T. Otway, Venice Preserved, i. 1 (1682).

Ad'riel, in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, the earl of Mulgrave, a royalist.

Part i.

(John Sheffield, earl of Mulgrave (1649-1721) wrote an Essay on Poetry.)

Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress, said to have been poisoned by flowers sent to her by a rival. Died in 1730.

AE'acus, king of Oeno'pia, a man of such integrity and piety, that he was made at death one of the three judges of hell. The other two were Minos and Rhadaman'thus.

Aege'on a huge monster with 100 arms and 50 heads, who with his brothers, Cottus and Gygês, conquered the Titans by hurling at them 300 rocks at once. Homer says men call him "Aege'on," but by the gods he is called Bri'areus (3 syl.).

—Milton, Paradise Lost, I. 199.

Aege'on, a merchant of Syracuse, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1593).

Aemylia, a lady of high degree, in love with Am'yas, a squire of inferior rank. Going to meet her lover at a trysting-place, she was caught up by a hideous monster, and thrust into his den for future food. Belphoebê (3 syl.) slew "the caitiff" and released the maid (canto vii.). Prince Arthur, having slain Corflambo, released Amyas from the durance of Paea'na, Corflambo's daughter, and brought the lovers together "in peace and joyous blis" (canto ix.).—Spencer, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).

Aemil'ia, wife of Aege'on the Syracusian merchant, and mother of the twins called Antiph'olus. When the boys were shipwrecked, she was parted from them and taken to Ephesus. Here she entered a convent, and rose to be the abbess. Without her knowing it, one of her twins also settled in Ephesus, and rose to be one of its greatest and richest citizens. The other son and her husband Ægeon both set foot in Ephesus the same day without the knowledge of each other, and all met together in the duke's court, when the story of their lives was told, and they became again united to each other.—Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1593).

Aene'as, a Trojan prince, the hero of Virgil's epic called Aeneid. He was the son of Anchi'ses and Venus. His first wife was Creu'sa (3 syl.), by whom he had a son named Asca'nius; his second wife was Lavinia, daughter of Latinus king of Italy, by whom he had a posthumous son called Aene'as Sylvius. He succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom, and the Romans called him their founder.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth "Brutus," the first king of Britain (from whom the island was called Britain), was a descendant of Æneas.

Aene'id, the epic poem of Virgil, in twelve books. When Troy was taken by the Greeks and set on fire, Aene'as, with his father, son, and wife, took flight, with the intention of going to Italy, the original birthplace of the family. The wife was lost, and the old father died on the way; but after numerous perils by sea and land, Æneas and his son Asca'nius reached Italy. Here Latïnus, the reigning king, received the exiles hospitably, and promised his daughter Lavin'ia in marriage to Æneas; but she had been already betrothed by her mother to prince Turnus, son of Daunus, king of Ru'tuli, and Turnus would not forego his claim. Latinus, in this dilemma, said the rivals must settle the dispute by an appeal to arms. Turnus being slain, Æneas married Lavinia, and ere long succeeded his father-in-law on the throne.

Book I. The escape from Troy; Æneas and his son, driven by a tempest on the shores of Carthage, are hospitably entertained by queen Dido.

II. Æneas tells Dido the tale of the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, and his flight with his father, wife, and son. The wife was lost and died.

III. The narrative continued. The perils he met with on the way, and the death of his father.

IV. Dido falls in love with Æneas; but he steals away from Carthage, and Dido, on a funeral pyre, puts an end to her life.

V. Æneas reaches Sicily, and celebrates there the games in honor of Anchises. This book corresponds to the Iliad, xxiii.

VI. Æneas visits the infernal regions. This book corresponds to Odyssey, xi.

VII. Latinus king of Italy entertains Æneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage, but prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raises an army to resist Æneas.

VIII. Preparations on both sides for a general war.

IX. Turnus, during the absence of Æneas, fires the ships and assaults the camp. The episode of Nisus and Eury'alus.

X. The war between Turnus and Æneas. Episode of Mezentius and Lausus.

XI. The battle continued.

XII. Turnus challenges Æneas to single combat, and is killed.

N.B.—1. The story of Sinon and taking of Troy is borrowed from Pisander, as Macrobius informs us.

2. The loves of Dido and Æneas are copied from those of Medea and Jason, in Apollonius.

3. The story of the wooden horse and the burning of Troy are from Arcti'nus of Miletus.

Ae'olus, god of the winds, which he keeps imprisoned in a cave in the Æolian Islands, and lets free as he wishes or as the over-gods command.

Aescula'pius, in Greek, Askle'pios, the god of healing.

