Part 5

=Flor´ian=, the “foundling of the forest,” discovered in infancy by the Count De Valmont, and adopted as his own son. Florian is light-hearted and volatile, but with deep affection, very brave, and the delight of all who know him. He is betrothed to his cousin, Lady Geraldine, a ward of Count De Valmont.—W. Dimond, _The Foundling of the Forest_.

=Florida= (_Vervain_), American girl with her mother in Venice. She takes Italian lessons from Don Ippolito, a young priest, who has mistaken his calling. The girl’s pity for him and her desire to see him freed from a false position and in a different profession in America are misunderstood by her lover, Henry Ferris. Separation and sorrow ensue. Ippolito’s death-bed confession to Ferris clears up the mystery.

“If it is a little shocking, it is nevertheless true, and true to human nature that they spoke of Don Ippolito as if he were a part of their love.”—W.D. Howells, _A Foregone Conclusion_, (1874).

=Flor´imel=, “the Fair,” courted by Sir Sat´yrane, Sir Per´idure, and Sir Cal´idore (each 3 _syl._), but she herself “loved none but Mar´inel,” who cared not for her. When Marinel was overthrown by Britomart and was reported to be dead, Florimel resolved to search into the truth of this rumor. In her wanderings, she came weary to the hut of a hag, but when she left the hut the hag sent a savage monster to bring her back. Florimel, however, jumped into a boat and escaped, but fell into the hands of Proteus (2 _syl._), who kept her in a dungeon “deep in the bottom of a huge great rock.” One day, Marinel and his mother went to a banquet given by Proteus to the sea-gods; and as Marinel was loitering about, he heard the captive bemoaning her hard fate, and all “for love of Marinel.” His heart was touched; he resolved to release the prisoner, and obtained from his mother a warrant of release, signed by Neptune himself. Proteus did not dare to disobey, the lady was released, and became the happy bride of her liberator.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 4, 8, and iv. 11, 12 (1590-1596).

⁂The name Florimel means “honey-flower.”

_Florimel_ (_The False_), made by a witch of Riphæ´an snow and virgin wax, with an infusion of vermilion. Two burning lamps in silver sockets served for eyes, fine gold wire for locks, and for soul “a sprite that had fallen from heaven.” Braggadoccio, seeing this false Florimel, carried “her” off as the veritable Florimel; but when he was stripped of his borrowed plumes, this waxen Florimel vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind except the “golden girdle that was about her waist.”—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 8, and v.3 (1590-1596).

=Florimel’s Girdle=, a girdle which gave to those who wore it, “the virtue of chaste love and wifehood true;” if any woman not chaste or faithful put it on, it immediately “loosed or tore asunder.” It was once the cestus of Venus, but when that queen of beauty wantoned with Mars, it fell off and was left on the “Acidalian mount.”—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 2 (1596).

One day Sir Cambel, Sir Triamond, Sir Paridel, Sir Blandamour, and Sir Ferramont agreed to give Florimel’s girdle to the most beautiful lady; when the previous question was moved, “Who was the most beautiful?” Of course, each knight, as in duty bound, adjudged his own lady to be the paragon of women, till the witch’s image of snow and wax, made to represent Florimel, was produced, when all agreed that it was without a peer, and so the girdle was handed to “the false Florimel.” On trying it on, however, it would in no wise fit her; and when by dint of pains it was at length fastened, it instantly loosened and fell to the ground. It would fit Amoret exactly, and of course Florimel, but not the witch’s thing of snow and wax.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 5 (1596).

⁂ Morgan la Fée sent King Arthur a _horn_, out of which no lady could drink “who was not to herself or to her husband true.” Ariosto’s _enchanted cup_ possessed a similar spell.

A boy showed King Arthur a _mantle_ which no wife not leal could wear. If any unchaste wife or maiden put it on, it would either go to shreds or refuse to drape decorously.

