Doorm.—Idylls of the King (Enid), Tennyson. An earl called “the Bull,” who tried to make Enid his handmaid; but, when she would neither eat, drink, nor array herself in bravery at his bidding, “he smote her on the cheek”; whereupon Geraint slew the “russet-bearded earl” in his own hall.
Dora.—David Copperfield, Dickens. The child-wife to David, affectionate and tender-hearted. She was always playing with her poodle and saying simple things to her “Dody.” She could never be his helper, but she looked on her husband with idolatrous love. When quite young she died.
Dorastus.—The hero of an old popular “history” or romance, upon which Shakespeare founded his Winter’s Tale. It was written by Robert Greene, and was first published in 1588, under the title of Pandosto, the Triumph of Time.
Dorothea.—The heroine of Goethe’s celebrated poem of Herman und Dorothea.
Dory, John.—A character in Wild Oats or The Strolling Gentleman, a comedy by John O’Keefe.
Dotheboys Hall (dö´the-boiz hâl).—Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens. A school for boys kept by a Mr. Squeers, a puffing, ignorant, overbearing brute, whose system of education consisted of alternately beating and starving.
Doubting Castle.—The castle of the giant Despair, in which Christian and Hopeful were incarcerated, but from which they escaped by means of the key called “Promise,” which was able to open any lock in the castle.
Dousterswivel (dös´ter-swiv-el), Herman.—Scott, The Antiquary. A German schemer, who obtains money under the promise of finding hidden wealth by a divining rod.
Drawcansir (drâ´kan-ser).—A bragging, blustering bully, in George Villiers, duke of Buckingham’s The Rehearsal, who took part in a battle, and killed everyone on both sides, “sparing neither friend nor foe.”
Driver.—Guy Mannering, Scott. Clerk to Mr. Pleydell, advocate, Edinburgh.