Part 15
=Now-now= (_Old Anthony_), an itinerant fiddler. The character is a skit on Anthony Munday, the dramatist.--Chettle, _Kindheart’s Dream_ (1592).
=Nuath= (2 _syl._), father of Lathmon and Oith´ona (_q.v._).--Ossian, _Oithona_.
=Nubbles= (_Mrs._), a poor widow woman, who was much given to going to Little Bethel.
_Christopher_ or _Kit Nubbles_, her son, the servant in attendance on little Nell, whom he adored. After the death of little Nell, Kit married Barbara, a fellow-servant.--C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_ (1840).
=Nugent Dubourg=, twin brother of Oscar Dubourg, somewhat conceited, who patronizes his brother, and would like to marry his brother’s betrothed, Lucilla Finch, blind and an heiress. Her sight is restored by an operation, and Nugent places himself where her eyes will first fall upon him, instead of on his disfigured brother. Beginning with this, he personates Oscar until Lucilla again loses her sight. He then yields her to his brother, joins an Arctic exploring expedition, and perishes in the Polar regions.--Wilkie Collins, _Poor Miss Finch_.
=Numa Roumestan=, French deputy from the South of France. Audacious, gay and unprincipled, he possesses all the qualities that render him “the joy of the street, the sorrow of the home.”--Alphonse Daudet, _Numa Roumestan_.
=Number Nip=, the name of the gnome king of the Giant Mountains.--Musæus, _Popular Tales_ (1782).
⁂ Musæus was a German, uncle of Kotzebue (died 1788).
=Nuncanou= (_Aurore and Clotilde_). Beautiful Creoles, mother and daughter, in George W. Cable’s novel, _The Grandissimes_.
=Nun’s Tale= (_The_), the tale of the cock and the fox. One day, dan Russell, the fox, came into the poultry-yard, and told Master Chanticlere, he could not resist the pleasure of hearing him sing, for his voice was so divinely ravishing. The cock, pleased with this flattery, shut his eyes, and began to crow most lustily; whereupon dan Russell seized him by the throat, and ran off with him. When they got to the wood, the cock said to the fox, “I would recommend you to eat me at once, I think I can hear your pursuers.” “I am going to do so,” said the fox; but when he opened his mouth to reply, off flew the cock into a tree, and while the fox was deliberating how he might regain his prey, up came the farmer and his men with scythes, flails, and pitchforks, with which they despatched the fox without mercy.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
⁂ This fable is one of those by Marie, of France, called _Don Coc and Don Werpil_.
_Nun’s Tale_ (_The Second_). This is the tale about Maxime and the martyrs, Valerian and Tiburcê. The prefect ordered Maxime (2 _syl._) to put Valerian and Tiburcê to death, because they refused to worship the image of Jupiter; but Maxime showed kindness to the two Christians, took them home, became converted, and was baptized. When Valerian and Tiburcê were put to death, Maxime declared that he saw angels come and carry them up to heaven, whereupon the prefect caused him to be beaten to death with whips of lead.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).
⁂ This tale is very similar to that of St. Cecilia, in the _Legenda Aurea_. See also _Acts_ xvi. 25-34.
=Nupkins=, mayor of Ipswich, a man who has a most excellent opinion of himself, but who, in all magisterial matters, really depends almost entirely on Jinks, his half-starved clerk.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
=Nurse= (_Rebecca_). Accused of witchcraft and acquitted by the court. “And suddenly, after all the afflicted out of court made a hideous outcry ... one of the judges expressed himself not satisfied, another, as he was going off the bench, said they would have her indicted anew.”
At the second trial she was condemned, and she was executed with the rest.
“The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of her life and at her death, and her extraordinary care in educating her children, and setting them a good example, etc., under the hands of so many, are so numerous that for brevity they are here omitted.”--Robert Calef, _More Wonders of the Invisible World_ (1700).
