Narcissa, Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, who insisted on being rouged and dressed in Brussels lace when she was “laid out.” (See [Nancy].)
“Odious! In woolen? ’Twould a saint provoke!”
Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke.
“No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face;
One would not, sure, be frightful when one’s dead!
And, Betty, give this cheek a little red.”
Pope, Moral Essays, i. (1731).
Narcisse, an airy young Creole. He has boundless faith in himself, and a Micawberish confidence in the future. He would like to be called “Papillon,” the butterfly; “’Cause thass my natu’e! I gatheth honey eve’y day fum eve’y opening floweh, as the bahd of Avon wemawked.”—George W. Cable, Dr. Sevier (1883).
Narcissus, a flower. According to Grecian fable, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a fountain, and, having pined away because he could not kiss it, was changed into the flower which bears his name.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, iii. 346, etc.
Echo was in love with Narcissus, and died of grief because he would not return her love.
Narcissus fair,
As o’er the fabled fountain hanging still.
Thomson, Seasons (“Spring,” 1728).
*** Glück, in 1779, produced an opera called Echo et Narcisse.
Narren-Schiff (“The ship of fools”), a satirical poem, in German, by Brandt (1491), lashing the follies and vices of the period. Brandt makes knowledge of one’s self the beginning of wisdom; maintains the equality of man; and speaks of life as a brief passage only. The book at one time enjoyed unbounded popularity.
Narses (2 syl.), a Roman general against the Goths; the terror of children.
The name of Narses was the formidable sound with which the Assyrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants.—Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, viii. 219 (1776-88).