VOLUME I (continued 4)

Balan, "the bravest and strongest of all the giant race." Am´adis de Gaul rescued Gabrioletta from his hands.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul, iv. 129 (fourteenth century).

Balance (Justice), father of Sylvia. He had once been in the army, and as he had run the gauntlet himself, he could make excuses for the wild pranks of young men.—G. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer (1704).

Ba´land of Spain, a man of gigantic strength, who called himself Fierabras.—Mediaeval Romance.

Balatsu-usur, the name given to the captive Jew Daniel in Babylon, meaning "May Bel protect his life!"

Prostrate upon his royal face, prostrate before

the court, the queen, the people—down like a

pleading conscience or a suppliant faith, Nebuchadrezzar

the Great lay in the dust, and worshipped

him right royally.

"

Thou

art the Master of the Magicians!" said

the king. "For thou commandest the power of

thy God and thou controllest the spirit of

man!" ...

Plain moral purity and religious fervor had

done for the young man what a lifetime of political

scheming had failed to do for many a

grey-headed disappointed adventurer. Then, as

in all ages, intrigue regarded the success of sincerity

with astonishment.—

The Master of the Magicians

, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert

D. Ward (1890).

Balchris´tie (Jenny), housekeeper to the laird of Dumbiedikes.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Baldassa´re (4 syl.) chief of the monastery of St. Jacopo di Compostella.—Donizetti's opera, La Favorite (1842).

Bal´der, the god of light, peace, and day, was the young and beautiful son of Odin and Frigga. His palace, Briedablik ("wide-shining"), stood in the Milky Way. He was slain by Höder, the blind old god of darkness and night, but was restored to life at the general request of the gods.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Balder the beautiful,

God of the summer sun.

Longfellow,

Tegnier's Death

.

(Sydney Dobell has a poem entitled Balder, published in 1854.)

Bal´derstone (Caleb), the favorite old butler of the master of Ravenswood, at Wolf's Crag Tower. Being told to provide supper for the laird of Bucklaw, he pretended that there were fat capon and good store in plenty, but all he could produce was "the hinder end of a mutton ham that had been three times on the table already, and the heel of a ewe-milk kebbuck [cheese]" (ch. vii.).—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Baldrick, an ancestor of the lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed." He was murdered, and lady Eveline assured Rose Flammock that she had seen his ghost frowning at her.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Bal´dringham (The lady Ermengarde of), great-aunt of lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed."—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Baldwin, the youngest and comeliest of Charlemagne's paladins, nephew of sir Roland.

Baldwin, the restless and ambitious duke of Bologna, leader of 1200 horse in the allied Christian army. He was Godfrey's brother, and very like him, but not so tall.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

¤¤¤ He is introduced by sir Walter Scott in Count Robert of Paris.

Baldwin. So the Ass is called in the beast-epic entitled Reynard the Fox (the word means "bold friend"). In pt. iii. he is called "Dr." Baldwin (1498).

Bald´win, tutor of Rollo ("the bloody brother") and Otto, dukes of Normandy, and sons of Sophia. Baldwin was put to death by Rollo, because Hamond slew Gisbert the chancellor with an axe and not with a sword. Rollo said that Baldwin deserved death "for teaching Hamond no better."—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Bloody Brother (1639).

Baldwin (Count), a fatal example of paternal self-will. He doted on his elder son Biron, but because he married against his inclination, disinherited him, and fixed all his love on Carlos his younger son. Biron fell at the siege of Candy, and was supposed to be dead. His wife Isabella mourned for him seven years, and being on the point of starvation, applied to the count for aid, but he drove her from his house as a dog. Villeroy (2 syl.) married her, but Biron returned the following day. Carlos, hearing of his brother's return, employed ruffians to murder him, and then charged Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeached, Carlos was arrested, and Isabella, going mad, killed herself. Thus was the wilfulness of Baldwin the source of infinite misery. It caused the death of his two sons, as well as of his daughter-in-law.—Thomas Southern, The Fatal Marriage (1692).

Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury (1184-1190), introduced by sir W. Scott in his novel called The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Baldwinde Oyley, esquire of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert (Preceptor of the Knights Templars).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Balin (Sir), or "Balin le Savage," knight of the two swords. He was a Northumberland knight, and being taken captive, was imprisoned six months by king Arthur. It so happened that a damsel girded with a sword came to Camelot at the time of sir Balin's release, and told the king that no man could draw it who was tainted with "shame, treachery, or guile." King Arthur and all his knights failed in the attempt, but sir Balin drew it readily. The damsel begged him for the sword, but he refused to give it to any one. Whereupon the damsel said to him, "That sword shall be thy plague, for with it shall ye slay your best friend, and it shall also prove your own death." Then the Lady of the Lake came to the king, and demanded the sword, but sir Balin cut off her head with it, and was banished from the court. After various adventures he came to a castle where the custom was for every guest to joust. He was accommodated with a shield, and rode forth to meet his antagonist. So fierce was the encounter that both the combatants were slain, but Balin lived just long enough to learn that his antagonist was his dearly beloved brother Balan, and both were buried in one tomb.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 27-44 (1470).

¤¤¤ "The Book of Sir Balin le Savage" is part i. ch. 27 to 44 (both inclusive) of sir T. Malory's History of Prince Arthur.

Balinverno, one of the leaders in Agramant's allied army.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Ba´liol (Edward), usurper of Scotland, introduced in Redgauntlet, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).

Ba´liol (Mrs.), friend of Mr. Croftangry, in the introductory chapter of The Fair Maid of Perth, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Henry IV.).

Ba´liol (Mrs. Martha Bethune), a lady of quality and fortune, who had a house called Baliol Lodging, Canongate, Edinburgh. At her death she left to her cousin Mr. Croftangry two series of tales called The Chronicles of Canongate (q.v.), which he published.—Sir W. Scott, The Highland Widow (introduction, 1827).

Balisar´da, a sword made in the garden of Orgagna by the sorceress Faleri´na; it would cut through even enchanted substances, and was given to Roge´ro for the express purpose of "dealing Orlando's death."—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, xxv. 15 (1516).

He knew with Balisarda's lightest blows,

Nor helm, nor shield, nor cuirass could avail,

Nor strongly tempered plate, nor twisted mail.

Book xxiii.

Baliverso, the basest knight in the Saracen army.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, (1516).

Balk or Balkh ("to embrace"), Omurs, surnamed Ghil-Shah ("earth's king"), founder of the Paishdadian dynasty. He travelled abroad to make himself familiar with the laws and customs of other lands. On his return he met his brother, and built on the spot of meeting a city, which he called Balk; and made it the capital of his kingdom.

Balkis, the Arabian name of the queen of Sheba, who went from the south to witness the wisdom and splendor of Solomon. According to the Koran she was a fire-worshipper. It is said that Solomon raised her to his bed and throne. She is also called queen of Saba or Aaziz.—Al Korân, xxvi. (Sale's notes).

She fancied herself already more potent than

Balkis, and pictured to her imagination the genii

falling prostrate at the foot of her throne.—W.

Beckford,

Vathek

.

Balkis queen of Sheba or Saba. Solomon being told that her legs were covered with hair "like those of an ass," had the presence-chamber floored with glass laid over running water filled with fish. When Balkis approached the room, supposing the floor to be water, she lifted up her robes and exposed her hairy ankles, of which the king had been rightly informed.—Jallalo'dinn.

Ballenkeiroch (Old), a Highland chief and old friend of Fergus M'Ivor.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, Greorge II.).

Balmung, the sword of Siegfried forged by Wieland the smith of the Scandinavian gods. In a trial of merit Wieland cleft Amilias (a brother smith) to the waist; but so fine was the cut that Amilias was not even conscious of it till he attempted to move, when he fell asunder into two pieces.—Niebelungen Lied.

Balrud´dery (The laird of), a relation of Godfrey Bertram, laird of Ellangowan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Baltha´zar, a merchant, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1593).

Baltha´zar, a name assumed by Portia, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (1598).

Baltha´zar, servant to Romeo, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1597).

Baltha´zar, servant to don Pedro, in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

Baltha´zar, one of the three "kings" shown in Cologne Cathedral as one of the "Magi" led to Bethlehem by the guiding star. The word means "lord of treasures." The names of the other two are Melchior ("king of light"), and Gaspar or Caspar ("the white one"). Klopstock, in The Messiah, makes six "Wise Men," and none of the names are like these three.

Balthazar, father of Juliana, Volantê, and Zam´ora. A proud, peppery, and wealthy gentleman. His daughter Juliana marries the duke of Aranza; his second daughter the count Montalban; and Zamora marries signor Rinaldo.—J. Tobin, The Honeymoon (1804).

Balue (Cardinal), in the court of Louis XI. of France (1420-1491), introduced by sir W. Scott in Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Balugantes (4 syl.), leader of the men from Leon, in Spain, and in alliance with Agramant.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Balveny (Lord), kinsman of the earl of Douglas.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Balwhidder [Bal´wither], a Scotch presbyterian pastor, filled with all the old-fashioned national prejudices, but sincere, kind-hearted, and pious. He is garrulous and loves his joke, but is quite ignorant of the world, being "in it but not of it."—Galt, Annals of the Parish (1821).

The

Rev. Micah Balwhidder

is a fine representation

of the primitive Scottish pastor; diligent,

blameless, loyal, and exemplary in his life, but

without the fiery zeal and "kirk-filling eloquence"

of the supporters of the Covenant.—R.

Chambers,

English Literature

, ii. 591.

Baly, one of the ancient and gigantic kings of India, who founded the city called by his name. He redressed wrongs, upheld justice, was generous and truthful, compassionate and charitable, so that at death he became one of the judges of hell. His city in time got overwhelmed with the encroaching ocean, but its walls were not overthrown, nor were the rooms encumbered with the weeds and alluvial of the sea. One day a dwarf, named Vamen, asked the mighty monarch to allow him to measure three of his own paces for a hut to dwell in. Baly smiled, and bade him measure out what he required. The first pace of the dwarf compassed the whole earth, the second the whole heavens, and the third the infernal regions. Baly at once perceived that the dwarf was Vishnû, and adored the present deity. Vishnû made the king "Governor of Pad´alon" or hell, and permitted him once a year to revisit the earth, on the first full moon of November.

Baly built

A city, like the cities of the gods,

Being like a god himself. For many an age

Hath ocean warred against his palaces,

Till overwhelmed they lie beneath the waves,

Not overthrown.

Southey,

Curse of Kehama

, xv. 1 (1809).

Ban, king of Benwick [Brittany], father of sir Launcelot, and brother of Bors king of Gaul. This "shadowy king of a still more shadowy kingdom" came over with his royal brother to the aid of Arthur, when, at the beginning of his reign, the eleven kings leagued against him (pt. i. 8).

Yonder I see the most valiant knight of the

world, and the man of most renown, for such

two brethren as are king Ban and king Bors are

not living.—Sir T. Malory,

History of Prince Arthur

, i. 14 (1470).

Banastar (Humfrey), brought up by Henry duke of Buckingham, and advanced by him to honor and wealth. He professed to love the duke as his dearest friend; but when Richard III. offered £1000 reward to any one who would deliver up the duke, Banastar betrayed him to John Mitton, sheriff of Shropshire, and he was conveyed to Salisbury, where he was beheaded. The ghost of the duke prayed that Banastar's eldest son, "reft of his wits might end his life in a pigstye;" that his second son might "be drowned in a dyke" containing less than "half a foot of water;" that his only daughter might be a leper; and that Banastar himself might "live in death and die in life."—Thomas Sackville, A Mirrour for Magistraytes ("The Complaynt," 1587).

Banberg (The Bishop of), introduced in Donnerhugel's narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Banbury Cheese. Bardolph calls Slender a "Banbury cheese" (Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 1); and in Jack Drum's Entertainment we read, "You are like a Banbury cheese, nothing but paring." The Banbury cheese alluded to was a milk cheese, about an inch in thickness.

Bandy-legged, Armand Gouffé (1775-1845), also called Le panard du dix-neuvième siecle. He was one of the founders of the "Caveau moderne."

Banks, a farmer, the great terror of old mother Sawyer, the witch of Edmonton.—The Witch of Edmonton (by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford, 1658).

Banquo, a Scotch general of royal extraction, in the time of Edward the Confessor. He was murdered at the instigation of king Macbeth, but his son Fleance escaped, and from this Fleance descended a race of kings who filled the throne of Scotland, ending with James I. of England, in whom were united the two crowns. The witches on the blasted heath hailed Banquo as—

(1) Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

(2) Not so happy, yet much happier.

(3) Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

Shakespeare,

Macbeth

, act i. sc. 3 (1606).

(Historically no such person as Banquo ever existed, and therefore Fleance was not the ancestor of the house of Stuart.)

Ban´shee, a tutelary female spirit. Every chief family of Ireland has its banshee, who is supposed to give it warning of approaching death or danger.

Bantam (Angela Cyrus), grand-master of the ceremonies at "Ba-ath," and a very mighty personage in the opinion of the élite of Bath.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Bap, a contraction of Bap'liomet, i.e. Mahomet. An imaginary idol or symbol which the Templars were accused of employing in their mysterious religious rites. It was a small human figure cut in stone, with two heads, one male and the other female, but all the rest of the figure was female. Specimens still exist.

Bap'tes (2 syl.), priests of the goddess Cotytto, whose midnight orgies were so obscene as to disgust even the very goddess of obscenity. (Greek, bapto, "to baptize," because these priests bathed themselves in the most effeminate manner.)

Baptis'ta, a rich gentleman of Padua, father of Kathari'na "the shrew," and Bianca.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).

Baptisti Damiotti, a Paduan quack, who shows in the enchanted mirror a picture representing the clandestine marriage and infidelity of sir Philip Forester.—Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret's Mirror (time, William III.).

Bar'abas, the faithful servant of Ealph Lascours, captain of the Uran'ia. His favorite expression is "I am afraid;" but he always acts most bravely when he is afraid. (See BARRABAS.)—E. Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).

Bar'adas (Count), the king's favorite, first gentleman of the chamber, and one of the conspirators to dethrone Louis XIII., kill Richelieu, and place the duc d'Orleans on the throne of France. Baradas loved Julie, but Julie married the chevalier Adrien de Mauprat. When Richelieu fell into disgrace, the king made count Baradas his chief minister, but scarcely had he so done when a despatch was put into his hand revealing the conspiracy, and Richelieu ordered Baradas' instant arrest.—Lord Lytton, Richelieu (1839).

Barak el Hadgi, the fakir´, an emissary from the court of Hyder Ali.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).

Barbara, the widowed heroine whose vacillations of devotion to her buried husband and the living cousin who might be his twin, furnish the motif for Amelie Rives's story, The Quick or the Dead? (1888).

Barbara Floyd, lonely-hearted wife in George Fleming's (Julia C. Fletcher) novel, The Head of Medusa. The scene of the story is laid in modern Rome; Barbara, married to an Italian nobleman, has an inner and purer life with which the corruptions of the gay capital meddle not.—(1880.)

Barbara Frietchie, heroic old woman of Frederick, Maryland, who took up the flag the men had hauled down at the command of Stonewall Jackson.—John Greenleaf Whittier, Barbara Frietchie (1864).

Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

Honor to her! and let a tear

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave

Flag of Freedom and Union wave.

Peace and order and beauty draw

Bound thy symbol of light and law,

And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick Town.

Barbara Holabird, the rattle-pate of the Holabird sisters in A.D.T. Whitney's We Girls. She coins words and bakes lace-edged griddle-cakes and contrives rhymes, and tells on the last page of the book how it was made. "We rushed in, especially I, Barbara, and did little bits, and so it came to be a Song o' Sixpence, and at last four Holabirds were 'singing in the pie.'"—(1868.)

Barbara's History, story of young, untrained but bright and attractive girl who marries a man of the world. The conflict of two strong, wayward natures is long and fierce, resulting in temporary separation, and the discipline of sorrow and absence in reconciliation.—Amelia B. Edwards.

Barbarossa ("red beard"), surname of Frederick I. of Germany (1121-1190). It is said that he never died, but is still sleeping in Kyffhauserberg in Thuringia. There he sits at a stone table with his six knights, waiting the "fulness of time," when he will come from his cave to rescue Germany from bondage, and give her the foremost place of all the-world. His beard has already grown through the table-slab, but must wind itself thrice round the table before his second advent. (See MANSUR, CHARLEMAGNE, ABTHUR, DESMOND, SEBASTIAN I., to whom similar legends are attached.)

Like Barbarossa, who sits in a cave,

Taciturn, sombre, sedate, and grave.

Longfellow,

The Golden Legend

.

Barbarossa, a tragedy by John Brown. This is not Frederick Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany (1121-1190), but Horne Barbarossa, the corsair (1475-1519). He was a renegade Greek, of Mitylenê, who made himself master of Algeria, which was for a time subject to Turkey. He killed the Moorish king; tried to cut off Selim the son, but without success; and wanted to marry Zaphi'ra, the king's widow, who rejected his suit with scorn, and was kept in confinement for seven years. Selim returned unexpectedly to Algiers, and a general rising took place; Barbarossa was slain by the insurgents; Zaphira was restored to the throne; and Selim her son married Irenê the daughter of Barbarossa (1742).

Bar'bara (St.), the patron saint of arsenals. When her father was about to strike off her head, she was killed by a flash of lightning.

Barbason, the name of a demon. Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer well; Barbason well; yet they are ... the names of fiends.—Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2.

I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me.—

Henry V

. ii. 1.

Bar'bason, the name of a demon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 2 (1596).

I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me.—Shakespeare,

Henry V

. act ii. sc. I (1599).

Barby Elster, sharp-tongued and sweet-hearted "help" in the Rossiter family in Susan Warner's Queechy. She considers herself her employers' more-than-equal and loses no opportunity of expressing the conviction.—(1852.)

Barclay of Ury, an Aberdeen laird, persecuted as a "Quaker coward" by a mob of former friends and dependents, offers no resistance and refuses defence from the sword of an ancient henchman. "Is the sinful servant more Than his gracious Lord who bore Bonds and stripes in Jewry?" J.G. Whittier, Barclay of Ury.

Barco'chebah, an antichrist.

Shared the fall of the antichrist Barcochebar.—Professor

Selwin,

Ecce Homo

.

Bard of Avon, Shakespeare, born and buried at Stratford-upon-Avon (1564-1616).

Bard of Ayrshire, Robert Burns, a native of Ayrshire (1759-1796).

Bard of Hope, Thomas Campbell, author of The Pleasures of Hope (1777-1844).

Bard of the Imagination, Mark Akenside, author of The Pleasures of the Imagination (1721-1770).

Bard of Memory, S. Rogers, author of The Pleasures of Memory (1762-1855).

Bard of Olney, W. Cowper [Coo'-per], who lived for many years at Olney, in Bucks (1731-1800).

Bard of Prose, Boccaccio.

He of the hundred tales of love.

Byron,

Childe Harold

, iv. 56 (1818).

Bard of Rydal Mount, William Wordsworth, who lived at Rydal Mount; also called "Poet of the Excursion," from his principal poem (1770-1850).

Bard of Twickenham, Alexander Pope, who lived at Twickenham (1688-1744).

Bardell (Mrs.), landlady of "apartments for single gentlemen" in Groswell Street. Here Mr. Pickwick lodged for a time. She persuaded herself that he would make her a good second husband, and on one occasion was seen in his arms by his three friends. Mrs. Bardell put herself in the hands of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (two unprincipled lawyers), who vamped up a case against Mr. Pickwick of "breach of promise," and obtained a verdict against the defendant. Subsequently Messrs. Dodson and Fogg arrested their own client, and lodged her in the Fleet.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Barde'sanist (4 syl.), a follower of Barde'san, founder of a Gnostic sect in the second century.

Bardo Bardi, aged blind scholar, father of Romola. She is his colaborer in the studies he pursues despite his infirmity.—George Eliot, Romola.

Bar'dolph, corporal of captain sir John Falstaff, in 1 and 2 Henry IV. and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Henry V. he is promoted to lieutenant, and Nym is corporal. Both are hanged. Bardolph is a bravo, but great humorist; he is a lowbred, drunken swaggerer, wholly without principle, and always poor. His red, pimply nose is an everlasting joke with sir John and others. Sir John in allusion thereto calls Bardolph "The Knight of the Burning Lamp." He says to him, "Thou art our admiral, and bearest the lantern in the poop." Elsewhere he tells the corporal he had saved him a "thousand marks in links and torches, walking with him in the night betwixt tavern and tavern."—Shakespeare.

We are much of the mind of Falstaff's tailor.

We must have better assurance for sir John than

Bardolph's.—Macaulay.

(The reference is to 2 Henry IV. act i. sc. 2. When Falstaff asks Page, "What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak and slops!" Page replies, "He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph. He ... liked not the security.")

Bardon (Hugh), the scout-master in the troop of lieutenant Fitzurse.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Barefoot Boy, reminiscence of the author's own boyhood in Whittier's poem, The Barefoot Boy.

Prince thou art,—the grown-up man

Only is republican.

