VOLUME I (continued 3)

... he could take

As many forms and shapes in seeming wise

As ever Proteus to himself could make:

Sometimes a fowl, sometimes a fish in lake,

Now like a fox, now like a dragon fell.

Spenser, The Faëry Queen, I. ii. 10 (1590).

Archimedes, Syracusan philosopher, who discovered, among other great scientific facts, the functions of the lever. The solution of an abstruse problem having occurred to him while in the bath, he leaped out of the water, and ran naked through the city, shouting, "Eureka!"

Ar'chy M'Sar'casm (Sir), "a proud Caledonian knight, whose tongue, like the dart of death, spares neither sex nor age ... His insolence of family and licentiousness of wit gained him the contempt of every one" (i. 1). Sir Archy tells Charlotte, "In the house of M'Sarcasm are two barons, three viscounts, six earls, one marquisate, and two dukes, besides baronets and lairds oot o' a' reckoning" (i. 1). He makes love to Charlotte Goodchild, but supposing it to be true that she has lost her fortune, declares to her that he has just received letters "frae the dukes, the marquis, and a' the dignitaries of the family ... expressly prohibiting his contaminating the blood of M'Sarcasm wi' onything sprung from a hogshead or a coonting-house" (ii. 1).

The man has something droll, something ridiculous in him. His abominable Scotch accent, his grotesque visage almost buried in snuff, the roll of his eyes and twist of his mouth, his strange inhuman laugh, his tremendous periwig, and his manners altogether—why, one might take him for a mountebank doctor at a Dutch fair.—C. Macklin, Love à-la-mode, i. 1 (1779).

Sir Archy's Great-grandmother. Sir Archy M'Sarcasm insisted on fighting Sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan on a point of ancestry. The Scotchman said that the Irish are a colony from Scotland, "an ootcast, a mere ootcast." The Irishman retorted by saying that "one Mac Fergus O'Brallaghan went from Carrickfergus, and peopled all Scotland with his own hands." Charlotte [Goodchild] interposed, and asked the cause of the contention, whereupon Sir Callaghan replied, "Madam, it is about sir Archy's great-grandmother."—C. Macklin, Love à-la-mode, i. I (1779).

We shall not now stay to quarrel about sir Archy's great-grandmother.—Maepherson, Dissertation upon Ossian.

Archy'tas of Tarentum made a wooden pigeon that could fly; and Regiomonta'nus, a German, made a wooden eagle that flew from Koenigsberg to meet the emperor, and, having saluted him, returned whence it set out (1436-1476).

This engine may be contrived from the same principles by which Archytas made a wooden dove, and Regiomontanus a wooden eagle.—Dr. John Wilkins (1614-1672).

Ar'cite (2 syl.) and Pal'amon, two Theban knights, captives of duke Theseus, who used to see from their dungeon window the duke's sister-in-law, Emily, taking her airing in the palace garden, and fell in love with her. Both captives having gained their liberty, contended for the lady by single combat. Arcite was victor, but being thrown from his horse was killed, and Emily became the bride of Palamon.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Knight's Tale," 1388).

Richard Edwards in 1566 produced a drama entitled Palamon and Arcite.

Ar'den (Enoch), the hero of a poetic tale by Tennyson. He is a seaman wrecked on a desert island, who returns home after the absence of several years, and finds his wife married to another. Seeing her both happy and prosperous, Enoch resolves not to mar her domestic peace, so leaves her undisturbed, and dies of a broken heart.

Ar'den of Fev'ersliam, a noble character, honorable, forgiving, affectionate, and modest. His wife Alicia in her sleep reveals to him her guilty love for Mosby, but he pardons her on condition that she will never see the seducer again. Scarcely has she made the promise when she plots with Mosby her husband's murder. In a planned street-scuffle, Mosby pretends to take Arden's part, and thus throws him off his guard. Arden thinks he has wronged him, and invites him to his house, but Mosby conspires with two hired ruffians to fall on his host during a game of draughts, the right moment being signified by Mosby's saying, "Now I take you." Arden is murdered; but the whole gang is apprehended and brought to justice.

(This drama is based on a murder which took place in 1551. Ludwig Tieck has translated the play into German, as a genuine production of Shakespeare. Some ascribe the play to George Lillo, but Charles Lamb gives 1592 as the date of its production, and says the author is unknown.)

Areous'ki, the Indian war-god, war, tumult.

A cry of Areouski broke our sleep. Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming, i, 16 (1809).

Arethu'sa, daughter of the king Messi'na, in the drama called Philaster or Love Lies a-bleeding, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1638).

Arethusa, a nymph pursued by Alpheos the river-god, and changed into a fountain in the island of Ortygia; but the river-god still pursued her, and mingled his stream with the fountain, and now, "like friends once parted grown single-hearted," they leap and flow and slumber together, "like spirits that love but live no more."

This fable has been exquisitely turned into poetry by Percy B. Shelley (Arethusa, 1820).

Argali'a, brother of Angel'ica, in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1516).

Ar'gan, the malade imaginaire and father of Angelique. He is introduced taxing his apothecary's bills, under the conviction that he cannot afford to be sick at the prices charged, but then he notices that he has already reduced his bills during the current month, and is not so well. He first hits upon the plan of marrying Angelique to a young doctor, but to this the lady objects. His brother suggests that Argan himself should be his own doctor, and when the invalid replies he has not studied either diseases, drugs, or Latin, the objection is overruled by investing the "malade" in a doctor's cap and robe. The piece concludes with the ceremonial in macaronic Latin.

When Argan asks his doctor how many grains of salt he ought to eat with an egg, the doctor answers, "Six, huit, dix, etc., par les nombres pairs, comme dans les médicaments par les nombres impairs."—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire, ii. 9 (1673).

Argan'te (3 syl.), a giantess called "the very monster and miracle of lust." She and her twin-brother Ollyphant or Oliphant were the children of Typhoe'us and Earth. Argantè used to carry off young men as her captives, and seized "the Squire of Dames" as one of her victims. The squire, who was in fact Britomart (the heroine of chastity), was delivered by sir Sat'yrane (3 syl.).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 7 (1590).

Argante' (2 syl.), father of Octave (2 syl.) and Zerbinette (3 syl.). He promises to give his daughter Zerbinette to Leandre (2 syl.), the son of his friend Géronte (2 syl.); but during his absence abroad the young people fall in love unknown to their respective fathers. Both fathers storm, and threaten to break off the engagement, but are delighted beyond measure when they discover that the choice of the young people has unknowingly coincided with their own.—Molière, Les Fourteries de Scapin (1671).

(Thomas Otway has adapted this play to the English stage, and called it The Cheats of Scapin. "Argante" he calls Thrifty; "Géronte" is Gripe; "Zerbinette" he calls Lucia; and "Leandre" he Anglicizes into Leander.)

Argan'tes (3 syl.), a Circassian of high rank and undoubted courage, but fierce and a great detester of the Nazarenes. Argantês and Solyman were undoubtedly the bravest heroes of the infidel host. Argantês was slain by Rinaldo, and Solyman by Tancred.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Bonaparte stood before the deputies like the Argantês of Italy's heroic poet.—Sir Walter Scott.

Ar'genis, a political romance by Barclay (1621).

Ar'gentile (3 syl.), daughter of king Adelbright, and ward of Edel. Curan, a Danish prince, in order to woo her, became a drudge in her house, but being obliged to quit her service, became a shepherd. Edel, the guardian, forcing his suit on Argentile, compelled her to flight, and she became a neatherd's maid. In this capacity Curan wooed and won her. Edel was forced to restore the possessions of his ward, and Curan became king of Northumberland. As for Edel, he was put to death.—William Warner, Albion's England (1586).

Ar'gentin (Le sieur d'), one of the officers of the duke of Burgundy.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geiersiein (time, Edward IV.).

Arge'o, baron of Servia and husband of Gabrina. (See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.)—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Arges'tes (3 syl.), the west wind.

Wingèd Argestes, faire Aurora's sonne,

Licensed that day to leave his dungeon,

Meekly attended.

Wm. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 5 (1613).

Arges'tes (3 syl.), the north-east wind; Cæ'cias, the north-west; Bo'reas, the full north.

Boreas and Cæcias and Argestes loud

... rend the woods, and seas upturn.

Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 699, etc. (1665).

Ar'gillan, a haughty, turbulent knight, born on the banks of the Trent. He induced the Latians to revolt, was arrested, made his escape, but was ultimately slain in battle by Solyman.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, viii. ix. (1575).

Argon and Ruro, the two sons of Annir, king of Inis-thona, an island of Scandinavia. Cor'malo, a neighboring chief, came to the island, and asked for the honor of a tournament. Argon granted the request, and overthrew him, and this so vexed Cormalo that during a hunt he shot both the brothers with his bow. Their dog Runo, running to the hall, howled so as to attract attention, and Annir, following the hound, found his two sons both dead. On his return he discovered that Cormalo had run off with his daughter. Oscar, son of Ossian, slew Cormalo in fight, and restored the daughter to her father.—Ossian ("The War of Inis-thona").

Argonauts, heroes and demi-gods, who sailed to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece, guarded by a sleepless dragon. Jason was their leader.

Argonauts (The). Title applied to adventurers who, in 1849, sought gold in California. Bret Harte has seized upon the name as the theme of tales and ballads of the "Forty-niners."

Ar'gus, the turf-writer, was Irwin Willes, who died in 1871.

Argyle (Mac Callum More, duke of), in the reign of George I.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (1818).

Mac Callum More, marquis of Argyle, in the reign of Charles I., was commander of the parliamentary forces, and is called "Gillespie Grumach;" he disguises himself, and assumes the name of Murdoch Campbell.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (1819).

(Duke and duchess of Argyle are introduced also in the Heart of Midlothian, by Sir W. Scott, 1818.)

Ariad'ne (4 syl.), daughter of Minos king of Crete. She gave Theseus a clew of thread to guide him out of the Cretan labyrinth. Theseus married his deliverer, but when he arrived at Naxos (Dia) forsook her, and she hung herself.

Surely it is an Ariadnê.... There is dawning womanhood in every line; but she knows nothing of Naxos.—Ouidà, Ariadnê, i. 1.

Ar'ibert, king of the Lombards (653-661), left "no male pledge behind," but only a daughter named Rhodalind, whom he wished duke Gondibert to marry, but the duke fell in love with Bertha, daughter of As'tragon, the sage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).

