tales were rife in Spain. It was said that in one part of the coast of
El Nombre de Dios, the natives had such long ears that one ear served
for bed and the other for counterpane. This reminds one of Gwevyl mab
Gwestad, one of whose lips hung down to his waist, and the other
covered his head like a cowl. Another tale was that one of the crew of
Columbus had come across a people who lived on sweet scents alone, and
were killed by foul smells. This invention was hardly original,
inasmuch as both Plutarch and Pliny tell us of an Indian people who
lived on sweet odors, and Democrĭtos lived for several days on the
mere effluvia of hot bread. Another tale was that the noses of these
smell-feeders were so huge that their heads were all nose. We are also
told of one-eyed men; of men who carried their heads under one of
their arms; of others whose head was in their breast; of others who
were conquered, not by arms, but by their priests holding up before
them a little ivory crucifix--a sort of Christian version of the
taking of Jericho by the blast of the rams’ horns of the Levites in
the time of Joshua.
=Travels ... in Remote Nations=, by “Lemuel Gulliver.” He is first
shipwrecked and cast on the coast of Lilliput, a country of pygmies.
Subsequently he is thrown among the people of Brobdingnag, giants of
tremendous size. In his third expedition he is driven to Lapūta, an
empire of quack pretenders to science and knavish projectors. And in
his fourth voyage he visits the Houyhnhnms [_Whin´.n´me_], where
horses were the dominant powers.--Dean Swift (1726).
=Travers=, a retainer of the earl of Northumberland.--Shakespeare,
_Henry IV._ (1598).
_Travers_ (_Sir Edmund_), an old bachelor, the guardian and uncle of
Lady Davenant. He is a tedious gossip, fond of meddling, prosy, and
wise in his own conceit. “It is surprising,” he says, “how unwilling
people are to hear my stories. When in parliament I make a speech,
there is nothing but coughing, hemming, and shuffling of feet--no
desire of information.” By his instigation, the match was broken off
between his niece and Captain Dormer, and she was given in marriage to
Lord Davenant, but it turned out that his lordship was already
married, and his wife living.--Cumberland, _The Mysterious Husband_
(1783).
=Travia´ta=, an opera, representing the progress of a courtezan. Music
by Verdi, and libretto from _La Dame aux Came´lias_, a novel by
Alexandre Dumas _fils_ (1856).
=Treachery of the Long-Knives= (_The_). Hengist invited the chief
British nobles to a conference at Ambresbury, but arranged that a
Saxon should be seated beside each Briton. At the given signal, each
Saxon was to slay his neighbor with his long knife, and as many as 460
British nobles fell. Eidiol, earl of Gloucester escaped, after killing
seventy (some say 660) of the Saxons.--_Welsh Triads._
Stonehenge was erected by Merlin, at the command of Ambrosius, in
memory of the plot of the “Long-Knives.”... He built it on the site of
a former circle. It deviates from older bardic circles, as may be seen
by comparing it with Avebury, Stanton-Drew, Keswick, etc.--_Cambrian
Biography_, art. “Merddin.”
=Trecentisti=, the Italian writers of the “Trecento” (thirteenth
century). They were Dantê (1265-1321); Petrarch (1304-1374); Boccaccio
(1313-1375), who wrote the _Decameron_. Among the famous artists were
Giotto, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Andre Orcagna. (See CINQUECENTO,
SEICENTO.)
In Italy he’d ape the Trecentisti.
Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 86 (1820).
=Tree= (_The Bleeding_). One of the superstitous tales told of the
marquis of Argyll, so hated by the royalists for the part he took in
the execution of Montrose, was this: “That a tree on which thirty-six
of his enemies were hanged was immediately blasted, and when hewn
down, a copious stream of blood ran from it, saturating the earth, and
that blood for several years flowed out from the roots.”--Laing,
_History of Scotland_, ii. 11 (1800); _State Trials_, ii. 422.
