horse is 374 feet long, and may be seen at the distance of fifteen
miles. It commemorates a great victory obtained by Alfred, over the
Danes, called the battle of Æscesdun (_Ashdown_), during the reign of
his brother Ethelred in 871. (See RED HORSE.)
In this battle all the flower of the barbarian youth was there slain,
so that neither before nor since was ever such a destruction known
since the Saxons first gained Britain by their arms.--Ethelwerd,
_Chronicle_, ii. A. 871. (See also Asser, _Life of Alfred_, year 871.)
=White King=, the title of the emperor of Muscovy, from the white
robes which these kings were accustomed to use.
Sunt qui principem Moscoviæ _Album Regem_ noncupant. Ego quidem causam
diligenter quærebam, cur _regis albi_ nomine appellaretur cum nemo
principum Moscoviæ eo titulo antea [_Basilius Ivanwich_] esset
usus.... Credo autem ut Persam nunc propter _rubea_ tegumenta capitis
“Kissilpassa” (_i.e._, rubeum caput) vocant; ita reges Moscoviæ
propter _alba_ tegumenta “Albos Reges” appellari.--Sigismund.
⁂ Perhaps it may be explained thus: Muscovy is always called “Russia
Alba,” as Poland is called “Black Russia.”
_White King._ So Charles I. is called by Herbert. His robe of state
was white instead of purple. At his funeral the snow fell so thick
upon the pall that it was quite white.--Herbert, _Memoirs_ (1764).
=White Lady= (_The_), “La Dame d’Aprigny,” a Norman fée, who used to
occupy the site of the present Rue de St. Quentin, at Bayeux.
La Dame Abonde, also a Norman fée.
Vocant dominam Abundiam pro eo quod domibus quas frequentant,
abundantiam bonorum temporalium præstare, putantur non aliter tibi
sentiendum est neque aliter quam quemadmodum de illis
audivisti.--William of Auvergne (1248).
_White Lady_ (_The_), a ghost seen in different castles and palaces
belonging to the royal family of Prussia, and supposed to forebode the
death of some of the royal family, especially one of the children. The
last appearance was in 1879, just prior to the death of Prince
Waldemar. Twice she has been heard to speak, _e.g._: In December,
1628, she appeared in the palace at Berlin, and said in Latin, “I wait
for judgment;” and once at the castle of Neuhaus, in Bohemia, when she
said to the princess, in German, “It is ten o’clock;” and the lady
addressed died in a few weeks.
There are two white ladies, in fact--one the Countess Agnes, of
Orlamunde, and the other the Princess Bertha von Rosenberg, who lived
in the fifteenth century. The former was buried alive in a vault in
the palace. She was the mistress of a margrave of Brandenburgh, by
whom she had two sons. When the prince became a widower, Agnes thought
he would marry her, but he made the sons an objection, and she
poisoned them, for which crime she was buried alive. Another version
is that she fell in love with the prince of Parma, and made away with
her two daughters, who were an obstacle to her marriage, for which
crime she was doomed to “walk the earth” as an apparition.
The Princess Bertha is troubled because an annual gift, which she left
to the poor, has been discontinued. She appears dressed in white, and
carrying at her side a bunch of keys.
It may interest those who happen to be learned in Berlin legends, to
know that the White Lady, whose visits always precede the death of
some member of the royal family, was seen on the eve of Prince
Waldemar’s death. A soldier on guard at the old castle was the witness
of the apparition, and in his fright fled to the guard-room, where he
was at once arrested for deserting his post.--_Brief_, April 4, 1879.
=White Lady of Avenel= (2 _syl._), a tutelary spirit.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
=White Lady of Ireland= (_The_), the banshee or domestic spirit of a
family, who takes an interest in its condition, and intimates
approaching death by wailing or shrieks.
=White Moon= (_Knight of the_), Samson Carrasco. He assumed this
cognizance when he went as a knight-errant to encounter Don Quixote.
