Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 7

M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1612).

ALBO'RAK, the animal brought by Gabriel to convey Mahomet to the seventh heaven. It had the face of a man, the cheeks of a horse, the wings of an eagle, and spoke with a human voice.

ALb.u.mA'ZAR, Arabian astronomer (776-885).

Chaunteclere, our c.o.c.ke, must tell what is o'clocke, By the astrologye that he hath naturally Conceyued and caught; for he was never taught By Alb.u.mazar, the astronomer, Nor by Ptholomy, prince of astronomy.

J. Skelton, _Philip Sparoiv_ (time, Henry VIII.).

Alcestis or Alcestes, daughter of Pelias and wife of Admetus (_q. v_.) On his wedding-day Admetus neglected to offer sacrifice to Diana and was condemned to die, but Apollo induced the Fates to spare his life if he could find a voluntary subst.i.tute. His wife offered to give her life for his, and went away with death; but Hercules fought with Death and restored Alcestes to her husband. This story is the subject of a tragedy _Alcestes_, by Euripides. Milton alludes to the incident in one of his sonnets:

Methought I saw my late espoused saint Brought to me like Alcestes from the grave.

John Milton, Sonnet _On his deceased Wife_.

William Morris has made Alcestes the subject of one of the tales in his _Earthly Paradise._

A variation of the story is found in Longfellow's _The Golden Legend_, Henry of Hoheneck when dying was promised his life if a maiden could be found who would give up her life for his. Elsie, the daughter of Gottlieb, a tenant-farmer of the prince offered herself as a sacrifice, and followed her lord to Sorrento to give herself up to Lucifer; but Henry heard of it, and, moved by grat.i.tude, saved Elsie and made her his wife.

_Alceste_, the hero of Moliere's comedy _Le Misanthrope_. He has a pure and n.o.ble mind that has been soured and disgusted by intercourse with the world. Courtesy he holds to be the vice of fops, and the manners of society mere hypocrisy. He courts Celmene, a coquette and her treatment of his love confirms his bad opinion of mankind.

AL'CHEMIST (_The_), the last of the three great comedies of Ben Jonson (1610). The other two are _Vol'pone_ (2 _syl_.), (1605), and _The Silent Woman_ (1609). The object of _The Alchemist_ is to ridicule the belief in the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life. The alchemist is "Subtle," a mere quack; and "sir Epicure Mammon" is the chief dupe, who supplies money, etc., for the "trans.m.u.tation of metal." "Abel Drugger" a tobacconist, and "Dapper" a lawyer's clerk, are two other dupes. "Captain Face," _alias_ "Jeremy," the house-servant of "Lovewit," and "Dol Common" are his allies. The whole thing is blown up by the unexpected return of "Lovewit."

ALCIB'ADES (5 _syl._), the Athenian general. Being banished by the senate, he marches against the city, and the senate, being unable to offer resistance, open the gates to him (B.C. 450-404). This incident is introduced by Shakespeare in _Timon of Athens_.

ALCIBI'ADES' TABLES represented a G.o.d or G.o.ddess outwardly, and a Sile'nus, or deformed piper, within. Erasmus has a "curious dissertation on these tables" (_Adage_, 667, edit. R. Stephens); hence emblematic of falsehood and dissimulation.

Whose wants virtue is compared to these False tables wrought by Alcibiades; Which noted well of all were found t've bin Most fair without, but most deformed within.

Wm. Browne, _Britannia's Pastorals_, i. (1613).

ALCI'DES, a name sometimes given to Hercules as the descendent of the hero Alcoeus through his son Amphitryon (_q. v._) The name is applied to any valiant hero.

The Tuscan poet [_Ariosto_] doth advance The frantic paladin of France [_Orlando Furioso_]; And those more ancient do enhance Alcides in his fury.

M. Drayton, _Nymphidia_ (1563-1631).

Where is the great Alcides of the field, Valiant lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury?

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI_. act. iv. sc. 7 (1589).

ALCI'NA, Carnal Pleasure personified. In Bojardo's _Orlando Innamorato_ she is a fairy, who carries off Astolfo. In Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_ she is a kind of Circe, whose garden is a scene of enchantment. Alcina enjoys her lovers for a season, and then converts them into trees, stones, wild beasts, and so on, as her fancy dictates.

AL'CIPHRON, or _The Minute Philosopher_, the t.i.tle of a work by bishop Berkeley, so called from the name of the chief speaker, a freethinker.

The object of this work is to expose the weakness of infidelity.

_Al'ciphron_, "the epicurean," the hero of T. Moore's romance ent.i.tled _The Epicurean_.

Like Aleiphron, we swing in air and darkness, and know not whither the wind blows us.

--_Putnam's Magazine._

ALCME'NA (in Moliere, _Alcmene_), the wife of Amphitryon, general of the Theban army. While her husband is absent warring against the Telebo'ans, Jupiter a.s.sumes the form of Amphitryon; but Amphitryon himself returns home the next day, and great confusion arises between the false and true Amphitryon, which is augmented by Mercury, who personates Sos'ia, the slave of Amphitryon. By this amour of Jupiter, Alcmena becomes the mother of Her'cules. Plautus, Moliere, and Dryden have all taken this plot for a comedy ent.i.tled _Amphitryon_.