_Tree_ (_The Poet’s_), a tree which grows over the tomb of Tan-Sein, a
musician at the court of [Mohammed] Akbar. Whoever chews a leaf of
this tree, will be inspired with a divine melody of voice.--W. Hunter.
His voice was as sweet as if he had chewed the leaves of that
enchanted tree, which grows over the tomb of the musician,
Tan-Sein.--Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (1817).
_Tree_ (_The Singing_), a tree, each leaf of which was musical, and
all the leaves joined together in delightful harmony.--_Arabian
Nights_ (“The Story of the Sisters who envied their Younger Sister”).
In the _Fairy Tales_ of the Comtesse D’Aunoy, there is a similar tale
of a tree which bore “the singing apple,” but whoever ate of this
fruit received the inspiration of poetry as well.--“Cherry and
Fairstar.”
=Tregeagle=, the giant of Dosmary Pool, on Bodmin Downs (Cornwall).
When the wintry winds blare over the downs, it is said to be the giant
howling.
=Trelawny Ballad= (_The_), is by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, of
Morwenstow.--_Notes and Queries_, 441 (June, 1876).
=Tremor= (_Sir Luke_), a desperate coward, living in India, who made
it a rule never to fight, either in his own house, his neighbor’s
house, or in the street. This prudent desperado is everlastingly
snubbing his wife. (See TRIPPET.)
_Lady Tremor_, daughter of a grocer, and grandchild of a wig-maker.
Very sensitive on the subject of her plebeian birth, and wanting to be
thought a lady of high family.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Such Things Are_
(1786).
=Tremydd ap Tremhidydd=, the man with the keenest sight of all
mortals. He could discern “a mote in the sunbeam in any of the four
quarters of the world.” Clustfein ap Clustfeinydd was no less
celebrated for his acuteness of hearing, “his ear being distressed by
the movement of dew, in June, over a blade of grass.” The meaning of
these names is, “Sight, the son of Seer,” and “Ear, the son of
Hearer.”--_The Mabinogion_ (“Notes to Geraint,” etc., twelfth
century).
=Trenmor=, great-grandfather of Fingal, and king of Morven (north-west
of Scotland). His wife was Inibaca, daughter of the king of Lochlin or
Denmark.--Ossian, _Fingal_, vi.
In _Temora_, ii. he is called the first king of Ireland, and father of
Conar.
=Trent= (_Fred_), the scapegrace brother of little Nell. “He was a
young man of one and twenty, well-made, and certainly handsome, but
dissipated, and insolent in air and bearing.” The mystery of Fred
Trent and little Nell is cleared up in ch. lxix.--C. Dickens, _The Old
Curiosity Shop_ (1840).
=Tres= (_Scriptores_): Richardus Corinensis, or Richard of Cirencester
(fourteenth century); Gildus Badonicus; and Nennius Banchorensis;
published by Professor Bertram (1757).
=Tresham= (_Mr._), senior partner of Mr. Osbaldistone, Sr.--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).
_Tresham_ (_Richard_), same as General Witherington, who first appears
as Matthew Middlemas.
_Richard Tresham_, the son of General Witherington. He is also called
Richard Middlemas.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time,
George II.).
_Tresham_ (_Thorold, Lord_), head of a noble family, whose boast was,
that “no blot had ever stained their ’scutcheon,” though the family
ran back into pre-historic times. He was a young, unmarried man, with
a sister, Mildred, a girl of 14, living with him. His near neighbor,
Henry, earl of Mertoun, asked permission to pay his addresses to
Mildred, and Thorold accepted the proposal with much pleasure. The old
warrener next day told Thorold he had observed for several weeks that
a young man climbed into Mildred’s chamber at night-time, and he would
have spoken before, but did not like to bring his young mistress into
trouble. Thorold wrung from his sister an acknowledgement of the fact,
but she refused to give up the name, yet said she was quite willing to
marry the earl. This Thorold thought would be dishonorable, and
resolved to lie in wait for the unknown visitor. On his approach,
Thorold discovered it was the earl of Mertoun, and he slew him, then
poisoned himself, and Mildred died of a broken heart.--Robert
Browning, _A Blot on the ’Scutcheon_.
