Chapter Aaron to Abensberg of A by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Aaron to Abensberg

Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora, queen of the Goths, in the tragedy of Titus Andronicus, published amongst the plays of Shakespeare (1593).

(The classic name is Andronicus, but the character of this play is purely fictitious.)

Aaron (St.), a British martyr of the City of Legions (Newport, in South Wales). He wa s torn limb from limb by order of Maximianus Herculius, general, in Britain, of the army of Diocletian. Two churches were founded in the City of Legions, one in honour of St. Aaron, and one in honour of his fellow-martyr St. Julius. Newport was called Caerleon by the British.

… two others … sealed their doctrine with their blood;
St. Julius, and with him St. Aaron, have their room
At Carleon, suffering death by Diocletian’s doom.
   —Drayton: Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).

Aaziz , so the queen of Sheba of Saba is sometimes called; but in the Koran she is called Balkis (ch. xxvii.).

Abaddon, an angel of the bottomless pit (Rev. ix. II). The word is derived from the Hebrew, abad, “lost,” and means the lost one. There are two other angels introduced by Klopstock in The Messiah with similar names, which must not be confounded with the angel referred to in Rev.; one is Obaddon, the angel of death, and the other Abbadona, the repentant devil. (See Abbadona.)

Abaris, to whom Apollo gave a golden arrow, on which to ride through the air. (See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 2.)

Abbadona, once the friend of Abdiel, was drawn into the rebellion of Satan half unwillingly. In hell he constantly bewailed his fall, and reproved Satan for his pride and blasphemy. He openly declared to the infernals that he would take no part or lot in Satan’s scheme for the death of the Messiah; and during the crucifixion he lingered about the cross with repentance, hope, and fear. His ultimate fate we are not told, but when Satan and Adramelech were driven back to hell, Obaddon, the angel of death, says—

“For thee, Abbadona, I have no orders. How long thou art permitted to remain on earth I know not, nor whether thou wilt be allowed to see the resurrection of the Lord of glory … but be not deceived, thou canst not view Him with the joy of the redeemed.” “Yet let me see Him, let me see Him!”—Klopstock: The Messiah, xiii.

Abberville (Lord), a young nobleman, 23 years of age, who has for travelling tutor a Welshman of 65, called Dr. Druid, an antiquary, wholly ignorant of his real duties as a guide of youth. The young man runs wantonly wild, squanders his money, and gives loose rein to his passions almost to the verge of ruin, but he is arrested and reclaimed by his honest Scotch bailiff of financier, and the vigilance of his father’s executor, Mr. Mortimer. This “fashionable lover” promises marriage to a vulgar, malicious city minx named Lucinda Bridgemore, but is saved from this pitfall also.—Cumberland: The Fashionable Lover (1780).

Abbot (The), the second of three novels on the Reformation. The first, called The Monastery, is by far the worst; and the third, called Kenilworth, is the best. The Abbot, Father Ambrose (q.v.), plays a very subordinate part, the hero being Roland Græme. The tale is this: Roland, a very young child, was nearly drowned by trying to save a toyboat, but he was drawn from the river by Wolf, a dog of Lady Avenel’s; and as Lady Avenel had no family, she brought up Roland as a sort of page. The indulgence shown by his kind patroness drew upon him the jealous displeasure of the rest of the household; and ultimately the spirit became so bitter that Lady Avenel, when he was between 17 and 18, dismissed him from her service. Roland, going he knew not whither, encountered Sir Halbert Glendinning, the husband of the Lady of Avenel, who took him into his service, and sent him to the regent Murray, who sent him to Lochleven, as the page of Mary queen of Scotland, who had been dethroned and sent to Lochleven as a state prisoner. He was there above a year, when Mary made her escape, was overtaken by the Reform party, and fled to England.