Ae'son, the father of Jason. He was restored to youth by Medea, who infused into his veins the juice of certain herbs.

Æsop, the fabulist, said to be humpbacked; hence, "an Æsop" means a humpbacked man. The young son of Henry VI. calls his uncle Richard of Gloster "Æsop."—3 Henry VI. act v. sc. 5.

Aesop of Arabia, Lokman; and Nasser (fifth century).

Aesop of England, John Gay (1688-1732).

Aesop of France, Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695).

Aesop of Germany, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).

Aesop of India, Bidpay or Pilpay (third century B.C.).

Afer, the south-west wind; Notus, the full south.

Notus and Afer, black with thundrous clouds. Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 702 (1665).

African Magician (The), pretended to Aladdin to be his uncle, and sent the lad to fetch the "wonderful lamp" from an underground cavern. As Aladdin refused to hand it to the magician, he shut him in the cavern and left him there. Aladdin contrived to get out by virtue of a magic ring, and learning the secret of the lamp, became immensely rich, built a superb palace, and married the sultan's daughter. Several years after, the African resolved to make himself master of the lamp, and accordingly walked up and down before the palace, crying incessantly, "Who will change old lamps for new!" Aladdin being on a hunting excursion, his wife sent a eunuch to exchange the "wonderful lamp" for a new one; and forthwith the magician commanded "the slaves of the lamp" to transport the palace and all it contained into Africa. Aladdin caused him to be poisoned in a draught of wine.—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp").

Af'rit or Afreet, a kind of Medusa or Lamia, the most terrible and cruel of all the orders of the deevs.—Herbelot, 66.

Longfellow, The Golden Milestone.

Agag, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achit'ophel, is sir Edmondbury Godfrey, the magistrate, who was found murdered in a ditch near Primrose Hill. Dr. Oates, in the same satire, is called "Corah."

Part i.

Agamemnon, king of the Argives and commander-in-chief of the allied Greeks in the siege of Troy. Introduced by Shakespeare in his Troilus and Cres'sida.

Vixere fortes ante Agamem'nona, "There were brave men before Agamemnon;" we are not to suppose that there were no great and good men in former times. A similar proverb is, "There are hills beyond Pentland and fields beyond Forth."

Agandecca, daughter of Starno king of Lochlin [Scandinavia], promised in marriage to Fingal king of Morven [north-west of Scotland]. The maid told Fingal to beware of her father, who had set an ambush to kill him. Fingal, being thus forewarned, slew the men in ambush; and Starno, in rage, murdered his daughter, who was buried by Fingal in Ardven [Argyll].

Aganip'pe (4 syl.), fountain of the Muses, at the foot of mount Helicon, in Boeo'tia.

Gray, Progress of Poetry.

Ag'ape (3 syl.) the fay. She had three sons at a birth, Primond, Diamond, and Triamond. Being anxious to know the future lot of her sons, she went to the abyss of Demogorgon, to consult the "Three Fatal Sisters." Clotho showed her the threads, which "were thin as those spun by a spider." She begged the fates to lengthen the life-threads, but they said this could not be; they consented, however, to this agreement—

Agapi'da (Fray Antonio), the imaginary chronicler of The Conquest of Granada, written by Washington Irving (1829).

Agast'ya (3 syl.), a dwarf who drank the sea dry. As he was walking one day with Vishnoo, the insolent ocean asked the god who the pigmy was that strutted by his side. Vishnoo replied it was the patriarch Agastya, who was going to restore earth to its true balance. Ocean, in contempt, spat its spray in the pigmy's face, and the sage, in revenge of this affront, drank the waters of the ocean, leaving the bed quite dry.—Maurice.

Ag'atha, daughter of Cuno, and the betrothed of Max, in Weber's opera of Der Freischütz.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

Agath'ocles (4 syl.) tyrant of Sicily. He was the son of a potter, and raised himself from the ranks to become general of the army. He reduced all Sicily under his power. When he attacked the Carthaginians, he burnt his ships that his soldiers might feel assured they must either conquer or die. Agathoclês died of poison administered by his grandson (B.C. 361-289).

Voltaire has a tragedy called Agathocle, and Caroline Pichler has an excellent German novel entitled Agathoclés.

Agathon, the hero and title of a philosophic romance, by C. M. Wieland (1733-1813). This is considered the best of his novels, though some prefer his Don Sylvia de Rosalva.

Agdistes, the name given by Spenser to our individual consciousness or self. Personified in the being who presided over the Acrasian "bowre of blis."

Agdistis, a genius of human form, uniting the two senses and born of an accidental union between Jupiter and Tellus. The story of Agdistis and Atys is apparently a myth of the generative powers of nature.

