LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. (continued 8)

Canace’s Mirror indicated, by its lustre, if the person whom the inspector loved was true or false.--Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (“The Squire’s Tale”).

Candles. The shooting forth of a parcel of tallow, called a winding-sheet, from the top of a lighted candle, gives warning to the house of an approaching death; but a bright spark upon the burning wick is the promise of a letter.

Cats on the deck of a ship are said to “carry a gale of wind in their tail,” or to presage a coming storm. When cats are very assiduousassiduous in cleaning their ears and head, it prognosticates rain.

218Cattle give warning of an earthquake by their uneasiness.

Children Playing Soldiers on a road is said to forebode approaching war.

Coals. A cinder bounding from the fire is either a purse or a coffin. Those which rattle when held to the ear are tokens of wealth; those which are mute and solid indicate sickness or death.

Corpse Candles. The ignis fatuus, called by the Welsh canhwyll cyrph, or “corpse candle,” prognosticates death. If small and of pale blue, it denotes the death of an infant; if large and yellow, the death of one of full age.

Captain Leather, chief magistrate of Belfast, in 1690, being shipwrecked on the Isle of Man, was told that thirteen of his crew were lost, for thirteen corpse candles had been seen moving towards the churchyard. It is a fact that thirteen of the men were drowned in this wreck.--Sacheverell, Isle of Man, 15.

Cradle. It forebodes evil to the child if any one rocks its cradle when empty.--American Superstition.

Crickets. Crickets in a house are a sign of good luck, but if they suddenly leave, it is a warning of death.

Crow (A). A crow appearing to one on the left hand side indicates some impending evil to the person; and flying over a house, foretells evil at hand to some of the inmates. (See “Raven.”)

Sæpe sinistra cava prædixit ab ilice cornex.

Virgil, Eclogue, i.

Crowing of a Cock. Themistoclês was assured of his victory over Xerxes by the crowing of a cock, on his way to Artemisium the day before the battle.--Lloyd, Stratagems of Jerusalem, 285.

Crowing of a hen indicates approaching disaster.

Death-warnings in Private Families.

1. In Germany. Several princes of Germany have their special warning-givers of death. In some it is the roaring of a lion, in others the howling of a dog. In some it is the tolling of a bell or striking of a clock at an unusual time, in others it is a bustling noise about the castle.--The Living Library, 284 (1621).

2. In Berlin. A White Lady appears to some one of the household or guard, to announce the death of a prince of Hohenzollern. She was duly seen on the eve of Prince Waldemar’s death in 1879.

3. In Bohemia. “Spectrum fœminium vestitu lugubri apparere solet in arce quadam illustris familiæ, antequam una ex conjugibus dominorum illorum e vita decebat.”--Debrio, Disquisitiones Magicæ, (592)(592).

4. In Great Britain. In Wales the corpse candle appears to warn a family of impending death. In Carmarthen scarcely any person dies but some one sees his light or candle.

In Northumberland the warning light is called the person’s waff, in Cumberland a swarth, in Ross a task, in some parts of Scotland a fye-token.

King James tells us that the wraith of a person newly dead, or about to die, appears to his friends.--Demonology, 125.

Edgewell Oak indicates the coming death of an inmate of Castle Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches.

5. In Scotland. The family of Rothmurchas have the Bodachau Dun, or the Ghost of the Hill.

The Kinchardines have the Spectre of the Bloody Hand.

Gartinbeg House used to be haunted by Bodach Gartin.

The house of Tulloch Gorms used to be haunted by Maug Monlach, or the Girl with the Hairy Left Hand.

Death-watch (The). The tapping made by a small beetle called the death-watch is said to be a warning of death.

219The chambermaids christen this worm a “Death-watch,”

Because, like a watch, it always cries “click;”

Then woe be to those in the house who are sick,

For sure as a gun they will give up the ghost,

If the maggot cries “click” when it scratches a post.

Swift.

Divining-Rod (The). A forked hazel rod, suspended between the balls of the thumbs, was at one time supposed to indicate the presence of water-springs and precious metals by inclining towards the earth beneath which these things might be found. Dousterswivel obtained money by professing to indicate the spot of buried wealth by a divining-rod.--Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary.

Dogs. The howling of a dog at night forebodes death.

A cane præviso funere disce mori.

R. Keuchen, Crepundia, 113 (1662).

Capitolīnus tells us that the death of Maximīnus was presaged by the howling of dogs. Pausanias (in his Messenĭa) says the dogs brake into a fierce howl just before the overthrow of the Messenians. Fincelius says the dogs in Mysinia flocked together and howled just before the overthrow of the Saxons in 1553. Virgil says the same thing occurred just previous to the battle of Pharsalia.

Dogs give warning of death by scratching on the floor of a house.

Dotterels.

When dotterels do first appear,

It shows that frost is very near;

But when that dotterels do go,

Then you may look for heavy snow.

Salisbury Saying.

Dreams. It will be remembered that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was warned by a dream to flee from Judæa, and when Herod was dead he was again warned by a dream to “turn aside into the parts of Galilee.”--Matt. ii. 13, 19, 22.

In the Old Testament, Pharaoh had a warning dream of a famine which he was enabled to provide against.--Gen. xli. 15-36.

Pharaoh’s butler and baker had warning dreams, one being prevised thereby of his restoration to favor, and the other warned of his execution.--Gen. xl. 5-23.

Nebuchadnezzar had an historic dream, which Daniel explained.--Dan. ii. 1, 31-45.

Abimelech, king of Egypt was warned by a dream that Sarah was Abraham’s wife and not his sister.--Gen. xx. 3-16.

Jacob had an historic dream on his way to Haran.--Gen. xxviii. 12-15.

Joseph, son of Jacob, had an historic dream, revealing to him his future greatness.--Gen. xxxvii. 5-10.

Daniel had an historic dream about four beasts which indicated four kingdoms (Dan. vii.). Whether his “visions” were also dreams is uncertain (see chs. viii. x.).

It would require many pages to do justice to this subject. Bland, in his Popular Antiquities, iii. 134, gives “A Dictionary of Dreams” in alphabetic order, extracted from The Royal Dream-Book.

Drinking-Horns. King Arthur had a horn from which no one could drink who was either unchaste or unfaithful. The cuckold’s horn, brought to King Arthur’s court by a mysterious boy, gave warning of infidelity, inasmuch as no one unfaithful in love or unleal to his liege lord could drink therefrom without spilling the liquor. The coupe enchantée possessed a similar property.

Eagle. Tarquinius Priscus was assured that he would be king of Rome by an eagle, which stooped upon him, took off his cap, rose in the air, and let the cap fall again upon his head.

Aristander assured Alexander of his victory over Darius at the battle of Arbĕla, 220by the flight of an eagle.--Lloyd, Stratagems of Jerusalem, 290.

Ear (The). If the left ear tingles or burns, it indicates that some one is talking evil of you; if the right ear, some one is praising you. The foreboded evil may be averted by biting the little finger of the left hand.

Laudor et adverso, sonat auris, lædor ab ore;

Dextra bono tinnit murmure, læva malo.

R. Keuchen, Crepundia, 113 (1662).

Epitaphs (Reading). If you would preserve your memory, be warned against reading epitaphs. In this instance the American superstition is the warning-giver, and not the act referred to.

Fir Trees. “If a firr tree be touched, withered, or burned with lighting, it is a warning to the house that the master or mistress thereof shall shortly dye.”--Thomas Lupton, Syxt Book of Notable Thinges, iii. (1660).

Fire. The noise occasioned when the enclosed gas in a piece of burning coal matches fire, is a sure indication of a quarrel between the inmates of the house.

Florimel’s Girdle would loosen or tear asunder if any woman unfaithful or unchaste attempted to put it on.--Spenser, Faëry Queen.

Gates of Gundof´orus (The). No one carrying poison could pass these gates. They were made of the horn of the horned snake, by the apostle Thomas, who built a palace of sethym wood for this Indian king, and set up the gates.

Grotto of Ephesus (The) contained a reed, which gave forth musical sounds when the chaste and faithful entered it, but denounced others by giving forth harsh and discordant noises.--Lord Lytton, Tales of Miletus, iii.

Hare Crossing the Road (A). It was thought by the ancient Romans that if a hare ran across the road on which a person was travelling, it was a certain omen of ill luck.

Lepus quoque occurrens in via, infortunatum iter præsagit et ominosum.--Alexander ab Alexandro, Genialium Dierum, libri VI. v. 13 p. 685.

Nor did we meet, with nimble feet,

One little fearful lepus,

That certain sign, as some divine,

Of fortune bad to keep us.

Ellison, Trip to Benwell, lx.

Hoopoe (The). The country people of Sweden consider the appearance of the hoopoe as a presage of war.--Pennant, Zoölogy, i. 258.

Lizards warn men of the approach of a serpent.

Looking-glasses. If a looking-glass is broken, it is a warning that some one in the house will ere long lose a friend. Grose says it “betokens a mortality in the family, commonly the master.”

To break a looking-glass is prophetic that the person will never get married; or, if married, will lose the person wedded.

Magpies are prophetic birds. A common Lincolnshire proverb is, “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for death;” or thus: “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three a wedding, four a birth.”

Augurs and understood relations have,

By magotpies and choughs and rooks, brought forth

The secret’st man of blood.

Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606).

Alexander Ross tells us that the battle between the British and French, in which the former were overthrown in the reign of Charles VIII., was foretold by a skirmish between magpies and jackdaws.--Arcana Microcosmi.

Mantle (The Test). A boy brought to King Arthur’s court a mantle which no one could wear who was unfaithful in love, false in domestic life, or traitorous to the king. If any such attempted to 221put it on, it puckered up, or hung slouchingly, or tumbled to pieces.--Percy, Reliques (“The Boy and the Mantle”).

Meteors. Falling stars, eclipses, comets, and other signs in the heavens, portend the death or fall of princes.

Meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;

The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth ...

These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.

Shakespeare, Richard II., act ii. sc. 4 (1597).

Consult Matt. xxiv. 29; Luke xxi. 25.

Mice and Rats. If a rat or mouse, during the night, gnaw our clothes, it is indicative of some impending evil, perhaps even death.

Nos autem ita leves, atque inconsiderati sumus, ut si mures corroserint aliquid quorum est opus hoc unum, monstrum putemus? Ante vero Marsicum bellum quod Clypeos Lanuvii--mures rosissent, maxumum id portentum haruspices esse dixerunt. Quasi vero quicquam intersit, mures diem noctem aliquid rodentes, scuta an cribra corroserint ... cum vestis a soricibus roditur, plus timere suspicionem futuri mali, quam præsens damnum dolere. Unde illud eleganter dictum est Catonis, qui cum esset consultus a quodam, qui sibi erosas esse Caligas diceret a soricibus, respondit; non esset illud monstrum; sed vere monstrum habendum fuisse, si sorices a Caligis roderentur.--Cicero, Divinatio, ii. 27.

