act ii. sc. 4 (1598).

The lion hates the game-cock, and is jealous of it. Some say because the cock wears a crown (its crest), and others because it comes into the royal presence “booted and spurred.”

The fiercest lion trembles at the crowing of a cock.--Pliny, _Natural History_, viii. 19.

According to legend, the lion’s whelp is born dead, and remains so for three days, when the father breathes on it, and it receives life.

LIZARD. The lizard is man’s special enemy, but warns him of the approach of a serpent.

MAGPIE. To see _one_ magpie is unlucky; to see _two_ denotes merriment, or a marriage; to see _three_, a successful journey; _four_, good news; _five_, company.--Grose.

Another superstition is: “One for sorrow; two for mirth; three, a wedding; four, a death.”

One’s sorrow, two’s mirth, Three’s a wedding, four’s a birth, Five’s a christening, six’s a dearth, Seven’s heaven, eight is hell, And nine’s the devil his ane sel. _Old Scotch Rhyme._

In Lancashire, two magpies flying together is thought unlucky.

I have heard my gronny say, hoode os leef o seen two owd harries as two pynots [_magpies_].--Tim Bobbin, _Lancashire Dialect_, 31 (1775).

When the magpie chatters, it denotes that you will see strangers.

MAN. A person weighs more fasting than after a good meal.

The Jews maintained that man has three natures--body, soul, and spirit. Diogĕnês Laertius calls the three natures body, phrên, and thumos; and the Romans called them manês, anĭma, and umbra.

There is a nation of pygmies.

The Patagonians are of gigantic stature.

There are men with tails, as the Ghilanes, a race of men “beyond the Sennaar;” the Niam-niams, of Africa, the Narea tribes, certain others south of Herrar, in Abyssinia, and the natives in the south of Formosa.

MARTIN. It is unlucky to kill a martin.

MOLE. Moles are blind. Hence the common expression, “Blind as a mole.”

Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a footfall. Shakespeare, _The Tempest_, act. iv. sc. 1 (1609).

MOON-CALF, the offspring of a woman, engendered solely by the power of the moon.--Pliny, _Natural History_, x. 64.

MOUSE. To eat food which a mouse has nibbled, will give a sore throat.

It is a bad omen if a mouse gnaws the clothes which a person is wearing.--Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, 214 (1621).

A fried mouse is a specific for small-pox.

OSTRICH. An ostrich can digest iron.

_Stephen._ I could eat the very hilts for anger.

_Kno´well._ A sign of your good digestion; you have an ostrich stomach.--B. Jonson, _Every Man in His Humor_, iii. 1 (1598).

I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword.--Shakespeare, _2 Henry VI._ act iv. sc. 10 (1591).

OWL. If owls screech with a hoarse and dismal voice, it bodes impending calamity. (See OWL.)

The oulê that of deth the bodê bringeth. Chaucer, _Assembly of Foules_ (1358).

PELICAN. A pelican feeds its young brood with its blood.

The pelican turneth her beak against her brest, and therewith pierceth it till the blood gush, wherewith she nourisheth her young.--Eugenius Philalethes, _Brief Natural History_, 93.

Then sayd the Pellycane, “When my byrdts be slayne, With my bloude I them reuyue [_revive_],” Scrypture doth record, The same dyd our Lord, And rose from deth to lyue [_life_]. Skelton, _Armoury of Byrdts_ (died 1529).

And, like the kind, life rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood. Shakespeare, _Hamlet_, act iv. sc. 5 (1596).

PHŒNIX. There is but one phœnix in the world, which, after many hundred years, burns itself, and from its ashes another phœnix rises up.

Now I will believe, ... that in Arabia There is one tree, the phœnix’ throne; one phœnix At this hour reigning there.

Shakespeare, _The Tempest_, act iii. sc. 3 (1609).

The phœnix is said to have fifty orifices in its bill, continued to its tail. After living its 1000 or 500 years, it builds itself a funeral pile, sings a melodious elegy, flaps its wings to fan the fire, and is burnt to ashes.

The enchanted pile of that lonely bird Who sings at the last his own death-lay. And in music and perfume dies away. T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“Paradise and the Peri,” 1817).

The phœnix has appeared five times in Egypt: (1) in the reign of Sesostris; (2) in the reign of Amăsis; (3) in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphos; (4) a little prior to the death of Tiberius; and (5) during the reign of Constantine. Tacitus mentions the first three (_Annales_, vi. 28).

PIG. In the fore feet of pigs is a very small hole, which may be seen when the pig is dead and the hair carefully removed. The legend is that the devils made their exit from the swine through the fore feet, and left these holes. There are also six very minute rings round each hole, and these are said to have been made by the devil’s claws.

When pigs carry straws in their mouth, rain is at hand.

When swine carry bottles of hay or straw to hide them, rain is at hand.--_The Husbandman’s Practice_, 137 (1664).

When young pigs are taken from the sow, they must be drawn away backwards, or the sow will be fallow.

The bacon of swine killed in a waning moon will waste much in the cooking.

When hogs run grunting home, a storm is impending.--_The Cabinet of Nature_, 262 (1637).

It is unlucky for a traveller if a sow crosses his path.

If, going on a journey on business, a sow cross the road, you will meet with a disappointment, if not an accident, before you return home.--Grose.

To meet a sow with a litter of pigs is very lucky.

If a sow is with her litter of pigs, it is lucky, and denotes a successful journey.--Grose.

Langley tells us this marvellous bit of etymology: “The bryde anoynteth the poostes of the doores with swynes grease, ... to dryve awaye misfortune, wherefore she had her name in Latin _uxor_, ´ab ungendo’ [_to anoint_].”--_Translation of Polydore Vergil_, 9.

PIGEON. If a white pigeon settles on a chimney, it bodes death to some one in the house.

No person can die on a bed or pillow containing pigeon’s feathers.

If anybody be sick and lye a-dying, if they [_sic_] lie upon pigeon’s feathers they will be languishing and never die, but be in pain and torment.--_British Apollo_, ii. No. 93 (1710).

The blue pigeon is held sacred in Mecca.--Pitt.

PORCUPINE. When porcupines are hunted or annoyed, they shoot out their quills in anger.

RAT. Rats forsake a ship before a wreck, or a house about to fall.

They prepared A rotten carcass of a boat; the very rats Instinctively had quit it. Shakespeare, _The Tempest_, act i. sc. 2 (1609).

If rats gnaw the furniture of a room, there will be a death in the family ere long.--Grose.

⁂ The bucklers at Lanuvium being gnawed by rats, presaged ill fortune, and the battle of Marses, fought soon after, confirmed the superstition.

The Romans said that to see a _white_ rat was a certain presage of good luck.--Pliny, _Natural History_, viii. 57.

RAVEN. Ravens are ill-omened birds.

The hoarse night raven, trompe of doleful dreere. Spenser.

Ravens seen on the left hand side of a person bode impending evil.

Sæpe sinistra cava prædixit ab ilice cornix. Virgil, _Ecl._, i.

Ravens call up rain.

Hark How the curst raven, with her harmless voice, Invokes the rain! Smart, _Hop Garden_, ii. (died 1770).

When ravens forsake a wood, it prognosticates famine.

This is because ravens bear the character of Saturn, the author of such calamities.--_Athenian Oracle_ (supplement, 476).

Ravens forebode pestilence and death.

Like the sad-presaging raven, that tolls The sick man’s passport in her hollow beak, And, in the shadow of the silent night, Doth shake contagion from her sable wing. Marlowe, _The Jew of Malta_ (1633).

Ravens foster forsaken children.

Some say that ravens foster forlorn children. (?) Shakespeare, _Titus Andronicus_, act ii. sc. 3 (1593).

It is said that King Arthur is not dead, but is only changed into a raven, and will in due time resume his proper form and rule over his people gloriously.

The raven was white till it turned tell-tale, and informed Apollo of the faithlessness of Corōnis. Apollo shot the nymph for her infidelity, but changed the plumage of the raven into inky blackness for his officious prating.--Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, ii.

He [_Apollo_] blackened the raven o’er, And bid him prate in his white plumes no more. Addison’s _Translation of Ovid_, ii.

If ravens gape against the sun, heat will follow; but if they busy themselves in preening or washing, there will be rain.

REM´ORA. A fish called the remora can arrest a ship in full sail.

A little fish that men call remora, Which stopped her course ... That wind nor tide could move her. Spenser, _Sonnets_ (1591).

ROBIN. The red of a robin’s breast is produced by the blood of Jesus. While the “Man of Sorrows” was on His way to Calvary, a robin plucked a thorn from His temples, and a drop of blood, falling on the bird, turned its bosom red.

Another legend is that the robin used to carry dew to refresh sinners parched in hell, and the scorching heat of the flames turned its feathers red.

He brings cool dew in his little bill, And lets it fall on the souls of sin; You can see the mark on his red breast still, Of fires that scorch as he drops it in. J. G. Whittier, _The Robin_.

If a robin finds a dead body unburied, it will cover the face at least, if not the whole body.--Grey, _On Shakespeare_, ii. 226.

The robins so red, now these babies are dead, Ripe strawberry leaves doth over them spread. _Babes in the Wood._

It is unlucky either to keep or to kill a robin. J. H. Pott says, if any one attempts to detain a robin which has sought hospitality, let him “fear some new calamity.”--_Poems_ (1780).

SALAMANDER. The salamander lives in the fire.

Should a glass-house fire be kept up without extinction for more than seven years, there is no doubt but that a salamander will be generated in the cinders.--J. P. Andrews, _Anecdotes, etc._, 359.

The salamander seeks the hottest fire to breed in, but soon quenches it by the extreme coldness of its body.--Pliny, _Natural History_, x. 67; xxix. 4.

Food touched by a salamander is poisonous.--Ditto, xxix. 23.

SALIVA. The human saliva is a cure for blindness.--Ditto, xxviii. 7.

If a man spits on a serpent, it will die. Ditto, vii. 2.

The human saliva is a charm against fascination and witchcraft.

Thrice on my breast I spit, to guard me safe From fascinating charms. Theocritos.

To unbewitch the bewitched, you must spit into the shoe of your right foot.--Scot, _Discoverie of Witchcraft_ (1584).

Spitting for luck is a most common superstition.

Fishwomen generally spit upon their hansel.--Grose.

A blacksmith who has to shoe a stubborn horse, spits in his hand to drive off the “evil spirit.”

The swarty smith spits in his buckthorne fist. Browne, _Britannia’s Pastorals_, i.

If a pugilist spits in his hand, his blows will be more telling.--Pliny, _Natural History_, xxviii. 7.

SCORPION. Scorpions sting themselves.

Scorpions have an oil which is a remedy for their stings.

’Tis true the scorpion’s oil is said To cure the wound the venom made. S. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 2 (1678).

SPIDER. It is unlucky to kill a moneyspinner.

Small spiders, called “money-spinners,” prognosticate good luck, if they are not destroyed or removed from the person on whom they attach themselves.--Park.

The bite of a spider is venomous.

No spider will spin its web on an Irish oak.

Spiders will never set their webs on a cedar roof.--Caughey, _Letters_ (1845).

Spiders indicate where gold is to be found. (See SPIDERS INDICATORS OF GOLD.)

There are no spiders in Ireland, because St. Patrick cleared the island of all vermin.

Spiders envenom whatever they touch.

There may be in the cup A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart, And yet partake no evil. Shakespeare, _Winter’s Tale_, act iii. sc. 1 (1604).

A spider enclosed in a quilt and hung round the neck will cure the ague.--Mrs. Delany, _A Letter dated March 1, 1743_.

I ... hung three spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague away.--Elias Ashmole, _Diary_ (April 11, 1681).

A spider worn in a nutshell round the neck is a cure for fever.

Cured by the wearing a spider around one’s neck in a nutshell. Longfellow, _Evangeline_, ii. (1849).

Spiders spin only on dark days.

The subtle spider never spins But on dark days his slimy gins. S. Butler, _On a Nonconformist_, iv.

Spiders have a natural antipathy to toads.

STAG. Stags draw, by their breath, serpents from their holes, and then trample them to death. (Hence the stag has been used to symbolize Christ.)--Pliny, _Natural History_, viii. 50.

STORK. It is unlucky to kill a stork.

According to Swedish legend, a stork fluttered round the cross of the crucified Redeemer, crying, _Styrkê! styrkê!_ (“Strengthen ye! strengthen ye!”), and was hence called the _styrk_ or _stork_, but ever after lost its voice.

SWALLOW. According to Scandinavian legend, the bird hovered over the cross of Christ, crying, _Svalê! svalê!_ (“Cheer up! cheer up!”), and hence it received the name of _svalê_ or _swallow_, “the bird of consolation.”

If a swallow builds on a house, it brings good luck.

The swallow is said to bring home from the seashore a stone which gives sight to her fledglings.

Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the swallow Brings from the shore of the sea, to restore the sight of its fledglings. Longfellow, _Evangeline_, i. 1 (1849).

To kill a swallow is unlucky.

When swallows fly high, the weather will be fine.

When swallows fleet soar high and sport in air, He told us that the welkin would be clear. Gay, _Pastoral_, i. (1714).

SWAN. The swan retires from observation when about to die, and sings most melodiously.

Swans a little before their death sing most sweetly.--Pliny, _Natural History_, x. 23.

The swanne cannot hatch without a cracke of thunder.--Lord Northampton, _Defensive, etc._ (1583).

TARANTULA. The tarantula is poisonous.

The music of a tarantula will cure its venomous bite.

TOAD. Toads spit poison, but they carry in their head an antidote thereto.

... the toad ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. Shakespeare, _As You Like It_, act ii. sc. 1 (1600).

In the dog days, toads never open their mouths.

Toads are never found in Ireland, because St. Patrick cleared the island of all vermin.

