XXIV. Old Priam, going to the tent of Achillês, craves the body of his
son Hector; Achillês gives it up, and the poem concludes with the
funeral rites of the Trojan hero.
⁂ Virgil continues the tale from this point. Shows how the city was
taken and burnt, and then continues with the adventures of Æne´as, who
escapes from the burning city, makes his way to Italy, marries the
king’s daughter, and succeeds to the throne. (See ÆNEID).
_Iliad (The French), The Romance of the Rose (q.v.)._
_Iliad (The German), The Nibelungen Lied (q.v.)._
_Iliad (The Portuguese), The Lusiad (q.v.)._
_Iliad (The Scotch), The Epigoniad_, by William Wilkie (_q.v._).
=Iliad of Old English Literature=, “The Knight’s Tale” of Palămon and
Arcite (_2 syl._) in Chaucer’s _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
=Illuminated Doctor= (_The_), Raymond Lully (1235-1315).
John Tauler, the German mystic, is so called also (1294-1361).
=Imis=, the daughter and only child of an island king. She was enamoured
of her cousin Philax. A fay named Pagan loved her, and, seeing she
rejected his suit, shut up Imis and Philax in the “Palace of Revenge.”
This palace was of crystal, and contained everything the heart could
desire except the power of leaving it. For a time Imis and Philax were
happy enough, but after a few years they longed as much for a separation
as they had once wished to be united.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_
(“Palace of Revenge,” 1682).
=Imlac of Goiama=, near the mouth of the Nile; the son of a rich
merchant. Imlac was a great traveller and a poet, who accompanied
Rasselas in his rambles, and returned with him to the “happy
valley.”—Dr. Johnson, _Rasselas_ (1759).
=Immo and Hildegard.= As the sun went down, it threw its golden light
over the heights on which the Idisburg stands. The old tower glowed,
bathed in the many-colored light, and the branches of the bramble-berry
overspread the low wall of the castle with a net work of purple and
gold. In the lower portion of the enclosed court, the children of the
townspeople, brought there by their parents, were shouting and calling
in their play. On the highest point within the castle wall, stands a
linden tree, that makes a thick arbor, with its broad leaves reaching
nearly to the ground. It was a lovely spot. Wild hare-bells bloomed in
its light shade, and little butterflies fluttered here and there. The
birds gathered their young ones together in the sheltering branches of
the tree, and the crickets chirped in chorus to the note of the
feathered songsters. Here sat Hildegard, the count’s daughter, her hands
folded in her lap as she looked down into the valley, over the fields of
heather, over the forest trees, and over the rolling hills, far into the
distance, where earth and sky seemed to melt together in the evening
glow. At a respectful distance, some old servingmen, who had been sent
up there for her protection, were lying on the ground, but their backs
were turned to the maiden as they looked down to the Main, and pointed
out to one another the border towns of the enemy, descried under the
light clouds. Where Hildegard sat all was still; only a few sounds from
the bustling camp made their way up to her. From one side came the
lowing of the cows, and every now and then a hoof drew nearer, and the
leaves of her tree were pulled about, and there was a crackling and a
rustling in the branches. Hildegard turned and scared away the
intruders, but they came back again, and the maiden at last forgot in
her dreaming her dainty-mouthed visitors.
Her lips stirred, and softly sounded the words of a holy hymn, as she
sang:
Audi, benigne Conditor,
Nostras preces cum fletibus
Hear, Kind Creator,
Our prayers and our weeping.
But, in her singing, her thoughts dwelt less on the Creator than on a
certain suppliant who, only a few weeks before, had repeated these same
words to her in jest. And while she sang, and with clear eyes looked
straight before her, it seemed to her that her song was echoed from
above her in the tree. She stopped singing; then there was a rustling in
the branches, and through the whispering of the leaves, she heard the
same air repeated above her head, but to other words; and she heard from
the height:
Rana coaxit suaviter
In foliis viridibus.
The frog croaks softly
In the green herbage.
Hildegard sat motionless; a smile hovered about her mouth, and a deep
blush suffused her cheek; but she dared not risk looking up, for fear
lest the pleasant dream should be ended. “Is it thou, my comrade?” she
softly murmured. But hardly had she spoken before she repented the too
familiar speech.
“I am lying here above thee, in the green leaves,” sounded back to her
from overhead. “Right comfortable is my bed on the strong branch; look
upward, if so please thee, that I may once more see those large eyes of
thine, since it is they that have brought me hither.”