Mole-spots. A mole-spot on the armpit promises wealth and honor; on the ankle bespeaks modesty in men, courage in women; on the right breast is a sign of honesty, on the left forebodes poverty; on the chin promises wealth; on the right ear, respect; on the left forebodes dishonor; on the centre of the forehead bespeaks treachery, sullenness and untidiness; on the right temple foreshows that you will enjoy the friendship of the great; on the left temple forebodes distress; on the right foot bespeaks wisdom, on the left, rashness; on the right side of the heart denotes virtue, on the left side, wickedness; on the knee of a man denotes that he will have a rich wife, if on the left knee of a woman she may expect a large family; on the lip is a sign of gluttony and talkativeness; on the neck promises wealth; on the nose indicates that a man will be a great traveller; on the thigh forebodes poverty and sorrow; on the throat, wealth and health; on the wrist, ingenuity.

Moon (The). When the “mone lies sair on her back, or when her horns are pointed towards the zenith, be warned in time, for foul weather is nigh at hand.”--Dr. Jamieson.

Foul weather may also be expected “when the new moon appears with the old one in her arms.”

Late yestreen I saw the new moone

Wi’ the auld moone in her arme,

And I feir, I feir, my deir master,

That we will come to harme.

The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens.

To see a new moon for the first time on the right hand, and direct before you, is lucky; but to see it on the left hand or to turn round and see it behind you, is the contrary.

If you first see a new moon through glass, your wish will come to pass.

Nails. A white spot on the thumb promises a present; on the index finger denotes a friend; on the long finger, a foe; on the third finger, a letter or sweetheart; on the little finger, a journey to go.

In America, white spots on the nails are considered lucky.

Nourgehan’s Bracelet gave warning of poison by a tremulous motion of the stones, which increased as the poison approached nearer and nearer.--Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (“The Four Talismans”).

Opal turns pale at the approach of poison.

Owls. The screeching of an owl forebodes calamity, sickness, or death. On 222one occasion an owl strayed into the Capitol, and the Romans, to avert the evil, underwent a formal lustration.

The Roman senate, when within

The city walls an owl was seen,

Did cause their clergy with lustrations ...

The round-faced prodigy t’ avert.

Butler, Hudibras, II. iii. 707 (1664).

The death of Augustus was presaged by an owl singing [screeching] upon the top of the Curia.--Xiphilinus, Abridgment of Dion Cassius.

The death of Commŏdus Antonius, the emperor, was forboded by an owl sitting on the top of his chamber, at Lanuvium.--Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, 85.

The murder of Julius Cæsar was presaged by the screeching of owls.

The bird of night did sit,

Even at noonday, upon the market-place,

Hooting and shrieking.

Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3 (1607).

The death of Valentinian was presaged by an owl, which perched on the top of a house where he used to bathe.--Alexander Boss, Arcana Microcosmi.

Antony was warned of his defeat in the battle of Actium by an owl flying into the temple of Concord.--Xiphilinus, Abridgment of Dion Cassius.

The great plague of Würtzburg, in Franconia, in 1542, was foreboded by the screeching of an owl.

Alexander Ross says: “About twenty years ago I did observe that, in the house where I lodged, an owl groaning in the window presaged the death of two eminent persons, who died there shortly after.”--Arcana Microcosmi.

Peacocks give warning of poison by ruffling their feathers.

Perviz’s String of Pearls (Prince). When Prince Perviz went on his exploit, he gave his sister, Parizādê, a string of pearls, saying, “So long as these pearls move readily on the string, you may feel assured that I am alive and well; but if they stick fast, they will indicate to you that I am dead.”--Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters”).

Pigeons. It is considered by many a sure sign of death in a house if a white pigeon perches on the chimney.

Pigs running about with straws in their mouths give warning of approaching rain.

Rats forsaking a ship forebode its wreck, and forsaking a house indicate that it is on the point of falling down. (See “Mice.”)

Ravens. The raven is said to be the most prophetic of “inspired birds.” It bodes both private and public calamities. “To have the foresight of a raven” is a proverbial expression.

The great battle fought between Beneventum and Apicium, was portended by a skirmish between ravens and kites on the same spot.--Jovianus Pontanus.

An irruption of the Scythians into Thrace was presaged by a skirmish between crows and ravens.--Nicetas.

Cicero was warned of his approaching death by some ravens fluttering about him just before he was murdered by Popilius Cænas.--Macaulay, History of St. Kilda, 176.

Alexander Ross says: “Mr. Draper, a young gentleman, and my intimate friend, about four or five years ago had one or two ravens, which had been quarrelling on the chimney, fly into his chamber, and he died shortly after.”--Arcana Microcosmi.

Rhinoceros’s Horns. Cups made of this material will give warning of poison in a liquid by causing it to effervesce.

Salt spilt towards a person indicates contention, but the evil may be averted by throwing a part of the spilt salt over the left shoulder.

223Prodige, subverso casu leviore salino,

Si mal venturum conjicis omen; adest.

R. Keuchen, Crepundia, 215 (1662).

Shears and Sieve (The), ordeals by fire, water, etc., single combats, the corsned or cursed morsel, the Urim and Thummim, the casting of lots, were all employed as tests of innocence or guilt in olden times, under the notion that God would direct the lot aright. (See Jonah, i. 7.)

Shoes. It was thought by the Romans a bad omen to put a shoe on the wrong foot.

Augustus, having b’ oversight,

Put on his left shoe for his right,

Had like to have been slain that day

By soldiers mutin’ing for pay.

Butler, Hudibras.

Auguste ... restoit immobile et consterné lorsqu’il lui arrivoit par mégarde de mettre le soulier droit au pied gauche.--St. Foix, Essais sur Paris, v. 145.

Shooting Pains. All sudden pains are warnings of evil at hand.

Timeo quod rerum gesserim hic, ita dorsus totus prurit.--Plautus, Miles Gloriosus.

By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606).

Sneezing. Once, a wish, twice, a kiss, thrice, a letter, and oftener than thrice, something better.

Sneezing before breakfast is a forecast that a stranger or a present is coming.

Sneezing at night-time. To sneeze twice for three successive nights denotes a death, a loss, or a great gain.

Si duæ sternutationes fiant omni nocte ab aliquo, et illud continuitur per tres noctes, signo est quod aliquis vel aliqua de domo morietur vel aliud damnum domui continget, vel maximum lucrum.--Hornmannus, De Miraculis Mortuorum, 163.

Eustathius says that sneezing to the left is unlucky, but to the right lucky. Hence, when Themistoclês was offering sacrifice before his engagement with Xerxes, and one of the soldiers on his right hand sneezed, Euphrantīdês, the soothsayer, declared the Greeks would surely gain the victory.--Plutarch, Lives (“Themistoclês”).

Soot on Bars. Flakes of sheeted soot hanging from the bars of a grate foretell the introduction of a stranger.

Nor less amused have I quiescent watched

The sooty films that play upon the bars

Pendulous, and foreboding ... some stranger’s near approach.

Cowper, Winter Evening.

Sophia’s Picture, given to Mathias, turned yellow if the giver was in danger or in temptation; and black if she could not escape from the danger, or if she yielded to the temptation.--Massinger, The Picture (1629).

Spiders indicate to gold-searchers where it is to be found.

Stag’s Horn is considered in Spain to give warning of an evil eye, and to be a safeguard against its malignant influences.

Stone. To find a perforated stone is a presage of good luck.

Swallows forecast bad weather by flying low, and the fine weather by flying high.

Teeth Wide Apart warn a person to seek his fortune away from his native place.

Thunder. Thunder on Sunday portends the death of some learned man, judge, or author; on Monday, the death of women; on Tuesday, plenty of grain; on Wednesday, the death of harlots, or bloodshed; on Thursday, plenty of sheep, cattle, and corn; on Friday, the death of some great man, murder, or battle; on Saturday it forebodes pestilence or sickness.--Leonard Digges, A Prognostication Everlasting of Ryght Good Effecte (1556).

224Tolling Bell. You will be sure of tooth-ache if you eat while a funeral bell is tolling. Be warned in time by this American superstition, or take the consequences.

Veipsey, a spring in Yorkshire, called “prophetic,” gives due warning of a dearth by rising to an unusual height.

Venetian Glass. If poison is put into liquor contained in a vessel made of Venetian glass, the vessel will crack and fall to pieces.

Warning Stones. Bakers in Wiltshire and in some other counties used to put a certain kind of pebble in their ovens, to give notice when the oven was hot enough for baking. When the stone turned white, the oven was fit for use.

Water of Jealousy (The). This was a beverage which the Jews used to assert no adulteress could drink without bursting.--Five Philosophical Questions Answered (1653).

White Rose (The). A white rose gave assurance to a twin-brother of the safety or danger of his brother during his absence. So long as it flourished and remained in its pride of beauty, it indicated that all went well, but as it drooped, faded, or died, it was a warning of danger, sickness, or death.--The Twin-Brothers.

Witch Hazel. A forked twig of witch hazel, made into a divining-rod, was supposed, in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, to give warning of witches, and to be efficacious in discovering them.

Worms. If, on your way to a sick person, you pick up a stone and find no living thing under it, it tells you that the sick person will die, but if you find there an ant or worm, it presages the patient’s recovery.

Si visitans ægrum, lapidem inventum per viam attollat, et sub lapide inveniatur vermis se movens, aut formica vivens, faustum omen est, et indicium fore ut æger convalescat, si nihil invenitur res est conclamata et certa mors.--Buchardus, Drecretorum, lib. xix.

Warren (Widow), “twice married and twice a widow.” A coquette of 40, aping the airs of a girl; vain, weak, and detestable. Harry Dornton, the banker’s son, is in love with her daughter, Sophia Freelove; but the widow tries to win the young man for herself, by advancing money to pay off his friend’s debts. When the father hears of this he comes to the rescue, returns the money advanced, and enables the son to follow his natural inclinations by marrying the daughter instead of the designing mother.

A girlish, old coquette, who would rob her daughter, and leave her husband’s son to rot in a dungeon, that she might marry the first fool she could find.--Holcroft, The Road to Ruin, v. 2, (1792).

Wart (Thomas), a poor, feeble, ragged creature, one of the recruits in the army of Sir John Falstaff.--Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV., act iii. sc. 2 (1598).

Warwick (The earl of), a tragedy by Dr. T. Franklin. The theme is the last days and death of the “king maker” (1767).

Washington of Africa (The). William Wilberforce is so called by Lord Byron. As Washington was the chief instrument in liberating America, so Wilberforce was the chief instigator of slave emancipation.

Thou moral Washington of Africa.

Don Juan, xiv. 82 (1824).

Washington of Colombia, Simon Bolivar (1785-1831).

Wasky, Sir Iring’s sword.

Right through the head-piece straight

The knight Sir Hagan paid,

225With his resistless Wasky,

That sharp and peerless blade.

