Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 1

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama.

Vol 1.

by The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.

VOLUME I

CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.

AA'RON, a Moor, beloved by Tam'ora, queen of the Goths, in the tragedy of _t.i.tus Andron'icus_, published among the plays of Shakespeare (1593).

(The cla.s.sic name is _Andronicus_, but the character of this play is purely fict.i.tious.)

_Aaron (St.)_, a British martyr of the City of Legions (_Newport_, in South Wales). He was torn limb from limb by order of Maximian'us Hercu'lius, general in Britain, of the army of Diocle'tian. Two churches were founded in the City of Legions, one in honor of St.

Aaron and one in honor of his fellow-martyr, St. Julius. Newport was called Caerleon by the British.

... two others ... 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).

AAZ'IZ (3 _syl._), so the queen of Sheba or Saba is sometimes called; but in the Koran she is called Balkis (ch. xxvii.).

ABAD'DON, an angel of the bottomless pit (_Rev_. ix. 11). The word is derived from the Hebrew, _abad_, "lost," and means _the lost one_.

There are two other angels introduced by Klopstock in _The Messiah_ with similar names, but must not be confounded with the angel referred to in _Rev_.; one is Obaddon, the angel of death, and the other Abbad'ona, the repentant devil.

AB'ARIS, to whom Apollo gave a golden arrow, on which to ride through the air.--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.

ABBAD'ONA, once the friend of Ab'diel, was drawn into the rebellion of Satan half unwillingly. In h.e.l.l he constantly bewailed his fall, and reproved Satan for his pride and blasphemy. He openly declared to the internals that he would take no part or lot in Satan's scheme for the death of the Messiah, and during the crucifixion lingered about the cross with repentance, hope, and fear. His ultimate fate we are not told, but when Satan and Adramelech are driven back to h.e.l.l, Obaddon, the angel of death, says--

"For thee, Abbadona, I have no orders. How long thou art permitted to remain on earth I know not, nor whether thou wilt be allowed to see the resurrection of the Lord of glory ... but be not deceived, thou canst not view Him with the joy of the redeemed." "Yet let me see Him, let me see him!"--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, xiii.

ABBERVILLE (_Lord_), a young n.o.bleman, 23 years of age, who has for travelling tutor a Welshman of 65, called Dr. Druid, an antiquary, wholly ignorant of his real duties as a guide of youth. The young man runs wantonly wild, squanders his money, and gives loose to his pa.s.sions almost to the verge of ruin, but he is arrested and reclaimed by his honest Scotch bailiff or financier, and the vigilance of his father's executor, Mr. Mortimer. This "fas.h.i.+onable lover" promises marriage to a vulgar, malicious city minx named Lucinda Bridgemore, but is saved from this pitfall also.--c.u.mberland, _The Fas.h.i.+onable Lover_ (1780).

ABBOT (_The_), the complacent churchman in Aldrich's poem of _The Jew's Gift_, who hanged a Jew "just for no crime," and pondered and smiled and gave consent to the heretic's burial--

"Since he gave his beard to the birds." (1881.)

ABDAL-AZIS, the Moorish governor of Spain after the overthrow of king Roderick. When the Moor a.s.sumed regal state and affected Gothic sovereignty, his subjects were so offended that they revolted and murdered him. He married Egilona, formerly the wife of Roderick.-- Southey, _Roderick, etc_., xxii. (1814).

AB'DALAZ'IZ (_Omar ben_), a caliph raised to "Mahomet's bosom" in reward of his great abstinence and self-denial.--_Herbelot_, 690.

He was by no means scrupulous; nor did he think with the caliph Omar ben Abdalaziz that it was necessary to make a h.e.l.l of this world to enjoy paradise in the next.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).

ABDAL'DAR, one of the magicians in the Domdaniel caverns, "under the roots of the ocean." These spirits were destined to be destroyed by one of the race of Hodei'rah (3 _syl_.), so they persecuted the race even to death. Only one survived, named Thal'aba, and Abdaldar was appointed by lot to find him out and kill him. He discovered the stripling in an Arab's tent, and while in prayer was about to stab him to the heart with a dagger, when the angel of death breathed on him, and he fell dead with the dagger in his hand. Thalaba drew from the magician's finger a ring which gave him command over the spirits.

--Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, ii. iii. (1797).

