=Firouz Schah=, son and heir of the king of Persia. One New Year’s Day
an Indian brought to the king an enchanted horse, which would convey the
rider almost instantaneously anywhere he might wish to go to; and asked
as the price thereof, the king’s daughter for his wife. Prince Firouz,
mounting the horse to try it, was carried to Bengal, and there fell in
love with the princess, who accompanied him back to Persia on the horse.
When the king saw his son arrive safe and sound he dismissed the Indian
discourteously; but the Indian caught up the princess, and, mounting the
horse, conveyed her to Cashmere. She was rescued by the sultan of
Cashmere, who cut off the Indian’s head and proposed marriage himself to
the princess. To avoid this alliance, the princess pretended to be mad.
The sultan sent for his physicians, but they could suggest no cure. At
length came one who promised to cure the lady; it was Prince Firouz in
disguise. He told the sultan that the princess had contracted
enchantment from the horse and must be set on it to disenchant her.
Accordingly, she was set on the horse, and while Firouz caused a thick
cloud of smoke to rise, he mounted with the lady through the air, saying
as he did so, “Sultan of Cashmere, when you would espouse a princess who
craves your protection, first learn to obtain her consent.”—_Arabian
Nights_ (“The Enchanted Horse”).
=First Gentleman of Europe=, George IV. (1762, 1820-1830).
Louis d’Artois of France was so called also.
The “First Gentleman of Europe” had not yet quite lost his once elegant
figure.—E. Yates, _Celebrities_ xvii.
=First Grenadier of France.= Latour d’Auverge was so called by Napoleon
(1743-1800.)
=First Love=, a comedy by Richard Cumberland (1796.) Frederick Mowbray’s
first love, being dowerless, marries the wealthy Lord Ruby, who soon
dies leaving all his fortune to his widow. In the meantime, Frederick
goes abroad, and at Padua falls in with Sabina Rosny, who nurses him
through a severe sickness, for which he thinks he is bound in honor to
marry her. She comes with him to England, and is placed under the charge
of Lady Ruby. Sabina tells Lady Ruby she cannot marry Frederick, because
she is married already to Lord Sensitive, and even if it were not so,
she could not marry him, for all his affections are with Lady Ruby; this
she discovers in the delirium of the young man, when his whole talk was
about her ladyship. In the end Lord Sensitive avows himself the husband
of Sabina, and Frederick marries his first love.
=Fish.=
_He eats no fish_, that is “he is no papist,” “he is an honest man or
one to be trusted.” In the reign of Queen Elizabeth papists were the
enemies of the government, and hence one who did not eat fish, like a
papist, on fast days was considered a Protestant and a friend of the
government.
I do profess ... to serve him truly that will put me in trust ... and to
eat no fish.—Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act i. sc. 4 (1605).
=Fish and the Ring=.
1. Polycrătês, being too fortunate, was advised to cast away something
he most highly prized, and threw into the sea an engraved gem of great
value. A few days afterwards a fish came to his table, and in it was
this very gem.—_Herodotus_, iii. 40.
2. A certain queen, having formed an illicit attachment to a soldier,
gave him a ring which had been the present of her husband. The king,
being apprised thereof, got possession of the ring while the soldier was
asleep, threw it into the sea, and then asked his queen to bring it him.
In great alarm, she went to St. Kentigern and told him everything. The
saint went to the Clyde, caught a salmon with the ring in its mouth, and
gave it to the queen, who thus saved her character and her husband. This
legend is told about the Glasgow arms.
3. The arms of dame Rebecca Berry, wife of Sir Thomas Elton,
Stratford-le-Bow, to be seen at St. Dunstan’s Church, Stepney. The tale
is that a knight, hearing the cries of a woman in labor, knew that the
infant was destined to become his wife. He tried to elude his destiny,
and, when the infant had grown to womanhood, threw a _ring_ into the
sea, commanding the damsel never to see his face again till she could
produce the ring which he had cast away. In a few days a _cod-fish_ was
caught, and the ring was found in its mouth. The young woman producing
the ring, the marriage was duly solemnized.—_Romance of London_.
=Fisher= (_Ralph_), assistant of Roland Græme, at Avenel Castle.—Sir W.
Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Fishers_ (_The_). Grandpa and Grandma Fisher live with daughter-in-law
and two grandchildren in “The Ark” at Cedar-swamp. Grandpa is a retired
sea-captain with a talent for tedious stories and a temper that is
occasionally frayed. Grandma’s face has, “besides large physical
proportions, generosity, whole-heartedness and a world of sympathy.”
Both sleep in church, but grandma wakes up first, and arouses her
husband with an adroit pin. He starts and looks guilty. She “opens her
eyes at regular intervals,” as though she had merely been closing them
to engage in a few moments of silent prayer.—Sally Pratt McLean Green,
_Cape Cod Folks_ (1881).
=Fitz-Boo´dle= (_George_), a pseudonym assumed by Thackeray in _Frazer’s
Magazine_ (1811-1863).
=Fitz-Fulke= (_Hebe, duchess of_), a “gracious graceful, graceless
grace” (canto xvi. 49), staying with Lord and Lady Amundeville (4
_syl._), while Don Juan “the Russian envoy” was their guest. Don Juan
fancied he saw in the night the apparition of a monk, which produced
such an effect on his looks and behavior as to excite attention. When
the cause of his peturbation was known, Lady Adeline sang to him a tale
purporting to explain the apparition; but “her frolic grace” at night
personated the ghost to carry on the joke. She was, however, discovered
by Don Juan, who was resolved to penetrate the mystery. With this
discovery the sixteenth and last book of _Don Juan_ ends.—Byron, _Don
Juan_ (1824).
=Fitzurse= (_Lord Wildemar_), a baron in the suite of Prince John of
Anjou (brother of Richard Cœur de Lion).—Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time,
Richard I.).
=Five Kings of France=, the five directors (1795).
The five kings of France sit in their curule chairs with their
flesh-colored breeches and regal mantles.—_Atalier du Lys_, ii.
=Flaccus=, Horace the Roman poet, whose full name was Quintus Horātius
Flaccus (B.C. 65-8).
=Fladdock= (_General_), a friend of the Norris family in America, and,
like them, devoted to titles, and aristocracy.—C. Dickens, _Martin
Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
=Flam´berge= (2 _syl._), the sword which Maugis took from Anthe´nor the
Saracen admiral, when he attacked the castle of Oriande la Fée. The
sword was made by Weyland, the Scandinavian Vulcan.—_Romance of Maugis
d’Aygremont et de Vivian son Frère_.
=Flamborough= (_Solomon_), farmer. A talkative neighbor of Dr. Primrose,
vicar of Wakefield. Moses Primrose marries one of his daughters.
_The Misses Flamborough_, daughters of the farmer. Their homeliness
contrasts well with the flashy pretenders to fashion introduced by
Squire Thornhill.—Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).
=Flame= (_Lord_), Johnson the jester and dramatist, author of
_Hurlo-Thrumbo,_ an extravaganza (1729).
=Flammer= (_The Hon. Mr. Frisk_), a Cantab, nephew to Lord Totterly. He
is a young gentleman with a vivid imagination, small income, and large
debts.—C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.
=Flammock= (_Wilkin_), a Flemish soldier and burgess at the Castle of
Garde Doloureuse.
_Rose or Roschen Flammock_, daughter of Wilkin Flammock, and attendant
on Lady Eveline.—Sir. W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Flanders= (_Moll_), a woman of extraordinary beauty, born in Old
Bailey. She was twelve years a harlot, five years a wife, twelve years a
thief, and eight years a convict in Virginia; but ultimately she became
rich, lived honestly, and died a penitent in the reign of Charles
II.—Defoe, _The Fortunes of Moll Flanders_.
=Flash= (_Captain_), a blustering, cowardly braggart, “always talking of
fighting and wars.” In the Flanders war he pretended to be shot, sneaked
off into a ditch, and thence to England. When Captain Loveit met him
paying court to Miss Biddy Bellaw, he commanded the blustering coward to
“deliver up his sword,” and added:
“Leave this house, change the color of your clothes and fierceness of
your looks; appear from top to toe the very wretch thou art!”—D.
Garrick, _Miss in Her Teens_ (1753).
=Fla´vius,= the faithful, honest steward of Timon the
man-hater.—Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_ (1600).
=Fle´ance,= in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is the son of Banquo, one of
Duncan’s trusted generals, and beloved and honored by Macbeth until the
witches’ prophecy promises him the crown for which Macbeth has murdered
the king. Macbeth resolves to destroy Banquo and his son, but while the
father is murdered the son escapes, and the death-blow is given to
Macbeth’s hope of an undisputed succession. Thus far the play; the
chronicle makes Fleance become in time the Lord High Steward (Stewart,
Stuart) of Scotland, and the ancestor of the House of Stuart which gave
James I. to the English throne. James was very proud of this descent
from Shakespeare’s Banquo, whose character was evidently drawn to
flatter the king, since the Banquo of Holinshed’s Chronicle, from which
the main of the play is drawn, is Macbeth’s partner in the murder of
Duncan.
