Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1
by
The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
Part 7 out of 15
BRITON _(Colonel)_, a Scotch officer, who sees donna Isabella jump
from a window in order to escape from a marriage she dislikes. The
colonel catches her, and takes her to the house of donna Violante, her
friend. Here he calls upon her, but don Felix, the lover of Violante,
supposing Violante to be the object of his visits, becomes jealous,
till at the end the mystery is cleared up, and a double marriage is
the result.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).
BROB'DINGNAG, a country of enormous giants, to whom Gulliver was a
tiny dwarf. They were as tall "as an ordinary church steeple," and all
their surroundings were in proportion.
Yon high church steeple, yon gawky stag. Your husband must come from
Brobdingnag. Kane O'Hara, _Midas_.
BROCK _(Adam)_, in _Charles XII._, an historical drama by J. E.
Planche.
BROKEN-GIRTH-FLOW (_Laird of_), one of the Jacobite conspirators in
_The Black Dwarf_, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Anne).
BROKER OF THE EMPIRE (_The_). Darius, son of Hystaspes, was so called
by the Persians from his great care of the financial condition of his
empire.
BROMIA, wife of Sosia (slave of Amphitryon), in the service of
Alcmena. A nagging termagant, who keeps her husband in petticoat
subjection. She is not one of the characters in Moliere's comedy of
_Amphitryon_.--Dryden, _Amphitryon_ (1690).
BROMTON'S CHRONICLE (time, Edward III.), that is, "The Chronicle of
John Bromton" printed among the _Decem Scriptores_, under the titles
of "Chronicon Johannis Bromton," and "Joralanensis Historia a Johanne
Bromton," abbot of Jerevaux, in Yorkshire. It commences with the
conversion of the Saxons by St. Augustin, and closes with the death
of Richard I. in 1199. Selden has proved that the chronicle was not
_written_ by Bromton, but was merely brought to the abbey while he was
abbot.
BRONTES (2 _syl._), one of the Cyclops, hence a blacksmith generally.
Called Bronteus (2 _syl._), by Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 5 (1596).
Not with such weight, to frame the forky brand,
The ponderous hammer falls from Brontes' hand.
_Jerusalem Delivered_, xx. (Hool's translation).
BRONZELY (2 _syl._), a mere rake, whose vanity was to be thought "a
general seducer."--Mrs. Inchbald, _Wives as they Were, and Maids as
they Are_ (1797).
BRONZOMARTE (3 _syl._), the sorrel steed of sir Launcelot Greaves.
The word means a "mettlesome sorrel."--Smollett, _Sir Launcelot
Greaves_ (1756).
BROOK (_Master_), the name assumed by Ford when sir John Falstaff
makes love to his wife. Sir John, not knowing him, confides to him
every item of his amour, and tells him how cleverly he has duped
Ford by being carried out in a buck-basket before his very
face.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1601).
BROOKE (_Dorothea_), calm, queenly heroine of _Middlemarch_, by George
Eliot.
BROO'KER, the man who stole the son of Ralph Nickleby out of revenge,
called him "Smike," and put him to school at Dotheboy's Hall,
Yorkshire.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
BROOKS OF SHEFFIELD, name by which Murdstone alludes to David
Copperfield in novel of that name.
BROTHER JON'ATHAN. When Washington was in want of ammunition, he
called a council of officers; but no practical suggestion being
offered, he said, "We must consult brother Jonathan," meaning his
excellency Jonathan Trumbull, the elder governor of the state of
Connecticut. This was done, and the difficulty surmounted. "To consult
brother Jonathan" then became a set phrase, and "Brother Jonathan"
became the "John Bull" of the United States.--J. R. Bartlett,
_Dictionary of Americanisms_.
BROTHER SAM, the brother of lord Dundreary, the hero of a comedy based
on a German drama, by John Oxenford, with additions and alterations by
E. A. Sothern and T. B. Buckstone.--Supplied by T. B. Buckstone, Esq.
BROWDIE (_John_), a brawny, big-made Yorkshire corn-factor, bluff,
brusque, honest, and kind-hearted. He befriends poor Smike, and is
much, attached to Nicholas Nickleby. John Browdie marries Matilda
Price, a miller's daughter.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
BROWN (_Hablot_) illustrated some of Dickens's novels and took the
pseudonym of "Phiz" (1812-).
_Brown (Jonathan)_, landlord of the Black Bear at Darlington. Here
Frank Osbaldistone meets Rob Roy at dinner.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_
(time, George I.).
_Brown (Mrs.)_, the widow of the brother-in-law of the Hon. Mrs.
Skewton. She had one daughter, Alice Marwood, who was first cousin to
Edith (Mr. Dombey's second wife). Mrs. Brown lived in great poverty,
her only known vocation being to "strip children of their clothes,
which she sold or pawned."--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
_Brown (Mrs.)_, a "Mrs. John Bull," with all the practical sense,
kind-heartedness, absence of conventionality, and the prejudices of a
well-to-do but half-educated Englishwoman of the middle shop class.
She passes her opinions on all current events, and travels about,
taking with her all her prejudices, and despising everything which is
not English.--Arthur Sketchley [Rev. George Rose].
_Brown (Tom)_, hero of _Tom Brown's School-Days_ and _Tom Brown at
Oxford_, by Thomas Hughes.
_Brown (Vanbeest)_, lieutenant of Dirk Hatteraick.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy
Mannering_ (time, George II.).
BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON, three Englishmen who travel together.
Their adventures, by Richard Doyle, were published in _Punch_. In them
is held up to ridicule the _gaucherie_, the contracted notions, the
vulgarity, the conceit, and the general snobbism of the middle-class
English abroad.
BROWN OF CALAVERAS, a dissipated blackleg and ne'er-do-weel, whose
handsome wife, arriving unexpectedly from the East, retrieves his
fortune and risks his honor by falling in love with another man, a
brother-gambler.--Bret Harte, _Brown of Calaveras_ (1871).
BROWN THE YOUNGER (_Thomas_), the _nom de plume_ of Thomas Moore in
_The Two-Penny Post-Bag_, a series of witty and very popular satires
on the prince regent (afterwards George IV.), his ministers, and his
boon companions. Also in _The Fudge Family in Paris_, and in _The
Fudges in England_ (1835).
BROWNE (_General_), pays a visit to lord Woodville. His bedroom for
the night is the "tapestried chamber," where he sees the apparition of
"the lady in the sacque," and next morning relates his adventure.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Tapestried Chamber_ (time, George III.).
BROWNLOW, a most benevolent old gentleman, who rescues Oliver Twist
from his vile associates. He refuses to believe in Oliver's guilt of
theft, although appearances were certainly against him, and he even
takes the boy into his service.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
BROWNS. _To astonish the Browns_, to do or say something regardless of
the annoyance it may cause, or the shock it may give to Mrs. Grundy.
Anne Boleyn had a whole clan of Browns, or "country cousins," who were
welcomed at court in the reign of Elizabeth. The queen, however, was
quick to see what was _gauche_, and did not scruple to reprove them
for uncourtly manners. Her plainness of speech used quite to "astonish
the Browns."
BROXMOUTH (_John_), a neighbor of Happer the miller.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
BRUCE (_Mr. Robert_), mate on a bark trading between Liverpool and St.
John's, N.B., sees a man writing in the captain's cabin, a stranger
who disappears after pencilling certain lines on the slate. These
prove a providential warning by which the vessel escapes certain
destruction. The story is told by Robert Dale Owen in _Footfalls on
the Boundary of Another World_, and vouched for as authentic (1860).
_Bruce (The)_, an epic poem by John Barbour (1320-1395).
BRUEL, the name of the goose in the tale of _Reynard the Fox_. The
word means the "Little roarer" (1498).
BRUIN, the name of the bear, in the beast-epic called _Reynard the
Fox_. Hence a bear in general.
The word means "the brown one" (1498).
_Bruin_, one of the leaders arrayed against Hudibras. He is meant for
one Talgol, a Newgate butcher, who obtained a captain's commission for
valor at Naseby. He marched next to Orsin [_Joshua Gosling_, landlord
of the bear-gardens at Southwark].--S. Butler, _Hudibras_, i. 3.
_Bruin_ (_Mrs._ and _Mr._), daughter and son-in-law to sir Jacob
Jollup. Mr. Bruin is a huge bear of a fellow, and rules his wife with
scant courtesy.--S. Foote, _The Mayor of Garratt_ (1763).
BRULGRUD'DERY (_Dennis_), landlord of the Red Cow, on Muckslush Heath.
He calls himself "an Irish gintleman bred and born." He was "brought
up to the church," _i.e._ to be a church beadle, but lost his place
for snoring at sermon-time. He is a sot, with a very kind heart, and
is honest in great matters, although in business he will palm off an
old cock for a young capon.
_Mrs. Brulgruddery_, wife of Dennis, and widow of Mr. Skinnygauge,
former landlord of the Red Cow. Unprincipled, self-willed,
ill-tempered, and over-reaching. Money is the only thing that moves
her, and when she has taken a bribe she will whittle down the service
to the finest point.--G. Colman, jun., _John Bull_ (1805).
BRUN'CHEVAL "the Bold," a paynim knight, who tilted with sir
Satyrane, and both were thrown to the ground together at the first
encounter.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 4 (1596).
BRUNEL'O, a deformed dwarf, who at the siege of Albracca stole
Sacripan'te's charger from between his legs without his knowing it.
He also stole Angelica's magic ring, by means of which he released
Roge'ro from the castle in which he was imprisoned. Ariosto says
that Agramant gave the dwarf a ring which had the power of resisting
magic.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495); and Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).
"I," says Sancho, "slept so soundly upon Dapple, that the thief had
time enough to clap four stakes under the four corners of my pannel
and to lead away the beast from under my legs without waking
me."--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. i. 4 (1615).
BRUNETTA, mother of Chery (who married his cousin Fairstar).--Comtesse
D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Princess Fairstar," 1682).
_Brunetta_, the rival beauty of Phyllis. On one occasion Phyllis
procured a most marvellous fabric of gold brocade in order to eclipse
her rival, but Brunetta arrayed her train-bearer in a dress of the
same material and cut in the same fashion. Phyllis was so mortified
that she went home and died.--_The Spectator_.
BRUNHILD, queen of Issland, who made a vow that none should win her
who could not surpass her in three trials of skill and strength: (1)
hurling a spear; (2) throwing a stone; and (3) jumping. Guenther king
of Burgundy undertook the three contests, and by the aid of Siegfried
succeeded in winning the martial queen. _First_, hurling a spear that
three men could scarcely lift: the queen hurled it towards Guenther,
but Siegfried, in his invisible cloak, reversed its direction, causing
it to strike the queen and knock her down. _Next_, throwing a stone so
huge that twelve brawny men were employed to carry it: Brunhild lifted
it on high, flung it twelve fathoms, and jumped beyond it. Again
Siegfried helped his friend to throw it further, and in leaping beyond
the stone. The queen, being fairly beaten, exclaimed to her liegemen,
"I am no longer your queen and mistress; henceforth are ye the
liegemen of Guenther" (lied vii.). After marriage Brunhild was so
obstreperous that the king again applied to Siegfried, who succeeded
in depriving her of her ring and girdle, after which she became a very
submissive wife.--_The Niebelungen Lied_.
