the Huns, usually called "The Scourge of God," must not be confounded
with "Athalie," daughter of Jezebel and wife of Joram, the subject
and title of Racine's _ches-d'oeuvre_, and Mdlle. Rachel's chief
character.
AUBERT _(Thérèse)_, the heroine of C. Nodier's romance of that name
(1819). The story relates to the adventures of a young royalist in
the French Revolutionary epoch, who had disguised himself in female
apparel to escape detection.
AUBREY, a widower for eighteen years. At the death of his wife he
committed his infant daughter to the care of Mr. Bridgemore, a
merchant, and lived abroad. He returned to London after an absence of
eighteen years, and found that Bridgemore had abused his trust, and
his daughter had been obliged to quit the house and seek protection
with Mr. Mortimer.
_Augusta Aubrey_, daughter of Mr. Aubrey, in love with Francis Tyrrel,
the nephew of Mr. Mortimer. She is snubbed and persecuted by the
vulgar Lucinda Bridgemore, and most wantonly persecuted by lord
Abberville, but after passing through many a most painful visitation,
she is happily married to the man of her choice.--Cumberland, _The
Fashionable Lover_ (1780).
AU´BRI'S DOG showed a most unaccountable hatred to Richard de Macaire,
snarling and flying at him whenever he appeared in sight. Now Aubri
had been murdered by some one in the forest of Bondy, and this
animosity of the dog directed suspicion towards Richard de Macaire.
Richard was taken up, and condemned to single combat with the dog, by
whom he was killed. In his dying moments he confessed himself to be
the murderer of Aubri. (See DOG.)
Le combat entre Macaire et le chien eut lieu à Paris, dans l'île
Louviers. On place ce fait merveilleux en 1371, mais ... il est bien
antérieur, car il est mentionné dès le siècle précédent par Albéric
des Trois-Fontaines.--Bouillet, _Dict. Universel, etc._
AUCH´TERMUCH´TY (_John_), the Kinross carrier.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
AUDHUM´BLA, the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him
with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking dew
from the rocks.--_Scandinavian Mythology_.
AU´DREY, a country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. She is an
excellent specimen of a wondering she-gawky. She thanks the gods that
"she is foul," and if to be poetical is not to be honest, she thanks
the gods also that "she is not poetical."--Shakespeare, _As You Like
It_ (1598).
The character of "Audrey," that of a female
fool, should not have been assumed [_i.e._ by Miss
Pope, in her last appearance in public]; the last
line of the farewell address was, "And now poor
Audrey bids you all farewell" (May 26, 1808).--
James Smith, _Memoirs, etc._ (1840).
AUGUS´TA, mother of Gustavus Vasa. She is a prisoner of Christian II.
king of Denmark, but the king promises to set her free if she will
induce her son to submission. Augusta refuses, but in the war which
follows, Gustavus defeats Christian, and becomes king of Sweden.--H.
Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).
_Augusta_, a title conferred by the Roman emperors on their wives,
sisters, daughters, mothers, and even concubines. It had to be
conferred; for even the wife of an Augustus was not an Augusta until
after her coronation.
1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both _Augusta_; so were Julia
(wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia,
Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an
emperor is spoken of as _Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra;
Divina Augusta_, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we
read, "Domitian uxorem suam _Augustam_ jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia
Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [_i.e._ Pertinax] _Augusta_ est
appellata."
2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was
created _Augusta_. Claudius made his mother Antonia _Augusta_ after
her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa
_Augusta_," in honor of his grandmother;
Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled _Augusta_ on coins;
and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.
3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis _Augusta_
germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana
_Augusta_."
4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of
Didius Julianus, were both _Augusta_. Titus inscribed on coins his
daughter as "Julia Sabina _Augusta_;" there are coins of the emperor
Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla _Augusta_," and "Sallustia
_Augusta_," sisters of the emperor Decius.
5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called _Augusta_ on coins;
Constantine Monomachus called his concubine _Augusta_.
AUGUSTA HARE, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs.
A.D.T. Whitney's novel _Hitherto_.
AUGUSTI´NA, _the Maid of Saragossa_. She was only twenty-two when, her
lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French,
after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.
Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa,
who by her valor elevated herself to the
highest rank of heroines. When the author
was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado,
decorated with medals and orders, by order of
the Junta.--Lord Byron.
