Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

“ One day Sir Huldbrand took shelter in the fisherman’s hut, fell in love with Undine, and married her. Being thus united to a man, the sylph received a soul. Not long after the wedding Sir Huldbrand returned homeward, but stopped awhile in the city, which lay on the other side of the forest, and met there Bertalda, a beautiful but haughty lady, whom they invited to go with them to their home, the Castle Ringstettin. For a time, the knight was troubled with visions, but Undine had the mouth of a well closed up, and thus prevented the water-sprites from getting into the castle. ”

“ When Sir Tristram was wounded in fighting for his uncle, Mark, he went to Ireland, and was cured by the Fair Ysolde. On his return to Cornwall he gave his uncle such a glowing account of the young princess that he was sent to propose offers of marriage, and to conduct the lady to Cornwall. The brave young knight and the fair damsel fell in love with each other on their voyage, and, although Ysolde married King Mark, she retained to the end her love for Sir Tristram. King Mark, jealous of his nephew, banished him from Cornwall, and he went to Wales, where he performed prodigies of valor. ”

“ The king and his knights came to the river and they found there a stone floating, as it had been of red marble, and therein stuck a fair and rich sword, and in the pomell thereof were precious stones, wrought with subtil letters of gold. Then the barons read the letters, which said in this wise: Never shall man take me hence, but only he by whom I ought to hang, and he shall be the best knight of the world. [Sir Galahad drew the sword easily, but no other knight was able to pull it forth.] --Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. ”

“ One day Sebastian, the twin-brother of Viola, being attacked in a street brawl, before Olivia’s house, the lady, thinking him to be the page, invited him in, and they soon grew to such familiar terms that they agreed to become man and wife. About the same time, the duke discovered his page to be a beautiful woman, and as he could not marry his first love, he made Viola his wife, and the duchess of Illyria. ”

“ British Traditions. King Arthur is not dead in Avillon, but is merely metamorphosed into a raven. In due time he will awake, resume his proper person, claim the throne of Britain, and make it the head and front of all the kingdoms of the globe. “Because King Arthur bears for the nonce the semblance of a raven, the people of Britain never kill a raven” (Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. ii. 5) . ”

“ This dog has been stolen in youth from another gentleman, and fraudulently sold to the confiding hero who, having no guile himself, has no suspicion that it lurks in others; but Toby, entertaining a grateful recollection of his old master, and scorning to attach himself to any new patron, not only refuses to smoke a pipe at the bidding of Punch but (to mark his old fidelity more strongly) seizes him by the nose, and wrings the same with violence, at which instance of canine attachment the spectators are always deeply affected.--C. Dickens. ”

“ Julia, unable to bear the absence of her lover, dressed in boy’s clothes, and, going to Milan, hired herself as a page to Protheus, and when Silvia was lost, the duke, with Thurio, Protheus and his page, went in quest of her. She was soon discovered, but when Thurio attempted to take possession of her, Valentine said to him, “I dare you to touch her;” and Thurio replied, “None but a fool would fight for a girl.” ”

“ One day, in a hunt, Prince Florizel sees Perdita and falls in love with her; but Polixenês, his father, tells her that she and the shepherd shall be put to death if she encourages the foolish suit. Florizel and Perdita now flee to Sicily, and being introduced to Leontês, it is soon discovered that Perdita is his lost daughter. Polixenês tracks his son to Sicily, and being told of the discovery, gladly consents to the union he had before forbidden. Pauli ́na now invites the royal party to inspect a statue of Hermionê in her house, and the statue turns out to be the living queen. ”

“ Whittle (Thomas) , an old man of 63, who wants to cajole his nephew out of his lady-love, the Widow Brady, only 23 years of age. To this end he assumes the airs, the dress, the manners, and the walk of a beau. For his thick flannels he puts on a cambric shirt, open waist-coat, and ruffles; for his Welsh wig he wears a pigtail and chapeau bras; for his thick cork soles he trips like a dandy in pumps. He smirks, he titters, he tries to be quite killing. He discards history and solid reading for the Amorous Repository, Cupid’s Revels, Hymen’s Delight, and Ovid’s Art of Love. ”

