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
_Horse_ (_The Green_), the 5th Dragoon Guards. (These are called “The
Princess Charlotte of Wales’s ...”). Facings dark green velvet, but the
plume is red and white.
_Horse_ (_The White_), the 3d Dragoon Guards. (These are called “The
Prince of Wales’s ...”).
⁂ All the Dragoon Guards have _velvet_ facings, except the 6th (or
“Carabiniers”), which have white _cloth_ facings. By facings are meant
the collar and cuffs.
N.B.—“The white horse within the Garter” is _not_ the heraldic insignia
of the White Horse Regiment or 3d Dragoon Guards, but of the 3d Hussars
(or “The King’s Own”), who have also a white plume. This regiment used
to be called “The 3d Light Dragoons.”
_Horse_ (_The Royal_), the Blues.
_Horse_ (_The Wooden_), a huge horse constructed by Ulysses and Diomed,
for secreting soldiers. The Trojans were told by Sinon it was an
offering made by the Greeks to the sea-god, to ensure a safe
home-voyage, adding that the blessing would pass from the Greeks to the
Trojans if the horse were placed within the city walls. The credulous
Trojans drew the monster into the city; but at night Sinon released the
soldiers from the horse and opened the gates to the Greek army. The
sentinels were slain, the city fired in several places, and the
inhabitants put to the sword. The tale of the “Wooden Horse” forms no
part of Homer’s _Iliad_, but is told by Virgil in his _Æne´id_. Virgil
borrowed the tale from Arctīnos of Milētus, one of the Cyclic poets, who
related the story of the “Wooden Horse” and the “burning of Troy.”
⁂ A very similar strategem was employed in the seventh century A.D. by
Abu Obeidah in the siege of Arrestan, in Syria. He obtained leave of the
governor to deposit in the citadel some old lumber which impeded his
march. Twenty boxes (filled with soldiers) were accordingly placed
there, and Abu, like the Greeks, pretended to march homewards. At night
the soldiers removed the sliding bottoms of the boxes, killed the
sentries, opened the city gates, and took the town.—Ockley, _History of
the Saracens_, i. 185.
The capture of Sark was affected by a similar trick. A gentleman of the
Netherlands, with one ship, asked permission of the French to bury one
of his crew in the chapel. The request was granted, but the coffin was
full of arms. The pretended mourners, being well provided with arms,
fell on the guards and took the island by surprise.—Percy, _Anecdotes_,
249.
_Horse_ (_Merlin’s Wooden_), Clavilēno. This was the horse on which Don
Quixote effected the disenchantment of the infanta Antonomāsia and
others.
_Horse_ (_The Enchanted_), a wooden horse with two pegs. By turning one
the horse rose into the air, and by turning the other it descended where
and when the rider listed. It was given by an Indian to the shah of
Persia, as a New Year’s gift.—_Arabian Nights_ (“The Enchanted Horse”),
and Chaucer (“The Squire’s Tale”).
_Horse_ (_The Fifteen points of a good_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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