Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 eBook

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 804 pages of information about Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1.

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 eBook

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 804 pages of information about Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1.

CYLLE’NIUS, Mercury; so called from Mount Cylene, in Arcadia, where he was born.

CYM’BELINE (3 syl.), mythical king of Britain for thirty-five years.  He began to reign in the nineteenth year of Augustus Caesar.  His father was Tenantius, who refused to pay the tribute to the Romans exacted of Cassibelan after his defeat by Julius Caesar.  Cymbeline married twice.  By his first wife he had a daughter named Imogen, who married Posthumus Leonatus.  His second wife had a son named Cloten by a former husband.—­Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).

CYMOCHLES [Si. mok’.leez], brother of Pyroch’les, son of Aerates, husband of Acras’ia the enchantress.  He sets out against Sir Guyon, but being ferried over Idle Lake, abandons himself to self-indulgence, and is slain by King Arthur (canto 8).—­Spencer, Faery Queen, ii. 5, etc. (1590).

CYMOD’OCE (4 syl.).  The mother of Mar’inel is so called in bk. iv. 12 of the Faery Queen, but in bk. iii. 4 she is spoken of as Cymo’ent “daughter of Nereus” (2_syl_.) by an earth-born father, “the famous Dumarin.”

CYMOENT. (See CYMODOCE.)

CYM’RY, the Welsh.

The Welsh always called themselves “Cym-ry”, the literal meaning of which is “aborigines.” ...  It is the same word as “Cimbri.” ...  They call their language “Cymraeg,” i.e, “the primitive tongue.”—­E.  Williams.

CYNGAEI’ROS, brother of the poet AEschylos.  When the Persians, after the battle of Marathon, were pushing off from shore, Cyngaeiros seized one of their ships with his right hand, which being lopped off, he grasped it with his left hand; this being cut off, he seized it with his teeth, and lost his life.

ADMIEAL BENBOW, in an engagement with the French, near St. Martha, in 1701, had his legs and thighs shivered into splinters by chain-shot; but (supported on a wooden frame) he remained on deck till Du Casse sheered off.

ALMEYDA, the Portuguese Governor of India, had his legs and thighs shattered in a similar way, and caused himself to be bound to the ship’s mast, that he might wave his sword to cheer on the combatants.

JAAFER, at the battle of Muta, carried the sacred banner of the prophet.  One hand being lopped off, he held it with the other; this also being cut off, he held it with his two stumps, and when at last his head was cut off, he contrived to fall dead on the banner, which was thus detained till Abdallah had time to rescue it and hand it to Khaled.

CYNE’THA(3 syl.), eldest son of Cadwallon (king of North Wales).  He was an orphan, brought up by his uncle Owen.  During his minority, Owen and Cynetha loved each other dearly; but when the orphan came of age and claimed his inheritance, his uncle burnt his eyes out by exposing them to plates of hot brass.  Cynetha and his son Cadwallon accompanied Madoc to North America, where the blind old man died while Madoc was in Wales preparing for his second voyage.—­Southey, Madoc, i. 3 (1805).

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Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.