Petruchio(pe-trö´chō, orki-ō).—A gentleman of Verona, in Shakespeare’sTaming of the Shrew. A very honest fellow, who hardly speaks a word of truth, and succeeds in all his tricks. He acts his assumed character to the life, with untired animal spirits, and without a particle of ill-humor.
Phædo(fē´dō), orPhædon(fe´don).—An ancient and well known work by Plato, in which the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is most fully set forth. It is in the form of a dialogue, which combines, with the abstract philosophical discussion, a graphic narrative of the last hours of Socrates, which, for pathos and dignity, is unsurpassed.
Phédre(fā´dr).—A tragedy by Racine, produced January 1, 1677. It was founded on the story of Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and wife of Theseus.[810]She conceived a criminal love for Hippolytus, her stepson, and, being repulsed by him, accused him to her husband of attempting to dishonor her. Hippolytus was put to death, and Phædra, wrung with remorse, strangled herself.Phédrewas the great part of Mdlle. Rachel; she first appeared in this character in 1838. It is unquestionably the most remarkable of Racine’s regular tragedies. By it the style must stand or fall, and a reader need hardly go farther to appreciate it. For excellence of construction, artful beauty of verse, skillful use of the limited means of appeal at the command of the dramatist, no play can surpassPhédre.
Philip.—The Madness of Philip, Josephine Daskam. A representation of the unregenerate child—“the child of strong native impulses who has not yet yielded to the shaping force of education; the child, therefore, of originality, of vivacity, of humor, and of fascinating power of invention in the field of mischief.”
Philippics(fi-lip´iks),The.—A group of nine orations of Demosthenes, directed against Philip of Macedon. The real adversary in all these famous speeches is not so much the king of Macedon as the sloth and supineness of the Athenians, and the influence of the peace party, whether honest or bribed by Philip. They are the first Philippic, urging the sending of a military force to Thrace, delivered 351 B. C; three orations in behalf of the city of Olynthus (destroyed by Philip), delivered in 349-348; the orationOn the Peace, 346; the second Philippic, 344; the orationOn the Embassy, 344; the speechOn the Chersonese, 341; and the third Philippic, 341.
The name is also given to a series of fourteen orations of Cicero against Mark Antony, delivered 44-43 B. C.
Philtra.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. A lady of large fortune, betrothed to Bracidas; but, seeing the fortune of Amidas daily increasing, and that of Bracidas getting smaller, she attached herself to the more prosperous younger brother.
Phineas(fin´e-as).—Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Mrs. Stowe. The quaker, an “underground railroad” man who helped the slave family of George and Eliza to reach Canada, after Eliza had crossed the river on cakes of floating ice.
Phyllis(fil´is).—In Vergil’sEclogues, the name of a rustic maiden. This name, also written Phillis, has been in common use as meaning any unsophisticated country girl.
Pickwick(pik´wik),Mr. Samuel.—The hero of thePickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens. He is a simple-minded, benevolent old gentleman, who wears spectacles and short black gaiters. He founds a club, and travels with its members over England, each member being under his guardianship. They meet many laughable adventures.
Pied Piper of Hameln(hä´meln).—Old German legend. Robert Browning, in his poem entitledThe Pied Piper, has given a metrical version. The legend recounts how a certain musician came into the town of Hameln, in the country of Brunswick, and offered, for a sum of money, to rid the town of the rats by which it was infested. Having executed his task, and the promised reward having been withheld, he in revenge blew again his pipe, and by its tones drew the children of the town to a cavern in the side of a hill, which, upon their entrance, closed and shut them in forever.
Piers Plowman(pērs plou´man).—A satirical poem of the fourteenth century. The hero falls asleep, like John Bunyan, on the Malvern hills, and has different visions, which he describes, and in which he exposes the corruptions of society, the dissoluteness of the clergy, and the allurements to sin. The author is supposed to be Robert or William Langland. No other writings so faithfully reflect the popular feeling during the great social and religious movements of that century as the bitterly satirical poem.The Vision of Piers Plowman. In its allegory, the discontent of the commons with the course of affairs in church and state found a voice.
Pietro.—The Ring and the Book, Browning. The professed father of Pompilia, criminally assumed as his child to prevent certain property from passing to an heir not his own.
Pilgrim’s Progress.—A celebrated allegory by Bunyan. It recounts the adventures of the hero, Christian, from his conversion to his death. He wanders from the way to Doubting Castle, and is held there by Giant Despair. His sins are a pack; his Bible is a chart, his minister Evangelist, his conversion a flight from the City of Destruction, his struggle with besetting sins a fight with Apollyon, his death a toilsome passage over a deep stream which flows between him and heaven.
Pilot, The.—Title of a sea-story by Cooper, which was called the “first sea-novel of the English language.” It was published in the year 1823, and soon translated into Italian, German, and French. It is founded on the adventures of John Paul Jones.
Pinch, Tom.—A character in Dickens’Martin Chuzzlewit, distinguished by his guilelessness, his oddity, and his exhaustless goodness of heart.
Pippa(pēp´pä)Passes.—A drama, Italian in scene and character, by Robert Browning. “It is,” says Stedman, “a cluster of four scenes, with prologue, epilogue, and interludes, half prose, half poetry, varying with the refinement of the dialogue. Pippa is a delicately pure, good, blithesome peasant maid. It is New Year’s Day at Ardo. She springs from bed at sunrise, resolved to enjoy to the full her sole holiday. Others may be happy throughout the year; haughty Ottima and Sebald, the lovers on the hill; Jules and Phene, the artist and his bride; Luigi and his mother; Monsignor, the bishop; but Pippa has only this one day to enjoy. Now, it so happens that she passes, this day, each of the groups or persons we have named, at an important crisis in their lives, and they hear her various carols as she trills them forth in the innocent gladness of her heart.Pippa Passesis a work of pure art, and has a wealth of original fancy and romance, apart from its wisdom.” It appeared in 1842.
