bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom
[_chrisom_] child. 'A parted just ... at turning o' the tide."
(Quickly's description of the death of Falstaff.)--Shakespeare, _Henry
V_. act ii. sc. 3 (1599).
Why, Mike's a child to him ... a chrism child.
Jean Ingelow, _Brothers and a Sermon_.
CHRIS'TABEL (_ch = k_), the heroine of a fragmentary poem of the same
title by Coleridge.
_Christabel_, the heroine of an ancient romance entitled _Sir Eglamour
of Artois_.
CHRISTABELLE [_Kris.'ta.bel_], daughter of "a bonnie king of Ireland,"
beloved by sir Cauline (2 _syl_.). When the king knew of their loves
he banished sir Cauline from the kingdom. Then as Christabelle drooped
the king held a tournament for her amusement, every prize of which
was carried off by an unknown knight in black. On the last day came a
giant with two "goggling eyes, and mouthe from ear to ear," called the
Soldain, and defied all comers. No one would accept his challenge save
the knight in black, who succeeded in killing his adversary, but died
himself of the wounds he had received. When it was discovered that the
knight was sir Cauline, the lady "fette a sighe, that burst her gentle
hearte in twayne."--Percy, _Reliques_ ("Sir Cauline," I. i. 4).
CHRISTIAN, the hero of Bunyan's allegory called _The Pilgrim's
Progress_. He flees from the City of Destruction and journeys to the
Celestial City. At starting he has a heavy pack upon his shoulders,
which falls off immediately he reaches the foot of the cross. (The
pack, of course, is the bundle of sin, which is removed by the blood
of the cross. 1678.)
_Christian_, a follower of Christ. So called first at Antioch.--_Acts_
xi. 26.
_Christian_, captain of the patrol in a small German town in which
Mathis is burgomaster. He marries Annette, the burgomaster's
daughter.--J. R. Ware, _The Polish Jew_.
_Christian_, synonym of "_Peasant_" in Russia. This has arisen from
the abundant legislation under czar Alexis and czar Peter the Great,
to prevent Christian serfs from entering the service of Mohammedan
masters. No Christian is allowed to belong to a Mohammedan master, and
no Mohammedan master is allowed to employ a Christian on his estate.
_Christian II_. (or _Christiern_), king of Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark. When the Dalecarlians rose in rebellion against him and chose
Gustavus Vasa for their leader, a great battle was fought, in which
the Swedes were victorious; but Gustavus allowed the Danes to return
to their country. Christian then abdicated, and Sweden became an
independent kingdom.--H. Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).
_Chris'tian (Edward)_, a conspirator. He has two _aliases_, "Richard
Gan'lesse" (2 _syl_.) and "Simon Can'ter."
_Colonel William Christian_, Edward's brother. Shot for insurrection.
_Fenella_ alias _Zarah Christian_, daughter of Edward Christian.--Sir
W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, George II.).
_Christian_ (_Fletcher_), mate of the _Bounty_, under the command of
captain Bligh, and leader of the mutineers. After setting the captain
and some others adrift, Christian took command of the ship, and,
according to lord Byron, the mutineers took refuge in the island
of Toobouai (one of the Society Islands). Here Torquil, one of the
mutineers, married Neuha, a native. After a time a ship was sent to
capture the mutineers. Torquil and Neuha escaped, and lay concealed in
a cave; but Christian, Ben Bunting, and Skyscrape were shot. This is
not according to fact, for Christian merely touched at Toobouai, and
then, with eighteen of the natives and nine of the mutineers, sailed
for Tahiti, where all soon died except Alexander Smith, who changed
his name to John Adams, and became a model patriarch.--Byron, _The
Island_.
CHRISTIAN DOCTOR (_Most_), John Charlier de Gerson (1363-1429).
CHRISTIAN ELOQUENCE (_The Founder of_), Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704).
CHRISTIAN KING (_Most_). So the kings of France were styled. Pepin _le
Bref_ was so styled by pope Stephen III. (714-768). Charles II. _le
Chauve_ was so styled by the Council of Savonnières (823, 840-877).
