Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 · Chapter 43Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS (43)
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In the English versions of the story he is called Howle-glass.
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal history as Tyll Eulenspiegel. Now, after five centuries, his native village is pointed out with pride to the traveller.—Carlyle.
Eumæos (in Latin, Eumoes), the slave and swine-herd of Ulysses, hence any swine-herd.
Eu'menes (3 syl.), Governor of Damascus, and father of Eudo'cia.—John Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).
Eumnes'tes, Memory personified. Spenser says he is an old man, decrepit and half blind. He was waited on by a boy named Anamnestês. [Greek, eumnêstis, "good memory," anamnêstis, "research."—Faëry Queen, ii. 9 (1590).]
Eunice (Alias "Nixey"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.
In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Hedged In (1870).
Euphra'sia, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Being in love with Prince Philaster, she assumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender page. The sex of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness of this jealousy.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster or Love Lies A-bleeding (1608).
Euphra'sia, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but Euphrasia, rushing forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772).
The same tale is told-of Xantippê, who preserved the life of her father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.
There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light
What do I gaze on!...
An old man, and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins
The blood is nectar ...
Here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire,
To whom she renders back the debt of blood.
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 148 (1817).
Eu'phrasy, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the distant future.—See Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 414-421 (1665).
Eu'phues (3 syll), the chief character in John Lilly's Euphuês or The Anatomy of Wit, and Euphues and his England. He is an Athenian gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees" (Henry V. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphuês was designed to exhibit the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called Euphues' Golden Legacy (1590).
"The commonwealth of your bees," replied
Euphuês, "did so delight me that I was not a
little sorry that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple
judgment, there was such an orderly government
that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."
J. Lilly, Euphues (1581).
(The romances of Calprenéde and Scudéri bear the same relation to the jargon of Louis XIV., as the Euphues of Lilly to that of Queen Elizabeth.)
Eure'ka! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.
The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the metal, and he asked Archimedês to ascertain if his suspicion was well founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quantity of water; but they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with. Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy introduced by the artificer.
Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred to
the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and
without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran
home, exclaiming, '
Heureka! heureka!
'"
Euro'pa. The Fight at Dame Europa's School, written by the Rev. H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).
Europe's Liberator. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769-1852).
Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations"
And "Europe's Liberator."
Byron, Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).
Eu'rus, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; No'tus, the south wind; Bo'reas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Lev'ant ("rising of the sun"), and Zephyr is called Po'nent, ("setting of the sun ").
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds—
Eurus and Zephyr.
Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 705 (1665).
Euryd'ice (4 syl.), the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her wedding night.
Orpheus went down to Hadês to crave for her restoration to life, and Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he turned to see if Eurydicê´ was following, and just caught a glance of her as she was snatched back into the shades below.
(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem, called Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, 1709.)
Euryt'ion, the herdsman of Grer'yon. He never slept day nor night, but walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros. "Herculês them all did overcome."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10 (1696).
Eus'tace, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Eustace, (Father), or "Father Eustatius," the superior and afterwards abbot of St. Mary's. He was formerly William Allan, and the friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the Protestant preacher).—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).
Eustace (Charles), a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He has been clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named Frederick. Charles Eustace confides his scrape to Polyglot, and conceals his young wife in the tutor's private room. Polyglot is thought to be a libertine, but the truth comes out, and all parties are reconciled.—J. Poole, The Scapegoat.
Eus'tace (Jack), the lover of Lucinda, and "a very worthy young fellow," of good character and family. As Justice Woodcock was averse to the marriage, Jack introduced himself as a music-master, and Sir William Meadows, who recognized him, persuaded the justice to consent to the marriage of the young couple. This he was the more ready to do as his sister Deborah said positively he "should not do it."—Is. Bickerstaff, Love in a Village.
Eva (St. Clair). Lovely child, the daughter of Uncle Tom's master, and Uncle Tom's warm friend.—H.B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851).
E'va, daughter of Torquil of the Oak. She is betrothed to Ferquhard Day.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Evad'ne (3 syl.), wife of Kap'aneus (3 syl.). She threw herself on the funeral pile of her husband, and was consumed with him.
Evad'ne (3 syl.), sister of Melantius. Amintor was compelled by the king to marry her, although he was betrothed to Aspasia (the "maid" whose death forms the tragical event of the drama).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy (1610).
