Oliver de Clisson, constable of France (1320-1407).
_Butcher (The Bloody_), the duke of Cumberland, second son of Gleorge
II.; so called for his great barbarities in suppressing the rebellion
of Charles Edward, the young pretender (1726-1765).
BUTCHER OF ENGLAND, John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, a man of great
learning and a patron of learning (died 1470).
On one occasion in the reign of Edward IV. he ordered Clapham (a
squire to lord Warwick) and nineteen others, all gentlemen, to be
impaled.--Stow, _Warkworth Chronicle_ ("Cont. Croyl.")
Yet so barbarous was the age, that this same learned man impaled forty
Lancastrian prisoners at Southampton, put to death the infant children
of the Irish chief Desmond, and acquired the nickname of "The Butcher
of England."--_Old and New London_, ii. 21.
BUTLER (_Reuben_), a presbyterian minister, married to Jeanie Deans.
_Benjamin Butler_, father of Reuben.
_Stephen Butler_, generally called "Bible Butler," grandfather of
Reuben and father of Benjamin.
_Widow Judith Butler_, Reuben's grandmother and Stephen's wife.
_Euphemia_ or _Femie Butler_, Reuben's daughter.
_David_ and _Reuben Butler_, Reuben's sons.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of
Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
_Butler (The Rev. Mr.)_, military chaplain at Madras.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).
BUTTERCUP (_John_), a milkman.--W. Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock
Frock_.
_Buttercup (Little_), Bumboat woman, who in her youth, took to
baby-farming, and "mixed those babies up," _i.e._ Ralph Rackstraw and
the Captain of the _Pinafore_.--W.S. Gilbert, _Pinafore_ (1877).
BUXO´MA, a shepherdess with whom Cuddy is in love.
My Brown Buxoma is the featest maid
That e'er at wake delightsome gambol played ...
And neither lamb, nor kid, nor calf, nor Tray,
Dance like Buxoma on the first of May.
Gay, _Pastoral_, i. (1714).
BUZ´FUZ (_Sergeant_), the pleader retained by Dodson and Fogg for the
plaintiff in the celebrated case of "Bardell _v._ Pickwick." Sergeant
Buzfuz is a driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who proved that
Mr. Pickwick's note about "chops and tomato sauce" was a declaration
of love; and that his reminder "not to forget the warming-pan" was
only a flimsy cover to express the ardor of his affection. Of course
the defendant was found guilty by the enlightened jury. (His junior
was Skimpin.)--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
BUZ'ZARD (_The_), in _The Hind and the Panther_, by Dryden (pt. iii.),
is meant for Dr. Gilbert Burnet, whose figure was lusty (1643-1715).
BYCORN, a fat cow, so fat that its sides were nigh to bursting, but
this is no wonder, for its food was "good and enduring husbands," of
which there is good store, (See CHICHI-VACHE.)
BYRON (_Miss Harriet_), a beautiful and accomplished woman of high
rank, devotedly attached to sir Charles Grandison, whom ultimately she
marries.--Richardson, _Sir Charles Grandison_ (1753).
_Byron (The Polish)_, Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).
_Byron (The Russian_), Alexander Sergeivitch Puschkin (1799-1837).
BYRON AND MARY. The Mary of Byron's song is Miss Chaworth. Both Miss
Chaworth and lord Byron were wards of Mr. White. Miss Chaworth married
John Musters, and lord Byron married Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke: both
were equally unhappy.
I have a passion for the name of "Mary,"
For once it was a magic name to me.
Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 4 (1820).
BYRON AND TERESA GUICCIOLI. This lady was the wife of count Guiccioli,
an old man, but very rich. Moore says that Byron "never loved but
once, till he loved Teresa."
BYRON AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. It was Jeffrey and not Brougham who
wrote the article which provoked the poet's reply.
[Illustration]
(in _Notes and Queries_), the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.
CACAFO'GO, a rich, drunken usurer, stumpy and fat, choleric, a
coward, and a bully. He fancies money will buy everything and every
one.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).
CACUR'GUS, the fool or domestic jester of Misog'onus. Cacurgus is
a rustic simpleton and cunning mischief-maker.--Thomas Rychardes,
_Misogonus_ (the third English comedy, 1560).
CA'CUS, a giant who lived in a cave on mount Av'entine (3 _syl_.).
When Herculês came to Italy with the oxen which he had taken from
Ger'yon of Spain, Cacus stole part of the herd, but dragged the
animals by their tails into his cave, that it might be supposed they
had come _out_ of it.
If he falls into slips, it is equally clear they were introduced
by him on purpose to confuse like Caeus, the traces of his
retreat.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."
