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[Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION AND THE DRAMA::::
A REVISED AMERICAN EDITION OF THE READER’S HANDBOOK
BY
THE REV. E. COBHAM BREWER, LL.D.
EDITED BY
MARION HARLAND
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VOLUME II
[Illustration: colophon]
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NEW YORK SELMAR HESS PUBLISHER
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MDCCCXCII
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Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS.
PHOTOGRAVURES PRINTED ON THE HESS PRESS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
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VOLUME II.
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PHOTOGRAVURES AND ETCHINGS.
_Illustration_ _Artist_ LA CIGALE (_colored_) E. METZMACHER _Frontispiece_ FATES (THE) PAUL THUMANN 6 GABRIEL AND EVANGELINE FRANK DICKSEE 56 GANYMEDE F. KIRCHBACH 64 HAMLET AND THE GRAVEDIGGER P.A.J. DAGNAN-BOUVERET 140 HAMLET AND HIS FATHER’S GHOST E. VON HOFFTEN 142 HERODIAS BENJAMIN CONSTANT 172 LORELEI (THE) W. KRAY 340
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WOOD ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES. FALSTAFF AND MRS. FORD. 2 FARIA ENTERS DANTES’S CELL JANET LANGE 4 FATIMA AND ANNA GUSTAVE DORÉ 8 FATINITZA ADRIEN MARIE 10 FATMÉ N. SICHEL 12 FAUNTLEROY (LITTLE LORD) F. M. SPIEGLE 14 FAUST AND MARGARET IN THE GARDEN GABRIEL MAX 16 FITZJAMES AND RODERICK DHU J. B. MCDONALD 22 FITZWALTER (ALURED) AND ROSE HIS WIFE BEAR HOME THE FLITCH OF BACON;—JOHN GILPIN THOMAS STOTHARD 24 FLAVIO AND HILARIA 26 FLORESTAN SAVED BY LEONORA EUGEN KLIMSCH 30 FRANZ, ADELAIDE AND THE BISHOP OF BAMBERG CARL BECKER 46 FRITHIOF AND INGEBORG R. BENDEMANN 50 FRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING FERD. LEEKE 52 FROU-FROU GEORGES CLAIRIN 54 GAMP (SAIREY) FREDERICK BARNARD 60 GANN (CAROLINE), THE LITTLE SISTER FREDERICK BARNARD 62 GARRICK (DAVID) AS ABEL DRUGGER JOHANN ZOFFANY 66 GAUTHIER (MARGUÉRITE), LA DAME AUX CAMÉLIAS 68 GAVROCHE E. BAYARD 70 GHENT TO AIX (HOW WE BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM) 78 GILDA AND RIGOLETTO HERMANN KAULBACH 86 GLAUCUS AND NYDIA W. E. LOCKHART 94 GOBBO (LAUNCELOT) 98 GODIVA J. VON LERIUS 100 GRACCHI (THE MOTHER OF THE) SCHOPIN 108 GRASSHOPPER (THE) AND THE ANT J. G. VIBERT 112 GREY (LADY JANE), EXECUTION OF PAUL DELAROCHE 118 GULLIVER CHAINED J. G. VIBERT 130 GUNTHER (KING) B. GUTH 132 HADWIG (FRAU) INTO THE CONVENT, EKKEHARD BRINGING CARL VON BLAAS 134 HAIDÉE 136 HALIFAX (JOHN) SAVING THE BANK J. NASH 138 HARLOWE (CLARISSA) C. LANDSEER 144 HAROLD (EDITH FINDING THE BODY OF) 146 HAROLD (KING) AND THE ELFINS ALBERT TSCHAUTSCH 148 HATTERAICK (DIRK) AND MEG MERRILEES J.B. MCDONALD 150 HEBE CANOVA 154 HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE A. MAIGNAN 156 HEEP (URIAH) FREDERICK BARNARD 158 HELEN (THE ABDUCTION OF) R. VON DEUTSCH 160 HELOISE GLEYRE 163 HENRY THE EIGHTH AND ANNE BOLEYN C. VON PILOTY 164 HERMANN AND DOROTHEA W. VON KAULBACH 166 HERMIONE 168 HERO AND LEANDER FERDINAND KELLER 170 HETTY (DINAH AND) 174 HIPPOLYTUS (DEATH OF) RUBENS 176 HOFER (ANDREAS) AT INNSBRUCK