Inkle and Yar´ico, hero and heroine of a story by Sir Richard Steele, in the Spectator (No. 11). Inkle is a young Englishman who is lost in the Spanish main. He falls in love with Yarico, an Indian maiden, with whom he consorts; but no sooner does a vessel arrive to take him to Barbadoes than he sells Yarico as a slave.

George Colman has dramatized this tale (1787).

Innocents (The), the babes of Bethlehem cut off by Herod the Great.

⁂ John Baptist Marino, an Italian poet, has a poem on The Massacre of the Innocents (1569-1625).

Innogen or Inogene (3 syl.), wife of Brute (1 syl.), mythical king of Britain. She was daughter of Pan´drasos of Greece.

Insane Root (The), hemlock. It is said that those who eat hemlock can see objects otherwise invisible. Thus when Banquo had encountered the witches, who vanished as mysteriously as they appeared, he says to Macbeth, “Were such things [really] here ... or have we eaten [hemlock] of the insane root, that takes the reason prisoner,” so that our eyes see things that are not?—Macbeth, act i. sc. 3 (1606).

Interpreter (Mr.), in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, means the Holy Ghost as it operates on the heart of a believer. He is lord of a house a little beyond the Wicket Gate.—Pt. i. (1678).

Inveraschal´loch, one of the Highlanders at the Clachan of Aberfoyle.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Invin´cible Doctor (The), William of Occam; also called Doctor Singulāris (1270-1347).

Invisible Knight (The), Sir Garlon, brother of King Pellam (nigh of kin to Joseph of Arimathy).

“He is Sir Garlon,” said the knight, “he with the black face, he is the marvellest knight living, for he goeth invisible.”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 39 (1470).

Invisibility is obtained by amulets, dress, herbs, rings, and stones.

Amulets: as the capon-stone called “Alectoria,” which rendered those invisible who carried it about their person.—Mirror of Sornes.

Dress: as Alberich’s cloak called “Tarnkappe” (2 syl.) which Siegfried got possession of (The Nibelungen Lied); the mantle of Hel Keplein (q.v.); and Jack the Giantkiller had a cloak of invisibility as well as a cap of knowledge. The helmet of Perseus of Hadês (Greek Fable) and Mambrino’s helmet rendered the wearers invisible. The moros musphonon was a girdle of invisibility.—Mrs. Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife.

Herbs: as fern-seed, mentioned by Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher.

Rings: as Gyges’s ring, taken from the flanks of a brazen horse. When the stone was turned inwards, the wearer was invisible (Plato). The ring of Otnit, king of Lombardy, according to The Heldenbuch, possessed a similar virtue. Reynard’s wonderful ring had three colors, one of which (the green) caused the wearer to be invisible (Reynard the Fox, 1498); this was the gem called heliotrope.

Stones: as heliotrope, mentioned by Boccaccio in his Decameron (day viii. 3). It is of a green hue. Solīnus attributes this power to the herb heliotrope: “Herba ejusdem nominis ... eum, a quocumque gestabitur, suptrahit visibus obviorum.”—Geog., xl.

Invulnerability. Stones taken from the cassan plant, which grows in Pauten, will render the possessor invulnerable.—Odoricus, In Hakluyt.

A dip in the river Styx rendered Achillês invulnerable.

Medea rendered Jason proof against wounds and fire by anointing him with the Promethe´an unguent.—Greek Fable.

Siegfried was rendered invulnerable by bathing his body in dragon’s blood.—Niebelungen Lied.

Ion, the title and hero of a tragedy by T. N. Talfourd (1835). The oracle of Delphi had declared that the pestilence which raged in Argos was sent by way of punishment for the misrule of the race of Argos, and that the vengeance of the gods could be averted only by the extirpation of the guilty race. Ion, the son of the king, offered himself a willing sacrifice, and as he was dying, Irus entered and announced that “the pestilence was abating.”