CAD, a low-born, vulgar fellow. A cadie in Scotland was a carrier of a
sedan-chair.
All Edinburgh men and boys know that when sedan-chairs were
discontinued, the old cadies sank into ruinous poverty, and became
synonymous with roughs. The word was brought to London by James
Hannay, who frequently used it.--M. Pringle.
[Illustration] M. Pringle assures us that the word came from Turkey.
CADE (_Jack_), Irish insurgent in reign of Henry VII. Assuming the
name of Mortimer, he led a company of rebels from Kent, defeated the
king's army, and entered London. His short-lived triumph was ended by
his death at Lewes. He appears in _Henry VI._ by Shakespeare.
CADE´NUS (3 _syl._) dean Swift. The word is simply _de-ca-nus_ ("a
dean"), with the first two syllables transposed (_ca-de-nus_). Vanessa
is Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, a young lady who fell in love with Swift,
and proposed marriage. The dean's reply is given in the poem entitled
_Cadenus and Vanessa_ [_i.e._ Van-Esther].
CADUCEUS meant generally a herald's staff; as an emblem of a peaceful
errand it was made of a branch of olive-wood with the twigs, which,
later, were transformed to serpents. In this form it is associated
with Mercury, the herald and messenger of the gods--that "beautiful
golden rod with which he both puts men to sleep and wakens them from
slumber." Homer, _Odyssey_, xxiv.
CADUR´CI, the people of Aquita´nia.
CAD´WAL. Arvir´agus, son of Cym´beline, was so called while he lived
in the woods with Bela´rius, who called himself Morgan, and whom
Cadwal supposed to be his father.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).
CADWALLADER, called by Bede (1 _syl._) Elidwalda, son of Cadwalla king
of Wales. Being compelled by pestilence and famine to leave Britain,
he went to Armorica. After the plague ceased he went to Rome, where,
in 689, he was baptized, and received the name of Peter, but died very
soon afterwards.
Cadwallader that drave [_sailed_] to the Armoric shore.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ix. (1612).
_Cadwallader_, the misanthrope in Smollett's _Peregrine Pickle_
(1751).
_Cadwallader_ (_Mrs_.), character in _Middle-march_, by George Eliot.
CADWALL'ON, son of the blinded Cyne'tha. Both father and son
accompanied prince Madoc to North America in the twelfth
century.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
_Cadwal'lon_, the favorite bard of prince Gwenwyn. He entered the
service of sir Hugo de Lacy, disguised, under the assumed name of
Renault Vidal.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
CÆ'CIAS, the north-west wind. Argestês is the north-east, and Bo'reas
the full north.
Boreas and Cæcias and Argestes loud
...rend the woods, and seas upturn.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 699, etc. (1665).
CÆLESTI'NA, the bride of sir Walter Terill. The king commanded sir
Walter to bring his bride to court on the night of her marriage. Her
father, to save her honor, gave her a mixture supposed to be poison,
but in reality it was only a sleeping draught. In due time the
bride recovered, to the amusement of the king and delight of her
husband.--Th. Dekker, _Satiromastix_ (1602).
CÆ'NEUS [_Se.nuce_] was born of the female sex, and was originally
called Cænis. Vain of her beauty, she rejected all lovers, but was one
day surprised by Neptune, who offered her violence, changed her sex,
converted her name to Ceneus, and gave her (or rather _him_) the gift
of being invulnerable. In the wars of the Lap'ithæ, Ceneus offended
Jupiter, and was overwhelmed under a pile of wood, but came forth
converted into a yellow bird. Æneas found Ceneus in the infernal
regions restored to the feminine sex. The order is inverted by sir
John Davies:
And how was Caeneus made at first a man,
And then a woman, then a man again.
_Orchestra, etc_. (1615).
CÆSAR (_Caius Julius_).
Somewhere I've read, but where I forget, he could dictate
Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs....
Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village
Than be second in Rome; and I think he was right when he said it.
Twice was he married before he was twenty, and many times after;
Battles five hundred he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered;
But was finally stabbed by his friend the orator Brutus.
Longfellow, _Courtship of Miles Standish_, ii.
Longfellow refers to Pliny, vii. 25, where he says that Cæsar "could
employ, at one and the same time, his ears to listen, his eyes to
read, his hand to write, and his tongue to dictate." He is said to
have conquered three hundred nations; to have taken eight hundred
cities, to have slain in battle a million men, and to have defeated
three millions. (See below, CÆSAR'S WARS.)
