Damno'nii, the people of Damnonium, that is, Cornwall, Devon, Dorsetshire, and part of Somersetshire. This region, says Richard of Cirencester (Hist. vi. 18), was much frequented by the Phoenician, Greek, and Gallic merchants, for the metals with which it abounded, and particularly for its tin.

Damaris Wainright. A woman richly endowed by Nature and fortune, whose mother and brother have died insane. She comes to maidenly maturity under the impression which strengthens into belief that madness is her heritage. After long struggles she accepts the hand of one who has striven steadily to combat what he considers a morbid conviction, and makes ready for her marriage. When dressed for the ceremony she sits down to await her bridegroom, and the image of herself in a tarnished mirror suggests a train of melancholy musing that result in dementia.

Arlo Bates, The Wheel of Fire, (1885).

Dam'ocles (3 syl.), a sycophant, in the court of Dionys'ius the Elder, of Syracuse. After extolling the felicity of princes, Dionysius told him he would give him experimental proof thereof. Accordingly he had the courtier arrayed in royal robes and seated at a sumptuous banquet, but overhead was a sword suspended by a single horsehair, and Damocles was afraid to stir, lest the hair should break and the sword fall on him. Dionysius thus intimated that the lives of kings are threatened every hour of the day.—Cicero.

Damoe'tas, a herdsman. Theocritos and Virgil use the name in their pastorals.

Da'mon, a goat-herd in Virgil's third Eclogue. Walsh introduces the same name in his Eclogues also. Any rustic, swain, or herdsman.

Damon and Delia. Damon asks Delia why she looks so coldly on him. She replies because of his attention to Belvidêra. He says he paid these attentions at her own request, "to hide the secret of their mutual love." Delia confesses that his prudence is commendable, but his acting is too earnest. To this he rejoins that she alone holds his heart; and Delia replies:

Lord Lyttleton.

Damon and Musido'ra, two lovers who misunderstood each other. Musidora was coy, and Damon thought her shyness indicated indifference; but one day he saw her bathing, and his delicacy so charmed the maiden that she at once accepted his proffered love.—Thomson, The Seasons ("Summer," 1727).

Da'mon and Pyth'ias. Damon, a senator of Syracuse, was by nature hot-mettled, but was schooled by Pythagore'an philosophy into a Stoic coldness and slowness of speech. He was a fast friend of the republic, and when Dionysius was made "King" by a vote of the senate, Damon upbraided the betrayers of his country, and pronounced Dionysius a "tryant." For this he was seized, and as he tried to stab Dionysius, he was condemned to instant death. Damon now craved respite for four hours to bid farewell to his wife and child, but the request was denied him. On his way to execution, his friend Pythias encountered him, and obtained permission of Dionysius to become his surety, and to die in his stead, if within four hours Damon did not return. Dionysius not only accepted the bail, but extended the leave to six hours. When Damon reached his country villa, Lucullus killed his horse to prevent his return; but Damon, seizing the horse of a chance traveler, reached Syracuse just as the executioner was preparing to put Pythias to death. Dionysius so admired this proof of friendship, that he forgave Damon, and requested to be taken into his friendship.

This subject was dramatized in 1571 by Richard Edwards, and again in 1825 by John Banim.

(The classic name of Pythias is "Phintias.")

Damsel or Damoiseau (in Italian, donzel; in Latin, domisellus); one of the gallant youths domiciled in the maison du roi. These youths were always sons of the greater vassals. Louis VII. (le Jeune) was called "The Royal Damsel;" and at one time the royal body-guard was called "The King's Damsells."

Damsel of Brittany, Eleanor, daughter of Godffrey (second son of Henry II. of England). After the death of Arthur, his sister Eleanor was next in succession to the crown, but John, who had caused Arthur's death, confined Eleanor in Bristol Castle, where she remained till her death, in 1241.

D'Amville (2 syl), "the atheist," with the assistance of Borachio, murdered Montferrers, his brother, for his estates.—Cyril Tourneur, The Atheists Tragedy (seventeenth century).

Dam'yan (2 syl.), the lover of May (the youthful bride of January, a Lombard knight, 60 years of age).—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Merchant's Tale," 1388).

Dan of the Howlet Hirst, the dragon of the revels at Kennaquhair Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot and The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Dan'ae, (3 syl.), an Argive princess, visited by Zeus [Jupiter] in the form of a shower of gold, while she was confined in an inaccessible tower.

