III. 2
ED'WIDGE, wife of William Tell.--Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (1829).
EDWIN "the minstrel," a youth living in romantic seclusion, with a great thirst for knowledge. He lived in Gothic days in the north countrie, and fed his flocks on Scotia's mountains.
And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy, Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye, Danties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest ministrelsy; Silent when glad, affectionate, yet shy ... And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why. The neighbors stared and sighed, yet blessed the lad;
Some deemed him wonderous wise, and some believed him mad. Beattie, The Minstrel, 1. (1773).
EDWIN AND ANGELI'NA. Angelina was the daughter of a wealthy lord, "beside the Tyne." Her hand was sought in marriage by many suitors, amongst whom was Edwin, "who had neither wealth nor power, but he had both wisdom and worth." Angelina loved him, but "trifled with him," and Edwin, in despair, left her and retired from the world. One day, Angelina, in boy's clothes, asked hospitality at a hermit's cell; she was kindly entertained, told her tale, and the hermit proved to be Edwin. From that hour they never parted more.--Goldsmith, The Hermit.
A correspondent accuses me of having taken this ballad from The Friar of Orders Gray ... but if there is any resemblance between the two, Mr. Percy's ballad is taken from mine. I read my ballad to Mr. Percy, and he told me afterwards that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own.--Signed, O. Goldsmith, 1767.
EDWIN AND EMMA. Emma was a rustic beauty of Stanemore, who loved Edwin "the pride of swains;" but Edwin's sister, out of envy, induced his father, "a sordid man," to forbid any intercourse between Edwin and the cottage. Edwin pined away, and being on the point of death, requested he might be allowed to see Emma. She came and said to him, "My Edwin, live for me;" but on her way home she heard the death bell toll. She just contrived to reach her cottage door, cried to her mother, "He's gone!" and fell down dead at her feet.--Mallet, Edwin and Emma (a ballad).
ED'YRN, son of Nudd. He ousted the earl of Yn'iol from his earldom, and tried to to win E'nid, the earl's daughter, but failing in this, became the evil genius of the gentle earl. Ultimately, being sent to the court of King Arthur, he became quite a changed man--from a malicious "sparrow-hawk" he was converted into a courteous gentleman.--Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Enid").
EFESO (St.), a saint honored in Pisa. He was a Roman officer [Ephesus] in the service of Diocletian, whose reign was marked by a great persecution of the Christians. This Efeso or Ephesus was appointed to see the decree of the emperor against the obnoxious sect carried out in the island of Sardinia; but being warned in a dream not to persecute the servants of the Lord, both he and his friend Potito embraced Christianity, and received a standard from Michael the archangel himself. On one occasion, being taken captive, St. Efeso was cast into a furnace of fire, but received no injury; whereas those who cast him in were consumed by the flames. Ultimately, both Efeso and Potito suffered martyrdom, and were buried in the island of Sardinia. When, however, that island was conquered by Pisa in the eleventh century, the relics of the two martyrs were carried off and interred in the duomo of Pisa, and the banner of St. Efeso was thenceforth adopted as the national ensign of Pisa.
EGALITÉ (Philippe), the duc d'Orléans, father of Louis Philippe, king of France. He himself assumed this "title" when he joined the revolutionary party, whose motto was "Liberty, Fraternity, and Egalité" (born 1747, guillotined 1793).
EGE'US (3 syl.), father of Her'mia. He summoned her before The'seus (2 syl.), duke of Athens, because she refused to marry Demetrius, to whom he had promised her in marriage; and he requested that she might either be compelled to marry him or else be dealt with "according to law," i.e. "either to die the death," or else to "endure the livery of a nun, and live a barren sister all her life." Hermia refused to submit to an "unwished yoke," and fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius, seeing that Hermia disliked him but that Hel'ena doted on him, consented to abandon the one and wed the other. When Egëus was informed thereof, he withdrew his summons, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter with Lysander.--Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream (1592).
[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'IKÊ (4 syl.), the portraiture of a king (i.e. Charles I.), once attributed to King Charles himself; but now admitted to be the production of Dr. John Gauden, who (after the restoration) was first created Bishop of Exeter, and then of Worcester (1605-1662).
In the Eikon Basilikê a strain of majestic melancholy is kept up, but the personated sovereign is rather too theatrical for real nature, the language is too rhetorical and amplified, the periods too artificially elaborated.--Hallam, Literature of Europe, iii. 662.
(Milton wrote his Eikonoclasêts in answer to Dr. Gauden's Eikon Baslikê.)
EINER'IAR, the hall of Odin, and asylum of warriors slain in battle. It had 540 gates, each sufficiently wide to admit eight men abreast to pass through.--Scandinavian Mythology.
EINION (Father), Chaplain to Gwenwyn Prince of Powys-land.--Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
EIROS. Imaginary personage, who in the other world holds converse with "Charmion" upon the tragedy that has wrecked the world. The cause of the ruin was "the extraction of the nitrogen from the atmosphere."
"The whole incumbent mass of ether in 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 Æthelwald saw her he fell in love with her, and then, returning to the king, said she was not handsome enough for the king, but was rich enough to make a very eligible wife for himself. The king assented to the match, and became godfather to the first child, who was called Edgar. One day the king told his friend he intended to pay him a visit, and Aethelwald revealed to his wife the story of his deceit, imploring her at the same time to conceal her beauty. But Elfthryth, extremely indignant, did all she could to set forth her beauty. The king fell in love with her, slew Aethelwald, and married the widow.
A similar story is told by Herodotus; Prêxaspês being the lady's name, and Kambysês the king's.
EL'GITHA, a female attendant at Rotherwood on the Lady Rowe'na.--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
E'LIA, pseudonym of Charles Lamb, author of the Essays of Elia (1823).--London Magazine.
ELI'AB, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dry den and Tate, is Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington. As Eliab befriended David (1 Chron. xii. 9), so the earl befriended Charles II.
Hard the task to do Eliab right; Long with the royal wanderer he roved, And firm in all the turns of fortune proved.
Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
E'LIAN GOD (The), Bacchus. An error for 'Eleuan, i.e. "the god Eleleus" (3 syl). Bacchus was called El'eleus from the Bacchic cry, eleleu!
As when with crowned cups unto the Elian 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 Æneas from her sight away, That saw him parting, never to return, Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn.
Falconer, The Shipwreck, iii. 4 (1756).
ELIS'ABAT, a famous surgeon, who attended Queen Madasi'ma in all her solitary wanderings, and was her sole companion.--Amadis de Gaul (fifteenth century).
ÉLISABETH OU LES EXILÉS DE SIBERIE, a tale by Madame Cottin (1773-1807). The family being exiled for some political offence, Elizabeth walked all the way from Siberia to Russia, to crave pardon of the Czar. She obtained her prayer, and the family returned.
ELISABETHA (Miss). "She is not young. The tall, spare form stiffly erect, the little wisp of hair behind ceremoniously braided and adorned with a high comb, the long, thin hands and the fine network of wrinkles over her pellucid, colorless cheeks, tell this." But she is a gentlewoman, with generations of gentlewomen back of her, and lives for Doro, her orphan ward, whom she has taught music. She loved his father, and for his sake--and his own--loves the boy. She works for him, hoards for him, and is ambitious for him only. When he grows up and marries a lowborn girl,--"a Minorcan"--and fills the old home with rude children, who break the piano-wires, the old aunt slaves for them. After he dies, a middle-aged man, she does not leave them.
"I saw her last year--an old woman, but working still."--Constance Fennimore Woolson, Southern Sketches (1880).
ELISE (2 syl.), the motherless child of Harpagon the miser. She was affianced to Valère, by whom she had been "rescued from the waves." Valère turns out to be the son of Don Thomas d'Alburci, a wealthy nobleman of Naples.--Molière, L'Avare (1667).
ELIS'SA, step-sister of Medi'na and Perissa. They could never agree upon any subject.--Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 2 (1590).
"Medina" (the golden mean), "Elissa" and "Perissa" (the two extremes).
ELIZABETH (Le Marchant.) Nice girl whose life is, darkened by a frustrated elopement, by which she is apparently compromised. All comes well in the end.--Rhoda Broughton, Alas! (1890).
Elizabeth (The Queen), haughty, imperious, but devoted to her people. She loved the earl of Essex, and, when she heard that he was married to the countess of Rutland, exclaimed that she never "knew sorrow before." The queen gave Essex a ring after his rebellion, saying, "Here, from my finger take this ring, a pledge of mercy; and whensoe'er you send it back, I swear that I will grant whatever boon you ask." After his condemnation, Essex sent the ring to the queen by the countess of Nottingham, craving that her most gracious majesty would spare the life of Lord Southampton; but the countess, from jealousy, did not give it to the queen. The queen sent a reprieve for Essex, but Burleigh took care that it came too late, and the earl was beheaded as a traitor.--Henry Jones, The Earl of Essex (1745).
Elizabeth (Queen), introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Kenilworth.
ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY (St.), patron saint of queens, being herself a queen. Her day is July 9 (1207-1231).
ELLEN (Montgomery). The orphaned heroine of Susan Warner's story, The Wide, Wide World (1851.)
Ellen (Wade). Girl of eighteen who travels and camps with the family of Ishmael Bush, although many grades above them in education and refinement. Betrothed to Paul Hover, the bee-hunter.--James Fennimore Cooper, The Prairie, (1827).
ELLESMERE (Mistress), the head domestic of Lady Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
ELLIOTT, (Hobbie, i.e. Halbert), farmer at the Heugh-foot. His bride-elect is Grace Armstrong.
Mrs. Elliott, Hobbie's grandmother. John and Harry, Hobbie's brothers.
Lilias, Jean, and Arnot, Hobbie's sisters.--Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
ELMO (St.). The fire of St. Elmo (Feu de Saint Elme), a comazant. If only one appears on a ship-mast, foul weather is at hand; but if two or more, they indicate that stormy weather is about to cease. By the Italians these comazants are called the "fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas." In Latin the single fire is called "Helen," but the two "Castor and Pollux." Horace says (Odes, I. xiii. 27):
Quorum simul alba nautis stella refulsit, Defluit saxis agitatus humor, Concident venti, fugiuntque nubes, etc.
But Longfellow makes the stella indicative of foul weather:
Last night I saw St. Elmo's stars, With their glimmering lanterns all at play ... And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.
Longfellow, The Golden Legend.
(St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors.)
ELO´A, the first of seraphs. He name with God is "The Chosen One," but the angels call him Eloa. Eloa and Gabriel were angel friends.
Eloa, fairest spirit of heaven. His 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).
EL´OPS. There was a fish so-called, but Milton uses the word (Paradise Lost, x. 525) for the dumb serpent or serpent which gives no warning of its approach by hissing or otherwise. (Greek, ellops, "mute or dumb.")
ELOQUENCE (The Four Monarchs of): (1) Demonsthenês, the Greek orator (B.C. 385-322); (2) Cicero, the Roman orator (B.C. 106-43); (3) Burke, the English orator (1730-1797); (4) Webster, the American orator (1782-1852).
ELOQUENT (That old Man), Isoc´ratês, the Greek orator. When he heard that the battle of Chaerone´a was lost, and that Greece was no longer free, he died of grief.
That dishonest 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).
ELPI´NUS, Hope personified. He was "clad in sky-like blue" and the motto of his shield was "I hold by being held." He went attended by Pollic´ita (promise). Fully described in canto ix. (Greek, elpis, "hope.")--Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island (1633).
ELSA. German maiden, accused of having killed her little brother. At her trial a knight appears, drawn by a swan, champions her and vanquishes her accuser. Elsa weds him (Lohengrin) promising never to ask of his country or family. She breaks the vow; the swan appears and bears him away from her.--Lohengrin Opera, by Richard Wagner.
ELSHENDER THE RECLUSE, called "the Canny Elshie" or the "Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor." This is "the black dwarf," or Sir Edward Mauley, the hero of the novel.--Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time Anne).
ELSIE, the daughter of Gottlieb, a cottage farmer of Bavaria. Prince Henry of Hoheneck, being struck with leprosy, was told he would never be cured till a maiden chaste and spotless offered to give her life in sacrifice for him. Elsie volunteered to die for the prince, and he accompanied her to Salerno; but either the exercise, the excitement, or some charm, no matter what, had quite cured the prince, and when he entered the cathedral with Elsie, it was to make her Lady Alicia, his bride.--Hartmann von der Aue, Poor Henry (twelfth century); Longfellow, Golden Legend.
[Illustration] Alcestis, daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetos died instead of her husband, but was brought back by Herculês from the shades below, and restored to her husband.
Elsie (Venner), a girl marked before her birth as one apart from her kind. Her mother, treading upon a rattle-snake near her door, leaves the imprint of the loathsome thing upon the child. She is a "splendid scowling beauty" with glittering black eyes. When angry, they are narrowed and gleam like diamonds, and "charm" after an unhuman fashion. She bit her cousin when a child, and the wound had to be cauterized. She is wild almost to savagery and she falls in love with her tutor savagely for awhile, afterward loves him hopelessly. She dies of a strange decline, and the ugly mark about her throat that obliges her always to wear a necklace has faded out.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elsie Venner (1861).
ELSMERE (Robert), hero of religious novel of same name, by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
ELSPETH (Auld), the old servant of Dandie Dinmont, the store-farmer of Charlie's Hope.--Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II.).
Elspeth (Old) of the Craigburnfoot, the mother of Saunders Muckelbacket (the old fisherman at Musselcrag), and formerly servant to the countess of Glenallan.--Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time George III.).
ELVI´NO, a wealthy farmer in love with Ami´na the somnambulist. Amina being found in the bedroom of Conte Rodolfo the day before her wedding, induces Elvino to break off the match and promise marriage to Lisa; but as the truth of the matter breaks upon him, and he is convinced of Amina's innocence, he turns over Lisa to Alessio, her paramour, and marries Amina, his first and only love.--Bellini's opera, La Sonnambula (1831).
ELVI´RA, sister of Don Duart, and niece of the governor of Lisbon. She marries Coldio, the coxcomb son of Don Antonio.--C. Cibber, _Love Makes a Man_.
Elvi´ra, the young wife of Gomez, a rich old banker. She carries on a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, by the aid of her father-confessor Dominick, but is always checkmated, and it turns out that Lorenzo is her brother.--Dryden, The Spanish Fryar (1680).
