Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1
by
The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
Part 12 out of 15
That Day of Wrath, that dreadful day
When Heaven and Earth shall pass away,
So David and the Sibyl say.
DIET OF PERFORMERS.
BEAHAM sang on _bottled porter_.
CATLEY _(Miss)_ took _linseed tea and madeira._
COOKE _(G.F.)_ drank everything.
HENDEESON, _gum arable and sherry_.
INCLEDON sang on _madeira_.
JOEDAN _(Mrs.)_ drank _calves'-foot jelly and sherry._
KEAN _(C.)_ took _beef-tea_ for breakfast, and preferred a
_rump-steak_ for dinner.
KEAN _(Edm.)_ EMERY and REEVE drank _cold brandy-and-water._
KEMBLE _(John)_ took _opium_.
LEWIS, _mulled wine_ and _oysters_.
MACEEADY used to eat the _lean of mutton-chops_ when he acted, and
subsequently lived almost wholly on a vegetable diet.
OXBERRY drank _tea_.
RUSSELL _(Henry)_ took a _boiled egg_.
SMITH (_W_.) drank _coffee_.
WOOD (_Mrs_.) sang on _draught porter_.
WEENCH and HAELEY took _no_ refreshment during a performance.--W. O.
Russell, _Representative Actors_. 272.
DIE'TRICH (2 _syl_.). So Theod'oric _The Great_ is called by the
German minnesingers. In the terrible broil stirred up by Queen
Kriemhild in the banquet hall of Etzel, Dietrich interfered, and
succeeded in capturing Hagan and the Burgundian King Ghinther. These
he handed over to the queen, praying her to set them free; but she
cut off both their heads with her own hands.--_The Niebelungen Lied_
(thirteenth century.)
_Dietrich (John)_, a laborer's son of Pomerania. He spent twelve years
under ground, where he met Elizabeth Krabbin, daughter of the minister
of his own village, Rambin. One day, walking together, they heard a
cock crow, and an irresistible desire came over both of them to visit
the upper earth, John so frightened the elves by a toad, that they
yielded to his wish, and gave him hoards of wealth, with part of which
he bought half the island of Riigen. He married Elizabeth, and became
founder of a very powerful family.--Keightley, _Fairy Mythology_. (See
TANHAUSER.)
DIETZ _(Bernard)._ Broad-shouldered giant who wears an air of deep and
gentle repose, and comes like a benediction from heaven to the sick
room of Count Hugo in Blanche Willis Howard's novel _The Open Door._
He is a stone-mason who says with a genial laugh,
"I hope if I'm lucky enough to get into the New Jerusalem they talk
about, there'll still be a little building going on, for I shouldn't
feel at home without a block of stone to clip."
His grand simplicity and strong common sense medicine the morbid soul
of the more nobly-born man. His argument against the suicide Hugo
contemplates as an open door out of the world, surprises the listener
profoundly.
"You see, you can never destroy anything. You can only _seem_ to. The
life in us--it doesn't ask us if we want to be born,--it doesn't ask
us if we want to die. It is beyond us, and I don't believe it _can_ be
destroyed" (1889).
DIEU ET MON DROIT, the parole of Richard I. at the battle of Gisors
(1198).
DIGGERY, one of the house-servants at Strawberry Hall. Being
stage-struck, he inoculates his fellow-servants (Cymon and Wat) with
the same taste. In the same house is an heiress named Kitty Sprightly
(a ward of Sir Gilbert Pumpkin), also stage-struck. Diggery's favorite
character is "Alexander the Great," the son of "Almon." One day,
playing _Romeo and Juliet_, he turns the oven into the balcony, but,
being rung for, the girl acting "Juliet" is nearly roasted alive. (See
DIGGORY.)--J. Jackman, _All the World's a Stage_.
DIGGES (_Miss Maria_), a friend of Lady Penfeather; a visitor at the
Spa.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).
DIGGON [DAVIE], a shepherd in the _Shephearde's Calendar_, by Spenser.
He tells Hobbinol that he drove his sheep into foreign lands, hoping
to find better pasture; but he was amazed at the luxury and profligacy
of the shepherds whom he saw there, and the wretched condition of the
flocks. He refers to the Roman Catholic clergy, and their abandoned
mode of life. Diggon also tells Hobbinol a long story about Roffynn
(_the bishop of Rochester_) and his watchful dog Lauder catching a
wolf in sheep's clothing in the fold.--_Ecl_. ix. (September, 1572 or
1578).
DIGGORY, a barn laborer, employed on state occasions for butler and
footman by Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. He is both awkward and familiar,
laughs at his master's jokes and talks to his master's guests while
serving. (See DIGGERY.)--Goldsmith, _She Stoops to Conquer_. (1773).
_Diggory_ (_Father_), one of the monks of St. Botolph's Priory.--Sir
W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
DIMANCHE, (_Mons_.), a dun. Mons. Dimanche, a tradesman, applies to
Don Juan for money. Don Juan treats him with all imaginable courtesy,
but every time he attempts to revert to business interrupts him with
some such question as, _Comment se porte Madame Dimanche?_ or _Et
votre petite fille Claudine comment se porte-t-ell?_ or _Le petit
Colin fait-il toujours bien du bruit avec son tambour?_ or _Et votre
petit chien Brusquet, gronde-t-il toujours aussi fort_ ...? and, after
a time, he says he is very sorry, but he must say good-bye for the
present, and he leaves Mons. without his once stating the object of
his call. (See SHUFFLETON.) Moliere, _Don Juan_ (1665).
DIMMESDALE _(Arthur)._ Master Prynne, an English physician living in
Amsterdam, having determined to join the Massachusetts Colony, sent
his young wife Hester before him to await his coming. He was detained
two years, and on reaching Boston, the first sight that met his eyes
was his wife standing in the pillory with a young babe in her arms and
with the letter A, the mark of her shame, embroidered in scarlet
on her breast. A young clergyman, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale,
regarded by all the people as a saint, too good for earth, was
earnestly exhorting her to declare the name of the child's father, but
she steadfastly refused, and was sent back to prison. Prynne who had
heard in Amsterdam rumors of his wife's infidelity, both to discover
her betrayer and to hide his own relation to his wife, had taken the
name of Roger Chillingworth, and with eyes sharpened by jealousy and
wounded pride, soon discovered that his wife's lover was no other than
Dimmesdale himself. As a physician and under the guise of friendship
he attached himself to the minister, and pursued his ghastly search
for the secret cause that was eating away his life. How it all ended
is shown in that wonderful book where, as in a Greek drama, the fates
of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and the
love-child, Little Pearl, are traced in lines of fire.--Nathaniel
Hawthorne, _The Scarlet Letter_.
DINANT', a gentleman who once loved and still pretends to love Lamira.
the wife of Champernel.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Little French
Lawyer_ (1647).
DINARZA'DE (_4 syl_.), sister of Scheherazade, Sultana of Persia.
Dinarzade was instructed by her sister to wake her every morning an
hour before daybreak, and say, "Sister, relate to me one of those
delightful stories you know," or "Finish before daybreak the story
you began yesterday." The sultan got interested in these tales, and
revoked the cruel determination he had made of strangling at daybreak
the wife he had married the preceeding night. (See SCHEHERAZADE.)
DINAS EMRYS, or "Fort of Ambrose" (_i.e._ Merlin), on the Brith,
a part of Snowdon. When Vortigern built this fort, whatever was
constructed during the day was swallowed up in the earth during the
night. Merlin (then called Ambrose or Embres-Guletic) discovered the
cause to be "two serpents at the bottom of a pool below the foundation
of the works." These serpents were incessantly struggling with each
other; one was white, and the other red. The white serpent at first
prevaled, but ultimately the red one chased the other out of the pool.
The red serpent, he said, meant the Britons, and the white one the
Saxons. At first the Saxons (or _white serpent_) prevailed, but in the
end "our people" _the red serpent_ "shall chase the Saxon race beyond
the sea."--Nennius, _History of the Britons_ (842).
And from the top of Brith, so high and wondrous
steep
Where Dinas Emris stood, showed where
the serpents fought
The white that tore the red, for whence the
prophet taught
The Britons' sad decay.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, x, (1612).
DINE WITH DUKE HUMPHREY (_To_), to have no dinner to go to. The Duke
referred to was the son of Henry IV., murdered at St. Edmundsbury, and
buried at St. Alban's. It was generally thought that he was buried
in the nave of St. Paul's Cathedral; but the monument supposed to be
erected to the duke was in reality that of John Beauchamp. Loungers,
who were asked if they were not going home to dinner, and those who
tarried in St. Paul's after the general crowd had left, were supposed
to be so busy looking for the duke's monument that they disregarded
the dinner hour.
DINER-OUT OF THE FIRST WATER, the Rev. Sidney Smith; so called by the
_Quarterly Review_ (1769-1845).
DINGLE (_Old Dick of the_), friend of Hobbie Elliott of the Heugh-foot
farm.--Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).
DINGWALL (_Davie_), the attorney at Wolfe's Hope village.--Sir W.
Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time William III.).
DINIAS AND DERCYLLIS (_The Wanderings, Adventures, and Loves of_), an
old Greek novel, the basis of the romance of Antonius Diog'enes in
twenty-four books and entitled _Incredible Things beyond Thule_ [_Ta
HuperThoulen Apista_], a store-house from which subsequent writers
have borrowed largely. The work is not extant, but Photius gives an
outline of its contents.
DINMONT (_Dandy, i.e._ Andrew), an eccentric and humorous store farmer
at Charlie's Hope. He is called "The fighting Dinmont of Liddesdale."
_Ailie Dinmont_, wife of Dandy Dinmont.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_
(time George II.).
[Illustration] This novel has been dramatized by Daniel Terry.
DINNER BELL. Burke was so called from his custom of speaking so long
as to interfere with the dinner of the members (1729-1797).
DIOCLE'TIAN, the king and father of Erastus, who was placed under the
charge of the "seven wise masters" (_Italian version_).
In the _French_ version, the father is called
"Dolop'athos."--_Sandabar's Parables_.
DIOG'ENES, Greek cynic, who carried a lantern at noon, to search for
an honest man.
DIOG'ENES (4 _syl_.), the negro slave of the cynic philosopher Michael
Agelestes (4 _syl_.).--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time,
Rufus).
DI'OMEDE (3 _syl_.), fed his horses on human flesh, and he was himself
eaten by his horse, being thrown to it by Hercules.
DION (_Lord_), father of Euphra'sia. Euphrasia is in love with
Philaster, heir to the crown of Messi'na. Disguised as a page,
Euphrasia assumes the name of Bellario and enters the service
of Philaster.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Philaster_ or _Love Lies
a-bleeding_ (1638).
(There is considerable resemblance between "Euphrasia" and "Viola" in
Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_, 1614).
DIONAE'AN CAESAR, Julius Caesar, who claimed descent from Venus, called
Dione from her mother. AEneas was son of _Venus_ and Anchises.
Ecce, Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum.
Virgil, _Eclogues_, ix. 47.
