“a Corsair’s name to other times,Link’d with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.”
“a Corsair’s name to other times,Link’d with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.”
The heroines are Medora, whom Conrad loves, and Gulnare, “the Harem queen,” whose love is given to Conrad, and who kills her master, Seyd, in order that Conrad may be free.
Corydon(kor´i-don).—A shepherd in one of theIdylls of Theocritus, and one of theEclogues of Vergil. Used by Shakespeare and later poets to designate a rustic swain.
Costard(kos´tärd).—A clown, in Shakespeare’sLove’s Labor’s Lost, who apes the display of wit, and misapplies, in the most ridiculous manner, the phrases and modes of combination in argument that were then in vogue.
Cotter’s Saturday Night, The.—A poem by Robert Burns of which his brother remarks: “Robert had frequently remarked to me that there was something particularly venerable in the phrase, ‘Let us worship God,’ used by a decent, sober head of a family introducing family worship. To this sentiment of the author the world is indebted for theCotter’s Saturday Night. The hint of the plan and title of the poem are taken from Ferguson’sFarmer’s Ingle.”
Count of Monte Cristo.—A celebrated romance by Alexander Dumas, in which Edmond Dantes, the hero, suffers unjust imprisonment for many years. He finally escapes, only to be apprised of the death of his father and the marriage of his former sweetheart. From information derived from a fellow prisoner, he then comes into possession of great riches through the successful discovery of hoards of treasure in the island of Monte Cristo. His remaining years are given over to a vindication of his former life.
Coverly(papers by Steele and Addison),Sir Roger de, was a member of a hypothetical club, and was noted for his modesty, generosity, hospitality, and eccentric whims. He was most courteous to his neighbors, most affectionate to his family, most amiable to his domestics. Sir Roger, who figures in thirty papers of theSpectator, is the very beau-ideal of an amiable country gentleman of Queen Anne’s time.
Crabtree.—A character in Smollett’s novel,The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.
Crane, Ichabod.—The name of a Yankee schoolmaster, whose adventures are related in theLegend of Sleepy Hollow, in Irving’sSketch-Book.
Crawley(krâ´li),Rawdon.—The husband of Becky Sharp inVanity Fair, Thackeray’s novel without a hero.
Creakle(krē´kl),Mr.—A tyrannical and cruel schoolmaster in Dickens’David Copperfield.
Cressida(kres´i-dä).—The heroine of Shakespeare’s play,Troilus and Cressida, also the heroine of one of Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales.
Croaker.—A character in Goldsmith’s comedy,The Good-Natured Man.
Crummles(krum´lz),Vincent.—A theatrical head of a theatrical family in Dickens’Nicholas Nickleby.
Crusoe, Robinson.—Title and hero of a novel by Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe is a shipwrecked sailor, who leads a solitary life for many years on a desert island, and relieves the tedium of life by ingenious contrivances (1719). The story is based on the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor, who in 1704 was left by Captain Stradding on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez. Here he remained for four years and four months, when he was rescued by Captain Woodes Rogers and brought to England.
Cuttle, Captain.—A character in Dickens’Dombey and Son, good-humored, eccentric, pathetic in his simple credulity.
Cymbeline(sim´be-lin).—Title and hero of Shakespeare’s play. Imogen, daughter of Cymbeline, king of Britain, married clandestinely Posthumus Leonatus; and Posthumus, being banished for the offense, retired to Rome. One day, in the house of Philario, the conversation turned on the merits of wives, and Posthumus bet his diamond ring that nothing could tempt the fidelity of Imogen. Through the villainy of Iachimo, Cymbeline was forced to believe Imogen untrue. The villainy was in time disclosed, and the beautiful character of Imogen revealed.
D
Dalgetty(dal´get-i),Captain Dugald.—A soldier of fortune in Sir Walter Scott’sLegend of Montrose, distinguished for his pedantry, conceit, valor, vulgar assurance, knowledge of the world, greediness, and a hundred other qualities, making him one of the most amusing, admirable, and natural characters ever drawn by the hand of genius.
Damocles(dam´ō-klēz).—A flatterer in the court of Dionysius of Syracuse. By way of answer to his constant praises of the happiness of kings, Dionysius seated him at a royal banquet, with a sword hung over his head by a single horsehair. In the midst of his magnificent banquet, Damocles, chancing to look upward, saw a sharp and naked sword suspended over his head. A sight so alarming instantly changed his views on the felicity of kings. The phrase signifies now evil foreboding or dread, a tantalizing torment.
Damon and Pythias(pith´i-as).—(1) A play by Richard Edwards, printed in 1571. Its main subject is tragic, but it calls itself a comedy. (2) A tragedy by John Banim and Richard Lalor Sheil, produced in 1821. (3) Two noble Pythagoreans of Syracuse, who have been remembered as models of faithful friendship. Pythias having been condemned to death by Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, begged to be allowed to go home, for the purpose of arranging his affairs, Damon pledging his own life for the reappearance of his friend. Dionysius consented, and Pythias returned just in time to save Damon from death. Struck by so noble an example of mutual affection, the tyrant pardoned Pythias, and desired to be admitted into their sacred fellowship.
Dandie Dinmont.—A jovial, true-hearted store-farmer, in Sir Walter Scott’sGuy Mannering.
Daphnis(daf´nis) andChloe(klō´ē).—A prose-pastoral love story in Greek, by Longus, a Byzantine. Gessner has imitated the Greek romance in his idyll called Daphnis. In this love story Longus says he was hunting in Lesbos, and saw in a grove consecrated to the nymphs a beautiful picture of children exposed, lovers plighting their faith, and the incursions of pirates, which he now expresses and dedicates to Pan, Cupid and the nymphs. Daphnis, of course, is the lover of Chloe.
Darby and Joan.—This ballad is frequently calledThe Happy Old Couple. The words are sometimes attributed to Prior. Darby and Joan are an old-fashioned, loving couple, who are wholly averse to change of any sort. It is generally said that Henry Woodfall was the author of the ballad, and that the originals were John Darby (printer, of Bartholomew Close, who died 1730) and his wife Joan. Woodfall served his apprenticeship with John Darby.
Dares(dā´rēz).—One of the competitors at the funeral games of Anchises in Sicily, described in the fifth book of Vergil’sÆneid.
David.—(1) He was the uncle of King Arthur. St. David first embraced the ascetic life in the Isle of Wight, but subsequently removed to Menevia, in Pembrokeshire, where he founded twelve convents. (2) One of the Israelite kings. (3) In Dryden’s satire calledAbsalom and Achitophel, represents Charles II.; Absalom, his beautiful but rebellious son, represents the duke of Monmouth.
Davy.—Henry IV., Shakespeare. The varlet of Justice Shallow, who so identifies himself with his master that he considers himself half host, half varlet. Thus when he seats Bardolph and Page at table, he tells them they must take “his” good will for their assurance of welcome.