ABDALLA, one of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert's slaves.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

_Abdal'lah_, brother and predecessor of Giaf'fer (2 _syl_.), pacha of Aby'dos. He was murdered by the pacha.--Byron, _Bride of Abydos_.

ABDALLAH EL HADGI, Saladin's envoy.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

ABDALS or _Santons_, a cla.s.s of religionists who pretend to be inspired with the most ravis.h.i.+ng raptures of divine love. Regarded with great veneration by the vulgar.--_Olearius_, i. 971.

AB'DIEL, the faithful seraph who withstood Satan when he urged those under him to revolt.

... the seraph Abdiel, faithful found; Among the faithless faithful only he; Among innumerable false, unmoved.

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, v. 896, etc. (1665).

ABELARD and ELOISE, unhappy lovers, whose illicit love was succeeded by years of penitence and remorse. Abelard was the tutor of Heloise (or Eloise), and, although vowed to the church, won and returned her pa.s.sion. They were violently separated by her uncle. Abelard entered a monastery and Eloise became a nun. Their love survived the pa.s.sage of years, and they were buried together at _Pere la Chaise.--Eloise and Abelard_. By Alexander Pope (1688-1744).

ABENSBERG (_Count_), the father of thirty-two children. When Heinrich II. made his progress through Germany, and other courtiers presented their offerings, the count brought forward his thirty-two children, "as the most valuable offering he could make to his king and country."

ABES'SA, the impersonation of abbeys and convents in Spenser's _Faery Queen_, i. 3. She is the paramour of Kirkrapine, who used to rob churches and poor-boxes, and bring his plunder to Abessa, daughter of Corceca (_Blindness of Heart_).

ABIGAIL, typical name of a maid.--See Beaumont and Fletcher, Swift, Fielding, and many modern writers.

ABNEY, called _Young Abney_, the friend of colonel Albert Lee, a royalist.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, the Commonwealth).

ABON Ha.s.sAN, a young merchant of Bag dad, and hero of the tale called "The Sleeper Awakened," in the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.

While Abon Ha.s.san is asleep he is conveyed to the palace of Haroun-al-Raschid, and the attendants are ordered to do everything they can to make him fancy himself the caliph. He subsequently becomes the caliph's chief favorite.

Shakespeare, in the induction of _Taming of the Shrew_, befouls "Christopher Sly" in a similar way, but Sly thinks it was "nothing but a dream."

Philippe _le Bon_, duke of Burgundy, on his marriage with Eleonora, tried the same trick.--Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, ii. 2,4.

ABOU BEN ADHEM, "awakening one night from a deep dream of peace," sees an angel writing the names of those who love the Lord. Ben Adhem's name is registered as "one who loves his fellow-men." A second vision shows his name at the head of the list.

_Abou Ben Adhem_. By Leigh Hunt (1784-1859).

ABRA, the most beloved of Solomon's concubines.

Fruits their odor lost and meats their taste, If gentle Abra had not decked the feast; Dishonored did the sparkling goblet stand, Unless received from gentle Abra's hand; ...

Nor could my soul approve the music's tone Till all was hushed, and Abra sang alone.

M. Prior, _Solomon_ (1664-1721).

AB'RADAS, the great Macedonian pirate.

Abradas, the great Macedonian pirate, thought every one had a letter of mart that bare sayles in the ocean.--Greene, _Penelope's Web_ (1601).

ABROC'OMAS, the lover of An'thia in the Greek romance of _Ephesi'aca_, by Xenophon of Ephesus (not the historian).

AB'SALOM, in Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for the duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II. _(David)_. Like Absalom, the duke was handsome; like Absalom, he was beloved and rebellious; and like Absalom, his rebellion ended in his death (1649-1685).

AB'SOLON, a priggish parish clerk in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_. His hair was curled, his shoes slashed, his hose red. He could let blood, cut hair, and shave, could dance, and play either on the ribible or the gittern. This gay spark paid his addresses to Mistress Alison, the young wife of John, a rich but aged carpenter: but Alison herself loved a poor scholar named Nicholas, a lodger in the house.--_The Miller's Tale_ (1388).

ABSOLUTE _(Sir Anthony)_, a testy but warm-hearted old gentleman, who imagines that he possesses a most angelic temper, and when he quarrels with his son, the captain, fancies it is the son who is out of temper, and not himself. Smollett's "Matthew Bramble" evidently suggested this character. William Dowton (1764-1851) was the best actor of this part.