described by Virgil (_Æneid_, i. 474-478), he is represented as having
thrown down his arms and fleeing in his chariot, not equal to meeting
Achilles; he is pierced with a lance, and, having fallen backwards,
still holding the reins, the lance with which he is transfixed
“scratches the sand over which it trails.”
In the _Troilus and Creseide_ of Chaucer, and the _Troilus and
Cressida_ of Shakespeare, we have a story unknown to classic fiction.
Chaucer pretends to take it from Lollius, but who Lollius was, has
never been discovered. In this story Troilus falls in love with
Cressid, daughter of the priest Chalchas, and Pandărus is employed as
a go-between. After Troilus has obtained a promise of marriage from
the priest’s daughter, an exchange of prisoners is arranged, and
Cressid, falling to the lot of Diomed, prefers her new master to her
Trojan lover.
Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_ is not one of the _Canterbury Tales_,
but quite an independent one, in five books. It contains 8246 lines,
nearly 3000 of which are borrowed from the _Filostrato_ of Boccaccio.
=Trois Chapitres= (_Les_), or THE THREE CHAPTERS, three theological
works on the “Incarnation of Christ and His dual nature.” The authors
of these “chapters” are Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus,
and Ibas of Edessa. The work was condemned in 553 as heretical.
=Trois Echelles=, executioner.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ and
_Anne of Geierstein_ (time Edward IV.).
=Trojan=, a good boon companion, a plucky fellow or man of spirit.
Gadshill says, “There are other Trojans [_men of spirit_] that ... for
sport sake are content to do the profession [_of Thieving_] some
grace.” So in _Love’s Labor’s Lost_ “Unless you play the honest
Trojan, the poor wench is cast away” (unless you are a man of
sufficient spirit to act honestly, the girl is ruined).
“He is a regular Trojan,” means he is _un brave homme_, a capital
fellow.
=Trompart=, a lazy but wily-witted knave, grown old in cunning. He
accompanied Braggadoccio as his squire (bk. ii. 3), but took to his
heels when Talus shaved the master, “reft his shield,” blotted out his
arms, and broke his sword in twain. Being overtaken, Talus gives him a
sound drubbing (bk. v. 3).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_ (1590-6).
=Trondjem’s Cattle= (_Remember the bishop of_), _i.e._, look sharp
after your property; take heed, or you will suffer for it. The story
is, that a certain bishop of Trondjem [_Tron´.yem_] lost his cattle by
the herdsmen taking his eyes off them to look at an elk. Now this elk
was a spirit, and when the herdsman looked at the cattle again they
were no bigger than mice; again he turned towards the elk, in order to
understand the mystery, and while he did so, the cattle all vanished
through a crevice into the earth.--Miss Martineau, _Feats on the
Fiord_ (1839).
=Tropho´nios=, the architect of the temple of Apollo, at Delphi. After
death he was worshipped, and had a famous cave near Lebadia, called
“The Oracle of Trophonios.”
The month of this cave was three yards high and two wide. Those who
consulted the oracle had to fast several days, and then to descend a
steep ladder till they reached a narrow gullet. They were then seized
by the feet, and dragged violently to the bottom of the cave, where
they were assailed by the most unearthly noises, howlings, shrieks,
bellowings, with lurid lights and sudden glares, in the midst of which
uproar and phantasmagoria the oracle was pronounced. The votaries were
then seized unexpectedly by the feet, and thrust out of the cave
without ceremony. If any resisted, or attempted to enter in any other
way, he was instantly murdered.--Plutarch, _Lives_.
=Trotley= (_Sir John_), an old-fashioned country gentleman, who
actually prefers the obsolete English notions of domestic life,
fidelity to wives and husbands, modesty in maids, and constancy in
lovers, to the foreign free and easy manners which allow married
people unlimited freedom, and consider licentiousness _bon
ton_.--Garrick, _Bon Ton_ (1776). (See PRIORY.)
