The development of American literature may be treated under three distinctly marked periods: (1) a colonial or ante-revolutionary period (1620-1775), during which the literature of the colonies was closely assimilated in form and character to that of England; (2) a first American period (1775-1865), which witnessed the transition from a style for the most part imitative to one in some degree national; and (3) a second American period from 1865 to the present time, in which the literature of the country has assumed a more decided character of originality.
The literary traditions of the United States were in large part inherited from England. Although from the time of the Stuart restoration in England, in 1660, there are indications of a divergence in social and political temper, which in the long run must find expression in a distinct American literature, yet the literary emancipation of America was much more gradual than the political.
The first literature in America was the product of men educated in other lands, who happened to be drawn to the New World, and who wrote about the new country.
The first work of broad interest concerning the colonies that subsequently became the United States was the famous Captain John Smith’sTrue Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia. This is an interesting and romantic work; but Smith was in America for three years only of his adventurous life, and consequently his narrative is highly colored.The History of the Plymouth Plantation, by Governor Bradford, and theHistory of New England, by John Winthrop, are productions of a colder clime than Virginia and of a less glowing imagination than Captain John Smith’s.
Aside from such records, more interesting always from the standpoint of history than from that of literature, the sum of colonial production, north or south, is very small. In New England, where most books were written, if not always there published, we find chiefly theological polemics, often presented with attractive titles but rarely with any other power to carry them to posterity.
ThePoemsof Anne Bradstreet were very highly praised in their day, but almost the only book of lasting value and interest written in the century was Cotton Mather’sMagnalia Christi Americana(1702). Mather was one of a great clerical and literary family. He wrote many other books, but none retains the interest of posterity. TheMagnalia, however, is still a noble monument of a wonderful generation.
Franklin’sPoor Richard’s Almanac, begun in 1732 and carried on by him for twenty-five years, was a book of almost literary rank. “Poor Richard” was a fictitious character in whose[776]mouth Franklin put a simple philosophy which became as widely popular in its sphere as the more scholarly utterances of the Spectator.
The two great literary figures of the eighteenth century may be properly considered together. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) may represent to us the passing domination of theology; Benjamin Franklin, the domination just beginning of politics and secular common sense. They are the first Americans to make a lasting reputation by letters, and, curiously enough, with each literature was but a means to an end.
The remarkable effect of the preaching and writing of Jonathan Edwards came largely from the direct simplicity and clearness which makes his style almost no style at all. As for Franklin, he learned to write systematically, as he did everything else, and regarded his power to express himself chiefly as one of the means whereby he accomplished his purposes for the good of society. Edward’s great works on theFreedom of the Willand other theological topics are probably read now by few, and the same may be said of much of Franklin’s writings. But Franklin’sAutobiographyis still one of the most interesting things of its kind. Both men belonged to the time and place: America was expressing herself, whether in literary form or not.
In the years preceding the Revolution another real opportunity opened, and oratory became one of the genuine modes of national expression. Patrick Henry, James Otis, John Adams, Joseph Warren, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, spoke under the best conditions for literature, because they had something that had to be said. Yet their eloquence now is more a matter of fame than of fact. Of some, hardly more than a few slight reports remain to give us a notion of the powers that fired an earlier generation. This summary of colonial literature gives an idea of a very meagre literary production that was but natural. There was little written in America, and that little was compelled by the practical issues of the politics or theology of the time.
We shall readily understand that though such a review indicates slight literary appreciation as we understand the term, it does not imply a lack of intelligence. If the colonists had been less intelligent they might have produced more literature. Folk poetry and legend, with which true literature is apt to begin, is not the result of education.
The Americans were, comparatively speaking, a well-educated people. They very early provided for that literary scholarship training which comes from scholastic training. The colleges of the colonies, Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), Yale (1701), Princeton (chartered as the College of New Jersey, 1746), Columbia (originally King’s, 1754), Brown (College of Rhode Island, 1764), Rutgers (originally Queens, 1766), Dartmouth (1769), and the University of Pennsylvania (founded as an academy by Franklin, 1754; chartered 1779), show a great appreciation of learning on the part of the colonists.
