of the Carlovingian cycle.
This Urganda seemed to be aware of her own importance.--Smollett.
=Ur´gel=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, famous for his enormous
strength.
=U´riel= (3 _syl._), or =Israfil=, the angel who is to sound the
resurrection trumpet.--_Al Korân._
_Uriel_, one of the seven great spirits, whose station was in the sun.
The word means “God’s light” (see _2 Esdras_ iv., v., x. 28).
The archangel Uriel, one of the seven
Who, in God’s presence, nearest to his throne,
Stand ready at command.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 648, etc. (1665).
⁂ Longfellow calls him “the minister of Mars,” and says that he
inspires man with “fortitude to bear the brunt and suffering of
life.”--_The Golden Legend_, iii. (1851).
=U´rien=, the foster-father of Prince Madoc. He followed the prince to
his settlement in North America, south of the Missouri (twelfth
century).--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
=Urim=, in _Garth’s Dispensary_, is designed for Dr. Atterbury.
Urim was civil and not void of sense,
Had humor and courteous confidence, ...
Constant at feasts, and each decorum knew,
And soon as the dessert appeared, withdrew.
_The Dispensary_, i. (1699).
=Urra´ca=, sister of Sancho II. of Castile, and queen of
Zamōra.--_Poema del Cid Campeador_ (1128).
=Urre= (_Sir_), one of the knights of the Round Table. Being wounded,
the king and his chief knights tried on him the effect of “handling
the wounds” (_i.e._, touching them to heal them), but failed. At last,
Sir Launcelot was invited to try, and as he touched the wounds they
severally healed.--_Arthurian Romance_.
=Urrie= (_Sir John_), a parliamentary leader.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend
of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).
=Ursa Major=, Calisto, daughter of Lycāon, violated by Jupiter, and
converted by Juno into a bear; whereupon the king of gods and man
placed her in the Zodiac as a constellation. The Great Bear is also
called “Hellicê.”
_Ursa Major._ Dr. Johnson was so called by Boswell’s father
(1709-1784).
My father’s opinion of Dr. Johnson may be conjectured from the name he
afterwards gave him, which was “Ursa Major;” but it is not true, as
has been reported, that it was in consequence of my saying that he was
a constellation of genius and literature.--Boswell (1791).
=Ursel= (_Zedekias_), the imprisoned rival of the Emperor Alexius
Comnēnus of Greece.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time,
Rufus).
=Ur´sula=, mother of Elsie, and wife of Gottlieb [_Got.leeb_], a
cottage farmer, of Bavaria.--Hartmann von der Aue, _Poor Henry_
(twelfth century); Longfellow _Golden Legend_ (1851).
_Ursula_, a gentlewoman, attending on Hero.--Shakespeare, _Much Ado
about Nothing_ (1600).
_Ursula_, a silly old duenna, vain of her saraband dancing; though not
fair yet fat and fully forty. Don Diego leaves Leonora under her
charge, but Leander soon finds that a little flattery and a few gold
pieces will put the dragon to sleep, and leave him free of the garden
of his Hesperidês.--I. Bickerstaff, _The Padlock_ (1768).
_Ursula_ (_Sister_), a disguise assumed at St. Bride’s, by the Lady
Margaret de Hautlieu.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry
I.).
_Ursula_ (_Saint_), daughter of Dianotus, king of Cornwall (brother
and successor of Caradoc, king of Cornwall). She was asked in marriage
by Conan [Meriadoc] of Armorica, or Little Britain. Going to France
with her maidens, the princess was driven by adverse winds to Cologne,
where she and “her 11,000 virgins” were martyred by the Huns and Picts
(October 21, 237). Visitors to Cologne are still shown piles of skulls
and bones heaped in the wall, faced with glass, which the verger
asserts to be the relics of the martyred virgins; but, like Iphis,
they must have changed their sex since death for most undoubtedly many
of the bones are those of men and boys.--See Geoffrey, _British
History_, v. 15, 16.
A calendar in the Freisingen Codex notices them as “SS. XI. M.
