Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 · Chapter 42Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS (42)
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"What!" said Bedredeen, "was everything in
my house to be broken and destroyed ... only
because I did not put pepper in a cheese-cake!"
Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).
Again, Sir Walter Scott speaks of "the philosopher who appealed from Philip inflamed with wine to Philip in his hours of sobriety" (Antiquary, x.). This "philosopher" was a poor old woman.
SHAKESPEARE. Althaea and the Fire-brand. Shakespeare says, (Henry IV. act ii. sc. 2) that "Althaea dreamt that she was delivered of a fire-brand." It was not Althaea, but Hecuba, who dreamed, a little before Paris was born, that her offspring was a brand that consumed the kingdom. The tale of Althaea is, that the Fates laid a log of wood on a fire, and told her that her son would live till that log was consumed; whereupon she snatched up the log and kept it from the fire, till one day her son Melea'ger offended her, when she flung the log on the fire, and her son died, as the Fates predicted.
Bohemia's Coast. In the Winter's Tale the vessel bearing the infant Perdita is "driven by storm on the coast of Bohemia;" but Bohemia has no seaboard at all.
In Coriolanus, Shakespeare makes Volumnia the mother, and Virgilia the wife, of Coriolanus; but his wife was Volumnia, and his mother Veturia.
Delphi an Island. In the same drama (act iii. sc. 1) Delphi is spoken of as an island; but Delphi is a city of Phocis, containing a temple to Apollo. It is no island at all.
Duncan's Murder. Macbeth did not murder Duncan in the castle of Inverness, as stated in the play, but at "the smith's house," near Elgin (1039).
Elsinore. Shakespeare speaks of the beetling cliff of Elsinore, whereas Elsinore has no cliffs at all.
What if it [
the ghost
] tempt you toward the flood.
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er its base into the sea?
Hamlet, act i. sc. 4.
The Ghost, in Hamlet, is evidently a Roman Catholic; he talks of purgatory, absolution, and other Catholic dogmas; but the Danes at the time were pagans.
St. Louis. Shakespeare, in Henry V. act i. sc. 2, calls Louis X. "St. Louis," but "St. Louis" was Louis IX. It was Louis IX. whose "grandmother was Isabel," issue of Charles de Lorraine, the last of the Carlovingians. Louis X. was the son of Philippe IV. (le Bel) and grandson of Philippe III. and "Isabel of Aragon," not Isabel, "heir of Capet of the line of Charles the duke of Lorain."
Macbeth was no tyrant, as Shakespeare makes him out to be, but a firm and equitable prince, whose title to the throne was better than that of Duncan.
Again, Macbeth was not slain by Macduff at Dunsin'ane, but made his escape from the battle, and was slain in 1056, at Lumphanan.—Lardner, Cabinet Cyc., 17-19.
In The Winter's Tale, act v. sc. 2, one of the gentlemen refers to Julio Romano, the Italian artist and architect (1492-1546), certainly some 1800 years or more before Romano was born.
In Twelfth Night, the Illyrian clown speaks of St. Bennet's Church, London. "The triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure, or the bells of St. Bennet's sure may put you in mind: one, two, three" (act v. sc. 1); as if the duke was a Londoner.
SPENSER. Bacchus or Saturn? In the Faëry Queen, iii. 11, Britomart saw in the castle of Bu'sirane (3 syl.), a picture descriptive of the love of Saturn, who had changed himself into a centaur out of love for Erig'onê. It was not Saturn, but Bacchus who loved Erig'onê, and he was not tranformed into a centaur, but to a horse.
Beonê or Oenonê? In bk. vi. 9 (Faëry Queen) the lady-love of Paris is called Benonê, which ought to be Oenonê. The poet says that Paris was "by Plexippus' brook" when the golden apple was brought to him; but no such brook is mentioned by any classic author.