His object was to overthrow the don in combat, and then impose on him
the condition of returning home, and abandoning the profession of
chivalry for twelve months. By this means he hoped to cure the don of
his craze. It all happened as the barber expected; the don was
overthrown, and returned to his home, but soon died.--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, II. iv. 12, etc. (1615).
=White Queen= (_The_), Mary Queen of Scots (_La Reine Blanche_); so
called by the French, because she dressed in white, in mourning for
her husband.
=White Rose= (_The_), the house of York, whose badge it was. The badge
of the house of Lancaster was the Red Rose.
Richard de la Pole is often called “The White Rose.”
=White Rose of England= (_The_). Perkin Warbeck was so called by
Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. (*-1499).
=White Rose of Raby= (_The_), Cecily, wife of Richard, duke of York,
and mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. She was the youngest of
twenty-one children.
⁂ A novel entitled _The White Rose of Raby_ was published in 1794.
=White Rose of Scotland= (_The_), Lady Katherine Gordon, the [? fifth]
daughter of George, second earl of Huntly, by his second wife,
Princess Annabella Stuart, youngest daughter of James I. of Scotland.
She married Perkin Warbeck, the pretender, self-styled Richard, duke
of York. (See WARBECK.) She had three husbands after the death of
Warbeck.
As Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, who out of jealousy of the
Lancastrian Henry VII., adopted the cause of Perkin Warbeck, always
called him “The White Rose of York;” his wife, Lady Katharine Gordon,
was called The White Rose of Scotland.
=White Rose of York= (_The_), Edward Courtney, earl of Devon, son of
the marquis of Exeter. He died at Padua, in Queen Mary’s reign (1553).
=White Surrey=, the favorite charger of Richard III.
Saddle White Surrey for the field to-morrow.
Shakespeare, _Richard III._ act v. sc. 3 (1597).
=White Tsar of His People.= The emperor of Russia is so called, and
claims the empire of seventeen crowns.
=White Widow= (_The_), the duchess of Tyrconnel, wife of Richard
Talbot, lord deputy of Ireland under James II. After the death of her
husband she supported herself by her needle. She wore a white mask,
and dressed in white.--Pennant, _Account of London_, 147 (1790).
=White Witch= (_A_), a “witch” who employs her power and skill for the
benefit and not the harm of her fellow-mortals.
=Whites= (_The_), an Italian faction of the fourteenth century. The
Guelphs of Florence were divided into the _Blacks_, who wished to open
their gates to Charles de Valois, and the _Whites_, who opposed him.
The poet Dantê, was a “White,” and when the “Blacks,” in 1302, got the
upper hand, he was exiled. During his exile he composed his immortal
epic, the _Divina Commedia_.
=Whitecraft= (_John_), innkeeper and miller at Altringham.
_Dame Whitecraft_, the pretty wife of the above.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
=Whitfield of the Stage= (_The_). Quin was so called by Garrick
(1716-1779). Garrick himself is sometimes so denominated also.
=Whitney= (_James_), the Claude Duval of English highwaymen. He prided
himself on being “the glass of fashion and the mould of form.”
Executed at Porter’s Block, near Smithfield (1660-1694).
=Whittington= (_Dick_), a poor orphan country lad, who heard that
London was “paved with gold,” and went there to get a living. When
reduced to starving point a kind merchant gave him employment in his
family to help the cook, but the cook so ill treated him that he ran
away. Sitting to rest himself on the roadside, he heard Bow bells, and
they seemed to him to say, “Turn again, Whittington, thrice lord mayor
of London;” so he returned to his master. By-and-by the master allowed
him, with the other servants, to put in an adventure in a ship bound
for Morocco. Richard had nothing but a cat, which, however, he sent.
