Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 2: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 2: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Guy, earl of Warwick=, an English knight. He proposed marriage to
Phelis or Phillis, who refused to listen to his suit till he had
distinguished himself by knightly deeds. He first rescued Blanch,
daughter of the emperor of Germany, then fought against the Saracens,
and slew the doughty Coldran, Elmage, king of Tyre, and the Soldan
himself. Then, returning to England, he was accepted by Phelis and
married her. In forty days he returned to the Holy Land, when he
redeemed Earl Jonas out of prison, slew the giant Am´erant, and
performed many other noble exploits. Again he returned to England, just
in time to encounter the Danish giant Colebrond (_2 syl._) or Colbrand,
which combat is minutely described by Drayton, in his _Polyolbion_, xii.
At Windsor he slew a boar “of passing might.” On Dunsmore Heath he slew
the dun cow of Dunsmore, a wild and cruel monster. In Northumberland he
slew a winged dragon, “black as any cole,” with the paws of a lion, and
a hide which no sword could pierce (_Polyolbion_, xiii.). After this he
turned hermit, and went daily to crave bread of his wife Phelis, who
knew him not. On his death-bed he sent her a ring, and she closed his
dying eyes (890-958).
=Guy Fawkes=, the conspirator, went under the name of John Johnstone,
and pretended to be the servant of Mr. Percy (1577-1606).
=Guy Mannering=, the second of Scott’s historical novels, published in
1815, just seven months after _Waverley_. The interest of the tale is
well sustained; but the love scenes, female characters, and Guy
Mannering himself, are quite worthless. Not so the character of Dandy
Dinmont, the shrewd and witty counsellor Pleydell, the desperate
sea-beaten villainy of Hatteraick, the uncouth devotion of that gentlest
of all pedants, poor Domine Sampson, and half-crazed, but noble-hearted,
Meg Merrilies, the true heroine of the novel.
_Guy Mannering_ was the work of six weeks about Christmas time,
and marks of haste are visible both in the plot and in its
development.—Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 586.
=Guyon Guerndale.= Sensitive, imaginative young man, “forever looking
for this year’s birds in the nests of the last.” He carries in a locket
with him an heirloom diamond said to have been wrested from the rightful
owner by a wicked ancestor. Guerndale loves a woman who marries his
friend; he seeks glory and is wounded at Plevna. He “had started by
believing in three things, truth, love, and friendship,” and he never
recants. While in the hospital, news comes of “Annie’s” death. He
determines to cast away the diamond he had once meant for her. It is an
evil stone. He wrenches open the locket, reopens his wound, and bleeds
to death. His friend, finding him dead, picks up the historic stone.
“The diamond was only a crystal after all.” Frederic Jesup Stimson,
_Guerndale_ (1881).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account