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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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I

I This letter represents a finger, and is called in Hebrew yod or jod (a hand).

I

per se [I by itself], i.e. without compeer, pre—eminently so.

“If then your I [yes] agreement want,

I to your I [yes] must answer, `No.'

Therefore leave off your spelling plea,

And let your I [yes] be I per se.”

i.s. let your yes be yes decidedly.

Wits Interpreter, p. 116.

Many other letters are similarly used; as, A per se. (See A—Per—Se.) Thus in Restituta Eliza is called “The E per ce of all that ere hath been.” So again, “C,” signifies a crier, from “O yes! O yes!” We have “Villanies discovered by ... the help of a new crier, called O per se [i.e. superior to his predecessors].” 1666.

Shakespeare, in Troilus and Cressida, 1, 2, even uses the phrase “a very man per se” = A 1.

I.H.S

— i.e. the Greek IHSigma, meaning IH (Jesus), the long e (H) being mistaken for a capital H, and the dash perverted into a cross. The letters being thus obtained, St. Bernardine of Siena, in 1347, hit upon the Latin anagram, Jesus Hominum Salvator. In Greek, I. In German, Jesus Heiland Seligmacher. In English, Jesus Heavenly Saviour.

I.H.S. A notarica of Japheth, Ham, Seth, the three sons of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the Flood.

I.H.S

“In hac salus ” — i.e. “Hac cruce. “

I.O.U

The memorandum of a debt given by the borrower to the lender. It must not contain a promise to pay. The letters mean, “I owe You.”

An I.O.U. requires no stamp, unless it specifies a day of payment, when it becomes a bill, and must have a stamp.

I.R.B

Irish Republican Brotherhood, meaning the Fenian conspiracy.

Iachimo

[Yak—e—mo ]. An Italian libertine in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

Iago

[Yago or E—a'—go ]. Othello's ensign or ancient. He hated the Moor both because Cassio, a Florentine, was preferred to the lieutenancy instead of himself, and also from a suspicion that the Moor had tampered with his wife; but he concealed his hatred so well that Othello wholly trusted him. Iago persuaded Othello that Desdemona intrigued with Cassio, and urged him on till he murdered his bride. His chief argument was that Desdemona had given Cassio a pocket—handkerchief, the fact being that Iago had set on his wife to purloin it. After the death of Desdemona, Emilia (Iago's wife) revealed the fact, and Iago was arrested.

Shakespeare generally makes three syllables of the name, as —

“Let it not gall your patience, good I—a—go.

Left in the conduct of the bold I—a—go. ii.2. 'Tis one I—a—go, ancient to the general.”

Iambic Father of Iambic verse. Archilochos of Paros (B.C. 714—676).

Ianthe

(3 syl.), to whom Lord Byron dedicated his Childe Harolde, was Lady Charlotte Harley, born 1809, and only eleven years old at the time.

Iapetos

The father of Atlas and ancestor of the human race, called genus Iäp'eti, the progeny of Iapetus (Greek and Latin mythology). By many considered the same as Japheth, one of the sons of Noah.

Iberia

Spain; the country of the Iberus or Ebro. (See Rowe: On the Late Glorious Successes.)

Iberia's Pilot

Christopher Columbus. Spain is called “Iberia,” and the Spaniards the “Iberi.” The river Ebro is a corrupt form of the Latin Iberus.

“Launched with Iberia's pilot from the steep,

To worlds unknown, and isles beyond the deep.” Campbell: The Pleasures of Hope, ii.

Ibid

A contraction of ibidem (Lat.), in the same place.

Ibis

or Nile—bird. The Egyptians call the sacred Ibis Father John. It is the avatar' of the god Thoth, who in the guise of an Ibis escaped the pursuit of Typhon. The Egyptians say its white plumage symbolises the light of the sun, and its black neck the shadow of the moon, its body a heart, and its legs a triangle. It was said to drink only the purest of water, and its feathers to scare or even kill the crocodile. It is also said that the bird is so fond of Egypt that it would pine to death if transported elsewhere. It appears at the rise of the Nile, but disappears at its inundation. If, indeed, it devours crocodiles' eggs, scares away the crocodiles themselves, devours serpents and all sorts of noxious reptiles and insects, no wonder it should be held in veneration, and that it is made a crime to kill it. (See Birds.)

Ibis. The Nile—bird, says Solius, “rummages in the mud of the Nile for serpents' eggs, her most favourite food.”

Iblis

or Eblis. The Lucifer of Mozlem theology. Once called Azazel (prince of the apostate angels). (See Eblis.) He has five sons: —

(1) Tir, author of fatal accidents; (2) Awar, the demon of lubricity; (3) Dásim, author of discord; (4) Sât, father of lies; and (5) Zalambûr, author of mercantile dishonesty.

Ibraham

The Abraham of the Koran.

Icarian

Soaring, adventurous. (See Icaros .) Also a follower of Cabet, the Communist, a native of Icaria (last half of the nineteenth century).

Icaros

Son of Dæ'dalos, who flew with his father from Crete; but the sun melted the wax with which his wings were fastened on, and he fell into the sea, hence called the Icarian. (See Shakespeare: 3 Henry VI., v.

6.)

Ice

(1 syl.). To break the ice. To broach a disagreeable subject; to open the way. In allusion to breaking ice for bathers. (Latin, scindero glaciem; Italian, romper il giaccio.) (Anglo—Saxon, is.)

“[We] An' If you break the ice, and do this feat ...

Will not so graceless be, to be ingrate.”

Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, i. 2.

Ice—blink

(The). An indication of pack—ice or of a frozen surface by its reflection on the clouds. If the sky is dark or brown, the navigator may be sure that there is water; if it is white, rosy, or orange—coloured, he may be certain there is ice, for these tints are reflected from the sun's rays, or of light. The former is called a “water sky,” the latter an “ice sky.”

Ice—brook

A sword of ice—brook temper. Of the very best quality. The Spaniards used to plunge their swords and other weapons, while hot from the forge, into the brook Salo [Xalon], near Bilbilis, in Celtiberia, to harden them. The water of this brook is very cold.

“It is a sword of Spain, the ice—brook temper.”

Shakespeare: Othello, v. 2.

“Sævo Bilbilin optimam metallo

Et ferro Plateam suo sonantem

Quam fluctu tenui sed inquieto

Armorum Salo temperator ambit.”

Martial.

Ice Saints

or Frost Saints. Those saints whose days fall in what is called “the blackthorn winter” — that is, the second week in May (between li and 14). Some give only three days, but whether 11, 12, 13 or 12, 13, 14 is not agreed. May 11th is the day of St. Mamertus, May 12th of St. Pancratius, May 13th of St. Servatius, and May 14th of St. Boniface.

“Ces saincts passent pour saincts gresleurs, geleurs, et gateurs du bourgeon.” — Rabelais.

Iceberg

A hill of ice, either floating in the ocean, or aground. The magnitude of some icebergs is very great. One seen off the Cape of Good Hope was two miles in circumference, and a hundred and fifty feet high. For every cubic foot above water there must be at least eight feet below.

Iceland Dogs

Shaggy white dogs, once great favourites with ladies. Shakespeare mentions them (Henry V., ii.

1).

“Use and custome bath intatained ... Iceland dogges curled and rough all over, which, by reason of the length of their heire make showe neither of face nor of body.” — Fleming: Of English Dogges (1576).

Ich Dien

According to a Welsh tradition, Edward I. promised to provide Wales with a prince “who could speak no word of English,” and when his son Edward of Carnarvon was born he presented him to the assembly, saying in Welsh Eich dyn (behold the man).

The more general belief is that it was the motto under the plume of John, King of Bohemia, slain by the Black Prince at Cressy in 1346, and that the Black Prince who slew the Bohemian assumed it out of modesty, to indicate that “he served under the king his father.”

Ichneumon

An animal resembling a weasel, and well worthy of being defended by priest and prince in Egypt, as it feeds on serpents, mice, and other vermin, and is especially fond of crocodiles' eggs, which it

scratches out of the sand. According to legend, it steals into the mouths of crocodiles when they gape, and eats out their bowels. The ichneumon is called “Pharaoh's rat.”

Ichor

(I'—kor). The colourless blood of the heathen deities. (Greek, ichor, juice.)

Ichthus

for l e'sous, CH ristos, TH eou U ios, S oter. This notarica is found on many seals, rings, urns, and tombstones, belonging to the early times of Christianity, and was supposed to be a “charm” of mystical efficacy.

Icon Basilike

(4 syl.). Portraiture of King Charles I.

“The, or Portraiture of hys Majesty in hys solitudes and sufferings ... was wholly and only my invention.” — Gauden: Letter to Clarendon.

Iconoclasts

(Greek, “image breakers"). Reformers who rose in the eighth century, especially averse to the employment of pictures, statues, emblems, and all visible representations of sacred objects. The crusade against these things began in 726 with the Emperor Leo III., and continued for one hundred and twenty years. (Greek, ikon, an image; klao, I break.)

“The eighth century, the age of the Iconoclasts, had not been favourable to literature.” — Isaac Taylor: The Alphabet, vol, ii. chap. viii. p. 159.

Idæ'an Mother

Cybele, who had a temple on Mount Ida, in Asia Minor.

Idealism

The doctrines taught by Idealists.

Subjective idealism, taught by Fechte (2 syl.), supposes the object (say a tree) and the image of it on the mind is all ore. Or rather, that there is no object outside the mental idea.

Objective idealism, taught by Schelling, supposes thatthe tree and the image thereof on the mind are distinct from each other.

Absolute idealism, taught by Hegel, supposes there is no such thing as phonomers, that mind, through the senses, creates its own world. In fact, that there is no real, but all is mere ideal.

These are three German philosophers:

Hegel (1770—1831).

Schelling (1770—1854).

Fechte (1762—1814).

Idealists

Those who believe in idealism. They may be divided into two distinct sections — (1) Those who follow Plato, who taught that before creation there existed certain types or ideal models, of which ideas created objects are the visible images. Malebranche, Kant, Schelling, Hegel, etc., were of this school.

(2) Those who maintain that all phenomena are only subjective — that is, mental cognisances only within ourselves, and what we see and what we hear are only brain impressions. Of this school were Berkeley, Hume, Fichte, and many others.

Ides

(1 syl.). In the Roman calendar the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of all the other months. (Latin and Etruscan, iduare, to divide. The middle of the month. Always eight days after the Nones.)

“Remember March; the ides of March remember.” Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, iv. 3.

Idiom

A mode of expression peculiar to a language, as a Latin idiom, a French idiom. (Greek, idios, peculiar to oneself.)

Idiosyncrasy A crotchet or peculiar one—sided view of a subject, a monomania. Properly a peculiar effect produced by medicines or foods; as when coffee acts as an aperient; the electrical current as an emetic, as it does upon me. (Greek, idios sun krasis, something peculiar to a person's temperament.)

Idiot

meant originally a private person, one not engaged in any public office. Hence Jeremy Taylor says, “Humility is a duty in great ones, as well as in idiots” (private persons). The Greeks have the expressions, “a priest or an idiot” (layman), “a poet or an idiot" (prose—writer). As idiots were not employed in public offices, the term became synonymous with incompetency to fulfil the duties thereof. (Greek, idiotes.) (See Baron.)

Idle Lake

The lake on which Phædria or Wantonness cruised in her gondola. It led to Wandering Island. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)

Idle Wheel

The middle of three wheels, which simply conveys the motion of one outside wheel to the other outside wheel.

Suppose A, B, C to be three wheels, B being the idle or gear wheel. B simply conveys the motion of A to C, or of C to A.

Idle Worms

It was once supposed that little worms were bred in the fingers of idle servants. To this Shakespeare alludes —

“A round little worm

Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid.”

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, 1. 4.

Idleness

The Lake of Idleness. Spenser says whoever drank of this lake grew “instantly faint and weary.” The Red Cross Knight drank of it, and was made captive by Orgoglio. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i.)

Idol Shepherd

(The), Zech, ii. 17. “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth his flock.” Idol shepherd means self—seeking, counterfeit, pseudo; the shepherd that sets up himself to be worshipped by his people instead of God.

Idomeneus

(4 syl.). King of Crete, and ally of the Greeks in the siege of Troy After the city was burnt he made a vow to sacrifice whatever he first encountered, if the gods granted him a safe return to his kingdom. It was his own son that he first met, and when he offered him up to fulfil his vow he was banished from Crete as a murderer. (Homer: Iliad.)

Compare the story of Jephthah in Judges xi.

Iduna

or Idun. Daughter of the dwarf Svald, and wife of Bragi. She kept in a box the golden apples which the gods tasted as often as they wished to renew their youth. Loki on one occasion stole the box and hid it in a wood; but the gods compelled him to restore it. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Iduna seems to personify the year between March and September, when the sun is north of the equator. Her apples indicate fruits generally. Loki carries her off to Giant—Land, when the Sun descends below the equator, and he steals her apples. In time, Iduna makes her escape, in the form of a sparrow, when the Sun again, in March, rises above the equator; and both gods and men rejoice in her return.

Ifakins

A corruption of In good faith. I' fa' kin, where kin is equivalent to dear or good.

Ifreet

or Afreet or Afrit. A powerful evil jin or spirit of Arabian mythology. (See Afriet.)

Ifurin

The Hades of the ancient Gauls. A dark region infested by serpents and savage beasts. Here the wicked are chained in loathsome caverns, plunged into the lairs of dragons, or subjected to a ceaseless distillation of poison. (Celtic mythology.)