Danaid (3 syl), Dan'aus had fifty daughters, called the Danaïds or Dana'ïdês. These fifty women married the fifty sons of Ægyptus, and (with one exception) murdered their husbands on the night of their espousals. For this crime they were doomed in Hadês to pour water everlastingly into sieves.

Tennyson, The Princess, ii.

Dancing Chancellor (The), Sir Christopher Hatton, who attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth by his graceful dancing, at a masque. She took him into favor, and made him both Chancellor and knight of the Garter (died 1591).

therefore.jpg Mons. de Lauzun, the favorite of Louis XIV., owed his fortune to his grace in dancing in the king's quadrille.

Many more than one nobleman owed the favor he enjoyed at court to the way he pointed his toe or moved his leg.—A. Dumas, Taking the Bastile.

Dancing Water (The), from the Burning forest. This water had the power of imparting youthful beauty to those who used it. Prince Chery, aided by a dove, obtained it for Fairstar.

Dandies (The Prince of), Beau Brummel (1778-1840).

Dandin (George), a rich French tradesman, who marries Ang'elique, the daughter of Mons. le Baron de Sotenville, and has the "privilege" of paying-off the family debts, maintaining his wife's noble parents, and being snubbed on all occasions to his heart's content. He constantly said to himself; in self-rebuke, Vous Vavez voulu, vous Vavez voulu, George Dandin! ("You have no one to blame but yourself! you brought it on yourself, George Dandin!")

therefore.jpg There is no such phrase in the comedy as Tu l'as voulu, it is always Vous Vavez voulu.

Dan'dolo (Signor), a friend to Fazio in prosperity, but who turns from him when in disgrace. He says:

Dean Milman, Fazio, ii. I (1815).

Dangeau (Jouer a la), to play as good a hand at cards as Phillippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (1638-1720).

Dan'gerfleld (Captain), a hired witness in the "Popish Plot"—Sir W. Scott, Pe-veril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Dangle, a gentleman bitten with the theatrical mania, who annoys a manager with impertinent flattery and advice. It is said that Thomas Vaughan, a playwright of small reputation, was the original of this character.—Sheridan, The Critic (see act i. I), (1779).

Dan'hasch, one of the genii who did not "acknowledge the great Solomon."

When the Princess Badoura in her sleep was carried to the bed of Prince Camaral'zaman that she might see him, Danhasch changed himself into a flea, and bit her lip, at which Badoura awoke, saw the prince sleeping by her side, and afterwards became his wife.—Arabian Nights ("Camaralzarnan and Badoura.")

Daniel, son of Widow Lackitt; a wealthy Indian planter. A noodle of the softest mould, whom Lucy Weldon marries for his money.—Thomas Southern, Oroonoko (1696).

Dan'nischemend, the Persian sorcerer, mentioned in Donnerhugel's narrative.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Dantê and Beatrice. Some say that Beatrice, in Dantê's Divina Commedia, merely personifies faith; others think it a real character, and say she was the daughter of the illustrious family of Portinari, for whom the poet entertained a purely platonic affection. She meets the poet after he has been dragged through the river Lethê (Purgatory, xxxi), and conducts him through paradise. Beatrice Portina'ri married Simon de Bardi, and died at the age of 24; Dante was a few months older.

Byron, Don Juan, iii. 11 (1820).

Dantê and-Virgil. Virgil was Dante's poetic master and is described as conducting him through the realms depicted in the Divina Commedia.

therefore.jpg The poet married Gemma, of the powerful house of Donati. (See LOVES).

Dantê's Beard. All the pictures of

Dantê which I have seen represent him without any beard or hair on his face at all; but in Purgatory, xxxi., Beatrice says to him, "Raise thou thy beard, and lo! what sight shall do," i.e. lift up your face and look about you; and he adds, "No sooner lifted I mine aspect up ... than mine eyes (encountered) Beatrice."

Dan Devereux. A young Nantucket giant married to a dainty waif rescued in infancy from the sea. He marries her because she is homeless and seems to be in love with him. When too late, he knows that his affections are another's, and sees his wife fascinated by a handsome French adventurer. In an attempt to elope, the wife and her lover are wrecked, and clinging to a spar, are overtaken by the "terrible South Breaker—plunging and rearing and swelling, a monstrous billow, sweeping and swooping and rocking in." Dan in later life, marries Georgia, his first love.—Harriet Prescott Spofford, The South Breaker (1863).