“ In the Troilus and Creseide of Chaucer, and the Troilus and Cressida of Shakespeare, we have a story unknown to classic fiction. Chaucer pretends to take it from Lollius, but who Lollius was, has never been discovered. In this story Troilus falls in love with Cressid, daughter of the priest Chalchas, and Pandărus is employed as a go-between. After Troilus has obtained a promise of marriage from the priest’s daughter, an exchange of prisoners is arranged, and Cressid, falling to the lot of Diomed, prefers her new master to her Trojan lover. ”

“ The guardian, uncle-in-law and first cousin of the duke of Brunswick was called “The Best Wigged Prince in Christendom.”
Wild (Jonathan) , a cool, calculating, heartless villain, with the voice of a Stentor. He was born at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, and, like Jack Sheppard, was the son of a carpenter.
He had ten maxims: (1) Never do more mischief than is absolutely necessary for success; (2) Know no distinction, but let self-interest be the one principle of action; (3) Let not your shirt know the thoughts of your heart; (4) Never forgive an enemy; (5) Shun poverty and distress ”

“ Like Ulysses, the leader of these seamen made his escape by the aid of a ram, but with this difference--he did not, like Ulysses, cling to the ram’s belly, but fastened the ram’s bell round his neck and threw a sheep-skin over his shoulders. When Tartaro laid hold of the fugitive, the man escaped, leaving the sheep-skin in the giant’s hand.
Tartar, handsome, “eminently well-dressed” and vivacious cousin of the Crittendens, into whose family Phœbe has married. The country-bred bride conceives the fancy that the dashing belle is beloved of her (Phœbe’s) husband, and leaves him in consequence. ”

“ In order to save the young man from ruin, the father pretends to be dead, disguises himself as a German baron, and, with the aid of coadjutors, becomes the chief creditor of the young scapegrace.
Sir George Wealthy, the son of Sir William. After having run out his money, Lucy is brought to him as a courtezan; but the young man is so moved with her manifest innocence and tale of sorrow that he places her in an asylum where here distresses would be sacred, “and her indigent beauty would be guarded from temptation.” ”

“ On his way to Babylon he was encountered by a merchant, who was in reality the sorcerer, Loba ́ba, in disguise. This sorcerer led Thalaba astray into the wilderness, and then raised up a whirlwind to destroy him; but the whirlwind was the death of Lobaba himself, and again Thalaba escaped (bk. iv.) . He reached Babylon at length, and met there Mohāreb, another evil spirit, disguised as a warrior, who conducted him to the “mouth of hell.” Thalaba detected the villainy, and hurled the false one into the abyss (bk. v.) ”

“ Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, lived on a desert island, enchanted by Sycŏrax, who was dead. The only other inhabitants were Caliban, the son of Sycorax, a strange, misshapen thing, like a gorilla, and Ariel, a sprite, who had been imprisoned by Sycorax for twelve years in the rift of a pine tree, from which Prospero set him free. One day Prospero saw a ship off the island, and raised a tempest to wreck it. By this means his brother, Anthonio, Prince Ferdinand, and the king of Naples, were brought to the island. Now it must be known that Prospero was once duke of Milan ”

“ His father also died when Tristram was a mere lad (pt. ii. 1) . He was knighted by his uncle, Mark (pt. ii. 5) , and married Isond le Blanch Mains, daughter of Howell, king of Britain (Brittany) ; but he never loved her, nor would he live with her. His whole love was centered on his aunt, La Belle Isond, wife of King Mark, and this unhappy attachment was the cause of numberless troubles, and ultimately of his death. La Belle Isond, however, was quite as culpable as the knight, for she herself told him, “My measure of hate for Mark is as the measure of my love for thee;” ”

“ Thumb (Tom) , a dwarf no bigger than a man’s thumb. He lived in the reign of King Arthur, by whom he was knighted. He was the son of a common ploughman, and was killed by the poisonous breath of a spider in the reign of Thunstone, the successor of King Arthur.
Amongst his adventures may be mentioned the following:--He was lying one day asleep in a meadow, when a cow swallowed him as she cropped the grass. At another time he rode in the ear of a horse. He crept up the sleeve of a giant, and so tickled him that he shook his sleeve, and Tom, falling into the sea, was swallowed by a fish. ”