FRANZ VON DEFREGGER 178 HOP-O’-MY-THUMB GUSTAVE DORÉ 182 HORATII (THE OATH OF THE) L. DAVID 184 HYPATIA A. SEIFERT 198 IANTHE 200 ILSE IN THE FARM-STABLE PAUL MEYERHEIM 202 IMMO AND HILDEGARD HERMANN KAULBACH 204 IMOGEN IN THE CAVE T. GRAHAM 206 INGOMAR (PARTHENIA AND) G. H. SWINSTEAD 212 IPHIGENIA EDMUND KANOLDT 214 IRENE AND KLEA E. TESCHENDORFF 216 ISABELLA AND THE POT OF BASIL HOLMAN HUNT 218 ISABELLE OF CROYE AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY (INTERVIEW BETWEEN) A. ELMORE 220 JINGLE (ALFRED) FREDERICK BARNARD 240 JOAN OF ARC EMMANUEL FRÉMIET 242 JOHN OF LEYDEN FERDINAND KELLE 248 JOURDAIN (MONSIEUR) AND NICOLE C.R. LESLIE 250 JUAN (DON) IN THE BARQUE EUGÈNE DELACROIX 252 KÄGEBEIN AND BODINUS CONRAD BECKMANN 256 LALLA ROOKH A. DE VALENTINE 292 LANCELOT AND ELAINE 294 LANTENAC AT THE STONE PILLAR G. BRION 296 LEAR (KING) AND THE FOOL GUSTAV SCHAUER 310 LECOUVREUR (ADRIENNE) AS CORNELIA ANTOINE COYPEL 312 LEIGH (SIR AMYAS) C. J. STANILAND 314 LEONORA AND FERDINANDO J. B. DUFFAUD 318 LOHENGRIN (ELSA AND) 336 LOUIS XI M. BAFFIER 342 LOUISE, THE GLEE-MAIDEN ROBERT HERDMAN 344
PREFACE.
An American reprint of “_The Reader’s Handbook of allusions, references, plots and stories, by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D., of Trinity Hall, Cambridge_,” has been for several years in the hands of cis-Atlantic students.
Too much praise cannot be awarded to the erudition and patient diligence displayed in the compilation of this volume of nearly twelve hundred pages. The breadth of range contemplated by the learned editor is best indicated in his own words:
“The object of this _Handbook_ is to supply readers and speakers with a lucid, but very brief account of such names as are used in allusions and references, whether by poets or prose writers;—to furnish those who consult it with the plot of popular dramas, the story of epic poems, and the outline of well-known tales. The number of dramatic plots sketched out is many hundreds. Another striking and interesting feature of the book is the revelation of the source from which dramatists and romancers have derived their stories, and the strange repetitions of historic incidents. It has been borne in mind throughout that it is not enough to state a fact. It must be stated attractively, and the character described must be drawn characteristically if the reader is to appreciate it, and feel an interest in what he reads.”
All that Dr. Brewer claims for his book is sustained by examination of it. It is nevertheless true that there is in it a mass of matter comparatively unattractive to the American student and to the general reader. Many of his “allusions” are to localities and neighborhood traditions that, however interesting to English people, seem to us trivial, verbose and inopportune, while he, whose chief object in the purchase of the work is to possess a popular encyclopædia of literature, is rather annoyed than edified by even an erudite author when his “talk is of oxen,” fish, flesh and fowl.
Furthermore, the _Handbook_ was prepared so long ago that the popular literature of the last dozen years is unrecorded; writers who now occupy the foremost places in the public eye not being so much as named.
