Chapter Golden Ball to Golden Town of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Golden Girdle Louis VIII. made an edict that no courtesan should be allowed to wear a golden girdle, under very severe penalty. Hence the proverb, Bonne renommé vault mieux que ceinture dorée. (See Girdle.)

Golden Horn The inlet of the Bosphorus on which Constantinople is situated. So called from its curved shape and great beauty.

Golden House This was a palace erected by Nero in Rome. It was roofed with golden tiles, and the inside walls, which were profusely gilt, were embellished with mother-of-pearl and precious stones; the ceilings were inlaid with ivory and gold. The banquet-hall had a rotatory motion, and its vaulted ceiling showered flowers and perfumes on the guests. The Farnese popes and princes used the materials of Nero's house for their palaces and villas.

Golden Legend A collection of hagiology (lives of saints) made by Jaques de Voragine in the thirteenth century; valuable for the picture it gives of mediæval manners, customs, and thought. Jortin says that the young students of religious houses, for the exercise of their talents, were set to accommodate the narratives of heathen writers to Christian saints. It was a collection of these "lives" that Voragine made, and thought deserving to be called "Legends worth their Weight in Gold." Longfellow has a dramatic poem entitled The Golden Legend.

Golden Mean Keep the golden mean. The wise saw of Cleobulos, King of Rhodes (B.C. 630-559).

"Distant alike from each, to neither lean,
But ever keep the happy Golden Mean."
Rowe: The Golden Verses.

Golden-mouthed Chrysostom; so called for his great eloquence (A.D. 347-407).

Golden Ointment Eye salve. In allusion to the ancient practice of rubbing "stynas of the eye" with a gold ring to cure them.

"I have a sty here, Chilax,
I have no gold to cure it."
Beaumont and Fletcher: Mad Lovers.

Golden Opinions "I have bought golden opinions of all sorts of people." (Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 7.)

Golden Palace (See Golden House .)

Golden Rose A cluster of roses and rosebuds growing on one thorny stem, all of the purest gold, chiselled with exquisite workmanship. In its cup, among its petals, the Pope, at every benediction he pronounces upon it, inserts a few particles of amber and musk. It is blessed on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and bestowed during the ecclesiastical year on the royal lady whose zeal for the Church has most shown itself by pious deeds or pious intentions. The prince who has best deserved of the Holy See has the blessed sword and cap (lo stocco e il beretto) sent him. If no one merits the gift it is laïd up in the Vatican. In the spring of 1868 the Pope gave the golden rose to Isabella of Spain, in reward of "her faith, justice, and charity," and to "foretoken the protection of God to his well-beloved daughter, whose high virtues make her a shining light amongst women." The Empress Eugénie of France also received it.

Golden Rule
   In morals - Do unto others as you would be done by. Or Matt. vii. 12.
   In arithmetic - The Rule of Three.

Golden Shoe (A). A pot of money. "The want of a golden shoe" is the want of ready cash. It seems to be a superlative of a "silver slipper," or good luck generally, as he "walks in silver slippers."

Golden Shower or Shower of gold. A bribe, money. The allusion is to the classic tale of Jupiter and Danae. Acrisios, King of Argos, being told that his daughter's son would put him to death, resolved that Danae should never marry, and accordingly locked her up in a brazen tower. Jupiter, who was in love with the princess, foiled the king by changing himself into a shower of gold, under which guise he readily found access to the fair prisoner.