DIO'NE (3 _syl_.), mother of Aphrodite (_Venus_), Zeus or Jove being
the father. Venus herself is sometimes called Dione.
Oh, bear ... thy treasures to the green recess,
Where young Dione strays; with sweetest airs
Entice her forth to lend her angel form
For Beauty's honored image.
Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, (1744).
DIONYS'IA, wife of Cleon, governor of Tarsus. Pericles prince of Tyre
commits to her charge his infant daughter Mari'na, supposed to be
motherless. When her foster-child is fourteen years old, Dionysia, out
of jealousy, employs a man to murder her, and the people of Tarsus,
hearing thereof, set fire to her house, and both Dionysia and Cleon
are burnt to death in the flames,--Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of
Tyre_ (1608).
DIONYS'IUS, tyrant of Syracuse, dethroned Evander, and imprisoned him
in a dungeon deep in a huge rock, intending to starve him to death.
But Euphrasia, having gained access to him, fed him from her own
breast. Timoleon invaded Syracuse, and Dionysius, seeking safety in a
tomb, saw there Evander the deposed king, and was about to kill him,
when Euphrasia rushed forward, struck the tyrant to the heart, and he
fell dead at her feet.--A. Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).
[Illustration] In this tragedy there are several gross historical
errors. In act i. the author tells us it was Dionysius the Elder who
was dethroned, and went in exile to Corinth; but the elder Dionysius
died in Syracuse, at the age of 63, and it was the _younger_ Dionysius
who was dethroned by Timoleon, and went to Corinth. In act v. he makes
Euphrasia kill the tyrant in Syracuse, whereas he was allowed to leave
Sicily, and retired to Corinth, where he spent his time in riotous
living, etc.
_Dionys'ius_ [THE ELDER] was appointed sole general of the Syracusan
army, and then king by the voice of the senate. Damon "the
Pythagorean" opposed the appointment, and even tried to stab "the
tyrant," but was arrested and condemned to death. The incidents
whereby he was saved are to be found under the article DA'MON (q.v.).
_Damon and Pythias_, a drama by R. Edwards (1571), and another by John
Banim, in 1825.
_Dionys'ius_ [THE YOUNGER], being banished from Syracuse, went to
Corinth and turned schoolmaster.
Corinth's pedagogue hath now
Transferred his byword _[tyrant]_ to thy brow.
Byron, _Ode to Napoleon_.
DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE was one of the judges of the Areopagite when
St. Paul appeared before this tribunal. Certain writings, fabricated
by the neo-platonicians in the fifth century, were falsely ascribed
to him. The _Isido'rian Decretals_ is a somewhat similar forgery by
Mentz, who lived in the ninth century, or three hundred years after
Isidore.
The error of those doctrines so vicious
Of the old Areopagite Dionysius.
Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_.
DIOSCU'RI _(sons of Zeus_), Castor and Pollux. Generally, but
incorrectly, accented on the second syllable.
DIOTI'MA, the priestess of Mantineia in Plato's _Symposium_, the
teacher of Soc'rates. Her opinions on life, its nature, origin, end,
and aim, form the nucleus of the dialogue. Socrates died of hemlock.
Beneath an emerald plane
Sits Diotima, teaching him that died
Of Hemlock.
Tennyson, _The Princess_, iii.
DIPLOMATISTS _(Prince of_), Charles Maurice Talleyrand de Perigord
(1754-1838).
DIPSAS, a serpent, so called because those bitten by it suffered from
intolerable thirst. (Greek, _dipsa_, "thirst.") Milton refers to it in
_Paradise Lost_, x. 526 (1665).
DIPSODES (2 _syl_.), the people of Dipsody, ruled over by King
Anarchus, and subjugated by Prince Pantag'ruel (bk. ii. 28).
Pantagruel afterwards colonized their country with nine thousand
million men from Utopia (or to speak more exactly, 9,876,543,210 men),
besides women, children, workmen, professors, and peasant-laborers
(bk. iii. I).--Rabelais, _Pantag'ruel_ (1545).
DIP'SODY, the country of the Dipsodes (2 _syl), q.v._
DIRCAE'AN SWAN, Pindar; so called from Dirce, a fountain in the
neighborhood of Thebes, the poet's birthplace (B.C. 518-442.)
DIRLOS or D'YRLOS (_Count_), a paladin, the embodiment of valor,
generosity, and truth. He was sent by Charlemagne to the East, where
he conquered Aliar'de, a Moorish prince. On his return, he found his
young wife betrothed to Celi'nos (another of Charlemagne's peers).
The matter was put right by the king, who gave a grand feast on the
occasion.
DISASTROUS PEACE (_The_), the peace signed at Cateau-Cambresis, by
which Henri II. renounced all claim to Gen'oa, Naples, Mil'an, and
Corsica (1559).
DIS'MAS, the penitent thief; Gesmas the impenitent one.
DISTAFFI'NA, the troth-plight wife of General Bombastes; but
Artaxaminous, king of Utopia, promised her "half a crown" if she
would forsake the general for himself--a temptation too great to be
resisted. When the general found himself jilted, he retired from the
world, hung up his boots on the branch of a tree, and dared any one to
remove them. The king cut the boots down, and the general cut the king
down. Fusbos, coming up at this crisis, laid the general prostrate.
At the close of the burlesque all the dead men jump up and join the
dance, promising "to die again to-morrow," if the audience desire
it.--W. B. Rhodes, _Bombastes Furioso_ (1790.)
Falling on one knee, he put both hands on
his heart and rolled up his eyes, much after the
manner of Bombastes Furioso making love to
Distaffina.--E. Sargent.
DISTRESSED MOTHER (_The_), a tragedy by Ambrose Philips (1712). The
"distressed mother" is Androm'ache, the widow of Hector. At the fall
of Troy she and her son Asty'anax fell to the lot of Pyrrhus, king of
Epirus, Pyrrhus fell in love with her and wished to marry her, but she
refused him. At length an embassy from Greece, headed by Orestes, son
of Agamemnon, was sent to Epirus to demand the death of Astyanax, lest
in manhood he might seek to avenge his father's death. Pyrrhus told
Andromache he would protect her son, and defy all Greece, if she would
consent to marry him; and she yielded. While the marriage rites were
going on, the Greek ambassadors fell on Pyrrhus and murdered him. As
he fell he placed the crown on the head of Andromache, who thus became
queen of Epirus, and the Greeks hastened to their ships in flight.
This play is an English adaptation of Racine's _Andromaque_ (1667).
Ditchley _(Gaffer)_, one of the miners employed by Sir Geoffrey
Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
DITHYRAMBIC POETRY _(Father of_), Arion of Lesbos (fl. B.C. 625).
DITTON _(Thomas)_ footman of the Rev. Mr. Staunton, of Willingham
Rectory.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
DIVAN _(The)_, the supreme council and court of justice of the
caliphs. The abbassides always sat in person in this court to aid
in the redress of wrongs. It was called "a divan" from the benches
covered with cushions on which the members sat.--D'Herbelot,
_Bibliotheque Orientate_, 298.
DIVE _[deev]_, a demon in Persian mythology. In the mogul's palace at
Lahore, there used to be several pictures of these dives (1 _syl_),
with long horns, staring eyes, shaggy hair, great fangs, ugly paws,
long tails, and other horrible deformities.
DI'VER (_Colonel_), editor of the _New York Rowdy Journal_, in
America. His air was that of a man oppressed by a sense of his own
greatness, and his physiognomy was a map of cunning and conceit.--C.
Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844.)
DI'VES (2 _syl_.), the name popularly given to the "rich man" in
our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus; in Latin, _Dives et
Lazarus_.--_Luke_ xvi.
DIVI'NA COMME'DIA, the first poem of note ever written in the Italian
language. It is an epic by Dante' Alighie'ri, and is divided into
three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante' called it a
_comedy_, because the ending is happy; and his countrymen added the
word _divine_ from admiration of the poem. The poet depicts a vision,
in which he is conducted, first by Virgil (_human reason_,) through
hell and purgatory; and then by Beatrice (_revelation_), and finally
by St. Bernard, through the several heavens, where he beholds the
Triune God.
"Hell," is represented as a funnel-shaped hollow, formed of gradually
contracting circles, the lowest and smallest of which is the earth's
centre. (See INFERNO, 1300).
"Purgatory" is a mountain rising solitarily from the ocean on that
side of the earth which is opposite to us. It is divided into
terraces, and its top is the terrestrial paradise. (See PURGATORY,
1308).
From this "top" the poet ascends through the seven planetary heavens,
the fixed stars, and the "primum mobile" to the empyre'an or seat of
God. (See PARADISE, 1311).
DIVINE (_The_), St. John the evangelist, called "John the Divine."
Raphael, the painter, was called _Il Divino_ (1483-1520).
Luis Morales, a Spanish painter, was called _El Divino_ (1509-1586).
Ferdinand de Herre'ra, a Spanish poet (1516-1595).
DIVINE DOCTOR _(The)_, Jean de Ruysbroek, the mystic (1294-1381).
DIVINE SPEAKER _(The)_ Tyr'tamos, usually known as Theophrastos
("divine speaker"), was so called by Aristotle (B.C. 370-287).
DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. The dogma that _Kings can do no wrong_ is based
on a dictum of Hincmar Archbishop of Rheims, viz., that kings are
subject to no man so long as they rule by God's law.--_Hincmar's
Works_, i. 693.
DIVINING ROD, a forked branch of hazel suspended between the balls
of the thumbs. The inclination of this rod indicates the presence of
water-springs and precious metals.
Now to rivulets from the mountains
Point the rods of fortune-tellers.
Longfellow, _Drinking Song_.
[Illustration] Jacques Aymar of Crole was the most famous of all
diviners. He lived in the latter half of the seventeenth century and
the beginning of the eighteenth. His marvellous faculty attracted the
attention of Europe. M. Chauvin, M.D., and M. Garnier, M.D., published
carefully written accounts of his wonderful powers, and both were
eye-witnesses thereof.--See S. Baring-Gould, _Myths of the Middle
Ages_.
DIVINITY. There are four professors of divinity at Cambridge, and
three at Oxford. Those at _Cambridge_ are the Hul'sean, the Margaret,
the Norrisian, and the Regius. Those at _Oxford_ are the Margaret, the
Regius, and one for Ecclesiastical History.
DIVI'NO LODOV'ICO, Ariosto, author of _Orlando Furioso_ (1474-1533).
DIXIE'S LAND, the land of milk and honey to American negroes. Dixie
was a slave-holder of Manhattan Island, who removed his slaves to the
Southern States, where they had to work harder and fare worse; so
that they were always sighing for their old home, which they called
"Dixie's Land." Imagination and distance soon advanced this island
into a sort of Delectable Country or land of Beulah.
This is but one of many explanations given of the origin of a phrase
that, during the Civil War (1861-1865) came to be applied to the
Seceding States. The song "Dixie's Land" was supposed to be sung by
exiles from the region south of Mason and Dixon's line.