=Tressilian= (_Edmund_), the betrothed of Amy Robsart. Amy marries the
earl of Leicester, and is killed by falling into a deep pit, to which
she has been cruelly inveigled.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time,
Elizabeth).
=Tre´visan= (_Sir_), a knight to whom Despair gave a hempen rope, that
he might go and hang himself.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. (1590).
=Tribulation= [WHOLESOME], a pastor of Amsterdam, who thinks “the end
will sanctify the means,” and uses “the children of perdition” to
promote his own object, which he calls the “work of God.” He is one of
the dupes of Subtle, “the alchemist,” and his factotum, Face.--Ben
Jonson, _The Alchemist_ (1610).
=Tribune of the People= (_The_), John Bright (1811-1889).
=Tricolor=, the national badge of France since 1789. It consists of
the Bourbon _white_ cockade, and the _blue and red_ cockade of the
city of Paris combined. It was Lafayette who devised this symbolical
union of king and people, and when he presented it to the nation,
“Gentlemen,” said he, “I bring you a cockade that shall make a tour of
the world.” (See STORNELLO VERSES.)
If you will wear a livery, let it at least be that of the city of
Paris--blue and red, my friends.--Dumas, _Six Years Afterwards_, xv.
(1846).
=Tricoteuses de Robespierre= (_Les_), Robespierre’s Knitters. During
the sittings of the Convention and at those of the popular Clubs and
the Revolutionary Tribunal, certain women were always seen knitting.
Encouraged by the rabble they carried their insolence so far that they
were called the Furies of the Guillotine. They disappeared with the
Jacobins.--Bouillet, _Dict. Universel_.
=Triermain= (_The Bridal of_), a poem by Sir Walter Scott, in four
cantos, with introduction and conclusion (1813). In the introduction,
Arthur is represented as the person who tells the tale to Lucy, his
bride. Gyneth, a natural daughter of King Arthur and Guendŏlen, was
promised in marriage to the bravest knight in a tournament; but she
suffered so many combatants to fall, without awarding the prize, that
Merlin threw her into an enchanted sleep, from which she was not to
wake till a knight as brave as those who had fallen claimed her in
marriage. After the lapse of 500 years, Sir Roland de Vaux, baron of
Triermain, undertook to break the spell, but had first to overcome
four temptations, viz., fear, avarice, pleasure and ambition. Having
come off more than conqueror, Gyneth awoke and became his bride.
=Trifal´di= (_The countess_), called “The Afflicted Duenna” of the
Princess Antonomasia (heiress to the throne of Candaya). She was
called Trifaldi from her robe, which was divided into three triangles,
each of which was supported by a page. The face of this duenna was, by
the enchantment of the giant, Malambru´no, covered with a large, rough
beard, but when Don Quixote mounted Clavilēno, the Winged, “the
enchantment was dissolved.”
The renowned knight, Don Quixote de la Mancha, hath achieved the
adventure merely by attempting it. Malambruno is appeased, and the
chin of the Dolorida dueña is again beardless.--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, II. iii. 4, 5 (1615).
=Trifal´din= of the “Bushy Beard” (white as snow), the gigantic squire
of “The Afflicted Duenna,” the Countess Trifaldi.--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, II. iii. 4 (1615).
=Trifle= (_Miss Penelopé_), an old maiden sister of Sir Penurious
Trifle. Stiff as a ramrod, prim as fine airs and graces could make
her, fond of long words, and delighting in phrases modelled in true
Johnsonian ponderosity.
_Trifle_ (_Miss Sukey_), daughter of Sir Penurious, tricked into
marriage with Mr. Hartop, a young spendthrift, who fell in love with
her fortune.
⁂ Sir Penurious Trifle is not introduced, but Hartop assumes his
character, and makes him fond of telling stale and pointless stories.
He addresses Sir Gregory as “you knight.”--Foote, _The Knights_
(1754).
