Chapter Holy Coat to Homer's Critics of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Holy Maid of Kent (The). Elizabeth Barton, who incited the Roman Catholics to resist the progress of the Reformation, and pretended to act under direct inspiration. She was hanged at Tyburn in 1534.

Holy of Holies (The). The innermost apartment of the Jewish temple, in which the ark of the covenant was kept, and into which only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and that but once a year - the day of atonement.

Holy Water Sprinkler A military club set with spikes. So called facetiously because it makes the blood to flow as water sprinkled by an aspergillum.

Holywell Street (London). Fitzstephens, in his description of London in the reign of Henry II., speaks of "the excellent springs at a small distance from the city," whose waters are most sweet, salubrious, and clear, and whose runnels murmur over the shining stones. "Among these are Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement's well."

Holystone A soft sandstone used for scrubbing the decks of vessels.

Home (1 syl.). (Anglo-Saxon, ham.) Our long home, the grave.
   Who goes home? When the House of Commons breaks up at night the door-keeper asks this question of the members. In bygone days all members going in the direction of the Speaker's residence went in a body to see him safe home. The question is still asked, but is a mere relic of antiquity.

Home, Sweet Home Words by John Howard Payne (an American), introduced in the melodrama called The Maid of Milan.

Homer
   Called Melesigenes (q.v.); the Man of Chios (see CHIOS); the Blind Old Man; Mæonides (q.v.), or Mæonius, either from his father Mæon, or because he was a native of Mæonia (Lydia). He is spoken of as Mæonius senex, and his poems as Mæoniæ chartæ or Mæonia carmina.
   The Casket Homer. An edition corrected by Aristotle, which Alexander the Great always carried about with him, and laid under his pillow at night with his sword. After the battle of Arbéla, a golden casket richly studded with gems was found in the tent of Darius; and Alexander being asked to what purpose it should be assigned, replied, "There is but one thing in the world worthy of so costly a depository," saying which he placed therein his edition of Homer.
   The British Homer. Milton (1608-74).
   The Celtic Homer. Ossian, son of Fingal, King of Morven.
   The Homer of dramatic poets. Shakespeare is so called by Dryden. (1564-1616.)

"Shakespeare was the Homer of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil. I admire rare Ben, but I love Shakespeare." - Dryden.

   Homer of Ferrára. Ariosto is so called by Tasso (1474-1533).
   Homer of the Franks. Charlemagne called Angilbert his Homer (died 814).
   The Oriental Homer. Firdusi, the Persian poet, who wrote the Cháh Nâmeh (or history of the Persian kings). It contains 120,000 verses, and was the work of thirty years (940-1020).
   The Homer of Philosophers. Plato (B.C. 429-347).
   The prose Homer of human nature. Henry Fielding; so called by Byron. (1707-1768.)
   The Scottish Homer. William Wilkie, author of The Epigoniad (1721-1772).

Homer a Cure for the Ague It was an old superstition that if the fourth book of the Iliad was laid under the head of a patient suffering from quartan ague it would cure him at once. Serenus Sammonicus, preceptor of Gordian and a noted physician, vouchee for this remedy.

"Mæoniæ Iliados quartum suppone timenti." -
Præcepta de Medicina, 50.

    The subject of this book is as follows: While Agamemnon adjudges that Menelaos is the winner, and that the Trojans were bound to yield, according to their compact, Pandaros draws his bow, wounds Menelaos, and the battle becomes general. The reason why this book was selected is because it contains the cure of Menelaos by Machaon, "a son of Æsculapius."

Homer in a Nutshell Cicero says that he himself saw Homer's Iliad enclosed in a nutshell.