At Ephesus was a _grotto_ containing a statue of Diana. If a chaste wife or maiden entered, a reed there (presented by Pan) gave forth most melodious sounds; but if the unfaithful or unchaste entered, the sounds were harsh and discordant.

Alasnam’s _mirror_ remained unsullied when it reflected the unsullied, but became dull when the unchaste stood before it. (See CARADOC, p. 160.)

=Florin´da=, daughter of Count Julian, one of the high lords in the Gothic court of Spain. She was violated by King Roderick; and the count, in his indignation, renounced the Christian religion and called over the Moors, who came to Spain in large numbers and drove Roderick from the throne. Orpas, the renegade archbishop of Sev´ille, asked Florinda to become his bride, but she shuddered at the thought. Roderick, in the guise of a priest, reclaimed Count Julian as he was dying, and as Florinda rose from the dead body:

Her cheek was flushed, and in her eyes there beamed A wilder brightness. On the Goth [_Roderick_] she gazed. While underneath the emotions of that hour Exhausted life gave way.... Round his neck she threw Her arms, and cried “My Roderick; mine in heaven!” Groaning, he claspt her close, and in that act And agony her happy spirit fled. Southey, _Roderick, etc._, xxiv. (1814).

=Flo´ripes= (3 _syl._), sister of Sir Fierabras [_Fe.ā´.ra.brah_], daughter of Laban, and wife of Guy, the nephew of Charlemagne.

=Florisan´do= (_The exploits and adventures of_), part of the series of _Le Roman des Romans_, or those pertaining to Am´adis of Gaul. This part (from bk. vi. to xiv.) was added by Paez de Ribēra.

=Florise=, (_The lady_), attendant on Queen Berengaria.—Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_, (time, Richard I.)

=Flor´isel of Nice’a= (_The exploits and adventures of_), part of the series called _Le Roman des Romans_, pertaining to Am´adis of Gaul. This part was added by Feliciano de Silva.

=Flor´ismart=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, and the bosom friend of Roland.

=Florival= (_Mdlle._), daughter of a French physician in Belleisle. She fell in love with Major Belford, while nursing him in her father’s house during a period of sickness. Her marriage however was deferred, from the great aversion of the major’s father to the French, and he went to Havana. In due time he returned to England and Colonel Tamper with him. Now Colonel Tamper was in love with Emily, and wishing to try the strength of her affection, pretended to be severely mutilated in the wars. Florival was a guest of Emily at the time, and, being apprised of the trick, resolved to turn the tables on the colonel, so when he entered the room as a maimed soldier, he found there Florival, dressed as an officer, and, under the name of Captain Johnson, flirting most desperately with Emily. The colonel was mad with jealousy, but in the very whirlwind of his rage, Major Belford recognized Mdlle. Florival, saw through the trick, and after a hearty good laugh at the colonel all ended happily.—Colman, sen., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).

=Flor´izel=, son of Polixenês, king of Bohemia. In a hunting expedition, he saw Perdita (the supposed daughter of a shepherd), fell in love with her, and courted her under the assumed name of Dor´icles. The king tracked his son to the shepherd’s house, and told Perdita that if she gave countenance to this foolery he would order her and the shepherd to be put to death. Florizel and Perdita then fled from Bohemia, and took refuge in Sicily. Being brought to the court of King Leontês, it soon became manifest that Perdita was the king’s daughter. Polixenês, in the mean time, had tracked his son to Sicily, but when he was informed that Perdita was the king’s daughter, his objection to the marriage ceased, and Perdita became the happy bride of Prince Florizel.—Shakespeare, _The Winter’s Tale_ (1604).

_Florizel_, the name assumed by George IV. in his correspondence with Mrs. Robinson (actress and poetess), generally known as Per´dita, that being the character in which she first attracted his attention when prince of Wales.

⁂ George IV. was generally nicknamed “Prince Florizel.”

=Flower of Chivalry=, Sir William Douglas, knight of Liddesdale (*-1353). Sir Philip Sidney, statesman, poet, and soldier, was also called “The Flower of Chivalry” (1554-1586). So was the Chevalier de Bayard, _le Chevalier sans Peur et sans Reproche_ (1476-1514).

