Chapter Isond to Ivanovitch of I by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Istakhar, in Fars (Persia), upon a rock. (The word means “the throne of Jemshid.”) It is also called “ChilMinar,” or the forty pillars. The Greeks called it Persepolis. Istakhar was the cemetery of the Persian kings, and a royal treasury.

She was fired with impatience to behold the superb tombs of Istakhar, and the palace of forty columns.—Beckford: Vathek (1786).

Isumbras (Sir) or Ysumbras. (See Isenbras, p. 531.)

Itadach (Colman), surnamed “The Thirsty.” In consequence of his rigid observance of the rule of St. Patrick, he refused to drink one single drop of water; but his thirst in the harvest-time was so great that it caused his death.

Italy, a poem in heroic verse, by Samuel Rogers (1822). It is in two parts, each part in twenty-two subdivisions. The stories, he tells us, are taken from old chronicles.

Item, a money-broker. He was a thorough villain, who could “bully, cajole, curse, fawn, flatter, and filch.” Mr. Item always advised his clients not to sign away their money, but at the same time stated to them the imperative necessity of so doing. “I would advise you strongly not to put your hand to that paper, though Heaven knows how else you can satisfy these duns and escape imprisonment.”—Holcroft: The Deserted Daughter (altered into The Steward).

Ithacan Suitors. During the absence of Ulyssês king of Ithaca in the Trojan war, his wife Penelopê was pestered by numerous suitors, who assumed that Ulyssês, from his long absence, must be dead. Penelopê put them off by saying she would finish a certain robe which she was making for Laërtês, her father-in- law, before she gave her final answer to any of them; but at night she undid all the work she had woven during the day. At length, Ulyssês returned, and relieved her of her perplexity.

All the ladies, each at each,
Like the Ithacensian suitors in old time,
Stared with great eyes and laughed with alien lips.
   —Tennyson: the Princess, iv.

Ithocles , in love with Calanth a princess of Sparta. Ithoclês induces his sister Penthea to break the matter to the princess, and in time she not only becomes reconciled to his love, but also requites it, and her father consents to the marriage. During a court festival, Calantha is informed by a messenger that her father has suddenly died, by a second that Penthea has starved herself to death, and by a third that Ithoclês has been murdered by Orgilus out of revenge.—Ford: The Broken Heart (1633).

Ithuriel , a cherub sent by Gabriel to find out Satan. He finds him squatting like a toad beside Eve as she lay asleep, and brings him before Gabriel. (The word means “God’s discovery.”)—Milton: Paradise Lost, iv. 788 (1665).

Ithuriel’s Spear, the spear of the angel Ithuriel, whose slightest touch exposed deceit. Hence, when Satan squatted like a toad “close to the ear of Eve,” Ithuriel only touched the creature with his spear, and it resumed the form of Satan.

… for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness.
   —Milton: Paradise Lost, iv. (1665).

Ithuriel, the guardian angel of Judas Iscariot. After Satan entered into the heart of the traitor, Ithuriel was given to Simon Peter as his second angel.—Klopstock: The Messiah, iii., iv. (1748, 1771).

Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV. of Russia, a man of great energy, but infamous for his cruelties. He was the first to adopt the title of czar (1529, 1533–1584).

Ivanhoe , a novel by sir W. Scott (1820). A brilliant and splendid romance. Rebecca, the Jewess, was Scott’s favourite character. The scene is laid in England in the reign of Richard I., and we are introduced