Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3 (part 5)

Sa´lem, a young seraph, one of the two tutelar angels of the Virgin Mary and of John the Divine, “for God had given to John two tutelar angels, the chief of whom was Raph´ael, one of the most exalted seraphs of the hierarchy of heaven.”—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).

Sal´emal, the preserver in sickness, one of the four gods of the Adites (2 syl.).—D’Herbelot, Bibliothèques Orientale (1697).

Salian Franks. So called from the Isăla or Yssel, in Holland. They were a branch of the Sicambri; hence, when Clovis was baptized at Rheims, the old prelate addressed him as “Sigambrian,” and said that “he must henceforth set at naught what he had hitherto worshipped, and worship what he had hitherto set at naught.”

Salisbury (Earl of), William Longsword, natural son of Henry II. and Jane Clifford, “The Fair Rosamond.”—Shakespeare, King John (1596); Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Sallust of France (The). César Vichard (1639-1692) was so called by Voltaire.

Salmigondin, or “Salmygondin,” a lordship of Dipsody, given by Pantagruel to Panurge (2 syl.). Alcofribas, who had resided six months in the giant’s mouth without his knowing it, was made castellan of the castle.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 32; iii. 2 (1533-45).

The lordship of Salmygodin was worth 67 million pounds sterling, per annum, in “certain rent,” and an annual revenue for locusts and periwinkles, varying from £24,357 to 12 millions in a good year, when the exports of locusts and periwinkles were flourishing. Panurge, however, could not make the two ends meet. At the close of “less than fourteen days” he had forestalled three years’ rent and revenue, and had to apply to Pantagruel to pay his debts.—Pantagruel, iii. 2.

Salmo´neus (3 syl.), king of Elis, wishing to be thought a god, used to imitate thunder and lightning by driving his chariot over a brazen bridge, and darting burning torches on every side. He was killed by lightning for his impiety and folly

Salmoneus, who while he his carroach drave
Over the brazen bridge of Elis’ stream,
And did with artificial thunder brave
Jove, till he pierced him with a lightning beam.

Lord Brooke, Treatise on Monarchie, vi.

It was to be the literary Salmoneus of the political Jupiter.—Lord Lytton.

Sally in our Alley, subject of popular ballad of same name, by Henry Carew (1663-1743).

Sally (red haired), remembered love of a poor pioneer, whom the Indians have scalped and blinded. As he lies by the camp-fire, he bemoans his hard lot and wishes he had been left to die.

“It’s twice dead not to see.”

Rose Terry Cooke, Poems (1888).

Sally (Kittredge), black-eyed, rosy-cheeked country girl, Mara Linnotti’s friend, and finally, the wife of Moses Pennell.—Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Pearl of Orr’s Island (1860).

Salome and the Baptist. When Salomê delivered the head of John the Baptist to her mother, Herodias pulled out the tongue and stabbed it with her bodkin.

When the head of Cicero was delivered to Marc Antony, his wife, Fulvia, pulled out the tongue and stabbed it repeatedly with her bodkin.

Salvage Knight (The), Sir Arthegal, called Artegal, from bk. iv. 6. The hero of bk. v. (Justice).—Spenser, Faëry Queen (1596).

Salva´tor Rosa (The English) John Hamilton Mortimer (1741-1779.

Salvato´re (4 syl.), Salva´tor Rosa, an Italian painter, especially noted for his scenes of brigands, etc. (1615-1673).

But, ever and anon, to soothe your vision,
Fatigued with these hereditary glories,
There rose a Carlo Dolce or a Titian,
Or wilder group of savage Salvatore’s.

Byron, Don Juan, xiii. 71 (1824).

Sam, a gentleman, the friend of Francis´co.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas (1619).

Sam; one of the Know-Nothings, or Native American party. One of “Uncle Sam’s” sons.

Sam (Dicky), a Liverpool man.

Sam (Uncle), the United States of North America, or rather the government of the states personified. So called from Samuel Wilson, uncle of Ebenezer Wilson. Ebenezer was inspector of Elbert Anderson’s store on the Hudson, and Samuel superintended the workmen. The stores were marked E·A. U·S. (“Elbert Anderson, United States”), but the workmen insisted that U·S. stood for Uncle Sam.”—Mr. Frost.

Sam Kimper. Reformed convict who sets himself earnestly to work to lead a new life, toiling steadily at the shoemaker’s bench, and acting his new religion. His only creed is to believe simply in the Saviour of sinners. “He” (the chaplain) “says to me—‘Just believe in Jesus like you do in Andrew Jackson and you’ll be right in the course of time. Believe that what He said was true, an’ get your mind full of what He said, an’ keep it full.’”—John Habberton, All He Knew (1890).

Sam Silverquill, one of the prisoners at Portanferry.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Sam Weller, servant of Mr. Pickwick. The impersonation of the shrewdness, quaint humor, and best qualities of cockney low life.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Sa´mael (3 syl.), the prince of demons, who, in the guise of a serpant, tempted Eve in paradise. (See Samiel.)

Samarcand Apple, a perfect panacea of all diseases. It was bought by Prince Ahmed, and was instrumental in restoring Nouroun´nihar to perfect health, although at the very point of death.

In fact sir, there is no disease, however painful or dangerous, whether fever, pleurisy, plague, or any other disorder, but it will instantly cure; and that in the easiest possible way; it is simply to make the sick person smell of the apple.—Arabian Nights, (“Ahmed and Pari-Banou”).

Sam´benites [Sam´.be.neetz], persons dressed in the sambenĭto, a yellow coat without sleeves, having devils painted on it. The sambenito was worn by “heretics” on their way to execution.

And blow us up i’ the open streets.
Disguised in rumps, like sambenites.

S. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2 (1678).

Sambo, any male of the negro race.

No race has shown such capabilities of adaptation to varying soil and circumstances as the negro. Alike to them the snows of Canada, the rocky land of New England or the gorgeous profusion of the Southern States. Sambo and Cuffey expand under them all.—Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Sam´eri (Al), the proselyte who cast the golden calf at the bidding of Aaron. After he had made it, he took up some dust on which Gabriel’s horse had set its feet, threw it into the calf’s mouth, and immediately the calf became animated and began to low. Al Beidâwi says that Al Sâmeri was not really a proper name, but that the real name of the artificer was Mûsa ebn Dhafar. Selden says Al Sameri means “keeper,” and that Aaron was so called, because he was the keeper or “guardian of the people.”—Selden, De Diis Syris, i. 4 (see Al Korân, ii. notes).

Sa´mian (The Long-Haired), Pythagoras or Budda Ghooroos, a native of Samos (sixth century B.C.).

Samian He´ra. Hera or Herê, wife of Zeus, was born at Samos. She was worshipped in Egypt as well as in Greece.

Samian Sage (The) Pythagoras, born at Samos (sixth century B.C.).

’Tis enough
In this late age, adventurous to have touched
Light on the numbers of the Samian Sage.

Thomson.

Samias´a, a seraph, in love with Aholiba´mah, the granddaughter of Cain. When the Flood came, the seraph carried off his innamorata to another planet.—Byron, Heaven and Earth (1819).

Sa´miel, the Black Huntsman of the Wolf’s Glen, who gave to Der Freischütz seven balls, six of which were to hit whatever the marksman aimed at, but the seventh was to be at the disposal of Samiel. (See Samael.)—Weber, Der Freischütz (libretto by Kind, 1822).

Samient, the female ambassador of Queen Mercilla to Queen Adicia (wife of the soldan). Adicia treated her with great contumely, thrust her out of doors, and induced two knights to insult her; but Sir Artegal, coming up, drove at one of the unmannerly knights with such fury as to knock him from his horse and break his neck.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. (1596).

(This refers to the treatment of the deputies sent by the states of Holland to Spain for the redress of grievances. Philip (“the soldan”) detained the deputies as prisoners, disregarding the sacred rights of their office as ambassadors).

Sam´ma, the demoniac that John “the Beloved,” could not exorcise. Jesus, coming from the Mount of Olives, rebuked Satan, who quitted “the possessed,” and left him in his right mind.—Klopstock, The Messiah, ii. (1748).

Sammy Craddock, oracle of the Riggan coal-pits. Crabbed, wrinkled, sarcastic old fellow, whose self-conceit is immeasurable. “The biggest trouble I ha’ is settlin’ i’ my moind what the world’ll do when I turn up my toes to th’ daisies, an’ how the government’ll mak’ up their moinds who shall ha’ th’ honer o’ payin’ fer th’ moniment.”—Frances Hodgson Burnett, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s (1877).

Sampson, one of Capulet’s servants.—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1597).

Sampson, a foolish advocate, kinsman of Judge Vertaigne (2 syl.).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).

Sampson (Mrs. Amanda Welsh), well-born Bohemian, financial adventurer and lobbyist. “She was still accustomed to at least a fair semblance of respect from the men who came to see her; women, it is to be noted, being not often seen within her walls.”—Arlo Bates, The Philistines (1888).

Sampson (Dominie), or Abel Sampson, tutor to Harry Bertram, son of the laird of Ellangowan. One of the best creations of romance. His favorite exclamation is “Prodigious!” Dominie Sampson is very learned, simple and green. Sir Walter describes him as “a poor, modest, humble scholar, who had won his way through the classics, but fallen to the leeward in the voyage of life.”—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

His appearance puritanical. Ragged black clothes, blue worsted stockings, pewter-headed long cane.—Guy Mannering (dramatized), i. 2.

Sampson (Dr.), eccentric Irish physician; inventor of Chronothermalism.—Charles Reade, Very Hard Cash.

Sampson (George), a friend of the Wilfer family. He adored Bella Wilfer, but married her youngest sister, Lavinia.—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Sampson (Nurse), dry-visaged, soft-hearted sick-nurse, whose adage is, “Somebody must eat drumsticks,” and whose practice is based upon the formula.—A. D. T. Whitney, Faith Gartney’s Girlhood (1863).

Samson (The British), Thomas Topham (1710-1749).

Samson Agonistes (4 syl.), “Samson, the Combatant,” a sacred drama by Milton, showing Samson blinded and bound, but triumphant over his enemies, who sent for him to make sport by feats of strength on the feast of Dagon. Having amused the multitude for a time, he was allowed to rest awhile against the “grand stand,” and, twining his arms round two of the supporting pillars, he pulled the whole edifice down, and died himself in the general devastation (1632).

Samson’s Crown, an achievement of great renown, which costs the life of the doer thereof. Samson’s greatest exploit was pulling down the “grand stand” occupied by the chief magnates of Philistia at the feast of Dagon. By this deed “he slew at his death more than [all] they which he slew in his life.”—Judges xvi. 30.

And by self-ruin seek a Samson’s crown.

Lord Brooke, Inquisition upon Fame, etc. (1554-1628).

San Bris (Conte di), father of Valenti´na. During the Bartholomew slaughter his daughter and her husband (Raoul) were both shot by a party of musketeers, under the count’s command.—Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots (opera, 1836).

Sancha, daughter of Garcias, king of Navarre, and wife of Fernan Gonsalez, of Castile. Sancha twice saved the life of her husband: when he was cast into a dungeon by some personal enemies who waylaid him, she liberated him by bribing the jailer; and when he was incarcerated at Leon she effected his escape by changing clothes with him.

The countess of Nithsdale effected the escape of her husband from the Tower, in 1715, by changing clothes with him.

The Countess de Lavalette, in 1815, liberated her husband, under sentence of death, in the same way; but the terror she suffered so affected her nervous system that she lost her senses, and never afterwards recovered them.

San´chez II. of Castile, was killed at the battle of Zamo´ra, 1065.

It was when brave King Sanchez
Was before Zamora slain.

Longfellow, The Challenge.

Sanchi´ca, eldest daughter of Sancho and Teresa Panza.—Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15)

Sancho (Don), a rich old beau, uncle to Victoria. “He affects the misdemeanors of a youth, hides his baldness with amber locks, and complains of toothache, to make people believe that his teeth are not false ones.” Don Sancho “loves in the style of Roderigo I.”—Mrs. Cowley, A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).

Sancho Panza, the squire of Don Quixote. A short, pot-bellied peasant, with plenty of shrewdness and good common sense. He rode upon an ass which he dearly loved, and was noted for his proverbs.

Sancho Panza’s Ass, Dapple.

Sancho Panza’s Island-City, Barataria, where he was for a time governor.

Sancho Panza’s Wife, Teresa [Cascajo] (pt. II. i. 5); Maria or Mary [Gutierez] (pt. II. iv. 7); Dame Juana [Gutierez] (pt. I. i. 7); and Joan (pt. I. iv. 21).—Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15).

* The model painting of Sancho Panza is by Leslie; it is called “Sancho and the Duchess.”

Sanchoni´athon or Sanchoniatho. Nine books ascribed to this author are published at Bremen in 1838. The original was said to have been discovered in the convent of St. Maria de Merinhâo, by Colonel Pereira, a Portuguese; but it was soon ascertained that no such convent existed, that there was no colonel of the name Pereira in the Portuguese service, and that the paper bore the water-mark of the Osnabrück paper-mills. (See Impostors, Literary.)

Sanct-Cyr (Hugh de), the seneschal of King René, at Aix.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Sancy Diamond (The) weighs 53-1/2 carats, and belonged to Charles “the Bold” of Burgundy. It was bought, in 1495, by Emmanuel of Portugal, and was sold, in 1580, by Don Antonio to the Sieur de Sancy, in whose family it remained for a century. The sieur deposited it with Henri IV. as a security for a loan of money. The servant entrusted with it, being attacked by robbers, swallowed it, and being murdered, the diamond was recovered by Nicholas de Harlay. We next hear of it in the possession of James II. of England, who carried it with him in his flight, in 1688. Louis XIV. bought it of him for £25,000. It was sold in the Revolution; Napoleon I. rebought it; in 1825 it was sold to Paul Demidoff for £80,000. The prince sold it, in 1830, to M. Levrat, administrator of the Mining Society; but as Levrat failed in his engagement, the diamond became, in 1832, the subject of a lawsuit, which was given in favor of the prince. We next hear of it in Bombay; in 1867 it was transmitted to England by the firm of Forbes and Co.; in 1873 it formed part of “the crown necklace,” worn by Mary of Sachsen Altenburg, on her marriage with Albert of Prussia; 1876, in the investiture of the Star of India by the Prince of Wales, in Calcutta, Dr. W. H. Russel tells us it was worn as a pendant by the maharajah of Puttiala.

* Streeter, in his book of Precious Stones and Gems, 120 (1877), tells us it belongs to the Czar of Russia, but if Dr. Russel is correct, it must have been sold to the maharajah.

Sand (George). Her birth name was Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, afterwards Dudevant (1803-1877).

San´dabar, an Arabian writer, about a century before the Christian era, famous for his parables.

It was rumored he could say
The parables of Sandabar.

Longfellow, The Wayside Inn (prelude 1863).

Sanford (Marion). Truth-loving, sincere, and simple-hearted woman, loyal in deed and thought to her traduced lover until time establishes his innocence.

A marked woman in general society; a woman who reigned, queen-like, over every heart, but among the circle of her relatives ... she was held to be little less than the angels.—Charles King, Marion’s Faith (1886).

Sandford (Harry), the companion of Tommy Merton.—Thomas Day, History of Sandford and Merton (1783-9).

Sandpiper (The).

“Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night?
When the loosed storm breaks furiously?
My driftwood fire will burn so bright!
To what warm shelter can’st thou fly?
I do not fear for thee, ’though wroth
The tempest rushes through the sky.
For are we not God’s children both,
Thou little sandpiper and I?”

Celia Thaxter, Drift-weed (1878).

San´glamore (3 syl.), the sword of Braggadochio.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. (1590).

Sanglier (Sir), a knight who insisted on changing wives with a squire, and when the lady objected, he cut off her head, and rode off with the squire’s wife. Being brought before Sir Artegal, Sir Sanglier insisted that the living lady was his wife, and that the dead woman was the squire’s wife. Sir Artegal commanded that the living and dead women should both be cut in twain, and half of each be given to the two litigants. To this Sir Sanglier gladly assented; but the squire objected, declaring it would be far better to give the lady to the knight than that she should suffer death. On this, Sir Artegal pronounced the living woman to be the squire’s wife, and the dead one to be the knight’s.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 1 (1596).

(“Sir Sanglier” is meant for Shan O’Neil, leader of the Irish insurgents in 1567. Of course this judgment is borrowed from that of Solomon, 1 Kings iii. 16-27.)

Sanglier des Ardennes, Guillaume de la Marck (1446-1485).

Sangraal, Sancgreal, etc., generally said to be the holy plate from which Christ ate at the Last Supper, brought to England by Joseph of Arimathy. Whatever it was, it appeared to King Arthur and his 150 knights of the Round Table, but suddenly vanished, and all the knights vowed they would go in quest thereof. Only three, Sir Bors, Sir Percivale and Sir Galahad, found it, and only Sir Galahad had touched it, but he soon died, and was borne by angels up into heaven. The Sangraal of Arthurian romance is “the dish” containing Christ transubstantiated by the sacrament of the Mass, and made visible to the bodily eye of man. This will appear quite obvious to the reader by the following extracts:—

Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder.... In the midst of the blast entered a sunbeam more clear by seven times than the day, and all they were alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost.... Then there entered into the hall the Holy Grale covered with white samite, but there was none that could see it, nor who bare it, but the whole hall was full filled with good odors, and every knight had such meat and drink as he best loved in the world, and when the Holy Grale had been borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, and they wist not where it became.—Ch. 35.

Then looked they and saw a man come out of the holy vessel, that had all the signs of the passion of Christ, and he said ... “This is the holy dish wherein I ate the lamb on Sher-Thursday, and now hast thou seen it ... yet hast thou not seen it so openly as thou shalt see it in the city of Sarras ... therefore thou must go hence and bear with thee this holy vessel, for this night it shall depart from the realm of Logris ... and take with thee ... Sir Percivale and Sir Bors.”—Ch. 101.

So departed Sir Galahad, and Sir Percivale and Sir Bors with him. And so they rode three days, and came to a river, and found a ship ... and when on board, they found in the midst the table of silver and the Sancgreall covered with red samite.... Then Sir Galahad laid him down and slept ... and when he woke ... he saw the city of Sarras (ch. 103).... At the year’s end ... he saw before him the holy vessel, and a man kneeling upon his knees in the likeness of the bishop, which had about him a great fellowship of angels, as it had been Christ Himself ... and when he came to the sakering of the Mass, and had done, anon he called Sir Galahad, and said unto him, “Come forth ... and thou shalt see that which thou hast much desired to see” ... and he beheld spiritual things ... (ch. 104).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 35, 101, 104 (1470).

The earliest story of the Holy Graal was in verse (A.D. 1100), author unknown.

Chrétien de Troyes has a romance in eight-syllable verse on the same subject (1170).

Guiot’s tale of Titurel, founder of Graalburg, and Parzival, prince thereof, belongs to the twelfth century.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, a minnesinger, took Guiot’s tale as the foundation of his poem (thirteenth century).

In Titurel the Younger the subject is very fully treated.

Sir T. Malory (in pt. iii. of the History of Prince Arthur, translated in 1470 from the French) treats the subject in prose very fully.

R. S. Hawker has a poem on the Sangraal, but it was never completed.

Tennyson has an idyll called The Holy Grail (1858).

Boisserée published, in 1834, at Munich, a work On the Description of the Temple of the Holy Graal.

Sangra´do (Doctor), of Valladolid. This is the “Sagredo” of Espinel’s romance called Marcos de Obregon. “The doctor was a tall, meagre, pale man, who had kept the shears of Clotho employed for forty years at least. He had a very solemn appearance, weighed his discourse, and used ‘great pomp of words.’ His reasonings were geometrical, and his opinions his own.” Dr. Sangrado considered that blood was not needful for life, and that hot water could not be administered too plentifully into the system. Gil Blas became his servant and pupil, and was allowed to drink any quantity of water, but to eat only sparingly of beans, peas and stewed apples.

Dr. Hancock prescribed cold water and stewed prunes.

Dr. Rezio, of Barataria, allowed Sancho Panza to eat “a few wafers and a thin slice or two of quince.”—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 10 (1615).

Sansculottes (3 syl.), a low, riff-raff party in the great French Revolution, so shabby in dress that they were termed “the trouser-less.” The culotte is the breeches, called bræck by the ancient Gauls, and hauts-de-chausses in the reign of Charles IX.

Sansculottism, red republicanism, or the revolutionary platform of the Sansculottes.

The duke of Brunswick, at the head of a large army, invaded France to restore Louis XVI. to the throne, and save legitimacy from the sacrilegious hands of sansculottism.—G. H. Lewes, Story of Goethe’s Life.

Literary Sansculottism, literature of a low character, like that of the “Minerva Press,” the “Leipsic Fair,” “Hollywell Street,” “Grub Street,” and so on.

Sansfoy, a “faithless Saracen,” who attacked the Red Cross Knight, but was slain by him. “He cared for neither God nor man.” Sansfoy personifies infidelity.

Sansfoy, full large of limb and every joint
He was, and carëd not for God or man a point.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 2 (1590).

Sansjoy, brother of Sansfoy. When he came to the court of Lucifĕra, he noticed the shield of Sansfoy on the arm of the Red Cross Knight, and his rage was so great that he was with difficulty restrained from running on the champion there and then, but Lucifera bade him defer the combat to the following day. Next day, the fight began, but just as the Red Cross Knight was about to deal his adversary a death-blow, Sansjoy was enveloped in a thick cloud, and carried off in the chariot of Night to the infernal regions, where Æsculapius healed him of his wounds.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 4, 5 (1590).

(The reader will doubtless call to mind the combat of Menalāos and Paris, and remember how the Trojan was invested in a cloud and carried off by Venus under similar circumstances.—Homer, Iliad, iii.)

Sansloy (“superstition”), the brother of Sansfoy and Sansjoy. He carried off Una to the wilderness, but when the fauns and satyrs came to her rescue, he saved himself by flight.

* The meaning of this allegory is this; Una (truth), separated from St. George (holiness), is deceived by Hypocrisy; and immediately Truth joins Hypocrisy it is carried away by Superstition. Spenser says the “simplicity of truth” abides with the common people, especially of the rural districts, it is lost to towns and the luxurious great. The historical reference is to Queen Mary, in whose reign Una (the Reformation) was carried captive, and religion, being mixed up with hypocrisy, degenerated into superstition, but the rural population adhered to the simplicity of the Protestant faith.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. 2 (1590).

Sansonetto, a Christian regent of Mecca, vicegerent of Charlemagne.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Santa Klaus (1 syl.), the Dutch name of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of youth.

Santiago [Sent.yah´.go], the war-cry of Spain; adopted because St. James (Sant Iago) rendered, according to tradition, signal service to a Christian king of Spain in a battle against the Moors.

Santiago for Spain. This saint was James, son of Zebedee, brother of John. He was beheaded, and caught his head in his hands as it fell. The Jews were astonished, but when they touched the body they found it so cold that their hands and arms were paralyzed.—Francisco Xavier, Añales de Galicia (1733).

Santiago’s Head. When Santiago went to Spain in his marble ship, he had no head on his body. The passage took seven days, and the ship was steered by the “presiding hand of Providence.”—España Sagrada, xx. 6.

Santiago had two heads. One of his heads is at Braga, and one at Compostella.

Santiago lead the armies of Spain. Thirty-eight instances of the interference of this saint are gravely set down as facts in the Chronicles of Galicia, and this is super-added: “These instances are well known, but I hold it for certain that the appearances of Santiago in our victorious armies have been much more numerous, and in fact that every victory obtained by the Spaniards has been really achieved by this great captain.” Once when the rider on the white horse was asked in battle who he was, he distinctly made answer, “I am the soldier of the King of kings, and my name is James.”—Don Miguel Erce Gimenez, Armas i Triunfos del Reino de Galicia, 648-9.

