To preach the faith of Christ was first did hither bring
Wise Au'gustine the monk, from holy Gregory sent...
That mighty fane to Paul in London did erect.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xi. (1613).
ETH'ERINGTON (_The late earl of_) father of Tyrrel and Bulmer.
_The titular earl of Etherington_, his successor to the title and
estates.
_Marie de Martigny_ (_La comtesse_), wife of the titular earl of
Etherington.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).
ETHIOPIANS, the same as Abassinians. The Arabians call these people
El-habasen or Al-habasen, whence our Abassins, but they call
themselves Ithiopians or Ethiopians.--Seldon, _Titles of Honor_, vi.
64.
Where the Abassin kings their issue guard,
Mount Amara.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 280 (1665).
ETHIOP'S QUEEN, referred to by Milton in his _Il Penseroso_, was
Cassiope'a, wife of Ce'pheus (_2 syl_.) king of Ethiopia. Boasting
that she was fairer than the sea-nymphs, she offended the Nereids, who
complained to Neptune. Old father Earth-Shaker sent a huge sea-monster
to ravage her kingdom for her insolence. At death Cassiopea was made a
constellation of thirteen stars.
... that starred Ethiop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.
Milton, _Il Penseroso_, 19 (1638).
ETHNIC PLOT. The "Popish Plot" is so called in Dryden's satire of
_Absalom and Achitophel._ As Dryden calls the royalists "Jews,"
and calls Charles II. "David, king of the Jews," the papists were
"Gentiles" (or _Ethnoi_), whence the "Ethnic Plot" means the plot of
the Ethnoi against the people of God.--Pt. i. (1681).
ETIQUETTE (_Madame_), the Duchesse de Noailles, grand mistress of the
ceremonies in the court of Marie Antoinette; so called from her rigid
enforcement of all the formalities and ceremonies of the _ancien
régime._
ETNA. Zens buried under this mountain Enkel'ados, one of the
hundred-handed giants.
The whole land weighed him down, as Etna does
The giant of mythology.
Tennyson, _The Golden Supper_.
ETTEILLA, the pseudonym of Alliette (spelt backwards), a perruquier
and diviner of the eighteenth century. He became a professed cabalist,
and was visited in his studio in the Hôtel de Crillon (Rue de la
Verrerie) by all those who desired to unroll the Book of Fate. In 1783
he published _Manière de se Récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommées
Tarots_. In the British Museum are some divination cards published
in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, called _Grand
Etteilla_ and _Petit Etteilla_, each pack being accompanied with a
book of explication and instruction.
ETTERCAP, an ill-tempered person, who mars sociability. The
ettercap is the poison-spider, and should be spelt "Attercop." (The
Anglo-Saxon, _atter-cop_, poison-spider.)
O sirs, was sic difference seen
As 'twix wee Will and Tam,
The ane's a perfect ettercap,
The ither's just a lamb.
W. Miller, _Nursery Songs_.
ETTRICK SHEPHERD _(The)_, James Hogg, the Scotch Poet., who was born
in the forest of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and was in early life a
shepherd (1772-1835).
ETTY'S NINE PICTURES, "the Combat," the three "Judith" pictures,
"Benaiah," "Ulysses and the Syrens," and the three pictures of "Joan
of Arc."
"My aim," says Etty, "in all my great
pictures has been to paint some great moral on
the heart. 'The Combat' represents _the beauty
of mercy_; the three 'Judith' pictures, _patriotism_
[1, _self-devotion to God; 2, self-devotion to man_; 3,
_self-devotion to country_;] 'Benaiah, David's chief
captain,' represents _valor_; 'Ulysses and the
Syrens,' _sensual delights_ or _the wages of sin is
death_; and the three pictures of 'Joan of Arc'
depict _religion, loyalty_ and _patriotism_. In all,
nine in number, as it was my desire to paint
three."--William Etty, of York (1787-1849).
