LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. (continued 7)

Vari´na, Miss Jane Waryng, to whom Dean Swift had a penchant when he was a young man. Varina is a Latinized form of “Waryng.”

Varney (Richard, afterwards Sir Richard), master of the horse to the earl of Leicester.--Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Varro (The British). Thomas Tusser, of Essex, is so called by Warton (1515-1580).

Vasa (Gustavus), a drama, by H. Brooke (1730). Gustavus, having effected his escape from Denmark, worked for a time as 187a common laborer in the copper mines of Dalecarlia [Dah´.le.karl´.ya]; but the tyranny of Christian II. of Denmark having driven the Dalecarlians into revolt, Gustavus was chosen their leader. The revolters made themselves masters of Stockholm; Christian abdicated; and Sweden became an independent kingdom (sixteenth century).

Vashti. When the heart of the king [Ahasuerus] was merry with wine, he commanded his chamberlains to bring Vashti, the queen, into the banquet hall, to show the guests her beauty; but she refused to obey the insulting order, and the king, being wroth, divorced her.--Esther i. 10, 19.

O Vashti, noble Vashti! Summoned out

She kept her state, and left the drunken king

To brawl at Shushan underneath the palms.

Tennyson, The Princess, iii. (1830).

Vatel, the cook who killed himself, because the lobster for his turbot sauce did not arrive in time to be served up at the banquet at Chantilly, given by the Prince de Condé to the king.

Vath´ek, the ninth caliph of the race of the Abassides, son of Motassem, and grandson of Haroun-al-Raschid. When angry, “one of his eyes became so terrible that whoever looked at it either swooned or died.” Vathek was induced by a malignant genius to commit all sorts of crimes. He abjured his faith, and bound himself to Eblis, under the hope of obtaining the throne of the pre-Adamite sultans. This throne eventually turned out to be a vast chamber in the abyss of Eblis, where Vathek found himself a prisoner without hope. His wife was Nouron´ihar, daughter of the Emir Fakreddin, and his mother’s name was Catharis.--W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).

Vathek’s Draught, a red-and-yellow mixture given him by an emissary of Eblis, which instantaneously restored the exhausted body, and filled it with unspeakable delight.--W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).

Vato, the wind-spirit.

Even Zoroaster imagined there was an evil spirit called Vato, that could excite violent storms of wind.--T. Rowe [i.e., Dr. Pegge], Gentleman’s Magazine, January, 1763.

Vaudeville (Father of The), Oliver Basselin (fifteenth century).

Vaughan, the bogie of Bromyard exorcised by nine priests. Nine candles were lighted in the ceremony, and all but one burnt out. The priests consigned Nicholas Vaughan to the Red Sea; and casting the remaining candle into the river Frome, threw a huge stone over it, and forbade the bogie to leave the Red Sea till that candle re-appeared to human sight. The stone is still called “Vaughan’s Stone.”

Vaugirard (The deputies of). The usher announced to Charles VIII. of France, “The deputies of Vaugirard.” “How many?” asked the king. “Only one, may it please your highness.”

V. D. M. I. Æ., Verbum Dei manet in æternum (“the Word of God endureth for ever”). This was the inscription of the Lutheran bishops, in the diet of Spires. Philip of Hessen said the initials stood for Verbum diaboli manet in episcopis (“the word of the devil abideth in the [Lutheran] bishops”).

Veal (Mrs.), an imaginary person, whom 188Defoe feigned to have appeared, the day after her death, to Mrs. Bargrave, of Canterbury, on September 8, 17051705.

Defoe’s conduct in regard to the well-known imposture, Mrs. Veal’s ghost, would justify us in believing him to be, like Gil Bias, “tant soi peu fripon.”--Encyc. Brit., Art. “Romance.”

Veal’s Apparition (Mrs.). It is said that Mrs. Veal, the day after her death, appeared to Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, September 8, 1705. This cock-and-bull story was affixed by Daniel Defoe to Drelincourt’s book of Consolations against the Fears of Death, and such is the matter-of-fact style of the narrative that most readers thought the fiction was a fact.

Vec´chio (Peter), a teacher of music and Latin; reputed to be a wizard.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances (1620).

Veck (Toby), nicknamed “Trotty;” a ticket-porter, who ran on errands. One New Year’s Eve he ate tripe for dinner, and had a nightmare, in which he fancied he had mounted up to the steeple of a neighboring church, and that goblins issued out of the bells, giving reality to his hopes and fears. He was roused from his sleep by the sound of the bells ringing in the new year. (See Meg.)--C. Dickens, The Chimes (1844).

Vedder (Jan), a fisherman whose mistaken marriage leads to every evil he does or suffers. One who would become a good man but for his perverse, wrong-headed wife. He is desperately wounded in a quarrel, and his condition, working upon all that is best in his wife, changes her temper and behavior to him.--Amelia E. Barr, Jan Vedder’s Wife (1885).

Vegliantino [Val.yan.tee´no][Val.yan.tee´no], Orlando’s horse.--Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516). Also called Veillantif.

Vehmgericht, or The Holy Vehme, a secret tribunal of Westphalia, the principal seat of which was in Dortmund. The members were called “Free Judges.” It took cognizance of all crimes in the lawless period of the Middle Ages, and those condemned by the tribunal were made away with by some secret means, but no one knew by what hand. Being despatched, the dead body was hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter others. The tribunal existed at the time of Charlemagne, but was at its zenith of power in the twelfth century. Sir W. Scott has introduced it in his Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Was Rebecca guilty or not? The Vehmgericht of the servant’s hall pronounced against her.--Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xliv. (1848).

Vehmique Tribunal (The), or the Secret Tribunal, or the court of the Holy Vehme, said to have been founded by Charlemagne.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Veil of St. Agatha, a miraculous veil belonging to St. Agatha, and deposited in the church of the city of Catania, in Sicily, where the saint suffered martyrdom. “It is a sure defence against the eruptions of Mount Etna.” It is very true that the church itself was overwhelmed with lava in 1693, and some 20,000 of the inhabitants perished; but that was no fault of the veil, which would have prevented it if it could. Happily, the veil was recovered, and is still believed in by the people.

Veilchen (Annette), attendant of Anne 189of Geierstein.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Veiled Prophet of Khorassan (The), Hakim ben Allah, surnamed Mokanna, or “The Veiled,” founder of an Arabic sect, in the eighth century. He wore a veil to conceal his face, which had been greatly disfigured in battle. He gave out that he had been Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. When the Sultan Mahadi marched against him, he poisoned all his followers at a banquet, and then threw himself into a cask containing a burning acid, which entirely destroyed his body.

⁂Thomas Moore has made this the subject of a poetical tale, in his Lalla Rookh (“The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,” 1817).

There, on that throne, ... sat the prophet-chief,

The great Mokanna. O’er his features hung

The veil, the silver veil, which he had flung

In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight

His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.

* * * * * * * * *

“’Tis time these features were uncurtained,

This brow whose light--oh, rare celestial light!--

Hath been reserved to bless thy favored sight ...

Turn now and look; then wonder, if thou wilt,

That I should hate, should take revenge by guilt,

Upon the hand whose mischief or whose mirth

Sent me thus maimed and monstrous upon earth ...

Here--judge if hell, with all its power to damn,

Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!”

He raised the veil; the maid turned slowly round,

Looked at him, shrieked, and sunk upon the ground.

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.

Velasquez, the Spanish governor of Portugal in 1640, when the people, led by Don Juan, duke of Braganza, rose in rebellion, shook off the Spanish yoke, and established the duke on the throne, under the name and title of Juan or John IV. The same dynasty still continues. Velasquez was torn to pieces by the mob. The duchess calls him a

Discerning villain,

Subtle, insidious, false, and plausible;

He can with ease assume all outward forms ...

While with the lynx’s beam he penetrates

The deep reserve of every other breast.

R. Jephson, Braganza, ii. 2 (1785).

Velinspeck, a country manager, to whom Matthew Stuffy makes application for the post of prompter.--Charles Mathews, At Home (1818).

Vellum, in Addison’s comedy, The Drummer (1715).

Velvet (The Rev. Morphine), a popular preacher, who feeds his flock on eau sucrée and wild honey. He assures his hearers that the way to heaven might once be thorny and steep, but now “every hill is brought low, every valley is filled up, the crooked ways are made straight, and even in the valley of the shadow of death, they need fear no evil, for One will be with them to support and comfort them.”

Veneering (Mr.), a new man, “forty, wavy-haired, dark, tending to corpulence, sly, mysterious, filmy; a kind of well-looking veiled prophet, not prophesying.” He was a drug merchant of the firm of Chicksey, Stobbles and Veneering. The two former were his quondam masters, but their names had “become absorbed in Veneering, once their traveller or commission agent.”

Mrs. Veneering, a new woman, “fair, aquiline-nosed and fingered, not so much light hair as she might have, gorgeous in raiment and jewels, enthusiastic, propitiatory, conscious that a corner of her husband’s veil is over herself.”

Mr. and Mrs. Veneering were bran-new people, in a bran-new house, in a bran-new quarter 190of London. Everything about the Veneerings was spick and span new. All their furniture was new, all their friends were new, all their servants were new, their plate was new, their carriage was new, their harness was new, their horses were new, their pictures were new, they themselves were new, they were as newly married as was lawfully compatible with their having a bran-new baby.

In the Veneering establishment, from the hall chairs, with the new coat of arms, to the grand pianoforte with the new action, and upstairs again to the new fire-escape, all things were in a state of high varnish and polish.--C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. (1864).

Veneerings of Society (The), flashy, rich merchants, who delight to overpower their guests with the splendor of their furniture, the provisions of their tables and the jewels of their wives and daughters.

Venerable Bede (The). Two accounts are given respecting the word venerable attached to the name of this “wise Saxon.” One is this: When blind, he preached once to a heap of stones, thinking himself in a church, and the stones were so affected by his eloquence that they exclaimed, “Amen, venerable Bede!” This, of course, is based on the verse, Luke xix. 40.

The other is that his scholars, wishing to honor his name, wrote for epitaph:

Hæc sunt in fossa,

Bedæ presbyteri ossa;

but an angel changed the second line into “Bedæ venerabilis ossa” (672-735).

⁂The chair in which he sat is still preserved at Jarrow. Some years ago a sailor used to show it, and always called it the chair of the “Great Admiral Bede.”

Venerable Doctor (The), William de Champeaux (*-1121).

Venerable Initiator (The), William of Occam (1276-1347).

Venetian Glass, an antique goblet with a tragic history, bought in Venice of a vertu dealer, by John Manning, to whose remote ancestor it had belonged. Manning goes into the army, is wounded at Gettysburg, and nursed back to life by a beautiful woman. He marries her, and falls into a lingering decline. One day the Venetian goblet arrives from Italy, and his wife, in a freak, pours his medicine into it. In passing it to her husband the glass drops, and is shivered, “as its fellow had been shivered three centuries ago,” and more. She still stared steadily before her; then her lips parted, and she said, “The glass broke! The glass broke! then the tale is true!” Then, with one hysterical shriek, she fell forward amid the fragments of the Venetian goblet, unconscious thereafter of all things.--Brander Matthews, Venetian Glass (1884).

