3S4 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



habit of his brain, so that he became a man of great honor, 

 sense, courage, and piety. 



Thor'be.rg Skaft'ing. Tales of a Wayside Inn, 

 H. W. Longfellow. The master-builder ordered by 

 King Olaf to build a ship twice as long and twice as 

 large as the " Dragon" built by Rand the Strong, which 

 was stranded. Thorberg built the ship, watching his 

 workmen closely, and when she was ready for launching 

 King Olaf and the workmen were ama/ed to see every 

 plank down her sides cut with deep gashes and more 

 amar.ed to find that Thorberg had done the deed. From 

 these gashes he then chipped arid smoothed the sides, to 

 the delight of all; she was christened the "Long Ser- 

 pent " and the name of her builder recited in the Saga. 



Thorpe, Harry. The Blazed Trail, S. K. Whllr. 

 The hero of the novel a vigorous young man, who, as a 

 "land-looker," finds and takes up a valuable timber 

 tract, against the crafty old corporation which seeks 

 first to steal the timber, then to forestall him in buying 

 it, and finally to ruin him. The true romance of the 

 story is that of the forest and the titanic struggle of 

 man against nature and against man. 



Three Kings, Feast of the. A famous mediaeval 

 festival, identical with Epiphany. But the name is 

 more particularly given to a kind of dramatic or 

 spectacular representation of the incidents recorded in 

 the second chapter of Matthew as, the appearance of 

 the wise men in splendid pomp at the court of Herod, 

 the miraculous star, the manger at Bethlehem, the 

 solemn and costly worship of the Babe which was 

 long very popular. 



Three Kings of Cologne, The. The three "Wise 

 Men " who followed the guiding star "from the East " to 

 Jerusalem, and offered gifts to the babe Jesus. 



Thunderer, The. Name popularly given to the 

 English newspaper, the " London Times. ' The accepted 

 version of the way in which the great journal got its name 

 of "The Thunderer," is that Captain Sterling, one of the 

 "staff," once wrote a sort of apology in reference to a 

 mistaken assertion and used the phrase "We thundered 

 out." This caught the public fancy, hence the name. 

 Captain Sterling was a well-known figure in London 

 political circles and was father of the more famous 

 John Sterling, critic, essayist, and friend of Wordsworth, 

 Coleridge, and De Quincey. 



Thyrsls. Corydon and Thyrsis are favorite names 

 given to shepherds by writers of pastoral poetry. So 

 also, Phyllis and Thestylis are names often applied to 

 rustic maidens or shepherdesses. 



Tibbs or Tibs. A character in Goldsmith's "Citizen 

 of the World," quoted as a "most useful hand." He will 

 write you a receipt for the bite of a mad dog, tell you 

 an Eastern tale to perfection, and understands the busi- 

 ness part of an author so well that no publisher can 

 humbug him." 



Tlgg, Mon'tague. Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens. 

 A clever impostor, who lives by his wits. He starts a 

 bubble insurance office and makes considerable gain 

 thereby. Having discovered the attempt of Jonas 

 Chuzzlewit to murder his father, he compels him to put 

 his money in the "new company," but Jones after- 

 wards murders him. 



Ti'mon. Timon of Athens, Shakespere. The 

 drama begins with the joyous life of Timon, and his 

 hospitable extravagance, launches into his pecuniary 

 embarrassment, and the discovery that his "professed 

 friends " will not help him, and ends with his flight into 

 the woods, his misanthropy, and his death. Introduced 

 into the play is "Timon's Banquet." Being shunned 

 by his friends in adversity, he pretended to have recovered 

 his money, and invited his false friends to a banquet. 

 The table was laden with covers, but when the contents 

 were exposed, nothing was provided but lukewarm water. 



Ti'ny Tim. Christmas Stories, Dickens. A 

 striking character, the little son of Bob Cratchett, whose 

 family were made happier by gifts from the converted 

 Scrooge. (See Scrooge.) 



Tirzah'. Ben Hur, General Lew Wallace. A 

 beautiful Jewish maiden, sister of Ben Hur. Their 

 father had been a prince of Jerusalem, and died 

 leaving a large estate. At the age of fifteen, Tirzah, 

 with her mother, was imprisoned through the cruelty of 

 Messala who coveted their property. They both be- 

 came lepers and when released from prison were forced 

 to live among the outcasts. They were healed by Jesus, 

 Ben Hur, himself, witnessing the miracle. As soon as 

 the change in their look had taken place he recognized 

 them, and when the Jewish statutes had been complied 

 with, Tirzah and her mother were united with their 

 brother in their former home. 