=Flecknoe= (_Richard_), poet-laureate to Charles II., author of dramas,
poems, and other works. As a poet his name stands on a level with Bavius
and Mævius. Dryden says of him:
... he reigned without dispute
Thro’ all the realms of nonsense absolute.
Dryden, _M’Flecnoe_ (1682).
(It was not Flecknoe but Shadwell that Dryden wished to castigate in
this satire. The offence was that Dryden was removed from the post of
laureate, and Shadwell appointed in his place. The angry ex-laureate
says, with more point than truth, that, “Shadwell never deviates into
sense.”)
=Fleda.= A winning child who grows into the lovely heroine of Susan
Warner’s novel _Queechy_ (1852). Her simple faith and unaffected piety
lead Mr. Carleton, a skeptical Englishman, into the right path. After
many years and vicissitudes the two meet again in New York and are
married in England.
=Fledge´by= (2 _syl._), an over-reaching, cowardly sneak, who conceals
his dirty bill-broking under the trade name of Pubsey and Co. He is
soundly thrashed by Alfred Lammle, and quietly pockets the affront.—C.
Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).
=Fleecebump´kin= (3 _syl._), bailiff of Mr. Ireby, the country
squire.—Sir W. Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.).
=Fleece´em= (_Mrs._), meant for Mrs. Rudd, a smuggler, thief, milliner,
matchmaker and procuress.—Sam. Foote, _The Cozeners_.
=Fleetwood= or _The New Man of Feeling_, the hero of a novel so named by
W. Godwin (1805).
=Flemings= (_The Farmer_). Yeoman-farmer of Kent, dull, honest plodder.
_Dahlia_. Lovely girl, who goes off with _Edward Blancove_, believing
herself married to him. Discovering the deception, she returns to the
farm, and resumes her old life. When the penitent lover seeks her and
would marry her, she refuses. “She has left her heart among the ashes of
the fire” that consumed her youth and honor.
_Rhoda._ Devoted sister who seeks Dahlia until she is found, and
cherishes her tenderly through life. Rhoda marries a farmer, and Dahlia
lives for seven years as her housemate. George Meredith, _Rhoda Fleming_
(1888).
_Flem´ing_ (_Archdeacon_), the clergyman to whom old Meg Murdockson made
her confession.—Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
_Fleming_ (_Sir Malcolm_), a former suitor of Lady Margaret de
Hautlieu.—Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
_Fleming_ (_Lady Mary_), one of the maids of honor to Mary Queen of
Scots.—Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Fleming_ (_Rose_), niece of Mrs. Maylie. Rose marries her cousin Harry
Maylie.
She was past 17. Cast in so slight and exquisite a mould, so mild and
gentle, so pure and beautiful, that earth seemed not her element, nor
its rough creatures her fit companions. The very intelligence that shone
in her deep blue eye ... seemed scarcely ... of the world, and yet the
changing expression of sweetness and good-humor, the thousand lights
that played about the face ... above all the smile, the cheerful, happy
smile, were made for home and fireside peace and happiness.—C. Dickens,
_Oliver Twist_, xxix. (1837).
=Flemish School= (_The_), a school of painting commencing in the
fifteenth century, with the brothers Van Eyck. The chief _early_ masters
were Memling, Van der Weyden, Matsys, and Mabuse. The chief of the
_second_ period were Rubens, Vandyck, Snyders, Jordæns, Gaspar de Crayer
and the younger Teniers.
=Flemming= (_Paul_), scholarly hero of Longfellow’s _Hyperion_. Among
the storied ruins of the Old World, he wins his bride by weaving to her
stories from his own imagination (1839).
=Fleshly School= (_The_), a class of British poets of which Swinburne,
Rossetti, Morris, etc., are exponents; so called from the sensuous
character of their poetry.
⁂ It was Thomas Maitland [_i.e._ R. W. Buchanan] who first gave them
this appellation in the _Contemporary Review_.
=Fletcher= (_Dick_), one of the crew of a pirate vessel.—Sir W. Scott,
_The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
_Fletcher_ (_Philip_), fine gentleman, suitor of Christie, in Louisa M.
Olcot’s novel “_Work_.”
=Fleur de Marie=, the betrothed of Captain Phœbus.—Victor Hugo, _Notre
Dame de Paris_ (1831).
=Fleurant=, an apothecary. He flies into a rage because Bérald (2
_syl._) says to his brother, “Remettez cela à une fois, et demeurez un
peu en repos.” The apothecary flares out, “De quoi vous mêlez vous de
vous opposer aux ordonnance de la medicine ... je vais dire à Monsieur
Purgon comme on m’a empêché d’executer ses ordres.... Vous verrez, vous
verrez.”—Molière, _La Malade Imaginaire_ (1673).
=Flib´bertigib´bet=, the fiend that gives man the squint eye and
harelip, sends mildews and blight, etc.
This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet ... he gives the web and the pin
[_diseases of the eye_], squints the eye, and makes the hare-lip;
mildews the white heat, and hurts the poor creature of earth.—_King
Lear_, act iii. sec. 4 (1605).
⁂ Shakespeare got this name from bishop Harsnett’s _Declaration of
Popish Impostures_, where Flibberdigibet is one of the fiends which the
Jesuits cast out of Mr. Edmund Peckham.
_Flib´bertigib´bet_, or “Dickie Sludge,” the dwarf grandson of Gammer
Sludge (landlady of Erasmus Holiday, the schoolmaster in the vale of
Whitehorse). In the entertainment given by the earl of Leicester to
Queen Elizabeth, Dickon Sludge acts the part of an imp.—Sir W. Scott,
_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Flint= (_Lord_), chief minister of state to one of the sultans of
India. He had the enviable faculty of a very short memory when he did
not choose to recollect. “My people know, no doubt, but I cannot
recollect,” was his stock phrase. Mrs. Inchbald, _Such Things Are_
(1786).
_Flint_, jailer in _The Deserter_, a musical drama by Dibdin (1770).
_Flint_ (_Sir Clement_), a very kind-hearted, generous old bachelor, who
“trusts no one,” and though he professes his undoubted belief to be
“that self is the predominant principle of the human mind,” is never so
happy as when doing an unselfish and generous act. He settles £2000 a
year on the young Lord Gayville, his nephew, that he may marry Miss
Alton, the lady of his choice; and says, “To reward the deserving, and
make those we love happy, is self-interest in the extreme.”—General
Burgoyne, _The Heiress_ (1781).
=Flint Jack=, Edward Simpson, who used to tramp the kingdom, vending
spurious flint arrow-heads, celts, and other imitation antiquities. In
1867 he was imprisoned for theft.
=Flippan´ta=, an intriguing lady’s-maid. Daughter of Mrs. Cloggit. She
is in the service of Clarissa, and aids her in all her follies.—Sir John
Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).
=Flite= (_Miss_), a poor crazed, good-hearted woman, who has lost her
wits through the “law’s delay.” She is always haunting the Courts of
Chancery with “her documents,” hoping against hope that she will receive
a judgment.—C. Dickens, _Bleak House_, iv. (1852).
=Flock´hart= (_Widow_), landlady of the lodgings in the Canongate where
Waverley and M’Ivor dine with the baron of Bradwardine (3 _syl._).—Sir
W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
=Flogged by Deputy.= The Marquis de Leganez forbade the tutor of his son
to use rigor or corporal punishment of any kind, so the tutor hit upon
this device to intimidate the boy: he flogged a lad named Raphael,
brought up with young Leganez as a playmate, whenever that young
nobleman deserved punishment. This produced an excellent effect; but
Raphael did not see its justice and ran away.—Lesage, _Gil Blas_, v. i.
(1724).
=Flollo= or =Flollio=, a Roman tribune, who held the province of Gaul
under the Emperor Leo. When King Arthur invaded Gaul, the tribune fled
to Paris, which Arthur besieged, and Flollo proposed to decide the
quarrel by single combat. To this Arthur agreed, and cleft with his
sword Caliburn both the helmet and head of his adversary. Having made
himself master of all Gaul, King Arthur held his court at
Paris.—Geoffrey, _British History_, ix. 11 (1142).
And after these ...
At Paris, in the lists [_Arthur_] with Flollio fought;
The emperor Leon’s power to raise his siege that brought.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1612).