Igerna,

or Igerne Igrayne. Wife of Gorlois, Duke of Tintagel, in Cornwall, and mother of King Arthur. His father was Uther, pendragon of the Britons, who married Igerna thirteen days after her husband was slain.

Ignaro Foster—father of Orgoglio. Whatever question Arthur asked, the old dotard answered, “He could not tell.” Spenser says this old man walks one way and looks another, because ignorance is always

“wrong—headed.” (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i.)

(See Non Mi Recordo.)

Ignatius

(St.) is represented in Christian art accompanied by lions, or chained and exposed to them, in allusion to his martyrdom. The legend is that he was brought before the Emperor Trajan, who condemned him to be made the food of lions and other wild beasts for the delectation of the people. According to tradition, St. Ignatius was the little child whom our Saviour set in the midst of His disciples for their example. (About 29—115.)

Brother Ignatius. The Rev. James Leycester Lyne, for some time head of the English Benedictines at the Norwich Protestant monastery. Now at Llanthony.

Father Ignatius. The Hon. and Rev. Geo. Spencer, formerly a clergyman of the Church of England, who joined the Roman communion, and became Superior of the order of Passionists (1799—1864.)

Ignatius Loyola

found er of the order of Jesuits, is depicted in art sometimes with the sacred monogram

I.H.S. on his breast, and sometimes contemplating it, surrounded by glory in the skies, in allusion to his boast that his had a miraculous knowledge of the mystery of the Trinity vouchsafed to him. He is so represented in Rubens' famous picture in Warwick Castle.

Igneous Rocks

Those which have been produced by the agency of fire, as the granitic, the trappean, and the volcanic. (Latin, ignis, fire.)

Ignis Fatuus

means strictly a fatuous fire it is also called “Jack o' Lantern,” “Spunkie,” “Walking Fire,” “Will o' the Wisp,” and “Fair Maid of Ireland.” Milton calls it Friar's Lanthern, and Sir Walter Scott Friar Rush with a lantern. Morally speaking, a Utopian scheme, no more reducible to practice than the meteor so called can be turned to any useful end. (Plural, Ignes fatui.) (See Friars Lanthorn.)

“When thou annest up Gadshill in the night to catch my horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuas or a ball of wildfire, there's no purchase in money.” — Shakespeare: ` Henry IV., iii. 3.

According to a Russian superstition, these wandering fires are the spirits of still—born children which flit between heaven and the Inferno.

Ignoramus

One who ignores the knowledge of something; one really unacquainted with it. It is an ancient law term. The grand jury used to write lgnoramus on the back of indictments “not found” or not be sent into court. Hence ignore. The present custom is to write “No true bill.”

Ignoramus Jury

(An). The Grand Jury. (See above.)

Ignorantines

(4 syl.). A religious association founded by the Abbé de la Salle in 1724, for educating gratuitously the children of the poor.

Igrayne

(See Igerna .)

Ihram

The white cotton dress worn by Mohammedan pilgrims to Mecca, For men, two scarfs, without seams or ornament of any kind, of any material except silk; one scarf is folded round the loins, and the other is thrown over the neck and shoulders, leaving the right arm free; the head is uncovered. For women, an ample cloak, enveloping the whole person.

II Pastor Fido [the Faithful Swain ]. This standard of elegant pastoral composition is by Giovanni Battista Guarini, of Ferrara (1537—1612).

Iliad

(3 syl.). The tale of the siege of Troy, an epic poem by Homer, in twenty—four books. Menelaos, King of Sparta, received as his guest Paris, a son of Priam (King of Troy), who ran away with Helen, his hostess. Menelaos induced the Greeks to lay siege to Troy to avenge the perfidy, and the siege lasted ten years. The poem begins in the tenth year with a quarrel between Agamemnon, commander—in—chief of the allied Greeks, and Achilles, the hero who retired from the army in ill—temper. The Trojans now prevail, and Achilles sends his friend Patroclos to oppose them, but Patroclos is slain. Achilles, in a desperate rage, rushes into the battle, and slays Hector, the commander of the Trojan army. The poem ends with the funeral rites of Hector. (Greek, Ilias, genitive, Iliad[os], the land of Ilium. It is an adjective, and the word means, “a poem about the land of Ilium.”)

Probably “Æneid” is the genitive of Æneas, Æneados, and means a poem about Æneas (See Æneid for another derivation.)

Wolf, Herne, and our own Grote, believed the Iliad to be the work of several poets. R. W. Browne says:

No doubt was ever entertained by the ancients respecting the personality of Homer. Pindar, Plato, Aristotle, and others, all assumed this fact; nor did they even doubt that the Iliad and Odyssey were the work of one mind.” — Historical Classical Literature book i. chap. iv. p. 59.

The “Iliad” in a nutshell. Pliny (vii. 21) tells us that the Iliad was copied in so small a hand that the whole work could lie in a walnut—shell. Pliny's authority is Cicero (Apud Gellium, ix. 421). Huet, Bishop of Avranches, demonstrated the possibility of this achievement by writing eighty verses of the Iliad on a single line of a page similar to this “Dictionary.” This would be 19,000 verses to the page, or 2,000 more than the Iliad contains.

In the Harleian MSS. (530) we have an account of Peter Bales, an Englishman, clerk of the Court of Chancery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, under date of 1590, who wrote out the whole Bible so small that he inclosed it in a walnut shell of English growth. (See Nutshell.)

“Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut)

A world of wonders in one closet shut.” On the Monumental stone of the Tradescants in Lambeth Churchyard.

The French Iliad. The Romance of the Rose, begun by Guillaume di Lorris in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and continued by Jean de Meung in the early part of the fourteenth. The poem is supposed to be a dream. The poet in his dream is accosted by Dame Idleness, who conducts him to the Palace of Pleasure, where he meets Love, accompanied by Sweet—looks, Riches, Jollity, Courtesy, Liberality, and Youth, who spend their time in dancing, singing, and other amusements. By this retinue the poet is conducted to a bed of roses, where he singles out one and attempts to pluck it, when an arrow from Cupid's bow stretches him fainting on the ground, and he is carried far away from the flower of his choice. As soon as he recovers,he finds himself alone, and resolves to return to his rose. Welcome goes with him; but Danger, Shame—face, Fear, and Slander obstruct him at every turn. Reason advises him to abandon the pursuit, but this he will not do; whereupon Pity and Liberality aid him in reaching the rose of his choice, and Venus permits him to touch it with his lips. Meanwhile, Slander rouses up Jealousy, who seizes Welcome, whom he casts into a strong castle, and gives the key of the castle door to an old hag. Here the poet is left to mourn over his fate, and the original poem ends. Meung added 18,000 lines as a sequel.

The German Iliad. The Nibelungenlied, put into its present form in 1210 by a wandering minstrel of Austria. It consists of twenty parts. (See Nibelung.)

The Portuguese Iliad. The Lusiad (q.v.), by Camoens. The Scotch Iliad. The Epigoniad, by William Wilkie, called The Scottish Homer (1721—1772). The

Epigoniad is the tale of the Epigoni, or seven Grecian heroes who laid siege to Thebes. When OEdipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but at the expiration of the first year, the elder son, named Eteocle, refused to give up the throne, whereupon Polynikes, the younger brother, induced six chiefs to espouse his cause. The allied army laid siege to Thebes, but without success. Subsequently, seven sons of the chiefs resolved to avenge their fathers' deaths, marched against the city, took it, and placed Terpander, one of their number, on the throne. The Greek tragic poets Æschylus and Euripides have dramatised this subject.

Iliad of Ills

(An). Ilias malorum (Cicero: Ad Atticum, viii. 11). A number of evils falling simultaneously; there is scarce a calamity in the whole catalogue of human ills that finds not mention in the Iliad, hence the Homeric poem was the fountain of classic tragedy.

Ilk

The surname of the person spoken of is the same as the name of his estate. It is quite a mistake to use the phrase “All that ilk” to signify all of that name or sort. Bethune of that ilk means “Bethune of Bethune.”

(Gaelic, ilk, clan; Anglo—Saxon, ilc, the same.)

Ill—got, Ill—spent

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing. (Prov. x. 2.)

Ill May—day

The 1st of May, 1517, when the London apprentices rose up against the resident foreigners, and did great mischief. More commonly known as Evil May—day (q.v.).

Ill Omens

averted.

Leotychides II., of Sparta, was told by his augurs that his projected expedition would fail, because a viper had got entangled in the handle of the city key. “Not so,” he replied. “The key caught the viper.”

When Julius Caesar landed at Adrumetum, in Africa, he happened to trip and fall on his face. This would have been considered a fatal omen by his army; but, with admirable presence of mind, he exclaimed, “Thus I take possession of thee, O Africa!” Told of Scipio also.

When William the Conqueror leaped upon the shore at Bulverhythe he fell on his face, and a great cry went forth that it was an ill—omen; but the duke exclaimed, “I have taken seisin of this land with both my hands.”

When the Duke was arming for the battle, his squire by accident handed him the back piece before the

breast—plate, an evil omen, signifying flight. But the Duke, with ready wit, said, “Yes, the last shall be first” —

i.e. the duke shall be king.

Napoleon III. did a graceful thing to avert an ill omen. Captain Jean Coeurpreux, in a ball given at the Tuileries, tripped and fell; but Napoleon held out his hand to help him up, saying as he did so, “Monsieur le Commandant, this is the second time I have seen you fall. The first time was by my side in the field of Magenta.” Then, turning to the lady, he added, “Henceforth Captain Coeurpreux is commandant of my Guides.”

Ill—starred

Unlucky; fated to be unfortunate. Othello says of Desdemona, “O ill—starred wench!” Of course, the allusion is to the astrological dogma that the stars influence the fortunes of mankind.

“Where'er that ill—starred home may lie.”

Moore: Fire Worshippers.

Ill Wind

'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Someone profits by every loss; someone is benefited by every misfortune.

“Except wind stands as never it stood,

It is au ill—wind turns none to good.”

Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, xiii.

Illinois

U.S. America. The Delaware Indian word illini (real men) with the French termination —ois.

Illuminated Doctor

Raymond Lully (1235—1315).

John Tauler, the German mystic (1294—1361).

Illuminati

The baptised were at one time so called, because a lighted candle was given them to hold as a symbol that they were illuminated by the Holy Ghost.

Four religious societies have been so called, viz.: (1) The Hesychasts in the fourteenth century.

(2) The Alombrados of Spain in the sixteenth century. (3) The Guerinets of France in the seventeenth century. (4) The Mystics of Belgium in the eighteenth century.

Add to these the Rosicrucians (q.v..

The Order of the Illuminati. A republican society, founded at Ingoldstadt in Bavaria, 1776; having for its object the establishment of a religion consistent with “sound reason.”

Illuminations

Characteristics of Anglo—Saxon illuminations from the eighth to the eleventh century. Extreme intricacy of pattern.

Interlacings of knots in a diagonal or square form, sometimes interwoven with animals and terminating with heads of serpents or birds. (Sir F. Madden.

The Durham Book, the work of Eadfrid, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died 721, is a most splendid specimen of illumination.

The Benedictional of St. Ethelwold, an illuminated MS. by Godemann, in the Duke of Devonshire's library, is worthy of Raphael or Michael Angelo. It was executed between 963 and 984, and is full of miniatures and designs in the highest style of art. Beautiful engravings of it may be seen in the Archæologia.

Illuminator

Gregory, the apostle of Christianity among the Armenians (257—331).

Illustrious

(The).

Albert V., Duke and second Emperor of Austria (1398—1439). Nicomedes II. Epiphanes (149—191).

Ptolemy V. Epiphanes (210, 205—181 B.C.).

Jam—sheid (Jam the Illustrious, nephew of Tah Omurs, fifth king of the Paisdadian dynasty of Persia (B.C. 840—800).

Kien—lông, fourth of the Manchoo dynasty of China (1736—1796).

Image of God

Wear not the image of God in a ring. This is the twenty—fourth symbolic saying in the Protreptics of Iamblichus, and is tantamount to the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain.” Pythagoras meant to teach his disciples by this restriction that God was far too holy a being to be used as a mere ornamental device, and engraved on a ring worn on a man's finger, which might be used for any ordinary purpose.

“In annulo Dei figuram ne gestato.”

Images which fell from Heaven

Diana of Ephesus (Acts xix. 35). The same is said of the image of Cybele (3 syl.), set up in the temple of Victory, at Rome.

Imaum (2 syl.) or Imam. One of the Ulema or priestly body of the Mahometans. He recites the prayers and leads the devotions of the congregation. Imaums wear a high turban. The sultan as “head of the Moslems” is an Imaum. The word means teacher or guide.

Imaus

(3 syl.). The Himalay'a, The word means snow hills (hima, snow).

“The huge incumbrance of horriflc woods

From Asian Taurus, from imaus stretched

Athwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds.”

Thomson: Autumn.

Imbecile

(3 syl.). One mentally weak. Literally, one who leans “on a stick.” (Latin, imbecillis, from inbacillum.)

Imbrocado

(Spanish). Cloth of gold or silver.

Imbrocata

in fencing, is a thrust over the arm. (Italian.)

“If your enemie bee cunning and skilfull, never stand about giving any foine or imbrocata, but this thrust or stoccata alone, neither it also [never attempt] unlesse you be sure to hit him.” — Saviolo: Practise of the Duello (1595).

Imbroglio

(Italian). A complicated plot; a misunderstanding between nations and persons of a complicated nature.

