Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 · Chapter 26Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS (26)
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Claire Twining, daughter of a refined man, the scion of an old English family and a vulgar woman who marries him to escape from poverty. After his death, the daughter begins her career of rising in the social scale, using a wealthy school-fellow as the first step, a well-born husband as the last. The emptiness and vanity of what she gained are well set forth in An Ambitious Woman, by Edgar Fawcett. (1883).
Clandestine Marriage (The). Fanny Sterling, the younger daughter of Mr. Sterling, a rich city merchant, is clandestinely married to Mr. Lovewell, an apprentice in the house, of good family; and Sir John Melvil is engaged to Miss Sterling, the elder sister. Lord Ogleby is a guest in the merchant's house. Sir John prefers Fanny to her elder sister, and, not knowing of her marriage, proposes to her, but is rejected. Fanny appeals to Lord Ogleby, who, being a vain old fop, fancies she is in love with him, and tells Sterling he means to make her a countess. Matters being thus involved, Lovewell goes to consult with Fanny about declaring their marriage, and the sister, convinced that Sir John is shut up in her sister's room, rouses the house with a cry of "Thieves!" Fanny and Lovewell now make their appearance. All parties are scandalized. But Fanny declares they have been married four months, and Lord Ogleby takes their part. So all ends well.—G. Colman and D. Garrick (1766).
This comedy is a réchauffé of The False Concord, by Rev. James Townley, many of the characters and much of the dialogue being preserved.
Cla'ra, in Otway's comedy called The Cheats of Scapin, an English version of Les Fourberies de Scapin, by Molière, represents the French character called "Hyacinthe." Her father is called by Otway "Gripe," and by Molière "Géronte" (2 syl.); her brother is "Leander," in French "Leandre;" and her sweetheart "Octavian" son of "Thrifty," in French "Octave" son of "Argante." The sum of money wrung from Gripe is £200, but that squeezed out of Géronte is 1,500 livres.
Clara [d'Almanza], daughter of Don Guzman of Seville, beloved by Don Ferdinand, but destined by her mother for a cloister. She loves Ferdinand, but repulses him from shyness and modesty, quits home and takes refuge in St. Catherine's Convent. Ferdinand discovers her retreat, and after a few necessary blunders they are married.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1773).
Clara (Donna), the troth-plight wife of Octavio. Her affianced husband, having killed Don Felix in a duel, was obliged to lie perdu for a time, and Clara, assuming her brother's clothes and name, went in search of him. Both came to Salamanca, both set up at the Eagle, both hired the same servant, Lazarillo, and ere long they met, recognized each other, and became man and wife.—Jephson, Two Strings to your Bow (1792).
Clara [DOUGLAS], a lovely girl of artless mind, feeling heart, great modesty, and well accomplished. She loved Alfred Evelyn, but refused to marry him because they were both too poor to support a house. Evelyn was left an immense fortune, and proposed to Georgina Vesey, but Georgina gave her hand to Sir Frederick Blount. Being thus disentangled, Evelyn again proposed to Clara, and was joyfully accepted.—Lord L. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Clarchen [Kler'.kn], a female character in Goethe's Egmont, noted for her constancy and devotion.
Clare (Ada), cousin of Richard Carstone, both of whom are orphans and wards in Chancery. They marry each other, but Richard dies young, blighted by the law's delays in the great Chancery suit of "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce."—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Clarence (George Duke of), introduced by Sir W. Scott in Anne of Geierstein (time Edward IV.).
Clarence and the Malmsey Butt. According to tradition, George, Duke of Clarence, having joined Warwick to replace Henry VI. on the throne, was put to death, and the choice being offered him, was drowned in a butt of malmsey wine (1478).
Clarendon (The Earl of), Lord Chancellor to Charles II. Introduced by Sir W. Scott in Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Claribel (Sir), surnamed "The Lewd." One of the six knights who contended for the false Florimel.—Spenser, Faery Queen, iv. 9 (1593).
Clar'ibel, the pseudonym of Mrs. Barnard, author of numerous popular songs (from 1865 to).
