Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 18

APOLL'YON, king of the bottomless pit; introduced by Bnnyan in his _Pilgrim's Progress_. Apollyon encounters Christian, by whom, after a severe contest, he is foiled (1678).

APOSTLE _or Patron Saint of_--

ABYSSINIANS, St. Frumentius (died 360). His day, October 27.

ALPS, Felix Neff (1798-1829).

ANTIOCH, St. Margaret (died 275). Her day, July 20.

ARDENNES, St. Hubert (656-730).

ARMENIANS, Gregory of Armenia (256-331).

CAGLIARI (_Sardinia_), St. Efisio.

CORFU, St. Spiridion (fourth century). His day, December 14.

ENGLISH, St. Augustin (died 607); St. George (died 290).

ETHIOPIA, St. Frumentius (died 360). His day, October 27.

FRANCONIA, St. Kilian (died 689). His day, July 8.

FREE TRADE, Richard Cobden (1804-1865).

FRENCH, St. Denis (died 272). His day, October 9.

FRISIANS, St. Wilbrod (657-738).

GAULS, St. Irenae'us (130-200); St. Martin (316-397).

GENTILES, St. Paul (died 66). His days, June 29, January 25.

GEORGIA, St. Nino.

GERMANY, St. Boniface (680-755). His day, June 5.

HIGHLANDERS, St. Colomb (521-597). His day, June 9.

HUNGARIANS, St. Anastasius (died 628). His day, January 22.

INDIANS, Bartolome de Las Casas (1474-1566); Rev. John Eliot (1603-1690).

INDIES, St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552). His day, December 3.

INFIDELITY, Voltaire (1694-1778).

IRISH, St. Patrick (372-493). His day, March 17.

LIBERTY, Thomas Jefferson, third president of the U.S. (1743-1826).

LONDON, St. Paul; St. Michael. Days, January 25, September 29.

NETHERLANDS, St. Armand (589-679).

NORTH, St. Ansgar (801-864); Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583).

Padua, St. Anthony (1195-1231). His day, June 13. Paris, St. Genevieve (419-512). Her day, January 3. Peak, W. Bagshaw, so called from his missionary labors in Derbys.h.i.+re (1628-1702). Picts, St. Ninian.

Scottish Reformers, John Knox (1505-1572). Sicily (the tutelary deity is) Ceres. Slaves, St. Cyril (died 868). His day, February 14. Spain, St. James the Greater (died 44.) His day, July 24. Temperance, Father Mathew (1790-1856). Venice, St. Mark; St. Pantaleon; St. Andrew Justiniani. St. Mark's day, April 25; St. Pantaleon's, July 27. Wales, St. David (480-544). His day, March 1. Yorks.h.i.+re, St. Pauli'nus, bishop of York (597-644).

APOSTOLIC FATHERS (_The Five_): Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Igna'tius, and Polycarp. All contemporary with the Apostles.

AP'PETIZER. A Scotchman being told that the birds called kittiewiaks were admirable appetizers, ate six of them, and then complained "he was no hungrier than he was before."

AQUARIUS, SAGITTARIUS. Mrs. Browning says that "Aquarius" is a symbol of man _bearing_, and "Sagittarius" of man _combatting_. The pa.s.sive and active forms of human labor.

_Eve_. Two phantasms of two men.

_Adam_. One that sustains, And one that strives, so the ends Of manhood's curse of labor.

E. B. Browning, _A Drama of Exile_ (1851).

A'QUILANT, son of Olive'ro and Sigismunda; a knight in Charlemagne's army. He was called "_black_," and his brother Gryphon "_white_" from the color of their armor.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

A'QUILINE (3 _syl_.), Raymond's steed, whose sire was the wind.--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_, vii. (1575).

(Solinus, Columella, and Varro relate how the Lusitanian mares "with open mouth against the breezes held, receive the gales with warmth prolific filled, and thus inspired, their swelling wombs produce the wondrous offspring."--See also Virgil, _Georgics_, in. 266-283.)

AQUIN'IAN SAGE. Juvenal is so called, because he was born at Aqui'num, in Latium (fl. A.D. 100).

ARABEL'LA, an heiress left under the guardians.h.i.+p of justice Day. Abel Day, the son of justice Day, aspires to her hand and fortune, but she confers both with right good will on captain Manly.--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_.

ARA'BIA FE'LIX ("_Araby the blest_"). This name is a blunder made by British merchants, who supposed that the precious commodities of India bought of Arab traders were the produce of Arabia.

ARA'BIAN BIRD (_The_), the phoenix, a marvellous man, one _sui generis_.

O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!

Shakespeare, _Antony and Cleopatra_, act iii. sc. 2.

ARACH'NE (3 _syl_.), a spider, a weaver. "Arachne's labors," spinning or weaving. Arachne was a Lydian maiden, who challenged Minerva to compete with her in needle tapestry, and Minerva changed her into a spider.

No orifice for a point As subtle as Arachne's broken woof To enter.

Shakespeare, _Troilus and Cressida_, act v. sc. 2 (1602).

ARAGNOL, the son of Arachne (the "most fine-fingered of all workmen,"

turned into a spider for presuming to challenge Minerva to a contest in needlework). Aragnol entertained a secret and deadly hatred against prince Clarion, son of Muscarol the fly-king; and weaving a curious net, soon caught the gay young flutterer, and gave him his death-wound by piercing him under the left wing.--Spenser, _Muiopotmos or The b.u.t.terfly's Fate_ (1590).

ARAMIN'TA, the wife of Moneytrap, and friend of Clarissa (wife of Gripe the scrivener).--Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).

ARANZA (_The duke of_). He marries Juliana, eldest daughter of Balthazar. She is so haughty, arrogant, and overbearing, that after the marriage he takes her to a mean hut, which he calls his home, and pretends to be only a peasant who must work for his living, and gives his bride the household duties to perform. She chafes for a time, but firmness, manliness, and affection win the day; and when the duke sees that she loves him for himself, he leads her to his castle, and reveals to her that the peasant husband is after all the duke of Aranza.--J. Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).

AR'APHIL or AR'APHILL, the poetic pseudonym of Win. Habington. His lady-love, Miss Lucy Herbert, he calls Castara.

ARAS'PES (3 _syl_.), king of Alexandria, who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders.--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

ARBA'CES (3 _syl_.), king of Ibe'ria, in the drama called _A King or no King_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1619).

ARBATE (2 _syl_.), governor of the prince of Ithaca, in Moliere's comedy _La Princesse d'Elide_ (1664). In his speech to "Euryle" prince of Ithaca, persuading him to love, he is supposed to refer to Louis XIV., then 26 years of age.

Je dirai que l'amour sied bien a vos pareil ...

Et qu'il est malaise que, sans etre amoureux Un jeune prince soit et grand et genereux.

Act i. 1.

_Arbate_, in Racine's drama of _Mithridate_ (1673).

AR'BITER EL'IGANTIae. C. Petro'nius was appointed dictator-in-chief of the imperial pleasures at the court of Nero, and nothing was considered _comme il faut_ till it had received the sanction of this Roman _beau Brummel_.

Behold the new Petronius of the day, The arbiter of pleasure and of play.

Byron, _English Bards and Scottish Reviewers_.

ARBRE SOL foretold, with audible voice, the place and manner of Alexander's death. It figures in all the fabulous legends of Alexander.