and became chaplain to the mother of Henry VIII who had him appointed
first lady Margaret professor of divinity in 1503. In the following
year he was elected Chancellor of the University and bishop of
Rochester; fined for denying the validity of the divorce of Catherine
of Aragon, 1534; and in the same year was with sir Thomas More sent to
the Tower for refusing to swear to the Act of Supremacy; deprived and
beheaded by order of the king, 1535. He was beatified in 1886.
_Queen Mary._
FITZ.
Edward Fitzgerald, English poet and translator, and a friend of
Tennyson; first met at the home of James Spedding, in the Lake
District. Upon his death in 1883, Tennyson wrote the following lines:
Gone into darkness, that full light
Of friendship, past, in sleep, away
By night, into the deeper night!
The deeper night? A clearer day
Than our poor twilight dawn on earth--
If night, what barren toil to be!
What life, so maim’d by night, were worth
Our living out? Not mine to be
Remembering all the golden hours
Now silent, and so many dead,
And him the last.
_Life of Tennyson._
Some years later his widow wrote to the poet thanking him for
dedicating _Tiresias_ to the memory of her late husband.
_To E. Fitzgerald._
FITZURSE.
_See_ =Reginald, Reginald Fitzurse=.
FLAG-FLOWER.
= the Iris; an original of the _fleur-de-lys_ in the arms of France.
_Miller’s Daughter._
FLANDERS.
A former name of a country of Europe extending along the North Sea from
the Straits of Dover to the river Scheldt.
_Queen Mary_;
_Harold_.
FLEA.
An insect remarkable for its great agility.
_Merlin and Vivien_;
_Queen Mary_.
FLEECE, THE.
Name of an Inn.
‘The Bull, the Fleece are cramm’d; and not a room
For love or money.
_Audley Court._
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
The flower of the lily. A bearing in the French Arms of the house of
Bourbon, represented by three lilies, as emblematic of royalty.
_Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham._
FLORA.
A famous portrait by Titian, the famous Italian painter, and
representation in Roman mythology of the goddess of Flowers and the
Spring.
‘will you climb the top of Art,
You cannot fail but work in hues to dim
The Titianic Flora.
_Gardener’s Daughter._
FLORA.
The lady Flora, to whom is related by a young man deeply in love with
her, the familiar fairy tale of the _Sleeping Beauty_. At the time she
was working in the drawing room at her embroidery. In conclusion, he
told her that he would gladly slumber for a hundred years if at the end
of that time he could awake her with a kiss.
_The Day-Dream._
FLORENCE.
A famous Italian city, in the valley of the Arno. It is the city of
Dante, Petrarch, Angelo and many more of Italy’s great men.
_The Brook_;
_The Daisy_;
_Maud_;
_To Dante_;
_The Falcon_.
FLORES.
One of the Azores islands. Discovered in 1439 by Vanderberg, it was
near this island that sir Richard Grenville in the reign of Elizabeth
fought his famous sea-fight.
At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And a pinnace, like a flutter’d bird, came flying from far away:
_The Revenge._
FLORIAN.
A friend of prince Arac, one of the three who gained admission to
princess Ida’s college. He was described by prince Arac as
my other heart,
And almost my half-self, for still we moved
Together, twinn’d as horse’s ear and eye.
_The Princess._
FLORIDA.
Ev’n as the warm gulf-stream of Florida
Floats far away into the Northern seas
The lavish growths of southern Mexico.
_Mine be the strength._
FLORIO.
Only child of the lady Giovanna, who married count Federigo deghli
Alberighi.
_The Falcon._
FLOWERING ISLE.
And we hated the Flowering Isle, as we hated the isle that was mute,
_Voyage of Maeldune._
_See_ =Maeldune=.
FLUR.
The daughter of Mygnach Gorr and the betrothed of Cássivëlaún (_q.v._),
a king of Britain. Mwrchan, a Gallic chief carried her away to Gaul,
but Cássivëlaún invaded Gaul with 60,000 men and gaining a victory,
rescued her.
_Marriage of Geraint._
FOLIOT (Gilbert).
_See_ =Gilbert Foliot=.
