live a barren sister all her life.”  Hermia refused to submit to an “unwished yoke,” and fled from Athens with Lysander.  Demetrius, seeing that Hermia disliked him but that Hel’ena doted on him, consented to abandon the one and wed the other.  When Egeus was informed thereof, he withdrew his summons, and gave his consent to the union of his daughter with Lysander.—­Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

[Illustration] S. Knowles, in The Wife, makes the plot turn on a similar “law of marriage” (1833).

E’GIL, brother of Weland; a great archer.  One day, King Nidung commanded him to shoot at an apple placed on the head of his own son.  Egil selected two arrows, and being asked why he wanted two, replied, “One to shoot thee with, O tyrant, if I fail.”

(This is one of the many stories similar to that of William Tell, q.v.) EGILO’NA, the wife of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings of Spain.  She was very beautiful, but cold-hearted, vain, and fond of pomp.  After the fall of Roderick, Egilona married Abdal-Aziz, the Moorish governor of Spain; and when Abdal-Aziz was killed by the Moorish rebels, Egilona fell also.

  The popular rage
  Fell on them both; and they to whom her name
  Had been a mark for mockery and reproach,
  Shuddered with human horror at her fate.

  Southey, Roderick, etc., xxii. (1814).

EG’IA, a female Moor, a servant to Amaranta (wife of Bar’tolus, the covetous lawyer).—­Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).

EG’LAMOUR (Sir) or SIR EGLAMORE of Artoys, a knight of Arthurian romance.  Sir Eglamour and Sir Pleindamour have no French original, although the names themselves are French.

Eg’lamour, the person who aids Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, in her escape.—­Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).

EGLANTINE (3 syl.). daughter of King Pepin, and bride of her cousin Valentine (brother of Orson).  She soon died.—­Valentine and Orson (fifteenth century).

Eglantine (Madame), the prioress; good-natured, wholly ignorant of the world, vain of her delicacy of manner at table, and fond of lap-dogs.  Her dainty oath was “By Saint Eloy!” She “entuned the service swetely in her nose,” and spoke French “after the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe.”—­Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (1388).

EGMONT.  Dutch patriot executed by order of Philip II. of Spain.—­Goethe’s Egmont (1788).

EGYPT, in Dryden’s satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means France.

  Egypt and Tyrus [Holland] intercept your
  trade. 
  Part i. (1681).

EGYPTIAN PRINCESS.  Nitetis, the real daughter of Hophra, king of Egypt, and the assumed daughter of Amases, his successor.  She was sent to Persia, as the bride of Cambyses, the king, but before their marriage, was falsely accused of infidelity, and committed suicide.—­George Ebers, An Egyptian Princess.