Clar'ice (3 syl.), wife of Rinaldo, and sister of Huon of Bordeaux. Introduced in the romances of Bojardo, Ariosto, Tasso, etc.
Clarin or Clarin'da, the confidential maid of Radigund, queen of the Am'azons. When the queen had got Sir Ar'tegal into her power, and made him change his armor for an apron, and his sword for a distaff, she fell in love with the captive, and sent Clarin to win him over by fair promises and indulgences. Clarin performed the appointed mission, but fell in love herself with the knight, and told the queen that Sir Artegal was obstinate, and rejected her advances with scorn.—Spenser, Faery Queen, v. 5 (1596).
Clarinda, the heroine of Mrs. Centlivre's drama The Beau's Duel (1703).
"Estifania," in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, by Beaumont and Fletcher.
Clarin'da, a merry, good-humored, high-spirited lady, in love with Charles Frankly. The madcap Ranger is her cousin.—Dr. Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1747).
Clarinda of Robert Burns, was Mrs. Maclehose, who was alive in 1833.
Clarion, the son and heir of Muscarol. He was the fairest and most prosperous of all the race of flies. Aragnol, the son of Arachnê (the spider), entertained a deep and secret hatred of the young prince, and set himself to destroy him; so, weaving a most curious net, Clarion was soon caught, and Aragnol gave him his death-wound by piercing him under the left wing.—Spenser Muiopotmos or The Butterfly's Fate (1590).
Claris'sa, wife of Gripe the scrivener. A lazy, lackadaisical, fine city lady, who thinks "a woman must be of mechanic mold who is either troubled or pleased with anything her husband can do" (act i. 3). She has "wit and beauty, with a fool to her husband," but though "fool," a hard, grasping, mean old hunks.
Claris'sa, sister of Beverley, plighted to George Bellmont.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong, (1761).
Clarissa Harlowe. (See HARLOWE.)
Clark (The Rev T.)., the pseudonym of John Gall, the novelist (1779 1839).
Clarke (The Rev. C. C.), one of the many pseudonyms of Sir Richard Phillips, author of The Hundred Wonders of the World (1818), Readings in Natural Philosophy.
Clarsie, the mountain maid who, going out at dawn to "try her fortune," discovers the "Harnt" that walks Chilhowee.—Charles Egbert Craddock (Mary Noailles Murfree), In the Tennessee Mountains (1884).
Cla'tho, the last wife of Fingal and mother of Fillan, Fingal's youngest son.
Claude (The English), Richard Wilson (1714-1782).
Clau'dine (2 syl.), wife of the porter of the hotel Harancour, and old nurse of Julio "the deaf and dumb" count. She recognizes the lad, who had been rescued by De l'Epée from the streets of Paris, and brought up by him under the name of Theodore. Ultimately, the guardian Darlemont confesses that he had sent him adrift under the hope of getting rid of him; but being proved to be the count, he is restored to his rank and property.—Th. Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).
Claudio (Lord) of Florence, a friend of Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, and engaged to Hero (daughter of Leonato, governor of Messina)—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).
Claudio, condemned to die for betraying his mistress Juliet, tries to buy his life at the sacrifice of his sister Isabella's honor, shamefully pursued by Angelo, the Duke's deputy.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.
Clau'dius, King of Denmark, who poisoned his brother, married the widow, and usurped the throne. Claudius induced Laertes to challenge Hamlet to play with foils, but persuaded him to poison his weapon. In the combat the foils got changed, and Hamlet wounded Laertes with the poisoned weapon. In order still further to secure the death of Hamlet, Claudius had a cup of poisoned wine prepared, which he intended to give Hamlet when he grew thirsty with playing. The queen, drinking of this cup, died of poison, and Hamlet, rushing on Claudius, stabbed him and cried aloud, "Here, thou incestuous, murderous Dane.... Follow my mother!"—Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).
In the History of Hamblet, Claudius is called "Fengon," a far better name for a Dane.
Claudius, the instrument of Appius the decemvir for entrapping Virginia. He pretended that Virginia was his slave, who had been stolen from him and sold to Virginius.—J. S. Knowles, Virginius (1820).
