Chapter Auburn to Austria and the Lion's Hide. of A by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Aurelius. (See Arviragus, p. 65.)

Aurelius, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur; but he died before the hero was born.

Even sicke of a flixe [ill of the flux] as he was, he caused himself to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie.—Holinshed: History of Scotland, 99.

… once I read
That stout Pendragon on his litter sick
Came to the field, and vanquishèd his foes.
   —Shakespeare: I Henry VI. act iii. sc. 2(1589).

Aurora Leigh, a novel in blank verse by Elizabeth B. Browning (1856). Aurora Leigh is an orphan child sent from Italy to the care of an aunt in England. She falls in love with Romney Leigh, a “social reformer,” who proposes marriage, but is rejected. Romney then gives himself up to socialistic work, and has a child by Marian Erle (a working girl). He would have married her, but was prevented by lady Waldemar. Aurora, in the mean time, being left penniless by the death of her aunt, supports herself by her writings, goes to Italy, and takes charge of Marian’s child. Romney sets up a socialistic establishment, but the house is burnt down by the settlers; Romney loses his eyesight, retires to Italy, comes upon Marian, and offers her marriage to compensate for the evil he has done her. His proposal is rejected, and he finally marries Aurora Leigh.

Aurora Raby, a wealthy English orphan, a “rose with all its sweetest leaves yet unfolded.”—Byron: Don Juan, canto xv.

Aurora’s Tears, the morning dew. These tears are shed for the death of her son Memnon, slain by Achillês at the siege of Troy.

Ausonia, Italy, so called from Auson, son of Ulysses.

… romantic Spain,—
Gay lilied fields of France, or more refined,
The soft Ausonia’s monumental reign.
   —Campbell: Gertrude of Wyoming, ii. 15(1809).

Austin, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title of the count of Narbonne.—Jephson: Count of Narbonne (1782).

Austria and the Lion’s Hide. There is an old tale that the archduke of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion’s hide which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the archduke—

Thou wear a lion’s hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.
   —Shakespeare: King John, act iii. sc. 1(1596).

(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)