Io´na’s Saint, St. Columb, seen on the top of the church spires, on certain evenings every year, counting the surrounding islands, to see that none of them have been sunk by the power of witchcraft.

I-pal-ne-mo´-ani (i.e. He by whom we live), a title of God, used by the ancient Mexicans.

Iphigeni´a,daughter of Agamemnon, king of Argos. Agamemnon vowed to offer up to Artĕmis the best possession that came into his hands during the ensuing twelve months. This happened to be an infant daughter, to whom he gave the name of Iphigenīa, but he forbore to fulfil his vow. When he went on his voyage to Troy, the fleet was wind-bound at Aulis, and Kalchas, the priest, said it was because Agamemnon had not carried out his vow; so Iphigenia, then in the pride of womanhood, was bound to the altar. Artemis, being satisfied, carried the maiden off to Tauris, where she became a priestess, and substituted a hind in her place.

For parallel instances, such as Abraham and Isaac, Jephthah and his daughter, Idomeneus and his son, etc., see Idomeneus.

Iphis, the woman who was changed to a man. The tale is this: Iphis was the daughter of Lygdus and Telethusa of Cretê. Lygdus gave orders that if the child about to be born was a girl, it was to be put to death. It happened to be a girl; but the mother, to save it, brought it up as a boy. In due time, the father betrothed Iphis to Ianthê, and the mother, in terror, prayed to Isis for help. Her prayer was heard, for Isis changed Iphis into a man on the day of espousals.—Ovid, Metaph., ix. 12; xiv. 699.

⁂ Cæneus [Se.nuce] was born of the female sex, but Neptune changed her into a man. Ænēas found her in hadês changed back again.

Tirēsias, the Theban prophet, was converted into a girl for striking two serpents, and married. He afterwards recovered his sex.

Ippolito (Don), Italian priest, who should never have taken orders. He is handsome, sensitive and susceptible, and has for a pupil Florida Vervain, an American girl. He loves her and tells her so. She pities him, advises him to break the shackles of his priesthood and go to America. When she departs, he succumbs to despair and Roman fever. On his death-bed he disabuses Florida’s American lover of the impression that the girl loved the priest.—W. D. Howells, A Foregone Conclusion (1874).

Iras, a female attendant on Cleopatra. When Cleopatra had arrayed herself with robe and crown, prior to applying the asps, she said to her two female attendants, “Come take the last warmth of my lips. Farewell, kind Charmian! Iras, farewell!” And having kissed them, Iras fell down dead, either broken-hearted or else because she had already applied an asp to her arm, as Charmian did a little later.—Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (1608).

Ireby (Mr), a country squire.—Sir W. Scott, Two Drovers (time, George III.).

Ireland (S. W. H.), a literary forger. His chief forgery is Miscellaneous Papers and Instruments, under the hand and seal of William Shakespeare, including the tragedy of King Lear, and a small fragment of Hamlet, from the original, folio, £6 4s. (1795).

His most impudent forgery was the production of a new play, which he tried to palm off as Shakespeare’s. It was called Vortigern and Rowena, and was actually represented at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1796.

Ireland (The Fair Maid of), the ignis fatuus.

He had read ... of ... the ignis fatuus, ... by some called “Will-with-the-whisp” or “Jack-with-the-lantern,” and likewise ... “The Fair Maid of Ireland.”—R. Johnson, The Seven Champions of Christendom, i. 7. (1617).

Ireland’s Three Saints. The three great saints of Ireland are St. Patrick, St. Columb, and St. Bridget.

Ireland’s Three Tragedies: (1) The Death of the Children of Touran; (2) The Death of the Children of Lir; and (3) The Death of the Children of Usnach.—O’Flannagan, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin, i.

Irem (The Garden of), mentioned in the Korân, lxxxix. It was the most beautiful of all earthly paradises, laid out for Shedad´, king of Ad; but no sooner was it finished than it was struck with the lightning-wand of the death-angel, and was never after visible to the eye of man.