=Trotter= (_Job_), servant to Alfred Jingle. A sly, canting rascal,
who has at least the virtue of fidelity to his master. Mr. Pickwick’s
generosity touches his heart, and he shows a sincere gratitude to his
benefactor.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
_Trotter_ (_Nelly_) fishwoman at old St. Ronan’s.--Sir W. Scott, _St.
Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).
=Trotters=, the Punch and Judy showman; a little, good-natured,
unsuspicious man, very unlike his misanthropic companion, Thomas
Codlin, who played the panpipes, and collected the money.
His real name was Harris, but it had gradually merged into Trotters,
with the prefatory adjective “Short,” by reason of the small size of
his legs. Short Trotters, however, being a compound name, inconvenient
in friendly dialogue, he was called either Trotters or Short, and
never Short Trotters, except on occasions of ceremony.--C. Dickens,
_The Old Curiosity Shop_, xvii. (1840).
=Trotty=, the sobriquet of Toby Veck, ticket-porter and jobman.
They called him Trotty from his pace, which meant speed, if it didn’t
make it. He could have walked faster, perhaps; most likely; but rob
him of his trot, and Toby would have taken to his bed and died. It
bespattered him with mud in dirty weather; it cost him a world of
trouble; he could have walked with infinitely greater ease; but that
was one reason for his clinging to his trot so tenaciously. A weak,
small, spare old man; he was a very Herculês, this Toby, in his good
intentions.--C. Dickens, _The Chimes_, i. (1844).
=Trotwood= (_Betsey_), usually called “Miss Betsey,” great aunt of
David Copperfield. Her idiosyncrasy was donkeys. A dozen times a day
would she rush on the green before her house to drive off the donkeys,
and donkey-boys. She was a most kind-hearted, worthy woman, who
concealed her tenderness of heart under a snappish austerity of
manner. Miss Betsey was the true friend of David Copperfield. She
married in her young days a handsome man, who ill-used her, and ran
away, but preyed on her for money till he died.--C. Dickens, _David
Copperfield_ (1849).
=Trouil´logan=, a philosopher, whose advice was, “Do as you like.”
Panurge asked the sage if he advised him to marry. “Yes,” said
Trouillogan. “What say you?” asked the prince. “Let it alone,” replied
the sage. “Which would you advise?” inquired the prince. “Neither,”
said the sage. “Neither?” cried Panurge; “that cannot be.” “Then
both,” replied Trouillogan. Panurge then consulted several others, and
at last the oracle of the Holy Bottle.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iii.
35 (1545).
Molière has introduced this joke in his _Marriage Forcé_ (1664).
Sganarelle asks his friend Géronimo, if he would advise him to marry,
and he answers “No.” “But,” says the old man, “I like the young
woman.” “Then marry her, by all means.” “That is your advice?” says
Sganarelle. “My advice is, do as you like,” says the friend.
Sganarelle next consults two philosophers, then some gypsies, then
declines to marry, and is at last compelled to do so, _nolens volens_.
=Trovato´re= (4 _syl._), or “The Troubadour” in Manrico, the supposed
son of Azuce´na, the gypsy, but in reality, the son of Garzia (brother
of the conte di Luna). The Princess Leono´ra falls in love with the
troubadour, but the count, entertaining a base passion for her, is
about to put Manrico to death, when Leonora intercedes on his behalf,
and promises to give herself to him, if he will spare her lover. The
count consents; but while he goes to release his captive Leonora kills
herself by sucking poison from a ring. When Manrico discovers this sad
calamity, he dies also.--Verdi, _Il Trovatore_ (1853).
(This opera is based on the drama of _Gargia Guttierez_, a fifteenth
century story.)
=Troxartas= (3 _syl._), king of the mice, and father of Psycarpax, who
was drowned. The word means “bread-eater.”
Fix their counsel ...
Where great Troxartas crowned in glory reigns ...
Psycarpax’ father, father now no more!
Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, i. (about 1712).
=Trudge=, in _Love in a Bottle_, by Farquhar (1698).
