Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 106

DORRILLON _(Sir William_), a rich Indian merchant and a widower. He had one daughter, placed under the care of Mr. and Miss Norberry. When this daughter (Maria) was grown to womanhood, Sir William returned to England, and wis.h.i.+ng to learn the character of Maria, presented himself under the a.s.sumed name of Mr. Mandred. He found his daughter a fas.h.i.+onable young lady, fond of pleasure, dress, and play, but affectionate and good-hearted. He was enabled to extricate her from some money difficulties, won her heart, revealed himself as her father, and reclaimed her.

_Miss [Maria] Dorrillon_, daughter of Sir William; gay, fas.h.i.+onable, light-hearted, accomplished, and very beautiful. "Brought up without a mother's care or father's caution," she had some excuse for her waywardness and frivolity. Sir George Evelyn was her admirer, whom for a time she teased to the very top of her bent; then she married, loved and reformed.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are_ (1797).

D'OSBORN _(Count)_, governor of the Giant's Mount Fortress. The countess Marie consented to marry him, because he promised to obtain the acquittal of Ernest de Fridberg, ("the State prisoner"); but he never kept his promise.

It was by this man's treachery that Ernest was a prisoner, for he kept back the evidence of General Bavois, declaring him innocent. He next employed persons to strangle him, but his attempt was thwarted.

His villainy being brought to light, he was ordered by the king to execution.--E. Stirling, _The State Prisoner_ (1847).

DO'SON, a promise-maker and promise-breaker. Antig'onos, grandson of Demetrios _(the besieger)_ was so called.

DOT. (See PERRYBINGLE.)

DOTHEBOYS HALL, a Yorks.h.i.+re school, where boys were taken-in and done-for by Mr. Squeers, an arrogant, conceited, puffing, overbearing and ignorant schoolmaster, who fleeced, beat, and starved the boys, but taught them nothing.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

The original of Dotheboys Hall is still in existence at Bowes, some five miles from Barnard Castle. The King's Head inn at Barnard Castle is spoken of in _Nicholas Nickleby_, by Newman Noggs.--_Notes and Queries_, April 2, 1875.

DOTO, NYSe, and NERI'Ne, the three nereids who guarded the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot had run the s.h.i.+p in which Vasco was sailing on a sunken rock, these sea nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round,--Camoens, _Lusiad_, ii. (1569).

DOUBAN, the physician, cured a Greek king of leprosy by some drug concealed in a racket handle. The king gave Douban such great rewards that the envy of his n.o.bles was excited, and his vizier suggested that a man like Douban was very dangerous to be near the throne. The fears of the weak king being aroused, he ordered Douban to be put to death.

When the physician saw there was no remedy, he gave the king a book, saying, "On the sixth leaf the king will find something affecting his life." The king finding the leaves stick, moistened his finger with his mouth, and by so doing poisoned himself. "Tyrant!" exclaimed Douban, "those who abuse their power merit death."--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Greek King and the Physician").

_Douban_, physician of the emperor Alexius.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time Rufus).

DOUBLE DEALER, _(The)_ "The double dealer" is Maskwell, who pretends love to lady Touchwood and friends.h.i.+p to Mellefont (2. _syl_.), in order to betray them both. The other characters of the comedy also deal doubly: Thus Lady Froth pretends to love her husband, but coquets with Mr. Brisk; and Lady Pliant pretends to be chaste as Diana, but has a liaison with Careless. On the other hand Brisk pretends to entertain friends.h.i.+p for Lord Froth but makes love to his wife; and Ned Careless pretends to respect and honor Lord Pliant, but bamboozles him in a similar way.--W. Congreve (1700).

DOUBLEFEE _(Old Jacob_), a money-lender who accommodates the Duke of Buckingham with loans.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II).

DOUBTING CASTLE, the castle of giant Despair, into which Christian and Hopeful were thrust, but from which they escaped by means of the key called "Promise."--Bunyan, _Pilgrim's Progress_, i. (1678).

DOUGAL, turnkey at Glasgow, Tolbooth. He is an adherent of Rob Roy.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

DOUGLAS, divided into _The Black Douglases_ and _The Red Douglases_.

I. THE BLACK DOUGLASES (or senior branch). Each of these is called "The Black Douglas."

_The Hardy_, William de Douglas, defender of Berwick (died 1302).

_The Good Sir James_, eldest son of "The Hardy." Friend of Bruce.

Killed by the Moors in Spain (1330).

_England's Scourge and Scotland's Bulwark_, William Douglas, knight of Liddesdale. Taken at Neville's Cross, and killed by William, first earl of Douglas, in 1353.

_The Flower of Chivalry_, William de Douglas, natural son of "The Good Sir James" (died 1384).

James second earl of Douglas overthrew Hotspur. Died at Otterburn, 1388. This is the Douglas of the old ballad of _Chevy Chase._

_Archibald the Grim_, Archibald Douglas, natural son of "The Good Sir James."

