Elvira.—(1) In Cibber’s Love Makes a Man, sister of Don Duart, and niece of the governor of Lisbon. She marries Clodio, the coxcomb son of Don Antonio. (2) The young wife of Gomez, a rich old banker, in Dryden’s The Spanish Fryer. She carries on a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, by the aid of her father-confessor Dominick, but is always checkmated, and it turns out that Lorenzo is her brother.
Emelye.—The sister-in-law of “Duke Theseus,” beloved by the two knights, Palamon and Arcyte.
Emile (ā-mēl´).—A philosophical romance on education by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762). Emile, the chief character, is the author’s ideal of a young man perfectly educated, every bias but that of nature having been carefully withheld.
Emilia (ē-mil´i-ä).—(1) A lady attending Hermione in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale. (2) Wife to Iago, and waiting woman to Desdemona, in the tragedy of Othello, a woman of thorough vulgarity and loose principles, united to a high degree of spirit, energetic feeling, strong sense, and low cunning. (3) The sweetheart of Peregrine Pickle in Smollett’s novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.
Em’ly, Little.—David Copperfield, Dickens. Daughter of Tom, the brother-in-law of Dan’el Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, by whom the orphan child was brought up. David Copperfield and Em’ly were at one time playfellows. While engaged to Ham Peggotty (Dan’el’s nephew) Little Em’ly runs away with Steerforth, a friend of David’s, who was a handsome but unprincipled gentleman. Being subsequently reclaimed, she emigrates to Australia with Dan’el Peggotty and old Mrs. Gummidge.
Empyrean.—According to Ptolemy, there are five heavens, the last of which is pure elemental fire and the seat of Deity; this fifth heaven is called the empyrean.
Endell, Martha.—David Copperfield, Dickens. A poor girl, to whom Em’ly goes when Steerforth deserts her.
Endymion (en-dim´i-on).—A beautiful shepherd boy whom Diana kissed while he lay asleep on Mount Latmus. The story was made the subject of an English poem by Keats, in memory of his much loved friend, the poet Shelley. Shelley pronounced it “full of some of the highest and the finest gleams of poetry.”
Also a lyric by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow founded on the old mythic story of the mortal youth who was beloved by Diana, and received her kiss—
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.