Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
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Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Polyglot= (_Ignatius_), the master of seventeen languages, and tutor of
Charles Eustace (aged 24). Very learned, very ignorant of human life;
most strict as a disciplinarian, but tender-hearted as a girl. His pupil
has married clandestinely, but Polyglot offers himself voluntarily to be
the scapegoat of the young couple, and he brings them off
triumphantly.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat_.
=Polyglott= (_A Walking_), Cardinal Mezzofanti, who knew fifty-eight
different languages (1774-1849).
=Polyolbion= (the “_greatly blessed_”), by Michael Drayton, in thirty
parts, called “songs,”[TN-99] It is a topographical description of
England. Song i. The landing of Bruce. Song ii. Dorsetshire, and the
adventures of Sir Bevis of Southampton. Song iii. Somerset. Song iv.
Contention of the rivers of England and Wales respecting Lundy--to which
country it belonged. Song v. Sabrina, as arbiter, decides that it is
“allied alike both to Enggland[TN-100] and Wales;” Merlin and Milford
Haven. Song vi. The salmon and beaver of Twy; the tale of Sabrina; the
druids and bards. Song vii. Hereford. Song viii. Conquest of Britain by
the Romans and by the Saxons. Song ix. Wales. Song x. Merlin’s
prophecies; Winifred’s well; defence of the “tale of Brute” (1612). Song
xi. Cheshire, the religious Saxon kings. Song xii. Shropshire and
Staffordshire; the Saxon warrior kings; and Guy of Warwick. Song xiii.
Warwick; Guy of Warwick concluded. Song xiv. Gloucestershire. Song xv.
The marriage of Isis and Thame. Song xvi. The Roman roads and Saxon
kingdoms. Song xvii. Surrey and Sussex; the sovereigns of England from
William to Elizabeth. Song xviii. Kent; England’s great generals and
sea-captains (1613). Song xix. Essex and Suffolk; English navigators.
Song xx. Norfolk. Song xxi. Cambridge and Ely. Song xxii.
Buckinghamshire, and England’s intestine battles. Song xxiii.
Northamptonshire. Song xxiv. Rutlandshire; and the British saints. Song
xxv. Lincolnshire. Song xxvi. Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire,
Derbyshire; with the story of Robin Hood. Song xxvii. Lancashire and the
Isle of Man. Song xxviii. Yorkshire. Song xxix. Northumberland. Song
xxx. Cumberland (1622).
=Pol´ypheme= (3 _syl._), a gigantic cyclops of Sicily, who fed on human
flesh. When Ulysses, on his return from Troy, was driven to this Island,
he and twelve of his companions were seized by Polypheme, and confined
in his cave, that he might devour two daily for his dinner. Ulysses made
the giant drunk, and, when he lay down to sleep, bored out his one eye.
Roused by the pain, the monster tried to catch his tormentors; but
Ulysses and his surviving companions made their escape by clinging to
the bellies of the sheep and rams when they were let out to pasture
(_Odyssey_, ix.).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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