Louis XI. was so styled by Paul II. (1423, 1461-1483).
CHRISTIAN'A (_ch = k_), the wife of Christian, who started with
her children and Mercy from the City of Destruction long after her
husband's flight. She was under the guidance of Mr. Greatheart, and
went, therefore, with silver slippers along the thorny road. This
forms the second part of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ (1684).
CHRIS'TIE (2 _syl_.) of the Clint Hill, one of the retainers of Julian
Avenel (2 _syl_.).--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Chris'tie_ (_John_), ship-chandler at Paul's wharf.
_Dame Nelly Christie_, his pretty wife, carried off by lord
Dalgarno.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
CHRISTI'NA, daughter of Christian II. king of Denmark, Sweden, and
Norway. She is sought in marriage by prince Arvi'da and by Gustavus
Vasa; but the prince abandons his claim in favor of his friend.
After the great battle, in which Christian is defeated by Gustavus,
Christina clings to her father, and pleads with Gustavus on his
behalf. He is sent back to Denmark, with all his men, without ransom,
but abdicates, and Sweden is erected into a separate kingdom.--H.
Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).
CHRISTINA PURCELL, a happy, pure girl, whose sheltered life and frank
innocence contrast strongly with the heavy shadows glooming over
outcast "Nixy" in _Hedged In._
She [Nixy], looking in from the street at mother and child, wondered
if the lady here and the white daughter were religious; if it were
because people were white and religious that they all turned her from
their doors,--then, abruptly, how _she_ would look sitting in the
light of a porcelain lamp, with a white sack on.--Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps, _Hedged In_ (1870).
CHRIS'TINE (2 _syl_.), a pretty, saucy young woman in the service
of the countess Marie, to whom she is devotedly attached. After the
recapture of Ernest ("the prisoner of state"), she goes boldly to king
Frederick II., from whom she obtains his pardon. Being set at liberty,
Ernest marries the countess.--E. Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_
(1847).
CHRISTINE DRYFOOS, the undisciplined, showy daughter of a self-made
man in W. D. Howells's _A Hazard of New Fortunes_ (1889).
She was self-possessed because she felt that a knowledge of her
father's fortune had got around, and she had the peace which money
gives to ignorance. She is madly in love with Beaton, whose attentions
have raised expectations he concluded not to fulfill. At their last
meeting she felt him more than life to her, and knew him lost, and the
frenzy that makes a woman kill the man she loves or fling vitriol to
destroy the beauty she cannot have for all hers possessed her lawless
soul.... She flashed at him, and with both hands made a feline pass at
the face he bent towards her.
CHRISTMAS TREASURES. Eugene Field, in _A Little Book of Western
Verse_, gives a father's soliloquy over such treasures as
The little toy my darling knew,
A little sock of faded hue,
A little lock of golden hair,
all that remains to him who,
As he lisped his evening prayer
Asked the boon with childish grace,
Then, toddling to the chimney-place,
He hung his little stocking there.
(1889.)
CHRIS'TOPHER _(St.)_, a saint of the Roman and Greek Churches, said to
have lived in the third century. His pagan name was Offerus, his body
was twelve ells in height, and he lived in the land of Canaan. Offerus
made a vow to serve only the mightiest; so, thinking the emperor was
"the mightiest," he entered his service. But one day the emperor
crossed himself for fear of the devil, and the giant perceived that
there was one mightier than his present master, so he quitted his
service for that of the devil. After awhile. Offerus discovered that
the devil was afraid of the cross, whereupon he enlisted under Christ,
employing himself in carrying pilgrims across a deep stream. One day,
a very small child was carried across by him, but proved so heavy that
Offerus, though a huge giant, was well-nigh borne down by the weight.
This child was Jesus, who changed the giant's name to _Christoferus_,
"bearer of Christ." He died three days afterwards, and was canonized.
Like the great giant Christopher, it stands
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave.
Longfellow, _The Lighthouse_.