UNICORN. Unicorns can be caught only by placing a virgin in their haunts.

The horn of a unicorn dipped into a liquor will show if it contains poison.

VIPER. Young vipers destroy their mothers when they come to birth.

WEASEL. To meet a weasel is unlucky.--Congreve, _Love for Love_.

You never catch a weasel asleep.

WOLF. If a wolf sees a man before the man sees the wolf, he will be struck dumb.

Men are sometimes changed into wolves.--Pliny, _Natural History_.

WREN. If any one kills a wren, he will break a bone before the year is out.

MISCELLANEOUS. No animal dies near the sea, except at the ebbing of the tide.--Aristotle.

’A parted even just between twelve and one, e’en at the turning o’ the tide.--Shakespeare, _Henry V._ act. ii. sc. 3 (Falstaff’s death, 1599).

=Superstitions about Precious Stones.=

R. B. means Rabbi Benoni (fourteenth century); S. means Streeter, _Precious Stones_ (1877).

AGATE quenches thirst, and if held in the mouth, allays fever.--R. B.

It is supposed, at least, in fable, to render the wearer invisible, and also to turn the sword of foes against themselves.

The agate is an emblem of health and long life, and is dedicated to June. In the Zodiac it stands for Scorpio.

AMBER is a cure for sore throats and all glandular swellings.--R. B.

It is said to be a concretion of birds’ tears.--Chambers.

Around thee shall glisten the lovliest amber That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept. T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (“Fire-Worshippers,” 1817).

The birds which wept amber were the sisters of Meleager, called Meleagrĭdês, who never ceased weeping for their brother’s death.--Pliny, _Natural History_, xxxvii. 2, 11.

AMETHYST banishes the desire for drink, and promotes chastity.--R. B.

The Greeks thought that it counteracted the effects of wine.

The amethyst is an emblem of humility and sobriety. It is dedicated to February and Venus. In the Zodiac it stands for Sagittarius, in metallurgy for copper, in Christian art it is given to St. Matthew, and in the Roman Catholic Church it is set in the pastoral ring of bishops, whence it is called the “prelate’s gem,” or _pierre d’évêque_.

CAT’S-EYE, considered by the Cingalese as a charm against witchcraft, and to be the abode of some genii.--S., 168.

CORAL, a talisman against enchantments, witchcrafts, thunder, and other perils of flood and field. It was consecrated to Jupiter and Phœbus.--S., 233.

Red coral worn about the person is a certain cure for indigestion.--R. B.

CRYSTAL induces visions, promotes sleep, and ensures good dreams.--R. B.

It is dedicated to the moon, and in metallurgy stands for silver.

DIAMOND produces somnambulism, and promotes spiritual ecstasy.--R. B.

The diamond is an emblem of innocence, and is dedicated to April and the sun. In the Zodiac it stands for Virgo, in metallurgy for gold, in Christian art invulnerable faith.

EMERALD promotes friendship and constancy of mind.--R. B.

If a serpent fixes its eyes on an emerald, it becomes blind.--Ahmed ben Abdalaziz, _Treatise on Jewels_.

The emerald is an emblem of success in love, and is dedicated to May. In the Zodiac, it signifies Cancer. It is dedicated to Mars, in metallurgy it means iron, and in Christian art, is given to St. John.

GARNET preserves health and joy.--R. B.

The garnet is an emblem of constancy, and, like the jacinth, is dedicated to January.

This was the carbuncle of the ancients, which they said gave out light in the dark.

LOADSTONE produces somnambulism.--R. B.

It is dedicated to Mercury, and in metallurgy means quicksilver.

MOONSTONE has the virtue of making trees fruitful, and of curing epilepsy.--Dioscorĭdês.

It contains in it an image of the moon, representing its increase and decrease every month.--Andreas Baccius.

ONYX contains in it an imprisoned devil, which wakes at sunset, and causes terror to the wearer, disturbing sleep with ugly dreams.--R. B.

Cupid, with the sharp point of his arrows, cut the nails of Venus during sleep, and the parings, falling into the Indus, sank to the bottom, and turned into onyxes.--S., 212.

In the Zodiac it stands for Aquarius; some say it is the emblem of August and conjugal love; in Christian art it symbolizes sincerity.

OPAL is fatal to love, and sows discord between the giver and receiver.--R. B.

Given as an engagement token, it is sure to bring ill luck.

The opal is an emblem of hope, and is dedicated to October.

RUBY. The Burmese believe that rubies ripen like fruit. They say a ruby in its crude state is colorless, and, as it matures, changes first to yellow, then to green, then to blue, and lastly to a brilliant red, its highest state of perfection and ripeness.--S., 142.

The ruby signifies Aries in the Zodiacal signs; but some give it to December, and make it the emblem of brilliant success.

SAPPHIRE produces somnambulism, and impels the wearer to all good works.--R. B.

In the Zodiac it signifies Leo, and in Christian art is dedicated to St. Andrew, emblematic of his heavenly faith and good hope. Some give this gem to April.

TOPAZ is favorable to hemorrhages, imparts strength, and promotes digestion.--R. B.

Les anciens regardaient la topaze comme utile contre l’épilepsie et la mélancolie.--Bouillet, _Dict. Univ. des Sciences, etc._ (1855).

The topaz is an emblem of fidelity, and is dedicated to November. In the Zodiac it signifies Taurus, and in Christian art is given to St. James the Less.

TURQUOISE, given by loving hands, carries with it happiness and good fortune. Its color always pales when the well-being of the giver is in peril.--S., 170.

The turquoise is an emblem of prosperity, and is dedicated to December. It is dedicated to Saturn, and stands for lead in metallurgy.

A bouquet composed of diamonds, loadstones and sapphires combined, renders a person almost invincible, and wholly irresistible.--R. B.

All precious stones are purified by honey.

All kinds of precious stones dipped into honey become more brilliant thereby, each according to its color, and all persons become more acceptable when they join devotion to their graces. Household cares are sweetened thereby, love is more loving, and business becomes more pleasant.--S. Francis de Salis, _The Devout Life_, iii. 13 (1708).

=Supporters in Heraldry= represent the pages who supported the banner. These pages, before the Tudor period, were dressed in imitation of the beasts, etc., which typified the bearings or cognizances of their masters.

=Surface= (_Sir Oliver_), the rich uncle of Joseph and Charles Surface. He appears under the assumed name of Premium Stanley.

_Charles Surface_, a reformed scapegrace, and the accepted lover of Maria, the rich ward of Sir Peter Teazle. In Charles, the _evil_ of his character was all on the surface.

_Joseph Surface_, elder brother of Charles, an artful, malicious, but sentimental knave; so plausible in speech and manner as to pass for a “youthful miracle of prudence, good sense, and benevolence.” Unlike Charles, his _good_ was all on the surface.--Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).

=Surgeon’s Daughter= (_The_), a novel by Sir Walter Scott, laid in the time of George II. and III., and published in 1827. The heroine is Menie Gray, daughter of Dr. Gideon Gray, of Middlemas. Adam Hartley, the doctor’s apprentice, loves her, but Menie herself has given her heart to Richard Middlemas. It so falls out that Richard Middlemas goes to India. Adam Hartley also goes to India, and, as Dr. Hartley, rises high in his profession. One day, being sent for to visit a sick fakir´, he sees Menie Gray under the wing of Mde. Montreville. Her father had died, and she had come to India, under madame’s escort, to marry Richard; but Richard had entrapped the girl for a concubine in the harem of Tippoo Saib. When Dr. Hartley heard of this scandalous treachery, he told it to Hyder Ali, and the father of Tippoo Saib, who were so disgusted at the villainy that they condemned Richard Middlemas to be trampled to death by a trained elephant, and liberated Menie, who returned to her native country under the escort of Dr. Hartley.

=Surgery= (_Father of French_), Ambrose Paré (1517-1590).

=Surly=, a gamester and friend of Sir Epicure Mammon, but a disbeliever in alchemy in general, and in “doctor” Subtle in particular.--Ben Jonson, _The Alchemist_ (1610).

=Surplus= (_Mr._), a lawyer, Mrs. Surplus, and Charles Surplus, the nephew.--J. M. Morton, _A Regular Fix_.

=Surrey= (_White_), name of the horse used by Richard III. in the battle of Bosworth Field.

Saddle White Surrey for the field to-morrow. Shakespeare, _King Richard III._ act v. sc. 3 (1597).

=Surtur=, a formidable giant, who is to set fire to the universe at Ragnarök, with flames collected from Muspelheim.--_Scandinavian Mythology._

=Sur´ya= (2 _syl._), the sun-god, whose car is drawn by seven green horses, the charioteer being Dawn.--Sir W. Jones, _From the Veda_.

=Susanna=, the wife of Joacim. She was accused of adultery by the Jewish elders, and condemned to death; but Daniel proved her innocence, and turned the criminal charge on the elders themselves.--_History of Susanna._

=Susannah=, in Sterne’s novel entitled _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_ (1759).

=Suspicions Husband= (_The_), a comedy by Dr. Hoadly (1747). Mr. Strictland is suspicious of his wife, his ward, Jacintha, and Clarinda, a young lady visitor. With two attractive young ladies in the house, there is no lack of intrigue, and Strictland fancies that his wife is the object thereof; but when he discovers his mistake, he promises reform.

=Sussex= (_The earl of_), a rival of the earl of Leicester, in the court of Queen Elizabeth; introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Kenilworth_.

=Sut´leme´me= (4 _syl._), a young lady attached to the suite of Nouron´ihar, the emir’s daughter. She greatly excelled in dressing a salad.

=Sutor.= _Ne sutor supra Crepĭdam._ A cobbler, having detected an error in the shoe-latchet of a statue made by Apellês, became so puffed up with conceit that he proceeded to criticize the legs also; but Apellês said to him, “Stick to the last, friend.” The cobbler is qualified to pass an opinion on shoes, but anatomy is quite another thing.

Boswell, one night sitting in the pit of Covent Garden Theatre, with his friend, Dr. Blair, gave an imitation of a cow lowing, which the house greatly applauded. He then ventured another imitation, but failed; whereupon the doctor turned to him and whispered in his ear, “Stick to the cow.”

A wigmaker sent a copy of verses to Voltaire, asking for his candid opinion on some poetry he had perpetrated. The witty patriarch of Ferney wrote on the MS., “Make wigs,” and returned it to the barber-poet.

=Sutton= (_Sir William_), uncle of Hero Sutton, the City maiden.--S. Knowles, _Woman’s Wit, etc._ (1838).

=Suwarrow= (_Alexander_), a Russian general, noted for his slaughter of the Poles in the suburbs of Warsaw, in 1794, and the still more shameful butchery of them on the bridge of Prague. After having massacred 30,000 in cold blood, Suwarrow went to return thanks to God “for giving him the victory.” Campbell, in his _Pleasures of Hope_, i., refers to this butchery; and Lord Byron, in _Don Juan_, vii., 8, 55, to the Turkish expedition (1786-1792).

A town which did a famous siege endure ... By Suvaroff or _Anglicè_ Suwarrow. Byron, _Don Juan_, vii. 8 (1824).

=Suzanne=, the wife of Chalomel, the chemist and druggist.--J. R. Ware, _Piperman’s Predicament_.

=Swallow’s Nest=, the highest of the four castles of the German family called Landschaden, built on a pointed rock almost inaccessible. The founder was a noted robber-knight. (See “Swallow.”)

=Swan.= Fionnuāla, daughter of Lir, was transformed into a swan, and condemned to wander for many hundred years over the lakes and rivers of Ireland, till the introduction of Christianity into that island.

T. Moore has a poem on this subject in his _Irish Melodies_, entitled “The Song of Fionnuala” (1814).

_Swan_ (_The_), called the bird of Apollo or of Orpheus (2 _syl._). (See “Swan.”)

_Swan_ (_The knight of the_), Helias, king of Lyleforte, son of King Oriant and Beatrice. This Beatrice had eight children at a birth, one of which was a daughter. The mother-in-law (Matabrune) stole these children, and changed all of them, except Helias, into swans. Helias spent all his life in quest of his sister and brothers, that he might disenchant them and restore them to their human forms.--Thoms, _Early English Prose Romances_, iii. (1858).

Eustachius vanit ad Buillon ad domum ducissæ quæ uxor erat militis qui vocabatur “Miles Cygni.”--Reiffenberg, _Le Chevalier au Cygne_.

_Swan_ (_The Mantuan_), Virgil, born at Mantua (B.C. 70-19).

_Swan_ (_The Order of the_). This order was instituted by Frederick II. of Brandenburg, in commemoration of the mythical “Knight of the Swan” (1443).

=Swan-Tower=, of Cleves. So called because the house of Cleves professed to be descended from the “Knight of the Swan” (_q.v._)

=Swan of Avon= (_The Sweet_). Shakespeare was so called by Ben Jonson (1564-1616).

=Swan of Cambray=, Fénelon, archbishop of Cambray (1651-1715).

=Swan of Lichfield=, Miss Anna Seward, poetess (1747-1809).

=Swan of Padua=, Count Francesco Algarotti (1712-1764).

=Swan of the Meander=, Homer, a native of Asia Minor, where the Meander flows (fl. B.C. 950).

=Swan of the Thames=, John Taylor, “water-poet” (1580-1654).

Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar, Once Swan of Thames, tho’ now he sings no more. Pope, _The Duncaid_, iii. 19 (1728).

=Swane= (1 _syl._) or =Swegen=, surnamed “Fork-Beard,” king of the Danes, joined Alaff or Olaf [Tryggvesson] in an invasion: of England, was acknowledged king, and kept his court at Gainsbury. He commanded the monks of St. Edmund’s Bury, to furnish him a large sum of money, and as it was not forthcoming, went on horseback at the head of his host to destroy the minster, when he was stabbed to death by an unknown hand. The legend is that the murdered St. Edmund rose from his grave and smote him.

