Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 107

_Lady Dove_, twice married, first to Mr. Searcher, king's messenger, and next to Sir Benjamin Dove. She had a _tendresse_ for Mr. Paterson.

Lady Dove was a terrible termagant, and when scolding failed used to lament for "poor dear dead Searcher, who--, etc., etc." She pulled her bow somewhat too tight, and Sir Benjamin a.s.serted his independence.

_Sophia Dove_, daughter of Sir Benjamin. She loved Robert Belfield, but was engaged to marry the elder brother Andrew. When, however, the wedding day arrived, Andrew was found to be a married man, and the younger brother became the bridegroom.--R. c.u.mberland, _The Brothers_ (1769).

DOWLAS (_Daniel_), a chandler of Gosport, who trades in "coals, cloth, herrings, linen, candles, eggs, sugar, treacle, tea, and brickdust."

This vulgar and illiterate petty shopkeeper is raised to the peerage under the t.i.tle of "The Right Hon. Daniel Dowlas, Baron Duberly."

But scarcely has he entered on his honors, when the "heir-at-law,"

supposed to have been lost at sea, makes his appearance in the person of Henry Morland. The "heir" settles on Daniel Dowlas an annuity.

_Deborah Dowlas_, wife of Daniel, and for a short time Lady Duberly.

She a.s.sumes quite the airs and _ton_ of gentility, and tells her husband "as he is a pear, he ought to behave as sich."

_d.i.c.k Dowlas_, the son, apprenticed to an attorney at Castleton. A wild young scamp, who can "shoot wild ducks, fling a bar, play at cricket, make punch, catch gudgeons, and dance." His mother says "he is the sweetest-tempered youth when he has everything his own way."

d.i.c.k Dowlas falls in love with Cicely Homespun, and marries her.--G.

Colman, _Heir-at-law_ (1797).

Miss Pope asked me about the dress. I answered. "It should be black bombazeen ..." I proved to her that not only "Deborah Dowlas," but all the rest of the _dramatis personae_ ought to be in mourning ... The three "Dowlases" as relatives of the deceased Lord Duberly; "Henry Morland" as the heir-at-law; "Dr. Pangloss" as a clergyman, "Caroline Dormer" for the loss of her father, and "Kenrick" as a servant of the Dormer family.--James Smith.

_Dowlas (Old Dame_), housekeeper to the Duke of Buckingham.--Sir W.

Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

DOWLING-_(Captain)_, a great drunkard, who dies in his cups.--Crabbe, _Borough_, xvi. (1810).

DOWNER (_Billy_), an occasional porter and s...o...b..ack, a diffuser of knowledge, a philosopher, a citizen of the world, and an "unfinished gentleman."--C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.

DOWNING, PROFESSOR, in the University of Cambridge. So called from Sir George Downing, bart., who founded the law professors.h.i.+p in 1800.

DOWSABEL, daughter of Ca.s.s.e.m.e.n (3 _syl_.), a knight of Arden; a ballad by M. Drayton (1593).

Old Chaucer doth of Topaz tell, Mad Rabelais of Pantagruel, A later third of Dowsabel.

M. Drayton, _Nymphida_.

DRAC, a sort of fairy in human form, whose abode is the caverns of rivers. Sometimes these dracs will float like golden cups along a stream to entice bathers, but when the bather attempts to catch at them, the drac draws him under water.--_South of France Mythology_.

DRA'CHENFELS ("_Dragon rocks_"), so called from the dragon killed there by Siegfried, the hero of the _Niebelungen Lied_.

DRAGON (_A_), the device on the royal banner of the old British kings.

The leader was called the _pendragon_. Geoffrey of Monmouth says: "When Aurelius was king, there appeared a star at Winchester, of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting forth a ray at the end of which was a flame in the form of a dragon." Uther ordered two golden dragons to be made, one of which he presented to Winchester, and the other he carried with him as a royal standard. Tennyson says that Arthur's helmet had for crest a golden dragon.