Dawfyd.—The Betrothed, Scott. The one-eyed freebooter chief.
Dawkins(dâ´kinz).—Oliver Twist, Dickens. Known by the sobriquet of the Artful Dodger. He is one of Fagin’s tools. Jack Dawkins is a scamp, but of a cheery, buoyant temper.
Dayonet, Sir.—In the romanceLe Mort d’Arthurhe is called the fool of King Arthur.
Deans, Douce Davie.—A poor herdsman at Edinburgh, and the father of Effie and Jeanie Deans, in Sir Walter Scott’s novel,The Heart of Midlothian.
Deans, Effie.—A beautiful but unfortunate character in Sir Walter Scott’sHeart of Midlothian.
Deans, Jeanie.—The heroine of Sir Walter Scott’sHeart of Midlothian, described as a perfect model of sober heroism, of the union of good sense and strong affections, firm principles, and perfect disinterestedness; and of calm superiority to misfortune, danger, and difficulty which such a union must create.
Decameron(de-kam´e-ron),The.—A collection of romances by Giovanni Boccaccio. It derives its name from its framework. Seven gentlemen and three ladies retire from Florence, during the plague, to a pleasant garden retreat, where they beguile the time by narrating various stories of love adventure.
Dedlock, Lady.—Wife of Sir Leicester, beautiful, and apparently cold and heartless, but suffering constant remorse. The daughter’s name is Esther Summerson, the heroine of the novel.
Dedlock, Sir Leicester.—A character inBleak House, by Charles Dickens. An honorable and truthful man, but of such fixed ideas that no man could shake his prejudices. He had an idea that the one thing of greatest importance to the world was a certain family by the name of Dedlock. He loved his wife, Lady Dedlock, and believed in her implicitly. His pride had a terrible fall when he learned the secret of her life before her marriage and knew the terrible fact she had been hiding from him that she had a daughter.
Deerslayer, The.—The title of a novel by J. F. Cooper, and the nickname of its hero, Natty, or Nathaniel Bumppo. He is a model uncivilized man, honorable, truthful, and brave, pure of heart and without reproach. He is introduced in five of Cooper’s novels:The Deerslayer,The Pathfinder,The Last of the Mohicans,The Pioneers, andThe Prairie. He is called “Hawk-Eye” inThe Last of the Mohicans; “Leather-Stocking” inThe Pioneers; and “The Trapper” inThe Prairie, in which last book he dies.
Defarge(da-färzh´),Mme.—Wife of the following, a dangerous woman, everlastingly knitting.
Defarge, Mons.—Tale of Two Cities, Dickens. Keeper of a wine shop in the Faubourg St. Antoine in Paris. He is a bull-necked, implacable-looking man.
Della Crusca Accademia(del´lä krös´kä äk-kä-dā´mē-ä).—Applied in England to a brotherhood of poets, at the close of the eighteenth century, under the leadership of Mrs. Piozzi. This school was conspicuous for affectation and high-flown panegyrics on each other. It was stamped out by Gifford, inThe Baviad, in 1794, and TheMæviad, in 1796. Robert Merry, who signed himselfDella Crusca, James Cobb, a farce-writer, James Boswell, biographer of Dr. Johnson, O’Keefe, Morton, Reynolds, Holcroft, Sheridan, Colman the Younger, Mrs. H. Cowley, and Mrs. Robinson were its best exponents.
Delphin Classics.—For the use of the dauphin, son of Louis XIV. the writings of thirty-nine Latin authors were collected and published in sixty volumes. Notes and an index were added to each work. An edition of theDelphin Classicswas published in London in the year 1818.
Delphine, Madame.—Old Creole Days, George W. Cable. A free quadroon connected with the splendor of Lafitte, the smuggler and patriot. Madame Delphine disowned her beautiful daughter Olive in order to assure to her the rights of a white woman.
Demetrius(de-mē´tri-us).—Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare. The young Athenian to whom Egeno promised his daughter Hermia in marriage.
Dempster, Janet.—A character from George Eliot’sScenes From Clerical Life. She was a woman of generous impulse, succumbed to drink through the brutality of her husband, but was restored by a clergyman to a life of nobility.
De Profundus.—Out of the Depths.The one hundred and thirtieth Psalm is so called from the first two words in the Latin version. In the Catholic liturgy it is sung when the dead are committed to the grave.
Deronda, Daniel.—One of George Eliot’s strongest character sketches in her novel of the same name.
Deserted Village, The.—A poem by Oliver Goldsmith. It was “instantaneously popular. Two new editions of it were called for in the following month, and a fourth in August, and passages from the poem were in every mouth, and the topics which it suggested, of depopulation, luxury, and landlordism, were discussed in connection with it.”
The Deserted Villagehas been identified with Lissoy, a quaint Irish village in the parish of Kilkenny West, of which Goldsmith’s father was the pastor, and whose natural features are accurately described in the poem.
Desmas.—The repentant thief is so called inThe Story of Joseph of Arimathea. Longfellow, inThe Golden Legend, calls him Dumachus. The impenitent thief is called Gestas, but Longfellow calls him Titus.
Dhu, Roderick.—A highland chieftain and outlaw in Scott’s poemLady of the Lake, cousin of Ellen Douglas, and also her suitor. He is slain by James Fitz-James.
Diana.—In Shakespeare’sAll’s Well That Ends Well, daughter of the widow of Florence with whom Helena lodged on her way to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand. Count Bertram wantonly loved Diana, but she brought about a reconciliation between Bertram and his wife Helena.
Diggon(dig´on),Davie.—A shepherd in theShepherd’s Calendar, by Spenser. He drove his sheep into foreign lands, hoping to find better pasture; but was amazed at the luxury and profligacy of the shepherds whom he saw there.
Diggory(dig´ō-ri).—In Goldsmith’sShe Stoops to Conquer, a barn laborer, employed on state occasions for butler and footman by Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. He is both awkward and familiar, laughs at his master’s jokes and talks to his master’s guests while serving.
Dimmesdale(dimz´dāl),Arthur.—In Hawthorne’s romance,The Scarlet Letter, a Puritan minister of great eloquence, whose conscience compels him to make a public confession of sin.
Dinah.—(1)St. Ronan’s Well, Scott, Daughter of Sandie Lawson, landlord of the Spa hotel. (2) A character in Mrs. Stowe’sUncle Tom’s Cabin.
Dinah, Aunt.—In Sterne’sTristram Shandy. She leaves Mr. Walter Shandy one thousand pounds, which he fancies will enable him to carry out all the schemes that enter into his head.
Dinah Friendly.—The Bashful Man, Moncrieff. Daughter of Sir Thomas Friendly.
Dingley Hall.—Pickwick Papers, Dickens. The home of Mr. Wardle and his family.
