SERIO, beheaded at Naples in 1799.
SGRICCI (_Tommaso_), of Tuscany (1788-1832). His _Death of Charles I._,
_Death of Mary Queen of Scots_, and _Fall of Missolonghi_ are very
celebrated.
TADDEI (_Rosa_), (1801- ).
ZUCCO (_Marc Antonio_), of Verona (*-1764).
To these add Cicconi, Bindocci, Sestini, the brothers Clercq of Holland,
Wolfe of Altŏna, Langenschwarz of Germany, Eugène de Pradel of France,
and Thomas Hood (1798-1845).
=Inconstant= (_The_), a comedy by G. Farquhar (1702). “The inconstant”
is young Mirabel, who shilly-shallies with Oria´na till she saves him
from being murdered by four bravoes in the house of Lamorce (2 _syl._).
This comedy is a _réchauffé_ of the _Wild-goose Chase_.—Beaumont and
Fletcher (1652).
=Incorruptible= (_The_). Maximilian Robespierre was so called by his
friends in the Revolution (1756-1794).
“William Shippen,” says Horace Walpole, “is the only man proof against a
bribe.”
⁂ Fabricius, the Roman hero, could not be corrupted by bribes, nor
influenced by threats. Pyrrhus declared it would be as easy to divert
the sun from its course as Fabricius from the path of duty.—_Roman
Story._
=In´cubus=, a spirit half human and half angelic, living in mid-air
between the moon and our earth.—Geoffrey, _British History_, vi. 18
(1142).
=Indra=, god of the elements. His palace is described by Southey in _The
Curse of Kehama_, vii. 10 (1809).
=Inesilla de Cantarilla=, daughter of a Spanish lute-maker. She had the
unusual power of charming the male sex during the whole course of her
life, which exceeded 75 years. Idolized by the noblemen of the old
court, she saw herself adored by those of the new. Even in her old age
she had a noble air, an enchanting wit, and graces peculiar to herself
suited to her years.—Lesage, _Gil Blas_, viii. 1 (1735).
=I´nez= of Cadiz, addressed in _Childe Harold_, i. (after stanza 84).
Nothing known of her.
_Inez (Donna)_, mother of Don Juan. She trained her son according to
prescribed rules with the strictest propriety, and designed to make him
a model of all virtues. Her husband was Don José, whom she worried to
death by her prudery and want of sympathy. Donna Inez was a
“blue-stocking,” learned in all the sciences, her favorite one being
“the mathematical.” She knew every European language, “a little Latin
and less Greek.” In a word, she was “perfect as perfect is,” according
to the standard of Miss Edgeworth, Mrs. Trimmer, and Hannah More, but
had “a great opinion of her own good qualities.” Like Tennyson’s “Maud,”
this paragon of women was, to those who did not look too narrowly,
“faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.”—Bryon, _Don Juan_,
i. 10-30 (1819).
=Inez de Castro=, crowned six years after her death. The tale is this:
Don Pedro, son of Alfonso IV. of Portugal, privately married, in 1345,
the “beauty of Castile,” and Alfonso was so indignant that he commanded
her to be put to death (1355). Two years afterwards, Don Pedro succeeded
to the crown, and in 1361 had the body of Inez exhumed and crowned.
Camoens, the Portuguese poet, has introduced this story in his _Lusiad_.
A. Ferreira, another Portuguese poet, has a tragedy called _Inez de
Castro_ (1554); Lamotte produced a tragedy with the same title (1723);
and Guiraud another in 1826. (See next art).
_Inez de Castro_, the bride of Prince Pedro, of Portugal, to whom she
was clandestinely married. The King Alfonso and his minister Gonzalez,
not knowing of this marriage, arranged a marriage for the young prince
with a Spanish princess, and when the prince refused his consent,
Gonzalez ferreted out the cause, and induced Inez to drink poison. He
then put the young prince under arrest, but as he was being led away,
the announcement came that Alfonso was dead and Don Pedro was his
successor. The tables were now turned, for Pedro was instantly released,
and Gonzalez led to execution.—Ross Neil, _Inez de Castro_ or _The Bride
of Portugal_. (See previous art).
=Inez Morse.= A New England woman, determined to pay off the mortgage
left by her dead father upon the farm. She sells all her honey to help
on this object; “When the mortgage is paid off, we’ll have warm biscuit
and honey for supper,” she says, half-jestingly. She holds off a suitor
for years, until the mortgage is paid. She promised her father it should
be done. The day the last payment is made, she hears that “Willy” has
married another girl. They have warm biscuits and honey for tea that
night.—Mary E. Wilkin’s _A Taste of Honey_ (1887).
=Infant Endowed with Speech.= The Imâm Abzenderoud excited the envy of
his confraternity by his superior virtue and piety, so they suborned a
woman to father a child upon him. The imâm prayed to Mahomet to reveal
the truth, whereupon the new-born infant told in good Arabic who his
father was, and Abzenderoud was acquitted with honor.—T. S. Gueulette,
_Chinese Tales_ (“Imâm Abzenderoud,” 1723).
=Infant of Luback=, Christian Henry Heinecken. At one year old he knew
the chief events of the Pentateuch!! at thirteen months he knew the
history of the Old Testament!! at fourteen months he knew the history of
the New Testament!! at two and a half years he could answer any ordinary
question of history or geography!! and at three years old he knew
German, French, and Latin!!
=Inferno= (_The_), in thirty-four cantos, by Dantê [Alighieri] (1300).
While wandering through a wood (_this life_), the poet comes to a
mountain (_fame_), and begins to climb it, but first a panther
(_pleasure_), then a lion (_ambition_), and then a she-wolf (_avarice_),
stand in his path to slay him. The appearance of Virgil (_human
wisdom_), however, encourages him (canto i.), and the Mantuan tells him
he is sent by three ladies [Beatrice (_faith_), Lucia (_grace_), and
Mercy] to conduct him through the realms of hell (canto ii.). On they
proceed together till they come to a portal bearing this inscription:
ALL HOPE ABANDON YE WHO ENTER HERE; they pass through, and come to that
neutral realm where dwell the spirits of those not good enough for
heaven nor bad enough for hell, “the praiseless and the blameless dead.”
Passing through this border-land, they command old Charon to ferry them
across the Achĕron to Limbo (canto iii.), and here they behold the
ghosts of the unbaptized, “blameless of sin,” but not members of the
Christian Church. Homer is here, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, who enroll
Dantê “sixth of the sacred band.” On leaving Limbo, our adventurer
follows his guide through the seven gates which lead to the inferno, an
enormous funnel-shaped pit, divided into stages. The outer, or first
“circle,” is a vast meadow, in which roam Electra (mother of Dardănus,
the founder of Troy), Hector, Æne´as, and Julius Cæsar; Camilla and
Penthesile´a; Latīnus and Junius Brutus; Lucretia, Marcia (Cato’s wife),
Julia (Pompey’s wife), and Cornelia; and here “a part retired,” they see
Saladin, the rival of Richard the Lion-heart. Linos is here and Orpheus;
Aristotle, Socratês, and Plato; Democrĭtos, who ascribed creation to
blind chance, Diogĕnês, the cynic, Heraclītos, Emped´oclês, Anaxag´oras,
Thalĕs, Dioscor´idês, and Zeno; Cicero and Senĕca, Euclid and Ptolemy,
Hippocrătês and Galen, Avĭcen, and Averroês, the Arabian translator and
commentator of Aristotle (canto iv.). From the first stage they descend
to the second, where Minos sits in judgment on the ghosts brought before
him. He indicates what circle a ghost is to occupy by twisting his tail
round his body: two twists signify that the ghost is to be banished to
the second circle; three twists that it is to be consigned to the third
circle, and so on. Here, says the poet, “light was silent all,” but
shrieks and groans and blasphemies were terrible to hear. This circle is
the hell of carnal and sinful love, where Dante recognizes Semirămis,
Dido, Cleopatra, and Helen; Achillês and Paris; Tristan, the lover of
his uncle’s wife, Isoldê; Lancelot, the lover of Queen Guinever; and
Francesca, the lover of Paolo, her brother-in-law (canto v.). The third
circle is a place of deeper woe. Here fall in ceaseless showers, hail,
black rain, and sleety flaw; the air is cold and dun; and a foul stench
arises from the soil. Cerbĕrus keeps watch here, and this part of the
inferno is set apart for gluttons, like Ciacco (2 _syl._). From this
stage the two poets pass on to the “fourth steep ledge,” presided over
by Plutus (canto vi.), a realm which “hems in all the woe of all the
universe.” Here are gathered the souls of the avaricious, who wasted
their talents, and made no right use of their wealth. Crossing this
region, they come to the “fifth steep,” and see the Stygian Lake of inky
hue. This circle is a huge bog in which “the miry tribe” flounder, and
“gulp the muddy lees.” It is the abode of those who put no restraint
upon their anger (canto vii.). Next comes the city of Dis, where the
souls of heretics are “interred in vaults” (cantos viii., ix.). Here
Dantê recognizes Farina´ta (a leader of the Ghibelline faction), and is
informed that the Emperor Frederick II. and Cardinal Ubaldini are
amongst the number (canto x.). The city of Dis contains the next three
circles (canto xi.), through which Nessus conducts them; and here they
see the Minotaur and the Centaurs, as Chiron, who nursed Achillês and
Pholus the passionate. The first circle of Dis (the sixth) is for those
who by force or fraud have done violence to _man_, as Alexander the
Great, Dionysius of Syracuse, Attila, Sextus, and Pyrrhus (canto xii.).
The next (the seventh circle) is for those who have done violence to
_themselves_, as suicides; here are the Harpies, and here the souls are
transformed to trees (canto xiii.). The eighth circle is for the souls
of those who have done violence to _God_, as blasphemers and heretics;
it is a hell of burning, where it snows flakes of fire. Here is
Cap´aneus (3 _syl._) (canto xiv.), and here Dantê held converse with
Brunetto, his old schoolmaster (canto xv.). Having reached the confines
of the realm of Dis, Ger´yon carries Dantê into the region of Malêbolgê
(4 _syl._), a horrible hell, containing ten pits or chasms (canto
xvii.): In the first is Jason; the second is for harlots (canto xviii.);
in the third is Simon Magus, “who prostituted the things of God for
gold;” in the fourth, Pope Nicholas III. (canto xix.); in the fifth the
ghosts had their heads “reversed at the neckbone,” and here are
Amphiarāos, Tirēsias, who was first a woman and then a man, Michael
Scott, the magician, with all witches and diviners (canto xx.); in the
sixth, Caïaphas and Annas, his father-in-law (canto xxiii.); in the
seventh, robbers of churches, as Vanni Fucci, who robbed the sacristy of
St James’ in Pistoia, and charged Venni della Nona with the crime, for
which she suffered death (canto xxiv.); in the eighth, Ulyssês and
Diomed, who were punished for the stratagem of the Wooden Horse (cantos
xxvi., xxvii.); in the ninth, Mahomet and Ali, “horribly mangled” (canto
xxviii.); in the tenth, alchemists (canto xxix.), coiners and forgers,
Potiphar’s wife, Sinon the Greek, who deluded the Trojans (canto xxx.),
Nimrod, Ephialtés, and Antæus, with other giants (canto xxxi.). Antæus
carries the two visitors into the nethermost gulf, where Judas and
Lucifer are confined. It is a region of thick-ribbed ice, and here they
see the frozen river of Cocy´tus (canto xxxii.). The last persons the
poet sees are Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Julius Cæsar (canto
xxxiv.). Dantê and his conductor, Virgil, then make their exit on the
“southern hemisphere,” where once was Eden, and where the “moon rises
when here evening sets.” This is done that the poet may visit Purgatory,
which is situated in mid-ocean, somewhere near the antipodes of Judea.