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT, otherwise "Uncle Christopher," is the
consequential oracle of the neighborhood, and the father of six
daughters, in _Clovernook_, by Alice Cary (1851).
CHRIST'S VICTORY AND TRIUMPHS, a poem in four parts, by Giles Fletcher
(1610): Part i. "Christ's Victory in Heaven," when He reconciled
Justice with Mercy, by taking on Himself a body of human flesh;
part ii. "Christ's Triumph on Earth," when He was led up into the
wilderness, and was tempted by Presumption, Avarice, and Ambition;
part iii. "Christ's Triumph over Death," when He died on the Cross;
part iv. "Christ's Triumph after Death," in His resurrection and
ascension. (See PARADISE REGAINED.)
CHRONICLERS _(Anglo-Norman)_, a series of writers on British history
in verse, of very early date. Geffroy Gaimar wrote his Anglo-Norman
chronicle before 1146. It is a history in verse of the Anglo-Saxon
kings. Robert Wace wrote the _Brut d'Angleterre [i.e., Chronicle of
England_] in eight-syllable verse, and presented his work to Henry II.
It was begun in 1160 and finished in 1170.
_Chroniclers (Latin)_, historical writers of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries.
_Chroniclers (Rhyming)_, a series of writers on English history, from
the thirteenth century. The most noted are: Layamon (called "The
English Ennius") bishop of Ernleye-upon-Severn (1216). Robert of
Gloucester, who wrote a narrative of British history from the landing
of Brute to the close of the reign of Henry III. (to 1272). No date is
assigned to the coming of Brute, but he was the son of Silvius Aene'as
(the third generation from Æneas, who escaped from Troy, B.C. 1183),
so that the date may be assumed to be B.C. 1028, thus giving a scope
of 2300 years to the chronicle. (The verse of this chronicle is eight
and six syllables displayed together, so as to form lines of fourteen
syllables each.) Robert de Brunne's chronicle is in two parts. The
first ends with the death of Cadwallader, and the second with the
death of Edward I. The earlier parts are similar to the Anglo-Norman
chronicle of Wace. (The verse is octo-syllabic.)
CHRONICLES OF CANONGATE, certain stories supposed to have been written
by Mrs. Martha Bethune Baliol, a lady of quality and fortune, who
lived, when in Edinburgh, at Baliol Lodging, in the Canongate. These
tales were written at the request of her cousin, Mr. Croftangry, by
whom, at her death, they were published. The first series contains
_The Highland Widow, The Two Drovers_, and _The Surgeon's Daughter_
[afterwards removed from this series]. The second series contains _The
Fair Maid of Perth_.--Sir W. Scott.
"Chronicles of Canongate" (introduction to _The Highland Widow_).
CHRONOLOGY _(The father of_), J. J. Scaliger (1540-1609).
CHRONON--HOTON--THOL'OGOS _(King)._ He strikes Bombardin'ian, general
of his forces, for giving him hashed pork, and saying, "Kings as great
as Chrononhotonthologos have made a hearty meal on worse." The king
calls his general a traitor. "Traitor in thy teeth!" retorts
the general. They fight, and the king dies.--H. Carey,
_Chrononhotonthologos_ (a burlesque).
CHRYSALDE' (2 _syl_.), friend of Arnolphe.--Molière, _L'École des
Femmes_ (1662).
CHRYSALE (2 _syl_.), a simple-minded, henpecked French tradesman,
whose wife Philaminte (3 _syl_.) neglects her house for the learned
languages, women's rights, and the aristocracy of mind. He is himself
a plain practical man, who has no sympathy with the _bas bleu_
movement. He has two daughters, Armande (2 _syl_.) and Henriette, both
of whom love Clitandre; but Armande, who is a "blue-stocking," loves
him platonically; while Henriette, who is a "thorough woman," loves
him with a woman's love. Chrysale sides with his daughter Henriette,
and when he falls into money difficulties through the "learned
proclivities" of his wife, Clitandre comes forward like a man,
and obtains the consent of both parents to his marriage with
Henriette.--Molière, _Les Femmes Savantes_ (1672).
