a convent, and tries to reclaim her profligate husband, but without
success.--Molière, _Don Juan_ (1665).
ELY (_Bishop of_), introduced by Sir W. Scott in the _Talisman_ (time,
Richard I.).
EMATH´IAN CONQUEROR (_The Great_), Alexander the Great. Emathia is
Macedonia and Thessaly. Emathion, a son of Titan and Aurora, reigned
in Macedonia. Pliny tells us that Alexander, when he besieged Thebes,
spared the house in which Pindar the poet was born, out of reverence
to his great abilities.
EMBLA, the woman Eve of Scandinavian mythology. Eve or Embla was made
of elm, but Ask or Adam was made of ash.
EM´ELIE or EMELYE, sister-in-law of Duke Theseus (_2 syl._), beloved
by both Pal´amon and Ar´cite (_2 syl._), but the former had her to
wife.
Emelie that fairer was to scene
Than is the lilie on hire stalkê grene,
And fresscher than the May with flourês newe.
Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_
("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
EMERAL´DER, an Irishman, one of the Emerald Isle.
EMER´ITA (_St_.), who, when her brother abdicated the British crown,
accompanied him to Switzerland, and shared with him there a martyr's
death.
Emerita the next, King Lucius' sister dear,
Who in Helvetia with her martyr brother died.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).
EMILE (_2 syl._), the chief character of a philosophical romance on
education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile is the author's ideal
of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature
having been carefully withheld.
N.B.--Emile is the French form of Emilius.
His body is inured to fatigue, as Rousseau advises in his
_Emilius_.--_Continuation of The Arabian Nights_, iv. 69.
EMIL´IA, wife of Iago, the ancient of Othello in the Venetian army.
She is induced by Iago to purloin a certain handkerchief given by
Othello to Desdemona. Iago then prevails on Othello to ask his wife to
show him the handkerchief, but she cannot find it, and Iago tells
the Moor she has given it to Cassio as a love-token. At the death of
Desdemona, Emilia (who till then never suspected the real state of
the case) reveals the truth of the matter, and Iago rushes on her and
kills her.--Shakespeare, _Othello_ (1611).
The virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not
cast off; easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at
atrocious villainies.--Dr. Johnson.
_Emil´ia_, the lady who attended on Queen Hermi´onê in
prison.--Shakespeare, _The Winter's Tale_ (1604).
_Emilia_, the lady-love of Peregrine Pickle, in Smollett's novel
called _The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle_ (1751).
_Emilia_ Galotti. Beautiful daughter of Odoardo, an Italian noble. She
is affianced to Count Appiani, and beloved by the Prince Guastalla,
who causes her lover's death on their wedding-day. To save her from
the prince, Odoardo stabs Emilia.--G.E. Lessing, _Emilia Galotti_.
EMILY, the _fiancée_ of Colonel Tamper. Duty called away the colonel
to Havana, and on his return he pretended to have lost one eye and one
leg in the war, in order to see if Emily would love him still. Emily
was greatly shocked, and Mr. Prattle the medical practitioner was sent
for. Amongst other gossip, Mr. Prattle told his patient he had seen
the colonel who looked remarkably well, and most certainly was maimed
neither in his legs nor in his eyes. Emily now saw through the trick,
and resolved to turn the tables on the colonel. For this end she
induced Mdlle. Florival to appear _en militaire_, under the assumed
name of Captain Johnson, and to make desperate love to her. When the
colonel had been thoroughly roasted and was about to quit the house
forever, his friend Major Belford entered and recognized Mdlle. as
his _fiancée_; the trick was discovered, and all ended happily.--G.
Colman, sen., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).
EMIR OR AMEER, a title given to lieutenants of provinces and other
officers of the sultan, and occasionally assumed by the sultan
himself. The sultan is not unfrequently call "The Great Ameer," and
the Ottoman empire is sometimes spoken of as "the country of the Great
Ameer." What Matthew Paris and other monks call "ammirals" is the same
word. Milton speaks of the "mast of some tall ammiral" (_Paradise
Lost_, i. 294).