Immaculate Conception

The dogma that the Virgin Mary was conceived without Original sin. This dogma was first broached by St. Bernard, and was stoutly maintained by Duns Scotus and his disciples, but was not received by the Roman Catholic Church as an article of faith till 1854.

Immolate

(3 syl.). To sacrifice; literally, “put meal on one.” The reference is to the ancient custom of sprinkling meal and salt on the head of a victim to be offered in sacrifice. (Latin, in—molo.)

“In the picture of the immolation of Isaac, or Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac is described as a little boy.” — Brown.

Immortal

(The). Yông — Tching, third of the Manchoo dynasty of China, assumed the title. (1723—1736.)

Immortal Four of Italy

(The).

Dante (1265—1321).

Petrarch (1301—1374).

Ariosto (1474—1533), and

Tasso (1544—1595).

“The poets read he o'er and o'er,

And most of ail the immortal four

Of Italy.” Longfellow: The Wayside Inn.

Immortal Three

(The). Homer, Dante, and Milton.

“Three poets, in three distant ages born,

Greece, Italy, and England did adorn;

The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,

The next in majesty; in both the last:

The force of nature could no farther go,

To make a third, she joined the other two.”

Dryden: A Tablet to the Memory of John Milton (St. Mary—le—Bow, Cheapside).

It was originally in the church of All Hallows, Bread Street.

Immortal Tinker

(The). John Bunyan, a tinker by trade. (1628—1688.)

Immortals

A regiment of 10,000 choice foot—soldiers, which constituted the body—guard of the Persian kings. There was also an army so named at Constantinople, according to Ducange, first embodied by Major Ducas.

The 76th Foot were called “The Immortals,” because so many were wounded, but not killed, in Hindûstan (1788—1806). This regiment, with the old 33rd, now form the two battalions of the West Riding.

Immortality

Poseidon (Neptune) bestowed immortality on Taphian, and confined the gift in a golden lock of hair. His daughter cut off the lock, and the gift was lost. This seems very like the Bible tale of Samson and Delilah. (See Elecampane.)

Immuring

(Latin). Burying in a wall. The Vestal virgins among the Romans, and the nuns among the Roman Catholics, who broke their vows of chastity, were buried in a niche sufficiently large to contain their body

with a small pittance of bread and water. The sentence of immuring was Vade in pace, or more correctly, Vade in pacem (Go into peace — i.e. eternal rest). Some years ago a skeleton, believed to be the remains of an immured nun, was discovered in the walls of Coldingham Abbey.

The immuring of Constance, a nun who had broken her vows, forms a leading incident in Scott's poem of Marmion.

Imogen

Daughter of Cymbeline, the “most tender and artless of all Shakespeare's characters.” (Cymbeline.)

Imogine

The lady who broke her vow and was carried off by the ghost of her former lover, in the ballad of Alonzo the Brave, by Matthew Gregory Lewis, generally called Monk Lewis.

“Alonzo the brave was the name of the knight,

And the maiden's the fair Imogine.”

Imp

(Anglo—Saxon). A graft; whence also a child; as, “You little imp.” In hawking, “to imp a feather” is to engraft or add a new feather for a broken one. The needles employed for the purpose were called “imping needles.” Lord Cromwell, writing to Henry VIII., speaks of “that noble imp your son.”

“Let us pray for ... the king's most excellent majesty and for ... his beloved son Edward, our prince, that most angelic imp.” — Pathway to Prayer.

Imp of Darkness

(An). Milton calls the serpent “fittest imp of fraud.” (Paradise Lost, ix. 89.)

Impanation

The dogma of Luther that the body and soul of Christ are infused into the eucharistic elements after consecration; and that the bread and wine are united with the body and soul of Christ in much the same way as the body and soul of man are united. The word means putting into the bread.

Impannata

The Madonna del Impannata, by Raphael, takes its distinctive name from the oiled paper window in the background. (Italian, impannata, oiled paper.)

Impar Congressus Achilli

No match for Achilles; the combatants were not equally matched. Said of Troilus. (Virgil: Æneid, i. 475.)

Imperial

(An). A tuft of hair on the chin, all the rest of the beard and all the whiskers being shaved off. So called from the Emperor Napoleon III., who set the fashion.

Imperium in Imperio

A government independent of the general authorised government.

Impertinence

(4 syl.). A legal term meaning matter introduced into an affidavit, etc., not pertinent to the case.

Imponderables

(Latin, things without weight). Heat, light, electricity, and magnetism were, it was at one time supposed, the phenomena of imponderable substances; that of heat was called caloric. This theory is now exploded, but the hypothetical ether is without appreciable weight.

Imposition

A task given as a punishment. Of course the word is taken from the verb impose, as the task is imposed. The term is common in schools, colleges, and universities. In the sense of a deception it means to “put a trick on a person,” hence, the expressions “to put on one.” “to lay it on thick,” etc.

Imposition of Hands

The bishop, laying his hand on persons confirmed or ordained. (Acts vi., viii., xix.)

Impossibilities Latin phrases: Æthiopem de—albare. Arenas arare. Laterem lavare. Pumice aridius. In asino lanam. English phrases:

Gathering grapes from thistles. Fetching water in a sieve. Washing a blackamoor white. Catching wind in cabbage nets. Flaying eels by the tail Making cheese of chalk. Squaring the circle. Turning base metal into gold. The elixir of life. Making a silk purse of a sow's ear. (And hundreds more.)

Impropriation

Profits of ecclesiastical property in the hands of a layman. Appropriation is when the profits of a benefice are in the hands of a college.

Impropriator

A layman who has church lands or ecclesiastical preferment. (Latin, in—proprius, belonging to.)

Improve the Occasion

(To). To draw a moral lesson from some event which has occurred. In French, “Profitons de l'occasion. “

Improvisators

Persons who utter verses impromptu. The art was introduced by Petrarch, and is still a favourite amusement of the Italians. The most celebrated are:

ACCOLTI (Bernardo, of Arezzo, called the “Unico Aretino" (1465—1535).

ANTONIANO (Silvio. Eighteenth century.

AQUILANO (Serafino, of Aquila (1466—1500). BANDETTINI. (See Improvisatrix.)

BERONICIUS (P.J., who could covert extempore, into Greek or Latin verse, a Dutch newspaper or anything else (died 1676).

CHRISTOFORO, surnamed Altissimo, an Italian (1514).

CORILLA. (See Improvisatrix.)

GLANNI (Francis. An Italian, made imperial poet by Napoleon, whose victories he celebrated in verse (1759—1824).

JEHAN (Núr: (See Improvisatrix.)

KARSCHIN (Anna Louisa. (See Improvisatrix.) MARONE (Andreas. An Italian (1474—1527). METASTASIO (P. A. D. B., of Assisi, who developed, at the age of ten, a great talent for extemporising in verse (1698—1782).

PERFETTI (Bernardino, of Sienna, who received a laurel crown in the capital, an honour conferred only on Petrarch and Tasso (1681—1747).

QUERNO (Camillo. An Italian (1470—1528).

ROSSI. Beheaded at Naples in 1799.

SERAFINO. (See above, Aquilano.)

SESTINI (Bartolomeo. An Italian (died 1822). SGRICCI (Tommaso, of Tuscany (1788—1832). His Death of Charles I., Death of Mary Queen of Scots, and Fall of Missolonghi, are very celebrated.

TADDEI (Rosa.(See Improvisatrix.)

ZUCCO (Marco Antonio, of Verona (died 1764).

To these add Ciccioni, Bindocci, the brothers Clerc of Holland, Wolf of Altona, Langen—schwarz of Germany, Eugène de Pradel of France, and our own Thomas Hood (1798—1845).

Improvisatrix

or Improvisatrice. The most famous improvisatrices or female improvisators are: MARIA MAGDALE'NA MORELLI FERNANDEZ, surnamed the Olympic Corilla, crowned at Rome for improvisations (1740—1800).

TERE'SA BANDETTI'NI (1763—*).

ROSA TADDEI (1801—*).

SIGNORA MAZZEI, the most talented of all.

NUR JEHAN, of Bengal (d. 1645). She was the inventor of the Otto of Roses. ANNA LOUISA KARCHIN, a German (1722—1791.)

In Cæna Domini

A papal bull, containing a collection of extracts from different constitutions of the popes, with anathemas against those who violate them; so called from the words with which it commences.

In Commendam

(Latin). The holding of church preferment for a time, on the recommendation of the Crown, till a suitable person can be provided. Thus a clergyman who has been elevated to the bench retains for a time his “living” in commendam.

In Esse

(Latin). In actual existence. Thus a child living is “in esse,” but before birth is only “in posse.”

In Extenso

(Latin). At full length, word for word, without abridgment.

In Extremis

At the very point of death. “In articulo mortis. “

In Fieri

In the course of accomplishment; on the way.

In Flagrante Delicto

Red—handed; in the very fact. “Il a été pris en flagrant délit, “ i.e. “Sur le fait.”

In for a Penny in for a Pound

I may as well “be hung for a sheep as a lamb.” If the punishment is the same, then it is worth the risk to commit the offence which brings the greatest profit.

In for It

About “to catch it;” on the point of being in trouble.

“You are in for it, I can tell you. I would not stand in your shoes for something.”

In Forma Pauperis

A person who will swear he is not worth 5 has writs, etc., gratis, and is supplied gratuitously with attorney and counsel (Henry VII., c. 12).

In Gremio Legis

Under the protection of the law.

In Limine

(Latin) At the outset, at the threshold.

In Loco Parentis

One who stands in a parent's place.

In Medias Res

In the middle of the subject. In novels and epic poetry, the author generally begins with some catastrophe, which is explained as the tale unfolds. In history, on the other hand, the author begins ab ovo.

In Memoriam

In memory of.

In Nubibus

In the clouds; not in actual existence; in contemplation.

In Partibus

[Infidelium ]. In a non—Christian country. A “bishop in partibus ” means a bishop in any country, Christian or otherwise, whose title is from some old see which has fallen away from the Catholic faith. Thus, in England, the Bishop of Cisamus, the Bishop of Emmaus, the Bishop of Amyela, are bishops in partibus. Dr. Wiseman was Bishop of Melipotamus before he was Archbishop of Westminister. A bishop in partibus does not mean a bishop in a land of infidels; he may be so, but this would not make him a bishop in partibus.

In Perpetuam

(Latin). In perpetuity, for ever.

In Petto

(Italian). Held in reserve, kept back, something done privately, and not announced to the general public. (In pectore [Latin], in the breast.)

Cardinals in petto. Cardinals about to be elected, but not yet publicly announced. Their names are in pectore (of the Pope).

In Posse

(Latin). What may be considered probable, but has not yet any real existence.

In Propria Persona

(Latin). Personally, and not by deputy or agents.

In Prospect'u

(Latin). What is intended or in contemplation to be done at some future time.

In Re

(Latin). In the matter of; on the subject of; as In re Jones v. Robinson. But in rem, against the property or thing referred to.

In Situ

(Latin). In its original place.

In Stat'u Quo or In stat'u quo ante (Latin). In the condition things were before the change took place. Thus, two nations arming for war may agree to lay down arms on condition that all things be restored to the same state as they were before they took up arms.

In Terrorem

(Latin). As a warning, to deter others by terrifying them.

In Toto

(Latin). Entirely, altogether.

In Vacuo

(Latin). In a vacuum — i.e. in a space from which, nominally altogether, and really almost, all the air has been taken away.

In—and—In

A game with four dice, once extremely common, and frequently alluded to. “In” is a throw of doubles, “in—and—in” a throw of double doubles, which sweeps the board.

“I have seen three persons sit down at twelve penny in—and—in, and each draw 40s a—piece.” — Nicker Nicked.

Ins and Outs of the Matter

(The). All the details, both direct and indirect.

“If you want to know the ins and outs of the Yankees ... I know all their points, shape, make, and breed.” — Haliburton.

Sometimes the “Ins” means those in office, and the “Outs” those out of office, or in Opposition.

Inaugurate

(4 syl.) means to be led in by augurs. The Roman augurs met at their college doors the high officials about to be invested, and led them up to the altar; hence to install.

Inca

A king or royal prince of the ancient Peruvians. The empire of the Incas was founded by Manco Capac.

“The Inca was a war—chief, elected by the Council to carry out its decision.” — Brinton: The American Race (South American Tribes), part i. chap. ii. p. 211.

Incantation

A singing against, that is, singing a set form of words in order to bring Divine wrath upon persons or nations.

Incarnadine

(To). To make red. (Latin, incarnatus color, carnation).

“No, this my hand will rather

The multitudinous sea incarnadine,

Making the green — one red.”

Shakespeare: Macbeth, ii. 2.

Inch of Candle

(Sold by). A sale by auction. Instead of the hammer of the auctioneer concluding the bids, the purchaser was the last bidder before the candle went out. Another plan is to stick a pin in a candle, and when the pin drops down, the sale of the article is concluded.

“Down were tumbled miracle and martyr,

Put up in lots, and sold by inch of candle.”

Peter Pindar: Lyric Odes, xiii.

Inchcape Rock Twelve miles from land, in the German Sea. It is dangerous for navigators, and therefore the abbot of Aberbrothok fixed a bell on a float, which gave notice to sailors of its whereabouts. Ralph the Rover, a sea pirate, cut the bell from the float, and was wrecked on his return home on the very rock. Southey has a ballad on the subject.

Precisely the same tale is told of St. Goven's bell, in Pembrokeshire. In the chapel was a silver bell, which was stolen one summer evening by pirates, but no sooner had the boat put to sea than all the crew was wrecked. The silver bell was carried by sea—nymphs to the brink of a well, and whenever the stone of that well is struck the bell is heard to moan.

