Part ii.

_Asaph (St.)_ a British [_i.e. Welsh_] monk of the sixth century, abbot of Llan-Elvy, which changed its name to St. Asaph, in honor of him.

So bishops can she bring, of which her saints shall be: As Asaph, who first gave that name unto that see.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).

ASCAL'APHOS, son of Acheron, turned into an owl for tale-telling and trying to make mischief.--_Greek Fable_.

ASCA'NIO, son of don Henrique (2 _syl._), in the comedy called _The Spanish Curate_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).

AS'CAPART or AS'CUPART, an enormous giant, thirty feet high, who carried off sir Bevis, his wife Jos'ian, his sword Morglay, and his steed Ar'undel, under his arm. Sir Bevis afterwards made Ascapart his slave, to run beside his horse. The effigy of sir Bevis is on the city gates of Southampton.--Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).

He was a man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk ... would have enabled him to enact "Colbrand," "Ascapart," or any other giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even by the altitude of a chopin.--Sir W. Scott.

Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw Charing Cross for a bar.

Dr. Donne (1573-1631).

Thus imitated by Pope (1688-1744)--

Each man an Ascapart of strength to toss For quoits both Temple Bar and Charing Cross.

ASCRÆ'AN SAGE, or _Ascræan poet_, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascræan."

Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musæ Ascræo quos ante seni.

_Ecl._ vii. 70.

AS'EBIE (3 _syl_.), Irreligion personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (_idolatry_), Phar'makeus (3 _syl_.) (_witchcraft_), Hæret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, _asebeia_, "impiety.")

ASEL'GES (3 _syl_.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (_inchastity_), his three brothers being Mæchus (_adultery_), Pornei'us (_fornication_), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother Porneius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chastity_), Aselgês rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i' the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek, _aselgês_, "intemperate, wanton.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).

AS'EN, strictly speaking, are only the three gods next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally.

ASHBURTON (_Mary_), heroine of _Hyperion_, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).

ASH'FIELD (_Farmer_), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, noble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is "Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.

_Dame Ashfield_, the farmer's wife, whose _bête noire_ is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too.

_Susan Ashfield_, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.--Thom. Morton, _Speed the Plough_ (1764-1838).

ASH'FORD (_Isaac_), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."--Crabbe, _Parish Register_ (1807).

ASHPENAZ, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

ASH'TAROTH, a general name for all Syrian goddesses. (See ASTORETH.)

[_They_] had general names Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male, These feminine.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665).

ASH'TON (_Sir William_), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton.

_Lady Eleanor Ashton_, wife of sir William.

_Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton_, eldest son of sir William.

_Lucy Ashton_, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called _Lucia di Lammermoor_, 1835.)

ASIA, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses; but she was taken alive into paradise.--Sale, _Al Korân_, xx., note, and Ixvi., note.

Mahomet says, "Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; and Fatima, his own daughter."

AS'IR, the twelve chief gods of Scandinavian mythology--Odin, Thor, Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti.

Sometimes the goddesses--Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked among the Asir also.

AS'MADAI (3 _syl.)_ the same as As-mode'us _(4 syl.)_ the lustful and destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands _(Tobit_ iii. 8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means "the _destroyer_."--_Paradise Lost_, vi 365 (1665).

ASMODE'US _(4 syl.)_, the demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud "king of the devils." As "dress" is one of the bitterest evils of modern life, it is termed "the Asmodeus of domestic peace," a phrase employed to express any "skeleton" in the house of a private family.

In the book of _Tobit_ Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of Rag'uël, and causes the successive deaths of seven husbands each on his bridal night, but when Sara married Tobit, Asmodeus was driven into Egypt by a charm made of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes.

(Milton throws the accent on the third syl., Tennyson on the second.)

Better pleased Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 168.

Abaddon and Asmodëus caught at me.

Tennyson, _St. Simeon Stylitês_.

_Asmode'us_, a "diable bon-homme," with more gaiety than malice; not the least like Mephistophelês. He is the companion of Cle'ofas, whom he carries through the air, and shows him the inside of houses, where they see what is being done in private or secrecy without being seen. Although Asmodeus is not malignant, yet with all his wit, acuteness, and playful malice, we never forget the fiend.--Le Sage, _Le Diable Boiteux_.

(Such was the popularity of the _Diable Boiteux_, that two young men fought a duel in a bookseller's shop over the only remaining copy, an incident worthy to be recorded by Asmodeus himself.)

Miss Austen gives us just such a picture of domestic life as Asmodeus would present could he remove the roof of many an English home.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."

ASO'TUS, Prodigality personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher, fully described in canto viii. (Greek, _asotos_, "a profligate.")

ASPA'TIA, a maiden the very ideal of ill-fortune and wretchedness. She is the troth-plight wife of Amintor, but Amintor, at the king's request, marries Evad'ne (3 _syl_.). "Women point with scorn at the forsaken Aspatia, but she bears it all with patience. The pathos of her speeches is most touching, and her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the drama."--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).

AS'PRAMONTE (3 _syl_.), in Sir W. Scott's _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

_The old knight_, father of _Brenhilda_. _The lady of Aspramonte_, the knight's wife. _Brenhilda of Aspramonte_, their daughter, wife of count Robert.

AS'RAEL or AZ'RAEL, an angel of death. He is immeasurable in height, insomuch that the space between his eyes equals a 70,000 days' journey.--_Mohammedan Mythology_.

AS'SAD, son of Camaral'zaman and Haiatal'nefous (5 _syl_.), and half-brother of Amgiad (son of Camaralzaman and Badoura). Each of the two mothers conceived a base passion for the other's son, and when the young men repulsed their advances, accused them to their father of gross designs upon their honor. Camaralzaman commanded his vizier to put them both to death; but instead of doing so, he conducted them out of the city, and told them not to return to their father's kingdom (the island of Ebony). They wandered on for ten days, when Assad went to a city in sight to obtain provisions. Here he was entrapped by an old fire-worshipper, who offered him hospitality, but cast him into a dungeon, intending to offer him up a human victim on the "mountain of fire." The ship in which he was sent being driven on the coast of queen Margiana, Assad was sold to her as a slave, but being recaptured was carried back to his old dungeon. Here Bosta'na, one of the old man's daughters, took pity on him, and released him, and ere long Assad married queen Margiana, while Amgiad, out of gratitude, married Bostana.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Amgiad and Assad").