CHRYSA'OR _(ch = k)_, the sword of sir Ar'tegal, which "exceeded all
other swords." It once belonged to Jove, and was used by him against
the Titans, but it had been laid aside till Astraea gave it to the
Knight of Justice.
Of most perfect metal it was made, Tempered with adamant ... no
substance was so ... hard But it would pierce or cleave whereso it
came. Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. (1596).
[Illustration] The poet tells us it was broken to pieces by Radigund
queen of the Amazons (bk. v. 7), yet it reappears whole and sound
(canto 12), when it is used with good service against Grantorto (_the
spirit of rebellion_). Spenser says it was called Chrysaor because
"the blade was garnished all with gold."
_Chrysa'or_, son of Neptune and Medu'sa. He married Callir'rhoê (4
_syl._), one of the sea-nymphs.
Chrysaor rising out of the sea,
Showed thus glorious and thus emulous,
Leaving the arms of Callirrhoê.
Longfellow, _The Evening Star_.
Chryseis [_Kri see'.iss_], daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. She
was famed for her beauty and her embroidery. During the Trojan war
Chryseis was taken captive and allotted to Agamemnon king of Argos,
but her father came to ransom her. The king would not accept the
offered ransom, and Chrysês prayed that a plague might fall on the
Grecian camp. His prayer was answered, and in order to avert the
plague Agamemnon sent the lady back to her father not only without
ransom but with costly gifts.--Homer, _Iliad_, i.
CHRYSOSTOM, a famous scholar, who died for love of Marcella, "rich
William's daughter."
CHUCKS, the boatswain under Captain Savage.--Captain Marryat, _Peter
Simple_ (1833).
CHUFFEY, Anthony Chuzzlewit's old clerk, almost in his dotage, but
master and man love each other with sincerest affection.
Chuffey fell back into a dark corner on one side of the fire-place,
where he always spent his evenings, and was neither seen nor heard....
save once, when a cup of tea was given him, in which he was seen to
soak his bread mechanically.... He remained, as it were, frozen up;
if any term expressive of such a vigorous process can be applied to
him--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_, xi. (1843).
CHUNÉE (_À la_), very huge and bulky. Chunée was the largest elephant
ever brought to England. Henry Harris, manager of Covent Garden,
bought it for £900 to appear in the pantomime of _Harlequin
Padmenaba_, in 1810. It was subsequently sold to Cross, the proprietor
of Exeter 'Change. Chunée at length became mad, and was shot by a
detachment of the Guards, receiving 152 wounds. The skeleton is
preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons. It is 12 feet 4
inches high.
CHURCH BUILT BY VOLTAIRE. Voltaire, the atheist, built, at Ferney, a
Christian church, and had this inscription affixed to it "_Deo erexit
Voltaire_." Campbell, in the Life of Cowper (vol. vii., 358) says, "he
knows not to whom Cowper alludes in these lines:"
Nor his who for the bane of thousands born,
Built God a church, and laughed His word to scorn.
Cowper, _Retirement_ (1782).
CHURM. Guide, philosopher, and friend of Robert Byng, in _Cecil
Dreeme_. A noted philanthropist, the fame of whose benevolence is the
Open Sesame to an insane asylum in which his child is incarcerated.
--Theodore Winthrop, _Cecil Dreeme_ (1861).
CHUZZLEWIT (_Anthony_), cousin of Martin Chuzzlewit, the grandfather.
Anthony is an avaricious old hunks, proud of having brought up his
son, Jonas, to be as mean and grasping as himself. His two redeeming
points are his affection for his old old servant, Chuffey, and his
forgiveness of Jonas after his attempt to poison him.
The old established firm of Anthony Chuzzlewit and Son, Manchester
warehousemen ... had its place of business in a very narrow street
somewhere behind the Post Office.... A dim, dirty, smoky, tumble-down,
rotten old house it was ... but here the firm ... transacted their
business ... and neither the young man nor the old one had any other
residence.--Chap. xi.