Now it happened that the king of Morocco was troubled by mice, which
Whittington’s cat destroyed; and this so pleased his highness that he
bought the mouser at a fabulous price. Dick commenced business with
this money, soon rose to great wealth, married his master’s daughter,
was knighted, and thrice elected lord mayor of London--in 1398, 1406
and 1419.
⁂ A cat is a brig built on the Norwegian model, with narrow stern,
projecting quarters and deep waist.
Another solution is the word _achat_, “barter.”
KEIS, the son of a poor widow of Siraf, embarked for India with his
sole property, a cat. He arrived at a time when the palace was so
infested by mice and rats that they actually seized the king’s food.
This cat cleared the palace of its vermin, and was purchased for a
large sum of money, which enriched the widow’s son.--Sir William
Ouseley (a Persian story).
ALPHONSO, a Portuguese, being wrecked on the coast of Guinea, had
a cat, which the king bought for its weight in gold. With this
money Alphonso traded, and in five years made £6000, returned to
Portugal, and became in fifteen years the third magnate of the
kingdom.--_Description of Guinea._
⁂ See Keightley, _Tales and Popular Fictions_, 241-266.
=Whittle= (_Thomas_), an old man of 63, who wants to cajole his nephew
out of his lady-love, the Widow Brady, only 23 years of age. To this
end he assumes the airs, the dress, the manners, and the walk of a
beau. For his thick flannels he puts on a cambric shirt, open
waist-coat, and ruffles; for his Welsh wig he wears a pigtail and
chapeau bras; for his thick cork soles he trips like a dandy in pumps.
He smirks, he titters, he tries to be quite killing. He discards
history and solid reading for the _Amorous Repository_, _Cupid’s
Revels_, _Hymen’s Delight_, and Ovid’s _Art of Love_. In order to get
rid of him, the gay young widow assumes to be a boisterous,
rollicking, extravagant, low Irishwoman, deeply in debt, and utterly
reckless. Old Whittle is thoroughly alarmed, induces his nephew to
take the widow off his hands, and gives him £5000 for doing
so.--Garrick, _The Irish Widow_ (1757).
=Who’s The Dupe?= Abraham Doiley is a retired slop-seller, with
£80,000 or more. Being himself wholly uneducated, he is a great
admirer of “larning,” and resolves that his daughter Elizabeth shall
marry a great scholar. Elizabeth is in love with Captain Granger, but
the old slop-seller has fixed his heart on a Mr. Gradus, an Oxford
pedant. The question is how to bring the old man round. Gradus is
persuaded to change his style of dress to please the lady, and Granger
is introduced as a learned pundit. The old man resolves to pit
together the two aspirants, and give Elizabeth to the best scholar.
Gradus quotes two lines of Greek, in which the word panta occurs four
times; Granger gives some three or four lines of English fustian.
Gradus tells the old man that what Granger said was mere English; but
Doiley, in the utmost indignation, replies, “Do you think I don’t know
my own mother tongue? Off with your _pantry_, which you call Greek!
t’other is the man for my money;” and he gives his daughter to the
captain.--Mrs. Cowley, _Who’s the Dupe?_
=Whole Duty of Man= (_The_). Sir James Wellwood Moncrieff, bart., was
so called by Jeffrey (1776-1851).
=Wickfield= (_Mr._), a lawyer, father of Agnes. The “’umble” Uriah
Heep was his clerk.
_Agnes Wickfield_, daughter of Mr. Wickfield; a young lady of sound
sense and domestic habits, lady-like and affectionate. She is the
second wife of David Copperfield.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_
(1849).
=Wickam= (_Mrs._), a waiter’s wife. Mrs. Wickam was a meek, drooping
woman, always ready to pity herself or to be pitied, and with a
depressing habit of prognosticating evil. She succeeded Polly Toodles
as nurse to Paul Dombey.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
=Wicliffe=, called “The Morning Star of the Reformation” (1324-1384).
