Chapter I: The Anglo-Saxon Period, 449-1066 (6)

=Masora.=--A critical work or canon, whereby is fixed and ascertained the reading of the text of the Hebrew version of the Bible.

=Mauth Dog.=--_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Scott. A black specter spaniel that haunted the guard room of Peeltown in the Isle of Man. A drunken trooper entered the guard room while the dog was there, but lost his speech, and died within three days.

=Mazeppa= (_mä-zep´ä_).--A poem by Byron. Mazeppa was a Cossack of noble family who became a page in the court of the king of Poland, and while in this capacity intrigued with Theresia, the young wife of a count, who discovered the amour, and had the young page lashed to a wild horse, and turned adrift.

=McFingal.=--The hero of Trumbull’s political poem of the same name; represented as a burly New England squire, enlisted on the side of the Tory part of the American revolution, and constantly engaged in controversy with Honorius, the champion of the Whigs.

=Measure for Measure.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. There was a law in Vienna that made it death for a man to live with a woman not his wife; but the law was so little enforced that the mothers of Vienna complained to the duke of its neglect. So the duke deputed Angelo to enforce it; and, assuming the dress of a friar, absented himself awhile, to watch the result. Scarcely was the duke gone, when Claudio was sentenced to death for violating the law. His sister Isabel went to intercede on his behalf, and Angelo told her he would spare her brother if she would become his Phryne. Isabel told her brother he must prepare to die, as the conditions proposed by Angelo were out of the question. The duke, disguised as a friar, heard the whole story, and persuaded Isabel to “assent in words,” but to send Mariana (the divorced wife of Angelo) to take her place. This was done; but Angelo sent the provost to behead Claudio, a crime which “the friar” contrived to avert. Next day the duke returned to the city, and Isabel told her tale. Finally the duke married Isabel, Angelo took back his wife, and Claudio married Juliet.

=Medea= (_mē-dē´ä_).--A play by Euripides. The _Medea_ came out in 431 B. C. along with the poet’s _Philoctetes_, _Dictys_, and the satiric _Reapers_ (the last was early lost). It was based upon a play of Neophron’s, and only obtained the third prize, Euphorion being first, and Sophocles second. It may accordingly be regarded as a failure in its day--an opinion apparently confirmed by the faults (_viz._, Ægeus and the winged chariot) selected from it as specimens in Aristotle’s _Poetica_. There is considerable evidence of there being a second edition of the play, and many of the variants, or so-called interpolations, seem to arise from both versions being preserved and confused. Nevertheless, there was no play of Euripides more praised and imitated.

=Médecine Malgré Lui, Le= (_mād-saN´ mal-grā´lwē lu_), (or, _The Doctor in Spite of Himself_).--A comedy by Molière. The “enforced doctor” is Sganarelle, a fagot maker, who is called in by Géronte to cure his daughter of dumbness. Sganarelle soon perceives that the malady is assumed in order to prevent a hateful marriage, and introduces her lover as an apothecary. The dumb spirit is at once exorcized, and the lovers made happy with “pills matrimonial.”

In 1733 Fielding produced a farce called _The Mock Doctor_, which was based on this comedy. The doctor he calls “Gregory,” and Géronte “Sir Jasper.” Lucinde, the dumb girl, he calls “Charlotta;” and Anglicizes her lover’s name, Léandre, into “Leander.”

=Meg Merrilies= (_mer´i-lēz_).--A prominent character in Scott’s _Guy Mannering_, a half-crazy gypsy or sibyl.

=Meistersingers= (_mīs´ter-sing-ers_).--In Germany an association of master tradesmen, to revive the national minstrelsy, which had fallen into decay with the decline of the minnesingers or love minstrels (1350-1523). Their subjects were chiefly moral or religious, and constructed according to rigid rules.

=Melissa= (_me-lis´ä_).--_Orlando Furioso_, Ariosto. The prophetess who lived in Merlin’s cave. Bradamante gave her the enchanted ring to take to Rogero; so, assuming the form of Atlantes, she not only delivered Rogero but disenchanted all the forms metamorphosed in the island where he was captive.

=Melnotte, Claude.=--_Lady of Lyons_, Bulwer. The son of a gardener in love with Pauline, “the Beauty of Lyons,” but treated by her with contempt. Beauseant and Glavis, two other rejected suitors, conspired with him to humble her.

=Merchant of Venice.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. Antonio the merchant, signs a bond in order to borrow money from Shylock, a Jew, for Bassanio, the lover of Portia. If the loan was repaid within three months, only the principal would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to claim a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. The ships of Antonio being delayed by contrary winds, the merchant was unable to meet his bill, and the Jew claimed the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the defense, and saved Antonio by reminding the Jew that a pound of flesh gave him no drop of blood.

=Merlin.=--The name of an ancient Welsh prophet and enchanter. He is often alluded to by the older poets, especially Spenser, in his _Faërie Queene_, and also figures in Tennyson’s _Idylls of the King_. In the _History of Prince Arthur_ by Malory, Merlin is the prince of enchanters and of a supernatural origin. He is said to have built the Round Table and to have brought from Ireland the stones of Stonehenge.

=Merlin’s Cave.=--In Dynevor, near Carmarthen, noted for its ghastly noises of rattling iron chains, groans, and strokes of hammers. The cause is said to be this: Merlin set his spirits to fabricate a brazen wall to encompass the city of Carmarthen, and, as he had to call on the Lady of the Lake, bade them not slacken their labor till he returned; but he never did return, for Vivian held him prisoner by her wiles.

=Merry Wives of Windsor, The.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. It is said that Queen Elizabeth was so pleased with the Falstaff of Henry IV. that she commanded Shakespeare to show how he conducted himself when in love. For the plot he was probably but little indebted to other writers. _The Two Lovers of Pisa_ from Straparola, in Tarleton’s _News Out of Purgatory_, and a story from _Il Pecorone_ which suggests the hiding of Falstaff in the soiled linen, may possibly have suggested some of the incidents. John Dennis wrote a play, _The Comical Gallant, or the Amours of Sir John Falstaff_, in 1702, in which _The Merry Wives_ may be recognized.

=Messiah= (_me-sī´ä_), =The=.--An epic poem in fifteen books, by F. G. Klopstock. The subject is the last days of Jesus, his crucifixion and resurrection.