=Flor and Blancheflor=, the title of a minnesong by Conrad Fleck, at one
time immensely popular. It is the story of two children who fall in love
with each other. There is a good deal of grace and tenderness in the
tale, with an abundance of trash. Flor, the son of Feinix, a pagan king,
is brought up with Blancheflor (an _enfant volé_). The two children love
each other, but Feinix sells Blancheflor to some Eastern merchants. Flor
goes in quest of Blancheflor, whom he finds in Babylon, in the palace of
the sultan, who is a sorcerer. He gains access to the palace, hidden in
a basket of roses; but the sultan discovers him, and is about to cast
both into the flames, when, touched with human gentleness and love, he
sets them free. They then return to Spain, find Feinix dead, and marry
(fourteenth century).
=Flo´ra=, goddess of flowers. In natural history all the flowers and
vegetable productions of a country and locality are called its flora,
and all its animal productions its fauna.
_Flora_, the waiting-woman of Donna Violante. In love with Lissado, the
valet of Don Felix.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).
Mrs. Mattocks’s was the most affecting theatrical leave taking we ever
witnessed. The part she chose was “Flora,” to Cook’s “Don Felix,” which
she played with all the freshness and spirit of a woman in her
prime.—_The New Monthly_ (1826).
_Flora_, the niece of old Farmer Freehold. She is a great beauty, and
captivates Heartwell, who marries her. The two are so well assorted that
their “best love is after their espousals.”—John Philip Kemble, _The
Farm-house_.
=Floranthe= (_Donna_), a lady beloved by Octavian. Octavian goes mad
because he fancies Floranthê is untrue to him, but Roque, a blunt,
kind-hearted servitor, assures him he is mistaken, and persuades him to
return home.—G. Colman, _Octavian_ (1824).
=Flor´delice= (3 _syl._), the mistress of Bran´dimart (king of the
Distant Islands).—Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
=Flordespi´na=, daughter of Marsiglio.—Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_
(1516).
=Florence= (_Vane_). The lost love eulogized in Philip Pendleton Cooke’s
poem of that name.
“Thou wast lovelier than the roses
In their prime;
Thy voice excelled the closes
Of sweetest rhyme;
Thy heart was as a river
Without a main.
Would I had loved thee never,
Florence Vane!”
(185-).
=Florence=, Mrs. Spenser Smith, daughter of Baron Herbert, the Austrian
ambassador in England. She was born at Constantinople, during her
father’s residence in that city. Byron made her acquaintance in Malta,
but Thomas Moore thinks his devotion was more imaginary than real. In a
letter to his mother, his lordship says, he “finds her [_Florence_] very
pretty, very accomplished, and extremely eccentric.”
Thou mayst find a new Calypso there
Sweet Florence, could another ever share
This wayward, loveless heart, it would be thine.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, ii. 30 (1810).
_Florence_ (_The German_), Dresden, also called “The Florence of the
North.”
_Florence_ (_Weir_). A beautiful girl committed to the care of a young
man who expects to meet a child. Although hardly released from an
engagement to another girl he falls in love with his charge, when his
former flame recalls him, but generously resigns him to her younger
rival.—Ellen Olney Kirk, _One too Many_ (1889).
=Florent=, the nephew of “the emperor,” is condemned to death, but is
offered his life if he can solve a certain riddle. An old deformed hag
promises him the solution if he will agree to marry her afterward. He
keeps faith with his deliverer, and on the wedding-night she is
transformed into a beautiful woman.—Gower, _Confessio Amantis_, I.
Chaucer puts this story into the mouth of “The Wife of Bath,”
_Canterbury Tales_. He does not name the hero, but makes him a bachelor
of King Artour’s court. The story is much older than Gower, and is found
in the legends of several countries, but Chaucer probably borrowed it
from him while changing it in details.
=Florentine Diamond= (_The_), the fourth largest cut diamond in the
world. It weighs 139-1/2 carats, and was the largest diamond belonging
to Charles “the Bold,” duke of Burgundy. It was picked up by a Swiss
peasant, who sold it to a priest for half a crown. The priest sold it
for £200 to Bartholomew May, of Berne. It subsequently came into the
hands of Pope Julius II., and the pope gave it to the Emperor of
Austria. (See DIAMONDS.)
=Flores= or Isle of Flowers, one of the Azores (2 _syl._). It was
discovered in 1439 by Vanderburg, and is especially celebrated because
it was near this isle that Sir Richard Grenville, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, fought his famous sea-fight. He had only one ship with a
hundred men, and was opposed by the Spanish fleet of fifty-three
men-of-war. For some hours victory was doubtful, and when Sir Richard
was severely wounded, he wanted to sink the ship; but the Spaniards
boarded it, complimented him on his heroic conduct, and he died. As the
ship (_The Revenge_) was on its way to Spain, it was wrecked, and went
to the bottom, so it never reached Spain after all. Tennyson has a poem
on the subject (1878).
_Flo´res_ (2 _syl._), the lover of Blanchefleur.—Boccaccio, _Il
Filocopo_ (1340)
⁂ Boccaccio has repeated the tale in his _Decameron_, x. 5 (1352), in
which Flores is called “Ansaldo,” and Blanchefleur “Diano´ra.” Flores
and Blanchefleur, before Boccaccio’s time, were noted lovers, and are
mentioned as early as 1288 by Matfre Ermengaud de Beziers, in his
_Breviaire d’Amour_.
Chaucer has taken the same story as the basis of the _Frankeleine’s
Tale_, and Bojardo has introduced it as an episode in his _Orlando
Innamorato_, where the lover is “Prasildo” and the lady “Tisbina.” (See
PRASILDO.)
The chroniclers of Charlemagne,
Of Merlin, and the Mort d’Arthure,
Mingled together in his brain,
With tale of Flores and Blanchefleur.
Longfellow.
=Flores´ki= (_Count_), a Pole, in love with Princess Lodois´ka (4
_syl._). At the opening of the play he is travelling with his servant
Verbel to discover where the princess has been placed by her father
during the war. He falls in with the Tartar chief Kera Khan, whom he
overpowers in fight, but spares his life, and thus makes him his friend.
Floreski finds the princess in the castle of Baron Lovinski, who keeps
her a virtual prisoner, but the castle being stormed by the Tartars the
baron is slain, and the princess marries the count.—J.P. Kemble,
_Lodoiska_.
=Flo´rez=, son of Gerrard, king of the beggars. He assumes the name of
Goswin, and becomes, in Bruges, a wealthy merchant. His mistress is
Bertha, the supposed daughter of Vandunke the burgomaster.—Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Beggars’ Bush_ (1622).
=Flor´ian=, the “foundling of the forest,” discovered in infancy by the
Count De Valmont, and adopted as his own son. Florian is light-hearted
and volatile, but with deep affection, very brave, and the delight of
all who know him. He is betrothed to his cousin, Lady Geraldine, a ward
of Count De Valmont.—W. Dimond, _The Foundling of the Forest_.
=Florida= (_Vervain_), American girl with her mother in Venice. She
takes Italian lessons from Don Ippolito, a young priest, who has
mistaken his calling. The girl’s pity for him and her desire to see him
freed from a false position and in a different profession in America are
misunderstood by her lover, Henry Ferris. Separation and sorrow ensue.
Ippolito’s death-bed confession to Ferris clears up the mystery.
“If it is a little shocking, it is nevertheless true, and true to human
nature that they spoke of Don Ippolito as if he were a part of their
love.”—W.D. Howells, _A Foregone Conclusion_, (1874).
=Flor´imel=, “the Fair,” courted by Sir Sat´yrane, Sir Per´idure, and
Sir Cal´idore (each 3 _syl._), but she herself “loved none but
Mar´inel,” who cared not for her. When Marinel was overthrown by
Britomart and was reported to be dead, Florimel resolved to search into
the truth of this rumor. In her wanderings, she came weary to the hut of
a hag, but when she left the hut the hag sent a savage monster to bring
her back. Florimel, however, jumped into a boat and escaped, but fell
into the hands of Proteus (2 _syl._), who kept her in a dungeon “deep in
the bottom of a huge great rock.” One day, Marinel and his mother went
to a banquet given by Proteus to the sea-gods; and as Marinel was
loitering about, he heard the captive bemoaning her hard fate, and all
“for love of Marinel.” His heart was touched; he resolved to release the
prisoner, and obtained from his mother a warrant of release, signed by
Neptune himself. Proteus did not dare to disobey, the lady was released,
and became the happy bride of her liberator.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
iii. 4, 8, and iv. 11, 12 (1590-1596).
⁂The name Florimel means “honey-flower.”
_Florimel_ (_The False_), made by a witch of Riphæ´an snow and virgin
wax, with an infusion of vermilion. Two burning lamps in silver sockets
served for eyes, fine gold wire for locks, and for soul “a sprite that
had fallen from heaven.” Braggadoccio, seeing this false Florimel,
carried “her” off as the veritable Florimel; but when he was stripped of
his borrowed plumes, this waxen Florimel vanished into thin air, leaving
nothing behind except the “golden girdle that was about her
waist.”—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 8, and v.3 (1590-1596).