The true name of this saint was Jacobo.... We have first shortened Santo Jacobo into Santo Jac’o. We clipped it again into Sant’ Jaco, and by changing the J into I and the c into g, we get Sant-Iago. In household names we convert Iago into D’iago or Diago, which we soften into Diego.—Ambrosio de Morales, Coronica General de España, ix. 7 sect. 2 (1586).

Santons, a body of religionists, also called Abdals, who pretended to be inspired with the most enthusiastic raptures of divine love. They were regarded by the vulgar as saints. Olearius, Reisebeschreibung, i. 971 (1647).

Sapphi´ra, a female liar.—Acts v. 1.

She is called the village Sapphira.—Crabbe.

Sappho, Greek poetess of the sixth century B.C., called “The Tenth Muse.” Fragments of her verse remain which are very beautiful. She was the victim of unrequited love, and leaped to her death from the Leucadian Rock into the sea.

Sappho (The English), Mrs. Mary D. Robinson (1758-1800).

Sappho (The French), Mdlle. Scudéri (1607-1704).

Sappho (The Scotch), Catherine Cockburn (1679-1749).

Sappho of Toulouse, Clémence Isaure (2 syl.), who instituted, in 1490, Les Jeux Floraux. She is the authoress of a beautiful Ode to Spring (1463-1513).

Sapskull, a raw Yorkshire tike, son of Squire Sapskull, of Sapskull Hall. Sir Penurious Muckworm wishes him to marry his niece and ward, Arbella, but as Arbella loves Gaylove, a young barrister, the tike is played upon thus: Gaylove assumes to be Muckworm, and his lad, Slango, dresses up as a woman to pass for Arbella; and while Sapskull “marries” Slango, Gaylove, who assumes the dress and manners of the Yorkshire tike, marries Arbella. Of course, the trick is then discovered, and Sapskull returns to the home of his father, befooled but not married.—Carey, The Honest Yorkshireman (1736).

Saracen (A), in Arthurian romance, means any unbaptized person, regardless of nationality. Thus, Priamus, of Tuscany, is called a Saracen (pt. i. 96, 97); so is Sir Palomides, simply because he refused to be baptized till he had done some noble deed (pt. ii.).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

Sara Carroll. Devoted daughter of Major Carroll and firm ally of her dainty stepmother, Madame Carroll, in the latter’s renewal of intercourse with her eldest son and concealment of his existence from her husband. Sara contrives that the mother shall be with the young man when he dies, and by becoming the go-between for the two, incurs the suspicions of her lover.—Constance Fenimore Woolson, For the Major.

Saragossa (The Maid of), Augustina Saragossa or Zaragoza, who, in 1808, when the city was invested by the French, mounted the battery in the place of her lover who had been shot. Lord Byron says, when he was at Seville, “the maid” used to walk daily on the prado, decorated with medals and orders, by command of the junta. Southey, History of the Peninsular War (1832).

Her lover sinks—she sheds no ill timed tear;
Her chief is slain—she fills his fatal post;
Her fellows flee—she checks their base career;
The foe retires—she heads the sallying host.
... the flying Gaul,
Foiled by a woman’s hand before a battered wall.

Byron, Childe Harold, i. 56 (1809).

Sardanapa´lus, king of Nineveh and Assyria, noted for his luxury and voluptuousness. Arbācês, the Mede, conspired against him, and defeated him; whereupon his favorite slave, Myrra, induced him to immolate himself on a funeral pile. The beautiful slave, having set fire to the pile, leaped into the blazing mass, and was burnt to death with the king, her master (B.C. 817).—Byron, Sardanapalus (1619).

Sardanapa´lus of China (The), Cheo-tsin, who shut himself up in his palace with his queen, and then set fire to the building, that he might not fall into the hands of Woo-wong (B.C. 1154-1122).

(Cheo-tsin invented the chopsticks, and Woo-wong founded the Tchow dynasty.)

Sardanapa´lus of Germany (The), Wenceslas VI. or (IV.), king of Bohemia and emperor of Germany (1359, 1378-1419).

Sarell Gately. Shrewd, “capable” girl who “lives out” on the Heybrook farm.

“She was a young woman to take up responsibilities as she went along. She liked them. She became naturally a part of whatever was happening in her Troy; and wherever her temporary Troy might be, there was pretty sure to be something happening.”—A. D. T. Whitney, Odd or Even? (1880).

Sassenach, a Saxon, an Englishman. (Welsh, saesonig adj. and saesoniad noun.)

I would, if I thought I’d be able to catch some of the Sassenachs in London.—Very Far West Indeed.

Satan, according to the Talmud, was once an archangel, but was cast out of heaven with one-third of the celestial host for refusing to do reverence to Adam.

In mediæval mythology, Satan holds the fifth rank of the nine demoniacal orders.

Johan Wier, in his Præstigiis Dæmonum (1564), makes Beëlzebub the sovereign of hell, and Satan leader of the opposition.

In legendary lore, Satan is drawn with horns and tail, saucer eyes, and claws; but Milton makes him a proud, selfish, ambitious chief, of gigantic size, beautiful, daring, and commanding. He declares his opinion that it is “better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.” Defoe has written a Political History of the Devil (1726).

Satan, according to Milton, monarch of hell. His chief lords are Beëlzebub, Moloch, Chemos, Thammuz, Dagon, Rimmon, and Belial. His standard-bearer is Azaz´el.

He, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower. His form had not yet lost
All her original brightness; nor appeared
Less than archangel ruined, and the excess
Of glory obscured ... but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
Sat on his faded cheek ... cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 589, etc. (1665).

* The word Satan means “enemy;” hence Milton says:

To whom the arch-enemy,
... in heaven called Satan.

Paradise Lost, i. 81 (1665).

Satanic School (The), a class of writers in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, who showed a scorn for all moral rules and the generally received dogmas of the Christian religion. The most eminent English writers of this school were Bulwer (afterwards Lord Lytton), Byron, Moore, and P. B. Shelley. Of French writers: Paul de Kock, Rousseau, George Sand, and Victor Hugo.

Satire (Father of), Archilŏchos of Paros (B.C. seventh century).

Satire (Father of French), Mathurin Regnier (1573-1613).

Satire (Father of Roman), Lucilius (B.C. 148-103).

Satiro-mastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, a comedy by Thomas Dekker (1602). Ben Jonson, in 1601, had attacked Dekker in The Poetaster, where he calls himself “Horace,” and Dekker “Cris´pinus.” Next year (1602), Dekker replied with spirit to this attack, in a comedy entitled Satiro-mastix, where Jonson is called “Horace, junior.”

Saturday. To the following English sovereigns from the establishment of the Tudor dynasty, Saturday has proved a fatal day:—

Henry VII. died Saturday, April 21, 1509.

George II. died Saturday, October 27, 1760.

George III. died Saturday, January 29, 1820, but of his fifteen children only three died on a Saturday.

George IV. died Saturday, June 26, 1830, but the Princess Charlotte died on a Tuesday.

Prince Albert died Saturday, December 14, 1861. The duchess of Kent and the Princess Alice also died on a Saturday.

* William III., Anne, and George I., all died on a Sunday; William IV. on a Tuesday.

Saturn, son of Heaven and Earth. He always swallowed his children immediately they were born, till his wife, Rhea, not liking to see all her children perish, concealed from him the birth of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, and gave her husband large stones instead, which he swallowed without knowing the difference.

Much as old Saturn ate his progeny;
For when his pious consort gave him stones
In lieu of sons, of those he made no bones.

Byron, Don Juan, xiv. 1 (1824).

Saturn, an evil and malignant planet.

He is a genius full of gall, an author born under the planet Saturn, a malicious mortal whose pleasure consists in hating all the world.—Lesage, Gil Blas, v. 12 (1724).

The children born under the sayd Saturne shall be great jangeleres and chyders ... and they will never forgyve tyll they be revenged of theyr quarrell.—Ptholomeus, Compost.

Satyr. T. Woolner calls Charles II. “Charles the Satyr.”

Next flared Charles Satyr’s saturnalia
Of lady nymphs.

My Beautiful Lady.

* The most famous statue of the satyrs is that by Praxitĕlês, of Athens, in the fourth century.

Satyrane (Sir), a blunt, but noble knight, who helps Una to escape from the fauns and satyrs.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i. (1590).

And passion erst unknown, could gain
The breast of blunt Sir Satyrane.

Sir W. Scott.

* “Sir Satyrane” is meant for Sir John Perrot, a natural son of Henry VIII., and lord deputy of Ireland, from 1583 to 1588; but, in 1590, he was in prison in the Tower for treason, and was beheaded in 1592.

Satyr´icon, a comic romance in Latin, by Petro´nius Ar´biter, in the first century. Very gross, but showing great power, beauty, and skill.

Saul, in Dryden’s satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Oliver Cromwell. As Saul persecuted David, and drove him from Jerusalem, so Cromwell persecuted Charles II., and drove him from England.

... ere Saul they chose,
God was their king, and God they durst depose.

Pt. i. (1681).

* This was the “divine right” of kings.

Saunders, groom of Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Saunders (Richard), the pseudonym of Dr. Franklin, adopted in Poor Richard’s Almanac, begun in 1732.

Saunders Sweepclean, a king’s messenger, at Knockwinnock Castle.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time George III.).

Saunderson (Saunders), butler, etc., to Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, baron of Bradwardine and Tully Veolan.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Saurid, king of Egypt, say the Coptites (2 syl.) built the pyramids 300 years before the Flood, and according to the same authority, the following inscription was engraved upon one of them:—

I, King Saurid, built the pyramids ... and finished them in six years. He that comes after me ... let him destroy them in 600 if he can ... I also covered them ... with satin, and let him cover them with matting.—Greaves, Pyramidographia, (seventeenth century).

Savage (Captain), a naval commander.—Captain Marryat, Peter Simple (1833).

Sav´il, steward to the elder Loveless.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady (1616).

Sav´ille (2 syl.), the friend of Doricourt. He saves Lady Frances Touchwood from Courtall, and frustrates his infamous designs on the lady’s honor.—Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem (1780).

Saville (Lord), a young nobleman with Chiffinch (emissary of Charles II.).—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time Charles II.).

Saviour of Rome. C. Marĭus was so called after the overthrow of the Cimbri, July 30, B.C. 101.

Saviour of the Nations. So the duke of Wellington was termed after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769-1852).

Oh, Wellington ... called “Saviour of the Nations!”

Byron, Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).

Sawney, a corruption of Sandie, a contracted form of Alexander. Sawney means a Scotchman, as David a Welshman, John Bull an Englishman, Cousin Michael a German, Brother Jonathan a native of the United States, Macaire a Frenchman, Colin Tampon a Swiss, and so on.

Sawyer (Bob), a dissipated, struggling young medical practitioner, who tries to establish a practice at Bristol, but without success. Sam Weller calls him “Mr. Sawbones.”—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836)

Saxon Duke (The), mentioned by Butler in his Hudibras, was John Frederick, duke of Saxony, of whom Charles V. said, “Never saw I such a swine before.”

Sboga (Jean), the hero of a romance by C. Nodier (1818), a leader of bandits, in the spirit of Lord Byron’s Corsair and Lara.

Scadder (General), agent in the office of the “Eden Settlement.” His peculiarity consisted in the two distinct expressions of his profile, for “one side seemed to be listening to what the other side was doing.”—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Scalds, court poets and chroniclers of the ancient Scandinavians. They resided at court, were attached to the royal suite, and attended the king in all his wars. They also acted as ambassadors between hostile tribes, and their persons were held sacred. These bards celebrated in song the gods, the kings of Norway, and national heroes. Their lays or vyses were compiled in the eleventh century by Sæmund Sigfusson, a priest and scald of Iceland, and the compilation is called the Elder or Rythmical Edda.

Scallop-Shell (The). Every one knows that St. James’s pilgrims are distinguished by scallop-shells, but it is a blunder to suppose that other pilgrims are privileged to wear them. Three of the popes have, by their bulls, distinctly confirmed this right to the Compostella pilgrim alone: viz., Pope Alexander III., Pope Gregory IX. and Pope Clement V.

Now, the escallop or scallop, is a shell-fish, like an oyster or large cockle; but Gwillim tells us what ignorant zoölogists have omitted to mention, that the bivalve is “engendered solely of dew and air. It has no blood at all; yet no food that man eats turns so soon into life-blood as the scallop.”—Display of Heraldy, 171.

Scallop-shells used by Pilgrims. The reason why the scallop-shell is used by pilgrims is not generally known. The legend is this: When the marble ship which bore the headless body of St. James approached Bouzas, in Portugal, it happened to be the wedding day of the chief magnate of the village; and while the bridal party was at sport, the horse of the bridegroom became unmanageable, and plunged into the sea. The ship passed over the horse and its rider, and pursued its onward course, when, to the amazement of all, the horse and its rider emerged from the water uninjured, and the cloak of the rider was thickly covered with scallop-shells. All were dumbfounded, and knew not what to make of these marvels, but a voice from heaven exclaimed, “It is the will of God that all who henceforth make their vows to St. James, and go on pilgrimage, shall take with them scallop-shells; and all who do so shall be remembered in the day of judgment.” On hearing this, the lord of the village, with the bride and bridegroom, were duly baptized, and Bouzas became a Christian Church.—Sanctoral Portugues (copied into the Breviaries of Alcobaça and St. Cucufate).

Cunctis mare cernentibus,
Sed a profundo ducitur;
Natus Regis submergitur,
Totus plenus conchilibus.

Hymn for St. James’s day.

In sight of all the prince went down,
Into the deep sea dells;
In sight of all the prince emerged,
Covered with scallop-shells.

Scalping (Rules for). The Cheyennes, in scalping, remove from the part just over the left ear a piece of skin not larger than a silver dollar. The Arrapahoes take a similar piece from the region of the right ear. Others take the entire skin from the crown of the head, the forehead, or the nape of the neck. The Utes take the entire scalp from ear to ear, and from the forehead to the nape of the neck.

Scambister (Eric), the old butler of Magnus Troil, the udaller of Zetland.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

* A udaller is one who holds his lands by allodial tenure.

Scandal, a male character in Love for Love, by Congreve (1695).

Scandal (School for), a comedy by Sheridan (1777).

Scanderbeg. So George Castriota, an Albanian hero, was called. Amurath II. gave him the command of 5000 men, and such was his daring and success, that he was called Skander (Alexander). In the battle of Morava (1443) he deserted Amurath, and, joining the Albanians, won several battles over the Turks. At the instigation of Pius II. he headed a crusade against them, but died of a fever, before Mahomet II. arrived to oppose him (1404-1467). (Beg or Bey is the Turkish for “prince.”)

Scanderbeg’s sword needs Scanderbeg’s arm. Mahomet II. “the Great” requested to see the scimitar which George Castriota used so successfully against the Ottomans in 1461. Being shown it, and wholly unable to draw it, he pronounced the weapon to be a hoax, but received for answer, “Scanderbeg’s sword needs Scanderbeg’s arm to wield it.”

The Greeks had a similar saying, “None but Ulysses can draw Ulysses’s bow.”

Scapegoat (The), a farce by John Poole. Ignatius Polyglot, a learned pundit, master of seventeen languages, is the tutor of Charles Eustace, aged 24 years. Charles has been clandestinely married for four years, and has a little son named Frederick. Circumstances have occurred which render the concealment of this marriage no longer decorous or possible, so he breaks it to his tutor, and conceals his young wife for the nonce in Polyglot’s private room. Here she is detected by the housemaid, Molly Maggs, who tells her master, and old Eustace says, the only reparation a man can make in such circumstances is to marry the girl at once. “Just so,” says the tutor. “Your son is the husband, and he is willing at once to acknowledge his wife and infant son.”

Scapin, valet of Léandre, son of Seignior Géronte. (See Fourberies.)—Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671).

(Otway has made an English version of this play, called The Cheats of Scapin, in which Léandre is Anglicized into “Leander,” Géronte is called “Gripe,” and his friend, Argante, father of Zerbinette, is called “Thrifty,” father of “Lucia.”

Scapi´no, the cunning, knavish servant of Gratiano, the loquacious and pedantic Bolognese doctor.—Italian Mask.

Scar (Little), son of Major and Madam Carroll, believed by his father to be legitimate, known by his mother to have been born during the lifetime of her first husband, although she had married the major, supposing herself a widow.—Constance Fenimore Woolson, For the Major.

Scar´amouch, a braggart and fool, most valiant in words, but constantly being drubbed by Harlequin. Scaramouch is a common character in Italian farce, originally meant in ridicule of the Spanish don, and therefore dressed in Spanish costume. Our clown is an imbecile old idiot, and wholly unlike the dashing poltroon of Italian pantomime. The best “Scaramouches” that ever lived were Tiberio Fiurelli, a Neapolitan (born 1608), and Gandini (eighteenth century).

Scar´borough Warning (A), a warning given too late to be taken advantage of. Fuller says the allusion is to an event which occurred in 1557, when Thomas Stafford seized upon Scarborough Castle, before the townsmen had any notice of his approach. Heywood says a “Scarborough warning” resembles what is now called Lynch law: punished first, and warned afterwards. Another solution is this: If ships passed the castle without saluting it by striking sail, it was customary to fire into them a shotted gun, by way of warning.

Be suërly seldom, and never for much ...
Or Scarborow warning, as ill I believe,
When (“Sir, I arrest ye”) gets hold of thy sleeve.

T. Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, x. 28 (1557).

Scarlet (Will), Scadlock or Scathelocke, one of the companions of Robin Hood.

“Take thy good bowe in thy hande,” said Robyn.
“Let Moche wend with the
And so shall Wyllyam Scathelocke,
And no man abyde with me.”

Ritson, Robin Hood Ballads, i. 1 (1520).

The tinker looking him about,
Robin his horn did blow;
Then came unto him Little John
And William Scadlock, too.

Ditto, ii. 7 (1656).

And there of him they made a
Good yeoman Robin Hood,
Scarlet and Little John,
And Little John, hey ho!

Ditto, appendix 2 (1790).

In the two dramas called The First and Second Parts of Robin Hood, by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, Scathlock or Scadlock, is called the brother of Will Scarlet.

... possible that Warman’s spite ... doth hunt the lives
Of bonnie Scarlet and his brother, Scathlock.

Pt. i. (1597).

Then “enter Warman, with Scarlet and Scathlock bounde,” but Warman is banished, and the brothers are liberated and pardoned.

Scarlet Woman (The), popery (Rev. xvii. 4).

And fulminated
Against the scarlet woman and her creed.

Tennyson, Sea Dreams.

Scathelocke (2 syl.) or Scadlock, one of the companions of Robin Hood. Either the brother of Will Scarlet or another spelling of the name. (See Scarlet.)

Scatterbury (Juliet). Ambitious New York woman, who lives in a flat and pretends to distant friends that she lives in a Fifth Avenue brown stone front; “an egregious follower of Ananias and Sapphira.”—William Henry Bishop, The Brown Stone Boy and Other Stories (1888).

Scavenger’s Daughter (The), an instrument of torture, invented by Sir William Skevington, lieutenant of the Tower in the reign of Henry VIII. “Scavenger” is a corruption of Skevington.

To kiss the scavenger’s daughter, to suffer punishment by this instrument of torture, to be beheaded by a guillotine or some similar instrument.

Sceaf [Sheef], one of the ancestors of Woden. So called because in infancy he was laid on a wheatsheaf, and cast adrift in a boat; the boat stranded on the shores of Sleswig, and the infant, being considered a gift from the gods, was brought up for a future king.—Beowulf (an Anglo-Saxon epic, sixth century).

Scepticism (Father of Modern), Pierre Bayle (1647-1706).

Schacabac, “the hare-lipped,” a man reduced to the point of starvation, invited to a feast by the rich Barmecide. Instead of victuals and drink, the rich man set before his guest empty dishes and empty glasses, pretending to enjoy the imaginary foods and drinks. Schacabac entered into the spirit of the joke, and did the same. He washed in imaginary water, ate of the imaginary delicacies, and praised the imaginary wine. Barmecide was so delighted with his guest, that he ordered in a substantial meal, of which he made Schacabac a most welcome partaker.—Arabian Nights (“The Barber’s Sixth Brother”). (See Shaccabac.)

Schah´riah, sultan of Persia. His wife being unfaithful, and his brother’s wife too, Schahriah imagined that no woman was virtuous. He resolved, therefore, to marry a fresh wife every night, and to have her strangled at daybreak. Scheherazādê, the vizier’s daughter, married him notwithstanding, and contrived, an hour before daybreak, to begin a story to her sister, in the sultan’s hearing, always breaking off before the story was finished. The sultan got interested in these tales; and, after a thousand and one nights, revoked his decree, and found in Scheherazadê a faithful, intelligent, and loving wife.—Arabian Nights’ Entertainments.

Schah´zaman, sultan of the “Island of the children of Khal´edan,” situated in the open sea, some twenty day’s sail from the coast of Persia. The sultan had a son, an only child, named Camaral´zaman, the most beautiful of mortals. Camaralzaman married Badoura, the most beautiful of women, the only daughter of Gaiour (2 syl.), emperor of China.—Arabian Nights (“Camaralzaman and Badoura”).

Schaibar (2 syl.), brother of the fairy Pari-Banou. He was only eighteen inches in height, and had a huge hump both before and behind. His beard, though thirty feet long, never touched the ground, but projected forwards. His moustaches went back to his ears, and his little pig’s eyes were buried in his enormous head. He wore a conical hat, and carried for quarterstaff an iron bar of 500 lbs. weight at least.—Arabian Nights (“Ahmed and Pari-Banou”).

Schamir (The) that instrument or agent with which Solomon wrought the stones of the Temple, being forbidden to use any metal instrument for the purpose. Some say the Schamir´ was a worm; some that it was a stone; some that it was “a creature no bigger than a barleycorn, which nothing could resist.”

Scheherazade [Sha.ha´.ra.zah´.de], the hypothetical relater of the stories in the Arabian Nights. She was the elder daughter of the vizier of Persia. The sultan, Schahriah, exasperated at the infidelity of his wife, came to the hasty conclusion that no woman could be faithful; so he determined to marry a new wife every night, and strangle her at daybreak. Scheherazādê, wishing to free Persia of this disgrace, requested to be made the sultan’s wife, and succeeded in her wish. She was young and beautiful, of great courage and ready wit, well read, and an excellent memory, knew history, philosophy, and medicine, was besides a good poet, musician, and dancer. Scheherazadê obtained permission of the sultan for her younger sister, Dinarzadê, to sleep in the same chamber, and instructed her to say, one hour before daybreak, “Sister, relate to me one of those delightful stories which you know, as this will be the last time.” Scheherazadê then told the sultan (under pretence of speaking to her sister) a story, but always contrived to break off before the story was finished. The sultan, in order to hear the end of the story, spared her life till the next night. This went on for a thousand and one nights, when the sultan’s resentment was worn out, and his admiration of his sultana was so great that he revoked his decree.—Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. (See Moradbak.)

Roused like the Sultana Scheherazadê, and forced into a story.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Schemseddin Mohammed, elder son of the vizier of Egypt, and brother of Noureddin Ali. He quarrelled with his brother on the subject of their two children’s hypothetical marriage; but the brothers were not yet married, and children “were only in supposition.” Noureddin Ali quitted Cairo, and travelled to Basora, where he married the vizier’s daughter, and on the very same day Schemseddin married the daughter of one of the chief grandees of Cairo. On one and the same day a daughter was born to Schemseddin, and a son to his brother, Noureddin Ali. When Schemseddin’s daughter was 20 years old, the sultan asked her in marriage, but the vizier told him she was betrothed to his brother’s son, Bed´reddin Ali. At this reply, the sultan, in anger, swore she should be given in marriage to the “ugliest of his slaves;” and accordingly betrothed her to Hunchback, a groom, both ugly and deformed. By a fairy trick, Bedreddin Ali was substituted for the groom, but at daybreak was conveyed to Damascus. Here he turned pastry-cook, and was discovered by his mother by his cheese-cakes. Being restored to his country and his wife, he ended his life happily.—Arabian Nights (“Noureddin Ali,” etc.). (See Cheese-Cakes.)

