Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1
by
The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
Part 14 out of 15
Henry of Hoheneck, being struck with leprosy, was told he would never
be cured till a maiden chaste and spotless offered to give her life
in sacrifice for him. Elsie volunteered to die for the prince, and he
accompanied her to Salerno; but either the exercise, the excitement,
or some charm, no matter what, had quite cured the prince, and when he
entered the cathedral with Elsie, it was to make her Lady Alicia,
his bride.--Hartmann von der Aue, _Poor Henry_ (twelfth century);
Longfellow, _Golden Legend_.
[Illustration] Alcestis, daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetos died
instead of her husband, but was brought back by Hercules from the
shades below, and restored to her husband.
_Elsie (Venner)_, a girl marked before her birth as one apart from her
kind. Her mother, treading upon a rattle-snake near her door, leaves
the imprint of the loathsome thing upon the child. She is a "splendid
scowling beauty" with glittering black eyes. When angry, they are
narrowed and gleam like diamonds, and "charm" after an unhuman
fashion. She bit her cousin when a child, and the wound had to be
cauterized. She is wild almost to savagery and she falls in love with
her tutor savagely for awhile, afterward loves him hopelessly. She
dies of a strange decline, and the ugly mark about her throat that
obliges her always to wear a necklace has faded out.--Oliver Wendell
Holmes, _Elsie Venner_ (1861).
ELSMERE (_Robert_), hero of religious novel of same name, by Mrs.
Humphrey Ward.
ELSPETH (_Auld_), the old servant of Dandie Dinmont, the store-farmer
of Charlie's Hope.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time George II.).
_Elspeth (Old)_ of the Craigburnfoot, the mother of Saunders
Muckelbacket (the old fisherman at Musselcrag), and formerly servant
to the countess of Glenallan.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time
George III.).
ELVINO, a wealthy farmer in love with Amina the somnambulist.
Amina being found in the bedroom of Conte Rodolfo the day before her
wedding, induces Elvino to break off the match and promise marriage
to Lisa; but as the truth of the matter breaks upon him, and he is
convinced of Amina's innocence, he turns over Lisa to Alessio, her
paramour, and marries Amina, his first and only love.--Bellini's
opera, _La Sonnambula_ (1831).
ELVIRA, sister of Don Duart, and niece of the governor of Lisbon.
She marries Coldio, the coxcomb son of Don Antonio.--C. Cibber, _Love
Makes a Man_.
_Elvira_, the young wife of Gomez, a rich old banker. She carries on
a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, by the aid of her father-confessor
Dominick, but is always checkmated, and it turns out that Lorenzo is
her brother.--Dryden, _The Spanish Fryar_ (1680).
_Elvira_, a noble lady who gives up everything to become the mistress
of Pizarro. She tries to soften his rude and cruel nature, and to
lead him into more generous ways. Her love being changed to hate, she
engages Rollo to slay Pizarro in his tent; but the noble Peruvian
spares his enemy, and makes him a friend. Ultimately, Pizarro is slain
in fight with Alonzo, and Elvira retires to a convent.--Sheridan,
_Pizarro_ (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).
_Elvira (Donna)_, a lady deceived by Don Giovanni, who basely deluded
her into an amour with his valet Leporello.--Mozart's opera, _Don
Giovanni_ (1787).
_Elvira_ "the puritan," daughter of Lord Walton, betrothed to Arturo
(_Lord Arthur Talbot_), a calvalier. On the day of espousals the young
man aids Enrichetta (_Henrietta, widow of Charles I._) to escape, and
Elvira, thinking he had eloped with a rival, temporarily loses her
reason. Cromwell's soldiers arrest Arturo for treason, but he is
subsequently pardoned, and marries Elvira.--Bellini's opera, _I
Puritani_ (1834).
_Elvira_, a lady in love with Ernani the robber-captain and head of
a league against Don Carlos (afterwards Charles V. of Spain). Ernani
was just on the point of marrying Elvira, when he was summoned to
death by Gomez de Silva, and stabbed himself.--Verdi, _Ernani_ (an
opera, 1841).
_Elvira_, betrothed to Alfonso (son of the Duke d'Arcos). No sooner
is the marriage completed than she learns that Alfonso has seduced
Fenella, a dumb girl, sister of Masaniello the fisherman. Masaniello,
to revenge his wrongs, heads an insurrection, and Alfonso with Elvira
run for safety to the fisherman's hut, where they find Fenella, who
promises to protect them. Masaniello, being made chief magistrate of
Portici, is killed by the mob; Fenella throws herself into the crater
of Vesuvius; and Alfonso is left to live in peace with Elvira.--Auber,
_Masaniello_ (1831).
ELVIRE (_2 syl._), the wife of Don Juan, whom he abandons. She enters
a convent, and tries to reclaim her profligate husband, but without
success.--Moliere, _Don Juan_ (1665).
ELY (_Bishop of_), introduced by Sir W. Scott in the _Talisman_ (time,
Richard I.).
EMATHIAN CONQUEROR (_The Great_), Alexander the Great. Emathia is
Macedonia and Thessaly. Emathion, a son of Titan and Aurora, reigned
in Macedonia. Pliny tells us that Alexander, when he besieged Thebes,
spared the house in which Pindar the poet was born, out of reverence
to his great abilities.
EMBLA, the woman Eve of Scandinavian mythology. Eve or Embla was made
of elm, but Ask or Adam was made of ash.
EMELIE or EMELYE, sister-in-law of Duke Theseus (_2 syl._), beloved
by both Palamon and Arcite (_2 syl._), but the former had her to
wife.
Emelie that fairer was to scene
Than is the lilie on hire stalke grene,
And fresscher than the May with floures newe.
Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_
("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
EMERALDER, an Irishman, one of the Emerald Isle.
EMERITA (_St_.), who, when her brother abdicated the British crown,
accompanied him to Switzerland, and shared with him there a martyr's
death.
Emerita the next, King Lucius' sister dear,
Who in Helvetia with her martyr brother died.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).
EMILE (_2 syl._), the chief character of a philosophical romance on
education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile is the author's ideal
of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature
having been carefully withheld.
N.B.--Emile is the French form of Emilius.
His body is inured to fatigue, as Rousseau advises in his
_Emilius_.--_Continuation of The Arabian Nights_, iv. 69.
EMILIA, wife of Iago, the ancient of Othello in the Venetian army.
She is induced by Iago to purloin a certain handkerchief given by
Othello to Desdemona. Iago then prevails on Othello to ask his wife to
show him the handkerchief, but she cannot find it, and Iago tells
the Moor she has given it to Cassio as a love-token. At the death of
Desdemona, Emilia (who till then never suspected the real state of
the case) reveals the truth of the matter, and Iago rushes on her and
kills her.--Shakespeare, _Othello_ (1611).
The virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not
cast off; easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at
atrocious villainies.--Dr. Johnson.
_Emilia_, the lady who attended on Queen Hermione in
prison.--Shakespeare, _The Winter's Tale_ (1604).
_Emilia_, the lady-love of Peregrine Pickle, in Smollett's novel
called _The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle_ (1751).
_Emilia_ Galotti. Beautiful daughter of Odoardo, an Italian noble. She
is affianced to Count Appiani, and beloved by the Prince Guastalla,
who causes her lover's death on their wedding-day. To save her from
the prince, Odoardo stabs Emilia.--G.E. Lessing, _Emilia Galotti_.
EMILY, the _fiancee_ of Colonel Tamper. Duty called away the colonel
to Havana, and on his return he pretended to have lost one eye and one
leg in the war, in order to see if Emily would love him still. Emily
was greatly shocked, and Mr. Prattle the medical practitioner was sent
for. Amongst other gossip, Mr. Prattle told his patient he had seen
the colonel who looked remarkably well, and most certainly was maimed
neither in his legs nor in his eyes. Emily now saw through the trick,
and resolved to turn the tables on the colonel. For this end she
induced Mdlle. Florival to appear _en militaire_, under the assumed
name of Captain Johnson, and to make desperate love to her. When the
colonel had been thoroughly roasted and was about to quit the house
forever, his friend Major Belford entered and recognized Mdlle. as
his _fiancee_; the trick was discovered, and all ended happily.--G.
Colman, sen., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).
EMIR OR AMEER, a title given to lieutenants of provinces and other
officers of the sultan, and occasionally assumed by the sultan
himself. The sultan is not unfrequently call "The Great Ameer," and
the Ottoman empire is sometimes spoken of as "the country of the Great
Ameer." What Matthew Paris and other monks call "ammirals" is the same
word. Milton speaks of the "mast of some tall ammiral" (_Paradise
Lost_, i. 294).
The difference between _xariff_ or _sariff_ and _amir_ is this: the
former is given to the _blood_ successors of Mahomet, and the latter
to those who maintain his religious faith.--Selden, _Titles of Honor_,
vi. 73-4 (1672).
EM'LY _(Little)_, daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan'el
Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought
up. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan'el's nephew) little Em'ly runs
away with Steerforth, a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being
subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan'el
Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
EMMA "the Saxon" or Emma Plantagenet, the beautiful, gentle, and
loving wife of David, king of North Wales (twelfth century).--Southey,
_Madoc_ (1805).
EMMONS (_David_), slow, gentle fellow who never "comes to the point"
in his courtship, but visits the "girl" for forty years, and gasps out
in dying, "I allers--meant to--have--asked--you to marry me."--Mary E.
Wilkins, _Two Old Lovers_ (1887).
EMPEDOCLES, one of Pythagoras's scholars, who threw himself secretly
into the crater at Etna, that people might suppose the gods had
carried him to heaven; but alas! one of his iron pattens was cast out
with the lava, and recognized.
He to be deemed
A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 469, etc. (1665).
EMPEROR OF BELIEVERS (_The_), Omar I., father-in-law of Mahomet
(581-644).
EMPEROR OF THE MOUNTAINS, (_The_) Peter the Calabrian, a famous
robber-chief (1812).
EMPEROR FOR MY PEOPLE. Hadrian used to say, "I am emperor not for
myself but for my people" (76, 117-138).
EMPSON (_Master_), flageolot player to Charles II.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (1823).
Enanthe (_3 syl._), daughter of Seleucus, and mistress of Prince
Demetrius (son of King Antigonus) She appears under the name of
Celia.--Beaumont and Eletcher, _The Humorous Lieutenant_ (1647).
ENCELADOS (Latin, _Enceladus_), the most powerful of all the giants
who conspired against Jupiter. He was struck with a thunder-bolt, and
covered with the heap of earth now called Mount Etna. The smoke of the
volcano is the breath of the buried giant; and when he shifts his side
it is an earthquake.