Ire´na, Ireland personified. Her inheritance was withheld by Grantorto (rebellion), and Sir Artegal was sent by the queen of Faëry-land to succor her. Grantorto being slain Irena was restored, in 1588, to her inheritance.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. (1596).(1596).

Ire´ne (3 syl.), daughter of Horush Barbarossa, the Greek renegade and corsair-king of Algiers. She was rescued in the siege of Algiers by Selim, son of the Moorish king, who fell in love with her. When she heard of the conspiracy to kill Barbarossa, she warned her father; but it was too late; the insurgents succeeded, Barbarossa was slain by Othman, and Selim married Irenê.—J. Browne, Barbarossa (1742).

Irene (3 syl.), wife of Alexius Comne´nus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Irene Lapham. Second daughter of a self-made man; wonderfully beautiful, unsophisticated, and beginning to have social ambitions, founded upon acquaintance with the Bromfield Coreys. She is quite sure and naively glad that Tom Corey admires, perhaps loves her, until undeceived by his declaration to her sister. Then she gives him up and goes away for a while. Hearing of her father’s failure in business, she rushes back and takes her place in the family as an energetic spinster. William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1884).

Ire´nus. Peaceableness personified. (Greek, eirênê, “peace”). Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, x. (1633).

Iris, a messenger, a go-between. Iris was the messenger of Juno.

Iris and the Dying. One of the duties of Iris was to cut off a lock of hair (claimed by Proserpine) from those devoted to death, and till this was done, Death refused to accept the victim. Thus, when Dido mounted the funeral pile, she lingered in suffering till Iris was sent by Juno to cut off a lock of her hair as an offering to the black queen, but immediately this was done her spirit left the body. Than´atos did the same office to Alcestis when she gave her life for that of her husband. In all sacrifices, a forelock was first cut from the head of the victim an an offering to Proserpine.—See Euripides, Alcestis; Virgil, Æneid, iv.

Iris. Daughter of an old Latin tutor. Of her mother it is said—“Seated with her companion at the chess-board of matrimony, she had but just pushed forward her one little white pawn upon an empty square, when the Black Knight, who cares nothing for castles, or kings or queens, swooped down upon her and swept her from the larger board of life.” The child’s father lingered but a little while longer, and the little Iris lived with a village spinster and went to a village school. All the same, the artistic principle grew and prevailed with her, and she became painter and poet.—Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1853).

Irish Whiskey Drinker (The), John Sheehan, a barrister, who with “Everard Olive of Tipperary Hall,” Hall,” wrote a series of pasquinades in verse, which were published in Bentley’s Miscellany, in 1846, and attracted considerable attention.

Irish Widow (The), a farce by Garrick (1757). Martha Brady, a blooming young widow of 23, is in love with William Whittle, the nephew of old Thomas Whittle, a man 63 years of age. It so happens that William cannot touch his property without his uncle’s consent, so the lovers scheme together to obtain it. The widow pretends to be in love with the old man, who proposes to her and is accepted; but she now comes out in a new character, as a loud, vulgar, rollicking, extravagant low Irishwoman. Old Whittle is thoroughly frightened, and not only gets his nephew to take the lady off his hands, but gives him £5000 for doing so.

Irol´do, the friend of Prasildo, of Babylon. Prasildo falls in love with Tisbi´na, his friend’s wife, and, to escape infamy, Iroldo and Tisbina take “poison.” Prasildo, hearing from the apothecary that the supposed poison is innocuous, goes and tells them so, whereupon Iroldo is so struck with his friend’s generosity that he quits Babylon, leaving Tisbina to Prasildo. Subsequently Iroldo’s life is in peril, and Prasildo saves his friend at the hazard of his own life.—Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato (1495).

Irolit´a, a princess, in love with Prince Parcĭnus, her cousin. The fairy Dan´amo wanted Parcinus to marry her daughter Az´ira, and therefore tried to marry Irolita to Brutus; but her plans were thwarted, for Parcinus married Irolita, and Brutus married Azira.—D’Aunoy, Perfect Love.

