Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 71

CHEVERIL (_Hans_), the ward of Mordent, just come of age. Impulsive, generous, hot-blooded. He resolves to be a rake, but scorns to be a villain. However, he accidentally meets with Joanna "the deserted daughter," and falls in love with her. He rescues her from the clutches of Mrs. Enfield the crimp, and marries her.--Holcroft, _The Deserted Daughter_ (altered into _The Steward_).

The part that placed me [_Walter Lacy_] in the position of a light comedian was "Cheveril," in _The Steward_, altered from Holcroft's _Deserted Daughter._--W. Lacy, _Letter to W.C. Russell_.

CHIBIA'BOS, the Harmony of Nature personified; a musician, the friend of Hiawatha, and ruler in the land of spirits. When he played on his pipe, the "brooks ceased to murmur, the wood-birds to sing, the squirrel to chatter, and the rabbit sat upright to look and listen."

He was drowned in Lake Superior by the breaking of the ice.

Most beloved by Hiawatha Was the gentle Chibiabos; He the best of all musicians, He the sweetest of all singers.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, vi. and xv.

_Chibiabos_, venerable chief in _The Myth of Hiaiwatha and Other Oral Legends of North American Indians_, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1856).

CHICANEAU _(She'.ka.no')_, a litigious tradesman in _Les Plaideurs_, by Racine, (1668).

CHICH'I-VACHE (3 _syl_.), a monster that fed only on good women. The word means the "sorry cow." It was all skin and bone, because its food was so extremely scarce. (See BYCORN.)

O n.o.ble wyves, full of heigh prudence, Let noon humilitie your tonges nayle., Lest Chichi-Vache you swalwe in her entraile.

Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("Clerk's Tale," 1388).

CHICK _(Mr.)_, brother-in-law of Mr. Dombey; a stout gentleman, with a tendency to whistle and hum airs at inopportune moments. Mr. Chick is somewhat henpecked; but in the matrimonial squalls, though apparently beaten, he not unfrequently rises up the superior and gets his own way.

_Louisa Chick_, Mr. Dombey's married sister. She is of a snappish temper, but dresses in the most juvenile style, and is persuaded that anything can be accomplished if persons will only "make an effort."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

CHICKEN _(The)_, Michael Angelo Taylor, barrister, so called because in his maiden speech, 1785, he said, "I deliver this opinion with great deference, being but a chicken in the profession of the law."

_Chicken_ (_The Game_), a low fellow, to be heard of at the bar of the Black Badger. Mr. Toots selects this man as his instructor in fencing, betting, and self-defence. The Chicken has short hair, a low forehead, a broken nose, and "a considerable tract of bare and sterile country behind each ear."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

CHICKENS AND THE AUGURS. When the augurs told Publius Claudius Pulcher, the Roman consul, who was about to engage the Carthaginian fleet, that the sacred chickens would not eat, he replied, "Then toss them into the sea, that they may drink."

CHICK'ENSTALKER (_Mrs_.), a stout, bonny, kind-hearted woman, who keeps a general shop. Toby Veck, in his dream, imagines her married to Tugby, the porter of sir Joseph Bowley.--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Chimes_ (1844).

CHICK'WEED (_Conkey, i.e. Nosey_), the man who robbed himself. He was a licensed victualler on the point of failing, and gave out that he had been robbed of 327 guineas "by a tall man with a black patch over his eye." He was much pitied, and numerous subscriptions were made on his behalf. A detective was sent to examine into the "robbery,"

and Chickweed would cry out, "There he is!" and run after the "hypothetical thief" for a considerable distance, and then lose sight of him. This occurred over and over again, and at last the detective said to him, "I've found out who done this here robbery." "Have you?"

said Chickweed. "Yes," said Spyers, "you done it yourself." And so he had.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Oliver Twist_, x.x.xi. (1837).

CHIF'FINCH (_Master Thomas_), _alias_ Will Smith, a friend of Richard Ganlesse (2 _syl_.). The private emissary of Charles II. He was employed by the duke of Buckingham to carry off Alice Bridgenorth to Whitehall, but the captive escaped and married Julian Peveril.

_Kate Chiffinch_, mistress of Thomas Chiffinch.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

CHIGNON _[Shin.yong]_, the French valet of Miss Alscrip "the heiress."

A silly, affected, typical French valet-de-chambre.--General Burgoyne, _The Heiress_ (1718).

CHI'LAX, a merry old soldier, lieutenant to general Memnon, in Paphos.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1617).

CHILD (_The_), Bettina, daughter of Maximiliane Brentano. So called from the t.i.tle of her book, _Goethe's Correspondence with a Child_.

CHILD OF NATURE (_The_), a play by Mrs. Inchbald. Amantis was the "child of Nature." She was the daughter of Alberto, banished "by an unjust sentence," and during his exile he left his daughter under the charge of the marquis Almanza. Amantis was brought up in total ignorance of the world and the pa.s.sion-principles which sway it, but felt grateful to her guardian, and soon discovered that what she called "grat.i.tude" the world calls "love." Her father returned home rich, his sentence cancelled and his innocence allowed, just in time to give his daughter in marriage to his friend Almanza.

