the boy grew to manhood, he determined on vengeance; accordingly he invaded Morven, the kingdom of Fingal, where Clessammor, not knowing who he was, engaged him in single combat, and slew him. When he discovered that it was his son, three days he mourned for him, and on the fourth he died.—Ossian, Carthon.
Cleve'land (Barbara Villiers, Duchess of), one of the mistresses of Charles II., introduced by Sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak.
Cleve'land (Captain Clement), alias Vaughan [Vawn], "the pirate," son of Norna of the Fitful Head. He is in love with Minna Troil (daughter of Magnus Troil, the udaller of Zetland).—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III).
Clever, the man-servant of Hero Sutton, "the city maiden." When Hero assumed the guise of a quaker, Clever called himself Obadiah, and pretended to be a rigid quaker also. His constant exclamation was "Umph! "—S. Knowles, Woman's Wit, etc. (1838).
Clifford (Sir Thomas), betrothed to Julia (daughter of Master Walter "the hunchback"). He is wise, honest, truthful, and well-favored, kind, valiant, and prudent.—S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).
Clifford, (Mr.), the heir of Sir William Charlton in right of his mother, and in love with Lady Emily Gayville. The scrivener Alscrip had fraudulently got possession of the deeds of the Charlton estates, which he had given to his daughter called "the heiress," and which amounted to £2000 a year; but Rightly, the lawyer, discovered the fraud, and "the heiress" was compelled to relinquish this part of her fortune. Clifford then proposed to Lady Emily, and was accepted.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress. (1781).
Clifford (Paul), a highwayman, reformed by the power of love.—Lord Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830).
Clifford (Rosamond), usually called "The Fair Rosamond," the favorite mistress of Henry II.; daughter of Walter Lord Clifford. She is introduced by Tennyson in his tragedy Becket. Miss Terry acted the part. Dryden says:
Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver,"Fair Rosamond" was but her nom de guerre.
Epilogue to Henry II.
Clifford (Henry Lord), a general in the English army.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Clifton (Harry), lieutenant of H.M. ship Tiger. A daring, dashing, care-for-nobody young English sailor, delighting in adventure, and loving a good scrape. He and his companion Mat Mizen take the side of El Hyder, and help to re-establish the Chereddin, Prince of Delhi, who had been dethroned by Hamlet Abdulerim.—Barrymore, El Hyder, Chief of the Ghaut Mountains.
Clim of the Clough. (See CLYM).
Clink (Jem), the turnkey at Newgate.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II).
Clinker (Humphry), a poor work-house lad, put out by the parish as apprentice to a blacksmith, and afterwards employed as an ostler's assistant and extra postilion. Being dismissed from the stables, he enters the service of Mr. Bramble, a fretful, grumpy, but kind-hearted and generous old gentleman, greatly troubled with gout. Here he falls in love with Winifred Jenkins, Miss Tabitha Brambles's maid, and turns out to be a natural son of Mr. Bramble.—T. Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771.)
Clip'purse (Lawyer), the lawyer employed by Sir Everard Waverley to make his will.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Cliquot (Klee'ko), a nickname given by Punch to Frederick William IV. of Prussia, from his love of champagne of the "Cliquot brand" (1795, 1840-1861).
Clitandre, a wealthy bourgeois, in love with Henriette, "the thorough woman," by whom he is beloved with fervent affection. Her elder sister, Armande (2 syl.), also loves him, but her love is of the platonic hue, and Clitandre prefers in a wife the warmth of woman's love to the marble of philosophic ideality.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Cloaci'na, the presiding personification of city sewers. (Latin, cloaca, "a sewer.")
...Cloacina, goddess of the tide,Whose sable streams beneath the city glide.
Gay, Trivia, ii. (1712).
Clod'dipole (3 syl.), "the wisest lout of all the neighboring plain." Appointed to decide the contention between Cuddy and Lobbin Clout.
From Cloddipole we learn to read the skies,To know when hail will fall, or winds arise;
He taught us erst the heifer's tail to view,
When struck aloft that showers would straight ensue.
He first that useful secret did explain,
That pricking corns foretell the gathering rain;
When swallows fleet soar high and sport in air,
He told us that the welkin would be clear.
Gay, Pastoral, i. (1714).
(Cloddipole is the "Palaemon" of Virgil's Ecl. iii.).
Clo'dio (Count), governor. A dishonorable pursuer of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of Arnoldo.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Clodio, the younger son of Don Antonio, a coxcomb and braggart. Always boasting of his great acquaintances, his conquests, and his duels. His snuff-box he thinks more of than his lady-love, he interlards his speech with French, and exclaims "Split me!" by way of oath. Clodio was to have married Angelina, but the lady preferred his elder brother, Carlos, a bookworm, and Clodio engaged himself to Elvira of Lisbon.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man (1694).
Clo'e, in love with the shepherd, Thenot, but Thenot rejects her suit out of admiration of the constancy of Clorinda for her dead lover. She is wanton, coarse, and immodest, the very reverse of Clorinda, who is a virtuous, chaste, and faithful shepherdess. ("Thenot," the final t is sounded.)—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess (1610). (See CHLOE).
Clo'ra, sister of Fabrit'io, the merry soldier, and the sprightly companion of Frances (sister to Frederick).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
Clorida'no, a humble Moorish youth, who joined Medo'ro in seeking the body of King Dardinello to bury it. Medoro being wounded, Cloridano rushed madly into the ranks of the enemy and was slain.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Clorin'da, daughter of Sena'pus of Ethiopia (a Christian). Being born white, her mother changed her for a black child. The Eunuch Arse'tes (3 syl.) was entrusted with the infant Clorinda, and as he was going through a forest, saw a tiger, dropped the child, and sought safety in a tree. The tiger took the babe and suckled it, after which the eunuch carried the child to Egypt. In the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Clorinda was a leader of the Pagan forces. Tancred fell in love with her, but slew her unknowingly in a night attack. Before she expired she received Christian baptism at the hands of Tancred, who greatly mourned her death.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xii. (1675).
(The story of Clorinda is borrowed from the Theag'anês and Charicle'a of Heliodorus Bishop of Trikka).
Clorinda, "the faithful shepherdess" called "The Virgin of the Grove," faithful to her buried love. From this beautiful character Milton has drawn his "lady" in Comus. Compare the words of the "First Brother" about chastity, in Milton's Comus, with these lines of Clorinda:
Yet I have heard (my mother told it me),And now I do believe it, if I keep
My virgin flower uncropt, pure, chaste, and fair,
No goblin, wood-god, fairy, elf, or fiend,
Satyr, or other power that haunts the groves
Shall hurt my body, or by vain illusion
Draw me to wander after idle fires,
Or voices calling me in dead of night
To make me follow and so tole me on
Through mire and standing-pools, to find my ruin.
...Sure there's a power
In the great name of Virgin that binds fast
All rude, uncivil bloods.... Then strong Chastity,
Be thou my strongest guard.
—J. Fletcher,—The Faithful Shepherdess (1610).
Cloris, the damsel beloved by Prince Prettyman.—Duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1671).
Clotaire (2 syl). The King of France exclaimed on his death-bed: "Oh, how great must be the King of Heaven, if He can kill so mighty a monarch as I am!"—Gregory of Tours, iv. 21.
Cloten or Cloton, King of Cornwall, one of the five kings of Britain after the extinction of the line of Brute (1 syl.).—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 17 (1142).
Cloten, a vindictive lout, son of the second wife of Cymbeline by a former husband. He is noted for "his unmeaning frown, his shuffling gait, his burst of voice, his bustling insignificance, his fever-and-ague fits of valor, his froward tetchiness, his unprincipled malice, and occasional gleams of good sense." Cloten is the rejected lover of Imogen (the daughter of his father-in-law by his first wife), and is slain in a duel by Guiderius.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Clotha'rius or CLOTHAIRE, leader of the Franks after the death of Hugo. He is shot with an arrow by Clorinda.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xi. (1675).
Cloud (St.), patron saint of nail-smiths. A play on the French word clou ("a nail").
Cloudes'ley (William of), a famous north-country archer, the companion of Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough. Their feats of robbery were chiefly carried on in Englewood Forest, near Carlisle. William was taken prisoner at Carlisle, and was about to be hanged, but was rescued by his two companions. The three then went to London to ask pardon of the King, which at the Queen's intercession was granted. The King begged to see specimens of their skill in archery, and was so delighted therewith, that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the other two "yemen of his chambre." The feat of William was very similar to that of William Tell (q.v.).—Percy, Reliques, I. ii. 1.
Clout (Colin), a shepherd loved by Marian "the parson's maid," but for whom Colin (who loved Cicily) felt no affection. (See COLIN CLOUT).
Young Colin Clout, a lad of peerless meed,Full well could dance, and deftly tune the reed;
In every wood his carols sweet were known,
At every wake his nimble feats were shown.
Gay, Pastoral, ii. (1714).
Clout (Loblin), a shepherd in love with Blouzelinda. He challenged Cuddy to a contest of song in praise of their respective sweethearts, and Cloddipole was appointed umpire. Cloddipole was unable to award the prize, for each merited "an oaken staff for his pains." "Have done, however, for the herds are weary of the song, and so am I."—Gay, Pastoral, i. (1714).
Cloyse (Goody). A pious and exemplary dame, especially well-versed in the catechism, who, in Goodman Brown's fantasy of the witches' revel in the forest, joins him on his way thither, and croaks over the loss of her broomstick, which was "all anointed with the juice of small-age and cinquefoil and wolf's bane—" "Mingled with fine wheat and the fat of a new-born babe," says another shape.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse (1854).
Club-Bearer (The), Periphe'tes, the robber of Ar'golis, who murdered his victims with an iron club.—Greek Fable.
Clumsey (Sir Tunbelly), father of Miss Hoyden. A mean, ill-mannered squire and justice of the peace, living near Scarborough. Most cringing to the aristocracy, whom he toadies and courts. Sir Tunbelly promises to give his daughter in marriage to Lord Foppington, but Tom Fashion, his lordship's younger brother, pretends to be Lord Foppington, gains admission to the family and marries her. When the real Lord Foppington arrives he is treated as an imposter, but Tom confesses the ruse. His lordship treats the knight with such ineffable contempt, that Sir Tunbelly's temper is aroused, and Tom is received into high favor.—Sheridan, A Trip to Scarborough (1777).
This character appears in Vanbrugh's Relapse, of which
comedy the Trip to Scarborough is an abridgment and adaptation.
Clu'ricaune (3 syl.), an Irish elf of evil disposition, especially noted for his knowledge of hidden treasure. He generally assumes the appearance of a wrinkled old man.
Clutterbuck (Captain), the hypothetical editor of some of Sir Walter Scott's novels, as The Monastery and The Fortunes of Nigel. Captain Clutterbuck is a retired officer, who employs himself in antiquarian researches and literary idleness. The Abbot is dedicated by the "author of Waverley" to "Captain Clutterbuck," late of his majesty's—infantry regiment.
Clym of the Clough ("Clement of the Cliff"), noted outlaw, associated with Adam Bell and William of Cloudesley, in Englewood Forest, near Carlisle. When William was taken prisoner at Carlisle, and was about to be hanged, Adam and Clym shot the magistrates, and rescued their companion. The mayor with his posse went out against them, but they shot the mayor, as they had done the sheriff, and fought their way out of the town. They then hastened to London to beg pardon of the king, which was granted them at the queen's intercession. The king, wishing to see a specimen of their shooting, was so delighted at their skill that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the other two "yemen of his chambre."—Percy, Reliques ("Adam Bell," etc., I. ii. 1).
Cly'tie, a water-nymph in love with Apollo. Meeting with no return, she was changed into a sunflower, or rather a tournesol, which still turns to the sun, following him through his daily course.
The sunflower does not turn to the sun. On the same stem may be seen flowers in every direction, and not one of them shifts the direction in which it has first opened. T. Moore (1814) says:
The sunflower turns on her god when he sets,The same look which she turned when he rose.
This may do in poetry, but it is not correct. The sunflower is so called simply because the flower resembles a pictured sun.
Lord Thurlow (1821) adopted Tom Moore's error, and enlarged it:
Behold, my dear, this lofty flower,That now the golden sun receives;
No other deity has power,
But only Phoebus, on her leaves;
As he in radiant glory burns,
From east to west her visage turns.
The Sunflower.
Clytus, an old officer in the army of Philip of Macedon, and subsequently in that of Alexander. At a banquet, when both were heated with wine, Clytus said to Alexander, "Philip fought men, but Alexander women," and after some other insults, Alexander in his rage stabbed the old soldier; but instantly repented and said:
What has my vengeance done?Who is it thou hast slain? Clytus? What was he
The faithfullest subject, worthiest counsellor,
The bravest soldier. He who saved my life
Fighting bare-headed at the river Granic.
For a rash word, spoke in the heat of wine,
The poor, the honest Clytus thou hast slain,—
Clytus, thy friend, thy guardian, thy preserver!
N. Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. 2 (1678).
Cne'us, the Roman officer in command of the guard set to watch the tomb of Jesus, lest the disciples should steal the body, and then declare that it had risen from the dead.—Klopstock, The Messiah, xiii. (1771). Co'an (The), Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine" (B.C. 460-357).
... the great Coan, him whom Nature madeTo serve the costliest creature of her tribe [man].
Dantê, Purgatory, xxix. (1308).
Co'anocot'zin (5 syl.), King of the Az'tecas. Slain in battle by Madoc.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Co'atel, daughter of Acul'hua, a priest of the Az'tecas, and wife of Lincoya. Lincoya, being doomed for sacrifice, fled for refuge to Madoc, the Welsh Prince, who had recently landed on the North American coast, and was kindly treated by him. This gave Coatel a sympathetic interest in the White strangers, and she was not backward in showing it. Then, when young Hoel was kidnapped, and confined in a cavern to starve to death, Coatel visited him and took him food. Again, when Prince Madoc was entrapped, she contrived to release him, and assisted the prince to carry off young Hoel. After the defeat of the Az'tecas by the White strangers, the chief priest declared that some one had proved a traitor, and resolved to discover who it was by handing round a cup, which he said would be harmless to the innocent, but death to the guilty. When it was handed to Coatel, she was so frightened that she dropped down dead. Her father stabbed himself, and "fell upon his child," and when Lincoya heard thereof, he flung himself down from a steep precipice on to the rocks below.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Cobb (Ephraim), in Cromwell's troop.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Cobbler-Poet (The), Hans Sachs, of Nuremberg. (See TWELVE WISE MASTERS).
Cobham (Eleanor), wife of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, and aunt of King Henry VI., compelled to do penance barefoot in a sheet in London, and after that to live in the Isle of Man in banishment, for "sorcery." In 2 Henry VI., Shakespeare makes Queen Margaret "box her ears," but this could not be, as Eleanor was banished three years before Margaret came to England.
Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife ...You, madam ... despoiled of your honor ...
Shall, after three days' open penance done,
Live in your country, here in banishment,
With Sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man.
Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act ii. sc. 3 (1591).
Cock of Westminster (The). Castell, a shoemaker, was so called from his very early hours. He was one of the benefactors of Christ's Hospital (London).
Cocker (Edward), published a useful treatise on arithmetic, in the reign of Charles II., which had a prodigious success, and has given rise to the proverb, "According to Cocker" (1632-1675).
Cockle (Sir John), the miller of Mansfield, and keeper of Sherwood Forest. Hearing a gun fired one night, he went into the forest, expecting to find poachers, and seized the king (Henry VIII.), who had been hunting and had got separated from his courtiers. When the miller discovered that his captor was not a poacher, he offered him a night's lodging. Next day the courtiers were brought to Cockle's house by under-keepers, to be examined as poachers, and it was then discovered that the miller's guest was the king. The "merry monarch" knighted the miller, and settled on him 1000 marks a year.—R. Dodsley, The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737).
Cockney (Nicholas), a rich city grocer, brother of Barnacle. Priscilla Tomboy, of the West Indies, is placed under his charge for her education.
Walter Cockney, son of the grocer, in the shop. A conceited young prig, not yet out of the quarrelsome age. He makes boy-love to Priscilla Tomboy and Miss La Blond; but says he will "tell papa" if they cross him.
Penelope Cockney, sister of Walter.—The Romp (altered from Bickerstaff's Love in the City).
Coelebs' Wife, a bachelor's ideal of a model wife. Coelebs is the hero of a novel, by Mrs. Hannah Moore, entitled Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1809).
In short, she was a walking calculation,Miss Edgworth's novels stepping from their covers,
Or Mrs. Trimmer's books on education.
Or "Coelebs' wife" set out in quest of lovers.
Byron, Don Juan, i. 16 (1819).
Coeur de Lion, Surname of Richard of England (1157-1199.) Also conferred upon Louis VIII. of France.
Coffin (Long Tom), the best sailor character ever drawn. He is introduced in The Pilot, a novel by J. Fenimore Cooper. Cooper's novel has been dramatized by E. Fitzball, under the same name, and Long Tom Coffin preserves in the burletta his reckless daring, his unswerving fidelity, his simple-minded affection, and his love for the sea.
Cogia Houssain, the captain of forty thieves, outwitted by Morgiana, the slave. When, in the guise of a merchant, he was entertained by Ali Baba, and refused to eat any salt, the suspicions of Morgiana was aroused, and she soon detected him to be the captain of the forty thieves. After supper she amused her master and his guest with dancing; then playing with Cogia's dagger for a time, she plunged it suddenly into his heart and killed him.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba or the Forty Thieves").
Col'ax. Flattery personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. Colax "all his words with sugar spices ... lets his tongue to sin, and takes rent of shame ... His art [was] to hide and not to heal a sore." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, kolax, "a flatterer or fawner.")
Colbrand or Colebrond (2 syl.), the Danish giant, slain in the presence of King Athelstan, by Sir Guy of Warwick, just returned from a pilgrimage, still "in homely russet clad," and in his hand a "hermit's staff." The combat is described at length by Drayton, in his Polyolbion, xii.
One could scarcely bear his axe ...Whose squares were laid with plates, and riveted with steel,
And armed down along with pikes, whose hardened points
... had power to tear the joints
Of cuirass or of mail.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. (1613).
Coldstream (Sir Charles), the chief character in Charles Mathew's play called Used up. He is wholly ennuyé, sees nothing to admire in anything; but is a living personification of mental inanity and physical imbecility.
Cole (1 syl.), a legendary British king, described as "a merry old soul," fond of his pipe, fond of his glass, and fond of his "fiddlers three." There were two kings so called—Cole (or Coïl I.) was the predecessor of Porrex; but Coïl II. was succeeded by Lucius, "the first British king who embraced the Christian religion." Which of these two mythical kings the song refers to is not evident.
Cole (Mrs.). This character is designed for Mother Douglas, who kept a "gentlemen's magazine of frail beauties" in a superbly furnished house at the north-east corner of Covent Garden. She died 1761.—S. Foote, The Minor (1760).
Colein (2 syl.), the great dragon slain by Sir Bevis of Southampton.—Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).
Colemi'ra (3 syl.), a poetical name for a cook. The word is compounded of coal and mire.
"Could I," he cried "express how bright a graceAdorns thy morning hands and well-washed face,
Thou wouldst, Colemira, grant what I implore,
And yield me love, or wash thy face no more."
Shenstone, Colemira (an eclogue).
Cole'pepper (Captain) or CAPTAIN PEPPERCULL, the Alsatian bully.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Colin, or in Scotch Cailen, Green Colin, the laird of Dunstaffnage, so called from the green colour which prevailed in his tartan.
Colin and Rosalinde. In The Shephearde's Calendar (1579), by Edm. Spenser, Rosalinde is the maiden vainly beloved by Colin Clout, as her choice was already fixed on the shepherd Menalcas. Rosalinde is an anagram of "Rose Danil," a lady beloved by Spenser (Colin Clout), but Rose Danil had already fixed her affections on John Florio the Resolute, whom she subsequently married.
And I to thee will be as kindAs Colin was to Rosalinde,
Of courtesie the flower.
M. Drayton, Dowsabel (1593)
Colin Clout, the pastoral name assumed by the poet Spenser, in The Shephearde's Calendar, The Ruins of Time, Daphnaida, and in the pastoral poem called Colin Clout's come home again (from his visit to Sir Walter Raleigh). Ecl. i. and xii. are soliloquies of Colin, being lamentations that Rosalinde will not return his love. Ecl. vi. is a dialogue between Hobbinol and Colin, in which the former tries to comfort the disappointed lover. Ecl. xi. is a dialogue between Thenot and Colin, Thenot begs Colin to sing some joyous lay; but Colin pleads grief for the death of the sheperdess Dido, and then sings a monody on the great sheperdess deceased. In ecl. vi. we are told that Rosalinde has betrothed herself to the shepherd Menalcas (1579).
In the last book of the Faery Queen, we have a reference to "Colin and his lassie," (Spenser and his wife) supposed to be Elizabeth, and elsewhere called "Mirabella" See CLOUT, etc.
Colin Clout and his lassie, referred to in the last book of the Faery Queen, are Spenser and his wife Elizabeth, elsewhere called "Mirabella" (1596).
Colin Clout's Come Home Again. "Colin Clout" is Spenser, who had been to London on a visit to "the Shepherd of the Ocean" (Sir Walter Raleigh), in 1589; on his return to Kilcolman, in Ireland, he wrote this poem. "Hobbinol," his friend (Gabriel Harvey, L.L.D.), tells him how all the shepherds had missed him, and begs him to relate to him and them his adventures while abroad. The pastoral contains a eulogy of British contemporary poets, and of the court beauties of Queen Elizabeth (1591). (See COLYN.)
Colin Tampon, the nickname of a Swiss, as John Bull means an Englishman, etc.
Colkitto (Young), or "Vich Alister More," or "Alister M'Donnell," a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Collean (May), the heroine of a Scotch ballad, which relates how "fause Sir John" carried her to a rock for the purpose of throwing her down into the sea; but May outwitted him, and subjected him to the same fate he had designed for her.
Colleen', i.e. "girl;" Colleen bawn ("the blond girl"); Colleen rhue ("the red-haired girl"), etc.
Dion Boucicault has a drama entitled The Colleen Bawn,
founded upon Gerald Griffin's novel The Collegians.
Collier (Jem), a smuggler.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.)
Collingwood and the Acorns. Collingwood never saw a vacant place in his estate, but he took an acorn out of his pocket and popped it in.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848).
Colmal, daughter of Dunthalmo, Lord of Teutha (the Tweed). Her father, having murdered Rathmor in his halls, brought up the two young sons of the latter, Calthon and Colmar, in his own house; but when grown to manhood he thought he detected a suspicious look about them, and he shut them up in two separate caves on the banks of the Tweed, intending to kill them. Colmal, who was in love with Calthon, set him free, and the two made good their escape to the court of Fingal. Fingal sent Ossian with 300 men to liberate Colmar; but when Dunthalmo heard thereof, he murdered the prisoner. Calthon, being taken captive, was bound to an oak, but was liberated by Ossian, and joined in marriage to Colmal, with whom he lived lovingly in the halls of Teutha.—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.
Colmar, brother of Calthon. When quite young their father was murdered by Dunthalmo, who came against him by night, and killed him in his banquet hall; but moved by pity, he brought up the two boys in his own house. When grown to manhood, he thought he observed mischief in their looks, and therefore shut them up in two separate cells on the banks of the Tweed. Colmal the daughter of Dunthalmo, who was in love with Calthon, liberated him from his bonds, and they fled to Fingal to crave aid on behalf of Colmar; but before succor could arrive, Dunthalmo had Colmar brought before him, "bound with a thousand thongs," and slew him with his spear.—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.
Colna-Dona ("love of heroes"), daughter of King Car'ul. Fingal sent Ossian and Toscar to raise a memorial on the banks of the Crona, to perpetuate the memory of a victory he had obtained there. Carul invited the two young men to his hall, and Toscar fell in love with Colna-Dona. The passion being mutual, the father consented to their espousals.—Ossian, Colna-Dona.
Cologne (The three kings of), the three Magi, called Gaspar, Melchior, and Baltha'zar. Gaspar means "the white one." Melchior, "king of light;" Balthazar, "lord of treasures." Klop-stock, in The Messiah, says there were six Magi, whom he calls Hadad, Sel'ima, Zimri, Mirja, Beled, and Sunith.
The "three" Magi are variously named; thus one tradition
gives them as Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus; another calls them
Magalath, Galgalath, and Sarasin; a third says they were Ator, Sator,
and Perat'oras. They are furthermore said to be descendants of Balaam
the Mesopotamian prophet.
Colon, one of the rabble leaders in Hudibras, is meant for Noel Perryan or Ned Perry, an ostler. He was a rigid puritan "of low morals," and very fond of bear-baiting.
Colonna (The Marquis of), a high-minded, incorruptible noble of Naples. He tells the young king bluntly that his oily courtiers are vipers who would suck his life's blood, and that Ludovico, his chief minister and favorite, is a traitor. Of course he is not believed, and Ludovico marks him out for vengeance. His scheme is to get Colonna, of his own free will, to murder his sister's lover and the king. With this view he artfully persuades Vicentio, the lover, that Evadnê (the sister of Colonna) is the king's wanton. Vicentio indignantly discards Evadnê, is challanged to fight by Colonna, and is supposed to be killed. Colonna, to revenge his wrongs on the king, invites him to a banquet with intent to murder him, when the whole scheme of villainy is exposed: Ludovico is slain, and Vicentio marries Evadnê.—Shiel, Evadne, or the Statue (1820).
Colossos (Latin, colossus), a gigantic brazen statue 126 feet high, executed by Charles for the Rhodians. Blaise de Vignenère says it was a striding figure, but Comte de Caylus proves that it was not so, and did not even stand at the mouth of the Rhodian port. Philo tells us that it stood on a block of white marble, and Lucius Ampellius asserts that it stood in a car. Tiekell makes out the statue to be so enormous in size, that—
While at one foot the thronging galleys ride,A whole hour's sail scarce reached the further side;
Betwixt the brazen thighs in loose array,
Ten thousand streamers on the billows play,
Tickell, On the Prospect of Peace.
Colossus. Negro servant in G.W. Cable's "Posson Jone." He vainly tries to dissuade his master from drinking, and, in the end, restores to him the money lost during the drunken bout.
"In thundering tones" the parson was confessinghimself a "plum fool from whom the conceit
had been jolted out, and who had been made
to see that even his nigger had the longest
head of the two."
Col'thred (Benjamin) or "Little Benjie," a spy employed by Nixon (Edward Redgauntlet's agent).—Sir. W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.)
Columb (St.) or St. Columba, was of the family of the kings of Ulster; and with twelve followers founded amongst the Picts and Scots 300 Christian establishments of presbyterian character; that in Iona was founded 563.
The Pictish men by St. Columb taught.Campbell, Rewllura.
Columbus (Christopher), Genoese navigator who was fitted out by Ferdinand and Isabella for a voyage of discovery resulting in the sight of the New World (1492). His ships were the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina, all small.—Washington Irving, Life of Columbus.
Colyn Clout (The Boke of), a rhyming six-syllable tirade against the clergy, by John Skelton, poet-laureate (1460-1529).
Comal and Galbi'na. Comal was the son of Albion, "chief of a hundred hills." He loved Galbi'na (daughter of Conlech), who was beloved by Grumal also. One day; tired out by the chase, Comal and Galbina rested in the cave of Roman; but ere long a deer appeared, and Comal went forth to shoot it. During his absence, Galbina dressed herself in armor "to try his love," and "strode from the cave." Comal thought it was Grumal, let fly an arrow, and she fell. The chief too late discovered his mistake, rushed to battle, and was slain.—Ossian, Fingal, ii.
Com'ala, daughter of Sarno, king of Inistore (the Orkneys). She fell in love with Fingal at a feast to which Sarno had invited him after his return from Denmark or Lochlin (Fingal, iii.). Disguised as a youth, Comala followed him, and begged to be employed in his wars; but was detected by Hidallan, son of Lamor, whose love she had slighted. Fingal was about to marry her when he was called to oppose Caracul, who had invaded Caledonia. Comala witnessed the battle from a hill, thought she saw Fingal slain, and though he returned victorious, the shock on her nerves was so great that she died.—Ossian, Comala.
Coman'ches (3 syl.), an Indian tribe of the Texas. (See CAMANCHES.)
Comb (Reynard's Wonderful), said to be made of Pan'thera's bone, the perfume of which was so fragrant that no one could resist following it; and the wearer of the comb was always of a merry heart. This comb existed only in the brain of Master Fox.—Reynard the Fox, xii. (1498).
Co'me (St.), (see Cosme,) a physician, and patron saint of medical practitioners.
"By St. Come!" said the surgeon, "here's a pretty adventure."—Lesage, (Gil Blas, vii. 1 1735).
Come and Take Them. The reply of Leon'idas, king of Sparta, to the messengers of Xerxes, when commanded by the invader to deliver up his arms.
Com'edy (The Father of), Aristoph'anês the Athenian (B.C. 444-380).
Comedy (Prince of Ancient), Aristoph'anês (B.C. 444-380).
Comedy (Prince of New), Menander (B.C. 342-291).
Comedy of Errors, by Shakespeare (1593), Aemilia, wife of Ægeon, had two sons at a birth, and named both of them Antipholus. When grown to manhood, each of these sons had a slave named Dromio, also twin-brothers. The brothers Antipholus had been shipwrecked in infancy, and being picked up by different vessels, were carried one to Syracuse and the other to Ephesus. The play supposes that Antipholus of Syracuse goes in search of his brother, and coming to Ephesus with his slave, Dromio, a series of mistakes arises from the extraordinary likeness of the two brothers and their two slaves. Adriana, the wife of the Ephesian, mistakes the Syracusan for her husband; but he behaves so strangely that her jealousy is aroused, and when her true husband arrives he is arrested as a mad man. Soon after, the Syracusan brother being seen, the wife, supposing it to be her mad husband broken loose, sends to capture him; but he flees into a convent. Adriana now lays her complaint before the duke, and the lady abbess comes into court. So both brothers face each other, the mistakes are explained, and the abbess turns out to be Aemilia, the mother of the twin brothers. Now, it so happened that Ægeon, searching for his son, also came to Ephesus, and was condemned to pay a fine or suffer death, because he, a Syracusan, had set foot in Ephesus. The duke, however, hearing the story, pardoned him. Thus Ægeon found his wife in the abbess, the parents their twin sons, and each son his long-lost brother.
The plot of this comedy is copied from the Menaechmí of Plautus.
Comhal or Combal, son of Trathal, and father of Fingal. His queen was Morna, daughter of Thaddu. Comhal was slain in battle, fighting against the tribe of Morni, the very day that Fingal was born.—Ossian.
Fingal said to Aldo, "I was born in the battle."Ossian, The Battle of Lora.
Comines [Cum'.in]. Philip des Comines, the favorite minister of Charles, "the Bold," Duke of Burgundy, is introduced by Sir W. Scott, in Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Commander of the Faithful (Emir al Mumenin), a title assumed by Omar I., and retained by his successors in the caliphate (581, 634-644).
Comminges (2 syl.) (Count de), the hero of a novel so-called by Mde. de Tencin (1681-1749).
Committee (The), a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard. Mr. Day, a Cromwellite, is the head of a Committee of Sequestration, and is a dishonest, canting rascal, under the thumb of his wife. He gets into his hands the deeds of two heiresses, Anne and Arbella. The former he calls Ruth, and passes her off as his own daughter; the latter he wants to marry to his booby son Able. Ruth falls in love with Colonel Careless, and Arbella with colonel Blunt. Ruth contrives to get into her hands the deeds, which she delivers over to the two colonels, and when Mr. Day arrives, quiets him by reminding him that she knows of certain deeds which would prove his ruin if divulged (1670).
T. Knight reproduced this comedy as a farce under the title of The Honest Thieves.
Common (Dol), an ally of Subtle the alchemist.—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610).
Commoner (The Great), Sir John Barnard, who in 1737 proposed to reduce the interest of the national debt from 4 per cent. to 3 per cent., any creditor being at liberty to receive his principal in full if he preferred it. William Pitt, the statesman, is so called also (1759-1806).
Comne'nus (Alexius), emperor of Greece, introduced by Sir. W. Scott in Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Anna Comne'na the historian, daughter of Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Greece.—Same novel.
Compeyson, a would-be gentleman and a forger. He duped Abel Magwitch and ruined him, keeping him completely under his influence. He also jilted Miss Havisham.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Com'rade (2 syl.), the horse given by a fairy to Fortunio.
He has many rare qualities ... first he eatsbut once in eight days; and then he knows
what's past, present, and to come [and speaks
with the voice of a man].—Comtesse DAunoy,
Fairy Tales ("Fortunio." 1682).
Comus, the god of revelry. In Milton's "masque" so called, the "lady" is lady Alice Egerton, the younger brother is Mr. Thomas Egerton, and the elder brother is Lord Viscount Brackley (eldest son of John, earl of Bridgewater, president of Wales). The lady, weary with long walking, is left in a wood by her two brothers, while they go to gather "cooling fruit" for her. She sings to let them know her whereabouts, and Comus, coming up, promises to conduct her to a cottage till her brothers could be found. The brothers, hearing a noise of revelry, become alarmed about their sister, when her guardian spirit informs them that she has fallen into the hands of Comus. They run to her rescue, and arrive just as the god is offering his captive a potion; the brothers seize the cup and dash it on the ground, while the spirit invokes Sabri'na, who breaks the spell and releases the lady (1634).
Conach'ar, the Highland apprentice of Simon Glover, the old glover of Perth. Conachar is in love with his master's daughter, Catharine, called "the fair maid of Perth;" but Catharine loves and ultimately marries Henry Smith, the armorer. Conachar is at a later period Ian Eachin [Hector] M'Ian, chief of the clan Quhele.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Conar, son of Trenmor, and first "king of Ireland." When the Fir-bolg (or belgae from Britain settled in the south of Ireland) had reduced the Cael (or colony of Caledonians settled in the north of Ireland) to the last extremity by war, the Cael sent to Scotland for aid. Trathel (grandfather of Fingal) accordingly sent over Conar with an army to their aid; and Conar, having reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, assumed the title of "king of Ireland." Conar was succeeded by his son Cormac I.; Cormac I. by his son Cairbre; Cairbre by his son Artho; Artho by his son Cormac II. (a minor); and Cormac (after a slight interregnum) by Ferad-Artho (restored by Fingal).—Ossian.
Concord Hymn, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and beginning:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world."
was sung on the Anniversary of the Battle of Concord, April 19, 1836.
Conkey Chickweed, the man who robbed himself of 327 guineas, in order to make his fortune by exciting the sympathy of his neighbors and others. The tale is told by detective Blathers.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Con'lath, youngest son of Morni, and brother of the famous Gaul (a man's name). Coiilath was betrothed to Cutho'na, daughter of Ruma, but before the espousals Toscar came from Ireland to Mora, and was hospitably received by Morni. Seeing Cuthona out hunting, Toscar carried her off in his skiff by force, and being overtaken by Conlath they both fell in fight. Three days afterwards Cuthona died of grief.—Ossian, Conlath and Cuthona.
Connal, son of Colgar, petty king of Togorma, and intimate friend of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes. He is a kind of Ulysses, who counsels and comforts Cuthullin in his distress, and is the very opposite of the rash, presumptuous, though generous Calmar.—Ossian, Fingal.
Con'nel (Father), an aged Catholic priest full of gentle affectionate feelings. He is the patron of a poor vagrant boy called Neddy Fennel, whose adventures furnished the incidents of Banim's novel called Father Connell (1842).
Father Connell is not unworthy of associationwith the Protestant Vicar of Wakefield.—R.
Chambers, English Literature, ii. 612.
Coningsby, a novel by B. Disraeli. The characters are meant for portraits; thus: "Croker" represents Rigby; "Menmouth," Lord Hertford; "Eskdale," Lowther; "Ormsby," Irving; "Lucretia," Mde. Zichy; "Countess Colonna," Lady Strachan; "Sidonia," Baron A. de Rothschild; "Henry Sidney," Lord John Manners; "Belvoir," Duke of Rutland, second son of Beaumanoir. The hero is of noble birth, he loves Edith Millbank, the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, is returned for Parliament and marries Edith.
Conqueror (The). Alexander the Great, The Conqueror of the World (B.C. 356, 336-323), Alfonso of Portugal (1094, 1137-1185). Aurungzebe the Great, called Alemgir (1618, 1659-4707), James of Aragon (1206, 1213-1276). Othman or Osman I., founder of the Turkish Empire (1259, 1299-1326). Francisco Pizarro, called Conquistador, because he conquered Peru (1475-1541). William, duke of Normandy, who obtained England by conquest (1027,1066-1137).
Con'rad (Lord), the corsair, afterwards called Lara. A proud, ascetic but successful pirate. Hearing that the Sultan, Seyd [Seed], was about to attack the pirates, he entered the palace in the disguise of a dervise, but being found out was seized and imprisoned. He was released by Gulnare (2 syl.), the sultan's favorite concubine, and fled with her to the Pirates' Isle, but finding Medo'ra dead, he left the island with Gulnare, returned to his native land, headed a rebellion, and was shot.—Lord Byron, The Corsair, continued in Lara (1814). Conrad Dryfoos, the son of a rich man, the backer and virtual proprietor of Every Other Week, in W. D. Howells's novel, A Hazard of New Fortunes.
"He's got a good head and he wanted to studyfor the ministry when they were all living together
out on the farm ... You know they used
to think that any sort of stuff was good enough
to make a preacher out of; but they wanted the
good timber for business, and so the old man
wouldn't let him."
Foiled in this purpose, Conrad becomes a reformer and receives a mortal wound in the attempt to protect an old Socialist against the police, who are trying to quell a mob of strikers (1890).
Con'rade (2 syl.), a follower of Don John (bastard brother of Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon).—Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1600).
Conrade (2 syl.), Marquis of Montserrat, who, with the grand-master of the Templars, conspired against Richard Coeur de Lion. He was unhorsed in combat, and murdered in his tent by the Templar.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Constance, mother of Prince Arthur, and widow of Geoffrey Plantagenet.—Shakespeare, King John (1598).
Mrs. Bartley's "Lady Macbeth," "Constance,"and "Queen Katherine" [Henry VIII.], were
powerful embodiments, and I question if they
have ever since been so finely portrayed (1785-1850).—J.
Adolphus, Recollections.
Constance, daughter of Sir William Fondlove, and courted by Wildrake, a country squire, fond of field sports. "Her beauty rich, richer her grace, her mind yet richer still, though richest all." She was "the mould express of woman, stature, feature, body, limb;" she danced well, sang well, harped well. Wildrake was her childhood's playmate, and became her husband.—S. Knowles, The Love Chase (1837).
Constance, daughter of Bertulphe, provost of Bruges, and bride of Bouchard, a knight of Flanders. She had "beauty to shame young love's most fervent dream, virtue to form a saint, with just enough of earth to keep her woman." By an absurd law of Charles "the Good," earl of Flanders, made in 1127, this young lady, brought up in the lap of luxury, was reduced to serfdom, because her grandfather was a serf; her aristocratic husband was also a serf because he married her (a serf). She went mad at the reverse of fortune, and died.—S. Knowles, The Provost of Bruges (1836).
Constance Varley. American girl traveling in the East with friends, and bearing with her everywhere the memory of a man she has loved for years in secret. She meets him at Damascus and after some days of pleasant companionship, he resolves to offer his hand to her. The words are upon his tongue, when an unfortunate misunderstanding divides them forever. A year later she marries another man who loves her sincerely without appreciating the finest part of her nature.
A woman quotes at sight of Constance's portrait:
"I discernInfinite passion and the pain
Of finite hearts that yearn."
"There was a singular suggestion of sadness
about the grave sweet eyes, and on the small
close mouth."—Julia C. Fletcher, Mirage
(1882).
Constans, a mythical king of Britain. He was the eldest of the three sons of Constantine, his two brothers being Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon. Constans was a monk, but at the death of his father he laid aside the cowl for the crown. Vortigern caused him to be assassinated, and usurped the crown. Aurelius Ambrosius succeeded Vortigern, and was himself succeeded by his younger brother, Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur. Hence it will appear that Constans was Arthur's uncle.
Constant (Ned), the former lover of Lady Brute, with whom she intrigued after her marriage with the surly knight.—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).
Constant (Sir Bashful), a younger brother of middle life, who tumbles into an estate and title by the death of his elder brother. He marries a woman of quality, but finding; it comme il faut not to let his love be known, treats her with indifference and politeness, and though he dotes on her, tries to make her believe he loves her not. He is very soft, carried away by the opinions of others, and is an example of the truth of what Dr. Young has said, "What is mere good nature but a fool?"
Lady Constant, wife of Sir Bashful, a woman of spirit, taste, sense, wit, and beauty. She loves her husband, and repels with scorn an attempt to shake her fidelity because he treats her with cold indifference.—A. Murphy, The Way to Keep Him (1760).
Constan'tia, sister of Petruccio, governor of Bologna, and mistress of the duke of Ferrara.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances (1620).
Constantia, a protégée of Lady McSycophant. An amiable girl, in love with Egerton McSycophant, by whom her love is amply returned.—C. Macklin, The Man of the World (1764).
Con'stantine (3 syl.), a king of Scotland, who (in 937) joined Anlaf (a Danish king) against Athelstan. The allied kings were defeated at Brunanburh, in Northumberland, and Constantine was made prisoner.
Our English Athelstan ...Made all the Isle his own,
And Constantine, the king a prisoner hither brought.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. 3 (1613).
Constantinople (Little), Kertch was so called by the Genoese from its extent and its prosperity. Demosthenês calls it "the granary of Athens."
Consuelo (4 syl.), the impersonation of moral purity in the midst of temptations. Consuelo is the heroine of a novel so called by George Sand (i.e. Mde. Dudevant).
Contemporaneous Discoveries. Goethe and Vicq d'Azyrs discovered at the same time the intermaxillary bone. Goethe and Von Baer discovered at the same time Morphology. Goethe and Oken discovered at the same time the vertebral system. The Penny Cyclopaedia and Chambers's Journal were started nearly at the same time. The invention of printing is claimed by several contemporaries. The processes called Talbotype and Daguerreotype were nearly simultaneous discoveries. Leverrier and Adams discovered at the same time the planet Neptune.
This list may be extended to a very great length.
Contented Man (The). Subject of a poem by Rev. John Adams in 1745
No want contracts the largeness of his thoughts,And nothing grieves him but his conscious faults,
He makes his GOD his everlasting tower
And in His firm munition stands secure.
Contest (Sir Adam). Having lost his first wife by shipwreck, he married again after the lapse of some twelve or fourteen years. His second wife was a girl of 18, to whom he held up his first wife as a pattern and the very paragon of women. On the wedding day this first wife made her appearance. She had been saved from the wreck; but Sir Adam wished her in heaven most sincerely.
Lady Contest, the bride of Sir Adam, "young, extremely lively, and prodigiously beautiful." She had been brought up in the country, and treated as a child, so her naïveté was quite captivating. When she quitted the bride-groom's house, she said, "Good-by, Sir Adam, good-by. I did love you a little, upon my word, and should be really unhappy if I did not know that your happiness will be infinitely greater with your first wife."
Mr. Contest, the grown-up son of Sir Adam, by his first wife.—Mrs. Inchbald, The Wedding Day (1790).
Continence.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT having gained the battle of Issus (B.C. 333), the family of King Darius fell into his hands; but he treated the ladies as queens, and observed the greatest decorum towards them. A eunuch, having escaped, told Darius that his wife remained unspotted, for Alexander had shown himself the most continent and generous of men.—Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, iv. 20.
SCIPIO AFRICANUS, after the conquest of Spain, refused to touch a beautiful princess who had fallen into his hands, "lest he should be tempted to forget his principles." It is, moreover, said that he sent her back to her parents with presents, that she might marry the man to whom she was betrothed. A silver shield, on which this incident was depicted, was found in the river Rhone by some fishermen in the seventeenth century.
E'en Scipio, or a victor yet more cold,Might have forgot his virtue at her sight.
N. Rowe, Tamerlane, iii. 3 (1702.)
ANSON, when he took the Senhora Theresa de Jesus, refused even to see the three Spanish ladies who formed part of the prize, because he was resolved to prevent private scandal. The three ladies consisted of a mother and her two daughters, the younger of whom was "of surpassing beauty."
Conven'tual Friars are those who live in convents, contrary to the rule of St. Francis, who enjoined absolute poverty, without land, books, chapel, or house. Those who conform to the rule of the founder are called "Observant Friars."
Conversation Sharp, Richard Sharp, the critic (1759-1835.)
Cook who Killed Himself (The). Vatel killed himself in 1671, because the lobster for his turbot sauce did not arrive in time to be served up at the banquet at Chantilly, given by the Prince de Condé to the king.
Cooks of Modern Times. Carême, called "The Regenerator of Cookery" (1784-1833). Charles Elmé Francatelli, cook at Crockford's, then in the Royal Household, and lastly at the Reform Club (1805-1876). Ude, Gouffé, and Alexis Soyer, the last of whom died in 1858.
Cookery (Regenerator of), Carême (1784-1833.)
(Ude, Gouffé, and Soyer were also regenerators of this art).
Cooper (Anthony Ashly,) earl of Shaftesbury, introduced by Sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.)
Cophet'ua or Copet'hua, a mythical king of Africa, of great wealth, who fell in love with a beggar-girl, and married her. Her name was Penel'ophon, but Shakespeare writes it Zenel'ophon in Love's Labour's Lost, act iv. sc. 1. Tennyson has versified the tale in The Beggar-Maid.—Percy, Reliques, I. ii. 6.
Copley (Sir Thomas), in attendance on the earl of Leicester at Woodstock.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Copper Captain (A), Michael Perez, a captain without money, but with a plentiful stock of pretence, who seeks to make a market of his person and commission by marrying an heiress. He is caught in his own trap, for he marries Estifania, a woman of intrigue, fancying her to be the heiress Margaritta. The captain gives the lady "pearls," but they are only whitings' eyes. His wife says to him:
Here's a goodly jewel..Did you not win this at Goletta, captain?..
See how it sparkles, like an old lady's eyes..
And here's a chain of whitings' eyes for pearls..
Your clothes are parallels to these, all counterfeits.
Put these and them on you're a man of copper,
A copper,... copper captain.
Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and
Have a Wife (1640).
Copperfleld (David), the hero of a novel by Charles Dickens. David is Dickens himself, and Micawber is Dickens's father. According to the tale, David's mother was nursery governess in a family where Mr. Copperfield visited. At the death of Mr. Copperfield, the widow married Edward Murdstone, a hard, tyrannical man, who made the home of David a dread and terror to the boy. When his mother died, Murdstone sent David to lodge with the Micawbers, and bound him apprentice to Messrs. Murdstone and Grinby, by whom he was put into the warehouse, and set to paste labels upon wine and spirit bottles. David soon became tired of this dreary work, and ran away to Dover, where he was kindly received by his [great]-aunt Betsey Trotwood, who clothed him, and sent him as day-boy to Dr. Strong, but placed him to board with Mr. Wickfield, a lawyer, father of Agnes, between whom and David a mutual attachment sprang up. David's first wife was Dora Spenlow, but at the death of this pretty little "child-wife," he married Agnes Wickfield.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Copperheads, members of a faction in the North, during the civil war in the United States. The copperhead is a poisonous serpent, that gives no warning of its approach, and hence is a type of a concealed or secret foe. (The Trigonecephalus contortrix.)
Coppernose (3 syl.). Henry VIII. was so called, because he mixed so much copper with the silver coin that it showed after a little wear in the parts most pronounced, as the nose. Hence the sobriquets "Coppernosed Harry," "Old Copper-nose," etc.
Copple, the hen killed by Reynard, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
Cora, the gentle, loving wife of Alonzo, and the kind friend of Rolla, general of the Peruvian army.—Sheridan, Pizarro (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).
Cora Munro, the daughter of an English officer and the elder of the sisters whose adventures fill Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. Cora loves Heyward the as yet undeclared lover of Alice, and has, herself, attracted the covetous eye of Magua, an Indian warrior. He contrives to gain possession of her, and drawing his knife, gives her the choice between death and his wigwam.
Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand ... Oncemore he struggled with himself and lifted
the keen weapon again—but just then a piercing
cry was heard above them, and Uncas
appeared, leaping frantically from a fearful
height upon the ledge. Magua recoiled a step,
and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance,
sheathed his own knife in the bosom of Cora.
(1826).
Co'rah, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Architophel, is meant for Dr. Titus Oates. As Corah was the political calumniator of Moses and Aaron, so Titus Oates was the political calumniator of the pope and English papists. As Corah was punished by "going down alive into the pit," so Oates was "condemned to imprisonment for life," after being publicly whipped and exposed in the pillory. North describes Titus Oates as a very short man, and says, if his mouth were taken for the centre of a circle, his chin, forehead, and cheekbones would fall in the circumference.
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud;
His long chin proved his wit; his saint-like grace,
A Church vermilion, and a Moses' face;
His memory miraculously great
Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat.
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1631).
Corbac'cio (Signior), the dupe of Mosca the knavish confederate of Vol'pone (2 syl.). He is an old man, with seeing and hearing faint, and understanding dulled to childishness, yet he wishes to live on, and
Feels not his gout nor palsy; feigns himselfYounger by scores of years; flatters his age
With confident belying it; hopes he may
With charms, like Aeson, have his youth restored.
Ben Jonson, Volpone or the Fox (1605).
Benjamin Johnson [1665-1742] ... seemed to be proud to wear the poet's double name, and was particularly great in all that author's plays that were usually performed, viz "Wasp," in Bartholomew Fair; "Corbaccio;" "Morose," in The Silent Woman; and "Ananias," in The Alchemist.—Chetwood.
C. Dibdin says none who ever saw W. Parsons (1736-1795) in "Corbaccio" could forget his effective mode of exclaiming "Has he made his will? What has he given me!" but Parsons himself says: "Ah! to see 'Corbaccio' acted to perfection, you should have seen Shuter. The public are pleased to think that I act that part well, but his acting was as far superior to mine as Mount Vesuvius is to a rushlight."
Cor'bant, the rook, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498). (French, corbeau, "a rook.")
Corce'ca (3 syl.), mother of Abessa. The word means "blindness of heart," or Romanism. Una sought shelter under her hut, but Corceca shut the door against her; whereupon the lion which accompanied Una broke down the door. The "lion" means England, "Corceca" popery, "Una" protestantism, and "breaking down the door" the Reformation.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 3 (1590).
Corday (Marie Anne Charlotte), descendant of the poet Corneille. Born in Normandy 1768. She killed the bloody Marat in the bath and was guillotined for the deed, July, 1793.
Corde'lia, youngest daughter of King Lear. She was disinherited by her royal father, because her protestations of love were less violent than those of her sisters. Cordelia married the king of France, and when her two elder sisters refused to entertain the old king with his suite, she brought an army over to dethrone them. She was, however, taken captive, thrown into prison, and died there.
Her voice was ever soft,Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman.
Shakespeare, King Lear, act v. sc. 3 (1605).
Corflam'bo, the personification of sensuality, a giant killed by Arthur. Corflambo had a daughter named Paea'na, who married Placidas, and proved a good wife to him.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 8 (1596).
Coriat (Thomas) died 1617, author of a book called Crudities.
Besides, 'tis known he could speak Greek,As naturally as pigs do squeak.
Lionel Cranfield, Panegyric Verses on T. Coriat
But if the meaning was as far to seek
As Coriat's horse was of his master's Greek,
When in that tongue he made a speech at length,
To show the beast the greatness of his strength.
G. Wither, Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613).
Corey (Bromfield). An amiable Boston aristocrat in W. D. Howells's story, The Rise of Silas Lapham. His father complains of his want of energy and artistic tastes, but allows him "to travel indefinitely." He remains abroad ten years studying art, comes home and paints an amateurish portrait of his father, marries and has a family, but continues a dilettante, never quite abandoning his art, but working at it fitfully. He does nothing especially clever, but never says anything that is not clever, and is as much admired as he is beloved. At heart he is true, however cynical may be his words, and throughout he is the gentleman in grain, and incorruptible (1885).
Corin, "the faithful shepherdess," who, having lost her true love by death, retired from the busy world, remained a virgin for the rest of her life, and was called "The Virgin of the Grove." The shepherd Thenot (final t pronounced) fell in love with her for her "fidelity," and to cure him of his attachment she pretended to love him in return. This broke the charm, and Thenot no longer felt that reverence of love he before entertained. Corin was skilled "in the dark, hidden virtuous use of herbs," and says:
Of all green wounds I know the remediesIn men and cattle, be they stung by snakes,
Or charmed with powerful words of wicked art,
Or be they love-sick.
—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1, (1610).
Cor'in, Corin'eus (3 syl.), or Corine'us (4 syl.) "strongest of mortal men," and one of the suite of Brute (the first mythical king of Britain.) (See CORINEUS.)
From Corin came it first? [i.e., the Cornish hug in wrestling].
M. Drayton, Polyolbion, i. (1612).
Corineus (3 syl). Southey throws the accent on the first syllable, and Spenser on the second. One of the suite of Brute. He overthrew the giant Goëm'agot, for which achievement he was rewarded with the whole western horn of England, hence called Corin'ea, and the inhabitants Corin'eans. (See CORIN).
Corineus challenged the giant to wrestle with him. At the beginning of the encounter, Corineus and the giant standing front to front held each other strongly in their arms, and panted aloud for breath; but Goëmagot presently grasped Corineus with all his might, broke three of his ribs, two on his right side and one on his left. At which Corineus, highly enraged, roused up his whole strength, and snatching up the giant, ran with him on his shoulders to the neighboring shore, and getting on to the top of a high rock, hurled the monster into the sea ... The place where he fell is called Lam Goëmagot or Goëmagot's Leap, to this day.—Geoffrey, British History, i. 16 (1142).
When father Brute and Cor'ineus set foot On the white island first.
Southey, Madoc, vi. (1805).
Cori'neus had that province utmost west. To him assigned.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 10 (1500).
Drayton makes the name a word of four syllables, and throws the accent on the last but one.
Which to their general then great Corine'us had.
Drayton, Polyolbion, i. (1612).
Corinna, a Greek poetess of Boeotia, who gained a victory over Pindar at the public games (fl. B.C. 490).
... they raisedA tent of satin, elaborately wrought
With fair Corinna's triumph.
Tennyson, The Princess, iii.
Corinna, daughter of Gripe, the scrivener. She marries Dick Amlet. Sir John Vanbrugh, The Confederacy (1695).
See lively Pope advance in jig and trip"Corinna," "Cherry," "Honeycomb," and "Snip;"
Not without art, but yet to nature true,
She charms the town with humor just yet new.
Churchill, Roseiad (1761).
Corinne' (2 syl.) the heroine and title of a novel by Mde. de Staël. Her lover proved false, and the maiden gradually pined away.
A Corinthian, a rake, a "fast man." Prince Henry says (1 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 4.) "[They] tell me I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff, but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle."
Corinthian Tom, "a fast man," the sporting rake in Pierce Egan's Life in London.
Coriola'nus (Caius Marcius), called Coriolanus from his victory at Cori'oli. His mother was Vetu'ria (not Volumnia), and his wife Volumnia (not Virgilia). Shakespeare has a drama so called. La Harpe has also a drama entitled Coriolan, produced in 1781.—Livy, Annals, ii. 40.
I remember her [Mrs. Siddons] coming down the stage in the triumphal entry of her son Coriolanus, when her dumb-show drew plaudits that shook the house. She came alone, marching and beating time to the music, rolling ... from side to side, swelling with the triumph of her son. Such was the intoxication of joy which flashed from her eye and lit up her whole face, that the effect was irresistible.—C.M. Young.
Corita'ni, the people of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Northamptonshire. Drayton refers to them in his Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Cormac I., son of Conar, a Cael, who succeeded his father as "king of Ireland," and reigned many years. In the latter part of his reign the Fir-bolg (or Belgae settled in the south of Ireland), who had been subjugated by Conar, rebelled, and Cormac was reduced to such extremities that he sent to Fingal for aid. Fingal went with a large army, utterly defeated Colculla "lord of Atha," and re-established Cormac in the sole possession of Ireland. For this service Cormac gave Fingal his daughter Roscra'na for wife, and Ossian was their first son. Cormac I. was succeeded by his son Cairbre; Cairbre by his son Artho; Artho by his son Cormac II. (a minor); and Cormac II., (after a short interregnum) by Ferad-Artho.—Ossian.
Cormac II. (a minor), king of Ireland. On his succeeding his father Artho on the throne, Swaran, king of Lochlin [Scandinavia] invaded Ireland, and defeated the army under the command of Cuthullin. Fingal's arrival turned the tide of events, for the next day Swaran was routed and returned to Lochlin. In the third year of his reign Torlath rebelled, but was utterly discomfited at lake Lago by Cuthullin, who, however, was himself mortally wounded by a random arrow during the persuit. Not long after this Cairbre rose in insurrection, murdered the young king, and usurped the government. His success, however, was only of short duration, for having invited Oscar to a feast, he treacherously slew him, and was himself slain at the same time. His brother Cathmor succeeded for a few days, when he also was slain in battle by Fingal, and the Conar dynasty restored. Conar (first king of Ireland, a Caledonian) was succeeded by his son Cormac I; Cormac I. was succeeded by his son Cairbre; Cairbre by his son Artho; Artho by his son Cormac II.; and Cormac II (after a short interregnum) by his cousin Ferad-Artho.—Ossian, Fingal, Dar-Thula and Temora.
