DRUGGET, a rich London haberdasher, who has married one of his daughters to Sir Charles Racket. Drugget is “very fond of his garden,” but his taste goes no further than a suburban tea-garden with leaden images, cockney fountains, trees cut into the shapes of animals, and other similar abominations. He is very headstrong, very passionate, and very fond of flattery.
_Mrs. Druggett_, wife of the above. She knows her husband’s foibles, and, like a wise woman, never rubs the hair the wrong way.–A. Murphy, _Three Weeks after Marriage_.
DRUID (_The_), the _nom de plume_ of Henry
Dixon, sportsman and sporting-writer; One of his books, called _Steeple-chasing_, appeared in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_. His last work was called _The Saddle and Sirloin._
[Illustration] Collins calls James Thomson (author of _The Seasons_) a druid, meaning a pastoral British poet or “Nature’s High Priest.”
In yonder grave a Druid lies.
Collins (1746).
_Druid (Dr.)_, a man of North Wales, 65 years of age, the travelling tutor of Lord Abberville, who was only 23. The doctor is a pedant and antiquary, choleric in temper, and immensely bigoted, wholly without any knowledge of the human heart, or indeed any practical knowledge at all.
“Money and trade, I scorn ’em both; …I have traced the Oxus and the Po, traversed the Riphaean Mountains, and pierced into the inmost deserts of Kilmuc Tartary …I have followed the ravages of Kuli Chan with rapturous delight. There is a land of wonders; finely depopulated; gloriously laid waste; fields without a hoof to tread ’em; fruits without a hand to gather ’em: with such a catologue of pats, peetles, serpents, scorpions, caterpillars, toads, and putterflies! Oh, ’tis a recreating contemplation indeed to a philosophic mind!”–Cumberland, _The Fashionable Lover_ (1780).
DRUID MONEY, a promise to pay on the Greek Kalends. Patricius says: “Druidae pecuniam mutuo accipiebant in posteriore vita reddituri.”
Like money by the Druids borrowed,
In th’ other world to be restored. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 1 (1678).
[Illustration] Purchase tells us of certain priests of Pekin, “who barter with the people upon bills of exchange, to be paid in heaven a hundredfold.”–_Pilgrims_, iii. 2.
DRUM _(Jack), Jack Drum’s entertainment_ is giving a guest the cold shoulder.
Shakespeare calls it “John Drum’s entertainment” (_All Well, etc_., act iii. sc. 6), and Holinshead speaks of “Tom Drum his entertaynement, which is to hale a man in by the heade, and thrust him out by both the shoulders.”
DRUMMLE (_Bentley_) AND STARTOP, two young men who read with Mr. Pocket. Drummle is a surly, ill-conditioned fellow, who marries Estella.–C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).
DRUNKEN PARLIAMENT, a Scotch parliament assembled at Edinburgh, January I, 1661.
It was a mad, warring time, full of extravagance; and no wonder it was so, when the men
of affairs were almost perpetually drunk.–Burnet, _His Own Time_ (1723-34).
DRUON “the Stern,” one of the four knights who attacked Britomart and Sir Scudamore (3 _syl_.).
The warlike dame _(Britomart)_ was on her part assaid By Clarabel and Blandamour at one;
While Paridel and Druon fiercely laid On Scudamore, both his professed fone [_foes_].
Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 9 (1596).
DRUSES (_Return of the_). The Druses, a semi-Mohammedan sect of Syria, being attacked by Osman, take refuge in one of the Spor’ades, and place themselves under the protection of the Knights of Rhodes. These knights slay their sheiks and oppress the fugitives. In the sheik massacre, Dja’bal is saved by Maae’ni, and entertains the idea of revenging his people and leading them back to Syria. To this end he gives out that he is Hakeem, the incarnate god, returned to earth, and soon becomes the leader of the exiled Druses. A plot is formed to murder the prefect of the isle, and to betray the Island to Venice, if Venice will supply a convoy for their return. An’eal (2 _syl_.), a young woman stabs the prefect, and dies in bitter disappointment when she discovers that Djabal is a mere impostor. Djabal stabs himself when his imposition is made public, but Loys, (2 _syl_.) a Brenton count, leads the exiles back to Lebanon. Robert Browning.–_The Return of the Druses_.
[Illustration] Historically, the Druses, to the number of 160,000 or 200,000, settled in Syria, between Djebail and Saide, but their original seat was Egypt. They quitted Egypt from persecution, led by Dara’zi or Durzi, from whom the name Druse (1 _syl_.) is derived. The founder of the sect was the hakem B’amr-ellah (eleventh century), believed to be incarnate deity, and the last prophet who communicated between God and man. From this founder the head of the sect was called the _hakem_, his residence being Deir-el-Kamar. During the thirteenth or fourteenth century the Druses were banished from Syria, and lived in exile in some of the Sporades but were led back to Syria early in the fifteenth century by Count Loys de Duex, a new convert. Since 1588 they have been tributaries of the sultan.
What say you does this wizard style himself– Hakeem Biamrallah, the Third Fatimite?
What is this jargon? He the insane prophet, Dead near three hundred years!
Robert Browning, _The Return of the Druses_.
DRYAS or DRYAD, a wood-nymph, whose life was bound up with that of her tree (Greek, [Greek: dryas, dryados].)
“The quickening power of the soul,” like Martha, “is busy about many things,” or like “a Dryas living in a tree.”–Sir John Davies, _Immortality of the soul_, xii.
DRY-AS-DUST (_The Rev. Doctor_), an hypothetical person whom Sir W. Scott makes use of to introduce some of his novels by means of prefatory letters. The word is a synonym for a dull, prosy, plodding historian, with great show of learning, but very little attractive grace.
DRYDEN OF GERMANY _(The)_, Martin Opitz, sometimes called “The Father of German Poetry” (1597-1639).
DRYEESDALE _(Jasper)_, the old steward at Lochleven Castle.–Sir W. Scott, _The Abott_ (time, Elizabeth).
DRY’OPE (3 _syl_.), daughter of King Dryops, beloved by Apollo. Apollo, having changed himself into a tortoise, was taken by Dryope into her lap, and became the father of Amphis’sos. Ovid says that Dryope was changed into a lotus _(Met_., x. 331).
DUAR’TE (3 _syl_), the vainglorious son of Guiomar.–Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).
DUBOSC, the great thief, who robs the night-mail from Lyons, and murders the courier. He bears such a strong likeness to Joseph Lesurques (act i. 1) that their identity is mistaken.–Ed. Stirling, _The Courier of Lyons_ (1852).
DUBOURG-_(Mons.)_, a merchant at Bordeaux, and agent there of Osbaldistone of London.
_Clement Dubourg_, son of the Bordeaux merchant, one of the clerks of Osbaldistone, merchant.–Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
DUBRIC _(St.)_ or St. Dubricius, archbishop of the City of Legions _(Caerleon-upon-Usk_; Newport is the only part left.) He set the crown on the head of Arthur, when only 15 years of age. Geoffrey says (_British history_, ix. 12); This prelate, who was primate of Britain, was so eminent for his piety, that he could cure any sick person by his prayers. St. Dubric abdicated and lived a hermit, leaving David his successor. Tennyson introduced him in his _Coming of Arthur, Enid_, etc.
Dubric, whose report old Carleon yet doth carry.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).
To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint. Chief of the Church in Britain, and before The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the king That morn was married.
Tennyson, _The Coming of Arthur_.
DUCHOMAR was in love with Morna, daughter of Comac, king of Ireland. Out of jealousy, he slew Cathba, his more successful rival, went to announce his death to Morna, and then asked her to marry him. She replied she had no love for him, and asked for his sword. “He gave the sword to her tears,” and she stabbed him to the heart. Duchomar begged the maiden to pluck the sword from his breast that he might die; and when she approached him for the purpose, “he seized the sword from her, and slew her.”
“Duchomar, most gloomy of men; dark are thy brows and terrible; red are thy rolling eyes … I love thee not,” said Morna; “hard is thy heart of rock, and dark is thy terrible brow.”–Ossian, _Fingal_, i.
DUCHRAN (_The laird of_), a friend of Baron Bradwardine.–Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
DU CROISY and his friend La Grange are desirous to marry two young ladies whose heads are turned by novels. The silly girls fancy the manners of these gentlemen “too unaffected and easy to be aristocratic”; so the gentlemen send to them their valets, as “the viscount de Jodelet,” and “the marquis of Mascarille.” The girls are delighted whith their titled visitors; but when the game had gone far enough, the masters enter and unmask the trick. By this means the girls are taught a useful lesson, without being subjected to any fatal consequence.–Moliere, _Les Precieuses Ridicules_ (1659).
DUDLEY, a young artist; a disguise assumed by Harry Bertram.–Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
_Dudley_ (_Captain_), a poor English officer, of strict honor, good family, and many accomplishments. He has served his country for thirty years, but can scarcely provide bread for his family.
_Charles Dudley_, son of Captain Dudley. High-minded, virtuous, generous, poor, and proud. He falls in love with his cousin Charlotte Rusport, but forbears proposing to her, because he is poor and she is rich. His grandfather’s will is in time brought to light, by which he becomes the heir of a noble fortune, and he then marries his cousin.
_Louisa Dudley_, daughter of Captain Dudley. Young, fair, tall, fresh, and lovely. She is courted by Belcour the rich West Indian, to whom ultimately she is married.–Cumberland, _The West Indian_ (1771).
DUDLEY DIAMOND (_The_). In 1868 a black shepherd named Swartzboy brought to his master, Nie Kirk, this diamond, and received for it L400, with which he drank himself to death. Nie Kirk sold it for L12,000; and the earl of Dudley gave Messrs. Hunt and Roskell L30,000 for it. It weighed in the rough 88 1/2 carats, but cut into a heart shape it weighs 44 1/2 carats. It is triangular in shape, and of great brilliancy.
[Illustration] This magnificent diamond, that called the “Stewart” _(q. v_.), and the “Twin,” have all been discovered in Africa since 1868.
DUDU, one of the three beauties of the harem, into which Juan, by the sultan’s order, had been admitted in female attire. Next day, the sultana, out of jealousy, ordered that both Dudu and Juan should be stitched in a sack and cast into the sea; but by the connivance of Baba the chief eunuch, they affected their escape.–Byron, _Don Juan_, vi. 42, etc.
A kind of sleeping Venus seemed Dudu … But she was pensive more than melancholy … The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was holy.