=True Thomas=, Thomas the Rhymer. So called from his prophecies, the
most noted of which was his prediction of the death of Alexander III.
of Scotland, made to the earl of March. It is recorded in the
_Scotichronĭcon_ of Fordun (1430).
=Trueworth=, brother of Lydia, and friend of Sir William Fondlove.--S.
Knowles, _The Love-Chase_ (1837).
=Trull= (_Dolly_). Captain Macheath says of her, “She is always so
taken up with stealing hearts, that she does not allow herself time to
steal anything else” (act ii. 1).--Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).
=Trulla=, the daughter of James Spenser, a Quaker. She was first
dishonored by her father, and then by Simeon Wait (_or_ Magna´no), the
tinker.
He Trulla loved, Trulla more bright
Than burnished armor of her knight,
A bold virago, stout and tall
As Joan of France or English Mall.
S. Butler, _Hudibras_, i. 2 (1663).
=Trul´liber= (_Parson_), a fat clergyman; ignorant, selfish, and
slothful.--Fielding, _The Adventures of Joseph Andrews_ (1742).
Parson Barnabas, Parson Trulliber, Sir Wilful Witwould, Sir Francis
Wronghead, Squire Western, Squire Sullen; such were the people who
composed the main strength of the Tory party for sixty years after the
Revolution.--Macaulay.
⁂ “Sir Wilful Witwould,” in _The Way of the World_, by Congreve; “Sir
Francis Wronghead,” in _The Provoked Husband_, by C. Cibber; “Squire
Western,” in _Tom Jones_, by Fielding; “Squire Sullen,” in _The Beaux’
Stratagem_, by Farquhar.
=Trunnion= (_Commodore Hawser_), a one-eyed naval veteran, who has
retired from the service in consequence of injuries received in
engagements; but he still keeps garrison in his own house, which is
defended with drawbridge and ditch. He sleeps in a hammock, and makes
his servants sleep in hammocks, as on board ship, takes his turn on
watch, and indulges his naval tastes in various other ways. Lieutenant
Jack Hatchway is his companion. When he went to be married, he rode on
a hunter which he steered like a ship, according to the compass,
tacking about, that he might not “go right in the wind’s eye.”--T.
Smollett, _The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle_ (1750).
It is vain to criticize the manœuvre of Trunnion, tacking his way
to church on his wedding day, in consequence of a head wind.--_Encyc.
Brit._, Art. “Romance.”
⁂ Dickens has imitated this in Wemmick’s house, which had flag and
drawbridge, fortress and gun in miniature; but the conceit is more
suited to “a naval veteran” than a lawyer’s clerk. (See WEMMICK.)
=Truscott= (_Jack_), officer in U. S. Army, and, according
to his wife, “gallant, noble, gentle, tender, true,
faithful--and--um--_sweet_!” Truscott’s character, said to be drawn
from life, is one of the finest in Captain Charles King’s series of
military novels. Truscott leads the rescuing party to the cottonwood
copse where a handful of U. S. soldiers are penned in by Indians.
“More shots and yells, a trumpet-blare, and then--then, ringing like
clarion over the turmoil of the fight, echoing far across the still
valley, the sound of a glorious voice shouting the well-known words of
command,--Left--front--into line--_gallop_.” And Dana can hold in no
longer. Almost sobbing, he cries aloud--
“Jack Truscott, by all that is glorious! I’d know the voice among a
million!” Who in the ----th would not? Who in the old regiment had not
leaped at its summons, time and again?--Charles King, _Marion’s Faith_
(1886).
=Trusty= (_Mrs._), landlady of the Queen’s Arms, Romford. Motherly,
most kind-hearted, a capital caterer, whose ale was noted. Bess, “the
beggar’s daughter,” took refuge with her, and was most kindly treated.
Mrs. Trusty wished her son, Ralph, to take Bess to wife, but Bess had
given her heart to Wilford, the son of Lord Woodville, her cousin.--S.
Knowles, _The Beggar of Bethnal Green_ (1834).
