Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 89

CUTHO'NA, daughter of Rumar, was betrothed to Conlath, youngest son of Morni, of Mora. Not long before the espousals were to be celebrated, Toscar came from Ireland, and was hospitably entertained by Morni. On the fourth day, he saw Cuthona out hunting, and carried her off by force. Being pursued by Conlath, a fight ensued, in which both the young men fell, and Cuthona, after languis.h.i.+ng for three days, died also.--Ossian, _Conlath and Cuthona_.

CUTHULLIN, son of Semo, commander of the Irish army, and regent during the minority of Cormac. His wife was Brag'elo, daughter of Sorglan. In the poem called _Fingal_, Cuthullin was defeated by Swaran, king of Lochlin _[Scandinavia]_, and being ashamed to meet Fingal, retired from the field gloomy and sad. Fingal having utterly defeated Swaran, invited Cuthullin to the banquet, and partially restored his depressed spirits. In the third year of Cormac's reign, Torlah, son of Can'tela, rebelled. Cuthullin gained a complete victory over him at the lake Lego, but was mortally wounded in the pursuit by a random arrow.

Cuthullin was succeeded by Nathos, but the young king was soon dethroned by the rebel Cairbre, and murdered.--Ossian, _Fingal_ and _The Death of Cuthullin_.

CUTLER _(Sir John)_, a royalist, who died 1699, reduced to the utmost poverty.

Cutler saw tenants break, and houses fall. For very want he could not build a wall. His only daughter in a stranger's power, for very want he could not pay a dower. A few gray hairs his reverend temples crowned, 'Twas very want that sold them for two pound....

Cutler and Brutus, dying, both exclaim, "Virtue and wealth, what are ye but a name?" Pope, _Moral Essays_, iii. (1709).

CUTPURSE (_Moil_), Mary Frith, the heroine of Middleton's comedy called _The Roaring Girl_ (1611). She was a woman of masculine vigor, who not unfrequently a.s.sumed man's attire. This notorious cut-purse once attacked General Fairfax on Hounslow Heath, but was arrested and sent to Newgate; she escaped, however, by bribing the turnkey, and died of dropsy at the age of 75. Nathaniel Field introduces her in his drama called _Amends for Ladies_ (1618).

CUTSHAMAQUIN, an Indian Sachem, whose disobedient and rebellious son was "dealt with" publicly by John Eliot. At the second summons and serious admonition, the lad repented and confessed humbly, "and entreated his father to forgive him, and took him by the hand, at which his father burst forth into great weeping."--John Eliot, _The Clear Suns.h.i.+ne of the Gospel Breaking Forth Upon the Indians_ (1648).

CUTTLE (_Captain Edward_), a great friend of Solomon Gills, s.h.i.+p's instrument maker. Captain Cuttle had been a skipper, had a hook instead of a right hand, and always wore a very hard, glazed hat. He was in the habit of quoting, and desiring those to whom he spoke "to overhaul the catechism till they found it;" but, he added, "when found, make a note on." The kind-hearted seaman was very fond of Florence Dombey, and of Walter Gay, whom he called "Wal'r." When Florence left her father's roof, Captain Cuttle sheltered her at the Wooden Mids.h.i.+pman. One of his favorite sentiments was "May we never want a friend, or a bottle to give him."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

("When found, make a note of," is the motto of _Notes and Queries_.)

CYC'LADES (3 _syl_.), some twenty islands, so called from the cla.s.sic legend that they _circled round_ Delos when that island was rendered stationary by the birth of Diana and Apollo.

CYCLIC POETS, a series of epic poets, who wrote continuations or additions to Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_; they were called "Cyclic"

because they confined themselves to the _cycle_ of the Trojan war.

AG'IAS wrote an epic on "the return of the Greeks from Troy" (B.C.

740).

ARCTI'NOS wrote a continuation of the _Iliad_, describing the taking of Troy by the "Wooden Horse," and its conflagration. Virgil has copied from this poet (B.C. 776).

EU'GAMON wrote a continuation of the _Odyssey_. It contains the adventures of Telegonos in search of his father Ulysses. When he reached Ith'aca, Ulysses and Telemachos went against him, and Telegonos killed Ulysses with a spear which his mother Circe had given him (B.C. 568).

LES'CHES, author of the _Little Iliad_, in four books, containing the fate of Ajax, the exploits of Philoctetes, Neoptol'emos, and Ulysses, and the final capture of Troy (B.C. 708).

STASI'NOS, "son-in-law" of Homer. He wrote an introduction to the _Iliad_.

CYCLOPS. Their names are Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. (See SINDBAD, voy. 3).

_Cyclops (The Holy)_. So Dryden in the _Masque of Albion and Albanius_, calls Richard Rumbold, an Englishman, the chief conspirator in the "Ryehouse Plot." He had lost one eye, and was executed.

CYDIP'PE (3 _syl_), a lady courted by Acontius of Cea, but being unable to obtain her, he wrote on an apple, "I swear by Diana that Acontius shall be my husband." This apple was presented to the maiden, and being persuaded that she had written the words, though inadvertently, she consented to marry Acontius for "the oath's sake."