Fama est, Enceladi semiustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis;
Et, fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam, et coelum subtexere fumo.
Virgil, _Aeneid_, iii. 578-582.
Where the burning cinders, blown
From the lips of the overthrown
Enceladus, fill the air.
Longfellow, _Enceladus_.
EN'CRATES (_3 syl_.), Temperance personified, the husband of Agnei'a
(_wifely chastity_). When his wife's sister Parthen'ia _(maidenly
chastity_) was wounded in the battle of Mansoul, by False Delight, he
and his wife ran to her assistance, and soon routed the foes who were
hounding her. Continence (her lover) went also, and poured a balm
into her wounds, which healed them. Greek, _egkrates_, "continent,
temperate."
So have I often seen a purple flower,
Fainting thro' heat, hang down her drooping head;
But, soon refreshed with a welcome shower,
Begins again her lively beauties spread,
And with new pride her silken leaves display.
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).
ENDELL (_Martha_), a poor fallen girl, to whom Emily goes when
Steerforth deserts her. She emigrates with Dan'el Pegot'ty, and
marries a young farmer in Australia.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
ENDIGA, in _Charles XII_., by J.R. Planche (1826).
ENDLESS, the rascally lawyer in _No Song No Supper_, by P. Hoare
(1754-1834).
ENDYM'ION, a noted astronomer who, from Mount Latmus, in Caria,
discovered the course of the moon. Hence it is fabled that the moon
sleeps with Endymion. Strictly speaking, Endymion is the setting sun.
So, Latmus by the wise Endymion is renowned;
That hill on whose high top he was the first that found
Pale Phoebe's wandering course; so skillful in her sphere,
As some stick not to say that he enjoyed her there.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, vi. (1612).
_To sleep like Endymion_, to sleep long and soundly. Endymion
requested of Jove permission to sleep as long as felt inclined. Hence
the proverb, _Endymionis somnum dormire_. Jean Ogier de Gombaud wrote
in French a romance or prose poem called _Endymion_ (1624), and one of
the best paintings of A.L. Girodet is "Endymion." Cowley, referring to
Gombaud's romance, says:
While there is a people or a sun,
Endymion's story with the moon shall run.
John Keats, in 1818, published his _Endymion_ (a poetic romance),
and the criticism of the _Quarterly Review_ was falsely said to have
caused his death.
_Endymion._ So Wm. Browne calls Sir Walter Raleigh, who was for a
time in disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, whom he calls "Cynthia."
The first note that I heard I soon was wonne
To think the sighes of fair Endymion,
The subject of whose mournful heavy lay,
Was his declining with faire Cynthia.
_Brittannia's Pastorals_, iv. (1613).
ENFANTS DE DIEU, the Camisards.
The royal troops outnumbered the _Enfants de Dieu_, and a not
inglorious flight took place.--Ed. Gilliat, _Asylum Christi_, iii.
ENFIELD (_Mrs._), the keeper of a house of intrigue, or "gentleman's
magazine" of frail beauties.--Holcroft, _The Deserted Daughter_
(1785).
ENGADDI (_Theodorick, hermit of_), an enthusiast. He was Aberick
of Mortemar, an exiled noble.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time,
Richard I.).
_Engaddi_, one of the towns of Judah, forty miles from Jerusalem,
famous for its palm trees.
Anchorites beneath Engaddi's palms,
Pacing the Dead Sea beach.
Longfellow, _Sand of the Desert_
ENGELBRECHT, one of the Varangian guards.--Sir W. Scott, _Count
Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
ENGELRED, 'squire of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (follower of Prince
John of Anjou, the brother of Richard I.).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_
(time, Richard I.).
ENGUERRAUD, brother of the Marquis of Montserrat, a crusader.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard L).
ENID, the personification of spotless purity. She was the daughter of
Yniol, and wife of Geraint. The tale of Geraint and Enid allegorizes
the contagion of distrust and jealousy, commencing with Guinevere's
infidelity, and spreading downward among the Arthurian knights. In
order to save Enid from this taint, Sir Geraint removed from the court
to Devon; but overhearing part of a sentence uttered by Enid, he
fancied that she was unfaithful, and treated her for a time with
great harshness. In an illness, Enid nursed Geraint with such wifely
devotion that he felt convinced of his error. A perfect
reconciliation took place, and they "crowned a happy life with a fair
death".--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ ("Geraint and Enid.").
ENNIUS (_The English_), Layamon, who wrote a translation in Saxon of
_The Brut_ of Wace (thirteenth century).
_Ennius (The French_), Jehan de Meung, who wrote a continuation of
Layamon's romance (1260-1320).
[Illustration] Guillaume de Lorris, author of the _Romance of the
Rose_, is also called "The French Ennius," and with better title
(1235-1265).
_Ennius_ (_The Spanish_), Juan de Mena of Cordova (1412-1456).
ENRIQUE (_2 syl._), brother-in-law of Chrysalde (_2 syl._). He
married secretly Chrysalde's sister Angelique, by whom he had a
daughter, Agnes, who was left in charge of a peasant while Enrique was
absent in America. Having made his fortune in the New World, Enrique
returned and found Agnes in love with Horace, the son of his
friend Oronte (_2 syl._). Their union, after the usual quota of
misunderstanding and cross purposes, was accomplished to the delight
of all parties.--Moliere, _L'Ecole des Femmes_ (1662).
ENTELECHY, the kingdom of Queen Quintessence. Pantagruel and
his companions went to this kingdom in search of the "holy
bottle."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, v. 19 (1545).
[Illustration] This kingdom of "speculative science" gave the hint to
Swift for his island of Laputa.
EPHESIAN, a toper, a dissolute sot, a jovial companion. When Page (2
_Henry_ IV. act ii. sc. 2) tells Prince Henry that a company of
men were about to sup with Falstaff, in Eastcheap, and calls
them "Ephesians," he probably meant soldiers called _fethas_
("foot-soldiers"), and hence topers. Malone suggests that the word is
a pun on _pheese_ ("to chastise or pay one tit for tat"), and means
"quarrelsome fellows."
EPHESIAN POET (_The_), Hipponax, born at Ephesus (sixth century
B.C.).
EPIC POETRY (_The Father of_), Homer (about 950 B.C.).
EPICENE (_3 syl._), or _The Silent Woman_, one of the three great
comedies of Ben Jonson (1609).
The other two are _Volpone_ (_2 syl._, 1605), and _The Alchemist_
(1610).
EPICURUS. The _aimee de coeur_ of this philosopher was Leontium. (See
LOVERS).
EPICURUS OF CHINA, Tao-tse, who commenced the search for "the elixir
of perpetual youth and health" (B.C. 540).
[Illustration] Thomas Moore has a prose romance entitled _The
Epicure'an_. Lucretius the Roman poet, in his _De Rerum Natura_, is an
exponent of the Epicurean doctrines.
EPIDAURUS (_That God in_), Aescula'pius, son of Apollo, who was
worshipped in Epidaurus, a city of Peloponne'sus. Being sent for to
Rome during a plague, he assumed the form of a serpent.--Livy, _Nat.
Hist._, xi.; Ovid, _Metaph._, xv.
Never since of serpent kind
Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed
Hermione and Cadmus, or the god
In Epidaurus.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ix. 507 (1665).
(Cadmus and his wife Harmonia [_Hermoine_] left Thebes and migrated
into Illyria, where they were changed into serpents because they
happened to kill one belonging to Mars.)
EPHIAL'TES (_4 syl._), one of the giants who made war upon the gods.
He was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by
Hercules.
EPIG'ONI, seven youthful warriors, sons of the seven chiefs who laid
siege to Thebes. All the seven chiefs (except Adrastos) perished in
the siege; but the seven sons, ten years later, took the city and
razed it to the ground. The chiefs and sons were: (1) Adrastos,
whose son was Aegi'aleus (_4 syl._); (2) Polynikes, whose son was
Thersan'der; (3) Amphiar'aos (_5 syl._), whose son was Alkmaeon
(_the chief_); (4) Ty'deus (_2 syl._), whose son was Diome'des; (5)
Kap'aneus (_3 syl._), whose son was Sthen'elos; (6) Parthenopae'os,
whose son was Promachos; (7) Mekis'theus (_3 syl._), whose son was
Eury'alos.
AEschylos has a tragedy on _The Seven Chiefs against Thebes_. There
are also two epics, one _The Thebaid_ of Statius, and _The Epigoni_
sometimes attributed to Homer and sometimes to one of the Cyclic poets
of Greece.
EPIGON'IAD (_The_), called "the Scotch _Iliad_," by William Wilkie
(1721-1772). This is the tale of the Epig'oni or seven sons of the
seven chieftains who laid siege to Thebes. The tale is this: When
Oe'dipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but
at the expiration of the first year, the elder son (Eteocles) refused
to give up the throne. Whereupon the younger brother (Polynikes)
interested six Grecian chiefs to espouse his cause, and the allied
armies laid siege to Thebes, without success. Subsequently, the seven
sons of the old chiefs went against the city to avenge the death of
their fathers, who had fallen in the former siege. They succeeded in
taking the city, and in placing Thersander on the throne. The names
of the seven sons are Thersander, AEgi'aleus, Alkmaeon, Diomedes,
Sthen'elos, Pro'machos, and Euryalos.
EPIMEN'IDES (_5 syl._) of Crete, sometimes reckoned one of the
"seven wise men of Greece" in the place of Periander. He slept for
fifty-seven years in a cave, and, on waking, found everything so
changed that he could recognize nothing. Epimenides lived 289 years,
and was adored by the Cretans as one of their "Curetes" or priests of
Jove. He was contemporary with Solon.
(Goethe has a poem called _Des Epimenides Erwachen._--See Heinrich's
_Epimenides.)_
_Epimenides's Drug_. A nymph who loved Epimenides gave him a draught
in a bull's horn, one single drop of which would not only cure any
ailment, but would serve for a hearty meal.
_Le Nouveau Epimenede_ is a man who lives in a dream in a kind of
"Castle of Spain," where he deems himself a king, and does not wish to
be disillusioned. The song is by Jacinthe Leclere, one of the members
of the "Societe de Momus," of Paris.
EPINOGRIS _(Sir)_, son of the king of Northumberland. He loved an
earl's daughter, but slew the earl in a knightly combat. Next day, a
knight challenged him to fight, and the lady was to be the prize of
the victor. Sir Epinogris, being overthrown, lost the lady; but when
Sir Palomides heard the tale, he promised to recover her. Accordingly,
he challenged the victorious knight, who turned out to be his brother.