ASTAG'ORAS, a female fiend, who has the power of raising storms.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

ASTAR'TE (3 _syl_.), the Phoenician moon-goddess, the Astoreth of the Syrians.

With these Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns. Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 438 (1665).

_As'tarte_ (2 _syl_.), an attendant on the princess Anna Comne'na.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Eufus).

_Astarte_ a woman, beloved by Manfred.--Byron, _Manfred_.

We think of Astarte as young, beautiful, innocent,--guilty, lost, murdered, judged, pardoned; but still, in her permitted visit to earth, speaking in a voice of sorrow, and with a countenance yet pale with mortal trouble. We had but a glimpse of her in her beauty and innocence, but at last she rises before us in all the moral silence of a ghost, with fixed, glazed, and passionless eyes, revealing death, judgment, and eternity.--Professor Wilson.

The lady Astarte his? Hush! who comes here? (iii. 4.) ...The same Astarte? no! (iii. 4.)

AS'TERY, a nymph in the train of Venus; the lightest of foot and most active of all. One day the goddess, walking abroad with her nymphs, bade them go gather flowers. Astery gathered most of all; but Venus, in a fit of jealousy, turned her into a butterfly, and threw the flowers into the wings. Since then all butterflies have borne wings of many gay colors.--Spenser, _Muiopotmos or the Butterfly's Fate_ (1590).

ASTOL'PHO, the English cousin of Orlando; his father was Otho. He was a great boaster, but was generous, courteous, gay, and singularly handsome. Astolpho was carried to Alci'na's isle on the back of a whale; and when Alcina tired of him, she changed him into a myrtle tree, but Melissa disenchanted him. Astolpho descended into the infernal regions; he also went to the moon, to cure Orlando of his madness by bringing back his lost wits in a phial.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

AS'TON _(Sir Jacob)_, a cavalier during the Commonwealth; one of the partisans of the late king.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (period, Commonwealth).

_As'ton (Enrico)._ So Henry Ashton is called in Donizetti's opera of _Lucia di Lammermoor_ (1835). (See ASHTON.)

AS'TORAX, king of Paphos and brother of the princess Calis.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (before 1618).

AS'TORETH, the goddess-moon of Syrian mythology; called by Jeremiah, "The Queen of Heaven," and by the Phoenicians, "Astar'tê."

With these [_the host of heaven_] in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astartê, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 438 (1665).

(Milton does not always preserve the difference between Ashtaroth and Ashtoreth; for he speaks of the "moonèd Ashtaroth, heaven's queen and mother.")

AS'TRAGON, the philosopher and great physician, by whom Gondibert and his friends were cured of the wounds received in the faction fight stirred up by prince Oswald. Astragon had a splendid library and museum. One room was called "Great Nature's Office," another "Nature's Nursery," and the library was called "The Monument of Vanished Mind." Astragon (the poet says) discovered the loadstone and its use in navigation. He had one child, Bertha, who loved duke Gondibert, and to whom she was promised in marriage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not known.--Sir W. Davenant, _Gondibert_ (died 1668).

ASTRE'A _(Mrs. Alphra Behn_), an authoress. She published the story of _Prince Oroonoka_ (died 1689).

The stage now loosely does Astrea tread. Pope.

ASTRINGER, a falconer. Shakespeare introduces an astringer in _All's Well that Ends Well_, act v. sc. 1. (From the French _austour_, Latin _austercus_, "a goshawk.") A "gentle astringer" is a gentleman falconer.

We usually call a falconer who keeps that kind of hawk [the goshawk] an austringer.--Cowell, _Law Dictionary_.

AS'TRO-FIAMMAN'TE (5 _syl_.), queen of the night. The word means "flaming star."--Mozart, _Die Zauberflöte_ (1791).

ASTRONOMER (_The_), in _Rasselas_, an old enthusiast, who believed himself to have the control and direction of the weather. He leaves Imlac his successor, but implores him not to interfere with the constituted order.

"I have possessed," said he to Imlac, "for five years the regulation of the weather, and the distribution of the seasons: the sun has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds, at my call, have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the Dog-star, and mitigated the fervor of the Crab. The winds alone ... have hitherto refused my authority.... I am the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted."--Dr. Johnson, _Rasselas_, xli.--xliii. (1759).

AS'TROPHEL (_Sir Philip Sidney_). "Phil. Sid." may be a contraction of _philos sidus_, and the Latin _sidus_ being changed to the Greek _astron_, we get _astron philos_ ("star-lover"). The "star" he loved was Penelopê Devereux, whom he calls _Stella_ ("star"), and to whom he was betrothed. Spenser wrote a poem called _Astrophel_, to the memory of Sir Philip Sidney.

But while as Astrophel did live and reign, Amongst all swains was none his paragon.

Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591).

ASTYN'OME (4 _syl_.) or CHRYSEÏS, daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. When Lyrnessus was taken, Astynomê fell to the share of Agamemnon, but the father begged to be allowed to ransom her. Agamemnon refused to comply, whereupon the priest invoked the anger of his patron god, and Apollo sent a plague into the Grecian camp. This was the cause of contention between Agamemnon and Achillês, and forms the subject of Homer's epic called _The Iliad_.

AS'WAD, son of Shedad king of Ad. He was saved alive when the angel of death destroyed Shedad and all his subjects, because he showed mercy to a camel which had been bound to a tomb to starve to death, that it might serve its master on the day of resurrection.--Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_ (1797).

ATABA'LIPA, the last emperor of Peru, subdued by Pizarro, the Spanish general. Milton refers to him in _Paradise Lost_, xi. 409 (1665).

AT'ALA, the name of a novel by François Auguste Chateaubriand. Atala, the daughter of a white man and a Christianized Indian, takes an oath of virginity, but subsequently falling in love with Chactas, a young Indian, she poisons herself for fear that she may be tempted to break her oath. The novel was received with extraordinary enthusiasm (1801).

(This has nothing to do with _Attila_, king of the Huns, nor with _Atlialie_ (queen of Judah), the subject of Racine's great tragedy.)

