Of Italy.
Longfellow, The Wayside Inn, (prelude).
Imogen, daughter of Cym´beline (3 syl.), king of Britain, married clandestinely Posthumus Leonātus; and Posthumus, being banished for the offence, retired to Rome. One day, in the house of Philario, the conversation turned on the merits of wives, and Posthumus bet his diamond ring that nothing could tempt the fidelity of Imogen. Iachimo accepted[accepted] the wager, laid his plans, and after due time induced Posthumus to believe that Imogen had played false, showing, by the way of proof, a bracelet, which he affirmed she had given him; so Posthumus handed over to him the ring given him by Imogen at parting. Posthumus now ordered his servant Pisanio to inveigle Imogen to Milford Haven, under pretence of seeing her husband, and to murder her on the road; but Pisanio told Imogen his instructions, advised her to enter the service of Lucius, the Roman general in Britain, as a page, and promised that he would make Posthumus believe that she was dead. This was done; and not long afterwards a battle ensued, in which the Romans were defeated, and Lucius, Iachimo, and Imogen were taken prisoners. Posthumus also took part in the battle, and obtained for his services the royal pardon. The captives being brought before Cymbeline, Lucius entreated the king to liberate Imogen. The petition was not only granted, but Imogen was permitted, at the same time, to ask a boon of the British king. She only begged that Iachimo should inform the court how he came by the ring he was wearing on his finger. The whole villainy was thus revealed, a reconciliation took place, and all ended happily. (See Zineura.)—Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1605).
Im´ogine (The Fair), the lady betrothed to Alonzo “the Brave,” and who said to him, when he went to the wars: “If ever I marry another, may thy ghost be present at the bridal feast, and bear me off to the grave.” Alonzo fell in battle; Imogine married another; and, at the marriage feast, Alonzo’s ghost, claiming[claiming] the fulfilment of the compact, carried away the bride.—M. G. Lewis, Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogine (1795).
Imogine (The lady), wife of St. Aldobrand. Before her marriage she was courted by Count Bertram, but the attachment fell through, because Bertram was outlawed and became the leader of a gang of thieves. It so happened one day that Bertram, being shipwrecked off the coast of Sicily, was conveyed to the castle of Lady Imogine, and the old attachment revived on both sides. Bertram murdered St. Aldobrand; Imogine, going mad, expired in the arms of Bertram; and Bertram killed himself.—C. Maturin, Bertram (1816).
Imoin´da (3 syl.), daughter of a white man who went to the court of Angola, changed his religion, and grew great as commander of the forces. His daughter was married to Prince Oroonoko. Soon afterwards the young prince was trapanned by Captain Driver, taken to Surinam, and sold for a slave. Here he met his young wife, whom the lieutenant-governor wanted to make his mistress, and Oroonoko headed a rising of the slaves. The end of the story is that Imoinda slew herself; and Oroonoko, having stabbed the lieutenant-governor, put an end to his own life.—Thomas Southern, Oroonoko (1696).
Impertinent (The Curious), an Italian, who, to make trial of his wife’s fidelity, persuades his friend to try and seduce her. The friend succeeds in winning the lady’s love, and the impertinent curiosity of the husband is punished by the loss of his friend and wife too.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iv. 5 (an episode, 1605).
Impostors (Literary).
1. Bertram (Dr. Charles Julius), professor of English at Copenhagen. He gave out that he had discovered, in 1747, in the library of that city, a book entitled De Situ Britanniæ, by Richardus Corinensis. He published this with two other treatises (one by Gildas Badon´icus, and the other by Nennius Banchorensis) in 1757. The forgery was exposed by J. E. Mayor, in his preface to Ricardi de Cirencestria Speculum Historiale.
2. Chatterton (Thomas), published in 1777 a volume of poems, which he asserted to be from the pen of Thomas Rowley, a monk of the fifteenth century. The forgery was exposed by Mason and Gray.