Of that great king of Danes, his name that still doth hold,
His appetite to please ... from Denmark hither brought.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxv. (1622).
CAN´YNGE (_Sir William_) is represented in the _Rowley Romance_ as a
rich, God-fearing merchant, devoting much money to the Church,
and much to literature. He was, in fact, a Maece´nas of princely
hospitality, living in the Red House. The priest Rowley was his
"Horace."--Chatterton (1752-1770).
CAP (_Charles_), uncle of Mabel Dunham in Cooper's _Pathfinder_
(1849). He is a sea-captain who insists in sailing a vessel upon the
great northern lakes as he would upon the Atlantic, but, despite his
pragmatic self-conceit, is nonplussed by the Thousand Islands.
"And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this place
without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude, or soundings?
Allow me to ask if you think a mariner runs by his nose, like one of
Pathfinder's hounds?"
Having by a series of blunders consequent upon this course, brought
schooners and crew to the edge of destruction, he shows heart
by regretting that his niece is on board, and philosophy with
professional pride by the conclusion:--
"We must take the bad with the good in every v'y'ge, and the only
serious objection that an old sea-captain can with propriety make to
such an event, is that it should happen on this bit of d--d fresh
water."
CAPABILITY BROWN, Launcelot Brown, the English landscape gardener
(1715-1783).
CAP'ANEUS (3 _syl_.) a man of gigantic stature, enormous strength,
and headlong valor. He was impious to the gods, but faithful to his
friends. Capaneus was one of the seven heroes who marched against
Thebes (1 _syl_.), and was struck dead by a thunderbolt for declaring
that not Jupiter himself should prevent his scaling the city walls.
CAPITAN, a boastful, swaggering coward, in several French farces and
comedies prior to the time of Molière.
CAPONSAC'CHI (_Guiseppe_), the young priest under whose protection
Pompilia fled from her husband to Rome. The husband and _his_ friends
said the elopement was criminal; but Pompilia, Caponsacchi, and
_their_ friends maintained that the young canon simply acted the part
of a chivalrous protector of a young woman who was married at fifteen,
and who fled from a brutal husband who ill-treated her.--R. Browning,
_The Ring and the Book_.
CAPSTERN (_Captain_), captain of an East
Indiaman, at Madras.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time,
George II.).
CAPTAIN, Manuel Comne´nus of Treb´izond (1120, 1143-1180).
_Captain of Kent_. So Jack Cade called himself (died 1450).
_The Great Captain (el Gran Capitano)_, Gonzalvo di Cor´dova
(1453-1515).
_The People's Captain (el Capitano del Popolo_), Guiseppe Garibaldi
(1807-).
_Captain (A Copper)_, a poor captain, whose swans are all geese,
his jewellry paste, his guineas counters, his achievements
tongue-doughtiness, and his whole man Brummagem. See _Copper Captain_.
_Captain (The Black)_, lieutenant-colonel Dennis Davidoff of the
Russian army. In the French invasion he was called by the French _Le
Capitaine Noir_.
CAPTAIN LOYS [_Lo.is_]. Louise Labé was so called, because in early
life she embraced the profession of arms, and gave repeated proofs of
great valor. She was also called _La Belle Cordière_. Louise Labé was
a poetess, and has left several sonnets full of passion, and some good
elegies (1526-1566).
CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! fallen leader apostrophized by Walt Whitman in
his lines upon the death of President Lincoln (1865).
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells!
Rise up! for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
Here, Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead.
CAPTAIN RIGHT, a fictitious commander, the ideal of the rights due to
Ireland. In the last century the peasants of Ireland were sworn to
captain Right, as chartists were sworn to their articles of demand
called their _charter_. Shakespeare would have furnished them with
a good motto, "Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape
whipping?" (_Hamlet_, act ii. sc. 2).
CAPTAIN ROCK, a fictitious name assumed by the leader of certain Irish
insurgents in 1822, etc. All notices, summonses, and so on, were
signed by this name.
CAP'ULET, head of a noble house of Verona, in feudal enmity with the
house of Mon'tague (3 syl). Lord Capulet is a jovial, testy old man,
self-willed, prejudiced, and tyrannical.
_Lady Capulet_, wife of lord Capulet and mother of
Juliet.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).
CAPYS, a blind old seer, who prophesied to Romulus the military
triumphs of Rome from its foundation to the destruction of Carthage.
In the hall-gate sat Capys,
Capys the sightless seer;
From head to foot he trembled
As Romulus drew near.
And up stood stiff his thin white hair,
And his blind eyes flashèd fire.
Lord Macaulay, _Lays of Ancient Rome_ ("The Prophecy of Capys," xi.).
CAR'ABAS (_Le marquis de_), an hypothetical title to express a
fossilized old aristocrat, who supposed the whole world made for his
behoof. The "king owes his throne to him;" he can "trace his pedigree
to Pepin;" his youngest son is "sure of a mitre;" he is too noble "to
pay taxes;" the very priests share their tithes with him; the country
was made for his "hunting-ground;" and, therefore, as Béranger says:
Chapeau bas! chapeau bas!
Gloire au marquis de Carabas!
The name occurs in Perrault's tale of _Puss in Boots_, but it is
Béranger's song (1816) which has given the word its present meaning.
CARAC´CI OF FRANCE, Jean Jouvenet, who was paralyzed on the right
side, and painted with his left hand (1647-1707).
CARAC´TACUS OR CARADOC, king of the Sil´urês (_Monmouthshire_, etc.).
For nine years he withstood the Roman arms, but being defeated
by Osto´rius Scap´ula the Roman general, he escaped to Brigantia
(_Yorkshire_, etc.) to crave the aid of Carthisman´dua (or
Cartimandua), a Roman matron married to Venu´tius, chief of those
parts. Carthismandua betrayed him to the Romans, A.D. 47.--Richard of
Cirencester, _Ancient State of Britain_, i. 6, 23.
Caradoc was led captive to Rome, A.D. 51, and, struck with the
grandeur of that city, exclaimed, "Is it possible that a people so
wealthy and luxurious can envy me a humble cottage in Britain?"
Claudius the emperor was so charmed with his manly spirit and bearing
that he released him and craved his friendship.
Drayton says that Caradoc went to Rome with body naked, hair to the
waist, girt with a chain of steel, and his "manly breast enchased with
sundry shapes of beasts. Both his wife and children were captives, and
walked with him."--_Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).
CARACUL (_i.e. Caraeatta_), son and successor of Severus the Roman
emperor. In A.D. 210 he made an expedition against the Caledo´nians,
but was defeated by Fingal. Aurelius Antoninus was called "Caracalla"
because he adopted the Gaulish _caracalla_ in preference to the Roman
_toga_.--Ossian, _Comala_.
The Caracul of Fingal is no other than Caracalla, who (as the son of
Severus) the emperor of Rome ... was not without reason called "The
Son of the King of the World." This was A.D. 210.--_Dissertation on
the Era of Ossian_.
CARACULIAM'BO, the hypothetical giant of the island of Malindra'ma,
whom don Quixote imagines he may one day conquer and make to kneel at
the foot of his imaginary lady-love.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I.i.1
(1605).
CAR'ADOC OR CRADOCK, a knight of the Round Table. He was husband of
the only lady in the queen's train who could wear "the mantle of
matrimonial fidelity." This mantle fitted only chaste and virtuous
wives; thus, when queen Guenever tried it on--
One while it was too long, another while too short,
And wrinkled on her shoulders in most unseemly sort.
Percy, _Reliques_ ("Boy and the Mantle," III. iii. 18).
_Sir Caradoc and the Boar's Head_. The boy who brought the test mantle
of fidelity to king Arthur's court drew a wand three times across a
boar's head, and said, "There's never a cuckold who can carve that
head of brawn." Knight after knight made the attempt, but only sir
Cradock could carve the brawn.
_Sir Cradock and the Drinking-horn._ The boy furthermore brought
forth a drinking-horn, and said, "No cuckold can drink from that horn
without spilling the liquor." Only Cradock succeeded, and "he wan the
golden can."--Percy, _Reliques_ ("Boy and the Mantle," III. iii. 18).
CARADOC OF MEN'WYGENT, the younger bard of Gwenwyn prince of
Powys-land. The elder bard of the prince was Cadwallon.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
CAR´ATACH OR CARAC´TACUS, a British king brought captive before the
emperor Claudius in A.D. 52. He had been betrayed by Cartimandua.
Claudius set him at liberty.
And Beaumont's pilfered Caratach affords
A tragedy complete except in words.
Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
(Byron alludes to the "spectacle" of _Caractacus_ produced by
Thomas Sheridan at Drury Lane Theatre. It was Beaumont's tragedy of
_Bonduca_, minus the dialogue.)
Digges [1720-1786] was the very absolute
"Caratach." The solid bulk of his frame, his
action, his voice, all marked him with identity.
Boaden, _Life of Siddons_.
CAR´ATHIS, mother of the caliph Vathek. She was a Greek, and
induced her son to study necromancy, held in abhorrence by all good
Mussulmans. When her son threatened to put to death every one who
attempted without success to read the inscription of certain sabres,
Carathis wisely said, "Content yourself, my son, with commanding their
beards to be burnt. Beards are less essential to a state than men."