Critias and Socrates. In bk. ii. 7 (Faëry Queen) Spenser says: "The wise Socrates ... poured out his life ... to the dear Critias; his dearest bel-amie." It was not Socratês, but Theram'enes, one of the thirty tyrants, who in quaffing the poison-cup, said smiling, "This I drink to the health of fair Critias."—Cicero, Tusculan Questions.
Critias or Crito? In Faëry Queen, iv. (introduction), Spenser says that Socrates often discoursed of love to his friend Critias; but it was Crito, or rather Criton that the poet means.
Cyprus and Paphos. Spenser makes Sir Scudamore speak of a temple of Venus, far more beautiful than "that in Paphos, or that in Cyprus;" but Paphos was merely a town in the island of Cyprus, and the "two" are but one and the same temple.—Faëry Queen, iv. 10.
Hippomanês. Spenser says the golden apples of Mammon's garden were better than Those with which the Eubaean young man won Swift Atalanta. Faëry Queen, ii. 7.
The young man was Hippom'anês. He was not a "Eubaean," but a native of Onchestos, in Boeo'tia.
TENNYSON, in the Last Tournament, says (ver. I), Dagonet was knighted in mockery by Sir Gaw'ain; but in the History of Prince Arthur we are distinctly told that King Arthur knighted him with his own hand (pt. ii. 91).
In Gareth and Lynette the same poet says that Grareth was the son of Lot and Bellicent; but we are told a score times and more in the History of Prince Arthur, that he was the son of Margawse (Arthur's sister and Lot's wife, pt. i. 36).
King Lot ... wedded Margawse; Nentres ... wedded Elain.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 35, 36.
In the same Idyll Tennyson has changed Lionês to Lyonors; but, according to the collection of romances edited by Sir T. Malory, these were quite different persons. Lionês, daughter of Sir Persaunt, and sister of Linet of Castle Perilous, married Sir Gareth (pt. i. 153); but Lyonors was the daughter of Earl Sanam, and was the unwedded mother of Sir Borre by King Arthur (pt. i. 15).
Again, Tennyson makes Gareth marry Lynette, and leaves the true heroine, Lyonors, in the cold; but the History makes Grareth marry Lionês (Lyonors), and Gaheris his brother marries Linet.
Thus endeth the history of Sir Gareth, that wedded Dame Liones of the Castle Perilous; and also of Sir Gaheris, who wedded her sister Dame Linet.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (end of pt. i.).
Again, in Gareth and Lynette, by erroneously beginning day with sunrise instead of the previous eve, Tennyson reverses the order of the knights, and makes the fresh green morn represent the decline of day, or, as he calls it, "Hesperus" or "Evening Star;" and the blue star of evening he makes "Phosphorus" or the "Morning Star."
Once more, in Gareth and Lynette, the poet-laureate makes the combat between Gareth and Death finished at a single blow, but in the History, Gareth fights from dawn to dewy eve.
Thus they fought [from sunrise] till it was past noon, and would not stint, till, at last both lacked wind, and then stood they wagging, staggering, panting, blowing, and bleeding ... and when they had rested them awhile, they went to battle again, trasing, rasing, and foyning, as two boars ... Thus they endured till evening-song time.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 136.
In the Last Tournament, Tennyson makes Sir Tristram stabbed to death, by Sir Mark in Tintag'il Castle, Cornwall, while toying with his aunt, Isolt the Fair, but in the History he was in bed in Brittany, severely wounded, and dies of a shock, because his wife tells him the ship in which he expected his aunt to come was sailing into port with a black sail instead of a white one.
The poet-laureate has deviated so often from the collection of tales edited by Sir Thomas Malory, that it would occupy too much space to point out his deviations even in the briefest manner.
