Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 2: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
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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
=High Life Below Stairs=, a farce by the Rev. James Townley. Mr. Lovel,
a wealthy commoner, suspects his servants of “wasting his substance in
riotous living;” so, pretending to go to his country seat in Devonshire,
he assumes the character of a country bumpkin from Essex, and places
himself under the charge of his own butler, to learn the duties of a
gentleman servant. As the master is away, Philip (the butler) invites a
large party to supper, and supplies them with the choicest wines. The
servants all assume their masters’ titles, and address each other as “My
lord duke,” “Sir Harry,” “My Lady Charlotte,” “My Lady Bab,” etc., and
mimic the airs of their employers. In the midst of the banquet, Lovel
appears in his true character, breaks up the party, and dismisses his
household, retaining only one of the lot, named Tom, to whom he entrusts
the charge of the silver and plate (1759).
=Highland Mary=, immortalized by Robert Burns, is generally thought to
be Mary Campbell; but it seems more likely to be Mary Morison, “one of
the poet’s youthful loves.” Probably the songs, _Will ye go to the
Indies, my Mary?_ _Highland Mary_, _Mary Morison_, and _To Mary in
Heaven_, were all written on one and the same Mary, although some think
_Highland Mary_ and _Mary in Heaven_ refer to Mary Campbell, who, we are
told, was the poet’s first love.
=Highwaymen= (_Noted_).
CLAUDE DUVAL (*-1670). Introduced in _White Friars_, by Miss Robinson.
JAMES WHITNEY (1660-1594), aged 34.
JONATHAN WILD of Wolverhampton (1682-1725), aged 43. Hero and title of a
novel by Fielding (1744).
JACK SHEPPARD of Spitalfields (1701-1724), aged 24. Hero and title of a
novel by Defoe (1724); and of one by H. Ainsworth (1839).
DICK TURPIN, executed at York (1711-1739). Hero of a novel by H.
Ainsworth.
GALLOPING DICK, executed at Aylesbury in 1800.
CAPTAIN GRANT, the Irish highwayman, executed at Maryborough, in 1816.
SAMUEL GREENWOOD, executed at Old Bailey, 1822.
WILLIAM REA, executed at Old Bailey, 1828.
=Hilda=. Art student in Rome, beloved by Kenyon, another artist, and
friend of Miriam. Hilda is the accidental witness of the homicide
committed by Donatello, and the horror of the secret drives her almost
mad.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The Marble Faun_.
_Hilda_. Wife of _Herluf_, who has excited his father—the “Judge’s”
wrath. The old man strikes his son while Hilda’s arms are about her
husband, and Herluf, maddened, leaves home and wife for America. Letters
from New York tell his father of his successes there, and he at last
begs Hilda to bring him home. She obeys, and the two men embrace with
tears.—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, _A Child of the Age_ (1889).
_Hilda’s Little Hood_. Tale of a scarlet hood (with a pretty face within
it) that won a man’s heart.—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen’s _Idylls of Norway_
(1882).
=Hilarius= (_Brother_), refectioner at St. Mary’s.—Sir W. Scott, _The
Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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