Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-09-27
a oAAprER ON NAME.
Suggested by Some Thoughts ON the No
menclatnre Of Fiction.

Suggested by Some thoughts ON the NO
menclatnre of Fiction.
'sWhat's In a nameg' asks 6be love sick
Juliet and adds, ga rose 81 any other
name would smell as sweetn-which is true
so far as it goes, but then IL does not go very
far; and though good enough reason for an
enamored beauty, would not satisfy logi-
sian How much there is in name let his
korv declare Men have cut each others
shroats and sent each other to the dungeon,
she rack and the scaffold for the sake Of a
name, and all that name may be made to
represent. ''There is much, nay, almost all,
I'm names,n says Carlyle. Gould / unfold
the influence OF names, which are the most
important of all clothings were a second
great Trismegistus." Hence the anxiety of
poets and novelists 20 fit apt and expressive
names to the creations OF their imaginations
the heirs Of their invention. They justly
understand the weight which attaches to
them-how a judicious choice may favorahly
dispose the reader at the outset, while mis-
take in nomenclature may as speedily disgust
him.
There Is a tradition that the poet Boiardo,
having vainly attempted one day. as he was
riding out, to discover a name for his hero
expressive of his lofty character, and at
engsh hitting upon the word Rodomante,
struck his spurs into his horse galloped back
TO his castle, and ordered all the bells of the
place to DO set ringing in its honor. Twas
wisely done A hero with a low, common
place name is only half hero, shorn, like
the sun in an eclipse, of half his splendor-
Boiardo, by the way, had pretty taste in
inventing names. To him we owe that divine
one-for pure and beautiful woman-An-
gelica, name which has enchanted poster
ity. In this, as in other respects, Ariosto
ran him close. To Angelica he added Ne
dOrO; and Angelica and Medoro you allow,
think, to be a happy combination. Others,
besides Don Quixote, have fallen in love with
the Dulcinea Of Cervantes.
Shakespeare, who excelled in everything,
excelled in inventing or selecting names. Ro-
meO and uiiet-what can be betterl Florizel
and Perdita-beautifull Imogen, the lad
mired,n Miranda, Desdemona, Hermione,
Cordelia-how sweetly these flow from the
tongue, how softly they fall on the earl Spen-
GERS exquisite tact is, of course, beyond dis
pute. He has lowered literature with the
incompatible Una, Belphoebe Britomart,
Gloriana, Speranza, Sir Trevisan and Alma
which Prior borrowed Beaumont and
Fletcher have given US Amoret. The Gavin
lier poets, too, deserve our thanks. Herrick's
julia, Habington's Castara, Lovclace's Al
thea-these be names to charm with So are
the Undine of La Motto Fouque and the
Mignon of Goethe. A lovely woman ought,
in the fitness of things, to have a lovely
name; and a gallant, generous, noble spirited
gentleman should also have a name worthy
OF himself and one his lady will take pleas
ure in repeating. IT'S all very well for Field
ing to dub his coarse, fieshy paragon Tom
Jones or Smollet his crapulous adventurer
Peregrine Pickle, but we feel that no such
vulgar application would beseem Richard
sons high bred paladin, Sir Charles Grandi-
son.
For myself, object to the practice which
some writers adopt of labelling their crea-
lions with names intending to indicate their
characteristics, as apothecaries label their
gallipots-" Extr. Senn@," Pulv. Rhei
and the like We may except, perhaps, such
felicitous instances as Ben Johnson's Sir Epi-
cure Mammon and Sheridan's Mrs. Malaprop;
but have no patience with names so obvious
in their intention as Fondlewife, Courtwell,
GRIPPE, Greedy, Backbite and Witwould. Our
modern dramatists are great offenders in this
way. and so are some of our novelists.
Among recent writers Dickens is often felici-
tous in his choice of names-on which, in
deed, he prided himself exceedingly; but he
too was given to caricatures. Thackeray makes
frequently successful choice; though Iresent
his " Dobbin as degrading to a noble char
acter. Nowadays do not detect much nov
city in this branch of the authors craft; per-
haps there is little room for new discoveries.
illustrated London News.