The point of dispute was then amicably arranged by giving up the lady
to Sir Epinogris.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 169
(1470).
EPPIE, one of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same
novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms,
Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Bonarts Well_
(time, George III.).
EPPS, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.). EQUITY (_Father of_), Heneage
Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In _Absalom and Achitophel_ (by
Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."
Sincere was Amri, and not only knew,
But Israel's sanctions into practice drew;
Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ...
To whom the double blessing doth belong,
With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.
_Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).
EQUIVOKES.
1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which
he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber,
London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.
2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and
he died while saying mass in a church so called at Rome.
3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana,
which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded
accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told
it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."
4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle
respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for
reply:
When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer,
From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!
In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from
the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a _fig tree_ growing
on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The
interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he
remembered that _goat_ and _fig tree_, in the Messenian dialect were
the same word.
[Illustration] The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a
stork" were substituted for _the goat_: "When a stork stoops to drink
of the Neda;" and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.
5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be
the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;
but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to
fall by "thousands," was not stated.
6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against
the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a
mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or
that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.
7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his
Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The
ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip
took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia,
but it was himself.
8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the
Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will
never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was
Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.
9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied,
"He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to
the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"
10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to
live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an
ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.--Shakespeare, _2 Henry
VI._ act v. sc. 2.
11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the
first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person
meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the
person pointed at.--Holinshed, _Chronicles_; Shakespeare, _Richard
III._ act i. sc. I.
ERAC'LIUS (_The emperor_) condemned a knight to death on the
supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his
appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation
that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all
three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered
it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the
emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was
virtually the cause of death to the other two.
This tale is told in the _Gesta Romanorum_, and Chaucer has put it
into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his _De
Ira_; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.
ERASTE (_2 syl._), hero of _Les Facheux_ by Moliere. He is in love
with Orphiso (_2 syl._), whose tutor is Damis (1661).
ER'CELDOUN (_Thomas of_), also called "Thomas the Rhymer," introduced
by Sir W. Scott in his novel called _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry
I.).
It is said that Thomas of Erceldoun is not dead, but that he is
sleeping beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day, he met with
a lady of elfin race beneath the Eildon tree, and she led him to
an under-ground region, where he remained for seven years. He then
revisited the earth, but bound himself to return when summoned. One
day, when he was making merry with his friends, he was told that
a hart and hind were parading the street; and he knew it was his
summons, so he immediately went to the Eildon tree, and has never
since been heard of.--Sir W. Scott, _Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border_.
[Illustration: symbol] This tale is substantially the same in the
German one of _Tannhaeuser_ (_q.v._).
ERECK, a knight of the Round Table. He marries the beautiful Enite (_2
syl_.), daughter of a poor knight, and falls into a state of idleness
and effeminacy, till Enite rouses him to action. He then goes forth
on an expedition of adventures, and after combating with brigands,
giants, and dwarfs, returns to the court of King Arthur, where
he remains till the death of his father. He then enters on his
inheritance, and lives peaceably the rest of his life.--Hartmann von
der Aue, _Ereck_ (thirteenth century).
EREEN'IA (3 _syl._), a glendoveer' or good spirit, the beloved son of
Cas'yapa (_3 syl_.), father of the immortals. Ereenia took pity on
Kail'yal (_2 syl_.), daughter of Ladur'lad, and carried her to his
Bower of Bliss in paradise (canto vii.). Here Kailyal could not stay,
because she was still a living daughter of earth. On her return to
earth, she was chosen for the bride of Jagannaut, and Ar'valan came to
dishonor her; but she set fire to the pagoda, and Ereenia came to her
rescue. Ereenia was set upon by the witch Lor'rimite (_3 syl_.), and
carried to the submerged city of Baly, whence he was delivered by
Ladurlad. The glendoveer now craved Seeva for vengeance, but the
god sent him to Yamen (_i.e._ Pluto), and Yamen said the measure of
iniquity was now full, so Arvalan and his father Kehama were both made
inmates of the city of everlasting woe; while Ereenia carried Kailyal,
who had quaffed the waters of immortality, to his Bower of Bliss, to
dwell with him in everlasting joy.--Southey, _Curse of Kehoma_ (1809).
ERET'RIAN BULL _(The)._ Menede'mos of Eretria, in Eubae'a, was called
"Bull" from the bull-like breadth and gravity of his face. He founded
the Eretrian school (fourth century B.C.).
ERIC, "Windy-cap," king of Sweden. He could make the wind blow from
any quarter by simply turning his cap. Hence arose the expression, "a
capful of wind."
ERIC GRAY. A young man whose religious principles will not let him
marry the girl he loves because she has not "joined the church." His
old love tells the story after his funeral.
"And all my heart went forward, past the shadows and the cross,
Even to that home where perfect love hath never thorn nor loss;
Where neither do they marry, nor in marriage are given,
But are like unto the angels in GOD'S house, which is Heaven."
Margaret E. Sangster, _Eric's Funeral_ (1882).
ERICHTHO _[Erik'.tho]_, the famous Thessaliaii witch consulted by
Pompey.--Lucan, _Pharsalia_, vi.
ERICKSON _(Sweyn)_, a fisherman at Jarlshof.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Pirate_ (time, William III.).
ERIC'THO, the witch in John Marston's tragedy called _The Wonder of
Women_ or _Sophonisba_ (160)5.
ERIG'ENA (_John Scotus_), called "Scotus the Wise." He must not be
confounded with Duns Scotus, "the Subtle Doctor," who lived some four
centuries later. Erigena died in 875, and Duns Scotus in 1308.
ERIG'ONE (4 _syl_.), the constellation _Virgo_. She was the daughter
of Icarios, an Athenian, who was murdered by some drunken peasants.
Erigone discovered the dead body by the aid of her father's dog Moera,
who became the star called _Canis_.
... "that virgin, frail Erigone,
Who by compassion got preeminence."
Lord Brooke, _Of Nobility_.
ERILL'YAB (3 _syl_.), the widowed and deposed Queen of the Hoamen (2
_syl_.), an Indian tribe settled on a south branch of the Missouri.
Her husband was King Tepol'loni, and her son Amal'ahta. Madoc when he
reached America, espoused her cause, and succeeded in restoring her to
her throne and empire.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
ERIPHY'LE (4 _syl_.), the wife of Amphiara'os. Being bribed by a
golden necklace, she betrayed to Polyni-ces where her husband had
concealed himself that he might not go to the seige of Thebes, where
he knew that he should be killed. Congreve calls the word Eriph'yle.
When Eriphyle broke her plighted faith,
And for a bribe procured her husband's death.
Ovid, _Art of Love_, iii.
ERISICH'THON (should be _Erysichthon_), a Thessaliad, whose appetite
was insatiable. Having spent all his estate in the purchase of food,
nothing was left but his daughter Metra, and her he sold to buy food
for his voracious appetite; but Metra had the power of transforming
herself into any shape she chose, so as often as as her father
sold her, she changed her form and returned to him. After a time,
Erisichthon was reduced to feed upon himself.--Ovid, _Metaph_, viii. 2
(740 to end).
Drayton says when the Wyre saw her goodly oak trees sold for firewood,
she bethought her of Erisichthon's end, who, "when nor sea, nor land,
sufficient were," ate his own flesh.--_Polyolbion_, vii.
So Erisicthon, once fired (as men say),
With hungry rage, fed never, ever feeding;
Ten thousand dishes severed every day,
Yet in ten thousand thousand dishes needing.
In vain his daughter hundred shapes assumed;
A whole camp's meat he in his gorge inhumed;
And all consumed, his hunger yet was unconsumed.
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_ (1633).
ERLAND, father of Norna "of the Fitful Head."--Sir W. Scott, _The
Pirate_ (time, William III.).
ERL-KING, a spirit of mischief, which haunts the Black Forest of
Thuringia.
Goethe has a ballad called the _Erl-koenig_, and Herder has translated
the Danish ballad of _Sir Olaf and the Erl-King's Daughter_.
In Goethe's ballad, a father, riding home through the night and storm
with a child in his arms is pursued by the Erl-king, who entices the
child with promises of fairy-gifts, and finally kills it.
ERMANGARDE OF BALDRINGHAM (_The Lady_), aunt of the Lady Eveline
Berenger "the betrothed."--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry
II.).
ER'MELINE (_Dame_), the wife of Reynard, in the beast-epic called
_Reynard the Fox_ (1498).
ERMIN'IA, the heroine of _Jerusalem Delivered_. She fell in love with
Tancred, and when the Christian army beseiged Jerusalem, arrayed
herself in Clorinda's armor to go to him. After certain adventures,
she found him wounded, and nursed him tenderly; but the poet has
not told us what was the ultimate lot of this fair Syrian.--Tasso,
_Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).
ERNA'NI, the robber-captain, duke of Segor'bia and Cardo'na, lord of
Aragon, and count of Ernani. He is in love with Elvi'ra, the betrothed
of Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detests.
Charles V. falls in love with her, and Ruy Gomez joins Ernani in a
league against their common rival. During this league Ernani gives Ruy
Gomez a horn, saying, "Sound but this horn, and at that moment Ernani
will cease to live." Just as he is about to espouse Elvira, the horn
is sounded, and Ernani stabs himself.--Verdi, _Ernani_ (an opera,
1841).
ERNEST (_Duke_), son-in-law of Kaiser Konrad II. He murders his feudal
lord, and goes on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to expiate his crime.
The poem so called is a mixture of Homeric legends, Oriental myths,
and pilgrims' tales. We have pygmies and cyclopses, genii and
enchanters, fairies and dwarfs, monks and devotees. After a world of
hair-breadth escapes, the duke reaches the Holy Sepulchre, pays
his vows, returns to Germany, and is pardoned.--Henry Von Veldig
(minnesinger), _Duke Ernest_ (twelfth century).
ERNEST DE FRIDBERG, "the prisoner of the State." He was imprisoned in
the dungeon of the Giant's Mount fortress for fifteen years on a false
charge of treason. Ul'rica (his natural daughter by the countess
Marie), dressed in the clothes of Herman, the deaf and dumb
jailor-boy, gets access to the dungeon and contrives his escape; but
he is retaken, and led back to the dungeon. Being subsequently set at
liberty, he marries the countess Marie (the mother of Ulrica).--E.
Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_ (1847.)