=Widdrington= (_Roger_), a gallant squire, mentioned in the ballad of
Chevy Chase. He fought “upon his stumps,” after he lost his legs. (See
BENBOW.)
=Widenostrils= (in French _Bringuenarilles_), a huge giant, who had
swallowed every pan, skillet, kettle, frying-pan, dripping-pan,
saucepan and caldron in the land, for want of windmills, his usual
food. He was ultimately killed by eating a lump of fresh butter at the
mouth of a hot oven, by the advice of his physician.--Rabelais,
_Pantagruel_, iv. 17 (1545).
=Widerolf=, bishop of Strasbourg (997), was devoured by mice in the
seventeenth year of his episcopate, because he suppressed the convent
of Seltzen on the Rhine. (See HATTO.)
=Widow=, in the _Deserted Village_ (_Goldsmith_). “All the bloomy
flush of life is fled” from Auburn:
All but yon widowed, solitary thing,
That feebly bends beside the plashy spring;
She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread,
To strip the brook, with mantling cresses spread,
To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn,
To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn;
She only left of all the harmless train,
The sad historian of the pensive plain.
Her name was Catherine Geraghty.
_Widow_ (_The_), courted by Sir Hudibras, was the relict of Amminadab
Wilmer or Willmot, an independent, slain at Edgehill. She was left
with a fortune of £200 a year. The knight’s “Epistle to the Lady” and
the “Lady’s Reply,” in which she declines his offer, are usually ap
pended to the poem entitled _Hudibras_.
=Widow Bedott=, relict of Hezekiah, and willing to be consoled.
Garrulous, silly and full of sentimental affectations.--Francis M.
Whitcher (1856).
=Widow Blackacre=, a perverse, bustling, masculine, pettifogging,
litigious woman.--Wycherly, _The Plain Dealer_ (1677).
=Widow Flockhart=, landlady at Waverley’s lodgings in the
Canongate.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
=Wieland’s Sword=, Balmung. It was so sharp that it cleft Amilias in
twain without his knowing it; when, however, he attempted to stir, he
fell into two pieces.--_Scandinavian Mythology._
=Wiever= (_Old_), a preacher and old conspirator.--Sir W. Scott,
_Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
=Wife= (_The_), a drama by S. Knowles (1833). Mariana, daughter of a
Swiss burgher, nursed Leonardo in a dangerous sickness--an avalanche
had fallen on him, and his life was despaired of, but he recovered,
and fell in love with his young and beautiful nurse. Leonardo intended
to return to Mantua, but was kept a prisoner by a gang of thieves, and
Mariana followed him, for she found life intolerable without him. Here
Count Florio fell in love with her, and obtained her guardian’s
consent to marry her; but Mariana refused to do so, and was arraigned
before the duke (Ferrardo), who gave judgment against her. Leonardo
was at the trial disguised, but, throwing off his mask, was found to
be the real duke supposed to be dead. He assumed his rank, and married
Mariana; but, being called to the wars, left Ferrardo regent.
Ferrardo, being a villain, hatched up a plot against the bride, of
infidelity to her lord, but Leonardo would give no credit to it, and
the whole scheme of villainy was fully exposed.
⁂ Shakespeare’s _Measure for Measure_ probably gave Knowles some hints
for his plot.
=Wife for a Month= (_A_), a drama by Beaumont and Fletcher (1624). The
“wife” is Evanthê (3 _syl._), the chaste wife of Valerio, pursued by
Frederick, the licentious brother of Alphonso, king of Naples. She
repels his base advances, and, to punish her, he offers to give her to
any one for one month, at the end of which time whoever accepts her is
to die. No one appears, and the lady is restored to her husband.
