Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 4: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 4: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Tasso and Leonora.= When Tasso, the poet, lived in the court of Alfonso
II., the reigning duke of Ferrara, he fell in love with Leonora d’Este
(2 _syl._), the duke’s sister, but “she saw it not or viewed with
disdain” his passion, and the poet, moneyless, fled half mad to Naples.
After an absence of two years, in which the poet was almost starved to
death by extreme poverty, his friends, together with Leonora, induced
the duke to receive him back, but no sooner did he reach Ferrara than
Alfonso sent him to an asylum, and there he was kept for seven years,
when he was liberated by the instigation of the pope, but died soon
afterwards (1544-1595).
=Taste=, a farce by Foote (1753), to expose the imposition of
picture-dealers and sellers of virtu generally.
=Tati´nus=, a Greek who joined the crusaders with a force of 200 men
armed with “crooked sabres” and bows. These Greeks, like the Parthians,
were famous in retreat, but when a drought came they all sneaked off
home.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xiii. (1575).
=Tatius= (_Achilles_), the acolyte, an officer in the Varangian
guard.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
=Tatlanthe= (3 _syl._) the favorite of Fadladinida (queen of
Queerummania and wife of Chrononhotonthologos). She extols the warlike
deeds of the king, supposing the queen will feel flattered by her
praises; and Fadladinida exclaims, “Art mad, Tatlonthe? Your talk’s
distasteful.... You are too pertly lavish in his praise?” She then
guesses that the queen loves another, and says to herself, “I see that I
must tack about,” and happening to mention “the captive king,”
Fadladinida exclaims, “That’s he! that’s he! that’s he! I’d die ten
thousand deaths to set him free.” Ultimately, the queen promises
marriage to both the captive king and Rigdum-Funnidos “to make matters
easy.” Then, turning to her favorite, she says:
And now, Tatlanthe, thou art all my care;
Where shall I find thee such another pair?
Pity that you, who’ve served so long and well,
Should die a virgin and lead apes in hell.
Choose for yourself, dear girl, our empire round;
Your portion is twelve hundred thousand pound.
H. Carey, _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734).
=Tattle=, a man who ruins characters by innuendo, and so denies a
scandal as to confirm it. He is a mixture of “lying, foppery, vanity,
cowardice, bragging, licentiousness, and ugliness, but a professed beau”
(act i.). Tattle is entrapped into marriage with Mrs. Frail.--Congreve,
_Love for Love_ (1695).
⁂ “Mrs. Candour,” in Sheridan’s _School for Scandal_ (1777), is a Tattle
in petticoats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account