EROS, the manumitted slave of Antony the triumvir. Antony made Eros
swear that he would kill him if commanded by him so to do. When in
Egypt, Antony after the battle of Actium, fearing lest he should fall
into the hands of Octavius Caesar, ordered Eros to keep his promise.
Eros drew his sword, but thrust it into his own side, and fell dead at
the feet of Antony. "O noble Eros," cried Antony, "I thank thee for
teaching me how to die!"--Plutarch.
[Illustration] Eros is introduced in Shakespeare's _Antony and
Cleopatra_, and in Dryden's _All for Love or the World Well Lost_.
(Eros is the Greek name of Cupid, and hence amorous poetry is called
Erotic.)
EROS'TRATOS (in Latin EROSTRATUS), the incendiary who set fire to the
temple of Diana of Ephesus, that his name might be perpetuated. An
edict was published, prohibiting any mention of the name, but the
edict was wholly ineffective.
[Illustration] Charles V., wishing to be shown over the Pantheon [_All
Saints_] of Rome, was taken to the top by a Roman knight. At parting,
the knight told the emperor that he felt an almost irresistible desire
to push his majesty down from the top of the building, "in order to
immortalize his name." Unlike Erostratos, the name of this knight has
not transpired. ERO'TA, a very beautiful but most imperious princess,
passionately beloved by Philander, Prince of Cyprus.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).
ERRA-PATER, an almanac, an almanac-maker, an astrologer. Samuel Butler
calls Lilly, the almanac-maker, an Erra-Pater, which we are told was
the name of a famous Jewish astrologer.
His only Bible was an Erra-Pater.
Phin. Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vii. (1633).
"What's here? Erra-Pater or a bearded sibyl"
[_the person was Foresight_].
Congreve, _Love for Love_, iv. (1695).
ERRAGON, king of Lora (in Scandinavia). Aldo, a Caledonian chief,
offered him his services, and obtained several important victories;
but Lorma, the king's wife, falling in love with him, the guilty pair
escaped to Morven. Erragon invaded the country, and slew Aldo in
single combat, but was himself slain in battle by Gaul, son of Morni.
As for Lorma, she died of grief.--Ossian, _The Battle of Lora_.
ERRANT DAMSEL (_The_), Una.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. 1 (1590).
ERRIMA, Greek maiden chidden by her mother for dreaming of Sappho, and
Lesbian dances and Delphian lyre, and commanded to
"rend thy scrolls and keep thee to thy spinning."
She answers that talk of matron dignities and household tasks wearies
her:
"I would renounce them all for Sappho's bay:
Forego them all for room to chant out free
The silent rhythms I hum within my heart,
And so for ever leave my weary spinning!"
Margaret J. Preston, _Old Song and New_. (1870).
ERROL (_Cedric_). Bright American boy, living with his widowed mother,
whose grandfather, Lord Fauntleroy, sends for and adopts him. The
boy's sweetness of manners and nobility of nature conquer the old
man's prejudices, and win him to sympathy and co-operation in his
schemes for making the world better.--Frances Hodgson Burnett, _Little
Lord Fauntleroy_ (1889).
ERROL (_Gilbert, earl of_), lord high constable of Scotland.--Sir W.
Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
ERROR, a monster who lived in a den in "Wandering Wood," and with,
whom the Red Cross Knight had his first adventure. She had a brood
of 1000 young ones of sundry shape, and these cubs crept into their
mother's mouth when alarmed, as young kangaroos creep into their
mother's pouch. The knight was nearly killed by the stench which
issued from the foul fiend, but he succeeded in "rafting" her head
off, whereupon the brood lapped up the blood, and burst with satiety.
Half like a serpent horribly displayed,
But th' other half did woman's shape retain.
And as she lay upon the dirty ground,
Her huge long tail her den all overspread,
Yet was in knots and many boughts [_folds_] up-wound,
Pointed with mortal sting.
Spenser, _Faery Queen_, i. 1 (1590).
ERROR OF ARTISTS, (See ANACHRONISMS).
ANGELO (_Michel_), in his great picture of the "Last Judgment" has
introduced Charon's bark.
BREUGHEL, the Dutch painter, in a picture of the "Wise Men of the
East" making their offerings to the infant Jesus, has represented
one of them dressed in a large white surplice, booted and spurred,
offering the model of a Dutch seventy-four to the infant.
ETTY has placed by the bedside of Holofernes a helmet of the period of
the seventeenth century.
MAZZOCHI (_Paulo_), in his "Symbolical Painting of the Four Elements,"
represents the sea by _fishes_, the earth by _moles_, fire by a
_salamander_, and air by a _camel_! Evidently he mistook the chameleon
(which traditionally lives on air) for a camel.
TINTORET, in a picture which represents the "Israelites Gathering
Manna in the Wilderness," has armed the men with guns.
VERONESE (_Paul_), in his "Marriage Feast of Cana of Galilee," has
introduced among the guests several Benedictines.
WEST, president of the Royal Academy, has represented Paris the
Phrygian in Roman costume.
WESTMINSTER HALL is full of absurdities. Witness the following as
specimens:--
Sir Cloudesley Shovel is dressed in a Roman cuirass and sandals, but
on his head is a full-bottomed wig of the eighteenth century.
The Duke of Buckingham is arrayed in the costume of a Roman emperor,
and his duchess in the court dress of George I. period.
ERRORS OF AUTHORS, (See ANACHRONISMS.)
AKENSIDE. He views the Ganges from _Alpine_ heights.--_Pleasures of
Imagination_.
ALLISON (_Sir Archibald_), says: "_Sir Peregine Pickle_ was one of the
pall-bearers of the Duke of Wellington."--_Life of Lord Castlereagh_.
In his _History of Europe_, the phrase _droit de timbre_ ("stamp
duty") he translates "timber duties."
ARTICLES OF WAR FOR THE ARMY. It is ordered "that every recruit shall
have the 40th and 46th of the articles read to him." (art. iii.).
The 40th article relates wholly to the misconduct of _chaplains_, and
has no sort of concern with recruits. Probably the 41st is meant,
which is about mutiny and insubordination.
BROWNE (_William_) _Apelles' Curtain_. W. Browne says:
If ... I set my pencil to Appelles table [painting]
Or dare to _draw his curtain_.
_Britannia's Pastorals_, ii. 2.
This curtain was not drawn by Apelles, but by Parrhasius, who lived
a full century before Apelles. The contest was between Zeuxis and
Parrhasius. The former exhibited a bunch of grapes which deceived the
birds, and the latter a curtain which deceived the competitor.
BRUYSSEL (_E. von_) says: "According to Homer, Achilles had a
vulnerable heel." It is a vulgar error to attribute this myth to
Homer. The blind old bard nowhere says a word about it. The story of
dipping Achilles in the river Styx is altogether post-Homeric.
BYRON. _Xerxes' Ships_. Byron says that Xerxes looked on his "ships by
thousands" off the coast of Sal'amis. The entire number of sails were
1200; of these 400 were wrecked before the battle off the coast of
Sepias, so that even supposing the whole of the rest were engaged, the
number could not exceed 800.--_Isles of Greece_.
_The Isle Teos_. In the same poem he refers to "Teos" as one of the
isles of Greece, but Teos is a maritime town on the coast of Ionia, in
Asia Minor.
CERVANTES. _Dorothea's Father_. Dorothea represents herself as Queen
of Micomicon, because both her father and mother were _dead_, but Don
Quixote speaks of him to her as _alive_.--Pt. I. iv. 8.
_Mambrino's Helmet_. In pt. I. iii. 8 we are told that the
galley-slaves set free by Don Quixote assaulted him with stones, and
"snatching the basin from his head, _broke it to pieces_." In bk. iv.
15 we find this basin quite whole and sound, the subject of a judicial
inquiry, the question being whether it was a helmet or a barber's
basin. Sancho (ch. 11) says, he "picked it up, bruised and battered,
intending to get it mended;" but he says, "I broke it to pieces," or,
according to one translator, "broke it into a thousand pieces." In
bk. iv. 8 we are told that Don Quixote "came from his chamber armed
_cap-a-pie_, with the barber's basin on his head."
_Sancho's Ass_. We are told (pt. I. iii. 9) that Gines de Passamonte
"stole Sancho's ass." Sancho laments the loss with true pathos, and
the knight condoles with him. But soon afterwards Cervantes says: "He
_[Sancho]_ jogged on leisurely upon his ass after his master."
_Sancho's Great-coat_. Sancho Panza, we are told, left his wallet
behind in the Crescent Moon tavern, where he was tossed in a blanket,
and put the provisions left by the priests in his great-coat (ch. 5).
The galley-slaves robbed him of "his _great-coat_, leaving only his
doublet" (ch. 8), but in the next chapter (9) we find "the victuals
had not been touched," though the rascals "searched diligently for
booty." Now, if the food was in the great-coat, and the great-coat was
stolen, how is it that the victuals remained in Sancho's possession
untouched?
_Sancho's Wallet_. We are told that Sancho left his wallet by mistake
at the tavern where he was blanket-tossed (ch. 5), but in ch. 9, when
he found the portmanteau, "he crammed the gold and linen into his
wallet."--Pt. I. iii.
To make these oversights more striking, the author says, when Sancho
found the portmanteau, "he entirely forgot the loss of his _wallet_,
his _great-coat_, and of his faithful companion and servant Dapple"
(_the ass_).
_Supper_. Cervantes makes the party at the Crescent tavern eat two
suppers in one evening. In ch. 5 the curate orders in supper, and
"after supper" they read the story of _Fatal Curiosity_. In ch. 12 we
are told "the cloth was laid [_again_] for supper," and the company
sat down to it, quite forgetting that they had already supped.--Pt. I.
iv.
CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA states that "the fame of Beaumarchais rests
on his two operas, _Le Barbier de Seville_ (1755) and _Le Mariage de
Figaro_." Every one knows that Mozart composed the opera of _Figaro_
(1786), and that Casti wrote the libretto. The opera of _Le Barbier
de Seville_, or rather _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, was composed by
Rossini, in 1816. What Beaumarchais wrote was two comedies, one in
four acts and the other in five acts.--Art. "Beaumarchais."
CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. We are told, in a paper entitled "Coincidences,"
that Thursday has proved a fatal day with the Tudors, for on that day
died Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. If this
had been the case it would, indeed, have been startling; but what
are the facts? Henry VIII. died on _Friday_, January 28, 1547, and
Elizabeth died on _Monday_, March 24, 1603.--Rymer, _Foedera_, xv.
