play was altered by David Garrick. The persons to whom the title of
the drama apply are: "Captain Bobadil," whose humor is bragging of
his brave deeds and military courage--he is thrashed as a coward
by Downright; "Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of his wife--he is
befooled and cured by a trick played on him by Brain-worm; "Stephen,"
whose humor is verdant stupidity--he is played on by every one;
"Kno'well," whose humor is suspicion of his son Edward, which turns
out to be all moonshine; "Dame Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of her
husband, but she (like her husband) is cured by a trick devised by
Brain worm. Every man in his humor is liable to be duped thereby, for
his humor is the "Achilles' heel" of his character.
EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOR, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1599).
EVERY ONE HAS HIS FAULT, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1794). By the
fault of rigid pride, Lord Norland discarded his daughter, Lady
Eleanor, because she married against his consent. By the fault of
gallantry and defect of due courtesy to his wife, Sir Robert Ramble
drove Lady Ramble into a divorce. By the fault of irresolution, "Shall
I marry or shall I not!" Solus remained a miserable bachelor, pining
for a wife and domestic joys. By the fault of deficient spirit and
manliness, Mr. Placid was a hen-pecked husband. By the fault of
marrying without the consent of his wife's friends, Mr. Irwin was
reduced to poverty and even crime. Harmony healed these faults; Lord
Norland received his daughter into favor; Sir Robert Ramble took back
his wife; Solus married Miss Spinster; Mr. Placid assumed the rights
of the head of the family; and Mr. Irwin, being accepted as the
son-in-law of Lord Norland, was raised from indigence to domestic
comfort.
EVIOT, page to Sir John Ramorny (master of the horse to Prince Robert
of Scotland).--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
EVIR-ALLEN, the white-armed daughter of Branno, an Irishman. "A
thousand heroes sought the maid; she refused her love to a thousand.
The sons of the sword were despised, for graceful in her eyes was
Ossian." This Evir-Allen was the mother of Oscar, Fingal's grandson,
but she was not alive when Fingal went to Ireland to assist Cormac
against the invading Norsemen, which forms the subject of the poem
called _Fingal_, in six books.--Ossian, _Fingal_, iv.
EW'AIN _(Sir)_, son of King Vrience and Morgan le Fay (Arthur's
half-sister).--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 72
(1470).
EWAN OF BRIGGLANDS, a horse soldier in the army of Montrose.--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
EWART (_Nanty i.e._ Anthony), captain of the smuggler's brig. Sir W.
Scott _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
EXCAL'IBUR, King Arthur's famous swords. There seems to have been two
of his swords so called. One was the sword sheathed in stone, which no
one could draw thence, save he who was to be king of the land. Above
200 knights tried to release it, but failed; Arthur alone could draw
it with ease, and thus proved his right of succession (pt. i. 3). In
ch. 7 this sword is called Excalibur, and is said to have been so
bright "that it gave light like thirty torches." After his fight with
Pellinore, the king said to Merlin he had no sword, and Merlin took
him to a lake, and Arthur saw an arm "clothed in white samite, that
held a fair sword in the hand." Presently the Lady of the Lake
appeared, and Arthur begged that he might have the sword, and the lady
told him to go and fetch it. When he came to it he took it, "and the
arm and hand went under the water again." This is the sword generally
called Excalibur. When about to die, King Arthur sent an attendant to
cast the sword back again into the lake, and again the hand "clothed
in white samite" appeared, caught it, and disappeared (ch. 23).--Sir
T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 3, 23 (1470).
King Arthur's sword, Excalibur,
Wrought by the lonely maiden of the lake;
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps,
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.
Tennyson, _Morte d'Arthur_.
_Excalibur's Sheath_. "Sir," said Merlin, "look that ye keep well the
scabbard of Excalibur, for ye shall lose no blood as long as ye have
the scabbard upon you, though ye have never so many wounds."--Sir T.
Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 36 (1470).
EXECUTIONER (_No_). When Francis, viscount d'Aspremont, governor
of Bayonne, was commanded by Charles IX. of France to massacre the
Huguenots, he replied, "Sire, there are many under my government
devoted to your majesty, but not a single executioner."