Venery. Sir Tristram was the inventor of the laws and terms of venery. Hence a book of venery was called A Book of Tristram.

Of Sir Tristram came all the good terms of venery and of hunting; and the sizes and measures of blowing of an horn. And of him we had first all the terms of hawking; and which were beasts of chase and beasts of venery, and which were vermin; and all the blasts that belong to all manner of games. First to the uncoupling, to the seeking, to the rechase, to the flight, to the death and to the strake; and many other blasts and terms shall all manner of gentlemen have cause to the world’s end to praise Sir Tristram, and to pray for his soul.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 138 (1470).

Venice Preserved, a tragedy by T. Otway (1682). A conspiracy was formed by Renault, a Frenchman, Elliot, an Englishman, Bedamar, Pierre and others, to murder the Venetian senate. Jaffier was induced by his friend, Pierre, to join the conspirators, and give his wife as hostage 191of his good faith. As Renault most grossly insulted the lady, Jaffier took her away, when she persuaded her husband to reveal the plot to her father, Priuli, under the promise of a general amnesty. The senate violated the promise made by Priuli, and commanded all the conspirators except Jaffier to be broken on the wheel. Jaffier, to save his friend, Pierre, from the torture, stabbed him, and then himself. Belvidera went mad and died.

Venner (Dudley), sad and studious father of Elsie Venner, in O. W. Holmes’s novel of that name (1863).

Ventid´ius, an Athenian imprisoned for debt. Timon paid his debt, and set him free. Not long after, the father of Ventidius died, leaving a large fortune, and the young man offered to refund the loan, but Timon declined to take it, saying that the money was a free gift. When Timon got into difficulties he applied to Ventidius for aid; but Ventidius, like the rest, was “found base metal,” and “denied him.”--Shakespeare, Timon of Athens (1609).

Ventidius, the general of Marc Antony.

⁂ The master scene between Ventidius and Antony in this tragedy is copied from The Maid’s Tragedy (by Beaumont and Fletcher), Ventidius being the “Melantius” of Beaumont and Fletcher’s drama.--Dryden, All for Love, or the World Well Lost (1678).

Ventriloquist. The best that ever lived was Brabant, the engastrimisth of François I. of France.

Venus (Paintings of). Venus Anadyom´enê, or Venus rising from the sea and wringing her golden tresses, by Apellês. Apellês also put his name to a “Sleeping Venus.” Tradition says that Campaspê (afterwards his wife) was the model of his Venus.

The Rhodian Venus, referred to by Campbell, in his Pleasures of Hope, ii., is the Venus spoken of by Pliny, xxxv. 10, from which Shakespeare has drawn his picture of Cleopatra in her barge (Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc. 2). The Rhodian was Protog´enês.

When first the Rhodian’s mimic art arrayed

The queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade,

The happy master mingled in his piece

Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece ...

Love on the picture smiled. Expression poured

Her mingling spirit there, and Greece adored.

Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).

Venus (Statues of). The Cnidian Venus, a nude statue, bought by the Cnidians. By Praxitĕlês.

The Coan Venus, a draped statue, bought by the Coans. By Praxitelês.

The Venus de’ Medici, a statue dug up in several pieces at Hadrian’s villa, near Tiv´oli (seventeenth century), and placed for a time at the Medici palace at Rome, whence its name. It was the work of Cleom´enês, the Athenian. All one arm and part of the other were restored by Bandinelli. In 1680 this statue was removed to the Uffizi gallery at Florence. It was removed to Paris by Napoleon, but was afterwards restored.

The Venus of Arles, with a mirror in the right hand and an apple in the left. This statue is ancient, but the mirror and apple are by Girardin.

The Venus of Milo. The “Venus Victorious” is called the “Venus of Milo,” because it was brought from the island of Milo, in the Ægēan Sea, by Admiral Dumont d’Urville, in 1820. It is one of the chefs d’œuvre of antiquity, and is now in the Louvre of Paris.

192The Pauline Venus, by Canōva. Modelled from Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese.

I went by chance into the room of the Pauline Venus; my mouth will taste bitter all day. How venial! how gaudy and vile she is with her gilded upholstery! It is the most hateful thing that ever wasted marble.--Ouida, Ariadnê, i. 1.

The Venus Pandēmos, the sensual and vulgar Venus (Greek, pan-dêmos, for the vulgar or populace generally); as opposed to the “Uranian Venus,” the beau-ideal of beauty and loveliness.

Amongst the deities from the upper chamber a mortal came, the light, lewd woman, who had bared her charms to live for ever here in marble, in counterfeit of the Venus Pandēmos.--Ouida, Ariadnê, i. 1.

Gibson’s Venus, slightly tinted, was shown in the International Exhibition of 1862.

Venus, the highest throw with the four tali or three tesseræ. The best cast of the tali (or four-sided dice) was four different numbers; but the best cast of the tesseræ (or ordinary dice) was three sixes. The worst throw was called canis--three aces in tesseræ and four aces in tali.

Venus (The Isle of), a paradise created by “Divine Love” for the Lusian heroes. Here Uranian Venus gave Vasco de Gama the empire of the sea. This isle is not far from the mountains of Imāus, whence the Ganges and Indus derive their source.--Camoens, Lusiad, ix. (1572).

⁂Similar descriptions of paradise are: “the gardens of Alcinŏus” (Odyssey, vii.); “the island of Circê” (Odyssey, x.); Virgil’s “Elysium” (Æneid(Æneid, vi.); “the island and palace of Alci´na” (Orlando Furioso, vi., vii.); “the country of Logistilla” (Orlando Furioso, x.); “Paradise,” visited by Astolpho (Orlando Furioso, xxxiv.); “the island of Armi´da” (Jerusalem Delivered); “the bower of Acrasia” (Faëry Queen); “the palace with its forty doors” (Arabian Nights, “Third Calendar”), etc.

Venus (Ura´nian), the impersonation of divine love; the presiding deity of the Lusians.--Camoens, Lusiad (1572).

Venus and Adonis. Adōnis, a most beautiful boy, was greatly beloved by Venus and Proserpine. Jupiter decided that he should live four months with one and four months with the other goddess, and the rest of the year he might do what he liked. One day he was killed by a wild boar during a chase, and Venus was so inconsolable at the loss that the infernal gods allowed the boy to spend six months of the year with Venus on the earth, but the other six he was to spend in hell. Of course, this is an allegory of the sun, which is six months above and six months below the equator.

⁂ Shakespeare has a poem called Venus and Adonis (1593), in which Adonis is made cold and passionless, but Venus ardent and sensual.

Venus of Cleom´enes (4 syl.), now called the “Venus de’ Medici” or “Venus de Medicis.”

Venusberg, the mountain of fatal delights. Here Tannhäuser tarried, and when Pope Urban refused to grant him absolution, he returned thither, to be never more seen.--German Legend.

Ver´done (2 syl.), nephew to Champernal, the husband of Lami´ra.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Verdugo, captain under the governor 193of Segovia.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Pilgrim (1621).

Vere (Mr. Richard), laird of Ellieslaw, a Jacobite conspirator.

Miss Isabella Vere, the laird’s daughter. She marries young Patrick Earnscliffe, laird of Earnscliffe.--Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).

Vere (Sir Arthur de), son of the earl of Oxford. He first appears under the assumed name of Arthur Philipson.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Verges (2 syl.), an old-fashioned constable and night-watch, noted for his blundering simplicity.--Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

Vergob´retus, a dictator, selected by the druids, and possessed of unlimited power, both in war and state, during times of great danger.

This temporary king or vergobretus, laid down his office at the end of the war.--Dissertation on the Era of Ossian.

Verinder (Rachel), pretty, strong-willed, imperious, warm-hearted young Englishwoman, the legatee of a diamond of immense value. She receives it upon her twenty-first birthday, wears it all the evening and insists upon keeping it in her room that night. She sees from the adjoining apartment, her lover, Franklin Blake, purloin the gem, and hides the name of the thief, while discarding him.--Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone.

Verisopht (Lord Frederick), weak and silly, but far less vicious than his bear-leader, Sir Mulberry Hawk. He drawled in his speech, and was altogether “very soft.” Ralph Nickleby introduced his niece, Kate, to the young nobleman at a bachelor’s dinner-party, hoping to make of the introduction a profitable investment, but Kate was far too modest and virtuous to aid him in his scheme.--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Vernon (Diana), niece of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone. She has great beauty, sparkling talents, an excellent disposition, high birth, and is an enthusiastic adherent of an exiled king. Diana Vernon marries Frank Osbaldistone.

Sir Frederick Vernon, father of Diana, a political intriguer called “his excellency the earl of Beauchamp.” He first appears as Father Vaughan [Vawn].--Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Vernon (Elinor), “a student, enthusiastic and devoted, and one of rare attainments, both in character and degree.” She becomes an author of note. Her betrothed, Walter Mayward, would wean her from devotion to letters, and loses her thereby. Frederic St. Clair appreciates the glory of her perfected womanhood, loves and marries her, and her “poetry finds in his love its triumph, its crowning, its glorious apotheosis.”--Grace Greenwood, Heart Histories (1850).

Ver´olame (3 syl.) or Verulam, “a stately nymph” of Isis. Seeing her stream besmeared with the blood of St. Alban, she prayed that it might be diverted into another channel, and her prayer was granted. The place where St. Alban was executed was at that time called Holmhurst.--Robert of Gloucester. Chronicle (in verse), 57 (thirteenth century).

⁂ A poetical account of this legend is 194also given by W. Browne in his Britannia’s Pastorals, iv (1613).

Veron´ica, the maiden who handed her handkerchief to Jesus on His way to Calvary. The “Man of Sorrows” wiped His face with it, returned it to the maiden, and it ever after had a perfect likeness of the Saviour photographed on it. The handkerchief and the maiden were both called Veronica (i.e., vera iconica, “the true likeness”).

⁂ One of these handkerchiefs is preserved in St. Peter’s of Rome, and another in Milan Cathedral.

Verrina, the republican who murders Fiesco.--Schiller, Fiesco (1783).

Versatile (Sir George), a scholar, pleasing in manners, warm-hearted, generous, with the seeds of virtue and the soul of honor, but being deficient in stability, he takes his color, like the chameleon, from the objects at hand. Thus, with Maria Delaval, he is manly, frank, affectionate, and noble; with Lord Vibrate, hesitating, undecided, and tossed with doubts; with Lady Vibrate, boisterously gay, extravagant, and light-hearted. Sir George is betrothed to Maria Delaval, but the death of his father delays the marriage. He travels, and gives a fling to youthful indulgences. After a time, he meets Maria Delaval by accident, his better nature prevails, and he offers her his hand, his heart, his title, and his fortune.--Holcroft, He’s Much to Blame (1790).

