Whereon our Saviour died, which found, as it was sought;
From Salem unto Rome triumphantly she brought.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Helena, only daughter of Gerard de Narbon, the physician. She was left under the charge of the countess of Rousillon, whose son Bertram she fell in love with. The king sent for Bertram to the palace, and Helena, hearing the king was ill, obtained permission of the countess to give him a prescription left by her late father. The medicine cured the king, and the king, in gratitude, promised to make her the wife of any one of his courtiers that she chose. Helena selected Bertram, and they were married; but the haughty count, hating the alliance, left France, to join the army of the duke of Florence. Helena, in the mean time, started on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand, carrying with her a letter from her husband, stating that he would never see her more “till she could get the ring from off his finger.” On her way to the shrine, she lodged at Florence with a widow, the mother of Diana, with whom Bertram was wantonly in love. Helena was permitted to pass herself off as Diana, and received his visits, in one of which they exchanged rings. Both soon after this returned to the Countess de Rousillon, where the king was, and the king, seeing on Bertram’s finger the ring which he gave to Helena, had him arrested on suspicion of murder. Helena now explained the matter, and all was well, for all ended well.—Shakespeare, All’s Well that ends Well (1598).
Helena is a young woman, seeking a man in marriage. The ordinary laws of courtship are reversed, the habitual feelings are violated; yet with such exquisite[exquisite] address this dangerous subject is handled that Helena’s forwardness loses her no honor. Delicacy dispenses with her laws in her favor.—C. Lamb.
Helena, a young Athenian lady, in love with Demētrius. She was the playmate of Her´mia, with whom she grew up, as “two cherries on one stalk.”[stalk.”] Egēus (3 syl.), the father of Hermia, promised his daughter in marriage to Demetrius; but when Demetrius saw that Hermia loved Lysander, he turned to Helena, who loved him dearly, and married her.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).
Hel´inore (Dame), wife of Malbecco, who was jealous of her, and not without cause. When Sir Paridel, Sir Sat´yrane (3 syl.), and Britomart (as the squire of Dames) took refuge in Malbecco’s house, Dame Helinore and Sir Paridel had many “false belgardes” at each other, and talked love with glances which needed no interpreter. Helinore, having set fire to the closet where Malbecco kept his treasures, eloped with Paridel, while the old miser stopped to put out the fire. Paridel soon tired of the dame, and cast her off, leaving her to roam whither she listed. She was taken up by the satyrs, who made her their dairy-woman, and crowned her queen of the May.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 9, 10 (1590).
Viridi colore est gemma helitropion, non ita acuto sed nubilo magis et represso, stellis puniceis superspersa. Causa nominis de effectu lapidis est et potestate. Dejecta in labris æneis radios solis mutat sanguineo repercussu, utraque aqua splendorem aëris abjicit et avertit. Etiam illud posse dicitur, ut herba ejusdem nominis mixta et præcantationibus legitimis consecrata eum, a quocunque gestabitur, subtrahat visibus obviorum.—Solinus, Geog., xl.
Helisane de Crenne, contemporary with Pâquier. She wrote her own biography, including the “history of her own death.”—Angoisses Doloureuses (Lyons, 1546).
Hel Keplein, a mantle of invisibility, belonging to the dwarf-king Laurin. (See Invisibility.)—The Heldenbuch (thirteenth century).