Cor'mack (Donald), a Highland robber-chief.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV).
Cor'malo, a "chief of ten thousand spears," who lived near the waters of Lano (a Scandinavian lake). He went to Inis-Thona (an island of Scandinavia), to the court of King Annir, and "sought the honor of the spear" (i.e. a tournament). Argon, the eldest son of Annir, tilted with him and overthrew him. This vexed Cormalo greatly, and during a hunting expedition he drew his bow in secret and shot both Argon and his brother Ruro. Their father wondered they did not return, when their dog Runa came bounding into the hall, howling so as to attract attention. Annir followed the hound, and found his sons both dead. In the mean time his daughter was carried off by Cormalo. When Oscar, son of Ossian, heard thereof, he vowed vengeance, went with an army to Lano, encountered Cormalo, and slew him. Then rescuing the daughter, he took her back to Inis-Thona, and delivered her to her father.—Ossian, The War of Inis-Thona.
Cor'moran' (The Giant), a Cornish giant slain by Jack the Giant-killer. This was his first exploit, accomplished when he was a mere boy. Jack dug a deep pit, and so artfully filmed it over atop, that the giant fell into it, whereupon Jack knocked him on the head and killed him.
Cornavii, the inhabitants of Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Drayton refers to them in his Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Corne'lia, wife of Titus Sempronius Gracchus, and mother of the two tribunes Tiberius and Caius. She was almost idolized by the Romans, who erected a statue in her honor, with this inscription: CORNELIA, MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI.
Clelia, Cornelia,... and the Roman browsOf Agrippina
Tennyson, The Princess, ii.
Cornet, a waiting-woman on Lady Fanciful. She caused great offence because she did not flatter her ladyship. She actually said to her, "Your ladyship looks very ill this morning," which the French waiting-woman contradicted by saying, "My opinion be, matam, dat your latyship never look so well in all your life." Lady Fanciful said to Cornet, "Get out of the room, I can't endure you;" and then turning to Mdlle, she added, "This wench is insufferably ugly.... Oh, by-the-by, Mdlle., you can take these two pair of gloves. The French are certainly well-mannered, and never flatter."—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).
This is of a piece with the archbishop of Granada and his
secretary Gil Blas.
Corney (Mrs.), matron of the workhouse where Oliver Twist was born. She is a well-to-do widow, who marries Bumble, and reduces the pompous beadle to a hen-pecked husband.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxvii. (1837).
Cornflower (Henry), a farmer, who "beneath a rough outside, possessed a heart which would have done honor to a prince."
Mrs. Cornflower, (by birth Emma Belton), the farmer's wife abducted by Sir Charles Courtly.—Dibdin, The Farmer's Wife (1789).
Corniole Giovanni delle, i.e. Giovanni of the Cornelians, the cognomen given to an engraver of these stones in the time of Lorenzo di Medici. His most famous work, the Savonarola in the Uffoziel gallery.
Corn-Law Rhymer (The), Ebenezer Elliot (1781-1849).
Cornwall (Barry), an imperfect anagram of Bryan Waller Proctor, author of English Songs (1788-1874).
Corombona (Vittoria), the White Devil, the chief character in a drama by John Webster, entitled The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona (1612).
Coro'nis, daughter of Phorôneus (3 syl.) king of Pho'cis, metamorphosed by Minerva into a crow. Corporal (The Little). General Bonaparte was so called after the battle of Lodi(1796).
Corrector (Alexander the), Alexander Cruden, author of the Concordance to the Bible, for many years a corrector of the press, in London. He believed himself divinely inspired to correct the morals and manners of the world (1701-1770).
Courrouge' (2 syl.), the sword of Sir Otuel, a presumptuous Saracen, nephew of Farracute (3 syl.). Otuel was in the end converted to Christianity.
Corsair (The), Lord Conrad, afterwards called Lara. Hearing that the Sultan Seyd [Seed] was about to attack the pirates, he assumed the disguise of a dervise and entered the palace, while his crew set fire to the Sultan's fleet. Conrad was apprehended and cast into a dungeon, but being released by Glulnare (queen of the harem), he fled with her to the Pirates' Isle. Here he found that Medo'ra (his heart's darling) had died during his absence, so he left the Island with Gulnare, returned to his native land, headed a rebellion, and was shot.—Byron, The Corsair, continued in Lara (1814).
(This tale is based on the adventures of Lafitte, the notorious buccaneer. Lafitte was pardoned by General Jackson for services rendered to the States in 1815, during the attack of the British on New Orleans).
Cor'sand, a magistrate at the examination of Dirk Hatteraick at Kippletringan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II).
Corsican General (The), Napoleon I., who was born in Corsica (1769-1821).
Cor'sina, wife of the corsair who found Fairstar and Chery in the boat as it drifted on the sea. Being made very rich by her foster-children, Corsina brought them up as princes. Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales (The Princess Fairstar, 1682).
Corte'jo, a cavaliere servente, who as Byron says in Beppo:
Coach, servants, gondola, must go to call,And carries fan and tippet, gloves and shawl.
Was it not for this that no cortejo ere
I yet have chosen from the youth of Sev'ille?
Byron, Don Juan, i. 148 (1819).
Corvi'no (Signior), a Venetian merchant, duped by Mosca into believing that he is Vol'pone's heir.—Ben Jonson, Volpone or the Fox (1605).
Coryate's Crudities, a book of travels by Thomas Coryate, who called himself the "Odcombian Legstretcher." He was the son of the rector of Odcombe (1577—1617).
Corycian Nymphs (The), the Muses, so called from the cave of Corycîa on Lyeorça, one of the two chief summits of Mount Parnassus, in Greece.
Cor'ydon, a common name for a shepherd. It occurs in the Idylls of Theocritos; the Eclogues of Virgil; The Cantata, v., of Hughes, etc.
Cor'ydon, the shepherd who languished for the fair Pastorella (canto 9). Sir Calidore, the successful rival, treated him most courteously, and when he married the fair shepherdess, gave Corydon both flocks and herds to mitigate his disappointment (canto 11).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. (1596).
Cor'ydon, the shoemaker, a citizen.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Coryphaeus of German Literature (The), Goethe.
The Polish poet called upon ... the great Corypheeus of German literature.—W. R. Morfell, Notes and Queries, April 27, 1878.
Coryphe'us (4 syl.), a model man or leader, from the Koruphaios or leader of the chorus in the Greek drama. Aristarchos is called The Corypheus of Grammarians.
Cosette. Illegitimate child of Fantine, a Parisian grisette. She puts the baby into the care of peasants who neglect and maltreat the little creature. She is rescued by the ex-convict Jean Valjean, who nurtures her tenderly and marries her to a respectable man.—Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
Cosme (St.), patron of surgeons, born in Arabia. He practised medicine in Cilicia with his brother St. Damien, and both suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in 303 or 310. Their fête day is December 27. In the twelfth century there was a medical society called Saint Cosme.
Cos'miel (3 syl.), the genius of the world. He gave to Theodidactus a boat of asbestos, in which he sailed to the sun and planets.—Kircher, Ecstatic Journey to Heaven.
Cosmos, the personification of "the world" as the enemy of man. Phineas Fletcher calls him "the first son to the Dragon red" (the devil). "Mistake," he says, "points all his darts;" or, as the Preacher says, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." Fully described in The Purple Island, viii (1633). (Greek, kosmos, "the world.&quoquot;)
Cos'tard, a clown who apes the court wits of Queen Elizabeth's time. He uses the word "honorificabilitudinitatibus," and some of his blunders are very ridiculous, as "ad dunghill, at the fingers' ends, as they say" (act v. I).—Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost (1594).
Costigan, Irish Captain in Pendennis, W. M. Thackeray.
Costin (Lord), disguised as a beggar, in The Beggar's Bush, a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).
Cote Male-tailé (Sir), meaning the "knight with the villainous coat," the nickname given by Sir Key (the seneschal of King Arthur) to Sir Brewnor le Noyre, a young knight who wore his father's, coat with all its sword-cuts, to keep him in remembrance of the vengeance due to his father. His first achievement was to kill a lion that "had broken loose from a tower, and came hurling after the queen." He married a damsel called Maledisaunt (3 syl.), who loved him, but always chided him. After her marriage she was called Beauvinant.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 42-50 (1470).
Cotter's Saturday Night; Poem in which Burns depicts the household of a Scottish peasant gathering about the hearth on the last evening of the week for supper, social converse and family worship. The picture of the "Saint, the Father and the Husband" is drawn the poet's own father. Cotyt´to, Groddess of the Edõni of Thrace. Her orgies resembled those of the Thracian Cyb´elê (3 syl).
Hail goddess of nocturnal sport,Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame
Of midnight torches burns.
Milton, Comus, 136, etc. (1634.)
Coulin, a British giant pursued by Debon till he came to a chasm 132 feet across which he leaped; but slipping on the opposite side, he fell backwards into the pit and was killed.
And eke that ample pit yet far renownedFor the great leap which Debon did compell
Coulin to make, being eight lugs of grownd,
Into which the returning back he fell.
Spencer, Faëry Queen, ii. 10 (1590.)
Count of Narbonne, a tragedy by Robert Jephson (1782). His father, Count Raymond, having poisoned Alphonso, forged a will barring Godfrey's right, and naming Raymond as successor. Theodore fell in love with Adelaide, the count's daughter, but was reduced to this dilemma: if he married Adelaide he could not challenge the count and obtain the possessions he had a right to as grandson of Alphonso; if, on the other hand, he obtained his rights and killed the count in combat, he could not expect that Adelaide would marry him. At the end the count killed Adelaide, and then himself. This drama is copied from Walpole's Castle of Otranto.
Count Robert of Paris, a novel by Sir W. Scott, after the wreck of his fortune and repeated strokes of paralysis (1831). The critic can afford to be indulgent, and those who read this story must remember that the sun of the great wizard was hastening to its set. The time of the novel is the reign of Rufus. Country (Father of his). Cicero was so called by the Roman senate (B.C. 106-43). Julius Cæsar was so called after quelling the insurrection in Spain (B.C. 100-43). Augustus Cæsar was called Pater atque Princeps (B.C. 63, 31-14). Cosmo de Med´ici (1389-1464). Washington, defender and paternal counsellor of the American States (1732-1799). Andrea Dorea is so called on the base of his statue in Gen´oa (1468-1560). Andronlcus Palaeol´ogus II. assumed the title (1260-1332). (See 1 Chron. iv. 14).
Country Girl (The), a comedy by Garrick, altered from Wycherly. The "country girl" is Peggy Thrift, the orphan daughter of Sir Thomas Thrift, and ward of Moody, who brings her up in the country in perfect seclusion. When Moody is 50 and Peggy is 19, he wants to marry her, but she outwits him and marries Bellville, a young man of suitable age and position.
Country Wife (The), a comedy by William Wycherly (1675).
Pope was proud to receive notice from theauthor of The Country Wife.—R. Chambers,
English Literature, i. 393.
Coupee, the dancing-master, who says "if it were not for dancing-masters, men might as well walk on their heads as heels." He courts Lucy by promising to teach her dancing.—Fielding, The Virgin Unmasked.
Cour´tain, one of the swords of Ogier the Dane, made by Munifican. His other sword was Sauvagine.
But Ogier gazed upon it [the sea] doubtfullyOne Moment, and then, sheathing, Courtain, said,
"What tales are these?"
W. Morris, The Earthly Paradise ("August").
Courtall, a fop and consummate libertine, for ever boasting of his love-conquests over ladies of the haut monde. He tries to corrupt Lady Frances Touchwood, but is foiled by Saville.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem (1780).
Courtly (Sir Charles), a young libertine, who abducted the beautiful wife of Farmer Cornflower.—Dibdin, The Farmer's Wife (1780).
Cousin Copeland, a little old bachelor, courtly and quaint, who lives in "Old Gardiston," the home of his ancestors "befo' de wah." He has but one suit of clothes, so he dresses for dinner by donning a ruffled shirt and a flower in his buttonhole. His work is among "documents," his life in the past; without murmur at poverty or change he keeps up the even routine of life until one evening, trying to elevate his gentle little voice as he reads to his niece, so as to be heard above the rain and wind, it fails.
"Four days afterward he died, gentle andplacid to the last. He was an old man, although
no one had ever thought so."—Constance
Fennimore Woolson, Southern Sketches, (1880).
Cousin Michel or MICHAEL, the nickname of a German, as John Bull is of an Englishman, Brother Jonathan of an American, Colin Tampon a Swiss, John Chinaman a Chinese, etc.
Couvade´ (2 syl.), a man who takes the place of his wife when she is in child-bed. In these cases the man lies a-bed, and the woman does the household duties. The people called "Gold Tooth," in the confines of Burmah, are couvades. M. Francisque Michel tells us the custom still exists in Biscay; and Colonel Yule assures us that it is common in Yunnan and among the Miris in Upper Assam. Mr.
Tylor has observed the same custom among the Caribs of the West Indies, the Abipones of Central South America, the aborigines of California, in Guiana, in West Africa, and in the Indian Archipelago. Diodorus speaks of it as existing at one time in Corsica; Strabo says the custom prevailed in the north of Spain; and Apollonius Rhodius that the Tabarenes on the Euxine Sea observed the same:
In the Tabarenian land,When some good woman bears her lord a babe,
'Tis he is swathed, and groaning put to bed;
While she arising tends his bath and serves
Nice possets for her husband in the straw.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautic Exp
Cov´erley (Sir Roger de), a member of an hypothetical club, noted for his modesty, generosity, hospitality, and eccentric whims; most courteous to his neighbors, most affectionate to his family, most amiable to his domestics. Sir Roger, who figures in thirty papers of the Spectator, is the very beau-ideal of an amiable country gentleman of Queen Anne's time.
What would Sir Roger de Coverley be withouthis follies and his charming little brain-cracks? If
the good knight did not call out to the people
sleeping in church, and say "Amen" with such
delightful pomposity; if he did not mistake Mde.
Doll Tearsheet for a lady of quality in Temple
Garden; if he were wiser than he is ... of
what worth were he to us? We love him for his
vanities as much as for his virtues.—Thackeray.
Cowards and BULLIES. In Shakespeare we have Parolès and Pistol; in Ben Jonson, Bob´adil; in Beaumont and Fletcher, Bessus and Mons. Lapet, the very prince of cowards; in the French drama, La Capitan, Metamore, and Scaramouch. (See also BASILISCO, CAPTAIN NOLL BLUFF, BOROUGHCLIFF, CAPTAIN BRAZEN, SIR PETRONEL FLASH, SACRIPANT, VINCENT DE LA ROSA, etc.)
Cowper, called "Author of The Task," from his principal poem (1731-1800).
Coxcomb (The Prince of) Charles Joseph Prince de Ligne (1535-1614).
Richard II. of England (1366, 1377-1400).
Henri III, of France, Le Mignon (1551, 1574-1589).
Coxe (Captain), one of the masques at Kenilworth.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Coy Bishop. Best friend and unconscious foil to Avis Dobell in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' Story of Avis. "Her face is as innocent of sarcasm as a mocking bird's;" she "is one of the immortal few who can look pretty in their crimping-pins;" she "has the glibness of most unaccentuated natures;" she admires Avis without comprehending her, and she makes an excellent wife to John Rose, a practical young clergyman. (1877).
Crabshaw (Timothy), the servant of Sir Launcelot Greaves's squire.—Smollett, Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760).
Crab´tree, in Smollett's novel called The Adventures of Peregine Pickle (1751).
Crab´tree, uncle of Sir Harry Bumber, in Sheridan's comedy, The School for Scandal (1777).
Crab´tree, a gardener at Fairport.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time George III.).
Crac (M. de), the French Baron Munchausen; hero of a French operetta.
Crack´enthorp (Father), a publican.
Dolly Crackenthorp, daughter of the publican.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Crackit (Flash Toby), one of the villains in the attempted burglary in which Bill Sikes and his associates were concerned.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837.)
Cra'dlemont, king of Wales, subdued by Arthur, fighting for Leod'ogran, king of Cam'eliarn (3 syl.).—Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
Cradock (Sir), the only knight who could carve the boar's head which no cuckold could cut; or drink from a bowl which no cuckold could quaff without spilling the liquor. His lady was the only one in King Arthur's court who could wear the mantle of chastity brought thither by a boy during Christmas-tide.—Percy, Reliques, etc., III. iii. 18.
Craigdal'lie (Adam), the senior baillie of Perth.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Craig'engelt (Captain), an adventurer and companion of Bucklaw. Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Craik Mamsell. A murderer who allows suspicion to fall upon the innocent in Anna Katherine Green's story, Hand and Ring (1883).
Cramp (Corporal), under captain Thornton.—Sir W. Scott, Bob Roy (time, George I.)
Cran'bourne, (Sir Jasper), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Crane (Dame Alison), mistress of the Crane inn, at Marlborough.
Gaffer Crane, the dame's husband.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Crane (Ichabod), a credulous Yankee schoolmaster. He is described as "tall, exceedingly lank, and narrow-shouldered; his arms, legs, and neck unusually long; his hands dangle a mile out of his sleeves; his feet might serve for shovels; and his whole frame is very loosely hung together."
The head of Ichabod Crane was small andflat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy
eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked
like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle
neck to tell which way the wind blew.—W. Irving,
Sketch-Book ("Legend of Sleepy Hollow.")
Cranes (1 syl.). Milton, referring to the wars of the pygmies and the cranes, calls the former
That small infantryWarred on by cranes.
Paradise Lost, i. 575 (1665).
Cranion, queen Mab's charioteer.
Four nimble gnats the horses were,Their harnesses of gossamere,
Fly Cranion, her charioteer.
M. Dayton, Nymphidia (1563-1631).
Crank (Dame), the papist laundress at Marlborough.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Cra'paud (Johnnie), a Frenchman, as John Bull is an Englishman, Cousin Michael a German, Colin Tampon a Swiss, Brother Jonathan a North American, etc. Called Crapaud from the device of the ancient kings of France, "three toads erect saltant." Nostradamus, in the sixteenth century, called the French crapauds in the well-known line:
Les anciens crapauds prendront Sara.("Sara" is Aras backwards, a city taken from the Spaniards under Louis XIV.) Cratchit (Bob or Robert), clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, stock-broker. Though Bob Cratchit has to maintain nine persons on 15s. a week, he has a happier home and spends a merrier Christmas than his master with all his wealth and selfishness.
Tiny Tim Cratchit, the little lame son of Bob Cratchit, the Benjamin of the family, the most helpless and most beloved of all. Tim does not die, but Ebenezer Scrooge, after his change of character, makes him his special care.—C. Dickens, A Christmas Carol (in five staves, 1843).
Craw'ford (Lindsay, earl of), the young earl-marshal of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Craw'ford (Lord), captain of the Scottish guard at Plessis lés Tours, in the pay of Louis XI.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Crawley (Sir Pitt), of Great Gaunt Street, and of Queen's Crawley, Hants. A sharp, miserly, litigious, vulgar, ignorant baronet, very rich, desperately mean, "a philosopher with a taste for low life," and intoxicated every night. Becky Sharp was engaged by him to teach his two daughters. On the death of his second wife, Sir Pitt asked her to become lady Crawley, but Becky had already married his son, Captain Rawdon Crawley. This "aristocrat" spoke of "brass fardens," and was unable to spell the simplest words, as the following specimen will show:—"Sir Pitt Crawley begs Miss Sharp and baggidge may be hear on Tuseday, as I leaf ... to-morrow erly." The whole baronetage, peerage, and commonage of England did not contain a more cunning, mean, foolish, disreputable old rogue than Sir Pitt Crawley. He died at the age of fourscore, "lamented and beloved, regretted and honored," if we can believe his monumental tablet.
Lady Crawley. Sir Pitt's first wife was "a confounded quarrelsome, high-bred jade." So he chose for his second wife the daughter of Mr. Dawson, iron-monger, of Mudbury, who gave up her sweetheart, Peter Butt, for the gilded vanity of Crawleyism. This ironmonger's daughter had "pink cheeks and a white skin, but no distinctive character, no opinions, no occupation, no amusements, no vigor of mind, no temper; she was a mere female machine." Being a "blonde, she wore draggled sea-green or slatternly sky-blue dresses," went about slip-shod and in curl-papers all day till dinner-time. She died and left Sir Pitt for the second time a widower, "to-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new."
Mr. Pitt Crawley, eldest son of Sir Pitt, and at the death of his father inheritor of the title and estates. Mr. Pitt was a most proper gentleman. He would rather starve than dine without a dress-coat and white neckcloth. The whole house bowed down to him; even Sir Pitt himself threw off his muddy gaiters in his son's presence. Mr. Pitt always addressed his mother-in-law with "most powerful respect," and strongly impressed her with his high aristocratic breeding. At Eton he was called "Miss Crawley." His religious opinions were offensively aggressive and of the "evangelical type." He even built a meeting-house close by his uncle's church. Mr. Pitt Crawley came into the large fortune of his aunt, Miss Crawley, married Lady Jane Sheepshanks, daughter of the Countess of Southdown, became an M.P., grew money-loving and mean, but less and less "evangelical" as he grew great and wealthy.
Captain Rawdon Crawley, younger brother of Mr. Pitt Crawley. He was in the Dragoon Guards, a "blood about town," and an adept in boxing, rat-hunting, the fives-court, and four-in-hand driving. He was a young dandy, six feet high, with a great voice, but few brains. He could swear a great deal, but could not spell. He ordered about the servants, who nevertheless adored him; was generous, but did not pay his tradesmen; a Lothario, free and easy. His style of talk was, "Aw, aw; Jave-aw; Grad-aw; it's a confounded fine segaw-aw—confounded as I ever smoked. Gad-aw." This military exquisite was the adopted heir of Miss Crawley, but as he chose to marry Becky Sharp, was set aside for his brother Pitt. For a time Becky enabled him to live in splendor "upon nothing a year," but a great scandal got wind of gross improprieties between Lord Steyne and Becky, so that Rawdon separated from his wife, and was given the governorship of Coventry Isle by Lord Steyne. "His Excellency Colonel Rawdon Crawley died in his island of yellow fever, most deeply beloved and deplored," and his son Rawdon inherited his uncle's title and the family estates.
The Rev. Bute Crawley, brother of Sir Pitt. He was a "tall, stately, jolly, shovel-hatted rector." "He pulled stroke-oar in the Christ Church boat, and had thrashed the best bruisers of the town. The Rev. Bute loved boxing-matches, races, hunting, coursing, balls, elections, regattas, and good dinners; had a fine singing voice, and was very popular." His wife wrote his sermons for him.
Mrs. Bute Crawley, the rector's wife, was a smart little lady, domestic, politic, but apt to overdo her "policy." She gave her husband full liberty to do as he liked; was prudent and thrifty.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848).
Craydocke (Miss). Quaint friend of the Ripwinkleys and of everybody else who figures in A.D.T. Whitney's Real Folks, and other of her books. "Around her there is always springing up a busy and a spreading crystallizing of shining and blessed elements. The world is none too big for her, or for any such, of course."
Cray'on (Le Sieur de), one of the officers of Charles "the Bold," Duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Crayon (Geoffrey), Esq., Washington Irving, author of The Sketch-Book (1820).
Crea'kle, a hard, vulgar school-master, to whose charge David Copperfield was entrusted, and where he first made the acquaintance of Steerforth.
The circumstance abont him which impressedme most was that he had no voice, but spoke in
a whisper.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield, vi.
(1849).
Cream Cheese (Rev.), an aesthetic divine whose disciple Mrs. Potiphar is in The Potiphar Papers.—George William Curtis (1853).
Crebillon of Romance (The), A. François Prévost d'Exiles (1697-1763).
Credat Judaeus Apella, nonego (Horace, Sat. I. v. 100). Of "Apella" nothing whatever is known. In general the name is omitted, and the word "Judaeus" stands for any Jew. "A disbelieving Jew would give credit to the statement sooner than I should."
Cres'sida, in Chaucer Cresseide (2 syl.), a beautiful, sparkling, and accomplished woman, who has become a by-word for infidelity. She was the daughter of Calchas, a Trojan priest, who took part with the Greeks. Cressida is not a character of classic story, but a mediaeval creation. Pope says her story was the invention of Lollius the Lombard, historiographer of Urbino, in Italy. Cressida betroths herself to Troilus, a son of Priam, and vows eternal fidelity. Troilus gives the maiden a sleeve, and she gives her Adonis a glove, as a love-knot. Soon after this betrothal an exchange of prisoners is made, when Cressida falls to the lot of Diomed, to whom she very soon yields her love, and even gives him the very sleeve which Troilus had given her as a love-token.
As falseAs air, as water, wind, or sandy earth.
Yea, let [men] say to stick the heart of falsehood,
"As false as Cressid."
(Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act iii. sc. 2)
(1602).
Cresswell (Madame), a woman of infamous character, who bequeathed £10 for a funeral sermon, in which nothing ill should be said of her. The Duke of Buckinham wrote the sermon, which was as follows:—"All I shall say of her is this: she was born well, she married well, lived well, and died well; for she was born at Shad-well, married Cress-well, lived at Clerken-well, and died in Bride-well."
Cressy McKinstry. Belle of Tuolumne County, California; pretty, saucy and illiterate. She conceives the idea of getting an education, and attends the district school, breaking an engagement of marriage to do this; bewitches the master, a college graduate, and confesses her love for him, but will not be "engaged:"
"I don't know enough to be a wife to you just now and you know it. I couldn't keep a house fit for you and you couldn't keep me without it.... You're only a dandy boy, you know, and they don't get married to backwood Southern girls."
After many scrapes involving perils, shared together, and much love-making, he is stunned one morning to learn that Cressy is married to another man, whom she had feigned not to like.—Bret Harte, Cressy (1889).
Crete (Hound of), a blood-hound.—See Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii. sec. 2.
Coupe le gorge, that's the word; I thee defy again,O hound of Crete!
Shakespeare, Henry V. act ii. sc. 1 (1599).
Crete (The Infamy of), the Minotaur.
[There] lay stretchedThe infamy of Crete, detested brood
Of the feigned heifer.
Dante, Hell, xii. (1300, Cary's translation).
Crèvecour (2 syl.). The count Philip de Crèvecour is the envoy sent by Charles "the Bold," duke of Burgundy, with a defiance to Louis XI., king of France.
The Countess of Crèvecour, wife of the count.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Crib (Tom), Thomas Moore, author of Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress (1819).
Crillon. The following story is told of this brave but simple-minded officer. Henry IV., after the battle of Arques, wrote to him thus:
Prends-toi, brave Crillon, nous avons vaincu à Arques, et tu n'y étais pas.
The first and last part of this letter have become proverbial in France.
When Crillon heard the story of the Crucifixion read at Church, he grew so excited that he cried out in an audible voice, Où étais tu, Crillon? ("What were you about, Crillon, to permit of such atrocity!")
[Illustration: symbol] When Clovis was told of the Crucifixion, he exclaimed, "Had I and my Franks been by, we would have avenged the wrong, I warrant."
Crimo'ra and Connal. Crimora, daughter of Rinval, was in love with Connal of the race of Fingal, who was defied by Dargo. He begs his "sweeting" to lend him her father's shield, but she says it is ill-fated, for her father fell by the spear of Gormar. Connal went against his foe, and Crimora, disguised in armor, went also, but unknown to him. She saw her lover in fight with Dargo, and discharged an arrow at the foe, but it missed its aim and shot Connal. She ran in agony to his succor. It was too late. He died, Crimora died also, and both were buried in one grave. Ossian, Carric-Thura.
Cringle (Tom), Hero of sea-story by Michael Scott, Tom Cringle's Log.
Crispin (St.). Crispinos and Crispianus were two brothers, born at Rome, from which place they traveled to Soissons, in France (about A.D. 303), to propagate the gospel, and worked as shoe-makers, that they might not be chargeable to any one. The governor of the town ordered them to be beheaded the very year of their arrival, and they were made the tutelary saints of the "gentle craft." St. Crispin's Day is October 25.
This day is called the feast of Crispian..And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered.
Shakespeare, Henry V. act iv. sc. 3 (1599).
Critic (A Bossu), one who criticizes the "getting up" of a book more than its literary worth; a captious, carping critic. Réne le Bossu was a French critic (1631-1680).
The epic poem your lordship bade me look at,upon taking the length, breadth, height, and
depth of it, and trying them at home upon an
exact scale of Bossu's, 'tis out, my lord, in every
one of its dimensions. Admirable connoisseur!
—Sterne.
(Probably the scale referred to was that of Bossut the mathematician, and that either Bossu and Bossut have been confounded, or else that a pun is intended).
Critic (The), by R. B. Sheridan, suggested by The Rehearsal (1779).
The Rehearsal is by the Duke of Buckingham (1671).
Critics (The Prince of), Aristarchos of Byzantium, who compiled, in the second century B.C., the rhapsodies of Homer.
Croaker, guardian to Miss Richland. Never so happy as when he imagines himself a martyr. He loves a funeral better than a festival, and delights to think that the world is going to rack and ruin. His favorite phrase is "May be not."
A poor, fretful soul, that has a new distressfor every hour of the four and twenty.—Act i. 1.
Mrs. Croaker, the very reverse of her grumbling, atrabilious husband. She is mirthful, light-hearted, and cheerful as a lark.
The very reverse of each other. She all laughand no joke, he always complaining and never
sorrowful.—Act i. 1.
Leontine Croaker, son of Mr. Croaker. Being sent to Paris to fetch his sister, he falls in love with Olivia Woodville, whom he brings home instead, introduces her to Croaker as his daughter, and ultimately marries her.—Goldsmith, The Good Natured Man (1768).
Crocodile (King). The people of Isna, in Upper Egypt, affirm that there is a king crocodile as there is a queen bee. The king crocodile has ears but no tail, and has no power of doing harm. Southey says that though the king crocodile has no tail, he has teeth to devour his people with.—Browne, Travels.
Crocodile (Lady Kitty), meant for the Duchess of Kingston.—Sam. Foote, A Trip to Calais.
Crocus, a young man enamoured of the nymph Smilax, who did not return his love. The gods changed him into the crocus flower, to signify unrequited love.
Croesus, king of Lydia, deceived by an oracle, was conquered by Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus commanded a huge funeral pile to be erected upon which Croesus and fourteen Lydian youths were to be chained and burnt alive. When this was done, the discrowned king called on the name of Solon, and Cyrus asked why he did so. "Because he told me to call no one happy till death." Cyrus, struck with the remark, ordered the fire of the pile to be put out, but this could not be done. Croesus then called on Apollo, who sent a shower which extinguished the flames, and he with his Lydians came from the pile unharmed.
The resemblance of this legend to the Bible account of
the Jewish youths condemned by Nebuchadnezzar to be cast into the fiery
furnace, from which they came forth uninjured, will recur to the
reader.—Daniel, iii. Croesus's Dream. Croesus dreamt that his son,
Atys, would be slain by an iron instrument, and used every precaution to
prevent it, but to no purpose; for one day Atys went to chase the wild
boar, and Adrastus, his friend, threw a dart at the boar to rescue Atys
from danger; the dart, however, struck the prince and killed him. The
tale is told by William Morris in his Earthly Paradise ("July").
Croftangry (Mr. Chrystal), a gentleman fallen to decay, cousin of Mrs. Martha Bethune Baliol, to whom at death, he left the MS. of two novels, one The Highland Widow, and the other The Fair Maid of Perth, called the First and Second Series of the "Chronicles of Canongate" (q. v.). The history of Mr. Chrystal Croftangry is given in the introductory chapters of The Highland Widow, and continued in the introduction of the The Fair Maid of Perth.
Lockhart tells us that Mr. Croftangry is meant for Sir Walter Scott's father and that "the fretful patient at the death-bed" is a living picture.
Crofts (Master), the person killed in a duel by Sir Geofrey Hudson, the famous dwarf.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Croker's Mare. In the proverb As coy as Croker's Mare. This means "as chary as a mare that carries crockery."
She was to them as koy as a croker's Mare,J. Heywood, Dialogue ii. 1 (1566).
Crokers. Potatoes are so called because they were first planted in Croker's field, at Youghal, in Ireland.—J. R. Planche, Recollections, etc. ii. 119.
Crom'well (Oliver), introduced by Sir W. Scott in Woodstock. Cromwell's daughter Elizabeth, who married John Claypole. Seeing her father greatly agitated by a portrait of Charles I., she gently and lovingly led him away out of the room.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Cromwell is called by the Preacher Burroughs "the archangel who did battle with the devil."
Cromwell's Lucky Day. The 3rd September was considered by Oliver Cromwell to be his red-letter day. On the 3rd September, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar; on 3rd September, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester; and on 3rd September, 1658, he died. It is not, however, true that he was born on 3rd September, as many affirm, for his birthday was 25th April, 1599.
Cromwell's Dead Body Insulted. Cromwell's dead body was, by the sanction, if not by the express order of Charles II., taken from its grave, exposed on a gibbet, and finally buried under the gallows.
Similarly, the tomb of Am'asis, king of Egypt, was broken open by
Camby'ses; the body was then scourged and insulted in various ways, and
finally burnt, which was abhorrent to the Egyptians, who used every
possible method to preserve dead bodies in their integrity.
The dead body of Admiral Coligny [Co.leen.ye] was similarly insulted by Charles IX., Catherine de Medicis, and all the court of France, who spattered blood and dirt on the half-burnt blackened mass. The king had the bad taste to say over it:
Fragrance sweeter than a roseRises from our slaughtered foes.
It will be remembered that Coligny was the guest of Charles, his only crime being that he was a Huguenot.
Crook-fingered Jack, one of Macheath's gang of thieves. In eighteen months' service he brought to the general stock four fine gold watches and seven silver ones, sixteen snuff-boxes (five of which were gold), six dozen handkerchiefs, four silver-hilted swords, six shirts, three periwigs, and a "piece" of broadcloth. Pea'chum calls him "a mighty cleanhanded fellow," and adds:
"Considering these are only the fruits of his leisure hours, I don't know a prettier fellow, for no man alive hath a more engaging presence of mind upon the road."—Gay, The Beggar's Opera. i. 1 (1727).
Crop (George), an honest, hearty farmer, who has married a second wife, named Dorothy, between whom there are endless quarrels. Two especially are noteworthy. Crop tells his wife he hopes that better times are coming, and when the law-suit is over "we will have roast pork for dinner every Sunday." The wife replies, "It shall be lamb." "But I say it shall be pork." "I hate pork, I'll have lamb." "Pork, I tell you." "I say lamb." "It shan't be lamb, I will have pork." The other quarrel arises from Crop's having left the door open, which he asks his wife civilly to shut. She refuses, he commands; she turns obstinate, he turns angry; at length they agree that the person who first speaks shall shut the door. Dorothy speaks first, and Crop gains the victory.—P. Hoare, No Song, no Supper (1754-1834).
Cropland (Sir Charles), an extravagant, heartless libertine and man of fashion, who hates the country except for hunting, and looks on his estates and tenants only as the means of supplying money for his personal indulgence. Knowing that Emily Worthington is the daughter of a "poor gentleman," he offers her "a house in town, the run of his estate in the country, a chariot, two footmen, and £600 a year;" but the lieutenant's daughter rejects with scorn such "splendid infamy." At the end Sir Charles is made to see his own baseness, and offers the most ample apologies to all whom he has offended.—G. Colman, The Poor Gentleman (1802).
Croquemitaine [Croak.mit.tain], the bogie raised by fear. Somewhere near Saragossa was a terrible castle called Fear Fortress, which appeared quite impregnable; but as the bold approached it, the difficulties of access gradually gave way and even the fortress itself vanished into thin air.
Croquemitaine is a romance in three parts; the first part is a tournament between the knights of Marsillus, a Moorish king, and the paladins of Charlemagne; the second part is the siege of Saragossa by Charlemagne; and the third part is the allegory of Fear Fortress. Mitaine is the godchild of Charlemagne, who goes in search of Fear Fortress.
Croquis (Alfred), Daniel Maclise, R.A. This pseudonym was attached to a series of character-portraits in Frazer's Magazine between the years 1830 and 1838. Maclise was born 1811, and died 1870.
Cros'bie (William), provost of Dumfries, a friend of Mr. Fairford the lawyer.
Mrs. Crosbie, wife of the provost, and a cousin of Eedgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott. Redgauntlet, (time, George III.).
Crosbite (2 syl.), a barrister.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time George III.).
Cross Purposes, a farce by O'Brien. There are three brothers named Bevil—Francis, an M.P., Harry, a lawyer, and George, in the Guards. They all, unknown to each other, wish to marry Emily Grub, the handsome daughter of a rich stockbroker. Francis pays court to the father, and obtains his consent; Harry to the mother, and obtains her consent; and George to the daughter, whose consent he obtains, and the two elder brothers retire from the field. The fun of the farce is the contention of the Grubs about a suitable husband, their joy at finding they have all selected Mr. Bevil, and their amazement at discovering that there are three of the same name.
Cross'myloof, a lawyer.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Crothar, "Lord of Atha," in Connaught (then called Alnec'ma). He was the first and most powerful chief of the Fir-bolg ("bowmen") or Belgæ from Britain who colonized the southern parts of Ireland. Crothar carried off Conla'ma, daughter of Cathmin, a chief of the Cael or Caledonians, who had colonized the northern parts of Ireland and held their court in Ulster. As Conlama was betrothed to Turloch, a Cael, he made an irruption into Connaught, slew Cormul, but was himself slain by Crothar, Cormul's brother. The feud now became general, "Blood poured on blood, and Erin's clouds were hung with ghosts." The Cael being reduced to the last extremity, Trathel (the grandfather of Fingal) sent Conar (son of Trenmor) to their relief. Conar, on his arrival in Ulster, was chosen king, and the Fir-bolg being subdued, he called himself "the King of Ireland."—Ossian, Temora, ii.
Crothar, vassal king of Croma (in Ireland), held under Artho, over-lord of all Ireland. Crothar, being blind with age, was attacked by Rothmar, chief of Tromlo, who resolved to annex Croma to his own dominion. Crotha sent to Fingal for aid, and Fingal sent his son Ossian with an army; but before he could arrive Fovar-Gormo, a son of Crothar, attacked the invader, but was defeated and slain. When Ossian reached Ulster, he attacked the victorious Rothmar and both routed the army and slew the chief.—Ossian, Croma.
Croto'na's Sage, Pythagoras, so called because his first and chief school of philosophy was established at Crotna (fl. B.C. 540.)
Crowde'ro, one of the rabble leaders encountered by Hudibras at a bear-baiting. The academy figure of this character was Jackson or Jephson, a milliner in the New Exchange, Strand, London. He lost a leg in the service of the roundheads, and was reduced to the necessity of earning a living by playing on the crowd or crouth from ale-house to ale-house.—S. Butler, Hudibras, i. 2 (1664).
(The crouth was a long box-shaped instrument, with six or more strings, supported by a bridge. It was played with a bow. The last noted performer on this instrument was John Morgan, a Welshman, who died 1720).
Crowe (Captain), the attendant of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1 syl.), in his peregrinations to reform society. Sir Launcelot is a modern Don Quixote, and Captain Crowe is his Sancho Panza.
Crowfield (Christopher), a pseudonym of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1814-).
Crown. Godfrey, when made the overlord of Jerusalem, or "Baron of the Holy Sepulchre," refused to wear a crown of gold where his Saviour had only worn a crown of thorns.
Canute, after the rebuke he gave to his flatterers, refused to wear thenceforth any symbol of royalty at all.
Canute (truth worthy to be known)From that time forth did for his brows disown
The ostentatious symbol of a crown,
Esteeming earthly royalty
Presumptuous and vain.
Crowned after Death. Inez de Castro was exhumed six years after her assassination, and crowned queen of Portugal by her husband, Don Pedro. (See INEZ DE CASTRO.)
Crowquill (Alfred), Alfred Henry Forrester, author of Leaves from my Memorandum-Book (1859), one of the artists of Punch (1805-1872).
Croye (Isabelle, countess of), a ward of Charles "the Bold," duke of Burgundy. She first appears at the turret window in Plessis lés Tours, disguised as Jacqueline; and her marriage with Quentin Durward concludes the novel.
The Countess Hameline of Croye, aunt to Countess Isabelle. First disguised as Dame Perotte (2 syl.) at Plessis lés Tours; afterwards married to William de la Marck.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV).
Croye (Monseigneur de la), an officer of Charles "the Bold," duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Croysa'do The Great, General Lord Fairfax (1611-1671).—S. Butler, Hudibras.
Crudor (Sir), the knight who told Bria'na he would not marry her till she brought him enough hair, consisting of ladies' locks and the beards of knights to purfle his cloak with. In order to obtain this love-gift, the lady established a toll, by which every lady who passed her castle had to give the hair of her head, and every knight his beard, as "passing pay," or else fight for their lives. Sir Crudor being overthrown by Sir Calidore, Briana was compelled to abolish this toll.—Spencer, Faëry Queen, v. 1. (1596).
Cruel (The), Pedro, king of Castle (1334, 1350-1369).
Cruik'shanks (Ebenezer), landlord of the Golden Candlestick inn. Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Crum'mles (Mr. Vincent), the eccentric but kind-hearted manager of the Portsmouth Theatre.
It was necessary that the writer should, likeMr. Crummles, dramatist, construct his piece in
the interest of "the pump and washing-tubs."—
P. Fitzgerald.
Mrs. Crummles, wife of Mr. Vincent Crummles, a stout, ponderous, tragedy-queen sort of a lady. She walks or rather stalks like Lady Macbeth, and always speaks theatrically. Like her husband, she is full of kindness, and always willing to help the needy.
Miss Ninetta Crummles, daughter of the manager, and called in the play-bills "the infant phenomenon."—C Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
Cruncher (Jerry), an odd-job man in Tellson's bank. His wife was continually saying her prayers, which Jerry termed "flopping." He was a "resurrection man."—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
Crupp (Mrs.), a typical humbug, who let chambers in Buckingham Street for young gentlemen. David Copperfield lodged with her.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Crushed by Ornaments. Tarpeia, daughter of the governer of the Roman citadel on the Saturnian Hill, was tempted by the gold on the Sabine bracelets and collars to open a gate of the fortress to the besiegers on condition that they would give her the ornaments which they wore on their arms. Tarpeia opened the gate, and the Sabines as they passed threw on her their shields, saying, "These are the ornaments worn by the Sabines on their arms," and the maid was crushed to death. G. Gilfillan, alluding to Longfellow, has this erroneous allusion:
His ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine[sic] maid, have not crushed him.—Introductory
Essay to Longfellow.
Crusoe (Robinson), the hero and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe is a shipwrecked sailor, who leads a solitary life for many years on a desert island, and relieves the tedium of life by ingenious contrivances (1719).
(The story is based on the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor, who in 1704 was left by Captain Stradding on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez. Here he remained for four years and four months, when he was rescued by Captain Woods Rogers and brought to England.)
Was there ever anything written by mereman that the reader wished longer except Robinson
Crusoe, Don Quixote and The Pilgrim's Progress!—Dr.
Johnson.
Cruth-Loda, the war-god of the ancient Gaels.
On thy top, U-thormo, dwells the misty Loda:the house of the spirits of men. In the end of
his cloudy hall bends forward Cruth-Loda of
swords. His form is dimly seen amid the wavy
mists, his right hand is on his shield.—Ossian,
Cath-Loda.
Cuckold King (The), Sir Mark of Cornwell, whose wife Ysolde [E. seld] intrigued with Sir Tristram (his nephew), one of the knights of the Round Table.
Cud'die or CUTHBERT HEADRIGG, a ploughman, in the service of Lady Bellenden of the Tower of Tillietudlem.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Cuddy, a herdsman, in Spenser's Shephearde's Calendar.
Cuddy, a shepherd, who boasts that the charms of his Buxo'ma far exceed those of Blouzelinda. Lobbin, who is Blouzelinda's swain, repels the boast, and the two shepherds agree to sing the praises of their respective shepherdesses, and to make Clod'dipole arbiter of their contention. Cloddipole listens to their alternate verses, pronounces that "both merit an oaken staff," but, says he, "the herds are weary of the songs, and so am I."—Gay, Pastoral, i. (1714).
(This eclogue is in imitation of Virgil's Ecl. iii.)
Culdees (i.e. sequestered persons), the primitive clergy of presbyterian character, established in Io'na or Icolmkill [I-columb-kill] by St. Columb and twelve of his followers in 563. They also founded similar church establishments at Abernethy, Dunkeld, Kirkcaldy [Kirk-Culdee], etc., and at Lindesfarne, in England. Some say as many as 300 churches were founded by them. Augustine, a bishop of Waterford, began against them in 1176 a war of extermination, when those who could escape sought refuge in Iona, the original cradle of the sect, and were not driven thence till 1203.
Peace to their shades! the pure CuldeesWere Albyn's [Scotland's] earliest priests of God,
Ere yet an island of her seas
By foot of Saxon monk was trod.
Campbell, Reullura.
Culloch (Sawney) a pedlar.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George III.).
Culprit Fay, a sprite condemned for loving a mortal maiden to catch the spray-gem from the sturgeon's "silver bow," and light his torch with a falling star.—Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay (1847).
Cumberland (John of). "The devil and John of Cumberland" is a blunder for "The devil and John-a-Cumber." John-a-Cumber was a famous Scotch magician.
He poste to Scotland for brave John-a-Cumber,The only man renowned for magick skill.
Oft have I heard he once beguylde the devill.
A. Munday, John-a-Kent and John-a-Cumber
(1595).
Cumberland (William Augustus, duke of), commander-in-chief of the army of George II., whose son he was. The duke was especially celebrated for his victory of Cullo'den (1746); but he was called "The Butcher" from the great severity with which he stamped out the clan system of the Scottish Highlanders. He was wounded in the leg at the battle of Dettingen (1743). Sir W. Scott has introduced him in Waverley (time, George II.).
Proud Cumberland prances, insulting the slain,And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plan.
Campbell, Lochiel's Warning.
Cumberland Poet (The), William
Wordsworth, born at Cockermouth (1770-1850).
Cumnor Hall, a ballad by Mickel, the lament of Amy Robsart, who had been won and thrown away by the Earl of Leicester. She says if roses and lilies grow in courts, why did he pluck the primrose of the field, which some country swain might have won and valued! Thus sore and sad the lady grieved in Cumnor Hall, and ere dawn the death bell rang, and never more was that countess seen.
Sir W. Scott took this for the groundwork of his Kenihvorth, which
he called Cumnor Hall, but Constable, his publisher, induced him to
change the name.
Cunégonde [Ku'.na.gond], the mistress of Candide (2 syl.). in Voltaire's novel called Candide. Sterne spells it "Cunëgund."
Cun'ningham (Archie), one of the archers of the Scotch guards at Plessis lés Tours, in the pay of Louis XI.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Cu'no, the ranger, father of Agatha.—Weber, Der Freischütz (1822).
Cuno'beline, a king of the Silurês, son of Tasciov'anus and father of Caractacus. Coins still exist bearing the name of "Cunobeline," and the word "Camalodunum" [Colchester], the capital of his kingdom. The Roman general between A.D. 43 and 47 was Aulus Plautius, but in 47 Ostorius Scapula took Caractacus prisoner.
Some think Cunobeline is Shakespeare's "Cymbeline," who reigned from B.C. 8 to A.D. 27; but Cymbeline's father was Tenantius or Tenuantius, his sons Guide'rius Arvir'agus, and the Roman general was Caius Lucius.
... the courageous sons of our CunobelinSank under Plautius' sword.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Cunstance or Constance (See CUSTANCE).
Cupid and Psyche [Si.ky] an episode in The Golden Ass of Apuleius. The allegory represents Cupid in love with Psychê. He visited her every evening, and left at sunrise, but strictly enjoined her not to attempt to discover who he was. One night curiosity overcame her prudence, and going to look upon her lover a drop of hot oil fell on his shoulder, awoke him, and he fled. Psychê now wandered in search of the lost one, but was persecuted by Venus with relentless cruelty. Having suffered almost to the death, Cupid at length married her, and she became immortal. Mrs. Tighe has a poem on the subject. Wm. Morris has poetized the same in his Earthly Paradise ("May"); Lafontaine has a poem called Psyché, in imitation of the episode of Apuleius; and Molière has dramatized the subject.
Cu'pidon (Jean). Count d'Orsay was so called by Lord Byron (1798-1852). The count's father was styled Le Beau d' Orsay.
Cur'an, a courtier in Shakespeare's tragedy of King Lear (1605).
Curé de Meudon, Rabelais, who was first a monk, then a leech, then prebendary of St. Maur, and lastly curé of Meudon (1483-1553).
Cu'rio, a gentleman attending on the Duke of Illyria.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).
Curio. So Akenside calls Mr. Pulteney, and styles him "the betrayer of his country," alluding to the great statesman's change of politics. Curio was a young Roman senator, at one time the avowed enemy of Cæsar, but subsequently of Cæsar's party, and one of the victims of the civil war.
Is this the man in freedom's cause approved.The man so great, so honored, so beloved ...
This Curio, hated now and scorned by all,
Who fell himself to work his country's fall?
Akenside, Epistle to Curio.
Curious Impertinent (The), a tale introduced by Cervantês in his Don Quixote. The "impertinent" is an Italian gentleman who is silly enough to make trial of his wife's fidelity by persuading a friend to storm it if he can. Of course his friend "takes the fort," and the fool is left to bewail his own folly.—Pt. I. iv. 5 (1605).
Currer Bell, the nom de plume of Charlotte Brontê, author of Jane Eyre [Air] (1816-1855).
Curta'na, the sword of Edward the Con'fessor, which had no point, and was therefore the emblem of mercy. Till the reign of Henry III., the royal sword of England was so called.
But when Curtana will not do the deed,You lay the pointless clergy-weapon by,
And to the laws, your sword of justice, fly.
Dryden, The Hind and the Panther, ii. (1687).
Curta'na or Courtain, the sword of Ogier the Dane.
He [Ogier] drew Courtain his sword out of itssheath.
W. Morris, Earthly Paradise, (634).
Curt-Hose (2 syl.). Robert II. duc de Normandie (1087-1134).
Curt-Mantle, Henry II. of England
(1133, 1154-1189). So called because he wore the Anjou mantle, which was shorter than the robe worn by his predecessors.
Curtis, one of Petruchio's servants.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).
Parson Cushing, pastor of the Orthodox Church in Poganuc. In fits of learned abstraction, he fed the dog surreptitiously under the table, thereby encouraging his boys to trust his heart rather than his tongue. He justifies the expulsion of the Indian tribes by Scripture texts, and gathers eggs in the hay-mow with Dolly; upholds the doctrines of his denomination and would seal his faith with his blood, but admits that "the Thirty-nine articles (with some few exceptions) are a very excellent statement of truth." He is Catholic without suspecting it.—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Poganuc People, (1878).
Custance, daughter of the Emperor of Rome, affianced to the Sultan of Syria, who abjured his faith and consented to be baptized in order to marry her. His mother hated this apostasy, and at the wedding breakfast slew all the apostates except the bride. Her she embarked in a ship, which was set adrift and in due time reached the British shores, where Custance was rescued by the Lord-constable of Northumberland, who took her home, and placed her under the care of his wife Hermegild. Custance converted both the constable and his wife. A young knight wished to marry her, but she declined his suit, whereupon he murdered Hermegild, and then laid the bloody knife beside Custance, to make her suspected of the crime. King Alia examined the case, and soon discovered the real facts, whereupon the knight was executed, and the king married Custance.
The queen-mother highly disapproved of the match, and during the absence of her son in Scotland embarked Custance and her infant boy in a ship, which was turned adrift. After floating about for five years, it was taken in tow by a Roman fleet on its return from Syria, and Custance with her son Maurice became the guests of a Eoman Senator. It so happened that Alla at this same time was at Rome on a pilgrimage, and encountered his wife, who returned with him to Northumberland and lived in peace and happiness the rest of her life.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Man of Law's Tale," 1388).
Custance, a gay and rich widow, whom Ralph Roister Doister wishes to marry, but he is wholly baffled in his scheme.—Nicholas TJdall, Ralph Roister Doister (first English comedy, 1534).
Cute (Alderman), a "practical philosopher," resolved to put down everything. In his opinion "everything must be put down." Starvation must be put down, and so must suicide, sick mothers, babies, and poverty.—C. Dickens, The Chimes (1844).
Cuthal, same as Uthal, one of the Orkneys.
Cuthbert (St.), a Scotch monk of the sixth century.
Cuthbert Bede, the Rev. Edw. Bradley, author of Verdant Green (1857.)
Cutho'na, daughter of Rumar, was betrothed to Conlath, youngest son of Morni, of Mora. Not long before the espousals were to be celebrated, Toscar came from Ireland, and was hospitably entertained by Morni. On the fourth day, he saw Cuthona out hunting, and carried her off by force. Being pursued by Conlath, a fight ensued, in which both the young men fell, and Cuthona, after languishing for three days, died also.— Ossian, Conlath and Cuthona.
Cuthullin, son of Semo, commander of the Irish army, and regent during the minority of Cormac. His wife was Brag'elo, daughter of Sorglan. In the poem called Fingal, Cuthullin was defeated by Swaran, king of Lochlin [Scandinavia], and being ashamed to meet Fingal, retired from the field gloomy and sad. Fingal having utterly defeated Swaran, invited Cuthullin to the banquet, and partially restored his depressed spirits. In the third year of Cormac's reign, Torlah, son of Can'tela, rebelled. Cuthullin gained a complete victory over him at the lake Lego, but was mortally wounded in the pursuit by a random arrow. Cuthullin was succeeded by Nathos, but the young king was soon dethroned by the rebel Cairbre, and murdered.—Ossian, Fingal and The Death of Cuthullin.
Cutler (Sir John), a royalist, who died 1699, reduced to the utmost poverty.
Cutler saw tenants break, and houses fall. For very want he could not build a wall. His only daughter in a stranger's power, for very want he could not pay a dower. A few gray hairs his reverend temples crowned, 'Twas very want that sold them for two pound....
Cutler and Brutus, dying, both exclaim, "Virtue and wealth, what are ye but a name?" Pope, Moral Essays, iii. (1709).
Cutpurse (Moil), Mary Frith, the heroine of Middleton's comedy called The Roaring Girl (1611). She was a woman of masculine vigor, who not unfrequently assumed man's attire. This notorious cut-purse once attacked General Fairfax on Hounslow Heath, but was arrested and sent to Newgate; she escaped, however, by bribing the turnkey, and died of dropsy at the age of 75. Nathaniel Field introduces her in his drama called Amends for Ladies (1618).
Cutshamaquin, an Indian Sachem, whose disobedient and rebellious son was "dealt with" publicly by John Eliot. At the second summons and serious admonition, the lad repented and confessed humbly, "and entreated his father to forgive him, and took him by the hand, at which his father burst forth into great weeping."—John Eliot, The Clear Sunshine of the Gospel Breaking Forth Upon the Indians (1648).
Cuttle (Captain Edward), a great friend of Solomon Gills, ship's instrument maker. Captain Cuttle had been a skipper, had a hook instead of a right hand, and always wore a very hard, glazed hat. He was in the habit of quoting, and desiring those to whom he spoke "to overhaul the catechism till they found it;" but, he added, "when found, make a note on." The kind-hearted seaman was very fond of Florence Dombey, and of Walter Gay, whom he called "Wal'r." When Florence left her father's roof, Captain Cuttle sheltered her at the Wooden Midshipman. One of his favorite sentiments was "May we never want a friend, or a bottle to give him."—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
("When found, make a note of," is the motto of Notes and Queries.)
Cyc'lades (3 syl.), some twenty islands, so called from the classic legend that they circled round Delos when that island was rendered stationary by the birth of Diana and Apollo.
Cyclic Poets, a series of epic poets, who wrote continuations or additions to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; they were called "Cyclic" because they confined themselves to the cycle of the Trojan war.
AG'IAS wrote an epic on "the return of the Greeks from Troy" (B.C. 740).
ARCTI'NOS wrote a continuation of the Iliad, describing the taking of Troy by the "Wooden Horse," and its conflagration. Virgil has copied from this poet (B.C. 776).
EU'GAMON wrote a continuation of the Odyssey. It contains the adventures of Telegonos in search of his father Ulysses. When he reached Ith'aca, Ulysses and Telemachos went against him, and Telegonos killed Ulysses with a spear which his mother Circe had given him (B.C. 568).
LES'CHES, author of the Little Iliad, in four books, containing the fate of Ajax, the exploits of Philoctetes, Neoptol'emos, and Ulysses, and the final capture of Troy (B.C. 708).
STASI'NOS, "son-in-law" of Homer. He wrote an introduction to the Iliad.
Cyclops. Their names are Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. (See SINDBAD, voy. 3).
Cyclops (The Holy). So Dryden in the Masque of Albion and Albanius, calls Richard Rumbold, an Englishman, the chief conspirator in the "Ryehouse Plot." He had lost one eye, and was executed.