The purity of female virtue in Aspasia is well contrasted with the guilty boldness of Evadnê, and the rough soldier-like bearing and manly feeling of Melantius render the selfish sensuality of the king more hateful and disgusting.—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 204.
Evad'ne or The Statue, a drama by Sheil (1820). Ludov'ico, the chief minister of Naples, heads a conspiracy to murder the king and seize the crown; his great stumbling-block is the marquis of Colonna, a high-minded nobleman, who cannot be corrupted. The sister of the marquis is Evadnê (3 syl.), plighted to Vicentio. Ludovico's scheme is to get Colonna to murder Vicentio and the king, and then to debauch Evadnê. With this in view, he persuades Vicentio that Evadnê is the king's fille d'amour, and that she marries him merely as a flimsy cloak, but he adds "Never mind, it will make your fortune." The proud Neapolitan is disgusted, and flings off Evadnê as a viper. Her brother is indignant, challenges the troth-plight lover to a duel, and Vicentio falls. Ludovico now irritates Colonna by talking of the king's amour, and induces him to invite the king to a banquet and then murder him. The king goes to the banquet, and Evadnê shows him the statues of the Colonna family, and amongst them one of her own father, who at the battle of Milan had saved the king's life by his own. The king is struck with remorse, but at this moment Ludovico enters and the king conceals himself behind the statue. Colonna tells the traitor minister the deed is done, and Ludovico orders his instant arrest, gibes him as his dupe, and exclaims, "Now I am king indeed!" At this moment the king comes forward, releases Colonna, and orders Ludovico to be arrested. The traitor draws his sword, and Colonna kills him. Vicentio now enters, tells how his ear has been abused, and marries Evadnê.
Evan Dhu of Lochiel, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Evan Dhu M'Combich, the foster-brother of M'Ivor.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Evandale (The Right Hon. W. Maxwell, lord), in the royal army under the duke of Monmouth. He is a suitor of Edith Bellenden, the granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Evan'der, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece." He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe." When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tryant to the heart.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."
Mr. Bently, May 6, 1796, took leave of the stage in the character of "Evander."—W.C. Russell, Representative Actors, 426.
Evangelic Doctor (The), John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation" (1324-1384).
Evangeline, the heroine and title of a tale in hexameter verse by Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now Nova Scotia). At the age of 17 she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith, but next day all the colony was exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now began the troubles of her life. She wandered from place to place to find her betrothed. Basil had settled at Louisiana, but when Evangeline reached the place, Gabriel had just left; she then went to the prairies, to Michigan, and so on, but at every place she was just too late to meet him. At length, grown old in this hopeless search, she went to Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out in the city, and as she visited the almshouse she saw an old man smitten down with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name, but death closed his lips. He was buried, and Evangeline lies beside him in the grave.
(Longfellow's Evangeline (1849) has many points of close similitude with Campbell's tale of Gertrude of Wyoming, 1809).
Evans (Sir Hugh), a pedantic Welsh parson and schoolmaster of extraordinary simplicity and native shrewdness.—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
The reader may cry out with honest Sir Hugh Evans, "I like not when a 'ooman has a great peard."—Macaulay.
Henderson says: "I have seen John Edwin, in 'Sir Hugh Evans,' when preparing for the duel, keep the house in an ecstasy of merriment for many minutes together without speaking a word" (1750-1790).
Evans (William), the giant porter of Charles I. He carried Sir Geoffrey Hudson about in his pocket. Evans was eight feet in height, and Hudson only eighteen inches. Fuller mentions this giant amongst his Worthies.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Evan'the (3 syl.), sister of Sora'no, the wicked instrument of Frederick, duke of Naples, and the chaste wife of Valerio.
The duke tried to seduce her, but failing in this scandalous attempt, offered to give her to any one for a month, at the end of which time the libertine was to suffer death. No one would accept the offer, and ultimately Evanthê was restored to her husband.—Beaumont and Fletcher, A Wife for a Month (1624).
Eve (1 syl), or Havah, the "mother of all living" (Gen. iii. 20). Before the expulsion from paradise her name was Ishah, because she was taken out of ish, i.e. "man" (Gen. ii. 23).
Eve was of such gigantic stature that when she laid her head on one hill near Mecca, her knees rested on two other hills in the plain, about two gun-shots asunder. Adam was as tall as a palm tree.—Moncony, Voyage, i. 372, etc.
