Dis'mas, the penitent thief; Gesmas the impenitent one.
Distaffi'na, the troth-plight wife of General Bombastês; but Artaxaminous, king of Utopia, promised her "half a crown" if she would forsake the general for himself—a temptation too great to be resisted. When the general found himself jilted, he retired from the world, hung up his boots on the branch of a tree, and dared any one to remove them. The king cut the boots down, and the general cut the king down. Fusbos, coming up at this crisis, laid the general prostrate. At the close of the burlesque all the dead men jump up and join the dance, promising "to die again to-morrow," if the audience desire it.—W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1790.)
Falling on one knee, he put both hands on
his heart and rolled up his eyes, much after the
manner of Bombastes Furioso making love to
Distaffina.—E. Sargent.
Distressed Mother (The), a tragedy by Ambrose Philips (1712). The "distressed mother" is Androm'achê, the widow of Hector. At the fall of Troy she and her son Asty'anax fell to the lot of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, Pyrrhus fell in love with her and wished to marry her, but she refused him. At length an embassy from Greece, headed by Orestês, son of Agamemnon, was sent to Epirus to demand the death of Astyanax, lest in manhood he might seek to avenge his father's death. Pyrrhus told Andromachê he would protect her son, and defy all Greece, if she would consent to marry him; and she yielded. While the marriage rites were going on, the Greek ambassadors fell on Pyrrhus and murdered him. As he fell he placed the crown on the head of Andromachê, who thus became queen of Epirus, and the Greeks hastened to their ships in flight. This play is an English adaptation of Racine's Andromaque (1667).
Ditchley (Gaffer), one of the miners employed by Sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Dithyrambic Poetry (Father of), Arion of Lesbos (fl. B.C. 625).
Ditton (Thomas) footman of the Rev. Mr. Staunton, of Willingham Rectory.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).