Cydip'pe (3 syl), a lady courted by Acontius of Cea, but being unable to obtain her, he wrote on an apple, "I swear by Diana that Acontius shall be my husband." This apple was presented to the maiden, and being persuaded that she had written the words, though inadvertently, she consented to marry Acontius for "the oath's sake."
Cydippe by a letter was betrayed,Writ on an apple to th' unwary maid
Ovid, Art of Love, 1.
Cyl'laros, the horse of Pollux according to Virgil (Georg. iii. 90), but of Castor according to Ovid (Metam. xii. 408). It was coal-black, with white legs and tail.
Cylle'nius, Mercury; so called from Mount Cylenê, in Arcadia, where he was born.
Cym'beline (3 syl.), mythical king of Britain for thirty-five years. He began to reign in the nineteenth year of Augustus Cæsar. His father was Tenantius, who refused to pay the tribute to the Romans exacted of Cassibelan after his defeat by Julius Cæsar. Cymbeline married twice. By his first wife he had a daughter named Imogen, who married Posthumus Leonatus. His second wife had a son named Cloten by a former husband.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Cymochles [Si. mok'.leez], brother of Pyroch'lês, son of Aeratês, husband of Acras'ia the enchantress. He sets out against Sir Guyon, but being ferried over Idle Lake, abandons himself to self-indulgence, and is slain by King Arthur (canto 8).—Spencer, Faery Queen, ii. 5, etc. (1590).
Cymod'oce (4 syl.). The mother of Mar'inel is so called in bk. iv. 12 of the Faery Queen, but in bk. iii. 4 she is spoken of as Cymo'ent "daughter of Nereus" (2syl.) by an earth-born father, "the famous Dumarin."
Cymoent. (See CYMODOCE.)
Cym'ry, the Welsh.
The Welsh always called themselves "Cym-ry", the literal meaning of which is "aborigines." ... It is the same word as "Cimbri." ... They call their language "Cymraeg," i.e, "the primitive tongue."—E. Williams.
Cyngæi'ros, brother of the poet Æschylos. When the Persians, after the battle of Marathon, were pushing off from shore, Cyngæiros seized one of their ships with his right hand, which being lopped off, he grasped it with his left hand; this being cut off, he seized it with his teeth, and lost his life.
ADMIEAL BENBOW, in an engagement with the French, near St. Martha, in 1701, had his legs and thighs shivered into splinters by chain-shot; but (supported on a wooden frame) he remained on deck till Du Casse sheered off.
ALMEYDA, the Portuguese Governor of India, had his legs and thighs shattered in a similar way, and caused himself to be bound to the ship's mast, that he might wave his sword to cheer on the combatants.
JAAFER, at the battle of Muta, carried the sacred banner of the prophet. One hand being lopped off, he held it with the other; this also being cut off, he held it with his two stumps, and when at last his head was cut off, he contrived to fall dead on the banner, which was thus detained till Abdallah had time to rescue it and hand it to Khaled.
Cyne'tha(3 syl.), eldest son of Cadwallon (king of North Wales). He was an orphan, brought up by his uncle Owen. During his minority, Owen and Cynetha loved each other dearly; but when the orphan came of age and claimed his inheritance, his uncle burnt his eyes out by exposing them to plates of hot brass. Cynetha and his son Cadwallon accompanied Madoc to North America, where the blind old man died while Madoc was in Wales preparing for his second voyage.—Southey, Madoc, i. 3 (1805).
Cadwallonis erat primaevus jure Cynëtha:Proh pudor! hunc oculis patruus privavit Oenus.
The Pentarchia.
Cynic Tub (The), Diog'enês, the Cynic philosopher lived in a tub, and it is to this fact that illusion is made in the line:
[They] fetch their doctrines from the Cynic tub.Milton, Comus, 708 (1634).
Cy'nosure (3 syl.), the pole-star. The word means "the dog's tail," and is used to signify a guiding genius, or the observed of all observers. Cynosu'ra was an Idaean nymph, one of the nurses of Zeus (1 syl.).
Cyn'thia, the moon or Diana, who was born on Mount Cynthus, in Dêlos. Apollo is called "Cynthius."
... watching, in the night,Beneath pale Cynthia's melancholy light.
Falconer, The Shipwreck, iii. 2 (1756).
Cyn'thia. So Spenser, in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, calls Queen Elizabeth, "whose angel's eye" was his life's sole bliss, his heart's eternal treasure. Ph. Fletcher, in The Purple Island, iii., also calls Queen Elizabeth "Cynthia."
Her words were like a stream of honey fleeting..Her deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes...
Her looks were like beams of the morning sun
Forth looking thro' the windows of the east...
Her thoughts were like the fumes of frankincense
Which from a golden censer forth doth rise.
Spenser, Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1591).
Cyn'thia, daughter of Sir Paul Pliant, and daughter-in-law of Lady Pliant. She is in love with Melle'font (2 syl.). Sir Paul calls her "Thy"—W. Congreve, The Double Dealer (1694).
Cyn'thia Ware. Auburn-haired girl living upon Lost Creek in Tennessee, in love with Evander Price, a young blacksmith. When he is sent to the penitentiary upon a false accusation, she labors unceasingly for a year to obtain his pardon. A year after it is granted, she learns that he is doing well in another State and has forgotten her. In time, he returns, married and prosperous, and calls upon his old friends upon Lost Creek.
"His recollections were all vague, although atsome reminiscence of hers he laughed jovially,
and ''lowed that in them days, Cinthy, you
an' me had a right smart notion of keepin' company
tergether.' He did not notice how pale
she was, and that there was often a slight spasmodic
contraction of her features. She was
busy with her spinning-wheel, as she placidly
replied: 'Yes,—'though I always 'lowed ez I
counted on livin' single.'"—Charles Egbert Craddock,
In the Tennessee Mountains (1885).
Cyp'rian (A), a woman of loose morals; so called from the island Cyprus, a chief seat of the worship of Venus or Cyp'ria.
Cyp'rian (Brother), a Dominican monk at the monastery of Holyrood.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Cyrena'ic Shell (The), the lyre or strain of Callini'achos, a Greek poet of Alexandria, in Egypt. Six of his hymns in hexameter verse are still extant.
For you the Cyrenaic shellBehold I touch revering.
Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads.
Cyr'ic (St.), the saint to whom sailors address themselves. The St. Elmo of the Welsh.
The weary marinersCalled on St. Cyric's aid.
Southey, Madoc, i. 4 (1805).
Cyrus and Tom'yris. Cyrus, after subduing the eastern parts of Asia, was defeated by Tomyris queen of the Massage'tae, in Scythia. Tomyris cut off his head, and threw it into a vessel filled with human blood, saying, as she did so, "There, drink thy fill." Dantê refers to this incident in his Purgatory, xii.
Consyder Syrus ...He whose huge power no man might overthrowe,
Tom'yris Queen with great despite hath slowe,
His head dismembered from his mangled corps
Herself she cast into a vessel fraught
With clotted bloud of them that felt her force.
And with these words a just reward she taught—
"Drynke now thy fyll of thy desired draught."
T. Sackville, A Mirrour for Magistraytes
("The Complaynt," 1587).
Cythere'a, Venus; so called from Cythe'ra (now Cerigo), a mountainous island of Laco'nia, noted for the worship of Aphrodite (or Venus). The tale is that Venus and Mars, having formed an illicit affection for each other, were caught in a delicate net made by Vulcan, and exposed to the ridicule of the court of Olympus.
He the fate [May sing]Of naked Mars with Cytherea chained.
Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads.
Cyze'nis, the infamous daughter of Diomed, who killed every one that fell into her clutches, and compelled fathers to eat their own children.
Czar (Casar), a title first assumed in Russia by Ivan III., who, in 1472, married a princess of the imperial Byzantine line. He also introduced the double-headed black eagle of Byzantium as the national symbol. The official style of the Russian autocrat is Samoderjetz. D'acunha (Teresa), waiting-woman to the countess of Glenallan.—Sir W. Scott, Antiquary (time, George III.).
affodil. When Perseph'onê, the daughter of Deme'ter, was a little maiden, she wandered about the meadows of Enna in Sicily, to gather white daffodils to wreathe into her hair, and being tired she fell asleep. Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, carried her off to become his wife, and his touch turned the white flowers to a golden yellow. Some remained in her tresses till she reached the meadows of Acheron, and falling off there grew into the asphodel, with which the meadows thenceforth abounded.
She stepped upon Sicilian grass,Demeter's daughter, fresh and fair,
A child of light, a radiant lass,
And gamesome as the morning air.
The daffodils were fair to see,
They nodded lightly on the lea;
Persephonê! Persephonê!
Jean Ingelow, Persephone.
Dagon, sixth in order of the hierarchy of hell: (1) Satan, (2) Beëlzebub, (3) Moloch, (4) Chemos, (5) Thammuz, (6) Dagon. Dagon was half man and half fish. He was worshipped in Ashdod, Gath, Ascalon, Ekron, and Gaza (the five chief cities of the Philistines). When the "ark" was placed in his temple, Dagon fell, and the palms of his hands were broken off.
Next came ...Dagon ... sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 457, etc. (1665).
Dag'onet (Sir), King Arthur's fool. One day Sir Dagonet, with two squires, came to Cornwall, and as they drew near a well Sir Tristram soused them all three in, and dripping wet made them mount their horses and ride off, amid the jeers of the spectators (pt. ii. 60).
King Arthur loved Sir Dagonet passing well,and made him knight; with his own hands; and
at every tournament he made King Arthur
laugh.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur.
ii. 97 (1470).
Justice Shallow brags that he once personated Sir Dagonet, while he was a student at Clement's Inn.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2 (1598).
Tennyson deviates in this, as he does in so many other instances,
from the old romance. The History says that King Arthur made Dagonet
knight "with his own hands," because he "loved him passing well;" but
Tennyson says that Sir Gawain made him "a mock-knight of the Round
Table."—The Last Tournament, 1.
Daisy Miller. Mrs. Miller, nouvelle riche and in true American subjection to her children, is travelling abroad. Her only daughter is pretty, unconventional, and so bent upon having "a good time" that she falls under the most degrading suspicions. The climax of flirtation and escapade is a midnight expedition to the Colosseum, where she contracts Roman fever and dies.—Henry James, Jr., Daisy Miller (1878).
Dal'dah, Mahomet's favorite white mule.
Dales (The), a family in Ashurst, where is laid the scene of John Ward, Preacher: By Margaret Deland. The wife is prim and dictatorial, a pattern housewife, with decided views upon all subjects, including religion and matrimony. The husband wears a cashmere dressing-gown, and spreads a red handkerchief over his white hair to protect his white head from draughts; reads "A Sentimental Journey;" looks at his wife before expressing an opinion, and makes an excellent fourth at whist (1888).
Dalga, a Lombard harlot, who tries to seduce young Goltho, but Goltho is saved by his friend Ulfinore.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).
Dalgarno (Lord Malcolm of), a profligate young nobleman, son of the earl of Huntinglen (an old Scotch noble family). Nigel strikes Dalgarno with his sword, and is obliged to seek refuge in "Alsatia." Lord Dalgarno's villainy to the Lady Hermïonê excites the displeasure of King James, and he would have been banished if he had not married her. After this, Lord Dalgarno carries off the wife of John Christie, the ship-owner, and is shot by Captain Colepepper, the Alsatian bully.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Dalgetty (Dugald,) of Drumthwacket, the union of the soldado with the pedantic student of Mareschal College. As a soldier of fortune, he is retained in the service of the Earl of Monteith. The Marquis of Argyll (leader of the parliamentary army) tried to tamper with him in prison, but Dugald siezed him, threw him down, and then made his escape, locking the marquis in the dungeon. After the battle, Captain Dalgetty was knighted. This "Ritt-master" is a pedant, very conceited, full of vulgar assurance, with a good stock of worldly knowledge, a student of divinity, and a soldier who lets his sword out to the highest bidder. The character is original and well drawn.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
The original of this character was Munro, who wrote an account of the campaigns of that band of Scotch and English auxiliaries in the island of Swinemünde, in 1630. Munro was himself one of the band. Dugald Dalgetty is one of the best of Scott's characters.
Dalton (Mrs.), housekeeper to the Rev. Mr. Staunton, of Willingham Rectory.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Dalton (Beginald), the hero of a novel so called, by J. C. Lockhart (1832).
Dalzell (General Thomas), in the royal army of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (1816).
Dame du Lac, Vivienne le Fay. The lake was "en la marche de la petite Bretaigne;" "en ce lieu ... avoit la dame moult de belles maisons et moult riches."
Dame du Lac, Sebille (2 syl.). Her castle was surrounded by a river on which rested so thick a fog that no eye could see across it. Alexander the Great abode a fortnight with this fay, to be cured of his wounds, and King Arthur was the result of their amour. (This is not in accordance with the general legends of this noted hero. See ARTHUR.)—Perceforest, i. 42.
Dam'ian, a squire attending on the Grand-Master of the Knights Templars.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Damiot'ti (Dr. Baptisti), a Paduan quack, who exhibits "the enchanted mirror" to Lady Forester and Lady Bothwell. They see therein the clandestine marriage and infidelity of Sir Philip Forester.—Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.). Damis [Dah.me], son of Orgon and Elmire (2 syl.), impetuous and self-willed.—Molière, Tartuffe (1664).
Damn with Faint Praise.
Damn with faint praise, assent with evil leer,And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer.
Pope, Prologue to the Satires, 201 (1734).
Damno'nii, the people of Damnonium, that is, Cornwall, Devon, Dorsetshire, and part of Somersetshire. This region, says Richard of Cirencester (Hist. vi. 18), was much frequented by the Phoenician, Greek, and Gallic merchants, for the metals with which it abounded, and particularly for its tin.
Wherein our Devonshire now and fartherest Cornwal are,The old Danmonii [sic] dwelt.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Damaris Wainright. A woman richly endowed by Nature and fortune, whose mother and brother have died insane. She comes to maidenly maturity under the impression which strengthens into belief that madness is her heritage. After long struggles she accepts the hand of one who has striven steadily to combat what he considers a morbid conviction, and makes ready for her marriage. When dressed for the ceremony she sits down to await her bridegroom, and the image of herself in a tarnished mirror suggests a train of melancholy musing that result in dementia.
"With a mad impulse to flee she sprang to herfeet just as Lincoln knocked.... For an instant
her failing reason struggled to consciousness
as a drowning swimmer writhes a last time
to the surface, and gasps a breath only to give it
up in futile bubbles that mark the spot where he
sank. With a supreme effort her vanquished
will for a moment re-asserted itself. She knew
her lover was at the door, and she knew also
that the feet of doom had been swifter than those
of the bridegroom.... She sprang forward
and threw open the door."
"'I am mad!' she shrieked, in a voice which
pierced to every corner of the old mansion."
Arlo Bates, The Wheel of Fire, (1885).
Dam'ocles (3 syl.), a sycophant, in the court of Dionys'ius the Elder, of Syracuse. After extolling the felicity of princes, Dionysius told him he would give him experimental proof thereof. Accordingly he had the courtier arrayed in royal robes and seated at a sumptuous banquet, but overhead was a sword suspended by a single horsehair, and Damocles was afraid to stir, lest the hair should break and the sword fall on him. Dionysius thus intimated that the lives of kings are threatened every hour of the day.—Cicero.
Let us who have not our names in the RedBook console ourselves by thinking comfortably
how miserable our betters may be, and that
Damocles, who sits on satin cushions, and is
served on gold plate, has an awful sword hanging
over his head, in the shape of a bailiff, or
hereditary disease, or family secret.—Thackeray,
Vanity Fair, xlvii. (1848).
Damoe'tas, a herdsman. Theocritos and Virgil use the name in their pastorals.
And old Damoetas loved to hear our song.Milton, Lycidas (1638).
Da'mon, a goat-herd in Virgil's third Eclogue. Walsh introduces the same name in his Eclogues also. Any rustic, swain, or herdsman.
Damon and Delia. Damon asks Delia why she looks so coldly on him. She replies because of his attention to Belvidêra. He says he paid these attentions at her own request, "to hide the secret of their mutual love." Delia confesses that his prudence is commendable, but his acting is too earnest. To this he rejoins that she alone holds his heart; and Delia replies:
Tho' well I might your truth mistrust,My foolish heart believes you just;
Reason this faith may disapprove,
But I believe, because I love.
Lord Lyttleton.
Damon and Musido'ra, two lovers who misunderstood each other. Musidora was coy, and Damon thought her shyness indicated indifference; but one day he saw her bathing, and his delicacy so charmed the maiden that she at once accepted his proffered love.—Thomson, The Seasons ("Summer," 1727).
Da'mon and Pyth'ias. Damon, a senator of Syracuse, was by nature hot-mettled, but was schooled by Pythagore'an philosophy into a Stoic coldness and slowness of speech. He was a fast friend of the republic, and when Dionysius was made "King" by a vote of the senate, Damon upbraided the betrayers of his country, and pronounced Dionysius a "tryant." For this he was seized, and as he tried to stab Dionysius, he was condemned to instant death. Damon now craved respite for four hours to bid farewell to his wife and child, but the request was denied him. On his way to execution, his friend Pythias encountered him, and obtained permission of Dionysius to become his surety, and to die in his stead, if within four hours Damon did not return. Dionysius not only accepted the bail, but extended the leave to six hours. When Damon reached his country villa, Lucullus killed his horse to prevent his return; but Damon, seizing the horse of a chance traveler, reached Syracuse just as the executioner was preparing to put Pythias to death. Dionysius so admired this proof of friendship, that he forgave Damon, and requested to be taken into his friendship.
This subject was dramatized in 1571 by Richard Edwards, and again in 1825 by John Banim.
(The classic name of Pythias is "Phintias.")
Damsel or Damoiseau (in Italian, donzel; in Latin, domisellus); one of the gallant youths domiciled in the maison du roi. These youths were always sons of the greater vassals. Louis VII. (le Jeune) was called "The Royal Damsel;" and at one time the royal body-guard was called "The King's Damsells."
Damsel of Brittany, Eleanor, daughter of Godffrey (second son of Henry II. of England). After the death of Arthur, his sister Eleanor was next in succession to the crown, but John, who had caused Arthur's death, confined Eleanor in Bristol Castle, where she remained till her death, in 1241.
D'Amville (2 syl), "the atheist," with the assistance of Borachio, murdered Montferrers, his brother, for his estates.—Cyril Tourneur, The Atheists Tragedy (seventeenth century).
Dam'yan (2 syl.), the lover of May (the youthful bride of January, a Lombard knight, 60 years of age).—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Merchant's Tale," 1388).
Dan of the Howlet Hirst, the dragon of the revels at Kennaquhair Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot and The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Dan'ae, (3 syl.), an Argive princess, visited by Zeus [Jupiter] in the form of a shower of gold, while she was confined in an inaccessible tower.
Danaid (3 syl), Dan'aus had fifty daughters, called the Danaïds or Dana'ïdês. These fifty women married the fifty sons of Ægyptus, and (with one exception) murdered their husbands on the night of their espousals. For this crime they were doomed in Hadês to pour water everlastingly into sieves.
Let not your prudence, dearest, drowse or proveThe Danaid of a leaky vase.
Tennyson, The Princess, ii.
Dancing Chancellor (The), Sir Christopher Hatton, who attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth by his graceful dancing, at a masque. She took him into favor, and made him both Chancellor and knight of the Garter (died 1591).
Mons. de Lauzun, the favorite of Louis XIV., owed his
fortune to his grace in dancing in the king's quadrille.
Many more than one nobleman owed the favor he enjoyed at court to the way he pointed his toe or moved his leg.—A. Dumas, Taking the Bastile.
Dancing Water (The), from the Burning forest. This water had the power of imparting youthful beauty to those who used it. Prince Chery, aided by a dove, obtained it for Fairstar.
The dancing water is the eighth wonder ofthe world. It beautifies ladies, makes them
young again, and even enriches them.—Comtesse
D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Fairstar,"
1682).
Dandies (The Prince of), Beau Brummel (1778-1840).
Dandin (George), a rich French tradesman, who marries Ang'elique, the daughter of Mons. le Baron de Sotenville, and has the "privilege" of paying-off the family debts, maintaining his wife's noble parents, and being snubbed on all occasions to his heart's content. He constantly said to himself; in self-rebuke, Vous Vavez voulu, vous Vavez voulu, George Dandin! ("You have no one to blame but yourself! you brought it on yourself, George Dandin!")
Vous l'avez voulu, vous l'avez voulu, GeorgeDandin! vous l'avez voulu!... vous avez juste-ment
ce que vous meritez.—Molière, George
Dandin, i. 9 (1668).
"Well, tu l'as voulu, George Dandin," she said,
with a smile, "you were determined on it, and
must bear the consequences."—Percy Fitzgerald,
The Parvenu Family, ii. 262.
There is no such phrase in the comedy as Tu l'as voulu,
it is always Vous Vavez voulu.
Dan'dolo (Signor), a friend to Fazio in prosperity, but who turns from him when in disgrace. He says:
Signor, I am paramountIn all affairs of boot and spur and hose;
In matters of the robe and cap supreme;
In ruff disputes, my lord, there's no appeal
From my irrefragibility.
Dean Milman, Fazio, ii. I (1815).
Dangeau (Jouer a la), to play as good a hand at cards as Phillippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (1638-1720).
Dan'gerfleld (Captain), a hired witness in the "Popish Plot"—Sir W. Scott, Pe-veril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Dangle, a gentleman bitten with the theatrical mania, who annoys a manager with impertinent flattery and advice. It is said that Thomas Vaughan, a playwright of small reputation, was the original of this character.—Sheridan, The Critic (see act i. I), (1779).
Dan'hasch, one of the genii who did not "acknowledge the great Solomon."
When the Princess Badoura in her sleep was carried to the bed of Prince Camaral'zaman that she might see him, Danhasch changed himself into a flea, and bit her lip, at which Badoura awoke, saw the prince sleeping by her side, and afterwards became his wife.—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzarnan and Badoura.")
Daniel, son of Widow Lackitt; a wealthy Indian planter. A noodle of the softest mould, whom Lucy Weldon marries for his money.—Thomas Southern, Oroonoko (1696).
Dan'nischemend, the Persian sorcerer, mentioned in Donnerhugel's narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Dantê and Beatrice. Some say that Beatrice, in Dantê's Divina Commedia, merely personifies faith; others think it a real character, and say she was the daughter of the illustrious family of Portinari, for whom the poet entertained a purely platonic affection. She meets the poet after he has been dragged through the river Lethê (Purgatory, xxxi), and conducts him through paradise. Beatrice Portina'ri married Simon de Bardi, and died at the age of 24; Dante was a few months older.
Some persons say that Dante meant TheologyBy Beatrice, and not a mistress; I ...
Deem this a commentator's phantasy.
Byron, Don Juan, iii. 11 (1820).
Dantê and-Virgil. Virgil was Dante's poetic master and is described as conducting him through the realms depicted in the Divina Commedia.
The poet married Gemma, of the powerful house of Donati. (See
LOVES).
Dantê's Beard. All the pictures of
Dantê which I have seen represent him without any beard or hair on his face at all; but in Purgatory, xxxi., Beatrice says to him, "Raise thou thy beard, and lo! what sight shall do," i.e. lift up your face and look about you; and he adds, "No sooner lifted I mine aspect up ... than mine eyes (encountered) Beatrice."
Dan Devereux. A young Nantucket giant married to a dainty waif rescued in infancy from the sea. He marries her because she is homeless and seems to be in love with him. When too late, he knows that his affections are another's, and sees his wife fascinated by a handsome French adventurer. In an attempt to elope, the wife and her lover are wrecked, and clinging to a spar, are overtaken by the "terrible South Breaker—plunging and rearing and swelling, a monstrous billow, sweeping and swooping and rocking in." Dan in later life, marries Georgia, his first love.—Harriet Prescott Spofford, The South Breaker (1863).
Danton of the Cevennes. Pierre Seguier, prophet and preacher of Magistavols, in France. He was a leader amongst the Camisards.
Danvers (Charles), an embyro barrister of the Middle Temple.—C. Selby, The Unfinished Gentleman.
Daph'ne (2 syl.)., daughter of Sileno and Mysis, and sister of Nysa. The favorite of Apollo while sojourning on earth in the character of a shepherd lad named "Pol."—Kate O'Hara, Midas (a burletta, 1778).
(In classic mythology Daphnê fled from the amorous god, and escaped by being changed into a laurel.)
Daph'nis, a beautiful Sicilian shepherd, the inventor of bucolic poetry. He was a son of Mercury, and friend both of Pan and Apollo.
Daph'nis, the modest shepherd.This is that modest shepherd, he
That only dare salute, but ne'er could be
Brought to kiss any, hold discourse, or sing,
Whisper, or boldly ask.
John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess, i. 3
(1610).
Daph'nis and Chlo'e, a prose pastoral love story in Greek, by Longos (a Byzantine), not unlike the tale of The Gentle Shepherd, by Allan Ramsay. Gessner has also imitated the Greek romance in his idyll called Daphnis. In this lovestory Longos says he was hunting in Lesbos, and saw in a grove consecrated to the nymphs a beautiful picture of children exposed, lovers plighting their faith, and the incursions of pirates, which he now expresses and dedicates to Pan, Cupid, and the nymphs. Daphnis, of course, is the lover of Chloê.
Dapper, a lawyer's clerk, who went to Subtle "the alchemist," to be supplied with "a familiar" to make him win in horse-racing, cards, and all games of chance. Dapper is told to prepare himself for an interview with the fairy queen by taking "three drops of vinegar in at the nose, two at the mouth, and one at either ear," "to cry hum thrice and buzz as often."—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610).
Dapple, the donkey ridden by Sancho Panza, in Cervantês' romance of Don Quixote (1605-1615).
Darby and Joan. This ballad, called The Happy Old Couple, is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, v. 153 (March, 1735).
It is also in Plumtre's Collections of Songs, 152 (Camb. 1805), with the music. The words are sometimes attributed to Prior, and the first line favors the notion: "Dear Chloe, while thus beyond measure;" only Prior always spells Chloe without "h."
Darby and Joan are an old-fashioned, loving couple, wholly averse to change of any sort. It is generally said that Henry Woodfall was the author of the ballad, and that the originals were John Darby (printer, of Bartholomew Close, who died 1730) and his wife Joan. Woodfall served his apprenticeship with John Darby.
"You may be a Darby [Mr. Hardcastle], butI'll be no Joan, I promise you."—Goldsmith, She
Stoops to Conquer, i. 1 (1773).
Dradu-Le'na, the daughter of Foldath, general of the Fir-bolg or Belgæ settled in the south of Ireland. When Foldath fell in battle,
His soul rushed to the vale of Mona, toDardu-Lena's dream, by Dalrutho's stream,
where she slept, returning from the chase of
hinds. Her bow is near the maid, unstrung ...
Clothed in the beauty of youth, the love of
heroes lay. Dark-bending from ... the wood
her wounded father seemed to come. He appeared
at times, then hid himself in mist.
Bursting into tears, she arose. She knew that
the chief was low ... Thou wert the last of his
race, O blue-eyed Dardu-Lena!--Ossian, Temora,
v.
Dargo, the spear of Ossian, son of Fingal.—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.
Dar'gonet, "the Tall," son of Astolpho, and brother of Paradine. In the fight provoked by Oswald against Duke Grondibert, which was decided by four combatants against four, Dargonet was slain by Hugo the Little. Dargonet and his brother were rivals for the love of Lora.—Sir Wm. Davenant, Gondibert, i. (died 1668).
Dari'us and His Horse. The seven candidates for the throne of Persia agreed that he should be king whose horse neighed first. As the horse of Darius was the first to neigh, Darius was proclaimed king.
That brave ScythianWho found more sweetness in his horse's neighing
Than all the Phrygian, Dorian, Lydian playing.
Lord Brooke.
Darlemont, guardian and maternal uncle of Julio of Harancour; formerly a merchant. He takes possession of the inheritance of his ward by foul means, but is proud as Lucifer, suspicious, exacting, and tyrannical. Every one fears him; no one loves him.—Thorn. Holcroft, Deaf and Dumb (1785.)
Darling (Grace), daughter of William Darling, lighthouse-keeper on Longs tone, one of the Fame Islands. On the morning of September 7, 1838, Grace and her father saved nine of the crew of the Forfarshire steamer, wrecked among the Fame Islands opposite Bamborough Castle (1815-1842).
Darnay (Charles), the lover and afterwards the husband of Lucie Manette. He bore a strong likeness to Sydney Carton, and was a noble character, worthy of Lucie. His real name was Evrémonde.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859.)
Darnel (Aurelia), a character in Smollet's novel entitled The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760).
Darnley, the amant of Charlotte [Lambert], in The Hypocrite, by Isaac Bicker-staff. In Molière's comedy of Tartuffe, Charlotte is called "Mariane," and Darnley is "Valère."
Dar'-Thula, daughter of Colla, and "fairest of Erin's maidens." She fell in love with Nathos, one of the three sons of Usnoth, lord of Etha (in Argyllshire). Cairbar, the rebel was also in love with her, but his suit was rejected. Nathos was made commander of King Cormac's army at the death of Cuthullin, and for a time upheld the tottering throne. But the rebel grew stronger and stronger, and at length found means to murder the young king; whereupon the army under Nathos deserted. Nathos was now obliged to quit Ireland, and Dar-Thula fled with him. A storm drove the vessel back to Ulster, where Cairbar was encamped, and Nathos, with his two brothers, being overpowered by numbers, fell. Dar-Thula was arrayed as a young warrior; but when her lover was slain "her shield fell from her arm; her breast of snow appeared, but it was stained with blood. An arrow was fixed in her side," and her dying blood was mingled with that of the three brothers.—Ossian, Dar-Thula (founded on the story of "Deirdri," i. Trans, of the Gaelic Soc.)
Dar'tle (Rosa), companion of Mrs. Steerforth. She loved Mrs. Steerforth's son, but her love was not reciprocated. Miss Dartle is a vindictive woman, noted for a scar on her lip, which told tales when her temper was aroused. This scar was from a wound given by young Steerforth, who struck her on the lip when a boy.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Darwin's Missing Link, the link between the monkey and man. According to Darwin, the present host of animal life began from a few elemental forms, which developed, and by natural selection propagated certain types of animals, while others less suited to the battle of life died out. Thus, beginning with the larvae of ascidians (a marine mollusc,) we get by development to fish lowly organized (as the lancelet), thence to ganoids and other fish, then to amphibians. From amphibians we get to birds and reptiles, and thence to mammals, among which comes the monkey, between which and man is a MISSING LINK.
Dashall (The Hon. Tom), cousin of Tally-ho. The rambles and adventures of these two blades are related by Pierce Egan (1821-1822).
D'Asumar (Count), an old Nestor who fancied nothing was so good as when he was a young man.
"Alas! I see no men nowadays comparableto those I knew heretofore; and the tournaments
are not performed with half the magnificence as
when I was a young man...." Seeing some
fine peaches served up, he observed, "In my
time, the peaches were much larger than they
are at present; natures degenerates every day."
"At that rate," said his companion, smiling,
"the peaches of Adam's time must have been
wonderfully large."—Lesage, Gil Blas, iv. 7
(1724).
Daughter (The), a drama by S. Knowles (1836). Marian, "daughter" of Robert, once a wrecker, was betrothed to Edward, a sailor, who went on his last voyage, and intended then to marry her. During his absence a storm at sea arose, a body was washed ashore, and Robert went down to plunder it. Marian went to look for her father and prevent his robbing those washed ashore by the waves, when she saw in the dusk some one stab a wrecked body. It was Black Norris, but she thought it was her father. Robert being taken up Marian gave witness against him, and he was condemned to death. Norris said he would save her father if she would marry him, and to this she consented; but on the wedding day Edward returned. Norris was taken up for murder, and Marian was saved.
Daughter with Her Murdered Father's Head. Margaret Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More, obtained privately the head of her father, which had been exposed for some days on London Bridge, and buried it in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury (1835). Tennyson alludes to this in the following lines:—
Morn broadened on the borders of the dark,Ere I saw her who clasped in her last trance
Her murdered father's head.
The head of the young earl of Derwent-water was exposed on Temple Bar in 1716. His wife drove in a cart under the the arch, and a man, hired for the purpose, threw the young earl's head into the cart, that it might be decently buried—Sir Bernard Burke Mdlle. de Sombreuil, daughter of the Comte de Sombreuil, insisted on the sharing her father's prison during the "Reign of Terror," and in accompanying him to the guillotine.
Dauphin (Le Grand), Louis duc de Bourgoyne, eldest son of Louis XIV., for whom was published the Delphine Classics (1661-1711).
Dauphin (Le Petit), son of the "Grand Dauphin" (1682-1712).
Daura, daughter of Armin. She was betrothed to Armar, son of Armart, Erath a rival lover having been rejected by her. One day, disguised as an old grey-beard, Erath told Daura that he was sent to conduct her to Armar, who was waiting for her. Without suspicion she followed her guide, who took her to a rock in the midst of the sea, and there left her. Her brother Arindal, returning from the chase, saw Erath on the shore, and bound him to an oak; then pushing off the boat, went to fetch back his sister. At this crisis Armar came up, and discharged his arrow at Erath; but the arrow struck Arindal, and killed him. "The boat broke in twain," and Armar plunged into the sea to rescue his betrothed; but a "sudden blast from the hills struck him, and he sank to rise no more." Daura was rescued by her father, but she haunted the shore all night in a drenching rain. Next day "her voice grew very feeble; it died away; and spent with grief, she expired." Ossian, Songs of Selma.
Davenant (Lord), a bigamist. One wife was Marianne Dormer, whom he forsook in three months. It was given out that he was dead, and Marianne in time married Lord Davenant's son. His other wife was Louisa Travers, who was engaged to Captain Dormer, but was told that the Captain was faithless and had married another. When the villainy of his lordship could be no longer concealed he destroyed himself.
Lady Davenant, one of the two wives of Lord Davenant. She was "a faultless wife," with beauty to attract affection, and every womanly grace.
Charles Davenant, a son of Lord Davenant, who married Marianne Dormer, his father's wife.—Cumberland, The Mysterious Husband (1783).
Davenant (Will), a supposed descendant from Shakespeare, and Wildrake's friend,—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, the Commonwealth).
Davenport (Colonel), a Revolutionary veteran who, fighting the battle of Long Island over again in Parson Cushing's family, admits that General Washington poured out "a terrible volley of curses."
"And he swore?" objects Parson Gushing.
"It was not profane swearing. It was not taking GOD'S name in vain, for it sent us back as if we had been chased by lightning. It was an awful hour, and he saw it. It was life or death; country or no country."—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Poganuc People (1878).
David, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel is meant for Charles II. As David's beloved son Absalom rebelled against him, so the Duke of Monmouth rebelled against his father Charles II. As Achitophel was a traitorous counsellor to David, so was the Earl of Shaftesbury to Charles II. As Hushaï outwitted Achitophel, so Hyde (duke of Eochester) outwitted the Earl of Shaftesbury, etc., etc.
Auspicious prince.Thy longing country's darling and desire,
Their cloudy pillar, and their guardian fire ...
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme,
The young men's vision and the old men's dream.
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1681).
David, king of North Wales, eldest son of Owen, by his second wife. Owen died in 1169. David married Emma Plantagenet, a Saxon princess. He slew his brother Hoel and his half-brother Yorworth (son of Owen by his first wife), who had been set aside from the succession in consequence of a blemish in the face. He also imprisoned his brother Rodri, and drove others into exile. Madoc, one of his brothers, went to America, and established there a Welsh colony.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
David Sovine. Witness in a murder case in Edward Eggleston's novel The Graysons. He is put upon the stand and tells a plausible story of "the shooting," which he claims to have seen. The prosecutor then hands him over to the prisoner's counsel, Abraham Lincoln, whose cross-examination of the wretched man concludes thus:
"Why does David Sovine go to all this trouble to perjure himself? Why does he wish to swear away the life of that young man who never did him any harm? Because that witness shot and killed George Lockwood himself. I move your honor that David Sovine be arrested at once for murder!" (1888).
David Swan. A native of New Hampshire, born of respectable parents who has had a "classic finish" by a year at Grilmanton Academy. He lies down to sleep at noon of a Summer's day, pillowing his head on a bundle of clothing. While sound asleep in the shade, he is passed by many people on the road. Five or six pause to survey the youth and comment upon him. Awakened by the stage-coach, he mounts to the top, and bowls away, unconscious that a phantom of Wealth, of Love and of Death had visited him in the brief hour since he lay down to sleep.—Nathaniel Hawthorn, Twice-told Tales, (1851.)
David (St.), son of Xantus, prince of Cereticu (Cardiganshire) and the nun Malearia. He was the uncle of King Arthur. St. David first embraced the ascetic life in the Isle of Wight, but subsequently removed to Menevia, in Pembrokeshire, where he founded twelve convents. In 577 the archbishop of Caerleon resigned his see to him, and St. David removed the seat of it to Menevia, which was subsequently called St. David's and became the metropolis of Wales. He died at the age of 146, in the year 642. The waters of Bath "owe their warmth and salutary qualities to the benediction of this saint." Drayton says he lived in the valley of Ewias (2 syl.), between the hills of Hatterill, in Monmouthshire.
Here in an aged cell with moss and ivy grown,In which not to this day the sun hath ever shown.
That reverend British saint in zealous ages past,
To contemplation lived.
Polyolbion, iv. (1612.)
David and Jonathan, inseparable friends. The allusion is to David the Psalmist and Jonathan the son of Saul. David's lamentation at the death of Jonathan was never surpassed in pathos and beauty.—2 Samuel, i. 19-27.
Davie Debet, debt.
So ofte thy neighbors banquet in thy hall,Till Davie Debet in thy parler stand,
And bids thee welcome to thine own decay.
G. Gascoigne, Magnum Vectigal, etc. (died 1775).
Davie of Stenhonse, a friend of Hobbie Elliott.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Davies (John), an old fisherman employed by Joshua Geddes the quaker.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III).
Da'vus, a plain, uncouth servitor; a common name for a slave in Greek and Roman plays, as in the Andria of Terence.
His face made of brass, like a vice in a game.His gesture like Davus, whom Terence doth name.
T. Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, liv. (1557).
Davus sum, non Oedipus. I am a homely man, and do not understand hints, innuendoes, and riddles, like Oedipus. Oedipus was the Theban who expounded the riddle of the Sphinx, that puzzled all his countrymen. Davus was the stock name of a servant or slave in Latin comedies. The proverb is used by Terence, Andria, 1, 2, 23.
Davy, the varlet of Justice Shallow, who so identifies himself with his master that he considers himself half host half varlet. Thus when he seats Bardolph and Page at table, he tells them they must take "his" good will for their assurance of welcome.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. (1598).
Daw (Sir David), a rich, dunder-headed baronet of Monmouthshire, without wit, words, or worth, but believing himself somebody, and fancying himself a sharp fellow, because his servants laugh at his good sayings, and his mother calls him a wag. Sir David pays his suit to Miss [Emily] Tempest; but as the affections of the young lady are fixed on Henry Woodville, the baron goes to the wall.—Cumberland, The Wheel of Fortune (1779).
Daw (Marjorie) Edward Delaney, writing to another young fellow, John Flemming, confined in town in August by a broken leg, interests him in a charming girl, Marjorie Daw by name, whom he has met in his (Delaney's) summering-place. His description of her ways, sayings and looks so works upon the imagination of the invalid that he falls madly in love with her—without sight. As soon as he can travel he rushes madly down to "The Pines" where his friend is staying, and finds instead of Delaney a letter:
... "I tried to make a little romance to interest you, something soothing and idyllic, and by Jove! I've done it only too well ... I fly from the wrath to come—when you arrive! For, O, dear Jack, there isn't any colonial mansion on the other side of the road, there isn't any piazza, there isn't any hammock,—there isn't any Marjorie Daw!"
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Marjorie Daw (1873).
Dawfyd, "the one-eyed" freebooter chief.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Dawkins (Jack), known by the sobriquet of the "Artful Dodger." He is one of Fagin's tools. Jack Dawkins is a young scamp of unmitigated villainy, and full of artifices, but of a cheery, buoyant temper.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, viii. (1837).
Dawson (Bully), a London sharper, bully, and debauchee of the seventeenth century.—See Spectator, No. 2.
Bully Dawson kicked by half the town, and half the town kicked by Bully Dawson.—Charles Lamb.
Dawson (Jemmy). Captain James Dawson was one of the eight officers belonging to the Manchester volunteers in the service of Charles Edward, the young pretender. He was a very amiable young man, engaged to a young lady of family and fortune, who went in her carriage to witness his execution for treason. When the body was drawn, i.e. embowelled, and the heart thrown into the fire, she exclaimed, "James Dawson!" and expired. Shenstone has made this the subject of a tragic ballad.
Young Dawson was a gallant youth,A brighter never trod the plain;
And well he loved one charming maid,
And dearly was he loved again.
Shenstone, Jemmy Dawson.
Dawson (Phoebe), "the pride of Lammas Fair," courted by all the smartest young men of the village, but caught "by the sparkling eyes" and ardent words of a tailor. Phoebe had by him a child before marriage, and after marriage he turned a "captious tyrant and a noisy sot." Poor Phoebe drooped, "pinched were her looks, as one who pined for bread," and in want and sickness she sank into an early tomb. This sketch is one of the best in Crabbe's Parish Register (1807).
Day (Justice), a pitiable hen-pecked husband, who always addresses his wife as "duck" or "duckie."
Mrs. Day, wife of the "justice," full of vulgar dignity, overbearing, and loud. She was formerly the kitchen-maid of her husband's father; but being raised from the kitchen to the parlor, became my lady paramount.
In the comedy from which this farce is taken, "Mrs. Day" was the kitchen-maid in the family of Colonel Careless, and went by the name of Gillian. In her exalted state she insisted on being addressed as "Your honor" or "Your ladyship."
Margaret Woffington [1718-1760], in "Mrs. Day," made no scruples to disguise her beautiful face by drawing on it the lines of deformity, and to put on the tawdry habiliments and vulgar manners of an old hypocritical city vixen.—Thomas Davies.
Abel Day, a puritanical prig, who can do nothing without Obadiah. This "downright ass" (act i. I) aspires to the hand of the heiress Arabella.—T. Knight, The Honest Thieves.
This farce is a mere réchauffé of The Committee, a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard (1670). The names of "Day," "Obadiah," and "Arabella" are the same.
Day (Ferquhard), the absentee from the clan Chattan ranks at the conflict.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Day of the Dupes, November 11, 1630. The dupes were Marie de Medicis, Anne of Austria, and Gaston, duc d'Orléans, who were outwitted by Cardinal Richelieu. The plotters had induced Louis XIII. to dismiss his obnoxious minister, whereupon the cardinal went at once to resign the seals of office; the king repented, re-established the cardinal, and he became more powerful than ever.
Days Recurrent in the Lives of Great men.
BECKET. Tuesday was Becket's day. He was born on a Tuesday, and on a Tuesday was assassinated. He was baptized on a Tuesday, took his flight from Northampton on a Tuesday, withdrew to France on a Tuesday, had his vision of martydom on a Tuesday, returned to England on a Tuesday, his body was removed from the crypt to the shrine on a Tuesday, and on Tuesday (April 13, 1875) Cardinal Manning consecrated the new church dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket.
CROMWELL'S day was September 3. On September 3, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar; on September 3, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester; on September 3, 1658, he died.
HAROLD'S day was October 14. It was his birthday, and also the day of his death. William the Conqueror was born on the same day, and, on October 14, 1066, won England by conquest.
NAPOLEON'S day was August 15, his birthday; but his his "lucky" day, like that of his nephew, Napoleon III., was the 2nd of the month. He was made consul for life on August 2, 1802; was crowned December 2, 1804; won his greatest battle, that of Austerlitz, for which he obtained the title of "Great," December 2, 1805; married the archduchess of Austria, April 2, 1810; etc.
NAPOLEON III. The coup d'état was December 2, 1851. Louis Napoleon was made emperor December 2, 1852; he opened, at Saarbrück, the Franco-German war August 2, 1870; and surrendered his sword to William of Prussia, September 2, 1870.
Dazzle, in London Assurance, by D. Boucicault.
"Dazzle" and "Lady Gay Spanker" "actthemselves," and will never be dropped out of
the list of acting plays.—Percy Fitzgerald.
De Bourgo (William), brother of the earl of Ulster and commander of the English forces that defeated Felim O'Connor (1315) at Athunree, in Connaught.
Why tho' fallen her brother kerne [Irish infantry]Beneath De Bourgo's battle stern.
Campbell, O'Connor's Child.
De Courcy, in a romance called Women, by the Rev. C.R. Maturin. An Irishman, made up of contradictions and improbabilities. He is in love with Zaira, a brilliant Italian, and also with her unknown daughter, called Eva Wentworth, a model of purity. Both women are blighted by his inconstancy. Eva dies, but Zaira lives to see De Courcy perish of remorse (1822).
De Gard, a noble staid gentleman, newly lighted from his travels; brother of Oria'na, who "chases" Mi'rabel "the wild goose," and catches him.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild-goose Chase (1652).
De l'Epèe (Abbe). Seeing a deaf and dumb lad abandoned in the streets of Paris, he rescues him, and brings him up under the name of Theodore. The foundling turned out to be Julio, count of Harancour.
"In your opinion, who is the greatest genius that France has ever produced?" "Science would decide for D'Alembert, Nature [would] say Buffon; Wit and Taste [would] present Voltaire; and Sentiment plead for Rousseau; but Genius and Humanity cry out for De l'Epee, and him I call the best and greatest of human creatures."—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb, iii. 2. (1785).
De Valmont (Count), father of Florian and uncle of Geraldine. During his absence in the wars, he left his kinsman, the Baron Longueville, guardian of his castle; but under the hope of coming into the property, the baron set fire to the castle, intending thereby to kill the wife and her infant boy. When De Valmont returned and knew his losses, he became a wayward recluse, querulous, despondent, frantic at times, and at times most melancholy. He adopted an infant "found in a forest," who turned out to be his son. His wife was ultimately found, and the villainy of Longueville was brought to light.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.
Many "De Valmonts" I have witnessed in fifty-four years, but have never seen the equal of Joseph George Holman [1764-1817].—Donaldson.
Deaf and Dumb (The), a comedy by Thomas Holcroft. "The deaf and dumb" boy is Julio, count of Harancour, a ward of M. Darlemont, who, in order to get possession of his ward's property, abandons him when very young in the streets of Paris. Here he is rescued by the Abbé De l'Epèe, who brings him up under the name of Theodore. The boy being recognized by his old nurse and others, Darlemont confesses his crime, and Julio is restored to his rank and inheritance.—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).
Dean of St. Patrick (The), Jonathan Swift, who was appointed to the deanery in 1713, and retained it till his death. (1667-1745).
Deans (Douce Davie), the cowherd at Edinburgh, noted for his religious peculiarities, his magnanimity in affection, and his eccentricities.
Mistress Rebecca Deans, Douce Davie's second wife.
Jeanie Deans, daughter of Douce Davie Deans, by his first wife. She marries Reuben Butler, the Presbyterian minister. Jeanie Deans is a model of good sense, strong affection, resolution, and disinterestedness. Her journey from Edinburgh to London is as interesting as that of Elizabeth from Siberia to Moscow, or of Bunyan's pilgrim.
Effie [Euphemia] Deans, daughter of Douce Davie Deans, by his second wife. She is betrayed by George [afterward Sir George] Staunton (called Geordie Robertson) and imprisoned for child-murder. Jeanie goes to the queen and sues for pardon, which is vouchsafed to her, and Staunton does what he can to repair the mischief he has done by marrying Effie, who thus becomes Lady Staunton. Soon after this Sir George is shot by a gypsy boy, who proves to be his own son, and Effie retires to a convent on the Continent.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II).
J.E.Millais has a picture of Effie Deans keeping tryst with George
Staunton.
The prototype of Jeanie Deans was Helen Walker, to whose memory Sir
W. Scott erected a tombstone in Irongray churchyard (Kirkcudbright).
Dean (Elder). Rigid and puritaincal church, official who brings a charge of heretical opinions and blacksliding against his pastor's wife in John Ward, Preacher, Margaret Deland (1888).
Death or Mors. So did Tennyson call Sir Ironside the Red Knight of the Red Lands, who kept Lyonors (for Lionês) captive in Castle Perilous. The name "Mors," which is Latin, is very inconsistent with a purely British tale, and of course does not appear in the original story.—Tennyson, Idylls ("Gareth and Lynette"); Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 134-137 (1470).
Death from Strange Causes.
Æschylus was killed by the fall of a tortoise on his head from the claws of an eagle in the air.—Pliny, Hist. vii. 7.
Agath'ocles (4 syl.), tyrant of Sicily, was killed by a tooth-pick, at the age of 95.
Anacreon was choked by a grape stone.—Pliny, Hist. vii. 7.
Bassus (Q. Lucilius) died from the prick of a fine needle in his left thumb.
Chalchas, the soothsayer, died of laughter at the thought of his having outlived the time predicted for his death.
Charles VIII., conducting his queen into a tennis-court, struck his head against the lintel, and it caused his death.
Fabius, the Roman praetor, was choked by a single goat-hair in the milk which he was drinking.—Pliny, Hist. vii. 7.
Frederick Lewis, prince of Wales, died from the blow of a cricket ball.
Itadach died of thirst in the harvest field, because (in observance of the rule of St. Patrick) he refused to drink a drop of anything.
Louis VI. met with his death from a pig running under his horse, and causing it to stumble. Margutte died of laughter on seeing a monkey try ing to pull on a pair of his boots.
Philom'enes (4 syl.) died of laughter at seeing an ass eating the figs provided for his own dessert.—Valerius Maximus.
Placut (Phillipot) dropped down dead while in the act of paying a bill.—Backaberry the elder.
Quenelault, a Norman physician of Montpellier, died from a slight wound made in his hand in the extraction of a splinter.
Saufeius (Spurius) was choked supping up the albumen of a soft-boiled egg.
Zeuxis, the painter, died of laughter at sight of a hag which he had just depicted.
Death Ride (The), the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, October 25, 1854. In this action 600 English horsemen, under the earl of Cardigan, charged a Russian force of 5,000 calvary and six batallions of infantry. They galloped through the battery of thirty guns, cutting down the artillerymen, and through the calvary, but then discovered the batallions and cut their way back again. Of the 670 who advanced to this daring charge, not 200 returned. This reckless exploit was the result of some misunderstanding in an order from the commander-in-chief. Tennyson has a poem on the subject called The Charge of the Light Brigade.
For chivalrous devotion and daring, "the Death Ride" of the Light Brigade will not easily be paralleled.—Sir Edw. Creasy, The Fifteen Decisive Battles (preface).
Deb'on, one of the companions of Brute. According to British fable, Devonshire is a corruption of "Debon's-share", or the share of the country assigned to Debon.
Deborah Debbitch, governante at Lady Peveril's—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Deborah Woodhouse. The practical sister of the spinster pair who cherish (respectively) a secret attachment for Mr. Dermer. Miss Deborah is an admirable cook, and an affectionate aunt and considers that in religion a woman ought to think just as her husband does.—Margaret Deland, John Ward, Preacher (1888).
Decem Scriptores, a collection of ten ancient chronicles on English history, edited by Twysden and John Selden. The names of the chroniclers are Simeon of Durham, John of Hexham, Richard of Hexham, Ailred of Rieval, Ralph De Diceto, John Brompton of Jorval, Gervase of Canterbury, Thomas Stubbs, William Thorn of Canterbury, and Henry Knighton of Leicester.
December. A mother laments in the
"Darkest of all DecembersEver her life has known,"
the death of two sons, one of whom fell in battle, while the other perished at sea.
"Ah, faint heart! in thy anguishWhat is there left to thee?
Only the sea intoning
Only the wainscot-mouse
Only the wild wind moaning
Over the lonely house!"
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Poems, (1882).
De'cius, friend of Antin'ous (4 syl.).—Beaumont and Fletcher, Laws of Candy (1647).
Dedlock (Sir Leicester), bart., who has a general opinion that the world might get on without hills, but would be "totally done up" without Dedlocks. He loves Lady Dedlock, and believes in her implicity. Sir Leicester is honorable and truthful, but intensely prejudiced, immovably obstinate, and proud as "county" can make a man; but his pride has a most dreadful fall when the guilt of Lady Dedlock becomes known.
Lady Dedlock, wife of Sir Leicester, beautiful, cold, and apparently heartless; but she is weighed down with this terrible secret, that before marriage she had had a daughter by Captain Hawdon. This daughter's name is Esther [Summerson] the heroine of the novel.
Volumnia Dedlock, cousin of Sir Leicester. A "young" lady of 60, given to rouge, pearl-powder, and cosmetics. She has a habit of prying into the concerns of others.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Dee's Spec'ulum, a mirror, which Dr. John Dee asserted was brought to him by the angels Raphael and Gabriel. At the death of the doctor it passed into the possession of the Earl of Peterborough, at Drayton; then to Lady Betty Grermaine, by whom it was given to John, last duke of Argyll. The duke's grandson (Lord Frederic Campbell) gave it to Horace Walpole; and in 1842 it was sold, at the dispersion of the curiosities of Strawberry Hill, and bought by Mr. Smythe Pigott. At the sale of Mr. Pigott's library, in 1853, it passed into the possession of the late Lord Londesborough. A writer in Notes and Queries (p. 376, November 7, 1874) says, it "has now been for many years in the British Museum," where he saw it "some eighteen years ago."
This magic speculum is a flat polished mineral, like cannel coal, of a circular form, fitted with a handle.
Deerslayer (The), the title of a novel by J.F. Cooper, and the nickname of its hero, Natty or Nathaniel Bumppo. He is a model uncivilized man, honorable, truthful, and brave, pure of heart and without reproach.
Deerfield. The particulars of the captivity of the Williams family of Deerfield, (Mass.), are told by John Williams, the head of the household. The Indians entered the town before dawn Feb. 29, 1703, broke into the house, murdered two children and a servant and carried the rest into the wilderness. Mrs. Williams being weak from a recent illness, was killed on the journey.—John Williams, The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion (1707).
Defarge (Mons.), keeper of a wine shop in the Faubourg St. Antoine, in Paris. He is a bull-necked, good-humored, but implacable-looking man.
Mde. Defarge, his wife, a dangerous woman, with great force of character; everlastingly knitting.
Mde. Defarge had a watchful eye that seldom seemed to look at anything.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, i. 5 (1859).
Defender of the Faith, the title first given to Henry VIII, by Pope Leo X., for a volume against Luther, in defence of pardons, the papacy, and the seven sacraments. The original volume is in the Vatican, and contains this inscription in the king's handwriting; Anglorum rex Henricus, Leoni X. mittit hoc opus et fidei testem et amicitiæ; whereupon the pope (in the twelfth year of his reign) conferred upon Henry, by bull, the title "Fidei Defensor," and commanded all Christians so to address him. The original bull was preserved by Sir Robert Cotton, and is signed by the pope, four bishop-cardinals, fifteen priest-cardinals, and eight deacon-cardinals. A complete copy of the bull, with its seals and signatures, may be seen in Selden's Titles of Honor, v. 53-57 (1672).
Defoe writes The History of the Plague of London as if he had been a personal spectator, but he was only three years old at the the time (1663-1731).
Deggial, antichrist. The Mohammedan writers say he has but one eye and one eyebrow, and on his forehead is written CAFER ("infidel")
Chilled with terror, we concluded that the Deggial, with his exterminating angels, had sent forth their plagues on the earth.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).
Deird'ri, an ancient Irish story similar to the Dar-Thula of Ossian. Conor, king of Ulster, puts to death by treachery the three sons of Usnach. This leads to the desolating war against Ulster, which terminates in the total destruction of Eman. This is one of the three tragic stories of the Irish, which are: (1) The death of the children of Touran (regarding Tuatha de Danans); (2) the death of the children of Lear or Lir, turned into swans by Aoife; (3) the death of the children of Usnach (a "Milesian" story).
Dek'abrist, a Decembrist, from Dekaber, the Russian for December. It denotes those persons who suffered death or captivity for the part they took in the military conspiracy which broke out in St. Petersburg in December, 1825, on the accession of Czar Nicholas to the throne.
Dela'da, the tooth of Buddah, preserved in the Malegawa temple at Kandy. The natives guard it with the greatest jealousy, from a belief that whoever possesses it acquires the right to govern Ceylon. When the English (in 1815) obtained possession of this palladium, the natives submitted without resistance.
Delaserre (Captain Philip), a friend of Harry Bertram.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
De'lia, Diana; so called from the island Delos, where she was born. Similarly, Apollo was called Delius. Milton says that Eve, e'en
Delia's self,In gait surpassed and goddess-like deport,
Though not as she with bow and quiver armed.
Paradise Lost, ix. 338, etc. (1665).
Delia, any female sweetheart. She is one of the shepherdesses in Virgil's Eclogues. Tibullus, the Roman poet, calls his lady-love "Delia," but what her real name was is not certain.
Delia, the lady-love of James Hammond's elegies, was Miss Dashwood, who died in 1779. She rejected his suit, and died unmarried. In one of the elegies the poet imagines himself married to her, and that they were living happily together till death, when pitying maids would tell of their wondrous loves.