BRUNO (_Bishop_), bishop of Herbipolitanum. Sailing one day on the
Danube with Henry III. emperor of Germany, they came to Ben Strudel
("the devouring-gulf"), near Grinon Castle, in Austria. Here the voice
of a spirit clamored aloud, "Ho! ho! Bishop Bruno, whither art thou
travelling? But go thy ways, bishop Bruno, for thou shalt travel with
me tonight." At night, while feasting with the emperor, a rafter
fell on his head and killed him. Southey has a ballad called _Bishop
Bruno_, but it deviates from the original legend given by Heywood in
several particulars: It makes bishop Bruno hear the voice first on
his way to the emperor, who had invited him to dinner; next, at the
beginning of dinner; and thirdly, when the guests had well feasted. At
the last warning an ice-cold hand touched him, and Bruno fell dead in
the banquet hall.
BRUSH, the impertinent English valet of lord Ogleby. If his lordship
calls he never hears unless he chooses; if his bell rings he never
answers it till it suits his pleasure. He helps himself freely to all
his master's things, and makes love to all the pretty chambermaids
he comes into contact with.--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine
Marriage_ (1766).
BRUTE (1 _syl_.), the first king of Britain (in mythical history). He
was the son of AEneas Silvius (grandson of Ascanius and great-grandson
of AEneas of Troy). Brute called London (the capital of his adopted
country) Troynovant (_New Troy_). The legend is this: An oracle
declared that Brute should be the death of both his parents; his
mother died in child-birth, and at the age of fifteen Brute shot his
father accidentally in a deer-hunt. Being driven from Alba Longa, he
collected a band of old Trojans and landed at Totness, in Devonshire.
His wife was Innogen, daughter of Pandra'sus king of Greece. His tale
is told at length in the _Chronicles_ of Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the
first song of Drayton's _Polyolbion_, and in Spenser's _Faery Queen_,
ii.
_Brute (Sir John)_, a coarse, surly, ill-mannered brute, whose delight
was to "provoke" his young wife, who he tells us "is a young lady, a
fine lady, a witty lady, and a virtuous lady, but yet I hate her." In
a drunken frolic he intercepts a tailor taking home a new dress to
lady Brute; he insists on arraying himself therein, is arrested for a
street row, and taken before the justice of the peace. Being asked his
name, he gives it as "lady John Brute," and is dismissed.
_Lady Brute_, wife of sir John. She is subjected to divers
indignities, and insulted morn, noon, and night by her surly, drunken
husband. Lady Brute intrigues with Constant, a former lover; but her
intrigues are more mischievous than vicious.--Vanbrugh, _The Provoked
Wife_ (1697).
BRUTE GREEN-SHIELD, the successor of Ebranc king of Britain. The
mythical line is: (1) Brute, great-great-grandson of AEneas; (2)
Locrin, his son; (3) Guendolen, the widow of Locrin; (4) Ebranc; (5)
Brute Green-Shield. Then follow in order Leil, Hudibras, Bladud, Leir
[Shakespeare's "Lear"], etc.
... of her courageous kings,
Brute Green-Shield, to whose name we providence impute
Divinely to revive the land's first conqueror, Brute.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
BRUTUS (_Lucius Junius_), first consul of Rome, who condemned his own
two sons to death for joining a conspiracy to restore Tarquin to
the throne, from which he had been banished. This subject has been
dramatized by N. Lee (1679) and John H. Payne, under the title of
_Brutus, or the_ _Fall of Tarquin_ (1820). Alfieri has an Italian
tragedy on the same subject. In French we have the tragedies of
Arnault (1792) and Ponsard (1843). (See LUCRETIA.)
The elder Kean on one occasion consented to appear at the Glasgow
theatre for his son's benefit. The play chosen was Payne's _Brutus_,
in which the father took the part of "Brutus" and Charles Kean that
of "Titus." The audience sat suffused in tears during the pathetic
interview, till "Brutus" falls on the neck of "Titus," exclaiming in
a burst of agony, "Embrace thy wretched father!" when the whole house
broke forth into peals of approbation. Edmund Kean then whispered in
his son's ear, "Charlie, we are doing the trick."--W. C. Russell,
_Representative Actors_, p. 476.
_Junius Brutus_. So James Lynch Fitz-Stephen has been called, because
(like the first consul of Rome) he condemned his own son to death for
murder, and to prevent a rescue caused him to be executed from the
window of his own house in Galway (1493).
_The Spanish Brutus_, Alfonso Perez de Gruzman, governor of Tarifa in
1293. Here he was besieged by the infant don Juan, who had revolted
against his brother, king Sancho IV., and having Guzman's son in his
power threatened to kill him unless Tarifa was given up to him. Guzman
replied, "Sooner than be guilty of such treason I will lend Juan a
dagger to slay my son;" and so saying tossed his dagger over the wall.
Sad to say, Juan took the dagger, and assassinated the young man there
and then (1258-1309).
_Brutus (Marcus)_, said to be the son of Julius Caesar by Servilia.
Brutus' bastard hand
Stabb'd Julius Caesar.
Shakespeare, 2 _Henry VI_. act iv. sc. 1 (1591).
This Brutus is introduced by Shakespeare in his tragedy of _Julius
Caesar_, and the poet endows him with every quality of a true patriot.
He loved Caesar much, but he loved Rome more.
_Brutus. Et tu, Brute_. Shakespeare, on the authority of Suetonius,
puts these words into the mouth of Caesar when Brutus stabbed him.
Shakespeare's drama was written in 1607, and probably he had seen _The
True Tragedy of Richard duke of York_ (1600), where these words occur;
but even before that date H. Stephens had said:
Jule Cesar, quand il vit que Brutus aussi estoit de ceux qui luy
tirient des coups d'espee, luy dit, _Kai sy tecnon_? c'est a dire....
Et toy mon fils, en es tu aussi.--_Deux Dial. du Noveau Lang. Franc_
(1583).
BRUTUS AND CICERO. Cicero says: [Latin: "Caesare interfecto, statim,
cruentum alte extollens M. Brutus pugionem _Ciceronem_ nominatim
exclamavit, atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus."]--_Philipp_.
ii. 12.
When Brutus rose, Refulgent from the stroke of Caesar's fate,... [_he_]
called aloud On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, And bade
the "father of his country" hail.
Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, i.
BRY'DONE (_Elspeth_), or Glendinning, widow of Simon Glendinning,
of the Tower of Glendearg.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time,
Elizabeth).
BUBAS'TIS, the Dian'a of Egyptian mythology. She was the daughter of
Isis and sister of Horus.
BUBENBURG (_Sir Adrian de_), a veteran knight of Berne.--Sir W. Scott,
_Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).
BUCCA, goblin of the wind in Celtic mythology, and supposed by the
ancient inhabitants of Cornwall to foretell shipwreck.
BUCEN'TAUR, the Venetian state galley used by the doge when he went
"to wed the Adriatic." In classic mythology the bucentaur was half man
and half ox.
BUCEPH'ALOS ("_bull-headed_"), the name of Alexander's horse, which
cost L3500. It knelt down when Alexander mounted, and was thirty years
old at its death. Alexander built a city called Bucephala in its
memory.
_The Persian Bucephalos_, Shibdiz, the famous charger of Chosroes
Parviz.
BUCK CHEEVER, mountaineer and "moonshiner" in Charles Egbert
Craddock's _In the Stranger People's Country_.
He had been a brave soldier, although the flavor of bushwhacking clung
to his war record; he was a fast friend and a generous foe; what
one hand got by hook or by crook--chiefly, it is to be feared, by
crook--the other made haste to give away (1890).
BUCK FANSHAWE, a popular Californian in the days when Lynch Law was in
vogue in mining districts. He dies, and his partner seeks a clergyman
to arrange for the funeral, which "the fellows" have determined shall
be the finest ever held in the region. The divine questions in his
professional vein and the miner answers in _his_, each sorely puzzled
to interpret the meaning of his companion.
"Was he a--ah--peaceable man?"
"Peaceable! he jest _would_ have peace, ef he
had to lick every darned galoot in the valley to
git it."--Mark Twain, _Buck Fanshawe's Funeral_,
(1872).
BUCK GRANGERFORD, a spirited son of the Grangerford clan, who pays
with his life for fealty to family and feud.--Mark Twain [Samuel
Langhorne Clemens], _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ (1885).
BUCK'ET (_Mr._), a shrewd detective officer who cleverly discovers
that Hortense, the French maid-servant of lady Dedlock, was the
murderer of Mr. Tulkinghorn, and not lady Dedlock, who was charged
with the deed by Hortense.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).
BUCKINGHAM (_George Villiers, duke of_). There were two dukes of
this name, father and son, both notorious for their profligacy and
political unscrupulousness. The first (1592-1628) was the favorite
of James I., nicknamed "Steenie" by that monarch from his personal
beauty, "Steenie" being a pet corruption of Stephen, whose face at
martyrdom was "as the face of an angel." He was assassinated by
Fenton. Sir Walter Scott introduces him in _The Fortunes of Nigel_,
and his son in _Peveril of the Peak_. The son (1627-1688) also appears
under the name of "Zimri" (q.v.) in Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_.
He was the author of _The Rehearsal_, a drama upon which Sheridan
founded his _Critic_, and of other works, but is principally
remembered as the profligate favorite of Charles II. He was a member
of the famous "CABAL" (q.v.), and closed a career of great splendor
and wickedness in the most abject poverty.
_Buckingham_ (_Henry de Stafford, duke of_) was a favorite of Richard
III. and a participator in his crimes, but revolted against him, and
was beheaded in 1483. This is the duke that Sackville met in the
realms of Pluto, and whose "complaynt" is given in the prologue to _A
Mirrour for Magistraytes_ (1587). He also appears in Shakespeare's
_Richard III._ His son in _Henry VIII._
_Buckingham_ (_Mary duchess of_), introduced by sir W. Scott in
_Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
BUCKLAW (_The laird of_), afterwards laird of Girnington. His name
was Frank Hayston. Lucy Ashton plights her troth to Edgar master of
Ravenswood, and they exchange love-tokens at the Mermaid's Fountain;
but her father, sir William Ashton, from pecuniary views, promises her
in marriage to the laird of Bucklaw, and as she signs the articles
Edgar suddenly appears at the castle. They return to each other their
love-tokens, and Lucy is married to the laird; but on the wedding
night the bridegroom is found dangerously wounded in the bridal
chamber, and the bride hidden in the chimney-corner insane. Lucy dies
in convulsions, but Bucklaw recovers and goes abroad.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
BUCKTHORNE, a conspicuous figure in _Tales of a Traveller_, by
Washington Irving. He is gentleman student, dancing buffoon, lover,
poet, and author by turns, and nothing long unless it be a royally
good fellow (1824).