"Away down South in Dixie,
I wish I were in Dixie,
In Dixie's Land
I'd take my stand
To live and die in Dixie."
DIXON, servant to Mr. Richard Vere (1 _syl._).--Sir W. Scott, _The
Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).
DIZZY, a nickname of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield
(1804-1881).
DJA'BAL, son of Youssof, a sheikh, and saved by Maae'ni, in the great
massacre of the sheikhs by the Knights Hospitallers in the Spo'rades.
He resolves to avenge this massacre, and gives out that he is Hakeem',
the incarnate god, their founder, returned to earth to avenge their
wrongs and lead them back to Syria. His imposture being discovered, he
kills himself, but Loys _[Lo'.iss]_, a young Breton count, leads the
exiles back to Lebanon. Djabal is Hakeem, the incarnate Dread, The
phantasm khalif, king of Prodigies.
Robert Browning, _The Return of the Druses_, i.
DOBBIN _(Captain_, afterwards _Colonel_), son of Sir William Dobbin,
a London tradesman. Uncouth, awkward, and tall, with huge feet;
but faithful and loving, with a large heart and most delicate
appreciation. He is a prince of a fellow, is proud and fond of Captain
George Osborne from boyhood to death, and adores Amelia, George's
wife. When she has been a widow for some ten years, he marries
her.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_ (1848).
DOBBS'S HORSE, Charley Dobbs, setting off to California, gives his
best friend Theophilus an order for "a good sound family horse, not
young, but the safer for all that," that had once belonged to his
mother. He is boarding the creature on a farm in Westchester County,
and his friend is welcome to the use of him.
Dobbs's Horse is the skeleton in the household in many a sense of the
word. He refuses to be fattened: he balks; he has colic and spasms; he
lies down in harness; he impales himself upon a broken rail; he
keels over upon the grass, whizzing like a capsized engine; he bites
himself--and has driven the family to the verge of insanity when Dobbs
returns and upon beholding the "noble old fellow," shouts that they
have the wrong horse! "This is one I sold long ago for fifteen
dollars!"--Mary Mapes Dodge, _Theophilus and Others_ (1876).
DOBBINS _(Humphrey)_, the confidential servant of Sir Robert Bramble
of Blackberry Hall, in the county of Kent. A blunt old retainer, most
devoted to his master. Under a rough exterior he concealed a heart
brimful of kindness, and so tender that a word would melt it.--George
Colman, _The Poor Gentleman_ (1802).
DOBU'NI, called _Bodu'ni_ by Dio; the people of Gloucestershire and
Oxfordshire. Drayton refers to them in his _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).
DOCTOR (_The_), a romance by Souther. The doctor's name is Dove, and
his horse "Nobbs."
_Doctor_ (_The Admirable_), Roger Bacon (1214-1292).
_The Angelic Doctor_, Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), "fifth doctor of the
Church."
_The Authentic Doctor_, Geogory of Rimini (_-1357).
_The Divine Doctor_, Jean Ruysbroek (1294-1381).
_The Dulcifluous Doctor_, Antonio Andreas, (_-1320).
_The Ecstatic Doctor_, Jean Ruysbroek (1294-1381).
_The Eloquent Doctor_, Peter Aureolus, archbishop of Aix (fourteenth
century).
_The Evangelical Doctor_, J. Wycliffe (1324-1384).
_The Illuminated Doctor_, Raymond Lully (1235-1315), or _Most
Enlightened Doctor_.
_The Invincible Doctor_, William Occam (1276-1347).
_The Irrefragable Doctor_, Alexander Hales (_-1245.)
_The Mellifluous Doctor_, St. Bernard (1091-1153).
_The Most Christian Doctor_, Jean de Gerson (1363-1429).
_The Most Methodical Doctor_, John Bassol(_-1347).
_The Most Profound Doctor_, AEgidius de Columna (_-1316).
_The Most Resolute Doctor_, Durand de St. Pourcain (1267-1332).
_The Perspicuous Doctor_, Walter Burley (fourteenth century).
_The Profound Doctor_, Thomas Bradwardine (_-1349).
_The Scholastic Doctor_, Anselm of Laon (1050-1117).
_The Seraphic Doctor_, St. Bonaventura (1211-1274).
_The Solemn Doctor_, Henry Goethals (1227-1293).
_The Solid Doctor_, Richard Middleton (_-1304).
_The Subtle Doctor_, Duns Scotus (1265-1308), or _Most Subtle Doctor_.
_The Thorough Doctor_, William Varro (thirteenth century).
_The Universal Doctor_, Alain de Lille (1114-1203); Thomas Aquinas,
(1224-1274).
_The Venerable Doctor_, William de Champeaux (_-1126).
_The Well-founded Doctor_, AEgidius Romanus (_-1316).
_The Wise Doctor_, John Herman Wessel (1409-1489).
_The Wonderful Doctor_, Roger Bacon (1214-1292).
DOCTOR'S TALE _(The)_, in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, is the Roman
story of Virginius given by Livy. This story is told in French in the
_Roman de la Rose_, ii. 74, and by Gower in his _Confessio Amantis_,
vii. It has furnished the subject of a host of tragedies: for example,
in _French_, Mairet (1628); Leclerc (1645); Campestron (1683);
Chabenon (1769); Laharpe (1786); Leblanc de Guillet (1786); Guiraud
(1827); Latour St. Ybars (1845). In _Italian_, Alfieri (1784); in
_German_, Lessing (1775); and in _English_, Knowles, (1829).
DOCTOR'S WIFE _(The,)_ a novel by Miss Braddon, adapted from _Madam
Bovary_, a French novel.
DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH. The _Greek_ Church recognizes four doctors,
viz., St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. John
Chrysostom. The _Latin_ Church recognizes St. Augustin, St. Jerome,
St. Ambrose and St. Gregory _the Great_.
DODGER _(The Artful_), the sobriquet of Jack Dawkins, an artful
thievish young scamp, in the boy crew of Fagin the Jew villain.--C.
Dickens, _Oliver Twist_, viii. (1837).
DODINGTON, whom Thomson invokes in his _Summer_, is George Bubb
Dodington, lord Melcomb-Regis, a British statesman. Churchill and Pope
ridiculed him, while Hogarth introduced him in his picture called the
"Orders of Periwigs."
DOD'IPOL, _(Dr.)_, any man of weak intellect, a dotard. Hence the
proverb, _Wise as Dr. Dodipoll_, meaning "_not wise at all._"
DODON or rather DODOENS _(Rembert)_ a Dutch botanist (1517-1585),
physician to the emperors Maximilian II. and Rudolph II. His works are
_Frumentomm et Leguminum Historia; Florum Historia; Purgantium Radicum
Herbarum Historia; Stirpium Historia_; all included under the general
title of "The History of Plants."
"Of these most helpful herbs yet tell we but few,
To those unnumbered sorts, of simples here that grew,
Which justly to set down ee'n Dodon short doth fall."
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xiii. (1613)
DO'DONA in (Epiros), famous for the most ancient oracle in Greece. The
responses were made by an old woman called a _pigeon_, because the
Greek word _pelioe_ means either old "women" or "pigeons." According
to fable, Zeus, gave his daughter Thebe two black pigeons endowed with
the gift of human speech: one flew into Libya, and gave the responses
in the temple of Ammon: the other into Epiros, where it gave the
responses in Dodona.
We are told that the priestess of Dodona derived her answers from the
cooing of the sacred doves, the rustling of the sacred trees, the
bubbling of the sacred fountain and the tinkling of bells or pieces of
metal suspended among the branches of the trees.
And Dodona's oak swang lonely,
Henceforth to the tempest only.
Mrs. Browning, _Dead Pan_, 17.
DODS (_Meg_), landlady of the Clachan or Mowbery Arms inn at St.
Ronan's Old Town. The inn was once the manse, and Meg Dods reigned
there despotically, but her wines were good and her cuisine excellent.
This is one of the best low comic characters in the whole range of
fiction.
She had hair of a brindled color, betwixt
black and grey, which was apt to escape in elf-locks
from under her mutch when she was thrown
into violent agitation; long skinny hands terminated
by stout talons, grey eyes, thin lips, a robust
person, a broad though fat chest, capital
wind, and a voice that could match a choir of
fishwomen.--Sir W. Scott. _St. Ronan's Well_, i
(time George III.).
(So good a housewife was this eccentric landlady, that a cookery-book
has been published bearing her name; the authoress is Mrs. Johnstone,
a Scotchwoman.)
DODSON, a young farmer, called upon by Death on his wedding day. Death
told him he must quit his Susan and go with him. "With you!" the
hapless husband cried; "young as I am and unprepared?" Death then told
him he would not disturb him yet, but would call again after giving
him three warnings. When he was 80 years of age, Death called again.
"So soon returned!" old Dodson cried. "You know you promised me three
warnings." Death then told him that as he was "lame and deaf and
blind," he had received his three warnings.--Mrs. Thrale, [Piozzi],
_The Three Warnings_.
DODSON AND FOGG (Messrs.), two unprincipled lawyers, who undertake
on their own speculation to bring an action against Mr. Pickwick for
"breach of promise" and file accordingly the famous suit of "Bardell
_v_. Pickwick."--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
DOE _(John)_ and _Richard Roe_, the fictitious plaintiff and defendant
in an action of ejectment. Men of straw.
DOEG, Saul's herdsman, who told him that the priest Abim'elech.
had supplied David with food; whereupon the king sent him to kill
Abimelech, and Doeg slew priests to the number of four score and five
(1 _Samuel_ xxii. 18). In pt. ii. of the satire called _Absalom and
Achitophel_, Elkaneh Settle is called Doeg, because he "fell upon"
Dryden with his pen, but was only a "herdsman or driver of asses."
Doeg, tho' without knowing how or why,
Made still a blundering kind of melody.
Let him rail on ...
But if he jumbles to one line of sense,
Indict him of a capital offense.
Tate, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).
DOG _(Agrippa's)._ Cornelius Agrippa had a dog which was generally
suspected of being a spirit incarnate.
_Arthur's Dog_ "Cavall."
_Dog of Belgrade_, the camp suttler, was named "Clumsey."
_Lord Byron's Dog_, "Boatswain." It was buried in the garden of
Newstead Abbey.
_Dog of Catherine de Medicis_, "Phoebe," a lap dog.
_Cuthullin's Dog_ was named "Luath," a swift-footed hound.
_Dora's Dog_, "Jip."--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield._
_Douglas's Dog_, "Luffra." _Lady of the Lake._
_Erigone's Dog_ was "Moera." Erigone is the constellation _Virgo_, and
Moera the star called _Canis_.
_Eurytion's Dog_ (herdsman of Geryon), "Orthros." It had two heads.
_Fingal's Dog_ was named "Bran."
_Geryon's Dogs_. One was "Gargittos" and the other "Orthros." The
latter was brother of Cerberos, but it had only two heads. Hercules
killed both of Geryon's dogs.
_Landseer's Dog_, "Brutus," introduced by the great animal painter in
his picture called "The Invader of the Larder."
