Chapter Araphil to Ardven of A by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Areanes, a noble soldier, friend of Cassilane general of Candy.—Beaumont and Fletcher: The Laws of Candy (printed 1647).

Archangel. Burroughs, the puritan preacher, called Cromwell “the archangel that did battle with the devil.”

Archas, “the loyal subject” of the great-duke of Moscovia, and general of the Moscovites. His son is colonel Theodore.

Young Archas, son of the general. Disguised as a woman, he assumes the name of Alinda.—Fletcher: The Loyal Subject (1618). Beaumont died 1616.

Archbishop of Granada told his secretary, Gil Blas, when he hired him, “Whenever thou shalt perceive my pen smack of old age and my genius flag, don’t fail to advertise me of it, for I don’t trust to my own judgment, which may be seduced by self-love.” After a fit of apoplexy, Gil Blas ventured in the most delicate manner to hint to his grace that “his last discourse had not altogether the energy of his former ones.” To this the archbishop replied, “You are yet too raw to make proper distinctions. Know, child, that I never composed a better homily than that which you disapprove. Go, tell my treasurer to give you 100 ducats. Adieu, Mr. Gil Blas; I wish you all manner of prosperity, with a little more taste.”—Lesage: Gil Blas, vii. 3 (1715).

Archer (Francis), friend of Aimwell, who joins him in fortune-hunting. These are the two “beaux.” Thomas viscount Aimwell marries Dorinda, the daughter of lady Bountiful. Archer hands the deeds and property taken from the highwaymen to sir Charles Freeman, who takes his sister, Mrs. Sullen, under his charge again.—George Farquhar: The Beaux’ Stratagem (1707).

Archibald (John), attendant on the duke of Argyle.—Sir W. Scott: Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Archimago, the reverse of holiness, and therefore Satan the father of lies and all deception. Assuming the guise of the Red Cross Knight, he deceived Una; and under the guise of a hermit, he deceived the knight himself. Archimago (Greek, archê magos, “chief magician”) is introduced in bks. i. and ii. of Spenser’s Faërie Queene. The poet says—

…he could take
As many forms and shapes in seeming wise
As ever Proteus to himself could make:
Sometimes a fowl, sometimes a fish in lake,
Now like a fox, now like a dragon fell.
   —Spenser: Faërie Queene, I. ii. 10 (1590).

Archy M’Sarcasm. (See M’Sarcasm.)

Archytas of Tarentum made a woo den pigeon that could fly; and Regiomontanus, a German, made a wooden eagle that flew from Kœnigsberg to meet the emperor; and, having saluted him, returned whence it set out (1436–1476).

Arcite and Palamon, two Theban knights, captives of duke Theseus. (For the tale, see Palamon…)—Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (1388).

Arden (Enoch), the hero of a poetic tale by Tennyson (1864). He is a seaman who had been wrecked on a desert island, and, after an absence of several years, returning home, he found his wife married to another. Seeing her both happy and prosperous, he resolves not to make himself known, so he leaves the place, and dies of a broken heart.—Tennyson: Enoch Arden.

Arden (Forest of), in Shakespeare’s comedy of As You Like It, is a purely imaginary place.

There is a forest of Arden in Staffordshire, but Shakespeare’s forest cannot possibly be the same.