Elvi´ra, a noble lady who gives up everything to become the mistress of Pizarro. She tries to soften his rude and cruel nature, and to lead him into more generous ways. Her love being changed to hate, she engages Rollo to slay Pizarro in his tent; but the noble Peruvian spares his enemy, and makes him a friend. Ultimately, Pizarro is slain in fight with Alonzo, and Elvira retires to a convent.--Sheridan, Pizarro (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).
Elvi´ra (Donna), a lady deceived by Don Giovanni, who basely deluded her into an amour with his valet Leporello.--Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni (1787).
Elvi´ra "the puritan," daughter of Lord Walton, betrothed to Arturo (Lord Arthur Talbot), a calvalier. On the day of espousals the young man aids Enrichetta (Henrietta, widow of Charles I.) to escape, and Elvira, thinking he had eloped with a rival, temporarily loses her reason. Cromwell's soldiers arrest Arturo for treason, but he is subsequently pardoned, and marries Elvira.--Bellini's opera, I Puritani (1834).
Elvi´ra, a lady in love with Erna´ni the robber-captain and head of a league against Don Carlos (afterwards Charles V. of Spain). Ernani was just on the point of marrying Elvira, when he was summoned to death by Gomez de Silva, and stabbed himself.--Verdi, Ernani (an opera, 1841).
Elvi´ra, betrothed to Alfonso (son of the Duke d'Arcos). No sooner is the marriage completed than she learns that Alfonso has seduced Fenella, a dumb girl, sister of Masaniello the fisherman. Masaniello, to revenge his wrongs, heads an insurrection, and Alfonso with Elvira run for safety to the fisherman's hut, where they find Fenella, who promises to protect them. Masaniello, being made chief magistrate of Por´tici, is killed by the mob; Fenella throws herself into the crater of Vesuvius; and Alfonso is left to live in peace with Elvira.--Auber, Masaniello (1831).
ELVIRE (2 syl.), the wife of Don Juan, whom he abandons. She enters a convent, and tries to reclaim her profligate husband, but without success.--Molière, Don Juan (1665).
ELY (Bishop of), introduced by Sir W. Scott in the Talisman (time, Richard I.).
EMATH´IAN CONQUEROR (The Great), Alexander the Great. Emathia is Macedonia and Thessaly. Emathion, a son of Titan and Aurora, reigned in Macedonia. Pliny tells us that Alexander, when he besieged Thebes, spared the house in which Pindar the poet was born, out of reverence to his great abilities.
EMBLA, the woman Eve of Scandinavian mythology. Eve or Embla was made of elm, but Ask or Adam was made of ash.
EM´ELIE or EMELYE, sister-in-law of Duke Theseus (2 syl.), beloved by both Pal´amon and Ar´cite (2 syl.), but the former had her to wife.
Emelie that fairer was to scene Than is the lilie on hire stalkê grene, And fresscher than the May with flourês newe.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
EMERAL´DER, an Irishman, one of the Emerald Isle.
EMER´ITA (St.), who, when her brother abdicated the British crown, accompanied him to Switzerland, and shared with him there a martyr's death.
Emerita the next, King Lucius' sister dear, Who in Helvetia with her martyr brother died.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
EMILE (2 syl.), the chief character of a philosophical romance on education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile is the author's ideal of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature having been carefully withheld.
N.B.--Emile is the French form of Emilius.
His body is inured to fatigue, as Rousseau advises in his Emilius.--Continuation of The Arabian Nights, iv. 69.
EMIL´IA, wife of Iago, the ancient of Othello in the Venetian army. She is induced by Iago to purloin a certain handkerchief given by Othello to Desdemona. Iago then prevails on Othello to ask his wife to show him the handkerchief, but she cannot find it, and Iago tells the Moor she has given it to Cassio as a love-token. At the death of Desdemona, Emilia (who till then never suspected the real state of the case) reveals the truth of the matter, and Iago rushes on her and kills her.--Shakespeare, Othello (1611).
The virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast off; easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villainies.--Dr. Johnson.
Emil´ia, the lady who attended on Queen Hermi´onê in prison.--Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (1604).
Emilia, the lady-love of Peregrine Pickle, in Smollett's novel called The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751).
Emilia Galotti. Beautiful daughter of Odoardo, an Italian noble. She is affianced to Count Appiani, and beloved by the Prince Guastalla, who causes her lover's death on their wedding-day. To save her from the prince, Odoardo stabs Emilia.--G.E. Lessing, Emilia Galotti.
EMILY, the fiancée of Colonel Tamper. Duty called away the colonel to Havana, and on his return he pretended to have lost one eye and one leg in the war, in order to see if Emily would love him still. Emily was greatly shocked, and Mr. Prattle the medical practitioner was sent for. Amongst other gossip, Mr. Prattle told his patient he had seen the colonel who looked remarkably well, and most certainly was maimed neither in his legs nor in his eyes. Emily now saw through the trick, and resolved to turn the tables on the colonel. For this end she induced Mdlle. Florival to appear en militaire, under the assumed name of Captain Johnson, and to make desperate love to her. When the colonel had been thoroughly roasted and was about to quit the house forever, his friend Major Belford entered and recognized Mdlle. as his fiancée; the trick was discovered, and all ended happily.--G. Colman, sen., The Deuce is in Him (1762).
EMIR OR AMEER, a title given to lieutenants of provinces and other officers of the sultan, and occasionally assumed by the sultan himself. The sultan is not unfrequently call "The Great Ameer," and the Ottoman empire is sometimes spoken of as "the country of the Great Ameer." What Matthew Paris and other monks call "ammirals" is the same word. Milton speaks of the "mast of some tall ammiral" (Paradise Lost, i. 294).
The difference between xariff or sariff and amir is this: the former is given to the blood successors of Mahomet, and the latter to those who maintain his religious faith.--Selden, Titles of Honor, vi. 73-4 (1672).
EM'LY (Little), daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan'el Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought up. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan'el's nephew) little Em'ly runs away with Steerforth, a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan'el Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.--C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
EMMA "the Saxon" or Emma Plantagenet, the beautiful, gentle, and loving wife of David, king of North Wales (twelfth century).--Southey, Madoc (1805).
EMMONS (David), slow, gentle fellow who never "comes to the point" in his courtship, but visits the "girl" for forty years, and gasps out in dying, "I allers--meant to--have--asked--you to marry me."--Mary E. Wilkins, Two Old Lovers (1887).
EMPED´OCLES, one of Pythagoras's scholars, who threw himself secretly into the crater at Etna, that people might suppose the gods had carried him to heaven; but alas! one of his iron pattens was cast out with the lava, and recognized.
He to be deemed A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames, Empedoclês.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 469, etc. (1665).
EMPEROR OF BELIEVERS (The), Omar I., father-in-law of Mahomet (581-644).
EMPEROR OF THE MOUNTAINS, (The) Peter the Calabrian, a famous robber-chief (1812).
EMPEROR FOR MY PEOPLE. Hadrian used to say, "I am emperor not for myself but for my people" (76, 117-138).
EMPSON (Master), flageolot player to Charles II.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (1823).
Enan´the (3 syl.), daughter of Seleucus, and mistress of Prince Deme´trius (son of King Antig´onus) She appears under the name of Celia.--Beaumont and Eletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).
ENCEL´ADOS (Latin, Enceladus), the most powerful of all the giants who conspired against Jupiter. He was struck with a thunder-bolt, and covered with the heap of earth now called Mount Etna. The smoke of the volcano is the breath of the buried giant; and when he shifts his side it is an earthquake.
Fama est, Enceladi semiustum fulmine corpus Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis; Et, fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem Murmure Trinacriam, et coelum subtexere fumo.
Virgil, Aeneid, iii. 578-582.
Where the burning cinders, blown From the lips of the overthrown Enceladus, fill the air.
Longfellow, Enceladus.
EN'CRATES (3 syl.), Temperance personified, the husband of Agnei'a (wifely chastity). When his wife's sister Parthen'ia (maidenly chastity) was wounded in the battle of Mansoul, by False Delight, he and his wife ran to her assistance, and soon routed the foes who were hounding her. Continence (her lover) went also, and poured a balm into her wounds, which healed them. Greek, egkratês, "continent, temperate."
So have I often seen a purple flower, Fainting thro' heat, hang down her drooping head; But, soon refreshêd with a welcome shower, Begins again her lively beauties spread, And with new pride her silken leaves display.
Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, xi. (1633).
ENDELL (Martha), a poor fallen girl, to whom Emily goes when Steerforth deserts her. She emigrates with Dan'el Pegot'ty, and marries a young farmer in Australia.--C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).
ENDIGA, in Charles XII., by J.R. Planche (1826).
ENDLESS, the rascally lawyer in No Song No Supper, by P. Hoare (1754-1834).
ENDYM'ION, a noted astronomer who, from Mount Latmus, in Caria, discovered the course of the moon. Hence it is fabled that the moon sleeps with Endymion. Strictly speaking, Endymion is the setting sun.
So, Latmus by the wise Endymion is renowned; That hill on whose high top he was the first that found Pale Phoebe's wandering course; so skillful in her sphere, As some stick not to say that he enjoyed her there.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vi. (1612).
To sleep like Endymion, to sleep long and soundly. Endymion requested of Jove permission to sleep as long as felt inclined. Hence the proverb, Endymionis somnum dormire. Jean Ogier de Gombaud wrote in French a romance or prose poem called Endymion (1624), and one of the best paintings of A.L. Girodet is "Endymion." Cowley, referring to Gombaud's romance, says:
While there is a people or a sun, Endymion's story with the moon shall run.
John Keats, in 1818, published his Endymion (a poetic romance), and the criticism of the Quarterly Review was falsely said to have caused his death.
Endym´ion. So Wm. Browne calls Sir Walter Raleigh, who was for a time in disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, whom he calls "Cyn´thia."
The first note that I heard I soon was wonne To think the sighes of fair Endymion, The subject of whose mournful heavy lay, Was his declining with faire Cynthia.
Brittannia's Pastorals, iv. (1613).
ENFANTS DE DIEU, the Camisards.
The royal troops outnumbered the Enfants de Dieu, and a not inglorious flight took place.--Ed. Gilliat, Asylum Christi, iii.
ENFIELD (Mrs.), the keeper of a house of intrigue, or "gentleman's magazine" of frail beauties.--Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (1785).
ENGADDI (Theodorick, hermit of), an enthusiast. He was Aberick of Mortemar, an exiled noble.--Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Engaddi, one of the towns of Judah, forty miles from Jerusalem, famous for its palm trees.
Anchorites beneath Engaddi's palms, Pacing the Dead Sea beach.
Longfellow, Sand of the Desert
ENGEL´BRECHT, one of the Varangian guards.--Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
EN´GELRED, 'squire of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (follower of Prince John of Anjou, the brother of Richard I.).--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
EN´GUERRAUD, brother of the Marquis of Montserrat, a crusader.--Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard L).
E´NID, the personification of spotless purity. She was the daughter of Yn´iol, and wife of Geraint. The tale of Geraint and Enid allegorizes the contagion of distrust and jealousy, commencing with Guinevere's infidelity, and spreading downward among the Arthurian knights. In order to save Enid from this taint, Sir Geraint removed from the court to Devon; but overhearing part of a sentence uttered by Enid, he fancied that she was unfaithful, and treated her for a time with great harshness. In an illness, Enid nursed Geraint with such wifely devotion that he felt convinced of his error. A perfect reconciliation took place, and they "crowned a happy life with a fair death".--Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Geraint and Enid.").
ENNIUS (The English), Lay´amon, who wrote a translation in Saxon of The Brut of Wace (thirteenth century).
Ennius (The French), Jehan de Meung, who wrote a continuation of Layamon's romance (1260-1320).
[Illustration] Guillaume de Lorris, author of the Romance of the Rose, is also called "The French Ennius," and with better title (1235-1265).
Ennius (The Spanish), Juan de Mena of Cordova (1412-1456).
ENRIQUE´ (2 syl.), brother-in-law of Chrysalde (2 syl.). He married secretly Chrysalde's sister Angelique, by whom he had a daughter, Agnes, who was left in charge of a peasant while Enrique was absent in America. Having made his fortune in the New World, Enrique returned and found Agnes in love with Horace, the son of his friend Oronte (2 syl.). Their union, after the usual quota of misunderstanding and cross purposes, was accomplished to the delight of all parties.--Molière, L'Ecole des Femmes (1662).
ENTEL´ECHY, the kingdom of Queen Quintessence. Pantag´ruel´ and his companions went to this kingdom in search of the "holy bottle."--Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 19 (1545).
[Illustration] This kingdom of "speculative science" gave the hint to Swift for his island of Lapu´ta.
EPHE´SIAN, a toper, a dissolute sot, a jovial companion. When Page (2 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2) tells Prince Henry that a company of men were about to sup with Falstaff, in Eastcheap, and calls them "Ephesians," he probably meant soldiers called féthas ("foot-soldiers"), and hence topers. Malone suggests that the word is a pun on pheese ("to chastise or pay one tit for tat"), and means "quarrelsome fellows."
EPHE´SIAN POET (The), Hippo´nax, born at Ephesus (sixth century B.C.).
EPIC POETRY (The Father of), Homer (about 950 B.C.).
EP´ICENE (3 syl.), or The Silent Woman, one of the three great comedies of Ben Jonson (1609).
The other two are Volpone (2 syl., 1605), and The Alchemist (1610).
EPICURUS. The aimée de coeur of this philosopher was Leontium. (See LOVERS).
EPICURUS OF CHINA, Tao-tse, who commenced the search for "the elixir of perpetual youth and health" (B.C. 540).
[Illustration] Thomas Moore has a prose romance entitled The Epicure'an. Lucretius the Roman poet, in his De Rerum Natura, is an exponent of the Epicurean doctrines.
EPIDAURUS (That God in), Aescula'pius, son of Apollo, who was worshipped in Epidaurus, a city of Peloponne'sus. Being sent for to Rome during a plague, he assumed the form of a serpent.--Livy, Nat. Hist., xi.; Ovid, Metaph., xv.
Never since of serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed Hermionê and Cadmus, or the god In Epidaurus.
Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 507 (1665).
(Cadmus and his wife Harmonia [Hermoine] left Thebes and migrated into Illyria, where they were changed into serpents because they happened to kill one belonging to Mars.)
EPHIAL'TES (4 syl.), one of the giants who made war upon the gods. He was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by Herculês.