... they saw The dragon of the great pendragons.h.i.+p.

That crowned the state pavilion of the king.

Tennyson, _Guinevere_.

_Dragon (The)_, one of the masques at Kennaquhair Abbey.--Sir W.

Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Dragon (The Red_) the personification of "the devil," as the enemy of man.--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, ix. (1633).

DRAGON OF WANTLEY _(i. e_. Warncliff, in Yorks.h.i.+re), a skit on the old metrical romances, especially on the old rhyming legend of Sir Bevis.

The ballad describes the dragon, its outrages, the flight of the inhabitants, the knight choosing his armor, the damsel, the fight and the victory. The hero is called "More, of More Hall" (_q. v_.)--Percy, _Reliques_, III. iii. 13.

(H. Carey, has a burlesque called _The Dragon of Wantley_, and calls the hero "Moore, of Moore Hall," 1697-1743).

DRAGON'S HILL (Berks.h.i.+re). The legend isays it is here that St. George killed the dragon; but the place a.s.signed for this achievement in the ballad given in Percy's _Reliques_ is "Sylene, in Libya." Another legend gives Berytus _(Beyrut)_ as the place of this encounter.

(In regard to Dragon Hill, according to Saxon annals, it was here that Cedric (founder of the West Saxons) slew Naud the pendragon, with 5,000 men.)

DRAGON'S TEETH. The tale of Jason and aeetes is a repet.i.tion of that of Cadmus.

In the tale of CADMUS, we are told the fountain of Arei'a (3 _syl_.) was guarded by a fierce dragon. Cadmus killed the dragon, and sowed its teeth in the earth. From these teeth sprang up armed men called "Sparti," among whom he flung stones, and the armed men fell foul of each other, till all were slain excepting five.

In the tale of JASON, we are told that having slain the dragon, which kept watch over the golden fleece, he sowed its teeth in the ground, and armed men sprang up. Jason cast a stone into the midst of them, whereupon the men attacked each other, and were all slain.

DRAGONS.

AHBIMAN, the dragon slain by Mithra.--_Persian Mythology_.

DAHAK, the three-headed dragon slain by Thraetana-Yacna.--_Persian_.

FAFNIB, the dragon slain by Sigurd.

GRENDEL, the dragon slain by Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero.

LA GAGOUILLE, the dragon which ravaged the Seine, slain by St. Romain of Rouen.

PYTHON, the dragon slain by Apollo.--_Greek Mythology_.

TAKASQUE (2 _syl_.), the dragon slain at Aix-la-Chapelle by St.

Martha.

ZOHAK, the dragon slain by Feridun (_Shahndmeh_).

[Ill.u.s.tration] Numerous dragons have no special name. Many are denoted Red, White, Black, Great, etc..

DRAKE (Joseph Rodman), author of _The Culprit Fay_ and _The American Flag_, died at the early age of twenty-five. His elegy was written by Fitz-Green Halleck and is known as far as the English tongue is spoken.

"Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days!

None knew thee but to love thee, None named thee but to praise."

(1820).

DRAMA. The earliest European drama since the fall of the Western empire appeared in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is called _La Celestina_, and is divided into twenty-one acts. The first act, which runs through fifty pages, was composed by Rodridgo Cota; the other twenty are ascribed to Ferdinando de Rojas. The whole was published in 1510.

The earliest English drama is ent.i.tled _Ralph Roister Doister_, a comedy by Nicholas Udal (before 1551, because mentioned by T. Wilson, in his _Rule of Reason_, which appeared in 1551).

The second English drama was _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, by Mr. S.

Master of Arts. Warton, in his _History of English Poetry_ (iv. 32), gives 1551 as the date of this comedy; and Wright, in his _Historia Histrionica_, says it appeared in the reign of Edward VI., who died 1553. It is generally ascribed to Bishop Still, but he was only eight years old in 1551.