ATALANTA, of Arcadia, wished to remain single, and therefore gave out that she would marry no one who could not outstrip her in running; but if any challenged her and lost the race, he was to lose his life. Hippom'enês won the race by throwing down golden apples, which Atalanta kept stopping to pick up. William Morris has chosen this for one of his tales in _Earthly Paradise_ (March).

In short, she thus appeared like another Atalanta.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Fortunio," 1682).

_Atalanta_, the central figure in Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem after Æschylus _Atalanta in Calydon_ (1864).

ATALI'BA, the inca of Peru, most dearly beloved by his subjects, on whom Pizarro makes war. An old man says of the inca--

The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people and the benign regard of heaven.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_; ii. 4 (from Kotzebue),(1799).

Atê (2 _syl_.), goddess of revenge.

With him along is come the mother queen. An Atê, stirring him to blood and strife. Shakespeare, _King John_, act ii. sc. I (1596).

_Atê_ (2 _syl_.), "mother of debate and all dissension," the friend of Duessa. She squinted, lied with a false tongue, and maligned even the best of beings. Her abode, "far under ground hard by the gates of hell," is described at length in bk. iv. I. When Sir Blandamour was challenged by Braggadoccio (canto 4), the terms of the contest were that the conqueror should have "Florimel," and the other "the old hag Atê," who was always to ride beside him till he could pass her off to another.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. (1596).

ATH'ALIE (3 _syl_.), daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and wife of Joram king of Judah. She massacred all the remnant of the house of David; but Joash escaped, and six years afterwards was proclaimed king. Athalie, attracted by the shouts, went to the temple, and was killed by the mob. This forms the subject and title of Racine's _chef-d'oeuvre_ (1691), and was Mdlle. Rachel's great part.

(Racine's tragedy of _Athalie_, queen of Judah, must not be confounded with Corneille's tragedy of _Attila_, king of the Huns.)

ATHEIST'S TRAGEDY (_The_), by Cyril Tourneur. The "atheist" is D'Amville, who murders his brother Montferrers for his estates.--(Seventeenth century.)

ATH'ELSTANE (3 _syl_.), surnamed "The Unready," thane of Coningsburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

[Illustration] "Unready" does not mean _unprepared_ but _injudicious_ (from Anglo-Saxon _raed_, "wisdom, counsel").

ATHE'NA (_Pallas_) once meant "the air," but in Homer this goddess is the representative of civic prudence and military skill; the armed protectress of states and cities. The Romans called her Minerva.

ATHE'NIAN BEE, Plato, so called from, the honeyed sweetness of his composition. It is said that a bee settled on his lip while he was an infant asleep in his cradle, and indicated that "honeyed words" would fall from his lips, and flow from his pen. Sophoclês is called "The Attic Bee."

ATH'LIOT, the most wretched of all women.

Her comfort is (if for her any be), That none can show more cause of grief than she.

Wm. Browne, _Britannia's Pastorals_, ii. 5 (1613).

ATH'OS. Dinoc'ratês, a sculptor, proposed to Alexander to hew mount Athos into a statue representing the great conqueror, with a city in his left hand, and a basin in his right to receive all the waters which flowed from the mountain. Alexander greatly approved of the suggestion, but objected to the locality.

And hew out a huge mountain of pathos, As Philip's son proposed to do with Athos.

Byron, _Don Juan_, xii. 86.

AT'IMUS, Baseness of Mind personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. "A careless, idle swain ... his work to eat, drink, sleep, and purge his reins." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, _atimos_, "one dishonored.")

A'TIN (_Strife_), the squire of Pyr'ochlês.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 4, 5, 6 (1590).

ATOS'SA. So Pope calls Sarah duchess of Marlborough, because she was the great friend of lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he calls Sappho.

But what are these to great Atossa's mind?

Pope.

(The great friend of Sappho was Atthis. By Atossa is generally understood Vashti, daughter of Cyrus and wife of Ahasuerus of the Old Testament.)

AT'ROPOS, one of the Fates, whose office is to cut the thread of life with a pair of scissors.

... nor shines the knife, Nor shears of Atropos before their vision.

Byron, _Don Juan_, ii. 64.

ATTIC BEE _(The)_, Soph'oclês (B.C. 495-405). Plato is called "The Athenian Bee."

ATTIC BOY _(The)_, referred to by Milton in his _Il Penseroso_, is Ceph'alos, who was beloved by Aurora or Morn, but was married to Procris. He was passionately fond of hunting.

Till civil-suited Morn appear, Not tricked and flounced, as she was wont With the Attic boy to hunt, But kerchiefed in a comely cloud. _II Penseroso_ (1638).

ATTIC MUSE _(The)_, a phrase signifying the whole body of Attic poetry.

ATTICUS. The surname of T. Pomponius, the intimate friend of Cicero, given to him on account of his long residence in Athens. His biography is found in Nepor.

_The English Atticus_. Joseph Addison.

Who but must laugh if such a man there be. Who would not weep if Atticus were he? Pope, _Prologue to the Satires_.

AT'TILA, one of the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (1667). This king of the Huns, usually called "The Scourge of God," must not be confounded with "Athalie," daughter of Jezebel and wife of Joram, the subject and title of Racine's _ches-d'oeuvre_, and Mdlle. Rachel's chief character.

AUBERT _(Thérèse)_, the heroine of C. Nodier's romance of that name (1819). The story relates to the adventures of a young royalist in the French Revolutionary epoch, who had disguised himself in female apparel to escape detection.

AUBREY, a widower for eighteen years. At the death of his wife he committed his infant daughter to the care of Mr. Bridgemore, a merchant, and lived abroad. He returned to London after an absence of eighteen years, and found that Bridgemore had abused his trust, and his daughter had been obliged to quit the house and seek protection with Mr. Mortimer.

_Augusta Aubrey_, daughter of Mr. Aubrey, in love with Francis Tyrrel, the nephew of Mr. Mortimer. She is snubbed and persecuted by the vulgar Lucinda Bridgemore, and most wantonly persecuted by lord Abberville, but after passing through many a most painful visitation, she is happily married to the man of her choice.--Cumberland, _The Fashionable Lover_ (1780).