Iron Arm. Captain François de Lanoue, a Huguenot, was called Bras de Fer. He died at the siege of Lamballe (1531-1591).

Iron Chest (The), a drama by G. Colman, based on W. Godwin’s novel of Caleb Williams. Sir Edward Mortimer kept in an iron chest certain documents relating to a murder for which he had been tried and honorably acquitted. His secretary, Wilford, out of curiosity, was prying into this box, when Sir Edward entered and threatened to shoot him; but on reflection, spared the young man’s life, and told him all about the murder, and swore him to secrecy. Wilford, unable to endure the watchful and suspicious eye of his master, ran away; but Sir Edward dogged him like a bloodhound, and at length accused him of robbery. The charge could not be substantiated, so Wilford was acquitted. Sir Edward confessed himself a murderer, and died (1796).

Iron Duke (The), the duke of Wellington (1769-1852).

Iron Emperor (The), Nicholas of Russia (1796, 1826-1855).

Iron Hand, Goetz von Berlichingen, who replaced his right hand, which he lost at the siege of Landshut, by an iron one (sixteenth century).

⁂ Goethe has made this the subject of an historical drama.

Iron Mask (The Man in the). This mysterious man went by the name of Lestang, but who he was is as much in nubibus as the author of the Letters of Junius. The most general opinion is that he was Count Er´colo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of Mantua and private agent of Ferdinand Charles, duke of Mantua; and that his long imprisonment of twenty-four years was for having deceived Louis XIV. in a secret treaty for the purchase of the fortress of Casale. M. Loiseleur utterly denies this solution of the mystery.—See Temple Bar, 182-4, May, 1872.

⁂ The tragedies of Zschokke in German (1795), and Fournier, in French, are based on the supposition that the man in the mask was Marechal Richelieu, a twin-brother of the Grand Monarque, and this is the solution given by the Abbé Soulavie.

Irons. “A man over whom vulgar prosperity had, in forming him, left everywhere her finger-marks to be seen.... He had a general air of insisting upon his immense superiority to all the world.” His self-complacency does not prevent his meddling offensively in other people’s affairs, and his success gives him the opportunity to ruin the man he hates as his intellectual and moral superior.—Arlo Bates, The Philistines (1888).

Ironside (Sir), called “The Red Knight of the Red Lands.” Sir Gareth, after fighting with him from dawn to dewy eve, subdued him. Tennyson calls him Death, and says that Gareth won the victory with a single stroke. Sir Ironside was the knight who kept the Lady Lionês (called by Tennyson “Lyonors”) captive in Castle Perilous.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 134-137 (1470).

Ironside. Edmund II., king of the Anglo-Saxons, was so called from his iron armor (989, 1016-1017).

Sir Richard Steele signed himself “Nester Ironside” in the Guardian (1671-1729).

Ironsides. So were the soldiers of Cromwell called, especially after the battle of Marston Moor, where they displayed their iron resolution (1644).

Ironsides (Captain), uncle of Belfield (Brothers), and an old friend of Sir Benjamin Dove. He is captain of a privateer, and a fine specimen of an English naval officer.

He’s true English oak to the heart of him, and a fine old seaman-like figure he is.—Cumberland, The Brothers, i. 1 (1769).

Iron Tooth, Frederick II., elector of Bradenburg (Dent de Fer), (1657, 1688-1713).

Irrefragable Doctor (The), Alexander Hales, founder of the Scholastic theology (*-1245).

I´rus, the beggar of Ithâca, who ran errands for Penelopê’s suitors. When Ulyssês returned home dressed as a beggar, Irus withstood him, and Ulyssês broke his jaw with a blow. So poor was Irus that he gave birth to the proverbs, “As poor as Irus,” and “Poorer than Irus” (in French, Plus pauvre qu’ Irus).

