Chapter Day to Deans of D by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Day to Deans

Day (Justice), a pitiable hen-pecked husband, who always addresses his wife as “duck” or “duckie.”

Mrs. Day, wife of the “justice,” full of vulgar dignity, overbearing, and loud. She was formerly the kitchen- maid of her husband’s father; but being raised from the kitchen to the parlour, became my lady paramount.

(In the comedy from which this farce is taken, “Mrs. Day” was the kitchen-maid in the family of colonel Careless, and went by the name of Gillian. In her exalted state she insisted on being addressed as “Your honour” or “Your ladyship.”)

Margaret Woffington [1718–1760], In “Mrs. Day,” made no scruple to disguise her beautiful face by drawing on it the lines of deformity, and to put on the tawdry habiliments and vulgar manners of an old hypocritical city vixen.—Thomas Davies.

Day (Abel), a puritanical prig, who can do nothing without Obadiah. This “downright ass” (act i. 1) aspires to the hand of the heiress Arabella.—Knight: The Honest Thieves.

(This farce is a mere réchauffé of The Committee, a comedy by the Hon. sir R. Howard (1670). The names of “Day,” “Obadiah,” and “Arabella” are the same.)

Day (Ferquhard), the absentee from the clan Chattan ranks at the conflict.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Day of the Barricades, May 12, 1583, when Henri de Guise returned to Paris in defiance of the king’s order. The king sent for his Swiss guards; but the Parisians tore up the pavements, threw chains across the streets, and piled up barrels filled with earth and stones, behind which they shot down the Swiss as they paraded the streets. The king begged the duke to put an end to the conflict, and fled.

Another Journée des Barricades was August 27, 1688, the commencement of the Fronde war.

Another was June 27, 1830, the first day of the grand semain which drove Charles X. from the throne.

Another was February 24, 1843, when Affre, archbishop of Paris, was shot in his attempt to quell the insurrection.

Another was December 2, 1851, the day of the coup d’état, when Louis Napoleon made his appeal to the people for re-election to the presidency for ten years.

Day of the Cornsacks [Journee des Farines], January 3, 1591, when some of the partisans of Henri IV., disguised as millers, attempted to get possession of the barrier de St. Honoré (Paris), with the view of making themselves masters of the city. In this they failed.

Day of the Dupes, November 11, 1630. The dupes were Marie de Medicis, Anne of Austria, and Gaston duc d’Orléans, who were outwitted by cardinal Richelieu. The plotters had induced Louis XIII. to dismiss his obnoxious minister, whereupon the cardinal went at once to resign the seals of office; the king repented, re-established the cardinal, and he became more powerful than ever.

Days Recurrent in the Lives of Great Men.

Becket. Tuesday was Becket’s day. He was born on a Tuesday, and on a Tuesday was assassinated. He was baptized on a Tuesday, took his flight from Northampton on a Tuesday, withdrew to France on a Tuesday, had his vision of martyrdom on a Tuesday, returned to England on a Tuesday, his body was removed from the crypt to the shrine on a Tuesday, and on Tuesday (April 13, 1875) cardinal Manning consecrated the new church dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket.

Cromwell’s day was September 3. On September 3, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar; on September 3, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester; on September 3, 1658, he died.