Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).
Ursus, humane, tender-hearted pessimist, posing as a misogynist and philanthropist. His favorite comrade is the tame wolf, Homo.--Victor Hugo, L’Homme qui rit.
Use of Pests. David once said he could not image why a wise deity should have created such things as spiders, idiots, and mosquitoes; but his life showed they were all useful to him at any rate. Thus, when he fled from Saul, a spider spun its web at the mouth of the cave, and Saul, feeling assured that the fugitive could not have entered the cave without breaking the web, passed on without further search. Again, when he was taken captive before the king of Gath, he feigned idiocy, and the king dismissed him, for he could not believe such a driveller could be the great champion who had slain Goliath. Once more, when he entered into the tent of Saul, as he was crawling along, Abner, in his sleep, tossed his legs over him. David could not stir, but a mosquito happened to bite the leg of the sleeper, and, Abner shifting it, enabled David to effect his escape.--The Talmud. (See Virgil’s Gnat.)
Used Up, an English version of L’Homme Blasé, of Felix Auguste Duvert, in conjunction with Auguste Théodore de Lauzanne. Charles Mathews made this dramatic trifle popular in England.--Boucicault, Used Up (1845).
Useless Parliament (The), the first parliament held in the reign of Charles I. (June 18, 1625). It was adjourned to Oxford in August, and dissolved twelve days afterwards.
Usher (The House of), a doomed family, the last scions of which are twins--a brother and sister. The brother is the victim of melancholia, the sister seems to die and is buried prematurely. She bursts the coffin and appears in the door of her brother’s room. “For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold--then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and, in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.”--Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840).
Usnach or Usna. Conor, king of Ulster put to death by treachery, the three sons of Usnach. This led to the desolating war against Ulster, which terminated in the total destruction of Eman. This is one of the three tragic stories of the ancient Irish. The other two are The Death of the Children of Touran and The Death of the Children of Lir.
Avenging and bright falls the swift sword of Erin
On him who the brave sons of Usna betrayed!...
By the red cloud that hung over Conor’s dark dwelling