Irving (Washington). N. P. Willis said of Irving’s reputation in England fifty years ago: “The first questions on the lips of every one to whom I am introduced as an American are of him and Cooper.” Horace Smith, the author of “Rejected Addresses” pronounced him “a delightful fellow.”—N. P. Willis, Pencilings by the Way (1835).

Irwin (Mr), the husband of Lady Eleanor, daughter of Lord Norland. His lordship discarded her for marrying against his will, and Irwin was reduced to the verge of starvation. In his desperation Irwin robbed his father-in-law on the high road, but relented and returned the money. At length the iron heart of Lord Norland was softened, and he relieved the necessities of his son-in-law.

Lady Eleanor Irwin, wife of Mr. Irwin. She retains her love for Lord Norland, even through all his relentlessness, and when she hears that he has adopted a son, exclaims, “May the young man deserve his love better than I have done! May he be a comfort to his declining years, and never disobey him!”—Inchbald, Every One has His Fault (1794).

Irwin (Hannah), former confidante of Clara Mowbray.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Isaac [Mendoza], a rich Portuguese Jew, short in stature, with a snub nose, swarthy skin, and huge beard; very conceited, priding himself upon his cunning, loving to dupe others but woefully duped himself. He chuckles to himself, “I’m cunning, I fancy; a very cunning dog, ain’t I? a sly little villain, eh? a bit roguish; he must be very wide awake who can take Isaac in.” This conceited piece of goods is always duped by every one he encounters. He meets Louisa, whom he intends to make his wife, but she makes him believe she is Clara Guzman. He meets his rival, Antonio, whom he sends to the supposed Clara, and he marries her. He mistakes Louisa’s duenna for Louisa, and elopes with her. So all his wit is outwitted.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1775).

Isaac of York, the father of Rebecca. When imprisoned in the dungeon of Front de Bœuf’s castle, Front de Bœuf comes to extort money from him, and orders two slaves to chain him to the bars of slow fire, but the party is disturbed by the sound of a bugle. Ultimately, both the Jew and his daughter leave England and go to live abroad.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Isaacs (Mr.). A mysterious man, whose majestic beauty, accomplishments, prowess and loves form the staple of the novel bearing his name.—F. Marion Crawford, Mr. Isaacs (1882).

Isabel. A child-love, whose image is recalled by the old man in his wayside musing—

Isabel. A refined girl, with lofty ideals and aspirations, who marries a widower with one child. She believes him a true man who will uplift her, and finds him a refined voluptuary, coldly calculating upon the advantages to be gained from her fortune. Still faithful to herself, Isabel repels the love of a man who thoroughly appreciates her, and flies from him and temptation.—Henry James, Jr., Portrait of a Lady (1881).

Isabel, called the “She-wolf of France,” the adulterous queen of Edward II., was daughter of Philippe IV. (le bel), of France. According to one tradition, Isabel murdered her royal husband by thrusting a hot iron into his bowels, and tearing them from his body.

Isabell, sister of Lady Hartwell, in the comedy of Wit without Money, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1639).

Isabella or Isabelle, a pale brown or buff color, similar to that of a hare. It is so called from the princess Isabella of Austria, daughter of Philip II. The tale is, that while besieging Ostend, the princess took an oath that she would not change her body-linen before the town was taken. The siege, however, lasted three years, and her linen was so stained that it gave name to the color referred to (1601-1604).

The same story is related of Isabella of Castile at the siege of Grena´da (1483).

The horse that Brightsun was mounted on was as black as jet, that of Felix was grey, Cherry’s was as white as milk, and that of the Princess Fairstar an Isabella.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Fairstar,” 1682).

Isabella, daughter of the king of Galicia, in love with Zerbi´no, but Zerbino could not marry her because she was a pagan. Her lament at the death of Zerbino is one of the best parts of the whole poem (bk. xii.). Isabella retires to a chapel to bury her lover, and is there slain by Rodomont.—Ariosto, Orlanda Furioso (1516).