Vertaigne (2 or 3 syl.), a nobleman and judge, father of Lamīra and Beaupré.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Vesey (Sir John), a baronet, most worldly wise, and, being poor, gives himself the nickname of “Stingy Jack,” that he may be thought rich. Forthwith his £10,000 was exaggerated into £40,000. Sir John wanted his daughter to marry Alfred Evelyn, but feeling very uncertain about the stability of the young man’s money, shilly-shallied about it; and in the mean time, Georgina married Sir Frederick Blount, and Evelyn was left free to marry Clara Douglas, whom he greatly loved.--Lord L. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).

Vestris, called “The God of Dancing,” used to say, “Europe contains only three truly great men--myself, Voltaire, and Frederick of Prussia” (1729-1808).

Vesuvian Bay:

“My soul to-day

Is far away,

Sailing the Vesuvian Bay;

My wingéd boat,

A bird afloat,

Swims ’round the purple peaks remote.”

The English language does not contain a more exquisite bit of word-painting than the poem embodying the above-quoted lines.--Thomas Buchanan Read, Drifting (1867).

Veto (Monsieur and Madame), Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. The king had the power of putting his veto on any decree of the National Assembly (1791), in consequence of which he was nicknamed “Capet Veto.”

⁂ The name occurs in the celebrated song called La Carmagnole, which was sung to a dance of the same name.

Vetus, in the Times newspaper, is the nom de plume of Edward Sterling (1773-1847), “The Thunderer” (1812-13).

195Vexhalia, wife of Osmond, an old Varangian guard.--Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Vholes (1 syl.), a lawyer who draws Richard Carstone into his toils. He is always closely buttoned up, and speaks in a lifeless manner, but is pre-eminently a “most respectable man.”--C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).

Vibrate (Lord), a man who can never make up his mind to anything, and, “like a man on double business bent, he stands in pause, which he shall first begin, and both neglects.” Thus, he would say to his valet, “Order the coachman at eleven. No; order him at one. Come back! order him in ten minutes. Stay! don’t order him at all. Why don’t you go and do as I bid you?” or, “Tell Harry to admit the doctor. No, not just yet; in five minutes. I don’t know when. Was ever man so tormented?” So with everything.

Lady Vibrate, wife of the above. Extravagant, contradictious, fond of gaiety, hurry, noise, embarrassment, confusion, disorder, uproar, and a whirl of excitement. She says to his lordship:

I am all gaiety and good humor; you are all turmoil and lamentation. I sing, laugh, and welcome pleasure wherever I find it; you take your lantern to look for misery, which the sun itself cannot discover. You may think proper to be as miserable as Job; but don’t expect me to be a Job’s wife.--Act. ii. 1.

Lady Jane Vibrate, daughter of Lord and Lady Vibrate. An amiable young lady, attached to Delaval, whom she marries.--Holcroft, He’s Much to Blame (1790).

Vicar of Bray (The). Mr. Brome says the noted vicar was Simon Alleyn, vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, for fifty years. In the reign of Henry VIII. he was catholic till the Reformation; in the reign of Edward VI. he was calvanist; in the reign of Mary he was papist; in the reign of Elizabeth he was protestant. No matter who was king, he resolved to die the vicar of Bray.--D’Israeli, Curiosities of Literature.

Another statement gives the name of Pendleton as the true vicar. He was afterwards rector of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook (Edward VI. to Elizabeth).

Hadyn says the vicar referred to in the song was Simon Symonds, who lived in the Commonwealth, and continued vicar till the reign of William and Mary. He was independent in the protectorate, episcopalian under Charles II., papist under James II., moderate protestant under William and Mary.

⁂ The song called The Vicar of Bray was written in the reign of George I., by Colonel Fuller, or an officer in Fuller’s regiment, and does not refer to Alleyn, Pendleton, or Symonds, but to some real or imaginary person, who was vicar of Bray, from Charles II. to George I. The first verse begins: “In good King Charles’s golden days” I was a zealous high-church*-man. Ver. 2: “When royal James obtained the crown,” I found the Church of Rome would fit my constitution. Ver. 3: “When William was our king declared,” I swore to him allegiance. Ver. 4: “When gracious Anne became our queen,” I became a tory. Ver. 5: “When George, in pudding-time came o’er,” I became a whig. And “George my lawful king shall be--until the times do alter.”

I have had a long chase after the vicar of Bray, on whom the proverb ... Mr. Fuller, in his Worthies ... takes no notice of him.... I am informed it is Simon Alleyn or Allen who was vicar of Bray about 1540, and died, 1588.--Brome to Rawlins, June 14, 1735. (See Letters from the Bodleian, II. i. 100.)

196Vicar of Wakefield (The), Dr. Primrose, a simple-minded, pious clergyman, with six children. He begins life with a good fortune, a handsome house, and wealthy friends, but is reduced to utter poverty without any fault of his own, and, being reduced like Job, like Job he is restored. First, he loses his fortune through the rascality of the merchant who held it. His next great sorrow was the elopement of his eldest daughter, Olivia, with Squire Thornhill. His third was the entire destruction by fire of his house, furniture and books, together with the savings which he had laid by for his daughters’ marriage portions. His fourth was being incarcerated in the county jail by Squire Thornhill for rent, his wife and family being driven out of house and home. His fifth was the announcement that his daughter, Olivia, “was dead,” and that his daughter, Sophia, had been abducted. His sixth was the imprisonment of his eldest son, George, for sending a challenge to Squire Thornhill. His cup of sorrow was now full, and comfort was at hand: (1) Olivia was not really dead, but was said to be so in order to get the vicar to submit to the squire, and thus obtain his release. (2) His daughter, Sophia, had been rescued by Mr. Burchell (Sir William Thornhill), who asked her hand in marriage. (3) His son, George, was liberated from prison, and married Miss Wilmot, an heiress. (4) Olivia’s marriage to the squire, which was said to have been informal, was shown to be legal and binding. (5) The old vicar was released, re-established in his vicarage, and recovered a part of his fortune.--Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

⁂ This novel has been dramatized several times: In 1819 it was performed in the Surrey Theatre; in 1823 it was turned into an opera; in 1850 Tom Taylor dramatized it; in 1878 W. G. Wills converted it into a drama of four acts, entitled Olivia.

The real interest of the story lies in the development of the character of the amiable vicar, so rich in heavenly, so poor in earthly wisdom; possessing little for himself, yet ready to make that little less, whenever misery appeals to his compassion. With enough of worldly vanity about him to show that he shares the weakness of our nature; ready to be imposed upon by cosmogonies and fictitious bills of exchange, and yet commanding, by the simple and serene dignity of goodness, the respect even of the profligate.--Encyc. Brit., Art. “Romance.”

Victor Amade´us (4 syl.), king of Sardinia (1665, 1675-1732), noted for his tortuous policy. He was fierce, audacious, unscrupulous and selfish, profound in dissimulation, prolific in resources, and a “breaker of vows both to God and man.” In 1730 he abdicated, but a few months later wanted to regain the throne, which his son, Charles Emmanuel, refused to resign. On again plotting to recover the crown, he was arrested by D’Ormēa, the prime minister, and died.--R. Browning, King Victor and King Charles Emmanuel.

Victoria (Donna), the young wife of Don Carlos. Don Carlos had given to Donna Laura (a courtezan) the deeds of his wife’s estate; and Victoria, to get them back, dressed in man’s apparel, assumed the name of Florio, and made love to Laura. Having secured a footing, she introduced Gasper as the rich uncle of Victoria, and Gasper persuaded Laura that the deeds were wholly worthless, whereupon Laura tore them to pieces. By this manœuvre the estate was saved, and Don Carlos rescued from ruin.--Mrs. Cowley, A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).

Victorious (The). Almanzor means “victorious.” The Caliph Almanzor was the founder of Bagdad.

197Thou, too, art fallen, Bagdad, city of peace!

Thou, too, hast had thy day!...

Thy founder The Victorious.

Southey, Thalaba, the Destroyer, v. 6 (1797).

Victory (The), Nelson’s ship.

At the head of the line goes the Victory,

With Nelson on the deck,

And on his breast the orders shine

Like the stars on a shattered wreck.

Lord Lytton, Ode, iii. 9 (1839).

Vidar, the god of wisdom, noted for his thick shoes, and not unfrequently called “The god with the thick shoes.”--Scandinavian Mythology.

Vienne (The archbishop of), chancellor of Burgundy.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Vifell, father of Viking, famous for being the possessor of Angurva´del, the celebrated sword made in the East by dwarfs. Vifell won it from Björn Blœtand, and killed with it the giant Iernhös, whom he cleft from head to waist with a single stroke. Vifell left it to Viking, Viking to Thorsten, and Thorsten to his son, Frithjof. The hilt of the sword was gold, and the blade written with runes, which were dull in times of peace, but in war glittered “red as the crest of a cock when he fighteth.”--Tegnér, Frithjof Saga, iii. (1825).

Villalpando (Gaspar Cardillos de), a Spanish theologian, controversialist and commentator (1505-1570).

“Truly,” replied the canon, “I am better acquainted with books of chivalry than with Villalpando’s divinity.”--Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 17 (1605).

Ville´rius, in Davenant’s Siege of Rhodes (1656).

... pale with envy, Singleton foreswore

The lute and sword, which he in triumph bore,

And vowed he ne’er would act Villerius more.

Dryden, MacFlecknoe (1682).

⁂ This was a favorite part of Singleton.

Villers (Mr.), a gentleman who professed a supreme contempt for women, and declared, if he ever married, he should prefer Widow Racket to be his executioner.--Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem (1780).

Villiard, a villain from whose hands Charles Belmont rescued Fidelia.--E. Moore, The Foundling (1748).

Vincent (Jenkin), or “Jin Vin,” one of old Ramsay’s apprentices, in love with Margaret Ramsay.--Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Vincent de la Rosa, a boastful, vain, heartless adventurer, son of a poor laborer, who had served in the Italian wars. Coming to the village in which Leandra lived, he induced her to elope with him, and, having spoiled her of her jewels, money and other valuables, deserted her, and she was sent to a convent till the affair had blown over.

He wore a gay uniform, bedecked with glass buttons and steel ornaments; to-day he dressed himself in one piece of finery, and to-morrow in another. He would seat himself upon a bench under a large poplar, and entertain the villagers with his travels and exploits, assuring them there was not a country in the whole world he had not seen, nor a battle in which he had not taken part. He had slain more Moors than ever Tunis or Morocco produced; and as to duels, he had fought more than ever Gante had, or Luna, Diego Garcia de Paredez, or any other champion, always coming off victorious, and without losing one drop of blood.--Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 20 (“The Goat-herd’s Story,” 1605).

198Vincen´tio, duke of Vienna. He delegates his office to Angelo, and leaves Vienna for a time, under the pretence of going on a distant journey; but, by assuming a monk’s hood, he observes, incognito, the conduct of his different officers. Angelo tries to dishonor Isabella, but the duke re-appears in due time and rescues her, while Angelo is made to marry Mariana, to whom he was already betrothed.--Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).