Aged (The), so Wemmick's father is called. He lived in "the castle at Walworth." Wemmick at "the castle" and Wemmick in business are two "different beings."

Ag'elastes (Michael), the cynic philosopher.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Agesila'us (5 syl.). Plutarch tells us that Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was one day discovered riding cock-horse on a long stick, to please and amuse his children.

A'gib (King), "The Third Calender" (Arabian Nights' Entertainments). He was wrecked on the loadstone mountain, which drew all the nails and iron bolts from his ship; but he overthrew the bronze statue on the mountain-top, which was the cause of the mischief. Agib visited the ten young men, each of whom had lost the right eye, and was carried by a roc to the palace of the forty princesses, with whom he tarried a year. The princesses were then obliged to leave for forty days, but entrusted him with the keys of the palace, with free permission to enter every room but one. On the fortieth day curiosity induced him to open this room, where he saw a horse, which he mounted, and was carried through the air to Bag dad. The horse then deposited him, and knocked out his right eye with a whisk of its tail, as it had done the ten "young men" above referred to.

Agitator (The Irish), Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847).

Aglae, the unwedded sister in T. B. Aldrich's poem, The Sisters' Tragedy (1891).

Agnei'a (3 syl.), wifely chastity, sister of Parthen'ia or maiden chastity. Agneia is the spouse of Encra'tês or temperance. Fully described in canto x. of The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). (Greek, agneia, "chastity.")

Ag'nes, daughter of Mr. Wickfield the solicitor, and David Copperfield's second wife (after the death of Dora, "his child wife"). Agnes is a very pure, self-sacrificing girl, accomplished, yet domestic.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Agnes, in Molière's L'École des Femmes, the girl on whom Arnolphe tries his pet experiment of education, so as to turn out for himself a "model wife." She is brought up in a country convent, where she is kept in entire ignorance of the difference of sex, conventional proprieties, the difference between the love of men and women, and that of girls for girls, the mysteries of marriage, and so on. When grown to womanhood she quits the convent, and standing one evening on a balcony a young man passes and takes off his hat to her, she returns the salute; he bows a second and third time, she does the same; he passes and repasses several times, bowing each time, and she does as she has been taught to do by acknowledging the salute. Of course, the young man (Horace) becomes her lover, whom she marries, and M. Arnolphe loses his "model wife." (See PINCH-WIFE.)

Elle fait l'Agnès. She pretends to be wholly unsophisticated and verdantly ingenuous.—French Proverb (from the "Agnes" of Molière, L'École des Femmes, 1662).

Agnes (Black), the countess of March, noted for her defence of Dunbar against the English.

Black Agnes, the palfry of Mary queen of Scots, the gift of her brother Moray, and so called from the noted countess of March, who was countess of Moray (Murray) in her own right.

Agnes (St.), a young virgin of Palermo, who at the age of thirteen was martyred at Rome during the Diocletian persecution of A.D. 304. Prudence (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens), a Latin Christian poet of the fourth century, has a poem on the subject. Tintoret and Domenichi'no have both made her the subject of a painting.—The Martyrdom of St. Agnes.

St. Agnes and the Devil. St. Agnes, having escaped from the prison at Rome, took shipping and landed at St. Piran Arwothall. The devil dogged her, but she rebuked him, and the large moor-stones between St. Piran and St. Agnes, in Cornwall, mark the places where the devils were turned into stone by the looks of the indignant saint.—Polwhele, History of Cornwall.

Agnes of Sorrento, heroine of novel of same name, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The scene of the story is laid in Sorrento, Italy.

Agraman'te (4 syl.) or Ag'ramant, king of the Moors, in Orlando Innamorato, by Bojardo, and Orlando Furioso, by Ariosto.

Agrawain (Sir) or Sir Agravain, surnamed "The Desirous," and also "The Haughty." He was son of Lot (king of Orkney) and Margawse half-sister of king Arthur. His brothers were sir Gaw'ain, sir Ga'heris, and sir Gareth. Mordred was his half-brother, being the son of king Arthur and Margawse. Sir Agravain and sir Mordred hated sir Launcelot, and told the king he was too familiar with the queen; so they asked the king to spend the day in hunting, and kept watch. The queen sent for sir Launcelot to her private chamber, and sir Agravain, sir Mordred, and twelve others assailed the door, but sir Launcelot slew them all except sir Mordred, who escaped.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 142-145 (1470).

Agrica'ne (4 syl.), king of Tartary, in the Orlando Innamorato, of Bojardo. He besieges Angelica in the castle of Albracca, and is slain in single combat by Orlando. He brought into the field 2,200,000 troops.