_Llewellyn's Dog_ was named "Gelert;" it was a greyhound. (See
GELERT).
_Lord Lurgan's Dog_ was named, "Master M'Grath," from an orphan boy
who reared it. This dog won three Waterloo cups, and was presented at
court by the express desire of Queen Victoria, the very year it died.
It was a sporting grey-hound (born 1866, died Christmas Day, 1871).
_Maria's Dog_, "Silvio."--Sterne, _Sentimental Journey._
_Dog of Montargis_. This was a dog named "Dragon," belonging to Aubri
de Montdidier, a captain in the French army. Aubri was murdered in
the forest of Bondy by his friend, Lieutenant Macaire, in the same
regiment. After its master's death the dog showed such a strange
aversion to Macaire, that suspicion was aroused against him. Some say
he was pitted against the dog, and confessed the crime. Others say a
sash was found on him, and the sword knot was recognized by Ursula as
her own work and gift to Aubri. This Macaire then confessed the crime,
and his accomplice, Lieutenant Landry, trying to escape, was seized by
the dog and bitten to death. This story has been dramatized both in
French and English.
_Orion's Dogs_; one was named "Arctoph'onos" and the other
"Pto-ophagos."
_Punch's Dog_, "Toby."
_Sir W. Scott's Dogs_. His deer-hound was "Maida." His jet-black
greyhound was "Hamlet." He had also two Dandy Dinmont terriers.
_Dog of the seven Sleepers_, "Katmir." It spoke with a human voice.
In _Sleary's circus_, the performing dog is called "Merryleys."--C.
Dickens, _Hard Times._
(For Actaeon's fifty dogs, see _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, 234).
_Dog_. The famous _Mount St. Bernard_ dog which saved forty human
beings, was named "Barry." The stuffed skin of this noble creature is
preserved in the museum at Berne.
_Dog (The)_, Diogenes the cynic (B.C. 412-323). When Alexander
encountered him, the young Macedonian king introduced himself with
the words, "I am Alexander, surnamed 'the Great.'" To which the
philosopher replied, "And I am Diogenes, surnamed 'the Dog.'" The
Athenians raised to his memory a pillar of Parian marble, surmounted
with a dog, and bearing the following inscription:--
"Say, dog, what guard you in that tomb?"
A dog. "His name?" Diogenes. "From far?"
Sinope, "He who made a tub his home?"
The same; now dead, among the stars a star.
_Dog (The Thracian)_, Zo'ilus the grammarian; so called for his
snarling, captious criticisms on Homer, Plato, and Isocrates. He was
contemporary with Philip of Macedon.
_Dogs_. The two sisters of Zobei'de (3 _syl_.) were turned into little
black dogs for casting Zobeide and "the prince" into the sea (See
ZOBEIDE).
DOGS OF WAR, Famine, Sword, and Fire:
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire
Crouch for employment.
Shakespeare, _King Henry V_. I chorus (1599).
DOG-HEADED TRIBES (of India), mentioned in the Italian romance of
_Gueri'no Meschi'no._
DOGBERRY AND VERGES, two ignorant conceited constables, who greatly
mutilate their words. Dogberry calls "assembly" _dissembly_; "treason"
he calls _perjury_; "calumny" he calls _burglary_; "condemnation"
_redemption_; "respect," _suspect_. When Conrade says, "Away! you are
an ass;" Dogberry tells the town clerk to write him down "an ass."
"Masters," he says to the officials, "remember I am an ass." "Oh, that
I had been writ down an ass!" (act. iv. sc. 2).--Shakespeare, _Much
Ado About Nothing_ (1600.)
DOGGET, wardour at the castle of Garde Doloureuse.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
DOGGET'S COAT AND BADGE, the great prize in the Thames rowing-match,
given on the 1st of August every year. So called from Thomas Dogget,
an actor of Drury Lane, who signalized the accession of George I.
to the throne by giving annually a waterman's coat and badge to the
winner of the race. The Fishmongers' company add a guinea to the
prize.
DOILEY _(Abraham)_, a citizen and retired slop-seller. He was a
charity boy, wholly without education, but made L80,000 in trade,
and is determined to have "a larned skollard for his son-in-law."
He speaks of _jomtry_ [geometry], _joklate, jogrify, Al Mater,
pinny-forty_, and _antikary doctors_; talks of _Scratchi_ [Gracchi],
_Horsi_ [Horatii], a _study of horses_, and so on. Being resolved to
judge between the rival scholarship of an Oxford pedant and a captain
in the army, he gets both to speak Greek before him. Gradus, the
scholar, quotes two lines of Greek, in which the _panta_ occurs four
times. "Pantry!" cries the old slop-seller; "you can't impose upon me.
I know _pantry_ is not Greek." The captain tries English fustian, and
when Gradus maintained that the words are English, "Out upon you for
a jackanapes," cries the old man; "as if I didn't know my own mother
tongue!" and gives his verdict in favor of the captain.
_Elizabeth Doiley_, daughter of the old slop-seller, in love with
Captain Granger. She and her cousin Charlotte induce the Oxford
scholar to dress like a _beau_ to please the ladies. By so doing he
disgusts the old man, who exclaims, "Oh, that I should ever had been
such a dolt as to take thee for a man of larnen'!" So the captain wins
the race at a canter.--Mrs. Cowley, _Who's the Dupe_?
DOLL COMMON, a young woman in league with Subtle the alchemist and
Face his alley.--B. Jonson, _The Alchemist_ (1610).
Mrs. Pritchard [1711-1768] could pass from "Lady Macbeth" to "Doll
Common."--Leigh Hunt.
DOLL TEARSHEET, a "bona-roba." This virago is cast into prison with
Dame Quickly (hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap), for the death of
a man that they and Pistol had beaten.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV_.
(1598).
DOLALLOLLA _(Queen)_, wife of King Arthur, very fond of stiff punch,
but scorning "vulgar sips of brandy, gin, and rum." She is the enemy
of Tom Thumb, and opposes his marriage with her daughter Huncamunca;
but when Noodle announces that the red cow has devoured the pigmy
giant-queller, she kills the messenger for his ill-tidings, and is
herself killed by Frizaletta. Queen Dollalolla is jealous of the
giantess Glundalca, at whom his majesty casts "sheep's eyes."--_Tom
Thumb_, by Fielding the novelist (1730), altered by O'Hara, author of
_Midas_ (1778).
DOLLA MURREY, a character in Crabbe's _Borough_, who died playing
cards.
"A vole! a vole!" she cried; "'tis fairly won."
This said, she gently with a single sigh
Died.
Crabbe, _Borough_ (1810).
DOLLY. The most bewitching of the Bohemian household described in
Frances Hodgson Burnett's _Vagabondia_. Piquante, brave, sonsie, and
loving, she bears and smiles through the hardships and vicissitudes of
her lot until she loses (as she thinks) the love and trust of "Griff,"
to whom she had been betrothed for years. Only his return and
penitence save her from slipping out of a world that has few nobler
women.
DOLLY OF THE CHOP-HOUSE (Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row and
Newgate Street, London.) Her celebrity arose from the excellency of
her provisions, attendance, accommodation, and service. The name is
that of the old cook of the establishment.
The broth reviving, and the bread was fair,
The small beer grateful and as pepper strong,
The beaf-steaks tender, and the pot-herbs young.
DOLLY TRULL. Captain Macheath says she was "so taken up with stealing
hearts, she left herself no time to steal anything else."--Gay, _The
Beggar's Opera_, ii. I. (1727).
DOLLY VARDEN, daughter of Gabriel Varden, locksmith. She was loved
to distraction by Joe Willet, Hugh of the Maypole inn, and Simon
Tappertit. Dolly dressed in the Watteau style, and was lively, pretty,
and bewitching.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).
DOL'ON, "a man of subtle wit and wicked mind," father of Guizor (groom
of Pollente the Saracen, lord of "Parlous Bridge"). Sir Ar'tegal, with
scant ceremony, knocks the life out of Guizor, for demanding of him
"passage-penny" for crossing the bridge. Soon afterwards, Brit'omart
and Talus rest in Dolon's castle for the night, and Dolon, mistaking
Britomart for Sir Artegal, sets upon her in the middle of the night,
but is overmastered. He now runs with his two surviving sons to the
bridge, to prevent the passage of Britomart and Talus; but Britomart
runs one of them through with her spear, and knocks the other into the
river.--Spenser _Faery Queen_ v. 6 (1596).
DOL'ON AND ULYSSES. Dolon undertook to enter the Greek camp and bring
word back to Hector an exact account of everything. Accordingly he put
on a wolf's skin and prowled about the camp on all fours. Ulysses saw
through the disguise, and said to Diomed, "Yonder man is from the
host ... we'll let him pass a few paces, and then pounce on him
unexpectedly." They soon caught the fellow, and having "pumped" out
of him all about the Trojan plans, and the arrival of Rhesus, Diomed
smote him with his falchion on the mid-neck and slew him. This is the
subject of bk. x. of the _Iliad_ and therefore this book is called
"Dolonia" ("the deeds of Dolon" or "Dolophon'ia", "Dolon's murder").
Full of cunning, like Ulysses' whistle
When he allured poor Dolon.
Byron, _Don Juan_, xiii. 105 (1824).
DOLOPA'TOS, the Sicilian king, who placed his son Lucien under the
charge of "seven wise masters." When grown to man's estate, Lucien's
step-mother made improper advances to him, which he repulsed, and she
accused him to the king of insulting her. By astrology the prince
discovered that if he could tide over seven days his life would be
saved; so the wise masters amused the king with seven tales, and the
king relented. The prince himself then told a tale which embodied
his own history; the eyes of the king were opened, and the queen was
condemned to death.--_Sandabar's Parables_ (French version).
DOMBEY (_Mr._), a purse-proud, self-contained London merchant, living
on Portland place, Bryanstone Square, with offices in the City. His
god was wealth; and his one ambition was to have a son, that the firm
might be known as "Dombey and Son." When Paul was born, his ambition
was attained, his whole heart was in the boy, and the loss of the
mother was but a small matter. The boy's death turned his heart to
stone, and he treated his daughter Florence not only with utter
indifference, but as an actual interloper. Mr. Dombey married a second
time, but his wife eloped with his manager, James Carker, and the
proud spirit of the merchant was brought low.
_Paul Dombey_, son of Mr. Dombey; a delicate, sensitive little boy,
quite unequal to the great things expected of him. He was sent to
Dr. Blimber's school, but soon gave way under the strain of school
discipline. In his short life he won the love of all who knew him,
and his sister Florence was especially attached to him. His death is
beautifully told. During his last days he was haunted by the sea, and
was always wondering what the wild waves were saying.
