Chapter ISABELLA to Isolt of I by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Ishban, meant for sir Robert Clayton. There is no such name in the Bible as Ishban; but Tate speaks of “extorting Ishban” pursued by “bankrupt heirs.” He says he had occupied himself long in cheating, but then undertook to “reform the state.”

Ishban of conscience suited to his trade,
As good a saint as usurer e’er made …
Could David … scandalize our peerage with his name …
He’d e’en turn loyal to be made a peer.
   —Tate: Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).

Ishbosheth, in Dryden’s satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Richard Cromwell, whose father Oliver is called “Saul.” As Ishbosheth was the only surviving son of Saul, so Richard was the only surviving son of Cromwell. As Ishbosheth was accepted king on the death of his father by all except the tribe of Judah, so Richard was acknowledged “protector” by all except the royalists. As Ishbosheth reigned only a few months, so Richard, after a few months, retired into private life.

They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forego.
   —Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1681).

Ishmonie , the petrified city in Upper Egypt, full of inhabitants all turned to stone.—Perry: View of the Levant.

(Captain Marryat has borrowed this idea in his Pacha of Many Tales.)

Isidore , a Greek slave, the concubine of don Pèdre a Sicilian nobleman. This slave is beloved by Adraste a French gentleman, who plots to allure her away. He first gets introduced as a portrait-painter, and reveals his love. Isidore listens with pleasure, and promises to elope with him. He then sends his slave Zaïde to complain to don Pèdre of ill-treatment, and to crave protection. Don Pèdre promises to stand her friend, and at this moment Adraste appears and demands that she be given up to the punishment she deserves. Pèdre intercedes; Adraste seems to relent; and the Sicilian calls to the young slave to appear. Instead of Zaïde, Isidore comes forth in Zaïde’s veil. “There,” says Pédre, “I have arranged everything. Take her, and use her well.” “I will do so,” says the Frenchman, and leads off the Greek slave.—Molière: Le Sicilien ou L’Amour Peindre (1667).

Isis (Egyptian), the Moon personified. Called “the great mother goddess, mother of Horus” (Cleopatra, p. 37). The sun is Osiris.

Mother Isis was arisen, and threw her gleaming robe across the bosom of the earth.—H. Rider Haggard: Cleopatra, ch. iii.

They [the priests] wore rich mitres shapèd like the moon,
To show that Isis doth the moon portend,
Like as Osiris signifies the sun.
   —Spenser: Faërie Queene, v. 7 (1596).

Isis, a poem by Mason (1748), being an attack on Oxford Jacobinism. Warton replied to it in what he calls The Triumph of Isis (1749).

Iskander Beg=Alexander the Great, George Castriot (1414–1467). (See Skanderbeg.)

Iskander with the Two Horns, Alexander the Great. This Friday is the 18th day of the moon of Safar, in the year 653 [i.e. of the hegira, or A.D. 1255] since the retreat of the great prophet from Mecca to Medina; and in the year 7320 of the epoch of the great Iskander with the two horns.—Arabian Nights (“The Tailor’s Story”).

Island of the Seven Cities, a kind of Dixie’s land, where seven bishops, who quitted Spain during the dominion of the Moors, founded seven cities. The legend says that many have visited the island, but no one has ever quitted it.