The difference between _xariff_ or _sariff_ and _amir_ is this: the
former is given to the _blood_ successors of Mahomet, and the latter
to those who maintain his religious faith.--Selden, _Titles of Honor_,
vi. 73-4 (1672).
EM'LY _(Little)_, daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan'el
Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought
up. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan'el's nephew) little Em'ly runs
away with Steerforth, a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being
subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan'el
Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
EMMA "the Saxon" or Emma Plantagenet, the beautiful, gentle, and
loving wife of David, king of North Wales (twelfth century).--Southey,
_Madoc_ (1805).
EMMONS (_David_), slow, gentle fellow who never "comes to the point"
in his courtship, but visits the "girl" for forty years, and gasps out
in dying, "I allers--meant to--have--asked--you to marry me."--Mary E.
Wilkins, _Two Old Lovers_ (1887).
EMPED´OCLES, one of Pythagoras's scholars, who threw himself secretly
into the crater at Etna, that people might suppose the gods had
carried him to heaven; but alas! one of his iron pattens was cast out
with the lava, and recognized.
He to be deemed
A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,
Empedoclês.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 469, etc. (1665).
EMPEROR OF BELIEVERS (_The_), Omar I., father-in-law of Mahomet
(581-644).
EMPEROR OF THE MOUNTAINS, (_The_) Peter the Calabrian, a famous
robber-chief (1812).
EMPEROR FOR MY PEOPLE. Hadrian used to say, "I am emperor not for
myself but for my people" (76, 117-138).
EMPSON (_Master_), flageolot player to Charles II.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (1823).
Enan´the (_3 syl._), daughter of Seleucus, and mistress of Prince
Deme´trius (son of King Antig´onus) She appears under the name of
Celia.--Beaumont and Eletcher, _The Humorous Lieutenant_ (1647).
ENCEL´ADOS (Latin, _Enceladus_), the most powerful of all the giants
who conspired against Jupiter. He was struck with a thunder-bolt, and
covered with the heap of earth now called Mount Etna. The smoke of the
volcano is the breath of the buried giant; and when he shifts his side
it is an earthquake.
Fama est, Enceladi semiustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis;
Et, fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam, et coelum subtexere fumo.
Virgil, _Aeneid_, iii. 578-582.
Where the burning cinders, blown
From the lips of the overthrown
Enceladus, fill the air.
Longfellow, _Enceladus_.
EN'CRATES (_3 syl_.), Temperance personified, the husband of Agnei'a
(_wifely chastity_). When his wife's sister Parthen'ia _(maidenly
chastity_) was wounded in the battle of Mansoul, by False Delight, he
and his wife ran to her assistance, and soon routed the foes who were
hounding her. Continence (her lover) went also, and poured a balm
into her wounds, which healed them. Greek, _egkratês_, "continent,
temperate."
So have I often seen a purple flower,
Fainting thro' heat, hang down her drooping head;
But, soon refreshêd with a welcome shower,
Begins again her lively beauties spread,
And with new pride her silken leaves display.
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).
ENDELL (_Martha_), a poor fallen girl, to whom Emily goes when
Steerforth deserts her. She emigrates with Dan'el Pegot'ty, and
marries a young farmer in Australia.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
ENDIGA, in _Charles XII_., by J.R. Planche (1826).
ENDLESS, the rascally lawyer in _No Song No Supper_, by P. Hoare
(1754-1834).
ENDYM'ION, a noted astronomer who, from Mount Latmus, in Caria,
discovered the course of the moon. Hence it is fabled that the moon
sleeps with Endymion. Strictly speaking, Endymion is the setting sun.
So, Latmus by the wise Endymion is renowned;
That hill on whose high top he was the first that found
Pale Phoebe's wandering course; so skillful in her sphere,
As some stick not to say that he enjoyed her there.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, vi. (1612).
