Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 2 (part 4)

Julius (St.) a British martyr of Caerleon or the City of Legions (Newport, in South Wales). He was torn limb from limb by Maximia´nus Herculius, general of the army of Diocle´tian, in Britain. Two churches were founded in the City of Legions, one in honor of St Julius, and one in honor of St. Aaron, his fellow-martyr.

... two other ... sealed their doctrine with their blood;
St. Julius, and with him St. Aaron, have their room.
At Carleon, suffering death by Diocletian’s doom,
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv (1622).

Jumps (Jemmy), in The Farmer. One of the famous parts of Jos. Munden (1758-1832).

June.

“Under some old apple-tree
Jes’ a-restin’ through and through,
I could git along without
Nothin’ else at all to do,
Only jest a wishin’ you
Was a-gitten’ there like me,
And June was Eternity?”
James Whitcomb, Knee-deep in June (1888).

June.

“What is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays.”
James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal.

Juno’s Birds. Juno is represented in works of art as drawn through fields of air by a pair of peacocks harnessed to her chariot.

Jupe (Signor), clown in Sleary’s circus, passionately attached to his daughter Cecilia. Signor Jupe leaves the circus suddenly, because he is hissed, and is never heard of more.

Cecilia Jupe, daughter of the clown. After the mysterious disappearance of her father, she is adopted and educated by Thomas Gradgrind, Esq., M.P.—C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854).

Just (The).

Aristi´des, the Athenian (died B.C. 468).

Ba´haram, called Shah endeb (“the just king”). He was the fifth of the Sassan´idês (276-296).

Cassimir II. of Poland (1117, 1177-1194).

Ferdinand I. of Arragon (1373, 1412-1416).

Haroun-al-Raschid (“the just”), the greatest of the Abbasside caliphs (765, 786-808).

James II. of Arragon (1261, 1285-1326).

Khosru or Chosroes I., called by the Arabs Molk al Adel (“the just king”). He was the twenty-first of the Sassanidês (*, 531-579).

Moran, counsellor of Feredach, an early king of Ireland.

Pedro I. of Portugal (1320, 1357-1367).

Justin´ian (The English), Edward I. (1239, 1272-1307).

Ju´venal (The English), John Oldham (1653-1683.)

Juvenal (The Young). [Dr.] Thomas Lodge is so called by Robert Green (1555-1625).—A Groat’sworth of Wit, bought with a Million of Repentance.

Ju´venal of Painters (The), William Hogarth (1697-1794).

J’y suis et j’y reste (“Here am I placed, and here I mean to remain”). This was said by Marshal de MacMahon, and shows the character of the marshal-president of the French better than a volume (1877). But he resigned in 1879.

Kail, a prince of Ad, sent to Mecca to pray for rain. Three clouds appeared, a white one, a red one, and a black one, and Kail was bidden to make his choice. He chose the last, but when the cloud burst, instead of rain it cast out lightning, which killed him.—Sale, Al Korân, vii. note.

Kail´yal (2 syl.), the lovely and holy daughter of Ladur´lad, persecuted relentlessly by Ar´valan; but virtue and chastity, in the person of Kailyal, always triumphed over sin and lust. When Arvalan “in the flesh” attemped to dishonor Kailyal, he was slain by Ladurlad; but he then continued his attacks “out of the flesh.” Thus, when Kailyal was taken to the Bower of Bliss by a benevolent spirit, Arvalan borrowed the dragon-car of the witch Lor´rimite (3 syl.) to drag him thence; the dragons, however, unable to mount to paradise, landed him in a region of thick-ribbed ice. Again, Kailyal, being obliged to quit the Bower, was made the bride of Jaga-naut, and when Arvalan presented himself before her again, she set fire to the pagoda, and was carried from the flames by her father, who was charmed from fire as well as water. Lastly, while waiting for her father’s return from the submerged city, whither he had gone to release Ereen´ia (3 syl.), Arvalan once more appeared, but was seized by Baly, the governor of hell, and cast into the bottomless pit. Having descended to hell, Kailyal quaffed the water of immortality, and was taken by Ereenia to his Bower of Bliss, to dwell with him forever in endless joy.—Southey, Curse of Kehama (1809).

Kaimes (Lord), one of the two judges in Peter Peebles’s lawsuit.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Kalas´rade (3 syl.), the virtuous wife of Sadak, persecuted by the Sultan Am´urath. (See Sadak).—Ridley, Tales of the Genii, xi. (1751).

Kaled, Gulnare (2 syl.), disguised as a page, in the service of Lara. After Lara is shot, she haunts the spot of his death as a crazed woman, and dies at length of a broken heart.

Light was his form, and darkly delicate
That brow whereon his native sun had sate ...
And the wild sparkle of his eye seemed caught
From high, and lightened with electric thought;
Tho’ its black orb those long low lashes’ fringe
Had tempered with a melancholy tinge.
Byron, Lara (1814).

Kalemberg (The curé of), a recueil of facetiæ. The escapades of a young student made a chaplain in the Austrian court. He sets at defiance and torments every one he encounters, and ends in being court fool to Otho the Gay, grandson of Rudolf of Hapsburg.—German Poem (fifteenth century).

Kalyb, “the Lady of the Woods,” who stole St. George from his nurse, brought him up as her own child, and endowed him with gifts. St. George enclosed her in a rock, where she was torn to pieces by spirits. Johnson.—Seven Champions of Christendom, i. (1617).

Kâ´ma, the Hindû god of love. He rides on a sparrow, the symbol of lust; holds in his hand a bow of sugar-cane strung with bees; and has five arrows, one for each of the five senses.

Kanchen. In Overland through Asia Thomas Wallace Knox gives a thrilling story of a wolf-hunt with his host, Kanchen. Ivan, a servant, attended them, and a live pig was fastened to the back of the sledge as a bait. Instead of a single wolf a large pack was drawn by the squealing of the pig, which was cut loose and left in the road by Kanchen’s order. The race for life was interrupted by an upset that threw the servant out. Kanchen and his guest kept hold of the sledge and left him to his fate. It was the only hope of life. The master’s hair turned gray that night, and he lived ever afterward in seclusion (1870).

Karûn, son of Yeshar and Izhar, uncle of Moses, the most beautiful and wealthy of all the Israelites.

Riches of Karûn, an Arabic and Jewish proverb. The Jews say that Karûn had a large palace, the doors of which were of solid gold.—Sale, Korân, xxviii.

⁂ This Karûn is the Korah of the Pentateuch.

Kate [Plowden], niece of Colonel Howard of New York, in love with Lieutenant Barnstable, of the British navy, but promised by the colonel in marriage to Captain Boroughcliff, a vulgar, conceited Yankee. Ultimately, it is discovered that Barnstable is the colonel’s son, and the marriage is arranged amicably between Barnstable and Kate.—E. Fitzball, The Pilot.

Kate Lancaster. Charming hostess of the Brandon house, a legacy from her name-aunt. She chooses her dearest girl friend for her companion, and the two go down from Boston to spend the summer in the seaside town.—Sara Orne Jewett, Deephaven (1877).

Kath´arina, the elder daughter of Baptista, of Padua. She was of such an ungovernable spirit and fiery temper, that she was nicknamed “The Shrew.” As it was very unlikely any gentleman would select such a spitfire for his wife, Baptista made a vow that his younger daughter, Bianca, should not be allowed to marry before her sister. Petruchio married Katharina and tamed her into a most submissive wife, insomuch that when she visited her father a bet was made by Petruchio and two other bridegrooms on their three brides. First Lucentio sent a servant to Bianca to desire her to come into the room; but Bianca sent word that she was busy. Hortensio next sent the servant “to entreat” his bride to come to him; but she replied that Hortensio had better come to her if he wanted her. Petruchio said to the servant, “Tell your mistress I command her to come to me at once;” she came at once, and Petruchio won the bet.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).

Katharine, a lady in attendance on the princess of France. Dumain, a young lord in the suite of Ferdinand, king of Navarre, asks her hand in marriage, and she replies:

A twelvemonth and a day
I’ll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say.
Come then ...
And if I have much love, I’ll give you some.
Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost (1594).

Katharine (Queen), the divorced wife of Henry VIII. Shakespeare, Henry VIII. (1601).

The following actresses are celebrated for their impersonations of this character:—Mrs. Pritchard (1711-1768); Margaret [Peg] Woffington (1718-1760); Mrs. Siddons (1755-1831); Mrs. Barley (1785-1850).

Katharine de Medici of China, Voochee, widow of King Tae-tsông. She was most imperious and cruel, but her energy was irresistible (684-705).

Katin´ka, a Georgian, “white and red, with great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm, and feet so small they scarce seemed made to tread, but rather skim the earth.” She was one of the three beauties of the harem, into which Don Juan was admitted in female disguise. The other two were Lolah and Dudù.—Byron, Don Juan, vi. 40, 41 (1824).

Katmîr´, the dog of the seven sleepers. It spoke with a human voice, and said to the young men who wanted to drive it out of the cave, “I love those who love God. Go to sleep, masters, and I will keep guard.” The dog kept guard over them for 309 years, and neither slept nor ate. At death it was taken up into paradise.—Sale, Al Korân, xviii. notes.

⁂ Katmîr, in the Oriental Tales, is called “Catnier.”

He wouldn’t give a bone to Katmîr, or He wouldn’t throw a bone to the dog of the seven sleepers, an Arabic proverb, applied to a very niggardly man.

Kay (Sir), son of Sir Ector, and foster-brother of Prince Arthur, who made him his seneschal or steward. Sir Kay was ill-tempered, mean-spirited, boastful, and overbearing. He had not strength of mind enough to be a villain like Hagen, nor strength of passion enough to be a traitor like Ganelon and Mordred; but he could detract and calumniate, could be envious and spiteful, could annoy and irritate. His wit consisted in giving nicknames: Thus he called young Gareth “Big Hands”(Beaumains), “because his hands were the largest that ever anyone had seen.” He called Sir Brewnor “The Shocking Bad Coat”(La Cote Male-tailé), because his doublet fitted him so badly, and was full of sword-cuts.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 3, 4, 120, etc. (1470). (See Key).

Kayward, the name of the hare in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498).

Kecksey, a wheezy old wittol, who pretends to like a termagant wife who can flirt with other men—ugh, ugh!—he loves high spirits—ugh, ugh!—and to see his wife—ugh, ugh! happy and scampering about—ugh, ugh!—to theatres and balls—ugh, ugh!—he likes to hear her laugh—ugh, ugh!—and enjoy herself—ugh, ugh! Oh! this troublesome cough!—ugh, ugh!—Garrick, The Irish Widow (1757).

Ke´derli, the St. George of Mohammedan mythology. Like St. George, he slew a monstrous dragon to save a damsel exposed to its fury, and, having drunk of the water of life, rode through the world to aid those who were oppressed.

Keelavine (Mr.), a painter at the Spa hotel—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Keenan’s Charge at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, where part of a cavalry regiment, barely 300 in number, held 10,000 men in check until the last cavalry man fell, deserves to rank with the Charge of the Six Hundred, and the fight at Thermopylæ.

It is the theme of a poem by George Parsons Lathrop.

“As Keenan fought with his men side by side,
So they rode ’till there were no more to ride,
But over them lying-there, shattered and mute
What deep echo rolls? ’Tis a death salute
From the cannon in place; for heroes ye braved
Your fate not in vain; the army was saved.”
Keenan’s Charge (1881).

Keene (Abel), a village schoolmaster, afterwards a merchant’s clerk. Being led astray, he lost his place and hanged himself.—Crabbe, Borough, xxi. (1810).

Keepers, of Piers Plowman’s visions, the Malvern Hills. Piers Plowman (W. or R. Langland, 1362) supposes himself fallen asleep on the Malvern Hills, and in his dream he sees various visions of an allegorical character pass before him. These “visions” he put into poetry, the whole containing 15,000 verses, divided into twenty parts, each part being called a passus or separate vision.

Keepers of Piers Plowman’s vision, thro’ the sunshine and the snow.
Mrs. Browning, The Lost Bower.

Keha´ma, the almighty rajah of earth, and all-powerful in Swerga, or heaven. After a long tyranny, he went to Pan´dalon (hell) to claim domination there also. Kehama demanded why the throne of Yamen (or Pluto) was supported by only three persons, and was told that he himself must be the fourth. He paid no heed to this prophecy, but commanded the amreeta-cup or draught of immortality to be brought to him, that he might quaff it and reign forever. Now there are two immortalities: the immortality of life for the good, and the immortality of death for the wicked. When Kehama drank the amreeta, he drank immortal death, and was forced to bend his proud neck beneath the throne of Yamen, to become the fourth supporter.—Southey, Curse of Kehama (1809).

⁂ Ladurlad was the person subjected to the “curse of Kehama,” and under that name the story will be found.

Keltie (Old), innkeeper at Kinross.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Kempfer-Hausen, Robert Pearce Gillies, one of the speakers in the “Noctês Ambrosianæ.”—Blackwood’s Magazine.

Kendah, an Arabian tribe, which used to bury alive their female children as soon as they were born. The Korân refers to them in ch. vi.

Kenge (1 syl.), of the firm of Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn, generally called “Conversation Kenge,” loving above all things to hear “the dulcet tones of his own voice.” The firm is engaged on the side of Mr Jarndyce, in the great Chancery suit of “Jarndyce v. Jarndyce.”—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).

Kenelm (St.) was murdered at Clente-in-Cowbage, near Winchelcumb, in Gloucestershire; but the murder “was miraculously notified at Rome by a white dove,” which alighted on the altar of St. Peter’s, bearing in his beak a scroll with these words:

In Clent cow-pasture under a thorn,
Of head bereft, lies Kenelm king-born.
Roger de Wendover, Chronicles (died 1237).

Kenilworth, a novel by Sir W. Scott (1821). For interest it comes next to Ivanhoe, and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth is life-like and correct. That of Queen Mary is given in The Abbot. The novel is full of courtly gaieties and splendor, but contains the unhappy tale of the beautiful Amy Robsart, which cannot fail to excite our sympathy and pity.

Kenna, daughter ofof King Obĕron, who fell in love with Albion, son of the island king. Obĕron drove the prince from his empire, and when Albion made war on the fairy king, he was slain. Kenna then poured the juice of mōly over him, and the dead body was converted into a snowdrop. According to this fable, “Kensington Gardens” is a corruption of Kenna’s-town-garden.—Tickell, Kensington Garden (died 1740).

Kennedy (Frank), an excise officer, who shows Mr. G. Godfrey Bertram, the laird of Ellangowan (magistrate), the smuggler’s vessel chased by a war sloop. The smugglers afterwards murder him.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Kenneth (Sir), “Knight of the Leoppard,” a disguise assumed by David, earl of Huntingdon, prince royal of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Kenneth (Kincaid), promising architect, with his way to make in the world. He marries pretty, engaging Rosamond Holabird.—A.D.T. Whitney, The Other Girls.

Kenrick (Felix), the old foster-father of Caroline Dormer. His wife Judith was her nurse. Kenrick, an Irishman, clings to his mistress in all her misfortunes, and proves himself a most attached, disinterested, and faithful old servant.—G. Colman, The Heir-at-Law (1797).

Kensington, according to Tickell’s fables, is so called from the fairy Kenna, daughter of King Obĕron. The tale is that Prince Albion was stolen by Milkah, the fairy, and carried to Kensington. When 19 years old, he fell in love with Kenna; but Obĕron was so angry at this engagement, that he drove Albion out of the garden, and compelled Kenna to marry Azuriel, a fairy from Holland Park. Albion laid his complaint before Neptune, who sent Oriel with a fairy army against Oberon. In this battle Albion was slain, and Neptune, in revenge, utterly destroyed the whole empire. The fairies, being dispersed, betook themselves to the hills and dales, the caves and mines. Kenna poured juice of the herb mōly over the dead body of Albion, and the unhappy prince was changed thus into a snowdrop.—Tickell, Kensington Garden (died 1740).

Kent. According to fable, Kent is so called from Can´ute, one of the companions of Brute the Trojan wanderer, who, according to Geoffrey’s British History, settled in England, and founded a dynasty of kings. Canute had that part of the island assigned to him which was called Canutium, contracted into Can´tium, and again into Cant or Kent.

But Canute had his portion from the rest,
The which he called Canutium, for his hire,
New Cantium, which Kent we commonly inquire.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, II. x. 12 (1590).

Kent (earl of), under the assumed name of Caius, attended upon the old King Lear, when his two elder daughters refused to entertain him with his suite. He afterwards took him to Dover Castle. When the old king was dying, he could not be made to understand how Caius and Kent could be the same person.—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).

Kent (The Fair Maid of), Joan, only daughter of Edmund Plantaganet, earl of Kent. She married thrice: (1) William de Montacute, earl of Salisbury, from whom she was divorced; (2) Sir Thomas Holland; and (3) her second cousin, Edward, the Black Prince, by whom she became the mother of Richard II.

Kent (Margaret), a handsome, proud woman, whose husband deserts her and lives in South America with a mistress, leaving her to support herself and child. He comes back poor and not penitent, and she considers it her duty to live with and to support him, although while she was believed by most of her acquaintances to be a widow she was beloved and wooed by Dr. Walton, a man worthy of her.

Robert Kent, the husband, is a queer compound of fascinating and repulsive traits. He takes his wife’s hard-earned money as his due, and cajoles his little girl into giving “poor papa” the contents of her savings bank.—Ellen Olney Kirke, The Story of Margaret Kent (1886.).

Kenwigs (Mr.), a turner in ivory, and “a monstrous genteel man.” He toadies Mr. Lillyvick, his wife’s uncle, from whom he has “expectations.”

Mrs. Kenwigs, wife of the above, considered “quite a lady,” as she has an uncle who collects the water-rates, and sends her daughter Morleena to a day school.

The Misses Kenwigs, pupils of Nicholas Nickleby, remarkable for wearing their hair in long braided tails down their backs, the ends being tied with bright ribbons.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Kera Kahn, a gallant and generous Tartar chief in a war between the Poles and the Tartans.—J. P. Kemble, Lodoiska (a melodrama).

Kerns, light-armed Irish foot-soldiers. The word (Kigheyren) means “a hell shower;” so called because they were hellrakes or the “devil’s black-guard.” (See Gallowglasses).—Stanihurst, Description of Ireland, viii. 28.

Kesche´tiouch, the shepherd who joined the six Greek slaves of Ephesus, and was one of the “seven sleepers.”

Keschetiouch’s Dog, Catnier, called by Sale, in his notes to the Korân, “Katmîr.”—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (“History of Dakinos,” 1743).

Kettledrummle (Gabriel), a covenanter preacher.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Kevin (St.), a young man who went to live on a solitary rock at Glendalough, in Wicklow. This he did to flee from Kath´leen, who loved him, and whose eyes he feared his heart would not be able to resist. Kathleen tracked him, and while he slept “bent over him;” but, starting from his sleep, the “holy man” cast the girl from the rock into the sea, which her ghost haunted amidst the sounds of sweet music.—T. Moore, Irish Melodies, iv. (“By that Lake....” 1814).

Kew (Mrs.), wife of the lighthouse keeper at Deephaven.—Sara Orne Jewett, Deephaven (1877).

Key (Sir), son of Sir Ector, the foster-father of Prince Arthur. He was Arthur’s seneschal, and is represented as rude and boastful. Sir Gaw´ain is the type of courtesy, Sir Launcelot of chivalry, Sir Mordred of treachery, Sir Galahad of chastitychastity, Sir Mark of cowardice. (See Kay.)

Keyne [Keen] or St. Keyna, daughter of Braga´nus, prince of Garthmatrin or Brecon, called “Keyna, the Virgin.” Her sister Melaria was the mother of St. David. Many nobles sought her in marriage, but she refused them all, being resolved to live and die a virgin. She retired to a spot near the Severn, which abounded with serpents, but at her prayer they were all turned into Ammonites, and “abide to this day.” Subsequently she removed to Mount St. Michael, and by her prayer a spring of healing waters burst out of the earth, and whoever drinks first of this water after marriage will become the dominant house-power. “Now,” says Southey, “a Cornishman took his bride to church, and the moment the ring was on ran up to the mount to drink of the mystic water. Down he came in full glee to tell his bride; but the bride said, ‘My good man, I brought a bottle of the water to church with me, and drank of it before you started.’”—Southey, The Well of St. Keyne (1798).

Khadijah, daughter of Khowailed; Mahomet’s first wife, and one of the four perfect women. There other three are Fatima, the prophet’s daughter; Mary, daughter of Imrân; and Asia, wife of the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea.

Khawla, one of the sorceresses in the caves of Dom-Daniel, “under the roots of the ocean.” She is called “the woman-fiend,” “fiercest of the enchanter brood.” She had heard that one of the race of Hodei´rah (3 syl.) would be their destruction, so Okba was sent forth to cut off the whole race. He succeeded in killing eight, but one named Thal´aba escaped. Abdaldar was chosen to hunt him up and kill him. He found the boy in an Arab’s tent, and raised the dagger, but ere the blow fell, the murderer himself was killed by the death-angel.—Southey, Thalaba, the Destroyer (1797).

Khid´ir or Chidder, the tutelary god of voyagers; his brother Elias is the tutelary god of travellers. The two brothers meet once a year at Mina, near Mecca.—Mouradgea d’Ohsson, History of the Ottoman Empire (1821).

Khorassan (The Veiled Prophet of), Mokanna, a prophet-chief, who wore a veil under pretence of shading the dazzling light of his countenance. The truth is, he had lost an eye, and his face was otherwise disfigured in battle. Mokanna assumed to be a god, and maintained that he had been Adam, Noah, and other representative men. When the Sultan Mahadi environed him so that escape was impossible, the prophet poisoned all his followers at a banquet, and then threw himself into a burning acid, which wholly consumed his body.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (“The Veiled Prophet, etc.,” 1817).

Kifri, a giant and enchanter, the impersonation of atheism and blasphemy. After some frightful blasphemies, he hurls into the air a huge rock, which falls on himself and kills him, “for self-murderers are generally infidels or atheists.”—Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley], Tales of the Genii (“The Enchanter’s Tale,” vi., 1751).

Kildare (2 syl.), famous for the fire of St. Bridget, which was never allowed to go out. St. Bridget returns every twentieth year to tend to the fire herself. Part of the chapel of St. Bridget still remains, and is called “The Fire-house.”

Like the bright lamp that shone in Kildare’s holy fane,
And burned through long ages of darkness and storm.
T.Moore, Irish Melodies, iii. (“Erin, O Erin!” 1814).

Apud Kildariam occurrit ignis Sanctæ Brigidæ quern inextinguebilem vocant.—Giraldus Cambrensis, Hibernia, ii. 34 (1187).

Kilderkin (Ned), keeper of an eating-house at Greenwich.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Kilian (St.), an Irish missionary who suffered martyrdom at Würzburg, in 689. A cathedral was erected to his memory in the eighth century.

Kilian of Kersberg, the squire of Sir Archibald von Hagenbach.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Killing no Murder. Carpentier de Marigny, the enemy of Mazarin, issued, in 1658, a tract entitled Tuer un Tyran n’est par un Crime.

Sexby wrote a tract entitled Killing no Murder, generally thought to have been the production of William Allan. The object of the book was to show that it would be no crime to murder Cromwell.

Kilmansegg (Miss), an heiress with great expectations, and an artificial leg of solid gold.—Thomas Hood, A Golden Legend (1828).

King, a title of sovereignty or honor. At one time, crown tenants were called kings or dukes, at the option of the sovereign; thus, Frederick Barbarossa made one of his brothers a king-vassal, and another a duke-vassal, simply by the investiture of a sword. In English history, the lord of Man was styled “king;” so was the lord of the Isle of Wight, and the lord of Connaught, as clearly appears in the grants of John and Henry III. Several examples might be quoted of earls conferring the title of “king” on their vassals.—See Selden’s Titles of Honor, iii. (1614).

King (Arthur). See Arthur.

King (Like a). When Porus, the Indian prince, was taken prisoner, Alexander asked him how he expected to be treated. “Like a king,” he replied; and Alexander made him his friend.

King (The Factory), Richard Oastler, of Bradford, the successful advocate of the “Ten Hours Bill” (1789-1861).

King (The Railway), George Hudson; so called by the Rev. Sydney Smith (1800-1871).

King (The Red), the king of Persia; so called from his red turban.

Credo ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis Rubeum Caput vocant, ita reges Moscoviæ, propter alba tegumenta Albos Reges appellari.—Sigismund.

King (The Snow), Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, killed in the “Thirty Years’ War” at the battle of Lützen, 1632.

In Vienna he was called “The Snow King” in derision. Like a snow-ball, he was kept together by the cold, but as he approached a warmer soil he melted away and disappeared.—Dr. Crichton, Scandinavia, ii. 61 (1838).

King (The White). The ancient kings of Muscovy were so called from the white robe which they used to wear. Solomon wore a white robe; hence our Lord, speaking of the lilies of the field, says that “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke xii. 27).

Principem Moscoviæ Album Regem nuncupant.... Credo ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis Rubeum Caput vocant, ita reges Moscoviæ, propter alba tegumenta Albos Reges appellari.—Sigismund.

⁂ Another explanation may be suggested; Muscovy was called “White Russia,” as Poland was called “Black Russia.”

King (Tom), “the choice spirit of the day for a quiz, a hoax, a joke, a jest, a song, a dance, a race, or a row. A jolly dog, a rare blood, a prime buck, rum soul, and funny fellow.” He drives M. Morbleu, a French barber, living in the Seven Dials, London, almost out of his senses by inquiring over and over again for Mr. Thompson.—Moncrieff, Mon. Tonson.

(There is a Mon. Tonson by Taylor, 1768).

King (surnamed the Affable), Charles VIII. of France (1470, 1483-1498).

King (surnamed the Amorous), Philippe I. of France (1052, 1060-1108).

King (surnamed Augustus), Philippe II. of France. So called because he was born in August (1165, 1180-1223).

Sigismund II. of Poland; born in the month of August (1520, 1548-1572).

King (surnamed the Avenger), Alphonso XI. of Leon and Castile (1310, 1327-1350).

King (surnamed the Bad), Charles II. of Navarre (1332, 1349-1387).

William I. of the Two Sicilies (*, 1154-1166).

King (surnamed the Bald), Charles I., la Chauve of France (823, 875-877).

King (surnamed Barbarossa or Red Beard), Frederick II. of Germany (1121, 1152-1190).

King (surnamed the Battler), Alphonso I. of Aragon (*, 1104-1135).

King (surnamed the Bearded), Baldwin IV., earl of Flanders, The Handsome Beard (1160-1186).

Constantine IV. Pogonātus, emperor of Rome (648, 668-685).

King (surnamed Beauclerk), Henry I. of England (1068, 1100-1135).

King (surnamed the Bellicose), Henri II. le Belliqueux (1519, 1547-1559).

King (surnamed the Black), Heinrich III. of Germany (1017, 1046-1056).

King (surnamed the Bold), Boleslaus II. of Poland (1042, 1058-1090).

King (surnamed Bomba), Ferdinand II. of the Two Sicilies (1751, 1759-1825).

Francis II., Bombalīno (1860).

King (surnamed the Brave), Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castile (1030, 1065-1109).

Alphonso IV. of Portugal (1290, 1324-1357).

King (surnamed the Catholic), Alphonso I. of Asturias (693, 739-757).

Ferdinand II. of Aragon (1452, 1474-1516).

Isabella, queen of Castile (1450, 1474-1504).

King (surnamed the Ceremonious), Peter IV. of Aragon (1317, 1336-1387).

King (surnamed the Chaste), Alphonso II. of Leon, etc. (758, 791-842).

King (surnamed the Confessor), Edward the Confessor, of England (1004, 1042-1066).

King (surnamed the Conqueror), Alexander the Great, Conqueror of the World (B.C. 356, 336-323).

Alphonso of Portugal (1094, 1137-1185).

Aurungzebe the Great, Alemgir, the Great Mogul (1618, 1659-1707).

Francisco Pizarro, Conquistador, of Peru (1475-1541).

James I. of Aragon (1206, 1213-1276).

Othman or Osman I. of Turkey (1259, 1299-1326).

William I. of England (1027, 1066-1087).

King (surnamed the Cruel), Pedro of Castile (1334, 1359-1360).

Pedro of Portugal (1320, 1357-1367).

King (surnamed the Desired), Louis XVIII. of France (1755, 1814-1824).

King (surnamed the Fair), Charles IV. (1294, 1322-1326).

Philippe IV. le Bel, of France (1268, 1285-1314).

King (surnamed the Fat), Alphonso II. of Portugal (1185, 1212-1223).

Charles III. of France (832, 884-888).

Louis VI., le Gros, of France (1078, 1108-1137).

Olaus II. of Norway (992, 1000-1030).

King (surnamed the Father of Letters), François I. of France (1494, 1515-1547).

King (surnamed the Father of His People), Louis XII. of France (1462, 1498-1515).

Christian III. of Denmark (1502, 1534-1559).

King (surnamed the Fearless), John, duke of Burgundy, Sanspeur (1371-1419). Richard I., Sanspeur, duke of Normandy (932, 942-996).

King (surnamed the Fierce), Alexander I. of Scotland (*, 1107-1124).

King (surnamed the Gallant), an Italian, Re Galantuomo, Victor Emmanuel of Italy (1820, 1849-1878).

King (surnamed the Good), Alphonso VIII. of Leon and Castile (1155, 1158-1214).

John II. of France, le Bon (1319, 1350-1364).

John III., duke of Brittany (1286, 1312-1341).

John V. duke of Brittany (1388, 1399-1442).

Philippe III., le Bon, duke of Burgundy (1396, 1419, 1467).

Réné, titular king of Naples (1409-1452).

Richard II., duke of Normandy (*, 996-1026.)

William II. of the Two Sicilies (*, 1166-1189).

King (surnamed the great), Abbas I. of Persia (1557, 1585-1628).

Alexander of Macedon (B.C. 356, 340-323).

Alfred of England (849, 871-901).

Alphonso III. of Asturias, etc. (848, 866-912).

Alphonso V., count of Savoy (1249, 1285-1323).

Boleslaus I. of Poland (*, 992-1025).

Canute of England (995, 1014-1035).

Casimir III. of Poland (1309, 1333-1370).