THACKERAY, in Vanity Fair, has taken from Sir Walter Scott his allusion to Bedredeen, and not from the Arabian Nights. He has, therefore, fallen into the same error, and added two more. He says: "I ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts into the cream-tarts in India, sir" (ch. iii.). The charge was that Bedredeen made his cheese-cakes without putting pepper into them. But Thackeray has committed in this allusion other blunders. It was not a "princess" at all, but Bedredeen Hassan, who for the nonce had become a confectioner. He learned the art of making cheese-cakes from his mother (a widow). Again, it was not a "princess of Persia," for Bedredeen's mother was the widow of the vizier of Balsora, at that time quite independent of Persia.
VICTOR HUGO, in Les Travailleurs de la Mer, renders "the Frith of Forth" by the phrase Premier des quatre, mistaking "Frith" for first, and "Forth" for fourth or four.
In his Marie Tudor he refers to the History and Annals of Henry VII. par Franc Baronum, "meaning" Historia, etc.
Henrici Septimi, per Franciscum Baconum.
VIEGIL has placed Æneas in a harbor which did not exist at the time. "Portusque require Velinos" (Æneid, vi. 366). It was Curius Dentatus who cut a gorge through the rocks to let the waters of the Velinus into the Nar. Before this was done, the Velinus was merely a number of stagnant lakes, and the blunder is about the same as if a modern poet were to make Columbus pass through the Suez Canal.
In Æneid, in. 171 Virgil makes Æneas speak of "Ausonia;" but as Italy was so called from Auson, son of Ulysses and Calypso, of course Æneas could not have known the name.
Again, in Æneid ix. 571, he represents Chorinseus as slain by Asy'las; but in bk. xii. 298 he is alive again. Thus:
Chorinaeum sternit Asylas
Bk. ix. 571.
Then:
Obvius ambustum torrem Chorinseus ab ara
Corripit, et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti
Occupat os flammis, etc.
Bk. xii. 298, etc.
Again in bk. ix. Numa is slain by Nisus, (ver. 554); but in bk. x. 562 Numa is alive, and Æneas kills him.
Once more, in bk. x. Æneas slays Camertês (ver. 562); but in bk. xii. 224 Jaturna, the sister of Turnus, assumes his shape. But if he was dead, no one would have been deluded into supposing the figure to be the living man.
Of course, every intelligent reader will be able to add to this list; but no more space can be allowed for the subject in this dictionary.
Er'rua ("the mad-cap"), a young man whose wit defeated the strength of the giant Tartaro (a sort of one-eyed Polypheme). Thus the first competition was in throwing a stone. The giant threw his stone, but Errua threw a bird, which the giant supposed to be a stone, and as it flew out of sight, Errua won the wager. The next wager was a bar of iron. After the giant had thrown, Errua said, "From here to Salamanca;" whereupon the giant bade him not to throw, lest the bar of iron should kill his father and mother, who lived there; so the giant lost the second wager. The third was to pull a tree up by the roots; and the giant gave in because Errua had run a cord around a host of trees, and said, "You pull up one, but I pull up all these." The next exploit was at bed-time; Errua was to sleep in a certain bed; but he placed a dead man in the bed, while he himself got under it. At midnight Tartaro took his club and belabored the dead body most unmercifully. When Errua stood before Tartaro next morning, the giant was dumbfounded. He asked Errua how he had slept. "Excellently well," said Errua, "but somewhat troubled by fleas." Other trials were made, but always in favor of Errua. At length a race was proposed, and Errua sewed into a bag the bowels of a pig. When he started, he cut the bag, strewing the bowels on the road. When Tartaro was told that his rival had done this to make himself more fleet, he cut his belly, and of course killed himself.—Rev. W. Webster, Basque Legends (1877).
Ers'kine (The. Rev. Dr.), minister of Grayfriar's Church, Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Er'tanax, a fish common in the Euphratês. The bones of this fish impart courage and strength.
A fish ... haunteth the flood of Eufratês ...
it is called an ertanax, and his bones be of such
a manner of kind that whoso handleth them he
shall have so much courage that he shall never
be weary, and he shall not think on joy nor
sorrow that he hath had, but only on the thing
he beholdeth before him.—Sir T. Malory,
History of Prince Arthur
, iii. 84, (1470).
