Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

“ Isolt the Fair was the wife of Sir Mark, king of Cornwall, but Isolt of the White Hands was the wife of Sir Tristram. Sir Tristram loved Isolt the Fair; and Isolt hated Sir Mark, her husband, with the same measure that she loved Sir Tristram, her nephew-in-law. Tennyson’s tale of the death of Sir Tristram is so at variance with the romance, that it must be given separately. He says that Sir Tristram was one day dallying with Isolt the Fair, and put a ruby carcanet round her neck. Then, as he kissed her throat:
Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched. ”

“ She loves Heartfree, a railer against women, and when he proposes marriage to Belinda, a rival beauty, spreads a most impudent scandal, which, however, reflects only on herself. Heartfree, who at one time was partly in love with her, says to her:
“Nature made you handsome, gave you beauty to a miracle, a shape without a fault, wit enough to make them relish ... but art has made you become the pity of our sex, and the jest of your own. ”

“ Sir Galahad was the only knight who could sit in the “Siege Perilous,” a seat in the Round Table reserved for the knight destined to achieve the quest of the holy graal, and no other person could sit in it without peril of his life (pt. iii. 32) . He also drew from the iron and marble rock the sword which no other knight could release (pt. iii. 33) . His great achievement was that of the Holy Graal.
Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres
I find a magic bark;
I leap on board: no helmsman steers
I float till all is dark. ”

“ There should not be a river in the world, no matter how small, thou dost not know the name of, with the nature and habits of all fishes, all fowls of the air, all shrubs and trees, all metals, minerals, gems and precious stones. ”

“ At the end of three months, Don Diego (a man of 60) goes to arrange for the marriage, locking his house and garden, as he supposes, securely; but Leander, a young student, smitten with Leonora, makes his way into the house, and is about to elope with her when the don returns. Like a man of sense, Don Diego at once sees the suitability of the match, consents to the union of the young people, and even settles a marriage portion on Leonora, his ward if not his wife.—I. Bickerstaff, The Padlock. ”

“ The Persians call Gabriel “the angel of revelations,” because he is so frequently employed by God to carry His messages to man.
The Jews call Gabriel their enemy and the messenger of wrath; but Michael they call their friend, and the messenger of all good tidings.
In mediæval romance, Gabriel is the second of the seven spirits which stand before the throne of God, and he is frequently employed to carry the prayers of man to heaven, or bring the messages of God to man.
Longfellow, in the Golden Legend, makes Gabriel “the angel of the moon,” and says that he “brings to man the gift of hope.” ”

“ The duke, her father, hearing of his daughter’s love, commands Huon, on pain of death, to marry Catherine, a freed serf. He refuses; but the countess herself bids him obey. He plights his troth to Catherine, supposing it to be Catherine, the quondam serf, rushes to the wars, obtains great honors, becomes a prince, and then learns that the Catherine he has wed is the duke’s daughter.
Love, or rather affection, according to Plato, is disposed in the liver. ”

“ Master Walter, “the hunchback,” was the guardian of Julia, and brought her up in the country, training her most strictly in knowledge and goodness. When grown to womanhood, she was introduced to Sir Thomas Clifford, and they plighted their troth to each other. Then came a change. Clifford lost his title and estates, while Julia went to London, became a votary of fashion and pleasure, abandoned Clifford, and promised marriage to Wilford, earl of Rochdale. The day of espousals came. The love of Julia for Clifford revived, and she implored her guardian to break off the obnoxious marriage. ”

“ The child had a pale, transparent face; quick in expression, though not beautiful in feature. Her eyes were a soft hazel, and her figure slight. The little dove of the prison was idolized by the prisoners, and when she walked out, every man in Bermondsey who passed her, touched or took off his hat out of respect to her good works and active benevolence. Her father, coming into a property, was set free at length, and little Dorrit married Arthur Clennam, the marriage service being celebrated in the Marshalsea, by the prison chaplain. ”

“ Here, says the poet, “light was silent all,” but shrieks and groans and blasphemies were terrible to hear. This circle is the hell of carnal and sinful love, where Dante recognizes Semirămis, Dido, Cleopatra, and Helen; Achillês and Paris; Tristan, the lover of his uncle’s wife, Isoldê; Lancelot, the lover of Queen Guinever; and Francesca, the lover of Paolo, her brother-in-law (canto v.) . The third circle is a place of deeper woe. Here fall in ceaseless showers, hail, black rain, and sleety flaw; the air is cold and dun; and a foul stench arises from the soil. ”