Ev'eli'na (4 syl.), the heroine of a novel so called by Miss Burney (afterwards Mme. D'Arblay). Evelina marries Lord Orville (1778).
Evelyn (Alfred), the secretary and relative of Sir John Vesey. He made Sir John's speeches, wrote his pamphlets, got together his facts, mended his pens, and received no salary. Evelyn loved Clara Douglas, a dependent of Lady Franklin, but she was poor also, and declined to marry him. Scarcely had she refused him, when he was left an immense fortune and proposed to Georgina Vesey. What little heart Georgina had was given to Sir Frederick Blount, but the great fortune of Evelyn made her waver; however, being told that Evelyn's property was insecure, she married Frederick, and left Evelyn free to marry Clara.—Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).
Evelyn (Sir George) a man of fortune, family, and character, in love with Dorrillon, whom he marries.—Mrs. Inchbald.
Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are (1795).
Everard (Colonel Markham), of the Commonwealth party.
Master Everard, the colonel's father.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).
Ev'erett (Master), a hired witness of the "Popish Plot."—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Every Man in His Humor, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1598). The original play was altered by David Garrick. The persons to whom the title of the drama apply are: "Captain Bobadil," whose humor is bragging of his brave deeds and military courage—he is thrashed as a coward by Downright; "Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of his wife—he is befooled and cured by a trick played on him by Brain-worm; "Stephen," whose humor is verdant stupidity—he is played on by every one; "Kno'well," whose humor is suspicion of his son Edward, which turns out to be all moonshine; "Dame Kitely," whose humor is jealousy of her husband, but she (like her husband) is cured by a trick devised by Brain worm. Every man in his humor is liable to be duped thereby, for his humor is the "Achilles' heel" of his character.
Every Man out of His Humor, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1599).
Every One has His Fault, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1794). By the fault of rigid pride, Lord Norland discarded his daughter, Lady Eleanor, because she married against his consent. By the fault of gallantry and defect of due courtesy to his wife, Sir Robert Ramble drove Lady Ramble into a divorce. By the fault of irresolution, "Shall I marry or shall I not!" Solus remained a miserable bachelor, pining for a wife and domestic joys. By the fault of deficient spirit and manliness, Mr. Placid was a hen-pecked husband. By the fault of marrying without the consent of his wife's friends, Mr. Irwin was reduced to poverty and even crime. Harmony healed these faults; Lord Norland received his daughter into favor; Sir Robert Ramble took back his wife; Solus married Miss Spinster; Mr. Placid assumed the rights of the head of the family; and Mr. Irwin, being accepted as the son-in-law of Lord Norland, was raised from indigence to domestic comfort.
Eviot, page to Sir John Ramorny (master of the horse to Prince Robert of Scotland).—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).
Evir-Allen, the white-armed daughter of Branno, an Irishman. "A thousand heroes sought the maid; she refused her love to a thousand. The sons of the sword were despised, for graceful in her eyes was Ossian." This Evir-Allen was the mother of Oscar, Fingal's grandson, but she was not alive when Fingal went to Ireland to assist Cormac against the invading Norsemen, which forms the subject of the poem called Fingal, in six books.—Ossian, Fingal, iv.
Ew'ain (Sir), son of King Vrience and Morgan le Fay (Arthur's half-sister).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 72 (1470).
Ewan of Brigglands, a horse soldier in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).
Ewart (Nanty i.e. Anthony), captain of the smuggler's brig. Sir W. Scott Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Excal'ibur, King Arthur's famous swords. There seems to have been two of his swords so called. One was the sword sheathed in stone, which no one could draw thence, save he who was to be king of the land. Above 200 knights tried to release it, but failed; Arthur alone could draw it with ease, and thus proved his right of succession (pt. i. 3). In ch. 7 this sword is called Excalibur, and is said to have been so bright "that it gave light like thirty torches." After his fight with Pellinore, the king said to Merlin he had no sword, and Merlin took him to a lake, and Arthur saw an arm "clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in the hand." Presently the Lady of the Lake appeared, and Arthur begged that he might have the sword, and the lady told him to go and fetch it. When he came to it he took it, "and the arm and hand went under the water again." This is the sword generally called Excalibur. When about to die, King Arthur sent an attendant to cast the sword back again into the lake, and again the hand "clothed in white samite" appeared, caught it, and disappeared (ch. 23).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 23 (1470).