EXHAUSTED WORLDS ... Dr. Johnson, in the prologue spoken by Garrick at
the opening of Drury Lane, in 1747, says of Shakespeare:
Each change of many-colored life he drew?
Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new.
EXTERMINATOR (_The_), Montbars, chief of a set of filibusters in the
seventeenth century. He was a native of Languedoc, and conceived an
intense hatred against the Spaniards on reading of their cruelties
in the New World. Embarking at Havre, in 1667, Montbars attacked the
Spaniards in the Antilles and in Honduras, took from them Vera Cruz
and Carthagena, and slew them most mercilessly wherever he encountered
them (1645-1707).
EYE. _Terrible as the eye of Vathek_. One of the eyes of this caliph
was so terrible in anger that those died who ventured to look thereon,
and had he given way to his wrath, he would have depopulated his whole
dominion.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).
EYED _(One-)_ people. The Arimaspians of Scythia were a one-eyed
people.
The Cyclops were giants with only one eye, and that in the middle of
the forehead.
Tartaro, in Basque legends, was a one-eyed giant. Sindbad the sailor,
in his third voyage, was cast on an island inhabited by one-eyed
giants.
EYRE _(Jane)_, a governess, who stoutly copes with adverse
circumstances, and ultimately marries a used-up man of fortune, in
whom the germs of good feeling and sound sense were only exhausted,
and not destroyed.--Charlotte Bronté, _Jane Eyre_ (1847).
EZ'ZELIN _(Sir)_, the gentleman who recognizes Lara at the table of
Lord Otho, and charges him with being Conrad the Corsair. A duel
ensues, and Ezzelin is never heard of more. A serf used to say that
he saw a huntsman one evening cast a dead body into the river which
divided the lands of Otho and Lara, and that there was a star of
knighthood on the breast of the corpse.--Byron, _Lara_ (1814).
FAA _(Gabriel)_, nephew of Meg Merrilees. One of the huntsman at
Liddesdale.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
FAB'ILA, a king devoted to the chase. One day he encountered a wild
boar, and commanded those who rode with him not to interfere, but
the boar overthrew him and gored him to death.--_Chronica Antiqua de
España_, 121.
FA'BIUS _(The American)_, George Washington (1732-1799).
_Fa'bius (The French)_, Anne, duc de Montmorency, grand-constable of
France (1493-1567).
FABRICIUS [_Fa.brish'.e.us_], an old Roman, like Cincinnatus and
Curius Dentatus, a type of the rigid purity, frugality, and honesty
of the "good old times." Pyrrhus used every effort to corrupt him by
bribes, or to terrify him, but in vain. "Excellent Fabricius," cried
the Greek, "one might hope to turn the sun from its course as soon as
turn Fabricius from the path of duty."
_Fabric'ius_, an author, whose composition was so obscure that
Gil Blas could not comprehend the meaning of a single line of his
writings. His poetry was verbose fustian, and his prose a maze of
far-fetched expressions and perplexed phrases.
FABRIT'IO, a merry soldier, the friend of Captain Jac'omo the
woman-hater.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Captain_ (1613).
FACE (1 _syl._), _alias_ "Jeremy," house-servant of Lovewit. During
the absence of his master, Face leagues with Subtle (the alchemist)
and Dol Common to turn a penny by alchemy, fortune-telling, and magic.
Subtle (a beggar who knew something about alchemy) was discovered by
Face near Pye Corner. Assuming the philosopher's garb and wand, he
called himself "doctor;" Face, arrogating the title of "captain,"
touted for dupes; while Dol Common kept the house, and aided the other
two in their general scheme of deception. On the unexpected return of
Lovewit, the whole thing blew up, but Face was forgiven, and continued
in his place as house-servant.--Ben Jonson, _The Alchemist_ (1619).
FACTO'TUM (_Johannes_), one employed to do all sorts of work for
another; one in whom another confides for all the odds and ends of his
household management or business.
He is an absolute Johannes Factotum, at least in his own
conceit.--Greene, _Groat's-worth of Wit_ (1692).