Divina Commedia(dē-vē´nä kom-mā´dē-ä), (or,Divine Comedy).—The first poem of note ever written in the Italian language. It is an epic by Danté Alighieri, and is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Danté called it acomedy, because the ending is happy; and his countrymen added the worddivinefrom admiration of the poem. The poet depicts a vision, in which he is conducted, first by Vergil (human reason) through hell and purgatory; and then by Beatrice (revelation), and finally by St. Bernard through the several heavens, where he beholds the Triune God.
“Hell” is represented as a funnel-shaped hollow, formed of gradually contracting circles, the lowest and smallest of which is the earth’s center. “Purgatory” is a mountain rising solitary from the ocean on that side of the earth which is opposite to us. It is divided into terraces, and its top is the terrestrial paradise. From this “top” the poet ascends through the seven planetary heavens, the fixed stars, and the “primum mobile.”
In all parts of the regions thus traversed there arise conversations with noted personages. The deepest questions of philosophy and theology are discussed and solved; and the social and moral condition of Italy, with the corruptions of church and state, are depicted with indignation. Fifty-two years after the poet’s death the republic of Florence set apart an annual sum for public lectures to explain theDivine Comedyto the people in one of the churches, and Boccaccio himself was appointed first lecturer.
Doctor Syntax.—The hero of a work entitledThe Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. Doctor Syntax is a simple-minded, pious, hen-pecked clergyman, but of excellent taste and scholarship, who left home in search of the picturesque. His adventures are told in eight-syllable verse by William Combe.
Dods.—The old landlady in Scott’s novel calledSt. Ronan’s Well. An excellent character, a mosaic of oddities, all fitting together and forming an admirable whole. She was so good a housewife that a cookery book of great repute bears her name.
Dodson and Fogg.—The lawyers employed by the plaintiff in the famous case of “Bardellvs.Pickwick,” in thePickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens.
Doeg(dō´eg).—Absalom and Achitophel, Dryden. Doeg was Saul’s herdsman, who had charge of his mules and asses. He told Saul that the priests of Nob had provided David with food; whereupon Saul sent him to put them to death, and eighty-five were ruthlessly massacred.
Dogberry(dog´ber-i)and Verges(ver´gēz).—Two ignorant conceited constables, in Shakespeare’sMuch Ado About Nothing.
Dolla Murrey.—A character in Crabbe’sBoroughwho was devoted to playing cards. She died at the card table.
Dolly Varden(vär´den).—Barnaby Rudge, Dickens. Daughter of Gabriel Varden, locksmith. Dolly dressed in the Watteau style, and was lively, pretty, and bewitching.
Dombey and Son.—A novel by Dickens. Mr. Dombey is a self-sufficient, purse-proud, frigid merchant who feels satisfied there is but one Dombey in the world, and that is himself. When Paul was born, his ambition was attained, his whole heart was in the boy, and the loss of the mother was but a small matter. The boy’s death turned his heart to stone.
Dombey, Florence.—A motherless child, hungering and thirsting to be loved, but regarded with indifference by her father, who thinks that sons alone are worthy of regard.
Domesday Book(or,Doomsday Book),—The name of one of the oldest and most valuable records of England, containing the results of a statistical survey of that country made by William the Conqueror, and completed in the year 1086. The origin of the name—which seems to have been given to other records of the same kind—is somewhat uncertain; but it has obvious reference to the supreme authority of the book in doom or judgment on the matters contained in it.
Dominie Sampson.—Guy Mannering, Scott. A village schoolmaster and scholar, poor as a church mouse, and modest as a girl. He cites Latin like aporcus literarumand exclaims “prodigious!” He is no uncommon personage in a country where a certain portion of learning is easily attained by those who are willing to suffer hunger and thirst in exchange for acquiring Greek and Latin.
Don Adriano de Armado.—A pompous, fantastical Spaniard in Shakespeare’sLove’s Labor’s Lost, who had a mint of phrases in his brain.
Donatello(don-ä-tel´lō).—The hero of Hawthorne’s romanceThe Marble Faun. He is a young Italian with a singular likeness to the Faun of Praxiteles. He leads an innocent but purely animal existence, until a sudden crime awakens his conscience and transforms his whole nature.
Don Cherubim.—The Bachelor of Salamanca, in Le Sage’s novel of this name; a man placed in different situations of life, and made to associate with all classes of society, in order to give the author the greatest possible scope for satire.
Donegild.—Man of Law’s Tale, Chaucer. The mother of Alla, king of Northumberland, hating Constance, the wife of Alla, because she was a Christian, she put her on a raft with her infant son and turned her adrift. When Alla returned from Scotland and discovered this cruelty of his mother, he put her to death. The tradition of St. Mungo resembles theMan of Law’s Talein many respects.
Don Juan(don jū´an; Sp. pron.dōn Hö-än´).—Typifies in literature a profligate. He gives himself up so entirely to the gratification of sense, especially to the most powerful of all the impulses, that of love, that he acknowledges no higher consideration, and proceeds to murder the man that stands between him and his wish, fancying that in so doing he had annihilated his very existence. He then defies that Spirit to prove to his senses his existence. The Spirit returns and compels Don Juan to acknowledge the supremacy of spirit, and the worthlessness of a merely sensuous existence. The traditions concerning Don Juan have been dramatized by Tirso de Molina. Glück has a musical ballet,Don Juan, and Mozart has immortalized the character in his operaDon Giovanni; and Byron in a half-finished poem.
Don Quixote(dōn kē-hō´tā).—A celebrated Spanish romance by Cervantes. Don Quixote is represented as “a gaunt country gentleman of La Mancha, full of genuine Castilian honor and enthusiasm, gentle and dignified in his character, trusted by his friends, and loved by his dependents,” but “so completely crazed by long reading the most famous books of chivalry that he believes them to be true, and feels himself called on to become the impossible knight-errant they describe, and actually goes forth into the world to defend the oppressed and avenge the injured, like the heroes of his romances.” The fame of Cervantes will always rest upon this incomparable satire.
Dorrit.—SeeLittle Dorrit.
Doorm.—Idylls of the King(Enid), Tennyson. An earl called “the Bull,” who tried to make Enid his handmaid; but, when she would neither eat, drink, nor array herself in bravery at his bidding, “he smote her on the cheek”; whereupon Geraint slew the “russet-bearded earl” in his own hall.
Dora.—David Copperfield, Dickens. The child-wife to David, affectionate and tender-hearted. She was always playing with her poodle and saying simple things to her “Dody.” She could never be his helper, but she looked on her husband with idolatrous love. When quite young she died.
Dorastus.—The hero of an old popular “history” or romance, upon which Shakespeare founded hisWinter’s Tale. It was written by Robert Greene, and was first published in 1588, under the title ofPandosto, the Triumph of Time.