ALCOFRI'BAS, the name by which Rabelais was called, after he came out of the prince's mouth, where he resided for six months, taking toll of every morsel of food that the prince ate. Pantag'ruel gave "the merry fellow the lairds.h.i.+p of Salmigondin."--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 32 (1533).

AL'COLOMB, "subduer of hearts," daughter of Abou Aibou of Damascus, and sister of Ganem. The caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, in a fit of jealousy, commanded Ganem to be put to death, and his mother and sister to do penance for three days in Damascus, and then to be banished from Syria. The two ladies came to Bag dad, and were taken in by the charitable syndic of the jewellers. When the jealous fit of the caliph was over he sent for the two exiles. Alcolomb he made his wife, and her mother he married to his vizier.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Ganem, the Slave of Love ").

ALCY'ON "the wofullest man alive," but once "the jolly shepherd swain that wont full merrily to pipe and dance," near where the Severn flows. One day he saw a lion's cub, and brought it up till it followed him about like a dog; but a cruel satyr shot it in mere wantonness. By the lion's cub he means Daphne, who died in her prime, and the cruel satyr is death. He said he hated everything--the heaven, the earth, fire, air, and sea, the day, the night; he hated to speak, to hear, to taste food, to see objects, to smell, to feel; he hated man and woman too, for his Daphne lived no longer. What became of this doleful shepherd the poet could never ween. Alcyon is sir Arthur Gorges.--Spencer, _Daphnaida_ (in seven fyttes, 1590).

And there is that Alcyon bent to mourn, Though fit to frame an everlasting ditty.

Whose gentle sprite for Daphne's death doth turn Sweet lays of love to endless plaints of pity.

Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591).

ALCY'ONE or HALCYONE (4 _syl_.), daughter of Aeolus, who, on hearing of her husband's death by s.h.i.+pwreck, threw herself into the sea, and was changed to a kingfisher. (See HALCYON DAYS.)

ALDABEL'LA, wife of Orlando, sister of Oliver, and daughter of Monodan'tes.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso, etc_. (1516).

_Aldabella_, a marchioness of Florence, very beautiful and fascinating, but arrogant and heartless. She used to give entertainments to the magnates of Florence, and Fazio was one who spent most of his time in her society. Bian'ca his wife, being jealous of the marchioness, accused him to the duke of being privy to the death of Bartoldo, and for this offence Fazio was executed. Bianca died broken-hearted, and Aldabella was condemned to spend the rest of her life in a nunnery.--Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (a tragedy, 1815).

ALDEN (_John_), one of the sons of the Pilgrim fathers, in love with Priscilla, the beautiful puritan. Miles Standish, a bluff old soldier, wis.h.i.+ng to marry Priscilla, asked John Alden to go and plead for him; but the maiden answered archly, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John!" Soon after this, Standish being reported killed by a poisoned arrow, John spoke for himself, and the maiden consented. Standish, however, was not killed, but only wounded; he made his reappearance at the wedding, where, seeing how matters stood, he accepted the situation with the good-natured remark:

If you would be served you must serve yourself; and moreover No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas.

Longfellow, _Courts.h.i.+p of Miles Standish_ (1858).

ALDIBORONTEPHOSCOPHORNIO _[Al'diboron'te-fos'co-for'nio]_, a character in _Chrononhotonthologos_, by H. Carey.

(Sir Walter Scott used to call James Ballantyne, the printer, this nickname, from his pomposity and formality of speech.)

AL'DIGER, son of Buo'vo, of the house of Clarmont, brother of Malagi'gi and Vivian.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

AL'DINE (2 _syl_.), leader of the second squadron of Arabs which joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. Ta.s.so says of the Arabs, "Their accents were female and their stature diminutive"

(xvii.).--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

AL'DINGAR _(Sir)_, steward of queen Eleanor, wife of Henry II. He impeached the queen's fidelity, and agreed to prove his charge by single combat; but an angel (in the shape of a little child) established the queen's innocence. This is probably a blundering version of the story of Gunhilda and the emperor Henry.--Percy, _Reliques_, ii. 9.

ALDO, a Caledonian, was not invited by Fingal to his banquet on his return to Morven, after the overthrow of Swaran. To resent this affront, he went over to Fingal's avowed enemy, Erragon king of Sora (in Scandinavia), and here Lorma, the king's wife, fell in love with him. The guilty pair fled to Morven, which Erragon immediately invaded. Aldo fell in single combat with Erragon, Lorma died of grief, and Erragon was slain in battle by Graul, son of Morni.--_Ossian_ ("The Battle of Lora").

ALDRICK the Jesuit, confessor of Charlotte countess of Derby.--Sir W.

Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

ALDROVAND _(Father)_, chaplain of sir Raymond Berenger, the old Norman warrior.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

ALDUS, father of Al'adine (3 _syl_), the "l.u.s.ty knight."--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi. 3 (1596).

ALEA, a warrior who invented dice at the siege of Troy; at least so Isidore of Seville says. Suidas ascribes the invention to Palamedes.

Alea est ludus tabulae inventa a Graecis, in otio Trojani belli, a quodam milite, nomine ALEA, a quo et ars nomen accepit.--Isidorus, _Orig_. xviii. 57.