The Danes landed here again ... With those disordered troops by Alaff hither led, In seconding their Swane ... but an English yet there was ... Who washed his secret knife in Swane’s relentless gore. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).

=Swanston=, a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Swaran=, king of Lochlin (_Denmark_), son and successor of Starno. He invaded Ireland in the reign of Cormac II. (a minor), and defeated Cuthullin, general of the Irish forces. When Fingal arrived the tide of battle was reversed, and Swaran surrendered. Fingal, out of love to Agandecca (Swaran’s sister), who once saved his life, dismissed the vanquished king with honor, after having invited him to a feast. Swaran is represented as fierce, proud and high-spirited; but Fingal as calm, moderate and generous.--Ossian, _Fingal_.

=Swash-Buckler= (_A_), a riotous, quarrelsome person. Nash says to Gabriel Harvey: “_Turpe senex miles_, ’tis time for such an olde fool to leave playing the swash-buckler” (1598).

=Swedenborgians= (called by themselves “The New Jerusalem Church”). They are believers in the doctrines taught by Dr. Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Their views respecting salvation, the inspiration of the Bible, future life and the Trinity, differ widely from those of other Christians. In regard to the Trinity, they believe it to be centered in the person of Jesus Christ.

=Swedish Nightingale= (_The_), Jenny Lind, the public singer. She married Mr. Goldschmidt, and retired (1821-1887).

=Swee´dlepipe= (_Paul_), known as “Poll,” barber and bird-fancier; Mrs. Gamp’s landlord. He is a little man, with a shrill voice but a kind heart, in appearance “not unlike the birds he was so fond of.” Mr. Sweedlepipe entertains a profound admiration of Bailey, senior, whom he considers to be a cyclopædia “of all the stable-knowledge of the time.”--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Sweepclean= (_Saunders_), a king’s messenger at Knockwinnock Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Sweet Singer of Israel= (_The_), King David.

=Sweet Singer of the Temple=, George Herbert, author of a poem called _The Temple_ (1593-1633).

=Sweno=, son of the king of Denmark. While bringing succors to Godfrey, he was attacked in the night by Solyman, at the head of an army of Arabs, and himself and all his followers were left dead on the field. Sweno was buried in a marble sepulchre, which appeared miraculously on the field of battle, expressly for his interment (bk. viii.).--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

This is a very parallel case to that of Rhesus. This Thracian prince was on his march to Troy, bringing succors to Priam, but Ulysses and Diomed attacked him at night, slew Rhesus and his army, and carried off all the horses.--Homer, _Iliad_, x.

=Swertha=, housekeeper of the elder Mertoun (formerly a pirate).--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

=Swidger= (_William_), custodian of a college. His wife was Milly, and his father, Philip. Mr. Swidger was a great talker, and generally began with, “That’s what I say,” _à propos_ of nothing.--C. Dickens, _The Haunted Man_ (1848).

=Swimmers.= Leander used to swim across the Hellespont every night to visit Hero.--Musæus, _De Amore Herois et Leandri_.

Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead accomplished the same feat in 1 hr., 10 min., the distance (allowing for drifting) being four miles.

A young native of St. Croix, in 1817, swam over the Sound “from Cronenburgh [? _Cronberg_] to Graves” in 2 hrs., 40 min., the distance being six English miles.

Captain Boynton, in May, 1875, swam or floated across the channel from Grisnez to Fan Bay (Kent) in 23 hrs.

Captain Webb, August 24, 1875, swam from Dover to Calais, a distance of about thirty miles including drift, in 22 hrs., 40 min.

H. Gurr was one of the best swimmers ever known. J. B. Johnson, in 1871, won the championship for swimming.

=Swing= (_Captain_), a name assumed by certain persons, who, between 1830 and 1833, used to send threatening letters to those who used threshing-machines. The letters ran thus:

Sir, if you do not lay by your threshing-machine, you will hear from Swing.

=Swiss Family Robinson.= This tale is an abridgment of a German tale, by Joachim Heinrich Kampe.

=Switzers=, guards attendant on a king, irrespective of their nationality. So called because at one time the Swiss were always ready to fight for hire.

The king, in _Hamlet_, says, “Where are my Switzers?” _i.e._, my attendants; and in Paris, to the present day, we may see written up, _Parlez au Suisse_ (“speak to the porter”), be he Frenchman, German, or any other nation.

Law, logicke, and the Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody.--Nashe, _Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem_ (1594).

=Swiveller= (_Mr. Dick_), a dirty, smart, young man, living in apartments near Drury Lane. His language was extremely flowery, and interlarded with quotations: “What’s the odds,” said Mr. Swiveller, _à propos_ of nothing, “so long as the fire of the soul is kindled at the taper of conwiviality, and the wing of friendship never moults a feather?” His dress was a brown body-coat, with a great many brass buttons up the front, and only one behind, a bright check neckcloth, a plaid waistcoat, soiled white trousers, and a very limp hat, worn the wrong side foremost, to hide a hole in the brim. The breast of his coat was ornamented with the cleanest end of a very large pocket-handkerchief; his dirty wristbands were pulled down and folded over his cuffs; he had no gloves, and carried a yellow cane, having a bone handle, and a little ring. He was forever humming some dismal air. He said _min_ for “man,” _forgit_, _jine_; called wine or spirits “the rosy,” sleep “the balmy,” and generally shouted in conversation, as if making a speech from the chair of the “Glorious Apollers” of which he was perpetual “grand.” Mr. Swiveller looked amiably towards Miss Sophy Wackles, of Chelsea. Quilp introduced him as clerk, to Mr. Samson Brass, solicitor, Bevis Marks. By Quilp’s request, he was afterwards turned away, fell sick of a fever, through which he was nursed by “the marchioness” (a poor house-drab), whom he married, and was left by his Aunt Rebecca an annuity of £125.

“Is that a reminder to go and pay?” said Trent, with a sneer. “Not exactly, Fred,” replied Richard. “I enter in this little book the names of the streets that I can’t go down while the shops are open. This dinner to-day closes Long Acre. I bought a pair of boots in Great Queen Street, last week, and made that ‘no thoroughfare’ too. There’s only one avenue to the Strand left open now, and I shall have to stop up that to-night with a pair of gloves. The roads are closing so fast in every direction, that in about a month’s time, unless my aunt sends me a remittance, I shall have to go three or four miles out of town to get over the way.”--C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, viii (1840).

=Sword.= (For the names of the most famous swords in history and fiction, see _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, 869.) Add the following:--

Ali’s sword, Zulfagar.

Koll, the Thrall’s sword, named Greysteel.

Ogier, the Dane, had two swords, made by Munifican, viz., Sauvagine and Courtain or Curtāna.

He [_Ogier_] drew Courtain his sword from out its sheath. W. Morris, _Earthly Paradise_, 634.

Strong-o’-the-Arm had three swords, viz., Baptism, Florence, and Graban made by Ansias.

_Sword_ (_The Marvel of the_). When King Arthur first appears on the scene, he is brought into notice by the “Marvel of the Sword;” and Sir Galahad, who was to achieve the Holy Graal, was introduced to knighthood by a similar adventure. That of Arthur is thus described:

In the greatest church of London ... there was seen in the churchyard, against the high altar, a great stone, foursquare, like to a marble stone, and in the midst thereof, was an anvil of steel a foot in height, and therein stuck a fair sword, naked by the point, and letters of gold were written about the sword that said thus: _Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of England._ [_Arthur was the only person who could draw it out, so he was acknowledged to be the rightful king._]--Pt. i. 3, 4.

The sword adventure of Sir Galahad, at the age of 15, is thus given:

The king and his knights came to the river and they found there a stone floating, as it had been of red marble, and therein stuck a fair and rich sword, and in the pomell thereof were precious stones, wrought with subtil letters of gold. Then the barons read the letters, which said in this wise: _Never shall man take me hence, but only he by whom I ought to hang, and he shall be the best knight of the world._ [_Sir Galahad drew the sword easily, but no other knight was able to pull it forth._]--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii. 30, 31 (1470).

A somewhat similar adventure occurs in the _Amădis de Gaul_. Whoever succeeded in drawing from a rock an enchanted sword, was to gain access to a subterranean treasure (ch. cxxx.; see also lxxii. xcix.).

_Sword_ (_The Irresistible_). The king of Araby and Ind sent Cambuscan´, king of Tartary, a sword that would pierce any armor, and if the smiter chose he could heal the wound again by striking it with the flat of the blade.--Chaucer, _The Squire’s Tale_ (1388).

=Sword and the Maiden= (_The_). Soon after King Arthur succeeded to the throne, a damsel came to Camelot girded with a sword which no man defiled by “shame, treachery, or guile” could draw from its scabbard. She had been to the court of King Ryence, but no knight there could draw it. King Arthur tried to draw it, but with no better success; all his knights tried also, but none could draw it. At last a poor ragged knight named Balin, who had been held in prison for six months, made the attempt, and drew the sword with the utmost ease, but the knights insisted it had been done by witchcraft. The maiden asked Sir Balin to give her the sword, but he refused to do so, and she then told him it would bring death to himself and his dearest friend; and so it did; for when he and his brother, Balan, jousted together, unknown to each other, both were slain, and were buried in one tomb.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 27-44 (1470).

=Sword in the City Arms= (_London_). Stow asserts that the sword or dagger in the City arms was not added in commemoration of Walworth’s attack on Wat Tyler, but that it represents the sword of St. Paul, the patron saint of London. This is not correct. Without doubt the cognizance of the City, previous to 1381, was St. Paul’s sword, but after the death of Tyler, it was changed into Walworth’s dagger.

Brave Walworth, knight, lord mayor, that slew Rebellious Tyler in his alarmes; The king, therefore, did give him in lieu The dagger to the city armes. _Fishmongers’ Hall_ (“Fourth Year of Richard II.,” 1381).

=Sword of God= (_The_). Khaled, the conqueror of Syria (632-8), was so called by Mohammedans.

=Sword of Rome= (_The_), Marcellus. Fabius was called “The Shield of Rome” (time of Hannibal’s invasion).

=Swordsman= (_The Handsome_). Joachim Murat was called _Le Beau Sabreur_ (1767-1815).

=Syb´arite= (3 _syl._), an effeminate man, a man of pampered self-indulgence. Seneca tells us of a sybarite who could not endure the nubble of a folded rose leaf in his bed.

[_Her bed_] softer than the soft sybarite’s, who cried Aloud because his feelings were too tender To brook a ruffled rose leaf by his side. Byron, _Don Juan_, vi. 89 (1824).

=Sybrandt=, cousin and lover of Catalina, in _The Dutchman’s Fireside_, by James Kirke Paulding. The girl, half-spoiled by city life, is now ashamed of her rustic lover in his snuff-colored suit; anon, believes all the slanderous tales she hears of him, and, when she witnesses his terrible struggle with the Indian who sought her life, knows that she loves him truly and entirely (1831).

=Syc´orax=, a foul witch, the mistress of Ariel, the fairy spirit, by whom for some offence he was imprisoned in the rift of a cloven pine tree. After he had been kept there for twelve years, he was liberated by Prospero, the rightful duke of Milan, and father of Miranda. Sycorax was the mother of Caliban.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).

If you had told Sycorax that her son, Caliban, was as handsome as Apollo, she would have been pleased, witch as she was.--Thackeray.

Those foul and impure mists which their pens, like the raven wings of Sycorax, had brushed from fern and bog.--Sir W. Scott, _The Drama_.

=Syddall= (_Anthony_), house-steward at Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Sydenham= (_Charles_), the frank, open-hearted, trusty friend of the Woodvilles.--Cumberland, _The Wheel of Fortune_ (1779).

=Syl=, a monster like a basilisk, with human face, but so terrible that no one could look on it and live.

=Sylla= (_Cornelius_), the rival of Ma´rius. Being consul, he had, _ex-officio_, a right to lead in the Mithridatic war (B.C. 88), but Marius got the appointment of Sylla set aside in favor of himself. Sylla, in dudgeon, hastened back to Rome, and insisted that the “recall” should be reversed. Marius fled. Sylla pursued the war with success, returned to Rome in triumph, and made a wholesale slaughter of the Romans who had opposed him. As many as 7000 soldiers and 5000 private citizens fell in this massacre, and all their goods were distributed among his own partisans. Sylla was now called “Perpetual Dictator,” but in two years retired into private life, and died the year following (B.C. 78).

Jouy has a good tragedy in French called _Sylla_ (1822), and the character of “Sylla” was a favorite one with Talma, the French actor. In 1594, Thomas Lodge produced his historical play called _Wounds of Civil War, lively set forth in the True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla_.

=Sylli= (_Signor_), an Italian exquisite, who walks fantastically, talks affectedly, and thinks himself irresistible. He makes love to Cami´ola, “the maid of honor,” and fancies, by posturing, grimaces, and affectation, to “make her dote on him.” He says to her, “In singing, I am a Siren,” in dancing, a Terpsichŏrê. “He could tune a ditty lovely well,” and prided himself “on his pretty spider fingers, and the twinkling of his two eyes.” Of course, Camiŏla sees no charms in these effeminacies; but the conceited puppy says he “is not so sorry for himself as he is for her” that she rejects him. Signor Sylli is the silliest of all the Syllis.--Massinger, _The Maid of Honor_ (1637). (See TAPPERTIT.)