_To sleep like Endymion_, to sleep long and soundly. Endymion
requested of Jove permission to sleep as long as felt inclined. Hence
the proverb, _Endymionis somnum dormire_. Jean Ogier de Gombaud wrote
in French a romance or prose poem called _Endymion_ (1624), and one of
the best paintings of A.L. Girodet is "Endymion." Cowley, referring to
Gombaud's romance, says:
While there is a people or a sun,
Endymion's story with the moon shall run.
John Keats, in 1818, published his _Endymion_ (a poetic romance),
and the criticism of the _Quarterly Review_ was falsely said to have
caused his death.
_Endym´ion._ So Wm. Browne calls Sir Walter Raleigh, who was for a
time in disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, whom he calls "Cyn´thia."
The first note that I heard I soon was wonne
To think the sighes of fair Endymion,
The subject of whose mournful heavy lay,
Was his declining with faire Cynthia.
_Brittannia's Pastorals_, iv. (1613).
ENFANTS DE DIEU, the Camisards.
The royal troops outnumbered the _Enfants de Dieu_, and a not
inglorious flight took place.--Ed. Gilliat, _Asylum Christi_, iii.
ENFIELD (_Mrs._), the keeper of a house of intrigue, or "gentleman's
magazine" of frail beauties.--Holcroft, _The Deserted Daughter_
(1785).
ENGADDI (_Theodorick, hermit of_), an enthusiast. He was Aberick
of Mortemar, an exiled noble.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time,
Richard I.).
_Engaddi_, one of the towns of Judah, forty miles from Jerusalem,
famous for its palm trees.
Anchorites beneath Engaddi's palms,
Pacing the Dead Sea beach.
Longfellow, _Sand of the Desert_
ENGEL´BRECHT, one of the Varangian guards.--Sir W. Scott, _Count
Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
EN´GELRED, 'squire of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (follower of Prince
John of Anjou, the brother of Richard I.).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_
(time, Richard I.).
EN´GUERRAUD, brother of the Marquis of Montserrat, a crusader.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard L).
E´NID, the personification of spotless purity. She was the daughter of
Yn´iol, and wife of Geraint. The tale of Geraint and Enid allegorizes
the contagion of distrust and jealousy, commencing with Guinevere's
infidelity, and spreading downward among the Arthurian knights. In
order to save Enid from this taint, Sir Geraint removed from the court
to Devon; but overhearing part of a sentence uttered by Enid, he
fancied that she was unfaithful, and treated her for a time with
great harshness. In an illness, Enid nursed Geraint with such wifely
devotion that he felt convinced of his error. A perfect
reconciliation took place, and they "crowned a happy life with a fair
death".--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ ("Geraint and Enid.").
ENNIUS (_The English_), Lay´amon, who wrote a translation in Saxon of
_The Brut_ of Wace (thirteenth century).
_Ennius (The French_), Jehan de Meung, who wrote a continuation of
Layamon's romance (1260-1320).
[Illustration] Guillaume de Lorris, author of the _Romance of the
Rose_, is also called "The French Ennius," and with better title
(1235-1265).
_Ennius_ (_The Spanish_), Juan de Mena of Cordova (1412-1456).
ENRIQUE´ (_2 syl._), brother-in-law of Chrysalde (_2 syl._). He
married secretly Chrysalde's sister Angelique, by whom he had a
daughter, Agnes, who was left in charge of a peasant while Enrique was
absent in America. Having made his fortune in the New World, Enrique
returned and found Agnes in love with Horace, the son of his
friend Oronte (_2 syl._). Their union, after the usual quota of
misunderstanding and cross purposes, was accomplished to the delight
of all parties.--Molière, _L'Ecole des Femmes_ (1662).
ENTEL´ECHY, the kingdom of Queen Quintessence. Pantag´ruel´ and
his companions went to this kingdom in search of the "holy
bottle."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, v. 19 (1545).
[Illustration] This kingdom of "speculative science" gave the hint to
Swift for his island of Lapu´ta.
