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
_Hautlieu_ (_The Lady Margaret de_), first disguised as sister Ursula,
and afterwards affianced to Sir Malcolm Fleming.—Sir W. Scott, _Castle
Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
=Have´lok= (_2 syl._), or =Hablok=, the orphan son of Birkabegn, king of
Denmark, was exposed at sea through the treachery of his guardians. The
raft drifted to the coast of Lincolnshire, where it was discovered by
Grim, a fisherman, who reared the young foundling as his own son. It
happened that some twenty years later certain English nobles usurped the
dominions of an English princess, and, to prevent her gaining any access
of power by a noble alliance, resolved to marry her to a peasant. Young
Havelok was selected as the bridegroom, but having discovered the story
of his birth, he applied to his father Birkabegn for aid in recovering
his wife’s possessions. The king afforded him the aid required, and the
young foundling became in due time both king of Denmark and king of that
part of England which belonged to him in right of his wife.—_Havelok the
Dane_ (by the trouveurs).
=Havisham= (_Miss_), an old spinster, who dressed always in her bridal
dress, with lace veil from head to foot, white shoes, bridal flowers in
her white hair, and jewels on her hands and neck. She was the daughter
of a rich brewer, engaged to Compeyson, a young man, who deserted her on
the wedding morning; from which moment she became fossilized (ch.
xxii.). She fell into the fire, and died from the shock.
_Estella Havisham_, the adopted child of Miss Havisham, by whom she was
brought up. She was proud, handsome, and self-possessed. Pip loved her,
and probably she reciprocated his love, but she married Bentley Drummle,
who died, leaving Estella a young widow. The tale ends with these words:
I [_Pip_] took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place. As
the morning mists had risen ... when I first left the forge, so the
evening were rising now; and ... I saw no shadow of another parting from
her.—C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).
=Haw´cabite= (_3 syl._), a street bully. After the Restoration, we had a
succession of these disturbers of the peace; first came the Muns, then
followed the Tityre Tus, the Hectors, the Scourers, the Nickers, the
Hawcabites, and after them the Mohawks, the most dreaded of all.
=Hawk= (_Sir Mulberry_), the bear-leader of Lord Frederick Verisopht. He
is a most unprincipled _roué_, who sponges on his lordship, snubs him,
and despises him. “Sir Mulberry was remarkable for his tact in ruining
young gentlemen of fortune.”
=Hawk-Eye.= Name given by frontiermen to Natty Bumppo, who is also
called by the French, _La Longue Carbine_.—James Fenimore Cooper, _The
Last of the Mohicans._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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