Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 by The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
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The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. >> Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1
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52 [Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION AND THE DRAMA
A REVISED AMERICAN EDITION OF THE READER'S HANDBOOK
BY
THE REV. E. COBHAM BREWER, LL.D.
EDITED BY MARION HARLAND
VOLUME I
NEW YORK SELMAR HESS PUBLISHER
M D C C C X C I I
Copyright, 1892, by
SELMAR HESS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLUME I.
PHOTOGRAVURES AND ETCHINGS.
_Illustration_.................._Artist_
ICHABOD CRANE (_colored_).......E.A. ABBEY
CONSTANCE DE BEVERLEY................TOBY ROSENTHAL
LADY BOUNTIFUL.......................ROB. W. MACBETH
SYDNEY CARTON........................FREDERICK BARNARD
BERNHARDT AS CLEOPATRA..............._From a Photograph from Life_
ABBE CONSTANTIN......................MADELEINE LEMAIRE
CAPTAIN CUTTLE.......................FREDERICK BARNARD
THE TRUSTY ECKART....................JULIUS ADAM
ELAINE...............................TOBY ROSENTHAL
* * * * *
WOOD ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES.
ABELARD..............................A. GUILLEMINOT
AENEAS RELATING HIS STORY TO DIDO....P. GUERIN
ALBERICH'S PURSUIT OF THE NIBELUNGEN RING...HANS MAKART
ALETHE, PRIESTESS OF ISIS............EDWIN LONG
ALEXIS AND DORA......................W. VON KAULBACH
ALICE, THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER.........DAVIDSON KNOWLES
ANCIENT MARINER (THE)................GUSTAVE DORE
ANDROMEDA............................
ANGELIQUE AND MONSEIGNEUR DE HAUTECOEUR...JEANNIOT
ANGUS AND DONALD.....................W.B. DAVIS
ANTIGONE AND ISMENE..................EMIL TESCHENDORFF
ANTONY AND THE DEAD CAESAR...........
ARCHIMEDES...........................NIC BARABINO
ARGAN AND DOCTOR DIAFOIRUS...........A. SOLOMON
ASHTON (LUCY) AND RAVENSWOOD.........SIR EVERETT MILLAIS
ATALA (BURIAL OF)....................GUSTAVE COURTOIS
AUGUSTA IN COURT.....................A. FORESTIER
AUTOMEDON............................HENRI REGNAULT
BALAUSTION...........................F.H. LUNGREN
BALDERSTONE (CALEB) AND MYSIE.......GEORGE HAY
BAREFOOT (LITTLE)....................F. VON THELEN-RUeDEN
BARKIS IS WILLIN'....................C.J. STANILAND
BAUDIN (THE DEATH OF)................J.-P. LAURENS
BAYARD (THE CHEVALIER)...............LARIVIERE
BEDREDEEN HASSAN (MARRIAGE OF) AND NOUREDEEN...F. CORMON
BELLENDEN (LADY) AND MAUSE HEADRIGG..WM. DOUGLAS
BENEDICK AND BEATRICE................HUGHES MERLE
BIRCH (HARVEY), THE PEDDLER-SPY.....
BLANCHELYS (QUEEN) AND THE PILGRIM...J. NOEL PATON
BOABDIL-EL-CHICO'S FAREWELL TO GRENADA...E. CORBOULD
BOADICEA.............................THOS. STOTHARD
BONNICASTLE (ARTHUR) AND MILLIE BRADFORD...
BOTTOM AND TITANIA...................SIR EDWIN LANDSEER
BRABANT (GENEVIEVE DE)...............ERNST BOSCH
BRAeSIG, LINING AND MINING............CONRAD BECKMANN
BROOKING'S (JOHN) STUDIO.............A. FORESTIER
CAESAR (THE DEATH OF).................J.L. GEROME
CANTERBURY PILGRIMS (THE)............THOS. STOTHARD; WM. BLAKE
CAREW (FRANCIS) FINDING THE BODY OF DERRICK...HAL LUDLOW
CARMEN...............................J. KOPPAY
CATARINA.............................
CHARLES IX. ON THE EVE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW...P. GROTJOHANN
CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND MARAT..........JULES AVIAT
CHATTERTON'S HOLIDAY AFTERNOON.......W.B. MORRIS
CHILDREN (THE) IN THE WOOD...........J. SANT
CHILLON (THE PRISONER OF)............