The maiden sprang lightly up, and turned toward the branch. In the same
instant Immo thrust his head quickly out, and clinging to the branch
with one hand he threw the other round her neck, and kissed her on the
mouth. “Good day, comrade,” he said. “That is what I made up my mind to
do, and I have done it!” He looked out once more from his hiding-place,
and gazed tenderly upon her blushing cheek.—Gustav Freytag, _The Wrens’
Nest_.
=Immortal Four of Italy= (_The_): Dantê (1265-1321), Petrarch
(1304-1374), Ariosto (1474-1533), and Tasso (1544-1595).
The poets read he o’er and o’er,
And most of all the Immortal Four
Of Italy.
Longfellow, _The Wayside Inn_, (prelude).
=Imogen=, daughter of Cym´beline (3 _syl._), king of Britain, married
clandestinely Posthumus Leonātus; and Posthumus, being banished for
the offence, retired to Rome. One day, in the house of Philario, the
conversation turned on the merits of wives, and Posthumus bet his
diamond ring that nothing could tempt the fidelity of Imogen. Iachimo
accepted the wager, laid his plans, and after due time induced
Posthumus to believe that Imogen had played false, showing, by the way
of proof, a bracelet, which he affirmed she had given him; so
Posthumus handed over to him the ring given him by Imogen at parting.
Posthumus now ordered his servant Pisanio to inveigle Imogen to
Milford Haven, under pretence of seeing her husband, and to murder her
on the road; but Pisanio told Imogen his instructions, advised her to
enter the service of Lucius, the Roman general in Britain, as a page,
and promised that he would make Posthumus believe that she was dead.
This was done; and not long afterwards a battle ensued, in which the
Romans were defeated, and Lucius, Iachimo, and Imogen were taken
prisoners. Posthumus also took part in the battle, and obtained for
his services the royal pardon. The captives being brought before
Cymbeline, Lucius entreated the king to liberate Imogen. The petition
was not only granted, but Imogen was permitted, at the same time, to
ask a boon of the British king. She only begged that Iachimo should
inform the court how he came by the ring he was wearing on his finger.
The whole villainy was thus revealed, a reconciliation took place, and
all ended happily. (See ZINEURA.)—Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).
=Im´ogine= (_The Fair_), the lady betrothed to Alonzo “the Brave,” and
who said to him, when he went to the wars: “If ever I marry another, may
thy ghost be present at the bridal feast, and bear me off to the grave.”
Alonzo fell in battle; Imogine married another; and, at the marriage
feast, Alonzo’s ghost, claiming the fulfilment of the compact, carried
away the bride.—M. G. Lewis, _Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogine_
(1795).
_Imogine_ (_The lady_), wife of St. Aldobrand. Before her marriage she
was courted by Count Bertram, but the attachment fell through, because
Bertram was outlawed and became the leader of a gang of thieves. It so
happened one day that Bertram, being shipwrecked off the coast of
Sicily, was conveyed to the castle of Lady Imogine, and the old
attachment revived on both sides. Bertram murdered St. Aldobrand;
Imogine, going mad, expired in the arms of Bertram; and Bertram killed
himself.—C. Maturin, _Bertram_ (1816).
=Imoin´da= (3 _syl._), daughter of a white man who went to the court of
Angola, changed his religion, and grew great as commander of the forces.
His daughter was married to Prince Oroonoko. Soon afterwards the young
prince was trapanned by Captain Driver, taken to Surinam, and sold for a
slave. Here he met his young wife, whom the lieutenant-governor wanted
to make his mistress, and Oroonoko headed a rising of the slaves. The
end of the story is that Imoinda slew herself; and Oroonoko, having
stabbed the lieutenant-governor, put an end to his own life.—Thomas
Southern, _Oroonoko_ (1696).
=Impertinent= (_The Curious_), an Italian, who, to make trial of his
wife’s fidelity, persuades his friend to try and seduce her. The friend
succeeds in winning the lady’s love, and the impertinent curiosity of
the husband is punished by the loss of his friend and wife
too.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv. 5 (an episode, 1605).
=Impostors= (_Literary_).
1. BERTRAM (_Dr. Charles Julius_), professor of English at Copenhagen.
He gave out that he had discovered, in 1747, in the library of that
city, a book entitled _De Situ Britanniæ_, by Richardus Corinensis. He
published this with two other treatises (one by Gildas Badon´icus, and
the other by Nennius Banchorensis) in 1757. The forgery was exposed by
J. E. Mayor, in his preface to _Ricardi de Cirencestria Speculum
Historiale_.