EPIG'ONI, seven youthful warriors, sons of the seven chiefs who laid siege to Thebes. All the seven chiefs (except Adrastos) perished in the siege; but the seven sons, ten years later, took the city and razed it to the ground. The chiefs and sons were: (1) Adrastos, whose son was Aegi'aleus (4 syl.); (2) Polynikês, whose son was Thersan'der; (3) Amphiar'aos (5 syl.), whose son was Alkmaeon (the chief); (4) Ty'deus (2 syl.), whose son was Diomê'des; (5) Kap'aneus (3 syl.), whose son was Sthen'elos; (6) Parthenopae'os, whose son was Promachos; (7) Mekis'theus (3 syl.), whose son was Eury'alos.
Æschylos has a tragedy on The Seven Chiefs against Thebes. There are also two epics, one The Thebaïd of Statius, and The Epigoni sometimes attributed to Homer and sometimes to one of the Cyclic poets of Greece.
EPIGON'IAD (The), called "the Scotch Iliad," by William Wilkie (1721-1772). This is the tale of the Epig'oni or seven sons of the seven chieftains who laid siege to Thebes. The tale is this: When Oe'dipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but at the expiration of the first year, the elder son (Eteoclês) refused to give up the throne. Whereupon the younger brother (Polynikês) interested six Grecian chiefs to espouse his cause, and the allied armies laid siege to Thebes, without success. Subsequently, the seven sons of the old chiefs went against the city to avenge the death of their fathers, who had fallen in the former siege. They succeeded in taking the city, and in placing Thersander on the throne. The names of the seven sons are Thersander, AEgi'aleus, Alkmaeon, Diomedês, Sthen'elos, Pro'machos, and Euryalos.
EPIMEN'IDES (5 syl.) of Crete, sometimes reckoned one of the "seven wise men of Greece" in the place of Periander. He slept for fifty-seven years in a cave, and, on waking, found everything so changed that he could recognize nothing. Epimenidês lived 289 years, and was adored by the Cretans as one of their "Curetês" or priests of Jove. He was contemporary with Solon.
(Goethe has a poem called Des Epimenides Erwachen.--See Heinrich's Epimenides.)
Epimenides's Drug. A nymph who loved Epimenides gave him a draught in a bull's horn, one single drop of which would not only cure any ailment, but would serve for a hearty meal.
Le Nouveau Epimenède is a man who lives in a dream in a kind of "Castle of Spain," where he deems himself a king, and does not wish to be disillusioned. The song is by Jacinthe Leclère, one of the members of the "Societé de Momus," of Paris.
EPINOGRIS (Sir), son of the king of Northumberland. He loved an earl's daughter, but slew the earl in a knightly combat. Next day, a knight challenged him to fight, and the lady was to be the prize of the victor. Sir Epinogris, being overthrown, lost the lady; but when Sir Palomidês heard the tale, he promised to recover her. Accordingly, he challenged the victorious knight, who turned out to be his brother. The point of dispute was then amicably arranged by giving up the lady to Sir Epinogris.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 169 (1470).
EPPIE, one of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms, Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, St. Bonarts Well (time, George III.).
EPPS, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.). EQUITY (Father of), Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In Absalom and Achitophel (by Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."
Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, But Israel's sanctions into practice drew; Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem, Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ... To whom the double blessing doth belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.
Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
EQUIVOKES.
1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber, London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.
2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and he died while saying mass in a church so called at Rome.
3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana, which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."
4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for reply:
When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer, From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!
In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a fig tree growing on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he remembered that goat and fig tree, in the Messenian dialect were the same word.
[Illustration] The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a stork" were substituted for the goat: "When a stork stoops to drink of the Neda;" and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.
5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;
but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to fall by "thousands," was not stated.
6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.
7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia, but it was himself.
8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.
9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied, "He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"
10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.--Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act v. sc. 2.
11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the person pointed at.--Holinshed, Chronicles; Shakespeare, Richard III. act i. sc. I.
ERAC'LIUS (The emperor) condemned a knight to death on the supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was virtually the cause of death to the other two.
This tale is told in the Gesta Romanorum, and Chaucer has put it into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his De Ira; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.
ÉRASTE (2 syl.), hero of Les Fåcheux by Molière. He is in love with Orphiso (2 syl.), whose tutor is Damis (1661).
ER'CELDOUN (Thomas of), also called "Thomas the Rhymer," introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
It is said that Thomas of Erceldoun is not dead, but that he is sleeping beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day, he met with a lady of elfin race beneath the Eildon tree, and she led him to an under-ground region, where he remained for seven years. He then revisited the earth, but bound himself to return when summoned. One day, when he was making merry with his friends, he was told that a hart and hind were parading the street; and he knew it was his summons, so he immediately went to the Eildon tree, and has never since been heard of.--Sir W. Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
[Illustration: symbol] This tale is substantially the same in the German one of Tannhäuser (q.v.).
ERECK, a knight of the Round Table. He marries the beautiful Enite (2 syl.), daughter of a poor knight, and falls into a state of idleness and effeminacy, till Enite rouses him to action. He then goes forth on an expedition of adventures, and after combating with brigands, giants, and dwarfs, returns to the court of King Arthur, where he remains till the death of his father. He then enters on his inheritance, and lives peaceably the rest of his life.--Hartmann von der Aue, Ereck (thirteenth century).
EREEN'IA (3 syl.), a glendoveer' or good spirit, the beloved son of Cas'yapa (3 syl.), father of the immortals. Ereenia took pity on Kail'yal (2 syl.), daughter of Ladur'lad, and carried her to his Bower of Bliss in paradise (canto vii.). Here Kailyal could not stay, because she was still a living daughter of earth. On her return to earth, she was chosen for the bride of Jagannaut, and Ar'valan came to dishonor her; but she set fire to the pagoda, and Ereenia came to her rescue. Ereenia was set upon by the witch Lor'rimite (3 syl.), and carried to the submerged city of Baly, whence he was delivered by Ladurlad. The glendoveer now craved Seeva for vengeance, but the god sent him to Yamen (i.e. Pluto), and Yamen said the measure of iniquity was now full, so Arvalan and his father Kehama were both made inmates of the city of everlasting woe; while Ereenia carried Kailyal, who had quaffed the waters of immortality, to his Bower of Bliss, to dwell with him in everlasting joy.--Southey, Curse of Kehoma (1809).
ERET'RIAN BULL (The). Menede'mos of Eretria, in Eubae'a, was called "Bull" from the bull-like breadth and gravity of his face. He founded the Eretrian school (fourth century B.C.).
ERIC, "Windy-cap," king of Sweden. He could make the wind blow from any quarter by simply turning his cap. Hence arose the expression, "a capful of wind."
ERIC GRAY. A young man whose religious principles will not let him marry the girl he loves because she has not "joined the church." His old love tells the story after his funeral.
"And all my heart went forward, past the shadows and the cross, Even to that home where perfect love hath never thorn nor loss; Where neither do they marry, nor in marriage are given, But are like unto the angels in GOD'S house, which is Heaven."
Margaret E. Sangster, Eric's Funeral (1882).
ERICHTHO [Erik'.tho], the famous Thessaliaii witch consulted by Pompey.--Lucan, Pharsalia, vi.
ERICKSON (Sweyn), a fisherman at Jarlshof.--Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
ERIC'THO, the witch in John Marston's tragedy called The Wonder of Women or Sophonisba (160)5.
ERIG'ENA (John Scotus), called "Scotus the Wise." He must not be confounded with Duns Scotus, "the Subtle Doctor," who lived some four centuries later. Erigena died in 875, and Duns Scotus in 1308.
ERIG'ONE (4 syl.), the constellation Virgo. She was the daughter of Icarios, an Athenian, who was murdered by some drunken peasants. Erigonê discovered the dead body by the aid of her father's dog Moera, who became the star called Canis.
... "that virgin, frail Erigonê, Who by compassion got preëminence."
Lord Brooke, Of Nobility.
ERILL'YAB (3 syl.), the widowed and deposed Queen of the Hoamen (2 syl.), an Indian tribe settled on a south branch of the Missouri. Her husband was King Tepol'loni, and her son Amal'ahta. Madoc when he reached America, espoused her cause, and succeeded in restoring her to her throne and empire.--Southey, Madoc (1805).
ERIPHY'LE (4 syl.), the wife of Amphiara'os. Being bribed by a golden necklace, she betrayed to Polyni-cês where her husband had concealed himself that he might not go to the seige of Thebes, where he knew that he should be killed. Congreve calls the word Eriph'yle.
When Eriphylê broke her plighted faith, And for a bribe procured her husband's death.
Ovid, Art of Love, iii.
ERISICH'THON (should be Erysichthon), a Thessaliad, whose appetite was insatiable. Having spent all his estate in the purchase of food, nothing was left but his daughter Metra, and her he sold to buy food for his voracious appetite; but Metra had the power of transforming herself into any shape she chose, so as often as as her father sold her, she changed her form and returned to him. After a time, Erisichthon was reduced to feed upon himself.--Ovid, Metaph, viii. 2 (740 to end).
Drayton says when the Wyre saw her goodly oak trees sold for firewood, she bethought her of Erisichthon's end, who, "when nor sea, nor land, sufficient were," ate his own flesh.--Polyolbion, vii.
So Erisicthon, once fired (as men say), With hungry rage, fed never, ever feeding; Ten thousand dishes severed every day, Yet in ten thousand thousand dishes needing. In vain his daughter hundred shapes assumed; A whole camp's meat he in his gorge inhumed; And all consumed, his hunger yet was unconsumed.
Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island (1633).
ERLAND, father of Norna "of the Fitful Head."--Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).
ERL-KING, a spirit of mischief, which haunts the Black Forest of Thuringia.
Goethe has a ballad called the Erl-könig, and Herder has translated the Danish ballad of Sir Olaf and the Erl-King's Daughter.
In Goethe's ballad, a father, riding home through the night and storm with a child in his arms is pursued by the Erl-king, who entices the child with promises of fairy-gifts, and finally kills it.
ERMANGARDE OF BALDRINGHAM (The Lady), aunt of the Lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed."--Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
ER'MELINE (Dame), the wife of Reynard, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
ERMIN'IA, the heroine of Jerusalem Delivered. She fell in love with Tancred, and when the Christian army beseiged Jerusalem, arrayed herself in Clorinda's armor to go to him. After certain adventures, she found him wounded, and nursed him tenderly; but the poet has not told us what was the ultimate lot of this fair Syrian.--Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
ERNA'NI, the robber-captain, duke of Segor'bia and Cardo'na, lord of Aragon, and count of Ernani. He is in love with Elvi'ra, the betrothed of Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detests. Charles V. falls in love with her, and Ruy Gomez joins Ernani in a league against their common rival. During this league Ernani gives Ruy Gomez a horn, saying, "Sound but this horn, and at that moment Ernani will cease to live." Just as he is about to espouse Elvira, the horn is sounded, and Ernani stabs himself.--Verdi, Ernani (an opera, 1841).
ERNEST (Duke), son-in-law of Kaiser Konrad II. He murders his feudal lord, and goes on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to expiate his crime. The poem so called is a mixture of Homeric legends, Oriental myths, and pilgrims' tales. We have pygmies and cyclopses, genii and enchanters, fairies and dwarfs, monks and devotees. After a world of hair-breadth escapes, the duke reaches the Holy Sepulchre, pays his vows, returns to Germany, and is pardoned.--Henry Von Veldig (minnesinger), Duke Ernest (twelfth century).
ERNEST DE FRIDBERG, "the prisoner of the State." He was imprisoned in the dungeon of the Giant's Mount fortress for fifteen years on a false charge of treason. Ul'rica (his natural daughter by the countess Marie), dressed in the clothes of Herman, the deaf and dumb jailor-boy, gets access to the dungeon and contrives his escape; but he is retaken, and led back to the dungeon. Being subsequently set at liberty, he marries the countess Marie (the mother of Ulrica).--E. Stirling, The Prisoner of State (1847.)
EROS, the manumitted slave of Antony the triumvir. Antony made Eros swear that he would kill him if commanded by him so to do. When in Egypt, Antony after the battle of Actium, fearing lest he should fall into the hands of Octavius Cæsar, ordered Eros to keep his promise. Eros drew his sword, but thrust it into his own side, and fell dead at the feet of Antony. "O noble Eros," cried Antony, "I thank thee for teaching me how to die!"--Plutarch.
[Illustration] Eros is introduced in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, and in Dryden's All for Love or the World Well Lost.
(Eros is the Greek name of Cupid, and hence amorous poetry is called Erotic.)
EROS'TRATOS (in Latin EROSTRATUS), the incendiary who set fire to the temple of Diana of Ephesus, that his name might be perpetuated. An edict was published, prohibiting any mention of the name, but the edict was wholly ineffective.
[Illustration] Charles V., wishing to be shown over the Pantheon [All Saints] of Rome, was taken to the top by a Roman knight. At parting, the knight told the emperor that he felt an almost irresistible desire to push his majesty down from the top of the building, "in order to immortalize his name." Unlike Erostratos, the name of this knight has not transpired. ERO'TA, a very beautiful but most imperious princess, passionately beloved by Philander, Prince of Cyprus.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Laws of Candy (1647).
ERRA-PATER, an almanac, an almanac-maker, an astrologer. Samuel Butler calls Lilly, the almanac-maker, an Erra-Pater, which we are told was the name of a famous Jewish astrologer.
His only Bible was an Erra-Pater.
Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, vii. (1633).
"What's here? Erra-Pater or a bearded sibyl" [the person was Foresight].
Congreve, Love for Love, iv. (1695).
ERRAGON, king of Lora (in Scandinavia). Aldo, a Caledonian chief, offered him his services, and obtained several important victories; but Lorma, the king's wife, falling in love with him, the guilty pair escaped to Morven. Erragon invaded the country, and slew Aldo in single combat, but was himself slain in battle by Gaul, son of Morni. As for Lorma, she died of grief.--Ossian, The Battle of Lora.
ERRANT DAMSEL (The), Una.--Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 1 (1590).
ERRIMA, Greek maiden chidden by her mother for dreaming of Sappho, and Lesbian dances and Delphian lyre, and commanded to
"rend thy scrolls and keep thee to thy spinning."
She answers that talk of matron dignities and household tasks wearies her:
"I would renounce them all for Sappho's bay: Forego them all for room to chant out free The silent rhythms I hum within my heart, And so for ever leave my weary spinning!"