Arideus [A.ree'.de.us], a herald in the Christian army.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

A'riel, in The Tempest, an airy spirit, able to assume any shape, or even to become invisible. He was enslaved to the witch Syc'orax, mother of Caliban, who overtasked the little thing, and in punishment for not doing what was beyond his strength, imprisoned him for twelve years in the rift of a pine tree, where Caliban delighted to torture him with impish cruelty. Prospero, duke of Milan and father of Miranda, liberated Ariel from the pine-rift, and the grateful spirit served the duke for sixteen years, when he was set free.

And like Ariel in the cloven pine tree,

For its freedom groans and sighs.

Longfellow, The Golden Milestone.

A'riel, the sylph in Pope's Rape of the Lock. The impersonation of "fine life" in the abstract, the nice adjuster of hearts and necklaces. When disobedient he is punished by being kept hovering over the fumes of the chocolate, or is transfixed with pins, clogged with pomatums, or wedged in the eyes of bodkins.

A'riel, one of the rebel angels. The word means "the Lion of God." Abdiel encountered him, and overthrew him.—Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 371 (1665).

Ariella, an invalid girl, the daughter of Malachi and Hagar his wife, in Come Forth, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward. Her name signifies STRENGTH OF GOD. She has lain a helpless cripple for nine years, when she is healed by a word from The Christ (1891).

Ariman'es (4 syl.), the prince of the powers of evil, introduced by Byron in his drama called Manfred. The Persians recognized a power of good and a power of evil: the former Yezad, and the latter Ahriman (in Greek, Oroma'zes and Ariman'nis). These two spirits are ever at war with each other. Oromazes created twenty-four good spirits, and enclosed them in an egg to be out of the power of Arimanês; but Arimanês pierced the shell, and thus mixed evil with every good. However, a time will come when Arimanês shall be subjected, and the earth will become a perfect paradise.

Arimas'pians, a one-eyed people of Scythia, who adorned their hair with gold. As gold mines were guarded by Gryphons, there were perpetual contentions between the Arimaspians and the Gryphons. (See GRYPHON.)

Arimaspi, quos diximus uno oculo in fronte

media in signes; quibus assidue bellum esse

circa metella cum gryphis, ferarum volucri genere,

quale vulgo traditur, eruente ex cuniculis

aurum, mire cupiditate et feris custodientibus,

et Arimaspis rapientibus, multi, sed maxime

illustres Herodotus et Aristeas Proconnesius scribunt.—Pliny,

Nat. Hist.

vii. 2.

Ar'ioch ("a fierce lion"), one of the fallen angels overthrown by Abdiel.—Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 371 (1665).

Ariodan'tes (5 syl.), the beloved of Geneu'ra, a Scotch princess. Geneura being accused of incontinence, Ariodantês stood forth her champion, vindicated her innocence, and married her.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Ari'on. William Falconer, author of The Shipwreck, speaks of himself under this nom de plume (canto iii). He was sent to sea when a lad, and says he was eager to investigate the "antiquities of foreign states." He was junior officer in the Britannia, which was wrecked against the projecting verge of cape Colonna, the most southern point of Attica, and was the only officer who survived.

Thy woes, Arion, and thy simple tale

O'er all the hearts shall triumph and prevail.

Campbell,

Pleasures of Hope

, ii. (1799).

Ari'on, a Greek musician, who, to avoid being murdered for his wealth, threw himself into the sea, and was carried to Tæ'naros on the back of a dolphin.

Ari'on, the wonderful horse which Herculês gave to Adrastos. It had the gift of human speech, and the feet on the right side were the feet of a man.

(One of the masques in Sir W. Scott's Kenilworth is called "Arion.")

Ario'sto of the North, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).

And, like the Ariosto of the North,

Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth.

Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 40.

Aristæ'us, protector of vines and olives, huntsmen and herdsmen. He instructed man also in the management of bees, taught him by his mother Cyrenê.

In such a palace Aristæus found

Cyrenê, when he bore the plaintive tale

Of his lost bees to her maternal ear.

Cowper,

The Ice Palace of Anne of Russia

.

Aristar'chus, any critic. Aristarchus of Samothrace was the greatest critic of antiquity. His labors were chiefly directed to the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. He divided them into twenty-four books each, marked every doubtful line with an obelos, and every one he considered especially beautiful with an asterisk. (Fl. B.C. 156; died aged 72.)

The whole region of belle lettres fell under my inspection.... There, sirs, like another Aristarch, I dealt out fame and damnation at pleasure.—Samuel Foote, The Liar, i. 1.

"How, friend," replied the archbishop, "has it [the homily] met with any Aristarchus [severe critic]?"—Lesage, Gil Blas, vii. 4 (1715).

Ariste (2 syl.), brother of Chrysale (2 syl.), not a savant, but a practical tradesman. He sympathizes with Henriette, his womanly niece, against his sister-in-law Philaminte (3 syl.) and her daughter Armande (2 syl.), who femmes savantes.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).

Ariste'as, a poet who continued to appear and disappear alternately for above 400 years, and who visited all the mythical nations of the earth. When not in the human form, he took the form of a stag.—Greek Legend.

Aristi'des (The British), Andrew Marvell, an influential member of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II. He refused every offer of promotion, and a direct bribe tendered to him by the lord treasurer. Dying in great poverty, he was buried, like Aristidês, at the public expense (1620-1678).

Aristip'pos, a Greek philosopher of Cyre'nê, who studied under Soc'ratês, and set up a philosophic school of his own, called "he'donism" ([Greek: aedonae] "pleasure").

C. M. Wieland has an historic novel in German, called Aristippus, in which he sets forth the philosophical dogmas of this Cyrenian (1733-1813).

An axiom of Aristippos was Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res (Horace, Epist. i. 17, 23); and his great precept was Mihi res, non me rebus subjungere (Horace, Epist. i. I, 18).

I am a sort of Aristippus, and can equally accommodate myself to company and solitude, to affluence and frugality.—Lesage, Gil Blas, v. 12 (1715).

Aristobu'lus, called by Drayton Aristob'ulus (Rom. xvi. 10), and said to be the first that brought to England the "glad tidings of salvation." He was murdered by the Britons.

The first that ever told Christ crucified to us,

By Paul and Peter sent, just Aristob'ulus ...

By the Britons murdered was.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).

Aristom'enes (5 syl.), a young Messenian of the royal line, the "Cid" of ancient Messe'nia. On one occasion he entered Sparta by night to suspend a shield from the temple of Pallas. On the shield were inscribed these words: "Aristomenês from the Spartan spoils dedicates this to the goddess."

A similar tale is told of Fernando Perez del Pulgar, when serving under Ferdinand of Castile at the siege of Grana'da. With fifteen companions he entered Granada, then in the power of the Moors, and nailed to the door of the principal mosque with his dagger a tablet inscribed "Ave Maria!" then galloped back, before the guards recovered from their amazement.—Washington Irving, Conquest of Granada, 91.

Aristoph'anes (5 syl.), a Greek who wrote fifty-four comedies, eleven of which have survived to the present day (B.C. 444-380). He is called "The Prince of Ancient Comedy," and Menander "The Prince of New Comedy" (B.C. 342-291).

The English or Modern Aristophanes, Samuel Foote (1722-1777).

The French Aristophanes, J. Baptiste Poquelin de Molière (1622-1673).

Aristotle. The mistress of this philosopher was Hepyllis; of Plato, Archionassa; and of Epicurus, Leontium.

Aristotle of China, Tehuhe, who died A.D. 1200, called "The Prince of Science."

Aristotle of Christianity, Thomas Aqui'nas, who tried to reduce the doctrines of faith to syllogistic formulæ (1224-1274).

Aristotle of the Nineteenth Century, George Cuvier, the naturalist (1769-1832).

Ar'istotle in Love. Godfrey Gobilyve told sir Graunde Amoure that Aristotle the philosopher was once in love, and the lady promised to listen to his prayer if he would grant her request. The terms being readily accepted, she commanded him to go on all fours, and then, putting a bridle into his mouth, mounted on his back, and drove him about the room till he was so angry, weary, and disgusted, that he was quite cured of his foolish attachment.—Stephen Hawes, The Pastime of Plesure, xxix. (1555).

Armadale (Allan), bluff young Englishman, devoted to the sea and ship-building, and prone to fall in love. He is betrothed, first to Miss Milroy, a winning lass of sixteen, then to Miss Gwilt, her governess, again and lastly to Miss Milroy, whom he marries.—Wilkie Collins, Armadale.

Armado (Don Adriano de), a pompous, affected Spaniard, called "a refined traveller, in all the world's new fashion planted, that had a mint of phrases in his brain. One whom the music of his own vain tongue did ravish." This man was chosen by Ferdinand, the king of Navarre, when he resolved to spend three years in study with three companions, to relate in the interim of his studies "in high-born words the worth of many a knight from tawny Spain lost in the world's debate."

His humor is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, and his general behavior vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical.... He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument.—Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, act v. sc. 1 (1594).

Armande (2 syl.), daughter of Chrysale (2 syl.), and sister of Henriette. Armande is a femme savante, and Henriette a "thorough woman." Both love Clitandre, but Armande loves him platonically, while Henriette loves him with womanly affection. Clitandre prefers the younger sister, and after surmounting the usual obstacles, marries her.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).

Armi'da, a sorceress, who seduces Rinaldo and other crusaders from the siege of Jerusalem. Rinaldo is conducted by her to her splendid palace, where he forgets his vows, and abandons himself to sensual joys. Carlo and Ubaldo are sent to bring him back, and he escapes from Armida; but she follows him, and not being able to allure him back again, sets fire to her palace, rushes into the midst of the fight, and is slain.

[Julia's] small hand

Withdrew itself from his, but left behind

A little pressure ... but ne'er magician's wand

Wrought change with, all Armida's fairy art,

Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart.

Byron,

Don Juan

, i. 71.

When the young queen of Frederick William of Prussia rode about in military costume to incite the Prussians to arms against Napoleon, the latter wittily said, "She is Armida in her distraction setting fire to her own palace."

(Both Glück and Rossini have taken the story of Armida as the subject of an opera.)

Armida's Girdle. Armida had an enchanted girdle, which, "in price and beauty," surpassed all her other ornaments; even the cestus of Venus was less costly. It told her everything; "and when she would be loved, she wore the same."—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Arm'strong (John), called "The Laird's Jock." He is the laird of Mangerton. This old warrior witnesses a national combat in the valley of Liddesdale, between his son (the Scotch chieftain) and Foster (the English champion), in which young Armstrong is overthrown.—Sir W. Scott, The Laird's Jock (time, Elizabeth).

Armstrong (Grace), the bride-elect of Hobbie Elliot of the heugh-foot, a young farmer.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).

Armstrong (Archie), court jester to James I., introduced in The Fortunes of Nigel, by Sir Walter Scott (1822).

Ar'naut, an Albanian mountaineer. The word means "a brave man."

Stained with the best of Arnaut blood. Byron, The Giaour, 526.

Arnheim (2 syl.). The baron Herman von Arnheim, Anne of Geierstein's grandfather.

Sibilla of Arnheim, Anne's mother.

The baroness of Arnheim, Anne of Geierstein.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Arnold, the deformed son of Bertha, who hates him for his ugliness. Weary of life, he is about to make away with himself, when a stranger accosts him, and promises to transform him into any shape he likes best. He chooses that of Achilles, and then goes to Rome, where he joins the besieging army of Bourbon. During the siege, Arnold enters St. Peter's of Rome just in time to rescue Olimpia, but the proud beauty, to prevent being taken captive by him, flings herself from the high altar on the pavement, and is taken up apparently lifeless. As the drama was never completed, the sequel is not known.—Byron, The Deformed Transformed.

Ar'nold, the torch-bearer at Rotherwood.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Ar'nold of Benthuysen, disguised as a beggar, and called "Ginks."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggar's Bush (1622).

Arnold Brinkworth, frank, whole-souled sailor, in love with and betrothed to Blanche Lundie. Through his friendship for the man who has betrayed Anne Silvestre, and desire to serve the hapless woman, he is the bearer of a message to her from Geoffrey Delamayne, and is mistaken for her husband. Through this blunder he finds himself married by Scotch law to Anne, while he is engaged to Blanche.—Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife.

Arnol'do, son of Melchtal, patriot of the forest cantons of Switzerland. He was in love with Mathilde (3 syl.), sister of Gessler, the Austrian governor of the district. When the tyranny of Gessler drove the Swiss into rebellion, Arnoldo joined the insurgents, but after the death of Gessler he married Mathilde, whose life he had saved when it was imperilled by an avalanche.—Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (1829).

Arnol'do, a gentleman contracted to Zeno'cia, a chaste lady, dishonorably pursued by the governor, count Clodio.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).

Ar'nolphe (2 syl.), a man of wealth, who has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme on Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant's hut, and intends in time to make his wife. She is brought up, from the age of four years, in a country convent, where difference of sex and the conventions of society are wholly ignored; but when removed from the convent Agnes treats men like school-girls, nods to them familiarly, kisses them, and plays with them. Being told by her guardian that married women have more freedom than maidens, she asks him to marry her; however, a young man named Horace falls in love with her, and makes her his wife, so Arnolphe, after all, profits nothing by his pains.—Molière, L'École des Femmes (1662).

Dans un petit couvent loin de toute pratique

Je le fis élever selon ma politique

C'est-à-dire, ordonnant quels soins on emploieroit

Pour le rendre idiote autant qu'il se pourroit.

Act i. I.

Ar'not (Andrew), one of the yeomen of the Balafre [Ludovic Lesly].—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Aron'teus (4 syl.), an Asiatic king, who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Arpa'sia, the betrothed of Mone'sês, a Greek, but made by constraint the bride of Baj'azet sultan of Turkey. Bajazet commanded Monesês to be bow-strung in the presence of Arpasia, to frighten her into subjection, but she died at the sight.—N. Eowe, Tamerlane (1702).

Ar'rot, the weasel in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498).

Arrow-head, Indian warrior in Cooper's Pathfinder, the husband of Dew-in-June (1840).

Arrow-maker, father of Minnehaha, in Longfellow's Hiawatha (1855).

Ar'saces (3 syl.), the patronymic name of the Persian kings, from Arsaces, their great monarch. It was generally added to some distinctive name or appellation, as the Roman emperors added the name of Cæsar to their own.

Cujus memoriae hunc honorem Parthi tribuerunt

ut omnes exinde reges suos Arsacis nomine

nuncupent.—Justin,

Historiarae Philippicae

, xli.

Arse'tes (3 syl.), the aged eunuch who brought up Clorinda, and attended on her.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Arsinoë, prude in Molière's comedy Le Misanthrope.

Ar'tamenes (3 syl.) or Le Grand Cyrus, a "long-winded romance," by Mdlle. Scudéri (1607-1701).

Artaxam'inous, king of Utopia, married to Griskinissa, whom he wishes to divorce for Distaffi'na. But Distaffina is betrothed to general Bombastês, and when the general finds that his "fond one" prefers "half a crown" to himself, he hates all the world, and challenges the whole race of man by hanging his boots on a tree, and daring any one to displace them. The king, coming to the spot, reads the challenge, and cuts the boots down, whereupon Bombastês falls on his majesty, and "kills him," in a theatrical sense, for the dead monarch, at the close of the burletta, joins in the dance, and promises, if the audience likes, "to die again to-morrow."—W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso.

Ar'tegal or Arthegal (Sir), son of Gorloïs prince of Cornwall, stolen in infancy by the fairies, and brought up in Fairyland. Brit'omart saw him in Venus's looking-glass, and fell in love with him. She married him, and became the mother of Aurelius Conan, from whom (through Cadwallader) the Tudor dynasty derives descent. The wanderings of Britomart, as a lady knight-errant and the impersonation of chastity, is the subject of bk. iii. of the Faëry Queen; and the achievements of sir Artegal, as the impersonation of justice, is the subject of bk. v.

Sir Artegal's first exploit was to decide to which claimant a living woman belonged. This he decided according to Solomon's famous judgment respecting "the living and dead child" (canto 1). His next was to destroy the corrupt practice of bribery and toll (canto 2). His third was the exposing of Braggadoccio and his follower Trompart (canto 3). He had then to decide to which brother a chest of money found at sea belonged, whether to Bracidas or Am'idas; he gave judgment in favor of the former (canto 4). He then fell into the hands of Rad'igund queen of the Amazons, and was released by Britomart (cantos 5 and 6), who killed Radigund (canto 7). His last and greatest achievement was the deliverance of Ire'na (Ireland) from Grantorto (rebellion), whom he slew (canto 12).

N.B.—This rebellion was that called the earl of Desmond's, in 1580. Before bk. iv. 6, Artegal is spelled Arthegal, but never afterwards.

"Sir Artegal" is meant for lord Gray of Wilton, Spenser's friend. He was sent in 1580 into Ireland as lord-lieutenant, and the poet was his secretary. The marriage of Artegal with Britomart means that the justice of lord Gray was united to purity of mind or perfect integrity of conduct.—Spenser's Faëry Queen, v. (1596).

Artemis'ia, daughter of Lygdamis and queen of Carlia. With five ships she accompanied Xerxes in his invasion of Greece, and greatly distinguished herself in the battle of Salamis by her prudence and courage. (This is not the Artemisia who built the Mausoleum.)

Our statues ... she

The foundress of the Babylonian wall

[Semirfa-mis]

;

The Carian Artemisia strong in war.

Tennyson,

The Princess

, ii.

Artemis'ia, daughter of Hecatomnus and sister-wife of Mauso'lus. Artemisia was queen of Caria, and at the death of her fraternal husband raised a monument to his memory (called a mausole'um), which was one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." It was built by four different architects: Scopas, Timotheus, Leocharês, and Bruxis.

This made the four rare masters which began

Fair Artemysia's husband's dainty tomb

(When death took her before the work was done,

And so bereft them of all hopes to come),

That they would yet their own work perfect make

E'en for their workes, and their self-glories sake.

Lord Brooke, An Inquiry upon Fame, etc. (1554-1628).

Artemus Ward, travelling showman and philosopher, whose adventures and sayings as given by Charles Brown were a new departure in the history of American dialect literature (1862).

Artful Dodger, the sobriquet of John Dawkins, a young thief, up to every sort of dodge, and a most marvellous adept in villainy.—Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Arthgallo, a mythical British king, brother of Gorbonian, his predecessor on the throne, and son of Mor'vidus, the tyrant who was swallowed by a sea-monster. Arthgallo was deposed, and his brother El'idure was advanced to the throne instead.—Geoffrey, British History, iii. 17 (1142).

Arthur (King), parentage of. His father was Uther the pendragon, and his mother Ygernê (3 syl.), widow of Gorloïs duke of Cornwall. But Ygernê had been a widow only three hours, and knew not that the duke was dead (pt. i. 2), and her marriage with the pendragon was not consummated till thirteen days afterwards. When the boy was born Merlin took him, and he was brought up as the foster-son of sir Ector (Tennyson says "sir Anton"), till Merlin thought proper to announce him as the lawful successor of Uther, and had him crowned. Uther lived two years after his marriage with Ygernê.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 6 (1470).

Wherefore Merlin took the child

And gave him to sir Anton, an old knight

And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife

Nursed the young prince, and reared him with her own.

Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.

Coming of Arthur. Leod'ogran, king of Cam'eliard (3 syl.), appealed to Arthur to assist him in clearing his kingdom of robbers and wild beasts. This being done, Arthur sent three of his knights to Leodogran, to beg the hand of his daughter Guenever in marriage. To this Leodogran, after some little hesitation, agreed, and sir Lancelot was sent to escort the lady to Arthur's court.

Arthur not dead. According to tradition Arthur is not dead, but rests in Glastonbury, "till he shall come again full twice as fair, to rule over his people." (See BARBAROSSA.)

According to tradition, Arthur never died, but was converted into a raven by enchantment, and will, in the fulness of time, appear again in his original shape, to recover his throne and sceptre. For this reason there is never a raven killed in England.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I ii. 5 (1605).

Arthur's Twelve Battles (or victories over the Saxons). I. The battle of the river Glem (i.e. the glen of Northumberland). 2 to 5. The four battles of the Duglas (which falls into the estuary of the Ribble). 6. The battle of Bassa, said to be Bashall Brook, which joins the Ribble near Clithero. 7. The battle of Celidon, said to be Tweeddale. 8. The battle of Castle Gwenion (i.e. Caer Wen, in Wedale, Stow). 9. The battle of Caerleon, i.e. Carlisle; which Tennyson makes to be Caerleon-upon-Usk. 10. The battle of Trath Treroit, in Anglesey, some say the Solway Frith. 11. The battle of Agned Cathregonion (i.e. Edinburgh). 12. The battle of Badon Hill (i.e. the Hill of Bath, now Bannerdown).

