Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 58

BUZ'FUZ (_Sergeant_), the pleader retained by Dodson and Fogg for the plaintiff in the celebrated case of "Bardell _v._ Pickwick." Sergeant Buzfuz is a driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who proved that Mr. Pickwick's note about "chops and tomato sauce" was a declaration of love; and that his reminder "not to forget the warming-pan" was only a flimsy cover to express the ardor of his affection. Of course the defendant was found guilty by the enlightened jury. (His junior was Skimpin.)--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

BUZ'ZARD (_The_), in _The Hind and the Panther_, by Dryden (pt. iii.), is meant for Dr. Gilbert Burnet, whose figure was l.u.s.ty (1643-1715).

BYCORN, a fat cow, so fat that its sides were nigh to bursting, but this is no wonder, for its food was "good and enduring husbands," of which there is good store, (See CHICHI-VACHE.)

BYRON (_Miss Harriet_), a beautiful and accomplished woman of high rank, devotedly attached to sir Charles Grandison, whom ultimately she marries.--Richardson, _Sir Charles Grandison_ (1753).

_Byron (The Polish)_, Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).

_Byron (The Russian_), Alexander Sergeivitch Puschkin (1799-1837).

BYRON AND MARY. The Mary of Byron's song is Miss Chaworth. Both Miss Chaworth and lord Byron were wards of Mr. White. Miss Chaworth married John Musters, and lord Byron married Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke: both were equally unhappy.

I have a pa.s.sion for the name of "Mary,"

For once it was a magic name to me.

Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 4 (1820).

BYRON AND TERESA GUICCIOLI. This lady was the wife of count Guiccioli, an old man, but very rich. Moore says that Byron "never loved but once, till he loved Teresa."

BYRON AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. It was Jeffrey and not Brougham who wrote the article which provoked the poet's reply.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

(in _Notes and Queries_), the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.

CACAFO'GO, a rich, drunken usurer, stumpy and fat, choleric, a coward, and a bully. He fancies money will buy everything and every one.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).

CACUR'GUS, the fool or domestic jester of Misog'onus. Cacurgus is a rustic simpleton and cunning mischief-maker.--Thomas Rychardes, _Misogonus_ (the third English comedy, 1560).

CA'CUS, a giant who lived in a cave on mount Av'entine (3 _syl_.).

When Hercules came to Italy with the oxen which he had taken from Ger'yon of Spain, Cacus stole part of the herd, but dragged the animals by their tails into his cave, that it might be supposed they had come _out_ of it.

If he falls into slips, it is equally clear they were introduced by him on purpose to confuse like Caeus, the traces of his retreat.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."

CAD, a low-born, vulgar fellow. A cadie in Scotland was a carrier of a sedan-chair.

All Edinburgh men and boys know that when sedan-chairs were discontinued, the old cadies sank into ruinous poverty, and became synonymous with roughs. The word was brought to London by James Hannay, who frequently used it.--M. Pringle.

[Ill.u.s.tration] M. Pringle a.s.sures us that the word came from Turkey.

CADE (_Jack_), Irish insurgent in reign of Henry VII. a.s.suming the name of Mortimer, he led a company of rebels from Kent, defeated the king's army, and entered London. His short-lived triumph was ended by his death at Lewes. He appears in _Henry VI._ by Shakespeare.

CADE'NUS (3 _syl._) dean Swift. The word is simply _de-ca-nus_ ("a dean"), with the first two syllables transposed (_ca-de-nus_). Vanessa is Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, a young lady who fell in love with Swift, and proposed marriage. The dean's reply is given in the poem ent.i.tled _Cadenus and Vanessa_ [_i.e._ Van-Esther].

CADUCEUS meant generally a herald's staff; as an emblem of a peaceful errand it was made of a branch of olive-wood with the twigs, which, later, were transformed to serpents. In this form it is a.s.sociated with Mercury, the herald and messenger of the G.o.ds--that "beautiful golden rod with which he both puts men to sleep and wakens them from slumber." Homer, _Odyssey_, xxiv.