Delian King (The). Apollo or the sun is so called in the Orphic hymn,
Oft as the Delian king with Sirius holdsThe central heavens.
Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767).
Delight of Mankind (The), Titus the Roman emperor, A.D.40, (79-81).
Titus indeed gave one short evening gleam,More cordial felt, as in the midst it spread
Of storm and horror: "The Delight of Men."
Thomson, Liberty, in. (1725).
Della Crusca School, originally applied in 1582 to a society in Florence, established to purify the national language and sift from it all its impurities; but applied in England to a brotherhood of poets (at the close of the last century) under the leadership of Mrs. Piozzi. This school was conspicuous for affectation and high-flown panegyrics on each other. It was stamped out by Gifford, in The Baviad, in 1794, and The Moeviad, in 1796. Robert Merry, who signed himself Della Crusca, James Cobb, a farce-writer, James Boswell (biographer of Dr. Johnson), O'Keefe, Morton, Reynolds, Holcroft, Sheridan, Colman the younger, Mrs. H. Cowley, and Mrs. Robinson were its best exponents.
Del'phine, (2 syl.), the heroine and title of a novel by Mde. de Staël. Delphine is a charming character, who has a faithless lover, and dies of a broken heart. This novel, like Corinne, was written during her banishment from France by Napoleon I., when she travelled in Switzerland and Italy. It is generally thought that "Delphine" was meant for the authoress herself (1802).
Delphine Classics (The), a set of Latin classics edited in France for the use of the grand dauphin (son of Louis XIV.). Huet was chief editor, assisted by Montausier and Bossuet. They had thirty-nine scholars working under them. The indexes of these classics are very valuable.
Delta of Blackwood is D.M.Moir (1798-1851).
Del'ville (2 syl.), one of the guardians of Cecilia. He is a man of wealth and great ostentation, with a haughty humility and condescending pride, especially in his intercourse with his social inferiors.—Miss Burney, Cecilia (1782). Deme'tia, South Wales; the inhabitants are called Demetians.
Denevoir, the seat of the Demetian king.Drayton, Polyolbion, v. (1612).
Deme'trius, a young Athenian, to whom Egeus (3 syl.) promised his daughter Hermia in marriage. As Hermia loved Lysander, she refused to marry Demetrius, and fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius went in quest of her, and was followed by Helena, who doted on him. All four fell asleep, and "dreamed a dream" about the fairies. On waking, Demetrius became more reasonable. He saw that Hermia disliked him, but that Helena loved him sincerely, so he consented to forego the one and take to wife the other. When Egeus, the father of Hermia, found out how the case stood, he consented to the union of his daughter with Lysander.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream (1592).
Deme'trius, in The Poetaster, by Ben Jonson, is meant for John Marston (died 1633).
Deme'trius, (4 syl.), son of King Antig'onus, in love with Celia, alias Enan'thê.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).
Deme'trius, a citizen of Greece during the reign of Alexius Comnenus.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Demiurgus, that mysterious agent which, according to Plato, made the world and all that it contains. The Logos or "Word" of St. John's Gospel (ch. i. I) is the demiurgus of platonizing Christians.
Democ'ritos (in Latin Democritus), the laughing or scoffing philosopher, the Friar Bacon of his age. To "dine with Democ'ritos" is to go without dinner, the same as "dining with Duke Humphrey," or "dining with the cross-legged knights."
People think that we [authors] often dine with Democritos, but there they are mistaken. There is not one of the fraternity who is not welcome to some good table.—Lesage, Gil Blas, xii. 7 (1735).
Democritus Junior, Robert Burton, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy (1576-1640).
Demod'ocos (in Latin Demodocus), bard of Alcin'ous (4 syl.) king of the Phæa'cians.
Such as the wise Demodicos once toldIn solemn songs at King Alcinous' feast,
While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest
Are held, with his melodious harmony,
In willing chains and sweet captivity.
Milton, Vacation Exercise (1627).
Dem'ogor'gon, tyrant of the elves and fays, whose very name inspired terror; hence Milton speaks of "the dreaded name of Demogorgon" (Paradise Lost, ii. 965). Spenser says he "dwells in the deep abyss where the three fatal sisters dwell" (Faëry Queen, iv. 2); but Ariosto says he inhabited a splendid palace on the Himalaya Mountains. Demogorgon is mentioned by Statius in the Thebaid, iv. 516.
He's the first-begotten of Beëlzebub, with a face as terrible as Demogorgon.—Dryden, The Spanish Fryar, v. 2 (1680).
Demon. Increase Mather tells a long and circumstantial story of The Demon at William Morse His House, time of visitation being 1679. "The true story of these strange disturbances is as yet not certainly known," he says. "Some (as has been hinted), did suspect Morse's wife to be guilty of witchcraft."—Increase Mather, An Essay for the Eecording of Illustrious Providences (1681). Demoph'oôn (4 syl.) was brought up by Demêter, who anointed him with ambrosia and plunged him every night into the fire. One day, his mother, out of curiosity, watched the proceeding, and was horror-struck; whereupon Demêter told her that her foolish curiosity had robbed her son of immortal youth.
This story is also told of Isis.—Plutarch, De Isid. et Osirid., xvi. 357.
A similar story is told of Achillês. His mother Thet'is
was taking similar precautions to render him immortal, when his father
Pe'leus (2 syl.) interfered.—Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautic Exp.,
iv. 866.
Demos'thenes of the Pulpit. Dr. Thomas Rennell, dean of Westminster, was so called by William Pitt (1753-1840).
Dendin (Peter), an old man, who had settled more disputes than all the magistrates of Poitiers, though he was no judge. His plan was to wait till the litigants were thoroughly sick of their contention, and longed to end their disputes; then he would interpose, and his judgment could not fail to be acceptable.
Tenot Dendin, son of the above, but, unlike the father, he always tried to crush quarrels in the bud; consequently, he never succeeded in settling a single dispute submitted to his judgment.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, in. 41 (1545).
(Racine has introduced the same name into his comedy called Les Plaideurs (1669), and Lafontaine in his Fables 1668).
Dennet (Father), an old peasant at the Lists of St. George.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Dennis the hangman, one of the ringleaders of the "No Popery Riots;" the other two were Hugh, servant of the Maypole inn, and the half-witted Barnaby Rudge. Dennis was cheerful enough when he "turned off" others, but when he himself ascended the gibbet he showed a most grovelling and craven spirit.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).
Dennis (John), "the best abused man in English literature." Swift lampooned him; Pope assailed him in the Essay on Criticism; and finally he was "damned to everlasting fame" in the Dunciad. He is called "Zo'ïlus" (1657-1733).
Dennison (Jenny), attendant on Miss Edith Bellenden. She marries Cuddie Headrigg.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Dermer (Mr.), a little bachelor lawyer, whose face has "a pinched, wistful look" under the curls of his brown wig. He lives in a dreary house, with a testy housekeeper, and a timid little nephew-ward, and spends many of his lonely hours in trying to decide if he loves Miss Deborah Woodhouse the utilitarian, or aesthetic Miss Ruth. On his death-bed, he gives an old daguerreotype of himself to Miss Ruth.
"Not that I have—have changed my mind,but it is not improper, I am sure that Miss Deborah's
sister should give me—if she will be
so good—her hand, that I may say 'goodbye'"—Margaret
Deland, John Ward, Preacher
(1888).
D'Éon de Beaumont (Le Chevalier), a person notorious for the ambiguity of his sex; said to be the son of an advocate. His face was pretty, without beard, moustache, or whiskers. Louis XV. sent him as a woman to Russia on a secret mission, and he presented himself to the czarina as a woman (1756). In the Seven Years' War he was appointed captain of dragoons. In 1777 he assumed the dress of a woman again, which he maintained till death (1728-1810).
Derby (Earl of), third son of the Earl of Lancaster, and near kinsman of Edward III. His name was Henry Plantagenet, and he died 1362. Henry Plantagenet, earl of Derby, was sent to protect Guienne, and was noted for his humanity no less than for his bravery. He defeated the Comte de l'Isle at Bergerac, reduced Perigord, took the castle of Auberoche, in Gascony, overthrew 10,000 French with only 1000, taking prisoners nine earls and nearly all the barons, knights, and squires (1345). Next year he took the fortresses of Monsegur, Montpezat, Villefranche, Miraumont, Tonneins, Damazin, Aiguillon, and Reole.
That most deserving Earl of Derby, we prefer Henry's third valiant son, the Earl of Lancaster. That only Mars of men.
Dayton, Polyolbion, xviii. (1613).
Derby (Countess of), Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby and Queen of Man.
Philip (earl of Derby), King of Man, son of the countess.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Daniel Deronda, pure young fellow whose influence for good over men and women is marvellous, and explicable only upon the principle that virtue is mightier than vice. "You could not have seen his face thoroughly meeting yours without believing that human creatures had done nobly in times past and might do more nobly in time to come."—George Eliot, Daniel Deronda.
Der'rick, hangman in the first half of the seventeenth century. The crane for hoisting goods is called a derrick, from this hangman.
Derrick (Faith). The rural heroine of Susan Warner's novel Say and Seal (1860).
Derrick (Tom), quarter-master of the pirate's vessel.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Derry Down Triangle (The), Lord Castlereagh; afterwards marquis of Londonderry; so called by William Hone. The first word is a pun on the title, the second refers to his lordship's oratory, a triangle being the most feeble, monotonous, and unmusical of all musical instruments. Tom Moore compares the oratory of Lord Castlereagh to "water spouting from a pump."
Q. Why is a pump like viscount Castlereigh?A. Because it is a slender thing of wood,
That up and down its awkward arm doth sway,
And coolly spout, and spout, and spout away,
In one weak, washy, everlasting flood.
T. Moore.
Dervish ("a poor man"), a sort of religious friar or mendicant among the Mohammedans.
Desboroug-h (Colonel), one of the parliamentary commissioners.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Desdemo'na, daughter of Brabantio, a Venetian senator, in love with Othello the Moor (general of the Venetian army). The Moor loves her intensely, and marries her; but Iago, by artful villainy, induces him to believe that she loves Cassio too well. After a violent conflict between love and jealousy, Othello smothers her with a bolster, and then stabs himself.—Shakespeare, Othello (1611.)
The soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit and conscious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human nature.—Dr. Johnson.
Desert Fairy (The). This fairy was guarded by two lions, that could be pacified only by a cake made of millet, sugar-candy, and crocodiles' eggs. The Desert Fairy said to Allfair, "I swear by my coif you shall marry the Yellow Dwarf, or I will burn my crutch."—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("The Yellow Dwarf," 1682).
Deserted Daughter (The), a comedy by Holcroft. Joanna was the daughter of Mordent, but her mother died, and Mordent married Lady Anne. In order to do so he ignored his daughter and had her brought up by strangers, intending to apprentice her to some trade. Item, a money-lender, acting on the advice of Mordent, lodges the girl with Mrs. Enfield, a crimp, where Lennox is introduced to her, and obtains Mordent's consent to run away with her. In the interim Cheveril sees her, falls in love with her, and determines to marry her. Mordent repents, takes the girl home, acknowledges her to be his daughter, and she becomes the wife of the gallant young Cheveril (1784).
This comedy has been recast, and called The Steward.
Deserter (The), a musical drama by Dibdin (1770). Henry, a soldier, is engaged to Louisa, but during his absence some rumors of gallantry to his disadvantage reach the village, and to test his love, Louisa in pretence goes with Simkin as if to be married. Henry sees the procession, is told it is Louisa's wedding day, and in a fit of desperation gives himself up as a deserter, and is condemned to death. Lousia goes to the king, explains the whole affair, and returns with his pardon as the muffled drums begin to beat.
Desmas. The repentant thief is so called in The Story of Joseph of Arimathea; but Dismas in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. Longfellow, in The Golden Legend, calls him Dumachus. The impenitent thief is called Gestas, but Longfellow calls him Titus.
Imparibus meritis pendent tria corpora ramis:Dismas et Gesmas, media est Divina Potestas;
Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas;
Nos et res nostras conservet Summa Potestas.
Of differing merits from three trees incline
Dismas and Gesmas and the Power Divine;
Dismas repents, Gesmas no pardon craves,
The power Divine by death the sinner saves.
Desmonds of Kilmallock (Limerick). The legend is that the last powerful head of this family, who perished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, still keeps his state under the waters of Lough Gur, that every seventh year he re-appears fully armed, rides round the lake early in the morning, and will ultimately return in the flesh to claim his own again. (See BARBAROSSA.)—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel.
Despair (Giant), lived in Doubting Castle. He took Christian and Hopeful captive for sleeping on his grounds, and locked them in a dark dungeon from Wednesday to Saturday, without "one bit of bread, or drop of drink, or ray of light." By the advice of his wife, Diffidence, the giant beat them soundly "with a crab-tree cudgel." On Saturday night Christian remembered he had a key in his bosom, called "Promise," which would open any lock in Doubting Castle. So he opened the dungeon door, and they both made their escape with speed.—John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678).
Deuce is in Him (The) a farce by George Colman, senior. The person referred to is Colonel Tember, under which name the plot of the farce is given (1762).
Deuga'la, says Ossian, "was covered with the light of beauty, but her heart was the house of pride."
Deve'ta, plu. Devetas, inferior or secondary deities in Hindû mythology.
Devil (The). Olivier le Daim, the tool of Louis XL, and once the king's barber, was called Le Diable, because he was as much feared, was as fond of making mischief, and was far more disliked than the prince of evil. Olivier was executed in 1484.
Devil (The French), Jean Bart, an intrepid French sailor, born at Dunkirk (1650-1702).
Devil (The White). George Castriot, surnamed "Scanderbeg," was called by the Turks "The White Devil of Wallachia" (1404-1467).
Devil (The Printer's). Aldus Manutius, a printer in Venice to the holy Church and the doge, employed a negro boy to help him in his office. This little black boy was believed to be an imp of Satan, and went by the name of the "printer's devil." In order to protect him from persecution, and confute a foolish superstition, Manutius made a public exhibition of the boy, and announced that "any one who doubted him to be flesh and blood might come forward and pinch him."
Devil (Robert the), of Normandy; so called because his father was said to have been an incubus or fiend in the disguise of a knight (1028-1035).
Robert Francois Damiens is also called Robert le Diable, for his
attempt to assassinate Louis XV. (1714-1757).
Devil (Son of the), Ezzeli'no, chief of the Gibelins, governor of Vicenza. He was so called for his infamous cruelties (1215-1259).
Devil Dick, Richard Porson, the critic, (1759-1808).
Devil on Two Sticks, (The), that is Le Diable Boiteux, by Lesage (1707). The plot of this humorous satirical tale is borrowed from the Spanish, El Diabolo Cojuelo, by Gueva'ra (1635). Asmode'us (le diable boiteux) perches Don Cle'ofas on the steeple of St. Salvador, and stretching out his hand, the roofs of all the houses open, and expose to him what is being done privately in every dwelling.
Devil on Two Sticks (The), a farce by S. Foote; a satire on the medical profession.
Devil to Pay, (The), a farce by C. Coffey. Sir John Loverule has a termagant wife, and Zackel Jobson, a patient grissel. Two spirits named Nadir and Ab'ishog transform these two wives for a time, so that the termagant is given to Jobson, and the patient wife to Sir John. When my lady tries her tricks on Jobson, he takes his strap to her and soon reduces her to obedience. After she is well reformed, the two are restored to their original husbands, and the shrew becomes an obedient, modest wife (died, 1745).
Devil's Age (The). A wealthy man once promised to give a poor gentleman and his wife a large sum of money if at a given time they could tell him the devil's age. When the time came, the gentleman at his wife's suggestion, plunged first into a barrel of honey and then into a barrel of feathers, and walked on all fours. Presently up came his Satanic majesty, and said, "X and x years have I lived," naming the exact number, "yet never saw I an animal like this." The gentlemen had heard enough, and was able to answer the question without difficulty.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends, 58 (1877).
Devil's Chalice (The). A wealthy man gave a poor farmer a large sum of money on this condition: at the end of a twelvemonth he was either to say "of what the devil made his chalice," or else give his head to the devil. The poor farmer as the time came round, hid himself in the crossroads, and presently the witches assembled from all sides. Said one witch to another, "You know that Farmer So-and-so has sold his head to the devil, for he will never know of what the devil makes his chalice. In fact I don't know myself." "Don't you?" said the other; "why, of the parings of finger-nails trimmed on Sundays."—The farmer was overjoyed, and when the time came round was quite ready with his answer.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends, 71 (1877).
Devil's Dyke, Brighton (The). One day, as St. Cuthman was walking over the South Downs, and thinking to himself how completely he had rescued the whole country from paganism, he was accosted by his sable majesty in person. "Ha, ha!" said the prince of darkness; "so you think by these churches and convents to put me and mine to your ban, do you? Poor fool! why, this very night will I swamp the whole land with the sea." "Forewarned is forearmed," thought St. Cuthman, and hies him to sister Celia, superior of a convent which then stood on the spot of the present Dyke House. "Sister," said the saint, "I love you well. This night, for the grace of God, keep lights burning at the convent windows from midnight to day-break, and let masses be said by the holy sisterhood." At sundown came the devil with pickaxe and spade, mattock: and shovel, and set to work in right good earnest to dig a dyke which should let the waters of the seas into the downs. "Fire and brim-stone!" —he exclaimed, as a sound of voices rose and fell in sacred song—"Fire and brim-stone! What's the matter with me?" Shoulders, feet, wrists, loins, all seemed paralyzed. Down went mattock and spade, pickaxe and shovel, and just at that moment the lights at the convent windows burst forth, and the cock, mistaking the blaze for daybreak, began to crow most lustily. Off flew the devil, and never again returned to complete his work. The small digging he effected still remains in witness of the truth of this legend of the "Devil's Dyke."
Devil's Parliament (The), the parliament assembled by Henry VI. at Conventry, 1459. So called because it passed attainders on the duke of York and his chief supporters.
Devil Sacrament. This blasphemous rite whereby those who would practice witchcraft were initiated into the diabolical mysteries is described by Deodat Lawson in 1704.
"At their cursed supper they were said to have red bread and red drink, and when they pressed an afflicted person to eat and drink thereof she turned away her head and spit at it, and said, 'I will not eat, I will not drink. It is blood.' ... Thus horribly doth Satan endeavor to have his kingdom and administrations to resemble those of our Lord Jesus Christ."—Deodat Lawson, Christ's Fidelity the only Shield against Satan's Malignity (1704).
Devonshire, according to historic fable, is a corruption of "Debon's-share." This Debon was one of the companions of Brute, the descendent of Aene'as. He chased the giant Coulin till he came to a pit eight leagues across. Trying to leap this chasm, the giant fell backwards and lost his life.
... that ample pit, yet far renownedFor the great leap which Debon did compel
Coulin to make, being eight lugs of ground,
Into the which retourning back he fell ...
And Debon's share was that is Devonshire.
Spenser, Faery Queen, ii. 10 (1590).
De'vorgoil (Lady Jane), a friend of the Hazlewood family.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Dewlap (Dick), an anecdote teller, whose success depended more upon his physiognomy than his wit. His chin and his paunch were his most telling points.
I found that the merit of his wit was founded upon the shaking of a fat paunch, and the tossing up of a pair of rosy jowls.—Richard Steele.
Dexter, (Gregory), the typical Successful Man who is first suitor, then the generous friend of Anne Douglas, in Constance Fennimore Woolson's Anne.
"A little indifference to outside opinion wouldhave made him a contented, as he was a successful
man. But there was a surface of personal
vanity over his better qualities which led him to
desire a tribute of universal liking." (1882).
Dhu (Evan) of Lochiel, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.
Mhich-Connel Dhu. or M'Ilduy, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.—
Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Dhul'dul, the famous horse of Ali, son-in-law of Mahomet.
Dhu'l Karnein ("the two-horned,") a true believer according to the Mohammedan notion, who built the wall to prevent the incursions of Gog and Magog.—Al Korân, xviii.
Commentators say the wall was built in thismanner: The workman dug till they found
water; and having laid the foundation of stone
and melted brass, they built the superstructure
of large pieces of iron, between which they
packed wood and coal, till the whole equalled
the height of the mountains [of Armenia]. Then
setting fire to the combustibles, and by the use of
bellows, they made the iron red hot, and poured
molten brass over to fill up the interstices.
—Al Beidawi.
Dhu'lnun, the surname of Jonah.; so called because he was swallowed by a fish.
Remember Dhu'lnun, when he departed in wrath, and thought that we could not exercise our power over him.—Al Korân, xxi.
Diafoirus (Thomas), son of Dr. Diafoirus. He is a young medical milksop, to whom Argan has promised his daughter Angelique in marriage. Diafoirus pays his compliments in cut-and-dried speeches, and on one occasion, being interrupted in his remarks, says, "Madame, vous m'avez interrompu dans le milieu de ma période, et cela m'a troublé la mémoire." His father says, "Thomas, reservez cela pour une autre fois." Angelique loves Cléante (2 syl.), and Thomas Diafoirus goes to the wall.
Il n'a jamais eu l'imagination bien vive, ni ce feu d'esprit qu'on remarque dans quelques uns,.... Lorsqui'il était petit, il n'a jamais été ce qu'on appelle mièvre et éveille; on le voyait toujours doux, paisible, et taciturne, ne disant jamais mot, et ne jouant jamais à tons ces petits jeux que l'on nomme enfantins.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire, ii.6 (1673).
Di'amond, one of three brothers, sons of the fairy Agapê. Though very strong, he was slain in single fight by Cambalo. His brothers were Pri'amond and Tri'amond.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).
Diamond Jousts, nine jousts instituted by Arthur, and so called because a diamond was the prize. These nine diamonds were all won by Sir Launcelot, who presented them to the queen, but Guinevere, in a tiff, flung them into the river which ran by the palace.—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Elaine").
Diamond Sword, a magic sword given by the god Syren to the king of the Gold Mines.
She gave him a sword made of one entire diamond, that gave as great lustre as the sun.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("The Yellow Dwarf," 1682).
Diana, the heroine and title, a pastoral of Montemayor, imitated from the Daphnis and Chloe of Longos (fourteenth century).
Dian'a, daughter of the widow of Florence with whom Hel'ena lodged on her way to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand. Count Bertram wantonly loved Diana, but the modest girl made this attachment the means of bringing about a reconciliation between Bertram and his wife Helena.—Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well (1598).
Dian'a de Lascours, daughter of Ralph and Louise de Lascours, and sister of Martha, alias Ogari'la. Diana was betrothed to Horace de Brienne, whom she resigns to Martha.—E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).
Dian'a the Inexorable. (1) She slew Orion with one of her arrows, for daring to make love to her. (2) She changed Actæon into a stag and set her own dogs on him to worry him to death, because he chanced to look upon her while bathing. (3) She shot with her arrows the six sons and six daughters of Niobé, because the fond mother said she was happier than Latona, who had only two children.
Dianae non movenda numina.Horace, Epode, xvii.
Diana the Second of Salmantin, a pastoral romance by Gil Polo.
"We will preserve that book," said the cure, "as carefully as if Apollo himself had been its author."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).
Diana (the Temple of), at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity, was set on fire by Herostratos to immortalize his name.
Diana of the Stage, Mrs. Anne Brace-girdle (1663-1748).
Dian'a's Foresters, "minions of the moon," "Diana's knights," etc., highwaymen.
Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king,let not us that are "squires of the night's body"
be called thieves ... let us be "Diana's foresters,"
"Gentlemen of the shade," "minions of the
moon."—Shakespeare, I Henry IV. act i. sc. 2
(1597).
Diano'ra, wife of Gilberto of Friu'li, but amorously loved by Ansaldo. In order to rid herself of his importunities, she vowed never to yield to his suit till he could "make her garden at midwinter as gay with flowers as it was in summer" (meaning never). Ansaldo, by the aid of a magician, accomplished the appointed task; but when the lady told him that her husband insisted on her keeping her promise, Ansaldo, not to be outdone in generosity, declined to take advantage of his claim, and from that day forth was the firm and honorable friend of Gilberto.—Bocaccio, Decameron, x.5.
The Franklin's Tale of Chaucer is substantially the same story. (See DORIGEN).
Diarmaid, noted for his "beauty spot," which he covered up with his cap; for if any woman chanced to see it, she would instantly fall in love with him.—Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands ("Diarmaid and Grainne").
Diav'olo (Fra), Michele Pezza, Insurgent of Calabria (1760-1806).—Auber, Fra Diavolo (libretto by Scribe, 1836).
Dibble (Davie), gardener at Monkbarns.—Sir W. Scott, Antiquary (time, George III.).
Dibu'tades (4 syl.), a potter of Sicyon, whose daughter traced on the wall her lover's shadow, cast there by the light of a lamp. This, it is said, is the origin of portrait painting. The father applied the same process to his pottery, and this, it is said, is the origin of sculpture in relief.
Will the arts ever have a lovelier origin than that fair daughter of Dibutades tracing the beloved shadow on the wall!--Ouida, Ariadnê, i. 6.
Dicae'a, daughter of Jove, the "accusing angel" of classic mythology.
Forth stepped the just Dicaea, full of rage.Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, vi. (1633).
Diccon the Bedlamite, a half-mad mendicant, both knave and thief. A specimen of the metre will be seen by part of Diccon's speech:
Many amyle have I walked, divers and sundry waies,And many a good man's house have I bin at in my dais;
Many a gossip's cup in my tyme have I tasted,
And many a broche and spyt have I both turned and basted ...
When I saw it booted nit, out at doores I hyed mee,
And caught a slyp of bacon when I saw none spyd mee
Which I intend not far hence, unless my purpose fayle,
Shall serve for a shooing home to draw on two pots of ale.
Gammer Gurton's Needle (1575).
Dicil'la, one of Logistilla's handmaids, noted for her chastity.—Ariosto, Orlanda Furioso (1516).
Dick, ostler at the Seven Stars inn, York.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, Greorge II.).
Dick, called "The Devil's Dick of Hellgarth;" a falconer and follower of the earl of Douglas.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Dick (Mr.), an amiable, half-witted man, devoted to David's "aunt," Miss Betsey Trotwood, who thinks him a prodigious genius. Mr. Dick is especially mad on the subject of Charles I.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Dick Amlet, the son of Mrs. Amlet, a rich, vulgar tradeswoman. Dick assumes the airs of a fine gentleman, and calls himself Colonel Shapely, in which character he gets introduced to Corinna, the daughter of Gripe, a rich scrivener. Just as he is about to elope, his mother makes her appearance, and the deceit is laid bare; but Mrs. Amlet promises to give her son £10,000, and so the wedding is adjusted. Dick is a regular scamp, and wholly without principle; but being a dashing young blade, with a handsome person, he is admired by the ladies.—Sir John Vanbrugh, The Confederacy (1695).
Dick Shakebag, a highwayman in the gang of Captain Colepepper (the Alsatian bully).—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I).
Dickson (Thomas) farmer at Douglasdale.
Charles Dickson, son of the above, killed in the church.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Dicta'tor of Letters, Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, called the "Great Pan" (1694-1778).
Dictionary (A Living). Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-1716) was so called by George I.
Longinus was called "The Living Cyclopaedia" (213-273).
Daniel Huet, chief editor of the Delphine Classics, was called a
Porcus Literarum for his unlimited knowledge (1630-1721).
Diddler (Jeremy), an artful swindler; a clever, seedy vagabond, who borrows money or obtains credit by his songs, witticisms, or other expedients.—Kenny, Raising the Wind.
Diderick, the German form of Theodorick, king of the Goths. As Arthur is the centre of British romance, and Charlemagne of French romance, so Diderick is the central figure of the German minnesingers. Didier (Henri), the lover of Julie Les-urques (2 syl.); a gentleman in feeling and conduct, who remains loyal to his fiancée through all her troubles.—Ed. Stirling, The Courier of Lyons (1852).
Dido, daughter of Belus, king of Tyre. She bought "as much land in Africa as a bull's hide could cover," shred the hide into strings, and enclosed a large tract. Æneas was wrecked upon her coast, and a love affair ensued. He deserted her, and she killed herself after watching his ship until it was out of sight.
Die'go, the sexton to Lopez the "Spanish curate."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).
Die'go (Don), a man of 60, who saw a country maiden named Leonora, whom he liked, and intended to marry if her temper was as amiable as her face was pretty. He obtained leave of her parents to bring her home and place her under a duenna for three months, and then either return her to them spotless, or to make her his wife. At the expiration of the time, he went to settle the marriage contract; and, to make all things sure, locked up the house, giving the keys to Ursula, but to the outer door he attached a huge padlock, and put the key in his pocket. Leander, being in love with Leonora, laughed at locksmiths and duennas, and Diego (2 syl.), found them about to elope. Being a wise man, he not only consented to their union, but gave Leonora a handsome marriage portion.—I. Bickerstaff, The Padlock.
Dies Irae. The name generally given from the opening words to a mediaeval hymn on the Last Judgment. The author is unknown, but the hymn is now generally ascribed to a monk of the Abruzzi, in Naples, Thomas de Celano, who died about 1255.
Dies irae, dies iliaSol vet sseclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla.
That Day of Wrath, that dreadful day
When Heaven and Earth shall pass away,
So David and the Sibyl say.
Diet of Performers.
BEAHAM sang on bottled porter.
CATLEY (Miss) took linseed tea and madeira.
COOKE (G.F.) drank everything.
HENDEESON, gum arable and sherry.
INCLEDON sang on madeira.
JOEDAN (Mrs.) drank calves'-foot jelly and sherry.
KEAN (C.) took beef-tea for breakfast, and preferred a rump-steak for dinner.
KEAN (Edm.) EMERY and REEVE drank cold brandy-and-water.
KEMBLE (John) took opium.
LEWIS, mulled wine and oysters.
MACEEADY used to eat the lean of mutton-chops when he acted, and subsequently lived almost wholly on a vegetable diet.
OXBERRY drank tea.
RUSSELL (Henry) took a boiled egg.
SMITH (W.) drank coffee.
WOOD (Mrs.) sang on draught porter.
WEENCH and HAELEY took no refreshment during a performance.—W. O. Russell, Representative Actors. 272.
Die'trich (2 syl.). So Theod'oric The Great is called by the German minnesingers. In the terrible broil stirred up by Queen Kriemhild in the banquet hall of Etzel, Dietrich interfered, and succeeded in capturing Hagan and the Burgundian King Ghinther. These he handed over to the queen, praying her to set them free; but she cut off both their heads with her own hands.—The Niebelungen Lied (thirteenth century.)
Dietrich (John), a laborer's son of Pomerania. He spent twelve years under ground, where he met Elizabeth Krabbin, daughter of the minister of his own village, Rambin. One day, walking together, they heard a cock crow, and an irresistible desire came over both of them to visit the upper earth, John so frightened the elves by a toad, that they yielded to his wish, and gave him hoards of wealth, with part of which he bought half the island of Riigen. He married Elizabeth, and became founder of a very powerful family.—Keightley, Fairy Mythology. (See TANHAUSER.)
Dietz (Bernard). Broad-shouldered giant who wears an air of deep and gentle repose, and comes like a benediction from heaven to the sick room of Count Hugo in Blanche Willis Howard's novel The Open Door. He is a stone-mason who says with a genial laugh,
"I hope if I'm lucky enough to get into the New Jerusalem they talk about, there'll still be a little building going on, for I shouldn't feel at home without a block of stone to clip."
His grand simplicity and strong common sense medicine the morbid soul of the more nobly-born man. His argument against the suicide Hugo contemplates as an open door out of the world, surprises the listener profoundly.
"You see, you can never destroy anything. You can only seem to. The life in us—it doesn't ask us if we want to be born,—it doesn't ask us if we want to die. It is beyond us, and I don't believe it can be destroyed" (1889).
Dieu et Mon Droit, the parole of Richard I. at the battle of Gisors (1198).
Diggery, one of the house-servants at Strawberry Hall. Being stage-struck, he inoculates his fellow-servants (Cymon and Wat) with the same taste. In the same house is an heiress named Kitty Sprightly (a ward of Sir Gilbert Pumpkin), also stage-struck. Diggery's favorite character is "Alexander the Great," the son of "Almon." One day, playing Romeo and Juliet, he turns the oven into the balcony, but, being rung for, the girl acting "Juliet" is nearly roasted alive. (See DIGGORY.)—J. Jackman, All the World's a Stage.
Digges (Miss Maria), a friend of Lady Penfeather; a visitor at the Spa.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Diggon [Davie], a shepherd in the Shephearde's Calendar, by Spenser. He tells Hobbinol that he drove his sheep into foreign lands, hoping to find better pasture; but he was amazed at the luxury and profligacy of the shepherds whom he saw there, and the wretched condition of the flocks. He refers to the Roman Catholic clergy, and their abandoned mode of life. Diggon also tells Hobbinol a long story about Roffynn (the bishop of Rochester) and his watchful dog Lauder catching a wolf in sheep's clothing in the fold.—Ecl. ix. (September, 1572 or 1578).
Diggory, a barn laborer, employed on state occasions for butler and footman by Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. He is both awkward and familiar, laughs at his master's jokes and talks to his master's guests while serving. (See DIGGERY.)—Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer. (1773).
Diggory (Father), one of the monks of St. Botolph's Priory.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Dimanche, (Mons.), a dun. Mons. Dimanche, a tradesman, applies to Don Juan for money. Don Juan treats him with all imaginable courtesy, but every time he attempts to revert to business interrupts him with some such question as, Comment se porte Madame Dimanche? or Et votre petite fille Claudine comment se porte-t-ell? or Le petit Colin fait-il toujours bien du bruit avec son tambour? or Ét votre petit chien Brusquet, gronde-t-il toujours aussi fort ...? and, after a time, he says he is very sorry, but he must say good-bye for the present, and he leaves Mons. without his once stating the object of his call. (See SHUFFLETON.) Molière, Don Juan (1665).
Dimmesdale (Arthur). Master Prynne, an English physician living in Amsterdam, having determined to join the Massachusetts Colony, sent his young wife Hester before him to await his coming. He was detained two years, and on reaching Boston, the first sight that met his eyes was his wife standing in the pillory with a young babe in her arms and with the letter A, the mark of her shame, embroidered in scarlet on her breast. A young clergyman, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, regarded by all the people as a saint, too good for earth, was earnestly exhorting her to declare the name of the child's father, but she steadfastly refused, and was sent back to prison. Prynne who had heard in Amsterdam rumors of his wife's infidelity, both to discover her betrayer and to hide his own relation to his wife, had taken the name of Roger Chillingworth, and with eyes sharpened by jealousy and wounded pride, soon discovered that his wife's lover was no other than Dimmesdale himself. As a physician and under the guise of friendship he attached himself to the minister, and pursued his ghastly search for the secret cause that was eating away his life. How it all ended is shown in that wonderful book where, as in a Greek drama, the fates of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and the love-child, Little Pearl, are traced in lines of fire.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter.
Dinant', a gentleman who once loved and still pretends to love Lamira. the wife of Champernel.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).
Dinarza'de (4 syl.), sister of Scheherazadê, Sultana of Persia. Dinarzadê was instructed by her sister to wake her every morning an hour before daybreak, and say, "Sister, relate to me one of those delightful stories you know," or "Finish before daybreak the story you began yesterday." The sultan got interested in these tales, and revoked the cruel determination he had made of strangling at daybreak the wife he had married the preceeding night. (See SCHEHERAZADE.)
Dinas Emrys, or "Fort of Ambrose" (i.e. Merlin), on the Brith, a part of Snowdon. When Vortigern built this fort, whatever was constructed during the day was swallowed up in the earth during the night. Merlin (then called Ambrose or Embres-Guletic) discovered the cause to be "two serpents at the bottom of a pool below the foundation of the works." These serpents were incessantly struggling with each other; one was white, and the other red. The white serpent at first prevaled, but ultimately the red one chased the other out of the pool. The red serpent, he said, meant the Britons, and the white one the Saxons. At first the Saxons (or white serpent) prevailed, but in the end "our people" the red serpent "shall chase the Saxon race beyond the sea."—Nennius, History of the Britons (842).
And from the top of Brith, so high and wondroussteep
Where Dinas Emris stood, showed where
the serpents fought
The white that tore the red, for whence the
prophet taught
The Britons' sad decay.
Drayton, Polyolbion, x, (1612).
Dine with Duke Humphrey (To), to have no dinner to go to. The Duke referred to was the son of Henry IV., murdered at St. Edmundsbury, and buried at St. Alban's. It was generally thought that he was buried in the nave of St. Paul's Cathedral; but the monument supposed to be erected to the duke was in reality that of John Beauchamp. Loungers, who were asked if they were not going home to dinner, and those who tarried in St. Paul's after the general crowd had left, were supposed to be so busy looking for the duke's monument that they disregarded the dinner hour.
Diner-Out of the First Water, the Rev. Sidney Smith; so called by the Quarterly Review (1769-1845).
Dingle (Old Dick of the), friend of Hobbie Elliott of the Heugh-foot farm.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Dingwall (Davie), the attorney at Wolfe's Hope village.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time William III.).
Dinias and Dercyllis (The Wanderings, Adventures, and Loves of), an old Greek novel, the basis of the romance of Antonius Diog'enês in twenty-four books and entitled Incredible Things beyond Thule [Ta HuperThoulen Apista], a store-house from which subsequent writers have borrowed largely. The work is not extant, but Photius gives an outline of its contents.
Dinmont (Dandy, i.e. Andrew), an eccentric and humorous store farmer at Charlie's Hope. He is called "The fighting Dinmont of Liddesdale."
Ailie Dinmont, wife of Dandy Dinmont.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II.).
This novel has been dramatized by Daniel Terry.
Dinner Bell. Burke was so called from his custom of speaking so long as to interfere with the dinner of the members (1729-1797).
Diocle'tian, the king and father of Erastus, who was placed under the charge of the "seven wise masters" (Italian version).
In the French version, the father is called "Dolop'athos."—Sandabar's Parables.
Diog'enes, Greek cynic, who carried a lantern at noon, to search for an honest man.
Diog'enes (4 syl.), the negro slave of the cynic philosopher Michael Agelestês (4 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Di'omede (3 syl.), fed his horses on human flesh, and he was himself eaten by his horse, being thrown to it by Herculês.
Dion (Lord), father of Euphra'sia. Euphrasia is in love with Philaster, heir to the crown of Messi'na. Disguised as a page, Euphrasia assumes the name of Bellario and enters the service of Philaster.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster or Love Lies a-bleeding (1638).
(There is considerable resemblance between "Euphrasia" and "Viola" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1614).
Dionæ'an Cæsar, Julius Cæsar, who claimed descent from Venus, called Dionê from her mother. Æneas was son of Venus and Anchisês.
Ecce, Dionæi processit Cæsaris astrum.Virgil, Eclogues, ix. 47.
Dio'ne (3 syl.), mother of Aphroditê (Venus), Zeus or Jove being the father. Venus herself is sometimes called Dionê.
Oh, bear ... thy treasures to the green recess,Where young Dionê strays; with sweetest airs
Entice her forth to lend her angel form
For Beauty's honored image.
Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, (1744).
Dionys'ia, wife of Cleon, governor of Tarsus. Periclês prince of Tyre commits to her charge his infant daughter Mari'na, supposed to be motherless. When her foster-child is fourteen years old, Dionysia, out of jealousy, employs a man to murder her, and the people of Tarsus, hearing thereof, set fire to her house, and both Dionysia and Cleon are burnt to death in the flames,—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
Dionys'ius, tyrant of Syracuse, dethroned Evander, and imprisoned him in a dungeon deep in a huge rock, intending to starve him to death. But Euphrasia, having gained access to him, fed him from her own breast. Timoleon invaded Syracuse, and Dionysius, seeking safety in a tomb, saw there Evander the deposed king, and was about to kill him, when Euphrasia rushed forward, struck the tyrant to the heart, and he fell dead at her feet.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772).
In this tragedy there are several gross historical errors. In act i.
the author tells us it was Dionysius the Elder who was dethroned, and
went in exile to Corinth; but the elder Dionysius died in Syracuse, at
the age of 63, and it was the younger Dionysius who was dethroned by
Timoleon, and went to Corinth. In act v. he makes Euphrasia kill the
tyrant in Syracuse, whereas he was allowed to leave Sicily, and retired
to Corinth, where he spent his time in riotous living, etc.
Dionys'ius [THE ELDER] was appointed sole general of the Syracusan army, and then king by the voice of the senate. Damon "the Pythagorean" opposed the appointment, and even tried to stab "the tyrant," but was arrested and condemned to death. The incidents whereby he was saved are to be found under the article DA'MON (q.v.).
Damon and Pythias, a drama by R. Edwards (1571), and another by John Banim, in 1825.
Dionys'ius [THE YOUNGER], being banished from Syracuse, went to Corinth and turned schoolmaster.
Corinth's pedagogue hath nowTransferred his byword [tyrant] to thy brow.
Byron, Ode to Napoleon,
Dionysius the Areopagite was one of the judges of the Areopagite when St. Paul appeared before this tribunal. Certain writings, fabricated by the neo-platonicians in the fifth century, were falsely ascribed to him. The Isido'rian Decretals is a somewhat similar forgery by Mentz, who lived in the ninth century, or three hundred years after Isidore.
The error of those doctrines so viciousOf the old Areopagite Dionysius.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
Dioscu'ri (sons of Zeus), Castor and Pollux. Generally, but incorrectly, accented on the second syllable.
Dioti'ma, the priestess of Mantineia in Plato's Symposium, the teacher of Soc'rates. Her opinions on life, its nature, origin, end, and aim, form the nucleus of the dialogue. Socratês died of hemlock.
Beneath an emerald planeSits Diotima, teaching him that died
Of Hemlock.
Tennyson, The Princess, iii.
Diplomatists (Prince of), Charles Maurice Talleyrand de Pèrigord (1754-1838).
Dipsas, a serpent, so called because those bitten by it suffered from intolerable thirst. (Greek, dipsa, "thirst.") Milton refers to it in Paradise Lost, x. 526 (1665).
Dipsodes (2 syl.), the people of Dipsody, ruled over by King Anarchus, and subjugated by Prince Pantag'ruel (bk. ii. 28). Pantagruel afterwards colonized their country with nine thousand million men from Utopia (or to speak more exactly, 9,876,543,210 men), besides women, children, workmen, professors, and peasant-laborers (bk. iii. I).—Rabelais, Pantag'ruel (1545).
Dip'sody, the country of the Dipsodes (2 syl), q.v.
Dircæ'an Swan, Pindar; so called from Dircê, a fountain in the neighborhood of Thebes, the poet's birthplace (B.C. 518-442.)
Dirlos or D'Yrlos (Count), a paladin, the embodiment of valor, generosity, and truth. He was sent by Charlemagne to the East, where he conquered Aliar'dê, a Moorish prince. On his return, he found his young wife betrothed to Celi'nos (another of Charlemagne's peers). The matter was put right by the king, who gave a grand feast on the occasion.
Disastrous Peace (The), the peace signed at Cateau-Cambrésis, by which Henri II. renounced all claim to Gen'oa, Naples, Mil'an, and Corsica (1559).
Dis'mas, the penitent thief; Gesmas the impenitent one.
Distaffi'na, the troth-plight wife of General Bombastês; but Artaxaminous, king of Utopia, promised her "half a crown" if she would forsake the general for himself—a temptation too great to be resisted. When the general found himself jilted, he retired from the world, hung up his boots on the branch of a tree, and dared any one to remove them. The king cut the boots down, and the general cut the king down. Fusbos, coming up at this crisis, laid the general prostrate. At the close of the burlesque all the dead men jump up and join the dance, promising "to die again to-morrow," if the audience desire it.—W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1790.)
Falling on one knee, he put both hands onhis heart and rolled up his eyes, much after the
manner of Bombastes Furioso making love to
Distaffina.—E. Sargent.
Distressed Mother (The), a tragedy by Ambrose Philips (1712). The "distressed mother" is Androm'achê, the widow of Hector. At the fall of Troy she and her son Asty'anax fell to the lot of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, Pyrrhus fell in love with her and wished to marry her, but she refused him. At length an embassy from Greece, headed by Orestês, son of Agamemnon, was sent to Epirus to demand the death of Astyanax, lest in manhood he might seek to avenge his father's death. Pyrrhus told Andromachê he would protect her son, and defy all Greece, if she would consent to marry him; and she yielded. While the marriage rites were going on, the Greek ambassadors fell on Pyrrhus and murdered him. As he fell he placed the crown on the head of Andromachê, who thus became queen of Epirus, and the Greeks hastened to their ships in flight. This play is an English adaptation of Racine's Andromaque (1667).
Ditchley (Gaffer), one of the miners employed by Sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Dithyrambic Poetry (Father of), Arion of Lesbos (fl. B.C. 625).
Ditton (Thomas) footman of the Rev. Mr. Staunton, of Willingham Rectory.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Divan (The), the supreme council and court of justice of the caliphs. The abbassides always sat in person in this court to aid in the redress of wrongs. It was called "a divan" from the benches covered with cushions on which the members sat.—D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientate, 298.
Dive [deev], a demon in Persian mythology. In the mogul's palace at Lahore, there used to be several pictures of these dives (1 syl), with long horns, staring eyes, shaggy hair, great fangs, ugly paws, long tails, and other horrible deformities.
Di'ver (Colonel), editor of the New York Rowdy Journal, in America. His air was that of a man oppressed by a sense of his own greatness, and his physiognomy was a map of cunning and conceit.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844.)
Di'ves (2 syl.), the name popularly given to the "rich man" in our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus; in Latin, Divês et Lazarus.—Luke xvi.
Divi'na Comme'dia, the first poem of note ever written in the Italian language. It is an epic by Dante' Alighie'ri, and is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante' called it a comedy, because the ending is happy; and his countrymen added the word divine from admiration of the poem. The poet depicts a vision, in which he is conducted, first by Virgil (human reason,) through hell and purgatory; and then by Beatrice (revelation), and finally by St. Bernard, through the several heavens, where he beholds the Triune God.
"Hell," is represented as a funnel-shaped hollow, formed of gradually contracting circles, the lowest and smallest of which is the earth's centre. (See INFERNO, 1300).
"Purgatory" is a mountain rising solitarily from the ocean on that side of the earth which is opposite to us. It is divided into terraces, and its top is the terrestrial paradise. (See PURGATORY, 1308).
From this "top" the poet ascends through the seven planetary heavens, the fixed stars, and the "primum mobile" to the empyre'an or seat of God. (See PARADISE, 1311).
Divine (The), St. John the evangelist, called "John the Divine."
Raphael, the painter, was called Il Divino (1483-1520).
Luis Moralês, a Spanish painter, was called El Divino (1509-1586).
Ferdinand de Herre'ra, a Spanish poet (1516-1595).
Divine Doctor (The), Jean de Ruysbroek, the mystic (1294-1381).
Divine Speaker (The) Tyr'tamos, usually known as Theophrastos ("divine speaker"), was so called by Aristotle (B.C. 370-287).
Divine Right of Kings. The dogma that Kings can do no wrong is based on a dictum of Hincmar Archbishop of Rheims, viz., that kings are subject to no man so long as they rule by God's law.—Hincmar's Works, i. 693.
Divining Rod, a forked branch of hazel suspended between the balls of the thumbs. The inclination of this rod indicates the presence of water-springs and precious metals.
Now to rivulets from the mountainsPoint the rods of fortune-tellers.
Longfellow, Drinking Song.
Jacques Aymar of Crôle was the most famous of all
diviners. He lived in the latter half of the seventeenth century and the
beginning of the eighteenth. His marvellous faculty attracted the
attention of Europe. M. Chauvin, M.D., and M. Garnier, M.D., published
carefully written accounts of his wonderful powers, and both were
eye-witnesses thereof.—See S. Baring-Gould, Myths of the Middle Ages.
Divinity. There are four professors of divinity at Cambridge, and three at Oxford. Those at Cambridge are the Hul'sean, the Margaret, the Norrisian, and the Regius. Those at Oxford are the Margaret, the Regius, and one for Ecclesiastical History.
Divi'no Lodov'ico, Ariosto, author of Orlando Furioso (1474-1533).
Dixie's Land, the land of milk and honey to American negroes. Dixie was a slave-holder of Manhattan Island, who removed his slaves to the Southern States, where they had to work harder and fare worse; so that they were always sighing for their old home, which they called "Dixie's Land." Imagination and distance soon advanced this island into a sort of Delectable Country or land of Beulah.
This is but one of many explanations given of the origin of a phrase that, during the Civil War (1861-1865) came to be applied to the Seceding States. The song "Dixie's Land" was supposed to be sung by exiles from the region south of Mason and Dixon's line.
"Away down South in Dixie,I wish I were in Dixie,
In Dixie's Land
I'd take my stand
To live and die in Dixie."
Dixon, servant to Mr. Richard Vere (1 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Dizzy, a nickname of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881).
Dja'bal, son of Youssof, a sheikh, and saved by Maä'ni, in the great massacre of the sheikhs by the Knights Hospitallers in the Spo'radês. He resolves to avenge this massacre, and gives out that he is Hakeem', the incarnate god, their founder, returned to earth to avenge their wrongs and lead them back to Syria. His imposture being discovered, he kills himself, but Loys [Lo'.iss], a young Breton count, leads the exiles back to Lebanon. Djabal is Hakeem, the incarnate Dread, The phantasm khalif, king of Prodigies.
Robert Browning, The Return of the Druses, i.
Dobbin (Captain, afterwards Colonel), son of Sir William Dobbin, a London tradesman. Uncouth, awkward, and tall, with huge feet; but faithful and loving, with a large heart and most delicate appreciation. He is a prince of a fellow, is proud and fond of Captain George Osborne from boyhood to death, and adores Amelia, George's wife. When she has been a widow for some ten years, he marries her.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848).
Dobbs's Horse, Charley Dobbs, setting off to California, gives his best friend Theophilus an order for "a good sound family horse, not young, but the safer for all that," that had once belonged to his mother. He is boarding the creature on a farm in Westchester County, and his friend is welcome to the use of him.
Dobbs's Horse is the skeleton in the household in many a sense of the word. He refuses to be fattened: he balks; he has colic and spasms; he lies down in harness; he impales himself upon a broken rail; he keels over upon the grass, whizzing like a capsized engine; he bites himself—and has driven the family to the verge of insanity when Dobbs returns and upon beholding the "noble old fellow," shouts that they have the wrong horse! "This is one I sold long ago for fifteen dollars!"—Mary Mapes Dodge, Theophilus and Others (1876).
Dobbins (Humphrey), the confidential servant of Sir Robert Bramble of Blackberry Hall, in the county of Kent. A blunt old retainer, most devoted to his master. Under a rough exterior he concealed a heart brimful of kindness, and so tender that a word would melt it.—George Colman, The Poor Gentleman (1802).
Dobu'ni, called Bodu'ni by Dio; the people of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Drayton refers to them in his Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Doctor (The), a romance by Souther. The doctor's name is Dove, and his horse "Nobbs."
Doctor (The Admirable), Roger Bacon (1214-1292).
The Angelic Doctor, Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), "fifth doctor of the Church."
The Authentic Doctor, Geogory of Rimini (_-1357).
The Divine Doctor, Jean Ruysbroek (1294-1381).
The Dulcifluous Doctor, Antonio Andreas, (_-1320).
The Ecstatic Doctor, Jean Ruysbroek (1294-1381).
The Eloquent Doctor, Peter Aureolus, archbishop of Aix (fourteenth century).
The Evangelical Doctor, J. Wycliffe (1324-1384).
The Illuminated Doctor, Raymond Lully (1235-1315), or Most Enlightened Doctor.
The Invincible Doctor, William Occam (1276-1347).
The Irrefragable Doctor, Alexander Hales (_-1245.)
The Mellifluous Doctor, St. Bernard (1091-1153).
The Most Christian Doctor, Jean de Gerson (1363-1429).
The Most Methodical Doctor, John Bassol(_-1347).
The Most Profound Doctor, Ægidius de Columna (_-1316).
The Most Resolute Doctor, Durand de St. Pourçain (1267-1332).
The Perspicuous Doctor, Walter Burley (fourteenth century).
The Profound Doctor, Thomas Bradwardine (_-1349).
The Scholastic Doctor, Anselm of Laon (1050-1117).
The Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventura (1211-1274).
The Solemn Doctor, Henry Goethals (1227-1293).
The Solid Doctor, Richard Middleton (_-1304).
The Subtle Doctor, Duns Scotus (1265-1308), or Most Subtle Doctor.
The Thorough Doctor, William Varro (thirteenth century).
The Universal Doctor, Alain de Lille (1114-1203); Thomas Aquinas, (1224-1274).
The Venerable Doctor, William de Champeaux (_-1126).
The Well-founded Doctor, Ægidius Romanus (_-1316).
The Wise Doctor, John Herman Wessel (1409-1489).
The Wonderful Doctor, Roger Bacon (1214-1292).
Doctor's Tale (The), in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, is the Roman story of Virginius given by Livy. This story is told in French in the Roman de la Rose, ii. 74, and by Gower in his Confessio Amantis, vii. It has furnished the subject of a host of tragedies: for example, in French, Mairét (1628); Leclerc (1645); Campestron (1683); Chabenon (1769); Laharpe (1786); Leblanc de Guillet (1786); Guiraud (1827); Latour St. Ybars (1845). In Italian, Alfieri (1784); in German, Lessing (1775); and in English, Knowles, (1829).
Doctor's Wife (The,) a novel by Miss Braddon, adapted from Madam Bovary, a French novel.
Doctors of the Church. The Greek Church recognizes four doctors, viz., St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. John Chrysostom. The Latin Church recognizes St. Augustin, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose and St. Gregory the Great.
Dodger (The Artful), the sobriquet of Jack Dawkins, an artful thievish young scamp, in the boy crew of Fagin the Jew villain.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, viii. (1837).
Dodington, whom Thomson invokes in his Summer, is George Bubb Dodington, lord Melcomb-Regis, a British statesman. Churchill and Pope ridiculed him, while Hogarth introduced him in his picture called the "Orders of Periwigs."
Dod'ipol, (Dr.), any man of weak intellect, a dotard. Hence the proverb, Wise as Dr. Dodipoll, meaning "not wise at all."
Dodon or rather Dodoens (Rembert) a Dutch botanist (1517-1585), physician to the emperors Maximilian II. and Rudolph II. His works are Frumentomm et Leguminum Historia; Florum Historia; Purgantium Radicum Herbarum Historia; Stirpium Historia; all included under the general title of "The History of Plants."
"Of these most helpful herbs yet tell we but few,To those unnumbered sorts, of simples here that grew,
Which justly to set down ee'n Dodon short doth fall."
Drayton, Polyolbion, xiii. (1613)
Do'dona in (Epiros), famous for the most ancient oracle in Greece. The responses were made by an old woman called a pigeon, because the Greek word pelioe means either old "women" or "pigeons." According to fable, Zeus, gave his daughter Thebê two black pigeons endowed with the gift of human speech: one flew into Libya, and gave the responses in the temple of Ammon: the other into Epiros, where it gave the responses in Dodona.
We are told that the priestess of Dodona derived her answers from the cooing of the sacred doves, the rustling of the sacred trees, the bubbling of the sacred fountain and the tinkling of bells or pieces of metal suspended among the branches of the trees.
And Dodona's oak swang lonely,Henceforth to the tempest only.
Mrs. Browning, Dead Pan, 17.
Dods (Meg), landlady of the Clachan or Mowbery Arms inn at St. Ronan's Old Town. The inn was once the manse, and Meg Dods reigned there despotically, but her wines were good and her cuisine excellent. This is one of the best low comic characters in the whole range of fiction.
She had hair of a brindled color, betwixtblack and grey, which was apt to escape in elf-locks
from under her mutch when she was thrown
into violent agitation; long skinny hands terminated
by stout talons, grey eyes, thin lips, a robust
person, a broad though fat chest, capital
wind, and a voice that could match a choir of
fishwomen.—Sir W. Scott. St. Ronan's Well, i
(time George III.).
(So good a housewife was this eccentric landlady, that a cookery-book has been published bearing her name; the authoress is Mrs. Johnstone, a Scotchwoman.)
Dodson, a young farmer, called upon by Death on his wedding day. Death told him he must quit his Susan and go with him. "With you!" the hapless husband cried; "young as I am and unprepared?" Death then told him he would not disturb him yet, but would call again after giving him three warnings. When he was 80 years of age, Death called again. "So soon returned!" old Dodson cried. "You know you promised me three warnings." Death then told him that as he was "lame and deaf and blind," he had received his three warnings.—Mrs. Thrale, [Piozzi], The Three Warnings.
Dodson and Fogg (Messrs.), two unprincipled lawyers, who undertake on their own speculation to bring an action against Mr. Pickwick for "breach of promise" and file accordingly the famous suit of "Bardell v. Pickwick."—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Doe (John) and Richard Roe, the fictitious plaintiff and defendant in an action of ejectment. Men of straw.