In the same paper we are told with equal inaccuracy that _Saturday_
has been fatal to the present dynasty, "for William IV. and every
one of the Georges died on a Saturday." What, however, says history
proper? William IV. died on _Tuesday_, June 20, 1837; George I. died
_Wednesday_, June 11, 1727; George III. died _Monday_, January 29,
1820; George IV. died _Sunday_, June 26, 1830; and only George II.
died on a _Saturday_, "the day [_so_] fatal to the present dynasty."
CHAUCER says: The throstle-cock sings so sweet a tone that Tubal
himself, the first musican, could not equal it.--_The Court of Love_.
Of course he means Jubal.
CIBBER (_Colley_), in his _Love Makes a Man_, i., makes Carlos the
student say, "For the cure of herds [_Virgil's_] _bucolicks_ are a
master-piece; but when his art describes the commonwealth of bees ...
I'm ravished." He means _Georgics_. The _Bucolics_ are eclogues, and
never touch upon either of these subjects. The diseases and cures of
cattle are in _Georgic_ iii., and the habits, etc., of bees, _Georgic_
iv.
CID (_The_). When Alfonso succeeded his brother Sancho and banished
the Cid, Rodrigo is made to say:
Prithee say where were these gallants
(Bold enough when far from blows)?
Where were they when I, unaided,
Rescued thee from thirteen foes?
The historic fact is, not that Rodrigo rescued Alfonso from thirteen
foes, but that the Cid rescued Sancho from thirteen of Alfonso's foes.
Eleven he slew, and two he put to flight.--_The Cid_, xvi. 78.
COLMAN. Job Thornberry says to Peregrine, who offers to assist him in
his difficulties, "Desist, young man, in time." But Peregrine was at
least 45 years old when so addressed. He was 15 when Job first knew
him, and had been absent thirty years in Calcutta. Job Thornberry
himself was not above five or six years older.
COWPER calls the rose "the glory of April and May," but June is the
great rose month. In the south of England they begin to bloom in the
latter half of May, and go on to the middle of July. April roses would
be horticultural curiosities.
CRITICS at fault. The licentiate tells Don Quixote that some critics
found fault with him for defective memory, and instanced it in this;
"We are told that Sancho's ass is stolen, but the author has forgotten
to mention who the thief was." This is not the case, as we are
distinctly informed that it was stolen by Gines de Passamonte, one of
the galley slaves.--_Don Quixote_, II. i. 3.
DICKENS, in _Edwin Drood_, puts "rooks and rooks' nests" (instead of
daws) "in the tower of Cloisterham."
In _Nicholas Nickleby_ he presents Mr. Squeers as setting his boys "to
hoe turnips" in midwinter.
In _The Tale of Two Cities_, iii. 4, he says: "The name of the strong
man of Old Scripture descended to the chief functionary who worked the
guillotine." But the name of this functionary was Sanson, not Samson.
GALEN says that man has seven bones in the sternum (instead of three);
and Sylvius, in reply to Vesalius, contends that "in days of yore the
robust chests of heroes had more bones than men now have."
GREENE (_Robert_) speaks of Delphos as an _island_; But Delphos, or
rather Delphi, was a city of Phocis, and no island. "Six noblemen were
sent to the isle of Delphos."--_Donastus and Faunia_. Probably he
confounded the city of Delphi with the isle of Delos.
HALLIWELL, in his _Archaic Dictionary_, says: "Crouchmas means
Christmas," and adds that Tusser is his authority. But this is
altogether a mistake. Tusser, in his "_May_ Remembrances," says: "From
bull cow fast, till Crouchmas be past," _i.e._ St. Helen's Day. Tusser
evidently means from May 3 (the invention of the Cross) to August 18
(St. Helen's Day or the Cross-mas), not Christmas.
HIGGONS (_Bevil_) says:
The Cyprian queen, drawn by Apelles hand.
Of perfect beauty did the pattern stand!
But then bright nymphs from every part of Greece
Did all contribute to adorn the piece.
_To Sir Godfrey Kneller_ (1780).
Tradition says that Apelles model was either Phyrne, or Campaspe,
afterwards his wife. Campbell has borrowed these lines, but ascribes
the painting to Protog'enes the Rhodian.
When first the Rhodian's mimic art arrayed
The queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade,
The happy master mingled in the piece
Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece.
_Pleasures of Hope_, ii.
JOHNSON (_Dr_.) makes Addison speak of Steele as "Little Dicky"
whereas the person so called by Addison was not Richard Steele, but a
dwarfish actor who played "Gomez" in Dryden's _Spanish Fryar_.
LONDON NEWSPAPER (_A_), one of the leading journals of the day, has
spoken three times within two years of "passing _under_ the Caudine
Forks," evidently supposing them to be a "yoke" instead of a valley or
mountain pass.
LONGFELLOW calls Erig'ena a _Scotchman_, whereas the very word means
an Irishman.
Done into Latin by that Scottish beast.
Erigena Johannes.
_Golden Legend_.
"Without doubt, the poet mistook John Duns _[Scottus]_, who died
in 1308, for John Scottus _[Erigena]_, who died in 875. Erigena
translated into Latin, _St. Dionysius._ He was latitudinarian in his
views, and anything but 'a Scottish beast or Calvinist.'"
_The Two Angels_. Longfellow crowns the _death-angel_ with amaranth,
with which Milton says, "the spirits elect bind their resplendent
locks;" and his angel of _life_ he crowns with asphodels, the flowers
of Pluto or the grave.
MELVILLE (_Whyte_) makes a very prominent part of his story called
_Holmby House_ turn on the death of a favorite hawk named Diamond,
which Mary Cave tossed off, and saw "fall lifeless at the king's feet"
(ch. xxix.). In ch. xlvi. this very hawk is represented to be alive;
"proud, beautiful, and cruel, like a _Venus Victrix_ it perched on her
mistress's wrist, unhooded."
MILTON. "Colkitto or Macdonnel or Galasp." In this line of Sonnet XI,
Milton seems to speak of three different persons, but in reality they
are one and the same; i.e., Macdonnel, son of Colkittoch, son of
Gillespie (Galasp). Colkittoch means left-handed.
In _Comus_ (ver. 880) he makes the siren Ligea sleek her hair with a
golden comb, as if she were a Scandinavian mermaid.
MOORE (_Thom_.) says:
The sunflower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.
_Irish Melodies_, ii. ("Believe Me, if all those Endearing Young
Charms").
The sunflower does not turn either to the rising or setting sun. It
receives its name solely because it resembles a picture sun. It is not
a turn-sun or heliotrope at all.
MORRIS (_W_.), in his _Atalanta's Race_, renders the Greek word
_Saophron_ "safron," and says:
She the saffron gown will never wear,
And in no flower-strewn couch shall she be laid;
_i.e._ she will never be a bride. Nonnius (bk. xii.) tells us that
virtuous women wore a girdled gown called _Saophron_ ("chaste"), to
indicate their purity and to prevent indecorous liberties. The gown
was not yellow at all, but it was girded with a girdle.
MURPHY, in the _Grecian Daughter_, says (act i. 1):
Have you forgot the elder Dionysius,
Surnamed the Tyrant?... Evander came from Greece,
And sent the tyrant to his humble rank,
Once more reduced to roam for vile subsistence,
A wandering sophist thro' the realms of Greece.
It was not Dionysius the _Elder_, but Dionysius the _Younger_, who was
the "wandering sophist;" and it was not Evander, but Timoleon, who
dethroned him. The elder Dionysius was not dethroned at all, nor
even reduced "to humble rank." He reigned thirty-eight years without
interruption, and died a king, in the plentitude of his glory, at the
age of 63.
In the same play (act iv. 1) Euphrasia says to Dionysius the Younger:
Think of thy father's fate at Corinth, Dionysius.
It was not the father, but the son, (Dionysius the Younger) who lived
in exile at Corinth.
In the same play he makes Timo'leon victorious over the Syracusans
(that is historically correct); and he makes Euphrasia stab Dionysius
the Younger, whereas he retreated to Corinth, and spent his time in
debauchery, but supported himself by keeping a school. Of his death
nothing is known, but certainly he was not stabbed to death by
Euphrasia.--See Plutarch.
RYMER, in his _Foedera_, ascribes to Henry I. (who died in 1135) a
preaching expedition for the restoration of Rochester Church, injured
by fire in 1177 (vol. I i. 9).
In the previous page Rymer ascribes to Henry I. a deed of gift from
"Henry, king of England and _lord of Ireland_;" but every one knows
that Ireland was conquered by Henry II., and the deed referred to was
the act of Henry III.
On p. 71 of the same vol. Odo is made, in 1298, to swear "in no wise
to confederate with Richard I."; whereas Richard I. died in 1199.
SABINE MAID (_The_). G. Gilfillan, in his introductory essay to
Longfellow, says: "His ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine maid,
have not crushed him." Tarpeia, who opened the gates of Rome to the
Sabines, and was crushed to death by their shields, was not a _Sabine_
maid, but a Roman.
SCOTT (_Sir Walter_). In the _Heart of Midlothian_ we read;:
She _[Effie Deans_] amused herself with visiting the dairy ... and was
so near discovering herself to Mary Hetly by betraying her aquaintance
with the celebrated receipt for Dunlop cheese, that she compared
herself to Bedredeen Hassan, whom the vizier his father in-law
discovered by his superlative skill in composing cream-tarts with
pepper in them.
In these few lines are several gross errors: (1) cream-tarts should
be _cheese-cakes_; (2) the charge was "that he made cheese-cakes
_without_ putting pepper in them," and not that he made "cream-tarts
_with_ pepper;" (3) it was not the vizier, his father-in-law and
uncle, but his mother, the widow of Nouredeen, who made the discovery,
and why? for the best of all reasons--because she herself had taught
her son the receipt. The party were at Damascus at the time.--_Arabian
Nights_ ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.). (See page 389, "Thackeray.")
"What!" said Bedredeen, "was everything in
my house to be broken and destroyed ... only
because I did not put pepper in a cheese-cake!"
_Arabian Nights_ ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Again, Sir Walter Scott speaks of "the philosopher who appealed
from Philip inflamed with wine to Philip in his hours of sobriety"
(_Antiquary_, x.). This "philosopher" was a poor old woman.
SHAKESPEARE. _Althaea and the Fire-brand_. Shakespeare says, (_Henry
IV_. act ii. sc. 2) that "Althaea dreamt that she was delivered of a
fire-brand." It was not Althaea, but Hecuba, who dreamed, a little
before Paris was born, that her offspring was a brand that consumed
the kingdom. The tale of Althaea is, that the Fates laid a log of wood
on a fire, and told her that her son would live till that log was
consumed; whereupon she snatched up the log and kept it from the fire,
till one day her son Melea'ger offended her, when she flung the log on
the fire, and her son died, as the Fates predicted.