Pistol(pis´tol).—A follower of Falstaff, in Shakespeare’s comedy ofThe Merry Wives of Windsor, and in the second part ofKing Henry IV. “A roguing beggar, a cantler, an upright man that liveth by cozenage.”
Pocket.—Great Expectations, Dickens. Name of a family prominent in the story.
Pocket.—A real scholar, educated at Harrow, and an honor-man at Cambridge, but, having married young, he had to take up the calling of “grinder” and literary fag for a living. Pip was placed in his care.
Pocket, Herbert.—Son of Mr. Matthew Pocket, wonderfully hopeful, but had not the stuff to push his way into wealth.
Pocket, Mrs.—Daughter of a city knight, brought up to be an ornamental nonentity, helpless, shiftless, and useless. She was the mother of eight children, whom she allowed to “tumble up” as best they could, under the charge of her maid, Flopson.
Pocket, Sarah.—Sister of Matthew Pocket, a little, dry, old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-shell, and a large mouth.
Poor Richard’s Almanac.—An almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, 1732-1757, noted for its maxims. He made it the medium for teaching thrift, temperance, order, cleanliness, chastity, forgiveness, and so on. The maxims or precepts of these almanacs generally end with the words, “as poor Richard says.”
Portia(pôr´shiä).—InThe Merchant of Venice, a rich heiress, whose hand and fortune hang upon the right choosing between a gold, a silver, and a leaden casket. She is in love with Bassanio, who, luckily, chooses well. She appears at the trial of Antonio as a “young doctor of Rome,” named Balthazar.
Poyser(poi´zer),Mrs.—A character inAdam Bede. Some of her wonderfully shrewd and humorous observations have passed into the language. Here are some specimens: “It seems as if them as aren’t wanted here are th’ only folks as aren’t wanted in the other world.” “I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish; God Almighty made ’em to match the men.” “It’s hard to tell which is Old Harry when everybody’s got boots on.” “There’s many a good bit o’ work done with a sad heart.” “It’s poor work allays settin’ the dead above the livin’. It ’ud be better if folks ’ud make much on us beforehand, istid o’ beginning when we’re gone.” “Some folks’ tongues are like the clocks as run on strikin’ not to tell you the time of day, but because there’s summat wrong in their own inside.”
Précieuses Ridicules(prā-syuz´ri-di-kul´),Les.—A comedy by Molière, in ridicule of thePrécieuses, as they were styled, forming the coterie of the Hotel de Rambouillet in the seventeenth century. Thesoiréesheld in this hotel were a great improvement on the licentious assemblies of the period; but many imitators made the thing ridiculous, because they lacked the same presiding talent and good taste.
The two girls of Molière’s comedy are Madelon and Cathos, the daughter and niece of Gargibus, a bourgeois. They change their names to Polixène and Aminte, which they think more genteel, and look on the affectations of two flunkies as far moredistinguésthan the simple, gentlemanly manners of their masters. However, they are cured of their folly, and no harm comes of it.
Prelude(prē´lūd, orprel´ūd),The, orThe Growth of a Poet’s Mind.—An autobiographical poem, in blank verse, by William Wordsworth. It was intended as an introduction to “a philosophical poem, containing views of Man, Nature, and Society; and to be entitled[811]The Recluse, as having for its principal subject the sensations and opinions of a poet living in retirement.” This poem was to have consisted of three parts, of which the second only,The Excursion, was completed and published.The Preludeconsists of fourteen books: Book one,Childhood and Schooltime; book two,Schooltime, continued; book three,Residence at Cambridge; book four,Summer Vacation; book five,Books; book six,Cambridge and the Alps; book seven,Residence in London; book eight,Retrospect—Love of Nature Leading to Love of Man; book nine,Residence in France; book ten,Residence in France, continued; book eleven,France, concluded; book twelve,Imagination and Taste, How Impaired and Restored; book thirteen, the same subject continued and concluded; and book fourteen,Conclusion.
Primrose(prim´rōz),Rev. Charles.—Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith. A clergyman, rich in heavenly wisdom, but poor indeed in all worldly knowledge.
Primrose, Moses.—Brother of the above, noted for giving in barter a good horse for a gross of worthless green spectacles with copper rims.
Primrose, Olivia.—The eldest daughter of the doctor. Pretty, enthusiastic, a sort of Hebê in beauty. “She wished for many lovers,” and eloped with Squire Thorndill.
Primrose, Sophia.—The second daughter of Dr. Primrose. She was “soft, modest, and alluring.”
Princess:a Medley.—A poem by Alfred Tennyson. “It is,” says Stedman, “as he entitles it, a medley, constructed of ancient and modern materials—a show of mediæval pomp and movement, observed through an atmosphere of latterday thought and emotion. The poet, in his prelude, anticipates every stricture, and to me the anachronisms and impossibilities of the story seem not only lawful, but attractive. Tennyson’s special gift of reducing incongruous details to a common structure and tone is fully illustrated in a poem made—
“‘To suit with time and place,A Gothic ruin and a Grecian house,A talk at college and of ladies’ rights,A feudal knight in silken masquerade.’
“‘To suit with time and place,A Gothic ruin and a Grecian house,A talk at college and of ladies’ rights,A feudal knight in silken masquerade.’