Unconscious, albeit turned of quick seventeen. Canto vi. 42-44 (1824).
DUENNA _(The)_, a comic opera by R. B. Sheridan (1773). Margaret, the duenna, is placed in charge of Louisa, the daughter of Don Jerome. Louisa is in love with Don Antonio, a poor nobleman of Seville; but her father resolves to give her in marriage to Isaac Mendoza, a rich Portuguese Jew. As Louisa will not consent to her father’s arrangement, he locks her up in her chamber, and turns the duenna out of doors, but in his impetuous rage he in reality turns his daughter out, and locks up the duenna. Isaac arrives, is introduced to the lady, elopes with her, and is duly married. Louisa flees to the convent of St. Catharine, and writes to her father for his consent to her marriage to the man of her choice; and Don Jerome supposing she means the Jew, gives it freely, and she marries Antonio. When they meet at breakfast at the old man’s house, he finds that Isaac has married the duenna, Louisa has married Antonio, and his son has married Clara; but the old man is reconciled and says, “I am an obstinate old fellow, when I’m in the wrong, but you shall all find me steady in the right.”
DUESSA _(false faith_), is the personification of the papacy. She meets the Red Cross Knight in the society of Sansfoy _(infidelity)_, and when the knight slays Sansfoy, she turns to flight. Being overtaken, she says her name is Fidessa _(true faith)_, deceives the knight, and conducts him to the palace of Lucif’era, where he encounters Sansjoy (canto 2). Duessa dresses the wounds of the Red Cross Knight, but places Sansjoy under the care of Escula’pius in the infernal regions (canto 4). The Red Cross Knight leaves the palace of Lucifera, and Duessa induces him to drink of the “Enervating Fountain;” Orgoglio then attacks him, and would have slain him if Duessa had not promised to be his bride. Having cast the Red Cross Knight into a dungeon, Orgoglio dresses his bride in most gorgeous array, puts on her head “a triple crown” _(the tiara of the pope_), and sets her on a monster beast with “seven heads” _(the seven hills of Rome_). Una _(truth)_ sends Arthur (England) to rescue the captive knight, and Arthur slays Orgoglio, wounds the beast, releases the knight, and strips Duessa of her finery _(the Reformation_); whereupon she flies into the wilderness to conceal her shame (canto 7).–Spenser, _Faery Queen_, i. (1590).
_Duessa_, in bk. v., allegorizes Mary queen of Scots. She is arraigned by Zeal before Queen Mercilla _(Elizabeth)_, and charged with high treason. Zeal says he shall pass by for the present “her counsels false conspired” with Blandamour _(earl of Northumberland)_, and Paridel _(earl of Westmoreland_), leaders of the insurrection of 1569, as that wicked plot came to naught, and the false Duessa was now “an untitled queen.” When Zeal had finished, an old sage named the Kingdom’s Care _(Lord Burghley)_ spoke, and opinions were divided. Authority, Law of Nations, and Religion thought Duessa guilty, but Pity, Danger, Nobility of Birth, and Grief pleaded in her behalf. Zeal then charges the prisoner with murder, sedition, adultery, and lewd impiety; whereupon the sentence of the court is given against her. Queen Mercilla, being called on to pass sentence, is so overwhelmed with grief that she rises and leaves the court.–Spenser, _Faery Queen_, v. 9 (1596).
DUFF _(Jamie)_, the idiot boy attending Mrs. Bertram’s funeral.–Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
DUKE _(My lord_), a duke’s servant, who assumes the airs and title of his master, and is addressed as “Your grace,” or “My lord duke.” He was first a country cowboy, then a wig-maker’s apprentice, and then a duke’s servant. He could neither write nor read, but was a great coxcomb, and set up for a tip-top fine gentleman.–Rev. J. Townley, _High Life Below Stairs_ (1763).
_Duke (The Iron_), the duke of Wellington, also called “The Great Duke” (1769-1852).
DUKE AND DUCHESS, in pt. II. of _Don Quixote_, who play so many sportive tricks on “the Knight of the Woeful Countenance,” were Don Carlos de Borja, count of Ficallo, and Donna Maria of Aragon, duchess of Villaher’mora, his wife, in whose right the count held extensive estates on the banks of the Ebro, among others a country seat called Buena’via, the place referred to by Cervantes (1615).
DUKE OF MIL’AN, a tragedy by Massinger (1622). A play evidently in imitation of Shakespeare’s _Othello_. “Sforza” is Othollo; “Francesco,” Iago: “Marcelia,” Desdemona: and “Eugenia,” Emilia. Sforza “the More” [_sic_] doted on Marcelia his young bride, who amply returned his love. Francesco, Sforza’s favorite, being left lord protector of Milan during a temporary absence of the duke, tried to corrupt Marcelia; but failing in this, accused her to Sforza of wantonness. The duke, believing his favorite, slew his beautiful young bride. The cause of Francesco’s villainy was that the duke had seduced his sister Eugenia.
[Illustration] Shakespeare’s play was produced 1611, about eleven years before Massinger’s tragedy. In act v. 1 we have “Men’s injuries we write in brass,” which brings to mind Shakespeare’s line, “Men’s evil manners live in brass, their virtues we write in water.”
(Cumberland reproduced this drama, with some alterations, in 1780).
DUKE COMBE, William Combe, author of _Dr. Syntax_, and translator of _The Devil upon Two Sticks_, from _Le Diable Boiteux_ of Lesage. He was called _duke_ from the splendor of his dress, the profusion of his table, and the magnificence of his deportment. The last fifteen years of his life were spent in the King’s Bench (1743-1823).
DULCAMA’RA _(Dr.)_, an itinerant physician, noted for his pomposity; very boastful, and a thorough charlatan.–Donizetti, _L’Elisire d’Amore_ (1832).
DULCARNON. (See DHU’L KARNEIN.)
DULCIFLUOUS DOCTOR, Antony Andreas, a Spanish minorite of the Duns Scotus school (_-1320).
DULCIN’EA DEL TOBO’SO, the lady of Don Quixote’s devotion. She was a fresh-colored country wench, of an adjacent village, with whom the don was once in love. Her real name was Aldonza Lorenzo. Her father was Lorenzo Corchuelo, and her mother Aldonza Nogales. Sancho Panza describes her in pt. I. ii. 11.–Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. i. I (1605).
“Her flowing hair,” says the knight, “is of gold, her forehead the Elysian fields, her eyebrows two celestial arches, her eyes a pair of glorious suns, her cheeks two beds of roses, her lips two coral portals that guard her teeth of Oriental pearl, her neck is alabaster, her hands are polished ivory, and her bosom whiter than the new-fallen snow.”
Ask you for whom my tears do flow so? ‘Tis for Dulcinea del Toboso.
_Don Quixote_, I iii. 11 (1605).
DULL, a constable.–Shakespeare, _Love’s Labour’s Lost_ (1594).
DU’MACHUS. The impenitent thief is so called in Longfellow’s _Golden Legend_, and the penitent thief is called Titus.
In the apocryphal _Gospel of Nicodemis_, the impenitent thief is called Gestas, and the penitent one Dysmas.
In the story of _Joseph of Arimathea_, the impenitent thief is called Gesmas, and the penitent one Dismas.
Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas. _A Monkish Charm to Scare away Thieves_.
Dismas in paradise would dwell,
But Gesmas chose his lot in hell.
DUMAIN, a French lord in attendance on Ferdinand, king of Navarre. He agreed to spend three years with the king in study, during which time no woman was to approach the court. Of course, the compact was broken as soon as made and Dumain fell in love with Katharine. When however, he proposed marriage, Katharine deferred her answer for twelve months and a day, hoping by that time “his face would be more bearded,” for, she said, “I’ll mark no words that smoothfaced wooers say.”
The young Dumain, a well-accomplished youth, Of all that virtue love for virtue loved; Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill; For he hath wit to make an ill shape good, And shape to win grace, tho’ he had no wit.
Shakespeare, _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, act ii. sc. I (1594).
DU’MARIN, the husband of Cym’oent, and father of Marinel.–Spenser, _Fairy Queen_, in. 4.
DUMAS _(Alexandre_ D.), in 1845, published sixty volumes.
The most skillful copyist, writing 12 hours a day, can with difficulty do 3,900 letters in an hour, which gives him 46,800 per diem, or 60 pages of a romance. Thus he could copy 5 volumes octavo per month and 60 in a year, supposing that he did not lose one second of time, but worked without ceasing 12 hours every day thoughout the entire year.–De Mirecourt, _Dumas Pere_ (1867).
DUMB OX _(The)._ St. Thomas Aqui’nas was so called by his fellow-students at Cologne, from his taciturnity and dreaminess. Sometimes called “The Great Dumb Ox of Sicily.” He was larged-bodied, fat, with a brown complexion, and a large head partly bald.
Of a truth, it almost makes me laugh To see men leaving the golden grain,
To gather in piles the pitiful chaff That old Peter Lombard thrashed with his brain,
To have it caught up and tossed again On the horns of the Dumb Ox of Cologne.
Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_.
(Thomas Aquinas was subsequently called “The Angelic Doctor,” and the “Angel of the Schools,” 1224-1274.)
DUMBIEDIKES (_The old laird of_), an exacting landlord, taciturn and obstinate.
The laird of Dumbiedikes had hitherto been moderate in his exactions … but when a stout, active young fellow appeared … he began to think so broad a pair of shoulders might bear an additional burden. He regulated, indeed, his management of his dependants as carters do their horses, never failing to clap an additional brace of hundred-weights on a new and willing horse.–Chap. 8 (1818).
_The young laird of Dumbiedikes_ (3 _syl_.), a bashful young laird, in love with Jeanie Deans, but Jeanie marries the Presbyterian minister, Reuben Butler.–Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
DUM’MERAR (_The Rev. Dr._), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.–Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
DUMMY or SUPERNUMERARY. “Celimene,” in the _Precieuses Ridicules_, does not utter a single word, although she enters with other characters on the stage.
DUMTOUS’TIE (_Mr. Daniel_), a young barrister, and nephew of Lord Bladderskate.–Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
DUN (_Squire_), the hangman who came between Richard Brandon and Jack Ketch.
And presently a halter got,
Made of the best strong hempen teer, And ere a cat could lick his ear,
Had tied him up with as much art
As Dun himself could do for’s heart.
Cotton, _Virgil Travestied_, iv. (1677).
