344 



'THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



A-lad'din. One of the best known characters in the 

 "Arabian Nights Talcs." Aladdin beOOOMS possessed 

 of a wonderful lamp and ring. On rubbing them. two 

 genii appear, who are the slaves of anyone who possesses 

 the lamp and ring. They obey Aladdin and perform 

 most incredible deeds by their magic. 



Al A'raf (61 ii'raf). The Mohammedan limbo. The 

 subject of an uncompleted poem by Kdgar A. 



A-l;in:im. The hero of a story in the " 

 Nights' Entertainments" entitled "The History oi 

 Prince Zeyn Alasnam and the Sultan of the Genii." 

 Alasnam has eight diamond statues, but had to go in 

 ; a ninth more precious still, to fill the vacant 

 pedestal. The prize was found in the lady who became 

 . at once the most beautiful and the most perfect 

 of her race. 



Al-ba'nia. Al'ba-ny. A name given to Scotland or 

 the Scottish Highlands in old romances and early his- 

 tories. 



Albi-on. An ancient name of Briton, now used only 

 in poetic allusion. Some say the name is derived from 

 the lofty white cliffs on the south coast. Others derive 

 it from the name of a fabulous giant, Albion, son of 

 Neptune, who called the island after his own name, and 

 ruled it forty-four 



Alhrac'ca. Orlando Innamorata, Bojardo. A 

 castle of Cathay to which Angelica retires in grief at 

 being scorned and shunned by Rinaldo, with whom she 

 is deeply in love. Here she is besieged by Agricane, 

 King of Tartary, who resolves to win her, notwithstand- 

 ing her indifference to his suit. 



Al-cc>te . l,e Misanthrope, Moliere. A noble 

 but misanthropic man, the hero of Moliere's comedy. 



Al-oi'na. Orlando Innomorato, Bojardo. A 

 fairy represented as carrying off Astolfo. She reappears 

 in great splendor in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso." 



Al'di-bo-ron'ti-phos'co-phor'nl-o. A character 

 in Henry Carey's burlesque tragedy "Chrononhoton- 

 thol>L 



Aldine Edition. This name is now applied to 

 some elegant editions of English works. The original 

 Aldine editions were books from the press of Aldus 

 Manutius, printed in the years 1490-1597. These 

 books have been highly prized both for their literary 

 value and their handsome exterior. The Aldus printing 

 establishment was kept up for 100 years. The distin- 

 guishing mark of the Aldine books is an anchor entwined 

 with a dolphin. Collections of these books have been 

 made. Many of the works are now very rare and are 

 highly prized. 



Al'din-gar, Sir. A character in an ancient legend, 

 and the title of a celebrated ballad, preserved. in Percy's 

 " Reliques," This ballad relates how the honor of Queen 

 Elianor, wife of Henry Plantagenet, impeached by Sir 

 Aldingar, her steward, was submitted to the chance of a 

 duel, and how an angel, in the form of a little child, 

 appeared as her champion, and established her innocence. 



Alexandrian Codex. A manuscript of the Scrip- 

 tures in Greek, which belonged to the library of the 

 patriarchs of Alexandria, in Africa, A. D., 1098. In 

 1628, it was sent as a present to Charles I., and was 

 placed in the British Museum. It is on parchment, 

 in uncial letters, and contains the Septuagint version 

 (except the Psalms), a part of the New Testament, and 

 the Epistles of Clemens Romanus. This is much con- 

 sulted by Biblical scholars, especially in the critical 

 study of the epistles. 



Alice Brand. Lady of the Lake. Sir Walter 

 Scott. Alice signed Urgan the dwarf thrice with the 

 sign of the cross, and he became "the fairest knight in all 

 Scotland " ; when Alice recognized in him her own 

 brother. 



Al'lan-a-Daie'. A friend of Robin Hood's in the 

 ballad. He is introduced into Sir Walter Scott's "Ivan- 

 hoe " MS Kobin Hood's minstrel. 



All's Well that Ends Well, a comedy by Shakes- 

 pere. The hero and heroine are Bertram, Count of 

 Kousillon, and llel'ena, a physician's daughter, who are 

 married by the command of the king of France, but 

 part because Bertram thought the lady not sufficiently 

 well-born for him. Ultimately, however, all ends well. 



AU'worthy, Mr. Tom Jones, Fielding. Dis- 

 tinguished for his benevolence. This character is said 

 to be drawn from Fielding's friend Ralph Allen. 



Alp. Siege of Corinth, Byron. The hero of this 

 poem. 



Alph. Kubla Khan, Coleridge. A name invented 

 by Coleridge and applied to a river mentioned in this poem. 



Al'qui-fe. A personage that figures in all the books 

 of the lineage of Amadis as a powerful wizard. 



Al-Rakin'. A fabulous dog connected with the 

 legend of the "Seven Sleepers." The Mohammedans 

 have given him a place in paradise. 