“ He looks with scorn on Hidalla, a humane and gentle officer in the same army, for his delight is strife, and he exults over the fallen. In counsel Foldath is imperious, and contemptuous to those who differ from him. Unrelenting in revenge; and even when he falls with his death-wound dealt by Fillan the son of Fingal, he feels a sort of pleasure that his ghost would hover in the blast, and exult over the graves of his enemies. Foldath had one child, a daughter, the blue-eyed Dardu-Le ́na, the last of the race.—Ossian, Temora. ”

“ One day she saw the ghost of Guido Cavalcanti hunting with two mastiffs a damsel who despised his love and who was doomed to suffer a year for every month she had tormented him. Her torture was to be hunted by dogs, torn to pieces, disemboweled, and restored to life again every Friday. This vision so acted on the mind of Honoria, that she no longer resisted the love of Theodore, but, “with the full consent of all, she changed her state.”—Dryden, Theodore and Honoria (a poem) .
⁂ This tale is from Boccaccio, Decameron (day v. 8) . ”

“ When Dagonet beheld the coward king, he cried aloud, “Keep thee, sir knight, for I will slay thee!” King Mark, thinking it to be Sir Launcelot, spurred his horse to flight. The fool gave chase, rating King Mark “as a wood man [madman] .” All the knights who beheld it roared at the jest, told King Arthur, and the forest rang with their laughter. The wife of King Mark was Isond (Ysolde) the Fair of Ireland, whose love for Sir Tristram was a public scandal.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. ”

“ Both Harpagon and his son desire to marry Mariane (3 syl.) ; but the father, having lost a casket of money, is asked which he prefers—his casket or Mariane, and as the miser prefers the money, Cléante marries the lady. Harpagon imagines that every one is going to rob him, and when he loses his casket, seizes his own arm in the frenzy of passion. He proposes to give his daughter in marriage to an old man named Anselme, because no “dot” will be required; and when Valère (who is Elise’s lover) urges reason after reason against the unnatural alliance, the miser makes but one reply, “sans dot.” ”

“ Korigans or Korrigans, nine fays of Brittany, who can predict future events, assume any shape, and move from place to place as quick as thought. They do not exceed two feet in height, sing like syrens, and comb their long hair like mermaids. They haunt fountains, and flee at the sound of bells, and their breath is deadly.—Breton Mythology. ”

“ Hell, Dantê says, is a vast funnel divided into eight circles, with ledges more or less rugged. Each circle, of course, is narrower that the one above, and the last goes down to the very centre of the earth. Before the circles begin, there is a neutral land and a limbo. In the neutral land wander those not bad enough for hell nor good enough for heaven; in the limbo, those who knew no sin but were not baptized Christians. Coming then to hell proper, circle 1, he says, is compassed by the river Achĕron, and in this division of inferno dwell the spirits of the heathen philosophers. ”

“ Genna ́ro the natural son of Lucrezia di Borgia (daughter of Pope Alexander VI.) before her marriage with Alfonso, duke of Ferra ́ra. He was brought up by a Neapolitan fisherman. In early manhood he went to Venice, heard of the scandalous cruelty of Lucrezia, and with the heedless petulance of youth, mutilated the duke’s escutcheon by striking out the B, thus converting Borgia into Orgia (orgies) . Lucrezia demanded vengeance, and Gennaro was condemned to death by poison. When Lucrezia discovered that the offender was her own son, she gave him an antidote to the poison, and set him free. ”

“ The duke of Aranza marries the proud, overbearing, but beautiful Juliana, eldest daughter of Balthazar. After marriage, he takes her to a mean hut, and pretends he is only a peasant, who must work for his daily bread, and that his wife must do the household drudgery. He acts with great gentleness and affection; and by the end of the month, Juliana, being thoroughly reformed, is introduced to the castle, where she finds that her husband after all is the 180duke, and that she is the duchess of Aranza. It is an excellent and well written comedy. ”

