Luke

brother-in-law of “the city madam.” He was raised from a state of indigence into enormous wealth by a deed of gift of the estates of his brother, Sir John Frugal, a retired merchant. While dependent on his brother, Lady Frugal (“the city lady”) treated Luke with great scorn and rudene ; but, when she and her daughter became dependent on him, he cut down the superfluities of the fine lady to the measure of her original state—as daughter of Goodman Humble, farmer.—Mas singer, The City Madam (1639). Mas singer’s best characters are the hypocritical “Luke” and the heroic “Marullo.”—W. Spalding. Luke , patriarch’s nuncio, and bishop of the Druses. He terms the Druses, ... the docile crew My bezants went to make me bishop of. Robert Browning, The Return of the Druses , v. Luke (Sir) or Sir Luke Limp , a tuft-hunter, a devotee to the bottle, and a hanger-on of great men for no other reason than mere snobbism. Sir Luke will “cling to Sir John till the baronet is superseded by my lord; quitting the puny peer for an earl, and sacrificing all three to a duke.”—S. Foote, The Lame Lover .