Chapter Looking Back to Lose of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Lord Fanny A nickname given to Lord Hervey for his effeminate and foppish manners. He painted his face, and was as pretty in his ways as a boarding-school miss. (In the reign of George II.)

Lord Foppington A coxcomb who considers dress and fashion the end and aim of nobility. (Vanbrugh: The Relapse.)

Lord, Lady When our Lord falls in our Lady's lap. That is, when Good Friday falls on the same date as Lady Day. (March 25th.)

Lord Lovel The bridegroom who lost his bride on the wedding-day. She was playing at hide-and-seek, and selected an old oak chest for her hiding-place. The chest closed with a spring lock, and many years after her skeleton told the sad story of The Mistletoe Bough. Samuel Rogers introduces this story in his Italy (part i. 18). He says the bride was Ginevra, only child of Orsini, “an indulgent father.” The bridegroom was Francesco Doria, “her playmate from her birth, and her first love.” The chest in which she was buried alive in her bridal dress was an heirloom, “richly carved by Antony of Trent, with Scripture stories from the life of Christ.” It came from Venice, and had “held the ducal robes of some old ancestor.” Francesco, weary of his life, flew to Venice and “flung his life away in battle with the Turk.” Orsini went mad, and spent the live-long day “wandering as in quest of something, something he could not find.” Fifty years afterwards the chest was removed by strangers and the skeleton discovered.

Lord Mayor's Day November 9th. So called because the Lord Mayor of London enters into office on that day, and inaugurates his official dignity with a street procession, followed by a grand banquet at the Mansion House.

Lord Peter The Pope is so called in The History of John Bull, by Dr. Arbuthnot.

Lord Strutt Charles II. of Spain is so called in The History of John Bull, by Arbuthnot.

Lord Thomas and the Fair Annet or Elinor, had a lover's quarrel, when Lord Thomas resolved to forsake Annet for a nut-brown maid who had houses and lands. On the wedding-day Annet, in bridal bravery, went to the church, when Lord Thomas repented of his folly, and gave Annet a rose. Whereupon the nut-brown maid killed her with a “long bodkin from out her gay head-gear.” Lord Thomas, seeing Annet fall dead, plunged his dagger into the heart of the murderess, and then stabbed himself. Over the graves of Lord Thomas and fair Annet grew a “bonny briar, and by this ye may ken right well that they were lovers dear.” In some ballads the fair Annet is called the fair Elinor. (Percy. Reliques, etc., series iii. bk. 3.)

Lord of Creation. Man

“Replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed ... and every tree “- Gen. i. 28, 29.

Lord of Misrule called in Scotland Abbot of Unreason, prohibited in 1555. Stow says, “At the feast of Christmas, in the king's court, there was always appointed, on All-Hallow's eve, a master of mirth and fun,” who remained in office till the Feast of Purification. A similar “lord” was appointed by the lord mayor of London, the sheriffs, and the chief nobility. Stubbs tells us that these mock dignitaries had from twenty to sixty officers under them, and were furnished with hobby-horses, dragons, and musicians. They first went to church with such a confused noise that no one could hear his own voice.

Lord of the Isles Donald of Islay, who in 1346 reduced the Hebrides under his sway. The title had been borne by others for centuries before, and was also borne by his successors. One of Sir Walter Scott's metrical romances is so called. This title is now borne by the Prince of Wales.

Loredano (James). A Venetian patrician, and one of the “Council of Ten.” (Byron. The Two Foscari.)