Then bravely chanted they The several twelve pitched fields he [Arthur] with the Saxons fought. M. Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Arthur, one of the Nine Worthies. Three were Gentiles: Hector, Alexander, and Julius Cæsar; three were Jews: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabæus; three were Christians: Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.

Arthur's Foster-Father and Mother, sir Ector and his lady. Their son, sir Key (his foster-brother), was his seneschal or steward.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 8 (1470).

N.B.—Tennyson makes sir Anton the foster-father of Arthur.

Arthur's Butler, sir Lucas or Lucan, son of duke Corneus; but sir Griflet, son of Cardol, assisted sir Key and sir Lucas "in the rule of the service."—History of Prince Arthur, i. 8 (1470).

Arthur's Sisters [half-sisters], Morgause or Margawse (wife of king Lot); Elain (wife of king Nentres of Carlot); and Morgan le Fay, the "great clark of Nigromancy," who wedded king Vrience, of the land of Corê, father of Ewayns le Blanchemayne. Only the last had the same mother (Ygraine or Ygernê) as the king.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2.

Arthur's Sons—Urien, Llew, and Arawn. Borre was his son by Lyonors, daughter of the earl Sanam.—History of Prince Arthur, i. 15. Mordred was his son by Elain, wife of king Nentres of Carlot. In some of the romances collated by sir T. Malory he is called the son of Morgause and Arthur; Morgause being called the wife of king Lot, and sister of Arthur. This incest is said to have been the cause of Mordred's hatred of Arthur.—Pt. i. 17, 36, etc.

Arthur's Drinking-Horn. No one could drink from this horn who was either unchaste or unfaithful.—Lai du Corn and Morte d'Arthur. (See CHASTITY.)

Arthur's Shield, Pridwin. Geoffrey calls it Priwen, and says it was adorned with the picture of the Virgin Mary.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).

Arthur's Spear, Rone. Geoffrey calls it Ron. It was made of ebony.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).

His spere he nom an honde tha Ron wes ihaten.

Layamon.

Brut

, (twelfth century).

Arthur's Sword, Escal'ibur or Excal'ibur. Geoffrey calls it Caliburn, and says it was made in the isle of Avallon.—British History, ix. 4 (1142).

The temper of his sword, the tried Escalabour,

The bigness and the length of Rone, his noble

spear,

With Pridwin, his great shield.

Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Arthur's Round Table. It contained seats for 150 knights. Three were reserved, two for honor, and one (called the "siege perilous") for sir Galahad, destined to achieve the quest of the sangreal. If any one else attempted to sit in it, his death was the certain penalty.

There is a table so called at Winchester, and Henry VIII. showed it to François I. as the very table made by Merlin for Uther the pendragon.

And for great Arthur's seat, her Winchester

prefers,

Whose old round table yet she vaunteth to be

hers.

M. Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).

Arthur (King), in the burlesque opera of

Tom Thumb, has Dollallolla for his queen, and Huncamunca for his daughter. This dramatic piece, by Henry Fielding, the novelist, was produced in 1730, but was altered by Kane O'Hara, author of Midas, about half a century later.

Arthurian Romances.

King Arthur and the Round Table, a romance in verse (1096).

The Holy Graal (in verse, 1100).

Titurel, or The Guardian of the Holy Graal, by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Titurel founded the temple of Graalburg as a shrine for the holy graal.

The Romance of Parzival, prince of the race of the kings of Graalburg. By Wolfram of Eschenbach (in verse). This romance (written about 1205) was partly founded upon a French poem by Chrétien de Troyes, Parceval le Gallois (1170).

Launcelot of the Lake, by Ulrich of Zazikoven, contemporary with William Rufus.

Wigalois, or The Knight of the Wheel, by Wirnd of Graffenberg. This adventurer leaves his mother in Syria, and goes in search of his father, a knight of the Round Table.

I'wain, or The Knight of the Lion, and Ereck, by Hartmann von der Aue (thirteenth century).

Tristan and Yseult (in verse), by Master Grottfried of Strasburg (thirteenth century). This is also the subject of Luc du Grast's prose romance, which was revised by Elie de Borron, and turned into verse by Thomas the Rhymer, of Erceldoune, under the title of the Romance of Tristram.

Merlyn Ambroise, by Robert de Borron.

Roman des diverses Quétes de St. Graal, by Walter Mapes (prose).

La Morte d'Arthur, by Walter Mapes.

A Life of Joseph of Arimathea, by Robert de Borron.

The Idylls of the King, by Tennyson, in blank verse, containing "The Coming of Arthur," "Gareth and Lynette," "Geraint and Enid," "Merlin and Vivien," "Lancelot and Elaine," "The Holy Graal," "Peleas and Ettarre" (2 syl.), "The Last Tournament," "Guinevere" (3 syl.) and "The Passing of Arthur," which is the "Morte d'Arthur" with an introduction added to it.

(The old Arthurian Romances have been collated and rendered into English by sir Thomas Malory, in three parts. Part i. contains the early history of Arthur and the beautiful allegory of Gareth and Linet; part ii. contains the adventures of sir Tristram; and part iii. the adventures of sir Launcelot, with the death of Arthur and his knights. Sir Frederick Madden and J.T.K. have also contributed to the same series of legends.)

Sources of the Arthurian Romances. The prose series of romances called Arthurian, owe their origin to: 1. The legendary chronicles composed in Wales or Brittany, such as De Excidio Britanniae of Gildas. 2. The chronicles of Nennius (ninth century). 3. The Armoric collections of Walter [Cale'nius] or Gauliter, archdeacon of Oxford. 4. The Chronicon sive Historia Britonum of Geoffrey of Monmouth. 5. Floating traditions and metrical ballads and romances. (See CHARLEMAGNE.)

Ar'thuret (Miss Seraphina the papist and Miss Angelica), two sisters in sir W. Scott's novel called Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Arthur Kavanagh, the new pastor in the Fairmeadow parish, endowed "with the zeal of Peter and the gentleness of John," who writes on his study-door Dante's injunction—

Think that To-day will never dawn again. Kavanagh. A Tale, by H.W. Longfellow (1872).

Arthur Livingston, an American traveller in Egypt who falls in love, at first leisurely, finally desperately, with the heroine of Kismet by George Fleming (Julia C. Fletcher) (1877).

Arthur Ripley, young New York lawyer employed in the criminal case that is the pivotal centre of interest in Sidney Luska's (Harry Harland) novel, Mrs. Peixada (1886).

Ar'turo (lord Arthur Talbot), a cavalier affianced to Elvi'ra "the puritan," daughter of lord Walton. On the day appointed for the wedding, Arturo has to aid Enrichetta (Henrietta, widow of Charles I.) in her escape, and Elvira, supposing he is eloping with a rival, temporarily loses her reason. On his return, Arturo explains the circumstances, and they vow never more to part. At this juncture Arturo is arrested for treason, and led away to execution; but a herald announces the defeat of the Stuarts, and free pardon of all political offenders, whereupon Arturo is released, and marries "the fair puritan."—Bellini's opera, I Puritani (1834).

Ar'turo [BUCKLAW]. So Frank Hayston is called in Donizetti's opera of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). (See HAYSTON.)

Ar'valan, the wicked son of Keha'ma, slain by Ladur'lad for attempting to dishonor his daughter Kail'yal (2 syl.). After this, his spirit became the relentless persecutor of the holy maiden, but holiness and chastity triumphed over sin and lust. Thus when Kailyal was taken to the bower of bliss in paradise, Arvalan borrowed the dragon-car of the witch Lor'rimite (3 syl.) to carry her off; but when the dragons came in sight of the holy place they were unable to mount, and went perpetually downwards, till Arvalan was dropped into an ice-rift of perpetual snow. When he presented himself before her in the temple of Jaganaut, she set fire to the pagoda. And when he caught the maiden waiting for her father, who was gone to release the glendoveer from the submerged city of Baly, Baly himself came to her rescue.

"Help, help, Kehama! help!" he cried.

But Baly tarried not to abide

That mightier power. With irresistible feet

He stampt and cleft the earth. It opened wide,

And gave him way to his own judgment-seat.

Down like a plummet to the world below

He sank ... to punishment deserved and endless woe.

Southey, Curse of Kehama, xvii. 12 (1809).

Arvi'da (Prince), a noble friend of Gustavus Vasa. Both Arvida and Gustavus are in love with Christi'na, daughter of Christian II. king of Scandinavia. Christian employs the prince to entrap Gustavus, but when he approaches him the better instincts of old friendship and the nobleness of Gustavus prevail, so that Arvida not only refuses to betray his friend, but even abandons to him all further rivalry in the love of Christina.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).

Arvir'agus, the husband of Do'rigen. Aurelius tried to win her love, but Dorigen made answer that she would never listen to his suit till the rocks that beset the coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." By the aid of magic, Aurelius caused all the rocks of the coast to disappear, and Dorigen's husband insisted that she should keep her word. When Aurelius saw how sad she was, and was told that she had come in obedience to her husband's wishes, he said he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).

(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dianora and Gilberto, day x. 5. See DIANORA.)

Arvir'agus, younger son of Cym'beline (3 syl.) king of Britain, and brother of Guide'rius. The two in early childhood were kidnapped by Bela'rius, out of revenge for being unjustly banished, and were brought up by him in a cave. When they were grown to manhood, Belarius, having rescued the king from the Romans, was restored to favor. He then introduced the two young men to Cymbeline, and told their story, upon which the king was rejoiced to find that his two sons whom he thought dead were both living.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).

Aryan Languages (The)—

1. Sanskrit, whence Hindustanee.

2. Zend, whence Persian.

3. Greek, whence Romaic.

4. Latin, whence Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Wallachian

(

Romance

).

5. Keltic, whence Welsh, Irish, Gaelic.

6. Gothic, whence Teutonic, English, Scandinavian.

7. Slavonic, whence European Russian, and Austrian.

As You Like It, a comedy by Shakespeare. One of the French dukes, being driven from his dukedom by his brother, went with certain followers to the forest of Arden, where they lived a free and easy life, chiefly occupied in the chase. The deposed duke had one daughter, named Rosalind, whom the usurper kept at court as the companion of his own daughter Celia, and the two cousins were very fond of each other. At a wrestling match Rosalind fell in love with Orlando, who threw his antagonist, a giant and professional athlete. The usurping duke (Frederick) now banished her from the court, but her cousin Celia resolved to go to Arden with her; so Rosalind in boy's clothes (under the name of Ganymede), and Celia as a rustic maiden (under the name of Alie'na), started to find the deposed duke. Orlando being driven from home by his elder brother, also went to the forest of Arden, and was taken under the duke's protection. Here he met the ladies, and a double marriage was the result—Orlando married Rosalind, and his elder brother Oliver married Celia. The usurper retired to a religious house, and the deposed duke was restored to his dominions.—(1598.)