Claudius (Mathias), a German poet born at Rheinfeld, and author of the famous song called Rheinweinlied ("Rhenish wine song"), sung at all convivial feasts of the Germans.
Claudius, though he sang of flagons,
And huge tankards filled with Rhenish,
From the fiery blood of dragons
Never would his own replenish.
Longfellow, Drinking Song.
Claus (Peter). (See under K.)
Claus (Santa), a familiar name for St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. On Christmas Eve German children have presents stowed away in their socks and shoes while they are asleep, and the little credulous ones suppose that Santa Claus or Klaus placed them there.
St. Nicholas is said to have supplied three destitute maidens with marriage portions by secretly leaving money with their widowed mother, and as his day occurs just before Christmas, he was selected for the gift-giver on Christmas Eve.—Yonge.
"Claverhouse," or the Marquis of Argyll, a kinsman of Ravenswood, introduced by Sir W. Scott in The Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Claver'house (3 syl.), John Graham of Claverhouse (Viscount Dundee), a relentless Jacobite, so rapacious and profane, so violent in temper and obdurate of heart, that every Scotchman hates the name. He hunted the Covenanters with real vindictiveness, and is a by-word for barbarity and cruelty (1650-1689).
Clavijo (Don), a cavalier who "could touch the guitar to admiration, write poetry, dance divinely, and had a fine genius for making bird-cages." He married the Princess Antonomesia of Candaya, and was metamorphosed by Malambru/no into a crocodile of some unknown metal. Don Quixote disenchanted him "by simply attempting the adventure."— Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 4, 5 (1615).
Clavilen'o, the wooden horse on which Don Quixote got astride in order to disenchant the Infanta Antonoma'sia, her husband, and the Countess Trifaldi (called the "Dolori'da Dueña"). It was "the very horse on which Peter of Provence carried off the fair Magalone, and was constructed by Merlin." This horse was called Clavileno or wooden Peg, because it was governed by a wooden pin in the forehead.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 4, 5 (1615).
There is one peculiar advantage attending this horse; he neither eats, drinks, sleeps, nor wants shoeing.... His name is not Pegasus, nor Bucephalus; nor is it Brilladoro, the name of the steed of Orlando Furioso; neither is it Bayarte, which belonged to Reynaldo de Montalbon; nor Bootes, nor Peritoa, the horses of the sun; but his name is Clavileno the Winged.—Chap. 4.
Claypole (Noah), alias "Morris Bolter," an ill-conditioned charity-boy, who takes down the shutters of Sowerberry's shop and receives broken meats from Charlotte (Sowerberry's servant), whom he afterwards marries.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Clay and Randolph. In his Thirty Years' View, Thomas Hart Benton gives a graphic description of the famous duel between Henry Clay and John Randolph, of Roanoke (April 8, 1826).
After two shots had been exchanged without injury to either, the two statesmen shook hands, Randolph remarking: "You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay," a bullet having passed through his; and Mr. Clay answered: "I am glad the debt is no greater!" (1854).
Cleante (2 syl.), brother-in-law of Orgon. He is distinguished for his genuine piety, and is both high-minded and compassionate.—Molière, La Tartuffe (1664).
Cléante (2 Syl.), son of Har'pagon the miser, in love with Mariane (3 syl.). Harpagon, though 60 years old, wished to marry the same young lady, but Cléante solved the difficulty thus: He dug up a casket of gold from the garden, hidden under a tree by the miser, and while Harpagon was raving about the loss of his gold, Cléante told him he might take his choice between Mariane and the gold. The miser preferred the casket, which was restored to him, and Cléante married Mariane.—Molière, L'Avar (1667).
Cléante (2 syl.), the lover of Angelique, daughter of Argan the malade imaginaire. As Argan had promised Angelique in marriage to Thomas Diafoirus, a young surgeon, Cléante carries on his love as a music-master, and though Argan is present, the lovers sing to each other their plans under the guise of an interlude called "Tircis and Philis." Ultimately, Argan assents to the marriage of his daughter with Cléante.—Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire (1673).
Clean'the (2 syl.), sister of Siphax of Paphos.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (1617).
