[Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE,
FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.
=Falkland=, an aristocratic gentleman, of a noble, loving nature, but
the victim of false honor and morbid refinement of feeling. Under great
provocation, he was goaded on to commit murder, but being tried was
honorably acquitted, and another person was executed for the crime.
Caleb Williams, a lad in Falkland’s service, accidently became
acquainted with these secret facts, but, unable to live in the house
under the suspicious eyes of Falkland, he ran away. Falkland tracked him
from place to place, like a blood-hound, and at length arrested him for
robbery. The true statement now came out, and Falkland died of shame and
broken spirit. —W. Godwin, _Caleb Williams_ (1794).
⁂ This tale has been dramatized by G. Colman, under the title of _The
Iron Chest_, in which Falkland is called “Sir Edward Mortimer,” and
Caleb Williams is called “Wilford.”
=False One= (_The_), a tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619). The
subject is the amours of Julius Caesar and Cleopat´ra.
=Falsetto= (_Signor_), a man who fawns on Fazio in prosperity, and turns
his back on him when fallen into disgrace.—Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (1815).
=Falstaff= (_Sir John_), in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, and in the two
parts of _Henry IV._, by Shakespeare. In _Henry V._, his death is
described by Mrs. Quickly, hostess of an inn in Eastcheap. In the
comedy, Sir John is represented as making love to Mrs. Page, who “fools
him to the top of his bent.” In the historic plays, he is represented as
a soldier and a wit, the boon companion of “Mad-cap Hal” (the prince of
Wales). In both cases, he is a mountain of fat, sensual, mendacious,
boastful, and fond of practical jokes.
In the king’s army, “Sir John” was Captain, “Peto” Lieutenant, “Pistol”
ancient [ensign], and “Bardolph” Corporal.
C.R. Leslie says: “Quin’s ‘Falstaff’ must have been glorious. Since
Garrick’s time there have been more than one ‘Richard,’ ‘Hamlet,’
‘Romeo,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and ‘Lear;’ but since Quin [1693-1766] only one
'Falstaff,' John Henderson [1747-1786].”
Falstaff, unimitated, inimitable, Falstaff, how shall I describe thee?
Thou compound of sense and vice: of sense which may be admired, but not
esteemed; of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested. “Falstaff
” is a character loaded with faults, and with those faults which
naturally produce contempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a
boaster, always ready to cheat the weak and prey upon the poor, to
terrify the timorous and insult the defenceless. At once obsequious and
malignant—yet the man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself
necessary to the prince by perpetual gaiety, and by unfailing power of
exciting laughter.—Dr. Johnson.
=Fanciful= (_Lady_), a vain, conceited beauty, who calls herself “nice,
strangely nice,” and says she was formed “to make the whole creation
uneasy.” She loves Heartfree, a railer against women, and when he
proposes marriage to Belinda, a rival beauty, spreads a most impudent
scandal, which, however, reflects only on herself. Heartfree, who at one
time was partly in love with her, says to her:
“Nature made you handsome, gave you beauty to a miracle, a shape without
a fault, wit enough to make them relish ... but art has made you become
the pity of our sex, and the jest of your own. There’s not a feature in
your face but you have found the way to teach it some affected
convulsion. Your feet, your hands, your very finger-ends, are directed
never to move without some ridiculous air, and your language is a
suitable trumpet to draw people’s eyes upon the raree-show” (act ii.
1).—Vanbrugh, _The Provoked Wife_ (1697).
=Fan-Fan=, _alias_ =Phelin O’Tug=, “a lolly-pop maker, and manufacturer
of maids of honor to the court.” This merry, shy, and blundering elf,
concealed in a bear-skin, makes love to Christine, the faithful
attendant on the Countess Marie. Phelin O’Tug says his mother was too
bashful ever to let him know her, and his father always kept in the
back-ground.—E. Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_ (1847).
=Fang=, a bullying, insolent magistrate, who would have sent Oliver
Twist to prison, on suspicion of theft, if Mr. Brownlow had not
interposed on the boy’s behalf.—C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
The original of this ill-tempered, bullying magistrate was Mr. Laing, of
Hatton Garden, removed from the bench by the home secretary.—John
Foster, _Life of Dickens_, iii. 4.
=Fang and Snare=, two sheriff’s officers.—Shakespeare, _2 Henry IV_
(1598).
=Fanny= (_Robin_). Country girl seduced under promise of marriage by
Sergeant Troy. She dies with her child and is buried by Troy’s
betrothed, who learns after her marriage the tale of Fanny’s wrongs.—T.
