Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 24

ASCRae'AN SAGE, or _Ascraean poet_, Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Boeo'tia. Virgil calls him "The Old Ascraean."

Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae Ascraeo quos ante seni.

_Ecl._ vii. 70.

AS'EBIE (3 _syl_.), Irreligion personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher (canto vii.). He had four sons: Idol'atros (_idolatry_), Phar'makeus (3 _syl_.) (_witchcraft_), Haeret'icus, and Hypocrisy; all fully described by the poet. (Greek, _asebeia_, "impiety.")

ASEL'GES (3 _syl_.), Lasciviousness personified. One of the four sons of Anag'nus (_inchast.i.ty_), his three brothers being Maechus (_adultery_), p.o.r.nei'us (_fornication_), and Acath'arus. Seeing his brother p.o.r.neius fall by the spear of Parthen'ia (_maidenly chast.i.ty_), Aselges rushes forward to avenge his death, but the martial maid caught him with her spear, and tossed him so high i'

the air "that he hardly knew whither his course was bent." (Greek, _aselges_, "intemperate, wanton.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).

AS'EN, strictly speaking, are only the three G.o.ds next in rank to the twelve male Asir; but the word is not unfrequently used for the Scandinavian deities generally.

ASHBURTON (_Mary_), heroine of _Hyperion_, by H.W. Longfellow (1839).

ASH'FIELD (_Farmer_), a truly John Bull farmer, tender-hearted, n.o.ble-minded but homely, generous but hot-tempered. He loves his daughter Susan with the love of a woman. His favorite expression is "Behave pratty," and he himself always tries to do so. His daughter Susan marries Robert Handy, the son of sir Abel Handy.

_Dame Ashfield_, the farmer's wife, whose _bete noire_ is a neighboring farmer named Grundy. What Mrs. Grundy will say, or what Mrs. Grundy will think or do, is dame Ashfield's decalogue and gospel too.

_Susan Ashfield_, daughter of farmer and dame Ashfield.--Thom. Morton, _Speed the Plough_ (1764-1838).

ASH'FORD (_Isaac_), "a wise, good man, contented to be poor."--Crabbe, _Parish Register_ (1807).

ASHPENAZ, chief of eunuchs, and majordomo to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch. Wily, corpulent, and avaricious, a creature to be at once feared and despised.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

ASH'TAROTH, a general name for all Syrian G.o.ddesses. (See ASTORETH.)

[_They_] had general names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth: those male, These feminine.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 422 (1665).

ASH'TON (_Sir William_), the lord keeper of Scotland, and father of Lucy Ashton.

_Lady Eleanor Ashton_, wife of sir William.

_Colonel Sholto Douglas Ashton_, eldest son of sir William.

_Lucy Ashton_, daughter of sir William, betrothed to Edgar (the master of Ravenswood); but being compelled to marry Frank Hayston (laird of Bucklaw), she tries to murder him in the bridal chamber, and becomes insane. Lucy dies, but the laird recovers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

(This has been made the subject of an opera by Donizetti, called _Lucia di Lammermoor_, 1835.)

ASIA, the wife of that Pharaoh who brought up Moses. She was the daughter of Mozahem. Her husband tortured her for believing in Moses; but she was taken alive into paradise.--Sale, _Al Koran_, xx., note, and Ixvi., note.

Mahomet says, "Among women four have been perfect: Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; and Fatima, his own daughter."

AS'IR, the twelve chief G.o.ds of Scandinavian mythology--Odin, Thor, Baldr, Niord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti.

Sometimes the G.o.ddesses--Frigga, Freyja, Idu'na, and Saga, are ranked among the Asir also.

AS'MADAI (3 _syl.)_ the same as As-mode'us _(4 syl.)_ the l.u.s.tful and destroying angel, who robbed Sara of her seven husbands _(Tobit_ iii.

8). Milton makes him one of the rebellious angels overthrown by Uriel and Ra'phael. Hume says the word means "the _destroyer_."--_Paradise Lost_, vi 365 (1665).

ASMODE'US _(4 syl.)_, the demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud "king of the devils." As "dress" is one of the bitterest evils of modern life, it is termed "the Asmodeus of domestic peace," a phrase employed to express any "skeleton" in the house of a private family.

In the book of _Tobit_ Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of Rag'uel, and causes the successive deaths of seven husbands each on his bridal night, but when Sara married Tobit, Asmodeus was driven into Egypt by a charm made of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes.

(Milton throws the accent on the third syl., Tennyson on the second.)

Better pleased Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 168.

Abaddon and Asmodeus caught at me.

Tennyson, _St. Simeon Stylites_.

_Asmode'us_, a "diable bon-homme," with more gaiety than malice; not the least like Mephistopheles. He is the companion of Cle'ofas, whom he carries through the air, and shows him the inside of houses, where they see what is being done in private or secrecy without being seen.

Although Asmodeus is not malignant, yet with all his wit, acuteness, and playful malice, we never forget the fiend.--Le Sage, _Le Diable Boiteux_.

(Such was the popularity of the _Diable Boiteux_, that two young men fought a duel in a bookseller's shop over the only remaining copy, an incident worthy to be recorded by Asmodeus himself.)

Miss Austen gives us just such a picture of domestic life as Asmodeus would present could he remove the roof of many an English home.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."

ASO'TUS, Prodigality personified in _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher, fully described in canto viii. (Greek, _asotos_, "a profligate.")

ASPA'TIA, a maiden the very ideal of ill-fortune and wretchedness.

She is the troth-plight wife of Amintor, but Amintor, at the king's request, marries Evad'ne (3 _syl_.). "Women point with scorn at the forsaken Aspatia, but she bears it all with patience. The pathos of her speeches is most touching, and her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the drama."--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1610).

AS'PRAMONTE (3 _syl_.), in Sir W. Scott's _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

_The old knight_, father of _Brenhilda_.

_The lady of Aspramonte_, the knight's wife.

_Brenhilda of Aspramonte_, their daughter, wife of count Robert.

AS'RAEL or AZ'RAEL, an angel of death. He is immeasurable in height, insomuch that the s.p.a.ce between his eyes equals a 70,000 days'

journey.--_Mohammedan Mythology_.

AS'SAD, son of Camaral'zaman and Haiatal'nefous (5 _syl_.), and half-brother of Amgiad (son of Camaralzaman and Badoura). Each of the two mothers conceived a base pa.s.sion for the other's son, and when the young men repulsed their advances, accused them to their father of gross designs upon their honor. Camaralzaman commanded his vizier to put them both to death; but instead of doing so, he conducted them out of the city, and told them not to return to their father's kingdom (the island of Ebony). They wandered on for ten days, when a.s.sad went to a city in sight to obtain provisions. Here he was entrapped by an old fire-worshipper, who offered him hospitality, but cast him into a dungeon, intending to offer him up a human victim on the "mountain of fire." The ship in which he was sent being driven on the coast of queen Margiana, a.s.sad was sold to her as a slave, but being recaptured was carried back to his old dungeon. Here Bosta'na, one of the old man's daughters, took pity on him, and released him, and ere long a.s.sad married queen Margiana, while Amgiad, out of grat.i.tude, married Bostana.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Amgiad and a.s.sad").

ASTAG'ORAS, a female fiend, who has the power of raising storms.--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

ASTAR'TE (3 _syl_.), the Phoenician moon-G.o.ddess, the Astoreth of the Syrians.

With these Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 438 (1665).

_As'tarte_ (2 _syl_.), an attendant on the princess Anna Comne'na.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Eufus).

_Astarte_ a woman, beloved by Manfred.--Byron, _Manfred_.