Danton of the Cevennes. Pierre Seguier, prophet and preacher of Magistavols, in France. He was a leader amongst the Camisards.

Danvers (Charles), an embyro barrister of the Middle Temple.—C. Selby, The Unfinished Gentleman.

Daph'ne (2 syl.)., daughter of Sileno and Mysis, and sister of Nysa. The favorite of Apollo while sojourning on earth in the character of a shepherd lad named "Pol."—Kate O'Hara, Midas (a burletta, 1778).

(In classic mythology Daphnê fled from the amorous god, and escaped by being changed into a laurel.)

Daph'nis, a beautiful Sicilian shepherd, the inventor of bucolic poetry. He was a son of Mercury, and friend both of Pan and Apollo.

Daph'nis and Chlo'e, a prose pastoral love story in Greek, by Longos (a Byzantine), not unlike the tale of The Gentle Shepherd, by Allan Ramsay. Gessner has also imitated the Greek romance in his idyll called Daphnis. In this lovestory Longos says he was hunting in Lesbos, and saw in a grove consecrated to the nymphs a beautiful picture of children exposed, lovers plighting their faith, and the incursions of pirates, which he now expresses and dedicates to Pan, Cupid, and the nymphs. Daphnis, of course, is the lover of Chloê.

Dapper, a lawyer's clerk, who went to Subtle "the alchemist," to be supplied with "a familiar" to make him win in horse-racing, cards, and all games of chance. Dapper is told to prepare himself for an interview with the fairy queen by taking "three drops of vinegar in at the nose, two at the mouth, and one at either ear," "to cry hum thrice and buzz as often."—Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610).

Dapple, the donkey ridden by Sancho Panza, in Cervantês' romance of Don Quixote (1605-1615).

Darby and Joan. This ballad, called The Happy Old Couple, is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, v. 153 (March, 1735).

It is also in Plumtre's Collections of Songs, 152 (Camb. 1805), with the music. The words are sometimes attributed to Prior, and the first line favors the notion: "Dear Chloe, while thus beyond measure;" only Prior always spells Chloe without "h."

Darby and Joan are an old-fashioned, loving couple, wholly averse to change of any sort. It is generally said that Henry Woodfall was the author of the ballad, and that the originals were John Darby (printer, of Bartholomew Close, who died 1730) and his wife Joan. Woodfall served his apprenticeship with John Darby.

Dradu-Le'na, the daughter of Foldath, general of the Fir-bolg or Belgæ settled in the south of Ireland. When Foldath fell in battle,

Dargo, the spear of Ossian, son of Fingal.—Ossian, Calthon and Colmal.

Dar'gonet, "the Tall," son of Astolpho, and brother of Paradine. In the fight provoked by Oswald against Duke Grondibert, which was decided by four combatants against four, Dargonet was slain by Hugo the Little. Dargonet and his brother were rivals for the love of Lora.—Sir Wm. Davenant, Gondibert, i. (died 1668).

Dari'us and His Horse. The seven candidates for the throne of Persia agreed that he should be king whose horse neighed first. As the horse of Darius was the first to neigh, Darius was proclaimed king.

Lord Brooke.

Darlemont, guardian and maternal uncle of Julio of Harancour; formerly a merchant. He takes possession of the inheritance of his ward by foul means, but is proud as Lucifer, suspicious, exacting, and tyrannical. Every one fears him; no one loves him.—Thorn. Holcroft, Deaf and Dumb (1785.)

Darling (Grace), daughter of William Darling, lighthouse-keeper on Longs tone, one of the Fame Islands. On the morning of September 7, 1838, Grace and her father saved nine of the crew of the Forfarshire steamer, wrecked among the Fame Islands opposite Bamborough Castle (1815-1842).

Darnay (Charles), the lover and afterwards the husband of Lucie Manette. He bore a strong likeness to Sydney Carton, and was a noble character, worthy of Lucie. His real name was Evrémonde.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859.)

Darnel (Aurelia), a character in Smollet's novel entitled The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760).

Darnley, the amant of Charlotte [Lambert], in The Hypocrite, by Isaac Bicker-staff. In Molière's comedy of Tartuffe, Charlotte is called "Mariane," and Darnley is "Valère."