=Wife of Bath=, one of the pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas à
Becket.--Chaucer. _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
=Wife of Bath’s Tale.= One of King Arthur’s knights was condemned to
death for ill-using a lady, but Guinever interceded for him, and the
king gave him over to her to do what she liked. The queen said she
would spare his life, if, by that day twelve months, he would tell her
“What is that which woman loves best?” The knight seeks far and wide
for a solution, but in his despair he meets a hideous old woman who
promises to give him the answer if he will grant her one request,
which is, to marry her. The knight could not bring himself to embrace
so gruesome a bride, but she persuaded him that it was better to have
a faithful wife even if she were old and ugly, than one young and
beautiful, but untrue. The knight yields, and in the morning he wakes
to find a lovely woman by his side, who tells him that what a woman
likes best is to have her own way.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The
Wife of Bath’s Tale,” 1388).
⁂ This tale is a very old one, and appears in various languages;
European and Oriental. It is one of those told by Gower in his
_Confessio Amantis_, where Florent promises to marry a deformed old
hag, who in reward for his complaisance helps him to the solution of a
riddle.
=Wigged Prince= (_The Best_). The guardian, uncle-in-law and first
cousin of the duke of Brunswick was called “The Best Wigged Prince in
Christendom.”
=Wild= (_Jonathan_), a cool, calculating, heartless villain, with the
voice of a Stentor. He was born at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire,
and, like Jack Sheppard, was the son of a carpenter.
He had ten maxims: (1) Never do more mischief than is absolutely
necessary for success; (2) Know no distinction, but let self-interest
be the one principle of action; (3) Let not your shirt know the
thoughts of your heart; (4) Never forgive an enemy; (5) Shun poverty
and distress; (6) Foment jealousies in your gang; (7) A good name,
like money, must be risked in speculation; (8) Counterfeit virtues are
as good as real ones, for few know paste from diamonds; (9) Be your
own trumpeter, and don’t be afraid of blowing loud; (10) Keep hatred
concealed in the heart, but wear the face of a friend.
Jonathan Wild married six wives. Being employed for a time as a
detective, he brought to the gallows thirty-five highwaymen,
twenty-two burglars and ten returned convicts. He was himself executed
at last at Tyburn for house-breaking (1682-1725).
Daniel Defoe has made _Jonathan Wild_ the hero of a romance (1725).
Fielding did the same in 1743. The hero in these romances is a coward,
traitor, hypocrite and tyrant, unrelieved by human feeling, and never
betrayed into a kind or good action. The character is historic, but
the adventures are in a measure fictitious.
=Wild Boar of Ardennes=, William de la Marck.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin
Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
⁂ The Count de la Marck was third son of John, count de la Marck and
Aremberg. He was arrested at Utrecht, and beheaded by order of
Maximilian, emperor of Austria, in 1485.
=Wild Boy of Hameln=, a human being found in the forest of Hertswold,
in Hanover. He walked on all fours, climbed trees like a monkey, fed
on grass and leaves, and could never be taught to articulate a single
word. He was discovered in 1725, was called “Peter, the Wild Boy,” and
died at Broadway Farm, near Berkhampstead, in 1785.
⁂ Mdlle. Lablanc was a wild girl found by the villagers of Soigny,
near Chalons, in 1731. She died in Paris in 1780.
=Wild Goose Chase= (_The_), a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1652).
The “wild goose” is Mirabel, who is “chased” and caught by Oriana,
whom he once despised.
=Wild Horses= (_Death by_). The hands and feet of the victim were
fastened to two or four wild horses, and the horses, being urged
forward, ran in different directions, tearing the victim limb from
limb.
METTIUS SUFFETIUS was fastened to two chariots, which were driven in
opposite directions. This was for deserting the Roman standard (B.C.
669).--Livy, _Annals_, i. 28.
SALCĒDE, a Spaniard, employed by Henri III. to assassinate Henri de
Guise, failed in his attempt, and was torn limb from limb by four wild
horses.
NICHOLAS DE SALVADO was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting
the life of William, prince of Orange.
BALTHAZAR DE GERRARD was similarly punished for assassinating the same
prince (1584).