A somewhat wider if less scholastic culture is evidenced by the foundation of libraries, the Library Company of Philadelphia (1731), the Redwood Library of Newport (1747), the Charleston Library (1748), and the New York Society Library (1754), being the earliest.
The two decades that brought the eighteenth century to a close were full of exciting political events, but barren of literature. The fathers could make a nation by adopting a constitution and abiding by it, but the creation of a national literature was not so easy a matter. National poetry did not come with national life. The efforts of Trumbull (1750-1831), and Barlow (1754-1812), are as good as the ordinary poetical work of the time in England, but they are not the expression of the soul of the new nation.
The first real literature was in prose, arising from natural imitation of past models under conditions of culture which led to appreciation of such imitation.
Washington Irving, then twenty-four years old, living the pleasant life of a clever young fellow in a small provincial city, joined with his brother William and James Kirke Paulding in one of the periodicals modeled after the Spectator common in the eighteenth century. Their venture was calledSalmagundi, and although not remarkable in itself, its success gave confidence, so that two years afterward, feeling his own power, Irving wroteKnickerbocker’s History of New York, one of the first pieces of Americanbelles-lettresto become known in Europe as well as America. These productions came naturally from the conditions of Irving’s life; so did theSketch Book, with which he became a professed man of letters, the representative, we may say, of the first period of our national literature.
Irving had pre-eminently the gift for literary expression; in his hands everything became literature—history, biography, descriptive as well as satire, story, essay. He showed the possibility of giving literary form to American material.
The same thing was done in a special department of literature by James Fenimore Cooper. Charles Brockden Brown had written novels, but they have not survived. Cooper, on the other hand, so far saw the essential quality of certain elements of American life, that the figures of Leatherstocking, the American pioneer, Harvey Birch, the patriot, and Long Tom Coffin, the sailor, are still living figures.
In fiction also two masters of equal power were shortly to develop a form of literature in which America has produced much of the first order. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe made of the short story a means of artistic presentation, which has been more highly appreciated in our day than it was in their own.
The first true poet was William Cullen Bryant. In the same year with Cooper’s first American novel (1821) appeared a volume of Bryant’s poems, of which one at least,Thanatopsis, had already excited admiring attention. Bryant’s long and honorable life was devoted to many interests beside poetry, but he maintained throughout the pure and idealistic touch, and the intimate appreciation of nature that characterized his first work.
The first quarter of the nineteenth century, then, saw a beginning, slight indeed, but such as to endure, of a true literature in the departments of poetry, fiction,belles-lettres. The fifty years[777]following saw more substantial production in each direction.
The American poets of the middle of the century are not of the very first rank, but each is genuinely representative of some true poetic quality or way of looking at things.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow presents the beauty and charm of American life and history in melodious and figured verse; John Greenleaf Whittier expresses the soul of our life and history in lyrics of most sincere human quality; Edgar Allan Poe gives a few most intense emotions in singularly perfect and individual form, while Walt Whitman expresses a certain American ideality in a strange mode of utterance, which despite its faults is characteristically strong.
As a poet Lowell is at his best in satire, Holmes in wit, Emerson in sententious wisdom.
In the field of fiction there was not so much that was good. It was not till he had written short stories for twenty years that Hawthorne found time for the novel for which he had so long felt himself capable. He wrote four, of which three at least are masterpieces. As a novelist he had no rivals; but there were not a few who carried on the tradition of the short story, of whom the most noteworthy were Fitz James O’Brien (1828-1862), Harriet Prescott, 1835 (afterward Mrs. Spofford), and Edward Everett Hale.The Diamond Lens,The Amber Gods, andThe Man Without a Countryof the latter are very typical works.
In history also there was first-rate expression. George Bancroft, William H. Prescott, John Lothrop Motley, and Francis Parkman, were all original workers and all men of literary power. The first two were rather too much influenced by the literary ideals of the past, but Motley and Parkman attain a perfection of literary history which seems impossible in our day of development and division of labor.
More specifically American, though perhaps more temporary, is the oratory of the period. Political conditions were still such as to encourage eloquence. Three names stand together as representative of American public life: Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. Their oratory has dignity, representative character and force. Three other orators should be mentioned: Edward Everett, Wendell Phillips, and Henry Ward Beecher, one eminent on great public occasions, one in public discussion and agitation, and the third in the pulpit. And we must add the name of a speaker whose simple sincerity gave him at times a greater power of speech than that of any other man of his day, Abraham Lincoln.