Al-Sirat'. A bridge from this world to the next 

 extending over the abyss of hell. This narrow bridge, 

 le>s than the thread of a famished spider, must be passed 

 over by every one who would enter the Mohammedan 

 pmrad 



Am'-a-dis de Gaul. The hero of an ancient and 

 celetn-ated Portuguese romance. A French version was 

 printed in 1555. 



A man da. A young woman who impersonates 

 spring in Thompson's "Seasons." 



A-mai'mon. or A-may'inon. An imaginary king 

 of the East, one of the principal devils who might be 

 bound or restrained from doing hurt from the third hour 

 till noon, and from the ninth hour till evening. He is 

 alluded to in Shakespere's "Merry Wives of Windsor." 



Ania'urot. Utopia, Sir Thomas 31 ore. Amaurot 

 was the chief city in I'topia. 



A mail rote. A bridge in Utopia. 



Ame'lia. The title of one of Fielding's novels, and 

 the name of its heroine, who is distinguished for her 

 tenderness and affection. The character of Amelia is 

 said to have been drawn from Fielding's wife. 



A mine'. In Arabian Nights a female character who 

 leads her three sisters by her side as a leash of hounds. 



Aminte'. Les Pre'cieuses Ridicules, Moliere. 

 A contradictory character in this comedy. She dis- 

 misses her admirers for proposing to marry her, scolda 

 her uncle for not carrying himself as a gentleman, and 

 marries a valet whom she believes to be a nobleman. 



Am'let, Richard. The name of a gamester in Van- 

 brugh's "Confederacy." 



Am'o-ret. The name of a lady married to Sir 

 Scudamore, in Spencer's "Faery Queen." She is the 

 type of a devoted, loving wife. (2) The heroine of 

 Fletcher's pastoral drama, "The Faithful Shepherdess." 



A'mys and Amyl'Ion. Two faithful friends. The 

 Pylades and Orestes of the feudal ages. Their adven- 

 tures are the subjects of ancient romances. An ab- 

 stract of this early romance is found in Ellis' "Specimens 

 of Early English Metrical Romances." 



Anacreontic Verse. Commonly of the jovial or 

 Bacchanalian strain, named after Anacreon, of Teos, 

 the Greek lyric poet, born at Teos, an Ionian city in 

 Asia Minor. He removed to Abdera, in Thrace, when 

 Teos was taken by the Persians, but he lived chiefly 

 at Samos, under the patronage of Polycrates. After 

 the death of Polycrates, he went to Athens at 'the invi- 

 tation of the tyrant Hipparchus. He died at the age of 

 85, probably about the year 550 B. C. In his poems 

 Anacreon sung chiefly the praises of love and wine, to 

 the enjoyment of which his life would also appear to 

 have been dedicated. Many fragments of his songs are 

 preserved, which are models of delicate grace, simplicity 

 and ease. 



Anagram, a transposition of the letters of a name 

 or sentence, the change of one word or phrase into 

 another, by reading .the letters backwards, or by trans- 

 posing them. 



An-as-ta'si-us. Anastashis, Hope. The hero of 

 this novel purports to be a Greek, who, to escape the 

 consequences of his own crimes and villainies, becomes 

 a renegade, and passes through a long series of the most 

 extraordinary vicissitudes. 



Ancient Man. Idylls of the King, Tennyson. 

 Meaning Merlin, the old magician, King Arthur's pro- 

 tector and teacher. 



Ancient Mariner. Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 

 Coleridge. The ancient mariner, for the crime of hav- 

 ing shot an albatross, a bird of good omen to voyagers, 

 is doomed to undergo terrible suffering. Dreadful pen- 

 alties are visited upon his companions, who have made 

 themselves accomplices in his crime. The penalties are 

 at last remitted in consequence of his repentance. When 

 pity enters his heart he can pray, and the dead albatross, 

 bound about his neck, falls off. The ship moves on 

 and he returns to his home port. There he encounters 

 a hermit to whom he relates his story. At certain 

 times the agony of remorse returns and drives him on. 

 like the Wandering Jew, from land to land, compelled 

 to relate the tale of his suffering and crime as a warning 

 to others, and as a lesson of love and charity towards 

 all God's creatures. The conception of this poem and 

 the mystical imagery of the skeleton-ship are said to 

 have been borrowed by Coleridge from a dream. 



Andrews, Joseph. The hero in a i:ovel by the same 



name, written by Fielding, to ridicule Richardson's 



/'Pamela." Fielding presents "Joseph Andrews" as a 



brother to the modest and prudish Pamela, and pictures 



him as a model young man. 



Androeelus and the Lion. A story of a runaway 

 slave who befriended a lion, and was in turn befriended 

 by the lion. This story is found in the "Gesta Roman- 

 orum" and in "yEsop's Fables." 