Nibelungen Lied, 35 (1210).

Wasp, in the drama called Bartholomew Fair, by Ben Jonson (1574-1637).

Benjamin Johnson, an actor [1665-1742], commonly called Ben Johnson, ... seemed to be proud to wear the poet’s name, being particularly great in all that author’s plays that were usually performed, viz., “Wasp,” “Corbaccio,” “Morose,” and “Ananias.”--Chetwood, History of the Stage.

⁂ “Corbaccio,” in The Fox; “Morose,” in The Silent Woman; and “Ananias,” in The Alchemist.

Waste Time Utilized.

Baxter wrote his Saints’ Everlasting Rest on a bed of sickness (1615-1691).

Bloomfield composed The Farmer’s Boy in the intervals of shoemaking (1766-1823).

Bramah (Joseph), a peasant’s son, occupied his spare time when a mere boy in making musical instruments, aided by the village blacksmith. At the age of 16 he hurt his ankle while ploughing, and employed his time while confined to the house in carving and making woodwares. In another forced leisure from a severe fall, he employed his time in contriving and making useful inventions, which ultimately led him to fame and fortune (1749-1814).

Bunyan wrote his Pilgrim’s Progress while confined in Bedford jail (1628-1688).

Burritt (Elihu) made himself acquainted with ten languages while plying his trade as a village blacksmith (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, Danish, Persian, Turkish, and Ethiopic). His father was a village cobbler, and Elihu had only six months’ education, and that at the school of his brother (1811-1879).

Carey, the missionary and Oriental translator, learnt the rudiments of Eastern languages while employed in making and mending shoes (1761-1834).

Clement (Joseph), son of a poor weaver, was brought up as a thatcher, but, by utilizing his waste moments in self-education and works of skill, raised himself to a position of great note, giving employment to thirty workmen (1779-1844).

Cobbett learnt grammar in the waste time of his service as a common soldier (1762-1835).

D’Aguesseau, the great French chancellor, observing that Mde. D’Aguesseau always delayed ten or twelve minutes before she came down to dinner, began and completed a learned book of three volumes (large quarto), solely during these “waste minutes.” This work went through several editions (1668-1751).

Etty utilized indefatigably every spare moment he could pick up when a journeyman printer (1787-1849).

Ferguson taught himself astronomy while tending sheep in the service of a Scotch farmer (1710-1776).

Franklin, while working as a journeyman printer, produced his Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1706-1790).

Miller (Hugh) taught himself geology while working as a mason (1802-1856).

Paul worked as a tentmaker in intervals of travel and preaching.

⁂ This brief list must be considered only as a hint and heading for enlargement. Henry Cort, William Fairbairn, Fox of Derby, H. Maudslay, David Mushet, Murray of Leeds, J. Nasmyth, J. B. Neilson, Roberts of Manchester, Whitworth, and scores of others will occur to every reader. Indeed, genius for the most part owes its success to the utilization of waste time.

Wastle (William), pseudonym of John 226Gibson Lockhart, in Blackwood’s Magazine (1794-1854).

Wat Dreary, alias Brown Will, a highwayman, in Captain Macheath’s gang. Peachum says, “he has an underhand way of disposing of the goods he stole,” and therefore he should allow him to remain a little longer “upon his good behavior.”--Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, i. (1727).

Water-Poet (The), John Taylor, a Thames waterman (1580-1654).

Water-Wraith, the evil spirit of the waters.

By this the storm grew loud apace,

The water-wraith was shrieking.

Campbell, Lord Ullin’s Daughter.

Waterman (The), Tom Tug. It is the title of a ballad opera by Charles Dibdin (1774). (For the plot, see Wilelmina Bundle.)

Watkins (William), the English attendant on the prince of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Watts (Dr. Isaac). It is said that Isaac Watts, being beaten by his father for wasting his time in writing verses, exclaimed:

O, father, pity on me take,

And I will no more verses make.

A similar anecdote is told of Ovid, the Latin poet:

Parce, precor, genitor, posthac non versificabo.

Wauch (Mansie), fictitious name of D. M. Moir, author of The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself (1828).

Waverley, the first of Scott’s historical novels, published in 1814. The materials are Highland feudalism, military bravery, and description of natural scenery. There is a fine vein of humor, and a union of fiction with history. The chief characters are Charles Edward, the Chevalier, the noble old baron of Bradwardine, the simple, faithful clansman, Evan Dhu, and the poor fool, Davie Gellatley, with his fragments of song and scattered gleams of fancy.

Scott did not prefix his name to Waverley, being afraid that it might compromise his poetical reputation.--Chambers, English Literature, ii. 586.

Waverley (Captain Edward), of Waverley Honor, and hero of the novel called by his name. Being gored by a stag, he resigned his commission, and proposed marriage to Flora M’Ivor, but was not accepted. Fergus M’Ivor (Flora’s brother) introduced him to Prince Charles Edward. He entered the service of the Young Chevalier, and in the battle of Preston Pans saved the life of Colonel Talbot. The colonel, out of gratitude, obtained the pardon of young Waverley, who then married Rose Bradwardine, and settled down quietly in Waverley Honor.

Mr. Richard Waverley, the captain’s father, of Waverley Honor.

Sir Everard Waverley, the captain’s uncle.

Mistress Rachel Waverley, sister of Sir Everard.--Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Wax (A lad o’), a spruce young man, like a model in wax. Lucretius speaks of persona cerea, and Horace of the waxen arms of Telĕphus, meaning beautiful in shape and color.

227A man, young lady! Lady, such a man

As all the world----Why, he’s a man o’ wax!

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1595).

Way of the World (The), a comedy by W. Congreve (1700). The “way of the world” is to tie up settlements to wives, to prevent their husbands squandering their wives’ fortunes. Thus, Fainall wanted to get into his power the fortune of his wife, whom he hated, but found it was “in trust to Edward Mirabell,” and consequently could not be tampered with.

Way to Keep Him (The), a comedy by A. Murphy (1760). The object of this drama is to show that women, after marriage, should not wholly neglect their husbands, but should try to please them, and make home agreeable and attractive. The chief persons are Mr. and Mrs. Lovemore. Mr. Lovemore has a virtuous and excellent wife, whom he esteems and loves; but, finding his home insufferably dull, he seeks amusement abroad; and those passions which have no play at home lead him to intrigue and card-playing, routes and dubious society. The under-plot is this: Sir Bashful Constant is a mere imitator of Mr. Lovemore, and Lady Constant suffers neglect from her husband and insult from his friends, because he foolishly thinks it is not comme il faut to love after he has married the woman of his choice.

Ways and Means, a comedy by Colman, the younger (1788). Random and Scruple meet at Calais two young ladies, Harriet and Kitty, daughters of Sir David Dunder, and fall in love with them. They come to Dover, and accidentally meet Sir David, who invites them over to Dunder Hall, where they are introduced to the two young ladies. Harriet is to be married next day, against her will, to Lord Snolts, a stumpy, “gummy” nobleman of five and forty; and, to avoid this hateful match, she and her sister agree to elope at night with the two young guests. It so happens that a series of blunders in the dark occur, and Sir David himself becomes privy to the whole plot, but, to prevent scandal, he agrees to the two marriages, and discovers that the young men, both in family and fortune, are quite suitable to be his sons-in-law.

Wayland (Launcelot), or Wayland Smith, farrier in the vale of Whitehorse. Afterwards disguised as a pedlar at Cumnor Place.--Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Wealtheow (2 syl.), wife of Hrothgar, king of Denmark.

Wealtheow went forth; mindful of their races, she ... greeted the men in the hall. The freeborn lady first handed the cup to the prince of the East Danes.... The lady of the Helmings then went about every part ... she gave treasure-vessels, until the opportunity occurred that she (a queen hung round with rings) ... bore forth the mead-cup to Beowolf ... and thanked God that her will was accomplished, that an earl of Denmark was a guarantee against crime.--Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon epic, sixth century).

Wealthy Hoogs. Yankee housewife, “hungry for books, full of keen thought, energetic to preëminence even among Yankee notables”--“she lived here, simply where she had been put, made and packed her butter, wove her homespun, and loved faithfully--and forbearingly, for the most part--(were it praise worth a woman’s having to say more?) the man whose name and home she shared.”--A. D. T. Whitney, The Gayworthys (1865).

Wealthy (Sir William), a retired City 228merchant, with one son of prodigal propensities. In order to save the young man from ruin, the father pretends to be dead, disguises himself as a German baron, and, with the aid of coadjutors, becomes the chief creditor of the young scapegrace.

Sir George Wealthy, the son of Sir William. After having run out his money, Lucy is brought to him as a courtezan; but the young man is so moved with her manifest innocence and tale of sorrow that he places her in an asylum where here distresses would be sacred, “and her indigent beauty would be guarded from temptation.” Afterwards she becomes his wife.

Mr. Richard Wealthy, merchant, the brother of Sir William; choleric, straightforward, and tyrannical. He thinks obedience is both law and gospel.

Lucy Wealthy, daughter of Richard. Her father wants her to marry a rich tradesman, and, as she refuses to do so turns her out of doors. She is brought to Sir George Wealthy as a fille de joie; but the young man, discerning her innocence and modesty, places her in safe-keeping. He ultimately finds out that she is his cousin, and the two parents rejoice in consummating a union so entirely in accordance with both their wishes.--Foote, The Minor (1760).

Weary-all Hill, above Glastonbury, to the left of Tor Hill. This spot is the traditional landing-place of Joseph of Arimathea; and here is the site (marked by a stone bearing the letters A. I. A.D. xxxi.) of the holy thorn.

When the saint arrived at Glastonbury, weary with his long journey, he struck his staff into the ground, and the staff became the famous thorn, the site being called “Weary-all Hill.”

Weatherport (Captain), a naval officer.--Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

Weaver-Poet of Inverary (The), William Thom (1799-1850).

Wea´zel (Timothy), attorney-at-law at Lestwithiel, employed as the agent of Penruddock.--Cumberland, The Wheel of Fortune (1778).

Wedding Day (The), a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1790). The plot is this: Sir Adam Contest lost his first wife by shipwreck, and “twelve or fourteen years” afterwards he led to the altar a young girl of 18, to whom he was always singing the praises of his first wife--a phœnix, a paragon, the ne plus ultra of wives and women. She did everything to make him happy. She loved him, obeyed him; ah! “he would never look upon her like again.” On the wedding day this pink of wives and women made her appearance, and told how she had been rescued, and Sir Adam was dumfounded. “He was happy to bewail her loss,” but to rejoice in her restoration was quite another matter.

Weeping Philosopher (The), Heraclītos, who looked at the folly of man with grief (fl. B.C. 500). (See Jeddler).

Wegg (Silas), wooden-legged ballad-monger and humbug, who “reads” for the confiding Boffins, and does his best to ruin them.--Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend.