Asaph. So Tate calls Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel.

While Judah's throne and Zion's rock stand fast,

The song of Asaph and his fame shall last.

Part ii.

Asaph (St.) a British [i.e. Welsh] monk of the sixth century, abbot of Llan-Elvy, which changed its name to St. Asaph, in honor of him.

So bishops can she bring, of which her saints shall be:

As Asaph, who first gave that name unto that see.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).

Ascal'aphos, son of Acheron, turned into an owl for tale-telling and trying to make mischief.—Greek Fable.

Asca'nio, son of don Henrique (2 syl.), in the comedy called The Spanish Curate, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).

As'capart or As'cupart, an enormous giant, thirty feet high, who carried off sir Bevis, his wife Jos'ian, his sword Morglay, and his steed Ar'undel, under his arm. Sir Bevis afterwards made Ascapart his slave, to run beside his horse. The effigy of sir Bevis is on the city gates of Southampton.—Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).

He was a man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk ... would have enabled him to enact "Colbrand," "Ascapart," or any other giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even by the altitude of a chopin.—Sir W. Scott.

Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw

Charing Cross for a bar.

Dr. Donne (1573-1631).

Thus imitated by Pope (1688-1744)—

Each man an Ascapart of strength to toss

For quoits both Temple Bar and Charing Cross.

Ascræ'an Sage, or Ascræan poet, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascræan."

Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musæ

Ascræo quos ante seni.

Ecl. vii. 70.

As'ebie (3 syl.), Irreligion personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (idolatry), Phar'makeus (3 syl.) (witchcraft), Hæret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, asebeia, "impiety.")

Asel'ges (3 syl.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (inchastity), his three brothers being Mæchus (adultery), Pornei'us (fornication), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother Porneius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (maidenly chastity), Aselgês rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i' the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek, aselgês, "intemperate, wanton.")—Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, xi. (1633).

As'en, strictly speaking, are only the three gods next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally.

Ashburton (Mary), heroine of Hyperion, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).

Ash'field (Farmer), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, noble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is "Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.

Dame Ashfield, the farmer's wife, whose bête noire is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too.

Susan Ashfield, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.—Thom. Morton, Speed the Plough (1764-1838).

Ash'ford (Isaac), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."—Crabbe, Parish Register (1807).

Ashpenaz, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.—The Master of the Magicians, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

Ash'taroth, a general name for all Syrian goddesses. (See ASTORETH.)

[

They

] had general names

Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male,

These feminine.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 422 (1665).

Ash'ton (Sir William), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton.

Lady Eleanor Ashton, wife of sir William.

Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton, eldest son of sir William.

Lucy Ashton, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.—Sir W. Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called Lucia di Lammermoor, 1835.)

Asia, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses; but she was taken alive into paradise.—Sale, Al Korân, xx., note, and Ixvi., note.

Mahomet says, "Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; and Fatima, his own daughter."

As'ir, the twelve chief gods of Scandinavian mythology—Odin, Thor, Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti.

Sometimes the goddesses—Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked among the Asir also.

As'madai (3 syl.) the same as As-mode'us (4 syl.) the lustful and destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands (Tobit iii. 8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means "the destroyer."—Paradise Lost, vi 365 (1665).

Asmode'us (4 syl.), the demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud "king of the devils." As "dress" is one of the bitterest evils of modern life, it is termed "the Asmodeus of domestic peace," a phrase employed to express any "skeleton" in the house of a private family.

In the book of Tobit Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of Rag'uël, and causes the successive deaths of seven husbands each on his bridal night, but when Sara married Tobit, Asmodeus was driven into Egypt by a charm made of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes.

(Milton throws the accent on the third syl., Tennyson on the second.)

Better pleased

Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume.

Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 168.

Abaddon and Asmodëus caught at me.

Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylitês.

Asmode'us, a "diable bon-homme," with more gaiety than malice; not the least like Mephistophelês. He is the companion of Cle'ofas, whom he carries through the air, and shows him the inside of houses, where they see what is being done in private or secrecy without being seen. Although Asmodeus is not malignant, yet with all his wit, acuteness, and playful malice, we never forget the fiend.—Le Sage, Le Diable Boiteux.

(Such was the popularity of the Diable Boiteux, that two young men fought a duel in a bookseller's shop over the only remaining copy, an incident worthy to be recorded by Asmodeus himself.)

Miss Austen gives us just such a picture of domestic life as Asmodeus would present could he remove the roof of many an English home.—Encyc. Brit. Art. "Romance."

Aso'tus, Prodigality personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher, fully described in canto viii. (Greek, asotos, "a profligate.")

Aspa'tia, a maiden the very ideal of ill-fortune and wretchedness. She is the troth-plight wife of Amintor, but Amintor, at the king's request, marries Evad'ne (3 syl.). "Women point with scorn at the forsaken Aspatia, but she bears it all with patience. The pathos of her speeches is most touching, and her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the drama."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).

As'pramonte (3 syl.), in Sir W. Scott's Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

The old knight

, father of

Brenhilda

.

The lady of Aspramonte

, the knight's wife.

Brenhilda of Aspramonte

, their daughter, wife of count Robert.

As'rael or Az'rael, an angel of death. He is immeasurable in height, insomuch that the space between his eyes equals a 70,000 days' journey.—Mohammedan Mythology.

As'sad, son of Camaral'zaman and Haiatal'nefous (5 syl.), and half-brother of Amgiad (son of Camaralzaman and Badoura). Each of the two mothers conceived a base passion for the other's son, and when the young men repulsed their advances, accused them to their father of gross designs upon their honor. Camaralzaman commanded his vizier to put them both to death; but instead of doing so, he conducted them out of the city, and told them not to return to their father's kingdom (the island of Ebony). They wandered on for ten days, when Assad went to a city in sight to obtain provisions. Here he was entrapped by an old fire-worshipper, who offered him hospitality, but cast him into a dungeon, intending to offer him up a human victim on the "mountain of fire." The ship in which he was sent being driven on the coast of queen Margiana, Assad was sold to her as a slave, but being recaptured was carried back to his old dungeon. Here Bosta'na, one of the old man's daughters, took pity on him, and released him, and ere long Assad married queen Margiana, while Amgiad, out of gratitude, married Bostana.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").

Astag'oras, a female fiend, who has the power of raising storms.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Astar'te (3 syl.), the Phoenician moon-goddess, the Astoreth of the Syrians.

With these

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called

Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

Milton,

Paradise Lost

, i. 438 (1665).

As'tarte (2 syl.), an attendant on the princess Anna Comne'na.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Eufus).

Astarte a woman, beloved by Manfred.—Byron, Manfred.

We think of Astarte as young, beautiful, innocent,—guilty, lost, murdered, judged, pardoned; but still, in her permitted visit to earth, speaking in a voice of sorrow, and with a countenance yet pale with mortal trouble. We had but a glimpse of her in her beauty and innocence, but at last she rises before us in all the moral silence of a ghost, with fixed, glazed, and passionless eyes, revealing death, judgment, and eternity.—Professor Wilson.

The lady Astarte his? Hush! who

comes here? (iii. 4.)

...The same Astarte? no! (iii. 4.)

As'tery, a nymph in the train of Venus; the lightest of foot and most active of all. One day the goddess, walking abroad with her nymphs, bade them go gather flowers. Astery gathered most of all; but Venus, in a fit of jealousy, turned her into a butterfly, and threw the flowers into the wings. Since then all butterflies have borne wings of many gay colors.—Spenser, Muiopotmos or the Butterfly's Fate (1590).

Astol'pho, the English cousin of Orlando; his father was Otho. He was a great boaster, but was generous, courteous, gay, and singularly handsome. Astolpho was carried to Alci'na's isle on the back of a whale; and when Alcina tired of him, she changed him into a myrtle tree, but Melissa disenchanted him. Astolpho descended into the infernal regions; he also went to the moon, to cure Orlando of his madness by bringing back his lost wits in a phial.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

As'ton (Sir Jacob), a cavalier during the Commonwealth; one of the partisans of the late king.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (period, Commonwealth).

As'ton (Enrico). So Henry Ashton is called in Donizetti's opera of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). (See ASHTON.)

As'torax, king of Paphos and brother of the princess Calis.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (before 1618).

As'toreth, the goddess-moon of Syrian mythology; called by Jeremiah, "The Queen of Heaven," and by the Phoenicians, "Astar'tê."

With these [the host of heaven] in troop

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called

Astartê, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

Milton,

Paradise Lost

, i. 438 (1665).

(Milton does not always preserve the difference between Ashtaroth and Ashtoreth; for he speaks of the "moonèd Ashtaroth, heaven's queen and mother.")

As'tragon, the philosopher and great physician, by whom Gondibert and his friends were cured of the wounds received in the faction fight stirred up by prince Oswald. Astragon had a splendid library and museum. One room was called "Great Nature's Office," another "Nature's Nursery," and the library was called "The Monument of Vanished Mind." Astragon (the poet says) discovered the loadstone and its use in navigation. He had one child, Bertha, who loved duke Gondibert, and to whom she was promised in marriage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).

Astre'a (Mrs. Alphra Behn), an authoress. She published the story of Prince Oroonoka (died 1689).

The stage now loosely does Astrea tread. Pope.

Astringer, a falconer. Shakespeare introduces an astringer in All's Well that Ends Well, act v. sc. 1. (From the French austour, Latin austercus, "a goshawk.") A "gentle astringer" is a gentleman falconer.

We usually call a falconer who keeps that kind of hawk [the goshawk] an austringer.—Cowell, Law Dictionary.

As'tro-fiamman'te (5 syl.), queen of the night. The word means "flaming star."—Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (1791).

Astronomer (The), in Rasselas, an old enthusiast, who believed himself to have the control and direction of the weather. He leaves Imlac his successor, but implores him not to interfere with the constituted order.

"I have possessed," said he to Imlac, "for five years the regulation of the weather, and the distribution of the seasons: the sun has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds, at my call, have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the Dog-star, and mitigated the fervor of the Crab. The winds alone ... have hitherto refused my authority.... I am the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted."—Dr. Johnson, Rasselas, xli.—xliii. (1759).