Dorothea.—The heroine of Goethe’s celebrated poem ofHerman und Dorothea.
Dory, John.—A character inWild OatsorThe Strolling Gentleman, a comedy by John O’Keefe.
Dotheboys Hall(dö´the-boiz hâl).—Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens. A school for boys kept by a Mr. Squeers, a puffing, ignorant, overbearing brute, whose system of education consisted of alternately beating and starving.
Doubting Castle.—The castle of the giant Despair, in which Christian and Hopeful were incarcerated, but from which they escaped by means of the key called “Promise,” which was able to open any lock in the castle.
Dousterswivel(dös´ter-swiv-el),Herman.—Scott,The Antiquary. A German schemer, who obtains money under the promise of finding hidden wealth by a divining rod.
Drawcansir(drâ´kan-ser).—A bragging, blustering bully, in George Villiers, duke of Buckingham’sThe Rehearsal, who took part in a battle, and killed everyone on both sides, “sparing neither friend nor foe.”
Driver.—Guy Mannering, Scott. Clerk to Mr. Pleydell, advocate, Edinburgh.
Dromio.—The Brothers Dromio.Twin brothers exactly alike, who serve two brothers exactly alike, in Shakespeare’sComedy of Errors, based on theMenæchmiof Plautus.
Dry-as-dust, The Rev.—An imaginary personage who serves to introduce Scott’s novels to the public.
Dudu.—One of the three beauties of the harem, into which Juan, by the sultana’s order, had been admitted in female attire.
Duessa(dū-es´sa).—A foul witch, in Spenser’sFaërie Queene, who under the assumed name of Fidessa, and the assumed character of a distressed and lovely woman, entices the Red-cross Knight into the House of Pride.
Duff, Jamie.—Guy Mannering, Scott. The idiot boy attending Mrs. Bertram’s funeral.
Dulcinea del Toboso(dul-sin´ē-ä del tō-bō´zō).—A country girl whom Don Quixote courts as his lady love.
Dumain(dū-mān´).—A lord attending on the king of Navarre in Shakespeare’sLove’s Labor’s Lost.
Duncan.—(1) A king of Scotland immortalized in Shakespeare’s tragedy ofMacbeth. Shakespeare represents him as murdered by Macbeth, who succeeds to the Scottish throne, but according to history he fell in battle. (2) A highland hero in Scott’sLady of the Lake.
Dunder, Sir David, of Dunder Hall.—A conceited, whimsical old gentleman, who forever interrupts a speaker with “Yes, yes, I know it,” or “Be quiet, I know it.”Ways and Means, by Colman.
Dundreary(dun-drēr´i),Lord.—A grotesque character in Taylor’s comedy,Our American Cousin, noted for his aristocratic haughtiness of manner. The character is said to have been created by the actor Sothern.
Durandana(dö-rän-dä´nä).—The name of the marvelous sword of Orlando, the renowned hero of romance, said to have been wrought by the fairies, who endued it with such power that its owner was able to cleave the Pyrenees with it at a blow.
Durandarte(dö-rän-där´te).—A fabulous hero of Spain. Cervantes has introduced him, inDon Quixote, in the celebrated adventure of the knight in the cave of Montesinos.
Durden(der´den),Dame.—(1) The heroine of a popular English song. She is described as a notable housewife, and the mistress of five serving-girls and five laboring men. The five men loved the five maids. (2) A sobriquet playfully applied to Esther Summerson, the heroine of Dickens’Bleak House.
Durward(der´wārd),Quentin.—A novel by Scott. Quentin Durward is a young archer of the Scottish guard in the service of Louis XI. of France. When Liège is assaulted, Quentin Durward and the Countess Isabelle, who has been put into his charge, escape on horseback. The countess publicly refuses to marry the Duc d’Orléans, to whom she has been promised, and ultimately marries the young Scotchman.
Dwarf, Alberich.—In theNibelungen Liedthe dwarf “Alberich” is the guardian of the famous hoard won by Siegfried from the Nibelungs. The dwarf is twice vanquished by the hero, who gets possession of his “Tarn-Kappe” (cloak of invisibility).
Dwarf, The Black.—A novel by Sir Walter Scott. The dwarf is a fairy of the most malignant character; a genuine northern Duergar, and once held by the dalesmen of the border as the author of all the mischief that befell their flocks and herds. In Scott’s novel the black dwarf is introduced under the aliases of Sir Edward Mauley; Elshander, the recluse; Cannie Elshie; and the Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor.
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Ecce Homo(ek´sē hō´mō).—The title of a semi-theological work, attributed to Professor Seeley, and published in 1865, in which the humanity of Christ is considered and enforced, apart from his divinity. The phrase, “The enthusiasm of humanity,” was[793]originated in this work; to which, it may be mentioned, Dr. Joseph Parker replied in hisEcce Deuspublished in 1866.
Eckhardt, The Faithful.—A legendary hero of Germany, represented as an old man with a white staff, who, in Eisleben, appears on the evening of Maundy Thursday, and drives all the people into their houses, to save them from being harmed by a terrible procession of dead men, headless bodies, and two-legged horses, which immediately after passes by. Other traditions represent him as the companion of the knight Tannhäuser, and as warning travelers from the Venusberg, the mountain of fatal delights in the old mythology of Germany. Tieck has founded a story upon this legend, which has been translated into English by Carlyle, in which Eckhardt is described as the good servant who perishes to save his master’s children from the seducing fiends of the mountain. The German proverb, “Thou art the faithful Eckhardt; thou warnest everyone,” is founded upon this tradition.
Eclecta.—The “Elect” personified inThe Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher. She is the daughter of Intellect and Voletta (free-will).
Ector, Sir.—The foster-father of King Arthur, and lord of many parts of England and Wales. Father of Sir Kay, seneschal to King Arthur.
Edenhall, The Luck of.—A painted goblet in the possession of the Musgrave family of Edenhall, Cumberland, said to have been left by the fairies on St. Cuthbert’s Well. The tradition runs that the luck of the family is dependent on the safe-keeping of this goblet. The German poet Uhland embodied the legend in a ballad, translated into English by Longfellow.
Edgar.—Son to Gloucester, in Shakespeare’s tragedy of Lear. He was disinherited for his half-brother Edmund.
Edgar, orEdgardo.—Master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucy Ashton in Scott’sBride of Lammermoor.
Edith.—TheMaid of Lornin Scott’sLord of the Isles, who married Ronald when peace was restored after the battle of Bannockburn.
Edith, The Lady.—Ivanhoe, Scott. Mother of Athelstane “the Unready” (thane of Coningsburgh).
Edith Granger.—Daughter of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton, married to Colonel Granger of Ours, who died within two years. Edith became Mr. Dombey’s second wife, but the marriage was altogether unhappy.