Erudite (Most). Marcus Terentius Varro is called "the most erudite of the Romans" (B.C. 116-27).
Er'ythre, modesty personified, the virgin page of Parthen'ia or maiden of chastity, in The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). Fully described in canto x. (Greek, cruthros, "red," from eruthriao, "to blush.")
Erysichthon [Erri. sik'. thon], a grandson of Neptune, who was punished by Cerês with insatiable hunger, for cutting down some trees in a grove sacred to that goddess. (See ERISICHTHON.)
Es'calus, an ancient, kind-hearted lord in the deputation of the duke of Vienna.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).
Es'calus, Prince of Vero'na.—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).
Es'canes (3 syl.), one of the lords of Tyre.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
Escobar (Mons. L') the French, name for a fox, so called from M. Escobar the probabilist, whence also the verb escobarder, "to play the fox," "to play fast and loose."
The French have a capital name for the fox, namely, M. L'Escobar, which may be translated the "shuffler," or more freely, "sly boots."—The Daily News, March 25, 1878.
Escotillo (i.e. little Michael Scott), considered by the common people as a magician, because he possessed more knowledge of natural and experimental philosophy than his contemporaries.
Es'dale (Mr.), a surgeon at Madras.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter (time, George II.).
Es'ings, the king of Kent. So called from Eisc, the father of Hengist, as the Tuscans receive their name from Tuscus, the Romans from Romulus, the Cecrop'idae from Cecrops, the Britons from Brutus, and so on.—Ethelwerd, Chron., ii.
Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy-girl, who, with tambourine and goat, dances in the place before Notre Dame de Paris, and is looked on as a witch. Quasimodo conceals her for a time in the church, but after various adventures she is gibbeted.—Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris.
Esmeralda; humbly-born heroine of Frances Hodgson Burnett's work of same name. The story has been dramatized and played with great effect.
Esmond (Henry), a chivalrous cavalier in the reign of Queen Anne; the hero of Thackeray's novel called Henry Esmond (1852).
Esplan'dian, son of Am'adis and Oria'na. Montalvo has made him the subject of a fifth book to the four original books of Amadis of Gaul (1460).
The description of the most furious battles, carried on with all the bloody-mindedness of an Esplandian or a Bobadil [Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humor].—Encyc. Brit., Art. "Romance."
Espriel'la (Manuel Alvarez), the apocryphal name of Robert Southey. The poet-laureate pretends that certain "letters from England," written by this Spaniard, were translated by him from the original Spanish (three vols., 1807).
Essex (The earl of), a tragedy by Henry Jones (1745.) Lord Burleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh entertained a mortal hatred of the earl of Essex, and accused him to the queen of treason. Elizabeth disbelieved the charge; but at this juncture the earl left Ireland, whither the queen had sent him, and presented himself before her. She was very angry, and struck him, and Essex rushed into open rebellion, was taken, and condemned to death. The queen had given him a ring before the trial, telling him whatever petition he asked should be granted, if he sent to her this ring. When the time of execution drew nigh, the queen sent the countess of Nottingham to the Tower, to ask Essex if he had any plea to make. The earl entreated her to present the ring to her majesty, and petition her to spare the life of his friend Southampton. The countess purposely neglected this charge, and Essex was executed. The queen, it is true, sent a reprieve, but Lord Burleigh took care it should arrive too late. The poet says that Essex had recently married the countess of Rutland, that both the queen and the countess of Nottingham were jealous, and that this jealousy was the chief cause of the earl's death.
The Abbè Boyer, La Calprènede, and Th. Corneille have tragedies on the some subject.
Essex (The earl of), lord high constable of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Estel'la, a haughty beauty, adopted by Miss Havisham. She was affianced by her wish to Pip, but married Bentley Drummle.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Esther, housekeeper to Muhldenau, minister of Mariendorpt. She loves Hans, a servant to the minister, but Hans is shy, and Esther has to teach him how to woo and win her. Esther and Hans are similar to Helen and Modus, only in lower social grade.—S. Knowles, The Maid of Mariendorpt (1838).
