Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 105

Sir Walter Raleigh twice visited Gruia'na as the spot indicated, and published highly colored accounts of its enormous wealth.

DORALI'CE (4 _syl_.) a lady beloved by Rodomont, but who married Mandricardo.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

DOR'ALIS, the lady-love of Rodomont, king of Sarza or Algiers.

She eloped with Mandricardo, king of Tartary.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495), and Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

DORANTE (2 _syl_.), a name introduced into three of Moliere's comedies. In _Les Facheux_ he is a courtier devoted to the chase (1661). In _La Critique de l'ecole des Femmes_ he is a chevalier (1602). In _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ he is a count in love with the marchioness Doremene (1670).

DARAS'TUS AND FAUNIA, the hero and heroine of a popular romance by Robert Greene, published in 1588, under the t.i.tle of _Pandosto and the Triumph of Time_. On this "history" Shakespeare founded his _Winter's Tale_.

DORAX, the a.s.sumed name of Don Alonzo of Alcazar, when he deserted Sebastian, king of Portugal, turned renegade, and joined the emperor of Barbary. The cause of his desertion was that Sebastian gave to Henri'quez the lady betrothed to Alonzo. Her name was Violante (4 _syl._) The quarrel between Sebastian and Dorax is a masterly copy of the quarrel and reconciliation between Brutus and Ca.s.sius in Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_.

Sebastian says to Dorax, "Confess, proud spirit, that better he _[Henriquez]_ deserved my love than thou." To this Dorax replies:

I must grant, Yes, I must grant, but with a swelling soul, Henriquez had your love with more desert; For you he fought and died; I fought against you.

Drayton, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).

DORCAS, servant to Squire Ingoldsby.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Dorcas_, an old domestic at c.u.mnor Place.--_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

DORIA D'ISTRIA, a pseudonym of the Princess Koltzoff-Ma.s.salsky, a Wallachian auth.o.r.ess (1829-).

Arthur Donnithorn: Young Squire who seduces Hetty Sorrel in George Eliot's novel of _Adam Bede_.

DORICOURT, the _fiance_ of Let.i.tia Hardy. A man of the world and the rage of the London season, he is, however, both a gentleman and a man of honor. He had made the "grand tour," and considered English beauties insipid.--Mrs. Cowley, _The Belle's Stratagem_, (1780).

Montague Talbot [1778-1831].

He reigns o'er comedy supreme..

None show for light and airy sport, So exquisite a Doricourt.

Crofton Croaker.

DO'RIDON, a beautiful swain, nature's "chiefest work," more beautiful than Narcissus, Ganymede, or Adonis.--Wm. Browne, _Britannia's Pastorals_ (1613).

DO'RIGEN, a lady of high family, who married Arvir'agus out of pity for his love and meekness. Aurelius sought to entice her away, but she said she would never listen to his suit till on the British coast "there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic caused all the stones to disappear, and when Dorigen went and said that her husband insisted on her keeping her word, Aurelius, seeing her dejection, replied, he would sooner die than injure so true a wife and n.o.ble a gentleman.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).

(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of _Dianora and Gilberto_, x. 6. See Dianora.)

DOR'IMANT, a genteel, witty libertine. The original of this character was the Earl of Rochester--G. Etherege, _The Man of Mode_ or _Sir Fopling Flutter_ (1676).

The Dorimants and the Lady Touchwoods, in their own sphere, do not offend my moral sense; in fact, they do not appeal to it at all.--C.

Lamb.

(The "Lady Touchwood" in Congreve's _Double Dealer_, not the "Lady Francis Touchwood" in Mrs. Cowley's _Belle's Strategem_, which is quite another character.)

DOR'IMeNE (3 _syl_.), daughter of Alcantor, beloved by Sganarelle (3 _syl_.) and Lycaste (2 _syl_.). She loved "le jeu, les visites, les a.s.sembles, les cadeaux, et les promenades, en un mot toutes les choses de plasir," and wished to marry to get free from the trammels of her home. She says to Sganarelle (a man of 63), whom she promises to marry, "Nous n'aurons jamais aucun demele ensemble; et je ne vous contraindrai point dans vos actions, comme j'espere que vous ne me contraindrez point dans les miennes."--Moliere, _Le Mariage Force_ (1664).

(She had been introduced previously as the wife of Sganarelle, in the Comedy of _Le Cocu Iniaginaire_, 1660).

_Dorimene_, the marchioness, in the _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, by Moliere (1670).

DORIN'DA, the charming daughter of Lady Bountiful; in love with Aimwell. She was sprightly and light-hearted, but good and virtuous also.--George Farquhar, _The Beaux' Stratagem_ (1707).

_Dorinda_. The rustic maiden, slow and sweet in ungrammatical speech, who helps plant corn by day, and makes picturesque the interior of the cabin in the glare of "lightwood" torches by night; turns men's heads and wins children's hearts in Charles Egbert Craddock's tale, _The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains_, (1885).

DORINE' (2 _syl_.), attendant of Mariane (daughter of Orgon). She ridicules the folly of the family, but serves it faithfully. Moliere, _Le Tartuffe_ (1664).