Margaret J. Preston, Old Song and New. (1870).
ERROL (Cedric). Bright American boy, living with his widowed mother, whose grandfather, Lord Fauntleroy, sends for and adopts him. The boy's sweetness of manners and nobility of nature conquer the old man's prejudices, and win him to sympathy and co-operation in his schemes for making the world better.--Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1889).
ERROL (Gilbert, earl of), lord high constable of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
ERROR, a monster who lived in a den in "Wandering Wood," and with, whom the Red Cross Knight had his first adventure. She had a brood of 1000 young ones of sundry shape, and these cubs crept into their mother's mouth when alarmed, as young kangaroos creep into their mother's pouch. The knight was nearly killed by the stench which issued from the foul fiend, but he succeeded in "rafting" her head off, whereupon the brood lapped up the blood, and burst with satiety.
Half like a serpent horribly displayed, But th' other half did woman's shape retain. And as she lay upon the dirty ground, Her huge long tail her den all overspread, Yet was in knots and many boughts [folds] up-wound, Pointed with mortal sting.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 1 (1590).
ERROR OF ARTISTS, (See ANACHRONISMS).
ANGELO (Michel), in his great picture of the "Last Judgment" has introduced Charon's bark.
BREUGHEL, the Dutch painter, in a picture of the "Wise Men of the East" making their offerings to the infant Jesus, has represented one of them dressed in a large white surplice, booted and spurred, offering the model of a Dutch seventy-four to the infant.
ETTY has placed by the bedside of Holofernes a helmet of the period of the seventeenth century.
MAZZOCHI (Paulo), in his "Symbolical Painting of the Four Elements," represents the sea by fishes, the earth by moles, fire by a salamander, and air by a camel! Evidently he mistook the chameleon (which traditionally lives on air) for a camel.
TINTORET, in a picture which represents the "Israelites Gathering Manna in the Wilderness," has armed the men with guns.
VERONESE (Paul), in his "Marriage Feast of Cana of Galilee," has introduced among the guests several Benedictines.
WEST, president of the Royal Academy, has represented Paris the Phrygian in Roman costume.
WESTMINSTER HALL is full of absurdities. Witness the following as specimens:--
Sir Cloudesley Shovel is dressed in a Roman cuirass and sandals, but on his head is a full-bottomed wig of the eighteenth century.
The Duke of Buckingham is arrayed in the costume of a Roman emperor, and his duchess in the court dress of George I. period.
ERRORS OF AUTHORS, (See ANACHRONISMS.)
AKENSIDE. He views the Ganges from Alpine heights.--Pleasures of Imagination.
ALLISON (Sir Archibald), says: "Sir Peregine Pickle was one of the pall-bearers of the Duke of Wellington."--Life of Lord Castlereagh.
In his History of Europe, the phrase droit de timbre ("stamp duty") he translates "timber duties."
ARTICLES OF WAR FOR THE ARMY. It is ordered "that every recruit shall have the 40th and 46th of the articles read to him." (art. iii.).
The 40th article relates wholly to the misconduct of chaplains, and has no sort of concern with recruits. Probably the 41st is meant, which is about mutiny and insubordination.
BROWNE (William) Apellês' Curtain. W. Browne says:
If ... I set my pencil to Appellês table [painting] Or dare to draw his curtain.
Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 2.
This curtain was not drawn by Apelles, but by Parrhasius, who lived a full century before Apelles. The contest was between Zeuxis and Parrhasius. The former exhibited a bunch of grapes which deceived the birds, and the latter a curtain which deceived the competitor.
BRUYSSEL (E. von) says: "According to Homer, Achillês had a vulnerable heel." It is a vulgar error to attribute this myth to Homer. The blind old bard nowhere says a word about it. The story of dipping Achillês in the river Styx is altogether post-Homeric.
BYRON. Xerxes' Ships. Byron says that Xerxes looked on his "ships by thousands" off the coast of Sal'amis. The entire number of sails were 1200; of these 400 were wrecked before the battle off the coast of Sêpias, so that even supposing the whole of the rest were engaged, the number could not exceed 800.--Isles of Greece.
The Isle Teos. In the same poem he refers to "Teos" as one of the isles of Greece, but Teos is a maritime town on the coast of Ionia, in Asia Minor.
CERVANTES. Dorothea's Father. Dorothea represents herself as Queen of Micomicon, because both her father and mother were dead, but Don Quixote speaks of him to her as alive.--Pt. I. iv. 8.
Mambrino's Helmet. In pt. I. iii. 8 we are told that the galley-slaves set free by Don Quixote assaulted him with stones, and "snatching the basin from his head, broke it to pieces." In bk. iv. 15 we find this basin quite whole and sound, the subject of a judicial inquiry, the question being whether it was a helmet or a barber's basin. Sancho (ch. 11) says, he "picked it up, bruised and battered, intending to get it mended;" but he says, "I broke it to pieces," or, according to one translator, "broke it into a thousand pieces." In bk. iv. 8 we are told that Don Quixote "came from his chamber armed cap-à-pie, with the barber's basin on his head."
Sancho's Ass. We are told (pt. I. iii. 9) that Gines de Passamonte "stole Sancho's ass." Sancho laments the loss with true pathos, and the knight condoles with him. But soon afterwards Cervantes says: "He [Sancho] jogged on leisurely upon his ass after his master."
Sancho's Great-coat. Sancho Panza, we are told, left his wallet behind in the Crescent Moon tavern, where he was tossed in a blanket, and put the provisions left by the priests in his great-coat (ch. 5). The galley-slaves robbed him of "his great-coat, leaving only his doublet" (ch. 8), but in the next chapter (9) we find "the victuals had not been touched," though the rascals "searched diligently for booty." Now, if the food was in the great-coat, and the great-coat was stolen, how is it that the victuals remained in Sancho's possession untouched?
Sancho's Wallet. We are told that Sancho left his wallet by mistake at the tavern where he was blanket-tossed (ch. 5), but in ch. 9, when he found the portmanteau, "he crammed the gold and linen into his wallet."--Pt. I. iii.
To make these oversights more striking, the author says, when Sancho found the portmanteau, "he entirely forgot the loss of his wallet, his great-coat, and of his faithful companion and servant Dapple" (the ass).
Supper. Cervantes makes the party at the Crescent tavern eat two suppers in one evening. In ch. 5 the curate orders in supper, and "after supper" they read the story of Fatal Curiosity. In ch. 12 we are told "the cloth was laid [again] for supper," and the company sat down to it, quite forgetting that they had already supped.--Pt. I. iv.
CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA states that "the fame of Beaumarchais rests on his two operas, Le Barbier de Seville (1755) and Le Mariage de Figaro." Every one knows that Mozart composed the opera of Figaro (1786), and that Casti wrote the libretto. The opera of Le Barbier de Seville, or rather Il Barbiere di Siviglia, was composed by Rossini, in 1816. What Beaumarchais wrote was two comedies, one in four acts and the other in five acts.--Art. "Beaumarchais."
CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. We are told, in a paper entitled "Coincidences," that Thursday has proved a fatal day with the Tudors, for on that day died Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. If this had been the case it would, indeed, have been startling; but what are the facts? Henry VIII. died on Friday, January 28, 1547, and Elizabeth died on Monday, March 24, 1603.--Rymer, Foedera, xv.
In the same paper we are told with equal inaccuracy that Saturday has been fatal to the present dynasty, "for William IV. and every one of the Georges died on a Saturday." What, however, says history proper? William IV. died on Tuesday, June 20, 1837; George I. died Wednesday, June 11, 1727; George III. died Monday, January 29, 1820; George IV. died Sunday, June 26, 1830; and only George II. died on a Saturday, "the day [so] fatal to the present dynasty."
CHAUCER says: The throstle-cock sings so sweet a tone that Tubal himself, the first musican, could not equal it.--The Court of Love. Of course he means Jubal.
CIBBER (Colley), in his Love Makes a Man, i., makes Carlos the student say, "For the cure of herds [Virgil's] bucolicks are a master-piece; but when his art describes the commonwealth of bees ... I'm ravished." He means Georgics. The Bucolics are eclogues, and never touch upon either of these subjects. The diseases and cures of cattle are in Georgic iii., and the habits, etc., of bees, Georgic iv.
CID (The). When Alfonso succeeded his brother Sancho and banished the Cid, Rodrigo is made to say:
Prithee say where were these gallants (Bold enough when far from blows)? Where were they when I, unaided, Rescued thee from thirteen foes?
The historic fact is, not that Rodrigo rescued Alfonso from thirteen foes, but that the Cid rescued Sancho from thirteen of Alfonso's foes. Eleven he slew, and two he put to flight.--The Cid, xvi. 78.
COLMAN. Job Thornberry says to Peregrine, who offers to assist him in his difficulties, "Desist, young man, in time." But Peregrine was at least 45 years old when so addressed. He was 15 when Job first knew him, and had been absent thirty years in Calcutta. Job Thornberry himself was not above five or six years older.
COWPER calls the rose "the glory of April and May," but June is the great rose month. In the south of England they begin to bloom in the latter half of May, and go on to the middle of July. April roses would be horticultural curiosities.
CRITICS at fault. The licentiate tells Don Quixote that some critics found fault with him for defective memory, and instanced it in this; "We are told that Sancho's ass is stolen, but the author has forgotten to mention who the thief was." This is not the case, as we are distinctly informed that it was stolen by Gines de Passamonte, one of the galley slaves.--Don Quixote, II. i. 3.
DICKENS, in Edwin Drood, puts "rooks and rooks' nests" (instead of daws) "in the tower of Cloisterham."
In Nicholas Nickleby he presents Mr. Squeers as setting his boys "to hoe turnips" in midwinter.
In The Tale of Two Cities, iii. 4, he says: "The name of the strong man of Old Scripture descended to the chief functionary who worked the guillotine." But the name of this functionary was Sanson, not Samson.
GALEN says that man has seven bones in the sternum (instead of three); and Sylvius, in reply to Vesalius, contends that "in days of yore the robust chests of heroes had more bones than men now have."
GREENE (Robert) speaks of Delphos as an island; But Delphos, or rather Delphi, was a city of Phocis, and no island. "Six noblemen were sent to the isle of Delphos."--Donastus and Faunia. Probably he confounded the city of Delphi with the isle of Delos.
HALLIWELL, in his Archaic Dictionary, says: "Crouchmas means Christmas," and adds that Tusser is his authority. But this is altogether a mistake. Tusser, in his "May Remembrances," says: "From bull cow fast, till Crouchmas be past," i.e. St. Helen's Day. Tusser evidently means from May 3 (the invention of the Cross) to August 18 (St. Helen's Day or the Cross-mas), not Christmas.
HIGGONS (Bevil) says:
The Cyprian queen, drawn by Apellês hand. Of perfect beauty did the pattern stand! But then bright nymphs from every part of Greece Did all contribute to adorn the piece.
To Sir Godfrey Kneller (1780).
Tradition says that Apellês model was either Phyrne, or Campaspê, afterwards his wife. Campbell has borrowed these lines, but ascribes the painting to Protog'enês the Rhodian.
When first the Rhodian's mimic art arrayed The queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade, The happy master mingled in the piece Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece.
Pleasures of Hope, ii.
JOHNSON (Dr.) makes Addison speak of Steele as "Little Dicky" whereas the person so called by Addison was not Richard Steele, but a dwarfish actor who played "Gomez" in Dryden's Spanish Fryar.
LONDON NEWSPAPER (A), one of the leading journals of the day, has spoken three times within two years of "passing under the Caudine Forks," evidently supposing them to be a "yoke" instead of a valley or mountain pass.
LONGFELLOW calls Erig'ena a Scotchman, whereas the very word means an Irishman.
Done into Latin by that Scottish beast. Erigena Johannes.
Golden Legend.
"Without doubt, the poet mistook John Duns [Scottus], who died in 1308, for John Scottus [Erigena], who died in 875. Erigena translated into Latin, St. Dionysius. He was latitudinarian in his views, and anything but 'a Scottish beast or Calvinist.'"
The Two Angels. Longfellow crowns the death-angel with amaranth, with which Milton says, "the spirits elect bind their resplendent locks;" and his angel of life he crowns with asphodels, the flowers of Pluto or the grave.
MELVILLE (Whyte) makes a very prominent part of his story called Holmby House turn on the death of a favorite hawk named Diamond, which Mary Cave tossed off, and saw "fall lifeless at the king's feet" (ch. xxix.). In ch. xlvi. this very hawk is represented to be alive; "proud, beautiful, and cruel, like a Venus Victrix it perched on her mistress's wrist, unhooded."
MILTON. "Colkitto or Macdonnel or Galasp." In this line of Sonnet XI, Milton seems to speak of three different persons, but in reality they are one and the same; i.e., Macdonnel, son of Colkittoch, son of Gillespie (Galasp). Colkittoch means left-handed.
In Comus (ver. 880) he makes the siren Ligea sleek her hair with a golden comb, as if she were a Scandinavian mermaid.
MOORE (Thom.) says:
The sunflower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turned when he rose.
Irish Melodies, ii. ("Believe Me, if all those Endearing Young Charms").
The sunflower does not turn either to the rising or setting sun. It receives its name solely because it resembles a picture sun. It is not a turn-sun or heliotrope at all.
MORRIS (W.), in his Atalanta's Race, renders the Greek word Saophron "safron," and says:
She the saffron gown will never wear, And in no flower-strewn couch shall she be laid;
i.e. she will never be a bride. Nonnius (bk. xii.) tells us that virtuous women wore a girdled gown called Saophron ("chaste"), to indicate their purity and to prevent indecorous liberties. The gown was not yellow at all, but it was girded with a girdle.
MURPHY, in the Grecian Daughter, says (act i. 1):
Have you forgot the elder Dionysius, Surnamed the Tyrant?... Evander came from Greece, And sent the tyrant to his humble rank, Once more reduced to roam for vile subsistence, A wandering sophist thro' the realms of Greece.
It was not Dionysius the Elder, but Dionysius the Younger, who was the "wandering sophist;" and it was not Evander, but Timoleon, who dethroned him. The elder Dionysius was not dethroned at all, nor even reduced "to humble rank." He reigned thirty-eight years without interruption, and died a king, in the plentitude of his glory, at the age of 63.
In the same play (act iv. 1) Euphrasia says to Dionysius the Younger:
Think of thy father's fate at Corinth, Dionysius.