_The Black Douglas_, William, lord of Nithsdale (murdered by the earl of Clifford, 1390).

_Tineman_ (the loser), Archibald, fourth earl, who lost the battles of Homildon, Shrewsbury, and Verneuil, in the last of which he was killed (1424).

William Douglas, eighth earl, stabbed by James II., and then despatched with a battle-axe by Sir Patrick Gray, at Stirling, February 13, 1452. Sir Walter Scott alludes to this in _The Lady of the Lake_.

James Douglas, ninth and last earl (died 1488). With him the senior branch closes.

II. THE RED DOUGLASES, a collateral branch.

_Bell-the-Cat_, the great earl of Angus. He is introduced by Scott in _Marmion_. His two sons fell in the battle of Flodden Field. He died in a monastery, 1514.

Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, and grandson of "Bell-the-Cat." James Bothwell, one of the family, forms the most interesting part of Scott's _Lady of the Lake_. He was the grandfather of Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots. He died 1560.

James Douglas, earl of Morton, younger-brother of the seventh earl of Angus. He took part in the murder of Rizzio, and was executed by the instrument called "the maiden" (1530-1581).

The "Black Douglas," introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Castle Dangerous_, is "The Gud schyr James." This was also the Douglas which was such a terror to the English that the women used to frighten their unruly children by saying they would "make the Black Douglas take them."

He first appears in _Castle Dangerous_ as "Knight of the tomb." The following nursery rhyme refers to him:--

Hush ye, hush, ye, little pet ye; Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye; The Black Douglas shall not get thee.

Sir W. Scott, _Tales of a Grandfather_, i. 6.

_Douglas_, a tragedy by J. Home (1757). Young Norval, having saved the life of Lord Randolph, is given a commission in the army. Lady Randolph hears of the exploit, and discovers that the youth is her own son by her first husband, Lord Douglas. Glenalvon, who hates the new favorite, persuades Lord Randolph that his wife is too intimate with the young upstart, and the two surprise them in familiar intercourse in a wood. The youth, being attacked, slays Glenalvon, but is in turn slain by Lord Randolph, who then learns that the young man was Lady Randolph's son. Lady Randolph, in distraction, rushes up a precipice and throws herself down headlong, and Lord Randolph goes to the war then raging between Scotland and Denmark.

_Douglas (Archibald earl of_), father-in-law of Prince Robert, eldest son of Robert III. of Scotland.

_Margery of Douglas_, the earl's daughter, and wife of Prince Robert duke of Rothsay. The duke was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of the earl of March, but the engagement was broken off by intrigue.--Sir W.

Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

_Douglas (George)_, nephew of the regent Murray of Scotland, and grandson of the lady of Lochleven. George Douglas was devoted to Mary Queen of Scots.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

DOUGLAS AND THE b.l.o.o.d.y HEART. The heart of Bruce was entrusted to Douglas to carry to Jerusalem. Landing in Spain, he stopped to aid the Castilians against the Moors, and in the heat of battle cast the "heart," enshrined in a golden coffer, into the very thickest of the foe, saying, "The heart or death!" On he dashed, fearless of danger, to regain the coffer, but perished in the attempt. The family thenceforth adopted the "b.l.o.o.d.y heart" as their armorial device.

DOUGLAS LARDER (_The_). When the "Good Sir James" Douglas, in 1306, took his castle by _coup de main_ from the English, he caused all the barrels containing flour, meal, wheat, and malt to be knocked in pieces and their contents to be thrown on the floor; he then staved in all the hogsheads of wine and ale upon this ma.s.s. To this he flung the dead bodies slain and some dead horses. The English called this disgusting ma.s.s "The Douglas Larder." He then set fire to the castle and took refuge in the hills, for he said "he loved far better to hear the lark sing than the mouse cheep."

[Ill.u.s.tration] _Wallace's Larder_ is a similar phrase. It is the dungeon of Ardrossan, in Ayrs.h.i.+re, where Wallace had the dead bodies of the garrison thrown, surprised by him in the reign of Edward I.

Douloureuse Garde (_La_), a castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, won by Sir Launcelot du Lac, in one of the most terrific adventures related in romance. In memory of this event, the name of the castle was changed into _La Joyeuse Garde_ or _La Garde Joyeuse_.

Dousterswivel (_Herman_), a German schemer, who obtains money under the promise of finding hidden wealth by a divining rod.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

The incident of looking for treasure in the church is copied from one which Lily mentions, who went with David Kamsay to search for hidden treasure in Westminster Abbey.--See _Old and New London_, i. 129.

DOVE (_Dr._), the hero of Southey's novel called _The Doctor_ (1834).

_Dove_ (_Sir Benjamin_), of Cropley Castle, Cornwall. A little, peaking, puling creature, desperately hen-pecked by a second wife; but madam overshot the mark, and the knight was roused to a.s.sert and maintain the mastery.

That very clever actor Cherry (1769-1812), appeared in "Sir Benjamin Dove," and showed himself a master of his profession.--Boaden.