Cassandra (ka-san´drä).—A daughter of Priam, king of Troy, gifted with the power of prophecy; but Apollo, whom she had offended, brought it to pass that no one believed her predictions. Shakespeare makes use of this character in Troilus and Cressida.
Cassibelan.—Great uncle to Cymbeline, in Shakespeare’s play by that name.
Cassio (kash´iō).—A Florentine, and lieutenant of Othello, and a tool of Iago, in Shakespeare’s tragedy of Othello. Iago made Cassio drunk, and then set on Roderigo to quarrel with him. Cassio wounded Roderigo. Othello suspended Cassio, but Iago induced Desdemona to plead for his restoration. This interest in Cassio confirmed the jealous rage of Othello to murder Desdemona and kill himself. After the death of Othello, Cassio was appointed governor of Cyprus.
Castle Dangerous.—A keep belonging to the Douglas family, which gives its name to one of Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of My Landlord. It was so called by the English because it was always retaken from them by the Douglas.
Castle of Indolence.—The title of a poem by Thomson, and the name of a castle, described in it as situated in a pleasing land of drowsiness, where every sense was steeped in the most luxurious and enervating delights.
Castlewood, Beatrix.—The heroine of Thackeray’s novel Henry Esmond, a picture of splendid, lustrous, physical beauty.
Caudle, Mrs. Margaret.—The feigned author of a series of curtain lectures by Douglas Jerrold, published in Punch, purporting to be the lectures delivered by Mrs. Margaret Caudle to her patient husband, Job Caudle, between the hours of ten at night and seven in the morning.
Cauline, Sir.—A knight in Percy’s Reliques, who served the wine to the king of Ireland. He fell in love with Christabelle, the king’s daughter, and she became his troth-plight wife, without her father’s knowledge. When the king knew of it, he banished Sir Cauline. After a time the soldain asked the lady in marriage, but Sir Cauline challenged his rival and slew him. He himself, however, died of the wounds he had received, and the Lady Christabelle, out of grief, “burst her gentle hearte in twayne.”
Cecilia, St.—A patron saint of the blind, also patroness of musicians, and “inventor of the organ.” According to tradition, an angel fell in love with her for her musical skill, and used nightly to visit her.
Celadon (sel´a-don) and Amelia.—Lovers of matchless beauty and most devoted to each other. Being overtaken by a thunderstorm, Amelia became alarmed, but Celadon, folding his arm about her, said, “’Tis safety to be near thee, sure”; but while he spoke Amelia was struck by lightning and fell dead in his arms.