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Title: Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1
       A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook

Author: The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.

Release Date: March 4, 2004 [EBook #11431]
[Date last updated: January 22, 2006]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARACTER SKETCHES, VOL. I ***




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HARACTER 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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.")

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).

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.

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.

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.

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—

Adam. In Greek this word is compounded of the four initial letters of the cardinal quarters:

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.)

T. Otway, Venice Preserved, i. 1 (1682).

Ad'riel, in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, the earl of Mulgrave, a royalist.

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.).

—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.

Aescula'pius, in Greek, Askle'pios, the god of healing.

Ae'son, the father of Jason. He was restored to youth by Medea, who infused into his veins the juice of certain herbs.

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.

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."

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].

Aganip'pe (4 syl.), fountain of the Muses, at the foot of mount Helicon, in Boeo'tia.

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—

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."

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."

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).

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.

Agricola Fusilier, a pompous old creole, a conserver of family traditions, and patriot who figures in George W. Cable's Grandissimes (1880).

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.

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).

M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1536-1631).

Ajut and Anningait, in The Rambler.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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:

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.

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.

M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1563-1631).

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.

—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).

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:

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.

Alec Yeaton, the Gloucester skipper in T. B. Aldrich's ballad, Alec Yeaton's Son.

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.

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,

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.

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.

Chaucer, The Squire's Tale Al'gebar' ("the giant"). So the Arabians call the constellation 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Althe'a (The divine), of Richard Lovelace, was Lucy Saeheverell, also called by the poet, Lucasta.

(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.

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).

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.)

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.

"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.).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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").

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.)

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.

(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.

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.

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.")

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.

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—

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).

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—

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.

Amyn'tas, in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, by Spenser, is Ferdinando earl of Derby, who died 1594.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.")

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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—

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—

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.)

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.

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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)—

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.

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.

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.

Thus imitated by Pope (1688-1744)—

Ascræ'an Sage, or Ascræan poet, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascræan."

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.)

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.)

Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 168.

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).

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.

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.

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."

(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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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:

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Bacchan'tes (3 syl.), priestesses of Bacchus.

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).

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.

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.

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!"

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.

(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).

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).

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).

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.

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).

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—

(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 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.)

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.

Bar'bason, the name of a demon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 2 (1596).

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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).

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.

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.

(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:

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.

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.

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

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.

(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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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:

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).

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.

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.

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:

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:

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 490

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.

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).

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:

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:

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.

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.

Belted Will, lord William Howard, warden of the western marches (1563-1640).

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).

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:

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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:

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.

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.

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).

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."

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.

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—

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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).