JOHN CHASTEL was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting the life
of Henri IV. of France (1594).
FRANÇOIS RAVAILLAC suffered a similar death for assassinating the same
prince (1610).
=Wild Huntsman= (_The_), a spectral hunter with dogs, who frequents
the Black Forest to chase wild animals.--Sir W. Scott, _Wild Huntsman_
(from Bürger’s ballad).
⁂ The legend is that this huntsman was a Jew, who would not suffer
Jesus to drink from a horse-trough, but pointed to some water
collected in a hoof-print, and bade Him go there and drink.--Kuhn von
Schwarz, _Nordd. Sagen_, 499.
The French story of _Le Grand Veneur_ is laid in Fontainbleau Forest,
and is supposed to refer to St. Hubert.--Father Matthieu.
The English name is “Herne, the Hunter,” once a keeper in Windsor
Forest.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv. sc. 4.
The Scotch poem called _Albania_ contains a full description of the
wild huntsman.
⁂ The subject has been made into a ballad by Burger, entitled _Der
Wilde Jäger_.
=Wild Man of the Forest=, Orson, brother of Valentine, and nephew of
King Pepin.--_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).
=Wild Oats=, a drama by John O’Keefe (1798).
=Wild Wenlock=, kinsman of Sir Hugo de Lacy, besieged by insurgents,
who cut off his head.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry
II.).
=Wildair= (_Sir Harry_), the hero of a comedy so called by Farquhar
(1701). The same character had been introduced in the _Constant
Couple_ (1700), by the same author. Sir Harry is a gay profligate, not
altogether selfish and abandoned, but very free and of easy morals.
This was Wilks’s and Peg Woffington’s great part.
Their Wildairs, Sir John Brutes, Lady Touchwoods and Mrs. Frails are
conventional reproductions of those wild gallants and demireps which
figure in the licentious dramas of Dryden and Shadwell.--Sir W. Scott.
⁂ “Sir John Brute,” in _The Provoked Wife_ (Vanbrugh); “Lady
Touchwood,” in _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (Mrs. Cowley); “Mrs. Frail,” in
Congreve’s _Love for Love_.
=Wildblood of the Vale= (_Young Dick_), a friend of Sir Geoffrey
Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
=Wilde= (_Johnny_), a small farmer of Rodenkirchen, in the isle of
Rügen. One day he found a little glass slipper belonging to one of the
hill-folk. Next day a little brownie, in the character of a merchant,
came to redeem it, and Johnny Wilde demanded as the price “that he
should find a gold ducat in every furrow he ploughed.” The bargain was
concluded, but before the year was over he had worked himself to death
looking for ducats in the furrows which he ploughed.--_Rügen
Tradition._
=Wildenhaim= (_Baron_), father of Amelia. In his youth he seduced
Agatha Friburg, whom he deserted. Agatha bore a son, Frederick, who in
due time became a soldier. Coming home on furlough, he found his
mother on the point of starvation, and, going to beg alms, met the
baron with his gun, asked alms of him, and received a shilling. He
demanded more money, and, being refused, collared the baron, but was
soon seized by the keepers, and shut up in the castle dungeon. Here he
was visited by the chaplain, and it came out that the baron was his
father. As the baron was a widower, he married Agatha, and Frederick
became his heir.
_Amelia Wildenhaim_, daughter of the baron. A proposal was made to
marry her to Count Cassel, but, as the count was a conceited puppy,
without “brains in his head or a heart in his bosom,” she would have
nothing to say to him. She showed her love to Anhalt, a young
clergyman, and her father gave his consent to the match.--Mrs.
Inchbald, _Lovers’ Vows_ (altered from Kotzebue, 1800).
=Wildfire= (_Madge_), the insane daughter of old Meg Murdochson, the
gypsy thief. Madge had been seduced when a girl, and this, with the
murder of her infant, had turned her brain.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of
Midlothian_ (time, George II.).