ET'ZEL or EZZEL _(i.e. Attila_), king of the Huns, in the songs of
the German minnesingers. A ruler over three kingdoms and thirty
principalities. His second wife was Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried.
In pt ii. of the _Niebelungen Lied_, he sees his sons and liegemen
struck down without making the least effort to save them, and is as
unlike the Attila of history as a "hector" is to the noble Trojan "the
protector of mankind."
EU'CHARIS, one of the nymphs of Calypso, with whom Telemachos was
deeply smitten. Mentor, knowing his love was sensual love, hurried him
away from the island. He afterwards fell in love with Anti'ope, and
Mentor approved his choice.--Fenelon, _Télémaque_, vii. (1700).
Eucharis is meant for Mdlle. de Fontange, maid of honor to Mde. de
Montespan. For a few months she was a favorite with Louis XIV., but
losing her good looks she was discarded, and died at the age of 20.
She used to dress her hair with streaming ribbons, and hence this
style of head-gear was called _à la Fontange_.
EU'CLIO, a penurious old hunks.--Plautus, _Aulularia_.
Now you must explain all this to me, unless
you would have me use you as ill as Euclio does
Staphy'la--Sir W. Scott.
EU'CRATES (3 _syl_.), the miller, and one of the archons of Athens. A
shuffling fellow, always evading his duty and breaking his promise;
hence the Latin proverb:
Vias novit quibus effugiat Eucrates ("He has
more shifts than Eucrates").
EUDO'CIA (_4 syl_.), daughter of Eu'menês, governor of Damascus.
Pho'cyas, general of the Syrian forces, being in love with her, asks
the consent of Eumenês, and is refused. In revenge, he goes over to
the Arabs, who are beseiging Damascus. Eudocia is taken captive, but
refuses to wed a traitor. At the end, Pho'cyas dies, and Eudocia
retires into a nunnery.--John Hughes, _The Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
EUDON (_Count_) of Catabria. A baron favorable to the Moors, "too
weak-minded to be independent." When the Spaniards rose up against
the Moors, the first order of the Moorish chief was this: "Strike off
Count Eudon's head: the fear which brought him to our camp will bring
him else in arms against us now" (ch. xxv.). Southey, _Roderick,
etc_., xiii. (1814).
EUDOX'IA, wife of the Emperor Valentin'ian. Petro'nius Max'imus
"poisoned" the emperor, and the empress killed Maximus.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _Valentinian_ (1617).
EUGENE _(Aram)._ Scholarly man of high ideals, who has committed a
murder, and hides the knowledge of it from all. He is finally hunted
down.--Lord Lytton, _Eugene Aram_.
EUGE'NIA, called "Silence" and the "Unknown." She was the wife of
Count de Valmont, and mother of Florian, "the foundling of the
forest." In order to come into the property, Baron Longueville used
every endeavor to kill Eugenia and Florian, but all his attemps were
abortive, and his villainy at length was brought to light.--W. Dimond,
_The Foundling of the Forest._
EUGÉNIE _(Lalande)._ The marvellously well-preserved great-grandmother
of a near-sighted youth who addresses and marries her. She reveals the
trick that has been played on him by presenting him with a pair of
eye-glasses.--Edgar Allan Poe, _The Spectacles_.
EUGENIO, a young gentleman who turned goat-herd, because Leandra
jilted him and eloped with a heartless adventurer named Vincent de la
Rosa.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote, I_. iv. 20 ("The Goatherd's Story,"
1605).
EUGENIUS, the friend and wise counsellor of Yorick. John Hall
Stevenson was the original of this character.--Sterne, _Tristram
Shandy_ (1759).
EUHE'MEROS a Sicilian Greek, who wrote a _Sacred History_ to explain
the historical or allegorical character of the Greek and Latin
mythologies.
One could wish Euhêmeros had never been born. It was he that spoilt
[_the old myths_] first.--Ouidà, _Ariadnê_, i.1.
