Chapter ISABELLA to Isolt of I by Brewer's Readers Handbook

ISABELLA to Isolt

ISABELLA or Isabelle, a pale brown colour or buff, similar to that of a hare. It is so called from the princess Isabella of Austria, daughter of Philip II. The tale is that, while besieging Ostend, the princess took an oath that she would not change her body-linen before the town was taken. The siege, however, lasted three years, and her linen was so stained that it gave name to the colour referred to (1601–1604).

The same story is told of Isabella of Castile at the siege of Granada (1483).

Thomas Dyche, “schoolmaster to the charity children of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, some time before his death, in 1719, made a vow not to shift his linen ‘till the Pretender was seated on the throne.”’—Smeeton: Biog. Curiosa, p. 13.

The horse that Brightsun was mounted on was as black as jet, that of Felix was grey, Chery’s was as white as milk, and that of the princess Fairstar an Isabella.—Comtesse D’Aulnoy: Fairy Tales (“Princess Fairstar,” 1682).

Isabella, daughter of the king of Galicia, in love with Zerbi’no, but Zerbino could not marry her because she was a pagan. Her lament at the death of Zerbino is one of the best parts of the whole poem (bk. xii.). Isabella retires to a chapel to bury her lover, and is there slain by Rodomont.—Ariosto: Orlando Furioso (1516).

Isabella, sister of Claudio, insulted by the bas e passion of Angelo deputy of Vienna in the absence of duke Vincentio. Isabella is delivered by the duke himself, and the deputy is made to marry Mariana, to whom he is already betrothed.—Shakespeare: Measure for Measure (1603).

Isabella, wife of Hieronimo, in The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd (1588).

Isabella, mother of Ludovico Sforza duke of Milan.—Massinger: The Duke of Milan (1622).

Isabella, a nun who marries Bi ron eldest son of count Baldwin, who disinherits him for this marriage. Biron enters the army, and is sent to the siege of Candy, where he falls, and (it is supposed) dies. For seven years Isabella mourns her loss, and is then reduced to the utmost want. In her distress she begs assistance of her father-in-law, but he drives her from the house as a dog. Villeroy offers her marriage, and she accepts him: but the day after her espousals Biron returns. Carlos, hearing of his brother’s return, employs ruffians to murder him, and then charges Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeaches, and Carlos is apprehended. Isabella goes mad, and murders herself in her distraction.—Southern: The Fatal Marriage (1692).

The part of “Isabella” affords scope for a tragic actress scarcely inferior in pathos to “Belvidera.”—R. Chambers: English Literature, i. 588.

(Mrs. E. Barry, says T. Campbell, was unrivalled in this part, 1682–1733.) N.B.—Wm. Hamilton painted Mrs. Siddons as “Isabella,” and the picture belongs to the nation.

Isabella, the coadjutor of Zanga in his scheme of revenge against don Alonzo.—Young: The Revenge (1721).

Isabella, princess of Sicily, in love with Roberto il Diavolo, but promised in marriage to the prince of Gr anada, who challenges Roberto to mortal combat, from which he is allured by Bertram his fiend-father. Alice tells him that Isabella is waiting for him at the altar, when a struggle ensues between Bertram and Alice, one trying to drag him into hell, and the other trying to reclaim him to the ways of virtue. Alice at length prevails, but we are not told whether Roberto marries the princess.—Meyerbeer: Roberto il Diavolo (1831).

Isabella (Donna), daughter of don Pedro a Portuguese nobleman, who designed to marry her to don Guzman, a gentleman of large fortune. To avoid this hateful marriage, she jumps from a window, with