Isabella, sister of Claudio, insulted by the base passion of An´gelo, deputy of Vienna, in the absence of Duke Vincentio. Isabella is delivered by the duke himself, and the deputy is made to marry Mariana, to whom he was already betrothed.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603).

Isabella, wife of Hieronimo, in The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd (1588).

Isabella, mother of Ludov´ico Sforza, duke of Milan.—Massinger, The Duke of Milan (1622).

Isabella, a nun who marries Biron, eldest son of Count Baldwin, who disinherits him for this marriage. Biron enters the army, and is sent to the siege of Candy, where he falls, and (it is supposed) dies. For seven years Isabella mourns her loss, and is then reduced to the utmost want. In her distress she begs assistance of her father-in-law, but he drives her from the house as a dog. Villeroy (2 syl.) offers her marriage, and she accepts him; but the day after her espousals Biron returns. Carlos, hearing of his brother’s return, employs ruffians to murder him, and then charges Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeaches, and Carlos is apprehended. Isabella goes mad, and murders herself in her distraction.—Thomas Southern, The Fatal Marriage (1692).

Isabella, the coadjutor of Zanga in his scheme of revenge against Don Alonzo.—Young, The Revenge (1721).

Isabella, princess of Sicily, in love with Roberto il Diavolo, but promised in marriage to the prince of Grana´da, who challenges Roberto to mortal combat, from which he is allured by Bertram, his fiend-father. Alice tells him that Isabella is waiting for him at the altar, when a struggle ensues between Bertram and Alice, one trying to drag him into hell, and the other trying to reclaim him to the ways of virtue. Alice at length prevails, but we are not told whether or not Roberto marries the princess.—Meyerbeer, Roberto il Diavolo (1831).

Isabella (Donna), daughter of Don Pedro, a Portuguese nobleman, who designs to marry her to Don Guzman, a gentleman of large fortune. To avoid this hateful marriage, she jumps from a window, with a view of escaping from the house, and is caught by a Colonel Briton, an English officer, who conducts her to the house of her friend, Donna Violantê. Here the colonel calls upon her, and Don Felix, supposing Violantê to be the object of his visits, becomes furiously jealous. After a considerable embroglio, the mystery is cleared up, and a double wedding takes place.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1714).

Isabella (The countess), wife of Roberto. After a long series of crimes of infidelity to her husband, and of murder, she is brought to execution.—John Marston, The Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba (1605).

Isabella (The lady), a beautiful young girl, who accompanied her father on a chase. Her step-mother requested her to return and tell the cook to prepare the milk-white doe for dinner. Lady Isabella did as she was told, and the cook replied, “Thou art the doe that I must dress.” The scullion-boy exclaimed, “Oh, save the lady’s life, and make thy pies of me!” But the cook heeded him not. When the lord returned and asked for his daughter, the scullion-boy made answer, “If my lord would see his daughter, let him cut the pasty before him.” The father, horrified at the whole affair, adjudged the step-mother to be burnt alive, and the cook to stand in boiling lead, but the scullion-boy he made his heir.—Percy, Reliques iii. 2.

Isabelle, sister of Léonor, an orphan; brought up by Sganarelle according to his own notions of training a girl to make him a good wife. She was to dress in serge, and keep to the house, to occupy herself in domestic affairs, to sew, knit, and look after the linen, to hear no flattery, attend no places of public amusement, never to be left to her own devices, but to run in harness like a mill-horse. The result was that she duped Sganarelle and married Valère. (See Léonor).—Molière, L’école des Maris (1661).

Isabinda, daughter of Sir Jealous Traffick, a merchant. Her father is resolved she shall marry Don Diego Barbinetto, but she is in love with Charles Gripe; and Charles, in the dress of a Spaniard, passing himself off as the Spanish don, and marries her.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy Body (1709).