_Bohemia's Coast_. In the _Winter's Tale_ the vessel bearing the
infant Perdita is "driven by storm on the coast of Bohemia;" but
Bohemia has no seaboard at all.
In _Coriolanus_, Shakespeare makes Volumnia the mother, and Virgilia
the wife, of Coriolanus; but his _wife_ was Volumnia, and his _mother_
Veturia.
_Delphi an Island_. In the same drama (act iii. sc. 1) Delphi is
spoken of as an island; but Delphi is a city of Phocis, containing a
temple to Apollo. It is no island at all.
_Duncan's Murder_. Macbeth did not murder Duncan in the castle of
Inverness, as stated in the play, but at "the smith's house," near
Elgin (1039).
_Elsinore_. Shakespeare speaks of the beetling cliff of Elsinore,
whereas Elsinore has no cliffs at all.
What if it [_the ghost_] tempt you toward the flood.
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er its base into the sea?
_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 4.
_The Ghost_, in _Hamlet_, is evidently a Roman Catholic; he talks of
purgatory, absolution, and other Catholic dogmas; but the Danes at the
time were pagans.
_St. Louis_. Shakespeare, in _Henry V_. act i. sc. 2, calls Louis X.
"St. Louis," but "St. Louis" was Louis IX. It was Louis IX. whose
"grandmother was Isabel," issue of Charles de Lorraine, the last of
the Carlovingians. Louis X. was the son of Philippe IV. (_le Bel_) and
grandson of Philippe III. and "Isabel of Aragon," not Isabel, "heir of
Capet of the line of Charles the duke of Lorain."
_Macbeth_ was no tyrant, as Shakespeare makes him out to be, but a
firm and equitable prince, whose title to the throne was better than
that of Duncan.
Again, _Macbeth_ was not slain by Macduff at Dunsin'ane, but made his
escape from the battle, and was slain in 1056, at Lumphanan.--Lardner,
_Cabinet Cyc_., 17-19.
In _The Winter's Tale_, act v. sc. 2, one of the gentlemen refers to
Julio Romano, the Italian artist and architect (1492-1546), certainly
some 1800 years or more before Romano was born.
In _Twelfth Night_, the Illyrian clown speaks of St. Bennet's Church,
London. "The triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure, or the bells of
St. Bennet's sure may put you in mind: one, two, three" (act v. sc.
1); as if the duke was a Londoner.
SPENSER. _Bacchus_ or _Saturn_? In the _Faery Queen_, iii. 11,
Britomart saw in the castle of Bu'sirane (_3 syl_.), a picture
descriptive of the love of Saturn, who had changed himself into a
centaur out of love for Erig'one. It was not Saturn, but Bacchus who
loved Erig'one, and he was not tranformed into a centaur, but to a
horse.
_Beone_ or _Oenone_? In bk. vi. 9 (_Faery Queen_) the lady-love of
Paris is called Benone, which ought to be Oenone. The poet says that
Paris was "by Plexippus' brook" when the golden apple was brought to
him; but no such brook is mentioned by any classic author.
_Critias and Socrates_. In bk. ii. 7 _(Faery Queen)_ Spenser says:
"The wise Socrates ... poured out his life ... to the dear Critias;
his dearest bel-amie." It was not Socrates, but Theram'enes, one of
the thirty tyrants, who in quaffing the poison-cup, said smiling,
"This I drink to the health of fair Critias."--Cicero, _Tusculan
Questions_.
_Critias_ or _Crito_? In _Faery Queen_, iv. (introduction), Spenser
says that Socrates often discoursed of love to his friend Critias; but
it was Crito, or rather Criton that the poet means.
_Cyprus_ and _Paphos_. Spenser makes Sir Scudamore speak of a temple
of Venus, far more beautiful than "that in Paphos, or that in Cyprus;"
but Paphos was merely a town in the island of Cyprus, and the "two"
are but one and the same temple.--_Faery Queen_, iv. 10.
_Hippomanes_. Spenser says the golden apples of Mammon's garden were
better than Those with which the Eubaean young man won Swift Atalanta.
_Faery Queen_, ii. 7.
The young man was Hippom'anes. He was not a "Eubaean," but a native of
Onchestos, in Boeo'tia.
TENNYSON, in the _Last Tournament_, says (ver. I), Dagonet was
knighted in mockery by Sir Gaw'ain; but in the _History of Prince
Arthur_ we are distinctly told that King Arthur knighted him with his
own hand (pt. ii. 91).
In _Gareth and Lynette_ the same poet says that Grareth was the son
of Lot and Bellicent; but we are told a score times and more in the
_History of Prince Arthur_, that he was the son of Margawse (Arthur's
sister and Lot's wife, pt. i. 36).
King Lot ... wedded Margawse; Nentres ... wedded Elain.--Sir T.
Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 2, 35, 36.
In the same _Idyll_ Tennyson has changed Liones to Lyonors; but,
according to the collection of romances edited by Sir T. Malory, these
were quite different persons. Liones, daughter of Sir Persaunt, and
sister of Linet of Castle Perilous, married Sir Gareth (pt. i. 153);
but Lyonors was the daughter of Earl Sanam, and was the unwedded
mother of Sir Borre by King Arthur (pt. i. 15).
Again, Tennyson makes Gareth marry Lynette, and leaves the true
heroine, Lyonors, in the cold; but the _History_ makes Grareth marry
Liones _(Lyonors)_, and Gaheris his brother marries Linet.
Thus endeth the history of Sir Gareth, that wedded Dame Liones of the
Castle Perilous; and also of Sir Gaheris, who wedded her sister Dame
Linet.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ (end of pt. i.).
Again, in _Gareth and Lynette_, by erroneously beginning day with
sunrise instead of the previous eve, Tennyson reverses the order of
the knights, and makes the _fresh green morn_ represent the decline of
day, or, as he calls it, "Hesperus" or "Evening Star;" and the blue
star of evening he makes "Phosphorus" or the "Morning Star."
Once more, in _Gareth and Lynette_, the poet-laureate makes the
combat between Gareth and Death finished at a single blow, but in the
_History_, Gareth fights from dawn to dewy eve.
Thus they fought [_from sunrise_] till it was past noon, and would not
stint, till, at last both lacked wind, and then stood they wagging,
staggering, panting, blowing, and bleeding ... and when they had
rested them awhile, they went to battle again, trasing, rasing,
and foyning, as two boars ... Thus they endured till evening-song
time.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 136.
In _the Last Tournament_, Tennyson makes Sir Tristram stabbed to
death, by Sir Mark in Tintag'il Castle, Cornwall, while toying with
his aunt, Isolt _the Fair_, but in the _History_ he was in bed in
Brittany, severely wounded, and dies of a shock, because his wife
tells him the ship in which he expected his aunt to come was sailing
into port with a _black_ sail instead of a white one.
The poet-laureate has deviated so often from the collection of tales
edited by Sir Thomas Malory, that it would occupy too much space to
point out his deviations even in the briefest manner.
THACKERAY, in _Vanity Fair_, has taken from Sir Walter Scott his
allusion to Bedredeen, and not from the _Arabian Nights._ He has,
therefore, fallen into the same error, and added two more. He says: "I
ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts
into the cream-tarts in India, sir" (ch. iii.). The charge was that
Bedredeen made his _cheese-cakes without_ putting pepper into them.
But Thackeray has committed in this allusion other blunders. It was
not a "princess" at all, but Bedredeen Hassan, who for the nonce had
become a confectioner. He learned the art of making cheese-cakes from
his mother (a widow). Again, it was not a "princess of Persia," for
Bedredeen's mother was the widow of the vizier of Balsora, at that
time quite independent of Persia.
VICTOR HUGO, in _Les Travailleurs de la Mer_, renders "the Frith of
Forth" by the phrase _Premier des quatre_, mistaking "Frith" _for
first_, and "Forth" _for fourth_ or four.
In his _Marie Tudor_ he refers to the _History and Annals of Henry
VII_. par Franc Baronum, "meaning" _Historia, etc_.
_Henrici Septimi_, per Franciscum Baconum.
VIEGIL has placed AEneas in a harbor which did not exist at the time.
"Portusque require Velinos" _(AEneid_, vi. 366). It was Curius Dentatus
who cut a gorge through the rocks to let the waters of the Velinus
into the Nar. Before this was done, the Velinus was merely a number of
stagnant lakes, and the blunder is about the same as if a modern poet
were to make Columbus pass through the Suez Canal.
In _AEneid_, in. 171 Virgil makes AEneas speak of "Ausonia;" but as
Italy was so called from Auson, son of Ulysses and Calypso, of course
AEneas could not have known the name.
Again, in _AEneid_ ix. 571, he represents Chorinseus as slain by
Asy'las; but in bk. xii. 298 he is alive again. Thus:
Chorinaeum sternit Asylas
Bk. ix. 571.
Then:
Obvius ambustum torrem Chorinseus ab ara
Corripit, et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti
Occupat os flammis, etc.
Bk. xii. 298, etc.
Again in bk. ix. Numa is slain by Nisus, (ver. 554); but in bk. x. 562
Numa is alive, and AEneas kills him.
Once more, in bk. x. AEneas slays Camertes (ver. 562); but in bk. xii.
224 Jaturna, the sister of Turnus, assumes his shape. But if he was
dead, no one would have been deluded into supposing the figure to be
the living man.
[Illustration] Of course, every intelligent reader will be able to add
to this list; but no more space can be allowed for the subject in this
dictionary.
ER'RUA ("_the mad-cap_"), a young man whose wit defeated the strength
of the giant Tartaro (a sort of one-eyed Polypheme). Thus the first
competition was in throwing a stone. The giant threw his stone, but
Errua threw a _bird_, which the giant supposed to be a stone, and as
it flew out of sight, Errua won the wager. The next wager was a bar
of iron. After the giant had thrown, Errua said, "From here to
Salamanca;" whereupon the giant bade him not to throw, lest the bar of
iron should kill his father and mother, who lived there; so the giant
lost the second wager. The third was to pull a tree up by the roots;
and the giant gave in because Errua had run a cord around a host of
trees, and said, "You pull up one, but I pull up all these." The next
exploit was at bed-time; Errua was to sleep in a certain bed; but
he placed a dead man in the bed, while he himself got under it. At
midnight Tartaro took his club and belabored the dead body most
unmercifully. When Errua stood before Tartaro next morning, the giant
was dumbfounded. He asked Errua how he had slept. "Excellently well,"
said Errua, "but somewhat troubled by fleas." Other trials were made,
but always in favor of Errua. At length a race was proposed, and Errua
sewed into a bag the bowels of a pig. When he started, he cut the bag,
strewing the bowels on the road. When Tartaro was told that his rival
had done this to make himself more fleet, he cut his belly, and of
course killed himself.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_ (1877).