Schemsel´nihar, the favorite sultana of Haroun-al-Raschid, caliph of Bagdad. She fell in love with Aboulhassan Ali ebn Becar, prince of Persia. From the first moment of their meeting they began to pine for each other, and fell sick. Though miles apart, they died at the same hour, and were both buried in the same grave.—Arabian Nights (“Aboulhassen and Schemselnihar”).

Schlemihl (Peter), the hero of a popular German legend. Peter sells his shadow to an “old man in grey,” who meets him while fretting under a disappointment. The name is a household term for one who makes a desperate and silly bargain.—Chamisso, Peter Schlemihl (1813).

Schmidt (Mr.), a German of kindly spirit and refined tastes, “in his talk gently cynical.” “To know him a little was to dislike him, but to know him well was to love him.” At the feet of a pretty Quaker dame, he laid an homage, which he felt to be hopeless of result, while he was schooled by sorrowful fortunes to accept the position as one which he hardly ever wished to change.—Silas Weir Mitchell, Hephzibah Guinness (1880).

Scholastic (The), Epipha´nius, an Italian scholar (sixth century).

Scholastic Doctor (The), Anselm, of Laon (1050-1117).

Scholey (Lawrence), servant at Burgh-Westra. His master is Magnus Troil, the udaller of Zetland.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

* Udaller, one who holds land by allodial tenure.

Schonfelt, lieutenant of Sir Archibald von Hagenbach, a German noble.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

School of Husbands, (L’école des Maris, “wives trained by men”), a comedy by Molière (1661). Ariste and Sganarelle, two brothers, bring up Léonor and Isabelle, two orphan sisters, according to their systems for making them in time their model wives. Sganarelle’s system was to make the women dress plainly, live retired, attend to domestic duties, and have few indulgences. Ariste’s system was to give the woman great liberty, and trust to her honor. Isabelle, brought up by Sganarelle, deceived him and married another; but Léonor, brought up by Ariste, made him a fond and faithful wife.

Sganarelle’s plan:

J’entend que la mienne vive à ma fantaisie—
Que d’une serge honnête elle ait son vêtement,
Et ne porte le noir, qu’ aux bons jours seulement;
Qu’ enfermée au logis, en personne bien sage,
Elle s’applique toute aux choses du ménage,
A recoudre mon linge aux heures de loisir,
Ou bien à tricoter quelques bas par plasir;
Qu’ aux discours des muguets elle ferme l’oreille,
Et ne sorte jamais sans avoir qui la veille.

Ariste’s plan:

Leur sexe aime à jouir d’un peu de liberté;
On le retient fort mal par tant d’austérité;
Et les soins défiants les verroux et les grilles,
Ne font pas la vertu des femmes ni des filles;
C’est l’honneur qui les doit tenir dans le devoir,
Non la sévérité que nous leur faisons voir ...
Je trouve que le cœur est ce qu’il faut gagner.

Act i. 2.

School for Wives (L’école des Femmes, “training for wives”), a comedy by Molière (1662). Arnolphe has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme upon Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant’s cottage, and designs in due time to make his wife. He sends her from early childhood to a convent, where difference of sex and the conventions of society are wholly ignored. When removed from the convent she treats men as if they were schoolgirls, kisses them, plays with them, and treats them with girlish familiarity. The consequence is, a young man named Horace falls in love with her and makes her his wife, but Arnolphe loses his pains.

Schoolmen. (For a list of the schoolmen of each of the three periods, see Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 794.)

Schoolmistress (The), a poem in Spenserian metre, by Shenstone (1758). The “schoolmistress” was Sarah Lloyd, who taught the poet himself in infancy. She lived in a thatched cottage, before which grew a birch tree, to which allusion is made in the poem.

There dwells, in lowly shed and mean attire,
A matron old, whom we schoolmistress name ...
And all in sight doth rise a birchen tree.

Stanzas 2, 3.

Schreckenwald (Ital.), steward of Count Albert.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Schwaker (Jonas), jester of Leopold, archduke of Austria.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Scian Muse (The), Simon´dês, born at Scia, or Cea, now Zia, one of the Cyclades.

The Scian and the Teian Muse [Anacreon] ...
Have found the fame your shores refuse.

Byron, Don Juan, iii. (“The Isles of Greece,” 1820).

Science (The prince of), Tehuhe, “The Aristotle of China” (died A.D. 1200).

Scio (now called Chios), one of the seven cities which claimed to be the birthplace of Homer. Hence he is sometimes called “Scio’s Blind Old Bard.” The seven cities referred to make an hexameter verse:

Smyrna, Chios, Colophôn, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenæ; or
Smyrna, Chios, Colophôn, Ithacâ, Pylos, Argos, Athenæ.

Antipater Sidonius, A Greek Epigram.

Sciol´to (3 syl.), a proud Genoese nobleman, the father of Calista. Calista was the bride of Altamont, a young man proud and fond of her, but it was discovered on the wedding day that she had been seduced by Lothario. This led to a series of calamities: (1) Lothario was killed in a duel by Altamont; (2) a street riot was created, in which Sciolto received his death-wound; and (3) Calista stabbed herself.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703).

(In Italian, Sciolto forms but two syllables, but Rowe has made it three in every case.)

Scipio “dismissed the Iberian maid” (Milton, Paradise Regained, ii.). The poet refers to the tale of Scipio’s restoring a captive princess to her lover, Allucius, and giving to her, as a wedding present, the money of her ransom. (See Continence.)

During his command in Spain a circumstance occurred which contributed more to his fame and glory than all his military exploits. At the taking of New Carthage, a lady of extraordinary beauty was brought to Scipio, who found himself greatly affected by her charms. Understanding, however, that she was betrothed to a Celtibērian prince named Allucius, he resolved to conquer his rising passion, and sent her to her lover without recompense. A silver shield, on which this interesting event is depicted, was found in the river Rhone by some fishermen in the seventeenth century.—Goldsmith, History of Rome, xiv. 3. (Whittaker’s improved edition contains a fac-simile of the shield on p. 215.)

Scipio, son of the gypsy woman, Coscolīna, and the soldier, Torribio Scipio. Scipio becomes the secretary of Gil Blas, and settles down with him at “the castle of Lirias.” His character and adventures are very similar to those of Gil Blas himself, but he never rises to the same level. Scipio begins by being a rogue, who pilfered and plundered all who employed him, but in the service of Gil Blas he was a model of fidelity and integrity.—Lesage, Gil Blas (1715).

Sciro´nian Rocks, between Meg´ara and Corinth. So called because the bones of Sciron, the robber of Attica, were changed into these rocks when Theseus (2 syl.) hurled him from a cliff into the sea. It was from these rocks that Ino cast herself into the Corinthian bay.—Greek Fable.

Scirum. The men of Scirum used to shoot against the stars.

Like ... men of wit bereaven,
Which howle and shoote against the lights of heaven.

Wm. Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, iv. (1613).

Scogan (Henry), M.A., a poet, contemporary with Chaucer. He lived in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and probably Henry V. Among the gentry who had letters of protection to attend Richard II. in his expedition into Ireland, in 1399, is “Henricus Scogan, Armiger.”—Tyrwhitt’s Chaucer, v. 15 (1773).

Scogan? What was he?
Oh, a fine gentleman and a master of arts
Of Henry the Fourth’s time, that made disguises
For the king’s sons, and writ in ballad royal
Daintily well.

Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles (1626).

Scogan (John), the favorite jester and buffoon of Edward IV. “Scogan’s jests” were published by Andrew Borde, a physician in the reign of Henry VIII.

The same Sir John [Falstaff], the very same. I saw him break Skogan’s head at the court-gate, when he was a crack not thus high.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2.

* Shakespeare has confounded Henry Scogan, M.A., the poet, who lived in the reign of Henry IV., with John Scogan, the jester, who lived about a century later, in the reign of Edward IV.; and, of course, Sir John Falstaff, could not have known him when “he was a mere crack.”

Scogan’s Jest. Scogan and some companions, being in lack of money, agreed to the following trick: A peasant, driving sheep, was accosted by one of the accomplices, who laid a wager that his sheep were hogs, and agreed to abide by the decision of the first person they met. This, of course, was Scogan, who instantly gave judgment against the herdsman.

A similar joke is related in the Hitopadesa, an abridged version of Pilpay’s Fables. In this case, the “peasant” is represented by a Brahmin carrying a goat, and the joke was to persuade the Brahmin that he was carrying a dog. “How is this, friend,” says one, “that you, a Brahmin, carry on your back such an unclean animal as a dog?” “It is not a dog,” says the Brahmin, “but a goat;” and trudged on. Presently another made the same remark, and the Brahmin, beginning to doubt, took down the goat to look at it. Convinced that the creature was really a goat, he went on, when presently a third made the same remark. The Brahmin, now fully persuaded that his eyes were befooling him, threw down the goat and went away without it; whereupon the three companions took possession of it and cooked it.

In Tyll Eulenspiegel we have a similar hoax. Eulenspiegel sees a man with a piece of green cloth, which he resolves to obtain. He employs two confederates, both priests. Says Eulenspiegel to the man, “What a famous piece of blue cloth! Where did you get it?” “Blue, you fool! why, it is green.” After a short contention, a bet is made, and the question in dispute is referred to the first comer. This was a confederate, and he at once decided that the cloth was blue. “You are both in the same boat,” says the man, “which I will prove by the priest yonder.” The question being put to the priest, is decided against the man, and the three rogues divide the cloth amongst them.

Another version is in novel 8 of Fortini. The joke was that certain kids he had for sale were capons.—See Dunlop, History of Fiction, viii. art. “Ser Giovanni.”

Scone [Skoon], a palladium stone. It was erected in Icolmkil for the coronation of Fergus Eric, and was called the Lia-Fail of Ireland. Fergus, the son of Fergus Eric, who led the Dalriads to Argyllshire, removed it to Scone; and Edward I. took it to London. It still remains in Westminster Abbey, where it forms the support of Edward the Confessor’s chair, which forms the coronation chair of the British monarchs.

Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocunque locatum
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.

Lardner, History of Scotland, i. 67 (1832).

Where’er this stone is placed, the fates decree,
The Scottish race shall there the sovereigns be.

* Of course, the “Scottish race” is the dynasty of the Stuarts and their successors.

Scotch Guards, in the service of the French kings, were called his garde du corps. The origin of the guard was this: When St. Louis entered upon his first crusade, he was twice saved from death by the valor of a small band of Scotch auxiliaries under the commands of the earls of March and Dunbar, Walter Stuart, and Sir David Lindsay. In gratitude thereof, it was resolved that “a standing guard of Scotchmen, recommended by the king of Scotland, should ever more form the body-guard of the king of France.” This decree remained in force for five centuries.—Grant, The Scottish Cavalier, xx.

Scotland. So called, according to legend, from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. What gives this legend especial interest is, that when Edward I. laid claim to the country as a fief of England, he pleaded that Brute, the British king, in the days of Eli and Samuel, had conquered it. The Scotch, in their defence, pleaded their independence in virtue of descent from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. This is not fable, but sober history.—Rymer, Fœdera, I. ii. (1703).

Scotland a Fief of England. When Edward I. laid claim to Scotland as a fief of the English crown, his great plea was that it was awarded to Adelstan, by direct miracle, and, therefore, could never be alienated. His advocates seriously read from The Life and Miracles of St. John of Beverley, this extract: Adelstan went to drive back the Scotch, who had crossed the border, and, on reaching the Tyne, St. John of Beverley appeared to him, and bade him cross the river at daybreak. Adelstan obeyed, and reduced the whole kingdom to submission. On reaching Dunbar, in the return march, Adelstan prayed that some sign might be given, to testify to all ages that God had delivered the kingdom into his hands. Whereupon he was commanded to strike the basaltic rock with his sword. This did he, and the blade sank into the rock “as if it had been butter,” cleaving it asunder for “an ell or more.” As the cleft remains to the present hour, in testimony of this miracle, why, of course, cela va sans dire.—Rymer, Fœdera, I. ii. 771 (1703).

Scotland’s Scourge, Edward I. His son, Edward II., buried him in Westminster Abbey, where his tomb is still to be seen, with the following inscription:—

Edwardus Longus, Scotorum Malleus, hic est.
(Our Longshanks, “Scotland’s Scourge,” lies here).

Drayton, Polyolbion, xvii. (1613).

So Longshanks, Scotland’s Scourge, the land laid waste.

Ditto, xxix. (1622).

Scots (scuite, “a wanderer, a rover”), the inhabitants of the western coast of Scotland. As this part is very hilly and barren, it is unfit for tillage; and the inhabitants used to live a roving life on the produce of the chase, their chief employment being the rearing of cattle.

Scots (The Royal). The hundred cuirassiers, called hommes des armes, which formed the body-guard of the French king, were sent to Scotland in 1633, by Louis XIII., to attend the coronation of Charles I., at Edinburgh. On the outbreak of the civil war, eight years afterwards, these cuirassiers loyally adhered to the crown, and received the title of “The Royal Scots.” At the downfall of the king, the hommes des armes returned to France.

Scott (The Southern). Ariosto is so called by Lord Byron.

First rose
The Tuscan father’s “comedy divine” [Dantê];
Then, not unequal to the Florentine,
The southern Scott, the minstrel who called forth
A new creation with his magic line,
And, like the Ariosto of the north [Sir W. Scott],
Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth.

Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 40 (1817).

* Dante was born at Florence.

Scott of Belgium (The Walter), Hendrick Conscience (1812- ).

Scottish Anacreon (The), Alexander Scot is so called by Pinkerton.

Scottish Boanerges (The), Robert and James Haldane (nineteenth century). Robert died 1842, aged 79, and James 1851.

Scottish Hogarth (The), David Allan (1744-1796).

Scottish Homer (The), William Wilkie, author of an epic poem in rhyme, entitled The Epigoniad (1753).

Scottish Solomon (The), James VI. of Scotland, subsequently called James I. of England (1566, 1603-1625).

* The French king called him far more aptly, “The Wisest Fool in Christendom.”

Scottish Terriers (The), Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841).

Scottish Theoc´ritos (The), Allan Ramsay (1685-1758).

Scotus. There were two schoolmen of this name: (1) John Scotus Erigena, a native of Ireland, who died 886, in the reign of King Alfred; (2) John Duns Scotus, a Scotchman, who died 1308. Longfellow confounds these two in his Golden Legend when he attributes the Latin version of St. Dionysius, the Areopagite, to the latter schoolman.

And done into Latin by that Scottish beast,
Erigena Johannes.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

Scourers, a class of dissolute young men, often of the better class, who infested the streets of London, in the seventeenth century, and thought it capital fun to break windows, upset sedan-chairs, beat quiet citizens, and molest young women. These young blades called themselves at different times, Muns, Hectors, Scourers, Nickers, Hawcabites, and Mohawks or Mohocks.

Scourge of Christians (The), Noureddin-Mahmûd, of Damascus (1116-1174).

Scourge of God (The), Attila, king of the Huns, called Flagellum Dei (died A.D. 453). Gensĕric, king of the Vandals, called Virga Dei (*, reigned 429-477).

Scourge of Princes (The), Pietro Aretino, of Arezzo, a merciless satirist of kings and princes, but very obscene and licentious. He called himself “Aretino the Divine” (1492-1557).

Thus Aretin of late got reputation
By scourging kings, as Lucian did of old
By scorning gods.

Lord Brooke, Inquisition Upon Fame (1554-1628).

Suidas called Lucian “The Blasphemer;” and he added that he was torn to pieces by dogs for his impiety. Some of his works attack the heathen philosophy and religion. His Jupiter Convicted shows Jupiter to be powerless, and Jupiter, the Tragedian, shows Jupiter and the other gods to be myths (120-200).

Scourge of Scotland, Edward I., Scotōrum Malleus (1239, 1272-1307).

Scrape-All, a soapy, psalm-singing hypocrite, who combines with Cheatly to supply young heirs with cash at most exorbitant usury. (See Cheatly.)—Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia (1688).

Scrape on, Gentlemen. Hadrian went once to the public baths, and, seeing an old soldier scraping himself with a potsherd, for want of a flesh-brush, sent him a sum of money. Next day the bath was crowded with potsherd scrapers; but the emperor said when he saw them, “Scrape on, gentlemen, but you will not scrape an acquaintance with me.”

Scribble, an attorney’s clerk, who tries to get married to Polly Honeycombe, a silly, novel-struck girl, but well off. He is happily foiled in his scheme, and Polly is saved from the consequences of a most unsuitable match.—G. Colman, the elder, Polly Honeycombe (1760).

Scrible´rus (Cornelius), father of Martinus. He was noted for his pedantry, and his odd whims about the education of his son.

Martīnus Scriblērus, a man of capacity, who had read everything; but his judgment was worthless, and his taste perverted.—(?) Arbuthnot, Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martin Scriblerus.

* These “memoirs” were intended to be the first instalment of a general satire on the false taste in literature prevalent in the time of Pope. The only parts of any moment that were written of this intended series, were Pope’s Treatise of the Bathos, or Art of Sinking in Poetry, and his Memoirs of P. P., Clerk of this Parish (1727), in ridicule of Dr. Burnett’s History of His Own Time. The Dunciad is, however, preceded by a Prolegomena, ascribed to Martinus Scriblerus, and contains his notes and illustrations on the poem, thus connecting this merciless satire with the original design.

Scriever (Jock), the apprentice of Duncan Macwheeble (bailie at Tully Veolan to Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, baron of Bradwardine and Tully Veolan).—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time George II.).

Scriptores Decem, a collection of ten ancient chronicles on English history, in one vol., folio, London, 1652, edited by Roger Twysden and John Selden. The volume contains: (1) Simeon Dunelmensis [Simeon of Durham], Historia; (2) Johannes Hagustaldensis [John of Hexham], Historia Continuata; (3) Richardus Hagustaldensis [Richard of Hexham], De Gestis Regis Stephani; (4) Ailredus Rievallensis [Ailred of Rieval], Historia (genealogy of the kings); (5) Radulphus de Diceto [Ralph of Diceto], Abbreviationes Chronicorum and Ymagines Historiarum; (6) Johannes Brompton, Chronicon; (7) Gervasius Dorobornensis [Gervais of Dover], Chronica, etc. (burning and repair of Dover Church; contentions between the monks of Canterbury and Archbishop Baldwin; and lives of the archbishops of Canterbury); (8) Thomas Stubbs (a Dominican), Chronica Pontificum ecc. Eboraci [i.e. York]; (9) Guilielmus Thorn Cantuariensis [of Canterbury], Chronica; and (10) Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis [of Leicester], Chronica. (The last three are chronicles of “pontiffs” or archbishops.)

Scriptores Quinque, better known as Scriptores Post Bedam, published at Frankfürt, 1601, in one vol., folio, and containing: (1) Willielm Malmesburiensis, De Gestis Regum Anglorum, Historiæ Novellæ, and De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum; (2) Henry Huntindoniensis, Historia; (3) Roger Hovedeni [Hoveden], Annales; (4) Ethelwerd, Chronica; and (5) Ingulphus Croylandensis [of Croyland], Historia.

Scriptores Tres, three “hypothetical” writers on ancient history, which Dr. Bertram professed to have discovered between the years 1747 and 1757. They are called Richardus Corinensis [of Cirencester], De Situ Britanniæ; Gildas Badonĭcus; and Nennius Banchorensis [of Bangor].—J. E. Mayor, in his preface to Ricardi de Cirencestria Speculum Historiale, has laid bare this literary forgery.

Scripture. Parson Adams’s wife said to her husband that in her opinion “it was blasphemous to talk of Scriptures out of church.”—Fielding, Joseph Andrews.

A great impression in my youth
Was made by Mrs. Adams, where she cries,
“That Scriptures out of church are blasphemous.”

Byron, Don Juan, xiii. 96 (1824).

Scroggen, a poor hack author, celebrated by Goldsmith in his Description of an Author’s Bedchamber.

Scroggens, (Giles), a peasant, who courted Molly Bawn, but died just before the wedding day. Molly cried and cried for him, till she cried herself fast asleep. Fancying that she saw Giles Scroggens’s ghost standing at her bedside, she exclaimed in terror, “What do you want?” “You for to come for to go along with me,” replied the ghost. “I ben’t dead, you fool!” said Molly; but the ghost rejoined, “Why, that’s no rule.” Then, clasping her round the waist, he exclaimed, “Come, come with me, ere morning beam.” “I won’t!” shrieked Molly, and woke to find “‘twas nothing but a dream.”—A Comic Ballad.

Scroggs (Sir William), one of the judges.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Scrooge (Ebenezer), partner, executor, and heir of old Jacob Marley, stock-broker. When first introduced, he is “a squeezing, grasping, covetous old hunks, sharp and hard as a flint;” without one particle of sympathy, loving no one, and by none beloved. One Christmas Day Ebenezer Scrooge sees three ghosts; The Ghost of Christmas Past; Ghost of Christmas Present; and the Ghost of Christmas To-come. The first takes him back to his young life, shows him what Christmas was to him when a schoolboy, and when he was an apprentice; reminds him of his courting a young girl, whom he forsook as he grew rich; and shows him that sweetheart of his young days married to another, and the mother of a happy family. The second ghost shows him the joyous home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who has nine people to keep on 15s. a week, and yet could find wherewithal to make merry on this day; it also shows him the family of his nephew, and of others. The third ghost shows him what would be his lot if he died as he then was, the prey of harpies, the jest of his friends on ‘Change, the world’s uncared-for waif. These visions wholly changed his nature, and he becomes benevolent, charitable, and cheerful, loving all, and by all beloved.—C. Dickens, A Christmas Carol (in five staves, 1843).

Scrow, the clerk of Lawyer Glossin.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time George II.).

Scrub, a man-of-all-work to Lady Bountiful. He describes his duties thus;

Of a Monday I drive the coach, of a Tuesday I drive the plough, on Wednesday I follow the hounds, on Thursday I dun the tenants, on Friday I go to market, on Saturday I draw warrants, and on Sunday I draw beer.—Geo. Farquhar, The Beaux’ Stratagem, iii. 4 (1707).

Scrubin´da, the lady who “lived by the scouring of pots in Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square.”

Oh, was I a quart, pint, or gill,
To be scrubbed by her delicate hands!...
My parlor that’s next to the sky
I’d quit, her blest mansion to share;
So happy to live and to die
In Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square.

W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1790).

Scruple, the friend of Random. He is too honest for a rogue, and too conscientious for a rake. At Calais he met Harriet, the elder daughter of Sir David Dunder, of Dunder Hall, near Dover, and fell in love with her. Scruple subsequently got invited to Dunder Hall, and was told that his Harriet was to be married next day to Lord Snolt, a stumpy, “gummy” fogey of five and forty. Harriet hated the idea, and agreed to elope with Scruple; but her father discovered by accident the intention, and intercepted it. However, to prevent scandal, he gave his consent to the union, and discovered that Scruple, both in family and fortune, was quite suitable for a son-in-law.—G. Colman, Ways and Means (1788).

Scu´damour (Sir), the knight beloved by Am´oret (whom Britomart delivered from Busyrane, the enchanter), and whom she ultimately married. He is called Scudamour (3 syl.) from [e]scu d’amour (“the shield of love”), which he carried (bk. iv. 10). This shield was hung by golden bands in the temple of Venus, and under it was written: “Whosoever be this Shield, Faire Amoret be his.” Sir Scudamour, determined to win the prize, had to fight with twenty combatants, overthrew them all, and the shield was his. When he saw Amoret in the company of Britomart, dressed as a knight, he was racked with jealousy, and went on his wanderings, accompanied by nurse Glaucê for “his squire;” but somewhat later, seeing Britomart, without her hemlet, he felt that his jealousy was groundless (bk. iv. 6). His tale is told by himself (bk. iv. 10).—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii., iv. (1590-6).