AULD ROBIN GRAY was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a
little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay,
and her father was earl of Balcarras.
AULLAY, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as
much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep.
King Baly of India rode on an aullay.
The aullay, hugest of four-footed kind,
The aullay-horse, that in his force,
With elephantine trunk, could bind
And lift the elephant, and on the wind
Whirl him away, with sway and swing,
E'en like a pebble from a practised sling.
Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xvi. 2 (1809).
AURE´LIUS, a young nobleman who tried to win to himself Do´rigen, the
wife of Arvir´agus, but Dorigen told him she would never yield to his
suit till all the rocks of the British coast were removed, "and there
n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic made all the rocks disappear,
but when Dorigen went, at her husband's bidding, to keep her promise,
Aurelius, seeing how sad she was, made answer, he would rather
die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.--Chaucer,
_Canterbury Tales_ ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of _Dimora and
Gilberto_, x. 5. See DIANORA.)
_Aurelius_, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur,
but he died before the hero was born.
Even sicke of a flixe [_ill of the flux_] as he was, he caused himself
to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people
were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the
victorie.--Holinshed, _History of Scotland_, 99.
... once I read
That stout Pendragon on his litter sick
Came to the field, and vanquishèd his foes.
Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._, act iii. sc. 2 (1589).
AURORA LEIGH, daughter of an Englishman and an Italian woman. At
her father's death Aurora comes to England to live with a severe,
practical aunt. In time she becomes a poet, travels far, sees much,
and thinks much of life's problems. She marries her cousin Romney,
a philanthropist, blinded by an accident.--_Aurora_ _Leigh_, by
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1856).
AURORA NUNCANOU, beautiful Creole widow in _The Grandissimes_, by
George W. Cable. In her thirty-fifth year, she "is the red, red,
full-blown, faultless joy of the garden. With her it will be always
morning. That woman is going to last forever; ha-a-a-a!--even longer!"
(1880).
AUSTIN, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced
the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of
Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title
of the count of Narbonne.--Robert Jephson, _Count of Narbonne_ (1782).
AUSTINS (_The_). _Miss Susan_, old maid resident at Whiteladies,
concerned in a conspiracy to introduce a false heir to the estate.
_Miss Augustine_, saintly sister, who tries to "turn the curse
from _Whiteladies_, by her own prayers and those of her
almsmen."--_Whiteladies_, by M.O.W. Oliphant.
AUS´TRIA AND THE LION'S HIDE. There is an old tale that the arch-duke
of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion's hide
which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the
natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the arch-duke:
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare, _King John_, act iii. sc. 1 (1596).
(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools
and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)
AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE, a mythical personage who indites
Oliver Wendell Holmes's breakfast-table conversations.
AUTOL´YCOS, the craftiest of thieves. He stole the flocks of his
neighbors, and changed their marks. Sis´yphos outwitted him by marking
his sheep under their feet.
AUTOL´YCUS, a peddler and witty rogue, in _The Winter's Tale_, by
Shakespeare (1604).
AVARE (_L_'). The plot of this comedy is as follows: Harpagon the
miser and his son Cléante (2 _syl._) both want to marry Mariane (3
_syl._), daughter of Anselme, _alias_ don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples.
Cléante gets possession of a casket of gold belonging to the miser,
and hidden in the garden. When Harpagon discovers his loss he raves
like a madman, and Cléante gives him the choice of Mariane or the
casket. The miser chooses the casket, and leaves the young lady to his
son. The second plot is connected with Elise (2 _syl._), the miser's
daughter, promised in marriage by the father to his friend Anselme (2
_syl._); but Elise is herself in love with Valère, who, however, turns
out to be the son of Anselme. As soon as Anselme discovers that Valère
is his son, who he thought had been lost at sea, he resigns to him
Elise, and so in both instances the young folks marry together, and
the old ones give up their unnatural rivalry.--Molière, _L'Avare_
(1667).
AVE´NEL (2 _syl._), _Julian_, the usurper of Avenel Castle.
_Lady Alice_, widow of sir Walter.
_Mary_, daughter of Lady Alice. She marries Halbert Glendinning.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (date 1559).
_Ave´nel_ (_Sir Halbert Glendinning, knight of_), same as the
bridegroom in _The Monastery_.