It was not the father, but the son, (Dionysius the Younger) who lived in exile at Corinth.
In the same play he makes Timo'leon victorious over the Syracusans (that is historically correct); and he makes Euphrasia stab Dionysius the Younger, whereas he retreated to Corinth, and spent his time in debauchery, but supported himself by keeping a school. Of his death nothing is known, but certainly he was not stabbed to death by Euphrasia.--See Plutarch.
RYMER, in his Foedera, ascribes to Henry I. (who died in 1135) a preaching expedition for the restoration of Rochester Church, injured by fire in 1177 (vol. I i. 9).
In the previous page Rymer ascribes to Henry I. a deed of gift from "Henry, king of England and lord of Ireland;" but every one knows that Ireland was conquered by Henry II., and the deed referred to was the act of Henry III.
On p. 71 of the same vol. Odo is made, in 1298, to swear "in no wise to confederate with Richard I."; whereas Richard I. died in 1199.
SABINE MAID (The). G. Gilfillan, in his introductory essay to Longfellow, says: "His ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine maid, have not crushed him." Tarpeia, who opened the gates of Rome to the Sabines, and was crushed to death by their shields, was not a Sabine maid, but a Roman.
SCOTT (Sir Walter). In the Heart of Midlothian we read;:
She [Effie Deans] amused herself with visiting the dairy ... and was so near discovering herself to Mary Hetly by betraying her aquaintance with the celebrated receipt for Dunlop cheese, that she compared herself to Bedredeen Hassan, whom the vizier his father in-law discovered by his superlative skill in composing cream-tarts with pepper in them.
In these few lines are several gross errors: (1) cream-tarts should be cheese-cakes; (2) the charge was "that he made cheese-cakes without putting pepper in them," and not that he made "cream-tarts with pepper;" (3) it was not the vizier, his father-in-law and uncle, but his mother, the widow of Nouredeen, who made the discovery, and why? for the best of all reasons--because she herself had taught her son the receipt. The party were at Damascus at the time.--Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.). (See page 389, "Thackeray.")
"What!" said Bedredeen, "was everything in my house to be broken and destroyed ... only because I did not put pepper in a cheese-cake!"
Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Again, Sir Walter Scott speaks of "the philosopher who appealed from Philip inflamed with wine to Philip in his hours of sobriety" (Antiquary, x.). This "philosopher" was a poor old woman.
SHAKESPEARE. Althaea and the Fire-brand. Shakespeare says, (Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2) that "Althaea dreamt that she was delivered of a fire-brand." It was not Althaea, but Hecuba, who dreamed, a little before Paris was born, that her offspring was a brand that consumed the kingdom. The tale of Althaea is, that the Fates laid a log of wood on a fire, and told her that her son would live till that log was consumed; whereupon she snatched up the log and kept it from the fire, till one day her son Melea'ger offended her, when she flung the log on the fire, and her son died, as the Fates predicted.
Bohemia's Coast. In the Winter's Tale the vessel bearing the infant Perdita is "driven by storm on the coast of Bohemia;" but Bohemia has no seaboard at all.
In Coriolanus, Shakespeare makes Volumnia the mother, and Virgilia the wife, of Coriolanus; but his wife was Volumnia, and his mother Veturia.
Delphi an Island. In the same drama (act iii. sc. 1) Delphi is spoken of as an island; but Delphi is a city of Phocis, containing a temple to Apollo. It is no island at all.
Duncan's Murder. Macbeth did not murder Duncan in the castle of Inverness, as stated in the play, but at "the smith's house," near Elgin (1039).
Elsinore. Shakespeare speaks of the beetling cliff of Elsinore, whereas Elsinore has no cliffs at all.
What if it [the ghost] tempt you toward the flood. Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er its base into the sea?
Hamlet, act i. sc. 4.
The Ghost, in Hamlet, is evidently a Roman Catholic; he talks of purgatory, absolution, and other Catholic dogmas; but the Danes at the time were pagans.
St. Louis. Shakespeare, in Henry V. act i. sc. 2, calls Louis X. "St. Louis," but "St. Louis" was Louis IX. It was Louis IX. whose "grandmother was Isabel," issue of Charles de Lorraine, the last of the Carlovingians. Louis X. was the son of Philippe IV. (le Bel) and grandson of Philippe III. and "Isabel of Aragon," not Isabel, "heir of Capet of the line of Charles the duke of Lorain."
Macbeth was no tyrant, as Shakespeare makes him out to be, but a firm and equitable prince, whose title to the throne was better than that of Duncan.
Again, Macbeth was not slain by Macduff at Dunsin'ane, but made his escape from the battle, and was slain in 1056, at Lumphanan.--Lardner, Cabinet Cyc., 17-19.
In The Winter's Tale, act v. sc. 2, one of the gentlemen refers to Julio Romano, the Italian artist and architect (1492-1546), certainly some 1800 years or more before Romano was born.
In Twelfth Night, the Illyrian clown speaks of St. Bennet's Church, London. "The triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure, or the bells of St. Bennet's sure may put you in mind: one, two, three" (act v. sc. 1); as if the duke was a Londoner.
SPENSER. Bacchus or Saturn? In the Faëry Queen, iii. 11, Britomart saw in the castle of Bu'sirane (3 syl.), a picture descriptive of the love of Saturn, who had changed himself into a centaur out of love for Erig'onê. It was not Saturn, but Bacchus who loved Erig'onê, and he was not tranformed into a centaur, but to a horse.
Beonê or Oenonê? In bk. vi. 9 (Faëry Queen) the lady-love of Paris is called Benonê, which ought to be Oenonê. The poet says that Paris was "by Plexippus' brook" when the golden apple was brought to him; but no such brook is mentioned by any classic author.
Critias and Socrates. In bk. ii. 7 (Faëry Queen) Spenser says: "The wise Socrates ... poured out his life ... to the dear Critias; his dearest bel-amie." It was not Socratês, but Theram'enes, one of the thirty tyrants, who in quaffing the poison-cup, said smiling, "This I drink to the health of fair Critias."--Cicero, Tusculan Questions.
Critias or Crito? In Faëry Queen, iv. (introduction), Spenser says that Socrates often discoursed of love to his friend Critias; but it was Crito, or rather Criton that the poet means.
Cyprus and Paphos. Spenser makes Sir Scudamore speak of a temple of Venus, far more beautiful than "that in Paphos, or that in Cyprus;" but Paphos was merely a town in the island of Cyprus, and the "two" are but one and the same temple.--Faëry Queen, iv. 10.
Hippomanês. Spenser says the golden apples of Mammon's garden were better than Those with which the Eubaean young man won Swift Atalanta. Faëry Queen, ii. 7.
The young man was Hippom'anês. He was not a "Eubaean," but a native of Onchestos, in Boeo'tia.
TENNYSON, in the Last Tournament, says (ver. I), Dagonet was knighted in mockery by Sir Gaw'ain; but in the History of Prince Arthur we are distinctly told that King Arthur knighted him with his own hand (pt. ii. 91).
In Gareth and Lynette the same poet says that Grareth was the son of Lot and Bellicent; but we are told a score times and more in the History of Prince Arthur, that he was the son of Margawse (Arthur's sister and Lot's wife, pt. i. 36).
King Lot ... wedded Margawse; Nentres ... wedded Elain.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 35, 36.
In the same Idyll Tennyson has changed Lionês to Lyonors; but, according to the collection of romances edited by Sir T. Malory, these were quite different persons. Lionês, daughter of Sir Persaunt, and sister of Linet of Castle Perilous, married Sir Gareth (pt. i. 153); but Lyonors was the daughter of Earl Sanam, and was the unwedded mother of Sir Borre by King Arthur (pt. i. 15).
Again, Tennyson makes Gareth marry Lynette, and leaves the true heroine, Lyonors, in the cold; but the History makes Grareth marry Lionês (Lyonors), and Gaheris his brother marries Linet.
Thus endeth the history of Sir Gareth, that wedded Dame Liones of the Castle Perilous; and also of Sir Gaheris, who wedded her sister Dame Linet.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (end of pt. i.).
Again, in Gareth and Lynette, by erroneously beginning day with sunrise instead of the previous eve, Tennyson reverses the order of the knights, and makes the fresh green morn represent the decline of day, or, as he calls it, "Hesperus" or "Evening Star;" and the blue star of evening he makes "Phosphorus" or the "Morning Star."
Once more, in Gareth and Lynette, the poet-laureate makes the combat between Gareth and Death finished at a single blow, but in the History, Gareth fights from dawn to dewy eve.
Thus they fought [from sunrise] till it was past noon, and would not stint, till, at last both lacked wind, and then stood they wagging, staggering, panting, blowing, and bleeding ... and when they had rested them awhile, they went to battle again, trasing, rasing, and foyning, as two boars ... Thus they endured till evening-song time.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 136.
In the Last Tournament, Tennyson makes Sir Tristram stabbed to death, by Sir Mark in Tintag'il Castle, Cornwall, while toying with his aunt, Isolt the Fair, but in the History he was in bed in Brittany, severely wounded, and dies of a shock, because his wife tells him the ship in which he expected his aunt to come was sailing into port with a black sail instead of a white one.
The poet-laureate has deviated so often from the collection of tales edited by Sir Thomas Malory, that it would occupy too much space to point out his deviations even in the briefest manner.
THACKERAY, in Vanity Fair, has taken from Sir Walter Scott his allusion to Bedredeen, and not from the Arabian Nights. He has, therefore, fallen into the same error, and added two more. He says: "I ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts into the cream-tarts in India, sir" (ch. iii.). The charge was that Bedredeen made his cheese-cakes without putting pepper into them. But Thackeray has committed in this allusion other blunders. It was not a "princess" at all, but Bedredeen Hassan, who for the nonce had become a confectioner. He learned the art of making cheese-cakes from his mother (a widow). Again, it was not a "princess of Persia," for Bedredeen's mother was the widow of the vizier of Balsora, at that time quite independent of Persia.
VICTOR HUGO, in Les Travailleurs de la Mer, renders "the Frith of Forth" by the phrase Premier des quatre, mistaking "Frith" for first, and "Forth" for fourth or four.
In his Marie Tudor he refers to the History and Annals of Henry VII. par Franc Baronum, "meaning" Historia, etc.
Henrici Septimi, per Franciscum Baconum.
VIEGIL has placed Æneas in a harbor which did not exist at the time. "Portusque require Velinos" (Æneid, vi. 366). It was Curius Dentatus who cut a gorge through the rocks to let the waters of the Velinus into the Nar. Before this was done, the Velinus was merely a number of stagnant lakes, and the blunder is about the same as if a modern poet were to make Columbus pass through the Suez Canal.
In Æneid, in. 171 Virgil makes Æneas speak of "Ausonia;" but as Italy was so called from Auson, son of Ulysses and Calypso, of course Æneas could not have known the name.
Again, in Æneid ix. 571, he represents Chorinseus as slain by Asy'las; but in bk. xii. 298 he is alive again. Thus:
Chorinaeum sternit Asylas
Bk. ix. 571.
Then:
Obvius ambustum torrem Chorinseus ab ara Corripit, et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti Occupat os flammis, etc.
Bk. xii. 298, etc.
Again in bk. ix. Numa is slain by Nisus, (ver. 554); but in bk. x. 562 Numa is alive, and Æneas kills him.
Once more, in bk. x. Æneas slays Camertês (ver. 562); but in bk. xii. 224 Jaturna, the sister of Turnus, assumes his shape. But if he was dead, no one would have been deluded into supposing the figure to be the living man.
[Illustration] Of course, every intelligent reader will be able to add to this list; but no more space can be allowed for the subject in this dictionary.
ER'RUA ("the mad-cap"), a young man whose wit defeated the strength of the giant Tartaro (a sort of one-eyed Polypheme). Thus the first competition was in throwing a stone. The giant threw his stone, but Errua threw a bird, which the giant supposed to be a stone, and as it flew out of sight, Errua won the wager. The next wager was a bar of iron. After the giant had thrown, Errua said, "From here to Salamanca;" whereupon the giant bade him not to throw, lest the bar of iron should kill his father and mother, who lived there; so the giant lost the second wager. The third was to pull a tree up by the roots; and the giant gave in because Errua had run a cord around a host of trees, and said, "You pull up one, but I pull up all these." The next exploit was at bed-time; Errua was to sleep in a certain bed; but he placed a dead man in the bed, while he himself got under it. At midnight Tartaro took his club and belabored the dead body most unmercifully. When Errua stood before Tartaro next morning, the giant was dumbfounded. He asked Errua how he had slept. "Excellently well," said Errua, "but somewhat troubled by fleas." Other trials were made, but always in favor of Errua. At length a race was proposed, and Errua sewed into a bag the bowels of a pig. When he started, he cut the bag, strewing the bowels on the road. When Tartaro was told that his rival had done this to make himself more fleet, he cut his belly, and of course killed himself.--Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends (1877).
ERS'KINE (The. Rev. Dr.), minister of Grayfriar's Church, Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
ER'TANAX, a fish common in the Euphratês. The bones of this fish impart courage and strength.
A fish ... haunteth the flood of Eufratês ... it is called an ertanax, and his bones be of such a manner of kind that whoso handleth them he shall have so much courage that he shall never be weary, and he shall not think on joy nor sorrow that he hath had, but only on the thing he beholdeth before him.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 84, (1470).
ERUDITE (Most). Marcus Terentius Varro is called "the most erudite of the Romans" (B.C. 116-27).
ER'YTHRE, modesty personified, the virgin page of Parthen'ia or maiden of chastity, in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). Fully described in canto x. (Greek, cruthros, "red," from eruthriao, "to blush.")
ERYSICHTHON [Erri. sik'. thon], a grandson of Neptune, who was punished by Cerês with insatiable hunger, for cutting down some trees in a grove sacred to that goddess. (See ERISICHTHON.)
ES'CALUS, an ancient, kind-hearted lord in the deputation of the duke of Vienna.--Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).
Es'calus, Prince of Vero'na.--Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).
ES'CANES (3 syl.), one of the lords of Tyre.--Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
ESCOBAR (Mons. L') the French, name for a fox, so called from M. Escobar the probabilist, whence also the verb escobarder, "to play the fox," "to play fast and loose."
The French have a capital name for the fox, namely, M. L'Escobar, which may be translated the "shuffler," or more freely, "sly boots."--The Daily News, March 25, 1878.