She was ultimately carried by an afrit to the abyss of Eblis, in
punishment of her many crimes.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).
CARAU´SIUS, the first British emperor (237-294). His full name was
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Carausius, and as emperor of Britain he was
accepted by Diocletian and Maxim´ian; but after a vigorous reign of
seven years he was assassinated by Allectus, who succeeded him as
"emperor of Britain."--See Gibbon, _Decline and Fall, etc._, ii. 13.
CAR´DAN (_Jerôme_) of Pa´via (1501-1576), a great mathematician and
astrologer. He professed to have a demon or familiar spirit, who
revealed to him the secrets of nature.
CARDEN (_Grace_), lovely girl with whom Henry Little (an artisan) and
Frederick Coventry, gentleman, are enamored. Beguiled by Coventry into
a belief that Little is dead, she consents to the marriage ceremony
with his rival. Little reappears on the wedding-day, and she refuses
to live with her husband. The marriage is eventually set aside, and
Grace Carden espouses Henry Little.--Charles Reade, _Put Yourself in
His Place_.
CARDE´NIO of Andalusi´a, of opulent parents, fell in love with
Lucinda, a lady of equal family and fortune, to whom he was formally
engaged. Don Fernando his friend, however, prevailed on Lucinda's
father, by artifice, to break off the engagement and promise Lucinda
to himself, "contrary to her wish, and in violation of every principle
of honor." This drove Cardenio mad, and he haunted the Sierra Morena
or Brown Mountain for about six months, as a maniac with lucid
intervals. On the wedding-day Lucinda swooned, and a letter informed
the bridegroom that she was married to Cardenio. Next day she
privately left her father's house and took refuge in a convent; but
being abducted by don Fernando, she was carried to an inn, where
Fernando found Dorothea his wife, and Cardenio the husband of Lucinda.
All parties were now reconciled, and the two gentlemen paired
respectively with their proper wives.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I.
iv. (1605).
CARE, described as a blacksmith, who "worked all night and day." His
bellows, says Spenser, are Pensiveness and Sighs.--_Faéry Queen_, iv.
5 (1596).
CARE'LESS, one of the boon companions of Charles Surface.--Sheridan,
_School for Scandal_ (1777).
_Care'less (Colonel)_, an officer of high spirits and mirthful temper,
who seeks to win Ruth (the daughter of sir Basil Thoroughgood) for his
wife.--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_.
This farce is a mere _réchauffé_ of _The Committee_, by the hon. sir
R. Howard. The names "colonel Careless" and "Ruth" are the same, but
"Ruth" says her proper Christian name is "Anne."
_Careless_, in _The Committee_, was the part for which Joseph Ashbury
(1638-1720) was celebrated.--Chetwood, _History of the Stage._
(_The Committee_, recast by T. Knight, is called _The Honest
Thieves_.)
_Careless (Ned)_, makes love to lady Pliant.--W. Congreve, _The Double
Dealer_ (1700).
CARELESS HUSBAND _(The)_, a comedy by Colley Cibber (1704). The
"careless husband" is sir Charles Easy, who has amours with different
persons, but is so careless that he leaves his love-letters about, and
even forgets to lock the door when he has made a _liaison_, so that
his wife knows all; yet so sweet is her temper, and under such entire
control, that she never reproaches him, nor shows the slightest
indication of jealousy. Her confidence so wins upon her husband that
he confesses to her his faults, and reforms entirely the evil of his
ways.
CARÊME _(Jean de), chef de cuisine_ of Leo X. This was a name given
him by the pope for an admirable _soupe maigre_ which he invented
for Lent. A descendant of Jean was _chef_ to the prince regent, at
a salary of £1000 per annum, but he left this situation because the
prince had only a _ménage bourgeois_, and entered the service of baron
Rothschild at Paris (1784-1833).
CAREY, innocent-faced rich young dude in Ellen Olney Kirk's novel, _A
Daughter of Eve_ (1889).
_Carey (Patrick)_, the poet brother of lord Falkland, introduced by
sir W. Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
CAR'GILL _(The Rev. Josiah_), minister of St. Ronan's Well, tutor of
the hon. Augustus Bidmore (2 _syl_.), and the suitor of Miss Augusta
Bidmore, his pupil's sister.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time,
George III.).
CARI'NO, father of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of
Arnoldo (the lady dishonorably pursued by the governor count
Clodio).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).
CAR'KER _(James)_, manager in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant.