“ Leon, the hero who rules Margaritta, his wife, wisely, and wins her esteem and wifely obedience. Margaritta is a wealthy Spanish heiress, who married in order to indulge in wanton intrigues more freely. She selected Leon because he was supposed to be a milksop whom she could bend to her will; but no sooner is she married than Leon acts with manly firmness and determination, but with great affection also. He wins the esteem of every one, and Margaritta becomes a loving, devoted, virtuous, and obedient wife.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640) . ”

“ My arm is as firm as ’twas at 20. Oak, oak, isn’t it? Think you my leg is shrunk?—not in the calf a little? When others waste, ’tis growing-time with me. Vigor, sir, vigor, in every joint. Could run, could leap. Why shouldn’t I marry?” So thought Sir William of Sir William, and he married the Widow Green, a buxom dame of 40 summers.—S. Knowles, The Love-Chase (1837) .
Fool. James I. of Great Britain was called by Henri IV. of France, “The Wisest Fool in Christendom” (1566-1625) . ”

“ I ́wein, a knight of the Round Table. He slays the possessor of an enchanted fountain, and marries the widow, whose name is Laudine. Gawein, or Gawain urges him to new exploits, so he quits his wife for a year, in quest of adventures, and as he does not return at the stated time, Laudine loses all love for him. On his return, he goes mad, and wanders in the woods, where he is cured by three sorcerers. He now helps a lion fighting against a dragon, and the lion becomes his faithful companion. ”

“ Diomed, brave as Achilles, but obedient to authority; Ajax the Greater, a giant in stature, fool-hardy, arrogant, and conceited; Nestor, a sage old man, garrulous on the glories of his youthful days; Ulysses, wise, crafty, and arrogant; Patroclos, a gentle friend; Thersites, a scurrilous demagogue.
Hector, the protector and father of his country, a brave soldier, an affectionate husband, a wise counsellor, and a model prince; Sarpedon, the favorite of the gods, gallant and generous; Paris, a gallant and a fop; Troilus, “the prince of chivalry;” Priam, a broken-spirited old monarch. ”

“ Gartha, sister of Prince Oswald of Vero ́na. When Oswald was slain in single combat by Gondibert (a combat provoked by his own treachery) , Gartha used all her efforts to stir up civil war; but Hermegild, a man of great prudence, who loved her, was the author of wiser counsel, and diverted the anger of the camp by a funeral pageant of unusual splendor. As the tale is not finished, the ultimate lot of Gartha is unknown.—Sir William Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668) .
Garth (Sip) , woman of the people, who “puts” everything “honest” to people. ”

“ Isabella, princess of Sicily, in love with Roberto il Diavolo, but promised in marriage to the prince of Grana ́da, who challenges Roberto to mortal combat, from which he is allured by Bertram, his fiend-father. Alice tells him that Isabella is waiting for him at the altar, when a struggle ensues between Bertram and Alice, one trying to drag him into hell, and the other trying to reclaim him to the ways of virtue. ”

“ II. Jupiter, being induced to take the part of Achillês, now sends to Agamemnon a lying dream, which induces him to believe that he shall take the city at once; but in order to see how the soldiers are affected by the retirement of Achillês, the king calls them to a council of war, asks them if it would not be better to give up the siege and return home. He thinks the soldiers will shout “no” with one voice; but they rush to their ships, and would set sail at once if they were not restrained by those privy to the plot. ”

“ A king made a proclamation that, if any man would tell him a story which should last forever, he would make him his heir and son-in-law; but if anyone undertook to do so and failed, he should lose his head. ”

“ Florent, the nephew of “the emperor,” is condemned to death, but is offered his life if he can solve a certain riddle. An old deformed hag promises him the solution if he will agree to marry her afterward. He keeps faith with his deliverer, and on the wedding-night she is transformed into a beautiful woman.—Gower, Confessio Amantis, I.
Chaucer puts this story into the mouth of “The Wife of Bath,” Canterbury Tales. He does not name the hero, but makes him a bachelor of King Artour’s court. ”

“ Maria Theresa Panza, wife of Sancho Panza. She is sometimes called Maria, and sometimes Theresa.—Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605) .
Mariage Forcé (Le) . Sganarelle, a rich man of 64, promises marriage to Dorimène (3 syl.) , a girl under 20, but, having scruples about the matter, consults his friend, two philosophers, and the gypsies, from none of whom can he obtain any practical advice. At length, he overhears Dorimène telling a young lover that she only marries the old man for his money, and that he cannot live above a few months; so the old man goes to the father and declines the alliance. ”