Chapter Idle Worms to Iliad of I by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Idle Worms to Iliad

Idle Worms It was once supposed that little worms were bred in the fingers of idle servants. To this Shakespeare alludes -

"A round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid."
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, 1. 4.

Idleness The Lake of Idleness. Spenser says whoever drank of this lake grew "instantly faint and weary." The Red Cross Knight drank of it, and was made captive by Orgoglio. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i.)

Idol Shepherd (The), Zech, ii. 17. "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth his flock." Idol shepherd means self-seeking, counterfeit, pseudo; the shepherd that sets up himself to be worshipped by his people instead of God.

Idomeneus (4 syl.). King of Crete, and ally of the Greeks in the siege of Troy. After the city was burnt he made a vow to sacrifice whatever he first encountered, if the gods granted him a safe return to his kingdom. It was his own son that he first met, and when he offered him up to fulfil his vow he was banished from Crete as a murderer. (Homer: Iliad.)
   Compare the story of Jephthah in Judges xi.

Iduna or Idun. Daughter of the dwarf Svald, and wife of Bragi. She kept in a box the golden apples which the gods tasted as often as they wished to renew their youth. Loki on one occasion stole the box and hid it in a wood; but the gods compelled him to restore it. (Scandinavian mythology.)
    Iduna seems to personify the year between March and September, when the sun is north of the equator. Her apples indicate fruits generally. Loki carries her off to Giant-Land, when the Sun descends below the equator, and he steals her apples. In time, Iduna makes her escape, in the form of a sparrow, when the Sun again, in March, rises above the equator; and both gods and men rejoice in her return.

Ifakins A corruption of In good faith. I' fa' kin, where kin is equivalent to dear or good.

Ifreet or Afreet or Afrit. A powerful evil jin or spirit of Arabian mythology. (See Afriet.)

Ifurin The Hades of the ancient Gauls. A dark region infested by serpents and savage beasts. Here the wicked are chained in loathsome caverns, plunged into the lairs of dragons, or subjected to a ceaseless distillation of poison. (Celtic mythology.)

Igerna, Igerne, or Igrayne. Wife of Gorlois, Duke of Tintagel, in Cornwall, and mother of King Arthur. His father was Uther, pendragon of the Britons, who married Igerna thirteen days after her husband was slain.

Ignaro Foster-father of Orgoglio. Whatever question Arthur asked, the old dotard answered, "He could not tell." Spenser says this old man walks one way and looks another, because ignorance is always "wrong- headed." (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i.)
    (See Non Mi Recordo.)

Ignatius (St.) is represented in Christian art accompanied by lions, or chained and exposed to them, in allusion to his martyrdom. The legend is that he was brought before the Emperor Trajan, who condemned him to be made the food of lions and other wild beasts for the delectation of the people. According to tradition, St. Ignatius was the little child whom our Saviour set in the midst of His disciples for their example. (About 29-115.)
   Brother Ignatius. The Rev. James Leycester Lyne, for some time head of the English Benedictines at the Norwich Protestant monastery. Now at Llanthony.
   Father Ignatius. The Hon. and Rev. Geo. Spencer, formerly a clergyman of the Church of England, who joined the Roman communion, and became Superior of the order of Passionists (1799-1864.)

Ignatius Loyola founder of the order of Jesuits, is depicted in art sometimes with the sacred monogram I.H.S. on his breast, and sometimes contemplating it, surrounded by glory in the skies, in allusion to his boast that his had a miraculous knowledge of the mystery of the Trinity vouchsafed to him. He is so represented in Rubens' famous picture in Warwick Castle.