CHRISTIAN ENTERING THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION...F.R. PICKERSGILL
CINDERELLA AND THE FAIRY GOD-MOTHER..GUSTAVE DORE
CIRCE AND HER SWINE..................BRITON RIVIERE
CLARA (DONNA) AND ALMANZOR...........
CLARA, JACQUES AND ARISTIDE..........ADRIEN MARIE
CLAUDIO AND ISABELLA.................HOLMAN HUNT
COLUMBUS AND HIS EGG.................LEO. REIFFENSTEIN
CONSUELO.............................
COSETTE..............................G. GUAY
COSTIGAN (CAPTAIN)...................F. BARNARD
COVERLEY (SIR ROGER DE) COMING FROM CHURCH...CHAS. R. LESLIE
CYMON AND IPHIGENIA..................SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON
DAPHNIS AND CHLOE....................GERARD
DARBY AND JOAN IN HIGH-LIFE..........C. DENDY SADLER
D'ARTAGNAN...........................
DEANS (EFFIE) AND HER SISTER IN THE PRISON...R. HERDMAN
DERBLAY (MADAME) STOPS THE DUEL......EMILE BAYARD
DIDO ON THE FUNERAL PYRE.............E. KELLER
DOMBEY (PAUL AND FLORENCE)..........
EGMONT AND CLAeRCHEN..................C. HUEBERLIN
ELECTRA..............................E. TESCHENDORFF
ELIZABETH AND MARY STUART............W. VON KAULBACH
ELIZABETH, THE LANDGRAVINE...........THEODOR PIXIS
ELLEN, THE LADY OF THE LAKE..........J. ADAMS-ACTON
ELLIE (LITTLE).......................
ERMINIA AND THE SHEPHERDS............DOMENICHINO
ESMERALDA............................G. BRION
ESTE (LEONORA D') AND TASSO..........W. VON KAULBACH
EVANGELINE...........................EDWIN DOUGLAS
EVE'S FAREWELL TO PARADISE...........E. WESTALL
* * * * *
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.
AA'RON, a Moor, beloved by Tam'ora, queen of the Goths,
in the tragedy of _Titus Andron'icus_, published among the plays of
Shakespeare (1593).
(The classic name is _Andronicus_, but the character of this play is
purely fictitious.)
_Aaron (St.)_, a British martyr of the City of Legions (_Newport_,
in South Wales). He was torn limb from limb by order of Maximian'us
Hercu'lius, general in Britain, of the army of Diocle'tian. Two
churches were founded in the City of Legions, one in honor of St.
Aaron and one in honor of his fellow-martyr, St. Julius. Newport was
called Caerleon by the British.
... two others ... sealed their doctrine with
their blood;
St. Julius, and with him St. Aaron, have their
room
At Carleon, suffering death by Diocletian's doom.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv, (1622).
AAZ'IZ (3 _syl._), so the queen of Sheba or Saba is sometimes called;
but in the Koran she is called Balkis (ch. xxvii.).
ABAD'DON, an angel of the bottomless pit (_Rev_. ix. 11). The word is
derived from the Hebrew, _abad_, "lost," and means _the lost one_.
There are two other angels introduced by Klopstock in _The Messiah_
with similar names, but must not be confounded with the angel referred
to in _Rev_.; one is Obaddon, the angel of death, and the other
Abbad'ona, the repentant devil.
AB'ARIS, to whom Apollo gave a golden arrow, on which to ride through
the air.--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.
ABBAD'ONA, once the friend of Ab'diel, was drawn into the rebellion of
Satan half unwillingly. In hell he constantly bewailed his fall, and
reproved Satan for his pride and blasphemy. He openly declared to the
internals that he would take no part or lot in Satan's scheme for the
death of the Messiah, and during the crucifixion lingered about the
cross with repentance, hope, and fear. His ultimate fate we are not
told, but when Satan and Adramelech are driven back to hell, Obaddon,
the angel of death, says--
"For thee, Abbadona, I have no orders. How long thou art permitted to
remain on earth I know not, nor whether thou wilt be allowed to see
the resurrection of the Lord of glory ... but be not deceived, thou
canst not view Him with the joy of the redeemed." "Yet let me see Him,
let me see him!"--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, xiii.
