Tho’ well I might your truth mistrust,
  My foolish heart believes you just;
  Reason this faith may disapprove,
  But I believe, because I love.

Lord Lyttleton.

DAMON AND MUSIDO’RA, two lovers who misunderstood each other.  Musidora was coy, and Damon thought her shyness indicated indifference; but one day he saw her bathing, and his delicacy so charmed the maiden that she at once accepted his proffered love.—­Thomson, The Seasons ("Summer,” 1727).

DA’MON AND PYTH’IAS.  Damon, a senator of Syracuse, was by nature hot-mettled, but was schooled by Pythagore’an philosophy into a Stoic coldness and slowness of speech.  He was a fast friend of the republic, and when Dionysius was made “King” by a vote of the senate, Damon upbraided the betrayers of his country, and pronounced Dionysius a “tryant.”  For this he was seized, and as he tried to stab Dionysius, he was condemned to instant death.  Damon now craved respite for four hours to bid farewell to his wife and child, but the request was denied him.  On his way to execution, his friend Pythias encountered him, and obtained permission of Dionysius to become his surety, and to die in his stead, if within four hours Damon did not return.  Dionysius not only accepted the bail, but extended the leave to six hours.  When Damon reached his country villa, Lucullus killed his horse to prevent his return; but Damon, seizing the horse of a chance traveler, reached Syracuse just as the executioner was preparing to put Pythias to death.  Dionysius so admired this proof of friendship, that he forgave Damon, and requested to be taken into his friendship.

This subject was dramatized in 1571 by Richard Edwards, and again in 1825 by John Banim.

(The classic name of Pythias is “Phintias.”)

DAMSEL OR DAMOISEAU (in Italian, donzel; in Latin, domisellus); one of the gallant youths domiciled in the maison du roi. These youths were always sons of the greater vassals.  Louis VII. (le Jeune) was called “The Royal Damsel;” and at one time the royal body-guard was called “The King’s Damsells.”

DAMSEL OF BRITTANY, Eleanor, daughter of Godffrey (second son of Henry II. of England).  After the death of Arthur, his sister Eleanor was next in succession to the crown, but John, who had caused Arthur’s death, confined Eleanor in Bristol Castle, where she remained till her death, in 1241.

D’AMVILLE (2 syl), “the atheist,” with the assistance of Borachio, murdered Montferrers, his brother, for his estates.—­Cyril Tourneur, The Atheists Tragedy (seventeenth century).

DAM’YAN (2 syl.), the lover of May (the youthful bride of January, a Lombard knight, 60 years of age).—­Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Merchant’s Tale,” 1388).

DAN OF THE HOWLET HIRST, the dragon of the revels at Kennaquhair Abbey.—­Sir W. Scott, The Abbot and The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).