Hardy, _Far from the Madding Crowd_ (1874).
_Fanny_ (_Lord_). So John Lord Hervey was usually called by the wits of
the time, in consequence of his effeminate habits. His appearance was
that of a “half-wit, half-fool, half-man, half-beau.” He used rouge,
drank ass’s milk, and took Scotch pills (1694-1743).
Consult Lord Fanny, and confide in Curll [_publisher_]. Byron, _English
Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
_Fanny_ (_Miss_), younger daughter of Mr. Sterling, a rich City
merchant. She was clandestinely married to Lovewell. “Gentle-looking,
soft-speaking, sweet-smiling, and affable,” wanting “nothing but a crook
in her hand and a lamb under her arm to be a perfect picture of
innocence and simplicity.” Every one loved her, and as her marriage was
a secret, Sir John Melvil and Lord Ogleby both proposed to her. Her
marriage with Lovewell being ultimately made known, her dilemma was
removed.—Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766).
=Fan´teries= (3 _syl._), foot-soldiers, infantry.
Five other bandes of English fanteries. G. Gascoigne, 1535-1577, _The
Fruites of Warre_ (1575)
=Fantine=. Parisian girl, deserted by her lover and left to support her
child as best she can. Her heroic self-devotion is one of the most
interesting episodes of _Les Miserables_, a romance by Victor Hugo.
=Faquir´=, a religious anchorite, whose life is spent in the severest
austerities and mortification.
He diverted himself, however ... especially with the Brahmins, faquirs,
and other enthusiasts who had travelled from the heart of India, and
halted on their way with the emir.—W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
=Farçeur= (_The_), Angelo Beolco, the Italian farce-writer. Called
_Ruzzante_ in Italian, from _ruzzare_, “to play the fool” (1502-1542).
=Farina´ta= [DEGLI UBERTI], a noble Florentine, leader of the Ghibeline
faction, and driven from his country in 1250 by the Guelfs (1 _syl._).
Some ten years later by the aid of Manfred of Naples, he beat the
Guelfs, and took all the towns of Tuscany and Florence. Danté conversed
with him in the city of Dis, and represents him as lying in a fiery tomb
yet open, and not to be closed till the last judgment day. When the
council agreed to raze Florence to the ground, Farinata opposed the
measure, and saved the city. Dantê refers to this:
Lo! Farinata ... his brow
Somewhat uplifted, cried ...
“In that affray [i.e. _at Montaperto, near the river Arbia_]
I stood not singly ...
But singly there I stood, when by consent
Of all, Florence had to the ground been razed,—
The one who openly forbade the deed.”
Dante, _Inferno_, x. (1300).
Like Farinata from his fiery tomb.
Longfellow, _Dante_.
=Farm-boy.=
“Over the hill the farm-boy goes,
His shadow lengthens along the land,
A giant staff in a giant hand.
In the poplar tree above the spring
The katydid begins to sing;
The early dews are falling.
* * * * *
And home to the woodland fly the crows,
While over the hill the farm-boy goes,
Cheerily calling,
‘Co’ boss! co’ boss! co’! co’! co’!’”
J.T. Trowbridge, _Evening at the Farm_ (1857).
=Farmer Finch=, girl who works her invalid father’s farm for him and
makes it pay.—Sarah Orne Jewett, _Farmer Finch_.
=Farm-house= (_The_). Modely and Heartwell, two gentlemen of fashion,
come into the country and receive hospitality from old Farmer Freehold.
Here they make love to his daughter Aura and his niece Flora. The girls,
being high-principled, convert the flirtation of the two guests into
love, and Heartwell marries the niece, while Modely proposes to Aura,
who accepts him, provided he will wait two months and remain constant to
her.—John Philip Kemble.
=Farmer George=, George III.; so called because he was like a farmer in
dress, manners, and tastes (1738-1820).
=Farmer’s Wife= (_The_), a musical drama by C. Dibdin (1780).
Cornflower, a benevolent, high-minded farmer, having saved Emma Belton
from the flames of a house on fire, married her, and they lived together
in love and peace till Sir Charles Courtly took a fancy to Mrs.
Cornflower, and abducted her. She was soon tracked, and as it was
evident that she was no _particeps criminis_, she was restored to her
husband, and Sir Charles gave his sister to Mrs. Cornflower’s brother in
marriage as a peace-offering.
=Farnese Bull= [_Far.nay´.ze_], a colossal group of sculpture,
attributed to Apollõnius and Tauriscus of Trallês, in Asia Minor. The
group represents Dircê bound by Zethus and Amphi´on to the horns of a
bull, for ill-using their mother. It was restored by Bianchi, in 1546,
and placed in the Farnesê palace, in Italy.
