Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 10

ALMANSOR ("_the invincible_"), a t.i.tle a.s.sumed by several Mussulman princes, as by the second caliph of the Abba.s.side dynasty, named Abou Giafar Abdallah (_the invincible_, or _al mansor_). Also by the famous captain of the Moors in Spain, named Mohammed. In Africa, Yacoubal-Modjahed was ent.i.tled "_al mansor_," a royal name of dignity given to the kings of Fez, Morocco, and Algiers.

The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez, and Sus, Marocco and Algiers.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, xi. 403 (1665).

ALMANZOR, the caliph, wishing to found a city in a certain spot, was told by a hermit named Bag dad that a man called Moclas was destined to be its founder. "I am that man," said the caliph, and he then told the hermit how in his boyhood he once stole a bracelet and p.a.w.ned it, whereupon his nurse ever after called him "Moclas" (_thief_).

Almanzor founded the city, and called it Bag dad, the name of the hermit.--Marigny.

_Alman'zor_, in Dryden's tragedy of _The Conquest of Grana'da_.

_Alman'zor_, lackey of Madelon and her cousin Cathos, the affected fine ladies in Moliere's comedy of _Les Precieuses Ridicules_ (1659).

ALMAVI'VA, (_Count_), in _The Marriage of Figaro_ and _The Barber of Seville_ by Beaumarchais. _The Follies of a Day_ by T. Holcroft (1745-1809) is borrowed from Beaumarchais.

ALME'RIA, daughter of Manuel king of Grana'da. While captive of Valentia, prince Alphonso fell in love with her, and being compelled to fight, married her; but on the very day of espousal the ship in which they were sailing was wrecked, and each thought the other had perished. Both, however, were saved, and met unexpectedly on the coast of Granada, to which Alphonso was brought as a captive. Here Alphonso, under the a.s.sumed name of Osmyn, was imprisoned, but made his escape, and at the head of an army invaded Granada, found Manuel dead, and "the mournful bride" became converted into the joyful wife.--W.

Congreve, _The Mourning Bride_ (1697).

ALMES'BURY (3 _syl_.). It was in a sanctuary of Almesbury that queen Guenever took refuge, after her adulterous pa.s.sion for sir Lancelot was made known to the king. Here she died, but her body was buried at Glas...o...b..ry.

ALMEY'DA, the Portuguese governor of India. In his engagement with the united fleets of Cambaya and Egypt, he had his legs and thighs shattered by chain-shot, but instead of retreating to the back, he had himself bound to the shipmast, where he "waved his sword to cheer on the combatants," till he died from loss of blood.

Similar stories are told of admiral Benbow, Cynaegeros brother of the poet aeschylos, Jaafer who carried the sacred banner of "the prophet"

in the battle of Muta, and of some others.

Whirled by the cannons' rage, in shivers torn, His thighs far scattered o'er the waves are borne; Bound to the mast the G.o.dlike hero stands, Waves his proud sword and cheers his woeful hands: Tho' winds and seas their wonted aid deny, To yield he knows not; but he knows to die.

Camoens, _Lusiad_, x. (1569).

ALMIRODS (_The_), a rebellions people, who refused to submit to prince Pantag'ruel after his subjugation of Anarchus king of the Dipsodes (2 _syl_). It was while Pantagruel was marching against these rebels that a tremendous shower of rain fell, and the prince, putting out his tongue "halfway," sheltered his whole army.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 32 (1533).

ALNAS'CHAR, the dreamer, the "barber's fifth brother." He invested all his money in a basket of gla.s.sware, on which he was to gain so much, and then to invest again and again, till he grew so rich that he would marry the vizier's daughter and live in grandeur; but being angry with his supposed wife, he gave a kick with his foot and smashed all the ware which had given birth to his dream of wealth.--_The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.

_The Alnaschar of Modern Literature_, S.T. Coleridge, so called because he was constantly planning magnificent literary enterprises which he never carried out (1772-1834).

ALOA'DIN (4 _syl_.), a sorcerer, who made for himself a palace and garden in Arabia called "The Earthly Paradise." Thalaba slew him with a club, and the scene of enchantment disappeared.--Southey, _Thalaba the Destroyer_, vii. (1797).

ALON'SO, king of Naples, father of Ferdinand and brother of Sebastian, in _The Tempest_, by Shakespeare (1609).

ALONZO _the brave_, the name of a ballad by M.G. Lewis. The fair Imogene was betrothed to Alonzo, but during his absence in the wars became the bride of another. At the wedding-feast Alonzo's ghost sat beside the bride, and, after rebuking her for her infidelity, carried her off to the grave.

Alonzo the brave was the name of the knight; The maid was the fair Imogene.

M.G. Lewis.

_Alon'zo_, a Portuguese gentleman, the sworn enemy of the vainglorious Duarte (3 _syl_.), in the drama called _The Custom of the Country_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).

_Alonzo_, the husband of Cora. He is a brave Peruvian knight, the friend of Rolla, and beloved by king Atali'ba. Alonzo, being taken prisoner of war, is set at liberty by Rolla, who changes clothes with him. At the end he fights with Pizarro and kills him.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_ (altered from Kotzebue).