⁂ Mariana was Angelo’s wife by civil contract, or, as the duke says to her, “He is thy husband by pre-contract,” though the Church had not yet sanctified the union and blessed it. Still, the duke says that it would be “no sin” in her to account herself his wife, and to perform towards him the duties of a wife. Angelo’s neglect of her was “a civil divorce,” which would have been a “sin” if the Church had sanctified the union, but which, till then, was only a moral or civil offence. Mariana also considered herself Angelo’s “wife,” and calls him “her husband.” This is an interesting illustration of the “civil contract” of matrimony long before “The Marriage Registration Act,” in 1837.

Vincentio, an old gentleman of Pisa, in Shakespeare’s comedy called The Taming of the Shrew (1593).

Vincentio, the troth-plight of Evadne, sister of the marquis of Colonna. Being himself without guile, he is unsuspicious, and when Ludovico, the traitor, tells him that Evadne is the king’s wanton, he believes it and casts her off. This brings about a duel between him and Evadne’s brother, in which Vincentio falls. He is not, however, killed; and when the villainy of Ludovico is brought to light, he re-appears and marries Evadne.--Sheil, Evadne, or The Statue (1820).

Vincentio (Don), a young man who was music mad, and said that the summum bonum of life is to get talked about. Like Queen Elizabeth, he loved a “crash” in music, plenty of noise and fury. Olivia de Zuniga disgusted him by maintaining the jew’s-harp to be the prince of musical instruments.--Mrs. Cowley, A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).

Vi´ola, sister of Sebastian; a young lady of Messaline. They were twins, and so much alike that they could be distinguished only by their dress. Viola and her brother were shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria, Viola was brought to shore by the captain, but her brother was left to shift for himself. Being a stranger in a strange land, Viola dressed as a page, and, under the name of Cesario, entered the service of Orsīno, duke of Illyria. The duke greatly liked his beautiful page, and, when he discovered her true sex, married her.--Skakespeare, Twelfth Night (1602).

Vi´ola and Hono´ra, daughter of General Archas, “the loyal subject” of the great-duke of Muscovia.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Loyal Subject (1618).

Violan´te (4 syl.), the supposed wife of Don Henrique (2 syl.), an uxorious Spanish nobleman.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).

Violante, the betrothed of Don Alonzo, of Alcazar, but given in marriage by King Sebastian to Henri´quez. This caused Alonzo to desert and join the emperor of Barbary. As renegade, he took the name of Dorax, and assumed the Moorish costume. In the war which followed, he saved Sebastian’s life, was told that Henriquez had died in battle, and that Violante, 199who never swerved from his love, being a young widow, was free and willing to be his wife.--Dryden, Don Sebastian (1690).

Violante, an attendant on the Princess Anna Comnēna, the historian.--Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Violante, (4 syl.), wife of Pietro (2 syl.), and putative mother of Pompilia. Violantê provided this suppositious child partly to please old Pietro, and partly to cheat the rightful heirs.--R. Browning, The Ring and the Book, ii.

Violante (Donna), daughter of Don Pedro, a Portuguese nobleman, who intends to make her a nun; but she falls in love with Don Felix, the son of Don Lopez. Isabella (sister of Don Felix), in order to escape a hateful marriage, takes refuge with Donna Violantê (4 syl.), who “keeps the secret” close, even at the risk of losing her sweetheart, for Felix discovers that a Colonel Briton calls at the house, and supposes Violantê to be the object of his visits. Ultimately the mystery is cleared up, and a double marriage takes place.--Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1714).

Mrs. Yates (in the last act), with Garrick as “Don Felix,” was admirable. Felix, thinking he has gone too far, applies himself to soothe his Violantê. She turns from him and draws away her chair; he follows, and she draws further away. At length, by his winning, entreating, and cajoling, she is gradually induced to melt, and finally makes it up with him. Her condescension ... was admirable; her dignity was great and lofty, ... and when by degrees she laid aside her frown, and her lips relaxed into a smile, ... nothing could be more lovely and irresistible.... It laid the whole audience, as well as the lover, at her feet.--William Goodwin.

Violen´ta, any young lady nonentity; one who contributes nothing to the amusement or conversation of a party. Violenta is one of the dramatis personæ of Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well, but she only enters once, and then she neither speaks nor is spoken to (1598). (See Rogero.)

Violenta, the fairy mother, who brought up the young princess, who was metamorphosed into a white cat for refusing to marry Migonnet (a hideously misshapen fairy).--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The(“The White Cat,” 1682).

Violet, the ward of Lady Arundel. She is in love with Norman, the “sea-captain,” who turns out to be the son of Lady Arundel by her first husband, and heir to the title and estates.--Lord Lytton, The Sea-Captain (1839).

Violet (Father), a sobriquet of Napoleon I.; also called “Corporal Violet” (1769(1769, 1804-1815, died, 1821).

⁂ Violets were the flowers of the empire, and when, in 1879, the ex-empress Eugénie was visited at Chislehurst by those who sympathized with her in the death of her son, “the prince imperial,” they were worn as symbols of attachment to the imperial family of France. The name was given to Napoleon on his banishment to Elba (1815), and implied that “he would return to France with the violets”.

Violet-Crowned City (The). Athens is so called by Aristophănês, (ιοστέφανος) (see Equites, 1323 and 1329; and Acharnians, 637). Macaulay refers to Athens as “the violet-crowned city.” Ion (a violet) was a representative king of Athens, whose four sons gave names to the four Athenian classes; and Greece, in Asia Minor, was called Ionia. Athens was the 200city of “Ion crowned its king,” and hence was the “Ion crowned” or King Ion’s city. Translating the word Ion into English, Athens was the “Violet-crowned” or King Violet’s city. Of course, the pun is the chief point, and was quite legitimate in comedy.

Similarly, Paris is called the “city of lillies,” by a pun between Louis and lys (the flower-de-luce), and France is l’empire des lys or l’empire des Louis.

By a similar pun, London might be called “the noisy town,” from hlúd, “noisy.”

Violetta, a Portuguese, married to Belfield, the elder brother, but deserted by him. The faithless husband gets betrothed to Sophia (daughter of Sir Benjamin Dove), who loves the younger brother. Both Violetta and the younger brother are shipwrecked and cast on the coast of Cornwall, in the vicinity of Squire Belfield’s estate; and Sophia is informed that her “betrothed” is a married man. She is therefore free from her betrothal, and marries the younger brother, the man of her choice; while the elder brother takes back his wife, to whom he becomes reconciled.--R. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).

Violin (The Angel with the). Rubens’s “Harmony” is an angel of the male sex playing a bass-viol.

The angel with the violin,

Painted by Raphael, (?) he seemed.

Longfellow, The Wayside Inn (1863).

Violin-Makers (The best): Gasparo di Salo (1560-1610); Nicholas Amati (1596-1684); Antonio Stradivari (1670-1728); Joseph A. Guarneri (1683-1745).

⁂ Of these, Stradivari was the best, and Nicholas Amati the next best.

The following are eminent, but not equal to the names given above:--Joseph Steiner (1620-1667); Matthias Klotz (1650-1696). (See Otto, On the Violin.)

Vipont (Sir Ralph de) a knight of St. John. He is one of the knights challengers.--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Virgil, in the Gesta Romanorum, is represented as a mighty but benevolent enchanter, and this is the character that Italian romances give him.

Similarly, Sir Walter Scott is called “The Great Wizard of the North.”

Virgil, in Dantê, is the personification of human wisdom, Beatrice of the wisdom which comes of faith, and St. Bernard of spiritual wisdom. Virgil conducts Dantê through the Inferno and through Purgatory too, till the seven P’s (peccata “sins”) are obliterated from his brow, when Beatrice becomes his guide. St. Bernard is his guide through a part of Paradise. Virgil says to Dantê:

What reason here discovers, I have power

To show thee; that which lies beyond, expect

From Beatrice----faith not reason’s task.

Dantê, Purgatory, xviii. (1308).

Virgil. The inscription on his tomb (said to have been written by himself) was:

Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc

Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces.

In Mantua was I born; Calabria saw me die;

Of sheep, fields, wars I sung; and now in Naples lie.

Virgil (The Christian), Giacomo Sannazaro (1458-1530).

Marco Girolamo Vida, author of Christias (in six books), is also called “The Christian Virgil” (1490-1566).

201⁂ Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, of Spain, is called by Bentley “The Virgil and Horace of Christians” (348-*).

Virgil of our Dramatic Poets (The). Ben Jonson is so called by Dryden (1574-1637).

Shakespeare was the Homer or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, and pattern of elaborate writing. I admire rare Ben, but I love Shakespeare.--Dryden.

Virgil of the French Drama (The). Jean Racine is so called by Sir Walter Scott (1639-1699).

Virgil’s Courtship. Godfrey Gobilyve told Graunde Amoure that Virgil, the poet, once made proposals to a lady of high rank in the Roman court, who resolved to punish him for his presumption. She told him that if he would appear on a given night before her window, he should be drawn up in a basket. Accordingly he kept his appointment, got into the basket, and, being drawn some twenty feet from the ground, was left there dangling till noon the next day, the laugh and butt of the court and city.--Stephen Hawes, The Passe-tyme of Plesure, xxix. (1515).

Virgil’s Gnat (the Culex, ascribed to Virgil). A shepherd, having fallen asleep in the open air, was on the point of becoming the prey of a serpent, when a gnat stung him on the eyelid. The shepherd crushed the gnat, but at the same time alarmed the serpent, which the shepherd saw and beat to death. Next night the gnat appeared to the shepherd in a dream, and reproached him for ingratitude, whereupon he raised a monument in honor of his deliverer. Spenser has a free translation of this story,story, which he calls Virgil’s Gnat (1580). (See Use of Pests.)

Virgile du Rabut (Le), “The Virgil of the Plane,” Adam Bellaut, the joiner-poet, who died, 1662. He was pensioned by Richelieu, patronized by the “Great Condé,” and praised by Pierre Corneille.

Virgil´ia is made by Shakespeare the wife of Coriolanus, and Volumnia his mother; but historically Volumnia was his wife, and Vetu´ria his mother.--Coriolanus (1610).

The old man’s merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady’s dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting variety.--Dr. Johnson, On Coriolanus.

Virgil´ius, Feargil, bishop of Saltzburg, an Irishman. He was denounced as a heretic for asserting the existence of antipodês (*-784). (See Heresy.)

⁂ Metz, in France, was so called in the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1).

Virgin Martyr (The), a tragedy by Philip Massinger (1622).

”

Virgin Mary (The), is addressed by the following titles:--“Empress and Queen of Heaven;” “Empress and Queen of Angels;” “Empress and Queen of the Earth;” “Lady of the Universe or of the World;” “Mistress of the World;” “Patroness of all Men;” “Advocate for Sinners;” “Mediatrix;” “Gate of Paradise;” “Mother of Mercies and of Divine Grace;” “Goddess;” “The only Hope of Sinners,” etc., etc.