=Nut-Brown Maid= (_The_), the maid wooed by the “banished man.” The “banished man” describes to her the hardships she would have to undergo if she married him; but finding that she accounted these hardships as nothing compared with his love, he revealed himself to be an earl’s son, with large hereditary estates in Westmoreland, and married her.--Percy, _Reliques_, II.
This ballad is based on the legendary history of Lord Henry Clifford, called “The Shepherd Lord.” It was modernized by Prior, who called his version of the story _Henry and Emma_. The oldest form of the ballad extant is contained in Arnolde’s _Chronicle_ (1502).
=Nydia.= Greek flower-girl, blind and friendless. Glaucus is kind to, and protects her, finally purchases her of her brutal master. She loves him passionately and hopelessly, saves his life and that of his betrothed at the destruction of Pompeii; embarks with them in a skiff bound for a safer harbor, and while all are asleep, springs overboard and drowns herself.--E. L. Bulwer, _Last Days of Pompeii_ (1834).
=Nym=, corporal in the army under Captain Sir John Falstaff, introduced in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and in _Henry V._, but not in _Henry IV._ It seems that Lieutenant Peto had died, and given a step to the officers under him. Thus, Ensign Pistol becomes lieutenant, Corporal Bardolph becomes ensign, and Nym takes the place of Bardolph. He is an arrant rogue, and both he and Bardolph are hanged_ (Henry V._). The word means to “pilfer.”
It would be difficult to give any other reply save that of Corporal Nym--it was the author’s humor or caprice.--Sir W. Scott.
=Nymphid´ia=, a mock-heroic by Drayton. The fairy Pigwiggen is so gallant to Queen Mab as to arouse the jealousy of King Oberon. One day, coming home and finding his queen absent, Oberon vows vengeance on the gallant, and sends Puck to ascertain the whereabouts of Mab and Pigwiggen. In the mean time, Nymphidia gives the queen warning, and the queen, with all her maids of honor, creep into a hollow nut for concealment. Puck, coming up, sets foot in the enchanted circle which Nymphidia had charmed, and, after stumbling about for a time, tumbles into a ditch. Pigwiggen, seconded by Tomalin, encounters Oberon, seconded by Tom Thum, and the fight is “both fast and furious.” Queen Mab, in alarm, craves the interference of Proserpine, who first envelopes the combatants in a thick smoke, which compels them to desist, and then gives them a draught “to assuage their thirst.” The draught was from the river Lethê; and immediately the combatants had tasted it, they forgot not only the cause of the quarrel, but even that they had quarrelled at all.--M. Drayton, _Nymphidia_ (1593).
=Nysa=, daughter of Silēno and Mys´is, and sister of Daphnê. Justice Mi´das is in love with her; but she loves Apollo, her father’s guest.--Kane O’Hara, _Midas_ (1764).
=Nysê, Doto, and Neri´nê=, the three nereids who went before the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot steered the ship of Vasco towards a sunken rock, these three sea-nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round.--Camoens, _Lusiad_, ii. (1569).
=O= (_Our Lady of_). The Virgin Mary is so called in some old Roman rituals, from the ejaculation at the beginning of the seven anthems preceding the _Magnificat_, as: “O, when will the day arrive...?” “O, when shall I see...?” “O, when...?” and so on.
=Oakly= (_Major_), brother to Mr. Oakly, and uncle to Charles. He assists his brother in curing his “jealous wife.”
_Mr. Oakly_, husband of the “jealous wife.” A very amiable man, but deficient in that strength of mind which is needed to cure the idiosyncrasy of his wife; so he obtains the assistance of his brother, the major.
_Mrs. Oakly_, “the jealous wife” of Mr. Oakly. A woman of such suspicious temper, that every remark of her husband is distorted into a proof of his infidelity. She watches him like a tiger, and makes both her own and her husband’s life utterly wretched.
