In Notes and Queries, xvi. 156, several explanations are offered, ascribing a political meaning to the words quoted—Jack Horner being elevated to a king’s messenger or king’s steward, and “the plum” pulled out so cleverly being a valuable deed which the messenger abstracted.
Horse. The first to ride and tame a horse for the use of man was Melizyus, king of Thessaly. (See Melizyus).
Horse (The Black), the 7th Dragoon Guards (not the 7th Dragoons). They have black velvet facings, and their plume is black and white. At one time they rode black horses.
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(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 siegesiege 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).
A good horse sholde have three propyrtees of a man, three of a woman, three of a foxe, three of a haare, and three of an asse. Of a man, bolde, prowde, and hardye. Of a woman, fayre-breasted, faire of heere, and easy to move. Of a foxe, a fair taylle, short eers, with a good trotte. Of a haare, a grate eye, a dry head, and well rennynge. Of an asse, a bygge chynn, a flat legge, and a good hoof.—Wynkyn de Worde (1496).
Horse Neighing. On the death of Smerdis, the several competitors for the Persian crown agreed that he whose horse neighed first should be appointed king. The horse of Darius neighed first and Darius was made king. Lord Brooke calls him a Scythian; he was son of Hystaspês, the satrap.
Horse Painted. Apellês of Cos painted Alexander’s horse so wonderfully well that a real horse seeing it, began to neigh at it, supposing it to be alive.
Myron, the statuary, made a cow so true to life that it was said to have deceived men and animals.
Valasquez painted a Spanish admiral so true to life that Philip IV., mistaking it for the officer himself, reproved him sharply for wasting his time in a painter’s studio, when he ought to have been with his fleet.
Xeuxis painted some grapes so admirably that birds flew at them, thinking them real fruit.
Parrhasios of Ephesus painted a curtain so inimitably that Xeuxis thought it to be a real curtain, and bade the artist draw it aside that he might see the painting behind.
Quintin Matsys of Antwerp painted a bee on the outstretched leg of a fallen angel so naturally that when old Mandyn, the artist, returned to the studio, he tried to frighten it away with his pocket-handkerchief.
Horse of Brass (The), a present from the king of Araby and Ind to Cambuscan´, king of Tartary. A person whispered in its ear where he wished to go, and having mounted, turned a pin, whereupon the brazen steed rose in the air as high as the rider wished, and within twenty-four hours landed him at the end of his journey.
Horse Shoe Robinson. A daring American trooper, who captures five English soldiers without other assistance than a small boy and a horse. When surprised reconnoitering the enemy’s camp from a cliff, he drops upon his knees and “is digging up sassafras roots.”—John Pendleton Kennedy, Horse Shoe Robinson (1852).
Horste (Conrade), one of the insurgents at Liège.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).
Hortense´ (2 syl.), the vindictive French maid-servant of Lady Dedlock. In revenge for the partiality shown by Lady Dedlock to Rosa, the village beauty, Hortense murdered Mr. Tulkinghorn, and tried to throw the suspicion of the crime on Lady Dedlock.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
Horten´sio, a suitor to Bianca, the younger sister of Katharina, “the Shrew.” Katharina and Bianca are the daughters of Baptista.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).
Hortensio, noted for his chivalrous love and valor.—Massinger, The Bashful Lover (1636).
Hosier’s Ghost (Admiral), a ballad by Richard Glover (1739). Admiral Hosier was sent with twenty sail to the Spanish West Indies, to block up the galleons of that country. He arrived at the Bastimentos, near Portobello, but had strict orders not to attack the foe. His men perished by disease but not in fight, and the admiral himself died of a broken heart. After Vernon’s victory, Hosier and his 3000 men rose, “all in dreary hammocks shrouded, which for winding-sheets they wore,” and lamented the cruel orders that forbade them to attack the foe, for “with twenty ships he surely could have achieved what Vernon did with only six.”
Hotspur. So Harry Percy was called from his fiery temper, over which he had no control.—Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV. (1597).
William Bensley [1738-1817] had the true poetic enthusiasm.... None that I remember possessed even a portion of that fine madness which he threw out in Hotspur’s fine rant about glory. His voice had the dissonance and at times the inspiring effect of the trumpet.—C. Lamb.
Hotspur of Debate (The), Lord Derby, called by Maccaulay “The Rupert of Debate” (1799-1869).