Carker was a man of forty, of a florid complexion, with very
glistening white teeth, which showed conspicuously when he spoke. His
smile was like "the snarl of a cat." He was the Alas'tor of the house
of Dombey, for he not only brought the firm to bankruptcy, but he
seduced Alice Marwood (cousin of Edith, Dombey's second wife), and
also induced Edith to elope with him. Edith left the wretch at Dijon,
and Carker, returning to England, was run over by a railway train and
killed.
_John Carker_, the elder brother, a junior clerk in the same firm. He
twice robbed it and was forgiven.
_Harriet Carker_, a gentle, beautiful young woman, who married Mr.
Morfin, one of the _employés_ in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant.
When her elder brother John fell into disgrace by robbing his
employer, Harriet left the house of her brother James (the manager) to
live with and cheer her disgraced brother John.--C. Dickens, _Dombey
and Son_ (1846).
CARLE´TON (_Captain_), an officer in the Guards.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
CARLISLE (_Frederick Howard, earl of_), uncle and guardian of lord
Byron (1748-1826). His tragedies are _The Father's Revenge_ and
_Bellamere_.
The paralytic puling of Carlisle...
Lord, rhymester, _petit-maitre_, pamphleteer.
Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
CAR´LOS, elder son of don Antonio, and the favorite of his paternal
uncle Lewis. Carlos is a great bookworm, but when he falls in love
with Angelina he throws off his diffidence and becomes bold, resolute,
and manly. His younger brother is Clodio, a mere coxcomb.--C. Cibber,
_Love Makes a Man_ (1694).
_Carlos_ (under the assumed name of the marquis D'Antas) married
Ogari´ta, but as the marriage was effected under a false name it was
not binding, and Ogarita left Carlos to marry Horace de Brienne.
Carlos was a great villain: he murdered a man to steal from him the
plans of some Californian mines. Then embarking in the _Urania_, he
induced the crew to rebel in order to obtain mastery of the ship.
"Gold was the object of his desire, and gold he obtained." Ultimately,
his villainies being discovered, he was given up to the hands of
justice.--E. Stirling, _The Orphan of the Frozen Sea_ (1856).
_Carlos (Don)_, son of Philip II. of Portugal; deformed in person,
violent and vindictive in disposition. Don Carlos was to have married
Elizabeth of France, but his father supplanted him. Subsequently he
expected to marry the arch-duchess Anne, daughter of the emperor
Maximilian, but her father opposed the match. In 1564 Philip II.
settled the succession on Rodolph and Ernest, his nephews, declaring
Carlos incapable. This drove Carlos into treason, and he joined the
Netherlands in a war against his father. He was apprehended and
condemned to death, but was killed in prison. This has furnished the
subject of several tragedies: _i.e._, Otway's _Don Carlos_ (1672), in
English; those of J.G. de Campistron (1683) and M.J. de Chénier (1789)
in French; J.C.F. Schiller (1798) in German; Alfieri in Italian, about
the same time.
_Car'los (Don)_, the friend of don Alonzo, and the betrothed husband
of Leono'ra, whom he resigns to Alonzo out of friendship. After
marriage, Zanga induces Alonzo to believe that Leonora and don Carlos
entertain a criminal love for each other, whereupon Alonzo, out of
jealousy, has Carlos put to death, and Leonora kills herself.--Edward
Young, _The Revenge_ (1721).
_Carlos (Don)_, husband of donna Victoria. He gave the deeds of his
wife's estate to donna Laura, a courtesan, and Victoria, in order to
recover them, assumed the disguise of a man, took the name of Florio,
and made love to her. Having secured a footing, Florio introduced
Gaspar as the wealthy uncle of Victoria, and Gaspar told Laura the
deeds in her hand were utterly worthless. Laura in a fit of temper
tore them to atoms, and thus Carlos recovered the estate and was
rescued from impending ruin.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a
Husband_ (1782).
CARLTON (_Admiral George_), George IV., author of _The Voyage of--in
search of Loyalty_, a poetic epistle (1820).
CARMEN, the fisherman's wife who, in Lufcadio Hearn's story _Chita_,
adopts the baby dragged by her husband from the surf, and takes it to
her heart in place of the child she has lost (1889).
_Carmen (Eschelle)_, beautiful, ambitious, and intriguing New York
society girl.--Charles Dudley Warner, _A Little Journey in the World_
(1889).
CAR´MILHAN, the "phantom ship." The captain of this ship swore he
would double the Cape, whether God willed it or not, for which impious
vow he was doomed to abide forever and ever captain in the same
vessel, which always appears near the Cape, but never doubles it. The
kobold of the phantom ship is named Klabot´erman, a kobold who helps
sailors at their work, but beats those who are idle. When a vessel is
doomed the kobold appears smoking a short pipe, dressed in yellow, and
wearing a night-cap.