Other works of our poet are greater, but none is so fascinating. Some of the author’s most delicately musical lines are herein contained. The tournament scene is the most vehement and rapid passage in the whole range of Tennyson’s poetry. The songs reach the high water mark of lyrical compositions. The five melodies—As Thro’ the Land,Sweet and Low,The Splendor Falls,Home They BroughtandAsk Me No More—constitute the finest group of songs produced in our century, and the third seems to many the most perfect English lyric since the time of Shakespeare.” The name of the Princess is Ida.
Priscilla(pri-sil´ä).—Courtship of Miles Standish, Longfellow. A Puritan maiden who is wooed by Captain Standish through the mediation of his friend, John Alden, who is in love with Priscilla. She prefers John Alden and marries him after the captain’s supposed death. The captain, however, appears at the close of the wedding service, and the friends are reconciled.
Prometheus(prō-mē´thūs)Bound.—A tragedy of Æschylus, of uncertain date. Prometheus is fabled to have made men of clay, and to have imparted life to them by means of fire brought from heaven. It was said that for this he was bound to the rock by order of Zeus, that he resisted all efforts to subdue his will and purpose, bade defiance to the father of the gods, and disappeared in an appalling tempest. Mrs. Browning published a poetical translation in 1833.
Prospero(pros´pe-rō).—Tempest, Shakespeare. Rightful duke of Milan, deposed by his brother. Drifted on a desert island, he practised magic, and raised a tempest in which his brother was shipwrecked. Ultimately Prospero “broke his wand,” and his daughter married the son of the King of Naples.
Puff, Mr.—In Sheridan’s farceThe Critic, a hack writer, who, having failed at other occupations, tries criticism for a living, and is a “professor of the art of puffing.”
Puss in Boots.—The subject and title of a well-known nursery tale derived from a fairy story in theNightsof the Italian author Straparola, and Charles Perrault’sContes des Fées. The wonderful cat secures a princess and a fortune for his master, a poor young miller, whom he passes off as the rich marquis of Carabas.
Pygmalion(pig-mā´li-on)and Galatea(gal-a-tē´ä).—A mythological comedy, by W. S. Gilbert, embodying the fable of the Athenian sculptor who prayed the gods to put life into the statue of Galatea which he had fashioned. In the comedy, Galatea evokes the jealousy of the sculptor’s wife Cynisca; and, after causing great misery by her very innocence, voluntarily returns to the original stone.
Pyncheon(pin´chon).—The name of an ancient but decayed family in Hawthorne’s romanceThe House of the Seven Gables. There are: (1) Judge Pyncheon, a selfish, cunning, worldly man. (2) His cousin Clifford, a delicate, sensitive nature, reduced to childishness by long imprisonment and suffering. (3) Hepzibah, the latter’s sister, an old maid who devotes herself to the care of Clifford. (4) A second cousin, Phœbe, a fresh, cheerful young girl, who restores the fallen fortunes of the family and removes the curse which rested on it.
Q
Quasimodo(kwā-si-mō´dō).—Notre Dame de Paris, Hugo. A misshapen dwarf, one of the prominent characters in the story. He is brought up in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. One day, he sees Esmeralda, who had been dancing in the cathedral close, set upon by a mob, and he conceals her for a time in the church. When, at length, the beautiful gypsy girl is gibbeted, Quasimodo disappears mysteriously, but a skeleton corresponding to the deformed figure is found after a time in a hole under the gibbet.
Quaver.—The Virgin Unmasked, Fielding. A singing-master, who says, “if it were not for singing-masters, men and women might as well have been born dumb.” He courts Lucy by promising to give her singing-lessons.
Queen Lab.—Arabian Nights.The queen of magic, ruler over the enchanted city, in the story of Beder, prince of Persia. She transforms men into horses, mules, and other animals. Beder marries her, defeats her plots against him, but is himself turned into an owl for a time.
Quentin Durward(kwen´tin der´wärd).—A novel by Sir Walter Scott. A story of French history. The delineations of Louis XI. and Charles the Bold of Burgundy will stand comparison with any in the whole range of fiction or history.
Quickly, Mistress.—Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare. A serving woman to Dr. Caius, a French physician. She is the go-between of three suitors for “sweet Anne Page,” and with perfect disinterestedness wishes all three to succeed.
Quickly, Mistress Nell.—Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap, frequented by Harry, Prince of Wales, Sir John Falstaff, and all their disreputable crew.
Quidnunkis.—Title and name of hero in a fable found or written by Gay in 1726. This hero was a monkey which climbed higher than its neighbors, and fell into a river.
Quilp(kwilp).—Old Curiosity Shop, Dickens. A hideous dwarf, cunning, malicious, and a perfect master in tormenting. Of hard, forbidding features, with head and face large enough for a giant, he lived on Tower hill, collected rents, advanced money to seamen, and kept a sort of wharf, calling himself a ship-breaker.
Quintus Fixlein.—Title of a romance by Jean Paul Richter and the name of the principal character.
Quirk, Gammon, and Snap.—A firm of rascally, scheming, hypocritical solicitors in Warren’sTen Thousand a Year.
R
Raby, Aurora.—In Byron’sDon Juan. She was a rich, noble English orphan, “a rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.”
Radigund.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. Queen of the fabled Amazons. Having been rejected by Bellodant “the Bold,” she revenged herself by degrading all the men who fell into her power by dressing them like women, and giving them women’s work.
Ramayana[(rä´-mä´yȧ-nȧ);Rāma-ayana, the goings or doings of Rama].—One of the two great epics of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It is ascribed to a poet, Valmiki, and consists at present of about twenty-four thousand stanzas, divided into seven books. It is the production of one man, though many parts are later additions, such as those in which Rama is represented as an incarnation of Vishnu, all the episodes in the first book, and the whole of the seventh. It was at first handed down orally, and variously modified in transmission, and afterward reduced to writing.