BUFFOON (_The Pulpit_). Hugh Peters is so called by Dugdale
(1599-1660).
BUG JARGAL, a negro, passionately in love with a white woman, but
tempering the wildest passion with the deepest respect.--Victor Hugo,
_Bug Jargal_ (a novel).
BULBUL, an Oriental name for a nightingale. When, in _The Princess_
(by Tennyson), the prince, disguised as a woman, enters with his two
friends (similarly disguised) into the college to which no man was
admitted, he sings; and the princess, suspecting the fraud, says to
him, "Not for thee, O bulbul, any rose of Gulistan shall burst her
veil," i.e., "O singer, do not suppose that any woman will be taken
in by such a flimsy deceit." The bulbul loved the rose, and Gulistan
means the "garden of roses." The prince was the bulbul, the college
was Gulistan, and the princess the rose sought.--Tennyson, _The
Princess_, iv.
BULBUL-HE'ZAR, the talking bird, which was joined in singing by all
the song-birds in the neighborhood. (See TALKING BIRD.)--_Arabian
Nights_ ("The Two Sisters," the last story).
BULIS, mother of Egyp'ius of Thessaly. Egypius entertained a criminal
love for Timandra, the mother of Neoph'ron, and Neophron was guilty of
a similar passion for Bulis. Jupiter changed Egypius and Neophron
into vultures, Bulis into a duck, and Timandra into a
sparrow-hawk.--_Classic Mythology_.
BULL (_John_), the English nation personified, and hence any typical
Englishman.
_Mrs. Bull_, queen Anne, "very apt to be choleric." On hearing that
Philip Baboon (_Philippe duc d'Anjou_) was to succeed to lord Strutt's
estates (_i.e. the Spanish throne_), she said to John Bull:
"You sot, you loiter about ale-houses and taverns,
spend your time at billiards, ninepins, or
puppet-shows, never minding me nor my numerous
family. Don't you hear how lord Strutt
[_the king of Spain_] has bespoke his liveries at
Lewis Baboon's shop [_France_]?... Fie upon it!
Up, man!... I'll sell my shift before I'll be so
used."--Chap. iv.
_John Bull's Mother_, the Church of England.
_John Bull's Sister Peg_, the Scotch, in love with Jack (_Calvin_).
John had a sister, a poor girl that had been
reared ... on oatmeal and water ... and lodged
in a garret exposed to the north wind.... However,
this usage ... gave her a hardy constitution....
Peg had, indeed, some odd humors and
comical antipathies,... she would faint at the
sound of an organ, and yet dance and frisk at
the noise of a bagpipe.--Dr. Arbuthnot, _History
of John Bull_, ii. 2 (1712).
BULLAMY, porter of the "Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life
Insurance Company." An imposing personage, whose dignity resided
chiefly in the great expanse of his red waistcoat. Respectability and
well-to-doedness were expressed in that garment.--C. Dickens, _Martin
Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
BULLCALF (_Peter_), of the Green, who was pricked for a recruit in
the army of sir John Falstaff. He promised Bardolph "four Harry
ten-shillings in French crowns" if he would stand his friend, and when
sir John was informed thereof, he said to Bullcalf, "I will have none
of you." Justice Shallow remonstrated, but Falstaff exclaimed, "Will
you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the
limb, the thews, the stature?... Give me the spirit, master
Shallow."--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV_. act iii. sc. 2 (1598).
BULL-DOGS, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in
his rounds to assist him in apprehending students who are violating
the university statutes, such as appearing in the streets after dinner
without cap and gown, etc.
BULLET-HEAD (_The Great_), George Cadoudal, leader of the Chouans
(1769-1804).
BULLSEGG (_Mr._), laird of Killancureit, a friend of the baron of
Bradwardine.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
BULMER (_Valentine_), titular earl of Etherington, married to Clara
Mowbray.
_Mrs. Ann Bulmer_, mother of Valentine, married to the earl of
Etherington during the life-time of his countess; hence his wife in
bigamy.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).
BUMBLE, beadle of the workhouse where Oliver Twist was born and
brought up. A stout, consequential, hard-hearted, fussy official, with
mighty ideas of his own importance. This character has given to the
language the word _bumbledom_, the officious arrogance and bumptious
conceit of a parish authority or petty dignitary. After marriage the
high-and-mighty beadle was sadly henpecked and reduced to a Jerry
Sneak.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
BUM'KINET, a shepherd. He proposes to Grub'binol that they should
repair to a certain hut and sing "Gillian of Croydon," "Patient
Grissel," "Cast away Care," "Over the Hills," and so on; but being
told that Blouzelinda was dead, he sings a dirge, and Grubbinol joins
him.
Thus wailed the louts in melancholy strain,
Till bonny Susan sped across the plain;
They seized the lass in apron clean arrayed,
And to the ale-house forced the willing maid;
In ale and kisses they forgot their cares,
And Susan Blouzelinda's loss repairs.
Gay, _Pastoral_, v. (1714).
(An imitation of Virgil's _Ecl_. v. "Daphnis.")
BUMPER (_Sir Harry_), a convivial friend of Charles Surface. He sings
the popular song, beginning--
Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen,
Here's to the widow of fifty, etc.
Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).
BUMPPO (_Natty_), the Leather Stocking of Cooper's _Pioneers_;
Hawk-Eye of _The Last of the Mohicans_; the Deer Slayer and the
Pathfinder of the novels of those names; and the trapper of _The
Prairie_, in which his death is recorded. A white man who has lived
so long with Indians as to surpass them in skill and cunning, retains
native nobility of character, and in his countenance "an open honesty
and total absence of guile" that inspires trust.
BUNCE (_Jack_), _alias_ Frederick Altamont, a _ci-devant_ actor, one
of the crew of the pirate vessel.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time,
William III.).
BUNCH (_Mother_), an alewife, mentioned by Dekker in his drama called
_Satiromastix_ (1602). In 1604 was published _Pasquil's Jests, mixed
with Mother Bunch's Merriments_.
There is a series of "Fairy Tales" called _Mother Bunch's Fairy
Tales_.
_Bunch (Mother)_, the supposed possessor of a "cabinet broken open"
and revealing "rare secrets of Art and Nature," such as love-spells
(1760).
BUN'CLE, messenger to the earl of Douglas.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid
of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
_Bun'cle (John)_, a prodigious hand at matrimony, divinity, a song,
and a glass. He married seven wives, and lost all in the flower of
their age. For two or three days after the death of a wife he was
inconsolable, but soon became resigned to his loss, which he repaired
by marrying again.--Thos. Amory, _The Life, etc., of John Buncle,
Esq._
BUNDLE, the gardener, father of Wilelmi'na and friend of Tom Tug the
waterman. He is a plain, honest man, but greatly in awe of his wife,
who nags him from morning till night.
_Mrs. Bundle_, a vulgar Mrs. Malaprop, and a termagant. "Everything
must be her way or there's no getting any peace." She greatly
frequents the minor theatres, and acquires notions of sentimental
romance.
BUN'GAY (_Friar_), one of the friars in a comedy by Robert Green,
entitled _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_. Both the friars are
conjurors, and the piece concludes with one of their pupils being
carried off to the infernal regions on the back of one of friar
Bacon's demons (1591).
_Bungay_, publisher in _History of Pendennis_, by W.M. Thackeray.
BUNGEY (_Friar_), personification of the charlatan of science in the
fifteenth century.
[Illustration] In _The Last of the Barons_, by lord Lytton, friar
Bungey is an historical character, and is said to have "raised mists
and vapors," which befriended Edward IV, at the battle of Barnet.
BUNS'BY (_Captain John_ or _Jade_), owner of the _Cautious Clara_.
Captain Cuttle considered him "a philosopher, and quite an oracle."
Captain Bunsby had one "stationary and one revolving eye," a very red
face, and was extremely taciturn. The captain was entrapped by Mrs.
MacStinger (the termagant landlady of his friend captain Cuttle) into
marrying her.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
BUNTING, the pied piper of Ham'elin. He was so called from his dress.
BUR (_John_), the servant of Job Thornberry, the brazier of Penzance.
Brusque in his manners, but most devotedly attached to his master,
by whom he was taken from the workhouse. John Bur kept his master's
"books" for twenty-two years with the utmost fidelity.--G.R. Colman,
Jun., _John Bull_ (1805).
BUR'BON (_i.e. Henri IV. of France_). He is betrothed to Fordelis
_(France)_, who has been enticed from him by Grantorto (_rebellion_).
Being assailed on all sides by a rabble rout, Fordelis is carried
off by "hell-rake hounds." The rabble batter Burbon's shield
(_protestantism_), and compel him to throw it away. Sir Artegal
(_right_ or _justice_) rescues the "recreant knight" from the mob, but
blames him for his unknightly folly in throwing away his shield
(of faith). Talus (_the executive_) beats off the hellhounds, gets
possession of the lady, and though she flouts Burbon, he catches her
up upon his steed and rides off with her.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, v.
2 (1596).
BURCHELL (_Mr._), _alias_ sir William Thornhill, about thirty years
of age. When Dr. Primrose, the vicar of Wakefield, loses L1400, Mr.
Burchell presents himself as a broken-down gentleman, and the doctor
offers him his purse. He turns his back on the two flash ladies who
talked of their high-life doings, and cried "Fudge!" after all their
boastings and remarks. Mr. Burchell twice rescues Sophia Primrose, and
ultimately marries her.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1765).
BURGUNDY (_Charles the Bold, duke of_) introduced by sir W. Scott
in _Quentin Durward_ and in _Anne of Geierstein_. The latter novel
contains the duke's defeat at Nancy, and his death (time, Edward
IV.).
BURIDAN'S ASS. A man of indecision is so called from the hypothetical
ass of Buridan, the Greek sophist. Buridan maintained that "if an ass
could be placed between two hay-stacks in such a way that its choice
was evenly balanced between them, it would starve to death, for there
would be no motive why he should choose the one and reject the other."
BURLEIGH (_William Cecil, lord_), lord treasurer to queen Elizabeth
(1520-1598), introduced by sir W. Scott in his historical novel called
_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
He is one the principal characters in _The Earl of Essex_, a tragedy
by Henry Jones (1745).
_Burleigh (Lord)_, a parliamentary leader in _The Legend of Montrose_,
a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Charles I.).
_A lord Burleigh shake of the head_, a great deal meant by a look or
movement, though little or nothing is said. Puff, in his tragedy of
the "Spanish Armada," introduces lord Burleigh, "who has the affairs
of the whole nation in his head, and has no time to talk;" but his
lordship comes on the stage and shakes his head, by which he means far
more than words could utter. Puff says:
Why, by that shake of the head he gave you
to understand that even though they had more
justice in their cause and wisdom in their measures,
yet, if there was not a greater spirit shown
on the part of the people, the country would at
last fall a sacrifice to the hostile ambition of the
Spanish monarchy.
_Sneer_. Did he mean all that by shaking his
head?
_Puff_. Every word of it.--Sheridan, _The Critic_,
ii. 1 (1779).