CARO, the Flesh or "natural man" personified. Phineas Fletcher says
"this dam of sin" is a hag of loathsome shape, arrayed in steel,
polished externally, but rusty within. On her shield is the device
of a mermaid, with the motto, "Hear, Gaze, and Die."--_The Purple
Island_, vii. (1633).
CAROLINE, queen-consort of George II., introduced by sir W. Scott in
_The Heart of Midlothian_. Jeanie Deans has an interview with her in
the gardens at Richmond, and her majesty promises to intercede with
the king for Effie Deans's pardon.
CAROS OR CARAUSIUS, a Roman captain, native of Belgic Gaul. The
emperor Maximian employed Caros to defend the coast of Gaul against
the Franks and Saxons. He acquired great wealth and power, but fearing
to excite the jealousy of Maximian, he sailed for Britain, where (in
A.D. 287) he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor. Caros resisted
all attempts of the Romans to dislodge him, so that they ultimately
acknowledged his independence. He repaired Agricola's wall to obstruct
the incursions of the Caledonians, and while he was employed on this
work was attacked by a party commanded by Oscar, son of Ossian and
grandson of Fingal. "The warriors of Caros fled, and Oscar remained
like a rock left by the ebbing sea."--Ossian, _The War of Caros_.
CARPATH'IAN WIZARD (_The_), Proteus (2 _syl_.), who lived in the
island of Car'pathos, in the Archipelago. He was a wizard, who could
change his form at will. Being the sea-god's shepherd, he carried a
crook.
[_By_] the Carpathian wizard's book [_crook_]. Milton, _Comus_, 872
(1634).
CARPET (_Prince Housain's_), a magic carpet, to all appearances quite
worthless, but it would transport any one who sat on it to any part
of the world in a moment. This carpet is sometimes called "the magic
carpet of Tangu," because it came from Tangu, in Persia.--_Arabian
Nights_ ("Prince Ahmed").
_Carpet_ (_Solomon's_). Solomon had a green silk carpet, on which his
throne was set. This carpet was large enough for all his court to
stand on; human beings stood on the right side of the throne, and
spirits on the left. When Solomon wished to travel he told the wind
where to set him down, and the carpet with all its contents rose into
the air and alighted at the proper place. In hot weather the birds
of the air, with outspread wings, formed a canopy over the whole
party.--Sale, _Korân_, xxvii. (notes).
CARPIL'LONA (_Princess_), the daughter of Subli'mus king of the
Peaceable Islands. Sublimus, being dethroned by a usurper, was with
his wife, child, and a foundling boy thrown into a dungeon, and kept
there for three years. The four captives then contrived to escape;
but the rope which held the basket in which Carpillona was let down
snapped asunder, and she fell into the lake. Sublimus and the other
two lived in retirement as a shepherd family, and Carpillona, being
rescued by a fisherman, was brought up by him as his daughter. When
the "Humpbacked" Prince dethroned the usurper of the Peaceable
Islands, Carpillona was one of the captives, and the "Humpbacked"
Prince wanted to make her his wife; but she fled in disguise, and
came to the cottage home of Sublimus, where she fell in love with his
foster-son, who proved to be half-brother of the "Humpbacked" Prince.
Ultimately, Carpillona married the foundling, and each succeeded to
a kingdom.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Princess Carpillona,"
1682).
CAR'PIO (_Bernardo del_), natural son of don Sancho, and doña Ximena,
surnamed "The Chaste." It was Bernardo del Carpio who slew Roland at
Roncesvallês (4 _syl._). In Spanish romance he is a very conspicuous
figure.
CARRAS'CO (_Samson_), son of Bartholomew Carrasco. He is a licentiate
of much natural humor, who flatters don Quixote, and persuades him to
undertake a second tour.
CARRIER _(Martha)_, a Salem goodwife, tried and executed for
witchcraft. To Rev. Cotton Mather's narrative of her crimes and
punishment is appended this memorandum:
This rampant hag, Martha Carrier, was the person of whom the
confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest,
agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of
Hell.--Cotton Mather, _The Wonders of the Invisible World_ (1693).
CARRIL, the gray-headed, son of Kinfe'na bard of Cuthullin, general of
the Irish tribes.--Ossian, _Fingal_.
CARRLLLO _(Fray)_ was never to be found in his own cell, according to
a famous Spanish epigram.
Like Fray Carillo, the only place in which one cannot find him Is his
own cell.
Longfellow, _The Spanish Student_, i. 5.
CAR'ROL, deputy usher at Kenilworth Castle.--Sir W. Scott,
_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).