Agricola Fusilier, a pompous old creole, a conserver of family traditions, and patriot who figures in George W. Cable's Grandissimes (1880).

Ag'rios, Lumpishness personified; a "sullen swain, all mirth that in himself and others hated; dull, dead, and leaden." Described in canto viii. of The Purple Island, by Phineas Fletcher (1635). (Greek, agrios; "a savage.")

Agrippina was granddaughter, wife, sister, and mother of an emperor. She was granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Claudius, sister of Caligula, and mother of Nero.

therefore.jpgLam'pedo of Lacedaemon was daughter, wife, sister, and mother of a king.

Agripy'na or Ag'ripyne (3 syl.), a princess beloved by the "king of Cyprus'son, and madly loved by Orleans."—Thomas Dekker, Old Fortunatus (a comedy, 1600).

Ague-cheek (Sir Andrew), a silly old fop with "3000 ducats a year," very fond of the table, but with a shrewd understanding that "beef had done harm to his wit." Sir Andrew thinks himself "old in nothing but in understanding," and boasts that he can cut a caper, dance the coranto, walk a jig, and take delight in masques, like a young man.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).

Woodward (1737-1777) always sustained "sir Andrew Ague-cheek" with infinite drollery, assisted by that expression of "rueful dismay," which gave so peculiar a zest to his Marplot.—Boaden, Life of Siddons Charles Lamb says that "Jem White saw James Dodd one evening in Ague-cheek, and recognizing him next day in Fleet Street, took off his hat, and saluted him with 'Save you, sir Andrew!' Dodd simply waved his hand and exclaimed, 'Away, fool!'"

A'haback and Des'ra, two enchanters, who aided Ahu'bal in his rebellion against his brother Misnar, sultan of Delhi. Ahu'bal had a magnificent tent built, and Horam the vizier had one built for the sultan still more magnificent. When the rebels made their attack, the sultan and the best of the troops were drawn off, and the sultan's tent was taken. The enchanters, delighted with their prize, slept therein, but at night the vizier led the sultan to a cave, and asked him to cut a rope. Next morning he heard that a huge stone had fallen on the enchanters and crushed them to a mummy. In fact, this stone formed the head of the bed, where it was suspended by the rope which the sultan had severed in the night.—James Ridley, Tales of the Genii ("The Enchanters' Tale," vi.).

Ahasue'rus, the cobbler who pushed away Jesus when, on the way to execution. He rested a moment or two at his door. "Get off! Away with you!" cried the cobbler. "Truly, I go away," returned Jesus, "and that quickly; but tarry thou till I come." And from that time Ahasuerus became the "wandering Jew," who still roams the earth, and will continue so to do till the "second coming of the Lord." This is the legend given by Paul von Eitzen, bishop of Schleswig (1547).—Greve, Memoir of Paul von Eitzen (1744).

Aher'man and Ar'gen, the former a fortress, and the latter a suite of immense halls, in the realm of Eblis, where are lodged all creatures of human intelligence before the creation of Adam, and all the animals that inhabited the earth before the present races existed.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).

Ah'med (Prince), noted for the tent given him by the fairy Pari-banou, which would cover a whole army, and yet would fold up so small that it might be carried in one's pocket. The same good fairy also gave him the apple of Samarcand', a panacea for all diseases.—Arabian Nights' Entertainments ("Prince Ahmed, etc.").

Aholiba'mah, granddaughter of Cain, and sister of Anah. She was loved by the seraph Samias'a, and like her sister was carried off to another planet when the Flood came.—Byron, Heaven and Earth.

Ah'riman or Ahrima'nes (4 syl.), the angel of darkness and of evil in the Magian system, slain by Mithra.

Aikwood (Ringan), the forester of sir Arthur Wardour, of Knockwinnock Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary.

Aimee, the prudent sister, familiarly known as "the wise one" in the Bohemian household described by Francis Hodgson Burnett in Vagabondia (1889).

Aim'well (Thomas, viscount), a gentleman of broken fortune, who pays his addresses to Dorin'da, daughter of Lady Bountiful. He is very handsome and fascinating, but quite "a man of the world." He and Archer are the two beaux of The Beaux' Stratagem, a comedy by George Farquhar (1705).

I thought it rather odd that Holland should be the only "mister" of the party, and I said to myself, as Gibbet said when he heard that "Aimwell" had gone to church, "That looks suspicions" (act ii. sc. 2).—James Smith, Memoirs, Letters, etc. (1840).