Esther Hawdon, better known through the tale as Esther Summerson, natural daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock (before her marriage with Sir Leicester Dedlock). Esther is a most lovable, gentle creature, called by those who know and love her, "Dame Durden" or "Dame Trot." She is the heroine of the tale, and a ward in Chancery. Eventually she marries Allan Woodcourt, a surgeon.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).
Esther Bush: Wife of the squatter Ishmael Bush. Loud-voiced, sharp of temper and hard of hand, yet loyal in her way to husband and children.—James Fennimore Cooper, The Prairie, (1827).
Esther (Queen), Indian monarch who, during the Wyoming massacre, dashes out the brains of sixteen prisoners with her own hands, as a sacrifice to the manes of her son. Queen Esther's Rock is still shown to travelers.—Ann Sophia Stevens, Mary Derwent (1845).
Estifa'nia, an intriguing woman, servant of donna Margaritta, the Spanish heiress. She palms herself off on Don Michael Perez (the copper captain) as an heiress, and the mistress of Margaritta's mansion. The captain marries her, and finds out that all her swans are only geese.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640).
Est-il-Posssible? A nickname given to George of Denmark (Queen Anne's husband), because his general remark to the most startling announcement was, Est-il possible? With this exclamation he exhausted the vials of his wrath. It was James II. who gave him the sobriquet.
Est'mere (2 syl.), king of England. He went with his younger brother Adler to the court of King Adlands, to crave his daughter in marriage; but King Adlands replied that Bremor, the sowdan, or sultan of Spain, had forestalled him. However, the lady, being consulted, gave her voice in favor of the king of England. While Estmere and his brother went to make preparations for the wedding, the "sowdan" arrived, and demanded the lady to wife. A messenger was immediately despatched to inform Estmere, and the two brothers returned, disguised as a harper and his boy. They gained entrance into the palace, and Adler sang, saying, "O ladye, this is thy owne true love; no harper, but a king;" and then drawing his sword he slew the "sowdan," Estmere at the same time chasing from the hall the "kempery men." Being now master of the position, Estmere took "the ladye faire," made her his wife, and brought her home to England.—Percy, Reliques, 1. i. 5.
Estrildis or Elstred, daughter of the Emperor of Germany. She was taken captive in war by Locrin (king of Britain), by whom she became the mother of Sabrin or Sabre. Gwendolen, the wife of Locrin, feeling insulted by this liaison, slew her husband, and had Estrildis and her daughter thrown into a river, since called the Sabri'na or Severn.—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2, etc.
Estwicke (John), hero of Charles Egbert Craddock's book, Where the Battle was Fought (1884). His real name was John Fortescue.
Ete'ocles and Polyni'ces, the two sons Oe'dipos. After the expulsion of their father, these two young princes agreed to reign alternate years in Thebes. Eteoclês, being the elder, took the first turn, but at the close of the year refused to resign the sceptre to his brother; whereupon Polynicês, aided by six other chiefs, laid seige to the city. The two brothers met in combat, and each was slain by the other's hand.
A similar fratricidal struggle is told of Don Pedro of Castile and his half-brother Don Henry. When Don Pedro had estranged the Castilians by his cruelty, Don Henry invaded Castile with a body of French auxiliaries, and took his brother prisoner. Don Henry visited him in prison, and the two brothers fell on each other like lions. Henry wounded Pedro in the face, but fell over a bench, when Pedro seized him. At that moment a Frenchman seized Pedro by the leg, tossed him over, and Henry slew him.—Menard, History of Du Gueselin.
Ethan (Allen). He gives under his own hand the history of the capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, and corroborates the popular story that he demanded the surrender of the fortress, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Allen's Narrative of Captivity (1779).
