Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 116

Dombey's second wife, but the marriage was altogether an unhappy one, and she eloped with Mr. Carker to Dijon, where she left him, having taken this foolish step merely to annoy her husband for the slights to which he had subjected her. On leaving Carker she went to live with her cousin Feenix, in the south of England.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

EDITH PLANTAGENET (_The lady_), called "The Fair Maid of Anjou," a kinswoman of Richard I., and attendant of Queen Berenga'ria. She married David, earl of Huntingdon (prince royal of Scotland), and is introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Talisman_ (1825).

EDMUND, natural son of the earl of Gloucester. Both Goneril and Regan (daughters of King Lear) were in love with him. Regan, on the death of her husband, designed to marry Edmund, but Goneril, out of jealousy, poisoned her sister Regan.--Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).

_Edmund Andros_. In a letter to English friends (1698) Nathaniel Byfield writes particulars of the revolt in the New England Colonies against the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros.

"We have, also, advice that on Friday last Sir Edmund Andros did attempt to make an escape in woman's apparel, and pa.s.sed two guards and was stopped at the third, being discovered by his shoes, not having changed them." Nathaniel Byfield.--_An Account of the Late Revolution in New England_ (1689).

_Edmund Dante_ (See MONTE CRISTO).

EDO'NIAN BANE (_The_), priestesses and other ministers of Bacchus, so called from Edo'nus, a mountain of Thrace, where the rites of the wine-G.o.d were celebrated.

Accept the rites your bounty well may claim, Nor heed the scoffing of th' Edonian band.

Akinside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).

EDRIC, a domestic at Hereward's barracks.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

EDWARD, brother of Hereward the Varangian guard. He was slain in battle.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus). _Edward (Sir)._ He commits a murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Wilford, a young man who acts as his secretary, was one day caught prying into this chest, and Sir Edward's first impulse was to kill him; but on second thought he swore the young man to secrecy, and told him the story of the murder. Wilford, unable to live under the suspicious eye of Sir Edward, ran away; but was hunted down by Edward, and accused of robbery. The whole transaction now became public, and Wilford was acquitted.--G. Colman, _The Iron Chest_ (1796).

[Ill.u.s.tration] This drama is based on Goodwin's novel of _Caleb Williams_. "Williams" is called _Wilford_ in the drama, and "Falkland"

is called _Sir Edward_.

Sowerby, whose mind was always in a ferment, was wont to commit the most ridiculous mistakes. Thus when "Sir Edward" says to "Wilford," "You may have noticed in my library a chest," he transposes the words thus: "You may have noticed in my chest a library,"

and the house was convulsed with laughter.-- Russell, _Representative Actors_ (appendix).

EDWARD II., a tragedy by C. Marlowe (1592), imitated by Shakespeare in his _Richard II_. (1597). Probably most readers would prefer Marlowe's n.o.ble tragedy to Shakespeare's.

EDWARD IV. of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel ent.i.tled _Anne_ of _Geierstein_ (1829).

EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE, a tragedy by W. s.h.i.+rley (1640). The subject of this drama is the victory of Poitiers.

Yes, Philip lost the battle [_Cressy_] with the odds Of three to one. In this [_Poitiers_]...

The have our numbers more than twelve times told, If we can trust report.

Act iii. 2.

ED'WIDGE, wife of William Tell.--Rossini, _Guglielmo Tell_ (1829).

EDWIN "the minstrel," a youth living in romantic seclusion, with a great thirst for knowledge. He lived in Gothic days in the north countrie, and fed his flocks on Scotia's mountains.

And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy, Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye, Danties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest ministrelsy; Silent when glad, affectionate, yet shy ...

And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why.

The neighbors stared and sighed, yet blessed the lad;

Some deemed him wonderous wise, and some believed him mad.

Beattie, _The Minstrel_, 1. (1773).

EDWIN AND ANGELI'NA. Angelina was the daughter of a wealthy lord, "beside the Tyne." Her hand was sought in marriage by many suitors, amongst whom was Edwin, "who had neither wealth nor power, but he had both wisdom and worth." Angelina loved him, but "trifled with him,"

and Edwin, in despair, left her and retired from the world. One day, Angelina, in boy's clothes, asked hospitality at a hermit's cell; she was kindly entertained, told her tale, and the hermit proved to be Edwin. From that hour they never parted more.--Goldsmith, _The Hermit._

A correspondent accuses me of having taken this ballad from _The Friar of Orders Gray_ ... but if there is any resemblance between the two, Mr. Percy's ballad is taken from mine. I read my ballad to Mr. Percy, and he told me afterwards that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own.--Signed, O.

Goldsmith, 1767.