Charlemagne (742, 768-814).

Charles III., duke of Lorraine (1543, 1547-1608).

Charles Emmanuel I., duke of Savoy (1562, 1580-1630).

Constantine I., emperor of Rome (272, 306-337).

Cosmo de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany (1519, 1537-1574).

Ferdinand I. of Castile, etc., (*, 1034-1065).

Frederick II. of Prussia (1712, 1740-1786).

Frederick William, the Great Elector (1620, 1640-1688).

Gregory I., pope (544, 590-604).

Henri IV. of France (1553, 1589-1610).

Herod I. of the Jews (b.c. 73, 47-4).

Herod Agrippa I., the tetrarch (*, *-44).

Hiao-wen-tee of China (B.C. 206, 179-157).

John II. of Portugal (1455, 1481-1495).

Justinian I., emperor of the East (483, 527-565).

Khosrou or Chosroës I. of Persia (*, 531-579).

Leo I., pope (390, 440-461).

Louis XIV. of France (1638, 1643-1715).

Ludwig of Hungary (1326, 1342-1381).

Mahomet II. of Turkey (1430, 1451-1481).

Matteo Visconti, lord of Milan (1250, 1295-1322).

Maximilian, duke of Bavaria (1573-1651).

Napoleon I. of France (1769, 1804-1814, died 1821).

Nicholas I., pope (*, 858-867).

Otto I. of Germany (912, 936-973).

Pedro III. of Aragon (1239, 1276-1285).

Peter I. of Russia (1672, 1689-1725).

Sapor II. of Persia (310, 308-380).

Sigismund I. of Poland (1466, 1506-1548).

Theoderic of the Ostrogoths (454, 475-526).

Theodosius I., emperor (346, 378-395).

Vladimir, grand-duke of Russia (*, 973-1014).

Waldemar I. of Denmark (1131, 1157-1181).

King (surnamed the Illustrious), Albert V., emperor of Austria (1398, 1404-1439).

Jam-schid of Persia (B.C. 840-800).

Kien-lông of China (1736-1796).

Nicomedês II., Epiphanes, of Bithynia (*, 149-191).

Ptolemy V., Epiphanes, of Egypt (B.C. 210, 205-181).

King (surnamed the Infant), Ludwig IV. of Germany (893, 900-911).

Otto III. of Germany (980, 983-1002).

King (surnamed Ironside), Edmund II. of England (989, 1016-1017).

Frederick II., elector of Brandenburg was called “Iron Tooth” (1657, 1688-1713).

Nicholas of Russia was called “The Iron Emperor” (1796, 1826-1852).

King (surnamed the Just), Baharam of Persia (276-296).

Casimir II. of Poland (1117, 1177-1194).

Ferdinand I. of Aragon (1373, 1412-1416).

Haroun-al-Raschid (765, 786-808).

James II. of Aragon (1261, 1285-1327).

Khosrou or Chosroës I. of Persia (*, 531-579).

Louis XIII. of France (1601, 1610-1643).

Pedro I. of Portugal (1320, 1357-1367).

King (surnamed the Lame), Agesilaös of Sparta (B.C. 444, 398-360398-360).

Albert II. of Austria (1289, 1330-1358), duke of Austria.

Charles II. of Naples (1248, 1289-1309).

Heinrich II. of Germany (972, 1002-1024).

King (surnamed the Lion), Alep Arslan (the Valiant Lion), son of Togrul Beg, the Perso-Turkish monarch (*, 1063-1072).

Arioch, called “The Lion King of Assyria”Assyria” (B.C. 1927-1897).

Damelowiez, prince of Haliez, who founded Lemburg (“the lion city” in 1259.)

Gustavus Adolphus, called “The Lion of the North” (1594, 1611-1632).

Heinrich, duke of Bavaria and Saxony (1129-1195).

Louis VIII. of France (1187, 1223-1226).

Richard I. of England, Cœur de Lion (1157, 1189-1199).

William of Scotland; so called because he chose for his cognizance a red lion rampant (*, 1165-1214).

King (surnamed the Little), Charles III. of Naples (1345, 1381-1386).

King, (surnamed the Long-legged), Edward I., Longshanks, of England (1239, 1272-1307).

Philippe V., le Long, of France (1294, 1317-1322).

King (surnamed the Magnanimous), Alphonso V. of Aragon and Naples (1385, 1416-1458).

Khosrou or Chosroës of Persia, Noushirwan (*, 531-579).

King (surnamed the Magnificent), Soliman I., sultan (1493, 1520-1566).

King (surnamed the Martyr), Charles I. of England (1600, 1625-1649).

Edward the Martyr, of England (961, 975-979).

Louis XVI. of France (1754, 1774-1793).

Martin I., pope (*, 649-655).

King (surnamed the Minion), Henri III. of France (1551, 1574-1589).

King (surnamed the Noble), Alphonso VIII., of Leon and Castile (1155, 1158-1214).

Charles III. of Navarre (*, 1387-1425).

Soliman, called Tchelibi, Turkish prince at Adrianople (died 1410).

King (surnamed the Pacific), Amadeus VIII., count of Savoy (1383, 1391-1449).

Frederick III. of Germany (1415, 1440-1493).

Olaus III. of Norway (*, 1030-1093).

King (surnamed the Patient), Albert IV., duke of Austria (1377, 1395-1404).

King (surnamed the Philosopher), Frederick the Great, called “The Philosopher of Sans Souci” (1712, 1740-1786).

Leo VI., emperor of the East (866, 886-911).

Marcus Aurelius Antonīnus of Rome (121, 161-180).

King (surnamed the Pious), Edward VI. of England (1537, 1547-1553).

Eric IX. of Sweden (*, 1155-1161).

Ernst I., founder of the house of Gotha (1601-1674).

Robert, le Pieux, of France (971, 996-1031).

King, (surnamed the Prodigal), Albert VI. of Austria (1418, 1439-1463).

King, (surnamed(surnamed the Rash), Charles, le Temeraire, of Burgundy (1433, 1467-1477), duke.

King (surnamed the Red), Amadeus VII., count of Savoy (1360, 1383-1391).

Otto II. of Germany (955, 973-983).

William II., Rufus, of England (1057, 1087-1100).

King (surnamed Red Beard), Frederick I., kaiser of Germany, called Barbarossa (1121, 1152-1190).

Horush or Horuc, sultan of Algiers (1474, 1516-1518).

Khair Eddin, sultan of Algiers (*, 1518-1546).

King (surnamed the Saint), Boniface I., pope (*, 418-422418-422).

Boniface IV., pope (*, 607-615).

Celestine I., pope (*, 422-432).

Celestine V., pope (1215, 1294-1296).

Charles the Good, count of Flanders (*, 1119-1127).

David of Scotland (*, 1124-1153).

Eric IX. of Sweden (*, 1155-1160).

Ethelred I. of Wessex (*, 866-871).

Eugenius I., pope (*, 654-657).

Felix I., pope (*, 269-274).

Ferdinand III. of Castile and Leon (1200, 1217-1252).

Heinrich II. of Germany (972, 1002-1024).

Julius I., pope (*, 337-352).

Kâng-he of China (*, 1661-1722).

Ladislaus I. of Hungary (1041, 1077-1095).

Leo IX., pope (1002, 1049-1054).

Louis IX., of France (1215, 1226-1270).

Martin I., pope (*, 649-655).

Olaus II. of Norway (992, 1000-1030).

Stephen I. of Hungary (979, 997-1038).

King (surnamed the Salic), Conrad II. of Germany (*, 1024-1039).

King (surnamed the Severe), Peter I. of Portugal (1320, 1357-1367).

King (surnamed the Silent), Anastasius I., emperor of the East (430, 491-518).

William I., Stadtholder (1533, 1544-1584).

King (surnamed the Simple), Charles III. of France (879, 893-929).

King (surnamed the Stammerer), Louis II., le Bégue, of France (846, 877-879).

Michael II., emperor of the East (*, 820-829).

King (surnamed the Terrible), Ivan II. of Russia (1529, 1533-1584).

King (surnamed the Thunderbolt). Ptolemy, king of Macedon, eldest son of Ptolemy Sotêr I., was so called from his great impetuosity (B.C.*, 285-279).

King (surnamed the Thunderer), Stephen II. of Hungary (1100, 1114-1131).

King (surnamed the Unready), Ethelred II. of England (*, 978-1016). Unready, in this case, does not mean unprepared, but unwise, lacking rede (“wisdom or counsel”).

King (surnamed the Valiant), John IV., duke of Brittany (1338, 1364-1399).

King (surnamed the Victorious), Charles VII. of France (1403, 1422-1461).

King (surnamed the Well-beloved), Charles VI. of France (1368, 1380-1422).

Louis XV. of France (1710, 1715-1774).

King (surnamed the Wise), Albert II., duke of Austria (1289, 1330-1358).

Alphonso X. of Leon and Castile (1203, 1252-1284).

Charles V. of France, le Sage (1337, 1364-1380).

Che-tsou of China (*, 1278-1295).

Frederick, elector of Saxony (1463, 1544-1554).

James I., Solomon, of England (1566, 1603-1625).

John V., duke of Brittany (1389, 1399-1442).

King (surnamed the Wonder of the World), Frederick II. of Germany (1194, 1215-1250).1215-1250).

Otto III. of Germany (980, 983-1002).

King (surnamed the Young), Dagobert II. of France (652, 656-679).

Leo II., pope (470, 474-474).

Louis VII., le Jeune, of France (1120, 1137-11801137-1180).

Ludwig II. of Germany (822, 855-875).

Romanus II., emperor of the East (939, 959-963).

King Franco´ni, Joachim Murat; so called because his dress was so exceedingly showy that he reminded one of the fine dresses of Franconi, the mountebank (1767-1815).

King Log, a roi fainéant, an allusion to Æsop’s fable of the Frogs asking for a King. Jupiter threw a log into the pond for their first king, and a stork for their second. The one was too passive, the other was a “devourer of his people.”

King Maker (The), Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, who fell in the battle of Barnet (1420-1471). So called, because when he espoused the Yorkists, Edward IV. was set up king; and when he espoused the Lancastrian side, Henry VI. was restored.

Thus fortune to his end the mighty Warwick brings,
This puissant setter-up and plucker-down of kings.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxii. (1622).

King Pétaud, a king whose subjects are all his equals. The court of King Pétaud is a board where no one pays any attention to the chairman; a meeting of all talkers and no hearers. The king of the beggars is called King Pétaud, from the Latin, peto, “I beg.”

King Stork, a tyrant who devours his subjects and makes them submissive from fear. The allusion is to Æsop’s fable of the Frogs asking for a King. Jupiter first sent them a log, but they despised the passive thing; he then sent them a stork, who devoured them.

King and the Locusts. A king made a proclamation that, if any man would tell him a story which should last forever, he would make him his heir and son-in-law; but if anyone undertook to do so and failed, he should lose his head. After many failures, came one, and said: “A certain king seized all the corn of his kingdom, and stored it in a huge granary; but a swarm of locusts came, and a small cranny was descried, through which one locust could contrive to creep. So one locust went in, and carried off one grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in,” etc.; and so the man went on, day after day, and week after week, “and so another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn.” A month passed; a year passed. In six months more, the king said, “How much longer will the locusts be?” “Oh, your majesty,” said the story-teller, “they have cleared at present only a cubit, and there are many thousand cubits in the granary.” “Man, man!” cried the king; “you will drive me mad. Take my daughter, take my kingdom, take everything I have: only let me hear no more of these intolerable locusts!”—Letters from an Officer in India (edited by the Rev. S. A. Pears).

King and the Beggar. It is said that King Copethua or Cophetua of Africa fell in love with a beggar-girl, and married her. The girl’s name was Penel´ophon; called by Shakespeare Zenel´ophon (Love’s Labor’s Lost, act iv. sc. 1, 1594).

King and the Cobbler. The interview between Henry VIII. and a merry London cobbler, is the subject of one of the many popular tales in which Bluff Hal is represented as visiting an humble subject in disguise.

King of Bark, Christopher III. of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. So called because, in a time of scarcity, he had the bark of birchwood mixed with meal for food (died 1448).

King of Bath, Beau Nash, who was for fifteen years master of the ceremonies of the bath-rooms in that city, and conducted the balls with great splendor and judgment (1674-1761.)

King of England. This title was first assumed by Egbert in 828.

King of Exeter ’Change, Thomas Clark, friend of the famous Abraham Newland (1737-1817).

King of France. This title was first assumed by Louis VII. (1171). It was changed into “King of the French” by the National Assembly in 1789. Louis XVIII. resumed the title “king of France” in 1814; and Louis Phillipe again resumed the more Republican title “king of the French” (1830).

King of France. Edward III. of England assumed the title in 1337; but in 1801 it was relinquished by proclamation (time, George III.).

King of Ireland. This title was first assumed by Henry VIII. in 1542. The title previously assumed by the kings of England was “lord of Ireland.”

King of Painters, a title assumed by Parrhasĭos. Plutarch says he wore a purple robe and a golden crown (fl. B. C. 400).

King of Preachers, Louis Bourdaloue, a French clergyman (1632-1704).

King of Rome, a title conferred by Napoleon I. on his son the very day he was born; but he was generally called the duke of Reichstadt.

It is thought that this title was given in imitation of Charlemagne. If so, it was a blunder; Charlemagne was never “king of Rome,” but he was “patrician of Rome.” In the German empire, the heir-apparent was “king of the Romans,” not “king of Rome.” This latter title was expressly conferred on the German kings, and sometimes on their heirs, by a coronation at Milan. The German title equivalent to “dauphin,” or “prince of Wales,” was “king of the Romans.”

King of Ships, Carausius, who assumed the purple in A. D. 287, and, seizing on Britain, defeated the emperor Maximian Herculius in several naval engagements (250, 287-293).

King of Yvetot [Ev-to], a king of name only; a mockery king; one who assumes mighty honors without the wherewithal to support them. Yvetot, near Rouen, was a seigneurie, on the possessor of which Clotaire I. conferred the title of king in 534, and the title continued till the fourteenth century.

Il était un roi d’Yvetot,
Peu connu dans l’histoire;
Se levant tard, se couchant tôt,
Dormant fort bien sans gloire.
Béranger.

King of the Beggars, Bampfylde Moore Carew (1693-1770). He succeeded Claus Patch, who died 1730, and was therefore king of the beggars for forty years (1730-1770).

King of the World, the Roman emperor.

King Sat on the Rocky Brow (A). The reference is to Xerxes viewing the battle of Salmis from one of the declivitiesdeclivities of mount Ægăl´ĕos.

A king sat on the rocky brow
Which looks o’er sea-born Salamis;
And ships by thousands, lay below.
Byron, Don Juan, iii. (“The Isles of Greece,” 1820).

(“Ships by thousands” is a gross exaggeration. The original fleet was only 1,200 sail, and 400 were wrecked off the coast of Sêpias before the sea-fight of Salamis commenced, thus reducing the number to 800 at most).

Kings should Die Standing (A), Vespasian said so, and Louis XVIII. of France repeated the same conceit. Both died standing.

King’s Cave (The), opposite to Campbeltown (Argyllshire); so called because King Robert Bruce, with his retinue, lodged in it.—Statistical Account of Scotland, v. 167.

Kings. Many lines of kings have taken the name of some famous forefather or some founder of a dynasty as a titular name.—See Selden, Titles of Honor, v.

• Alban kings, called Silvius.
• Amalekite kings, Agag.
• Bithynian kings, Nicomēdés.
• Constantinopolitan kings, Constantine.
• Egyptian kings, (ancient), Pharaoh.
• ” ” (mediæval), Ptolemy.
• Indian kings, called Palibothrie (from the City of Palibothra).
• Parthian kings, Ar´săcês.
• Roman emperors, Cæsar.
• Servian kings, Lazar, i.e. Eleazar Bulk or Bulk-ogar, sons of Bulk.
• Upsala kings, called Drott.
• Royal patronymics.—Athenian, Cecrop´idæ, from Cecrops.
• Danish, Skiold-ungs, from Skiold.
• Persian, Achmen´-idæ, from Achmenês.
• Thessalian, Aleva-dæ, from Alevas; etc., etc.

Kings of Cologne (The Three), the three Magi who came from the East to offer gifts to the infant Jesus. Their names are Melchior, Gaspar, and Belthazar. The first offered gold, symbolic of kingship; the second, frankincense, symbolic of divinity; the third, myrrh, symbolic of death, myrrh being used in embalming the dead. (See Cologne).

Kings of England. Since the Conquest, not more than three successive sovereigns have reigned without a crisis:

• William I, William II., Henry I.
• Stephen, usurper.
• Henry II., Richard I., John.
• The pope gives the crown to the dauphin.
• Henry III., Edward I., Edward II.
• Edward II. murdered.
• Edward III., Richard II.
• Richard II. deposed.
• Henry IV., V., VI.
• Lancaster changed to York.
• Edward IV., V., Richard III.
• Dynasty changed.
• Henry VII., VIII., Edward VI.
• Lady Jane Grey.
• Mary, Elizabeth.
• Dynasty changed.
• James I., Charles I. Charles I. beheaded.
• Charles II., James II.
• James II. dethroned.
• William III., Anne.
• Dynasty changed.
• George I., II., III.
• Regency.
• George IV., William IV., Victoria (indirect successions).

Kings of England. Except in one instance (that of John), we have never had a great-grandchild sovereign in direct descent. The exception is not creditable, for in John’s reign the kingdom was given away twice; his son, Henry III., was imprisoned by Leicester; and his great-grandson, Edward II., was murdered. In two other instances a grand-child has succeeded, viz., Henry VI., whose reign was a continued civil war; and Edward VI., the sickly son of Jane Seymour. Stephen was a grandchild of William I., but a usurper; Richard II. was a grandchild of Edward III., and George III. was a grandson of George II.; but their fathers did not succeed to the throne.

William I.; his sons, William II., Henry I.

Stephen (a usurper).

Henry II.; his sons, Richard I., John (discrowned).

From John, in regular succession, we have Henry III. (imprisoned), Edward I., Edward II. (murdered), Edward III.

Richard II., son of the Black Prince, and without offspring.

Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., (civil wars).

Edward IV., Edward V.

Richard III. (no offspring).

Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI.

Mary, Elizabeth (daughters of Henry VIII.).

James I., Charles I.

Cromwell (called lord protector).

Charles II., James II. (two brothers).

William III.

Anne.

George I., George II.

George III. (great-grandson of George I., but not in direct descent), George IV.

William IV. (brother of George IV.).

Victoria (the niece of William IV. and George IV.).

Kings of England. Three seems to be a kind of ruling number in our English sovereigns. Besides the coincidences mentioned above, connected with the number, may be added the following:—(1) That of the four kings who married French princesses, three of them suffered violent deaths, viz., Edward II., Richard II., and Charles I. (2) The three longest reigns have been three threes, viz., Henry III., Edward III., and George III. (3) We have no instance, as in France, of three brothers succeeding each other.

Kings of France. The French have been singularly unfortunate in their choice of royal surnames, when designed to express anything except some personal quality, as handsome, fat, of which we cannot judge the truth. Thus, Louis VIII., a very feeble man in mind and body, was surnamed the Lion; Philippe II., whose whole conduct was overreaching and selfish, was the Magnanimous; Philippe III., the tool of Labrosse, was the Daring; Philippe VI., the most unfortunate of all the kings of France, was surnamed the Lucky; Jean, one of the worst of all the kings, was called the Good; Charles VI., an idiot, and Louis XV., a scandalous debauchee, were surnamed the Well-beloved; Henri II., a man of pleasure, wholly under the thumb of Diane de Poitiers, was called the War-like; Louis XIII., most unjust in domestic life, where alone he had any freedom of action, was called the Just; Louis XIV., a man of mere ceremony and posture, who lost battle after battle, and brought the nation to absolute bankruptcy, was surnamed the Great King. (He was little in stature, little in mind, little in all moral and physical faculties; and great only in such littlenesses as posturing, dressing, ceremony and gormandizing). And Louis XVIII., forced on the nation by conquerors, quite against the general will, was called the Desired.

Kings of France. The succession of three brothers has been singularly fatal in French monarchism. The Capetian dynasty terminated with three brothers, sons of Philippe, le Bel (viz., Louis X., Philippe V., and Charles IV.). The Valois dynasty came to an end by the succession of the three brothers, sons of Henri II. (viz., François II., Charles IX., and Henri III.). The next or Bourbon dynasty terminated in the same manner (Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., and Charles X.).

After Charles IV. (the third brother of the Capetian dynasty), came Phillipe de Valois, a collateral descendant; after Henri III. (the third brother of the Valois dynasty), came Henry de Bourbon, a collateral descendant; and after Charles X. (the third brother of the Bourbon dynasty), came Louis Philippe, a collateral descendant. With the third of the third the monarchymonarchy ended.

Kings Playing with their Children.

[F1: not a paragraph line break?]The fine painting of J. D. Ingres, represents Henri IV. (of France) carrying his children pickaback, to the horror of the Spanish ambassador.

Plutarch tells us that Agesiläos was one day discovered riding cock-horse on a walking-stick, to please and amuse his children.

George III. was on one occasion, discovered on all fours, with one of his children riding astride his back. He is also well remembered by the painting of “George III. Playing at Ball with the Princess Amelia.”

Kingsale (Lord), allowed to wear his hat in the presence of royalty. In 1203, Hugh de Lacie treacherously seized Sir John de Courcy, lord of Kingsale, and King John condemned him to perpetual imprisonment in the Tower. When he had been there about a year, King John and Philippie Auguste of France agreed to determine certain claims by combat. It was then that John applied to de Courcy to be his champion; and, as soon as the giant knight entered the lists, the French champion ran away panic-struck. John now asked his champion what reward he could give him for his service. “Titles and estates I have enow,” said de Courcy; and then requested that, after having paid obeisance, he and his heirs might stand covered in the presence of the king, and his successors.

Lord Forester had the same right confirmed to him by Henry VIII.

John Pakington, ancestor of Lord Hampton, had a grant made him in the 20th Henry VIII. “of full liberty during his life to wear his hat in the royal presence.”

Kingship (Disqualifications for). Any personal blemish disqualified a person from being king during the semi-barbarous stage of society; thus, putting out the eyes of a prince, to disqualify him from reigning, was by no means uncommon. It will be remembered that Hubert designed to put out the eyes of Prince Arthur with this object. Witi´za, the Vizigoth, put out the eyes of Theodofred, “inhabilitandole pāra la monarchia,” says Ferraras. When Albuquerque took possession of Ormuz, he deposed fifteen kings of Portugal, and, instead of killing them, put out their eyes.

Yorwerth, son of Owen Gwynedh, was set aside from the Welsh throne because he had a broken nose.

Count Oliba of Barcelona was set aside because he could not speak till he had stamped thrice with his foot, like a goat.

The son of Henry V. was to be received as king of France, only on condition that his body was without defect, and was not stunted.—Monstrelet, Chroniques, v. 190 (1512).(1512).

Un Conde de Gallicia que fuera valiado,
Pelayo avie nombre, ome fo desforzado,
Perdio la vision, andaba embargado,
Ca ome que non vede, nom debie seer nado.
Gonzalez de Berceo, S. Dom, 388 (died 1266).

Kinmont Willie, William Armstrong of Kinmonth. This notorious freebooter, who lived in the part latter of the sixteenth century, is the hero of a famous Scotch ballad.

Kinney (Elder). A good man, married to a pure, good woman. They work together in their home and parish, a benefaction to one another and to their little world, until the husband and pastor is called home by a fatal accident. His wife’s hair turns white under the shock, yet she rallies her strong heart to read her husband’s sermons to his people until they will hear of no other spiritual leader.—Draxy Miller’s Dowry, Saxe Holm Stories (1886).

Kirk (Mr. John), foreman of the jury on Effie Deans’s trial.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Kirkcaldy (Scotland), a corruption of Kirk-Culdee, one of the churches founded in 563 by St. Colomb, and his twelve brethren, when they established the Culdee institutions. The doctrines, discipline and government of the Culdees resembled Presbyterianism.

Kirkrapine (3 syl.), a sturdy thief, “wont to rob churches of their ornaments and poor men’s boxes.” All he could lay hands on he brought to the hut of Abessa, daughter of Corce´ca. While Una was in the hut, Kirkrapine knocked at the door, and as it was not immediately opened, knocked it down; whereupon the lion sprang on him, “under his lordly foot did him suppress,” and then “rent him in thousand pieces small.”

The meaning is that popery was reformed by the British lion, which slew Kirkrapine or put a stop to the traffic in spiritual matters. Una represents truth of the Reformed Church.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 3 (1590).

Kit [Nubbles], the lad employed to wait on little Nell, and do all sorts of odd jobs at the “curiosity shop” for her grandfather. He generally begins his sentences with “Why then.” Thus, “’Twas a long way, wasn’t it, Kit!” “Why then, it was a goodish stretch,” returned Kit. “Did you find the house easily?” “Why then, not over and above,” said Kit. “Of course you have come back hungry?” “Why then, I do think I am rather so.” When the “curiosity shop” was broken up by Quilp, Kit took service under Mr. Garland, Abel Cottage, Finchley.

Kit Carson’s Ride tells how he, his newly-made bride, and Revels, his comrade, rode before a prairie fire, entangled in a herd of frightened, savage buffaloes, until Revels dropped dead, and the red flames snatched his bride from him, and his horse bore him senseless, into safety.

“Sell Paché! You buy him! A bag full of gold
You show him! Tell of him the tale I have told!
Why he bore me through fire, is blind and is old.”
Joaquin Miller, Songs of the Sierras (1871).

Kite (Sergeant), the “recruiting officer.” He describes his own character thus:

“I was born a gypsy, and bred among that crew till I was 10 years old; there I learnt canting and lying. I was bought from my mother by a certain nobleman for three pistoles, who ... made me his page; there I learnt impudence and pimping. Being turned off for wearing my lord’s linen, and drinking my lady’s ratafia, I turned bailiff’s follower; there I learnt bullying and swearing. I at last got into the army, and there I learnt ... drinking. So that ... the whole sum is: canting, lying, impudence, pimping, bullying, swearing, drinking, and a halberd.”—G. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer, iii. 1 (1705).

Sergeant Kite is an original picture of low life and humor, rarely surpassed.—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 599.

The original “Sergeant Kite” was R. Eastcourt (1668-1713).

Kitely (2 syl.), a rich City merchant, extremely jealous of his wife.—Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humor (1598).

Kit-Kat Club, held in Shire Lane, now called Lower Serle’s Place (London). The members were whig “patriots” who, at the end of William III.’s reign, met to secure the Protestant succession. Joseph Addison, Steele, Congreve, Garth, Vanbrugh, Mainwaring, Walpole, Pulteney, etc., were members.

Kitt Henshaw, boatman to Sir Patrick Charteris, of Kidfauns, provost of Perth.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Kittlecourt (Sir Thomas), M.P., neighbor of the laird of Ellangowan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Kitty, one of the servants of Mr. Peregrine Lovel. She spoke French like a native, because she was once “a half boarder at Chelsea.” Being asked if she had read Shakespeare: “Shikspur, Shikspur!” she replied. “Who wrote it? No, I never read that book; but I promise to read it over one afternoon or other.”—Rev. James Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1759).

Kitty, younger daughter of Sir David and Lady Dunder, of Dunder Hall, near Dover. She is young, wild, and of exuberant spirits, “her mind full of fun, her eyes full of fire, her head full of novels, and her heart full of love.” Kitty fell in love with Random, at Calais, and agreed to elope with him, but the fugitives were detected by Sir David during their preparations for flight, and, to prevent scandal, the marriage was sanctioned by the parents, and duly solemnized at Dunder Hall.—G. Colman, Ways and Means (1788).

Kitty Ellison. Young woman from Eriecreek, who travels up the Saguenay, and into Canada, with Boston cousins, and meets en route Mr. Arbuton, a Bostonian of the Bostonians. He cannot help loving her, and incidentally saves her life, yet is ashamed of her plain travelling-gown when they encountered certain Boston women. Kitty sees it, and proudly dismisses him.

“I couldn’t alter both our whole lives or make myself over again, and you couldn’t change yourself. Perhaps you would try, and I know I would, but it would be a wretched failure and disappointment as long as we lived.”—W. D. Howells, A Chance Acquaintance (1873).

Kitty Pry, the waiting-maid of Melissa. Very impertinent, very inquisitive, and very free in her tongue. She has a partiality to Timothy Sharp, “the lying valet.”—Garrick, The Lying Valet (1741).

Kitty Willis, a loose woman, employed by Saville to attend a masquerade in the same costume as Lady Francis, in order to dupe Courtall.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belles’ Stratagem (1780).

Klabot´ermann, a ship-kobold of the Baltic, sometimes heard, but rarely seen. Those who have seen him say he sits on the bowsprit of a phantom ship, called Carmilhan, dressed in yellow, wearing a night-cap, and smoking a cutty pipe.

Kläs (Kaiser), a nickname given to Napoleon I. (1769, 1804-1814, 1821).

Hort mâl lüd, en bitgen still,
Hort wat ick vertellen will,
Van den gröten Kaiser Kläs,
Dat wär mal en fixen Bäs,
Ded von Korsika her tën
Wall de welt mal recht besehm.

Helena de Jumfer is
Nu sîn Brüt, sin Paradis;
Kläs geit mit ër op de Jagd
Drömt nich mehr von krieg un Schlacht,
Un het he mâl Langewil
Schleit he Rötten d’ôt mil’n Bil.
Kaiser Kläs.

Klaus (Doctor), hero and title of a comedy by Herr Adolph l’Arronge (1878). Dr. Klaus is a gruff, but noble-minded and kind-hearted man, whose niece (a rich jeweller’s daughter) has married a poor nobleman of such extravagant notions that the wife’s property is soon dissipated; the young spendthrift is reformed. The doctor has a coachman, who invades his master’s province, and undertakes to cure a sick peasant.

Klaus (Peter), the prototype of Rip van Winkle. Klaus [Klows] is a goatherd of Sittendorf, who was one day accosted by a young man, who beckoned him to follow. Peter obeyed, and was led into a deep dell, where he found twelve knights playing skittles, no one of whom uttered a word. Gazing around, he noticed a can of wine, and, drinking some of its contents, was overpowered with sleep. When he awoke, he was amazed at the height of the grass, and when he entered the village everything seemed strange to him. One or two companions encountered him, but those whom he knew as boys were grown middle-aged men, and those whom he knew as middle-aged were gray-beards. After much perplexity he discovered he had been asleep for twenty years (See Sleepers).