FONSECA (Juan Rodriguez de).
Archdeacon of Seville; appointed commissioner to superintend the
fitting-out of Columbus’ second voyage from Spain. A capable man, but
of a very crafty disposition, he objected to the number of footmen
which Columbus proposed for his domestic household, and the matter
being referred to Ferdinand he was ordered to carry out Columbus’
wishes. Fonseca subsequently became archbishop of Toledo and Patriarch
of the Indies.
_Columbus._
FORGET-ME-NOT.
A small herb, with beautiful blue flowers, and considered the emblem of
fidelity.
_Miller’s Daughter_;
_The Brook_;
_Queen Mary_;
_Promise of May_.
FORTUNE.
And affluent Fortune emptied all her horn.
In Roman mythology the goddess of good luck. She was worshipped at a
great number of shrines under various titles; but is represented here
as holding in her hand the horn of plenty.
_Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington._
FORUM, THE.
The Baths, the Forum, gabbled of his death,
Was originally the marketplace of the city, but afterwards the centre
of the religious, civil and political life of the city.
_The Princess_;
_St. Telemachus_;
_To Virgil_.
FOX.
An animal of the dog family, remarkable for cunning.
_Walking to the Mail_;
_Day-Dream_;
_Aylmer’s Field_;
_Pelleas and Ettarre_;
_Village Wife_;
_Queen Mary_;
_Promise of May_.
FOXGLOVE.
= a plant, whose leaves are used as a medicine.
_Two Voices_;
_In Memoriam_;
_Sisters (Evelyn and Edith)_;
_The Foresters_.
FRANCE.
_Dream of Fair Women_;
_The Captain_;
_The Princess_;
_Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington_;
_Aylmer’s Field_;
_In Memoriam_;
_To the Queen, II_;
_In the Children’s Hospital_;
_Columbus_;
_To Victor Hugo_;
_Locksley Hall Sixty Years After_;
_Queen Mary_;
_Harold_;
_Becket_.
FRANCHE-COMTE.
An ancient province in East France, added to the crown of France at
the peace of Nimeguen in 1671. It extends from the Saône to the Jura
mountains.
_Queen Mary._
FRANCIS.
FRANCIS ALLEN.
Friend of Everard Hall who had written an _Epic_ about king Arthur. At
the house of Francis on Christmas eve, four college friends sat round
the fire talking of Christmas customs. Everard was asked what he had
done with his _Epic_. Francis replied that Everard had burnt it, but he
had been fortunate enough to save the eleventh book from the flames and
forthwith produced it.
_The Epic_;
_Morte d’Arthur_.
FRANCIS.
FRANCIS HALE.
A farmer’s son, who lived at Torquay, and a friend of Everard Hall. Was
present with him at a picnic at Audley Court as
‘The Bull, the Fleece are cramm’d, and not a room
For love or money. Let us picnic
At Audley Court.’
They spent an enjoyable evening, eating homely fare, discussing
politics, the king and matters nearer home, and ended the picnic by
entertaining each other with a song.
He sang his song, and I replied with mine:
and returned in the dusky moonlight to Torquay.
_Audley Court._
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
Founder of the Franciscan order, born at Assisi in Umbria (1182). Began
life as a soldier, but at the age of twenty-four he gave himself up
entirely to religious life. He died in 1226 and was canonized in 1228.
_Locksley Hall Sixty Years After._
FRANK.
_See_ =Francis, Francis Allen=.
FRANKFORT.
On-the-Main, one of the old free cities of Germany.
To Strasburg, Antwerp, Frankfort, Zurich, Worms,
Geneva, Basle--our Bishops from their sees
Or fled, they say, or flying--
_Queen Mary._
FRIAR TUCK.
Robin Hood’s chaplain. He is represented as being fat and very
self-indulgent, and a very humorous character. He was a monk of
Fountains Abbey, which was of the Cistercian order, and wore a red
corded girdle ornamented with gold twist, red stockings and a wallet.
He was nick-named ‘Tuck’ on account of his dress being tucked at the
waist by a girdle.
