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.).