Weir (Major), the favorite baboon of Sir Robert Redgauntlet. In the tale of “Wandering Willie,” Sir Robert’s piper went to the infernal regions to obtain the 229knight’s receipt of rent, which had been paid; but no receipt could be found, because the monkey had carried it to the castle turret.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Weird Sisters. The three witches in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.

Weissnichtwo [Vice-neckt-vo], nowhere. The word is German for “I know not where,” and was coined by Carlyle (Sartor Resartus, 1833). Sir W. Scott has a similar Scotch compound, “Kennaquhair” (“I know not where”). Cervantes has the “island of Trapoban” (i.e., of “dish-clouts,” from trapos, the Spanish for “a dish-clout”). Sir Thomas More has “Utopia” (Greek, ou topos, “no place”). We might add the “island of Medăma” (Greek, “nowhere”), “the peninsular of Udamogês” (Greek, “nowhere on earth”), the country of “Kennahtwhar,” etc., and place them in the great “Nullibian” ocean (“nowhere”), in any degree beyond 180º long. and 90º lat.

Wel´ford, one of the suitors of “the Scornful Lady” (no name is given to the lady).--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady (1616).

Well. Three of the most prominent Bible characters met their wives for the first time by wells of water, viz., Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

Eliezer met Rebekah by a well, and arranged with Bethuel for her to become Isaac’s wife.--Gen. xxiv.

Jacob met Rachel by the well of Haran.--Gen. xxix.

When Moses fled from Egypt into the land of Midian, he “sat down by a well,” and the seven daughters of Jethro came there to draw water, one of whom, named Zipporah, became his wife.--Exod. ii. 15-21.

The Princess Nausicăa, daughter of Alcinŏos, king of the Phæacians, was with her maidens washing the household linen on the seashore when she first encountered Ulysses.--Homer, Odyssey, vi.

Well of English Undefiled. So Spenser calls Chaucer.

Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled,

On Fame’s eternal bead-roll worthy to be filed.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 2 (1596).

Well-Beloved (The), Charles IV. of France, Le Bien-Aimé (1368, 1380-1422).

Louis XV. of France, Le Bien-Aimé (1710, 1715-1774).

Well-Founded Doctor (The), Ægidius de Colonna; also called “The Most Profound Doctor” (Doctor Fundatissimus et Theologorum Princeps); sometimes surnamed “Romānus,” because he was born in the Campagna di Roma, but more generally “Colonna,” from a town in the Campagna (1247-1316).

Wellborn (Francis, usually called Frank), nephew of Sir Giles Overreach, and son of Sir John Wellborn, who “bore the whole sway” of Northamptonshire, kept a large estate, and was highly honored. Frank squandered away the property, and got greatly into debt, but induced Lady Allworth to give him her countenance out of gratitude and respect to his father. Sir Giles fancies that the rich dowager is about to marry his nephew, and, in order to bring about this desirable consummation, not only pays all his debts, but supplies him liberally with ready money. Being thus freed from debt, and having sown his wild oats, young Wellborn reforms, and 230Lord Lovell gives him a “company.”--Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625).

Weller (Samuel), boots at the White Hart, and afterwards servant to Mr. Pickwick, to whom he becomes devotedly attached. Rather than leave his master when he is sent to the Fleet, Sam Weller gets his father to arrest him for debt. His fun, his shrewdness, his comparisons, his archness, and his cunning on behalf of his master are unparalleled.

Tony Weller, father of Sam; a coachman of the old school, who drives a coach between London and Dorking. Naturally portly in size, he becomes far more so in his great-coat of many capes. Tony wears top-boots, and his hat has a low crown and broad brim. On the stage-box he is a king, elsewhere he is a mere greenhorn. He marries a widow, landlady of the “Marquis of Granby inn,” and his constant advice to his son is, “Sam, beware of the vidders.”--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Wellington of Gamblers (The). Lord Rivers was called in Paris Le Wellington des Joueurs.

Wellington’s Horse, Copenhagen. It died at the age of 27.

Wellon (Mr.), rector of English church at Conception Bay, and Mrs. Barre’s (Debrée’s) firm friend. He performs the service over her husband’s grave.--Robert Lowell, The New Priest of Conception Bay (1858).

Wemmick, clerk of Mr. Jaggers, the lawyer. He lived at Walworth. Wemmick was a dry man, rather short in stature, with square, wooden face. “There were some marks in the face which might have been dimples if the material had been softer.” His linen was frayed; he wore four mourning rings, and a brooch representing a lady, a weeping willow and a cinerary urn. His eyes were small and glittering; his lips small, thin and mottled; his age was between 40 and 50 years. Mr. Wemmick wore his hat on the back of his head, and looked straight before him, as if nothing was worth looking at. Mr. Wemmick at home and Mr. Wemmick in his office were two distinct beings. At home he was his “own engineer, his own carpenter, his own plumber, his own gardener, his own Jack-of-all-trades,” and had fortified his little wooden house like Commodore Trunnion (q.v.) His father lived with him, and he called him “The Aged.” The old man was very deaf, but heated the poker with delight to fire off the nine o’clock signal, and chuckled with joy because he could hear the bang. The house had a “real flag-staff,” and a plank which crossed the ditch some four feet wide and two feet deep was the drawbridge. At nine o’clock P.M., Greenwich time, the gun (called “The Stinger”) was fired.

The piece of ordnance was mounted in a separate fortress, constructed of lattice-work. It was protected from the weather by an ingenious little tarpaulin contrivance in the nature of an umbrella.--C. Dickens, Great Expectations, xxv. (1860).

Wenlock (Wild Wenlock), kinsman of Sir Hugo de Lacy, constable of Chester. His head is cut off by the insurgents.--Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time Henry II).

Weno´nah, mother of Hiawatha and daughter of Noko´mis. Nokomis was swinging in the moon, when some of her companions, out of jealousy, cut the ropes, 231and she fell to the earth “like a falling star.” That night was born her first child, a daughter, whom she named Wenonah. In due time, this lovely daughter was wooed and won by Mudjekee´wis (the west wind), and became the mother of Hiawatha. The false West Wind deserted her, and the young mother died.

Fair Nokomis bore a daughter,

And she called her name Wenonah.

Longfellow, Hiawatha, iii. (1855).

Wentworth (Eva), the beau-ideal of female purity. She was educated in strict seclusion. De Courcy fell in love with her, but deceived her; whereupon she died calmly and tranquilly, elevated by religious hope. (See Zaira).--Rev. C. R. Maturin, Women (a romance, 1822).

Werburg (St.), born a princess. By her prayer, she drove the wild geese from Weedon.

She falleth in her way with Weedon, where, ’tis said,

St. Werburg, princely born--a most religious maid--

From those peculiar fields, by prayer the wild geese drove.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiii. (1622).

Were-wolf (2 syl.), a man-wolf, a man transformed into a wolf temporarily or otherwise.

Oft through the forest dark,

Followed the weir-wolf’s bark.

Longfellow, The Skeleton in Armor.

Werner, the boy said to have been crucified at Bacharach, on the Rhine, by the Jews. (See Hugh of Lincoln.)

The innocent boy who, some years back,

Was taken and crucified by the Jews

In that ancient town of Bacharach.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

Werner or Kruitzner (Count of Siegendorf), father of Ulric. Being driven from the dominions of his father, he wandered about for twelve years as a beggar, hunted from place to place by Count Stral´enheim. At length, Stralenheim, travelling through Silesia, was rescued from the Oder by Gabor (alias Ulric), and was lodged in an old tumble-down palace, where Werner had been lodging for some few days. Here Werner robbed the count of a rouleau of gold, the next day the count was murdered by Ulric (without the connivance or even knowledge of Werner). When Werner succeeded to the rank and wealth of Count Siegendorf, he became aware that his son, Ulric, was the murderer, and denounced him. Ulric departed, and Werner said, “The race of Siegendorf is past.”--Byron, Werner (1821).

(This drama is borrowed from “Kruitzner, or The German’s Tale,” in Miss H. Lee’s Canterbury Tales, 1797-1805).

Werner. (See Trumpeter of Sackingen.)

Werther, a young German student, of poetic fancy and very sensitive disposition, who falls in love with Lotte (2 syl.), the betrothed and afterwards the wife of Albert. Werther becomes acquainted with Lotte’s husband, who invites him to stay with him as a guest. In this visit his love blazes out into a terrible passion, and after vainly striving to fight it down, he puts an end to his misery by shooting himself.--Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774).

⁂ Goethe represents himself, or rather one of the moods of his mind, in the character of Werther. The catastrophe, however, is borrowed from the fate of a schoolfellow of his named Jerusalem, who shot himself on account of a hopeless passion 232for a married woman. “Albert” and “Lotte” were sketched from his friends Albert and Charlotte Kestner, a young couple with whom he had relations not unlike those of Werther in the early part of the story with the fictitious characters.

Werther of Politics. The marquis of Londonderry is so called by Lord Byron. Werther, the personification of maudlin sentimentality, is the hero of Goethe’s romance entitled The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774).

It is the first time since the Normans that England has been insulted by a minister who could not speak English, and that parliament permitted itself to be dictated to in the language of Mrs. Malaprop.... Let us hear no more of this man, and let Ireland remove the ashes of her Grattan from the sanctuary of Westminster. Shall the Patriot of Humanity repose by the Werther of Politics?--Byron, Don Juan (preface to canto vi., etc., 1824).

Wessel (Peder), a tailor’s apprentice, who rose to the rank of vice-admiral of Denmark, in the reign of Christian V. He was called Tor´denskiold (3 syl.), corrupted into Tordenskiol (the “Thunder Shield”), and was killed in a duel.

North Sea! a glimpse of Wessel rent

Thy murky sky ...

From Denmark thunders Tordenskiol;

Let each to heaven commend his soul,

And fly.

Longfellow, King Christian [V.].

West Indian (The), a comedy by R. Cumberland (1771). Mr. Belcour, the adopted son of a wealthy Jamaica merchant, on the death of his adopted father came to London, to the house of Mr. Stockwell, once the clerk of Mr. Belcour, senior. This clerk had secretly married Belcour’s daughter, and when her boy was born it was “laid as a foundling at her father’s door.” Old Belcour brought the child up as his own son, and at death “bequeathed to him his whole estate.” The young man then came to London as the guest of Mr. Stockwell, the rich merchant, and accidentally encountered in the street Miss Louisa Dudley, with whom he fell in love. Louisa, with her father, Captain Dudley, and her brother, Charles, all in the greatest poverty, were lodging with a Mr. Fulmer, a small bookseller. Belcour gets introduced, and, after the usual mistakes and hairbreadth escapes, makes her his wife.

Western (Squire), a jovial, fox-hunting country gentleman, supremely ignorant of book-learning, very prejudiced, selfish, irascible and countrified; but shrewd, good-natured, and very fond of his daughter, Sophia.

Philip, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, was in character a Squire Western, choleric, boisterous, illiterate, selfish, absurd and cowardly.--Osborne, Secret History, i. 218.