In view of these and other drawbacks to the extended usefulness of the manual, the publishing-house whose imprint is upon the title-page of the present work, taking the stanch foundation laid by Dr. Brewer, have caused to be constructed upon it a work that, while retaining all of the original material that can interest and aid the English-speaking student, gives also “characters and sketches found in _American_ novels, poetry and drama.”
It goes without saying that in the attempt to do this, it was necessary to leave out a greater bulk of entertaining matter than could be wrought in upon the original design. The imagination of the compiler, to whose reverent hands the task was entrusted, recurred continually, while it was in progress, to the magnificent hyperbole of the sacred narrator—“The which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” Appreciation of the honor put upon her by the commission deepened into delight as the work went on—prideful delight in the richness and variety of our national literature. To do ample justice to every writer and book would have been impossible, but the leading works of every author of note have the honorable place. It is hoped that the company of “characters” introduced among _dramatis personæ_ of English and foreign classics, ancient and modern, will enliven pages that are already fascinating. Many names of English authors omitted from the _Handbook_ for the reason stated awhile ago, will also be found in their proper positions.
The compiler and editor of this volume would be ungrateful did she not express her sense of obligation for assistance received in the work of collecting lists of writers and books from “_The Library of American Literature_,” prepared by Mr. Edmund Clarence Stedman and Miss Ellen Hutchinson.
Besides this, and a tolerable degree of personal familiarity with the leading literature of her own land, her resort has been to the public libraries in New York City—notably, to _The Astor_ and _The Mercantile_. For the uniform courtesy she has received from those in charge of these institutions she herewith makes acknowledgement in the publisher’s name and in her own.
MARION HARLAND.
[Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.
=Falkland=, an aristocratic gentleman, of a noble, loving nature, but the victim of false honor and morbid refinement of feeling. Under great provocation, he was goaded on to commit murder, but being tried was honorably acquitted, and another person was executed for the crime. Caleb Williams, a lad in Falkland’s service, accidently became acquainted with these secret facts, but, unable to live in the house under the suspicious eyes of Falkland, he ran away. Falkland tracked him from place to place, like a blood-hound, and at length arrested him for robbery. The true statement now came out, and Falkland died of shame and broken spirit. —W. Godwin, _Caleb Williams_ (1794).
⁂ This tale has been dramatized by G. Colman, under the title of _The Iron Chest_, in which Falkland is called “Sir Edward Mortimer,” and Caleb Williams is called “Wilford.”
=False One= (_The_), a tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619). The subject is the amours of Julius Caesar and Cleopat´ra.
=Falsetto= (_Signor_), a man who fawns on Fazio in prosperity, and turns his back on him when fallen into disgrace.—Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (1815).
=Falstaff= (_Sir John_), in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, and in the two parts of _Henry IV._, by Shakespeare. In _Henry V._, his death is described by Mrs. Quickly, hostess of an inn in Eastcheap. In the comedy, Sir John is represented as making love to Mrs. Page, who “fools him to the top of his bent.” In the historic plays, he is represented as a soldier and a wit, the boon companion of “Mad-cap Hal” (the prince of Wales). In both cases, he is a mountain of fat, sensual, mendacious, boastful, and fond of practical jokes.
In the king’s army, “Sir John” was Captain, “Peto” Lieutenant, “Pistol” ancient [ensign], and “Bardolph” Corporal.
C.R. Leslie says: “Quin’s ‘Falstaff’ must have been glorious. Since Garrick’s time there have been more than one ‘Richard,’ ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Romeo,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and ‘Lear;’ but since Quin [1693-1766] only one 'Falstaff,' John Henderson [1747-1786].”
Falstaff, unimitated, inimitable, Falstaff, how shall I describe thee? Thou compound of sense and vice: of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed; of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested. “Falstaff ” is a character loaded with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce contempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a boaster, always ready to cheat the weak and prey upon the poor, to terrify the timorous and insult the defenceless. At once obsequious and malignant—yet the man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to the prince by perpetual gaiety, and by unfailing power of exciting laughter.—Dr. Johnson.