Barère (2 syl.), an advocate of Toulouse, called "The Anacreon of the Guillotine." He was president of the Convention, a member of the Constitutional Committee, and chief agent in the condemnation to death of Louis XVI. As member of the Committee of Public Safety, he decreed that "Terror must be the order of the day." In the first empire Barère bore no public part, but at the restoration he was banished from France, and retired to Brussels (1755-1841).

The filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo of the

fiction was a noble creature compared with the

Barère of history.—Lord Macaulay.

Barfüsle, pretty German child, left an orphan at a tender age, and cast upon the world. She maintains herself reputably and resists many temptations until she is happily married.—Bernard Auerbach, Barfüsle.

Bar'guest, a goblin armed with teeth and claws. It would sometimes set up in the streets a most fearful scream in the "dead waste and middle of the night." The faculty of seeing this monster was limited to a few, but those who possessed it could by the touch communicate the "gift" to others.—Fairy Mythology, North of England.

Bar'gulus, an Illyrian robber or pirate.

Bargulus, Illyrius latro, de quo est apud Theopompum

magnas opes habuit.—Cicero,

De Officiis

,

ii. 11.

Baricondo, one of the leaders of the Moorish army. He was slain by the duke of Clarence.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Barker (.Mr.), friend to Sowerberry. Mrs. Barker, his wife.—W. Brough, A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock.

Bar'kis, the carrier who courted [Clara] Peggot'ty, by telling David Copperfield when he wrote home to say to his nurse "Barkis is willin'." Clara took the hint and became Mrs. Barkis.

He dies when the tide goes out, confirming the

superstition that people can't die till the tide goes

out, or be born till it is in. The last words he

utters are "Barkis is willin'."—C. Dickens,

David Copperfield

, xxx. (1849).

(Mrs. Quickly says of sir John Falstaff, "'A parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at the turning o' the tide."—Henry V. act ii. sc. 3, 1599.)

Bar'laham and Josaphat, the heroes and title of a minnesong, the object of which was to show the triumph of Christian doctrines over paganism. Barlaham is a hermit who converts Josaphat, an Indian prince. This "lay" was immensely popular in the Middle Ages, and has been translated into every European language.—Rudolf of Ems (a minnesinger, thirteenth century).

Barley (Bill), Clara's father. Chiefly remarkable for drinking rum, and thumping on the floor.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).

Barleycorn (Sir John), Malt-liquor personified. His neighbors vowed that sir John should die, so they hired ruffians to "plough him with ploughs and bury him;" this they did, and afterwards "combed him with harrows and thrust clods on his head," but did not kill him. Then with hooks and sickles they "cut his legs off at the knees," bound him like a thief, and left him "to wither with the wind," but he died not. They now "rent him to the heart," and having "mowed him in a mow," sent two bravos to beat him with clubs, and they beat him so sore that "all his flesh fell from his bones," but yet he died not. To a kiln they next hauled him, and burnt him like a martyr, but he survived the burning. They crushed him between two stones, but killed him not. Sir John bore no malice for this ill-usage, but did his best to cheer the flagging spirits even of his worst persecutors.

This song, from the English Dancing-Master (1651), is generally ascribed to Robert Burns, but all that the Scotch poet did was slightly to alter parts of it. The same may be said of "Auld lang Syne," "Ca' the Yowes," "My Heart is Sair for Somebody," "Green grow the Rashes, O!" and several other songs, set down to the credit of Burns.

Barlow, the favorite archer of Henry VIII. He was jocosely created by the merry monarch "Duke of Shoreditch," and his two companions "Marquis of Islington" and "Earl of Pancras."

Barlow (Billy), a jester, who fancied himself a "mighty potentate." He was well known in the east of London, and died in Whitechapel workhouse. Some of his sayings were really witty, and some of his attitudes truly farcical.

Bar'mecide. Schacabac "the hare-lipped," a man in the greatest distress, one day called on the rich Barmecide, who in merry jest asked him to dine with him. Barmecide first washed in hypothetical water, Schacabac followed his example. Barmecide then pretended to eat of various dainties, Schacabac did the same, and praised them highly, and so the "feast" went on to the close. The story says Barmecide was so pleased that Schacabac had the good sense and good temper to enter into the spirit of the joke without resentment, that he ordered in a real banquet, at which Schacabac was a welcome guest.—Arabian Nights ("The Barber's Sixth Brother").

Bar'nabas (St.), a disciple of Gamaliel, cousin of St. Mark, and fellow-laborer with St. Paul. He was martyred at Salamis, A.D. 63. St. Barnabas' Day is June 11.—Acts iv. 36, 37.

Bar'naby (Widow), the title and chief character of a novel by Mrs. Trollope (1839). The widow is a vulgar, pretentious husband-hunter, wholly without principle. Widow Barnaby has a sequel called The Barnabys in America, or The Widow Married, a satire on America and the Americans (1840).

Barnaby Rudge, a half-witted whose companion is a raven. He is enticed into joining the Gordon rioters.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Budge (1841). (See RUDGE.)

Barnacle, brother of old Nicholas Cockney, and guardian of Priscilla Tomboy of the West Indies. Barnacle is a tradesman of the old school, who thinks the foppery and extravagance of the "Cockney" school inconsistent with prosperous shop-keeping. Though brusque and even ill-mannered, he has good sense and good discernment of character.—The Romp (altered from Bickerstaff's Love in the City).

Barnadine, malefactor, condemned to death, "who will not die that day, upon any man's persuasion."—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

Barnes (1 syl.), servant to colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Barney, a repulsive Jew, who waited on the customers at the low public-house frequented by Fagin and his associates. Barney always spoke through his nose.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Barn'stable (Lieutenant), in the British navy, in love with Kate Plowden, niece of colonel Howard of New York. The alliance not being approved of, Kate is removed from England to America, but Barnstable goes to America to discover her retreat. In this he succeeds, but being seized as a spy, is commanded by colonel Howard to be hung to the yardarm of an American frigate called the Alacrity. Scarcely is the young man led off, when the colonel is informed that Barnstable is his own son, and he arrives at the scene of execution just in time to save him. Of course after this he marries the lady of his affection.—E. Fitzball, The Pilot (a burletta).

Barnwell (George), the chief character and title of a tragedy by George Lillo. George Barnwell is a London apprentice, who falls in love with Sarah Millwood of Shoreditch, who leads him astray. He first robs his master of £200. He next robs his uncle, a rich grazier at Ludlow, and murders him. Having spent all the money of his iniquity, Sarah Millwood turns him off and informs against him. Both are executed (1732).

For many years this play was acted on boxing-night, as a useful lesson to London apprentices. Baron (The old English), a romance by Clara Reeve (1777).

Bar'rabas, the rich "Jew of Malta." He is simply a human monster, who kills in sport, poisons whole nunneries, and invents infernal machines. Shakespeare's "Shylock" has a humanity in the very whirlwind of his resentment, but Marlowe's "Barrabas" is a mere ideal of that "thing" which Christian prejudice once deemed a Jew. (See BARABAS.)—Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (1586).

Bar'rabas, the famous robber and murderer set free instead of Christ by desire of the Jews. Called in the New Testament Barab'has. Marlowe calls the word "Barrabas" in his Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare says:

"Would any of the stock of Bar'rabas

Had been her husband, rather than a Christian."

Merchant of Venice

, act iv. sc. 1 (1598).

Barry Cornwall, the nom de plume of Bryan Waller Procter. It is an imperfect anagram of his name (1788-1874).

Barsad (John), alias Solomon Pross, a spy.

He had an aquiline nose, but not straight,

having a peculiar inclination towards the left

cheek; expression, therefore, sinister.—C. Dickens,

A Tale of Two Cities

, ii. 16 (1859).

Barsis'a (Santon), in The Guardian, the basis of the story called The Monk, by M. G. Lewis (1796).

Barston, alias captain Fenwicke, a jesuit and secret correspondent of the conntess of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Barthol'omew (Brother), guide of the two Philipsons on their way to Strasburg.

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

Bartholomew (St.). His day is August 24, and his symbol a knife, in allusion to the knife with which he is said to have been flayed alive.

Bartley Hubbard, the "smart" newspaper-man in A Modern Instance, by William Dean Howells (1883). He also plies his trade and exhibits his assurance in The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).

Bartoldo, a rich old miser, who died of fear and want of sustenance. Fazio rifled his treasures, and on the accusation of his own wife was tried and executed.—Dean Milman, Fazio (1815).

Bartoldo, same as Bertoldo (q.v.).

Bartoli (in French Barthole, better known, however, by the Latin form of the name, Bartolus) was the most famous master of the dialectical school of jurists (1313-1356). He was born at Sasso Ferrata in Italy, and was professor of Civil Law at the University of Perugia. His reputation was at one time immense, and his works were quoted as authority in nearly every European court. Hence the French proverb, applied to a well-read lawyer, He knows his "Barthole" as well as a Cordelier his "Dormi" (an anonymous compilation of sermons for the use of the Cordelier monks). Another common French expression, Résolu comme Barthole ("as decided as Barthole"), is a sort of punning allusion to his Resolutiones Bartoli, a work in which the knottiest questions are solved with ex cathedra peremptoriness.

Bar'tolus, a covetous lawyer, husband of Amaran'ta.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).

Barton (Sir Andrew), a Scotch sea-officer, who had obtained in 1511 letters of marque for himself and his two sons, to make reprisals upon the subjects of Portugal. The council-board of England, at which the earl of Surrey presided, was daily pestered by complaints from British merchants and sailors against Barton, and at last it was decided to put him down. Two ships were, therefore, placed under the commands of sir Thomas and sir Edward Howard, an engagement took place, and sir Andrew Barton was slain, bravely fighting. A ballad in two parts, called "Sir Andrew Barton," is inserted in Percy's Reliques, II. ii. 12.

Bartram, the lime-burner, an obtuse, middle-aged clown in Ethan Brand by Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he finds the suicide's skeleton in the kiln, the heart whole within the ribs, he congratulates himself that "his kiln is half a bushel richer for him" (1846).

Baruch. Dites, donc, avez-vous lu Baruch? Said when a person puts an unexpected question, or makes a startling proposal. It arose thus: Lafontaine went one day with Racine to tenebrae, and was given a Bible. He turned at random to the "Prayer of the Jews," in Baruch, and was so struck with it that he said aloud to Racine, "Dites, donc, who was this Baruch? Why, do you know, man, he was a fine genius;" and for some days afterwards the first question he asked his friends was, Diles, done, Mons., avez-vous lu Baruch?

Barzil'lai (3 syl.), the duke of Ormond, a friend and firm adherent of Charles II. As Barzillai assisted David when he was expelled by Absalom from his kingdom, so Ormond assisted Charles II. when he was in exile.

Barzillai, crowned with honors and with years,...

In exile with his god-like prince he mourned,

For him he suffered, and with him returned.

Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i.