The original "lord Burleigh" was Irish Moody (1728-1813).--_Cornhill
Magazine_ (1867).
BURLESQUE POETRY (_Father of_), Hippo'nax of Ephesus (sixth century
B.C.).
BURLONG, a giant whose legs sir Try'amour cut off.--_Romance of Sir
Tryamour_.
BURNBILL, Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin and lord justice of
Ireland, in the reign of Henry III. It is said that he fraudulently
_burnt_ all the "bills" or instruments by which the tenants of the
archbishopric held their estates.
BURNS OF FRANCE (_The_), Jasmin, a barber of Gascony. Louis Philippe
presented to him a gold watch and chain, and the duke of Orleans an
emerald ring.
BUR'RIS, an honest lord, favorite of the great-duke of
Muscovia.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Loyal Subject_ (1618).
BURROUGHS (_George_), a Salem citizen whose trial for witchcraft
is recorded by Rev. Cotton Mather. The counts are many, and in the
opinion of the court are proven, George Burroughs being condemned to
die. In the story of his crimes set down by Dr. Mather, the climax
would seem to be a paper handed by the accused to the jury, "wherein
he goes to evince 'That there neither are, nor ever were, witches
that, having made a compact with the devil, can send a devil to
torment other people at a distance.'"
"When he came to die, he utterly denied the fact whereof he had been
convicted."--Cotton Mather, _The Wonders of the Invisible World_
(1693).
BU'SIRANE (3 _syl_.), an enchanter who bound Am'oret by the waist to a
brazen pillar, and, piercing her with a dart, wrote magic characters
with the dropping blood, "all for to make her love him." When
Brit'omart approached, the enchanter started up, and, running to
Amoret, was about to plunge a knife into her heart; but Britomart
intercepted the blow, overpowered the enchanter, compelled him
to "reverse his charms," and then bound him fast with his own
chain.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. 11, 12 (1590).
BUSI'RIS, king of Egypt, was told by a foreigner that the long drought
of nine years would cease when the gods of the country were mollified
by human sacrifice. "So be it," said the king, and ordered the man
himself to be offered as the victim.--_Herod_, ii. 59-61.
'Tis said that Egypt for nine years was dry;
Nor Nile did floods nor heaven did rain supply.
A foreigner at length informed the king
That slaughtered guests would kindly moisture bring.
The king replied, "On thee the lot shall fall;
Be thou, my guest, the sacrifice for all."
Ovid, _Art of Love_, i.
_Busi'ris_, supposed by Milton to be the Pharaoh drowned in the Red
Sea.
Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 306 (1665).
BUS'NE (2 _syl._). So the gipsies call all who do not belong to their
race.
The gold of the Busne; give me her gold. Longfellow, _The Spanish
Student_.
BUSQUEUE (_Lord_), plaintiff in the great Pantagruelian lawsuit known
as "lord Busqueue _v._ lord Suckfist," in which the parties concerned
pleaded for themselves. Lord Busqueue stated his grievance and spoke
so learnedly and at such length, that no one understood one word about
the matter; then lord Suckfist replied, and the bench declared "We
have not understood one iota of the defence." Pantag'ruel, however,
gave judgment, and as both plaintiff and defendant considered he had
got the verdict, both were fully satisfied, "a thing without parallel
in all the annals of the court."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. (1533).
BUSY BODY (_The_), a comedy by Mrs. Centlivre (1709). Sir Francis
Gripe (guardian of Miranda, an heiress, and father of Charles), a man
sixty-five years old, wishes to marry his ward for the sake of her
money, but Miranda loves and is beloved by sir George Airy, a man of
twenty-four. She pretends to love "Gardy," and dupes him into yielding
up her money, and giving his consent to her marriage with "the man of
her choice," believing himself to be the person. Charles is in love
with Isabinda, daughter of sir Jealous Traffick, who has made up
his mind that she shall marry a Spaniard named don Diego Babinetto,
expected to arrive forthwith. Charles dresses in a Spanish costume,
passes himself off as the expected don, and is married to the lady of
his choice; so both the old men are duped, and all the young people
wed according to their wishes.
BUTCHER (_The_), Achmet pasha, who struck off the heads of seven of
his wives at once. He defended Acre against Napoleon I.
John ninth lord Clifford, called "The Black Clifford" (died 1461).
Oliver de Clisson, constable of France (1320-1407).
_Butcher (The Bloody_), the duke of Cumberland, second son of Gleorge
II.; so called for his great barbarities in suppressing the rebellion
of Charles Edward, the young pretender (1726-1765).
BUTCHER OF ENGLAND, John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, a man of great
learning and a patron of learning (died 1470).
On one occasion in the reign of Edward IV. he ordered Clapham (a
squire to lord Warwick) and nineteen others, all gentlemen, to be
impaled.--Stow, _Warkworth Chronicle_ ("Cont. Croyl.")
Yet so barbarous was the age, that this same learned man impaled forty
Lancastrian prisoners at Southampton, put to death the infant children
of the Irish chief Desmond, and acquired the nickname of "The Butcher
of England."--_Old and New London_, ii. 21.
BUTLER (_Reuben_), a presbyterian minister, married to Jeanie Deans.
_Benjamin Butler_, father of Reuben.
_Stephen Butler_, generally called "Bible Butler," grandfather of
Reuben and father of Benjamin.
_Widow Judith Butler_, Reuben's grandmother and Stephen's wife.
_Euphemia_ or _Femie Butler_, Reuben's daughter.
_David_ and _Reuben Butler_, Reuben's sons.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of
Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
_Butler (The Rev. Mr.)_, military chaplain at Madras.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).
BUTTERCUP (_John_), a milkman.--W. Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock
Frock_.
_Buttercup (Little_), Bumboat woman, who in her youth, took to
baby-farming, and "mixed those babies up," _i.e._ Ralph Rackstraw and
the Captain of the _Pinafore_.--W.S. Gilbert, _Pinafore_ (1877).
BUXOMA, a shepherdess with whom Cuddy is in love.
My Brown Buxoma is the featest maid
That e'er at wake delightsome gambol played ...
And neither lamb, nor kid, nor calf, nor Tray,
Dance like Buxoma on the first of May.
Gay, _Pastoral_, i. (1714).
BUZFUZ (_Sergeant_), the pleader retained by Dodson and Fogg for the
plaintiff in the celebrated case of "Bardell _v._ Pickwick." Sergeant
Buzfuz is a driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who proved that
Mr. Pickwick's note about "chops and tomato sauce" was a declaration
of love; and that his reminder "not to forget the warming-pan" was
only a flimsy cover to express the ardor of his affection. Of course
the defendant was found guilty by the enlightened jury. (His junior
was Skimpin.)--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
BUZ'ZARD (_The_), in _The Hind and the Panther_, by Dryden (pt. iii.),
is meant for Dr. Gilbert Burnet, whose figure was lusty (1643-1715).
BYCORN, a fat cow, so fat that its sides were nigh to bursting, but
this is no wonder, for its food was "good and enduring husbands," of
which there is good store, (See CHICHI-VACHE.)
BYRON (_Miss Harriet_), a beautiful and accomplished woman of high
rank, devotedly attached to sir Charles Grandison, whom ultimately she
marries.--Richardson, _Sir Charles Grandison_ (1753).
_Byron (The Polish)_, Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).
_Byron (The Russian_), Alexander Sergeivitch Puschkin (1799-1837).
BYRON AND MARY. The Mary of Byron's song is Miss Chaworth. Both Miss
Chaworth and lord Byron were wards of Mr. White. Miss Chaworth married
John Musters, and lord Byron married Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke: both
were equally unhappy.
I have a passion for the name of "Mary,"
For once it was a magic name to me.
Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 4 (1820).
BYRON AND TERESA GUICCIOLI. This lady was the wife of count Guiccioli,
an old man, but very rich. Moore says that Byron "never loved but
once, till he loved Teresa."
BYRON AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. It was Jeffrey and not Brougham who
wrote the article which provoked the poet's reply.
[Illustration]
(in _Notes and Queries_), the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.
CACAFO'GO, a rich, drunken usurer, stumpy and fat, choleric, a
coward, and a bully. He fancies money will buy everything and every
one.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).
CACUR'GUS, the fool or domestic jester of Misog'onus. Cacurgus is
a rustic simpleton and cunning mischief-maker.--Thomas Rychardes,
_Misogonus_ (the third English comedy, 1560).
CA'CUS, a giant who lived in a cave on mount Av'entine (3 _syl_.).
When Hercules came to Italy with the oxen which he had taken from
Ger'yon of Spain, Cacus stole part of the herd, but dragged the
animals by their tails into his cave, that it might be supposed they
had come _out_ of it.
If he falls into slips, it is equally clear they were introduced
by him on purpose to confuse like Caeus, the traces of his
retreat.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."
CAD, a low-born, vulgar fellow. A cadie in Scotland was a carrier of a
sedan-chair.
All Edinburgh men and boys know that when sedan-chairs were
discontinued, the old cadies sank into ruinous poverty, and became
synonymous with roughs. The word was brought to London by James
Hannay, who frequently used it.--M. Pringle.
[Illustration] M. Pringle assures us that the word came from Turkey.
CADE (_Jack_), Irish insurgent in reign of Henry VII. Assuming the
name of Mortimer, he led a company of rebels from Kent, defeated the
king's army, and entered London. His short-lived triumph was ended by
his death at Lewes. He appears in _Henry VI._ by Shakespeare.
CADENUS (3 _syl._) dean Swift. The word is simply _de-ca-nus_ ("a
dean"), with the first two syllables transposed (_ca-de-nus_). Vanessa
is Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, a young lady who fell in love with Swift,
and proposed marriage. The dean's reply is given in the poem entitled
_Cadenus and Vanessa_ [_i.e._ Van-Esther].
CADUCEUS meant generally a herald's staff; as an emblem of a peaceful
errand it was made of a branch of olive-wood with the twigs, which,
later, were transformed to serpents. In this form it is associated
with Mercury, the herald and messenger of the gods--that "beautiful
golden rod with which he both puts men to sleep and wakens them from
slumber." Homer, _Odyssey_, xxiv.
CADURCI, the people of Aquitania.
CADWAL. Arviragus, son of Cymbeline, was so called while he lived
in the woods with Belarius, who called himself Morgan, and whom
Cadwal supposed to be his father.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).
CADWALLADER, called by Bede (1 _syl._) Elidwalda, son of Cadwalla king
of Wales. Being compelled by pestilence and famine to leave Britain,
he went to Armorica. After the plague ceased he went to Rome, where,
in 689, he was baptized, and received the name of Peter, but died very
soon afterwards.
Cadwallader that drave [_sailed_] to the Armoric shore.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ix. (1612).
_Cadwallader_, the misanthrope in Smollett's _Peregrine Pickle_
(1751).
_Cadwallader_ (_Mrs_.), character in _Middle-march_, by George Eliot.