=Florimel’s Girdle=, a girdle which gave to those who wore it, “the
virtue of chaste love and wifehood true;” if any woman not chaste or
faithful put it on, it immediately “loosed or tore asunder.” It was once
the cestus of Venus, but when that queen of beauty wantoned with Mars,
it fell off and was left on the “Acidalian mount.”—Spenser, _Faëry
Queen_, iv. 2 (1596).
One day Sir Cambel, Sir Triamond, Sir Paridel, Sir Blandamour, and Sir
Ferramont agreed to give Florimel’s girdle to the most beautiful lady;
when the previous question was moved, “Who was the most beautiful?” Of
course, each knight, as in duty bound, adjudged his own lady to be the
paragon of women, till the witch’s image of snow and wax, made to
represent Florimel, was produced, when all agreed that it was without a
peer, and so the girdle was handed to “the false Florimel.” On trying it
on, however, it would in no wise fit her; and when by dint of pains it
was at length fastened, it instantly loosened and fell to the ground. It
would fit Amoret exactly, and of course Florimel, but not the witch’s
thing of snow and wax.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 5 (1596).
⁂ Morgan la Fée sent King Arthur a _horn_, out of which no lady could
drink “who was not to herself or to her husband true.” Ariosto’s
_enchanted cup_ possessed a similar spell.
A boy showed King Arthur a _mantle_ which no wife not leal could wear.
If any unchaste wife or maiden put it on, it would either go to shreds
or refuse to drape decorously.
At Ephesus was a _grotto_ containing a statue of Diana. If a chaste wife
or maiden entered, a reed there (presented by Pan) gave forth most
melodious sounds; but if the unfaithful or unchaste entered, the sounds
were harsh and discordant.
Alasnam’s _mirror_ remained unsullied when it reflected the unsullied,
but became dull when the unchaste stood before it. (See CARADOC, p.
160.)
=Florin´da=, daughter of Count Julian, one of the high lords in the
Gothic court of Spain. She was violated by King Roderick; and the count,
in his indignation, renounced the Christian religion and called over the
Moors, who came to Spain in large numbers and drove Roderick from the
throne. Orpas, the renegade archbishop of Sev´ille, asked Florinda to
become his bride, but she shuddered at the thought. Roderick, in the
guise of a priest, reclaimed Count Julian as he was dying, and as
Florinda rose from the dead body:
Her cheek was flushed, and in her eyes there beamed
A wilder brightness. On the Goth [_Roderick_] she gazed.
While underneath the emotions of that hour
Exhausted life gave way.... Round his neck she threw
Her arms, and cried “My Roderick; mine in heaven!”
Groaning, he claspt her close, and in that act
And agony her happy spirit fled.
Southey, _Roderick, etc._, xxiv. (1814).
=Flo´ripes= (3 _syl._), sister of Sir Fierabras [_Fe.ā´.ra.brah_],
daughter of Laban, and wife of Guy, the nephew of Charlemagne.
=Florisan´do= (_The exploits and adventures of_), part of the series of
_Le Roman des Romans_, or those pertaining to Am´adis of Gaul. This part
(from bk. vi. to xiv.) was added by Paez de Ribēra.
=Florise=, (_The lady_), attendant on Queen Berengaria.—Sir W. Scott,
_The Talisman_, (time, Richard I.)
=Flor´isel of Nice’a= (_The exploits and adventures of_), part of the
series called _Le Roman des Romans_, pertaining to Am´adis of Gaul. This
part was added by Feliciano de Silva.
=Flor´ismart=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, and the bosom friend of
Roland.
=Florival= (_Mdlle._), daughter of a French physician in Belleisle. She
fell in love with Major Belford, while nursing him in her father’s house
during a period of sickness. Her marriage however was deferred, from the
great aversion of the major’s father to the French, and he went to
Havana. In due time he returned to England and Colonel Tamper with him.
Now Colonel Tamper was in love with Emily, and wishing to try the
strength of her affection, pretended to be severely mutilated in the
wars. Florival was a guest of Emily at the time, and, being apprised of
the trick, resolved to turn the tables on the colonel, so when he
entered the room as a maimed soldier, he found there Florival, dressed
as an officer, and, under the name of Captain Johnson, flirting most
desperately with Emily. The colonel was mad with jealousy, but in the
very whirlwind of his rage, Major Belford recognized Mdlle. Florival,
saw through the trick, and after a hearty good laugh at the colonel all
ended happily.—Colman, sen., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).
=Flor´izel=, son of Polixenês, king of Bohemia. In a hunting expedition,
he saw Perdita (the supposed daughter of a shepherd), fell in love with
her, and courted her under the assumed name of Dor´icles. The king
tracked his son to the shepherd’s house, and told Perdita that if she
gave countenance to this foolery he would order her and the shepherd to
be put to death. Florizel and Perdita then fled from Bohemia, and took
refuge in Sicily. Being brought to the court of King Leontês, it soon
became manifest that Perdita was the king’s daughter. Polixenês, in the
mean time, had tracked his son to Sicily, but when he was informed that
Perdita was the king’s daughter, his objection to the marriage ceased,
and Perdita became the happy bride of Prince Florizel.—Shakespeare, _The
Winter’s Tale_ (1604).
_Florizel_, the name assumed by George IV. in his correspondence with
Mrs. Robinson (actress and poetess), generally known as Per´dita, that
being the character in which she first attracted his attention when
prince of Wales.
⁂ George IV. was generally nicknamed “Prince Florizel.”
=Flower of Chivalry=, Sir William Douglas, knight of Liddesdale
(*-1353). Sir Philip Sidney, statesman, poet, and soldier, was also
called “The Flower of Chivalry” (1554-1586). So was the Chevalier de
Bayard, _le Chevalier sans Peur et sans Reproche_ (1476-1514).
=Flower of Kings.= Arthur is so called by John of Exeter (sixth
century).
=Flower of Poets=, Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400).
=Flower of the Levant´.= Zantê is so called from its great beauty and
fertility.
Zante! Zante! flor di Levanti.
=Flower of Yarrow= (_The_), Mary Scott, daughter of Sir William Scott of
Harden.
=Flowers= (_The Death of the_). In the poem bearing this title William
Cullen Bryant thus names the American flowers that have been called “the
crown-jewels of the year.”
“On the hill the golden-rod
And the aster in the wood,
And the yellow sunflower by the brook,
In autumn beauty stood,
Till fell the frost from the clear, cold heaven
As falls the plague on men
And the brightness of their smile was gone
From upland, glade and glen.”
_The Death of the Flowers_ (1821-1834).
=Flowerdale= (_Sir John_), father of Clarissa, and the neighbor of
Colonel Oldboy.—Bickerstaff, _Lionel and Clarissa_.
=Floyd= (_Ireson_).
“Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart
Tarred and feathered, and carried in a cart
By the women of Marblehead.”
The punishment was inflicted because he had refused succor to a leaking
ship, lost in consequence of his inhumanity.—J.G. Whittier, _Skipper
Ireson’s Ride_ (1877).
_Floyds_ (_The_). Artist and wife summering in Broughton, Mass. He is
self-indulgent and careless of her; she proud, passionate and morbid.
Convinced that her husband is weary of her, and beset by the
importunities of another man, she drowns herself.—Bliss Perry, _The
Broughton House_ (1890).
=Fluel´len=, a Welsh captain and great pedant, who, amongst other
learned quiddities, drew this parallel between Henry V. and Alexander
the Great: One was born in Monmouth and the other in Macedon, both which
places begin with M, and in both a river flowed.—Shakespeare, _Henry V._
act iv. sc. 7 (1599).
=Flur=, the bride of Cassivelaun, “for whose love the Roman Cæsar first
invaded Britain.”—Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Enid”).
=Flute= (_The Magic_), a flute which has the powers of inspiring love.
When given by the powers of darkness, the love it inspires is sensual
love; but when bestowed by the powers of light, it becomes subservient
to the very holiest ends. In the opera called _Die Zauberflöte_, Tami´no
and Pami´na are guided by it through all worldly dangers to the
knowledge of divine truth (or the mysteries of Isis.)—Mozart, _Die
Zauberflöte_ (1791).
=Flutter=, a gossip, fond of telling a good story, but, unhappily,
unable to do so without a blunder. “A good-natured, insignificant
creature, admitted everywhere, but cared for nowhere” (act i. 3).—Mrs.
Cowley, _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (1780).
=Fly.= Dainty butterfly of fashion who falls heir to the heroine’s
rejected lover in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s novel, _The Silent Partner_.
=Fly-gods=, Beelzebub, a god of the Philistines, supposed to ward off
flies. Achor was worshipped by the Cyrēneads for a similar object. Zeus
Apomy´ios was the fly-god of the Greeks.
On the east side of your shop, aloft,
Write Mathlai, Tarmael, and Baraborat;
Upon the north part, Rael, Velel, Thiel.
