The moral elevation of this heroine, the saintly purity which she preserves amidst scenes of the deepest depravity and the most seductive gaiety, and the never-failing sweetness and benevolence of her temper, render Clarissa one of the brightest triumphs of the whole range of imaginative literature.—Chambers, English Literature, ii. 161.
Harmon (John), alias John Rokesmith, Mr. Boffin’s secretary. He lodged with the Wilfers, and ultimately married Bella Wilfer. He is described as “a dark gentleman, 30 at the utmost, with an expressive, one might say, a handsome face.”—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).
⁂ For explanation of the mystery see vol. I. ii. 13.
Harmo´nia’s Necklace, an unlucky possession, something which brings evil to its possessor. Harmonia was the daughter of Mars and Venus. On the day of her marriage with King Cadmus, she received a necklace made by Vulcan for Venus. This unlucky ornament afterwards passed to Sem´elê, then to Jocasta, then Eriphy´lê, but it was equally fatal in every case. (See Luck.)—Ovid, Metaph., iv. 5; Statius, Thebaid, ii.
Harmonious Blacksmith. It is said that the sound of hammers on an anvil suggested to Handel the “theme” of the musical composition to which he has given this name.—See Schoelcher, Life of Handel, 65.
A similar tale is told of Pythagoras.
Harmony (Mr.), a general peace-maker. When he found persons at variance, he went to them separately, and told them how highly the other spoke and thought of him or her. If it were man and wife, he would tell the wife how highly her husband esteemed her, and would apply the “oiled feather” in a similar way to the husband. “We all have our faults,” he would say, “and So-and-so-knows it, and grieves at his infirmity of temper; but though he contends with you, he praised you to me this morning in the highest terms.” By this means he succeeded in smoothing many a ruffled mind.—Inchbald, Every One has His Fault (1794).
Harold “the Dauntless,” son of Witikind, the Dane. “He was rocked on a buckler, and fed from a blade.” Harold married Eivir, a Danish maid, who had waited on him as a page.—Sir W. Scott, Harold the Dauntless (1817).
Harold (Childe), a man of good birth, lofty bearing, and peerless intellect, who has exhausted by dissipation the pleasures of youth, and travels. Sir Walter Scott calls him “Lord Byron in a fancy dress.” In canto i. the childe visits Portugal and Spain (1809); in canto ii., Turkey in Europe (1810); in canto iii., Belgium[Belgium] and Switzerland (1816); in canto iv., Venice, Rome, and Florence (1817).
⁂ Lord Byron was only 21 when he began Childe Harold, and 28 when he finished it.