Your Epimenidês, your somnolent Peter Klaus, since named “Rip van Winkle.”—T Carlyle.

Kleiner (General), governor of Prague, brave as a lion, but tender-hearted as a girl. It was Kleiner who rescued the infant daughter of Mahldenau at the siege of Magdeburg. A soldier seized the infant’s nurse, but Kleiner smote him down, saved the child, and brought it up as his own daughter. Mahldenau being imprisoned in Prague as a spy, Meeta, his daughter, came to Prague to beg for his pardon, and it then came to light that the governor’s adopted daughter was Meeta’s sister.—S. Knowles, The Maid of Mariendorpt (1838).

Knag (Miss), forewoman of Mde. Mantalini, milliner, near Cavendish Square, London. After doting on Kate Nickleby for three whole days, this spiteful creature makes up her mind to hate her for ever.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xviii. (1838).

Knickerbocker (Diedrich), nom de plume of Washington Irving, in his History of New York (1809).

Knight of Arts and Industry, the hero of Thomson’s Castle of Indolence (canto ii. 7-13, 1748).

Knight of La Mancha, Don Quixote de la Mancha, the hero of Cervantes’ novel called Don Quixote, etc. (1605-1615).

Knight of the Blade, a bully; so called because when swords were worn, a bully was for ever asserting his opinions, by an appeal to his sword.

Knight of the Ebon Spear, Britŏmart. In the great tournament she “sends Sir Artegal over his horse’s tail,” then disposes of Cambel, Tri´amond, Blan´damour, and several others in the same summary way, for “no man could bide her enchanted spear.”—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 4 (1596).

Knight of the Fatal Sword, Emedōrous of Grana´da. Known for his love of the incomparable Alzay´da.

“Sir,” said the lady, “your name is so celebrated in the world, that I am persuaded nothing is impossible for your arm to execute.”—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The Knights-Errant,” 1682).

Knight of the Invincible Sword. So Am´adis de Gaul styled himself.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul (fourteenth century).

Knight of the Leopard. David, earl of Huntingdon, prince royal of Scotland, assumed the name and disguise of Sir Kenneth, “Knight of the Leopard,” in the crusade.—Sir. W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Knight of the Lions, the appellation assumed by Don Quixote after his attack upon the van containing two lions sent by the general of Oran as a present to the king of Spain.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. i. 17 (1615).

Knight of the Pestle, an apothecary or druggist.

Knight of the Post, one who haunted the purlieus of the courts, ready to be hired to swear anything. So called because these mercenaries hung about the post to which the sheriffs affixed their announcements.

I’ll be no knight of the post, to sell my soul for a bribe;
Tho’ all my fortunes be crossed, yet I scorn the cheater’s tribe.
Ragged and Torn and True (a ballad).

Also a man in the pillory, or one that has been publicly tied to a post and whipped.

Knight of the Rainbow, a footman; so called from his gorgeous raiment.

Knight of the Roads, a foot-pad or highwayman; so termed by a pun on the military order entitled “The Knights of Rhodes.”

Knight of the Rueful Countenance, Don Quixote de la Mancha, the hero of Cervantes’ novel, is so called by Sancho Panza, his squire.

Knight of the Shears, a tailor. Shires (counties), pronounced shears, gives birth to the pun.

Knight of the Sun, Almanzor, prince of Tunis. So called because the sun was the device he bore on his shield.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Zamea,” 1682).

Knight of the Swan, Lohengrin, son of Parsival. He went to Brabant in a ship drawn by a swan. Here he liberated the Princess Elsa, who was a captive, and then married her, but declined to tell his name. After a time he joined an expedition against the Hungarians, and, after performing miracles of valor, returned to Brabant covered with glory. Some of Elsa’s friends laughed at her for not knowing her husband’s name, so she implored him to tell her of his family; but no sooner was the question asked than the white swan re-appeared and conveyed him away.—Wolfram von Eschenbach (a minnesinger), Lohengrin (thirteenth century).

Knight of the Tomb (The), Sir James Douglas, usually called “The Black Douglas.”—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous.Dangerous. In the episode of Argalus and Parthenia in Sidney’s Arcadia. Parthenia, to avenge her husband’s death, disguises herself as “The Knight of the Tomb.”

Knight of the White Moon, the title assumed by Samson Carrasco, when he tilted with Don Quixote, on the condition that if the don were worsted in the encounter he should quit knight-errantry and live peaceably at home for twelve months.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iv. 12-14 (1615).

Knight of the Woeful Countenance, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Knight with Two Swords, Sir Balin, le Savage, brother of Sir Balan.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 27, 33 (1470).

Knights. The three bravest of King Arthur’s knights were Sir Launcelot du Lac, Sir Tristram de Lionês or Lyonês and Sir Lamorake de Galis (i. e. Wales).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 132 (1470).

⁂ The complement of the knights of the Round Table was 150 (ditto, i. 120). But in Lancelot of the Lake, ii. 81, they are said to have amounted to 250.

Knights (’Prentice), a secret society established to avenge the wrongs of apprentices on their “tyrant masters.” Mr. Sim Tappertit was captain of this “noble association,” and their meetings were held in a cellar in Stagg’s house, in the Barbican. The name was afterwards changed into “The United Bull-dogs,” and the members joined the anti-popery rout of Lord George Gordon.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, viii. (1841).

Knights of Alcan´tara, a military order of Spain, which took its name from the city of Alcantara, in Estremadura. These knights were previously called “Knights of the Pear Tree,” and subsequently “Knights of St. Julian.” The order was founded in 1156 for the defence of Estremadura against the Moors. In 1197 Pope Celestine III. raised it to the rank of a religious order of knighthood.

Knights of Calatra´va, a military order of Spain, instituted by Sancho III. of Castile. When Sancho took the strong fort of Calatrava from the Moors, he gave it to the Knights Templars, who, wanting courage to defend it, returned it to the king again. Then Don Reymond, of the Cistercian order, with several cavelleros of quality, volunteered to defend the fort, whereupon the king constituted them “Knights of Calatrava.”

Knights of Christian Charity, instituted by Henri III. of France, for the benefit of poor military officers and maimed soldiers. This order was founded at the same time as that of the “Holy Ghost,” which was meant for princes and men of distinction. The order was completed by Henri IV., and resembled our “Poor Knights of Windsor,” now called “The Military Knights of Windsor.”

Knights of Malta, otherwise called “Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem,” a religious military order, whose residence was in the island of Malta. Some time before the journey of Godfrey of Bouillon into the Holy Land, some Neapolitan merchants built a house for those of their countrymen who came thither on pilgrimage. Afterwards they built a church to St. John, and an hospital for the sick, whence they took the name of “Hospitallers.” In 1104 the order became military, and changed the term “Hospitallers” into that of “Knights Hospitallers.” In 1310 they took Rhodes, and the order was then called “The Knights of Rhodes.” In 1523 they were expelled from Rhodes by the Turks, and took up their residence in Malta.

Knights of Montesa, a Spanish order of knighthood, instituted by James II. of Aragon, in 1317.

Knights of Nova Scotia, in the West Indies, created by James I. of Great Britain. These knights wore a ribbon of an orange tawny color.

Knights of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel), instituted by Henri IV. of France, in 1607, and consisting of a hundred French gentlemen.

N. B.—These knights must not be confounded with the Carmelites or L’Ordre des Carmes, founded by Bertholde, count of Limoges, in 1156; said by legend to have been founded by the prophet Elijah, and to have been revived by the Virgin Mary. The religious house of Carmel was founded in 400 by John, patriarch of Jerusalem, in honor of Elijah, and this gave rise to the legend.

Knights of Rhodes. The “Knights of Malta” were so called between 1310 and 1523. (See Knights of Malta).

Knights of St. Andrew, instituted by Peter the Great, of Moscovy, in 1698. Their badge is a gold medal, having St. Andrew’s cross on one side, with these words, Cazar Pierre monarque de tout le Russie.

Knights of St. Genette (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de St Genette), the most ancient order of knighthood in France, instituted by Charles Martel, after his victory over the Saracens, in 782, where a vast number of genets, like Spanish cats (civet cats), were found in the enemy’s camp.

Knights of St. George. There are several orders so called:

1. St. George of Alfama, founded by the kings of Aragon.

2. St. George of Austria and Corinthia; instituted by the Emperor Frederick III., first archduke of Austria.

3. Another founded by the same emperor in 1470, to guard the frontiers of Bohemia and Hungary against the Turks.

4. St. George, generally called “Knights of the Garter” (q. v.).

5. An order in the old republic of Genoa.

6. The Teutonic knights were originally called “Knights of St. George.”

Knights of St. Jago, a Spanish order, instituted under Pope Alexander III., the grand-master of which is next in rank to the sovereign. St. Jago or James (the Greater) is the patron saint of Spain.

Knights of St. John at Jerusalem, instituted in 1120. This order took its name from John, patriarch of Alexandria, and from the place of their abode(Jerusalem.) These knights subsequently resided at Rhodes (between 1310 and 1523). Being driven out by the Turks in 1523, they took up their abode in Malta, and were called “Knights of Malta.”

Knights of St. Lazare (2 syl.), a religious and military order of Knights Hospitallers, established in the twelfth century, and confirmed by the pope in 1255. Their special mission was to take care of lepers. The name is derived from Lazarus, the beggar, who lay at the gate of Divês. The order was introduced into France under Louis VII., and was abolished in the first Revolution.

Knights of St. Magdalene (3 syl.), a French order, instituted by St. Louis (IX.) to suppress duels.

Knights of St. Maria de Mercede (3 syl.), a Spanish order, for the redemption of captives.

Knights of St. Michael the Archangel (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de St. Michel), a French order, instituted by Louis XI. in 1469. The king was at the head of the order. M. Bouillet says: “St. Michel est regardé comme le protecteur et l’ange tutélaire de la France.”

Knights of St. Patrick, instituted in 1783. The ruling sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, and the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, are ex-officio members of this order. The order is named after St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

Knights of St. Salvador, in Aragon, instituted by Alphonso I. in 1118.

Knights of Windsor, formerly called “Poor Knights of Windsor,” but now entitled “The Military Knights of Windsor,” a body of military pensioners, who have their residence within the precincts of Windsor Castle.

Knights of the Bath, an order of knighthood derived from the ancient Franks, and so termed because the members originally “bathed” before they performed their vigils. The last knights created in this ancient form were at the coronation of Charles II., in 1661.

G. C. B. stands for Grand Cross of the Bath (the first class); K. C. B. for Knight Commander of the Bath (the second class); and C. B. for Companion of the Bath (the third class).

Knights of the Blood of Our Saviour, an order of knighthood in Mantua, instituted by Duke Vincent Gonzaga, in 1608, on his marriage. It consisted of twenty Mantuan dukes. The name originated in the belief that in St. Andrew’s Church, Mantua, certain drops of our Saviour’s blood are preserved as a relic.

Knights of the Broom Flower (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de la Geneste), instituted by St. Louis (IX.) of France, on his marriage. The collar was decorated with broom flowers, intermixed with fleurs de lys in gold. The motto was Exaltat Humĭlês.

Knights of the Carpet or Carpet Knights, i. e. non-military or civil knights, such as mayors, lawyers, authors, artists, physicians, and so on, who receive their knighthood kneeling on a carpet, and not in the tented field.

Knights of the Chamber or Chamber Knights, knights bachelors made in times of peace in the presence chamber, and not in the camp. These are always military men, and therefore differ from “Carpet Knights,” who are always civilians.

Knights of the Cock and Dog, founded by Philippe I., Auguste, of France.

Knights of the Crescent, a military order, instituted by Renatus, of Anjou, king of Sicily, etc., in 1448. So called from the badge, which is a crescent of gold enamelled. What gave rise to this institution was that Renatus took for his device a crescent, with the word loz (“praise”), which, in the style of rebus, makes loz in crescent, i. e. “by advancing in virtue one merits praise.”

Knights of the Dove, a Spanish order, instituted in 1379, by John I., of Castile.

Knights of the Dragon, created by the emperor Sigismond, in 1417, upon the condemnation of Huss and Jerome, of Prague, “the heretics.”

KnightsKnights of the Ermine (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de l’Epi), instituted in 1450 by François I., duc de Bretagne. The collar was of gold, composed of ears of corn in saltier, at the end of which hung an ermine, with the legend à ma vie. The order expired when the dukedom was annexed to the crown of France.

Knights of the Garter, instituted by Edward III. of England, in 1344. According to Selden, “it exceeds in majesty, honor, and fame, all chivalrous orders in the world.” The story is that Joan, countess of Salisbury, while dancing with the king, let fall her garter, and the gallant Edward, perceiving a smile on the face of the courtiers, picked it up, bound it round his own knee, and exclaimed, “Honi soit qui mal y pense.” The blue garter and the motto of the order are thus accounted for.

Knights of the Golden Fleece, a military order of knighthood, instituted by Philippe, le Bon, of Burgundy, in 1429. It took its name from a representation of the golden fleece on the collar of the order. The king of Spain is grand-master, and the motto is Ante feret quam flamma micet.

Knights of the Golden Shield, an order instituted by Louis II., of France, for the defence of the country. The motto is Allons (i. e. “Let us go in defence of our country”).

Knights of the Hare, an order of twelve knights, instituted by Edward III. while he was in France. The French raised a tremendous shout, and Edward thought it was the cry of battle, but it was occasioned by a hare running between the two armies. From this incident the knights created on the field after this battle were termed “Knights of the Order of the Hare.”

Knights of the Holy Ghost (Chevalier de l’Ordre du Saint Esprit), instituted by Henri III., of France, on his return from Poland. Henri III. was both born and crowned on Whit-Sunday, and hence the origin of the order.

Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, an order of knighthood founded by St. Hel´ena, when she visited Jerusalem, at the age of 80, and found (as it is said) the cross on which Christ was crucified, in a cavern under the temple of Venus, A. D. 328. This order was confirmed by Pope Pascal II. in 1114.

Knights of the Lily, an order of knighthood in Navarre, founded by Garcia, in 1048.

Knights of the Order of Fools, established November, 1381, and continued to the beginning of the sixteenth century. The insignia was a jester or fool embroidered on the left side of their mantles, cap and bells, yellow stockings, a cup of fruit in the right hand, and a gold key in the left. It resembled the “Odd Fellows” of more modern times.

Knights of the Porcupine (Chevaliers de l’Ordre du Porcépic), a French order of knighthood. The original motto was Cominus et eminus, changed by Louis XII. into Ultus avos Trojæ.

Knights of the Red Staff, an order instituted by Alfonso XI. of Castile and Leon, in 1330.

Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur’s knights were so called, because they sat with him at a round table made by Merlin, for King Leodegraunce. This king gave it to Arthur on his marriage with Guinever, his daughter. It contained seats for 150 knights, 100 of which King Leodegraunce furnished when he sent the table.

Knights of the Shell. The argonauts of St. Nicholas were so called from the shells worked on the collar of the order.

Knights of the Ship, an order of knighthood founded by St. Louis IX., of France, in his expedition to Egypt.

Knights of the Star (Chevaliers de l’Ordre de l’Etoile), an ancient order of knighthood in France. The motto of the order was Monstrant regibus astra viam.

Knights of the Swan (Chevalier de l’Ordre du Cygne), an order of knighthood founded in 1443 by the elector Frederick II., of Brandenburg, and restored in 1843 by Frederick William IV., of Prussia. Its object is the relief of distress generally. The king of Prussia is grand-master. The motto is Gott mit uns (“God be with you”); and the collar is of gold. The white swan is the badge of the house of Cleves (Westphalia).

Lord Berners has a novel called The Knight of the Swan (sixteenth century).

Knights of the Thistle, said to be founded by Archaicus, king of the Scots, in 809; revived in 1530 by James V., of Scotland; again in 1687 by James II., of Great Britain; and again by Queen Anne, who placed the order on a permanent footing. The decoration consists of a collar of enamelled gold, composed of sixteen thistles interlaced with sprigs of rue, and a small golden image of St. Andrew within a circle. The motto is Nemo me impune lacessit. The members are sometimes called “Knights of St Andrew.”

The rue mixed with the thistles is a pun on the word “Andrew” thistles And-rue.

⁂ There was at one time a French “Order of the Thistle” in the house of Bourbon, with the same decoration and motto.

Knights of the Virgin’s Looking-Glass, an order instituted in 1411 by Ferdinand of Castile.

Knights Teutonic, originally called “Knights of St. George,” then “Knights of the Virgin Mary,” and lastly “Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary the Virgin.” This order was instituted by Henry, king of Jerusalem, in compliment to the German volunteers who accompanied Frederick Barbarossa on his crusade. The knights were soon afterwards placed under the tutelage of the Virgin, to whom a hospital had been dedicated for the relief of German Pilgrims; and in 1191, Pope Celestine III. confirmed the privileges, and changed the name of the order into the “Teutonic Knights,” etc. Abolished by Napoleon in 1809.

Knights of To-day, under this caption Charles Barnard has given us stories of engineers, mechanics, inventors, and other followers of peaceful arts that make for the enduring prosperity of the race, and call into practice nobler virtues than the trade of war and greed of conquest.

Knighton, groom of the duke of Buckingham.—Sir. W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Knockwinnock (Sybil), wife of Sir Richard of the Redhand, and mother of Malcolm Misbegot.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Koh-i-noor (“mountain of light”), a diamond once called “The Great Mogul.” Held in the fourteenth century by the rajah of Malwa. Later it fell into the hands of the sultans of Delhi, after their conquest of Malwa. It belonged in the seventeenth century, to Aurungzebe the Great. The Schah Jihan sent it to Hortensio Borgio to be cut, but the Venetian lapidary re-reduced it from 793-5/8 carats to 186, and left it dull and lustreless. It next passed into the hands of Aurungzebe’s great-grandson, who hid it in his turban. Nadir Schah invited the possessor to a feast, and insisted on changing turbans, “to cement their love,” and thus it fell into Nadir’s hands, who gave it the name of “Koh-i-noor.” It next passed into the hands of Ahmed Shah, founder of the Cabûl dynasty; was extorted from Shah Shuja by Runjet Singh, who wore it set in a bracelet. After the murder of Shu Singh, it was deposited in the Lahore treasury, and after the annexation of the Punjaub, was presented to Queen Victoria, in 1850. It has been recut, and, though reduced to 106 carats, is supposed to be worth £140,000.

⁂ There is another diamond of the same name belonging to the shah of Persia.

Kohlhass (Michael), an excellent historical novel of the Lutheran period, by Henry Kleist, a German (1776-1811).

Kolao, the wild man of Misanichis. He had a son who died in early youth, and he went to Pat-Koot-Parout to crave his son’s restoration to life. Pat-Koot-Parout put the soul of the dead body in a leather bag, which he fastened with packthread, and hung round the neck of Kolao, telling him to lay the body in a new hut, put the bag near the mouth, and so let the soul return to it, but on no account to open the bag before everything was ready. Kolao placed the bag in his wife’s hands while he built the hut, strictly enjoining her not to open it; but curiosity led her to open the bag, and out flew the soul to the country of Pat-Koot-Parout again.—T. S. Gueulette, Chinese Tales (“Kolao, the Wild Man,” 1723).

⁂ Orpheus, having lost his wife, Eurydĭcê, by the bite of a serpent, obtained permission of Pluto for her restoration, provided he looked not back till he reached the upper world. He had got to the end of his journey, when he turned round to see if Pluto had kept his word. As he turned he just caught sight of Eurydicê, who was instantly caught back again to the infernal regions.

Korigans or Korrigans, nine fays of Brittany, who can predict future events, assume any shape, and move from place to place as quick as thought. They do not exceed two feet in height, sing like syrens, and comb their long hair like mermaids. They haunt fountains, and flee at the sound of bells, and their breath is deadly.—Breton Mythology.

Kosciusko (Thaddœus), the Polish general who contended against the allied army of Russia under the command of Suwarrow, in 1794. He was taken prisoner and sent to Russia, but in 1796 was set at liberty by the Czar.

Hope for a season bade the world farewell,
And Freedom shrieked—as Kosciusko fell.
Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

Kriemhild [Kreem.hild], daughter of Dancrat, and sister of Günther, king of Burgundy. She first married Siegfried, king of the Netherlanders, who was murdered by Hagan. Thirteen years afterwards, she married Etzel (Atilla), king of the Huns. Some time after her marriage, she invited Günther, Hagan, and others to visit her, and Hagan slew Etzel’s young son. Kriemhild now became a perfect fury, and cut off the head of both Günther and Hagan with her own hand, but was herself slain by Hildebrand. Till the death of Siegfried, Kriemhild was gentle, modest, and lovable, but afterwards she became vindictive, bold and hateful.—The Nibelungen Lied (by the German minnesingers, 1210).

Kriss Kringle. (See St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, etc.)

Krook, proprietor of a rag and bone warehouse, where everything seems to be bought and nothing sold. He is a grasping drunkard, who eventually dies of spontaneous combustion. Krook is always attended by a large cat, which he calls “Lady Jane,” as uncanny as her master.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).

Kruitz´ner, or the “German’s Tale,” in Miss H. Lee’s Canterbury Tales. Lord Byron founded his tragedy of Werner on this tale.

The drama [of Werner] is taken entirely from the “German’s Tale” [Kruitzner], published in Lee’s Canterbury Tales, written by two sisters.... I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language of many parts of the story.—Lord Byron, Preface to Werner (1822).

Kubla Kahn. Coleridge says that he composed the poem in a dream, immediately after reading in Purchas’s Pilgrimage a description of the Khan Kubla’s palace, and he wrote it down on awaking, in its present fragmentary state.

Kudrun, called the German Odyssey (thirteenth century); divided into three parts called Hagen, Hilde (2 syl.), and Kudrun—same as Gudrun (q. v.).

Hagen is the son of Siegebrand, king of Ireland, and is carried off by a griffin to a distant island, where three princesses take charge of him. In due time a ship touches on the island, takes all the four to Ireland, and Hagen marries Hilda, the youngest of the three sisters.

Hilda. In due time Hilda has a daughter, who is called by the same name, and at a marriageable age she becomes the wife of Hedel, king of Friesland.

Kudrun. Hilda has two children, Otwein [Ot.vine] a son, and Kudrun, a daughter. Kudrun is affianced to Herwig, but, while preparing the wedding dresses, is carried off by Hartmut, son of Ludwig, king of Normandy. Her father goes in pursuit, but is slain by Ludwig. On reaching Normandy, Gerlinde (3 syl.), the queen-mother, treats Kudrun with the greatest cruelty, and puts her to the most menial work, because she refuses to marry her son. At length, succor is at hand. Her lover and brother arrive and slay Ludwig. Gerlinde is just about to put Kudrun to death, when Watt Long-beard rushes in, slays the queen, and rescues Kudrun, who is forthwith married to Herwig, her affianced lover.—Author unknown (some of the minnesingers).

Kwa´sind, the strongest man that ever lived, the Herculês of the North America Indians. He could pull up cedars and pines by the roots, and toss huge rocks about like playthings. His wondrous strength was “seated in his crown,” and there of course lay his point of weakness, but the only weapon which could injure him was the “blue cone of the fir tree,” a secret known only to the pygmies or Little-folk. This mischievous race, out of jealousy, determined to kill the strong man, and one day, finding him asleep in a boat, pelted him with fir cones till he died; and now, whenever the tempest rages through the forests, and the branches of the trees creak and groan and split, they say “Kwasind is gathering in his firewood.”

Dear, too, unto Hiawatha
Was the very strong man Kwasind;
He the strongest of all mortals.
Longfellow, Hiawatha, vi. and xviii.

Kyrie Elyson de Montalban (Don) or “Don Quirieleyson de Montalvan,” brother of Thomas de Montalban, in the romance called Tirante le Blanc.—Author unknown.

⁂ Dr. Warburton, in his essay on the old romances, falls into the strange error of calling this character an “early romance of chivalry.” As well might he call Claudius, king of Denmark, a play of Shakespeare’sShakespeare’s, instead of a character in the tragedy of Hamlet.

A large quarto dropped at the barber’s feet ... it was the history of that famous knight Tirante le Blanc. “Pray let me look at that book,” said the priest; “we shall find in it a fund of amusement. Here shall we find the famous knight Don Kyrie Elyson of Montalban, and his brother Thomas.... This is one of the most amusing books ever written.”—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

Lab´arum, the imperial standard carried before the Roman emperors in war. Constantine, having seen a luminous cross in the sky the night before the battle of Saxa Rubra, added the sacred monogram XP (Christos).—Gibbon, Decline and Fall, etc., xx. note (1788).

R. Browning erroneously calls the word labā´rum.

... stars would write his will in heaven,
As once when a labarum was not deemed
Too much for the old founder of these walls
[Constantinople].
R. Browning, Paracelsus, ii.

Labe (2 syl.), the sorceress-queen of the Island of Enchantments. She tried to change Beder, the young king of Persia, into a halting, one-eyed hack; but Beder was forewarned, and changed Labê herself into a mare.—Arabian Nights (“Beder and Giauharê”).

Labe´rius, a Roman writer of mimes contemporary with Julius Cæsar.

Laberius would be always sure of more followers than Sophoclês.—J. Macpherson, Dissertation on Ossian.

La Creevy (Miss), a little talkative, bustling, cheery miniature-painter. Simple-minded, kind-hearted, and bright as a lark. She marries Tim Linkinwater, the old clerk of the brothers Cheeryble.—C. Dickens, Nicholas NicklebyNickleby (1838).

Lackitt (Widow), the widow of an Indian planter. This rich, vulgar widow falls in love with Charlotte Weldon, who assumes the dress of a young man, and calls herself Mr. Welden. Charlotte even marries the widow, but then informs her that she is a girl in male apparel, engaged to Mr. Stanmore. The widow consoles herself by marrying Jack Stanmore.—Thomas Southern, Oroonoko (1696).

Lacy (Sir Hugo de), constable of Chester, a crusader.

Sir Damian de Lacy, nephew of Sir Hugo. He marries Lady Eveline.

Randal de Lacy, Sir Hugo’s cousin, introduced in several disguises, as a merchant, a hawk-seller, and a robber-captain.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

La´das, Alexander’s messenger, noted for his swiftness of foot.

Ladislaus, a cynic, whose humor is healthy and amusing.—Massinger, The Picture (1629).

Ladon, the dragon or hydra that assisted the Hesperidês in keeping watch over the golden apples of the Hesperian grove.

So oft th’ unamiable dragon hath slept,
That the garden’s imperfectly watched after all.
T. Moore, Irish Melodies (1814).

Ladur´lad, the father of Kail´yal (2 syl.). He killed Ar´valan for attempting to dishonor his daughter, and thereby incurred the “curse of Keha´ma” (Arvalan’s father). The curse was that water should not wet him nor fire consume him, that sleep should not visit him nor death release him, etc. After enduring a time of agony, these curses turned to blessings. Thus, when his daughter was exposed to the fire of the burning pagoda, he was enabled to rescue her, because he was “charmed from fire.” When her lover was carried by the witch Lorrimite (3 syl.) to the city of Baly, under the ocean, he was able to deliver the captive, because he was “charmed from water, the serpent’s tooth, and all beasts of blood.” He could even descend to the infernal regions to crave vengeance against Kehama, because “he was charmed against death.” When Kehama drank the cup of “immortal death,” Ladurlad was taken to Paradise.—Southey, The Curse of Kehama (1809).

Lady (A), authoress of A New System of Domestic Cookery (1808), is Mrs. Rundell.

Lady (A), authoress of The Diary of an Ennuyée (1826), is Mrs. Anna Jameson.

Several other authoresses have adopted the same signature, as Miss Gunn of Christchurch, Conversations on Church Polity (1833); Mrs. Palmer, A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect (1837); Miss S. Fenimore Cooper, Rural Hours (1854); Julia Ward, Passion-flowers, etc., (1854); Miss E. M. Sewell, Amy Herbert (1865); etc.

Lady of the Aroostook. A young girl educated in a provincial town, wishes to visit relatives in Italy, and takes passage in a sailing-vessel, not knowing that there was to be no other woman on board. She is treated with chivalric respect by all on board.—W. D. Howells, Lady of the Aroostook (1879).

Lady Bountiful (A). The benevolent lady of a village is so called, from “Lady Bountiful” in the Beaux’ Stratagem, by Farquhar. (See Bountiful, p. 125).

Lady of Castelnore. Châtelaine of Bretagne, sought by many in marriage, but reputed haughtily cold up to the day of her death. One November morning a long delayed ship brought home her lover to weep “too late” over her grave.

“And they called her cold. God knows! underneath the winter snows,
The invisible hearts of flowers grow ripe for blossoming!
And the lives that look so cold, if their stories could be told,
Would seem cast in gentler mould, would seem full of love and spring.”
T. B. Aldrich, The Lady of CastelnoreCastelnore (1856).

Lady Freemason, the Hon. Miss Elizabeth St. Leger, daughter of Lord Doneraile. The tale is that, in order to witness the proceedings of a Freemason’s lodge, she hid herself in an empty clock-case when the lodge was held in her father’s house; but, being discovered, she was compelled to submit to initiation as a member of the craft.

Lady Magistrate, Lady Berkley, made justice of the peace for Gloucestershire by Queen Mary. She sat on the bench at assizes and sessions girt with a sword.

Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII. She founded a professorship of divinity in the University of Cambridge, 1502; and a preachership in both universities.

Lady in the Sacque. The apparition of this hag forms the story of the Tapestried Chamber, by Sir W. Scott.

Lady of England, Maud, daughter of Henry I. The title of Domina Anglorum was conferred upon her by the council of Winchester, held April 7, 1141.—See Rymer’s Fœdera, i. (1703).

