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Elviʹra (Donna)

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A lady deceived by Don Giovanni, who deluded her into a liaison with his valet, Leporello. (Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni.)

Elvira. A lady who loved Ernaʹni, the robber-captain, and head of a league against Don Carlos, afterwards Charles V. of Spain. She was betrothed to Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detested, and Ernani resolved to rescue her; but it so happened that the king himself fell in love with her, and tried to win her. When Silva learned this, he joined the league; but the king, overhearing the plot in concealment, arrested the conspirators. Elvira interceded for them, and the king granted them a free pardon. When Ernani was on the point of wedding Elvira, Ernani, being summoned to death by Silva, stabbed himself. (Verdi’s opera of Ernani.)

 

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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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Elmo’s Fire (St.)
Elohim
Elohistic and Jehovistic Scriptures
Eloi (St.)
Eloquent
Elshender
Elsie
Elves
Elvidna
Elvino
Elvira (Donna)
Elvish or Elfish
Elysium
Elzevir
Em
Embargo
Embarras de Richesse
Ember Days
Ember Weeks
Emblem
Emblems of the Jewish Temple