Ramona(ra-mō´nä).—Title of a romance by Helen Hunt Jackson. Ramona saw the American Indian followed by “civilization” while retreating slowly but surely toward his own extinction, and had herself a share in the tragedy. Ramona is considered the great romance of Indian life.
Random(ran´dom).—Roderick Random, Smollett. A young Scotch scapegrace in quest of fortune. At one time he revels in prosperity, again he is in utter destitution. He roams at random, in keeping with his name.
Rappaccini(rap-ä-chē´nē).—Mosses from an Old Manse, Hawthorne. A doctor in whose garden grew strange plants whose juices and fragrance were poison. His daughter, nourished on these odors, became poisonous herself. Her lover found an antidote which she took, but the poison meant life and the antidote meant death to her.
Rasselas(ras´e-las).—An imaginary romance by Dr. Johnson. According to the custom of his country, Abyssinia, Rasselas was confined in paradise, with the rest of the royal family. This paradise was in the valley of Amhara, surrounded by high mountains. It had only one entrance, a cavern concealed by woods, and closed by iron gates. He escaped with his sister Nekayah and Imlac the poet, and wandered about to find what condition or rank of life was the most happy. After investigation, he found no lot without its drawbacks, and resolved to return to the “Happy Valley.”
Raud the Strong.—Tales of a Wayside Inn, Henry W. Longfellow. The viking who worshiped the old gods and lived by fire and sword. King Olaf went against him, sailing from Drontheim to Salten Fjord.
Raven, The.—A poem by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1845, which has attained a world-wide popularity. For the author’s account of the mode of its construction, seeThe Philosophy of Composition, an essay, in the collected edition of his works. The last verse runs:
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floorShall be lifted—Nevermore!
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floorShall be lifted—Nevermore!
Ravenswood.—Bride of Lammermoor, Scott. The lord of Ravenswood, an old Scotch nobleman and a decayed royalist. His son Edgar falls in love with Lucy Ashton, daughter of Sir William Ashton, Lord-Keeper of Scotland. The lovers plight their troth, but Lucy is compelled to marry Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw. The bride, in a fit of insanity, attempts to murder the bridegroom and dies. Bucklaw goes abroad. Colonel Ashton, seeing Edgar at the funeral of Lucy, appoints a hostile meeting; and Edgar, on his way to the place appointed, is lost in the quicksands. A prophecy, noted as a curse, hung over the family and was thus fulfilled.
Raymond.—InJerusalem Delivered, by Tasso. Raymond was known as the Nestor of the crusaders, slew Aladine, the king of Jerusalem, and planted the Christian standard upon the tower of David.
Rebecca.—Ivanhoe, Scott. Daughter of Isaac the Jew, in love with Ivanhoe.
Red-cross Knight.—The Red-cross Knight is St. George, the patron saint of England, and, in the obvious and general interpretation, typifies holiness, or the perfection of the spiritual man in religion. In Spenser’sFaërie Queenethe task of slaying a dragon was assigned to him as the champion of Una.
Redgauntlet(red-gänt´let).—One of the principal characters in Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the same name, a political enthusiast and Jacobite, who scruples at no means of upholding the cause of the Pretender and finally accompanies him into exile. His race bore a fatal mark resembling a horseshoe which appeared on the face of Red-gauntlet as he frowned when angry.
Red-Riding-Hood.—This nursery tale is, with slight variations, common to Sweden, Germany, and France. In Charles Perrault’sContes des Féesit is calledLe Petit Chaperon Rouge.
Religio Medici(rē-lij´i-ō med´i-sī).—A prose work by Sir Thomas Browne. “The Religio Medici,” says the elder Lytton, “is one of the most beautiful prose poems in the language; its power of diction, its subtlety and largeness of thought, its exquisite conceits and images, have no parallel out of the writers of that brilliant age when Poetry and Prose had not yet divided their domain, and the Lyceum of Philosophy was watered by the mixing of the wine!”
Representative Men.—A work by Emerson which more nearly than any of his other works, gives expression to his system as a whole. The topics are: (1) Plato, the Philosopher; (2) Swedenborg, the Mystic; (3) Montaigne, the Skeptic; (4) Shakespeare, the Poet; (5) Napoleon, the Man of the World; (6) Goethe, the Writer. The mental portraits sketched under these six heads give us Emerson himself, so far as he is capable of being formulated at all.
Republic, The.—A work composed by Plato four hundred years before Christ.The Republicis not, as the title would suggest, a political work, like thePoliticsof Aristotle. The principles and government of an ideal moral organism, of which the rulers shall be types of fully developed and perfectly educated men, are the real subject. In theRepublicwe find the necessity of virtue to the very idea of social life proved in the first book; then the whole process of a complete moral and scientific education is set forth. It has been said that the most complete record of the beliefs or opinions of Plato are found in this work.
Reveries of a Bachelor.—By D. G. Mitchell. TheReveriesis a collection of sketches of life and character, painted in such a dreamlike, delicate manner as to make the reader lose for the time being the full consciousness of his surroundings. It has called forth a number of imitators more or less successful, no one of whom, however, is comparable to the original.
Reynard(rā´närd, orren´ärd)the Fox.—A beast-epic, so called. This prose poem is a satire on the state of Germany in the middle ages. Reynard represents the Church; Isengrin the wolf (his uncle) typifies the baronial element; and Nodel the lion stands for the regal power. The plot turns on the struggle for supremacy between Reynard and Isengrin. Reynard uses all his endeavors to victimize everyone, especially his uncle Isengrin, and generally succeeds.