⁂ Canto xvi. opens with a description of Fraud, canto xxxiii. contains
the tale of Ugoli´no, and canto xxxiv. the description of Lucifer.
=Ingeborg.= Daughter of a Norwegian king. She is loved as child and
woman by Frithiof, who finally marries her.—_Frithiof Saga._
=Ingelram= (_Abbot_), formerly superior of St. Mary’s Convent.—Sir W.
Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Inglewood= (_Squire_), a magistrate near Osbaldistone Hall.—Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
=Inglis= (_Corporal_), in the royal army under the leadership of the
duke of Monmouth.—Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
=Ingo=, the son of Ingbert, king of the Vandals. Driven from his throne
by his uncle, he seeks refuge among the Thuringians, where he loves and
marries Irmgard. They are both slain in a siege, leaving one son, an
infant.
=Ingoldsby= (_Thomas_), the Rev. Richard Harris Barham, author of
_Ingoldsby Legends_ (1788-1845).
=Ingraban=, a descendant of the child of Ingo and Irmgard, a wild,
untamed young Pagan, who is finally converted to Christianity under
Bishop Winfried, or Boniface.
=Ini=, =Ine=, or =Ina=, king of Wessex; his wife was Æthelburh; both
were of the royal line of Cerdic. After a grand banquet, King Ini set
forth to sojourn in another of his palaces, and his queen privately
instructed his steward to “fill the house they quitted with rubbish and
offal, to put a sow and litter of pigs in the royal bed, and entirely
dismantle the room.” When the king and queen had gone about a mile or
so, the queen entreated her husband to return to the house they had
quitted, and great was his astonishment to behold the change. Æthelburh
then said, “Behold what vanity of vanities is all earthly greatness!
Where now are the good things you saw here but a few hours ago? See how
foul a beast occupies the royal bed. So will it be with you unless you
leave earthly things for heavenly.” So the king abdicated his kingdom,
went to Rome, and dwelt there as a pilgrim for the rest of his life.
... in fame great Ina might pretend
With any king since first the Saxons came to shore.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xi. (1613).
=Inkle and Yar´ico=, hero and heroine of a story by Sir Richard Steele,
in the _Spectator_ (No. 11). Inkle is a young Englishman who is lost in
the Spanish main. He falls in love with Yarico, an Indian maiden, with
whom he consorts; but no sooner does a vessel arrive to take him to
Barbadoes than he sells Yarico as a slave.
George Colman has dramatized this tale (1787).
=Innocents= (_The_), the babes of Bethlehem cut off by Herod the Great.
⁂ John Baptist Marino, an Italian poet, has a poem on _The Massacre of
the Innocents_ (1569-1625).
=Innogen= or INOGENE (3 _syl._), wife of Brute (1 _syl._), mythical king
of Britain. She was daughter of Pan´drasos of Greece.
Thus Brute this realme unto his rule subdewd ...
And left three sons, his famous progeny,
Born of fayre Inogene of Italy.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 10 (1590).
And for a lasting league of amity and peace,
Bright Innogen, his child, for wife to Brutus gave.
M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, I. (1612).
=Insane Root= (_The_), hemlock. It is said that those who eat hemlock
can see objects otherwise invisible. Thus when Banquo had encountered
the witches, who vanished as mysteriously as they appeared, he says to
Macbeth, “Were such things [_really_] here ... or have we eaten
[_hemlock_] of the insane root, that takes the reason prisoner,” so that
our eyes see things that are not?—Macbeth, act i. sc. 3 (1606).
=Interpreter= (_Mr._), in Bunyan’s _Pilgrim’s Progress_, means the Holy
Ghost as it operates on the heart of a believer. He is lord of a house a
little beyond the Wicket Gate.—Pt. i. (1678).
=Inveraschal´loch=, one of the Highlanders at the Clachan of
Aberfoyle.—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
=Invin´cible Doctor= (_The_), William of Occam; also called _Doctor
Singulāris_ (1270-1347).
=Invisible Knight= (_The_), Sir Garlon, brother of King Pellam (nigh of
kin to Joseph of Arimathy).
“He is Sir Garlon,” said the knight, “he with the black face, he is the
marvellest knight living, for he goeth invisible.”—Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_, i. 39 (1470).
=Invisibility= is obtained by amulets, dress, herbs, rings, and stones.
_Amulets_: as the capon-stone called “Alectoria,” which rendered those
invisible who carried it about their person.—_Mirror of Sornes._
_Dress_: as Alberich’s cloak called “Tarnkappe” (2 _syl._) which
Siegfried got possession of (_The Nibelungen Lied_); the mantle of Hel
Keplein (_q.v._); and Jack the Giantkiller had a cloak of invisibility
as well as a cap of knowledge. The helmet of Perseus of Hadês (_Greek
Fable_) and Mambrino’s helmet rendered the wearers invisible. The _moros
musphonon_ was a girdle of invisibility.—Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke
for a Wife_.
_Herbs_: as fern-seed, mentioned by Shakespeare and Beaumont and
Fletcher.
_Rings_: as Gyges’s ring, taken from the flanks of a brazen horse. When
the stone was turned inwards, the wearer was invisible (Plato). The ring
of Otnit, king of Lombardy, according to _The Heldenbuch_, possessed a
similar virtue. Reynard’s wonderful ring had three colors, one of which
(the green) caused the wearer to be invisible (_Reynard the Fox_, 1498);
this was the gem called heliotrope.
_Stones_: as heliotrope, mentioned by Boccaccio in his _Decameron_ (day
viii. 3). It is of a green hue. Solīnus attributes this power to the
_herb_ heliotrope: “Herba ejusdem nominis ... eum, a quocumque
gestabitur, suptrahit visibus obviorum.”—_Geog._, xl.
=Invulnerability.= Stones taken from the cassan plant, which grows in
Pauten, will render the possessor invulnerable.—Odoricus, _In Hakluyt_.
A dip in the river Styx rendered Achillês invulnerable.
Medea rendered Jason proof against wounds and fire by anointing him with
the Promethe´an unguent.—_Greek Fable._
Siegfried was rendered invulnerable by bathing his body in dragon’s
blood.—_Niebelungen Lied._
=Ion=, the title and hero of a tragedy by T. N. Talfourd (1835). The
oracle of Delphi had declared that the pestilence which raged in Argos
was sent by way of punishment for the misrule of the race of Argos, and
that the vengeance of the gods could be averted only by the extirpation
of the guilty race. Ion, the son of the king, offered himself a willing
sacrifice, and as he was dying, Irus entered and announced that “the
pestilence was abating.”
=Io´na’s Saint=, St. Columb, seen on the top of the church spires, on
certain evenings every year, counting the surrounding islands, to see
that none of them have been sunk by the power of witchcraft.
As Iona’s saint, a giant form,
Throned on his towers conversing with the storm ...
Counts every wave-worn isle and mountain hoar
From Kilda to the green Ierne’s shore [_from the Hebrides to Ireland_].
Campbell, _The Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).
=I-pal-ne-mo´-ani= (i.e. _He by whom we live_), a title of God, used by
the ancient Mexicans.
“We know him,” they reply,
“The great ‘Forever-One,’ the God of gods,
Ipalnemoani.”—Southey, _Madoc_, i. 8 (1805).
=Iphigeni´a=,daughter of Agamemnon, king of Argos. Agamemnon vowed to
offer up to Artĕmis the best possession that came into his hands during
the ensuing twelve months. This happened to be an infant daughter, to
whom he gave the name of Iphigenīa, but he forbore to fulfil his vow.
When he went on his voyage to Troy, the fleet was wind-bound at Aulis,
and Kalchas, the priest, said it was because Agamemnon had not carried
out his vow; so Iphigenia, then in the pride of womanhood, was bound to
the altar. Artemis, being satisfied, carried the maiden off to Tauris,
where she became a priestess, and substituted a hind in her place.
For parallel instances, such as Abraham and Isaac, Jephthah and his
daughter, Idomeneus and his son, etc., see IDOMENEUS.
When a new Iphigene, she went to Tauris.
Byron, _Don Juan_, x. 49 (1821).
=Iphis=, the woman who was changed to a man. The tale is this: Iphis was
the daughter of Lygdus and Telethusa of Cretê. Lygdus gave orders that
if the child about to be born was a girl, it was to be put to death. It
happened to be a girl; but the mother, to save it, brought it up as a
boy. In due time, the father betrothed Iphis to Ianthê, and the mother,
in terror, prayed to Isis for help. Her prayer was heard, for Isis
changed Iphis into a man on the day of espousals.—Ovid, _Metaph._, ix.
12; xiv. 699.
⁂ Cæneus [_Se.nuce_] was born of the female sex, but Neptune changed her
into a man. Ænēas found her in hadês changed back again.
Tirēsias, the Theban prophet, was converted into a girl for striking two
serpents, and married. He afterwards recovered his sex.
=Ippolito= (_Don_), Italian priest, who should never have taken orders.
He is handsome, sensitive and susceptible, and has for a pupil Florida
Vervain, an American girl. He loves her and tells her so. She pities
him, advises him to break the shackles of his priesthood and go to
America. When she departs, he succumbs to despair and Roman fever. On
his death-bed he disabuses Florida’s American lover of the impression
that the girl loved the priest.—W. D. Howells, _A Foregone Conclusion_
(1874).
=Iras=, a female attendant on Cleopatra. When Cleopatra had arrayed
herself with robe and crown, prior to applying the asps, she said to her
two female attendants, “Come take the last warmth of my lips. Farewell,
kind Charmian! Iras, farewell!” And having kissed them, Iras fell down
dead, either broken-hearted or else because she had already applied an
asp to her arm, as Charmian did a little later.—Shakespeare, _Antony and
Cleopatra_ (1608).
=Ireby= (_Mr_), a country squire.—Sir W. Scott, _Two Drovers_ (time,
George III.).
=Ireland= (_S. W. H._), a literary forger. His chief forgery is
_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_, folio, £6 4_s._ (1795).
His most impudent forgery was the production of a new play, which he
tried to palm off as Shakespeare’s. It was called _Vortigern and
Rowena_, and was actually represented at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1796.
Weeps o’er false Shakesperian lore
Which sprang from Maisterre Ireland’s store,
Whose impudence deserves the rod
For having aped the Muse’s god.
_Chalcographomania._
_Ireland_ (_The Fair Maid of_), the ignis fatuus.
He had read ... of ... the _ignis fatuus_, ... by some called
“Will-with-the-whisp” or “Jack-with-the-lantern,” and likewise ... “The
Fair Maid of Ireland.”—R. Johnson, _The Seven Champions of Christendom_,
i. 7. (1617).
=Ireland’s Three Saints.= The three great saints of Ireland are St.
Patrick, St. Columb, and St. Bridget.
=Ireland’s Three Tragedies=: (1) _The Death of the Children of Touran_;
(2) _The Death of the Children of Lir_; and (3) _The Death of the
Children of Usnach_.—O’Flannagan, _Transactions of the Gaelic Society of
Dublin_, i.
=Irem= (_The Garden of_), mentioned in the _Korân_, lxxxix. It was the
most beautiful of all earthly paradises, laid out for Shedad´, king of
Ad; but no sooner was it finished than it was struck with the
lightning-wand of the death-angel, and was never after visible to the
eye of man.
The paradise of Irem this ...
A garden more surpassing fair
Than that before whose gate
The lightning of the cherub’s fiery sword
Waves wide to bar access.
Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, i. 22 (1797).