DUN COW (_The_), slain by Sir Guy of Warwick on Dunsmore Heath, was the cow kept by a giant in Mitchel Fold [_middle-fold_], Shropshire. Its milk was inexhaustible. One day an old woman, who had filled her pail, wanted to fill her sieve also with its milk, but this so enraged the cow that it broke away, and wandered to Dunsmore, where it was killed.
[Illustration] A huge tusk, probably an elephant’s, is still shown at Warwick Castle as one of the horns of this wonderful cow.
DUNBAR AND MARCH _(George, earl of_), who deserted to Henry IV. of England, because the betrothal of his daughter Elizabeth to the king’s eldest son was broken off by court intrigue.
_Elizabeth Dunbar_, daughter of the earl of Dunbar and March, betrothed to Prince Robert, duke of Rothsay, eldest son of Robert III. of Scotland. The earl of Douglas contrived to set aside this betrothal in favor of his own daughter Elizabeth, who married the prince, and became duchess of Rothsay.–Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
DUNCAN “the Meek,” king of Scotland, was son of Crynin, and grandson of Malcolm II., whom he succeeded on the throne, Macbeth was the son of the younger sister of Duncan’s mother, and hence Duncan and Macbeth were first cousins. Sueno, king of Norway, having invaded Scotland, the command of the army was entrusted to Macbeth and Banquo, and so great was their success that only ten men of the invading army were left alive. After the battle, King Duncan paid a visit to Macbeth in his castle of Inverness, and was there murdered by his host. The successor to the throne was Duncan’s son Malcolm, but Macbeth usurped the crown.–Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ (1606).
_Duncan (Captain)_, of Knockdunder, agent at Roseneath to the Duke of Buckingham.–Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.). _Duncan (Duroch)_, a follower of Donald Beau Lean.–Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
DUNCE, wittily or willfully derived from Duns, surnamed “Scotus.”
In the Gaelic, _donas [means]_ “bad luck” or in contempt, “a poor ignorant creature.” The Lowland Scotch has _donsie_, “unfortunate, stupid.”–_Notes and Queries_, 225, September 21, 1878.
DUN’CIAD (“_the dunce epic_”), a satire by Alexander Pope–written to revenge himself upon his literary enemies. The plot is this: Eusden the poet-laureate being dead, the goddess of Dulness elects Colley Cibber as his successor. The installation is celebrated by games, the most important being the “reading of two voluminous works, one in verse and the other in prose, without nodding.” King Cibber is then taken to the temple of Dulness, and lulled to sleep on the lap of the goddess. In his dream he sees the triumphs of the empire. Finally the goddess having established the kingdom on a firm basis, Night and Chaos are restored, and the poem ends (1728-42).
DUNDAS, _(Starvation)_, Henry Dundas, first Lord Melville. So called because he introduced into the language the word _starvation_, in a speech on American affairs (1775).
DUNDER _(Sir David_), of Dunder Hall, near Dover. An hospitable, conceited, whimsical old gentleman, who forever interrupts a speaker with “Yes, yes, I know it,” or “Be quiet, I know it.” He rarely finishes a sentence, but runs on in this style: “Dover is an odd sort of a–eh?” “It is a dingy kind of a–humph!” “The ladies will be happy to–eh?” He is the father of two daughters, Harriet and Kitty, whom he accidentally detects in the act of eloping with two guests. To prevent a scandal, he sanctions the marriages, and discovers that the two lovers, both in family and fortune, are suitable sons-in-law.
_Lady Dunder_, fat, fair, and forty if not more. A country lady, more fond of making jams and pastry than doing the fine lady. She prefers cooking to croquet, and making the kettle sing to singing herself. (See HARRIET and KITTY.)–G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788).
William Dowton [1764-1851] played “Sir Anthony Absolute,” “Sir Peter Teazle,” “Sir David Dunder,” and “Sir John Falstaff,” and looked the very characters he represented.–W. Donaldson, _Recollections_.
[Illustration] “Sir Anthony Absolute,” in _The Rivals_ (Sheridan); “Sir Peter Teazle,” in _The School for Scandal_ (Sheridan).
DUNDREAR’Y _(Lord)_, a good natured, indolent, blundering, empty-headed swell; the chief character in Tom Taylor’s dramatic piece entitled _Our American Cousin_. He is greatly characterized by his admiration of “Brother Sam,” for his incapacity to follow out the sequence of any train of thought, and for supposing all are insane who differ from him.
(Mr. Sothern of the Haymarket created this character by his power of conception and the genius of his acting.)
DUNIOS _(The count de_), in Sir W. Scott’s novel of _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
DUNOIS THE BRAVE, hero of the famous French song, set to music by Queen Hortense, mother of Napoleon III., and called _Partant pour Syrie_. His prayer to the Virgin, when he left for Syria, was:
Que j’aime la plus belle,
Et sois le plus vaillant!
He behaved with great valor, and the count whom he followed gave him his daughter to wife. The guests, on the bridal day, all cried aloud:
Amour a la plus belle!
Honneur an plus vaillant!
Words by M. de Laborde (1809).
DUN’OVER, a poor gentleman introduced by Sir W. Scott in the introduction of _The Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
DUNROMMATH, lord of Uthal, one of the Orkneys. He carried off Oith’ona, daughter of Nuath (who was engaged to be married to Gaul, son of Morni), and was slain by Gaul in fight.
Gaul advanced in his arms. Dunrommath shrunk behind his people. But the spear of Gaul pierced the gloomy chief; his sword lopped off his head as it bended in death.–Ossian, _Oithoha_.
DUNS SCOTUS, called “The Subtle Doctor,” said to have been born at Dunse, in Berwickshire, or Dunstance, in Northumberland (1265-1308).
John Scotus, called _Erigena_ (“Erin-born”), is quite another person (_-886). Erigena is sometimes called “Scotus the Wise,” and lived four centuries before “The Subtle Doctor.”
DUN-SHUNNER _(Augustus)_, a _nom de plnme_ of Professor William Edmonstoune Aytoun, in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ (1813-1865).
DUNS’TAN _(St.)_, patron saint of goldsmiths and jewellers. He was a smith, and worked up all sorts of metals in his cell near Glastonbury Church. It was in this cell that, according to legend, Satan had a gossip with the saint, and Dunstan caught his sable majesty by the nose with a pair of red-hot forceps.
DUNTHAL’MO, lord of Teutha _(the Tweed)._ He went “in his pride against Rathmor,” chief of Clutha (_the Clyde_), but being overcome, “his rage arose,” and he went “by night with his warriors” and slew Rathmor in his banquet hall. Touched with pity for his two young sons (Calthon and Colmar), he took them to his own house and brought them up. “They bent the bow in his presence, and went forth to his wars.” But observing that their countenances fell, Dunthalmo began to be suspicious of the young men, and shut them up in two separate caves on the banks of the Tweed, where neither “the sun penetrated by day nor the moon by night.” Colmal (the daughter of Dunthalmo), disguised as a young warrior, loosed Calthon from his bonds, and fled with him to the court of Fingal, to crave aid for the liberation of Colmar. Fingal sent his son Ossian with 300 men to effect this object, but Dunthalmo, hearing of their approach, gathered together his strength and slew Colmar. He also seized Calthon, mourning for his brother, and bound him to an oak. At daybreak Ossian moved to the fight, slew Dunthalmo, and having released Calthon, “gave him to the white-bosomed Colmal.”–Ossian, _Calthon and Colmal_.
DUPELEY (_Sir Charles_), a man who prided himself on his discernment of character, and defied any woman to entangle him in matrimony; but he mistook Lady Bab Lardoon, a votary of fashion, for an unsophisticated country maiden, and proposed marriage to her.
“I should like to see the woman,” he says, “that could entangle me … Shew me a woman …and at the first glance I will discover the whole extent of her artifice.”–Burgoyne, _The Maid of the Oaks_, i. I.
DUPRE [_Du.Pray_’], a servant of Mr. Darlemont, who assists his master in abandoning Julio, count of Harancour (his ward) in the streets of Paris, for the sake of becoming possessor of his ward’s property. Dupre repents and confesses the crime.–Th. Holcroft, _The Deaf and Dumb_ (1785).
DURAN’DAL, the sword of Orlando, the workmanship of fairies. So admirable was its temper that it would “cleave the Pyrenees at a blow.”–Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516)
DURANDAR’TE (_4 syl_.), a knight who fell at Roncesvalles (_4 syl_.). Durandarte loved Belerma whom he served for seven years, and was then slain; but in dying he requested his cousin Montesi’nos to take his heart to Belerma.
Sweet in manners, fair in favor,
Mild in temper, fierce in fight.
Lewis.
DUR’DEN _(Dame)_, a notable country gentlewoman, who kept five men-servants “to use the spade and flail,” and five women-servants “to carry the milken-pail.” The five men loved the five maids. Their names were:
Moll and Bet, and Doll and Kate, and Dorothy Draggletail; John and Dick, and Joe and Jack, and Humphrey with his flail. _A Well-known Glee_.
(In _Bleak House_, by C. Dickens, Esther Summerson is playfully called “Dame Durden.”)
DURETETE _(Captain)_, a rather heavy gentleman who takes lessons in gallantry from his friend, young Mirabel. Very bashful with ladies, and for ever sparring with Bisarre, who teazes him unmercifully _[Dure-tait, Be-zar’]._–G. Farquhar, _The Inconstant_ (1702).
DURINDA’NA, Orlando’s sword, given him by his cousin Malagi’gi. This sword and the horn Olifant were buried at the feet of the hero.
[Illustration] Charlemagne’s sword “Joyeuse” was also buried with him, and “Tizo’na” was buried with the Cid.
DUROTI’GES (4. _syl_.). Below the Hedui (those of Somersetshire) came the Durotiges, sometimes called Mor’ini. Their capital was Du’rinum (_Dorchester_), and their territory extended to Vindel’ia (_Portland Isle_).–Richard of Cireneestre, _Ancient State of Britain_, vi. 15.
The Durotiges on the Dorsetian sand.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).
DURWARD (_Quentin_), hero and title of a novel by Sir W. Scott. Quentin Durward is the nephew of Ludovic Lesly (surnamed _LeBalafre_). He enrolls himself in the Scottish guard, a company of archers in the pay of Louis XI., at Plessis les Tours, and saves the king in a boar-hunt. When Leigeis is assaulted by insurgents, Quentin Durward and the Countess Isabelle de Croye escape on horseback. The countess publicly refuses to marry the duc d’Orleans, and ultimately marries the young Scotchman.