=Fanciful= (_Lady_), a vain, conceited beauty, who calls herself “nice, strangely nice,” and says she was formed “to make the whole creation uneasy.” She loves Heartfree, a railer against women, and when he proposes marriage to Belinda, a rival beauty, spreads a most impudent scandal, which, however, reflects only on herself. Heartfree, who at one time was partly in love with her, says to her:
“Nature made you handsome, gave you beauty to a miracle, a shape without a fault, wit enough to make them relish ... but art has made you become the pity of our sex, and the jest of your own. There’s not a feature in your face but you have found the way to teach it some affected convulsion. Your feet, your hands, your very finger-ends, are directed never to move without some ridiculous air, and your language is a suitable trumpet to draw people’s eyes upon the raree-show” (act ii. 1).—Vanbrugh, _The Provoked Wife_ (1697).
=Fan-Fan=, _alias_ =Phelin O’Tug=, “a lolly-pop maker, and manufacturer of maids of honor to the court.” This merry, shy, and blundering elf, concealed in a bear-skin, makes love to Christine, the faithful attendant on the Countess Marie. Phelin O’Tug says his mother was too bashful ever to let him know her, and his father always kept in the back-ground.—E. Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_ (1847).
=Fang=, a bullying, insolent magistrate, who would have sent Oliver Twist to prison, on suspicion of theft, if Mr. Brownlow had not interposed on the boy’s behalf.—C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
The original of this ill-tempered, bullying magistrate was Mr. Laing, of Hatton Garden, removed from the bench by the home secretary.—John Foster, _Life of Dickens_, iii. 4.
=Fang and Snare=, two sheriff’s officers.—Shakespeare, _2 Henry IV_ (1598).
=Fanny= (_Robin_). Country girl seduced under promise of marriage by Sergeant Troy. She dies with her child and is buried by Troy’s betrothed, who learns after her marriage the tale of Fanny’s wrongs.—T. Hardy, _Far from the Madding Crowd_ (1874).
_Fanny_ (_Lord_). So John Lord Hervey was usually called by the wits of the time, in consequence of his effeminate habits. His appearance was that of a “half-wit, half-fool, half-man, half-beau.” He used rouge, drank ass’s milk, and took Scotch pills (1694-1743).
Consult Lord Fanny, and confide in Curll [_publisher_]. Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
_Fanny_ (_Miss_), younger daughter of Mr. Sterling, a rich City merchant. She was clandestinely married to Lovewell. “Gentle-looking, soft-speaking, sweet-smiling, and affable,” wanting “nothing but a crook in her hand and a lamb under her arm to be a perfect picture of innocence and simplicity.” Every one loved her, and as her marriage was a secret, Sir John Melvil and Lord Ogleby both proposed to her. Her marriage with Lovewell being ultimately made known, her dilemma was removed.—Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766).
=Fan´teries= (3 _syl._), foot-soldiers, infantry.
Five other bandes of English fanteries. G. Gascoigne, 1535-1577, _The Fruites of Warre_ (1575)
=Fantine=. Parisian girl, deserted by her lover and left to support her child as best she can. Her heroic self-devotion is one of the most interesting episodes of _Les Miserables_, a romance by Victor Hugo.
=Faquir´=, a religious anchorite, whose life is spent in the severest austerities and mortification.
He diverted himself, however ... especially with the Brahmins, faquirs, and other enthusiasts who had travelled from the heart of India, and halted on their way with the emir.—W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
=Farçeur= (_The_), Angelo Beolco, the Italian farce-writer. Called _Ruzzante_ in Italian, from _ruzzare_, “to play the fool” (1502-1542).
=Farina´ta= [DEGLI UBERTI], a noble Florentine, leader of the Ghibeline faction, and driven from his country in 1250 by the Guelfs (1 _syl._). Some ten years later by the aid of Manfred of Naples, he beat the Guelfs, and took all the towns of Tuscany and Florence. Danté conversed with him in the city of Dis, and represents him as lying in a fiery tomb yet open, and not to be closed till the last judgment day. When the council agreed to raze Florence to the ground, Farinata opposed the measure, and saved the city. Dantê refers to this:
Lo! Farinata ... his brow Somewhat uplifted, cried ... “In that affray [i.e. _at Montaperto, near the river Arbia_] I stood not singly ... But singly there I stood, when by consent Of all, Florence had to the ground been razed,— The one who openly forbade the deed.” Dante, _Inferno_, x. (1300). Like Farinata from his fiery tomb. Longfellow, _Dante_.