They are the names of those mercurial sprites
That do fright flies from boxes.
B. Jonson, _The Alchemist_, i. (1610).
=Flying Dutchman= (_The_), a phantom ship, seen in stormy weather off
the Cape of Good Hope, and thought to forebode ill luck. The legend is
that it was a vessel laden with precious metal, gained by murder and
piracy on the high seas. In punishment, the plague broke out among the
crew; no port would admit them, and the ship must sail the seas till
doomsday.
Another legend is, that a Dutch captain, homeward-bound, driven back by
continued storms off the Cape, swore that he would double the Cape if he
sailed till the day of doom. Taken at his word, he must now sail the
seas forever.—Captain Marryat, _The Phantom Ship_.
Richard Wagner’s opera, _Der Fliegende Holländer_, adds a loftier motive
to the legend. The doomed captain cannot find rest until some woman
consents to share his fate. Elsa, moved by pity, makes the sacrifice and
saves him from perdition.
=Flying Highwayman.= William Harrow, who leaped his horse over turn-pike
gates as if it had been furnished with wings. He was executed in 1763.
=Flynn= (Tom), of Virginia.
“Thar in the drift, back to the wall,
He held the timbers ready to fall
Then, in the darkness I heard him call:—
“Run for your life, Jake! run for your wife’s sake
Don’t wait for me!”
And that was all
Heard in the din,
Heard of Tom Flynn,—
Flynn of Virginia!”
Story told by the miner whose life he saved.—Bert Harte, _In the Tunnel_
(1874).
=Flyter= (_Mrs._), landlady of the lodgings occupied by Frank
Osbaldistone in Glasgow.—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
=Fog= (_Amos_). Dreamy fisherman, hunter and wrecker, builder and owner
of _Castle Nowhere_, in Constance Fennimore Woolson’s tale of that name.
=Foible=, the intriguing lady’s maid of Lady Wishfort, and married to
Waitwell (lackey of Edward Mirabell). She interlards her remarks with
“says he,” “he says, says he,” “she says, says she,” etc.—W. Congreve,
_The Way of the World_ (1700).
=Foi´gard= (_Father_), one of a gang of thieves. He pretends to be a
French priest, but “his French shows him to be English, and his English
shows him to be Irish.”—Farquhar, _The Beaux’ Stratagem_ (1705).
=Folair=´ (2 _syl._), a pantomimist at the Portsmouth Theatre, under the
management of Mr. Vincent Crummles.—C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_
(1838).
=Foldath=, general of the Fire-bolg or Belgæ in the south of Ireland. In
the epic called _Tem´ora_, Cathmor is the “lord of Atha,” and Foldath is
his general. He is a good specimen of the savage chieftain; bold and
daring, but presumptuous, overbearing, and cruel. “His stride is
haughty, and his red eye rolls in wrath.” He looks with scorn on
Hidalla, a humane and gentle officer in the same army, for his delight
is strife, and he exults over the fallen. In counsel Foldath is
imperious, and contemptuous to those who differ from him. Unrelenting in
revenge; and even when he falls with his death-wound dealt by Fillan the
son of Fingal, he feels a sort of pleasure that his ghost would hover in
the blast, and exult over the graves of his enemies. Foldath had one
child, a daughter, the blue-eyed Dardu-Le´na, the last of the
race.—Ossian, _Temora_.
=Fon´dlewife=, an uxorious banker.—Congreve, _The Old Bachelor_ (1693).
When Mrs. Jefferson [1733-1776] was asked in what characters she
excelled the most, she innocently replied,—“In old men, like
‘Fondlewife’ and ‘Sir Jealous Traffic.’”
⁂ “Sir Jealous Traffic” is in _The Busy-Body_, by Mrs. Centlivre.
=Fondlove= (_Sir William_), a vain old baronet of 60, who fancies
himself a schoolboy, capable of playing boyish games, dancing, or doing
anything that young men do. “How marvellously I wear! What signs of age
have I? I’m certainly a wonder for my age. I walk as well as ever. Do I
stoop? Observe the hollow of my back. As now I stand, so stood I when a
child, a rosy, chubby boy. My arm is as firm as ’twas at 20. Oak, oak,
isn’t it? Think you my leg is shrunk?—not in the calf a little? When
others waste, ’tis growing-time with me. Vigor, sir, vigor, in every
joint. Could run, could leap. Why shouldn’t I marry?” So thought Sir
William of Sir William, and he married the Widow Green, a buxom dame of
40 summers.—S. Knowles, _The Love-Chase_ (1837).
=Fool.= James I. of Great Britain was called by Henri IV. of France,
“The Wisest Fool in Christendom” (1566-1625).
_Fool_ (_The_), in the ancient morris-dance, represented the
court-jester. He carried in his hand a yellow bauble, and wore on his
head a hood with ass’s ears, the top of the hood rising into the form of
a cock’s neck and head, with a belt at the extreme end. The hood was
blue, edged with yellow and scolloped, the doublet red, edged with
yellow, the girdle yellow, the hose of one leg yellow and of the other
blue, shoes red. (See MORRIS-DANCE.)
=Fool’s Prayer= (_The_). A king calls upon his jester to “kneel down and
make a prayer!” The fool obeys in words so full of pregnant truth that—
“The room was hushed. In silence rose
The King and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low
‘Be merciful to me, a fool!’”
Edward Rowland Sill, _The Fool’s Prayer_ (1883).
=Fools, Jesters and Mirthmen.= Those in italics were mirthmen, but not
licensed fools or jesters.
ADELSBURN (_Burkard Kasper_), jester to George I. He was not only a
fun-maker, but also a ghostly adviser of the Hanoverian.
AKSAKOFF, the fool of Czarina Elizabeth of Russia (mother of Peter II.).
He was a stolid brute, fond of practical jokes.
ANGÉLY (_L._) jester to Louis XIV., and last of the licensed fools of
France. He is mentioned by Boileau in _Satires_ i. and viii.
AOPI (_Monsignore_), who succeeded Soglia as the merryman of Pope
Gregory XVI.
ARMSTRONG (_Archie_), jester in the courts of James I. and Charles I.
One of the characters in Scott’s novel, _The Fortunes of Nigel._ Being
condemned to death by King James for sheep-stealing, Archie implored
that he might live till he had read his Bible through for his soul’s
weal. This was granted, and Archie rejoined, with a sly look, “Then
de’il tak’ me ’gin I ever read a word on’t!”
BERDIC, “joculator” to William the Conqueror. Three towns and five
caracutes in Gloucestershire were given him by the king.
BLUET D’ARBÉRES (seventeenth century), fool to the duke of Mantua.
During a pestilence he conceived the idea of offering his life as a
ransom for his countrymen, and actually starved himself to death to stay
the plague.
BONNY (_Patrick_), jester to the regent Morton.
_Borde_ (_Andrew_), usually called “Merry Andrew,” physician to Henry
VIII. (1500-1549).
BRUSQUET. Of this court fool Brantôme says: “He never had his equal in
repartee” (1512-1563).
_Caillet_ (_Guillaume_), who flourished about 1490. His likeness is
given in the frontispiece of the _Ship of Fools_ (1497).
CHICOT, jester of Henri III. and Henri IV. Alexandre Dumas has a novel
called _Chicot the Jester_ (1553-1591).
COLQUHOUN (_Jemmy_), predecessor of James Geddes, jester in the court of
Mary queen of Scots.
_Coryat_, “prince of non-official jesters and coxcombs.” Kept by Prince
Henry, brother of Charles I.
COULON, doctor and jester to Louis XVIII. He was the very prince of
mimics. He sat for the portraits of Thiers, Molé, and Comte Joseph de
Villèle (died 1858).
DA´GONET (_Sir_), jester to King Arthur. He was knighted by the king
himself.
DERRIE, a court jester to James I. Contemporary with Thom.
DUFRESNOY, poet, playwright, actor, gardener, glass-manufacturer,
spendthrift, wit, and honorary fool to Louis XIV. His jests are the “Joe
Millers” of France.
GEDDES (_James_), jester in the court of Mary, queen of Scots. He was
daft, and followed Jemmy Colquhoun in the motley.
GLORIEUX (_Le_), jester of Charles _le Hardi_ of Burgundy.
GONELLA, domestic jester of the duke of Ferrara. His jests are in print.
Gonella used to ride a horse all skin and bone, which is spoken of in
_Don Quixote_.
HAFOD (_Jack_), a retainer in the house of Mr. Bartlett, of
Castlemorton, Worcestershire. He died at the close of the eighteenth
century, and has given birth to the expression “As big a fool as Jack
Hafod.” He was the _ultimus scurrarum_ in Great Britain.
HEYWOOD (_John_) author of numerous dramatic works (1492-1565).