Edith Plantagenet(plan-taj´e-net),The Lady.—The Talisman, Scott. Called “The Fair Maid of Anjou,” a kinswoman of Richard I., and attendant on Queen Berengaria.
Edmund.—A bastard son of Gloucester in Shakespeare’s tragedy ofKing Lear.
Edward, Sir.—The Iron Chest, Colman. He commits a murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Later, he trusts the secret to his secretary, Wilfred, and the whole transaction now becomes public.
Edward.—Count Robert of Paris, Scott. Brother of Hereward, the Varangian guard. He was slain in battle.
Edwin.—(1) The hero of Goldsmith’s ballad entitledThe Hermit. (2) The hero of Mallet’s balladEdwin and Emma. (3) The hero of Beattie’sMinstrel.
Edyrn.—Idylls of the King(Enid), Tennyson. Son of Nudd. A suitor for the hand of Enid and an evil genius of her father, who opposed him. Later, Edyrn went to the court of King Arthur and became quite a changed man—from a malicious “sparrow-hawk” he was converted into a courteous gentleman.
Egeus(ējē´us).—Father of Hermia in Shakespeare’sMidsummer Night’s Dream.
Eglamour.—A character, in Shakespeare’sTwo Gentlemen of Verona, who is an agent of Silvia in her escape.
Eglamour(eg´la-mör),Sir.—A valiant knight of the Round Table, celebrated in the romances of chivalry, and in an old ballad.
Eglantine(eg´lan-tīn),Madame.—The prioress in Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales, who was “full pleasant and amiable of port.” She was distinguished for the ladylike delicacy of her manners at table, and for her partiality to “small hounds,” and a peculiar mixture in her manner and dress of feminine vanity and slight worldliness, together with an ignorance of the world.
Egyptian Thief.—A personage alluded to by the Duke in Shakespeare’sTwelfth Night. The reference is to the story of Thyamis, a robber-chief and native of Memphis.
Elvir.—Harold the Dauntless, Scott. A Danish maid, who assumes boy’s clothing, and waits on Harold “the Dauntless,” as his page.
Elaine.—A mythical lady in the romances of King Arthur’s court. She is called “the lily maid of Astolat” in Tennyson’sIdylls of the King. She died for love of Sir Launcelot, and then at her request was borne on a barge to the castle of King Arthur, holding a lily in one hand, and a letter to Launcelot in the other.
Elbow.—A constable, in Shakespeare’sMeasure for Measure, modest and well-meaning, though of simple mind and the object of wit among those who are wiser but not better.
El Dorado.—A name given by the Spaniards to an imaginary country, supposed, in the sixteenth century, to be situated in the interior of South America, and abounding in gold and all manner of precious stones.
Electra.—The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the heroine of a tragedy by Sophocles and of another by Euripides.
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.—By Thomas Gray. Dr. Johnson gives 1750 as the date of publication; and declares that the piece “abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.” The churchyard was that of Stoke Poges, near Eton.
Elim.—The Messiah, Klopstock. The guardian angel of Libbeus the Apostle. Libbeus, the tenderest and most gentle of the apostles, at the death of Jesus also died from grief.
Elissa.—Step-sister of Medina and Perissa, in Spenser’sFaërie Queene. They could never agree upon any subject.
Elliott, Hobbie.—There are seven by this name in theBlack Dwarf, by Sir Walter Scott. The farmer Elliott himself and his bride-elect, Grace Armstrong; Mrs. Elliott, Hobbie’s grandmother; John and Harry, Hobbie’s brothers; Lilias, Jean, and Arnot, Hobbie’s sisters.
Elops.—Milton gives this name to the dumb serpent which gives no warning of its approach.
Elsie.—The daughter of Gottlieb, a farm tenant of Prince Henry of Hohenneck, who offered her life as a substitute for the prince. She was rescued as she was about to make the sacrifice. Longfellow has told this story inThe Golden Legend.
Elspeth(el´speth).—(1) A character in Sir Walter Scott’sAntiquary. (2) An old servant to Dandie Dinmont in Scott’sGuy Mannering.
Elvira.—(1) In Cibber’sLove Makes a Man, sister of Don Duart, and niece of the governor of Lisbon. She marries Clodio, the coxcomb son of Don Antonio. (2) The young wife of Gomez, a rich old banker, in Dryden’sThe Spanish Fryer. She carries on a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, by the aid of her father-confessor Dominick, but is always checkmated, and it turns out that Lorenzo is her brother.
Emelye.—The sister-in-law of “Duke Theseus,” beloved by the two knights, Palamon and Arcyte.
Emile(ā-mēl´).—A philosophical romance on education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile, the chief character, is the author’s ideal of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature having been carefully withheld.
Emilia(ē-mil´i-ä).—(1) A lady attending Hermione in Shakespeare’sWinter’s Tale. (2) Wife to Iago, and waiting woman to Desdemona, in the tragedy ofOthello, a woman of thorough vulgarity and loose principles, united to a high degree of spirit, energetic feeling, strong sense, and low cunning. (3) The sweetheart of Peregrine Pickle in Smollett’s novelThe Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.
Em’ly, Little.—David Copperfield, Dickens. Daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan’el Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought up. David Copperfield and Em’ly were at one time playfellows. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan’el’s nephew) Little Em’ly runs away with Steerforth, a friend of David’s, who was a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan’el Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.
Empyrean.—According to Ptolemy, there are five heavens, the last of which is pure elemental fire and the seat of Deity; this fifth heaven is called the empyrean.
Endell, Martha.—David Copperfield, Dickens. A poor girl, to whom Em’ly goes when Steerforth deserts her.
Endymion(en-dim´i-on).—A beautiful shepherd boy whom Diana kissed while he lay asleep on Mount Latmus. The story was made the subject of an English poem by Keats, in memory of his much loved friend, the poet Shelley. Shelley pronounced it “full of some of the highest and the finest gleams of poetry.”
Also a lyric by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow founded on the old mythic story of the mortal youth who was beloved by Diana, and received her kiss—
When, sleeping in the grove,He dreamed not of her love.
When, sleeping in the grove,He dreamed not of her love.
Enid.—A mythical lady mentioned in a Welsh triad as one of the three celebrated ladies of Arthur’s court—a beautiful picture of conjugal patience and affection. Her story is told in theMabinogionand in Tennyson’sIdylls of the King. In the midst of an impure court she is the personification of purity.
Eolian Harp.—Baruch. There is a rabbinical story of the aërial harmony of the harp of David, which, when hung up at night, was played upon by the north wind.
Epigram.—A short, pointed or antithetical poem; or any short composition happily or antithetically expressed.
Epithalamium(ep´i-thā-lā´mi-um).—Was a species of poem which it was the custom among the Greeks and Romans to sing in chorus near the bridal-chamber of a newly married couple. Anacreon, Stesichorus, and Pindar composed poems of this kind, but only scanty fragments have been preserved. Spenser’sEpithalamium, written on the occasion of his marriage, is one of the finest specimens of this kind of verse.
