Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 13

Amphion there the loud creating lyre Strikes, and behold a sudden Thebes aspire.

Pope, _Temple of Fame_.

AMPHIS-BAENA, a reptile which could go head foremost either way, because it had a head at each extremity. Milton uses the word in _Paradise Lost_, x. 524. (Greek, _ampi baino_, "I go both ways.")

The amphis-baena doubly armed appears, At either end a threatening head she rears.

Rowe, _Pharsalia_, ix. 696, etc. (by Lucan).

AMPHITRYON, a Theban general, husband of Alcme'ne (3 _syl._). While Amphitryon was absent at war with Pter'elas, king of the Tel'eboans, Jupiter a.s.sumed his form, and visited Alcmene, who in due time became the mother of Her'cules. Next day Amphitryon returned, having slain Pterelas, and Alcmene was surprised to see him so soon again. Here a great entanglement arose, Alcmene telling her husband he visited her last night, and showing him the ring he gave her, and Amphitryon declaring he was with the army. This confusion is still further increased by his slave Sos'ia, who went to take to Alcmene the news of victory, but was stopped at the door of the house by Mercury, who had a.s.sumed for the nonce Sosia's form, and the slave could not make out whether he was himself or not. This plot has been made a comedy by Plautus, Moliere, and Dryden.

The scenes which Plautus drew, to-night we show, Touched by Moliere, by Dryden taught to glow.

_Prologue to Hawksworth's version_.

As an Amphitryon _chez qui l'on dine_, no one knows better than Ouida the uses of a _recherche_ dinner.--E. Yates, _Celebrities_, xix.

"_Amphitryon_": _Le veritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon ou l'on dine_ ("The master of the feast is the master of the house"). While the confusion was at its height between the false and true Amphitryon, _Socie_ [Sosia] the slave is requested to decide which was which, and replied--

Je ne me trompois pas, messieurs; ce mot termine Toute l'irresolution; Le veritable Amphitryon Est l'Amphitryon ou l'on dine.

Moliere, _Amphitryon_, iii. 5 (1668).

Demosthenes and Cicero Are doubtless stately names to hear, But that of good Amphitryon Sounds far more pleasant to my ear.

M.A. Desaugiers (1772-1827).

AMRAH, the faithful woman-servant of the household of Ben-Hur in Lew Wallace's novel, _Ben-Hur_. Through her heroic services, Judah, the son, finds the mother and sister from whom he has been so long separated (1880).

AM'RI, in _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dryden and Tate, is Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham and lord chancellor. He is called "The Father of Equity" (1621-1682).

To whom the double blessing did belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.

Part ii.

AMUN'DEVILLE (_Lord Henry_), one of the "British privy council." After the sessions of parliament he retired to his country seat, where he entertained a select and numerous party, among which were the d.u.c.h.ess of Fitz-Fulke, Aurora Raby, and don Juan, "the Russian envoy."

His wife was lady Adeline. (His character is given in xiv. 70, 71.)--Byron, _Don Juan_, xiii. to end.

AM'URATH III., sixth emperor of the Turks. He succeeded his father, Selim II., and reigned 1574-1595. His first act was to invite all his brothers to a banquet, and strangle them. Henry IV. alludes to this when he says--

This is the English, not the Turkish court; Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, But Harry, Harry.

Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act v. sc. 2 (1598).

AMUs.e.m.e.nTS OF KINGS. The great amus.e.m.e.nt of _Ardeltas_ of Arabia Petraea, was currying horses; of _Artaba'nus_ of Persia, was mole-catching; of _Domitian_ of Rome, was catching flies; of _Ferdinand VII._, of Spain, was embroidering petticoats; of _Louis XVI._, clock and lock making; of _George IV._, the game of patience.

AMY MARCH, the artist sister in Louisa M. Alcott's _Little Women_ (1868).

AMY WENTWORTH, the high-born but contented wife of the "Brown Viking of the Fishing-smack," in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, _Amy Wentworth_.

She sings, and smiling, hears her praise, But dreams the while of one Who watches from his sea-blown deck The ice-bergs in the sun. (1860.)

AMYN'TAS, in _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_, by Spenser, is Ferdinando earl of Derby, who died 1594.

Amyntas, flower of shepherd's pride forlorn.

He, whilst he lived, was the n.o.blest swain That ever piped on an oaten quill.

Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591).

AMYN'TOR. (See AMINTOR.)

A'MYS and AMY'LION, the Damon and Pythias of mediaeval romance.--See Ellis's _Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances_.

AMYTIS, the Median queen of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Beautiful, pa.s.sionate, and conscienceless, she condemns an innocent rival to the worst of fates, without a pang of conscience, and dies a violent death at the hands of one who was once her lover.

The gardens were well-watered and dripped luxuriantly.... At this time of the morning, Amytis amused herself alone, or with a few favored slaves. She dipped through artificial dew and pollen, bloom and fountain, like one of the b.u.t.terflies that circled above her small head, or one of the bright cold lizards that crept about her feet. She bathed, she ran, she sang, and curled to sleep, and stirred and bathed again.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

ANACHARSIS [CLOOTZ]. Baron Jean Baptiste Clootz a.s.sumed the _prenome_ of Anacharsis, from the Scythian so called, who travelled about Greece and other countries to gather knowledge and improve his own countrymen. The baron wished by the name to intimate that his own object in life was like that of Anacharsis (1755-1794).

ANACHRONISMS. (See ERRORS.)

CHAUCER, in his tale of _Troilus_, at the siege of Troy, makes Pandarus refer to _Robin Hood_.

And to himselfe ful soberly he saied, From hasellwood there jolly Robin plaied.

Book v.

GILES FLETCHER, in _Christ's Victory_, pt. ii. makes the Tempter seem to be "a good old _hermit_ or _palmer_, travelling to see some _saint_, and _telling his beads!!_"

LODGE, in _The True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla_ (1594), mentions "the razor of Palermo" and "St. Paul's steeple," and introduces Frenchmen who "for forty crowns" undertake to poison the Roman consul.

MORGLAY makes Dido tell aeneas that she should have been contented with a son, even "if he had been a _c.o.c.kney dandiprat_" (1582).

SCHILLER, in his _Piccolomini_, speaks of _lightning conductors_. This was about 150 years before they were invented.

SHAKESPEAKE, in his _Coriola.n.u.s_ (act ii. sc. 1), makes Menenius refer to _Galen_ above 600 years before he was born.

Cominius alludes to _Roman Plays_, but no such things were known for 250 years after the death of Cominius.--_Coriola.n.u.s_, act ii. sc. 2.

Brutus refers to the "_Marcian Waters_ brought to Rome by Censorinus."

This was not done till 300 years afterwards.

In _Hamlet_, the prince Hamlet was educated at _Wittemberg School_, which was not founded till 1502; whereas Saxo-Germanicus, from whom Shakespeare borrowed the tale, died in 1204. Hamlet was thirty years old when his mother talks of his going back to school (act i. sc. 2).

In 1 _Henry IV._, the carrier complains that "the _turkeys_ in his pannier are quite starved" (act ii. sc. 5), whereas turkeys came from America, and the New World was not even discovered for a century after. Again in _Henry V._, Grower is made to say to Fluellen, "Here comes Pistol, swelling like a turkey-c.o.c.k" (act v. sc. 1).