=Flower of Kings.= Arthur is so called by John of Exeter (sixth century).

=Flower of Poets=, Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400).

=Flower of the Levant´.= Zantê is so called from its great beauty and fertility.

Zante! Zante! flor di Levanti.

=Flower of Yarrow= (_The_), Mary Scott, daughter of Sir William Scott of Harden.

=Flowers= (_The Death of the_). In the poem bearing this title William Cullen Bryant thus names the American flowers that have been called “the crown-jewels of the year.”

“On the hill the golden-rod And the aster in the wood, And the yellow sunflower by the brook, In autumn beauty stood, Till fell the frost from the clear, cold heaven As falls the plague on men And the brightness of their smile was gone From upland, glade and glen.” _The Death of the Flowers_ (1821-1834).

=Flowerdale= (_Sir John_), father of Clarissa, and the neighbor of Colonel Oldboy.—Bickerstaff, _Lionel and Clarissa_.

=Floyd= (_Ireson_).

“Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart Tarred and feathered, and carried in a cart By the women of Marblehead.”

The punishment was inflicted because he had refused succor to a leaking ship, lost in consequence of his inhumanity.—J.G. Whittier, _Skipper Ireson’s Ride_ (1877).

_Floyds_ (_The_). Artist and wife summering in Broughton, Mass. He is self-indulgent and careless of her; she proud, passionate and morbid. Convinced that her husband is weary of her, and beset by the importunities of another man, she drowns herself.—Bliss Perry, _The Broughton House_ (1890).

=Fluel´len=, a Welsh captain and great pedant, who, amongst other learned quiddities, drew this parallel between Henry V. and Alexander the Great: One was born in Monmouth and the other in Macedon, both which places begin with M, and in both a river flowed.—Shakespeare, _Henry V._ act iv. sc. 7 (1599).

=Flur=, the bride of Cassivelaun, “for whose love the Roman Cæsar first invaded Britain.”—Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Enid”).

=Flute= (_The Magic_), a flute which has the powers of inspiring love. When given by the powers of darkness, the love it inspires is sensual love; but when bestowed by the powers of light, it becomes subservient to the very holiest ends. In the opera called _Die Zauberflöte_, Tami´no and Pami´na are guided by it through all worldly dangers to the knowledge of divine truth (or the mysteries of Isis.)—Mozart, _Die Zauberflöte_ (1791).

=Flutter=, a gossip, fond of telling a good story, but, unhappily, unable to do so without a blunder. “A good-natured, insignificant creature, admitted everywhere, but cared for nowhere” (act i. 3).—Mrs. Cowley, _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (1780).

=Fly.= Dainty butterfly of fashion who falls heir to the heroine’s rejected lover in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s novel, _The Silent Partner_.

=Fly-gods=, Beelzebub, a god of the Philistines, supposed to ward off flies. Achor was worshipped by the Cyrēneads for a similar object. Zeus Apomy´ios was the fly-god of the Greeks.

On the east side of your shop, aloft, Write Mathlai, Tarmael, and Baraborat; Upon the north part, Rael, Velel, Thiel. They are the names of those mercurial sprites That do fright flies from boxes. B. Jonson, _The Alchemist_, i. (1610).

=Flying Dutchman= (_The_), a phantom ship, seen in stormy weather off the Cape of Good Hope, and thought to forebode ill luck. The legend is that it was a vessel laden with precious metal, gained by murder and piracy on the high seas. In punishment, the plague broke out among the crew; no port would admit them, and the ship must sail the seas till doomsday.

Another legend is, that a Dutch captain, homeward-bound, driven back by continued storms off the Cape, swore that he would double the Cape if he sailed till the day of doom. Taken at his word, he must now sail the seas forever.—Captain Marryat, _The Phantom Ship_.

