Chapter Erminia to Essex Stile of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Erminia to Essex Stile

Erminia The heroine of Jerusalem Delivered. When her father, the King of Antioch, was slain at the siege of Antioch, and Erminia fell captive into the crusader's hands, Tancred gave her her liberty, and restored to her all her father's treasures. This generous conduct quite captivated her heart, and she fell in love with the Christian prince. Aladine, King of Jerusalem, took charge of her. When the Christian army besieged Jerusalem, she dressed herself in Clorinda's armour to go to Tancred, but, being discovered, fled, and lived awhile with some shepherds on the banks of the Jordan. Meeting with Vafrino, sent as a secret spy by the crusaders, she revealed to him the design against the life of Godfrey, and, returning with him to the Christian camp, found Tancred wounded. She cured his wounds, so that he was able to take part in the last great day of the siege. We are not told the ultimate fate of this fair Syrian.

Ernani The bandit-captain, Duke of Segorbia and Cardona, Lord of Aragon, and Count of Ernani, in love with Elvira, who is betrothed to Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detests. Charles V. of Spain also loves her, and tries to win her. Silva, finding that the king has been tampering with his betrothed, joins the league of Ernani against the king. The king in concealment overhears the plotters, and, at a given signal, they are arrested by his guards, but, at the intercession of Elvira, are pardoned and set free. Ernani is on the point of marrying Elvira, when a horn is heard. This horn Ernani had given to Silva when he joined the league, saying, "Sound but this horn, and at that moment Ernani will cease to live." Silva insists on the fulfilment of the compact, and Ernani stabs himself. (Verdi's opera of Ernani.)

Ernest (Duke). A poetical romance by Henry of Veldig (Waldeck), contemporary with Frederick Barbarossa. Duke Ernest is son-in-law of Kaiser Konrad II. Having murdered his feudal lord, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to expiate his crime, and the poem describes his adventures on the way. It is a mixture of Homeric and Oriental myths, and the tales of crusaders. Duke Ernest fulfilled his pilgrimage, returned to Germany, and received absolution.

Eros the Greek equivalent to Cupid.

Erostratus The man who set fire to the temple of Diana in Ephesus, on the day Alexander the Great was born. This he did to make his name immortal. In order to defeat his vainglory, the Ephesians forbade his name to be mentioned, but such a prohibition would be sure to defeat its object.

Erra-Pater An almanack. William Lilly, the almanack-maker and astrologer, is so called by Butler. It is said to have been the "name" of an eminent Jewish astrologer. (Halliwell: Archaic Dictionary.)

"In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater."
Butler: Hudibras, i. 1.

Erse (1 syl.). The native language of the West Highlanders of Scotland, who are of Irish origin. It is a variant of Irish. Applied by the Scotch Lowlanders to the Highland dialect of Gaelic. In the eighteenth century Scotch was often called Erse, without distinction of Highland and Lowland; and Irish was spoken of as Irish Gaelic. The practice now is to limit the word Erse to Irish, and Gaelic to Scotch Highlanders.

Erudite Most erudite of the Romans. Marcus Terentius Varro, a man of vast and varied erudition in almost every department of literature. (B.C. 116-27.)

Erythreos (See Horse .)

Erythynus Have no doings with the Erythynus. This is the thirty-third Symbol of the Protreptics of Iamblichus. The Erythynus is a fish called by Pliny (ix. 77) erythrinus, a red fish with a white belly. Pythagoras used this fish as a symbol of a braggadocio, which has a lily liver. Have no doings with those who are tongue-doughty, but have white stomachs (where stomach means true courage).