Sculpture (Father of French), Jean Goujon (1510-1572). G. Pilon is so called also (1515-1590).

Scyld, the king of Denmark preceding Beowulf. The Anglo-Saxon epic poem called Beowulf (sixth century) begins with the death of Scyld.

At his appointed time, Scyld deceased, very decrepit, and went into the peace of the Lord. They ... bore him to the sea-shore as he himself requested.... There on the beach stood the ring-prowed ship, the vehicle of the noble ... ready to set out. They laid down the dear prince, the distributer of rings, in the bosom of the ship, the mighty one beside the mast ... they set up a golden ensign high overhead ... they gave him to the deep. Sad was their spirit, mournful their mood.—Kemble, Beowulf (an Anglo-Saxon poem, 1833).

Scylla and Charybdis. The former was a rock, in which dwelt Scylla, a hideous monster, encompassed with dogs and wolves. The latter was a whirlpool, into which Charybdis was metamorphosed.—Classic Fable.

Scythian (That Brave), Darius, the Persian. According to Herod´otus, all the south-east of Europe used to be called Scythia, and Xenophon calls the dwellers south of the Caspian Sea “Scythians,” also. In fact, by Scythia was meant the south of Russia and west of Asia; hence, the Hungarians, a Tartar horde, settled on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, who, in 889, crossed into Europe, are spoken of as “Scythians,” and Lord Brooke calls the Persians “Scythians.” The reference below is to the following event in Persian history:—The death of Smerdis was kept for a time a profound secret, and one of the officers about the court who resembled him usurped the crown, calling himself brother of the late monarch. Seven of the high nobles conspired together, and slew the usurper, but it then became a question to which of the seven the crown should be offered. They did not toss for it, but they did much the same thing. They agreed to give the crown to him whose horse neighed first. Darius’s horse won, and thus Darius became king of the Persian empire.

That brave Scythian,
Who found more sweetness in his horse’s neighing
Than all the Phrygian, Dorian, Lydian playing.

Lord Brooke, (1554-1628).

* Marlowe calls Tamburlaine of Tartary “a Scythian.”

You shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine
Threatening the world with high astounding terms.

Marlowe, Tamburlaine (prologue, 1587).

Scythian’s Name (The). Humber or Humbert, king of the Huns, invaded England during the reign of Locrin, some 1000 years B.C. In his flight, he was drowned in the river Abus, which has ever since been called the Humber, after “the Scythian’s name.”—Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2 (1142); and Milton’s History of England.

Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian’s name.

Milton, Vacation Exercise (1627).

Sea-Captain (The), a drama by Lord Lytton (1839). Norman, “the sea-captain,” was the son of Lady Arundel by her first husband, who was murdered. He was born three days after his father’s murder, and was brought up by Onslow, a village priest. At 14 he went to sea, and became the captain of a man-of-war. Lady Arundel married again, and had another son named Percy. She wished to ignore Norman, and to settle the title and estates on Percy, but it was not to be. Norman and Percy both loved Violet, a ward of Lady Arundel. Violet, however, loved Norman only. A scheme was laid to murder Norman, but failed; and at the end Norman was acknowledged by his mother, reconciled to his brother, and married to the ward.

Seaforth (The earl of), a royalist, in the service of King Charles I.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Seasons (The), a descriptive poem in blank verse, by James Thomson, “Winter” (1726), “Summer” (1727), “Spring” (1728), “Autumn” (1730). “Winter” is inscribed to the earl of Wilmington; “Summer” to Mr. Doddington; “Spring” to the countess of Hertford; and “Autumn” to Mr. Onslow.

1. In “Winter,” after describing the season, the poet introduces his episode of a traveller lost in a snowstorm, “the creeping cold lays him along the snow, a stiffened corse,” of wife, of children, and of friends unseen. The whole book containing 1069 lines.

2. “Summer” begins with a description of the season, and the rural pursuits of haymaking and sheep-shearing; passes on to the hot noon, when “nature pants, and every stream looks languid.” After describing the tumultuous character of the season in the torrid zone, he returns to England, and describes a thunder-storm, in which Celădon and Amelia are overtaken. The thunder growls, the lightnings flash, louder and louder crashes the aggravated roar, “convulsing heaven and earth.” The maiden, terrified, clings to her lover for protection. “Fear not, sweet innocence,” he says. “He who involves yon skies in darkness ever smiles on thee. ’Tis safety to be near thee, sure, and thus to clasp protection.” As he speaks the words, a flash of lightning strikes the maid, and lays her a blackened corpse at the young man’s feet. The poem concludes with the more peaceful scenery of a summer’s evening, when the story of Damon and Musidōra is introduced. Damon had long loved the beautiful Musidora, but met with scant encouragement. One summer’s evening he accidently came upon her bathing, and the respectful modesty of his love so won upon the damsel that she wrote upon a tree, “Damon, the time may come when you need not fly.” The whole book contains 1804 lines.

3. In “Spring” the poet describes its general features, and its influence on the vegetable and animal world. He describes a garden with its harem of flowers, a grove with its orchestry of song-birds making melody in their love, the rough world of brutes, furious and fierce with their strong desire, and lastly man tempered by its infusive influence. The book contains 1173 lines.

4. In “Autumn” we are taken to the harvest-field, where the poet introduces a story similar to that of Ruth and Boaz. His Ruth he calls “Lavinia,” and his Boaz “Palēmon.” He then describes partridge and pheasant shooting, hare and fox hunting, all of which he condemns. After luxuriating in the orchard and vineyard, he speaks of the emigration of birds, the falling of the sear and yellow leaf, and concludes with a eulogy of country life. The whole book contains 1371 lines.

* It is much to be regretted that the poet’s order has not been preserved. The arrangement of the seasons into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, is unnatural, and mars the harmony of the poet’s plan.

Seatonian Prize. The Rev. Thomas Seaton, Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, bequeathed the rents of his Kislingbury estate for a yearly prize of £40 to the best English poem on a sacred subject announced in January, and sent in on or before September 29 following.

Shall hoary Granta call her sable sons....
Shall these approach the Muse? Ah, no! she flies,
And even spurns the great Seatonian prize.

Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

Sebastes of Mytile´ne (4 syl.), the assassin in the “Immortal Guards.”—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Sebastian, a young gentleman of Messalinê, brother to Viola. They were twins, and so much alike that they could not be distinguished except by their dress. Sebastian and his sister, being shipwrecked, escaped to Illyria. Here Sebastian was mistaken for his sister (who had assumed man’s apparel), and was invited by the Countess Olivia to take shelter in her house from a street broil. Olivia was in love with Viola, and thinking Sebastian to be the object of her love, married him.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).

Sebastian, brother of Alonso, king of Naples, in The Tempest (1609).

Sebastian, father of Valentine and Alice.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas (1619).

Sebastian (Don), king of Portugal, is defeated in battle and taken prisoner by the Moors (1574). He is saved from death by Dorax, a noble Portuguese, then a renegade in the court of the emperor of Barbary. The train being dismissed, Dorax takes off his turban, assumes his Portuguese dress, and is recognized as Alonzo of Alcazar.—Dryden, Don Sebastian (1690).

The quarrel and reconcilation of Sebastian and Dorax [alias Alonzo of Alcazar] is a masterly copy from a similar scene between Brutus and Cassius [in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar].—R. Chambers, English Literature, i. 380.

Don Sebastian, a name of terror to Moorish children.

Nor shall Sebastian’s formidable name
Be longer used to still the crying babe.

Dryden, Don Sebastian (1690).

Sebastian I. of Brazil, who fell in the battle of Alcazarquebir in 1578. The legend is that he is not dead, but is patiently biding the fulness of time, when he will return, and make Brazil the chief kingdom of the earth. (See Barbarossa.)

Sebastoc´rator (The), the chief officer of state in the empire of Greece. Same as Protosebastos.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Sebile (2 syl.), la Dame du Lac, in the romance called Perceforest. Her castle was surrounded by a river, on which rested so thick a fog that no one could see across it. Alexander the Great abode with her a fortnight to be cured of his wounds, and King Arthur was the result of this amour (vol. i. 42).

Secret Hill (The). Ossian said to Oscar, when he resigned to him the command of the morrow’s battle, “Be thine the secret hill to-night,” referring to the Gaelic custom of the commander of an army retiring to a secret hill the night before a battle, to hold communion with the ghosts of departed heroes.—Ossian, Cathlin of Clutha.

Secret Tribunal (The), the count of the Holy Vehme.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Sedgwick (Doomsday), William Sedgwick, a fanatical “prophet” in the Commonwealth, who pretended that it had been revealed to him in a vision that the day of doom was at hand.

Sedillo, the licentiate, with whom Gil Blas took service as a footman. Sedillo was a gouty old gourmand of 69. Being ill, he sent for Dr. Sangrado, who took from him six porringers of blood every day, and dosed him incessantly with warm water, giving him two or three pints at a time, saying, “a patient cannot be blooded too much; for it is a great error to suppose that blood is needful for the preservation of life. Warm water,” he maintained, “drunk in abundance, is the true specific in all distempers.” When the licentiate died under this treatment, the doctor insisted it was because his patient had neither lost blood enough nor drunk enough warm water.—Lesage, Gil Blas, ii. 1, 2 (1715).

Sedley (Mr.), a wealthy London stock-broker, brought to ruin by the fall of the Funds just prior to the battle of Waterloo. The old merchant then tried to earn a meagre pittance by selling wine, coals, or lottery-tickets by commission, but his bad wine and cheap coals found but few customers.

Mrs. Sedley, wife of Mr. Sedley. A homely, kind-hearted motherly woman in her prosperous days, but soured by adversity, and quick to take offence.

Amelia Sedley, daughter of the stock-broker, educated at Miss Pinkerton’s academy, Chiswick Mall, and engaged to Captain George Osborne, son of a rich London merchant. After the ruin of old Sedley, George married Amelia, and was disinherited by his father. He was adored by his young wife, but fell on the field of Waterloo. Amelia then returned to her father, and lived in great indigence, but Captain Dobbin greatly loved her, and did much to relieve her worst wants. Captain Dobbin rose in his profession to the rank of colonel, and married the young widow.

Joseph Sedley, a collector, of Boggley Wollah; a fat, sensual, conceited dandy, vain, shy, and vulgar. “His Excellency” fled from Brussels on the day of the battle between Napoleon and Wellington, and returned to Calcutta, where he bragged of his brave deeds, and made appear that he was Wellington’s right hand; so that he obtained the sobriquet of “Waterloo Sedley.” He again returned to England, and became the “patron” of Becky Sharp (then Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, but separated from her husband). But this lady proved a terrible dragon, fleeced him of all his money, and in six months he died under very suspicious circumstances.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848).

Sedley (Sir Charles), in the court of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Seelencooper (Captain), superintendent of the military hospital at Ryde.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Seer (The Poughkeepsie), Andrew Jackson Davis.

Seicen´to (3 syl.), the sixteenth century of Italian notables, the period of bad taste and degenerate art. The degraded art is termed Seicentista, and the notables of the period the Seicentisti. The style of writing was inflated and bombastic, and that of art was what is termed “rococo.” The chief poet was Marini (1569-1615), the chief painter Caravaggio (1569-1609), the chief sculptor Bernini (1593-1680), and the chief architect Borromini (1599-1667).

Sede, in Voltaire’s tragedy of Mahomet, was the character in which Talma, the great French tragedian, made his début in 1787.

Seidel-Beckir, the most famous of all talismanists. He made three of extraordinary power: viz., a little golden fish, which would fetch from the sea whatever was desired of it; a poniard, which rendered the person who bore it invisible, and all others whom he wished to be so; and a steel ring, which enabled the wearer to read the secrets of another’s heart.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (“The Four Talismans,” 1743).

Sejanus (Ælius), a minister of Tibērius, and commander of the Prætorian Guards. His affability made him a great favorite. In order that he might be the foremost man of Rome, all the children and grandchildren of the emperor were put to death under sundry pretences. Drusus, the son of Tiberius, then fell a victim. He next persuaded the emperor to retire, and Tiberius went to Campania, leaving to Sejānus the sole management of affairs. He now called himself emperor; but Tiberius, roused from his lethargy, accused his minister of treason. The senate condemned him to be strangled, and his remains, being treated with the grossest insolence, were kicked into the Tiber, A.D. 31. This was the subject of Ben Jonson’s first historical play, entitled Sejanus (1603).

Sejjin or Sejn, the record of all evil deeds, whether by men or the genii, kept by the recording angel. It also means that dungeon beneath the seventh earth, where Eblis and his companions are confined.

Verily, the register of the deeds of the wicked is surely in Sejjin.—Sale, Al Korân, lxxxiii.

Selby (Captain), an officer in the guards.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Self-Admiration Society (The). Poets: Morris, Rosetti and Swinburne. Painters: Brown, Mudon, Whistler and some others.

Selim, son of Abdallah, who was murdered by his brother, Giaffir (pacha of Aby´dos). After the death of his brother, Giaffir (2 syl.) took Selim under his charge and brought him up, but treated him with considerable cruelty. Giaffir had a daughter named Zuleika (3 syl.), with whom Selim fell in love; but Zuleika thought he was her brother. As soon as Giaffir discovered the attachment of the two cousins for each other, he informed his daughter that he intended her to marry Osmyn Bey; but Zuleika eloped with Selim, the pacha pursued them, Selim was shot, Zuleika killed herself, and Giaffir was left childless and alone.—Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813).

Selim, son of Acbar. Jehanguire was called Selim before his accession to the throne. He married Nourmahal, the “Light of the Haram,” but a coolness rose up between them. One night Nourmahal entered the sultan’s banquet-room as a lute-player, and so charmed young Selim that he exclaimed, “If Nourmahal had so sung, I could have forgiven her!” It was enough. Nourmahal threw off her disguise, and became reconciled to her husband.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (“Light of the Haram,” 1817).

Selim, son of the Moorish king of Algiers. [Horush] Barbarossa, the Greek renegade, having made himself master of Algiers, slew the reigning king, but Selim escaped. After the lapse of seven years, he returned under the assumed name of Achmet, and headed an uprising of the Moors. The insurgents succeeded, Barbarossa was slain, the widowed Queen Zaphīra was restored to her husband’s throne, and Selim, her son, married Irēnê, daughter of Barbarossa.—J. Brown, Barbarossa (1742 or 1755).

Selim, friend of Etan (the supposed son of Zamti, the mandarin).—Murphy, The Orphan of China (1759).

Sel´ima, daughter of Bajazet, sultan of Turkey, in love with Prince Axalla, but promised by her father in marriage to Omar. When Selima refused to marry Omar, Bajazet would have slain her; but Tamerlane commanded both Bajazet and Omar to be seized. So every obstacle was removed from the union of Selima and Axalla.—N. Rowe, Tamerlane (1702).

Selima, one of the six Wise Men from the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus.—Klopstock, The Messiah, v. (1771).

Se´lith, one of the two guardian angels of the Virgin Mary, and of John the Divine.—Klopstock, The Messiah, ix. (1771).

Sellock (Cisly), a servant girl in the service of Lady and Sir Geoffrey Peveril, of the Peak.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Selvaggio, the father of Sir Industry, and the hero of Thomson’s Castle of Indolence.

In Fairy-land there lived a knight of old,
Of feature stern, Selvaggio well y-clept;
A rough, unpolished man, robust and bold,
But wondrous poor. He neither sowed nor reaped;
No stores in summer for cold winter heaped.
In hunting all his days away he wore—
Now scorched by June, now in November steeped,
Now pinched by biting January sore.
He still in woods pursued the libbard and the boar.

Thomson, Castle of Indolence, ii. 5 (1745).

Sem´ele (3 syl.), ambitious of enjoying Jupiter in all his glory, perished from the sublime effulgence of the god. This is substantially the tale of the second story of T. Moore’s Loves of the Angels. Liris requested her angel lover to come to her in all his angelic brightness; but was burnt to ashes as she fell into his embrace.

For majesty gives nought to subjects, ...
A royal smile, a guinea’s glorious rays,
Like Semelê, would kill us with its blaze.

Peter Pindar [Dr. Wolcot], Progress of Admiration (1809).

Semi´da, the young man, the only son of a widow, raised from the dead by Jesus, as he was being carried from the walls of Nain. He was deeply in love with Cidli, the daughter of Jairus.

He was in the bloom of life. His hair hung in curls on his shoulders, and he appeared as beautiful as David, when, sitting by the stream of Bethlehem, he was ravished at the voice of God.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iv. (1771).

Semir´amis, queen of Assyria, wife of Ninus. She survived her husband, and reigned. The glory of her reign stands out so prominently that she quite eclipses all the monarchs of ancient Assyria. After a reign of forty-two years she resigned the crown to her son, Ninyas, and took her flight to heaven in the form of a dove. Semiramis was the daughter of Dercĕto, the fish-goddess, and a Syrian youth, and, being exposed in infancy, was brought up by doves.

Semiramis of the North, Margaret, daughter of Waldemar III. of Denmark. At the death of her father she succeeded him; by the death of her husband, Haco VIII., king of Norway, she succeeded to that kingdom also; and, having conquered Albert of Sweden, she added Sweden to her empire. Thus was she queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1353-1412).

Semirămis of the North, Catherine of Russia, a powerful and ambitious sovereign, but in morals a law unto herself (1729-1796).

Semkail, the angel of the winds and waves.

I keep the winds in awe with the hand which you see in the air, and prevent the wind Haidge from coming forth. If I gave it freedom it would reduce the universe to powder. With my other hand I hinder the sea from overflowing, without which precaution it would cover the face of the whole earth.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales (“History of Abdal Motalleb,” 1743).

Semo (Son of), Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes.

Sempro´nius, one of the “friends” of Timon of Athens, and “the first man that e’er received a gift from him.” When Timon sent to borrow a sum of money of “his friend,” he excused himself thus: As Timon did not think proper to apply to me first, but asked others before he sent to me, I consider his present application an insult. “Go,” said he to the servant, “and tell your master:

Who bates mine honor shall not know my coin.”

Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act iii. sc. 3 (1600).

Sempronius, a treacherous friend of Cato while in Utĭca. Sempronius tried to mask his treason by excessive zeal and unmeasured animosity against Cæsar, with whom he was acting in alliance. He loved Marcia, Cato’s daughter, but his love was not honorable love; and when he attempted to carry off the lady by force, he was slain by Juba, the Numidian prince.—J. Addison, Cato (1713).

I’ll conceal
My thoughts in passion, ’tis the surest way.
I’ll bellow out for Rome, and for my country,
And mouth at Cæsar till I shake the senate.
Your cold hypocrisy’s a stale device,
A worn-out trick.

Act i. 1.

Sena´nus (St.), the saint who fled to the island of Scattery, and resolved that no woman should ever step upon the isle. An angel led St. Can´ara to the isle, but Senanus refused to admit her.—T. Moore, Irish Melodies (“St. Senanus and the Lady,” 1814).

Sen´eca (The Christian), Bishop Hall, of Norwich (1574-1656).

Sene´na (3 syl.), a Welsh maiden, in love with Car´adoc. She dressed in boy’s clothes, and, under the assumed name of Mervyn, became the page of the Princess Goervyl, that she might follow her lover to America, when Madoc colonized Caer-Madoc. Senena was promised in marriage to another; but when the wedding day arrived and all was ready, the bride was nowhere to be found.

... she doffed
Her bridal robes, and clipt her golden locks,
And put on boy’s attire, thro’ wood and wild
To seek her own true love; and over sea,
Forsaking all for him, she followed him.

Southey, Madoc, ii. 23 (1805).

Sennac´herib, called by the Orientals King Moussal.—D’Herbelot, Notes to the Korân (seventeenth century).

Sennamar, a very skilful architect, who built at Hirah, for Nôman-al-Aôuar, king of Hirah, a most magnificent palace. In order that he might not build another equal or superior to it, for some other monarch, Nôman cast him headlong from the highest tower of the building.—D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale (1697).

* A parallel tale is told of Neim´heid (2 syl.), who employed four architects to build for him a palace in Ireland, and then, jealous lest they should build one like it, or superior to it, for another monarch, he had them all privately put to death.—O’Halloran, History of Ireland.

Sensitive (Lord), a young nobleman of amorous proclivities, who marries Sabīna Rosny, a French refugee, in Padua, but leaves her, more from recklessness than wickedness. He comes to England and pays court to Lady Ruby, a rich young widow; but Lady Ruby knows of his marriage to the young French girl, and so hints at it that his lordship, who is no libertine, and has a great regard for his honor, sees that his marriage is known, and tells Lady Ruby he will start without delay to Padua, and bring his young wife home. This, however, was not needful, as Sabina was at the time the guest of Lady Ruby. She is called forth, and Lord Sensitive openly avows her to be his wife.—Cumberland, First Love (1796).

Sentimental Journey (The), by Laurence Sterne (1768). It was intended to be sentimental sketches of his tour through Italy in 1764, but he died soon after completing the first part. The tourist lands at Calais, and the first incident is his interview with a poor monk of St. Francis, who begged alms for his convent. Sterne refused to give anything, but his heart smote him for his churlishness to the meek old man. From Calais he goes to Montriul (Montreuil-sur-Mer) and thence to Nampont, near Cressy. Here occurred the incident, which is one of the most touching of all the sentimental sketches, that of “The Dead Ass.” His next stage was Amiens, and thence to Paris. While looking at the Bastille, he heard a voice crying, “I can’t get out! I can’t get out!” He thought it was a child, but it was only a caged starling. This led him to reflect on the delights of liberty and miseries of captivity. Giving reins to his fancy, he imaged to himself a prisoner who for thirty years had been confined in a dungeon, during all which time “he had seen no sun, no moon, nor had the voice of kinsman breathed through his lattice.” Carried away by his feelings, he burst into tears, for he “could not sustain the picture of confinement which his fancy had drawn.” While at Paris, our tourist visited Versailles, and introduces an incident which he had witnessed some years previously at Rennes, in Brittany. It was that of a marquis reclaiming his sword and “patent of nobility.” Any nobleman in France who engaged in trade, forfeited his rank; but there was a law in Brittany that a nobleman of reduced circumstances might deposit his sword temporarily with the local magistracy, and if better times dawned upon him, he might reclaim it. Sterne was present at one of these interesting ceremonies. A marquis had laid down his sword to mend his fortune by trade, and after a successful career at Martinico for twenty years, returned home, and reclaimed it. On receiving his deposit from the president, he drew it slowly from the scabbard, and, observing a spot of rust near the point, dropped a tear on it. As he wiped the blade lovingly, he remarked, “I shall find some other way to get it off.” Returning to Paris, our tourist starts for Italy; but the book ends with his arrival at Moulines (Moulins). Some half a league from this city he encountered Maria, whose pathetic story had been told him by Mr. Shandy. She had lost her goat when Sterne saw her, but had instead a little dog named Silvio, led by a string. She was sitting under a poplar, playing on a pipe her vespers to the Virgin. Poor Maria had been crossed in love, or, to speak more strictly, the curé of Moulines had forbidden her banns, and the maiden lost her reason. Her story is exquisitely told, and Sterne says, “Could the traces be ever worn out of her brain, and those of Eliza out of mine, she should not only eat of my bread and drink of my cup, but Maria should lie in my bosom, and be unto me as a daughter.”

Sentinel and St. Paul’s Clock (The). The sentinel condemned to death by court-martial for falling asleep on his watch, but pardoned because he affirmed that he heard St. Paul’s clock strike thirteen instead of twelve, was John Hatfield, who died at the age of 102, June, 1770.

Sentry (Captain), one of the members of the club under whose auspices the Spectator was professedly issued.

September Massacre (The), the slaughter of loyalists confined in the Abbaye. This massacre took place in Paris between September 2 and 5, 1792, on receipt of the news of the capture of Verdun. The number of victims was not less than 1200, and some place it as high as 4000.

September the Third was Cromwell’s day. On September 3, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar. On September 3, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester. On September 3, 1658, he died.