Doeg, Saul's herdsman, who told him that the priest Abim'elech. had supplied David with food; whereupon the king sent him to kill Abimelech, and Doeg slew priests to the number of four score and five (1 Samuel xxii. 18). In pt. ii. of the satire called Absalom and Achitophel, Elkaneh Settle is called Doeg, because he "fell upon" Dryden with his pen, but was only a "herdsman or driver of asses."
Doeg, tho' without knowing how or why,Made still a blundering kind of melody.
Let him rail on ...
But if he jumbles to one line of sense,
Indict him of a capital offense.
Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
Dog (Agrippa's). Cornelius Agrippa had a dog which was generally suspected of being a spirit incarnate.
Arthur's Dog "Cavall."
Dog of Belgrade, the camp suttler, was named "Clumsey."
Lord Byron's Dog, "Boatswain." It was buried in the garden of Newstead Abbey.
Dog of Catherine de Medicis, "Phoebê," a lap dog.
Cuthullin's Dog was named "Luath," a swift-footed hound.
Dora's Dog, "Jip."—C. Dickens, David Copperfield.
Douglas's Dog, "Luffra." Lady of the Lake.
Erigonê's Dog was "Moera." Erigonê is the constellation Virgo, and Moera the star called Canis.
Eurytion's Dog (herdsman of Geryon), "Orthros." It had two heads.
Fingal's Dog was named "Bran."
Geryon's Dogs. One was "Gargittos" and the other "Orthros." The latter was brother of Cerberos, but it had only two heads. Herculês killed both of Geryon's dogs.
Landseer's Dog, "Brutus," introduced by the great animal painter in his picture called "The Invader of the Larder."
Llewellyn's Dog was named "Gelert;" it was a greyhound. (See GELERT).
Lord Lurgan's Dog was named, "Master M'Grath," from an orphan boy who reared it. This dog won three Waterloo cups, and was presented at court by the express desire of Queen Victoria, the very year it died. It was a sporting grey-hound (born 1866, died Christmas Day, 1871).
Maria's Dog, "Silvio."—Sterne, Sentimental Journey.
Dog of Montargis. This was a dog named "Dragon," belonging to Aubri de Montdidier, a captain in the French army. Aubri was murdered in the forest of Bondy by his friend, Lieutenant Macaire, in the same regiment. After its master's death the dog showed such a strange aversion to Macaire, that suspicion was aroused against him. Some say he was pitted against the dog, and confessed the crime. Others say a sash was found on him, and the sword knot was recognized by Ursula as her own work and gift to Aubri. This Macaire then confessed the crime, and his accomplice, Lieutenant Landry, trying to escape, was seized by the dog and bitten to death. This story has been dramatized both in French and English.
Orion's Dogs; one was named "Arctoph'onos" and the other "Pto-ophagos."
Punch's Dog, "Toby."
Sir W. Scott's Dogs. His deer-hound was "Maida." His jet-black greyhound was "Hamlet." He had also two Dandy Dinmont terriers.
Dog of the seven Sleepers, "Katmir." It spoke with a human voice.
In Sleary's circus, the performing dog is called "Merryleys."—C. Dickens, Hard Times.
(For Actæon's fifty dogs, see Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 234).
Dog. The famous Mount St. Bernard dog which saved forty human beings, was named "Barry." The stuffed skin of this noble creature is preserved in the museum at Berne.
Dog (The), Diogenes the cynic (B.C. 412-323). When Alexander encountered him, the young Macedonian king introduced himself with the words, "I am Alexander, surnamed 'the Great.'" To which the philosopher replied, "And I am Diogenês, surnamed 'the Dog.'" The Athenians raised to his memory a pillar of Parian marble, surmounted with a dog, and bearing the following inscription:—
"Say, dog, what guard you in that tomb?"A dog. "His name?" Diogenes. "From far?"
Sinopê, "He who made a tub his home?"
The same; now dead, among the stars a star.
Dog (The Thracian), Zo'ilus the grammarian; so called for his snarling, captious criticisms on Homer, Plato, and Isocrates. He was contemporary with Philip of Macedon.
Dogs. The two sisters of Zobei'de (3 syl.) were turned into little black dogs for casting Zobeide and "the prince" into the sea (See ZOBEIDE).
Dogs of War, Famine, Sword, and Fire:
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire
Crouch for employment.
Shakespeare, King Henry V. I chorus (1599).
Dog-headed Tribes (of India), mentioned in the Italian romance of Gueri'no Meschi'no.
Dogberry and Verges, two ignorant conceited constables, who greatly mutilate their words. Dogberry calls "assembly" dissembly; "treason" he calls perjury; "calumny" he calls burglary; "condemnation" redemption; "respect," suspect. When Conrade says, "Away! you are an ass;" Dogberry tells the town clerk to write him down "an ass." "Masters," he says to the officials, "remember I am an ass." "Oh, that I had been writ down an ass!" (act. iv. sc. 2).—Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1600.)
Dogget, wardour at the castle of Garde Doloureuse.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Dogget's Coat and Badge, the great prize in the Thames rowing-match, given on the 1st of August every year. So called from Thomas Dogget, an actor of Drury Lane, who signalized the accession of George I. to the throne by giving annually a waterman's coat and badge to the winner of the race. The Fishmongers' company add a guinea to the prize.
Doiley (Abraham), a citizen and retired slop-seller. He was a charity boy, wholly without education, but made £80,000 in trade, and is determined to have "a larned skollard for his son-in-law." He speaks of jomtry [geometry], joklate, jogrify, Al Mater, pinny-forty, and antikary doctors; talks of Scratchi [Gracchi], Horsi [Horatii], a study of horses, and so on. Being resolved to judge between the rival scholarship of an Oxford pedant and a captain in the army, he gets both to speak Greek before him. Gradus, the scholar, quotes two lines of Greek, in which the panta occurs four times. "Pantry!" cries the old slop-seller; "you can't impose upon me. I know pantry is not Greek." The captain tries English fustian, and when Gradus maintained that the words are English, "Out upon you for a jackanapes," cries the old man; "as if I didn't know my own mother tongue!" and gives his verdict in favor of the captain.
Elizabeth Doiley, daughter of the old slop-seller, in love with Captain Granger. She and her cousin Charlotte induce the Oxford scholar to dress like a beau to please the ladies. By so doing he disgusts the old man, who exclaims, "Oh, that I should ever had been such a dolt as to take thee for a man of larnen'!" So the captain wins the race at a canter.—Mrs. Cowley, Who's the Dupe?
Doll Common, a young woman in league with Subtle the alchemist and Face his alley.—B. Jonson, The Alchemist (1610).
Mrs. Pritchard [1711-1768] could pass from "Lady Macbeth" to "Doll Common."—Leigh Hunt.
Doll Tearsheet, a "bona-roba." This virago is cast into prison with Dame Quickly (hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap), for the death of a man that they and Pistol had beaten.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. (1598).
Dolallolla (Queen), wife of King Arthur, very fond of stiff punch, but scorning "vulgar sips of brandy, gin, and rum." She is the enemy of Tom Thumb, and opposes his marriage with her daughter Huncamunca; but when Noodle announces that the red cow has devoured the pigmy giant-queller, she kills the messenger for his ill-tidings, and is herself killed by Frizaletta. Queen Dollalolla is jealous of the giantess Glundalca, at whom his majesty casts "sheep's eyes."—Tom Thumb, by Fielding the novelist (1730), altered by O'Hara, author of Midas (1778).
Dolla Murrey, a character in Crabbe's Borough, who died playing cards.
"A vole! a vole!" she cried; "'tis fairly won."This said, she gently with a single sigh
Died.
Crabbe, Borough (1810).
Dolly. The most bewitching of the Bohemian household described in Frances Hodgson Burnett's Vagabondia. Piquante, brave, sonsie, and loving, she bears and smiles through the hardships and vicissitudes of her lot until she loses (as she thinks) the love and trust of "Griff," to whom she had been betrothed for years. Only his return and penitence save her from slipping out of a world that has few nobler women.
Dolly of the Chop-house (Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row and Newgate Street, London.) Her celebrity arose from the excellency of her provisions, attendance, accommodation, and service. The name is that of the old cook of the establishment.
The broth reviving, and the bread was fair,The small beer grateful and as pepper strong,
The beaf-steaks tender, and the pot-herbs young.
Dolly Trull. Captain Macheath says she was "so taken up with stealing hearts, she left herself no time to steal anything else."—Gay, The Beggar's Opera, ii. I. (1727).
Dolly Varden, daughter of Gabriel Varden, locksmith. She was loved to distraction by Joe Willet, Hugh of the Maypole inn, and Simon Tappertit. Dolly dressed in the Watteau style, and was lively, pretty, and bewitching.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).
Dol'on, "a man of subtle wit and wicked mind," father of Guizor (groom of Pollentê the Saracen, lord of "Parlous Bridge"). Sir Ar'tegal, with scant ceremony, knocks the life out of Guizor, for demanding of him "passage-penny" for crossing the bridge. Soon afterwards, Brit'omart and Talus rest in Dolon's castle for the night, and Dolon, mistaking Britomart for Sir Artegal, sets upon her in the middle of the night, but is overmastered. He now runs with his two surviving sons to the bridge, to prevent the passage of Britomart and Talus; but Britomart runs one of them through with her spear, and knocks the other into the river.—Spenser Faëry Queen v. 6 (1596).
Dol'on and Ulysses. Dolon undertook to enter the Greek camp and bring word back to Hector an exact account of everything. Accordingly he put on a wolf's skin and prowled about the camp on all fours. Ulysses saw through the disguise, and said to Diomed, "Yonder man is from the host ... we'll let him pass a few paces, and then pounce on him unexpectedly." They soon caught the fellow, and having "pumped" out of him all about the Trojan plans, and the arrival of Rhesus, Diomed smote him with his falchion on the mid-neck and slew him. This is the subject of bk. x. of the Iliad and therefore this book is called "Dolonia" ("the deeds of Dolon" or "Dolophon'ia", "Dolon's murder").
Full of cunning, like Ulysses' whistleWhen he allured poor Dolon.
Byron, Don Juan, xiii. 105 (1824),
Dolopa'tos, the Sicilian king, who placed his son Lucien under the charge of "seven wise masters." When grown to man's estate, Lucien's step-mother made improper advances to him, which he repulsed, and she accused him to the king of insulting her. By astrology the prince discovered that if he could tide over seven days his life would be saved; so the wise masters amused the king with seven tales, and the king relented. The prince himself then told a tale which embodied his own history; the eyes of the king were opened, and the queen was condemned to death.—Sandabar's Parables (French version).
Dombey (Mr.), a purse-proud, self-contained London merchant, living on Portland place, Bryanstone Square, with offices in the City. His god was wealth; and his one ambition was to have a son, that the firm might be known as "Dombey and Son." When Paul was born, his ambition was attained, his whole heart was in the boy, and the loss of the mother was but a small matter. The boy's death turned his heart to stone, and he treated his daughter Florence not only with utter indifference, but as an actual interloper. Mr. Dombey married a second time, but his wife eloped with his manager, James Carker, and the proud spirit of the merchant was brought low.
Paul Dombey, son of Mr. Dombey; a delicate, sensitive little boy, quite unequal to the great things expected of him. He was sent to Dr. Blimber's school, but soon gave way under the strain of school discipline. In his short life he won the love of all who knew him, and his sister Florence was especially attached to him. His death is beautifully told. During his last days he was haunted by the sea, and was always wondering what the wild waves were saying.
Florence Dombey, Mr. Dombey's daughter; a pretty, amiable, motherless child, who incurred her father's hatred because she lived and throve while her younger brother Paul dwindled and died. Florence hungered to be loved, but her father had no love to bestow on her. She married Walter Gay, and when Mr. Dombey was broken in spirit by the elopement of his second wife, his grandchildren were the solace of his old age.—O. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Dom-Daniel originally meant a public school for magic, established at Tunis; but what is generally understood by the word is that immense establishment, near Tunis, under the "roots of the ocean," established by Hal-il-Mau'graby, and completed by his son. There were four entrances to it, each of which had a staircase of 4000 steps; and magicians, gnomes, and sorcerers of every sort were expected to do homage there at least once a year to Zatanaï [Satan]. Dom-Daniel was utterly destroyed by Prince Habed-il-Rouman, son of the Caliph of Syria.—Continuation of the Arabian Nights "History of Maugraby."
Southey has made the destruction of Dom-Daniel the subject of his Thalaba—in fact, Thalaba takes the office of Habed-il-Rouman; but the general incidents of the two tales have no other resemblance to each other.
Domestic Poultry, in Dryden's Hind and Panther, mean the Roman Catholic clergy; so called from an establishment of priests in the private chapel of Whitehall. The nuns are termed "sister partlet with the hooded head" (1687).
Dominick, the "Spanish fryar," a kind of ecclesiastical Falstaff. A most immoral, licentious Dominican, who for money would prostitute even the Church and Holy Scriptures. Dominick helped Lorenzo in his amour with Elvi'ra the wife of Gomez.
He is a huge, fat, religious gentleman ... bigenough to be a pope. His gills are as rosy as a
turkey-cock's. His big belly walks in state before
him, like a harbinger; and his gouty legs
come limping after it. Never was such a tun
of devotion seen.—Dryden, The Spanish Fryar,
ii. 3 (1680).
Dominie Sampson. His Christian name is Abel. He is the tutor at Ellangowan House, very poor, very modest, and crammed with Latin quotations. His contsant exclamation is "Prodigious!"
Dominie Sampson is a poor, modest, humble scholar, who had won his way through the classics, but fallen to the leeward in the voyage of life.—Sir. W. Scott; Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Dom'inique (3 syl), the gossiping old footman of the Franvals, who fancies himself quite fit to keep a secret. He is, however, a really faithful retainer of the family.—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).
Domitian a Marksman. The emperor Domitian was so cunning a marksman, that if a boy at a good distance off held up his hand and stretched his fingers abroad, he could shoot through the spaces without touching the boy's hand or any one of his fingers. (See TELL, for many similar marksmen.)—Peacham, Complete Gentleman (1627).
Domizia, a noble lady of Florence, greatly embittered against the republic for its base ingratitude to her two brothers, Porzio and Berto, whose death she hoped to revenge.
I am a daughter of the Traversari,Sister of Porzio and Berto both ...
I knew that Florence, that could doubt their faith,
Must needs mistrust a stranger's; holding back
Reward from them, must hold back his reward.
Robt. Browning, Luria, iii.
Don Alphonso, son of a rich banker. In love with Victoria, the daughter of Don Scipio; but Victoria marries Don Fernando. Lorenza, who went by the name of Victoria for a time, and is the person Don Alphonso meant to marry, espouses Don Caesar.—O'Keefe, Castle of Andalusia.
For other dons, see under the surname.
Donacha dhu na Dunaigh, the Highland robber near Roseneath.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Donald, the Scotch steward of Mr. Mordent. Honest, plain-spoken, faithful, and unflinching in his duty.—Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (altered into The Steward).
Donald, an old domestic of MacAulay, the Highland chief.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time Charles I.).
Donald of the Hammer, son of the laird of Invernahyle of the West Highlands of Scotland. When Green Colin assassinated the laird and his household, the infant Donald was saved by his foster-nurse, and afterwards brought up by her husband, a blacksmith. He became so strong that he could work for hours with two fore-hammers, one in each hand, and was therefore called Domuil nan Ord. When he was 21 he marched with a few adherents against Green Colin, and slew him, by which means he recovered his paternal inheritance.
Donald of the smithy, the "son of the hammer"Filled the banks of Lochawe with mourning and
clamor.
Quoted by Sir Walter Scott in Tales of
a Grandfather, i. 39.
Donar, same as Thor, the god of thunder among the ancient Teutons.
Donatello, a young Italian whose marvellous resemblance to the Marble Faun of Praxiteles is the subject of jesting remark to three American friends.
"So full of animal life as he was, so joyousin his deportment, so physically well-developed;
he made no impression of incompleteness, of
maimed or stinted, nature." Yet his friends
"habitually allowed for him, exacting no strict
obedience to conventional rules, and hardly noticing
his eccentricities enough to pardon them."
He loves Miriam, an American student, and resents the persecution of her by a mysterious man—a nominal "model" who thrusts his presence upon her at all inconvenient times. One night as he comes between Donatello and Miriam as they lean on the parapet crowning the Tarpeian Rock, the Italian throws him over the precipice and kills him. From that moment, although he is not accused of the deed, the joyous faun becomes the haunted man.
"Nothing will ever comfort me!" he says moodily to Miriam, when she would extenuate his crime. "I have a great weight here!" lifting her hand to his breast. Wild creatures, once his loved companions, shun him as he, in turn, shuns the face of man. He disappears from the story, hand-in-hand with Miriam, bound, it would seem, upon a penitential pilgrimage, or to begin a new life in another hemisphere.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun (1860).
Donation of Pepin. When Pepin conquered Ataulf (Adolphus), the exarchate of Ravenna fell into his hands. Pepin gave the pope both the ex-archate and the republic of Rome; and this munificent gift is the world-famous "Donation of Pepin," on which rested the whole fabric of the temporal power of the popes (A.D. 755). Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy, dispossessed the pope of his temporal sovereignty, and added the papal states to the united kingdom of Italy, over which he reigned (1870).
Dondasch', an Oriental giant, contemporary with Seth, to whose service he was attached. He needed no weapons, because he could destroy anything by his muscular force.
Don'egild (3 syl.), the wicked mother of Alia, king of Northumberland. Hating Custance because she was a Christian, Donegild set her adrift with her infant son. When Alia returned from Scotland, and discovered this act of cruelty, he put his mother to death; then going to Rome on a pilgrimage, met his wife and child, who had been brought there a little time previously.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Man of Law's Tale," 1388).
Don'et, the first grammar put into the hands of scholars. It was that of Dona'tus the grammarian, who taught in Rome in the fourth century, and was the preceptor of St. Jerome. When "Graunde Amour" was sent to study under Lady Gramer, she taught him, as he says:
First my donet, and then my accedence.S. Hawes, The Pastime of Plesure, v. (time Henry VII.).
Doni'ca, only child of the lord of Ar'kinlow (an elderly man). Young Eb'erhard loved her, and the Finnish maiden was betrothed to him. Walking one evening by the lake, Donica heard the sound of the death-spectre, and fell lifeless in the arms of her lover. Presently the dead maiden received a supernatural vitality, but her cheeks were wan, her lips livid, her eyes lustreless, and her lap-dog howled when it saw her. Eberhard still resolved to marry her, and to church they went; but when he took Donica's hand into his own it was cold and clammy, the demon fled from her, and the body dropped a corpse at the feet of the bridegroom.—R. Southey, Donica (a Finnish ballad).
Donnerhu'gel (Rudolph), one of the Swiss deputies to Charles "the Bold," duke of Burgundy. He is cousin of the sons of Arnold Biederman the landamman of Unterwalden (alias Count Arnold of Geierstein).
Theodore Donnerhugel, uncle of Rudolph. He was page to the former Baron of Arnheim [Arnhime].—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Do'ny, Florimel's dwarf.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 5 and iv. 2 (1590, 1596).
Donzel del Fe'bo (El), the knight of the sun, a Spanish romance in The Mirror of Knighthood. He was "most excellently fair," and a "great wanderer;" hence he is alluded to as "that wandering knight so fair."
Doo'lin of Mayence (2 syl.), the hero and title of an old French romance of chivalry. He was ancestor of Ogier the Dane. His sword was called Merveilleuse ("wonderful").
Doomsday Sedgwick, William Sedgwick, a fanatical "prophet" during the Commonwealth. He pretended that the time of doomsday had been revealed to him in a vision; and, going into the garden of Sir Francis Bussell, he denounced a party of gentlemen playing at bowls, and bade them prepare for the day of doom, which was at hand.
Doorm, an earl who tried to make Enid his handmaid, and "smote her on the cheek" because she would not welcome him. Whereupon her husband, Count Geraint, started up and slew the "russet-bearded earl."—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Enid.").
Door-Opener (The), Cratês, the Theban; so called because he used to go round Athens early of a morning and rebuke the people for their late rising.
Dora [Spenlow], a pretty, warmhearted little doll of a woman, with no practical views of the duties of life or the value of money. She was the "child-wife" of David Copperfield, and loved to sit by him and hold his pens while he wrote. She died, and David then married Agnes Wickfield. Dora's great pet was a dog called "Jip," which died at the same time as its mistress.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Dora'do (El), a land of exhaustless wealth; a golden illusion. Orella'na, lieutenant of Pizarro, asserted that he had discovered a "gold country" between the Orino'co and the Am'azon, in South America. Sir Walter Raleigh twice visited Gruia'na as the spot indicated, and published highly colored accounts of its enormous wealth.
Dorali'ce (4 syl.) a lady beloved by Rodomont, but who married Mandricardo.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Dor'alis, the lady-love of Rodomont, king of Sarza or Algiers. She eloped with Mandricardo, king of Tartary.—Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato (1495), and Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Dorante (2 syl.), a name introduced into three of Molière's comedies. In Les Fâcheux he is a courtier devoted to the chase (1661). In La Critique de l'école des Femmes he is a chevalier (1602). In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme he is a count in love with the marchioness Doremène (1670).
Daras'tus and Faunia, the hero and heroine of a popular romance by Robert Greene, published in 1588, under the title of Pandosto and the Triumph of Time. On this "history" Shakespeare founded his Winter's Tale.
Dorax, the assumed name of Don Alonzo of Alcazar, when he deserted Sebastian, king of Portugal, turned renegade, and joined the emperor of Barbary. The cause of his desertion was that Sebastian gave to Henri'quez the lady betrothed to Alonzo. Her name was Violante (4 syl.) The quarrel between Sebastian and Dorax is a masterly copy of the quarrel and reconciliation between Brutus and Cassius in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar.
Sebastian says to Dorax, "Confess, proud spirit, that better he [Henriquez] deserved my love than thou." To this Dorax replies:
I must grant,Yes, I must grant, but with a swelling soul,
Henriquez had your love with more desert;
For you he fought and died; I fought against you.
Drayton, Don Sebastian (1690).
Dorcas, servant to Squire Ingoldsby.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Dorcas, an old domestic at Cumnor Place.—Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Doria D'Istria, a pseudonym of the Princess Koltzoff-Massalsky, a Wallachian authoress (1829-).
Arthur Donnithorn: Young Squire who seduces Hetty Sorrel in George Eliot's novel of Adam Bede.
Doricourt, the fiancê of Letitia Hardy. A man of the world and the rage of the London season, he is, however, both a gentleman and a man of honor. He had made the "grand tour," and considered English beauties insipid.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem, (1780).
Montague Talbot [1778-1831].He reigns o'er comedy supreme..
None show for light and airy sport,
So exquisite a Doricourt.
Crofton Croaker.
Do'ridon, a beautiful swain, nature's "chiefest work," more beautiful than Narcissus, Ganymede, or Adonis.—Wm. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals (1613).
Do'rigen, a lady of high family, who married Arvir'agus out of pity for his love and meekness. Aurelius sought to entice her away, but she said she would never listen to his suit till on the British coast "there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic caused all the stones to disappear, and when Dorigen went and said that her husband insisted on her keeping her word, Aurelius, seeing her dejection, replied, he would sooner die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dianora and Gilberto, x. 6. See Dianora.)
Dor'imant, a genteel, witty libertine. The original of this character was the Earl of Rochester—G. Etherege, The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676).
The Dorimants and the Lady Touchwoods, in their own sphere, do not offend my moral sense; in fact, they do not appeal to it at all.—C. Lamb.
(The "Lady Touchwood" in Congreve's Double Dealer, not the "Lady Francis Touchwood" in Mrs. Cowley's Belle's Strategem, which is quite another character.)
Dor'iméne (3 syl.), daughter of Alcantor, beloved by Sganarelle (3 syl.) and Lycaste (2 syl.). She loved "le jeu, les visites, les assemblés, les cadeaux, et les promenades, en un mot toutes les choses de plasir," and wished to marry to get free from the trammels of her home. She says to Sganarelle (a man of 63), whom she promises to marry, "Nous n'aurons jamais aucun démêlé ensemble; et je ne vous contraindrai point dans vos actions, comme j'espère que vous ne me contraindrez point dans les miennes."—Molière, Le Mariage Forcé (1664).
(She had been introduced previously as the wife of Sganarelle, in the Comedy of Le Cocu Iniaginaire, 1660).
Dorimène, the marchioness, in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, by Molière (1670).
Dorin'da, the charming daughter of Lady Bountiful; in love with Aimwell. She was sprightly and light-hearted, but good and virtuous also.—George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).
Dorinda. The rustic maiden, slow and sweet in ungrammatical speech, who helps plant corn by day, and makes picturesque the interior of the cabin in the glare of "lightwood" torches by night; turns men's heads and wins children's hearts in Charles Egbert Craddock's tale, The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, (1885).
Dorine' (2 syl.), attendant of Mariane (daughter of Orgon). She ridicules the folly of the family, but serves it faithfully. Molière, Le Tartuffe (1664).
Dorla (St. John). A New York girl of great beauty and tender conscience, who is beguiled into marrying a country lawyer because she thinks he is dying for love of her. Having left out of sight the possibility that a loveless union leaves room for the entrance of a real passion, she is appalled at finding that she has slipped into an attachment to A Perfect Adonis, who has principle enough to leave her when he discovers the state of his own affections. Finding her a widow on his return to America, he presses his suit, and finds a rival in her only child, a spoiled baby of five or six years. Overcoming this obstacle, he weds the mother.—Miriam Coles Harris, A Perfect Adonis (1875).
D'Orme'o, prime minister of Victor, Amade'us (4 syl), and also of his son and successor Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia. He took his color from the king he served; hence under the tortuous, deceitful Victor, his policy was marked with crude rascality and duplicity; but under the truthful, single-minded Charles Emmanuel, he became straightforward and honest.—R. Browning, King Victor and King Charles, etc.
Dormer (Captain), benevolent, truthful, and courageous, candid and warmhearted. He was engaged to Louisa Travers; but the lady was told that he was false and had married another, so she gave her hand to Lord Davenant.
Marianne Dormer, sister of the captain. She married Lord Davenant, who called himself Mr. Brooke; but he forsook her in three months, giving out that he was dead. Marianne, supposing herself to be a widow, married his lordship's son.—Cumberland, The Mysterious Husband (1783).
Dormer (Caroline), the orphan daughter of a London merchant, who was once very wealthy, but became bankrupt and died, leaving his daughter £200 a year. This annuity, however, she loses through the knavery of her man of business. When reduced to penury, her old lover, Henry Morland (supposed to have perished at sea), makes his appearance and marries her, by which she becomes the Lady Duberly.—G. Coleman, The Heir-at-Law (1797).
Dornton (Mr.), a great banker, who adores his son Harry. He tries to be stern with him when he sees him going the road to ruin, but is melted by a kind word.
Joseph Mnnden [1758-1832] was the original representative of "Old Dornton" and a host of other characters.—Memoir (1832.)
Harry Dornton, son of the above. A noble-hearted fellow, spoilt by over-indulgence. He becomes a regular rake, loses money at Newmarket, and goes post-speed the road to ruin, led on by Jack Milford. So great is his extravagance, that his father becomes a bankrupt; but Sulky (his partner in the bank) comes to the rescue. Harry marries Sophia Freelove, and both father and son are saved from ruin.—Holcroft, The Road to Euin (1792).
Dorothe'a, of Andalusi'a, daughter of Cleonardo (an opulent vassal of the Duke Ricardo). She was married to Don Fernando, the duke's younger son, who deserted her for Lucinda (the daughter of an opulent gentlemen), engaged to Cardenio, her equal in rank and fortune. When the wedding day arrived, Lucinda fell into a swoon, a letter informed the bridegroom that she was already married to Cardenio, and next day she took refuge in a convent. Dorothea also left her home, dressed in boy's clothes, and concealed herself in the Sierra Morena or Brown Mountain. Now, it so happened that Dorothea, Cardenio, and Don Quixote's party happened to be staying at the Crescent inn, and Don Fernando, who had abducted Lucinda from the convent, halted at the same place. Here he found his wife Dorothea, and Lucinda her husband Cardenio. All these misfortunes thus came to an end, and the parties mated with their respective spouses.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. (1605).
Dorothe'a, sister of Mons. Thomas.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas (1619).
Dorothe'a, the "virgin martyr," attended by Angelo, an angel in the semblance of a page, first presented to Dorothea as a beggar-boy, to whom she gave alms.—Philip Massinger, The Virgin Martyr (1622).
Dorothe'a, the heroine of Goethe's poem entitled Hermann and Dorothea (1797).
Dor'otheus (3 syl.), the man who spent all his life in endeavoring to elucidate the meaning of one single word in Homer.
Dor'othy (Old), the housekeeper of Simon Glover and his daughter "the fair maid of Perth."—Sir. W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Dor'othy, charwoman of Old Trapbois the miser and his daughter Martha.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Dorothy Pearson. The childless wife of a Puritan settler in New England. Her husband brings her home a boy whom he found crouching under the gallows of his Quaker father, and she adopts him at once, despite the opposition of "the congregation." A fortnight after he entered the family, his own mother invades the pulpit of the Orthodox meeting house, and delivers an anathema against her sect. Her boy presses forward to meet her, but, after a conflict of emotions she returns him to Dorothy. He submits, but pines for his mother through the months that pass before her return with the news of religious toleration. Dorothy's loving offices have smoothed the child's pathway to the grave, and she hangs above him with tears of maternal grief as he breathes his last in his mother's arms.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Gentle Boy (1851.)
Dorothy Q. Oliver Wendell Holmes's "grandmother's mother." Her portrait taken at the age of "thirteen summers, or less," is the subject of his lines, "Dorothy Q. A Family Portrait."
"O, Damsel Dorothy! Dorothy Q!Strange is the gift that I owe to you;
Such a gift as never a king
Save to daughter or son might bring,—
All my tenure of heart and hand
All my title to house and land,
Mother and sister and child and wife
And joy and sorrow, and death and life!"
Dorrillon (Sir William), a rich Indian merchant and a widower. He had one daughter, placed under the care of Mr. and Miss Norberry. When this daughter (Maria) was grown to womanhood, Sir William returned to England, and wishing to learn the character of Maria, presented himself under the assumed name of Mr. Mandred. He found his daughter a fashionable young lady, fond of pleasure, dress, and play, but affectionate and good-hearted. He was enabled to extricate her from some money difficulties, won her heart, revealed himself as her father, and reclaimed her.
Miss [Maria] Dorrillon, daughter of Sir William; gay, fashionable, light-hearted, accomplished, and very beautiful. "Brought up without a mother's care or father's caution," she had some excuse for her waywardness and frivolity. Sir George Evelyn was her admirer, whom for a time she teased to the very top of her bent; then she married, loved and reformed.—Mrs. Inchbald, Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are (1797).
D'Osborn (Count), governor of the Giant's Mount Fortress. The countess Marie consented to marry him, because he promised to obtain the acquittal of Ernest de Fridberg, ("the State prisoner"); but he never kept his promise.
It was by this man's treachery that Ernest was a prisoner, for he kept back the evidence of General Bavois, declaring him innocent. He next employed persons to strangle him, but his attempt was thwarted. His villainy being brought to light, he was ordered by the king to execution.—E. Stirling, The State Prisoner (1847).
Do'son, a promise-maker and promise-breaker. Antig'onos, grandson of Demetrios (the besieger) was so called.
Dot. (See PERRYBINGLE.)
Dotheboys Hall, a Yorkshire school, where boys were taken-in and done-for by Mr. Squeers, an arrogant, conceited, puffing, overbearing and ignorant schoolmaster, who fleeced, beat, and starved the boys, but taught them nothing.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).
The original of Dotheboys Hall is still in existence at Bowes, some five miles from Barnard Castle. The King's Head inn at Barnard Castle is spoken of in Nicholas Nickleby, by Newman Noggs.—Notes and Queries, April 2, 1875.
Doto, Nysê, and Neri'nê, the three nereids who guarded the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot had run the ship in which Vasco was sailing on a sunken rock, these sea nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round,—Camoens, Lusiad, ii. (1569).
Douban, the physician, cured a Greek king of leprosy by some drug concealed in a racket handle. The king gave Douban such great rewards that the envy of his nobles was excited, and his vizier suggested that a man like Douban was very dangerous to be near the throne. The fears of the weak king being aroused, he ordered Douban to be put to death. When the physician saw there was no remedy, he gave the king a book, saying, "On the sixth leaf the king will find something affecting his life." The king finding the leaves stick, moistened his finger with his mouth, and by so doing poisoned himself. "Tyrant!" exclaimed Douban, "those who abuse their power merit death."—Arabian Nights ("The Greek King and the Physician").
Douban, physician of the emperor Alexius.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time Rufus).
Double Dealer, (The) "The double dealer" is Maskwell, who pretends love to lady Touchwood and friendship to Mellefont (2. syl.), in order to betray them both. The other characters of the comedy also deal doubly: Thus Lady Froth pretends to love her husband, but coquets with Mr. Brisk; and Lady Pliant pretends to be chaste as Diana, but has a liaison with Careless. On the other hand Brisk pretends to entertain friendship for Lord Froth but makes love to his wife; and Ned Careless pretends to respect and honor Lord Pliant, but bamboozles him in a similar way.—W. Congreve (1700).
Doublefee (Old Jacob), a money-lender who accommodates the Duke of Buckingham with loans.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II).
Doubting Castle, the castle of giant Despair, into which Christian and Hopeful were thrust, but from which they escaped by means of the key called "Promise."—Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678).
Dougal, turnkey at Glasgow, Tolbooth. He is an adherent of Rob Roy.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
Douglas, divided into The Black Douglases and The Red Douglases.
I. THE BLACK DOUGLASES (or senior branch). Each of these is called "The Black Douglas."
The Hardy, William de Douglas, defender of Berwick (died 1302).
The Good Sir James, eldest son of "The Hardy." Friend of Bruce. Killed by the Moors in Spain (1330).
England's Scourge and Scotland's Bulwark, William Douglas, knight of Liddesdale. Taken at Neville's Cross, and killed by William, first earl of Douglas, in 1353.
The Flower of Chivalry, William de Douglas, natural son of "The Good Sir James" (died 1384).
James second earl of Douglas overthrew Hotspur. Died at Otterburn, 1388. This is the Douglas of the old ballad of Chevy Chase.
Archibald the Grim, Archibald Douglas, natural son of "The Good Sir James."
The Black Douglas, William, lord of Nithsdale (murdered by the earl of Clifford, 1390).
Tineman (the loser), Archibald, fourth earl, who lost the battles of Homildon, Shrewsbury, and Verneuil, in the last of which he was killed (1424).
William Douglas, eighth earl, stabbed by James II., and then despatched with a battle-axe by Sir Patrick Gray, at Stirling, February 13, 1452. Sir Walter Scott alludes to this in The Lady of the Lake.
James Douglas, ninth and last earl (died 1488). With him the senior branch closes.
II. THE RED DOUGLASES, a collateral branch.
Bell-the-Cat, the great earl of Angus. He is introduced by Scott in Marmion. His two sons fell in the battle of Flodden Field. He died in a monastery, 1514.
Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, and grandson of "Bell-the-Cat." James Bothwell, one of the family, forms the most interesting part of Scott's Lady of the Lake. He was the grandfather of Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots. He died 1560.
James Douglas, earl of Morton, younger-brother of the seventh earl of Angus. He took part in the murder of Rizzio, and was executed by the instrument called "the maiden" (1530-1581).
The "Black Douglas," introduced by Sir W. Scott in Castle Dangerous, is "The Gud schyr James." This was also the Douglas which was such a terror to the English that the women used to frighten their unruly children by saying they would "make the Black Douglas take them." He first appears in Castle Dangerous as "Knight of the tomb." The following nursery rhyme refers to him:—
Hush ye, hush, ye, little pet ye;Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye;
The Black Douglas shall not get thee.
Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, i. 6.
Douglas, a tragedy by J. Home (1757). Young Norval, having saved the life of Lord Randolph, is given a commission in the army. Lady Randolph hears of the exploit, and discovers that the youth is her own son by her first husband, Lord Douglas. Glenalvon, who hates the new favorite, persuades Lord Randolph that his wife is too intimate with the young upstart, and the two surprise them in familiar intercourse in a wood. The youth, being attacked, slays Glenalvon, but is in turn slain by Lord Randolph, who then learns that the young man was Lady Randolph's son. Lady Randolph, in distraction, rushes up a precipice and throws herself down headlong, and Lord Randolph goes to the war then raging between Scotland and Denmark.
Douglas (Archibald earl of), father-in-law of Prince Robert, eldest son of Robert III. of Scotland.
Margery of Douglas, the earl's daughter, and wife of Prince Robert duke of Rothsay. The duke was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of the earl of March, but the engagement was broken off by intrigue.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Douglas (George), nephew of the regent Murray of Scotland, and grandson of the lady of Lochleven. George Douglas was devoted to Mary Queen of Scots.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Douglas and the Bloody Heart. The heart of Bruce was entrusted to Douglas to carry to Jerusalem. Landing in Spain, he stopped to aid the Castilians against the Moors, and in the heat of battle cast the "heart," enshrined in a golden coffer, into the very thickest of the foe, saying, "The heart or death!" On he dashed, fearless of danger, to regain the coffer, but perished in the attempt. The family thenceforth adopted the "bloody heart" as their armorial device.
Douglas Larder (The). When the "Good Sir James" Douglas, in 1306, took his castle by coup de main from the English, he caused all the barrels containing flour, meal, wheat, and malt to be knocked in pieces and their contents to be thrown on the floor; he then staved in all the hogsheads of wine and ale upon this mass. To this he flung the dead bodies slain and some dead horses. The English called this disgusting mass "The Douglas Larder." He then set fire to the castle and took refuge in the hills, for he said "he loved far better to hear the lark sing than the mouse cheep."
Wallace's Larder is a similar phrase. It is the dungeon of
Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, where Wallace had the dead bodies of the
garrison thrown, surprised by him in the reign of Edward I.
Douloureuse Garde (La), a castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, won by Sir Launcelot du Lac, in one of the most terrific adventures related in romance. In memory of this event, the name of the castle was changed into La Joyeuse Garde or La Garde Joyeuse.
Dousterswivel (Herman), a German schemer, who obtains money under the promise of finding hidden wealth by a divining rod.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).
The incident of looking for treasure in the church is copied from one which Lily mentions, who went with David Kamsay to search for hidden treasure in Westminster Abbey.—See Old and New London, i. 129.
Dove (Dr.), the hero of Southey's novel called The Doctor (1834).
Dove (Sir Benjamin), of Cropley Castle, Cornwall. A little, peaking, puling creature, desperately hen-pecked by a second wife; but madam overshot the mark, and the knight was roused to assert and maintain the mastery.
That very clever actor Cherry (1769-1812), appeared in "Sir Benjamin Dove," and showed himself a master of his profession.—Boaden.
Lady Dove, twice married, first to Mr. Searcher, king's messenger, and next to Sir Benjamin Dove. She had a tendresse for Mr. Paterson. Lady Dove was a terrible termagant, and when scolding failed used to lament for "poor dear dead Searcher, who—, etc., etc." She pulled her bow somewhat too tight, and Sir Benjamin asserted his independence.
Sophia Dove, daughter of Sir Benjamin. She loved Robert Belfield, but was engaged to marry the elder brother Andrew. When, however, the wedding day arrived, Andrew was found to be a married man, and the younger brother became the bridegroom.—R. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).
Dowlas (Daniel), a chandler of Gosport, who trades in "coals, cloth, herrings, linen, candles, eggs, sugar, treacle, tea, and brickdust." This vulgar and illiterate petty shopkeeper is raised to the peerage under the title of "The Right Hon. Daniel Dowlas, Baron Duberly." But scarcely has he entered on his honors, when the "heir-at-law," supposed to have been lost at sea, makes his appearance in the person of Henry Morland. The "heir" settles on Daniel Dowlas an annuity.
Deborah Dowlas, wife of Daniel, and for a short time Lady Duberly. She assumes quite the airs and ton of gentility, and tells her husband "as he is a pear, he ought to behave as sich."
Dick Dowlas, the son, apprenticed to an attorney at Castleton. A wild young scamp, who can "shoot wild ducks, fling a bar, play at cricket, make punch, catch gudgeons, and dance." His mother says "he is the sweetest-tempered youth when he has everything his own way." Dick Dowlas falls in love with Cicely Homespun, and marries her.—G. Colman, Heir-at-law (1797).
Miss Pope asked me about the dress. I answered. "It should be black bombazeen ..." I proved to her that not only "Deborah Dowlas," but all the rest of the dramatis personæ ought to be in mourning ... The three "Dowlases" as relatives of the deceased Lord Duberly; "Henry Morland" as the heir-at-law; "Dr. Pangloss" as a clergyman, "Caroline Dormer" for the loss of her father, and "Kenrick" as a servant of the Dormer family.—James Smith.
Dowlas (Old Dame), housekeeper to the Duke of Buckingham.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Dowling-(Captain), a great drunkard, who dies in his cups.—Crabbe, Borough, xvi. (1810).
Downer (Billy), an occasional porter and shoeblack, a diffuser of knowledge, a philosopher, a citizen of the world, and an "unfinished gentleman."—C. Selby, The Unfinished Gentleman.
Downing, Professor, in the University of Cambridge. So called from Sir George Downing, bart., who founded the law professorship in 1800.
Dowsabel, daughter of Cassemen (3 syl.), a knight of Arden; a ballad by M. Drayton (1593).
Old Chaucer doth of Topaz tell,Mad Rabelais of Pantagruel,
A later third of Dowsabel.
M. Drayton, Nymphida.
Drac, a sort of fairy in human form, whose abode is the caverns of rivers. Sometimes these dracs will float like golden cups along a stream to entice bathers, but when the bather attempts to catch at them, the drac draws him under water.—South of France Mythology.
Dra'chenfels ("Dragon rocks"), so called from the dragon killed there by Siegfried, the hero of the Niebelungen Lied.
Dragon (A), the device on the royal banner of the old British kings. The leader was called the pendragon. Geoffrey of Monmouth says: "When Aurelius was king, there appeared a star at Winchester, of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting forth a ray at the end of which was a flame in the form of a dragon." Uther ordered two golden dragons to be made, one of which he presented to Winchester, and the other he carried with him as a royal standard. Tennyson says that Arthur's helmet had for crest a golden dragon.
... they sawThe dragon of the great pendragonship.
That crowned the state pavilion of the king.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
Dragon (The), one of the masques at Kennaquhair Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Dragon (The Red) the personification of "the devil," as the enemy of man.—Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, ix. (1633).
Dragon of Wantley (i. e. Warncliff, in Yorkshire), a skit on the old metrical romances, especially on the old rhyming legend of Sir Bevis. The ballad describes the dragon, its outrages, the flight of the inhabitants, the knight choosing his armor, the damsel, the fight and the victory. The hero is called "More, of More Hall" (q. v.)—Percy, Reliques, III. iii. 13.
(H. Carey, has a burlesque called The Dragon of Wantley, and calls the hero "Moore, of Moore Hall," 1697-1743).
Dragon's Hill (Berkshire). The legend isays it is here that St. George killed the dragon; but the place assigned for this achievement in the ballad given in Percy's Reliques is "Sylene, in Libya." Another legend gives Berytus (Beyrut) as the place of this encounter.
(In regard to Dragon Hill, according to Saxon annals, it was here that Cedric (founder of the West Saxons) slew Naud the pendragon, with 5,000 men.)
Dragon's Teeth. The tale of Jason and Æêtês is a repetition of that of Cadmus.
In the tale of CADMUS, we are told the fountain of Arei'a (3 syl.) was guarded by a fierce dragon. Cadmus killed the dragon, and sowed its teeth in the earth. From these teeth sprang up armed men called "Sparti," among whom he flung stones, and the armed men fell foul of each other, till all were slain excepting five.
In the tale of JASON, we are told that having slain the dragon, which kept watch over the golden fleece, he sowed its teeth in the ground, and armed men sprang up. Jason cast a stone into the midst of them, whereupon the men attacked each other, and were all slain.
Dragons.
AHBIMAN, the dragon slain by Mithra.—Persian Mythology.
DAHAK, the three-headed dragon slain by Thraetana-Yaçna.—Persian.
FAFNIB, the dragon slain by Sigurd.
GRENDEL, the dragon slain by Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero.
LA GAGOUILLE, the dragon which ravaged the Seine, slain by St. Romain of Rouen.
PYTHON, the dragon slain by Apollo.—Greek Mythology.
TAKASQUE (2 syl.), the dragon slain at Aix-la-Chapelle by St. Martha.
ZOHAK, the dragon slain by Feridun (Shahndmeh).
Numerous dragons have no special name. Many are denoted Red, White,
Black, Great, etc..
Drake (Joseph Rodman), author of The Culprit Fay and The American Flag, died at the early age of twenty-five. His elegy was written by Fitz-Green Halleck and is known as far as the English tongue is spoken.
"Green be the turf above thee,Friend of my better days!
None knew thee but to love thee,
None named thee but to praise."
(1820).
Drama. The earliest European drama since the fall of the Western empire appeared in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is called La Celestina, and is divided into twenty-one acts. The first act, which runs through fifty pages, was composed by Rodridgo Cota; the other twenty are ascribed to Ferdinando de Rojas. The whole was published in 1510.
The earliest English drama is entitled Ralph Roister Doister, a comedy by Nicholas Udal (before 1551, because mentioned by T. Wilson, in his Rule of Reason, which appeared in 1551).
The second English drama was Gammer Gurton's Needle, by Mr. S. Master of Arts. Warton, in his History of English Poetry (iv. 32), gives 1551 as the date of this comedy; and Wright, in his Historia Histrionica, says it appeared in the reign of Edward VI., who died 1553. It is generally ascribed to Bishop Still, but he was only eight years old in 1551.
Drama (Father of the French), Etienne, Jodell (1532-1573).
Father of the Greek Drama, Thespis (B.C. sixth century).
Father of the Spanish Drama, Lopêz de Vega (1562-1635).
Drap, one of Queen Mab's maids of honor.—Drayton, Nymphidia.
Dra´pier's Letters, a series of letters written by Dean Swift, and signed "M.D. Drapier," advising the Irish not to take the copper money coined by William Wood, to whom George I. had given a patent. These letters (1724) stamped out this infamous job and caused the patent to be cancelled. The patent was obtained by the Duchess of Kendall (mistress of the king), who was to share the profits.
Can we the Drapier then forget?Is not our nation in his debt?
'Twas he that writ the "Drapier's Letters."
Dean Swift, Verses on his own death.
Drawcan´sir, a bragging, blustering bully, who took part in a battle, and killed every one on both sides, "sparing neither friend nor foe."—George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1671).
Juan, who was a little superficial,And not in literature a great Drawcansir.
Byron, Don Juan, xi. 51 (1824).
At length my enemy appeared, and I went forward some yards like a Drawcansir, but found myself seized with a panic as Paris was when he presented himself to fight with Menelaus.—Lesage, Gil Blas, vii. (1735).
Dream Authorship. Coleridge says that he wrote his Kubla Khan from his recollection of a dream.
Condillac (says Cabanis) concluded in his dreams the reasonings left
incomplete at bed-time.
Dreams. The Indians believe all dreams to be revelations, sometimes made by the familiar genius, and sometimes by the "inner or divine soul." An Indian, having dreamt that his finger was cut off, had it really cut off the next day.—Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America.
Dream´er (The Immortal), John Bunyan, whose Pilgrim's Progress is said by him to be a dream (1628-1688).
The pretense of a dream was one of the most common devices of
mediaeval romance, as, for example, the Romance of the Rose and Piers
Plowman, both in the fourteenth century.
Dreary (Wat), alias BROWN WILL, one of Macheath's gang of thieves. He is described by Peachum as "an irregular dog, with an underhand way of disposing of his goods" (act i.1).—Gay, The Beggar's Opera (1727).
Drew (Timothy). A half-witted cobbler who, learning that a tailor had advertised for "frogs," catches a bagful and carries them to him, demanding one dollar a hundred. The testy tailor imagining himself the victim of a hoax, throws his shears at his head, and Timothy, in revenge empties the bag of bull-frogs upon the clean floor of Buckram's shop. Next day Timothy's sign was disfigured to read—Shoes Mended and Frogs Caught. By Timothy Drew.—The Frog Catcher, Henry J. Finn, American Comic Annual 1831.
Drink used by actors, orators, etc.
BRAHAM, bottled porter.
CATLEY (Miss), linseed tea and madeira.
COOKE (G. F.), everything drinkable.
EMERY, brandy-and-water (cold).
GLADSTONE (W. E.), an egg beaten up in sherry.
HENDERSON, gum arabic and sherry.
INCLEDON, madeira.
JORDAN (Mrs.), calves'-foot jelly dissolved in warm sherry.
KEAN (Edmund), beef-tea for breakfast, cold brandy.
LEWIS, mulled wine (with oysters).
OXBERRY, tea.
SMITH (William), coffee.
WOOD (Mrs.), draught porter.
J Kemble took opium.
Drink. "I drink the air," says Ariel, meaning "I will fly with great speed."
In Henry IV. we have "devour the way," meaning the same thing.
Dri'ver, clerk to Mr. Pleydell, advocate.
Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Driver of Europe. The duc de Choiseul, minister of Louis XV., was so called by the empress of Russia, because he had spies all over Europe, and ruled by them all the political cabals.
Dro'gio, probably Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. A Venetian voyager named Antonio Zeno (fourteenth century) so called a country which he discovered. It was said to lie south-west of Estotiland (Labrador), but neither Estotiland nor Drogio are recognized by modern geographers, and both are supposed to be wholly, or in a great measure, hypothetical.
Dro'mio (The Brothers), two brothers, twins, so much alike that even their nearest friends and masters knew not one from the other. They were the servants of two masters, also twins and the exact facsimiles of each other. The masters were Antiph'olus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse.—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1593).
(The Comedy of Errors is borrowed from the Menoechmi of Plautus).
Dronsdaughter (Tronda), the old serving-woman of the Yellowleys.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Drop Serene (Gutta Serena). It was once thought that this sort of blindness was an incurable extinction of vision by a transparent watery humor distilling on the optic nerve. It caused total blindness, but made no visible change in the eye. It is now known that this sort of blindness arises from obstruction in the capillary nerve-vessels, and in some cases at least is curable. Milton, speaking of his own blindness, expresses a doubt whether it arose from the Gutta Serena or the suffusion of a cataract.
So thick a 'drop serene' hath quenched their orbs,Or dim 'suffusion' veiled.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 25 (1665).
Drood (Edwin), hero of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel of that name.
Drudgeit (Peter), clerk to Lord Bladderskate.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Drugger (Abel), a seller of tobacco; artless and gullible in the extreme. He was building a new house, and came to Subtle "the alchemist" to know on which side to set the shop door, how to dispose the shelves so as to ensure most luck, on what days he might trust his customers, and when it would be unlucky for him so to do.—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610).
Thomas Weston was "Abel Drugger" himself [1727-1776], but David Garrick was fond of the part also [1716-1779].—C. Dibdin, History of the Stage.
Drugget, a rich London haberdasher, who has married one of his daughters to Sir Charles Racket. Drugget is "very fond of his garden," but his taste goes no further than a suburban tea-garden with leaden images, cockney fountains, trees cut into the shapes of animals, and other similar abominations. He is very headstrong, very passionate, and very fond of flattery.
Mrs. Druggett, wife of the above. She knows her husband's foibles, and, like a wise woman, never rubs the hair the wrong way.—A. Murphy, Three Weeks after Marriage.
Druid (The), the nom de plume of Henry
Dixon, sportsman and sporting-writer; One of his books, called Steeple-chasing, appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine. His last work was called The Saddle and Sirloin.
Collins calls James Thomson (author of The Seasons) a druid,
meaning a pastoral British poet or "Nature's High Priest."
Collins (1746).
Druid (Dr.), a man of North Wales, 65 years of age, the travelling tutor of Lord Abberville, who was only 23. The doctor is a pedant and antiquary, choleric in temper, and immensely bigoted, wholly without any knowledge of the human heart, or indeed any practical knowledge at all.
"Money and trade, I scorn 'em both; ...I have traced the Oxus and the Po, traversed the Riphæan Mountains, and pierced into the inmost deserts of Kilmuc Tartary ...I have followed the ravages of Kuli Chan with rapturous delight. There is a land of wonders; finely depopulated; gloriously laid waste; fields without a hoof to tread 'em; fruits without a hand to gather 'em: with such a catologue of pats, peetles, serpents, scorpions, caterpillars, toads, and putterflies! Oh, 'tis a recreating contemplation indeed to a philosophic mind!"—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).
Druid Money, a promise to pay on the Greek Kalends. Patricius says: "Druidæ pecuniam mutuo accipiebant in posteriore vita reddituri."
Like money by the Druids borrowed,In th' other world to be restored.
Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1 (1678).
Purchase tells us of certain priests of Pekin, "who
barter with the people upon bills of exchange, to be paid in heaven a
hundredfold."—Pilgrims, iii. 2.
Drum (Jack), Jack Drum's entertainment is giving a guest the cold shoulder.
Shakespeare calls it "John Drum's entertainment" (All Well, etc., act iii. sc. 6), and Holinshead speaks of "Tom Drum his entertaynement, which is to hale a man in by the heade, and thrust him out by both the shoulders."
Drummle (Bentley) and Startop, two young men who read with Mr. Pocket. Drummle is a surly, ill-conditioned fellow, who marries Estella.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Drunken Parliament, a Scotch parliament assembled at Edinburgh, January I, 1661.
It was a mad, warring time, full of extravagance;and no wonder it was so, when the men
of affairs were almost perpetually drunk.—Burnet,
His Own Time (1723-34).
Druon "the Stern," one of the four knights who attacked Britomart and Sir Scudamore (3 syl.).
The warlike dame (Britomart) was on her part assaidBy Clarabel and Blandamour at one;
While Paridel and Druon fiercely laid
On Scudamore, both his professèd fone [foes].
Spenser, Faery Queen, iv. 9 (1596).
Druses (Return of the). The Druses, a semi-Mohammedan sect of Syria, being attacked by Osman, take refuge in one of the Spor'adês, and place themselves under the protection of the Knights of Rhodes. These knights slay their sheiks and oppress the fugitives. In the sheik massacre, Dja'bal is saved by Maä'ni, and entertains the idea of revenging his people and leading them back to Syria. To this end he gives out that he is Hakeem, the incarnate god, returned to earth, and soon becomes the leader of the exiled Druses. A plot is formed to murder the prefect of the isle, and to betray the Island to Venice, if Venice will supply a convoy for their return. An'eal (2 syl.), a young woman stabs the prefect, and dies in bitter disappointment when she discovers that Djabal is a mere impostor. Djabal stabs himself when his imposition is made public, but Loys, (2 syl.) a Brenton count, leads the exiles back to Lebanon. Robert Browning.—The Return of the Druses.
Historically, the Druses, to the number of 160,000 or 200,000,
settled in Syria, between Djebail and Saïde, but their original seat was
Egypt. They quitted Egypt from persecution, led by Dara'zi or Durzi,
from whom the name Druse (1 syl.) is derived. The founder of the sect
was the hakêm B'amr-ellah (eleventh century), believed to be incarnate
deity, and the last prophet who communicated between God and man. From
this founder the head of the sect was called the hakêm, his residence
being Deir-el-Kamar. During the thirteenth or fourteenth century the
Druses were banished from Syria, and lived in exile in some of the
Sporadês but were led back to Syria early in the fifteenth century by
Count Loys de Duex, a new convert. Since 1588 they have been tributaries
of the sultan.
Hakeem Biamrallah, the Third Fatimite?
What is this jargon? He the insane prophet,
Dead near three hundred years!
Robert Browning, The Return of the Druses.
Dryas or DRYAD, a wood-nymph, whose life was bound up with that of her tree (Greek, [Greek: dryas, dryados].)
"The quickening power of the soul," like Martha, "is busy about many things," or like "a Dryas living in a tree."—Sir John Davies, Immortality of the soul, xii.
Dry-as-Dust (The Rev. Doctor), an hypothetical person whom Sir W. Scott makes use of to introduce some of his novels by means of prefatory letters. The word is a synonym for a dull, prosy, plodding historian, with great show of learning, but very little attractive grace.
Dryden of Germany (The), Martin Opitz, sometimes called "The Father of German Poetry" (1597-1639).
Dryeesdale (Jasper), the old steward at Lochleven Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Abott (time, Elizabeth).
Dry'ope (3 syl.), daughter of King Dryops, beloved by Apollo. Apollo, having changed himself into a tortoise, was taken by Dryopê into her lap, and became the father of Amphis'sos. Ovid says that Dryopê was changed into a lotus (Met., x. 331).
Duar'te (3 syl), the vainglorious son of Guiomar.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Dubosc, the great thief, who robs the night-mail from Lyons, and murders the courier. He bears such a strong likeness to Joseph Lesurques (act i. 1) that their identity is mistaken.—Ed. Stirling, The Courier of Lyons (1852).
Dubourg-(Mons.), a merchant at Bordeaux, and agent there of Osbaldistone of London.