ABBERVILLE (_Lord_), a young nobleman, 23 years of age, who has for
travelling tutor a Welshman of 65, called Dr. Druid, an antiquary,
wholly ignorant of his real duties as a guide of youth. The young
man runs wantonly wild, squanders his money, and gives loose to his
passions almost to the verge of ruin, but he is arrested and reclaimed
by his honest Scotch bailiff or financier, and the vigilance of his
father's executor, Mr. Mortimer. This "fashionable lover" promises
marriage to a vulgar, malicious city minx named Lucinda Bridgemore,
but is saved from this pitfall also.--Cumberland, _The Fashionable
Lover_ (1780).
ABBOT (_The_), the complacent churchman in Aldrich's poem of _The
Jew's Gift_, who hanged a Jew "just for no crime," and pondered and
smiled and gave consent to the heretic's burial--
"Since he gave his beard to the birds." (1881.)
ABDAL-AZIS, the Moorish governor of Spain after the overthrow of
king Roderick. When the Moor assumed regal state and affected Gothic
sovereignty, his subjects were so offended that they revolted and
murdered him. He married Egilona, formerly the wife of Roderick.--
Southey, _Roderick, etc_., xxii. (1814).
AB'DALAZ'IZ (_Omar ben_), a caliph raised to "Mahomet's bosom" in
reward of his great abstinence and self-denial.--_Herbelot_, 690.
He was by no means scrupulous; nor did he think with the caliph Omar
ben Abdalaziz that it was necessary to make a hell of this world to
enjoy paradise in the next.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
ABDAL'DAR, one of the magicians in the Domdaniel caverns, "under the
roots of the ocean." These spirits were destined to be destroyed by
one of the race of Hodei'rah (3 _syl_.), so they persecuted the race
even to death. Only one survived, named Thal'aba, and Abdaldar was
appointed by lot to find him out and kill him. He discovered the
stripling in an Arab's tent, and while in prayer was about to stab him
to the heart with a dagger, when the angel of death breathed on him,
and he fell dead with the dagger in his hand. Thalaba drew from the
magician's finger a ring which gave him command over the spirits.
--Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, ii. iii. (1797).
ABDALLA, one of sir Brian de Bois Guilbert's slaves.--Sir W. Scott,
_Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
_Abdal'lah_, brother and predecessor of Giaf'fer (2 _syl_.), pacha of
Aby'dos. He was murdered by the pacha.--Byron, _Bride of Abydos_.
ABDALLAH EL HADGI, Saladin's envoy.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_
(time, Richard I.).
ABDALS or _Santons_, a class of religionists who pretend to be
inspired with the most ravishing raptures of divine love. Regarded
with great veneration by the vulgar.--_Olearius_, i. 971.
AB'DIEL, the faithful seraph who withstood Satan when he urged those
under him to revolt.
... the seraph Abdiel, faithful found;
Among the faithless faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmoved.
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, v. 896, etc. (1665).
ABELARD and ELOISE, unhappy lovers, whose illicit love was succeeded
by years of penitence and remorse. Abelard was the tutor of Heloise
(or Eloise), and, although vowed to the church, won and returned her
passion. They were violently separated by her uncle. Abelard entered a
monastery and Eloise became a nun. Their love survived the passage of
years, and they were buried together at _Pere la Chaise.--Eloise and
Abelard_. By Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
ABENSBERG (_Count_), the father of thirty-two children. When Heinrich
II. made his progress through Germany, and other courtiers presented
their offerings, the count brought forward his thirty-two children,
"as the most valuable offering he could make to his king and country."
ABES'SA, the impersonation of abbeys and convents in Spenser's _Faery
Queen_, i. 3. She is the paramour of Kirkrapine, who used to rob
churches and poor-boxes, and bring his plunder to Abessa, daughter of
Corceca (_Blindness of Heart_).
ABIGAIL, typical name of a maid.--See Beaumont and Fletcher, Swift,
Fielding, and many modern writers.
ABNEY, called _Young Abney_, the friend of colonel Albert Lee, a
royalist.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, the Commonwealth).
ABON HASSAN, a young merchant of Bag dad, and hero of the tale called
"The Sleeper Awakened," in the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.
While Abon Hassan is asleep he is conveyed to the palace of
Haroun-al-Raschid, and the attendants are ordered to do everything
they can to make him fancy himself the caliph. He subsequently becomes
the caliph's chief favorite.
Shakespeare, in the induction of _Taming of the Shrew_, befouls
"Christopher Sly" in a similar way, but Sly thinks it was "nothing but
a dream."
Philippe _le Bon_, duke of Burgundy, on his marriage with Eleonora,
tried the same trick.--Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, ii. 2,4.
