Clar'ice (3 syl.), wife of Rinaldo, and sister of Huon of Bordeaux. Introduced in the romances of Bojardo, Ariosto, Tasso, etc.
Clarin or Clarin'da, the confidential maid of Radigund, queen of the Am'azons. When the queen had got Sir Ar'tegal into her power, and made him change his armor for an apron, and his sword for a distaff, she fell in love with the captive, and sent Clarin to win him over by fair promises and indulgences. Clarin performed the appointed mission, but fell in love herself with the knight, and told the queen that Sir Artegal was obstinate, and rejected her advances with scorn.—Spenser, Faery Queen, v. 5 (1596).
Clarinda, the heroine of Mrs. Centlivre's drama The Beau's Duel (1703).
"Estifania," in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, by Beaumont and Fletcher.
Clarin'da, a merry, good-humored, high-spirited lady, in love with Charles Frankly. The madcap Ranger is her cousin.—Dr. Hoadly, The Suspicious Husband (1747).
Clarinda of Robert Burns, was Mrs. Maclehose, who was alive in 1833.
Clarion, the son and heir of Muscarol. He was the fairest and most prosperous of all the race of flies. Aragnol, the son of Arachnê (the spider), entertained a deep and secret hatred of the young prince, and set himself to destroy him; so, weaving a most curious net, Clarion was soon caught, and Aragnol gave him his death-wound by piercing him under the left wing.—Spenser Muiopotmos or The Butterfly's Fate (1590).
Claris'sa, wife of Gripe the scrivener. A lazy, lackadaisical, fine city lady, who thinks "a woman must be of mechanic mold who is either troubled or pleased with anything her husband can do" (act i. 3). She has "wit and beauty, with a fool to her husband," but though "fool," a hard, grasping, mean old hunks.
Claris'sa, sister of Beverley, plighted to George Bellmont.—A. Murphy, All in the Wrong, (1761).