_Charles Oakly_, nephew of the major. A fine, noble-spirited young fellow, who would never stand by and see a woman insulted; but a desperate debauchee and drunkard. He aspires to the love of Harriot Russet, whose influence over him is sufficiently powerful to reclaim him.--George Colman, _The Jealous Wife_ (1761).
=Oates= (_Dr. Titus_), the champion of the popish plot.
Forth came the notorious Dr. Oates, rustling in the full silken canonicals of priesthood, for ... he affected no small dignity of exterior decoration and deportment.... His exterior was portentous. A fleece of white periwig showed a most uncouth visage, of great length, having the mouth ... placed in the very centre of the countenance, and exhibiting to the astonished spectator as much chin below as there was nose and brow above it. His pronunciation was after a conceited fashion of his own, in which he accented the vowels in a manner altogether peculiar to himself.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
=Oaths.=
JOHN PERROT, a natural son of Henry VIII., was the first to employ the profane oath of _God’s Wounds_, which Queen ELIZABETH adopted, but the ladies of her court minced and softened it into _zounds_ and _zouterkins_.
WILLIAM the CONQUEROR swore by _the Splendor of God_.
WILLIAM RUFUS, by _St. Luke’s face_.
King JOHN, by _God’s Tooth_.
HENRY VIII., by _God’s Wounds_.
CHARLES II., by _Ods fish_ [God’s Flesh].
LOUIS XI. of France, by _God’s Easter_.
CHARLES VIII. of France, by _God’s Light_.
LOUIS XII., by _The Devil take me (Diable m’emporte)_.
The Chevalier BAYARD by _God’s Holyday_.
FRANCOIS I. used for asseveration, _On the word of a gentleman_.
HENRY III. of England, when he confirmed “Magna Charta,” used the expression, _On the word of a gentleman, a king and a knight_.
Earl of ANGUS (reign of Queen Mary), when incensed, used to say, _By the might of God_, but at other times his oath was _By St. Bride of Douglas_.--Godscroft, 275.
ST. WINFRED or BONI´FACE used to swear by _St. Peter’s tomb_.
In the reign of Charles II. fancy oaths were the fashion. (For specimens, see FOPPINGTON.)
The most common oath of the ancient Romans was _By Herculês_! for men; and _By Castor_! for women; _By Pollux_! for both.
Viri per _Herculem_, mulieres per _Castorem_, utrique per _Pollucem_ jurare soliti.--Gellius, _Noctes Atticœ_,[TN-44] ii. 6.
=Obad´don=, the angel of death. This is not the same angel as Abbad´ona, one of the fallen angels, and once the friend of Ab´diel (bk. vi.).
My name is Ephod Obaddon or Sevenfold Revenge. I am an angel of destruction. It was I who destroyed the first-born of Egypt. It was I who slew the army of Sennacherib.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, xiii. (1771).
=Obadi´ah=, “the foolish fat scullion” in Sterne’s novel of _Tristram Shandy_ (1759).
_Obadiah_, clerk to Justice Day. A nincompoop, fond of drinking, but with just a shade more brains than Abel Day, who is “a thorough ass” (act i. 1).--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_ (died 1820).
This farce is a mere _réchauffé_ of _The Committee_ (1670), a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard, the names and much of the conversation being identical. Colonel Blunt is called in the farce “Captain Manly.”
=Obadiah Prim=, a canting, knavish hypocrite; one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Colonel Feignwell personates Simon Pure, and obtains the Quaker’s consent to his marriage with Anne Lovely.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).
=Obermann=, the impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect.--Etienne Pivert de Sen´ancour, _Obermann_ (1804).
=Oberon=, king of the fairies, quarrelled with his wife, Titania, about a “changeling” which Obĕron wanted for a page, but Titania refused to give up. Oberon, in revenge, anointed her eyes in sleep with the extract of “Love in Idleness,” the effect of which was to make the sleeper in love with the first object beheld on waking. Titania happened to see a country bumpkin, whom Puck had dressed up with an ass’s head. Oberon came upon her while she was fondling the clown, sprinkled on her an antidote, and she was so ashamed of her folly that she readily consented to give up the boy to her spouse for his page.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1592).