=Ire´na=, Ireland personified. Her inheritance was withheld by Grantorto
(_rebellion_), and Sir Artegal was sent by the queen of Faëry-land to
succor her. Grantorto being slain Irena was restored, in 1588, to her
inheritance.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. (1596).
=Ire´ne= (3 _syl._), daughter of Horush Barbarossa, the Greek renegade
and corsair-king of Algiers. She was rescued in the siege of Algiers by
Selim, son of the Moorish king, who fell in love with her. When she
heard of the conspiracy to kill Barbarossa, she warned her father; but
it was too late; the insurgents succeeded, Barbarossa was slain by
Othman, and Selim married Irenê.—J. Browne, _Barbarossa_ (1742).
_Irene_ (3 _syl._), wife of Alexius Comne´nus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W.
Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
=Irene Lapham.= Second daughter of a self-made man; wonderfully
beautiful, unsophisticated, and beginning to have social ambitions,
founded upon acquaintance with the Bromfield Coreys. She is quite sure
and naively glad that Tom Corey admires, perhaps loves her, until
undeceived by his declaration to her sister. Then she gives him up and
goes away for a while. Hearing of her father’s failure in business, she
rushes back and takes her place in the family as an energetic spinster.
William Dean Howells, _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1884).
=Ire´nus.= Peaceableness personified. (Greek, _eirênê_, “peace”).
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, x. (1633).
=Iris=, a messenger, a go-between. Iris was the messenger of Juno.
Wheresoe’er them art in this world’s globe,
I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
Shakespeare, _2 Henry VI_, act v. sc. 2 (1591).
=Iris and the Dying.= One of the duties of Iris was to cut off a lock of
hair (claimed by Proserpine) from those devoted to death, and till this
was done, Death refused to accept the victim. Thus, when Dido mounted
the funeral pile, she lingered in suffering till Iris was sent by Juno
to cut off a lock of her hair as an offering to the black queen, but
immediately this was done her spirit left the body. Than´atos did the
same office to Alcestis when she gave her life for that of her husband.
In all sacrifices, a forelock was first cut from the head of the victim
an an offering to Proserpine.—See Euripides, _Alcestis_; Virgil,
_Æneid_, iv.
_Iris._ Daughter of an old Latin tutor. Of her mother it is said—“Seated
with her companion at the chess-board of matrimony, she had but just
pushed forward her one little white pawn upon an empty square, when the
Black Knight, who cares nothing for castles, or kings or queens, swooped
down upon her and swept her from the larger board of life.” The child’s
father lingered but a little while longer, and the little Iris lived
with a village spinster and went to a village school. All the same, the
artistic principle grew and prevailed with her, and she became painter
and poet.—Oliver Wendell Holmes, _The Professor at the Breakfast-Table_
(1853).
=Irish Whiskey Drinker= (_The_), John Sheehan, a barrister, who with
“Everard Olive of Tipperary Hall,” wrote a series of pasquinades in
verse, which were published in _Bentley’s Miscellany_, in 1846, and
attracted considerable attention.
=Irish Widow= (_The_), a farce by Garrick (1757). Martha Brady, a
blooming young widow of 23, is in love with William Whittle, the nephew
of old Thomas Whittle, a man 63 years of age. It so happens that William
cannot touch his property without his uncle’s consent, so the lovers
scheme together to obtain it. The widow pretends to be in love with the
old man, who proposes to her and is accepted; but she now comes out in a
new character, as a loud, vulgar, rollicking, extravagant low
Irishwoman. Old Whittle is thoroughly frightened, and not only gets his
nephew to take the lady off his hands, but gives him £5000 for doing so.
=Irol´do=, the friend of Prasildo, of Babylon. Prasildo falls in love
with Tisbi´na, his friend’s wife, and, to escape infamy, Iroldo and
Tisbina take “poison.” Prasildo, hearing from the apothecary that the
supposed poison is innocuous, goes and tells them so, whereupon Iroldo
is so struck with his friend’s generosity that he quits Babylon, leaving
Tisbina to Prasildo. Subsequently Iroldo’s life is in peril, and
Prasildo saves his friend at the hazard of his own life.—Bojardo,
_Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).
=Irolit´a=, a princess, in love with Prince Parcĭnus, her cousin. The
fairy Dan´amo wanted Parcinus to marry her daughter Az´ira, and
therefore tried to marry Irolita to Brutus; but her plans were thwarted,
for Parcinus married Irolita, and Brutus married Azira.—D’Aunoy,
_Perfect Love_.
=Iron Arm.= Captain François de Lanoue, a Huguenot, was called _Bras de
Fer_. He died at the siege of Lamballe (1531-1591).
=Iron Chest= (_The_), a drama by G. Colman, based on W. Godwin’s novel
of _Caleb Williams_. Sir Edward Mortimer kept in an iron chest certain
documents relating to a murder for which he had been tried and honorably
acquitted. His secretary, Wilford, out of curiosity, was prying into
this box, when Sir Edward entered and threatened to shoot him; but on
reflection, spared the young man’s life, and told him all about the
murder, and swore him to secrecy. Wilford, unable to endure the watchful
and suspicious eye of his master, ran away; but Sir Edward dogged him
like a bloodhound, and at length accused him of robbery. The charge
could not be substantiated, so Wilford was acquitted. Sir Edward
confessed himself a murderer, and died (1796).
=Iron Duke= (_The_), the duke of Wellington (1769-1852).
=Iron Emperor= (_The_), Nicholas of Russia (1796, 1826-1855).
=Iron Hand=, Goetz von Berlichingen, who replaced his right hand, which
he lost at the siege of Landshut, by an iron one (sixteenth century).
⁂ Goethe has made this the subject of an historical drama.
=Iron Mask= (_The Man in the_). This mysterious man went by the name of
Lestang, but who he was is as much in _nubibus_ as the author of the
_Letters of Junius_. The most general opinion is that he was Count
Er´colo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of Mantua and private agent of
Ferdinand Charles, duke of Mantua; and that his long imprisonment of
twenty-four years was for having deceived Louis XIV. in a secret treaty
for the purchase of the fortress of Casale. M. Loiseleur utterly denies
this solution of the mystery.—See _Temple Bar_, 182-4, May, 1872.
⁂ The tragedies of Zschokke in German (1795), and Fournier, in French,
are based on the supposition that the man in the mask was Marechal
Richelieu, a twin-brother of the _Grand Monarque_, and this is the
solution given by the Abbé Soulavie.
=Irons.= “A man over whom vulgar prosperity had, in forming him, left
everywhere her finger-marks to be seen.... He had a general air of
insisting upon his immense superiority to all the world.” His
self-complacency does not prevent his meddling offensively in other
people’s affairs, and his success gives him the opportunity to ruin the
man he hates as his intellectual and moral superior.—Arlo Bates, _The
Philistines_ (1888).
=Ironside= (_Sir_), called “The Red Knight of the Red Lands.” Sir
Gareth, after fighting with him from dawn to dewy eve, subdued him.
Tennyson calls him Death, and says that Gareth won the victory with a
single stroke. Sir Ironside was the knight who kept the Lady Lionês
(called by Tennyson “Lyonors”) captive in Castle Perilous.—Sir T.
Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 134-137 (1470).
_Ironside._ Edmund II., king of the Anglo-Saxons, was so called from his
iron armor (989, 1016-1017).
Sir Richard Steele signed himself “Nester Ironside” in the _Guardian_
(1671-1729).
=Ironsides.= So were the soldiers of Cromwell called, especially after
the battle of Marston Moor, where they displayed their iron resolution
(1644).
_Ironsides (Captain)_, uncle of Belfield (_Brothers_), and an old friend
of Sir Benjamin Dove. He is captain of a privateer, and a fine specimen
of an English naval officer.
He’s true English oak to the heart of him, and a fine old seaman-like
figure he is.—Cumberland, _The Brothers_, i. 1 (1769).
=Iron Tooth=, Frederick II., elector of Bradenburg (_Dent de Fer_),
(1657, 1688-1713).
=Irrefragable Doctor= (_The_), Alexander Hales, founder of the
Scholastic theology (*-1245).
=I´rus=, the beggar of Ithâca, who ran errands for Penelopê’s suitors.
When Ulyssês returned home dressed as a beggar, Irus withstood him, and
Ulyssês broke his jaw with a blow. So poor was Irus that he gave birth
to the proverbs, “As poor as Irus,” and “Poorer than Irus” (in French,
_Plus pauvre qu’ Irus_).
=Irving= (_Washington_). N. P. Willis said of Irving’s reputation in
England fifty years ago: “The first questions on the lips of every one
to whom I am introduced as an American are of him and Cooper.” Horace
Smith, the author of “Rejected Addresses” pronounced him “a delightful
fellow.”—N. P. Willis, _Pencilings by the Way_ (1835).
=Irwin= (_Mr_), the husband of Lady Eleanor, daughter of Lord Norland.
His lordship discarded her for marrying against his will, and Irwin was
reduced to the verge of starvation. In his desperation Irwin robbed his
father-in-law on the high road, but relented and returned the money. At
length the iron heart of Lord Norland was softened, and he relieved the
necessities of his son-in-law.
_Lady Eleanor Irwin_, wife of Mr. Irwin. She retains her love for Lord
Norland, even through all his relentlessness, and when she hears that he
has adopted a son, exclaims, “May the young man deserve his love better
than I have done! May he be a comfort to his declining years, and never
disobey him!”—Inchbald, _Every One has His Fault_ (1794).
_Irwin (Hannah)_, former _confidante_ of Clara Mowbray.—Sir W. Scott,
_St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).
=Isaac [Mendoza]=, a rich Portuguese Jew, short in stature, with a snub
nose, swarthy skin, and huge beard; very conceited, priding himself upon
his cunning, loving to dupe others but woefully duped himself. He
chuckles to himself, “I’m cunning, I fancy; a very cunning dog, ain’t I?
a sly little villain, eh? a bit roguish; he must be very wide awake who
can take Isaac in.” This conceited piece of goods is always duped by
every one he encounters. He meets Louisa, whom he intends to make his
wife, but she makes him believe she is Clara Guzman. He meets his rival,
Antonio, whom he sends to the supposed Clara, and he marries her. He
mistakes Louisa’s duenna for Louisa, and elopes with her. So all his wit
is outwitted.—Sheridan, _The Duenna_ (1775).
=Isaac of York=, the father of Rebecca. When imprisoned in the dungeon
of Front de Bœuf’s castle, Front de Bœuf comes to extort money from him,
and orders two slaves to chain him to the bars of slow fire, but the
party is disturbed by the sound of a bugle. Ultimately, both the Jew and
his daughter leave England and go to live abroad.—Sir W. Scott,
_Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
=Isaacs= (_Mr._). A mysterious man, whose majestic beauty,
accomplishments, prowess and loves form the staple of the novel bearing
his name.—F. Marion Crawford, _Mr. Isaacs_ (1882).
=Isabel.= A child-love, whose image is recalled by the old man in his
wayside musing—
“Poor, unknown,
By the wayside, on a mossy stone.”
Ralph Hoyt, _Old_ (1859).
_Isabel._ A refined girl, with lofty ideals and aspirations, who marries
a widower with one child. She believes him a true man who will uplift
her, and finds him a refined voluptuary, coldly calculating upon the
advantages to be gained from her fortune. Still faithful to herself,
Isabel repels the love of a man who thoroughly appreciates her, and
flies from him and temptation.—Henry James, Jr., _Portrait of a Lady_
(1881).
_Isabel_, called the “She-wolf of France,” the adulterous queen of
Edward II., was daughter of Philippe IV. (_le bel_), of France.