ERS'KINE _(The. Rev. Dr_.), minister of Grayfriar's Church,
Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
ER'TANAX, a fish common in the Euphrates. The bones of this fish
impart courage and strength.
A fish ... haunteth the flood of Eufrates ...
it is called an ertanax, and his bones be of such
a manner of kind that whoso handleth them he
shall have so much courage that he shall never
be weary, and he shall not think on joy nor
sorrow that he hath had, but only on the thing
he beholdeth before him.--Sir T. Malory, _History
of Prince Arthur_, iii. 84, (1470).
ERUDITE (_Most_). Marcus Terentius Varro is called "the most erudite
of the Romans" (B.C. 116-27).
ER'YTHRE, modesty personified, the virgin page of Parthen'ia or maiden
of chastity, in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). Fully
described in canto x. (Greek, _cruthros_, "red," from _eruthriao_, "to
blush.")
ERYSICHTHON [_Erri. sik'. thon_], a grandson of Neptune, who was
punished by Ceres with insatiable hunger, for cutting down some trees
in a grove sacred to that goddess. (See ERISICHTHON.)
ES'CALUS, an ancient, kind-hearted lord in the deputation of the duke
of Vienna.--Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_ (1603).
_Es'calus_, Prince of Vero'na.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_
(1598).
ES'CANES (_3 syl_.), one of the lords of Tyre.--Shakespeare,
_Pericles, Prince of Tyre_ (1608).
ESCOBAR (_Mons. L_') the French, name for a fox, so called from M.
Escobar the probabilist, whence also the verb _escobarder_, "to play
the fox," "to play fast and loose."
The French have a capital name for the fox, namely, M. L'Escobar,
which may be translated the "shuffler," or more freely, "sly
boots."--_The Daily News_, March 25, 1878.
ESCOTILLO (_i.e. little Michael Scott_), considered by the common
people as a magician, because he possessed more knowledge of natural
and experimental philosophy than his contemporaries.
ES'DALE (_Mr_.), a surgeon at Madras.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's
Daughter_ (time, George II.).
ES'INGS, the king of Kent. So called from Eisc, the father of Hengist,
as the Tuscans receive their name from Tuscus, the Romans from
Romulus, the Cecrop'idae from Cecrops, the Britons from Brutus, and so
on.--Ethelwerd, _Chron_., ii.
ESMERALDA, a beautiful gypsy-girl, who, with tambourine and goat,
dances in the _place_ before Notre Dame de Paris, and is looked on as
a witch. Quasimodo conceals her for a time in the church, but after
various adventures she is gibbeted.--Victor Hugo, _Notre Dame de
Paris_.
_Esmeralda_; humbly-born heroine of Frances Hodgson Burnett's work of
same name. The story has been dramatized and played with great effect.
ESMOND (_Henry_), a chivalrous cavalier in the reign of Queen Anne;
the hero of Thackeray's novel called _Henry Esmond_ (1852).
ESPLAN'DIAN, son of Am'adis and Oria'na. Montalvo has made him the
subject of a fifth book to the four original books of _Amadis of Gaul_
(1460).
The description of the most furious battles, carried on with all the
bloody-mindedness of an Esplandian or a Bobadil [Ben Jonson, _Every
Man in his Humor_].--_Encyc. Brit_., Art. "Romance."
ESPRIEL'LA (_Manuel Alvarez_), the apocryphal name of Robert Southey.
The poet-laureate pretends that certain "letters from England,"
written by this Spaniard, were translated by him from the original
Spanish (three vols., 1807).
ESSEX (_The earl of_), a tragedy by Henry Jones (1745.) Lord Burleigh
and Sir Walter Raleigh entertained a mortal hatred of the earl of
Essex, and accused him to the queen of treason. Elizabeth disbelieved
the charge; but at this juncture the earl left Ireland, whither the
queen had sent him, and presented himself before her. She was very
angry, and struck him, and Essex rushed into open rebellion, was
taken, and condemned to death. The queen had given him a ring before
the trial, telling him whatever petition he asked should be granted,
if he sent to her this ring. When the time of execution drew nigh, the
queen sent the countess of Nottingham to the Tower, to ask Essex if he
had any plea to make. The earl entreated her to present the ring
to her majesty, and petition her to spare the life of his friend
Southampton. The countess purposely neglected this charge, and Essex
was executed. The queen, it is true, sent a reprieve, but Lord
Burleigh took care it should arrive too late. The poet says that Essex
had recently married the countess of Rutland, that both the queen and
the countess of Nottingham were jealous, and that this jealousy was
the chief cause of the earl's death.
The Abbe Boyer, La Calprenede, and Th. Corneille have tragedies on the
some subject.
_Essex_ (_The earl of_), lord high constable of England, introduced by
Sir W. Scott in his novel called _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
ESTEL'LA, a haughty beauty, adopted by Miss Havisham. She was
affianced by her wish to Pip, but married Bentley Drummle.--C.
Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).
ESTHER, housekeeper to Muhldenau, minister of Mariendorpt. She loves
Hans, a servant to the minister, but Hans is shy, and Esther has to
teach him how to woo and win her. Esther and Hans are similar to Helen
and Modus, only in lower social grade.--S. Knowles, _The Maid of
Mariendorpt_ (1838).
ESTHER HAWDON, better known through the tale as Esther Summerson,
natural daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock (before her
marriage with Sir Leicester Dedlock). Esther is a most lovable, gentle
creature, called by those who know and love her, "Dame Durden" or
"Dame Trot." She is the heroine of the tale, and a ward in Chancery.
Eventually she marries Allan Woodcourt, a surgeon.--C. Dickens, _Bleak
House_ (1852).
ESTHER _Bush_: Wife of the squatter Ishmael Bush. Loud-voiced, sharp
of temper and hard of hand, yet loyal in her way to husband and
children.--James Fennimore Cooper, _The Prairie_, (1827).
_Esther_ (_Queen_), Indian monarch who, during the Wyoming massacre,
dashes out the brains of sixteen prisoners with her own hands, as a
sacrifice to the manes of her son. Queen Esther's Rock is still shown
to travelers.--Ann Sophia Stevens, _Mary Derwent_ (1845).
ESTIFA'NIA, an intriguing woman, servant of donna Margaritta, the
Spanish heiress. She palms herself off on Don Michael Perez (the
copper captain) as an heiress, and the mistress of Margaritta's
mansion. The captain marries her, and finds out that all her swans
are only geese.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_
(1640).
EST-IL-POSSSIBLE? A nickname given to George of Denmark (Queen
Anne's husband), because his general remark to the most startling
announcement was, _Est-il possible?_ With this exclamation he
exhausted the vials of his wrath. It was James II. who gave him the
sobriquet.
EST'MERE (_2 syl_.), king of England. He went with his younger brother
Adler to the court of King Adlands, to crave his daughter in marriage;
but King Adlands replied that Bremor, the sowdan, or sultan of Spain,
had forestalled him. However, the lady, being consulted, gave her
voice in favor of the king of England. While Estmere and his brother
went to make preparations for the wedding, the "sowdan" arrived, and
demanded the lady to wife. A messenger was immediately despatched to
inform Estmere, and the two brothers returned, disguised as a _harper
and his boy_. They gained entrance into the palace, and Adler sang,
saying, "O ladye, this is thy owne true love; no harper, but a king;"
and then drawing his sword he slew the "sowdan," Estmere at the same
time chasing from the hall the "kempery men." Being now master of
the position, Estmere took "the ladye faire," made her his wife, and
brought her home to England.--Percy, _Reliques_, 1. i. 5.
ESTRILDIS OR ELSTRED, daughter of the Emperor of Germany. She was
taken captive in war by Locrin (king of Britain), by whom she became
the mother of Sabrin or Sabre. Gwendolen, the wife of Locrin, feeling
insulted by this liaison, slew her husband, and had Estrildis and
her daughter thrown into a river, since called the Sabri'na or
Severn.--Geoffrey, _British History_, ii. 2, etc.
ESTWICKE (_John_), hero of Charles Egbert Craddock's book, _Where the
Battle was Fought_ (1884). His real name was John Fortescue.
ETE'OCLES AND POLYNI'CES, the two sons Oe'dipos. After the expulsion
of their father, these two young princes agreed to reign alternate
years in Thebes. Eteocles, being the elder, took the first turn, but
at the close of the year refused to resign the sceptre to his brother;
whereupon Polynices, aided by six other chiefs, laid seige to the
city. The two brothers met in combat, and each was slain by the
other's hand.
[Illustration] A similar fratricidal struggle is told of Don Pedro of
Castile and his half-brother Don Henry. When Don Pedro had estranged
the Castilians by his cruelty, Don Henry invaded Castile with a body
of French auxiliaries, and took his brother prisoner. Don Henry
visited him in prison, and the two brothers fell on each other like
lions. Henry wounded Pedro in the face, but fell over a bench, when
Pedro seized him. At that moment a Frenchman seized Pedro by the
leg, tossed him over, and Henry slew him.--Menard, _History of Du
Gueselin._
ETHAN (_Allen_). He gives under his own hand the history of the
capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, and corroborates the popular
story that he demanded the surrender of the fortress, "_In the name of
the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!_" _Allen's Narrative
of Captivity_ (1779).
ETH'ELBERT, king of Kent, and the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings
who was a Christian. He persuaded Gregory to send over Augustine to
convert the English to "the true faith" (596), and built St. Paul's,
London.--Ethelwerd's _Chronicle_, ii.
Good Ethelbert of Kent, first christened English king.
To preach the faith of Christ was first did hither bring
Wise Au'gustine the monk, from holy Gregory sent...
That mighty fane to Paul in London did erect.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xi. (1613).
ETH'ERINGTON (_The late earl of_) father of Tyrrel and Bulmer.
_The titular earl of Etherington_, his successor to the title and
estates.
_Marie de Martigny_ (_La comtesse_), wife of the titular earl of
Etherington.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).