_Jean_ (_Seigni_), or “Old John;” so called to distinguish him from Jean
or Johan, called _Le Fol de Madame_, (fl. 1380).
JOHAN, _Le Fol de Madame_ mentioned by Marot in his epitaphs.
_Johnson_ (_S._), familiarly known as “Lord Flame,” the character he
played in his own extravaganza of _Hurlo-Thrumbo_ (1729).
_Kgaw_ (_General_), a Saxon general, famous for his broad jests.
KILLIGREW (_Thomas_), called “King Charles’s jester” (1611-1682).
LONGELY, jester to Louis XIII.
NARR (_Klaus_), jester to Frederick, “the Wise,” elector of Prussia.
PATCH, court fool of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII.
PATCHE, Cardinal Woolsey’s jester. The cardinal made Henry VIII. a
present of this “wise fool,” and the king returned word that “the gift
was a most acceptable one.”
PATISON, licensed jester to Sir Thomas More. He is introduced by Hans
Holbein in his famous picture of the lord chancellor’s family.
_Paul_ (_Jacob_), Baron Gundling. This merryman was laden with titles in
ridicule by Frederick William I. of Prussia.
PEARCE (_Dickie_), fool of the earl of Suffolk. Dean Swift wrote an
epitaph on him.
RAYÈRE, court jester to Henry I. of England.
ROSEN (_Kunz von der_), private jester to the emperor Maximilian I.
SCOGAN, court jester to Edward IV.
SOGLIA (_Cardinal_), the fun-maker of Pope Gregory XVI. He was succeeded
by Aopi.
SOMERS (_Will_), court jester to Henry VIII. The effigy of this jester
is at Hampton Court. And in Old Fish Street was once a public-house
called Will Somers’s tavern (1490-1560).
STEHLIN (_Professor_), in the household of czarina Elizabeth of Russia.
He was teacher of mathematics and history to the grand-duke (Peter II.),
and was also his licensed buffoon.
_Tarleton_, (_Richard_), the famous clown, and jester in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, but not attached either to the court or to any nobleman
(1530-1588).
THOM, one of the court jesters of James I. Contemporary with Derrie.
TRIBOULET, court jester to Louis XII. and François I. (1487-1536).
Licinio, the rival of Titian, took his likeness, which is still extant.
WALLETT (_W.F._), court jester to Queen Victoria. He styles himself “the
queen’s jester,” but doubtless has no warrant for the title from the
Lord Chamberlain.
WALTER, jester to Queen Elizabeth.
WILL, “my lord of Leicester’s jesting player;” but who this “Will” was
is not known. It might be Will Johnson, Will Sly, Will Kimpe, or even
Will Shakespeare.
YORICK, jester in the court of Denmark. Referred to by Shakespeare in
his _Hamlet_, act v. sc. 1.
(Dr. Doran published _The History of Court Fools_, in 1858).
=Fools’ Paradise=, unlawful pleasure; illicit love; vain hopes; the
_limbus fatuorum_ or paradise of fools.
If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, it were a gross ...
behavior.—Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet,_ act ii. sc. 4 (1597).
=Foot-breadth=, the sword of Thoralf Skolinson “the Strong” of Norway.
Quern-biter of Hakon the Good,
Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
The millstone thro’ and thro’;
And foot-breadth of Thoralf “the Strong!”
Were not so broad, nor yet so long.
Nor was their edge so true.
Longfellow.
=Fopling Flutter= (_Sir_), “the man of mode,” and chief character of a
comedy by Sir George Etherege, entitled _The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling
Flutter_ (1676).
=Foppery.= Vespasian the Roman emperor had a contempt for foppery. When
certain young noblemen came to him smelling of perfumes, he said to
them, “You would have pleased me more if you had smelt of garlic.”
Charlemagne had a similar contempt of foppery. One day, when he was
hunting, the rain poured down in torrents, and the fine furs and silks
of his suite were utterly spoilt. The king took this occasion to rebuke
the court beaux for their vanity in dress and advised them in future to
adopt garments more simple and more serviceable.
=Foppington= (_Lord_),an empty-headed coxcomb, intent only on dress and
fashion. His favorite oaths, which he brings out with a drawl, are:
“Strike me dumb!” “Split my windpipe!” and so on. When he loses his
mistress, he consoles himself with this reflection: “Now, for my part, I
think the wisest thing a man can do with an aching heart is to put on a
serene countenance; for a philosphical air is the most becoming thing in
the world to the face of a person of quality.”—Sir John Vanbrugh, _The
Relapse_ (1697).
The shoemaker in _The Relapse_ tells Lord Foppington that his lordship
is mistaken in supposing that his shoe pinches.—Macaulay.
_Foppington_ (_Lord_), a young married man about town, most intent upon
dress and fashion, whose whole life is consumed in the follies of play
and seduction. His favorite oaths are: “Sun, burn me!” “Curse, catch
me!” “Stop my breath!” “Let me blood!” “Run me through!” “Strike me
stupid!” “Knock me down!” He is reckoned the king of all court
fops.—Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).
_Foppington_ (_Lord_), elder brother of Tom Fashion. A selfish coxcomb,
engaged to be married to Miss Hoyden, daughter of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy,
to whom he is personally unknown. His brother Tom, to whom he did not
behave well, resolved to outwit him; and passing himself off as Lord
Foppington, got introduced to the family, and married the heiress. When
his lordship appeared, he was treated as an impostor, till Tom explained
his ruse; and Sir Tunbelly, being snubbed by the coxcomb, was soon
brought to acquiesce in the change, and gave his hand to his new
son-in-law with cordiality. The favorite oaths of Lord Foppington are:
“Strike me dumb!” “Strike me ugly!” “Stap my vitals!” “Split my
windpipe!” “Rat me!”, etc.; and, in speaking, his affectation is to
change the vowel “o” into _a_, as _rat_, _naw_, _resalve_, _waurld_,
_ardered_, _manth_, _paund_, _maunth_, _lang_, _philasapher_, _tarture_,
and so on.—Sheridan, _A Trip to Scarborough_ (1777).
⁂ This comedy is _The Relapse_, slightly altered and curtailed.
=Forbes= (_Paul_), A travelled man who thinks himself blasé, but finds,
to his surprise, new sensations in America. The leading excitement (and
surprise) is his falling in love with a rich and beautiful girl and a
poor and pretty one at the same time. Miriam, the rich beauty, divines
the truth and her plan for freeing him is thus described by Edward
Jasper, whom she married out of hand one evening.
“She was not happy—she resolved to throw herself into the abyss. _I_ am
the abyss.”
Forbes replies: “Since at this hour yesterday I had the honor to
consider myself engaged to Miss Reese, who is now your wife, the most
graceful act on my part is apparently, to efface myself. Accordingly, I
efface myself.”—Ellen Olney Kirk, _Sons and Daughters_ (1887).
=Ford=, a gentleman of fortune living at Windsor. He assumes the name of
Brook, and being introduced to Sir John Falstaff, the knight informs him
“of his whole course of wooing,” and how at one time he eluded Mrs.
Ford’s jealous husband by being carried out before his eyes in a
buck-basket of dirty linen.—Act iii. sc. 5.
_Mrs. Ford_, wife of Mr. Ford. Sir John Falstaff pays court to her, and
she pretends to accept his protestations of love, in order to expose and
punish him. Her husband assumes for the nonce the name of Brook, and Sir
John tells him from time to time the progress of his suit, and how he
succeeds in duping her fool of a husband.—Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of
Windsor_ (1596).
=Forde´lis= (3 _syl._), wife of Bran´dimart (Orlando’s intimate friend).
When Brandimart was slain, Fordelis dwelt for a time in his sepulchre in
Sicily, and died broken-hearted. (See FOURDELIS.)—Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1615).
=Fore´sight= (2 _syl._), a mad superstitious old man, who “consulted the
stars, and believed in omens, portents, and predictions.” He referred
“man’s goatish disposition to the charge of a star,” and says he himself
was “born when the Crab was ascending, so that all his affairs in life
have gone backwards.”
I know the signs, and the planets, and their houses; can judge of
motions, direct and retrograde, of sextiles, quadrates, trines, and
oppositions, fiery trigons and aquatic trigons. Know whether life shall
be long or short, happy or unhappy; whether diseases are curable or
incurable; if journeys shall be prosperous, undertakings successful, or
stolen goods recovered.—H. Congreve, _Love for Love_, ii. (1695).
=Forester= (_Sir Philip_), a libertine knight. He goes in disguise to
Lady Bothwell’s ball on his return from the Continent, but being
recognized, decamps.
_Lady Jemima Forester_, wife of Sir Philip, who goes with her sister
Lady Bothwell to consult “the enchanted mirror,” in which they discover
the clandestine marriage and infidelity of Sir Philip.—Sir W. Scott,
_Aunt Margaret’s Mirror_ (time, William III).