Eppie.—(1)St. Ronan’s Well, Scott. One of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms, Old St. Ronan’s, held by Meg Dods. (2) In George Eliot’sSilas Marnerthe child of Godfrey Cass, brought up and adopted by Silas Marner, whose love transformed him from a miser into a tender, loving father.
Ermangarde of Baldringham, Lady.—The Betrothed, Scott. Aunt of the Lady Eveline Berenger, “the Betrothed.”
Ermeline.—The wife of Reynard, in the tale ofReynard the Fox.
Ermina.—The heroine of Tasso’sJerusalem Delivered, who fell in love with Tancred. When the Christian army besieged Jerusalem, she dressed herself in Clorinda’s armor to go to Tancred, but, being discovered, fled, and lived awhile with some shepherds on the banks of the Jordan. Meeting with Vafrino, sent as a secret spy by the crusaders, she revealed to him the design against the life of Godfrey, and, returning with him to the Christian camp, found Tancred wounded. She cured his wounds, so that he was able to take part in the last great day of the siege.
Ernest, Duke.—A poetical romance by Henry of Veldig (Waldeck), contemporary with Frederick Barbarossa. It is a mixture of Greek and oriental myths and hero adventures of the crusader.
Error.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. A monster who lived in a den in “Wandering Wood,” and with whom the Red-cross Knight had his first adventure. She had a brood of one thousand young ones of sundry shapes, and these cubs crept into their mother’s mouth when alarmed, as young kangaroos creep into their mother’s pouch. The knight was nearly killed by the stench which issued from the foul fiend, but he succeeded in “rafting” her head off, whereupon the brood lapped up the blood, and burst with satiety.
Escalus(es´ka-lus).—An ancient and kind hearted lord, in Shakespeare’sMeasure for Measure, whom Vincentio, the duke of Vienna, joins with Angelo as his deputy during a pretended absence on a distant journey.
Escanes(es´ka-nēz).—A lord of Tyre, in Shakespeare’sPericles.
Esmeralda.—Notre Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo. A beautiful gypsy girl, who, with tambourine and goat, dances in the “place” before Notre Dame.
Esmond, Henry.—A cavalier and fine-spirited gentleman in the reign of Queen Anne. Hero of Thackeray’s novel by the same name.
Esmond.—A novel by W. M. Thackeray, published in 1852. Its most striking feature is its elaborate imitation of the style and even the manner of thought of the time of Queen Anne’s reign, in which its scenes are laid.
Esprit des Lois[es-prē´dâ lwa(or,Spirit of the Laws)].—A celebrated philosophical work by Montesquieu, published at Geneva in 1748. The author begins somewhat formally with the old division of politics into democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. He discusses the principles of each, and their bearings on education, on positive law, on social conditions, on military strength (offensive and defensive) on individual liberty, on taxation and finance. Then an abrupt return is made from the effects to the causes of constitutions and polity. The theory of the influence of physical conditions, and especially of climate, on political and social institutions—a theory which is perhaps more than any other identified with the book—received special attention, and a somewhat disproportionate space is given to the question of slavery in this connection. From climate Montesquieu passes to the nature of the soil as in its turn affecting civil polity. He then attacks the subject of manners and customs as distinct from laws of trade and commerce, of the family, of jurisprudence, of religion. The book concludes with an elaborate examination of the feudal system in France.
Essay on Man.—A poem by Alexander Pope, in four epistles:Of the Nature and State of Man With Respect to the Universe;Of the Nature and State of Man With Respect to Himself as an Individual;Of the Nature and State of Man With Respect to Society; andOf the Nature and State of Man With Respect to Happiness. Its fundamental idea is to the effect that the system of the universe is a “benevolent system, in which every virtue, as well as every passion, has its object and end.”
“If,” says Professor Ward, “theEssay on Manwere shivered into fragments, it would not lose its value; for it is precisely its details which constitute its moral as well as literary beauties. Nowhere has Pope so abundantly displayed his incomparable talent of elevating truisms into proverbs, in his mastery over language and poetic form.”
Essays(or,Counsels Civil and Moral).—By Francis, Lord Bacon. In the dedication to his brother Anthony, the author says he published theEssays“because many of them had been stolen abroad in writing,” and he desired to give the world a correct version of his work. The wordEssays, he says, “is late; but the thing is ancient, for Seneca’s Epistles to Lucilius, if you mark them well, are but essays, that is, dispersed meditations, though conveyed in the form of epistles.” “The transcendent strength of Bacon’s mind is visible.” says Hallam, “in the whole tenor of theseEssays, unequaled as they must be, from the very nature of such compositions. They are deeper and more discriminating than any earlier, or almost any later, work, in the English language; full of recondite observations, long matured, and carefully sifted.”
Estella.—The heroine of Dickens’ novel ofGreat Expectations.
Estotiland, orEstotilandia.—An imaginary region in America, near the arctic circle, referred to by Milton as “cold Estotiland,” and variously fabled to have been discovered by Frisian fishermen in the fourteenth century, and by a Pole named John Scalve, in 1477.
Etzel(et´sel),i. e.,Attila.—King of the Huns, a monarch ruling over three kingdoms and more than thirty principalities; being a widower, he married Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried. In theNibelungenlied, where he is introduced, he is made very insignificant.
Eugénie Grandet(u-zhā-nē´gron-dā´).—A novel by Balzac, written in 1833, published in 1834. The heroine, Eugenie, is sacrificed to the cold-blooded avariciousness of her father. This is one of Balzac’s best novels.
Eulalia(ū-lā´li-ä),St.—In the calendar of saints there is a virgin martyr called Eulalia. She was martyred by torture February 12, 308. Longfellow calls Evangeline theSunshine of St. Eulalia.
Eulenspiegel(oi´len-spē-gel).—The hero of a German tale, which relates the pranks and drolleries of a wandering cottager of Brunswick.
Euphrasy.—Paradise Lost, Milton. The herb eye-bright, so called because it was once supposed to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence, the Archangel Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the distant future.
Evan Dhu M’Combich.—Waverley, Scott. The foster-brother of M’Ivor.
Evan Dhu of Lochiel.—Legend of Montrose, Scott. A Highland chief in the army of Montrose.
Evangeline.—The title and heroine of a tale in hexameter verse by Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now Nova Scotia). At the age of seventeen she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith; but next day all the colony was exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now, sustained by the brightness of hope, she wandered from place to place to find her betrothed. Basil had settled in Louisiana; but when Evangeline reached that distant land, Gabriel had gone. She sought him on the prairies, and, again far north, in Michigan, but ever a few days, a few weeks, too late. At length, grown old in this hopeless quest, she came to Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out; and, as she visited the almshouse in ministration, she saw an old man who had been smitten with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name; but death closed his lips. “All was ended now;” and “Side by side, in nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.”
