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Rebecca

Daughter of Isaac the Jew, in love with Ivanhoe. Rebecca, with her father and Ivanhoe, being taken prisoners, are confined in Front de Boeuf's castle. Rebecca is taken to the turret chamber and left with the old sibyl there; but when Brian de Bois Guilbert comes and offers her insult she spurns him with heroic disdain, and, rushing to the verge of the battlements, threatens to throw herself over if he touches her. Ivanhoe, who was suffering from wounds received in a tournament, is nursed by Rebecca. Being again taken prisoner, the Grand Master commands the Jewish maiden to be tried for sorcery, and she demands a trial by combat. The demand is granted, when Brian de Bois Guilbert is appointed as the champion against her; and Ivanhoe undertakes her defence, slays Brian and Rebecca is set free. To the general disappointment of novel-readers, after all this excitement Ivanhoe tamely marries the lady Rowen'a, a “vapid piece of still life.” Rebecca pays the newly-married pair a wedding visit, and then goes abroad with her father to get out of the way. (Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894

Rebeccaites

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