Aircastle, in the Cozeners, by S. Foote. The original of this rambling talker was Gahagan, whose method of conversation is thus burlesqued:

Aircastle: "Did I not tell you what parson Prunello said? I remember, Mrs. Lightfoot was by. She had-been brought to bed that day was a month of a very fine boy—a bad birth; for Dr. Seeton, who served his time with Luke Lancet, of Guise's.—There was also a talk about him and Nancy the daughter. She afterwards married Will Whitlow, another apprentice, who had great expectations from an old uncle in the Grenadiers; but he left all to a distant relation, Kit Cable, a midshipman aboard the Torbay. She was lost coming home in the channel. The captain was taken up by a coaster from Eye, loaded with cheese—" [Now, pray, what did parson Prunello say? This is a pattern of Mrs. Nickleby's rambling gossip.]

Air'lie (The earl of), a royalist in the service of king Charles I.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose.

Airy (Sir George), a man of fortune, in love with Miran'da, the ward of sir Francis Gripe.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Busylody (1709).

A'jax, son of Oïleus [O.i'.luce], generally called "the less." In conseqnence of his insolence to Cassan'dra, the prophetic daughter of Priam, his ship was driven on a rock, and he perished at sea.—Homer, Odyssey, iv. 507; Virgil, Æneid, i. 41.

A'jax Tel'amon. Sophoclês has a tragedy called Ajax, in which "the madman" scourges a ram he mistakes for Ulysses. His encounter with a flock of sheep, which he fancied in his madness to be the sons of Atreus, has been mentioned at greater or less length by several Greek and Roman poets. Don Quixote had a similar adventure. This Ajax is introduced by Shakespeare in his drama called Troilus and Cressida. (See ALIFANFARON).

M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1536-1631).

Ajut and Anningait, in The Rambler.

Ala'ciel, the genius who went on a voyage to the two islands, Taciturnia and Merry land [London and Paris].—De la Dixmerie L'isle Taciturne et l'isle Enjouée, ou Voyage du Génie Alaciel dans les deux Iles (1759).

Aladdin, son of Mustafa, a poor tailor, of China, "obstinate, disobedent, and mischievous," wholly abandoned "to indolence and licentiousness." One day an African magician accosted him, pretending to be his uncle, and sent him to bring up the "wonderful lamp," at the same time giving him a "ring of safety." Aladdin secured the lamp, but would not hand it to the magician till he was out of the cave, whereupon the magician shut him up in the cave, and departed for Africa. Aladdin, wringing his hands in despair, happened to rub the magic ring, when the genius of the ring appeared before him, and asked him his commands. Aladdin requested to be delivered from the cave, and he returned home. By means of his lamp, he obtained untold wealth, built a superb palace, and married Badroul'boudour, the sultan's daughter. After a time, the African magician got possession of the lamp, and caused the palace, with all its contents, to be transported into Africa. Aladdin was absent at the time, was arrested and ordered to execution, but was rescued by the populace, with whom he was an immense favorite, and started to discover what had become of his palace. Happening to slip, he rubbed his ring, and when the genius of the ring appeared and asked his orders, was instantly posted to the place where his palace was in Africa. He poisoned the magician, regained the lamp, and had his palace restored to its original place in China.

Yes, ready money is Aladdin's lamp.

Byron, Don Juan, xii. 12.

Aladdin's Lamp, a lamp brought from an underground cavern in "the middle of China." Being in want of food, the mother of Aladdin began to scrub it, intending to sell it, when the genius of the lamp appeared, and asked her what were her commands. Aladdin answered, "I am hungry; bring me food;" and immediately a banquet was set before him. Having thus become acquainted with the merits of the lamp, he became enormously rich, and married the sultan's daughter. By artifice the African magician got possession of the lamp, and transported the palace with its contents to Africa. Aladdin poisoned the magician, recovered the lamp, and retranslated the palace to its original site.

Aladdin's Palace Windows. At the top of the palace was a saloon, containing tweny-four windows (six on each side), and all but one enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. One was left for the sultan to complete, but all the jewellers in the empire were unable to make one to match the others, so Aladdin commanded "the slaves of the lamp" to complete their work.

Aladdin's Ring, given him by the African magician, "a preservative against every evil."—Arabian Nights ("Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp").

Al'adine, the sagacious but cruel king of Jerusalem, slain by Raymond.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Al'adine (3 syl.), son of Aldus, "a lusty knight."—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 3 (1596).

Alaff, Anlaf, or Olaf, son of Sihtric, Danish king of Northumberland (died 927). When Aethelstan [Athelstan] took possession of Northumberland, Alaff fled to Ireland, and his brother Guthfrith or Godfrey to Scotland.