AU´BRI'S DOG showed a most unaccountable hatred to Richard de Macaire, snarling and flying at him whenever he appeared in sight. Now Aubri had been murdered by some one in the forest of Bondy, and this animosity of the dog directed suspicion towards Richard de Macaire. Richard was taken up, and condemned to single combat with the dog, by whom he was killed. In his dying moments he confessed himself to be the murderer of Aubri. (See DOG.)

Le combat entre Macaire et le chien eut lieu à Paris, dans l'île Louviers. On place ce fait merveilleux en 1371, mais ... il est bien antérieur, car il est mentionné dès le siècle précédent par Albéric des Trois-Fontaines.--Bouillet, _Dict. Universel, etc._

AUCH´TERMUCH´TY (_John_), the Kinross carrier.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

AUDHUM´BLA, the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking dew from the rocks.--_Scandinavian Mythology_.

AU´DREY, a country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. She is an excellent specimen of a wondering she-gawky. She thanks the gods that "she is foul," and if to be poetical is not to be honest, she thanks the gods also that "she is not poetical."--Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1598).

The character of "Audrey," that of a female fool, should not have been assumed [_i.e._ by Miss Pope, in her last appearance in public]; the last line of the farewell address was, "And now poor Audrey bids you all farewell" (May 26, 1808).-- James Smith, _Memoirs, etc._ (1840).

AUGUS´TA, mother of Gustavus Vasa. She is a prisoner of Christian II. king of Denmark, but the king promises to set her free if she will induce her son to submission. Augusta refuses, but in the war which follows, Gustavus defeats Christian, and becomes king of Sweden.--H. Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).

_Augusta_, a title conferred by the Roman emperors on their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and even concubines. It had to be conferred; for even the wife of an Augustus was not an Augusta until after her coronation.

1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both _Augusta_; so were Julia (wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia, Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an emperor is spoken of as _Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra; Divina Augusta_, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we read, "Domitian uxorem suam _Augustam_ jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [_i.e._ Pertinax] _Augusta_ est appellata."

2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was created _Augusta_. Claudius made his mother Antonia _Augusta_ after her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa _Augusta_," in honor of his grandmother;

Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled _Augusta_ on coins; and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.

3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis _Augusta_ germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana _Augusta_."

4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of Didius Julianus, were both _Augusta_. Titus inscribed on coins his daughter as "Julia Sabina _Augusta_;" there are coins of the emperor Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla _Augusta_," and "Sallustia _Augusta_," sisters of the emperor Decius.

5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called _Augusta_ on coins; Constantine Monomachus called his concubine _Augusta_.

AUGUSTA HARE, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney's novel _Hitherto_.

AUGUSTI´NA, _the Maid of Saragossa_. She was only twenty-two when, her lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French, after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.

Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa, who by her valor elevated herself to the highest rank of heroines. When the author was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado, decorated with medals and orders, by order of the Junta.--Lord Byron.

AULD ROBIN GRAY was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay, and her father was earl of Balcarras.

AULLAY, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep. King Baly of India rode on an aullay.

The aullay, hugest of four-footed kind, The aullay-horse, that in his force, With elephantine trunk, could bind And lift the elephant, and on the wind Whirl him away, with sway and swing, E'en like a pebble from a practised sling.

Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xvi. 2 (1809).

AURE´LIUS, a young nobleman who tried to win to himself Do´rigen, the wife of Arvir´agus, but Dorigen told him she would never yield to his suit till all the rocks of the British coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic made all the rocks disappear, but when Dorigen went, at her husband's bidding, to keep her promise, Aurelius, seeing how sad she was, made answer, he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).

(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of _Dimora and Gilberto_, x. 5. See DIANORA.)

_Aurelius_, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur, but he died before the hero was born.

Even sicke of a flixe [_ill of the flux_] as he was, he caused himself to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie.--Holinshed, _History of Scotland_, 99.

... once I read That stout Pendragon on his litter sick Came to the field, and vanquishèd his foes.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._, act iii. sc. 2 (1589).

AURORA LEIGH, daughter of an Englishman and an Italian woman. At her father's death Aurora comes to England to live with a severe, practical aunt. In time she becomes a poet, travels far, sees much, and thinks much of life's problems. She marries her cousin Romney, a philanthropist, blinded by an accident.--_Aurora_ _Leigh_, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1856).

AURORA NUNCANOU, beautiful Creole widow in _The Grandissimes_, by George W. Cable. In her thirty-fifth year, she "is the red, red, full-blown, faultless joy of the garden. With her it will be always morning. That woman is going to last forever; ha-a-a-a!--even longer!" (1880).

AUSTIN, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title of the count of Narbonne.--Robert Jephson, _Count of Narbonne_ (1782).

AUSTINS (_The_). _Miss Susan_, old maid resident at Whiteladies, concerned in a conspiracy to introduce a false heir to the estate.

_Miss Augustine_, saintly sister, who tries to "turn the curse from _Whiteladies_, by her own prayers and those of her almsmen."--_Whiteladies_, by M.O.W. Oliphant.

AUS´TRIA AND THE LION'S HIDE. There is an old tale that the arch-duke of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion's hide which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the arch-duke:

Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame, And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs. Shakespeare, _King John_, act iii. sc. 1 (1596).

(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)

AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE, a mythical personage who indites Oliver Wendell Holmes's breakfast-table conversations.

AUTOL´YCOS, the craftiest of thieves. He stole the flocks of his neighbors, and changed their marks. Sis´yphos outwitted him by marking his sheep under their feet.

AUTOL´YCUS, a peddler and witty rogue, in _The Winter's Tale_, by Shakespeare (1604).

AVARE (_L_'). The plot of this comedy is as follows: Harpagon the miser and his son Cléante (2 _syl._) both want to marry Mariane (3 _syl._), daughter of Anselme, _alias_ don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples. Cléante gets possession of a casket of gold belonging to the miser, and hidden in the garden. When Harpagon discovers his loss he raves like a madman, and Cléante gives him the choice of Mariane or the casket. The miser chooses the casket, and leaves the young lady to his son. The second plot is connected with Elise (2 _syl._), the miser's daughter, promised in marriage by the father to his friend Anselme (2 _syl._); but Elise is herself in love with Valère, who, however, turns out to be the son of Anselme. As soon as Anselme discovers that Valère is his son, who he thought had been lost at sea, he resigns to him Elise, and so in both instances the young folks marry together, and the old ones give up their unnatural rivalry.--Molière, _L'Avare_ (1667).