=Tryamour= (_Sir_), the hero of an old metrical novel, and the model
of all knightly virtues.
=Try´anon=, daughter of the fairy king who lived on the island of
Ole´ron. “She was as white as a lily in May, or snow that snoweth on a
winter’s day,” and her “haire shone as goldê wire.” This paragon of
beauty married Sir Launfal, King Arthur’s steward, whom she carried
off to “Oliroun, her jolif isle.”--Thomas Chestre, _Sir Launfal_
(fifteenth century).
=Trygon=, a poisonous fish. Ulysses was accidentally killed by his son
Telegŏnos with an arrow pointed with trygon-bone.
The lord of Ithăca,
Struck by the poisonous trygon’s bone expired.
West, _Triumphs of the Gout_ (“Lucian” 1750).
=Tryphon=, the sea-god’s physician.
They send in haste for Tryphon, to apply
Salves to his wounds, and medicines of might;
For Tryphon of sea-god’s the sovereign leech is hight.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 4 (1590).
=Tubal=, a wealthy Jew, the friend of Shylock.--Shakespeare, _The
Merchant of Venice_ (a drama, 1598).
=Tuck=, a long, narrow sword (Gaelic _tuca_, Welsh _twca_, Italian
_stocco_, French _estoc_). In _Hamlet_ the word “tuck” is erroneously
printed _stuck_ in Malone’s edition.
If he by chance escape your venomed tuck,
Our purpose may hold there.
Shakespeare, _Hamlet_, act iv. sc. 7.
_Tuck_, (_Friar_), the “curtal friar of Fountain’s Abbey,” was the
father confessor of Robin Hood. He is represented as a sleek-headed,
pudgy, paunchy, pugnacious clerical Falstaff, very fat and
self-indulgent, very humorous, and somewhat coarse. His dress was a
russet habit of the Franciscan order, a red corded girdle with gold
tassel, red stockings, and a wallet.
Sir Walter Scott, in his _Ivanhoe_, calls him the holy clerk of
Copmanhurst, and describes him as a “large, strong-built man in a
sackcloth gown and hood, girt with a rope of rushes.” He had a round,
bullet head, and his close-shaven crown was edged with thick, stiff,
curly black hair. His countenance was bluff and jovial, eyebrows black
and bushy, forehead well-turned, cheeks round and ruddy, beard long,
curly and black, form brawny (ch. xv.).
In the May-day morris-dance the friar is introduced in full clerical
tonsure, with the chaplet of white and red beads in his right hand, a
corded girdle about his waist, and a russet robe of the Franciscan
order. His stockings red, his girdle red, ornamented with gold twist
and a golden tassel. At his girdle hung a wallet for the reception of
provisions, for “Walleteers” had no other food but what they received
from begging. Friar Tuck was chaplain to Robin Hood, the May-king.
(See MORRIS-DANCE.)
In this our spacious isle, I think there is not one
But he hath heard some talk of Hood and Little John;
Of Tuck, the merry friar, which many a sermon made,
In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws and their trade.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxvi. (1622).
=Tud= (_Morgan_), chief physician of King Arthur.--_The Mabinogion_
(“Geraint,” twelfth century).
=Tug= (_Tom_), the waterman, a straightforward, honest young man, who
loved Wilhelmi´na, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bundle, and, when he
won the waterman’s badge in rowing, he won the consent of “the
gardener’s daughter” to become his loving and faithful wife.--C.
Dibdin, _The Waterman_ (1774).
=Tukely=, the lover of Sophia. As Sophia has a partiality for the Hon.
Mr. Daffodil, “the male coquette,” Tukely dresses in woman’s clothes,
makes an appointment with Daffodil, and gets him to slander Sophia and
other ladies, concealed among the trees. They thus hear his slanders,
and, presenting themselves before him, laugh him to scorn.--Garrick,
_The Male Coquette_ (1758).