Cydippe by a letter was betrayed, Writ on an apple to th' unwary maid Ovid, _Art of Love_, 1.

CYL'LAROS, the horse of Pollux according to Virgil (_Georg_. iii.

90), but of Castor according to Ovid _(Metam._ xii. 408). It was coal-black, with white legs and tail.

CYLLE'NIUS, Mercury; so called from Mount Cylene, in Arcadia, where he was born.

CYM'BELINE (3 _syl_.), mythical king of Britain for thirty-five years.

He began to reign in the nineteenth year of Augustus Caesar. His father was Tenantius, who refused to pay the tribute to the Romans exacted of Ca.s.sibelan after his defeat by Julius Caesar. Cymbeline married twice. By his first wife he had a daughter named Imogen, who married Posthumus Leonatus. His second wife had a son named Cloten by a former husband.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

CYMOCHLES _[Si. mok'.leez]_, brother of Pyroch'les, son of Aerates, husband of Acras'ia the enchantress. He sets out against Sir Guyon, but being ferried over Idle Lake, abandons himself to self-indulgence, and is slain by King Arthur (canto 8).--Spencer, _Faery Queen_, ii. 5, etc. (1590).

CYMOD'OCE (4 _syl_.). The mother of Mar'inel is so called in bk.

iv. 12 of the _Faery Queen_, but in bk. iii. 4 she is spoken of as Cymo'ent "daughter of Nereus" (2_syl_.) by an earth-born father, "the famous Dumarin."

CYMOENT. (See CYMODOCE.)

CYM'RY, the Welsh.

The Welsh always called themselves "Cym-ry", the literal meaning of which is "aborigines." ... It is the same word as "Cimbri." ... They call their language "Cymraeg," _i.e_, "the primitive tongue."--E.

Williams.

CYNGaeI'ROS, brother of the poet aeschylos. When the Persians, after the battle of Marathon, were pus.h.i.+ng off from sh.o.r.e, Cyngaeiros seized one of their s.h.i.+ps with his right hand, which being lopped off, he grasped it with his left hand; this being cut off, he seized it with his teeth, and lost his life.

ADMIEAL BENBOW, in an engagement with the French, near St. Martha, in 1701, had his legs and thighs s.h.i.+vered into splinters by chain-shot; but (supported on a wooden frame) he remained on deck till Du Ca.s.se sheered off.

ALMEYDA, the Portuguese Governor of India, had his legs and thighs shattered in a similar way, and caused himself to be bound to the s.h.i.+p's mast, that he might wave his sword to cheer on the combatants.

JAAFER, at the battle of Muta, carried the sacred banner of the prophet. One hand being lopped off, he held it with the other; this also being cut off, he held it with his two stumps, and when at last his head was cut off, he contrived to fall dead on the banner, which was thus detained till Abdallah had time to rescue it and hand it to Khaled.

CYNE'THA(3 _syl._), eldest son of Cadwallon (king of North Wales). He was an orphan, brought up by his uncle Owen. During his minority, Owen and Cynetha loved each other dearly; but when the orphan came of age and claimed his inheritance, his uncle burnt his eyes out by exposing them to plates of hot bra.s.s. Cynetha and his son Cadwallon accompanied Madoc to North America, where the blind old man died while Madoc was in Wales preparing for his second voyage.--Southey, _Madoc_, i. 3 (1805).

Cadwallonis erat primaevus jure Cynetha: Proh pudor! hunc oculis patruus privavit Oenus.

_The Pentarchia_.

CYNIC TUB (_The_), Diog'enes, the Cynic philosopher lived in a tub, and it is to this fact that illusion is made in the line:

[_They_] fetch their doctrines from the Cynic tub.

Milton, _Comus_, 708 (1634).

CY'NOSURE (3 _syl_.), the pole-star. The word means "the dog's tail,"

and is used to signify a guiding genius, or the observed of all observers. Cynosu'ra was an Idaean nymph, one of the nurses of Zeus (1 _syl_.).

CYN'THIA, the moon or Diana, who was born on Mount Cynthus, in Delos.

Apollo is called "Cynthius."

... watching, in the night, Beneath pale Cynthia's melancholy light.

Falconer, _The s.h.i.+pwreck_, iii. 2 (1756).

_Cyn'thia._ So Spenser, in _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_, calls Queen Elizabeth, "whose angel's eye" was his life's sole bliss, his heart's eternal treasure. Ph. Fletcher, in _The Purple Island_, iii., also calls Queen Elizabeth "Cynthia."

Her words were like a stream of honey fleeting..

Her deeds were like great cl.u.s.ters of ripe grapes...

Her looks were like beams of the morning sun Forth looking thro' the windows of the east...

Her thoughts were like the fumes of frankincense Which from a golden censer forth doth rise.

Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591).

_Cyn'thia_, daughter of Sir Paul Pliant, and daughter-in-law of Lady Pliant. She is in love with Melle'font (2 _syl_.). Sir Paul calls her "Thy"--W. Congreve, _The Double Dealer_ (1694).