AVE´NEL (2 _syl._), _Julian_, the usurper of Avenel Castle.

_Lady Alice_, widow of sir Walter.

_Mary_, daughter of Lady Alice. She marries Halbert Glendinning.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (date 1559).

_Ave´nel_ (_Sir Halbert Glendinning, knight of_), same as the bridegroom in _The Monastery_.

_The lady Mary of Avenel_, same as the bride in _The Monastery_.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_The White Lady of Avenel_, a spirit mysteriously connected with the Avenel family, as the Irish banshee is with true Mile´sian families. She announces good or ill fortune, and manifests a general interest in the family to which she is attached, but to others she acts with considerable caprice; thus she shows unmitigated malignity to the sacristan and the robber. Any truly virtuous mortal has commanding power over her.

Noon gleams on the lake, Noon glows on the fell; Awake thee, awake, White maid of Avenel!

Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

AVEN´GER OF BLOOD, the man who had the birthright, according to the Jewish, polity, of taking vengeance on him who had killed one of his relatives.

... the Christless code That must have life for a blow.

Tennyson, _Maud_, II. i. 1.

AVERY (_Parson_), a missionary "to the souls of fishers starving on the rocks of Marblehead." He is wrecked with his crew, one wintry midnight, and dies praying aloud.--J.G. Whittier, _The Swan Song of Parson Avery_ (1850).

AV´ICEN or _Abou-ibn-Sina_, an Arabian physician and philosopher, born at Shiraz, in Persia (980-1037). He composed a treatise on logic, and another on metaphysics. Avicen is called both the Hippo´cratês and the Aristotle of the Arabs.

Of physicke speake for me, king Avicen ... Yet was his glory never set on shelfe, Nor never shall, whyles any worlde may stande Where men have minde to take good bookes in hande.

G. Gascoigne, _The Fruits of Warre_, lvii. (died 1577).

AVIS, a New England girl, heroine of _The Story of Avis_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward. She is forced by genius to be an artist, and through her art loses hope of domestic happiness (1877).

AYL'MER (_Mrs._), a neighbor of sir Henry Lee.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

AY'MER (_Prior_), a jovial Benedictine monk, prior of Jorvaulx Abbey.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

AY'MON, duke of Dordona (_Dordogne_). He had four sons, Rinaldo, Guicciardo, Alardo, and Ricciardetto (_i.e._ Renaud, Guiscard, Alard, and Richard), whose adventures are the subject of a French romance, entitled _Les Quatre fils Aymon_, by H. de Alleneuve (1165-1223).

AZA'ZEL, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom. These jinn inhabited the earth before man was created, but on account of their persistent disobedience were driven from it by an army of angels. When Adam was created, and God commanded all to worship him, Azâzel insolently made answer, "Me hast Thou created of fire, and him of earth; why should I worship him?" Whereupon God changed the jinnee into a devil, and called him Iblis or Despair. In hell he was made the standard-bearer of Satan's host.

Upreared His mighty standard; that proud honor claimed Azâzel as his right.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 534 (1665).

AZ'LA, a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of Keha'ma.--Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, i. 10 (1809).

AZ'O, husband of Parisi'na. He was marquis d'Este, of Ferrara, and had already a natural son, Hugo, by Bianca, who, "never made his bride," died of a broken heart. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina before she married the marqnis, and after she became his mother-in-law, they loved on still. One night Azo heard Parisina in sleep express her love for Hugo, and the angry marquis condemned his son to death. Although he spared his bride, no one ever knew what became of her.--Byron, _Parisina_.

AZ´RAEL (_3 syl._), the angel of death (called Raphael in the _Gospel of Barnabas_).--_Al Korân_.

AZ´TECAS, an Indian tribe, which conquered the Hoamen (2 _syl._), seized their territory, and established themselves on a southern branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan as their imperial city. When Madoc conquered the Aztecas in the twelfth century, he restored the Hoamen, and the Aztecas migrated to Mexico.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).

AZUCE´NA, a gipsy. Manri´co is supposed to be her son, but is in reality the son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna).--Verdi, _Il Trovato´rê_ (1853).

AZYORU´CA (4 _syl._), queen of the snakes and dragons. She resides in Patala, or the infernal regions.--_Hindû Mythology_.

There Azyoruca veiled her awful form In those eternal shadows. There she sat, And as the trembling souls who crowd around The judgment-seat received the doom of fate, Her giant arms, extending from the cloud, Drew them within the darkness.

Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xxiii 15 (1809).

BAAL, plu. BAALIM, a general name for all the Syrian gods, as Ash´taroth was for the goddesses. The general version of the legend of Baal is the same as that of Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, and the Arabian myth of El Khouder. All allegorize the Sun, six months above and six months below the equator. As a title of honor, the word Baal, Bal, Bel, etc., enters into a large number of Phoenician and Carthaginian proper names, as Hanni-bal, Hasdrubal, Bel-shazzar, etc.

... [the] general names Of Baälim and Ashtaroth: those male; These female.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665).

BAB (_Lady_), a waiting maid on a lady so called, who assumes the airs with the name and address of her mistress. Her fellow-servants and other servants address her as "lady Bab," or "Your ladyship." She is a fine wench, "but by no means particular in keeping her teeth clean." She says she never reads but one "book, which is Shikspur." And she calls Lovel and Freeman, two gentlemen of fortune, "downright hottenpots."--Rev. J. Townley, _High Life Below Stairs_ (1763).

BA´BA, chief of the eunuchs in the court of the sultana Gulbey´az.--Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 82, etc. (1820).

BABA (_Ali_), who relates the story of the "Forty Thieves" in the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_. He discovered the thieves' cave while hiding in a tree, and heard the magic word "Ses´amê," at which the door of the cave opened and shut.

_Cassim Baba_, brother of Ali Baba, who entered the cave of the forty thieves, but forgot the pass-word, and stood crying "Open Wheat!" "Open Barley!" to the door, which obeyed to no sound but "Open Sesamê!"

