Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 91

d.a.m.nO'NII, the people of d.a.m.nonium, that is, Cornwall, Devon, Dorsets.h.i.+re, and part of Somersets.h.i.+re. This region, says Richard of Cirencester (_Hist._ vi. 18), was much frequented by the Phoenician, Greek, and Gallic merchants, for the metals with which it abounded, and particularly for its tin.

Wherein our Devons.h.i.+re now and fartherest Cornwal are, The old Danmonii [_sic_] dwelt.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).

DAMARIS WAINRIGHT. A woman richly endowed by Nature and fortune, whose mother and brother have died insane. She comes to maidenly maturity under the impression which strengthens into belief that madness is her heritage. After long struggles she accepts the hand of one who has striven steadily to combat what he considers a morbid conviction, and makes ready for her marriage. When dressed for the ceremony she sits down to await her bridegroom, and the image of herself in a tarnished mirror suggests a train of melancholy musing that result in dementia.

"With a mad impulse to flee she sprang to her feet just as Lincoln knocked.... For an instant her failing reason struggled to consciousness as a drowning swimmer writhes a last time to the surface, and gasps a breath only to give it up in futile bubbles that mark the spot where he sank. With a supreme effort her vanquished will for a moment re-a.s.serted itself. She knew her lover was at the door, and she knew also that the feet of doom had been swifter than those of the bridegroom.... She sprang forward and threw open the door."

"'I am mad!' she shrieked, in a voice which pierced to every corner of the old mansion."

Arlo Bates, _The Wheel of Fire_, (1885).

DAM'OCLES (3 _syl_.), a sycophant, in the court of Dionys'ius _the Elder_, of Syracuse. After extolling the felicity of princes, Dionysius told him he would give him experimental proof thereof.

Accordingly he had the courtier arrayed in royal robes and seated at a sumptuous banquet, but overhead was a sword suspended by a single horsehair, and Damocles was afraid to stir, lest the hair should break and the sword fall on him. Dionysius thus intimated that the lives of kings are threatened every hour of the day.--Cicero.

Let us who have not our names in the Red Book console ourselves by thinking comfortably how miserable our betters may be, and that Damocles, who sits on satin cus.h.i.+ons, and is served on gold plate, has an awful sword hanging over his head, in the shape of a bailiff, or hereditary disease, or family secret.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_, xlvii. (1848).

DAMOE'TAS, a herdsman. Theocritos and Virgil use the name in their pastorals.

And old Damoetas loved to hear our song.

Milton, _Lycidas_ (1638).

DA'MON, a goat-herd in Virgil's third _Eclogue_. Walsh introduces the same name in his _Eclogues_ also. Any rustic, swain, or herdsman.

DAMON AND DELIA. Damon asks Delia why she looks so coldly on him. She replies because of his attention to Belvidera. He says he paid these attentions at her own request, "to hide the secret of their mutual love." Delia confesses that his prudence is commendable, but his acting is too earnest. To this he rejoins that she alone holds his heart; and Delia replies:

Tho' well I might your truth mistrust, My foolish heart believes you just; Reason this faith may disapprove, But I believe, because I love.

Lord Lyttleton.

DAMON AND MUSIDO'RA, two lovers who misunderstood each other. Musidora was coy, and Damon thought her shyness indicated indifference; but one day he saw her bathing, and his delicacy so charmed the maiden that she at once accepted his proffered love.--Thomson, _The Seasons_ ("Summer," 1727).

DA'MON AND PYTH'IAS. Damon, a senator of Syracuse, was by nature hot-mettled, but was schooled by Pythagore'an philosophy into a Stoic coldness and slowness of speech. He was a fast friend of the republic, and when Dionysius was made "King" by a vote of the senate, Damon upbraided the betrayers of his country, and p.r.o.nounced Dionysius a "tryant." For this he was seized, and as he tried to stab Dionysius, he was condemned to instant death. Damon now craved respite for four hours to bid farewell to his wife and child, but the request was denied him. On his way to execution, his friend Pythias encountered him, and obtained permission of Dionysius to become his surety, and to die in his stead, if within four hours Damon did not return. Dionysius not only accepted the bail, but extended the leave to six hours. When Damon reached his country villa, Lucullus killed his horse to prevent his return; but Damon, seizing the horse of a chance traveler, reached Syracuse just as the executioner was preparing to put Pythias to death. Dionysius so admired this proof of friends.h.i.+p, that he forgave Damon, and requested to be taken into his friends.h.i.+p.

This subject was dramatized in 1571 by Richard Edwards, and again in 1825 by John Banim.

(The cla.s.sic name of _Pythias_ is "Phintias.")