Squire Western stands alone; imitated from no prototype, and in himself an inimitable picture of ignorance, prejudice, irascibility and rusticity, united with natural shrewdness, constitutional good humor, and an instinctive affection for his daughter.--Encyc. Brit., Art. “Fielding.”

Sophia Western, daughter of Squire Western. She becomes engaged to Tom Jones, the foundling.--Fielding, Tom Jones (1749).

There now are no Squire Westerns, as of old;

And our Sophias are not so emphatic,

But fair as them or fairer to behold.

Byron, Don Juan, xiii. 110 (1824).

Westlock (John), a quondam pupil of Mr. Pecksniff (“architect and land surveyor”). John Westlock marries Ruth, the sister of Tom Pinch.--C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1843).

233Westmoreland, according to fable, is West-Mar-land. Mar or Marius, son of Arvirăgus, was king of the British, and overthrew Rodric, the Scythian, in the north-west of England, where he set up a stone with an inscription of this victory, “both of which remain to this day.”--Geoffrey, British History, iv. 17 (1142).

Westward Hoe, a comedy by Thomas Dekker (1607). The Rev. Charles Kingsley published a novel in 1854, entitled Westward Ho! or The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. (See Eastward Hoe.)

Wetheral (Stephen), surnamed “Stephen Steelheart,” in the troop of Lord Waldemar Fitzurse (a baron following Prince John).--Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Wetherell (Elizabeth), Miss Susan Warner, authoress of The Wide, Wide World (1852), Queechy (1853), etc.

Wetzweiler (Tid), or Le Glorieux, the court jester of Charles, “The Bold,” duke of Burgundy.--Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Whachum, journeyman to Sidrophel. He was Richard Green, who published a pamphlet of base ribaldry, called Hudibras in a Snare (1667).

A paltry wretch he had, half-starved,

That him in place of zany served,

Hight Whachum.

S. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3 (1664).

Whang, an avaricious Chinese miller, who, by great thrift, was pretty well off, but, one day, being told that a neighbor had found a pot of money which he had dreamt of, began to be dissatisfied with his slow gains, and longed for a dream also. At length the dream came. He dreamt there was a huge pot of gold concealed under his mill, and set to work to find it. The first omen of success was a broken mug, then a house-tile, and at length, after much digging, he came to a stone so large that he could not lift it. He ran to tell his luck to his wife, and the two tugged at the stone, but, as they removed it, down fell the mill in utter ruins.--Goldsmith, A Citizen of the World, lxx. (1759).

Wharton (Eliza), heroine of one of the first novels published in the United States, under the title of The Coquette, or The History of Eliza Wharton, by Hannah Webster Foster (1797).

Whartons (The). Henry Wharton, young royalist captain, arrested as a spy while visiting his father’s house, which is within the American lines. He is assisted to escape by Harvey Birch.

Sarah Wharton, the elder daughter, has royalist proclivities; Frances is loyal to the colonial cause, and betrothed to Major Dunwoodie.

Mr. Wharton (père), fine specimen of the old English gentleman.--James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy (1821).

What Next? A farce by T. Dibdin. Colonel Clifford meets at Brighton two cousins, Sophia and Clarissa Touchwood, and falls in love with the latter, who is the sister of Major Touchwood, but thinks her Christian name is Sophia, and so is accepted by Sophia’s father, who is Colonel Touchwood. Now, it so happens that Major Touchwood is in love with his cousin, Sophia, and looks on Colonel Clifford as his rival. The major tries to outwit his supposed rival, but finds they are 234both in error, that it is Clarissa whom the colonel wishes to marry, and that Sophia is quite free to follow the bent of her own and the major’s choice.

Wheel of Fortune (The), a comedy by R. Cumberland (1779).

⁂ For the plot and tale, see Penruddock.

Whetstone Cut by a Razor. Accius Navius, the augur, cut a whetstone with a razor in the presence of Tarquin, the elder.

In short, ’twas his fate, unemployed or in place, sir,

To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.

Goldsmith, Retaliation (“Burke” is referred to, 1774).

Whims (Queen), the monarch of Whimdom, or country of whims, fancies, and literary speculations. Her subjects were alchemists, astrologers, fortune-tellers, rhymers, projectors, schoolmen, and so forth. The best way of reaching this empire is “to trust to the whirlwind and the current.” When Pantagruel’s ship ran aground, it was towed off by 7,000,000 drums quite easily. These drums are the vain imaginings of whimsyists. Whenever a person is perplexed at any knotty point of science or doctrine, some drum will serve for a nostrum to pull him through.--Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 18, etc. (1545).

Whim´sey, a whimsical, kind-hearted old man, father to Charlotte and “young” Whimsey.

As suspicious of everybody above him, as if he had been bred a rogue himself.--Act i. 1.

Charlotte Whimsey, the pretty daughter of old Whimsey; in love with Monford.--James Cobb, The First Floor.

Whip with Six Lashes, the “Six Articles” of Henry VIII. (1539).

Whipping Boy. A boy kept to be whipped when a prince deserved chastisement.

Barnaby Fitzpatrick stood for Edward VI.

D’Ossat and DuPerron, afterwards cardinals, were whipped by Clement VIII. for Henry IV. of France.--Fuller, Church History, ii. 342 (1655).

Mungo Murray stood for Charles I.

Raphael was flogged for the son of the marquis de Leganez, but, not seeing the justice of this arrangement, he ran away.--Lesage, Gil Blas, v. 1 (1724).

Whisker, the pony of Mr. Garland, Abel Cottage, Finchley.

/# There approached towards him a little, clattering, jingling, four-wheeled chaise, drawn by a little obstinate-looking, rough-coated pony, and driven by a little, fat, placid-faced old gentleman. Beside the little old gentleman sat a little old lady, plump and placid like himself, and the pony was coming along at his own pace, and doing exactly as he pleased with the whole concern. If the old gentleman remonstrated by shaking the reins, the pony replied by shaking his head. It was plain that the utmost the pony would consent to do was to go in his own way ... after his own fashion, or not at all.--C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, xiv. (1840).

Whiskerandos (Don Fero´lo), the sentimental lover of Tilburina.--Sheridan, The Critic, ii. 1 (1779).

Whist (Father of the game of), Edmond Hoyle (1672-1769).

Whistle (The). In the train of Anne of Denmark, when she went to Scotland with James VI., was a gigantic Dane of matchless drinking capacity. He had an ebony whistle, which, at the beginning of 235a drinking bout, he would lay on the table, and whoever was last able to blow it, was to be considered the “Champion of the Whistle.” In Scotland the Dane was defeated by Sir Robert Laurie, of Maxwelton, who, after three days’ and three nights’ hard drinking, left the Dane under the table, and “blew on the whistle his requiem shrill.” The whistle remained in the family several years, when it was won by Sir Walter Laurie, son of Sir Robert; and then by Walter Riddel, of Glenriddel, brother-in-law of Sir Walter Laurie. The last person who carried it off was Alexander Ferguson of Craigdarroch, son of “Annie Laurie” so well known.

⁂ Burns has a ballad on the subject, called The Whistle.

Whistle. The blackbird, says Drayton, is the only bird that whistles.

Upon his dulcet pipe the merle doth only play.

Polyolbion, xiii. (1613).

Whistler (The), a young thief, natural son of Sir G. Staunton, whom he shot after his marriage with Effie Deans.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Whistling. Mr. Townley, of Hull, says, in Notes and Queries, August 2, 1879, that a Roman Catholic checked his wife, who was whistling for a dog: “If you please, ma’am, don’t whistle. Every time a woman whistles, the heart of the blessed Virgin bleeds.”

Une poule qui chante, le coq et une fille qui siffle, portent malheur dans la maison.

La poule ne doit point chanter devant le coq.

A whistling woman and a crowing hen

Are neither good for God or men.

Whitaker (Richard), the old steward of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Whitchurch, in Middlesex (or Little Stanmore), is the parish, and William Powell was the blacksmith, made celebrated by Händel’s Harmonious Blacksmith. Powell died in 1780.

White Cat (The). A certain queen, desirous of obtaining some fairy fruit, was told she might gather as much as she would if she would give to them the child about to be born. The queen agreed, and the new-born child was carried to the fairies. When of marriageable age, the fairies wanted her to marry Migonnet, a fairy-dwarf, and, as she refused to do so, changed her into a white cat. Now comes the second part. An old king had three sons, and promised to resign the kingdom to that son who brought him the smallest dog. The youngest son wandered to a palace, where he saw a white cat endowed with human speech, who gave him a dog so tiny that the prince carried it in an acorn shell. The father then said he would resign his crown to that son who brought him home a web, 400 yards long, which would pass through the eye of a needle. The White Cat gave the prince a web 400 yards long packed in the shale of a millet grain. The king then told his sons he would resign his throne to that son who brought home the handsomest bride. The White Cat told the prince to cut off its head and tail. On doing so, the creature resumed her human form, and was acknowledged to be the most beautiful woman on earth.

Her eyes committed theft upon all hearts, and her sweetness kept them captive. Her shape was majestic, her air noble and modest, her wit flowing, her manners engaging. In a word, she was beyond everything that was lovely.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The White Cat,” 1682).

White Clergy (The), the parish priests, 236in contradistinction to The Black Clergy or monks, in Russia.

White Cross Knights, the Knights Hospitallers. The Knights Templar wore a red cross.

The White Cross Knights of the adjacent isle.

Robert Browning, The Return of the Druses, i.

White Devil of Wallachia. George Castriota, known as “Scanderbeg,” was called by the Turks “The White Devil of Wallachia” (1404-1467).

White Elephant (King of the) a title of the kings of Ava and Siam.

White Friars (The), the Carmelites, who dress in white.

⁂ There is a novel by Miss Robinson called White Friars.

White Heron. Maurice Thompson thus describes the shooting of a white heron:

“Like twenty serpents bound together,

Hissed the flying arrow’s feather.

A thud, a puff, a feathery ring,

A quick collapse, a quivering--

A whirl, a headlong downward dash,

A heavy fall, a sullen plash,

And, like white foam, or giant flake

Of snow, he lay upon the lake!”

Maurice Thompson, The Death of the White Heron, Songs of Fair Weather (1883).

White Hoods (or Chaperons Blancs); the insurgents of Ghent, led by Jean Lyons, noted for their fight at Minnewater to prevent the digging of a canal which they fancied would be injurious to trade.

Saw the fight at Minnewater, saw the “White Hoods” moving west.

Longfellow, The Belfry of Bruges.

White Horse (Lords of The), the old Saxon chiefs, whose standard was a white horse.

And tampered with the lords of the White Horse.

Tennyson, Guinevere.