Basa-Andre, the wild woman, a sorceress, married to Basa-Jaun, a sort of vampire. Basa-Andre sometimes is a sort of land mermaid (a beautiful lady who sits in a cave combing her locks with a golden comb). She hates church bells. (See BASA-JAUN.)

Basa-Jaun, a wood-sprite, married to Basa-Andre, a sorceress. Both hated the sound of church bells. Three brothers and their sister agreed to serve him, but the wood-sprite used to suck blood from the finger of the girl, and the brothers resolved to kill him. This they accomplished. The Basa-Andre induced the girl to put a tooth into each of the footbaths of her brothers, and lo! they became oxen. The girl crossing a bridge saw Basa-Andre, and said if she did not restore her brothers she would put her into a red-hot oven, so Basa-Andre told the girl to give each brother three blows on the back with a hazel wand, and on so doing they were restored to their proper forms.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends, 49 (1877).

Bas Bleu, nickname applied to literary women in the days succeeding the French Revolution, made familiar in America by J. K. Paulding's Azure Hose.

Bashaba, sachem in J. G.L. Whittier's poem, The Bridal of Pennacock. His beautiful daughter, scorned by the chief to whom Bashaba gave her in marriage, and detained against her will by her angry father, steals away by night in a canoe and is drowned in a vain attempt

To seek the wigwam of her chief once more.

Bashful Man (The), a comic drama by

W. T. Moncrieff. Edward Blushington, a young man just come into a large fortune, is so bashful and shy that life is a misery to him. He dines at Friendly Hall, and makes all sorts of ridiculous blunders. His college chum, Frank Friendly, sends word to say that he and his sister Dinah, with sir Thomas and lady Friendly, will dine with him at Blushington House. After a few glasses of wine, Edward loses his shyness, makes a long speech, and becomes the accepted suitor of Dinah Friendly.

Basil, the blacksmith of Grand Pré, in Acadia (now Nova Scotia), and father of Gabriel the betrothed of Evangeline. When, the colony was driven into exile in 1713 by George II., Basil settled in Louisiana, and greatly prospered; but his son led a wandering life, looking for Evangeline, and died in Pennsylvania of the plague.—Longfellow, Evangeline (1849).

Basil March, a clever, cynical, and altogether charming man of letters who takes one of the leading parts in William Dean Howells's Their Wedding Journey. A Chance Acquaintance, and A Hazard of New Fortunes.

Ba'sile (2 syl.), a calumniating, niggardly bigot in Le Mariage de Figaro, and again in Le Barbier de Séville, both by Beaumarchais. Basile and Tartuffe are the two French incarnations of religious hypocrisy. The former is the clerical humbug, and the latter the lay religious hypocrite. Both deal largely in calumny, and trade in slander.

Basilis'co, a bully and a braggart, in Solyman and Perseda (1592). Shakespeare has made Pistol the counterpart of Basilisco.

Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.

Shakespeare,

King John

, act i. sc. 1 (1596).

(That is, "my boasting like Basilisco has made me a knight, good mother.")

Basilisk, supposed to kill with its gaze the person who looked on it. Thus Henry VI. says to Suffolk, "Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent gazer with thy sight."

Natus in ardente Lydiæ basiliscus arena,

Vulnerat aspectu, luminibusque nocet.

Mantuanus.

Basilius, a neighbor of Quiteria, whom he loved from childhood, but when grown up the father of the lady forbade him the house, and promised Quiteria in marriage to Camacho, the richest man of the vicinity. On their way to church they passed Basilius, who had fallen on his sword, and all thought he was at the point of death. He prayed Quiteria to marry him, "for his soul's peace," and as it was deemed a mere ceremony, they were married in due form. Up then started the wounded man, and showed that the stabbing was only a ruse, and the blood that of a sheep from the slaughter-house. Camacho gracefully accepted the defeat, and allowed the preparations for the general feast to proceed.

Basilius is strong and active, pitches the bar

admirably, wrestles with amazing dexterity, and

is an excellent cricketer. He runs like a buck,

leaps like a wild goat, and plays at skittles like

a wizard. Then he has a fine voice for singing,

he touches the guitar so as to make it speak, and

handles a foil as well as any fencer in Spain.—Cervantes,

Don Quixote

, II. ii. 4 (1615).

Basrig or Bagsecg, a Scandinavian king, who with Halden or Halfdene (2 syl.) king of Denmark, in 871, made a descent on Wessex. In this year Ethelred fought nine pitched battles with the Danes. The first was the battle of Englefield, in Berkshire, lost by the Danes; the next was the battle of Beading, won by the Danes; the third was the famous battle of Æscesdun or Ashdune (now Ashton), lost by the Danes, and in which king Bagsecg was slain.

And Ethelred with them [

the Danes

] nine sundry fields that fought ...

Then Reading ye regained, led by that valiant lord,

Where Basrig ye outbraved, and Halden sword to sword.

Drayton,

Polyolbion

, xii. (1613).

Next year (871) the Danes for the first time entered Wessex.... The first place they came to was Reading.... Nine great battles, besides smaller skirmishes, were fought this year, in some of which the English won, and in others the Danes. First, alderman Æthelwulf fought the Danes at Englefield, and beat them. Four days after that there was another battle at Reading ... where the Danes had the better of it, and Æthelwulf was killed. Four days afterwards there was another more famous battle at Æscesdun ... and king Æthelred fought against the two kings, and slew Bagsecg with his own hand.—E. A. Freeman, Old English History (1869); see Asser, Life of Alfred (ninth century).

Bassa'nio, the lover of Portia, successful in his choice of the three caskets, which awarded her to him as wife. It was for Bassanio that his friend Antonio borrowed 3000 ducats of the Jew Shylock, on the strange condition that if he returned the loan within three months no interest should be required, but if not, the Jew might claim a pound of Antonio's flesh for forfeiture.—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1598).

Bas'set (Count), a swindler and forger, who assumes the title of "count" to further his dishonest practices.—C. Cibber, The Provoked Husband (1728).

Bassia'nus, brother of Satur'nius emperor of Rome, in love with Lavin'ia daughter of Titus Andron'icus (properly Andronicus). He is stabbed by Deme'trius and Chiron, sons of Tam'ora queen of the Goths.—(?) Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus (1593).

Bassi'no (Count), the "perjured husband of Aurelia" slain by Alonzo.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Perjured Husband (1700).

Bassanio, a youth of noble birth but crippled fortunes, whose desire to win the hand of Portia, a rich heiress, is the moving spring of the action of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Portia's father has left three caskets, and has ordered in his will that his daughter is to marry only the man who chooses the casket that holds her portrait. That Bassanio may enter the list of Portia's suitors, his friend Antonio borrows money of Shylock, a Jew, who, out of hatred to the merchant, entraps him into pledging a pound of his flesh as surety for the loan. Bassanio marries Portia, but misfortune overtakes Antonio, he forfeits his bond, and his life is only saved by a quibble devised by Portia.

Bastard of Orleans, in Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 1, is Jean Dunois a natural son of Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI.

Bat (Dr.), naturalist in Cooper's Prairie, who mistakes his ass at night for a monster described in his note-book.

Bates (1 syl.), a soldier in the army of Henry V. He with Court and Williams are sentinals before the English camp at Agincourt, and the king disguised comes to them during the watch, and talks with them respecting the impending battle,—Shakespeare, Henry V.

Bates (Charley), generally called "Master Bates," one of Fagin's "pupils," training to be a pickpocket. He is always laughing uproariously, and is almost equal in artifice and adroitness to "The Artful Dodger" himself.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Bates (Frank), the friend of Whittle. A man of good plain sense, who tries to laugh the old beau out of his folly.—Garrick, The Irish Widow (1757).

Bath (King of), Richard Nash, generally called Beau Nash, master of-the ceremonies for fifteen years in that fashionable city (1674-1761).

Bath (The Maid of), Miss Linley, a beautiful and accomplished singer, who married Richard B. Sheridan, the statesman and dramatist.

Bath (The Wife of), one of the pilgrims travelling from Southwark to Canterbury, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. She tells her tale in turn, and chooses "Midas" for her subject (1388).

Bathsheba in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel is Louisa de Queronailles, a young French lady brought into England by the Duchess of Orleans, and who became the mistress of Charles II. The King made her Duchess of Portsmouth.

My father [

Charles II.

] whom with reverence I name ...

Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old.

Dryden,

Absalom and Achitophel

, ii.

Bathsheba Everdeiie, handsome heiress of an English farmstead, beloved by two honest men and one knave. She marries the knave in haste, and repents it at leisure for years thereafter. Released by his death, she marries Gabriel Oak.—Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874).

Battar (Al), i.e. the trenchant, one of Mahomet's swords.

Battus, a shepherd of Arcadia. Having witnessed Mercury's theft of Apollo's oxen, he received a cow from the thief to ensure his secrecy; but, in order to test his fidelity, Mercury re-appeared soon afterwards, and offered him an ox and a cow if he would blab. Battus fell into the trap, and was instantly changed into a touchstone.

When Tantalus in hell sees store and starves;

And senseless Battus for a touchstone serves.

Lord Brooke, Treatise on Monarchie, iv.

Bau'cis and Philemon, an aged Phrygian woman and her husband, who received Jupiter and Mercury hospitably when every one else in the place had refused to entertain them. For this courtesy the gods changed the Phrygians' cottage into a magnificent temple, and appointed the pious couple over it. They both died at the same time, according to their wish, and were converted into two trees before the temple.—Greek and Roman Mythology.

Baul'die (2 syl.), stable-boy of Joshua Geddes the quaker.—Sir W. Scott, Red-gauntlet (time, George III.).

Baul'die (2 syl.), the old shepherd in the introduction of the story called The Black Dwarf, by sir W. Scott (time, Anne).

Bavian Fool (The), one of the characters in the old morris-dance. He wore a red cap faced with yellow, a yellow "slabbering-bib," a blue doublet, red hose, and black shoes. He represents an overgrown baby, but was a tumbler, and mimicked the barking of a dog. The word Bavian is derived from bavon, a "bib for a slabbering child" (see Cotgrave, French Dictionary). In modern French bave means "drivel," "slabbering," and the verb baver "to slabber," but the bib is now called bavette. (See MORRIS-DANCE.)

Bavie'ca, the Cid's horse. He survived his master two years and a half, and was buried at Valencia. No one was ever allowed to mount him after the death of the Cid.

Bavius, any vile poet. (See MÆVIUS.)

Bawtry. Like the saddler of Baivtry, who was hanged for leaving his liquor. (Yorkshire Proverb.) It was customary for criminals on their way to execution to stop at a certain tavern in York for a "parting draught." The saddler of Bawtry refused to accept the liquor, and was hanged, whereas if he had stopped a few minutes at the tavern his reprieve, which was on the road, would have arrived in time to save him.

