Chapter Caliban to Calumet of Peace of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Calista, the fierce and haughty daughter of Sciolto, a proud Genoese nobleman. She yielded to the seduction o f Lothario, but engaged to marry Altamont, a young lord who loved her dearly. On the wedding day a letter was picked up which proved her guilt, and she was subsequently seen by Altamont conversing with Lothario. A duel ensued, in which Lothario fell. In a street-row Sciolto received his death-wound, and Calista stabbed herself. The character of “Calista” was one of the parts of Mrs. Siddons, and also of Miss Brunton.—Rowe: The Fair Penitent (1703).

Richardson has given a purity and a sanctity to the sorrows of his “Clarissa” which leave “Clarissa” immeasurably behind.—R. Chambers: English Literature, i. 590.

Twelve years after Norris’s death, Mrs. Barry was acting the character of “Calista.” In the last act, where “Calista” lays her hand upon a skull, she [Mrs. Barry] was suddenly seized with a shuddering, and fainted. Next day she asked whence the skull had been obtained, and was told it was “the skull of Mr. Norris, an actor.” This Norris was her former husband, and so great was the shock that she died within six weeks.—Oxberry.

Calisto and Arcas. Calisto, an Arcadian nymph, was changed into a she-bear. Her son Arcas, supposing the bear to be an ordinary beast, was about to shoot it, when Jupiter metamorphosed him into a he- bear. Both were taken to heaven by Jupiter, and became the constellations Ursa Minor and Ursa Major.

Callaghan O’Brallaghan (Sir), “a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humour makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellona had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster, and the Furies his playfellows” (act i. sc. I). He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.—Macklin: Love à- la-mode (1779).

In the records of the stage, no actor ever approached Jack Johnstone in Irish characters: “sir Lucas O’Trigger,” “Callaghan O’Brallaghan,” “major O’Flaherty,” “Teague,” “Tully” (the Irish gardener), and “Dennis Brulgruddery” were portrayed by him in most exquisite colours.—New Monthly Magazine (1829).

(“Lucius O’Trigger,” in The Rivals (Sheridan); “major O’Flaherty,” in The West Indian (Cumberland); “Teague,” in The Committee (Howard); “Dennis Brulgruddery,” in John Bull (Colman).)

Callet, a Fille publique. Brantôme says a calle or calotte is “a cap;” hence the phrase, Plattes comme des calles. Ben Jonson, in his Magnetick Lady, speaks of “wearing the callet, the politic hood.”

Des filles du peuple et de la campagne s’appellant calls, a cause de la “cale” qui leur servait de coiffure.—Francisque Michel.

En sa tête avoit un gros bonnet blanc, qui l’on appelle une calle, et nous autres appelons calotte, ou bonnette blanche de lagne, nouée ou bridée par dessoubz le menton.—Brantóme: Vies des Dames Illustres.

A begger in his drink
Could not have laid such terms upon his callet.
   —Shakespeare: Othello, act iv. sc. 2 (1611).

Callimachus (The Italian), Filippo Buonaccorsi (1437–1496).

Callirrhoe , the lady-love of Chæreas, in a Greek romance entitled The Loves of Chæreas and Callirrhoê, by Chariton (eighth century). (Chæ=ke.)

Callisthenes , a philosopher who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Oriental expedition. He refused to pay Alexander divine honours, for which he was accused of treason; and, being mutilated, he was chained in a cage for seven months like a wild beast. Lysimachus put an end to his tortures by poison. (See Cages For Men, p. 166.)

Oh, let me roll in Macedonian rays,
Or, like Callisthenes, be caged for life,
Rather than shine in fashions of the East.
   —Lee: Alexander the Great, iv. I (1678).