White Horse of the Peppers, a sprat to catch a mackerel. After the battle of the Boyne, the estates of many of the Jacobites were confiscated, and given to the adherents of William III. Amongst others, the estate of the Peppers was forfeited, and the Orangeman to whom it was awarded went to take possession. “Where was it, and what was its extent?” These were all-important questions; and the Orangeman was led up and down, hither and thither, for several days, under pretence of showing him the land. He had to join the army by a certain day, but was led so far afield that he agreed to forego his claim if supplied with means of reaching his regiment within the given time. Accordingly, the “white horse,” the pride of the family, and the fastest animal in the land, was placed at his disposal, the king’s grant was revoked, and the estate remained in the possession of the original owner.--S. Lover, Stories and Legends of Ireland (1832-34).

White Horse of Wantage (Berkshire), cut in the chalk hills. The horse is 374 feet long, and may be seen at the distance of fifteen miles. It commemorates a great victory obtained by Alfred, over the Danes, called the battle of Æscesdun (Ashdown), during the reign of his brother Ethelred in 871. (See Red Horse.)

In this battle all the flower of the barbarian youth was there slain, so that neither before nor since was ever such a destruction known since the Saxons first gained Britain by their arms.--Ethelwerd, Chronicle, ii. A. 871. (See also Asser, Life of Alfred, year 871.)

237White King, the title of the emperor of Muscovy, from the white robes which these kings were accustomed to use.

Sunt qui principem Moscoviæ Album Regem noncupant. Ego quidem causam diligenter quærebam, cur regis albi nomine appellaretur cum nemo principum Moscoviæ eo titulo antea [Basilius Ivanwich] esset usus.... Credo autem ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis “Kissilpassa” (i.e., rubeum caput) vocant; ita reges Moscoviæ propter alba tegumenta “Albos Reges” appellari.--Sigismund.

⁂ Perhaps it may be explained thus: Muscovy is always called “Russia Alba,” as Poland is called “Black Russia.”

White King. So Charles I. is called by Herbert. His robe of state was white instead of purple. At his funeral the snow fell so thick upon the pall that it was quite white.--Herbert, Memoirs (1764).

White Lady (The), “La Dame d’Aprigny,” a Norman fée, who used to occupy the site of the present Rue de St. Quentin, at Bayeux.

La Dame Abonde, also a Norman fée.

Vocant dominam Abundiam pro eo quod domibus quas frequentant, abundantiam bonorum temporalium præstare, putantur non aliter tibi sentiendum est neque aliter quam quemadmodum de illis audivisti.--William of Auvergne (1248).

White Lady (The), a ghost seen in different castles and palaces belonging to the royal family of Prussia, and supposed to forebode the death of some of the royal family, especially one of the children. The last appearance was in 1879, just prior to the death of Prince Waldemar. Twice she has been heard to speak, e.g.: In December, 1628, she appeared in the palace at Berlin, and said in Latin, “I wait for judgment;” and once at the castle of Neuhaus, in Bohemia, when she said to the princess, in German, “It is ten o’clock;” and the lady addressed died in a few weeks.

There are two white ladies, in fact--one the Countess Agnes, of Orlamunde, and the other the Princess Bertha von Rosenberg, who lived in the fifteenth century. The former was buried alive in a vault in the palace. She was the mistress of a margrave of Brandenburgh, by whom she had two sons. When the prince became a widower, Agnes thought he would marry her, but he made the sons an objection, and she poisoned them, for which crime she was buried alive. Another version is that she fell in love with the prince of Parma, and made away with her two daughters, who were an obstacle to her marriage, for which crime she was doomed to “walk the earth” as an apparition.

The Princess Bertha is troubled because an annual gift, which she left to the poor, has been discontinued. She appears dressed in white, and carrying at her side a bunch of keys.

It may interest those who happen to be learned in Berlin legends, to know that the White Lady, whose visits always precede the death of some member of the royal family, was seen on the eve of Prince Waldemar’s death. A soldier on guard at the old castle was the witness of the apparition, and in his fright fled to the guard-room, where he was at once arrested for deserting his post.--Brief, April 4, 1879.

White Lady of Avenel (2 syl.), a tutelary spirit.--Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

White Lady of Ireland (The), the banshee or domestic spirit of a family, who takes an interest in its condition, and intimates approaching death by wailing or shrieks.

White Moon (Knight of the), Samson Carrasco. He assumed this cognizance 238when he went as a knight-errant to encounter Don Quixote. His object was to overthrow the don in combat, and then impose on him the condition of returning home, and abandoning the profession of chivalry for twelve months. By this means he hoped to cure the don of his craze. It all happened as the barber expected; the don was overthrown, and returned to his home, but soon died.--Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iv. 12, etc. (1615).

White Queen (The), Mary Queen of Scots (La Reine Blanche); so called by the French, because she dressed in white, in mourning for her husband.

White Rose (The), the house of York, whose badge it was. The badge of the house of Lancaster was the Red Rose.

Richard de la Pole is often called “The White Rose.”

White Rose of England (The). Perkin Warbeck was so called by Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. (*-1499).

White Rose of Raby (The), Cecily, wife of Richard, duke of York, and mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. She was the youngest of twenty-one children.

⁂ A novel entitled The White Rose of Raby was published in 1794.

White Rose of Scotland (The), Lady Katherine Gordon, the [? fifth] daughter of George, second earl of Huntly, by his second wife, Princess Annabella Stuart, youngest daughter of James I. of Scotland. She married Perkin Warbeck, the pretender, self-styled Richard, duke of York. (See Warbeck.) She had three husbands after the death of Warbeck.

As Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, who out of jealousy of the Lancastrian Henry VII., adopted the cause of Perkin Warbeck, always called him “The White Rose of York;” his wife, Lady Katharine Gordon, was called The White Rose of Scotland.

White Rose of York (The), Edward Courtney, earl of Devon, son of the marquis of Exeter. He died at Padua, in Queen Mary’s reign (1553).

White Surrey, the favorite charger of Richard III.

Saddle White Surrey for the field to-morrow.

Shakespeare, Richard III. act v. sc. 3 (1597).

White Tsar of His People. The emperor of Russia is so called, and claims the empire of seventeen crowns.

White Widow (The), the duchess of Tyrconnel, wife of Richard Talbot, lord deputy of Ireland under James II. After the death of her husband she supported herself by her needle. She wore a white mask, and dressed in white.--Pennant, Account of London, 147 (1790).

White Witch (A), a “witch” who employs her power and skill for the benefit and not the harm of her fellow-mortals.

Whites (The), an Italian faction of the fourteenth century. The Guelphs of Florence were divided into the Blacks, who wished to open their gates to Charles de Valois, and the Whites, who opposed him. The poet Dantê, was a “White,” and when the “Blacks,” in 1302, got the upper hand, he was exiled. During his exile he composed his immortal epic, the Divina Commedia.

239Whitecraft (John), innkeeper and miller at Altringham.

Dame Whitecraft, the pretty wife of the above.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Whitfield of the Stage (The). Quin was so called by Garrick (1716-1779). Garrick himself is sometimes so denominated also.

Whitney (James), the Claude Duval of English highwaymen. He prided himself on being “the glass of fashion and the mould of form.” Executed at Porter’s Block, near Smithfield (1660-1694).

Whittington (Dick), a poor orphan country lad, who heard that London was “paved with gold,” and went there to get a living. When reduced to starving point a kind merchant gave him employment in his family to help the cook, but the cook so ill treated him that he ran away. Sitting to rest himself on the roadside, he heard Bow bells, and they seemed to him to say, “Turn again, Whittington, thrice lord mayor of London;” so he returned to his master. By-and-by the master allowed him, with the other servants, to put in an adventure in a ship bound for Morocco. Richard had nothing but a cat, which, however, he sent. Now it happened that the king of Morocco was troubled by mice, which Whittington’s cat destroyed; and this so pleased his highness that he bought the mouser at a fabulous price. Dick commenced business with this money, soon rose to great wealth, married his master’s daughter, was knighted, and thrice elected lord mayor of London--in 1398, 1406 and 1419.

⁂ A cat is a brig built on the Norwegian model, with narrow stern, projecting quarters and deep waist.

Another solution is the word achat, “barter.”

Keis, the son of a poor widow of Siraf, embarked for India with his sole property, a cat. He arrived at a time when the palace was so infested by mice and rats that they actually seized the king’s food. This cat cleared the palace of its vermin, and was purchased for a large sum of money, which enriched the widow’s son.--Sir William Ouseley (a Persian story).

Alphonso, a Portuguese, being wrecked on the coast of Guinea, had a cat, which the king bought for its weight in gold. With this money Alphonso traded, and in five years made £6000, returned to Portugal, and became in fifteen years the third magnate of the kingdom.--Description of Guinea.

⁂ See Keightley, Tales and Popular Fictions, 241-266.

Whittle (Thomas), an old man of 63, who wants to cajole his nephew out of his lady-love, the Widow Brady, only 23 years of age. To this end he assumes the airs, the dress, the manners, and the walk of a beau. For his thick flannels he puts on a cambric shirt, open waist-coat, and ruffles; for his Welsh wig he wears a pigtail and chapeau bras; for his thick cork soles he trips like a dandy in pumps. He smirks, he titters, he tries to be quite killing. He discards history and solid reading for the Amorous Repository, Cupid’s Revels, Hymen’s Delight, and Ovid’s Art of Love. In order to get rid of him, the gay young widow assumes to be a boisterous, rollicking, extravagant, low Irishwoman, deeply in debt, and utterly reckless. Old Whittle is thoroughly alarmed, induces his nephew to take the widow off his hands, and gives him £5000 for doing so.--Garrick, The Irish Widow (1757).

240Who’s The Dupe? Abraham Doiley is a retired slop-seller, with £80,000 or more. Being himself wholly uneducated, he is a great admirer of “larning,” and resolves that his daughter Elizabeth shall marry a great scholar. Elizabeth is in love with Captain Granger, but the old slop-seller has fixed his heart on a Mr. Gradus, an Oxford pedant. The question is how to bring the old man round. Gradus is persuaded to change his style of dress to please the lady, and Granger is introduced as a learned pundit. The old man resolves to pit together the two aspirants, and give Elizabeth to the best scholar. Gradus quotes two lines of Greek, in which the word panta occurs four times; Granger gives some three or four lines of English fustian. Gradus tells the old man that what Granger said was mere English; but Doiley, in the utmost indignation, replies, “Do you think I don’t know my own mother tongue? Off with your pantry, which you call Greek! t’other is the man for my money;” and he gives his daughter to the captain.--Mrs. Cowley, Who’s the Dupe?

Whole Duty of Man (The). Sir James Wellwood Moncrieff, bart., was so called by Jeffrey (1776-1851).

Wickfield (Mr.), a lawyer, father of Agnes. The “’umble” Uriah Heep was his clerk.