Dar'-Thula, daughter of Colla, and "fairest of Erin's maidens." She fell in love with Nathos, one of the three sons of Usnoth, lord of Etha (in Argyllshire). Cairbar, the rebel was also in love with her, but his suit was rejected. Nathos was made commander of King Cormac's army at the death of Cuthullin, and for a time upheld the tottering throne. But the rebel grew stronger and stronger, and at length found means to murder the young king; whereupon the army under Nathos deserted. Nathos was now obliged to quit Ireland, and Dar-Thula fled with him. A storm drove the vessel back to Ulster, where Cairbar was encamped, and Nathos, with his two brothers, being overpowered by numbers, fell. Dar-Thula was arrayed as a young warrior; but when her lover was slain "her shield fell from her arm; her breast of snow appeared, but it was stained with blood. An arrow was fixed in her side," and her dying blood was mingled with that of the three brothers.—Ossian, Dar-Thula (founded on the story of "Deirdri," i. Trans, of the Gaelic Soc.)

Dar'tle (Rosa), companion of Mrs. Steerforth. She loved Mrs. Steerforth's son, but her love was not reciprocated. Miss Dartle is a vindictive woman, noted for a scar on her lip, which told tales when her temper was aroused. This scar was from a wound given by young Steerforth, who struck her on the lip when a boy.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Darwin's Missing Link, the link between the monkey and man. According to Darwin, the present host of animal life began from a few elemental forms, which developed, and by natural selection propagated certain types of animals, while others less suited to the battle of life died out. Thus, beginning with the larvae of ascidians (a marine mollusc,) we get by development to fish lowly organized (as the lancelet), thence to ganoids and other fish, then to amphibians. From amphibians we get to birds and reptiles, and thence to mammals, among which comes the monkey, between which and man is a MISSING LINK.

Dashall (The Hon. Tom), cousin of Tally-ho. The rambles and adventures of these two blades are related by Pierce Egan (1821-1822).

D'Asumar (Count), an old Nestor who fancied nothing was so good as when he was a young man.

Daughter (The), a drama by S. Knowles (1836). Marian, "daughter" of Robert, once a wrecker, was betrothed to Edward, a sailor, who went on his last voyage, and intended then to marry her. During his absence a storm at sea arose, a body was washed ashore, and Robert went down to plunder it. Marian went to look for her father and prevent his robbing those washed ashore by the waves, when she saw in the dusk some one stab a wrecked body. It was Black Norris, but she thought it was her father. Robert being taken up Marian gave witness against him, and he was condemned to death. Norris said he would save her father if she would marry him, and to this she consented; but on the wedding day Edward returned. Norris was taken up for murder, and Marian was saved.

Daughter with Her Murdered Father's Head. Margaret Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More, obtained privately the head of her father, which had been exposed for some days on London Bridge, and buried it in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury (1835). Tennyson alludes to this in the following lines:—

The head of the young earl of Derwent-water was exposed on Temple Bar in 1716. His wife drove in a cart under the the arch, and a man, hired for the purpose, threw the young earl's head into the cart, that it might be decently buried—Sir Bernard Burke Mdlle. de Sombreuil, daughter of the Comte de Sombreuil, insisted on the sharing her father's prison during the "Reign of Terror," and in accompanying him to the guillotine.

Dauphin (Le Grand), Louis duc de Bourgoyne, eldest son of Louis XIV., for whom was published the Delphine Classics (1661-1711).

Dauphin (Le Petit), son of the "Grand Dauphin" (1682-1712).

Daura, daughter of Armin. She was betrothed to Armar, son of Armart, Erath a rival lover having been rejected by her. One day, disguised as an old grey-beard, Erath told Daura that he was sent to conduct her to Armar, who was waiting for her. Without suspicion she followed her guide, who took her to a rock in the midst of the sea, and there left her. Her brother Arindal, returning from the chase, saw Erath on the shore, and bound him to an oak; then pushing off the boat, went to fetch back his sister. At this crisis Armar came up, and discharged his arrow at Erath; but the arrow struck Arindal, and killed him. "The boat broke in twain," and Armar plunged into the sea to rescue his betrothed; but a "sudden blast from the hills struck him, and he sank to rise no more." Daura was rescued by her father, but she haunted the shore all night in a drenching rain. Next day "her voice grew very feeble; it died away; and spent with grief, she expired." Ossian, Songs of Selma.