DAMSEL OR DAMOISEAU (in Italian, _donzel_; in Latin, _domisellus_); one of the gallant youths domiciled in the _maison du roi._ These youths were always sons of the greater va.s.sals. Louis VII. _(le Jeune_) was called "The Royal Damsel;" and at one time the royal body-guard was called "The King's Damsells."

DAMSEL OF BRITTANY, Eleanor, daughter of G.o.dffrey (second son of Henry II. of England). After the death of Arthur, his sister Eleanor was next in succession to the crown, but John, who had caused Arthur's death, confined Eleanor in Bristol Castle, where she remained till her death, in 1241.

D'AMVILLE (2 _syl_), "the atheist," with the a.s.sistance of Borachio, murdered Montferrers, his brother, for his estates.--Cyril Tourneur, _The Atheists Tragedy_ (seventeenth century).

DAM'YAN (2 _syl_.), the lover of May (the youthful bride of January, a Lombard knight, 60 years of age).--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Merchant's Tale," 1388).

DAN OF THE HOWLET HIRST, the dragon of the revels at Kennaquhair Abbey.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ and _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

DAN'AE, (3 _syl_.), an Argive princess, visited by Zeus [Jupiter]

in the form of a shower of gold, while she was confined in an inaccessible tower.

DANAID (3 _syl_), Dan'aus had fifty daughters, called the Danads or Dana'des. These fifty women married the fifty sons of aegyptus, and (with one exception) murdered their husbands on the night of their espousals. For this crime they were doomed in Hades to pour water everlastingly into sieves.

Let not your prudence, dearest, drowse or prove The Danaid of a leaky vase.

Tennyson, _The Princess_, ii.

DANCING CHANCELLOR _(The)_, Sir Christopher Hatton, who attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth by his graceful dancing, at a masque. She took him into favor, and made him both Chancellor and knight of the Garter (died 1591).

[Ill.u.s.tration] Mons. de Lauzun, the favorite of Louis XIV., owed his fortune to his grace in dancing in the king's quadrille.

Many more than one n.o.bleman owed the favor he enjoyed at court to the way he pointed his toe or moved his leg.--A. Dumas, _Taking the Bastile._

DANCING WATER _(The)_, from the Burning forest. This water had the power of imparting youthful beauty to those who used it. Prince Chery, aided by a dove, obtained it for Fairstar.

The dancing water is the eighth wonder of the world. It beautifies ladies, makes them young again, and even enriches them.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Princess Fairstar,"

1682).

DANDIES _(The Prince of_), Beau Brummel (1778-1840).

DANDIN _(George)_, a rich French tradesman, who marries Ang'elique, the daughter of Mons. le Baron de Sotenville, and has the "privilege"

of paying-off the family debts, maintaining his wife's n.o.ble parents, and being snubbed on all occasions to his heart's content. He constantly said to himself; in self-rebuke, _Vous Vavez voulu, vous Vavez voulu, George Dandin!_ ("You have no one to blame but yourself!

you brought it on yourself, George Dandin!")

Vous l'avez voulu, vous l'avez voulu, George Dandin! vous l'avez voulu!... vous avez juste-ment ce que vous meritez.--Moliere, _George Dandin_, i. 9 (1668).

"Well, _tu l'as voulu_, George Dandin," she said, with a smile, "you were determined on it, and must bear the consequences."--Percy Fitzgerald, _The Parvenu Family_, ii. 262.

[Ill.u.s.tration] There is no such phrase in the comedy as _Tu l'as voulu_, it is always _Vous Vavez voulu_.

DAN'DOLO _(Signor)_, a friend to Fazio in prosperity, but who turns from him when in disgrace. He says:

Signor, I am paramount In all affairs of boot and spur and hose; In matters of the robe and cap supreme; In ruff disputes, my lord, there's no appeal From my irrefragibility.

Dean Milman, _Fazio_, ii. I (1815).

DANGEAU _(Jouer a la_), to play as good a hand at cards as Phillippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (1638-1720).

DAN'GERFLELD _(Captain)_, a hired witness in the "Popish Plot"--Sir W.

Scott, _Pe-veril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

DANGLE, a gentleman bitten with the theatrical mania, who annoys a manager with impertinent flattery and advice. It is said that Thomas Vaughan, a playwright of small reputation, was the original of this character.--Sheridan, _The Critic_ (see act i. I), (1779).

DAN'HASCH, one of the genii who did not "acknowledge the great Solomon."

When the Princess Badoura in her sleep was carried to the bed of Prince Camaral'zaman that she might see him, Danhasch changed himself into a flea, and bit her lip, at which Badoura awoke, saw the prince sleeping by her side, and afterwards became his wife.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Camaralzarnan and Badoura.")

DANIEL, son of Widow Lackitt; a wealthy Indian planter. A noodle of the softest mould, whom Lucy Weldon marries for his money.--Thomas Southern, _Oroonoko_ (1696).