Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 115

_Easy (Sir Charles)_, a man who hates trouble; "so lazy, even in his pleasures, that he would rather lose the woman of his pursuit, than go through any trouble in securing or keeping her." He says he is resolved in future to "follow no pleasure that rises above the degree of amus.e.m.e.nt." "When once a woman comes to reproach me with vows, and usage, and such stuff, I would as soon hear her talk of bills, bonds, and ejectments; her pa.s.sion becomes as troublesome as a law-suit, and I would as soon converse with my solicitor." (act iii.).

_Lady Easy_, wife of Sir Charles, who dearly loves him, and knows all his "naughty ways," but never shows the slightest indication of ill-temper or jealousy. At last she wholly reclaims him.--Colley Cibber, _The Careless Husband_ (1704).

EATON THEOPHILUS (_Governor_). In his eulogy upon Governor Eaton, Dr.

Cotton Mather lays stress upon the distinction drawn by that eminent Christian man between stoicism and resignation.

"There is a difference between a sullen silence or a stupid senselessness under the hand of G.o.d, and a childlike submission thereunto."

"In his daily life", we are told, "he was affable, courteous, and generally pleasant, but grave perpetually, and so courteous and circ.u.mspect in his discourses, and so modest in his expressions, that it became a proverb for incontestable truth,"--"Governor Eaton said it."--Cotton Mather, _Magnolia Christi Americana_ (1702).

EBERSON (_Ear_), the young son of William de la Marck, "The Wild Boar of Ardennes."--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).

EBLIS, monarch of the spirits of evil. Once an angel of light, but, refusing to wors.h.i.+p Adam, he lost his high estate. Before his fall he was called Aza'zel. The _Koran_ says: "When We [_G.o.d_] said unto the angels, 'Wors.h.i.+p Adam,' they all wors.h.i.+pped except Eblis, who refused ... and became of the number of unbelievers" (ch. ii.).

EBON SPEAR (_Knight of the_), Britomart, daughter of King Ryence of Wales.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, iii. (1590).

EBRAUC, son of Mempric (son of Guendolen and Madden) mythical king of England. He built Kaer-brauc [_York_], about the time that David reigned in Judea.--Geoffrey, _British History_, ii. 7 (1142).

By Ebrauk's powerful hand York lifts her towers aloft.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY (_The Father of_), Eusebius of Caesarea (264-340).

[Ill.u.s.tration] His _Historia Fcclesiastica_, in ten books, begins with the birth of Christ and concludes with the defeat of Licinius by Constantine, A.D. 324.

ECHEPH'RON, an old soldier, who rebuked the advisers of King Picrochole (3 _syl_.), by relating to them the fable of _The Man and his Ha'p'orth of Milk_. The fable is as follows:--

A shoemaker brought a ha'poth of milk: with this he was going to make b.u.t.ter; the b.u.t.ter was to buy a cow; the cow was to have a calf; the calf was to be changed for a colt; and the man was to become a nabob; only he cracked his jug, spilt his milk, and went supperless to bed.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, i. 33 (1533.)

This fable is told in the _Arabian Nights_ ("The Barber's Fifth Brother, Alnas-char.") Lafontaine has put it into verse, _Perrette et le Pot au Lait_. Dodsley has the same, _The Milk-maid and her Pail of Milk_.

ECHO, in cla.s.sic poetry, is a female, and in English also; but in Ossian echo is called "the son of the rock."--_Songs of Selma._

ECK'HART _(The Trusty_), a good servant, who perishes to save his master's children from the mountain fiends.--Louis Tieck.

(Carlyle has translated this tale into English.)

ECLECTA, the "Elect" personified in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher. She is the daughter of Intellect and Voleta _(free-will)_, and ultimately becomes the bride of Jesus Christ, "the bridegroom"

(canto xii., 1633).

But let the Kentish lad [_Phineas Fletcher_] ... that sung and crowned Eclecta's hymen with ten thousand flowers Of choicest praise ... be the sweet pipe.

Giles Fletcher, _Christ's Triumph, etc_, (1610).

eCOLE DES FEMMES, a comedy of Moliere, the plot of which is borrowed from the novelletti of _Ser Giovanni_ (1378.)

ECTOR (_Sir_), lord of many parts of England and Wales, and foster-father of Prince Arthur. His son Sir Key or Kay, was seneschal or steward of Arthur when he became king.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 3 (1470.)

[Ill.u.s.tration] Sir Ector and Sir Ector de Maris were two distinct persons.

ECTOR DE MARIS (_Sir_), brother "of Sir Launcelot" of Benwick, _i.e._ Brittany.

Then Sir Ector threw his s.h.i.+eld, his sword, and his helm from him, and ... he fell down in a swoon; and when he awaked, it were hard for any tongue to tell the doleful complaints [_lamentations_] that he made for his brother. "Ah, Sir Launcelot" said he "head of all Christian knights." ... etc.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii.