=Middlemarch=: _A Study of Provincial Life._--A novel, by George Eliot, published in 1872, and characterized by _The Quarterly Review_ “as the most remarkable work of the ablest of living novelists, and, considered as a study of character, unique.” The heroine is Dorothea Brooke, first married to Mr. Casaubon, afterward to Will Ladislaw. Among the other characters are Mr. Lydgate, Rosamond Vincy, Mary Garth, and Mrs. Cadwallader.

=Midlothian=, or =Mid-Lothian= (_mid-lō´_TH_i-an_), =The Heart of=.--A tale by Scott, of the Porteous riot, in which the incidents of Effie and Jeanie Deans are of absorbing interest. Effie was seduced by Geordie Robertson (_alias_ George Staunton), while in the service of Mrs. Saddletree. She murdered her infant, and was condemned to death; but her half sister Jeanie went to London, pleaded her cause before the queen, and obtained her pardon. Jeanie, on her return to Scotland, married Reuben Butler; and Geordie Robertson (then Sir George Staunton) married Effie. Sir George being shot by a gypsy boy, Effie (_i. e._, Lady Staunton) retired to a convent on the continent.

=Midsummer Night’s Dream.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. The author says there was a law in Athens that if a daughter refused to marry the husband selected for her by her father, she might be put to death. Ægeus, an Athenian, promised to give his daughter Hermia in marriage to Demetrius; but, as the lady loved Lysander, she refused to marry the man selected by her father, and fled from Athens with her lover. Demetrius went in pursuit of her, followed by Helena, who doted on him. All four came to a forest, and fell asleep. In their dreams a vision of fairies passed before them, and, on awaking, Demetrius resolved to forego Hermia, who disliked him, and to take to wife Helena, who sincerely loved him. When Ægeus was informed thereof, he readily agreed to give his daughter to Lysander, and the force of the law was not called into action (1592).

=Mildendo.=--_Gulliver’s Travels_, Swift. The metropolis of Lilliput, the wall of which was two feet and a half in height, and at least eleven inches thick. The emperor’s palace, called Belfaborac, was in the center of the city.

=Miles Standish= (or, _Courtship of Miles Standish_).--A poem by H. W. Longfellow. From this poem the robust figures of the Puritan captain in his haps and mishaps, and of John Alden and Priscilla, are now part of our national treasures.

=Miller, Daisy.=--Title and heroine of a story by Henry James. An American girl traveling in Europe, where her innocence, ignorance, and disregard of European customs and standards of propriety put her in compromising situations, and frequently expose her conduct to misconstruction.

=Mill on the Floss.=--A novel by George Eliot, published in 1860. There is a simplicity about _The Mill on the Floss_ which reminds us of the classic tragedy. The vast power of nature over the career and fate of a family is figured forth in the river, beside which the child Maggie played, filling her mother’s heart with gloomy and not unveracious presentiments, and down which she passed with Stephen in her hour of temptation, with Tom in her last moments; the whole strength of association and of the ties and instinct of blood breaking in at every critical point in the story, like the voice of a Greek chorus, full of traditionary warning and stern common sense, but speaking in the dialect of English rusticity, and by the mouths of Mr. Tulliver and his wife’s relations.

=Minna von Barnhelm= (_min´ä fon bärn´helm_).--A comedy by Lessing, published in 1767. It is the first German national drama which deals with contemporary events.

=Minnehaha= (_min-e-hä´hä_).--_Hiawatha_, Henry W. Longfellow. The daughter of the arrow maker of Dacotah, and wife of Hiawatha. She was called Minnehaha from the waterfall of that name.

=Minnesingers= (_min´e-sing-erz_).--A name given to the German lyric poets of the middle ages, on account of love being the principal theme of their lays, the German word “minne” being used to denote a pure and faithful love.

=Miranda.=--_The Tempest_, Shakespeare. The daughter of Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, and niece of Antonio, the usurping duke. She is brought up on a desert island, with Ariel, the fairy spirit, and Caliban, the monster, as her only companions.

=Miriam.=--A beautiful and mysterious woman in Hawthorne’s romance _The Marble Faun_, for love of whom Donatello commits murder, thus becoming her partner in crime.

=Misanthrope, Le= (_mi-zä_N-_trop´, lu_).--A comedy by Molière, produced in 1666. This play is an almost inexhaustible source of allusions, quotations, proverbial sayings, etc. Its principal interest lies in the development of various pairs of opposing characters in even their lightest shades. It is the ideal of classic comedy. Alceste, the impatient, but not cynical, hero. Célimène the coquette, Oronte the fop, Éliante the reasonable woman, Arsinœ the mischief maker, are all immortal types.

=Misérables, Les= [(_mi-zā-rabl´, lâ_); or, _The Unfortunates_.]--A novel by Victor Hugo, in five parts: _Fantine_, _Cosette_, _Marius_, _L’Idylle Rue Plumet_, and _Jean Valjean_. It was published in 1862.

=Morte d’Arthur= (_môrt där´ther_).--(1) Compilation of Arthurian tales, called on the title page _The History of Prince Arthur_, compiled from the French by Sir Thomas Malory, and printed by William Caxton in 1470. It is divided into three parts. The first part contains the birth of King Arthur, the establishment of the Round Table, the romance of Balin and Balan, and the beautiful allegory of Gareth and Linet. The second part is mainly the romance of Sir Tristram. The third part is the romance of Sir Launcelot, the quest of the holy grail, and the death of Arthur, Guinevere, Tristram, Lamorake, and Launcelot.

(2) An idyll by Tennyson, called _The Passing of Arthur_, in the _Idylls of the King_. The poet supposes Arthur (wounded in the great battle of the west) to be borne off the field by Sir Bedivere. The wounded monarch directed Sir Bedivere to cast Excalibur into the mere. Sir Bedivere then carried the dying king to a barge, in which were three queens, who conveyed him to the island valley of Avilion.

=Mualox.=--_The Fair God_, Lew Wallace. The old paba or prophet who assured Nenetzin that she was to be the future queen in her father’s palace.

=Much Ado About Nothing.=--A comedy by Shakespeare. It was first printed in 1600. The play was known as _Benedict and Bettris_ in 1613, and is probably the same as _Love’s Labor’s Won_. The story of Hero is taken with some variations from one of Bandello’s tales, which probably was borrowed from the story of Geneura and Ariodantes in the _Orlando Furioso_ of Ariosto. This part of the play, however, is subordinated by Shakespeare to the loves of Benedict and Beatrice.