Seraphic Doctor (The), St. Bonaventura, placed by Dantê among the saints of his Paradiso (1221-1274).

Seraphic Saint (The), St. Francis d’Assisi (1182-1226).

Of all the saints, St. Francis was the most blameless and gentle.—Dean Milman.

Seraphina Arthuret (Miss), a papist. Her sister is Miss Angelica Arthuret.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Sera´pis, an Egyptian deity symbolizing the Nile, and fertility in general.

Seraskier´ (3 syl.), a name given by the Turks to a general of division, generally a pacha with two or three tails. (Persian, seri asker, “head of the army.”)

... three thousand Moslems perished here,
And sixteen bayonets pierced the seraskier.

Byron, Don Juan, viii. 81 (1824).

Serb, a Servian or native of Servia.

Sereme´nes (4 syl.), brother-in-law of King Sardanapālus, to whom he entrusts his signet-ring to put down the rebellion headed by Arbācês, the Mede, and Belĕsis, the Chaldēan soothsayer. Seremēnês was slain in a battle with the insurgents.—Byron, Sardanapalus (1819).

Sere´na, allured by the mildness of the weather, went into the fields to gather wild flowers for a garland, when she was attacked by the Blatant Beast, who carried her off in its mouth. Her cries attracted to the spot Sir Calidore, who compelled the beast to drop its prey.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 3 (1596).

Sergis (Sir), the attendant on Irēna. He informs Sir Artegal that Irena is the captive of Grantorto, who has sworn to take her life within ten days, unless some knight will volunteer to be her champion, and in single combat prove her innocent of the crime laid to her charge.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 11 (1596).

Sergius, a Nestorian monk, said to be the same as Boheira, who resided at Bosra, in Syria. This monk, we are told, helped Mahomet in writing the Korân. Some say it was Saïd or Felix Boheira.

Boheira’s name, in the books of Christians, is Sergius.—Masudi, History, 24 (A.D. 956).

Serimner, the wild boar whose lard fed the vast multitude in Einheriar, the hall of Odin. Though fed on daily, the boar never diminished in size. Odin himself gave his own portion of the lard to his two wolves, Geri and Freki.—Scandinavian Mythology. (See Rusticus’s Pig.)

Seri´na, daughter of Lord Acasto, plighted to Chamont (the brother of Monimia, “the orphan”).—Otway, The Orphan (1680).

Seriswattee, the Janus of Hindû mythology.

The Serpent and Satan. There is an Arabian tradition that the devil begged all the animals, one after another, to carry him into the garden, that he might speak to Adam and Eve, but they all refused except the serpent, who took him between two of its teeth. It was then the most beautiful of all the animals, and walked upon legs and feet.—Masudi, History, 22 (A.D. 956).

The Serpent’s Punishment. The punishment of the serpent for tempting Eve was this: (1) Michael was commanded to cut off its legs; and (2) the serpent was doomed to feed on human excrements ever after.

Serpent d’Isabit, an enormous monster, whose head rested on the top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, its body filled the whole valley of Luz, St. Sauveur, and Gèdres, and its tail was coiled in the hollow below the cirque of Gavarnie. It fed once in three months, and supplied itself by making a very strong inspiration of its breath, whereupon every living thing around was drawn into its maw. It was ultimately killed by making a huge bonfire, and waking it from its torpor, when it became enraged, and drawing a deep breath, drew the bonfire into its maw, and died in agony.—Rev. W. Webster, A Pyrenean Legend (1877).

Served My God. Wolsey said, in his fall, “Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.”—Shakespeare, Henry VIII. act iii. sc. 2 (1601).

Samrah, when he was deposed from the government of Basorah by the Caliph Moawiyah, said, “If I had served God so well as I have served the caliph, He would never have condemned me to all eternity.”

Antonio Perez, the favorite of Philip II. of Spain, said, “Mon zele etoit si grand vers ces benignes puissances [i.e. Turin] qui si j’en eusse eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu’il ne m’eut deja recompensé de son paradis.”

The earl of Gowrie, when, in 1854, he was led to execution, said, “If I had served God as faithfully as I have done the king [James VI.], I should not have come to this end.”—Spotswood, History of the Church of Scotland, 332, 333 (1653).

Sesostris (The Modern), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769, 1804-1815, 1821).

But where is he, the modern, mightier far,
Who, born no king, made monarchs draw his car;
The new Sesostris, whose unharnessed kings,
Freed from the bit, believe themselves with wings,
And spurn the dust o’er which they crawled of late,
Chained to the chariot of the chieftain’s state?

Byron, Age of Bronze (1821).

* “Sesostris,” in Fénelon’s Télémaque, is meant for Louis XIV.

Set´ebos, a deity of the Patagonians.

His art is of such power,
It would control my dam’s god Setebos.

Shakespeare, The Tempest (1609).

The giants, when they found themselves fettered, roared like bulls, and cried upon Setebos to help them.—Eden, History of Travayle.

Seth, a servant of the Jew at Ashby. Reuben is his fellow-servant.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Seth Fairchild. Young countryman, who is almost persuaded to be in love with Isabel, the wife of his brother, Albert. Albert is killed—it is supposed, accidentally—and Isabel, assuming that Seth has murdered him, and for her sake, promises to keep the deed secret. The horror of the supposition and her readiness to believe him capable of the crime, dispels Seth’s unholy illusion and sends him back to his first love, who has always been his good angel.—Harold Frederic, Seth’s Brother’s Wife (1887).

Settle (Elkana), the poet, introduced by Sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Seven Champions of Christendom (The): St. George for England; St. Andrew for Scotland; St. Patrick for Ireland; St. David for Wales; St. Denis for France; St. James for Spain; and St. Anthony for Italy.

* Richard Johnson wrote The Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom (1617).

Seven, Rienzi’s Number.

October 7, Rienzi’s foes yielded to his power.
7 months Rienzi reigned as tribune.
7 years he was absent in exile.
7 weeks of return saw him without an enemy (Oct. 7).
7 was the number of the crowns the Roman convents and the Roman council awarded him.

Seven Sleepers (The). The tale of these sleepers is told in divers manners. The best accounts are those in the Korân xviii., entitled, “The Cave, Revealed at Mecca;” The Golden Legends, by Jacques de Voragine; the De Gloria Martyrum, i. 9, by Gregory of Tours; and the Oriental Tales, by Comte de Caylus (1743).

Names of the Seven Sleepers. Gregory of Tours says their names were: Constantine, Dionysius, John, Maximian, Malchus, Martinian or Marcian, and Serapĭon. In the Oriental Tales the names given are: Jemlikha, Mekchilinia, Mechlima, Merlima, Debermouch, Charnouch, and the shepherd Keschetiouch. Their names are not given in the Korân.

Number of the Sleepers. Al Seyid, a Jacobite Christian of Najrân, says the sleepers were only three, with their dog; others maintain that their number was five, besides the dog; but Al Beidâwi, who is followed by most authorities, says they were seven, besides the dog.

Duration of the Sleep. The Korân says it was “300 years and nine years over;” the Oriental Tales say the same; but if Gregory of Tours is followed, the duration of the sleep was barely 230 years.

The Legend of the Seven Sleepers. (1) According to Gregory of Tours. Gregory says they were seven noble youths of Ephesus, who fled in the Decian persecution to a cave in Mount Celion, the mouth of which was blocked up by stones. After 230 years they were discovered, and awoke, but died within a few days, and were taken in a large stone coffin to Marseilles. Visitors are still shown, in St. Victor’s Church, the stone coffin.

If there is any truth at all in the legend, it amounts to this: In A.D. 250, some youths (three or seven) suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Decius, “fell asleep in the Lord,” and were buried in a cave of Mount Celion. In 479 (the reign of Theodosius) their bodies were discovered, and, being consecrated as holy relics, were removed to Marseilles.

(2) According to the Oriental Tales. Six Grecian youths were slaves in the palace of Dakiānos (Decianus, Decius). This Dakianos had risen from low degrees to kingly honors, and gave himself out to be a god. Jemlikha was led to doubt the divinity of his master, because he was unable to keep off a fly which persistently tormented him, and being roused to reflection, came to the conclusion that there must be a god to whom both Dakianos and the fly were subject. He communicated his thoughts to his companions, and they all fled from the Ephesian court till they met the shepherd Keschetiouch, whom they converted, and who showed them a cave, which no one but himself knew of. Here they fell asleep, and Dakianos, having discovered them, commanded the mouth of the cave to be closed up. Here the sleepers remained 309 years, at the expiration of which time they all awoke, but died a few hours afterwards.

The Dog of the Seven Sleepers. In the notes of the Korân, by Sale, the dog’s name is Kratim, Kratimer, or Katmir. In the Oriental Tales it is Catnier, which looks like a clerical blunder for Catmer, only it occurs frequently. It is one of the ten animals admitted into Mahomet’s paradise. The Korân tells us that the dog followed the seven young men into the cave, but they tried to drive him away, and even broke three of its legs with stones, when the dog said to them, “I love those who love God. Sleep, masters, and I will keep guard.” In the Oriental Tales the dog is made to say, “You go to seek God, but am not I also a child of God?” Hearing this, the young men were so astounded, they went immediately, and carried the dog into the cave.

The Place of Sepulture of the Seven Sleepers. Gregory of Tours tells us that the bodies were removed from Mount Celion in a stone coffin to Marseilles. The Korân, with Sale’s notes, informs us they were buried in the cave, and a chapel was built there to mark the site. (See Sleeper.)

The Seven Sleepers turning on their sides. William of Malmesbury says that Edward the Confessor, in his mind’s eye, saw the seven sleepers turn from their right sides to their left, and (he adds) whenever they turn on their sides, it indicates great disasters to Christendom.

Woe, woe to England! I have seen a vision:
The seven sleepers in the cave of Ephesus
Have turned from right to left.

Tennyson, Harold, i. 1.

Seven Wise Masters. Lucien, the son of Dolopathos, was placed under the charge of Virgil, and was tempted in manhood by his step-mother. He repelled her advances, and she accused him to the king of taking liberties with her. By consulting the stars it was discovered that if he could tide over seven days his life would be spared; so seven wise masters undertook to tell the king a tale each, in illustration of rash judgments. When they had all told their tales, the prince related, under the disguise of a tale, the story of the queen’s wantonness; whereupon Lucien was restored to favor, and the queen was put to death.—Sandabar, Parables (contemporary with King Courou).

* John Rolland, of Dalkeith, has rendered this legend into Scotch verse. There is an Arabic version by Nasr Allah (twelfth century), borrowed from the Indian by Sandabar. In the Hebrew version by Rabbi Joel (1270), the legend is called Kalilah and Dimnah.

Seven Wise Men (The).

One of Plutarch’s brochures in the Moralia is entitled “The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men,” in which Periander is made to give an account of a contest at Chalcis between Homer and Hesiod, in which the latter wins the prize, and receives a tripod, on which he caused to be engraved this inscription:

This Hesiod vows to the Heliconian nine,
In Chalcis won from Homer the divine.

Seven Wise Men of Greece (The), seven Greeks of the sixth century B.C., noted for their maxims.

Bias. His maxim was, “Most men are bad” (“There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Psalm xiv. 3): Οἱ πλέιους κακοὶ (fl. B.C. 550).

Chilo. “Consider the end:” Τέλος ὁρᾳν μακροῦ βίου (fl. B.C. 590).

Cleobūlos. “Avoid extremes” (the golden mean): Ἄριστον μέτρον (fl. B.C. 580).

Periander. “Nothing is impossible to industry” (patience and perseverance overcome mountains): Μελέτη τὸ πᾶν (B.C. 665-585).

Pittăcos. “Know thy opportunity” (seize time by the forelock): Καιρὸν γνῶθι (B.C. 652-569).

Solon. “Know thyself:” Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν (B.C. 638-558).

Thāles (2 syl.). “Suretyship is the forerunner of ruin.” (“He that hateth suretyship is sure,” Prov. xi. 15): Εγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτη (B.C. 636-546).

First Solon, who made the Athenian laws,
While Chilo, in Sparta, was famed for his saws;
In Milētos did Thalês astronomy teach;
Bias used in Priēnê his morals to preach;
Cleobūlos of Lindos, was handsome and wise;
Mitylēnê, gainst thraldom saw Pittăcos rise;
Periander is said to have gained, thro’ his court,
The title that Myson, the Chenian, ought.

* It is Plato who says that Myson should take the place of Periander as one of the Seven Wise Men.

Seven Years.

Barbarossa changes his position in his sleep every seven years.

Charlemagne starts in his chair from sleep every seven years.

Ogier, the Dane, stamps his iron mace on the floor every seven years.

Olaf Redbeard of Sweden uncloses his eyes every seven years.

Seven Year’s War (The), the war maintained by Frederick II. of Prussia against Austria, Russia, and France (1756-1763).

Seven Against Thebes (The). At the death of Œdĭpus, his two sons, Eteŏclês and Polynīcês, agreed to reign alternate years, but at the expiration of the first year Eteoclês refused to resign the crown to his brother. Whereupon, Polynicês induced six others to join him in besieging Thebes, but the expedition was a failure. The names of the seven Grecian chiefs who marched against Thebes were: Adrastos, Amphiarāos, Kapaneus, Hippomedon (Argives), Parthenopæos (an Arcadian), Polynicês (a Theban), and Tydeus (an Æolian). (See Epigoni.)

Æschylos has a tragedy on the subject.

Severn, a corruption of Averne, daughter of Astrild. The legend is this: King Locryn was engaged to Gwendolen, daughter of Corīneus, but seeing Astrild (daughter of the king of Germany), who came to this island with Homber, king of Hungary, fell in love with her. While Corineus lived he durst not offend him, so he married Gwendolen, but kept Astrild as his mistress, and had by her a daughter (Averne). When Corineus died, he divorced Gwendolen, and declared Astrild queen, but Gwendolen summoned her vassals, dethroned Locryn, and caused both Astrild and Averne to be cast into the river, ever since called Severn fron Averne “the kinges dohter.”

Sevier (Dr.), New Orleans physician. “His inner heart was all of flesh, but his demands for the rectitude of mankind pointed out like the muzzles of cannon through the embrasures of his virtues.” He befriends the struggling Richlings, setting John upon his feet time and again, and in his last illness, never leaving him until he goes out and closes the door upon the dying man, reunited to his wife and child. Dr. Sevier finds work for the widow, and educates little Alice, named for his own dead wife.

“And oh! when they two, who have never joined hands on this earth, go to meet John and Alice,—which God grant may be at one and the same time,—what weeping there will be among God’s poor!”—George W. Cable, Dr. Sevier (1883).

Sewall (Judge) Colonial judge in Massachusetts. He has left in his diary a circumstantial account of his courtship of Madam Winthrop, also a curious “confession” made by him in church of the “Guilt contracted upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer, at Salem.”—Sewall Papers (1697).

Sewall (Rev. Mr.). Boston clergyman, liberal in opinion, and large of heart. He counsels the Lapham parents in their family perplexities, and becomes the not-too-willing sponsor of Lemuel Barker, a rustic aspirant after literary honors.—W. L. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham and The Minister’s Charge.

Sex. Milton says that spirits can assume either sex at pleasure, and Michael Psellus asserts that demons can take what sex, shape, and color they please, and can also contract or dilate their forms at pleasure.

For spirits when they please,
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their essence pure;
Not tied or manacled with joint and limb,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh.

Paradise Lost, i. 423, etc. (1665).

Sex. Cæneus and Tire´sias were at one part of their lives of the male sex, and at another part of their lives of the female sex. (See these names.)

Iphis was first a woman, and then a man.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, ix. 12; xiv 699.

Sextus [Tarquinius]. There are several points of resemblance in the story of Sextus and that of Paris, son of Priam. (1) Paris was the guest of Menelāos, when he eloped with his wife, Helen; and Sextus was the guest of Lucretia when he defiled her. (2) The elopement of Helen was the cause of a national war between the Greek cities and the allied cities of Troy; and the defilement of Lucretia was the cause of a national war between Rome and the allied cities under Por´sena. (3) The contest between Greece and Troy terminated in the victory of Greece, the injured party; and the contest between Rome and the supporters of Tarquin terminated in favor of Rome, the injured party. (4) In the Trojan war, Paris, the aggressor, showed himself before the Trojan ranks, and defied the bravest of the Greeks to single combat, but when Menelaos appeared, he took to flight; and so Sextus rode vauntingly against the Roman host, but when Herminius appeared, fled to the rear like a coward. (5) In the Trojan contest, Priam and his sons fell in battle; and in the battle of Lake Regillus, Tarquin and his sons were slain.

* Lord Macaulay has taken the “Battle of Lake Regillus” as the subject of one of his Lays of Ancient Rome. Another of his lays, called “Horatius,” is the attempt of Porsĕna to re-establish Tarquin on the throne.

Seyd, pacha of the Morea, assassinated by Gulnare (2 syl.), his favorite concubine. Gulnare was rescued from the burning harem by Conrad, “the Corsair.” Conrad, in the disguise of a dervise, was detected and seized in the palace of Seyd, and Gulnare, to effect his liberation, murdered the pacha.—Byron, The Corsair (1814).

Seyton (Lord), a supporter of Queen Mary’s cause.

Catherine Seyton, daughter of Lord Seyton, a maid of honor in the Court of Queen Mary. She appears at Kinross village in disguise.

Henry Seyton, son of Lord Seyton.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Sforza, of Lombardy. He with his two brothers (Achilles and Palamēdês) were in the squadron of adventurers in the allied Christian army.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

* The word Sforza means “force,” and, according to tradition, was derived thus: Giacomuzzo Attendolo, the son of a day laborer, being desirous of going to the wars, consulted his hatchet, resolving to enlist if it stuck fast in the tree at which he flung it. He threw it with such force that the whole blade was completely buried in the trunk (fifteenth century).

Sforza (Ludov´ico), duke of Milan, surnamed “the More,” from mora, “a mulberry” (because he had on his arm a birth-stain of a mulberry color). Ludovico was dotingly fond of his bride, Marcelia, and his love was amply returned; but during his absence in the camp, he left Francesco lord protector, and Francesco assailed the fidelity of the young duchess. Failing in his villainy, he accused her to the duke of playing the wanton with him, and the duke, in a fit of jealousy, slew her. Sforza was afterwards poisoned by Eugenia (sister of Francesco), whom he had seduced.

Nina Sforza, the duke’s daughter.—Massinger, The Duke of Milan (1622).

* This tragedy is obviously an imitation of Shakespeare’s Othello (1611).

Sganarelle, the “cocu imaginaire,” of Molière’s comedy (1660). The plot runs thus: Célie was betrothed to Lélie, but her father, Gorgĭbus, insisted on her marrying Valère, because he was the richer man. Célie fainted on hearing this, and dropped her lover’s miniature, which was picked up by Sganarelle’s wife. Sganarelle, thinking it to be the portrait of a gallant, took possession of it, and Lélie asked him how he came by it. Sganarelle said he took it from his wife, and Lélie supposed that Célie had become the wife of Sganarelle. A series of misapprehensions arose thence: Célie supposed that Lélie had deserted her for Madame Sganarelle; Sganarelle supposed that his wife was unfaithful to him; madame supposed that her husband was an adorer of Célie; and Lélie supposed that Célie was the wife of Sganarelle. In time they met together, when Lélie charged Célie with being married to Sganarelle; both stared, an explanation followed, when a messenger arrived to say that Valère was married.—Molière, Le Cocu Imaginaire.

Sganarelle, younger brother of Ariste (2 syl.); a surly, domineering, conceited fellow, the dupe of the play. His brother says to him, “Cette farouche humeur à tous vos procédés inspire un air bizarre, et, jusques à l’habit, rend tout chez vous barbare.” The father of Isabelle and Léonor, on his death-bed, committed them to the charge of Sganarelle and Ariste, who were either to marry them or dispose of them in marriage. Sganarelle chose Isabelle, but insisted on her dressing in serge, going to bed early, keeping at home, looking after the house, mending the linen, knitting socks, and never flirting with any one. The consequence was, she duped her guardian, and cajoled him into giving his signature to her marriage with Valère.—Molière, L’Ecole des Maris.

Sganarelle (3 syl.). At about 63 years of age, Sganarelle wished to marry Dorimène (3 syl.), daughter of Alcantor, a girl fond of dances, parties of pleasure, and all the active enjoyments of young life. Feeling some doubts about the wisdom of this step, he first consults a friend, who dissuades him, but, seeing the advice is rejected, replies “Do as you like.” He next consults two philosophers, but they are so absorbed in their philosophy, that they pay no attention to him. He then asks the gypsies, who take his money and decamp with a dance. At length, he overhears Dorimène telling a young lover that she only marries the old dotard for his money, and that he cannot live above a few months; so he makes up his mind to decline the marriage. The father of the lady places the matter in his son’s hands, and the young fire-eater, armed with two swords, goes at once to the old fiancé, and begs him to choose one. When Sganarelle declines to fight, the young man beats him soundly, and again bids him choose a sword. After two or three good beatings, Sganarelle consents to the marriage “forcé.”—Molière, Le Mariage Forcé (1664).

Molière wrote Sganarelle ou Le Cocu Imaginaire (q.v.) as a supplement to this comedy.

* This joke about marrying is borrowed from Rabelais, Pantagruel, iii. 35, etc. Panurge asks Trouillogan whether he would advise him to marry. The sage says “No.” “But I wish to do so,” says the prince. “Then do so, by all means,” says the sage. “Which, then, would you advise?” asks Panurge. “Neither,” says Trouillogan. “But,” says Panurge, “that is not possible.” “Then both,” says the sage. After this, Panurge consults many others on the subject, and lastly the oracle of the Holy Bottle.

The plot of Molière’s comedy is founded on an adventure recorded of the count of Grammont (q.v.). The count had promised marriage to la belle Hamilton, but deserted her, and tried to get to France. Being overtaken by the two brothers of the lady, they clapped their hands on their swords, and demanded if the count had not forgotten something or left something behind. “True,” said the count; “I have forgotten to marry your sister;” and returned with the two brothers to repair this oversight.

Sganarelle, father of Lucinde. Anxious about his daughter because she has lost her vivacity and appetite, he sends for four physicians, who retire to consult upon the case, but talk only on indifferent topics. When Sganarelle asks the result of their deliberation, they all differ, both in regard to the disease, and the remedy to be applied. Lisette (the lady’s maid) sends for Clitandre, the lover, who comes disguised as a quack doctor, tells Sganarelle that the young lady’s disease must be acted on through the imagination, and prescribes a mock marriage. Sganarelle consents to the experiment, but Clitandre’s assistant being a notary, the mock marriage proves to be a real one.—Molière, L’Amour Médecin (1665).

Sganarelle, husband of Martine. He is a faggot-maker, and has a quarrel with his wife, who vows to be even with him for striking her. Valère and Lucas (two domestics of Géronte) ask her to direct them to the house of a noted doctor. She sends them to her husband, and tells them he is so eccentric that he will deny being a doctor, but they must beat him well. So they find the faggot-maker, whom they beat soundly, till he consents to follow them. He is introduced to Lucinde, who pretends to be dumb, but, being a shrewd man, he soon finds out that the dumbness is only a pretence, and takes with him Léandre as an apothecary. The two lovers understand each other, and Lucinde is rapidly cured with “pills matrimoniac.”—Molière, Le Médecin Malgré Lui (1666).

* Sganarelle being asked by the father what he thinks is the matter with Lucinde, replies, “Entendez-vous le Latin?” “En aucune façon,” says Géronte. “Vous n’entendez point le Latin?” “Non, monsieur.” “That is a sad pity,” says Sganarelle, “for the case may be briefly stated thus:

Cabricias arci thuram, catalamus, singulariter, nominativo, hæc musa, la muse, bonus, bona, bonum. Deus sanctus, estne oratio Latinas? etiam, oui, quare? pourquoi? quia substantivo et adjectivum concordat in generi, numerum, et casus.” “Wonderful man!” says the father.—Act iii.

