CAS’CA, a blunt-witted Roman, and one of the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar.  He is called “Honest Casca,” meaning plain-spoken.—­Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (1607).

CASCH’CASCH, a hideous genius, “hunch-backed, lame, and blind of one eye; with six horns on his head, and both his hands and feet hooked.”  The fairy Maimou’ne (3 syl.) summoned him to decide which was the more beautiful, “the prince Camaral’zaman or the princess Badou’ra,” but he was unable to determine the knotty point.—­Arabian Nights ("Camaralzaman and Badoura").

CASEL’LA, a musician and friend of the poet Dante, introduced in his Purgatory, ii.  On arriving at purgatory, the poet sees a vessel freighted with souls come to be purged of their sins and made fit for paradise; among them he recognizes his friend Casella, whom he “woos to sing;” whereupon Casella repeats with enchanting sweetness the words of [Dante’s] second canzone.

  Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
  Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing,
  Met in the milder shades of purgatory.

  Milton, Sonnet, xiii. (To H. Lawes).

CASEY, landlord of the tavern on “Red Hoss Mountain” in Eugene Field’s poem Casey’s Table d’Hote.

He drifted for a fortune to the undeveloped West, And he come to Eed Hoss Mountain when the little camp was new, When the money flowed like likker, an’ the folks wuz brave an’ true, And, havin’ been a stewart on a Mississippi boat, He opened up a caffy, ’nd he run a tabble dote.

  (1889.)

CAS’PAR, master of the horse to the baron of Arnheim.  Mentioned in Donnerhugel’s narrative.—­Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Cas’par, a man who sold himself to Za’miel the Black Huntsman.  The night before the expiration of his life-lease, he bargained for a respite of three years, on condition of bringing Max into the power of the fiend.  On the day appointed for the prize-shooting, Max aimed at a dove but killed Caspar, and Zamiel carried off his victim to “his own place.”—­Weber’s opera, Der Freischuete (1822).

CASS (Godfrey), young farmer in Silas Marner, by George Eliot.  Father of the heroine.

CASSAN’DRA, daughter of Priam, gifted with the power of prophecy; but Apollo, whom she had offended, cursed her with the ban “that no one should ever believe her predictions.”—­Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida (1602).

CASSEL (Count), an empty-headed, heart less, conceited puppy, who pays court to Amelia Wildenhaim, but is too insufferable to be endured.  He tells her he “learnt delicacy in Italy, hauteur in Spain, enterprise in France, prudence in Russia, sincerity in England, and love in the wilds of America,” for civilized nations have long since substituted intrigue for love.—­Inchbald, Lovers’ Vows (1800), altered from Kotzebue.