Doe (John) and Richard Roe, the fictitious plaintiff and defendant in an action of ejectment. Men of straw.
Doeg, Saul's herdsman, who told him that the priest Abim'elech. had supplied David with food; whereupon the king sent him to kill Abimelech, and Doeg slew priests to the number of four score and five (1 Samuel xxii. 18). In pt. ii. of the satire called Absalom and Achitophel, Elkaneh Settle is called Doeg, because he "fell upon" Dryden with his pen, but was only a "herdsman or driver of asses."
Doeg, tho' without knowing how or why,
Made still a blundering kind of melody.
Let him rail on ...
But if he jumbles to one line of sense,
Indict him of a capital offense.
Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
Dog (Agrippa's). Cornelius Agrippa had a dog which was generally suspected of being a spirit incarnate.
Arthur's Dog "Cavall."