Richard Wagner’s opera, _Der Fliegende Holländer_, adds a loftier motive to the legend. The doomed captain cannot find rest until some woman consents to share his fate. Elsa, moved by pity, makes the sacrifice and saves him from perdition.

=Flying Highwayman.= William Harrow, who leaped his horse over turn-pike gates as if it had been furnished with wings. He was executed in 1763.

=Flynn= (Tom), of Virginia.

“Thar in the drift, back to the wall, He held the timbers ready to fall Then, in the darkness I heard him call:— “Run for your life, Jake! run for your wife’s sake Don’t wait for me!” And that was all Heard in the din, Heard of Tom Flynn,— Flynn of Virginia!”

Story told by the miner whose life he saved.—Bert Harte, _In the Tunnel_ (1874).

=Flyter= (_Mrs._), landlady of the lodgings occupied by Frank Osbaldistone in Glasgow.—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Fog= (_Amos_). Dreamy fisherman, hunter and wrecker, builder and owner of _Castle Nowhere_, in Constance Fennimore Woolson’s tale of that name.

=Foible=, the intriguing lady’s maid of Lady Wishfort, and married to Waitwell (lackey of Edward Mirabell). She interlards her remarks with “says he,” “he says, says he,” “she says, says she,” etc.—W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).

=Foi´gard= (_Father_), one of a gang of thieves. He pretends to be a French priest, but “his French shows him to be English, and his English shows him to be Irish.”—Farquhar, _The Beaux’ Stratagem_ (1705).

=Folair=´ (2 _syl._), a pantomimist at the Portsmouth Theatre, under the management of Mr. Vincent Crummles.—C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

=Foldath=, general of the Fire-bolg or Belgæ in the south of Ireland. In the epic called _Tem´ora_, Cathmor is the “lord of Atha,” and Foldath is his general. He is a good specimen of the savage chieftain; bold and daring, but presumptuous, overbearing, and cruel. “His stride is haughty, and his red eye rolls in wrath.” He looks with scorn on Hidalla, a humane and gentle officer in the same army, for his delight is strife, and he exults over the fallen. In counsel Foldath is imperious, and contemptuous to those who differ from him. Unrelenting in revenge; and even when he falls with his death-wound dealt by Fillan the son of Fingal, he feels a sort of pleasure that his ghost would hover in the blast, and exult over the graves of his enemies. Foldath had one child, a daughter, the blue-eyed Dardu-Le´na, the last of the race.—Ossian, _Temora_.

=Fon´dlewife=, an uxorious banker.—Congreve, _The Old Bachelor_ (1693).

When Mrs. Jefferson [1733-1776] was asked in what characters she excelled the most, she innocently replied,—“In old men, like ‘Fondlewife’ and ‘Sir Jealous Traffic.’”

⁂ “Sir Jealous Traffic” is in _The Busy-Body_, by Mrs. Centlivre.

=Fondlove= (_Sir William_), a vain old baronet of 60, who fancies himself a schoolboy, capable of playing boyish games, dancing, or doing anything that young men do. “How marvellously I wear! What signs of age have I? I’m certainly a wonder for my age. I walk as well as ever. Do I stoop? Observe the hollow of my back. As now I stand, so stood I when a child, a rosy, chubby boy. My arm is as firm as ’twas at 20. Oak, oak, isn’t it? Think you my leg is shrunk?—not in the calf a little? When others waste, ’tis growing-time with me. Vigor, sir, vigor, in every joint. Could run, could leap. Why shouldn’t I marry?” So thought Sir William of Sir William, and he married the Widow Green, a buxom dame of 40 summers.—S. Knowles, _The Love-Chase_ (1837).

=Fool.= James I. of Great Britain was called by Henri IV. of France, “The Wisest Fool in Christendom” (1566-1625).