It is said that Peter Fullo, in 480, was the first to introduce invocations to the Virgin.

202Virgin Modesty. John Wilmot, earl of Rochester, was so called by Charles II., because of his propensity to blushing (1647-1680).

Virgin Queen (The), Elizabeth (1533, 1558-1603).

Virgin Unmasked (The), a farce by H. Fielding. Goodwill had acquired by trade £10,000, and resolved to give his daughter Lucy to one of his relations, in order to keep the money in the family. He sent for her bachelor relations, and told them his intention; they were Blister (the apothecary), Coupee (the dancing-master), and Quaver (the singing-master). They all preferred their professions to the young lady, and while they were quarrelling about the superiority of their respective callings, Lucy married Thomas, the footman. Old Goodwill says, “I don’t know but that my daughter has made a better choice than if she had married one of these booby relations.”

Virginians (The), a sequel to Henry Esmond. It gives the story of Colonel Esmond’s twin grandsons, George and Harry Warrington, born and brought up in Virginia. George joins Braddock’s expedition, and is reported killed, Harry goes to England. George, escaping from Indian captivity, joins his brother, whom everybody had supposed the head of the family. Harry enters the army and George marries. One of the characters introduced in the book is George Washington, whom the twins believe to be in love with their widowed mother.--W. M. Thackeray, The Virginians.

Virgins (The Eleven Thousand). Ursul or Hörsel in Swabia, like Hulda in Scandinavia, means “the moon,” and her eleven thousand virgins are the stars. The bones shown in Cologne, as those of the eleven thousand virgins are those of males and females of all ages, and were taken from an old Roman cemetery across which the wall of Cologne ran (1106).

Virginia, a young Roman plebeian of great beauty, coveted by Appius Claudius, one of the decemvirs, and claimed as his slave. Her father, Virginius, being told of it, hastened to the forum, and arrived at the moment when Virginia was about to be delivered up to Appius. He seized a butcher’s knife, stabbed his daughter to the heart, rushed from the forum, and raised a revolt.

This has been the subject of a host of tragedies. In French, by Mairet (1628), by Leclerc (1645), by Campistron (1683), by La Beaumelle (1760), by Chabanon (1769), by Laharpe (1786), by Leblanc du Guillet (1786), by Guiraud (1827), by Latour St. Ybars (1845), etc. In Italian, by Alfieri (1783). In German, by Gotthold Lessing (eighteenth century). In English, by John Webster, entitled Appius and Virginia (1654); by Miss Brooke (1760); J. S. Knowles (1820), Virginius.

It is one of Lord Macaulay’s lays (1842), supposed to be sung in the forum on the day when Sextus and Licinius were elected tribunes for the fifth time.

Virginia, the daughter of Mde. de la Tour. Madame was of a good family in Normandy, but, having married beneath her social position, was tabooed by her family. Her husband died before the birth of his first child, and the widow went to live at Port Louis, in the Mauritius, where Virginia was born. Their only neighbor was Margaret, with her love-child, Paul, an infant. The two children grew up together, and became strongly attached; 203but when Virginia was 15 years old, her wealthy great-aunt adopted her and requested that she might be sent immediately to France to finish her education. The aunt wanted her to marry a French count, and as Virginia refused to do so, disinherited her and sent her back to the Mauritius. When within a cable’s length of the island, a hurricane dashed the ship to pieces, and the corpse of Virginia was cast on the shore. Paul drooped, and died within two months.--Bernardin de St. Pierre, Paul and Virginia (1788).

⁂ In Cobb’s dramatic version of this story, Virginia’s mother is of Spanish origin, and dies committing Virginia to the charge of Dominique, a faithful old negro servant. The aunt is Donna Leonora de Guzman, who sends Don Antonio de Guardes to bring Virginia to Spain, and there to make her his bride. She is carried to the ship by force; but scarcely is she set on board when a hurricane dashes the vessel to pieces. Antonio is drowned, but Virginia is rescued by Alhambra, a runaway slave, whom she has befriended. The drama ends with the marriage between Virginia and Paul (1756-1818).

Virginius, father of the Roman Virginia, the title of a tragedy by S. Knowles (1820). (For the tale, see Virginia.)

Macready (1793-1873) made the part of “Virginius” in Knowles’s drama so called, but the first to act it was John Cooper, in Glasgow (1820).

Visin, a Russian who had the power of blunting weapons by a look. Starchat´erus, the Swede, when he went against him, covered his sword with thin leather, and by this means obtained an easy victory.

Vision of Judgment (The), a poem in twelve parts, by Southey, written in hexameter verse (1820). The laureate supposes that he has a vision of George III., just dead, tried at the bar of heaven. Wilkes is his chief accuser, and Washington his chief defender. Judgment is given by acclamation in favor of the king, and in heaven he is welcomed by Alfred, Richard Cœur de Lion, Edward III., Queen Elizabeth, Charles I. and William III., Bede, Friar Bacon, Chaucer, Spenser, the duke of Marlborough and Berkeley the sceptic, Hogarth, Burke the infidel, Chatterton, who made away with himself, Canning, Nelson and all the royal family who were then dead.

⁂ Of all the literary productions ever issued from the press, never was one printed of worse taste than this. Byron wrote a quiz on it called The Vision of Judgment, in 106 stanzas of eight lines each (1820).

Visines, De (The). The uncle, an emigrant abbé who teaches French in Philadelphia, to private pupils. One of these is Marguerite Howard, with whom the nephew, Henri De Visines, speedily falls in love. The girl, in skating, finds herself upon a floating cake of ice from which she is rescued by Henri De Visines. A series of revelations brings about the truth that Marguerite is of the De Visine blood, and in due time she marries her newly-found cousin.--S. Weir Mitchell, Hephzibah Guinness (1880).

Vita´lis, the pseudonym of Eric Sjöberg, a Swedish poet. (Latin, vita lis, “life is a strife.”)

Viti´za or Witi´za, king of the Visigoths, who put out the eyes of Cordŏva, the father of Roderick. He was himself dethroned and blinded by Roderick.--Southey, 204Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814).

Vitruvius (The English), Inigo Jones (1572-1652).

Vivian, brother of Maugis d’Agremont, and son of Duke Bevis of Agremont. He was stolen in infancy by Tapinel, and sold to the wife of Sorgalant.--Roman de Maugis d’Agremont et de Vivian son Frère.

Vivian, son of Buovo (2 syl.), of the house of Clarmont, and brother of Aldiger and Malagigi.--Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Viviane (3 syl.), daughter of Dyonas, a vavasour of high lineage, and generally called the “Lady of the Lake.” Merlin, in his dotage, fell in love with her, and she imprisoned him in the forest of Brécéliande, in Brittany. Viviane induced Merlin to show her how a person could be imprisoned by enchantment without walls, towers, or chains, and after he had done so, she fondled him into a sleep under a whitethorn laden with flowers. While thus he slept, she made a ring with her wimple round the bush, and performed the other needful ceremonies, whereupon he found himself enclosed in a prison stronger than the strongest tower, and from that imprisonment was never again released.--Merlin (a romance).

⁂ See the next article.

Viv´ien or Vivian, the personification of shameless harlotry, or the crowning result to be expected from the infidelity of Queen Guin´evere. This wily wanton in Arthur’s court hated all the knights, and tried without success to seduce “the blameless king.” With Merlin, she succeeded better, for, being pestered with her importunity, he told her the secret of his power, as Samson told Delilah the secret of his strength. Having learnt this, Vivien enclosed the magician in a hollow oak, where he was confined as one dead, “lost to life, and use, and name, and fame.”--Tennyson, Idylls of the King (“Vivien,” 1858-9). (See Viviane.)

⁂ In Malory’s History of Prince Arthur, i. 60, Nimue (? Ninive) is the fée who inveigled Merlin out of his secret:

And so upon a time it happened that Merlin shewed to her [Nimue] in a rock, whereas was a great wonder, and wrought by enchantment, which went under a stone. So by her subtle craft and working, she made Merlin to go under that stone, to let her wit of the marvels there; but she wrought so there for him that he came never out, for all his craft. And so she departed and left him there.

Voadic´ia or Boadice´a, queen of the British Icēni. Enraged against the Romans, who had defiled her two daughters, she excited an insurrection against them, and while Suetonius Paulīnus, the Roman governor, was in Mona (Anglesea), she took Colchester and London, and slew 70,000 Romans. Being at length defeated by Suetonius Paulinus, she put an end to her life by poison (A.D. 61).

Cowper has an ode on Boadicea (1790).

Brave Voadicĭa made with her resolvedest men

To Virolam [St. Alban’s], whose siege with fire and sword she plyed

Till levelled with the earth ... etc.

Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).

Voadine (2 syl.), bishop of London, who reproved Vortiger[n] for loving another man’s wife and neglecting his own queen, for which reproof the good bishop was murdered.

... good Voadine, who reproved

Proud Vortiger, his king, unlawfully that loved

205Another’s wanton wife, and wronged his nuptial bed,

For which by that stern prince unjustly murdered.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).

⁂ This is very like the story of John the Baptist and Herod.

Voice (Human). The following animals possessed both human voice and articulate speech, speaking in the language of their masters:--

Al Borak, the animal which conveyed Mahomet to the seventh heaven. He not only spoke good Arabic, but had also a human face.

Arion, the wonderful horse which Herculés gave to Adrastos. It not only spoke good Greek, but both his near feet were those of a man.

Balaam’s Ass spoke Hebrew to Balaam on one occasion.--Numb. xxii.

The Black Pigeons, one of which gave the responses in the temple of Ammon, and the other in Dodōna.--Classic Story.

The Bulbul-Hezar, which had not only human speech, but was oracular also.--Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters”).

Comrade, Fortunio’s horse, spoke with the voice of a man.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Fortunio”).

The little Green Bird which Fairstar obtained possession of, not only answered in words any questions asked it, but was also prophetic and oracular.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Cherry and Fairstar”).

Katmîr, the dog of the Seven Sleepers, spoke Greek.--Al Korân, xviii.

Säleh’s Camel used to go about crying, in good Arabic, “Ho! every one that wanteth milk, let him come, and I will give it him.”--Sale, Al Korân, vii. (notes).

The Serpent which tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit.--Gen. iii.

Temliha, the king of serpents, had the gift of human speech.--Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (“History of Aboutaleb”).

Xanthos, one of the horses of Achillês, announced to the hero, in good Greek, his approaching death.--Classic Fable.

Voiture (2 syl.), a French poet, idolized by his contemporaries in the reign of Louis XIV., but now only known by name (1598-1648).

E’en rival wits did Voiture’s death deplore,

And the gay mourned, who never mourned before;

The truest hearts for Voiture heaved with sighs,

Voiture was wept by all the brightest eyes.

Pope, Epistle to Miss Blount (1715).

Voland (Squire), the devil. (German, Junker Voland.)