Agnes Wickfield, daughter of Mr. Wickfield; a young lady of sound sense and domestic habits, lady-like and affectionate. She is the second wife of David Copperfield.--C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Wickam (Mrs.), a waiter’s wife. Mrs. Wickam was a meek, drooping woman, always ready to pity herself or to be pitied, and with a depressing habit of prognosticating evil. She succeeded Polly Toodles as nurse to Paul Dombey.--C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).

Wicliffe, called “The Morning Star of the Reformation” (1324-1384).

Widdrington (Roger), a gallant squire, mentioned in the ballad of Chevy Chase. He fought “upon his stumps,” after he lost his legs. (See Benbow.)

Widenostrils (in French Bringuenarilles), a huge giant, who had swallowed every pan, skillet, kettle, frying-pan, dripping-pan, saucepan and caldron in the land, for want of windmills, his usual food. He was ultimately killed by eating a lump of fresh butter at the mouth of a hot oven, by the advice of his physician.--Rabelais, Pantagruel, iv. 17 (1545).

Widerolf, bishop of Strasbourg (997), was devoured by mice in the seventeenth year of his episcopate, because he suppressed the convent of Seltzen on the Rhine. (See Hatto.)

Widow, in the Deserted Village (Goldsmith). “All the bloomy flush of life is fled” from Auburn:

All but yon widowed, solitary thing,

That feebly bends beside the plashy spring;

She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread,

To strip the brook, with mantling cresses spread,

To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn,

To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn;

She only left of all the harmless train,

The sad historian of the pensive plain.

Her name was Catherine Geraghty.

Widow (The), courted by Sir Hudibras, was the relict of Amminadab Wilmer or Willmot, an independent, slain at Edgehill. She was left with a fortune of £200 241a year. The knight’s “Epistle to the Lady” and the “Lady’s Reply,” in which she declines his offer, are usually ap pended to the poem entitled Hudibras.

Widow Bedott, relict of Hezekiah, and willing to be consoled. Garrulous, silly and full of sentimental affectations.--Francis M. Whitcher (1856).

Widow Blackacre, a perverse, bustling, masculine, pettifogging, litigious woman.--Wycherly, The Plain Dealer (1677).

Widow Flockhart, landlady at Waverley’s lodgings in the Canongate.--Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Wieland’s Sword, Balmung. It was so sharp that it cleft Amilias in twain without his knowing it; when, however, he attempted to stir, he fell into two pieces.--Scandinavian Mythology.

Wiever (Old), a preacher and old conspirator.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Wife (The), a drama by S. Knowles (1833). Mariana, daughter of a Swiss burgher, nursed Leonardo in a dangerous sickness--an avalanche had fallen on him, and his life was despaired of, but he recovered, and fell in love with his young and beautiful nurse. Leonardo intended to return to Mantua, but was kept a prisoner by a gang of thieves, and Mariana followed him, for she found life intolerable without him. Here Count Florio fell in love with her, and obtained her guardian’s consent to marry her; but Mariana refused to do so, and was arraigned before the duke (Ferrardo), who gave judgment against her. Leonardo was at the trial disguised, but, throwing off his mask, was found to be the real duke supposed to be dead. He assumed his rank, and married Mariana; but, being called to the wars, left Ferrardo regent. Ferrardo, being a villain, hatched up a plot against the bride, of infidelity to her lord, but Leonardo would give no credit to it, and the whole scheme of villainy was fully exposed.

⁂ Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure probably gave Knowles some hints for his plot.

Wife for a Month (A), a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1624). The “wife” is Evanthê (3 syl.), the chaste wife of Valerio, pursued by Frederick, the licentious brother of Alphonso, king of Naples. She repels his base advances, and, to punish her, he offers to give her to any one for one month, at the end of which time whoever accepts her is to die. No one appears, and the lady is restored to her husband.

Wife of Bath, one of the pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas à Becket.--Chaucer. Canterbury Tales (1388).

Wife of Bath’s Tale. One of King Arthur’s knightsknights was condemned to death for ill-using a lady, but Guinever interceded for him, and the king gave him over to her to do what she liked. The queen said she would spare his life, if, by that day twelve months, he would tell her “What is that which woman loves best?” The knight seeks far and wide for a solution, but in his despair he meets a hideous old woman who promises to give him the answer if he will grant her one request, which is, to marry her. The knight could not bring himself to embrace so gruesome 242a bride, but she persuaded him that it was better to have a faithful wife even if she were old and ugly, than one young and beautiful, but untrue. The knight yields, and in the morning he wakes to find a lovely woman by his side, who tells him that what a woman likes best is to have her own way.--Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (“The(“The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” 1388).

⁂ This tale is a very old one, and appears in various languages; European and Oriental. It is one of those told by Gower in his Confessio Amantis, where Florent promises to marry a deformed old hag, who in reward for his complaisance helps him to the solution of a riddle.

Wigged Prince (The Best). The guardian, uncle-in-law and first cousin of the duke of Brunswick was called “The Best Wigged Prince in Christendom.”

Wild (Jonathan), a cool, calculating, heartless villain, with the voice of a Stentor. He was born at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, and, like Jack Sheppard, was the son of a carpenter.

He had ten maxims: (1) Never do more mischief than is absolutely necessary for success; (2) Know no distinction, but let self-interest be the one principle of action; (3) Let not your shirt know the thoughts of your heart; (4) Never forgive an enemy; (5) Shun poverty and distress; (6) Foment jealousies in your gang; (7) A good name, like money, must be risked in speculation; (8) Counterfeit virtues are as good as real ones, for few know paste from diamonds; (9) Be your own trumpeter, and don’t be afraid of blowing loud; (10) Keep hatred concealed in the heart, but wear the face of a friend.

Jonathan Wild married six wives. Being employed for a time as a detective, he brought to the gallows thirty-five highwaymen, twenty-two burglars and ten returned convicts. He was himself executed at last at Tyburn for house-breaking (1682-1725).

Daniel Defoe has made Jonathan Wild the hero of a romance (1725). Fielding did the same in 1743. The hero in these romances is a coward, traitor, hypocrite and tyrant, unrelieved by human feeling, and never betrayed into a kind or good action. The character is historic, but the adventures are in a measure fictitious.

Wild Boar of Ardennes, William de la Marck.--Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

⁂ The Count de la Marck was third son of John, count de la Marck and Aremberg. He was arrested at Utrecht, and beheaded by order of Maximilian, emperor of Austria, in 1485.

Wild Boy of Hameln, a human being found in the forest of Hertswold, in Hanover. He walked on all fours, climbed trees like a monkey, fed on grass and leaves, and could never be taught to articulate a single word. He was discovered in 1725, was called “Peter, the Wild Boy,” and died at Broadway Farm, near Berkhampstead, in 1785.

⁂ Mdlle. Lablanc was a wild girl found by the villagers of Soigny, near Chalons, in 1731. She died in Paris in 1780.

Wild Goose Chase (The), a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1652). The “wild goose” is Mirabel, who is “chased” and caught by Oriana, whom he once despised.

Wild Horses (Death by). The hands and feet of the victim were fastened to two or four wild horses, and the horses, being urged forward, ran in different directions, tearing the victim limb from limb.

243Mettius Suffetius was fastened to two chariots, which were driven in opposite directions. This was for deserting the Roman standard (B.C. 669).--Livy, Annals, i. 28.

Salcēde, a Spaniard, employed by Henri III. to assassinate Henri de Guise, failed in his attempt, and was torn limb from limb by four wild horses.

Nicholas de Salvado was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting the life of William, prince of Orange.

Balthazar de Gerrard was similarly punished for assassinating the same prince (1584).

John Chastel was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting the life of Henri IV. of France (1594).

François Ravaillac suffered a similar death for assassinating the same prince (1610).

Wild Huntsman (The), a spectral hunter with dogs, who frequents the Black Forest to chase wild animals.--Sir W. Scott, Wild Huntsman (from Bürger’s ballad).

⁂ The legend is that this huntsman was a Jew, who would not suffer Jesus to drink from a horse-trough, but pointed to some water collected in a hoof-print, and bade Him go there and drink.--Kuhn von Schwarz, Nordd. Sagen, 499.

The French story of Le Grand Veneur is laid in Fontainbleau Forest, and is supposed to refer to St. Hubert.--Father Matthieu.

The English name is “Herne, the Hunter,” once a keeper in Windsor Forest.--Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act iv. sc. 4.

The Scotch poem called Albania contains a full description of the wild huntsman.

⁂ The subject has been made into a ballad by Burger, entitled Der Wilde Jäger.

Wild Man of the Forest, Orson, brother of Valentine, and nephew of King Pepin.--Valentine and Orson (fifteenth century).

Wild Oats, a drama by John O’Keefe (1798).

Wild Wenlock, kinsman of Sir Hugo de Lacy, besieged by insurgents, who cut off his head.--Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Wildair (Sir Harry), the hero of a comedy so called by Farquhar (1701). The same character had been introduced in the Constant Couple (1700), by the same author. Sir Harry is a gay profligate, not altogether selfish and abandoned, but very free and of easy morals. This was Wilks’s and Peg Woffington’s great part.

Their Wildairs, Sir John Brutes, Lady Touchwoods and Mrs. Frails are conventional reproductions of those wild gallants and demireps which figure in the licentious dramas of Dryden and Shadwell.--Sir W. Scott.

⁂ “Sir John Brute,” in The Provoked Wife (Vanbrugh); “Lady Touchwood,” in The Belle’s Stratagem (Mrs. Cowley); “Mrs. Frail,” in Congreve’s Love for Love.

Wildblood of the Vale (Young Dick), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Wilde (Johnny), a small farmer of Rodenkirchen, in the isle of Rügen. One day he found a little glass slipper belonging to one of the hill-folk. Next day a little brownie, in the character of a merchant, came to redeem it, and Johnny Wilde demanded as the price “that he 244should find a gold ducat in every furrow he ploughed.” The bargain was concluded, but before the year was over he had worked himself to death looking for ducats in the furrows which he ploughed.--Rügen Tradition.

Wildenhaim (Baron), father of Amelia. In his youth he seduced Agatha Friburg, whom he deserted. Agatha bore a son, Frederick, who in due time became a soldier. Coming home on furlough, he found his mother on the point of starvation, and, going to beg alms, met the baron with his gun, asked alms of him, and received a shilling. He demanded more money, and, being refused, collared the baron, but was soon seized by the keepers, and shut up in the castle dungeon. Here he was visited by the chaplain, and it came out that the baron was his father. As the baron was a widower, he married Agatha, and Frederick became his heir.

Amelia Wildenhaim, daughter of the baron. A proposal was made to marry her to Count Cassel, but, as the count was a conceited puppy, without “brains in his head or a heart in his bosom,” she would have nothing to say to him. She showed her love to Anhalt, a young clergyman, and her father gave his consent to the match.--Mrs. Inchbald, Lovers’ Vows (altered from Kotzebue, 1800).