Evangelist.—In Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress, represents the effectual preacher of the gospel who opens the gate of life to Christian.
Evans, Sir Hugh.—In Shakespeare’sMerry Wives of Windsor, a Welsh parson and school-teacher, ignorant but pedantic, who has a ludicrous quarrel with Dr. Caius.
Excalibur(eks-kal´i-bẽr), orExcalibar, orEscalibor.—The sword of the mythical King Arthur. Arthur received it from the hands of the Lady of the Lake. It had a scabbard the wearer of which could lose no blood. There seems, however, to have been also another sword called Excalibur in the early part of the story. This was the sword, plunged deep into a stone, which could be drawn forth only by the man who was to be king. After two hundred knights had failed, Arthur drew it out without difficulty.
Excursion, The.—A poem, in blank verse, by William Wordsworth, published in 1814, and forming the second part of a poem in three parts, to be entitledThe Recluse, which the author had at one time contemplated. It consists of nine books, respectively entitledThe Wanderer,The Solitary,Despondency,Despondency Corrected,The Pastor,The Churchyard Among the Mountains,The Same Subject Continued,The Parsonage,Discourse of the Wanderer, andAn Evening Visit to the Lake.
Eyre(âr),Jane.—A novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in 1847, with a dedication to William Makepeace Thackeray, as “the first social regenerator of the day.” The early scenes are laid in the Lowood Institution, which has been identified with a school established by the Rev. W. Carus Wilson, at Cowen’s Bridge, near Leeds, and which is described with stern but unpleasing realism. Much of the book was derived from the author’s own personal experience.
Ezzelin, Sir.—Lara, Byron. The gentleman who recognizes Lara at the table of Lord Otho, and charges him with being Conrad the Corsair. A duel ensues, and Ezzelin is never heard of more. A serf used to say that he saw a huntsman one evening cast a dead body into the river which divided the lands of Otho and Lara, and that there was a star of knighthood on the breast of the corpse.
F
Faa, Gabriel.—Guy Mannering, Scott. Nephew of Meg Merrilies. One of the huntsmen at Liddesdale.
Fadladeen.—The hypercritical grand chamberlain in Moore’s poemLalla Rookh. Fadladeen’s criticism upon the several tales which make up the romance are very racy and full of humor; and his crestfallen conceit when he finds out that the poet was the prince in disguise is well conceived.
Faerie Queene(fā´e-ri kwēn),The.—A poem by Edmund Spenser, published in 1590. This great allegorical epic is divided into six books, of which the first contains the Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross, or Holiness; the second the Legend of Sir Guyon, or Temperance; the third the Legend of Britomartis, or Chastity; the fourth the Legend of Cambal and Telamond, or Friendship; the fifth the Legend of Artegall, or Justice; and the sixth the Legend of Sir Calidore, or Courtesy. There originally existed twelve books, but the last six, excepting two cantos on Mutability, were lost by the poet’s servant in crossing from Ireland to England—a circumstance to be deeply regretted by every lover of true poetry. The finest things in Spenser are the character of Una, in the first book, the House of Pride, the Cave of Mammoth, and the Cave of Despair; the account of Memory; the description of Belphœbe; the story of Florimel and the Witch’s Son; the gardens of Adonis and the Bower of Bliss; the Mask of Cupid; and Colin Clout’s Vision, in the last book.
Fag.—A lying servant to Captain Absolute in Sheridan’sRivals.
Fagin.—An old Jew in Dickens’Oliver Twist, who employs young persons of both sexes to carry on a systematic trade of robbery.
Fainall, Mr. and Mrs.—Noted characters in Congreve’s comedyThe Way of the World.
Faineant, Le Noir(The Black Idler).—In Sir Walter Scott’sIvanhoe, a name applied to Richard Cœur de Lion in disguise, by the spectators of a tournament, on account of his indifference during a great part of the action, in which, however, he was finally victorious.
Fair Maid of Perth.—The title of a novel by Sir Walter Scott, and the name of the heroine.
Fair Rosamond.—Prototype of many heroines of fiction, a daughter of Walter de Clifford. According to a popular legend, which has no foundation in fact, Henry II. built a labyrinth or maze to conceal her from Queen Eleanor, who discovered her by means of a silken clew and put her to death. She is commonly, though erroneously, stated to have been the mother of William Longsword and Geoffrey, archbishop of York.
Fairservice, Andrew.—A shrewd Scotch gardener at Osbaldistone Hall inRob Roy, Sir Walter Scott.
Fairy of the Mine.—A malevolent being, supposed to live in mines, busying itself with cutting ore, turning the windlass, etc., and yet effecting nothing.
Faithful.—One of the allegorical personages in Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress, who dies a martyr before completing his journey.
Faithful, Jacob.—The title and hero of a sea tale, by Captain Marryat (1835).
Fakenham Ghost.—A ballad by Robert Bloomfield, author ofThe Farmer’s Boy. The ghost was a donkey.
Fakreddin’s Valley.—Over the several portals of bronze were these inscriptions: (1)The Asylum of Pilgrims; (2)The Traveler’s Refuge; (3)The Depository of the Secrets of All the World.
Falkland.—In Godwin’s novel calledCaleb Williams. He commits murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Williams, a lad in his employ, opens the chest, and is caught in the act by Falkland. The lad runs away, but is hunted down. This tale, dramatized by Colman is entitledThe Iron Chest.
Falstaff(fâl´stȧf),Sir John.—A famous character in Shakespeare’s comedy of theMerry Wives of Windsor, and in the first and second parts of his historical drama ofHenry IV.He is as perfect a comic portrait as was ever sketched. In the former play he is represented as in love with Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, who make a butt and a dupe of him; in the latter he figures as a soldier and a wit; in both he is exhibited as a monster of fat—sensual, mendacious, boastful, and cowardly. InHenry V.his death is described by Mrs. Quickly.
Fang.—(1) A sheriff’s officer, in the second part of Shakespeare’sKing Henry IV.(2)Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens. A bullying insolent magistrate, who would have sent Oliver Twist to prison, on suspicion of theft, if Mr. Brownlow had not interposed.
Fata Alcina.—Orlando Innamorato, Bojardo. Sister of Fata Morgana. She carried off Astolfo on the back of a whale to her isle, but turned him into a myrtle tree when she tired of him.
Fata Morgana(fä´tä mor-gä´nä).—The name of a potent fairy, celebrated in the tales of chivalry, and in the romantic poems of Italy. She was a pupil of the enchanter Merlin, and the sister of Arthur, to whom she discovered the intrigue of his queen, Geneura, or Guinever, with Lancelot of the Lake. In theOrlando Innamoratoof Bojardo, she appears at first as a personification of fortune, inhabiting a splendid residence at the bottom of a lake, and dispensing all the treasures of the earth, but she is afterward found in her proper station subject to the all potent Demogorgon. Also, as sister to King Arthur and pupil of Merlin. She lived at the bottom of the lake and dispensed good fortune as she liked.
