Chapter Cæsar to Cairbar of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

ira!” was the rallying cry borrowed by the Federalists from Dr. Franklin, who used to say, in reference to the American Revolution, Ah! ah! ça ira! ça ira! (“It will speed!”).

‘T was all the same to him—God save the King!
Or Ca ira!
   —Byron: Don Juan, iii. 84 (1820).

Cain, “a Mystery,” by lord Byron (1821). Cain’s wife he calls Adah, and Abel’s wife he calls Zillah. The poet assumes (with Cuvier) that the world had been destroyed several times before man was created. Certainly there were several races of animals extinct before the supposed creation of Adam, the most noted being the Saurian period. Cain, in many respects, is a replica of Manfred, published in 1817.

Coleridge wrote a prose poem called The Wanderings of Cain (1798).

Cain and Abel are called in the Korân “Kâbil and Hâbil.” The tradition is that Cain was commanded to marry Abel’s sister, and Abel to marry Cain’s; but Cain demurred because his own sister was the more beautiful, and so the matter was referred to God, who answered “No” by rejecting Cain’s sacrifice.

N. B.—The Mohammedans say that Cain carried about with him the dead body of Abel, till he saw a raven scratch a hole in the ground to bury a dead bird. The hint was taken, and Abel was buried under ground.—Sale: AlKorân, v., notes.

Cain-coloured Beard. Cain and Judas, in old tapestries and paintings, are always represented with yellow beards.

He hath a little wee face, with a little yellow beard; a Cain-coloured beard.—Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 4 (1601).

Cain’s Hill. Maundrel tells us that “some four miles from Damascus is a high hill, reported to be that on which Cain slew his brother Abel.”—Travels, 131.

In that place where Damascus was founded, Kayn sloughe Abel his brother.—Maundeville: Travels, 148.

Caina [Ka-i-nah], the place to which murderers are doomed.

Caina waits
The soul who spills man’s life.
   —Dante: Inferno, v. (1300).

Cairbar, son of Borbar-Duthul, “lord of Atha” (Connaught), the most potent of the race of the Fir-bolg. He rose in rebellion against Cormac, “king of Ireland,” murdered him (Temora, i.), and usurped the throne; but Fingal (who was distantly related to Cormac) went to Ireland with an army, to restore the ancient dynasty. Cairbar invited Oscar (Fingal’s grandson) to a feast, and Oscar accepted the invitation; but Cairbar having provoked a quarrel with his guest, the two fought, and both were slain.

“Thy heart is a rock. They thoughts are dark and bloody. Thou art the brother of Cathmor… but my soul is not like thine, thou feeble hand in fight. The light of my bosom is stained by thy deeds.”—Ossian: Temora, i.