ESCOTILLO (i.e. little Michael Scott), considered by the common people as a magician, because he possessed more knowledge of natural and experimental philosophy than his contemporaries.
ES'DALE (Mr.), a surgeon at Madras.--Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
ES'INGS, the king of Kent. So called from Eisc, the father of Hengist, as the Tuscans receive their name from Tuscus, the Romans from Romulus, the Cecrop'idae from Cecrops, the Britons from Brutus, and so on.--Ethelwerd, Chron., ii.
ESMERALDA, a beautiful gypsy-girl, who, with tambourine and goat, dances in the place before Notre Dame de Paris, and is looked on as a witch. Quasimodo conceals her for a time in the church, but after various adventures she is gibbeted.--Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris.
Esmeralda; humbly-born heroine of Frances Hodgson Burnett's work of same name. The story has been dramatized and played with great effect.
ESMOND (Henry), a chivalrous cavalier in the reign of Queen Anne; the hero of Thackeray's novel called Henry Esmond (1852).
ESPLAN'DIAN, son of Am'adis and Oria'na. Montalvo has made him the subject of a fifth book to the four original books of Amadis of Gaul (1460).
The description of the most furious battles, carried on with all the bloody-mindedness of an Esplandian or a Bobadil [Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humor].--Encyc. Brit., Art. "Romance."
ESPRIEL'LA (Manuel Alvarez), the apocryphal name of Robert Southey. The poet-laureate pretends that certain "letters from England," written by this Spaniard, were translated by him from the original Spanish (three vols., 1807).
ESSEX (The earl of), a tragedy by Henry Jones (1745.) Lord Burleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh entertained a mortal hatred of the earl of Essex, and accused him to the queen of treason. Elizabeth disbelieved the charge; but at this juncture the earl left Ireland, whither the queen had sent him, and presented himself before her. She was very angry, and struck him, and Essex rushed into open rebellion, was taken, and condemned to death. The queen had given him a ring before the trial, telling him whatever petition he asked should be granted, if he sent to her this ring. When the time of execution drew nigh, the queen sent the countess of Nottingham to the Tower, to ask Essex if he had any plea to make. The earl entreated her to present the ring to her majesty, and petition her to spare the life of his friend Southampton. The countess purposely neglected this charge, and Essex was executed. The queen, it is true, sent a reprieve, but Lord Burleigh took care it should arrive too late. The poet says that Essex had recently married the countess of Rutland, that both the queen and the countess of Nottingham were jealous, and that this jealousy was the chief cause of the earl's death.
The Abbè Boyer, La Calprènede, and Th. Corneille have tragedies on the some subject.
Essex (The earl of), lord high constable of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
ESTEL'LA, a haughty beauty, adopted by Miss Havisham. She was affianced by her wish to Pip, but married Bentley Drummle.--C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
ESTHER, housekeeper to Muhldenau, minister of Mariendorpt. She loves Hans, a servant to the minister, but Hans is shy, and Esther has to teach him how to woo and win her. Esther and Hans are similar to Helen and Modus, only in lower social grade.--S. Knowles, The Maid of Mariendorpt (1838).
ESTHER HAWDON, better known through the tale as Esther Summerson, natural daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock (before her marriage with Sir Leicester Dedlock). Esther is a most lovable, gentle creature, called by those who know and love her, "Dame Durden" or "Dame Trot." She is the heroine of the tale, and a ward in Chancery. Eventually she marries Allan Woodcourt, a surgeon.--C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).
ESTHER Bush: Wife of the squatter Ishmael Bush. Loud-voiced, sharp of temper and hard of hand, yet loyal in her way to husband and children.--James Fennimore Cooper, The Prairie, (1827).
Esther (Queen), Indian monarch who, during the Wyoming massacre, dashes out the brains of sixteen prisoners with her own hands, as a sacrifice to the manes of her son. Queen Esther's Rock is still shown to travelers.--Ann Sophia Stevens, Mary Derwent (1845).
ESTIFA'NIA, an intriguing woman, servant of donna Margaritta, the Spanish heiress. She palms herself off on Don Michael Perez (the copper captain) as an heiress, and the mistress of Margaritta's mansion. The captain marries her, and finds out that all her swans are only geese.--Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640).
EST-IL-POSSSIBLE? A nickname given to George of Denmark (Queen Anne's husband), because his general remark to the most startling announcement was, Est-il possible? With this exclamation he exhausted the vials of his wrath. It was James II. who gave him the sobriquet.
EST'MERE (2 syl.), king of England. He went with his younger brother Adler to the court of King Adlands, to crave his daughter in marriage; but King Adlands replied that Bremor, the sowdan, or sultan of Spain, had forestalled him. However, the lady, being consulted, gave her voice in favor of the king of England. While Estmere and his brother went to make preparations for the wedding, the "sowdan" arrived, and demanded the lady to wife. A messenger was immediately despatched to inform Estmere, and the two brothers returned, disguised as a harper and his boy. They gained entrance into the palace, and Adler sang, saying, "O ladye, this is thy owne true love; no harper, but a king;" and then drawing his sword he slew the "sowdan," Estmere at the same time chasing from the hall the "kempery men." Being now master of the position, Estmere took "the ladye faire," made her his wife, and brought her home to England.--Percy, Reliques, 1. i. 5.
ESTRILDIS OR ELSTRED, daughter of the Emperor of Germany. She was taken captive in war by Locrin (king of Britain), by whom she became the mother of Sabrin or Sabre. Gwendolen, the wife of Locrin, feeling insulted by this liaison, slew her husband, and had Estrildis and her daughter thrown into a river, since called the Sabri'na or Severn.--Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2, etc.
ESTWICKE (John), hero of Charles Egbert Craddock's book, Where the Battle was Fought (1884). His real name was John Fortescue.
ETE'OCLES AND POLYNI'CES, the two sons Oe'dipos. After the expulsion of their father, these two young princes agreed to reign alternate years in Thebes. Eteoclês, being the elder, took the first turn, but at the close of the year refused to resign the sceptre to his brother; whereupon Polynicês, aided by six other chiefs, laid seige to the city. The two brothers met in combat, and each was slain by the other's hand.
[Illustration] A similar fratricidal struggle is told of Don Pedro of Castile and his half-brother Don Henry. When Don Pedro had estranged the Castilians by his cruelty, Don Henry invaded Castile with a body of French auxiliaries, and took his brother prisoner. Don Henry visited him in prison, and the two brothers fell on each other like lions. Henry wounded Pedro in the face, but fell over a bench, when Pedro seized him. At that moment a Frenchman seized Pedro by the leg, tossed him over, and Henry slew him.--Menard, History of Du Gueselin.
ETHAN (Allen). He gives under his own hand the history of the capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, and corroborates the popular story that he demanded the surrender of the fortress, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Allen's Narrative of Captivity (1779).
ETH'ELBERT, king of Kent, and the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings who was a Christian. He persuaded Gregory to send over Augustine to convert the English to "the true faith" (596), and built St. Paul's, London.--Ethelwerd's Chronicle, ii.
Good Ethelbert of Kent, first christened English king. To preach the faith of Christ was first did hither bring Wise Au'gustine the monk, from holy Gregory sent... That mighty fane to Paul in London did erect.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xi. (1613).
ETH'ERINGTON (The late earl of) father of Tyrrel and Bulmer.
The titular earl of Etherington, his successor to the title and estates.
Marie de Martigny (La comtesse), wife of the titular earl of Etherington.--Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
ETHIOPIANS, the same as Abassinians. The Arabians call these people El-habasen or Al-habasen, whence our Abassins, but they call themselves Ithiopians or Ethiopians.--Seldon, Titles of Honor, vi. 64.
Where the Abassin kings their issue guard, Mount Amara.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 280 (1665).
ETHIOP'S QUEEN, referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, was Cassiope'a, wife of Ce'pheus (2 syl.) king of Ethiopia. Boasting that she was fairer than the sea-nymphs, she offended the Nereids, who complained to Neptune. Old father Earth-Shaker sent a huge sea-monster to ravage her kingdom for her insolence. At death Cassiopea was made a constellation of thirteen stars.
... that starred Ethiop queen that strove To set her beauty's praise above The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.
Milton, Il Penseroso, 19 (1638).
ETHNIC PLOT. The "Popish Plot" is so called in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel. As Dryden calls the royalists "Jews," and calls Charles II. "David, king of the Jews," the papists were "Gentiles" (or Ethnoi), whence the "Ethnic Plot" means the plot of the Ethnoi against the people of God.--Pt. i. (1681).
ETIQUETTE (Madame), the Duchesse de Noailles, grand mistress of the ceremonies in the court of Marie Antoinette; so called from her rigid enforcement of all the formalities and ceremonies of the ancien régime.
ETNA. Zens buried under this mountain Enkel'ados, one of the hundred-handed giants.
The whole land weighed him down, as Etna does The giant of mythology.
Tennyson, The Golden Supper.
ETTEILLA, the pseudonym of Alliette (spelt backwards), a perruquier and diviner of the eighteenth century. He became a professed cabalist, and was visited in his studio in the Hôtel de Crillon (Rue de la Verrerie) by all those who desired to unroll the Book of Fate. In 1783 he published Manière de se Récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommées Tarots. In the British Museum are some divination cards published in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, called Grand Etteilla and Petit Etteilla, each pack being accompanied with a book of explication and instruction.
ETTERCAP, an ill-tempered person, who mars sociability. The ettercap is the poison-spider, and should be spelt "Attercop." (The Anglo-Saxon, atter-cop, poison-spider.)
O sirs, was sic difference seen As 'twix wee Will and Tam, The ane's a perfect ettercap, The ither's just a lamb. W. Miller, Nursery Songs.
ETTRICK SHEPHERD (The), James Hogg, the Scotch Poet., who was born in the forest of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and was in early life a shepherd (1772-1835).
ETTY'S NINE PICTURES, "the Combat," the three "Judith" pictures, "Benaiah," "Ulysses and the Syrens," and the three pictures of "Joan of Arc."
"My aim," says Etty, "in all my great pictures has been to paint some great moral on the heart. 'The Combat' represents the beauty of mercy; the three 'Judith' pictures, patriotism [1, self-devotion to God; 2, self-devotion to man; 3, self-devotion to country;] 'Benaiah, David's chief captain,' represents valor; 'Ulysses and the Syrens,' sensual delights or the wages of sin is death; and the three pictures of 'Joan of Arc' depict religion, loyalty and patriotism. In all, nine in number, as it was my desire to paint three."--William Etty, of York (1787-1849).
ET'ZEL or EZZEL (i.e. Attila), king of the Huns, in the songs of the German minnesingers. A ruler over three kingdoms and thirty principalities. His second wife was Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried. In pt ii. of the Niebelungen Lied, he sees his sons and liegemen struck down without making the least effort to save them, and is as unlike the Attila of history as a "hector" is to the noble Trojan "the protector of mankind."
EU'CHARIS, one of the nymphs of Calypso, with whom Telemachos was deeply smitten. Mentor, knowing his love was sensual love, hurried him away from the island. He afterwards fell in love with Anti'ope, and Mentor approved his choice.--Fenelon, Télémaque, vii. (1700).
Eucharis is meant for Mdlle. de Fontange, maid of honor to Mde. de Montespan. For a few months she was a favorite with Louis XIV., but losing her good looks she was discarded, and died at the age of 20. She used to dress her hair with streaming ribbons, and hence this style of head-gear was called à la Fontange.
EU'CLIO, a penurious old hunks.--Plautus, Aulularia.
Now you must explain all this to me, unless you would have me use you as ill as Euclio does Staphy'la--Sir W. Scott.
EU'CRATES (3 syl.), the miller, and one of the archons of Athens. A shuffling fellow, always evading his duty and breaking his promise; hence the Latin proverb:
Vias novit quibus effugiat Eucrates ("He has more shifts than Eucrates").
EUDO'CIA (4 syl.), daughter of Eu'menês, governor of Damascus. Pho'cyas, general of the Syrian forces, being in love with her, asks the consent of Eumenês, and is refused. In revenge, he goes over to the Arabs, who are beseiging Damascus. Eudocia is taken captive, but refuses to wed a traitor. At the end, Pho'cyas dies, and Eudocia retires into a nunnery.--John Hughes, The Siege of Damascus (1720).
EUDON (Count) of Catabria. A baron favorable to the Moors, "too weak-minded to be independent." When the Spaniards rose up against the Moors, the first order of the Moorish chief was this: "Strike off Count Eudon's head: the fear which brought him to our camp will bring him else in arms against us now" (ch. xxv.). Southey, Roderick, etc., xiii. (1814).
EUDOX'IA, wife of the Emperor Valentin'ian. Petro'nius Max'imus "poisoned" the emperor, and the empress killed Maximus.--Beaumont and Fletcher, Valentinian (1617).
EUGENE (Aram). Scholarly man of high ideals, who has committed a murder, and hides the knowledge of it from all. He is finally hunted down.--Lord Lytton, Eugene Aram.
EUGE'NIA, called "Silence" and the "Unknown." She was the wife of Count de Valmont, and mother of Florian, "the foundling of the forest." In order to come into the property, Baron Longueville used every endeavor to kill Eugenia and Florian, but all his attemps were abortive, and his villainy at length was brought to light.--W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.
EUGÉNIE (Lalande). The marvellously well-preserved great-grandmother of a near-sighted youth who addresses and marries her. She reveals the trick that has been played on him by presenting him with a pair of eye-glasses.--Edgar Allan Poe, The Spectacles.
EUGENIO, a young gentleman who turned goat-herd, because Leandra jilted him and eloped with a heartless adventurer named Vincent de la Rosa.--Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 20 ("The Goatherd's Story," 1605).
EUGENIUS, the friend and wise counsellor of Yorick. John Hall Stevenson was the original of this character.--Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1759).
EUHE'MEROS a Sicilian Greek, who wrote a Sacred History to explain the historical or allegorical character of the Greek and Latin mythologies.
One could wish Euhêmeros had never been born. It was he that spoilt [the old myths] first.--Ouidà, Ariadnê, i.1.
EULENSPIEGEL (Tyll), i.e. "Tyll Owl-glass," of Brunswick. A man who runs through the world as charlatan, fool, lansquenet, domestic servant, artist, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything, but rejoices in cheating those who employ him; he parodies proverbs, rejoices in mischief, and is brimful of pranks and drolleries. Whether Uulenspiegel was a real character or not is a matter of dispute, but by many the authorship of the book recording his jokes is attributed to the famous German satirist, Thomas Murner.