FADDLE _(William)_, a "fellow made up of knavery and noise, with
scandal for wit and impudence for raillery. He was so needy that the
very devil might have bought him for a guinea." Sir Charles Raymond
says to him:
"Thy life is a disgrace to humanity. A foolish prodigality makes thee
needy; need makes thee vicious; and both make thee contemptible. Thy
wit is prostituted to slander and buffoonery; and thy judgment, if
thou hast any, to meanness and villainy. Thy betters, that laugh with
thee, laugh at thee; and all the varieties of thy life are but pitiful
rewards and painful abuses."--Ed. Moore, _The Foundling_, iv. 2
(1748).
FA'DHA _(Ah)_, Mahomet's silver cuirass.
FAD'LADEEN, the great nazir' or chamberlain of Aurungze'bê's harem. He
criticises the tales told to Lalla Rookh by a young poet on her way to
Delhi, and great was his mortification to find that the poet was the
young king his master.
Fadladeen was a judge of everything, from the pencilling of a
Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and
literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose leaves to the
composition of an epic poem.--T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (1817).
FADLADIN'IDA, wife of King Chrononhotonthologos. While the king is
alive she falls in love with the captive king of the Antip'odês, and
at the death of the king, when two suitors arise, she says, "Well,
gentlemen, to make matters easy, I'll take you both."--H. Cary,
_Chrononhotonthologos_ (a burlesque).
FAËRY QUEEN, a metrical romance, in six books, of twelve cantos each,
by Edmund Spenser _(incomplete)._
Book I. THE RED CROSS KNIGHT, _the spirit of Christianity_, or the
victory of holiness over sin (1590).
II. THE LEGEND OF SIB GUYON, _the golden mean_ (1590).
III. THE LEGEND or BRITOMARTIS, _chaste love._ Britomartis is Diana or
Queen Elizabeth (1590).
IV. CAMBEL AND TRIAMOND, _fidelity_ (1596).
V. THE LEGEND OF SIR AR'TEGAL, _justice_' (1596).
VI. THE LEGEND OF SIR CALIDORE, _courtesy_ (1596).
[Illustration] Sometimes bk. vii., called. _Mutability_, is added; but
only fragments of this book exist.
FAFNIS, the dragon with which Sigurd fights.--_Sigurd the Horny_ (a
German romance based on a Norse legend).
FAG, the lying servant of Captain Absolute. He "wears his master's
wit, as he does his lace, at second hand."--Sheridan, _The Rivals_
(1775).
FAGGOT _(Nicholas)_, clerk to Matthew Foxley, the magistrate who
examined Darsie Latimer _(i. e_. Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet) after
he had been attacked by rioters.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time,
George III.).
FAGGOTS AND FAGGOTS _(II y a fagots et fagots)_, all things of the
same sort are not equal in quality. In Molière's _Le Médecin Malgré
Lui_, Sganarelle wants to show that his faggots are better than those
of other persons, and cries out "Ay! but those faggots are not equal
to mine."
II est vrai, messieurs, que je suis le premier homme du monde pour
faire des fagots ...
Je n'y épargne aucune chose, et les fais d'une facon qu'il n'y a rien
a dire ... Il y a fagots, et fagots.--Act i. 6 (1666).
FAGIN, an old Jew, who employs a gang of thieves, chiefly boys. These
boys he teaches to pick pockets and pilfer adroitly. Fagin assumes a
most suave and fawning manner, but is malicious, grasping, and full of
cruelty.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
FAINALL, cousin by marriage to Sir Wilful Witwould. He married a
young, wealthy, and handsome widow, but the two were cat and dog to
each other. The great aim of Fainall was to get into his possession
the estates of his wife (settled on herself "in trust to Edward
Mirabell"), but in this he failed. In outward semblance, Fainall was
plausible enough, but he was a goodly apple rotten at the core, false
to his friends, faithless to his wife, overreaching, and deceitful.
_Mrs. Fainall_. Her first husband was Languish, son of Lady Wishford.
Her second husband she both despised and detested.--W. Congreve, _The
Way of the World_ (1700).
FAINASO'LIS, daughter of Craca's king (_the Shetland Isles_). When
Fingal was quite a young man, she fled to him for protection against
Sora, but scarcely had he promised to take up her cause, when Sora
landed, drew the bow, and she fell. Fingal said to Sora, "Unerring
is thy hand, O Sora, but feeble was the foe." He then attacked the
invader, and Sora fell.--Ossian, _Fingal_, iii.