_The lady Mary of Avenel_, same as the bride in _The Monastery_.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
_The White Lady of Avenel_, a spirit mysteriously connected with the
Avenel family, as the Irish banshee is with true Mile´sian families.
She announces good or ill fortune, and manifests a general interest
in the family to which she is attached, but to others she acts with
considerable caprice; thus she shows unmitigated malignity to the
sacristan and the robber. Any truly virtuous mortal has commanding
power over her.
Noon gleams on the lake,
Noon glows on the fell;
Awake thee, awake,
White maid of Avenel!
Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
AVEN´GER OF BLOOD, the man who had the birthright, according to the
Jewish, polity, of taking vengeance on him who had killed one of his
relatives.
... the Christless code
That must have life for a blow.
Tennyson, _Maud_, II. i. 1.
AVERY (_Parson_), a missionary "to the souls of fishers starving on
the rocks of Marblehead." He is wrecked with his crew, one wintry
midnight, and dies praying aloud.--J.G. Whittier, _The Swan Song of
Parson Avery_ (1850).
AV´ICEN or _Abou-ibn-Sina_, an Arabian physician and philosopher, born
at Shiraz, in Persia (980-1037). He composed a treatise on logic, and
another on metaphysics. Avicen is called both the Hippo´cratês and the
Aristotle of the Arabs.
Of physicke speake for me, king Avicen ...
Yet was his glory never set on shelfe,
Nor never shall, whyles any worlde may stande
Where men have minde to take good bookes in hande.
G. Gascoigne, _The Fruits of Warre_, lvii. (died 1577).
AVIS, a New England girl, heroine of _The Story of Avis_, by Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps-Ward. She is forced by genius to be an artist, and
through her art loses hope of domestic happiness (1877).
AYL'MER (_Mrs._), a neighbor of sir Henry Lee.--Sir W. Scott,
_Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
AY'MER (_Prior_), a jovial Benedictine monk, prior of Jorvaulx
Abbey.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
AY'MON, duke of Dordona (_Dordogne_). He had four sons, Rinaldo,
Guicciardo, Alardo, and Ricciardetto (_i.e._ Renaud, Guiscard, Alard,
and Richard), whose adventures are the subject of a French romance,
entitled _Les Quatre fils Aymon_, by H. de Alleneuve (1165-1223).
AZA'ZEL, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless
fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom. These jinn inhabited the
earth before man was created, but on account of their persistent
disobedience were driven from it by an army of angels. When Adam was
created, and God commanded all to worship him, Azâzel insolently made
answer, "Me hast Thou created of fire, and him of earth; why should
I worship him?" Whereupon God changed the jinnee into a devil, and
called him Iblis or Despair. In hell he was made the standard-bearer
of Satan's host.
Upreared
His mighty standard; that proud honor claimed
Azâzel as his right.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 534 (1665).
AZ'LA, a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of
Keha'ma.--Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, i. 10 (1809).
AZ'O, husband of Parisi'na. He was marquis d'Este, of Ferrara, and had
already a natural son, Hugo, by Bianca, who, "never made his bride,"
died of a broken heart. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina before she
married the marqnis, and after she became his mother-in-law, they
loved on still. One night Azo heard Parisina in sleep express her love
for Hugo, and the angry marquis condemned his son to death. Although
he spared his bride, no one ever knew what became of her.--Byron,
_Parisina_.
AZ´RAEL (_3 syl._), the angel of death (called Raphael in the _Gospel
of Barnabas_).--_Al Korân_.
AZ´TECAS, an Indian tribe, which conquered the Hoamen (2 _syl._),
seized their territory, and established themselves on a southern
branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan as their imperial city. When
Madoc conquered the Aztecas in the twelfth century, he restored the
Hoamen, and the Aztecas migrated to Mexico.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
AZUCE´NA, a gipsy. Manri´co is supposed to be her son, but is in
reality the son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna).--Verdi, _Il
Trovato´rê_ (1853).
AZYORU´CA (4 _syl._), queen of the snakes and dragons. She resides in
Patala, or the infernal regions.--_Hindû Mythology_.
There Azyoruca veiled her awful form
In those eternal shadows. There she sat,
And as the trembling souls who crowd around
The judgment-seat received the doom of fate,
Her giant arms, extending from the cloud,
Drew them within the darkness.
Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xxiii 15 (1809).
BAAL, plu. BAALIM, a general name for all the Syrian gods, as
Ash´taroth was for the goddesses. The general version of the legend of
Baal is the same as that of Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, and the Arabian
myth of El Khouder. All allegorize the Sun, six months above and six
months below the equator. As a title of honor, the word Baal, Bal,
Bel, etc., enters into a large number of Phoenician and Carthaginian
proper names, as Hanni-bal, Hasdrubal, Bel-shazzar, etc.
... [the] general names
Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male;
These female.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665).
BAB (_Lady_), a waiting maid on a lady so called, who assumes the airs
with the name and address of her mistress. Her fellow-servants and
other servants address her as "lady Bab," or "Your ladyship." She is a
fine wench, "but by no means particular in keeping her teeth clean."
She says she never reads but one "book, which is Shikspur." And
she calls Lovel and Freeman, two gentlemen of fortune, "downright
hottenpots."--Rev. J. Townley, _High Life Below Stairs_ (1763).
BA´BA, chief of the eunuchs in the court of the sultana
Gulbey´az.--Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 82, etc. (1820).
BABA (_Ali_), who relates the story of the "Forty Thieves" in the
_Arabian Nights' Entertainments_. He discovered the thieves' cave
while hiding in a tree, and heard the magic word "Ses´amê," at which
the door of the cave opened and shut.
_Cassim Baba_, brother of Ali Baba, who entered the cave of the forty
thieves, but forgot the pass-word, and stood crying "Open Wheat!"
"Open Barley!" to the door, which obeyed to no sound but "Open
Sesamê!"
BABA MUS´TAPHA, a cobbler who sewed together the four pieces into
which Cassim's body had been cleft by the forty thieves. When the
thieves discovered that the body had been taken away, they sent one
of the band into the city, to ascertain who had died of late. The man
happened to enter the cobbler's stall, and falling into a gossip heard
about the body which the cobbler had sewed together. Mustapha pointed
out to him the house of Cassim Baba's widow, and the thief marked it
with a piece of white chalk. Next day the cobbler pointed out the
house to another, who marked it with red chalk. And the day following
he pointed it out to the captain of the band, who instead of
marking the door studied the house till he felt sure of recognizing
it.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Ali Baba, or The Forty Thieves").
BABABALOUK, chief of the black eunuchs, whose duty it was to wait
on the sultan, to guard the sultanas, and to superintend the
harem.--Habesci, _State of the Ottoman Empire_, 155-6.
BABES IN THE WOOD, insurrectionary hordes that infested the mountains
of Wicklow and the woods of Enniscarthy towards the close of the
eighteenth century. (See CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.)
BABIE, old Alice Gray's servant-girl.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of
Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
BABIE´CA (3 _syl._), the Cid's horse.
I learnt to prize Babieca from his head unto his
hoof.
_The Cid_ (1128).
BABOON (_Philip_), Philippe Bourbon, duc d'Anjou.
_Lewis Baboon_, Louis XIV., "a false loon of a grandfather to Philip,
and one that might justly be called a Jack-of-all-trades."
Sometimes you would see this Lewis Baboon
behind his counter, selling broad-cloth, sometimes
measuring linen; next day he would be
dealing in mercery-ware; high heads, ribbons,
gloves, fans, and lace, he understood to a nicety
... nay, he would descend to the selling of
tapes, garters, and shoebuckles. When shop
was shut up he would go about the neighborhood,
and earn half-a-crown, by teaching the
young men and maidens to dance. By these
means he had acquired immense riches, which he
used to squander away at back-sword [_in war_],
quarter-staff, and cudgel-play, in which he took
great pleasure.--Dr. Arbuthnot, _History of John
Bull_, ii. (1712).
BABY BELL, the infant whose brief beautiful life is given in the poem
that first drew the eyes of the world to the young American poet, T.B.
Aldrich, then but nineteen years of age.
Have you not heard the poets tell
How came the dainty Baby Bell
Into this World of ours?
The gates of heaven were left ajar:
With folded hands and dreamy eyes,
Wandering out of Paradise,
She saw this planet like a star
Hung in the glistening depths of even,--
Its bridges, running to and fro,
O'er which the white-winged angels go,
Bearing the holy dead to heaven.
