Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 72

CHITLING (_Tom_), one of the a.s.sociates of f.a.gin the Jew. Tom Chitling was always most deferential to the "Artful Dodger."--C. d.i.c.kens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

CHIVALRY (_The Flower of_), William Douglas, lord of Liddesdale (fourteenth century).

CHLO'E [_Klo'.e_], the shepherdess beloved by Daphnis, in the pastoral romance called _Daphnis and Chloe_, by Longus. St. Pierre's tale of _Paul and Virginia_ is based on this pastoral.

_Chloe_ or rather _Cloe_. So Prior calls Mrs. Centlivre (1661-1723).

_Chloe (Aunt)_, the faithful wife of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous book _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. She hires herself out to a pastry-cook to help redeem her husband after he is "sold South." Her exhortation, "Think o' your marcies, chillen! think o' your marcies!"

is sincere, yet when Tom quotes, "Pray for them that despitefully use you," she sobs out, "Lor'! it's too tough! I _can't_ pray for 'em!"

(1852.)

_Chloe_ (_Aunt_), "a homeless widow, of excellent Vermont intentions and high ideals in cup-cake, summoned to that most difficult of human tasks, the training of another woman's child.... She held it to be the first business of any woman who undertook the management of a literary family like her brother's to attend properly to its digestion."--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, _The Story of Avis_ (1877).

CHLO'RIS, the ancient Greek name of Flora.

Around your haunts The laughing Chloris with profusest hand Throws wide her blooms and odors.

Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_.

CHOE'REAS (_ch = k_), the lover of Callirrhoe, in the Greek romance called _The Loves of Ch.o.e.reas and Callirrhoe_, by Char'iton (eighth century).

CHOKE (_General_), a lank North American gentleman, "one of the most remarkable men in the country." He was editor of _The Watertoast Gazette_, and a member of "The Eden Land Corporation." It was general Choke who induced Martin Chuzzlewit to stake his all in the egregious Eden swindle.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

CHOLMONDELEY [_Chum'.ly_], of Vale Royal, a friend of sir Geoffrey Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

CHOPPARD (_Pierre_), one of the gang of thieves, called "The Ugly Mug." When asked a disagreeable question, he always answered, "I'll ask my wife, my memory's so slippery."--Edward Stirling, _The Courier of Lyons_ (1852).

CHRIEMHIL'DA. (See under K.)

CHRISOM CHILD (_A_), a child that dies within a month of its birth. So called because it is buried in the white cloth anointed with _chrism_ (oil and balm) worn at its baptism.

"He's in Arthur's [_Abraham's_] bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom [_chrisom_] child. 'A parted just ... at turning o' the tide."

(Quickly's description of the death of Falstaff.)--Shakespeare, _Henry V_. act ii. sc. 3 (1599).

Why, Mike's a child to him ... a chrism child.

Jean Ingelow, _Brothers and a Sermon_.

CHRIS'TABEL (_ch = k_), the heroine of a fragmentary poem of the same t.i.tle by Coleridge.

_Christabel_, the heroine of an ancient romance ent.i.tled _Sir Eglamour of Artois_.

CHRISTABELLE [_Kris.'ta.bel_], daughter of "a bonnie king of Ireland,"

beloved by sir Cauline (2 _syl_.). When the king knew of their loves he banished sir Cauline from the kingdom. Then as Christabelle drooped the king held a tournament for her amus.e.m.e.nt, every prize of which was carried off by an unknown knight in black. On the last day came a giant with two "goggling eyes, and mouthe from ear to ear," called the Soldain, and defied all comers. No one would accept his challenge save the knight in black, who succeeded in killing his adversary, but died himself of the wounds he had received. When it was discovered that the knight was sir Cauline, the lady "fette a sighe, that burst her gentle hearte in twayne."--Percy, _Reliques_ ("Sir Cauline," I. i. 4).

CHRISTIAN, the hero of Bunyan's allegory called _The Pilgrim's Progress_. He flees from the City of Destruction and journeys to the Celestial City. At starting he has a heavy pack upon his shoulders, which falls off immediately he reaches the foot of the cross. (The pack, of course, is the bundle of sin, which is removed by the blood of the cross. 1678.)

_Christian_, a follower of Christ. So called first at Antioch.--_Acts_ xi. 26.

_Christian_, captain of the patrol in a small German town in which Mathis is burgomaster. He marries Annette, the burgomaster's daughter.--J. R. Ware, _The Polish Jew_.

_Christian_, synonym of "_Peasant_" in Russia. This has arisen from the abundant legislation under czar Alexis and czar Peter the Great, to prevent Christian serfs from entering the service of Mohammedan masters. No Christian is allowed to belong to a Mohammedan master, and no Mohammedan master is allowed to employ a Christian on his estate.