Sganarelle (3 syl.), valet to Don Juan. He remonstrates with his master on his evil ways, but is forbidden sternly to repeat his impertinent admonitions. His praise of tobacco, or rather snuff, is somewhat amusing:

Tabac est la passion des honnêtes gens; et qui vit sans tabac n’est pas digne de vivre. Non seulement il réjouit et purge les cerveaux humains, mais encore il instruit les ames à la vertu, et l’on apprend avec lui à devenir honnête homme ... il inspire des sentiments d’honneur à tous ceux qui en prennent.—Molière, Don Juan, i. 1 (1665).

Shaccabac, in Blue Beard. (See Schacabac.)

I have seen strange sights. I have seen Wilkinson play “Macbeth;” Matthews, “Othello;” Wrench, “George Barnwell;” Buckstone, “Iago;” Rayner, “Penruddock;” Keeley, “Shylock;” Liston, “Romeo” and “Octavian;” G. F. Cooke, “Mercutio;” John Kemble, “Archer;” Edmund Kean, clown in a pantomine; and C. Young, “Shaccabac.”—Record of a Stage Veteran.

“Macbeth,” “Othello,” “Iago” (in Othello), “Shylock” (Merchant of Venice), “Romeo” and “Mercutio” (in Romeo and Juliet), all by Shakespeare: “George Barnwell” (Lillo’s tragedy so called); “Penruddock” (in The Wheel of Fortune), by Cumberland); “Octavian” (in Colman’s drama so called); “Archer” (in The Beaux’ Stratagem, by Farquhar).

Shackfords (The). Lemuel Shackford, “a hard, avaricious, passionate man, holding his own way remorselessly.... A prominent character because of his wealth, endless lawsuits and eccentricity.”

Richard Shackford, nephew of Lemuel, a frank, whole-souled young fellow, intent upon his profession, but willing to make everybody else comfortable as he wins his way up. He is accused, upon circumstantial evidence, of the murder of his uncle, but is extricated by his own sagacity, which enables him to fix the crime upon the true assassin.—T. B. Aldrich, The Stillwater Tragedy (1880).

Shaddai (King), who made war upon Diabolus for the regaining of Mansoul.—John Bunyan, The Holy War (1682).

Shade (To fight in the). Dieneces [Di.en´.e.seez], the Spartan, being told that the army of the Persians was so numerous that their arrows would shut out the sun, replied, “Thank the gods! we shall then fight in the shade.”

Shadow (Simon), one of the recruits of the army of Sir John Falstaff. “A half-faced fellow,” so thin that Sir John said, “A foeman might as well level his gun at the edge of a penknife” as at such a starveling.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2 (1598).

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were cast, by the command of Nebuchadnezzar, into a fiery furnace, but received no injury, although the furnace was made so hot that the heat thereof “slew those men” that took them to the furnace.-Dan. iii. 22.

By Nimrod’s order, Abraham was bound and cast into a huge fire at Cûtha; but he was preserved from injury by the angel Gabriel, and only the cords which bound him were burnt. Yet so intense was the heat that above 2000 men were consumed thereby.—See Gospel of Barnabas, xxviii.; and Morgan, Mahometanism Explained, V. i. 4.

Shadwell (Thomas), the poet-laureate, was a great drunkard, and was said to be “round as a butt, and liquored every chink” (1640-1692).

Besides, his [Shadwell’s] goodly fabric fills the eye,
And seems designed for thoughtless majesty.

Dryden, MacFlecknoe (1682).

* Shadwell took opium, and died from taking too large a dose. Hence Pope says:

Benlowes, propitious still to blockheads, bows;
And Shadwell nods the poppy on his brows.

The Dunciad, iii. 21, 22 (1728).

Benlowes was a great patron of bad poets, and many have dedicated to him their lucubrations. Sometimes the name is shifted into “Benevolus.”

Shaf´alus and Procrus. So Bottom, the weaver, calls Cephălus and Procris. (See Cephalus.)

Pyramus. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Thisbe. As Shafalus to Procrus; I to you.

Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of), introduced by Sir W. Scott in Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Shafton (Ned), one of the prisoners in Newgate with old Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Shafton (Sir Piercie), called “The knight of Wolverton,” a fashionable cavaliero, grandson of old Overstitch, the tailor, of Holderness. Sir Piercie talks in the pedantic style of the Elizabethan courtiers.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Shah (The), a famous diamond, weighing 86 carats. It was given by Chosroës, of Persia, to the Czar of Russia. (See Diamonds.)

Shakebag (Dick), a highwayman with Captain Colepepper.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Shakespeare, introduced by Sir W. Scott in the ante-rooms of Greenwich Palace.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

* In Woodstock there is a conversation about Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s Home. He left London before 1613, and established himself at Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, where he was born (1564), and where he died (1616). In the diary of Mr. Ward, the vicar of Stratford, is this entry: “Shakspeare, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and, it seems, drank too hard, for Shakspeare died of a fever then contracted.” (Drayton died 1631, and Ben Jonson, 1637.) Probably Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23.

Shakespeare’s Monument, in Westminster Abbey, designed by Kent, and executed by Scheemakers, in 1742. The statue to Shakespeare in Drury Lane Theatre was by the same.

The statue of Shakespeare in the British Museum is by Roubiliac, and was bequeathed to the nation by Garrick. His best portrait is by Droeshout.

Shakespeare’s Plays, quarto editions:

Romeo and Juliet: 1597, John Danter; 1599, Thomas Creede for Cuthbert Burby; 1609, 1637. Supposed to have been written, 1595.

King Richard II.: 1597, Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise; 1598, 1608 (with an additional scene); 1615, 1634.

King Richard III.: 1597, ditto; 1598, 1602, 1612, 1622.

Love’s Labor’s Lost; 1598, W. W. for Cuthbert Burby. Supposed to have been written, 1594.

King Henry IV. (pt. I): 1598, P. S. for Andrew Wise; 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613. Supposed to have been written, 1597.

King Henry IV. (pt. 2): 1600, V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley; 1600. Supposed to have been written, 1598.

King Henry V.: 1600, Thomas Creede for Thomas Millington and John Busby; 1602, 1608. Supposed to have been written, 1599.

Midsummer Night’s Dream: 1600, Thomas Fisher; 1600, James Roberts. Mentioned by Meres, 1598. Supposed to have been written, 1592.

Merchant of Venice: 1600, I. R. for Thomas Heyes; 1600, James Roberts; 1637. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

Much Ado about Nothing: 1600, V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley.

Merry Wives of Windsor: 1602, T. C. for Arthur Johnson; 1619. Supposed to have been written, 1596.

Hamlet: 1603, I. R. for N. L.; 1605, 1611. Supposed to have been written, 1597.

King Lear: 1608, A. for Nathaniel Butter; 1608, B. for ditto. Acted at Whitehall, 1607. Supposed to have been written, 1605.

Troilus and Cressida: 1609, G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Whalley (with a preface). Acted at court, 1609. Supposed to have been written, 1602.

Othello: 1622, N. O. for Thomas Walkely. Acted at Harefield, 1602.

The rest of the dramas are:

All’s Well that Ends Well, 1598. First title supposed to be Love’s Labor’s Won.

Antony and Cleopatra, 1608. No early mention made of this play.

As You Like It. Entered at Stationer’s Hall, 1600.

Comedy of Errors, 1593. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

Coriolanus, 1610. No early mention made of this play.

Cymbeline, 1605. No early mention made of this play.

1 Henry VI. Alluded to by Nash in Pierce Penniless, 1592.

2 Henry VI. Original title, First Part of the Contention, 1594.

3 Henry VI. Original title, True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, 1595.

Henry VIII., 1601. Acted at the Globe Theatre, 1613.

John (King), 1596. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

Julius Cæsar, 1607. No early mention made of this play.

Lear, 1605. Acted at Whitehall 1607. Printed 1608.

Macbeth, 1606. No early mention made of this play.

Measure for Measure, 1603. Acted at Whitehall 1604.

Merry Wives of Windsor, 1596. Printed 1602.

Pericles Prince of Tyre. Printed 1609.

Taming of the Shrew. (?) Acted at Henslow’s Theatre, 1593. Entered at Stationer’s Hall, 1607.

Tempest, 1609. Acted at Whitehall, 1611.

Timon of Athens, 1609. No early mention made of this play.

Titus Andronicus, 1593. Printed 1600.

Twelfth Night. Acted in the Middle Temple Hall, 1602.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1595. Mentioned by Meres 1598.

Winter’s Tale, 1604. Acted at Whitehall, 1611.

First complete collection in folio; 1623, Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount; 1632, 1664, 1685. The second folio is of very little value.

Shakespeare’s Parents. His father was John Shakespeare, a glover, who married Mary Arden, daughter of Robert Arden, Esq., of Bomich, a good country gentleman.

Shakespeare’s Wife, Anne Hathaway, of Shottery, some eight years older than himself; daughter of a substantial yeoman.

Shakespeare’s Children. One son, Hamnet, who died in his twelfth year (1585-1596). Two daughters, who survived him, Susanna and Judith, twin-born with Hamnet. Both his daughters married and had children, but the lines died out.

Voltaire says of Shakespeare: “Rimer had very good reason to say that Shakespeare n’etait q’un vilain singe.” Voltaire, in 1765, said, “Shakespeare is a savage with some imagination, whose plays can please only in London and Canada.” In 1735 he wrote to M. de Cideville, “Shakespeare is the Corneille of London, but everywhere else he is a great fool (grand fou d’ailleur).”

Shakespeare of Divines (The), Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667).

Taylor, the Shakespeare of divines.—Emerson.

Shakespeare of Eloquence (The). The comte de Mirabeau was so called by Barnave (1749-1791).

Shakespeare of Germany (The), Augustus Frederick Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761-1819).

Shakespeare of Prose Fiction (The). Richardson, the novelist, is so called by D’Israeli (1689-1761).

Shallow, a weak-minded country justice, cousin to Slender. He is a great braggart, and especially fond of boasting of the mad pranks of his younger days. It is said that Justice Shallow is a satirical portrait of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, who prosecuted Shakespeare for deer-stealing.—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1596); and 2 Henry IV. (1598).

As wise as a justice of the quorum and custalorum in Shallow’s time.—Macaulay.

Shallum, lord of a manor consisting of a long chain of rocks and mountains called Tirzah. Shallum was “of gentle disposition, and beloved both by God and man.” He was the lover of Hilpa, a Chinese antediluvian princess, one of the 150 daughters of Zilpah, of the race of Cohu or Cain.—Addison, Spectator, viii. 584-5 (1712).

Shalott (The lady of), a poem by Tennyson, in four parts. Pt. i. tells us that the lady passed her life in the island of Shalott in great seclusion, and was known only by the peasantry. Pt. ii. tells us that she was weaving a magic web, and that a curse would fall on her if she looked down the river. Pt. iii. describes how Sir Lancelot rode to Camelot in all his bravery; and the lady gazed at him as he rode along. Pt. iv. tells us that the lady floated down the river in a boat called The Lady of Shalott, and died heart-broken on the way. Sir Lancelot came to gaze on the dead body, and exclaimed, “She has a lovely face, God in his mercy grant her grace!” This ballad was afterwards expanded into the Idyll called “Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat” (q.v.), the beautiful incident of Elaine and the barge being taken from the History of Prince Arthur, by Sir T. Malory.

“While my body is whole, let this letter be put into my right hand, and my hand bound fast with the letter until I be cold, and let me be put in a fair bed with all the richest clothes that I have about me, and so let my bed and all my rich clothes be laid with me in a chariot to the next place whereas the Thames is, and there let me be put in a barge, and but one man with me such as ye trust to steer me thither, and that my barge be covered with black samite over and over.” ... So when she was dead, the corpse and the bed and all was led the next way unto to the Thames, and there a man and the corpse and all were put in a barge on the Thames, and so the man steered the barge to Westminster, and there he rowed a great while to and fro, or any man espied.—Pt. iii. 123.

King Arthur saw the body and had it buried, and Sir Lancelot made an offering, etc. (ch. 124); much the same as Tennyson has reproduced it in verse.

Shalott (The lady of). “It is not generally known that the lady of Shalott lived, last summer, in an attic at the east end of South Street.” Thus begins a story of an incurable invalid, whose only amusement is watching street scenes reflected in a small mirror hung opposite the one window of her garret-room. A stone flung by a boy shatters the mirror, and the fragile creature never recovers from the shock.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, The Lady of Shalott.

Shamho´zai (3 syl.), the angel who debauched himself with women, repented, and hung himself up between earth and heaven.—Bereshit rabbi (in Gen. vi. 2).

* Harût and Marût were two angels sent to be judges on earth. They judged righteously until Zohara appeared before them, when they fell in love with her, and were imprisoned in a cave near Babylon, where they are to abide till the day of judgment.

Shandy (Tristram), the nominal hero of Sterne’s novel called The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759). He is the son of Walter and Elizabeth Shandy.

Captain Shandy, better known as “Uncle Toby,” the real hero of Sterne’s novel. Captain Shandy was wounded at Namur, and retired on half-pay. He was benevolent and generous, brave as a lion but simple as a child, most gallant and most modest. Hazlitt says that “the character of Uncle Toby is the finest compliment ever paid to human nature.” His modest love-passages with Widow Wadman, his kindly sympathy for Lieutenant Lefevre, and his military discussions, are wholly unrivalled.

Aunt Dinah [Shandy], Walter Shandy’s aunt. She bequeathed to him £1000, which Walter fancied would enable him to carry out all the wild schemes with which his head was crammed.

Mrs. Elizabeth Shandy, mother of Tristram Shandy. The ideal of nonentity, individual from its very absence of individuality.

Walter Shandy, Tristram’s father, a metaphysical Don Quixote, who believes in long noses and propitious names; but his son’s nose was crushed, and his name, which should have been Trismegistus (“the most propitious”), was changed in christening to Tristram (“the most unlucky”). If much learning can make man mad, Walter Shandy was certainly mad in all the affairs of ordinary life. His wife was a blank sheet, and he himself a sheet so written on and crossed and rewritten that no one could decipher the manuscript.—L. Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759).

Sharp, the ordinary of Major Touchwood, who aids him in his transformation, but is himself puzzled to know which is the real and which the false colonel.—T. Dibdin, What Next?

Sharp (Rebecca), the orphan daughter of an artist. “She was small and slight in person, pale, sandy-haired, and with green eyes, habitually cast down, but very large, odd, and attractive when they looked up.” Becky had the “dismal precocity of poverty,” and, being engaged as governess in the family of Sir Pitt Crawley, bart., contrived to marry, clandestinely, his son, Captain Rawdon Crawley, and taught him how to live in splendor “upon nothing a year.” Becky was an excellent singer and dancer, a capital talker and wheedler, and a most attractive, but unprincipled, selfish, and unscrupulous woman. Lord Steyne introduced her to court; but her conduct with this peer gave rise to a terrible scandal, which caused a separation between her and Rawdon, and made England too hot to hold her. She retired to the Continent, was reduced to a Bohemian life, but ultimately attached herself to Joseph Sedley, whom she contrived to strip of all his money, and who lived in dire terror of her, dying in six months under very suspicious circumstances.—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848).

Sharp (Timothy), the “lying valet” of Charles Gayless. His object is to make his master, who has not a sixpence in the world, pass for a man of wealth in the eyes of Melissa, to whom he is engaged.—Garrick, The Lying Valet (1741).

Sharp-Beak, the crow’s wife, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox (1498).

Sharpe (The Right Rev. James), archbishop of St. Andrew’s, murdered by John Balfour (a leader in the covenanters’ army) and his party.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Sharper (Master), the cutler in the Strand.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Sharpitlaw (Gideon), a police officer.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Shawonda´see, son of Mudjekeewis, and king of the south wind. Fat and lazy, listless and easy. Shawondasee loved a prairie maiden (the Dandelion), but was too indolent to woo her.—Longfellow, Hiawatha (1855).

She Stoops to Conquer, a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith (1773). Miss Hardcastle, knowing how bashful young Marlow is before ladies, stoops to the manners and condition of a barmaid, with whom he feels quite at his ease, and by this artifice wins the man of her choice.

* It is said that when Goldsmith was about 16 years old, he set out for Edgworthstown, and finding night coming on when at Ardagh, asked a man “which was the best house in town”—meaning the best inn. The man, who was Cornelius O’Kelly, the great fencing-master, pointed to that of Mr. Ralph Fetherstone, as being the best house in the vicinity. Oliver entered the parlor, found the master of the mansion sitting over a good fire, and said he intended to pass the night there, and should like to have supper. Mr. Fetherstone happened to know Goldsmith’s father, and, to humor the joke, pretended to be the landlord of “the public,” nor did he reveal himself till next morning at breakfast, when Oliver called for his bill. It was not Sir Ralph Fetherstone, as is generally said, but Mr. Ralph Fetherstone, whose grandson was Sir Thomas.

Sheba. The queen of Sheba, or Saba (i.e. the Sabeans) came to visit Solomon, and tested his wisdom by sundry questions, but affirmed that his wisdom and wealth exceeded even her expectations.—1 Kings x.; 2 Chron. ix.

No, not to answer, madam, all those hard things
That Sheba came to ask of Solomon.

Tennyson, The Princess, ii.

* The Arabs call her name Balkis, or Belkis; the Abyssinians, Macqueda; and others, Aazis.

Sheba (The queen of), a name given to Mde. Montreville (the Begum Mootee Mahul).—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Shebdiz, the Persian Bucephalos, the favorite charger of Chosroës II., or Khosrou Parvis, of Persia (590-628).

Shedad, king of Ad, who built a most magnificent palace, and laid out a garden called “The Garden of Irem,” like “the bowers of Eden.” All men admired this palace and garden, except the prophet Houd, who told the king that the foundation of his palace was not secure. And so it was, that God, to punish his pride, first sent a drought of three years’ duration, and then the Sarsar, or icy wind, for seven days, in which the garden was destroyed, the palace ruined, and Shedad, with all his subjects, died.

It is said that the palace of Shedad, or Shuddaud, took 500 years in building, and when it was finished the angel of death would not allow him even to enter his garden, but struck him dead, and the rose garden of Irem was ever after invisible to the eye of man.—Southey, Thalaba, the Destroyer, 1. (1797).

Sheep-Dog (A), a lady-companion, who occupies the back seat of the barouche, carries wraps, etc., goes to church with the lady,and “guards her from the wolves,” as much as the lady wishes to be guarded, but no more.

“Rawdon,” said Becky, ... “I must have a sheep-dog ... I mean a moral shepherd’s dog ... to keep the wolves off me.” ... “A sheep-dog, a companion! Becky Sharp with a sheep-dog! Isn’t that good fun!”—Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxvii. (1848).

Sheep of the Prisons, a cant term in the French Revolution for a spy under the jailers.—C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, iii. 7 (1859).

Sheep Tilted at. Don Quixote saw the dust of two flocks of sheep coming in opposite directions, and told Sancho they were two armies—one commanded by the Emperor Alifanfaron, sovereign of the island of Trap´oban, and the other by the king of the Garaman´teans, called “Pentap´olin with the Naked Arm.” He said that Alifanfaron was in love with Pentapolin’s daughter, but Pentapolin refused to sanction the alliance, because Alifanfaron was a Mohammedan. The mad knight rushed on the flock “led by Alifanfaron,” and killed seven of the sheep, but was stunned by stones thrown at him by the shepherds. When Sancho told his master that the two armies were only two flocks of sheep, the knight replied that the enchanter Freston had “metamorphosed the two grand armies” in order to show his malice.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 4 (1605).

* After the death of Achillês, Ajax and Ulysses both claimed the armor of Hector. The dispute was settled by the sons of Atreus (2 syl.), who awarded the prize to Ulysses. This so enraged Ajax that it drove him mad, and he fell upon a flock of sheep driven at night into the camp, supposing it to be an army led by Ulysses and the sons of Atreus. When he found out his mistake, he stabbed himself. This is the subject of a tragedy by Soph´oclês called Ajax Mad.

* Orlando in his madness also fell foul of a flock of sheep.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Sheffield (The Bard of), James Montgomery, author of The Wanderer of Switzerland, etc. (1771-1854).

With broken lyre and cheek serenely pale,
Lo! Sad Alcæns wanders down the vale ...
O’er his lost works let classic Sheffield weep;
May no rude hand disturb their early sleep!

Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

Sheila, pretty, simple-hearted girl, whose father is a magnate among his neighbors in the Orkney Islands. Sheila is won by a Londoner—Lavender by name—who visits her island home. He transplants the Northern wild flower into a London home, where she pines for a while, homesick and heart-sick. In time, her sound sense enables her to adjust herself to altered conditions, and her stronger nature raises and ennobles her husband’s.—William Black, A Princess of Thulè.

Shelby (Mr.), Uncle Tom’s first master. Being in commercial difficulties, he was obliged to sell his faithful slave. His son afterwards endeavored to buy Uncle Tom back again, but found that he had been whipped to death by the villain Legree.—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).

Shell (A). Amongst the ancient Gaels a shell was emblematic of peace. Hence when Bosmi´na, Fingal’s daughter, was sent to propitiate King Erragon, who had invaded Morven, she carried with her a “sparkling shell as a symbol of peace, and a golden arrow as a symbol of war.”—Ossian, The Battle of Lora.

Shells, i.e., hospitality. “Semo, king of shells” (“hospitality”). When Cuthullin invites Swaran to a banquet, his messenger says, “Cuthullin gives the joy of shells; come and partake the feast of Erin’s blue-eyed chief.” The ancient Gaels drank from shells; and hence such phrases as “chief of shells,” “hall of shells,” “king of shells,” etc. (king of hospitality). “To rejoice in the shell” is to feast sumptuously and drink freely.

Shemus-an-Snachad, or “James of the Needle,” M’Ivor’s tailor at Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.)

Shepheardes Calendar (The), twelve eclogues in various metres, by Spenser, one for each month. January: Colin Clout (Spenser) bewails that Rosalind does not return his love, and compares his forlorn condition to the season itself. February: Cuddy, a lad, complains of the cold, and Thenot laments the degeneracy of pastoral life. March: Willie and Thomalin discourse of love (described as a person just aroused from sleep). April: Hobbinol sings a song on Eliza, queen of shepherds. May: Palinode (3 syl.) exhorts Piers to join the festivities of May, but Piers replies that good shepherds who seek their own indulgence expose their flocks to the wolves. He then relates the fable of the kid and her dam. June: Hobbinol exhorts Colin to greater cheerfulness, but Colin replies there is no cheer for him while Rosalind remains unkind and loves Menalcas better than himself. July: Morrel, a goat-herd, invites Thomalin to come with him to the uplands, but Thomalin replies that humility better becomes a shepherd (i.e., a pastor or clergyman). August: Perigot and Willie contend in song, and Cuddy is appointed arbiter. September: Diggon Davie complains to Hobbinol of clerical abuses. October: On poetry, which Cuddy says has no encouragement, and laments that Colin neglects it, being crossed in love. November; Colin, being asked by Thenot to sing, excuses himself because of his grief for Dido, but finally he sings her elegy. December: Colin again complains that his heart is desolate because Rosalind loves him not (1579).

Shepheards Hunting (The), four “eglogues” by George Wither, while confined in the Marshalsea (1615). The shepherd, Roget, is the poet himself, and his “hunting” is a satire called Abuses Stript and Whipt, for which he was imprisoned. The first three eglogues are upon the subject of Roget’s imprisonment, and the fourth is on his love of poetry. “Willy” is the poet’s friend, William Browne, of the Inner Temple, author of Britannia’s Pastorals. He was two years the junior of Wither.

Shepherd (The), Moses, who for forty years fed the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law.

Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed,
“In the beginning,” how the heaven and earth
Rose out of chaos.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. (1665).