Richelieu(rēsh-y-lōō´), orThe Conspiracy.—A drama in five acts, by Edward, Lord Lytton; produced in 1839, the part of the hero being played by Macready. For some of the incidents the author confesses himself indebted to the authors ofCinq MarsandPicciola. Among the characters are Baradas, the favorite; De Mauprat, in love with Julie; Julie de Mortemar herself; Marion de Lorme, mistress of Orleans; Orleans himself; Louis XIII., and others.
Rights of Man, The.—“Being an answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution,” by Thomas Paine. This work, which was published in 1791-1792, procured for the writer the distinction of a trial for sedition, which he escaped by flying to France.
Rinaldo(ri-nal´dō).—A Christian hero in Tasso’sJerusalem Delivered. He was the son of Bertoldo and Sophia, and nephew of Guelpho, but was brought up by Matilda. He was one of Charlemagne’s paladins, and cousin to Orlando. Having killed Charlemagne’s nephew Berthelot, he was banished and outlawed. After various adventures and disasters, he went to the Holy Land, and, on his return, succeeded in making peace with the emperor.
Ring and the Book, The.—A poem by Robert Browning, published in 1869. It is the story of a tragedy which took place at Rome in 1698. The versified narrative of the child Pompilia’s sale to Count Guido, of his cruelty and violence, of her rescue by a young priest, the pursuit, the lawful separation, the murder by Guido of the girl and her putative parents, the trial and condemnation of the murderer, and the affirmation of his sentence by the pope—all this is made to fill out a poem of twenty-one thousand lines; but these include ten different versions of the tale, besides the poet’s prelude, in which latter he gives a general outline of it. The chapters which contain the statements of the priest lover and Pompilia are full of tragic beauty and emotion. The pope’s soliloquy, though too prolonged, is a wonderful piece of literary metempsychosis.
Rip Van Winkle.—A tale by Washington Irving, adapted from the old German legend of Peter Klaus, a goatherd, who drank a miraculous draught of wine in a dell of the Harz mountains, which brought on sleep from which he did not wake until twenty years after, when he returned to his native village to find everything changed, and no one who knew him. In Irving’s tale the hero is a Dutchman living in America, and the scene is the Catskill mountains. The story is most picturesquely told, and has been effectively dramatized, the leading personage being illustrated by the genius of Jefferson.
Rivals, The.—A comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, produced at Covent Garden, London, in 1775, and described by Hazlitt as “a play of even more action and incident, but of less wit and satire, thanThe School for Scandal. It is as good as a novel in the reading, and has the broadest and most palpable effect upon the stage.”
Roaring Camp, The Luck of.—A prose sketch by Francis Bret Harte, an American poet, in which the softening effects of the presence of a little child in a camp of ruffians are very touchingly described. It has been dramatized.
Rob Roy.—A romance by Sir Walter Scott which is founded on some passages in the career of the famous Highlander, Robert MacGregor, who was popularly[813]called Rob Roy. The nominal hero ofRob Royis Francis Osbaldistone; the heroine, Diana Vernon. Among the other characters are Baillie Nicol Jarvie, “The Dougal Cratur” Andrew Fairservice, Helen MacGregor, Sir Frederick Vernon, and Rashleigh Osbaldistone. The novel has been dramatized in a version which still holds the stage in Scotland. Scott speaks of Rob as “the Robin Hood of Scotland—the dread of the wealthy, but the friend of the poor, and possessed of many qualities, both of head and heart, which would have graced a less equivocal profession than that to which his fate condemned him.”
Roderick, orRoderic(rod´er-ik)Dhu.—Lady of the Lake, Scott. An outlaw and chief of a band of Scots who resolved to win back what had been lost to the Saxons. In connection with Red Murdock he sought the life of the Saxon Fitz-James.
Roderigo(rod-e-rē´gō).—In Shakespeare’sOthello, a Venetian in love with Desdemona, who, when the lady eloped with Othello, hated the “noble Moor.”
Roland(rō´land).—The hero of one of the most ancient and popular epics of early French or Frankish literature, and, according to tradition, the favorite nephew and captain of the Emperor Charlemagne. Roland is the hero of Théroulde’sChanson de Roland; of Turpin’sChronique; of Bojardo’sOrlando Innamorato; of Ariosto’sOrlando Furioso.
Romance of the Rose.—A poetical allegory, begun by Guillaume de Lorris in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and continued by Jean Meung in the first half of the fourteenth century. The poet dreams that Dame Idleness conducts him to the Palace of Pleasure, where he meets many adventures among the attendant maidens, Youth, Joy, Courtesy, and others, by whom he is conducted to a bed of roses. He singles out one, when an arrow from Love’s bow stretches him fainting on the ground. Fear, Slander, and Jealousy are afterward introduced.
Romeo.—In Shakespeare’s tragedy ofRomeo and Juliet, a son of Montague, in love with Juliet, the daughter of Capulet, who was the head of a noble house of Verona, in feudal enmity with the house of Montague.
Romeo and Juliet.—A tragedy by William Shakespeare. Romeo, a son of Montague, in love with Juliet, the daughter of Capulet; but between the houses of Montague and Capulet there existed a deadly feud. As the families were irreconcilable, Juliet took a sleeping draught, that she might get away from her parents and elope with Romeo. Romeo, thinking her to be dead, killed himself; and when Juliet awoke and found her lover dead, she also killed herself.
