Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
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Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
The sunflower does not turn to the sun. On the same stem may be seen
flowers in every direction, and not one of them shifts the direction
in which it has first opened. T. Moore (1814) says:
The sunflower turns on her god when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.
This may do in poetry, but it is not correct. The sunflower is so
called simply because the flower resembles a pictured sun.
Lord Thurlow (1821) adopted Tom Moore's error, and enlarged it:
Behold, my dear, this lofty flower,
That now the golden sun receives;
No other deity has power,
But only Phoebus, on her leaves;
As he in radiant glory burns,
From east to west her visage turns.
_The Sunflower_.
CLYTUS, an old officer in the army of Philip of Macedon, and
subsequently in that of Alexander. At a banquet, when both were heated
with wine, Clytus said to Alexander, "Philip fought men, but Alexander
women," and after some other insults, Alexander in his rage stabbed
the old soldier; but instantly repented and said:
What has my vengeance done?
Who is it thou hast slain? Clytus? What was he
The faithfullest subject, worthiest counsellor,
The bravest soldier. He who saved my life
Fighting bare-headed at the river Granic.
For a rash word, spoke in the heat of wine,
The poor, the honest Clytus thou hast slain,--
Clytus, thy friend, thy guardian, thy preserver!
N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, iv. 2 (1678).
CNE'US, the Roman officer in command of the guard set to watch the
tomb of Jesus, lest the disciples should steal the body, and then
declare that it had risen from the dead.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_,
xiii. (1771). CO'AN (_The_), Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine"
(B.C. 460-357).
... the great Coan, him whom Nature made
To serve the costliest creature of her tribe [_man_].
Dantê, _Purgatory_, xxix. (1308).
CO'ANOCOT'ZIN (_5 syl_.), King of the Az'tecas. Slain in battle by
Madoc.--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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