CADWALL'ON, son of the blinded Cyne'tha. Both father and son
accompanied prince Madoc to North America in the twelfth
century.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
_Cadwal'lon_, the favorite bard of prince Gwenwyn. He entered the
service of sir Hugo de Lacy, disguised, under the assumed name of
Renault Vidal.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
CAE'CIAS, the north-west wind. Argestes is the north-east, and Bo'reas
the full north.
Boreas and Caecias and Argestes loud
...rend the woods, and seas upturn.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 699, etc. (1665).
CAELESTI'NA, the bride of sir Walter Terill. The king commanded sir
Walter to bring his bride to court on the night of her marriage. Her
father, to save her honor, gave her a mixture supposed to be poison,
but in reality it was only a sleeping draught. In due time the
bride recovered, to the amusement of the king and delight of her
husband.--Th. Dekker, _Satiromastix_ (1602).
CAE'NEUS [_Se.nuce_] was born of the female sex, and was originally
called Caenis. Vain of her beauty, she rejected all lovers, but was one
day surprised by Neptune, who offered her violence, changed her sex,
converted her name to Ceneus, and gave her (or rather _him_) the gift
of being invulnerable. In the wars of the Lap'ithae, Ceneus offended
Jupiter, and was overwhelmed under a pile of wood, but came forth
converted into a yellow bird. AEneas found Ceneus in the infernal
regions restored to the feminine sex. The order is inverted by sir
John Davies:
And how was Caeneus made at first a man,
And then a woman, then a man again.
_Orchestra, etc_. (1615).
CAESAR (_Caius Julius_).
Somewhere I've read, but where I forget, he could dictate
Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs....
Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village
Than be second in Rome; and I think he was right when he said it.
Twice was he married before he was twenty, and many times after;
Battles five hundred he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered;
But was finally stabbed by his friend the orator Brutus.
Longfellow, _Courtship of Miles Standish_, ii.
Longfellow refers to Pliny, vii. 25, where he says that Caesar "could
employ, at one and the same time, his ears to listen, his eyes to
read, his hand to write, and his tongue to dictate." He is said to
have conquered three hundred nations; to have taken eight hundred
cities, to have slain in battle a million men, and to have defeated
three millions. (See below, CAESAR'S WARS.)
_Caesar and his Fortune_. Plutarch says that Caesar told the captain of
the vessel in which he sailed that no harm could come to his ship, for
that he had "Caesar and his fortune with him."
Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once.
Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2 (1589).
_Caesar saves his Commentaries_. Once, when Julius Caesar was in danger
of being upset into the sea by the overloading of a boat, he swam
to the nearest ship, with his book of _Commentaries_ in his
hand.--Suetonius.
_Caesar's Death_. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare say that Julius Caesar
was killed in the capitol. Thus Polonius says to Hamlet, "I did enact
Julius Caesar; I was killed i' the capitol" (_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2).
And Chaucer says:
This Julius to the capitole wente ...
And in the capitole anon him hente
This false Brutus, and his other soon,
And sticked him with bodekins anon.
_Canterbury Tales_ ("The Monk's Tale," 1388).
Plutarch expressly tells us he was killed in Pompey's Porch or Piazza;
and in _Julius Caesar_ Shakespeare says he fell "e'en at the base of
Pompey's statue" (act iii. sc. 2).
_Caesar's Famous Despatch_, "Veni, vidi, vici," written to the senate
to announce his overthrow of Pharnaces king of Pontus. This "hop,
skip, and a jump" was, however, the work of three days.
_Caesar's Wars_. The carnage occasioned by the wars of Caesar is usually
estimated at a million fighting men. He won 320 triumphs, and fought
500 battles. See above, CAESAR (_Caius Julius_).
What millions died that Caesar might be great!
Campbell. _The Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).
_Caesar_, the Mephistoph'eles of Byron's unfinished drama called _The
Deformed Transformed_. This Caesar changes Arnold (the hunchback) into
the form of Achilles, and assumes himself the deformity and ugliness
which Arnold casts off. The drama being incomplete, all that can be
said is that Caesar, in cynicism, effrontery, and snarling bitterness
of spirit, is the exact counterpart of his prototype, Mephistopheles
(1821).
_Caesar (Don)_, an old man of sixty-three, the father of Olivia. In
order to induce his daughter to marry, he makes love to Marcella, a
girl of sixteen.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_ (1782).
CAEL, a Highlander of the western coast of Scotland. These Cael had
colonized, in very remote times, the northern parts of Ireland, as the
Fir-bolg or Belgae of Britain had colonized the southern parts. The
two colonies had each a separate king. When Crothar was king of the
Fir-bolg (or "lord of Atha"), he carried off Conla'ma, daughter of the
king of Ulster (_i.e._ "chief of the Cael"), and a general war ensued
between the two races. The Cael, being reduced to the last extremity,
sent to Trathal (Fingal's grandfather) for help, and Trathal sent over
Con'ar, who was chosen "king of the Cael" immediately he landed in
Ulster; and having reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, he assumed the
title of "king of Ireland." The Fir-bolg, though conquered, often rose
in rebellion, and made many efforts to expel the race of Conar, but
never succeeded in so doing.--Ossian.
CAGES FOR MEN. Alexander the Great had the philosopher Callisthenes
chained for seven months in an iron cage, for refusing to pay him
divine honors.
Catherine II. of Eussia kept her perruquier for more than three years
in an iron cage in her bed-chamber, to prevent his telling people that
she wore a wig.--Mons. de Masson, _Memoires Secrets sur la Russie_.
Edward I. confined the countess of Buchan in an iron cage, for placing
the crown of Scotland on the head of Bruce. This cage was erected on
one of the towers of Berwick Castle, where the countess was exposed
to the rigor of the elements and the gaze of passers-by. One of the
sisters of Bruce was similarly dealt with.
Louis XI. confined cardinal Balue (grand-almoner of France) for ten
years in an iron cage in the castle of Loches [_Losh_].
Tamerlane enclosed the sultan Bajazet in an iron cage, and made of him
a public show. So says D'Herbelot.
An iron cage was made by Timour's command,
composed on every side of iron gratings, through
which the captive sultan [Bajazet] could be seen
in any direction. He travelled in this den slung
between two horses.--Leunclavius.
CAGLIOSTRO (_Count de_), the assumed name of Joseph Balsamo
(1743-1795).
CAIN AND ABEL are called in the _Koran_ "Kabil and Habil." The
tradition is that Cain was commanded to marry Abel's sister, and Abel
to marry Cain's, but Cain demurred because his own sister was the more
beautiful, and so the matter was referred to God, and God answered
"No" by rejecting Cain's sacrifice.
The Mohammedans also say that Cain carried about with him the dead
body of Abel till he saw a raven scratch a hole in the ground to
bury a dead bird. The hint was taken, and Abel was buried under
ground.--Sale's _Koran_, v. (notes).
CAIRBAR, son of Borbar-Duthul, "lord of Atha" (Connaught), the most
potent of the race of the Fir-bolg. He rose in rebellion against
Cormac "king of Ireland," murdered him (_Temora_, i.), and usurped
the throne; but Fingal (who was distantly related to Cormac) went to
Ireland with an army, to restore the ancient dynasty. Cairbar
invited Oscar (Fingal's grandson) to a feast, and Oscar accepted the
invitation, but Cairbar having provoked a quarrel with his guest, the
two fought, and both were slain.
"Thy heart is a rock. Thy thoughts are dark
and bloody. Thou art the brother of Cathmor
... but my soul is not like thine, thou feeble
hand in fight. The light of my bosom is stained
by thy deeds."--Ossian, _Temora_, i.
CAIRBRE (_2 syl._), sometimes called Cairbar, third king of Ireland,
of the Caledonian line. (There was also a Cairbar, "lord of Atha," a
Fir-bolg, quite a different person.)
The Caledonian line ran thus: (1) Conar, first "king of Ireland;" (2)
Cormac I., his son; (3) Cairbre, his son; (4) Artho, his son; (5)
Cormac II., his son; (6) Ferad-Artho, his cousin.--Ossian.
CAIUS (2 _syl._), the assumed name of the earl of Kent when he
attended on king Lear, after Goneril and Regan refused to entertain
their aged father with his suite.--Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).
_Caius_ (_Dr._), a French physician, whose servants are Rugby and
Mrs. Quickly.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1601).
The clipped English of Dr. Cains.--Macau lay.
CALANDRINO, a character in the _Decameron_, whose "misfortunes have
made all Europe merry for four centuries."--Boccaccio, _Decameron_,
viii. 9 (1350).
CALANTHA, princess of Sparta, loved by Ithocles. Ithocles induces
his sister, Penthea, to break the matter to the princess. This she
does; the princess is won to requite his love, and the king consents
to the union. During a grand court ceremony Calantha is informed of
the sudden death of her father, another announces to her that Penthea
had starved herself to death from hatred to Bassanes, and a third
follows to tell her that Ithocles, her betrothed husband, has been
murdered. Calantha bates no jot of the ceremony, but continues the
dance even to the bitter end. The coronation ensues, but scarcely is
the ceremony over than she can support the strain no longer, and,
broken-hearted, she falls dead.--John Ford, _The Broken Heart_ (1633).
CALAN'THE (3 _syl._), the betrothed wife of Pyth'ias the
Syracusian.--J. Banim, _Damon and Pythias_ (1825).
CAL'CULATOR (_The_). Alfragan the Arabian astronomer was so called
(died A.D. 820). Jedediah Buxton, of Elmeton, in Derbyshire, was also
called "The Calculator" (1705-1775). George Bidder, Zerah Colburn,
and a girl named Heywood (whose father was a Mile End weaver) all
exhibited their calculating powers in public.
Pascal, in 1642, made a calculating machine, which was improved by
Leibnitz. C. Babbage also invented a calculating machine (1790-1871).
CAL'DERON (_Don Pedro_), a Spanish poet born at Madrid (1600-1681). At
the age of fifty-two he became an ecclesiastic, and composed religious
poetry only. Altogether he wrote about 1000 dramatic pieces.
Her memory was a mine. She knew by heart
All Cal'deron and greater part of Lope.
Byron, _Don Juan_, i. 11 (1819).
[Illustration] "Lope," that is Lope de Vega, the Spanish poet
(1562-1635).
CALEB, the enchantress who carried off St. George in infancy.
_Ca'leb_, in Dryden's satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant
for lord Grey of Wark, in Northumberland, an adherent of the duke of
Monmouth.
And, therefore, in the name of dulness be
The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free.
Part i.
[Illustration] "Balaam" is the earl of Huntingdon.
CA'LED, commander-in-chief of the Arabs in the siege of Damascus. He
is brave, fierce, and revengeful. War is his delight. When Pho'cyas,
the Syrian, deserts Eu'menes, Caled asks him to point out the
governor's tent; he refuses; they fight, and Caled falls.--John
Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
CALEDONIANS, Gauls from France who colonized south Britain, whence
they journeyed to Inverness and Ross. The word is compounded of two
Celtic words, _Cael_ ("Gaul" or "Celt") and _don_ or _dun_ ("a hill"),
so that Cael-don means "Celts of the highlands."