=Farnese He´rcules= [_Far.nay´.ze_], a name given to Glykon’s copy of
the famous statue by Lysippos (a Greek sculptor in the time of Alexander
“the Great”). It represents Hercules leaning on his club, with one hand
on his back. The Farnesê family became extinct in 1731.
=Fashion= (_Sir Brilliant_), a man of the world, who “dresses
fashionably, lives fashionably, wins your money fashionably, loses his
own fashionably, and does everything fashionably.” His fashionable
asservations are, “Let me perish, if ...!” “May fortune eternally frown
on me, if ...!” “May I never hold four by honors, if ...!” “May the
first woman I meet strike me with a supercilious eyebrow, if ...!” and
so on.—A. Murphy, _The Way to Keep Him_ (1760).
_Fashion_ (_Tom_), or “Young Fashion,” younger brother of Lord
Foppington. As his elder brother did not behave well to him, Tom
resolved to outwit him, and to this end introduced himself to Sir
Tunbelly Clumsy and his daughter, Miss Hoyden, as Lord Foppington,
between whom and the knight a negotiation of marriage had been carried
on. Being established in the house, Tom married the heiress, and when
the veritable lord appeared, he was treated as an impositor. Tom,
however, explained his ruse, and as his lordship treated the knight with
great contempt and quitted the house, a reconciliation was easily
effected.—Sheridan, _A Trip to Scarborough_ (1777).
=Fashionable Lover= (_The_). Lord Abberville, a young man of 23 years of
age, promises marriage to Lucinda Bridgemore, the vulgar, spiteful,
purse-proud daughter of a London merchant, living in Fish Street Hill.
At the house of this merchant Lord Abberville sees a Miss Aubrey, a
handsome, modest, lady-like girl, with whom he is greatly smitten. He
first tries to corrupt her, and then promises marriage; but Miss Aubrey
is already engaged to a Mr. Tyrrel. The vulgarity and ill-nature of
Lucinda being quite insurmountable, “the fashionable lover” abandons
her, The chief object of the drama is to root out the prejudice which
Englishmen at one time entertained against the Scotch, and the chief
character is in reality Colin or Cawdie Macleod, a Scotch servant of
Lord Abberville.—R. Cumberland (1780).
=Fastolfe= (_Sir John_), in _1 Henry VI_. This is not the “Sir John
Falstaff” of huge proportions and facetious wit, but the
Lieutenant-general of the duke of Bedford, and a knight of Garter.
Here had the conquest fully been sealed up
If Sir John Fastolfe had not played the coward:
He being in the vanward ...
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Shakespeare, _1 Henry VI_. act i. sc. 1 (1589).
From this battell [_of Pataie, in France_] departed without anie stroke
striken, Sir John Fastolfe.... The duke of Bedford tooke from him the
image of St. George and his garter.—Holinshed, ii. 601.
=Fastra´da= or FASTRADE, daughter of Count Rudolph and Luitgarde. She
was one of the nine wives of Charlemagne.
Those same soft bells at even-tide
Rang in the ears of Charlemagne,
As seated by Fastrada’s side,
At Ingelheim, in all his pride,
He heard their sound with secret pain.
Longfellow, _Golden Legend_, vi.
=Fat= (_The_). Alfonso II. of Portugal (1185, 1212-1223). Charles II.
(_le Gros_) of France (832-882). Louis VI. (_le Gros_) of France (1078,
1108-1137).
Edward Bright of Essex weighed 44 stone (616 lbs.) at death (1720-1750).
David Lambert of Leicester weighed above 52 stone (739 lbs.) at death
(1770-1809).
=Fata Alci´na=, sister of Fata Morga´na. She carried off Astolfo on the
back of a whale to her isle, but turned him into a myrtle tree when she
tired of him.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495); Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).
=Fata Ar´gea= (“_le reina della Fata_”), protectress Floridantê.
=Fata Falsire´na=, an enchantress in the _Adonê_ of Marini (1623).
=Fata della Fonti=, an enchantress, from whom Mandricardo obtained the
arms of Hector.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).
=Fata Morga´na=, sister of Arthur, and pupil of Merlin. She lived at the
bottom of a lake, and dispensed her treasures to whom she willed. This
fairy is introduced by Bojardo in his _Orlando Innamorato_, first as
“Lady Fortune,” but subsequently as an enchantress. In Tasso her three
daughters (Morganetta, Nivetta, and Carvilia) are introduced.