Wildfire (Madge), the insane daughter of old Meg Murdochson, the gypsy thief. Madge had been seduced when a girl, and this, with the murder of her infant, had turned her brain.--Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Wilding (Jack), a young gentleman fresh from Oxford, who fabricates the most ridiculous tales, which he tries to pass off for facts; speaks of his adventures in America, which he has never seen; of his being entrapped into marriage with a Miss Sibthorpe, a pure invention. Accidentally meeting a Miss Grantam, he sends his man to learn her name, and is told it is Miss Godfrey, an heiress. On this incident the humor of the drama hinges. When Miss Godfrey is presented to him he does not know her, and a person rushes in who declares she is his wife, and that her maiden name was Sibthorpe. It is now Wilding’s turn to be dumbfounded, and, wholly unable to unravel the mystery, he rushes forth, believing the world is a Bedlam let loose.--S. Foote, The Liar (1761).

Wilding (Sir Jasper), an ignorant but wealthy country gentleman, fond of fox-hunting. He dresses in London like a foxhunter, and speaks with a “Hoic! tally-ho!”

Young Wilding, son of Sir Jasper, about to marry the daughter of old Philpot for the dot she will bring him.

Maria Wilding, the lively, witty, high-spirited daughter of Sir Jasper, in love with Charles Beaufort. Her father wants her to marry George Philpot, but she frightens the booby out of his wits by her knowledge of books and assumed eccentricities.--Murphy, The Citizen, (1757 or 1761).

Wildrake, a country squire, delighting in horses, dogs, and field sports. He was in love with “neighbor Constance,” daughter of Sir William Fondlove, with whom he used to romp and quarrel in childhood. He learned to love Constance; and Constance loved the squire, but knew it not till she feared he was going to marry another. When they each discovered the state of their hearts, they agreed to become man and wife.--S. Knowles, The Love-Chase (1837).

245Wildrake (Roger), a dissipated royalist.--Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Wilhelmi´na [Bundle], daughter of Bundle, the gardener. Tom Tug, the waterman, and Robin, the gardener, sought her in marriage. The father preferred honest Tom Tug, but the mother liked better the sentimental and fine-phrased Robin. Wilhelmina said he who first did any act to deserve her love should have it. Tom Tug, by winning the waterman’s badge, carried off the bride.--C. Dibdin, The Waterman (1774).

Wilfer (Reginald), called by his wife R. W., and by his fellow clerks Rumty. He was clerk in the drug-house of Chicksey, Stobbles and Veneering. In person Mr. Wilfer resembled an overgrown cherub; in manner he was shy and retiring.

Mr. Reginald Wilfer was a poor clerk, so poor indeed that he had never yet attained the modest object of his ambition, which was to wear a complete new suit of clothes, hat and boots included, at one time. His black hat was brown before he could afford a coat; his pantaloons were white at the seams and knees before he could buy a pair of boots; his boots had worn out before he could treat himself to new pantaloons; and by the time he worked round to the hat again, that shining modern article roofed in an ancient ruin of various periods.--Ch. iv.

Mrs. Wilfer, wife of Mr. Reginald. A most majestic woman, tall and angular. She wore gloves, and a pocket-handkerchief tied under her chin. A patronizing, condescending woman was Mrs. Wilfer, with a mighty idea of her own importance. “Viper!” “Ingrate!” and such like epithets were household words with her.

Bella Wilfer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilfer. A wayward, playful, affectionate, spoilt beauty, “giddy from the want of some sustaining purpose, and capricious because she was always fluttering among little things.” Bella was so pretty, so womanly, and yet so childish that she was always captivating. She spoke of herself as “the lovely woman,” and delighted in “doing the hair of the family.” Bella Wilfer married John Harmon (John Rokesmith), the secretary of Mr. Boffin, “the golden dustman.”

Lavinia Wilfer, youngest sister of Bella, and called “The Irrepressible.” Lavinia was a tart, pert girl, but succeeded in catching George Samson in the toils of wedlock.--C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Wilford, in love with Emily, the companion of his sister, Miss Wilford. This attachment coming to the knowledge of Wilford’s uncle and guardian, was disapproved of by him; so he sent the young man to the Continent, and dismissed the young lady. Emily went to live with Goodman Fairlop, the woodman, and there Wilford discovered her in an archery match. The engagement Was renewed, and ended in marriage.--Sir H. B. Dudley, The Woodman (1771).

Wilford, secretary of Sir Edward Mortimer, and the suitor of Barbara Rawbold (daughter of a poacher). Curious to know what weighed on his master’s mind, he pried into an iron chest in Sir Edward’s library; but while so engaged, Sir Edward entered and threatened to shoot him. He relented, however, and having sworn Wilford to secrecy, told him how and why he had committed murder. Wilford, unable to endure the watchful and jealous eye of his master, ran away; but Sir Edward dogged him from place to place, and at length arrested him on the charge of theft. Of course, the charge broke down, Wilford was acquitted, Sir Edward confessed 246himself a murderer, and died. (See Williams, Caleb.)--G. Colman, The Iron Chest (1796).

⁂ This is a dramatic version of Godwin’s novel called Caleb Williams (1794). Wilford is “Caleb Williams,” and Sir Edward Mortimer is “Falkland.”

Wilford, supposed to be earl of Rochdale. Three things he had a passion for: “the finest hound, the finest horse, and the finest wife in the three kingdoms.” It turned out that Master Walter, “the hunchback,” was the earl of Rochdale, and Wilford was no one.--S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).

Wilford (Lord), the truant son of Lord Woodville, who fell in love with Bess, the daughter of the “blind beggar of Bethnal Green.” He saw her by accident in London, lost sight of her, but resolved not to rest night or day till he found her; and, said he, “If I find her not, I’m tenant of the house the sexton builds.” Bess was discovered in the Queen’s Arms inn, Romford, and turned out to be his cousin.--S. Knowles, The Beggar of Bethnal Green (1834).

Wilfred, “the fool,” one of the sons of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Wilfrid, son of Oswald Wycliffe; in love with Matilda, heiress of Rokeby’s knight. After various villainies, Oswald forced from Matilda a promise to marry Wilfrid. Wilfrid thanked her for the promise, and fell dead at her feet.--Sir W. Scott, Rokeby (1813).

Wilfrid or Wilfrith (St.). In 681, the Bishop Wilfrith, who had been bishop of York, being deprived of his see, came to Sussex, and did much to civilize the people. He taught them how to catch fish generally, for before they only knew how to catch eels. He founded the bishopric of the South Saxons at Selsey, afterwards removed to Chichester, founded the monastery of Ripon, built several ecclesiastical edifices, and died in 709.

St. Wilfrid, sent from York into the realms received

(Whom the Northumbrian folk had of his see bereaved),

And on the south of Thames a seat did him afford,

By whom the people first received the saving word.

Drayton, Polyolbion, xi. (1613).

Wilhelm Meister [Mice.ter], the hero and title of a philosophic novel by Goethe. This is considered to be the first true German novel. It consists of two parts published under two titles, viz., The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister (1794-96), and The Travels of Wilhelm Meister (1821).

Wilkins (Peter), Robert Pultock, of Clement’s inn, author of The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish Man (1750).

The tale is this: Peter Wilkins is a mariner, thrown on a desert shore. In time he furnishes himself from the wreck with many necessaries, and discovers that the country is frequented by a beautiful winged race called glumms and gawreys, whose wings when folded, serve them for dress, and when spread, are used for flight. Peter marries a gawrey, by name Youwarkee, and accompanies her to Nosmnbdsgrsutt, a land of semi-darkness, where he remains many years.

Peter Wilkins is a work of uncommon beauty.--Coleridge, Table Talk (1835).

247Wilkinson (James), servant to Mr. Fairford, the lawyer.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

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

His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt,

Hung in a broad and studded belt;

Hence, in rude phrase, the Borderers still

Called noble Howard “Belted Will.”

Sir W. Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).

Will Laud, a smuggler, with whom Margaret Catchpole (q.v.) falls in love. He persuades her to escape from Ipswich jail, and supplies her with a seaman’s dress. The two are overtaken, and Laud is shot in attempting to prevent the recapture of Margaret.--Rev. R. Cobbold, Margaret Catchpole.

Will and Jean, a poetic story by Hector Macneill (1789). Willie Gairlace was once the glory of the town, and he married Jeanie Miller. Just about this time Maggie Howe opened a spirit shop in the village, and Willie fell to drinking. Having reduced himself to beggary, he enlisted as a soldier, and Jeanie had “to beg her bread.” Willie, having lost his leg in battle, was put on the Chelsea “bounty list;” and Jeanie was placed, by the duchess of Buccleuch, in an alms-cottage. Willie contrived to reach the cottage and

Jean ance mair, in fond affection,

Clasped her Willie to her breast.

Willet (John), landlord of the Maypole inn. A burly man, large-headed, with a flat face, betokening profound obstinacy and slowness of apprehension, combined with a strong reliance on his own merits. John Willet was one of the most dogged and positive fellows in existence, always sure that he was right, and that every one who differed from him was wrong. He ultimately resigned the Maypole to his son, Joe, and retired to a cottage in Chigwell, with a small garden, in which Joe had a Maypole erected for the delectation of his aged father. Here at dayfall assembled his old chums, to smoke, and prose, and doze, and drink the evenings away; and here the old man played the landlord, scoring up huge debits in chalk to his heart’s delight. He lived in the cottage a sleepy life for seven years, and then slept the sleep which knows no waking.

Joe Willet, son of the landlord, a broad-shouldered, strapping young fellow of 20. Being bullied and brow-beaten by his father, he ran away and enlisted for a soldier, lost his right arm in America, and was dismissed the service. He returned to England, married Dolly Varden, and became landlord of the Maypole, where he prospered and had a large family.--C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).

William, archbishop of Orange, an ecclesiastic who besought Pope Urban on his knees to permit him to join the crusaders, and, having obtained permission, led 400 men to the siege of Jerusalem.--Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

William, youngest son of William Rufus. He was the leader of a large army of British bowmen and Irish volunteers in the crusading army.--Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, iii. (1575).

⁂ William Rufus was never married.

William, footman to Lovemore, sweet upon Muslin, the lady’s maid. He is fond of cards, and is a below-stairs imitation of the high-life vices of the latter half of the 248eighteenth century.--A. Murphy, The Way to Keep Him (1760).

William, a serving-lad at Arnheim Castle.--Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

William (Lord), master of Erlingford. His elder brother, at death, committed to his charge Edmund, the rightful heir, a mere child; but William cast the child into the Severn, and seized the inheritance. One anniversary, the Severn overflowed its banks, and the castle was surrounded; a boat came by, and Lord William entered. The boatman thought he heard the voice of a child--nay, he felt sure he saw a child in the water, and bade Lord William stretch out his hand to take it in. Lord WilliamWilliam seized the child’s hand; it was lifeless and clammy, heavy and inert. It pulled the boat under water, and Lord William was drowned, but no one heard his piercing cry of agony.--R. Southey, Lord William (a ballad, 1804).