Romola(rom´ō-lä).—A novel of Italian life and character by George Eliot.Romolais a marvelously able story of the revival of the taste and beauty and freedom of Hellenic manners and letters, under Lorenzo de’ Medici and the scholars of his court, side by side with the revival of Roman virtue, and more than the ancient austerity and piety, under the great Dominican Savonarola. This period of history is one which of all others may well have engrossing interest for George Eliot. Treasures of learning and discipline, amassed for mankind ages before, for ages stored and hidden away, see again the sun, are recognized and put to use. What use they will be put to, with what new and fruitful effects on the state and the citizen, with what momentary and with what lasting consequences, this she strives to discover; this she follows through the public history of Italy during the modern invasion of Charles VIII., and the events which succeed his invasion, and through the private fortunes of her admirably chosen group of characters, some of them drawn from life, all of them true to nature.
Rosetta(rō-zet´tä)Stone.—Found at Rosetta in the delta of the Nile, contains equivalent inscriptions in hieroglyphics in demotic and in Greek letters. The meaning of the Greek text being known, the hieroglyphics could be translated.
Rowena(rō-ē´nä).—A Saxon princess, ward of Cedric of Rotherwood, in Sir Walter Scott’s romance ofIvanhoe.
Rumpelstilzchen.—Old German Tales.According to Grimm, this name is a compound, but the spirit represented is one familiar to all German children. The original story tells of him as a dwarf who spun straw into gold for a certain miller’s daughter.
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Sacripant(sak´ri-pant),King.—(1) King of Circassia, and a lover of Angelica, in Bojordo and Ariosto. (2) A personage in Tassoni’s mock heroic poem,Rape of the Bucket, represented as false, brave, noisy and hectoring.
Sagas(sä´gas).—Title of the ancient traditions which form the substance of the history and mythology of the Scandinavian races. The language in which they are written is supposed to be the old Icelandic. In theEddathere are numerous sagas. As our Bible contains the history of the Jews, religious songs, moral proverbs, and religious stories, so theEddacontains the history of Norway, religious songs, a book of proverbs, and numerous stories. The originalEddawas compiled and edited by Sæmund Sigfusson, an Icelandic priest and scald, in the eleventh century. It contains twenty-eight parts or books, all of which are in verse. Two hundred years later Snorri Sturleson, of Iceland, abridged, rearranged, and reduced to prose theEdda, and his work was calledThe Younger Edda. In this we find the famous story called by the Germans theNibelungenlied. Besides the sagas contained in the Eddas, there are numerous others, and the whole saga literature makes over two hundred volumes. Among them are theVölsunga Saga, which is a collection of lays about the early Teutonic heroes. TheSaga of St. Olafis the history of this Norwegian king.Frithjof’s Sagacontains the life and adventures of Frithjof of Iceland. Snorri Sturleson, at the close of the twelfth century, made the second great collection of chronicles in verse, called theHeimskringla Saga. This is a most valuable record of the laws, customs and manners of the ancient Scandinavians.
Sakuntala.—A famous drama by Kâlidasa. The daughter of Viswamita and a water nymph, abandoned by her parents, and brought up by a hermit. One day, King Dushyanta came to the hermitage, and persuaded Sakuntala to marry him. In due time a son was born, but Dushyanta left his bride at the hermitage. When the boy was six years old, his mother took him to the king, and Dushyanta recognized his wife by a ring which he had given her. Sakuntala was now publicly proclaimed queen, and the boy (whose name was Bhârata) became the founder of the glorious race of the Bhâratas.
Samson Agonistes(sam´son ag-o-nis´tēz).—A sacred drama by Milton. Samson, blind and bound, triumphs over his enemies. As in the Bible story, he grasps two of the supporting pillars, and perishes in the general ruin.
Sancho Panza(sang´kō pan´zä).—The esquire and counterpart of Don Quixote in Cervantes’ famous novel. He has much shrewdness in practical matters, and a store of proverbial wisdom. He rode upon an ass and was noted for his proverbs.
Sartor Resartus(sär´tor rē-sär´tus), (i. e.,The Tailor Patched).—The title of an old Scottish ballad, beingThe Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh, in Three Books, by Thomas Carlyle. It may be described as a kind of philosophical romance, in which the author gives us, in the form of a review of a supposed German work on dress, and a notice of the writer, his opinions on things in general. The hero, it has been said, seems to be intended for a portraiture of human nature as affected by the moral influence to which a cultivated mind would be exposed by acquaintance with the transcendental philosophy of Fichte.
Satyrane(sat´i-rān),Sir.—Faërie Queene, Spenser. A noble knight who delivered Una from the fauns and satyrs. The meaning seems to be that Truth, driven from the towns and cities, took refuge in caves and dens where for a time it lay concealed. At length Sir Satyrane (Luther) rescues Una from bondage; but no sooner is this the case than she falls in with Archimago, to show how very difficult it was at the time of the Reformation to separate Truth from Error.
Sawyer, Bob.—Pickwick Papers, Dickens. A drinking young doctor who tries to establish a practice at Bristol, but without success. Sam Weller calls him “Mr. Sawbones.”
Scalds, orSkalds.—Court poets and chroniclers of the ancient Scandinavians. They resided at court, were attached to the royal suite, and attended the king in all his wars. These bards celebrated in song the gods, the kings of Norway, and national heroes. Few complete Skaldic poems have survived, but a multitude of fragments exist.
Scarlet Letter, The.—A romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. The heroine, Hester Prynne, was condemned to wear conspicuously the letter “A” in scarlet, token of her sin as mother of her child, Pearl, whose father was not known. She was first exposed in disgrace on a raised scaffold, then served a term in prison, and afterward gained a moderate support for herself and child by embroidering. She refused to reveal the name of the father, although she might then be allowed to lay aside the letter. He was always near, held an important position, and lived a life of wearing remorse. After his death Hester Prynne took her child to another country, but returned to spend her old age in seclusion and comfort[814]in the same place that had witnessed her punishment. She always bore herself proudly, but not defiantly, and brought to herself such love and respect that the scarlet letter became a badge of honor. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, appeared as a learned foreign physician, visited her in prison, but promised not to reveal his relation to her, and devoted his life to learning her secret. The characters in the story are intense, and the analysis of motives subtle.
