Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 60

CALEPINE (_Sir_), the knight attached to Sere'na (canto 3). Seeing a bear carrying off a child, he attacked it, and squeezed it to death, then committed the babe to the care of Matilde, wife of sir Bruin. As Matilde had no child of her own, she adopted it (canto 4).--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi. (1596).

[Ill.u.s.tration] Upton says, "the child" in this incident is meant for M'Mahon, of Ireland, and that "Mac Mahon" means the "son of a bear."

He furthermore says that the M'Mahons were descended from the Fitz-Ursulas, a n.o.ble English family.

CA'LES (_2 syl._). So gipsies call themselves.

Beltran Cruzado, count of the Cales.

Longfellow, _The Spanish Student_.

CALF-SKIN. Fools and jesters used to wear a calf-skin coat b.u.t.toned down the back, and hence Faulconbridge says insolently to the arch-duke of Austria, who had acted very basely towards Richard Lion-heart:

Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame, And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.

Shakespeare, _King John_, act ii. sc. I (1596).

CAL'IANAX, a humorous old lord, father of Aspatia, the troth-plight wife of Amin'tor. It is the death of Aspatia which gives name to the drama.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).

CALIBAN, a savage, deformed slave of Prospero (the rightful duke of Milan and father of Miranda). Caliban is the "freckled whelp" of the witch Syc'orax. Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's "Frankenstein" is a sort of Caliban.--Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).

"Caliban" ... is all earth ... he has the dawnings of understanding without reason or the moral sense ... this advance to the intellectual faculties without the moral sense is marked by the appearance of vice.--Coleridge.

CAL'IBURN, same as _Excalibur_, the famous sword of king Arthur.

Onward Arthur paced, with hand On Caliburn's resistless brand.

Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_ (1813).

Arthur ... drew out his Caliburn, and ...

rushed forward with great fury into the thickest of the enemy's ranks ... nor did he give over the fury of his a.s.sault till he had, with his Caliburn, killed 470 men.--Geoffrey, _British History_, ix. 4 (1142).

CAL'IDORE (_Sir_), the type of courtesy, and the hero of the sixth book of Spenser's _Faery Queen_. The model of this character was sir Philip Sidney. Sir Calidore (3 _syl._) starts in quest of the Blatant Beast, which had escaped from sir Artegal (bk. v. 12). He first compels the lady Bria'na to discontinue her discourteous toll of "the locks of ladies and the beards of knights" (canto 1). Sir Calidore falls in love with Pastorella, a shepherdess, dresses like a shepherd, and a.s.sists his lady-love in keeping sheep. Pastorella being taken captive by brigands, sir Calidore rescues her, and leaves her at Belgard Castle to be taken care of, while he goes in quest of the Blatant Beast. He finds the monster after a time, by the havoc it had made with religious houses, and after an obstinate fight succeeds in muzzling it, and dragging it in chains after him, but it got loose again, as it did before (canto 12).--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi.

(1596).

Sir Gawain was the "Calidore" of the Round Table.--Southey.

[Ill.u.s.tration] "Pastorella" is Frances Walsingham (daughter of sir Francis), whom sir Philip Sidney married. After the death of sir Philip she married the earl of Ess.e.x. The "Blatant Beast" is what we now call "Mrs. Grundy."

CALIG'ORANT, an Egyptian giant and cannibal, who used to entrap travellers with an invisible net. It was the very same net that Vulcan made to catch Mars and Venus with. Mercury stole it for the purpose of entrapping Chloris, and left it in the temple of Anu'bis, whence it was stolen by Caligorant. One day Astolpho, by a blast of his magic horn, so frightened the giant that he got entangled in his own net, and being made captive was despoiled of it.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

CALI'NO, a famous French utterer of bulls.

CALIP'OLIS, in _The Battle of Alcazar_, a drama by George Peele (1582). Pistol says to Mistress Quickly:

"Then feed and be fat, my fair Calipolis."-- Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act ii. sc 4 (1598).

CAL'IS (_The princess_), sister of As'torax, king of Paphos, in love with Polydore, brother of general Memnon, but loved greatly by Siphax.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1617).

CALIS'TA, the fierce and haughty daughter of Sciol'to (_3 syl._), a proud Genoese n.o.bleman. She yielded to the seduction of Lotha'rio, but engaged to marry Al'tamont, a young lord who loved her dearly. On the wedding-day a letter was picked up which proved her guilt, and she was subsequently seen by Altamont conversing with Lothario. A duel ensued, in which Lothario fell; in a street row Sciolto received his death-wound, and Calista stabbed herself. The character of "Calista"

was one of the parts of Mrs. Siddons, and also of Miss Brunton.--N.

Rowe, _The Fair Penitent_ (1703).

Richardson has given a purity and sanct.i.ty to the sorrows of his "Clarissa" which leave "Calista" immeasurably behind.--R. Chambers, _English Literature_, i. 590.

Twelve years after Norris's death, Mrs. Barry was acting the character of "Calista." In the last act, where "Calista" lays her hand upon a skull, she [_Mrs. Barry_] was suddenly seized with a shuddering, and fainted. Next day she asked whence the skull had been obtained, and was told it was "the skull of Mr. Norris, an actor." This Norris was her former husband, and so great was the shock that she died within six weeks.--Oxberry.