_Florence Dombey_, Mr. Dombey's daughter; a pretty, amiable,
motherless child, who incurred her father's hatred because she lived
and throve while her younger brother Paul dwindled and died. Florence
hungered to be loved, but her father had no love to bestow on her. She
married Walter Gay, and when Mr. Dombey was broken in spirit by the
elopement of his second wife, his grandchildren were the solace of his
old age.--O. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
DOM-DANIEL originally meant a public school for magic, established at
Tunis; but what is generally understood by the word is that immense
establishment, near Tunis, under the "roots of the ocean," established
by Hal-il-Mau'graby, and completed by his son. There were four
entrances to it, each of which had a staircase of 4000 steps; and
magicians, gnomes, and sorcerers of every sort were expected to do
homage there at least once a year to Zatanai [Satan]. Dom-Daniel was
utterly destroyed by Prince Habed-il-Rouman, son of the Caliph of
Syria.--_Continuation of the Arabian Nights_ "History of Maugraby."
Southey has made the destruction of Dom-Daniel the subject of his
_Thalaba_--in fact, Thalaba takes the office of Habed-il-Rouman; but
the general incidents of the two tales have no other resemblance to
each other.
DOMESTIC POULTRY, in Dryden's _Hind and Panther_, mean the Roman
Catholic clergy; so called from an establishment of priests in the
private chapel of Whitehall. The nuns are termed "sister partlet with
the hooded head" (1687).
DOMINICK, the "Spanish fryar," a kind of ecclesiastical Falstaff. A
most immoral, licentious Dominican, who for money would prostitute
even the Church and Holy Scriptures. Dominick helped Lorenzo in his
amour with Elvi'ra the wife of Gomez.
He is a huge, fat, religious gentleman ... big
enough to be a pope. His gills are as rosy as a
turkey-cock's. His big belly walks in state before
him, like a harbinger; and his gouty legs
come limping after it. Never was such a tun
of devotion seen.--Dryden, _The Spanish Fryar_,
ii. 3 (1680).
DOMINIE SAMPSON. His Christian name is Abel. He is the tutor at
Ellangowan House, very poor, very modest, and crammed with Latin
quotations. His contsant exclamation is "Prodigious!"
Dominie Sampson is a poor, modest, humble scholar, who had won his
way through the classics, but fallen to the leeward in the voyage of
life.--Sir. W. Scott; _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
DOM'INIQUE (3 _syl_), the gossiping old footman of the Franvals, who
fancies himself quite fit to keep a secret. He is, however, a really
faithful retainer of the family.--Th. Holcroft, _The Deaf and Dumb_
(1785).
DOMITIAN A MARKSMAN. The emperor Domitian was so cunning a marksman,
that if a boy at a good distance off held up his hand and stretched
his fingers abroad, he could shoot through the spaces without touching
the boy's hand or any one of his fingers. (See TELL, for many similar
marksmen.)--Peacham, _Complete Gentleman_ (1627).
DOMIZIA, a noble lady of Florence, greatly embittered against the
republic for its base ingratitude to her two brothers, Porzio and
Berto, whose death she hoped to revenge.
I am a daughter of the Traversari,
Sister of Porzio and Berto both ...
I knew that Florence, that could doubt their faith,
Must needs mistrust a stranger's; holding back
Reward from them, must hold back his reward.
Robt. Browning, _Luria_, iii.
DON ALPHONSO, son of a rich banker. In love with Victoria, the
daughter of Don Scipio; but Victoria marries Don Fernando. Lorenza,
who went by the name of Victoria for a time, and is the person Don
Alphonso meant to marry, espouses Don Caesar.--O'Keefe, _Castle of
Andalusia_.
[Illustration] For other dons, see under the surname.
DONACHA DHU NA DUNAIGH, the Highland robber near Roseneath.--Sir W.
Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
DONALD, the Scotch steward of Mr. Mordent. Honest, plain-spoken,
faithful, and unflinching in his duty.--Holcroft, _The Deserted
Daughter_ (altered into _The Steward_).
_Donald_, an old domestic of MacAulay, the Highland chief.--Sir W.
Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time Charles I.).
DONALD OF THE HAMMER, son of the laird of Invernahyle of the West
Highlands of Scotland. When Green Colin assassinated the laird and
his household, the infant Donald was saved by his foster-nurse, and
afterwards brought up by her husband, a blacksmith. He became so
strong that he could work for hours with two fore-hammers, one in each
hand, and was therefore called _Domuil nan Ord_. When he was 21 he
marched with a few adherents against Green Colin, and slew him, by
which means he recovered his paternal inheritance.
Donald of the smithy, the "son of the hammer"
Filled the banks of Lochawe with mourning and
clamor.
Quoted by Sir Walter Scott in _Tales of
a Grandfather_, i. 39.
DONAR, same as THOR, the god of thunder among the ancient Teutons.
DONATELLO, a young Italian whose marvellous resemblance to the Marble
Faun of Praxiteles is the subject of jesting remark to three American
friends.
"So full of animal life as he was, so joyous
in his deportment, so physically well-developed;
he made no impression of incompleteness, of
maimed or stinted, nature." Yet his friends
"habitually allowed for him, exacting no strict
obedience to conventional rules, and hardly noticing
his eccentricities enough to pardon them."
He loves Miriam, an American student, and resents the persecution of
her by a mysterious man--a nominal "model" who thrusts his presence
upon her at all inconvenient times. One night as he comes between
Donatello and Miriam as they lean on the parapet crowning the Tarpeian
Rock, the Italian throws him over the precipice and kills him. From
that moment, although he is not accused of the deed, the joyous faun
becomes the haunted man.
"Nothing will ever comfort me!" he says moodily to Miriam, when she
would extenuate his crime. "I have a great weight here!" lifting her
hand to his breast. Wild creatures, once his loved companions, shun
him as he, in turn, shuns the face of man. He disappears from the
story, hand-in-hand with Miriam, bound, it would seem, upon
a penitential pilgrimage, or to begin a new life in another
hemisphere.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The Marble Faun_ (1860).
DONATION OF PEPIN. When Pepin conquered Ataulf (Adolphus), the
exarchate of Ravenna fell into his hands. Pepin gave the pope both the
ex-archate and the republic of Rome; and this munificent gift is the
world-famous "Donation of Pepin," on which rested the whole fabric of
the temporal power of the popes (A.D. 755). Victor Emmanuel, king of
Italy, dispossessed the pope of his temporal sovereignty, and added
the papal states to the united kingdom of Italy, over which he reigned
(1870).
DONDASCH', an Oriental giant, contemporary with Seth, to whose service
he was attached. He needed no weapons, because he could destroy
anything by his muscular force.
DON'EGILD (3 _syl_.), the wicked mother of Alia, king of
Northumberland. Hating Custance because she was a Christian, Donegild
set her adrift with her infant son. When Alia returned from Scotland,
and discovered this act of cruelty, he put his mother to death; then
going to Rome on a pilgrimage, met his wife and child, who had been
brought there a little time previously.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_
("The Man of Law's Tale," 1388).
DON'ET, the first grammar put into the hands of scholars. It was that
of Dona'tus the grammarian, who taught in Rome in the fourth century,
and was the preceptor of St. Jerome. When "Graunde Amour" was sent to
study under Lady Gramer, she taught him, as he says:
First my donet, and then my accedence.
S. Hawes, _The Pastime of Plesure_, v. (time Henry VII.).
DONI'CA, only child of the lord of Ar'kinlow (an elderly man). Young
Eb'erhard loved her, and the Finnish maiden was betrothed to him.
Walking one evening by the lake, Donica heard the sound of the
death-spectre, and fell lifeless in the arms of her lover. Presently
the dead maiden received a supernatural vitality, but her cheeks were
wan, her lips livid, her eyes lustreless, and her lap-dog howled when
it saw her. Eberhard still resolved to marry her, and to church they
went; but when he took Donica's hand into his own it was cold and
clammy, the demon fled from her, and the body dropped a corpse at the
feet of the bridegroom.--R. Southey, _Donica_ (a Finnish ballad).
DONNERHU'GEL _(Rudolph)_, one of the Swiss deputies to Charles "the
Bold," duke of Burgundy. He is cousin of the sons of Arnold Biederman
the landamman of Unterwalden _(alias_ Count Arnold of Geierstein).
_Theodore Donnerhugel_, uncle of Rudolph. He was page to the former
Baron of Arnheim _[Arnhime]._--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_
(time, Edward IV.).
DO'NY, Florimel's dwarf.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. 5 and iv. 2
(1590, 1596).
DONZEL DEL FE'BO (_El_), _the knight of the sun_, a Spanish romance
in _The Mirror of Knighthood_. He was "most excellently fair," and a
"great wanderer;" hence he is alluded to as "that wandering knight so
fair."
DOO'LIN OF MAYENCE (2 _syl._), the hero and title of an old French
romance of chivalry. He was ancestor of Ogier the Dane. His sword was
called _Merveilleuse_ ("wonderful").
DOOMSDAY SEDGWICK, William Sedgwick, a fanatical "prophet" during the
Commonwealth. He pretended that the time of doomsday had been revealed
to him in a vision; and, going into the garden of Sir Francis Bussell,
he denounced a party of gentlemen playing at bowls, and bade them
prepare for the day of doom, which was at hand.
DOORM, an earl who tried to make Enid his handmaid, and "smote her on
the cheek" because she would not welcome him. Whereupon her
husband, Count Geraint, started up and slew the "russet-bearded
earl."--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ ("Enid.").
DOOR-OPENER (_The_), Crates, the Theban; so called because he used to
go round Athens early of a morning and rebuke the people for their
late rising.
DORA [SPENLOW], a pretty, warmhearted little doll of a woman, with no
practical views of the duties of life or the value of money. She was
the "child-wife" of David Copperfield, and loved to sit by him and
hold his pens while he wrote. She died, and David then married Agnes
Wickfield. Dora's great pet was a dog called "Jip," which died at the
same time as its mistress.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).
DORA'DO (_El_), a land of exhaustless wealth; a golden illusion.
Orella'na, lieutenant of Pizarro, asserted that he had discovered a
"gold country" between the Orino'co and the Am'azon, in South America.
Sir Walter Raleigh twice visited Gruia'na as the spot indicated, and
published highly colored accounts of its enormous wealth.
DORALI'CE (4 _syl_.) a lady beloved by Rodomont, but who married
Mandricardo.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
DOR'ALIS, the lady-love of Rodomont, king of Sarza or Algiers.
She eloped with Mandricardo, king of Tartary.--Bojardo, _Orlando
Innamorato_ (1495), and Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
DORANTE (2 _syl_.), a name introduced into three of Moliere's
comedies. In _Les Facheux_ he is a courtier devoted to the chase
(1661). In _La Critique de l'ecole des Femmes_ he is a chevalier
(1602). In _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ he is a count in love with the
marchioness Doremene (1670).
DARAS'TUS AND FAUNIA, the hero and heroine of a popular romance by
Robert Greene, published in 1588, under the title of _Pandosto and the
Triumph of Time_. On this "history" Shakespeare founded his _Winter's
Tale_.
DORAX, the assumed name of Don Alonzo of Alcazar, when he deserted
Sebastian, king of Portugal, turned renegade, and joined the emperor
of Barbary. The cause of his desertion was that Sebastian gave to
Henri'quez the lady betrothed to Alonzo. Her name was Violante (4
_syl._) The quarrel between Sebastian and Dorax is a masterly copy
of the quarrel and reconciliation between Brutus and Cassius in
Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_.