EULENSPIEGEL _(Tyll), i.e._ "Tyll Owl-glass," of Brunswick. A man
who runs through the world as charlatan, fool, lansquenet, domestic
servant, artist, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything, but
rejoices in cheating those who employ him; he parodies proverbs,
rejoices in mischief, and is brimful of pranks and drolleries. Whether
Uulenspiegel was a real character or not is a matter of dispute, but
by many the authorship of the book recording his jokes is attributed
to the famous German satirist, Thomas Murner.
In the English versions of the story he is called _Howle-glass._
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal
history as Tyll Eulenspiegel. Now, after five centuries, his native
village is pointed out with pride to the traveller.--Carlyle.
EUMÆOS (in Latin, _Eumoes_), the slave and swine-herd of Ulysses,
hence any swine-herd.
EU'MENES (_3 syl._), Governor of Damascus, and father of
Eudo'cia.--John Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720).
EUMNES'TES, Memory personified. Spenser says he is an old man,
decrepit and half blind. He was waited on by a boy named Anamnestês.
[Greek, _eumnêstis_, "good memory," _anamnêstis_, "research."--_Faëry
Queen_, ii. 9 (1590).]
EUNICE (_Alias "Nixey_"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an
illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from
the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.
In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she
vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a
thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.--Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps _Hedged In_ (1870).
EUPHRA'SIA, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in
Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. Being in love with Prince Philaster,
she assumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the
prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess
Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender
page. The sex of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness
of this jealousy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Philaster_ or _Love Lies
A-bleeding_ (1608).
_Euphra'sia_, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the
old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a
dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had
fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having
gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from
starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her
own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When
Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but
Euphrasia, rushing forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.--A.
Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).
[Illustration] The same tale is told-of Xantippê, who preserved the
life of her father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the
old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.
There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light
What do I gaze on!...
An old man, and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins
The blood is nectar ...
Here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire,
To whom she renders back the debt of blood.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 148 (1817).
EU'PHRASY, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed
to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel
Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the
distant future.--See Milton, _Paradise Lost_, xi. 414-421 (1665).
EU'PHUES (3 _syll_), the chief character in John Lilly's _Euphuês or
The Anatomy of Wit_, and _Euphues and his England_. He is an Athenian
gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and
roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees"
_(Henry V_. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphuês was designed to exhibit
the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called
_Euphues' Golden Legacy_ (1590).
"The commonwealth of your bees," replied
Euphuês, "did so delight me that I was not a
little sorry that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple
judgment, there was such an orderly government
that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."
J. Lilly, _Euphues_ (1581).
(The romances of Calprenéde and Scudéri bear the same relation to
the jargon of Louis XIV., as the _Euphues_ of Lilly to that of Queen
Elizabeth.)
EURE'KA! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation
of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to
test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.
The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had
given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the
metal, and he asked Archimedês to ascertain if his suspicion was well
founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the
water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced
its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of
gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown
was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but
they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with.
Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference
of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy
introduced by the artificer.
Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred to
the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and
without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran
home, exclaiming, '_Heureka! heureka!_'"
EURO'PA. _The Fight at Dame Europa's School_, written by the Rev.
H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the
Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).
EUROPE'S LIBERATOR. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of
Bonaparte (1769-1852).
Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations"
And "Europe's Liberator."
Byron, _Don Juan_, ix. 5 (1824).
EU'RUS, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; No'tus, the south wind;
Bo'reas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Lev'ant
("rising of the sun"), and Zephyr is called Po'nent, ("setting of the
sun ").
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds--
Eurus and Zephyr.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 705 (1665).
EURYD'ICE (_4 syl_.), the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her
wedding night.
Orpheus went down to Hadês to crave for her restoration to life, and
Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look
back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he
turned to see if Eurydicê´ was following, and just caught a glance of
her as she was snatched back into the shades below.
(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem, called _Ode on St.
Cecilia's Day_, 1709.)
EURYT'ION, the herdsman of Grer'yon. He never slept day nor night, but
walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros.