Volan´te (3 syl.), one of the three daughters of Balthazar. Lively, witty, sharp as a needle and high-spirited. She loves the Count Montalban; but when the count disguises himself as a father confessor, in order to sound her love for him, she sees the trick in a moment, and says to him, “Come, count, pull off your lion’s hide, and confess yourself an ass.” Subsequently, all ends happily and well.--J. Tobin, The Honeymoon (1804).

Volet´ta, Free-will personified.

Voletta,

Whom neither man, nor fiend, nor God constrains.

Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, vi. (1633).

Volksmährchen (“popular tales”), in German, the best exponents being Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853), Musäus (1735-1787), De la Motte Fouqué (see Undine), Chamisso (see Schlemihl, Peter), Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827), Achim von Arnim (1781-1831), Clemens Brentano (1777-1842), 206Zschokke (1771-1848), Hoffmann (1776-1822), Gustav Freytag, “The German Dickens” (1816-1878), and the brothers Grimm.

Vol´pone (2 syl.), or The Fox, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1605). Volpone, a rich Venetian nobleman, without children, feigns to be dying, in order to draw gifts from those who pay court to him under the expectation of becoming his heirs. Mosca, his knavish confederate, persuades each in turn that he is named for the inheritance, and by this means exacts many a costly present. At the end, Volpone is betrayed, his property forfeited, and he is sentenced to lie in the worst hospital in all Venice.

Jonson has three great comedies: Volpone, or The Fox, Epicene, or The Silent Woman, and The Alchemist.--R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 192.

Volscius (Prince), a military hero, who falls in love with the fair Parthenŏpê, and disputes with Prince Prettyman upon the superiority of his sweetheart to Cloris, whom Prince Prettyman sighs for.--Duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1671).

Why, this is worse than Prince Volscius in love!--Sir W. Scott.

Oh, be merry, by all means. Prince Volscius in love! Ha, ha, ha!--W. Congreve, The Double Dealer (1694).

Volsunga Saga (The), a collection of tales in verse about the early Teutonic heroes, compiled by Sæmund Sigfusson in the eleventh century. A prose version was made some 200 years later by Snorro Sturleson. This saga forms a part of the RhythmicalRhythmical, or Elder Edda, and of the Prose, or Younger Edda.

Voltaire (The German), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1838).

Christoph Martin Wieland is also called “The German Voltaire” (1733-1813).

Voltaire (The Polish), Ignatius Krasicki (1774-1801).

Voltaire (The Russian), Alex P. Sumorokof (1727-1777).

Vol´timand, a courtier in the court of Claudius, king of Denmark.--Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).

Volumnia was the wife of Coriolanus, and Vetu´ria his mother; but Shakespeare makes Virgilia the wife, and Volumnia the mother.--Coriolanus (1610).

The old man’s merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady’s dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting variety.--Dr. Johnson.

Voluspa Saga (The), the prophecy of Völa. It contains between 200 and 300 verses, and resembles the Sibylline books of ancient Rome. The Voluspa Saga gives, in verse, a description of chaos, the formation of the world, the creation of all animals (including dwarfs and giants, genii and devils, fairies and goblins), the final conflagration of the world and its renewal, when it will appear in celestial beauty, like the new Jerusalem described in the book of the Revelation.

Vorst (Peterkin), the sleeping sentinel at Powys Castle.--Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Vortigern, counsel of the Gewisseans, who crowned Constans, king of Britain, although he was a monk, but treacherously contrived to get him assassinated 207afterwards, and then usurped the crown. He married Rowen’a, daughter of Hengist, and was burnt to death in a tower set on fire during a siege by Ambrosius.--Geoffrey, British History, vi. 6; viii. 1 (1142).

Vortigern, a drama put forward by Henry W. Ireland (1796) as a newly discovered play by Shakespeare. It was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre, by John Kemble. Dr. Parr declared it to be his opinion that the play was genuine.

Vortigern and Hengist. The account of the massacre of the Long-Knives, given by Geoffrey, in his British History, vi. 15, differs greatly from that of the Welsh Triads (See Stonehenge, a Trophy). Geoffrey says that Hengist came over with a large army, at which King Vortigern was alarmed. To allay this suspicion, Hengist promised to send back all the men that the king did not require, and begged Vortigern to meet him in conference at Ambrius (Ambresbury), on May-day. Hengist, in the meantime, secretly armed a number of his soldiers with “long-knives,” and told them to fall on the Britons during the conference, when he uttered the words, “Nemet oure Saxas.” This they did, and 460 “barons and consuls” fell. It does not appear from this narrative that the slaughter was due “to the treachery of Vortigern,” but was wholly the work of Hengist. Geoffrey calls the earl of Gloucester “Eldol,” and not “Eidiol.”

Vortigern’s Tower, like Penelopê’s web, is a work ever beginning, and never ending. Vortigern was told by his magicians to build a strong tower for his own security; so he commanded his workmen to build one on Mount Erir, but whatever they built one day, was wholly swallowed up by the earth during the night.--Geoffrey, British History, vi. 17 (1142).

Vos non Vobis. The tale is that Virgil wrote an epigram on Augustus Cæsar, which so much pleased the emperor that he desired to know who was the author. As Virgil did not claim the lines, one Bathyllus declared they were his. This displeased Virgil, and he wrote these four words, Sic vos non vobis ... four times as the commencement of four lines, and Bathyllus was requested to finish them. This he could not do, but Virgil completed the lines thus:

Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves;

Sic vos non vobis villera fertis oves;

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes;

Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.

Not for yourselves your nests ye song-birds build;

Not for yourselves ye sheep your fleeces bear;

Not for yourselves your hives ye bees have filled;

Not for yourselves ye oxen draw the share.

Vox et præterea Nihil. A Spartan, pulling a nightingale, and finding only a very small body, exclaimed, φωνὰ τύ τις ἐσσι, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο (“Voice art thou, and nothing more”).--Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica.

Vox (Valentine), enterprising ventriloquist, who figures in the novel called by his name.--Henry Cochton (1840).

Vran (Bendigeid, i.e., “Blessed”), king of Britain, and father of Caradawc (Caractacus). He was called “Blessed,” because he introduced Christianity into this island. Vran had shared the captivity of his son, and had learned the Christian faith during his seven years’ detention in Rome.

208Vran or Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, first brought the faith of Christ to the nation of the Cymry, from Rome, where he was seven years a hostage for his son, Caradawc, whom the Romans made prisoner, through craft and the treachery of Aregwedd Fôeddawg [Cartismandua] Welsh Triads, xxxv.

Vran’s Caldron restored to life whoever was put therein, but the revivified never recovered speech. (See Medea’s Kettle.)

“I will give thee,” said Bendigeid Vran, “a caldron, the property of which is that if one of thy men be slain to-day, and be cast therein to-morrow, he will be as well as he was at the best, except that he will not regain his speech.”--The Mabinogion (“Branwen,” etc., twelfth century).

Vrience (King), one of the knights of the Round Table. He married Morgan le Fay, half-sister of King Arthur.--Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

Vulcan was the lawful offspring of Jupiter and Juno, but the former, upon beholding his homely son, kicked him out of heaven.

“From morn

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

A summer’s day, and with the setting sun

Drop’t from the zenith like a falling star

On Lemnos, the Ægean isle.”

Milton, Paradise Lost, I.

His leg was broken, and he remained lame forever after. He was a blacksmith, and employed by the Cyclops to forge their thunderbolts.

Vulcan’s Badge, the badge of cuckoldom. Vulcan was the husband of Venus, with whom Mars intrigued.

We know

Better than he have worn Vulcan’s badge.

Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 1 (1593).

Vulnerable Parts.

Achilles was vulnerable only in the heel. When his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx, she held him by the heel, and the water did not touch this part.--A Post-Homeric Story.

Ajax, son of Telamon, could be wounded only behind the neck; some say only in one spot of the breast. As soon as he was born Alcīdês covered him with a lion’s skin, which rendered the whole body invulnerable, except in a part where the skin had been pierced by Herculês.

Antæos was wholly charmed against death so long as he touched the earth.--Lucan, Pharsalia, iv.

Ferracute (3 syl.) was only vulnerable in the navel.--Turpin, Chronicle of Charlemagne.

He is called Ferrau, son of Landfūsa, by Ariosto, in his Orlando Furioso.

Megissogwon was only vulnerable at one tuft of hair on his head. A woodpecker revealed the secret to Hiawatha, who struck him there and killed him.--Longfellow, Hiawatha, ix.

Orillo was impervious to death unless one particular hair was cut off; wherefore Astolpho, when he encountered the robber, only sought to cut off this magic hair.--Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.

Orlando was invulnerable except in the sole of his foot, and even there nothing could injure him except the prick of a pin.--Italian Classic Fable.

Siegfried was invulnerable except in one spot between the shoulders, on which a leaf stuck when he dipped his body in the dragon’s blood.--The Nibelungen Lied.

⁂ The Promethĕan unguent rendered the body proof against fire and wounds of any sort. Medea gave Jason some of this unguent.--Classic Story.

Vulture (The Black), emblem of the ancient Turk, as the crescent is of the modern Ottoman empire.

209And that black vulture, which with dreadful wing

O’ershadows half the earth, whose dismal sight

Frightened the Muses from their native spring,

Already stoops, and flags with weary wing.

Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, vii. (1633).

Vulture Hopkins. John Hopkins was so called from his rapacious mode of acquiring money. He was the architect of his own fortune, and died worth £300,000 (in 1732).

⁂ Pope refers to John Hopkins in the lines:

When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend

The wretch who, living, saved a candle end.

Wabster (Michael), a citizen of Perth.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Wabun, son of Mudjekeewis; the Indian Apollo. He chases darkness over hill and dale with his arrows, wakes man, and brings the morning. He married Wabun-Annung, who was taken to heaven at death, and became the morning star.--Longfellow, Hiawatha (1855).

Wabun-Annung, the morning star, a country maiden who married Wabun, the Indian Apollo.--Longfellow, Hiawatha (1855).

Wackbairn (Mr.), the schoolmaster at Libberton.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Wackles (Mrs. and the Misses), of Chelsea, keepers of a “Ladies’ Seminary.” English grammar, composition, geography, and the use of dumb-bells, by Miss Melissa Wackles; writing, arithmetic, dancing, music, and general fascination, by Miss Sophy Wackles; needlework, marking, and samplery, by Miss Jane Wackles; corporal punishment and domestic duties, by Mrs. Wackles. Miss Sophy was a fresh, good-natured, buxom girl of 20, who owned to a soft impeachment for Mr. Swiveller, but as he held back, she married Mr. Cheggs, a well-to-do market gardener.--C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, viii. (1840).

Wade (Miss), a handsome young woman, brought up by her grandmother, with a small independence. She looked at every act of kindness, benevolence, and charity with a jaundiced eye, and attributed it to a vile motive. Her manner was suspicious, self-secluded, and repellant; her temper proud, fiery, and unsympathetic. Twice she loved--in one case she jilted her lover, in the other she was herself jilted. The latter was Henry Gowan, who married Pet, the daughter of Mr. Meagles, and in consequence of this marriage Miss Wade hated Gowan, his wife, the Meagleses, and all their friends. She enticed Tattycoram away from Mr. Meagles, and the two beautiful young women lived together for a time, nursing their hatred of man to keep it warm.--C. Dickens, Little Dorrit, ii. 21 (1857).