=Mucklebacket.=--_The Antiquary_, Scott. Name of a conspicuous family, consisting of Saunders Mucklebacket, the old fisherman of Musselcrag; Old Elspeth, mother of Saunders; Maggie, wife of Saunders; Steenie, the eldest son, who was drowned; Little Jennie, Saunders’ child.

=Mumblecrust, Madge.=--A character in Edall’s _Ralph Roister Doister_, whose name was subsequently employed in Dekker’s _Satiro-Mastix_, and the comedy of _Patient Grissel_. Madge is mentioned in the MS. comedy of _Misogonus_.

=Münchausen= (_münch´hou-zen_), =The Baron=.--A hero of most marvelous adventures, and the fictitious author of a book of travels filled with most extravagant tales. The name is said to refer to Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchausen, a German officer in the Russian army, noted for his marvelous stories.

=Mutual Friend, Our.=--A novel by Charles Dickens. The “mutual friend” is Mr. Boffin, the golden dustman, who was the mutual friend of John Harmon and of Bella Wilfer. The tale is this: John Harmon was supposed to have been murdered by Julius Handford; but it was Ratford, who was murdered by Rogue Riderhood, and the mistake arose from a resemblance between the two persons. By his father’s will, John Harmon was to marry Bella Wilfer; but John Harmon knew not the person destined by his father for his wife, and made up his mind to dislike her. After his supposed murder, he assumed the name of John Rokesmith, and became the secretary of Mr. Boffin, “the golden dustman,” residuary legatee of old John Harmon, by which he became possessor of one hundred thousand dollars. Boffin knew Rokesmith, but concealed his knowledge for a time. At Boffin’s house John Harmon (as Rokesmith) met Bella Wilfer, and fell in love with her. Mr. Boffin, in order to test Bella’s love, pretended to be angry with Rokesmith for presuming to love Bella; and, as Bella married him, he cast them both off “for a time,” to live on John’s earnings. A babe was born, and then the husband took the young mother to a beautiful house, and told her he was John Harmon, that the house was their house, that he was the possessor of five hundred thousand dollars through the disinterested conduct of their “mutual friend,” Mr. Boffin, and the young couple live happily with Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, in wealth and luxury.

=My Novel.=--A work of fiction by Edward, Lord Lytton, published in 1853. It is described as the “great work which marks the culminating point in Lord Lytton’s genius, the work to which, with a rare estimate of his own powers, he has given the singularly appropriate title of _My Novel_.... If we except one or two melodramatic scenes, it is throughout an admirable work.... The plot is complex, but it is unfolded with marvelous directness and ingenuity, and, notwithstanding the digressions, the interest never for a moment flags.” Among the characters are Squire Hazeldean, Mr. Dale, Dick Avenel, Leonard Fairfield, and Harley L’Estrange.

=N=

=Nathan the Wise= [_Nathan der Wise_ (_nä´tän der vī´ze_).]--A drama by G. E. Lessing, so called from the name of its principal character. Its tendency is toward religious tolerance, especially in the episode of the three rings, which was taken from Boccaccio. Nathan is a persecuted but noble Jew, an ideal character resembling Moses Mendelssohn.

=Natty Bumppo.=--Called “Leather-Stocking.” He appears in five of Cooper’s novels: (1) _The Deerslayer_; (2) _The Pathfinder_; (3) As “Hawk-eye” in _The Last of the Mohicans_; (4) “Natty Bumppo” in _The Pioneers_; and (5) as the “Trapper” in _The Prairie_, in which he dies.

=Neæra= (_nē-ē´rä_).--The name of a girl mentioned by the Latin poets Horace, Vergil, and Tibullus; sometimes also introduced into modern pastoral poetry as the name of a mistress or sweetheart.

=Nepenthe.=--A care-dispelling drug, which Polydamna, wife of Thonis, king of Egypt, gave to Helen. A drink containing this drug “changed grief to mirth, melancholy to joyfulness, and hatred to love.” The water of Ardenne had the opposite effects. Homer mentions this drug nepenthe in his _Odyssey_. It is also mentioned in Poe’s _Raven_.

=New Atlantis, The.=--An imaginary island in the middle of the Atlantic. Bacon, in his allegorical fiction, so called, supposes himself wrecked on this island, where he finds an association for the cultivation of natural science and the promotion of arts. Called the “New” Atlantis to distinguish it from Plato’s Atlantis, an imaginary island of fabulous charms.

=Newcomes, The.=--_Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family_, by William Makepeace Thackeray. The hero is Clive Newcome, a young artist, son of Colonel Newcome, and cousin of Ethel Newcome, whom he marries after the death of his first wife, Rosa Mackenzie. Among the other characters are Comte de Florac, Charles Honeyman, “J. J.,” Fred Bayham, Lady Kew, Jack Belsize, Dr. Goodenough, and others.

Colonel Newcome, is “the finest portrait,” says Hannay, “that has been added to the gallery of English fiction since Sir Walter’s time. The pathos, at once manly and delicate, with which his ruin and death are treated, places Thackeray in a high rank in poetic sentiment.”

=Nibelungenlied= (_nē´be-loong-en-lēd_).--An historic poem, generally called the German _Iliad_. It is the only great national epic that European writers have produced since antiquity, and belongs to every country that has been peopled by Germanic tribes, as it includes the hero traditions of the Franks, the Burgundians and the Goths, with memorials of the ancient myths carried with them from Asia. The poem is divided into two parts, and thirty-two lieds, or cantos. The first part ends with the death of Siegfried, and the second part with the death of Kriemhild. The death of Siegfried and the revenge of Kriemhild have been celebrated in popular songs dating back to the lyric chants now a thousand years old. These are the foundation of the great poem.