_Jonas Chuzzlewit_, son of Anthony, of the "firm of Anthony Chuzzlewit
and Son, Manchester warehousemen." A consummate villain of mean
brutality and small tyranny. He attempts to poison his old father,
and murders Montague Tigg, who knows his secret. Jonas marries Mercy
Pecksniff, his cousin, and leads her a life of utter misery. His
education had been conducted on money-grubbing principles; the first
word he was taught to spell was _gain_, and the second, _money_. He
poisons himself to save his neck from the gallows.
This fine young man had all the inclination of a profligate of
the first water, and only lacked the one good trait in the common
catalogue of debauched vices--open-handedness--to be a notable
vagabond. But there his griping and penurious habits stepped
in.--Chap. xi.
_Martin Chuzzlewit, sen._, grandfather to the hero of the same name.
A stern old man, whose kind heart has been turned to gall by the dire
selfishness of his relations. Being resolved to expose Pecksniff, he
goes to live in his house, and pretends to be weak in intellect, but
keeps his eyes sharp open, and is able to expose the canting scoundrel
in all his deformity.
_Martin Chuzzlewit, jun._, the hero of the tale called _Martin
Chuzzlewit_, grandson to old Martin. His nature has been warped by
bad training, and, at first, he is both selfish and exacting; but the
troubles and hardships he undergoes in "Eden" completely transform
him, and he becomes worthy of Mary Graham, whom he marries.--C.
Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
CYNDO'NAX, a chief druid, whose tomb (with a Greek inscription) was
discovered near Dijon, in 1598.
CIACCO' (2 _syl._), a glutton, spoken to by Dantê, in the third circle
of hell, the place in which gluttons are consigned to endless woe. The
word means "a pig," and is not a proper name, but only a symbolical
one.--Dantê, _Hell_, vi. (1300).
Ciacco, thy dire affliction grieves me much.
_Hell_, vi.
CICERO. When the great Roman orator was given up by Augustus to the
revenge of Antony, it was a cobbler who conducted the sicarii to
Formiae, whither Cicero had fled in a litter, intending to put to
sea. His bearers would have fought, but Cicero forbade them, and one
Herennius has the unenviable notoriety of being his murderer.
It was a cobbler that set the murderers on Cicero.--Ouida, _Ariadnê_,
i. 6.
_Cicero of the British Senate_, George Canning (1770-1827).
_Cicero of France_, Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742).
_Cicero of Germany_, John, Elector of Brandenburg (1455, 1486-1499).
_Cicero's Mouth_, Philippe Pot, Prime Minister of Louis XL
(1428-1494).
_The British Cicero_, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708-1778).
_The Christian Cicero_, Lucius Coelius Lactantius (died 330).
_The German Cicero_, Johann Sturm, printer and scholar (1507-1589).
CICELY (_Sweet_). Heroine of novel by Marietta Holley, better known as
"Josiah Allen's wife." (1885).
_Cicely Humphreys_. Putative daughter of Bothwell and Marie
Stuart; who is made the companion of her mother's journeyings and
captivity.--C.M. Yonge, _Unknown to History_ (1885).
CYCLINIUS, mistake in one only manuscript of Chaucer for Cyllenius, a
name of Mercury, from his birth-place, Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia.
Cyclinius (Cyllenius) riding in his chevauchie. Chaucer, _Complaint of
Mars and Venus_.
CID (_The_) = Seid or Signior, also called CAMPEADOR [_Cam.pa'.dor_]
or "Camp hero." Rodrigue Diaz de Bivar was surnamed "the Cid." The
great hero of Castille, he was born at Burgos, 1030, and died, 1099.
He signalized himself by his exploits in the reigns of Ferdinand,
Sancho II., and Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castille. In the wars between
Sancho II. and his brother (Alphonso VI.), he sided with the former;
and, on the assassination of Sancho, was disgraced, and quitted the
court. He then assembled his vassals and marched against the
Moors, whom he conquered in several battles, so that Alphonso was
necessitated to recall him. Both Corneille and Guilhem de Cantro have
admirable tragedies on the subject; Ross Neil has an English drama
called _The Cid_; Sanchez, in 1775, wrote a long poem of 1128 verses,
called _Poema del Cid Campeador_. Southey, in his _Chronicle of the
Cid_ (1808), has collected all that is known of this extraordinary
hero. (It was _The Cid_ (1636) which gained for Corneille the title of
"Le Grand Corneille.")