N.B. Inch or Innis means island.

Incog

— i.e. Incognito (Italian). Under an assumed name or title. When a royal person travels, and does not wish to be treated with royal ceremony, he assumes some inferior title for the nonce, and travels incog.

Incorruptiple

(The). Robespierre (1754—1794). Robert Walpole says that William Shippen was the only man he knew who was proof against a bribe.

“Even the `Incorruptible' himself fell from his original ideal.” —Nineteenth Century. August, 1893, p. 272.

Incubus

A nightmare, anything that weighs heavily on the mind. At one time supposed to consort with women an their sleep. (Latin, in cubo, to lie on.)

“Merlin was the son of no mortal father, but of an Incubus; one of a class of beings not absolutely wicked, but far from good, who inhabit the regions of the air,” — Bulfinch: Age of Chivalry, Part chap. iii. p. 50.

Indenture

A written contract; so called because the skin on which it was written in duplicate was divided with an indented edge, to fit into each other.

Independence

The Declaration of Independence. A declaration made July 4th 1776, by the American States, declaring the colonies free and independent, absolved from all allegiance to Great Britain.

Independence Day

(July 4th). So called in the United States of America. (See above.)

Independents

Certain Dissenters are so called, whose fundamental principle is that every congregation is an independent church, and has a right to choose its own minister and make its own laws.

Index

(The). The “Roman Index” contains both the Index Librorum Prohibitorum and the Index Expurgatorius. The former contains a list of such books as are absolutely forbidden to be read by faithful Catholics. The latter contains such books as are forbidden till certain parts are omitted or amended. The lists are made out by a board of cardinals called the “Congregation of the Index.” Of course, it is wholly impossible to keep pace with the present issue of books; but, besides the Protestant Bibles, and the works of such heretics as Arius and Calvin, we find in the lists the following well—known names: —

Of English authors: Addison, Bacon, Gibbon, Goldsmith, Hallam, Locke, J. S. Mill, Milton, Robertson, Archbishop Whately, etc., and even some children's tales.

Of French authors: Arnauld, Calvin, Descartes, Fénelon, l'Abbé Fleury, Malebranche, Voltaire, etc. Of Italian authors: Dante, Guicciardini, Sismondi, etc.

Of German authors: Kant, Luther, etc.

“Under the auspices of Cardinal Caraffa (part iv.). the Inquisition was introduced into Italy (1542), and exerted the utmost vigilance and severity in crushing out the new faith, and the

index of prohibited books was established.” — Fisher: Universal History, part iii. period ii. chap. iv. p. 414.

India Ink

or Chinese ink. So called because it was first brought from China. It is now made at home of lampblack and glue.

India Paper

A printing—paper made in China and Japan from vegetable fibre, and used for taking off the finest proofs of engraved plates. Pronounce Indi' paper.

India Proof

The proof of an en graving on India paper, before lettering.

Indian Arrowroot

The root which the Indians apply to arrow—wounds to neutralise the venom of the arrow. They mash the meal, and apply it as a poultice. (Miller.)

Indian Drug

(The). Tobacco.

“His breath compounded of strong English beere,

And th' Indian drug, would suffer none come neere.” Taylor, the Water Poet (1630).

Indian File

(In). One by one. The American Indians, when they go on an expedition, march one by one. The one behind carefully steps in the footprints of the one before, and the last man of the file obliterates the footprints. Thus, neither the track nor the number of invaders can be traced.

“Each man followed his leader in Indian file.” — Captain Burnaby: On Horseback through Asia Minor.

Indian Red

Red haematite (peroxide of iron), found abundantly in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It is of a deep, lakey hue, used for flesh tints.

The Persian Red, which is of a darker hue with a sparkling lustre, is imported from the island of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf.

The Romans obtained this pigment from the island of Elba. “Insulain exhaustis chalybum generosa metallis.” (Ovid.)

Indian Summer

(The). The autumnal summer; generally the finest and mildest part of the whole year, especially in North America.

“The gilding of the Indian summer mellowed the pastures far and wide. The russet woods stood ripe to be stript, but were yet full of leaf. The purple of heath—bloom, faded but not withered, tinged the bills ... Fieldhead gardens bore the seal of gentle decay; ... its time of flowers and even of fruit was over.” — C. Bronte: Shirley, chap. xxvii.

Indians

American Indians. When Columbus landed at Cat Island, he thought that he had landed on one of the Indian islands, and in this belief gave the natives the name of Indians.

India proper is so named from Indus (the river), in Sanskrit Sindhu, in Persic Hind, whence the Greek Hindus. Hindustan is the tan or “country” of the river Hindus.

Indiarubber

A substance made from the sap of various tropical plants, and used for erasing pencil marks, and many other purposes. Pronounce Indirubber.

“He was a man with an indiarubber coat on. Indiarubber shoes, an indiarubber cap, and in his pocket an indiarubber purse, and not a cent in it.” — Cyclopædia of American Biography

(Charles Goodyear), vol. ii. p. 684.

Individualists

Individualists hold that as little as possible should be done for its subjects by the State, as much as possible being left to free individual initiative.

Socialism tends to treat the individual as merely a part of the State, holding his possessions (if any) simply by its permission, while Individualism regards the state as a collection of separate units, with rights of life and

property independently, which the State does not confer but merely guarantees. Extreme individualists hold that all government is an evil, though it may be a necessary evil, and the “anarchists” profess the extremest form of the creed.

“Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall be his own master.” — Draper: Conflict between Religion and Science, chap. xi. p. 295.

Indoors

In the house. Virgil makes Dido sit “in forbus divæ. ” (Æneid, i. 505.)

Induction

(Latin, the act of leading in). When a clergyman is inducted to a living he is led to the church door, and the ring which forms the handle is placed in his hand. The door being opened, he is next led into the church, and the fact is announced to the parish by tolling the bell.

Indulgence

(3 syl.), in the Roman Catholic Church, is the entire or partial remission of punishment due to sin either in this world or in purgatory. It is supposed that the Church is the bank of the infinite merits of Christ, and can give such indulgences like cheques on a bank. (Latin, indulgentia.)

Inertia

That want of power in matter to change its state either from rest to motion, or from motion to rest. Kepler calls it Vis inertiæ. (Ars in Latin is the Greek arete, power or inherent force; In—ars is the absence of this power.)

Inexorable Logic of Facts

(The). This was Mazzini's happy expression: “Nella genesi dei fatti la logica è inesarabile.”

Infallibility

(of the Church of Rome) is the doctrine that the Church of Rome cannot at any time cease to be orthodox in her doctrine, and that what she declares ex cathedrâ is substantially true. The doctrine is based on the Divine promise to the disciples, “Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John xvi. 13).

The dogma of the “Infallibility of the Pope” was decreed by the Vatican Council in 1870.

Infamous

means not allowed to speak or give witness in a court of justice. (Latin, in, negative fari, to speak; Greek, phemi or phami.)

Infant

Used as a synonym of “childe,” meaning a knight or squire.as, “Childe Harold.” King Arthur is so called. (See also Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii. canto viii. 56.)

Infant of Lubeck

Christian Henry Heinecken (1721—1725). At one year old he knew the chief events of the Pentateuch; at thirteen months he knew the history of the Old Testament; at fourteen months he knew the history of the New Testament; at two and a half years he could answer any ordinary question of history or geography; at three years he knew well both French and Latin. At least, so says Schöneich, his preceptor.

“Another of these pitiable prodigies was John Philipp Baratier, of Schwaback, near Nürnberg, born the same year as the Lubeck prodigy (1721—1740). At the age of five be knew Greek. Latin, and French, besides his native German. At nine he knew Hebrew and Chaldee, and could convert German into Latin. At thirteen he could translate Hebrew into French or French into Hebrew. His life was written by Formey, and his name appears in most biographical dictionaries.”

Infanta

Any princess of the blood royal, except an heiress of the crown, is so called in Spain and Portugal.

Infante (3 syl.). All the sons of the sovereigns of Spain and Portugal bear this title, except the crown prince, who is called in Spain the Prince of Asturias. In the Middle Ages the word “childe” was used as a title of honour in England, France, and Germany; hence Childe Harold, Childe—ric, Childe—bert, etc.

Infantry

Foot soldiers. Said to be first applied to a body of men collected by the Infante or heir—apparent of Spain for the purpose of rescuing his father from the Moors. The success of the attempt rendered the corps popular. (Spanish, infanteria; Italian, fanteria; fante means a servant.)

Infernal Column

So the corps of Latour d'Auvergne was called, from its terrible charges with the bayonet. (1743—1800.)

Inferno

We have Dante's notion of the infernal regions in his Inferno; Homer's in the Odyssey, book xi.; Virgil's in the Æneid, book vi.; Spenser's in the Faërie Queene, book ii. canto 7; Ariosto's in the Orlando Furioso, book xvii.; Tasso's in Jerusalem Delivered, book iv.; Milton's in Paradise Lost; Fénelon's in Télémaque, book xviii.; and Beckford's in his romance of Vathek.

Infra Dig.

i.e. Dignitatem. Not in accordance with one's position and character. (Latin.)

Infralapsarians

Those who believe that election and predestination are subsequent to the Fall. The “Supralapsarian” believes that election and predestination were in the eternal counsels of God even before the creation of Adam. (Infra, after; lapsus, the fall; supra, before; lapsus, the fall.)

Ingle

(The). The recess with benches in old—fashioned fireplaces, the fire.

“Sit thee by the ingle when

The sear faggot blazes bright.”

Keats: Eancy, stanza 1.

Ingoldsby

The Rev. Richard Harris Barham, author of Ingoldsby Legends. (1788—1845.)

Ingrain Colours

Colours dyed in the wool or raw material before manufacture. In French, tendre en laine. Such colours are the most durable. We speak of “a rogue ingrain,” meaning one hopelessly bad. (In the grain, that is, in the texture.)

“ `Tis ingrain, sir; `twill endure wind and weather.” — Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, i. 5.

Ingulph's “Croyland Chronicle.”

Proved to be a forgery by H. J. Riley in the Archaeological Journal, 1862. He dates the forgery between 1393 and 1415, and attributes it to Prior Richard of Croyland and Sergeant William Ludyngton.

Injunction

A writ forbidding a person to encroach on another's privileges; as, to sell a book which is only a colourable copy of another author's book; or to violate a patent; or to perform a play based on a novel without permission of the novelist; or to publish a book the rights of which are reserved. Injunctions are of two sorts — temporary and perpetual. The first is limited “till the coming on of the defendant's answer”; the latter is based on the merits of the case, and is of perpetual force.

Ink

Pancirollus says the emperors used a fluid for writing called encaustum. (Italian, inchiostro; French, encre; Dutch, inkt.)

Inkhorn Terms

This phrase, once common, might be revived to signifiy pedantic expressions which smell of the lamp.

Shakespeare uses the phrase, an “Inkhorn mate” (1 Henry VI., iii. 1).

Ink—pot

Sons and daughters of the ink—pot. Those who maintain themselves by writing for the press. (The Silver Domino.)

Inkle and Yarico

The hero and heroine of a drama so called by George Colman. The story is from the Spectator, No. 11. Inkle is a young Englishman who is lost in the Spanish main; he falls in love with Yarico, and Indian maiden, whom he lives with as his wife; but no sooner does he find a vessel to take him to Barbadoes than he sells her for a slave.

Inland Navigation

Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater, is called the Father of British Inlana Navigation. (1729—1803.) A title certainly due to James Brindley (1716—1772).

Inn

(Anglo—Saxon). Chamber; originally applied to a mansion, like the French hotel. Hence Clifford's Inn, once the mansion of De Clifford; Lincoln's Inn, the mansion of the Earls of Lincoln; Gray's Inn, that of the Lords Gray, etc.

“Now, whenas Phoebus, with his fiery waine.

Unto his inne began to draw a pace.”

Spenser: Faërie Queene, vi. 3.

Inns of Court

The four voluntary societies which have the exclusive right of calling to the bar. They are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. Each is governed by a board of benchers.

Innings

in cricket, is the turn of the team to be bowled to by their opponents. The persons who “bat” are having their “innings given them”; and the innings of an individual is the time he holds the bat. A good innings. One in which the batsman has made several runs. Figuratively, a run of luck or business.

He has had a long innings. A good long run of luck. A term in cricket for the time that the eleven are in, or not out as scouts.

Innis Fodhla

[Island of Destiny ], an old name of Ireland.

“Long before the westerr districts of Innis Fodhla had any settled name ... a powerful king reigned over this part of the sacred island. [The king referred to was Connedda, who gave his name to the province of Connacht].” — W. B. Yeats: Fairy Tales and Folk—Lore, pp. 306, 318.

Innocent

(An). An idiot or born fool. (See Benet.)

“An idiot, or one otherwise deficient in intellect, is called an innocent.” — Trench: On the Study of Words, lecture iii, p. 97.

Innocents

Feast of the Holy Innocents. The 28th December, to commemorate Herod's butchery of the children of Bethlehem under two years old, with the design of cutting off the infant Jesus (Matt. ii. 16.)

Innuendo An implied or covert hint of blame. It is a law term, meaning the person nodded to or indirectly referred to (Latin, in—nuo).

“Implying or suggesting, instead of stating plainly, often increases the effect of what is intended to give pain or pleasure. This is `innuendo.' ” — Bain: Composition, etc. (Innuendo), part i. p. 212.