FAINT HEART NEVER WON FAIR LADY, a line in a ballad written to the
"Berkshire Lady," a Miss Frances Kendrick, daughter of Sir William
Kendrick, second baronet. Sir William's father was created baronet by
Charles II. The wooer was a Mr. Child, son of a brewer at Abingdon, to
whom the lady sent a challenge.
Having read this strange relation,
He was in a consternation;
But, advising with a friend,
He persuades him to attend:
"Be of courage and make ready,
Faint heart never won fair lady."
_Quarterly Review_, cvi. 205-245.
_Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady_, name of a _petit comédie_ brought
out by Mde. Vestris at the Olympic. Mde. Vestris herself performed the
part of the "fair lady."
FAIR PENITENT (_The_) a tragedy by Rowe (1703). Calista was daughter
of Lord Sciol'to (3 _syl_.), and bride of Lord Al'tamont. It was
discovered on the wedding-day that she had been seduced by Lotha'rio.
This led to a duel between the bridegroom and the libertine, in which
Lothario was killed; a street riot ensued, in which Sciolto receives
his death-wound; and Calista, "the fair penitent," stabbed herself.
The drama is a mere _réchauffé_ of Massinger's _Fatal Dowry_.
FAIRBROTHER (_Mr_.), counsel of Effie Deans at the trial.--Sir W.
Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
FAIRFAX (_Thomas, lord_), father of the duchess of Buckingham.--Sir W.
Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
_Fairfax (Rutherford)._ Young man born of a line of brave men, who
is conscious that early petting at home and a foreign education have
developed physical cowardice. On his way home from England he falls
into the hands of desperadoes who force him to fire a pistol at a
bound man. The lad is almost fainting, and swoons with pain and horror
when the deed is, as he thinks, done. His father believes him a
coward, and the sense of this and a loving woman's trust in him,
nerve him to deeds of endurance and valor that clear his record
triumphantly.--Octave Thanet, _Expiation_ (1890).
FAIRFIELD, the miller, and father of Patty "the maid of the mill." An
honest, straightforward man, grateful and modest.--Bickerstaff, _The
Maid of the Mill_ (1647).
FAIRFORD (_Mr. Alexander_ or _Saunders_), a lawyer.
_Allan Fairford_, a young barrister, son of Saunders, and a friend of
Darsie Latimer. He marries Lilias Redgauntlet, sister of Sir Arthur
Darsie Redgauntlet, called "Darsie Latimer."
_Peter Fairford_, Allan's cousin.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time,
George III.).
FAIRLEIGH (_Frank_), the pseudonym of F.E. Smedley, editor of Sharpe's
_London Magazine_ (1848, 1849). It was in this magazine that Smedley's
two novels, _Frank Fairleigh_ and _Louis Arundel_ were first
published.
FAIRLIMB, sister of Bitelas, and daughter of Rukenaw the ape, in the
beast-epic called _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).
FAIR MAID OF PERTH. Heroine of Scott's novel of same name.
FAIR'SCRIEVE (2 _syl_.), clerk of Mr. James Middleburgh, a magistrate
of Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
FAIRSERVICE (_Mr._), a magistrate's clerk.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of
Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
_Fairservice (Andrew)_, the humorous Scotch gardener of Sir Hildebrand
Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Boy_ (time,
George I.).
Overflowing with a humor as peculiar in its way as the humors of
Andrew Fairservice.--_London Athenæum_.
FAIRSTAR _(Princess)_, daughter of Queen Blon'dina (who had at one
birth two boys and a girl, all "with stars on their foreheads, and a
chain of gold about their necks"). On the same day, Blondina's sister
Brunetta (wife of the king's brother) had a son, afterwards called
Cherry. The queen-mother, wishing to destroy these four children,
ordered Fein'tisa to strangle them, but Feintisa sent them adrift in
a boat, and told the queen-mother they were gone. It so happened that
the boat was seen by a corsair, who brought the children to his wife
Cor'sina to bring up. The corsair soon grew immensely rich, because
every time the hair of these children was combed, jewels fell from
their heads. When grown up, these castaways went to the land of their
royal father and his brother, but Cherry was for a while employed in
getting for Fairstar (1) _The dancing water_, which had the gift of
imparting beauty; (2) _The singing apple_, which had the gift of
imparting wit; and (3) _The green bird_, which could reveal all
secrets. By this bird the story of their birth was made known, and
Fairstar married her cousin Cherry.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_
("Princess Fair-star," 1682).