Clement Dubourg, son of the Bordeaux merchant, one of the clerks of Osbaldistone, merchant.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
Dubric (St.) or St. Dubricius, archbishop of the City of Legions (Caerleon-upon-Usk; Newport is the only part left.) He set the crown on the head of Arthur, when only 15 years of age. Geoffrey says (British history, ix. 12); This prelate, who was primate of Britain, was so eminent for his piety, that he could cure any sick person by his prayers. St. Dubric abdicated and lived a hermit, leaving David his successor. Tennyson introduced him in his Coming of Arthur, Enid, etc.
Dubric, whose report old Carleon yet dothcarry.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint.
Chief of the Church in Britain, and before
The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the king
That morn was married.
Tennyson, The Coming of Arthur.
Ducho´mar was in love with Morna, daughter of Comac, king of Ireland. Out of jealousy, he slew Câthba, his more successful rival, went to announce his death to Morna, and then asked her to marry him. She replied she had no love for him, and asked for his sword. "He gave the sword to her tears," and she stabbed him to the heart. Duchômar begged the maiden to pluck the sword from his breast that he might die; and when she approached him for the purpose, "he seized the sword from her, and slew her."
"Duchômar, most gloomy of men; dark are thy brows and terrible; red are thy rolling eyes ... I love thee not," said Morna; "hard is thy heart of rock, and dark is thy terrible brow."—Ossian, Fingal, i.
Duchran (The laird of), a friend of Baron Bradwardine.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Du Croisy and his friend La Grange are desirous to marry two young ladies whose heads are turned by novels. The silly girls fancy the manners of these gentlemen "too unaffected and easy to be aristocratic"; so the gentlemen send to them their valets, as "the viscount de Jodelet," and "the marquis of Mascarille." The girls are delighted whith their titled visitors; but when the game had gone far enough, the masters enter and unmask the trick. By this means the girls are taught a useful lesson, without being subjected to any fatal consequence.—Molière, Les Prècieuses Ridicules (1659).
Dudley, a young artist; a disguise assumed by Harry Bertram.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Dudley (Captain), a poor English officer, of strict honor, good family, and many accomplishments. He has served his country for thirty years, but can scarcely provide bread for his family.
Charles Dudley, son of Captain Dudley. High-minded, virtuous, generous, poor, and proud. He falls in love with his cousin Charlotte Rusport, but forbears proposing to her, because he is poor and she is rich. His grandfather's will is in time brought to light, by which he becomes the heir of a noble fortune, and he then marries his cousin.
Louisa Dudley, daughter of Captain Dudley. Young, fair, tall, fresh, and lovely. She is courted by Belcour the rich West Indian, to whom ultimately she is married.—Cumberland, The West Indian (1771).
Dudley Diamond (The). In 1868 a black shepherd named Swartzboy brought to his master, Nie Kirk, this diamond, and received for it £400, with which he drank himself to death. Nie Kirk sold it for £12,000; and the earl of Dudley gave Messrs. Hunt and Roskell £30,000 for it. It weighed in the rough 88 1/2 carats, but cut into a heart shape it weighs 44 1/2 carats. It is triangular in shape, and of great brilliancy.
This magnificent diamond, that called the "Stewart" (q. v.), and
the "Twin," have all been discovered in Africa since 1868.
Dudu, one of the three beauties of the harem, into which Juan, by the sultan's order, had been admitted in female attire. Next day, the sultana, out of jealousy, ordered that both Dudù and Juan should be stitched in a sack and cast into the sea; but by the connivance of Baba the chief eunuch, they affected their escape.— Byron, Don Juan, vi. 42, etc.
A kind of sleeping Venus seemed Dudu ...But she was pensive more than melancholy ...
The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was
holy.
Unconscious, albeit turned of quick seventeen.
Canto vi. 42-44 (1824).
Duenna (The), a comic opera by R. B. Sheridan (1773). Margaret, the duenna, is placed in charge of Louisa, the daughter of Don Jerome. Louisa is in love with Don Antonio, a poor nobleman of Seville; but her father resolves to give her in marriage to Isaac Mendoza, a rich Portuguese Jew. As Louisa will not consent to her father's arrangement, he locks her up in her chamber, and turns the duenna out of doors, but in his impetuous rage he in reality turns his daughter out, and locks up the duenna. Isaac arrives, is introduced to the lady, elopes with her, and is duly married. Louisa flees to the convent of St. Catharine, and writes to her father for his consent to her marriage to the man of her choice; and Don Jerome supposing she means the Jew, gives it freely, and she marries Antonio. When they meet at breakfast at the old man's house, he finds that Isaac has married the duenna, Louisa has married Antonio, and his son has married Clara; but the old man is reconciled and says, "I am an obstinate old fellow, when I'm in the wrong, but you shall all find me steady in the right."
Duessa (false faith), is the personification of the papacy. She meets the Red Cross Knight in the society of Sansfoy (infidelity), and when the knight slays Sansfoy, she turns to flight. Being overtaken, she says her name is Fidessa (true faith), deceives the knight, and conducts him to the palace of Lucif'era, where he encounters Sansjoy (canto 2). Duessa dresses the wounds of the Red Cross Knight, but places Sansjoy under the care of Escula'pius in the infernal regions (canto 4). The Red Cross Knight leaves the palace of Lucifera, and Duessa induces him to drink of the "Enervating Fountain;" Orgoglio then attacks him, and would have slain him if Duessa had not promised to be his bride. Having cast the Red Cross Knight into a dungeon, Orgoglio dresses his bride in most gorgeous array, puts on her head "a triple crown" (the tiara of the pope), and sets her on a monster beast with "seven heads" (the seven hills of Rome). Una (truth) sends Arthur (England) to rescue the captive knight, and Arthur slays Orgoglio, wounds the beast, releases the knight, and strips Duessa of her finery (the Reformation); whereupon she flies into the wilderness to conceal her shame (canto 7).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. (1590).
Duessa, in bk. v., allegorizes Mary queen of Scots. She is arraigned by Zeal before Queen Mercilla (Elizabeth), and charged with high treason. Zeal says he shall pass by for the present "her counsels false conspired" with Blandamour (earl of Northumberland), and Paridel (earl of Westmoreland), leaders of the insurrection of 1569, as that wicked plot came to naught, and the false Duessa was now "an untitled queen." When Zeal had finished, an old sage named the Kingdom's Care (Lord Burghley) spoke, and opinions were divided. Authority, Law of Nations, and Religion thought Duessa guilty, but Pity, Danger, Nobility of Birth, and Grief pleaded in her behalf. Zeal then charges the prisoner with murder, sedition, adultery, and lewd impiety; whereupon the sentence of the court is given against her. Queen Mercilla, being called on to pass sentence, is so overwhelmed with grief that she rises and leaves the court.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 9 (1596).
Duff (Jamie), the idiot boy attending Mrs. Bertram's funeral.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Duke (My lord), a duke's servant, who assumes the airs and title of his master, and is addressed as "Your grace," or "My lord duke." He was first a country cowboy, then a wig-maker's apprentice, and then a duke's servant. He could neither write nor read, but was a great coxcomb, and set up for a tip-top fine gentleman.—Rev. J. Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1763).
Duke (The Iron), the duke of Wellington, also called "The Great Duke" (1769-1852).
Duke and Duchess, in pt. II. of Don Quixote, who play so many sportive tricks on "the Knight of the Woeful Countenance," were Don Carlos de Borja, count of Ficallo, and Donna Maria of Aragon, duchess of Villaher'mora, his wife, in whose right the count held extensive estates on the banks of the Ebro, among others a country seat called Buena'via, the place referred to by Cervantês (1615).
Duke of Mil'an, a tragedy by Massinger (1622). A play evidently in imitation of Shakespeare's Othello. "Sforza" is Othollo; "Francesco," Iago: "Marcelia," Desdemona: and "Eugenia," Emilia. Sforza "the More" [sic] doted on Marcelia his young bride, who amply returned his love. Francesco, Sforza's favorite, being left lord protector of Milan during a temporary absence of the duke, tried to corrupt Marcelia; but failing in this, accused her to Sforza of wantonness. The duke, believing his favorite, slew his beautiful young bride. The cause of Francesco's villainy was that the duke had seduced his sister Eugenia.
Shakespeare's play was produced 1611, about eleven years before Massinger's tragedy. In act v. 1 we have "Men's injuries we write in
brass," which brings to mind Shakespeare's line, "Men's evil manners
live in brass, their virtues we write in water."
(Cumberland reproduced this drama, with some alterations, in 1780).
Duke Combe, William Combe, author of Dr. Syntax, and translator of The Devil upon Two Sticks, from Le Diable Boiteux of Lesage. He was called duke from the splendor of his dress, the profusion of his table, and the magnificence of his deportment. The last fifteen years of his life were spent in the King's Bench (1743-1823).
Dulcama'ra (Dr.), an itinerant physician, noted for his pomposity; very boastful, and a thorough charlatan.—Donizetti, L'Elisire d'Amore (1832).
Dulcarnon. (See DHU'L KARNEIN.)
Dulcifluous Doctor, Antony Andreas, a Spanish minorite of the Duns Scotus school (_-1320).
Dulcin'ea del Tobo'so, the lady of Don Quixote's devotion. She was a fresh-colored country wench, of an adjacent village, with whom the don was once in love. Her real name was Aldonza Lorenzo. Her father was Lorenzo Corchuelo, and her mother Aldonza Nogalês. Sancho Panza describes her in pt. I. ii. 11.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. I (1605).
"Her flowing hair," says the knight, "is ofgold, her forehead the Elysian fields, her eyebrows
two celestial arches, her eyes a pair of
glorious suns, her cheeks two beds of roses, her
lips two coral portals that guard her teeth of
Oriental pearl, her neck is alabaster, her hands
are polished ivory, and her bosom whiter than
the new-fallen snow."
Ask you for whom my tears do flow so?
'Tis for Dulcinea del Toboso.
Don Quixote, I iii. 11 (1605).
Dull, a constable.—Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost (1594).
Du'machus. The impenitent thief is so called in Longfellow's Golden Legend, and the penitent thief is called Titus.
In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemis, the impenitent thief is called Gestas, and the penitent one Dysmas.
In the story of Joseph of Arimathea, the impenitent thief is called Gesmas, and the penitent one Dismas.
Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas.A Monkish Charm to Scare away Thieves.
Dismas in paradise would dwell,
But Gesmas chose his lot in hell.
Dumain, a French lord in attendance on Ferdinand, king of Navarre. He agreed to spend three years with the king in study, during which time no woman was to approach the court. Of course, the compact was broken as soon as made and Dumain fell in love with Katharine. When however, he proposed marriage, Katharine deferred her answer for twelve months and a day, hoping by that time "his face would be more bearded," for, she said, "I'll mark no words that smoothfaced wooers say."
The young Dumain, a well-accomplished youth,Of all that virtue love for virtue loved;
Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill;
For he hath wit to make an ill shape good,
And shape to win grace, tho' he had no wit.
Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act ii. sc. I (1594).
Du'marin, the husband of Cym'oent, and father of Marinel.—Spenser, Fairy Queen, in. 4.
Dumas (Alexandre D.), in 1845, published sixty volumes.
The most skillful copyist, writing 12 hours a day, can with difficulty do 3,900 letters in an hour, which gives him 46,800 per diem, or 60 pages of a romance. Thus he could copy 5 volumes octavo per month and 60 in a year, supposing that he did not lose one second of time, but worked without ceasing 12 hours every day thoughout the entire year.—De Mirecourt, Dumas Père (1867).
Dumb Ox (The). St. Thomas Aqui'nas was so called by his fellow-students at Cologne, from his taciturnity and dreaminess. Sometimes called "The Great Dumb Ox of Sicily." He was larged-bodied, fat, with a brown complexion, and a large head partly bald.
Of a truth, it almost makes me laughTo see men leaving the golden grain,
To gather in piles the pitiful chaff
That old Peter Lombard thrashed with his
brain,
To have it caught up and tossed again
On the horns of the Dumb Ox of Cologne.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
(Thomas Aquinas was subsequently called "The Angelic Doctor," and the "Angel of the Schools," 1224-1274.)
Dumbiedikes (The old laird of), an exacting landlord, taciturn and obstinate.
The laird of Dumbiedikes had hitherto been moderate in his exactions ... but when a stout, active young fellow appeared ... he began to think so broad a pair of shoulders might bear an additional burden. He regulated, indeed, his management of his dependants as carters do their horses, never failing to clap an additional brace of hundred-weights on a new and willing horse.—Chap. 8 (1818).
The young laird of Dumbiedikes (3 syl.), a bashful young laird, in love with Jeanie Deans, but Jeanie marries the Presbyterian minister, Reuben Butler.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Dum'merar (The Rev. Dr.), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Dummy or SUPERNUMERARY. "Celimène," in the Précieuses Ridicules, does not utter a single word, although she enters with other characters on the stage.
Dumtous'tie (Mr. Daniel), a young barrister, and nephew of Lord Bladderskate.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Dun (Squire), the hangman who came between Richard Brandon and Jack Ketch.
And presently a halter got,Made of the best strong hempen teer,
And ere a cat could lick his ear,
Had tied him up with as much art
As Dun himself could do for's heart.
Cotton, Virgil Travestied, iv. (1677).
Dun Cow (The), slain by Sir Guy of Warwick on Dunsmore Heath, was the cow kept by a giant in Mitchel Fold [middle-fold], Shropshire. Its milk was inexhaustible. One day an old woman, who had filled her pail, wanted to fill her sieve also with its milk, but this so enraged the cow that it broke away, and wandered to Dunsmore, where it was killed.
A huge tusk, probably an elephant's, is still shown at
Warwick Castle as one of the horns of this wonderful cow.
Dunbar and March (George, earl of), who deserted to Henry IV. of England, because the betrothal of his daughter Elizabeth to the king's eldest son was broken off by court intrigue.
Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of the earl of Dunbar and March, betrothed to Prince Robert, duke of Rothsay, eldest son of Robert III. of Scotland. The earl of Douglas contrived to set aside this betrothal in favor of his own daughter Elizabeth, who married the prince, and became duchess of Rothsay.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Duncan "the Meek," king of Scotland, was son of Crynin, and grandson of Malcolm II., whom he succeeded on the throne, Macbeth was the son of the younger sister of Duncan's mother, and hence Duncan and Macbeth were first cousins. Sueno, king of Norway, having invaded Scotland, the command of the army was entrusted to Macbeth and Banquo, and so great was their success that only ten men of the invading army were left alive. After the battle, King Duncan paid a visit to Macbeth in his castle of Inverness, and was there murdered by his host. The successor to the throne was Duncan's son Malcolm, but Macbeth usurped the crown.—Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606).
Duncan (Captain), of Knockdunder, agent at Roseneath to the Duke of Buckingham.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.). Duncan (Duroch), a follower of Donald Beau Lean.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Dunce, wittily or willfully derived from Duns, surnamed "Scotus."
In the Gaelic, donas [means] "bad luck" or in contempt, "a poor ignorant creature." The Lowland Scotch has donsie, "unfortunate, stupid."—Notes and Queries, 225, September 21, 1878.
Dun'ciad ("the dunce epic"), a satire by Alexander Pope—written to revenge himself upon his literary enemies. The plot is this: Eusden the poet-laureate being dead, the goddess of Dulness elects Colley Cibber as his successor. The installation is celebrated by games, the most important being the "reading of two voluminous works, one in verse and the other in prose, without nodding." King Cibber is then taken to the temple of Dulness, and lulled to sleep on the lap of the goddess. In his dream he sees the triumphs of the empire. Finally the goddess having established the kingdom on a firm basis, Night and Chaos are restored, and the poem ends (1728-42).
Dundas, (Starvation), Henry Dundas, first Lord Melville. So called because he introduced into the language the word starvation, in a speech on American affairs (1775).
Dunder (Sir David), of Dunder Hall, near Dover. An hospitable, conceited, whimsical old gentleman, who forever interrupts a speaker with "Yes, yes, I know it," or "Be quiet, I know it." He rarely finishes a sentence, but runs on in this style: "Dover is an odd sort of a—eh?" "It is a dingy kind of a—humph!" "The ladies will be happy to—eh?" He is the father of two daughters, Harriet and Kitty, whom he accidentally detects in the act of eloping with two guests. To prevent a scandal, he sanctions the marriages, and discovers that the two lovers, both in family and fortune, are suitable sons-in-law.
Lady Dunder, fat, fair, and forty if not more. A country lady, more fond of making jams and pastry than doing the fine lady. She prefers cooking to croquet, and making the kettle sing to singing herself. (See HARRIET and KITTY.)—G. Colman, Ways and Means (1788).
William Dowton [1764-1851] played "Sir Anthony Absolute," "Sir Peter Teazle," "Sir David Dunder," and "Sir John Falstaff," and looked the very characters he represented.—W. Donaldson, Recollections.
"Sir Anthony Absolute," in The Rivals (Sheridan); "Sir
Peter Teazle," in The School for Scandal (Sheridan).
Dundrear'y (Lord), a good natured, indolent, blundering, empty-headed swell; the chief character in Tom Taylor's dramatic piece entitled Our American Cousin. He is greatly characterized by his admiration of "Brother Sam," for his incapacity to follow out the sequence of any train of thought, and for supposing all are insane who differ from him.
(Mr. Sothern of the Haymarket created this character by his power of conception and the genius of his acting.)
Dunios (The count de), in Sir W. Scott's novel of Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Dunois the Brave, hero of the famous French song, set to music by Queen Hortense, mother of Napoleon III., and called Partant pour Syrie. His prayer to the Virgin, when he left for Syria, was:
Que j'aime la plus belle,Et sois le plus vaillant!
He behaved with great valor, and the count whom he followed gave him his daughter to wife. The guests, on the bridal day, all cried aloud:
Amour à la plus belle!Honneur an plus vaillant!
Words by M. de Laborde (1809).
Dun'over, a poor gentleman introduced by Sir W. Scott in the introduction of The Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Dunrommath, lord of Uthal, one of the Orkneys. He carried off Oith'ona, daughter of Nuath (who was engaged to be married to Gaul, son of Morni), and was slain by Gaul in fight.
Gaul advanced in his arms. Dunrommath shrunk behind his people. But the spear of Gaul pierced the gloomy chief; his sword lopped off his head as it bended in death.—Ossian, Oithoha.
Duns Scotus, called "The Subtle Doctor," said to have been born at Dunse, in Berwickshire, or Dunstance, in Northumberland (1265-1308).
John Scotus, called Erigena ("Erin-born"), is quite another person (_-886). Erigena is sometimes called "Scotus the Wise," and lived four centuries before "The Subtle Doctor."
Dun-Shunner (Augustus), a nom de plnme of Professor William Edmonstoune Aytoun, in Blackwood's Magazine (1813-1865).
Duns'tan (St.), patron saint of goldsmiths and jewellers. He was a smith, and worked up all sorts of metals in his cell near Glastonbury Church. It was in this cell that, according to legend, Satan had a gossip with the saint, and Dunstan caught his sable majesty by the nose with a pair of red-hot forceps.
Dunthal'mo, lord of Teutha (the Tweed). He went "in his pride against Rathmor," chief of Clutha (the Clyde), but being overcome, "his rage arose," and he went "by night with his warriors" and slew Rathmor in his banquet hall. Touched with pity for his two young sons (Calthon and Colmar), he took them to his own house and brought them up. "They bent the bow in his presence, and went forth to his wars." But observing that their countenances fell, Dunthalmo began to be suspicious of the young men, and shut them up in two separate caves on the banks of the Tweed, where neither "the sun penetrated by day nor the moon by night." Colmal (the daughter of Dunthalmo), disguised as a young warrior, loosed Calthon from his bonds, and fled with him to the court of Fingal, to crave aid for the liberation of Colmar. Fingal sent his son Ossian with 300 men to effect this object, but Dunthalmo, hearing of their approach, gathered together his strength and slew Colmar. He also seized Calthon, mourning for his brother, and bound him to an oak. At daybreak Ossian moved to the fight, slew Dunthalmo, and having released Calthon, "gave him to the white-bosomed Colmal."—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.
Dupeley (Sir Charles), a man who prided himself on his discernment of character, and defied any woman to entangle him in matrimony; but he mistook Lady Bab Lardoon, a votary of fashion, for an unsophisticated country maiden, and proposed marriage to her.
"I should like to see the woman," he says,"that could entangle me ... Shew me a woman
...and at the first glance I will discover the
whole extent of her artifice."—Burgoyne, The
Maid of the Oaks, i. I.
Duprè [Du.Pray'], a servant of Mr. Darlemont, who assists his master in abandoning Julio, count of Harancour (his ward) in the streets of Paris, for the sake of becoming possessor of his ward's property. Duprè repents and confesses the crime.—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).
Duran'dal, the sword of Orlando, the workmanship of fairies. So admirable was its temper that it would "cleave the Pyrenees at a blow."—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516)
Durandar'te (4 syl.), a knight who fell at Roncesvallês (4 syl.). Durandartê loved Belerma whom he served for seven years, and was then slain; but in dying he requested his cousin Montesi'nos to take his heart to Belerma.
Sweet in manners, fair in favor,Mild in temper, fierce in fight.
Lewis.
Dur'den (Dame), a notable country gentlewoman, who kept five men-servants "to use the spade and flail," and five women-servants "to carry the milken-pail." The five men loved the five maids. Their names were:
Moll and Bet, and Doll and Kate, and Dorothy Draggletail;John and Dick, and Joe and Jack, and Humphrey with his flail.
A Well-known Glee.
(In Bleak House, by C. Dickens, Esther Summerson is playfully called "Dame Durden.")
Duretete (Captain), a rather heavy gentleman who takes lessons in gallantry from his friend, young Mirabel. Very bashful with ladies, and for ever sparring with Bisarre, who teazes him unmercifully [Dure-tait, Be-zar'].—G. Farquhar, The Inconstant (1702).
Durinda'na, Orlando's sword, given him by his cousin Malagi'gi. This sword and the horn Olifant were buried at the feet of the hero.
Charlemagne's sword "Joyeuse" was also buried with him, and
"Tizo'na" was buried with the Cid.
Duroti'ges (4. syl.). Below the Hedui (those of Somersetshire) came the Durotigês, sometimes called Mor'ini. Their capital was Du'rinum (Dorchester), and their territory extended to Vindel'ia (Portland Isle).—Richard of Cireneestre, Ancient State of Britain, vi. 15.
The Durotigês on the Dorsetian sand.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xvi. (1613).
Durward (Quentin), hero and title of a novel by Sir W. Scott. Quentin Durward is the nephew of Ludovic Lesly (surnamed LeBalafré). He enrolls himself in the Scottish guard, a company of archers in the pay of Louis XI., at Plessis les Tours, and saves the king in a boar-hunt. When Lèigeis is assaulted by insurgents, Quentin Durward and the Countess Isabelle de Croye escape on horseback. The countess publicly refuses to marry the duc d'Orlèans, and ultimately marries the young Scotchman.
Dusronnal, one of the two steeds of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes. The other was "Sulin-Sifadda" (q. v.).
Before the left side of the car is seen thesnorting horse. The thin-maned, high-headed,
strong-hoofed, fleet, bounding son of the hill.
His name Dusronnal, among the stormy sons of
the sword ... the [two] steeds like wreaths of
mist fly over the vales. The wildness of deer is
in their course, the strength of eagles descending
on the prey.—Ossian, Fingal i.
Dutch School of painting, noted for its exactness of detail and truthfullness to life:—For Portraits: Rembrandt, Bol, Flinck, Hals, and Vanderhelst.
For Conversation pieces: Gerhard Douw, Terburg, Metzu, Mieris, and Netscher.
For low life: Ostade Brower and Jan Steen.
For landscapes: Ruysdael, Hobbema, Cuyp, Vanderneer (moonlight scenes), Berchem and A. Both.
For battle scenes: Wouvermans and Huchtenburg.
For marine pieces: Vandevelde and Bakhuizen.
For still life and flowers: Kalf, A. van Utrecht, Van Huysum, and De Heem.
Dutch Housewifery. In his papers upon Old New York (1846), John Fanning Watson pays a just tribute to Knickerbocker housekeepers.
"The cleanliness of Dutch housewifery wasalways extreme. Everything had to submit to
scrubbing and scouring; dirt in no form could
be endured by them, and dear as water was in
the city, where it was generally sold, still it was
in perpetual requisition. It was their honest
pride to see a well-furnished dresser, showing
copper and pewter in shining splendor as if for
ornament rather than for use. In all this they
differed widely from the Germans, a people with
whom they have been erroneously and often
confounded. Roost fowls and ducks are not
more different. As water draws one it repels
the other."
Dutton (Mrs. Dolly), dairy-maid to the Duke of Argyll.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time George II.).
Dwarf. The following are celebrated dwarfs of real life:—
ANDROMEDA, 2 feet 4 inches. One of Julia's free maids.
ARISTRATOS, the poet. "So small," says Athenaeos, "that no one could see him."
BEBE (2 syl), 2 feet 9 inches. The dwarf of Stanislas, king of Poland (died 1764). BORUWLASKI (Count Joseph), 2 feet 4 inches. Died aged 98 (1739-1837). He had a brother and a sister both dwarfs.
BUCHINGER (Matthew), who had no arms or legs, but fins from the shoulders. He could draw, write, thread needles, and play the hautboy. Fac-similes of his writing are preserved among the Harleian MSS. (born 1674-_).
CHUNG, recently exhibited with Chang the giant.
COLO'BRI (Prince), of Sleswig, 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. (1851).
CONOPAS, 2 feet 4 inches. One of the dwarfs of Julia, niece of Augustus.
COPPERNIN, the dwarf of the princess of Wales, mother of George III. The last court-dwarf in England.
CRACHAMI (Caroline), a Sicilian, born at Palermo, 20 inches. Her skeleton is preserved in Hunter's Museum (1814-1824).
DECKER or DUCKER (John), 2 feet 6 inches. An Englishman (1610).
FARREL (Owen), 3 feet 9 inches. Born at Cavan. He was of enormous strength (died 1742).
FERRY (Nicholas), usually called Bébé, contemporary with Boruwlaski. He was a native of France. Height at death, 2 feet 9 inches (died 1737).
GIBSON (Richard) and his wife Anne Shepherd. Neither of them 4 feet. Gibson was a noted portrait painter, and a page of the back-stairs in the court of Charles I. The king honored the wedding with his presence; and they had nine children (1615-1690).
Design or chance makes others wive,But Nature did this match contrive.
Waller (1642).
HUDSON (Sir Jeffrey), 18 inches. He was born at Oakham, in Rutlandshire (1619—1678).
LUCIUS, 2 feet; weight 17 lbs. The dwarf of the Emperor Augustus. PHILE'TAS, a poet, so small that "he wore leaden shoes to prevent being blown away by the wind" (died B.C. 280).
PHILIPS (Calvin) weighed less than 2 lbs. His thighs were not thicker than a man's thumb. He was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1791.
RITCHIE (David), 3 feet 6 inches. Native of Tweeddale.
SOUVRAY (Therese).
STOBEUIN (C.H.) of Nuremberg was less than 3 feet at the age of 20. His father, mother, brothers, and sisters were all under the medium height.
THUMB (General Tom). His real name was Charles S. Stratton; 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. at the age of 25. Born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1832.
THUMB (Tom), 2 feet 4 inches. A Dutch dwarf.
XIT, the royal dwarf of Edward VI.
Nicephorus Calistus tells us of an Egyptian dwarf "not
bigger than a partridge."
Dwarf of Lady Clerimond was named Pac'olet. She had a winged horse, which carried off Valentine, Orson, and Clerimond from the dungeon of of Ferragus to the palace of King Pepin; and subsequently carried Valentine to the palace of Alexander, his father, emperor of Constantinople. Valentine and Orson (fifteenth century).
Dwarf (The Black), a fairy of malignant propensities, and considered the author of all the mischief of the neighborhood. In Sir W. Scott's novel so called, this imp is introduced under various aliases, as Sir Edward Mauley, Elshander the recluse, cannie Elshie, and the Wise Wight of Micklestane Moor.
Dwarf Alberich, the guardian of the Niebelungen hoard. He is twice vanquished by Siegfried, who gets possession of his cloak of invisibility, and makes himself master of the hoard.—The Niebelungen Lied (1210).
Dwarf Peter, an allegorical romance by Ludwick Tieck. The dwarf is a castle spectre, who advises and aids the family, but all his advice turns out evil, and all his aid is productive of trouble. The dwarf is meant for "the law in our members, which wars against the law of our minds, and brings us into captivity to the law of sin."
Dwining (Henbane), a pottingar or apothecary.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Dying Sayings (real or traditional):
ADDISON. See how a Christian dies! or See in what peace a Christian can die!
ANAXAGORAS. Give the boys a holiday.
[||]AERIA. My Paetus, it is not painful.
[ç] AUGUSTUS. Vos plaudite. (After asking how he had acted his part in life.)—Cicero.
BEAUFORT (Cardinal Henry). I pray you all, pray for me.
BERRY (Mde. de). Is not this dying with courage and true greatness?
BRONTE (the brother of the authoresses). While there is life there is will. (He died standing.)
BYRON. I must sleep now.
[§] CÆSAR (Julius). Et tu, Brute! (To Brutus, when he stabbed him.)
[*] CHARLEMAGNE. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
CHARLES I. (of England). Remember! (To William Juxon, archbishop of Canterbury).
CHARLES II. (of England). Don't let poor Nellie starve! (Nell Gwynne).
CHARLES V. Ah! Jesus!
CHARLES IX. (of France). Nurse, nurse, what murder! what blood! Oh! I have done wrong. God pardon me! CHARLOTTE (The Princess). You make me drink. Pray, leave me quiet. I find it affects my head.
CHESTERFIELD. Give Day Rolles a chair.
COLUMBUS. Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!
CROME (John), O Hobbima, Hobbima, how I do love thee!
CROMWELL. My desire is to make what haste I may to be gone.
[**]DEMONAX (the philosopher). You may go home, the show is over.—Lucian.
ELDEN (Lord). It matters not where I am going, whether the weather be cold or hot.
FONTENELLE. I suffer nothing, but feel a sort of difficulty in living longer.
FRANKLIN. A dying man can do nothing easy.
GAINSBOROUGH. We are all going to heaven, and Vandyke is of the company.
GEORGE IV. Whatty, what is this? It is death, my boy. They have deceived me. (Said to his page, Sir Wathen Waller).
GIBBON. Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!
[¶] GOETHE. More light!
GREGORY VII. I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.
[*] GREY (Lady Jane). Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
GROTIUS. Be serious.
HADYN. God preserve the emperor!
HALLER. The artery ceases to beat.
HAZLITT. I have led a happy life.
HOBBES. Now am I about to take my last voyage—a great leap in the dark.
[||] HUNTER (Dr. William). If I had strength to hold a pen, I would write down how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die.
IRVING. If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen.
JAMES V. (of Scotland). It came with a lass, and will go with a lass (i.e. the Scotch crown).
JEFFERSON (of America). I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country.
JOHNSON (Dr.). God bless you, my dear! (To Miss Morris).
KNOX. Now it is come.
LOUIS I. Huz! huz! Bouquet says: "He turned his face to the wall; and twice cried, 'Huz! huz!' (out, out), and then died."
LOUIS IX. I will enter now into the house of the Lord.
[||] Louis XIV. Why weep ye! Did you think I should live for ever? (Then after a pause) I thought dying had been harder.
[**] Louis XVII. A king should die standing.
MAHOMET. O, Allah, be it so! Henceforth among the glorious host of paradise.
MARGARET (of Scotland, wife of Louis XI. of France). Fi de la vie! qu'on ne m'en parle plus.
MARIE ANTOINETTE. Farewell, my children, for ever. I go to your father.
[§] MASANIELLO. Ungratetul traitors! (Said to the assassins.)
MATHEWS (Charles). I am ready.
MIRABEAU. Let me die to the sounds of delicious music.
MOODY (the actor):
Reason thus with life,If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep.
Shakespeare.
MOORE (Sir John). I hope my country will do me justice.
NAPOLEON I. Mon Dieu! La nation Francaise! Tête d'armée!
NAPOLEON III. Were you at Sedan? (To Dr. Conneau.)
NELSON. I thank God I have done my duty.
NERO. Qualis artifex pereo!
PALMER (the actor). There is another and a better country. (This he said on the stage, it being a line in the part he was acting. From The Stranger.)
PITT (William). O, my country, how I love thee!
PIZARRO. Jesu!
POPE. Friendship itself is but a part of virtue.
[**] RABELAIS. Let down the curtain, the farce is over.
SAND (George). Laisez la verdure. (Meaning, "Leave the tomb green, do not cover it over with bricks or stone." George Sand was Mde. Dudevant.)
SCHILLER. Many things are growing plain and clear to my understanding.
SCOTT (Sir Walter). God bless you all! (To his family.) SIDNEY (Algernon). I know that my Redeemer liveth. I die for the good old cause.
SOCRATES. Crito, we owe a cock to Æsculapius.
STAEL (Mde. de). I have loved God, my father, and liberty.
[¶] TALMA. The worst is, I cannot see.
[*] TASSO. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
THURLOW (Lord). I'll be shot if I don't believe I'm dying.
[**] VESPASIAN. A king should die standing.
WEBSTER. I still live!
WILLIAM III. (of England). Can this last long? (To his physician).
WILLIAM OF NASSAU. O God, have mercy upon me, and upon this poor nation! (This was said as he was shot by Balthasar Gerard, 1584).
WOLFE (General). What! do they run already? Then I die happy.
WYATT (Thomas) That which I then said I unsay. That which I now say is true. (This to the priest who reminded him that he had accused the Princess Elizabeth of treason to the council, and that he now alleged her to be innocent.)
Those names preceded by similar pilcrows indicate that
the "dying words" ascribed to them are identical or nearly so. Thus the
[*] before Charlemagne, Columbus, Lady Jane Grey, and Tasso, show that
their words were alike. So with the before Augustus, Demonax, and
Rabelais; the [**] before Louis XVIII. and Vespasian; the [§] before
Cæsar and Masaniello; the [||] before Arria, Hunter, and Louis XIV.;
and the [¶] before Goethe and Talma.
Dys'colus, Moroseness personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). "He nothing liked or praised." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, duskolos, "fretful.")
Dysmas, Dismas, or Demas, the penitent thief crucified with our Lord. The impenitent thief is called Gesmas or Gestas.
Alta petit Dismas, infelix innma Gesmas.Part of a Charm.
To paradise thief Dismas went,
But Gesmas died impenitent.
ADBURGH, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England, and Eadgifu, his wife. When three years old, her father placed on the child some rings and bracelets, and showed her a chalice and a book of the Gospels, asking which she would have. The child chose the chalice and book, and Edward was pleased that "the child would be a daughter of God." She became a nun, and lived and died in Winchester.
Eagle (The), ensign of the Roman legion. Before the Cimbrian war, the wolf, the horse, and the boar were also borne as ensigns, but Marius abolished these, and retained the eagle only, hence called emphatically "The Roman Bird."
Eagle (The Theban), Pindar, a native of Thebes (B.C. 518-442).
Eagle of Brittany, Bertrand Duguesclin, constable of France (1320-1380).
Eagle of Divines, Thomas Aqui'nas (1224-1274).
Eagle of Meaux [Mo], Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, bishop of Meaux (1627-1704).
Eagle of the Doctors of France, Pierre d'Ailly, a great astrologer, who maintained that the stars foretold the great flood (1350-1425).
Earnscliffe (Patrick), the young laird of Earnscliffe.—Sir W. Scott, Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Eastward Ho! a comedy by Chapman, Marston, and Ben Jonson. For this drama the three authors were imprisoned "for disrespect to their sovereign lord, King James I." (1605). (See WESTWARD Ho!).
Easty (Mary), a woman of Salem (Mass), convicted of witchcraft, sends before her death a petition to the court, asserting her innocence. Of her accusers she says: "I know, and the Lord, He knows (as will shortly appear), that they belie me, and so I question not but they do others. The Lord alone, who is the searcher of all hearts knows, as I shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least thing of witchcraft. Therefore I cannot, I durst not, belie my own soul."—Robert Caleb, More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700).
Easy (Midshipman), hero of Marryatt's sea-story of same name.
Easy (Sir Charles), a man who hates trouble; "so lazy, even in his pleasures, that he would rather lose the woman of his pursuit, than go through any trouble in securing or keeping her." He says he is resolved in future to "follow no pleasure that rises above the degree of amusement." "When once a woman comes to reproach me with vows, and usage, and such stuff, I would as soon hear her talk of bills, bonds, and ejectments; her passion becomes as troublesome as a law-suit, and I would as soon converse with my solicitor." (act iii.).
Lady Easy, wife of Sir Charles, who dearly loves him, and knows all his "naughty ways," but never shows the slightest indication of ill-temper or jealousy. At last she wholly reclaims him.—Colley Cibber, The Careless Husband (1704).
Eaton Theophilus (Governor). In his eulogy upon Governor Eaton, Dr. Cotton Mather lays stress upon the distinction drawn by that eminent Christian man between stoicism and resignation.
"There is a difference between a sullen silence or a stupid senselessness under the hand of GOD, and a childlike submission thereunto."
"In his daily life", we are told, "he was affable, courteous, and generally pleasant, but grave perpetually, and so courteous and circumspect in his discourses, and so modest in his expressions, that it became a proverb for incontestable truth,"—"Governor Eaton said it."—Cotton Mather, Magnolia Christi Americana (1702).
Eberson (Ear), the young son of William de la Marck, "The Wild Boar of Ardennes."—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Eblis, monarch of the spirits of evil. Once an angel of light, but, refusing to worship Adam, he lost his high estate. Before his fall he was called Aza'zel. The Korân says: "When We [God] said unto the angels, 'Worship Adam,' they all worshipped except Eblis, who refused ... and became of the number of unbelievers" (ch. ii.).
Ebon Spear (Knight of the), Britomart, daughter of King Ryence of Wales.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. (1590).
Ebrauc, son of Mempric (son of Guendolen and Madden) mythical king of England. He built Kaer-brauc [York], about the time that David reigned in Judea.—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 7 (1142).
By Ebrauk's powerful handYork lifts her towers aloft.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Ecclesiastical History (The Father of), Eusebius of Cæsarea (264-340).
His Historia Fcclesiastica, in ten books, begins with
the birth of Christ and concludes with the defeat of Licinius by
Constantine, A.D. 324.
Echeph'ron, an old soldier, who rebuked the advisers of King Picrochole (3 syl.), by relating to them the fable of The Man and his Ha'p'orth of Milk. The fable is as follows:—
A shoemaker brought a ha'poth of milk: with this he was going to make butter; the butter was to buy a cow; the cow was to have a calf; the calf was to be changed for a colt; and the man was to become a nabob; only he cracked his jug, spilt his milk, and went supperless to bed.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, i. 33 (1533.)
This fable is told in the Arabian Nights ("The Barber's Fifth Brother, Alnas-char.") Lafontaine has put it into verse, Perrette et le Pot au Lait. Dodsley has the same, The Milk-maid and her Pail of Milk.
Echo, in classic poetry, is a female, and in English also; but in Ossian echo is called "the son of the rock."—Songs of Selma.
Eck'hart (The Trusty), a good servant, who perishes to save his master's children from the mountain fiends.—Louis Tieck.
(Carlyle has translated this tale into English.)
Eclecta, the "Elect" personified in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher. She is the daughter of Intellect and Voleta (free-will), and ultimately becomes the bride of Jesus Christ, "the bridegroom" (canto xii., 1633).
But let the Kentish lad [Phineas Fletcher] ... that sung and crowned Eclecta's hymen with ten thousand flowers Of choicest praise ... be the sweet pipe.
Giles Fletcher, Christ's Triumph, etc, (1610).
École des Femmes, a comedy of Molière, the plot of which is borrowed from the novelletti of Ser Giovanni (1378.)
Ector (Sir), lord of many parts of England and Wales, and foster-father of Prince Arthur. His son Sir Key or Kay, was seneschal or steward of Arthur when he became king.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3 (1470.)
Sir Ector and Sir Ector de Maris were two distinct persons.
Ector de Maris (Sir), brother "of Sir Launcelot" of Benwick, i.e. Brittany.
Then Sir Ector threw his shield, his sword, and his helm from him, and ... he fell down in a swoon; and when he awaked, it were hard for any tongue to tell the doleful complaints [lamentations] that he made for his brother. "Ah, Sir Launcelot" said he "head of all Christian knights." ... etc.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 176 (1470.)
Eden (A Journey to the land of), Col. William Evelyn Byrd of Westover Virginia gives this name to a tract of Southern Virginia surveyed under his direction and visited by him in one of his numerous expeditions for the good of the young colony.
(Colonel Byrd laid out upon his own ground the cities of Richmond and Petersburgh, Va.)—William Evelyn Byrd, Westover MSS. (1728-39).
Eden, in America. A dismal swamp, the climate of which generally proved fatal to the poor dupes who were induced to settle there through the swindling transactions of General Scadder and General Choke. So dismal and dangerous was the place, that even Mark Tapley was satisfied to have found at last a place where he could "come out jolly with credit."—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Edenhall (The Luck of) an old painted goblet, left by the fairies on St. Cuthbert's Well in the garden of Edenhall. The superstition is that if ever this goblet is lost or broken, there will be no more luck in the family. The goblet is in possession of Sir Christopher Musgrave, bart. Edenhall, Cumberland.
Longfellow has a poem on The Luck of Edenhall,
translated from Uhland.
Edgar (959-775), "king of all the English," was not crowned till he had reigned thirteen years (A.D. 973). Then the ceremony was performed at Bath. After this he sailed to Chester, and eight of his vassal kings came with their fleets to pay him homage, and swear fealty to him by land and sea. The eight are Kenneth (king of Scots), Malcolm (of Cumberland), Maccus (of the Isles), and five Welsh princes, whose names were Dufnal, Siferth, Huwal, Jacob, and Juchil. The eight kings rowed Edgar in a boat (while he acted as steersman) from Chester to St. John's, where they offered prayer and then returned.
At Chester, while he, [Edgar] lived at more than kingly charge.Eight tributary kings they rowed him in his barge.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. (1613).
Edgar, son of Gloucester, and his lawful heir. He was disinherited by Edmund, natural son of the earl.—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).
This was one of the characters of Robert Wilks
(1670-1732), and also of Charles Kemble (1774-1854).
Edgar, master of Ravenswood, son of Allan of Ravenswood (a decayed Scotch nobleman). Lucy Ashton, being attacked by a wild bull, is saved by Edgar, who shoots it; and the two falling in love with each other, plight their mutual troth, and exchange love-tokens at the "Mermaid's Fountain." While Edgar is absent in France on State affairs, Sir William Ashton, being deprived of his office as lord keeper, is induced to promise his daughter Lucy in marriage to Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw, and they are married; but next morning, Bucklaw is found wounded and the bride hidden in the chimney-corner insane. Lucy dies in convulsions, but Bucklaw recovers and goes abroad. Edgar is lost in the quick-sands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy. Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
In the opera, Edgar is made to stab himself.
Edgar, an attendant on Prince Robert of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time Henry IV.).
Edgardo, master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucia di Lammermoor [Lucy Ashton]. While absent in France on State affairs, the lady is led to believe him faithless, and consents to marry the laird of Bucklaw; but she stabs him on the bridal night, goes mad, and dies. Edgardo also stabs himself. Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor (1835).
In the novel called The Bride of Lammermoor, by Sir W. Scott,
Edgar is lost in the quicksands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an
ancient prophecy.
Edgewood (L'Abbe), who attended Louis XVI. to the scaffold, was called "Mons. de Firmount," a corruption of Fairymount, in Longford (Ireland), where the Edgeworths had extensive domains.
Edging (Mistress), a prying, mischief making waiting-woman, in The Careless Husband, by Colly Cibber (1704.) Edith (Leete). Name of the two girls beloved and won by Julian West in his first and second lives.—Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (1888).
Edith, daughter of Baldwin, the tutor of Rollo and Otto, dukes of Normandy.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Bloody Brother (1639).
Edith, the "maid of Lorn" (Argyllshire), was on the point of being married to Lord Ronald, when Robert, Edward, and Isabel Bruce sought shelter at the castle. Edith's brother recognized Robert Bruce, and being in the English interest a quarrel ensued. The abbot refused to marry the bridal pair amidst such discord. Edith fled and in the character of a page had many adventures, but at the restoration of peace, after the battle of Bannockburn, was duly married to Lord Ronald.—Sir W. Scott, Lord of the Isles (1815).
Edith (the lady), mother of Athelstane "the Unready" (thane of Conningsburgh).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Edith [GRANGER], daughter of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton, married at the age of 18 to Colonel Granger of "Ours," who died within two years, when Edith and her mother lived as adventuresses. Edith became Mr. Dombey's second wife, but the marriage was altogether an unhappy one, and she eloped with Mr. Carker to Dijon, where she left him, having taken this foolish step merely to annoy her husband for the slights to which he had subjected her. On leaving Carker she went to live with her cousin Feenix, in the south of England.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).
Edith Plantagenet (The lady), called "The Fair Maid of Anjou," a kinswoman of Richard I., and attendant of Queen Berenga'ria. She married David, earl of Huntingdon (prince royal of Scotland), and is introduced by Sir W. Scott in The Talisman (1825).
Edmund, natural son of the earl of Gloucester. Both Goneril and Regan (daughters of King Lear) were in love with him. Regan, on the death of her husband, designed to marry Edmund, but Goneril, out of jealousy, poisoned her sister Regan.—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).
Edmund Andros. In a letter to English friends (1698) Nathaniel Byfield writes particulars of the revolt in the New England Colonies against the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros.
"We have, also, advice that on Friday lastSir Edmund Andros did attempt to make an
escape in woman's apparel, and passed two
guards and was stopped at the third, being discovered
by his shoes, not having changed
them." Nathaniel Byfield.—An Account of the
Late Revolution in New England (1689).
Edmund Dante (See MONTE CRISTO).
Edo'nian Bane (The), priestesses and other ministers of Bacchus, so called from Edo'nus, a mountain of Thrace, where the rites of the wine-god were celebrated.
Accept the rites your bounty well may claim,Nor heed the scoffing of th' Edonian band.
Akinside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767).
Edric, a domestic at Hereward's barracks.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Edward, brother of Hereward the Varangian guard. He was slain in battle.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus). Edward (Sir). He commits a murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Wilford, a young man who acts as his secretary, was one day caught prying into this chest, and Sir Edward's first impulse was to kill him; but on second thought he swore the young man to secrecy, and told him the story of the murder. Wilford, unable to live under the suspicious eye of Sir Edward, ran away; but was hunted down by Edward, and accused of robbery. The whole transaction now became public, and Wilford was acquitted.—G. Colman, The Iron Chest (1796).
This drama is based on Goodwin's novel of Caleb Williams.
"Williams" is called Wilford in the drama, and "Falkland" is called
Sir Edward.
was wont to commit the most ridiculous
mistakes. Thus when "Sir Edward" says to
"Wilford," "You may have noticed in my
library a chest," he transposes the words thus:
"You may have noticed in my chest a library,"
and the house was convulsed with laughter.—
Russell, Representative Actors (appendix).
Edward II., a tragedy by C. Marlowe (1592), imitated by Shakespeare in his Richard II. (1597). Probably most readers would prefer Marlowe's noble tragedy to Shakespeare's.
Edward IV. of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel entitled Anne of Geierstein (1829).
Edward the Black Prince, a tragedy by W. Shirley (1640). The subject of this drama is the victory of Poitiers.
Yes, Philip lost the battle [Cressy] with the oddsOf three to one. In this [Poitiers]...
The have our numbers more than twelve times
told,
If we can trust report.
Act iii. 2.
Ed'widge, wife of William Tell.—Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (1829).
Edwin "the minstrel," a youth living in romantic seclusion, with a great thirst for knowledge. He lived in Gothic days in the north countrie, and fed his flocks on Scotia's mountains.
And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy,Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye,
Danties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy,
Save one short pipe of rudest ministrelsy;
Silent when glad, affectionate, yet shy ...
And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why.
The neighbors stared and sighed, yet blessed the
lad;
Some deemed him wonderous wise, and some believed
him mad.
Beattie, The Minstrel, 1. (1773).
Edwin and Angeli'na. Angelina was the daughter of a wealthy lord, "beside the Tyne." Her hand was sought in marriage by many suitors, amongst whom was Edwin, "who had neither wealth nor power, but he had both wisdom and worth." Angelina loved him, but "trifled with him," and Edwin, in despair, left her and retired from the world. One day, Angelina, in boy's clothes, asked hospitality at a hermit's cell; she was kindly entertained, told her tale, and the hermit proved to be Edwin. From that hour they never parted more.—Goldsmith, The Hermit.
A correspondent accuses me of having taken this ballad from The Friar of Orders Gray ... but if there is any resemblance between the two, Mr. Percy's ballad is taken from mine. I read my ballad to Mr. Percy, and he told me afterwards that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own.—Signed, O. Goldsmith, 1767.
Edwin and Emma. Emma was a rustic beauty of Stanemore, who loved Edwin "the pride of swains;" but Edwin's sister, out of envy, induced his father, "a sordid man," to forbid any intercourse between Edwin and the cottage. Edwin pined away, and being on the point of death, requested he might be allowed to see Emma. She came and said to him, "My Edwin, live for me;" but on her way home she heard the death bell toll. She just contrived to reach her cottage door, cried to her mother, "He's gone!" and fell down dead at her feet.—Mallet, Edwin and Emma (a ballad).
Ed'yrn, son of Nudd. He ousted the earl of Yn'iol from his earldom, and tried to to win E'nid, the earl's daughter, but failing in this, became the evil genius of the gentle earl. Ultimately, being sent to the court of King Arthur, he became quite a changed man—from a malicious "sparrow-hawk" he was converted into a courteous gentleman.—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Enid").
Efeso (St.), a saint honored in Pisa. He was a Roman officer [Ephesus] in the service of Diocletian, whose reign was marked by a great persecution of the Christians. This Efeso or Ephesus was appointed to see the decree of the emperor against the obnoxious sect carried out in the island of Sardinia; but being warned in a dream not to persecute the servants of the Lord, both he and his friend Potito embraced Christianity, and received a standard from Michael the archangel himself. On one occasion, being taken captive, St. Efeso was cast into a furnace of fire, but received no injury; whereas those who cast him in were consumed by the flames. Ultimately, both Efeso and Potito suffered martyrdom, and were buried in the island of Sardinia. When, however, that island was conquered by Pisa in the eleventh century, the relics of the two martyrs were carried off and interred in the duomo of Pisa, and the banner of St. Efeso was thenceforth adopted as the national ensign of Pisa.
Egalité (Philippe), the duc d'Orléans, father of Louis Philippe, king of France. He himself assumed this "title" when he joined the revolutionary party, whose motto was "Liberty, Fraternity, and Egalité" (born 1747, guillotined 1793).
Ege'us (3 syl.), father of Her'mia. He summoned her before The'seus (2 syl.), duke of Athens, because she refused to marry Demetrius, to whom he had promised her in marriage; and he requested that she might either be compelled to marry him or else be dealt with "according to law," i.e. "either to die the death," or else to "endure the livery of a nun, and live a barren sister all her life." Hermia refused to submit to an "unwished yoke," and fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius, seeing that Hermia disliked him but that Hel'ena doted on him, consented to abandon the one and wed the other. When Egëus was informed thereof, he withdrew his summons, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter with Lysander.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream (1592).
S. Knowles, in The Wife, makes the plot turn on a
similar "law of marriage" (1833).
E'gil, brother of Weland; a great archer. One day, King Nidung commanded him to shoot at an apple placed on the head of his own son. Egil selected two arrows, and being asked why he wanted two, replied, "One to shoot thee with, O tyrant, if I fail."
(This is one of the many stories similar to that of William Tell, q.v.) Egilo'na, the wife of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings of Spain. She was very beautiful, but cold-hearted, vain, and fond of pomp. After the fall of Roderick, Egilona married Abdal-Aziz, the Moorish governor of Spain; and when Abdal-Aziz was killed by the Moorish rebels, Egilona fell also.
The popular rageFell on them both; and they to whom her name
Had been a mark for mockery and reproach,
Shuddered with human horror at her fate.
Southey, Roderick, etc., xxii. (1814).
Eg'Ia, a female Moor, a servant to Amaranta (wife of Bar'tolus, the covetous lawyer).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).
Eg'lamour (Sir) or SIR EGLAMORE of Artoys, a knight of Arthurian romance. Sir Eglamour and Sir Pleindamour have no French original, although the names themselves are French.
Eg'lamour, the person who aids Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, in her escape.—Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).
Eglantine (3 syl.). daughter of King Pepin, and bride of her cousin Valentine (brother of Orson). She soon died.—Valentine and Orson (fifteenth century).
Eglantine (Madame), the prioress; good-natured, wholly ignorant of the world, vain of her delicacy of manner at table, and fond of lap-dogs. Her dainty oath was "By Saint Eloy!" She "entuned the service swetely in her nose," and spoke French "after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe." —Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (1388).
Egmont. Dutch patriot executed by order of Philip II. of Spain.—Goethe's Egmont (1788).
Egypt, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means France.
Egypt and Tyrus [Holland] intercept yourtrade.
Part i. (1681).
Egyptian Princess. Nitetis, the real daughter of Hophra, king of Egypt, and the assumed daughter of Amases, his successor. She was sent to Persia, as the bride of Cambyses, the king, but before their marriage, was falsely accused of infidelity, and committed suicide.—George Ebers, An Egyptian Princess.
Egyptian Thief (The), Thyamis, a native of Memphis. Knowing he must die, he tried to kill Chariclea, the woman he loved.
Why should I not, had I the heart to do it,Like to th' Egyptian thief at point of death,
Kill what I love?
Shakespeare, Twelth Night, act v. sc. 1 (1614).
Eighth Wonder (The). When Gil Blas reached Pennaflor, a parasite entered his room in the inn, hugged him with great energy, and called him the "eighth wonder." When Gil Blas replied that he did not know his name had spread so far, the parasite exclaimed, "How! we keep a register of all the celebrated names within twenty leagues, and have no doubt Spain will one day be as proud of you as Greece was of the seven sages." After this, Gil Blas could do no less than ask the man to sup with him. Omelet after omelet was despatched, trout was called for, bottle followed bottle, and when the parasite was gorged to satiety, he rose and said, "Signor Gil Blas, don't believe yourself to be the eighth wonder of the world because a hungry man would feast by flattering your vanity." So saying, he stalked away with a laugh.—Lesage, Gil Blas, i. 2 (1715).
(This incident is copied from Aleman's romance of Guzman d' Alfarache, q.v.)
Eikon Basil'ikê (4 syl.), the portraiture of a king (i.e. Charles I.), once attributed to King Charles himself; but now admitted to be the production of Dr. John Gauden, who (after the restoration) was first created Bishop of Exeter, and then of Worcester (1605-1662).
In the Eikon Basilikê a strain of majestic melancholy is kept up, but the personated sovereign is rather too theatrical for real nature, the language is too rhetorical and amplified, the periods too artificially elaborated.—Hallam, Literature of Europe, iii. 662.
(Milton wrote his Eikonoclasêts in answer to Dr. Gauden's Eikon Baslikê.)
Einer'iar, the hall of Odin, and asylum of warriors slain in battle. It had 540 gates, each sufficiently wide to admit eight men abreast to pass through.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Einion (Father), Chaplain to Gwenwyn Prince of Powys-land.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Eiros. Imaginary personage, who in the other world holds converse with "Charmion" upon the tragedy that has wrecked the world. The cause of the ruin was "the extraction of the nitrogen from the atmosphere."
"The whole incumbent mass of ether in whichwe existed burst at once into a species of intense
flame for whose surpassing brilliancy and all
fervid heat even the angels in the high Heaven
of pure knowledge have no name. Thus ended
all."—Edgar Allen Poe, Conversation of Eiros and
Charmion (1849).
Elvir, a Danish maid, who assumes boy's clothing, and waits on Harold "the Dauntless," as his page! Subsequently her sex is discovered, and Harold marries her.—Sir. W. Scott, Harold the Dauntless (1817).
Elain, sister of King Arthur by the same mother. She married Sir Nentres of Carlot, and was by King Arthur the mother of Mordred. (See ELEIN)—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. (1470).
In some of the romances there is great confusion between Elain (the
sister) and Morgause (the half-sister) of Arthur. Both are called the
mother of Mordred, and both are also called the wife of Lot. This,
however, is a mistake. Elain was the wife of Sir Nentres, and Morgause
of Lot; and if Gawain, Agrawain, Gareth and Gaheris were [half] brothers
of Mordred, as we are told over and over again, then Morgause and not
Elain was his mother. Tennyson makes Bellicent the wife of Lot, but this
is not in accordance with any of the legends collected by Sir T. Malory.
Elaine (Dame), daughter of King Pelles (2 syl.) "the foragn country," and the unwedded mother of Sir Galahad by Sir Launcelot du Lac.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 1 (1470).
Elaine, daughter of King Brandeg'oris, by whom Sir Bors de Ganis had a child.
It is by no means clear from the history whether Elaine was the
daughter of King Brandegoris, or the daughter of Sir Bors and
granddaughter of King Brandegoris.
