Chapter Cona to Constance of Beverley of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Cona to Constance of Beverley

Cona or COE, a river in Scotland, falling into Lochleven. It is distinguished for the sublimity of its scenery. Glen-coe is the glen held by the M’Donalds (the chief of the clan being called Maclan). In “Ossian,” the bard Ossian (son of Fingal) is called “The voice of Cona.”—Ossian: Songs of Selma.

They praised the voice of Cona, first among a thousand bards.—Ossian: Songs of Selma.

Conachar, the Highland apprentice of Simon Glover, the old glover of Perth. Conachar is in love with his master’s daughter, Catharine, called “the fair maid of Perth;” but Catharine loves and ultimately marries Henry Smith, the armourer. Conachar is at a later period Ian Eachin [Hector] M’Ian, chief of the clan Quhele.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Conar, son of Trenmor, and first “king of Ireland.” When the Fir-bolg (or Belgæ from Britain settled in the south of Ireland) had reduced the Cael (or colony of Caledonians settled in the north of Ireland) to the last extremity by war, the Cael sent to Scotland for aid. Trathel (grandfather of Fingal) accordingly sent over Conar with an army to their aid; and Conar, having reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, assumed the title of “king of Ireland.” Conar was succeeded by his son Cormac I.; Cormac I. by his son Cairbre; Cairbre by his son Artho; Artho by his son Cormac II. (a minor); and Cormac (after a slight interregnum) by Ferad- Artho (restored by Fingal).—Ossian.

Confessio Amantis, by Gower (1393), above 30,000 verses, in eight books. It is a dialogue between a lover and his confessor, a priest of Venus named Genius. As every vice is unamiable, a lover must be free from vice in order to be amiable, i.e. beloved; consequently, Genius examines the lover on every vice before he will grant him absolution. Tale after tale is introduced by the confessor, to show the evil effects of particular vices, and the lover is taught science, and “the Aristotelian philosophy,” the better to equip him to win the love of his choice. The end is very strange: The lover does not complain that the lady is obdurate or faithless, but that he himself has grown old.

(Gower is indebted a good deal to Eusebius’s Greek romance of Ismenê and Ismenias, translated by Viterbo. Shakespeare drew his Pericles Prince of Tyre from the same romance.)

Confession. The emperor Wenceslas ordered John of Nepomuc to be cast from the Moldau bridge, for refusing to reveal the confession of the empress. The martyr was canonized as St. John Nepomucen, and his day is May 14 (1330–1383).

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, by Thomas De Quincey (1821). It describes the mental and physical effects of opium-eating.

Congreve (The Modern), R. B. Sheridan (1751–1816).

The School for Scandal crowned the reputation of the modern Congreve in 1777.—Craik: Literature and Learning in England, v. 7.

Coningsby, or The New Generation, a novel by Disraeli (lord Beaconsfield), (1844). Coningsby is Young England personified, in whom is delineated the beginning and growth of perfect statesmen.

The characters are supposed to be as follows:—Croker is Rigby; Menmouth is lord Howard; Eskdale, Lowther; Urmsby, Irving; Lucretia is Mde. Zichy; the countess colonna is lady Strachan; Sidonia is baron A. de Rothschild; Henry Sidney is lord John Manners; Belvoir, the duke of Rutland.—Notes and Queries, March 6, 1875.

Conkey Chickweed, the man who robbed himself of 327 guineas, in order to make his fortune by exciting the sympathy of his neighbours and others. The tale is told by detective Blathers.—Dickens: Oliver Twist (1837).