VIRGINUM” _i.e._, “eleven holy virgin martyrs;” but, by making the “M”
into a Roman figure equal 1000, we have XIM=11,000; so iiic=300.
Ursula is the Swabian _ursul_ or _hörsel_ (“the moon”), and, if this
solution is accepted, then the “virgins who bore her company” are the
stars. Ursul is the Scandinavian Hulda.
Those who assert the legend to be based on a fact, have supplied the
following names as the most noted of the virgins, and, as there are
but eleven given, it favors the Freisingen Codex:--(1) Ursula, (2)
Sencia or Sentia, (3) Gregoria, (4) Pinnosa, (5) Mardia, (6) Saula,
(7) Brittola, (8) Saturnina, (9) Rabacia, Sabatia, or Sambatia, (10)
Saturia or Saturnia, and (11) Palladia.
In 1837 was celebrated with great splendor the sixteenth centenary
“jubilee of their passion.”
Bright Ursula the third, who undertook to guide
The eleven thousand maids to Little Britain sent,
By seas and bloody men devoured as they went;
Of which we find these four have been for saints preferred.
And with their leader still do live encalendered:
St. Agnes, Cor´dula, Odillia, Florence, which
With wondrous sumptuous shrines those ages did enrich
At Cullen.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).
=Ursus=, humane, tender-hearted pessimist, posing as a misogynist and
philanthropist. His favorite comrade is the tame wolf, _Homo_.--Victor
Hugo, _L’Homme qui rit_.
=Use of Pests.= David once said he could not image why a wise deity
should have created such things as spiders, idiots, and mosquitoes;
but his life showed they were all useful to him at any rate. Thus,
when he fled from Saul, a spider spun its web at the mouth of the
cave, and Saul, feeling assured that the fugitive could not have
entered the cave without breaking the web, passed on without further
search. Again, when he was taken captive before the king of Gath, he
feigned idiocy, and the king dismissed him, for he could not believe
such a driveller could be the great champion who had slain Goliath.
Once more, when he entered into the tent of Saul, as he was crawling
along, Abner, in his sleep, tossed his legs over him. David could not
stir, but a mosquito happened to bite the leg of the sleeper, and,
Abner shifting it, enabled David to effect his escape.--_The Talmud_.
(See VIRGIL’S GNAT.)
=Used Up=, an English version of _L’Homme Blasé_, of Felix Auguste
Duvert, in conjunction with Auguste Théodore de Lauzanne. Charles
Mathews made this dramatic trifle popular in England.--Boucicault,
_Used Up_ (1845).
=Useless Parliament= (_The_), the first parliament held in the reign
of Charles I. (June 18, 1625). It was adjourned to Oxford in August,
and dissolved twelve days afterwards.
=Usher= (_The House of_), a doomed family, the last scions of which
are twins--a brother and sister. The brother is the victim of
melancholia, the sister seems to die and is buried prematurely. She
bursts the coffin and appears in the door of her brother’s room. “For
a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the
threshold--then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the
person of her brother, and, in her violent and now final death
agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors
he had anticipated.”--Edgar Allan Poe, _Tales of the Grotesque and
Arabesque_ (1840).
=Usnach= or =Usna=. Conor, king of Ulster put to death by treachery,
the three sons of Usnach. This led to the desolating war against
Ulster, which terminated in the total destruction of Eman. This is one
of the three tragic stories of the ancient Irish. The other two are
_The Death of the Children of Touran_ and _The Death of the Children
of Lir_.
Avenging and bright falls the swift sword of Erin
On him who the brave sons of Usna betrayed!...
By the red cloud that hung over Conor’s dark dwelling
When Ulad’s three champions lay sleeping in gore ...
We swear to avenge them.
T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ iv. (“Avenging and Bright ...”
1814).
=Uta=, queen of Burgundy, mother of Kriemhild and Günther.--_The
Nibelungen Lied_ (twelfth century).