Houd (1 syl.), a prophet sent to preach repentance to the Adites (2 syl.), and to reprove their King Shedad for his pride. As the Adites and their king refused to hear the prophet, God sent on the kingdom first a drought of three years’ duration, and then the Sarsar or icy wind for seven days, so that all the people perished. Houd is written “Hûd” in Sale’s Korân, i.
Hough´ton (Sergeant), in Waverley’s regiment.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Hounds (Gen. Custer’s). “His pack of hounds was an endless source of delight to the general. He had about forty, the stag-hounds that run by sight, and are on the whole, the fleetest and most enduring dogs in the world, and the fox-hounds that follow the trail with their noses close to the ground. The first rarely bark, but the latter are very noisy. We used to listen with amusement to their attempts to strike the key-note of the bugler when he sounded the calls summoning the men to guard-mount, stables, or retreat.”—Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles, (1885).
Hounslow, one of the gang of thieves that conspire to break into Lady Bountiful’s house.—Farquhar, The Beaux’ Stratagem (1705).
Houri, plu. Houris, the virgins of paradise; so called from their large black eyes (hûr al oyûn). According to Mohammedan faith, intercourse with these lovely women is to constitute the chief delight of the faithful in the “world to come.”—Al Korân.
House that Jack Built (The), a cumulative nursery story, in which every preceding statement is repeated after the introduction of a new one; thus;
A similar accumulation occurs in another nursery tale, with this difference—the several clauses are repeated twice: once by entreaty of the old woman to perform some service to get her pig to cross over a bridge that she may get home; and then the reverse way, when each begins the task requested of them. It begins with a statement that an old woman went to market to buy a pig; they came to a bridge, which the pig would not go over, so the old woman called to a stick, and said:
Then the cat began to kill the rat, and the rat began to gnaw the rope, and the rope began ... etc., and the pig went over the bridge, and so the old woman got home that night.
Dr. Doran gave the following Hebrew “parable” in Notes and Queries:—
Hous´sain (Prince), the elder brother of Prince Ahmed. He possessed a carpet of such wonderful powers that if any one sat upon it it would transport him in a moment to any place he liked. Prince Houssain bought this carpet at Bisnagar, in India.—Arabian Nights (“Ahmed and Paribanou”).
⁂ Solomon’s carpet (q. v.) possessed the same locomotive power.
Houyhnhnms [Whin´.ims], a race of horses endowed with human reason, and bearing rule over the race of man.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
“True, true, ay, too true,” replied the Domine, his houyhnhnms laugh sinking into an hysterical giggle.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (1815).
Hover (Paul), bee-hunter in Last of the Mohicans, in love with Ellen Wade.—James Fennimore Cooper.
Howard, in the court of Edward IV.—SirSir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
How´atson (Luckie), midwife at Ellangowan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Howden (Mrs.), a saleswoman.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).
Howe (Miss), the friend of Clarissa Harlowe, to whom she presents a strong contrast. She has more worldly wisdom and less abstract principle. In questions of doubt, Miss Howe would suggest some practical solution, while Clarissa was mooning about hypothetical contingencies. She is a girl of high spirit, disinterested friendship, and sound common sense.—Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe (1749).
Howel or Hoel, king of the West Welsh in the tenth century, surnamed “the Good.” He is a very famous king, especially for his code of laws. This is not the Howel or Hoel of Arthurian romance, who was the duke of Armorica in the sixth century.
Howie (Jamie), bailie to Malcolm Bradwardine (3 syl.), of Inchgrabbit.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).
Howlaglass (Master), a preacher. Friend of Justice Maulstatute.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Howle´glas (Father), the abbot of Unreason, in the revels held at Kennaquhair Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Howleglass (2 syl.), a clever rascal, so called from the hero of an old German jest-book, popular in England in Queen Elizabeth’s reign.—See Eulenspiegel.
Hoyden (Miss), a lively, ignorant, romping country girl.—Vanbrugh, The Relapse (1697).
Hoyden (Miss), daughter of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, a green, ill-educated, country girl, living near Scarborough. She is promised in marriage to Lord Foppington, but as his lordship is not personally known, either by the knight or his daughter, Tom Fashion, the nobleman’s younger brother, passes himself off as Lord Foppington, is admitted into the family, and marries the heiress.—Sheridan, A Trip to Scarborough (1777).
⁂ Sheridan’s comedy is The Relapse of Vanbrugh (1697), abridged, recast, and somewhat modernized.