EPHE´SIAN, a toper, a dissolute sot, a jovial companion. When Page (2
_Henry_ IV. act ii. sc. 2) tells Prince Henry that a company of
men were about to sup with Falstaff, in Eastcheap, and calls
them "Ephesians," he probably meant soldiers called _féthas_
("foot-soldiers"), and hence topers. Malone suggests that the word is
a pun on _pheese_ ("to chastise or pay one tit for tat"), and means
"quarrelsome fellows."
EPHE´SIAN POET (_The_), Hippo´nax, born at Ephesus (sixth century
B.C.).
EPIC POETRY (_The Father of_), Homer (about 950 B.C.).
EP´ICENE (_3 syl._), or _The Silent Woman_, one of the three great
comedies of Ben Jonson (1609).
The other two are _Volpone_ (_2 syl._, 1605), and _The Alchemist_
(1610).
EPICURUS. The _aimée de coeur_ of this philosopher was Leontium. (See
LOVERS).
EPICURUS OF CHINA, Tao-tse, who commenced the search for "the elixir
of perpetual youth and health" (B.C. 540).
[Illustration] Thomas Moore has a prose romance entitled _The
Epicure'an_. Lucretius the Roman poet, in his _De Rerum Natura_, is an
exponent of the Epicurean doctrines.
EPIDAURUS (_That God in_), Aescula'pius, son of Apollo, who was
worshipped in Epidaurus, a city of Peloponne'sus. Being sent for to
Rome during a plague, he assumed the form of a serpent.--Livy, _Nat.
Hist._, xi.; Ovid, _Metaph._, xv.
Never since of serpent kind
Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed
Hermionê and Cadmus, or the god
In Epidaurus.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ix. 507 (1665).
(Cadmus and his wife Harmonia [_Hermoine_] left Thebes and migrated
into Illyria, where they were changed into serpents because they
happened to kill one belonging to Mars.)
EPHIAL'TES (_4 syl._), one of the giants who made war upon the gods.
He was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by
Herculês.
EPIG'ONI, seven youthful warriors, sons of the seven chiefs who laid
siege to Thebes. All the seven chiefs (except Adrastos) perished in
the siege; but the seven sons, ten years later, took the city and
razed it to the ground. The chiefs and sons were: (1) Adrastos,
whose son was Aegi'aleus (_4 syl._); (2) Polynikês, whose son was
Thersan'der; (3) Amphiar'aos (_5 syl._), whose son was Alkmaeon
(_the chief_); (4) Ty'deus (_2 syl._), whose son was Diomê'des; (5)
Kap'aneus (_3 syl._), whose son was Sthen'elos; (6) Parthenopae'os,
whose son was Promachos; (7) Mekis'theus (_3 syl._), whose son was
Eury'alos.
Æschylos has a tragedy on _The Seven Chiefs against Thebes_. There
are also two epics, one _The Thebaïd_ of Statius, and _The Epigoni_
sometimes attributed to Homer and sometimes to one of the Cyclic poets
of Greece.
EPIGON'IAD (_The_), called "the Scotch _Iliad_," by William Wilkie
(1721-1772). This is the tale of the Epig'oni or seven sons of the
seven chieftains who laid siege to Thebes. The tale is this: When
Oe'dipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but
at the expiration of the first year, the elder son (Eteoclês) refused
to give up the throne. Whereupon the younger brother (Polynikês)
interested six Grecian chiefs to espouse his cause, and the allied
armies laid siege to Thebes, without success. Subsequently, the seven
sons of the old chiefs went against the city to avenge the death of
their fathers, who had fallen in the former siege. They succeeded in
taking the city, and in placing Thersander on the throne. The names
of the seven sons are Thersander, AEgi'aleus, Alkmaeon, Diomedês,
Sthen'elos, Pro'machos, and Euryalos.
EPIMEN'IDES (_5 syl._) of Crete, sometimes reckoned one of the
"seven wise men of Greece" in the place of Periander. He slept for
fifty-seven years in a cave, and, on waking, found everything so
changed that he could recognize nothing. Epimenidês lived 289 years,
and was adored by the Cretans as one of their "Curetês" or priests of
Jove. He was contemporary with Solon.
