Chapter Golightly to Gooseberry Pie of G by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Good Even, Good Robin Hood! civility extorted by fear, as “Good Mr. Highwayman, good gentlemen!” of Mrs. Hardcastle in her terror.

Clapping his rod on the borde,
No man dare utter a word…
He [Wolsey] said, “How say ye, my lordes?”…
Good even, good Robin Hood.
   —Skelton: Why Came ye not to Court? (died 1529).

Good Hope (Cape of). When Bartholomew Diaz first discovered this cape, in 1497, he called it “The Cape of Storms” (Cabo Tormentoso); but John II. king of Portugal changed the name to that of “Good Hope.”

The Euxine Sea (i.e. “the hospitable sea”) was first called “The Axine Sea” (“the inhospitable”), from the terror with which it was viewed by the early Greeks; but it was subsequently called by the more courteous name. However, the older name is the one which now generally prevails; thus we call it in English “The Black Sea,” and the Turks, Greeks, and Russians call it inhospitable, and not hospitable.

Good Man (A). Count Cassel says, “In Italy a good man means a religious one, in France a cheerful one, in Spain a wise one, and in England a rich one.”—Inchbald: Lovers’ Vows, ii. 2 (1800).

Good Regent (The), James Stuart, earl of Murray, regent of Scotland after the imprisonment of queen Mary. (Born 1533, regent 1567, assassinated 1570.)

Goodenough (Dr.), a physician in Thackeray’s novel, the Adventures of Philip (1860).

Goodfellow (Robin), son of king Oberon. When six years old, he was so mischievous that his mother threatened to whip him, and he ran away; but falling asleep, his father told him he should have anything he wished for, with power to turn himself into any shape, so long as he did harm to none but knaves and queans.

His first exploit was to turn himself into a horse, to punish a churl, whom he conveyed into a great plash of water and left there, laughing, as he flew off, “Ho, ho, ho!” He afterwards goes to a farm-house, and, taking a fancy to the maid, does her work during the night. The maid, watching him, and observing him rather bare of clothes, provides him with garments, which he puts out, laughing “Ho, ho, ho!” He next changes himself into a Will-o’-the-wisp, to mislead a party of merry-makers, and having misled them all night, he left them at daybreak, with a “Ho, ho, ho!” At another time, seeing a fellow ill-using a maiden, he changed himself into a hare, ran between his legs, and then growing into a horse, tossed him into a hedge, laughing “Ho, ho, ho!”—The Mad Pranks and Merry Jests of Robin Goodfellow (1580), (Percy Society, 1841).

Goodfellow (Robin), a general name for any domestic spirit, as imp, urchin, elve, hag, fay, Kit-wi’-the- can’stick, spoorn, man-i’-the-oak, Puck, hobgoblin, Tom-tumbler, bug, bogie, Jack-o’-lantern, Friar’s lantern, Will-o’-the-wisp, Ariel, nixie, kelpie, etc., etc.

A bigger kind than these German kobolds is that called with us Robin Goodfellows, that would in those superstitious times grind corn for a mess of milk, cut wood, or do any manner of drudgery work.…These have several names…but we commonly call them Pucks.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, 47 (1621).

Robin Goodfellow, “a shrewd, knavish spirit” in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

N.B.—The Goodfellows, being very numerous, can hardly be the same as Robin son of Oberon, but seem to obtain the name because their character was similar, and, indeed, Oberon’s son must be included in the generic name.

Goodman of Ballengeich, the assumed name of James V. of Scotland when he made his disguised visits through the districts round Edinburgh and Stirling.