2. CHATTERTON (_Thomas_), published in 1777 a volume of poems, which he
asserted to be from the pen of Thomas Rowley, a monk of the fifteenth
century. The forgery was exposed by Mason and Gray.
3. IRELAND (_Samuel William Henry_), published, in 1796, a series of
papers which he affirmed to be by Shakespeare, together with the tragedy
of _Lear_ and a part of _Hamlet_. Dr. Parr, Dr. Valpy, James Boswell,
Herbert Croft, and Pye, the laureate, signed a document certifying their
convictions that the collection was genuine; but Ireland subsequently
confessed the forgery. He also wrote a play entitled _Vortigern and
Rowena_, which he asserted was by Shakespeare; but Malone exposed the
imposition.
4. LAUDER (_William_), published, in 1751, false quotations from
Masenius, a Jesuit of Cologne, Taubman, a German, Staphorstius, a
learned Dutchman, and others, to “prove Milton a gross plagiarist.” Dr.
Douglas demonstrated that the citations were incorrect, and that often
several lines had been foisted in to make the parallels. Lauder
confessed the fact afterwards (1754).
5. MENTZ, who lived in the ninth century, published fifty-nine
decretals, which he ascribed to Isadore of Seville, who died in the
sixth century. The object of these letters was either to exalt the
papacy, or to enforce some law assuming such exaltation. Among them is
the decretal of St. Fabian, instituting the rite of the chrism, with the
decretals of St. Anaclētus, St. Alexander, St. Athanasius, and so on.
They have all been proved to be barefaced forgeries.
6. PEREIRA (_Colonel_), a Portuguese, professed to have discovered in
the convent of St. Maria de Merinhâo, nine books of Sanchoni´athon,
which he published in 1837. It was found that the paper of the MS. bore
the water-mark of the Osnabrück paper-mills.
7. PSALMANAZAR (_George_), who pretended to be a Japanese, published, in
1705, an _Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island
belonging to the Empire of Japan_. He was an Englishman, born in London,
name unknown (died 1763).
8. SMITH (_Joseph_), professed that his _Book of Mormon_, published in
1830, was a direct revelation to him by the angel Mormon; but it was
really the work of a Rev. Solomon Spalding. Smith was murdered in
Carthage jail in 1844.
9. SURTEES (_Robert_), sent Sir Walter Scott several ballads, which were
inserted in good faith in the _Border Minstrelsy_, but were in fact
forgeries. For example, a ballad on _A Feud between the Ridleys and the
Featherstones_, said to be taken down from the mouth of an old woman on
Alston Moor (1806); _Lord Ewrie_, said to be taken down from the mouth
of Rosa Smith of Bishop Middleham, æt. 91 (1807); and _Barthram’s Dirge_
(1809).
The _Korân_ was said by Mahomet to be revealed to him by the angel
Gabriel, but it was in reality the work of a Persian Jew, a Jacobite and
a Nestorian. The detached parts of the _Korân_ were collected into a
volume by Abû Bekr in 634. Mahomet died in 632.
=Improvisators.=
ACCOLTI (_Bernardo_), of Arezzo, called the _Unico Areti´no_
(1465-1535).
AQUILANO (_Serafino_), born at Aquila (1466-1500).
BANDETTINI (_Teresa_), (1756-*). Marone, Quercio, and Silvio ANTONIANO
(eighteenth century).
BERONICIUS (_P. J._), who could convert extempore into Latin or Greek
verse a Dutch newspaper or anything else which he heard (died 1676).
CORILLA (_Maria Magdalena_), of Pistoia. Mde. de Staël has borrowed her
Corinne from this improvisatrix. Crowned at Rome in 1766 (1740-1800).
GIANNI (_Francis_), an Italian, made imperial poet by Napoleon, whose
victories he celebrated in verse (1759-1823).
JEHAN (_Núr_), of Bengal, during the sultanship of Jehánger. She was the
inventor of the otto of roses (died 1645).
KARSCH (_Anne Louisa_), of Germany.
MAZZEI (_Signora_), the most talented of all improvisators.
METASTASIO (_Pietro B._), of Assisi, who developed, at the age of ten, a
wonderful talent for extemporizing in verse (1698-1782).
PERFETTI (_Bernardino_), of Sienna, who received a laurel crown in the
capitol, an honor conferred only on Petrarch and Tasso (1681-1747).
PETRARCH (_Francesco_), who introduced the amusement of improvisation
(1304-1374).
ROSSI, beheaded at Naples in 1799.