CALIS'TO AND AR'CAS. Calisto, an Arcadian nymph, was changed into a she-bear. Her son Arcas, supposing the bear to be an ordinary beast, was about to shoot it, when Jupiter metamorphosed him into a he-bear.

Both were taken to heaven by Jupiter, and became the constellations _Ursa Minor_ and _Ursa Major_.

CALL'AGHAN O'BRALL'AGHAN (_Sir_), "a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellona had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster, and the Furies his playfellows" (act i. 1). He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.--C. Macklin, _Love a la mode_ (1779).

CALLET, a _fille publique_. Brantome says a _calle_ or _calotte_ is "a cap," hence the phrase, _Plattes comme des calles_. Ben Jonson, in his _Magnetick Lady_, speaks of "wearing the callet, the politic hood."

Des filles du peuple et de la campagne s'appellant _calles_, a cause de la "cale" qui leur servait de coiffure.--Francisque Michel.

En sa tete avoit un gros bonnet blanc, qui l'on appelle une _calle_, et nous autres appelons _calotte_, ou bonnette blanche de lagne, nouee ou bridee par dessous le menton.--Brantome, _Vies des Dames Ill.u.s.tres_.

A beggar in his drink Could not have laid such terms upon his callet.

Shakespeare, _Oth.e.l.lo_, act iv. sc. 2 (1611).

CALLIM'ACHUS (_The Italian_), Filippo Buonaccorsi (1437-1496).

CALLIR'RHOE (4 _syl._), the lady-love of Chae'reas, in a Greek romance ent.i.tled _The Loves of Ch.o.r.eas and Callirrhoe_, by Char'iton (eighth century).

CALLIS'THENES (4 _syl._), a philosopher who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Oriental expedition. He refused to pay Alexander divine honors, for which he was accused of treason, and being mutilated, was chained in a cage for seven months like a wild beast. Lysimachus put an end to his tortures by poison.

Oh let me roll in Macedonian rays, Or, like Callisthenes, be caged for life, Rather than s.h.i.+ne in fas.h.i.+ons of the East.

N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, iv. I (1678).

CAL'MAR, son of Matha, lord of Lara (in Connaught). He is represented as presumptuous, rash, and overbearing, but gallant and generous.

The very opposite of the temperate Connal, who advises caution and forethought. Calmar hurries Cuthullin into action, which ends in defeat. Connal comforts the general in his distress.--Ossian, _Fingal_, i.

CAL'THON, brother of Col'mar, sons of Rathmor chief of Clutha (_the Clyde_). The father was murdered in his halls by Dunthalmo lord of Teutha (_the Tweed_), and the two boys were brought up by the murderer in his own house, and accompanied him in his wars. As they grew in years Dunthalmo fancied he perceived in their looks a something which excited his suspicions, so he shut them up in two separate dark caves on the banks of the Tweed. Colmal, daughter of Dunthalmo, dressed as a young warrior, liberated Calthon, and fled with him to Morven, to crave aid in behalf of the captive Colmar. Accordingly, Fingal sent his son Ossian with 300 men to effect his liberation. When Dunthalmo heard of the approach of this army, he put Colmar to death. Calthon, mourning for his brother, was captured, and bound to an oak; but at daybreak Ossian slew Dunthalmo, cut the thongs of Calthon, gave him to Colmal, and they lived happily in the halls of Teutha.--Ossian, _Calthon and Colmal_.

CAL'YDON (_Prince of_), Melea'ger, famed for killing the Calydonian boar.--_Apollod._ i. 8. (See MELEAGER.)

As did the fatal brand Althaea burn'd, Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.

Shakespeare, 2 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 1 (1591).

_Cal'ydon_, a town of Aeto'lia, founded by Calydon. In Arthurian romance Calydon is a forest in the north of our island. Probably it is what Richard of Cirencester calls the "Caledonian Wood," westward of the Varar or Murray Frith.

CALYDO'NIAN HUNT. Artemis, to punish Oeneus [_E'.nuce_] king of Cal'ydon, in Aeto'lia, for neglect, sent a monster boar to ravage his vineyards. His son Melea'ger collected together a large company to hunt it. The boar being killed, a dispute arose respecting the head, and this led to a war between the Curetes and Calydo'nians.

A similar tale is told of Theseus (_2 syl._), who vanquished and killed the gigantic sow which ravaged the territory of Krommyon, near Corinth. (See KROMMYONIAN SOW.)

CALYP'SO, in _Telemaque_, a prose-epic by Fenelon, is meant for Mde.

de Montespan. In mythology she was queen of the island Ogyg'ia, on which Ulysses was wrecked, and where he was detained for seven years.

She essayed after his departure to bring his son Telemachus under her spell. The lad, seeking the world through for his father, was preserved from the arts of the temptress by Mentor--Minerva in disguise.

CALYPSO'S ISLE, Ogygia, a mythical island "in the navel of the sea."