Inoculate

(4 syl.) is to put in an eye (Latin, in oculus). The allusion is to a plan adopted by gardeners who insert the “eye” or small bud of a superior plant into the stock of an inferior one, in order to produce flowers or fruits of better quality.

Inogene

or Ignoge (3 syl.). Wife of Brute, the mythological king of Britain.

“Thus Brute this realme unto his rule subdewd,

And raignëd long in great felicity.

Loved of his friends, and of his foes eschewd,

He left three sons, his famous progeny,

Born of fayre Inogene of Italy.”

Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.

Inquisition

A court instituted to inquire into offences against the Roman Catholic religion. Fully established by Pope Gregory IX. in 1235. It was most active in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Those found guilty were handed over to the secular arm to be dealt with according to the secular laws of the land. Suppressed in France in 1772, and not finally in Spain till 1834. (Latin, inquisitio, a searching into.)

Insane Root

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

Other plants “take the reason prisoner,” as the Pruna insana, the “Indian nut,” “Hoary nightshade.”

Inscription of a Coin

(See Legend .)

Insolence

(Latin, in—soleo.) Unusual conduct, that is, not according to the common courtesies of social life.

Inspired Idiot

(The). Oliver Goldsmith was so called by Walpole.

Instinct

Something pricked or punctured into one. Distinguish is of the same root, and means to prick or puncture separately. Extinguish means to prick or puncture out. IL all cases the allusion is to marking by a puncture. At college the “markers” at the chapel doors still hold a pin in one hand, and prick with it the name of each “man” who enters. The word is used to express a natural impulse to do something; an inherent habit.

“Although reason may ... be blended with instinct the distinction between the two is sufficiently precise. Reason only acts upon a defluite and often laboriously acquired knowledge of the relation between means and ends.” — Romanes: Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. xiii. p. 157 (ninth edition).

Institutes

(3 syl.). Elementary law treatises, as the Institutes of Gaius and those of Florentius, Callistratus, Paulus, Ulpian, and Marcian. The Institutes of Justinian were compiled by Antoninus Pius, and for the most

part are mere rechauffees of the preceding ones, giving the words and opinions of the respective authors.

Instructions to the Committee

A Parliamentary dodge for empowering a Committee of the House to do what a Committee would not otherwise be empowered to do.

An “Instruction” must be supplementary and auxiliary to the Bill under consideration. It must fall within the general scope and framework of the Bill in question.

It must not form the substance of a distinct measure.

Insubri

The district of Lombardy which contained Milan, Como, Pavia, Lodi, Novara, and Vercelli.

Insult

To leap on the prostrate body of a foe. To treat with contumely.

Insulter

One who leaps upon you or against you. Thus Terence says, “Insultare fores calcibus” (Enuuchus, ii. 2, 54). It will be remembered that the priests of Baal, to show their indignation against their gods, “leaped upon the altar which they had made” (1 Kings xviii. 26). Zephaniah (i. 9) says that God will punish all those that leap on the threshold.” (See Desultory.)

Intaglio

(Italian). A design cut in a gem, like a crest or initials in a stamp. The design does not stand out in relief, as in cameos, but is hollowed in.

Intellect

The power of reading mentally; hence the power of understanding and quickly grasping what requires intelligence and thought. (Latin, intus lego, I read within me.)

Intendance Militaire

Corps charge de tout ce qui concerne l'administration et la compatibilité de la guerre. The Intendants Militaire control the accounts, payments, food, dress, encampments, transport, hospitals, marches, etc., of the army.

Intentions

Hell is paved with good intentions. In Spanish: “El infierno es bleno de buenas intenciones. ” Good intentions without corresponding deeds are self—accusers.

Inter Alia

(Latin). Among other things or matters.

Inter Caesa et Porrecta

Out of hand. Many things may occur between the cup and lip. (See Cicero: Ad Atticum, v. 18.) Literally, between the slaughter (cæsa) of the sacrifical victim and its being laid (porrecta) on the altar. It was not permitted to speak while the priest struck the animal, nor yet while the sacrifice was being consumed by fire; but between these intervals persons were allowed to talk.

Inter Canem et Lupum

Between two difficulties or dangers equally formidable. Between Scylla and Charybdis. Literally, “between dog and wolf.”

Inter Nos

or in French Entre nous. Confidentially, between ourselves.

Inter Pocula

During a drinking bout.

Inter Rex

(Latin). A person appointed to hold the office of king during a temporary vacancy.

Intercalary

(Latin). Inserted between or amongst others. Thus, an intercalary day is a day foisted in between two others, as the 29th February in leap—year. (See Calends.)

“It was the custom with Greeks to add, or, as it was termed, intercalate, a month every other year.” — Priestley: On History, xiv.

Interdict and Excommunicate. The Pope or some ecclesiastic interdicts a kingdom, province, country, or town, but excommunicates an individual. This sentence excludes the place or individual from partaking in certain sacraments, public worship, and the burial service. The most remarkable instances are: —

586. The Bishop of Bayeux laid an interdict on all the churches of Rouen, in consequence of the murder of the Bishop Prétextat.

1081. Poland was laid under an interdict by Pope Gregory VII., because Boleslas II. had murdered Stanislaus at the altar.

1180. Scotland was put under a similar ban by Pope Alexander III. 1200. France was interdicted by Innocent

III., because Philippe Auguste refused to marry Ingelburge, who had been betrothed to him. 1209. England was laid under similar sentence by Innocent III., in the reign of King John, and the interdict lasted for six years.

In France, Robert the Pious, Philippe I., Louis VII., Philippe Auguste, Philippe IV., and Napoleon I., have all been subjected to the Papal thunder. In England, Henry II. and John. Victor Emmanuel of Italy was excommunicated by Pius IX. for despoiling the Papacy of a large portion of its temporal dominions.

Interest

(Latin). Something that is between the parties concerned. The interest of money is the sum which the borrower agrees to pay the lender for its use. To take an interest in anything is to feel there is something between it and you which may affect your pleasure.

Interest for money. In the Tudor dynasty it was 10 per cent. (37 Henry VIII. chap. 9). In the reign of James it was reduced to 8 per cent.; in Queen Anno's reign to 5 per cent.; in the last quarter of the nineteenth century it was reduced to 22 per cent.

Interim of Augsburg

(The). A Concordat drawn up by Charles Quint in 1548 to allay the religious turmoil of Germany. It was a provisional arrangement to be in force till some definite decision could be pronounced by the General Council to be held at Trent. The authors of this instrument were J. Pflug (Bishop of Naumburg), Michael Holding (titular Bishop of Sidon), and John Agricola (a priest of Brandenburg).

Interlard

(French). To put lard or fat between layers of meat. Metaphorically, to mix what is the solid part of a discourse with fulsome and irrelevant matter. Thus we say, “To interland with oaths,” to “interlard with compliments,” etc.

“They interlard their native drinks with choice

Of strongest brandy.” Philips: Cider. ii.

Interloper

One who runs between traders. One who sets up business, and by so doing interferes with the actual or supposed rights of others. (Dutch, loopen, to run, to leap.)

Interpolate

(4 syl.). For two or more persons to polish up something between them. Metaphorically, to insert spurious matter in a book or document; to gag. (Latin, inter polio, to polish.)

Interpreter

(Mr.). The Holy Spirit personified, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He is lord of a house a little way beyond the Wicket Gate. Here Christian was kindly entertained and shown many wonderful sights of an allegorical character. Christiana and her party stopped here, and were similarly entertained.

Intone

(2 syl.). To thunder out, intonation, the thundering of the voice. (Latin, tono, to thunder.) The Romans said that Cicero and Demosthenes “thundered out their orations.” To recite in a musical monotone.

Intoxication

Pliny (xvi. 20) tells us this word is derived from taxa, a species of bay—tree used for poisoning arrows. Hence the Greek toxon (a bow and arrows), and toxicon (rank poison).

Intrigue

(2 syl.), comes from the Greek thrix, hair, whence the Latin tricæ, trifles or hairs, and the verb intrico, to entangle; the Germans have the verb trugen, to deceive.

Inure (2 syl.) to habituate or harden by use. Ure is an archaic word meaning use. (Latin opus, work. French æuvre; old French, eure.)

Invalide

(French). A four—sou piece, so called because it was debased to the value of three sous and a—half.

“Tien, prens cet invalide, a ma sante va boire.”

Deux Arlequins (1691).

Inveigle

(3 syl.). To lead blindfold; to entice by misrepresentation. (Norman French, enveogler; French, aveugler; Italian, invogliare.)

Invention of the Cross

[discovery of the cross ]. A festival held on May 3rd, in commemoration of the “discovery of the cross” by the agents of St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Emperor (316). (Latin, invenio, to discover.)

Inventors Punished

by their own inventions.

BASTILLE. Hugues Aubriot, Provost of Paris, who built the Bastile, was the first person confined therein. The charge against him was heresy.

BRAZEN BULL. Perillos, who invented the Brazen Bull for Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, was the first person baked to death in the horrible monster.

CAPTAIN. Cowper Coles, inventor of the turret—ship, perished in the Captain off Finisterre September 7th, 1870.

CATHERINE WHEEL. The inventor of St. Catherine's Wheel, a diabolical machine consisting of four wheels turning different ways, and each wheel armed with saws, knives, and teeth, was killed by his own machine; for when St. Catherine was bound on the wheel, she fell off, and the machine flew to pieces. One of the pieces struck the inventor, and other pieces struck several of the men employed to work it, all of whom were killed. Metaphrastes.

GUILLOTINE. J. B. V. Guillotin, M.D., of Lyons, was guillotined, but it is an error to credit him with the invention of the instrument. The inventor was Dr. Joseph Agnace Guillotin.

HAMAN, son of Hammedatha, the Amalekite, of the race of Agag, devised a gallows fifty cubits high on which to hang Mordecai, by way of commencing the extripation of the Jews; but the favourite of Ahasuerus was himself hanged on his gigantic gallows. In modern history we have a repetition of this incident in the case of Enguerrand de Marigni, Minister of Finance to Philippe the Fair, who was hung on the gibbet which he had caused to be erected at Montfaucon for the execution of certain felons; and four of his successors in office underwent the same fate.

HOPKINS Matthew, the witch—finder, was himself tried by his own tests, and put to death as a wizard. IRON CAGE. The Bishop of Verdun, who invented the Iron Cages, too small to allow the person confined in them to stand upright or lie at full length, was the first to be shut up in one; and Cardinal La Balue, who recommended them to Louis XI., was himself confined in one for ten years.

IRON SHROUD. Ludovico Sforza, who invented the Iron Shroud, was the first to suffer death by this horrible torture.

MAIDEN. The Regent Mortou of Scotland, who invented the Maiden, a sort of guillotine, was the first to be beheaded thereby. This was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

OSTRACISM. Clisthenes introduced the custom of Ostracism, and was the first to be banished thereby. The PERRIERE was an instrument for throwing stones of 3,000 lbs. in weight; and the inventor fell a victim to his own invention by the accidental discharge of a perrière against a wall.

PORTA A FAENZA. Filippo Strozzi counselled the Duke Alessandro de' Medici to construct the Porta a Faenza to intimidate the Florentines, and here he was himself murdered.

SALISBURY (the Earl of was the first to use cannon, and was the first Englishman killed by a cannon ball. UTROP'IUS induced the Emperor Arcadius to abolish the benefit of sanctuary; but a few days afterwards he committed some offence and fled for safety to the nearest church. St. Chrysostom told him he had fallen into

his own not, and he was put to death. (Life of St. Chrysostom.

WINSTANLEY (Mr. erected the first Eddystone lighthouse. It was a wooden polygon, 100 feet high, on a stone base. but it was washed away by a storm in 1703, and the architect himself perished in his own edifice.

Inventors Punished

A curious instance of the sin of invention is mentioned in the Bridge of Allan Reporter, February, 1803:

“It is told of Mr. Ferguson's grandfather, that he invented a pair of fanners for cleaning grain, and for this proof of superior ingenuity he was summoned before the Kirk Session, and reproved for trying to place the handiwork of man above the time—honoured practice of cleaning the grain on windy days, when the current was blowing briskly through the open doors of the barn.”

Investiture

(Latin, clothing in or putting on canonicals.) The admission to office is generally made by investiture; thus, a pair of gloves is given to a Freemason in France; a cap is given to a graduate; a crown, etc., to a sovereign, etc. A crosier and ring used to be given to a church dignitary; but are now simply placed in his hands on his induction into office. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the kings of Europe and the pope were perpetually at variance about the right of investiture; the question was, should the sovereigns or should the pope invest clergymen or appoint them to their livings and dignities? (Latin, vestis, a garment; investio. (See Induction.)

Invincible Doctor

William of Occam or Ockham (a village in Surrey), also called Doctor Singularis. (1270—1347.)

Invisibility

according to fable, may be obtained in a multitude of ways. For example: —

Albric's cloak, called Tarnkappe (3 syl.), which Siegfried got possession of, rendered him invisible. (Nibelungen Lied.

A chamelon carried in the breast will render a person invisible.

A capon stone, called “Alectoria,” will render any person invisible who carries it about his person. (See Mirror Of Stones.)

A dead hand. It is believed that a candle placed in a dead man's hand gives no light to any but those who use it. (See Hand.)

Fern—seed, mentioned by Shakespeare, and by Beaumont and Fletcher, possesses the same charm. Gyges' ring, taken from the flanks of a brazen horse, made the wearer invisible, provided he turned the ring inwards.