_The Cid's Father_, Don Diego Lainez.
_The Cid's Mother_, Doña Teresa Nnñez.
_The Cid's Wife_, Xime'na, daughter of the Count Lozano de Gormaz. The
French called her _La Belle Chimène_, but the _rôle_ ascribed to her
by Corneille is wholly imaginary.
Never more to thine own castle
Wilt thou turn Babieca's rein;
Never will thy loved Ximena
See thee at her side again.
_The Cid_.
_The Cid's Children_. His two daughters were Elvi'ra and Sol; his son,
Diego Rodriquez, died young.
_The Cid's Horse_ was Babieca [either _Bab.i.e'.keh_ or
_Ba.bee.'keh]._ It survived its master two years and a half, but no
one was allowed to mount it. Babieca was buried before the monastery
gates of Valencia, and two elms were planted to mark the spot.
Troth it goodly was and pleasant
To behold him at their head,
All in mail on Babieca,
And to list the words he said.
_The Cid_.
(Here "Babieca" is 4 _syl_., but in the verse above it is only 3
_syl_.).
_The Cid's Swords_, Cola'da and Tizo'na ("terror of the world"). The
latter was taken by him from King Bucar.
_Cid (The Portuguese_), Nunez Alva'rez Perei'ra (1360-1431).
CID HAMET BENENGELI, the hypothetical author of _Don Quixote_. (See
BENENGELI).
Spanish commentators have discovered this pseudonym to be only an
Arabian version of _Signior Cervantes. Cid, i.e._, "signior;" _Hamet_,
a Moorish prefix; and _Ben-en-geli_, meaning "son of a stag." So
_cervato_ ("a young stag") is the basis of the name Cervantes.
CIDLI, the daughter of Jairus, restored to life by Jesus. She was
beloved by Sem'ida, the young man of Nain, also raised by Jesus from
the dead.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).
CIGARETTE. _Vivandiére_ in the French army in Algiers. Passionate,
wilful, tender and brave, she gives her life to save that of the man
she loves.--Ouida, _Under Two Flags_.
CIMMERIAN DARKNESS. Homer places the Cimmerians beyond the Oceanus,
in a land of never-ending gloom; and immediately after Cimmeria, he
places the empire of Hadês. Pliny (_Historia Naturalis_, vi. 14)
places Cimmeria near the Lake Avernus, in Italy, where "the sun never
penetrates." Cimmeria is now called _Kertch_, but the Cossacks call it
_Prekla (Hell)._
CINCINNATUS, virtuous Roman patriot called from the plough to serve
the State.
CINCINNA'TUS OF THE AMERICANS, George Washington (1732-1799).
CINDERELLA, the heroine of a fairy tale. She was the drudge of the
house, "put upon" by her two elder sisters. While the elder sisters
were at a ball, a fairy came, and having arrayed the "little
cinder-girl" in ball costume, sent her in a magnificent coach to the
palace where the ball was given. The prince fell in love with her,
but knew not who she was. This, however, he discovered by means of a
"glass slipper" which she dropped, and which fitted no foot but her
own.
(This tale is substantially the same as that of _Rhodopis and
Psammitichus_ in Ælian _[Var. Hist_., xiii., 32]. A similar one is
also told in Strabo _(Geog._ xvii).)
The _glass_ slipper should be the _fur_ slipper, _pantoufle en vair_,
not _en verre_; our version being taken from the _Contes de Fees_ of
C. Perrault (1697).
CINDY, maid-of-all-work in the Derrick household, in Susan Warner's
_Say and Seal._ With the freedom of Yankee help she is "'boun' to
confess" whatever occurs to her mind in season and out of season.
(1860).