=Nicholas Nickleby.=--A novel by Dickens. The mother of the hero, Nicholas, is a widow fond of talking and of telling long stories with no connection. She imagined her neighbor, a mildly insane man, was in love with her because he tossed cabbages and other articles over the garden wall. She had a habit of introducing in conversation topics wholly irrelevant to the subject under consideration, and of always declaring, when anything unanticipated occurred, that she had expected it all along, and had prophesied to that precise effect on divers (unknown) occasions. Nicholas Nickleby has to make his own way in the world. He first goes as usher to Mr. Squeers, schoolmaster at Dotheboys Hall; but leaves in disgust with the tyranny of Squeers and his wife, especially to a poor boy named Smike. Smike runs away from the school to follow Nicholas, and remains his humble follower till death. At Portsmouth, Nicholas joins the theatrical company of Mr. Crummles, but leaves the profession for other adventures. He falls in with the Brothers Cheeryble, who make him their clerk; and in this post he rises to become a merchant, and finally marries Madeline Bray.

=Nightingale, Ode to a.=--Poem by John Keats, which “was written,” says Leigh Hunt, “in a house at the foot of Highgate Hill, on the border of the fields looking toward Hampstead. The poet had then his mortal illness upon him, and knew it; never was the voice of death sweeter.”

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown;
Perhaps the selfsame song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faëry lands forlorn.

=Notre Dame de Paris.=--A prose romance by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The scene is laid in Paris at the end of the reign of Louis XI. It is a vigorous but somber picture of mediæval manners.

=Nourmahal= (_nör-ma-häl´_).--_Lalla Rookh_, Moore. “Light of the Harem.” She was for a season estranged from the sultan, till he gave a grand banquet, at which she appeared in disguise as a lute-player and singer. The sultan was so enchanted with her performance that he exclaimed, “If Nourmahal had so played and sung, I could forgive her all;” whereupon the sultana threw off her mask.

=Nucta.=--_Paradise and the Peri_, Moore. The name given to the miraculous drop which falls from heaven, in Egypt, on St. John’s day, and is supposed to stop the plague.

=Nun of Nidaros.=--_Tales of a Wayside Inn_, Longfellow. The abbess of the Drontheim convent, who heard the voice of St. John while she was kneeling at her midnight devotions.

=Nut-Brown Maid.=--_Reliques_, Percy. The maid who was wooed by the “banished man.” The “banished man” described to her the hardships she would have to undergo if she married him; but finding that she accounted these hardships as nothing compared with his love, he revealed himself to be an earl’s son, with large hereditary estates in Westmoreland, and married her.

=O=

=Obermann= (_ō-ber-män´_).--The impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect. This name was given to the hero and imaginary author of a work of the same name by Etienne Pivert de Senancourt, a French writer.

=Oberon= ([_=o]´be-ron_).--King of the fairies, whose wife was Titania. Shakespeare introduces both Oberon and Titania in his _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. He and Titania, his queen, are fabled to have lived in India, and to have crossed the seas to northern Europe to dance by the light of the moon.

=Oberon the Fay.=--A humpty dwarf only three feet high, but of angelic face, lord and king of Mommur.

=Odyssey= (_od´i-si_).--Homer’s epic poem recording the adventures of Odysseus (Ulysses) in his voyage home from Troy. The poem opens in the island of Calypso, with a complaint against Neptune and Calypso for preventing the return of Odysseus to Ithaca. Telemachos, the son of Odysseus, starts in search of his father, accompanied by Pallas in the guise of Mentor. He goes to Pylos to consult old Nestor, and is sent by him to Sparta, where he is told by Menelaus that Odysseus is detained in the island of Calypso. In the meantime, Odysseus leaves the island, and, being shipwrecked, is cast on the shore of Phæacia. After twenty years’ absence Odysseus returns to his home. Penelope is tormented by suitors. To excuse herself, Penelope tells her suitors he only shall be her husband who can bend Odysseus’ bow. None can do so but the stranger, who bends it with ease. Odysseus is recognized by his wife, and the false suitors are all slain, and peace is restored to Ithaca.

=Œdipus= (_ed´i-pus_) =Coloneus= [(_kō-lō-nē´us_); or, _Œdipus at Colonus_ (_kō-lō´nus_)].--A tragedy of Sophocles, which was not exhibited till four years after his death, and was said to be the last he wrote. In it Œdipus, driven from Thebes by Creon, with his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, seeks asylum with Theseus at Athens, and there obtains pardon from the gods, and peace.

=Œdipus Tyrannus= (_ti-ran´us_).--A tragedy by Sophocles, of uncertain date, “placed by the scholiasts, and by most modern critics, at the very summit of Greek tragic art.”

=Ogier= (_ō-zhyā´_) the Dane.--One of the paladins of the Charlemagne epoch. Also made the hero of an ancient French romance, and the subject of a ballad whose story is probably a contribution from the stores of Norman tradition, Holger, or Olger, Danske, being the national hero of Denmark. He figures in Ariosto’s _Orlando Furioso_.

=O’Groat.=--A name often alluded to in early English parables or sayings coming from the legend of _John O’Groat’s House_. This ancient building was supposed to stand on the most northerly point in Great Britain. John of Groat and his brothers were originally from Holland. According to tradition, the house was of an octagonal shape, being one room with eight windows and eight doors, to admit eight members of the family, the heads of eight different branches of it, to prevent their quarrels for precedence at table, which, on a previous occasion, had well-nigh proved fatal.

=Oldbuck, Jonathan.=--_Antiquary_, Scott. The character whose whimsies gave name to the novel. He is represented as devoted to the study and accumulation of old coins, medals, and relics. He is irritable, sarcastic, and cynical from an early disappointment in love, but full of humor and a faithful friend.

=Old Curiosity Shop, The.=--A tale by Charles Dickens. An old man, having run through his fortune, opened a curiosity shop in order to earn a living and brought up a granddaughter, named Nell [Trent], fourteen years of age. The child was the darling of the old man, but, deluding himself with the hope of making a fortune by gaming, he lost everything, and went forth, with the child, a beggar. Their wanderings and adventures are recounted till they reach a quiet country village, where the old clergyman gives them a cottage to live in. Here Nell soon dies, and the grandfather is found dead upon her grave. The main character, next to Nell, is that of a lad named Kit [Nubbles], employed in the curiosity shop, who adored Nell as “an angel.” This boy gets in the service of Mr. Garland, a genial, benevolent, well-to-do man, in the suburbs of London; but Quilp hates the lad, and induces Brass, a solicitor of Bevis Marks, to put a five pound banknote in the boy’s hat, and then accuse him of theft. Kit is tried, and condemned to transportation; but, the villainy being exposed by a girl-of-all-work nicknamed “The Marchioness,” Kit is liberated and restored to his place, and Quilp drowns himself.

