=Usher= (_The House of_), a doomed family, the last scions of which are twins--a brother and sister. The brother is the victim of melancholia, the sister seems to die and is buried prematurely. She bursts the coffin and appears in the door of her brother’s room. “For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold--then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and, in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.”--Edgar Allan Poe, _Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque_ (1840). =Usnach= or =Usna=. Conor, king of Ulster put to death by treachery, the three sons of Usnach. This led to the desolating war against Ulster, which terminated in the total destruction of Eman. This is one of the three tragic stories of the ancient Irish. The other two are _The Death of the Children of Touran_ and _The Death of the Children of Lir_. Avenging and bright falls the swift sword of Erin On him who the brave sons of Usna betrayed!... By the red cloud that hung over Conor’s dark dwelling When Ulad’s three champions lay sleeping in gore ... We swear to avenge them. T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ iv. (“Avenging and Bright ...” 1814). =Uta=, queen of Burgundy, mother of Kriemhild and Günther.--_The Nibelungen Lied_ (twelfth century). =Utha=, the “white-bosomed daughter of Herman.” She dwelt “by Thano’s stream,” and was beloved by Frothal. When Fingal was about to slay Frothal, she interposed and saved his life.--Ossian, _Carric-Thura_. =Uthal=, son of Larthmor, petty king of Berrathon (a Scandinavian island). He dethroned his father, and, being very handsome, was beloved by Nina-Tho´ma (daughter of a neighboring prince), who eloped with him. Uthal proved inconstant, and, confining Nina-Thoma in a desert island, fixed his affections on another. In the mean time Ossian and Toscar arrived at Berrothan. A fight ensued, in which Uthal was slain in single combat, and Larthmor restored to his throne. Nina-Thoma was also released, but all her ill treatment could not lessen her deep love, and when she heard of the death of Uthal she languished and died.--Ossian, _Berrathon_. =Uther= or UTER, pendragon or war-chief of the Britons. He married Igerna, widow of Gorloïs, and was by her the father of Arthur and Anne. This Arthur was the famous hero who instituted the knights of the Round Table.--Geoffrey, _History of Britain_, viii. 20 (1142). =Uthorno=, a bay of Denmark, into which Fingal was driven by stress of weather. It was near the residence of Starno, king of Lochlin (_Denmark_).--Ossian, _Cath-Loda_, i. =Uto´pia=, a political romance by Sir Thomas More.