"Herculês them all did overcome."--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 10
(1696).
EUS'TACE, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a
follower of Prince John).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
_Eustace, (Father)_, or "Father Eustatius," the superior and
afterwards abbot of St. Mary's. He was formerly William Allan, and the
friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the Protestant preacher).--Sir W.
Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Eustace (Charles)_, a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He has been
clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named
Frederick. Charles Eustace confides his scrape to Polyglot, and
conceals his young wife in the tutor's private room. Polyglot is
thought to be a libertine, but the truth comes out, and all parties
are reconciled.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat._
_Eus'tace (Jack)_, the lover of Lucinda, and "a very worthy young
fellow," of good character and family. As Justice Woodcock was averse
to the marriage, Jack introduced himself as a music-master, and Sir
William Meadows, who recognized him, persuaded the justice to consent
to the marriage of the young couple. This he was the more ready to
do as his sister Deborah said positively he "should not do it."--Is.
Bickerstaff, _Love in a Village_.
EVA (_St. Clair_). Lovely child, the daughter of Uncle Tom's master,
and Uncle Tom's warm friend.--H.B. Stowe, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1851).
E'VA, daughter of Torquil of the Oak. She is betrothed to Ferquhard
Day.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
EVAD'NE (3 _syl._), wife of Kap'aneus (_3 syl_.). She threw herself on
the funeral pile of her husband, and was consumed with him.
_Evad'ne_ (3 _syl_.), sister of Melantius. Amintor was compelled by
the king to marry her, although he was betrothed to Aspasia (the
"maid" whose death forms the tragical event of the drama).--Beaumont
and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).
The purity of female virtue in Aspasia is well contrasted with the
guilty boldness of Evadnê, and the rough soldier-like bearing and
manly feeling of Melantius render the selfish sensuality of the king
more hateful and disgusting.--R. Chambers, _English Literature_, i.
204.
_Evad'ne_ or The Statue, a drama by Sheil (1820). Ludov'ico, the chief
minister of Naples, heads a conspiracy to murder the king and seize
the crown; his great stumbling-block is the marquis of Colonna, a
high-minded nobleman, who cannot be corrupted. The sister of the
marquis is Evadnê (3 _syl_.), plighted to Vicentio. Ludovico's scheme
is to get Colonna to murder Vicentio and the king, and then to debauch
Evadnê. With this in view, he persuades Vicentio that Evadnê is the
king's _fille d'amour_, and that she marries him merely as a flimsy
cloak, but he adds "Never mind, it will make your fortune." The proud
Neapolitan is disgusted, and flings off Evadnê as a viper. Her brother
is indignant, challenges the troth-plight lover to a duel, and
Vicentio falls. Ludovico now irritates Colonna by talking of the
king's amour, and induces him to invite the king to a banquet and then
murder him. The king goes to the banquet, and Evadnê shows him the
statues of the Colonna family, and amongst them one of her own father,
who at the battle of Milan had saved the king's life by his own. The
king is struck with remorse, but at this moment Ludovico enters and
the king conceals himself behind the statue. Colonna tells the traitor
minister the deed is done, and Ludovico orders his instant arrest,
gibes him as his dupe, and exclaims, "Now I am king indeed!" At this
moment the king comes forward, releases Colonna, and orders Ludovico
to be arrested. The traitor draws his sword, and Colonna kills him.
Vicentio now enters, tells how his ear has been abused, and marries
Evadnê.
EVAN DHU OF LOCHIEL, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.--Sir W.
Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).
EVAN DHU M'COMBICH, the foster-brother of M'Ivor.--Sir W. Scott,
_Waverley_ (time, George II.).
EVANDALE (_The Right Hon. W. Maxwell, lord_), in the royal army
under the duke of Monmouth. He is a suitor of Edith Bellenden,
the granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of
Tillietudlem.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
EVAN'DER, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the
Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for
vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece."