Ba'yard, Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche; born in France in 1475. He served under Charles VIII. and Louis XII.; bore a gallant part in the "Battle of the Spurs," and died in 1524 of wounds received while in action.

The British Bayard, sir Philip Sidney (1554-1584).

The Polish Bayard, prince Joseph Poniatowski (1763-1814).

The Bayard of India, sir James Outram (1803-1863). So called by sir Charles Napier.

Ba'yard, a horse of incredible speed, belonging to the four sons of Aymon. If only one mounted, the horse was of the ordinary size, but increased in proportion as two or more mounted. (The word means "bright bay color.")—Villeneuve, Les Quatre fils Aymon.

Bayard, the steed of Fitz-James.—Sir W. Scott, Lady of the Lake, v. 18 (1810).

Bayar'do, the famous steed of Rinaldo, which once belonged to Amadis of Gaul. It was found in a grotto by the wizard Malagigi, along with the sword Fusberta, both of which he gave to his cousin Rinaldo.

His color bay, and hence his name he drew—

Bayardo called. A star of silver hue

Emblazed his front.

Tasso, Rinaldo, ii. 220 (1562).

Bayes (1 syl.), the chief character of The Rehearsal, a farce by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (1671). Bayes is represented as greedy of applause, impatient of censure, meanly obsequious, regardless of plot, and only anxious for claptrap. The character is meant for John Dryden.

C. Dibdin, in his History of the Stage, states that Mrs. Mountford played "Bayes" "with more variety than had ever been thrown into the part before."

No species of novel-writing exposes itself to a

severer trial, since it not only resigns all Bayes'

pretensions "to elevate the imagination," ... but

places its productions within the range

of [general] criticism.—

Encyc. Brit.

Art. "Romance."

Baynard (Mr.), introduced in an episode in the novel called Humphrey Clinker, by Smollett (1771).

Bea'con (Tom), groom to Master Chiffinch (private emissary of Charles II.).—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Bea'gle (Sir Harry), a horsy country gentleman, who can talk of nothing but horses and dogs. He is wofully rustic and commonplace. Sir Harry makes a bargain with lord Trinket to give up Harriet to him in exchange for his horse. (See GOLDFINCH.)—George Colman, The Jealous Wife (1761).

Beak. Sir John Fielding was called "The Blind Beak" (died 1780). Bean Lean (Donald), alias Will Ruthven, a Highland robber-chief. He also appears disguised as a peddler on the roadside leading to Stirling. Waverley is rowed to the robber's cave and remains there all night.

Alice Bean, daughter of Donald Bean Lean, who attends on Waverley during a fever.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Bear (The Brave). Warwick is so called from his cognizance, which was a bear and ragged staff.

Bearcliff (Deacon), at the Gordon Arms or Kippletringam inn, where colonel Mannering stops on his return to England, and hears of Bertram's illness and distress.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Bearded (The). (1) Geoffrey the crusader. (2) Bouchard of the house of Montmorency. (3) Constantine IV. (648-685). (4) Master George Killingworthe of the court of Ivan the Terrible of Russia, whose beard (says Hakluyt) was five feet two inches long, yellow, thick, and broad. Sir Hugh Willoughby was allowed to take it in his hand.

The Bearded Master. Soc'ratês was so called by Persius (B.C. 468-399).

Handsome Beard, Baldwin IV. earl of Flanders (1160-1186).

John the Bearded, John Mayo, the German painter, whose beard touched the ground when he stood upright.

Bearnais (Le), Henri IV. of France, so called from his native province, Le Béarr. (1553-1610).

Beaton, the artist of Every Other Week, the story of which periodical is told in W. D. Howells's A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889).

His name was Beaton—Angus Beaton. His father was a Scotchman, but Beaton was born in Syracuse, New York, and it had taken only three years to obliterate many traces of native and ancestral manner in him. He wore his thick beard cut shorter than his moustache, and a little pointed; he stood with his shoulders well thrown back, and with a lateral curve of his person when he talked about art which would alone have carried conviction, even if he had not had a thick, dark bang coming almost to the brows of his mobile gray eyes, and had not spoken English with quick, staccato impulses, so as to give it the effect of epigrammatic and sententious French.

Be'atrice (3 syl.), a child eight years old, to whom Dantê at the age of nine was ardently attached. She was the daughter of Folco Portina'ri, a rich citizen of Florence. Beatrice married Simoni de Bardi, and died before she was twenty-four years old (1266-1290). Dantê married Gemma Donati, and his marriage was a most unhappy one. His love for Beatrice remained after her decease. She was the fountain of his poetic inspiration, and in his Divina Commedia he makes her his guide through paradise.

Dantê's Beatrice and Milton's Eve Were not drawn from their spouses you conceive. Byron, Don Juan, iii. 10 (1820).

(Milton, who married Mary Powell, of Oxfordshire, was as unfortunate in his choice as Dantê.)

Beatrice, wife of Ludov'ico Sforza.

Beatrice, daughter of Ferdinando king of Naples, sister of Leonora duchess of Ferrara, and wife of Mathias Corvi'nus of Hungary.

Beatrice, niece of Leonato governor of Messina, lively and light-hearted, affectionate and impulsive. Though wilful she is not wayward, though volatile she is not unfeeling, though teeming with wit and gaiety she is affectionate and energetic. At first she dislikes Benedick, and thinks him a flippant conceited coxcomb; but overhearing a conversation between her cousin Hero and her gentlewoman, in which Hero bewails that Beatrice should trifle with such deep love as that of Benedick, and should scorn so true and good a gentleman, she cries, "Sits the wind thus? then, farewell, contempt. Benedick, love on; I will requite you." This conversation of Hero's was a mere ruse, but Benedick had been caught by a similar trick played by Claudio, don Pedro, and Leonato. The result was they sincerely loved each other, and were married.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

Beatrice Cenci, the Beautiful Parricide (q.v.).

Beatrice D'Este, canonized at Rome.

Beatrice Giorgini, an Italian contessa whose parents contract a secret marriage, an unequal match as to birth and fortune, and, dying young, one by violence, leave their child in charge of Betta, a faithful nurse, who takes her to her mother's mother, an old peasant. At her grandmother's death she becomes companion to a relative of her father; marries don Leonardo, her father's cousin and one of the witnesses to the secret marriage, and uses him to prove her legitimacy and his own treachery.—Mary Agnes Tincker, Two Coronets (1889).

Beau Brummel, George Bryan Brummel, son of a London pastry-cook, who became the fashion at the court of George III. and reigning favorite of the Prince of Wales. His story has been made the foundation of a brilliant American play by Clyde Fitch, in which Richard Mansfield takes the part of Brummel (1890).

Beau Clark, a billiard-maker at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was called "The Bean," assumed the name of Beauelerc, and paid his addresses to a protégée of lord Fife.

Beau Fielding, called "Handsome Fielding" by Charles II., by a play on his name, which was Hendrome Fielding. He died in Scotland Yard.

Beau Hewitt was the original of sir George Etherege's "Sir Fopling Flutter," in the comedy called The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676).

Beau Nash, Richard Nash, called also "King of Bath;" a Welsh gentleman, who for fifteen years managed the bath-rooms of Bath, and conducted the balls with unparalleled splendor and decorum. In his old age he sank into poverty (1674-1761).

Beau d'Orsay (Le), father of count d'Orsay, whom Byron calls "Jeune Cupidon."

Beau Seant, the Templars' banner, half white and half black; the white signified that the Templars were good to Christians, the black, that they were evil to infidels.

Beau Tibbs, in Goldsmith's Citizen of the World, a dandy noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty.

Beauclerk, Henry I. king of England (1068, 1100-1135).

Beaufort, the lover of Maria Wilding, whom he ultimately marries.—A. Murphy, The Citizen (a farce).

Beaujeu (Mons. le chevalier de), keeper of a gambling-house to which Dalgarno takes Nigel.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Beaujeu (Mons. le comte de), a French officer in the army of the Chevalier Charles Edward, the Pretender.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Beaumains ("big hands"), a nickname which sir Key (Arthur's steward) gave to Gareth when he was kitchen drudge in the palace. "He had the largest hands that ever man saw." Gareth was the son of king Lot and Margawse (king Arthur's sister). His brothers were sir Gaw'ain, sir Agravain, and sir Gaheris. Mordred was his half-brother.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 120 (1470).

His achievements are given under the name "Gareth" (q.v.).

Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, makes sir Key tauntingly address Lancelot thus, referring to Gareth:

Fair and fine, forsooth!

Sir Fine-face, sir Fair-hands? But see thou to it

That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day,

Undo thee not.

Be it remembered that Key himself called Gareth "Beaumain" from the extraordinary size of the lad's hands; but the taunt put into the mouth of Key by the poet indicates that the lad prided himself on his "fine" face and "fair" hands, which is not the case. If "fair hands" is a translation of this nickname, it should be "fine hands," which bears the equivocal sense of big and beautiful.

Beau'manoir (Sir Lucas), Grand-Master of the Knights Templars.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Beaupre [Bo-pray'], son of judge Vertaigne (2 syl.) and brother of Lami'ra.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Beauté (2 syl). La dame de Beauté. Agnes Sorel, so called from the château de Beauté, on the banks of the Marne, given to her by Charles VII. (1409-1450).

Beautiful Corisande (3 syl). Diane comtesse de Guiche et de Grammont. She was the daughter of Paul d'Andouins, and married Philibert de Grammont, who died in 1580. The widow outlived her husband for twenty-six years. Henri IV., before he was king of Navarre, was desperately smitten by La belle Corisande, and when Henri was at war with the League, she sold her diamonds to raise for him a levy of 20,000 Gascons (1554-1620).

(The letters of Henri to Corisande are still preserved in the Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal, and were published in 1769.)

Beautiful Parricide (The), Beatrice Cenci, daughter of a Roman nobleman, who plotted the death of her father because he violently defiled her. She was executed in 1605. Shelley has a tragedy on the subject, entitled The Cenci. Guido Reni's portrait of Beatrice is well known through its numberless reproductions.

Beauty (Queen of). So the daughter of Schems'edeen' Mohammed, vizier of Egypt, was called. She married her cousin, Bed'redeen' Hassan, son of Nour'edeen' Ali, vizier of Basora.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête'), from Les Contes Marines of Mde. Villeneuvre (1740), the most beautiful of all nursery tales. A young and lovely woman saved her father by putting herself in the power of a frightful but kind-hearted monster, whose respectful affection and melancholy overcame her aversion to his ugliness, and she consented to become his bride. Being thus freed from enchantment, the monster assumed his proper form and became a young and handsome prince.

Beauty of Buttermere (3 syl.), Mary Robinson, who married John Hatfield, a heartless impostor executed for forgery at Carlisle in 1803.