=Trim= (_Corporal_), Uncle Toby’s orderly. Faithful, simple-minded and
most affectionate. Voluble in speech, but most respectful. Half
companion, but never forgetting he is his master’s servant. Trim is
the duplicate of Uncle Toby in delf. The latter at all times shows
himself the officer and the gentleman, born to command and used to
obedience, while the former always carries traces of the drillyard,
and shows that he has been accustomed to receive orders with
deference, and to execute them with military precision. It is a great
compliment to say that the corporal was worthy such a noble
master.--Sterne, _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy_ (1759).
=Trimalchi=, a celebrated cook in the reign of Nero, mentioned by
Petronius. He had the art of giving to the most common fish the flavor
and appearance of the best. Like Ude, in our own day, he said that
“sauces are the soul of cookery, and cookery the soul of festivity,”
or, as the cat’s-meat man observed, “’tis the seasonin’ as does it.”
=Trin´culo=, a jester.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).
A miscarriage ... would (like the loss of Trinculo’s bottle in the
horse-pond) be attended not only with dishonor but with infinite
loss.--Sir W. Scott.
=Trin´ket= (_Lord_), a man of fashion and a libertine.
He is just polite enough to be able to be very unmannerly, with a
great deal of good breeding; is just handsome enough to make him
excessively vain of his person; and has just reflection enough to
finish him for a coxcomb; qualifications ... very common among ... men
of quality.--G. Colman, _The Jealous Wife_, ii. (1761).
=Tri´nobants=, people of Trinoban´tium, that is, Middlesex and Essex.
Their chief town was Trin´ovant, now _London_.
So eastward where by Thames the Trinobants were set,
To Trinovant their town ... That London now we term ...
The Saxons ... their east kingdom called [_Essex_].
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).
=Trinquet=, one of the seven attendants of Fortunio. His gift was that
he could drink a river and be thirsty again. “Are yon always thirsty?”
asked Fortunio. “No,” said the man, “only after eating salt meat or
upon a wager.”--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Fortunio,” 1682).
=Trip to Scarborough= (_A_), a comedy by Sheridan (1777), based on
_The Relapse_, by Vanbrugh (1697). Lord Foppington goes to Scarborough
to marry Miss Hoyden, daughter of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, but his
lordship is not known personally to the knight and his daughter. Tom
Fashion, younger brother of Lord Foppington, having been meanly
treated by his elder brother, resolves to outwit him; so, passing
himself off as Lord Foppington, he gets introduced to Sir Tunbelly,
and marries Miss Hoyden before the rightful claimant appears. When at
length Lord Foppington arrives he is treated as an impostor, till Tom
Fashion explains the ruse. As his lordship behaves contumeliously to
the knight, matters are easily arranged, Lord Foppington retires, and
Sir Tunbelly accepts Tom Fashion as his son-in-law with good grace.
=Tripe= (1 _syl._), the nickname of Mrs. Hamilton, of Covent Garden
Theatre (1730-1788).
=Triple Alliance= (_The_).
1. A treaty between Great Britain, Sweden, and the United Provinces,
in 1668, for the purpose of checking the ambition of Louis XIV.
2. A treaty between George I. of England, Philip, duke of Orleans,
regent of France, and the United Provinces, for the purpose of
counteracting the plans of Alberoni, the Spanish minister, 1717.
=Trippet= (_Beau_), who “pawned his honor to Mrs. Trippet never to
draw sword in any cause,” whatever might be the provocation. (See
TREMOR.)
_Mrs. Trippet_, the beau’s wife, who “would dance for four and twenty
hours together,” and play cards for twice that length of
time.--Garrick, _The Lying Valet_ (1740).
=Tripping as an Omen.=
When Julius Cæsar landed at Adrumētum, in Africa, he happened to trip
and fall on his face. This would have been considered a fatal omen by
his army, but, with admirable presence of mind, he exclaimed, “Thus
take I possession of thee, O Africa!”
A similar story is told of Scipio. Upon his arrival in Africa, he also
happened to trip, and, observing that his soldiers looked upon this as
a bad omen, he clutched the earth with his two hands, and cried aloud,
“Now, Africa, I hold thee in my grasp!”--_Don Quixote_, II. iv. 6.
