Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 14

In _Julius Caesar_, Brutus says to Ca.s.sius, "Peace, count the clock."

To which Ca.s.sius replies, "The clock has stricken three."

Clocks were not known to the Romans, and striking-clocks were not invented till some 1400 years after the death of Caesar.

VIRGIL places aeneas in the port Velinus, which was made by Curius Dentatus.

This list, with very little trouble, might be greatly multiplied. The hotbed of anachronisms is mediaeval romance; there nations, times and places, are most recklessly disregarded. This may be instanced by a few examples from Ariosto's great poem, _Orlando Furioso_.

Here we have Charlemagne and his paladins joined by Edward king of England, Richard earl of Warwick, Henry duke of Clarence, and the dukes of York and Gloucester (bk. vi.). We have cannons employed by Cymosco king of Friza (bk. iv.), and also in the siege of Paris (bk.

vi.). We have the Moors established in Spain, whereas they were not invited over by the Saracens for nearly 300 years after Charlemagne's death. In bk. xvii. we have Prester John, who died in 1202; and in the last three books we have Constantine the Great, who died in 337.

ANAC'REON, the prince of erotic and baccha.n.a.lian poets, insomuch that songs on these subjects are still called Anacreon'tic (B.C. 563-478).

_Anacreon of Painters_, Francesco Albano or Alba'ni (1578-1660).

_Anacreon of the Guillotine_, Bertrand Barere de Vieuzac (1755-1841).

_Anacreon of the Temple_, Guillaume Amfrye, abbe de Chaulieu (1639-1720).

_Anacreon of the Twelfth Century_, Walter Mapes, "The Jovial Toper."

His famous drinking song, "Meum est prepositum ..." has been translated by Leigh Hunt (1150-1196).

_The French Anacreon_. 1. Pontus de Thiard, one of the "Pleiad poets" (1521-1605). 2. P. Laujon, perpetual president of the _Caveau Moderne_, a Paris club, noted for its good dinners, but every member was of necessity a poet (1727-1811).

_The Persian Anacreon_, Mahommed Hafiz. The collection of his poems is called _The Divan_ (1310-1389).

_The Sicilian Anacreon_, Giovanni Meli (1740-1815).

ANACREON MOORE, Thomas Moore of Dublin (1780-1852), poet, called "Anacreon," from his translation of that Greek poet, and his own original anacreontic songs.

Described by Mahomet and Anacreon Moore.

Byron, _Don Juan_, i. 104.

ANAGNUS, Inchast.i.ty personified in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons by Caro, named Maechus (_adultery_), p.o.r.nei'us (_fornication_), Acath'arus, and Asel'ges (_lasciviousness_), all of whom are fully described by the poet. In the battle of Mansoul (canto xi.) Anagnus is slain by Agnei'a (_wifely chast.i.ty_), the spouse of Encra'tes (_temperance_) and sister of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chast.i.ty_). (Greek, _anagnos_, "impure.") (1633.)

ANAGRAMS.

CHARLES JAMES STUART (James I.). _Claims Arthur's Seat_.

DAME ELEANOR DAVIES (prophetess in the reign of Charles I.). _Never so mad a ladie_.

HORATIO NELSON. _Honor est a Nilo_.

MARIE TOUCHET (mistress of Charles IX.). _Je charme tout_ (made by Henri IV.).

Pilate's question, QUID EST VERITAS? _Est vir qui adest_.

SIR ROGER CHARLES DOUGHTY TICHBORNE, BARONET. _You horrid butcher, Orton, biggest rascal here._

A'NAH, granddaughter of Cain and sister of Aholiba'mah. j.a.phet loved her, but she had set her heart on the seraph Azaz'iel, who carried her off to another planet when the Flood came.--Byron, _Heaven and Earth_.