=Old Man of the Sea.=--In the _Arabian Nights_, a monster encountered by Sindbad the sailor in his fifth voyage. After carrying him upon his shoulders a long time, Sindbad at last succeeds in intoxicating him, and effects his escape. The _Old Man of the Sea_ was also made the title of a humorous and well-known poem by O. W. Holmes.

=Old Mortality=, the best of Scott’s historical novels. Morton is the best of his young heroes, and serves as an excellent foil to the fanatical and gloomy Burley. The two classes of actors, _viz._, the brave and dissolute cavaliers, and the resolute oppressed covenanters, are drawn in bold relief. The most striking incidents are the terrible encounter with Burley in his rocky fastness; the dejection and anxiety of Morton on his return from Holland; and the rural comfort of Cuddie Headrigg’s cottage on the banks of the Clyde, with its thin blue smoke among the trees, “showing that the evening meal was being made ready.” Old Mortality is an itinerant antiquary, whose craze is to clean the moss from gravestones, and keep their letters and effigies in good condition.

=Old Red Sandstone.=--One of the most noted of Hugh Miller’s famous writings on geological subjects. It revealed his discovery of fossils in a formation which, up to that time, had been deemed almost destitute of them.

=Oliver.=--_As You Like It_, Shakespeare. Son and heir of Sir Rowland de Bois, who hated his youngest brother, Orlando, and whom he planned to murder by indirect methods. Orlando, finding it impossible to live in his brother’s house, fled to the forest of Arden, where he joined the society of the banished duke. Oliver pursued him, and as he slept in the forest a snake and a lioness lurked near to make him their prey. Orlando chanced to be passing, slew the two monsters, and then found that the sleeper was his brother Oliver. Oliver’s feelings underwent a change, and he loved his brother as much as he had before hated him. In the forest the two brothers met Rosalind and Celia. The former, who was the daughter of the banished duke, married Orlando; and the latter, who was the daughter of Frederick, the usurping duke, married Oliver.

=Oliver Twist.=--A novel by Charles Dickens. Thackeray, writing of this novel, in the character of “Ikey Solomons,” says: “The power of the writer is so amazing that the reader at once becomes his captive, and must follow him whithersoever he leads: and to what are we led? Breathless to watch all the crimes of Fagin, tenderly to deplore the errors of Nancy, to have for Bill Sikes a kind of pity and admiration, and an absolute love for the society of the Dodger. All these heroes stepped from the novel on to the stage; and the whole London public, from peers to chimney sweeps, were interested about a set of ruffians whose occupations are thievery, murder, and prostitution.” A remarkable feature of the work, and one which, on its publication, brought considerable odium on the writer, was its unsparing exposure of the poor-law and the workhouse system, which led to its representation on the stage being forbidden for a time.

=Olivia.=--_Twelfth Night_, Shakespeare. A rich countess, whose love was sought by Orsino, duke of Illyria; but, having lost her brother, Olivia lived for a time in entire seclusion, and in no wise reciprocated the duke’s love. Olivia fell in love with Viola, who was dressed as the duke’s page, and sent her a ring. Mistaking Sebastian (Viola’s brother) for Viola, she married him out of hand.

=Ophelia= (_ō-fē´liä_).--_Hamlet_, Shakespeare. Daughter of Polonius, the chamberlain. Hamlet fell in love with her, but, after his interview with the Ghost, finds that his plans must lead away from her. During his real or assumed madness, he treats her with undeserved and angry rudeness, and afterward, in a fit of inconsiderate rashness, kills her father, the old Polonius. The terrible shock given to her mind by these events completely shatters her intellect, and leads to her accidental death by drowning.

=Organon= (_ôr´ga-non_).--The name given to the first work on logic by Aristotle. He is said to have created the science of logic. The _Organon_ has been enlarged and recast by some modern authors, especially by Mr. John Stuart Mill in his _System of Logic_, into a structure commensurate with the vast increase of knowledge and extension of positive method belonging to the present day.

=Origin of Species, The.=--A work by Charles Robert Darwin, in which he put forward his theory of “natural selection.” It was published in 1859, and by many is regarded as the most important scientific work of the nineteenth century.

=Orlando Furioso= (_or-län´dō fö-rē-ō´sō_).--An epic poem in forty-six cantos, by Ariosto, which occupied his leisure for eleven years, and was published in 1516. This poem, which celebrates the semi-mythical achievements of the paladins of Charlemagne in the wars between the Christians and the Moors, became immediately popular, and has since been translated into all European languages, and passed through innumerable editions.

=Ormulum= (_ôr´mū-lum_).--The _Ormulum_ is a collection of metrical homilies, one for each day of the year; but the single existing copy gives the homilies for thirty-two days only. There are very few French words in the poem, but Scandinavian words and constructions abound. The writer, Orm, or Ormin, belonged to the east of England, and he and his brother Walter were Augustinian monks. He makes no use of rhyme, but his verses are smooth and regular.

=Osbaldistone= (_os-bâl´dis-ton_).--_Rob Roy_, Scott. A family name in the story which tells of nine of the members: (1) the London merchant and Sir Hildebrand, the heads of two families; (2) the son of the merchant is Francis; (3) the offspring of the brother are Percival, the sot; Thorncliffe, the bully; John, the gamekeeper; Richard, the horse-jockey; Wilfred, the fool; and Rashleigh, the scholar, by far the worst of all. This last worthy is slain by Rob Roy, and dies cursing his cousin Frank, whom he had injured.

=O’Shanter.=--See _Tam O’Shanter_.

=Osman= (_os-män´_).--Sultan of the East, conqueror of the Christians, a magnanimous man. He loved Yara, a young Christian captive. This forms the subject of a once famous ballad.

=Osrick= (_oz´rik_).--A court fop in Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_. He is made umpire by Claudius in the combat between Hamlet and Laertes.

=Osseo.=--_Hiawatha_, Longfellow. Son of the Evening Star. When broken with age, he married Oweenee, one of ten daughters of a northland hunter. She loved him in spite of his ugliness and decrepitude, because “all was beautiful within him.” As he was walking with his nine sisters-in-law and their husbands, he leaped into the hollow of an oak tree and came out strong and handsome; but Oweenee at the same moment was changed into a weak old woman. But the love of Osseo was not weakened. The nine brothers and sisters-in-law were transformed into birds. Oweenee, recovering her beauty, had a son, whose delight was to shoot the birds that mocked his father and mother. An Algonquin legend gave the foundation of the story.