The Highlanders to this day call themselves
"_Cael_" and their language "_Caelic_" or "_Gaelic_"
and their country "_Caeldock_" which the Romans
softened into Caledonia.--_Dissertation on the
Poems of Ossian_.
CALENDERS, a class of Mohammedans who abandoned father and mother,
wife and children, relations and possessions, to wander through the
world as religious devotees, living on the bounty of those whom they
made their dupes.--D'Herbelot, _Supplement_, 204.
He diverted himself with the multitude of calenders,
santons, and dervises, who had travelled
from the heart of India, and halted on their way
with the emir.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
_The Three Calenders_, three royal princes, disguised as begging
dervishes, each of whom had lost his right eye. Their adventures form
three tales in the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.
_Tale of the First Calender_. No names are given. This calender was
the son of a king, and nephew of another king. While on a visit to his
uncle his father died, and the vizier usurped the throne. When the
prince returned, he was seized, and the usurper pulled out his right
eye. The uncle died, and the usurping vizier made himself master of
this kingdom also. So the hapless young prince assumed the garb of a
calender, wandered to Baghdad, and being received into the house
of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the caliph
Haroun-al-Raschid.--_The Arabian Nights_.
_Tale of the Second Calender._ No names given. This calender, like the
first, was the son of a king. On his way to India he was attacked by
robbers, and though he contrived to escape, he lost all his effects.
In his flight he came to a large city, where he encountered a tailor,
who gave him food and lodging. In order to earn a living, he turned
woodman for the nonce, and accidentally discovered an underground
palace, in which lived a beautiful lady, confined there by an evil
genius. With a view of liberating her, he kicked down the talisman,
when the genius appeared, killed the lady, and turned the prince into
an ape. As an ape he was taken on board ship, and transported to a
large commercial city, where his penmanship recommended him to the
sultan, who made him his vizier. The sultan's daughter undertook to
disenchant him and restore him to his proper form; but to accomplish
this she had to fight with the malignant genius. She succeeded in
killing the genius, and restoring the enchanted prince; but received
such severe injuries in the struggle that she died, and a spark of
fire which flew into the right eye of the prince destroyed it. The
sultan was so heart-broken at the death of his only child, that he
insisted on the prince quitting the kingdom without delay. So he
assumed the garb of a calender, and being received into the hospitable
house of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the
caliph Haroun-al-Raschid.--_The Arabian Nights_.
_Tale of the Third Calender._ This tale is given under the word AGIB.
* * * * *
"I am called Agib," he says, "and am the son
of a king whose name was Cassib."--_Arabian
Nights_.
CALEPINE (_Sir_), the knight attached to Serena (canto 3). Seeing a
bear carrying off a child, he attacked it, and squeezed it to death,
then committed the babe to the care of Matilde, wife of sir Bruin. As
Matilde had no child of her own, she adopted it (canto 4).--Spenser,
_Faery Queen_, vi. (1596).
[Illustration] Upton says, "the child" in this incident is meant for
M'Mahon, of Ireland, and that "Mac Mahon" means the "son of a bear."
He furthermore says that the M'Mahons were descended from the
Fitz-Ursulas, a noble English family.
CALES (_2 syl._). So gipsies call themselves.
Beltran Cruzado, count of the Cales.
Longfellow, _The Spanish Student_.
CALF-SKIN. Fools and jesters used to wear a calf-skin coat buttoned
down the back, and hence Faulconbridge says insolently to the
arch-duke of Austria, who had acted very basely towards Richard
Lion-heart:
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare, _King John_, act ii. sc. I (1596).
CALIANAX, a humorous old lord, father of Aspatia, the troth-plight
wife of Amintor. It is the death of Aspatia which gives name to the
drama.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).
CALIBAN, a savage, deformed slave of Prospero (the rightful duke of
Milan and father of Miranda). Caliban is the "freckled whelp" of
the witch Sycorax. Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a sort of
Caliban.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).
"Caliban" ... is all earth ... he has the
dawnings of understanding without reason or the
moral sense ... this advance to the intellectual
faculties without the moral sense is marked by
the appearance of vice.--Coleridge.
CALIBURN, same as _Excalibur_, the famous sword of king Arthur.
Onward Arthur paced, with hand
On Caliburn's resistless brand.
Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_ (1813).
Arthur ... drew out his Caliburn, and ...
rushed forward with great fury into the thickest
of the enemy's ranks ... nor did he give over
the fury of his assault till he had, with his Caliburn,
killed 470 men.--Geoffrey, _British History_,
ix. 4 (1142).
CALIDORE (_Sir_), the type of courtesy, and the hero of the sixth
book of Spenser's _Faery Queen_. The model of this character was sir
Philip Sidney. Sir Calidore (3 _syl._) starts in quest of the Blatant
Beast, which had escaped from sir Artegal (bk. v. 12). He first
compels the lady Briana to discontinue her discourteous toll of "the
locks of ladies and the beards of knights" (canto 1). Sir Calidore
falls in love with Pastorella, a shepherdess, dresses like a shepherd,
and assists his lady-love in keeping sheep. Pastorella being taken
captive by brigands, sir Calidore rescues her, and leaves her at
Belgard Castle to be taken care of, while he goes in quest of the
Blatant Beast. He finds the monster after a time, by the havoc it had
made with religious houses, and after an obstinate fight succeeds in
muzzling it, and dragging it in chains after him, but it got loose
again, as it did before (canto 12).--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi.
(1596).
Sir Gawain was the "Calidore" of the Round
Table.--Southey.
[Illustration] "Pastorella" is Frances Walsingham (daughter of sir
Francis), whom sir Philip Sidney married. After the death of sir
Philip she married the earl of Essex. The "Blatant Beast" is what we
now call "Mrs. Grundy."
CALIGORANT, an Egyptian giant and cannibal, who used to entrap
travellers with an invisible net. It was the very same net that Vulcan
made to catch Mars and Venus with. Mercury stole it for the purpose of
entrapping Chloris, and left it in the temple of Anubis, whence it
was stolen by Caligorant. One day Astolpho, by a blast of his magic
horn, so frightened the giant that he got entangled in his own net,
and being made captive was despoiled of it.--Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).
CALINO, a famous French utterer of bulls.
CALIPOLIS, in _The Battle of Alcazar_, a drama by George Peele
(1582). Pistol says to Mistress Quickly:
"Then feed and be fat, my fair Calipolis."--
Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act ii. sc 4 (1598).
CALIS (_The princess_), sister of Astorax, king of Paphos, in
love with Polydore, brother of general Memnon, but loved greatly by
Siphax.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1617).
CALISTA, the fierce and haughty daughter of Sciolto (_3 syl._), a
proud Genoese nobleman. She yielded to the seduction of Lothario, but
engaged to marry Altamont, a young lord who loved her dearly. On the
wedding-day a letter was picked up which proved her guilt, and she was
subsequently seen by Altamont conversing with Lothario. A duel
ensued, in which Lothario fell; in a street row Sciolto received his
death-wound, and Calista stabbed herself. The character of "Calista"
was one of the parts of Mrs. Siddons, and also of Miss Brunton.--N.
Rowe, _The Fair Penitent_ (1703).
Richardson has given a purity and sanctity to the sorrows of his
"Clarissa" which leave "Calista" immeasurably behind.--R. Chambers,
_English Literature_, i. 590.
Twelve years after Norris's death, Mrs. Barry was acting the character
of "Calista." In the last act, where "Calista" lays her hand upon a
skull, she [_Mrs. Barry_] was suddenly seized with a shuddering, and
fainted. Next day she asked whence the skull had been obtained, and
was told it was "the skull of Mr. Norris, an actor." This Norris was
her former husband, and so great was the shock that she died within
six weeks.--Oxberry.
CALIS'TO AND AR'CAS. Calisto, an Arcadian nymph, was changed into a
she-bear. Her son Arcas, supposing the bear to be an ordinary beast,
was about to shoot it, when Jupiter metamorphosed him into a he-bear.
Both were taken to heaven by Jupiter, and became the constellations
_Ursa Minor_ and _Ursa Major_.
CALL'AGHAN O'BRALL'AGHAN (_Sir_), "a wild Irish soldier in the
Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only
born in a siege, but that Bellona had been his nurse, Mars his
schoolmaster, and the Furies his playfellows" (act i. 1). He is the
successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.--C. Macklin, _Love a la
mode_ (1779).
CALLET, a _fille publique_. Brantome says a _calle_ or _calotte_ is "a
cap," hence the phrase, _Plattes comme des calles_. Ben Jonson, in his
_Magnetick Lady_, speaks of "wearing the callet, the politic hood."
Des filles du peuple et de la campagne s'appellant _calles_, a cause
de la "cale" qui leur servait de coiffure.--Francisque Michel.
En sa tete avoit un gros bonnet blanc, qui l'on appelle une _calle_,
et nous autres appelons _calotte_, ou bonnette blanche de lagne,
nouee ou bridee par dessous le menton.--Brantome, _Vies des Dames
Illustres_.
A beggar in his drink
Could not have laid such terms upon his callet.
Shakespeare, _Othello_, act iv. sc. 2 (1611).
CALLIM'ACHUS (_The Italian_), Filippo Buonaccorsi (1437-1496).
CALLIR'RHOE (4 _syl._), the lady-love of Chae'reas, in a Greek romance
entitled _The Loves of Choreas and Callirrhoe_, by Char'iton (eighth
century).
CALLIS'THENES (4 _syl._), a philosopher who accompanied Alexander the
Great on his Oriental expedition. He refused to pay Alexander divine
honors, for which he was accused of treason, and being mutilated, was
chained in a cage for seven months like a wild beast. Lysimachus put
an end to his tortures by poison.
Oh let me roll in Macedonian rays,
Or, like Callisthenes, be caged for life,
Rather than shine in fashions of the East.
N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, iv. I (1678).
CAL'MAR, son of Matha, lord of Lara (in Connaught). He is represented
as presumptuous, rash, and overbearing, but gallant and generous.
The very opposite of the temperate Connal, who advises caution and
forethought. Calmar hurries Cuthullin into action, which ends in
defeat. Connal comforts the general in his distress.--Ossian,
_Fingal_, i.
CAL'THON, brother of Col'mar, sons of Rathmor chief of Clutha (_the
Clyde_). The father was murdered in his halls by Dunthalmo lord of
Teutha (_the Tweed_), and the two boys were brought up by the murderer
in his own house, and accompanied him in his wars. As they grew in
years Dunthalmo fancied he perceived in their looks a something which
excited his suspicions, so he shut them up in two separate dark caves
on the banks of the Tweed. Colmal, daughter of Dunthalmo, dressed as
a young warrior, liberated Calthon, and fled with him to Morven, to
crave aid in behalf of the captive Colmar. Accordingly, Fingal sent
his son Ossian with 300 men to effect his liberation. When Dunthalmo
heard of the approach of this army, he put Colmar to death. Calthon,
mourning for his brother, was captured, and bound to an oak; but at
daybreak Ossian slew Dunthalmo, cut the thongs of Calthon, gave him
to Colmal, and they lived happily in the halls of Teutha.--Ossian,
_Calthon and Colmal_.