Isadore, wife, fondly lamented in Albert Pike’s lines beginning:

Isenbras (Sir), a hero of mediæval romance. Sir Isenbras was at first proud and presumptous, but adversity made him humble and pentitent. In this stage he carried two children of a poor wood-cutter across a ford on his horse.

I´sengrin (Sir) or Sir Isengrim, the wolf, afterwards created the earl of Pitwood, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox. Sir Isengrin typifies the barons, and Reynard the Church. The gist of the tale is to show how Reynard over-reaches his uncle Wolf (1498).

Ishah, the name of Eve before the Fall; so called because she was taken out of ish, i.e. “man” (Gen. ii. 23); but after the expulsion from paradise, Adam called his wife Eve or Havah, i.e. “the mother of all living” (Gen. iii. 20).

Ishban, meant for Sir Robert Clayton. There is no such name in the Bible as Ishban; but Tate speaks of “extorting Ishban,” pursued by “bankrupt heirs.” He says he had occupied himself long in cheating, but then undertook to “reform the state.”

Ish´bosheth, in Dryden’s satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Richard Cromwell, whose father, Oliver, is called “Saul.” As Ishbosheth was the only surviving son of Saul, so Richard was the only surviving son of Cromwell. As Ishbosheth was accepted king on the death of his father by all except the tribe of Judah, so Richard was acknowledged “protecter” by all except the royalists. As Ishbosheth reigned only a few months, so Richard, after a few months, retired into private life.

I´sidore (3 syl.), a Greek slave, the concubine of Don Pèdre, a Sicilian nobleman. This slave is beloved by Adraste (2 syl.) a French gentleman, who plots to allure her away. He first gets introduced as a portrait-painter, and reveals his love. Isidore listens with pleasure, and promises to elope with him. He then sends his slave Zaïde to complain to Don Pèdre of ill-treatment, and to crave protection. Don Pèdre promises to stand her friend, and at this moment Adraste appears and demands that she be given up to the punishment she deserves. Pèdre intercedes; Adraste seems to relent; and the Sicilian calls to the young slave to appear. Instead of Zaïde, Isidore comes forth in Zaïde’s veil. “There” says Pèdre, “I have arranged everything. Take her and use her well.” “I will do so,” says the Frenchman, and leads off the Greek slave.—Molière, Le Sicilien ou L’Amour Peindre (1667).

Isis, the moon. The sun is Osi´ris. Egyptian Mythology.

Iskander Beg=Alexander the Great, George Castriot (1414-1467). (See(See Skanderbeg).

Iskander with the Two Horns, Alexander the Great.

This Friday is the 18th day of the moon of Safar, in the year 653 [i.e. of the heg´ira, or A.D. 1255] since the retreat of the great prophet from Mecca to Medi´na; and in the year 7320 of the epoch of the great Iskander with the two horns.—Arabian Nights (“The Tailor’s Story”).

Island of the Seven Cities, a kind of Dixie’s land, where seven bishops, who quitted Spain during the dominion of the Moors, founded seven cities. The legend says that many have visited the island, but no one has ever quitted it.

Islands of the Blest, called by the Greeks “Happy Islands,” and by the Latins “Fortunate Islands;” imaginary islands somewhere in the West, where the favorites of the gods are conveyed at death, and dwell in everlasting joy.

Isle of Lanterns, an imaginary country, inhabited by pretenders to knowledge, called “Lanternois.”—Rabelais, Pantag´ruel, v. 32, 33 (1545).

⁂ Lucien has a similar conceit, called The City of Lanterns; and Dean Swift, in his Gulliver’s Travels, makes his hero visit Laputa, which is an empire of quacks, false projectors, and pretenders to science.

Islington (The marquis of), one of the companions of Billy Barlow, the noted archer. Henry VIII. jocosely created Barlow “duke of Shoreditch”Shoreditch”, and his two companions “earl of Pancras” and “marquis of Islington.”