=Utha=, the “white-bosomed daughter of Herman.” She dwelt “by Thano’s
stream,” and was beloved by Frothal. When Fingal was about to slay
Frothal, she interposed and saved his life.--Ossian, _Carric-Thura_.
=Uthal=, son of Larthmor, petty king of Berrathon (a Scandinavian
island). He dethroned his father, and, being very handsome, was
beloved by Nina-Tho´ma (daughter of a neighboring prince), who eloped
with him. Uthal proved inconstant, and, confining Nina-Thoma in a
desert island, fixed his affections on another. In the mean time
Ossian and Toscar arrived at Berrothan. A fight ensued, in which Uthal
was slain in single combat, and Larthmor restored to his throne.
Nina-Thoma was also released, but all her ill treatment could not
lessen her deep love, and when she heard of the death of Uthal she
languished and died.--Ossian, _Berrathon_.
=Uther= or UTER, pendragon or war-chief of the Britons. He married
Igerna, widow of Gorloïs, and was by her the father of Arthur and
Anne. This Arthur was the famous hero who instituted the knights of
the Round Table.--Geoffrey, _History of Britain_, viii. 20 (1142).
=Uthorno=, a bay of Denmark, into which Fingal was driven by stress of
weather. It was near the residence of Starno, king of Lochlin
(_Denmark_).--Ossian, _Cath-Loda_, i.
=Uto´pia=, a political romance by Sir Thomas More.
The word means “nowhere” (Greek, _ou-topos_). It is an imaginary
island, where everything is perfect--the laws, the politics, the
morals, the institutions, etc. The author, by contrast, shows the
evils of existing laws. Carlyle, in his _Sartor Resartus_, has a place
called “Weissnichtwo” [_Vice-neckt-vo_, “I know not where”]. The
Scotch “Kennaquhair” means the same thing (1524).
Adoam describes to Telemachus the country of Bétique (in Spain) as a
Utopia.--Fénelon, _Télémaque_, viii.
_Utopia_, the kingdom of Grangousier. “Parting from Me´damoth,
Pantag´ruel sailed with a northerly wind, and passed Me´dam, Gel´asem,
and the Fairy Isles; then keeping Uti to the left, and Uden to the
right, he ran into the port of Utopia, distant about 3½ leagues from
the city of the Amaurots.”
⁂ Parting from _Medamoth_ (“from no place”), he passed _Medam_
(“nowhere”), _Gelasem_ (“hidden land”), etc.; keeping to the left
_Uti_ (“nothing at all”) and to the right _Uden_ (“nothing”), he
entered the port of _Utopia_ (“no place”), distant 3½ leagues from
_Amauros_ (“the vanishing point”).--See _Maps for the Blind_,
published by Nemo and Co., of Weissnichtwo.
(These maps were engraved by Outis and Son, and are very rare.)
=Uzziel= [_Uz´.zeel_], the next in command to Gabriel. The word means
“God’s strength.”--Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 782 (1665).
=Vadius=, a grave and heavy pedant.--Molière, _Les Femmes Savantes_
(1672).
⁂ The model of this character was Ménage, an ecclesiastic, noted for
his wit and learning. Vadius, although a caricature, was at once
recognized by Molière’s readers.
=Vafri´no=, Tancred’s squire, practiced in all disguises, and learned
in all the Eastern languages. He was sent as a spy to the Egyptian
camp. Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).
=Vagabonds= (_The_).
“We are two travellers, Roger and I.
Roger’s my dog;--come here, you scamp!
Jump for the gentleman,--mind your eye!
Over the table--look out for the lamp!
The rogue is growing a little old;
Five years we’ve tramped through wind and weather,
And slept out-doors when nights were cold,
And ate and drank--and starved--together.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Trowbridge, _The Vagabonds_ (1869).
=Vagabond= (_The Bishop’s_), “Cracker,” who imposes in countless ways
upon the credulity and takes advantage of the humanity of a benevolent
man. In the end he saves the bishop’s life at the cost of his own,
and, as the good man offers to pray by his dying bed, tries to wave
his hand in the old airy style. “I reckon God a’mighty knows I’d be
the same old Demming ef I could get up, an’ I don’ mean to make no
purtenses. But mabbe it’ll cheer up th’ ole ’ooman a bit; so you
begin, an’ I’ll bring in an ‘Amen’ whenever it’s wanted.” When the
prayer ended there was no “Amen.” Demming was gone where prayer may
only faintly follow.--Octave Thanet, _Knitters in the Sun_ (1887).
=Vain´love=, a gay young man about town.--Congreve, _The Old Bachelor_
(1693).
=Valantia= (_Count_), betrothed to the Marchioness Merĭda, whom he
“loved to distraction till he found that she doted on him, and this
discovery cloyed his passion.” He is light, inconsiderate,
unprincipled and vain. For a time he intrigues with Amantis, “the
child of Nature,” but when Amantis marries the Marquis Almanza, the
count says to Merida she shall be his wife if she will promise not to
love him.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Child of Nature_. (See THENOT.)
=Valclusa= (_Vaucluse_), the famous retreat of Petrarch (father of
Italian poetry) and his mistress, Laura, a lady of Avignon.
At last the Muses rose ... from fair Valclusa’s bowers.
Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, ii. (1744).
=Valdes= (2 _syl._) =and Cornelius=, friends of Dr. Faustus, who
instruct him in magic, and induce him to sell his soul, that he may
have a “spirit” to wait on him for twenty-four years.--C. Marlowe,
_Dr. Faustus_ (1589).
=Valence= (_Sir Aymer de_), lieutenant of Sir John de Walton, governor
of Douglas Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
=Valenti´na=, daughter of the conte di San Bris, governor of the
Louvre. She was betrothed to the conte di Nevers, but loved Raoul [di
Nangis], a Huguenot, by whom she was beloved in return. When Raoul was
offered her hand by the Princess Margheri´ta di Valois, the bride of
Henri le Bernais (_Henri IV._), he rejected it, out of jealousy; and
Valentina, out of pique, married Nevers. In the Bartholomew slaughter
which ensued, Nevers fell, and Valentina married her first love,
Raoul, but both were shot by a party of musketeers under the command
of her father, the conte di San Bris.--Meyerbeer, _Les Huguenots_
(1836).
=Valentine=, one of the “two gentlemen of Verona;” the other
“gentleman” was Protheus. Their two serving-men were Speed and Launce.
Valentine married Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, and Protheus
married Julia. The rival of Valentine was Thurio.--Shakespeare, _The
Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (1595).
_Valentine_, a gentleman in attendance on the duke of
Illyria.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1602).
_Valentine_ (3 _syl._), a gentleman just returned from his travels. In
love with Cellide (2 _syl._), but Cellide is in love with Francisco
(Valentine’s son).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons. Thomas_ (a comedy,
before 1620).
_Valentine_ (3 _syl._), a gallant that will not be persuaded to keep
his estate.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Wit without Money_ (1639).
_Valentine_, brother of Margaret. Maddened by the seduction of his
sister, he attacks Faust during a serenade, and is stabbed by
Mephistophelês. Valentine dies reproaching his sister,
Margaret.--Goethe, _Faust_ (1798).
_Valentine_ [LEGEND], eldest son of Sir Sampson Legend. He has a
_tendre_ for Angelica, an heiress, whom he eventually marries. To
prevent the signing away of his real property for the advance of £4000
in cash to clear his debts, he feigns to be mad for a time. Angelica
gets the bond, and tears it before it is duly signed.--Congreve, _Love
for Love_ (1695).
⁂ This was Betterton’s great part.
_Valentine_ (_Saint_), a Romish priest, who befriended the martyrs in
the persecution of Claudius II., and was, in consequence, arrested,
beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded (February 14, 270). Pope
Julius built a church in his honor, near Pontê Molê, which gave its
name to the gate _Porta St. Valentini_, now called “Porta del Popolo,”
and by the ancient Romans “Porta Flaminia.”
⁂ The 15th February was the festival of _Februta Juno_ (Juno, the
fructifyer), and the Roman Catholic clergy substituted St. Valentine
for the heathen goddess.
=Valentine and Orson=, twin sons of Bellisant and Alexander (emperor
of Constantinople). They were born in a forest near Orleans. While the
mother was gone to hunt for Orson, who had been carried off by a bear,
Valentine was carried off by King Pepin (his uncle). In due time
Valentine married Clerimond, the Green Knight’s sister.--_Valentine
and Orson_ (fifteenth century).
=Valentine Mortimer=, scatter-brained youth, who accepts against his
conscience ill-gotten possessions, and is forced by conscience to
renounce them, just before his early death.--Jean Ingelow, _Fated to
be Free_ (1875).
=Valentine and Violet=, two girls who are made the subject of the
curious social experiment described in _The Children of Gibeon_, by
Walter Besant (1890).
=Valentine de Grey= (_Sir_), an Englishman and knight of France. He
had “an ample span of forehead, full and liquid eyes, free nostrils,
crimson lips, well-bearded chin, and yet his wishes were innocent as
thought of babes.” Sir Valentine loved Hero, niece of Sir William
Sutton, and in the end married her.--S. Knowles, _Woman’s Wit, etc._
(1838).
=Valentin´ian= [=III.=], emperor of Rome (419, 425-455). During his
reign the empire was exposed to the invasions of the barbarians, and
was saved from ruin only by the military talents of Aët´ius, whom the
faithless emperor murdered. In the year following Valentinian was
himself “poisoned” by [Petrōnius] Maxĭmus, whose wife he had violated.
He was a feeble and contemptible prince, without even the merit of
brute courage. His wife’s name was Eudoxia.--Beaumont and Fletcher,
_Valentinian_ (1617).
=Valenti´no=, Margheri´ta’s brother, in the opera of _Faust e
Margherita_, by Gounod (1859).
_Valentino_, familiar name of Duke Cæsar Borgia. Daring, unscrupulous
noble, whose amours are as audacious as the measures he devises for
ridding himself of his rivals and enemies. His relationship to Pope
Alexander VI. gives him peculiar advantages for prosecuting his evil
designs. He is poisoned at a banquet, together with his father, who
dies. Valentino procures an antidote in time to save his life, but
remains an invalid for long. Recovering partially, he sets sail for
France, is seized by the Spaniards and imprisoned for two years in
Seville. Escaping, he takes service under the king of Navarre and is
killed in a skirmish with the soldiers of the constable of Lerina, at
the early age of thirty-one.--William Waldorf Astor, _Valentino, An
Historical Romance_ (1885).
=Valère= (2 _syl._), son of Anselme (2 _syl._), who turns out to be
Don Thomas d’Alburci, a nobleman of Naples. During an insurrection the
family was exiled and suffered shipwreck. Valère, being at the time
only seven years old, was picked up by a Spanish captain, who adopted
him, and with whom he lived for sixteen years, when he went to Paris
and fell in love with Elise, the daughter of Har´pagon, the miser.
Here also Anselme, after wandering about the world for ten years, had
settled down, and Harpagon wished him to marry Elise; but the truth
being made clear to him that Valère was his own son, and Elise in love
with him, matters were soon adjusted.--Molière, _L’Avare_ (1667).
_Valère_ (2 _syl._), the “gamester.” Angelica gives him a picture, and
enjoins him not to lose it on pain of forfeiting her hand. He loses
the picture in play, and Angelica, in disguise, is the winner of it.
After a time Valère is cured of his vice and happily united to
Angelica.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Gamester_ (1709).
=Vale´ria=, sister of Valerius, and friend of Horatia.--Whitehead,
_The Roman Father_ (1741).
_Valeria_, a blue-stocking, who delights in vivisection, entomology,
women’s rights, and natural philosophy.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Basset
Table_ (1706).