Cleanthe (3 syl.), the lady beloved by Ion.—Talfourd, Ion (1835).
Clean'thes (3 syl.), son of Leon'idês and husband of Hippolita, noted for his filial piety. The Duke of Epire made a law that all men who had attained the age of 80 should be put to death as useless incumbrances of the commonwealth. Simonidês, a young libertine, admired the law, but Cleanthês looked on it with horror, and determined to save his father from its operation. Accordingly, he gave out that his father was dead, and an ostentatious funeral took place; but Cleanthês retired to a wood, where he concealed Leon'idês, while he and his wife waited on him and administered to his wants.—The Old Law (a comedy of Philip Massinger, T. Middleton, and W. Rowley, 1620).
Clegg (Holdfast), a Puritan mill-wright.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Cleish'botham (Jededi'ah), schoolmaster and parish clerk of Gandercleuch, who employed his assistant teacher to arrange and edit the tales told by the landlord of the Wallace Inn of the same parish. These tales the editor disposed in three series, called by the general title of The Tales of My Landlord (q.v.). (See introduction to The Black Dwarf.) Of course the real author is Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
Mrs. Dorothea Cleishbotham, wife of the schoolmaster, a perfect Xantippê, and a "sworn sister of the Eumen'idês."
Cle'lia or Cloe'lia, a Roman maiden, one of the hostages given to Por'sena. She made her escape from the Etruscan camp by swimming across the Tiber. Being sent back by the Romans, Porsena not only set her at liberty for her gallant deed, but allowed her to take with her a part of the hostages. Mdlle. Scudéri has a novel on the subject, entitled Clélie, Histoire Romaine.
Our statues—not those that men desire—
Sleek odalisques
[Turkish slaves
] ... but
The Carian Artemisia ...
[See Artemisia
.]
Clelia, Cornelia ... and the Roman brows
Of Agrippina.
Tennyson,
The Princess
, ii.
Cle'lia, a vain, frivolous female butterfly, with a smattering of everything. In youth she was a coquette; and when youth was passed, tried sundry means to earn a living, but without success.—Crabbe, Borough (1810).
Clelie (2 syl.), the heroine of a novel so called by Mdlle. Scudéri. (See CLELIA.)
Clement, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Clem'ent (Justice), a man quite able to discern between fun and crime. Although he had the weakness "of justices' justice." he had not the weakness of ignorant vulgarity.
Knowell. They say he will commit a man for taking the wall of his horse.
Wellbred. Ay, or for wearing his cloak on one shoulder, or serving God. Anything, indeed, if it comes in the way of his humor.—B. Jonson, Every Man in His Humor, iii. 2 (1598).
Clementi'na (The Lady), an amiable, delicate, beautiful, accomplished, but unfortunate woman, deeply in love with Sir Charles Grandison. Sir Charles married Harriet Byron.—S. Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753).
Cle'ofas (Don), the hero of a novel by Lesage, entitled Le Diable Boiteux (The Devil on Two Sticks). A fiery young Spaniard, proud, high-spirited and revengeful; noted for gallantry but not without generous sentiment. Asmode'us (4 syl.) shows him what is going on in private families by unroofing the houses (1707).
Cleom'brotus or Ambracio'ta of Ambrac'ia, (in Epirus). Having read Plato's book on the soul's immortality and happiness in another life, he was so ravished with the description that he leaped into the sea that he might die and enjoy Plato's elysium.
He who to enjoy
Plato's elysium leaped into the sea,
Cleombrotus.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 471, etc. (1665).
Cleom'enes (4 syl.), the hero and title of a drama by Dryden (1692). As Dryden came out of the theatre a young fop of fashion said to him: "If I had been left alone with a young beauty, I would not have spent my time like your Spartan hero." "Perhaps not," said the poet, "but you are not my hero."—W. C. Russell, Representative Actors.
Cleom'enes (4 syl.). "The Venus of Cleomenês" is now called "The Venus de Medici." Such a mere moist lump was once ... "the Venus of Cleomenês."—Ouida, Ariadné, i. 8.