Several other elements of the literature of this time are important. The New England movement of idealistic thought, somewhat expressed by Transcendentalism, is represented by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a figure more thoroughly characteristic of American thinking than any other writer. Singularly individual and different from any other man of his time, he is yet typical of a combination of ideality and common sense thoroughly American.
James Russell Lowell is another important figure of the period: noteworthy as a poet, a critic, a scholar, an essayist, he is especially interesting as the successor of Irving as the representative man of his literary generation. He made literature an active factor in life and yet never allowed it to lose its literary quality.
Oliver Wendell Holmes is best known as a humorist, and perhaps the most American in that field in which America has a very special place. Humor is more than most branches of literature a matter of taste. It must be enough, therefore, to note, without attempting to discriminate or describe, the achievements of Artemus Ward (1834-1867), of Mark Twain and of Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902). In this second period of our literature occurred the Civil war. Such an event could not have been without its effect upon men of letters both South and North. In the North especially do we perceive the strongest influence: the anti-slavery element cannot be dissociated from the work of Lowell or Whittier. Yet in literature the war produced little of permanence. It is the backbone of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s title to remembrance; but powerfully effective as wasUncle Tom’s Cabin, it is probable that there was more real genius in those presentations of that old New England life of which she was herself a product.
In considering the period from the Civil war to the present, the most remarkable thing is the great increase of production and the slight accession to the rolls of genius. Such is especially the case with fiction; there have been very many good novels and short stories written, but there is no such commanding personality as Hawthorne.
The two chief figures of the seventies and eighties, at least, were Henry James and William Dean Howells. With great differences, they are yet both masters of the realistic school which was dominant in the second half of the century, in Europe as well as in America. Their superiority might remain unquestioned, were it not for the decline of interest in the kind of novel in which they excelled. In the early eighties a change in tone was perceptible.
The first noteworthy American representative of romantic or idealistic fiction which then began to appear was Marion Crawford, who has retained power and popularity for twenty-five years. He and a few other innovators were followed by a number of writers who found and presented the charm and romance of American history. These have now in their turn passed away except Winston Churchill who would seem really to have more enduring power than his companions. But the realistic movement was not without its results, for it directed American novelists, and especially story writers, into an appreciation of the specific qualities of different parts of their country.
The first writer to have this especial flavor was, it is true, the romanticist Bret Harte. His followers were more realistic: George Washington Cable gave a charming presentation of Creole life in New Orleans, and since theGrandissimes(1880) there have been a great number who have drawn pictures of the especial life of particular localities. Most noteworthy of these are Miss Mary N. Murfree (“Charles Egbert Craddock”), Miss Mary E. Wilkins (now Mrs. Freeman), James Lane Allen, Thomas Nelson Page, and Hamlin Garland.
If we are to mention any other novelist of the present day whose work seems likely to endure, it must be Mrs. Edith Wharton, who rather continues the traditions of Henry James.
In poetry no one has for forty years appeared who has been considered the equal of the earlier generation. Sidney Lanier and Edmund Clarence Stedman will probably be considered the chief figures of the seventies, while Richard Hovey (1864-1900) and James Whitcomb Riley are superior to their later contemporaries.
There has been much history in recent years, and if there are no historians of the rank of Motley and Parkman, the reason may lie in the difference that has come into the methods of historical study. John Fiske was a philosopher before he became a historian. Justin Winsor was a master of authorities, and his labors as an editor rendered possible one of the characteristic productions of the time, theNarrative and Critical History of America, written by a number of special scholars. Of other contemporary writers most noteworthy are probably Henry C. Lea, whose works deal with different phrases of the history of civilization, and Captain A. T. Mahan, whose studies of the influence of sea power on history have attracted the attention of the world.
Coincidently, a new school of humor has risen in the writing of F. P. Dunne, creator of the sagaciousMr. Dooley, and George Ade, author ofFables in Slang. Earlier humorists, aside from “Mark Twain” and Charles F. Browne (“Artemus Ward”), are Henry W. Shaw (“Josh Billings”) (1818-1885), Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908), the author ofUncle Remus’ Stories, amusing dialect fantasies. In the summary of American literature one can hardly omit the names of Sarah Margaret Fuller (“Ossoli”), R. H. Dana, author ofTwo Years Before the Mast, and Donald G. Mitchell, author ofReveries of a BachelorandDream Life.
