The reader's handbook of allusions, references, plots and stories; with two appendices;

Preface

The object of this Handbook is to supply readers and speakers with a lucid, but very brief account of such names as are used in allusions and references, whether by poets or prose writers, — to furnish those who consult it with the plot of popular dramas, the story of epic poems, and the outline of well-known tales. Who has not asked what such and such a book is about ? and who would not be glad to have his question answered correctly in a few words ? "When the title of a play is mentioned, who has not felt a desire to know who was the author of it ? — for it seems a universal practice to allude to the title of dramas without stating the author. And when reference is made to some character, who has not wished to know something specific about the person referred to? The object of this Handbook is to supply these wants. Thus, it gives in a few lines the story of Horner's Iliad and Odyssey, of Virgil's JEneid, Lucan's Pharsalia, and the Thebaid of Statius ; of Dante's Diuine Comedy, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, and Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered ; of Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained; of Thomson's Seasons; of Ossian's tales, the Nibehmgen Lied of the German minnesingers, the Bomance of the Pose, the Lusiad of Camoens, the Loves of Tkeagenes and Charideia by Heliodorus (fourth century), with the several story poems of Chaucer, Grower, Piers Plowman, Hawes, Spenser, Drayton, Phineas Fletcher, Prior, Goldsmith, Campbell, Southey, Byron, Scott, Moore, Tennyson, Longfellow, and so on. Far from limiting its scope to poets, the Handbook tells, with similar brevity, the stories of our national fairy tales and romances, such novels as those by Charles Dickens, Vanity Fair by Thackeray, the Passelas of Johnson, Gidliver's Travels by Swift, the Sentimental Journey by Sterne, Bon Quixote and Gil Bias, Telemachus by Fenelon, and Undine by De la Motte Fouque. Great pains have been taken with the Arthurian stories, whether from sir T. Malory's collection or from the Mabinogion, because Tennyson has brought them to the front

PREFACE.

in his Idylls of the King ; and the number of dramatic plots sketched out is many hundreds.

Another strikiug and interesting feature of the book is the revelation of the source from which dramatists and romancers have derived their stories, and the strange repetitions of historic incidents. Compare, for example, the stratagem of the wooden horse by which Troy was taken, with those of Abu Obeidah in the siege of Arrestan, and that of the capture of Sark from the French, p. 454. Compare, again, Dido's cutting the hide into strips, with the story about the Yakutsks, p. 164 ; that of Komulus and Kernus, with the story of Tyro, p. 843 ; the Shibboleth of Scripture story, with those of the "Sicilian Vespers," and of the Danes on St. Bryce's Day, p. 901; the story of Pisistratos and his two sons, with that of Cosmo de Medici and his two grandsons, p. 771; the death of Marcus Licinius Crassus, with that of Manlius Nepos Aquilius, p. 392; and the famous " Douglas larder," with the larder of Wallace at Ardrossan, p. 269. Witness the numerous tales resembling that of William Tell and the apple, p. 980 ; of the Pied Piper ot Hamelin, p. 766 ; of Llewellyn and his dog Gelert, p. 369 ; of bishop Hatto and the rats, p. 429 ; of Ulysses and Polyphemos, p. 1050 :, and of lord Lovel's bride, p. 571. Witness, again, the parallelisms of David in his flight from Saul, and that of Mahomet from the Koreishites, p. 937 ; of Jephtha and his daughter, and the tale of Idomeneus of Crete, or that of Agamemnon and Iphigenia, p. 491 ; of Paris and Sextus, p. 895 ; Salome and Fulvia, p. 864 ; St. Patrick preaching to king O'Neil, and St. Areed before the king of Abyssinia, p. 738 ; with scores of others mentioned in this Handbook.

In the appendix arc added two lists, which wiJi be found of great use : the first contains the date and author of the several dramatic works set down ; and the. second, the date of the divers poems or novels given under their author's name.

To ensure accuracy, every work alluded to in this large volume has been read personally b}r the author expressly for this Handbook, and since the compilation was commenced ; for although, at the beginning, a few others were employed for the sake of despatch, the author read over for himself, while the sheets were passing through the press, the works put into their hands. The very minute references to words and phrases, book and chapter, act and scene, often to page and line, will be sufficient guarantee to the reader that this assertion is not overstated.

The work is in a measure novel, and cannot fail to be useful. It is owned that Charles Lamb has told, and told well, the Tales of Shakespeare ; but Charles Lamb has occupied more pages with each tale than the Handbook lias lines. It is also true that an "Argument" is generally attached to each bonk of an epic story ; but the reading of these rhapsodies is like reading an

PREFACE.

index — few have patience to wade through them, and fewer still obtain therefrom any clear idea of the spirit of the actors, or the progress of the story. Brevity has been the aim of this Handbook, but clearness has not been sacrificed to terseness; and it has been borne in mind throughout that it is not enough to state a fact, — it must be stated attractively, and the character described must be drawn characteristically, if the reader is to appreciate it, and feel an interest in what he reads.

It would be most unjust to conclude this preface without publicly acknowledging the great obligation which the author owes to the printer's reader while the sheets were passing through the press. He seems to have entered into the very spirit of the book; his judgment has been sound, his queries have been intelligent, his suggestions invaluable, and even some of the articles were supplied by him.

Notwithstanding the care of both of us, some few errors in the earlier parts of the book escaped notice till it was too late to correct them, and that these errors may not be perpetuated, a table of corrigenda is given on the next page.

The Author.

Lavant, Chichester,

Those verses introduced but not signed, or signed with initials only, are by the author of the Handbook. They are the Stornello Verses, p. 948 ; Nones and Ides, p. 689 ; the Seven Wise Men, p. 894; the Seven Wonders of the World, p. 894; and the following translations: — Lucan's "Serpents," p. 759; "Veni Wakefield perairnvnum," p. 373; specimen of Tyrteoa, p. 1047; " Vos non vobis,"p. 1075; " Hoi d'Yvelot," p. 1 126; " Non amo te," p. 1126; Marot's epigram, p. 569; epigram on a violin, p. 1070 ; epigram on the Fair Rosamond, p. 844 ; the Heidelberg tun, p. 1040 ; Dismas and Gesmas, pp. 248, 375; "Roger Bontemps," p. 839 ; "Le bon roi Dagobert," p. 678 ; " Pauvre Jacques," p. 741; Virgil's epitaph, p. 1070; "Cuuctis mare," p. 874; " Ni fallat fatum," p. 879; St. Elmo, p. 859; Baviad, etc., pp. 85, 591; several oracular responses (see Pkophkct, p. 795; Wooden Walls, p. 1117; etc); and many others. The chief object of this note is to prevent any useless Search after these trifles.