Davenant (Lord), a bigamist. One wife was Marianne Dormer, whom he forsook in three months. It was given out that he was dead, and Marianne in time married Lord Davenant's son. His other wife was Louisa Travers, who was engaged to Captain Dormer, but was told that the Captain was faithless and had married another. When the villainy of his lordship could be no longer concealed he destroyed himself.

Lady Davenant, one of the two wives of Lord Davenant. She was "a faultless wife," with beauty to attract affection, and every womanly grace.

Charles Davenant, a son of Lord Davenant, who married Marianne Dormer, his father's wife.—Cumberland, The Mysterious Husband (1783).

Davenant (Will), a supposed descendant from Shakespeare, and Wildrake's friend,—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, the Commonwealth).

Davenport (Colonel), a Revolutionary veteran who, fighting the battle of Long Island over again in Parson Cushing's family, admits that General Washington poured out "a terrible volley of curses."

"And he swore?" objects Parson Gushing.

"It was not profane swearing. It was not taking GOD'S name in vain, for it sent us back as if we had been chased by lightning. It was an awful hour, and he saw it. It was life or death; country or no country."—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Poganuc People (1878).

David, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel is meant for Charles II. As David's beloved son Absalom rebelled against him, so the Duke of Monmouth rebelled against his father Charles II. As Achitophel was a traitorous counsellor to David, so was the Earl of Shaftesbury to Charles II. As Hushaï outwitted Achitophel, so Hyde (duke of Eochester) outwitted the Earl of Shaftesbury, etc., etc.

Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1681).

David, king of North Wales, eldest son of Owen, by his second wife. Owen died in 1169. David married Emma Plantagenet, a Saxon princess. He slew his brother Hoel and his half-brother Yorworth (son of Owen by his first wife), who had been set aside from the succession in consequence of a blemish in the face. He also imprisoned his brother Rodri, and drove others into exile. Madoc, one of his brothers, went to America, and established there a Welsh colony.—Southey, Madoc (1805).

David Sovine. Witness in a murder case in Edward Eggleston's novel The Graysons. He is put upon the stand and tells a plausible story of "the shooting," which he claims to have seen. The prosecutor then hands him over to the prisoner's counsel, Abraham Lincoln, whose cross-examination of the wretched man concludes thus:

"Why does David Sovine go to all this trouble to perjure himself? Why does he wish to swear away the life of that young man who never did him any harm? Because that witness shot and killed George Lockwood himself. I move your honor that David Sovine be arrested at once for murder!" (1888).

David Swan. A native of New Hampshire, born of respectable parents who has had a "classic finish" by a year at Grilmanton Academy. He lies down to sleep at noon of a Summer's day, pillowing his head on a bundle of clothing. While sound asleep in the shade, he is passed by many people on the road. Five or six pause to survey the youth and comment upon him. Awakened by the stage-coach, he mounts to the top, and bowls away, unconscious that a phantom of Wealth, of Love and of Death had visited him in the brief hour since he lay down to sleep.—Nathaniel Hawthorn, Twice-told Tales, (1851.)

David (St.), son of Xantus, prince of Cereticu (Cardiganshire) and the nun Malearia. He was the uncle of King Arthur. St. David first embraced the ascetic life in the Isle of Wight, but subsequently removed to Menevia, in Pembrokeshire, where he founded twelve convents. In 577 the archbishop of Caerleon resigned his see to him, and St. David removed the seat of it to Menevia, which was subsequently called St. David's and became the metropolis of Wales. He died at the age of 146, in the year 642. The waters of Bath "owe their warmth and salutary qualities to the benediction of this saint." Drayton says he lived in the valley of Ewias (2 syl.), between the hills of Hatterill, in Monmouthshire.

Polyolbion, iv. (1612.)

David and Jonathan, inseparable friends. The allusion is to David the Psalmist and Jonathan the son of Saul. David's lamentation at the death of Jonathan was never surpassed in pathos and beauty.—2 Samuel, i. 19-27.

Davie Debet, debt.

G. Gascoigne, Magnum Vectigal, etc. (died 1775).

Davie of Stenhonse, a friend of Hobbie Elliott.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).

Davies (John), an old fisherman employed by Joshua Geddes the quaker.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III).

Da'vus, a plain, uncouth servitor; a common name for a slave in Greek and Roman plays, as in the Andria of Terence.