=Othello= (_ō-thel´ō_).--A tragedy by Shakespeare. The chief character is a Moor of Venice, who marries Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator, and is led by his ensign, Iago, a consummate villain, to distrust her fidelity and virtue. Iago hated the Moor both because Cassio, a Florentine, was preferred to the lieutenancy instead of himself, and also from a suspicion that the Moor had tampered with his wife; but he concealed his hatred so well that Othello wholly trusted him. Iago persuaded Othello that Desdemona intrigued with Cassio, and urged him on till he murdered his bride.

=Outre-Mer= (_ōōtr-mèr_).--_A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea._--A series of prose tales and sketches by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1835. “The Pays d’Outre-Mer,” says the writer, “is a name by which the pilgrims and crusaders of old designated the Holy Land. I, too, in a certain sense, have been a pilgrim of Outre-Mer; for to my youthful imagination the Old World was a kind of Holy Land, lying afar off beyond the blue horizon of the ocean. In this, my pilgrimage, I have traversed France from Normandy to Navarre; smoked my pipe in a Flemish inn; floated through Holland in a Trekschuit; trimmed my midnight lamp in a German university; wandered and mused amid the classic scenes of Italy; and listened to the gay guitar and merry castanet on the borders of the blue Guadalquivir.”

=P=

=Pacolet= (_pak´ō-let_).--In _Valentine and Orson_, an old romance, a character who owned an enchanted steed, often alluded to by early writers. The name of Pacolet was borrowed by Steele for his familiar spirit in the _Tatler_. The French have a proverb, “It is the horse of Pacolet;” that is, it is one that goes very fast.

=Page.=--_Merry Wives of Windsor_, Shakespeare. Name of a family of Windsor, conspicuous in the play. When Sir John Falstaff made love to Mrs. Page, Page himself assumed the name of Brook. Sir John told the supposed Brook his whole “course of wooing.”

=Page, Anne.=--Daughter of the above, in love with Fenton. Slender calls her “the sweet Anne Page.”

=Page, Mrs.=--Wife of Mr. Page, of Windsor. When Sir John Falstaff made love to her, she joined with Mrs. Ford to dupe him and punish him.

=Palamon.=--(1) A character in _The Knight’s Tale_ in Chaucer’s _Canterbury Tales_, in love with Emilia, who is also beloved by Palamon’s friend, Arcite. (2) In Falconer’s poem of _The Shipwreck_, is in love with the daughter of Albert, the commander of the vessel in which he sails. (3) In Thomson’s poem of _Autumn_ in _The Seasons_, is a young man, “the pride of swains,” in love with Lavinia. He is a poetical representation of Boaz, while Lavinia is intended for Ruth.

=Pangloss= (_pan´glos_), =Doctor.=--(1) A poor pedant, in Colman the Younger’s comedy of the _Heir at Law_, who has been created an _Artium Societatis Socius_ (_A. S. S._). He is remarkable for the aptness, if triteness, of his quotations. (2) An optimist philosopher in Voltaire’s _Candide_.

=Pantagruelian= (_pan-tag´rö-el-an_) =Law Case.=--_Pantagruel_, Rabelais. This case, having nonplused all the judges in Paris, was referred to Lord Pantagruel for decision. After much “statement” the bench declared, “We have not understood one single circumstances of the defense.” Then Pantagruel gave sentence, but his judgment was as unintelligible as the case itself. So, as no one understood a single sentence of the whole affair, all were perfectly satisfied.

=Paracelsus= (_par-a-sel´sus_).--A dramatic poem by Robert Browning, published in 1835. It is a work of singular beauty, and is replete with lofty and solemn thoughts on the fate of genius and the chance and change of life. The Paracelsus of the poem is a very different person from the Paracelsus of history--the brilliant and daring quack who professed to have discovered the philosopher’s stone, but who, by the introduction of opium among the remedies of the _Pharmacopæia_, in some wise made amends for his absurd extravagance.

=Paradise and the Peri.=--The second tale in Moore’s poetical romance of _Lalla Rookh_. The Peri laments her expulsion from heaven, and is told that she will be readmitted if she will bring to the gate of heaven the “gift most dear to the Almighty.” After several failures the Peri offered the “Repentant Tear,” and the gates flew open to receive the gift.

=Paradise Lost.=--An epic poem by Milton. The poem opens with the awaking of the rebel angels in hell after their fall from heaven, the consultation of their chiefs how best to carry on the war with God, and the resolve of Satan to go forth and tempt newly created man to fall. Satan reaches Eden, and finds Adam and Eve in their innocence. This is told in the first four books. The next four books contain the Archangel Raphael’s story of the war in heaven, the fall of Satan, and the creation of the world. The last four books describe the temptation and the fall of man, and tell of the redemption of man by Christ, and the expulsion from Paradise.

=Paradise Regained.=--An epic by Milton on the redemption of man. In this poem the author tells of the journey of Christ into the wilderness after his baptism, and its four books describe the temptation of Christ by Satan.

=Parallel Lives of Greeks and Romans.=--A celebrated biographical work by Plutarch, consisting of forty-six comparisons. In spite of all exceptions on the score of inaccuracy, want of information, or prejudice, _Plutarch’s Lives_ must remain one of the most valuable relics of Greek literature, not only because they stand in the place of many volumes of lost history, but also because they are written with a graphic and dramatic vivacity such as we find in few biographies, ancient or modern; because they are replete with reflections which, if not profound, are always moderate and sensible; and because the author’s aim throughout is to enforce the highest standard of morality of which a heathen was capable. As one of his most enthusiastic admirers has said, “He stands before us as the legate, the ambassador, and the orator on behalf of those institutions whereby the old-time men were rendered wise and virtuous.”

=Partington= (_pär´ting-ton_), =Mrs.=--An imaginary old lady whose laughable sayings have been recorded by an American humorist, B. P. Shillaber.