=Forgeries= (_Literary_).
BERTRAM (_C. Julius_), professor of English at Copenhagen, professed to
have discovered, in 1747, the _De Situ Britanniæ_ of Richardus
Corinensis, in the library of that city; and in 1757 he published it
with two other treatises, calling the whole _The Three Writers on the
Ancient History of the British Nations_ (better known as _Scriptores
Tres_). His forgery was exposed by J.E. Mayor, in his preface to
_Ricardi de Cirencestria Speculum Historiale_.
CHATTERTON (_Thomas_), in 1777, published certain poems, which he
affirmed were written in the fifteenth century by Thomas Rowley, a monk.
The poets Gray and Mason detected the forgery.
His other literary forgeries were: (1) _The Pedigree of Burgum_ (a
Bristol pewterer), professed to have been discovered in the
muniment-room of St. Mary’s Church, Redcliffe. He accordingly printed a
history of the “De Bergham” family, with a poem called _The Romaunt of
the Cnyghte_, by John de Bergham (fourteenth century). (2) A forged
account of the opening of the old bridge, signed “Dunhelmus
Bristoliensis,” and professing to have been copied from an old MS. (3)
_An Account of Bristol_, by Turgotus, “translated out of Saxon into
English, by T. Rowley.” This forgery was made for the use of Mr.
Catcott, who was writing a history of Bristol.
IRELAND (_S. W. H._) published, in folio, 1796, _Miscellaneous Papers
and Instruments, under the hand and seal of William Shakespeare,
including the tragedy of King Lear and a small fragment of Hamlet, from
the original_, price £4 4_s_. He actually produced MSS. which he had
forged, and which he pretended were original.
On April 2, 1796, the play of _Vortigern and Rowena_, “from the pen of
Shakespeare,” was announced for representation. It drew a most crowded
house; but the fraud was detected, and Ireland made a public declaration
of his impositions, from beginning to end.
MENTZ, who lived in the ninth century, published fifty-nine decretals,
which he asserted were by Isidore of Seville, who lived three centuries
previously. The object of these forged letters was to exalt the papacy
and to corroborate certain dogmas.
At Bremen, in 1837, were printed nine books of SANCHONI´ATHON, and it
was said that the MSS. had been discovered in the convent of St. Maria
de Merinhâo by a Colonel Pereira in the Portuguese army; but it was
ascertained that there was no such convent, nor any such colonel, and
that the paper of this “ancient” MS. bore the water-mark of Osnabrück
paper-mills.
=Forgive, Blest Shade= ... This celebrated epitaph in Brading
Churchyard, Isle of Wight, is an altered version, by the Rev. John Gill
(curate of Newchurch), of one originally composed by Mrs. Anne Steele,
daughter of a Baptist minister at Bristol.
=Fornar´ina= (_La_), so called because she was the daughter of a baker
(Fornajo), is the name under which Raphael’s mistress is known. Her name
is said to have been Margherita. Raphael painted several portraits of
this woman, the most famous being in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, and
her face appears to have suggested many of his most beautiful faces in
other works.
=Forrest= (_George_), Esq., M.A., the _nom de plume_ of the Rev. J. G.
Wood, author of _Every Boy’s Book_ (1855), etc.
=Forsythe= (_Dick_), Man of the world who comes to spend a few weeks in
a country town with his invalid mother, astonishes and fascinates the
natives of Ashwist, and falls in love with Lois Howe, the rector’s
daughter. She has the bad taste to prefer a plainer man.—Margaret
Deland, _John Ward, Preacher_ (1888).
=Fortescue= (_Ellen_). Orphan niece adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton,
shy, gentle, timid, and affectionate. Upon her death-bed Ellen’s mother
has charged the child to shield her brother from blame everywhere and
always. Performance of her promise to do this bring upon the sister a
weight of suspicion that humbles her to the dust and nearly breaks her
heart. She is cleared by her brother’s confession of his own wrong
doing.—Grace Aguilar, _Home Influence_ (1850).
=For´tinbras=, prince of Norway.—Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).
=Fortuna´tus=, a man on the brink of starvation, on whom Fortune offers
to bestow either wisdom, strength, riches, health, beauty, or long life.
He chooses riches, and she gives him an inexhaustible purse.
Subsequently, the sultan gives him a wishing-cap, which as soon as he
puts on his head, will transport him to any spot he likes. These gifts
prove the ruin of Fortunatus and his sons.
⁂This is one of the Italian tales called _Nights_, by Straparo´la. There
is a German version, and a French one, as far back as 1535. The story
was dramatized in 1553 by Hans Sachs; and in 1600 by Thomas Dekker,
under the title of _The Pleasant Comedie of old Fortunatus_. Ludwig
Tieck also had a drama upon the same subject.
The purse of Fortunatus could not supply you.—Holcroft, _The Road to
Ruin_, i. 3.
_Fortunatus’s Purse_, a purse which was inexhaustible. It was given to
Fortunatus by Fortune herself.
_Fortunatus’s Wishing-cap_, a cap given by the sultan to Fortunatus. He
had only to put it on his head and wish, when he would find himself
transported to any spot he liked.
=Fortune= (_Emerson_). Sharp spinster aunt of Ellen Montgomery in Susan
Warner’s _Wide, Wide World_. She rules her house, her mother and niece
with a hand of iron until she marries her farmer, phlegmatic Van Brunt.
=Fortune’s Frolic=, a farce by Allingham. Lord Lackwit died suddenly,
and the heir of his title and estates was Robin Roughhead, a poor
laborer, engaged to Dolly, a cottager’s daughter. The object of the
farce is to show the pleasure of doing good, and the blessings which a
little liberality can dispense. Robin was not spoilt by his good
fortune, but married Dolly, and became the good genius of the cottage
tenantry.
=Fortunes of Nigel=, a novel by Sir. W. Scott (1822). This story gives
an excellent picture of the times of James I., and the account of
Alsatia is wholly unrivalled. The character of King James, poor, proud
and pedantic, is a masterly historic sketch.
=Fortunio=, one of the three daughters of an old lord, who at the age of
four-score was called out to join the army levied against the emperor of
Matapa´. Fortunio put on military costume, and went in place of her
father. On her way, a fairy gave her a horse named Comrade, not only of
incredible swiftness, but all-knowing and endowed with human speech; she
also gave her an inexhaustible Turkey-leather trunk, full of money,
jewels and fine clothes. By the advice of Comrade she hired seven gifted
servants, named Strongback, Lightfoot, Marksman, Fine-ear, Boisterer,
Trinquet, and Grugeon. After performing several marvelous feats by the
aid of her horse and servants, Fortunio married Alfurite (3 _syl._), the
king of her country. Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (1682).
⁂ This tale is reproduced in Grimm’s _Goblins_.
_Fortunio’s Horse_, Comrade, which not only possessed incredible speed,
but knew all things, and was gifted with human speech.
_Fortunio’s Attendants_.
Trinquet drank up the lakes and ponds, and thus caught for his master
[_sic_] most delicate fish. Lightfoot hunted down venison, and caught
hares by the ears. As for Marksman, he gave neither partridge or
pheasant any quarter, and whatever amount of game Marksman shot,
Strongback would carry without inconvenience.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy
Tales_ (“Fortunio,” 1682).
_Fortunio’s Sisters_. Whatever gifts Fortunio sent her sisters their
touch rendered them immediately worthless. Thus the coffers of jewels
and gold “became only cut glass and false pistoles” the moment the
jealous sisters touched them.
_Fortunio’s Turkey-leather Trunk_, full of suits of all sorts, swords,
jewels, and gold. The fairy told Fortunio “she needed but to stamp with
her foot, and call for the Turkey-leather trunk, and it would always
come to her, full of money and jewels, fine linen and laces.”—Comtesse
D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_, (1682).
=Forty Thieves=, also called the tale of “Ali Baba.” These thieves lived
in a vast cave, the door of which opened and shut at the words, “Open,
Sesamê!” “Shut, Sesamê!” One day, Ali Baba, a wood-monger, accidentally
discovered the secret, and made himself rich by carrying off gold from
the stolen hoards. The captain tried several schemes to discover the
thief, but was always outwitted by Morgia´na, the wood-cutter’s female
slave, who, with boiling oil, killed the whole band, and at length
stabbed the captain himself with his own dagger.—_Arabian Nights_ (“Ali
Baba or the Forty Thieves”).
=Forwards= (_Marshal_). Blucher is so called for his dash and readiness
to attack in the campaign of 1813 (1742-1819).
Fosca´ri (_Francis_), doge of Venice for thirty-five years. He saw three
of his sons die, and the fourth, named Jac´opo, was banished by the
Council of Ten for taking bribes from his country’s enemies. The old
doge also was deposed at the age of 84. As he was descending the “Giant
Staircase” to take leave of his son, he heard the bell announce the
election of his successor, and he dropped down dead.