ETHIOPIANS, the same as Abassinians. The Arabians call these people
El-habasen or Al-habasen, whence our Abassins, but they call
themselves Ithiopians or Ethiopians.--Seldon, _Titles of Honor_, vi.
64.
Where the Abassin kings their issue guard,
Mount Amara.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 280 (1665).
ETHIOP'S QUEEN, referred to by Milton in his _Il Penseroso_, was
Cassiope'a, wife of Ce'pheus (_2 syl_.) king of Ethiopia. Boasting
that she was fairer than the sea-nymphs, she offended the Nereids, who
complained to Neptune. Old father Earth-Shaker sent a huge sea-monster
to ravage her kingdom for her insolence. At death Cassiopea was made a
constellation of thirteen stars.
... that starred Ethiop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.
Milton, _Il Penseroso_, 19 (1638).
ETHNIC PLOT. The "Popish Plot" is so called in Dryden's satire of
_Absalom and Achitophel._ As Dryden calls the royalists "Jews,"
and calls Charles II. "David, king of the Jews," the papists were
"Gentiles" (or _Ethnoi_), whence the "Ethnic Plot" means the plot of
the Ethnoi against the people of God.--Pt. i. (1681).
ETIQUETTE (_Madame_), the Duchesse de Noailles, grand mistress of the
ceremonies in the court of Marie Antoinette; so called from her rigid
enforcement of all the formalities and ceremonies of the _ancien
regime._
ETNA. Zens buried under this mountain Enkel'ados, one of the
hundred-handed giants.
The whole land weighed him down, as Etna does
The giant of mythology.
Tennyson, _The Golden Supper_.
ETTEILLA, the pseudonym of Alliette (spelt backwards), a perruquier
and diviner of the eighteenth century. He became a professed cabalist,
and was visited in his studio in the Hotel de Crillon (Rue de la
Verrerie) by all those who desired to unroll the Book of Fate. In 1783
he published _Maniere de se Recreer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommees
Tarots_. In the British Museum are some divination cards published
in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, called _Grand
Etteilla_ and _Petit Etteilla_, each pack being accompanied with a
book of explication and instruction.
ETTERCAP, an ill-tempered person, who mars sociability. The
ettercap is the poison-spider, and should be spelt "Attercop." (The
Anglo-Saxon, _atter-cop_, poison-spider.)
O sirs, was sic difference seen
As 'twix wee Will and Tam,
The ane's a perfect ettercap,
The ither's just a lamb.
W. Miller, _Nursery Songs_.
ETTRICK SHEPHERD _(The)_, James Hogg, the Scotch Poet., who was born
in the forest of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and was in early life a
shepherd (1772-1835).
ETTY'S NINE PICTURES, "the Combat," the three "Judith" pictures,
"Benaiah," "Ulysses and the Syrens," and the three pictures of "Joan
of Arc."
"My aim," says Etty, "in all my great
pictures has been to paint some great moral on
the heart. 'The Combat' represents _the beauty
of mercy_; the three 'Judith' pictures, _patriotism_
[1, _self-devotion to God; 2, self-devotion to man_; 3,
_self-devotion to country_;] 'Benaiah, David's chief
captain,' represents _valor_; 'Ulysses and the
Syrens,' _sensual delights_ or _the wages of sin is
death_; and the three pictures of 'Joan of Arc'
depict _religion, loyalty_ and _patriotism_. In all,
nine in number, as it was my desire to paint
three."--William Etty, of York (1787-1849).
ET'ZEL or EZZEL _(i.e. Attila_), king of the Huns, in the songs of
the German minnesingers. A ruler over three kingdoms and thirty
principalities. His second wife was Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried.
In pt ii. of the _Niebelungen Lied_, he sees his sons and liegemen
struck down without making the least effort to save them, and is as
unlike the Attila of history as a "hector" is to the noble Trojan "the
protector of mankind."
EU'CHARIS, one of the nymphs of Calypso, with whom Telemachos was
deeply smitten. Mentor, knowing his love was sensual love, hurried him
away from the island. He afterwards fell in love with Anti'ope, and
Mentor approved his choice.--Fenelon, _Telemaque_, vii. (1700).
Eucharis is meant for Mdlle. de Fontange, maid of honor to Mde. de
Montespan. For a few months she was a favorite with Louis XIV., but
losing her good looks she was discarded, and died at the age of 20.
She used to dress her hair with streaming ribbons, and hence this
style of head-gear was called _a la Fontange_.
EU'CLIO, a penurious old hunks.--Plautus, _Aulularia_.
Now you must explain all this to me, unless
you would have me use you as ill as Euclio does
Staphy'la--Sir W. Scott.
EU'CRATES (3 _syl_.), the miller, and one of the archons of Athens. A
shuffling fellow, always evading his duty and breaking his promise;
hence the Latin proverb:
Vias novit quibus effugiat Eucrates ("He has
more shifts than Eucrates").
EUDO'CIA (_4 syl_.), daughter of Eu'menes, governor of Damascus.
Pho'cyas, general of the Syrian forces, being in love with her, asks
the consent of Eumenes, and is refused. In revenge, he goes over to
the Arabs, who are beseiging Damascus. Eudocia is taken captive, but
refuses to wed a traitor. At the end, Pho'cyas dies, and Eudocia
retires into a nunnery.--John Hughes, _The Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
EUDON (_Count_) of Catabria. A baron favorable to the Moors, "too
weak-minded to be independent." When the Spaniards rose up against
the Moors, the first order of the Moorish chief was this: "Strike off
Count Eudon's head: the fear which brought him to our camp will bring
him else in arms against us now" (ch. xxv.). Southey, _Roderick,
etc_., xiii. (1814).
EUDOX'IA, wife of the Emperor Valentin'ian. Petro'nius Max'imus
"poisoned" the emperor, and the empress killed Maximus.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _Valentinian_ (1617).
EUGENE _(Aram)._ Scholarly man of high ideals, who has committed a
murder, and hides the knowledge of it from all. He is finally hunted
down.--Lord Lytton, _Eugene Aram_.
EUGE'NIA, called "Silence" and the "Unknown." She was the wife of
Count de Valmont, and mother of Florian, "the foundling of the
forest." In order to come into the property, Baron Longueville used
every endeavor to kill Eugenia and Florian, but all his attemps were
abortive, and his villainy at length was brought to light.--W. Dimond,
_The Foundling of the Forest._
EUGENIE _(Lalande)._ The marvellously well-preserved great-grandmother
of a near-sighted youth who addresses and marries her. She reveals the
trick that has been played on him by presenting him with a pair of
eye-glasses.--Edgar Allan Poe, _The Spectacles_.
EUGENIO, a young gentleman who turned goat-herd, because Leandra
jilted him and eloped with a heartless adventurer named Vincent de la
Rosa.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote, I_. iv. 20 ("The Goatherd's Story,"
1605).
EUGENIUS, the friend and wise counsellor of Yorick. John Hall
Stevenson was the original of this character.--Sterne, _Tristram
Shandy_ (1759).
EUHE'MEROS a Sicilian Greek, who wrote a _Sacred History_ to explain
the historical or allegorical character of the Greek and Latin
mythologies.
One could wish Euhemeros had never been born. It was he that spoilt
[_the old myths_] first.--Ouida, _Ariadne_, i.1.
EULENSPIEGEL _(Tyll), i.e._ "Tyll Owl-glass," of Brunswick. A man
who runs through the world as charlatan, fool, lansquenet, domestic
servant, artist, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything, but
rejoices in cheating those who employ him; he parodies proverbs,
rejoices in mischief, and is brimful of pranks and drolleries. Whether
Uulenspiegel was a real character or not is a matter of dispute, but
by many the authorship of the book recording his jokes is attributed
to the famous German satirist, Thomas Murner.
In the English versions of the story he is called _Howle-glass._
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal
history as Tyll Eulenspiegel. Now, after five centuries, his native
village is pointed out with pride to the traveller.--Carlyle.
EUMAEOS (in Latin, _Eumoes_), the slave and swine-herd of Ulysses,
hence any swine-herd.
EU'MENES (_3 syl._), Governor of Damascus, and father of
Eudo'cia.--John Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
EUMNES'TES, Memory personified. Spenser says he is an old man,
decrepit and half blind. He was waited on by a boy named Anamnestes.
[Greek, _eumnestis_, "good memory," _anamnestis_, "research."--_Faery
Queen_, ii. 9 (1590).]
EUNICE (_Alias "Nixey_"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an
illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from
the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.
In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she
vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a
thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.--Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps _Hedged In_ (1870).
EUPHRA'SIA, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in
Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. Being in love with Prince Philaster,
she assumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the
prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess
Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender
page. The sex of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness
of this jealousy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Philaster_ or _Love Lies
A-bleeding_ (1608).
_Euphra'sia_, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the
old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a
dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had
fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having
gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from
starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her
own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When
Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but
Euphrasia, rushing forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.--A.
Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).
[Illustration] The same tale is told-of Xantippe, who preserved the
life of her father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the
old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.
There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light
What do I gaze on!...
An old man, and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins
The blood is nectar ...
Here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire,
To whom she renders back the debt of blood.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 148 (1817).
EU'PHRASY, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed
to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel
Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the
distant future.--See Milton, _Paradise Lost_, xi. 414-421 (1665).
EU'PHUES (3 _syll_), the chief character in John Lilly's _Euphues or
The Anatomy of Wit_, and _Euphues and his England_. He is an Athenian
gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and
roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees"
_(Henry V_. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphues was designed to exhibit
the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called
_Euphues' Golden Legacy_ (1590).
"The commonwealth of your bees," replied
Euphues, "did so delight me that I was not a
little sorry that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple
judgment, there was such an orderly government
that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."
J. Lilly, _Euphues_ (1581).
(The romances of Calprenede and Scuderi bear the same relation to
the jargon of Louis XIV., as the _Euphues_ of Lilly to that of Queen
Elizabeth.)
EURE'KA! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation
of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to
test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.
The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had
given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the
metal, and he asked Archimedes to ascertain if his suspicion was well
founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the
water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced
its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of
gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown
was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but
they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with.
Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference
of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy
introduced by the artificer.
Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred to
the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and
without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran
home, exclaiming, '_Heureka! heureka!_'"
EURO'PA. _The Fight at Dame Europa's School_, written by the Rev.
H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the
Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).
EUROPE'S LIBERATOR. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of
Bonaparte (1769-1852).
Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations"
And "Europe's Liberator."
Byron, _Don Juan_, ix. 5 (1824).
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