CALYDON (_Prince of_), Meleager, famed for killing the Calydonian
boar.--_Apollod._ i. 8. (See MELEAGER.)
As did the fatal brand Althaea burn'd,
Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
Shakespeare, 2 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 1 (1591).
_Calydon_, a town of Aetolia, founded by Calydon. In Arthurian
romance Calydon is a forest in the north of our island. Probably it is
what Richard of Cirencester calls the "Caledonian Wood," westward of
the Varar or Murray Frith.
CALYDONIAN HUNT. Artemis, to punish Oeneus [_E.nuce_] king of
Calydon, in Aetolia, for neglect, sent a monster boar to ravage his
vineyards. His son Meleager collected together a large company to
hunt it. The boar being killed, a dispute arose respecting the head,
and this led to a war between the Curetes and Calydonians.
A similar tale is told of Theseus (_2 syl._), who vanquished and
killed the gigantic sow which ravaged the territory of Krommyon, near
Corinth. (See KROMMYONIAN SOW.)
CALYPSO, in _Telemaque_, a prose-epic by Fenelon, is meant for Mde.
de Montespan. In mythology she was queen of the island Ogygia, on
which Ulysses was wrecked, and where he was detained for seven years.
She essayed after his departure to bring his son Telemachus under
her spell. The lad, seeking the world through for his father, was
preserved from the arts of the temptress by Mentor--Minerva in
disguise.
CALYPSO'S ISLE, Ogygia, a mythical island "in the navel of the sea."
Some consider it to be Gozo, near Malta. Ogygia (_not the island_) is
Boeotia, in Greece.
CAMACHO, "richest of men," makes grand preparations for his wedding
with Quiteria, "fairest of women," but as the bridal party are on
their way, Basilius cheats him of his bride, by pretending to kill
himself. As it is supposed that Basilius is dying, Quiteria is married
to him as a mere matter of form, to soothe his last moments; but when
the service is over, up jumps Basilius, and shows that his "mortal
wounds" are a mere pretense.--Cervantes, an episode in _Don Quixote_,
II. ii. 4 (1615).
CAMANCHES (3 _syl._), or COMANCHES, an Indian tribe of Texas (United
States).
It is a caravan, whitening the desert where dwell the Camanches.
Longfellow, _To the Driving Cloud_.
CAMARALZAMAN, prince of "the Island of the Children of Khaledan,
situate in the open sea, some twenty days' sail from the coast of
Persia." He was the only child of Schahzaman and Fatima, king and
queen of the island. He was very averse to marriage; but one night,
by fairy influence, being shown Badoura, only child of the king of
China, he fell in love with her and exchanged rings. Next day both
inquired what had become of the other, and the question was deemed
so ridiculous that each was thought to be mad. At length Marzavan
(foster-brother of the princess) solved the mystery. He induced the
prince Camaralzaman to go to China, where he was recognized by
the princess and married her. (The name means "the moon of the
period.")--_Arabian Nights_ ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
CAMBALLO, the second son of Cambuscan king of Tartary, brother of
Algarsife (_3 syl._) and Canace (_3 syl._). He fought with two
knights who asked the lady Canace to wife, the terms being that none
should have her till he had succeeded in worsting Camballo in combat.
Chaucer does not give us the sequel of this tale, but Spenser says
that three brothers, named Priamond, Diamond, and Triamond were
suitors, and that Triamond won her. The mother of these three (all
born at one birth) was Agape, who dwelt in Faery-land (bk. iv. 2).
Spenser makes Cambina (daughter of Agape) the lady-love of Camballo.
Camballo is also called Camballus and Cambel.
_Camballo's Ring_, given him by his sister Canace, "had power to
stanch all wounds that mortally did bleed."
Well mote ye wonder how that noble knight,
After he had so often wounded been,
Could stand on foot now to renew the fight ...
All was thro' virtue of the ring he wore;
The which not only did not from him let
One drop of blood to fall, but did restore
His weakened powers, and his dulled spirits whet.
Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 2 (1596).
CAMBEL, called by Chaucer Camballo, brother of Canace (_3 syl._). He
challenged Every suitor to his sister's hand, and overthrew them all
except Triamond. The match between Cambel and Triamond was so
evenly balanced, that both would have been killed had not Cambina
interfered. (See next art.)--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 3 (1596).
CAMBINA, daughter of the fairy Agape (_3 syl._). She had been
trained in magic by her mother, and when Camballo, son of Cambuscan,
had slain two of her brothers and was engaged in deadly combat with
the third (named Triamond), she appeared in the lists in her chariot
drawn by two lions, and brought with her a cup of nepenthe, which had
the power of converting hate to love, of producing oblivion of sorrow,
and of inspiring the mind with celestial joy. Cambina touched the
combatants with her wand and paralyzed them, then giving them the cup
to drink, dissolved their animosity, assuaged their pains, and filled
them with gladness. The end was that Camballo made Cambina his wife,
and Triamond married Canace.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 3 (1596).
CAMBUSCAN, king of Sarra, in the land of Tartary; the model of all
royal virtues.
At Sarra, in the lond of Tartarie,
Ther dwelt a king that werreied Russie,
Through which ther died many a doughty man:
This noble king was cleped Cambuscan
Which in his time was of so great renoun
That ther n' as no wher in no regioun,
So excellent a lord in alle thing:
* * * * *
This noble king, this Tartre Cambuscan
Hadde two sones by Elfeta his wif,
Of which the eldest sone highte Algarsif
That other was ycleped Camballo.
* * * * *
A doughter had this worthy king also
That youngest was and highte Canace.
Chaucer, _The Squire's Tale_.
Milton, in the Penseroso, alludes to the fact that the Squire's Tale
was not finished:
Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold.
CAMBYSES (3 _syl._), a pompous, ranting character in Preston's
tragedy of that name,
I must speak in passion, and I will do it in
king Cambyses' vein.--Shakespeare, 1 _Henry IV_.
act ii. sc. 4 (1597).
CAMBYSES AND SMERDIS. Cambyses king of Persia killed his brother
Smerdis from the wild suspicion of a madman, and it is only charity to
think that he was really _non compos mentis_.
Behold Cambises and his fatal daye ...
While he his brother Mergus cast to slaye,
A dreadful thing, his wittes were him bereft.
T. Sackville, _A Mirrour for Magistraytes_ ("The
Complaynt," 1587).
CAMDEO, the god of love in Hindu mythology.
CAMILLA, the virgin queen of the Volscians, famous for her fleetness
of foot. She aided Turnus against AEneas.
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er th' unbending corn, or skims along the main.
Pope.
_Camilla_, wife of Anselmo of Florence. Anselmo, in order to rejoice
in her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to try to
corrupt her. This he did, and Camilla was not trial-proof, but fell.
Anselmo for a time was kept in the dark, but at the end Camilla eloped
with Lothario. Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle,
and Camilla died in a convent.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv. 5, 6
("Fatal Curiosity," 1605).
_Camilla_, English girl, heroine of Miss Burney's novel of same name.
_Camilla_, the heroine of _Signor Monaldini's Niece_, by Mary Agnes
Tincker, a story of modern Rome (1879).
CAMILLE (_2 syl._), in Corneille's tragedy of _Les Horaces_ (1639).
When her brother meets her and bids her congratulate him for his
victory over the three Curiatii, she gives utterance to her grief for
the death of her lover. Horace says, "What! can you prefer a man
to the interests of Rome?" Whereupon Camille denounces Rome, and
concludes with these words: "Oh, that it were my lot!" When Mdlle.
Rachel first appeared in the character of "Camille," she took Paris by
storm (1838).
Voir le dernier Romain a son dernier soupir,
Moi seule en etre cause, et mourir de plaisir.
Whitehead has dramatized the subject and called it _The Roman
Father_ (1741).
_Camille_, one of the Parisian _demi-monde_. She meets and loves
Armand Duval. Camille is besought by Duval _pere_ to leave her lover,
whose prospects are ruined by the _liaison_. She quits him, returns to
her former life, and dies of consumption in the arms of her lover,
who has just found her after a long search.--A. Dumas, _La Dame aux
Camelias_.
CAMILLO, a lord in the Sicilian court, and a very good man. Being
commanded by king Leontes to poison Polixenes, instead of doing so he
gave him warning, and fled with him to Bohemia. When Polixenes ordered
his son Florizel to abandon Perdita, Camillo persuaded the young
lovers to seek refuge in Sicily, and induced Leontes, the king
thereof, to protect them. As soon as Polixenes discovered that Perdita
was Leontes' daughter, he readily consented to the union which before
he had forbidden.--Shakespeare, _The Winter's Tale_ (1604).
CAMIOLA, "the maid of honor," a lady of great wealth, noble spirit,
and great beauty. She loved Bertoldo (brother of Roberto king of the
two Sicilies), and when Bertoldo was taken prisoner at Sienna, paid
his ransom. Bertoldo before his release was taken before Aurelia
the duchess of Sienna. Aurelia fell in love with him, and proposed
marriage, an offer which Bertoldo accepted. The betrothed then went to
Palermo to be introduced to the king, when Camiola exposed the conduct
of the base young prince. Roberto was disgusted at his brother,
Aurelia rejected him with scorn, and Camiola retired to a
nunnery.--Massinger, _The Maid of Honor_ (1637).
CAMPASPE (3 _syl._), mistress of Alexander. He gave her up to
Apelles, who had fallen in love with her while painting her
likeness.--Pliny, _Hist_. xxxv. 10.
John Lyly produced, in 1583, a drama entitled _Cupid and Campaspe_, in
which is the well-known lyric:
Cupid and my Campaspe played
At cards for kisses: Cupid paid.
CAMPBELL (_Captain_), called "Green Colin Campbell," or Barcaldine (3
_syl._).--Sir W. Scott, _The Highland Widow_ (time, George II.).
_Campbell (General)_, called "Black Colin Campbell," in the king's
service. He suffers the papist conspirators to depart unpunished.--Sir
W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
_Campbell (Sir Duncan)_, knight of Ardenvohr, in the marquis of
Argyll's army. He was sent as ambassador to the earl of Montrose.
_Lady Mary Campbell_, sir Duncan's wife.
_Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchenbreck_, an officer in the army of the
marquis of Argyll.
_Murdoch Campbell_, a name assumed by the marquis of Argyll. Disguised
as a servant, he visited Dalgetty and M'Eagh in the dungeon, but the
prisoners overmastered him, bound him fast, locked him in the dungeon,
and escaped.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).
_Campbell (The lady Mary)_, daughter of the duke of Argyll.
_The lady Caroline Campbell_, sister of lady Mary.--Sir W. Scott,
_Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
CAMPEADOR [_Kam.pay.dor_], the Cid, who was called _Mio Cid el
Campeador_ ("my lord the champion"). "Cid" is a corruption of _said_
("lord").