ABOU BEN ADHEM, "awakening one night from a deep dream of peace," sees
an angel writing the names of those who love the Lord. Ben Adhem's
name is registered as "one who loves his fellow-men." A second vision
shows his name at the head of the list.
_Abou Ben Adhem_. By Leigh Hunt (1784-1859).
ABRA, the most beloved of Solomon's concubines.
Fruits their odor lost and meats their taste,
If gentle Abra had not decked the feast;
Dishonored did the sparkling goblet stand,
Unless received from gentle Abra's hand; ...
Nor could my soul approve the music's tone
Till all was hushed, and Abra sang alone.
M. Prior, _Solomon_ (1664-1721).
AB'RADAS, the great Macedonian pirate.
Abradas, the great Macedonian pirate, thought every one had a letter
of mart that bare sayles in the ocean.--Greene, _Penelope's Web_
(1601).
ABROC'OMAS, the lover of An'thia in the Greek romance of _Ephesi'aca_,
by Xenophon of Ephesus (not the historian).
AB'SALOM, in Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for the duke
of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II. _(David)_. Like Absalom, the
duke was handsome; like Absalom, he was beloved and rebellious; and
like Absalom, his rebellion ended in his death (1649-1685).
AB'SOLON, a priggish parish clerk in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_. His
hair was curled, his shoes slashed, his hose red. He could let blood,
cut hair, and shave, could dance, and play either on the ribible or
the gittern. This gay spark paid his addresses to Mistress Alison,
the young wife of John, a rich but aged carpenter: but Alison herself
loved a poor scholar named Nicholas, a lodger in the house.--_The
Miller's Tale_ (1388).
ABSOLUTE _(Sir Anthony)_, a testy but warm-hearted old gentleman, who
imagines that he possesses a most angelic temper, and when he quarrels
with his son, the captain, fancies it is the son who is out of temper,
and not himself. Smollett's "Matthew Bramble" evidently suggested this
character. William Dowton (1764-1851) was the best actor of this part.
_Captain Absolute_, son of sir Anthony, in love with Lydia Languish,
the heiress, to whom he is known only as ensign Beverley. Bob Acres,
his neighbor, is his rival, and sends a challenge to the unknown
ensign; but when he finds that ensign Beverley is captain Absolute,
he declines to fight, and resigns all further claim to the lady's
hand.--Sheridan, _The Rivals_ (1775).
ABSYRTUS, brother of Medea and companion of her flight from Colchis.
To elude or delay her pursuers, she cut him into pieces and strewed
the fragments in the road, that her father might be detained by
gathering up the remains of his son.
_Abu'dah_, in the drama called _The Siege of Damascus_, by John Hughes
(1720), is the next in command to Caled in the Arabian army set down
before Damascus. Though undoubtedly brave, he prefers peace to war;
and when, at the death of Caled, he succeeds to the chief command, he
makes peace with the Syrians on honorable terms.
ABU'DAH, in the _Tales of the Genii_, by H. Ridley, is a wealthy
merchant of Bag dad, who goes in quest of the talisman of Oroma'nes,
which he is driven to seek by a little old hag, who haunts him every
night and makes his life wretched. He finds at last that the talisman
which is to free him of this hag [_conscience_] is to "fear God and
keep his commandments."
ACADE'MUS, an Attic hero, whose garden was selected by Plato for the
place of his lectures. Hence his disciples were called the "Academic
sect."
The green retreats of Academus. Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_,
i (1721-1770).
ACAS'TO (_Lord_), father of Seri'no, Casta'lio, and Polydore; and
guardian of Monimia "the orphan." He lived to see the death of his
sons and his ward. Polydore ran on his brother's sword, Castalio
stabbed himself, and Monimia took poison.--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).
ACES'TES (3 _syl_.). In a trial of skill, Acestes, the Sicilian,
discharged his arrow with such force that it took fire from the
friction of the air.--_The AEneid_, Bk. V.
Like Acestes' shaft of old,
The swift thought kindles as it flies.
Longfellow, _To a Child_.
ACHATES [_A-ka'-teze_], called by Virgil "fidus Achates." The name has
become a synonym for a bosom friend, a crony, but is generally used
laughingly.--_The AEneid_.
He, like Achates, faithful to the tomb.
Byron, _Don Juan_, i. 159.
ACHER'IA, the fox, went partnership with a bear in a bowl of: milk.