Tippecanoe'. Name given to William Henry Har- 

 rison during the political canvass which preceded his 

 election, on account of the victory gained by him over 



the Indians in the battle which took place on the 6th 

 of November, 1811, at the junction of the Tippecanoe 

 and Wabash rivers. 



Toby, Uncle. A character in Sterne's ".Tristram 

 Shandy. A captain who was wounded at the siege 

 of Namur, and was obliged to retire from the service. 

 He is the impersonation of kindness, benevolence, and 

 simple-heartedness; his courage is undoubted, his gal- 

 lantry delightful for its innocence and modesty. 



Token, The. A collection of original articles, prose 

 and poetry, by various contributors, issued first in the 

 year 1824. This was the first "annual" that appeared 

 in our country; it became popular and was continued for 

 fifteen years under the supervision of "Peter Parley." 



Tom, Dick, and Harry. An appellation very com- 

 monly employed to designate a crowd or rabble. 



Tommy At'kins. Barrack-room Ballads, Kip- 

 ling. The name is here used in its general meaning, a 

 British soldier. The name came from the little pocket 

 ledgers served out, at one time, to all British soldiers. 

 In these manuals were to be entered the name, the age, 

 the date of enlistment, etc. The War Office sent with 

 each little book a form for filling it in, and the hypo- 

 thetical name selected was "Tommy Atkins." The 

 books were instantly so called, and it did not require 

 many days to transfer the name from the book to the 

 soldier. 



Tom Saw'yer. Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 

 Mark Twain. An "elastic" youth whose perform- 

 ances delight both old and young readers. Queer enter- 

 prises influenced by the old superstitions among slaves 

 and children in the Western States give reliable pictures 

 of boy-life in the middle of the Nineteenth Century. 



Tom the Piper. One of the characters in the 

 ancient Morris dance, represented with a labour, tabour- 

 stick, and pipe. He carried a sword and shield, to 

 denote his rank. 



Tom Thumb. In legendary history a dwarf no 

 larger than a man's thumb. He lived in the reign of 

 King Arthur, by whom he was knighted. He was 

 killed by the poisonous breath of a spider in the reign of 

 the successor of King Arthur. Amongst his adventures it 

 is told that 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. The fish being caught and carried to the 

 palace, gave the little man his introduction to the king. 

 The oldest version of this nursery tale is in rhyme. 



To'nio. Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti. 

 The name of the youth who saved Maria, the sutler- 

 girl from falling down a precipice. The two fall in love 

 with each other, and the regiment consents to their 

 marriage, provided Tonio will enlist under its flag. No 

 sooner is this done than the marchioness of Berkenfield 

 lays claim to Maria as her daughter, and removes her to 

 the castle. In time, the castle is besieged and taken by 

 the very regiment into which Tonio had enlisted, and, as 

 Tonio had risen to the rank of a French officer, the 

 marchioness consents to his marriage with her daughter. 



Top'sy. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mrs. Stowo. A 

 young slave-girl, who never knew whether she had either 

 father or mother, and being asked by Miss Ophelia St. 

 Clare how she supposed she came into the world, replied, 

 "I'spects I growed." Topsy illustrates the ignorance, 

 low moral development, ana wild humor of the African 

 character, as well as its capacity for education. 



Touchstone. A clown in Shakespere's "As You 

 Like It." 



Townley Mysteries. Certain religious dramas; so 

 called because the MS. containing them belonged to 

 P. Townley. These dramas are supposed to have been 

 acted at Widkirk Abbey, in Yorkshire. 



Trad'dles. David Copperneld, Dickens. A sim- 

 ple, honest young man, who believes in everybody and 

 everything and who is never depressed by his want of 

 success. He had the habit of brushing his hair up on 

 end, which gave him a look of surprise. Traddles was 

 generally accompanied by "the dearest girl" and her 

 numerous sisters. 



Tragedy and Comedy. The earliest regular tragedy 

 written in English was the play of "Gorboduc" by 

 Thomas Sackville. This was acted in the year 1562. 

 The first English comedy was "Ralph Royster Doyster," 

 acted in 1551, and written by Nicholas Udall. 



Triads. Three subjects more or less connected 

 formed into one continuous poem or subject: thus the 

 "Creation, Redemption, and Resurrection" would form 

 a triad. The conquest of England by the Romans, 

 Saxons, and Normans would form a triad. The Welsh 

 triads, known in literature, are collections of historic facts, 