_Cæsar and his Fortune_. Plutarch says that Cæsar told the captain of
the vessel in which he sailed that no harm could come to his ship, for
that he had "Cæsar and his fortune with him."
Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.
Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2 (1589).
_Cæsar saves his Commentaries_. Once, when Julius Cæsar was in danger
of being upset into the sea by the overloading of a boat, he swam
to the nearest ship, with his book of _Commentaries_ in his
hand.--Suetonius.
_Cæsar's Death_. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare say that Julius Cæsar
was killed in the capitol. Thus Polonius says to Hamlet, "I did enact
Julius Cæsar; I was killed i' the capitol" (_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2).
And Chaucer says:
This Julius to the capitolê wente ...
And in the capitole anon him hente
This falsê Brutus, and his other soon,
And sticked him with bodëkins anon.
_Canterbury Tales_ ("The Monk's Tale," 1388).
Plutarch expressly tells us he was killed in Pompey's Porch or Piazza;
and in _Julius Cæsar_ Shakespeare says he fell "e'en at the base of
Pompey's statue" (act iii. sc. 2).
_Cæsar's Famous Despatch_, "Veni, vidi, vici," written to the senate
to announce his overthrow of Pharnacês king of Pontus. This "hop,
skip, and a jump" was, however, the work of three days.
_Cæsar's Wars_. The carnage occasioned by the wars of Cæsar is usually
estimated at a million fighting men. He won 320 triumphs, and fought
500 battles. See above, CÆSAR (_Caius Julius_).
What millions died that Cæsar might be great!
Campbell. _The Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).
_Cæsar_, the Mephistoph'elês of Byron's unfinished drama called _The
Deformed Transformed_. This Cæsar changes Arnold (the hunchback) into
the form of Achilles, and assumes himself the deformity and ugliness
which Arnold casts off. The drama being incomplete, all that can be
said is that Cæsar, in cynicism, effrontery, and snarling bitterness
of spirit, is the exact counterpart of his prototype, Mephistophelês
(1821).
_Cæsar (Don)_, an old man of sixty-three, the father of Olivia. In
order to induce his daughter to marry, he makes love to Marcella, a
girl of sixteen.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_ (1782).
CAEL, a Highlander of the western coast of Scotland. These Cael had
colonized, in very remote times, the northern parts of Ireland, as the
Fir-bolg or Belgae of Britain had colonized the southern parts. The
two colonies had each a separate king. When Crothar was king of the
Fir-bolg (or "lord of Atha"), he carried off Conla'ma, daughter of the
king of Ulster (_i.e._ "chief of the Cael"), and a general war ensued
between the two races. The Cael, being reduced to the last extremity,
sent to Trathal (Fingal's grandfather) for help, and Trathal sent over
Con'ar, who was chosen "king of the Cael" immediately he landed in
Ulster; and having reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, he assumed the
title of "king of Ireland." The Fir-bolg, though conquered, often rose
in rebellion, and made many efforts to expel the race of Conar, but
never succeeded in so doing.--Ossian.
CAGES FOR MEN. Alexander the Great had the philosopher Callisthenês
chained for seven months in an iron cage, for refusing to pay him
divine honors.
Catherine II. of Eussia kept her perruquier for more than three years
in an iron cage in her bed-chamber, to prevent his telling people that
she wore a wig.--Mons. de Masson, _Mémoires Secrets sur la Russie_.
Edward I. confined the countess of Buchan in an iron cage, for placing
the crown of Scotland on the head of Bruce. This cage was erected on
one of the towers of Berwick Castle, where the countess was exposed
to the rigor of the elements and the gaze of passers-by. One of the
sisters of Bruce was similarly dealt with.
Louis XI. confined cardinal Balue (grand-almoner of France) for ten
years in an iron cage in the castle of Loches [_Losh_].
Tamerlane enclosed the sultan Bajazet in an iron cage, and made of him
a public show. So says D'Herbelot.
An iron cage was made by Timour's command,
composed on every side of iron gratings, through
which the captive sultan [Bajazet] could be seen
in any direction. He travelled in this den slung
between two horses.--Leunclavius.
CAGLIOS´TRO (_Count de_), the assumed name of Joseph Balsamo
(1743-1795).
CAIN AND ABEL are called in the _Korân_ "Kâbil and Hâbil." The
tradition is that Cain was commanded to marry Abel's sister, and Abel
to marry Cain's, but Cain demurred because his own sister was the more
beautiful, and so the matter was referred to God, and God answered
"No" by rejecting Cain's sacrifice.
The Mohammedans also say that Cain carried about with him the dead
body of Abel till he saw a raven scratch a hole in the ground to
bury a dead bird. The hint was taken, and Abel was buried under
ground.--Sale's _Koran_, v. (notes).