=Farm-boy.=
“Over the hill the farm-boy goes, His shadow lengthens along the land, A giant staff in a giant hand. In the poplar tree above the spring The katydid begins to sing; The early dews are falling. * * * * * And home to the woodland fly the crows, While over the hill the farm-boy goes, Cheerily calling, ‘Co’ boss! co’ boss! co’! co’! co’!’” J.T. Trowbridge, _Evening at the Farm_ (1857).
=Farmer Finch=, girl who works her invalid father’s farm for him and makes it pay.—Sarah Orne Jewett, _Farmer Finch_.
=Farm-house= (_The_). Modely and Heartwell, two gentlemen of fashion, come into the country and receive hospitality from old Farmer Freehold. Here they make love to his daughter Aura and his niece Flora. The girls, being high-principled, convert the flirtation of the two guests into love, and Heartwell marries the niece, while Modely proposes to Aura, who accepts him, provided he will wait two months and remain constant to her.—John Philip Kemble.
=Farmer George=, George III.; so called because he was like a farmer in dress, manners, and tastes (1738-1820).
=Farmer’s Wife= (_The_), a musical drama by C. Dibdin (1780). Cornflower, a benevolent, high-minded farmer, having saved Emma Belton from the flames of a house on fire, married her, and they lived together in love and peace till Sir Charles Courtly took a fancy to Mrs. Cornflower, and abducted her. She was soon tracked, and as it was evident that she was no _particeps criminis_, she was restored to her husband, and Sir Charles gave his sister to Mrs. Cornflower’s brother in marriage as a peace-offering.
=Farnese Bull= [_Far.nay´.ze_], a colossal group of sculpture, attributed to Apollõnius and Tauriscus of Trallês, in Asia Minor. The group represents Dircê bound by Zethus and Amphi´on to the horns of a bull, for ill-using their mother. It was restored by Bianchi, in 1546, and placed in the Farnesê palace, in Italy.
=Farnese He´rcules= [_Far.nay´.ze_], a name given to Glykon’s copy of the famous statue by Lysippos (a Greek sculptor in the time of Alexander “the Great”). It represents Hercules leaning on his club, with one hand on his back. The Farnesê family became extinct in 1731.
=Fashion= (_Sir Brilliant_), a man of the world, who “dresses fashionably, lives fashionably, wins your money fashionably, loses his own fashionably, and does everything fashionably.” His fashionable asservations are, “Let me perish, if ...!” “May fortune eternally frown on me, if ...!” “May I never hold four by honors, if ...!” “May the first woman I meet strike me with a supercilious eyebrow, if ...!” and so on.—A. Murphy, _The Way to Keep Him_ (1760).
_Fashion_ (_Tom_), or “Young Fashion,” younger brother of Lord Foppington. As his elder brother did not behave well to him, Tom resolved to outwit him, and to this end introduced himself to Sir Tunbelly Clumsy and his daughter, Miss Hoyden, as Lord Foppington, between whom and the knight a negotiation of marriage had been carried on. Being established in the house, Tom married the heiress, and when the veritable lord appeared, he was treated as an impositor. Tom, however, explained his ruse, and as his lordship treated the knight with great contempt and quitted the house, a reconciliation was easily effected.—Sheridan, _A Trip to Scarborough_ (1777).
=Fashionable Lover= (_The_). Lord Abberville, a young man of 23 years of age, promises marriage to Lucinda Bridgemore, the vulgar, spiteful, purse-proud daughter of a London merchant, living in Fish Street Hill. At the house of this merchant Lord Abberville sees a Miss Aubrey, a handsome, modest, lady-like girl, with whom he is greatly smitten. He first tries to corrupt her, and then promises marriage; but Miss Aubrey is already engaged to a Mr. Tyrrel. The vulgarity and ill-nature of Lucinda being quite insurmountable, “the fashionable lover” abandons her, The chief object of the drama is to root out the prejudice which Englishmen at one time entertained against the Scotch, and the chief character is in reality Colin or Cawdie Macleod, a Scotch servant of Lord Abberville.—R. Cumberland (1780).