Cle'on, governor of Tarsus, burnt to death with his wife Dionys'ia by the enraged citizens, to revenge the supposed murder of Mari'na, daughter of Per'iclês, Prince of Tyre.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
Cle'on, the personification of Glory.—Spenser, Faëry Queen.
Cleop'atra, Queen of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy Dionysius, her brother. She was driven from her throne, but re-established by Julius Cæsar, B.C. 47. Antony, captivated by her, repudiated his wife, Octavia, to live with the fascinating Egyptian. After the loss of the battle of Actium, Cleopatra killed herself by an asp.
E. Jodelle wrote in French a tragedy called Cléopâtre Captive (1550); Jean Mairet one called Cléopâtre (1630); Isaac de Benserade (1670); J. F. Marmontel (1750), and Mde. de Girardin (1847) wrote tragedies in French on the same subject. S. Daniel (1600) wrote a tragedy in English called Cleopatra; Shakespeare one called Antony and Cleopatra (1608); and Dryden one on the same subject, called All for Love or the World Well Lost (1682).
Mrs. Oldfield (1683-1730) and Peg (Margaret) Woffington (1718-1760) were unrivalled in this character.
Cleopatra and the Pearl. The tale is that Cleopatra made a sumptuous banquet, which excited the surprise of Antony; whereupon the queen took a pearl ear-drop, dissolved it in a strong acid and drank the liquor to the health of the triumvir, saying: "My draught to Antony shall exceed in value the whole banquet."
When Queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000.
Here £15,000 at one clap goes Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl Unto his queen and mistress. Pledge it; love it!--Th. Heywood, If You Know not Me. You Know Nobody.
Cleopatra in Hades. Cleopatra, says Rabelais, is "a crier of onions" in the shades below. The Latin for a pearl and onion is unio, and the pun refers to Cleopatra giving her pearl (or onion) to Antony in a draught of wine, or, as some say, drinking it herself in toasting her lover.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 30 (1553).
Cleopat'ra, Queen of Syria, daughter of Ptolemy Philome'ter, King of Egypt. She first married Alexander Bala, the usurper (B.C. 149); next Deme'trius Nica'nor. Demetrius, being taken prisoner by the Parthians, married Rodogune (3 syl.), daughter of Phraa'tes (3 syl.) the Parthian king, and Cleopatra married Antiochus Sidetês, brother of Demetrius. She slew her son Seleucus (by Demetrius) for treason, and as this produced a revolt, abdicated in favor of her second son, Anti'ochus VIII., who compelled her to drink poison which she had prepared for himself. P. Corneille has made this the subject of his tragedy called Rodogune (1646).
This is not the Cleopatra of Shakespeare's and Dryden's tragedies.
Cleopatra. In his Graffiti d'Italia, William Wetmore Story gives a passionate soliloquy of the Egyptian Queen, beginning:—
"Here, Charmian, take my bracelets;
They bar with a purple stain
My arms."
(1868).
Clere'mont (2 syl.), a merry gentleman, the friend of Dinant'.—"Beaumont and Fletcher" The Little French Lawyer (1547).
Cler'imond, niece of the Green Knight, sister of Fer'ragus the giant, and bride of Valentine the brave.—Valentine and Orson.
Clerks (St. Nicholas's), thieves, also called "St. Nicholas's Clergymen," in allusion to the tradition of "St. Nicholas and the thieves." Probably a play on the words Nich-olas and Old Nick may be designed.—See Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV. act ii. sc. 1 (1597).
Cless'ammor, son of Thaddu and brother of Morna (Fingal's mother). He married Moina, daughter of Reutha'mir (the principal man of Balclutha, on the Clyde). It so happened that Moina was beloved by a Briton named Reuda, who came with an army to carry her off. Reuda was slain by Clessammor; but Clessammor, being closely pressed by the Britons, fled, and never again saw his bride. In due time a son was born, called Carthon; but the mother died. While Carthon was still an infant, Fingal's father attacked Balclutha, and slew Reuthama (Carthon's grandfather). While the boy grew to manhood, he determined on vengeance; accordingly he invaded Morven, the kingdom of Fingal, where Clessammor, not knowing who he was, engaged him in single combat, and slew him. When he discovered that it was his son, three days he mourned for him, and on the fourth he died.—Ossian, Carthon.