Eth'elbert, king of Kent, and the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings who was a Christian. He persuaded Gregory to send over Augustine to convert the English to "the true faith" (596), and built St. Paul's, London.—Ethelwerd's Chronicle, ii.
Good Ethelbert of Kent, first christened English king.
To preach the faith of Christ was first did hither bring
Wise Au'gustine the monk, from holy Gregory sent...
That mighty fane to Paul in London did erect.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xi. (1613).
Eth'erington (The late earl of) father of Tyrrel and Bulmer.
The titular earl of Etherington, his successor to the title and estates.
Marie de Martigny (La comtesse), wife of the titular earl of Etherington.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Ethiopians, the same as Abassinians. The Arabians call these people El-habasen or Al-habasen, whence our Abassins, but they call themselves Ithiopians or Ethiopians.—Seldon, Titles of Honor, vi. 64.
Where the Abassin kings their issue guard,
Mount Amara.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 280 (1665).
Ethiop's Queen, referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, was Cassiope'a, wife of Ce'pheus (2 syl.) king of Ethiopia. Boasting that she was fairer than the sea-nymphs, she offended the Nereids, who complained to Neptune. Old father Earth-Shaker sent a huge sea-monster to ravage her kingdom for her insolence. At death Cassiopea was made a constellation of thirteen stars.
... that starred Ethiop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.
Milton, Il Penseroso, 19 (1638).
Ethnic Plot. The "Popish Plot" is so called in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel. As Dryden calls the royalists "Jews," and calls Charles II. "David, king of the Jews," the papists were "Gentiles" (or Ethnoi), whence the "Ethnic Plot" means the plot of the Ethnoi against the people of God.—Pt. i. (1681).
Etiquette (Madame), the Duchesse de Noailles, grand mistress of the ceremonies in the court of Marie Antoinette; so called from her rigid enforcement of all the formalities and ceremonies of the ancien régime.
Etna. Zens buried under this mountain Enkel'ados, one of the hundred-handed giants.
The whole land weighed him down, as Etna does
The giant of mythology.
Tennyson, The Golden Supper.
Etteilla, the pseudonym of Alliette (spelt backwards), a perruquier and diviner of the eighteenth century. He became a professed cabalist, and was visited in his studio in the Hôtel de Crillon (Rue de la Verrerie) by all those who desired to unroll the Book of Fate. In 1783 he published Manière de se Récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommées Tarots. In the British Museum are some divination cards published in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, called Grand Etteilla and Petit Etteilla, each pack being accompanied with a book of explication and instruction.
Ettercap, an ill-tempered person, who mars sociability. The ettercap is the poison-spider, and should be spelt "Attercop." (The Anglo-Saxon, atter-cop, poison-spider.)
O sirs, was sic difference seen
As 'twix wee Will and Tam,
The ane's a perfect ettercap,
The ither's just a lamb.
W. Miller, Nursery Songs.
Ettrick Shepherd (The), James Hogg, the Scotch Poet., who was born in the forest of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and was in early life a shepherd (1772-1835).
Etty's Nine Pictures, "the Combat," the three "Judith" pictures, "Benaiah," "Ulysses and the Syrens," and the three pictures of "Joan of Arc."
"My aim," says Etty, "in all my great
pictures has been to paint some great moral on
the heart. 'The Combat' represents
the beauty of mercy
; the three 'Judith' pictures,
patriotism
[1,
self-devotion to God; 2, self-devotion to man
; 3,
self-devotion to country
;] 'Benaiah, David's chief
captain,' represents
valor
; 'Ulysses and the
Syrens,'
sensual delights
or
the wages of sin is death
; and the three pictures of 'Joan of Arc'
depict
religion, loyalty
and
patriotism
. In all,
nine in number, as it was my desire to paint
three."—William Etty, of York (1787-1849).