CAMPO-BASSO (_The count of_), an officer in the duke of Burgundy's
army, introduced by sir W. Scott in two novels, _Quentin Durward_ and
_Anne of Geierstein_, both laid in the time of Edward IV.
CANACE (3 _syl._), daughter of Cambuscan, and the paragon of women.
Chaucer left the tale half told, but Spenser makes a crowd of suitors
woo her. Her brother Cambel or Camballo resolved that none should
win his sister who did not first overthrow him in fight. At length
Triamond sought her hand, and was so nearly matched in fight with
Camballo, that both would have been killed, if Cambina, daughter of
the fairy Agape (3 _syl._), had not interfered. Cambina gave the
wounded combatants nepenthe, which had the power of converting enmity
to love; so the combatants ceased from fight, Camballo took the fair
Cambina to wife, and Triamond married Canace.--Chaucer, _Squire's
Tale_; Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iv. 3 (1596).
_Canace's Mirror_, a mirror which told the inspectors if the persons
on whom they set their affections would prove true or false.
_Canace's Ring_. The king of Araby and Ind sent Canace, daughter of
Cambuscan (king of Sarra, in Tartary), a ring which enabled her to
understand the language of birds, and to know the medical virtues of
all herbs.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Squire's Tale," 1388).
CANDACE, negro cook in _The Minister's Wooing_, by Harriet Beecher
Stowe. She reverences Dr. Hopkins, but is slow to admit his dogma of
Imputed Sin in Consequence of Adam's Transgression (1859).
CANDAULES (_3 syl._), king of Lydia, who exposed the charms of his
wife to Gyges. The queen was so indignant that she employed Gyges to
murder her husband. She then married the assassin, who became king of
Lydia, and reigned twenty-eight years (B.C. 716-688).
CANDAYA (_The kingdom of_), situate between the great Trapobana and
the South Sea, a couple of leagues beyond cape Comorin.--Cervantes,
_Don Quixote_, II. iii. 4 (1615).
CANDIDE (_2 syl._), the hero of Voltaire's novel of the same name. He
believes that "all things are for the best in the best of all possible
worlds."
Voltaire says "No." He tells you that Candide
Found life most tolerable after meals.
Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 31 (1820).
CANDOUR (_Mrs._), the beau-ideal of female backbiters.--Sheridan, _The
School for Scandal_ (1777).
CANIDIA, a Neapolitan, beloved by the poet Horace. When she deserted
him, he held her up to contempt as an old sorceress who could by
charms unsphere the moon.--Horace, _Epodes_, v. and xvii.
Such a charm were right Canidian.
Mrs. Browning, _Hector in the Garden_, iv.
CANMORE or GREAT-HEAD, Malcolm III. of Scotland (1057-1093).--Sir W.
Scott, _Tales of a Grandfather_, i. 4.
CANNING (_George_), statesman (1770-1827). Charles Lamb calls him:
St. Stephen's fool, the zany of debate.
_Sonnet in "The Champion_."
CANOPOS, Menelaeos's pilot, killed in the return voyage from Troy by
the bite of a serpent. The town Canoepos (Latin, _Canopus_) was built
on the site where the pilot was buried.
CANTAB, a member of the University of Cambridge. The word is a
contraction of the Latin _Cantabrigia_.
CANTACUZENE (_4 syl._), a noble Greek family, which has furnished
two emperors of Constantinople, and several princes of Moldavia and
Wallachia. The family still survives.
We mean to show that the Cantacuzenes are
not the only princely family in the world.--D'Israeli,
_Lothaire_.
There are other members of the Cantacuzene
family besides myself.--Ditto.
_Cantacuzene_ (_Michael_), the grand sewer of Alexius Comnenus,
emperor of Greece.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_. (time,
Rufus).
CANTERBURY TALES. Eighteen tales told by a company of pilgrims going
to visit the shrine of "St. Thomas a Becket" at Canterbury. The party
first assembled at the Tabard, an inn in Southwark, and there agreed
to tell one tale each both going and returning, and the person who
told the best tale was to be treated by the rest to a supper at the
Tabard on the homeward journey. The party consisted of twenty-nine
pilgrims, so that the whole budget of tales should have been
fifty-eight, but only eighteen of the number were told, not one being
on the homeward route. The chief of these tales are: "The Knight's
Tale" (_Palamon and Arcite, 2 syl._); "The Man of Law's Tale"
(_Custance, 2 syl._); "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (_A Knight_); "The
Clerk's Tale" (_Grisildis_); "The Squire's Tale" (_Cambuscan_,
incomplete); "The Franklin's Tale" _(Dor'igen and Arvir'agus)_;
"The Prioress's Tale" (_Hugh of Lincoln_); "The Priest's Tale"
(_Chanticleer and Partelite_); "The Second Nun's Tale" (_St.
Cecil'ia_); "The Doctor's Tale" (_Virginia_); "The Miller's Tale"
(_John the Carpenter and Alison_); and "The Merchant's Tale" (_January
and May_) (1388).
CANTON, the Swiss valet of lord Ogleby. He has to skim the morning
papers and serve out the cream of them to his lordship at breakfast,
"with good emphasis and good discretion." He laughs at all his
master's jokes, flatters him to the top of his bent, and speaks of him
as a mere chicken compared to himself, though his lordship is seventy
and Canton about fifty. Lord Ogleby calls him his "cephalic snuff,
and no bad medicine against megrims, vertigoes, and profound
thinkings."--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766).
CAN'TRIPS (_Mrs._), a quondam friend of Nanty Ewart, the
smuggler-captain.
_Jessie Cantrips_, her daughter.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time,
George III.).
CANT'WELL (Dr.), the hypocrite, the English representative of
Moliere's Tartuffe. He makes religious cant the instrument of gain,
luxurious living, and sensual indulgence. His overreaching and
dishonorable conduct towards lady Lambert and her daughter gets
thoroughly exposed, and at last he is arrested as a swindler.--I.
Bicker staff, _The Hypocrite_ (1768).
Dr. Cantwell ... the meek and saintly hypocrite.
L. Hunt.
CANUTE' or CNUT and EDMUND IRONSIDE. William of Malmesbury says:
When Canute and Edmund were ready for their sixth battle in
Gloucestershire, it was arranged between them to decide their
respective claims by single combat. Cnut was a small man, and Edmund
both tall and strong; so Cnut said to his adversary, "We both lay
claim to the kingdom in right of our fathers; let us therefore divide
it and make peace;" and they did so.
Canutus of the two that furthest was from hope ...
Cries, "Noble Edmund hold! Let us the land divide."
... and all aloud do cry,
"Courageous kings, divide! 'Twere pity such should die."
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).
CANUTE'S BIRD, the knot, a corruption of "Knut," the _Cinclus
bellonii_, of which king Canute was extremely fond.
The knot, that called was Canutus' bird of old,
Of that great king of Danes, his name that still doth hold,
His appetite to please ... from Denmark hither brought.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxv. (1622).
CANYNGE (_Sir William_) is represented in the _Rowley Romance_ as a
rich, God-fearing merchant, devoting much money to the Church,
and much to literature. He was, in fact, a Maecenas of princely
hospitality, living in the Red House. The priest Rowley was his
"Horace."--Chatterton (1752-1770).
CAP (_Charles_), uncle of Mabel Dunham in Cooper's _Pathfinder_
(1849). He is a sea-captain who insists in sailing a vessel upon the
great northern lakes as he would upon the Atlantic, but, despite his
pragmatic self-conceit, is nonplussed by the Thousand Islands.
"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this place
without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude, or soundings?
Allow me to ask if you think a mariner runs by his nose, like one of
Pathfinder's hounds?"
Having by a series of blunders consequent upon this course, brought
schooners and crew to the edge of destruction, he shows heart
by regretting that his niece is on board, and philosophy with
professional pride by the conclusion:--
"We must take the bad with the good in every v'y'ge, and the only
serious objection that an old sea-captain can with propriety make to
such an event, is that it should happen on this bit of d--d fresh
water."
CAPABILITY BROWN, Launcelot Brown, the English landscape gardener
(1715-1783).
CAP'ANEUS (3 _syl_.) a man of gigantic stature, enormous strength,
and headlong valor. He was impious to the gods, but faithful to his
friends. Capaneus was one of the seven heroes who marched against
Thebes (1 _syl_.), and was struck dead by a thunderbolt for declaring
that not Jupiter himself should prevent his scaling the city walls.
CAPITAN, a boastful, swaggering coward, in several French farces and
comedies prior to the time of Moliere.
CAPONSAC'CHI (_Guiseppe_), the young priest under whose protection
Pompilia fled from her husband to Rome. The husband and _his_ friends
said the elopement was criminal; but Pompilia, Caponsacchi, and
_their_ friends maintained that the young canon simply acted the part
of a chivalrous protector of a young woman who was married at fifteen,
and who fled from a brutal husband who ill-treated her.--R. Browning,
_The Ring and the Book_.
CAPSTERN (_Captain_), captain of an East
Indiaman, at Madras.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time,
George II.).
CAPTAIN, Manuel Comnenus of Trebizond (1120, 1143-1180).
_Captain of Kent_. So Jack Cade called himself (died 1450).
_The Great Captain (el Gran Capitano)_, Gonzalvo di Cordova
(1453-1515).
_The People's Captain (el Capitano del Popolo_), Guiseppe Garibaldi
(1807-).
_Captain (A Copper)_, a poor captain, whose swans are all geese,
his jewellry paste, his guineas counters, his achievements
tongue-doughtiness, and his whole man Brummagem. See _Copper Captain_.
_Captain (The Black)_, lieutenant-colonel Dennis Davidoff of the
Russian army. In the French invasion he was called by the French _Le
Capitaine Noir_.
CAPTAIN LOYS [_Lo.is_]. Louise Labe was so called, because in early
life she embraced the profession of arms, and gave repeated proofs of
great valor. She was also called _La Belle Cordiere_. Louise Labe was
a poetess, and has left several sonnets full of passion, and some good
elegies (1526-1566).
CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! fallen leader apostrophized by Walt Whitman in
his lines upon the death of President Lincoln (1865).
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells!
Rise up! for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
Here, Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead.
CAPTAIN RIGHT, a fictitious commander, the ideal of the rights due to
Ireland. In the last century the peasants of Ireland were sworn to
captain Right, as chartists were sworn to their articles of demand
called their _charter_. Shakespeare would have furnished them with
a good motto, "Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape
whipping?" (_Hamlet_, act ii. sc. 2).
CAPTAIN ROCK, a fictitious name assumed by the leader of certain Irish
insurgents in 1822, etc. All notices, summonses, and so on, were
signed by this name.
CAP'ULET, head of a noble house of Verona, in feudal enmity with the
house of Mon'tague (3 syl). Lord Capulet is a jovial, testy old man,
self-willed, prejudiced, and tyrannical.
_Lady Capulet_, wife of lord Capulet and mother of
Juliet.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).
CAPYS, a blind old seer, who prophesied to Romulus the military
triumphs of Rome from its foundation to the destruction of Carthage.
In the hall-gate sat Capys,
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