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
1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both _Augusta_; so were Julia
(wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia,
Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an
emperor is spoken of as _Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra;
Divina Augusta_, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we
read, "Domitian uxorem suam _Augustam_ jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia
Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [_i.e._ Pertinax] _Augusta_ est
appellata."
2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was
created _Augusta_. Claudius made his mother Antonia _Augusta_ after
her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa
_Augusta_," in honor of his grandmother;
Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled _Augusta_ on coins;
and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.
3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis _Augusta_
germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana
_Augusta_."
4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of
Didius Julianus, were both _Augusta_. Titus inscribed on coins his
daughter as "Julia Sabina _Augusta_;" there are coins of the emperor
Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla _Augusta_," and "Sallustia
_Augusta_," sisters of the emperor Decius.
5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called _Augusta_ on coins;
Constantine Monomachus called his concubine _Augusta_.
AUGUSTA HARE, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs.
A.D.T. Whitney's novel _Hitherto_.
AUGUSTI´NA, _the Maid of Saragossa_. She was only twenty-two when, her
lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French,
after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.
Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa,
who by her valor elevated herself to the
highest rank of heroines. When the author
was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado,
decorated with medals and orders, by order of
the Junta.--Lord Byron.
AULD ROBIN GRAY was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a
little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay,
and her father was earl of Balcarras.
AULLAY, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as
much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep.
King Baly of India rode on an aullay.
The aullay, hugest of four-footed kind,
The aullay-horse, that in his force,
With elephantine trunk, could bind
And lift the elephant, and on the wind
Whirl him away, with sway and swing,
E'en like a pebble from a practised sling.
Southey, _Curse of Kehama_, xvi. 2 (1809).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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