DUSRONNAL, one of the two steeds of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes. The other was “Sulin-Sifadda” (_q. v._).
Before the left side of the car is seen the snorting horse. The thin-maned, high-headed, strong-hoofed, fleet, bounding son of the hill. His name Dusronnal, among the stormy sons of the sword … the [_two_] steeds like wreaths of mist fly over the vales. The wildness of deer is in their course, the strength of eagles descending on the prey.–Ossian, _Fingal_ i.
DUTCH SCHOOL of painting, noted for its exactness of detail and truthfullness to life:–For _Portraits_: Rembrandt, Bol, Flinck, Hals, and Vanderhelst.
For _Conversation pieces_: Gerhard Douw, Terburg, Metzu, Mieris, and Netscher.
For _low life_: Ostade Brower and Jan Steen.
For _landscapes_: Ruysdael, Hobbema, Cuyp, Vanderneer (_moonlight scenes_), Berchem and A. Both.
For _battle scenes_: Wouvermans and Huchtenburg.
For _marine pieces_: Vandevelde and Bakhuizen.
For _still life and flowers_: Kalf, A. van Utrecht, Van Huysum, and De Heem.
DUTCH HOUSEWIFERY. In his papers upon _Old New York_ (1846), John Fanning Watson pays a just tribute to Knickerbocker housekeepers.
“The cleanliness of Dutch housewifery was always extreme. Everything had to submit to scrubbing and scouring; dirt in no form could be endured by them, and dear as water was in the city, where it was generally sold, still it was in perpetual requisition. It was their honest pride to see a well-furnished dresser, showing copper and pewter in shining splendor as if for ornament rather than for use. In all this they differed widely from the Germans, a people with whom they have been erroneously and often confounded. Roost fowls and ducks are not more different. As water draws one it repels the other.”
DUTTON (_Mrs. Dolly_), dairy-maid to the Duke of Argyll.–Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time George II.).
DWARF. The following are celebrated dwarfs of real life:–
ANDROMEDA, 2 feet 4 inches. One of Julia’s free maids.
ARISTRATOS, the poet. “So small,” says Athenaeos, “that no one could see him.”
BEBE (2 _syl_), 2 feet 9 inches. The dwarf of Stanislas, king of Poland (died 1764). BORUWLASKI (_Count Joseph_), 2 feet 4 inches. Died aged 98 (1739-1837). He had a brother and a sister both dwarfs.
BUCHINGER (_Matthew_), who had no arms or legs, but _fins_ from the shoulders. He could draw, write, thread needles, and play the hautboy. Fac-similes of his writing are preserved among the Harleian MSS. (born 1674-_).
CHUNG, recently exhibited with Chang the giant.
COLO’BRI (_Prince_), of Sleswig, 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. (1851).
CONOPAS, 2 feet 4 inches. One of the dwarfs of Julia, niece of Augustus.
COPPERNIN, the dwarf of the princess of Wales, mother of George III. The last court-dwarf in England.
CRACHAMI (_Caroline_), a Sicilian, born at Palermo, 20 inches. Her skeleton is preserved in Hunter’s Museum (1814-1824).
DECKER or DUCKER (_John_), 2 feet 6 inches. An Englishman (1610).
FARREL (_Owen_), 3 feet 9 inches. Born at Cavan. He was of enormous strength (died 1742).
FERRY (_Nicholas_), usually called Bebe, contemporary with Boruwlaski. He was a native of France. Height at death, 2 feet 9 inches (died 1737).
GIBSON (_Richard_) and his wife Anne Shepherd. Neither of them 4 feet. Gibson was a noted portrait painter, and a page of the back-stairs in the court of Charles I. The king honored the wedding with his presence; and they had nine children (1615-1690).
Design or chance makes others wive,
But Nature did this match contrive.
Waller (1642).
HUDSON (_Sir Jeffrey_), 18 inches. He was born at Oakham, in Rutlandshire (1619–1678).
LUCIUS, 2 feet; weight 17 lbs. The dwarf of the Emperor Augustus. PHILE’TAS, a poet, so small that “he wore leaden shoes to prevent being blown away by the wind” (died B.C. 280).
PHILIPS (_Calvin_) weighed less than 2 lbs. His thighs were not thicker than a man’s thumb. He was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1791.
RITCHIE (_David_), 3 feet 6 inches. Native of Tweeddale.
SOUVRAY (_Therese_).
STOBEUIN (_C.H._) of Nuremberg was less than 3 feet at the age of 20. His father, mother, brothers, and sisters were all under the medium height.
THUMB (_General Tom_). His real name was Charles S. Stratton; 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. at the age of 25. Born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1832.
THUMB (_Tom_), 2 feet 4 inches. A Dutch dwarf.
XIT, the royal dwarf of Edward VI.
[Illustration] Nicephorus Calistus tells us of an Egyptian dwarf “not bigger than a partridge.”
_Dwarf_ of Lady Clerimond was named Pac’olet. She had a winged horse, which carried off Valentine, Orson, and Clerimond from the dungeon of of Ferragus to the palace of King Pepin; and subsequently carried Valentine to the palace of Alexander, his father, emperor of Constantinople. _Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).
_Dwarf_ (_The Black_), a fairy of malignant propensities, and considered the author of all the mischief of the neighborhood. In Sir W. Scott’s novel so called, this imp is introduced under various _aliases_, as Sir Edward Mauley, Elshander the recluse, cannie Elshie, and the Wise Wight of Micklestane Moor.
DWARF ALBERICH, the guardian of the Niebelungen hoard. He is twice vanquished by Siegfried, who gets possession of his cloak of invisibility, and makes himself master of the hoard.–_The Niebelungen Lied_ (1210).
DWARF PETER, an allegorical romance by Ludwick Tieck. The dwarf is a castle spectre, who advises and aids the family, but all his advice turns out evil, and all his aid is productive of trouble. The dwarf is meant for “the law in our members, which wars against the law of our minds, and brings us into captivity to the law of sin.”
DWINING (_Henbane_), a pottingar or apothecary.–Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
DYING SAYINGS (real or traditional):
ADDISON. See how a Christian dies! _or_ See in what peace a Christian can die!
ANAXAGORAS. Give the boys a holiday.
[||]AERIA. My Paetus, it is not painful.
[c] AUGUSTUS. Vos plaudite. (After asking how he had acted his part in life.)–Cicero.
BEAUFORT (_Cardinal Henry_). I pray you all, pray for me.
BERRY (_Mde. de_). Is not this dying with courage and true greatness?
BRONTE (the brother of the authoresses). While there is life there is will. (He died standing.)
BYRON. I must sleep now.
[Sec.] CAESAR (_Julius_). Et tu, Brute! (To Brutus, when he stabbed him.)
[*] CHARLEMAGNE. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
CHARLES I. (of England). Remember! (To William Juxon, archbishop of Canterbury).
CHARLES II. (of England). Don’t let poor Nellie starve! (Nell Gwynne).
CHARLES V. Ah! Jesus!
CHARLES IX. (of France). Nurse, nurse, what murder! what blood! Oh! I have done wrong. God pardon me! CHARLOTTE (_The Princess_). You make me drink. Pray, leave me quiet. I find it affects my head.
CHESTERFIELD. Give Day Rolles a chair.
COLUMBUS. Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!
CROME (_John_), O Hobbima, Hobbima, how I do love thee!
CROMWELL. My desire is to make what haste I may to be gone.
[**]DEMONAX (the philosopher). You may go home, the show is over.–Lucian.
ELDEN (_Lord_). It matters not where I am going, whether the weather be cold or hot.
FONTENELLE. I suffer nothing, but feel a sort of difficulty in living longer.
FRANKLIN. A dying man can do nothing easy.
GAINSBOROUGH. We are all going to heaven, and Vandyke is of the company.
GEORGE IV. Whatty, what is this? It is death, my boy. They have deceived me. (Said to his page, Sir Wathen Waller).
GIBBON. Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!
[] GOETHE. More light!
GREGORY VII. I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.
[*] GREY (_Lady Jane_). Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
GROTIUS. Be serious.
HADYN. God preserve the emperor!
HALLER. The artery ceases to beat.
HAZLITT. I have led a happy life.
HOBBES. Now am I about to take my last voyage–a great leap in the dark.
[||] HUNTER (_Dr. William_). If I had strength to hold a pen, I would write down how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die.
IRVING. If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen.
JAMES V. (of Scotland). It came with a lass, and will go with a lass (_i.e._ the Scotch crown).
JEFFERSON (of America). I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country.
JOHNSON (_Dr._). God bless you, my dear! (To Miss Morris).
KNOX. Now it is come.
LOUIS I. Huz! huz! Bouquet says: “He turned his face to the wall; and twice cried, ‘Huz! huz!’ (_out, out_), and then died.”
LOUIS IX. I will enter now into the house of the Lord.
[||] Louis XIV. Why weep ye! Did you think I should live for ever? (Then after a pause) I thought dying had been harder.
[**] Louis XVII. A king should die standing.
MAHOMET. O, Allah, be it so! Henceforth among the glorious host of paradise.
MARGARET (of Scotland, wife of Louis XI. of France). Fi de la vie! qu’on ne m’en parle plus.
MARIE ANTOINETTE. Farewell, my children, for ever. I go to your father.
[Sec.] MASANIELLO. Ungratetul traitors! (Said to the assassins.)
MATHEWS (_Charles_). I am ready.
MIRABEAU. Let me die to the sounds of delicious music.
MOODY (the actor):
Reason thus with life,
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep.
Shakespeare.
MOORE (_Sir John_). I hope my country will do me justice.
NAPOLEON I. Mon Dieu! La nation Francaise! Tete d’armee!
NAPOLEON III. Were you at Sedan? (To Dr. Conneau.)
NELSON. I thank God I have done my duty.
NERO. Qualis artifex pereo!
PALMER (the actor). There is another and a better country. (This he said on the stage, it being a line in the part he was acting. From _The Stranger_.)
PITT (_William_). O, my country, how I love thee!
PIZARRO. Jesu!
POPE. Friendship itself is but a part of virtue.
[**] RABELAIS. Let down the curtain, the farce is over.
SAND (_George_). Laisez la verdure. (Meaning, “Leave the tomb green, do not cover it over with bricks or stone.” George Sand was Mde. Dudevant.)
SCHILLER. Many things are growing plain and clear to my understanding.
