E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Car’abas.
He is a Marquis of Carabas. A fossil nobleman, of unbounded pretensions and vanity, who would fain restore the slavish foolery of the reign
of Louis XIV.; one with Fortunatus’s purse, which was never empty. The character is taken from Perrault’s tale of Puss in Boots.