He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top
of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia
had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe."
When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon
Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and
stabbed the tryant to the heart.--A. Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_
(1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."
Mr. Bently, May 6, 1796, took leave of the stage in the character of
"Evander."--W.C. Russell, _Representative Actors_, 426.
EVANGELIC DOCTOR _(The)_, John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the
Reformation" (1324-1384).
EVANGELINE, the heroine and title of a tale in hexameter verse by
Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict
Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now _Nova Scotia_).
At the age of 17 she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to
Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith, but next day all the colony was
exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands
were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now began
the troubles of her life. She wandered from place to place to find her
betrothed. Basil had settled at Louisiana, but when Evangeline reached
the place, Gabriel had just left; she then went to the prairies, to
Michigan, and so on, but at every place she was just too late to
meet him. At length, grown old in this hopeless search, she went to
Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out in the
city, and as she visited the almshouse she saw an old man smitten down
with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name, but
death closed his lips. He was buried, and Evangeline lies beside him
in the grave.
(Longfellow's _Evangeline_ (1849) has many points of close similitude
with Campbell's tale of _Gertrude of Wyoming_, 1809).
EVANS (_Sir Hugh_), a pedantic Welsh parson and schoolmaster of
extraordinary simplicity and native shrewdness.--Shakespeare, _The
Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1601).
The reader may cry out with honest Sir Hugh Evans, "I like not when a
'ooman has a great peard."--Macaulay.
Henderson says: "I have seen John Edwin, in 'Sir Hugh Evans,' when
preparing for the duel, keep the house in an ecstasy of merriment for
many minutes together without speaking a word" (1750-1790).
_Evans_ (_William_), the giant porter of Charles I. He carried Sir
Geoffrey Hudson about in his pocket. Evans was eight feet in height,
and Hudson only eighteen inches. Fuller mentions this giant amongst
his _Worthies_.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles
II.).
EVAN'THE (3 _syl_.), sister of Sora'no, the wicked instrument of
Frederick, duke of Naples, and the chaste wife of Valerio.
The duke tried to seduce her, but failing in this scandalous attempt,
offered to give her to any one for a month, at the end of which time
the libertine was to suffer death. No one would accept the offer,
and ultimately Evanthê was restored to her husband.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _A Wife for a Month_ (1624).
EVE (_1 syl_), or Havah, the "mother of all living" (_Gen_. iii. 20).
Before the expulsion from paradise her name was Ishah, because she was
taken out of _ish, i.e._ "man" (_Gen_. ii. 23).
Eve was of such gigantic stature that when she laid her head on one
hill near Mecca, her knees rested on two other hills in the
plain, about two gun-shots asunder. Adam was as tall as a palm
tree.--Moncony, _Voyage_, i. 372, etc.
EV'ELI'NA (_4 syl_.), the heroine of a novel so called by Miss Burney
(afterwards Mme. D'Arblay). Evelina marries Lord Orville (1778).
EVELYN (_Alfred_), the secretary and relative of Sir John Vesey. He
made Sir John's speeches, wrote his pamphlets, got together his facts,
mended his pens, and received no salary. Evelyn loved Clara Douglas,
a dependent of Lady Franklin, but she was poor also, and declined to
marry him. Scarcely had she refused him, when he was left an immense
fortune and proposed to Georgina Vesey. What little heart Georgina had
was given to Sir Frederick Blount, but the great fortune of Evelyn
made her waver; however, being told that Evelyn's property was
insecure, she married Frederick, and left Evelyn free to marry
Clara.--Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, _Money_ (1840).
_Evelyn_ (_Sir George_) a man of fortune, family, and character, in
love with Dorrillon, whom he marries.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Wives as
they Were and Maids as they Are_ (1795).
EVERARD (_Colonel Markham_), of the Commonwealth party.
_Master Everard_, the colonel's father.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_
(time, commonwealth).
EV'ERETT (_Master_), a hired witness of the "Popish Plot."--Sir W.
Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).