Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
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
ANAMNES'TES (4 _syl_), the boy who waited on Eumnestês (Memory).
Eumnestês was a very old man, decrepit and half blind, a "man of
infinite remembrance, who things foregone through many ages held," but
when unable to "fet" what he wanted, was helped by a little boy yclept
Anamnestês, who sought out for him what "was lost or laid amiss."
(Greek, _eumnêstis_, "good memory;" _anamne'stis_, "research or
calling up to mind.")
And oft when things were lost or laid amiss,
That boy them sought and unto him did lend;
Therefore the Anamnestes clepêd is,
And that old man Eumnestes.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 9 (1590).
ANANI'AS, in _The Alchemist_, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1610).
("Wasp" in _Bartholomew Fair_, "Corbaccio" in _The Fox_, "Morose" in
_The Silent Woman_, all by B. Jonson.)
ANARCHUS, king of the Dipsodes (2 _syl_.), defeated by Pantag'ruel,
who dressed him in a ragged doublet, a cap with a cock's feather, and
married him to "an old lantern-carrying hag." The prince gave the
wedding-feast, which consisted of garlic and sour cider. His wife,
being a regular termagant, "did beat him like plaster, and
the ex-tyrant did not dare call his soul his own."--Rabelais,
_Pantagruel_, ii. 31 (1533).
ANASTA'SIUS, the hero of a novel called _Memoirs of Anastasius_, by
Thomas Hope (1770-1831), a most brilliant and powerful book. It is
the autobiography of a Greek, who, to escape the consequences of his
crimes and villainies, becomes a renegade, and passes through a long
series of adventures.
Fiction has but few pictures which will bear
comparison with that of Anastasius, sitting on
the steps of the lazaretto of Trieste, with his
dying boy in his arms.--_Encyc. Brit_. Art. "Romance."
ANASTASIUS GRÜN, the _nom de plume_ of Anton Alexander von Auersperg,
a German poet (1806-1876).
ANASTERAX, brother of Niquee [_ne.kay_], with whom he lives in
incestuous intercourse. The fairy Zorphee, in order to withdraw her
god-daughter from this alliance, enchanted her.--_Amadis de Gaul_.
AN'CHO, a Spanish brownie, who haunts the shepherds' huts, warms
himself at their fires, tastes their clotted milk and cheese,
converses with the family, and is treated with familiarity mixed with
terror. The Ancho hates church bells.
ANCIENT MARINER (_The_), by Coleridge. For the crime of having shot
an albatross (a bird of good omen to seamen) terrible sufferings are
visited upon him, which are finally remitted through his repentance;
but he is doomed to wander over the earth and repeat his story to
others as a warning lesson.
AN'DERSON (_Eppie_), a servant at the inn of St. Ronan's Well, held by
Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).
ANDRÉ (2 _syl_.). Petit-André and Trois Echelles are the executioners
of Louis XI. of France. They are introduced by sir W. Scott, both in
_Quentin Durward_ and in _Anne of Geierstein_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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