Hrasvelg, the giant who keeps watch on the North side of the root of the Tree of the World, to devour the dead. His shape is that of an eagle. Winds and storms are caused by the movement of his wings.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Hrimfax´i, the horse of Night, from whose bit fall the rime-drops that every morning bedew the earth.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Hrothgar, king of Denmark, whom Beowulf delivered from the monster Grendel. Hrothgar built Heorot, a magnificent palace, and here he distributed rings (treasure), and held his feasts; but the monster, Grendel, envious of his happiness, stole into the hall after a feast, and put thirty of the thanes to death in their sleep. The same ravages were repeated night after night, till Beowulf, at the head of a mixed band of soldiers, went against him and slew him.—Beowulf (an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, sixth century).
Hry´mer, pilot of the ship Nagelfar (made of the “nails of the dead”).—Scandinavian Mythology.
Hubba and Ingwar, two Danish chiefs, who, in 870, conquered East Anglia and wintered at Thetford, in Norfolk. King Edmund fought against them, but was beaten and taken prisoner. The Danish chiefs offered him his life and kingdom if he would renounce Christianity and pay them tribute; but as he refused to do so, they tied him to a tree, shot at him with arrows, and then cut off his head. Edmund was therefore called “St. Edmund.” Alu´red fought seven battles with Hubba, and slew him at Abington, in Berkshire.
Hubbard (Mother). Mother Hubbard’s Tale, by Edmund Spenser, is a satirical fable in the style of Chaucer, supposed to be told by an old woman (Mother Hubbard) to relieve the weariness of the poet during a time of sickness. The tale is this: An ape and a fox went into partnership to seek their fortunes. They resolved to begin their adventures as beggars, so Master Ape dressed himself as a broken soldier, and Reynard pretended to be his dog. After a time they came to a farmer, who employed the ape as shepherd, but when the rascals had so reduced the flock that detection was certain, they decamped. Next they tried the Church, under advice of a priest; Reynard was appointed rector to a living, and the ape was his parish clerk. From this living they were obliged also to remove. Next they went to court as foreign potentates, and drove a splendid business, but came to grief ere long. Lastly, they saw King Lion asleep, his skin was lying beside him, with his crown and sceptre. Master Ape stole the regalia, dressed himself as King Lion, usurped the royal palace, made Reynard his chief minister, and collected round him a band of monsters, chiefly amphibious, as his guard and court. In time Jupiter sent Mercury to rouse King Lion from his lethargy; so he awoke from sleep, broke into his palace, and bit off the ape’s tail, with a part of its ear.
As for Reynard, he ran away at the first alarm, and tried to curry favor with King Lion; but the king only exposed him and let him go (1591).
Hubbard (Old Mother) went to her cupboard to get a bone for her dog, but, not finding one, trotted hither and thither to fetch sundry articles for his behoof. Every time she returned she found Master Doggie performing some extraordinary feat, and at last, having finished all her errands, she made a grand curtsey to Master Doggie. The dog, not to be outdone in politeness, made his mistress a profound bow; upon which the dame said, “Your servant!” and the dog replied, “Bow, wow!”—Nursery Tales.
Hubble (Mr.), wheelwright; a tough, high-shouldered, stooping old man, of a sawdusty fragrance, with his legs extraordinarily wide apart.
Mrs. Hubble, a little, curly, sharp-edged person, who held a conventionally juvenile position, because she had married Mr. Hubble when she was much younger than he.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).
Hubert, “the keeper” of young Prince Arthur. King John conspired with him to murder the young prince, and Hubert actually employed two ruffians to burn out both the boy’s eyes with red-hot irons. Arthur pleaded so lovingly with Hubert to spare his eyes, that he relented; however, the lad was found dead soon afterwards, either by accident or foul play.—Shakespeare, King John, (1596).
⁂ This “Hubert” was Hubert de Burgh, justice of England and earl of Kent.
One would think, had it been possible, that Shakespeare, when he made King John excuse his intentions of perpetrating the death of Arthur by his comment on Hubert’s face, by which he saw the assassin in his mind, had Sanford in idea, for he was rather deformed, and had a most forbidding countenance.—C. Dibdin, History of the Stage.
Hubert, an honest lord, in love with Jac´ulin, daughter of Gerrard, king of the beggars.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggar’s Bush (1622).
Hubert, brother of Prince Oswald, severely wounded by Count Hurgonel, in the combat provoked by Oswald, against Gondibert, his rival for the love of Rhodalind, the heiress of Aribert, king of Lombardy.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1568).
Hubert, an archer in the service of Sir Philip de Malvoisin.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Hubert (St), patron saint of huntsmen. He was son of Bertrand, duc d’Acquitaine, and cousin of King Pepin.
Huddibras (Sir), a man “more huge in strength than wise in works,” the suitor of Perissa (extravagance).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 2 (1590).
Hudibras, the hero and title of a rhyming political satire, by S. Butler. Sir Hudibras is a Presbyterian justice in the Commonwealth, who sets out with his squire, Ralph (an independent), to reform abuses, and enforce the observance of the laws for the suppression of popular sports and amusements (1663, 1664, 1678).
Hudjadge, a shah of Persia, suffered much from sleeplessness, and commanded Fitead, his porter and gardener, to tell him tales to while away the weary hours. Fitead declared himself wholly unable to comply with this request. “Then find some one who can,” said Hudjadge, “or suffer death for disobedience.” On reaching home, greatly dejected, he told his only daughter, Moradbak, who was motherless, and only 14 years old, the shah’s command, and she undertook the task. She told the shah the stories called The Oriental Tales, which not only amused him, but cured him, and he married her.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (1743).
Hudson (Sir Geoffrey), the famous dwarf, formerly page to Queen Henrietta Maria. Sir Geoffrey tells Julian Peveril how the late queen had him enclosed in a pie and brought to table. Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
⁂ Vandyke has immortalized Sir Geoffrey by his brush; and some of his clothes are said to be preserved in Sir Hans Sloane’s museum.
Hudson (Tam), gamekeeper.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).
Hugh, blacksmith at Ringleburn; a friend of Hobbie Elliott, the Heughfoot farmer.—Sir W. Scott, The Black Dwarf (time, Anne).
Hugh, servant at the Maypole Inn. This giant in stature and ringleader in the “No Popery riots,” was a natural son of Sir John Chester and a gypsy. He loved Dolly Varden, and was very kind to Barnaby Rudge, the half-witted lad. Hugh was executed for his participation in the “Gordon riots.”—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).
Hugh (Langmuir), young man from the country, who comes to New York to seek his fortune and gets a clerkship. He becomes attached to an ambitious, but well-meaning girl, and to hasten their marriage, he embezzles one thousand dollars. He confesses it to her and attempts suicide. She pays the money out of her own savings and marries him. They begin the world together humbly and wisely.—Charlotte Dunning, A Step Aside (1886).
Hugh, Count of Vermandois, a crusader.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).
Hugh de Brass (Mr.), in A Regular Fix, by J.M. Morton.
Hugh of Lincoln, a boy eight years old, said to have been stolen, tortured and crucified by Jews in 1255. Eighteen of the wealthiest Jews of Lincoln were hanged for taking part in this affair, and the boy was buried in state.
⁂ There are several documents in Rymer’s Fœdera relative to this event. The story is told in the Chronicles of Matthew Paris. It is the subject of the Prioress’s Tale in Chaucer, and Wordsworth has a modernized version of Chaucer’s tale.
A similar story is told of William of Norwich, said to have been crucified by the Jews in 1137.
Percy, in his Reliques, i. 3, has a ballad about a boy named Hew, whose mother was “Lady Hew of Merryland” (? Milan). He was enticed by an apple, given him by a Jewish damsel, who “stabbed him with a penknife, rolled him in lead, and cast him into a well.”
Werner is another boy said to have been crucified by the Jews. The place of this alleged murder was Bacharach.
Hugo, count of Vermandois, brother of Phillippe I. of France, and leader of the Franks in the first crusade. Hugo died before Godfrey was appointed general-in-chief of the allied armies (bk. i.), but his spirit appeared to Godfrey when the army went against the Holy City (bk. xviii.).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Hugo, brother of Arnold; very small of stature, but brave as a lion. He was slain in the faction fight stirred up by Prince Oswald against Duke Gondibert, his rival in the love of Rhodalind, daughter and only child of Aribert, king of Lombardy.
Hugo, natural son of Azo, chief of the house of Este (2 syl.) and Bianca, who died of a broken heart, because, although a mother, she was never wed. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina, but his father, not knowing it, made Parisina his own bride. One night Azo heard Parisina in her sleep confess her love for Hugo, and the angry marquis ordered his son to be beheaded. What became of Parisina “none knew, and none can ever know.”—Byron, Parisina (1816).
Hugo Hugonet, minstrel of the earl of Douglas.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).
Hugo von Kronfels. At the age of twenty-two or three, a handsome man with the world before him, has a fall that cripples him hopelessly. He becomes a bitter-thoughted recluse, more feared than beloved by the few who see him, until the sunshine of a young girl’s society and the wholesome talk of a man of the people change the tenor of thought and feeling, teaching him that to live is nobler than to cast away the existence God has given.—Blanche Willis Howard, The Open Door (1889).
Hugon (King), the great nursery ogre of France.
Huguenot Pope (The). Philippe de Mornay, the great supporter of the French Huguenots, is called Le Pape des Huguenots (1549-1623).
⁂ Of course, Philippe de Mornay was not one of the “popes of Rome.”
Huguenots (Les), an opera by Meyerbeer (1836). The subject of this opera is the massacre of the French Huguenots or Protestants, planned by Catharine de Medicis on St. Bartholomew’s Day (August 24, 1572), during the wedding festivities of her daughter Margherita (Marguerite) and Henri le Bearnais (afterwards Henri IV. of France).
Hul´sean Lectures, certain sermons preached at Great St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge, and paid for by a fund, the gift of the Rev. John Hulse, of Cheshire, in 1777.
⁂ Till the year 1860, the Hulsean Lecturer was called “The Christian Advocate.”
Hull, (Dr.). Person of imposing deportment and plausible speech, business-manager of Mrs. Legrand, a spiritualistic medium and imposter.—Edward Bellamy, Miss Luddington’s Sister (1884).
Humber or Humbert, mythical king of the Huns, who invaded England during the reign of Locrin, some 1000 years B.C. In his flight, he was drowned in the river Abus, which has ever since been called the Humber.—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2; Milton, History of England.
Humgud´geon (Grace-be-here), a corporal in Cromwell’s troop.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Humm (Anthony), chairman of the “Brick Lane Branch of the United Grand Junction Ebenezer Temperance Association.”—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Humma, a fabulous bird, of which it was said that “the head over which the shadow of its wings passes will assuredly wear a crown.”—Wilkes, South of India, v. 423.
Humming-bird. John James Audubon’s story of the Loves of the Hummingbirds reads like romantic fiction rather than fact. The male, when wooing his bride, feeds her with honey, and fans her with his wings while she sips it. After marriage and during incubation, his tender assiduities are redoubled instead of abated. By John James Audubon, Ornithological Biography (1831).
Humorous Lieutenant (The), the chief character and title of a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647). The lieutenant has no name.
Humpback (The). Andrea Sola´ri, the Italian painter, was called Del Gobbo (1470-1527).
Geron´imo Amelunghi was also called Il Gobbo di Pisa (sixteenth century).
Humphrey (Master), the hypothetical compiler of the tale entitled “Barnaby Rudge” in Master Humphrey’s Clock, by Charles Dickens (1840).
Humphrey (Old), pseudonym of George Mogridge.
⁂ George Mogridge has also issued several books under the popular name of “Peter Parley,” which was first assumed by S.G. Goodrich, in 1828. Several publishers of high standing have condescended to palm books on the public under this nom de plume, some written by William Martin, and others by persons wholly unknown.
Humphrey (The good duke), Humphrey Plantagenet, duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Henry IV., murdered in 1446.
Humphrey (To dine with duke), to go without dinner. To stay behind in St. Paul’s aisles, under pretence of finding out the monument of Duke Humphrey, while others more fortunate go home to dinner.
⁂ It was really the monument of John Beauchamp that the “dinnerless” hung about, and not that of Duke Humphrey. John Beauchamp died in 1359, and Duke Humphrey in 1446.
Huncamunca (Princess), daughter of King Arthur and Queen Dollallolla, beloved by Lord Grizzle and Tom Thumb. The king promises her in marriage to the “pigmy giant-queller.” Huncamunca kills Frizaletta “for killing her mamma.” But Frizaletta killed the queen for killing her sweetheart Noodle, and the queen killed Noodle because he was the messenger of ill news.—Tom Thumb, by Fielding, the novelist (1730), altered by O’Hara, author of Midas (1778).
Hunchback (The). Master Walter, “the hunchback,” was the guardian of Julia, and brought her up in the country, training her most strictly in knowledge and goodness. When grown to womanhood, she was introduced to Sir Thomas Clifford, and they plighted their troth to each other. Then came a change. Clifford lost his title and estates, while Julia went to London, became a votary of fashion and pleasure, abandoned Clifford, and promised marriage to Wilford, earl of Rochdale. The day of espousals came. The love of Julia for Clifford revived, and she implored her guardian to break off the obnoxious marriage. Master Walter now showed himself to be the earl of Rochdale, and the father of Julia; the marriage with Wilford fell through, and Julia became the wife of Sir Thomas Clifford.——S. Knowles, (1831).
⁂ Similarly, Maria, “the maid of the Oaks,” was brought up by Oldworth as his ward, but was in reality his motherless child.—J. Burgoyne, The Maid of the Oaks.
Hunchback (The Little), the buffoon of the sultan of Casgar. Supping with a tailor, the little fellow was killed by a bone sticking in his throat. The tailor, out of fear, carried the body to the house of a physician, and the physician, stumbling against it, knocked it downstairs. Thinking he had killed the man, he let the body down a chimney into the store-room of his neighbor, who was a purveyor. The purveyor, supposing it to be a thief, belabored it soundly; and then, thinking he had killed the little humpback, carried the body into the street, and set it against a wall. A Christian merchant, reeling home, stumbled against the body, and gave it a blow with his fist. Just then the patrol came up, and arrested the merchant for murder. He was condemned to death; but the purveyor came forward and accused himself of being the real offender. The merchant was accordingly released, and the purveyor condemned to death; but then the physician appeared, and said he had killed the man by accident, having knocked him downstairs. When the purveyor was released, and the physician led away to execution, the tailor stepped up, and told his tale. All were then taken before the sultan, and acquitted; and the sultan ordered the case to be enrolled in the archives of his kingdom amongst the causes célèbres.—Arabian Nights (“The Little Hunchback”).
Hundebert, steward to Cedric of Rotherwood.—Sir. W. Scott, Ivanhoe.
Hundred Fights (Hero of a), Conn, son of Cormac, king of Ireland. Called in Irish “Conn Keadcahagh.”
Arthur Wellesley, Lord Wellington.
Hundred-Handed (The). Briar´eos (4 syl.) or Ægæon, with his brothers Gygês and Kottos, were all hundred-handed giants.
Homer makes Briareos 4 syl.; but Shakespeare writes it in the Latin form, “Briareus,” and makes it 3 syl.
Hundwolf, steward to the old lady of Baldringham.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Hunia´des (4 syl.), called by the Turks “The Devil.” He was surnamed “Corvīnus,” and the family crest was a crow (1400-1456).
The Turks employed the name of Huniadês to frighten their perverse children. He was corruptly called “Jancus Lain.”Lain.”—Gibbon, Decline and Fall, etc., xii. 166 (1776-88).
Hunsdon (Lord), cousin of Queen Elizabeth.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Hunter (Mr. and Mrs. Leo), persons who court the society of any celebrity, and consequently invite Mr. Pickwick and his three friends to an entertainment in their house. Mrs. Leo Hunter wrote an “Ode to an Expiring Frog,” considered by her friends a most masterly performance.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Hunter (The Mighty), Nimrod; so called in Gen. x. 9.
Huntingdon (Robert, earl of), generally called “Robin Hood.” In 1601 Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle produced a drama entitled The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (attributed often to T. Heywood). Ben Jonson began a beautiful pastoral drama on the subject of Robin Hood (The Sad Shepherd or A Tale of Robin Hood), but left only two acts of it when he died (1637). We have also Robin Hood and His Crew of Souldiers, a comedy acted at Nottingham, and printed 1661; Robin Hood, an opera (1730). J. Ritson edited, in 1795, Robin Hood: a Collection of Poems, Songs and Ballads relative to that Celebrated English Outlaw.
Huntingdon (the earl of), in the court of Queen Elizabeth.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).
Huntingdon (David, earl of), prince royal of Scotland. He appears first as Sir Kenneth, knight of the Leopard, and afterwards as Zohauk, the Nubian slave.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Huntinglen (The earl of), an old Scotch nobleman.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Huntley (Earl), George of Gordon was killed in battle with the troops of the Regent Murray. His body was taken to Holyrood and tried for high treason.