Recent and contemporary historians and essayists deserving of mention are T. W. Higginson, C. E. Norton, and William James.
Another form of writing should be mentioned, though its results are perhaps too ephemeral to be called literature. The newspaper is, however, a very important part of everybody’s reading. It has been learning, however, to appeal more and more to an enormously wide audience, with the result that whatever literary character it may have had is now hard to find. In the middle of the century certain great editors had very definite literary standing, as Bryant of the New YorkEvening Post, Henry J. Raymond (1820-1869) of theTimes, Horace Greeley (1811-1872) of theTribune. Later figures must include Charles A. Dana (1819-1897), who gave a very distinctive character to theSun; James Gordon Bennett (1841) of theHerald, and E. L. Godkin (1831-1902) of the New YorkEvening Post, and Henry Watterson of the LouisvilleCourier-Journal.
Note.—Poetic and dramatic writings are indicated byitalics.
Concise, explanatory paragraphs concerning Famous Books, Poems and Dramas; Literary Characters, Plots and Scenes; Pen Names of Famous Writers; Soubriquets and Nicknames; Literary Geography, Shrines and Haunts; and numerous other literary references.
ä, as in farm, father;ȧ, as in ask, fast;a, as in at, fat;ā, as in day, fate;â, as in care, fare; a, as in final;e, as in met, set;ē, as in me, see;ẽ, as in her, ermine;i, as in pin, sin;ī, as in pine, line;o, as in not, got;ō, as in note, old;ô, as in for, fought; ö, as in sole, only; õ, as in fog, orange;ö, sound cannot be exactly represented in English. The English sound ofuinburnis perhaps the nearest equivalent toö;oo, as in cook, look;ōō, as in coon, moon;u, as in cup, duck;ū, as in use, amuse;û, as in fur, urge;üsound cannot be exactly represented in English. The English sound ofuinlukeanddukeresembles the original sound ofü. The letterNrepresents the nasal tone of the preceding vowel, as inencore(äN-kōr´).
A
Aaron(ā´ronorar’on).—A character in Shakespeare’sTitus Andronicus, a Moor of unnatural wickedness beloved by Tamora, queen of the Goths. The character shows originality of conception, but is otherwise repellant.
Abaddon(a-bad´on).—The Hebrew name of an evil spirit or destroying angel called Apollyon in Greek. In mediæval literature he is regarded as the chief of the demons of the seventh hierarchy and the one who causes wars and uproars. Klopstock introduced him in hisMessiahunder the name of Abbadona. He represents him as a fallen angel still bearing traces of his former dignity and repenting of his part in the rebellion against God. In Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progresshe meets and fights with Pilgrim.
Abdalla(ab-dal´ä).—(1) The Mufti, a character in Dryden’s tragedyDon Sebastian. (2) One of Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert’s slaves, in Scott’sIvanhoe. (3) Brother and predecessor of Giaffer, pasha of Abydos, by whom he was murdered, in Byron’sBride of Abydos.
Abdiel(ab´di-el).—A seraph in Milton’sParadise Lost, the only seraph who remained loyal when Satan stirred up the angels to revolt.
Abonde(a-bön-de´).—A character in French literature that corresponds to our Santa Claus, the good fairy who comes at night, especially New Year’s night, to bring toys to children while they sleep.
Abu-Hassan(ā-bö-has´an).—As related in theArabian Nights, Abou Hassan is a merchant of Bagdad who is carried in his sleep to the bed of the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid and on awaking is made to believe himself the caliph. Twice in this way he was made to believe himself caliph and afterward became in reality the caliph’s favorite and companion.
Absalom and Achitophel(ab´sa-lomanda-kit´ō-fel).—A poetical satire by John Dryden, directed against the political faction led by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The names in the title are given to the duke of Monmouth and the earl of Shaftesbury. Like Absalom, the son of David, Monmouth was remarkable for his personal beauty, his popularity, and his undutifulness to his father.