=Valerian=, husband of St. Cecilia. Cecilia told him she was beloved
by an angel, who constantly visited her; and Valerian requested to see
this visitant. Cecilia replied that he should do so, if he went to
Pope Urban to be baptized. This he did, and on returning home, the
angel gave him a crown of lilies, and to Cecilia, a crown of roses,
both from the garden of paradise. Valerian, being brought before the
Prefect Almachius for heresy, was executed.--Chaucer, _Canterbury
Tales_ (“The Second Nun’s Tale,” 1388).
=Vale´rio=, a noble young Neapolitan lord, husband of Evanthê (3
_syl._). This chaste young wife was parted from her husband by
Frederick, the licentious brother of Alphonso, king of Naples, who
tried in vain to seduce her, and then offered to make her any one’s
wife for a month, at the end of which time the libertine should suffer
death. No one would accept the offer, and ultimately the lady was
restored to her husband.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _A Wife for a Month_
(1624).
=Valerius=, the hero and title of a novel by J. G. Lockhart (1821).
Valerius is the son of a Roman commander, settled in Britain. After
the death of his father, he is summoned to Rome, to take possession of
an estate to which he is the heir. At the villa of Capĭto he meets
with Athanasia, a lady who unites the Roman grace with the elevation
of the Christian. Valerius becomes a Christian also, and brings
Athanasia to Britain. The display at the Flavian amphitheatre is
admirably described. A Christian prisoner is brought forward, either
to renounce his faith or die in the arena; of course the latter is his
lot.
This is one of the best Roman stories in the language.
_Valerius_, the brother of Valeria. He is in love with Horatia, but
Horatia is betrothed to Caius Curiatius.--Whitehead, _The Roman
Father_ (1741).
=Valiant= (_The_), Jean IV. of Brittany (1338, 1364-1399).
=Valiant-for-Truth=, a brave Christian, who fought three foes at once.
His sword was “a right Jerusalem blade,” so he prevailed, but was
wounded in the encounter. He joined Christiana’s party in their
journey to the Celestial City.--Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii (1684).
=Valjean= (_Jean_), ex-convict, whose efforts at re-habilitation meet
with rebuff and misconstruction. The best qualities of a really noble
nature appear in his care for his adopted child, the daughter of poor
Fantine.--Victor Hugo, _Les Miserables_.
=Valkyrior= or _Valkyrs_, stern, beautiful maidens, who hover over
battle-fields to bear away to Valhalla the souls of slain heroes. They
also wait at table in the halls of Valhalla.--_Scandinavian
Mythology._
=Val´ladolid´= (_The doctor of_), Sangrado, who applied depletion for
every disease, and thought the best diet consisted of roast apples and
warm water.
I condemned a variety of dishes, and arguing like the doctor of
Valladolid, “Unhappy are those who require to be always on the watch,
for fear of overloading their stomachs!”--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, vii. 5
(1735).
=Valley of Humiliation=, the place where Christian encountered
Apollyon, and put him to flight.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i.
(1678).
=Valley of the Shadow of Death=, a “wilderness, a land of deserts, and
of pits, a land of drought, and of the shadow of death” (_Jer._ ii.
6). “The light there is darkness, and the way full of traps ... to
catch the unwary.” Christian had to pass through it, after his
encounter with Apollyon.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me.--_Psalm_ xxiii. 4.
=Valunder=, the Vulcan of Scandinavian mythology, noted for a golden
arm-ring, on which was wrought all the heathen deities, with their
attributes. It was once stolen by Sotê, but being recovered by
Thorsten, became an heirloom, and of course descended to Frithjof, as
one of his three inheritances, the other two being the sword
Angurva´del, and the self-acting ship, _Ellīda_.--Tegnér, _Frithjof
Saga_, iii. (1825).
Farewell, and take in memory of our love
My arm-ring here, Valunder’s beauteous work,
With heavenly wonders graven on the gold.
viii.
=Valver´de= (3 _syl._), a Spaniard, in love with Elvi´ra. He is the
secretary of Pizarro, and at the end preserves the life of
Elvira.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_ (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).