[Illustration] This tale is borrowed from the fairy tales of
Straparola, the Milanese (1550).
FAITH _(Brown)_, wife of Goodman Brown. He sees her in his fantasy
of the witches' revel in the forest, and calls to her to "look up to
heaven."--Hawthorne, _Mosses from an Old Manse_ (1854).
_Faith_ (_Derrick_). A beautiful, unsophisticated girl, whose
accomplished tutor instructs her in belles lettres, natural
philosophy, religion and love. He becomes a clergyman and she marries
him.--Susan Warner, _Say and Seal_ (1860).
_Faith Gartney_. A city girl whose parents remove to the country
before she has an opportunity to enter society. She is partially
betrothed to Paul Rushleigh, but under the influence of nature, and
association with an older and nobler man, outgrows her early lover,
and marries Roger Armstrong.--A.D.T. Whitney, _Faith Gartney's
Girlhood_ (1863).
FAITHFUL, a companion of Christian in his walk to the Celestial City.
Both were seized at Vanity Fair, and Faithful, being burnt to death,
was taken to heaven, in a chariot of fire.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim's
Progress_, i. (1678).
_Faithful_ (_Jacob_), the title and hero of a sea tale, by Captain
Marryat (1835).
_Faithful_ (_Father of the_), Abraham.--_Rom_. iv.; _Gal_. iii. 6-9.
FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS _(The)_, a pastoral drama by John Fletcher
(1610). The "faithful shepherdess" is Clorin, whose lover was dead.
Faithful to his memory, Clorin retired from the busy world, employing
her time in works of humanity, such as healing the sick, exorcising
the bewitched, and comforting the afflicted.
(A part of Milton's _Comus_ is almost a verbal transcript of the
pastoral.)
FAKAR (_Dhu'l_), Mahomet's scimitar.
FAKENHAM GHOST _(The)._ An old woman, walking to Fakenham, had to
cross the churchyard after nightfall. She heard a short, quick step
behind, and looking round saw what she fancied to be a four-footed
monster. On she ran, faster and faster, and on came the pattering
footfalls behind. She gained the churchyard gate and pushed it open,
but, ah! "the monster" also passed through. Every moment she expected
it would leap upon her back. She reached her cottage door and fainted.
Out came her husband with a lantern, saw the "sprite," which was no
other than the foal of a donkey, that had strayed into the park and
followed the ancient dame to her cottage door.
And many a laugh went through the vale.
And some conviction, too;
Each thought some other goblin tale
Perhaps was just as true.
R. Bloomfield, _The Fakenham Ghost_ (a fact).
FALCON. Wm. Morris tells us that whoso watched a certain falcon for
seven days and seven nights without sleeping, should have his first
wish granted by a fay. A certain king accomplished the watching, and
wished to have the fay's love. His wish was granted, but it proved his
ruin.--_The Earthly Paradise_ ("July")
FALCONER (Mr.), laird of Balmawhapple, friend of the old baron of
Bradwardine.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ time, George _Falconer_
(_Major_), brother of Lady Bothwell.--Sir W. Scott, _Aunt Margaret's
Mirror_ (time, William III.).
_Falconer_ (_Edmund_), the _nom de plume_ of Edmund O'Rourke, author
of _Extremes or Men of the day_ (a comedy, 1859).
FALIE'RO (_Marino_), the doge of Venice, an old man who married a
young wife named Angioli'na (3 _syl_.). At a banquet, Michel Steno, a
young patrician, grossly insulted some of the ladies, and was, by
the order of the doge, turned out of the house. In revenge, Steno
placarded the doge's chair with some scurrilous verses upon the young
dogaressa, and Faliero referred the matter to "the Forty." The council
sentenced Steno to two months' imprisonment, and the doge deemed this
punishment so inadequate to the offence, that he looked upon it as a
personal insult, and headed a conspiracy to cut off, root and branch,
the whole Venetian nobility. The project being discovered, Faliero was
put to death (1355), at the age of 76, and his picture removed from
the gallery of his brother doges.--Byron, _Marino Faliero._