Absolute, Captain.—A character in Sheridan’s comedy,The Rivals. He is distinguished for his gallant, determined spirit, his quickness of speech, and dry humor.
Absolute, Sir Anthony.—An amusing character in Sheridan’sRivals. He is represented as testy, positive, impatient, and overbearing, but yet of a warm and generous disposition.
Acadia(a-kā´di-ä),Acadie(ä-kä´-dē´).—The original, and now the poetic, name of Nova Scotia. In 1755, the French inhabitants were seized, forcibly removed and dispersed among the English colonists on the Atlantic coast. Longfellow has made this event the subject of his poemEvangeline.
Acrasia(a-krā´zi-ä).—In Spencer’sFaërie Queene, a witch represented as a lovely and charming woman, whose dwelling is the Bower of Bliss, which is situated on an island floating in a lake or gulf, and is adorned with everything in nature that can delight the senses. The word signifies intemperance. She is the personification of sensuous indulgence and intoxication. Sir Guyon, who illustrates the opposite virtue, is commissioned by the fairy queen to bring her into subjection, and to destroy her residence.
Acres, Bob.—A character in Sheridan’sThe Rivals, celebrated for his cowardice and his peculiar method of allegorical swearing.
Adam.—(1) Adam is a character frequently alluded to in theTalmud. Many strange legends are related of him. He was buried, so Arabian tradition says, on Aboncais, a mountain of Arabia. (2) InAs You Like It, Shakespeare, he is an aged servant to Orlando and offers to accompany Orlando in his flight and to share with him his carefully-hoarded savings of five hundred pounds. (3) In Shakespeare’sComedy of Errors, Adam is an officer known by his dress, a skin-coat.
Adamastor(ad-am-ȧs´tor).—The phantom of the Cape of Good Hope in theLusiad: a terrible spirit described by Camoens as appearing to Vasco da Gama and prophesying the misfortunes which should fall upon other expeditions to India.
Adam Bede(bēd).—A novel by George Eliot, the chief character of which is a young carpenter, a keen and clever workman, somewhat sharp-tempered and with a knowledge of some good books. He has an alert conscience, good common sense and “well-balanced shares of susceptibility and self-control.” He loves Hetty Sorrel, but finally marries Dinah Morris.
Adams, Parson.—A character in Fielding’s story ofJoseph Andrews, distinguished for his goodness of heart, poverty, learning, and ignorance of the world, combined with courage, modesty, and a thousand oddities.
Adonais(ad-ō-nā´is).—An elegiac poem by Shelley, commemorating the death of Keats. The name was coined by Shelley probably to hint an analogy between Keats’ fate and that of Adonis.
Advancement of Learning, The.—A prose treatise by Francis, Lord Bacon, which contains not only the germ of his Latin work,De Augmentis Scientiarum, but really the pith and marrow of the Baconian philosophy, if taken in connection with the second book of theNovum Scientiarum Organum. An analysis of the work may be read in Hazlitt’sLectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth.
Æneid(ē-nē´id), orÆneis(-is).—An epic poem, in twelve books, by Vergil, recounting the adventures of Æneas after the fall of Troy, founded on the Roman tradition that Æneas settled in Latium and became the ancestral hero of the Roman people. The hero, driven by a storm on the coast of Africa, is hospitably received by Dido, queen of Carthage, to whom he relates the fall of Troy and his wanderings. An attachment between them is broken by the departure of Æneas, in obedience to the will of the gods, and the suicide of Dido follows. After a visit to Sicily, Æneas lands at Cumæ in Italy. In a descent to the infernal regions he sees his father, Anchises, and has a prophetic vision of the glorious destiny of his race as well as of the future heroes of Rome. He marries Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, king of the Latini, and a contest with Turnus, king of the Rutuli, the rejected suitor follows, in which Turnus is slain. The poem is a glorification of Rome and of the Emperor Augustus, who, as a member of the Julian gens, traced his descent from Julus (sometimes identified with Ascanius), the grandson of Æneas.
Agamemnon(ag-ȧ-mem´non).—The greatest of the tragedies of Æschylus. The scene is laid in Argos, in the palace of Agamemnon, at the time of the king’s return from the capture of Troy; the catastrophe is the murder (behind the scenes) of Agamemnon and Cassandra (whom he has brought captive with him) by the queen Clytemnestra, urged on by her paramour Ægisthus.
Agnes.—(1) A young girl in Molière’sL’Ecole des Femmes, who affects to be remarkably simple and ingenuous. The name has passed into popular use, and is applied to any young woman unsophisticated in affairs. (2) A strong womanly character inDavid Copperfieldwho proves a true friend to David’s “child-wife,” Dora, and to David himself. Later Dora dies and David marries Agnes.
Agnes, The Eve of St.—(1) A poem by John Keats. It is characterized by Leigh Hunt as “the most delightful and complete specimen of his genius; ... exquisitely loving; ... young but full-grown poetry of the rarest description; graceful as the beardless Apollo; glowing and gorgeous with the colors of romance.” St. Agnes[783]was a Roman virgin who suffered martyrdom in the reign of Diocletian. (2) A poem by Tennyson, published in 1842.
Agapida(ä-gä-pē´thä),Fray Antonio.—The fictitious writer to whom Washington Irving originally attributed the authorship of theConquest of Granada.
Agib(ā´gib).—(1) The third Calendar in the story of “The Three Calendars” in theArabian Nights’ Entertainments. (2) In the story of Noureddin Ali and Bedredden Hassan inThe Arabian Nights, a son of Bedredden Hassan and the Queen of Beauty.
Agramant(ä´grä-mänt).—In Boiardo’sOrlando Innamoratoand Ariosto’sOrlando Furioso, the young king of Africa.
Ague-Cheek(ā´gū-chēk),Sir Andrew. A character in Shakespeare’s comedyTwelfth Night, a timid, silly but amusing country squire, to whom life consists only of eating and drinking. He is stupid even to silliness, but so devoid of self-love or self-conceit that he is delightful in his simplicity.
Ahasuerus(a-haz-ū-ē´rus).—Chief character in Sue’sA Wandering Jew, the cobbler who pushed away Jesus when, on the way to execution, He rested a moment or two at his door. “Get off! Away with you!” cried the cobbler. “Truly, I go away,” returned Jesus, “and that quickly; but tarry thou till I come.” And from that time Ahasuerus became the “wandering Jew,” who still roams the earth, and will continue so to do till the “second coming of the Lord.”
Ahmed(äh´med), orAchmet(äch´met).—In theArabian Nights, noted for a magic tent he possessed which would cover a whole army but might be carried in the pocket. He also possessed a magic apple which would cure all diseases.
Aladdin(a-lad´in).—In the story of “Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp,” in theArabian Nights’ Entertainments, the son of a poor widow in China, who becomes possessed of a magic lamp and ring which command the services of two terrific jinns. Learning the magic power of the lamp, by accidentally rubbing it, Aladdin becomes rich and marries the Princess of Cathay through the agency of the “slave of the lamp” who also builds in a night a palace for her reception. One window of this palace was left unfinished, and no one could complete it to match the others. Aladdin therefore directs the jinns to finish it, which is done in the twinkling of an eye (hence the phrase “to finish Aladdin’s window”; that is, to attempt to finish something begun by a greater man). After many years the original owner of the lamp, a magician, in order to recover it, goes through the city offering new lamps for old. The wife of Aladdin, tempted by this idea, exchanges the old rusty magic lamp for a brand new useless one (hence the phrase “to exchange old lamps for new”), and the magician transports both palace and princess to Africa, but the ring helps Aladdin to find them. He kills the magician, and, possessing himself of the lamp, transports the palace to Cathay, and at the sultan’s death succeeds to the throne.
Al Araf(äl ä rȧf).—The Mohammedan limbo, between paradise and jehennam, for those who die without sufficient merit to deserve the former, and without sufficient demerit to deserve the latter. Here lunatics, idiots, and infants go at death, according to the Koran. The subject of an uncompleted poem by Edgar A. Poe.
Alasnam(a-las´nam).—The hero of a story in theArabian Nightsentitled “The History of Prince Zeyn Alasnam and the Sultan of the Genii,” Alasnam has eight diamond statues, but had to go in quest of a ninth more precious still, to fill the vacant pedestal. The prize was found in the lady who became his wife, at once the most beautiful and the most perfect of her race.
Albracca(äl-bräk´kä).—In Bojardo’sOrlando Innamorato, a castle of Cathay to which Angelica retires in grief at being scorned and shunned by Rinaldo, with whom she is deeply in love. Here she is besieged by Agricane, King of Tartary, who resolves to win her, notwithstanding her indifference to his suit.
Alceste(äl-sest´).—The principal character in Molière’s comedyThe Misanthrope: a disagreeable but upright man who scorns the civilities of life and the shams of society.
Alcina(äl-che´na).—A fairy, the embodiment of carnal delights, in Boiardo’sOrlando Innamoratoand Ariosoto’sOrlando Furiosothe sister of Logistalla (reason) and Morgana (lasciviousness). When tired of her lovers she changed them into trees, beasts, etc., and was finally, by means of a magic ring, displayed in her real senility and ugliness. CompareAcrasia,Armida, andCirce.
Aldine(al´din)Press.—The press established at Venice by Aldus Manutius. SeeManutius.
Aldingar(al´ding-gär),Sir.—A character in Percy’sReliques. This ballad relates how the honor of Queen Elianor, wife of Henry Plantagenet, impeached by Sir Aldingar, her steward, was submitted to the chance of a duel, and how an angel, in the form of a little child, appeared as her champion, and established her innocence.
Alhambra(al-ham´brä).—A volume of legends and descriptive sketches by Washington Irving. “The account of my midnight rambles about the old place,” says the author, “literally true, yet gives but a feeble idea of my feelings and impressions, and of the singular haunts I was exploring. Everything in the work relating to myself and to the actual inhabitants of the Alhambra is unexaggerated fact; it was only in the legends that I indulged inromancing, and these were founded on material picked up about the place.”
Ali Baba(ä´lē bä´bä).—A character inThe Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, in the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” a poor wood-cutter who, concealed in a tree, sees a band of robbers enter a secret cavern, and overhears the magic words “open sesame” which opens its door. After their departure he repeats the spell and the door opens, disclosing a room full of treasures with which he loads his asses and returns home. His brother Cassim, who discovers his secret, enters the cave alone, forgets the word “sesame,” and is found and cut to pieces by the robbers. The thieves, discovering that Ali Baba knows their secret, resolve to kill him, but are outwitted by Morgiana, a slave.
Alice in Wonderland.—A little girl through whose dream pass the scenes ofAlice’s Adventures in WonderlandandBehind the Looking-glass, two popular stories for children by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson). They have been translated into several European languages.
Alice Brand.—In Scott’sLady of the Lake, Alice signed Urgan the dwarf thrice with the sign of the cross, and he became “the fairest knight in all Scotland”; when Alice recognized in him her own brother.
Allan-a-Dale.—A friend of Robin Hood’s in the ballad. He is introduced into Sir Walter Scott’sIvanhoeas Robin Hood’s minstrel.
All’s Well That Ends Well.—A comedy by Shakespeare. The hero and heroine are Bertram, Count of Roussillon, and Helena, a physician’s daughter, who are married by the command of the king of France, but part because Bertram thought the lady not sufficiently well-born for him. Bertram flees to Florence, but, ultimately, Helena wins his love and all ends well.
Allworthy, Mr.—In Fielding’s novel ofTom Jones, a man of amiable and benevolent character; intended for Mr. Ralph Allen, who was also celebrated by Pope.
Almighty Dollar.—A personification of American worship. Washington Irving originated the phrase inThe Creole Village.
Alp.—Siege of Corinth, Byron. The hero of this poem.
Amadis de Gaul.—The hero of an ancient and celebrated Portuguese romance.
Amanda(a-man´dä).—A young woman who impersonates Spring in Thomson’sSeasons.
Amaryllis,Amarillis(am-a-ril´is).—In Spenser’s pastoralColin Clout’s Come Home Again, is the countess of Derby. Her name was Alice, and she was the youngest of the six daughters of Sir John Spenser, of Althorpe, ancestor of the noble houses of Spenser and Marlborough. After the death of the earl, the widow married Sir Thomas Egerton, keeper of the great seal (afterward baron of Ellesmere and viscount Brackley). It was for this very lady, during her widowhood, that Milton wrote hisArcades.
Ambrose.—A sharper in Lesage’sGil Blas, who assumed in the presence of Gil Blas the character of a devotee. He was in league with a fellow who assumed the name of Don Raphael, and a young woman who called herself Camilla, cousin of Donna Mencia. These three sharpers allure Gil Blas to a house which Camilla says is hers, fleece him of his ring, his portmanteau, and his money, decamp, and leave him to find out that the house is only a hired lodging.
Amelia(a-mē´liä).—The title of one of Fielding’s novels, and the name of its heroine, who is distinguished for her tenderness and affection. The character of Amelia is said to have been drawn from Fielding’s wife.
Amine(ä-mēn´).—InArabian Nightsa female character who leads her three sisters by her side as a leash of hounds.
Aminte(ä-mant´).—Les Précieuses Ridicules, Molière. A contradictory character in this comedy. She dismisses her admirers for proposing to marry her, scolds her uncle for not carrying himself as a gentleman, and marries a valet whom she believes to be a nobleman.
Amlet(am´let).—The name of a gamester in Vanbrugh’sConfederacy.
Amoret(am´ō-ret).—(1) The name of a lady married to Sir Scudamore, in Spenser’sFaërie Queene. She is the type of a devoted, loving wife. (2) The heroine of Fletcher’s pastoral drama,The Faithful Shepherdess.
Amys and Amylion.—Two faithful friends. The Pylades and Orestes of the feudal ages. Their adventures are the subjects of ancient romances.
Ancient Man.—In Tennyson’sIdylls of the King, means Merlin, the old magician, King Arthur’s protector and teacher.
Ancient Mariner, The.—A poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The hero, an ancient mariner “with a long gray beard and glittering eye,” suffers terrible evils, and likewise inflicts them on his companions, from having shot an albatross, a bird of good omen. All his comrades perish of hunger, but, as he repents, he is permitted to regain the land. At intervals his agony returns, and he is driven from place to place to ease his soul by confessing his crime and sufferings to his fellows, and enforcing upon them a lesson of love for “all things, both great and small.”
“The Ancient Mariner,” says Swinburne, “is perhaps the most wonderful of all poems. In reading it we seem rapt into that paradise revealed by Swedenborg, where music and color and perfume were one, where you could see the hues and hear the harmonies of heaven. For absolute melody and splendor it were hardly rash to call it the first poem in the language.”
Andrews, Joseph.—The hero in Fielding’s novel by the same name, written to ridicule Richardson’sPamela. Fielding presents Joseph Andrews as a brother to the modest and prudish Pamela, and pictures him as a model young man.
Angelica(an-jel´i-kä).—(1) In Bojardo’sOrlando Innamorato, is daughter of Galaphron, king of Cathay. She goes to Paris, and Orlando falls in love with her, forgetful of wife, sovereign, country and glory. Angelica, on the other hand, disregards Orlando, but passionately loves Rinaldo, who positively dislikes her. Angelica and Rinaldo drink of certain fountains, when opposite effects are produced in their hearts, for then Rinaldo loves Angelica, while Angelica loses all love for Rinaldo. (2) The heroine of Congreve’s comedy ofLove for Love; in love with Valentine, but the ward of Sir Sampson Legend, who seeks to marry her. She jilts the old man, however, and marries the younger lover. Angelica is supposed to represent Mrs. Bracegirdle; Valentine the author himself who was enamoured of the actress, and was the rival of the dramatist, Rowe, in her affections. (3) The heroine of Ariosto’sOrlando Furioso. She was beloved by Orlando, but married Medoro. Also the name of the heroine of Farquhar’s plays of theConstant Couple, andSir Harry Wildair.
Angelic Doctor.—A name bestowed upon Thomas Aquinas, because he discussed the knotty point of “how many angels can dance on the point of a needle.”
Angelo(an´je-lō).—A character in Shakespeare’sMeasure for Measure; also the name of a goldsmith inthe Comedy of Errors.
Angiolina.—The wife of the doge of Venice, in Byron’sMarino Faliero.
Anna Karénina(än´nä kä-rā´nē-nä).—A novel of Tolstoy, perhaps the most representative of his works. It first appeared serially, but with long intervals, in a Moscow review, and was published in 1877.
Annabel Lee.—The title and subject of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, which begins—