In this our spacious Isle, I thinke there is not one,
But he hath heard some talke of him and Little _John_;
And to the end of time, the Tales shall ne’er be done,
Of _Scarlock_, _George a Greene_ and _Much_, the Millers sonne,
Of _Tuck_, the merry Frier, which many a Sermon made,
In praise of _Robin Hood_, his Out-lawes, and their Trade.’
Drayton: _Polyolbion. Five and twentieth Song._
_The Foresters._
FROG.
An amphibious animal of the genus _Rana_, remarkable for its activity
in swimming and leaping.
_On Translations of Homer._
FROTHFLY.
Also called froth-worm and frog-fly; a small insect which in its larva
state is found on plants, enveloped in a frothy liquid.
_Aylmer’s Field._
FULVIA.
The first wife of Mark Antony and a woman of dissolute character. In 40
+B.C.+, during Antony’s absence from Rome, she raised a revolt in Italy
against Augustus, and was besieged in Perusia. On its fall she escaped
and fled to Antony. Cleopatra likens her to Eleanor, the queen of Henry
II, hence:
You should have clung to Fulvia’s waist, and thrust
The dagger thro’ her side.’
_Dream of Fair Women._
FURY--FURIES.
The three Greek goddesses of vengeance: named Alecto (She who rests
not); Tisiphone (avenger of murder); and Negara (the jealous one). They
were the daughters of Gaia and Uranus, and resided at the court of
Pluto. They punished without mercy all wicked doers, haunting them on
earth and scourging them in hell.
_Vision of Sin_;
_Lucretius_;
_In Memoriam_;
_Maud_;
_Sisters (Evelyn and Edith)_.
FURZE.
A thorny evergreen shrub with yellow flowers.
_Becket._
FUZZ.
= Furze.
_Northern Farmer, Old Style._
GABRIEL.
The archangel, who announced to the Virgin Mary the solemn intimation
that God had elected her to be the mother of the Messiah. _Daniel vii.
15-27._ _Luke i. 26._
By the Mohammedans he is called the ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘Spirit of Truth’
and is believed to have dictated the _Koran_ to Mahomet.
_Milton._
GAD-FLY.
A fly which deposits its eggs in the skin of cattle.
_The Princess_;
_The Foresters_.
GAFFER.
Then yelp’d the cur, and yawl’d the cat;
Ran Gaffer, stumbled Gammer.
The goose flew this way and flew that,
And filled the house with clamour.
= A rustic.
_The Goose._
GAFFER DEATH.
but if
You starve me I be Gaffer Death himself.
= A Goodman.
_The Foresters._
GALAHAD.
Son of sir Lancelot and Elaine and a Knight of the Round Table. Famous
in Arthurian legend for his success in the quest of the Holy Grail.
Malory says: ‘and he was named Galahad because sir Launcelot was so
named at the fountain-stone; and after that, the Lady of the Lake
confirmed him sir Launcelot du Lake.’ He was known as the knight of the
‘long isles’ and was always clad in white armour. His sword was the one
which Balin released from the scabbard brought by the damsel to the
court of king Arthur, and his shield was snow-white on which Joseph
of Arimathæa made a cross with his blood. Sir Galahad was called the
‘perfect knight,’ being the only knight who could sit in the ‘Siege
Perilous,’ a seat reserved for the knight who was successful in his
search for the Holy Grail. Sir Galahad, with sir Bors and sir Percivale
went in quest of the Grail, but only Galahad was permitted to see the
vision with the bodily eyes after which his soul was borne to heaven.
_Merlin and Vivien_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_;
_Holy Grail_;
_Becket_.
GALATIA.
An ancient district of Asia Minor. It derived its name from the Gauls
who took possession of it in the third century +B.C.+ In 25 +B.C.+,
during the reign of Augustus, Galatia was made a Roman province.
_The Cup._
GALATIAN ARTEMIS.
_See_ =Ephesian Artemis=.
GALAXY.
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The Milky Way, or the luminous band of stars stretching across the
heavens.
_Lady of Shalott._
GALEN.
_See_ =Court-Galen=.
GALILEE.
for she walks,
Wearing the light yoke of that Lord of love
Who still’d the rolling wave of Galilee!
Has reference to Christ rebuking the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
_Matthew viii. 26_; _Mark iv. 39_; _Luke viii. 24_.
_Aylmer’s Field._
GAMA.
Father of princess Ida. Prince Arac says:
His name was Gama; crack’d and small his voice,
But bland the smile that like a wrinkling wind
On glassy water drove his cheek in lines;
A little dry old man, without a star,
Not like a king:
Prince Arac visited him, and reminded him of the former compact.
Gama explained to Arac the new ideas of Ida concerning the college
for women, and said his chance of winning her was almost as nothing.
Gama suggested war, but the prince objected to its almost inevitable
accompaniments, and wished to win his bride in some better way.
_The Princess._
GAMEL.
A Northumberland Thane, son of Orm. Was by treachery murdered by earl
Tostig, who had invited him into his room on pretence of peace.
_Harold._
GAMMER.
Then yelp’d the cur, and yawl’d the cat;
Ran Gaffer, stumbled Gammer.
The goose flew this way and flew that,
And fill’d the house with clamour.
= An old woman.
_The Goose._
GANYMEDE.
A beautiful youth, son of Tros, king of Dardania, whom Zeus, attracted
by his beauty, carried off disguised as an eagle to heaven, and
conferring immortality upon him, made him cup-bearer to the gods in
place of Hebe. As a compensation to Tros, Zeus presented him with four
immortal horses for his chariot.
Or else flush’d Ganymede, his rosy thigh
Half-buried in the Eagle’s down,
Sole as a flying star shot thro’ the sky
Above the pillar’d town.
_Palace of Art_;
_Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue_;
_The Princess_.
GARCIA (Villa).
_See_ =Villa Garcia=.
GARDA.
GARDA LAKE.
An Italian lake on the edge of the plain of Lombardy.
_Queen Mary_;
_Frater Ave Atque Vale_.
GARDINER (Stephen).
Bishop of Winchester, born 1483. Private secretary to Wolsey; in 1528
sent as ambassador to pope Clement VII, he obtained a second commission
on the royal divorce question; after Wolsey’s fall acted as secretary
to Henry VIII; created bishop of Winchester 1531; ambassador in France
1531-32; falling into disfavour he was ousted from the council and the
chancellorship of Cambridge, deprived of his see, and was imprisoned
in the Tower during the whole of the reign of Edward VI. On Mary’s
accession he was liberated, reinstated, and made Lord Chancellor;
opposed the Spanish marriage and advocated severe measures against
Elizabeth, whom he caused to be declared illegitimate by Act of
Parliament. He died in 1555.
_Queen Mary._
GARETH.
A Knight of the Round Table, who ‘underwent the sooty yoke of
kitchen-vassalage.’ Malory says that he
‘was the youngest son of Lot, king of Orkney and Morgawse, Arthur’s
sister,’
but according to Tennyson he was
‘the last and tallest son of Lot king of Orkney and of Bellicent his
wife.
In order to please his mother he concealed his name and served as
kitchen-knave at Arthur’s court for a twelve-month and a day, and on
account of his large hands was by sir Kay nicknamed Fair-hands:
And since he hath no name, I shall give him a name that shall be
Beaumains, that is Fair-hands.
Malory: _Morte d’Arthur, Book VII. chap. i._
At the end of the twelve-month he was knighted, and a maiden called
Lynette (_q.v._) went to king Arthur to ask for a knight to deliver
her sister Lyonors (_q.v._), who was held captive in Castle Perilous.
The king gave the quest to Gareth, but Lynette became indignant and
treated him with indignity, calling him ‘a master of dishes and a
kitchen knave.’ He bravely endured her insults, and eventually won her
admiration by his courageously slaying the four knights who kept the
passage to Castle Perilous and liberating her sister, whom, according
to Malory, he married. Tennyson however makes him marry Lynette.
And he that told the tale in older times
Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors,
But he, that told it later, says Lynette.
Gareth was slain by sir Lancelot in the rescue of Guinevere from the
stake.
_Gareth and Lynette_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_.
GARGARUS.
Behind the valley topmost Gargarus
Stands up and takes the morning:
The highest peak of the Ida range rising about 4,600 feet above the
level of the sea.
_Œnone._
GARLON.
A Knight of the Round Table. He was a man of secrecy, and went about
invisible inflicting wounds. He was slain at a feast by Balin in
revenge for having slain two of his (Balin’s) knights.
Soon Balin asked a knight. Is there not a knight in this court
whose name is Garlon? Yonder he goeth, said a knight, he with the
black face; he is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he
destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.... Therewith
this Garlon espied that this Balin behind him, and then he came and
smote Balin on the face with the back of his hand.... Give me the
truncheon, said Balin to his lady, wherewith he slew your knight ...
and therewith Balin smote him through the body, and said openly, With
that truncheon thou hast slain a good knight, and now it sticketh in
thy body.
Malory: _Morte d’Arthur, Book II. chap. xiv._
_Balin and Balan._
GARRICK.
David Garrick, dramatist, born at Hereford, 1717; was a pupil of
Samuel Johnson, whom he accompanied to London in 1737. Four years
later he commenced his career as an actor and in 1747 became, with
Lacy, joint-proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre, which he continued to
direct until his retirement from the stage in 1776, when he sold his
half-share for £35,000. He died in 1779, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. In all Saints Church, Hereford, a brass plate bears the
following inscription: ‘In memory of David Garrick, who was born in
this parish, and baptized in this Church, 28th February 1717, and was
interred in Westminster Abbey.’
_To W. C. Macready._
GASCON.
and most amorous
Of good old red sound liberal Gascon wine:
= Wine from Gascony, a province of France.
_Becket._
GAWAIN.
A Knight of the Round Table, son of king Lot, nephew of king Arthur,
and brother of Modred and Gareth. He was the second of the fifty
knights created by Arthur, and was considered to be the most reckless
and irreverent of them all. He fought with, and struck off the head
of sir Priamus, but the headless knight picked up his head again and
walked away, requesting sir Gawain to meet him twelve months hence.
Gawain kept the appointment and was sumptuously entertained by Priamus.
Gawain counselled king Arthur not to be over hasty in punishing
Guinevere for her unfaithfulness. Gawain was considered at first to
be the hero of the quest of the Holy Grail, but was deprived of that
honour by Malory. According to the prophecy of Merlin Gawain fell in
fighting for king Arthur against sir Lancelot in Benwick; and previous
to the ‘last weird battle in the west’ Arthur is represented as seeing
the ghost of Gawain ‘blown along a wandering wind’ and crying out.
Then, ere that last weird battle in the west,
There came on Arthur sleeping, Gawain kill’d
In Lancelot’s war, the ghost of Gawain blown
Along a wandering wind, and past his ear
Went shrilling, ‘Hollow, hollow all delight!
Hail, King! to-morrow thou shalt pass away.
Farewell! there is an isle of rest for thee.
And I am blown along a wandering wind,
And hollow, hollow, hollow all delight.’
To which sir Bedivere replied:
‘O me, my King, let pass whatever will,
Elves, and the harmless glamour of the field;
But in their stead thy name and glory cling
To all high places like a golden cloud
For ever: but as yet thou shalt not pass.
Light was Gawain in life, and light in death
Is Gawain, for the ghost is as the man;
And care not thou for dreams from him, but rise--
I hear the steps of Modred in the west,
_Coming of Arthur_;
_Gareth and Lynette_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_;
_Holy Grail_;
_Pelleas and Ettarre_;
_Last Tournament_;
_Passing of Arthur_.
GEMINI.
The Twins, two stars in the southern hemisphere, named Castor and
Pollux.
_Maud_;
_The Foresters_.
GENEVA.
A city of Switzerland.
To Strasburg, Antwerp, Frankfort, Zurich, Worms,
Geneva, Basle--our Bishops from their sees
Or fled, they say, or flying--
_Queen Mary._
GEOFFREY (of Monmouth).
A Welsh monk and celebrated chronicler and ecclesiastic of the twelfth
century, born in Monmouth, where he was educated in a Benedictine
monastery. In this monastery there is a chamber--with a projecting
window, called ‘Geoffrey’s window’--said to have been used by the
monk as a study. Chaplain till 1128 to count William of Normandy;
archdeacon of Monmouth, 1140; created bishop of St. Asaph 1152. His
chief work is _Chronicon sive Historia Britonum_, which was the basis
of a number of works of the Arthurian cycle (1100-1154).
_To the Queen, II._
GEOFFREY.
GEOFFREY PLANTAGENET.
Son of Rosamund and Henry II.
_Becket._
GEORGE.
Patron Saint of England, represented on horseback slaying a dragon.
He is supposed to have sprung from Cappadocia, and to have suffered
martyrdom under Diocletian, +A.D.+ 303. The historian Gibbon identifies
him with George of Cappadocia the Arian archbishop of Alexandria, who,
for his tyranny and oppression was massacred by the people, December
24, 361. Clapton in his _Life of St. George_, says:
It is unfortunate that the life history of this saintly martyr has
been absurdly mixed up, even by the historian Gibbon, with that of
the Arian George of Cappadocia, who lived more than half a century
later, became by fraud archbishop of Alexandria, and turned out so
great a villain that he was lynched by his own people, and his body
cast into the sea.
The historical reason for the introduction of the saint in England is
this:--In the wars of the Crusades he is said to have appeared at the
head of a large army, carrying a banner with a red cross engraved upon
it, to help Godfrey de Bouillon against the Saracens at the siege of
Antioch.
A bloodie Crosse he bore,
The deare remembraunce of his dying Lord.
In a vision Richard Cœur de Lion was bidden to take for his battle-cry
‘Saint George for England.’ This he did, and won the day, and St.
George was adopted by Richard as his patron saint.
By the decree of the Council of Oxford, in 1222, the festival of St.
George assumed a national character, but it was not until 1349, in the
reign of Edward III, that he was definitely recognized as the nation’s
patron saint.
About 126 churches are dedicated to his honour, and it was under the
flag of St. George that Nelson won the battle of the Nile. The Union
Jack, the national flag of Great Britain and Ireland, consists of a
combination of the three crosses of St. George, St. Andrew and St.
Patrick, denoting the union of England, Scotland and Ireland.
At St. Neot in Cornwall, the life of the saint is depicted in twelve
panels of stained glass, beneath each of which is a Latin scroll:
1. S. George fights against the Gauls.
2. He is captured by them and slain at the shrine of the Blessed
Virgin, who
3. brings him back to life from the grave, and
4. arms him.
5. He rescues Princess Cleodolinda and slays the dragon.
6. He is arrested for treason and brought before the king.
7. His body is torn with rakes.
8. On hands and knees he is ridden by the emperor’s son.
9. He is heavily weighted and hung by the wrists.
10. He is set in boiling lead.
11. He is dragged by a wild horse.
12. He is beheaded.
_The Foresters._
GERAINT.
A tributary prince of Devon, and brother of Gareth and one of the
Knights of the Round Table. He was married to Enid (_q.v._) only child
of Yniol. Overhearing the latter part of her speech, he charged her
with unfaithfulness, and commanded her to put on her meanest dress
and follow him silently through the world. Being wounded in fighting
against the Saxons, Enid nursed him with such devotion that he could no
longer doubt her fealty, confessed his error, and they lived together
happily.
nor did he doubt her more,
But rested in her fealty, till he crown’d
A happy life with a fair death, and fell
Against the heathen of the Northern Sea
In battle, fighting for the blameless King.
_Marriage of Geraint_;
_Geraint and Enid_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_.
GERMANY.
_On Translations of Homer_;
_Becket_.
GHOUL.
An imaginary eastern demon, who was supposed to subsist on human flesh.
_Ancient Sage._
GIDEON.
The Israelite judge, who was appointed by God to destroy the altar
and groves of Baal. With a small army of 300 men he gained a complete
victory over the Midianites. _See Judges, chap. vii._ The reference
here is to Napoleon, who with a mighty army thought to conquer the
world, but was defeated by the British both in Egypt and at Trafalgar--
‘at Trafalgar yet once more
We taught him: late he learned humility
Perforce, like those whom Gideon school’d with briers.
_Buonaparte._
GIGGLESBY GREEÄN.