BABA MUS´TAPHA, a cobbler who sewed together the four pieces into which Cassim's body had been cleft by the forty thieves. When the thieves discovered that the body had been taken away, they sent one of the band into the city, to ascertain who had died of late. The man happened to enter the cobbler's stall, and falling into a gossip heard about the body which the cobbler had sewed together. Mustapha pointed out to him the house of Cassim Baba's widow, and the thief marked it with a piece of white chalk. Next day the cobbler pointed out the house to another, who marked it with red chalk. And the day following he pointed it out to the captain of the band, who instead of marking the door studied the house till he felt sure of recognizing it.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Ali Baba, or The Forty Thieves").

BABABALOUK, chief of the black eunuchs, whose duty it was to wait on the sultan, to guard the sultanas, and to superintend the harem.--Habesci, _State of the Ottoman Empire_, 155-6.

BABES IN THE WOOD, insurrectionary hordes that infested the mountains of Wicklow and the woods of Enniscarthy towards the close of the eighteenth century. (See CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.)

BABIE, old Alice Gray's servant-girl.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

BABIE´CA (3 _syl._), the Cid's horse.

I learnt to prize Babieca from his head unto his hoof.

_The Cid_ (1128).

BABOON (_Philip_), Philippe Bourbon, duc d'Anjou.

_Lewis Baboon_, Louis XIV., "a false loon of a grandfather to Philip, and one that might justly be called a Jack-of-all-trades."

Sometimes you would see this Lewis Baboon behind his counter, selling broad-cloth, sometimes measuring linen; next day he would be dealing in mercery-ware; high heads, ribbons, gloves, fans, and lace, he understood to a nicety ... nay, he would descend to the selling of tapes, garters, and shoebuckles. When shop was shut up he would go about the neighborhood, and earn half-a-crown, by teaching the young men and maidens to dance. By these means he had acquired immense riches, which he used to squander away at back-sword [_in war_], quarter-staff, and cudgel-play, in which he took great pleasure.--Dr. Arbuthnot, _History of John Bull_, ii. (1712).

BABY BELL, the infant whose brief beautiful life is given in the poem that first drew the eyes of the world to the young American poet, T.B. Aldrich, then but nineteen years of age.

Have you not heard the poets tell How came the dainty Baby Bell Into this World of ours? The gates of heaven were left ajar: With folded hands and dreamy eyes, Wandering out of Paradise, She saw this planet like a star Hung in the glistening depths of even,-- Its bridges, running to and fro, O'er which the white-winged angels go, Bearing the holy dead to heaven. She touched a bridge of flowers--those feet So light they did not bend the bells Of the celestial asphodels, They fell like dew upon the flowers; Then all the air grew strangely sweet! And thus came dainty Baby Bell Into this world of ours. (1854.)

BACCHAN'TES (3 _syl._), priestesses of Bacchus.

Round about him _Bacchus_ fair Bacchantês, Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses, Wild from Naxian groves, or Zantê's Vineyards, sing delirious verses. Longfellow, _Drinking Song_.

BACCHUS, in the _Lusiad_, an epic poem by Camoens (1569), is the personification of the evil principle which acts in opposition to Jupiter, the lord of Destiny. Mars is made by the poet the guardian power of Christianity, and Bacchus of Mohammedanism.

BACKBITE (_Sir Benjamin_), nephew of Crabtree, very conceited, and very censorious. His friends called him a great poet and wit, but he never published anything, because "'twas very vulgar to print;" besides, as he said, his little productions circulated more "by giving copies in confidence to friends."--Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).

When I first saw Miss Pope she was performing "Mrs. Candour," to Miss Farren's "lady Teazle," King as "sir Peter," Parsons "Crab-tree," Dodd "Backbite," Baddeley "Moses," Smith "Charles," and John Palmer "Joseph" [Surface].--James Smith, _Memoirs, etc_.

BACTRIAN SAGE _(The)_, Zoroas'ter or Zerdusht, a native of Bactria, now Balkh (B.C. 589-513).

BADE'BEC (2 _syl_.), wife of Gargantua and mother of Pantag'ruel. She died in giving him birth, or rather in giving birth at the same time to nine dromedaries laden with ham and smoked tongues, 7 camels laden with eels, and 25 wagons full of leeks, garlic, onions, and shallots.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 2 (1533).

BADGER _(Will)_, sir Hugh Robsart's favorite domestic.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Bad'ger (Mr. Bayham_), medical practitioner at Chelsea, under whom Richard Carstone pursues his studies. Mr. Badger is a crisp-looking gentleman, with "surprised eyes;" very proud of being Mrs. Badger's "third," and always referring to her former two husbands, captain Swosser and professor Dingo.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).

BADINGUET [_Bad´.en.gay_] one of the many nicknames of Napoleon III. It was the name of the mason in whose clothes he escaped from the fortress of Ham (1808, 1851-1873).

BADOU´RA, daughter of Gaiour (2 _syl._), king of China, the "most beautiful woman ever seen upon earth." The emperor Gaiour wished her to marry, but she expressed an aversion to wedlock. However, one night by fairy influence she was shown prince Camaral´zaman asleep, fell in love with him, and exchanged rings. Next day she inquired for the prince, but her inquiry was thought so absurd that she was confined as a madwoman. At length her foster-brother solved the difficulty thus: The emperor having proclaimed that whoever cured the princess of her [supposed] madness should have her for his wife, he sent Camaralzaman to play the magician, and imparted the secret to the princess by sending her the ring she had left with the sleeping prince. The cure was instantly effected, and the marriage solemnized with due pomp. When the emperor was informed that his son-in-law was a prince, whose father was sultan of the "Island of the Children of Khal´edan, some twenty days' sail from the coast of Persia," he was delighted with the alliance.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").

BADROUL´BOUDOUR, daughter of the sultan of China, a beautiful brunette. "Her eyes were large and sparkling, her expression modest, her mouth small, her lips vermilion, and her figure perfect." She became the wife of Aladdin, but twice nearly caused his death; once by exchanging "the wonderful lamp" for a new copper one, and once by giving hospitality to the false Fatima. Aladdin killed both these magicians.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").

BAG DAD. A hermit told the caliph Almanzor that one Moclas was destined to found a city on the spot where he was standing. "I am that man," said the caliph, and he then informed the hermit how in his boyhood he once stole a bracelet, and his nurse ever after called him "Moclas," the name of a well-known thief.--Marigny.