In the English versions of the story he is called Howle-glass.
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal history as Tyll Eulenspiegel. Now, after five centuries, his native village is pointed out with pride to the traveller.--Carlyle.
EUMÆOS (in Latin, Eumoes), the slave and swine-herd of Ulysses, hence any swine-herd.
EU'MENES (3 syl.), Governor of Damascus, and father of Eudo'cia.--John Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).
EUMNES'TES, Memory personified. Spenser says he is an old man, decrepit and half blind. He was waited on by a boy named Anamnestês. [Greek, eumnêstis, "good memory," anamnêstis, "research."--Faëry Queen, ii. 9 (1590).]
EUNICE (Alias "Nixey"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.
In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Hedged In (1870).
EUPHRA'SIA, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Being in love with Prince Philaster, she assumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender page. The sex of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness of this jealousy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster or Love Lies A-bleeding (1608).
Euphra'sia, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but Euphrasia, rushing forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.--A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772).
[Illustration] The same tale is told-of Xantippê, who preserved the life of her father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.
There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light What do I gaze on!... An old man, and a female young and fair, Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins
The blood is nectar ... Here youth offers to old age the food, The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire, To whom she renders back the debt of blood.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 148 (1817).
EU'PHRASY, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the distant future.--See Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 414-421 (1665).
EU'PHUES (3 syll), the chief character in John Lilly's Euphuês or The Anatomy of Wit, and Euphues and his England. He is an Athenian gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees" (Henry V. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphuês was designed to exhibit the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called Euphues' Golden Legacy (1590).
"The commonwealth of your bees," replied Euphuês, "did so delight me that I was not a little sorry that either their estates have not been longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple judgment, there was such an orderly government that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."
J. Lilly, Euphues (1581).
(The romances of Calprenéde and Scudéri bear the same relation to the jargon of Louis XIV., as the Euphues of Lilly to that of Queen Elizabeth.)
EURE'KA! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.
The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the metal, and he asked Archimedês to ascertain if his suspicion was well founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with. Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy introduced by the artificer.
Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred to the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran home, exclaiming, 'Heureka! heureka!'"
EURO'PA. The Fight at Dame Europa's School, written by the Rev. H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).
EUROPE'S LIBERATOR. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769-1852).
Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations" And "Europe's Liberator."
Byron, Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).
EU'RUS, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; No'tus, the south wind; Bo'reas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Lev'ant ("rising of the sun"), and Zephyr is called Po'nent, ("setting of the sun ").
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds-- Eurus and Zephyr.
Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 705 (1665).
EURYD'ICE (4 syl.), the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her wedding night.
Orpheus went down to Hadês to crave for her restoration to life, and Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he turned to see if Eurydicê´ was following, and just caught a glance of her as she was snatched back into the shades below.
(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem, called Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, 1709.)
EURYT'ION, the herdsman of Grer'yon. He never slept day nor night, but walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros. "Herculês them all did overcome."--Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10 (1696).
EUS'TACE, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Eustace, (Father), or "Father Eustatius," the superior and afterwards abbot of St. Mary's. He was formerly William Allan, and the friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the Protestant preacher).--Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Eustace (Charles), a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He has been clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named Frederick. Charles Eustace confides his scrape to Polyglot, and conceals his young wife in the tutor's private room. Polyglot is thought to be a libertine, but the truth comes out, and all parties are reconciled.--J. Poole, The Scapegoat.
Eus'tace (Jack), the lover of Lucinda, and "a very worthy young fellow," of good character and family. As Justice Woodcock was averse to the marriage, Jack introduced himself as a music-master, and Sir William Meadows, who recognized him, persuaded the justice to consent to the marriage of the young couple. This he was the more ready to do as his sister Deborah said positively he "should not do it."--Is. Bickerstaff, Love in a Village.
EVA (St. Clair). Lovely child, the daughter of Uncle Tom's master, and Uncle Tom's warm friend.--H.B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851).
E'VA, daughter of Torquil of the Oak. She is betrothed to Ferquhard Day.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
EVAD'NE (3 syl.), wife of Kap'aneus (3 syl.). She threw herself on the funeral pile of her husband, and was consumed with him.
Evad'ne (3 syl.), sister of Melantius. Amintor was compelled by the king to marry her, although he was betrothed to Aspasia (the "maid" whose death forms the tragical event of the drama).--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
The purity of female virtue in Aspasia is well contrasted with the guilty boldness of Evadnê, and the rough soldier-like bearing and manly feeling of Melantius render the selfish sensuality of the king more hateful and disgusting.--R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 204.
Evad'ne or The Statue, a drama by Sheil (1820). Ludov'ico, the chief minister of Naples, heads a conspiracy to murder the king and seize the crown; his great stumbling-block is the marquis of Colonna, a high-minded nobleman, who cannot be corrupted. The sister of the marquis is Evadnê (3 syl.), plighted to Vicentio. Ludovico's scheme is to get Colonna to murder Vicentio and the king, and then to debauch Evadnê. With this in view, he persuades Vicentio that Evadnê is the king's fille d'amour, and that she marries him merely as a flimsy cloak, but he adds "Never mind, it will make your fortune." The proud Neapolitan is disgusted, and flings off Evadnê as a viper. Her brother is indignant, challenges the troth-plight lover to a duel, and Vicentio falls. Ludovico now irritates Colonna by talking of the king's amour, and induces him to invite the king to a banquet and then murder him. The king goes to the banquet, and Evadnê shows him the statues of the Colonna family, and amongst them one of her own father, who at the battle of Milan had saved the king's life by his own. The king is struck with remorse, but at this moment Ludovico enters and the king conceals himself behind the statue. Colonna tells the traitor minister the deed is done, and Ludovico orders his instant arrest, gibes him as his dupe, and exclaims, "Now I am king indeed!" At this moment the king comes forward, releases Colonna, and orders Ludovico to be arrested. The traitor draws his sword, and Colonna kills him. Vicentio now enters, tells how his ear has been abused, and marries Evadnê.
EVAN DHU OF LOCHIEL, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
EVAN DHU M'COMBICH, the foster-brother of M'Ivor.--Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
EVANDALE (The Right Hon. W. Maxwell, lord), in the royal army under the duke of Monmouth. He is a suitor of Edith Bellenden, the granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.--Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
EVAN'DER, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece." He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe." When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tryant to the heart.--A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."
Mr. Bently, May 6, 1796, took leave of the stage in the character of "Evander."--W.C. Russell, Representative Actors, 426.
EVANGELIC DOCTOR (The), John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation" (1324-1384).
EVANGELINE, the heroine and title of a tale in hexameter verse by Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now Nova Scotia). At the age of 17 she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith, but next day all the colony was exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now began the troubles of her life. She wandered from place to place to find her betrothed. Basil had settled at Louisiana, but when Evangeline reached the place, Gabriel had just left; she then went to the prairies, to Michigan, and so on, but at every place she was just too late to meet him. At length, grown old in this hopeless search, she went to Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out in the city, and as she visited the almshouse she saw an old man smitten down with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name, but death closed his lips. He was buried, and Evangeline lies beside him in the grave.
(Longfellow's Evangeline (1849) has many points of close similitude with Campbell's tale of Gertrude of Wyoming, 1809).
EVANS (Sir Hugh), a pedantic Welsh parson and schoolmaster of extraordinary simplicity and native shrewdness.--Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
The reader may cry out with honest Sir Hugh Evans, "I like not when a 'ooman has a great peard."--Macaulay.
Henderson says: "I have seen John Edwin, in 'Sir Hugh Evans,' when preparing for the duel, keep the house in an ecstasy of merriment for many minutes together without speaking a word" (1750-1790).
Evans (William), the giant porter of Charles I. He carried Sir Geoffrey Hudson about in his pocket. Evans was eight feet in height, and Hudson only eighteen inches. Fuller mentions this giant amongst his Worthies.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
EVAN'THE (3 syl.), sister of Sora'no, the wicked instrument of Frederick, duke of Naples, and the chaste wife of Valerio.
The duke tried to seduce her, but failing in this scandalous attempt, offered to give her to any one for a month, at the end of which time the libertine was to suffer death. No one would accept the offer, and ultimately Evanthê was restored to her husband.--Beaumont and Fletcher, A Wife for a Month (1624).
EVE (1 syl), or Havah, the "mother of all living" (Gen. iii. 20). Before the expulsion from paradise her name was Ishah, because she was taken out of ish, i.e. "man" (Gen. ii. 23).
Eve was of such gigantic stature that when she laid her head on one hill near Mecca, her knees rested on two other hills in the plain, about two gun-shots asunder. Adam was as tall as a palm tree.--Moncony, Voyage, i. 372, etc.
EV'ELI'NA (4 syl.), the heroine of a novel so called by Miss Burney (afterwards Mme. D'Arblay). Evelina marries Lord Orville (1778).
EVELYN (Alfred), the secretary and relative of Sir John Vesey. He made Sir John's speeches, wrote his pamphlets, got together his facts, mended his pens, and received no salary. Evelyn loved Clara Douglas, a dependent of Lady Franklin, but she was poor also, and declined to marry him. Scarcely had she refused him, when he was left an immense fortune and proposed to Georgina Vesey. What little heart Georgina had was given to Sir Frederick Blount, but the great fortune of Evelyn made her waver; however, being told that Evelyn's property was insecure, she married Frederick, and left Evelyn free to marry Clara.--Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Evelyn (Sir George) a man of fortune, family, and character, in love with Dorrillon, whom he marries.--Mrs. Inchbald, Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are (1795).
EVERARD (Colonel Markham), of the Commonwealth party.
Master Everard, the colonel's father.--Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).
EV'ERETT (Master), a hired witness of the "Popish Plot."--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOR, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1598). The original play was altered by David Garrick. The persons to whom the title of the drama apply are: "Captain Bobadil," whose humor is bragging of his brave deeds and military courage--he is thrashed as a coward by Downright; "Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of his wife--he is befooled and cured by a trick played on him by Brain-worm; "Stephen," whose humor is verdant stupidity--he is played on by every one; "Kno'well," whose humor is suspicion of his son Edward, which turns out to be all moonshine; "Dame Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of her husband, but she (like her husband) is cured by a trick devised by Brain worm. Every man in his humor is liable to be duped thereby, for his humor is the "Achilles' heel" of his character.
EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOR, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1599).
EVERY ONE HAS HIS FAULT, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1794). By the fault of rigid pride, Lord Norland discarded his daughter, Lady Eleanor, because she married against his consent. By the fault of gallantry and defect of due courtesy to his wife, Sir Robert Ramble drove Lady Ramble into a divorce. By the fault of irresolution, "Shall I marry or shall I not!" Solus remained a miserable bachelor, pining for a wife and domestic joys. By the fault of deficient spirit and manliness, Mr. Placid was a hen-pecked husband. By the fault of marrying without the consent of his wife's friends, Mr. Irwin was reduced to poverty and even crime. Harmony healed these faults; Lord Norland received his daughter into favor; Sir Robert Ramble took back his wife; Solus married Miss Spinster; Mr. Placid assumed the rights of the head of the family; and Mr. Irwin, being accepted as the son-in-law of Lord Norland, was raised from indigence to domestic comfort.
EVIOT, page to Sir John Ramorny (master of the horse to Prince Robert of Scotland).--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
EVIR-ALLEN, the white-armed daughter of Branno, an Irishman. "A thousand heroes sought the maid; she refused her love to a thousand. The sons of the sword were despised, for graceful in her eyes was Ossian." This Evir-Allen was the mother of Oscar, Fingal's grandson, but she was not alive when Fingal went to Ireland to assist Cormac against the invading Norsemen, which forms the subject of the poem called Fingal, in six books.--Ossian, Fingal, iv.
EW'AIN (Sir), son of King Vrience and Morgan le Fay (Arthur's half-sister).--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 72 (1470).
EWAN OF BRIGGLANDS, a horse soldier in the army of Montrose.--Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
EWART (Nanty i.e. Anthony), captain of the smuggler's brig. Sir W. Scott Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
EXCAL'IBUR, King Arthur's famous swords. There seems to have been two of his swords so called. One was the sword sheathed in stone, which no one could draw thence, save he who was to be king of the land. Above 200 knights tried to release it, but failed; Arthur alone could draw it with ease, and thus proved his right of succession (pt. i. 3). In ch. 7 this sword is called Excalibur, and is said to have been so bright "that it gave light like thirty torches." After his fight with Pellinore, the king said to Merlin he had no sword, and Merlin took him to a lake, and Arthur saw an arm "clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in the hand." Presently the Lady of the Lake appeared, and Arthur begged that he might have the sword, and the lady told him to go and fetch it. When he came to it he took it, "and the arm and hand went under the water again." This is the sword generally called Excalibur. When about to die, King Arthur sent an attendant to cast the sword back again into the lake, and again the hand "clothed in white samite" appeared, caught it, and disappeared (ch. 23).--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 23 (1470).
King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, Wrought by the lonely maiden of the lake; Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps, Upon the hidden bases of the hills.
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
Excalibur's Sheath. "Sir," said Merlin, "look that ye keep well the scabbard of Excalibur, for ye shall lose no blood as long as ye have the scabbard upon you, though ye have never so many wounds."--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 36 (1470).
EXECUTIONER (No). When Francis, viscount d'Aspremont, governor of Bayonne, was commanded by Charles IX. of France to massacre the Huguenots, he replied, "Sire, there are many under my government devoted to your majesty, but not a single executioner."
EXHAUSTED WORLDS ... Dr. Johnson, in the prologue spoken by Garrick at the opening of Drury Lane, in 1747, says of Shakespeare:
Each change of many-colored life he drew? Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new.
EXTERMINATOR (The), Montbars, chief of a set of filibusters in the seventeenth century. He was a native of Languedoc, and conceived an intense hatred against the Spaniards on reading of their cruelties in the New World. Embarking at Havre, in 1667, Montbars attacked the Spaniards in the Antilles and in Honduras, took from them Vera Cruz and Carthagena, and slew them most mercilessly wherever he encountered them (1645-1707).
EYE. Terrible as the eye of Vathek. One of the eyes of this caliph was so terrible in anger that those died who ventured to look thereon, and had he given way to his wrath, he would have depopulated his whole dominion.--W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).
