Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 74

_The Christian Cicero_, Lucius Coelius Lactantius (died 330).

_The German Cicero_, Johann Sturm, printer and scholar (1507-1589).

CICELY (_Sweet_). Heroine of novel by Marietta Holley, better known as "Josiah Allen's wife." (1885).

_Cicely Humphreys_. Putative daughter of Bothwell and Marie Stuart; who is made the companion of her mother's journeyings and captivity.--C.M. Yonge, _Unknown to History_ (1885).

CYCLINIUS, mistake in one only ma.n.u.script of Chaucer for Cyllenius, a name of Mercury, from his birth-place, Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia.

Cyclinius (Cyllenius) riding in his chevauchie. Chaucer, _Complaint of Mars and Venus_.

CID (_The_) = Seid or Signior, also called CAMPEADOR [_Cam.pa'.dor_]

or "Camp hero." Rodrigue Diaz de Bivar was surnamed "the Cid." The great hero of Castille, he was born at Burgos, 1030, and died, 1099.

He signalized himself by his exploits in the reigns of Ferdinand, Sancho II., and Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castille. In the wars between Sancho II. and his brother (Alphonso VI.), he sided with the former; and, on the a.s.sa.s.sination of Sancho, was disgraced, and quitted the court. He then a.s.sembled his va.s.sals and marched against the Moors, whom he conquered in several battles, so that Alphonso was necessitated to recall him. Both Corneille and Guilhem de Cantro have admirable tragedies on the subject; Ross Neil has an English drama called _The Cid_; Sanchez, in 1775, wrote a long poem of 1128 verses, called _Poema del Cid Campeador_. Southey, in his _Chronicle of the Cid_ (1808), has collected all that is known of this extraordinary hero. (It was _The Cid_ (1636) which gained for Corneille the t.i.tle of "Le Grand Corneille.")

_The Cid's Father_, Don Diego Lainez.

_The Cid's Mother_, Dona Teresa Nnnez.

_The Cid's Wife_, Xime'na, daughter of the Count Lozano de Gormaz. The French called her _La Belle Chimene_, but the _role_ ascribed to her by Corneille is wholly imaginary.

Never more to thine own castle Wilt thou turn Babieca's rein; Never will thy loved Ximena See thee at her side again.

_The Cid_.

_The Cid's Children_. His two daughters were Elvi'ra and Sol; his son, Diego Rodriquez, died young.

_The Cid's Horse_ was Babieca [either _Bab.i.e'.keh_ or _Ba.bee.'keh]._ It survived its master two years and a half, but no one was allowed to mount it. Babieca was buried before the monastery gates of Valencia, and two elms were planted to mark the spot.

Troth it goodly was and pleasant To behold him at their head, All in mail on Babieca, And to list the words he said.

_The Cid_.

(Here "Babieca" is 4 _syl_., but in the verse above it is only 3 _syl_.).

_The Cid's Swords_, Cola'da and Tizo'na ("terror of the world"). The latter was taken by him from King Bucar.

_Cid (The Portuguese_), Nunez Alva'rez Perei'ra (1360-1431).

CID HAMET BENENGELI, the hypothetical author of _Don Quixote_. (See BENENGELI).

Spanish commentators have discovered this pseudonym to be only an Arabian version of _Signior Cervantes. Cid, i.e._, "signior;" _Hamet_, a Moorish prefix; and _Ben-en-geli_, meaning "son of a stag." So _cervato_ ("a young stag") is the basis of the name Cervantes.

CIDLI, the daughter of Jairus, restored to life by Jesus. She was beloved by Sem'ida, the young man of Nain, also raised by Jesus from the dead.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).

CIGARETTE. _Vivandiere_ in the French army in Algiers. Pa.s.sionate, wilful, tender and brave, she gives her life to save that of the man she loves.--Ouida, _Under Two Flags_.

CIMMERIAN DARKNESS. Homer places the Cimmerians beyond the Ocea.n.u.s, in a land of never-ending gloom; and immediately after Cimmeria, he places the empire of Hades. Pliny (_Historia Naturalis_, vi. 14) places Cimmeria near the Lake Avernus, in Italy, where "the sun never penetrates." Cimmeria is now called _Kertch_, but the Cossacks call it _Prekla (h.e.l.l)._

CINCINNATUS, virtuous Roman patriot called from the plough to serve the State.

CINCINNA'TUS OF THE AMERICANS, George Was.h.i.+ngton (1732-1799).

CINDERELLA, the heroine of a fairy tale. She was the drudge of the house, "put upon" by her two elder sisters. While the elder sisters were at a ball, a fairy came, and having arrayed the "little cinder-girl" in ball costume, sent her in a magnificent coach to the palace where the ball was given. The prince fell in love with her, but knew not who she was. This, however, he discovered by means of a "gla.s.s slipper" which she dropped, and which fitted no foot but her own.

(This tale is substantially the same as that of _Rhodopis and Psammitichus_ in aelian _[Var. Hist_., xiii., 32]. A similar one is also told in Strabo _(Geog._ xvii).)

The _gla.s.s_ slipper should be the _fur_ slipper, _pantoufle en vair_, not _en verre_; our version being taken from the _Contes de Fees_ of C. Perrault (1697).

CINDY, maid-of-all-work in the Derrick household, in Susan Warner's _Say and Seal._ With the freedom of Yankee help she is "'boun' to confess" whatever occurs to her mind in season and out of season.