Shepherd (The Gentle), George Grenville, the statesman. One day, in addressing the House, George Grenville said, “Tell me where! tell me where!...” Pitt hummed the line of a song then very popular, beginning, “Gentle shepherd, tell me where!” and the whole House was convulsed with laughter (1712-1770).

* Allan Ramsay has a beautiful Scotch pastoral called The Gentle Shepherd (1725).

Shepherd (John Claridge), the signature adopted by the author of The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules to Judge of the Changes of Weather, etc. (1744). Supposed to be Dr. John Campbell, author of A Political Survey of Britain.

Shepherd-Kings (The), or Hyksos. These Hyksos were a tribe of Cuthites driven from Assyria by Aralius and the Shemites. Their names were: (1) Saītês or Salātês, called by the Arabs El-Weleed, and said to be a descendant of Esau (B.C. 1870-1851); (2) Beon, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan, son of El-Weleed (B.C. 1851-1811); (3) Apachnas (B.C. 1811-1750); (4) Apōphis, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan II., in whose reign Joseph was sold into Egypt and was made viceroy (B.C. 1750-1700); (5) Janias (B.C. 1700-1651); (6) Asseth (1651-1610). The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt by Amŏsis or Thetmosis, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and retired to Palestine, where they formed the chiefs or lords of the Philistines. (Hyksos is compounded of hyk, “king,” and sos, “shepherd.”)

* Apophis or Aphophis was not a shepherd-king, but a pharaoh or native ruler, who made Apachnas tributary, and succeeded him, but on the death of Aphophis the hyksos were restored.

Shepherd Lord (The), Lord Henry de Clifford, brought up by his mother as a shepherd to save him from the vengeance of the Yorkists. Henry VII. restored him to his birthright and estates (1455-1543).

The gracious fairy,
Who loved the shepherd lord to meet
In his wanderings solitary.

Wordsworth, The White Doe of Rylstone (1815).

Shepherd of Banbury. (See Shepherd, John Claridge.)

Shepherd of Filida.

“Preserve him, Mr. Nicholas, as thou wouldst a diamond. He is not a shepherd, but an elegant courtier,” said the curé.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

Shepherd of Salisbury Plain (The), the hero and title of a religious tract by Hannah More. The shepherd is noted for his homely wisdom and simple piety. The academy figure of this shepherd was David Saunders, who, with his father, had kept sheep on the plain for a century.

Shepherd of the Ocean. So Colin Clout (Spenser) calls Sir Walter Raleigh in his Colin Clout’s Come Home Again (1591).

Shepherdess (The Faithful), a pastoral drama by John Fletcher (1610). The “faithful shepherdess” is Corin, who remains faithful to her lover although dead. Milton has borrowed rather largely from this pastoral in his Comus.

Sheppard (Jack), immortalized for his burglaries and escapes from Newgate. He was the son of a carpenter in Spitalfields, and was an ardent, reckless and generous youth. Certainly the most popular criminal ever led to Tyburn for execution (1701-1724).

* Daniel Defoe made Jack Sheppard the hero of a romance in 1724, and W. H. Ainsworth, in 1839.

Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, always brings ill luck to the possessor. It belonged at one time to the see of Canterbury, and Osmond pronounced a curse on any laymen who wrested it from the Church.

The first laymen who held these lands was the Protector Somerset, who was beheaded by Edward VI.

The next laymen was Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also beheaded.

At the death of Raleigh, James I. seized on the lands, and conferred them on Car, earl of Somerset, who died prematurely. His younger son, Carew, was attainted, committed to the Tower, and lost his estates by forfeiture.

* James I. was no exception. He lost his eldest son, the prince of Wales, Charles I. was beheaded, James II. was forced to abdicate, and the two Pretenders consummated the ill luck of the family.

Sherborne is now in the possession of Digby, earl of Bristol.

(For other possessions which carry with them ill luck, see Gold of Tolosa, Gold of Nibelungen, Graysteel, Harmonia’s Necklace, etc.)

Sheridan’s Ride, the story of the brilliant dash of Sheridan upon Winchester, that turned the fortunes of the day in favor of the Federal forces. Early, in command of the Confederates, had driven the United States troops out of the town. When Sheridan met them, they were in full retreat.

“Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man,
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky,
The American soldier’s Temple of Fame,
There, with the glorious General’s name
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright:—
Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight,
From Winchester—twenty miles away!’”

Thomas Buchanan Read, Sheridan’s Ride.

Sheva, the philanthropic Jew, most modest, but most benevolent. He “stints his appetite to pamper his affections, and lives in poverty that the poor may live in plenty.” Sheva is “the widows’ friend, the orphans’ father, the poor man’s protector, and the universal dispenser of charity, but he ever shrank to let his left hand know what his right hand did.” Ratcliffe’s father rescued him at Cadiz, from an auto da fe, and Ratcliffe himself rescued him from a howling London mob. This noble heart settled £10,000 on Miss Ratcliffe at her marriage, and left Charles the heir of all his property.—Cumberland, The Jew (1776).

* The Jews of England made up a very handsome purse, which they presented to the dramatist for this championship of their race.

Sheva, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is designed for Sir Roger Lestrange, censor of the press, in the reign of Charles II. Sheva was one of David’s scribes (2 Sam. xx. 25), and Sir Roger was editor of the Observator, in which he vindicated the court measures, for which he was knighted.

Than Sheva, none more loyal zeal have shown,
Wakeful as Judah’s lion for the crown.

Tate, Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).

Shib´boleth, the test pass-word of a secret society. When the Ephraimites tried to pass the Jordan, after their defeat by Jephthah, the guard tested whether they were Ephraimites or not, by asking them to say the word “Shibboleth,” which the Ephraimites pronounced “Sibboleth” (Judges xii. 1-6).

In the Sicilian Vespers, a word was given as a test of nationality. Some dried peas (ciceri) were shown to a suspect: if he called them cheecharee, he was a Sicilian, and allowed to pass; but if siseri, he was a Frenchman, and was put to death.

In the great Danish slaughter on St. Bryce’s Day (November 13, 1002), according to tradition, a similar test was made with the words “Chichester Church,” which, being pronounced hard or soft, decided whether the speaker were Dane or Saxon.

Shield of Rome (The), Fabius “Cunctātor.” Marcellus was called “The Sword of Rome.” (See Fabius.)

Shift (Samuel), a wonderful mimic, who, like Charles Mathews, the elder, could turn his face to anything. He is employed by Sir William Wealthy, to assist in saving his son, George, from ruin, and accordingly helps the young man in his money difficulties by becoming his agent. Ultimately, it is found that Sir George’s father is his creditor, the young man is saved from ruin, marries, and becomes a reformed and honorable member of society, who has “sown his wild oats.”—Foote, The Minor (1760).

Shilling (To cut one off with a). A tale is told of Charles and John Banister. John, having irritated his father, the old man said, “Jack, I’ll cut you off with a shilling.” To which the son replied, “I wish, dad, you would give it to me now.”

* The same identical anecdote is told of Sheridan and his son Tom.

Shingle (Solon), prominent personage in J. S. Jones’s farce, The People’s Lawyer.

Ship (The Intelligent). Ellīda (Frithjof’s ship) understood what was said to it; hence in the Frithjof Saga the son of Thornsten constantly addresses it, and the ship always obeys what is said to it.—Tegner, Frithjof Saga, x. (1825).

Shipton (Mother), the heroine of an ancient tale entitled The Strange and Wonderful History and Prophecies of Mother Shipton, etc.—T. Evan Preece.

Shipwreck (The), a poem in three cantos, by William Falconer (1762). Supposed to occupy six days. The ship was the Britannia, under the command of Albert, and bound for Venice. Being overtaken in a squall, she is driven out of her course from Candia, and four seamen are lost off the lee main-yardarm. A fearful storm greatly distresses the vessel and the captain gives command “to bear away.” As she passes the island of St. George, the helmsman is struck blind by lightning. Bowsprit, foremast, and main-topmast being carried away, the officers try to save themselves on the wreck of the foremast. The ship splits on the projecting verge of Cape Colonna. The captain and all his crew are lost except Arion (Falconer), who is washed ashore, and being befriended by the natives, returns to England to tell this mournful story.

Shirley. Bright, independent heiress of Yorkshire, beautiful and courted, who chooses her own way and her own husband.—Charlotte Brontè, Shirley.

Shoo-King (The), the history of the Chinese monarchs, by Confucius. It begins with Yoo, B.C. 2205.

Shoolbred (Dame), the foster-mother of Henry Smith.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Shore (Jane), the heroine and title of a tragedy by N. Rowe (1312). Jane Shore was the wife of a London merchant, but left her husband to become the mistress of Edward IV. At the death of that monarch, Lord Hastings wished to obtain her, but she rejected his advances. This drew on her the jealous wrath of Alicia (Lord Hastings’s mistress), who induced her to accuse Lord Hastings of want of allegiance to the lord protector. The duke of Gloucester commanded the instant execution of Hastings; and, accusing Jane Shore of having bewitched him, condemned her to wander about in a sheet, holding a taper in her hand, and decreed that any one who offered her food or shelter should be put to death. Jane continued an outcast for three days, when her husband came to her succor, but he was seized by Gloucester’s myrmidons, and Jane Shore died.

Shoreditch (Duke of). Barlow, the favorite archer of Henry VIII., was so entitled by the Merry Monarch, in royal sport. Barlow’s two skillful companions were created at the same time, “marquis of Islington,” and “earl of Pancras.”

Good king, make not good lord of Lincoln “duke of Shoreditche.”—The Poore Man’s Petition to the Kinge (art. xvi. 1603).

Shorne (Sir John) noted for his feat of conjuring the devil into a boot.

To Master John Shorne,
That blessêd man borne,
Which jugeleth with a bote;
I beschrewe his herte rote
That will trust him, and it be I.

Fantassie of Idolatrie.

Short-Lived Administration (The). the administration formed February 12, 1746, by William Pulteney. It lasted only two days.

Shortcake (Mrs.), the baker’s wife, one of Mrs. Mailsetter’s friends.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Shortell (Master), the mercer at Liverpool.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Short´hose (2 syl.), a clown, servant to Lady Hartwell, the widow.—Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money (1539).

Shorthouse (Tom), epitaph of.

Hic Jacet Tom Shorthouse, sine Tom, sine Sheets, sine Riches;
Qui Vixit sine Gown, sine Cloak, sine Shirt, sine Breeches.

Old London (taken from the Magna Britannia)

Shovel-Boards or Edward Shovel-Boards, broad shillings of Edward III. Taylor, the water-poet, tells us “they were used for the most part at shoave-board.”

... the unthrift every day,
With my face downwards do at shoave-board play.

Taylor, the water-poet (1580-1754).

Shewsberry (Lord), the earl marshall in the court of Queen Elizabeth.—Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Shufflebottom (Abel), a name assumed by Robert Southey in some of his amatory productions (1774-1843).

Shuffles (Robert). One of the “bad boys,” whose misdemeanors and reformation are sketched in Outward Bound, by William T. Adams (Oliver Optic).

Shuffleton (The Hon. Tom), a man of very slender estate, who borrows of all who will lend, but always forgets to repay or return the loans. When spoken to about it, he interrupts the speaker before he comes to the point, and diverts the conversation to some other subject. He is one of the new school, always emotionless, looks on money as the summum bonum, and all as fair that puts money in his purse. The Hon. Tom Shuffleton marries Lady Caroline Braymore, who has £4000 a year. (See Dimanche.)—G. Colman, Jr., John Bull.

Shylock, the Jew, who lends Antonio (a Venetian merchant) 3000 ducats for three months, on these conditions: If repaid within the time, only the principal would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to cut from Antonio’s body a pound of flesh. The ships of Antonio being delayed by contrary winds, the merchant was unable to meet his bill, and the Jew claimed the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the trial, and when the Jew was about to take his bond, reminded him that he must shed no drop of blood, nor must he cut either more or less than an exact pound. If these conditions were infringed his life would be forfeit. The Jew, feeling it to be impossible to exact the bond under such conditions, gave up the claim, but was heavily fined for seeking the life of a Venetian citizen.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1598).

Among modern actors, Henry Irving, as Shylock, stands unsurpassed.

According to the kindred authority of Shylock, no man hates the thing he would not kill.—Sir W. Scott.

* Paul Secchi tells us a similar tale: A merchant of Venice, having been informed by private letter that Drake had taken and plundered St. Domingo, sent word to Sampson Ceneda, a Jewish usurer. Ceneda would not believe it, and bet a pound of flesh it was not true. When the report was confirmed the pope told Secchi he might lawfully claim his bet if he chose, only he must draw no blood, nor take either more or less than an exact pound, on the penalty of being hanged.—Gregorio Leti, Life of Sextus V. (1666).

Sibbald, an attendant on the earl of Menteith.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Sibylla, the sibyl. (See Sibyls.)

And thou, Alecto, feede me wyth thy foode ...
And thou, Sibilla, when thou seest me faynte,
Addres thyselfe the gyde of my complaynte.

Sackville, Mirrour for Magistraytes (“Complaynte,” etc., (1557).

Sibyls. Plato speaks of only one sibyl; Martian Capella says there were two (the Erythræan or Cumæan sibyl, and the Phrygian); Pliny speaks of the three sibyls; Jackson maintains, on the authority of Ælian, that there were four; Shakespeare speaks of the nine sibyls of old Rome (1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 2); Varro says they were ten (the sibyls of Libya, Samos, Cumæ (in Italy), Cumæ (in Asia Minor), Erythræ, Persia, Tiburtis, Delphi, Ancy´ra (in Phrygia), and Marpessa), in reference to which Rabelais says, “she may be the eleventh sibyl” (Pantagruel, iii. 16); the mediæval monks made the number to be twelve, and gave to each a distinct prophecy respecting Christ. But whatever the number, there was but one “sibyl of old Rome” (the Cumæan), who offered to Tarquin the nine Sibylline books.

Sibyl’s Books (The). We are told that the sibyl of Cumæ (in Æŏlis) offered Tarquin nine volumes of predictions for a certain sum of money, but the king, deeming the price exorbitant, refused to purchase them; whereupon she burnt three of the volumes, and next year offered Tarquin the remaining six at the same price. Again he refused, and the sibyl burnt three more. The following year she again returned, and asked the original price for the three which remained. At the advice of the augurs the king purchased the books, and they were preserved with great care under guardians specially appointed for the purpose.

Sicilian Bull (The), the brazen bull invented by Perillos for the tyrant Phalăris, as an engine of torture. Perillos himself was the first victim enclosed in the bull.

As the Sicilian bull that rightfully
His cries echoed who had shaped the mould,
Did so rebellow with the voice of him
Tormented, that the brazen monster seemed
Pierced through with pain.

Dantê, Hell, xxvii. (1300).

Sicilian Vespers (The), the massacre of the French in Sicily, which began at Palermo, March 30, 1282, at the hour of vespers, on Easter Monday. This wholesale slaughter was provoked by the brutal conduct of Charles d’Anjou (the governor) and his soldiers towards the islanders.

A similar massacre of the Danes was made in England, on St. Bryce’s Day (November 13), 1002.

Another similar slaughter took place at Bruges, March 24, 1302.

* The Bartholomew Massacre (Aug. 24, 1572) was a religious not a political movement.

Sicilien (Le) or L’Amour Peintre, a comedy by Molière (1667). The Sicilian is Don Pèdre, who has a Greek slave named Is´idore. This slave is loved by Adraste (2 syl.), a French gentleman, and the plot of the comedy, turns on the way that the Frenchman allures the Greek slave away from her master. Hearing that his friend Damon is going to make a portrait of Isidore, he gets him to write to Don Pèdre a letter of introduction, requesting that the bearer may be allowed to take the likeness. By this ruse, Adraste reveals his love to Isidore, and persuades her to elope. The next step is this: Zaïde (2 syl.), a young slave, pretends to have been ill-treated by Adraste, and runs to Don Pèdre to crave protection. The don bids her go in, while he intercedes with Adraste on her behalf. The Frenchman seems to relent, and Pèdre calls for Zaïde to come forth, but Isidore comes instead, wearing Zaïde’s veil. Don Pèdre says to Adraste, “There, take her home, and use her well!” “I will,” says Adraste, and leads off the Greek slave.

Siddartha, born at Gaya, in India, and known in Indian history as Buddha (i.e. “The Wise”).

Sidney, the tutor and friend of Charles Egerton McSycophant. He loves Constantia, but conceals his passion for fear of paining Egerton, her accepted lover.—C. Macklin, The Man of the World (1764).

Sidney (Sir Philip). Sir Philip Sidney, though suffering extreme thirst from the agony of wounds, received in the battle of Zutphen, gave his own draught of water to a wounded private, lying at his side, saying, “Poor fellow, thy necessity is greater than mine.”

A similar instance is recorded of Alexander “the Great,” in the desert of Gedrosia.

David, fighting against the Philistines, became so parched with thirst, that he cried out, “Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and brought him water; nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out unto the Lord.—2 Sam. xxiii. 15-17.

Sidney’s Sister, Pembroke’s Mother. Mary Herbert (born Sidney), countess of Pembroke, who died 1621.

Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse—
Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother.
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Fair, and good, and learned as she,
Time shall throw his dart at thee.

Ben Jonson (1574-1637).

Sid´rophel, William Lily, the astrologer.

Quoth Ralph, “Not far from hence doth dwell
A cunning man, hight Sidrophel,
That deals in destiny’s dark counsels,
And sage opinions of the moon sells;
To whom all people, far and near,
On deep importances repair.”

S. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3 (1664).

Siebel, Margheri´ta’s rejected lover, in the opera of Faust e Margherita, by Gounod (1859).

Siége. Mon siége est fait, my opinion is fixed, and I cannot change it. This proverb rose thus: The abbé de Vertot wrote the history of a certain siege, and applied to a friend for some geographical particulars. These particulars did not arrive till the matter had passed the press; so the abbé remarked with a shrug, “Bah! mon siége est fait.”

Siege Perilous (The). The Round Table contained sieges for 150 knights, but three of them were “reserved.” Of these, two were posts of honor, but the third was reserved for him who was destined to achieve the quest of the Holy Graal. This seat was called “perilous,” because if any one sat therein, except he for whom it was reserved, it would be his death. Every seat of the table bore the name of its rightful occupant, in letters of gold, and the name on the “Siege Perilous” was Sir Galahad (son of Sir Launcelot and Elaine).

Said Merlin, “There shall no man sit in the two void places but they that shall be of most worship. But in the Siege Perilous there shall no man sit but one, and if any other be so hardy as to do it, he shall be destroyed.”—Pt. i. 48.

Then the old man made Sir Galahad unarm; and he put on him a coat of red sandel, with a mantel upon his shoulder furred with fine ermines ... and he brought him unto the Siege Perilous, when he sat beside Sir Launcelot. And the good old man lifted up the cloth, and found there these words written: The Siege Of Sir Galahad.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 32 (1470).

Siege of Calais, a novel by Mde. de Tencin (1681-1749). George Colman has a drama with the same title.

Siege of Damascus. Damascus was besieged by the Arabs while Eu´menês was governor. The general of the Syrians was Pho´cyas, and of the Arabs, Caled. Phocyas asked Eumenês’s permission to marry his daughter, Eudo´cia, but was sternly refused. After gaining several victories he fell into the hands of the Arabs, and then joined them in their siege in order to revenge himself on Eumenês. Eudocia fell into his power, but she refused to marry a traitor. Caled requested Phocyas to point out to him the governor’s tent; on being refused, they fought, and Caled fell. Abudah, being now in chief command, made an honorable peace with the Syrians, Phocyas died, and Eudocia retired to a convent.—J. Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).

Siege of Rhodes, by Sir W. Davenant (1656).

Sieg´fried [Seeg.freed], hero of pt. i. of the Nibelungen Lied, the old German epic. Siegfried was a young warrior of peerless strength and beauty, invulnerable except in one spot between his shoulders. He vanquished the Nibelungs, and carried away their immense hoards of gold and precious stones. He wooed and won Kriemhild, the sister of Günther, king of Burgundy, but was treacherously killed by Hagan while stooping for a draught of water after a hunting expedition.

Siegfried had a cape, or cloak, which rendered him invisible, the gift of the dwarf, Alberich; and his sword, called Balmung, was forged by Wieland, blacksmith of the Teutonic gods.

This epic consists of a number of different lays by the old minnesingers, pieced together into a connected story as early as 1210. It is of Scandinavian origin, and is in the Younger Edda, amongst the “Völsunga Sagas” (compiled by Snorro, in the thirteenth century).

Siegfried’s Birthplace. He was born in Phinecastle, then called Xanton.

Siegfried’s Father and Mother. Siegfried was the youngest son of Siegmund and Sieglind, king and queen of the Netherlands.

Siegfried called Horny. He was called horny because, when he slew the dragon, he bathed in its blood, and became covered with a horny hide which was invulnerable. A linden leaf happened to fall on his back between his shoulder-blades, and, as the blood did not touch this spot, it remained vulnerable.—The minnesingers, The Nibelungen Lied (1210).

Sieg´fried von Lindenberg, the hero of a comic German romance by Müller (1779). Still popular and very amusing.

Sieglind [Seeg.lind], the mother of Siegfried, and wife of Siegmund, king of the Netherlands.—The minnesingers, The Nibelungen Lied (1210).

Siegmund [Seeg.mund], king of the Netherlands. His wife was Sieglind, and his son, Siegfried [Seeg.freed].—The minnesingers, The Nibelungen Lied (1210).

Sige´ro, “the Good,” slain by Argantês. Argantês hurled his spear at Godfrey, but it struck Sigēro, who “rejoiced to suffer in his sovereign’s place.”—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xi. (1575).

Sightly (Captain), a dashing young officer, who runs away with Priscilla Tomboy, but subsequently obtains her guardian’s consent to marry her.—The Romp (altered from Bickerstaff’s Love in the City).

Sigismonda, daughter of Tancred, king of Salerno. She fell in love with Guiscardo, her father’s squire, revealed to him her love, and married him in a cavern attached to the palace. Tancred discovered them in each other’s embrace, and gave secret orders to waylay the bridegroom and strangle him. He then went to Sigismonda, and reproved her for her degrading choice, which she boldly justified. Next day, she received a human heart in a gold casket, knew instinctively that it was Guiscardo’s, and poisoned herself. Her father being sent for, she survived just long enough to request that she might be buried in the same grave as her young husband, and Tancred:

Too late repenting of his cruel deed,
One common sepulchre for both decreed;
Intombed the wretched pair in royal state,
And on their monument inscribed their fate.

Dryden, Sigismonda and Guiscardo (from Boccaccio).

Sigismund, emperor of Austria.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Sigismunda, daughter of Siffrēdi, lord high chancellor of Sicily, and betrothed to Count Tancred. When King Roger died, he left the crown of Sicily to Tancred, on condition that he married Constantia, by which means the rival lines would be united, and the country saved from civil war. Tancred gave a tacit consent, intending to obtain a dispensation; but Sigismunda, in a moment of wounded pride, consented to marry Earl Osmond. When King Tancred obtained an interview with Sigismunda, to explain his conduct, Osmond challenged him, and they fought. Osmond fell, and when his wife ran to him, he thrust his sword into her and killed her.—J. Thomson, Tancred and Sigismunda (1745).

* This tragedy is based on “The Baneful Marriage,” an episode in Gil Blas, founded on fact.

Sigismunda, the heroine of Cervantes’s last work of fiction. This tale is a tissue of episodes, full of most incredible adventures, astounding prodigies, impossible characters, and extravagant sentiments. It is said that Cervantes himself preferred it to his Don Quixote, just as Corneille preferred Nicomede to his Cid, and Milton Paradise Regained to his Paradise Lost.—Encyc. Brit., Art. “Romance.”

Sigurd, the hero of an old Scandinavian legend. Sigurd discovered Brynhild, encased in a complete armor, lying in a death-like sleep, to which she had been condemned by Odin. Sigurd woke her by opening her corselet, fell in love with her, promised to marry her, but deserted her for Gudrun. This ill-starred union was the cause of an Iliad of woes.