=Sylvia=, daughter of Justice Balance, and an heiress. She is in love with Captain Plume, but promised her father not to “dispose of herself to any man without his consent.” As her father feared Plume was too much a libertine to make a steady husband, he sent Sylvia into the country to withdraw her from his society; but she dressed in her brother’s military suit, assumed the name of Jack Wilful, _alias_ Pinch, and enlisted. When the names were called over by the justices, and that of “Pinch” was brought forward, Justice Balance “gave his consent for the recruit to dispose of [_himself_] to Captain Plume,” and the permission was kept to the letter, though not in its intent. However, the matter had gone too far to be revoked, and the father made up his mind to bear with grace what without disgrace he could not prevent.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1705).

I am troubled neither with spleen, colic, nor vapors, I need no salts for my stomach, no harts-horn for my head, nor any wash for my complexion. I can gallop all the morning after the hunting-horn, and all the evening after a fiddle.--Act i. 2.

=Sylvio de Rosalva= (_Don_), the hero and title of a novel by C. M. Wieland (1733-1813). Don Sylvio, a quixotic believer in fairyism, is gradually converted to common sense by the extravagant demands which are made on his belief, assisted by the charms of a mortal beauty. The object of this romance is a crusade against the sentimentalism and religious foolery of the period.

=Symkyn= (_Symond_), nicknamed “Disdainful,” a miller, living at Trompington, near Cambridge. His face was round, his nose flat, and his skull “pilled as an ape’s.” He was a thief of corn and meal, but stole craftily. His wife was the village parson’s daughter, very proud and arrogant. He tried to outwit Aleyn and John, two Cambridge scholars, but was himself outwitted, and most roughly handled also.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ “The Reeve’s Tale,” (1388).

=Symmes’s Hole.= Captain John Cleve Symmes maintained that there was, at 82° N. lat., an enormous opening through the crust of the earth into the globe. The place to which it led he asserted to be well stocked with animals and plants, and to be lighted by two under-ground planets named Pluto and Proserpine. Captain Symmes asked Sir Humphrey Davy to accompany him in the exploration of this enormous “hole” (*-1829).

Halley, the astronomer (1656-1742), and Holberg, of Norway (1684-1754), believed in the existence of this hole.

=Symon´ides the Good=, king of Pentap´olis.--Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_ (1608).

=Symphony= (_The Father of_) Francis Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).

=Synia=, the portress of Valhalla.--_Scandinavian Mythology._

=Syntax= (_Dr._), a simple-minded, pious, hen-pecked clergyman, green as grass, but of excellent taste and scholarship, who left home in search of the picturesque. His adventures are told by William Coombe in eight-syllable verse, called _The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque_ (1812.)

_Dr. Syntax’s Horse_ was called Grizzle, all skin and bone.

=Synter´esis=, Conscience personified.

On her a royal damsel still attends, And faithful counsellor, Synter´esis. Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vi. (1633).

=Syphax=, chief of the Arabs who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. “The voices of these allies were feminine, and their stature small.”--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xvii. (1575).

_Syphax_, an old Numidian soldier in the suite of Prince Juba, in Utĭca. He tried to win the prince from Cato to the side of Cæsar; but Juba was too much in love with Marcia (Cato’s daughter) to listen to him. Syphax, with his “Numidian horse,” deserted in the battle to Cæsar, but the “hoary traitor” was slain by Marcus, the son of Cato.--Addison, _Cato_ (1713).

=Syrinx=, a nymph beloved by Pan, and changed at her own request into a reed, of which Pan made his pipe.--_Greek Fable._

_Syrinx_, in Spenser’s _Eclogue_, iv., is Anne Boleyn, and “Pan” is Henry VIII. (1579).

Tusser has a poem on _Thriftiness_, twelve lines in length, and in rhyme, every word of which begins with _t_ (died 1580). Leon Placentius, a Dominican, wrote a poem in Latin hexameters, called _Pugna Porcorum_, 253 lines long, every word of which begins with _p_ (died 1548).

The thrifty that teacheth the thriving to thrive, Teach timely to traverse, the thing that thou ’trive, Transferring thy toiling, to timeliness taught, This teacheth thee temp’rance, to temper thy thought. Take Trusty (to trust to) that thinkest to thee, That trustily thriftiness trowleth to thee. Then temper thy traveil, to tarry the tide; This teacheth thee thriftiness, twenty times tryed. Take thankfull thy talent, thank thankfully those That thriftily teacheth [_? teach thee_] thy time to transpose. Troth twice to be teached, teach twenty times ten, This trade thou that takest, take thrift to thee then. _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_, xlix. (1557).

=Taau=, the god of thunder. The natives of the Hervey Islands believe that thunder is produced by the shaking of Taau’s wings.--John Williams, _Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_, 109 (1837).

=Tabakiera=, a magic snuff-box which, upon being opened, said, _Que quieres?_ (“What do you want?”); and, upon being told the wish, it was there and then accomplished. The snuff-box is the counterpart of Aladdin’s lamp, but appears in numerous legends slightly varied (see for example Campbell’s _Tales of the West Highlands_, ii. 293-303, “The Widow’s Son”).--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_, 94 (1876).

=Tabarin=, a famous vender of quack medicines, born at Milan, who went to Paris in the seventeenth century. By his antics and rude wit he collected great crowds together, and in ten years (1620-30) became rich enough to buy a handsome château in Dauphine. The French aristocracy, unable to bear the satire of a charlatan in a château, murdered him.

The jests and witty sayings of this _farceur_ were collected together in 1622, and published under the title of _L’inventaire Universel des Œuvres de Tabarin, contenant ses Fantaisies, Dialogues, Paradoxes, Farces, etc._

In 1858 an edition of his works was published by G. Aventin.

=Tachebrune= (2 _syl._), the horse of Ogier le Dane. The word means “brown spot.”

=Taciturnian=, an inhabitant of _L’Isle Taciturne_, or Taciturna, meaning London and the Londoners.

A thick and perpetual vapor covers this island, and fills the souls of the inhabitants with a certain sadness, misanthropy, and irksomeness of their own existence. Alaciel [_the genius_] was hardly at the first barriers of the metropolis when he fell in with a peasant bending under the weight of a bag of gold ... but his heart was sad and gloomy ... and he said to the genius, “Joy! I know it not; I never heard of it in this island.”--De la Dixmie, _L’Isle Taciturne et l’Isle Enjouée_ (1759).

=Tacket= (_Tibb_), the wife of old Martin, the shepherd of Julian Avenel, of Avenel Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Tackleton=, a toy merchant, called Gruff and Tackleton, because at one time Gruff had been his partner; he had, however, been bought out long ago. Tackleton was a stern, sordid, grinding man; ugly in looks, and uglier in his nature; cold and callous, selfish and unfeeling; his look was sarcastic and malicious; one eye was always wide open, and one nearly shut. He ought to have been a money-lender, a sheriff’s officer, or a broker, for he hated children and hated playthings. It was his greatest delight to make toys which scared children, and you could not please him better than to say that a toy from his warehouse had made a child miserable the whole Christmas holidays, and had been a nightmare to it for half its child-life. This amiable creature was about to marry May Fielding, when her old sweetheart, Edward Plummer, thought to be dead, returned from South America, and married her. Tackleton was reformed by Peerybingle, the carrier, bore his disappointment manfully, sent the bride and bridegroom his own wedding-cake, and joined the festivities of the marriage banquet.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the Hearth_ (1845).

=Taffril= (_Lieutenant_), of H. M. gunbrig _Search_. He is in love with Jenny Caxton, the milliner.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Taffy=, a Welshman. The word is simply Davy (_David_) pronounced with aspiration. David is the most common Welsh name; Sawney (_Alexander_), the most common Scotch; Pat (_Patrick_), the most common Irish; and John (_John Bull_), the most common English. So we have Cousin Michael for a German, Micaire for a Frenchman, Colin Tampon for a Swiss, and Brother Jonathan in the United States.

=Tag=, wife of Puff, and lady’s maid to Miss Biddy Bellair.--D. Garrick, _Miss in Her Teens_ (1753).

=Tahmuras=, a king of Persia, whose exploits in Fairy-land among the peris and deevs are fully set forth by Richardson, in his _Dissertation_.

=Tails= (_Men with_). The Niam-niams, an African race between the gulf of Benin and Abyssinia, are said to have tails. Mons. de Castlenau (1851) tells us that the Niam-niams “have tails forty centimetres long, and between two and three centimetres in diameter.” Dr. Hubsch, physician to the hospitals of Constantinople, says, in 1853, that he carefully examined a Niam-niam negress, and that her tail was two inches long. Mons. d’Abbadie, in his _Abyssynian Travels_ (1852), tells us that south of the Herrar is a place where all the _men_ have tails, but not the females. “I have examined,” he says, “fifteen of them, and am positive that the tail is a natural appendage.” Dr. Wolf, in his _Travels and Adventures_, ii. (1861), says: “There are both men and women in Abyssinia with tails like dogs and horses.” He heard that, near Narea, in Abyssinia, there were men and women with tails so muscular that they could “knock down a horse with a blow.”

John Struys, a Dutch traveller, says, in his _Voyages_ (1650), that “all the natives on the south of Formosa have tails.” He adds that he himself personally saw one of these islanders with a tail “more than a foot long.”

It is said that the Ghilane race, which numbers between 30,000 and 40,000 souls, and dwell “far beyond the Senaar,” have tails three or four inches long. Colonel du Corret assures us that he himself most carefully examined one of the race named Bellal, a slave belonging to an emir in Mecca, whose house he frequented.--_World of Wonders_, 206.

The Poonangs, of Borneo, are said to be a tail-bearing race.

_Individual Examples._ Dr. Hubsch says that he examined at Constantinople the son of a physician whom he knew intimately, who had a decided tail, and so had his grandfather.

In the middle of the present (the nineteenth) century, all the newspapers made mention of the birth of a boy at Newcastle-on-Tyne with a tail, which “wagged when he was pleased.”

In the College of Surgeons at Dublin may be seen a human skeleton with a tail seven inches long.

_Tails given by way of Punishment._ Polydore Vergil asserts that when Thomas á Becket came to Stroud, the mob cut off the tail of his horse, and in eternal reproach, “both they and their offspring bore tails.” Lambarde repeats the same story in his _Perambulation of Kent_ (1576).

For Becket’s sake Kent always shall have tails.--Andrew Marvel.

John Bale, bishop of Ossory, in the reign of Edward VI., tells us that John Capgrave and Alexander of Esseby have stated it as a fact that certain Dorsetshire men cast fishes’ tails at St. Augustine, in consequence of which “the men of this county have borne tails ever since.”

We all know the tradition that Cornish men are born with tails.

=Taillefer=, a valiant warrior and minstrel in the army of William the Conqueror. At the battle of Hastings (or _Senlac_) he stimulated the ardor of the Normans by songs in praise of Charlemagne and Roland. The soldier-minstrel was at last borne down by numbers, and fell fighting.

He was a juggler or minstrel, who could sing songs and play tricks.... So he rode forth singing as he went, and as some say, throwing his sword up in the air and catching it again.--E. A. Freeman, _Old English History_, 332.

=Tailors of Tooley Street= (_The Three_). Canning tells us of three tailors of Tooley Street, Southwark, who addressed a petition of grievances to the House of Commons, beginning with these words, “We, the people of England.”

The “deputies of Vaugirard” presented themselves before Charles VIII. of France. When the king asked how many there were, the usher replied, “Only one, an please your majesty.”

=Taj=, in Agra (East India), the mausoleum built by Shah Jehan to his favorite sultana, Moomtaz-i-Mahul, who died in childbirth of her eighth child. It is of white marble, and is so beautiful that it is called “A Poem in Marble,” and “The Marble Queen of Sorrow.”

=Talbert= [_Tŏl´.but_], John Talbert or rather Talbot. “The English Achillês,” first earl of Shrewsbury (1373-1453).

Our Talbert, to the French so terrible in war, That with his very name their babes they used to scare. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xviii. (1613).

=Tallbot= (_John_), a name of terror in France. Same as above.

They in France, to feare their young children, crye, “The Talbot commeth!”--Hall, _Chronicles_ (1545).

Is this the Talbot, so much feared abroad, That with his name the mothers still their babes? Shakespeare, _1 Henry VI._ act. ii. sc. 3 (1589).

_Talbot_ (_Colonel_), an English officer, and one of Waverley’s friends.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

_Talbot_ (_Lord Arthur_), a cavalier who won the love of Elvira, daughter of Lord Walton; but his lordship had promised his daughter in marriage to Sir Richard Ford, a puritan officer. The betrothal being set aside, Lord Talbot became the accepted lover, and the marriage ceremony was fixed to take place at Plymouth. In the mean time, Lord Arthur assisted the Dowager Queen Henrietta to escape, and on his return to England was arrested by the soldiers of Cromwell, and condemned to death; but Cromwell, feeling secure of his position, commanded all political prisoners to be released, so Lord Arthur was set at liberty, and married Elvira.--Bellini, _I Puritani_ (1834).

_Talbot_ (_Lying Dick_), the nickname given to Tyrconnel, the Irish Jacobite, who held the highest offices in Ireland in the reign of James II., and in the early part of William III.’s reign (died 1691).

=Tale of a Tub=, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1618). This was the last comedy brought out by him on the stage; the first was _Every Man in His Humor_ (1598).

In the _Tale of a Tub_, he [_Ben Jonson_] follows the path of Aristoph´anês, and lets his wit run into low buffoonery, that he might bring upon the stage Inigo Jones, his personal enemy.--Sir Walter Scott, _The Drama_.

_Tale of a Tub_, a religious satire by Dean Swift (1704). Its object is to ridicule the Roman Catholics under the name of Peter, and the Presbyterians under the name of Jack [_Calvin_]. The Church of England is represented by Martin [_Luther_].

_Gulliver’s Travels_ and the _Tale of a Tub_ must ever be the chief corner-stones of Swift’s fame.--Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 547.