Elaine' (2 syl.), the strong contrast of Guinevere. Guinevere's love for Launcelot was gross and sensual, Elaine's was platonic and pure as that of a child; but both were masterful in their strength. Elaine is called "the lily maid of Astolat" (Guildford), and knowing that Launcelot was pledged to celibacy, she pined and died. According to her dying request, her dead body was placed on a bed in a barge, and was thus conveyed by a dumb servitor to the palace of King Arthur. A letter was handed to the king, telling the tale of Elaine's love, and the king ordered the body to be buried, and her story to be blazoned on her tomb.—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Elaine").
El'amites (3 syl.), Persians. So called from Elam, son of Shem.
El'berich, the most famous dwarf of German romance.—The Heldenbuch.
El'bow, a well-meaning but loutish constable.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).
El'eanor, queen-consort of Henry II., alluded to by the Presbyterian minister in Woodstock, x. (1826).
"Believe me, young man, thy servant wasmore likely to see visions than to dream idle
dreams in that apartment; for I have always
heard that, next to Rosamond's Bower, in which
... she played the wanton, and was afterwards
poisoned by Queen Eleanor, Victor Lee's
chamber was the place ... peculiarly the
haunt of evil spirits."—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock
(time, Commonwealth).
Eleanor Crosses, twelve or fourteen crosses erected by Edward I. in the various towns where the body of his queen rested, when it was conveyed from Herdelie, near Lincoln, to Westminster. The three that still remain are Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham. Eleazar the Moor, insolent, bloodthirsty, lustful, and vindictive, like "Aaron," in [Shakespeare's?] Titus An-dron'icus. The lascivious queen of Spain is in love with this monster.—C. Marlowe, Lust's dominion or The Lascivious Queen (1588).
Elea'zar, a famous mathematician, who cast out devils by tying to the nose of the possessed a mystical ring, which the demon no sooner smelled than he abandoned the victim. He performed before the Emperor Vespasian; and to prove that something came out of the possessed, he commanded the demon in making off to upset a pitcher of water, which it did.
I imagine if Eleazar's ring had been put undertheir noses, we should have seen devils issue with
their breath, so loud were these disputants.—
Lesage, Gil Blas, v. 12 (1724).
Elector (The Great), Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688).
Elein, wife of King Ban of Benwick (Brittany), and mother of Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionell. (See ELAIN.)—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 60 (1470)
Eleven Thousand Virgins (The), the virgins who followed St. Ur'sula in her flight towards Rome. They were all massacred at Cologne by a party of Huns, and even to the present hour "their bones" are shown lining the whole interior of the Church of Ste. Ursula.
A calendar in the Freisingen codex notices them as "SS. M. XL VIRGINUM," this is, eleven virgin martyrs; but "M" (martyrs) being taken for 1000, we get 11,000. It is furthermore remarkable that the number of names known of these virgins is eleven; (1) Ursula, (2) Sencia, (3) Gregoria, (4) Pinnosa, (5) Martha, (6) Saula, (7) Brittola, (8) Saturnina, (9) Rabacia or Sabatia, (10) Saturia or Saturnia, and (11) Palladia.
Elfenreigen [el.f'n-ri.gn] (4 syl.) or Alpleich, that weird music with which Bunting, the pied piper of Hamelin, led forth the rats into the river Weser, and the children into a cave in the mountain Koppenberg. The song of the sirens is so called.
El'feta, wife of Cambuscan', king of Tartary.
El'flida or AETHELFLAEDA, daughter of King Alfred, and wife of Aethelred, chief of that part of Mercia not claimed by the Danes. She was a woman of enormous energy and masculine mind. At the death of her husband, she ruled over Mercia, and proceeded to fortify city after city, as Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham, and so on. Then attacking the Danes, she drove them from place to place, and kept them from molesting her.
When Elflida up-grew ...The puissant Danish powers victoriously pursued,
And resolutely here thro' their thick squadrons hewed
Her way into the north.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xii. (1613).
Elfride (Swancourt). Blue-eyed girl, betrothed first to Stephen Smith; afterwards she loves passionately Henry Knight. He leaves her in pique, and she weds Lord Luxellian, dying soon after the marriage.—Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873).
Elf'thryth or Aelf'thryth, daughter of Ordgar, noted for her great beauty. King Edgar sent Aethelwald, his friend, to ascertain if she were really as beautiful as report made her out to be. When Æthelwald saw her he fell in love with her, and then, returning to the king, said she was not handsome enough for the king, but was rich enough to make a very eligible wife for himself. The king assented to the match, and became godfather to the first child, who was called Edgar. One day the king told his friend he intended to pay him a visit, and Aethelwald revealed to his wife the story of his deceit, imploring her at the same time to conceal her beauty. But Elfthryth, extremely indignant, did all she could to set forth her beauty. The king fell in love with her, slew Aethelwald, and married the widow.
A similar story is told by Herodotus; Prêxaspês being the lady's name, and Kambysês the king's.
El'githa, a female attendant at Rotherwood on the Lady Rowe'na.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
E'lia, pseudonym of Charles Lamb, author of the Essays of Elia (1823).—London Magazine.
Eli'ab, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dry den and Tate, is Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington. As Eliab befriended David (1 Chron. xii. 9), so the earl befriended Charles II.
Hard the task to do Eliab right;Long with the royal wanderer he roved,
And firm in all the turns of fortune proved.
Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
E'lian God (The), Bacchus. An error for 'Eleuan, i.e. "the god Eleleus" (3 syl). Bacchus was called El'eleus from the Bacchic cry, eleleu!
As when with crowned cups unto the Elian godThose priests high orgies held.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vi. (1612).
El'idure (3 syl.), surnamed "the Pious," brother of Gorbonian, and one of the five sons of Morvi'dus (q.v.). He resigned the crown to his brother Arthgallo, who had been deposed. Ten years afterwards, Arthgallo died, and Elidure was again advanced to the throne, but was deposed and imprisoned by his two younger brothers. At the death of these two brothers, Elidure was taken from prison, and mounted the British throne for the third time.—Geoffrey, British History, iii. 17,18 (1470).
Then Elidure again, crowned with applausive praise,As he a brother raised, by brothers was deposed
And put into the Tower ... but, the usurpers dead,
Thrice was the British crown set on his reverend head.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Wordsworth has a poem on this subject.
Elijah fed by Ravens. While Elijah was at the brook Cherith, in concealment, ravens brought him food every morning and evening.—1 Kings xvii. 6.
A strange parallel is recorded of Wyat, in the reign of Richard III. The king cast him into prison, and when he was nearly starved to death, a cat appeared at the window-grating, and dropped into his hand a pigeon, which the warder cooked for him. This was repeated daily.
E'lim, the guardian angel of Lebbeus (3 syl.) the apostle. Lebbeus, the softest and most tender of the twelve, at the death of Jesus "sank under the burden of his grief."—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).
Elinor Grey, self-poised daughter of a statesman in Frank Lee Benedict's novel, My Daughter Elinor (1869). El'ion, consort of Beruth, and father of Che.—Sanchoniathon.
Eliot (John). Of the Apostle to the North American Indians, Dr. Cotton Mather writes:
"He that will write of Eliot must write ofcharity, or say nothing. His charity was a star
of the first magnitude in the bright constellation
of his virtues, and the rays of it were wonderfully
various and extensive."—Cotton Mather,
Magna Christi Americana (1702).
Eliot (George), Marian Evans (or "Mrs. Marian Lewes"), author of Adam Bede (1858), Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), etc.
Elisa, often written Eliza in English, Dido, queen of Carthage.
... nec me meminisse pigebit Elisae,Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos reget artus.
Virgil, Aeneid, iv. 335, 336.
So to Eliza dawned that cruel day
Which tore Æneas from her sight away,
That saw him parting, never to return,
Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn.
Falconer, The Shipwreck, iii. 4 (1756).
Elis'abat, a famous surgeon, who attended Queen Madasi'ma in all her solitary wanderings, and was her sole companion.—Amadis de Gaul (fifteenth century).
Élisabeth ou Les Exilés de Siberie, a tale by Madame Cottin (1773-1807). The family being exiled for some political offence, Elizabeth walked all the way from Siberia to Russia, to crave pardon of the Czar. She obtained her prayer, and the family returned.
Elisabetha (Miss). "She is not young. The tall, spare form stiffly erect, the little wisp of hair behind ceremoniously braided and adorned with a high comb, the long, thin hands and the fine network of wrinkles over her pellucid, colorless cheeks, tell this." But she is a gentlewoman, with generations of gentlewomen back of her, and lives for Doro, her orphan ward, whom she has taught music. She loved his father, and for his sake—and his own—loves the boy. She works for him, hoards for him, and is ambitious for him only. When he grows up and marries a lowborn girl,—"a Minorcan"—and fills the old home with rude children, who break the piano-wires, the old aunt slaves for them. After he dies, a middle-aged man, she does not leave them.
"I saw her last year—an old woman, but working still."—Constance Fennimore Woolson, Southern Sketches (1880).
Elise (2 syl.), the motherless child of Harpagon the miser. She was affianced to Valère, by whom she had been "rescued from the waves." Valère turns out to be the son of Don Thomas d'Alburci, a wealthy nobleman of Naples.—Molière, L'Avare (1667).
Elis'sa, step-sister of Medi'na and Perissa. They could never agree upon any subject.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 2 (1590).
"Medina" (the golden mean), "Elissa" and "Perissa" (the two extremes).
Elizabeth (Le Marchant.) Nice girl whose life is, darkened by a frustrated elopement, by which she is apparently compromised. All comes well in the end.—Rhoda Broughton, Alas! (1890).
Elizabeth (The Queen), haughty, imperious, but devoted to her people. She loved the earl of Essex, and, when she heard that he was married to the countess of Rutland, exclaimed that she never "knew sorrow before." The queen gave Essex a ring after his rebellion, saying, "Here, from my finger take this ring, a pledge of mercy; and whensoe'er you send it back, I swear that I will grant whatever boon you ask." After his condemnation, Essex sent the ring to the queen by the countess of Nottingham, craving that her most gracious majesty would spare the life of Lord Southampton; but the countess, from jealousy, did not give it to the queen. The queen sent a reprieve for Essex, but Burleigh took care that it came too late, and the earl was beheaded as a traitor.—Henry Jones, The Earl of Essex (1745).
Elizabeth (Queen), introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Kenilworth.
Elizabeth of Hungary (St.), patron saint of queens, being herself a queen. Her day is July 9 (1207-1231).
Ellen (Montgomery). The orphaned heroine of Susan Warner's story, The Wide, Wide World (1851.)
Ellen (Wade). Girl of eighteen who travels and camps with the family of Ishmael Bush, although many grades above them in education and refinement. Betrothed to Paul Hover, the bee-hunter.—James Fennimore Cooper, The Prairie, (1827).
Ellesmere (Mistress), the head domestic of Lady Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Elliott, (Hobbie, i.e. Halbert), farmer at the Heugh-foot. His bride-elect is Grace Armstrong.
Mrs. Elliott, Hobbie's grandmother. John and Harry, Hobbie's brothers.
Lilias, Jean, and Arnot, Hobbie's sisters.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Elmo (St.). The fire of St. Elmo (Feu de Saint Elme), a comazant. If only one appears on a ship-mast, foul weather is at hand; but if two or more, they indicate that stormy weather is about to cease. By the Italians these comazants are called the "fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas." In Latin the single fire is called "Helen," but the two "Castor and Pollux." Horace says (Odes, I. xiii. 27):
Quorum simul alba nautis stella refulsit,Defluit saxis agitatus humor,
Concident venti, fugiuntque nubes, etc.
But Longfellow makes the stella indicative of foul weather:
Last night I saw St. Elmo's stars,With their glimmering lanterns all at play ...
And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
(St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors.)
Elo´a, the first of seraphs. He name with God is "The Chosen One," but the angels call him Eloa. Eloa and Gabriel were angel friends.
Eloa, fairest spirit of heaven. His thoughtsare past understanding to the mind of man.
He looks more lovely than the day-spring, more
beaming than the stars of heaven when they
first flew into being at the voice of the Creator.
—Klopstock, The Messiah, i. (1748).
Eloi (St.), that is, St. Louis. The kings of France were called Loys up to the time of Louis XIII. Probably the "delicate oath" of Chaucer's prioress, who was a French scholar "after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe," was St. Loy, i.e. St. Louis, and not St. Eloi the patron saint of smiths and artists. St.
Eloi was bishop of Noyon in the reign of Dagobert, and a noted craftsman in gold and silver. (Query, "Seint Eloy" for Seinte Loy?)
Ther was also a nonne, a prioresse,That of hire smiling was full simp' and coy,
Hire greatest othe was but by Seint Eloy!
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (1388).
El´ops. There was a fish so-called, but Milton uses the word (Paradise Lost, x. 525) for the dumb serpent or serpent which gives no warning of its approach by hissing or otherwise. (Greek, ellops, "mute or dumb.")
Eloquence (The Four Monarchs of): (1) Demonsthenês, the Greek orator (B.C. 385-322); (2) Cicero, the Roman orator (B.C. 106-43); (3) Burke, the English orator (1730-1797); (4) Webster, the American orator (1782-1852).
Eloquent (That old Man), Isoc´ratês, the Greek orator. When he heard that the battle of Chaerone´a was lost, and that Greece was no longer free, he died of grief.
That dishonest victoryAt Chaeronea, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that Old Man Eloquent.
Milton, Sonnet ix.
In the United States the term was freely applied to John Quincy Adams, in the latter years of his life.
Eloquent Doctor (The), Peter Aurelolus, archbishop of Aix (fourteenth century).
Elpi´nus, Hope personified. He was "clad in sky-like blue" and the motto of his shield was "I hold by being held." He went attended by Pollic´ita (promise). Fully described in canto ix. (Greek, elpis, "hope.")—Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island (1633).
Elsa. German maiden, accused of having killed her little brother. At her trial a knight appears, drawn by a swan, champions her and vanquishes her accuser. Elsa weds him (Lohengrin) promising never to ask of his country or family. She breaks the vow; the swan appears and bears him away from her.—Lohengrin Opera, by Richard Wagner.
Elshender the Recluse, called "the Canny Elshie" or the "Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor." This is "the black dwarf," or Sir Edward Mauley, the hero of the novel.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time Anne).
Elsie, the daughter of Gottlieb, a cottage farmer of Bavaria. Prince Henry of Hoheneck, being struck with leprosy, was told he would never be cured till a maiden chaste and spotless offered to give her life in sacrifice for him. Elsie volunteered to die for the prince, and he accompanied her to Salerno; but either the exercise, the excitement, or some charm, no matter what, had quite cured the prince, and when he entered the cathedral with Elsie, it was to make her Lady Alicia, his bride.—Hartmann von der Aue, Poor Henry (twelfth century); Longfellow, Golden Legend.
Alcestis, daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetos died
instead of her husband, but was brought back by Herculês from the shades
below, and restored to her husband.
Elsie (Venner), a girl marked before her birth as one apart from her kind. Her mother, treading upon a rattle-snake near her door, leaves the imprint of the loathsome thing upon the child. She is a "splendid scowling beauty" with glittering black eyes. When angry, they are narrowed and gleam like diamonds, and "charm" after an unhuman fashion. She bit her cousin when a child, and the wound had to be cauterized. She is wild almost to savagery and she falls in love with her tutor savagely for awhile, afterward loves him hopelessly. She dies of a strange decline, and the ugly mark about her throat that obliges her always to wear a necklace has faded out.—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elsie Venner (1861).
Elsmere (Robert), hero of religious novel of same name, by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
Elspeth (Auld), the old servant of Dandie Dinmont, the store-farmer of Charlie's Hope.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II.).
Elspeth (Old) of the Craigburnfoot, the mother of Saunders Muckelbacket (the old fisherman at Musselcrag), and formerly servant to the countess of Glenallan.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time George III.).
Elvi´no, a wealthy farmer in love with Ami´na the somnambulist. Amina being found in the bedroom of Conte Rodolfo the day before her wedding, induces Elvino to break off the match and promise marriage to Lisa; but as the truth of the matter breaks upon him, and he is convinced of Amina's innocence, he turns over Lisa to Alessio, her paramour, and marries Amina, his first and only love.—Bellini's opera, La Sonnambula (1831).
Elvi´ra, sister of Don Duart, and niece of the governor of Lisbon. She marries Coldio, the coxcomb son of Don Antonio.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man.
Elvi´ra, the young wife of Gomez, a rich old banker. She carries on a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, by the aid of her father-confessor Dominick, but is always checkmated, and it turns out that Lorenzo is her brother.—Dryden, The Spanish Fryar (1680).
Elvi´ra, a noble lady who gives up everything to become the mistress of Pizarro. She tries to soften his rude and cruel nature, and to lead him into more generous ways. Her love being changed to hate, she engages Rollo to slay Pizarro in his tent; but the noble Peruvian spares his enemy, and makes him a friend. Ultimately, Pizarro is slain in fight with Alonzo, and Elvira retires to a convent.—Sheridan, Pizarro (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).
Elvi´ra (Donna), a lady deceived by Don Giovanni, who basely deluded her into an amour with his valet Leporello.—Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni (1787).
Elvi´ra "the puritan," daughter of Lord Walton, betrothed to Arturo (Lord Arthur Talbot), a calvalier. On the day of espousals the young man aids Enrichetta (Henrietta, widow of Charles I.) to escape, and Elvira, thinking he had eloped with a rival, temporarily loses her reason. Cromwell's soldiers arrest Arturo for treason, but he is subsequently pardoned, and marries Elvira.—Bellini's opera, I Puritani (1834).
Elvi´ra, a lady in love with Erna´ni the robber-captain and head of a league against Don Carlos (afterwards Charles V. of Spain). Ernani was just on the point of marrying Elvira, when he was summoned to death by Gomez de Silva, and stabbed himself.—Verdi, Ernani (an opera, 1841).
Elvi´ra, betrothed to Alfonso (son of the Duke d'Arcos). No sooner is the marriage completed than she learns that Alfonso has seduced Fenella, a dumb girl, sister of Masaniello the fisherman. Masaniello, to revenge his wrongs, heads an insurrection, and Alfonso with Elvira run for safety to the fisherman's hut, where they find Fenella, who promises to protect them. Masaniello, being made chief magistrate of Por´tici, is killed by the mob; Fenella throws herself into the crater of Vesuvius; and Alfonso is left to live in peace with Elvira.—Auber, Masaniello (1831).
Elvire (2 syl.), the wife of Don Juan, whom he abandons. She enters a convent, and tries to reclaim her profligate husband, but without success.—Molière, Don Juan (1665).
Ely (Bishop of), introduced by Sir W. Scott in the Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Emath´ian Conqueror (The Great), Alexander the Great. Emathia is Macedonia and Thessaly. Emathion, a son of Titan and Aurora, reigned in Macedonia. Pliny tells us that Alexander, when he besieged Thebes, spared the house in which Pindar the poet was born, out of reverence to his great abilities.
Embla, the woman Eve of Scandinavian mythology. Eve or Embla was made of elm, but Ask or Adam was made of ash.
Em´elie or EMELYE, sister-in-law of Duke Theseus (2 syl.), beloved by both Pal´amon and Ar´cite (2 syl.), but the former had her to wife.
Emelie that fairer was to sceneThan is the lilie on hire stalkê grene,
And fresscher than the May with flourês newe.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
Emeral´der, an Irishman, one of the Emerald Isle.
Emer´ita (St.), who, when her brother abdicated the British crown, accompanied him to Switzerland, and shared with him there a martyr's death.
Emerita the next, King Lucius' sister dear,Who in Helvetia with her martyr brother died.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Emile (2 syl.), the chief character of a philosophical romance on education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile is the author's ideal of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature having been carefully withheld.
N.B.—Emile is the French form of Emilius.
His body is inured to fatigue, as Rousseau advises in his Emilius.—Continuation of The Arabian Nights, iv. 69.
Emil´ia, wife of Iago, the ancient of Othello in the Venetian army. She is induced by Iago to purloin a certain handkerchief given by Othello to Desdemona. Iago then prevails on Othello to ask his wife to show him the handkerchief, but she cannot find it, and Iago tells the Moor she has given it to Cassio as a love-token. At the death of Desdemona, Emilia (who till then never suspected the real state of the case) reveals the truth of the matter, and Iago rushes on her and kills her.—Shakespeare, Othello (1611).
The virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast off; easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villainies.—Dr. Johnson.
Emil´ia, the lady who attended on Queen Hermi´onê in prison.—Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (1604).
Emilia, the lady-love of Peregrine Pickle, in Smollett's novel called The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751).
Emilia Galotti. Beautiful daughter of Odoardo, an Italian noble. She is affianced to Count Appiani, and beloved by the Prince Guastalla, who causes her lover's death on their wedding-day. To save her from the prince, Odoardo stabs Emilia.—G.E. Lessing, Emilia Galotti.
Emily, the fiancée of Colonel Tamper. Duty called away the colonel to Havana, and on his return he pretended to have lost one eye and one leg in the war, in order to see if Emily would love him still. Emily was greatly shocked, and Mr. Prattle the medical practitioner was sent for. Amongst other gossip, Mr. Prattle told his patient he had seen the colonel who looked remarkably well, and most certainly was maimed neither in his legs nor in his eyes. Emily now saw through the trick, and resolved to turn the tables on the colonel. For this end she induced Mdlle. Florival to appear en militaire, under the assumed name of Captain Johnson, and to make desperate love to her. When the colonel had been thoroughly roasted and was about to quit the house forever, his friend Major Belford entered and recognized Mdlle. as his fiancée; the trick was discovered, and all ended happily.—G. Colman, sen., The Deuce is in Him (1762).
Emir or Ameer, a title given to lieutenants of provinces and other officers of the sultan, and occasionally assumed by the sultan himself. The sultan is not unfrequently call "The Great Ameer," and the Ottoman empire is sometimes spoken of as "the country of the Great Ameer." What Matthew Paris and other monks call "ammirals" is the same word. Milton speaks of the "mast of some tall ammiral" (Paradise Lost, i. 294).
The difference between xariff or sariff and amir is this: the former is given to the blood successors of Mahomet, and the latter to those who maintain his religious faith.—Selden, Titles of Honor, vi. 73-4 (1672).
Em'ly (Little), daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan'el Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought up. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan'el's nephew) little Em'ly runs away with Steerforth, a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan'el Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Emma "the Saxon" or Emma Plantagenet, the beautiful, gentle, and loving wife of David, king of North Wales (twelfth century).—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Emmons (David), slow, gentle fellow who never "comes to the point" in his courtship, but visits the "girl" for forty years, and gasps out in dying, "I allers—meant to—have—asked—you to marry me."—Mary E. Wilkins, Two Old Lovers (1887).
Emped´ocles, one of Pythagoras's scholars, who threw himself secretly into the crater at Etna, that people might suppose the gods had carried him to heaven; but alas! one of his iron pattens was cast out with the lava, and recognized.
He to be deemedA god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,
Empedoclês.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 469, etc. (1665).
Emperor of Believers (The), Omar I., father-in-law of Mahomet (581-644).
Emperor of the Mountains, (The) Peter the Calabrian, a famous robber-chief (1812).
Emperor for My People. Hadrian used to say, "I am emperor not for myself but for my people" (76, 117-138).
Empson (Master), flageolot player to Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (1823).
Enan´the (3 syl.), daughter of Seleucus, and mistress of Prince Deme´trius (son of King Antig´onus) She appears under the name of Celia.—Beaumont and Eletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).
Encel´ados (Latin, Enceladus), the most powerful of all the giants who conspired against Jupiter. He was struck with a thunder-bolt, and covered with the heap of earth now called Mount Etna. The smoke of the volcano is the breath of the buried giant; and when he shifts his side it is an earthquake.
Fama est, Enceladi semiustum fulmine corpusUrgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis;
Et, fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam, et coelum subtexere fumo.
Virgil, Aeneid, iii. 578-582.
Where the burning cinders, blown
From the lips of the overthrown
Enceladus, fill the air.
Longfellow, Enceladus.
En'crates (3 syl.), Temperance personified, the husband of Agnei'a (wifely chastity). When his wife's sister Parthen'ia (maidenly chastity) was wounded in the battle of Mansoul, by False Delight, he and his wife ran to her assistance, and soon routed the foes who were hounding her. Continence (her lover) went also, and poured a balm into her wounds, which healed them. Greek, egkratês, "continent, temperate."
So have I often seen a purple flower,Fainting thro' heat, hang down her drooping head;
But, soon refreshêd with a welcome shower,
Begins again her lively beauties spread,
And with new pride her silken leaves display.
Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, xi. (1633).
Endell (Martha), a poor fallen girl, to whom Emily goes when Steerforth deserts her. She emigrates with Dan'el Pegot'ty, and marries a young farmer in Australia.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
Endiga, in Charles XII., by J.R. Planche (1826).
Endless, the rascally lawyer in No Song No Supper, by P. Hoare (1754-1834).
Endym'ion, a noted astronomer who, from Mount Latmus, in Caria, discovered the course of the moon. Hence it is fabled that the moon sleeps with Endymion. Strictly speaking, Endymion is the setting sun.
So, Latmus by the wise Endymion is renowned;That hill on whose high top he was the first that found
Pale Phoebe's wandering course; so skillful in her sphere,
As some stick not to say that he enjoyed her there.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vi. (1612).
To sleep like Endymion, to sleep long and soundly. Endymion requested of Jove permission to sleep as long as felt inclined. Hence the proverb, Endymionis somnum dormire. Jean Ogier de Gombaud wrote in French a romance or prose poem called Endymion (1624), and one of the best paintings of A.L. Girodet is "Endymion." Cowley, referring to Gombaud's romance, says:
While there is a people or a sun,Endymion's story with the moon shall run.
John Keats, in 1818, published his Endymion (a poetic romance), and the criticism of the Quarterly Review was falsely said to have caused his death.
Endym´ion. So Wm. Browne calls Sir Walter Raleigh, who was for a time in disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, whom he calls "Cyn´thia."
The first note that I heard I soon was wonneTo think the sighes of fair Endymion,
The subject of whose mournful heavy lay,
Was his declining with faire Cynthia.
Brittannia's Pastorals, iv. (1613).
Enfants de Dieu, the Camisards.
The royal troops outnumbered the Enfants de Dieu, and a not inglorious flight took place.—Ed. Gilliat, Asylum Christi, iii.
Enfield (Mrs.), the keeper of a house of intrigue, or "gentleman's magazine" of frail beauties.—Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (1785).
Engaddi (Theodorick, hermit of), an enthusiast. He was Aberick of Mortemar, an exiled noble.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Engaddi, one of the towns of Judah, forty miles from Jerusalem, famous for its palm trees.
Anchorites beneath Engaddi's palms,Pacing the Dead Sea beach.
Longfellow, Sand of the Desert
Engel´brecht, one of the Varangian guards.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
En´gelred, 'squire of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (follower of Prince John of Anjou, the brother of Richard I.).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
En´guerraud, brother of the Marquis of Montserrat, a crusader.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard L).
E´nid, the personification of spotless purity. She was the daughter of Yn´iol, and wife of Geraint. The tale of Geraint and Enid allegorizes the contagion of distrust and jealousy, commencing with Guinevere's infidelity, and spreading downward among the Arthurian knights. In order to save Enid from this taint, Sir Geraint removed from the court to Devon; but overhearing part of a sentence uttered by Enid, he fancied that she was unfaithful, and treated her for a time with great harshness. In an illness, Enid nursed Geraint with such wifely devotion that he felt convinced of his error. A perfect reconciliation took place, and they "crowned a happy life with a fair death".—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Geraint and Enid.").
Ennius (The English), Lay´amon, who wrote a translation in Saxon of The Brut of Wace (thirteenth century).
Ennius (The French), Jehan de Meung, who wrote a continuation of Layamon's romance (1260-1320).
Guillaume de Lorris, author of the Romance of the Rose, is also
called "The French Ennius," and with better title (1235-1265).
Ennius (The Spanish), Juan de Mena of Cordova (1412-1456).
Enrique´ (2 syl.), brother-in-law of Chrysalde (2 syl.). He married secretly Chrysalde's sister Angelique, by whom he had a daughter, Agnes, who was left in charge of a peasant while Enrique was absent in America. Having made his fortune in the New World, Enrique returned and found Agnes in love with Horace, the son of his friend Oronte (2 syl.). Their union, after the usual quota of misunderstanding and cross purposes, was accomplished to the delight of all parties.—Molière, L'Ecole des Femmes (1662).
Entel´echy, the kingdom of Queen Quintessence. Pantag´ruel´ and his companions went to this kingdom in search of the "holy bottle."—Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 19 (1545).
This kingdom of "speculative science" gave the hint to Swift for his
island of Lapu´ta.
Ephe´sian, a toper, a dissolute sot, a jovial companion. When Page (2 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2) tells Prince Henry that a company of men were about to sup with Falstaff, in Eastcheap, and calls them "Ephesians," he probably meant soldiers called féthas ("foot-soldiers"), and hence topers. Malone suggests that the word is a pun on pheese ("to chastise or pay one tit for tat"), and means "quarrelsome fellows."
Ephe´sian Poet (The), Hippo´nax, born at Ephesus (sixth century B.C.).
Epic Poetry (The Father of), Homer (about 950 B.C.).
Ep´icene (3 syl.), or The Silent Woman, one of the three great comedies of Ben Jonson (1609).
The other two are Volpone (2 syl., 1605), and The Alchemist (1610).
Epicurus. The aimée de coeur of this philosopher was Leontium. (See LOVERS).
Epicurus of China, Tao-tse, who commenced the search for "the elixir of perpetual youth and health" (B.C. 540).
Thomas Moore has a prose romance entitled The
Epicure'an. Lucretius the Roman poet, in his De Rerum Natura, is an
exponent of the Epicurean doctrines.
Epidaurus (That God in), Aescula'pius, son of Apollo, who was worshipped in Epidaurus, a city of Peloponne'sus. Being sent for to Rome during a plague, he assumed the form of a serpent.—Livy, Nat. Hist., xi.; Ovid, Metaph., xv.
Never since of serpent kindLovelier, not those that in Illyria changed
Hermionê and Cadmus, or the god
In Epidaurus.
Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 507 (1665).
(Cadmus and his wife Harmonia [Hermoine] left Thebes and migrated into Illyria, where they were changed into serpents because they happened to kill one belonging to Mars.)
Ephial'tes (4 syl.), one of the giants who made war upon the gods. He was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by Herculês.
Epig'oni, seven youthful warriors, sons of the seven chiefs who laid siege to Thebes. All the seven chiefs (except Adrastos) perished in the siege; but the seven sons, ten years later, took the city and razed it to the ground. The chiefs and sons were: (1) Adrastos, whose son was Aegi'aleus (4 syl.); (2) Polynikês, whose son was Thersan'der; (3) Amphiar'aos (5 syl.), whose son was Alkmaeon (the chief); (4) Ty'deus (2 syl.), whose son was Diomê'des; (5) Kap'aneus (3 syl.), whose son was Sthen'elos; (6) Parthenopae'os, whose son was Promachos; (7) Mekis'theus (3 syl.), whose son was Eury'alos.
Æschylos has a tragedy on The Seven Chiefs against Thebes. There are also two epics, one The Thebaïd of Statius, and The Epigoni sometimes attributed to Homer and sometimes to one of the Cyclic poets of Greece.
Epigon'iad (The), called "the Scotch Iliad," by William Wilkie (1721-1772). This is the tale of the Epig'oni or seven sons of the seven chieftains who laid siege to Thebes. The tale is this: When Oe'dipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but at the expiration of the first year, the elder son (Eteoclês) refused to give up the throne. Whereupon the younger brother (Polynikês) interested six Grecian chiefs to espouse his cause, and the allied armies laid siege to Thebes, without success. Subsequently, the seven sons of the old chiefs went against the city to avenge the death of their fathers, who had fallen in the former siege. They succeeded in taking the city, and in placing Thersander on the throne. The names of the seven sons are Thersander, AEgi'aleus, Alkmaeon, Diomedês, Sthen'elos, Pro'machos, and Euryalos.
Epimen'ides (5 syl.) of Crete, sometimes reckoned one of the "seven wise men of Greece" in the place of Periander. He slept for fifty-seven years in a cave, and, on waking, found everything so changed that he could recognize nothing. Epimenidês lived 289 years, and was adored by the Cretans as one of their "Curetês" or priests of Jove. He was contemporary with Solon.
(Goethe has a poem called Des Epimenides Erwachen.—See Heinrich's Epimenides.)
Epimenides's Drug. A nymph who loved Epimenides gave him a draught in a bull's horn, one single drop of which would not only cure any ailment, but would serve for a hearty meal.
Le Nouveau Epimenède is a man who lives in a dream in a kind of "Castle of Spain," where he deems himself a king, and does not wish to be disillusioned. The song is by Jacinthe Leclère, one of the members of the "Societé de Momus," of Paris.
Epinogris (Sir), son of the king of Northumberland. He loved an earl's daughter, but slew the earl in a knightly combat. Next day, a knight challenged him to fight, and the lady was to be the prize of the victor. Sir Epinogris, being overthrown, lost the lady; but when Sir Palomidês heard the tale, he promised to recover her. Accordingly, he challenged the victorious knight, who turned out to be his brother. The point of dispute was then amicably arranged by giving up the lady to Sir Epinogris.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 169 (1470).
Eppie, one of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms, Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.—Sir W. Scott, St. Bonarts Well (time, George III.).
Epps, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.). Equity (Father of), Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In Absalom and Achitophel (by Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."
Sincere was Amri, and not only knew,But Israel's sanctions into practice drew;
Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ...
To whom the double blessing doth belong,
With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.
Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
Equivokes.
1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber, London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.
2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and he died while saying mass in a church so called at Rome.
3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana, which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."
4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for reply:
When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer,From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!
In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a fig tree growing on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he remembered that goat and fig tree, in the Messenian dialect were the same word.
The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a stork" were
substituted for the goat: "When a stork stoops to drink of the Neda;"
and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.
5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tellHow thousands fought at Salamis and fell;
but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to fall by "thousands," was not stated.
6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.
7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia, but it was himself.
8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.
9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied, "He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"
10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act v. sc. 2.
11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the person pointed at.—Holinshed, Chronicles; Shakespeare, Richard III. act i. sc. I.
Erac'lius (The emperor) condemned a knight to death on the supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was virtually the cause of death to the other two.
This tale is told in the Gesta Romanorum, and Chaucer has put it into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his De Ira; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.
Éraste (2 syl.), hero of Les Fåcheux by Molière. He is in love with Orphiso (2 syl.), whose tutor is Damis (1661).
Er'celdoun (Thomas of), also called "Thomas the Rhymer," introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
It is said that Thomas of Erceldoun is not dead, but that he is sleeping beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day, he met with a lady of elfin race beneath the Eildon tree, and she led him to an under-ground region, where he remained for seven years. He then revisited the earth, but bound himself to return when summoned. One day, when he was making merry with his friends, he was told that a hart and hind were parading the street; and he knew it was his summons, so he immediately went to the Eildon tree, and has never since been heard of.—Sir W. Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
[Illustration: symbol] This tale is substantially the same in the German one of Tannhäuser (q.v.).
Ereck, a knight of the Round Table. He marries the beautiful Enite (2 syl.), daughter of a poor knight, and falls into a state of idleness and effeminacy, till Enite rouses him to action. He then goes forth on an expedition of adventures, and after combating with brigands, giants, and dwarfs, returns to the court of King Arthur, where he remains till the death of his father. He then enters on his inheritance, and lives peaceably the rest of his life.—Hartmann von der Aue, Ereck (thirteenth century).
Ereen'ia (3 syl.), a glendoveer' or good spirit, the beloved son of Cas'yapa (3 syl.), father of the immortals. Ereenia took pity on Kail'yal (2 syl.), daughter of Ladur'lad, and carried her to his Bower of Bliss in paradise (canto vii.). Here Kailyal could not stay, because she was still a living daughter of earth. On her return to earth, she was chosen for the bride of Jagannaut, and Ar'valan came to dishonor her; but she set fire to the pagoda, and Ereenia came to her rescue. Ereenia was set upon by the witch Lor'rimite (3 syl.), and carried to the submerged city of Baly, whence he was delivered by Ladurlad. The glendoveer now craved Seeva for vengeance, but the god sent him to Yamen (i.e. Pluto), and Yamen said the measure of iniquity was now full, so Arvalan and his father Kehama were both made inmates of the city of everlasting woe; while Ereenia carried Kailyal, who had quaffed the waters of immortality, to his Bower of Bliss, to dwell with him in everlasting joy.—Southey, Curse of Kehoma (1809).
Eret'rian Bull (The). Menede'mos of Eretria, in Eubae'a, was called "Bull" from the bull-like breadth and gravity of his face. He founded the Eretrian school (fourth century B.C.).
Eric, "Windy-cap," king of Sweden. He could make the wind blow from any quarter by simply turning his cap. Hence arose the expression, "a capful of wind."
Eric Gray. A young man whose religious principles will not let him marry the girl he loves because she has not "joined the church." His old love tells the story after his funeral.
"And all my heart went forward, past the shadows and the cross,Even to that home where perfect love hath never thorn nor loss;
Where neither do they marry, nor in marriage are given,
But are like unto the angels in GOD'S house, which is Heaven."
Margaret E. Sangster, Eric's Funeral (1882).
Erichtho [Erik'.tho], the famous Thessaliaii witch consulted by Pompey.—Lucan, Pharsalia, vi.
Erickson (Sweyn), a fisherman at Jarlshof.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Eric'tho, the witch in John Marston's tragedy called The Wonder of Women or Sophonisba (160)5.
Erig'ena (John Scotus), called "Scotus the Wise." He must not be confounded with Duns Scotus, "the Subtle Doctor," who lived some four centuries later. Erigena died in 875, and Duns Scotus in 1308.
Erig'one (4 syl.), the constellation Virgo. She was the daughter of Icarios, an Athenian, who was murdered by some drunken peasants. Erigonê discovered the dead body by the aid of her father's dog Moera, who became the star called Canis.
... "that virgin, frail Erigonê,Who by compassion got preëminence."
Lord Brooke, Of Nobility.
Erill'yab (3 syl.), the widowed and deposed Queen of the Hoamen (2 syl.), an Indian tribe settled on a south branch of the Missouri. Her husband was King Tepol'loni, and her son Amal'ahta. Madoc when he reached America, espoused her cause, and succeeded in restoring her to her throne and empire.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Eriphy'le (4 syl.), the wife of Amphiara'os. Being bribed by a golden necklace, she betrayed to Polyni-cês where her husband had concealed himself that he might not go to the seige of Thebes, where he knew that he should be killed. Congreve calls the word Eriph'yle.
When Eriphylê broke her plighted faith,And for a bribe procured her husband's death.
Ovid, Art of Love, iii.
Erisich'thon (should be Erysichthon), a Thessaliad, whose appetite was insatiable. Having spent all his estate in the purchase of food, nothing was left but his daughter Metra, and her he sold to buy food for his voracious appetite; but Metra had the power of transforming herself into any shape she chose, so as often as as her father sold her, she changed her form and returned to him. After a time, Erisichthon was reduced to feed upon himself.—Ovid, Metaph, viii. 2 (740 to end).
Drayton says when the Wyre saw her goodly oak trees sold for firewood, she bethought her of Erisichthon's end, who, "when nor sea, nor land, sufficient were," ate his own flesh.—Polyolbion, vii.
So Erisicthon, once fired (as men say),With hungry rage, fed never, ever feeding;
Ten thousand dishes severed every day,
Yet in ten thousand thousand dishes needing.
In vain his daughter hundred shapes assumed;
A whole camp's meat he in his gorge inhumed;
And all consumed, his hunger yet was unconsumed.
Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island (1633).
Erland, father of Norna "of the Fitful Head."—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
Erl-King, a spirit of mischief, which haunts the Black Forest of Thuringia.
Goethe has a ballad called the Erl-könig, and Herder has translated the Danish ballad of Sir Olaf and the Erl-King's Daughter.
In Goethe's ballad, a father, riding home through the night and storm with a child in his arms is pursued by the Erl-king, who entices the child with promises of fairy-gifts, and finally kills it.
Ermangarde of Baldringham (The Lady), aunt of the Lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Er'meline (Dame), the wife of Reynard, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
Ermin'ia, the heroine of Jerusalem Delivered. She fell in love with Tancred, and when the Christian army beseiged Jerusalem, arrayed herself in Clorinda's armor to go to him. After certain adventures, she found him wounded, and nursed him tenderly; but the poet has not told us what was the ultimate lot of this fair Syrian.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Erna'ni, the robber-captain, duke of Segor'bia and Cardo'na, lord of Aragon, and count of Ernani. He is in love with Elvi'ra, the betrothed of Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detests. Charles V. falls in love with her, and Ruy Gomez joins Ernani in a league against their common rival. During this league Ernani gives Ruy Gomez a horn, saying, "Sound but this horn, and at that moment Ernani will cease to live." Just as he is about to espouse Elvira, the horn is sounded, and Ernani stabs himself.—Verdi, Ernani (an opera, 1841).
Ernest (Duke), son-in-law of Kaiser Konrad II. He murders his feudal lord, and goes on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to expiate his crime. The poem so called is a mixture of Homeric legends, Oriental myths, and pilgrims' tales. We have pygmies and cyclopses, genii and enchanters, fairies and dwarfs, monks and devotees. After a world of hair-breadth escapes, the duke reaches the Holy Sepulchre, pays his vows, returns to Germany, and is pardoned.—Henry Von Veldig (minnesinger), Duke Ernest (twelfth century).
Ernest de Fridberg, "the prisoner of the State." He was imprisoned in the dungeon of the Giant's Mount fortress for fifteen years on a false charge of treason. Ul'rica (his natural daughter by the countess Marie), dressed in the clothes of Herman, the deaf and dumb jailor-boy, gets access to the dungeon and contrives his escape; but he is retaken, and led back to the dungeon. Being subsequently set at liberty, he marries the countess Marie (the mother of Ulrica).—E. Stirling, The Prisoner of State (1847.)
Eros, the manumitted slave of Antony the triumvir. Antony made Eros swear that he would kill him if commanded by him so to do. When in Egypt, Antony after the battle of Actium, fearing lest he should fall into the hands of Octavius Cæsar, ordered Eros to keep his promise. Eros drew his sword, but thrust it into his own side, and fell dead at the feet of Antony. "O noble Eros," cried Antony, "I thank thee for teaching me how to die!"—Plutarch.
Eros is introduced in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, and in
Dryden's All for Love or the World Well Lost.
(Eros is the Greek name of Cupid, and hence amorous poetry is called Erotic.)
Eros'tratos (in Latin EROSTRATUS), the incendiary who set fire to the temple of Diana of Ephesus, that his name might be perpetuated. An edict was published, prohibiting any mention of the name, but the edict was wholly ineffective.
Charles V., wishing to be shown over the Pantheon [All Saints] of
Rome, was taken to the top by a Roman knight. At parting, the knight
told the emperor that he felt an almost irresistible desire to push his
majesty down from the top of the building, "in order to immortalize his
name." Unlike Erostratos, the name of this knight has not transpired.
Ero'ta, a very beautiful but most imperious princess, passionately
beloved by Philander, Prince of Cyprus.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The
Laws of Candy (1647).
Erra-Pater, an almanac, an almanac-maker, an astrologer. Samuel Butler calls Lilly, the almanac-maker, an Erra-Pater, which we are told was the name of a famous Jewish astrologer.
His only Bible was an Erra-Pater.Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, vii. (1633).
"What's here? Erra-Pater or a bearded sibyl"
[the person was Foresight].
Congreve, Love for Love, iv. (1695).
Erragon, king of Lora (in Scandinavia). Aldo, a Caledonian chief, offered him his services, and obtained several important victories; but Lorma, the king's wife, falling in love with him, the guilty pair escaped to Morven. Erragon invaded the country, and slew Aldo in single combat, but was himself slain in battle by Gaul, son of Morni. As for Lorma, she died of grief.—Ossian, The Battle of Lora.
Errant Damsel (The), Una.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 1 (1590).
Errima, Greek maiden chidden by her mother for dreaming of Sappho, and Lesbian dances and Delphian lyre, and commanded to
"rend thy scrolls and keep thee to thy spinning."She answers that talk of matron dignities and household tasks wearies her:
"I would renounce them all for Sappho's bay:Forego them all for room to chant out free
The silent rhythms I hum within my heart,
And so for ever leave my weary spinning!"
Margaret J. Preston, Old Song and New. (1870).
Errol (Cedric). Bright American boy, living with his widowed mother, whose grandfather, Lord Fauntleroy, sends for and adopts him. The boy's sweetness of manners and nobility of nature conquer the old man's prejudices, and win him to sympathy and co-operation in his schemes for making the world better.—Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1889).
Errol (Gilbert, earl of), lord high constable of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Error, a monster who lived in a den in "Wandering Wood," and with, whom the Red Cross Knight had his first adventure. She had a brood of 1000 young ones of sundry shape, and these cubs crept into their mother's mouth when alarmed, as young kangaroos creep into their mother's pouch. The knight was nearly killed by the stench which issued from the foul fiend, but he succeeded in "rafting" her head off, whereupon the brood lapped up the blood, and burst with satiety.
Half like a serpent horribly displayed,But th' other half did woman's shape retain.
And as she lay upon the dirty ground,
Her huge long tail her den all overspread,
Yet was in knots and many boughts [folds] up-wound,
Pointed with mortal sting.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 1 (1590).
Error of Artists, (See ANACHRONISMS).
ANGELO (Michel), in his great picture of the "Last Judgment" has introduced Charon's bark.
BREUGHEL, the Dutch painter, in a picture of the "Wise Men of the East" making their offerings to the infant Jesus, has represented one of them dressed in a large white surplice, booted and spurred, offering the model of a Dutch seventy-four to the infant.
ETTY has placed by the bedside of Holofernes a helmet of the period of the seventeenth century.
MAZZOCHI (Paulo), in his "Symbolical Painting of the Four Elements," represents the sea by fishes, the earth by moles, fire by a salamander, and air by a camel! Evidently he mistook the chameleon (which traditionally lives on air) for a camel.
TINTORET, in a picture which represents the "Israelites Gathering Manna in the Wilderness," has armed the men with guns.
VERONESE (Paul), in his "Marriage Feast of Cana of Galilee," has introduced among the guests several Benedictines.
WEST, president of the Royal Academy, has represented Paris the Phrygian in Roman costume.
WESTMINSTER HALL is full of absurdities. Witness the following as specimens:—
Sir Cloudesley Shovel is dressed in a Roman cuirass and sandals, but on his head is a full-bottomed wig of the eighteenth century.
The Duke of Buckingham is arrayed in the costume of a Roman emperor, and his duchess in the court dress of George I. period.
Errors of Authors, (See ANACHRONISMS.)
AKENSIDE. He views the Ganges from Alpine heights.—Pleasures of Imagination.
ALLISON (Sir Archibald), says: "Sir Peregine Pickle was one of the pall-bearers of the Duke of Wellington."—Life of Lord Castlereagh.
In his History of Europe, the phrase droit de timbre ("stamp duty") he translates "timber duties."
ARTICLES OF WAR FOR THE ARMY. It is ordered "that every recruit shall have the 40th and 46th of the articles read to him." (art. iii.).
The 40th article relates wholly to the misconduct of chaplains, and has no sort of concern with recruits. Probably the 41st is meant, which is about mutiny and insubordination.
BROWNE (William) Apellês' Curtain. W. Browne says:
If ... I set my pencil to Appellês table [painting]Or dare to draw his curtain.
Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 2.
This curtain was not drawn by Apelles, but by Parrhasius, who lived a full century before Apelles. The contest was between Zeuxis and Parrhasius. The former exhibited a bunch of grapes which deceived the birds, and the latter a curtain which deceived the competitor.
BRUYSSEL (E. von) says: "According to Homer, Achillês had a vulnerable heel." It is a vulgar error to attribute this myth to Homer. The blind old bard nowhere says a word about it. The story of dipping Achillês in the river Styx is altogether post-Homeric.
BYRON. Xerxes' Ships. Byron says that Xerxes looked on his "ships by thousands" off the coast of Sal'amis. The entire number of sails were 1200; of these 400 were wrecked before the battle off the coast of Sêpias, so that even supposing the whole of the rest were engaged, the number could not exceed 800.—Isles of Greece.
The Isle Teos. In the same poem he refers to "Teos" as one of the isles of Greece, but Teos is a maritime town on the coast of Ionia, in Asia Minor.
CERVANTES. Dorothea's Father. Dorothea represents herself as Queen of Micomicon, because both her father and mother were dead, but Don Quixote speaks of him to her as alive.—Pt. I. iv. 8.
Mambrino's Helmet. In pt. I. iii. 8 we are told that the galley-slaves set free by Don Quixote assaulted him with stones, and "snatching the basin from his head, broke it to pieces." In bk. iv. 15 we find this basin quite whole and sound, the subject of a judicial inquiry, the question being whether it was a helmet or a barber's basin. Sancho (ch. 11) says, he "picked it up, bruised and battered, intending to get it mended;" but he says, "I broke it to pieces," or, according to one translator, "broke it into a thousand pieces." In bk. iv. 8 we are told that Don Quixote "came from his chamber armed cap-à-pie, with the barber's basin on his head."
Sancho's Ass. We are told (pt. I. iii. 9) that Gines de Passamonte "stole Sancho's ass." Sancho laments the loss with true pathos, and the knight condoles with him. But soon afterwards Cervantes says: "He [Sancho] jogged on leisurely upon his ass after his master."
Sancho's Great-coat. Sancho Panza, we are told, left his wallet behind in the Crescent Moon tavern, where he was tossed in a blanket, and put the provisions left by the priests in his great-coat (ch. 5). The galley-slaves robbed him of "his great-coat, leaving only his doublet" (ch. 8), but in the next chapter (9) we find "the victuals had not been touched," though the rascals "searched diligently for booty." Now, if the food was in the great-coat, and the great-coat was stolen, how is it that the victuals remained in Sancho's possession untouched?
Sancho's Wallet. We are told that Sancho left his wallet by mistake at the tavern where he was blanket-tossed (ch. 5), but in ch. 9, when he found the portmanteau, "he crammed the gold and linen into his wallet."—Pt. I. iii.
To make these oversights more striking, the author says, when Sancho found the portmanteau, "he entirely forgot the loss of his wallet, his great-coat, and of his faithful companion and servant Dapple" (the ass).
Supper. Cervantes makes the party at the Crescent tavern eat two suppers in one evening. In ch. 5 the curate orders in supper, and "after supper" they read the story of Fatal Curiosity. In ch. 12 we are told "the cloth was laid [again] for supper," and the company sat down to it, quite forgetting that they had already supped.—Pt. I. iv.
CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA states that "the fame of Beaumarchais rests on his two operas, Le Barbier de Seville (1755) and Le Mariage de Figaro." Every one knows that Mozart composed the opera of Figaro (1786), and that Casti wrote the libretto. The opera of Le Barbier de Seville, or rather Il Barbiere di Siviglia, was composed by Rossini, in 1816. What Beaumarchais wrote was two comedies, one in four acts and the other in five acts.—Art. "Beaumarchais."
CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. We are told, in a paper entitled "Coincidences," that Thursday has proved a fatal day with the Tudors, for on that day died Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. If this had been the case it would, indeed, have been startling; but what are the facts? Henry VIII. died on Friday, January 28, 1547, and Elizabeth died on Monday, March 24, 1603.—Rymer, Foedera, xv.
In the same paper we are told with equal inaccuracy that Saturday has been fatal to the present dynasty, "for William IV. and every one of the Georges died on a Saturday." What, however, says history proper? William IV. died on Tuesday, June 20, 1837; George I. died Wednesday.
June 11, 1727; George III. died Monday, January 29, 1820; George IV. died Sunday, June 26, 1830; and only George II. died on a Saturday, "the day [so] fatal to the present dynasty."
CHAUCER says: The throstle-cock sings so sweet a tone that Tubal himself, the first musican, could not equal it.—The Court of Love. Of course he means Jubal.
CIBBER (Colley), in his Love Makes a Man, i., makes Carlos the student say, "For the cure of herds [Virgil's] bucolicks are a master-piece; but when his art describes the commonwealth of bees ... I'm ravished." He means Georgics. The Bucolics are eclogues, and never touch upon either of these subjects. The diseases and cures of cattle are in Georgic iii., and the habits, etc., of bees, Georgic iv.
CID (The). When Alfonso succeeded his brother Sancho and banished the Cid, Rodrigo is made to say:
Prithee say where were these gallants(Bold enough when far from blows)?
Where were they when I, unaided,
Rescued thee from thirteen foes?
The historic fact is, not that Rodrigo rescued Alfonso from thirteen foes, but that the Cid rescued Sancho from thirteen of Alfonso's foes. Eleven he slew, and two he put to flight.—The Cid, xvi. 78.
COLMAN. Job Thornberry says to Peregrine, who offers to assist him in his difficulties, "Desist, young man, in time." But Peregrine was at least 45 years old when so addressed. He was 15 when Job first knew him, and had been absent thirty years in Calcutta. Job Thornberry himself was not above five or six years older.
COWPER calls the rose "the glory of April and May," but June is the great rose month. In the south of England they begin to bloom in the latter half of May, and go on to the middle of July. April roses would be horticultural curiosities.
CRITICS at fault. The licentiate tells Don Quixote that some critics found fault with him for defective memory, and instanced it in this; "We are told that Sancho's ass is stolen, but the author has forgotten to mention who the thief was." This is not the case, as we are distinctly informed that it was stolen by Gines de Passamonte, one of the galley slaves.—Don Quixote, II. i. 3.
DICKENS, in Edwin Drood, puts "rooks and rooks' nests" (instead of daws) "in the tower of Cloisterham."
In Nicholas Nickleby he presents Mr. Squeers as setting his boys "to hoe turnips" in midwinter.
In The Tale of Two Cities, iii. 4, he says: "The name of the strong man of Old Scripture descended to the chief functionary who worked the guillotine." But the name of this functionary was Sanson, not Samson.
GALEN says that man has seven bones in the sternum (instead of three); and Sylvius, in reply to Vesalius, contends that "in days of yore the robust chests of heroes had more bones than men now have."
GREENE (Robert) speaks of Delphos as an island; But Delphos, or rather Delphi, was a city of Phocis, and no island. "Six noblemen were sent to the isle of Delphos."—Donastus and Faunia. Probably he confounded the city of Delphi with the isle of Delos.
HALLIWELL, in his Archaic Dictionary, says: "Crouchmas means Christmas," and adds that Tusser is his authority. But this is altogether a mistake. Tusser, in his "May Remembrances," says: "From bull cow fast, till Crouchmas be past," i.e. St. Helen's Day. Tusser evidently means from May 3 (the invention of the Cross) to August 18 (St. Helen's Day or the Cross-mas), not Christmas.
HIGGONS (Bevil) says:
The Cyprian queen, drawn by Apellês hand.Of perfect beauty did the pattern stand!
But then bright nymphs from every part of Greece
Did all contribute to adorn the piece.
To Sir Godfrey Kneller (1780).
Tradition says that Apellês model was either Phyrne, or Campaspê, afterwards his wife. Campbell has borrowed these lines, but ascribes the painting to Protog'enês the Rhodian.
When first the Rhodian's mimic art arrayedThe queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade,
The happy master mingled in the piece
Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece.
Pleasures of Hope, ii.
JOHNSON (Dr.) makes Addison speak of Steele as "Little Dicky" whereas the person so called by Addison was not Richard Steele, but a dwarfish actor who played "Gomez" in Dryden's Spanish Fryar.
LONDON NEWSPAPER (A), one of the leading journals of the day, has spoken three times within two years of "passing under the Caudine Forks," evidently supposing them to be a "yoke" instead of a valley or mountain pass.
LONGFELLOW calls Erig'ena a Scotchman, whereas the very word means an Irishman.
Done into Latin by that Scottish beast.Erigena Johannes.
Golden Legend.
"Without doubt, the poet mistook John Duns [Scottus], who died in 1308, for John Scottus [Erigena], who died in 875. Erigena translated into Latin, St. Dionysius. He was latitudinarian in his views, and anything but 'a Scottish beast or Calvinist.'"
The Two Angels. Longfellow crowns the death-angel with amaranth, with which Milton says, "the spirits elect bind their resplendent locks;" and his angel of life he crowns with asphodels, the flowers of Pluto or the grave.
MELVILLE (Whyte) makes a very prominent part of his story called Holmby House turn on the death of a favorite hawk named Diamond, which Mary Cave tossed off, and saw "fall lifeless at the king's feet" (ch. xxix.). In ch. xlvi. this very hawk is represented to be alive; "proud, beautiful, and cruel, like a Venus Victrix it perched on her mistress's wrist, unhooded."
MILTON. "Colkitto or Macdonnel or Galasp." In this line of Sonnet XI, Milton seems to speak of three different persons, but in reality they are one and the same; i.e., Macdonnel, son of Colkittoch, son of Gillespie (Galasp). Colkittoch means left-handed.
In Comus (ver. 880) he makes the siren Ligea sleek her hair with a golden comb, as if she were a Scandinavian mermaid.
MOORE (Thom.) says:
The sunflower turns on her god, when he sets,The same look which she turned when he rose.