EYED (One-) people. The Arimaspians of Scythia were a one-eyed people.
The Cyclops were giants with only one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead.
Tartaro, in Basque legends, was a one-eyed giant. Sindbad the sailor, in his third voyage, was cast on an island inhabited by one-eyed giants.
EYRE (Jane), a governess, who stoutly copes with adverse circumstances, and ultimately marries a used-up man of fortune, in whom the germs of good feeling and sound sense were only exhausted, and not destroyed.--Charlotte Bronté, Jane Eyre (1847).
EZ'ZELIN (Sir), the gentleman who recognizes Lara at the table of Lord Otho, and charges him with being Conrad the Corsair. A duel ensues, and Ezzelin is never heard of more. A serf used to say that he saw a huntsman one evening cast a dead body into the river which divided the lands of Otho and Lara, and that there was a star of knighthood on the breast of the corpse.--Byron, Lara (1814).
FAA (Gabriel), nephew of Meg Merrilees. One of the huntsman at Liddesdale.--Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
FAB'ILA, a king devoted to the chase. One day he encountered a wild boar, and commanded those who rode with him not to interfere, but the boar overthrew him and gored him to death.--Chronica Antiqua de España, 121.
FA'BIUS (The American), George Washington (1732-1799).
Fa'bius (The French), Anne, duc de Montmorency, grand-constable of France (1493-1567).
FABRICIUS [Fa.brish'.e.us], an old Roman, like Cincinnatus and Curius Dentatus, a type of the rigid purity, frugality, and honesty of the "good old times." Pyrrhus used every effort to corrupt him by bribes, or to terrify him, but in vain. "Excellent Fabricius," cried the Greek, "one might hope to turn the sun from its course as soon as turn Fabricius from the path of duty."
Fabric'ius, an author, whose composition was so obscure that Gil Blas could not comprehend the meaning of a single line of his writings. His poetry was verbose fustian, and his prose a maze of far-fetched expressions and perplexed phrases.
FABRIT'IO, a merry soldier, the friend of Captain Jac'omo the woman-hater.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
FACE (1 syl.), alias "Jeremy," house-servant of Lovewit. During the absence of his master, Face leagues with Subtle (the alchemist) and Dol Common to turn a penny by alchemy, fortune-telling, and magic. Subtle (a beggar who knew something about alchemy) was discovered by Face near Pye Corner. Assuming the philosopher's garb and wand, he called himself "doctor;" Face, arrogating the title of "captain," touted for dupes; while Dol Common kept the house, and aided the other two in their general scheme of deception. On the unexpected return of Lovewit, the whole thing blew up, but Face was forgiven, and continued in his place as house-servant.--Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1619).
FACTO'TUM (Johannes), one employed to do all sorts of work for another; one in whom another confides for all the odds and ends of his household management or business.
He is an absolute Johannes Factotum, at least in his own conceit.--Greene, Groat's-worth of Wit (1692).
FADDLE (William), a "fellow made up of knavery and noise, with scandal for wit and impudence for raillery. He was so needy that the very devil might have bought him for a guinea." Sir Charles Raymond says to him:
"Thy life is a disgrace to humanity. A foolish prodigality makes thee needy; need makes thee vicious; and both make thee contemptible. Thy wit is prostituted to slander and buffoonery; and thy judgment, if thou hast any, to meanness and villainy. Thy betters, that laugh with thee, laugh at thee; and all the varieties of thy life are but pitiful rewards and painful abuses."--Ed. Moore, The Foundling, iv. 2 (1748).
FA'DHA (Ah), Mahomet's silver cuirass.
FAD'LADEEN, the great nazir' or chamberlain of Aurungze'bê's harem. He criticises the tales told to Lalla Rookh by a young poet on her way to Delhi, and great was his mortification to find that the poet was the young king his master.
Fadladeen was a judge of everything, from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose leaves to the composition of an epic poem.--T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817).
FADLADIN'IDA, wife of King Chrononhotonthologos. While the king is alive she falls in love with the captive king of the Antip'odês, and at the death of the king, when two suitors arise, she says, "Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I'll take you both."--H. Cary, Chrononhotonthologos (a burlesque).
FAËRY QUEEN, a metrical romance, in six books, of twelve cantos each, by Edmund Spenser (incomplete).
Book I. THE RED CROSS KNIGHT, the spirit of Christianity, or the victory of holiness over sin (1590).
II. THE LEGEND OF SIB GUYON, the golden mean (1590).
III. THE LEGEND or BRITOMARTIS, chaste love. Britomartis is Diana or Queen Elizabeth (1590).
IV. CAMBEL AND TRIAMOND, fidelity (1596).
V. THE LEGEND OF SIR AR'TEGAL, justice' (1596).
VI. THE LEGEND OF SIR CALIDORE, courtesy (1596).
[Illustration] Sometimes bk. vii., called. Mutability, is added; but only fragments of this book exist.
FAFNIS, the dragon with which Sigurd fights.--Sigurd the Horny (a German romance based on a Norse legend).
FAG, the lying servant of Captain Absolute. He "wears his master's wit, as he does his lace, at second hand."--Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
FAGGOT (Nicholas), clerk to Matthew Foxley, the magistrate who examined Darsie Latimer (i. e. Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet) after he had been attacked by rioters.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
FAGGOTS AND FAGGOTS (II y a fagots et fagots), all things of the same sort are not equal in quality. In Molière's Le Médecin Malgré Lui, Sganarelle wants to show that his faggots are better than those of other persons, and cries out "Ay! but those faggots are not equal to mine."
II est vrai, messieurs, que je suis le premier homme du monde pour faire des fagots ...
Je n'y épargne aucune chose, et les fais d'une facon qu'il n'y a rien a dire ... Il y a fagots, et fagots.--Act i. 6 (1666).
FAGIN, an old Jew, who employs a gang of thieves, chiefly boys. These boys he teaches to pick pockets and pilfer adroitly. Fagin assumes a most suave and fawning manner, but is malicious, grasping, and full of cruelty.--C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
FAINALL, cousin by marriage to Sir Wilful Witwould. He married a young, wealthy, and handsome widow, but the two were cat and dog to each other. The great aim of Fainall was to get into his possession the estates of his wife (settled on herself "in trust to Edward Mirabell"), but in this he failed. In outward semblance, Fainall was plausible enough, but he was a goodly apple rotten at the core, false to his friends, faithless to his wife, overreaching, and deceitful.
Mrs. Fainall. Her first husband was Languish, son of Lady Wishford. Her second husband she both despised and detested.--W. Congreve, The Way of the World (1700).
FAINASO'LIS, daughter of Craca's king (the Shetland Isles). When Fingal was quite a young man, she fled to him for protection against Sora, but scarcely had he promised to take up her cause, when Sora landed, drew the bow, and she fell. Fingal said to Sora, "Unerring is thy hand, O Sora, but feeble was the foe." He then attacked the invader, and Sora fell.--Ossian, Fingal, iii.
FAINT HEART NEVER WON FAIR LADY, a line in a ballad written to the "Berkshire Lady," a Miss Frances Kendrick, daughter of Sir William Kendrick, second baronet. Sir William's father was created baronet by Charles II. The wooer was a Mr. Child, son of a brewer at Abingdon, to whom the lady sent a challenge.
Having read this strange relation, He was in a consternation; But, advising with a friend, He persuades him to attend: "Be of courage and make ready, Faint heart never won fair lady."
Quarterly Review, cvi. 205-245.
Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady, name of a petit comédie brought out by Mde. Vestris at the Olympic. Mde. Vestris herself performed the part of the "fair lady."
FAIR PENITENT (The) a tragedy by Rowe (1703). Calista was daughter of Lord Sciol'to (3 syl.), and bride of Lord Al'tamont. It was discovered on the wedding-day that she had been seduced by Lotha'rio. This led to a duel between the bridegroom and the libertine, in which Lothario was killed; a street riot ensued, in which Sciolto receives his death-wound; and Calista, "the fair penitent," stabbed herself. The drama is a mere réchauffé of Massinger's Fatal Dowry.
FAIRBROTHER (Mr.), counsel of Effie Deans at the trial.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
FAIRFAX (Thomas, lord), father of the duchess of Buckingham.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Fairfax (Rutherford). Young man born of a line of brave men, who is conscious that early petting at home and a foreign education have developed physical cowardice. On his way home from England he falls into the hands of desperadoes who force him to fire a pistol at a bound man. The lad is almost fainting, and swoons with pain and horror when the deed is, as he thinks, done. His father believes him a coward, and the sense of this and a loving woman's trust in him, nerve him to deeds of endurance and valor that clear his record triumphantly.--Octave Thanet, Expiation (1890).
FAIRFIELD, the miller, and father of Patty "the maid of the mill." An honest, straightforward man, grateful and modest.--Bickerstaff, The Maid of the Mill (1647).
FAIRFORD (Mr. Alexander or Saunders), a lawyer.
Allan Fairford, a young barrister, son of Saunders, and a friend of Darsie Latimer. He marries Lilias Redgauntlet, sister of Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet, called "Darsie Latimer."
Peter Fairford, Allan's cousin.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
FAIRLEIGH (Frank), the pseudonym of F.E. Smedley, editor of Sharpe's London Magazine (1848, 1849). It was in this magazine that Smedley's two novels, Frank Fairleigh and Louis Arundel were first published.
FAIRLIMB, sister of Bitelas, and daughter of Rukenaw the ape, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).
FAIR MAID OF PERTH. Heroine of Scott's novel of same name.
FAIR'SCRIEVE (2 syl.), clerk of Mr. James Middleburgh, a magistrate of Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
FAIRSERVICE (Mr.), a magistrate's clerk.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Fairservice (Andrew), the humorous Scotch gardener of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, Rob Boy (time, George I.).
Overflowing with a humor as peculiar in its way as the humors of Andrew Fairservice.--London Athenæum.
FAIRSTAR (Princess), daughter of Queen Blon'dina (who had at one birth two boys and a girl, all "with stars on their foreheads, and a chain of gold about their necks"). On the same day, Blondina's sister Brunetta (wife of the king's brother) had a son, afterwards called Cherry. The queen-mother, wishing to destroy these four children, ordered Fein'tisa to strangle them, but Feintisa sent them adrift in a boat, and told the queen-mother they were gone. It so happened that the boat was seen by a corsair, who brought the children to his wife Cor'sina to bring up. The corsair soon grew immensely rich, because every time the hair of these children was combed, jewels fell from their heads. When grown up, these castaways went to the land of their royal father and his brother, but Cherry was for a while employed in getting for Fairstar (1) The dancing water, which had the gift of imparting beauty; (2) The singing apple, which had the gift of imparting wit; and (3) The green bird, which could reveal all secrets. By this bird the story of their birth was made known, and Fairstar married her cousin Cherry.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Princess Fair-star," 1682).
[Illustration] This tale is borrowed from the fairy tales of Straparola, the Milanese (1550).
FAITH (Brown), wife of Goodman Brown. He sees her in his fantasy of the witches' revel in the forest, and calls to her to "look up to heaven."--Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse (1854).
Faith (Derrick). A beautiful, unsophisticated girl, whose accomplished tutor instructs her in belles lettres, natural philosophy, religion and love. He becomes a clergyman and she marries him.--Susan Warner, Say and Seal (1860).
Faith Gartney. A city girl whose parents remove to the country before she has an opportunity to enter society. She is partially betrothed to Paul Rushleigh, but under the influence of nature, and association with an older and nobler man, outgrows her early lover, and marries Roger Armstrong.--A.D.T. Whitney, Faith Gartney's Girlhood (1863).
FAITHFUL, a companion of Christian in his walk to the Celestial City. Both were seized at Vanity Fair, and Faithful, being burnt to death, was taken to heaven, in a chariot of fire.--Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678).
Faithful (Jacob), the title and hero of a sea tale, by Captain Marryat (1835).
Faithful (Father of the), Abraham.--Rom. iv.; Gal. iii. 6-9.
FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS (The), a pastoral drama by John Fletcher (1610). The "faithful shepherdess" is Clorin, whose lover was dead. Faithful to his memory, Clorin retired from the busy world, employing her time in works of humanity, such as healing the sick, exorcising the bewitched, and comforting the afflicted.
(A part of Milton's Comus is almost a verbal transcript of the pastoral.)
FAKAR (Dhu'l), Mahomet's scimitar.
FAKENHAM GHOST (The). An old woman, walking to Fakenham, had to cross the churchyard after nightfall. She heard a short, quick step behind, and looking round saw what she fancied to be a four-footed monster. On she ran, faster and faster, and on came the pattering footfalls behind. She gained the churchyard gate and pushed it open, but, ah! "the monster" also passed through. Every moment she expected it would leap upon her back. She reached her cottage door and fainted. Out came her husband with a lantern, saw the "sprite," which was no other than the foal of a donkey, that had strayed into the park and followed the ancient dame to her cottage door.
And many a laugh went through the vale. And some conviction, too; Each thought some other goblin tale Perhaps was just as true.
R. Bloomfield, The Fakenham Ghost (a fact).
FALCON. Wm. Morris tells us that whoso watched a certain falcon for seven days and seven nights without sleeping, should have his first wish granted by a fay. A certain king accomplished the watching, and wished to have the fay's love. His wish was granted, but it proved his ruin.--The Earthly Paradise ("July")
FALCONER (Mr.), laird of Balmawhapple, friend of the old baron of Bradwardine.--Sir W. Scott, Waverley time, George Falconer (Major), brother of Lady Bothwell.--Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.).
Falconer (Edmund), the nom de plume of Edmund O'Rourke, author of Extremes or Men of the day (a comedy, 1859).
FALIE'RO (Marino), the doge of Venice, an old man who married a young wife named Angioli'na (3 syl.). At a banquet, Michel Steno, a young patrician, grossly insulted some of the ladies, and was, by the order of the doge, turned out of the house. In revenge, Steno placarded the doge's chair with some scurrilous verses upon the young dogaressa, and Faliero referred the matter to "the Forty." The council sentenced Steno to two months' imprisonment, and the doge deemed this punishment so inadequate to the offence, that he looked upon it as a personal insult, and headed a conspiracy to cut off, root and branch, the whole Venetian nobility. The project being discovered, Faliero was put to death (1355), at the age of 76, and his picture removed from the gallery of his brother doges.--Byron, Marino Faliero.