DORLA _(St. John_). A New York girl of great beauty and tender conscience, who is beguiled into marrying a country lawyer because she thinks he is dying for love of her. Having left out of sight the possibility that a loveless union leaves room for the entrance of a real pa.s.sion, she is appalled at finding that she has slipped into an attachment to _A Perfect Adonis_, who has principle enough to leave her when he discovers the state of his own affections. Finding her a widow on his return to America, he presses his suit, and finds a rival in her only child, a spoiled baby of five or six years. Overcoming this obstacle, he weds the mother.--Miriam Coles Harris, _A Perfect Adonis_ (1875).

D'ORME'O, prime minister of Victor, Amade'us (4 _syl_), and also of his son and successor Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia. He took his color from the king he served; hence under the tortuous, deceitful Victor, his policy was marked with crude rascality and duplicity; but under the truthful, single-minded Charles Emmanuel, he became straightforward and honest.--R. Browning, _King Victor and King Charles, etc_.

DORMER _(Captain)_, benevolent, truthful, and courageous, candid and warmhearted. He was engaged to Louisa Travers; but the lady was told that he was false and had married another, so she gave her hand to Lord Davenant.

_Marianne Dormer_, sister of the captain. She married Lord Davenant, who called himself Mr. Brooke; but he forsook her in three months, giving out that he was dead. Marianne, supposing herself to be a widow, married his lords.h.i.+p's son.--c.u.mberland, _The Mysterious Husband_ (1783).

_Dormer (Caroline)_, the orphan daughter of a London merchant, who was once very wealthy, but became bankrupt and died, leaving his daughter 200 a year. This annuity, however, she loses through the knavery of her man of business. When reduced to penury, her old lover, Henry Morland (supposed to have perished at sea), makes his appearance and marries her, by which she becomes the Lady Duberly.--G. Coleman, _The Heir-at-Law_ (1797).

DORNTON _(Mr.)_, a great banker, who adores his son Harry. He tries to be stern with him when he sees him going the road to ruin, but is melted by a kind word.

Joseph Mnnden [1758-1832] was the original representative of "Old Dornton" and a host of other characters.--_Memoir_ (1832.)

_Harry Dornton_, son of the above. A n.o.ble-hearted fellow, spoilt by over-indulgence. He becomes a regular rake, loses money at Newmarket, and goes post-speed the road to ruin, led on by Jack Milford. So great is his extravagance, that his father becomes a bankrupt; but Sulky (his partner in the bank) comes to the rescue. Harry marries Sophia Freelove, and both father and son are saved from ruin.--Holcroft, _The Road to Euin_ (1792).

DOROTHE'A, of Andalusi'a, daughter of Cleonardo (an opulent va.s.sal of the Duke Ricardo). She was married to Don Fernando, the duke's younger son, who deserted her for Lucinda (the daughter of an opulent gentlemen), engaged to Cardenio, her equal in rank and fortune. When the wedding day arrived, Lucinda fell into a swoon, a letter informed the bridegroom that she was already married to Cardenio, and next day she took refuge in a convent. Dorothea also left her home, dressed in boy's clothes, and concealed herself in the Sierra Morena or Brown Mountain. Now, it so happened that Dorothea, Cardenio, and Don Quixote's party happened to be staying at the Crescent inn, and Don Fernando, who had abducted Lucinda from the convent, halted at the same place. Here he found his wife Dorothea, and Lucinda her husband Cardenio. All these misfortunes thus came to an end, and the parties mated with their respective spouses.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv.

(1605).

_Dorothe'a_, sister of Mons. Thomas.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons.

Thomas_ (1619).

_Dorothe'a_, the "virgin martyr," attended by Angelo, an angel in the semblance of a page, first presented to Dorothea as a beggar-boy, to whom she gave alms.--Philip Ma.s.singer, _The Virgin Martyr_ (1622).

_Dorothe'a_, the heroine of Goethe's poem ent.i.tled _Hermann and Dorothea_ (1797).

DOR'OTHEUS (3 _syl_.), the man who spent all his life in endeavoring to elucidate the meaning of one single word in Homer.

DOR'OTHY _(Old)_, the housekeeper of Simon Glover and his daughter "the fair maid of Perth."--Sir. W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

_Dor'othy_, charwoman of Old Trapbois the miser and his daughter Martha.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

DOROTHY PEARSON. The childless wife of a Puritan settler in New England. Her husband brings her home a boy whom he found crouching under the gallows of his Quaker father, and she adopts him at once, despite the opposition of "the congregation." A fortnight after he entered the family, his own mother invades the pulpit of the Orthodox meeting house, and delivers an anathema against her sect. Her boy presses forward to meet her, but, after a conflict of emotions she returns him to Dorothy. He submits, but pines for his mother through the months that pa.s.s before her return with the news of religious toleration. Dorothy's loving offices have smoothed the child's pathway to the grave, and she hangs above him with tears of maternal grief as he breathes his last in his mother's arms.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The Gentle Boy_ (1851.)

_Dorothy Q_. Oliver Wendell Holmes's "grandmother's mother." Her portrait taken at the age of "thirteen summers, or less," is the subject of his lines, "_Dorothy Q._ A Family Portrait."

"O, Damsel Dorothy! Dorothy Q!

Strange is the gift that I owe to you; Such a gift as never a king Save to daughter or son might bring,-- All my tenure of heart and hand All my t.i.tle to house and land, Mother and sister and child and wife And joy and sorrow, and death and life!"