_Fool_ (_The_), in the ancient morris-dance, represented the court-jester. He carried in his hand a yellow bauble, and wore on his head a hood with ass’s ears, the top of the hood rising into the form of a cock’s neck and head, with a belt at the extreme end. The hood was blue, edged with yellow and scolloped, the doublet red, edged with yellow, the girdle yellow, the hose of one leg yellow and of the other blue, shoes red. (See MORRIS-DANCE.)

=Fool’s Prayer= (_The_). A king calls upon his jester to “kneel down and make a prayer!” The fool obeys in words so full of pregnant truth that—

“The room was hushed. In silence rose The King and sought his gardens cool, And walked apart, and murmured low ‘Be merciful to me, a fool!’” Edward Rowland Sill, _The Fool’s Prayer_ (1883).

=Fools, Jesters and Mirthmen.= Those in italics were mirthmen, but not licensed fools or jesters.

ADELSBURN (_Burkard Kasper_), jester to George I. He was not only a fun-maker, but also a ghostly adviser of the Hanoverian.

AKSAKOFF, the fool of Czarina Elizabeth of Russia (mother of Peter II.). He was a stolid brute, fond of practical jokes.

ANGÉLY (_L._) jester to Louis XIV., and last of the licensed fools of France. He is mentioned by Boileau in _Satires_ i. and viii.

AOPI (_Monsignore_), who succeeded Soglia as the merryman of Pope Gregory XVI.

ARMSTRONG (_Archie_), jester in the courts of James I. and Charles I. One of the characters in Scott’s novel, _The Fortunes of Nigel._ Being condemned to death by King James for sheep-stealing, Archie implored that he might live till he had read his Bible through for his soul’s weal. This was granted, and Archie rejoined, with a sly look, “Then de’il tak’ me ’gin I ever read a word on’t!”

BERDIC, “joculator” to William the Conqueror. Three towns and five caracutes in Gloucestershire were given him by the king.

BLUET D’ARBÉRES (seventeenth century), fool to the duke of Mantua. During a pestilence he conceived the idea of offering his life as a ransom for his countrymen, and actually starved himself to death to stay the plague.

BONNY (_Patrick_), jester to the regent Morton.

_Borde_ (_Andrew_), usually called “Merry Andrew,” physician to Henry VIII. (1500-1549).

BRUSQUET. Of this court fool Brantôme says: “He never had his equal in repartee” (1512-1563).

_Caillet_ (_Guillaume_), who flourished about 1490. His likeness is given in the frontispiece of the _Ship of Fools_ (1497).

CHICOT, jester of Henri III. and Henri IV. Alexandre Dumas has a novel called _Chicot the Jester_ (1553-1591).

COLQUHOUN (_Jemmy_), predecessor of James Geddes, jester in the court of Mary queen of Scots.

_Coryat_, “prince of non-official jesters and coxcombs.” Kept by Prince Henry, brother of Charles I.

COULON, doctor and jester to Louis XVIII. He was the very prince of mimics. He sat for the portraits of Thiers, Molé, and Comte Joseph de Villèle (died 1858).

DA´GONET (_Sir_), jester to King Arthur. He was knighted by the king himself.

DERRIE, a court jester to James I. Contemporary with Thom.

DUFRESNOY, poet, playwright, actor, gardener, glass-manufacturer, spendthrift, wit, and honorary fool to Louis XIV. His jests are the “Joe Millers” of France.

GEDDES (_James_), jester in the court of Mary, queen of Scots. He was daft, and followed Jemmy Colquhoun in the motley.

GLORIEUX (_Le_), jester of Charles _le Hardi_ of Burgundy.

GONELLA, domestic jester of the duke of Ferrara. His jests are in print. Gonella used to ride a horse all skin and bone, which is spoken of in _Don Quixote_.

HAFOD (_Jack_), a retainer in the house of Mr. Bartlett, of Castlemorton, Worcestershire. He died at the close of the eighteenth century, and has given birth to the expression “As big a fool as Jack Hafod.” He was the _ultimus scurrarum_ in Great Britain.

HEYWOOD (_John_) author of numerous dramatic works (1492-1565).