Before the bear arrived, the fox skimmed off the cream and drank the
milk; then, filling the bowl with mud, replaced the cream atop. Says
the fox, "Here is the bowl; one shall have the cream, and the other
all the rest: choose, friend, which you like." The bear told the fox
to take the cream, and thus bruin had only the mud.--_A Basque Tale_.
A similar tale occurs in Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West
Highlands_ (iii. 98), called "The Keg of Butter." The wolf chooses the
_bottom_ when "oats" were the object of choice, and the _top_ when
"potatoes" were the sowing.
Rabelais tells the same tale about a farmer and the devil. Each was
to have on alternate years what grew _under_ and _over_ the soil. The
farmer sowed turnips and carrots when the _under_-soil produce came
to his lot, and barley or wheat when his turn was the _over_-soil
produce.
ACHILLE GRANDISSIME, "A rather poor specimen of the Grandissime type,
deficient in stature, but not in stage manner."--_The Grandissimes_,
by George W. Cable (1880).
ACHIL'LES (3 _syl_.), the hero of the allied Greek army in the siege
of Troy, and king of the Myr'midons.--See _Dictionary of Phrase and
Fable_.
_The English Achilles_, John Talbot, first earl of Shrewsbury
(1373-1453).
The duke of Wellington is so called sometimes, and is represented by
a statue of Achilles of gigantic size in Hyde Park, London, close to
Apsley House (1769-1852).
_The Achilles of Germany_, Albert, elector of Brandenburg (1414-1486).
_Achilles of Rome_, Sicin'ius Denta'tus (put to death B.C. 450).
ACHIT'OPHEL, "Him who drew Achitophel," Dryden, author of the famous
political satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_. "David" is Charles II.;
his rebellious son "Absalom" is the king's natural son, the handsome
but rebellious James duke of Monmouth; and "Achitophel," the
traitorous counsellor, is the earl of Shaftesbury, "for close designs
and crooked counsels fit."
Can sneer at him who drew Achitophel.
Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 100.
There is a portrait of the first earl of Shaftesbury (Dryden's
"Achitophel") as lord chancellor of England, clad in ash-colored
robes, because he had never been called to the bar.--E. Yates,
_Celebrities_, xviii.
A'CIS, a Sicilian shepherd, loved by the nymph Galate'a. The monster
Polypheme (3 _syl_.), a Cyclops, was his rival, and crushed him under
a huge rock. The blood of Acis was changed into a river of the same
name at the foot of mount Etna.
Not such a pipe, good reader, as that which Acis did sweetly tune in
praise of his Galatea, but one of true Delft manufacture.--W. Irving
(1783-1859).
ACK'LAND (_Sir Thomas_), a royalist.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time,
the Commonwealth).
AC'OE (3 _syl_.), "hearing," in the New Testament sense (_Rom_. x.
17), "Faith cometh by hearing." The nurse of Fido [_faith_]. Her
daughter is Meditation. (Greek,[Illustration], "hearing.")
With him [_Faith_] his nurse went, careful Acoe,
Whose hands first from his mother's womb
did take him,
And ever since have fostered tenderly.
Phin. Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, ix. (1633).
ACRAS'IA, Intemperance personified. Spenser says she is an enchantress
living in the "Bower of Bliss," in "Wandering Island." She had the
power of transforming her lovers into monstrous shapes; but sir Guyon
(_temperance_), having caught her in a net and bound her, broke down
her bower and burnt it to ashes.--_Faery Queen_, ii. 12 (1590).
ACRA'TES (3 _syl_.), Incontinence personified in _The Purple Island_,
by Phineas Fletcher. He had two sons (twins) by Caro, viz., Methos
(_drunkenness_) and Gluttony, both fully described in canto vii.
(Greek, _akrates_, "incontinent.")
_Acra'tes_ (3 _syl_.), Incontinence personified in _The Faery Queen_,
by Spenser. He is the father of Cymoch'les and Pyroch'les.--Bk. ii. 4
(1590).
ACRES (_Bob_), a country gentleman, the rival of ensign Beverley,
_alias_ captain Absolute, for the hand and heart of Lydia Languish,
the heiress. He tries to ape the man of fashion, gets himself up as a
loud swell, and uses "sentimental oaths," _i. e_. oaths bearing on
the subject. Thus if duels are spoken of he says, _ods triggers and
flints_; if clothes, _ods frogs and tambours_; if music, _ods minnums_
[minims] _and crotchets_; if ladies, _ods blushes and blooms_. This
he learnt from a militia officer, who told him the ancients swore by
Jove, Bacchus, Mars, Venus, Minerva, etc., according to the sentiment.