SCOTT (_Sir Walter_). God bless you all! (To his family.) SIDNEY (_Algernon_). I know that my Redeemer liveth. I die for the good old cause.
SOCRATES. Crito, we owe a cock to AEsculapius.
STAEL (_Mde. de_). I have loved God, my father, and liberty.
[] TALMA. The worst is, I cannot see.
[*] TASSO. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
THURLOW (_Lord_). I’ll be shot if I don’t believe I’m dying.
[**] VESPASIAN. A king should die standing.
WEBSTER. I still live!
WILLIAM III. (of England). Can this last long? (To his physician).
WILLIAM OF NASSAU. O God, have mercy upon me, and upon this poor nation! (This was said as he was shot by Balthasar Gerard, 1584).
WOLFE (_General_). What! do they run already? Then I die happy.
WYATT (_Thomas_) That which I then said I unsay. That which I now say is true. (This to the priest who reminded him that he had accused the Princess Elizabeth of treason to the council, and that he now alleged her to be innocent.)
[Illustration] Those names preceded by similar pilcrows indicate that the “dying words” ascribed to them are identical or nearly so. Thus the [*] before Charlemagne, Columbus, Lady Jane Grey, and Tasso, show that their words were alike. So with the before Augustus, Demonax, and Rabelais; the [**] before Louis XVIII. and Vespasian; the [Sec.] before Caesar and Masaniello; the [||] before Arria, Hunter, and Louis XIV.; and the [] before Goethe and Talma.
DYS’COLUS, Moroseness personified in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). “He nothing liked or praised.” Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, _duskolos_, “fretful.”)
DYSMAS, DISMAS, OR DEMAS, the penitent thief crucified with our Lord. The impenitent thief is called Gesmas or Gestas.
Alta petit Dismas, infelix innma Gesmas.
_Part of a Charm_.
To paradise thief Dismas went,
But Gesmas died impenitent.
EADBURGH, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England, and Eadgifu, his wife. When three years old, her father placed on the child some rings and bracelets, and showed her a chalice and a book of the Gospels, asking which she would have. The child chose the chalice and book, and Edward was pleased that “the child would be a daughter of God.” She became a nun, and lived and died in Winchester.
EAGLE (_The_), ensign of the Roman legion. Before the Cimbrian war, the wolf, the horse, and the boar were also borne as ensigns, but Marius abolished these, and retained the eagle only, hence called emphatically “The Roman Bird.”
_Eagle (The Theban)_, Pindar, a native of Thebes (B.C. 518-442).
EAGLE OF BRITTANY, Bertrand Duguesclin, constable of France (1320-1380).
EAGLE OF DIVINES, Thomas Aqui’nas (1224-1274).
EAGLE OF MEAUX [_Mo_], Jacques Benigne Bossuet, bishop of Meaux (1627-1704).
EAGLE OF THE DOCTORS OF FRANCE, Pierre d’Ailly, a great astrologer, who maintained that the stars foretold the great flood (1350-1425).
EARNSCLIFFE (_Patrick_), the young laird of Earnscliffe.–Sir W. Scott, _Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).
EASTWARD HO! a comedy by Chapman, Marston, and Ben Jonson. For this drama the three authors were imprisoned “for disrespect to their sovereign lord, King James I.” (1605). (See WESTWARD Ho!).
EASTY (_Mary_), a woman of Salem (Mass), convicted of witchcraft, sends before her death a petition to the court, asserting her innocence. Of her accusers she says: “I know, and the Lord, He knows (as will shortly appear), that they belie me, and so I question not but they do others. The Lord alone, who is the searcher of all hearts knows, as I shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least thing of witchcraft. Therefore I cannot, I durst not, belie my own soul.”–Robert Caleb, _More Wonders of the Invisible World_ (1700).
EASY (_Midshipman_), hero of Marryatt’s sea-story of same name.
_Easy (Sir Charles)_, a man who hates trouble; “so lazy, even in his pleasures, that he would rather lose the woman of his pursuit, than go through any trouble in securing or keeping her.” He says he is resolved in future to “follow no pleasure that rises above the degree of amusement.” “When once a woman comes to reproach me with vows, and usage, and such stuff, I would as soon hear her talk of bills, bonds, and ejectments; her passion becomes as troublesome as a law-suit, and I would as soon converse with my solicitor.” (act iii.).
_Lady Easy_, wife of Sir Charles, who dearly loves him, and knows all his “naughty ways,” but never shows the slightest indication of ill-temper or jealousy. At last she wholly reclaims him.–Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).
EATON THEOPHILUS (_Governor_). In his eulogy upon Governor Eaton, Dr. Cotton Mather lays stress upon the distinction drawn by that eminent Christian man between stoicism and resignation.
“There is a difference between a sullen silence or a stupid senselessness under the hand of GOD, and a childlike submission thereunto.”
“In his daily life”, we are told, “he was affable, courteous, and generally pleasant, but grave perpetually, and so courteous and circumspect in his discourses, and so modest in his expressions, that it became a proverb for incontestable truth,”–“Governor Eaton said it.”–Cotton Mather, _Magnolia Christi Americana_ (1702).
EBERSON (_Ear_), the young son of William de la Marck, “The Wild Boar of Ardennes.”–Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
EBLIS, monarch of the spirits of evil. Once an angel of light, but, refusing to worship Adam, he lost his high estate. Before his fall he was called Aza’zel. The _Koran_ says: “When We [_God_] said unto the angels, ‘Worship Adam,’ they all worshipped except Eblis, who refused … and became of the number of unbelievers” (ch. ii.).
EBON SPEAR (_Knight of the_), Britomart, daughter of King Ryence of Wales.–Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. (1590).
EBRAUC, son of Mempric (son of Guendolen and Madden) mythical king of England. He built Kaer-brauc [_York_], about the time that David reigned in Judea.–Geoffrey, _British History_, ii. 7 (1142).
By Ebrauk’s powerful hand
York lifts her towers aloft.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY (_The Father of_), Eusebius of Caesarea (264-340).
[Illustration] His _Historia Fcclesiastica_, in ten books, begins with the birth of Christ and concludes with the defeat of Licinius by Constantine, A.D. 324.
ECHEPH’RON, an old soldier, who rebuked the advisers of King Picrochole (3 _syl_.), by relating to them the fable of _The Man and his Ha’p’orth of Milk_. The fable is as follows:–
A shoemaker brought a ha’poth of milk: with this he was going to make butter; the butter was to buy a cow; the cow was to have a calf; the calf was to be changed for a colt; and the man was to become a nabob; only he cracked his jug, spilt his milk, and went supperless to bed.–Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, i. 33 (1533.)
This fable is told in the _Arabian Nights_ (“The Barber’s Fifth Brother, Alnas-char.”) Lafontaine has put it into verse, _Perrette et le Pot au Lait_. Dodsley has the same, _The Milk-maid and her Pail of Milk_.
ECHO, in classic poetry, is a female, and in English also; but in Ossian echo is called “the son of the rock.”–_Songs of Selma._
ECK’HART _(The Trusty_), a good servant, who perishes to save his master’s children from the mountain fiends.–Louis Tieck.
(Carlyle has translated this tale into English.)
ECLECTA, the “Elect” personified in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher. She is the daughter of Intellect and Voleta _(free-will)_, and ultimately becomes the bride of Jesus Christ, “the bridegroom” (canto xii., 1633).
But let the Kentish lad [_Phineas Fletcher_] … that sung and crowned Eclecta’s hymen with ten thousand flowers Of choicest praise … be the sweet pipe.
Giles Fletcher, _Christ’s Triumph, etc_, (1610).
ECOLE DES FEMMES, a comedy of Moliere, the plot of which is borrowed from the novelletti of _Ser Giovanni_ (1378.)
ECTOR (_Sir_), lord of many parts of England and Wales, and foster-father of Prince Arthur. His son Sir Key or Kay, was seneschal or steward of Arthur when he became king.–Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 3 (1470.)
[Illustration] Sir Ector and Sir Ector de Maris were two distinct persons.
ECTOR DE MARIS (_Sir_), brother “of Sir Launcelot” of Benwick, _i.e._ Brittany.
Then Sir Ector threw his shield, his sword, and his helm from him, and … he fell down in a swoon; and when he awaked, it were hard for any tongue to tell the doleful complaints [_lamentations_] that he made for his brother. “Ah, Sir Launcelot” said he “head of all Christian knights.” … etc.–Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii. 176 (1470.)
EDEN (_A Journey to the land of_), Col. William Evelyn Byrd of Westover Virginia gives this name to a tract of Southern Virginia surveyed under his direction and visited by him in one of his numerous expeditions for the good of the young colony.
(Colonel Byrd laid out upon his own ground the cities of Richmond and Petersburgh, Va.)–William Evelyn Byrd, _Westover MSS._ (1728-39).
_Eden_, in America. A dismal swamp, the climate of which generally proved fatal to the poor dupes who were induced to settle there through the swindling transactions of General Scadder and General Choke. So dismal and dangerous was the place, that even Mark Tapley was satisfied to have found at last a place where he could “come out jolly with credit.”–C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
EDENHALL (_The Luck of_) an old painted goblet, left by the fairies on St. Cuthbert’s Well in the garden of Edenhall. The superstition is that if ever this goblet is lost or broken, there will be no more luck in the family. The goblet is in possession of Sir Christopher Musgrave, bart. Edenhall, Cumberland.
[Illustration] Longfellow has a poem on _The Luck of Edenhall_, translated from Uhland.
EDGAR (959-775), “king of all the English,” was not crowned till he had reigned thirteen years (A.D. 973). Then the ceremony was performed at Bath. After this he sailed to Chester, and eight of his vassal kings came with their fleets to pay him homage, and swear fealty to him by land and sea. The eight are Kenneth (_king of Scots_), Malcolm (_of Cumberland_), Maccus (_of the Isles_), and five Welsh princes, whose names were Dufnal, Siferth, Huwal, Jacob, and Juchil. The eight kings rowed Edgar in a boat (while he acted as steersman) from Chester to St. John’s, where they offered prayer and then returned.
At Chester, while he, [_Edgar_] lived at more than kingly charge. Eight tributary kings they rowed him in his barge.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).
_Edgar_, son of Gloucester, and his lawful heir. He was disinherited by Edmund, natural son of the earl.–Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).
[Illustration] This was one of the characters of Robert Wilks (1670-1732), and also of Charles Kemble (1774-1854).
