King (The Red), the king of Persia; so called from his red turban.
Credo ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis Rubeum Caput vocant, ita reges Moscoviæ, propter alba tegumenta Albos Reges appellari.—Sigismund.
King (The Snow), Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, killed in the “Thirty Years’ War” at the battle of Lützen, 1632.
In Vienna he was called “The Snow King” in derision. Like a snow-ball, he was kept together by the cold, but as he approached a warmer soil he melted away and disappeared.—Dr. Crichton, Scandinavia, ii. 61 (1838).
King (The White). The ancient kings of Muscovy were so called from the white robe which they used to wear. Solomon wore a white robe; hence our Lord, speaking of the lilies of the field, says that “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke xii. 27).
Principem Moscoviæ Album Regem nuncupant.... Credo ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis Rubeum Caput vocant, ita reges Moscoviæ, propter alba tegumenta Albos Reges appellari.—Sigismund.
⁂ Another explanation may be suggested; Muscovy was called “White Russia,” as Poland was called “Black Russia.”
King (Tom), “the choice spirit of the day for a quiz, a hoax, a joke, a jest, a song, a dance, a race, or a row. A jolly dog, a rare blood, a prime buck, rum soul, and funny fellow.” He drives M. Morbleu, a French barber, living in the Seven Dials, London, almost out of his senses by inquiring over and over again for Mr. Thompson.—Moncrieff, Mon. Tonson.
(There is a Mon. Tonson by Taylor, 1768).
King (surnamed the Affable), Charles VIII. of France (1470, 1483-1498).