Ismael “the infidel,” one of the Immortal Guard.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Ismene. Daughter of Œdipus and Jocasta, and sister to Antigone. She insists upon sharing her sister’s punishment for having buried their brother Cleon in defiance of their father’s prohibition.—Sophocles’ Antigone.

Isme´ne and Isme´nias, a love story in Greek by Eustathius, in the twelfth century. It is puerile in its delineation of character, and full of plagiarisms; but many of its details have been copied by D’Urfé, Montemayor, and others. Ismenê is the “dear and near and true” lady of Ismenias.

⁂ Through the translation by Godfrey of Viterbo, the tale of Ismenê and Ismenias forms the basis of Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Isme´no, a magician, once a Christian, but afterwards a renegaderenegade to Islam. He was killed by a stone hurled from an engine.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xviii. (1575).

Isoc´rates (The French), Esprit Fléchier, bishop of Nismes (1632-1710).

Isoline (3 syl.), the high-minded and heroic daughter of the French governor of Messi´na, and bride of Fernando (son of John of Procĭda). Isoline was true to her husband, and true to her father, who had opposite interests in Sicily. Both fell victims to the butchery called the “Sicilian Vespers” (March 30, 1282), and Isoline died of a broken heart.—S. Knowles., John of Procida (1840).

Isolt (Isolde, Iseult). There are two ladies connected with Arthurian romance of this name: one, Isolt “the Fair,” daughter of Anguish, king of Ireland; and the other Isolt “or the White Hands,” daughter of Howell, king of Brittany. Isolt the Fair was the wife of Sir Mark, king of Cornwall, but Isolt of the White Hands was the wife of Sir Tristram. Sir Tristram loved Isolt the Fair; and Isolt hated Sir Mark, her husband, with the same measure that she loved Sir Tristram, her nephew-in-law. Tennyson’s tale of the death of Sir Tristram is so at variance with the romance, that it must be given separately. He says that Sir Tristram was one day dallying with Isolt the Fair, and put a ruby carcanet round her neck. Then, as he kissed her throat:

Isond, called La Beale Isond, i.e. La Belle Isond, daughter of Anguish, king of Ireland. When Sir Tristram vanquished Sir Marhaus, he went to Ireland to be cured of his wounds. La Beale Isond was his leech, and fell in love with him; but she married Sir Mark, the dastard king of Cornwall. This marriage was very unhappy, for Isond hated Mark as much as she loved Sir Tristram, with whom she eloped and lived in Joyous Guard Castle, but was in time restored to her husband, and Tristram married Isond the Fair-handed. In the process of time, Tristram, being severely wounded, sent for La Beale Isond, who alone could cure him, and if the lady consented to come the vessel was to hoist a white flag. The ship hove in sight, and Tristram’s wife, out of jealousyjealousy, told him it carried a black flag at the mast-head. On hearing this Sir Tristram fell back on his bed and died. When La Beale Isond landed, and heard that Sir Tristram was dead, she flung herself on the body, and died also. The two were buried in one grave, on which a rose and vine were planted, which grew up and so intermingled their branches that no man could separate them.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. (1470).

⁂ Sir Palamedes, the Saracen (i.e. unbaptized) also loved La Beale Isond, but met with no encouragement. Sir Kay Hedius died for love of her.—History of Prince Arthur, ii. 172.

Isond le Blanch Mains, daughter of Howell, king of Britain (i.e. Brittany). Sir Tristram fell in love with her for her name’s sake; but though he married her, his love for La Beale Isond, wife of his Uncle Mark, grew stronger and stronger. When Sir Tristram was dying and sent for his uncle’s wife, it was Isond le Blanch Mains who told him the ship was in sight, but carried a black flag at the mast head, on hearing which Sir Tristram bowed his head and died.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 35, etc. (1470).

Is´rael, in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, means England. As David was king of Israel, so Charles II. was king of England. Of his son, the duke of Monmouth, the poet says: