BELLONA'S HANDMAIDS 
 
 
is Letitia Hardy, and her stratagem was for 
the sake of winning the love of Doricourt, 
to whom she had been betrothed. The 
very fact of being betrothed to Letitia sets 
Doricourt against her, so she goes unknown 
to him to a masquerade, where Doricourt 
falls in love with "the beautiful stranger." 
In order to accomplish the marriage of 
his daughter, Mr. Hardy pretends to be 
"sick unto death," and beseeches Doricourt 
to wed Letitia before he dies. Letitia 
meets her betrothed in her masquerade 
dress, and unbounded is the joy of the 
young man to find that "the beautiful 
stranger" is the lady to whom he has been 
betrothed.-Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Strat- 
agem (1780). 
 
  Belle the Giant. It is said that the 
giant Belle mounted on his sorrel horse at 
a place since called mount Sorrel. He 
leaped one mile, and the spot on which he 
lighted was called Wanlip (one-leap) ; thence 
he leaped a second mile, but in so doing 
"burst all" his girths, whence the spot was 
called Burst-all; in the third leap he was 
killed, and the spot received the name of 
Bellegrave. 
 
  Belleur', companion of Pinac and Mira- 
bel (" the wild goose "), of stout blunt tem- 
per; in love with Rosalu'ra, a daughter of 
Nantolet.-Beaumont and Fletcher, The 
Wild Goose Chase (1652). 
 
  Bell IHamlyn, young American girl, 
engaged to one man and in love with 
another, in Kismet, by George Fleming 
(Julia C. Fletcher, 1877). 
 
  Bellicent, daughter of Gorlois lord of 
Tintag'il and his wife YgernA or Igerna. 
As the widow married Uther the pen- 
dragon, and was then the mother of king 
Arthur, it follows that Bellicent was half- 
 
 
sister of Arthur. Tennyson in Gareth and 
Lynette says that Bellicent was the wife of 
Lot king of Orkney, and mother of Gaw'ain 
and Mordred, but this is not in accordance 
either with the chronicle or the history, 
for Geoffrey in his Chronicle says that 
Lot's wife was Anne, the sister (not half- 
sister) of Arthur (viii. 20, 21), and sir T. 
Malory, in his History of Prince Arthur, 
says: 
  King Lot of Lothan and Orkney wedded Mar- 
gawse; Nentres, of the land of Carlot, wedded 
Elain; and that Morgan le Fay was [Arthur's] 
third sister.-Pt. i. 2, 35, 36. 
 
  Bel'lin, the ram, in the beast-epic of 
Beynard the Fox. The word means "gen- 
tleness" (1498). 
 
  Bellingham, a man about town.-D. 
Boucicault, After Dark. 
 
  Bel'lisant, sister of king Pepin of 
France, and wife of Alexander emperor of 
Constantinople. Being accused of infidel- 
ity, the emperor banished her, and she took 
refuge in a vast forest, where she became 
the mother of Valentine and Orson.--Val- 
entine and Orson. 
 
  Bellmont    (Sir  William), father of 
George Bellmont; tyrannical, positive, and 
headstrong. He imagines it is the duty of 
a son to submit to his father's will, even in 
the matter of matrimony. 
   George Bellmont, son of sir William, in 
love with Clarissa, his friend Beverley's 
sister; but his father demands of him to 
marry Belinda Blandford, the troth-plight 
wife of Beverley. Ultimately all comes 
right.-A. Murphy, All in the Wrong (1761). 
 
  Bello'na's Handmaids, Blood, Fire, 
and Famine. 
  The goddesse of warre, called Bellona, had these 
  thre handmaids ever attendynge on her: BLOOD, 
 
 
BELLE'S STRATAGEM 
 
 
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