(Goethe has a poem called _Des Epimenides Erwachen._--See Heinrich's
_Epimenides.)_
_Epimenides's Drug_. A nymph who loved Epimenides gave him a draught
in a bull's horn, one single drop of which would not only cure any
ailment, but would serve for a hearty meal.
_Le Nouveau Epimenède_ is a man who lives in a dream in a kind of
"Castle of Spain," where he deems himself a king, and does not wish to
be disillusioned. The song is by Jacinthe Leclère, one of the members
of the "Societé de Momus," of Paris.
EPINOGRIS _(Sir)_, son of the king of Northumberland. He loved an
earl's daughter, but slew the earl in a knightly combat. Next day, a
knight challenged him to fight, and the lady was to be the prize of
the victor. Sir Epinogris, being overthrown, lost the lady; but when
Sir Palomidês heard the tale, he promised to recover her. Accordingly,
he challenged the victorious knight, who turned out to be his brother.
The point of dispute was then amicably arranged by giving up the lady
to Sir Epinogris.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 169
(1470).
EPPIE, one of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same
novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms,
Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Bonarts Well_
(time, George III.).
EPPS, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.). EQUITY (_Father of_), Heneage
Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In _Absalom and Achitophel_ (by
Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."
Sincere was Amri, and not only knew,
But Israel's sanctions into practice drew;
Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ...
To whom the double blessing doth belong,
With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.
_Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).
EQUIVOKES.
1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which
he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber,
London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.
2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and
he died while saying mass in a church so called at Rome.
3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana,
which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded
accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told
it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."
4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle
respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for
reply:
When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer,
From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!
In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from
the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a _fig tree_ growing
on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The
interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he
remembered that _goat_ and _fig tree_, in the Messenian dialect were
the same word.
[Illustration] The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a
stork" were substituted for _the goat_: "When a stork stoops to drink
of the Neda;" and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.
5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be
the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;
but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to
fall by "thousands," was not stated.
6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against
the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a
mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or
that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.
7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his
Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The
ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip
took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia,
but it was himself.
8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the
Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will
never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was
Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.
9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied,
"He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to
the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"
10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to
live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an
ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.--Shakespeare, _2 Henry
VI._ act v. sc. 2.
11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the
first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person
meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the
person pointed at.--Holinshed, _Chronicles_; Shakespeare, _Richard
III._ act i. sc. I.
ERAC'LIUS (_The emperor_) condemned a knight to death on the
supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his
appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation
that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all
three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered
it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the
emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was
virtually the cause of death to the other two.
This tale is told in the _Gesta Romanorum_, and Chaucer has put it
into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his _De
Ira_; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.
ÉRASTE (_2 syl._), hero of _Les Fåcheux_ by Molière. He is in love
with Orphiso (_2 syl._), whose tutor is Damis (1661).
ER'CELDOUN (_Thomas of_), also called "Thomas the Rhymer," introduced
by Sir W. Scott in his novel called _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry
I.).
It is said that Thomas of Erceldoun is not dead, but that he is
sleeping beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day, he met with
a lady of elfin race beneath the Eildon tree, and she led him to
an under-ground region, where he remained for seven years. He then
revisited the earth, but bound himself to return when summoned. One
day, when he was making merry with his friends, he was told that
a hart and hind were parading the street; and he knew it was his
summons, so he immediately went to the Eildon tree, and has never
since been heard of.--Sir W. Scott, _Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border_.
[Illustration: symbol] This tale is substantially the same in the
German one of _Tannhäuser_ (_q.v._).
ERECK, a knight of the Round Table. He marries the beautiful Enite (_2
syl_.), daughter of a poor knight, and falls into a state of idleness
and effeminacy, till Enite rouses him to action. He then goes forth
on an expedition of adventures, and after combating with brigands,
giants, and dwarfs, returns to the court of King Arthur, where
he remains till the death of his father. He then enters on his
inheritance, and lives peaceably the rest of his life.--Hartmann von
der Aue, _Ereck_ (thirteenth century).