Heliotrope, mentioned by Boccaccio in his Decameron (Day viii. 3), is a green stone, which renders a person invisible. So does the herb called heliotrope, according to Solinus, who says, “Herba etiam ejusdem nominis ... cum, a quocumque gestabitur, subtrahit visibus obviorm. ” (Georgic, xl.)

The helmet of Perseus (2 syl.) and the helmet of Pluto (called Orci Galea) both rendered the wearer invisible. (Classic story.

The helmet which Pluto gave to the Cyclops made them invisible whenever it was worn.

Jack the Giant—killer had a cloak of invisibility as well as a cap of knowledge. Keplein's mantle. The mantle of Hel Keplein, which belonged to the dwarf—king Laurin, rendered the wearer invisible. (The Heldenbuch; thirteenth century.)

The Moros Musphoron was a girdle of invisibility. (Mrs. Centlivre: A Bold Stroke for a Wife.

Otnit's ring. The ring of Otnit, King of Lombardy, according to the Heldenbuch, possessed a similar charm. Reynard's wonderful ring had three colours, one of which (the green) caused the wearer to become invisible. (Reynard the Fox, 1498.)

Invisibles

(1) The Rosicrucians were so called, because they never dared to appear in public. (2) The disciples of Osiander, Flaccius, Illiricus, etc., who denied the perpetual visibility of the Church. (Sixteenth century.)

Invulnerability

Stones taken from the cassan plant, which grows in Panter, renders the possessor invulnerable. (Odoricus in Hakluyt.

A dip in the river Styx rendered Achilles invulnerable. (Greek fable. Medea rendered Jason, with whom she had fallen in love, proof against wounds and fire by anointing him with the Promethean unguent. (Greek fable.

Siegfried (2 syl.) was rendered invulnerable by anointing his body with dragon's blood. (Nibelungen Lied.

Iol

(pron. Yol). The Danish word for Christmas; the same as Yule.

“The savage Dane

At Iol more deep the mead did drain.”

Sir W. Scott: Murmion.

Ionian Mode

A species of church music in the key of C major, in imitation of the ancient Greek mode so called.

Ionic Accomplishments

Gesture and dress.

Ionic Architecture

So called from Ionia, where it took its rise. The capitals are decorated with volutes, and the cornice with dentils. The shaft is fluted; the entablature either plain or embellished.

“The people of Ionia formed their order of architecture on the model of a young woman dressed in her hair, and of an easy, elegant shape; whereas the Doric had been formed on the model of a robust, strong man.” — Vitruvius.

Ionic School

or Ionic Philosophers. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitos, and Anaxagoras were all natives of Ionia, and were the earliest of the Greek philosophers. They tried to prove that all created things spring from one principle; Thales said it was water, Anaximenes thought it was air or gas, Anaxagoras that it was atoms, Heraclitos maintained that it was fire or caloric, while Anaximander insisted that the elements of all things are eternal, for ex nihilo nihil fit.

Iormungandur

The serpent that encompasses the whole earth, according to Scandinavian mythology.

Iota or Jot: A very little, the least quantity possible. The iöta [i] is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, called the Lacedemonian letter. (Hebrew, Yod [`], the smallest Hebrew letter.)

“This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood.”

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice. iv. l.

Iphicles' Oxen

Quid hoc ad Iphicli boves? What has that to do with the subject in hand? So in L'Avocat the judge had to pull up the shepherd every minute with the question, “Mais, mon ami, revenon à nos moutons.” Iphiclos or Iphicles was the possessor of large herds of oxen, and Neleus (2 syl.) promised to give his daughter in marriage to Bias if he would bring him the oxen of Iphicles, which were guarded by a very fierce dog. Melampos contrived to obtain the oxen for his brother, but being caught in the act, he was cast into prison. Melampos afterwards told Astyocha, wife of Iphicles, how to become the mother of children, whereupon Iphicles gave him the coveted herd, and his brother married the daughter of Neleus. The secret told by Melampos to Astyocha was “to steep the rust of iron in wine for ten days, and drink it.” This she did, and became the mother of eight sons.

(Odyssey, xi.; Iliad, xiii. 23; Apollodoros, i. 9; Pausanias, iv. 36.)

When Tressilian wanted Dominie Holiday to tell him of a smith who could shoe his horse, the pedagogue kept starting from the point, and Tressilian says to him: —

“Permit me to ask, in your own learned phrase, Quid hoc ad Iphycli boves, what has that to do with my poor nag?” — Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. ix.

Another similar phrase is “Quid ad Mercurium? '

Another is “Io Hecuba? ' What has that to do with Hecuba?

Iphicratensians

The best trained and bravest of the Greek soldiers were so called from Iphicrates, an Athenian general. (See Fabian Soldiers.)

Iphigeni'a

Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Her father having offended Artemis (Diana) by killing her favourite stag, vowed to sacrifice to the angry goddess the most beautiful thing that came into his possession in the next twelve months; this was an infant daughter. The father deferred the sacrifice till the fleet of the combined Greeks reached Aulis and Iphigenia had grown to womanhood. Then Calchas told him that the fleet would be wind—bound till he had fulfilled his vow; accordingly the king prepared to sacrifice his daughter, but Artemis at the last moment snatched her from the altar and carried her to heaven, substituting a hind in her place.

The similarity of this legend to the Scripture stories of Jephthah's vow, and Abraham's offering of his son Isaac, is noticeable. (See Idomeneus.)

Ipse Dixit

(Latin). A mere assertion, wholly unsupported. We say it is “your ipse dixit, ” “his ipse dixit, ” “their ipse dixit, ” and so on

Ipso Facto

Irrespective of all external considerations of right or wrong; absolutely; by the very deed itself. It sometimes means the act itself carries the consequences (as excommunication without sentence of excommunication being directly pronounced).

“Whatever the captain does is right ipso facto [i.e. because it is done by the captain], and any opposition to it is wrong, on board ship.” — R. H. Dana.

By burning the Pope's bull, Luther ipso facto [by the very deed itself] denied the Pope's supremacy. Heresy carries excommunication ipso facto.

Ipswich A corruption of Gypes—wick, the town on the river “Gyppen,” now called the Orwell.

Iram'

The pilgrim's garb is so called by the Arabs.

I'ran

The empire of Persia.

“Avenge the shame

His race hath brought on Iran's name.”

Thomas Moore: Fire Worshippers.

Ireland

or Erin is Celtic; from Eri or Iar (western). Lloyd (State Worthies, article “Grandison"), with a gravity which cannot but excite laughter, says the island is called the land of Ire because of the broils there, which have extended over four hundred years. Wormius derives the word from the Runic Yr, a bow. (See below.)

Ireland.

Called by the natives “Erin,” i.e. Eri—innis, or Iar—innis (west island). By the Welsh “Yver—den” (west valley).

By Apuleius, “Hibernia,” which is Iernia, a corruption of Iar—inni—a. By Juvenal (ii. 260) “Juverna” or “Juberna,” the same as Ierna or Iernia. By Claudian “Ouernia,” the same.

By moderns “Ireland,” which is Iar—en—land (land of the west).

The three great saints of Ireland are St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget. The fair maid of Ireland. Ignis fatuus (q.v.).

“He had read in former times of a Going Fire, called `Ignis Fatuus,' the fire of destiny; by some, `Will with the Wisp,' or `Jack with the Lantern;' and likewise, by some simple country people. `The Fair Maid of Ireland,' which used to lead wandering traveliers out of their way.”

— The Seven Champions of Christendom, i. 7.

The three tragic stories of the Irish. (1) The death of the children of Touran; (2) the death of the children of Lir; (3) the death of the children of Usnach.

(O'Flanagan: Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin, vol. i.)

Dean Ireland's scholarships. Four scholarships of 30 a year in the University of Oxford, founded by Dr. John Ireland, Dean of Westminster, in 1825, for Latin and Greek. They are tenable for four years.

The same person founded an “Exegetical Professorship” of 800 a year.

Irena

The impersonation of Ireland whose inheritance was withheld by the tyrant Grantorto. Sir Artegal (Justice is sent by the Faërie Queene to succour the distressed lady. Grantorto, or the rebellion of 1580, being slain, she is restored to her throne and reigns in peace. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, v.)

I'ris

Goddess of the rainbow, or the rainbow itself. In classic mythology she is called the messenger of the gods when they intended discord, and the rainbow is the bridge or road let down from heaven for her accommodation. When the gods meant peace they sent Mercury. (Greek and Latin, iris.)

“I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out.”

Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., iii. 2.

Irish Agitator

Daniel O'Connell (1775—1847).

Irish Apricots

Potatoes.

Irish Stew

A dish of food made by stewing together meat, onions, and potatoes. Called “Irish” from the predominance of potatoes.

Irish Wedding

When a person has a black eye we sometimes say to him, “You have been to an Irish wedding, I see,” because the Irish are more famous for giving their guests on these occasions black eyes than white favours.

Iron

The hieroglyphic for iron is which denotes “gold at the bottom" (O), only its upper part is too sharp, volatile, and half corrosive this being taken away, iron would become gold. Iron is called Mars.

Strike while the iron is hot. “Battre le fer pendant qu'il est chaud.” Make hay while the sun shines. To have many irons in the fire. To have many affairs in hand.

If you have too many irons in the fire, some will burn. If you have more affairs in hand than you can properly attend to, some of them will be neglected and turn out badly. Both these locutions refer to the “heaters” or irons employed in laundries. If the “heater" is too hot, it will scorch the linen.

To rule with a rod of iron. To rule tyrannically. “Gouverner avec une verge de fer.”

Iron

(See Pig Iron .)

Iron Age

The era between the death of Charlemagne and the close of the Carlovingian dynasty is so called from its almost ceaseless wars. It is sometimes called the leaden age for its worthlessness, and the dark age for its barrenness of learned men.

Iron Age. The age of cruelty and hard—heartedness. When Hubert tells Prince Arthur he must burn his eyes out, the young prince replies, “Ah, none but in this iron age would do it.” (Shakespeare: King John, iv. 1.)

Iron—arm

Francis de Lanoue, the Huguenot soldier, Bras de Fer (1531—1591. (See Fierabras.)

Iron Duke

(The). The Duke of Wellington was so called from his iron will. (1769—1852.)

Iron—hand or the Iron—hander. Goetz von Berlichingen ( Godfrey of Berlichingen), who lost his right hand at the siege of Landshut, and had one made of iron to supply its place. (1480—1562.) (See Silver—Hand.)

Iron Horse

(The). The railway locomotive.

“We can now drive the iron horse from India down the valley of the Irrawaddy, and (vid Moulmein) to the very gates of China, without any political impediment.” — Mr. Hallet, Dec., 1885.

Iron Mask

The man in the iron mask (called Lestang) was Count Ercolo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of Mantua, and private agent of Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Mantua. He suffered imprisonment of twenty—four years for having deceived Louis XIV. in a secret treaty for the purchase of the fortress of Casale, the key of Italy. The agents of Spain and Austria bribed him by out—bidding the Grande Monarque. The secrecy observed by all parties was inviolate, because the infamy of the transaction would not bear daylight. (H. G. A. Ellis: True History of the Iron Mask.)

M. Loiseleur utterly denies that Matthioli (sometimes called Giacomo) was the real homme du masque de fer (See Temple Bar, May, 1872, pp. 182—184); but Marius Topin, in The Man in the Iron Mask, maintains it as an indubitable fact. There is an English translation of Topin's book by Vizetelli, published by Smith and Elder.

There are several others “identified” as the veritable Iron Mask, e.g. emdash (1) Louis, Due de Vermandois, natural son of Louis XIV. by De la Vallière, who was imprisoned for life because he gave the Dauphin a box on the ears. (Mèmoires Secrets pour servir à l'Histoire de Perse. This cannot be, as the duke died in camp, 1683.

(2) A young foreign nobleman, chamberlain of Queen Anne, and real father of Louis XIV. (A Dutch story. (3) Due de Beaufort, King of the Markets. (Legrange—Chancel: L'Annéc Littéraire, 1759.) This supposition is worthless, as the duke was slain by the Turks at the siege of Candia (1669). (4) An elder brother of Louis

XIV., some say by the Duke of Buckingham, others by Cardinal Mazarin. (See Voltaire: Dictionnaire Philosophique [Anna], and Linguet: Bastile Dévoilec.

(5) Abbé Soulavie asserts it was a twin brother of Louis XIV., Maréchal Richelieu. This tale forms the basis of Zschokke's German tragedy, and Fournier's drama.

(6) Some maintain that it was Fouquet, the disgraced Minister of Finance to Louis XIV.

(7) Some that it was the Arminian Patriarch, Avedik.

(8) Some that it was the Duke of Monmouth; but he was executed on Tower Hill in 1685.

(9) In the Western Morning News (Plymouth, October 21st, 1893) we are told that Le Commandant Bazeries has deciphered a letter in cipher written by Louvois, Minister of War, to Catinat (Lieutenant—General in command of the army at Piedmont), desiring him to arrest M. de Bulonde for raising the siege of Conti; and to send him to the citadel of Pignerol.

“He was to be allowed to walk on the ramparts wearing a mask.”

Whatever the real name of this mysterious prisoner, he was interred in 1703 under the name of Marchiali, aged about forty—five. And the name is so registered in St. Paul's register, Paris; witnessed by M. de Rosarge (mayor of the Bastile) and M. Reilh (surgeon).

“The mask was made of black velvet on steel springs.”

Iron—tooth

[Dent de Fer ]. Frederick II., Elector of Brandenburg. (1657, 1688—1713.)