=Oberon, the Fay=, king of Mommur, a humpty dwarf, three feet high, of angelic face. He told Sir Huon that the lady of the Hidden Isle (_Cephalonia_) married Neptanēbus, king of Egypt, by whom she had a son named Alexander “the Great.” Seven hundred years later she had another son, Oberon, by Julius Cæsar, who stopped in Cephalonia on his way to Thessaly. At the birth of Oberon the fairies bestowed their gifts on him. One was insight into men’s thoughts, and another was the power of transporting himself instantaneously to any place. At death he made Huon his successor, and was borne to paradise.--_Huon de Bordeaux_ (a romance).
=Oberthal= (_Count_), lord of Dordrecht, near the Meuse. When Bertha, one of his vassals, asked permission to marry John of Leyden, the count withheld his consent, as he designed to make Bertha his mistress. This drove John into rebellion, and he joined the anabaptists. The count was taken prisoner by Gio´na, a discarded servant, but was liberated by John. When John was crowned prophet-king the count entered the banquet-hall to arrest him, and perished with him in the flames of the burning palace.--Meyerbeer, _Le Prophète_ (opera, 1849).
=Obi.= Among the negroes of the West Indies “Obi” is the name of a magical power, supposed to affect men with all the curses of an “evil eye.”
=Obi-Woman= (_An_), an African sorceress, a worshipper of Mumbo Jumbo.
=Obi´dah=, a young man who meets with various adventures and misfortunes allegorical of human life.--Dr. Johnson, _The Rambler_ (1750-2).
=Obid´icut=, the fiend of lust, and one of the five which possessed “poor Tom.”--Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).
=O’Brallaghan= (_Sir Callaghan_), “a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellōna had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster and the Furies his playfellows.” He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.--Macklin, _Love-à-la-mode_ (1759).
=O’Brien=, the Irish lieutenant under Captain Savage.--Captain Marryat, _Peter Simple_ (1833).
=Observant Friars=, those friars who observe the rule of St. Francis; to abjure books, land, house and chapel, to live on alms, dress in rags, feed on scraps and sleep anywhere.
=Obstinate=, an inhabitant of the City of Destruction, who advised Christian to return to his family, and not run on a wild-goose chase.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).
=Occasion=, the mother of Furor; an ugly, wrinkled old hag, lame of one foot. Her head was bald behind, but in front she had a few hoary locks. Sir Guyon seized her, gagged her and bound her.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 4 (1590).
=Ochiltree= (_Old Edie_), a king’s bedesman or blue-gown. Edie is a garrulous, kind-hearted, wandering beggar, who assures Mr. Lovel that the supposed ruin of a Roman camp is no such thing. The old bedesman delighted “to daunder down the burnsides and green shaws.” He is a well-drawn character.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
=Ocnus= (_The Rope of_), profitless labor. Ocnus is represented as twisting with unwearied diligence a rope, which an ass eats as fast as it is made. The allegory signifies that Ocnus worked hard to earn money, which his wife spent by her extravagance.
=Octave= (2 _syl._), the son of Argante (2 _syl._). During the absence of his father, Octave fell in love with Hyacinthe, daughter of Géronte, and married her, supposing her to be the daughter of Signor Pandolphe, of Tarentum. His father wanted him to marry the daughter of his friend Géronte, but Octave would not listen to it. It turned out, however, that the daughter of Pandolphe and the daughter of Géronte were one and the same person, for Géronte had assumed the name of Pandolphe while he lived in Tarentum, and his wife and daughter stayed behind after the father went to live at Naples.--Molière, _Les Fourberies de Scapin_ (1671).