Fat Boy, The.—A laughable character in Dickens’Pickwick Papers; a youth of astonishing obesity whose employment consists in alternate eating and sleeping.
Fathom, Ferdinand, Count.—The title of a novel by Smollett, and the name of its principal character, a complete villain, who proceeds step by step to rob his benefactors and finally dies in misery and despair.
Fatima(fä´tē-mä).—(1) A female worker, in the story ofAladdin, in theArabian Nights’ Entertainments. (2) The last of the wives of Bluebeard, and the only one who escaped being murdered by him.
Faust(foust).—A celebrated tragedy by Goethe, the materials of which are drawn in part from the popular legends of Dr. Faustus, a famous magician of the sixteenth century. A rich uncle having left him a fortune, Faust ran to every excess, and, when his fortune was exhausted, made a pact with the devil (who assumed the name of Mephistopheles, and the appearance of a little gray monk), that, if he might indulge his propensities freely for twenty-four years, he would at the end of that period consign to the devil both body and soul. The compact terminated in 1550, when Faust disappeared. His sweetheart was Margherita, whom he seduced, and his faithful servant was Wagner.
Faustus(fâs´tus).—A tragedy name; represented as a vulgar sorcerer tempted to sell his soul to the devil (Mephistopheles), on condition of having a familiar spirit at his command, the possession of earthly power and glory, and unlimited gratification of his sensual appetites, for twenty-four years; at the end of which time, when the forfeit comes to be exacted, he shrinks and shudders in agony and remorse, imploring yet despairing of the mercy of heaven. This has been the theme of many writers. It is the subject of an opera by Gounod.
Femmes Savantes(fam sȧ-väN´),Les(or,The Learned Women).—Comedy by Molière. These women go in[796]for women’s rights, science, and philosophy, to the neglect of domestic duties and wifely amenities. The “blue-stockings” are (1) Philaminte, the mother of Henriette, who discharges one of her servants because she speaks bad grammar; (2) Armande, sister of Henriette, who advocates platonic love and science; and (3) Bélise, sister of Philaminte, who sides with her in all things, but imagines that everyone is in love with her. Henriette, who has no sympathy with these “lofty flights,” is in love with Clitandre; but Philaminte wants her to marry Trissotin, abel esprit. However, the father loses his property through the “savant” proclivities of his wife, Trissotin retires, and Clitandre marries Henriette, the “perfect” or thorough woman.
Fenella.—A fairy-like creature, a deaf and dumb attendant on the countess of Derby, in Sir Walter Scott’sPeveril of the Peak.
Fenton(fen´ton).—A character in Shakespeare’sMerry Wives of Windsor, who wooes the rich Anne Page for her money, but soon discovers inward treasures in her which quite transform him.
Feramorz(fer´a-mōrz).—Lalla Rookh, Thomas Moore. Feramorz inLalla Rookhis the young Cashmerian poet, who relates poetical tales to Lalla Rookh, in her journey from Delhi to Lesser Bucharia. Lalla Rookh is going to be married to the young sultan, but falls in love with the poet. On the wedding morn she is led to her future husband, and finds that the poet is the sultan himself, who had gallantly taken this course to win the heart of his bride and beguile her journey.
Ferdinand(fer´di-nand).—(1) A character in Shakespeare’sTempest. He is a son of the king of Naples, and falls in love with Miranda, the daughter of Prospero, a banished duke of Milan. (2) King of Navarre, character inLove’s Labor’s Lost.
Ferrers(fer´erz)—Endymion.The hero of Benjamin Disraeli’s novelEndymion.
Ferrex and Porrex.—Two sons of Gorboduc, a mythical British king. Porrex drove his brother from Britain, and when Ferrex returned with an army he was slain, but Porrex was shortly after put to death by his mother. One of the first, if not the very first, historical plays in the English language wasFerrex and Porrex, by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville.
Fib.—Nymphidia, Drayton. One of the fairy attendants to Queen Mab.
Fidele(fi-dē´lē, orfi-dāl´).—Subject of an elegy by Collins.
Fidelie.—Cymbeline, Shakespeare. The name assumed by Imogen, when, attired in boy’s clothes, she started for Milford Haven to meet her husband Posthumus.
Fidessa.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. The companion of Sansfoy; but when the Red-cross Knight slew that “faithless Saracen,” Fidessa turned out to be Duessa, the daughter of Falsehood and Shame. See “Duessa.”
Figaro(fē´gä-rō).—A character introduced by Beaumarchais in his playsLe Barbier de Seville,Le Mariage de Figaro, andLa Mère Coupable, used later by Mozart, Paisiello, and Rossini in operas. In theBarbierhe is a barber; in theMariagehe is a valet. In both he is gay, lively, and courageous; his stratagems are always original, his lies witty, and his shrewdness proverbial. In theMère Coupablehe has become virtuous and has lost his nerve. He also appears in Holcroft’sFollies of a Day, taken from Beaumarchais’Mariage de Figaro.
Finetta(fi-net´tä).—The Cinder Girl.A fairy tale by the Comtesse d’Aulnoy. This is merely the old tale of Cinderella slightly altered.
Fingal(fing´gal).—A mythical hero, whose name occurs in Gaelic ballads and traditions, and in Macpherson’sPoems of Ossian.
Fleance(flē´ans).—A son of Banquo, in Shakespeare’s tragedy ofMacbeth. The legend relates that after the assassination of his father he escaped to Wales, where he married the daughter of the reigning prince, and had a son named Walter. This Walter afterward became lord high steward of Scotland, and called himself Walter the Steward. From him proceeded in a direct line the Stuarts of Scotland, a royal line which gave James VI. of Scotland, James I. of England. This myth has been seriously accepted by some as fact.
Fledgeby.—Our Mutual Friend, Dickens. An overreaching, cowardly sneak who pretends to do a decent business under the trade name of Pubsey & Co.
Florentius.—A knight whose story is related in the first book of Gower’sConfessio Amantis. He bound himself to marry a deformed hag, provided she taught him the solution of a riddle on which his life depended.
Florian(flō-ryon´).—The Foundling of the Forest, W. Dimond. Discovered in infancy by the Count de Valmont, and adopted as his own son, Florian is lighthearted and volatile, but with deep affection, very grave, and the delight of all who know him.
Florimel(flor´i-mel).—A female character in Spenser’sFaërie Queene, of great beauty, but so timid that she feared the “smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,” and was abused by everyone. She was noted for sweetness of temper amid great trials. The word Florimel signifies “honey-flower.”