Iron Crown of Lombardy

is so called from a narrow band of iron within it, said to be beaten out of one of the nails used at the Crucifixion. This band is about three—eighths of an inch broad, and one—tenth of an inch in thickness. According to tradition, the nail was first given to Constantine by his mother, who discovered the

cross. The outer circlet of the crown is of beaten gold, and set with precious stones. The crown is preserved with great care at Monza, near Milan; and Napoleon, like his predecessor Charlemagne, was crowned with it. After the war between Austria and Italy, the Iron Crown was delivered by the former power to Victor Immanuel.

Iron entered into his Soul

(The). The anguish or annoyance is felt most keenly. The allusion is to the ancient custom of torturing the flesh with instruments of iron.

“I saw the iron enter into his soul, and felt what sort of pain it was that ariseth from hope deferred.” — Sterne: Sentimental Journey.

Iron Maiden of Nuremberg

(The). An instrument of torture for “heretics,” traitors, parricides, etc. It was a box big enough to admit a man, with folding—doors, the whole studded with sharp iron spikes. When the doors were pressed to these spikes were forced into the body of the victim, who was left there to die in horrible torture. (German, Eiserne Jungfrau.)

One of these diabolical machines was exhibited in 1892 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and in London.

Irons

(In). In fetters. “Mettre les fers aux pieds à [quelqu'un].”

Ironclad

(An). A ship having the hull sheathed wholly or in part with plates of iron, to resist projectiles.

Ironclad Oath

(The), 1866. An Act passed in North America excluding voters in the States lately in rebellion from the franchise; practically disfranchising all Southerners over twenty—five years of age.

Ironside

Edmund II., King of the Anglo—Saxons, was so called, from his iron armour. (989, 1016—1017.)

Nestor Ironside. Sir Richard Steele, who assumed the name in The Guardian. (1671—1729.)

Ironsides

The soldiers that served under Cromwell were so called, especially after the battle of Marston Moor, where they displayed an iron resolution.

Irony

A dissembling. (Greek, eiron, a dissembler, cironeia. )

“So grave a body upon so solemn an occasion should not deal in irony, or explain their meaning by contraries.” — Swift.

Irony of Fate

(The). A strange fatality which has brought about something quite the reverse of what might have been expected.

“By the irony of fate the Ten Hours' Bill was carried in the very session when Lord Ashley, having changed his views on the Corn Laws, felt it his duty to resign his seat in Parliament.” — The Leisure Hour, 1887.

Iroquois

(An). Anyone of the five (now six) confederate tribes, viz, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and sixth the Tuscaroras, added in 1712, now forming “The Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.”

Irrefragable Doctor

Alexander Hales, an English friar, founder of the scholastic theology (thirteenth century).

Irrelevant

is not to relieve, not to lighten. Irrelevant matter is that which does not help to bear the burden or make it lighter; something not pertinent or not material to the point in question. (Latin levis, light.)

Irresistible

Alexander the Great went to consult the Delphic oracle before he started on his expedition against Persia. He chanced, however, to arrive on a day when no responses were made. Nothing daunted, he went in search of the Pythia, and when she refused to attend, took her to the temple by force. “Son,” said the priestess, “thou art irresistible.” “Enough,” cried Alexander; “I accept your words as my response.”

Irritable Genus

(The) or the “Genus irritabile” (Horace: Epistles, ii. 2, 102). Poets, and authors generally.

“It [publishers'] is a wrathful trade, and the irritable genus comprehends the bookselling as well as the book—writing species.” — Sir W. Scott: The Monastery (Int.).

Irspilles Felles

Skins having bristly hair like that of goats. (Hircipilus — i.e. “goat's hair.” (Festus.) A fell is Anglo—Saxon for “skin,” like the Latin pell—is, English peel. Thus we say still a “wool—fell.” Shakespeare speaks of “a fell of hair” (Macbeth, v. 5). Fellmonger, a dealer in skins.

Irtish Ferry

To cross the Irtish ferry is to be laid on the shelf. The ferry of the Irtish is crossed by those who are exiled to Siberia. It is regarded in Russia as the ferry of political death.

Irus

The beggar of gigantic stature, who kept watch over the suitors of Penelope. His real name was Arneos, but the suitors nicknamed him Iros because he carried their messages for them. Ulysses, on his return, felled him to the ground with a single blow, and flung him out of doors.

Poorer than Irus. A Greek proverb, adopted by the Romans (see Ovid), and existing in the French language (“Plus pauvre qu'Irus”), alluding to the beggar referred to above.

Irvingites

(3 syl.). The self—styled Catholic Apostolic Church, founded by the Rev. Edward Irving in 1829; they believed in the gift of tongues.

Isaac

A hedge—sparrow, a corruption of Chaucer's word, heisuagge. (Anglo—Saxon, heag, hedge; sugga, the sugga bird.)

Isaac of York

The Jew in Ivanhoe, and father of Rebecca. (Sir Walter Scott.)

Isabel

called She—wolf of France. The adulterous queen of Edward II., daughter of Philippe IV. (le Bel) of France. According to tradition, she murdered her royal husband by thrusting a hot iron into his bowels.

“Mark the year and mark the night

When Severn shall re—echo with affright

The shrieks of death through Berkley's roofs that ring.

Shrieks of an agonising king.

She—wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,

That tearst the bowels of thy mangled mate!” Gray: The Bard.

Isabel. The Spanish form of Elizabeth. The French form is Isabelle.

Isabella

Princess of Sicily, in love with Robert le Diable, but promised in marriage to the prince of Granada, who challenged Robert to mortal combat. Robert was allured from the combat by his fiend—father, but when Alice told him that Isabella “the princess is waiting for him at the altar,” a struggle took place between Bertram and Alice, the one trying to drag the duke to the infernal regions, and the other trying to win him to the ways of virtue. Alice prevailed, but the audience is not informed whether Robert married Isabella or not. (Meyerbeer's opera, Robert il Diavolo.)

Isabella, daughter of Hercules, Duke of Ferra'rë sister of Alfonso and Ippolito, and wife of Francisco Gonzago, lord of Mantua.

Isabella

(See Pot Of Basil .)

Isabelle

or Isabella (in Orlando Furioso). Daughter of the king of Galicia, in love with Zerbino; but, being a pagan, Zerbino could not marry her. Zerbino induces her to quit her native land, and gives Odorico charge of her. She is wrecked, and Odorico escapes with her to Rocheile. Here Odorico assails her virtue, but is alarmed by a vessel which he sees approaching, and flees. She is kept captive by the crew for nine months, but Orlando slays or hangs all the crew, and Isabella being free, accompanies her rescuer. Her lament at the death of Zerbino is one of the best parts of the poem (book xii.). She retires to a chapel to bury Zerbino, and is there slain by Rodomont.

Isabelle

The colour so called is the yellow of soiled calico. A yellow—dun horse is called in France un cheval isabelle. The tale is attached to Isabel of Austria and Isabel of Castile. It is said that Isabel of Austria, daughter of Philip II., at the siege of Ostend vowed not to change her linen till the place was taken. As the siege lasted three years, we may well suppose that it was somewhat soiled by three years' wear.

“His colour was isabel, a name given in allusion to the whimsical vow of Isabella Clara Eugenia, Governess of the Netherlands, at the memorable siege of Ostend, which lasted from 1601 till 1604.” — Dillon: Travels in Spain (1781).

Isabel of Castile, we are told, made a vow to the Virgin not to change her linen till Granada fell into her hands; but this siege lasted longer than ladies are wont to wear their body—linen.

“Bright—Sun was mounted on a black horse, that of Felix was a grey, Chery's was white as milk, and the princess's an isabelle.” — Countess d'Alnois: Fair—star and Prince Chery.

Isaf

An Arabian idol in the form of a man, brought from Syria, and placed in Es—Safa, near the temple of Mecca. Some say Isaf was a man converted into stone for impiety, and that Mahomet suffered this one “idol” to remain as a warning to his disciples.

Isenbras

or Sir Isumbras. A hero of mediæval romance, first proud and presumptuous, when he was visited by all sorts of punishments; afterwards penitent and humble, when his afflictions were turned into blessings. It

was in this latter stage that he one day carried on his horse two children of a poor woodman across a ford. (See Ysambras.)

“I warne you first at the begynninge

That I will make no vain carpinge [talk]

Of deeds of armys ne of amours,

As dus mynstrellës and jestours,

That makys carpinge in many a place

Of Octoriane and Isembrase.”

William of Nassington.

Isengrin

or Sir Isgrim, the wolf, afterwards created Earl of Pitwood, in the beast—epic of Reynard the Fox. Isengrin typifies the barons, and Reynard the church; and the gist of the tale is to show how Reynard bamboozles his uncle Wolf. (German, Isegrimm, a wolf, a surly fellow.)

Iseult

(See Ysonde .)

Ishban

in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is Sir Robert Clayton, who'd “e'en turn loyal to be made a peer" (part ii.).

Ishbosheth

in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Richard Cromwell. His father, Oliver, is called Saul. At the death of Saul, Ishbosheth was acknowledged king by a party, and reigned two years, when he was assassinated. (Part i. 57, 58.)

“They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,

Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forego.”

Ishmonie

The petrified city in Upper Egypt, full of men and women turned to stone. (Perry: View of the Levant.)

Marryat has borrowed the idea in his Pacha of Many Tales.

Isiac Tablet

A spurious Egyptian monument sold by a soldier to Cardinal Bembo in 1527, and preserved at Turin. It is of copper, and on it are represented most of the Egyptian deities in the mysteries of Isis. It was said to have been found at the siege of Rome in 1525. The word Isiac is an adjective formed from Isis.

Isidorian Decretals

Also called Pseudo or False Decretals. A spurious compilation of fifty—nine decretals by Mentz, who lived in the ninth century, and fraudulently ascribed them to I'sidore of Seville, who died in the sixth century. Prior to the ninth century the only authentic collection of decretals or letters of the popes in reply to questions proposed to them by bishops, ecclesiastical judges, and others, was that of Dionysius the Little [Exiguus], a Roman monk, who lived in the middle of the sixth century. He commences with Pope Siricius (fourth century). The Isidorian decretals contain fifty—nine letters ascribed to persons living between Clement and Siricius, and forty others not contained in the Dionysian collection. The object of these forged letters is either to exalt the Papacy or enforce some law assuming the existence of such exaltation. Amongst these spurious letters are the decretal of St. Anacletus, the decretal of St. Alexander, the letter of Julius to the Easterns, the synodical letter of St. Athanasius, the decretal of St. Fabian instituting the rite of the chrism, and so on.

“La réforme pseudo—Isidorienne, adoptée par S. Nicholas, en 865, par le huitieme concile oecumenique en 870, confirme par le concile de Trent en 1564, elle est depuis neuf siecles le droit commun dans l'eglise catholique ... ce qu'il est impossible de justifier et inérne

d'excuser, c'est le moyen employe par le pseudo—Isidore pour arriver a ses fins.” — Etudes

Religieuses, No. 47, p. 392.

Isinglass

A corruption of the Dutch huyzenblas (an air—bladder), being prepared from the bladders and sounds of sturgeon. (German, huyen, a sturgeon.)

I'sis

Sister—wife of Osiris. The cow was sacred to her; and she is represented with two long horns from one stem at the top of her head. She is said to have invented spinning and weaving. (Egyptian mythology.)

“Inventress of the woof, fair Lina [flax] flings

The flying shuttle thro' the dancing strings.

Taught by her labours, from the fertile soil

Immortal Isis clothed the banks of Nile.”

Darwin: Loves of the Plants, c. ii.

Milton, in Paradise Lost, names Osiris, Isis, and Orus amongst the fallen angels (book i. 478).

Isis, Herodotos thinks, is Demeter (Cere).

Diodoros confounds her with the Moon, Demeter, and Juno. Plutarch confounds her with Athena (Minerva), Perseph one (Proserpine), the Moon, and Tethys. Apuleius calls her the mother of the gods Minerva, Venus, Diana, Proserpine, Ceres, Juno, Bellona, Hecate, and Rhamnusia [Nemesis].

Lockyer says, “Isis represents the idea of rising or becoming visible. Osiris of disappearing.” Thus the rising moon, a rising planet, the coming dawn, etc., is Isis; but the setting sun, the waning moon, a setting planet, evening, etc., is Osiris.

“Now the bright moonbeams kissed the water, ... and now the mountain and valley, river and plain, were flooded with white light, for mother Isis was arisen.” — Rider Haggard: Cleopatra, chap. iii.

Isis was the mother of Horus (the rising sun), and is represented as nursing him.

Isis. Some maintain that Isis was at one time the protectress of Paris, and that the word Paris is a contraction of the Greek Para Isidos (near the temple of Isis), the temple referred to being the Panthén or church of St. Genevièe. We are told, moreover, that a statue of Isis was for a long time preserved in the church of St. Germain des Pré, but was broken to pieces by Cardinal Briconnet because he saw certain women offering candles to it as to the Virgin.

The Young Isis. Cleopatra (69—30 B.C.).

Islam

or Islamism. The true faith, according to the Mahometan notion. The Moslems say every child is born in Islam, and would continue in the true faith if not led astray into Magism, Judaism, or Christianity. The word means resignation or submission to the will of God.

Islam consists of five duties: — (1) Bearing witness that there is but one God. (2) Reciting daily prayers.

(3) Giving the appointed and legal alms.

(4) Observing the Ramazan (a month's fast).

(5) Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

Moslem and Musulman are from the same root.