When William the Conqueror leaped on shore at Bulverhythe, he fell on
his face, and a great cry went forth that the omen was unlucky; but
the duke exclaimed, “I take seisin of this land with both my hands!”
The same story is told of Napoleon in Egypt; of King Olaf, son of
Harald, in Norway; of Junius Brutus, who, returning from the oracle,
fell on the earth, and cried, “’Tis thus I kiss thee, mother Earth!”
When Captain Jean Cœurpreux tripped in dancing at the Tuileries,
Napoleon III. held out his hand to help him up, and said, “Captain,
this is the second time I have seen you fall. The first was by my side
in the field of Magenta.” Then, turning to the lady, he added, “Madam,
Captain Cœurpreux is henceforth commandant of my Guards, and will
never fall in duty or allegiance, I am persuaded.”
=Trismegistus= (“_thrice greatest_”), Hermês, the Egyptian
philosopher, or Thoth, councillor of Osīris. He invented the art of
writing in hieroglyphics, harmony, astrology, magic, the lute and
lyre, and many other things.
=Tris´sotin=, a _bel esprit_. Philaminte (3 _syl._), a _femme
savante_, wishes him to marry her daughter, Henriette, but Henriette
is in love with Clitandre. The difficulty is soon solved by the
announcement that Henriette’s father is on the verge of bankruptcy,
whereupon Trissotin makes his bow and retires.--Molière, _Les Femmes
Savantes_ (1672).
Trissotin is meant for the Abbé Crotin, who affected to be poet,
gallant and preacher. His dramatic name was “Tricotin.”
=Tristram= (_Sir_), son of Sir Meliŏdas, king of Li´onês, and
Elizabeth, his wife (daughter of Sir Mark, king of Cornwall). He was
called Tristram (“sorrowful”) because his mother died in giving him
birth. His father also died when Tristram was a mere lad (pt. ii. 1).
He was knighted by his uncle, Mark (pt. ii. 5), and married Isond _le
Blanch Mains_, daughter of Howell, king of Britain (_Brittany_); but
he never loved her, nor would he live with her. His whole love was
centered on his aunt, La Belle Isond, wife of King Mark, and this
unhappy attachment was the cause of numberless troubles, and
ultimately of his death. La Belle Isond, however, was quite as
culpable as the knight, for she herself told him, “My measure of hate
for Mark is as the measure of my love for thee;” and when she found
out that her husband would not allow Sir Tristram to remain at
Tintag´il Castle, she eloped with him, and lived three years at Joyous
Guard, near Carlisle. At length she returned home, and Sir Tristram
followed her. His death is variously related. Thus the _History of
Prince Arthur_ says:
When, by means of a treaty, Sir Tristram brought again La Belle Isond
unto King Mark from Joyous Guard, the false traitor, King Mark, slew
the noble knight as he sat harping before his lady, La Belle Isond,
with a sharp-ground glaive, which he thrust into him from behind his
back.--Pt. iii. 147 (1470).
Tennyson gives the tale thus: He says that Sir Tristram, dallying with
his aunt, hung a ruby carcanet round her throat; and, as he kissed her
neck:
Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched,
Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek--
“Marks way!” said Mark, and clove him thro’ the brain.
Tennyson, _Idylls_ (“The Last Tournament”).
Another tale is this: Sir Tristram was severely wounded in Brittany,
and sent a dying request to his aunt to come and see him. If she
consented, a white flag was to be hoisted on the mast-head of her
ship; if not, a black one. His wife told him the ship was in sight,
displaying a black flag, at which words the strong man bowed his head
and died. When his aunt came ashore and heard of his death, she flung
herself on the body, and died also. The two were buried in one grave,
and Mark planted over it a rose and a vine, which became so interwoven
it was not possible to separate them.