Sebastian says to Dorax, "Confess, proud spirit, that better he
_[Henriquez]_ deserved my love than thou." To this Dorax replies:
I must grant,
Yes, I must grant, but with a swelling soul,
Henriquez had your love with more desert;
For you he fought and died; I fought against you.
Drayton, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).
DORCAS, servant to Squire Ingoldsby.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_
(time, George III.).
_Dorcas_, an old domestic at Cumnor Place.--_Kenilworth_ (time,
Elizabeth).
DORIA D'ISTRIA, a pseudonym of the Princess Koltzoff-Massalsky, a
Wallachian authoress (1829-).
Arthur Donnithorn: Young Squire who seduces Hetty Sorrel in George
Eliot's novel of _Adam Bede_.
DORICOURT, the _fiance_ of Letitia Hardy. A man of the world and the
rage of the London season, he is, however, both a gentleman and a
man of honor. He had made the "grand tour," and considered English
beauties insipid.--Mrs. Cowley, _The Belle's Stratagem_, (1780).
Montague Talbot [1778-1831].
He reigns o'er comedy supreme..
None show for light and airy sport,
So exquisite a Doricourt.
Crofton Croaker.
DO'RIDON, a beautiful swain, nature's "chiefest work," more beautiful
than Narcissus, Ganymede, or Adonis.--Wm. Browne, _Britannia's
Pastorals_ (1613).
DO'RIGEN, a lady of high family, who married Arvir'agus out of pity
for his love and meekness. Aurelius sought to entice her away, but
she said she would never listen to his suit till on the British coast
"there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic caused all the stones
to disappear, and when Dorigen went and said that her husband insisted
on her keeping her word, Aurelius, seeing her dejection, replied,
he would sooner die than injure so true a wife and noble a
gentleman.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of _Dianora and
Gilberto_, x. 6. See Dianora.)
DOR'IMANT, a genteel, witty libertine. The original of this character
was the Earl of Rochester--G. Etherege, _The Man of Mode_ or _Sir
Fopling Flutter_ (1676).
The Dorimants and the Lady Touchwoods, in their own sphere, do not
offend my moral sense; in fact, they do not appeal to it at all.--C.
Lamb.
(The "Lady Touchwood" in Congreve's _Double Dealer_, not the "Lady
Francis Touchwood" in Mrs. Cowley's _Belle's Strategem_, which is
quite another character.)
DOR'IMENE (3 _syl_.), daughter of Alcantor, beloved by Sganarelle (3
_syl_.) and Lycaste (2 _syl_.). She loved "le jeu, les visites, les
assembles, les cadeaux, et les promenades, en un mot toutes les choses
de plasir," and wished to marry to get free from the trammels of her
home. She says to Sganarelle (a man of 63), whom she promises to
marry, "Nous n'aurons jamais aucun demele ensemble; et je ne vous
contraindrai point dans vos actions, comme j'espere que vous ne me
contraindrez point dans les miennes."--Moliere, _Le Mariage Force_
(1664).
(She had been introduced previously as the wife of Sganarelle, in the
Comedy of _Le Cocu Iniaginaire_, 1660).
_Dorimene_, the marchioness, in the _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, by
Moliere (1670).
DORIN'DA, the charming daughter of Lady Bountiful; in love with
Aimwell. She was sprightly and light-hearted, but good and virtuous
also.--George Farquhar, _The Beaux' Stratagem_ (1707).
_Dorinda_. The rustic maiden, slow and sweet in ungrammatical speech,
who helps plant corn by day, and makes picturesque the interior of the
cabin in the glare of "lightwood" torches by night; turns men's heads
and wins children's hearts in Charles Egbert Craddock's tale, _The
Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains_, (1885).
DORINE' (2 _syl_.), attendant of Mariane (daughter of Orgon). She
ridicules the folly of the family, but serves it faithfully. Moliere,
_Le Tartuffe_ (1664).
DORLA _(St. John_). A New York girl of great beauty and tender
conscience, who is beguiled into marrying a country lawyer because
she thinks he is dying for love of her. Having left out of sight the
possibility that a loveless union leaves room for the entrance of a
real passion, she is appalled at finding that she has slipped into an
attachment to _A Perfect Adonis_, who has principle enough to leave
her when he discovers the state of his own affections. Finding her a
widow on his return to America, he presses his suit, and finds a rival
in her only child, a spoiled baby of five or six years. Overcoming
this obstacle, he weds the mother.--Miriam Coles Harris, _A Perfect
Adonis_ (1875).
D'ORME'O, prime minister of Victor, Amade'us (4 _syl_), and also of
his son and successor Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia. He took his
color from the king he served; hence under the tortuous, deceitful
Victor, his policy was marked with crude rascality and duplicity;
but under the truthful, single-minded Charles Emmanuel, he became
straightforward and honest.--R. Browning, _King Victor and King
Charles, etc_.
DORMER _(Captain)_, benevolent, truthful, and courageous, candid and
warmhearted. He was engaged to Louisa Travers; but the lady was told
that he was false and had married another, so she gave her hand to
Lord Davenant.
_Marianne Dormer_, sister of the captain. She married Lord Davenant,
who called himself Mr. Brooke; but he forsook her in three months,
giving out that he was dead. Marianne, supposing herself to be a
widow, married his lordship's son.--Cumberland, _The Mysterious
Husband_ (1783).
_Dormer (Caroline)_, the orphan daughter of a London merchant, who was
once very wealthy, but became bankrupt and died, leaving his daughter
L200 a year. This annuity, however, she loses through the knavery of
her man of business. When reduced to penury, her old lover, Henry
Morland (supposed to have perished at sea), makes his appearance and
marries her, by which she becomes the Lady Duberly.--G. Coleman, _The
Heir-at-Law_ (1797).
DORNTON _(Mr.)_, a great banker, who adores his son Harry. He tries
to be stern with him when he sees him going the road to ruin, but is
melted by a kind word.
Joseph Mnnden [1758-1832] was the original representative of "Old
Dornton" and a host of other characters.--_Memoir_ (1832.)
_Harry Dornton_, son of the above. A noble-hearted fellow, spoilt by
over-indulgence. He becomes a regular rake, loses money at Newmarket,
and goes post-speed the road to ruin, led on by Jack Milford. So great
is his extravagance, that his father becomes a bankrupt; but Sulky
(his partner in the bank) comes to the rescue. Harry marries Sophia
Freelove, and both father and son are saved from ruin.--Holcroft, _The
Road to Euin_ (1792).
DOROTHE'A, of Andalusi'a, daughter of Cleonardo (an opulent vassal of
the Duke Ricardo). She was married to Don Fernando, the duke's
younger son, who deserted her for Lucinda (the daughter of an opulent
gentlemen), engaged to Cardenio, her equal in rank and fortune. When
the wedding day arrived, Lucinda fell into a swoon, a letter informed
the bridegroom that she was already married to Cardenio, and next day
she took refuge in a convent. Dorothea also left her home, dressed in
boy's clothes, and concealed herself in the Sierra Morena or Brown
Mountain. Now, it so happened that Dorothea, Cardenio, and Don
Quixote's party happened to be staying at the Crescent inn, and Don
Fernando, who had abducted Lucinda from the convent, halted at the
same place. Here he found his wife Dorothea, and Lucinda her husband
Cardenio. All these misfortunes thus came to an end, and the parties
mated with their respective spouses.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv.
(1605).
_Dorothe'a_, sister of Mons. Thomas.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons.
Thomas_ (1619).
_Dorothe'a_, the "virgin martyr," attended by Angelo, an angel in the
semblance of a page, first presented to Dorothea as a beggar-boy, to
whom she gave alms.--Philip Massinger, _The Virgin Martyr_ (1622).
_Dorothe'a_, the heroine of Goethe's poem entitled _Hermann and
Dorothea_ (1797).
DOR'OTHEUS (3 _syl_.), the man who spent all his life in endeavoring
to elucidate the meaning of one single word in Homer.
DOR'OTHY _(Old)_, the housekeeper of Simon Glover and his daughter
"the fair maid of Perth."--Sir. W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time,
Henry IV.).
_Dor'othy_, charwoman of Old Trapbois the miser and his daughter
Martha.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
DOROTHY PEARSON. The childless wife of a Puritan settler in New
England. Her husband brings her home a boy whom he found crouching
under the gallows of his Quaker father, and she adopts him at once,
despite the opposition of "the congregation." A fortnight after he
entered the family, his own mother invades the pulpit of the Orthodox
meeting house, and delivers an anathema against her sect. Her boy
presses forward to meet her, but, after a conflict of emotions she
returns him to Dorothy. He submits, but pines for his mother through
the months that pass before her return with the news of religious
toleration. Dorothy's loving offices have smoothed the child's pathway
to the grave, and she hangs above him with tears of maternal grief as
he breathes his last in his mother's arms.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The
Gentle Boy_ (1851.)
_Dorothy Q_. Oliver Wendell Holmes's "grandmother's mother." Her
portrait taken at the age of "thirteen summers, or less," is the
subject of his lines, "_Dorothy Q._ A Family Portrait."
"O, Damsel Dorothy! Dorothy Q!
Strange is the gift that I owe to you;
Such a gift as never a king
Save to daughter or son might bring,--
All my tenure of heart and hand
All my title to house and land,
Mother and sister and child and wife
And joy and sorrow, and death and life!"
DORRILLON _(Sir William_), a rich Indian merchant and a widower. He
had one daughter, placed under the care of Mr. and Miss Norberry. When
this daughter (Maria) was grown to womanhood, Sir William returned
to England, and wishing to learn the character of Maria, presented
himself under the assumed name of Mr. Mandred. He found his daughter
a fashionable young lady, fond of pleasure, dress, and play, but
affectionate and good-hearted. He was enabled to extricate her from
some money difficulties, won her heart, revealed himself as her
father, and reclaimed her.
_Miss [Maria] Dorrillon_, daughter of Sir William; gay, fashionable,
light-hearted, accomplished, and very beautiful. "Brought up without
a mother's care or father's caution," she had some excuse for her
waywardness and frivolity. Sir George Evelyn was her admirer, whom for
a time she teased to the very top of her bent; then she married, loved
and reformed.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Wives as they Were and Maids as they
Are_ (1797).
D'OSBORN _(Count)_, governor of the Giant's Mount Fortress. The
countess Marie consented to marry him, because he promised to obtain
the acquittal of Ernest de Fridberg, ("the State prisoner"); but he
never kept his promise.
It was by this man's treachery that Ernest was a prisoner, for he kept
back the evidence of General Bavois, declaring him innocent. He next
employed persons to strangle him, but his attempt was thwarted.
His villainy being brought to light, he was ordered by the king to
execution.--E. Stirling, _The State Prisoner_ (1847).
DO'SON, a promise-maker and promise-breaker. Antig'onos, grandson of
Demetrios _(the besieger)_ was so called.