_Alonzo (Don)_, "the conqueror of Afric," friend of don Carlos, and husband of Leonora. Don Carlos had been betrothed to Leonora, but out of friendship resigned her to the conqueror. Zanga, the Moor, out of revenge, persuaded Alonzo that his wife and don Carlos still entertained for each other their former love, and out of jealousy Alonzo has his friend put to death, while Leonora makes away with herself. Zanga now informs Alonzo that his jealousy was groundless, and mad with grief he kills himself.--Edw. Young, _The Revenge_ (1721).

ALONZO FERNANDEZ DE AVELLANEDA, author of a spurious _Don Quixote_, who makes a third sally. This was published during the lifetime of Cervantes, and caused him great annoyance.

ALP, a Venetian renegade, who was commander of the Turkish army in the siege of Corinth. He loved Francesca, daughter of old Minotti, governor of Corinth, but she refused to marry a renegade and apostate. Alp was shot in the siege, and Francesca died of a broken heart.--Byron, _Siege of Corinth_.

ALPHE'US (3 _syl_.), a magician and prophet in the army of Charlemagne, slain in sleep by Clorida'no.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

_Alphe'us_ (3 _syl_.), of cla.s.sic story, being pa.s.sionately in love with Arethu'sa, pursued her, but she fled from him in a fright, and was changed by Diana into a fountain, which bears her name.

ALPHON'SO, an irascible old lord in _The Pilgrim_, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1621).

_Alphon'so_, king of Naples, deposed by his brother Frederick. Sora'no tried to poison him, but did not succeed. Ultimately he recovered his crown, and Frederick and Sorano were sent to a monastery for the rest of their lives.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _A Wife for a Month_ (1624).

_Alphonso_, son of count Pedro of Cantabria, afterwards king of Spain.

He was plighted to Hermesind, daughter of lord Pelayo.

The young Alphonso was in truth an heir Of nature's largest patrimony; rich In form and feature, growing strength of limb, A gentle heart, a soul affectionate, A joyous spirit, filled with generous thoughts, And genius heightening and enn.o.bling all.

Southey, _Roderick, etc._, viii. (1814).

ALQUI'FE (3 _syl_.), a famous enchanter in _Amadis of Gaul_, by Vasco de Lobeira, of Oporto, who died 1403.

La Noue denounces such beneficent enchanters as Alquife and Urganda, because they serve "as a vindication of those who traffic with the powers of darkness."--Francis de la Noue, _Discourses_, 87 (1587).

ALRINACH, the demon who causes shipwrecks, and presides over storms and earthquakes. When visible it is always in the form and dress of a woman.--_Eastern Mythology_.

ALSCRIP (_Miss_), "the heiress," a vulgar _parvenue_, affected, conceited, ill-natured, and ignorant. Having had a fortune left her, she a.s.sumes the airs of a woman of fashion, and exhibits the follies without possessing the merits of the upper ten.

_Mr. Alscrip_, the vulgar father of "the heiress," who finds the grandeur of sudden wealth a great bore, and in his new mansion, Berkeley Square, sighs for the snug comforts he once enjoyed as scrivener in Furnival's Inn.--General Burgoyne, _The Heiress_ (1781).

AL'TAMONT, a young Genoese lord, who marries Calista, daughter of lord Sciol'to (3 _syl_). On his wedding day he discovers that his bride has been seduced by Lotha'rio, and a duel ensues, in which Lothario is killed, whereupon Calista stabs herself.--N. Rowe, _The Fair Penitent_ (1703). (Rowe makes Sciolto three syllables always.)

ALTAMO'RUS, king of Samarcand', who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. He surrendered himself to G.o.dfrey (bk.

xx.).--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

ALTASCAR (_Senor_). A courtly old Spaniard in Bret Harte's Notes by _Flood and Field_. He is dispossessed of his corral in the Sacramento Valley by a party of government surveyors, who have come to correct boundaries (1878).

ALTEMERA. Typical far-southern girl, with a lovely face, creamy skin, and a "lazy sweet voice," who takes the leading part in Annie Eliot's _An Hour's Promise_ (1888).

ALTHAEA'S BRAND. The Fates told Althaea that her son Melea'ger would live just as long as a log of wood then on the fire remained unconsumed. Althaea contrived to keep the log unconsumed for many years, but when her son killed her two brothers, she threw it angrily into the fire, where it was quickly consumed, and Meleager expired at the same time.--Ovid, _Metaph_. viii. 4.

The fatal brand Althaea burned.

Shakespeare, 2 _Henry VI_. act i. sc. 1 (1591).

ALTHE'A (_The divine_), of Richard Lovelace, was Lucy Saeheverell, also called by the poet, _Lucasta_.

When love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at my grates.

(The "grates" here referred to were those of a prison in which Lovelace was confined by the Long Parliament, for his pet.i.tion from Kent in favor of the king.)

ALTHEETAR, one of the seven bridegrooms of Lopluel, condemned to die successively, by a malignant spirit. He is young, beautiful, and endowed with rare gifts of soul and mind. While singing to her, his lyre falls from his hand and he dies in her arms, her loosened hair falling about him as a shroud.

"So calm, so fair, He rested on the purple, tapestried floor, It seemed an angel lay reposing there."