According to one tradition, Isabel murdered her royal husband by
thrusting a hot iron into his bowels, and tearing them from his body.
=Isabell=, sister of Lady Hartwell, in the comedy of _Wit without
Money_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1639).
=Isabella= or =Isabelle=, a pale brown or buff color, similar to that of
a hare. It is so called from the princess Isabella of Austria, daughter
of Philip II. The tale is, that while besieging Ostend, the princess
took an oath that she would not change her body-linen before the town
was taken. The siege, however, lasted three years, and her linen was so
stained that it gave name to the color referred to (1601-1604).
The same story is related of Isabella of Castile at the siege of
Grena´da (1483).
The horse that Brightsun was mounted on was as black as jet, that of
Felix was grey, Cherry’s was as white as milk, and that of the Princess
Fairstar an Isabella.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Princess
Fairstar,” 1682).
_Isabella_, daughter of the king of Galicia, in love with Zerbi´no, but
Zerbino could not marry her because she was a pagan. Her lament at the
death of Zerbino is one of the best parts of the whole poem (bk. xii.).
Isabella retires to a chapel to bury her lover, and is there slain by
Rodomont.—Ariosto, _Orlanda Furioso_ (1516).
_Isabella_, sister of Claudio, insulted by the base passion of An´gelo,
deputy of Vienna, in the absence of Duke Vincentio. Isabella is
delivered by the duke himself, and the deputy is made to marry Mariana,
to whom he was already betrothed.—Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_
(1603).
_Isabella_, wife of Hieronimo, in _The Spanish Tragedy_, by Thomas Kyd
(1588).
_Isabella_, mother of Ludov´ico Sforza, duke of Milan.—Massinger, _The
Duke of Milan_ (1622).
_Isabella_, a nun who marries Biron, eldest son of Count Baldwin, who
disinherits him for this marriage. Biron enters the army, and is sent to
the siege of Candy, where he falls, and (it is supposed) dies. For seven
years Isabella mourns her loss, and is then reduced to the utmost want.
In her distress she begs assistance of her father-in-law, but he drives
her from the house as a dog. Villeroy (2 _syl._) offers her marriage,
and she accepts him; but the day after her espousals Biron returns.
Carlos, hearing of his brother’s return, employs ruffians to murder him,
and then charges Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians
impeaches, and Carlos is apprehended. Isabella goes mad, and murders
herself in her distraction.—Thomas Southern, _The Fatal Marriage_
(1692).
_Isabella_, the coadjutor of Zanga in his scheme of revenge against Don
Alonzo.—Young, _The Revenge_ (1721).
_Isabella_, princess of Sicily, in love with Roberto il Diavolo, but
promised in marriage to the prince of Grana´da, who challenges Roberto
to mortal combat, from which he is allured by Bertram, his fiend-father.
Alice tells him that Isabella is waiting for him at the altar, when a
struggle ensues between Bertram and Alice, one trying to drag him into
hell, and the other trying to reclaim him to the ways of virtue. Alice
at length prevails, but we are not told whether or not Roberto marries
the princess.—Meyerbeer, _Roberto il Diavolo_ (1831).
_Isabella (Donna)_, daughter of Don Pedro, a Portuguese nobleman, who
designs to marry her to Don Guzman, a gentleman of large fortune. To
avoid this hateful marriage, she jumps from a window, with a view of
escaping from the house, and is caught by a Colonel Briton, an English
officer, who conducts her to the house of her friend, Donna Violantê.
Here the colonel calls upon her, and Don Felix, supposing Violantê to be
the object of his visits, becomes furiously jealous. After a
considerable embroglio, the mystery is cleared up, and a double wedding
takes place.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).
_Isabella (The countess)_, wife of Roberto. After a long series of
crimes of infidelity to her husband, and of murder, she is brought to
execution.—John Marston, _The Wonder of Women_, or _Sophonisba_ (1605).
_Isabella_ (_The lady_), a beautiful young girl, who accompanied her
father on a chase. Her step-mother requested her to return and tell the
cook to prepare the milk-white doe for dinner. Lady Isabella did as she
was told, and the cook replied, “Thou art the doe that I must dress.”
The scullion-boy exclaimed, “Oh, save the lady’s life, and make thy pies
of me!” But the cook heeded him not. When the lord returned and asked
for his daughter, the scullion-boy made answer, “If my lord would see
his daughter, let him cut the pasty before him.” The father, horrified
at the whole affair, adjudged the step-mother to be burnt alive, and the
cook to stand in boiling lead, but the scullion-boy he made his
heir.—Percy, _Reliques_ iii. 2.
=Isabelle=, sister of Léonor, an orphan; brought up by Sganarelle
according to his own notions of training a girl to make him a good wife.
She was to dress in serge, and keep to the house, to occupy herself in
domestic affairs, to sew, knit, and look after the linen, to hear no
flattery, attend no places of public amusement, never to be left to her
own devices, but to run in harness like a mill-horse. The result was
that she duped Sganarelle and married Valère. (See LÉONOR).—Molière,
_L’école des Maris_ (1661).
=Isabinda=, daughter of Sir Jealous Traffick, a merchant. Her father is
resolved she shall marry Don Diego Barbinetto, but she is in love with
Charles Gripe; and Charles, in the dress of a Spaniard, passing himself
off as the Spanish don, and marries her.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_
(1709).
=Isadore=, wife, fondly lamented in Albert Pike’s lines beginning:
“Thou art lost to me forever! I have lost thee, Isadore!”
Albert Pike, _Poems_ (183-).
=Isenbras= (_Sir_), a hero of mediæval romance. Sir Isenbras was at
first proud and presumptous, but adversity made him humble and
pentitent. In this stage he carried two children of a poor wood-cutter
across a ford on his horse.
=I´sengrin= (_Sir_) or SIR ISENGRIM, the wolf, afterwards created the
earl of Pitwood, in the beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_. Sir Isengrin
typifies the _barons_, and Reynard the _Church_. The gist of the tale is
to show how Reynard over-reaches his uncle Wolf (1498).
=Ishah=, the name of Eve before the Fall; so called because she was
taken out of _ish_, _i.e._ “man” (_Gen._ ii. 23); but after the
expulsion from paradise, Adam called his wife Eve or Havah, _i.e._ “the
mother of all living” (_Gen._ iii. 20).
=Ishban=, meant for Sir Robert Clayton. There is no such name in the
Bible as Ishban; but Tate speaks of “extorting Ishban,” pursued by
“bankrupt heirs.” He says he had occupied himself long in cheating, but
then undertook to “reform the state.”
Ishban of conscience suited to his trade,
As good a saint as usurer e’er made ...
Could David ... scandalize our peerage with his name ...
He’d e’en turn loyal to be made a peer.
Tate, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).
=Ish´bosheth=, in Dryden’s satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant
for Richard Cromwell, whose father, Oliver, is called “Saul.” As
Ishbosheth was the only surviving son of Saul, so Richard was the only
surviving son of Cromwell. As Ishbosheth was accepted king on the death
of his father by all except the tribe of Judah, so Richard was
acknowledged “protecter” by all except the royalists. As Ishbosheth
reigned only a few months, so Richard, after a few months, retired into
private life.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow
Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forego.
Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i. (1681).
=I´sidore= (_3 syl._), a Greek slave, the concubine of Don Pèdre, a
Sicilian nobleman. This slave is beloved by Adraste (_2 syl._) a French
gentleman, who plots to allure her away. He first gets introduced as a
portrait-painter, and reveals his love. Isidore listens with pleasure,
and promises to elope with him. He then sends his slave Zaïde to
complain to Don Pèdre of ill-treatment, and to crave protection. Don
Pèdre promises to stand her friend, and at this moment Adraste appears
and demands that she be given up to the punishment she deserves. Pèdre
intercedes; Adraste seems to relent; and the Sicilian calls to the young
slave to appear. Instead of Zaïde, Isidore comes forth in Zaïde’s veil.
“There” says Pèdre, “I have arranged everything. Take her and use her
well.” “I will do so,” says the Frenchman, and leads off the Greek
slave.—Molière, _Le Sicilien ou L’Amour Peindre_ (1667).
=Isis=, the moon. The sun is Osi´ris. _Egyptian Mythology_.
They [_the priests_] wore rich mitres shapèd like the moon,
To show that Isis doth the moon portend,
Like as Osiris signifies the sun.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 7 (1596).
=Iskander Beg==_Alexander the Great_, George Castriot (1414-1467). (See
SKANDERBEG).
=Iskander with the Two Horns=, Alexander the Great.
This Friday is the 18th day of the moon of Safar, in the year 653 [i.e.
_of the heg´ira, or_ A.D. 1255] since the retreat of the great prophet
from Mecca to Medi´na; and in the year 7320 of the epoch of the great
Iskander with the two horns.—_Arabian Nights_ (“The Tailor’s Story”).
=Island of the Seven Cities=, a kind of Dixie’s land, where seven
bishops, who quitted Spain during the dominion of the Moors, founded
seven cities. The legend says that many have visited the island, but no
one has ever quitted it.
=Islands of the Blest=, called by the Greeks “Happy Islands,” and by the
Latins “Fortunate Islands;” imaginary islands somewhere in the West,
where the favorites of the gods are conveyed at death, and dwell in
everlasting joy.
Their place of birth alone is mute
To sounds that echo further West
Than your sire’s Islands of the Blest.
Byron.
=Isle of Lanterns=, an imaginary country, inhabited by pretenders to
knowledge, called “Lanternois.”—Rabelais, _Pantag´ruel_, v. 32, 33
(1545).
⁂ Lucien has a similar conceit, called _The City of Lanterns_; and Dean
Swift, in his _Gulliver’s Travels_, makes his hero visit Laputa, which
is an empire of quacks, false projectors, and pretenders to science.
=Islington= (_The marquis of_), one of the companions of Billy Barlow,
the noted archer. Henry VIII. jocosely created Barlow “duke of
Shoreditch”, and his two companions “earl of Pancras” and “marquis of
Islington.”
=Ismael= “the infidel,” one of the Immortal Guard.—Sir W. Scott, _Count
Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
=Ismene.= Daughter of Œdipus and Jocasta, and sister to Antigone. She
insists upon sharing her sister’s punishment for having buried their
brother Cleon in defiance of their father’s prohibition.—Sophocles’
_Antigone_.
=Isme´ne and Isme´nias=, a love story in Greek by Eustathius, in the
twelfth century. It is puerile in its delineation of character, and full
of plagiarisms; but many of its details have been copied by D’Urfé,
Montemayor, and others. Ismenê is the “dear and near and true” lady of
Ismenias.
⁂ Through the translation by Godfrey of Viterbo, the tale of _Ismenê and
Ismenias_ forms the basis of Gower’s _Confessio Amantis_, and
Shakespeare’s _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_.
=Isme´no=, a magician, once a Christian, but afterwards a renegade to
Islam. He was killed by a stone hurled from an engine.—Tasso, _Jerusalem
Delivered_, xviii. (1575).
=Isoc´rates= (_The French_), Esprit Fléchier, bishop of Nismes
(1632-1710).
=Isoline= (3 _syl._), the high-minded and heroic daughter of the French
governor of Messi´na, and bride of Fernando (son of John of Procĭda).
Isoline was true to her husband, and true to her father, who had
opposite interests in Sicily. Both fell victims to the butchery called
the “Sicilian Vespers” (March 30, 1282), and Isoline died of a broken
heart.—S. Knowles., _John of Procida_ (1840).