CAIR´BAR, son of Borbar-Duthul, "lord of Atha" (Connaught), the most
potent of the race of the Fir-bolg. He rose in rebellion against
Cormac "king of Ireland," murdered him (_Temora_, i.), and usurped
the throne; but Fingal (who was distantly related to Cormac) went to
Ireland with an army, to restore the ancient dynasty. Cairbar
invited Oscar (Fingal's grandson) to a feast, and Oscar accepted the
invitation, but Cairbar having provoked a quarrel with his guest, the
two fought, and both were slain.
"Thy heart is a rock. Thy thoughts are dark
and bloody. Thou art the brother of Cathmor
... but my soul is not like thine, thou feeble
hand in fight. The light of my bosom is stained
by thy deeds."--Ossian, _Temora_, i.
CAIR´BRE (_2 syl._), sometimes called Cair´bar, third king of Ireland,
of the Caledonian line. (There was also a Cairbar, "lord of Atha," a
Fir-bolg, quite a different person.)
The Caledonian line ran thus: (1) Conar, first "king of Ireland;" (2)
Cormac I., his son; (3) Cairbre, his son; (4) Artho, his son; (5)
Cormac II., his son; (6) Ferad-Artho, his cousin.--Ossian.
CAI´US (2 _syl._), the assumed name of the earl of Kent when he
attended on king Lear, after Goneril and Re´gan refused to entertain
their aged father with his suite.--Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).
_Cai´us_ (_Dr._), a French physician, whose servants are Rugby and
Mrs. Quickly.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1601).
The clipped English of Dr. Cains.--Macau lay.
CALANDRI´NO, a character in the _Decameron_, whose "misfortunes have
made all Europe merry for four centuries."--Boccaccio, _Decameron_,
viii. 9 (1350).
CALAN´THA, princess of Sparta, loved by Ith´oclês. Ithoclês induces
his sister, Penthe´a, to break the matter to the princess. This she
does; the princess is won to requite his love, and the king consents
to the union. During a grand court ceremony Calantha is informed of
the sudden death of her father, another announces to her that Penthea
had starved herself to death from hatred to Bass´anês, and a third
follows to tell her that Ithoclês, her betrothed husband, has been
murdered. Calantha bates no jot of the ceremony, but continues the
dance even to the bitter end. The coronation ensues, but scarcely is
the ceremony over than she can support the strain no longer, and,
broken-hearted, she falls dead.--John Ford, _The Broken Heart_ (1633).
CALAN'THE (3 _syl._), the betrothed wife of Pyth'ias the
Syracusian.--J. Banim, _Damon and Pythias_ (1825).
CAL'CULATOR (_The_). Alfragan the Arabian astronomer was so called
(died A.D. 820). Jedediah Buxton, of Elmeton, in Derbyshire, was also
called "The Calculator" (1705-1775). George Bidder, Zerah Colburn,
and a girl named Heywood (whose father was a Mile End weaver) all
exhibited their calculating powers in public.
Pascal, in 1642, made a calculating machine, which was improved by
Leibnitz. C. Babbage also invented a calculating machine (1790-1871).
CAL'DERON (_Don Pedro_), a Spanish poet born at Madrid (1600-1681). At
the age of fifty-two he became an ecclesiastic, and composed religious
poetry only. Altogether he wrote about 1000 dramatic pieces.
Her memory was a mine. She knew by heart
All Cal'deron and greater part of Lopé.
Byron, _Don Juan_, i. 11 (1819).
[Illustration] "Lope," that is Lopê de Vega, the Spanish poet
(1562-1635).
CALEB, the enchantress who carried off St. George in infancy.
_Ca'leb_, in Dryden's satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant
for lord Grey of Wark, in Northumberland, an adherent of the duke of
Monmouth.
And, therefore, in the name of dulness be
The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free.
Part i.
[Illustration] "Balaam" is the earl of Huntingdon.
CA'LED, commander-in-chief of the Arabs in the siege of Damascus. He
is brave, fierce, and revengeful. War is his delight. When Pho'cyas,
the Syrian, deserts Eu'menês, Caled asks him to point out the
governor's tent; he refuses; they fight, and Caled falls.--John
Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
CALEDO´NIANS, Gauls from France who colonized south Britain, whence
they journeyed to Inverness and Ross. The word is compounded of two
Celtic words, _Cael_ ("Gaul" or "Celt") and _don_ or _dun_ ("a hill"),
so that Cael-don means "Celts of the highlands."