Cleve'land (Barbara Villiers, Duchess of), one of the mistresses of Charles II., introduced by Sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak.
Cleve'land (Captain Clement), alias Vaughan [Vawn], "the pirate," son of Norna of the Fitful Head. He is in love with Minna Troil (daughter of Magnus Troil, the udaller of Zetland).—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III).
Clever, the man-servant of Hero Sutton, "the city maiden." When Hero assumed the guise of a quaker, Clever called himself Obadiah, and pretended to be a rigid quaker also. His constant exclamation was "Umph! "—S. Knowles, Woman's Wit, etc. (1838).
Clifford (Sir Thomas), betrothed to Julia (daughter of Master Walter "the hunchback"). He is wise, honest, truthful, and well-favored, kind, valiant, and prudent.—S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).
Clifford, (Mr.), the heir of Sir William Charlton in right of his mother, and in love with Lady Emily Gayville. The scrivener Alscrip had fraudulently got possession of the deeds of the Charlton estates, which he had given to his daughter called "the heiress," and which amounted to £2000 a year; but Rightly, the lawyer, discovered the fraud, and "the heiress" was compelled to relinquish this part of her fortune. Clifford then proposed to Lady Emily, and was accepted.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress. (1781).
Clifford (Paul), a highwayman, reformed by the power of love.—Lord Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830).
Clifford (Rosamond), usually called "The Fair Rosamond," the favorite mistress of Henry II.; daughter of Walter Lord Clifford. She is introduced by Tennyson in his tragedy Becket. Miss Terry acted the part. Dryden says:
Jane
Clifford was her name, as books aver,
"Fair Rosamond" was but her
nom de guerre
.
Epilogue to Henry II.
Clifford (Henry Lord), a general in the English army.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Clifton (Harry), lieutenant of H.M. ship Tiger. A daring, dashing, care-for-nobody young English sailor, delighting in adventure, and loving a good scrape. He and his companion Mat Mizen take the side of El Hyder, and help to re-establish the Chereddin, Prince of Delhi, who had been dethroned by Hamlet Abdulerim.—Barrymore, El Hyder, Chief of the Ghaut Mountains.
Clim of the Clough. (See CLYM).
Clink (Jem), the turnkey at Newgate.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II).
Clinker (Humphry), a poor work-house lad, put out by the parish as apprentice to a blacksmith, and afterwards employed as an ostler's assistant and extra postilion. Being dismissed from the stables, he enters the service of Mr. Bramble, a fretful, grumpy, but kind-hearted and generous old gentleman, greatly troubled with gout. Here he falls in love with Winifred Jenkins, Miss Tabitha Brambles's maid, and turns out to be a natural son of Mr. Bramble.—T. Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771.)
Clip'purse (Lawyer), the lawyer employed by Sir Everard Waverley to make his will.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Cliquot (Klee'ko), a nickname given by Punch to Frederick William IV. of Prussia, from his love of champagne of the "Cliquot brand" (1795, 1840-1861).
Clitandre, a wealthy bourgeois, in love with Henriette, "the thorough woman," by whom he is beloved with fervent affection. Her elder sister, Armande (2 syl.), also loves him, but her love is of the platonic hue, and Clitandre prefers in a wife the warmth of woman's love to the marble of philosophic ideality.—Molière, Les Femmes Savantes (1672).
Cloaci'na, the presiding personification of city sewers. (Latin, cloaca, "a sewer.")
...Cloacina, goddess of the tide,
Whose sable streams beneath the city glide.
Gay,
Trivia
, ii. (1712).
Clod'dipole (3 syl.), "the wisest lout of all the neighboring plain." Appointed to decide the contention between Cuddy and Lobbin Clout.
From Cloddipole we learn to read the skies,
To know when hail will fall, or winds arise;
He taught us erst the heifer's tail to view,
When struck aloft that showers would straight ensue.