Et'zel or Ezzel (i.e. Attila), king of the Huns, in the songs of the German minnesingers. A ruler over three kingdoms and thirty principalities. His second wife was Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried. In pt ii. of the Niebelungen Lied, he sees his sons and liegemen struck down without making the least effort to save them, and is as unlike the Attila of history as a "hector" is to the noble Trojan "the protector of mankind."
Eu'charis, one of the nymphs of Calypso, with whom Telemachos was deeply smitten. Mentor, knowing his love was sensual love, hurried him away from the island. He afterwards fell in love with Anti'ope, and Mentor approved his choice.—Fenelon, Télémaque, vii. (1700).
Eucharis is meant for Mdlle. de Fontange, maid of honor to Mde. de Montespan. For a few months she was a favorite with Louis XIV., but losing her good looks she was discarded, and died at the age of 20. She used to dress her hair with streaming ribbons, and hence this style of head-gear was called à la Fontange.
Eu'clio, a penurious old hunks.—Plautus, Aulularia.
Now you must explain all this to me, unless
you would have me use you as ill as Euclio does
Staphy'la—Sir W. Scott.
Eu'crates (3 syl.), the miller, and one of the archons of Athens. A shuffling fellow, always evading his duty and breaking his promise; hence the Latin proverb:
Vias novit quibus effugiat Eucrates ("He has
more shifts than Eucrates").
Eudo'cia (4 syl.), daughter of Eu'menês, governor of Damascus. Pho'cyas, general of the Syrian forces, being in love with her, asks the consent of Eumenês, and is refused. In revenge, he goes over to the Arabs, who are beseiging Damascus. Eudocia is taken captive, but refuses to wed a traitor. At the end, Pho'cyas dies, and Eudocia retires into a nunnery.—John Hughes, The Siege of Damascus (1720).
Eudon (Count) of Catabria. A baron favorable to the Moors, "too weak-minded to be independent." When the Spaniards rose up against the Moors, the first order of the Moorish chief was this: "Strike off Count Eudon's head: the fear which brought him to our camp will bring him else in arms against us now" (ch. xxv.). Southey, Roderick, etc., xiii. (1814).
Eudox'ia, wife of the Emperor Valentin'ian. Petro'nius Max'imus "poisoned" the emperor, and the empress killed Maximus.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Valentinian (1617).
Eugene (Aram). Scholarly man of high ideals, who has committed a murder, and hides the knowledge of it from all. He is finally hunted down.—Lord Lytton, Eugene Aram.
Euge'nia, called "Silence" and the "Unknown." She was the wife of Count de Valmont, and mother of Florian, "the foundling of the forest." In order to come into the property, Baron Longueville used every endeavor to kill Eugenia and Florian, but all his attemps were abortive, and his villainy at length was brought to light.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.
Eugénie (Lalande). The marvellously well-preserved great-grandmother of a near-sighted youth who addresses and marries her. She reveals the trick that has been played on him by presenting him with a pair of eye-glasses.—Edgar Allan Poe, The Spectacles.
Eugenio, a young gentleman who turned goat-herd, because Leandra jilted him and eloped with a heartless adventurer named Vincent de la Rosa.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 20 ("The Goatherd's Story," 1605).
Eugenius, the friend and wise counsellor of Yorick. John Hall Stevenson was the original of this character.—Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1759).
Euhe'meros a Sicilian Greek, who wrote a Sacred History to explain the historical or allegorical character of the Greek and Latin mythologies.
One could wish Euhêmeros had never been born. It was he that spoilt [the old myths] first.—Ouidà, Ariadnê, i.1.
Eulenspiegel (Tyll), i.e. "Tyll Owl-glass," of Brunswick. A man who runs through the world as charlatan, fool, lansquenet, domestic servant, artist, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything, but rejoices in cheating those who employ him; he parodies proverbs, rejoices in mischief, and is brimful of pranks and drolleries. Whether Uulenspiegel was a real character or not is a matter of dispute, but by many the authorship of the book recording his jokes is attributed to the famous German satirist, Thomas Murner.