176 (1470.)

EDEN (_A Journey to the land of_), Col. William Evelyn Byrd of Westover Virginia gives this name to a tract of Southern Virginia surveyed under his direction and visited by him in one of his numerous expeditions for the good of the young colony.

(Colonel Byrd laid out upon his own ground the cities of Richmond and Petersburgh, Va.)--William Evelyn Byrd, _Westover MSS._ (1728-39).

_Eden_, in America. A dismal swamp, the climate of which generally proved fatal to the poor dupes who were induced to settle there through the swindling transactions of General Scadder and General Choke. So dismal and dangerous was the place, that even Mark Tapley was satisfied to have found at last a place where he could "come out jolly with credit."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

EDENHALL (_The Luck of_) an old painted goblet, left by the fairies on St. Cuthbert's Well in the garden of Edenhall. The superst.i.tion is that if ever this goblet is lost or broken, there will be no more luck in the family. The goblet is in possession of Sir Christopher Musgrave, bart. Edenhall, c.u.mberland.

[Ill.u.s.tration] Longfellow has a poem on _The Luck of Edenhall_, translated from Uhland.

EDGAR (959-775), "king of all the English," was not crowned till he had reigned thirteen years (A.D. 973). Then the ceremony was performed at Bath. After this he sailed to Chester, and eight of his va.s.sal kings came with their fleets to pay him homage, and swear fealty to him by land and sea. The eight are Kenneth (_king of Scots_), Malcolm (_of c.u.mberland_), Maccus (_of the Isles_), and five Welsh princes, whose names were Dufnal, Siferth, Huwal, Jacob, and Juchil. The eight kings rowed Edgar in a boat (while he acted as steersman) from Chester to St. John's, where they offered prayer and then returned.

At Chester, while he, [_Edgar_] lived at more than kingly charge.

Eight tributary kings they rowed him in his barge.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).

_Edgar_, son of Gloucester, and his lawful heir. He was disinherited by Edmund, natural son of the earl.--Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).

[Ill.u.s.tration] This was one of the characters of Robert Wilks (1670-1732), and also of Charles Kemble (1774-1854).

_Edgar_, master of Ravenswood, son of Allan of Ravenswood (a decayed Scotch n.o.bleman). Lucy Ashton, being attacked by a wild bull, is saved by Edgar, who shoots it; and the two falling in love with each other, plight their mutual troth, and exchange love-tokens at the "Mermaid's Fountain." While Edgar is absent in France on State affairs, Sir William Ashton, being deprived of his office as lord keeper, is induced to promise his daughter Lucy in marriage to Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw, and they are married; but next morning, Bucklaw is found wounded and the bride hidden in the chimney-corner insane. Lucy dies in convulsions, but Bucklaw recovers and goes abroad. Edgar is lost in the quick-sands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy. Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

[Ill.u.s.tration] In the opera, Edgar is made to stab himself.

_Edgar_, an attendant on Prince Robert of Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time Henry IV.).

EDGARDO, master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucia di Lammermoor [_Lucy Ashton_]. While absent in France on State affairs, the lady is led to believe him faithless, and consents to marry the laird of Bucklaw; but she stabs him on the bridal night, goes mad, and dies. Edgardo also stabs himself. Donizetti, _Lucia di Lammermoor_ (1835).

[Ill.u.s.tration] In the novel called _The Bride of Lammermoor_, by Sir W. Scott, Edgar is lost in the quicksands at Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy.

EDGEWOOD (_L'Abbe_), who attended Louis XVI. to the scaffold, was called "Mons. de Firmount," a corruption of Fairymount, in Longford (Ireland), where the Edgeworths had extensive domains.

EDGING (_Mistress_), a prying, mischief making waiting-woman, in _The Careless Husband_, by Colly Cibber (1704.) EDITH (_Leete_). Name of the two girls beloved and won by Julian West in his first and second lives.--Edward Bellamy, _Looking Backward_ (1888).

_Edith_, daughter of Baldwin, the tutor of Rollo and Otto, dukes of Normandy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The b.l.o.o.d.y Brother_ (1639).

_Edith_, the "maid of Lorn" (_Argylls.h.i.+re_), was on the point of being married to Lord Ronald, when Robert, Edward, and Isabel Bruce sought shelter at the castle. Edith's brother recognized Robert Bruce, and being in the English interest a quarrel ensued. The abbot refused to marry the bridal pair amidst such discord. Edith fled and in the character of a page had many adventures, but at the restoration of peace, after the battle of Bannockburn, was duly married to Lord Ronald.--Sir W. Scott, _Lord of the Isles_ (1815).

_Edith (the lady)_, mother of Athelstane "the Unready" (thane of Conningsburgh).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

_Edith_ [GRANGER], daughter of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton, married at the age of 18 to Colonel Granger of "Ours," who died within two years, when Edith and her mother lived as adventuresses. Edith became Mr.