(1860).

CINNA, a tragedy by Pierre Corneille (1637). Mdlle. Rachel, in 1838, took the part of Emilie the heroine, and made a great sensation in Paris.

CINQ-MARS, (_H. Coiffier de Ruze, marquis de_), favorite of Louis XIII. and _protege_ of Richelieu (1620-1642). Irritated by the cardinal's opposition to his marriage with Marie de Gonzague, Cinq-Mars tried to overthrow or to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. Gaston, the king's brother, sided with the conspirator, but Richelieu discovered the plot, and Cinq-Mars, being arrested, was condemned to death. Alfred de Vigny published, in 1826, a novel (in imitation of Scott's historical novels) on the subject, under the t.i.tle of _Cinq-Mars._

CINQUECENTO (3 _syl_.), the fifteenth century of Italian notables.

They were Ariosto (1474-1533), Ta.s.so (1544-1595), and Giovanni Rucellai (1475-1526), _poets_; Raphael (1483-1520), t.i.tian (1480-1576), and Michael Angelo (1474-1564), _painters_. These, with Machiavelli, Luigi Alamanni, Bernardo Baldi, etc., make up what is termed the "Cinquecentesti." The word means the worthies of the '500 epoch, and it will be observed that they all flourished between 1500 and the close of that century. (See SEICENTA).

Ouida writes in winter mornings at a Venetian writing-table of cinquecento work that would enrapture the souls of the virtuosi who haunt Christie's.--E. Yates, _Celebrities_, xix.

c.i.p.aN'GO OR ZIPANGO, a marvellous island described in the _Voyages_ of Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller. He described it as lying some 1500 miles from land. This island was an object of diligent search with Columbus and other early navigators, but belongs to that wonderful chart which contains the _El Dorado_ of Sir Walter Raleigh, the _Utopia_ of Sir Thomas More, the _Atlantis_ of Lord Bacon, the _Laputa_ of Dean Swift, and other places better known in story than in geography.

CIRCE (2 _syl_.), a sorceress who metamorphosed the companions of Ulysses into swine. Ulysses resisted the enchantment by means of the herb _moly_, given him by Mercury.

Who knows not Circe, The daughter of the sun, whose charmed cup Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a grovelling swine?

Milton, _Comus_ (1634).

CIRCUIT _(Serjeant)_, in Foote's farce called _The Lame Lover_.

CIS'LEY or CISS, any dairy-maid. Tusser frequently speaks of the "dairy-maid Cisley," and in _April Husbandry_ tells Ciss she must carefully keep these ten guests from her cheeses: Gehazi, Lot's wife, Argus, Tom Piper, Crispin, Lazarus, Esau, Mary Maudlin, Gentiles and bishops. (1)Gehazi, because a cheese should never be a dead white, like Gehazi the leper. (2) Lot's wife, because a cheese should not be too salt, like Lot's wife. (3) Argus, because a cheese should not be full of eyes, like Argus. (4) Tom Piper, because a cheese should not be "hoven and puffed," like the cheeks of a piper. (5) Crispin, because a cheese should not be leathery, as if for a cobbler's use.

(6) Lazarus, because a cheese should not be poor, like the beggar Lazarus. (7) Esau, because a cheese should not be hairy, like Esau.

(8) Mary Maudlin, because a cheese should not be full of whey, as Mary Maudlin was full of tears. (9) Gentiles, because a cheese should not be full of maggots or gentils. (10) Bishops, because a cheese should not be made of burnt milk, or milk "banned by a bishop."--T. Tusser, _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_, ("April," 1557).

CITIZEN _(The)_, a farce by Arthur Murphy. George Philpot is destined to be the husband of Maria Wilding, but as Maria Wilding is in love with Beaufort, she behaves so sillily to her betrothed that he refuses to marry her, whereupon she gives her hand to Beaufort (1757).

CITY MADAM _(The)_, a comedy by Philip Ma.s.singer (1633). She was the daughter of a farmer named Goodman Humble, and married a merchant, Sir John Frugal, who became immensely wealthy, but retired from business, and by a deed of gift transferred his wealth to his brother Luke, whereby madam and her daughter were both dependent on him. During her days of wealth the extravagance of Lady Frugal was unbounded, and her dress costly beyond conception; but Luke reduced her state to that of farmers' daughters in general. Luke says to her:

You were served in plate; Stirred not a foot without a coach, and going To church, not for devotion, but to show Your pomp.

_The City Madam_ is an extraordinarily spirited picture of actual life, idealized into a semi-comic strain of poetry.--Professor Spaulding.

CLADPOLE _(Tim)_, Richard Lower, of Chiddingly, author of _Tom Cladpole's Journey to Lunnun_ (1831); _Jan Cladpole's Trip to 'Merricur_ (1844), etc.

CLAIMANT _(The)._ William Knollys, in in _The Great Banbury Case_, claimed the baronetcy, but was non-suited. This suit lasted 150 years (1660-1811).

Douglas _v_. Hamilton, in _The Great Douglas Case_, was settled in favor of the claimant, who was at once raised to the peerage under the name and t.i.tle of Baron Douglas of Douglas Castle, but was not restored to the t.i.tle of duke (1767-1769).

Tom Provis, a schoolmaster of ill repute, who had married a servant of Sir Hugh Smithes of Ashton Hall, near Bristol, claimed the baronetcy and estates, but was non-suited and condemned to imprisonment for twenty-one years (1853).