CADUR'CI, the people of Aquita'nia.

CAD'WAL. Arvir'agus, son of Cym'beline, was so called while he lived in the woods with Bela'rius, who called himself Morgan, and whom Cadwal supposed to be his father.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

CADWALLADER, called by Bede (1 _syl._) Elidwalda, son of Cadwalla king of Wales. Being compelled by pestilence and famine to leave Britain, he went to Armorica. After the plague ceased he went to Rome, where, in 689, he was baptized, and received the name of Peter, but died very soon afterwards.

Cadwallader that drave [_sailed_] to the Armoric sh.o.r.e.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ix. (1612).

_Cadwallader_, the misanthrope in Smollett's _Peregrine Pickle_ (1751).

_Cadwallader_ (_Mrs_.), character in _Middle-march_, by George Eliot.

CADWALL'ON, son of the blinded Cyne'tha. Both father and son accompanied prince Madoc to North America in the twelfth century.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).

_Cadwal'lon_, the favorite bard of prince Gwenwyn. He entered the service of sir Hugo de Lacy, disguised, under the a.s.sumed name of Renault Vidal.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

Cae'CIAS, the north-west wind. Argestes is the north-east, and Bo'reas the full north.

Boreas and Caecias and Argestes loud ...rend the woods, and seas upturn.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 699, etc. (1665).

CaeLESTI'NA, the bride of sir Walter Terill. The king commanded sir Walter to bring his bride to court on the night of her marriage. Her father, to save her honor, gave her a mixture supposed to be poison, but in reality it was only a sleeping draught. In due time the bride recovered, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the king and delight of her husband.--Th. Dekker, _Satiromastix_ (1602).

Cae'NEUS [_Se.nuce_] was born of the female s.e.x, and was originally called Caenis. Vain of her beauty, she rejected all lovers, but was one day surprised by Neptune, who offered her violence, changed her s.e.x, converted her name to Ceneus, and gave her (or rather _him_) the gift of being invulnerable. In the wars of the Lap'ithae, Ceneus offended Jupiter, and was overwhelmed under a pile of wood, but came forth converted into a yellow bird. aeneas found Ceneus in the infernal regions restored to the feminine s.e.x. The order is inverted by sir John Davies:

And how was Caeneus made at first a man, And then a woman, then a man again.

_Orchestra, etc_. (1615).

CaeSAR (_Caius Julius_).

Somewhere I've read, but where I forget, he could dictate Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs....

Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village Than be second in Rome; and I think he was right when he said it.

Twice was he married before he was twenty, and many times after; Battles five hundred he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered; But was finally stabbed by his friend the orator Brutus.

Longfellow, _Courts.h.i.+p of Miles Standish_, ii.

Longfellow refers to Pliny, vii. 25, where he says that Caesar "could employ, at one and the same time, his ears to listen, his eyes to read, his hand to write, and his tongue to dictate." He is said to have conquered three hundred nations; to have taken eight hundred cities, to have slain in battle a million men, and to have defeated three millions. (See below, CaeSAR'S WARS.)

_Caesar and his Fortune_. Plutarch says that Caesar told the captain of the vessel in which he sailed that no harm could come to his s.h.i.+p, for that he had "Caesar and his fortune with him."

Now am I like that proud insulting s.h.i.+p, Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2 (1589).

_Caesar saves his Commentaries_. Once, when Julius Caesar was in danger of being upset into the sea by the overloading of a boat, he swam to the nearest s.h.i.+p, with his book of _Commentaries_ in his hand.--Suetonius.

_Caesar's Death_. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare say that Julius Caesar was killed in the capitol. Thus Polonius says to Hamlet, "I did enact Julius Caesar; I was killed i' the capitol" (_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2).

And Chaucer says:

This Julius to the capitole wente ...

And in the capitole anon him hente This false Brutus, and his other soon, And sticked him with bodekins anon.