Chapter Bellerophon to Benedick of B by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Bellerophon to Benedick

Bellerophon , the English man-of-war under the command of captain Maitland. After the battle of Waterloo, Bonaparte set out for Rocheford, intending to seek refuge in America; but the Bellerophon being in sight and escape impossible, he made a virtue of necessity by surrendering himself, and was forth-with conveyed to England.

Bellerus, a Cornish giant, whence the Land’s End is called Bellerium. Milton in his Lycidas suggests the possibility that Edward King, who was drowned at sea, might be sleeping near Bellerium or the Land’s End,on mount St. Michael, where an archangel ordered a church to be built.

Sleepst [thou] by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks towards Namancos [old Castile].
   —Milton: Lycidas, 160, etc. (1638).

Belleur, com panion of Pinac and Mirabel (“the wild goose”), of stout blunt temper; in love with Rosalura, a daughter of Nantolet.—Fletcher: The Wild Goose Chase (1619, printed 1652).

Bellicent, daughter of Gorloïs lord of Tintagil and his wife Ygernê or Igerna. As the widow married Uther the pendragon, and was then the mother of king Arthur, it follows that Bellicent was half-sister of Arthur. Tennyson in Gareth and Lynette says that Bellicent was the wife of Lot king Orkney, and mother of Gawain and Mordred, but this is not in accordance either with the chronicle or the history; for Geoffrey in his Chronicle says that Lot’s wife was Anne, the sister (not half-sister) of Arthur (viii. 20, 21), and sir T. Malory, in his History of Prince Arthur, says—

King Lot of Lothan and Orkney wedded Margawse; Nentres, of the land of Carlot, wedded Elain; and that Morgan le Fay was [Arthur’s] third sister.—Pt. i. 2, 35, 36.

Bellin, the ram, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox. The word means “gentleness” (1498).

Bellingham, a man about town.—Boucicault: After Dark (1868).

I was engaged for two years at St. James’s Theatre, acting “Charles Surface” eighty nights, “Bellingham” a couple of hundred nights, and had two special engagements for “Mercutio” at the Lyceum.—Walter Lacy.

Bellisant, sister of king Pepin of France, and wife of Alexander emperor of Constantinople. Being accused of infidelity, the emperor banished her, and she took refuge in a vast forest, where she became the mother of Valentine and Orson.—Valentine and Orson.

Bellmont (Sir William), father of George Bellmont; tyrannical, positive, and headstrong. He imagined it is the duty of a son to submit to his father’s will, even in the matter of matrimony.

George Bellmont, son of sir William, in love with Clarissa, his friend Beverley’s sister; but his father demands of him to marry Belinda Blandford, the troth-plight wife of Beverley. Ultimately all comes right. —Murphy: All in the Wrong (1761).

Bellona’s Handmaids, Blood, Fire, and Famine.

The goddesse of warre, called Bellona, had these thre handmaids ever attendynge on her: BLOOD, FIRE, and FAMINE, which thre damosels be of that force and strength that every one of them alone is able and sufficient to torment and afflict a proud prince; and they all joyned together are of puissance to destroy the most populous country and most richest region of the world.—Hall: Chronicle (1530).

Bellum (Master), war.

A difference [is] ’twixt broyles and bloudie warres,—
Yet have I shot at Maister Bellum’s butte,
And thrown his ball, although I toucht no tutte [benefit]
   —Gascoigne: The Fruites of Warre, 94 (died 1577).