_Edgar_, master of Ravenswood, son of Allan of Ravenswood (a decayed Scotch nobleman). Lucy Ashton, being attacked by a wild bull, is saved by Edgar, who shoots it; and the two falling in love with each other, plight their mutual troth, and exchange love-tokens at the “Mermaid’s Fountain.” While Edgar is absent in France on State affairs, Sir William Ashton, being deprived of his office as lord keeper, is induced to promise his daughter Lucy in marriage to Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw, and they are married; but next morning, Bucklaw is found wounded and the bride hidden in the chimney-corner insane. Lucy dies in convulsions, but Bucklaw recovers and goes abroad. Edgar is lost in the quick-sands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy. Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
[Illustration] In the opera, Edgar is made to stab himself.
_Edgar_, an attendant on Prince Robert of Scotland.–Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time Henry IV.).
EDGARDO, master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucia di Lammermoor [_Lucy Ashton_]. While absent in France on State affairs, the lady is led to believe him faithless, and consents to marry the laird of Bucklaw; but she stabs him on the bridal night, goes mad, and dies. Edgardo also stabs himself. Donizetti, _Lucia di Lammermoor_ (1835).
[Illustration] In the novel called _The Bride of Lammermoor_, by Sir W. Scott, Edgar is lost in the quicksands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy.
EDGEWOOD (_L’Abbe_), who attended Louis XVI. to the scaffold, was called “Mons. de Firmount,” a corruption of Fairymount, in Longford (Ireland), where the Edgeworths had extensive domains.
EDGING (_Mistress_), a prying, mischief making waiting-woman, in _The Careless Husband_, by Colly Cibber (1704.) EDITH (_Leete_). Name of the two girls beloved and won by Julian West in his first and second lives.–Edward Bellamy, _Looking Backward_ (1888).
_Edith_, daughter of Baldwin, the tutor of Rollo and Otto, dukes of Normandy.–Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Bloody Brother_ (1639).
_Edith_, the “maid of Lorn” (_Argyllshire_), was on the point of being married to Lord Ronald, when Robert, Edward, and Isabel Bruce sought shelter at the castle. Edith’s brother recognized Robert Bruce, and being in the English interest a quarrel ensued. The abbot refused to marry the bridal pair amidst such discord. Edith fled and in the character of a page had many adventures, but at the restoration of peace, after the battle of Bannockburn, was duly married to Lord Ronald.–Sir W. Scott, _Lord of the Isles_ (1815).
_Edith (the lady)_, mother of Athelstane “the Unready” (thane of Conningsburgh).–Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
_Edith_ [GRANGER], daughter of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton, married at the age of 18 to Colonel Granger of “Ours,” who died within two years, when Edith and her mother lived as adventuresses. Edith became Mr. Dombey’s second wife, but the marriage was altogether an unhappy one, and she eloped with Mr. Carker to Dijon, where she left him, having taken this foolish step merely to annoy her husband for the slights to which he had subjected her. On leaving Carker she went to live with her cousin Feenix, in the south of England.–C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
EDITH PLANTAGENET (_The lady_), called “The Fair Maid of Anjou,” a kinswoman of Richard I., and attendant of Queen Berenga’ria. She married David, earl of Huntingdon (prince royal of Scotland), and is introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Talisman_ (1825).
EDMUND, natural son of the earl of Gloucester. Both Goneril and Regan (daughters of King Lear) were in love with him. Regan, on the death of her husband, designed to marry Edmund, but Goneril, out of jealousy, poisoned her sister Regan.–Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).
_Edmund Andros_. In a letter to English friends (1698) Nathaniel Byfield writes particulars of the revolt in the New England Colonies against the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros.
“We have, also, advice that on Friday last Sir Edmund Andros did attempt to make an escape in woman’s apparel, and passed two guards and was stopped at the third, being discovered by his shoes, not having changed
them.” Nathaniel Byfield.–_An Account of the Late Revolution in New England_ (1689).
_Edmund Dante_ (See MONTE CRISTO).
EDO’NIAN BANE (_The_), priestesses and other ministers of Bacchus, so called from Edo’nus, a mountain of Thrace, where the rites of the wine-god were celebrated.
Accept the rites your bounty well may claim, Nor heed the scoffing of th’ Edonian band.
Akinside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).
EDRIC, a domestic at Hereward’s barracks.–Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
EDWARD, brother of Hereward the Varangian guard. He was slain in battle.–Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus). _Edward (Sir)._ He commits a murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Wilford, a young man who acts as his secretary, was one day caught prying into this chest, and Sir Edward’s first impulse was to kill him; but on second thought he swore the young man to secrecy, and told him the story of the murder. Wilford, unable to live under the suspicious eye of Sir Edward, ran away; but was hunted down by Edward, and accused of robbery. The whole transaction now became public, and Wilford was acquitted.–G. Colman, _The Iron Chest_ (1796).
[Illustration] This drama is based on Goodwin’s novel of _Caleb Williams_. “Williams” is called _Wilford_ in the drama, and “Falkland” is called _Sir Edward_.
Sowerby, whose mind was always in a ferment, was wont to commit the most ridiculous
mistakes. Thus when “Sir Edward” says to “Wilford,” “You may have noticed in my
library a chest,” he transposes the words thus: “You may have noticed in my chest a library,” and the house was convulsed with laughter.– Russell, _Representative Actors_ (appendix).
EDWARD II., a tragedy by C. Marlowe (1592), imitated by Shakespeare in his _Richard II_. (1597). Probably most readers would prefer Marlowe’s noble tragedy to Shakespeare’s.
EDWARD IV. of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel entitled _Anne_ of _Geierstein_ (1829).
EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE, a tragedy by W. Shirley (1640). The subject of this drama is the victory of Poitiers.
Yes, Philip lost the battle [_Cressy_] with the odds Of three to one. In this [_Poitiers_]… The have our numbers more than twelve times told,
If we can trust report.
Act iii. 2.
ED’WIDGE, wife of William Tell.–Rossini, _Guglielmo Tell_ (1829).
EDWIN “the minstrel,” a youth living in romantic seclusion, with a great thirst for knowledge. He lived in Gothic days in the north countrie, and fed his flocks on Scotia’s mountains.
And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy, Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye, Danties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest ministrelsy; Silent when glad, affectionate, yet shy … And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why. The neighbors stared and sighed, yet blessed the lad;
Some deemed him wonderous wise, and some believed him mad.
Beattie, _The Minstrel_, 1. (1773).
EDWIN AND ANGELI’NA. Angelina was the daughter of a wealthy lord, “beside the Tyne.” Her hand was sought in marriage by many suitors, amongst whom was Edwin, “who had neither wealth nor power, but he had both wisdom and worth.” Angelina loved him, but “trifled with him,” and Edwin, in despair, left her and retired from the world. One day, Angelina, in boy’s clothes, asked hospitality at a hermit’s cell; she was kindly entertained, told her tale, and the hermit proved to be Edwin. From that hour they never parted more.–Goldsmith, _The Hermit._
A correspondent accuses me of having taken this ballad from _The Friar of Orders Gray_ … but if there is any resemblance between the two, Mr. Percy’s ballad is taken from mine. I read my ballad to Mr. Percy, and he told me afterwards that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own.–Signed, O. Goldsmith, 1767.
EDWIN AND EMMA. Emma was a rustic beauty of Stanemore, who loved Edwin “the pride of swains;” but Edwin’s sister, out of envy, induced his father, “a sordid man,” to forbid any intercourse between Edwin and the cottage. Edwin pined away, and being on the point of death, requested he might be allowed to see Emma. She came and said to him, “My Edwin, live for me;” but on her way home she heard the death bell toll. She just contrived to reach her cottage door, cried to her mother, “He’s gone!” and fell down dead at her feet.–Mallet, _Edwin and Emma_ (a ballad).
ED’YRN, son of Nudd. He ousted the earl of Yn’iol from his earldom, and tried to to win E’nid, the earl’s daughter, but failing in this, became the evil genius of the gentle earl. Ultimately, being sent to the court of King Arthur, he became quite a changed man–from a malicious “sparrow-hawk” he was converted into a courteous gentleman.–Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Enid”).
EFESO (_St_.), a saint honored in Pisa. He was a Roman officer [_Ephesus_] in the service of Diocletian, whose reign was marked by a great persecution of the Christians. This Efeso or Ephesus was appointed to see the decree of the emperor against the obnoxious sect carried out in the island of Sardinia; but being warned in a dream not to persecute the servants of the Lord, both he and his friend Potito embraced Christianity, and received a standard from Michael the archangel himself. On one occasion, being taken captive, St. Efeso was cast into a furnace of fire, but received no injury; whereas those who cast him in were consumed by the flames. Ultimately, both Efeso and Potito suffered martyrdom, and were buried in the island of Sardinia. When, however, that island was conquered by Pisa in the eleventh century, the relics of the two martyrs were carried off and interred in the duomo of Pisa, and the banner of St. Efeso was thenceforth adopted as the national ensign of Pisa.
EGALITE (_Philippe_), the duc d’Orleans, father of Louis Philippe, king of France. He himself assumed this “title” when he joined the revolutionary party, whose motto was “Liberty, Fraternity, and Egalite” (born 1747, guillotined 1793).
EGE’US (3 _syl_.), father of Her’mia. He summoned her before The’seus (2 _syl_.), duke of Athens, because she refused to marry Demetrius, to whom he had promised her in marriage; and he requested that she might either be compelled to marry him or else be dealt with “according to law,” _i.e._ “either to die the death,” or else to “endure the livery of a nun, and live a barren sister all her life.” Hermia refused to submit to an “unwished yoke,” and fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius, seeing that Hermia disliked him but that Hel’ena doted on him, consented to abandon the one and wed the other. When Egeus was informed thereof, he withdrew his summons, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter with Lysander.–Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1592).
[Illustration] S. Knowles, in _The Wife_, makes the plot turn on a similar “law of marriage” (1833).
E’GIL, brother of Weland; a great archer. One day, King Nidung commanded him to shoot at an apple placed on the head of his own son. Egil selected two arrows, and being asked why he wanted two, replied, “One to shoot thee with, O tyrant, if I fail.”
(This is one of the many stories similar to that of _William Tell, q.v._) EGILO’NA, the wife of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings of Spain. She was very beautiful, but cold-hearted, vain, and fond of pomp. After the fall of Roderick, Egilona married Abdal-Aziz, the Moorish governor of Spain; and when Abdal-Aziz was killed by the Moorish rebels, Egilona fell also.