=Tales= (_Chinese_), being the transmigrations of the mandarin, Fum-Hoam, told to Gulchenraz, daughter of the king of Georgia. (See FUM-HOAM.)--T. S. Gueulette (originally in French, 1723).

_Tales_ (_Fairy_), a series of tales, originally in French, by the Comtesse D’Aunoy, D’Aulnoy, or D’Anois (1698). Some are very near copies of the _Arabian Nights_. The best-known are “Cherry and Fairstar,” “The Yellow Dwarf,” and “The White Cat.”

About the same time (1697), Claude Perrault published, in French, his famous _Fairy Tales_, chiefly taken from the _Sagas_ of Scandinavia.

_Tales_ (_Moral_), twenty-three tales by Marmontel, originally in French (1761). They were intended for draughts of dramas. The design of the first tale, called “Alcibiădês,” is to expose the folly of expecting to be loved “merely for one’s self.” The design of the second tale, called “Soliman II.,” is to expose the folly of attempting to gain woman’s love by any other means than reciprocal love; and so on. The second tale has been dramatized.

_Tales_ (_Oriental_), by the Comte de Caylus, originally in French (1743). A series of tales supposed to be told by Moradbak, a girl of 14, to Hudjadge, shah of Persia, who could not sleep. It contains the tale of “The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.” (See MORADBAK.)

=Tales of a Grandfather=, in three series, by Sir W. Scott; told to Hugh Littlejohn, who was between five and six years of age (1828). These tales are supposed to be taken from Scotch chronicles, and embrace the most prominent and graphic incidents of Scotch history. Series i., to the amalgamation of the two crowns in James I.; series ii., to the union of the two parliaments in the reign of Queen Anne; series iii., to the death of Charles Edward, the Young Pretender.

=Tales of My Landlord=, tales supposed to be told by the landlord of the Wallace inn, in the parish of Gandercleuch, “edited and arranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham, schoolmaster and parish clerk” of the same parish, but in reality corrected and arranged by his usher, Peter or Patrick Pattison, who lived to complete five of the novels, but died before the last two were issued. These novels are arranged thus: _First Series_, “The Black Dwarf” and “Old Mortality;” _Second Series_, “Heart of Midlothian;” _Third Series_, “Bride of Lammermoor” and “Legend of Montrose;” _Posthumous_, “Count Robert of Paris” and “Castle Dangerous.”--Sir W. Scott. (See _Black Dwarf_, introduction.)

=Tales of the Crusaders=, by Sir W. Scott, include _The Betrothed_ and _The Talisman_.

=Tales of the Genii=, that is, tales told by the genii to Iracagem, their chief, respecting their tutelary charges, or how they had discharged their functions as the guardian genii of man. Patna and Coulor, children of Giualar (imân of Terki), were permitted to hear these accounts rendered, and hence they have reached our earth. The genius, Barhaddan, related the history of his tutelary charge of Abu´dah, a merchant of Bagdad. The genius, Mamlouk, told how he had been employed in watching over the Dervise Alfouran. Next, Omphram recounted his labors as the tutelar genius of Hassan Assar, caliph of Bagdad. The genius, Hassarack, tells his experience in the tale of Kelaun and Guzzarat. The fifth was a female genius, by name, Houadir, who told the tale of Urad, the fair wanderer, her ward on earth. Then rose the sage genius, Macoma, and told the tale of the Sultan Misnar, with the episodes of Mahoud and the princess of Cassimir. The affable Adiram, the tutelar genius of Sadak and Kalas´rade, told of their battle of life. Last of all rose the venerable genius, Nadan, and recounted the history of his earthly charge, named Mirglip, the dervise. These tales are from the Persian, and are ascribed to Horam, son of Asmar.

=Talgol=, a butcher in Newgate market, who obtained a captain’s commission in Cromwell’s army for his bravery at Naseby.

Talgol was of courage stout ... Inured to labor, sweat, and toil, And like a champion, shone with oil ... He many a boar and huge dun cow Did, like another Guy, o’erthrow ... With greater troops of sheep he’d fought Than Ajax or bold Don Quixote. S. Butler, _Hudibras_. i. 2 (1663).

=Taliesin= or TALIESSIN, son of St. Henwig, chief of the bards of the West, in the time of King Arthur (sixth century). In the _Mabinogion_, are given the legends connected with him, several specimens of his songs, and all that is historically known about him. The bursting in of the sea through the neglect of Seithenin, who had charge of the embankment, and the ruin which it brought on Gwyddno Garanhir, is allegorized by the bursting of a pot called the “caldron of inspiration,” through the neglect of Gwion Bach, who was set to watch it.

That Taliessen, once which made the rivers dance, And in his rapture raised the mountains from their trance. Shall tremble at my verse. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1613).

=Talisman= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott, and one of the best of the thirty-two which he wrote (1825). It relates how Richard Cœur de Lion was cured of a fever in the Holy Land, by Saladin, the soldan, his noble enemy. Saladin, hearing of his illness, assumed the disguise of Adonbec el Hakim, the physician, and visited the king. He filled a cup with spring water, into which he dipped the talisman, a little red purse that he took from his bosom, and when it had been steeped long enough, he gave the draught to the king to drink (ch. ix.). During the king’s sickness, the archduke of Austria planted his own banner beside that of England; but as soon as Richard recovered from his fever he tore down the Austrian banner, and gave it in custody to Sir Kenneth. While Kenneth was absent he left his dog in charge of it, but on his return, found the dog wounded, and the banner stolen. King Richard, in his rage, ordered Sir Kenneth to execution, but pardoned him on the intercession of “the physician” (Saladin). Sir Kenneth’s dog showed such a strange aversion to the Marquis de Montserrat, that suspicion was aroused, the marquis was challenged to single combat, and, being overthrown by Sir Kenneth, confessed that he had stolen the banner. The love story interwoven is that between Sir Kenneth, the prince royal of Scotland, and Lady Edith Plantagenet, the king’s kinswoman, with whose marriage the tale concludes.

=Talismans= (_The Four_). Houna, surnamed Seidel-Beckir, a talismanist, made three of great value: viz., a little golden fish, which would fetch out of the sea whatever it was bidden; a poniard, which rendered invisible not only the person bearing it, but all those he wished to be so; and a ring of steel, which enabled the wearer to read the secrets of men’s hearts. The fourth talisman was a bracelet, which preserved the wearer from poison.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“The Four Talismans,” 1743).

=Talking-Bird= (_The_), called Bulbulhe´zar. It had the power of human speech, and when it sang all the song-birds in the vicinity came and joined in concert. It was also oracular, and told the sultan the tale of his three children, and how they had been exposed by the sultana’s two jealous sisters.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters,” the last tale).

The talking bird is called “the little green bird” in “The Princess Fairstar,” one of the _Fairy Tales_ of the Comtesse D’Aunoy (1682).

=Tallboy= (_Old_), forester of St. Mary’s Convent.--Sir W. Scott, _Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Talleyrand.= This name, anciently written “Taileran,” was originally a sobriquet derived from the words _tailler les rangs_ (“cut through the ranks”).

Talleyrand is generally credited with the _mot_: “La parole a été donnée à l’homme pour l’aider à cacher sa pensée [_or_ déguiser la pensée];” but they were spoken by Comte de Montrond, “the most agreeable scoundrel in the court of Marie Antoinette.”--Captain Gronow, _Recollections and Anecdotes_.

Voltaire, sixty years previously, had said: “Ils n’employent les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pensées.”--_Le Chapon et la Poularde._

And Goldsmith, in 1759, when Talleyrand was about four years old, had published the sentence: “The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”--_The Bee_, iii.

=Talos=, a son of Perdix, sister of Dædălos, inventor of the saw, compasses, and other mechanical instruments. His uncle, jealous of him, threw him from the citadel of Athens, and he was changed into a partridge.

_Talos_, a man of brass, made by Hephæstos (_Vulcan_). This wonderful automaton was given to Minos to patrol the island of Crete. It traversed the island thrice every day, and if a stranger came near, made itself red hot, and squeezed him to death.

=Talus=, an iron man, representing power or the executive of a state. He was Astræa’s groom, whom the goddess gave to Sir Artĕgal. This man of iron, “unmovable and resistless without end,” “swift as a swallow, and as a lion strong,” carried in his hand an iron flail, “with which he threshed out falsehood, and did truth unfold.” When Sir Artegal fell into the power of Radigund, queen of the Amăzons, Talus brought Britomart to the rescue.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 1 (1596).

=Talut.= So the Mohammedans call Saul.

Verily God hath sent Talût king over you .... Samuel said, Verily God hath chosen him, and hath caused him to increase in knowledge and stature.--_Al Korân_, ii.

=Talvi=, a pseudonym of Mrs. Robinson. It is simply the initials of her maiden name, Therese Albertine Louise von Iakob.

=Tam o’ Todshaw=, a huntsman, near Charlie’s Hope Farm.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Tam o’ the Cowgate=, the sobriquet of Sir Thomas Hamilton, a Scotch lawyer, who lived in the Cowgate, at Edinburgh (*-1563).

=Tam O’ Shanter=, drunken peasant who looks into the lighted windows of Alloway Kirk one night, on his way home from the tavern, and watches the witches dance. He is discovered and chased by the hags. In crossing the bridge, a witch who has sprung upon his crupper, seizes his horse’s tail, and he leaves it with her, since she cannot cross running water.--Robert Burns, _Tam O’ Shanter_.

=Tamburlaine the Great= (or _Timour Lengh_), the Tartar conqueror. In history called Tamerlane. He had only one hand and was lame (1336-1405). The hero and title of a tragedy by C. Marlowe (1587). Shakespeare (_2 Henry IV._ act ii. sc. 4) makes Pistol quote a part of this turgid play.

Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia. What! can ye draw but twenty miles a day, And have so proud a chariot at your heels, And such a coachman as great Tamburlaine.

(In the stage direction in Marlowe’s play:

Enter Tamburlaine, drawn in his chariot by Treb´izon and Soria, with bits in their mouths, reins in his left hand, in his right a whip with which he scourgeth them.)

N. Rowe has a tragedy entitled _Tamerlane_ (_q. v._).

=Tamer Tamed= (_The_), a kind of sequel to Shakespeare’s comedy _The Taming of the Shrew_. In the _Tamer Tamed_, Petruchio is supposed to marry a second wife, by whom he is hen-pecked.--Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).

=Tamerlane=, emperor of Tartary, in Rowe’s tragedy so called, is a noble, generous, high-minded prince, the very glass of fashion for all conquerors, in his forgiveness of wrongs, and from whose example Christians might be taught their moral code. Tamerlane treats Bajazet, his captive, with truly godlike clemency, till the fierce sultan plots his assassination. Then, longer forbearance would have been folly, and the Tartar has his untamed captive chained in a cage, like a wild beast.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).

It is said that Louis XIV. was Rowe’s “Bajazet,” and William III. his “Tamerlane.”

⁂ Tamerlane is a corruption of _Timour Lengh_ (“Timour, the lame”). He was one-handed and lame also. His name was used by the Persians _in terrorem_. (See TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT.)

=Taming of the Shrew= (_The_), a comedy by Shakespeare (1594). The “shrew” is Kathari´na, elder daughter of Baptista, of Padua, and she is tamed by the stronger mind of Petruchio into a most obedient and submissive wife.

This drama is founded on _A pleasaunt conceited Historie, called The Taming of a Shrew. As it hath beene sundry times acted by the right honourable the earle of Pembrooke his servants, 1607._ The induction is borrowed from Heuterus, _Rerum Burgundearum_, iv., a translation of which into English, by E. Grimstone, appeared in 1607. The same trick was played by Haroun-al-Raschid, on the merchant Abou Hassan (_Arabian Nights_, “The Sleeper Awakened”); and by Philippe the Good of Burgundy. (See Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, II. ii. 4; see also _The Frolicksome Duke, or the Tinker’s Good Fortune_ (a ballad), Percy.)

Beaumont and Fletcher wrote a kind of sequel to this comedy, called _The Tamer Tamed_, in which Petruchio is supposed to marry a second wife, by whom he is hen-pecked (1647).

_The Honeymoon_, a comedy by Tobin (1804), has a similar plot, but the shrew is tamed with far less display of obstreperous self-will.

=Tami´no and Pami´na=, the two lovers who were guided by the magic flute through all worldly dangers to the knowledge of divine truth (or the mysteries of Isis).--Mozart, _Die Zauberflöte_ (1791).

=Tamismud=, aged chief of the Delawares, regarded as an oracle by Indians of all tribes. When Magua brings his captives, whites and Indians, before the sage for sentence, Tamismud is a hundred years old, and speaks with clear eyes, and for the most part dreamily, as communing with unseen powers. His style of speech is highly figurative and the superstitious creatures by whom he is surrounded hang breathlessly upon every sentence uttered by his lips.--James Fenimore Cooper, _The Last of the Mohicans_ (1826).

=Tam´ora=, queen of the Goths, in love with Aaron, the Moor.--(?) Shakespeare, _Titus Andron´icus_ (1593).

⁂ The classic name is _Andronīcus_, but Titus Andronĭcus is a purely fictitious character.

=Tamper= (_Colonel_), betrothed to Emily. On his return from Havana, he wanted to ascertain if Emily loved him “for himself alone;” so he pretended to have lost one leg and one eye. Emily was so shocked that the family doctor was sent for, who, amidst other gossip, told the young lady he had recently seen Colonel Tamper, who was looking remarkably well, and had lost neither leg nor eye. Emily now perceived that a trick was being played, so she persuaded Mdlle. Florival to assume the part of a rival lover, under the assumed name of Captain Johnson. After the colonel had been thoroughly roasted, Major Belford entered, recognized “Captain Johnson” as his own _affiancée_, the colonel saw how the tables had been turned upon him, apologized, and all ended happily.--G. Colman, Sr., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).