DOT. (See PERRYBINGLE.)
DOTHEBOYS HALL, a Yorkshire school, where boys were taken-in and
done-for by Mr. Squeers, an arrogant, conceited, puffing, overbearing
and ignorant schoolmaster, who fleeced, beat, and starved the boys,
but taught them nothing.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
The original of Dotheboys Hall is still in existence at Bowes, some
five miles from Barnard Castle. The King's Head inn at Barnard Castle
is spoken of in _Nicholas Nickleby_, by Newman Noggs.--_Notes and
Queries_, April 2, 1875.
DOTO, NYSE, and NERI'NE, the three nereids who guarded the fleet of
Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot had run the ship in which
Vasco was sailing on a sunken rock, these sea nymphs lifted up the
prow and turned it round,--Camoens, _Lusiad_, ii. (1569).
DOUBAN, the physician, cured a Greek king of leprosy by some drug
concealed in a racket handle. The king gave Douban such great rewards
that the envy of his nobles was excited, and his vizier suggested that
a man like Douban was very dangerous to be near the throne. The fears
of the weak king being aroused, he ordered Douban to be put to death.
When the physician saw there was no remedy, he gave the king a book,
saying, "On the sixth leaf the king will find something affecting his
life." The king finding the leaves stick, moistened his finger with
his mouth, and by so doing poisoned himself. "Tyrant!" exclaimed
Douban, "those who abuse their power merit death."--_Arabian Nights_
("The Greek King and the Physician").
_Douban_, physician of the emperor Alexius.--Sir W. Scott, _Count
Robert of Paris_ (time Rufus).
DOUBLE DEALER, _(The)_ "The double dealer" is Maskwell, who pretends
love to lady Touchwood and friendship to Mellefont (2. _syl_.), in
order to betray them both. The other characters of the comedy also
deal doubly: Thus Lady Froth pretends to love her husband, but coquets
with Mr. Brisk; and Lady Pliant pretends to be chaste as Diana, but
has a liaison with Careless. On the other hand Brisk pretends to
entertain friendship for Lord Froth but makes love to his wife; and
Ned Careless pretends to respect and honor Lord Pliant, but bamboozles
him in a similar way.--W. Congreve (1700).
DOUBLEFEE _(Old Jacob_), a money-lender who accommodates the Duke of
Buckingham with loans.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time,
Charles II).
DOUBTING CASTLE, the castle of giant Despair, into which Christian and
Hopeful were thrust, but from which they escaped by means of the key
called "Promise."--Bunyan, _Pilgrim's Progress_, i. (1678).
DOUGAL, turnkey at Glasgow, Tolbooth. He is an adherent of Rob
Roy.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
DOUGLAS, divided into _The Black Douglases_ and _The Red Douglases_.
I. THE BLACK DOUGLASES (or senior branch). Each of these is called
"The Black Douglas."
_The Hardy_, William de Douglas, defender of Berwick (died 1302).
_The Good Sir James_, eldest son of "The Hardy." Friend of Bruce.
Killed by the Moors in Spain (1330).
_England's Scourge and Scotland's Bulwark_, William Douglas, knight
of Liddesdale. Taken at Neville's Cross, and killed by William, first
earl of Douglas, in 1353.
_The Flower of Chivalry_, William de Douglas, natural son of "The Good
Sir James" (died 1384).
James second earl of Douglas overthrew Hotspur. Died at Otterburn,
1388. This is the Douglas of the old ballad of _Chevy Chase._
_Archibald the Grim_, Archibald Douglas, natural son of "The Good Sir
James."
_The Black Douglas_, William, lord of Nithsdale (murdered by the earl
of Clifford, 1390).
_Tineman_ (the loser), Archibald, fourth earl, who lost the battles of
Homildon, Shrewsbury, and Verneuil, in the last of which he was killed
(1424).
William Douglas, eighth earl, stabbed by James II., and then
despatched with a battle-axe by Sir Patrick Gray, at Stirling,
February 13, 1452. Sir Walter Scott alludes to this in _The Lady of
the Lake_.
James Douglas, ninth and last earl (died 1488). With him the senior
branch closes.
II. THE RED DOUGLASES, a collateral branch.
_Bell-the-Cat_, the great earl of Angus. He is introduced by Scott in
_Marmion_. His two sons fell in the battle of Flodden Field. He died
in a monastery, 1514.
Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, and grandson of
"Bell-the-Cat." James Bothwell, one of the family, forms the most
interesting part of Scott's _Lady of the Lake_. He was the grandfather
of Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots. He died 1560.
James Douglas, earl of Morton, younger-brother of the seventh earl of
Angus. He took part in the murder of Rizzio, and was executed by the
instrument called "the maiden" (1530-1581).
The "Black Douglas," introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Castle Dangerous_,
is "The Gud schyr James." This was also the Douglas which was such a
terror to the English that the women used to frighten their unruly
children by saying they would "make the Black Douglas take them."
He first appears in _Castle Dangerous_ as "Knight of the tomb." The
following nursery rhyme refers to him:--
Hush ye, hush, ye, little pet ye;
Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye;
The Black Douglas shall not get thee.
Sir W. Scott, _Tales of a Grandfather_, i. 6.
_Douglas_, a tragedy by J. Home (1757). Young Norval, having saved
the life of Lord Randolph, is given a commission in the army. Lady
Randolph hears of the exploit, and discovers that the youth is her own
son by her first husband, Lord Douglas. Glenalvon, who hates the new
favorite, persuades Lord Randolph that his wife is too intimate with
the young upstart, and the two surprise them in familiar intercourse
in a wood. The youth, being attacked, slays Glenalvon, but is in turn
slain by Lord Randolph, who then learns that the young man was Lady
Randolph's son. Lady Randolph, in distraction, rushes up a precipice
and throws herself down headlong, and Lord Randolph goes to the war
then raging between Scotland and Denmark.
_Douglas (Archibald earl of_), father-in-law of Prince Robert, eldest
son of Robert III. of Scotland.
_Margery of Douglas_, the earl's daughter, and wife of Prince Robert
duke of Rothsay. The duke was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of the
earl of March, but the engagement was broken off by intrigue.--Sir W.
Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
_Douglas (George)_, nephew of the regent Murray of Scotland, and
grandson of the lady of Lochleven. George Douglas was devoted to Mary
Queen of Scots.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
DOUGLAS AND THE BLOODY HEART. The heart of Bruce was entrusted to
Douglas to carry to Jerusalem. Landing in Spain, he stopped to aid
the Castilians against the Moors, and in the heat of battle cast the
"heart," enshrined in a golden coffer, into the very thickest of the
foe, saying, "The heart or death!" On he dashed, fearless of danger,
to regain the coffer, but perished in the attempt. The family
thenceforth adopted the "bloody heart" as their armorial device.
DOUGLAS LARDER (_The_). When the "Good Sir James" Douglas, in 1306,
took his castle by _coup de main_ from the English, he caused all
the barrels containing flour, meal, wheat, and malt to be knocked in
pieces and their contents to be thrown on the floor; he then staved in
all the hogsheads of wine and ale upon this mass. To this he flung
the dead bodies slain and some dead horses. The English called this
disgusting mass "The Douglas Larder." He then set fire to the castle
and took refuge in the hills, for he said "he loved far better to hear
the lark sing than the mouse cheep."
[Illustration] _Wallace's Larder_ is a similar phrase. It is the
dungeon of Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, where Wallace had the dead bodies
of the garrison thrown, surprised by him in the reign of Edward I.
Douloureuse Garde (_La_), a castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, won by Sir
Launcelot du Lac, in one of the most terrific adventures related in
romance. In memory of this event, the name of the castle was changed
into _La Joyeuse Garde_ or _La Garde Joyeuse_.
Dousterswivel (_Herman_), a German schemer, who obtains money under
the promise of finding hidden wealth by a divining rod.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
The incident of looking for treasure in the church is copied from one
which Lily mentions, who went with David Kamsay to search for hidden
treasure in Westminster Abbey.--See _Old and New London_, i. 129.
DOVE (_Dr._), the hero of Southey's novel called _The Doctor_ (1834).
_Dove_ (_Sir Benjamin_), of Cropley Castle, Cornwall. A little,
peaking, puling creature, desperately hen-pecked by a second wife;
but madam overshot the mark, and the knight was roused to assert and
maintain the mastery.
That very clever actor Cherry (1769-1812), appeared in "Sir Benjamin
Dove," and showed himself a master of his profession.--Boaden.
_Lady Dove_, twice married, first to Mr. Searcher, king's messenger,
and next to Sir Benjamin Dove. She had a _tendresse_ for Mr. Paterson.
Lady Dove was a terrible termagant, and when scolding failed used to
lament for "poor dear dead Searcher, who--, etc., etc." She pulled her
bow somewhat too tight, and Sir Benjamin asserted his independence.
_Sophia Dove_, daughter of Sir Benjamin. She loved Robert Belfield,
but was engaged to marry the elder brother Andrew. When, however, the
wedding day arrived, Andrew was found to be a married man, and the
younger brother became the bridegroom.--R. Cumberland, _The Brothers_
(1769).
DOWLAS (_Daniel_), a chandler of Gosport, who trades in "coals, cloth,
herrings, linen, candles, eggs, sugar, treacle, tea, and brickdust."
This vulgar and illiterate petty shopkeeper is raised to the peerage
under the title of "The Right Hon. Daniel Dowlas, Baron Duberly."
But scarcely has he entered on his honors, when the "heir-at-law,"
supposed to have been lost at sea, makes his appearance in the person
of Henry Morland. The "heir" settles on Daniel Dowlas an annuity.
_Deborah Dowlas_, wife of Daniel, and for a short time Lady Duberly.
She assumes quite the airs and _ton_ of gentility, and tells her
husband "as he is a pear, he ought to behave as sich."
_Dick Dowlas_, the son, apprenticed to an attorney at Castleton. A
wild young scamp, who can "shoot wild ducks, fling a bar, play at
cricket, make punch, catch gudgeons, and dance." His mother says "he
is the sweetest-tempered youth when he has everything his own way."
Dick Dowlas falls in love with Cicely Homespun, and marries her.--G.
Colman, _Heir-at-law_ (1797).
Miss Pope asked me about the dress. I answered. "It should be black
bombazeen ..." I proved to her that not only "Deborah Dowlas," but all
the rest of the _dramatis personae_ ought to be in mourning ... The
three "Dowlases" as relatives of the deceased Lord Duberly; "Henry
Morland" as the heir-at-law; "Dr. Pangloss" as a clergyman, "Caroline
Dormer" for the loss of her father, and "Kenrick" as a servant of the
Dormer family.--James Smith.
_Dowlas (Old Dame_), housekeeper to the Duke of Buckingham.--Sir W.
Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
DOWLING-_(Captain)_, a great drunkard, who dies in his cups.--Crabbe,
_Borough_, xvi. (1810).
DOWNER (_Billy_), an occasional porter and shoeblack, a diffuser of
knowledge, a philosopher, a citizen of the world, and an "unfinished
gentleman."--C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.
