⁂ This tale forms the subject of Longfellow’s Golden Legend (1851).
Heir-at-Law. Baron Dubeley being dead, his “heir-at-law” was Henry Morland, supposed to be drowned at sea, and the next heir was Daniel Dowlas, a chandler of Gosport. Scarcely had Daniel been raised to his new dignity, when Henry Morland, who had been cast on Cape Breton, made his appearance, and the whole aspect of affairs was changed. That Dowlas might still live in comfort, suitable to his limited ambition, the heir of the barony settled on him a small life annuity.—G. Colman, Heir-at-law, (1797).
Hel´a, queen of the dead. She is daughter of Loki and Angurbo´da (a giantess). Her abode, called Helheim, was a vast castle in Niflheim, in the midst of eternal snow and darkness.
Down the yawning steep he rode,
That leads to Hela’s drear abode.
Gray, Descent of Odin (1757).
Helen, wife of Menelāos of Sparta. She eloped with Paris, a Trojan prince, while he was the guest of the Spartan king. Menelaos, to avenge this wrong, induced the allied armies of Greece to invest Troy; and after a siege of ten years, the city was taken and burnt to the ground.
⁂ A parallel incident occurred in Ireland. Dervorghal, wife of Tiernan O’Ruark, an Irish chief who held the county of Leitrim, eloped with Dermod M’Murchad, prince of Leinster. Tiernan induced O’Connor, king of Connaught, to avenge this wrong. So O’Connor drove Dermod from his throne. Dermod applied to Henry II. of England, and this was the incident which brought about the conquest of Ireland (1172).—Leland, History of Ireland (1773).
Helen, the heroine of Miss Edgeworth’s novel of the same name. This was her last and most popular tale (1834).
Helen, cousin of Modus, the bookworm. She loved her cousin, and taught him there was a better “art of love” than that written by Ovid.—S. Knowles, The Hunchback (1831).