CHILDE HAROLD, a man sated with the world, who roams from place to place, to kill time and escape from himself. The "childe" is, in fact, lord Byron himself, who was only twenty-two when he began the poem, which was completed in seven years. In canto i. the "childe" visits Portugal and Spain (1809); in canto ii. Turkey in Europe (1810); in canto iii. Belgium and Switzerland (1816); and in canto iv. Venice, Rome, and Florence (1817).

("Childe" is a t.i.tle of honor, about tantamount to "lord," as childe Waters, childe Rolande, childe Tristram, childe Arthur, childe Childers, etc.)

CHIL'DERS (_E.W.B._), one of the riders in Sleary's circus, noted for his vaulting and reckless riding in the character of the "Wild Huntsman of the Prairies." This compound of groom and actor marries Josephine, Sleary's daughter.

_Kidderminster Childers_, son of the above, known in the profession as "Cupid." He is a diminutive boy, with an old face and facetious manner wholly beyond his years.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Hard Times_ (1854).

CHILDREN (_The Henneberg_). It is said that the countess of Henneberg railed at a beggar for having twins, and the beggar, turning on the countess, who was forty-two years old, said, "May you have as many children as there are days in a year," and sure enough, on Good Friday, 1276, the countess brought forth 365 at one birth; all the males were christened _John_, and all the females _Elizabeth_. They were buried at a village near La Hague, and the jug is still shown in which they were baptized.

CHILDREN IN THE WOOD, the little son (three years old) and younger daughter (Jane) left by a Norfolk gentleman on his death-bed to the care of his deceased wife's brother. The boy was to have 300 a year on coming of age, and the girl 500 as a wedding portion; but if the children died in their minority the money was to go to the uncle. The uncle, in order to secure the property, hired two ruffians to murder the children, but one of them relented and killed his companion; then, instead of murdering the babes, he left them in Wayland Wood, where they gathered blackberries, but died at night with cold and terror.

All things went ill with the uncle, who perished in gaol, and the ruffian, after a lapse of seven years, confessed the whole villainy.--Percy, _Reliques_, III. ii. 18.

CHILDREN OF THE MIST, one of the branches of the MacGregors, a wild race of Scotch Highlanders, who had a skirmish with the soldiers in pursuit of Dalgetty and M'Eagh among the rocks (ch. 14).--Sir W.

Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

CHILLIP (_Dr_.), a physician who attended Mrs. Copperfield at the birth of David.

He was the meekest of his set, the mildest of little men.--C. d.i.c.kens, _David Copperfield_, i. (1849).

CHILLON' (_Prisoner of_) Francois de Bonnivard, of Lunes, the Genevese patriot (1496-1571) who opposed the enterprises of Charles III. (the duke-bishop of Savoy) against the independence of Geneva, and was cast by him into the prison of Chillon, where he was confined for six years. Lord Byron makes him one of six brothers, two of whom died on the battle-field; one was burnt at the stake, and three were imprisoned at Chillon. Two of the prisoners died, but Francois was set at liberty by the people of Berne.--Byron, _Prisoner of Chillon_ (1816).

CHIMeNE (_La Belle_) or Xime'na, daughter of count Lozano de Gormaz, wife of the Cid. After the Cid's death she defended Valentia from the Moors with great bravery, but without success. Corneille and Guihem de Cantro have introduced her in their tragedies, but the _role_ they represent her to have taken is wholly imaginary.

CHINAMAN (_John_), a man of China.

CHINDASUIN'THO (4 _syl_.), king of Spain, father of Theod'ofred, and grandfather of Roderick last of the Gothic kings.--Southey, _Roderick, etc_. (1814).

CHINESE PHILOSOPHER (_A_). Oliver Goldsmith, in the _Citizen of the World_, calls his book "Letters from a Chinese Philosopher residing in London to his Friends in the East" (1759).

CHINGACHGOOK, the Indian chief, called in French _Le Gros Serpent_.

Fenimore Cooper has introduced this chief into four of his novels, _The Last of the Mohicans. The Pathfinder. The Deerslayer_, and _The Pioneer_.

CHINTZ (_Mary_), Miss Bloomfield's maid, the bespoken of Jem Miller.--C. Selby, _The Unfinished Gentleman_.

CHI'OS (_The Man of_), Homer, who lived at Chios [_Ki'.os_]. At least Chios was one of the seven cities which laid claim to the bard, according to the Latin hexameter verse:

Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenae.--Varro.

CHIRN'SIDE (_Luckie_), poulterer at Wolf's Hope village.--Sir W.

Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

CHI'RON, a centaur, renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and prophecy. He numbered among his pupils Achilles, Peleus, Diomede, and indeed all the most noted heroes of Grecian story. Jupiter took him to heaven, and made him the constellation _Sagittarius_.

... as Chiron erst had done To that proud bane of Troy, her G.o.d-resembling son [_Achilles_].

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, v. (1612).

CHIRRUP (_Betsey_), the housekeeper of Mr. Sowerberry, the misanthrope.--W. Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock_.

CHITA, the child orphaned by the fearful tragedy detailed in Lufcadio Hearn's _Chita: A Memory of Last Island_. The little one is dragged from her dead mother's neck while she has still the strength to cry out "_Maman! maman_!" and borne through the surf by the fisherman Felix, to the arms of his wife. Brought up as the child of the humble pair, she never suspects that the stranger who, years after, dies of yellow fever brought from New Orleans to Felix's hut is her father (1888).