Anah and Aholibamah are very different characters: Anah is soft, gentle, and submissive; her sister is proud, imperious, and aspiring; the one loving in fear, the other in ambition. She fears that her love makes her "heart grow impious,"

and that she wors.h.i.+ps the seraph rather than the Creator.--Ed. Lytton Bulwer (Lord Lytton).

ANAK OF PUBLISHERS, so John Murray was called by lord Byron (1778-1843).

AN'AKIM or ANAK, a giant of Palestine, whose descendants were terrible for their gigantic stature. The Hebrew spies said that they themselves were mere gra.s.shoppers in comparison of them.

I felt the thews of Anakim, The pulses of a t.i.tan's heart.

Tennyson, _In Memoriam_, iii.

(The t.i.tans were giants, who, according to cla.s.sic fable, made war with Jupiter or Zeus, 1 _syl_.)

ANAMNES'TES (4 _syl_), the boy who waited on Eumnestes (Memory).

Eumnestes was a very old man, decrepit and half blind, a "man of infinite remembrance, who things foregone through many ages held," but when unable to "fet" what he wanted, was helped by a little boy yclept Anamnestes, who sought out for him what "was lost or laid amiss."

(Greek, _eumnestis_, "good memory;" _anamne'stis_, "research or calling up to mind.")

And oft when things were lost or laid amiss, That boy them sought and unto him did lend; Therefore the Anamnestes cleped is, And that old man Eumnestes.

Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 9 (1590).

ANANI'AS, in _The Alchemist_, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1610).

("Wasp" in _Bartholomew Fair_, "Corbaccio" in _The Fox_, "Morose" in _The Silent Woman_, all by B. Jonson.)

ANARCHUS, king of the Dipsodes (2 _syl_.), defeated by Pantag'ruel, who dressed him in a ragged doublet, a cap with a c.o.c.k's feather, and married him to "an old lantern-carrying hag." The prince gave the wedding-feast, which consisted of garlic and sour cider. His wife, being a regular termagant, "did beat him like plaster, and the ex-tyrant did not dare call his soul his own."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 31 (1533).

ANASTA'SIUS, the hero of a novel called _Memoirs of Anastasius_, by Thomas Hope (1770-1831), a most brilliant and powerful book. It is the autobiography of a Greek, who, to escape the consequences of his crimes and villainies, becomes a renegade, and pa.s.ses through a long series of adventures.

Fiction has but few pictures which will bear comparison with that of Anastasius, sitting on the steps of the lazaretto of Trieste, with his dying boy in his arms.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."

ANASTASIUS GRuN, the _nom de plume_ of Anton Alexander von Auersperg, a German poet (1806-1876).

ANASTERAX, brother of Niquee [_ne.kay_], with whom he lives in incestuous intercourse. The fairy Zorphee, in order to withdraw her G.o.d-daughter from this alliance, enchanted her.--_Amadis de Gaul_.

AN'CHO, a Spanish brownie, who haunts the shepherds' huts, warms himself at their fires, tastes their clotted milk and cheese, converses with the family, and is treated with familiarity mixed with terror. The Ancho hates church bells.

ANCIENT MARINER (_The_), by Coleridge. For the crime of having shot an albatross (a bird of good omen to seamen) terrible sufferings are visited upon him, which are finally remitted through his repentance; but he is doomed to wander over the earth and repeat his story to others as a warning lesson.

AN'DERSON (_Eppie_), a servant at the inn of St. Ronan's Well, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).

ANDRe (2 _syl_.). Pet.i.t-Andre and Trois Ech.e.l.les are the executioners of Louis XI. of France. They are introduced by sir W. Scott, both in _Quentin Durward_ and in _Anne of Geierstein_.

_Andre_, the hero and t.i.tle of a novel by George Sand (Mde. Dudevant).

This novel and that called _Consuelo_ (4 _syl_.) are considered her best (1804-1876).

ANDRE'OS, Fort.i.tude personified in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (canto x.). "None fiercer to a stubborn enemy, but to the yielding none more sweetly kind." (Greek, _andria_ or _andreia_, "manliness.")