⁂ “Fata Morgana” is the name given to a sort of mirage occasionally seen
in the Straits of Messi´na.
=Fata Nera and Fata Bianca=, protectresses of Guido´nê and
Aquilantê.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).
=Fata Silvanella=, an enchantress in _Orlando Innamorato_, by Bojardo
(1495).
=Fatal Curiosity=, an epilogue in _Don Quixote_ (pt. I. iv. 5, 6). The
subject of this tale is the trial of a wife’s fidelity. Anselmo, a
Florentine gentleman, had married Camilla, and wishing to rejoice over
her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to put it to the
test. The lady was not trial-proof, but eloped with Lothario. The end
was that Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and
Camilla died in a convent (1605).
_Fatal Curiosity_, by George Lillo. Young Wilmot, supposed to have
perished at sea, goes to India, and having made his fortune, returns to
England. He instantly visits Charlotte, whom he finds still faithful and
devotedly attached to him, and then in disguise visits his parents, with
whom he deposits a casket. Agnes Wilmot, out of curiosity, opens the
casket, and when she discovers that it contains jewels, she and her
husband resolve to murder the owner, and secure the contents of the
casket. Scarcely have they committed the fatal deed, when Charlotte
enters, and tells them it is their own son whom they have killed,
whereupon old Wilmot first stabs his wife and then himself. Thus was the
“curiosity” of Agnes fatal to herself, her husband, and her son (1736).
=Fatal Dowry= (_The_), a tragedy by Philip Massinger (1632). Rowe has
borrowed much of his _Fair Penitent_ from this drama.
=Fatal Marriage= (_The_), a tragedy by Thomas Southern (1659-1746).
Isabella, a nun, marries Biron, the eldest son of Count Baldwin. The
count disinherits his son for this marriage, and Biron, entering the
army, is sent to the siege of Candy, where he is seen to fall, and is
reported dead. Isabella, reduced to the utmost poverty, after seven
years of “widowhood,” prays Count Baldwin to do something for her child,
but he turns her out of doors. Villeroy (2 _syl._) proposes marriage to
her, and her acceptance of him was “the fatal marriage,” for the very
next day Biron returns and is set upon by ruffians in the pay of his
brother Carlos, who assassinate him. Carlos accuses Villeroy of the
murder, but one of the ruffians confesses, and Carlos is apprehended. As
for Isabella, she stabs herself and dies.
=Fat Boy= (_Jo._). Obese page, or foot-boy of Mr. Wardell in _Pickwick
Papers_.—Charles Dickens.
=Fates.= _The three Fatal Sisters_ were Clo´tho, Lachesis
[_Lak´.e.sis_]. and At´ropos. They dwelt in the deep abyss of
Demogorgon, “with unwearied fingers drawing out the threads of life.”
Clotho held the spindle or distaff; Lachesis drew out the thread; and
Atropos cut it off.
Sad Clotho held the rock, the whiles the thread
By grisly Lachesis was spun with pain,
That cruel Atropos eftsoon undid,
With cursëd knife cutting the twist in twain.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 2. (1595).
=Father—Son.= It is a common observation that a father above the common
rate of men has usually a son below it. Witness King John son of Henry
II.; Edward II. son of Edward I.; Richard II. son of the Black Prince;
Henry VI. son of Henry V.; Lord Chesterfield’s son, etc. So in French
history: Louis VIII. was the son of Philippe _Auguste_; Charles _the
Idiot_ was the son of Charles _le Sage_; Henri II. of François I. Again,
in German history: Heinrich VI. was the son of Barbarossa; Albrecht I.
of Rudolf; and so on, in all directions. _Heroum filii noxæ_ is a Latin
proverb.
My trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
As my trust was.
Shakespeare, _The Tempest_, act i. sc. 2 (1609).
=Father Suckled by His own Daughter.= Euphrasia, called “The Grecian
Daughter,” thus preserved the life of her father Evander in prison. (SEE
EUPHRASIA.)
Xantippê thus preserved the life of her father Cimonos in prison.
=A Father’s Head Nursed by a Daughter after Death.= Margaret Roper
“clasped in her last trance her murdered father’s head.” (SEE DAUGHTER.)
=Father of His Country.=
CICERO, who broke up the Catiline conspiracy (B.C. 106-43).
⁂ The Romans offered the same title to Marĭus after his annihilation of
the Teutŏnês and Cimbri, but he would not accept it.
JULIUS CÆSAR, after he had quelled the Spanish insurrection (B.C.
100-44). AUGUSTUS, _P_ (B.C. 63-31 to A.D. 14).