Lady of Lyons (The), Pauline Deschappelles, daughter of a Lyonese merchant. She rejected the suits of Beauseant, Glavis, and Claude Melnotte, who therefore combined on vengeance. To this end, Claude, who was a gardener’s son, aided by the other two, passed himself off as Prince of Como, married Pauline, and brought her home to his mother’s cottage. The proud beauty was very indignant, and Claude left her to join the French army. In two years and a half he became a colonel and returned to Lyons. He found that his father-in-law was on the eve of bankruptcy, and that Beauseant had promised to satisfy the creditors if Pauline would consent to marry him. Pauline was heart-broken; Claude revealed himself, paid the money required, and carried home Pauline as his loving and true-hearted wife.—L. B. Lytton, Lady of Lyons (1838).

Lady of Mercy (Our), an order of knighthood in Spain, instituted in 1218 by James I., of Aragon, for the deliverance of Christian captives amongst the Moors. As many as 400 captives were rescued in six years by these knights.

Lady of Shalott, a maiden who died for love of Sir Lancelot of the Lake. Tennyson has a poem so entitled.

⁂ The story of Elaine, “the lily maid of Astolat,” in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, is substantially the same.

Lady of the Bleeding Heart, Ellen Douglas. The cognizance of the Douglas family is a “bleeding heart.”—Sir W. Scott, Lady of the Lake (1810).

Lady of the Lake (A), a harlot. (Anglo-Saxon, lác, “a present.”) A “guinea-fowl” or “guinea-hen” is a similar term.

But for the difference marriage makes
’Twixt wives and “ladies of the lake.”
S. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1 (1668)

Lady of the Lake (The), Nimue [sic], one of the damsels of the lake, that King Pellinore took to his court. Merlin, in his dotage, fell in love with her, when she wheedled him out of all his secrets, and enclosed him in a rock, where he died. Subsequently, Nimue married Sir Pelleas.

⁂ Tennyson, in his Idylls of the King (“Merlin and Vivien”), makes Vivien the enchantress who wheedled old Merlin out of his secrets; and then, “in a hollow oak,” she shut him fast, and there “he lay as dead, and lost to life and use, and name, and fame.”

Tennyson takes a poet’s privilege, and varies the old legend at pleasure.

Lady of the Lake (The), Nineve. The name of the Lady of the Lake is variously spelled in the old editions of the Mort d’ Arthur. We find: 1, Nimue; 2, Nineve; 3, Vivien; 4, Vivienne. 4 is the French of 3; 1 is probably a misprint for Ninve; and 1, 2, 3 are probably anagrams.

Lady of the Lake (The). Vivienne (3 syl.) is called La Dame du Lac, and dwelt en la marche de la petite Bretaigne. She stole Lancelot in his infancy, and plunged with him into her home lake; hence was Lancelot called du Lac. When her protégé was grown to manhood, she presented him to King Arthur.

Lady of the Lake (The), Ellen Douglas, once a favorite of King James; but when her father fell into disgrace, she retired with him into the vicinity of Loch Katrine.—Sir W. Scott, Lady of the Lake (1810).

Lady of the Lake and Arthur’s Sword. The lady of the Lake gave to King Arthur the sword “Excalibur.” “Well,” said she, “go into yonder barge and row yourself to the sword, and take it.” So Arthur and Merlin came to the sword that a hand held up, and took it by the handles, and the arm and hand went under the lake again (pt. i. 23).

The Lady of the Lake asked in recompense, the head of Sir Balin, because he had slain her brother; but the king refused the request. Then said Balin, “Evil be ye found! Ye would have my head; therefore ye shall lose thine own.” So saying, with his sword he smote off her head in the presence of King Arthur.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 28 (1470).

Lady of the Mercians, Æthelflæd or El´flida, daughter of King Alfred. She married Æthelred, chief of that portion of Mercia not claimed by the Danes.

Lady of the Sun, Alice Perrers (or Pierce), a mistress of Edward III., of England. She was a married woman, and had been lady of the bed-chamber to Queen Philippa. Edwin lavished on her both riches and honors; but when the king was dying, she stole his jewels, and even the rings from his fingers.

Lady or the Tiger? (The). A princess is beloved by a subject, and for this crime he is condemned to die by the king. Two doors open from the amphitheatre. Behind one crouches a tiger; behind the other smiles a woman whom the condemned is to marry. The princess, who loves the doomed man madly, knows which door conceals death, and which marriage, and by preconcert with her lover, gives him a secret signal which to open. He walks directly to the door on the right and opens it.

“Did the tiger come out of the door, or did the lady?”—Francis Richard Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger? (1884).

Lady with a Lamp, Florence Nightingale (1820- ).

In England’s annals ...
A lady with a lamp shall stand ...
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.
Longfellow, Santa Filomena.

Laer´tes (3 syl.), son of Polōnius, lord chamberlain of Denmark, and brother of Ophelia. He is induced by the king to challenge Hamlet to a “friendly” duel, but poisons his own rapier. He wounds Hamlet; and in the scuffle which ensues, the combatants change swords, and Hamlet wounds Laertês, so that both die.—Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).

Laertes (3 syl.), a Dane, whose life Gustavus Vasa had spared in battle. He becomes the trusty attendant of Christi´na, daughter of the king of Sweden, and never proves ungrateful to the noble Swede.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).

Laer´tes’s Son, Ulysses.

But when his strings with mournful magic tell
What dire distress Laertês’ son befell,
The streams meandering thro’ the maze of woe,
Bid sacred sympathy the heart o’erflow.
Falconer, The Shipwreck, iii. 1 (1756).

Lafeu, an old French lord, sent to conduct Bertram, count of Rousillon, to the king of France, by whom he was invited to the royal court.—Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well (1598).

Lafontaine (The Danish), Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).

Lafontaine of the Vaudeville. So C. F. Panard is called (1691-1765).

Lag´ado, capital of Balnibarbi, celebrated for its grand school of projectors, where the scholars have a technical education, being taught to make pincushions from softened granite, to extract from cucumbers the sunbeams which ripened them, and to convert ice into gunpowder.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Lapu´ta,” 1726).

La Grange and his friend Du Croisy pay their addresses to two young ladies whose heads have been turned by novels. The girls think their manners too natural to be aristocratic, so the gentlemen send to them their lackeys, as “the marquis of Mascarille” and “the viscount of Jodelet.” The girls are delighted with their “aristocratic visitors;” but when the game has been played far enough, the masters enter and unmask the whole trick. By this means the girls are taught a most useful lesson, without suffering any serious ill consequences.—Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules (1659).

Laider (Donald), one of the prisoners at Portanferry.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.)

Laidley (Genevieve). An ingénue, whose sentimental heroics and tearful blandishments nearly dupe her fifty year old guardian (rich and distinguished) into a proposal.—Frank Lee Benedict, My Daughter Elinor (1869).

Lai´la (2 syl.), a Moorish maiden, of great beauty and purity, who loved Manuel, a youth worthy of her. The father disapproved of the match; and they eloped, were pursued, and overtaken near a precipice on the Gruádalhorcê (4 syl.). They climbed to the top of the precipice, and the father bade his followers discharge their arrows at them. Laila and Manuel, seeing death to be inevitable, threw themselves from the precipice, and perished in the fall. It is from this incident that the rock was called “The Lovers’ Leap.”

And every Moorish maid can tell
Where Laila lies, who loved so well;
And every youth who passes there,
Says for Manuel’s soul a prayer.

Southey, The Lovers’ Rock (a ballad, 1798, taken from Mariana, De la Pena de los Enamorados.)

Laila, daughter of Okba, the sorcerer. It was decreed that either Laila or Thalaba must die. Thalaba refused to redeem his own life by killing Laila; and Okba exultingly cried, “As thou hast disobeyed the voice of Allah, God hath abandoned thee, and this hour is mine.” So saying, he rushed on the youth; but Laila, intervening to protect him, received the blow, and was killed. Thalaba lived on, and the spirit of Laila, in the form of a green bird, conducted him to the simorg (q.v.), which he sought, that he might be directed to Dom-Daniel, the cavern “under the roots of the ocean.”—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, x. (1797).

La´is (2 syl.), a generic name for a courtezan. Laïs was a Greek hetæra who sold her favors for £200 English money. When Demosthenês was told the amount of the fee, he said he had “no mind to buy repentance at such a price.” One of her great admirers was Diog´enês, the cynic.

This is the cause
That Lais leads a lady’s life aloft.
G. Gascoigne, The Steele Glas (died 1577).

Lake Poets (The), Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge, who lived about the lakes of Cumberland. According to Mr. Jeffrey, the conductor of the Edinburgh Review, they combined the sentimentality of Rousseau with the simplicity of Kotzebue and the homeliness of Cowper. Of the same school were Lamb, Lloyd, and Wilson. Also called “Lakers” and “Lakists.”

Laked´ion (Isaac), the name given in France to the Wandering Jew (q.v.).

Lalla Rookh, the supposed daughter of Aurungzebe, emperor of Delhi. She was betrothed to Alĭris, sultan of Lesser Bucharia. On her journey from Delhi to Cashmere, she was entertained by Fer´amorz, a young Persian poet, with whom she fell in love, and unbounded was her delight when she discovered that the young poet was the sultan to whom she was betrothed.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817).

Lambert (General), parliamentary leader.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Lambert (Sir John), the dupe of Dr. Cantwell, “the hypocrite.” He entertains him as his guest, settles on him £400 a year, and tries to make his daughter Charlotte marry him, although he is 59 and she under 20. His eyes are opened at length by the mercenary and licentious conduct of the doctor. Lady Lambert assists in exposing him, but old lady Lambert remains to the last a believer in the “saint.” In Molière’s comedy, “Orgon” takes the place of Lambert, “Mde. Parnelle” of the old lady, and “Tartuffe” of Dr. Cantwell.

Lady Lambert, the gentle, loving wife of Sir John. By a stratagem, she convinces her husband of Dr. Cantwell’s true character.

Colonel Lambert, son of Sir John and Lady Lambert. He assists in unmasking “the hypocrite.”

Charlotte Lambert, daughter of Sir John and Lady Lambert. A pretty, bright girl, somewhat giddy, and fond of teasing her sweetheart, Darnley (see act i. 1).—I. Bickerstaff, The Hypocrite (1769).

Lambourne (Michael), a retainer of the earl of Leicester.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time Elizabeth).

Lambro, a Greek pirate, father of Haidée (q.v.).—Bryon, Don Juan, iii. 26, etc. (1820).(1820).

⁂ The original of this character was Major Lambro, who was captain (1791) of a Russian piratical squadron, which plundered the islands of the Greek Archipelago, and did great damage. When his squadron was attacked by seven Algerine corsairs, Major Lambro was wounded, but escaped. The incidents referred to in canto vi., etc., are historical.

Lamderg and Gelchossa. Gelchossa was beloved by Lamderg and Ullin, son of Cairbar. The rivals fought, and Ullin fell. Lamderg, all bleeding with wounds, just reached Gelchossa to announce the death of his rival, and expired also. “Three days Gelchossa mourned, and then the hunters found her cold,” and all three were buried in one grave.—Ossian, Fingal, ii.

Lame (The).

Jehan de Meung, called “Clopinet,” because he was lame, and hobbled.

Tyrtæus, the Greek poet, was called the lame or hobbling poet, because he introduced the pentameter verse alternately with the hexameter. Thus his distich consisted of one line with six feet and one line with only five.

The Lame King, Charles II., of Naples, Boiteux (1248, 1289-1309).

Lamech’s Song. “Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt! If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”—Gen. iv. 23, 24.

As Lamech grew old, his eyes became dim, and finally all sight was taken from them, and Tubal-Cain, his son, led him by the hand when he walked abroad. And it came to pass ... that he led his father into the fields to hunt, and said to his father: “Lo! yonder is a beast of prey; shoot thine arrow in that direction.” Lamech did as his son had spoken, and the arrow struck Cain, who was walking afar off, and killed him.... Now when Lamech ... saw [sic] that he had killed Cain, he trembled exceedingly ... and being blind, he saw not his son, but struck the lad’s head between his hands, and killed him.... And he cried to his wives, Ada and Zillah, “Listen to my voice, ye wives of Lamech.... I have slain a man to my hurt, and a child to my wounding!”—The Talmud, i.

Lamia. Libyan Queen, wronged by Jupiter and hated by Juno. Robbed of her children, she became a child murderess and a monster.—Greek and Roman Mythology.

Lamia.

“I kissed her hand, I called her blest,
I held her leal and fair—
She turned to shadow on my breast
And melted into air!
And lo! about me, fold on fold,
A writhing serpent hung—
An eye of jet, a skin of gold,
A garnet for a tongue.”
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Lamia.

Lamia. Beautiful woman, with a serpent’s nature and much of the serpent’s glittering, sinuous charm. A seductive creature who lures men only to destroy.—Lamia, poem by John Keats (1820).

Lamin´ak. Basque fairies, little folk, who live under ground, and sometimes come into houses down the chimney, in order to change a fairy child for a human one. They bring good luck with them, but insist on great cleanliness, and always give their orders in words the very opposite of their intention. They hate church bells. Every Basque Laminak is named Guïllen (William). (See Say and Mean).

Lamington, a follower of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Lami´ra, wife of Champernel, and daughter of Vertaigné (2 syl.), a nobleman and a judge.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Lamkin (Mrs. Alice), companion to Mrs. Bethune Baliol.—Sir W. Scott, The Highland Widow (time, George II.).

Lammeter (Nancy), fair, good and sensible girl, who marries Geoffrey Cass, in Silas Warner, and when she learns that the waif brought up by Silas is her husband’s child, would gladly adopt her.—George Eliot, Silas MarnerMarner.

Lammikin, a blood-thirsty builder, who built and baptized his castle with blood. He was long a nursery ogre, like Lunsford.—Scotch Ballad.

Lammle (Alfred), a “mature young gentleman with too much nose on his face, too much ginger in his whiskers, too much torso in his waistcoat, too much sparkle in his studs, his eyes, his buttons, his talk, his teeth.” He married Miss Akershem, thinking she had money, and she married him under the same delusion; and the two kept up a fine appearance on nothing at all. Alfred Lammle had many schemes for making money; one was to oust Rokesmith from his post of secretary to Mr. Boffin, and get his wife adopted by Mrs. Boffin in the place of Bella Wilfer; but Mr. Boffin saw through the scheme, and Lammle, with his wife, retired to live on the Continent. In public they appeared very loving and amiable to each other, but led at home a cat-and-dog life.

Sophronia Lammle, wife of Alfred Lammle. “A mature young lady, with raven locks, and complexion that lit up well when well powdered.”powdered.”—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Lamoracke (Sir), Lamerocke, Lamorake, Lamorock, or Lamarecke, one of the knights of the Round Table, and one of the three most noted for deeds of prowess. The other two were Sir Launcelot and Sir Tristram. Sir Lamoracke’s father was King Pellinore of Wales, who slew King Lot. His brothers were Sir Aglavale and Sir Percival; Sir Tor, whose mother was the wife of Aries, the cowherd, was his half-brother (pt. ii. 108). Sir Lamoracke was detected by the sons of King Lot in adultery with their mother, and they conspired his death.

Sir Gawain and his three brethren, Sir Agrawain, Sir Gahĕris, and Sir Modred, met him [Sir Lamoracke] in a privy place, and there they slew his horse; then they fought with him on foot for more than three hours, both before him and behind his back, and all-to hewed him in pieces.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 144 (1470).

Roger Ascham says: “The whole pleasure of La Mort d’Arthur standeth in two special poyntes: in open manslaughter and bold bawdye, in which booke they are counted the noblest knights that doe kill most men without any quarrell, and commit foulest adulteries by sutlest shiftes; as Sir Launcelote, with the wife of King Arthur, his master, Sir Tristram, with the wife of King Marke, his uncle, and Sir Lamerocke with the wife of King Lote, that was his aunt.”—Works, 254 (fourth edit.).

Lamorce´ (2 syl.), a woman of bad reputation, who inveigles young Mirabel into her house, where he would have been murdered by four bravoes, if Oriana, dressed as a page, had not been by.—G. Farquhar, The Inconstant (1702).

Lamourette’s Kiss (A), a kiss of peace when there is no peace; a kiss of apparent reconciliation, but with secret hostility. On July 7, 1792, the Abbé Lamourette induced the different factions of the Legislative Assembly of France to lay aside their differences; so the deputies of the Royalists, Constitutionalists, Girondists, Jacobins, and Orleanists, rushed into each others’ arms, and the king was sent for, that he might see “how these Christians loved one another;” but the reconciliation was hardly made when the old animosities burst forth more furiously than ever.

Lampad´ion, a lively, petulant courtezan. A name common in the later Greek comedy.

Lampe´do, of Lacedæmon. She was daughter, wife, sister, and mother of a king. Agrippina was granddaughter, wife, sister, and mother of a king.—Tacitus, Annales, xii. 22, 37.

⁂ The wife of Raymond Ber´enger (count of Provence), was grandmother of four kings, for her four daughters married four kings; Margaret married Louis IX., king of France; Eleanor married Henry III., king of England; Sancha married Richard, king of the Romans; and Beatrice married Charles I., king of Naples and Sicily.

Lampedo, a country apothecary-surgeon, without practice; so poor and ill-fed that he was but “the sketch and outline of a man.” He says of himself:

Altho’ to cure men be beyond my skill,
’Tis hard, indeed, if I can’t keep them ill.
J. Tobin, The Honeymoon, iii. 3 (1804).

Lamplugh (Will), a smuggler.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Lance (1 syl.), falconer and ancient servant to the father of Valentine, the gallant, who would not be persuaded to keep his estate.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money (1622).

Lancelot or Launcelot Gobbo, servant of Shylock. He assists Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, in running away from her father, and accompanies her in her flight.—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1598).

Lancelot du Lac, by Ulrich of Zazikoven, the most ancient poem of the Arthurian series. It tells the adventures of a young knight, gay and joyous, with animal spirits and light-heartedness. (See Launcelot.)—One of the minnesongs of Germany (twelfth century).

Lancelot du Lac and Tarquin. Sir Lancelot, seeking adventures, met with a lady who prayed him to deliver certain knights of the Round Table from the power of Tarquin. Coming to a river, he saw a copper basin hung on a tree for gong, and he struck it so hard that it broke. This brought out Tarquin, and a furious combat ensued, in which Tarquin was slain. Sir Lancelot then liberated three score and four knights, who had been made captives by Tarquin. (See Launcelot.)—Percy, Reliques, I. ii. 9.

Lancelot of the Laik, a Scotch metrical romance, taken from the French Launcelot du Lac. Galiot, a neighboring king, invaded Arthur’s territories, and captured the castle of Lady Melyhalt among others. When Sir Lancelot went to chastise Galiot, he saw Queen Guinevere, and fell in love with her. The French romance makes Galiot submit to King Arthur; but the Scotch tale terminates with his capture. (See Launcelot.)

Lanciotto Da Rimini. The brave, deformed victim of a state-marriage. Loving his wife and brother best of created things, he is deceived by both, and goaded to fury by the discovery and the taunts of the spy, Pepe, seeks to wash out his dishonor in blood.—George Henry Boker, Francesca Da Rimini; A Tragedy (1856).

Landois (Peter), the favorite minister of the Duc de Bretagne.—Sir. W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Landscape Gardening (Father of), Lenôtre (1613-1700).

Lane (Mr.). The victim of another man’s dishonesty. Retires from the world and lives in Ivy Lane, London, in rags and poverty, lamenting “a lost life.” Meeting him to whom he owes his ruin, he pursues him, overtakes him at the river, seizes him and sinks with him to rise no more.

“When the victim recovered his life, what did his tempter and oppressor recover?”—Walter Besant; Children of Gibeon, (1890).

Lane (Jane), daughter of Thomas, and sister of Colonel John Lane. To save King Charles II. after the battle of Worcester, she rode behind him from Bentley, in Staffordshire, to the house of her cousin, Mrs. Norton, near Bristol. For this act of loyalty, the king granted the family the following armorial device: A strawberry horse saliant (couped at the flank), bridled, bitted, and garnished, supporting between its feet a royal crown proper. Motto: Garde le roy.

Laneham (Master Robert), clerk of the council-chamber door.

Sybil Laneham, his wife, one of the revellers at Kenilworth Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Langcale (The laird of), a leader in the covenanters’ army.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Langley (Sir Frederick), a suitor to Miss Vere, and one of the Jacobite conspirators with the laird of Ellieslaw.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).

Langosta (Duke of), the Spanish nickname of Aosta, the elected king of Spain. The word means “a locust” or “plunderer.”

Language: (The Primeval).

Psammetichus, king of Egypt, desiring to learn what was the original language, shut up two infants with a goat to suckle them, in a place where they could hear no human voice, and gave orders to report to him the first word they should utter. At the end of two years they cried “Bekos,” and as this resembled the Phrygian word for “bread,” Psammetichus decided that the Phrygians were older than the Egyptians. The word was really the echo of the cry of the goat.

Languish (Lydia), a romantic young lady, who is for ever reading sensational novels, and molding her behavior on the characters which she reads of in these books of fiction. Hence she is a very female Quixote in romantic notions of a sentimental type (see act i. 2).—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).

Lantern-Land, the land of authors, whose works are their lanterns. The inhabitants, called “Lanterners” (Lanternois), are bachelors and masters of arts, doctors, and professors, prelates and divines of the council of Trent, and all other wise ones of the earth. Here are the lanterns of Aristotle, Epicūros, and Aristophănês; the dark earthen lantern of Epictētos, the duplex lantern of Martial, and many others. The sovereign was a queen when Pantag´ruel visited the realm to make inquiry about the “Oracle of the Holy Bottle.”—Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 32, 33 (1545).

Lanternois, pretenders to science, quacks of all sorts, and authors generally. They are the inhabitants of Lantern-land,¤ and their literary productions are “lanterns.”—Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 32, 33 (1545).

Laocoon [La.ok´.o.on], a Trojan priest, who, with his two sons, was crushed to death by serpents. Thomson, in his Liberty, iv., has described the group, which represents these three in their death agony. It was discovered in 1506, in the baths of Titus, and is now in the Vatican. This exquisite group was sculptured at the command of Titus by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, in the fifth century B.C.—Virgil, Æneid, ii. 201-227.

Laodami´a, wife of Protesila´os, who was slain at the siege of Troy. She prayed that she might be allowed to converse with her dead husband for three hours, and her request was granted; but when her husband returned to hadês, she accompanied him thither.

⁂ Wordsworth has a poem on this subject, entitled Laodamia.

Laodice´a, now Lataki´a, noted for its tobacco and sponge.—See Rev. iii. 14-18.

Lapet (Mons.), a model of poltroonery, the very “Ercles’ Vein” of fanatical cowardice. M. Lapet would fancy the world out of joint if no one gave him a tweak of the nose or lug of the ear. He was the author of a book on the “punctilios of duelling.”—Beaumont and Fletcher, Nice Valour or The Passionate Madman (1647).

Lapham (Silas). Boston man who has made a fortune, and means to enjoy it. His future son-in-law thus hits him off: “Simple-hearted and rather wholesome. He could be tiresome, and his range of ideas is limited. But he is a force, and not a bad one. He hasn’t got over being surprised at the effect of rubbing his lamp.” His most attractive qualities are his appreciation of his faithful wife, Persis, and prideful fondness for his pretty daughters. He is honest, too, through and through, and sacrifices much to sturdy integrity.—W. D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).

Lappet, the “glory of all chambermaids.”—H. Fielding, The Miser.

Lapraick (Laurie), friend of Steenie Steenson, in Wandering Willie’s tale.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Laprel, the rabbit, in the beast-epic entitled Reynard the Fox (1498).

Lara, the name assumed by Conrad, the corsair, after the death of Medo´ra. On his return to his native country, he was recognized by Sir Ezzelin, at the table of Lord Otho, and charged home by him. Lara arranged a duel for the day following, but Sir Ezzelin disappeared mysteriously. Subsequently, Lara headed a rebellion, and was shot by Otho.—Byron, Lara (1814).

Lara (The Seven Sons of), sons of Gonzalez Gustios de Lara, a Castilian hero, brother of Ferdinand Gonzalez, count of Castile. A quarrel having arisen between Gustios and Rodrigo Velasquez, his brother-in-law, Rodrigo caused him to be imprisoned in Cor´dova, and then allured his seven nephews into a ravine, where they were all slain by an ambuscade, after performing prodigies of valor. While in prison, Zaïda, daughter of Almanzor, the Moorish prince, fell in love with Gustios, and became the mother of Mudarra, who avenged the death of his seven brothers (A.D. 993).

⁂ Lope de Vega has made this the subject of a Spanish drama, which has several imitations, one by Mallefille, in 1835.—See Ferd. Denis, Chroniques Chevaleresques d’Espagne (1839).

Larder (The Douglas), the flour, meal, wheat, and malt of Douglas Castle, emptied on the floor by good Lord James Douglas, in 1307, when he took the castle from the English garrison. Having staved in all the barrels of food, he next emptied all the wine and ale, and then, having slain the garrison, threw the dead bodies into this disgusting mess, “to eat, drink, and be merry.”—Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, ix.

Wallace’s Larder is a similar mess. It consisted of the dead bodies of the garrison of Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, cast into the dungeon keep. The castle was surprised by him in the reign of Edward I.

Lardoon (Lady Bab), a caricature of fine life, the “princess of dissipation,” and the “greatest gamester of the times.” She becomes engaged to Sir Charles Dupely, and says, “to follow fashion where we feel shame, is the strongest of all hypocrisy, and from this moment I renounce it.”—J. Burgoyne, The Maid of the Oaks.

La Roche, a Swiss pastor, travelling through France with his daughter Margaret, was taken ill, and like to die. There was only a wayside inn in the place, but Hume, the philosopher, heard of the circumstance, and removed the sick man to his own house. Here, with good nursing, La Roche recovered, and a strong friendship sprang up between the two. Hume even accompanied La Roche to his manse in Berne. After the lapse of three years, Hume was informed that Mademoiselle was about to be married to a young Swiss officer, and hastened to Berne to be present at the wedding. On reaching the neighborhood, he observed some men filling up a grave, and found on inquiry that Mademoiselle had just died of a broken heart. In fact, her lover had been shot in a duel, and the shock was too much for her. The old pastor bore up heroically, and Hume admired the faith which could sustain a man in such an affliction.—H. Mackenzie, “Story of La Roche” (in The Mirror).

Lars, the emperor or over-king of the ancient Etruscans. A khedive, satrap, or under-king, was called lŭcŭmo. Thus the king of Prussia, as emperor of Germany, is lars, but the king of Bavaria is a lucumo.

There be thirty chosen prophets.
The wisest of the land,
Who alway by lars Por´sena,
Both morn and evening stand.
Lord Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome
(“Horatius,” ix. 1842).

Larthmor, petty king of Ber´rathon, one of the Scandinavian islands. He was dethroned by his son, Uthal, but Fingal sent Ossian and Toscar to his aid. Uthal was slain in single combatcombat, and Larthmor was restored to his throne.—Ossian, Berrathon.

Larthon. the leader of the Fir-bolg or Belgæ of Britain, who settled in the southern parts of Ireland.

Larthon, the first of Bolga’s race who travelled in the winds. White bosomed spread the sails of the king towards streamy Inisfail [Ireland]. Dun night was rolled before him, with its skirts of mist. Unconstant blew the winds and rolled him from wave to wave.—Ossian, Temora, vii.

Lascaris, a citizen. Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Las-Ca´sas, a noble old Spaniard, who vainly attempted to put a stop to the barbarities of his countrymen, and even denounced them (act i. 1).—Sheridan, Pizarro (1799, altered from Kotzebue).

Lascelles (Lady Caroline), supposed to be Miss M. E. Braddon.—Athenæum, 2073, p. 82 (C. R. Jackson).

Last Man (The), Charles I.; so called by the parliamentarians, meaning the last man who would wear a crown in Great Britain. Charles II. was called “The son of the Last man.”

Last of the Fathers, St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux (1091-1153).

Last of the Goths, Roderick, the thirty-fourth and last of the Visigothic line of kings in Spain (414-711). He was dethroned by the African Moors.

⁂ Southey has an historical tale in blank verse, entitled Roderick, the Last of the Goths.

Last of the Greeks, (The), Philopœmen of Arcadia (B.C. 253-183).

Last of the Knights, Maximilian I., the Penniless, emperor of Germany (1459, 1493-1519).

Last of the Mo´hicans., Uncas, the Indian chief, is so called by J. F. Cooper, in his novel of that title.

⁂ The word ought to be pronounced Mo.hic.´kanz, but custom has ruled it otherwise.

Last of the Romans, Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of Cæsar (B.C. 85-42).

Caius Cassius Longīnus is so called by Brutus (B.C.*-42).

Aëtius, a general who defended the Gauls against the Franks, and defeated Attila in 451, is so called by Proco´pius.

Congreve is called by Pope, Ultimus Romanus (1670-1729).

Horace Walpole is called Ultimus Romanorum (1717-1797).

François Joseph Terasse Desbillons was called Ultimus Romanus, from his elegant and pure Latinity (1751-1789).

Last of the Tribunes, Cola di Rienzi (1313-1354).

⁂ Lord Lytton has a novel so entitled (1835).

Last of the Troubadors, Jacques Jasmin, of Gascony (1798-1864).

Last who Spoke Cornish (The), Doll Pentreath (1686-1777).

Last Words, (See Dying Sayings).

Lath´erum, the barber at the Black Bear inn, at Darlington.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Lathmon, son of Nuäth, a British prince. He invades Morven while Fingal is in Ireland with his army; but Fingal returns unexpectedly. At dead of night, Ossian (Fingal’s son) and his friend Gaul, the son of Morni, go to the enemy’s camp, and “strike the shield” to arouse the sleepers, then rush on, and a great slaughter ensues in the panic. Lathmon sees the two opponents moving off, and sends a challenge to Ossian; so Ossian returns, and the duel begins. Lathmon flings down his sword, and submits; and Fingal, coming up, conducts Lathmon to his “feast of shells.” After passing the night in banquet and song, Fingal dismisses his guest next morning, saying, “Lathmon, retire to thy place; turn thy battles to other lands. The race of Morven are renowned, and their foes are the sons of the unhappy.”—Ossian, Lathmon.

⁂ In Oithona he is again introduced, and Oithona is called Lathmon’s brother.

[Donrommath] feared the returning Lathmon, the brother of unhappy Oithona.—Ossian, Oithona.

Lat´imer (Mr. Ralph), the supposed father of Darsie Latimer, alias Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet.