=Tulk´inghorn= (_Mr._), attorney-at-law and legal adviser of the
Dedlocks. Very silent and perfectly self-contained, but, knowing Lady
Dedlock’s secret, he is like the sword of Dam´oclês over her head, and
she lives in ceaseless dread of him.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_
(1852).
=Tullia=, wicked daughter of Servius Tullius, king of Rome. She
conspired with her paramour to compass her father’s death, and drove
over his dead body on her way to greet her accomplice as king.
=Tulliver= (_Mr._), honest, irascible miller, whose love for “the
little wench,” his daughter, is the gentlest feeling of his nature.
His pride is hurt by financial disaster; he becomes a hireling of the
man he hates; his fortunes are redeemed by his son, but he dies soon
afterward.
_Tulliver_ (_Mrs._), a weak, garrulous woman, vain of her “Dodson
blood.”
_Tulliver_ (_Maggie_), fine, upright, imaginative, affectionate girl,
understood by few, and passionately loved by two men. She resists her
love for her cousin’s almost betrothed, and suffers the loss of
reputation patiently. Tom Tulliver, her brother, is the sternest of
her censors. The two are drowned together in a river-flood.--George
Eliot, _The Mill on the Floss_.
=Tully=, Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great Roman orator (B.C. 106-43).
He was proscribed by Antony, one of the triumvirate, and his head and
hands, being cut off, were nailed, by the orders of Antony, to the
Rostra of Rome.
Ye fond adorers of departed fame,
Who warm at Scipio’s worth or Tully’s name.
Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, i. (1799).
The Judas who betrayed Tully to the sicarii was a cobbler. The man who
murdered him was named Herennius.
=Tungay=, the one-legged man at Salem House.
He generally acted, with his strong voice, as Mr. Creakle’s
interpreter to the boys.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_, ii. (1849).
=Tunstall= (_Frank_), one of the apprentices of David Ramsay, the
watchmaker.--Sir W. Scott, _The Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
=Tupman= (_Tracy_), M.P.C., a sleek, fat young man, of very amorous
disposition. He falls in love with every pretty girl he sees, and is,
consequently, always getting into trouble.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick
Papers_ (1836).
=Turbulent School of Fiction= (_The_), a school of German romance
writers, who returned to the feudal ages, and wrote between 1780 and
1800, in the style of Mrs. Radcliffe. The best known are Cramer,
Spiers, Schlenkert, and Veit Weber.
=Turcaret=, a comedy by Lesage (1708), in which the farmers-general of
France are gibbeted unmercifully. He is a coarse, illiterate man, who
has grown rich by his trade. Any one who has risen from nothing to
great wealth, and has no merit beyond money-making, is called a
Turcaret.
=Turcos=, native Algerian infantry, officered by Frenchmen. The
cavalry are called _Spahis_.
=Turell= (_Jane_), a fair Puritan, whose early precocity and mature
accomplishments are related by her husband. Before she was four years
old she “could say the Assembly’s Catechism, many of the Psalms, some
hundred lines of the best poetry, read distinctly, and make pertinent
remarks on many things she read.” In later years she fulfilled the
promise thus given of intellectual acquirements, while “her innocence,
modesty, ingenuity and devotion charmed all into admiration of
her.”--Ebenezer Turell, _Memoirs of the Pious and Ingenious Mrs. Jane
Turell_ (1735).
=Turk Gregory=, Gregory VII. (Hildebrand); so called for his furious
raid upon royal prerogatives, especially his contest with the emperor
[of Germany] on the subject of investiture. In 1075, he summoned the
emperor Henry IV. to Rome; the emperor refused to obey the summons,
the pope excommunicated him, and absolved all his subjects from their
allegiance; he next declared Henry dethroned, and elected a new
kaiser, but Henry, finding resistance in vain, begged to be reconciled
to the pope. He was now commanded, in the midst of a severe winter, to
present himself, with Bertha, his wife, and their infant son, at the
castle of Canossa, in Lombardy; and here they had to stand three days
in the piercing cold, before the pope would condescend to see him, but
at last the proud prelate removed the excommunication, and Henry was
restored to his throne.