Beaux' Stratagem (The), by George Farquhar. Thomas viscount Aimwell and his friend Archer (the two beaux), having run through all their money, set out fortune-hunting, and come to Lichfield as "master and man." Aimwell pretends to be very unwell, and as lady Bountiful's hobby is tending the sick and playing the leech, she orders him to be removed to her mansion. Here he and Dorinda (daughter of lady Bountiful) fall in love with each other, and finally marry. Archer falls in love with Mrs. Sullen, the wife of squire Sullen, who had been married fourteen months but agreed to a divorce on the score of incompatibility of tastes and temper. This marriage forms no part of the play; all we are told is that she returns to the roof of her brother, sir Charles Freeman (1707).

Bede (Adam and Seth), brothers, carpenters. Seth loves the fair gospeller Dinah Morris, but she marries Adam.—George Eliot, Adam Bede.

Bede (Cuthbert), the Rev. Edward Bradley, author of The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman (1857).

Bed'er ("the full moon"), son of Gulna'rê (3 syl.), the young king of Persia. As his mother was an under-sea princess, he was enabled to live under water as well as on land. Beder was a young man of handsome person, quick parts, agreeable manners, and amiable disposition. He fell in love with Giauha'rê, daughter of the king of Samandal, the most powerful of the under-sea empires, but Giauharê changed him into a white bird with red beak and red legs. After various adventures, Beder resumed his human form and married Giauharê.—Arabian Nights ("Beder and Giauharê").

Bed'ivere (Sir) or Bed'iver, king Arthur's butler and a knight of the Round Table. He was the last of Arthur's knights, and was sent by the dying king to throw his sword Excalibur into the mere. Being cast in, it was caught by an arm "clothed in white samite," and drawn into the stream.—Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.

Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur is a very close and in many parts a verbal rendering of the same tale in sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, iii. 168 (1470).

Bedloe (Augustus), an eccentric Virginian, an opium-eater, and easily hypnotized, in Edgar Allan Poe's Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1846).

Bedott (Widow). (See HEZEKIAH BEDOTT.)

Bed'ouins [Bed'.winz], nomadic tribes of Arabia. In common parlance, "the homeless street poor." Thus gutter-children are called "Bedouins."

Bed'redeen' Has'san of Baso'ra, son of Nour'edeen' Ali grand vizier of Basora, and nephew to Schems'edeen' Mohammed vizier of Egypt. His beauty was transcendent and his talents of the first order. When twenty years old his father died, and the sultan, angry with him for keeping from court, confiscated all his goods, and would have seized Bedredeen if he had not made his escape. During sleep he was conveyed by fairies to Cairo, and substituted for an ugly groom (Hunchback) to whom his cousin, the Queen of Beauty, was to have been married. Next day he was carried off by the same means to Damascus, where he lived for ten years as a pastry-cook. Search was made for him, and the search party, halting outside the city of Damascus, sent for some cheese-cakes. When the cheese-cakes arrived, the widow of Nouredeen declared that they must have been made by her son, for no one else knew the secret of making them, and that she herself had taught it to him. On hearing this, the vizier ordered Bedredeen to be seized, "for making cheese-cakes without pepper," and the joke was carried on till the party arrived at Cairo, when the pastry-cook prince was reunited to his wife, the Queen of Beauty.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).

Bedwin (Mrs.), housekeeper to Mr. Brownlow. A kind, motherly soul, who loves Oliver Twist most dearly.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Bee of Attica, Soph'oclês the dramatist (B.C. 495-405). The "Athenian Bee" was Plato the philosopher (B.C. 428-347).

The Bee of Attica rivalled Æschylus when in

the possession of the stage.—Sir W. Scott,

The Drama.

Beef'ington (Milor), introduced in The Rovers. Casimir is a Polish emigrant, and Beefington an English nobleman exiled by the tyranny of king John.—Anti-Jacobin.

"Will without power," said the sagacious Casimir,

to Milor Beefington, "is like children playing

at soldiers."—Macaulay.

Be'elzelbub (4 syl.), called "prince of the devils" (Matt. xii. 24), worshipped at Ekron, a city of the Philistines (2 Kings i. 2), and made by Milton second to Satan.

One next himself in power and next in crime—Beëlzebub.

Paradise Lost

, i. 80 (1665).

Bee'nie (2 syl.), chambermaid at Old St. Ronan's inn, held by Meg Dods.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).

Bees (Telling the), a superstition still prevalent in some rural districts that the bees must be told at once if a death occur in the family, or every swarm will take flight. In Whittier's poem, Telling the Bees, the lover coming to visit his mistress sees the small servant draping the hives with black, and hears her chant:

"Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence,

Mistress Mary is dead and gone."

Befa'na, the good fairy of Italian children. She is supposed to fill their shoes and socks with toys when they go to bed on Twelfth Night. Some one enters the bedroom for the purpose, and the wakeful youngters cry out, "Ecco la Befana!" According to legend, Befana was too busy with house affairs to take heed of the Magi when they went to offer their gifts, and said she would stop for their return; but they returned by another way, and Befana every Twelfth Night watches to see them. The name is a corruption of Epiphania.

Beg (Callum), page to Fergus M'Ivor, in Waverley, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).

Beg (Toshach), MacGillie Chattanach's second at the combat.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Beggar of Bethnal Green (The), a drama by S. Knowles (recast and produced, 1834). Bess, daughter of Albert, "the blind beggar of Bethnal Green," was intensely loved by Wilford, who first saw her in the streets of London, and subsequently, after diligent search, discovered her in the Queen's Arms inn at Romford. It turned out that her father Albert was brother to lord Woodville, and Wilford was his truant son, so that Bess was his cousin Queen Elizabeth sanctioned their nuptials, and took them under her own conduct. (See BLIND.)

Beggars (King of the), Bampfylde Moore Carew. He succeeded Clause Patch (1693, 1730-1770).

Beggar's Daughter (The), "Bessee the beggar's daughter of Bethnal Green," was very beautiful, and was courted by four suitors at once—a knight, a country squire, a rich merchant, and the son of an inn-keeper at Romford. She told them all they must first obtain the consent of her poor blind father, the beggar of Bethnal Green, and all slunk off except the knight, who went and asked leave to marry "the pretty Bessee." The beggar gave her for a "dot," £3000, and £100 for her trousseau, and informed the knight that he (the beggar) was Henry, son and heir of sir Simon de Montfort, and that he had disguised himself as a beggar to escape the vigilance of spies, who were in quest of all those engaged on the baron's side in the battle of Evesham.—Percy's Reliques, II. ii 10.

The value of money was about twelve times more than its present purchase value, so that the "dot" given was equal to £36,000.

Beggar's Opera (The), by Gay (1727). The beggar is captain Macheath. (For plot, see MACHEATH.)

Beggar's Petition (The), a poem by the Rev. Thomas Moss, minister of Brierly Hill and Trentham, in Staffordshire. It was given to Mr. Smart, the printer, of Wolverhampton.—Gentleman's Magazine, lxx. 41. Beguines [Beg-wins], the earliest of all lay societies of women united for religious purposes. Brabant says the order received its name from St. Begga, daughter of Pepin, who founded it at Namur', in 696; but it is more likely to be derived from le Bègue ("the Stammerer"); and if so, it was founded at Liège, in 1180.

Beh'ram, captain of the ship which was to convey prince Assad to the "mountain of fire," where he was to be offered up in sacrifice. The ship being driven on the shores of queen Margia'na's kingdom, Assad became her slave, but was recaptured by Behram's crew, and carried back to the ship. The queen next day gave the ship chase. Assad was thrown overboard, and swam to the city whence he started. Behram also was drifted to the same place. Here the captain fell in with the prince, and reconducted him to the original dungeon. Bosta'na, a daughter of the old fire-worshipper, taking pity on the prince, released him; and, at the end, Assad married queen Margiana, Bostana married prince Amgiad (half-brother of Assad), and Behram, renouncing his religion, became a mussulman, and entered the service of Amgiad, who became king of the city.—Arabian Nights ("Amgiad and Assad").

Bela'rius, a nobleman and soldier in the army of Cym'beline (3 syl.) king of Britain. Two villains having sworn to the king that he was "confederate with the Romans," he was banished, and for twenty years lived in a cave; but he stole away the two infant sons of the king out of revenge. Their names were Guide'rius and Arvir'agus. When these two princes were grown to manhood, a battle was fought between the Romans and Britons, in which Cymbeline was made prisoner, but Belarius coming to the rescue, the king was liberated and the Roman general in turn was made captive. Belarius was now reconciled to Cymbeline, and presenting to him the two young men, told their story; whereupon they were publicly acknowledged to be the sons of Cymbeline and princes of the realm.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).

Bel Bree, wide-awake country girl in The Other Girls, by A.D.T. Whitney. Dissatisfied with rustic life, she accompanies aunt Blin, a dressmaker, to Boston, works hard, is exposed to the temptations that beset a pretty girl in a city, but resists them. She is thrown out of work by the Boston fire, and "enters service" with satisfactory consequences to all concerned.

Belch (Sir Toby), uncle of Olivia the rich countess of Illyria. He is a reckless roysterer of the old school, and a friend of sir Andrew Ague-cheek.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).

Belcour, a foundling adopted by Mr. Belcour, a rich Jamaica merchant, who at death left him all his property. He was in truth the son of Mr. Stockwell, the clerk of Belcour, senior, who clandestinely married his master's daughter, and afterwards became a wealthy merchant. On the death of old Belcour, the young man came to England as the guest of his unknown father, fell in love with Miss Dudley, and married her. He was hot-blooded, impulsive, high-spirited, and generous, his very faults serving as a foil to his noble qualities; ever erring and repenting, offending and atoning for his offences.—Cumberland, The West Indian (1771).

Be'led, one of the six Wise Men of the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus. He was a king, who gave to his enemy who sought to dethrone him half of his kingdom, and thus turned a foe into a fast friend.—Klopstock, The Messiah, v. (1747).

Belerma, the lady whom Durandarte served for seven years as a knight-errant and peer of France. When, at length, he died at Roncesvalles, he prayed his cousin Montesi'nos to carry his heart to Belerma.

I saw a procession of beautiful damsels in mourning, with white turbans on their heads. In the rear came a lady with a veil so long that it reached the ground: her turban was twice as large as the largest of the others; her eyebrows were joined, her nose was rather flat, her mouth wide, but her lips of a vermilion color. Her teeth were thin-set and irregular, though very white; and she carried in her hand a fine linen cloth, containing a heart. Montesinos informed me that this lady was Belerma.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. ii. 6 (1615).