As'trophel (Sir Philip Sidney). "Phil. Sid." may be a contraction of philos sidus, and the Latin sidus being changed to the Greek astron, we get astron philos ("star-lover"). The "star" he loved was Penelopê Devereux, whom he calls Stella ("star"), and to whom he was betrothed. Spenser wrote a poem called Astrophel, to the memory of Sir Philip Sidney.

But while as Astrophel did live and reign,

Amongst all swains was none his paragon.

Spenser,

Colin Clout's Come Home Again

(1591).

Astyn'ome (4 syl.) or Chryseïs, daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. When Lyrnessus was taken, Astynomê fell to the share of Agamemnon, but the father begged to be allowed to ransom her. Agamemnon refused to comply, whereupon the priest invoked the anger of his patron god, and Apollo sent a plague into the Grecian camp. This was the cause of contention between Agamemnon and Achillês, and forms the subject of Homer's epic called The Iliad.

As'wad, son of Shedad king of Ad. He was saved alive when the angel of death destroyed Shedad and all his subjects, because he showed mercy to a camel which had been bound to a tomb to starve to death, that it might serve its master on the day of resurrection.—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer (1797).

Ataba'lipa, the last emperor of Peru, subdued by Pizarro, the Spanish general. Milton refers to him in Paradise Lost, xi. 409 (1665).

At'ala, the name of a novel by François Auguste Chateaubriand. Atala, the daughter of a white man and a Christianized Indian, takes an oath of virginity, but subsequently falling in love with Chactas, a young Indian, she poisons herself for fear that she may be tempted to break her oath. The novel was received with extraordinary enthusiasm (1801).

(This has nothing to do with Attila, king of the Huns, nor with Atlialie (queen of Judah), the subject of Racine's great tragedy.)

Atalanta, of Arcadia, wished to remain single, and therefore gave out that she would marry no one who could not outstrip her in running; but if any challenged her and lost the race, he was to lose his life. Hippom'enês won the race by throwing down golden apples, which Atalanta kept stopping to pick up. William Morris has chosen this for one of his tales in Earthly Paradise (March).

In short, she thus appeared like another Atalanta.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Fortunio," 1682).

Atalanta, the central figure in Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem after Æschylus Atalanta in Calydon (1864).

Atali'ba, the inca of Peru, most dearly beloved by his subjects, on whom Pizarro makes war. An old man says of the inca—

The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people and the benign regard of heaven.—Sheridan, Pizarro; ii. 4 (from Kotzebue),(1799).

Atê (2 syl.), goddess of revenge.

With him along is come the mother queen. An Atê, stirring him to blood and strife. Shakespeare, King John, act ii. sc. I (1596).

Atê (2 syl.), "mother of debate and all dissension," the friend of Duessa. She squinted, lied with a false tongue, and maligned even the best of beings. Her abode, "far under ground hard by the gates of hell," is described at length in bk. iv. I. When Sir Blandamour was challenged by Braggadoccio (canto 4), the terms of the contest were that the conqueror should have "Florimel," and the other "the old hag Atê," who was always to ride beside him till he could pass her off to another.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).

Ath'alie (3 syl.), daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and wife of Joram king of Judah. She massacred all the remnant of the house of David; but Joash escaped, and six years afterwards was proclaimed king. Athalie, attracted by the shouts, went to the temple, and was killed by the mob. This forms the subject and title of Racine's chef-d'oeuvre (1691), and was Mdlle. Rachel's great part.

(Racine's tragedy of Athalie, queen of Judah, must not be confounded with Corneille's tragedy of Attila, king of the Huns.)

Atheist's Tragedy (The), by Cyril Tourneur. The "atheist" is D'Amville, who murders his brother Montferrers for his estates.—(Seventeenth century.)

Ath'elstane (3 syl.), surnamed "The Unready," thane of Coningsburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

"Unready" does not mean unprepared but injudicious (from Anglo-Saxon raed, "wisdom, counsel").

Athe'na (Pallas) once meant "the air," but in Homer this goddess is the representative of civic prudence and military skill; the armed protectress of states and cities. The Romans called her Minerva.

Athe'nian Bee, Plato, so called from, the honeyed sweetness of his composition. It is said that a bee settled on his lip while he was an infant asleep in his cradle, and indicated that "honeyed words" would fall from his lips, and flow from his pen. Sophoclês is called "The Attic Bee."

Ath'liot, the most wretched of all women.

Her comfort is (if for her any be),

That none can show more cause of grief than she.

Wm. Browne,

Britannia's Pastorals

, ii. 5 (1613).

Ath'os. Dinoc'ratês, a sculptor, proposed to Alexander to hew mount Athos into a statue representing the great conqueror, with a city in his left hand, and a basin in his right to receive all the waters which flowed from the mountain. Alexander greatly approved of the suggestion, but objected to the locality.

And hew out a huge mountain of pathos,

As Philip's son proposed to do with Athos.

Byron,

Don Juan

, xii. 86.

At'imus, Baseness of Mind personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. "A careless, idle swain ... his work to eat, drink, sleep, and purge his reins." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, atimos, "one dishonored.")

A'tin (Strife), the squire of Pyr'ochlês.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 4, 5, 6 (1590).

Atos'sa. So Pope calls Sarah duchess of Marlborough, because she was the great friend of lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he calls Sappho.

But what are these to great Atossa's mind?

Pope.

(The great friend of Sappho was Atthis. By Atossa is generally understood Vashti, daughter of Cyrus and wife of Ahasuerus of the Old Testament.)

At'ropos, one of the Fates, whose office is to cut the thread of life with a pair of scissors.

... nor shines the knife,

Nor shears of Atropos before their vision.

Byron,

Don Juan

, ii. 64.

Attic Bee (The), Soph'oclês (B.C. 495-405). Plato is called "The Athenian Bee."

Attic Boy (The), referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, is Ceph'alos, who was beloved by Aurora or Morn, but was married to Procris. He was passionately fond of hunting.

Till civil-suited Morn appear,

Not tricked and flounced, as she was wont

With the Attic boy to hunt,

But kerchiefed in a comely cloud.

II Penseroso

(1638).

Attic Muse (The), a phrase signifying the whole body of Attic poetry.

Atticus. The surname of T. Pomponius, the intimate friend of Cicero, given to him on account of his long residence in Athens. His biography is found in Nepor.

The English Atticus. Joseph Addison.

Who but must laugh if such a man there be.

Who would not weep if Atticus were he?

Pope, Prologue to the Satires.

At'tila, one of the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (1667). This king of the Huns, usually called "The Scourge of God," must not be confounded with "Athalie," daughter of Jezebel and wife of Joram, the subject and title of Racine's ches-d'oeuvre, and Mdlle. Rachel's chief character.

Aubert (Thérèse), the heroine of C. Nodier's romance of that name (1819). The story relates to the adventures of a young royalist in the French Revolutionary epoch, who had disguised himself in female apparel to escape detection.

Aubrey, a widower for eighteen years. At the death of his wife he committed his infant daughter to the care of Mr. Bridgemore, a merchant, and lived abroad. He returned to London after an absence of eighteen years, and found that Bridgemore had abused his trust, and his daughter had been obliged to quit the house and seek protection with Mr. Mortimer.

Augusta Aubrey, daughter of Mr. Aubrey, in love with Francis Tyrrel, the nephew of Mr. Mortimer. She is snubbed and persecuted by the vulgar Lucinda Bridgemore, and most wantonly persecuted by lord Abberville, but after passing through many a most painful visitation, she is happily married to the man of her choice.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).

Au´bri's Dog showed a most unaccountable hatred to Richard de Macaire, snarling and flying at him whenever he appeared in sight. Now Aubri had been murdered by some one in the forest of Bondy, and this animosity of the dog directed suspicion towards Richard de Macaire. Richard was taken up, and condemned to single combat with the dog, by whom he was killed. In his dying moments he confessed himself to be the murderer of Aubri. (See DOG.)

Le combat entre Macaire et le chien eut lieu à Paris, dans l'île Louviers. On place ce fait merveilleux en 1371, mais ... il est bien antérieur, car il est mentionné dès le siècle précédent par Albéric des Trois-Fontaines.—Bouillet, Dict. Universel, etc.

Auch´termuch´ty (John), the Kinross carrier.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Audhum´bla, the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking dew from the rocks.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Au´drey, a country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. She is an excellent specimen of a wondering she-gawky. She thanks the gods that "she is foul," and if to be poetical is not to be honest, she thanks the gods also that "she is not poetical."—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).

The character of "Audrey," that of a female

fool, should not have been assumed [

i.e.

by Miss

Pope, in her last appearance in public]; the last

line of the farewell address was, "And now poor

Audrey bids you all farewell" (May 26, 1808).—

James Smith,

Memoirs, etc.

(1840).

Augus´ta, mother of Gustavus Vasa. She is a prisoner of Christian II. king of Denmark, but the king promises to set her free if she will induce her son to submission. Augusta refuses, but in the war which follows, Gustavus defeats Christian, and becomes king of Sweden.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).

Augusta, a title conferred by the Roman emperors on their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and even concubines. It had to be conferred; for even the wife of an Augustus was not an Augusta until after her coronation.

1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both Augusta; so were Julia (wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia, Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an emperor is spoken of as Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra; Divina Augusta, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we read, "Domitian uxorem suam Augustam jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [i.e. Pertinax] Augusta est appellata."

2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was created Augusta. Claudius made his mother Antonia Augusta after her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa Augusta," in honor of his grandmother;

Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled Augusta on coins; and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.

3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis Augusta germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana Augusta."

4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of Didius Julianus, were both Augusta. Titus inscribed on coins his daughter as "Julia Sabina Augusta;" there are coins of the emperor Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla Augusta," and "Sallustia Augusta," sisters of the emperor Decius.

5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called Augusta on coins; Constantine Monomachus called his concubine Augusta.

Augusta Hare, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney's novel Hitherto.

Augusti´na, the Maid of Saragossa. She was only twenty-two when, her lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French, after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.

Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa,

who by her valor elevated herself to the

highest rank of heroines. When the author

was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado,

decorated with medals and orders, by order of

the Junta.—Lord Byron.

Auld Robin Gray was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay, and her father was earl of Balcarras.

Aullay, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep. King Baly of India rode on an aullay.

The aullay, hugest of four-footed kind,

The aullay-horse, that in his force,

With elephantine trunk, could bind

And lift the elephant, and on the wind

Whirl him away, with sway and swing,

E'en like a pebble from a practised sling.

Southey,

Curse of Kehama

, xvi. 2 (1809).