“ Gradus is persuaded to change his style of dress to please the lady, and Granger is introduced as a learned pundit. The old man resolves to pit together the two aspirants, and give Elizabeth to the best scholar. Gradus quotes two lines of Greek, in which the word panta occurs four times; Granger gives some three or four lines of English fustian. Gradus tells the old man that what Granger said was mere English; but Doiley, in the utmost indignation, replies, “Do you think I don’t know my own mother tongue? Off with your pantry, which you call Greek! t’other is the man for my money;” ”

“ I am all gaiety and good humor; you are all turmoil and lamentation. I sing, laugh, and welcome pleasure wherever I find it; you take your lantern to look for misery, which the sun itself cannot discover. ”

“ If a looking-glass is broken, it is a warning that some one in the house will ere long lose a friend. Grose says it “betokens a mortality in the family, commonly the master.”
To break a looking-glass is prophetic that the person will never get married; or, if married, will lose the person wedded.
Magpies are prophetic birds. A common Lincolnshire proverb is, “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for death;” or thus: “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three a wedding, four a birth.” ”

“ Refusing to dress in female attire, as she commanded, and to sew, card wool, spin, and do house work, he was doomed to be gibbeted by her women. Sir Artegal undertook his cause, and a fight ensued, which lasted all day. When daylight closed, Radigund proposed to defer the contest till the following day, to which Sir Artegal acceeded. Next day the knight was victorious; but when he saw the brave queen bleeding to death, he took pity on her, and, throwing his sword aside, ran to succor her. ”

“ The revenge he wreaks is: (1) to poison the friendship which existed between Alonzo and Don Carlos by accusations against the don, and (2) to embitter the love of Alonzo for Leonora, his wife. Alonzo, out of jealousy, has his friend killed, and Leonora makes away with herself. Having thus lost his best beloved, Zanga tells his dupe he has been imposed upon, and Alonzo, mad with grief, stabs himself. ”

“ Most kind and benevolent, modest, and simple-minded, but brave and firm in his own opinions. His gallantry towards Widow Wadman, is exquisite for its modesty and chivalry. Uncle Toby retains his military tastes and camp habits to the last.--Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1729) .
But what shall I say to thee, thou quintessence of the milk of human kindness, ... thou master of the best of corporals, ... thou high and only final Christian gentleman, ... divine Uncle Toby?... He who created thee was the wisest man since the days of Shakespeare himself.--Leigh Hunt. ”

“ Captain George Osborne, the son of a London merchant, marries Amelia, and old Osborne disinherits him. The young people live for a time together, when George is killed in the battle of Waterloo. Amelia is reduced to great poverty, but is befriended by Captain Dobbin, who loves her to idolatry, and after many years of patience and great devotion, she consents to marry him. ”

“ Vane (Henry) , a man who begins life as a flippant young fellow with a French education; settles down into an astute money-maker; falls in love seriously when he meant to flirt, and, finding that the girl with whom he is enamored has played a sharper game than he, and is engaged to another man, blows out his own brains.--Frederic Jesup Stimson, The Crime of Henry Vane. ”

“ Veneering is delighted to be patronized by her ladyship.
Lady Tippins is always attended by a lover or two, and she keeps a little list of her lovers, and is always booking a new lover, or striking out an old lover, or putting a lover in her black list, or promoting a lover to her blue list, or adding up her lovers, or otherwise posting her book, which she calls her Cupĭdon.--C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. ”

“ He marries her, and falls into a lingering decline. One day the Venetian goblet arrives from Italy, and his wife, in a freak, pours his medicine into it. In passing it to her husband the glass drops, and is shivered, “as its fellow had been shivered three centuries ago,” and more. She still stared steadily before her; then her lips parted, and she said, “The glass broke! The glass broke! then the tale is true!” Then, with one hysterical shriek, she fell forward amid the fragments of the Venetian goblet, unconscious thereafter of all things.--Brander Matthews, Venetian Glass (1884) .
Venery. ”