_Christian II_. (or _Christiern_), king of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. When the Dalecarlians rose in rebellion against him and chose Gustavus Vasa for their leader, a great battle was fought, in which the Swedes were victorious; but Gustavus allowed the Danes to return to their country. Christian then abdicated, and Sweden became an independent kingdom.--H. Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).

_Chris'tian (Edward)_, a conspirator. He has two _aliases_, "Richard Gan'lesse" (2 _syl_.) and "Simon Can'ter."

_Colonel William Christian_, Edward's brother. Shot for insurrection.

_Fenella_ alias _Zarah Christian_, daughter of Edward Christian.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, George II.).

_Christian_ (_Fletcher_), mate of the _Bounty_, under the command of captain Bligh, and leader of the mutineers. After setting the captain and some others adrift, Christian took command of the ship, and, according to lord Byron, the mutineers took refuge in the island of Toobouai (one of the Society Islands). Here Torquil, one of the mutineers, married Neuha, a native. After a time a ship was sent to capture the mutineers. Torquil and Neuha escaped, and lay concealed in a cave; but Christian, Ben Bunting, and Skysc.r.a.pe were shot. This is not according to fact, for Christian merely touched at Toobouai, and then, with eighteen of the natives and nine of the mutineers, sailed for Tahiti, where all soon died except Alexander Smith, who changed his name to John Adams, and became a model patriarch.--Byron, _The Island_.

CHRISTIAN DOCTOR (_Most_), John Charlier de Gerson (1363-1429).

CHRISTIAN ELOQUENCE (_The Founder of_), Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704).

CHRISTIAN KING (_Most_). So the kings of France were styled. Pepin _le Bref_ was so styled by pope Stephen III. (714-768). Charles II. _le Chauve_ was so styled by the Council of Savonnieres (823, 840-877).

Louis XI. was so styled by Paul II. (1423, 1461-1483).

CHRISTIAN'A (_ch = k_), the wife of Christian, who started with her children and Mercy from the City of Destruction long after her husband's flight. She was under the guidance of Mr. Greatheart, and went, therefore, with silver slippers along the th.o.r.n.y road. This forms the second part of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ (1684).

CHRIS'TIE (2 _syl_.) of the Clint Hill, one of the retainers of Julian Avenel (2 _syl_.).--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Chris'tie_ (_John_), ship-chandler at Paul's wharf.

_Dame Nelly Christie_, his pretty wife, carried off by lord Dalgarno.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

CHRISTI'NA, daughter of Christian II. king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. She is sought in marriage by prince Arvi'da and by Gustavus Vasa; but the prince abandons his claim in favor of his friend.

After the great battle, in which Christian is defeated by Gustavus, Christina clings to her father, and pleads with Gustavus on his behalf. He is sent back to Denmark, with all his men, without ransom, but abdicates, and Sweden is erected into a separate kingdom.--H.

Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).

CHRISTINA PURCELL, a happy, pure girl, whose sheltered life and frank innocence contrast strongly with the heavy shadows glooming over outcast "Nixy" in _Hedged In._

She [Nixy], looking in from the street at mother and child, wondered if the lady here and the white daughter were religious; if it were because people were white and religious that they all turned her from their doors,--then, abruptly, how _she_ would look sitting in the light of a porcelain lamp, with a white sack on.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, _Hedged In_ (1870).

CHRIS'TINE (2 _syl_.), a pretty, saucy young woman in the service of the countess Marie, to whom she is devotedly attached. After the recapture of Ernest ("the prisoner of state"), she goes boldly to king Frederick II., from whom she obtains his pardon. Being set at liberty, Ernest marries the countess.--E. Stirling, _The Prisoner of State_ (1847).

CHRISTINE DRYFOOS, the undisciplined, showy daughter of a self-made man in W. D. Howells's _A Hazard of New Fortunes_ (1889).

She was self-possessed because she felt that a knowledge of her father's fortune had got around, and she had the peace which money gives to ignorance. She is madly in love with Beaton, whose attentions have raised expectations he concluded not to fulfill. At their last meeting she felt him more than life to her, and knew him lost, and the frenzy that makes a woman kill the man she loves or fling vitriol to destroy the beauty she cannot have for all hers possessed her lawless soul.... She flashed at him, and with both hands made a feline pa.s.s at the face he bent towards her.

CHRISTMAS TREASURES. Eugene Field, in _A Little Book of Western Verse_, gives a father's soliloquy over such treasures as

The little toy my darling knew, A little sock of faded hue, A little lock of golden hair,

all that remains to him who,

As he lisped his evening prayer Asked the boon with childish grace, Then, toddling to the chimney-place, He hung his little stocking there.