Evan'der, the "good old king of Syracuse," dethroned by Dionysius the Younger. Evander had dethroned the elder Dionysius "and sent him for vile subsistence, a wandering sophist through the realms of Greece." He was the father of Euphrasia, and was kept in a dungeon on the top of a rock, where he would have been starved to death, if Euphrasia had not nourished him with "the milk designed for her own babe." When Syracuse was taken by Timoleon, Dionysius by accident came upon Evander, and would have killed him, but Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tryant to the heart.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772). See ERRORS OF AUTHORS, "Dionysius."
Mr. Bently, May 6, 1796, took leave of the stage in the character of "Evander."—W.C. Russell, Representative Actors, 426.
Evangelic Doctor (The), John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation" (1324-1384).
Evangeline, the heroine and title of a tale in hexameter verse by Longfellow, in two parts. Evangeline was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, the richest farmer of Acadia (now Nova Scotia). At the age of 17 she was legally betrothed by the notary-public to Gabriel, son of Basil the blacksmith, but next day all the colony was exiled by the order of George II., and their houses, cattle, and lands were confiscated. Gabriel and Evangeline were parted, and now began the troubles of her life. She wandered from place to place to find her betrothed. Basil had settled at Louisiana, but when Evangeline reached the place, Gabriel had just left; she then went to the prairies, to Michigan, and so on, but at every place she was just too late to meet him. At length, grown old in this hopeless search, she went to Philadelphia and became a sister of mercy. The plague broke out in the city, and as she visited the almshouse she saw an old man smitten down with the pestilence. It was Gabriel. He tried to whisper her name, but death closed his lips. He was buried, and Evangeline lies beside him in the grave.
(Longfellow's Evangeline (1849) has many points of close similitude with Campbell's tale of Gertrude of Wyoming, 1809).
Evans (Sir Hugh), a pedantic Welsh parson and schoolmaster of extraordinary simplicity and native shrewdness.—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).
The reader may cry out with honest Sir Hugh Evans, "I like not when a 'ooman has a great peard."—Macaulay.
Henderson says: "I have seen John Edwin, in 'Sir Hugh Evans,' when preparing for the duel, keep the house in an ecstasy of merriment for many minutes together without speaking a word" (1750-1790).
Evans (William), the giant porter of Charles I. He carried Sir Geoffrey Hudson about in his pocket. Evans was eight feet in height, and Hudson only eighteen inches. Fuller mentions this giant amongst his Worthies.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Evan'the (3 syl.), sister of Sora'no, the wicked instrument of Frederick, duke of Naples, and the chaste wife of Valerio.