=Tamson= (_Peg_), an old woman at Middlemas village.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Tanaquill=, wife of Tarquinius, _priscus_ of Rome. She was greatly venerated by the Romans, but Juvenal uses the name as the personification of an imperious woman with a strong independent will. In the _Faëry Queen_, Spenser calls Gloriana (_Queen Elizabeth_), “Tanaquill” (bk. i. introduction, 1590).

=Tancred=, son of Eudes and Emma. He was the greatest of all the Christian warriors except Rinaldo. His one fault was the love of woman, and that woman Clorinda, a pagan (bk. i.). Tancred brought 800 horse to the allied crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon. In a night combat Tancred unwittingly slew Clorinda, and lamented her death with great and bitter lamentation (bk. xii.). Being wounded, he was tenderly nursed by Erminia, who was in love with him (bk. xix).--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

⁂ Rossini has an opera entitled _Tancredi_ (1813).

_Tancred_, prince of Otranto, one of the crusaders, probably the same as the one above.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

_Tancred_ (_Count_), the orphan son of Manfred, eldest grandson of Roger I. of Sicily, and rightful heir to the throne. His father was murdered by William the Bad, and he himself, was brought up by Siffre´di, lord high chancellor of Sicily. While only a count, he fell in love with Sigismunda, the chancellor’s daughter, but when King Roger died, he left the throne to Tancred, provided he married Constantia, daughter of William the Bad, and thus united the rival lines. Tancred gave a tacit consent to this arrangement, intending all the time to obtain a dispensation from the pope, and marry the chancellor’s daughter; but Sigismunda could not know his secret intentions, and, in a fit of irritation, married the Earl Osmond. Now follows the catastrophe: Tancred sought an interview with Sigismunda, to justify his conduct, but Osmond challenged him to fight. Osmond fell, and stabbed Sigismunda when she ran to his succor.--Thomson, _Tancred and Sigismunda_ (1745).

⁂ Thomson’s tragedy is founded on the episode called “The Baneful Marriage,” _Gil Blas_, iv. 4 (Lesage, 1724). In the prose tale, Tancred is called “Henriquez,” and Sigismunda “Blanch.”

=Tancredi=, the Italian form of Tancred (_q.v._). The best of the early operas of Rossini (1813).

=Tanner of Tamworth= (_The_), the man who mistook Edward IV. for a highwayman. After some little altercation, they changed horses, the king giving his hunter for the tanner’s cob, worth about four shillings; but as soon as the tanner mounted the king’s horse, it threw him, and the tanner gladly paid down a sum of money to get his old cob back again.

King Edward now blew his hunting-horn, and the courtiers gathered round him. “I _hope_ [_i.e._, _expect_] I shall be hanged for this,” cried the tanner; but the king, in merry pin, gave him the manor of Plumpton Park, with 300 marks a year.--Percy, _Reliques, etc._

=Tannhäuser= (_Sir_), called in German the _Ritter Tannhäuser_, a Teutonic knight, who wins the love of Lisaura, a Mantuan lady. Hilario, the philosopher, often converses with the Ritter on supernatural subjects, and promises that Venus herself shall be his mistress, if he will summon up his courage to enter Venusberg. Tannhäuser starts on the mysterious journey, and Lisaura, hearing thereof, kills herself. At Venusberg, the Ritter gives full swing to his pleasures, but in time returns to Mantua, and makes his confession to Pope Urban. His holiness says to him, “Man, you can no more hope for absolution, than this staff which I hold in my hand, can be expected to bud.” So Tannhäuser flees in despair from Rome, and returns to Venusberg. Meanwhile, the pope’s staff actually does sprout, and Urban sends in all directions for the Ritter, but he is nowhere to be found.

Tieck, in his _Phantasus_ (1812), introduces the story. Wagner (in 1845) brought out his great opera, called _Tannhäuser_. The companion of Tannhäuser was Eckhardt.

⁂ The tale of Tannhäuser is substantially the same as that of Thomas of Erceldoun, also called “Thomas the Rhymer,” who was so intimate with Faëry folk, that he could foretell what events would come to pass. He was also a bard, and wrote the famous lay of _Sir Tristrem_. The general belief is, that the seer is not dead, but has been simply removed from the land of the living to Faëry-land, whence occasionally he emerges, to busy himself with human affairs. Sir W. Scott has introduced the legend in _Castle Dangerous_, v. (See ERCELDOUN.)

=Tantalus=, for crimes the nature of which is uncertain, he was punished in the Inferno with insatiable hunger and thirst, placed up to his chin in water, which receded whenever he tried to drink, while tempting fruits grew near by, that drew back if he attempted to touch them. Hence, _tantalize_.--_Greek Mythology._

=Taouism=, the system of Taou, that invisible principle which pervades everything. Pope refers to this universal divine permeation in the well-known lines: it

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent. _Essay on Man_, i. (1733).

=Tapestered Chamber= (_The_), a tale by Sir W. Scott, laid in the reign of George III. There are but two characters introduced. General Browne goes on a visit to Lord Woodville, and sleeps in the “tapestered chamber,” which is haunted. He sees the “lady in the sacque,” describes her to Lord Woodville next morning, and recognizes her picture in the portrait gallery.

The back of this form was turned to me, and I could observe, from the shoulders and neck, it was that of an old woman, whose dress was an old-fashioned gown, which, I think, ladies call a sacque--that is, a sort of robe completely loose in the body, but gathered into broad plaits upon the neck and shoulders, which fall down to the ground, and terminate in a species of train.

=Tap´ley= (_Mark_), an honest, light-hearted young man, whose ambition was “to come out jolly” under the most unfavorable circumstances. Greatly attached to Martin Chuzzlewit, he leaves his comfortable situation at the Blue Dragon to accompany him to America, and in “Eden” has ample opportunities of “being jolly,” so far as wretchedness could make him so. On his return to England he marries Mrs. Lupin, and thus becomes landlord of the Blue Dragon.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_, xiii., xxi., etc. (1843).

Charles [_VII. of France_] was the Mark Tapley of kings, and bore himself with his usual “jollity” under this afflicting news. It was remarked of him that “no one could lose a kingdom with greater gaiety.”--Rev. J. White.

=Tappertit= (_Sim_, i.e., _Simon_), the apprentice of Gabriel Varden, locksmith. He was just 20 in years, but 200 in conceit. An old-fashioned, thin-faced, sleek-haired, sharp-nosed, small-eyed little fellow was Mr. Sim Tappertit, about five feet high, but thoroughly convinced in his own mind that he was both good looking and above the middle size, in fact, rather tall than otherwise. His figure, which was slender, he was proud of; and with his legs, which in knee-breeches were perfect curiosities of littleness, he was enraptured. He had also a secret notion that the power of his eye was irresistible, and he believed that he could subdue the haughtiest beauty “by eyeing her.” Of course Mr. Tappertit had an ambitious soul, and admired his master’s daughter, Dolly. He was captain of the secret society of “’Prentice Knights,” whose object was “vengeance against their tyrant masters.” After the Gordon riots, in which Tappertit took a leading part, he was found “burnt and bruised, with a gun-shot wound in his body and both his legs crushed into shapeless ugliness.” The cripple, by the locksmith’s aid, turned shoe-black under an archway near the Horse Guards, thrived in his vocation, and married the widow of a rag-and-bone collector. While an apprentice, Miss Miggs, the “protestant” shrewish servant of Mrs. Varden, cast an eye of hope on “Simmun;” but the conceited puppy pronounced her “decidedly scraggy,” and disregarded the soft impeachment.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841). (See SYLLI.)

=Tapwell= (_Timothy_), husband of Froth, put into business by Wellborn’s father, whose butler he was. When Wellborn was reduced to beggary, Timothy behaved most insolently to him; but as soon as he supposed he was about to marry the rich dowager, Lady Allworth, the rascal fawned on him like a whipped spaniel.--Massinger, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_ (1625).

=Tara= (_The Hill of_), in Meath, Ireland. Here the kings, the clergy, the princes and the bards used to assemble in a large hall, to consult on matters of public importance.

The harp that once thro’ Tara’s halls The soul of music shed, Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls As if that soul were fled. T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ (“The Harp that Once ...” 1814).

_Tara_ (_The Fes of_), the triennial convention established by Ollam Fodlah or Ollav Fola in B.C. 900, or 950. When business was over the princes banqueted together, each under his shield suspended by the chief herald on the wall, according to precedency. In the reign of Cormac, the palace of Tara was 900 feet square, and contained 150 apartments, and 150 dormitories, each for sixty sleepers. As many as 1000 guests were daily entertained in the hall.

=Tarpa= (_Spurius Metius_), a famous critic of the Augustan age. He sat in the temple of Apollo, with four colleagues, to judge the merit of theatrical pieces before they were produced in public.

He gives himself out for another Tarpa; decides boldly, and supports his opinions with loudness and obstinacy.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, xi. 10 (1735).

=Tarpe´ian Rock.= So called from Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, governor of the citadel on the Saturnian (_i.e._, Capitoline) Hill of Rome. The story is that the Sabines bargained with the Roman maid to open the gates to them, for the “ornaments on their arms.” As they passed through the gates they threw on her their shields, saying, “These are the ornaments we bear on our arms.” She was crushed to death, and buried on the Tarpeian Hill. Ever after, traitors were put to death by being hurled headlong from the hill-top.

Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast him. Shakespeare, _Coriolanus_, act iii. sc. 1 (1610).

⁂ G. Gilfillan, in his introduction to Longfellow’s poems, makes an erroneous allusion to the Roman traitress. He says Longfellow’s “ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine [_sic_] maid, have not crushed him.”

Louise Imogen Guiney has a poem entitled _Tarpeia_, beginning:

“Woe! lightly to part with one’s soul as the sea with its foam! Woe to Tarpeia, Tarpeia, daughter of Rome!” (1884).

=Tarquin=, a name of terror in Roman nurseries.

The nurse, to still her child, will tell my story, And fright her crying babe with Tarquin’s name. Shakespeare, _Rape of Lucrece_ (1594).

_Tarquin_ (_The Fall of_). The well-known Roman story of Sextus Tarquinius and Lucretia has been dramatized by various persons, as: N. Lee (1679); John Howard Payne, _Brutus_, or _The Fall of Tarquin_ (1820)--this is the tragedy in which Edmund Kean appeared with his son, Charles, at Glasgow, the father taking “Brutus” and the son “Titus.” Arnault produced a tragedy in French, entitled _Lucrèce_, in 1792; and Ponsard, in 1843. Alfieri has a tragedy called _Brutus_, on the same subject. It also forms indirectly the subject of one of the lays of Lord Macaulay, called _The Battle of the Lake Regillus_ (1842), a battle undertaken by the Sabines for the restoration of Tarquin, but in which the king and his two sons were left dead upon the field.

=Tarquinia=, wife of Titus, son of Brutus. Titus is one of the conspirators whose object is to bring back the Tarquins to Rome, and the sin against the state is palliated by his connection with the proscribed family. The unhappy son is condemned to death by his own father, and beheaded in his presence.--John Howard Payne, _Brutus_, a tragedy (1818).

=Tarquinius= (_Sextus_), having violated Lucretia, wife of Tarquinius Collatīnus, caused an insurrection in Rome, whereby the magistracy of kings was changed for that of consuls.

⁂ A parallel case is given in Spanish history: Roderick, the Goth, king of Spain, having violated Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, was the cause of Julian’s inviting over the Moors, who invaded Spain, drove Roderick from the throne, and the Gothic dynasty was set aside for ever.

=Tartaro=, the Basque Cyclops; of giant stature and cannibal habits, but not without a rough _bonhommie_. Intellectually very low in the scale, and invariably beaten in all contests with men. Galled in spirit by his ill success, the giant commits suicide. Tartaro, the son of a king, was made a monster out of punishment, and was never to lose his deformity till he married. One day he asked a girl to be his bride, and on being refused, sent her “a talking ring,” which talked without ceasing immediately she put it on; so she cut off her finger and threw it into a large pond, and there the Tartaro drowned himself.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_, 1-4 (1876).

In one of the Basque legends, Tartaro is represented as a Polyphēmos, whose one eye is bored out with spits made red hot by some seamen who had wandered inadvertently into his dwelling. Like Ulysses, the leader of these seamen made his escape by the aid of a ram, but with this difference--he did not, like Ulysses, cling to the ram’s belly, but fastened the ram’s bell round his neck and threw a sheep-skin over his shoulders. When Tartaro laid hold of the fugitive, the man escaped, leaving the sheep-skin in the giant’s hand.

=Tartar=, handsome, “eminently well-dressed” and vivacious cousin of the Crittendens, into whose family Phœbe has married. The country-bred bride conceives the fancy that the dashing belle is beloved of her (Phœbe’s) husband, and leaves him in consequence. Tartar, meanwhile, has long loved--as she believes--hopelessly, Peyton Edwards, a quietly-reserved young lawyer, whom she finally marries.--Mariam Coles Harris, _Phœbe_ (1884).

=Tartarin=, a Quixotic Frenchman whose life at home and whose adventures while travelling are related by Alphonse Daudet in _Tartarin of Tarascon_, _Tartarin on the Alps_, and _Port Tarascon_.

=Tartlet= (_Tim_), servant of Mrs. Pattypan, to whom also he is engaged to be married. He says, “I loves to see life, because vy, ’tis so agreeable.”--James Cobb, _The First Floor_, i. 2 (1756-1818).

=Tartuffe= (2 _syl._), the chief character and title of a comedy by Molière (1664). Tartuffe is a religious hypocrite and impostor who uses “religion” as the means of gaining money, covering deceit, and promoting self-indulgence. He is taken up by one Orgon, a man of property, who promises him his daughter in marriage, but his true character being exposed, he is not only turned out of the house, but is lodged in jail for felony.

Isaac Bickerstaff has adapted Molière’s comedy to the English stage, under the title of _The Hypocrite_ (1768). Tartuffe he calls “Dr. Cantwell,” and Orgon “Sir John Lambert.” It is thought that “Tartuffe” is a caricature of Père la Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV., who was very fond of truffles (French, _tartuffes_), and that this suggested the name to the dramatist.

=Tartuffe of the Revolution.= N. J. Pache is so called by Carlyle (1740-1823).

Swiss Pache sits sleek-headed, frugal, the wonder of his own ally for humility of mind.... Sit there Tartuffe, till wanted.--Carlyle.

=Tasnar=, an enchanter, who aided the rebel army arrayed against Misnar, sultan of Delhi. A female slave undertook to kill the enchanter, and went with the sultan’s sanction to carry out her promise. She presented herself to Tasnar and Ahu´bal, and presented papers which she said she had stolen. Tasnar, suspecting a trick, ordered her to be bow-strung, and then detected a dagger concealed about her person. Tasnar now put on the slave’s dress, and, transformed into her likeness, went to the sultan’s tent. The vizier commanded the supposed slave to prostrate “herself” before she approached the throne, and while prostrate he cut off “her” head. The sultan was angry, but the vizier replied, “This is not the slave, but the enchanter. Fearing this might occur, I gave the slave a pass-word, which this deceiver did not give, and was thus betrayed. So perish all the enemies of Mahomet and Misnar, his vicegerent upon earth!”--Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley], _Tales of the Genii_, vi. (1751).

=Tasso and Leonora.= When Tasso, the poet, lived in the court of Alfonso II., the reigning duke of Ferrara, he fell in love with Leonora d’Este (2 _syl._), the duke’s sister, but “she saw it not or viewed with disdain” his passion, and the poet, moneyless, fled half mad to Naples. After an absence of two years, in which the poet was almost starved to death by extreme poverty, his friends, together with Leonora, induced the duke to receive him back, but no sooner did he reach Ferrara than Alfonso sent him to an asylum, and there he was kept for seven years, when he was liberated by the instigation of the pope, but died soon afterwards (1544-1595).

=Taste=, a farce by Foote (1753), to expose the imposition of picture-dealers and sellers of virtu generally.

=Tati´nus=, a Greek who joined the crusaders with a force of 200 men armed with “crooked sabres” and bows. These Greeks, like the Parthians, were famous in retreat, but when a drought came they all sneaked off home.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xiii. (1575).

=Tatius= (_Achilles_), the acolyte, an officer in the Varangian guard.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Tatlanthe= (3 _syl._) the favorite of Fadladinida (queen of Queerummania and wife of Chrononhotonthologos). She extols the warlike deeds of the king, supposing the queen will feel flattered by her praises; and Fadladinida exclaims, “Art mad, Tatlonthe? Your talk’s distasteful.... You are too pertly lavish in his praise?” She then guesses that the queen loves another, and says to herself, “I see that I must tack about,” and happening to mention “the captive king,” Fadladinida exclaims, “That’s he! that’s he! that’s he! I’d die ten thousand deaths to set him free.” Ultimately, the queen promises marriage to both the captive king and Rigdum-Funnidos “to make matters easy.” Then, turning to her favorite, she says:

And now, Tatlanthe, thou art all my care; Where shall I find thee such another pair? Pity that you, who’ve served so long and well, Should die a virgin and lead apes in hell. Choose for yourself, dear girl, our empire round; Your portion is twelve hundred thousand pound. H. Carey, _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734).

=Tattle=, a man who ruins characters by innuendo, and so denies a scandal as to confirm it. He is a mixture of “lying, foppery, vanity, cowardice, bragging, licentiousness, and ugliness, but a professed beau” (act i.). Tattle is entrapped into marriage with Mrs. Frail.--Congreve, _Love for Love_ (1695).

⁂ “Mrs. Candour,” in Sheridan’s _School for Scandal_ (1777), is a Tattle in petticoats.

=Tattycoram=, a handsome girl, with lustrous dark hair and eyes, who dressed very neatly. She was taken from the Foundling Asylum (London) by Mr. Meagles to wait upon his daughter. She was called in the hospital Harriet Beadle. Harriet was first changed to Hatty, then to Tatty, and Coram was added because the Foundling stands in Coram street. She was most impulsively passionate, and when excited had no control over herself. Miss Wade enticed her away for a time, but afterwards she returned to her first friends.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857)

=Tawny= (_The_). Alexandre Bonvici´no, the historian, was called _Il Moretto_ (1514-1564).

=Taylor=, “the water-poet.” He wrote four score books, but never learnt “so much as the accidences” (1580-1654).

Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar, Once Swan of Thames, tho’ now he sings no more. Pope, _The Dunciad_, iii. 19 (1728).

_Taylor_ (_Dr. Chevalier John_). He called himself “Opthalminator, Pontificial, Imperial and Royal.” He died, 1767. Hogarth has introduced him in his famous picture, “The Undertaker’s Arms.” He is one of the three figures atop, to the left hand of the spectator; the other two are Mrs. Mapp and Dr. Ward.

=Teacher of Germany= (_The_), Philip Melancthon, the reformer (1497-1560).

=Teachwell= (_Mrs._), a pseudonym of Lady Ellinor Fenn, wife of Sir John Fenn, of East Dereham, Norfolk.

=Teague= (_1 syl._), an Irish lad, taken into the service of Colonel Careless, a royalist, whom he serves with exemplary fidelity. He is always blundering, and always brewing mischief, with the most innocent intentions. His bulls and blunders are amusing and characteristic.--Sir Robert Howard, _The Committee_ (1670), altered by T. Knight into _The Honest Thieves._

Who...has not a recollection of the incomparable Johnstone [_Irish Johnstone_] in “Teague,” picturesquely draped in his blanket, and pouring forth his exquisite humor and mellifluous brogue in equal measure.--Mrs. C. Mathews, _Tea Table Talk._

=Tearless Battle= (_The_), a battle fought B. C. 367, between the Lacedæmonians and the combined armies of the Arcadians and Argives (_2 syl._). Not one of the Spartans fell, so that, as Plutarch says, they called it “The Tearless Battle.”

⁂ Not one was killed in the Abyssinian expedition under Sir R. Napier (1867-8).

=Tears--Amber.= The tears shed by the sisters of Pha´ëton were converted into amber.--_Greek Fable._

According to Pliny (_Natural History_, xxxvii. 2, 11), amber is a concretion of birds’ tears, but the birds were the sisters of Meleāger, who never ceased weeping for his untimely death.

=Tearsheet= (_Doll_), a common courtezan.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ (1598).

=Teazle= (_Sir Peter_), a man who, in old age, married a country girl who proved extravagant, fond of pleasure, selfish and vain. Sir Peter was for ever nagging at her for her inferior birth and rustic ways, but secretly loving her and admiring her _naïveté_. He says to Rowley, “I am the sweetest-tempered man alive, and hate a teasing temper, and so I tell her ladyship a hundred times a day.”

_Lady Teazle_, a lively, innocent, country maiden, who married Sir Peter, old enough to be her grandfather. Planted in London in the whirl of the season, she formed a liaison with Joseph Surface, but, being saved from disgrace, repented and reformed.--R. B. Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).

=Teeth.= Rigord, an historian of the thirteenth century, tells that when Chosroës, the Persian, carried away the true cross discovered by St. Helĕna, the number of teeth in the human race was reduced. Before that time, Christians were furnished with thirty, and in some cases with thirty-two teeth, but since then no human being has had more than twenty-three teeth.--See _Historiens de France_, xviii.

⁂ The normal number of teeth is thirty-two still. This “historic fact” is of a piece with that which ascribes to woman one more rib than to man.

=Teetotal.= The origin of this word is ascribed to Richard (_Dicky_) Turner, who, in addressing a temperance meeting in September, 1833, reduplicated the word _total_ to give it emphasis: “We not only want _total_ abstinence, we want more, we want t-total abstinence.” The novelty and force of the expression took the meeting by storm.

It is not correct to ascribe the word to Mr. Swindlehurst, of Preston, who is erroneously said to have stuttered.

=Te´ian Muse=, Anacreon, born at Teïos, in Ionia, and called by Ovid (_Tristia_, ii. 364) Teïa Musa (B.C. 563-478).

The Scian and the Teian Muse ... [_Simonidês and Anacreon_] Have found the fame your shores refuse. Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 86 (“The Isles of Greece,” 1820).

⁂ Probably Byron meant Simonidês of Ceos. Horace (_Carmĭna_, ii. 1, 38) speaks of “Ceæ munera neniæ,” meaning Simonidês; but Scios, or Scio, properly means Chios, one of the seven places which laid claim to Homer. Both Ceos and Chios, are isles of Greece.

=Tei´lo= (_St._), a Welsh saint, who took an active part against the Pelagian heresy. When he died, three cities contended for his body, but happily the strife was ended by the multiplication of the dead body into three St. Teilos. Capgrave insists that the _ipsissime_ body was possessed by Llandaff.--_English Martyrology._

=Teirtu’s Harp=, which played of itself, merely by being asked to do so, and when desired to cease playing, did so.--_The Mabinogion_ (“Kilhwch and Olwen,” twelfth century).

St. Dunstan’s harp discoursed most enchanting music without being struck by any player.

The harp of the giant, in the tale of _Jack and the Bean-Stalk_, played of itself. In one of the old Welsh tales, the dwarf named Dewryn Fychan, stole from a giant a similar harp.

=Telamachus,= the only son of Ulysses and Penelŏpê. When Ulysses had been absent from home nearly twenty years, Telemachus went to Pylos and Sparta, to gain information about him. Nestor received him hospitably at Pylos, and sent him to Sparta, where Menelāus told him the prophecy of Proteus (2 _syl._), concerning Ulysses. He then returned home, where he found his father, and assisted him in slaying the suitors. Telemachus was accompanied in his voyage by the goddess of wisdom, under the form of Mentor, one of his father’s friends. (See TELEMAQUE.)--_Greek Fable._

=Télémaque= (_Les Aventures de_) a French prose epic, in twenty-four books, by Fénelon (1699). The first six books contain the story of the hero’s adventures, told to Calypso, as Ænēas told the story of the burning of Troy and his travels from Troy to Carthage to Queen Dido. Télémaque says to the goddess that he started with Mentor from Ithăca, in search of his father, who had been absent from home for nearly twenty years. He first went to inquire of old Nestor if he could give him any information on the subject, and Nestor told him to go to Sparta, and have an interview with Menelāus. On leaving Lacedæmonia, he was shipwrecked off the coast of Sicily, but was kindly treated by King Acestês, who furnished him with a ship to take him home (bk. i.). This ship fell into the hands of some Egyptians; he was parted from Mentor, and sent to feed sheep in Egypt. King Sesostris, conceiving a high opinion of the young man, would have sent him home, but died, and Télémaque was incarcerated by his successor in a dungeon overlooking the sea (bk. ii.). After a time he was released and sent to Tyre. Here he would have been put to death by Pygmalīon, had he not been rescued by Astarbê, the king’s mistress (bk. iii.). Again he embarked, reached Cyprus, and sailed thence to Crete. In this passage he saw Amphitrītê, the wife of the sea-god, in her magnificent chariot, drawn by sea-horses (bk. iv.). On landing in Crete, he was told the tale of King Idomĕneus (4 _syl._), who made a vow if he reached home in safety, after the siege of Troy, that he would offer in sacrifice the first living being that came to meet him. This happened to be his own son; but when Idomeneus proceeded to do according to his vow, the Cretans were so indignant that they drove him from the island. Being without a ruler, the islanders asked Télémaque to be their king (bk. v.). This he declined, but Mentor advised the Cretans to place the reigns of government in the hands of Aristodēmus. On leaving Crete, the vessel was again wrecked, and Télémaque, with Mentor, was cast on the island of Calypso (bk vi.). Here the narrative closes, and the rest of the story gives the several adventures of Télémaque from this point till he reaches Ithaca. Calypso, having fallen in love with the young prince, tried to detain him in her island, and even burnt the ship which Mentor had built to carry them home; but Mentor determined to quit the island, threw Télémaque from a crag into the sea, and then leaped in after him. They had now to swim for their lives, and they kept themselves afloat till they were picked up by some Tyrians (bk. vii.). The captain of the ship was very friendly to Télémaque, and promised to take him with his friend to Ithaca, but the pilot by mistake landed them on Salentum (bk. ix.). Here Télémaque, being told that his father was dead, determined to go down to the infernal regions to see him (bk. xviii.). In Hadês he was informed that Ulysses was still alive (bk. xix.). So he returned to the upper earth (bk. xxii.), embarked again, and this time reached Ithaca, where he found his father, and Mentor left him.

=Tell= (_William_), a famous chief of the confederates of the forest cantons of Switzerland, and son-in-law of Walter Furst. Having refused to salute the Austrian cap which Gessler, the Austrian governor, had set up in the market-place of Altorf, he was condemned to shoot an apple from the head of his own son. He succeeded in this perilous task, but letting fall a concealed arrow, was asked by Gessler with what object he had secreted it. “To kill thee, tyrant,” he replied, “if I had failed.” The governor now ordered him to be carried in chains across the Lake Lucerne to Küssnacht Castle, “there to be devoured alive by reptiles;” but, a violent storm having arisen on the lake, he was unchained, that he might take the helm. Gessler was on board, and when the vessel neared the castle, Tell leapt ashore, gave the boat a push into the lake, and shot the governor. After this he liberated his country from the Austrian yoke (1307).

This story of William Tell is told of a host of persons. For example: Egil, the brother of Wayland Smith, was commanded by King Nidung to shoot an apple from the head of his son. Egil, like Tell, took two arrows, and being asked why, replied, as Tell did to Gessler, “To shoot thee, tyrant, if I fail in my task.”

A similar story is told of Olaf and Eindridi, in Norway. King Olaf dared Eindridi to a trial of skill. An apple was placed on the head of Eindridi’s son, and the king shooting at it grazed the boy’s head, but the father carried off the apple clean. Eindridi had concealed an arrow to aim at the king, if the boy had been injured.

Another Norse tale is told of Hemingr and Harald, son of Sigurd (1066). After various trials of skill, Harald told Hemingr to shoot a nut from the head of Bjorn, his younger brother. In this he succeeded, not with an arrow, but with a spear.

A similar tale is related of Geyti, son of Aslak, and the same Harald. The place of trial was the Faroe Isles. In this case also it was a nut placed on the head of Bjorn.

Saxo Grammatĭcus tells nearly the same story of Toki, the Danish hero, and Harald; but in this trial of skill Toki killed Harald.--_Danorum Regum Heroumque Historia_ (1514).

Reginald Scot says that Puncher shot a penny placed on his son’s head, but made ready another arrow to slay the Duke Remgrave who had set him the task (1584).

⁂ It is said of Domitian, the Roman emperor, that if a boy held up his hands with the fingers spread, he could shoot eight arrows in succession through the spaces without touching one of the fingers.

William of Cloudesley, to show the king his skill in shooting, bound his eldest son to a stake, put an apple on his head, and, at the distance of 300 feet, cleft the apple in two without touching the boy.

I have a son is seven years old, He is to me full dear, I will hym tye to a stake ... And lay an apple upon his head, And go six score paces hym fro, And I myselfe with a broad arrow Will cleve the apple in two. Percy, _Reliques_.

Similar feats of skill are told of Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough.

In Altorf market-place, the spot is still pointed out where Tell shot the apple from his son’s head, and a plaster statue stands where the patriot stood when he took his aim.

See Roman fire in Hampden’s bosom swell, And fate and freedom in the shaft of Tell. Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, i. (1799).

⁂ The legend of William Tell has furnished Florian with the subject of a novel in French (1788); A. M. Lemierre with his tragedy of _Guillaume Tell_ (1766); Schiller with a tragedy in German, _Wilhelm Tell_ (1804); Knowles with a tragedy in English, _William Tell_ (1840); and Rossini with the opera of _Guglielmo Tell_, in Italian (1829).

=Tellus’s Son,= Antæos, son of Posei´don and Gê, a giant wrestler of Lib´ya, whose strength was irresistible so long as he touched his mother (_earth_). Herculês, knowing this, lifted him into the air, and crushed him to death. Near the town of Tingis, in Mauritania, is a hill in the shape of a man, called “The Hill of Antæos,” and said to be his tomb.

So some have feigned that Tellus’ giant son Drew many new-born lives from his dead mother; Another rose as soon as one was done, And twenty lost, yet still remained another. For when he fell and kissed the barren heath, His parent straight inspired successive breath, And tho’ herself was dead, yet ransomed him from death. Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, ix. (1633).

⁂ Similarly, Bernardo del Carpio lifted Orlando in his arms, and squeezed him to death, because his body was proof against any instrument of war.

=Temliha,= king of the serpents, in the island of serpents. King Temliha was “a small yellow serpent, of a glowing color,” with the gift of human speech, like the serpent which tempted Eve.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Aboutaleb,” 1743).

=Tem´ora=, the longest of the Ossianic prose-poems, in eight books. The subject is the dethronement of the kings of Connaught, and consolidation of the two Irish kingdoms in that of Ulster. It must be borne in mind that there were two colonies in Ireland--one the Fir-bolg, or British Belgæ, settled in the south, whose king was called the “lord of Atha,” from Atha, in Connaught, the seat of government; and the other the Cael, from Caledonia, in Scotland, whose seat of government was Temŏra, in Ulster. When Crothar was “lord of Atha,” he wished to unite the two kingdoms, and, with this view, carried off Conlāma, only child of the rival king, and married her. The Caledonians of Scotland interfered, and Conar, the brother of Fingal, was sent with an army against the usurper, conquered him, reduced the south to a tributary state, and restored, in his own person, the kingdom of Ulster. After a few years, Cormac II. (a minor) became king of Ulster and over-lord of Connaught. The Fir-bolg, seizing this opportunity of revolt, Cairbar, “lord of Atha,” threw off his subjection, and murdered the young king in his palace of Temora. Fingal interfered in behalf of the Caels; but no sooner had he landed in Ireland than Cairbar invited Oscar (Fingal’s grandson) to a banquet, picked a quarrel with him in the banquet hall, and both fell dead, each by the other’s hand. On the death of Cairbar, Faldath became leader of the Fir-bolg, but was slain by Fillan, son of Fingal. Fillan, in turn, was slain by Clathmor, brother of Cairbar. Fingal now took the lead of his army in person, slew Clathmor, reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, and placed on the throne Ferad-Artho, the only surviving descendant of Conar (first of the kings of Ulster of Caledonian race).

=Tempest= (_The_), a drama by Shakespeare (1609). Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, lived on a desert island, enchanted by Sycŏrax, who was dead. The only other inhabitants were Caliban, the son of Sycorax, a strange, misshapen thing, like a gorilla, and Ariel, a sprite, who had been imprisoned by Sycorax for twelve years in the rift of a pine tree, from which Prospero set him free. One day Prospero saw a ship off the island, and raised a tempest to wreck it. By this means his brother, Anthonio, Prince Ferdinand, and the king of Naples, were brought to the island. Now it must be known that Prospero was once duke of Milan; but his brother, Anthonio, aided by the king of Naples, had usurped the throne, and set Prospero and Miranda adrift in a small boat, which was wind-driven to this desert island. Ferdinand (son of the king of Naples) and Miranda fell in love with each other, and the rest of the shipwrecked party being brought together by Ariel, Anthonio asked forgiveness of his brother, Prospero was restored to his dukedom, and the whole party was conducted by Ariel with prosperous breezes back to Italy.

⁂ Dryden has a drama called _The Tempest_ (1668).

_Tempest_ (_The_), a sobriquet of Marshal Junot, one of Napoleon’s generals, noted for his martial impetuosity (1771-1813).

_Tempest_ (_The Hon. Mr._), late governor of Senegambia. He was the son of Lord Hurricane; impatient, irascible, headstrong, and poor. He says he never was in smooth water since he was born, for being only a younger son, his father gave him no education, taught him nothing, and then buffeted him for being a dunce.

First I was turned into the army; there I got broken bones and empty pockets. Then I was banished to the coast of Africa, to govern the savages of Senegambia.--Act ii. 1.

_Miss Emily_ [_Tempest_], daughter of Mr. Tempest; a great wit of very lively parts. Her father wanted her to marry Sir David Daw, a great lout with plenty of money, but she had fixed her heart on Captain Henry Woodville, the son of a man ruined by gambling. The prospect was not cheering, but Penruddock came forward, and by making them rich, made them happy.--Cumberland, _The Wheel of Fortune_ (1779).

_Tempest_ (_Lady Betty_), a lady with beauty, fortune and family, whose head was turned by plays and romances. She fancied a plain man no better than a fool, and resolved to marry only a gay, fashionable, dashing young spark. Having rejected many offers because the suitor did not come up to her ideal, she was gradually left in the cold. Now she is company only for aunts and cousins, in the ballroom is a wallflower, and in society generally esteemed a piece of fashionable lumber.--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxviii. (1759).

=Templars= (_Knight_), an order of knighthood founded in 1118, for the defence of the Temple in Jerusalem. Dissolved in 1312, and their lands, etc., transferred to the Hospitallers. They wore a _white_ robe with a _red_ cross; but the Hospitallers a _black_ robe with a _white_ cross.

=Temple= (_The_). When Solomon was dying, he prayed that he might remain standing till the Temple was completely finished. The prayer was granted, and he remained leaning on his staff till the Temple was finished, when the staff was gnawed through by a worm, and the dead body fell to the ground.--_Talmud Legend._

_Temple_ (_Launcelot_), the nom de plume of John Armstrong, the poet (1709-1779).

_Temple_ (_Elizabeth_), daughter of Judge Temple and the heroine of two stirring adventures, the first being an escape, by the intervention of Leather-Stocking, from a panther, the second from a forest-fire, the hunter again coming to her aid. She marries Oliver Effingham, whom she has known as Oliver Edwards.--J. F. Cooper, The Pioneers (1822).

=Templeton= (_Laurence_), the pseudonym under which Sir W. Scott published Ivanhoe. The preface is initialed L. T., and the dedication is to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust (1820).

=Tempy= (_Miss_), New England spinster, who kept her young, loving heart and through it, her young face, after all contemporaries were old. She had but one old quince-tree, but she tended it carefully every spring, “and would look at it so pleasant, and kind of _expect_ the thorny old thing into blooming.”

“She was just the same with folks!”--Sarah Orne Jewett, _Miss Tempy’s Watchers_ (1888).

=Tenantius=, the father of Cymbeline, and nephew of Cassibelan. He was the younger son of Lud, king of the southern part of Britain. On the death of Lud, his younger brother, Cassibelan, succeeded, and on the death of Cassibelan, the crown came to Tenantius, who refused to pay the tribute to Rome exacted from Cassibelan, on his defeat by Julius Cæsar.

=Tendo Achillis=, a strong sinew running along the heel to the calf of the leg. So called because it was the only vulnerable part of Achillês. The tale is that Thetis held him by the heel when she dipped him in the Styx, in consequence of which the water did not wet the child’s heel. The story is post-Homeric.

=Teniers= (_The English_), George Morland (1763-1804).

_Teniers_ (_The Scottish_), Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841).

=Teniers of Comedy= (_The_), Florent Carton Dancourt (1661-1726).

=Tennessee’s Partner=, camp-name for associate and co-worker with a dare-devil who runs away with the Partner’s wife, returns to camp without her, and is taken back amicably by the Partner. When Tennessee is tried for highway robbery the Partner offers “$1700 in coarse gold and a watch”--his whole fortune--to buy him off. The offer is refused; Tennessee is hanged. The Partner waits composedly, a little way from the gallows, with a mule and a cart. “When the gentlemen are done with the ‘diseased,’ he will take him.” “Ef thar is any present”--in his simple, serious way--“as would like to jine in the fun’l, they ken come.”--Bret Harte, _Tennessee’s Partner_ (1871).

=Tennis-Ball of Fortune= (_The_), Pertinax, the Roman emperor. He was first a charcoal-seller, then a schoolmaster, then a soldier, then an emperor; but within three months he was dethroned and murdered (126-193; reigned from January 1 to March 28, A.D. 193).

=Tent= (_Prince Ahmed’s_), a tent given to him by the fairy, Pari-Banou. It would cover a whole army, yet would fold up into so small a compass that it might be carried in one’s pocket.--_Arabian Nights._

Solomon’s carpet of green silk was large enough to afford standing room for a whole army, but might be carried about like a pocket-handkerchief.

The ship, _Skidbladnir_, would hold all the deities of Valhalla, but might be folded up like a roll of parchment.

Bayard, the horse of the four sons of Aymon, grew larger or smaller, as one or more of the four sons mounted on its back.--Villeneuve, _Les Quatre Filz Aymon_.

=Tents= (_The father of such as dwell in_), Jabal.--_Gen._ iv. 20.

=Terebin´thus=, Ephes-dammim, or Pasdammim.--_1 Sam._ xvii. 1.

O, thou that ’gainst Goliath’s impious head The youthful arms in Terebinthus sped, When the proud foe, who scoffed at Israel’s band, Fell by the weapon of a stripling hand. Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, viii. (1575).

=Terence of England= (_The_), Richard Cumberland (1732-1811).

Here Cumberland lies, having acted his parts; The Terence of England, the mender of hearts; A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are ... Say ... wherefore his characters, thus without fault, ... Quite sick of pursuing each troublesome elf, He grew lazy at last, and drew men from himself. Goldsmith, _Retaliation_ (1774).

=Tere´sa=, the female associate of Ferdinand, Count Fathom.--Smollett, _Count Fathom_ (1754).

=Teresa d´Acunha=, lady’s-maid of Joceline, countess of Glenallan.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Teresa Panza=, wife of Sancho Panza. In pt. I. i. 7 she is called Dame Juana [Gutierez]. In pt. II. iv. 7 she is called Maria [Gutierez]. In pt. I. iv. she is called Joan.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_ (1605-15).

=Tereus= [_Te´.ruse_], king of Daulis, and the husband of Procnê. Wishing afterwards to marry Philomēla, her sister, he told her that Procnê was dead. He lived with his new wife for a time, and then cut out her tongue, lest she should expose his falsehood to Procnê; but it was of no use, for Philomela made known her story in the embroidery of a peplus. Tereus rushed after Procnê with an axe, but the whole party were metamorphosed into birds. Tereus was changed into a hoopoo (some say a lapwing, and others an owl), Procnê into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale.

And the mute Silence hist along, ’Less Philomel will deign a song In her sweetest saddest plight, Smoothing the rugged brow of night. * * * * * * * * Sweet bird that shunn’st the noise of folly Most musical, most melancholy.

Milton, _Il Penseroso_.

In _Titus Andronĭcus_ the sons of Tamŏra, after defiling Lavinia, cut off her tongue and hands, but she wrote her tale in the sand with a staff held in her mouth and guided by her arms.

Fair Philomela, she but lost her tongue, And in a tedious sampler sewed her mind. But, lovely niece, that mean is cut from thee; A craftier Tereus, cousin, hast thou met, And he hath cut those pretty fingers off, That could have better sewed than Philomel.