Irish Melodies, ii. ("Believe Me, if all those Endearing Young Charms").
The sunflower does not turn either to the rising or setting sun. It receives its name solely because it resembles a picture sun. It is not a turn-sun or heliotrope at all.
MORRIS (W.), in his Atalanta's Race, renders the Greek word Saophron "safron," and says:
She the saffron gown will never wear,And in no flower-strewn couch shall she be laid;
i.e. she will never be a bride. Nonnius (bk. xii.) tells us that virtuous women wore a girdled gown called Saophron ("chaste"), to indicate their purity and to prevent indecorous liberties. The gown was not yellow at all, but it was girded with a girdle.
MURPHY, in the Grecian Daughter, says (act i. 1):
Have you forgot the elder Dionysius,Surnamed the Tyrant?... Evander came from Greece,
And sent the tyrant to his humble rank,
Once more reduced to roam for vile subsistence,
A wandering sophist thro' the realms of Greece.
It was not Dionysius the Elder, but Dionysius the Younger, who was the "wandering sophist;" and it was not Evander, but Timoleon, who dethroned him. The elder Dionysius was not dethroned at all, nor even reduced "to humble rank." He reigned thirty-eight years without interruption, and died a king, in the plentitude of his glory, at the age of 63.
In the same play (act iv. 1) Euphrasia says to Dionysius the Younger:
Think of thy father's fate at Corinth, Dionysius.It was not the father, but the son, (Dionysius the Younger) who lived in exile at Corinth.
In the same play he makes Timo'leon victorious over the Syracusans (that is historically correct); and he makes Euphrasia stab Dionysius the Younger, whereas he retreated to Corinth, and spent his time in debauchery, but supported himself by keeping a school. Of his death nothing is known, but certainly he was not stabbed to death by Euphrasia.—See Plutarch.
RYMER, in his Foedera, ascribes to Henry I. (who died in 1135) a preaching expedition for the restoration of Rochester Church, injured by fire in 1177 (vol. I i. 9).
In the previous page Rymer ascribes to Henry I. a deed of gift from "Henry, king of England and lord of Ireland;" but every one knows that Ireland was conquered by Henry II., and the deed referred to was the act of Henry III.
On p. 71 of the same vol. Odo is made, in 1298, to swear "in no wise to confederate with Richard I."; whereas Richard I. died in 1199.
SABINE MAID (The). G. Gilfillan, in his introductory essay to Longfellow, says: "His ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine maid, have not crushed him." Tarpeia, who opened the gates of Rome to the Sabines, and was crushed to death by their shields, was not a Sabine maid, but a Roman.
SCOTT (Sir Walter). In the Heart of Midlothian we read;:
She [Effie Deans] amused herself with visiting the dairy ... and was so near discovering herself to Mary Hetly by betraying her aquaintance with the celebrated receipt for Dunlop cheese, that she compared herself to Bedredeen Hassan, whom the vizier his father in-law discovered by his superlative skill in composing cream-tarts with pepper in them.
In these few lines are several gross errors: (1) cream-tarts should be cheese-cakes; (2) the charge was "that he made cheese-cakes without putting pepper in them," and not that he made "cream-tarts with pepper;" (3) it was not the vizier, his father-in-law and uncle, but his mother, the widow of Nouredeen, who made the discovery, and why? for the best of all reasons—because she herself had taught her son the receipt. The party were at Damascus at the time.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.). (See page 389, "Thackeray.")
"What!" said Bedredeen, "was everything inmy house to be broken and destroyed ... only
because I did not put pepper in a cheese-cake!"
Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Again, Sir Walter Scott speaks of "the philosopher who appealed from Philip inflamed with wine to Philip in his hours of sobriety" (Antiquary, x.). This "philosopher" was a poor old woman.
SHAKESPEARE. Althaea and the Fire-brand. Shakespeare says, (Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2) that "Althaea dreamt that she was delivered of a fire-brand." It was not Althaea, but Hecuba, who dreamed, a little before Paris was born, that her offspring was a brand that consumed the kingdom. The tale of Althaea is, that the Fates laid a log of wood on a fire, and told her that her son would live till that log was consumed; whereupon she snatched up the log and kept it from the fire, till one day her son Melea'ger offended her, when she flung the log on the fire, and her son died, as the Fates predicted.
Bohemia's Coast. In the Winter's Tale the vessel bearing the infant Perdita is "driven by storm on the coast of Bohemia;" but Bohemia has no seaboard at all.
In Coriolanus, Shakespeare makes Volumnia the mother, and Virgilia the wife, of Coriolanus; but his wife was Volumnia, and his mother Veturia.
Delphi an Island. In the same drama (act iii. sc. 1) Delphi is spoken of as an island; but Delphi is a city of Phocis, containing a temple to Apollo. It is no island at all.
Duncan's Murder. Macbeth did not murder Duncan in the castle of Inverness, as stated in the play, but at "the smith's house," near Elgin (1039).
Elsinore. Shakespeare speaks of the beetling cliff of Elsinore, whereas Elsinore has no cliffs at all.
What if it [the ghost] tempt you toward the flood.Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er its base into the sea?
Hamlet, act i. sc. 4.
The Ghost, in Hamlet, is evidently a Roman Catholic; he talks of purgatory, absolution, and other Catholic dogmas; but the Danes at the time were pagans.
St. Louis. Shakespeare, in Henry V. act i. sc. 2, calls Louis X. "St. Louis," but "St. Louis" was Louis IX. It was Louis IX. whose "grandmother was Isabel," issue of Charles de Lorraine, the last of the Carlovingians. Louis X. was the son of Philippe IV. (le Bel) and grandson of Philippe III. and "Isabel of Aragon," not Isabel, "heir of Capet of the line of Charles the duke of Lorain."
Macbeth was no tyrant, as Shakespeare makes him out to be, but a firm and equitable prince, whose title to the throne was better than that of Duncan.
Again, Macbeth was not slain by Macduff at Dunsin'ane, but made his escape from the battle, and was slain in 1056, at Lumphanan.—Lardner, Cabinet Cyc., 17-19.
In The Winter's Tale, act v. sc. 2, one of the gentlemen refers to Julio Romano, the Italian artist and architect (1492-1546), certainly some 1800 years or more before Romano was born.
In Twelfth Night, the Illyrian clown speaks of St. Bennet's Church, London. "The triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure, or the bells of St. Bennet's sure may put you in mind: one, two, three" (act v. sc. 1); as if the duke was a Londoner.
SPENSER. Bacchus or Saturn? In the Faëry Queen, iii. 11, Britomart saw in the castle of Bu'sirane (3 syl.), a picture descriptive of the love of Saturn, who had changed himself into a centaur out of love for Erig'onê. It was not Saturn, but Bacchus who loved Erig'onê, and he was not tranformed into a centaur, but to a horse.
Beonê or Oenonê? In bk. vi. 9 (Faëry Queen) the lady-love of Paris is called Benonê, which ought to be Oenonê. The poet says that Paris was "by Plexippus' brook" when the golden apple was brought to him; but no such brook is mentioned by any classic author.
Critias and Socrates. In bk. ii. 7 (Faëry Queen) Spenser says: "The wise Socrates ... poured out his life ... to the dear Critias; his dearest bel-amie." It was not Socratês, but Theram'enes, one of the thirty tyrants, who in quaffing the poison-cup, said smiling, "This I drink to the health of fair Critias."—Cicero, Tusculan Questions.
Critias or Crito? In Faëry Queen, iv. (introduction), Spenser says that Socrates often discoursed of love to his friend Critias; but it was Crito, or rather Criton that the poet means.
Cyprus and Paphos. Spenser makes Sir Scudamore speak of a temple of Venus, far more beautiful than "that in Paphos, or that in Cyprus;" but Paphos was merely a town in the island of Cyprus, and the "two" are but one and the same temple.—Faëry Queen, iv. 10.
Hippomanês. Spenser says the golden apples of Mammon's garden were better than Those with which the Eubaean young man won Swift Atalanta. Faëry Queen, ii. 7.
The young man was Hippom'anês. He was not a "Eubaean," but a native of Onchestos, in Boeo'tia.
TENNYSON, in the Last Tournament, says (ver. I), Dagonet was knighted in mockery by Sir Gaw'ain; but in the History of Prince Arthur we are distinctly told that King Arthur knighted him with his own hand (pt. ii. 91).
In Gareth and Lynette the same poet says that Grareth was the son of Lot and Bellicent; but we are told a score times and more in the History of Prince Arthur, that he was the son of Margawse (Arthur's sister and Lot's wife, pt. i. 36).
King Lot ... wedded Margawse; Nentres ... wedded Elain.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 35, 36.
In the same Idyll Tennyson has changed Lionês to Lyonors; but, according to the collection of romances edited by Sir T. Malory, these were quite different persons. Lionês, daughter of Sir Persaunt, and sister of Linet of Castle Perilous, married Sir Gareth (pt. i. 153); but Lyonors was the daughter of Earl Sanam, and was the unwedded mother of Sir Borre by King Arthur (pt. i. 15).
Again, Tennyson makes Gareth marry Lynette, and leaves the true heroine, Lyonors, in the cold; but the History makes Grareth marry Lionês (Lyonors), and Gaheris his brother marries Linet.
Thus endeth the history of Sir Gareth, that wedded Dame Liones of the Castle Perilous; and also of Sir Gaheris, who wedded her sister Dame Linet.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (end of pt. i.).
Again, in Gareth and Lynette, by erroneously beginning day with sunrise instead of the previous eve, Tennyson reverses the order of the knights, and makes the fresh green morn represent the decline of day, or, as he calls it, "Hesperus" or "Evening Star;" and the blue star of evening he makes "Phosphorus" or the "Morning Star."
Once more, in Gareth and Lynette, the poet-laureate makes the combat between Gareth and Death finished at a single blow, but in the History, Gareth fights from dawn to dewy eve.
Thus they fought [from sunrise] till it was past noon, and would not stint, till, at last both lacked wind, and then stood they wagging, staggering, panting, blowing, and bleeding ... and when they had rested them awhile, they went to battle again, trasing, rasing, and foyning, as two boars ... Thus they endured till evening-song time.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 136.
In the Last Tournament, Tennyson makes Sir Tristram stabbed to death, by Sir Mark in Tintag'il Castle, Cornwall, while toying with his aunt, Isolt the Fair, but in the History he was in bed in Brittany, severely wounded, and dies of a shock, because his wife tells him the ship in which he expected his aunt to come was sailing into port with a black sail instead of a white one.
The poet-laureate has deviated so often from the collection of tales edited by Sir Thomas Malory, that it would occupy too much space to point out his deviations even in the briefest manner.
THACKERAY, in Vanity Fair, has taken from Sir Walter Scott his allusion to Bedredeen, and not from the Arabian Nights. He has, therefore, fallen into the same error, and added two more. He says: "I ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts into the cream-tarts in India, sir" (ch. iii.). The charge was that Bedredeen made his cheese-cakes without putting pepper into them. But Thackeray has committed in this allusion other blunders. It was not a "princess" at all, but Bedredeen Hassan, who for the nonce had become a confectioner. He learned the art of making cheese-cakes from his mother (a widow). Again, it was not a "princess of Persia," for Bedredeen's mother was the widow of the vizier of Balsora, at that time quite independent of Persia.
VICTOR HUGO, in Les Travailleurs de la Mer, renders "the Frith of Forth" by the phrase Premier des quatre, mistaking "Frith" for first, and "Forth" for fourth or four.
In his Marie Tudor he refers to the History and Annals of Henry VII. par Franc Baronum, "meaning" Historia, etc.
Henrici Septimi, per Franciscum Baconum.
VIEGIL has placed Æneas in a harbor which did not exist at the time. "Portusque require Velinos" (Æneid, vi. 366). It was Curius Dentatus who cut a gorge through the rocks to let the waters of the Velinus into the Nar. Before this was done, the Velinus was merely a number of stagnant lakes, and the blunder is about the same as if a modern poet were to make Columbus pass through the Suez Canal.
In Æneid, in. 171 Virgil makes Æneas speak of "Ausonia;" but as Italy was so called from Auson, son of Ulysses and Calypso, of course Æneas could not have known the name.
Again, in Æneid ix. 571, he represents Chorinseus as slain by Asy'las; but in bk. xii. 298 he is alive again. Thus:
Chorinaeum sternit Asylas
Bk. ix. 571.
Then:
Obvius ambustum torrem Chorinseus ab araCorripit, et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti
Occupat os flammis, etc.
Bk. xii. 298, etc.
Again in bk. ix. Numa is slain by Nisus, (ver. 554); but in bk. x. 562 Numa is alive, and Æneas kills him.
Once more, in bk. x. Æneas slays Camertês (ver. 562); but in bk. xii. 224 Jaturna, the sister of Turnus, assumes his shape. But if he was dead, no one would have been deluded into supposing the figure to be the living man.
Of course, every intelligent reader will be able to add to this
list; but no more space can be allowed for the subject in this
dictionary.
Er'rua ("the mad-cap"), a young man whose wit defeated the strength of the giant Tartaro (a sort of one-eyed Polypheme). Thus the first competition was in throwing a stone. The giant threw his stone, but Errua threw a bird, which the giant supposed to be a stone, and as it flew out of sight, Errua won the wager. The next wager was a bar of iron. After the giant had thrown, Errua said, "From here to Salamanca;" whereupon the giant bade him not to throw, lest the bar of iron should kill his father and mother, who lived there; so the giant lost the second wager. The third was to pull a tree up by the roots; and the giant gave in because Errua had run a cord around a host of trees, and said, "You pull up one, but I pull up all these." The next exploit was at bed-time; Errua was to sleep in a certain bed; but he placed a dead man in the bed, while he himself got under it. At midnight Tartaro took his club and belabored the dead body most unmercifully. When Errua stood before Tartaro next morning, the giant was dumbfounded. He asked Errua how he had slept. "Excellently well," said Errua, "but somewhat troubled by fleas." Other trials were made, but always in favor of Errua. At length a race was proposed, and Errua sewed into a bag the bowels of a pig. When he started, he cut the bag, strewing the bowels on the road. When Tartaro was told that his rival had done this to make himself more fleet, he cut his belly, and of course killed himself.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends (1877).
Ers'kine (The. Rev. Dr.), minister of Grayfriar's Church, Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Er'tanax, a fish common in the Euphratês. The bones of this fish impart courage and strength.
A fish ... haunteth the flood of Eufratês ...it is called an ertanax, and his bones be of such
a manner of kind that whoso handleth them he
shall have so much courage that he shall never
be weary, and he shall not think on joy nor
sorrow that he hath had, but only on the thing
he beholdeth before him.—Sir T. Malory, History
of Prince Arthur, iii. 84, (1470).
Erudite (Most). Marcus Terentius Varro is called "the most erudite of the Romans" (B.C. 116-27).
Er'ythre, modesty personified, the virgin page of Parthen'ia or maiden of chastity, in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). Fully described in canto x. (Greek, cruthros, "red," from eruthriao, "to blush.")
Erysichthon [Erri. sik'. thon], a grandson of Neptune, who was punished by Cerês with insatiable hunger, for cutting down some trees in a grove sacred to that goddess. (See ERISICHTHON.)
Es'calus, an ancient, kind-hearted lord in the deputation of the duke of Vienna.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).
Es'calus, Prince of Vero'na.—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).
Es'canes (3 syl.), one of the lords of Tyre.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
Escobar (Mons. L') the French, name for a fox, so called from M. Escobar the probabilist, whence also the verb escobarder, "to play the fox," "to play fast and loose."
The French have a capital name for the fox, namely, M. L'Escobar, which may be translated the "shuffler," or more freely, "sly boots."—The Daily News, March 25, 1878.
Escotillo (i.e. little Michael Scott), considered by the common people as a magician, because he possessed more knowledge of natural and experimental philosophy than his contemporaries.
Es'dale (Mr.), a surgeon at Madras.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
Es'ings, the king of Kent. So called from Eisc, the father of Hengist, as the Tuscans receive their name from Tuscus, the Romans from Romulus, the Cecrop'idae from Cecrops, the Britons from Brutus, and so on.—Ethelwerd, Chron., ii.
Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy-girl, who, with tambourine and goat, dances in the place before Notre Dame de Paris, and is looked on as a witch. Quasimodo conceals her for a time in the church, but after various adventures she is gibbeted.—Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris.
Esmeralda; humbly-born heroine of Frances Hodgson Burnett's work of same name. The story has been dramatized and played with great effect.
Esmond (Henry), a chivalrous cavalier in the reign of Queen Anne; the hero of Thackeray's novel called Henry Esmond (1852).
Esplan'dian, son of Am'adis and Oria'na. Montalvo has made him the subject of a fifth book to the four original books of Amadis of Gaul (1460).
The description of the most furious battles, carried on with all the bloody-mindedness of an Esplandian or a Bobadil [Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humor].—Encyc. Brit., Art. "Romance."
Espriel'la (Manuel Alvarez), the apocryphal name of Robert Southey. The poet-laureate pretends that certain "letters from England," written by this Spaniard, were translated by him from the original Spanish (three vols., 1807).
Essex (The earl of), a tragedy by Henry Jones (1745.) Lord Burleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh entertained a mortal hatred of the earl of Essex, and accused him to the queen of treason. Elizabeth disbelieved the charge; but at this juncture the earl left Ireland, whither the queen had sent him, and presented himself before her. She was very angry, and struck him, and Essex rushed into open rebellion, was taken, and condemned to death. The queen had given him a ring before the trial, telling him whatever petition he asked should be granted, if he sent to her this ring. When the time of execution drew nigh, the queen sent the countess of Nottingham to the Tower, to ask Essex if he had any plea to make. The earl entreated her to present the ring to her majesty, and petition her to spare the life of his friend Southampton. The countess purposely neglected this charge, and Essex was executed. The queen, it is true, sent a reprieve, but Lord Burleigh took care it should arrive too late. The poet says that Essex had recently married the countess of Rutland, that both the queen and the countess of Nottingham were jealous, and that this jealousy was the chief cause of the earl's death.
The Abbè Boyer, La Calprènede, and Th. Corneille have tragedies on the some subject.
Essex (The earl of), lord high constable of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Estel'la, a haughty beauty, adopted by Miss Havisham. She was affianced by her wish to Pip, but married Bentley Drummle.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Esther, housekeeper to Muhldenau, minister of Mariendorpt. She loves Hans, a servant to the minister, but Hans is shy, and Esther has to teach him how to woo and win her. Esther and Hans are similar to Helen and Modus, only in lower social grade.—S. Knowles, The Maid of Mariendorpt (1838).
Esther Hawdon, better known through the tale as Esther Summerson, natural daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock (before her marriage with Sir Leicester Dedlock). Esther is a most lovable, gentle creature, called by those who know and love her, "Dame Durden" or "Dame Trot." She is the heroine of the tale, and a ward in Chancery. Eventually she marries Allan Woodcourt, a surgeon.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).
Esther Bush: Wife of the squatter Ishmael Bush. Loud-voiced, sharp of temper and hard of hand, yet loyal in her way to husband and children.—James Fennimore Cooper, The Prairie, (1827).
Esther (Queen), Indian monarch who, during the Wyoming massacre, dashes out the brains of sixteen prisoners with her own hands, as a sacrifice to the manes of her son. Queen Esther's Rock is still shown to travelers.—Ann Sophia Stevens, Mary Derwent (1845).
Estifa'nia, an intriguing woman, servant of donna Margaritta, the Spanish heiress. She palms herself off on Don Michael Perez (the copper captain) as an heiress, and the mistress of Margaritta's mansion. The captain marries her, and finds out that all her swans are only geese.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640).
Est-il-Posssible? A nickname given to George of Denmark (Queen Anne's husband), because his general remark to the most startling announcement was, Est-il possible? With this exclamation he exhausted the vials of his wrath. It was James II. who gave him the sobriquet.
Est'mere (2 syl.), king of England. He went with his younger brother Adler to the court of King Adlands, to crave his daughter in marriage; but King Adlands replied that Bremor, the sowdan, or sultan of Spain, had forestalled him. However, the lady, being consulted, gave her voice in favor of the king of England. While Estmere and his brother went to make preparations for the wedding, the "sowdan" arrived, and demanded the lady to wife. A messenger was immediately despatched to inform Estmere, and the two brothers returned, disguised as a harper and his boy. They gained entrance into the palace, and Adler sang, saying, "O ladye, this is thy owne true love; no harper, but a king;" and then drawing his sword he slew the "sowdan," Estmere at the same time chasing from the hall the "kempery men." Being now master of the position, Estmere took "the ladye faire," made her his wife, and brought her home to England.—Percy, Reliques, 1. i. 5.
Estrildis or Elstred, daughter of the Emperor of Germany. She was taken captive in war by Locrin (king of Britain), by whom she became the mother of Sabrin or Sabre. Gwendolen, the wife of Locrin, feeling insulted by this liaison, slew her husband, and had Estrildis and her daughter thrown into a river, since called the Sabri'na or Severn.—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2, etc.
Estwicke (John), hero of Charles Egbert Craddock's book, Where the Battle was Fought (1884). His real name was John Fortescue.
Ete'ocles and Polyni'ces, the two sons Oe'dipos. After the expulsion of their father, these two young princes agreed to reign alternate years in Thebes. Eteoclês, being the elder, took the first turn, but at the close of the year refused to resign the sceptre to his brother; whereupon Polynicês, aided by six other chiefs, laid seige to the city. The two brothers met in combat, and each was slain by the other's hand.
A similar fratricidal struggle is told of Don Pedro of
Castile and his half-brother Don Henry. When Don Pedro had estranged the
Castilians by his cruelty, Don Henry invaded Castile with a body of
French auxiliaries, and took his brother prisoner. Don Henry visited him
in prison, and the two brothers fell on each other like lions. Henry
wounded Pedro in the face, but fell over a bench, when Pedro seized him.
At that moment a Frenchman seized Pedro by the leg, tossed him over, and
Henry slew him.—Menard, History of Du Gueselin.
Ethan (Allen). He gives under his own hand the history of the capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, and corroborates the popular story that he demanded the surrender of the fortress, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Allen's Narrative of Captivity (1779).
Eth'elbert, king of Kent, and the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings who was a Christian. He persuaded Gregory to send over Augustine to convert the English to "the true faith" (596), and built St. Paul's, London.—Ethelwerd's Chronicle, ii.
Good Ethelbert of Kent, first christened English king.To preach the faith of Christ was first did hither bring
Wise Au'gustine the monk, from holy Gregory sent...
That mighty fane to Paul in London did erect.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xi. (1613).
Eth'erington (The late earl of) father of Tyrrel and Bulmer.
The titular earl of Etherington, his successor to the title and estates.
Marie de Martigny (La comtesse), wife of the titular earl of Etherington.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Ethiopians, the same as Abassinians. The Arabians call these people El-habasen or Al-habasen, whence our Abassins, but they call themselves Ithiopians or Ethiopians.—Seldon, Titles of Honor, vi. 64.
Where the Abassin kings their issue guard,Mount Amara.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 280 (1665).
Ethiop's Queen, referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, was Cassiope'a, wife of Ce'pheus (2 syl.) king of Ethiopia. Boasting that she was fairer than the sea-nymphs, she offended the Nereids, who complained to Neptune. Old father Earth-Shaker sent a huge sea-monster to ravage her kingdom for her insolence. At death Cassiopea was made a constellation of thirteen stars.
... that starred Ethiop queen that stroveTo set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.
Milton, Il Penseroso, 19 (1638).
Ethnic Plot. The "Popish Plot" is so called in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel. As Dryden calls the royalists "Jews," and calls Charles II. "David, king of the Jews," the papists were "Gentiles" (or Ethnoi), whence the "Ethnic Plot" means the plot of the Ethnoi against the people of God.—Pt. i. (1681).
Etiquette (Madame), the Duchesse de Noailles, grand mistress of the ceremonies in the court of Marie Antoinette; so called from her rigid enforcement of all the formalities and ceremonies of the ancien régime.
Etna. Zens buried under this mountain Enkel'ados, one of the hundred-handed giants.
The whole land weighed him down, as Etna doesThe giant of mythology.
Tennyson, The Golden Supper.
Etteilla, the pseudonym of Alliette (spelt backwards), a perruquier and diviner of the eighteenth century. He became a professed cabalist, and was visited in his studio in the Hôtel de Crillon (Rue de la Verrerie) by all those who desired to unroll the Book of Fate. In 1783 he published Manière de se Récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommées Tarots. In the British Museum are some divination cards published in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, called Grand Etteilla and Petit Etteilla, each pack being accompanied with a book of explication and instruction.
Ettercap, an ill-tempered person, who mars sociability. The ettercap is the poison-spider, and should be spelt "Attercop." (The Anglo-Saxon, atter-cop, poison-spider.)
O sirs, was sic difference seenAs 'twix wee Will and Tam,
The ane's a perfect ettercap,
The ither's just a lamb.
W. Miller, Nursery Songs.
Ettrick Shepherd (The), James Hogg, the Scotch Poet., who was born in the forest of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and was in early life a shepherd (1772-1835).
Etty's Nine Pictures, "the Combat," the three "Judith" pictures, "Benaiah," "Ulysses and the Syrens," and the three pictures of "Joan of Arc."
"My aim," says Etty, "in all my greatpictures has been to paint some great moral on
the heart. 'The Combat' represents the beauty
of mercy; the three 'Judith' pictures, patriotism
[1, self-devotion to God; 2, self-devotion to man; 3,
self-devotion to country;] 'Benaiah, David's chief
captain,' represents valor; 'Ulysses and the
Syrens,' sensual delights or the wages of sin is
death; and the three pictures of 'Joan of Arc'
depict religion, loyalty and patriotism. In all,
nine in number, as it was my desire to paint
three."—William Etty, of York (1787-1849).
Et'zel or Ezzel (i.e. Attila), king of the Huns, in the songs of the German minnesingers. A ruler over three kingdoms and thirty principalities. His second wife was Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried. In pt ii. of the Niebelungen Lied, he sees his sons and liegemen struck down without making the least effort to save them, and is as unlike the Attila of history as a "hector" is to the noble Trojan "the protector of mankind."
Eu'charis, one of the nymphs of Calypso, with whom Telemachos was deeply smitten. Mentor, knowing his love was sensual love, hurried him away from the island. He afterwards fell in love with Anti'ope, and Mentor approved his choice.—Fenelon, Télémaque, vii. (1700).
Eucharis is meant for Mdlle. de Fontange, maid of honor to Mde. de Montespan. For a few months she was a favorite with Louis XIV., but losing her good looks she was discarded, and died at the age of 20. She used to dress her hair with streaming ribbons, and hence this style of head-gear was called à la Fontange.
Eu'clio, a penurious old hunks.—Plautus, Aulularia.
Now you must explain all this to me, unlessyou would have me use you as ill as Euclio does
Staphy'la—Sir W. Scott.
Eu'crates (3 syl.), the miller, and one of the archons of Athens. A shuffling fellow, always evading his duty and breaking his promise; hence the Latin proverb:
Vias novit quibus effugiat Eucrates ("He hasmore shifts than Eucrates").
Eudo'cia (4 syl.), daughter of Eu'menês, governor of Damascus. Pho'cyas, general of the Syrian forces, being in love with her, asks the consent of Eumenês, and is refused. In revenge, he goes over to the Arabs, who are beseiging Damascus. Eudocia is taken captive, but refuses to wed a traitor. At the end, Pho'cyas dies, and Eudocia retires into a nunnery.—John Hughes, The Siege of Damascus (1720).
Eudon (Count) of Catabria. A baron favorable to the Moors, "too weak-minded to be independent." When the Spaniards rose up against the Moors, the first order of the Moorish chief was this: "Strike off Count Eudon's head: the fear which brought him to our camp will bring him else in arms against us now" (ch. xxv.). Southey, Roderick, etc., xiii. (1814).
Eudox'ia, wife of the Emperor Valentin'ian. Petro'nius Max'imus "poisoned" the emperor, and the empress killed Maximus.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Valentinian (1617).
Eugene (Aram). Scholarly man of high ideals, who has committed a murder, and hides the knowledge of it from all. He is finally hunted down.—Lord Lytton, Eugene Aram.
Euge'nia, called "Silence" and the "Unknown." She was the wife of Count de Valmont, and mother of Florian, "the foundling of the forest." In order to come into the property, Baron Longueville used every endeavor to kill Eugenia and Florian, but all his attemps were abortive, and his villainy at length was brought to light.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.
Eugénie (Lalande). The marvellously well-preserved great-grandmother of a near-sighted youth who addresses and marries her. She reveals the trick that has been played on him by presenting him with a pair of eye-glasses.—Edgar Allan Poe, The Spectacles.
Eugenio, a young gentleman who turned goat-herd, because Leandra jilted him and eloped with a heartless adventurer named Vincent de la Rosa.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 20 ("The Goatherd's Story," 1605).
Eugenius, the friend and wise counsellor of Yorick. John Hall Stevenson was the original of this character.—Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1759).
Euhe'meros a Sicilian Greek, who wrote a Sacred History to explain the historical or allegorical character of the Greek and Latin mythologies.
One could wish Euhêmeros had never been born. It was he that spoilt [the old myths] first.—Ouidà, Ariadnê, i.1.
Eulenspiegel (Tyll), i.e. "Tyll Owl-glass," of Brunswick. A man who runs through the world as charlatan, fool, lansquenet, domestic servant, artist, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything, but rejoices in cheating those who employ him; he parodies proverbs, rejoices in mischief, and is brimful of pranks and drolleries. Whether Uulenspiegel was a real character or not is a matter of dispute, but by many the authorship of the book recording his jokes is attributed to the famous German satirist, Thomas Murner.
In the English versions of the story he is called Howle-glass.
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal history as Tyll Eulenspiegel. Now, after five centuries, his native village is pointed out with pride to the traveller.—Carlyle.
Eumæos (in Latin, Eumoes), the slave and swine-herd of Ulysses, hence any swine-herd.
Eu'menes (3 syl.), Governor of Damascus, and father of Eudo'cia.—John Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).
Eumnes'tes, Memory personified. Spenser says he is an old man, decrepit and half blind. He was waited on by a boy named Anamnestês. [Greek, eumnêstis, "good memory," anamnêstis, "research."—Faëry Queen, ii. 9 (1590).]
Eunice (Alias "Nixey"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.
In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Hedged In (1870).
Euphra'sia, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Being in love with Prince Philaster, she assumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender page. The sex of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness of this jealousy.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster or Love Lies A-bleeding (1608).
Euphra'sia, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but Euphrasia, rushing forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772).
The same tale is told-of Xantippê, who preserved the life of her
father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the old man held
out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.
What do I gaze on!...
An old man, and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins
The blood is nectar ...
Here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire,
To whom she renders back the debt of blood.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 148 (1817).
Eu'phrasy, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the distant future.—See Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 414-421 (1665).
Eu'phues (3 syll), the chief character in John Lilly's Euphuês or The Anatomy of Wit, and Euphues and his England. He is an Athenian gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees" (Henry V. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphuês was designed to exhibit the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called Euphues' Golden Legacy (1590).
"The commonwealth of your bees," repliedEuphuês, "did so delight me that I was not a
little sorry that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple
judgment, there was such an orderly government
that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."
J. Lilly, Euphues (1581).
(The romances of Calprenéde and Scudéri bear the same relation to the jargon of Louis XIV., as the Euphues of Lilly to that of Queen Elizabeth.)
Eure'ka! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.
The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the metal, and he asked Archimedês to ascertain if his suspicion was well founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with. Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy introduced by the artificer.
Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred tothe philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and
without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran
home, exclaiming, 'Heureka! heureka!'"
Euro'pa. The Fight at Dame Europa's School, written by the Rev. H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).
Europe's Liberator. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769-1852).
Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations"And "Europe's Liberator."
Byron, Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).
Eu'rus, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; No'tus, the south wind; Bo'reas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Lev'ant ("rising of the sun"), and Zephyr is called Po'nent, ("setting of the sun ").
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds—Eurus and Zephyr.
Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 705 (1665).
Euryd'ice (4 syl.), the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her wedding night.
Orpheus went down to Hadês to crave for her restoration to life, and Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he turned to see if Eurydicê´ was following, and just caught a glance of her as she was snatched back into the shades below.
(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem, called Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, 1709.)
Euryt'ion, the herdsman of Grer'yon. He never slept day nor night, but walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros. "Herculês them all did overcome."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10 (1696).
Eus'tace, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Eustace, (Father), or "Father Eustatius," the superior and afterwards abbot of St. Mary's. He was formerly William Allan, and the friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the Protestant preacher).—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Eustace (Charles), a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He has been clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named Frederick. Charles Eustace confides his scrape to Polyglot, and conceals his young wife in the tutor's private room. Polyglot is thought to be a libertine, but the truth comes out, and all parties are reconciled.—J. Poole, The Scapegoat.
Eus'tace (Jack), the lover of Lucinda, and "a very worthy young fellow," of good character and family. As Justice Woodcock was averse to the marriage, Jack introduced himself as a music-master, and Sir William Meadows, who recognized him, persuaded the justice to consent to the marriage of the young couple. This he was the more ready to do as his sister Deborah said positively he "should not do it."—Is. Bickerstaff, Love in a Village.
Eva (St. Clair). Lovely child, the daughter of Uncle Tom's master, and Uncle Tom's warm friend.—H.B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851).
E'va, daughter of Torquil of the Oak. She is betrothed to Ferquhard Day.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Evad'ne (3 syl.), wife of Kap'aneus (3 syl.). She threw herself on the funeral pile of her husband, and was consumed with him.
Evad'ne (3 syl.), sister of Melantius. Amintor was compelled by the king to marry her, although he was betrothed to Aspasia (the "maid" whose death forms the tragical event of the drama).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
The purity of female virtue in Aspasia is well contrasted with the guilty boldness of Evadnê, and the rough soldier-like bearing and manly feeling of Melantius render the selfish sensuality of the king more hateful and disgusting.—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 204.
Evad'ne or The Statue, a drama by Sheil (1820). Ludov'ico, the chief minister of Naples, heads a conspiracy to murder the king and seize the crown; his great stumbling-block is the marquis of Colonna, a high-minded nobleman, who cannot be corrupted. The sister of the marquis is Evadnê (3 syl.), plighted to Vicentio. Ludovico's scheme is to get Colonna to murder Vicentio and the king, and then to debauch Evadnê. With this in view, he persuades Vicentio that Evadnê is the king's fille d'amour, and that she marries him merely as a flimsy cloak, but he adds "Never mind, it will make your fortune." The proud Neapolitan is disgusted, and flings off Evadnê as a viper. Her brother is indignant, challenges the troth-plight lover to a duel, and Vicentio falls. Ludovico now irritates Colonna by talking of the king's amour, and induces him to invite the king to a banquet and then murder him. The king goes to the banquet, and Evadnê shows him the statues of the Colonna family, and amongst them one of her own father, who at the battle of Milan had saved the king's life by his own. The king is struck with remorse, but at this moment Ludovico enters and the king conceals himself behind the statue. Colonna tells the traitor minister the deed is done, and Ludovico orders his instant arrest, gibes him as his dupe, and exclaims, "Now I am king indeed!" At this moment the king comes forward, releases Colonna, and orders Ludovico to be arrested. The traitor draws his sword, and Colonna kills him. Vicentio now enters, tells how his ear has been abused, and marries Evadnê.
Evan Dhu of Lochiel, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Evan Dhu M'Combich, the foster-brother of M'Ivor.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Evandale (The Right Hon. W. Maxwell, lord), in the royal army under the duke of Monmouth. He is a suitor of Edith Bellenden, the granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Evan'der, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece." He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe." When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tryant to the heart.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."
Mr. Bently, May 6, 1796, took leave of the stage in the character of "Evander."—W.C. Russell, Representative Actors, 426.
Evangelic Doctor (The), John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation" (1324-1384).
Evangeline, the heroine and title of a tale in hexameter verse by Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now Nova Scotia). At the age of 17 she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith, but next day all the colony was exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now began the troubles of her life. She wandered from place to place to find her betrothed. Basil had settled at Louisiana, but when Evangeline reached the place, Gabriel had just left; she then went to the prairies, to Michigan, and so on, but at every place she was just too late to meet him. At length, grown old in this hopeless search, she went to Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out in the city, and as she visited the almshouse she saw an old man smitten down with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name, but death closed his lips. He was buried, and Evangeline lies beside him in the grave.
(Longfellow's Evangeline (1849) has many points of close similitude with Campbell's tale of Gertrude of Wyoming, 1809).
Evans (Sir Hugh), a pedantic Welsh parson and schoolmaster of extraordinary simplicity and native shrewdness.—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
The reader may cry out with honest Sir Hugh Evans, "I like not when a 'ooman has a great peard."—Macaulay.
Henderson says: "I have seen John Edwin, in 'Sir Hugh Evans,' when preparing for the duel, keep the house in an ecstasy of merriment for many minutes together without speaking a word" (1750-1790).
Evans (William), the giant porter of Charles I. He carried Sir Geoffrey Hudson about in his pocket. Evans was eight feet in height, and Hudson only eighteen inches. Fuller mentions this giant amongst his Worthies.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Evan'the (3 syl.), sister of Sora'no, the wicked instrument of Frederick, duke of Naples, and the chaste wife of Valerio.
The duke tried to seduce her, but failing in this scandalous attempt, offered to give her to any one for a month, at the end of which time the libertine was to suffer death. No one would accept the offer, and ultimately Evanthê was restored to her husband.—Beaumont and Fletcher, A Wife for a Month (1624).
Eve (1 syl), or Havah, the "mother of all living" (Gen. iii. 20). Before the expulsion from paradise her name was Ishah, because she was taken out of ish, i.e. "man" (Gen. ii. 23).
Eve was of such gigantic stature that when she laid her head on one hill near Mecca, her knees rested on two other hills in the plain, about two gun-shots asunder. Adam was as tall as a palm tree.—Moncony, Voyage, i. 372, etc.
Ev'eli'na (4 syl.), the heroine of a novel so called by Miss Burney (afterwards Mme. D'Arblay). Evelina marries Lord Orville (1778).
Evelyn (Alfred), the secretary and relative of Sir John Vesey. He made Sir John's speeches, wrote his pamphlets, got together his facts, mended his pens, and received no salary. Evelyn loved Clara Douglas, a dependent of Lady Franklin, but she was poor also, and declined to marry him. Scarcely had she refused him, when he was left an immense fortune and proposed to Georgina Vesey. What little heart Georgina had was given to Sir Frederick Blount, but the great fortune of Evelyn made her waver; however, being told that Evelyn's property was insecure, she married Frederick, and left Evelyn free to marry Clara.—Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Evelyn (Sir George) a man of fortune, family, and character, in love with Dorrillon, whom he marries.—Mrs. Inchbald.
Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are (1795).
Everard (Colonel Markham), of the Commonwealth party.
Master Everard, the colonel's father.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).
Ev'erett (Master), a hired witness of the "Popish Plot."—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Every Man in His Humor, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1598). The original play was altered by David Garrick. The persons to whom the title of the drama apply are: "Captain Bobadil," whose humor is bragging of his brave deeds and military courage—he is thrashed as a coward by Downright; "Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of his wife—he is befooled and cured by a trick played on him by Brain-worm; "Stephen," whose humor is verdant stupidity—he is played on by every one; "Kno'well," whose humor is suspicion of his son Edward, which turns out to be all moonshine; "Dame Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of her husband, but she (like her husband) is cured by a trick devised by Brain worm. Every man in his humor is liable to be duped thereby, for his humor is the "Achilles' heel" of his character.
Every Man out of His Humor, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1599).
Every One has His Fault, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1794). By the fault of rigid pride, Lord Norland discarded his daughter, Lady Eleanor, because she married against his consent. By the fault of gallantry and defect of due courtesy to his wife, Sir Robert Ramble drove Lady Ramble into a divorce. By the fault of irresolution, "Shall I marry or shall I not!" Solus remained a miserable bachelor, pining for a wife and domestic joys. By the fault of deficient spirit and manliness, Mr. Placid was a hen-pecked husband. By the fault of marrying without the consent of his wife's friends, Mr. Irwin was reduced to poverty and even crime. Harmony healed these faults; Lord Norland received his daughter into favor; Sir Robert Ramble took back his wife; Solus married Miss Spinster; Mr. Placid assumed the rights of the head of the family; and Mr. Irwin, being accepted as the son-in-law of Lord Norland, was raised from indigence to domestic comfort.
Eviot, page to Sir John Ramorny (master of the horse to Prince Robert of Scotland).—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Evir-Allen, the white-armed daughter of Branno, an Irishman. "A thousand heroes sought the maid; she refused her love to a thousand. The sons of the sword were despised, for graceful in her eyes was Ossian." This Evir-Allen was the mother of Oscar, Fingal's grandson, but she was not alive when Fingal went to Ireland to assist Cormac against the invading Norsemen, which forms the subject of the poem called Fingal, in six books.—Ossian, Fingal, iv.
Ew'ain (Sir), son of King Vrience and Morgan le Fay (Arthur's half-sister).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 72 (1470).
Ewan of Brigglands, a horse soldier in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
Ewart (Nanty i.e. Anthony), captain of the smuggler's brig. Sir W. Scott Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Excal'ibur, King Arthur's famous swords. There seems to have been two of his swords so called. One was the sword sheathed in stone, which no one could draw thence, save he who was to be king of the land. Above 200 knights tried to release it, but failed; Arthur alone could draw it with ease, and thus proved his right of succession (pt. i. 3). In ch. 7 this sword is called Excalibur, and is said to have been so bright "that it gave light like thirty torches." After his fight with Pellinore, the king said to Merlin he had no sword, and Merlin took him to a lake, and Arthur saw an arm "clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in the hand." Presently the Lady of the Lake appeared, and Arthur begged that he might have the sword, and the lady told him to go and fetch it. When he came to it he took it, "and the arm and hand went under the water again." This is the sword generally called Excalibur. When about to die, King Arthur sent an attendant to cast the sword back again into the lake, and again the hand "clothed in white samite" appeared, caught it, and disappeared (ch. 23).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 23 (1470).
King Arthur's sword, Excalibur,Wrought by the lonely maiden of the lake;
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps,
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
Excalibur's Sheath. "Sir," said Merlin, "look that ye keep well the scabbard of Excalibur, for ye shall lose no blood as long as ye have the scabbard upon you, though ye have never so many wounds."—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 36 (1470).
Executioner (No). When Francis, viscount d'Aspremont, governor of Bayonne, was commanded by Charles IX. of France to massacre the Huguenots, he replied, "Sire, there are many under my government devoted to your majesty, but not a single executioner."
Exhausted Worlds ... Dr. Johnson, in the prologue spoken by Garrick at the opening of Drury Lane, in 1747, says of Shakespeare:
Each change of many-colored life he drew?Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new.
Exterminator (The), Montbars, chief of a set of filibusters in the seventeenth century. He was a native of Languedoc, and conceived an intense hatred against the Spaniards on reading of their cruelties in the New World. Embarking at Havre, in 1667, Montbars attacked the Spaniards in the Antilles and in Honduras, took from them Vera Cruz and Carthagena, and slew them most mercilessly wherever he encountered them (1645-1707).
Eye. Terrible as the eye of Vathek. One of the eyes of this caliph was so terrible in anger that those died who ventured to look thereon, and had he given way to his wrath, he would have depopulated his whole dominion.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).
Eyed (One-) people. The Arimaspians of Scythia were a one-eyed people.
The Cyclops were giants with only one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead.
Tartaro, in Basque legends, was a one-eyed giant. Sindbad the sailor, in his third voyage, was cast on an island inhabited by one-eyed giants.
Eyre (Jane), a governess, who stoutly copes with adverse circumstances, and ultimately marries a used-up man of fortune, in whom the germs of good feeling and sound sense were only exhausted, and not destroyed.—Charlotte Bronté, Jane Eyre (1847).
Ez'zelin (Sir), the gentleman who recognizes Lara at the table of Lord Otho, and charges him with being Conrad the Corsair. A duel ensues, and Ezzelin is never heard of more. A serf used to say that he saw a huntsman one evening cast a dead body into the river which divided the lands of Otho and Lara, and that there was a star of knighthood on the breast of the corpse.—Byron, Lara (1814).
aa (Gabriel), nephew of Meg Merrilees. One of the huntsman at Liddesdale.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Fab'ila, a king devoted to the chase. One day he encountered a wild boar, and commanded those who rode with him not to interfere, but the boar overthrew him and gored him to death.—Chronica Antiqua de España, 121.
Fa'bius (The American), George Washington (1732-1799).
Fa'bius (The French), Anne, duc de Montmorency, grand-constable of France (1493-1567).
Fabricius [Fa.brish'.e.us], an old Roman, like Cincinnatus and Curius Dentatus, a type of the rigid purity, frugality, and honesty of the "good old times." Pyrrhus used every effort to corrupt him by bribes, or to terrify him, but in vain. "Excellent Fabricius," cried the Greek, "one might hope to turn the sun from its course as soon as turn Fabricius from the path of duty."
Fabric'ius, an author, whose composition was so obscure that Gil Blas could not comprehend the meaning of a single line of his writings. His poetry was verbose fustian, and his prose a maze of far-fetched expressions and perplexed phrases.
Fabrit'io, a merry soldier, the friend of Captain Jac'omo the woman-hater.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
Face (1 syl.), alias "Jeremy," house-servant of Lovewit. During the absence of his master, Face leagues with Subtle (the alchemist) and Dol Common to turn a penny by alchemy, fortune-telling, and magic. Subtle (a beggar who knew something about alchemy) was discovered by Face near Pye Corner. Assuming the philosopher's garb and wand, he called himself "doctor;" Face, arrogating the title of "captain," touted for dupes; while Dol Common kept the house, and aided the other two in their general scheme of deception. On the unexpected return of Lovewit, the whole thing blew up, but Face was forgiven, and continued in his place as house-servant.—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1619).
Facto'tum (Johannes), one employed to do all sorts of work for another; one in whom another confides for all the odds and ends of his household management or business.
He is an absolute Johannes Factotum, at least in his own conceit.—Greene, Groat's-worth of Wit (1692).
Faddle (William), a "fellow made up of knavery and noise, with scandal for wit and impudence for raillery. He was so needy that the very devil might have bought him for a guinea." Sir Charles Raymond says to him:
"Thy life is a disgrace to humanity. A foolish prodigality makes thee needy; need makes thee vicious; and both make thee contemptible. Thy wit is prostituted to slander and buffoonery; and thy judgment, if thou hast any, to meanness and villainy. Thy betters, that laugh with thee, laugh at thee; and all the varieties of thy life are but pitiful rewards and painful abuses."—Ed. Moore, The Foundling, iv. 2 (1748).
Fa'dha (Ah), Mahomet's silver cuirass.
Fad'ladeen, the great nazir' or chamberlain of Aurungze'bê's harem. He criticises the tales told to Lalla Rookh by a young poet on her way to Delhi, and great was his mortification to find that the poet was the young king his master.
Fadladeen was a judge of everything, from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose leaves to the composition of an epic poem.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817).
Fadladin'ida, wife of King Chrononhotonthologos. While the king is alive she falls in love with the captive king of the Antip'odês, and at the death of the king, when two suitors arise, she says, "Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I'll take you both."—H. Cary, Chrononhotonthologos (a burlesque).
Faëry Queen, a metrical romance, in six books, of twelve cantos each, by Edmund Spenser (incomplete).
Book I. THE RED CROSS KNIGHT, the spirit of Christianity, or the victory of holiness over sin (1590).
II. THE LEGEND OF SIB GUYON, the golden mean (1590).
III. THE LEGEND or BRITOMARTIS, chaste love. Britomartis is Diana or Queen Elizabeth (1590).
IV. CAMBEL AND TRIAMOND, fidelity (1596).
V. THE LEGEND OF SIR AR'TEGAL, justice' (1596).
VI. THE LEGEND OF SIR CALIDORE, courtesy (1596).
Sometimes bk. vii., called. Mutability, is added; but only
fragments of this book exist.
Fafnis, the dragon with which Sigurd fights.—Sigurd the Horny (a German romance based on a Norse legend).
Fag, the lying servant of Captain Absolute. He "wears his master's wit, as he does his lace, at second hand."—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
Faggot (Nicholas), clerk to Matthew Foxley, the magistrate who examined Darsie Latimer (i. e. Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet) after he had been attacked by rioters.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Faggots and Faggots (II y a fagots et fagots), all things of the same sort are not equal in quality. In Molière's Le Médecin Malgré Lui, Sganarelle wants to show that his faggots are better than those of other persons, and cries out "Ay! but those faggots are not equal to mine."
II est vrai, messieurs, que je suis le premier homme du monde pour faire des fagots ...
Je n'y épargne aucune chose, et les fais d'une facon qu'il n'y a rien a dire ... Il y a fagots, et fagots.—Act i. 6 (1666).
Fagin, an old Jew, who employs a gang of thieves, chiefly boys. These boys he teaches to pick pockets and pilfer adroitly. Fagin assumes a most suave and fawning manner, but is malicious, grasping, and full of cruelty.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Fainall, cousin by marriage to Sir Wilful Witwould. He married a young, wealthy, and handsome widow, but the two were cat and dog to each other. The great aim of Fainall was to get into his possession the estates of his wife (settled on herself "in trust to Edward Mirabell"), but in this he failed. In outward semblance, Fainall was plausible enough, but he was a goodly apple rotten at the core, false to his friends, faithless to his wife, overreaching, and deceitful.
Mrs. Fainall. Her first husband was Languish, son of Lady Wishford. Her second husband she both despised and detested.—W. Congreve, The Way of the World (1700).
Fainaso'lis, daughter of Craca's king (the Shetland Isles). When Fingal was quite a young man, she fled to him for protection against Sora, but scarcely had he promised to take up her cause, when Sora landed, drew the bow, and she fell. Fingal said to Sora, "Unerring is thy hand, O Sora, but feeble was the foe." He then attacked the invader, and Sora fell.—Ossian, Fingal, iii.
Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady, a line in a ballad written to the "Berkshire Lady," a Miss Frances Kendrick, daughter of Sir William Kendrick, second baronet. Sir William's father was created baronet by Charles II. The wooer was a Mr. Child, son of a brewer at Abingdon, to whom the lady sent a challenge.
Having read this strange relation,He was in a consternation;
But, advising with a friend,
He persuades him to attend:
"Be of courage and make ready,
Faint heart never won fair lady."
Quarterly Review, cvi. 205-245.
Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady, name of a petit comédie brought out by Mde. Vestris at the Olympic. Mde. Vestris herself performed the part of the "fair lady."
Fair Penitent (The) a tragedy by Rowe (1703). Calista was daughter of Lord Sciol'to (3 syl.), and bride of Lord Al'tamont. It was discovered on the wedding-day that she had been seduced by Lotha'rio. This led to a duel between the bridegroom and the libertine, in which Lothario was killed; a street riot ensued, in which Sciolto receives his death-wound; and Calista, "the fair penitent," stabbed herself. The drama is a mere réchauffé of Massinger's Fatal Dowry.
Fairbrother (Mr.), counsel of Effie Deans at the trial.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Fairfax (Thomas, lord), father of the duchess of Buckingham.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Fairfax (Rutherford). Young man born of a line of brave men, who is conscious that early petting at home and a foreign education have developed physical cowardice. On his way home from England he falls into the hands of desperadoes who force him to fire a pistol at a bound man. The lad is almost fainting, and swoons with pain and horror when the deed is, as he thinks, done. His father believes him a coward, and the sense of this and a loving woman's trust in him, nerve him to deeds of endurance and valor that clear his record triumphantly.—Octave Thanet, Expiation (1890).
Fairfield, the miller, and father of Patty "the maid of the mill." An honest, straightforward man, grateful and modest.—Bickerstaff, The Maid of the Mill (1647).
Fairford (Mr. Alexander or Saunders), a lawyer.
Allan Fairford, a young barrister, son of Saunders, and a friend of Darsie Latimer. He marries Lilias Redgauntlet, sister of Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet, called "Darsie Latimer."
Peter Fairford, Allan's cousin.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Fairleigh (Frank), the pseudonym of F.E. Smedley, editor of Sharpe's London Magazine (1848, 1849). It was in this magazine that Smedley's two novels, Frank Fairleigh and Louis Arundel were first published.
Fairlimb, sister of Bitelas, and daughter of Rukenaw the ape, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
Fair Maid of Perth. Heroine of Scott's novel of same name.
Fair'scrieve (2 syl.), clerk of Mr. James Middleburgh, a magistrate of Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Fairservice (Mr.), a magistrate's clerk.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Fairservice (Andrew), the humorous Scotch gardener of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Boy (time, George I.).
Overflowing with a humor as peculiar in its way as the humors of Andrew Fairservice.—London Athenæum.
Fairstar (Princess), daughter of Queen Blon'dina (who had at one birth two boys and a girl, all "with stars on their foreheads, and a chain of gold about their necks"). On the same day, Blondina's sister Brunetta (wife of the king's brother) had a son, afterwards called Cherry. The queen-mother, wishing to destroy these four children, ordered Fein'tisa to strangle them, but Feintisa sent them adrift in a boat, and told the queen-mother they were gone. It so happened that the boat was seen by a corsair, who brought the children to his wife Cor'sina to bring up. The corsair soon grew immensely rich, because every time the hair of these children was combed, jewels fell from their heads. When grown up, these castaways went to the land of their royal father and his brother, but Cherry was for a while employed in getting for Fairstar (1) The dancing water, which had the gift of imparting beauty; (2) The singing apple, which had the gift of imparting wit; and (3) The green bird, which could reveal all secrets. By this bird the story of their birth was made known, and Fairstar married her cousin Cherry.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Fair-star," 1682).
This tale is borrowed from the fairy tales of Straparola, the
Milanese (1550).
Faith (Brown), wife of Goodman Brown. He sees her in his fantasy of the witches' revel in the forest, and calls to her to "look up to heaven."—Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse (1854).
Faith (Derrick). A beautiful, unsophisticated girl, whose accomplished tutor instructs her in belles lettres, natural philosophy, religion and love. He becomes a clergyman and she marries him.—Susan Warner, Say and Seal (1860).
Faith Gartney. A city girl whose parents remove to the country before she has an opportunity to enter society. She is partially betrothed to Paul Rushleigh, but under the influence of nature, and association with an older and nobler man, outgrows her early lover, and marries Roger Armstrong.—A.D.T. Whitney, Faith Gartney's Girlhood (1863).
Faithful, a companion of Christian in his walk to the Celestial City. Both were seized at Vanity Fair, and Faithful, being burnt to death, was taken to heaven, in a chariot of fire.—Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678).
Faithful (Jacob), the title and hero of a sea tale, by Captain Marryat (1835).
Faithful (Father of the), Abraham.—Rom. iv.; Gal. iii. 6-9.
Faithful Shepherdess (The), a pastoral drama by John Fletcher (1610). The "faithful shepherdess" is Clorin, whose lover was dead. Faithful to his memory, Clorin retired from the busy world, employing her time in works of humanity, such as healing the sick, exorcising the bewitched, and comforting the afflicted.
(A part of Milton's Comus is almost a verbal transcript of the pastoral.)
Fakar (Dhu'l), Mahomet's scimitar.
Fakenham Ghost (The). An old woman, walking to Fakenham, had to cross the churchyard after nightfall. She heard a short, quick step behind, and looking round saw what she fancied to be a four-footed monster. On she ran, faster and faster, and on came the pattering footfalls behind. She gained the churchyard gate and pushed it open, but, ah! "the monster" also passed through. Every moment she expected it would leap upon her back. She reached her cottage door and fainted. Out came her husband with a lantern, saw the "sprite," which was no other than the foal of a donkey, that had strayed into the park and followed the ancient dame to her cottage door.
And many a laugh went through the vale.And some conviction, too;
Each thought some other goblin tale
Perhaps was just as true.
R. Bloomfield, The Fakenham Ghost (a fact).
Falcon. Wm. Morris tells us that whoso watched a certain falcon for seven days and seven nights without sleeping, should have his first wish granted by a fay. A certain king accomplished the watching, and wished to have the fay's love. His wish was granted, but it proved his ruin.—The Earthly Paradise ("July")
Falconer (Mr.), laird of Balmawhapple, friend of the old baron of Bradwardine.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley time, George Falconer (Major), brother of Lady Bothwell.—Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.).
Falconer (Edmund), the nom de plume of Edmund O'Rourke, author of Extremes or Men of the day (a comedy, 1859).
Falie'ro (Marino), the doge of Venice, an old man who married a young wife named Angioli'na (3 syl.). At a banquet, Michel Steno, a young patrician, grossly insulted some of the ladies, and was, by the order of the doge, turned out of the house. In revenge, Steno placarded the doge's chair with some scurrilous verses upon the young dogaressa, and Faliero referred the matter to "the Forty." The council sentenced Steno to two months' imprisonment, and the doge deemed this punishment so inadequate to the offence, that he looked upon it as a personal insult, and headed a conspiracy to cut off, root and branch, the whole Venetian nobility. The project being discovered, Faliero was put to death (1355), at the age of 76, and his picture removed from the gallery of his brother doges.—Byron, Marino Faliero.
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