_Jean_ (_Seigni_), or “Old John;” so called to distinguish him from Jean or Johan, called _Le Fol de Madame_, (fl. 1380).

JOHAN, _Le Fol de Madame_ mentioned by Marot in his epitaphs.

_Johnson_ (_S._), familiarly known as “Lord Flame,” the character he played in his own extravaganza of _Hurlo-Thrumbo_ (1729).

_Kgaw_ (_General_), a Saxon general, famous for his broad jests.

KILLIGREW (_Thomas_), called “King Charles’s jester” (1611-1682).

LONGELY, jester to Louis XIII.

NARR (_Klaus_), jester to Frederick, “the Wise,” elector of Prussia.

PATCH, court fool of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII.

PATCHE, Cardinal Woolsey’s jester. The cardinal made Henry VIII. a present of this “wise fool,” and the king returned word that “the gift was a most acceptable one.”

PATISON, licensed jester to Sir Thomas More. He is introduced by Hans Holbein in his famous picture of the lord chancellor’s family.

_Paul_ (_Jacob_), Baron Gundling. This merryman was laden with titles in ridicule by Frederick William I. of Prussia.

PEARCE (_Dickie_), fool of the earl of Suffolk. Dean Swift wrote an epitaph on him.

RAYÈRE, court jester to Henry I. of England.

ROSEN (_Kunz von der_), private jester to the emperor Maximilian I.

SCOGAN, court jester to Edward IV.

SOGLIA (_Cardinal_), the fun-maker of Pope Gregory XVI. He was succeeded by Aopi.

SOMERS (_Will_), court jester to Henry VIII. The effigy of this jester is at Hampton Court. And in Old Fish Street was once a public-house called Will Somers’s tavern (1490-1560).

STEHLIN (_Professor_), in the household of czarina Elizabeth of Russia. He was teacher of mathematics and history to the grand-duke (Peter II.), and was also his licensed buffoon.

_Tarleton_, (_Richard_), the famous clown, and jester in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but not attached either to the court or to any nobleman (1530-1588).

THOM, one of the court jesters of James I. Contemporary with Derrie.

TRIBOULET, court jester to Louis XII. and François I. (1487-1536). Licinio, the rival of Titian, took his likeness, which is still extant.

WALLETT (_W.F._), court jester to Queen Victoria. He styles himself “the queen’s jester,” but doubtless has no warrant for the title from the Lord Chamberlain.

WALTER, jester to Queen Elizabeth.

WILL, “my lord of Leicester’s jesting player;” but who this “Will” was is not known. It might be Will Johnson, Will Sly, Will Kimpe, or even Will Shakespeare.

YORICK, jester in the court of Denmark. Referred to by Shakespeare in his _Hamlet_, act v. sc. 1.

(Dr. Doran published _The History of Court Fools_, in 1858).

=Fools’ Paradise=, unlawful pleasure; illicit love; vain hopes; the _limbus fatuorum_ or paradise of fools.

If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, it were a gross ... behavior.—Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet,_ act ii. sc. 4 (1597).

=Foot-breadth=, the sword of Thoralf Skolinson “the Strong” of Norway.

Quern-biter of Hakon the Good, Wherewith at a stroke he hewed The millstone thro’ and thro’; And foot-breadth of Thoralf “the Strong!” Were not so broad, nor yet so long. Nor was their edge so true. Longfellow.

=Fopling Flutter= (_Sir_), “the man of mode,” and chief character of a comedy by Sir George Etherege, entitled _The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter_ (1676).

=Foppery.= Vespasian the Roman emperor had a contempt for foppery. When certain young noblemen came to him smelling of perfumes, he said to them, “You would have pleased me more if you had smelt of garlic.”

Charlemagne had a similar contempt of foppery. One day, when he was hunting, the rain poured down in torrents, and the fine furs and silks of his suite were utterly spoilt. The king took this occasion to rebuke the court beaux for their vanity in dress and advised them in future to adopt garments more simple and more serviceable.