=Fastolfe= (_Sir John_), in _1 Henry VI_. This is not the “Sir John Falstaff” of huge proportions and facetious wit, but the Lieutenant-general of the duke of Bedford, and a knight of Garter.
Here had the conquest fully been sealed up If Sir John Fastolfe had not played the coward: He being in the vanward ... Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke. Shakespeare, _1 Henry VI_. act i. sc. 1 (1589).
From this battell [_of Pataie, in France_] departed without anie stroke striken, Sir John Fastolfe.... The duke of Bedford tooke from him the image of St. George and his garter.—Holinshed, ii. 601.
=Fastra´da= or FASTRADE, daughter of Count Rudolph and Luitgarde. She was one of the nine wives of Charlemagne.
Those same soft bells at even-tide Rang in the ears of Charlemagne, As seated by Fastrada’s side, At Ingelheim, in all his pride, He heard their sound with secret pain. Longfellow, _Golden Legend_, vi.
=Fat= (_The_). Alfonso II. of Portugal (1185, 1212-1223). Charles II. (_le Gros_) of France (832-882). Louis VI. (_le Gros_) of France (1078, 1108-1137).
Edward Bright of Essex weighed 44 stone (616 lbs.) at death (1720-1750). David Lambert of Leicester weighed above 52 stone (739 lbs.) at death (1770-1809).
=Fata Alci´na=, sister of Fata Morga´na. She carried off Astolfo on the back of a whale to her isle, but turned him into a myrtle tree when she tired of him.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495); Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
=Fata Ar´gea= (“_le reina della Fata_”), protectress Floridantê.
=Fata Falsire´na=, an enchantress in the _Adonê_ of Marini (1623).
=Fata della Fonti=, an enchantress, from whom Mandricardo obtained the arms of Hector.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).
=Fata Morga´na=, sister of Arthur, and pupil of Merlin. She lived at the bottom of a lake, and dispensed her treasures to whom she willed. This fairy is introduced by Bojardo in his _Orlando Innamorato_, first as “Lady Fortune,” but subsequently as an enchantress. In Tasso her three daughters (Morganetta, Nivetta, and Carvilia) are introduced.
⁂ “Fata Morgana” is the name given to a sort of mirage occasionally seen in the Straits of Messi´na.
=Fata Nera and Fata Bianca=, protectresses of Guido´nê and Aquilantê.—Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).
=Fata Silvanella=, an enchantress in _Orlando Innamorato_, by Bojardo (1495).
=Fatal Curiosity=, an epilogue in _Don Quixote_ (pt. I. iv. 5, 6). The subject of this tale is the trial of a wife’s fidelity. Anselmo, a Florentine gentleman, had married Camilla, and wishing to rejoice over her incorruptible fidelity, induced his friend Lothario to put it to the test. The lady was not trial-proof, but eloped with Lothario. The end was that Anselmo died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent (1605).
_Fatal Curiosity_, by George Lillo. Young Wilmot, supposed to have perished at sea, goes to India, and having made his fortune, returns to England. He instantly visits Charlotte, whom he finds still faithful and devotedly attached to him, and then in disguise visits his parents, with whom he deposits a casket. Agnes Wilmot, out of curiosity, opens the casket, and when she discovers that it contains jewels, she and her husband resolve to murder the owner, and secure the contents of the casket. Scarcely have they committed the fatal deed, when Charlotte enters, and tells them it is their own son whom they have killed, whereupon old Wilmot first stabs his wife and then himself. Thus was the “curiosity” of Agnes fatal to herself, her husband, and her son (1736).
=Fatal Dowry= (_The_), a tragedy by Philip Massinger (1632). Rowe has borrowed much of his _Fair Penitent_ from this drama.