Aure´lius, a young nobleman who tried to win to himself Do´rigen, the wife of Arvir´agus, but Dorigen told him she would never yield to his suit till all the rocks of the British coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic made all the rocks disappear, but when Dorigen went, at her husband's bidding, to keep her promise, Aurelius, seeing how sad she was, made answer, he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).

(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dimora and Gilberto, x. 5. See DIANORA.)

Aurelius, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur, but he died before the hero was born.

Even sicke of a flixe [ill of the flux] as he was, he caused himself to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie.—Holinshed, History of Scotland, 99.

... once I read

That stout Pendragon on his litter sick

Came to the field, and vanquishèd his foes.

Shakespeare, 1

Henry VI.

, act iii. sc. 2 (1589).

Aurora Leigh, daughter of an Englishman and an Italian woman. At her father's death Aurora comes to England to live with a severe, practical aunt. In time she becomes a poet, travels far, sees much, and thinks much of life's problems. She marries her cousin Romney, a philanthropist, blinded by an accident.—Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1856).

Aurora Nuncanou, beautiful Creole widow in The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable. In her thirty-fifth year, she "is the red, red, full-blown, faultless joy of the garden. With her it will be always morning. That woman is going to last forever; ha-a-a-a!--even longer!" (1880).

Austin, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title of the count of Narbonne.—Robert Jephson, Count of Narbonne (1782).

Austins (The). Miss Susan, old maid resident at Whiteladies, concerned in a conspiracy to introduce a false heir to the estate.

Miss Augustine, saintly sister, who tries to "turn the curse from Whiteladies, by her own prayers and those of her almsmen."—Whiteladies, by M.O.W. Oliphant.

Aus´tria and the Lion's Hide. There is an old tale that the arch-duke of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion's hide which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the arch-duke:

Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,

And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.

Shakespeare,

King John

, act iii. sc. 1 (1596).

(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)

Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, a mythical personage who indites Oliver Wendell Holmes's breakfast-table conversations.

Autol´ycos, the craftiest of thieves. He stole the flocks of his neighbors, and changed their marks. Sis´yphos outwitted him by marking his sheep under their feet.

Autol´ycus, a peddler and witty rogue, in The Winter's Tale, by Shakespeare (1604).

Avare (L'). The plot of this comedy is as follows: Harpagon the miser and his son Cléante (2 syl.) both want to marry Mariane (3 syl.), daughter of Anselme, alias don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples. Cléante gets possession of a casket of gold belonging to the miser, and hidden in the garden. When Harpagon discovers his loss he raves like a madman, and Cléante gives him the choice of Mariane or the casket. The miser chooses the casket, and leaves the young lady to his son. The second plot is connected with Elise (2 syl.), the miser's daughter, promised in marriage by the father to his friend Anselme (2 syl.); but Elise is herself in love with Valère, who, however, turns out to be the son of Anselme. As soon as Anselme discovers that Valère is his son, who he thought had been lost at sea, he resigns to him Elise, and so in both instances the young folks marry together, and the old ones give up their unnatural rivalry.—Molière, L'Avare (1667).

Ave´nel (2 syl.), Julian, the usurper of Avenel Castle.

Lady Alice, widow of sir Walter.

Mary, daughter of Lady Alice. She marries Halbert Glendinning.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (date 1559).

Ave´nel (Sir Halbert Glendinning, knight of), same as the bridegroom in The Monastery.

The lady Mary of Avenel, same as the bride in The Monastery.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

The White Lady of Avenel, a spirit mysteriously connected with the Avenel family, as the Irish banshee is with true Mile´sian families. She announces good or ill fortune, and manifests a general interest in the family to which she is attached, but to others she acts with considerable caprice; thus she shows unmitigated malignity to the sacristan and the robber. Any truly virtuous mortal has commanding power over her.

Noon gleams on the lake,

Noon glows on the fell;

Awake thee, awake,

White maid of Avenel!

Sir W. Scott,

The Monastery

(time, Elizabeth).

Aven´ger of Blood, the man who had the birthright, according to the Jewish, polity, of taking vengeance on him who had killed one of his relatives.

... the Christless code

That must have life for a blow.

Tennyson,

Maud

, II. i. 1.

Avery (Parson), a missionary "to the souls of fishers starving on the rocks of Marblehead." He is wrecked with his crew, one wintry midnight, and dies praying aloud.—J.G. Whittier, The Swan Song of Parson Avery (1850).

Av´icen or Abou-ibn-Sina, an Arabian physician and philosopher, born at Shiraz, in Persia (980-1037). He composed a treatise on logic, and another on metaphysics. Avicen is called both the Hippo´cratês and the Aristotle of the Arabs.

Of physicke speake for me, king Avicen ...

Yet was his glory never set on shelfe,

Nor never shall, whyles any worlde may stande

Where men have minde to take good bookes in hande.

G. Gascoigne,

The Fruits of Warre

, lvii. (died 1577).

Avis, a New England girl, heroine of The Story of Avis, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward. She is forced by genius to be an artist, and through her art loses hope of domestic happiness (1877).

Ayl'mer (Mrs.), a neighbor of sir Henry Lee.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Ay'mer (Prior), a jovial Benedictine monk, prior of Jorvaulx Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Ay'mon, duke of Dordona (Dordogne). He had four sons, Rinaldo, Guicciardo, Alardo, and Ricciardetto (i.e. Renaud, Guiscard, Alard, and Richard), whose adventures are the subject of a French romance, entitled Les Quatre fils Aymon, by H. de Alleneuve (1165-1223).

Aza'zel, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom. These jinn inhabited the earth before man was created, but on account of their persistent disobedience were driven from it by an army of angels. When Adam was created, and God commanded all to worship him, Azâzel insolently made answer, "Me hast Thou created of fire, and him of earth; why should I worship him?" Whereupon God changed the jinnee into a devil, and called him Iblis or Despair. In hell he was made the standard-bearer of Satan's host.

Upreared

His mighty standard; that proud honor claimed

Azâzel as his right.

Milton,

Paradise Lost

, i. 534 (1665).

Az'la, a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of Keha'ma.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, i. 10 (1809).

Az'o, husband of Parisi'na. He was marquis d'Este, of Ferrara, and had already a natural son, Hugo, by Bianca, who, "never made his bride," died of a broken heart. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina before she married the marqnis, and after she became his mother-in-law, they loved on still. One night Azo heard Parisina in sleep express her love for Hugo, and the angry marquis condemned his son to death. Although he spared his bride, no one ever knew what became of her.—Byron, Parisina.

Az´rael (3 syl.), the angel of death (called Raphael in the Gospel of Barnabas).—Al Korân.

Az´tecas, an Indian tribe, which conquered the Hoamen (2 syl.), seized their territory, and established themselves on a southern branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan as their imperial city. When Madoc conquered the Aztecas in the twelfth century, he restored the Hoamen, and the Aztecas migrated to Mexico.—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Azuce´na, a gipsy. Manri´co is supposed to be her son, but is in reality the son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna).—Verdi, Il Trovato´rê (1853).

Azyoru´ca (4 syl.), queen of the snakes and dragons. She resides in Patala, or the infernal regions.—Hindû Mythology.

There Azyoruca veiled her awful form

In those eternal shadows. There she sat,

And as the trembling souls who crowd around

The judgment-seat received the doom of fate,

Her giant arms, extending from the cloud,

Drew them within the darkness.

Southey, Curse of Kehama, xxiii 15 (1809).

aal, plu. Baalim, a general name for all the Syrian gods, as Ash´taroth was for the goddesses. The general version of the legend of Baal is the same as that of Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, and the Arabian myth of El Khouder. All allegorize the Sun, six months above and six months below the equator. As a title of honor, the word Baal, Bal, Bel, etc., enters into a large number of Phoenician and Carthaginian proper names, as Hanni-bal, Hasdrubal, Bel-shazzar, etc.

... [the] general names

Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male;

These female.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 422 (1665).

Bab (Lady), a waiting maid on a lady so called, who assumes the airs with the name and address of her mistress. Her fellow-servants and other servants address her as "lady Bab," or "Your ladyship." She is a fine wench, "but by no means particular in keeping her teeth clean." She says she never reads but one "book, which is Shikspur." And she calls Lovel and Freeman, two gentlemen of fortune, "downright hottenpots."—Rev. J. Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1763).

Ba´ba, chief of the eunuchs in the court of the sultana Gulbey´az.—Byron, Don Juan, v. 82, etc. (1820).

Baba (Ali), who relates the story of the "Forty Thieves" in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He discovered the thieves' cave while hiding in a tree, and heard the magic word "Ses´amê," at which the door of the cave opened and shut.

Cassim Baba, brother of Ali Baba, who entered the cave of the forty thieves, but forgot the pass-word, and stood crying "Open Wheat!" "Open Barley!" to the door, which obeyed to no sound but "Open Sesamê!"

Baba Mus´tapha, a cobbler who sewed together the four pieces into which Cassim's body had been cleft by the forty thieves. When the thieves discovered that the body had been taken away, they sent one of the band into the city, to ascertain who had died of late. The man happened to enter the cobbler's stall, and falling into a gossip heard about the body which the cobbler had sewed together. Mustapha pointed out to him the house of Cassim Baba's widow, and the thief marked it with a piece of white chalk. Next day the cobbler pointed out the house to another, who marked it with red chalk. And the day following he pointed it out to the captain of the band, who instead of marking the door studied the house till he felt sure of recognizing it.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba, or The Forty Thieves").

Bababalouk, chief of the black eunuchs, whose duty it was to wait on the sultan, to guard the sultanas, and to superintend the harem.—Habesci, State of the Ottoman Empire, 155-6.

Babes in the Wood, insurrectionary hordes that infested the mountains of Wicklow and the woods of Enniscarthy towards the close of the eighteenth century. (See CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.)

Babie, old Alice Gray's servant-girl.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Babie´ca (3 syl.), the Cid's horse.

I learnt to prize Babieca from his head unto his

hoof.

The Cid (1128).

Baboon (Philip), Philippe Bourbon, duc d'Anjou.

Lewis Baboon, Louis XIV., "a false loon of a grandfather to Philip, and one that might justly be called a Jack-of-all-trades."

Sometimes you would see this Lewis Baboon

behind his counter, selling broad-cloth, sometimes

measuring linen; next day he would be

dealing in mercery-ware; high heads, ribbons,

gloves, fans, and lace, he understood to a nicety

... nay, he would descend to the selling of

tapes, garters, and shoebuckles. When shop

was shut up he would go about the neighborhood,

and earn half-a-crown, by teaching the

young men and maidens to dance. By these

means he had acquired immense riches, which he

used to squander away at back-sword [

in war

],

quarter-staff, and cudgel-play, in which he took

great pleasure.—Dr. Arbuthnot,

History of John Bull

, ii. (1712).

