Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 | Page 6

(1569).
ADAM'IDA, a planet on which reside the unborn spirits of saints, martyrs, and believers. U'riel, the angel of the sun, was ordered at the crucifixion to interpose this planet between the sun and the earth, so as to produce a total eclipse.
Adamida, in obedience to the divine command, flew amidst overwhelming storms, rushing clouds, falling mountains, and swelling seas. Uriel stood on the pole of the star, but so lost in deep contemplation on Golgotha, that he heard not the wild uproar. On coming to the region of the sun, Adamida slackened her course, and advancing before the sun, covered its face and intercepted all its rays.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, viii. (1771).
ADAMS (John), one of the mutineers of the Bounty (1790), who settled in Tahiti. In 1814 he was discovered as the patriarch of a colony, brought up with a high sense of religion and strict regard to morals. In 1839 the colony was voluntarily placed under the protection of the British Government.
Adams (Parson), the beau-ideal of a simple-minded, benevolent, but eccentric country clergyman, of unswerving integrity, solid learning, and genuine piety; bold as a lion in the cause of truth, but modest as a girl in all personal matters; wholly ignorant of the world, being "in it but not of of it."--Fielding, Joseph Andrews (1742).
His learning, his simplicity, his evangelical purity of mind are so admirably mingled with pedantry, absence of mind, and the habit of athletic ... exercise ... that he may be safely termed one of the richest productions of the muse of fiction. Like Don Quixote, parson Adams is beaten a little too much and too often, but the cudgel lights upon his shoulders ... without the slightest stain to his reputation.--Sir W. Scott.
AD'DISON OF THE NORTH, Henry Mackenzie, author of The Man of Feeling (1745-1831).
ADELAIDE, daughter of the count of Narbonne, in love with Theodore. She is killed by her father in mistake for another.--Robt. Jephson, Count of Narbonne (1782).
ADELAIDE FISHER, daughter-in-law of Grandpa and Grandma Fisher in Sallie Pratt McLean Greene's Cape Cod Folks. She has a sweet voice and an edged temper, and it would seem from certain cynical remarks of her own, and Grandma's "Thar, daughter, I wouldn't mind!" has a history she does not care to reveal (1881).
ADELAIDE YATES, the wife of Steve Yates and mother of Little Moses in Charles Egbert Craddock's In the "Stranger People's" Country. Her husband has been seized and detained by the "moonshiners" in the mountains, and the impression is that he has wilfully deserted her. She cannot discredit it, but "She's goin' ter stay thar in her cabin an' wait fur him," said Mrs. Pettengill. "Sorter seems de-stressin', I do declar'. A purty, young, good, r'ligious 'oman a-settin' herself ter spen' a empty life a-waitin' fur Steve Yates ter kum back!" (1890.)
ADELINE (Lady), the wife of lord Henry Amun'deville (4 syl.), a highly educated aristocratic lady, with all the virtues and weaknesses of the upper ten. After the parliamentary sessions this noble pair filled their house with guests, amongst which were the duchess of Fitz-Fulke, the duke of D----, Aurora Raby, and don Juan, "the Russian envoy." The tale not being finished, no key to these names is given. (For the lady's character, see xiv. 54-56.)--Byron, Don Juan, xiii. to the end.
AD'EMAR or ADEMA'RO, archbishop of Poggio, an ecclesiastical warrior in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered.--See _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.
ADIC'IA, wife of the soldan, who incites him to distress the kingdom of Mercilla. When Mercilla sends her ambassador, Samient, to negotiate peace, Adicia, in violation of international law, thrusts her Samient out of doors like a dog, and sets two knights upon her. Sir Artegal comes to her rescue, attacks the two knights, and knocks one of them from his saddle with such force that he breaks his neck. After the discomfiture of the soldan, Adicia rushes forth with a knife to stab Samient, but, being intercepted by sir Artegal, is changed into a tigress.--Spenser, Faery Queen, v. 8 (1596).
[Illustration] The "soldan" is king Philip II. of Spain; "Mercilla" is queen Elizabeth; "Adicia" is Injustice personified, or the bigotry of popery; and "Samient" the ambassadors of Holland, who went to Philip for redress of grievances, and were most iniquitously detained by him as prisoners.
AD'ICUS, Unrighteousness personified in canto vii. of _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. He has eight sons and daughters, viz., Ec'thros (hatred), Eris (variance), a daughter, Zelos (emulation), Thumos (wrath), Erith'ius (strife), Dichos'tasis (sedition), Envy, and Phon'os (murder); all fully described by the poet. (Greek, adikos, "an unjust man.")
ADIE OF AIKENSHAW, a neighbor of the Glendinnings.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
ADME'TUS, a king of Thessaly, husband of Alcestis. Apollo, being condemned by Jupiter to serve a mortal for twelve months for slaying a Cyclops, entered the service of Admetus. James R. Lowell