BAGSHOT, one of a gang of thieves who conspire to break into the house of lady Bountiful.--Farquhar, _The Beaux' Stratagem_ (1705).

BAGSTOCK (_Major Joe_), an apoplectic retired military officer, living in Princess's Place, opposite to Miss Tox. The major has a covert kindness for Miss Tox, and is jealous of Mr. Dombey. He speaks of himself as "Old Joe Bagstock," "Old Joey," "Old J.," "Old Josh," "Rough and tough old Jo," "J.B.," "Old J.B.," and so on. He is also given to over-eating, and to abusing his poor native servant.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

BAH´ADAR, master of the horse to the king of the Magi. Prince Am´giad was enticed by a collet to enter the minister's house, and when Bahadar returned, he was not a little surprised at the sight of his uninvited guest. The prince, however, explained to him in private how the matter stood, and Bahadar, entering into the fun of the thing, assumed for the nonce the place of a slave. The collet would have murdered him, but Amgiad, to save the minister, cut off her head. Bahadar, being arrested for murder, was condemned to death, but Amgiad came forward and told the whole truth, whereupon Bahadar was instantly released, and Amgiad created vizier.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Amgiad and Assad").

BAHMAN (_Prince_), eldest son of the sultan Khrossou-schah of Persia. In infancy he was taken from the palace by the sultana's sisters, and set adrift on a canal, but being rescued by the superintendent of the sultan's gardens, he was brought up, and afterwards restored to the sultan. It was the "talking bird" that told the sultan the tale of the young prince's abduction.

_Prince Bahman's Knife_. When prince Bahman started on his exploits, he gave to his sister Parazadê (4 _syl._) a knife, saying, "As long as you find this knife clean and bright, you may feel assured that I am alive and well; but if a drop of blood falls from it, you may know that I am no longer alive."--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Two Sisters," the last tale).

BAILEY, a sharp lad in the service of Todger's boarding-house. His ambition was to appear quite a full-grown man. On leaving Mrs. Todgers's, he became the servant of Montague Tigg, manager of the "Anglo-Bengalee Company."--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

BAILIE (_General_), a parliamentary leader.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

_Bailie (Giles)_, a gipsy; father of Gabrael Faa (nephew to Meg Merrilies).--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

BAILLY, (_Henry or Harry_), the host of the Tabard Inn, in Southwerk, London, where the nine and twenty companions of Chaucer put up before starting on their pilgrimage to Canterbury.

A semely man our hoste was withal For to han been a marshal in an halle, A fairer burgeis is ther non in Chepe.

Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales, Prologue_.

BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON (in Norfolk). A squire's son loved the bailiff's daughter, but she gave him no encouragement, and his friends sent him to London "an apprentice for to binde." After the lapse of seven years, the bailiff's daughter, "in ragged attire," set out to walk to London, "her true love to inquire." The young man on horseback met her, but knew her not. "One penny, one penny, kind sir!" she said. "Where were you born?" asked the young man. "At Islington," she replied. "Then prithee, sweetheart, do you know the bailiff's daughter there?" "She's dead, sir, long ago." On hearing this the young man declared he'd live an exile in some foreign land. "Stay, oh stay, thou goodly youth," the maiden cried, "she is not really dead, for I am she." "Then farewell grief and welcome joy, for I have found my true love, whom I feared I should never see again."--Percy, _Relics of English Poetry_, ii. 8.

BAILZOU _(Ann´aple)_, the nurse of Effie Deans in her confinement.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

BAJAR´DO, Rinaldo's steed.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

BAJA´ZET, surnamed "The Thunderbolt" (_ilderim_), sultan of Turkey. After subjugating Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor, he laid siege to Constantinople, but was taken captive by Tamerlane emperor of Tartary. He was fierce as a wolf, reckless, and indomitable. Being asked by Tamerlane how he would have treated him had their lots been reversed, "Like a dog," he cried. "I would have made you my footstool when I mounted my saddle, and when your services were not needed would have chained you in a cage like a wild beast." Tamerlane replied, "Then to show you the difference of my spirit, I shall treat you as a king." So saying, he ordered his chains to be struck off, gave him one of the royal tents, and promised to restore him to his throne if he would lay aside his hostility. Bajazet abused this noble generosity; plotted the assassination of Tamerlane; and bow-strung Mone´ses. Finding clemency of no use, Tamerlane commanded him to be used "as a dog, and to be chained in a cage like a wild beast."--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (a tragedy, 1702).

_Bajazet_, a black page at St. James's Palace.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

BAKER (_The_), and the "Baker's Wife." Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were so called by the revolutionary party, because on the 6th October, 1789, they ordered a supply of bread to be given to the mob which surrounded the palace at Versailles, clamoring for bread.

BA´LAAM (2 _syl._), the earl of Huntingdon, one of the rebels in the army of the duke of Monmouth.

And, therefore in the name of dulness, be The well-hung Balaam.

Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_.

_Ba´laam_, a "citizen of sober fame," who lived near the monument of London. While poor he was "religious, punctual, and frugal;" but when he became rich and got knighted, he seldom went to church, became a courtier, "took a bribe from France," and was hung for treason.--Pope, _Moral Essays_, iii.

BALAAM AND JOSAPHAT, a religious novel by Johannes Damascenus, son of Almansur. (For plot, see JOSAPHAT.)

BALACK, Dr. Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, who wrote a history called _Burnet's Own Time_, and _History of the Reformation_.--Dryden and Tate, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii.

BALAFRÉ (_Le_), _alias_ Ludovic Lesly, an old archer of the Scottish Guard at Plessis les Tours, one of the castle palaces of Louis XI. Le Balafré is uncle to Quentin Durward.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

¤¤¤ Henri, son of Francois second duke of Gruise, was called _Le Balafré_ ("the gashed"), from a frightful scar in the face from a sword-cut in the battle of Dormans (1575).

BALÂM´, the ox on which the faithful feed in paradise. The fish is called Nûn, the lobes of whose liver will suffice for 70,000 men.

BALAN´, brother of Balyn or Balin le Savage, two of the most valiant knights that the world ever produced.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 31 (1470).

_Balan_, "the bravest and strongest of all the giant race." Am´adis de Gaul rescued Gabrioletta from his hands.--Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_, iv. 129 (fourteenth century).