Waddell (James), the Blind Preacher, as he was familiarly called, was a marked character in the central counties of Virginia in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He performed all the offices of a 210clergyman up to the time of his death, preaching with power and unction every week. “I have never,” says William Wirt, “seen in any other orator such a union of simplicity and majesty. He has not a gesture, an attitude or an accent, to which he does not seem forced by the sentiment which he is expressing.... He is not only a very polite scholar, but a man of extensive and profound erudition.”--William Wirt, The British Spy (1803).

Wadman (Widow), a comely widow, who would full fain secure Uncle Toby for her second husband. Amongst other wiles, she pretends to have something in her eye, and gets Uncle Toby to look for it. As the kind-hearted hero of Namur does so, the gentle widow gradually places her face nearer and nearer the captain’s mouth, under the hope that he will kiss and propose.--Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759).

Wagner, the faithful servant and constant companion of Faust, in Marlowe’s drama called The Life and Death of Dr. Faustus (1589); in Goethe’s Faust (German, 1798); and in Gounod’s opera of Faust (1859).

Wagner is a type of the pedant. He sacrifices himself to books as Faust does to knowledge ... the dust of folios is his element, parchment the source of his inspiration.... He is one of those who, in the presence of Niagara, would vex you with questions about arrow-headed inscriptions ... or the origin of the Pelasgi.--Lewes.

Wa´hela, Lot’s wife, who was confederate with the men of Sodom, and gave them notice when a stranger came to visit her husband. Her sign was smoke by day and fire by night. Wahela was turned into a pillar of salt.--Jallâlo´ddin, Al Zamakh.

Wa´ila (3 syl.), wife of Noah, who told the people her husband was distraught.

The wife of Noah [Wâïla] and the wife of Lot [Wâhela] were both unbelievers, ... and it shall be said unto them at the last day, “Enter ye into hell fire, with those who enter therein.”--Al Korân, lxvi.

Wainamoi´nen, the Orpheus of Finnish mythology. His magic harp performed similar wonders to that of Orpheus (2 syl.). It was made of the bones of a pike; that of Orpheus was of tortoiseshell. The “beloved” of Wainamoinen was a treasure called Sampo, which was lost as the poet reached the verge of the realms of darkness; the “beloved” of Orpheus was Eurydi´cê, who was lost just as the poet reached the confines of earth, after his descent into hell.

⁂ See Kalewala, Rune, xxii. It is very beautiful. An extract is given in Baring Gould’s Myths of the Middle Ages, 440-444.

Waitwell, the lackey of Edward Mirabell, and husband of Foible, governante of the household of Lady Wishfort. By his master’s request, Waitwell personates Sir Roland, and makes love to Lady Wishfort, but the trick is discovered before much mischief is done.--W. Congreve, The Way of the World (1700).

Wakefield (Harry), the English drover killed by Robin Oig.--Sir W. Scott, The Two Drovers (time, George III.).

Wakeman (Sir George), physician to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Waldeck (Martin), the miner, and hero of a story read by Lovel to a picnic party 211at the ruins of St. Ruth’s Priory.--Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Walde´grave (2 syl.), leader of the British forces which joined the Hurons in extirpating the Snake Indians, but he fell in the fray (pt. i. 18).

Julia Waldegrave, wife of the above. She was bound to a tree with her child by some of the Indians during the attack. Outalissi, a Snake Indian, unbound them, took them home, and took care of them; but the mother died. Her last request was that Outalissi would carry her child to Albert of Wy´oming, her friend, and beg him to take charge of it.

Henry Waldegrave, the boy brought by Outalissi to Albert. After staying at Wyoming for three years, his English friends sent for him (he was then 12 years old). When grown to manhood, he returned to Wyoming, and was married to Gertrude; but three months afterwards Outalissi appeared, and told them that Brandt was coming with his English soldiers to destroy the village. Both Albert and Gertrude were shot in the attack; and Henry joined the army of Washington.--Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming (1809).

Waldemar Fitzurse (Lord), a baron following Prince John of Anjou (brother of Richard Cœur de Lion).--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Waldstetten (The countess of), a relative of the baron. He is one of the characters in Donnerhugel’s narrative.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Walk (Knave) is meant for colonel Hewson, generally called “Walk, Knave, Walk,” from a tract written by Edmund Gayton, to satirize the party, and entitled Walk, Knaves, Walk.--S. Butler, Hudibras (1663-78).

Walker (Dr.), one of the three great quacks of the eighteenth century, the others being Dr. Rock and Dr. Timothy Franks. Goldsmith, in his Citizen of the World, has a letter (lxviii.) wholly upon these three worthies (1759).

Walker (Helen), the prototype of Jeanie Deans. Sir W. Scott caused a tombstone to be erected over her grave in Irongray churchyard, Kirkcudbright [Ke.koo´.bry].

Walker (Hookey), John Walker, outdoor clerk to Longman, Clementi and Co., Cheapside. He was noted for his hooked nose, and disliked for his official duties, which were to see that the men came and left at the proper hour, and that they worked during the hours of work. Of course, the men conspired to throw discredit on his reports; and hence when any one draws the “long-bow,” the hearer exclaims, “Hookey Walker!” as much as to say, “I don’t believe it.”

Walking Gentleman (A). Thomas Colley Grattan published his Highways and Byeways under this signature (1825).

Walking Stewart, John Stewart, an English traveller, who walked through Hindûstan, Persia, Nubia, Abyssinia, the Arabian Desert, Europe, and the North American states; “crazy beyond the reach of hellebore, yet sublime and divinely benignant.... He had seen more of the earth’s surface, and had communicated more with the children of the earth, than any man before or since.”--De Quincey, (1856).

212Walking-Stick (Henry VIII.’s), the great Danish club shown in the armory of the Tower.

Walkingshaw (Miss), mistress of the chevalier Charles Edward, the Young Pretender.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Wallace’s Larder, the dungeon of Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, where Wallace had the dead bodies thrown when the garrison was surprised by him in the reign of Edward I.

“Douglas’s Larder” is a similar phrase, meaning that horrible compound of dead bodies, barrels of flour, meal, wheat, malt, wine, ale, and beer, all mixed together in Douglas Castle, by the order of Lord James Douglas, when, in 1306, the garrison was surprised by him.

Wallenrode (The earl of), an Hungarian crusader.--Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Wallenstein (Max), German baron and general, eminent in the Thirty Years’ War. He was assassinated in 1634 by order of Ferdinand II. of Germany.--Schiller, Wallenstein (1799).

Waller, in love with Lydia, lady’s-maid to Widow Green. His love at first was not honorable, because his aristocratic pride revolted at the inferior social position of Lydia; but when he knew her real worth, he loved her, proposed marriage, and found that she was the sister of Trueworth, who had taken service to avoid an obnoxious marriage.--S. Knowles, The Love-Chase (1837).

Waller’s Plot, a plot organized in 1643 by Waller, the poet, against the parliamentary party. The object was to secure the king’s children, to seize the most eminent of the parliamentarians, to capture the Tower, and resist all taxes imposed for the support of the parliamentary army.

Walley (Richard), the regicide, whose story is told by Major Bridgenorth (a roundhead) at his dinner-table.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Walnut Web. When the three princes of a certain king were sent to find out “a web of cloth which would pass through the eye of a fine needle,” the White Cat furnished the youngest of the three with one spun by the cats of her palace.

The prince ... took out of his box a walnut, which he cracked ... and saw a small hazel nut, which he cracked also ... and found therein a kernel of wax.... In this kernel of wax was hidden a single grain of wheat, and in the grain a small millet seed.... On opening the millet, he drew out a web of cloth 400 yards long, and in it was woven all sorts of birds, beasts, and fishes; fruits and flowers; the sun, moon, and stars; the portraits of kings and queens, and many other wonderful designs.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The White Cat,” 1682).

Walpurgis, saint who converted the Saxons to Christianity.

Walpurgis Night. May 1, when witches dance upon the Brocken in the Hartz Mountains.

Walsingham, the affianced of Helen Mowbray. Deceived by appearances, he believed that Helen was the mistress of Lord Athunree, and abandoned her; but when he discovered his mistake he married her.--S. Knowles, Woman’s Wit, etc. (1838).

213Walsingham (Lord) of Queen Elizabeth’s court.--Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Walter, marquis of Saluzzo, in Italy, and husband of Grisilda, the peasant’s daughter (q.v.).--Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388).

⁂ This tale, of course, is allegorical; Lord Walter takes the place of deity, and Grisilda typifies the true Christian. In all her privations, in all her sorrows, in all her trials, she says to her lord and master, “Thy will be done.”

Walte (Master), “the hunchback,” guardian of Julia. A worthy man, liberal and charitable, frank and honest, who turns out to be the earl of Rochdale and father of Julia.--S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).

Walter Debree, a Protestant clergyman, who, driven as he imagines, by conscience, takes orders in the Roman Catholic Church. His wife seeks him out and makes an eloquent appeal to him in the name of their former love, their dead child, and their once common faith. His heart and conscience thus aroused, combine to urge reconsideration of his belief. He resolves to return to the Mother Church, and makes his plans to take the Lord’s Supper with his wife on a certain Sabbath. On his way to church, he is overtaken by a fierce snow-storm and buried in the drifts. It is his lifeless body which is taken to the waiting wife. “Is this all, Walter?” she sobbed. “Is this the end? Yes, and it is a good end.... I did not seek you for myself. It never was for myself!” The effort to subdue the human love to the Divine triumphed in the midst of tears.--Robert Lowell, The New Priest of Conception Bay (1858).

Walter [Furst], father-in-law of Tell.--Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (opera, 1829).

Walter Hartwright, drawing-teacher and lover of Laura Fairlie. When the report of her death has been circulated by her husband, Sir Percival Glyde, Walter unravels the plot, restores Laura to her rightful place, and after the baronet’s death, marries her.--Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White.

Walter von der Vogelweide, one of the German minnesingers, flourished in 1206.

Waltheof (The abbot), abbot of St. Withold’s Priory.--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Waltheof (Father), a grey friar, confessor to the duchess of Rothesay.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Walton (Lord), father of Elvi´ra, who promised his daughter in marriage to Sir Richard Forth, a puritan officer; but Elvira had already plighted her love to Lord Arthur Talbot, a cavalier. The betrothal was set aside, and Elvira married Arthur Talbot at last.--Bellini, Il Puritani (opera, 1834).

Walton (Sir John de), governor of Douglas Castle.--Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).

Wamba, “the son of Witless,” the jester of Cedric, the Saxon, of Rotherwood.--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Wampum, a string or belt of whelk-shells, current with the North American Indians as a medium of exchange, and 214always sent as a present to those with whom an alliance or treaty is made.

Peace be to thee! my words this belt approve.

Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming, i. 14 (1809).

Our wampum league thy brethren did embrace.

Ibid, i. 15.

Wanda, proud, high-bred German beauty, who loves and weds a man, believing him to be of noble birth. Accident reveals the mistake, and she drives him from her in anger. After long separation, he rescues their child from death, and dies in the arms of his remorseful wife.--Ouida, Wanda.

Wanderers. It is said that gypsies are doomed to be wanderers on the face of the earth, because they refused hospitality to the Virgin and Child, when the holy family fled into Egypt. (See Wild Huntsman.)--Aventinus, Annalium Boiorum, libri septem (1554).

Wandering Jew (The), Kartaph´ilos (in Latin, Cartaphilus), the door-keeper of the judgment hall, in the service of Pontius Pilate. The tradition is that this porter, while haling Jesus before Pilate, struck Him, saying, “Get on faster!” whereupon Jesus replied, “I am going fast enough; but thou shalt tarry till I come again.”

⁂ The earliest account of this tradition is in the Book of the Chronicles of the Abbey of St. Alban’s, copied and continued by Matthew Paris (1228). In 1242 Philip Mouskes, afterwards bishop of Tournay, wrote the “rhymed chronicle.”

Kartaphilos, we are told, was baptized by Ananias, who baptized Paul, and received the name of Joseph.--See Book of the Chronicles of the Abbey of St. Alban’s.

Another tradition says the Jew was Ahasue´rus, a cobbler, and gives the story thus: Jesus, overcome by the weight of the cross, stopped at the door of Ahasuerus, when the man pushed Him away, saying, “be off with you!” Jesus replied, “I am going off truly, as it is written; but thou shalt tarry till I come again.”

⁂ This legend is given by Paul von Eitzen, bishop of Schleswig, in 1547.--See Greve, Memoirs of Paul von Eitzen, Hamburgh (1744).

In Germany, the Wandering Jew is associated with John Buttadæus, who was seen at Antwerp in the thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and at Brussels in 1774.

⁂ Leonard Doldius of Nürnberg, in his Praxis Alchymiæ (1604), says the Jew Ahasuerus is sometimes called Buttadæus.

In France, the name given to the Jew is Isaac Laquedem, or Lakedion.

⁂ See Mitternacht, Dissertatio in Johan., xxi. 19.

Salathiel ben Sadi is the name of the Wandering Jew, in Croly’s novel entitled Salathiel (1827).

Eugène Sue introduces a Wandering Jew in his novel called Le Juif Errant (1845). Galt has also a novel called The Wandering Jew.

Poetical versions of the legend have been made by A. W. von Schlegal, Die Warnung; by Schubert, Ahasuer; by Goethe, Aus Meinem Leben, all in German. By Mrs. Norton, The Undying One, in English, etc. The legend is based on St. John’s Gospel xxi. 22. “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” The apostles thought the words meant that John would not die, but tradition has applied them to some one else.

Wandering Knight (The), El Donzel del Febo (“the Knight of the Sun”), is so called in the Spanish romance entitled The Mirror of Knighthood. 215Eumen´edês is so called in Peele’s Old Wives’ Tale (1590).

Wandering Willie, the blind fiddler, who tells the tale about Sir Robert Redgauntlet, and his son, Sir John.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Wandering Wood which contained the den of Error. Error was a monster, like a woman upwards, but ending in a huge dragon’s tail with a venomous sting. The first encounter of the Red Cross Knight was with this monster whom he slew.--Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 1 (1590).

⁂ When piety (the Red Cross Knight) once forsakes the oneness of truth (Una), it is sure to get into “Wandering Wood,” where it will be attacked by “Error.”

Wantley (Dragon of), a monster slain by More of More Hall, who procured a suit of armor studded with spikes, and, proceeding to the lair, kicked the dragon in its mouth, where alone it was vulnerable.--Percy, Reliques of Ancient Poetry.

One of Carey’s farces is entitled The Dragon of Wantley.

War of Wartburg, a poetic contest at Wartburg’s Castle, in which Vogelweid triumphed over Heinrich von Ofterdingen.

They renewed the war of Wartburg,

Which the bard had fought before.

Longfellow, Walter von der Vogelweid.

Warbeck (Perkin) assumed himself to be Richard, duke of York, the younger son of Edward IV., supposed to be murdered by order of Richard III., in the Tower.

Parallel Instances. The youngest son of Ivan IV. of Russia was named Dīmitri, i.e., Demetrius. He was born in 1581, and was mysteriously assassinated in 1591, some say by Godounov, the successor to the throne. Several impostors assumed to be Dimitri, the most remarkable appeared in Poland in 1603, was recognized as Czar in 1605, but perished the year following.

Martin Guerre, in the sixteenth century, left his wife, to whom he had been married ten years, to join the army in Spain. In the eighth year of his absence one Arnaud du Tilh assumed to be Martin Guerre, and was received by the wife as her husband. For three years he lived with her, recognized by all her friends and relations, but the return of Martin himself dispelled the illusion, and Arnaud was put to death.

The great Tichborne case was a similar imposition. One Orton assumed to be Sir Roger Tichborne, and was even acknowledged to be so by Sir Roger’s mother; but after a long and patient trial it was proved that the claimant of the Tichborne estates was no other than one Orton, of Wapping.

In German history, Jakob Rehback, a miller’s man, assumed, in 1345, to be Waldemar, an Ascanier margraf. Jakob was a menial in the service of the margraf.

Warburton (Lord), handsome, well-bred and commonplace young nobleman, in love with Isabel Archer.--Henry James, Jr., Portrait of a Lady (1881).

Ward (Artĕmus), Charles F. Browne, of America, author of His Book of Goaks (1865). He died in London in 1867.

Ward (Dr.), a footman, famous for his “friars’ balsam.” He was called to prescribe for George II., and died, 1761. Dr. Ward had a claret stain on his left cheek, and in Hogarth’s famous picture, “The Undertakers’ Arms,” the cheek is marked gules. He forms one of the three figures 216at the top, and occupies the right hand side of the spectator. The other two figures are Mrs. Mapp and Dr. Taylor.

Warden (Henry), alias Henry Wellwood, the Protestant preacher. In the Abbot he is chaplain of the Lady Mary at Avenel Castle.--Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Warden (Michael), a young man of about 30, well-made and good-looking, light-hearted, capricious, and without ballast. He had been so wild and extravagant, that Snitchey and Craggs told him it would take six years to nurse his property into a healthy state. Michael Warden told them he was in love with Marion Jeddler, and her, in due time, he married.--C. Dickens, The Battle of Life (1846).

Wardlaw, land-steward at Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Wardlaw (Henry of), archbishop of St. Andrew’s.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Wardle (Mr.), an old country gentleman, who had attended some of the meetings of “The Pickwick Club,” and felt a liking for Mr. Pickwick and his three friends, whom he occasionally entertained at his house.

Miss [Isabella] Wardle, daughter of Mr. Wardle. She marries Augustus Snodgrass, M.P.C.

Miss Emily Wardle, daughter of Mr. Wardle. She marries Mr. Trundle.--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Wardour (Sir Arthur), of Knockwinnock Castle.

Isabella Wardour, daughter of Sir Arthur. She marries Lord Geraldin.

Captain Reginald Wardour, son of Sir Arthur. He is in the army.

Sir Richard Wardour or “Richard with the Red Hand,” an ancestor of Sir Arthur.--Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Ware (Bed of), a great bed, twelve feet square, assigned by tradition to the earl of Warwick, the “king maker.”

A mighty large bed [the bed of honor], bigger by half than the great bed of Ware; ten thousand people may lie in it together and never feel one another.--G. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer (1707).

The bed of Og, king of Bashan, which was fourteen feet long, and a little more than six feet wide, was considerably smaller than the great bed of Ware.

His bedstead was a bedstead of iron ... nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.--Deut. iii. 11.

Waring (Sir Walter), a justice of the peace, whose knowledge of the law was derived from Matthew Medley, his factotum. His sentences were justices’ justice, influenced by prejudice and personal feeling. An ugly old hag would have found from him but scant mercy, while a pretty girl could hardly do wrong in Sir Walter’s code of law.--Sir H. B. Dudley, The Woodman (1771).

Warman, steward of Robin Hood, while earl of Huntingdon. He betrayed his master into the hands of Gilbert Hoode (or Hood), a prior, Robin’s uncle. King John rewarded Warman for this treachery by appointing him high sheriff of Nottingham.

The ill-fac’d miser, bribed on either hand,

Is Warman, one the steward of his house,

217Who, Judas-like, betraies his liberall lord

Into the hands of that relentlesse prior

Calde Gilbert Hoode, uncle of Huntington.

Skelton, Downfall of Robert, earl of Huntington (Henry VIII.).

Warming-Pan Hero (The), James Francis Edward Stuart (the first Pretender). According to the absurd story set afloat by the disaffected at the time of his birth, he was not the son of Mary d’Este, the wife of James II., but a natural child of that monarch by Mary Beatrice, of Modena, and he had been conveyed to the royal bed in a warming-pan, with the intention of palming him off upon the British people as the legitimate heir to the throne.

Warner, the old steward of Sir Charles Cropland, who grieves to see the timber of the estate cut down to supply the extravagance of his young master.--G. Colman, The Poor Gentleman (1802).

Warning-Givers.

Alasnam’s Mirror. This mirror remained unsullied when it reflected a chaste and pure-minded woman, but became dim when the woman reflected by it was faithless, wanton, or light.--Arabian Nights (“Prince Zeyn Alasnam”).

Ants. Alexander Ross says that the “cruel battle between the Venetians and Insubrians, and also that between the Liegeois and the Burgundians, in which 30,000 men were slain, were both presignified by combats between two swarms of ants.”--Arcana Microcosmi.

Bahman’s Knife (Prince). When Prince Bahman started on his exploits, he gave his sister, Parizādê, a knife which, he told her, would remain bright and clean so long as he was safe and well, but, immediately he was in danger, or dead, would become dull or drop gouts of blood.--Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters”).

Bay Trees. The withering of bay trees prognosticates a death.

’Tis thought the king is dead ...

The bay trees in our country are all withered.

Shakespeare, Richard II. (1597).

N.B.--The bay was called by the Romans “the plant of the good angel,” because “neyther falling sicknes, neyther devyll, wyll infest or hurt one in that place whereas a bay tree is.”--Thomas Lupton, Syxt Book of Notable Thinges (1660).

Bee. The buzzing of a bee in a room indicates that a stranger is about to pay the house a visit.

Birtha’s Emerald Ring. The Duke Gondibert gave Birtha an emerald ring which, he said, would preserve its lustre so long as he remained faithful and true, but would become dull and pale if he proved false to her.--Wm. Davenant, Gondibert.

Brawn’s Head (The). A boy brought to King Arthur’s court a brawn’s head, over which he drew his wand thrice, and said, “There’s never a traitor or a cuckold who can carve that head of brawn.”--Percy, Reliques (“The Boy and the Mantle”).