Bele'ses (3 syl.), a Chaldaean soothsayer and Assyrian satrap, who told Arba'ces (3 syl.) governor of Me'dia, that he would one day sit on the throne of Nineveh and Assyria. His prophecy came true, and Beleses was rewarded with the government of Babylon.—Byron, Sardanapalus (1819).

Bel'field (Brothers). The elder brother is a squire in Cornwall, betrothed to Sophia (daughter of sir Benjamin Dove), who loves his younger brother Bob. The younger brother is driven to sea by the cruelty of the squire, but on his return renews his acquaintance with Sophia. He is informed of her unwilling betrothal to the elder brother, who is already married to Violetta, but parted from her. Violetta returns home in the same ship as Bob Belfield, becomes reconciled to her husband, and the younger brother marries Sophia.—Rich. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).

Bel'ford, a friend of Lovelace (2 syl.). They made a covenant to pardon every sort of liberty which they took with each other.—Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe (1749).

Belford (Major), the friend of colonel Tamper, and the plighted hnsband of Mdlle. Florival.—G. Colman, sen., The Deuce is in Him (1762).

Belge (2 syl.), the mother of seventeen sons. She applied to queen Mercilla for aid against Geryon'eo, who had deprived her of all her offspring except five.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10 (1596).

"Beige" is Holland, the "seventeen sons" are the seventeen provinces which once belonged to her; "Geryoneo" is Philip II. of Spain; and "Mercilla" is queen Elizabeth.

Belial, sons of, in the Bible passim means the lewd and profligate. Milton has created the personality of Belial:

Belial came last; than whom a spirit more lewd

Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

Vice for itself. To him no temple stood

Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he

In temples, and at altars, when the priest

Tarns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled

With lust and violence the house of God?

In courts and palaces he also reigns,

And in luxurious cities, where the noise

Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers

And injury and outrage; and when night

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons

Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 490

On the other side up rose

Belial, in act more graceful and humane;

A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed

For dignity composed, and high exploit.

But all was false and hollow; though his tongue.

Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear

The better reason, to perplex and dash

Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low

To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds

Timorous and slothful.

Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 108.

Belia'nis of Greece (Don), the hero of an old romance of chivalry on the model of Am'adis de Gaul. It was one of the books in don Quixote's library, but was not one of those burnt by the cure as pernicious and worthless.

"Don Belianis," said the curé, "with its two, three, and four parts, hath need of a dose of rhubarb to purge off that mass of bile with which he is inflamed. His Castle of Fame and other impertinences should be totally obliterated. This done, we would show him lenity in proportion as we found him capable of reform. Take don Belianis home with you, and keep him in close confinement."—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

Belinda, niece and companion of lady John Brute. Young, pretty, full of fun, and possessed of £10,000. Heartfree marries her.—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).

Belin'da, the heroine of Pope's Rape of the Lock. This mock heroic is founded on the following incident:—Lord Petre cut a lock of hair from the head of Miss Arabella Fermor, and the young lady resented the liberty as an unpardonable affront. The poet says Belinda wore on her neck two curls, one of which the baron cut off with a pair of scissors borrowed of Clarissa, and when Belinda angrily demanded that it should be delivered up, it had flown to the skies and become a meteor there. (See BERENICE.)

Belinda, daughter of Mr. Blandford, in love with Beverley the brother of Clarissa. Her father promised sir William Bellmont that she should marry his son George, but George was already engaged to Clarissa. Belinda was very handsome, very independent, most irreproachable, and devotedly attached to Beverley. When he hinted suspicions of infidelity, she was too proud to deny their truth, but her pure and ardent love instantly rebuked her for giving her lover causeless pain.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).

Belin'da, the heroine of Miss Edgeworth's novel of the same name. The object of the tale is to make the reader feel what is good, and pursue it (1803).

Belin'da, a lodging-house servant-girl, very poor, very dirty, very kind-hearted, and shrewd in observation. She married, and Mr. Middlewick the butter-man set her husband up in business in the butter line.—H. J. Byron, Our Boys (1875).

Beline (2 syl.), second wife of Argan the malade imaginaire, and step-mother of Angelique, whom she hates. Beline pretends to love Argan devotedly, humors him in all his whims, calls him "mon fils," and makes him believe that if he were to die it would be the death of her. Toinette induces Argan to put these specious protestations to the test by pretending to be dead. He does so, and when Beline enters the room, instead of deploring her loss, she cries in ecstasy:

"Le ciel en soit loué! Me voilà délivrée d'un pesant fardeau!... de quoi servait-il sur la terre? Un homme incommode à tout le monde, malpropre, dégoûtant ... mouchant, toussant, crachant toujours, sans esprit, ennuyeux, de manvaise humeur, fatiguant sans cesse les gens, et grondant jour et nuit servantes et valets."—(iii. 18).

She then proceeds to ransack the room for bonds, leases, and money; but Argan starts up and tells her she has taught him one useful lesson for life at any rate.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire (1673).

Belisa'rius, the greatest of Justinian's generals. Being accused of treason, he was deprived of all his property, and his eyes were put out. In this state he retired to Constantinople, where he lived by begging. The story says he fastened a label to his hat, containing these words, "Give an obolus to poor old Belisarius." Marmontel has written a tale called Belisaire, which has helped to perpetuate these fables, originally invented by Tzetzês or Caesios, a Greek poet, born at Constantinople in 1120.

Bélise (2 syl.), sister of Philaminte (3 syl.), and, like her, a femme savante. She imagines that every one is in love with her.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).

Bell (Adam), a wild, north-country outlaw, noted, like Robin Hood, for his skill in archery. His place of residence was Englewood Forest, near Carlisle; and his two comrades were Clym of the Clough [Clement of the Cliff] and William of Cloudesly (3 syl.). William was married, but the other two were not. When William was captured at Carlisle, and was led to execution, Adam and Clym rescued him, and all three went to London to crave pardon of the king, which, at the queen's intercession, was granted them. They then showed the king specimens of their skill in archery, and the king was so well pleased that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the two others yeomen of the bedchamber.—Percy, Reliques ("Adam Bell," etc.), I. ii. I.

Bell. Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Bronté assumed the noms de plume of Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell (first half of the nineteenth century). Currer Bell or Bronté married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She was the author of Jane Eyre.

It will be observed that the initial letter of both names is in every case preserved throughout—Acton (Anne), Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily), and Bell (Bronté).

Bell (Bessy). Bessy Bell and Mary Gray were the daughters of two country gentlemen near Perth. When the plague broke out in 1666 they built for themselves a bower in a very romantic spot called Burn Braes, to which they retired, and were supplied with food, etc., by a young man who was in love with both of them. The young man caught the plague, communicated it to the two young ladies, and all three died.—Allan Eamsay, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray (a ballad).

Bell (Peter), the subject of a "tale in verse" by Wordsworth. Shelley wrote a burlesque upon it, entitled Peter Bell the Third.

Bell (The Old Chapel) J. G. Saxe's poem under this title is founded upon a legend of a boy, who, wandering in a churchyard, hears a musical articulate murmur from a disused bell hidden by matted grass.

Its very name and date concealed

Beneath a cankering crust. (1859.)

Bell-the-Cat, sobriquet of Archibald Douglas, great-earl of Angus, who died in 1514.

The mice, being much annoyed by the persecutions of a cat, resolved that a bell should be hung about her neck to give notice of her approach. The measure was agreed to in full council, but one of the sager mice inquired, "Who would undertake to bell the cat?" When Lauder told this fable to a council of Scotch nobles, met to declaim against one Cochran, Archibald Douglas started up and exclaimed in thunder, "I will;" and hence the sobriquet referred to.—Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, xxii.

Bella, sweet girl-cousin, the first love and life-long friend of the hero of Dream-Life, by Ik Marvel. Re-visiting his native place after years of foreign travel, he learns that Bella is dead, and goes to her grave, where dry leaves are entangled in the long grass, "giving it a ragged, terrible look" (1851).

Bella Wilfer, a lovely, wilful, lively spoilt darling. She married John Rokesmith (i.e., John Harmon).—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Bellamy, a steady young man, looking out for a wife "capable of friendship, love, and tenderness, with good sense enough to be easy, and good nature enough to like him." He found his beau-ideal in Jacintha, who had besides a fortune of £30,000.—Dr. Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1761).

Bella'rio, the assumed name of Euphrasia, when she put on boy's apparel that she might enter the service of prince Philaster, whom she greatly loved.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding (1622).

Bellaston (Lady), a profligate, from whom Tom Jones accepts support. Her conduct and conversation may be considered a fair photograph of the "beauties" of the court of George II.—Fielding, History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1750).

The character of Jones, otherwise a model of

generosity, openness, and manly spirit, mingled

with thoughtless dissipation, is unnecessarily degraded

by the nature of his intercourse with lady

Bellaston.—

Encyc. Brit.

Art. "Fielding."

Belle Cordiere (La), Louise Labé, who married Ennemond Perrin, a wealthy rope-maker (1526-1566).

Belle Corisande (La), Diane comtesse de Gruiche et de Grammont (1554-1620).

Bellefontaine (Benedict), the wealthy farmer of Grande Pré [Nova Scotia] and father of Evangeline. When the inhabitants of his village were driven into exile, Benedict died of a broken heart as he was about to embark, and was buried on the sea-shore.—Longfellow, Evangeline (1849).

Bel'lenden (Lady Margaret), an old Tory lady, mistress of the Tower of Tillietudlem.

Old major Miles Bellenden, brother of lady Margaret.

Miss Edith Bellenden, granddaughter of lady Margaret, betrothed to lord Evendale, of the king's army, but in love with Morton (a leader of the covenanters and the hero of the novel). After the death of lord Evendale, who is shot by Balfour, Edith marries Morton, and this terminates the tale.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Bellero'phon was falsely accused by Antea, wife of Proetos, King of Argos, and the enraged husband sent him to Lycia, to King Iobates, the father of Antea, with sealed tablets, asking that the bearer might be put to death. Iobates sent the youth on dangerous errands, but he came off unharmed from all. Among other exploits he killed the Chimæra and slew the Amazons. Later, he tried to mount to Olympus on the winged horse Pegasus, but he fell and wandered about in melancholy madness on the Aleian field until he died. This peculiar form of madness is called morbus Bellerophonteus. Homer tells the story of Bellerophon in the Iliad, Book VI. Milton alludes to him, Paradise Lost, VII. 15-20. Hawthorne has told the story of the Chimæra in A Wonder Book.

Belle'rus is the name of a personage invented by Milton as the supposed guardian of Land's End in Cornwall, the Bellerium of the Romans. In questioning as to where the body of the drowned Lycidas q.v. has been carried by the waves, he asks:

Or whether thou to our moist vows denied

Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old.

Lycidas, 159-60.