=Isolt= (_Isolde, Iseult_). There are two ladies connected with
Arthurian romance of this name: one, Isolt “the Fair,” daughter of
Anguish, king of Ireland; and the other Isolt “or the White Hands,”
daughter of Howell, king of Brittany. Isolt _the Fair_ was the wife of
Sir Mark, king of Cornwall, but Isolt _of the White Hands_ was the wife
of Sir Tristram. Sir Tristram loved Isolt _the Fair_; and Isolt hated
Sir Mark, her husband, with the same measure that she loved Sir
Tristram, her nephew-in-law. Tennyson’s tale of the death of Sir
Tristram is so at variance with the romance, that it must be given
separately. He says that Sir Tristram was one day dallying with Isolt
_the Fair_, and put a ruby carcanet round her neck. Then, as he kissed
her throat:
Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched.
Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek—
“Mark’s way,” said Mark, and clove him thro’ the brain.
Tennyson, _The Last Tournament_. (See ISOND.)
=Isond=, called _La Beale Isond_, i.e. _La Belle Isond_, daughter of
Anguish, king of Ireland. When Sir Tristram vanquished Sir Marhaus, he
went to Ireland to be cured of his wounds. La Beale Isond was his leech,
and fell in love with him; but she married Sir Mark, the dastard king of
Cornwall. This marriage was very unhappy, for Isond hated Mark as much
as she loved Sir Tristram, with whom she eloped and lived in Joyous
Guard Castle, but was in time restored to her husband, and Tristram
married Isond the _Fair-handed_. In the process of time, Tristram, being
severely wounded, sent for La Beale Isond, who alone could cure him, and
if the lady consented to come the vessel was to hoist a white flag. The
ship hove in sight, and Tristram’s wife, out of jealousy, told him it
carried a _black_ flag at the mast-head. On hearing this Sir Tristram
fell back on his bed and died. When La Beale Isond landed, and heard
that Sir Tristram was dead, she flung herself on the body, and died
also. The two were buried in one grave, on which a rose and vine were
planted, which grew up and so intermingled their branches that no man
could separate them.—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii.
(1470).
⁂ Sir Palamedes, the Saracen (_i.e._ unbaptized) also loved La Beale
Isond, but met with no encouragement. Sir Kay Hedius died for love of
her.—_History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 172.
_Isond le Blanch Mains_, daughter of Howell, king of Britain (_i.e._
Brittany). Sir Tristram fell in love with her for her name’s sake; but
though he married her, his love for La Beale Isond, wife of his Uncle
Mark, grew stronger and stronger. When Sir Tristram was dying and sent
for his uncle’s wife, it was Isond _le Blanch Mains_ who told him the
ship was in sight, but carried a _black_ flag at the mast head, on
hearing which Sir Tristram bowed his head and died.—Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 35, etc. (1470).
=Is´rael=, in Dryden’s _Absalom and Achitophel_, means England. As David
was king of Israel, so Charles II. was king of England. Of his son, the
duke of Monmouth, the poet says:
Early in foreign fields he won renown
With kings and states allied to Israel’s crown.
Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i. (1681).
=Is´rafîl=, the angel who will sound the “Resurrection blast.” Then
Gabriel and Michael will call together the “dry bones” to judgement.
When Israfil puts the trumpet to his mouth the souls of the dead will be
cast into the trumpet, and when he blows out will they fly like bees,
and fill the whole space between earth and heaven. Then will they enter
their respective bodies, Mahomet leading the way.—Sale, _Korân_
(Preliminary discourse, iv.).
⁂ Israfil, the angel of melody in paradise. It is said that his
ravishing songs, accompanied by the daughters of paradise and the
clanging of bells, will give delight to the faithful.
=Israfel=. Edgar Allan Poe thus spells the name of the angel “whose
heart strings are a lute.”
“If I could dwell
Where Israfel
Hath dwelt, and he where I,
He might not sing so wildly well
A mortal melody,
While a bolder note than this might swell
From my lyre within the sky.”
Edgar Allan Poe, _Poems_ (1845).
=Ispahan=.
“We parted in the streets of Ispahan,
I stopped my camel at the city gate.
Why did I stop? I left my heart behind.
* * * * *
I meet the caravans when they return.
´What news?’ I ask. The drivers shake their heads.
We parted in the streets of Ispahan.”
Richard Henry Stoddard, _The Book of the East_ (1871)
=Is´sachar=, in Dryden’s _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for Thomas
Thynne, of Longleate Hall, a friend to the duke of Monmouth. There seems
to be a very slight analogy between Thomas Thynne and Issachar, son of
Jacob. If the _tribe_ (compared to an ass overburdened) is alluded to,
the poet could hardly have called the rich commoner “_wise_ Issachar.”
Mr. Thynne and Count Koningsmark both wished to marry the widow of Henry
Cavendish, earl of Ogle. Her friends contracted her to the rich
commoner, but before the marriage was celebrated, he was murdered. Three
months afterwards the widow married the duke of Somerset.
Hospitable treats did most commend
Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend.
Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i. (1681).
=Isumbras= (_Sir_) or Ysumbras. (See ISENBRAS).
=Itadach= (_Colman_), surnamed “The Thirsty.” In consequence of his
rigid observance of the rule of St. Patrick, he refused to drink one
single drop of water; but his thirst in the harvest time was so great
that it caused his death.
=Item=, a money-broker. He was a thorough villain, who could “bully,
cajole, curse, fawn, flatter, and filch.” Mr. Item always advised his
clients not to sign away their money, but at the same time stated to
them the imperative necessity of so doing. “I would advise you strongly
not to put your hand to that paper, though Heaven knows how else you can
satisfy these duns and escape imprisonment.”—Holcroft, _The Deserted
Daughter_ (altered into _The Steward_).
=Itha´can Suitors=. During the absence of Ulyssês, king of Itaca, in the
Trojan war, his wife Penelopê was pestered by numerous suitors, who
assumed that Ulyssês, from his long absence, must be dead. Penelope put
them off by saying she would finish a certain robe which she was making
for Laërtês, her father-in-law, before she gave her final answer to any
of them; but at night she undid all the work she had woven during the
day. At length Ulyssês returned and relieved her of her perplexity.
All the ladies, each at each,
Like the Ithacensian suitors in old time,
Stared with great eyes and laughed with alien lips.
Tennyson, _The Princess_, iv.
=Ith´oclês= (3 _syl._), in love with Calantha, princess of Sparta.
Ithoclês induces his sister Penthēa to break the matter to the princess,
and in time she not only becomes reconciled to his love, but also
requites it, and her father consents to the marriage. During a court
festival, Calantha is informed by a messenger that her father has
suddenly died, by a second that Penthea has starved herself to death,
and by a third that Ithoclês has been murdered. The murderer was
Or´gilus, who killed him out of revenge.—John Ford, _The Broken Heart_
(1633).
=Ithu´riel= (4 _syl._), a cherub sent by Gabriel to find out Satan. He
finds him squatting like a toad beside Eve as she lay asleep, and brings
him before Gabriel. (The word means “God’s discovery.”)—Milton,
_Paradise Lost_, iv. 788 (1665).
_Ithuriel’s Spear_, the spear of the angel Ithuriel, whose slightest
touch exposed deceit. Hence, when Satan squatted like a toad “close to
the ear of Eve,” Ithuriel only touched the creature with his spear, and
it resumed the form of Satan.
...for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_ iv. (1665).
_Ithuriel_, the guardian angel of Judas Iscariot. After Satan entered
into the heart of the traitor, Ithuriel was given to Simon Peter as his
second angel.—Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iii. and iv. (1748, 1771).
=Ivan the Terrible=, Ivan IV. of Russia, a man of great energy, but
infamous for his cruelties. It was he who first adopted the title of
czar (1529, 1533-1584).
=I´vanhoe= (3 _syl._), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1820). The most
brilliant and splendid romance in any language. Rebecca, the Jewess, was
Scott’s favorite character. The scene is laid in England, in the reign
of Richard I., and we are introduced to Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest,
banquets in Saxon hall, tournaments, and all the pomp of ancient
chivalry. Rowena, the heroine, is quite thrown into the shade by the
gentle, meek, yet high-spirited Rebecca.
_Ivanhoe_ (_Sir Wilfred, knight of_), the favorite of Richard I., and
the disinherited son of Cedric of Rotherwood. Disguised as a palmer, he
goes to Rotherwood, and meets there Rowena, his father’s ward, whom he
has long loved; but we hear little more of him except as the friend of
Rebecca and her father, Isaac of York, to both of whom he shows repeated
acts of kindness, and completely wins the affections of the beautiful
Jewess. In the grand tournament, Ivanhoe [_I´.van.ho_] appears as the
“Desdichado” _or_ the “Disinherited Knight,” and overthrows all comers.
King Richard pleads for him to Cedric, reconciles the father to his son,
and the young knight marries Rowena.—Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time,
Richard I.).
=Ivan´ovitch= (_Son of Ivan_ or _John_), the popular name of a Russian.
Similar in construction to our “John-son,” the Danish “Jan-sen,” and the
Scotch “Mac-Ina.”
⁂ The popular name of the English as a people is John Bull; of the
Germans, Cousin Michael; of the French, Jean Crapaud; of the Chinese,
John Chinaman; of the Americans, Brother Jonathan; of the Welsh, Taffy;
of the Scotch, Sandy; of the Swiss, Colin Tampon; of the Russians,
Ivanovitch, etc.
=Iverach= (_Allan_), or steward of Inveraschalloch, with Gallraith, at
the Clachan of Aberfoyle.—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
=Ivory Shoulder=. Demēter ate the shoulder of Pelops, served up by
Tan´talos; so when the gods restored the body to life, Demeter supplied
the lacking shoulder by one made of ivory.
Pythag´oras had a golden thigh, which he showed to Ab´aris, the
Hyperborĕan priest.
Not Pelops’ shoulder, whiter than her hands,
Nor snowy swans that jet on Isca’s sands.
Wm. Browne, _Britannia’s Pastorals_, ii. 3 (1613).
=I´wein=, a knight of the Round Table. He slays the possessor of an
enchanted fountain, and marries the widow, whose name is Laudine.
Gawein, or Gawain urges him to new exploits, so he quits his wife for a
year, in quest of adventures, and as he does not return at the stated
time, Laudine loses all love for him. On his return, he goes mad, and
wanders in the woods, where he is cured by three sorcerers. He now helps
a lion fighting against a dragon, and the lion becomes his faithful
companion. He goes to the enchanted fountain, and there finds Lunet´
prisoner. While struggling with the enchanted fountain, Lunet aids him
with her ring, and he in turn saves her life. By the help of his lion,
Iwein kills several giants, delivers three hundred virgins, and on his
return to King Arthur’s court, marries Lunet.—Hartmann von der Aue
(thirteenth century).
=Ixi´on=, king of the Lap´ithæ, attempted to win the love of Hērê
(_Juno_); but Zeus substituted a cloud for the goddess, and a centaur
was born.
⁂ Browning rhymes the name cleverly:
“—‘joys prove cloudlets:
Men are the merest Ixions’—
Here the King whistled aloud, ‘Let’s
—Heigho ... go look at our lions!’”
R. Browning, _Dramatic Lyrics_, “The Glove.”
=J= (In _Punch_), the signature of Douglas Jerrold, who first
contributed to No. 9 of the serial (1803-1858).
=Jaafer=, who carried the sacred banner of the prophet at the battle of
Muta. When one hand was lopped off, he clutched the banner with the
other; this hand being also lost, he held it with his two stumps. When,
at length, his head was cleft from his body, he contrived so to fall as
to detain the banner till it was seized by Abdallah, and handed to
Khaled.
CYNÆGEROS, in the battle of Marăthon, seized one of the Persian ships
with his right hand. When this was lopped off, he laid hold of it with
his left; and when this was also cut off, he seized it with his teeth,
and held on till he lost his head.
ADMIRAL BENBOW, in an engagement with the French, near St. Martha, in
1701, was carried on deck on a wooden frame after both his legs and
thighs were shivered into splinters by chain-shot.
ALMEYDA, the Portuguese governor of India, had himself propped against
the mainmast after both his legs were shot off.
=Jabos= (_Jock_), postillion at the Golden Arms inn, Kippletringan, of
which Mrs. M’Candlish was landlady.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time,
George II.).
=Ja´chin=, the parish clerk, who purloined the sacramental money, and
died disgraced.—Crabbe, _Borough_ (1810).
=Jacinta=, a first-rate cook, “who deserved to be housekeeper to the
patriach of the Indies,” but was only cook to the licentiate Sedillo of
Valladŏlid.—Ch. ii. I.
The cook, who was no less dexterous than Dame Jacinta, was assisted by
the coachman, in dressing the victuals.—Lesage, _Gil Blas_, iii. 10
(1715).
=Jacin´tha=, the supposed wife of Octavio, and formerly contracted to
Don Henrique (2 _syl._) an uxorious Spanish nobleman.—Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).
_Jacintha_, the wealthy ward of Mr. Strickland; in love with Bellamy.
Jacintha is staid but resolute, and though “she elopes down a ladder of
rope” in boy’s costume, has plenty of good sense and female modesty.—Dr.
Hoadly, _The Suspicious Husband_ (1747).
=Jack= (_Colonel_), the hero of Defoe’s novel entitled _The History of
the Most Remarkable Life and Extraordinary Adventures of the truly Hon.
Colonel Jacque, vulgarly called Colonel Jack_. The colonel (born a
gentleman and bred a pick-pocket) goes to Virginia, and passes through
all the stages of colonial life, from that of “slavie” to that of an
owner of slaves and plantation.
The transition from their refined Oron´datês and Stati´ras, to the
society of Captain [_sic_] Jack and Moll Flanders...is (to use a phrase
of Sterne) like turning from Alexander the Great to Alexander the
coppersmith.—_Encyc. Brit._, Art. “Romance.”
=Jack Amend-all=, a nickname given to Jack Cade, the rebel, who promised
to remedy all abuses (*-1450). As a specimen of his reforms, take the
following examples:—
I, your captain, am brave, and vow reformation. There shall be in
England seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny, the three hooped pot
shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer....
When I am king, there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my
score; and I will apparel all in one livery.—Shakespeare, _2 Henry VI._
act iv. sc. 2 (1591).
=Jack Hamlin=. Professional gambler and lady-killer, has an engagement
to elope with the wife of Brown, of Calaveras. Brown, ignorant of the
friend’s treachery, confides to him his love for the woman who, he
knows, is preparing to leave him with “somebody.” Moved by the man’s
distress, Jack takes horse and rides away _alone_.—Bret Harte, _Luck of
Roaring Camp, etc._ (1872).
=Jack and Jill=, said to be the Saxon and Norman stocks united.
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and cracked his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
_Nursery Rhyme_.
Or thus:
’Twas not on Alpine ice or snow,
But homely English soil:
“Excelsior!” their motto was;
They spared nor time nor toil;
They did not go for fame or wealth,
But went at duty’s call;
And tho’ united in their aim,
Were severed in their fall.
=Jack and the Bean-Stalk=. Jack was a very poor lad, sent by his mother
to sell a cow, which he parted with to a butcher for a few beans. His
mother, in her rage, threw the beans away; but one of them grew during
the night as high as the heavens. Jack climbed the stalk, and, by the
direction of a fairy, came to a giant’s castle, where he begged food and
rest. This he did thrice, and in his three visits stole the giant’s red
hen which laid golden eggs, his money-bags, and his harp. As he ran off
with the last treasure, the harp cried out, “Master! master!” which woke
the giant, who ran after Jack; but the nimble lad cut the bean-stalk
with an axe, and the giant was killed in his fall.
⁂ This is said to be an allegory of the Teutonic Al-fader: the “red hen”
representing the all-producing sun, the “money-bags” the fertilizing
rain, and the “harp” the winds.
=Jack-in-the-Green=, one of the May-day mummers.
⁂ Dr. Owen Pugh says that Jack-in-the-Green represents Melvas, king of
Somersetshire, disguised in green boughs, and lying in ambush for Queen
Guenever, the wife of King Arthur, as she was returning from a hunting
expedition.
=Jack-o’-Lent=, a kind of Aunt Sally set up during Lent to be pitched
at; hence puppet, a sheepish booby, a boy-page, a scarecrow. Mrs. Page
says to Robin, Falstaff’s page:
You little Jack-a-Lent? have you been true to us?—
Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iii. sc. 3 (1603).
=Jack of Newbury=, John Winchcomb, the greatest clothier of the world in
the reign of Henry VIII. He kept a hundred looms in his own house at
Newbury, and equipped at his own expense a hundred of his men to aid the
king against the Scotch in Flodden Field (1513).
=Jack Robinson=. This famous comic song is by Hudson, tobacconist, No.
98 Shoe Lane, London, in the early part of the nineteenth century. The
last line is, “And he was off before you could say ‘Jack Robinson.’” The
tune to which the words are sung is the _Sailors’ Hornpipe_. Halliwell
quotes these two lines from an “old play:”
A warke is ys as easie to be doone
As ’tys to saye, _Jacke! robys on_,
_Archaic Dictionary_.
=Jack Sprat=, of nursery rhymes.
Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean?
And so betwixt ’em both,
They licked the platter clean.
=Jack the Giant-Killer=, a series of nursery tales to show the mastery
of skill and wit over brute strength. Jack encounters various giants,
but outwits them all. The following would illustrate the sort of combat:
Suppose they came to a thick iron door, the giant would belabor it with
his club hour after hour without effect; but Jack would apply a delicate
key, and the door would open at once. This is not one of the stories,
but will serve to illustrate the sundry contests. Jack was a “valiant
Cornishman,” and his first exploit was to kill the giant Cormoran, by
digging a deep pit, which he filmed over with grass, etc. The giant fell
into the pit, and Jack knocked him on the head with a hatchet. Jack
afterwards obtained a coat of invisibility, a cap of knowledge, a
resistless sword, and shoes of swiftness; and, thus armed, he almost rid
Wales of its giants.
=Jack-with-a-Lantern=. This meteoric phenomenon, when seen on the
ground or a little above it, is called by sundry names, as
Brenning-drake, Burning candle, Corpse candles, Dank Will,
Death-fires, Dick-a-Tuesday, Elf-fire, the Fair maid of Ireland,
Friar’s lantern, Gillion-a-burnt-tail, Gyl Burnt-tail, Ignis fatuus,
Jack-o’-lantern, Jack-with-a-lantern, Kit-o’-the-canstick,
Kitty-wi’-a-wisp, Mad Crisp, Peg-a-lantern, Puck, Robin Goodfellow,
Shot stars, Spittle of the stars, Star jelly, a Sylham lamp, a Walking
fire, Wandering fires, Wandering wild-fire, Will-with-a-wisp.
Those led astray by these “fool-fires” are said to be Elf-led, Mab-led,
or Puck-led.
When seen on the tips of the fingers, the hair of the head, mast-tops,
and so on, the phenomenon is called Castor and Pollux (if double),
Cuerpo Santo (Spanish), Corpusanse, Dipsas, St. Elmo _or_ Fires of St.
Elmo (Spanish), St. Ermyn, Feu d’Hélène (French), Fire-drakes, Fuole
_or_ Looke Fuole, Haggs, Helen (if single), St. Hel´ena, St. Helme’s
fires, Leda’s twins, St. Peter and St. Nicholas (Italian), _or_ Fires of
St. Peter and St. Nicholas.
=Jacks= (_The Two Genial_), Jack Munden and Jack Dowton. Planché says:
“They were never called anything else.” The former was Joseph Munden
(1758-1832), and the latter, William Dowton (1764-1851)—Planché,
_Recollections etc._, i. 28.
=Jackson Reed=, aged light-house keeper. Believes in special providences
and personal deliverances. Part of his religion is to keep the “light”
burning. One afternoon he is detained by an upset on the road, and a
storm arises. His skeptical wife, almost bed-ridden with rheumatism,
bethinks herself that her nephew is on the sea, and the light is not
kindled. After hours of agony she drags herself up the stairs, praying
as she goes, and finds the _lamp lighted_, she believes, miraculously.
Her husband coming home, guesses that a girl once beloved by the nephew,
was his guardian angel.
“Abbey Weaver lit that lamp; but _Sarah needn’t know_!”—Mary E. Wilkins,
_The Bar Light-House_ (1887).
=Jacob, the Scourge of Grammar=, Giles Jacob, master of Romsey, in
Southamptonshire, brought up for an attorney. Author of a _Law
Dictionary, Lives and Characters of English Poets_, etc. (1686-1744).
=Jac´omo=, an irascible captain and a woman-hater. Frank (the sister of
Frederick) is in love with him.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Captain_
(1613).
=Jacques= (1 _syl._), one of the domestic men-servants of the duke of
Aranza. The duke, in order to tame down the overbearing spirit of his
bride, pretends to be a peasant, and deputes Jacques to represent the
duke for the nonce. Juliana, the duke’s bride, lays her grievance before
“duke” Jaques, but of course receives no redress, although she learns
that if a Jaques is “duke,” the “peasant” Aranza is a better man.—J.
Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).
_Jacques_ (_Pauvre_), the absent sweet-heart of a love-lorn maiden.
Marie Antoinette sent to Switzerland for a lass to attend the dairy of
her “Swiss village” in miniature, which she arranged in the Little
Trianon (Paris). The lass was heard sighing for _pauvre Jacques_, and
this made a capital sentimental amusement for the court idlers. The
swain was sent for, and the marriage celebrated.
Pauvre Jacques, quand j’etais près de loi
Je ne sentais pas ma misère;
Mais à présent que tu vis loin de moi
Je manque de tout sur la terre.
Marquise de Travanet, _Pauvre Jacques_.
_Jacques_. (See JAQUES.)
=Jac´ulin=, daughter of Gerrard, king of the beggars, beloved by Lord
Hubert.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Beggar’s Bush_ (1622).
=Jael Dence=, sturdy, beautiful daughter of the people, maid and beloved
companion of Grace Garden. From afar off, Jael loves Henry Little, yet
it is through her intrepidity and loyalty that he is restored to her
mistress.—Charles Reade, _Put Yourself in His Place_.
=Jaffier=, a young man befriended by Priuli, a proud Venetian senator.
Jaffier rescued the senator’s daughter, Belvidera, from shipwreck, and
afterwards married her clandestinely. The old man now discarded both,
and Pierre induced Jaffier to join a junto for the murder of the
senators. Jaffier revealed the conspiracy to his wife, and Belvidera, in
order to save her father, induced her husband to disclose it to Priuli,
under promise of free pardon to the conspirators. The pardon, however,
was limited to Jaffier, and the rest were ordered to torture and death.
Jaffier now sought out his friend Pierre, and, as he was led to
execution, stabbed him to prevent his being broken on the wheel, and
then killed himself. Belvidera went mad and died.—T. Otway, _Venice
Preserved_ (1682).
=Jaga-naut=, the seven-headed idol of the Hindûs, described by Southey
in the _Curse of Kehama_, xiv. (1809).
=Jaggers=, a lawyer of Little Britain, London. He was a burly man, of an
exceedingly dark complexion, with a large head and large hand. He had
bushy black eyebrows that stood up bristling, sharp suspicious eyes set
very deep in his head, and strong black dots where his beard and
whiskers would have been if he had let them. His hands smelt strongly of
scented soap, he wore a very large watch-chain, was in the constant
habit of biting his fore-finger, and when he spoke to any one, he threw
his fore-finger at him pointedly. A hard logical man was Mr. Jaggers,
who required an answer to be “yes” or “no,” allowed no one to express an
opinion, but only to state facts in the fewest possible words. Magwitch
appointed him Pip’s guardian, and he was Miss Havisham’s man of
business.—C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).
=Jairus’s Daughter=, restored to life by Jesus, is called by Klopstock
Cidli.—Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).
=Jalût=, the Arabic name for Goliath.—Sale, _Al Korân_, xvii.
=James= (_Prince_), youngest son of King Robert III. of Scotland,
introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Fair Maid of Perth_ (1828).
=James I.= of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Fortunes of
Nigel_ (1822).
=Ja´mie= (_Don_), younger brother of Don Henrique (_2 syl._), by whom he
is cruelly treated.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).
=Jamie Duffs.= Weepers are so called, from a noted Scotchman of the
eighteenth century, whose craze was to follow funerals in deep mourning
costume.—Kay, _Original Portraits_, i. 7; ii. 9. 17, 95.
=Ja´mieson= (_Bet_), nurse at Dr. Grey’s, surgeon at Middlemas.—Sir W.
Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Jamshid=, king of the Genii, famous for a golden cup filled with the
elixir of life. The cup was hidden by the genii, but found when digging
the foundations of Persep´olis.
I know, too, where the genii hid
The jewelled cup of their King Jamshid,
With life’s elixir sparkling high.
T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“Paradise and the Peri,” 1817).
=Jane Eyre=, heroine of a novel so called by Currer Bell.
=Jane=, early and lost love of Ralph Hoyt’s nonogenarian.
“I am fleeing!—all I loved are fled;
Yon green meadow was our place for playing;
That old tree can tell of sweet things said,
When round it Jane and I were straying.
She is dead!
I am fleeing!—all I loved are fled!”
Ralph Hoyt, _Old_ (1859).
=Jan´at=, the Scotch laundress of David Ramsay, the watchmaker.—Sir W.
Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
=Jan´et of Tomahourich= (_Muhme_), aunt of Robin Oig M’Combich, a
Highland drover.—Sir W. Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.).
=Janey Briarley.= Twelve-year-old girl, her mother’s assistant in
rearing the other children. Since her third year she has done with the
follies of youth. She is given to grave speculations and sage counsels
and her sharp eyes do notable service to her friends.—Frances Hodgson
Burnett, _Haworth’s_ (1879).
=Jannekin= (_Little_), apprentice of Henry Smith, the armorer.—Sir W.
Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
=Jannie Duff=, with her little sister and brother, were sent to gather
broom, and were lost in the bush (Australia). The parents called in the
aid of the native blacks to find them, and on the ninth day they were
discovered. “Father,” cried the little boy, “why didn’t you come before?
We cooed quite loud, but you never came.” The sister only said, “cold!”
and sank in stupor. Jannie had stripped herself to cover little Frank,
and had spread her frock over her sister to keep her warm, and there all
three were found almost dead, lying under a bush.
=January and May.= January is an old Lombard baron, some 60 years of
age, who marries a girl named May. This young wife loves Damyan, a young
squire. One day, the old baron found them in close embrace; but May
persuaded her husband that his eyes were so dim he had made a mistake,
and the old baron, too willing to believe, allowed himself to give
credit to the tale.—Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Merchant’s Tale,”
1388).
⁂ Modernized by Ogle (1714).
=Jaquemart=, the automata of a clock, consisting of a man and woman who
strike the hours on a bell. So called from Jean Jacquemart, of Dijon, a
clockmaker, who devised this piece of mechanism. Menage erroneously
derives the word from _jaccomarchiardus_ (“a coat of mail”), “because
watchmen watched the clock of Dijon fitted with a jacquemart.”
=Jaquenetta=, a country wench, courted by Don Adriano de
Armado.—Shakespeare, _Love’s Labor’s Lost_ (1594).
=Jaques= (_1 syl._), one of the lords attendant on the banished duke,
in the forest of Arden. A philosophic idler, cynical, sullen,
contemplative, and moralizing. He could “suck melancholy out of a
song, as a weazel sucks eggs.” Jaques resents Orlando’s passion for
Rosalind, and quits the duke as soon as he is restored to his
dukedom.—Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1598).
Shakespeare always makes two syllables of the name Jaques; Sir Walter
Scott makes one syllable of it, but Charles Lamb two. For example:
Whom humorous Jaques with envy viewed (_1
syl._).
Sir W. Scott.
Where Jaques fed his solitary vein (_2 syl._).—C. Lamb.
The “Jaques” of [_Charles M. Young_, 1777-1856], is indeed most musical,
most melancholy, attuned to the very wood-walks among which he
muses.—_New Monthly Magazine_ (1822).
_Jaques_ (_1 syl._), the miser in a comedy by Ben Jonson, entitled _The
Case is Altered_ (1584-1637).
_Jaques_ (_1 syl._), servant to Sulpit´ia, a bawd. (See
JACQUES.)—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).
=Jarley= (_Mrs._), a kind-hearted woman, mistress of a travelling
wax-work exhibition, containing “one hundred figures the size of life;”
the “only stupendous collection of real wax-work in the world;” “the
delight of the nobility and gentry, the royal family, and crowned heads
of Europe.” Mrs. Jarley was kind to little Nell, and employed her as a
decoy-duck to “Jarley’s unrivalled collection.”—C. Dickens, _Old
Curiosity Shop_.
=Jarnac= (_Coup de_), a cut which severs the ham-string. So called from
a cut given by Jarnac to La Chateigneraie in a duel fought in the
presence of Henri II., in 1547.
=Jarn´dyce= _v._ =Jarn´dyce= ( _2 syl._), a Chancery suit “never ending,
still beginning,” which had dragged its slow length along over so many
years that it had blighted the prospects and ruined the health of all
persons interested in its settlement.—C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).
_Jarndyce_ (_Mr._), client in the great Chancery suit of “Jarndyce _v._
Jarndyce,” and guardian of Esther Summerson. He concealed the tenderest
heart under a flimsy churlishness of demeanor, and could never endure to
be thanked for any of his numberless acts of kindness and charity. If
anything went wrong with him, or his heart was moved to melting, he
would say, “I am sure the wind is in the east.”—C. Dickens, _Bleak
House_ (1853).
=Jarvie= (_Bailie Nicol_), a magistrate at Glasgow, and kinsman of Rob
Roy. He is petulant, conceited, purse proud, without tact, and intensely
prejudiced, but kind-hearted and sincere. Jarvie marries his maid. The
novel of _Rob Roy_ has been dramatized by J. Pocock, and Charles Mackay
was the first to appear in the character of “Bailie Nicol Jarvie.”
Talfourd says (1829): “Other actors are sophisticate, but Macay is the
thing itself.”—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
The character of Bailie Nicol Jarvie is one of the author’s happiest
conceptions, and the idea of carrying him to the wild, rugged mountains,
among outlaws and desperadoes—at the same time that he retained a keen
relish of the comforts of the Saltmarket of Glasgow, and a due sense of
his dignity as a magistrate—complete the ludicrous effect of the
picture.—Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 587.
=Jarvis=, a faithful old servant, who tries to save his master, Beverly,
from his fatal passion of gambling.—Edward Moore, _The Gamester_ (1753).
_Jarvis (Warner)._ Cynical traveller who comes to Castle Nowhere, and
loses his heart to Silver.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, _Castle
Nowhere_.
=Jason.= King of Thessaly, commander of Argonautic expedition, and
unfaithful husband of Medea.
=Jaspar= was poor, heartless, and wicked; he lived by highway robbery,
and robbery led to murder. One day he induced a poor neighbor to waylay
his landlord; but the neighbor relented, and said, “Though dark the
night, there is One above who sees in darkness.” “Never fear!” said
Jaspar; “for no eye above or below can pierce this darkness.” As he
spoke an unnatural light gleamed on him, and he became a confirmed
maniac.—R. Southey, _Jaspar_ (a ballad).
=Jasper= (_Old_), a ploughman at Glendearg Tower.—Sir W. Scott, _The
Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Jasper (Sir)_, father of Charlotte. He wants her to marry a Mr. Dapper;
but she loves Leander, and, to avoid a marriage she dislikes, pretends
to be dumb. A mock doctor is called in who discovers the facts of the
case, and employs Leander as his apothecary. Leander soon cures the lady
with “pills matrimoniac.” In Molière’s _Le Médecin Malgré Lui_ (from
which this play is taken) Sir Jasper is called “Géronte” (_2 syl._).—H.
Fielding, _The Mock Doctor_.
=Jasper Packlemerton=, of atrocious memory, one of the chief figures in
Mrs. Jarley’s wax work exhibition.
“Jasper courted and married fourteen wives, and destroyed them all by
tickling the soles of their feet when they were asleep. On being brought
to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had done, he
replied he was only sorry for having let them off so easy. Let this,”
said Mrs. Jarley, “be a warning to all young ladies to be particular in
the character of the gentleman of their choice. Observe his fingers are
curled as if in the act of tickling, and there is a wink in his
eyes.”—C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxviii. (1840).
=Jasper Western=, otherwise _Eau Douce_. Gallant young captain of a
small schooner cruising among the Thousand Islands, the fast friend of
Pathfinder, and unwittingly his rival for the hand of Mabel Dunham, who
becomes Mrs. Western.—James Fennimore Cooper, _The Pathfinder_ (1840).
=Jaup= (_Alison_), an old woman at Middlemas village.—Sir W. Scott, _The
Surgeons’ Daughter_ (time, George II.).
_Jaup (Saunders)_, a farmer at Old St. Ronan’s.—Sir. W. Scott, _St.
Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).
=Javan= lost his father on the day of his birth, and was brought up in
the “patriarch’s glen” by his mother, till she also died. He then
sojourned for ten years with the race of Cain, and became the disciple
of Jubal, the great musician. He then returned to the glen and fell in
love with Zillah; but the glen being invaded by giants, Zillah and
Javan, with many others, were taken captives. Enoch reproved the giants;
and, as he ascended up to heaven, his mantle fell on Javan, who released
the captives, and conducted them back to the glen. The giants were
panic-struck by a tempest, and their king was killed by some unknown
hand.—James Montgomery, _The World Before the Flood_ (1812).
=Javan’s Issue,= the Ionians and Greeks generally (_Gen._ x. 2). Milton
uses the expression in _Paradise Lost_, i. 508.
⁂ In _Isaiah_ lxvi. 19, and in _Ezek._ xxvii. 13, the word is used for
Greeks collectively.
=Javert=, an officer of police, the impersonation of inexorable
law.—Victor Hugo, _Les Miserables_.
Jay (_John_), sarcastic artist and man of the world, who seeks solitude
at Misery Landing, and falls in love with little Marthy, a backwoods
maiden.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, _Misery Landing_ (1875).
=Ja´zer=, a city of Gad, personified by Isaiah. “Moab shall howl for
Moab, every one shall howl ... I will bewail, with the weeping of
Jazer, the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O
Heshbon.”—_Isaiah_ xvi. 7-9.
It did not content the congregation to weep all of them; but they howled
with a loud voice, weeping with the weeping of Jazer.—_Kirkton_, 150.
=Jealous Traffick= (_Sir_), a rich merchant, who fancies everything
Spanish is better than English, and intends his daughter, Isabinda, to
marry Don Diego Barbinetto, who is expected to arrive forthwith.
Isabinda is in love with Charles [Gripe], who dresses in a Spanish
costume, passes himself off as Don Diego Barbinetto, and is married to
Isabinda. Sir Jealous is irritable, headstrong, prejudiced, and wise in
his own conceit.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709).
=Jealous Wife= (_The_), a comedy by George Colman (1761). Harriet Russet
marries Mr. Oakly, and becomes “the jealous wife;” but is ultimately
cured by the interposition of major Oakly, her brother-in-law.
⁂ This comedy is founded on Fielding’s _Tom Jones_.
=Jeames de la Pluche=, a flunky. Jeames means the same thing.—Thackeray,
_Jeames’s Diary_ (1849).
=Jean des Vignes=, a French expression for a drunken blockhead, a
good-for-nothing. The name Jean is often used in France, as synonymous
with clown or fool, and _etre dans les vignes_ is a popular euphuism,
meaning “to be drunk.” A more fanciful explanation of the term refers
its origin to the battle of Poietiers, fought by King John, among the
vines. _Un mariage de Jean des Vignes_, means an illicit marriage, or,
in the English equivalent, “a hedge marriage.”
=Jean Folle Farine=, a merry Andrew, a poor fool, a Tom Noodle. So
called because he comes on the stage like a great loutish boy, dressed
all in white, with his face, hair, and hands thickly covered with flour.
Scaramouch is a sort of Jean Folle Farine.
Ouida has a novel called _Folle Farine_, but she uses the phrase in
quite another sense.
=Jean Jacques.= So J. J. Rousseau is often called (1712-1778).
That is almost the only maxim of Jean Jacques, to which I can ...
subscribe.—Lord Lytton.
=Jean Paul.= J. P. Friedrich Richter, is generally so called
(1763-1825).
=Jeanne of Alsace=, a girl ruined by Dubosc, the highwayman. She gives
him up to justice, in order to do a good turn to Julie Lesurques (_2
syl._), who had befriended her.—E. Stirling, _The Courier of Lyons_
(1852).
=Jeddler= (_Dr._), “a great philosopher.” The heart and mystery of his
philosophy was to look upon the world as a gigantic practical
joke—something too absurd to be considered seriously by any rational
man. A kind and generous man by nature, was Dr. Jeddler, and though he
had taught himself the art of turning good to dross, and sunshine into
shade, he had not taught himself to forget his warm benevolence and
active love. He wore a pigtail, and had a streaked face like a winter
pippin, with here and there a dimple “to express the peckings of the
birds;” but the pippin was a tempting apple, a rosy, healthy apple after
all.
_Grace_ and _Marion Jeddler_, daughters of the doctor, beautiful,
graceful, and affectionate. They both fell in love with Alfred
Heathfield; but Alfred loved the younger daughter. Marion, knowing the
love of Grace, left her home clandestinely one Christmas Day, and all
supposed she had eloped with Michael Warden. In due time, Alfred married
Grace, and then Marion made it known to her sister that she had given up
Alfred, out of love to her, and had been living in concealment with her
Aunt Martha. Report says she subsequently married Michael Warden, and
became the pride and honor of his country mansion.—C. Dickens, _The
Battle of Life_ (1846).
=Jed´ida and Benjamin=, two of the children that Jesus took into His
arms and blessed.
“Well I remember,” said Benjamin, “when we were on earth, with what
loving fondness He folded us in His arms; how tenderly He pressed us to
His heart. A tear was on His cheek, and I kissed it away. I see it
still, and shall ever see it.” “And I, too,” answered Jedida, “remember
when His arms were clasped around me, how He said to our mothers,
‘Unless ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven.’”—Klopstock, _The Messiah_, i. (1748).
=Jehoi´achim=, the servant of Joshua Geddes, the quaker.—Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Je´hu=, a coachman, one who drives at a rattling pace.
The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he
driveth furiously.—2 _Kings_ ix. 20.
_Jehu (Companions of)_. The “Chouans” were so called, from a fanciful
analogy between their self-imposed task and that appointed to Jehu, on
his being set over the kingdom of Israel. As Jehu was to cut off Ahab
and Jezebel, with all their house; so the Chouans were to cut off Louis
XVI., Marie Antoinette and all the Bourbons.
=Jekyll= (_Doctor_). He discovers the secret of transformation, by means
of a potent elixir, into the embodiment of his worse nature. As Dr.
Jekyll, he is beneficent and beloved. As Edward Hyde, he is a monster of
vice and cruelty. Finally, the baser elements prevail, and he is forced
to remain Hyde—a horror that drives him to madness and death.—Robert
Louis Stevenson, _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_.
=Jel´licot= (_Old Goody_), servant at the under-keeper’s hut, Woodstock
Forest.—Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
=Jel´lyby= (_Mrs._), a sham philanthropist, who spends her time, money,
and energy on foreign missions, to the neglect of her family and home
duties. Untidy in dress, living in a perfect litter, she has a habit of
looking “a long way off,” as if she could see nothing nearer to her than
Africa. Mrs. Jellyby is quite overwhelmed with business correspondence
relative to the affairs of Borrioboola Gha.—C. Dickens _Bleak House_,
iv. (1852).
=Jemlikha=, the favorite Greek slave of Dakiānos of Ephesus. Nature had
endowed him with every charm, “his words were sweeter than the honey of
Arabia, and his wit sparkled like a diamond.” One day, Dakianos was
greatly annoyed by a fly, which persisted in tormenting the king,
whereupon Jemlikha said to himself, “If Dakianos cannot rule a fly, how
can he be the creator of heaven and earth?” This doubt he communicated
to his fellow-slaves, and they all resolved to quit Ephesus, and seek
some power superior to that of the arrogator of divine honors.—Comte
Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“Dakianos and the Seven Sleepers,” 1743).
=Jemmie Duffs=, weepers. (See JAMIE DUFFS).
=Jemmy.= This name, found on engravings of the eighteenth century, means
James Worsdale (died 1767).
=Jemmy Twitcher=, a cunning and treacherous highwayman.—Gay, _The
Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).
⁂ Lord Sandwich, member of the Kit-Kat Club, was called “Jemmy Twitcher”
(1765).
=Jenkin=, the servant of George-a-Green. He says a fellow ordered him to
hold his horse, and see that it took no cold. “No, no,” quoth Jenkin,
“I’ll lay my cloak under him.” He did so, but “mark you,” he adds, “I
cut four holes in my cloak first, and made his horse stand on the bare
ground.”—Robert Greene, _George-a-Green, the Pinner of Wakefield_
(1584).
_Jenkin_, one of the retainers of Julian Avenel (_2 syl._), of Avenel
Castle.—Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Jencks= (_Mr._). Tall, well-mannered young Englishman, appointed
professor in a rising fresh-water university in America. On ship-board
he falls in love with Lily Floyd-Curtis, whose mother is a society
leader—or would be. Jencks rises faster even than his university but
fate and Floyd-Curtisism award Lily to Lord Melrose, _malgré_ his
spotted reputation.—Constance Cary Harrison, _The Anglomaniacs_ (1890).
=Jenkins= (_Mrs. Winifred_), Miss Tabitha Bramble’s maid, noted for her
bad spelling, misapplication of words, and ludicrous misnomers. Mrs.
Winifred Jenkins is the original of Mrs. Malaprop.—Smollett, _The
Expedition of Humphry Clinker_ (1771).
_Jenkins_, a vulgar lick-spittle of the aristocracy, who retails their
praises and witticisms, records their movements and deeds, gives flaming
accounts of their dresses and parties, either _viva voce_ or in
newspaper paragraphs: “Lord and Lady Dash attended divine service last
Sunday, and were very attentive to the sermon” (wonderful!). “Lord and
Lady Dash took a drive _or_ walk last Monday in their magnificent park
of Snobdoodleham. Lady Dash wore a mantle of rich silk, a bonnet with
ostrich feathers, and shoes with rosettes.” The name is said to have
been first given by Punch to a writer in the _Morning Post_.
=Jenkinson= (_Ephraim_), a green old swindler, whom Dr. Primrose met in
a public tavern. Imposed on by his venerable appearance, apparent
devoutness, learned talk about “cosmogony,” and still more so by his
flattery of the doctor’s work on the subject of monogamy, Dr. Primrose
sold the swindler his horse, Old Blackberry, for a draft upon Farmer
Flamborough. When the draft was presented for payment, the farmer told
the vicar that Ephraim Jenkinson “was the greatest rascal under heaven,”
and that he was the very rogue who had sold Moses Primrose the
spectacles. Subsequently the vicar found him in the county jail, where
he showed Dr. Primrose great kindness, did him valuable service, became
a reformed character, and probably married one of the daughters of
Farmer Flamborough.—Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1765).
=Jenness= (_Captain_). Master of the _Aroostook_, in which Lydia Blood
(unchaperoned) takes passage for Venice. Has “a girl just about her age
up at Deer Isle.”
“Good land! I know what girls are, I hope!”
After which, the young lady needs no duenna, although she is the only
woman on board.—W.D. Howells, _The Lady of the Aroostook_ (1879).
=Jennie=, housekeeper to the old laird of Dumbiedikes.—Sir W. Scott,
_Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
=Jenny= [DIVER]. Captain Macheath says, “What, my pretty Jenny! as prim
and demure as ever? There’s not a prude, though ever so high bred, hath
a more sanctified look, with a more mischievous heart.” She pretends to
love Macheath, but craftily secures one of his pistols, that his other
“pals” may the more easily betray him into the hands of the constables
(act ii. 1.).—J. Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).
=Jenny l’Ouvrière=, the type of a hard-working Parisian needle-woman.
She is contented with a few window-flowers which she terms “her garden,”
a caged bird which she calls “her songster,” and when she gives the
fragments of her food to some one poorer than herself, she calls it “her
delight.”
Entendez-vous un oiseau familier?
C’est le chanteur de Jenny l’Ouvrière,
Au cœur content, content de peu
Elle pourrait être riche, et préfére
Ce qui vient de Dieu.
Emile Barateau (1847).
=Jeph´thah’s Daughter.= When Jephthah went forth against the Ammonites,
he vowed that if he returned victorious he would sacrifice, as a burnt
offering, whatever first met him on his entrance into his native city.
He gained a splendid victory, and at the news thereof his only daughter
came forth dancing to give him welcome. The miserable father rent his
clothes in agony, but the noble-spirited maiden would not hear of his
violating his vow. She demanded a short respite, to bewail upon the
mountains her blighted hope of becoming a mother, and then submitted to
her fate.—_Judges_, xi.
An almost identical tale is told of Idomeneus, king of Crete. On his
return from the Trojan war, he made a vow in a tempest that, if he
escaped, he would offer to Neptune the first living creature that
presented itself to his eye on the Cretan shore. His own son was there
to welcome him home, and Idomeneus offered him up a sacrifice to the
sea-god, according to his vow. Fénelon has introduced this legend in his
_Télémaque_, v.
Agamemnon vowed to Diana, if he might be blessed with a child, that he
would sacrifice to her the dearest of all his possessions. Iphigenīa,
his infant daughter, was, of course, his “dearest possession;” but he
refused to sacrifice her, and thus incurred the wrath of the goddess,
which resulted in the detention of the Trojan fleet at Aulis. Iphigenia
being offered in sacrifice, the offended deity was satisfied, and
interposed at the critical moment, by carrying the princess to Tauris
and substituting a stag in her stead.
The latter part of this tale cannot fail to call to mind the offering of
Abraham. As he was about to take the life of Isaac, Jehovah interposed,
and a ram was substituted for the human victim.—_Gen._ xxii.