Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 64

CARDEN (_Grace_), lovely girl with whom Henry Little (an artisan) and Frederick Coventry, gentleman, are enamored. Beguiled by Coventry into a belief that Little is dead, she consents to the marriage ceremony with his rival. Little reappears on the wedding-day, and she refuses to live with her husband. The marriage is eventually set aside, and Grace Carden espouses Henry Little.--Charles Reade, _Put Yourself in His Place_.

CARDE'NIO of Andalusi'a, of opulent parents, fell in love with Lucinda, a lady of equal family and fortune, to whom he was formally engaged. Don Fernando his friend, however, prevailed on Lucinda's father, by artifice, to break off the engagement and promise Lucinda to himself, "contrary to her wish, and in violation of every principle of honor." This drove Cardenio mad, and he haunted the Sierra Morena or Brown Mountain for about six months, as a maniac with lucid intervals. On the wedding-day Lucinda swooned, and a letter informed the bridegroom that she was married to Cardenio. Next day she privately left her father's house and took refuge in a convent; but being abducted by don Fernando, she was carried to an inn, where Fernando found Dorothea his wife, and Cardenio the husband of Lucinda.

All parties were now reconciled, and the two gentlemen paired respectively with their proper wives.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I.

iv. (1605).

CARE, described as a blacksmith, who "worked all night and day." His bellows, says Spenser, are Pensiveness and Sighs.--_Faery Queen_, iv.

5 (1596).

CARE'LESS, one of the boon companions of Charles Surface.--Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).

_Care'less (Colonel)_, an officer of high spirits and mirthful temper, who seeks to win Ruth (the daughter of sir Basil Thoroughgood) for his wife.--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_.

This farce is a mere _rechauffe_ of _The Committee_, by the hon. sir R. Howard. The names "colonel Careless" and "Ruth" are the same, but "Ruth" says her proper Christian name is "Anne."

_Careless_, in _The Committee_, was the part for which Joseph Ashbury (1638-1720) was celebrated.--Chetwood, _History of the Stage._

(_The Committee_, recast by T. Knight, is called _The Honest Thieves_.)

_Careless (Ned)_, makes love to lady Pliant.--W. Congreve, _The Double Dealer_ (1700).

CARELESS HUSBAND _(The)_, a comedy by Colley Cibber (1704). The "careless husband" is sir Charles Easy, who has amours with different persons, but is so careless that he leaves his love-letters about, and even forgets to lock the door when he has made a _liaison_, so that his wife knows all; yet so sweet is her temper, and under such entire control, that she never reproaches him, nor shows the slightest indication of jealousy. Her confidence so wins upon her husband that he confesses to her his faults, and reforms entirely the evil of his ways.

CAReME _(Jean de), chef de cuisine_ of Leo X. This was a name given him by the pope for an admirable _soupe maigre_ which he invented for Lent. A descendant of Jean was _chef_ to the prince regent, at a salary of 1000 per annum, but he left this situation because the prince had only a _menage bourgeois_, and entered the service of baron Rothschild at Paris (1784-1833).

CAREY, innocent-faced rich young dude in Ellen Olney Kirk's novel, _A Daughter of Eve_ (1889).

_Carey (Patrick)_, the poet brother of lord Falkland, introduced by sir W. Scott in _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

CAR'GILL _(The Rev. Josiah_), minister of St. Ronan's Well, tutor of the hon. Augustus Bidmore (2 _syl_.), and the suitor of Miss Augusta Bidmore, his pupil's sister.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).

CARI'NO, father of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of Arnoldo (the lady dishonorably pursued by the governor count Clodio).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).

CAR'KER _(James)_, manager in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant.

Carker was a man of forty, of a florid complexion, with very glistening white teeth, which showed conspicuously when he spoke. His smile was like "the snarl of a cat." He was the Alas'tor of the house of Dombey, for he not only brought the firm to bankruptcy, but he seduced Alice Marwood (cousin of Edith, Dombey's second wife), and also induced Edith to elope with him. Edith left the wretch at Dijon, and Carker, returning to England, was run over by a railway train and killed.

_John Carker_, the elder brother, a junior clerk in the same firm. He twice robbed it and was forgiven.

_Harriet Carker_, a gentle, beautiful young woman, who married Mr.

Morfin, one of the _employes_ in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant.

When her elder brother John fell into disgrace by robbing his employer, Harriet left the house of her brother James (the manager) to live with and cheer her disgraced brother John.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

CARLE'TON (_Captain_), an officer in the Guards.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

CARLISLE (_Frederick Howard, earl of_), uncle and guardian of lord Byron (1748-1826). His tragedies are _The Father's Revenge_ and _Bellamere_.

The paralytic puling of Carlisle...

Lord, rhymester, _pet.i.t-maitre_, pamphleteer.

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

CAR'LOS, elder son of don Antonio, and the favorite of his paternal uncle Lewis. Carlos is a great bookworm, but when he falls in love with Angelina he throws off his diffidence and becomes bold, resolute, and manly. His younger brother is Clodio, a mere c.o.xcomb.--C. Cibber, _Love Makes a Man_ (1694).

_Carlos_ (under the a.s.sumed name of the marquis D'Antas) married Ogari'ta, but as the marriage was effected under a false name it was not binding, and Ogarita left Carlos to marry Horace de Brienne.

Carlos was a great villain: he murdered a man to steal from him the plans of some Californian mines. Then embarking in the _Urania_, he induced the crew to rebel in order to obtain mastery of the s.h.i.+p.

"Gold was the object of his desire, and gold he obtained." Ultimately, his villainies being discovered, he was given up to the hands of justice.--E. Stirling, _The Orphan of the Frozen Sea_ (1856).

_Carlos (Don)_, son of Philip II. of Portugal; deformed in person, violent and vindictive in disposition. Don Carlos was to have married Elizabeth of France, but his father supplanted him. Subsequently he expected to marry the arch-d.u.c.h.ess Anne, daughter of the emperor Maximilian, but her father opposed the match. In 1564 Philip II.

settled the succession on Rodolph and Ernest, his nephews, declaring Carlos incapable. This drove Carlos into treason, and he joined the Netherlands in a war against his father. He was apprehended and condemned to death, but was killed in prison. This has furnished the subject of several tragedies: _i.e._, Otway's _Don Carlos_ (1672), in English; those of J.G. de Campistron (1683) and M.J. de Chenier (1789) in French; J.C.F. Schiller (1798) in German; Alfieri in Italian, about the same time.

_Car'los (Don)_, the friend of don Alonzo, and the betrothed husband of Leono'ra, whom he resigns to Alonzo out of friends.h.i.+p. After marriage, Zanga induces Alonzo to believe that Leonora and don Carlos entertain a criminal love for each other, whereupon Alonzo, out of jealousy, has Carlos put to death, and Leonora kills herself.--Edward Young, _The Revenge_ (1721).

_Carlos (Don)_, husband of donna Victoria. He gave the deeds of his wife's estate to donna Laura, a courtesan, and Victoria, in order to recover them, a.s.sumed the disguise of a man, took the name of Florio, and made love to her. Having secured a footing, Florio introduced Gaspar as the wealthy uncle of Victoria, and Gaspar told Laura the deeds in her hand were utterly worthless. Laura in a fit of temper tore them to atoms, and thus Carlos recovered the estate and was rescued from impending ruin.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_ (1782).

CARLTON (_Admiral George_), George IV., author of _The Voyage of--in search of Loyalty_, a poetic epistle (1820).

CARMEN, the fisherman's wife who, in Lufcadio Hearn's story _Chita_, adopts the baby dragged by her husband from the surf, and takes it to her heart in place of the child she has lost (1889).

_Carmen (Esch.e.l.le)_, beautiful, ambitious, and intriguing New York society girl.--Charles Dudley Warner, _A Little Journey in the World_ (1889).

CAR'MILHAN, the "phantom s.h.i.+p." The captain of this s.h.i.+p swore he would double the Cape, whether G.o.d willed it or not, for which impious vow he was doomed to abide forever and ever captain in the same vessel, which always appears near the Cape, but never doubles it. The kobold of the phantom s.h.i.+p is named Klabot'erman, a kobold who helps sailors at their work, but beats those who are idle. When a vessel is doomed the kobold appears smoking a short pipe, dressed in yellow, and wearing a night-cap.

CARO, the Flesh or "natural man" personified. Phineas Fletcher says "this dam of sin" is a hag of loathsome shape, arrayed in steel, polished externally, but rusty within. On her s.h.i.+eld is the device of a mermaid, with the motto, "Hear, Gaze, and Die."--_The Purple Island_, vii. (1633).

CAROLINE, queen-consort of George II., introduced by sir W. Scott in _The Heart of Midlothian_. Jeanie Deans has an interview with her in the gardens at Richmond, and her majesty promises to intercede with the king for Effie Deans's pardon.

CAROS OR CARAUSIUS, a Roman captain, native of Belgic Gaul. The emperor Maximian employed Caros to defend the coast of Gaul against the Franks and Saxons. He acquired great wealth and power, but fearing to excite the jealousy of Maximian, he sailed for Britain, where (in A.D. 287) he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor. Caros resisted all attempts of the Romans to dislodge him, so that they ultimately acknowledged his independence. He repaired Agricola's wall to obstruct the incursions of the Caledonians, and while he was employed on this work was attacked by a party commanded by Oscar, son of Ossian and grandson of Fingal. "The warriors of Caros fled, and Oscar remained like a rock left by the ebbing sea."--Ossian, _The War of Caros_.

CARPATH'IAN WIZARD (_The_), Proteus (2 _syl_.), who lived in the island of Car'pathos, in the Archipelago. He was a wizard, who could change his form at will. Being the sea-G.o.d's shepherd, he carried a crook.

[_By_] the Carpathian wizard's book [_crook_]. Milton, _Comus_, 872 (1634).

CARPET (_Prince Housain's_), a magic carpet, to all appearances quite worthless, but it would transport any one who sat on it to any part of the world in a moment. This carpet is sometimes called "the magic carpet of Tangu," because it came from Tangu, in Persia.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Prince Ahmed").

_Carpet_ (_Solomon's_). Solomon had a green silk carpet, on which his throne was set. This carpet was large enough for all his court to stand on; human beings stood on the right side of the throne, and spirits on the left. When Solomon wished to travel he told the wind where to set him down, and the carpet with all its contents rose into the air and alighted at the proper place. In hot weather the birds of the air, with outspread wings, formed a canopy over the whole party.--Sale, _Koran_, xxvii. (notes).

CARPIL'LONA (_Princess_), the daughter of Subli'mus king of the Peaceable Islands. Sublimus, being dethroned by a usurper, was with his wife, child, and a foundling boy thrown into a dungeon, and kept there for three years. The four captives then contrived to escape; but the rope which held the basket in which Carpillona was let down snapped asunder, and she fell into the lake. Sublimus and the other two lived in retirement as a shepherd family, and Carpillona, being rescued by a fisherman, was brought up by him as his daughter. When the "Humpbacked" Prince dethroned the usurper of the Peaceable Islands, Carpillona was one of the captives, and the "Humpbacked"

Prince wanted to make her his wife; but she fled in disguise, and came to the cottage home of Sublimus, where she fell in love with his foster-son, who proved to be half-brother of the "Humpbacked" Prince.

Ultimately, Carpillona married the foundling, and each succeeded to a kingdom.--Comtesse D'Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ ("Princess Carpillona,"

1682).

CAR'PIO (_Bernardo del_), natural son of don Sancho, and dona Ximena, surnamed "The Chaste." It was Bernardo del Carpio who slew Roland at Roncesvalles (4 _syl._). In Spanish romance he is a very conspicuous figure.

CARRAS'CO (_Samson_), son of Bartholomew Carrasco. He is a licentiate of much natural humor, who flatters don Quixote, and persuades him to undertake a second tour.

CARRIER _(Martha)_, a Salem goodwife, tried and executed for witchcraft. To Rev. Cotton Mather's narrative of her crimes and punishment is appended this memorandum:

This rampant hag, Martha Carrier, was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of h.e.l.l.--Cotton Mather, _The Wonders of the Invisible World_ (1693).

CARRIL, the gray-headed, son of Kinfe'na bard of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes.--Ossian, _Fingal_.