The popular rage
Fell on them both; and they to whom her name Had been a mark for mockery and reproach, Shuddered with human horror at her fate.
Southey, _Roderick, etc_., xxii. (1814).
EG’IA, a female Moor, a servant to Amaranta (wife of Bar’tolus, the covetous lawyer).–Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).
EG’LAMOUR (_Sir_) or SIR EGLAMORE of Artoys, a knight of Arthurian romance. Sir Eglamour and Sir Pleindamour have no French original, although the names themselves are French.
_Eg’lamour_, the person who aids Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, in her escape.–Shakespeare, _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (1594).
EGLANTINE (3 _syl_.). daughter of King Pepin, and bride of her cousin Valentine (brother of Orson). She soon died.–_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).
_Eglantine (Madame)_, the prioress; good-natured, wholly ignorant of the world, vain of her delicacy of manner at table, and fond of lap-dogs. Her dainty oath was “By Saint Eloy!” She “entuned the service swetely in her nose,” and spoke French “after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe.”–Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
EGMONT. Dutch patriot executed by order of Philip II. of Spain.–Goethe’s _Egmont_ (1788).
EGYPT, in Dryden’s satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, means France.
Egypt and Tyrus [_Holland_] intercept your trade.
Part i. (1681).
EGYPTIAN PRINCESS. Nitetis, the real daughter of Hophra, king of Egypt, and the assumed daughter of Amases, his successor. She was sent to Persia, as the bride of Cambyses, the king, but before their marriage, was falsely accused of infidelity, and committed suicide.–George Ebers, _An Egyptian Princess_.
EGYPTIAN THIEF (_The_), Thyamis, a native of Memphis. Knowing he must die, he tried to kill Chariclea, the woman he loved.
Why should I not, had I the heart to do it, Like to th’ Egyptian thief at point of death, Kill what I love?
Shakespeare, _Twelth Night_, act v. sc. 1 (1614).
EIGHTH WONDER (_The_). When Gil Blas reached Pennaflor, a parasite entered his room in the inn, hugged him with great energy, and called him the “eighth wonder.” When Gil Blas replied that he did not know his name had spread so far, the parasite exclaimed, “How! we keep a register of all the celebrated names within twenty leagues, and have no doubt Spain will one day be as proud of you as Greece was of the seven sages.” After this, Gil Blas could do no less than ask the man to sup with him. Omelet after omelet was despatched, trout was called for, bottle followed bottle, and when the parasite was gorged to satiety, he rose and said, “Signor Gil Blas, don’t believe yourself to be the eighth wonder of the world because a hungry man would feast by flattering your vanity.” So saying, he stalked away with a laugh.–Lesage, _Gil Blas_, i. 2 (1715).
(This incident is copied from Aleman’s romance of _Guzman d’ Alfarache, q.v._)
EIKON BASIL’IKE (4 _syl_.), the portraiture of a king _(i.e._ Charles I.), once attributed to King Charles himself; but now admitted to be the production of Dr. John Gauden, who (after the restoration) was first created Bishop of Exeter, and then of Worcester (1605-1662).
In the _Eikon Basilike_ a strain of majestic melancholy is kept up, but the personated sovereign is rather too theatrical for real nature, the language is too rhetorical and amplified, the periods too artificially elaborated.–Hallam, _Literature of Europe_, iii. 662.
(Milton wrote his _Eikonoclasets_ in answer to Dr. Gauden’s _Eikon Baslike_.)
EINER’IAR, the hall of Odin, and asylum of warriors slain in battle. It had 540 gates, each sufficiently wide to admit eight men abreast to pass through.–_Scandinavian Mythology._
EINION (_Father_), Chaplain to Gwenwyn Prince of Powys-land.–Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
EIROS. Imaginary personage, who in the other world holds converse with “Charmion” upon the tragedy that has wrecked the world. The cause of the ruin was “the extraction of the nitrogen from the atmosphere.”
“The whole incumbent mass of ether in which we existed burst at once into a species of intense flame for whose surpassing brilliancy and all fervid heat even the angels in the high Heaven of pure knowledge have no name. Thus ended all.”–Edgar Allen Poe, _Conversation of Eiros and Charmion_ (1849).
ELVIR, a Danish maid, who assumes boy’s clothing, and waits on Harold “the Dauntless,” as his page! Subsequently her sex is discovered, and Harold marries her.–Sir. W. Scott, _Harold the Dauntless_ (1817).
ELAIN, sister of King Arthur by the same mother. She married Sir Nentres of Carlot, and was by King Arthur the mother of Mordred. (See ELEIN)–Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. (1470).
[Illustration] In some of the romances there is great confusion between Elain (the sister) and Morgause (the half-sister) of Arthur. Both are called the mother of Mordred, and both are also called the wife of Lot. This, however, is a mistake. Elain was the wife of Sir Nentres, and Morgause of Lot; and if Gawain, Agrawain, Gareth and Gaheris were [half] brothers of Mordred, as we are told over and over again, then Morgause and not Elain was his mother. Tennyson makes Bellicent the wife of Lot, but this is not in accordance with any of the legends collected by Sir T. Malory.
ELAINE (_Dame_), daughter of King Pelles (2 _syl_.) “the foragn country,” and the unwedded mother of Sir Galahad by Sir Launcelot du Lac.–Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii. 1 (1470).
_Elaine_, daughter of King Brandeg’oris, by whom Sir Bors de Ganis had a child.
[Illustration] It is by no means clear from the history whether Elaine was the daughter of King Brandegoris, or the daughter of Sir Bors and granddaughter of King Brandegoris.
_Elaine_’ (2 _syl_.), the strong contrast of Guinevere. Guinevere’s love for Launcelot was gross and sensual, Elaine’s was platonic and pure as that of a child; but both were masterful in their strength. Elaine is called “the lily maid of Astolat” (_Guildford_), and knowing that Launcelot was pledged to celibacy, she pined and died. According to her dying request, her dead body was placed on a bed in a barge, and was thus conveyed by a dumb servitor to the palace of King Arthur. A letter was handed to the king, telling the tale of Elaine’s love, and the king ordered the body to be buried, and her story to be blazoned on her tomb.–Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Elaine”).
EL’AMITES (3 _syl_.), Persians. So called from Elam, son of Shem.
EL’BERICH, the most famous dwarf of German romance.–_The Heldenbuch_.
EL’BOW, a well-meaning but loutish constable.–Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_ (1603).
EL’EANOR, queen-consort of Henry II., alluded to by the Presbyterian minister in _Woodstock_, x. (1826).
“Believe me, young man, thy servant was more likely to see visions than to dream idle dreams in that apartment; for I have always heard that, next to Rosamond’s Bower, in which … she played the wanton, and was afterwards poisoned by Queen Eleanor, Victor Lee’s chamber was the place … peculiarly the haunt of evil spirits.”–Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
ELEANOR CROSSES, twelve or fourteen crosses erected by Edward I. in the various towns where the body of his queen rested, when it was conveyed from Herdelie, near Lincoln, to Westminster. The three that still remain are Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham. ELEAZAR the Moor, insolent, bloodthirsty, lustful, and vindictive, like “Aaron,” in [Shakespeare’s?] _Titus An-dron’icus._ The lascivious queen of Spain is in love with this monster.–C. Marlowe, _Lust’s dominion_ or _The Lascivious Queen_ (1588).
_Elea’zar_, a famous mathematician, who cast out devils by tying to the nose of the possessed a mystical ring, which the demon no sooner smelled than he abandoned the victim. He performed before the Emperor Vespasian; and to prove that something came out of the possessed, he commanded the demon in making off to upset a pitcher of water, which it did.
I imagine if Eleazar’s ring had been put under their noses, we should have seen devils issue with their breath, so loud were these disputants.– Lesage, _Gil Blas_, v. 12 (1724).
ELECTOR (_The Great_), Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688).
ELEIN, wife of King Ban of Benwick (_Brittany_), and mother of Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionell. (See ELAIN.)–Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 60 (1470)
ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS (_The_), the virgins who followed St. Ur’sula in her flight towards Rome. They were all massacred at Cologne by a party of Huns, and even to the present hour “their bones” are shown lining the whole interior of the Church of Ste. Ursula.
A calendar in the Freisingen codex notices them as “SS. M. XL VIRGINUM,” this is, eleven virgin martyrs; but “M” (martyrs) being taken for 1000, we get 11,000. It is furthermore remarkable that the number of names known of these virgins is eleven; (1) Ursula, (2) Sencia, (3) Gregoria, (4) Pinnosa, (5) Martha, (6) Saula, (7) Brittola, (8) Saturnina, (9) Rabacia or Sabatia, (10) Saturia or Saturnia, and (11) Palladia.
ELFENREIGEN [_el.f’n-ri.gn_] (4 _syl_.) or Alpleich, that weird music with which Bunting, the pied piper of Hamelin, led forth the rats into the river Weser, and the children into a cave in the mountain Koppenberg. The song of the sirens is so called.
EL’FETA, wife of Cambuscan’, king of Tartary.
EL’FLIDA or AETHELFLAEDA, daughter of King Alfred, and wife of Aethelred, chief of that part of Mercia not claimed by the Danes. She was a woman of enormous energy and masculine mind. At the death of her husband, she ruled over Mercia, and proceeded to fortify city after city, as Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham, and so on. Then attacking the Danes, she drove them from place to place, and kept them from molesting her.
When Elflida up-grew …
The puissant Danish powers victoriously pursued, And resolutely here thro’ their thick squadrons hewed Her way into the north.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).
ELFRIDE (_Swancourt_). Blue-eyed girl, betrothed first to Stephen Smith; afterwards she loves passionately Henry Knight. He leaves her in pique, and she weds Lord Luxellian, dying soon after the marriage.–Thomas Hardy, _A Pair of Blue Eyes_ (1873).
ELF’THRYTH or AELF’THRYTH, daughter of Ordgar, noted for her great beauty. King Edgar sent Aethelwald, his friend, to ascertain if she were really as beautiful as report made her out to be. When AEthelwald saw her he fell in love with her, and then, returning to the king, said she was not handsome enough for the king, but was rich enough to make a very eligible wife for himself. The king assented to the match, and became godfather to the first child, who was called Edgar. One day the king told his friend he intended to pay him a visit, and Aethelwald revealed to his wife the story of his deceit, imploring her at the same time to conceal her beauty. But Elfthryth, extremely indignant, did all she could to set forth her beauty. The king fell in love with her, slew Aethelwald, and married the widow.
A similar story is told by Herodotus; Prexaspes being the lady’s name, and Kambyses the king’s.
EL’GITHA, a female attendant at Rotherwood on the Lady Rowe’na.–Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
E’LIA, pseudonym of Charles Lamb, author of the _Essays of Elia_ (1823).–_London Magazine_.
ELI’AB, in the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dry den and Tate, is Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington. As Eliab befriended David (1 _Chron_. xii. 9), so the earl befriended Charles II.
Hard the task to do Eliab right;
Long with the royal wanderer he roved, And firm in all the turns of fortune proved.
_Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).
E’LIAN GOD (_The_), Bacchus. An error for ‘Eleuan, _i.e._ “the god Eleleus” (3 _syl_). Bacchus was called _El’eleus_ from the Bacchic cry, _eleleu_!
As when with crowned cups unto the Elian god Those priests high orgies held.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, vi. (1612).
EL’IDURE (3 _syl_.), surnamed “the Pious,” brother of Gorbonian, and one of the five sons of Morvi’dus (_q.v._). He resigned the crown to his brother Arthgallo, who had been deposed. Ten years afterwards, Arthgallo died, and Elidure was again advanced to the throne, but was deposed and imprisoned by his two younger brothers. At the death of these two brothers, Elidure was taken from prison, and mounted the British throne for the third time.–Geoffrey, _British History_, iii. 17,18 (1470).
Then Elidure again, crowned with applausive praise, As he a brother raised, by brothers was deposed And put into the Tower … but, the usurpers dead, Thrice was the British crown set on his reverend head.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
[Illustration] Wordsworth has a poem on this subject.
ELIJAH FED BY RAVENS. While Elijah was at the brook Cherith, in concealment, ravens brought him food every morning and evening.–1 _Kings_ xvii. 6.
A strange parallel is recorded of Wyat, in the reign of Richard III. The king cast him into prison, and when he was nearly starved to death, a cat appeared at the window-grating, and dropped into his hand a pigeon, which the warder cooked for him. This was repeated daily.
E’LIM, the guardian angel of Lebbeus (3 _syl_.) the apostle. Lebbeus, the softest and most tender of the twelve, at the death of Jesus “sank under the burden of his grief.”–Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iii. (1748).
ELINOR GREY, self-poised daughter of a statesman in Frank Lee Benedict’s novel, _My Daughter Elinor_ (1869). EL’ION, consort of Beruth, and father of Che.–Sanchoniathon.
ELIOT (_John_). Of the Apostle to the North American Indians, Dr. Cotton Mather writes:
“He that will write of Eliot must write of charity, or say nothing. His charity was a star of the first magnitude in the bright constellation of his virtues, and the rays of it were wonderfully various and extensive.”–Cotton Mather, _Magna Christi Americana_ (1702).
_Eliot (George)_, Marian Evans (or “Mrs. Marian Lewes”), author of _Adam Bede_ (1858), _Mill on the Floss_ (1860), _Silas Marner_ (1861), etc.
ELISA, often written ELIZA in English, Dido, queen of Carthage.
… nec me meminisse pigebit Elisae, Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos reget artus.
Virgil, _Aeneid_, iv. 335, 336.
So to Eliza dawned that cruel day
Which tore AEneas from her sight away, That saw him parting, never to return,
Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn.
Falconer, _The Shipwreck_, iii. 4 (1756).
ELIS’ABAT, a famous surgeon, who attended Queen Madasi’ma in all her solitary wanderings, and was her sole companion.–_Amadis de Gaul_ (fifteenth century).
ELISABETH OU LES EXILES DE SIBERIE, a tale by Madame Cottin (1773-1807). The family being exiled for some political offence, Elizabeth walked all the way from Siberia to Russia, to crave pardon of the Czar. She obtained her prayer, and the family returned.
ELISABETHA (_Miss_). “She is not young. The tall, spare form stiffly erect, the little wisp of hair behind ceremoniously braided and adorned with a high comb, the long, thin hands and the fine network of wrinkles over her pellucid, colorless cheeks, tell this.” But she is a gentlewoman, with generations of gentlewomen back of her, and lives for Doro, her orphan ward, whom she has taught music. She loved his father, and for his sake–and his own–loves the boy. She works for him, hoards for him, and is ambitious for him only. When he grows up and marries a lowborn girl,–“a Minorcan”–and fills the old home with rude children, who break the piano-wires, the old aunt slaves for them. After he dies, a middle-aged man, she does not leave them.
“I saw her last year–an old woman, but working still.”–Constance Fennimore Woolson, _Southern Sketches_ (1880).
ELISE (2 _syl_.), the motherless child of Harpagon the miser. She was affianced to Valere, by whom she had been “rescued from the waves.” Valere turns out to be the son of Don Thomas d’Alburci, a wealthy nobleman of Naples.–Moliere, _L’Avare_ (1667).
ELIS’SA, step-sister of Medi’na and Perissa. They could never agree upon any subject.–Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 2 (1590).
“Medina” (_the golden mean_), “Elissa” and “Perissa” (_the two extremes_).
ELIZABETH (_Le Marchant_.) Nice girl whose life is, darkened by a frustrated elopement, by which she is apparently compromised. All comes well in the end.–Rhoda Broughton, _Alas!_ (1890).
_Elizabeth (The Queen)_, haughty, imperious, but devoted to her people. She loved the earl of Essex, and, when she heard that he was married to the countess of Rutland, exclaimed that she never “knew sorrow before.” The queen gave Essex a ring after his rebellion, saying, “Here, from my finger take this ring, a pledge of mercy; and whensoe’er you send it back, I swear that I will grant whatever boon you ask.” After his condemnation, Essex sent the ring to the queen by the countess of Nottingham, craving that her most gracious majesty would spare the life of Lord Southampton; but the countess, from jealousy, did not give it to the queen. The queen sent a reprieve for Essex, but Burleigh took care that it came too late, and the earl was beheaded as a traitor.–Henry Jones, _The Earl of Essex_ (1745).
_Elizabeth (Queen)_, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called _Kenilworth_.
ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY (_St._), patron saint of queens, being herself a queen. Her day is July 9 (1207-1231).
ELLEN (_Montgomery_). The orphaned heroine of Susan Warner’s story, _The Wide, Wide World_ (1851.)
_Ellen (Wade)_. Girl of eighteen who travels and camps with the family of Ishmael Bush, although many grades above them in education and refinement. Betrothed to Paul Hover, the bee-hunter.–James Fennimore Cooper, _The Prairie_, (1827).
ELLESMERE (_Mistress_), the head domestic of Lady Peveril.–Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
ELLIOTT, (_Hobbie, i.e._ Halbert), farmer at the Heugh-foot. His bride-elect is Grace Armstrong.
_Mrs. Elliott_, Hobbie’s grandmother. _John_ and _Harry_, Hobbie’s brothers.
_Lilias, Jean_, and _Arnot_, Hobbie’s sisters.–Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).
ELMO (_St._). _The fire of St. Elmo_ (_Feu de Saint Elme_), a comazant. If only one appears on a ship-mast, foul weather is at hand; but if two or more, they indicate that stormy weather is about to cease. By the Italians these comazants are called the “fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas.” In Latin the single fire is called “Helen,” but the two “Castor and Pollux.” Horace says (_Odes_, I. xiii. 27):
Quorum simul alba nautis stella refulsit, Defluit saxis agitatus humor,
Concident venti, fugiuntque nubes, etc.
But Longfellow makes the _stella_ indicative of foul weather:
Last night I saw St. Elmo’s stars,
With their glimmering lanterns all at play … And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.
Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_.
(St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors.)
ELOA, the first of seraphs. He name with God is “The Chosen One,” but the angels call him Eloa. Eloa and Gabriel were angel friends.
Eloa, fairest spirit of heaven. His thoughts are past understanding to the mind of man. He looks more lovely than the day-spring, more beaming than the stars of heaven when they first flew into being at the voice of the Creator. –Klopstock, _The Messiah_, i. (1748).
ELOI (_St._), that is, St. Louis. The kings of France were called Loys up to the time of Louis XIII. Probably the “delicate oath” of Chaucer’s prioress, who was a French scholar “after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe,” was St. Loy, _i.e._ St. Louis, and not St. Eloi the patron saint of smiths and artists. St.
Eloi was bishop of Noyon in the reign of Dagobert, and a noted craftsman in gold and silver. (Query, “Seint Eloy” for Seinte Loy?)
Ther was also a nonne, a prioresse,
That of hire smiling was full simp’ and coy, Hire greatest othe was but by Seint Eloy!
Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
ELOPS. There was a fish so-called, but Milton uses the word (_Paradise Lost_, x. 525) for the dumb serpent or serpent which gives no warning of its approach by hissing or otherwise. (Greek, _ellops_, “mute or dumb.”)
ELOQUENCE (_The Four Monarchs of_): (1) Demonsthenes, the Greek orator (B.C. 385-322); (2) Cicero, the Roman orator (B.C. 106-43); (3) Burke, the English orator (1730-1797); (4) Webster, the American orator (1782-1852).
ELOQUENT (_That old Man_), Isocrates, the Greek orator. When he heard that the battle of Chaeronea was lost, and that Greece was no longer free, he died of grief.
That dishonest victory
At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that Old Man Eloquent.
Milton, _Sonnet_ ix.
In the United States the term was freely applied to John Quincy Adams, in the latter years of his life.
ELOQUENT DOCTOR (_The_), Peter Aurelolus, archbishop of Aix (fourteenth century).
ELPINUS, Hope personified. He was “clad in sky-like blue” and the motto of his shield was “I hold by being held.” He went attended by Pollicita (_promise_). Fully described in canto ix. (Greek, _elpis_, “hope.”)–Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_ (1633).
ELSA. German maiden, accused of having killed her little brother. At her trial a knight appears, drawn by a swan, champions her and vanquishes her accuser. Elsa weds him (Lohengrin) promising never to ask of his country or family. She breaks the vow; the swan appears and bears him away from her.–_Lohengrin_ Opera, by Richard Wagner.
ELSHENDER THE RECLUSE, called “the Canny Elshie” or the “Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor.” This is “the black dwarf,” or Sir Edward Mauley, the hero of the novel.–Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_ (time Anne).
ELSIE, the daughter of Gottlieb, a cottage farmer of Bavaria. Prince