Baby Bell, the infant whose brief beautiful life is given in the poem that first drew the eyes of the world to the young American poet, T.B. Aldrich, then but nineteen years of age.

Have you not heard the poets tell

How came the dainty Baby Bell

Into this World of ours?

The gates of heaven were left ajar:

With folded hands and dreamy eyes,

Wandering out of Paradise,

She saw this planet like a star

Hung in the glistening depths of even,—

Its bridges, running to and fro,

O'er which the white-winged angels go,

Bearing the holy dead to heaven.

She touched a bridge of flowers—those feet

So light they did not bend the bells

Of the celestial asphodels,

They fell like dew upon the flowers;

Then all the air grew strangely sweet!

And thus came dainty Baby Bell

Into this world of ours. (1854.)

Bacchan'tes (3 syl.), priestesses of Bacchus.

Round about him

Bacchus

fair Bacchantês,

Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses,

Wild from Naxian groves, or Zantê's

Vineyards, sing delirious verses.

Longfellow,

Drinking Song

.

Bacchus, in the Lusiad, an epic poem by Camoens (1569), is the personification of the evil principle which acts in opposition to Jupiter, the lord of Destiny. Mars is made by the poet the guardian power of Christianity, and Bacchus of Mohammedanism.

Backbite (Sir Benjamin), nephew of Crabtree, very conceited, and very censorious. His friends called him a great poet and wit, but he never published anything, because "'twas very vulgar to print;" besides, as he said, his little productions circulated more "by giving copies in confidence to friends."—Sheridan, School for Scandal (1777).

When I first saw Miss Pope she was performing

"Mrs. Candour," to Miss Farren's "lady

Teazle," King as "sir Peter," Parsons "Crab-tree,"

Dodd "Backbite," Baddeley "Moses,"

Smith "Charles," and John Palmer "Joseph"

[Surface].—James Smith,

Memoirs, etc

.

Bactrian Sage (The), Zoroas'ter or Zerdusht, a native of Bactria, now Balkh (B.C. 589-513).

Bade'bec (2 syl.), wife of Gargantua and mother of Pantag'ruel. She died in giving him birth, or rather in giving birth at the same time to nine dromedaries laden with ham and smoked tongues, 7 camels laden with eels, and 25 wagons full of leeks, garlic, onions, and shallots.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 2 (1533).

Badger (Will), sir Hugh Robsart's favorite domestic.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Bad'ger (Mr. Bayham), medical practitioner at Chelsea, under whom Richard Carstone pursues his studies. Mr. Badger is a crisp-looking gentleman, with "surprised eyes;" very proud of being Mrs. Badger's "third," and always referring to her former two husbands, captain Swosser and professor Dingo.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).

Badinguet [Bad´.en.gay] one of the many nicknames of Napoleon III. It was the name of the mason in whose clothes he escaped from the fortress of Ham (1808, 1851-1873).

Badou´ra, daughter of Gaiour (2 syl.), king of China, the "most beautiful woman ever seen upon earth." The emperor Gaiour wished her to marry, but she expressed an aversion to wedlock. However, one night by fairy influence she was shown prince Camaral´zaman asleep, fell in love with him, and exchanged rings. Next day she inquired for the prince, but her inquiry was thought so absurd that she was confined as a madwoman. At length her foster-brother solved the difficulty thus: The emperor having proclaimed that whoever cured the princess of her [supposed] madness should have her for his wife, he sent Camaralzaman to play the magician, and imparted the secret to the princess by sending her the ring she had left with the sleeping prince. The cure was instantly effected, and the marriage solemnized with due pomp. When the emperor was informed that his son-in-law was a prince, whose father was sultan of the "Island of the Children of Khal´edan, some twenty days' sail from the coast of Persia," he was delighted with the alliance.—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").

Badroul´boudour, daughter of the sultan of China, a beautiful brunette. "Her eyes were large and sparkling, her expression modest, her mouth small, her lips vermilion, and her figure perfect." She became the wife of Aladdin, but twice nearly caused his death; once by exchanging "the wonderful lamp" for a new copper one, and once by giving hospitality to the false Fatima. Aladdin killed both these magicians.—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").

Bag dad. A hermit told the caliph Almanzor that one Moclas was destined to found a city on the spot where he was standing. "I am that man," said the caliph, and he then informed the hermit how in his boyhood he once stole a bracelet, and his nurse ever after called him "Moclas," the name of a well-known thief.—Marigny.

Bagshot, one of a gang of thieves who conspire to break into the house of lady Bountiful.—Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1705).

Bagstock (Major Joe), an apoplectic retired military officer, living in Princess's Place, opposite to Miss Tox. The major has a covert kindness for Miss Tox, and is jealous of Mr. Dombey. He speaks of himself as "Old Joe Bagstock," "Old Joey," "Old J.," "Old Josh," "Rough and tough old Jo," "J.B.," "Old J.B.," and so on. He is also given to over-eating, and to abusing his poor native servant.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).

Bah´adar, master of the horse to the king of the Magi. Prince Am´giad was enticed by a collet to enter the minister's house, and when Bahadar returned, he was not a little surprised at the sight of his uninvited guest. The prince, however, explained to him in private how the matter stood, and Bahadar, entering into the fun of the thing, assumed for the nonce the place of a slave. The collet would have murdered him, but Amgiad, to save the minister, cut off her head. Bahadar, being arrested for murder, was condemned to death, but Amgiad came forward and told the whole truth, whereupon Bahadar was instantly released, and Amgiad created vizier.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").

Bahman (Prince), eldest son of the sultan Khrossou-schah of Persia. In infancy he was taken from the palace by the sultana's sisters, and set adrift on a canal, but being rescued by the superintendent of the sultan's gardens, he was brought up, and afterwards restored to the sultan. It was the "talking bird" that told the sultan the tale of the young prince's abduction.

Prince Bahman's Knife. When prince Bahman started on his exploits, he gave to his sister Parazadê (4 syl.) a knife, saying, "As long as you find this knife clean and bright, you may feel assured that I am alive and well; but if a drop of blood falls from it, you may know that I am no longer alive."—Arabian Nights ("The Two Sisters," the last tale).

Bailey, a sharp lad in the service of Todger's boarding-house. His ambition was to appear quite a full-grown man. On leaving Mrs. Todgers's, he became the servant of Montague Tigg, manager of the "Anglo-Bengalee Company."—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Bailie (General), a parliamentary leader.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Bailie (Giles), a gipsy; father of Gabrael Faa (nephew to Meg Merrilies).—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Bailly, (Henry or Harry), the host of the Tabard Inn, in Southwerk, London, where the nine and twenty companions of Chaucer put up before starting on their pilgrimage to Canterbury.

A semely man our hoste was withal

For to han been a marshal in an halle,

A fairer burgeis is ther non in Chepe.

Chaucer,

Canterbury Tales, Prologue

.

Bailiff's Daughter of Islington (in Norfolk). A squire's son loved the bailiff's daughter, but she gave him no encouragement, and his friends sent him to London "an apprentice for to binde." After the lapse of seven years, the bailiff's daughter, "in ragged attire," set out to walk to London, "her true love to inquire." The young man on horseback met her, but knew her not. "One penny, one penny, kind sir!" she said. "Where were you born?" asked the young man. "At Islington," she replied. "Then prithee, sweetheart, do you know the bailiff's daughter there?" "She's dead, sir, long ago." On hearing this the young man declared he'd live an exile in some foreign land. "Stay, oh stay, thou goodly youth," the maiden cried, "she is not really dead, for I am she." "Then farewell grief and welcome joy, for I have found my true love, whom I feared I should never see again."—Percy, Relics of English Poetry, ii. 8.

Bailzou (Ann´aple), the nurse of Effie Deans in her confinement.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Bajar´do, Rinaldo's steed.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Baja´zet, surnamed "The Thunderbolt" (ilderim), sultan of Turkey. After subjugating Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor, he laid siege to Constantinople, but was taken captive by Tamerlane emperor of Tartary. He was fierce as a wolf, reckless, and indomitable. Being asked by Tamerlane how he would have treated him had their lots been reversed, "Like a dog," he cried. "I would have made you my footstool when I mounted my saddle, and when your services were not needed would have chained you in a cage like a wild beast." Tamerlane replied, "Then to show you the difference of my spirit, I shall treat you as a king." So saying, he ordered his chains to be struck off, gave him one of the royal tents, and promised to restore him to his throne if he would lay aside his hostility. Bajazet abused this noble generosity; plotted the assassination of Tamerlane; and bow-strung Mone´ses. Finding clemency of no use, Tamerlane commanded him to be used "as a dog, and to be chained in a cage like a wild beast."—N. Rowe, Tamerlane (a tragedy, 1702).

Bajazet, a black page at St. James's Palace.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Baker (The), and the "Baker's Wife." Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were so called by the revolutionary party, because on the 6th October, 1789, they ordered a supply of bread to be given to the mob which surrounded the palace at Versailles, clamoring for bread.

Ba´laam (2 syl.), the earl of Huntingdon, one of the rebels in the army of the duke of Monmouth.

And, therefore in the name of dulness, be

The well-hung Balaam.

Dryden,

Absalom and Achitophel

.

Ba´laam, a "citizen of sober fame," who lived near the monument of London. While poor he was "religious, punctual, and frugal;" but when he became rich and got knighted, he seldom went to church, became a courtier, "took a bribe from France," and was hung for treason.—Pope, Moral Essays, iii.

Balaam and Josaphat, a religious novel by Johannes Damascenus, son of Almansur. (For plot, see JOSAPHAT.)

Balack, Dr. Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, who wrote a history called Burnet's Own Time, and History of the Reformation.—Dryden and Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii.

Balafré (Le), alias Ludovic Lesly, an old archer of the Scottish Guard at Plessis les Tours, one of the castle palaces of Louis XI. Le Balafré is uncle to Quentin Durward.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

¤¤¤ Henri, son of Francois second duke of Gruise, was called Le Balafré ("the gashed"), from a frightful scar in the face from a sword-cut in the battle of Dormans (1575).

Balâm´, the ox on which the faithful feed in paradise. The fish is called Nûn, the lobes of whose liver will suffice for 70,000 men.

Balan´, brother of Balyn or Balin le Savage, two of the most valiant knights that the world ever produced.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 31 (1470).