Bob Acres is a great blusterer, and talks big of his daring, but when
put to the push "his courage always oozed out of his fingers' ends."
J. Quick was the original Bob Acres.--Sheridan, _The Rivals_ (1775).
As thro' his palms _Bob Acres_' valor oozed,
So Juan's virtue ebbed, I know not how.
Byron, _Don Juan_.
Joseph Jefferson's impersonation of Bob Acres is inimitable for
fidelity to the spirit of the original, and informed throughout with
exquisite humor that never degenerates into coarseness.
ACRIS'IUS, father of Dan'ae. An oracle declared that Danae would give
birth to a son who would kill him, so Acrisius kept his daughter shut
up in an apartment under ground, or (as some say) in a brazen tower.
Here she became the mother of Per'seus (2 _syl_.), by Jupiter in the
form of a shower of gold. The king of Argos now ordered his daughter
and her infant to be put into a chest, and cast adrift on the sea,
but they were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman. When grown to manhood,
Perseus accidentally struck the foot of Acrisius with a quoit, and the
blow caused his death. This tale is told by Mr. Morris in _The Earthly
Paradise_ (April).
ACTAE'ON, a hunter, changed by Diana into a stag. A synonym for a
cuckold.
Divulge Page himself for a secure and wilful
Actaeon [cuckold].
Shakespeare, _Merry Wives_, etc., act iii. sc. 2 (1596).
ACTE'A, a female slave faithful to Nero in his fall. It was this
hetaera who wrapped the dead body in cerements, and saw it decently
interred.
This Actea was beautiful. She was seated on
the ground; the head of Nero was on her lap,
his naked body was stretched on those winding-sheets
in which she was about to fold him, to lay
him in his grave upon the garden hill.--Ouida,
_Ariadne_, i. 7.
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES. The last male actor that took a woman's
character on the stage was Edward Kynaston, noted for his beauty
(1619-1687). The first female actor for hire was Mrs. Saunderson,
afterwards Mrs. Betterton, who died in 1712.
AD, AD'ITES (2 _syl_.). Ad is a tribe descended from Ad, son of Uz,
son of Irem, son of Shem, son of Noah. The tribe, at the Confusion
of Babel, went and settled on Al-Ahkaf [_the Winding Sands_], in the
province of Hadramant. Shedad was their first king, but in consequence
of his pride, both he and all the tribe perished, either from drought
or the Sarsar (_an icy wind_).--Sale's _Koran_, 1.
Woe, woe, to Irem! Woe to Ad!
Death, has gone up into her palaces!....
They fell around me. Thousands fell around.
The king and all his people fell;
All, all, they perished all.
Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, i. 41, 45 (1797).
A'DAH, wife of Cain. After Cain had been conducted by Lucifer through
the realms of space, he is restored to the home of his wife and child,
where all is beauty, gentleness, and love. Full of faith and fervent
in gratitude, Adah loves her infant with a sublime maternal affection.
She sees him sleeping, and says to Cain--
How lovely he appears! His little cheeks
In their pure incarnation, vying with
The rose leaves strewn beneath them.
And his lips, too,
How beautifully parted! No; you shall not
Kiss him; at least not now. He will awake soon--
His hour of midday rest is nearly over.
Byron, _Cain_.
ADAM. In _Greek_ this word is compounded of the four initial letters
of the cardinal quarters:
Arktos, [Greek: _arktos_]. north.
Dusis, [Greek: _dusis_]. west.
Anatole, [Greek: _anatolae_]. east.
Mesembria, [Greek: _mesaembria_]. south.
The _Hebrew_ word ADM forms the anagram of A [dam], D [avid], M
[essiah].
_Adam, how made_. God created the body of Adam of _Salzal_, _i.e._
dry, unbaked clay, and left it forty nights without a soul. The clay
was collected by Azrael from the four quarters of the earth, and God,
to show His approval of Azrael's choice, constituted him the angel of
death.--Rabadan.
_Adam, Eve, and the Serpent_. After the fall _Adam_ was placed on
mount Vassem in the east; _Eve_ was banished to Djidda (now Gedda,
on the Arabian coast); and the _Serpent_ was exiled to the coast of
Eblehh.
After the lapse of 100 years Adam rejoined Eve on mount Arafaith
[_place of Remembrance_], near Mecca.--D'Ohsson.
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