BALANCE (_Justice_), father of Sylvia. He had once been in the army, and as he had run the gauntlet himself, he could make excuses for the wild pranks of young men.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1704).

BA´LAND OF SPAIN, a man of gigantic strength, who called himself Fierabras.--_Mediaeval Romance_.

BALATSU-USUR, the name given to the captive Jew Daniel in Babylon, meaning "May Bel protect his life!"

Prostrate upon his royal face, prostrate before the court, the queen, the people--down like a pleading conscience or a suppliant faith, Nebuchadrezzar the Great lay in the dust, and worshipped him right royally.

"_Thou_ art the Master of the Magicians!" said the king. "For thou commandest the power of thy God and thou controllest the spirit of man!" ...

Plain moral purity and religious fervor had done for the young man what a lifetime of political scheming had failed to do for many a grey-headed disappointed adventurer. Then, as in all ages, intrigue regarded the success of sincerity with astonishment.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

BALCHRIS´TIE (_Jenny_), housekeeper to the laird of Dumbiedikes.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

BALDASSA´RE (4 _syl._) chief of the monastery of St. Jacopo di Compostella.--Donizetti's opera, _La Favorite_ (1842).

BAL´DER, the god of light, peace, and day, was the young and beautiful son of Odin and Frigga. His palace, Briedablik ("wide-shining"), stood in the Milky Way. He was slain by Höder, the blind old god of darkness and night, but was restored to life at the general request of the gods.--_Scandinavian Mythology_.

Balder the beautiful, God of the summer sun.

Longfellow, _Tegnier's Death_.

(Sydney Dobell has a poem entitled _Balder_, published in 1854.)

BAL´DERSTONE (_Caleb_), the favorite old butler of the master of Ravenswood, at Wolf's Crag Tower. Being told to provide supper for the laird of Bucklaw, he pretended that there were fat capon and good store in plenty, but all he could produce was "the hinder end of a mutton ham that had been three times on the table already, and the heel of a ewe-milk kebbuck [_cheese_]" (ch. vii.).--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

BALDRICK, an ancestor of the lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed." He was murdered, and lady Eveline assured Rose Flammock that she had seen his ghost frowning at her.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

BAL´DRINGHAM (_The lady Ermengarde of_), great-aunt of lady Eveline Berenger "the betrothed."--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

BALDWIN, the youngest and comeliest of Charlemagne's paladins, nephew of sir Roland.

_Baldwin_, the restless and ambitious duke of Bologna, leader of 1200 horse in the allied Christian army. He was Godfrey's brother, and very like him, but not so tall.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

¤¤¤ He is introduced by sir Walter Scott in _Count Robert of Paris_.

_Baldwin_. So the Ass is called in the beast-epic entitled _Reynard the Fox_ (the word means "bold friend"). In pt. iii. he is called "Dr." Baldwin (1498).

_Bald´win_, tutor of Rollo ("the bloody brother") and Otto, dukes of Normandy, and sons of Sophia. Baldwin was put to death by Rollo, because Hamond slew Gisbert the chancellor with an axe and not with a sword. Rollo said that Baldwin deserved death "for teaching Hamond no better."--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Bloody Brother_ (1639).

_Baldwin (Count)_, a fatal example of paternal self-will. He doted on his elder son Biron, but because he married against his inclination, disinherited him, and fixed all his love on Carlos his younger son. Biron fell at the siege of Candy, and was supposed to be dead. His wife Isabella mourned for him seven years, and being on the point of starvation, applied to the count for aid, but he drove her from his house as a dog. Villeroy (2 _syl._) married her, but Biron returned the following day. Carlos, hearing of his brother's return, employed ruffians to murder him, and then charged Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeached, Carlos was arrested, and Isabella, going mad, killed herself. Thus was the wilfulness of Baldwin the source of infinite misery. It caused the death of his two sons, as well as of his daughter-in-law.--Thomas Southern, _The Fatal Marriage_ (1692).

_Baldwin_, archbishop of Canterbury (1184-1190), introduced by sir W. Scott in his novel called _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

BALDWINDE OYLEY, esquire of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert (Preceptor of the Knights Templars).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

BALIN (_Sir_), or "Balin le Savage," knight of the two swords. He was a Northumberland knight, and being taken captive, was imprisoned six months by king Arthur. It so happened that a damsel girded with a sword came to Camelot at the time of sir Balin's release, and told the king that no man could draw it who was tainted with "shame, treachery, or guile." King Arthur and all his knights failed in the attempt, but sir Balin drew it readily. The damsel begged him for the sword, but he refused to give it to any one. Whereupon the damsel said to him, "That sword shall be thy plague, for with it shall ye slay your best friend, and it shall also prove your own death." Then the Lady of the Lake came to the king, and demanded the sword, but sir Balin cut off her head with it, and was banished from the court. After various adventures he came to a castle where the custom was for every guest to joust. He was accommodated with a shield, and rode forth to meet his antagonist. So fierce was the encounter that both the combatants were slain, but Balin lived just long enough to learn that his antagonist was his dearly beloved brother Balan, and both were buried in one tomb.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 27-44 (1470).

¤¤¤ "The Book of Sir Balin le Savage" is part i. ch. 27 to 44 (both inclusive) of sir T. Malory's _History of Prince Arthur_.

BALINVERNO, one of the leaders in Agramant's allied army.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

BA´LIOL (_Edward_), usurper of Scotland, introduced in _Redgauntlet_, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).

_Ba´liol (Mrs.)_, friend of Mr. Croftangry, in the introductory chapter of _The Fair Maid of Perth_, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Henry IV.).

_Ba´liol (Mrs. Martha Bethune)_, a lady of quality and fortune, who had a house called Baliol Lodging, Canongate, Edinburgh. At her death she left to her cousin Mr. Croftangry two series of tales called _The Chronicles of Canongate (q.v.)_, which he published.--Sir W. Scott, _The Highland Widow_ (introduction, 1827).

BALISAR´DA, a sword made in the garden of Orgagna by the sorceress Faleri´na; it would cut through even enchanted substances, and was given to Roge´ro for the express purpose of "dealing Orlando's death."--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, xxv. 15 (1516).

He knew with Balisarda's lightest blows, Nor helm, nor shield, nor cuirass could avail, Nor strongly tempered plate, nor twisted mail.