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Britʹomart [sweet maid]

.

(see below) Daughter of King Ryence of Wales, whose desire was to be a heroine. She is the impersonation of saintly chastity and purity of mind. She encounters the “savage, fierce bandit and mountaineer” without injury; is assiled byhag and unlaid ghost, goblin, and swart fairy of the mine,” but “dashes their brute violence into sudden adoration and blank awe.” Britomart is not the impersonation of celibacy, as she is in love with an unknown hero, but of “virgin purity.” (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book iii. Her marriage, book v. 6.)

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“She charmed at once and tamed the heart,

Incomparable Britomart.”


 

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Brissotins
Bristol Board
Bristol Boy (The)
Bristol Diamonds
Bristol Fashion (In)
Bristol Milk
Bristol Waters
Britain
Britannia
British Lion (The)
Britomart [sweet maid]
Britomartis
Briton (Like a)
Brittany
Broach
Broad as Long
Broad Arrow
Broad Bottom Ministry (1744)
Broadcloth
Broadside
Brobdingnag

See Also:

Britomart