He first that useful secret did explain,
That pricking corns foretell the gathering rain;
When swallows fleet soar high and sport in air,
He told us that the welkin would be clear.
Gay,
Pastoral
, i. (1714).
(Cloddipole is the "Palaemon" of Virgil's Ecl. iii.).
Clo'dio (Count), governor. A dishonorable pursuer of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of Arnoldo.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Clodio, the younger son of Don Antonio, a coxcomb and braggart. Always boasting of his great acquaintances, his conquests, and his duels. His snuff-box he thinks more of than his lady-love, he interlards his speech with French, and exclaims "Split me!" by way of oath. Clodio was to have married Angelina, but the lady preferred his elder brother, Carlos, a bookworm, and Clodio engaged himself to Elvira of Lisbon.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man (1694).
Clo'e, in love with the shepherd, Thenot, but Thenot rejects her suit out of admiration of the constancy of Clorinda for her dead lover. She is wanton, coarse, and immodest, the very reverse of Clorinda, who is a virtuous, chaste, and faithful shepherdess. ("Thenot," the final t is sounded.)—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess (1610). (See CHLOE).
Clo'ra, sister of Fabrit'io, the merry soldier, and the sprightly companion of Frances (sister to Frederick).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
Clorida'no, a humble Moorish youth, who joined Medo'ro in seeking the body of King Dardinello to bury it. Medoro being wounded, Cloridano rushed madly into the ranks of the enemy and was slain.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Clorin'da, daughter of Sena'pus of Ethiopia (a Christian). Being born white, her mother changed her for a black child. The Eunuch Arse'tes (3 syl.) was entrusted with the infant Clorinda, and as he was going through a forest, saw a tiger, dropped the child, and sought safety in a tree. The tiger took the babe and suckled it, after which the eunuch carried the child to Egypt. In the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Clorinda was a leader of the Pagan forces. Tancred fell in love with her, but slew her unknowingly in a night attack. Before she expired she received Christian baptism at the hands of Tancred, who greatly mourned her death.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xii. (1675).
(The story of Clorinda is borrowed from the Theag'anês and Charicle'a of Heliodorus Bishop of Trikka).
Clorinda, "the faithful shepherdess" called "The Virgin of the Grove," faithful to her buried love. From this beautiful character Milton has drawn his "lady" in Comus. Compare the words of the "First Brother" about chastity, in Milton's Comus, with these lines of Clorinda:
Yet I have heard (my mother told it me),
And now I do believe it, if I keep
My virgin flower uncropt, pure, chaste, and fair,
No goblin, wood-god, fairy, elf, or fiend,
Satyr, or other power that haunts the groves
Shall hurt my body, or by vain illusion
Draw me to wander after idle fires,
Or voices calling me in dead of night
To make me follow and so tole me on
Through mire and standing-pools, to find my ruin.
...Sure there's a power
In the great name of Virgin that binds fast
All rude, uncivil bloods.... Then strong Chastity,
Be thou my strongest guard.
—J. Fletcher,—The Faithful Shepherdess (1610).
Cloris, the damsel beloved by Prince Prettyman.—Duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1671).
Clotaire (2 syl). The King of France exclaimed on his death-bed: "Oh, how great must be the King of Heaven, if He can kill so mighty a monarch as I am!"—Gregory of Tours, iv. 21.
Cloten or Cloton, King of Cornwall, one of the five kings of Britain after the extinction of the line of Brute (1 syl.).—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 17 (1142).
Cloten, a vindictive lout, son of the second wife of Cymbeline by a former husband. He is noted for "his unmeaning frown, his shuffling gait, his burst of voice, his bustling insignificance, his fever-and-ague fits of valor, his froward tetchiness, his unprincipled malice, and occasional gleams of good sense." Cloten is the rejected lover of Imogen (the daughter of his father-in-law by his first wife), and is slain in a duel by Guiderius.—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Clotha'rius or CLOTHAIRE, leader of the Franks after the death of Hugo. He is shot with an arrow by Clorinda.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xi. (1675).
Cloud (St.), patron saint of nail-smiths. A play on the French word clou ("a nail").