Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 | Page 5

Minerva, etc., according to the sentiment. Bob Acres is a great blusterer,
and talks big of his daring, but when put to the push "his courage
always oozed out of his fingers' ends." J. Quick was the original Bob
Acres.--Sheridan, The Rivals (1775).
As thro' his palms Bob Acres' valor oozed, So Juan's virtue ebbed, I
know not how.
Byron, Don Juan.
Joseph Jefferson's impersonation of Bob Acres is inimitable for fidelity
to the spirit of the original, and informed throughout with exquisite
humor that never degenerates into coarseness.
ACRIS'IUS, father of Dan'aê. An oracle declared that Danaê would
give birth to a son who would kill him, so Acrisius kept his daughter
shut up in an apartment under ground, or (as some say) in a brazen

tower. Here she became the mother of Per'seus (2 syl.), by Jupiter in the
form of a shower of gold. The king of Argos now ordered his daughter
and her infant to be put into a chest, and cast adrift on the sea, but they
were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman. When grown to manhood, Perseus
accidentally struck the foot of Acrisius with a quoit, and the blow
caused his death. This tale is told by Mr. Morris in _The Earthly
Paradise_ (April).
ACTAE'ON, a hunter, changed by Diana into a stag. A synonym for a
cuckold.
Divulge Page himself for a secure and wilful Actæon [cuckold].
Shakespeare, Merry Wives, etc., act iii. sc. 2 (1596).
ACTE'A, a female slave faithful to Nero in his fall. It was this hetæra
who wrapped the dead body in cerements, and saw it decently interred.
This Actea was beautiful. She was seated on the ground; the head of
Nero was on her lap, his naked body was stretched on those
winding-sheets in which she was about to fold him, to lay him in his
grave upon the garden hill.--Ouida, Ariadnê, i. 7.
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES. The last male actor that took a woman's
character on the stage was Edward Kynaston, noted for his beauty
(1619-1687). The first female actor for hire was Mrs. Saunderson,
afterwards Mrs. Betterton, who died in 1712.
AD, AD'ITES (2 syl.). Ad is a tribe descended from Ad, son of Uz, son
of Irem, son of Shem, son of Noah. The tribe, at the Confusion of Babel,
went and settled on Al-Ahkâf [the Winding Sands], in the province of
Hadramant. Shedâd was their first king, but in consequence of his pride,
both he and all the tribe perished, either from drought or the Sarsar (an
icy wind).--Sale's Koran, 1.
Woe, woe, to Irem! Woe to Ad! Death, has gone up into her palaces!....
They fell around me. Thousands fell around. The king and all his
people fell; All, all, they perished all.

Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer, i. 41, 45 (1797).
A'DAH, wife of Cain. After Cain had been conducted by Lucifer
through the realms of space, he is restored to the home of his wife and
child, where all is beauty, gentleness, and love. Full of faith and fervent
in gratitude, Adah loves her infant with a sublime maternal affection.
She sees him sleeping, and says to Cain--
How lovely he appears! His little cheeks In their pure incarnation,
vying with The rose leaves strewn beneath them. And his lips, too,
How beautifully parted! No; you shall not Kiss him; at least not now.
He will awake soon-- His hour of midday rest is nearly over.
Byron, Cain.
ADAM. In Greek this word is compounded of the four initial letters of
the cardinal quarters:
Arktos, [Greek: arktos]. north. Dusis, [Greek: dusis]. west. Anatolê,
[Greek: anatolae]. east. Mesembria, [Greek: mesaembria]. south.
The Hebrew word ADM forms the anagram of A [dam], D [avid], M
[essiah].
Adam, how made. God created the body of Adam of Salzal, i.e. dry,
unbaked clay, and left it forty nights without a soul. The clay was
collected by Azrael from the four quarters of the earth, and God, to
show His approval of Azrael's choice, constituted him the angel of
death.--Rabadan.
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. After the fall Adam was placed on mount
Vassem in the east; Eve was banished to Djidda (now Gedda, on the
Arabian coast); and the Serpent was exiled to the coast of Eblehh.
After the lapse of 100 years Adam rejoined Eve on mount Arafaith
[place of Remembrance], near Mecca.--D'Ohsson.
Death of Adam. Adam died on Friday, April 7, at the age of 930 years.

Michael swathed his body, and Gabriel discharged the funeral rites.
The body was buried at Ghar'ul-Kenz [the grotto of treasure], which
overlooks Mecca.
His descendants at death amounted to 40,000 souls.--D'Ohsson.
When Noah, entered the ark (the same writer says) he took the body of
Adam in a coffin with him, and when he left the ark restored it to