She touched a bridge of flowers--those feet
So light they did not bend the bells
Of the celestial asphodels,
They fell like dew upon the flowers;
Then all the air grew strangely sweet!
And thus came dainty Baby Bell
Into this world of ours. (1854.)
BACCHAN'TES (3 _syl._), priestesses of Bacchus.
Round about him _Bacchus_ fair Bacchantês,
Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses,
Wild from Naxian groves, or Zantê's
Vineyards, sing delirious verses.
Longfellow, _Drinking Song_.
BACCHUS, in the _Lusiad_, an epic poem by Camoens (1569), is the
personification of the evil principle which acts in opposition to
Jupiter, the lord of Destiny. Mars is made by the poet the guardian
power of Christianity, and Bacchus of Mohammedanism.
BACKBITE (_Sir Benjamin_), nephew of Crabtree, very conceited, and
very censorious. His friends called him a great poet and wit, but
he never published anything, because "'twas very vulgar to print;"
besides, as he said, his little productions circulated more "by giving
copies in confidence to friends."--Sheridan, _School for Scandal_
(1777).
When I first saw Miss Pope she was performing
"Mrs. Candour," to Miss Farren's "lady
Teazle," King as "sir Peter," Parsons "Crab-tree,"
Dodd "Backbite," Baddeley "Moses,"
Smith "Charles," and John Palmer "Joseph"
[Surface].--James Smith, _Memoirs, etc_.
BACTRIAN SAGE _(The)_, Zoroas'ter or Zerdusht, a native of Bactria,
now Balkh (B.C. 589-513).
BADE'BEC (2 _syl_.), wife of Gargantua and mother of Pantag'ruel. She
died in giving him birth, or rather in giving birth at the same time
to nine dromedaries laden with ham and smoked tongues, 7 camels
laden with eels, and 25 wagons full of leeks, garlic, onions, and
shallots.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 2 (1533).
BADGER _(Will)_, sir Hugh Robsart's favorite domestic.--Sir W. Scott,
_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Bad'ger (Mr. Bayham_), medical practitioner at Chelsea, under whom
Richard Carstone pursues his studies. Mr. Badger is a crisp-looking
gentleman, with "surprised eyes;" very proud of being Mrs. Badger's
"third," and always referring to her former two husbands, captain
Swosser and professor Dingo.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).
BADINGUET [_Bad´.en.gay_] one of the many nicknames of Napoleon III.
It was the name of the mason in whose clothes he escaped from the
fortress of Ham (1808, 1851-1873).
BADOU´RA, daughter of Gaiour (2 _syl._), king of China, the "most
beautiful woman ever seen upon earth." The emperor Gaiour wished her
to marry, but she expressed an aversion to wedlock. However, one night
by fairy influence she was shown prince Camaral´zaman asleep, fell
in love with him, and exchanged rings. Next day she inquired for the
prince, but her inquiry was thought so absurd that she was confined as
a madwoman. At length her foster-brother solved the difficulty thus:
The emperor having proclaimed that whoever cured the princess of her
[supposed] madness should have her for his wife, he sent Camaralzaman
to play the magician, and imparted the secret to the princess by
sending her the ring she had left with the sleeping prince. The cure
was instantly effected, and the marriage solemnized with due pomp.
When the emperor was informed that his son-in-law was a prince, whose
father was sultan of the "Island of the Children of Khal´edan, some
twenty days' sail from the coast of Persia," he was delighted with the
alliance.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").
BADROUL´BOUDOUR, daughter of the sultan of China, a beautiful
brunette. "Her eyes were large and sparkling, her expression modest,
her mouth small, her lips vermilion, and her figure perfect." She
became the wife of Aladdin, but twice nearly caused his death; once
by exchanging "the wonderful lamp" for a new copper one, and once by
giving hospitality to the false Fatima. Aladdin killed both these
magicians.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").
BAG DAD. A hermit told the caliph Almanzor that one Moclas was
destined to found a city on the spot where he was standing. "I am that
man," said the caliph, and he then informed the hermit how in his
boyhood he once stole a bracelet, and his nurse ever after called him
"Moclas," the name of a well-known thief.--Marigny.
BAGSHOT, one of a gang of thieves who conspire to break into the house
of lady Bountiful.--Farquhar, _The Beaux' Stratagem_ (1705).