Character Sketches Of Romance Fiction And The Drama Vol 1 A Rev

_Vixere fortes ante Agamem'nona_, "There were brave men before Agamemnon;" we are not to suppose that there were no great and good men in former times. A similar proverb is, "Th...

CAMBY´SES AND SMERDIS. Cambysês king of Persia killed his brother Smerdis from the wild suspicion of a madman, and it is only charity to think that he was really _non compos men...

_Aaron (St.)_, a British martyr of the City of Legions (_Newport_, in South Wales). He was torn limb from limb by order of Maximian'us Hercu'lius, general in Britain, of the arm...

LODGE, in _The True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla_ (1594), mentions "the razor of Palermo" and "St. Paul's steeple," and introduces Frenchmen who "for forty crowns" undertake to...

in _French_, Mairét (1628); Leclerc (1645); Campestron (1683); Chabenon (1769); Laharpe (1786); Leblanc de Guillet (1786); Guiraud (1827); Latour St. Ybars (1845). In _Italian_,...

BALK or BALKH ("_to embrace_"), Omurs, surnamed _Ghil-Shah_ ("earth's king"), founder of the Paishdadian dynasty. He travelled abroad to make himself familiar with the laws and...

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 aft...

CHIL'DERS (_E.W.B._), one of the riders in Sleary's circus, noted for his vaulting and reckless riding in the character of the "Wild Huntsman of the Prairies." This compound of...

BENAI'AH (3 _syl_.), in _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for general George Edward Sackville. As Benaiah, captain of David's guard, adhered to Solomon against Adonijah, so gen...

_Am'ina_, an orphan, who walked in her sleep. She was betrothed to Elvi'no, a rich farmer, but being found the night before the wedding in the chamber of count Rodolpho, Elvino...

AODH, last of the Culdees, or primitive clergy of Io'na, an island south of Staffa. His wife was Reullu'ra. Ulvfa'gre the Dane, having landed on the island and put many to the s...

AR'BITER EL'IGANTIÆ. C. Petro'nius was appointed dictator-in-chief of the imperial pleasures at the court of Nero, and nothing was considered _comme il faut_ till it had receive...

CORIOLA'NUS _(Caius Marcius_), called Coriolanus from his victory at Cori'oli. His mother was Vetu'ria (_not Volumnia_), and his wife Volumnia (not _Virgilia_). Shakespeare has...

DUENNA _(The)_, a comic opera by R. B. Sheridan (1773). Margaret, the duenna, is placed in charge of Louisa, the daughter of Don Jerome. Louisa is in love with Don Antonio, a po...

EGYPTIAN PRINCESS. Nitetis, the real daughter of Hophra, king of Egypt, and the assumed daughter of Amases, his successor. She was sent to Persia, as the bride of Cambyses, the...

EDWIN "the minstrel," a youth living in romantic seclusion, with a great thirst for knowledge. He lived in Gothic days in the north countrie, and fed his flocks on Scotia's moun...

VII. Latinus king of Italy entertains Æneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage, but prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raise...

EADBURGH, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England, and Eadgifu, his wife. When three years old, her father placed on the child some rings and bracelets, and showed her a c...

CHRONICLERS _(Anglo-Norman)_, a series of writers on British history in verse, of very early date. Geffroy Gaimar wrote his Anglo-Norman chronicle before 1146. It is a history i...

ARPA'SIA, the betrothed of Mone'sês, a Greek, but made by constraint the bride of Baj'azet sultan of Turkey. Bajazet commanded Monesês to be bow-strung in the presence of Arpasi...

AE'ACUS, king of Oeno'pia, a man of such integrity and piety, that he was made at death one of the three judges of hell. The other two were Minos and Rhadaman'thus.

When Barton Booth [1713] first appeared as "Cato," Bolingbroke called him into his box and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual...

AMUN'DEVILLE (_Lord Henry_), one of the "British privy council." After the sessions of parliament he retired to his country seat, where he entertained a select and numerous part...

ANNABEL LEE. Edgar A. Poe's poem of this name is supposed to be a loving memorial to his young wife, Virginia Clemm, who died of consumption at Fordham, N.Y., in 1847.