=Turkish Spy= (_The_). A once popular romance relating the adventures
of Mahmut, a Turk who lived forty-five years undiscovered in Paris,
unfolding the intrigues of the Christian courts, between 1637 and
1682. The author of this romance is Giovanni Paolo Mara´na, and he
makes it the medium of an historical novel of the period (1684).
=Turkomans=, a corruption of _Turk-imâms_ (“Turks of the true faith”).
The first chief of the Turks who embraced Islam, called his people so
to distinguish them from the Turks who had not embraced that faith.
=Turnbull= (_Michael_), the Douglas’s dark huntsman.--Sir W. Scott,
_Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
_Turnbull_ (_Mr. Thomas_), also called “Tom Turnpenny,” a canting
smuggler and school-master.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George
III.).
=Turnip-Hoer=, George I. So called because, when he first came over to
England, he proposed planting St. James’s Park with turnips (1660,
1714-1727).
=Turnpenny= (_Mr._), banker at Marchthorn.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s
Well_ (time, George III.).
_Turnpenny_ (_Tom_), also called “Thomas Turnbull,” a canting smuggler
and school-master.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Turntippit= (_Old lord_), one of the privy council in the reign of
William III.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (1819).
=Turon=, the son of Brute’s sister, slew 600 Aquitanians with his own
hand in one single fight.
Where Turon, ... Brute’s sister’s valiant son ...
Six hundred slew outright thro’ his peculiar strength;
By multitudes of men, yet overpressed at length.
His noble uncle there, to his immortal name
The city Turon [_Tours_] built, and well endowed the same.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, i. (1612).
=Turpin=, a churlish knight, who refuses hospitality to Sir Calepine
and Serēna, although solicited to do so by his wife, Blanĭda (bk. vi.
3). Serena told Prince Arthur of this discourtesy, and the prince,
after chastising Turpin, unknighted him, and prohibited him from
bearing arms ever after (bk. vi. 7). The disgraced churl now vowed
revenge; so off he starts, and seeing two knights, complains to them
of the wrongs done to himself and his dame by “a recreant knight,”
whom he points out to them. The two champions instantly challenge the
prince “as a foul woman-wronger,” and defy him to combat. One of the
two champions is soon slain and the other overthrown, but is spared on
craving his life. The survivor now returns to Turpin, to relate his
misadventure, and when they reach the dead body see Arthur asleep.
Turpin proposes to kill him, but Arthur starts up and hangs the rascal
on a tree (bk. vi. 7).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_ (1596).
_Turpin_, “archbishop of Rheims,” the hypothetical author of a
_Chronicle_, purporting to be a history of Charlemagne’s Spanish
adventures in 777, by a contemporary. This fiction was declared
authentic and genuine by Pope Calixtus II. in 1122, but it is now
generally attributed to a canon of Barcelona in the eleventh century.
The tale says that Charlemagne went to Spain in 777 to defend one of
his allies from the aggressions of a neighboring prince. Having
conquered Navarre and Aragon he returned to France. He then crossed
the Pyrenees, and invested Pampeluna for three months, but without
success. He tried the effect of prayer, and the walls, like those of
Jericho, fell down of their own accord. Those Saracens who consented
to be baptized he spared, but the rest were put to the sword. Being
master of Pampeluna, the hero visited the sarcophagus of James; and
Turpin, who accompanied him, baptized most of the neighborhood.
Charlemagne then led back his army over the Pyrenees, the rear being
under the command of Roland. The main army reached France in safety,
but 50,000 Saracens fell on the rear, and none escaped.
_Turpin_ (_Dick_), a noted highwayman, executed at York (1739).
Ainsworth has introduced into _Rookwood_ Turpin’s famous ride to York
on his steed, Black Bess. It is said that Maginn really wrote this
powerful description (1834).
_Turpin_ (_The French Dick_) is Cartouche, an eighteenth century
highwayman. W. H. Ainsworth made him the hero of a romance (1841).