The Highlanders to this day call themselves
"_Cael_" and their language "_Caelic_" or "_Gaelic_"
and their country "_Caeldock_" which the Romans
softened into Caledonia.--_Dissertation on the
Poems of Ossian_.
CA´LENDERS, a class of Mohammedans who abandoned father and mother,
wife and children, relations and possessions, to wander through the
world as religious devotees, living on the bounty of those whom they
made their dupes.--D'Herbelot, _Supplement_, 204.
He diverted himself with the multitude of calenders,
santons, and dervises, who had travelled
from the heart of India, and halted on their way
with the emir.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
_The Three Calenders_, three royal princes, disguised as begging
dervishes, each of whom had lost his right eye. Their adventures form
three tales in the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.
_Tale of the First Calender_. No names are given. This calender was
the son of a king, and nephew of another king. While on a visit to his
uncle his father died, and the vizier usurped the throne. When the
prince returned, he was seized, and the usurper pulled out his right
eye. The uncle died, and the usurping vizier made himself master of
this kingdom also. So the hapless young prince assumed the garb of a
calender, wandered to Baghdad, and being received into the house
of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the caliph
Haroun-al-Raschid.--_The Arabian Nights_.
_Tale of the Second Calender._ No names given. This calender, like the
first, was the son of a king. On his way to India he was attacked by
robbers, and though he contrived to escape, he lost all his effects.
In his flight he came to a large city, where he encountered a tailor,
who gave him food and lodging. In order to earn a living, he turned
woodman for the nonce, and accidentally discovered an underground
palace, in which lived a beautiful lady, confined there by an evil
genius. With a view of liberating her, he kicked down the talisman,
when the genius appeared, killed the lady, and turned the prince into
an ape. As an ape he was taken on board ship, and transported to a
large commercial city, where his penmanship recommended him to the
sultan, who made him his vizier. The sultan's daughter undertook to
disenchant him and restore him to his proper form; but to accomplish
this she had to fight with the malignant genius. She succeeded in
killing the genius, and restoring the enchanted prince; but received
such severe injuries in the struggle that she died, and a spark of
fire which flew into the right eye of the prince destroyed it. The
sultan was so heart-broken at the death of his only child, that he
insisted on the prince quitting the kingdom without delay. So he
assumed the garb of a calender, and being received into the hospitable
house of "the three sisters," told his tale in the hearing of the
caliph Haroun-al-Raschid.--_The Arabian Nights_.
_Tale of the Third Calender._ This tale is given under the word AGIB.
* * * * *
"I am called Agib," he says, "and am the son
of a king whose name was Cassib."--_Arabian
Nights_.
CALEPINE (_Sir_), the knight attached to Sere´na (canto 3). Seeing a
bear carrying off a child, he attacked it, and squeezed it to death,
then committed the babe to the care of Matilde, wife of sir Bruin. As
Matilde had no child of her own, she adopted it (canto 4).--Spenser,
_Faëry Queen_, vi. (1596).
[Illustration] Upton says, "the child" in this incident is meant for
M'Mahon, of Ireland, and that "Mac Mahon" means the "son of a bear."
He furthermore says that the M'Mahons were descended from the
Fitz-Ursulas, a noble English family.
CA´LES (_2 syl._). So gipsies call themselves.
Beltran Cruzado, count of the Cales.
Longfellow, _The Spanish Student_.
CALF-SKIN. Fools and jesters used to wear a calf-skin coat buttoned
down the back, and hence Faulconbridge says insolently to the
arch-duke of Austria, who had acted very basely towards Richard
Lion-heart:
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare, _King John_, act ii. sc. I (1596).
CAL´IANAX, a humorous old lord, father of Aspatia, the troth-plight
wife of Amin´tor. It is the death of Aspatia which gives name to the
drama.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).
CALIBAN, a savage, deformed slave of Prospero (the rightful duke of
Milan and father of Miranda). Caliban is the "freckled whelp" of
the witch Syc´orax. Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a sort of
Caliban.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).
"Caliban" ... is all earth ... he has the
dawnings of understanding without reason or the
moral sense ... this advance to the intellectual
faculties without the moral sense is marked by
the appearance of vice.--Coleridge.
CAL´IBURN, same as _Excalibur_, the famous sword of king Arthur.
Onward Arthur paced, with hand
On Caliburn's resistless brand.
Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_ (1813).
Arthur ... drew out his Caliburn, and ...
rushed forward with great fury into the thickest
of the enemy's ranks ... nor did he give over
the fury of his assault till he had, with his Caliburn,
killed 470 men.--Geoffrey, _British History_,
ix. 4 (1142).