=Paul and Virginia.=--A popular romance by Bernardin de St. Pierre. According to a tradition, or version, Paul and Virginia are brought up in the belief that they are brother and sister. Don Antonio is sent to bring her to Spain, and make her his bride. She is taken by force on board ship, but scarcely has the ship started, when a hurricane dashes it on the rocks and it is wrecked. Alhambra, a runaway slave, whom Paul and Virginia had befriended, rescues Virginia, who is brought to shore and married to Paul. Antonio is drowned.

=Pauline.=--The Lady of Lyons in Bulwer-Lytton’s play of this name. She was married to Claude Melnotte, a gardener’s son, who pretended to be a count.

=Paul Pry.=--_Paul Pry_, John Poole. An idle, inquisitive, meddlesome fellow, who has no occupation of his own, and is forever poking his nose into other people’s affairs. He always comes in with the apology “I hope I don’t intrude.”

=Peau de Chagrin= (_pō du shä-grin_), “_The Ass’ Skin._”--A story by Balzac. The hero becomes possessed of a magical wild ass’ skin, which yields him the means of gratifying every wish; but for every wish thus gratified the skin shrank somewhat, and at last vanished, having been wished entirely away. Life is a _peau d’âne_, for every vital act diminishes its force, and when all its force is gone, life is spent.

=Peeping Tom of Coventry.=--A tailor of Coventry, the only soul in the town mean enough to peep at the Lady Godiva as she rode naked through the streets to relieve the people from oppression.

=Peggotty= (_peg´o-ti_), =Clara.=--The nurse of David Copperfield in Dickens’ novel of this name. Being very plump, whenever she makes any exertion some of the buttons on the back of her dress fly off.

=Peggotty, Dan’l.=--Brother of David Copperfield’s nurse. Dan’l was a Yarmouth fisherman. His nephew, Ham Peggotty, and his brother-in-law’s child, “little Em’ly,” lived with him.

=Peggotty, Em’ly.=--She was engaged to Ham Peggotty; but being fascinated with Steerforth she eloped. She was afterward reclaimed, and emigrated to Australia.

=Peggotty, Ham.=--Represented as the very beau ideal of an uneducated, simple-minded, honest, and warm-hearted fisherman. He was drowned in his attempt to rescue Steerforth from the sea.

=Pendennis= (_pen-den´is_), =The History of.=--By William Makepeace Thackeray. The hero, Arthur Pendennis, reappears in the author’s _Adventures of Philip_, and is represented as telling the story of _The Newcomes_.

=Pendennis.=--Name of the hero of a novel by Thackeray, published in 1849 and 1850, the immediate successor of _Vanity Fair_. Literary life is described in the history of Pen, a hero of no very great worth.

=Pendennis, Laura.=--Sister of Arthur, considered one of the best of Thackeray’s characters.

=Pendennis, Major.=--A tuft-hunter, who fawns on his patrons for the sake of wedging himself into their society.

=Penseroso= (_pen-se-rō´sō_), =Il.=--A poem by John Milton, written as a companion to _L’Allegro_. The latter is composed in the character of a cheerful, the former in that of a melancholy man, and the whole tone of each poem is regulated accordingly. The one begins with the dawn, the other with evening. The one opens with the lark, the other with the nightingale, and so on.

=Pepys’= (_pēps_, or _pips_, or _pep´is_) =Diary.=--A book by Samuel Pepys, written in shorthand, and deciphered and published in 1825. It extends over the nine years from 1660 to 1669, and is the gossipy chronicle of that gay and profligate time. We have no other book which gives so lifelike a picture of that extraordinary state of society.

=Peregrine Pickle= (_per´e-grin pik´l_).--The title of a novel by Smollett. Peregrine Pickle is a savage, ungrateful spendthrift, fond of practical jokes, and suffering with evil temper the misfortunes brought on himself by his own willfulness.

=Peter Bell.=--A tale in verse, by Wordsworth. A wandering tinker, subject of Wordsworth’s poem, whose hard heart was touched by the fidelity of an ass to its dead master. Shelley wrote a burlesque of this poem, entitled _Peter Bell the Third_, intended to ridicule the ludicrous puerility of language and sentiment which Wordsworth often affected. This burlesque was given the name of the _Third_ because it followed a parody already published as _Peter the Second_.

=Petruchio= (_pe-trö´chō_, or _ki-ō_).--A gentleman of Verona, in Shakespeare’s _Taming of the Shrew_. A very honest fellow, who hardly speaks a word of truth, and succeeds in all his tricks. He acts his assumed character to the life, with untired animal spirits, and without a particle of ill-humor.

=Phædo= (_fē´dō_), or =Phædon= (_fe´don_).--An ancient and well known work by Plato, in which the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is most fully set forth. It is in the form of a dialogue, which combines, with the abstract philosophical discussion, a graphic narrative of the last hours of Socrates, which, for pathos and dignity, is unsurpassed.

=Phédre= (_fā´dr_).--A tragedy by Racine, produced January 1, 1677. It was founded on the story of Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and wife of Theseus. She conceived a criminal love for Hippolytus, her stepson, and, being repulsed by him, accused him to her husband of attempting to dishonor her. Hippolytus was put to death, and Phædra, wrung with remorse, strangled herself. _Phédre_ was the great part of Mdlle. Rachel; she first appeared in this character in 1838. It is unquestionably the most remarkable of Racine’s regular tragedies. By it the style must stand or fall, and a reader need hardly go farther to appreciate it. For excellence of construction, artful beauty of verse, skillful use of the limited means of appeal at the command of the dramatist, no play can surpass _Phédre_.

=Philip.=--_The Madness of Philip_, Josephine Daskam. A representation of the unregenerate child--“the child of strong native impulses who has not yet yielded to the shaping force of education; the child, therefore, of originality, of vivacity, of humor, and of fascinating power of invention in the field of mischief.”

=Philippics= (_fi-lip´iks_), =The.=--A group of nine orations of Demosthenes, directed against Philip of Macedon. The real adversary in all these famous speeches is not so much the king of Macedon as the sloth and supineness of the Athenians, and the influence of the peace party, whether honest or bribed by Philip. They are the first Philippic, urging the sending of a military force to Thrace, delivered 351 B. C; three orations in behalf of the city of Olynthus (destroyed by Philip), delivered in 349-348; the oration _On the Peace_, 346; the second Philippic, 344; the oration _On the Embassy_, 344; the speech _On the Chersonese_, 341; and the third Philippic, 341.