Belle's Stratagem (The). The "belle" is Letitia Hardy, and her stratagem was for the sake of winning the love of Doricourt, to whom she had been betrothed. The very fact of being betrothed to Letitia sets Doricourt against her, so she goes unknown to him to a masquerade, where Doricourt falls in love with "the beautiful stranger." In order to accomplish the marriage of his daughter, Mr. Hardy pretends to be "sick unto death," and beseeches Doricourt to wed Letitia before he dies. Letitia meets her betrothed in her masquerade dress, and unbounded is the joy of the young man to find that "the beautiful stranger" is the lady to whom he has been betrothed.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem (1780).

Belle the Giant. It is said that the giant Belle mounted on his sorrel horse at a place since called mount Sorrel. He leaped one mile, and the spot on which he lighted was called Wanlip (one-leap); thence he leaped a second mile, but in so doing "burst all" his girths, whence the spot was called Burst-all; in the third leap he was killed, and the spot received the name of Bellegrave.

Belleur', companion of Pinac and Mirabel ("the wild goose"), of stout blunt temper; in love with Rosalu'ra, a daughter of Nantolet.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild Goose Chase (1652).

Bell Hamlyn, young American girl, engaged to one man and in love with another, in Kismet, by George Fleming (Julia C. Fletcher, 1877).

Bellicent, daughter of Gorloïs lord of Tintag'il and his wife Ygernê or Igerna. As the widow married Uther the pen-dragon, and was then the mother of king Arthur, it follows that Bellicent was half-sister of Arthur. Tennyson in Gareth and Lynette says that Bellicent was the wife of Lot king of Orkney, and mother of Gaw'ain and Mordred, but this is not in accordance either with the chronicle or the history, for Geoffrey in his Chronicle says that Lot's wife was Anne, the sister (not half-sister) of Arthur (viii. 20, 21), and sir T. Malory, in his History of Prince Arthur says:

King Lot of Lothan and Orkney wedded Margawse;

Nentres, of the land of Carlot, wedded

Elain; and that Morgan le Fay was [

Arthurs

]

third sister.—Pt. i. 2, 35, 36.

Bel'lin, the ram, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox. The word means "gentleness" (1498).

Bellingham, a man about town.—D. Boucicault, After Dark.

Bel'lisant, sister of king Pepin of France, and wife of Alexander emperor of Constantinople. Being accused of infidelity, the emperor banished her, and she took refuge in a vast forest, where she became the mother of Valentine and Orson.—Valentine and Orson.

Bellmont (Sir William), father of George Bellmont; tyrannical, positive, and headstrong. He imagines it is the duty of a son to submit to his father's will, even in the matter of matrimony.

George Bellmont, son of sir William, in love with Clarissa, his friend Beverley's sister; but his father demands of him to marry Belinda Blandford, the troth-plight wife of Beverley. Ultimately all comes right.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761).

Bello'na's Handmaids, Blood, Fire, and Famine.

The goddesse of warre, called Bellona, had these thre handmaids ever attendynge on her: BLOOD, FIRE, and FAMINE, which thre damosels be of that force and strength that every one of them alone is able and sufficient to torment and afflict a proud prince; and they all joyned together are of puissance to destroy the most populous country and most richest region of the world.—Hall, Chronicle (1530).

Bellum (Master), war.

A difference [

is

] 'twixt broyles and bloudie warres,—

Yet have I shot at Maister Bellum's butte,

And thrown his ball, although I toucht no tutte [

benefit

].

G. Gascoigne, The Fruites of Warre, 94 (died 1577).

Belmont (Sir Robert), a proud, testy, mercenary country gentleman; friend of his neighbor, sir Charles Raymond.

Charles Belmont, son of sir Robert, a young rake. He rescued Fidelia, at the age of twelve, from the hands of Villard, a villain who wanted to abuse her, and taking her to his own home, fell in love with her, and in due time married her. She turns out to be the daughter of sir Charles Raymond.

Rosetta Belmont, daughter of sir Robert, high-spirited, witty, and affectionate. She is in love with colonel Raymond, whom she delights in tormenting.—Ed. Moore, The Foundling (1748).

Belmont (Andrew), the elder of two brothers, who married Violetta (an English lady born in Lisbon), and deserted her. He then promised marriage to Lucy Waters, the daughter of one of his tenants, but had no intention of making her his wife. At the same time he engaged himself to Sophia, the daughter of sir Benjamin Dove. The day of the wedding arrived, and it was then discovered that he was married already, and that Violetta his wife was actually present.

Robert Belmont, the younger of the two brothers, in love with Sophia Dove. He went to sea in a privateer under captain Ironside, his uncle, and changed his name to Lewson. The vessel was wrecked on the Cornwall coast, and he renewed his acquaintance with Sophia, but heard that she was engaged in marriage to his brother. As, however, it was proved that his brother was already married, the young lady willingly abandoned the elder for the younger brother.—K. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).

Belmour (Edward), a gay young man about town.—Congreve, The Old Bachelor (1693).

Belmour (Mrs.), a widow of "agreeable vivacity, entertaining manners, quickness of transition from one thing to another, a feeling heart, and a generosity of sentiment." She it is who shows Mrs. Lovemore the way to keep her husband at home, and to make him treat her with that deference which is her just due.—A. Murphy, The Way to Keep Him (1760).

Beloved Disciple (The), St. John "the divine," and writer of the fourth Gospel.—John xiii. 23, etc.

Beloved Physician (The), St. Luke the evangelist.—Col. iv. 14.

Bel'phegor, a Moabitish deity, whose orgies were celebrated on mount Phegor, and were noted for their obscenity.

Belphoe'be (3 syl.). "All the Graces rocked her cradle when she was born." Her mother was Chrysog'onê (4 syl.), daughter of Amphisa of fairy lineage, and her twin-sister was Amoretta. While the mother and her babes were asleep, Diana took one (Belphoebê) to bring up, and Venus took the other.

Belphoebe is the "Diana" among women, cold, passionless, correct, and strong-minded. Amoret is the "Venus," but without the licentiousness of that goddess, warm, loving, motherly, and wifely. Belphoebê was a lily; Amoret a rose. Belphoebê a moonbeam, light without heat; Amoret a sunbeam, bright and warm and life-giving. Belphoebê would go to the battle-field, and make a most admirable nurse or lady-conductor of an ambulance; but Amoret would prefer to look after her husband and family, whose comfort would be her first care, and whose love she would seek and largely reciprocate.—See Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. vi. (1590).

"Belphoebê" is queen Elizabeth. As queen she is Gloriana, but as woman she is Belphoebê, the beautiful and chaste.

Either Grloriana let her choose,

Or in Belphoebe fashioned to be;

In one her rule, in the other her rare chastitie.

Spenser,

Faery Queen

(introduction to bk. iii.).

Belted Will, lord William Howard, warden of the western marches (1563-1640).

His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt,

Hung in a broad and studded belt;

Hence in rude phrase the Borderers still

Called noble Howard "Belted Will."

Sir W. Scott.

Belten'ebros (4 syl.). Amadis of Graul assumes the name when he retires to the Poor Rock, after receiving a cruel letter from Oria'na his lady-love.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul, ii. 6 (before 1400).

One of the most distinguishing testimonies

which that hero gave of his fortitude, constancy,

and love, was his retiring to the Poor Rock when

in disgrace with his mistress Oriana, to do penance

under the name of

Beltenebros

or the

Lovely Obscure.

—Cervantes,

Don Quixote

, I. iii. 11 (1605).

Belvide'ra, daughter of Priu'li a senator of Venice. She was saved from the sea by Jaffier, eloped with him, and married him. Her father then discarded her, and her husband joined the conspiracy of Pierre to murder the senators. He tells Belvidera of the plot, and Belvidera, in order to save her father, persuades Jaffier to reveal the plot to Priuli, if he will promise a general free pardon. Priuli gives the required promise, but notwithstanding, all the conspirators, except Jaffier, are condemned to death by torture. Jaffier stabs Pierre to save him from the dishonor of the wheel, and then kills himself. Belvidera goes mad and dies.—Otway, Venice Preserved (1682).

Ben [LEGEND], sir Sampson Legend's younger son, a sailor and a "sea-wit," in whose composition there enters no part of the conventional generosity and open frankness of a British tar. His slang phrase is "D'ye see," and his pet oath "Mess!"—W. Congreve, Love for Love (1695). I cannot agree with the following sketch:—

What is Ben—the pleasant sailor which Bannister gives us—but a piece of satire ... a dreamy combination of all the accidents of a sailor's character, his contempt of money, his credulity to women, with that necessary estrangement from home?... We never think the worse of Ben for it, or feel it as a stain upon his character.—C. Lamb.

C. Dibdin says: "If the description of Thom. Doggett's performance of this character be correct, the part has certainly never been performed since to any degree of perfection."

Ben Bolt, old schoolmate with whom Thomas Dunn English exchanges reminiscences in the ballad, Ben Bolt, beginning:

Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?

Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown;

Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,

And trembled with fear at your frown. (1845.)

Ben-Hur, a young Jew, who, for accidentally injuring a Roman soldier, is condemned to the galleys for life. Escaping, after three years of servitude, through the favor of Arrius, a Roman Tribune, he seeks his mother and sister to find both lepers. They are healed by Christ, whose devoted followers they become.—Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880).

Ben Israel (Nathan) or Nathan ben Samuel, the physician and friend of Isaac the Jew.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Ben Joc'hanan, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for the Rev. Samuel Johnson, who suffered much persecution for his defence of the right of private judgment.

Let Hebron, nay, let hell produce a man

So made for mischief as Ben Jochanan.

A Jew of humble parentage was he,

By trade a Levite, though of low degree.

Part ii.

Benai'ah (3 syl.), in Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for general George Edward Sackville. As Benaiah, captain of David's guard, adhered to Solomon against Adonijah, so general Sackville adhered to the duke of York against the prince of Orange (1590-1652).

Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,

Of steady soul when public storms were high.

Dryden and Tate, part ii.

Benas'kar or Bennaskar, a wealthy merchant and magician of Delhi.—James Ridley, Tales of the Genii ("History of Mahoud," tale vii., 1751).

Benbow (Admiral). In an engagement with the French near St. Martha on the Spanish coast in 1701, admiral Benbow had his legs and thighs shivered into splinters by chain-shot, but supported in a wooden frame he remained on the quarter-deck till morning, when Du Casse sheered off.

Similar acts of heroism are recorded of Almeyda, the Portuguese governor of India, of Cynaegiros brother of the poet AEschylos, of Jaafer the standard-bearer of "the prophet" in the battle of Muta, and of some others.

Benbow, an idle, generous, free-and-easy sot, who spent a good inheritance in dissipation, and ended life in the workhouse.

Benbow, a boon companion, long approved