Scheherazade, orSheherazade(she-hē´rä-zād).—Arabian Nights.The fabled relater of the stories in these “Entertainments.”
Scaramouche(skar´a-mouch).—An Italian character whose traits are cowardice and boastfulness. He is of Spanish creation, copied into Italian comedy.
Schlemihl(shlem´el),Peter.—The name of the hero of a little work by Chamisso, a man who sells his shadow to the devil. The name has become a byword for any poor, silly, and unfortunate fellow.
Schneider(shnī´der).—Rip Van Winkle’s dog, in Boucicault’s dramatization of Irving’sRip Van Winkle. The name of the dog in the story is “Wolf.”
School for Scandal, The.—A comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, produced at Covent Garden, London, in 1777, and characterized by Hazlitt as, “if not the most original, perhaps the most finished and faultless comedy which we have. The scene in which Charles Surface sells all the old family pictures but his uncle’s, who is the purchaser in disguise, and that of the discovery of Lady Teazle when the screen falls, are among the happiest and most highly wrought that comedy, in its wide and brilliant range, can boast. Besides the art and ingenuity of this play, there is a genial spirit of frankness and generosity that relieves the heart as well as clears the lungs. While it strips off the mask of hypocrisy, it inspires a confidence between man and man.”
School for Wives[L’Ecole des Femmes(lä-kol´dā fam´)].—A comedy by Molière. Arnolph has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme upon Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant’s cottage, and designs in due time to make his wife. He sends her from early childhood to a convent, where difference of sex and the conventions of society are wholly ignored. When removed from the convent, she treats men as if they were schoolgirls, kisses them, plays with them, and treats them with girlish familiarity. The consequence is, a young man name Horace falls in love with her, and makes her his wife, and Arnolph loses his painstaking.
School of Husbands[L’Ecole des Maris(lä-kol´da mä-re´)] A comedy by Molière. Ariste and Sganarelle, two brothers, bring up Léonor and Isabelle, two orphan sisters, according to their systems for making them in time their model wives. Sganarelle’s system was to make the woman dress plainly, live retired, attend to domestic duties, and have few indulgences. Ariste’s system was to give the woman great liberty, and trust to her honor. Isabelle, brought up by Sganarelle, deceived him and married another; but Léonor, brought up by Ariste, made him a fond and faithful wife.
Scottish Chiefs, The.—A romantic story by Jane Porter, published in 1810, and counting among its heroes Robert Bruce and Sir William Wallace.
Scourge of God.—Attila, king of the Huns. A. P. Stanley says the term was first applied to Attila in the HungarianChronicles. It is found in a legend belonging to the eighth or ninth century.
Scrooge(skröj),Ebenezer.—Christmas Carol, Dickens. The prominent character, made partner, executor, and heir of old Jacob Marley, stockbroker.
Seasons, The.—A series of poems by James Thomson, which appeared in the following order:Winter;Summer;Spring; andAutumn; the whole being republished, with the famousHymn. Horace Walpole said that he would rather have written the most absurd lines by Lee thanThe Seasons; but Wordsworth, on the other hand, speaks of it as “a work of inspiration. Much of it,” he says, “is written from himself, and nobly from himself.”
Sebastian(se-bas´tian).—(1) Brother of Viola, inTwelfth Night. They were twins, and so much alike that they could not be distinguished except by their dress. Sebastian and his sister being shipwrecked, escaped to Illyria. Here Sebastian was mistaken for his sister (who had assumed man’s apparel), and was invited by the Countess Olivia to take shelter in her house from a street broil. Olivia was in love with Viola, and thinking Sebastian to be the object of her love, married him. (2) Brother of Alfonso, king of Naples, inThe Tempest. (3) Father of Valentine and Alice, in Beaumont and Fletcher’sMons. Thomas.
Sedley, Mr.—Vanity Fair, Thackeray. A wealthy London stockbroker, brought to ruin in the money market just prior to the battle of Waterloo.
Selith.—One of the two guardian angels of the Virgin Mary and St. John the divine, in Klopstock’sMessiah.
Sempronius(sem-prō´ni-us).—In Shakespeare’sTimon of Athens, a flatterer of Timon, who excuses himself from lending Timon money on the ground that others had been asked first.
Senena.—Madoc, Southey. A Welsh maiden in love with Caradoc. Under the assumed name of Mervyn she became the page of the Princess Goervyl, that she might follow her lover to America, where Madoc colonized Caer-Madoc. Senena was promised in marriage to another; but when the wedding day arrived the bride was nowhere to be found.
Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.—By Laurence Sterne, published in 1768. Sterne describes this work as follows: “It is a subject which works well, and suits the frame of mind in which I have been for some time past. I told you my design in it was to teach us to love the world and our fellow creatures better than we do—so it runs most upon these gentler passions and affections which add so much to it.”
Serena(sā-rā´nä).—Faërie Queene, Spenser. Allured into the fields by the mildness of the weather, to gather wild flowers for a garland, she was attacked by the Blatant Beast, which carried her off in its mouth. Her cries attracted to the spot Sir Calidore, who compelled the beast to drop its prey.
