Chapter Dick Shakebag to DINAH [Friendly] of D by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Dick Shakebag to DINAH [Friendly]

Dick Shakebag, a highwayman in the gang of captain Colepepper (the Alsatian bully).—Sir W. Scott: Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Dickens. Shakespeare, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, says, “I cannot tell what the dickens his name is” (act iii. sc. 2).

A man accidentally caught hold of a hot horse-shoe, and in exclamation named three celebrated British authors: “Dickens, Howit[t] Burns!”

Dickson (Thomas), farmer at Douglasdale.

Charles Dickson, son of the above, killed in the church.—Sir W. Scott: Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).

Dictator of Letters, François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, called the “Great Pan” (1694–1778).

Dictionary (A Living). Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646–1716) was so called by George I.

Longinus was called “The Living Cyclopædia” (213–273).

Daniel Huet, chief editor of the Delphine Classics, was called a Porcus Literarum for his unlimited knowledge (1630–1721).

Diddler (Jeremy), an artful swindler; a clever, seedy vagabond, who borrows money or obtains credit by his songs, witticisms, or other expedients.—Kenney: Raising the Wind.

Diderick, the German form of Theodorick, king of the Goths. As Arthur is the centre of British romance and Charlemagne of French romance, so Diderick is the central figure of the German minnesingers.

Didier (Henri), the lover of Julie Lesurques ; a gentleman in feeling and conduct, who remains loyal to his fiancée through all her troubles.—Stirling: The Courier of Lyons (1852).

Dido, queen of Carthage, fell in love with Æ neas, who (fleeing from Troy) was stranded on the Carthaginian coast. After a time Minerva insisted that the fugitive should leave Carthage, and found a city in Latium. Dido, vexed and slighted, kills herself with a sword given her by Æneas. According to Virgil, she destroyed herself on a funeral pile. (See Æneas.)

Ovid, in his Heroides , has a letter supposed to be written by Dido to Æneas, reminding him of all she had done for him, and imploring him to remain. As this is in Latin verse, of course it was not the composition of Dido.

(There are English tragedies on queen Dido, as Dido Queen of Carthage, by Nash and Marlowe (1594); Dido and Æneas, by D’Urfey (1721); the opera of Dido and Æneas, by Purcell (1657). There are also Dido, an opera, by Marmontel (1703); Didon Abbandonata, by Metastasio (1724).)

For Porson’s pun on Dido, see Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 392.

Die Young (Whom the Gods love).—Byron: Don Juan, iv. 12 (1824).

on oi qeoi filousin apoqnhskei neoV.
Menander: Fragments, 48 (“Meineka”).
And what excelleth but what dieth young?
   —Drummond (1585–1649).

The ripest fruit first falls.
   —Shakespeare: Richard II. act ii. sc. 1.

Diego, the sexton to Lopez the “Spanish curate.”—Fletcher: The Spanish Curate (1622).

Diego (Don), a man of 60, who saw a country maiden named Leonora, whom he liked, and in tended to marry if her temper was as amiable as her face was pretty. He obtained leave of her parents to bring