⁂ Sir Launcelot, Sir Tristram and Sir Lamorake were the three bravest
and best of the 150 knights of the Round Table, but were all equally
guilty in their amours: Sir Launcelot with the queen; Sir Tristram
with his aunt, King Mark’s wife; and Sir Lamorake with his aunt, King
Lot’s wife.
=Tristram’s Horse=, Passetreûl, or Passe Brewell. It is called both,
but one seems to be a clerical error.
(Passe Brewell is in Sir T. Malory’s _History of Prince Arthur_, ii.
68).
_History of Sir Tristram or Tristan._ The oldest story is by Gotfrit
of Strasbourg, a minnesinger (twelfth century), entitled _Tristan and
Isolde_. It was continued by Ulrich of Turheim, by Heinrich of
Freyburg, and others, to the extent of many thousand verses. The tale
of Sir Tristram, derived from Welsh traditions, was versified by
Thomas the Rhymer, of Erceldoune.
The second part of the _History of Prince Arthur_, compiled by Sir T.
Malory, is almost exclusively confined to the adventures of Sir
Tristram, as the third part is to the adventures of Sir Launcelot, and
the quest of the Holy Graal (1470).
Matthew Arnold has a poem entitled _Tristram_; and R. Wagner, in 1865,
produced his opera of _Tristan and Isolde_.
See Michel, _Tristan; Recueil de ce qui reste des Poèmes relatifs à
ses Aventures_ (1835).
=Tristrem l’Hermite=, provost-marshal of France, in the reign of Louis
XI. Introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Quentin Durward_ (1823), and in
_Anne of Geierstein_ (1829).
=Tritheim= (_J_), chronicler and theologian of Treves, elected abbot
of Spanheim at the age of 22 years. He tried to reform the monks, but
produced a revolt, and resigned his office. He was then appointed
abbot of Würzburg (1462-1516).
Old Tritheim, busied with his class the while.
R. Browning, _Paracelsus_, i. (1836).
=Triton=, the sea-trumpeter. He blows through a shell to rouse or
allay the sea. A post-Hesiodic fable.
Have sight of Proteus coming from the sea,
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
Wordsworth.
=Triumvirate= (_The_), in English history: The duke of Marlborough,
controlling foreign affairs, Lord Godolphin, controlling council and
parliament, and the duchess of Marlborough, controlling the court and
queen.
=Triumvirate of England=, (_The_): Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate, poets.
=Triumvirate of Italian Poets= (_The_): Dantê, Boccaccio, and
Petrarch.
Boccaccio wrote poetry, without doubt, but is now chiefly known as
“The Father of Italian Prose.” These three are more correctly called
the “Trecentisti” (_q.v._).
=Triv´ia=, Diana; so called because she had three faces, Luna in
Heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate in Hell.
The noble Brutus went wise Trivia to inquire,
To show them where the stock of ancient Troy to place.
M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, i. (1612).
=Trog´lodytes= (3 _or_ 4 _syl._). According to Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, v.
8), the Troglodytes lived in caves under ground, and fed on serpents.
In modern parlance, we call those who live so secluded as not to be
informed of the current events of the day, _troglodytes_. Longfellow
calls _ants_ by the same name.
[_Thou the_] nomadic tribes of ants
Dost persecute and overwhelm
These hapless troglodytes of thy realm.
Longfellow, _To a Child_.
_Troglody´tes_ (4 _syl._), one of the mouse heroes in the battle of
the frogs and mice. He slew Pelĭon, and was slain by Lymnoc´haris.
The strong Lymnocharis, who viewed with ire
A victor triumph, and a friend expire;
With heaving arms, a rocky fragment caught,
And fiercely flung where Troglodytês fought ...
Full on his sinewy neck the fragment fell,
And o’er his eyelids, clouds eternal dwell.
Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_ (about 1712).
=Troil= (_Magnus_), the old udaller of Zetland.
_Brenda Troil_, the udaller’s younger daughter. She marries Mordaunt
Mertoun.
_Minna Troil_, the udaller’s elder daughter. In love with the
pirate.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
(A udaller is one who holds his lands by allodial tenure.)