DOWNING, PROFESSOR, in the University of Cambridge. So called from Sir
George Downing, bart., who founded the law professorship in 1800.
DOWSABEL, daughter of Cassemen (3 _syl_.), a knight of Arden; a ballad
by M. Drayton (1593).
Old Chaucer doth of Topaz tell,
Mad Rabelais of Pantagruel,
A later third of Dowsabel.
M. Drayton, _Nymphida_.
DRAC, a sort of fairy in human form, whose abode is the caverns of
rivers. Sometimes these dracs will float like golden cups along a
stream to entice bathers, but when the bather attempts to catch at
them, the drac draws him under water.--_South of France Mythology_.
DRA'CHENFELS ("_Dragon rocks_"), so called from the dragon killed
there by Siegfried, the hero of the _Niebelungen Lied_.
DRAGON (_A_), the device on the royal banner of the old British kings.
The leader was called the _pendragon_. Geoffrey of Monmouth says:
"When Aurelius was king, there appeared a star at Winchester, of
wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting forth a ray at the end of
which was a flame in the form of a dragon." Uther ordered two golden
dragons to be made, one of which he presented to Winchester, and the
other he carried with him as a royal standard. Tennyson says that
Arthur's helmet had for crest a golden dragon.
... they saw
The dragon of the great pendragonship.
That crowned the state pavilion of the king.
Tennyson, _Guinevere_.
_Dragon (The)_, one of the masques at Kennaquhair Abbey.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Dragon (The Red_) the personification of "the devil," as the enemy of
man.--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, ix. (1633).
DRAGON OF WANTLEY _(i. e_. Warncliff, in Yorkshire), a skit on the old
metrical romances, especially on the old rhyming legend of Sir Bevis.
The ballad describes the dragon, its outrages, the flight of the
inhabitants, the knight choosing his armor, the damsel, the fight and
the victory. The hero is called "More, of More Hall" (_q. v_.)--Percy,
_Reliques_, III. iii. 13.
(H. Carey, has a burlesque called _The Dragon of Wantley_, and calls
the hero "Moore, of Moore Hall," 1697-1743).
DRAGON'S HILL (Berkshire). The legend isays it is here that St. George
killed the dragon; but the place assigned for this achievement in the
ballad given in Percy's _Reliques_ is "Sylene, in Libya." Another
legend gives Berytus _(Beyrut)_ as the place of this encounter.
(In regard to Dragon Hill, according to Saxon annals, it was here that
Cedric (founder of the West Saxons) slew Naud the pendragon, with
5,000 men.)
DRAGON'S TEETH. The tale of Jason and AEetes is a repetition of that of
Cadmus.
In the tale of CADMUS, we are told the fountain of Arei'a (3 _syl_.)
was guarded by a fierce dragon. Cadmus killed the dragon, and sowed
its teeth in the earth. From these teeth sprang up armed men called
"Sparti," among whom he flung stones, and the armed men fell foul of
each other, till all were slain excepting five.
In the tale of JASON, we are told that having slain the dragon, which
kept watch over the golden fleece, he sowed its teeth in the ground,
and armed men sprang up. Jason cast a stone into the midst of them,
whereupon the men attacked each other, and were all slain.
DRAGONS.
AHBIMAN, the dragon slain by Mithra.--_Persian Mythology_.
DAHAK, the three-headed dragon slain by Thraetana-Yacna.--_Persian_.
FAFNIB, the dragon slain by Sigurd.
GRENDEL, the dragon slain by Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero.
LA GAGOUILLE, the dragon which ravaged the Seine, slain by St. Romain
of Rouen.
PYTHON, the dragon slain by Apollo.--_Greek Mythology_.
TAKASQUE (2 _syl_.), the dragon slain at Aix-la-Chapelle by St.
Martha.
ZOHAK, the dragon slain by Feridun (_Shahndmeh_).
[Illustration] Numerous dragons have no special name. Many are denoted
Red, White, Black, Great, etc..
DRAKE (Joseph Rodman), author of _The Culprit Fay_ and _The American
Flag_, died at the early age of twenty-five. His elegy was written
by Fitz-Green Halleck and is known as far as the English tongue is
spoken.
"Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days!
None knew thee but to love thee,
None named thee but to praise."
(1820).
DRAMA. The earliest European drama since the fall of the Western
empire appeared in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is called
_La Celestina_, and is divided into twenty-one acts. The first act,
which runs through fifty pages, was composed by Rodridgo Cota; the
other twenty are ascribed to Ferdinando de Rojas. The whole was
published in 1510.
The earliest English drama is entitled _Ralph Roister Doister_, a
comedy by Nicholas Udal (before 1551, because mentioned by T. Wilson,
in his _Rule of Reason_, which appeared in 1551).
The second English drama was _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, by Mr. S.
Master of Arts. Warton, in his _History of English Poetry_ (iv. 32),
gives 1551 as the date of this comedy; and Wright, in his _Historia
Histrionica_, says it appeared in the reign of Edward VI., who died
1553. It is generally ascribed to Bishop Still, but he was only eight
years old in 1551.
_Drama (Father of the French)_, Etienne, Jodell (1532-1573).
_Father of the Greek Drama_, Thespis (B.C. sixth century).
_Father of the Spanish Drama_, Lopez de Vega (1562-1635).
DRAP, one of Queen Mab's maids of honor.--Drayton, _Nymphidia_.
DRAPIER'S LETTERS, a series of letters written by Dean Swift, and
signed "M.D. Drapier," advising the Irish not to take the copper money
coined by William Wood, to whom George I. had given a patent. These
letters (1724) stamped out this infamous job and caused the patent
to be cancelled. The patent was obtained by the Duchess of Kendall
(mistress of the king), who was to share the profits.
Can we the Drapier then forget?
Is not our nation in his debt?
'Twas he that writ the "Drapier's Letters."
Dean Swift, _Verses on his own death_.
DRAWCANSIR, a bragging, blustering bully, who took part in a battle,
and killed every one on both sides, "sparing neither friend nor
foe."--George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).
Juan, who was a little superficial,
And not in literature a great Drawcansir.
Byron, _Don Juan_, xi. 51 (1824).
At length my enemy appeared, and I went forward some yards like a
Drawcansir, but found myself seized with a panic as Paris was when he
presented himself to fight with Menelaus.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, vii.
(1735).
DREAM AUTHORSHIP. Coleridge says that he wrote his _Kubla Khan_ from
his recollection of a dream.
[Illustration] Condillac (says Cabanis) concluded in his dreams the
reasonings left incomplete at bed-time.
_Dreams_. The Indians believe all dreams to be revelations, sometimes
made by the familiar genius, and sometimes by the "inner or divine
soul." An Indian, having dreamt that his finger was cut off, had it
really cut off the next day.--Charlevoix, _Journal of a Voyage to
North America_.
DREAMER (_The Immortal_), John Bunyan, whose _Pilgrim's Progress_ is
said by him to be a dream (1628-1688).
[Illustration] The pretense of a dream was one of the most common
devices of mediaeval romance, as, for example, the _Romance of the
Rose_ and _Piers Plowman_, both in the fourteenth century.
DREARY (_Wat_), _alias_ BROWN WILL, one of Macheath's gang of thieves.
He is described by Peachum as "an irregular dog, with an underhand
way of disposing of his goods" (act i.1).--Gay, _The Beggar's Opera_
(1727).
DREW (_Timothy_). A half-witted cobbler who, learning that a tailor
had advertised for "frogs," catches a bagful and carries them to him,
demanding one dollar a hundred. The testy tailor imagining himself
the victim of a hoax, throws his shears at his head, and Timothy,
in revenge empties the bag of bull-frogs upon the clean floor of
Buckram's shop. Next day Timothy's sign was disfigured to read--_Shoes
Mended and Frogs Caught. By Timothy Drew._--_The Frog Catcher_, Henry
J. Finn, American Comic Annual 1831.
DRINK used by actors, orators, etc.
BRAHAM, bottled porter.
CATLEY (_Miss_), linseed tea and madeira.
COOKE (_G. F._), everything drinkable.
EMERY, brandy-and-water (cold).
GLADSTONE (_W. E._), an egg beaten up in sherry.
HENDERSON, gum arabic and sherry.
INCLEDON, madeira.
JORDAN (_Mrs._), calves'-foot jelly dissolved in warm sherry.
KEAN (_Edmund_), beef-tea for breakfast, cold brandy.
LEWIS, mulled wine (with oysters).
OXBERRY, tea.
SMITH (_William_), coffee.
WOOD (_Mrs._), draught porter.
[Illustration] J Kemble took opium.
_Drink_. "_I drink the air_," says Ariel, meaning "I will fly with
great speed."
In _Henry IV_. we have "devour the way," meaning the same thing.
DRI'VER, clerk to Mr. Pleydell, advocate.
Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
DRIVER OF EUROPE. The duc de Choiseul, minister of Louis XV., was so
called by the empress of Russia, because he had spies all over Europe,
and ruled by them all the political cabals.
DRO'GIO, probably Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. A Venetian voyager
named Antonio Zeno (fourteenth century) so called a country which he
discovered. It was said to lie south-west of Estotiland (_Labrador_),
but neither Estotiland nor Drogio are recognized by modern
geographers, and both are supposed to be wholly, or in a great
measure, hypothetical.
DRO'MIO _(The Brothers_), two brothers, twins, so much alike that even
their nearest friends and masters knew not one from the other. They
were the servants of two masters, also twins and the exact facsimiles
of each other. The masters were Antiph'olus of Ephesus and Antipholus
of Syracuse.--Shakespeare, _Comedy of Errors_ (1593).
(_The Comedy of Errors_ is borrowed from the _Menoechmi_ of Plautus).
DRONSDAUGHTER (_Tronda_), the old serving-woman of the
Yellowleys.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
DROP SERENE (_Gutta Serena_). It was once thought that this sort of
blindness was an incurable extinction of vision by a transparent
watery humor distilling on the optic nerve. It caused total blindness,
but made no visible change in the eye. It is now known that this sort
of blindness arises from obstruction in the capillary nerve-vessels,
and in some cases at least is curable. Milton, speaking of his own
blindness, expresses a doubt whether it arose from the _Gutta Serena_
or the _suffusion of a cataract_.
So thick a 'drop serene' hath quenched their orbs,
Or dim 'suffusion' veiled.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 25 (1665).
DROOD (_Edwin_), hero of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel of that
name.
DRUDGEIT (_Peter_), clerk to Lord Bladderskate.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
DRUGGER (_Abel_), a seller of tobacco; artless and gullible in
the extreme. He was building a new house, and came to Subtle "the
alchemist" to know on which side to set the shop door, how to dispose
the shelves so as to ensure most luck, on what days he might trust his
customers, and when it would be unlucky for him so to do.--Ben Jonson,
_The Alchemist_ (1610).
Thomas Weston was "Abel Drugger" himself [1727-1776], but David
Garrick was fond of the part also [1716-1779].--C. Dibdin, _History of
the Stage_.
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