Thule (thū´lē).—“Ultima Thule.” The extremity of the world; the most northern point known to the ancient Romans. Pliny and others say it is Iceland.
Una (ū´nä).—Faërie Queene, Spenser. The personification of truth. She goes, leading a lamb and riding on a white ass, to the court of Gloriana, to crave that one of her knights might undertake to slay the dragon which kept her father and mother prisoners. The adventure is accorded to the Red Cross Knight. Being driven by a storm into Wandering Wood, a vision is sent to the knight which causes him to leave Una, and she goes in search of him. In her wanderings a lion becomes her attendant. After many adventures, she finds St. George, “the Red Cross Knight,” but he is severely wounded. Una takes him to the House of Holiness, where he is carefully nursed, and then leads him to Eden.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.—A work of fiction by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. It had an enormous sale, and at once made the author famous. As a picture of slave life as it once obtained in the Southern states of America it is certainly unsurpassed. The scenes described in it are so terrible that Mrs. Stowe deemed it advisable to publish in 1853 a Key to the work, showing the large extent to which it is founded upon fact. The hero is, of course, Uncle Tom.
Uncle Tom was an old negro slave of unaffected piety, and most faithful in the discharge of all his duties. His master, a humane man, becomes embarrassed [818] in his affairs, and sells him to a slave-dealer. After passing through various hands, and suffering intolerable cruelties, he dies. The figure next in interest is Legree, the brutal slave-owner. Everyone, also, will remember Eva and Topsy.
Urganda (ör-gän´dä).—In the romance of Amadis de Gaul, a powerful fairy sometimes appearing in all the terrors of an evil enchantress.
Uriel (ū´ri-el), or Israfil.—In the Koran, the angel who is to sound the resurrection trumpet. Longfellow, in The Golden Legend, calls him “the minister of Mars,” and says that he inspires man with “fortitude to bear the brunt and suffering of life.”
Uther (ū´ther).—Son of Constans, one of the fabulous or legendary kings of Britain, and the father of Arthur.
Utopia (ū-tö´pi-ä).—The name of an imaginary island described in the celebrated work of Sir Thomas More, in which was found the utmost perfection in laws, politics, and social arrangements. More’s romance obtained a wide popularity, and the epithet Utopian has since been applied to schemes for the improvement of society which are deemed not practicable.
Uzziel.—In Paradise Lost, the next in command to Gabriel. The word means “God’s strength.”
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