_Jac´opo Foscari_, the fourth and only surviving son of Francis Foscari,
the doge of Venice. He was banished for taking bribes of foreign
princes. Jacopo had been several times tortured, and died soon after his
banishment to Candia.—Byron, _The Two Foscari_ (1820).
=Fosco= (_Count_), the airy, witty, unconscionable villain of Wilkie
Collins’ _Woman in White_. Gallant, audacious and fat.
=Foss= (_Corporal_), a disabled soldier, who served many years under
Lieutenant Worthington, and remained his ordinary when the lieutenant
retired from the service. Corporal Foss loved his master and Miss Emily,
the lieutenant’s daughter, and he gloried in his profession. Though
brusque in manner, he was tender-hearted as a child.—G. Colman, _The
Poor Gentleman_ (1812).
⁂ Corporal Foss is modelled from “Corporal Trim,” in Sterne’s _Tristram
Shandy_ (1759).
=Foster= (_Captain_), on guard at Tully Veolan ruin.—Sir W. Scott,
_Waverley_ (time, George II.).
_Foster_, the English champion.—Sir W. Scott, _The Laird’s Jock_ (time,
Elizabeth).
_Foster_ (_Anthony_) or “Tony-fire-the-Faggot,” agent of the earl of
Leicester at Cumnor Place.—Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Foster_ (_Sir John_), the English warden.—Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_
(time Elizabeth).
_Foster_ (_Dr. James_), a dissenting minister, who preached on Sunday
evenings for above twenty years, from 1728-1748, in Old Jewry (died
1753).
Let modest Foster, if he will, excel
Ten metropolitans in preaching well.
Pope.
_Foster_ (_Silas_), the bucolic master of the house that shelters the
reformers of The Blithedale Romance. He gulps his tea, helps himself to
dip-toast with the flat of his own knife, and perpetrates terrible
enormities with the butter-plate, “behaving less like a sensible
Christian than the worst kind of an ogre.”—Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The
Blithedale Romance_ (1852).
=Foul-weather Jack=, Commodore Byron (1723-1786.)
=Foundling= (_The_), Harriet Raymond, whose mother died in childbirth,
was committed to the charge of a _gouvernante_, who announced to her
father (Sir Charles Raymond) that the child was dead. This, however, was
not true, for the _gouvernante_ changed the child’s name to Fidelia, and
sold her at the age of 12 to one Villiard. One night, Charles Belmont,
passing Villiard’s house, heard the cries of a girl for help; he rescued
her and took her to his own home, where he gave her in charge to his
sister Rosetta. The two girls became companions and friends, and Charles
fell in love with the “foundling.” The _gouvernante_, on her death-bed,
revealed the secret to Sir Charles Raymond, the mystery was cleared up,
and Fidelia became the wife of Charles Belmont. Rosetta gave her hand to
Fidelia’s brother, Colonel Raymond.—Edward Moore, _The Foundling_
(1748).
=Fountain, Bellamore, and Hare´brain=, suitors to Lady Hartwell, a
widow. They are the chums of Valentine the gallant, who would not be
persuaded to keep his estate.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _Wit without Money_
(1639).
=Fountain of Life=, Alexander Hales, “the Irrefragible Doctor” (*-1245).
=Fountain of Oblivion.= The student, Hieronymous, is told to seek out a
certain fountain and cast a scroll into it, “and he shall find peace.”
He obeys, and sees mirrored there his own life, and himself as boy and
man, and beside him a maiden whose face is like that of the woman he
loves.
“And the name was no longer Hermione, but was changed to Mary; and the
student, Hieronymous, is lying at your feet!”—Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, _Hyperion_ (1839).
=Fountain of Youth=, a marvellous fountain in the island of Bim´ini (one
of the Baha´ma group). It had the virtue of restoring the aged to youth
again. In the middle ages it was really believed to exist, and Juan
Ponce de Leon, among other Spanish navigators, went in serious quest of
this fountain.
=Four Kings= (_The_) of a pack of cards are Charlemagne (_the
Franco-German king_), David (_the Jewish king_), Alexander (_the
Macedonian king_), and Cæsar (_the Roman king_). These four kings are
representatives of the four great monarchies.
=Four Masters= (_The_). (1) Michael O’Clerighe, (2) Cucoirighe
O’Clerighe; (3) Maurice Conry; (4) Fearfeafa Conry. These four masters
were the authors of the _Annals of Donegal_.
⁂ O’Clerighe is sometimes Anglicized into _Clerkson_, and Cucoirighe
into _Peregrine_.
=Fourberies de Scapin= (_Les_), by Molière (1671). Scapin is the valet
of Lèandre, son of seignior Gèronte (2 _syl._), who falls in love with
Zerbinette, supposed to be a gypsy, but in reality the daughter of
seignior Argante (2 _syl._), stolen by the gypsies in early childhood.
Her brother Octave (2 _syl._) falls in love with Hyacinthe, whom he
supposes to be Hyacinthe Pandolphe of Tarentum, but who turns out to be
Hyacinthe Gèronte, the sister of Lèandre. Now, the gypsies demand £1500
as the ransom of Zerbinette, and Octave requires £80 for his marriage
with Hyacinthe. Scapin obtains both these sums from the fathers under
false pretences, and at the end of the comedy is brought in on a litter,
with his head bound as if on the point of death. He begs forgiveness,
which he readily obtains; whereupon the “sick man” jumps from the litter
to join the banqueters. (See SCAPIN.)
=Fourde´lis=, personification of France, called the true love of Burbon
(_Henri IV._), but enticed away from him by Grantorto (_rebellion_).
Talus (_power_ or _might_) rescues her, but when Burbon catches her by
her “ragged weeds,” she starts back in disdain. However, the knight
lifts her on his steed, and rides off with her,—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
v. 2 (1596).
=Fou´rierism=, a communistic system; so called from François Charles
Fourier of Besançon (1772-1837).
=Fourolle= (2 _syl._), a Will-o’-the-wisp, supposed to have the power of
charming sinful human beings into the same form. The charm lasted for a
term of years only, unless it chanced that some good Catholic, wishing
to extinguish the wandering flame, made to it the sign of the cross, in
which case the sinful creature became a fourolle every night, by way of
penance.
=Fourteen=, the name of a young man who could do the work of fourteen
men, but had also the appetite of fourteen men. Like Christoph´erus, he
carried our Lord across a stream, for which service the Saviour gave him
a sack, saying, “Whatever you wish for will come into this sack, if you
only say ‘Artchila murtchila!’” (_i.e._ “come (_or_ go) into my sack”).
Fourteen’s last achievement was this: He went to paradise, and being
refused admission, poked his sack through the keyhole of the door; then
crying out “Artchila murtchila!” (“get into the sack”), he found himself
on the other side of the door, and, of course, in paradise.—Rev. W.
Webster, _Basque Legends_, 195 (1877).
_Fourteen._ This number plays a very conspicuous part in French history,
especially in the reigns of Henri IV. and Louis XIV. For example:
14th May, 1029, the _first_ Henri was consecrated, and 14th May, 1610,
the _last_ Henri was assassinated.
14 letters compose the name of _Henri de Bourbon_, the 14th king of
France and Navarre.
14th December, 1553 (14 _centuries_, 14 _decades_, and 14 _years from
the birth of Christ_), Henri IV. was born, and 1553 added together = 14.
14th May, 1554, Henri II. ordered the enlargement of the Rue de la
Ferronnerie. This order was carried out, and 4 times 14 years later
Henri IV. was assassinated there.
14th May, 1552, was the birth of Margaret de Valois, first wife of Henri
IV.
14th May, 1588, the Parisians revolted against Henri III., under the
leadership of Henri de Guise.
14th March, 1590, Henri IV. gained the battle of Ivry.
14th May, 1590, Henri IV. was repulsed from the faubourgs of Paris.
14th November, 1590, “The Sixteen” took oath to die rather than serve
the Huguenot king Henri IV.
14th November, 1592, the Paris _parlement_ registered the papal bull
which excluded Henry IV. from reigning.
14th December, 1599, the Duke of Savoy was reconciled to Henri IV.
14th September, 1606, the dauphin (Louis XIII.), son of Henri IV., was
baptized.
14th May, 1610, Ravaillac murdered Henri IV. in the Rue de la
Ferronnerie. Henri IV. lived 4 times 14 years, 14 weeks, and 4 times 14
days, _i.e._ 56 years and 5 months.
14 May, 1643, died Louis XIII., son of Henri IV. (the same day and month
as his father). And 1643 added together=14; just as 1553 (_the birth of
Henri IV._)=14.
Louis XIV. mounted the throne 1643, which added together=14.
Louis XIV. died 1715, which added together=14.
Louis XIV. lived 77 years, which added together=14.
Louis XV. mounted the throne 1715, which added together=14.