⁂ In the English version, called _The Cheats of Scapin_, by Thomas Otway, Octave is called “Octavian,” Argante is called “Thrifty,” Hyacinthe is called “Clara,” and Géronte is “Gripe.”
=Octavian=, the lover of Floranthê. He goes mad because he imagines Floranthê loves another; but Roque, a blunt, kind-hearted old man, assures him that Doña Floranthê is true to him, and induces him to return home.--Colman, the younger, _The Mountaineers_ (1793).
_Octavian_, the English form of “Octave” (2 _syl._), in Otway’s _Cheats of Scapin_. (See OCTAVE.)
=Octa´vio=, the supposed husband of Jacintha. This Jacintha was at one time contracted to Don Henrique, but Violante (4 _syl._), passed for Don Henrique’s wife.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).
_Octavio_, the betrothed of Donna Clara.--Jephson, _Two Strings to your Bow_ (1792).
=Octer=, a sea-captain in the reign of King Alfred, who traversed the Norwegian mountains, and sailed to the Dwina in the north of Russia.
The Saxon swaying all, in Alfred’s powerful reign, Our English Octer put a fleet to sea again.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xix. (1622).
=O’Cutter= (_Captain_), a ridiculous Irish captain, befriended by Lady Freelove and Lord Trinket. He speaks with a great brogue, and interlards his speech with sea terms.--George Colman, _The Jealous Wife_ (1761).
=Oc´ypus=, son of Podalirius and Astasia, noted for his strength, agility and beauty. Ocypus used to jeer at the gout, and the goddess of that disease caused him to suffer from it for ever.--Lucian.
=Odalisque=, in Turkey, one of the female slaves in the sultan’s harem (_odalik_, Arabic, “a chamber companion,” _oda_, “a chamber”).
He went forth with the lovely odalisques.
Byron, _Don Juan_, vi. 29 (1824).
=Ode= (_Prince of the_), Pierre de Ronsard (1534-1585).
=Odoar=, the venerable abbot of St. Felix, who sheltered King Roderick after his dethronement.--Southey, _Roderick, Last of the Goths_, iv. (1814).
⁂ Southey sometimes makes the word Odoar´ [_O´.dor_], and sometimes O´doar (3 _syl._), _e.g._:
Odoar´, the venerable abbot sat (2 _syl._).... Odoar´ and Urban eyed him while he spake.... The Lady Adosinda O´doar cried (3 _syl._).... Tell him in O´doar’s name the hour has come!
=O’Doh´erty= (_Sir Morgan_), a pseudonym of W. Maginn, LL.D., in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ (1819-1842).
=O’Donohue’s White Horses.= The boatmen of Killarney, so call those waves which, on a windy day, come crested with foam. The spirit of O’Donohue is supposed to glide over the lake of Killarney every May-day on his favorite white horse, to the sound of unearthly music.
=Odori´co=, a Biscayan, to whom Zerbi´no commits Isabella. He proves a traitor, and tries to defile her, but is interrupted in his base endeavor. Almonio defies him to single combat, and he is delivered bound to Zerbino, who condemns him, in punishment, to attend on Gabrina for twelve months, as her squire. He accepts the charge, but hangs Gabrina on an elm, and is himself hung by Almonio to the same tree.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
=Odors for Food.= Plutarch, Pliny, and divers other ancients tell us of a nation in India that lived only upon pleasing odors. Democ´ritos lived for several days together on the mere effluvia of hot bread.--Dr. John Wilkins (1614-1672).
=O’Dowd= (_Cornelius_), the pseudonym of Charles James Lever, in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ (1809-1872).
=Odyssey.= Homer’s epic, recording the adventures of Odysseus (_Ulysses_) in his voyage home from Troy.
## Book I. The poem opens in the island of Calypso, with a complaint
against Neptune and Calypso for preventing the return of Odysseus (3 _syl._) to Ithaca.
II. Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, starts in search of his father, accompanied by Pallas, in the guise of Mentor.