EDWIN AND EMMA. Emma was a rustic beauty of Stanemore, who loved Edwin "the pride of swains;" but Edwin's sister, out of envy, induced his father, "a sordid man," to forbid any intercourse between Edwin and the cottage. Edwin pined away, and being on the point of death, requested he might be allowed to see Emma. She came and said to him, "My Edwin, live for me;" but on her way home she heard the death bell toll. She just contrived to reach her cottage door, cried to her mother, "He's gone!" and fell down dead at her feet.--Mallet, _Edwin and Emma_ (a ballad).

ED'YRN, son of Nudd. He ousted the earl of Yn'iol from his earldom, and tried to to win E'nid, the earl's daughter, but failing in this, became the evil genius of the gentle earl. Ultimately, being sent to the court of King Arthur, he became quite a changed man--from a malicious "sparrow-hawk" he was converted into a courteous gentleman.--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ ("Enid").

EFESO (_St_.), a saint honored in Pisa. He was a Roman officer [_Ephesus_] in the service of Diocletian, whose reign was marked by a great persecution of the Christians. This Efeso or Ephesus was appointed to see the decree of the emperor against the obnoxious sect carried out in the island of Sardinia; but being warned in a dream not to persecute the servants of the Lord, both he and his friend Pot.i.to embraced Christianity, and received a standard from Michael the archangel himself. On one occasion, being taken captive, St. Efeso was cast into a furnace of fire, but received no injury; whereas those who cast him in were consumed by the flames. Ultimately, both Efeso and Pot.i.to suffered martyrdom, and were buried in the island of Sardinia.

When, however, that island was conquered by Pisa in the eleventh century, the relics of the two martyrs were carried off and interred in the duomo of Pisa, and the banner of St. Efeso was thenceforth adopted as the national ensign of Pisa.

EGALITe (_Philippe_), the duc d'Orleans, father of Louis Philippe, king of France. He himself a.s.sumed this "t.i.tle" when he joined the revolutionary party, whose motto was "Liberty, Fraternity, and Egalite" (born 1747, guillotined 1793).

EGE'US (3 _syl_.), father of Her'mia. He summoned her before The'seus (2 _syl_.), duke of Athens, because she refused to marry Demetrius, to whom he had promised her in marriage; and he requested that she might either be compelled to marry him or else be dealt with "according to law," _i.e._ "either to die the death," or else to "endure the livery of a nun, and live a barren sister all her life." Hermia refused to submit to an "unwished yoke," and fled from Athens with Lysander.

Demetrius, seeing that Hermia disliked him but that Hel'ena doted on him, consented to abandon the one and wed the other. When Egeus was informed thereof, he withdrew his summons, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter with Lysander.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (1592).

[Ill.u.s.tration] S. Knowles, in _The Wife_, makes the plot turn on a similar "law of marriage" (1833).

E'GIL, brother of Weland; a great archer. One day, King Nidung commanded him to shoot at an apple placed on the head of his own son.

Egil selected two arrows, and being asked why he wanted two, replied, "One to shoot thee with, O tyrant, if I fail."

(This is one of the many stories similar to that of _William Tell, q.v._) EGILO'NA, the wife of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings of Spain. She was very beautiful, but cold-hearted, vain, and fond of pomp. After the fall of Roderick, Egilona married Abdal-Aziz, the Moorish governor of Spain; and when Abdal-Aziz was killed by the Moorish rebels, Egilona fell also.

The popular rage Fell on them both; and they to whom her name Had been a mark for mockery and reproach, Shuddered with human horror at her fate.

Southey, _Roderick, etc_., xxii. (1814).

EG'IA, a female Moor, a servant to Amaranta (wife of Bar'tolus, the covetous lawyer).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).

EG'LAMOUR (_Sir_) or SIR EGLAMORE of Artoys, a knight of Arthurian romance. Sir Eglamour and Sir Pleindamour have no French original, although the names themselves are French.

_Eg'lamour_, the person who aids Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, in her escape.--Shakespeare, _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (1594).

EGLANTINE (3 _syl_.). daughter of King Pepin, and bride of her cousin Valentine (brother of Orson). She soon died.--_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

_Eglantine (Madame)_, the prioress; good-natured, wholly ignorant of the world, vain of her delicacy of manner at table, and fond of lap-dogs. Her dainty oath was "By Saint Eloy!" She "entuned the service swetely in her nose," and spoke French "after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe."--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

EGMONT. Dutch patriot executed by order of Philip II. of Spain.--Goethe's _Egmont_ (1788).

EGYPT, in Dryden's satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, means France.

Egypt and Tyrus [_Holland_] intercept your trade.

Part i. (1681).

EGYPTIAN PRINCESS. Nitetis, the real daughter of Hophra, king of Egypt, and the a.s.sumed daughter of Amases, his successor. She was sent to Persia, as the bride of Cambyses, the king, but before their marriage, was falsely accused of infidelity, and committed suicide.--George Ebers, _An Egyptian Princess_.

EGYPTIAN THIEF (_The_), Thyamis, a native of Memphis. Knowing he must die, he tried to kill Chariclea, the woman he loved.