Isabella

or Is a belle , a pale brown or buff color, similar to that of a hare. It is so called from the prince Isabella of Austria, daughter of Philip II. The tale is, that while besieging Ostend, the prince took an oath that she would not change her body-linen before the town was taken. The siege, however, lasted three years, and her linen was so stained that it gave name to the color referred to (1601-1604). The same story is related of Isabella of Castile at the siege of Grena´da (1483). The horse that Bright sun was mounted on was as black as jet, that of Felix was grey, Cherry’s was as white as milk, and that of the Prince Fair star an Isabella.—Comte e D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Prince Fair star,” 1682). Isabella , daughter of the king of Galicia, in love with Zerbi´no, but Zerbino could not marry her because she was a pagan. Her lament at the death of Zerbino is one of the best parts of the whole poem (bk. xii.). Isabella retires to a chapel to bury her lover, and is there slain by Rodomont.—Ariosto, Or land a Furioso (1516). Isabella , sister of Claudio, insulted by the base pa ion of An´gelo, deputy of Vienna, in the absence of Duke Vincentio. Isabella is delivered by the duke himself, and the deputy is made to marry Mariana, to whom he was already betrothed.—Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603). Isabella , wife of Hieronimo, in The Spanish Tragedy , by Thomas Kyd (1588). Isabella , mother of Ludov´ico Sforza, duke of Milan.—Mas singer, The Duke of Milan (1622). Isabella , a nun who marries Biron, eldest son of Count Baldwin, who disinherits him for this marriage. Biron enters the army, and is sent to the siege of Candy, where he falls, and (it is supposed) dies. For seven years Isabella mourns her lo , and is then reduced to the utmost want. In her distre she begs a istance of her father-in-law, but he drives her from the house as a dog. Villeroy (2 syl. ) offers her marriage, and she accepts him; but the day after her espousals Biron returns. Carlos, hearing of his brother’s return, employs ruffians to murder him, and then charges Villeroy with the crime; but one of the ruffians impeaches, and Carlos is apprehended. Isabella goes mad, and murders herself in her distraction.—Thomas Southern, The Fatal Marriage (1692). Isabella , the coadjutor of Zanga in his scheme of revenge against Don Alonzo.—Young, The Revenge (1721). Isabella , prince of Sicily, in love with Roberto il Diavolo, but promised in marriage to the prince of Grana´da, who challenges Roberto to mortal combat, from which he is allured by Bertram, his fiend-father. Alice tells him that Isabella is waiting for him at the altar, when a struggle ensues between Bertram and Alice, one trying to drag him into hell, and the other trying to reclaim him to the ways of virtue. Alice at length prevails, but we are not told whether or not Roberto marries the prince .—Meyer beer, Roberto il Diavolo (1831). Isabella (Donna) , daughter of Don Pedro, a Portuguese nobleman, who designs to marry her to Don Guzman, a gentleman of large fortune. To avoid this hateful marriage, she jumps from a window, with a view of escaping from the house, and is caught by a Colonel Briton, an English officer, who conducts her to the house of her friend, Donna Violantê. Here the colonel calls upon her, and Don Felix, supposing Violantê to be the object of his visits, becomes furiously jealous. After a considerable embroglio, the mystery is cleared up, and a double wedding takes place.—Mrs. Cent livre, The Wonder (1714). Isabella (The counte ) , wife of Roberto. After a long series of crimes of infidelity to her husband, and of murder, she is brought to execution.—John Marston, The Wonder of Women , or Soph on isba (1605). Isabella ( The lady ), a beautiful young girl, who accompanied her father on a chase. Her step-mother requested her to return and tell the cook to prepare the milk-white doe for dinner. Lady Isabella did as she was told, and the cook replied, “Thou art the doe that I must dre .” The scullion-boy exclaimed, “Oh, save the lady’s life, and make thy pies of me!” But the cook heeded him not. When the lord returned and asked for his daughter, the scullion-boy made answer, “If my lord would see his daughter, let him cut the pasty before him.” The father, horrified at the whole affair, adjudged the step-mother to be burnt alive, and the cook to stand in boiling lead, but the scullion-boy he made his heir.—Percy, Reliques iii. 2.