III. Goes to Pylos, to consult old Nestor, and
IV. Is sent by him to Sparta; where he is told by Menelāus that Odysseus is detained in the island of Calypso.
V. In the mean time, Odysseus leaves the island, and, being shipwrecked, is cast on the shore of Phæācia.
VI. Where Nausicāa, the king’s daughter, finds him asleep, and
VII. Takes him to the court of her father, Alcinöos, who
VIII. Entertains him hospitably.
IX. At a banquet, Odysseus relates his adventures since he started from Troy. Tells about the Lotus-eaters and the Cyclops, with his adventures in the cave of Polyphēmos. He tells how
X. The wind-god gave him the winds in a bag. In the island of Circê, he says, his crew were changed to swine, but Mercury gave him a herb called Mōly, which disenchanted them.
XI. He tells the king how he descended into Hadês;
XII. Gives an account of the syrens; of Scylla and Charybdis; and of his being cast on the island of Calypso.
XIII. Alcinoos gives Odysseus a ship which conveys him to Ithăca, where he assumes the disguise of a beggar,
XIV. And is lodged in the house of Eumœos, a faithful old domestic.
XV. Telemachus, having returned to Ithaca, is lodged in the same house,
XVI. And becomes known to his father.
XVII. Odysseus goes to his palace, is recognized by his dog, Argos; but
XVIII. The beggar Iros insults him, and Odysseus breaks his jaw-bone.
XIX. While bathing, the returned monarch is recognized by a scar on his leg;
XX. And when he enters his palace, becomes an eye-witness to the disorders of the court, and to the way in which
XXI. Penelopê is pestered by suitors. To excuse herself, Penelopê tells her suitors he only shall be her husband who can bend Odysseus’s bow. None can do so but the stranger, who bends it with ease. Concealment is no longer possible or desirable;
XXII. He falls on the suitors hip and thigh;
XXIII. Is recognized by his wife.
XXIV. Visits his old father, Laertês; and the poem ends.
=Œa´grian Harpist= (_The_), Orpheus, son of Œa´gros and Cal´liōpê.
... can no lesse Tame the fierce walkers of the wilderness, Than that Œagrian harpist, for whose lay Tigers with hunger pined and left their prey.
Wm. Browne, _Brittania’s Pastorals_, v. (1613).
=Œ´dipos= (in Latin _Œdipus_), son of Laïus and Jocasta. The most mournful tale of classic story.
⁂ This tale has furnished the subject matter of several tragedies. In Greek we have _Œdipus Tyrannus_ and _Œdipus at Colōnus_, by Sopho´oclês.[TN-45] In French, _Œdipe_, by Corneille (1659); _Œdipe_, by Voltaire (1718); _Œdipe chez Admète_, by J. F. Ducis (1778); _Œdipe Roi_ and _Œdipe à Colone_, by Chénier; etc. In English, _Œdipus_, by Dryden and Lee.
=Œno´ne= (3 _syl._), a nymph of Mount Ida, who had the gift of prophecy, and told her husband, Paris, that his voyage to Greece would involve him and his country (Troy) in ruin. When the dead body of old Priam’s son was laid at her feet, she stabbed herself.
Hither came at noon Mournful Œnōnê, wandering forlorn Of Paris, once her playmate on the hills [_Ida_]
Tennyson, _Œnone_.
⁂ Kalkbrenner, in 1804, made this the subject of an opera.
=Œno´pian=, father of Mer´opê, to whom the giant Orīon made advances. Œnopian, unwilling to give his daughter to him, put out the giant’s eyes in a drunken fit.
Orion ... Reeled as of yore beside the sea, When blinded by Œnopian.
Longfellow, _The Occultation of Orion_.
=Œte´an Knight= (_The_). Her´culês is so called, because he burnt himself to death on Mount Œta or Œtæa, in Thessaly.
So also did that great Œtean knight For his love’s sake his lion’s skin undight.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 8 (1596).