Islamite

(3 syl.). A follower of Mahomet or beliver in Islam.

Island of Saints

So Ireland was called in the Middle Ages.

Island of St. Brandan

The flying island, the supposed retreat of King Rodrigo. So called from St. Brandan, who went in search of the Islands of Paradise in the sixth century.

Island of the Seven Cities

A kind of Dixie 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 Blessed

called by the Greeks “Happy Islands,” and by the Romans “Fortunate Islands.” Imaginary islands somewhere in the west, where the favourites of the gods are conveyed at death, and dwell in everlasting joy.

“Their place of birth alone is mute

To sounds that echo farther west

Than your sire's Islands of the Blest.”

Byron.

Isle of Dogs

So called from being the receptacle of the greyhounds of Edward III. Some say it is a corruption of the Isle of Ducks, and that it is so called in ancient records from the number of wild fowl inhabiting the marshes.

Isle of Lanterns

(The), or Lantern—land. An imaginary country inhabited by pretenders to knowledge. In French, Lanternois. (Rabelais Pantagruel, v. 32, 33.)

Lucian has a similar conceit, called the City of Lanterns; and Dean Swift, in his Gulliver's Travels, makes his hero visit Laputa, the empire of quacks, false projectors, and pretenders to science.

Isle of Mist

(The). The Isle of Skye, whose high hills are almost always shrouded in mist.

“Nor sleep thy hand by thy side, chief of the Isle of Mist.” Ossian: Fingal, i.

Islington

(The Marquis of). One of the skilful companions of Barlow, the famous archer, was so christened by Henry VIII. (See Shoreditch, The Duke of.)

Ismaelians

(4 syl.). A Mahometan sect, which maintained that Ismael, and not Moussa, ought to be Imaum'. In the tenth century they formed a secret society, from which sprang the Assassins.

Ismene

(3 syl.) Daughter of OEdipus and Jocasta. Antigone was buried alive by the order of King Creon, for burying her brother Polynices, slain in combat by his brother Eteocles. Ismene declared that she had aided her sister, and requested to be allowed to share the same punishment.

Ismene. The lady—love of Ismenias, in the erotic romance of Eustathius or Eumathius entitled Ismene and Ismenias (twelfth century). Translated by Godfrey of Viterbo. Especially noteworthy from its being reproduced in the Confessio Amantis of Gower, and forming the plot of Shakespeare's Pericles.

Ismenias

A Theban musician of whom Atheas, King of the Scythians, declared, “I liked the music of Ismenias better than the braying of an ass.” (Plutarch.)

Ismeno (in Jerusalem Delivered). A magician who could “call spirits from the vasty deep.” He was once a Christian, but became Mahometan. Ismeno was killed by a stone hurled at him by an engine (book xviii.).

Isobars

Lines on a map connecting places which have the same mean barometric pressure. The closer the isobars are the stronger the wind, the farther the lighter. (Greek, baros, weight.)

Isocrates

The French Isocrates. Fléchier, Bishop of Nismes (1632—1710).

Isolde

(2 syl.). Wife of King Mark, of Cornwall, who had an illicit affection for Sir Tristram, Mark's nephew. Isolde the White, Sir Tristram's wife.

I'sothermal Lines

Lines laid down in maps to show the places which have the same mean temperature. (Greek, isos thermos, equal heat.)

Israel

in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, stands for England.

Israfil'

The angel of music, who possessed the most melodious voice of all God's creatures. This is the angel who is to sound the Resurrection Trump, and will ravish the ears of the saints in paradise. Israfil, Gabriel, and Michael were the three angels that warned Abraham of Sodom's destruction. (Sale: Koran.)

“A winged band, commanded by Israfil, the angel of the resurrection, came to meet Roland.” — Croqurmitaine, ii.

Issa

Jesus.

Issachar

in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means Thomas Thynne, of Longleate Hall, a friend of the Duke of Monmouth. Thynne was assassinated in his carriage, in Pall Mall, by ruffians hired by Count Koningsmark. The cause of the murder was jealousy. Both Mr. Thynne and the count were in love with Lady Elizabeth Percy, the widow of the Earl of Ogle. Her friends contracted her to the rich commoner, but before the match was consummated Mr. Thynne was murdered. Within three months the lady married the Duke of Somerset. (See Mohun.)

Issachar's ears. Ass's ears. The allusion is to Gen. xlix. 14: “Issachar is a strong ass crouching down between two burdens.”

“Is't possible that you, whose ears

Are of the tribe of Issachar's ...

Should yet be deaf against a noise

So roaring as the public voice?”

S. Butler: Hudibras to Sidrophel.

Issland

The kingdom of Brunhild is identified by Von der Hagen with Iceland, but Wackernagel says it means Amazonian land, and derives it from the Old German itis (a woman). (The Nibelungen Lied. )

Issue

The point of law in debate or in question. “At issue,” under dispute.

To join issue. To take opposite views of a question, or opposite sides in a suit. To join issues. To leave a suit to the decision of the court because the parties interested cannot agree.

Isthmian Games

Epsom races were styled “Our Isthmian Games” by Lord Palmerston, in allusion to the famous games consisting of chariot races, running, wrestling, boxing, etc., held by the Greeks in the Isthmus of Corinth every alternate spring, the first and third of each Olympiad.

Isthmus of Suez The covered bridge of St. John's College, Cambridge, is so called, because it connects the college with the grounds on the other side of the river. Suez here is a pun on the word sus (a hog), the Johnians being nicknamed hogs in University slang.

Italian Architecture

The Roman architecture revived in the fifteenth century, and in vogue during that and the two succeeding ones. It is divided into three schools — the Florentine, Roman, and Venetian.

Italian of Asia

(The). Persian is so called. Noted for its harmony, and its adaptation to verse and the lighter class of music.

Italic School of Philosophy

The Pythagorean, so called because Pythagoras taught in Italy.

Italic Version

A version of the Bible from the Septuagint, which preceded the Vulgate, or the version by St. Jerome.

Italics

The type first used by Aldo Manuzio in printing the Aldine classics. It was called by him “Cursive” letters (a running hand; from Latin, curro, to run). Virgil was the first author printed in this type (1501). Francesco of Bologna cast it.

The words italicised in the Bible have no corresponding words in the original. The translators supplied these words to render the sense of the passage more full and clear.

Italy

The champion of Italy was St. Anthony. (Seven Champions of Christendom, part i. 6.)

Itch

My fingers itch to be at him. This is a French locution, “Les poings me démangent de le battre.”

An itch for gold. A longing desire. (Anglo—Saxon, giccan, to itch.)

Itching Ears

(To have). To have a longing desire to hear news, or some novelty.

“The time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts [or longings].” — 2 Timothy iv. 3 (R.V.).

Itching Palm

(An). A love of money. If the palm of your right hand itches, it betokens that you are going to receive money. So Melton tells us in his Astrologaster, p. 23.

“Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself

Are much condemned to have an itching palm.” Shakespeare: Julius Coesar, iv. 4.

Itching of the Eye

If the right eye itches it betokens laughter at hand; if the left eye, it betokens grief; but Shakespeare does not observe this distinction.

“My right eye itches now, so I shall see

My love.” Theocritus, i. 37.

“Mine eyes do itch;

Doth that forebode weeping?”

Shakespeare: Othello, iv. 3.

Itching of the Lips

indicates you are about to receive a kiss, or else kiss somebody.

“If your lips itch, you shall kisse somebody.” —

Melton: Astrologaster, p. 32.

Itching of the Nose

indicates that you are going to see a stranger.

“We shall ha' guests to—day

... My nose itcheth so.”

Dekker: Honest Whore.

Itching of the Thumb

according to Shakespeare, betokens the approach of evil.

“By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something evil this way comes.”

Macheth, iv. 1.

Ithacensian Suitors

(The). The suitors of Penelope (4 syl.), wife of Ulysses, King of Ithaca. While Ulysses was absent, many suitors presented themselves to Penelope, affirming that Ulysses was certainly dead. Penelope put them off, saying she would give a definite answer when she had finished the robe she was weaving for Laertes, but at night she unravelled all she had woven during the day. At last Ulysses returned and slew the suitors.

“All the ladies, each and each,

Like the Ithacensian suitors in old time,

Stared with great eyes, and laughed with alien lips.” Tennyson: The Princess, iv.

Ithuriel

One of the angels commissioned by Gabriel to search for Satan, who had effected his entrance into Paradise. The other angel who accompanied him was Zephon (Ithuriel means “the discovery of God.”)

“Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed

Search through this garden; leave unsearched no nook;

But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,

Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harin.”

Milton: Paradise Lost, book iv. 788—791.

Ithuriel's Spear

The spear of the the angel Ithuriel, the slightest touch of which exposed deceit. Hence, when Satan squatted like a toad “close to the ear of Eve,” Ithuriel only touched the creature with his spear, and it resumed the form of Satan.

“Him [i.e. Satan], thus intent Ithuriel with his spear

Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper, but returns

Of force to its own likeness.”

Milton: Paradise Lost, iv 810—813.

Itinerary

(An). The notification of the route followed by a traveller. The Itinerary of Antoninus marks out all the main roads of the Roman Empire, and the stations of the Roman army. The Itinerary of Peutinger (Tabula Peutingeriana) is also an invaluable document of ancient geography, executed A.D. 393, in the reign of

Theodosius the Great, and hence called sometimes the Theodosian Table.

Its

did not come into use till the seventeenth century. Dean Trench points out that Chatterton betrayed his forgeries by the line “Life and its goods I scorn,” but the word its was not in use till several centuries after the death of the monk to whom the words are ascribed. In 1548 it was used for its.

“The loue and deuotion towardes God also hath it infancie, and hath it commyng forward in growth of age.” (1548.)

I'van

The Russian form of John, called Juan in Spain, Giovanni in Italian.

Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV. of Russia, infamous for his cruelties, but a man of great energy. He first adopted the title of czar. (1529, 1533—1584.)

I'vanhoe

(3 syl.). Sir Wilfred, knight of Ivanhoe, is the disinherited son of Cedric of Rotherwood. He is first introduced as a pilgrim, in which guise he enters his father's hall, where he meets Rowena. He next appears as Desdichado, the “Disinherited Knight,” in the grand tournament where he vanquishes all opponents. At the intercession of King Richard he is reconciled to his father, and ultimately marries Rowena, his father's ward. Rebecca, the Jew's daughter, to whom he had shown many acts of kindness, was in love with him.

Sir Walter Scott took the name from the village of Ivanhoe, or Ivinghoe, in Bucks, a line in a old rhymed proverb — “Tring, King, and Ivanhoe” — having attracted his attention.

Ivanovitch

A lazy, good—natured person, the national impersonation of the Russians as a people, as John Bull is of the English, Brother Jonathan of the Americans, Jean Crapaud of the French, and Cousin Michael of the Germans.

Ivories

Teeth; dice.

To show one's ivories. To display one's teeth. To wash one's ivories. To rinse the mouth; to drink.

Ivory Gate of Dreams

(The). Dreams which delude pass through this gate, those which come true pass through the Gate of Horn. This fancy depends upon two puns: ivory in Greek is elephas, and the verb elephairo means “to cheat with empty hopes;” the Greek for horn is keras, and the verb karanoo means “to accomplish.”

“Sunt geminæ somni portæ: quarum altera fertur

Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris; Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto;

Sed falsa ad coelum mittunt insomnia manes.”

Virgil: Æneid, vl. 894—897.

Ivory Palaces

are not unfrequently mentioned in the Old Testament. Thus (Psalm xlv. 8), “All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces;” in 1 Kings xxii. 39 we read that Ahab built “an ivory house;” and in Amos iii. 15 we read, “I will smite the winter—house with the summer—house, and the houses of ivory.” Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in her Letters, speaks of the ivory fittings of the harem of the Kahya's palace at Adrianople. She says, “Its winter apartments are wainscotted with inlaid work of

mother—of—pearl and ivory of different colours” (vol. ii. p. 161—162).

“The ceilings of the Eastern houses are of mosaic work, and for the most part of ivory, like those superb Talaar of Persia.” — St. John Chardin.

Ivory Shoulder Demeter ate the shoulder of Pelops, served up by Tantalos; so when the gods restored the body to life, Demeter supplied the lacking shoulder with one of ivory.

“Not Pelops' shoulder whiter than her hands.'

W. Browne: Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3.

Ivy

(Old English, ifig). Dedicated to Bacchus from the notion that it is a preventive of drunkenness. But whether the Dionysian ivy is the same plant as that which we call ivy is doubtful, as it was famous for its golden berries, and was termed chryso—carpos.

Ivy

(in Christian art). Symbol of everlasting life, from its remaining continually green. An ivy wreath was the prize of the Isthmian games, till it was superseded by a pine garland. The plant was sacred to Bacchus and Osiris.

Ivy Bush

Like an owl in an ivy—bush. Having a sapient, vacant look, as some persons have when in their cups; having a stupid vacant stare. Owls are proverbial for their judge—like solemnity, and ivy is the favourite plant of Bacchus. Gray, in his Elegy, refers to the Owl and the Ivy.

“From yonder ivy—mantled tower

The moping owl doth to the moon complain

Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign.”

Stanzs 3.

Ivy Lane

(London). So called from the houses of the prebendaries of St. Paul, overgrown with ivy, which once stood there.

Ixion

A king of the Lapithæ, bound to a revolving wheel of fire in the Infernal regions, for his impious presumption in trying to imitate the thunder of heaven. (Greek mythology.)

The treadmill is sometimes called “Ixion's Wheel.”