Darsie Latimer, alias Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet, supposed to be the son of Ralph Latimer, but really the son of Sir Henry Darsie Redgauntlet, and grandson of Sir Redwald Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Latin Church (Fathers of the): Lactantius, Hilăry, Ambrose, of Milan, Jer´ome, AugustinAugustin of Hippo, and St. Bernard, “Last of the Fathers.”

Lati´nus, king of the Laurentians, who first opposed Æne´as, but afterwards formed an alliance with him, and gave him his daughter Lavinia in marriage.—Virgil, Æneid.

Latinus, an Italian, who went with his five sons to the siege of Jerusalem. His eldest son was slain by Solyman; the second son, Aramantês, running to his brother’s aid, was next slain; then the third son, Sabi´nus; and lastly, Picus and Laurentës, who were twins. The father, having lost his five sons, rushed madly on the soldan, and was slain also. In one hour fell the father and his five sons.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Latmian Swain (The), Endym´ion. So called because it was on Mount Latmos, in Caria, that Cynthia (the moon) descended to hold converse with him.

Thou dids’t not, Cynthia, scorn the Latmian swain.
Ovid, Art of Love, iii.

Lato´na, mother of Apollo (the sun) and Diana (the moon). Some Lycian hinds jeered at her as she knelt by a fountain in Delos to drink, and were changed into frogs.

As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs,
Railed at Latona’s twin-born progeny,
Which after held the sun and moon in fee.
Milton, Sonnets.

Latorch, Duke Rollo’s “earwig,” in the tragedy called The Bloody Brother, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1639).

Latro (Marcus Porcius), a Roman rhetorician in the reign of Augustus; a Spaniard by birth.

I became as mad as the disciples of Porcius Latro, who, when they had made themselves as pale as their master by drinking decoctions of cumin, imagined themselves as learned.—Lesage, Gil Blas, vii. 9 (1735).

Laud (Archbishop). One day, when the archbishop was about to say grace before dinner, Archie Armstrong, the royal jester, begged permission of Charles I. to perform the office instead. The request being granted, the wise fool said, “All praise to the Lord, and little Laud to the devil!” the point of which is much increased by the fact that the archbishop was a very small man.

Lauderdale (The Duke of), president of the privy council.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Laugh (Jupiter’s). Jupiter, we are told, laughed incessantly for seven days after he was born.—Ptol. Hephæstion, Nov. Hist., vii.

Laughing Philosopher (The), Democ´rītos, of Abde´ra (B.C. 460-357).

⁂He laughed or jeered at the feeble powers of man so wholly in the hands of fate, that nothing he did or said was uncontrolled. The “Weeping Philosopher” was Heraclitos.

Dr. Jeddler, the philosopher, who looked upon the world as a “great practical joke, something too absurd to be considered seriously by any rational man.”—C. Dickens, The Battle of Life (1846).

Laughter (Death from). A fellow in rags told Chalchas, the soothsayer, that he would never drink the wine of the grapes growing in his vineyard; and added, “If these words do not come true, you may claim me for your slave.” When the wine was made, Chalchas made a feast, and sent for the fellow to see how his prediction had failed; and when he appeared, the soothsayer laughed so immoderately at the would-be prophet that he died.—Lord Lytton, Tales of Miletus, iv.

Somewhat similar is the tale of Ancæos. This king of the Lelĕgês, in Samos, planted a vineyard, but was warned by one of his slaves that he would never live to taste the wine thereof. Wine was made from the grapes, and the king sent for his slave, and said, “What do you think of your prophecy now?” The slave made answer, “There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip;” and the words were scarcely uttered, when the king rushed from table to drive out of his vineyard a boar which was laying waste the vines, but was killed in the encounter.—Pausanias.

Crassus died from laughter on seeing an ass eat thistles. Margutte, the giant, died of laughter on seeing an ape trying to pull on his boots. Philemon or Philomēnês died of laughter on seeing an ass eat the figs provided for his own dinner (Lucian, i. 2). Zeuxis died of laughter at sight of an old woman he had painted.

Launay (Vicomte de), pseudonym of Mde. Emile de Girardin (née Delphine Gay).

Launce, the clownish servant of Proteus, one of the two “gentlemen of Verona.” He is in love with Julia. Launce is especially famous for soliloquies to his dog, Crab, “the sourest-natured dog that lives.” Speed is the serving-man of Valentine, the other “gentleman.”—Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).

Launcelot, bard to the Countess Brenhilda’s father.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Launcelot (Sir), originally called Galahad, was the son of Ban, king of Benwick (Brittany), and his wife, Elein (pt. i. 60). He was stolen in infancy by Vivienne, the Lady of the Lake, who brought him up till he was presented to King Arthur and knighted. In consequence, he is usually called Sir Launcelot du Lac. He was in “the eighth degree [or generation] of our Saviour” (pt. iii. 35); was uncle to Sir Bors de Ganis (pt. iii. 4); his brother was Sir Ector de Maris (pt. ii. 127); and his son, by Elaine, daughter of King Pelles, was Sir Galahad, the chastest of the 150 knights of the Round Table, and therefore allotted to the “Siege Perilous” and the quest of the Holy Graal, which he achieved. Sir Launcelot had from time to time a glimpse of the Holy Graal; but in consequence of his amours with Queen Guenever, was never allowed more than a distant and fleeting glance at it (pt. iii. 18, 22, 45).

Sir Launcelot was the strongest and bravest of the 150 knights of the Round Table; the two next were Sir Tristram and Sir Lamoracke. His adultery with Queen Guenever was directly or indirectly the cause of the death of King Arthur, the breaking up of the Round Table, and the death of most of the knights. The tale runs thus: Mordred and Agravain hated Sir Launcelot, told the king he was too familiar with the queen, and, in order to make good their charge, persuaded Arthur to go a-hunting. While absent in the chase, the queen sent for Sir Launcelot to her private chamber, when Mordred, Agravain, and twelve other knights beset the door, and commanded him to come forth. In coming forth he slew Sir Agravain and the twelve knights; but Mordred escaped and told the king, who condemned Guenever to be burned to death. She was brought to the stake, but rescued by Sir Launcelot, who carried her off to Joyous Guard, near Carlisle. The king besieged the castle, but received a bull from the pope, commanding him to take back the queen. This he did, but refused to be reconciled to Sir Launcelot, who accordingly left the realm and went to Benwick. Arthur crossed over with an army to besiege Benwick, leaving Mordred regent. The traitor, Mordred, usurped the crown, and tried to make the queen marry him; but she rejected his proposal with contempt. When Arthur heard thereof, he returned, and fought three battles with his nephew, in the last of which Mordred was slain, and the king received from his nephew his death-wound. The queen now retired to the convent of Almesbury, where she was visited by Sir Launcelot; but as she refused to leave the convent, Sir Launcelot turned monk, died “in the odor of sanctity,” and was buried in Joyous Guard (pt. iii. 143-175).

“Ah! Sir Launcelot,” said Sir Ector; “thou were [sic] head of all Christian knights.” “I dare say,” said Sir Bors, “that Sir Launcelot there thou liest, thou were never matched of none earthly knight’s hand; and thou were the courteoust knight that ever bare shield; and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrode horse; and thou were the truest lover of sinfull man that ever loved woman; and thou were the kindest man that ever struck with sword; and thou were the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights; and thou were the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eat in hall among ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in rest.”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 176 (1470).

N. B.—The Elaine above referred to is not the Elaine of Astolat, the heroine of Tennyson’s Idyll. Sir Ector de Maris is not Sir Ector, the foster-father of King Arthur; and Sir Bors de Ganis must be kept distinct from Sir Bors of Gaul, and also from Sir Borre or Sir Bors, a natural son of King Arthur, by Lyonors, daughter of the Earl Sanam (pt. i. 15).

Sir Launcelot and Elaine. The Elaine of Tennyson’s Idyll, called the “fair maid of Astolat,” was the daughter of Sir Bernard, lord of Astolat, and her two brothers were Sir Tirre (not Sir Torre, as Tennyson writes the word) and Lavaine (pt. iii. 122). The whole tale and the beautiful picture of Elaine propelled by the old dumb servitor down the river to the king’s palace, is all borrowed from Sir T. Malory’s compilation. “The fair maid of Astolat” asked Sir Launcelot to marry her, but the knight replied, “Fair damsel, I thank you, but certainly cast me never to be married;” and when the maid asked if she might be ever with him without being wed, he made answer, “Mercy defend me, no!” “Then,” said Elaine, “I needs must die for love of you;” and when Sir Launcelot quitted Astolat, she drooped and died. But before she died she called her brother, Sir Tirre (not Sir Lavaine, as Tennyson says, because Sir Lavaine went with Sir Launcelot as his squire), and dictated the letter that her brother was to write, and spake thus:

“While my body is whole, let this letter be put into my right hand, and my hand bound fast with the letter until that I be cold, and let me be put in a fair bed, with all my richest clothes.... and be laid in a chariot to the next place, whereas the Thames is, and there let me be put in a barge, and but one man with me ... to steer me thither, and that my barge be covered with black samite.”... So her father granted ... that all this should be done ... and she died. And so, when she was dead, the corpse and the bed ... were put in a barge ... and the man steered the barge to Westminster.—Pt. iii. 123.

The narrative then goes on to say that King Arthur had the letter read, and commanded the corpse to be buried right royally, and all the knights then present made offerings over her grave. Not only the tale, but much of the antique flavor of the original is preserved in the version of the laureate.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

Launcelot and Guenever. Sir Launcelot was chosen by King Arthur to conduct Guenever (his bride) to court; and then began that disloyalty between them which lasted to the end. Gottfried, the German minnesinger (twelfth century), who wrote the tale of Sir Tristan [our Tristram], makes King Mark send Tristan to Ireland, to conduct Yseult to Cornwall, and then commenced that disloyalty between Sir Tristram and his uncle’s wife, which also lasted to the end, and was the death of both.

Launcelot Mad. Sir Launcelot, having offended the queen, was so vexed, that he went mad for two years, half raving and half melancholy. Being partly cured by a vision of the Holy Graal, he settled for a time in Joyous Isle, under the assumed name of La Chevalier Mal-Fet. His deeds of prowess soon got blazed abroad, and brought about him certain knights of the Round Table, who prevailed on him to return to court. Then followed the famous quest of the Holy Graal. The quest of the graal is the subject of a minnesong by Wolfram (thirteenth century), entitled Parzival. (In the History of Prince Arthur, complied by Sir T. Malory, it is Galahad, son of Sir Launcelot, not Percival, who accomplished the quest).

⁂ The madness of Orlando, by Ariosto, resembles that of Sir Launcelot.

Launcelot a Monk. When Sir Launcelot discovered that Guenever was resolved to remain a nun, he himself retired to a monastery, and was consecrated a hermit by the bishop of Canterbury. After twelve months, he was miraculously summoned to Almesbury, to remove to Glastonbury the queen, who was at the point of death. Guenever died half an hour before Sir Launcelot arrived, and he himself died soon afterwards (pt. iii. 174). The bishop in attendance on the dying knight affirmed that “he saw angels heave Sir Launcelot up to heaven, and the gates of paradise open to receive him” (pt. iii. 175). Sir Bors, his nephew, discovered the dead body in the cell, and had it buried with all honors at Joyous Guard (pt. iii. 175).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470), and also Walter Mapes.

When Sir Bors and his fellows came to his (Sir Launcelot’s) bed, they found him stark dead, and he lay as he had smiled, and the sweetest savor about him that ever they smelled.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 175 (1470).

N.B.—Sir Launcelot intended, when he quitted the court of Arthur, and retired to Benwick, to found religious houses every ten miles between Sandwich and Carlisle, and to visit every one of them barefoot; but King Arthur made war upon him, and put an end to this intention.

⁂ Other particulars of Sir Launcelot. The tale of Sir Launcelot was first composed in monkish Latin, and was translated by Walter Mapes (about 1180). Robert de Borron wrote a French version, and Sir T. Malory took his History of Prince Arthur from the French, the third part being chiefly confined to the adventures and death of this favorite knight. There is a metrical romance called La Charrette, begun by Chrestiens de Troyes (twelfth century), and finished by Geoffrey de Ligny.

Launcelot, the man of Mons. Thomas. (See Lancelot.)—Beaumont and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas (1619).

Launfal (Sir), steward of King Arthur. Detesting Queen Gwennere, he retired to Carlyoun, and fell in love with a lady named Tryamour. She gave him an unfailing purse, and told him if he ever wished to see her, all he had to do was to retire into a private room, and she would be instantly with him. Sir Launfal now returned to court, and excited much attention by his great wealth. Gwennere made advances to him, but he told her she was not worthy to kiss the feet of the lady to whom he was devoted. At this repulse, the angry queen complained to the king, and declared to him that she had been most grossly insulted by his steward. Arthur bade Sir Launfal produce this paragon of woman. On her arrival, Sir Launfal was allowed to accompany her to the isle of Ole´ron; and no one ever saw him afterwards.—Thomas Chestre, Sir Launfal (a metrical romance, time, Henri VI.).

⁂ James Russell Lowell has a poem entitled The Vision of Sir Launfal.

Laura, niece of Duke Gondibert, loved by two brothers, Arnold and Hugo, the latter dwarfed in stature. Laura herself loved Arnold; but both brothers were slain in the faction fight stirred up by Prince Oswald against Duke Gondibert, his rival in the love of Rhodalind, only child of Aribert, king of Lombardy. On the death of Arnold and Hugo, Laura became attached to Tybalt. As the tale was never finished, we have no key to the poet’s intention respecting Laura and Tybalt.—Sir Wm. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).

Laura, a Venetian lady, who married Beppo. Beppo being taken captive, turned Turk, joined a band of pirates, and grew rich. He then returned to his wife, made himself known to her, and “had his claim allowed.” Laura is represented as a frivolous mixture of millinery and religion. She admires her husband’s turban, and dreads his new religion. “Are you really, truly, now a Turk?” she says. “Well, that’s the prettiest shawl! Will you give it me? They say you eat no pork. Bless me! Did I ever? No, I never saw a man grown so yellow! How’s your liver?” and so she rattles on.—Byron, Beppo (1820).

Laura Fairlie, innocent victim of the machinations of Sir Percival Glyde and Count Tosco. The former marries her for her fortune, then imprisons her in an insane asylum, and announces her death. In the end she becomes a widow, and weds Walter Harbright, who has long loved her.—Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White.

Laura and Petrarch. Some say La belle Laure was only an hypothetical name used by the poet to hang the incidents of his life and love on. If a real person, it was Laura de Noves, the wife of Hugues de Sade, of Avignon, and she died of the plague in 1348.

Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch’s wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?
Byron, Don Juan, iii. 8 (1820).

Laurana, the lady-love of Prince Parismus of Bohemia.—Emanuel Foord, The History of Parismus (1598).

Laureate of the Gentle Craft, Hans Sachs, the cobbler poet of Nuremberg. (See Twelve Wise Masters).

Laurence (Friar), the good friar who promises to marry Romeo and Juliet. He supplies Juliet with the sleeping draught, to enable her to quit her home without arousing scandal or suspicion. (See Lawrence).—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1597).

Laurence, baby-boy whose brief life is the theme of Rossiter Johnson’s poem bearing that caption:

“The newness of love at his coming,
The freshness of grief when he went,
The pitiless pain of his absence,
The effort at argued content,
The dim eye forever retracing
The few little footprints he made,
The quick thought forever recalling
The visions that never can fade—
For these but one comfort, one answer
In faith’s or philosophy’s roll;—
Came to us for a pure little body
Went to God for a glorified soul.”
Rossiter Johnson, Idler and Poet (1883).

Laurie, favorite playfellow of Little Women, and when they are no longer “little,” the husband of Amy.—L.M. Alcott, Little Women.

Laurringtons ((The), a novel by Mrs. Trollope, a satire on “superior people,” the bustling Bothebys of society (1843).

Lauzun (The duke de), a courtier in the court of Louis XIV. Licentious, light-hearted, unprincipled and extravagant. To promote his own fortune, he supplanted La Vallière by Mde. de Montespan in the king’s favor. Montespan thought he loved her; but when he proposed to La Vallière, the discarded favorite, Mde. de Montespan dismissed him. The duke, in revenge, persuaded the king to banish the lady, and when La Vallière took the veil, the king sent Mde. de Montespan this cutting epistle:

We do not blame you; blame belongs to love,
And love had nought with you.
The duke de Lauzun, of these lines the bearer,
Confirms their purport. From our royal court
We do excuse your presence.
Lord E.L.B. Lytton, The Duchess de la Vallière, v. 5 (1836).

Lavaine (Sir), brother of Elaine, and son of the lord of As´tolat. Young, brave and knightly. He accompanied Sir Lancelot when he went to tilt for the ninth diamond.—Tennyson, Idylls of the King (“Elaine”).

Lavalette (3 syl.), condemned to death for sending to Napoleon secret intelligence of Government despatches. He was set at liberty by his wife, who took his place in prison, but became a confirmed lunatic.

Lord Nithsdale escaped in a similar manner from the Tower of London. His wife disguised him as her maid, and he passed the sentries without being detected.

La Vallière (Louise, duchess de), betrothed to the Marquis de Bragelonê (4 syl.), but in love with Louis XIV., whose mistress she became. Conscience accused her, and she fled to a convent; but the king took her out, and brought her to Versailles. He soon forsook her for Mde. de Montespan, and advised her to marry. This message almost broke her heart, and she said, “I will choose a bridegroom without delay.” Accordingly she took the veil of a Carmelite nun, and discovered that Bragelonê was a monk. Mde. de Montespan was banished from the court by the capricious monarch. Lord E.L.B. Lytton, The Duchess de la Vallière (1836).

Liavin´ia, daughter of Latīnus, betrothed to Turnus, king of the Rutuli. When Æne´as landed in Italy, Latinus made an alliance with him, and promised to give him Lavinia to wife. This brought on a war between Turnus and Æneas, that was decided by single combat, in which Æneas was the victor.—Virgil, Æneid.

Lavinia, daughter of Titus Andron´icus, a Roman general employed against the Goths. She was betrothed to Bassia´nus, brother of Saturnius, emperor of Rome. Being defiled by the sons of Tam´ora, queen of the Goths, her hands were cut off and her tongue plucked out. At length her father, Titus, killed her, saying, “I am as woeful as Virginius was, and have a thousand times more cause than he to do this outrage.”—(?) Shakespeare, Titus Andron´icus (1593).

In the play, Andronicus is always called An.dron´.i.kus, but in classic authors it is An.dro.nī.kus.

Lavinia, sister of Lord Al´tamont, and wife of Horatio.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703).

Lavinia and Pale´mon. Lavinia was the daughter of Acasto, patron of Palemon, from whom his “liberal fortune took its rise.” Acasto lost his property, and dying, left a widow and daughter in very indigent circumstances. Palemon often sought them out, but could never find them. One day, a lovely, modest maiden came to glean in Palemon’s fields. The young squire was greatly struck with her exceeding beauty and modesty, but did not dare ally himself with a pauper. Upon inquiry, he found that the beautiful gleaner was the daughter of Acasto; he proposed marriage, and Lavinia “blushed assent.”—Thomson, Seasons, (“Autumn,” 1730).

⁂ The resemblance between this tale and the Bible story of Ruth and Boaz must be obvious to every one.

Law of Athens (The). By Athenian law, a father could dispose of his daughter in marriage as he liked. Egēus pleaded this law, and demanded that his daughter Hermia should marry Demētrius, or suffer the penalty of the law; if she will not

Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens;
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death; according to our law.
Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream, act i. sc. 1 (1592).

Law of Flanders (The). Charles “the Good,” earl of Flanders, made a law that a serf, unless legally emancipated, was always a serf, and that whoever married a serf became a serf. S. Knowles has founded his tragedy called The Provost of Bruges on this law (1836).

Law of Lombardy (The).

We have a law peculiar to this realm,
That subjects to a mortal penalty
All women nobly born ... who, to the shame
Of chastity, o’erleap its thorny bounds,
To wanton in the flowery path of pleasure.
Act. ii. 2.

On this law Robert Jephson has founded the following tragedy: The Duke Bire´no, heir to the crown, falsely charges the Princess Sophia of incontinence. The villainy of the duke being discovered, he is slain in combat by a Briton named Paladore, and the victor marries the princess (1779).

Lawrence (Steven). Big yeoman, whose travels in America have added a touch of the backwoodsman to the English rustic. Handsome, wholesome and sensible, but unsophisticated. He is trapped into a marriage by a scheming woman, while he loves another. A series of unhappy years follow. His wife is shallow of heart and head, vain and ambitious; he resolute, upright, and tender of heart. After her death, he meets and marries the genuine woman of his first love.—Annie Edwards, Steven Lawrence, Yeoman.

Law’s Bubble, the famous Mississippi scheme, devised by John Law (1716-1720).

Law’s Tale (The Man of), the tale tells of Custance, daughter of the emperor of Rome, affianced to the sultan of Syria. On the wedding night the sultan’s mother murdered all the bridal party for apostacy, except Custance, whom she turned adrift in a ship. The ship stranded on the shores of Britain, where Custance was rescued by the lord-constable of Northumberland, whose wife, Hermegild, became much attached to her. A young knight wished to marry Custance, but she declined his suit; whereupon he murdered Hermegild, and then laid the knife beside Custance, to make it appear that she had committed the deed. King Alla, who tried the case, soon discovered the truth, executed the knight, and married Custance. Now was repeated the same infamy as occurred to her in Syria; the queen-mother, Donegild, disapproved of the match, and, during the absence of her son in Scotland, embarked Custance and her infant son in the same ship, which she turned adrift. After floating about for five years, it was taken in tow by the Roman fleet on its return from Syria, and Custance was put under the charge of a Roman senator. It so happened that Alla was at Rome at the very time on a pilgrimage, met his wife, and they returned to Northumberland together.

This story is found in Gower, who probably took it from the French chronicle of Nicholas Trivet.

A similar story forms the outline of Emaărê (3 syl.), a romance in Ritson’s collection.

The knight murdering Hermegild, etc., resembles an incident in the French Roman de la Violette, the English metrical romance of Le Bone Florence of Rome (in Ritson), and also a tale in the Gesta Romanorum, 69.

Lawford (Mr.), the town clerk of Middlemas.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Lawrence (Friar), a Franciscan who clandestinely marries Romeo and Juliet. (See Laurence).

Lawrence (Tom), alias “Tyburn Tom” or Tuck, a highwayman. (See Laurence).—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Lawrence Arbuthnot, dilettante society man, who disguises a kindly and generous nature under a careless manner.—Frances Hodgson Burnett, Through One Administration (1883).

La Writ, a little, wrangling French advocate.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Lawson (Sandie), landlord of the Spa hotel—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Lay of the Last Minstrel. Ladye Margaret [Scott], of Branksome Hall, the “flower of Teviot,” was beloved by Baron Henry, of Cranstown, but a deadly feud existed between the two families. One day an elfin page allured Ladye Margaret’s brother (the heir of Branksome Hall) into a wood, where he fell into the hands of the Southerners. At the same time an army of 3000 English marched to Branksome Hall to take it, but, hearing that Douglas, with 10,000 men, was on the march against them, the two chiefs agreed to decide the contest by single combat. The English champion was Sir Richard Musgrave, the Scotch champion called himself Sir William Deloraine. Victory fell to the Scotch, when it was discovered that “Sir William Deloraine” was in reality Lord Cranstown, who then claimed and received the hand of Ladye Margaret, as his reward.—Sir W. Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).

Lazarillo, a humorsome valet, who serves two masters, “Don Felix” and Octavio. Lazarillo makes the usual quota of mistakes, such as giving letters and money to the wrong master; but it turns out that Don Felix is Donna Clara, the fiancée of Octavio, and so all comes right.—Jephson, Two Strings to your Bow (1792).

Joseph Munden [1758-1832] was the original Lazarillo.—Memoir of J.S. Munden (1832).

Lazarillo de Tormes, the hero of a romance of roguery, by Don Diego de Mendo´za (1553). Lazarillo is a compound of poverty and pride, full of stratagems and devices. The “hidalgo” walks the streets (as he says) “like the duke of Arcos,” but is occupied at home “to procure a crust of dry bread, and, having munched it, he is equally puzzled how to appear in public with due decorum. He fits out a ruffle so as to suggest the idea of a shirt, and so adjusts a cloak as to look as if there were clothes under it.” We find him begging bread, “not for food,” but simply for experiments. He eats it to see “if it is digestible and wholesome;” yet he is gay withal, and always rakish.

Lazarus and Dives. Lazarus, a beggar whose fate is contrasted with that of Dives, i.e. a rich man (Latin). At their death Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man goes to hell and begs that Lazarus may bring him a drop of water to cool his tongue.—Luke, xvi. 19-31.

⁂ Lazarus is the only proper name given in any of the New Testament parables. The rich man is not named.

Lazy Lawrence of Lubber-Land, the hero of a popular tale. He served the schoolmaster, the squire’s cook, the farmer, and his own wife, all which was accounted treason in Lubber-land.

Lea, one of the “daughters of men,” beloved by one of the “sons of God.” The angel who loved her ranked with the least of the spirits of light, whose post around the throne was in the outermost circle. Sent to earth on a message, he saw Lea bathing, and fell in love with her; but Lea was so heavenly minded that her only wish was to “dwell in purity and serve God in singleness of heart.” Her angel lover, in the madness of his passion, told Lea the spell-word that gave him admittance into heaven. The moment Lea uttered it, her body became spiritual, rose through the air, and vanished from sight. On the other hand, the angel lost his ethereal nature, and became altogether earthly, like a child of clay.—T. Moore, Loves of the Angels, i. (1822).

League (The), a league formed at Péronne in 1576, to prevent the accession of Henri IV. to the throne of France, because he was of the reformed religion. This league was mainly due to the Guises. It is occasionally called “The Holy League;” but the “Holy League” strictly so called is quite another thing, and it is better not to confound different events by giving them the same name. (See League, Holy).

League, (The Achæan), B.C. 281-146. The old league consisted of the twelve Achæan cities confederated for self-defence from the remotest times. The league properly so called was formed against the Macedonians.

League (The Ætolian), formed some three centuries B.C., when it became a formidable rival to the Macedonian monarchs and the Achæan League.

League (The Grey), 1424, called Lia Grischa or Graubünd, from the grey homespun dress of the confederate peasants, the Grisons, in Switzerland. This league combined with the League Caddee (1401), and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions (1436), in a perpetual alliance in 1471. The object of these leagues was to resist domestic tyranny.

League (The Hans or Hanseatic), 1241-1630, a great commercial confederation of German towns, to protect their merchandise against the Baltic pirates, and defend their rights against the German barons and princes. It began with Hamburg and Lubeck, and was joined by Bremen, Bruges, Bergen, Novogorod, London, Cologne, Brunswick, Danzig; and afterwards, by Dunkerque, Anvers, Ostend, Dordrecht, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, etc.; still later by Calais, Rouen, St. Malo, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Marseilles, Barcelona, Seville, Cadiz, and Lisbon; and lastly by Messina, Naples, etc.; in all, eighty cities.

League (The Holy). Several leagues are so denominated, but that emphatically so called is the league of 1511 against Louis XII., formed by Pope Julius II., Ferdinand “the Catholic,” Henry VIII., the Venetians, and the Swiss. Gaston de Foix obtained a victory over the league at Ravenna in 1512, but died in the midst of his triumph.

League (The Solemn), 1638, formed in Scotland against the Episcopal government of the Church.

League Caddee (The), or Ligue de la Maison de Dieu (1401), a confederation of the Grisons for the purpose of resisting domestic tyranny. (See League, Grey).

League of Augsburg (1686), a confederation of the house of Austria with Sweden, Saxony, Bavaria, the circles of Swabia and Franconia, etc., against Louis XIV. This league was the beginning of that war which terminated in the peace of Ryswick (1698).

League of Cambray (1508), formed by the Emperor Maximilian I., Louis XII., of France, Ferdinand “the Catholic,” and Pope Julius II., against the republic of Venice.

League of Ratisbonne (1524), by the Catholic powers of Germany against the progress of the Reformation.

League of Smalkalde (December 31, 1530), the Protestant states of Germany leagued against Charles the Fifth. It was almost broken up by the victory obtained over it at Mühlberg in 1547.

League of Wurtzburg (1610), formed by the Catholic states of Germany against the “Protestant Union” of Hall. Maximilian I., of Bavaria, was at its head.

League of the Beggars (1560), a combination formed against the Inquisition in Flanders.

League of the Cities of Lombardy (1167), under the patronage of Pope Alexander III., against Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of Germany. In 1225, the cities combined against Frederick II., of Germany.

League of the Public Weal (Ligue du Bien Public), 1464, a league between the dukes of Burgundy, Brittany, Bourbon, and other princes, against Louis XI., of France.

Leah Holland. Handsome granddaughter of an English farmer. Michael Standish, an artist lodger, paints her portrait and falls in love with her. His mother and friends oppose the match, and Leah, in proper pride, eludes his pursuit. In the end, he weds a girl in his own rank, and Leah becomes a useful and contented trained nurse.—Georgiana M. Craik, A Daughter of the People.

Lean´der (3 syl.), a young man of Aby´dos, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit his lady-love, Hero, a priestess of Sestos. One night he was drowned in his attempt, and Hero leaped into the Hellespont and died also.

The story is told by Musæus in his poem called Hero and Leander. Schiller has made it the subject of a ballad.

⁂ Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead repeated the feat of Leander, and accomplished it in 1 hr. 10 min.; the distance (allowing for drifting) would be about four miles.

Leander, a young Spanish scholar, smitten with Leonora, a maiden under the charge of Don Diego, and whom the Don wished to make his wife. The young scholar disguised himself as a minstrel to amuse Mungo, the slave, and with a little flattery and a few gold pieces lulled the vigilance of Ursula, the duenna, and gained admittance to the lady. As the lovers were about to elope, Don Diego unexpectedly returned; but being a man of 60, and, what is more, a man of sense, he at once perceived that Leander was a more suitable husband for Leonora than himself, and accordingly sanctioned their union and gave the bride a handsome dowry.—I. Bickerstaff, The Padlock.

Leandra, daughter of an opulent Spanish farmer, who eloped with Vincent de la Rosa, a heartless adventurer, who robbed her of all her money, jewels, and other valuables, and then left her to make her way home as best she could. Leandra was placed in a convent till the scandal had blown over.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 20 (“The Goat-herd’s Story,” 1605).

Léandre (2 syl.), son of Géronte (2 syl.). During the absence of his father, he fell in love with Zerbinette, whom he supposed to be a young gypsy, but who was in reality the daughter of Argante (2 syl.), his father’s friend. Some gypsies had stolen the child when only four years old, and required £1500 for her ransom—a sum of money which Scapin contrived to obtain from Léandre’s father under false pretences. When Géronte discovered that his son’s bride was the daughter of his friend Argante, he was quite willing to excuse Scapin for the deceit practiced on him.—Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671).

(In Otway’s version of this comedy, called The Cheats of Scapin, Léandre is Anglicized into “Leander;” Géronte is called “Gripe;” Zerbinette is “Lucia;” Argante is “Thrifty;” and the sum of money £200).

Léandre, the lover of Lucinde, daughter of Géronte (2 syl.). Being forbidden the house, Lucinde pretended to be dumb, and Léandre, being introduced in the guise of an apothecary, effects a cure by “pills matrimoniac.”—Molière, Le Médecin Malgré Lui (1666).

Lean´dro, a gentleman who wantonly loves Amaranta (the wife of Bar´tolus, a covetouscovetous lawyer).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1632).

Lean´dro the Fair (The Exploits and Adventures of), part of the series called Le Roman des Romans, pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was added by Pedro de Lujan.

Lear, mythical king of Britain, son of Bladud. He had three daughters, and when four score years old, wishing to retire from the active duties of sovereignty, resolved to divide his kingdom between them in proportion to their love. The two elder said they loved him more than their tongue could express, but Cordelia, the youngest, said she loved him as it became a daughter to love her father. The old king, displeased with her answer, disinherited Cordelia, and divided his kingdom between the other two, with the condition that each alternately, month by month, should give him a home, with a suite of a hundred knights. He spent the first month with his eldest daughter, who showed him scant hospitality. Then going to the second, she refused to entertain so large a suite; whereupon the old man would not enter her house, but spent the night abroad in a storm. When Cordelia, who had married the king of France, heard of this, she brought an army over to dethrone her sisters, but was taken prisoner and died in jail. In the meantime the elder sister (Goneril) first poisoned her younger sister from jealousy, and afterwards put an end to her own life. Lear also died.—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).

(The stage Lear is a corrupt version by Nahum Tate (Tate and Brady); as the stage Richard III. is Colley Cibber’s travesty.)

⁂ Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, has a ballad about “King Leir and His Three Daughters” (series I. ii.).

The story is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his British History. Spenser has introduced the tale in his Faëry Queen (ii. 10.)

Camden tells a similar story of Ina, the king of the West Saxons(Remains, 306).

Lear (King), Shakespeare’s drama, first printed in quarto (1608), is founded on The True Chronicle History of King Leir and His Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordelia (1605).

Learned (The), Coloman, king of Hungary (*, 1095-1114).

Learned Blacksmith (The), Elihu Burritt, the linguist (1811-1879).

He studied Latin in the evening after working at the forge all day, and carried his Greek grammar in his hat, finding opportunity to place the book, now and then, against the forge-chimney and go through with tupto, tupteis, tuptei, unperceived by his fellow-apprentices. Unassisted and at night he, one winter, read twenty books of The Iliad. He also mastered, but with the aid of teachers, French, Spanish, German and Italian, and read, at the forge, works in these tongues. Hebrew he studied alone. By studying seven hours a day (never remitting his manual labor) he learned fifty languages and dialects, besides acquiring much and valuable scientific information.

Learned Painter (The), Charles Lebrun, noted for the accuracy of his costumes (1619-1690).

Learned Tailor (The), Henry Wild, of Norwich, who mastered, while he worked at his trade, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic (1684-1734).

Learned Theban (A), a guesser of riddles or dark sayings; in allusion to Œdipos, king of Thebes, who solved the riddle of the Sphinx.

I’ll talk a word with this same learned Theban.
Shakespeare, King Lear, act iii. sc. 4 (1605).

Learoyd. The Yorkshireman who completes the trio of friends in Rudyard Kipling’s story Soldiers Three. He “was born on the wolds and bred in the dales. ... His chief virtue was an unmitigated patience which helped him to win fights.”—Soldiers Three.

Leather-Stockings, the nickname of Natty Bumppo, a half-savage and half-Christian chevalier of American wild-life. He appears in five of J. F. Cooper’s novels, hence called the Leather-stocking Tales.—See Bumppo.

Le Castre, the indulgent father of Mirable “the wild goose,” Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild-goose Chase (1652).

L’Eclair (Philippe), orderly of Captain Florian. L’Eclair is a great boaster, who masks his brag under the guise of modesty. He pays his court to Rosabelle, the lady’s-maid of Lady Geraldine.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.

Led Captain (A), an obsequious person, who styles himself “Captain;” and, out of cupboard love, dances attendance on the master and mistress of a house.

Mr. Wagg, the celebrated wit, and a led captain and trencherman of my Lord Steyne, was caused by the ladies to make the assault.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair, li. (1848).

Lee (Sir Henry), an officer in attendance at Greenwich Palace.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Lee (Sir Henry), an old royalist, and head-ranger of Woodstock Forest.

Alice Lee, daughter of the old knight. She married Markham Everard.

Colonel Albert Lee, her brother, the friend of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).

Leek, worn on St. David’s Day. The general tale is that King Cadwallader, in 640, gained a complete victory over the Saxons by the special interposition of St. David, who ordered the Britons to wear leeks in their caps, that they might recognize each other. The Saxons, for want of some common cognizance, often mistook friends for foes. Drayton gives another version: He says the saint lived in the valley Ewias (2 syl.), situated between the Hatterill Hills, in Monmouthshire. It was here “that reverend British saint to contemplation lived,”

... and did so truly fast,
As he did only drink what crystal Hodney yields,
And fed upon the leeks he gathered in the fields,
In memory of whom, in each revolving year,
The Welshmen, on his day [March 1], that sacred herb do wear.
Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Lefevre (Lieutenant), a poor officer dying from want and sickness. His pathetic story is told by Sterne, in a novel called The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759).

“Mr. Fulmer, I have borrowed a book from your shop. ’Tis the sixth volume of my deceased friend, Tristram.... The divine story of Lefevre, which makes part of this book, ... does honor, not to its author only, but to human nature.”—Cumberland, The West Indian, ii. 1.

Legend (Sir Sampson), a foolish, testy, prejudiced, and obstinate old man, between 50 and 60. His favorite oath is “Odd!” He tries to disinherit his elder son, Valentine, for his favorite son Ben, a sailor; and he fancies Angelica is in love with him, when she only intends to fool him.

He says: “I know the length of the emperor of China’s foot, have kissed the Great Mogul’s slipper, and have rid a-hunting upon an elephant with the cham of Tartary.”—W. Congreve, Love for Love, ii. (1695).

“Sir Sampson Legend” is such another lying, over-bearing character, but he does not come up to “Sir Epicure Mammon” [in Ben Jonson’s play, The Alchemist].—C. Lamb.

Legend (The Golden), a semi-dramatic poem by Longfellow, taken from an old German tale by Hartmann von der Aue [Our], called Poor Henry (1851). Hartmann was one of the minnesingers, and lived in the twelfth century. (See Henry, Poor.)

Legend of Montrose, a novel by Sir W. Scott (1819). This brief, imperfect story contains one of Scott’s best characters, the redoubted Rittmaster, Dugald Dalgetty, a combination of soldado and pedantic student of Mareschal College, Aberdeen.

Legends (Golden), a collection of monkish legends, in Latin, by Jacob de Voragine or Varagine, born at Varaggio, in Grenoa. He wrote Legenda Sancta, which was so popular that it was called “Legenda Aurea” (1230-1298).

Legion of Honor, an order of merit, instituted by Napoleon I. when “first consul,” in 1802. The undress badges are, for:

Chevaliers, a bow of red ribbon in the buttonhole of their coat, to which a medal is attached.

Officers, a rosette of red ribbon, etc., with medal.

Commanders, a collar-ribbon.

Grand-officers, a broad ribbon under the waistcoat.

Grand-cross, a broad ribbon, with a star on the breast, and a jewel-cross pendant.

⁂ Napoleon III. instituted a lower degree than Chevalier, called Médaille Militaire, distinguished by a yellow ribbon.

Legree, a slave-dealer and hideous villain, brutalized by slave-dealing and slave-driving.—Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853).

Leicester (The earl of), in the court of Queen Elizabeth.

The countess of Leicester (born Amy Robsart), but previously betrothed to Edmund Tressilian.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Leigh (Aurora), the heroine and title of a poem by Mrs. Browning. The design of this poem is to show the noble aim of true art.

Leila, the young Turkish child rescued by Don Juan at the siege of Ismail (canto viii. 93-102). She went with him to St. Petersburg, and then he brought her to England. As Don Juan was never completed, the future history of Leila has no sequel.

... at his side
Sat little Leila, who survived the parries
He made ’gainst Cossack sabres, in the wide
Slaughter of Ismail.
Byron, Don Juan, x. 51 (1824).

Leila (2 syl.), the beautiful slave of the Caliph Hassan. She falls in love with “the Giaour” [djow´.er], flees from the seraglio, is overtaken, and cast into the sea.

Her eyes’ dark charm ’twere vain to tell;
But gaze on that of the gazelle—
It will assist thy fancy well.
Byron, The Giaour (1813).

Leilah, the Oriental type of female loveliness, chastity, and impassioned affection. Her love for Mejnôun, in Mohammedan romance, is held in much the same light as that of the bride for the bridegroom in Solomon’s song, or Cupid and Psychê among the Greeks.

When he sang the loves of Megnôun and Leileh [sic] ... tears insensibly overflowed the cheeks of his auditors.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).

L. E. L., pseudonym of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (afterwards Mrs. Maclean), poetess (1802-1838).

Lela Marien, the Virgin Mary.

In my childhood, my father kept a slave, who, in my own tongue [Arabic], instructed me in the Christian worship, and informed me of many things of Lela Marien.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 10 (1605).

Le´lia, a cunning, wanton widow, with whom Julio is in love.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).

Lélie (2 syl.) a young man engaged to Célie, daughter of Gorgibus; but Gorgibus insists that his daughter shall give up Lélie for Valère, a much richer man. Célie faints on hearing this, and drops the miniature of Lélie, which is picked up by Sganarelle’s wife. Sganarelle finds it, and, supposing it to be a lover of his wife, takes possession of it, and recognizes Lélie as the living original. Lélie asks how he came by it, is told he took it from his wife, and concludes that he means Célie. He accuses her of infidelity in the presence of Sganarelle, and the whole mystery is cleared up.—Molière, Sganarelle (1660).

Lélie, an inconsequential, light-headed, but gentlemanly coxcomb.—Molière, L’Etourdi (1653).

Lemnian Deed (A), one of unparalleled cruelty and barbarity. This Greek phrase owes its origin to the legend that the Lemnian women rose one night, and put to death every man and male child in the island.

On another occasion they slew all the men and all the children born of Athenian parents.

Lemuel Barker, young rustic, who, encouraged by Rev. Mr. Sewall’s praise of certain of his verses, comes to Boston in the hope of achieving literary fame. He is, in turn, fleeced by sharpers, almost starved, put into the positions of elevator boy, private reader, horse-car conductor, etc. Is entrapped into an engagement of marriage with a vulgar, but respectable girl, and wiser and soberer for each experience, takes his place as a worthy citizen.—W. D. Howells, The Minister’s Charge (1886).

Lenore, a name which Edgar Poe has introduced in two of his poems; one called The Raven, and the other called Lenore (1811-1849).

Lenore, the heroine of Bürger’s ballad of that name, in which a spectral lover appears to his mistress after death, and carries her on horseback, behind him, to the graveyard, where their marriage is celebrated amid a crew of howling goblins.

⁂ The Suffolk Miracle is an old English ballad of like character.

Lenormand (Mdlle.), a famous tireuse de cartes. She was a squat, fussy, little old woman, with a gnarled and knotted visage, and an imperturbable eye. She wore her hair cut short, and parted on one side, like that of a man; dressed in an odd-looking casaquin, embroidered and frogged like the jacket of an hussar; and snuffed continually. This was the little old woman whom Napoleon I. regularly consulted before setting out on a campaign. Mdlle. Lenormand foretold to Josephine her divorce; and when Murat, king of Naples, visited her in disguise, she gave him the cards to cut, and he cut four times in succession le grand pendu (king of diamonds); whereupon Mdlle. rose and said, “La séance est terminée; c’est dix louis pour les rois;” pocketed the fee, and left the room taking snuff.

(In cartomancy, le grand pendu signifies that the person to which it is dealt, or who cuts it, will die by the hands of the executioner.)executioner.)

Lent (Galeazzo’s), a form of torture devised by Galeazzo Visconti, calculated to prolong the victim’s life for forty days.

Len´ville (2 syl.), first tragedian at the Portsmouth Theatre. When Nicholas Nickleby joined the company Mr. Lenville was jealous, and attempted to pull his nose; but Nicholas pulled the nose of Mr. Lenville instead.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1888).

Leodegraunce or Leodegran, king of Camelyard, father of Guenever (King Arthur’s wife). Uther, the pendragon, gave him the famous Round Table, which would seat 150 knights (pt. i. 45); and when Arthur married Guenever, Leodegraunce gave him the table and 100 knights as a wedding gift (pt. i. 45). The table was made by Merlin, and each seat had on it the name of the knight to whom it belonged. One of the seats was called the “Siege Perilous,” because no one could sit on it without “peril of his life,” except Sir Galahad, the virtuous and chaste, who accomplished the quest of the Holy Graal.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

Leodogran, the king of Cameliard (sic),
Had one fair daughter and none other child;
And she was fairest of all flesh on earth,
Guinevere, and in her his one delight.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.

Le´oline (3 syl.) one of the male attendants of Dionys´ia, wife of Cleon, governor of Tarsus, and employed by his mistress to murder Mari´na, the orphan daughter of Prince Periclês, who had been committed to her charge to bring up. Leoline took Marina to the shore with this view, when some pirates seized her, and sold her at Metali´nê for a slave. Leoline told his mistress that the orphan was dead, and Dionysia raised a splendid sepulchre to her memory.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).

Leon, son of Constantine, the Greek emperor. Amon and Beatrice, the parents of Bradamant, promise to him their daughter Bradamant in marriage; but the lady is in love with Roge´ro. When Leon discovers this attachment, he withdraws his suit, and Bradamant marries Rogero.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Leon, the hero who rules Margaritta, his wife, wisely, and wins her esteem and wifely obedience. Margaritta is a wealthy Spanish heiress, who married in order to indulge in wanton intrigues more freely. She selected Leon because he was supposed to be a milksop whom she could bend to her will; but no sooner is she married than Leon acts with manly firmness and determination, but with great affection also. He wins the esteem of every one, and Margaritta becomes a loving, devoted, virtuous, and obedient wife.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640).

Edward Kynaston [1619-1687] executed the part of “Leon” with a determined manliness, well worth the best actor’s imitation. He had a piercing eye, and a quick, imperious vivacity of voice.—Colley Cibber.

Leonard, a real scholar, forced for daily bread to keep a common school.—Crabbe, Borough, xxiv. (1810).

Leonardo [Gonzaga], duke of Mantua, travelling in Switzerland, an avalanche fell on him, and he was nursed through a severe illness by Mariana, the daughter of a Swiss burgher and they fell in love with each other. On his return home he was entrapped by brigands, and kept prisoner for two years. Mariana, seeking him, went to Mantua, where Count Florio fell in love with her, and obtained her guardian’s consent to their union; but Mariana refused to comply. The case was referred to the duke (Ferrardo), who gave judgment in favor of the count. Leonardo happened to be present, and throwing off his disguise, assumed his rank as duke, and married Mariana; but being called away to the camp, left Ferrardo regent. Ferrardo laid a most villainous scheme to prove Mariana guilty of adultery with Julian St. Pierre; but Leonardo refused to credit her guilt. Julian turned out to be her brother, exposed the whole plot, and amply vindicated Mariana of the slightestslightest indiscretion.—S. Knowles, The Wife (1833).

Leona´to, governor of Messina, father of Hero and uncle of Beatrice.—Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1600).

Leonesse (3 syl.) Leonesse, Leonnais, Leones, Leonnoys, Lyonnoys, etc., a mythical country belonging to Cornwall, supposed to have been sunk under the sea since the time of King Arthur. It is very frequently mentioned in the Arthurian romances.

Leonidas of Modern Greece, Marco Bozzaris, a Greek patriot, who with 1200 men, put to rout 4000 Turco-Albanians, at Kerpenisi, but was killed in the attack (1823). He was buried at Mesolonghi.

Leonilla Lynmore. Artless girl brought up by her mother in ignorance of all sorts of superstitious fancies. At eighteen, she visits the Rookleys, an old Boston family, with whom belief in portents and apparitions is a part of religious belief. The result of signs and wonders, apparently accomplished is a brain fever. She recovers, shaken in nerve, but sane, and shows it by marrying Captain Seaforth. Eliza Leslie, Leonilla Lynmore (1840).

Le´onine (3 syl.), servant to Dionyza.—Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).

Leonine Verse. So called from Leonius, a canon of the church of St. Victor in Paris, in the twelfth century, who first composed them. It is a verse with a rhyme in the middle as:

Pepper is black, though it hath a good smack.
Est avis in dextra melior quam quatuor extra.

Leonnoys or Leonesse (q.v.), a country once joining Cornwall, but now sunk in the sea full forty fathoms deep. Sir Tristram was born in Leonês or Leonnoys, and is always called a Cornish knight.

⁂ Tennyson calls the word “Lyonesse,” but Sir T. Malory “Leonês.”

Léonor, sister of Isabelle, an orphan; brought up by Ariste (2 syl.), according to his notions of training a girl to make him a good wife. He put her on her honor, tried to win her confidence and love, gave her all the liberty consistent with propriety and social etiquette, and found that she loved him, and made him a fond and faithful wife. (See(See Isabelle.)—Molière, L’école des Maris (1661).

Leono´ra, the usurping queen of Aragon, betrothed to Bertran, a prince of the blood-royal, but in love with Torrismond, general of the forces. It turns out that Torrismond is son and heir of Sancho the deposed king. Sancho is restored, and Torrismond marries Leonora.—Dryden, The Spanish Fryar (1680).

Leonora, betrothed to Don Carlos, but Don Carlos resigned her to Don Alonzo, to whom she proved a very tender and loving wife. Zanga the Moor, out of revenge, poisoned the mind of Alonzo against his wife by insinuating her criminal love for Don Carlos. Out of jealousy, Alonzo had his friend put to death, and Leonora, knowing herself suspected, put an end to her life.—Edward Young, The Revenge (1721).

Leonora, the daughter of poor parents, who struck the fancy of Don Diego. The Don made a compact with her parents to take her home with him and place her under a duenna for three months, to ascertain if her temper was as sweet as her face was pretty, and at the expiration of that time, either to return her spotless or to make her his wife. At the end of three months, Don Diego (a man of 60) goes to arrange for the marriage, locking his house and garden, as he supposes, securely; but Leander, a young student, smitten with Leonora, makes his way into the house, and is about to elope with her when the don returns. Like a man of sense, Don Diego at once sees the suitability of the match, consents to the union of the young people, and even settles a marriage portion on Leonora, his ward if not his wife.—I. Bickerstaff, The Padlock.

Leonora, betrothed to Ferdinand, a fiery young Spaniard (jealous of Donna Clara, who has assumed boy’s clothes for a time). Ferdinand despises the “amphibious coxcomb,” and calls his rival “a vile compound of fringe, lace, and powder.”—Jephson, Two Strings to your Bow (1792).

Leonora, the heroine of Miss Edgeworth’s novel of the same name. The object of the tale is to make the reader feel what is good, and desirous of being so (1806).

Leonora, wife of Fernando Florestan, a State prisoner in Seville. In order to effect her husband’s release, she assumed the attire of a man, and the name of Fidelio. In this disguise she entered the service of Rocco, the jailer, and Marcellina, the jailer’s daughter, fell in love with her. Pizzaro, the governor of the prison resolving to assassinate Fernando Florestan, sent Rocco and Fidelio to dig his grave in the prison-cell. When Pizarro descended to perpetrate the deed of blood, Fidelio drew a pistol on him; and the minister of State, arriving at this crisis, ordered the prisoner to be released. Leonora (Fidelio) was allowed to unlock her husband’s chains, and Pizarro’s revenge came to naught.—Beethoven, Fidelio (an opera, 1791).

Leonora, a princess, who falls in love with Manri´co, the supposed son of Azuce´na, a gypsy, but in reality the son of Garzia (brother of the Conte di Luna). The Conte di Luna entertains a base passion for the princess, and, getting Manrico into his power, is about to kill him, when Leonora intercedes, and promises to give herself to the count if he will spare his nephew’s life. The count consents; but while he goes to release Manrico, Leonora kills herself by sucking poison from a ring, and Manrico dies also.—Verdi, Il Trovato´rê (an opera, 1853).

Leonora (The History of), an episode in the novel of Joseph Andrews, by Fielding (1742).

Leonora [d’Este] (2 syl.), sister of Alfonso II., reigning duke of Ferrara. The poet Tasso conceived a violent passion for this princess, “but she knew it not nor viewed it with disdain.” Leonora never married, but lived with her eldest sister, Lauretta, duchess of Urbino, who was separated from her husband. The episode of Sophronia and Olindo (Jerusalem Delivered, ii.) is based on this love incident. The description of Sophronia is that of Leonora, and her ignorance of Olindo’s love points to the poet’s unregarded devotion.

But thou ... shalt have
One half the laurel which o’ershades my grave ...
Yes, Leonora, it shall be our fate
To be entwined forever—but too late.
Byron, The Lament of Tasso (1817).

Leonora de Guzman, the “favorite” of Alfonzo XI., of Castile. FernandoFernando, not knowing that she was the king’s mistress, fell in love with her; and Alfonzo, to reward Fernando’s services, gave her to him in marriage. No sooner was this done, than the bridegroom learned the character of his bride, rejected her with scorn, and became a monk. Leonora became a noviciate in the same convent, obtained her husband’s forgiveness, and died.—Donizetti, La Favorita (an opera, 1842).

Leon´tes (3 syl.), king of Sicily. He invited his old friend Polixenês, king of Bohemia, to come and stay with him, but became so jealous of him that he commanded Camillo to poison him. Instead of doing so, Camillo warned Polixenês of his danger, and fled with him to Bohemia. The rage of Leontês was now unbounded, and he cast his wife Hermionê into prison, where she gave birth to a daughter. The king ordered the infant to be cast out on a desert shore, and then brought his wife to a public trial. Hermionê fainted in court, the king had her removed, and Paulina soon came to announce that the queen was dead. Ultimately, the infant daughter was discovered under the name of Perdĭta, and was married to Florizel, the son of Polixenês. Hermionê was also discovered to the king in a tableau vivant, and the joy of Leontês was complete.—Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (1604).

Leon´tius, a brave but merry old soldier.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).

Le´opold, a sea-captain, enamoured of Hippol´yta, a rich lady, wantonly in love with Arnoldo. Arnoldo, however, is contracted to the chaste Zeno´cia, who is basely pursued by the governor, Count Clodio.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).

Leopold, archduke of Austria, a crusader who arrested Richard I. on his way home from the Holy Land.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Leopold, nicknamed Peu-à-peu by George IV. Stein, speaking of Leopold’s vacillating conduct in reference to the Greek throne, says of him: “He has no color,” i.e., no fixed plan of his own, but only reflects the color of those around him; in other words, he is “blown about by every wind.”

Lepol´emo (The Exploits and Adventures of), part of the series called Le Roman des Romans, pertaining to “Amadis, of Gaul.” This part was added by Pedro de Lujan.

Leporello, in The Libertine, by Shadwell (1676).

The following advertisement from Liston appeared in June, 1817:—

“My benefit takes place this evening at Covent Garden Theatre, and I doubt not will be splendidly attended.... I shall perform ‘Fogrun,’ in The Slave, and ‘Leporello’ in The Libertine. In the delineation of these arduous characters I shall display much feeling and discrimination, together with great taste in my dresses, and elegance of manner. The audiences will be delighted, and will testify their approbation by rapturous applause. When, in addition to my professional merits, regard is had to the loveliness of my person and the fascination of my face, ... there can be no doubt that this announcement will receive the attention it deserves.”—J. Liston.

Leporello, the valet of Don Giovanni.—Mozart, Don Giovanni (an opera, 1787).

Lermites and Martafax, two rats that conspired against the White Cat.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The White Cat” 1682).

Lesbia, the poetic name given by the poet Catullus to his mistress, Clodia.

Lesbia’s Sparrow. One of the best known of the poems of Catullus is the one called Lesbia’s Sparrow, in which the girl so prettily laments the loss of her favorite bird. It has been often translated.

Lesbian Poets (The), Terpander, Alcæus, Ari´on, and the poetess Sappho.

Lesbian Rule, squaring the rule from the act, and not the act from the rule; like correcting a sun-dial by a clock, and not the clock by the sun-dial. A specious excuse for doing, or not doing, as inclination dictates.

Lesley (Captain), a friend of Captain M’Intyre.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Leslie (General), a parliamentary leader.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Leslie (Hope). Heroine of a novel of colonial life, the scene of which is laid in Agawam (Springfield), Mass.—Catherine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie (1827).

Leslie (Norman). Hero of a novel of New York life, early in the nineteenth century. He is wrongfully accused of a murder, and although the charge is not proved, rests under the ban with the public for years, until the real criminal is brought to light.—Theodore S. Fay, Norman Leslie (1835).

Lesly (Ludovic), surnamed Le Balafré, an old archer in the Scotch guard of Louis XI., of France. Uncle of Quentin Durward.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Lesurques (Jerome), a solicitor, who, being in greatly reduced circumstances, holds the White Lion inn, unknown to his son (act i. 2).

Joseph Lesurques (2 syl.), son of the solicitor, and father of Julie. He is so like Dubosc, the highwayman, that he is accused of robbing the night-mail from Lyons, and murdering the courier.

Julie Lesurques, daughter of Joseph Lesurques, in love with Didier. When her father is imprisoned, she offers to release Didier from his engagement; but he remains loyal throughout.—Edward Stirling, The Courier of Lyons (1852).

Letters (Greek). Cadmus, the Phœnician, introduced sixteen; Simonidês and Epicharmos (the poets) introduced six or eight others; but there is the greatest diversity as to what letters, or how many, are to be attributed to them. Aristotle says Epicharmos introduced θ, χ; others ascribe to him ξ, η, ψ, ω. Dr. Smith, in his Classical Dictionary, tells us Simonidês introduced “the long vowels and double letters” (η, ω, θ, χ, φ, ψ). Lempriere, under “Cadmus,” ascribes to him θ, ζ, ψ, χ; and under “Simonides,” η, ω, ξ, ψ. Others maintain that the Simonidês letters are η, ω, ζ, ψ.

Letters (Father of), François I., of France, Père des Lettres (1494, 1515-1547). Lorenzo de Medici, “the Magnificent” (1448-1492).

Leuca´dia’s Rock, a promontory, the south extremity of the island Leucas or Leucadia, in the Ionian Sea. Sappho leapt from this rock when she found her love for Pha´on unrequited. At the annual festival of Apollo, a criminal was hurled from Leucadia’s Rock into the sea; but birds of various sorts were attached to him, in order to break his fall, and if he was not killed he was set free. The leap from this rock is called “The Lovers’ Leap.”

All those may leap who rather would be neuter
(Leucadia’s Rock still overlooks the wave).
Byron, Don Juan, ii. 205 (1819).

Leucip´pe (3 syl.), wife of Menippus; a bawd who caters for king Antig´onus, who, although an old man, indulges in the amorous follies of a youth.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).

Leucoth´ea, once called “Ino.” Ath´amas, son of Æŏlus, had by her two sons, one of whom was named Melicer´tês. Athamas, being driven mad, Ino and Melicertês threw themselves into the sea; Ino became Leucothea, and Melicertês became Palæmon or Portumnus, the god of ports or strands. Leucothea means the “white goddess,” and is used for “Matuta” or the dawn, which precedes sunrise, i.e. Aurora.

By Leucothea’s lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands.
Milton, Comus, 875 (1634).

To resalute the world with sacred light,
Leucothea waked, and with fresh dews embalmed
The earth.
Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 135 (1665).

Leven (The earl of), a parliamentary leader.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Leviathan of Literature (The), Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

Levites (The), in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, means the nonconformist ministers expelled by the Act of Conformity (1681-2).

Levitt (Frank), a highwayman.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Lewis (Don), brother of Antonio, and uncle of Carlos, the bookworm, of whom he is dotingly fond. Don Lewis is no scholar himself, but he adores scholarship. He is headstrong and testy, simple-hearted and kind.

Lewis (Lord), father of Angeli´na.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Elder Brother (1637).

Lewis (Matthew Gregory), generally called “Monk Lewis,” from his romance, The Monk (1794). His best known verses are the ballads of Alonzo the Brave, and Bill Jones. He also wrote a drama entitled Timour, the Tartar (1775-1818).

Oh! wonder-working Lewis! Monk or bard,
Who fain would make Parnassus a churchyard!
Lo! wreaths of yew, not laurel, bind thy brow;
Thy Muse a sprite, Apollo’s sexton thou.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

Lewis Baboon. Louis XIV., of France, is so called by Dr. Arbuthnot in his History of John Bull. Baboon is a pun on the word Bourbon, specially appropriate to this royal “posture-master” (1712).

Lew´some (2 syl.), a young surgeon and general practitioner. He forms the acquaintance of Jonas Chuzzlewit, and supplies him with the poison which he employs.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Lewson, a noble, honest character. He is in love with Charlotte Beverley, and marries her, although her brother has gambled away all her fortune.—Edward Moore, The Gamester (1753).

Leycippes and Clitophonta, a romance in Greek, by Achilles Tatius, in the fifth century; borrowed largely from the Theag´enês and Chariclēa of Heliodōrus, bishop of Trikka.

Liar (The), a farce by Samuel Foote (1761). John Wilding, a young gentleman fresh from Oxford, has an extraordinary propensity for romancing. He invents the most marvellous tales, utterly regardless of truth, and thereby involves both himself and others in endless perplexities. He pretends to fall in love with a Miss Grantam, whom he accidentally meets, and, wishing to know her name, is told it is Godfrey, and that she is an heiress. Now it so happens that his father wants him to marry the real Miss Grantam, and, in order to avoid so doing, he says he is already married to a Miss Sibthorpe. He afterwards tells his father he invented this tale because he really wished to marry Miss Godfrey. When Miss Godfrey is introduced, he does not know her, and while in this perplexity a woman enters, who declares she is his wife, and that her maiden name was Sibthorpe. Again he is dumbfounded, declares he never saw her in his life, and rushes out, exclaiming, “All the world is gone mad, and is in league against me!”

⁂ The plot of this farce is from the Spanish. It had been already taken by Corneille in Le Menteur (1642), and by Steele in his Lying Lover (1704).

Liar (The), Al Aswad; also called “The Impostor,” and “The Weathercock.” He set himself up as a prophet against Mahomet; but frequently changed his creed.

Mosëilma was also called “The Liar.” He wrote a letter to Mahomet, which began thus: “From Mosëilma, prophet of Allah, to Mahomet, prophet of Allah;” and received an answer beginning thus: “From Mahomet, the prophet of Allah, to Mosëilma, the Liar.”

Liars (The Prince of), Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, a Portuguese traveller, whose narratives deal so much in the marvellous that Cervantes dubbed him “The Prince of Liars.” He is alluded to in the Tatler as a man “of infinite adventure and unbounded imagination.”

Sir John Mandeville is called “The Lying Traveller” (1300-1372).

Liban´iel (4 syl.), the guardian angel of Philip, the apostle.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).

Liberator (The). Daniel O’Connell was so called because he was the leader of the Irish party, which sought to sever Ireland from England. Also called “The Irish Agitator” (1776-1847).

Simon Bolivar, who established the independence of Peru, is so called by the Peruvians (1785-1831).

Liberty (Goddess of). On December 20, 1793, the French installed the worship of reason for the worship of God, and M. Chaumette induced Mdlle. Malliard, an actress, to personify the “goddess of Liberty.”Liberty.” She was borne in a palanquin, dressed with buskins, a Phrygian cap, and a blue chlamys over a white tunic. Being brought to Notre Dame, she was placed on the high altar, and a huge candle was placed behind her. Mdlle. Malliard lighted the candle, to signify that liberty frees the mind from darkness, and is the “light of the world;” then M. Chaumette fell on his knees to her and offered incense as to a god.

Liberty (The goddess of). The statue so called, placed over the entrance of the Palais Royal, represented Mde. Tallien.

Liberty Hall. Squire Hardcastle says to young Harlow and Hastings, when they mistake his house for an “inn,” and give themselves airs, “This is Liberty Hall, gentlemen; you may do just as you please here.”—Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2 (1773).

Libiti´na, the goddess who presides over funerals, and hence in Latin an undertaker is called libitina´rius.

He brought two physicians to visit me, who, by their appearance, seemed zealous ministers of the goddess Libitina.—Lesage, Gil Blas, ix. 8 (1735).

Lichas, servant of Herculês, who brought to him from Dejani´ra the poisoned shirt of Nessus. He was thrown by Herculês from the top of Mount Etna into the sea. Seneca says (Hercules) that Lichas was tossed aloft into the air, and sprinkled the clouds with his blood. Ovid says: “He congealed, like hail, in mid-air, and turned to stone; then, falling into the Uuboic Sea, became a rock, which still bears his name and retains the human form” (Met. ix.).

Let me lodge Lichas on the horns of the moon.
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, act. iv. sc. 10 (1608).

Lickitup (The laird of), friend of Neil Blanc, the town piper.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Lie. The four P’s—a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary and a Pedler—disputed as to which could tell the greatest lie. The Palmer asserted that he never saw a woman out of patience; the other three P’s were so taken aback by this assertion that they instantly gave up the contest, saying that it was certainly the greatest falsehood they ever heard.—John Heywood, The Four P’s (1520).

Liebenstein and Sternfels, two ruined castles on the Rhine. Leoline, the orphan, was the sole surviving child of the lord of Liebenstein, and two brothers (Warbeck and Otto) were the only surviving children of the lord of Sternfels. Both these brothers fell in love with Leoline, but as the lady gave Otto the preference, Warbeck joined the crusades. Otto followed his brother to Palistine, but the war was over, and Otto brought back with him a Greek girl, whom he had made his bride. Warbeck now sent a challenge to his brother for this insult to Leoline, but Leoline interposed to stop the fight. Soon after this the Greek wife eloped, and Otto died childless. Leoline retired to the adjacent convent of Bornhofen, which was attacked by robbers, and Warbeck, in repelling them, received his death-wound, and died in the lap of Leoline.—Traditions of the Rhine.

Life (The Battle of), a Christmas story, by C. Dickens (1846). It is the story of Grace and Marion, the two daughters of Dr. Jeddler, both of whom loved Alfred Heathfield, their father’s ward. Alfred loved the younger daughter; but Marion, knowing of her sister’s love, left her home clandestinely, and all thought she had eloped with Michael Warden. Alfred then married Grace, and in due time Marion make it known to her sister that she had given up Alfred to her, and had gone to live with her Aunt Martha till they were married. It is said that Marion subsequently married Michael Warden, and found with him a happy home.

Ligéa, one of the three sirens. The other two were Parthen´ope and Leucothëa.Leucothëa. Milton gives the classic sirens, combs; borrowing a detail from the Scandinavian Lorelei. Ligēa or Largeia means “shrill,” or “sweet voiced.”

By fair Ligea’s golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft alluring locks.
Milton, Comus (1634).

Light of the Age, Maimon´idês or Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, of Cor´dova (1135-1204).

Light of the Haram [sic], the Sultana Nour´mahal´, afterwards called Nourjeham (“light of the world”). She was the bride of Selim, son of Acbar.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817).

Light o’ Heel (Janet), mother of Godfrey Bertram Hewit.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II.).

Lightbody (Luckie), alias “Marian Loup-the-Dyke,” mother of Jean Girder, the cooper’s wife.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Lightborn, the murderer who assassinated Edward II.—C. Marlowe, Edward II. (1592).

Lightfoot, one of the seven attendants of Fortunio. So swift was he of foot, that he was obliged to tie his legs when he went hunting, or else he always outran the game, and so lost it.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Fortunio,” 1682).

Lightning. Benjamin Franklin invented lightning conductors; hence Campbell says it is allotted to man, with Newton to mark the speed of light, with Herschel to discover planets, and

With Franklin grasp the lightning’s fiery wing.
Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

Lightning (Lovers killed by). (See under Lovers.)

Lightning Protectors. Jupiter chose the eagle as the most approved preservative against lightning, AugustusAugustus Cæsar the sea-calf, and Tiberius the laurel.—Collumella x.; Suetonius, In Vit. Aug., xc. Suetonius, In Vita Tib., lxix.

Lightwood (Mortimer), a solicitor, who conducts the “Harmon murder” case. He is the great friend of Eugene Wrayburn, barrister-at-law, and it is the great ambition of his heart to imitate the nonchalance of his friend. At one time Mortimer Lightwood admired Bella Wilfer.—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Ligurian Sage (The), Aulus Persius Flaccus, the satirist (34-62).

Lilburn (John), a contentious leveller in the Commonwealth, of whom it was said, If no one else were alive John would quarrel with Lilburn. The epigrammatic epitaph of John Lilburn is as follows:—

Is John departed, and is Lilburn gone?
Farewell to both, to Lilburn and to John!
Yet being gone take this advice from me:
Let them not both in one grave buried be.
Here lay ye John; lay Lilburn thereabout;
For if they both should meet, they would fall out.

Lili, immortalized by Goethe, was Anna Elizabeth Schönemann, daughter of a Frankfort banker. She was 16 when Goethe first knew her.

Lilian, “little wife” of Aldrich’s poem An Untimely Thought.

“What a hideous fancy to come
As I wait at the foot of the stair,
While Lilian gives the last touch
To her robe or the rose in her hair!
* * * * *
As the carriage rolls down the dark street
The little wife laughs and makes cheer—
But ... I wonder what day of the week,
I wonder what month of the year!”
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Poems (1882.)

Lil´inau, a woman wooed by a phantom that lived in her father’s pines. At night-fall the phantom whispered love, and won the fair Lilinau, who followed his green waving plume through the forest, but never more was seen.—American-Indian Legend.

Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed by a phantom
That through the pines o’er her father’s lodge, in the hush of the twilight,
Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love to the maiden;
Till she followed his green and waving plume thro’ the forest,
And never more returned, nor was seen again by her people.
Longfellow, Evangeline, ii. 4 (1849).

Lilis or Lilith, Adam’s wife before Eve was created. Lilis refused to submit to Adam, and was turned out of paradise; but she still haunts the air, and is especially hostile to new-born children.

⁂ Goethe has introduced her in his Faust (1790).

Lil´lia-Bianca, the bright, airy daughter of Nantolet, beloved by Pinac, the fellow-traveller of Mirabel, “the wild goose.”—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild-goose Chase (1652).

Lilliput, the country of the Lilliputians, a race of pygmies of very diminutive size, to whom Gulliver appeared a monstrous giant.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Lilliput,” 1726).

⁂ The voyage to LilliputLilliput is a satire on the manners and habits of George I.

Lilly, the wife of Andrew. Andrew is the servant of Charles Brisac, a scholar.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Elder Brother (1637).

Lilly (William), an English astrologer, who was employed during the Civil Wars by both parties; and even Charles I. consulted him about his projected escape from the Carisbrooke Castle (1602-1681).

He talks of Raymond Lully [q.v.] and the ghost of Lilly.—W. Congreve, Love for Love, iii. (1695).

Lillyvick, the collector of water-rates, and uncle to Mrs. Kenwigs. He considered himself far superior in a social point of view to Mr. Kenwigs, who was only an ivory turner; but he deigned to acknowledge the relation, and confessed him to be “an honest, well-behaved, respectable sort of a man.” Mr. Lillyvick looked on himself as one of the élite of society. “If ever an old gentleman made a point of appearing in public shaved close and clean, that old gentleman was Mr. Lillyvick. If ever a collector has borne himself like a collector, and assumed a solemn and portentous dignity, as if he had the whole world on his books, that collector was Mr. Lillyvick.” Mr. Kenwigs thought the collector, who was a bachelor, would leave each of the Kenwigses £100; but he “had the baseness” to marry Miss Petowker, of the Theatre Royal, and “swindle the Kenwigses of their golden expectations.”—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Lily (The), the French king for the time being. So called from the lilies, which, from the time of Clovis, formed the royal device of France. Tasso (Jerusalem Delivered) calls them gigli d’ore (“golden lilies”); but Lord Lytton calls them “silver lilies:”

Lord of the silver lilies, canst thou tell
If the same fate await not thy descendant?
Lord E.L.B. Lytton, The Duchess de la Vallière (1836).

Lily Maid of Astolat, Elaine (q.v.). (See also Launcelot and Elaine).

Lily of Medicine (The), a treatise written by Bernard Gordon, called Lilium Medicinæ (1480). (See Gordonius).

Lily Floyd Curtis. A New York belle, whose mother sets out with the aim that Lily is to make a grand match, and keeps it steadily before her. By a series of dexterous manœuvres the admirable republican parent prevents a marriage between the girl and the man she loves, and makes her countess of Melrose.—Constance Gary Harrison, The Anglo-Maniacs (1890).

Lily Servosse, daughter of a Northern man, who settles in the South soon after the war, in the hopeful expectation of winning favor with his neighbors and helping them to create a new South. In the fruitless enterprise his daughter is his zealous and loving coadjutor.—Albion W. Tourgeé, A Fool’s Errand (1879).

Limberham, a tame, foolish keeper. Supposed to be meant for the duke of Lauderdale.—Dryden, Limberham or The Kind Keeper.

Limbo of the Moon. Ariosto, in his Orlando Furioso, xxxiv. 70, says, in the moon are treasured up the precious time misspent in play, all vain efforts, all vows never paid, all counsel thrown away, all desires that lead to nothing, the vanity of titles, flattery, great men’s promises, court services, and death-bed alms. Pope says:

There heroes’ wits are kept in ponderous vases,
And beaus’ in snuff-boxes and tweezer-cases;
There broken vows and death-bed alms are found,
And lovers’ hearts with ends of ribbon bound;
The courtier’s promises, and sick man’s prayers,
The smiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs;
Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea,
Dried butterflies, and tomes of casuistry.
Rape of the Lock, v. (1712).

Limbo Fatuōrum or the “Fools’ Paradise,” for idiots, madmen, and others who are not responsible for their sins, but yet have done nothing worthy of salvation. Milton says, from the earth fly to the Paradise of Fools

All things transitory and vain ... the fruits
Of painful superstition and blind zeal ...
AIL the unaccomplished works of Nature’s hand,
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed ...
The builders here of Babel ...
Others come single. He who to be deemed
A god, leaped fondly into Etna’s flames,
Empedoclês; and he who to enjoy
Plato’s elysium, leaped into the sea ...
Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars.
Paradise Lost, iii. 448 (1665).

Limbo Patrum, that half-way house between purgatory and paradise, where patriarchs and prophets, saints, martyrs, and confessors, await the “second coming.” This, according to some, is the hadês or “hell” into which Christ descended when “He preached to the spirits in prison.” Dantê places Limbo on the confines of hell, but tells us those doomed to dwell there are “only so far afflicted as that they live without hope” (Inferno, iv.).

I have some of them in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days.—Shakespeare, Henry VIII. act v. sc. 3 (1601).

Limbo Puerōrum, or “Child’s Paradise,” for unbaptized infants too young to commit actual sin, but not eligible for heaven because they have not been baptized.

⁂ According to Dantê, Limbo is between hell and that border-land where dwell “the praiseless and blameless dead.” (See Inferno.)

Lincius. (See Lynceus.)

Lincoln (The bishop of), in the court of Queen Elizabeth. He was Thomas Cowper.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Lincolnshire Grazier (A). The Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne published The Complete Grazier under this pseudonym (1805).

Linco´ya (3 syl.), husband of Co´atel, and a captive of the Az´tecas. “Once, when a chief was feasting Madoc, a captive served the food.” Madoc says, “I marked the youth, for he had features of a gentler race; and oftentimes his eye was fixed on me with looks of more than wonder.” This young man, “the flower of all his nation,” was to be immolated to the god Tezcalipo´ca; but on the eve of sacrifice he made his escape, and flew to Madoc for protection. The fugitive proved both useful and faithful, but when he heard of the death of Coatel, he was quite heart-broken. Ayaya´ca, to divert him, told him about the spirit-land; and Lincoya asked, “Is the way thither long?”

The old man replied, “A way of many moons.”
“I know a shorter path,” exclaimed the youth;
And up he sprang, and from the precipice
Darted. A moment; and Ayaya´ca heard
His body fall upon the rocks below.
Southey, Madoc, ii. 22 (1805).

Lindab´rides (4 syl.), a euphemism for a female of no repute, a courtezan. Lindabridês is the heroine of the romance entitled The Mirror of Knighthood, one of the books in Don Quixote’s library (pt. I. i. 6), and the name became a household word for a mistress. It occurs in two of Sir W. Scott’s novels, Kenilworth and Woodstock.

Linden (John Endicott), young man who comes to a New England village to teach school, institutes various reforms; falls in love with a pretty pupil, Faith Derrick, educates her, and when he has completed his theological studies, marries her, and settles as pastor of a Vermont mountain parish.—Susan Warner, Say and Seal (1860).

Lindesay, an archer in the Scotch guard of Louis XI. of France.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Lindesay (Lord), one of the embassy to Queen Mary of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Lindor, a poetic swain or lover playing at shepherd.

Do not, for Heaven’s sake, bring down Corydon and Lindor upon us.—Sir W. Scott.

Lindsay (Margaret), the heroine of a novel by Professor John Wilson, entitled Trials of Margaret Lindsay, a very pathetic story (1785-1854).

Linet´, daughter of Sir Persaunt, and sister of Lionês, of Castle Perilous (ch. 131). Her sister was held captive by Sir Ironside, the Red Knight of the Red Lands. Linet went to King Arthur to entreat that one of his knights might be sent to liberate her; but as she refused to give up the name of her sister, the king said no knight of the Round Table could undertake the adventure. At this, a young man nicknamed “Beaumains” (Fair-hands), who had been serving in the kitchen for a year, entreated that he might be allowed the quest, which the king granted. Linet, however, treated him with the utmost contumely, calling him dish-washer, kitchen knave, and lout: but he overthrew all the knights opposed to him, delivered the lady Lionês, and married her. (See Lynette).—Sir. T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 120-153 (1470).

⁂ Some men nicknamed her “The Savage” (ch. 151). Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, changes the denouement, and makes Gareth marry Lynette.

Lingo, in O’Keefe’s comedy Agreeable Surprise (1798).

Linkinwater (Tim), confidential clerk to the brothers Chreeryble. A kind-hearted old bachelor, fossilized in ideas, but most kind-hearted, and devoted to his masters almost to idolatry. He is much attached to a blind blackbird called “Dick,” which he keeps in a large cage. The bird has lost its voice from old age; but, in Tim’s opinion, there is no equal to it in the whole world. The old clerk marries Miss La Creevy, a miniature-painter.

Punctual as the counting-house dial, ... he performed the minutest actions, and arranged the minutest articles of his little room in a precise and regular order. Paper, pens, ink, ruler, sealing-wax, wafers, ... Tim’s hat, Tim’s scrupulously folded gloves, Tim’s other coat, ... all had their accustomed inches of space.... There was not a more accurate instrument in existence than Tim Linkinwater.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xxxvii. (1838).

Linklater (Laurie), yeoman of the king’s kitchen. A friend to Ritchie Moniplies.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Linne (The Heir of), a great spendthrift, who sold his estates to John-o-the-Scales, his steward, reserving for himself only a “poor and lonesome lodge in a lonely glen.” Here he found a rope, with a running noose, and put it round his neck, with the intention of hanging himself. The weight of his body broke the rope, and he fell to the ground. He now found two chests of gold and one of silver, with this inscription: “Once more, my son, I set thee clear. Amend thy life or a rope must end it.” The heir of Linne now went to the steward for the loan of forty pence, which was denied him.—One of the guests said, “Why, John, you ought to lend it, for you had the estates cheap enough.” “Cheap! say you. Why, he shall have them back for a hundred marks less than the money I gave for them.” “Done!” said the heir of Linne; and counted out the money. Thus he recovered his estates, and made the kind guest his forester.—Percy, Reliques, II. ii. 5.

Lion (A), emblem of the tribe of Judah. In the old church at Totnes, is a stone pulpit divided into compartments containing shields, decorated with the several emblems of the Jewish tribes, of which this is one.

Judah is a lion’s whelp ... he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?—Gen. xlix. 9.

Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, an English writer, has a book under the title of The Lion of the Tribe of Judah (1830-185-).

Lion (The), symbol of ambition. When Dantê began the ascent of fame, he was met first by a panther (pleasure), and then by a lion (ambition) which tried to stop his further progress.

A lion came
With head erect, and hunger mad.
Dantê, Hell, i. (1300).

Lion (The) Henry, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, son of Henry “the Proud” (1129-1195).

Louis VIII., of France, born under the sign Leo (1187, 1223-1226).

William of Scotland, who chose a red lion rampant for his cognizance (*, 1165-1214).

Lion (The Golden), emblem of ancient Assyria. The bear was that of ancient Persia.

Where is th’ Assyrian lion’s golden hide,
That all the East once grasped in lordly paw?
Where that great Persian bear, whose swelling pride
The lion’s self tore out with rav’nous jaw!
Phin. Fletcher, The Purple Island, vii. (1633).

Lion The (Valiant), Alep Arslan, son of Togrul Beg, the Perso-Turkish monarch (*, 1062-1072).

Lion Attending on Man.

Una was attended by a lion. Spenser says that Una was seeking St. George, and as she sat to rest herself, a lion rushed suddenly out of a thicket, with gaping mouth and lashing tail; but as it drew near, it was awe-struck, licked her feet and hands, and followed her like a dog. Sansloy slew the faithful beast.—Faëry Queen, I. iii. 42 (1590).

⁂ This is an allegory of the Reformation. The “lion” means England, and “Una” means truth or the reformed religion. England (the lion) waited on truth or the reformation. “Sansloy” means Queen Mary or false faith, which killed the lion, or separated England from truth (or the true faith). It might seem to some that Sansfoy should have been substituted for Sansloy; but this could not be, because Sansfoy had been slain already.

Sir Ewain de Gallis or Iwain de Galles was attended by a lion, which, in gratitude to the knight, who had delivered it from a serpent, ever after became his faithful servant, approaching the knight with tears, and rising on its hind feet.

Sir Geoffrey de Latour was aided by a lion against the Saracens; but the faithful brute was drowned in attempting to follow the vessel in which the knight had embarked on his departure from the Holy Land.

St. Jerome is represented as attended by a lion. (See Androclus).

Lion of God (The), Ali, son-in-law of Mahomet. He was called at birth “The Rugged Lion” (al Haïdara) (602, 655-661).

Hamza, called “The Lion of God and of His Prophet.” So Gabriel told Mahomet his uncle was registered in heaven.

Lion of Jonina, Ali Pasha, overthrown in 1822 by Ibrahim Pasha (1741, 1788-1822).

Lion of the North (The), Gustavus Adolphus (1594, 1611-1632).

Lion-Heart. The legend says that Richard I. was called Cœur de Lion because he plucked out a lion’s heart, to which beast he had been exposed by the duke of Austria, for having slain his son.

Lion King of Assyria, Arioch al Asser (B.C. 1927-1897).

Lion Rouge, (Le), Marshal Ney, who had red hair and red whiskers (1769-1815).

Lion-Tamer. One of the most remarkable was Ellen Bright, who exhibited in Wombwell’s menagerie. She was killed by a tiger in 1850.

Lions (White and Red). Prester John, in his letter to Manuel Comnēnus, emperor of Constantinople, says his land is the “home of white and red lions” (1165).

Lionel and Clarissa, an opera by Bickerstaff. Sir John Flowerdale has a daughter named Clarissa, whose tutor is Lionel, an Oxford graduate. Colonel Oldboy, his neighbor, has a son named Jessamy, a noodle and a fop; and a daughter, Diana. A proposal is made for Clarissa Flowerdale to marry Jessamy; but she despises the prig, and loves Lionel. After a little embroglio, Sir John gives his consent to this match. Now for Diana: Harmann, a guest of Oldboy’s, tells him he is in love, but that the father of the lady will not consent to his marriage. Oldboy advises him to elope, lends his carriage and horses, and writes a letter for Harman, which he is to send to the girl’s father. Harman follows this advice, and elopes with Diana; but Diana repents, returns home unmarried, and craves her father’s forgiveness. The old Colonel yields, the lovers are united, and Oldboy says he likes Harman the better for his pluck and manliness.

Lionell (Sir), brother of Sir Launcelot, son of Ban, king of Benwick (Brittany).

Liones (3 syl.), daughter of Sir Persaunt, of Castle Perilous, where she was held captive by Sir Ironside, the Red Knight of the Red Lands. Her sister, Linet´, went to the Court of King Arthur to request that some knight would undertake to deliver her from her oppressor; but as she refused to give up the name of the lady, the king said no Knight of the Round Table could undertake the quest. On this, a stranger, nicknamed “Beaumains,” from the size and beauty of his hands, and who had served in the kitchen for twelve months, begged to be sent, and his request was granted. He was very scornfully treated by Linet; but succeeded in overthrowing every knight who opposed him, and, after combatting from dawn to sunset with Sir Ironside, made him also do homage. The lady, being now free, married the “kitchen knight,” who was, in fact, Sir Gareth, son of Lot, king of Orkney, and Linet married his brother, Ga´heris. (See Lyonors, of Castle Perilous.)—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 120-153 (1470).

Li´onesse (3 syl.), Lyonesse, or Lionés, a tract of land between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles, now submerged “full forty fathoms under water.” It formed a part of Cornwall. Thus Sir Tristram de Lionês is always called a Cornish knight. When asked his name, he tells Sir Kay that he is Sir Tristram de Lionês; to which the seneschal answers, “Yet heard I never in no place that any good knight came out of Cornwall.”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 56 (1470). See Leonesse.

⁂ Respecting the knights of Cornwall, Sir Mark, the king of Cornwall, had thrown the whole district into bad odor. He was false, cowardly, mean, and most unknightly.

Lir. The Death of the Children of Lir. This is one of the three tragic stories of the ancient Irish. The other two are The Death of the Children of Touran, and The Death of the Children of Usnach. (See Fionnuala.)—O’Flanagan, Transactions of the Gaelic Society, i.

⁂ Lir (King) father of Fionnuala. On the death of Fingula (the mother of his daughter), he married the wicked Aoife, who, through spite, transformed the children of Lir into swans, doomed to float on the water for centuries, till they hear the first mass-bell ring. Tom Moore has versified this legend.

Silent, O Moyle, be the roar of thy water;
Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose—
While murmuring mournfully Lir’s lonely daughter
Tells to the night-star her tale of woes.
Moore, Irish Melodies (“Song of Fionnuala,” 1814).

Liris, a proud but lovely daughter of the race of man, beloved by Rubi, first of the angel host. Her passion was the love of knowledge, and she was captivated by all her angel lover told her of heaven and the works of God. At last she requested Rubi to appear before her in all his glory, and, as she fell into his embrace, was burnt to ashes by the rays which issued from him.—T. Moore, Loves of the Angels, ii. (1822.)

Lisa, an innkeeper’s daughter, who wishes to marry Elvi´no, a wealthy farmer; but Elvino is in love with Ami´na. Suspicious circumstances make Elvino renounce his true love and promise marriage to Lisa; but the suspicion is shown to be causeless, and Lisa is discovered to be the paramour of another. So Elvino returns to his first love, and Lisa is left to Alessio, with whom she had been living previously.—Bellini’s opera, La Sonnambula (1831).

Lisette. Les Infidélités de Lisette and Les Gueux are the two songs which, in 1813, gained for Béranger admission to the “Caveau,” a club of Paris, established in 1729 and broken up in 1749, but reestablished in 1806 and finally closed in 1817.

Les Infidélités supposes that Béranger loved Lisette, who bestowed her favors on sundry admirers; and Béranger, at each new proof of infidelity, “drowned his sorrow in the bowl.”

Lizette, ma Lizette
Tu m’as trompé toujours;
Mais vive la grisette!
Je veux, Lizette.
Boire à nos amours.
Les Infidélités de Lisette.

Lismaha´go (Captain), a superannuated officer on half-pay, who marries Miss Tabitha Bramble for the sake of her £4000. He is a hard-featured, forbidding Scotchman, singular in dress, eccentric in manners, self-conceited, pedantic, disputatious, and rude. Though most tenacious in argument, he can yield to Miss Tabitha, whom he wishes to conciliate. Lismahago reminds one of Don Quixote, but is sufficiently unlike to be original.—T. Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771).

Lissardo, valet to Don Felix. He is a conceited high-life-below-stairs fop, who makes love to Inis and Flora.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1713).

Lee Lewes [1740-1803] played “Lissardo” in the style of his great master [Woodward], and most divertingly.—Boaden, Life of Mrs. Siddons.

Lis´uarte (The Exploits and Adventures of), part of the series of Le Roman des Romans, or that pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was added by Juan Diaz.

Litchfield (David). Deaf, rich man, married to a wife young enough to be his child. He thinks and feels much, but says little. His dry humor, harmless cynicism, and benevolent schemes for the needy, make him a man of mark. His mother-in-law, a manœuverer of the first water, bends over his dying bed with strained solicitude, mentally reckoning up the amount he will leave her daughter.

“He looked up in her face; he was almost smiling.

‘A—watched—pot—never—boils!’ he said, slowly and with difficulty, and then once more closed his eyes.”

Ellen Olney Kirke, A Daughter of Eve (1889).

Literature (Father of Modern French), Claude de Seyssel (1450-1520).

Literature (Father of German), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).

Littimer, the painfully irreproachable valet of Steerforth; in whose presence David Copperfield feels always most uncomfortably small. Though as a valet he is propriety in Sunday best, he is nevertheless cunning and deceitful. Steerforth, tired of “Little Em’ly,” wishes to marry her to Littimer; but from this lot she is rescued, and migrates to Australia.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Little (Thomas). Thomas Moore published, in 1808, a volume of amatory poems under this nom de plume. The preface is signed J.H.H.H.

’Tis Little—young Catullus of his day,
As sweet but as immoral as his lay.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

Little Corporal (The). General Bonaparte was so called after the battle of Lodi, in 1796, from his youthful age and low stature.

Little Dorrit, the heroine and title of a novel by C. Dickens (1857). Little Dorrit was born and brought up in the Marshalsea prison, Bermondsey, where her father was confined for debt; and when about 14 years of age she used to do needle work, to earn a subsistence for herself and her father. The child had a pale, transparent face; quick in expression, though not beautiful in feature. Her eyes were a soft hazel, and her figure slight. The little dove of the prison was idolized by the prisoners, and when she walked out, every man in Bermondsey who passed her, touched or took off his hat out of respect to her good works and active benevolence. Her father, coming into a property, was set free at length, and little Dorrit married Arthur Clennam, the marriage service being celebrated in the Marshalsea, by the prison chaplain.

Little-Endians and Big-Endians, two religious factions, which waged incessant war with each other on the right interpretation of the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blun´decral; “All true believers break their eggs at the convenient end.” The god-father of Calin Deffar Plune, the reigning emperor of Lilliput, happened to cut his finger while breaking his egg at the big end, and therefore commanded all faithful Lilliputians to break their eggs in future at the small end. The Blefuscudians called this decree rank heresy, and determined to exterminate the believers of such an abominable practice from the face of the earth. Hundreds of treatises were published on both sides, but each empire put all those books opposed to its own views into the Index Expurgatorius, and not a few of the more zealous sort died as martyrs for daring to follow their private judgement in the matter.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Lilliput,” 1726).

Little French Lawyer (The), a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647). The person so called is La Writ, a wrangling French advocate.

Little Gentleman in Velvet (To the), a favorite Jacobite toast in the reign of Queen Anne. The reference is to the mole that raised the hill against which the horse of William III. stumbled while riding in the park of Hampton Court. By this accident the king broke his collar-bone, a severe illness ensued, and he died early in 1702.

Little (Henry), young inventor and mechanic, persecuted by the Trades Unions, driven to set up a forge in a disused church, and resort to other means to conceal the fact that he is doing honest work in an honest man’s way, carrying on a love affair at the same time. He is nearly murdered by the emissaries of the “Union,” spirited away, and comes to light again just in time to vindicate his loyalty to his fianceé, who has been duped into a form of marriage with another man.—Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place.

Little John, (whose surname was Nailor), the fidus Achatês of Robin Hood.Hood. He could shoot an arrow a measured mile and somewhat more. So could Robin Hood; but no other man ever lived who could perform the same feat. In one of the Robin Hood ballads we are told that the name of this free-shooter was John Little, and that Wiliam Stutely, in merry mood, reversed the names.

“O, here is my hand,” the stranger replyed;
“I’ll serve you with all my whole heart.
My name is John Little, a man of good mettle;
Ne’er doubt me, for I play my part.”
He was, I must tell you, full seven foot high,
And maybe an ell in the waste....
Brave Stutely said then....
“This infant was called John Little,” quoth he;
“Which name shall be changêd anon;
The words we’ll transpose, so wherever he goes
His name shall be called Little John.”
Ritson, Robin Hood Ballads, ii. 21 (before 1689).

Little John (Hugh). John Hugh Lockhart, grandson of Sir W. Scott, is so called by Sir Walter in his Tales of a Grandfather, written for his grandson.

Little Marlborough, Count von Schwerin, a Prussian field-marshal and a companion of the duke of Marlborough (1684-1757).

Little Nell, a child distinguished for her purity of character, though living in the midst of selfishness, impurity, and crime. She was brought up by her grandfather, who was in his dotage, and having lost his property, tried to eke out a narrow living by selling lumber or curiosities. At length, through terror of Quilp, the old man and his grandchild stole away, and led a vagrant life, the one idea of both being to get as far as possible from the reach of Quilp. They finally settled down in a cottage overlooking a country churchyard, where Nell died.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).

Little Queen, Isabella of Valois, who was married at the age of eight years to Richard II. of England, and was a widow at 13 years of age (1387-1410).

Little Red Ridinghood. “We must call you ‘Little Red Ridinghood!’” said her mother, as she tied the pretty red hood under her little girl’s chin. “Now take this cake and this bottle of wine to your grandmother, and if you meet people on the way, wish them ‘good morning.’”

As Little Red Ridinghood went through the wood, she met Mr. Wolf, and wished him “good morning!” “Good morning, little maid,” said he; “and where are you going?” “I am going to my grandmother’s,” she said, “to take her this cake and this bottle of wine.” “You are a nice little girl,” said Mr. Wolf, “and I wish you good day!”

As Little Red Ridinghood went along, she said to herself: “I am sure it would please my grandmother if I were to bring her a bunch of flowers!” And in an open space, where the sun was shining, she found some nodding columbines and some blue violets, and made a pretty nosegay.

Mr. Wolf waited till he saw Little Red Ridinghood busy gathering flowers, and then he ran on ahead till he came to her grandmother’s house. He tapped on the door, and grandmother said, “Who is there?” Then Mr. Wolf made his voice as small as he could, and said: “I am Little Red Ridinghood, and I have brought you a cake, and a bottle of wine!”

“Welcome, dear child!” said the grandmother. “Pull the bobbin, and the latch will fly up.”

Then Mr. Wolf pulled the bobbin, and up flew the latch, and in he went; and there lay the grandmother in the bed, for she was too old and feeble to get up. Then Mr. Wolf ran to the bed, and seized the poor old grandmother, and ate her up as quick as a wink. And he put her night-cap on his head, and jumped into the bed, and pulled the clothes about his ears.

Very soon Little Red Ridinghood came to the door and tapped, and Mr. Wolf made his voice as small as he could, and said, “Who is there!” And Little Red Ridinghood said: “It is I, dear grandmother, and I have brought you a cake and a bottle of wine!”

“Welcome, dear child! ” squeaked Mr. Wolf. “Pull the bobbin, and the latch will fly up!”

Then Little Red Ridinghood pulled the bobbin and up flew the latch, and in she went, and thought she saw her grandmother lying on the bed. “Come here, my dear,” said Mr. Wolf, “and sit by me, for I am old and feeble, and cannot get up.” Then Little Red Ridinghood looked at her grandmother, and said: “Why, grandmother, what big ears you have!” “The better to hear you with,” said Mr. Wolf. “Why, grandmother, what big eyes you have!” “The better to see you with, my dear!” “Why, grandmother, what a big mouth you have!” “The better to eat you with, my dear!” said Mr. Wolf, and with that he seized poor Little Red Ridinghood, and ate her up in the twinkling of an eye.

Littlejohn (Bailie), a magistrate at Fairport.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Little Sister, Caroline Gann, deserted wife of Brand Firmin.—W.M. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip (1860).

Little Sunshine, pet name bestowed upon Lily Davis, heroine of Bartley Campbell’s play of the same name.

Livy (The Russian), Nicholas Michaelovitch Karamzin (1765-1826).

Livy of France, Juan de Mariana (1537-1624).

Livy of Portugal, Joào de Barros (1496-1570).

Liz, “slender slip of a creature” in the Lancashire coal region, ignorant, emotional, weak, easily led, ready to err, unable to bear the consequences of error, not strong enough to be resolutely wicked, nor strong enough to be anything in particular, but that which her surroundings make her. Naturally she sins, and is sorry. Joan Lowrie’s strong hands lay hold of and hold her up. She relapses into vice, and returns to die at Joan’s door.—Francis Hodgson Burnett, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s (1877).

Lizzie Hexam, daughter of a disreputable waterman, Gaffer Hexam. Devoted sister, and pure, lovely woman, who supports and educates herself, and finally marries Eugene Wrayburn.—Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1861).

Lla´ian, the unwed mother of Prince Hoel. His father was Prince Hoel, the illegitimate son of King Owen, of North Wales. Hoel, the father, was slain in battle by his half-brother, David, successor to the throne; and Llaian, with her young son, also called Hoel, accompanied Prince Madoc to America.—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Llewel´lyn, son of Yorwerth, and grandson of Owen, king of North Wales. Yorwerth was the eldest son, but was set aside because he had a blemish in the face, and his half-brother, David, was king. David began his reign by killing or banishing all the family of his father who might disturb his succession. Amongst those he killed was Yorwerth, in consequence of which Llewellyn resolved to avenge his father’s death; and his hatred against his uncle was unbounded.—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Lloyd with an “L.”

One morning a Welsh coach-maker came with his bill to my lord [The earl of Brentford]. “You called, I think, Mr. Lloyd?” “At your lordship’s service, my lord.” “What! Lloyd with an ‘L?’” It was with an “L.” “In your part of the world I have heard that Lloyd and Flloyd are synonymous; is it so?” inquired his lordship. “Very often, indeed, my lord,” was the reply. “You say that you spell your name with an ‘L?’” “Always, my lord.” “That, Mr. Lloyd, is a little unlucky; for I am paying my debts alphabetically, and in four or five years you might have come in with the ‘F’s;’ but I am afraid I can give you no hopes for your ‘L.’ Good morning.”—S. Foote, The Lame Lover.

L.N.R., nom de plume of Mrs. Ranyard, authoress of The Book and its Story, The Missing Link, etc. Died 1879.

Loathly Lady (The), a hideous creature, whom Sir Gaw´ain marries, and who immediately becomes a beautiful woman.—The Marriage of Sir Gawain (a ballad).

The walls ... were clothed with grim old tapestry, representing the memorable story of Sir Gawain’s wedding ... with the Loathly Lady.—Sir W. Scott.

Loba´ba, one of the sorcerers in the caverns of Dom-Daniel, “under the roots of the ocean.” These spirits were destined to be destroyed by one of the race of Hodeirah, and therefore, they persecuted the whole of that race even to death. Thala´ba, however, escaped their malice, and became their destroyer. Okba tried to kill him, but failed. Abdaldar was next sent against him, and would have struck the lad in prayer, but was himself killed by a simoom. Lobāba was the third envoy sent to compass his death. He assumed the guise of an old merchant, and beguiled the young man into the wilderness, where he roused up a furious whirlwind; but Thalaba was saved, and Lobaba himself fell a victim to the storm which he had raised.—Southey, Thalaba, the Destroyer (1797).

Lochiel´ (2 syl.). Sir Evan Cameron, lord of Lochiel, surnamed “The Black” and “The Ulysses of the Highlands,” died 1719. His son, called “The Gentle Lochiel,” is the one referred to by Thomas Campbell in Lochiel’s Warning. He fought in the battle of Cullo´den for Prince Charles, the Young Pretender (1746).

Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day
When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array!
For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight,
And the clans of Cullo´den are scattered in fight.
Campbell, Lochiel’s Warning,

And Cameron, in the shock of steel,
Die like the offspring of Lochiel.
Sir W. Scott, Field of Waterloo.

Lochinvar´, a young Highlander, in love with a lady at Netherby Hall (condemned to marry a “laggard in love and a dastard in war”). Her young chevalier induced the too-willing lassie to be his partner in a dance; and while the guests were intent on their amusements, swung her into his saddle and made off with her before the bridegroom could recover from his amazement.—Sir W. Scott, Marmion (1808).

Lochleven (The Lady of), mother of the Regent Murray.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Lockit, the jailer in Gay’s Beggar’s Opera. He was an inhuman brute, who refused to allow Captain Macheath any more candles in his cell, and threatened to clap on extra fetters, unless he supplied him with more “garnish” (jail fees). Lockit loaded his prisoners with fetters in inverse proportion to the fees which they paid, ranging “from one guinea to ten.” (See Lucy.)—J. Gay, The Beggar’s Opera (1727).

The quarrel between Peachum and Lockit was an allusion to a personal collision between Walpole and his colleague, Lord Townsend.—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 571.

Locksley, alias “Robin Hood,” an archer at the tournament (ch. xiii.). Said to have been the name of the village where the outlaw was born.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Locksley Hall, a poem by Tennyson, in which the hero, the Lord of Locksley Hall, having been jilted by his Cousin Amy for a rich boor, pours forth his feelings in a flood of vehement scorn and indignation. In his old age Tennyson took up the theme again, and wrote Locksley Hall Sixty Years After.

Locrine (2 syl.), father of Sabri´na, and eldest son of the mythical Brutus, king of ancient Britain. On the death of his father, Locrine became king of Loe´gria (England).

Locusta, a by-word of infamy. She lived in the early part of the Roman Empire. Locusta poisoned Claudius and Britannicus, and attempted to destroy Nero, but, being found out, was put to death.

Loda or Cruth-Loda, a Scandinavian god, which dwelt “on the misty top of Uthorno ... the house of the spirits of men.” Fingal did not worship at the “stone of this power,” but looked on it as hostile to himself and friendly to his foes. Hence, when Loda appeared to him on one occasion, Fingal knew it was with no friendly intent, and with his sword he cleft the intrenched spirit in twain.twain. Whereupon it uttered a terrible shriek, which made the island tremble; and, “rolling itself up, rose upon the wings of the wind,” and departed. (See Mars Wounded).—Ossian, Carric-Thura.

(In Oina-Moral, “Loda” seems to be a place:

They stretch their hands to the shells in Loda).

Lodbrog, king of Denmark (eighth century), famous for his wars and victories. He was also an excellent scald or bard, like Ossian. Falling into the hands of his enemies, he was cast into jail and devoured by serpents.

Lodois´ka (4 syl.), a beautiful Polish princess, in love with Count Floreski. She is the daughter of Prince Lupauski, who places her under the protection of a friend (Baron Lovinski) during a war between the Poles and Tartars. Here her lover finds her a prisoner at large; but the baron seeks to poison him. At this crisis, the Tartars arrive and invade the castle. The baron is killed, the lady released, and all ends happily.—J. P. Kembel, Lodoiska (a melodrama).

Lodo´na, a nymph, fond of the chase. One day Pan saw her, and tried to catch her; but she fled, and implored Cynthia to save her. Her prayer was heard, and she was instantly converted into “a silver stream, which ever keeps its virgin coolness.” Lodona is an affluent of the Thames.—Pope, Windsor Forest (1713).

Lodovi´co, kinsman to Brabantio, the father of Desdemona.—Shakespeare, Othello (1611).

Lodovico and Piso, two cowardly gulls.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).

Lodowick, the name assumed by the duke of Vienna, when he retired for a while from State affairs, and dressed as a friar, to watch the carrying out of a law recently enforced against prostitution.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).

Loe´gria (4 syl.), England, the kingdom of Logris or Locrine, eldest son of Brute, the mythical king of Britain.

Thus Cambria [Wales] to her right that would herself restore,
And rather than to lose Loëgria, looks for more.
M. Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Il est écrit qu’il est une heure
Où tout le royaume de Logres,
Qui jadis fut la terre ès ogres
Sera détruit par cette lance.
Chrétien de Troyes, Parzival (1170).

Lofty, a detestable prig, always boasting of his intimacy with people of quality.—Goldsmith, The Good-natured Man (1767).

Lofty (Sir Thomas), a caricature of Lord Melcombe. Sir Thomas is a man utterly destitute of all capacity, yet sets himself up for a Mecænas, and is well sponged by needy scribblers, who ply him with fulsome dedications.—Samuel Foote, The Patron.

Log (King), a roi fainéant. The frogs prayed to Jove to send them a king, and the god threw a log into the pool, the splash of which terribly alarmed them for a time; but they soon learnt to despise a monarch who allowed them to jump upon its back, and never resented their familiarities. The croakers complained to Jove for sending them so worthless a king, and prayed him to send one more active and imperious; so he sent them a stork, which devoured them.—Æsop’s Fables.

Logistil´la, a good fairy, sister of Alci´na, the sorceress. She taught Ruggie´ro (3 syl.) to manage the hippogriff, and gave Astolpho a magic book and horn. Logistilla is human reason personified.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Logothete (The), or chancellor of the Grecian empire.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Lohengrin, “Knight of the Swan,” son of Parsival. He came to Brabante in a ship drawn by a swan, and having liberated the Duchess Elsa, who was a captive, he married her, but declined to reveal his name. Not long after his marriage he went against the Huns and Saracens, performed marvels of bravery, and returned to Germany covered with glory. Elsa, being laughed at by her friends for not knowing the name of her husband, resolved to ask him of his family; but no sooner had she done so than the white swan re-appeared and carried him away.—Wolfram von Eschenbach (a minnesinger, thirteenth century).

L’Oiseleur (“the bird-catcher”), the person who plays the magic flute.—Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (1791).

Loki, the god of strife and spirit of all evil. His wife is Angerbode (4 syl.), i.e. “messenger of wrath,” and his three sons are Fenris, Midgard, and Hela. Loki gave the blind god Höder an arrow of mistletoe, and told him to try it; so the blind Höder discharged the arrow and slew Balder (the Scandinavian Apollo). This calamity was so grievous to the gods, that they unanimously agreed to restore him to life again.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Lolah, one of the three beauties of the harem, into which Don Juan in female disguise was admitted. She “was dusk as India and as warm.” The other two were Katin´ka and Dudù.—Byron, Don Juan, vi. 40, 41 (1824).

Lol´lius, an author often referred to by writers of the Middle Ages, but probably a “Mrs. Harris” of Kennotwhere.

Lollius, if a writer of that name existed at all, was a somewhat somewhere.—Coleridge.

London Antiquary (A). John Camden Hotten published his Dictionary of Modern Slang, etc., under this pseudonym.

London Bridge is Built on Woolpacks. In the reign of Henry II., Pious Peter, a chaplain of St. Mary Colechurch, in the Poultry, built a stone bridge in lieu of the wooden one which had been destroyed by fire. The king helped him by a tax on wool, and hence the saying referred to above.

Long (Tom), the hero of an old popular tale entitled The Merry Conceits of Tom Long, the Carrier, etc.

Long Peter, Peter Aartsen, the Flemish painter. He was so called from his extraordinary height (1507-1573).

Long-Sword (Richard), son of the “fair Rosamond” and Henry II. His brother was Geoffrey, archbishop of York.

Long-sword, the brave son of beauteous Rosamond.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xviii. (1613).

Long-Sword, William I., of Normandy, son of Rollo, assassinated by the count of Flanders (920-943).

Long Tom Coffin, a sailor of heroic character and most amiable disposition, introduced by Fenimore Cooper, in his novel called The Pilot. Fitzball has dramatized the story.

Longaville (3 syl.), a young lord attending on Ferdinand, king of Navarre. He promises to spend three years in study with the king, during which time no woman is to approach the court; but no sooner has he signed the compact than he falls in love with Maria. When he proposes to her, she defers his suit for twelve months, and she promises to change her “black gown for a faithful friend” if he then remains of the same mind.

A man of sovereign parts he is esteemed;
Well fitted in the arts, glorious in arms;
Nothing becomes him ill, that he would well.
The only soil of his fair virtue’s gloss ...
Is a sharp wit matched with too blunt a will;
Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills
It should none spare that come within his power.
Shakespeare, Love’s Labor’s Lost, act ii. sc. 1.

Longchamp, bishop of Ely, high justiciary of England during the absence of King Richard Cœur de Lion.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Longevity. The following have exceeded a hundred years:—

Thomas Cam (207!!), according to the parish register of St. Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, died January 22, 1588, aged 207 years. If so, he was born 1381, in 4th Richard II., and died 13th Elizabeth.

Thomas Parr (152), born 1483, died 1635.

Henry Jenkins (169), born 1591, died 1760.

Catharine, countess of Desmond (140), fifteenth century.

Henry Hastings (102), forester to Charles I. (1537-1639).

Henry Evans (129), a Welshman (1642-1771).

Jane Scrimshaw (127), lived in the reigns of eight sovereigns (1584-1711).

Alice, of Philadelphia (116), born 1686, died 1802.

Thomas Laugher, of Markley, Worcesshire (107), born 1700, died 1807. His mother died at the age of 108.

Margaret Patten or Batten, of Glasgow (136). She was born in the reign of Elizabeth (1603), and died 1739. She was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster, and a portrait of her is in St. Margaret’s workhouse.

In Shiffnal (Salop), St. Andrew’s Church, are these tablets:

William Wakley (124), baptized at Idsall, otherwise Shiffnal, May 1, 1590; and was buried at Adbaston, November 28, 1714. He lived in the reign of eight sovereigns.

Mary Yates (127), wife of Joseph Yates, of Lizard Common, Shiffnal, was born 1649, and buried August 7, 1776. She walked to London just after the fire in 1666, was hearty and strong at 120 years, and married, at 92 years of age, her third husband.

Longius, the name of the Roman soldier who pierced the crucified Saviour with a spear. The spear came into the possession of Joseph of Arimathea.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 41 (1470).

Longomonta´nus (Christian), of Jutland, a Danish astronomer (1562-1647).

What did your Cardan [an Italian astronomer], and your Ptolemy, your Messahalah and your Longomontanus, your harmony of chiromancy with astrology?—W. Congreve, Love for Love, iv. (1695).

Loningtoe (Mr.). Principal of the school-ship Young America, whose first voyage is described in Outward Bound, by William T. Adams, (Oliver Optic).

Loose-Coat Field. The battle of Stamford (1470) was so called, because the men led by Lord Wells, being attacked by the Yorkists, threw off their coats, that they might flee the faster.

Cast off their country’s coats, to haste their speed away.
Which “Loose-Coat Field” is called e’en to this day.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxii. (1622).

Lo´pe de Vega (Felix), a Spanish poet born at Madrid. He was one of those who came in the famous “Armada” to invade EnglandEngland. Lope (2 syl.) wrote altogether 1800 tragedies, comedies, dramas, or religious pieces called autos sacramentales (1562-1635).

Her memory was a mine. She knew by heart
All Calderon and greater part of Lopé.
Byron, Don Juan, i. 11 (1819).

Lopez, the “Spanish curate.”—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate, (1622).

Lopez (Don), a Portuguese nobleman, the father of Don Felix and Donna Isabella.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1714).

Lord, a hunchback. (Greek, lordos, “crooked”).

Lord Peter. The pope is so called in Dr. Arbuthnot’s History of John Bull. Swift, in his Tale of a Tub, introduces the three brothers, Peter, John, and Martin, meaning the pope, Calvin, and Luther.

Lord Strutt. Charles II., of Spain, is so called by Dr. Arbuthnot, in his History of John Bull (1712).

Every one must remember the paroxysm of rage into which poor Lord Strutt fell, on hearing that his runaway servant, Nic. Frog, his clothier, John Bull, and his old enemy, Lewis Baboon, had come with quadrants, poles, and ink-horns, to survey his estate, and to draw his will for him.—Macaulay.

Lord Thomas and Annet had a lovers’ quarrel; whereupon, Lord Thomas, in his temper, went and offered marriage to the nut-brown maid who had houses and lands. On the wedding day, Annet went to the church, and Lord Thomas gave her a rose, but the nut-brown maid killed her with a “bodkin from her head-gear.” Lord Thomas, seeing Annet fall, plunged his dagger into the heart of the murderess, and then stabbed himself. Over the graves of Lord Thomas and the lair Annet grew “a bonny briar, and by this ye may ken that they were lovers dear.” In some versions of this story Annet is called “Elinor.”—Percy, Reliques, etc., III. iii.

Lord of Crazy Castle, John Hall Stevenson, author of Crazy Tales (in verse). J. H. Stevenson lived at Skelton Castle, which was nicknamed “Crazy Castle” (1718-1780).

Lord of the Isles, Donald of Islay, who in 1346 reduced the Hebridês under his sway. The title of “lord of the Isles” had been borne by others for centuries before, was borne by Stevenson’s successors, and is now one of the titles of the prince of Wales.

Sir W. Scott has a metrical romance entitled The Lord of the Isles (1815).

Loredani (Giacomo), interpreter of King Richard I.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Loreda´no (James), a Venetian patrician, and one of the Council of Ten. Loredano was the personal enemy of the Fos´cari.—Byron, The Two Foscari (1820).

Lorelei. Syren, fabled to dwell in the Rhine, and sitting on the rocks, to lure by her song passers-by to destruction.

Loren´zo, a young man with whom Jes´sica, the daughter of the Jew, Shylock, elopes.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1698).

Lorenzo, an atheist and reprobate, whose remorse ends in despair.—Dr. Young, Night Thoughts (1742-6).

⁂ Some affirm that Lorenzo is meant for the poet’s own son.

Lorenzo (Colonel), a young libertine in Dryden’s drama, The Spanish Fryar (1680).

Lorimer, one of the guard at Ardenvohr Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Loriot, “the confidante and servante” of Louis XV. Loriot was the inventor of lifts, by which tables descended, and rose again covered with viands and vines.

The shifting sideboard plays its humble part,
Beyond the triumphs of a Loriot’s art.
S. Rogers, Epistle to a Friend (1798).

Lorma, wife of Erragon, king of Sora, in Scandinavia. She fell in love with Aldo, a Caledonian officer in the king’s army. The guilty pair escaped to Morven, which Erragon forthwith invaded. Erragon encountered Aldo in single combat, and slew him; was himself slain in battle by Gaul, son of Morni; and Lorma died of grief.—Ossian, The Battle of Lora.

Lorn (M’Dougal of), a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Lorna Doone. Beautiful maiden brought up in the midst of the outlaw Doones, and afterwards married to John Ridd.—R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone.

Lorrequer (Harry), the hero and title of a military novel by Charles Lever.

Lor´rimite (3 syl.), a malignant witch, who abetted and aided Ar´valan in his persecutions of Kail´yal, the beautiful and holy daughter of Ladur´lad.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, xi. (1809).

Lorry (Jarvis), one of the firm in Tellson’s bank, Temple Bar, and a friend of Dr. Manette. Jarvis Lorry was orderly, precise and methodical, but tender-hearted and affectionate.

He had a good leg and was a little vain of it. ... and his little sleek, crisp, flaxen wig looked as if it was spun silk... His face, habitually suppressed and quiet, was lighted up by a pair of moist, bright eyes.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, i. 4 (1859).

Losberne (2 syl.), the medical man called in by Mrs. Maylie to attend Oliver Twist, after the attempted burglary by Bill Sikes and his associates.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Lot, consul of Londonesia, and afterwards king of Norway. He was brother of Urian and Augusel, and married Anne (own sister of King Arthur), by whom he had two sons, Walgan and Modred.—Geoffrey, British History, viii. 21; ix. 9, 10 (1142).

⁂ This account differs so widely from that of Arthurian romance, that it is not possible to reconcile them. In the History of Prince Arthur, Lot, king of Orkney, marries Margawse, the “sister of King Arthur” (pt. i. 2). Tennyson, in his Gareth and Lynette, says that Lot’s wife was Bellicent. Again, the sons of Lot are called, in the History, Gaw´ain, Agravain, Ga´heris, and Gareth; Mordred is their half-brother, being the son of King Arthur and the same mother.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 2, 35, 36 (1470).

Lot, king of Orkney. According to the Morte d’Arthur, King Lot’s wife was Margawse or Morgawse, sister of King Arthur, and their sons were Sir Gaw´ain, Sir Ag´ravain, Sir Ga´heris, and Sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 36 (1470).

Once or twice Elain is called the wife of Lot, but this is a mistake. Elain was Arthur’s sister, by the same mother, and was the wife of Sir Nentres, of Carlot. Mordred was the son of Morgawse, by her brother Arthur, and consequently Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth were his half-brothers.

Lot, king of Orkney. According to Tennyson, King Lot’s wife was Bellicent, daughter of Gorloïs, lord of Tintag´il Castle, in Cornwall, and Lot was the father of Gaw´ain (2 syl.) and Modred. This account differs entirely from the History of Prince Arthur, by Sir T. Malory. There the wife of Lot is called Margawse or Morgawse (Arthur’s sister). Geoffrey of Monmouth, on the other hand, calls her Anne (Arthur’s sister). The sons of Lot, according to the History, were Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth; Modred or Mordred being the offspring of Morgawse and Arthur. This ignoble birth the History assigns as the reason of Mordred’s hatred to King Arthur, his adulterous father and uncle. Lot was subdued by King Arthur, fighting on behalf of Leodogran or Leodogrance, king of Cam´eliard.—See Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.

Lot’s Wife, Wâhela, who was confederate with the men of Sodom, and gave them notice when any stranger came to lodge in the house. Her sign was smoke by day and fire by night. Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.—Jallâlo´ddin, Al Zamakh.

Lothair. Young English gentleman, the hero of the once-famous political novel of the same name, by Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield). The action of the story turns chiefly upon the vacillation of Lothair between the claims of the Roman Catholic and of the English Church. He decides to unite himself with the latter.

Lotha´rio, a noble cavalier of Florence, the friend of Anselmo. Anselmo induced him to put the fidelity of his wife, Camilla, to the test, that he might rejoice in her incorruptible virtue; but Camilla was not trial-proof, and eloped with Lothario. Anselmo then died of grief, Lothario was slain in battle, and Camilla died in a convent.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 5, 6 (“Fatal Curiosity,” 1605).

Lothario, a young Genoese nobleman, “haughty, gallant, gay, and perfidious.” He seduced Calista, daughter of Sciol´to (3 syl.), a Genoese nobleman, and was killed in a duel by Altamont, the husband. This is the “gay Lothario,” which has become a household word for a libertine and male coquette.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703).

Is this the haughty, gallant, gay Lothario?
Rowe, The Fair Penitent.

⁂ The Fair Penitent is taken from Massinger’s Fatal Dowry, in which Lothario is called “Novall, Junior.”

Lothian (Scotland). So named from Llew, second son of Arthur; also called Lotus and Lothus. Arthur’s eldest son was Urian, and his youngest Arawn.

⁂ In some legends, Lothian is made the father of Modred or Medraut, leader of the rebellious army which fought at Camlan, A.D. 537, in which Arthur received his death-wound; but in Malory’s collection, called The History of Prince Arthur, Modred is called the son of Arthur by his own sister, the wife of King Lot.

Lotte (2 syl.), a young woman of strong affections and domestic winning ways, the wife of Albert, a young German farmer. Werther loved Lotte when she was only betrothed to Albert, and continued to love her after she became a young wife. His mewling and puling after this “forbidden fruit,” which terminates in suicide, make up the sum and substance of the tale, which is told in the form of letters addressed to divers persons.—Goethe, Sorrows of Werther (1774).

“Lotte” was Charlotte Buff, who married Kestner, Goethe’s friend, the “Albert” of the novel. Goethe was in love with Charlotte Buff, and her marriage with Kestner soured the temper of his over-sensitive mind.

Lotus-Eaters or Lotoph´agi, a people who ate of the lotus tree, the effect of which was to make them forget their friends and homes, and to lose all desire of returning to their native land. The lotus-eater only cares to live in ease, luxury, and idleness.—Homer, Odyssey, xi.

⁂ Tennyson has a poem called The Lotos-Eaters, a set of islanders who live in a dreamy idleness, weary of life and regardless of all its stirring events.

Louis, duc d’Orléans.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Louis de Bourbon, the prince-bishop of Liège [Le.age].—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Louis IX.. The sum of the figures which designate the birth-date of this king will give his titular number. Thus, he was born in 1215, the sum of which figures is 9. This is true of several other kings. This discovery might form an occasional diversion on a dull evening. (See Louis XIV. and XVIII.).

Louis XI., of France, introduced by Sir W. Scott in two novels, Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Crafty, ambitious and cruel. He was the first monarch to establish post-offices in France (1435-1483).

⁂ In Quentin Durward he appears first disguised as Maitre Pierre, a merchant.

Louis XIII., of France, “infirm in health, in mind more feeble, and Richelieu’s plaything.”—Lord Lytton, Richelieu (1839).

Louis XIV. It is rather remarkable that the number 14 is obtained by adding together the figures of his age at death, the figures which make the date of his coronation, and the figures of the date of his death. For example:

Age 77, which added together = 14.
Crowned 1643, which added together = 14.
Died 1715, which added together = 14.