The name is also given to a series of fourteen orations of Cicero against Mark Antony, delivered 44-43 B. C.

=Philtra.=--_Faërie Queene_, Spenser. A lady of large fortune, betrothed to Bracidas; but, seeing the fortune of Amidas daily increasing, and that of Bracidas getting smaller, she attached herself to the more prosperous younger brother.

=Phineas= (_fin´e-as_).--_Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, Mrs. Stowe. The quaker, an “underground railroad” man who helped the slave family of George and Eliza to reach Canada, after Eliza had crossed the river on cakes of floating ice.

=Phyllis= (_fil´is_).--In Vergil’s _Eclogues_, the name of a rustic maiden. This name, also written Phillis, has been in common use as meaning any unsophisticated country girl.

=Pickwick= (_pik´wik_), =Mr. Samuel.=--The hero of the _Pickwick Papers_, by Charles Dickens. He is a simple-minded, benevolent old gentleman, who wears spectacles and short black gaiters. He founds a club, and travels with its members over England, each member being under his guardianship. They meet many laughable adventures.

=Pied Piper of Hameln= (_hä´meln_).--Old German legend. Robert Browning, in his poem entitled _The Pied Piper_, has given a metrical version. The legend recounts how a certain musician came into the town of Hameln, in the country of Brunswick, and offered, for a sum of money, to rid the town of the rats by which it was infested. Having executed his task, and the promised reward having been withheld, he in revenge blew again his pipe, and by its tones drew the children of the town to a cavern in the side of a hill, which, upon their entrance, closed and shut them in forever.

=Piers Plowman= (_pērs plou´man_).--A satirical poem of the fourteenth century. The hero falls asleep, like John Bunyan, on the Malvern hills, and has different visions, which he describes, and in which he exposes the corruptions of society, the dissoluteness of the clergy, and the allurements to sin. The author is supposed to be Robert or William Langland. No other writings so faithfully reflect the popular feeling during the great social and religious movements of that century as the bitterly satirical poem. _The Vision of Piers Plowman_. In its allegory, the discontent of the commons with the course of affairs in church and state found a voice.

=Pietro.=--_The Ring and the Book_, Browning. The professed father of Pompilia, criminally assumed as his child to prevent certain property from passing to an heir not his own.

=Pilgrim’s Progress.=--A celebrated allegory by Bunyan. It recounts the adventures of the hero, Christian, from his conversion to his death. He wanders from the way to Doubting Castle, and is held there by Giant Despair. His sins are a pack; his Bible is a chart, his minister Evangelist, his conversion a flight from the City of Destruction, his struggle with besetting sins a fight with Apollyon, his death a toilsome passage over a deep stream which flows between him and heaven.

=Pilot, The.=--Title of a sea-story by Cooper, which was called the “first sea-novel of the English language.” It was published in the year 1823, and soon translated into Italian, German, and French. It is founded on the adventures of John Paul Jones.

=Pinch, Tom.=--A character in Dickens’ _Martin Chuzzlewit_, distinguished by his guilelessness, his oddity, and his exhaustless goodness of heart.

=Pippa= (_pēp´pä_) =Passes.=--A drama, Italian in scene and character, by Robert Browning. “It is,” says Stedman, “a cluster of four scenes, with prologue, epilogue, and interludes, half prose, half poetry, varying with the refinement of the dialogue. Pippa is a delicately pure, good, blithesome peasant maid. It is New Year’s Day at Ardo. She springs from bed at sunrise, resolved to enjoy to the full her sole holiday. Others may be happy throughout the year; haughty Ottima and Sebald, the lovers on the hill; Jules and Phene, the artist and his bride; Luigi and his mother; Monsignor, the bishop; but Pippa has only this one day to enjoy. Now, it so happens that she passes, this day, each of the groups or persons we have named, at an important crisis in their lives, and they hear her various carols as she trills them forth in the innocent gladness of her heart. _Pippa Passes_ is a work of pure art, and has a wealth of original fancy and romance, apart from its wisdom.” It appeared in 1842.

=Pistol= (_pis´tol_).--A follower of Falstaff, in Shakespeare’s comedy of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, and in the second part of _King Henry IV_. “A roguing beggar, a cantler, an upright man that liveth by cozenage.”

=Pocket.=--_Great Expectations_, Dickens. Name of a family prominent in the story.

=Pocket.=--A real scholar, educated at Harrow, and an honor-man at Cambridge, but, having married young, he had to take up the calling of “grinder” and literary fag for a living. Pip was placed in his care.

=Pocket, Herbert.=--Son of Mr. Matthew Pocket, wonderfully hopeful, but had not the stuff to push his way into wealth.

=Pocket, Mrs.=--Daughter of a city knight, brought up to be an ornamental nonentity, helpless, shiftless, and useless. She was the mother of eight children, whom she allowed to “tumble up” as best they could, under the charge of her maid, Flopson.

=Pocket, Sarah.=--Sister of Matthew Pocket, a little, dry, old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-shell, and a large mouth.

=Poor Richard’s Almanac.=--An almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, 1732-1757, noted for its maxims. He made it the medium for teaching thrift, temperance, order, cleanliness, chastity, forgiveness, and so on. The maxims or precepts of these almanacs generally end with the words, “as poor Richard says.”

=Portia= (_pôr´shiä_).--In _The Merchant of Venice_, a rich heiress, whose hand and fortune hang upon the right choosing between a gold, a silver, and a leaden casket. She is in love with Bassanio, who, luckily, chooses well. She appears at the trial of Antonio as a “young doctor of Rome,” named Balthazar.

=Poyser= (_poi´zer_), =Mrs.=--A character in _Adam Bede_. Some of her wonderfully shrewd and humorous observations have passed into the language. Here are some specimens: “It seems as if them as aren’t wanted here are th’ only folks as aren’t wanted in the other world.” “I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish; God Almighty made ’em to match the men.” “It’s hard to tell which is Old Harry when everybody’s got boots on.” “There’s many a good bit o’ work done with a sad heart.” “It’s poor work allays settin’ the dead above the livin’. It ’ud be better if folks ’ud make much on us beforehand, istid o’ beginning when we’re gone.” “Some folks’ tongues are like the clocks as run on strikin’ not to tell you the time of day, but because there’s summat wrong in their own inside.”