Chapter Labarum to Lady of the Sun of L by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Labarum to Lady of the Sun

Labarum, the imperial standard carried before the Roman emperors in war. Constantine, having seen a luminous cross in the sky the night before the battle of Saxa Rubra, added the sacred monogram xp (Christos).—Gibbon: Decline and Fall, etc., xx. note (1788).

N.B.—The labarum bore the device of a cross, above which was a crown adorned with the sacred monogram and the Greek letters a, w. Attached to the transverse rod was a small purple banner with a gold fringe.

… stars would write his will in heaven,
As once when a labarum was not deemed
Too much for the old founder of these walls [Constantinople].
   —R. Browning: Paracelsus, ii.

Labe, the sorceress-queen of the Island of Enchantments. She tried to change Beder, the young king of Persia, into a halting, one-eyed hack; but Beder was forewarned, and changed Labêherself into a mare.—Arabian Nights (“Beder and Giauharê”).

Laberius, a Roman writer of pantomimes, contemporary with Julius Cæsar.

Laberius would be always sure of more followers than Sophoclês.—Macpherson: Dissertation on Ossian.

La Creevy (Miss), a little talkative, bustling, cheery miniature-painter. Simple-minded, kind-hearted, and bright as a lark. She marries Tim Linkinwater, the old clerk of the brothers Cheeryble.—Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Lackitt (Widow), the widow of an Indian planter. This rich vulgar widow falls in love with Charlotte Weldon, who assumes the dress of a young man and calls herself Mr. Weldon. Charlotte even marries the widow, but then informs her that she is a girl in male apparel, engaged to Mr. Stanmore. The widow consoles herself by marrying Jack Stanmore.—Southern: Oroonoko (1696).

Lacy (Sir Hugo de), constable of Chester, a crusader.
Sir Damian de Lacy, nephew of sir Hugo. He marries lady Eveline.
Randal de Lacy, sir Hugo’s cousin, introduced in several disguises, as a merchant, a hawk- seller, and a robber-captain.—Sir W. Scott: The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Ladas, Alexander’s messenger, noted for his swiftness of foot. Lord Rosebery named one of his horses “Ladas.”

Ladislaus, a cynic, whose humour is healthy and amusing.—Massinger: The Picture (1629).

Ladislaw (Will), the artist in love with Dorothea Brooke the heroine of the novel, who first marries Casaubon, and afterwards Will Ladislaw.—George Eliot (Mrs. J. W. Cross): Middlemarch (1872).

Ladon, the dragon or hydra that assisted the Hesperidês in keeping watch over the golden apples of the Hesperian grove.

So oft th’unamiable dragon hath slept,
That the garden’s imperfectly watched after all.
   —Moore: Irish Melodies (1814).

Ladrone Islands, i.e. “thieves’ islands;” so called by Magellan in 1519, from the thievish disposition of the natives.

Ladurlad, the father of Kailyal. He killed Arvalan for attempting to dishonour his daughter, and thereby incurred the “cur se of Ke hama” (Arvalan’s father). The curse was that water should not wet him nor fire consume him, that sleep should not visit him nor death release him, etc. After enduring a time of agony, thes e curses turned to blessings. Thus, when his daughter was exposed to the fire of the burning pago