Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 128

[Greek, _eumnestis_, "good memory," _anamnestis_, "research."--_Faery Queen_, ii. 9 (1590).]

EUNICE (_Alias "Nixey_"). A friendless, ignorant girl, who bears an illegitimate child, while almost a child herself. She is taken from the street by a Christian woman and taught true purity and virtue.

In her horror at the discovery of the foulness of the sin, she vows herself to the life of an uncloistered nun. Her death in a thunderstorm is translation rather than dissolution.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps _Hedged In_ (1870).

EUPHRA'SIA, daughter of Lord Dion, a character resembling "Viola" in Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. Being in love with Prince Philaster, she a.s.sumes boy's attire, calls herself "Bellario," and enters the prince's service. Philaster transfers Bellario to the Princess Arethusa, and then grows jealous of the lady's love for her tender page. The s.e.x of Bellario being discovered, shows the groundlessness of this jealousy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Philaster_ or _Love Lies A-bleeding_ (1608).

_Euphra'sia_, "the Grecian daughter," was daughter of Evander, the old king of Syracuse (dethroned by Dionysius, and kept prisoner in a dungeon on the summit of a rock). She was the wife of Phocion, who had fled from Syracuse to save their infant son. Euphrasia, having gained admission to the dungeon where her aged father was dying from starvation, "fostered him at her breast by the milk designed for her own babe, and thus the father found a parent in the child." When Timoleon took Syracuse, Dionysius was about to stab Evander, but Euphrasia, rus.h.i.+ng forward, struck the tyrant dead upon the spot.--A.

Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).

[Ill.u.s.tration] The same tale is told-of Xantippe, who preserved the life of her father Cimo'nos in prison. The guard, astonished that the old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the secret.

There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light What do I gaze on!...

An old man, and a female young and fair, Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose veins

The blood is nectar ...

Here youth offers to old age the food, The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire, To whom she renders back the debt of blood.

Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 148 (1817).

EU'PHRASY, the herb eye-bright; so called because it was once supposed to be efficacious in clearing the organs of sight. Hence the archangel Michael purged the eyes of Adam with it, to enable him to see into the distant future.--See Milton, _Paradise Lost_, xi. 414-421 (1665).

EU'PHUES (3 _syll_), the chief character in John Lilly's _Euphues or The Anatomy of Wit_, and _Euphues and his England_. He is an Athenian gentleman, distinguished for his elegance, wit, love-making, and roving habits. Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees"

_(Henry V_. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphues was designed to exhibit the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called _Euphues' Golden Legacy_ (1590).

"The commonwealth of your bees," replied Euphues, "did so delight me that I was not a little sorry that either their estates have not been longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple judgment, there was such an orderly government that men may not be ashamed to imitate it."

J. Lilly, _Euphues_ (1581).

(The romances of Calprenede and Scuderi bear the same relation to the jargon of Louis XIV., as the _Euphues_ of Lilly to that of Queen Elizabeth.)

EURE'KA! or rather HEUKE'KA! ("I have discovered it!") The exclamation of Archime'des, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hi'ero's crown.

The tale is, that Hiero suspected that a craftsman to whom he had given a certain weight of gold to make into a crown had alloyed the metal, and he asked Archimedes to ascertain if his suspicion was well founded. The philosopher, getting into his bath, observed that the water ran over, and it flashed into his mind that his body displaced its own bulk of water. Now, suppose Hiero gave the goldsmith 1 lb. of gold, and the crown weighed 1 lb., it is manifest that if the crown was pure gold, both ought to displace the same quant.i.ty of water; but they did not do so, and therefore the gold had been tampered with.

Archimedes next immersed in water 1 lb. of silver, and the difference of water displaced soon gave the clue to the amount of alloy introduced by the artificer.

Vitruvius says: "When the idea occurred to the philosopher, he jumped out of his bath, and without waiting to put on his clothes, he ran home, exclaiming, '_Heureka! heureka!_'"

EURO'PA. _The Fight at Dame Europa's School_, written by the Rev.

H.W. Pullen, minor canon of Salisbury Cathedral. A skit on the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871).

EUROPE'S LIBERATOR. So Wellington was called after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769-1852).

Oh, Wellington ... called "Saviour of the Nations"

And "Europe's Liberator."

Byron, _Don Juan_, ix. 5 (1824).

EU'RUS, the east wind; Zephyr, the west wind; No'tus, the south wind; Bo'reas, the north wind. Eurus, in Italian, is called the Lev'ant ("rising of the sun"), and Zephyr is called Po'nent, ("setting of the sun ").

Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds-- Eurus and Zephyr.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 705 (1665).

EURYD'ICE (_4 syl_.), the wife of Orpheus, killed by a serpent on her wedding night.

Orpheus went down to Hades to crave for her restoration to life, and Pluto said she should follow him to earth provided he did not look back. When the poet was stepping on the confines of our earth, he turned to see if Eurydice' was following, and just caught a glance of her as she was s.n.a.t.c.hed back into the shades below.

(Pope tells the tale in his Pindaric poem, called _Ode on St.

Cecilia's Day_, 1709.)

EURYT'ION, the herdsman of Grer'yon. He never slept day nor night, but walked unceasingly among his herds with his two-headed dog Orthros.

"Hercules them all did overcome."--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, v. 10 (1696).

EUS'TACE, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf (a follower of Prince John).--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

_Eustace, (Father)_, or "Father Eustatius," the superior and afterwards abbot of St. Mary's. He was formerly William Allan, and the friend of Henry Warden (afterwards the Protestant preacher).--Sir W.

Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Eustace (Charles)_, a pupil of Ignatius Polyglot. He has been clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named Frederick. Charles Eustace confides his sc.r.a.pe to Polyglot, and conceals his young wife in the tutor's private room. Polyglot is thought to be a libertine, but the truth comes out, and all parties are reconciled.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat._

_Eus'tace (Jack)_, the lover of Lucinda, and "a very worthy young fellow," of good character and family. As Justice Woodc.o.c.k was averse to the marriage, Jack introduced himself as a music-master, and Sir William Meadows, who recognized him, persuaded the justice to consent to the marriage of the young couple. This he was the more ready to do as his sister Deborah said positively he "should not do it."--Is.

Bickerstaff, _Love in a Village_.

EVA (_St. Clair_). Lovely child, the daughter of Uncle Tom's master, and Uncle Tom's warm friend.--H.B. Stowe, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1851).

E'VA, daughter of Torquil of the Oak. She is betrothed to Ferquhard Day.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

EVAD'NE (3 _syl._), wife of Kap'aneus (_3 syl_.). She threw herself on the funeral pile of her husband, and was consumed with him.

_Evad'ne_ (3 _syl_.), sister of Melantius. Amintor was compelled by the king to marry her, although he was betrothed to Aspasia (the "maid" whose death forms the tragical event of the drama).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).

The purity of female virtue in Aspasia is well contrasted with the guilty boldness of Evadne, and the rough soldier-like bearing and manly feeling of Melantius render the selfish sensuality of the king more hateful and disgusting.--R. Chambers, _English Literature_, i.

204.

_Evad'ne_ or The Statue, a drama by Sheil (1820). Ludov'ico, the chief minister of Naples, heads a conspiracy to murder the king and seize the crown; his great stumbling-block is the marquis of Colonna, a high-minded n.o.bleman, who cannot be corrupted. The sister of the marquis is Evadne (3 _syl_.), plighted to Vicentio. Ludovico's scheme is to get Colonna to murder Vicentio and the king, and then to debauch Evadne. With this in view, he persuades Vicentio that Evadne is the king's _fille d'amour_, and that she marries him merely as a flimsy cloak, but he adds "Never mind, it will make your fortune." The proud Neapolitan is disgusted, and flings off Evadne as a viper. Her brother is indignant, challenges the troth-plight lover to a duel, and Vicentio falls. Ludovico now irritates Colonna by talking of the king's amour, and induces him to invite the king to a banquet and then murder him. The king goes to the banquet, and Evadne shows him the statues of the Colonna family, and amongst them one of her own father, who at the battle of Milan had saved the king's life by his own. The king is struck with remorse, but at this moment Ludovico enters and the king conceals himself behind the statue. Colonna tells the traitor minister the deed is done, and Ludovico orders his instant arrest, gibes him as his dupe, and exclaims, "Now I am king indeed!" At this moment the king comes forward, releases Colonna, and orders Ludovico to be arrested. The traitor draws his sword, and Colonna kills him.

Vicentio now enters, tells how his ear has been abused, and marries Evadne.

EVAN DHU OF LOCHIEL, a Highland chief in the army of Montrose.--Sir W.

Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

EVAN DHU M'COMb.i.+.c.h, the foster-brother of M'Ivor.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

EVANDALE (_The Right Hon. W. Maxwell, lord_), in the royal army under the duke of Monmouth. He is a suitor of Edith b.e.l.l.e.n.den, the granddaughter of Lady Margaret b.e.l.l.e.n.den, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

EVAN'DER, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece."

He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe."

When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tryant to the heart.--A. Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."