King Arthur's sword, Excalibur,
Wrought by the lonely maiden of the lake;
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps,
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
Excalibur's Sheath. "Sir," said Merlin, "look that ye keep well the scabbard of Excalibur, for ye shall lose no blood as long as ye have the scabbard upon you, though ye have never so many wounds."—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 36 (1470).
Executioner (No). When Francis, viscount d'Aspremont, governor of Bayonne, was commanded by Charles IX. of France to massacre the Huguenots, he replied, "Sire, there are many under my government devoted to your majesty, but not a single executioner."
Exhausted Worlds ... Dr. Johnson, in the prologue spoken by Garrick at the opening of Drury Lane, in 1747, says of Shakespeare:
Each change of many-colored life he drew?
Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new.
Exterminator (The), Montbars, chief of a set of filibusters in the seventeenth century. He was a native of Languedoc, and conceived an intense hatred against the Spaniards on reading of their cruelties in the New World. Embarking at Havre, in 1667, Montbars attacked the Spaniards in the Antilles and in Honduras, took from them Vera Cruz and Carthagena, and slew them most mercilessly wherever he encountered them (1645-1707).
Eye. Terrible as the eye of Vathek. One of the eyes of this caliph was so terrible in anger that those died who ventured to look thereon, and had he given way to his wrath, he would have depopulated his whole dominion.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).
Eyed (One-) people. The Arimaspians of Scythia were a one-eyed people.
The Cyclops were giants with only one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead.
Tartaro, in Basque legends, was a one-eyed giant. Sindbad the sailor, in his third voyage, was cast on an island inhabited by one-eyed giants.
Eyre (Jane), a governess, who stoutly copes with adverse circumstances, and ultimately marries a used-up man of fortune, in whom the germs of good feeling and sound sense were only exhausted, and not destroyed.—Charlotte Bronté, Jane Eyre (1847).
Ez'zelin (Sir), the gentleman who recognizes Lara at the table of Lord Otho, and charges him with being Conrad the Corsair. A duel ensues, and Ezzelin is never heard of more. A serf used to say that he saw a huntsman one evening cast a dead body into the river which divided the lands of Otho and Lara, and that there was a star of knighthood on the breast of the corpse.—Byron, Lara (1814).
aa (Gabriel), nephew of Meg Merrilees. One of the huntsman at Liddesdale.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Fab'ila, a king devoted to the chase. One day he encountered a wild boar, and commanded those who rode with him not to interfere, but the boar overthrew him and gored him to death.—Chronica Antiqua de España, 121.
Fa'bius (The American), George Washington (1732-1799).
Fa'bius (The French), Anne, duc de Montmorency, grand-constable of France (1493-1567).
Fabricius [Fa.brish'.e.us], an old Roman, like Cincinnatus and Curius Dentatus, a type of the rigid purity, frugality, and honesty of the "good old times." Pyrrhus used every effort to corrupt him by bribes, or to terrify him, but in vain. "Excellent Fabricius," cried the Greek, "one might hope to turn the sun from its course as soon as turn Fabricius from the path of duty."
Fabric'ius, an author, whose composition was so obscure that Gil Blas could not comprehend the meaning of a single line of his writings. His poetry was verbose fustian, and his prose a maze of far-fetched expressions and perplexed phrases.
Fabrit'io, a merry soldier, the friend of Captain Jac'omo the woman-hater.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
Face (1 syl.), alias "Jeremy," house-servant of Lovewit. During the absence of his master, Face leagues with Subtle (the alchemist) and Dol Common to turn a penny by alchemy, fortune-telling, and magic. Subtle (a beggar who knew something about alchemy) was discovered by Face near Pye Corner. Assuming the philosopher's garb and wand, he called himself "doctor;" Face, arrogating the title of "captain," touted for dupes; while Dol Common kept the house, and aided the other two in their general scheme of deception. On the unexpected return of Lovewit, the whole thing blew up, but Face was forgiven, and continued in his place as house-servant.—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1619).
Facto'tum (Johannes), one employed to do all sorts of work for another; one in whom another confides for all the odds and ends of his household management or business.
He is an absolute Johannes Factotum, at least in his own conceit.—Greene, Groat's-worth of Wit (1692).
Faddle (William), a "fellow made up of knavery and noise, with scandal for wit and impudence for raillery. He was so needy that the very devil might have bought him for a guinea." Sir Charles Raymond says to him:
"Thy life is a disgrace to humanity. A foolish prodigality makes thee needy; need makes thee vicious; and both make thee contemptible. Thy wit is prostituted to slander and buffoonery; and thy judgment, if thou hast any, to meanness and villainy. Thy betters, that laugh with thee, laugh at thee; and all the varieties of thy life are but pitiful rewards and painful abuses."—Ed. Moore, The Foundling, iv. 2 (1748).
Fa'dha (Ah), Mahomet's silver cuirass.
Fad'ladeen, the great nazir' or chamberlain of Aurungze'bê's harem. He criticises the tales told to Lalla Rookh by a young poet on her way to Delhi, and great was his mortification to find that the poet was the young king his master.
Fadladeen was a judge of everything, from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose leaves to the composition of an epic poem.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817).
Fadladin'ida, wife of King Chrononhotonthologos. While the king is alive she falls in love with the captive king of the Antip'odês, and at the death of the king, when two suitors arise, she says, "Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I'll take you both."—H. Cary, Chrononhotonthologos (a burlesque).
Faëry Queen, a metrical romance, in six books, of twelve cantos each, by Edmund Spenser (incomplete).
Book I. THE RED CROSS KNIGHT, the spirit of Christianity, or the victory of holiness over sin (1590).
II. THE LEGEND OF SIB GUYON, the golden mean (1590).
III. THE LEGEND or BRITOMARTIS, chaste love. Britomartis is Diana or Queen Elizabeth (1590).
IV. CAMBEL AND TRIAMOND, fidelity (1596).
V. THE LEGEND OF SIR AR'TEGAL, justice' (1596).
VI. THE LEGEND OF SIR CALIDORE, courtesy (1596).
Sometimes bk. vii., called. Mutability, is added; but only fragments of this book exist.
Fafnis, the dragon with which Sigurd fights.—Sigurd the Horny (a German romance based on a Norse legend).
Fag, the lying servant of Captain Absolute. He "wears his master's wit, as he does his lace, at second hand."—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
Faggot (Nicholas), clerk to Matthew Foxley, the magistrate who examined Darsie Latimer (i. e. Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet) after he had been attacked by rioters.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Faggots and Faggots (II y a fagots et fagots), all things of the same sort are not equal in quality. In Molière's Le Médecin Malgré Lui, Sganarelle wants to show that his faggots are better than those of other persons, and cries out "Ay! but those faggots are not equal to mine."
II est vrai, messieurs, que je suis le premier homme du monde pour faire des fagots ...
Je n'y épargne aucune chose, et les fais d'une facon qu'il n'y a rien a dire ... Il y a fagots, et fagots.—Act i. 6 (1666).
Fagin, an old Jew, who employs a gang of thieves, chiefly boys. These boys he teaches to pick pockets and pilfer adroitly. Fagin assumes a most suave and fawning manner, but is malicious, grasping, and full of cruelty.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).
Fainall, cousin by marriage to Sir Wilful Witwould. He married a young, wealthy, and handsome widow, but the two were cat and dog to each other. The great aim of Fainall was to get into his possession the estates of his wife (settled on herself "in trust to Edward Mirabell"), but in this he failed. In outward semblance, Fainall was plausible enough, but he was a goodly apple rotten at the core, false to his friends, faithless to his wife, overreaching, and deceitful.
Mrs. Fainall. Her first husband was Languish, son of Lady Wishford. Her second husband she both despised and detested.—W. Congreve, The Way of the World (1700).
Fainaso'lis, daughter of Craca's king (the Shetland Isles). When Fingal was quite a young man, she fled to him for protection against Sora, but scarcely had he promised to take up her cause, when Sora landed, drew the bow, and she fell. Fingal said to Sora, "Unerring is thy hand, O Sora, but feeble was the foe." He then attacked the invader, and Sora fell.—Ossian, Fingal, iii.
Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady, a line in a ballad written to the "Berkshire Lady," a Miss Frances Kendrick, daughter of Sir William Kendrick, second baronet. Sir William's father was created baronet by Charles II. The wooer was a Mr. Child, son of a brewer at Abingdon, to whom the lady sent a challenge.
Having read this strange relation,
He was in a consternation;
But, advising with a friend,
He persuades him to attend:
"Be of courage and make ready,
Faint heart never won fair lady."
Quarterly Review, cvi. 205-245.
Faint Heart never Won Fair Lady, name of a petit comédie brought out by Mde. Vestris at the Olympic. Mde. Vestris herself performed the part of the "fair lady."