Sesame.—In Arabian tales given as the talismanic word which would open or shut the door leading into the cave of the forty thieves. In order to open it, the words to be uttered were, “Open, Sesame!” and in order to close it, “Shut, Sesame!” Sesame is a plant yielding grain which is sometimes used for food, and from which an oil is expressed. When Cassim forgot the word, he substituted “Barley,” but without effect. Sesame has come into general use in connection with any word or act which will open the way for accomplishment of the thing desired.
Seven Lamps of Architecture, The.—A treatise on architecture by Ruskin, published in 1849. The “seven lamps” are those of Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life, Memory, and Obedience. They are symbolic rules for the guidance of the student.
Sganarelle(sgä-nä-rel´).—The hero of Molière’s comedyLa Mariage Force. He is represented as a humorist of about fifty-three, who, having a mind to marry a fashionable young woman, but feeling a doubt, consults his friends upon this momentous question. Receiving no satisfactory counsel, and not much pleased with the proceedings of his bride elect, he at last determines to give up his engagement, but is cudgeled into compliance by the brother of his intended.
Shallow.—A braggart and absurd country justice in Shakespeare’sMerry Wives of Windsor, and in the second part ofKing Henry IV.
Shandy, Mrs.—The mother of Tristram Shandy in Sterne’s novel of this name. She is the ideal of nonentity, a character individual from its very absence of individuality.
Shandy, Tristram.—The nominal hero of Sterne’sThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent.
Shandy, Walter.—The name of Tristram Shandy’s father in Sterne’s novel of this name, a man of an active and metaphysical, but at the same time a whimsical, cast of mind, whom too much and too miscellaneous learning had brought within a step or two of madness.
Sharp, Becky.—A leading character in Thackeray’sVanity Fair, the daughter of a poor painter, dashing, selfish, unprincipled, and very clever.
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, The.—The hero and title of a religious tract by Hannah More. The shepherd is noted for his homely wisdom and simple piety.
Shepherd’s Calendar, The.—Twelve eclogues in various meters, by Spenser, one for each month. January: Colin Clout (Spenser) bewails that Rosalind does not return his love. February: Cuddy, a lad, complains of the cold, and Thenot laments the degeneracy of pastoral life. March: Willie and Thomalin discourse of love. April: Hobbinol sings a song on Eliza. May: Palinode exhorts Piers to join the festivities of May, but Piers replies that good shepherds who seek their own indulgence expose their flocks to the wolves. June: Hobbinol exhorts Colin to greater cheerfulness. July: Morrel, a goatherd, invites Thomalin to come with him to the uplands. August: Perigot and Willie contend in song, and Cuddy is appointed arbiter. September: Diggon Davie complains to Hobbinol of clerical abuses. October: On poetry. November: Colin being asked by Thenot to sing, excuses himself because of his grief for Dido, but finally sings her elegy. December: Colin again[815]complains that his heart is desolate. Thenot is an old shepherd bent with age, who tells Cuddy, the herdsman’s boy, the fable of the oak and the brier, one of the best-known fables included in the calendar.
Shepherd’s Pipe.—Pan, in Greek mythology, was the god of forests, pastures, and flocks, and the reputed inventor of the shepherd’s flute or pipe.
Sheridan’s Ride.—A lyric by T. B. Read, one of the few things written during the heat of the Civil war that is likely to survive.
She Stoops to Conquer.—A comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, said to have been founded on an incident which actually occurred to its author. When Goldsmith was sixteen years of age, a wag residing at Ardagh directed him, when passing through that village, to Squire Fetherstone’s house as the village inn. The mistake was not discovered for some time, but all concerned enjoyed the joke.She Stoops to Conqueris one of the gayest, pleasantest, and most amusing pieces of English comedy.
Shingebis.—In Longfellow’sHiawatha, the diver who challenged the North Wind and put him to flight in combat.
Shocky.—The Hoosier Schoolmaster, Edw. Eggleston. The little lad from the poorhouse who adores the schoolmaster and early warns him of plans for upsetting his authority. He is also a small poet, not in rhyming, but in comprehension of things about him and in his way of looking at life, and he grows to be a helper in theChurch of the Best Licks, founded by the schoolmaster.
Shylock.—A sordid, avaricious, revengeful Jew, in Shakespeare’sMerchant of Venice.
Siege Perilous, The.—The Round Table contained sieges, or seats, in the names of different knights. One was reserved for him who was destined to attainment in the quest of the Holy Grail. This seat was called “perilous” because if anyone sat therein except he for whom it was reserved, he would “lose himself.” It finally bore the name of Sir Galahad.
Siegfried(sēg´frēd).—The hero of various Scandinavian and Teutonic legends, particularly of the old German epic poem, theNibelungenlied. He is represented as a young warrior of physical strength and beauty, and in valor superior to all men of his time. He cannot easily be identified with any historical personage.
Sikes, Bill.—A brutal thief and housebreaker in Dickens’ novelOliver Twist. He murders his mistress, Nancy, and, in trying to lower himself by a rope from the roof of a building where he had taken refuge from the crowd, he falls, and is choked in a noose of his own making. Sikes had an ill-conditioned, savage dog, the beast-image of his master, which he kicked and loved, ill-treated and fondled.
Silas Marner(mär´ner).—A novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. This novel is one of the authoress’ most beautiful stories, the most poetical of them all—the tale of Silas Marner, who deems himself deserted and rejected utterly of God and man, and to whom, in his deepest misery, in place of lost gold, a little foundling girl is sent. This tale is the most hopeful of all her books. The contemplation of the renewal of enterprise and energy, which comes with little children, and of the promise with which each new generation gilds the crown of honor for its sires, is pleasant and grateful to her. She writes upon her title page the lines of Wordsworth: