I´sengrin (Sir) or Sir Isengrim, the wolf, afterwards created the earl of Pitwood, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox. Sir Isengrin typifies the barons, and Reynard the Church. The gist of the tale is to show how Reynard over-reaches his uncle Wolf (1498).
Ishah, the name of Eve before the Fall; so called because she was taken out of ish, i.e. “man” (Gen. ii. 23); but after the expulsion from paradise, Adam called his wife Eve or Havah, i.e. “the mother of all living” (Gen. iii. 20).
Ishban, meant for Sir Robert Clayton. There is no such name in the Bible as Ishban; but Tate speaks of “extorting Ishban,” pursued by “bankrupt heirs.” He says he had occupied himself long in cheating, but then undertook to “reform the state.”
Ishban of conscience suited to his trade,
As good a saint as usurer e’er made ...
Could David ... scandalize our peerage with his name ...
He’d e’en turn loyal to be made a peer.
Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
Ish´bosheth, in Dryden’s satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Richard Cromwell, whose father, Oliver, is called “Saul.” As Ishbosheth was the only surviving son of Saul, so Richard was the only surviving son of Cromwell. As Ishbosheth was accepted king on the death of his father by all except the tribe of Judah, so Richard was acknowledged “protecter” by all except the royalists. As Ishbosheth reigned only a few months, so Richard, after a few months, retired into private life.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow