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Vesper Hour
is said to be between the dog and the wolf; “betwixt and
between,” neither day nor night; a breed between the dog and wolf; too
much day to be night, and too much night to be day. Probably the phrase
was suggested by the terms “dog watch” (which begins at four), and “dark as a wolf's mouth.”
Sicilian Vespers.
Easter Monday, March 30, 1282. So called because John of Procida on
that day led a band of conspirators against Charles d'Anjou and his
French countrymen in Sicily. These Frenchmen greatly oppressed the
Sicilians, and the conspirators, at the sound of the vesper bell, put
them all to the sword without regard to age or sex.
The Fatal Vespers.
October 26th, 1623. A congregation of some 300 persons had
assembled in a small gallery over the gateway of the French ambassador,
in Blackfriars, to hear Father Drury, a Jesuit, preach. The gallery
gave way, and about 100 of the congregation were precipitated into the
street and killed. Drury and a priest named Redman were also killed.
This accident was, according to the bigotry of the times, attributed to
God's judgment against the Jesuits. (Stow Chronicles.) (See St. Luke xiii. 4.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Vesper Hour from Infoplease:
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