An analysis of this romance was published by Weber in his Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1810).

Sijil (Al), the recording angel.

On that day we will roll up the heavens as the angel Al Sijil rolleth up the scroll wherein every man’s actions are recorded.—Al Korân, xxi.

Sikes (Bill), a burglar, and one of Fagin’s associates. Bill Sikes was a hardened, irreclaimable villian, but had a conscience which almost drove him mad after the murder of Nancy, who really loved him (ch. xlviii.) Bill Sikes (1 syl.) had an ill-conditioned savage dog, the beast-image of his master, which he kicked and loved, ill-treated and fondled.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

The French “Bill Sikes” is “Jean Hiroux,” a creation of Henry Monnier.

Sikundra (The), a mausoleum about six miles from Agra, raised by Akhbah “the Great.”

Silence, a country justice of asinine dullness when sober, but when in his cups of most uproarious mirth. He was in the commission of the peace with his cousin Robert Shallow.

Falstaff. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Silence. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once, ere now.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV., act vi. sc. 3 (1598).

Sile´no, husband of Mysis; a kind-hearted man, who takes pity on Apollo when cast to earth by Jupiter, and gives him a home.—Kane O’Hara, Midas (1764).

Silent (The), William I., prince of Orange (1533-1584). It was the principle of Napoleon III., emperor of the French, to “hear, see, and say nothing.”

Silent Man (The), the barber of Bagdad, the greatest chatterbox that ever lived. Being sent for to shave the head and beard of a young man who was to visit the cadi’s daughter at noon, he kept him from daybreak to midday, prating, to the unspeakable annoyance of the customer. Being subsequently taken before the caliph, he ran on telling story after story about his six brothers. He was called the “Silent Man,” because on one occasion, being accidentally taken up with ten robbers, he never said he was not one of the gang. His six brothers were Bacbouc, the hunchback, Bakbarah, the toothless, Bakac, the one-eyed, Alcouz, the blind, Alnaschar, the earless, and Schacabac, the hare-lipped.—Arabian Nights (“The Barber,” and “The Barber’s Six Brothers”).

Silent Woman (The), a comedy by Ben Jonson (1609). Morose, a miserly old fellow, who hates to hear any voice but his own, has a young nephew, Sir Dauphine, who wants to wring from him a third of his property; and the way he gains his point is this: He induces a lad to pretend to be a “silent woman.” Morose is so delighted with the phenomenon that he consents to marry the prodigy; but the moment the ceremony is over, the boy-wife assumes the character of a virago, whose tongue is a ceaseless clack. Morose is in despair, and signs away a third of his property to his nephew, on condition of being rid of this intolerable pest. The trick is now revealed, Morose retires into private life, and Sir Dauphine remains master of the situation.

Sile´nus, son of Pan, chief of the sile´ni or older satyrs. Silēnus was the foster-father of Bacchus, the wine-god, and is described as a jovial old toper, with bald head, pug nose, and pimply face.

Old Silenus, bloated, drunken,
Led by his inebriate satyrs.

Longfellow, Drinking Song.

Silky, a Jew money-lender, swindler, and miser. (See Sulky.)

Yon cheat all day, tremble at night, and act the hypocrite the first thing in the morning.—T. Holcroft, The Road to Ruin, ii. 3 (1792).

Silly Billy, William IV. (1765, 1830-1837).

Silva (Don Ruy Gomez de), an old Spanish grandee, to whom Elvīra was betrothed; but she detested him, and loved Ernani, a bandit-captain. Charles V. tried to seduce her, and Silva, in his wrath, joined Ernani to depose the king. The plot being discovered, the conspirators were arrested, but, at the intercession of Elvira, were pardoned. The marriage of Ernani and Elvira was just about to be consummated, when a horn sounded. Ernani had bound himself, when Silva joined the bandit, to put an end to his life whenever summoned so to do by Silva; and the summons was to be given by the blast of a horn. Silva being relentless, Ernani kept his vow, and stabbed himself.—Verdi, Ernani (1841).

Silver-Fork School (The), a name given to a class of English novelists who gave undue importance to etiquette and the externals of social intercourse. The most distinguished are: Lady Blessington (1789-1849), Theodore Hook (1716-1796), Lord Lytton (1804-1873), and Mrs. Trollope (1790-1863).

Silver Pen. Eliza Meteyard was so called by Douglas Jerold, and she adopted the pseudonym (1816-1879).

Silver Star of Love (The), the star which appeared to Vasco da Gama, when his ships were tempest-tossed, through the malice of Bacchus. Immediately the star appeared, the tempest ceased, and there was a great calm.

The sky and ocean blending, each on fire,
Seemed as all Nature struggled to expire;
When now the Silver Star of Love appeared,
Bright in the east her radiant front she reared.

Camoens, Lusiad, vi. (1572).

Silver Tongued (The), Joshua Sylvester, translator of Du Bartas’s Divine Weeks and Works (1563-1618).

William Bates, a puritan divine (1625-1699).

Henry Smith, preacher (1550-1600).

Anthony Hammond, the poet, called “Silver Tongue” (1668-1738).

Spranger Barry, the “Irish Roscius” (1719-1777).

Silverquill (Sam), one of the prisoners at Portanferry.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Silves de la Selva (The Exploits and Adventures of), part of the series called Le Roman des Romans, pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was added by Feliciano de Silva.

Silvester (Anne), woman betrayed under promise of marriage, by Geoffrey Delamayne, a famous athlete. By a series of contretemps, Anne is made out to be the wife (according to Scotch law) of her dearest friend’s betrothed, who visits her as Delamayne’s emissary. She is released from the embarrassing position, by the exhibition of a letter from Delamayne, promising to marry her, written before Arnold’s visit. Infuriated by the exposé, Delamayne tries to murder his wife, and is prevented by a crazy woman. Her sudden attack brings on apoplexy. Anne, as his widow, marries her old friend and defender, Sir Patrick Lundie.—Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife (1874).

Silvestre (2 syl.), valet of Octave (son of Argante, and brother of Zerbinette).—Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671).

Sil´via, daughter of the duke of Milan, and the lady-love of Valentine, one of the heroes of the play.—Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).

Simmons (Widow), the seamstress; a neighbor of the Ramsays.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Simon (Martin), proprietor of the village Bout du Monde, and miller of Grenoble. He is called “The king of Pelvoux,” and in reality is the Baron de Peyras, who has given up all his estates to his nephew, the young chevalier, Marcellin de Peyras, and retired to Grenoble, where he lived as a villager. Martin Simon is in secret possession of a gold-mine, left him by his father, with the stipulation that he should place it beyond the reach of any private man, on the day it becomes a “source of woe and crime.” Rabisson, a travelling tinker, the only person who knows about it, being murdered, Simon is suspected; but Eusebe Noel confesses the crime. Simon then makes the mine over to the king of France, as it had proved the source both “of woe and crime.”—E. Stirling, The Gold Mine, or Miller of Grenoble (1854).

Simonides, benevolent Jew, father of Esther, and friend of Ben Hur.—Lew Wallace, Ben Hur: a Tale of the Christ (1880).

Simon Pure, a young quaker from Pennsylvania, on a visit to Obadiah Prim (a Bristol Quaker, and one of the guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress). Colonel Feignwell personated Simon Pure, and obtained Obadiah’s consent to marry his ward. When the real Simon Pure presented himself, the colonel denounced him as an impostor; but after he had obtained the guardian’s signature, he confessed the trick, and showed how he had obtained the consent of the other three guardians.—Mrs. Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717).

* This name has become a household word for “the real man,” the ipsissimus ego.

Si´monie or Si´mony, the friar, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498). So called from Simon Magus (Acts. viii. 9-24.)

Simony (Dr.), in Foote’s farce, called The Cozeners, was meant for Dr. Dodd.

Sim´org, a bird “which hath seen the world thrice destroyed.” It is found in Kâf, but as Hafiz says, “searching for the simorg is like searching for the philosopher’s stone.” This does not agree with Beckford’s account. (See Simurgh.)

In Kâf the simorg hath its dwelling-place,
The all-knowing bird of ages, who hath seen
The world with all its children thrice destroyed.

Southey, Thalaba, the Destroyer, viii. 19 (1797).

Simpcox (Saunder), a lame man, who asserted he was born blind, and to whom St. Alban said, “Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.” Being brought before Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, the lord protector, he was asked how he became lame; and Simpcox replied he fell from a tree which he had climbed to gather plums for his wife. The duke then asked if his sight had been restored? “Yes,” said the man; and, being shown divers colors, could readily distinguish between red, blue, brown, and so on. The duke told the rascal that a blind man does not climb trees to gather their fruits; and one born blind might, if his sight were restored, know that one color differed from another, but could not possibly know which was which. He then placed a stool before him and ordered the constables to whip him till he jumped over it; whereupon the lame man jumped over it, and ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. Sir Thomas More tells this story, and Shakespeare introduces it in 2 Henry VI. act ii. sc. 1 (1591).

Simple, the servant of Slender (cousin of Justice Shallow).—Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1596).

Simple (The), Charles III. of France (879, 893-929).

Simple (Peter), the hero and title of a novel by Captain Marryat (1833).

Simple Simon, a man more sinned against than sinning, whose misfortunes arose from his wife Margery’s cruelty, which began the very morning of their marriage.

We do not know whether it is necessary to seek for a Teutonic or Northern original for this once popular book.—Quarterly Review.

Simpson (Tam), the drunken barber.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Simson (Jean), an old woman at Middlemas village.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Simurgh, a fabulous Eastern bird, endowed with reason and knowing all languages. It had seen the great cycle of 7000 years twelve times, and, during that period, it declared it had seen the earth wholly without inhabitant seven times.—W. Beckford, Vathek (notes, 1784). This does not agree with Southey’s account. (See Simorg.)

Sin, twin-keeper, with Death, of Hellgate. She sprang, full-grown, from the head of Satan.

Woman to the waist, and fair,
But ending foul in many a scaly fold
Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed
With mortal sting.

Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. (1665).

Sin´adone (The lady of), metamorphosed by enchantment into a serpent. Sir Lybius (one of Arthur’s knights) slew the enchantress, and the serpent, coiling about his neck, kissed him; whereupon the spell was broken, the serpent became a lovely princess, and Sir Lybius made her his wife.—Libeaux (a romance).

Sindbad, a merchant of Bagdad, who acquired great wealth by merchandise. He went seven voyages, which he related to a poor, discontented porter named Hindbad, to show him that wealth must be obtained by enterprise and personal exertion.

First Voyage. Being becalmed in the Indian Ocean, he and some others of the crew visited what they supposed to be an island, but which was in reality a huge whale asleep. They lighted a fire on the whale, and the heat woke the creature, which instantly dived under water. Sindbad was picked up by some merchants, and in due time returned home.

Second Voyage. Sindbad was left, during sleep, on a desert island, and discovered a roc’s egg, “fifty paces in circumference.” He fastened himself to the claw of the bird, and was deposited in the valley of diamonds. Next day some merchants came to the top of the crags, and threw into the valley huge joints of raw meat, to which the diamonds stuck, and when the eagles picked up the meat, the merchants scared them from their nests, and carried off the diamonds. Sindbad fastened himself to a piece of meat, was carried by an eagle to its nest, and, being rescued by the merchants, returned home laden with diamonds.

Third Voyage is the encounter with the Cyclops. (See Ulysses and Polyphemos, where the account is given in detail.)

Fourth Voyage. Sindbad married a lady of rank in a strange island on which he was cast; and when his wife died he was buried alive with the dead body, according to the custom of the land. He made his way out of the catacomb, and returned to Bagdad greatly enriched by valuables rifled from the dead bodies.

Fifth Voyage. The ship in which he sailed was dashed to pieces by huge stones let down from the talons of two angry rocs. Sindbad swam to a desert inland, where he threw stones at the monkeys, and the monkeys threw back cocoa-nuts. On this island Sindbad encountered and killed the Old Man of the Sea.

Sixth Voyage. Sindbad visited the island of Serendib (or Ceylon), and climbed to the top of the mountain “where Adam was placed on his expulsion from paradise.”

Seventh Voyage. He was attacked by corsairs, sold to slavery, and employed in shooting elephants from a tree. He discovered a tract of hill country completely covered with elephants’ tusks, communicated his discovery to his master, obtained his liberty, and returned home.—Arabian Nights (“Sindbad the Sailor”).

Sindbad, Ulysses, and the Cyclops. (See Ulysses and Polyphemos.)

Sin´el, thane of Glamis, and father of Macbeth. He married the younger daughter of Malcolm II. of Scotland.

Sinfire, brilliant, seductive, and wicked heroine of Julian Hawthorne’s novel of the same name.

Sing (Sadha), the mourner of the desert.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Sing de Racine (Le), Campistron, the French dramatic poet (1656-1723).

Singing Apple (The), in the deserts of Libya. This apple resembled a ruby crowned with a huge diamond, and had the gift of imparting wit to those who only smelt of it. Prince Cherry obtained it for Fairstar. (See Singing Tree.)

The singing apple is as great an embellisher of wit as the dancing water is of beauty. Would you appear in public as a poet or prose writer, a wit or a philosopher, you only need smell it, and you are possessed at once of these rare gifts of genius.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Fairstar,” 1682).

Singing Tree (The), a tree, every leaf of which was a mouth, and all the leaves sang together in harmonious concert.—Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters,” the last story).

* In the tale of Cherry and Fairstar, “the singing tree” is called “the singing apple” (q.v.).

Single-Speech Hamilton, William Gerard Hamilton, statesman (1729-1796). His first speech was delivered November 13, 1775, and his eloquence threw into the shade every orator except Pitt himself.

It was supposed that he had exhausted himself in that one speech, and had become physically incapable of making a second; so that afterwards, when he really did make a second, everybody was naturally disgusted, and most people dropped his acquaintance.—De Quincey (1786-1859).

Singleton (Captain), the hero of a novel by D. Defoe, called The Adventures of Captain Singleton.

Singular Doctor (The), William Occam, Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis (1276-1347).

* The “Occam razor” was entia non sunt multiplicanda, “entities are not to be unnecessarily multiplied.” In other words, elements, genera, and first principles are very few in number.

Sinner Saved (A). Cyra, daughter of Proterĭus of Cappadōcia, was on the point of taking the veil among Emmelia’s sisterhood, and just before the day of renunciation, Elĕēmon, her father’s freed slave, who loved her, sold himself to the devil, on condition of obtaining her for his wife. He signed the bond with a drop of his heart’s blood, and carried about with him a little red spot on his bresst, as a perpetual reminder of the compact. The devil now sent a dream to Cyra, and another to her father, which caused them to change their plans; and on the very day that Cyra was to have taken the veil, she was given by St. Basil in marriage to Eleemon, with whom she lived happily for many years, and had a large family. One night, while her husband was asleep, Cyra saw the blood-red spot; she knew what it meant, and next day Eleemon told her the whole story. Cyra now bestirred herself to annul the compact, and went with her husband to St. Basil, to whom a free and full confession was made. Eleemon was shut up for a night in a cell, and Satan would have carried him off, but he clung to the foot of a crucifix. Next day Satan met St. Basil in the cathedral, and demanded his bond. St. Basil assured him the bond was illegal and invalid. The devil was foiled, the red mark vanished from the skin of Eleemon, a sinner was saved, and St. Basil came off victorious.—Amphilochius, Life of St. Basil. (See Rosweyde, Vitæ Patrum, 156-8.)

* Southey has converted this legend into a ballad of nine lays (1829).

Sinon, the crafty Greek, who persuaded the Trojans to drag the Wooden Horse into their city.—Virgil, Æneid, ii.

Dantê, in his Inferno, places Sinon, with Potiphar’s wife, Nimrod, and the rebellious giants, in the tenth pit of Malêbolgê.

Sin Saxon. Sprightly, sparkling personage, who appears, first as a saucy girl, then, as a vivacious young matron, in several of A. D. T. Whitney’s books. She marries Frank Sherman.—A. D. T. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite and The Other Girls.

Sintram, the Greek hero of the German romance, Sintram and His Companions, by Baron Lamotte Fouqué.

Sintram’s Sword, Welsung.

Sio´na, a seraph, to whom was committed the charge of Bartholomew, the apostle.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).

Siph´a, the guardian angel of Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).

Si´phax, a soldier, in love with Princess Calis, sister of Astorax, king of Paphos. The princess is in love with Polydore, the brother of General Memnon, (“the mad brother”).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover (1617).

Sir Oracle, a dictatorial prig; a dogmatic pedant.

I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.

Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, act i. sc. 1 (1598).

Sirens, three sea-nymphs, whose usual abode was a small island near Cape Pelōrus, in Sicily. They enticed sailors ashore by their melodious singing, and then killed them. Their names are Parthenŏpê, Ligeia, and Leucothĕa.—Greek Fable.

Sirloin of Beef. James I., on his return from a hunting excursion, so much enjoyed his dinner, consisting of a loin of roast beef, that he laid his sword across it, and dubbed it Sir Loin. At Chingford, in Essex, is a place called “Friday Hill House,” in one of the rooms of which is an oak table with a brass plate let into it, inscribed with the following words:—“All Lovers of Roast Beef will like to know that on this Table a Loin was knighted by King James the First on his Return from Hunting in Epping Forest.”

Knighting the loin of beef is also ascribed to Charles II.

Our second Charles, of fame facete,
On loin of beef did dine;
He held his sword, pleased, o’er the meat.
“Arise, thou famed Sir Loin.”

Ballad of the New Sir John Barleycorn.

Sister Anne, sister of Fatĭma (the seventh and last wife of Bluebeard). Fatima, being condemned to death by her tyrannical husband, requested sister Anne to ascend to the highest tower of the castle to watch for her brothers, who were momentarily expected. Bluebeard kept roaring below stairs for Fatima to be quick; Fatima was constantly calling out from her chamber, “Sister Anne, do you see them coming?” and sister Anne was on the watch-tower, mistaking every cloud of dust for the mounted brothers. They arrived at last, rescued Fatima, and put Bluebeard to death.—Charles Perrault, Contes (“La Barbe Bleue,” 1697).

This is a Scandinavian tale taken from the Folks Sagas.

Sis´yphos, in Latin Sisyphus, a king of Corinth, noted for his avarice and fraud. He was punished in the infernal regions by having to roll uphill a huge stone, which always rolled down again as soon as it reached the top. Sisyphos is a type of avarice, never satisfied. The avaricious man reaches the summit of his ambition, and no sooner does he so than he finds the object of his desire as far off as ever.

With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone, returning with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground.

Homer, Odyssey, xi. [Pope’s trans.].

Sisyphus, in the Milesian tales, was doomed to die, but when Death came to him, the wily fellow contrived to fasten the unwelcome messenger in a chair, and then feasted him till old Spare-ribs grew as fat as a prize pig. In time, Pluto released Death, and Sisyphus was caught, but prayed that he might speak to his wife before he went to Hadês. The prayer was granted, and Sisyphus told his wife not to bury him, for though she might think him dead, he would not be really so. When he got to the infernal regions, he made the ghosts so merry with his jokes, that Pluto reproved him, and Sisyphus pleaded that, as he had not been buried, Pluto had no jurisdiction over him, nor could he even be ferried across the Styx. He then obtained leave to return to earth, that he might persuade his wife to bury him. Now, the wily old king had previously bribed Hermês, when he took him to Hadês, to induce Zeus to grant him life, provided he returned to earth again in the body; when, therefore, he did return, he demanded of Hermês the fulfillment of his promise, and Hermês induced Zeus to bestow on him life. Sisyphus was now allowed to return to earth, with a promise that he should never die again, till he himself implored for death. So he lived, and lived till he was weary of living, and when he went to Hadês the second time, he was allotted, by way of punishment, the task of rolling a huge stone to the top of a mountain. Orpheus (2 syl.), asked him how he could endure so ceaseless and vain an employment, and Sisyphus replied that he hoped ultimately to accomplish the task. “Never,” exclaimed Orpheus; “it can never be done!” “Well, then,” said Sisyphus, “mine is at worst but everlasting hope.”—Lord Lytton, Tales of Miletus, ii.

Sitoph´agus (“the wheat-eater”), one of the mouse princes, who being wounded in the battle, crept into a ditch to avoid further injury or danger.

The lame Sitophagus, oppressed with pain,
Creeps from the desperate dangers of the plain;
And where the ditches rising weeds supply ...
There lurks the silent mouse relieved of heat,
And, safe embowered, avoids the chance of fate.

Parnell, Battle of the Frogs and Mice. iii. (about 1712).

The last two lines might be amended thus:

There lurks the trembling mouse with bated breath,
And, hid from sight, avoids his instant death.

Siward [Se.´ward], the earl of Northumberland, and general of the English forces, acting against Macbeth.—Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606).

Six Chronicles (The). Dr. Giles compiled and edited six Old English Chronicles for Bohn’s series in 1848. They are: Ethelwerd’s Chronicle, Asser’s Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British History, Gildas the Wise, Nennius’s History of the Britons, and Richard of Cirencester On the Ancient State of Britain. The last three were edited in 1757, by Professor Bertram, in his Scriptores Tres, but great doubt exists as to the genuineness of the chronicles contained in Dr. Bertram’s compilation. (See Three Writers.)

Sixteen-String-Jack, John Rann, a highwayman. He was a great fop, and wore sixteen tags to his breeches, eight at each knee (hanged 1774).

Dr. Johnson said that Gray’s poetry towered above the ordinary run of verse, as Sixteen-String-Jack above the ordinary foot-pad.—Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791).

Skeffington, author of Sleeping Beauty, Maids and Bachelors, etc.

And sure great Skeffington must claim our praise
For skirtless coats, and skeletons of plays.

Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).

The following errors and inconsistencies have been maintained.

Misspelled words and typographical errors:

Page Error

Perrose should read Penrose

tranlation should read translation

A. D. should read A.D.

sword.’” should read sword.’

France. See should read France. (See

outstretehed should read outstretched

the the sword should read the sword

incalcuable should read incalculable

waistcoat—Mrs. should read waistcoat.—Mrs.

The vail should read The veil

“about the Mikado’s” should read “about by the Mikado’s”

mutiplied should read multiplied

Merlin’s magic mirror (q.v.). This entry does not exist.

“He should read He

succeeeded should read succeeded

also; should read also,

rent is paid. should read rent is paid).

shows.” should read shows.

preformed should read performed

(time, Commonwealth. should read (time, Commonwealth).

Passe-Tyme should read Passe-tyme

Love à-la-Mode- should read Love à-la-Mode.

Polyolboin should read Polyolbion

gray should read grey

(1508) should read (1598)

Rev. Mr.) should have a comma following

act. i. should read act i.

Chauvvin should read Chauvin

Bibliothèque Oriental should read Bibliothèque Orientale

(1698) should read (1598)

Pylos, was has an extra, following Pylos

Charles II.). should read Charles II.

Gentlehomme should read Gentilehomme

“The Chase, The Road, The Turf” should read “The Chase, the Turf, and the Road”

Ninive should read Nineve

Nino-Thoma should read Nina-Thoma

magificence should read magnificence

Nine. Worthies should read Nine Worthies

Uffizii should read Uffizi

He Says should read He says

cadavarous should read cadaverous

Charles II) should read Charles II.)

J Home should read J. Home

Atticœ should read Atticæ

Sopho´oclês should read Soph´oclês

imagintion should read imagination

v.), should read v.).

Alhague) has extra )

dog bark!” should read dog bark!

Furlough should read Turlough

Coimba should read Coimbra

eightteenth should read eighteenth

horse-jockey:” should read horse-jockey;”

Grondibert should read Gondibert

was slain should read were slain

le Grand. is missing )

howover should read however

fifteenth century) should read (fifteenth century)

Paine should be Paine

(1772) should have a following.

Mosart should read Mozart

ignorantifiè should read ignorantifié

Darton and Co, should read Darton and Co.,

villifies should read vilifies

Polinices. This entry does note exist.

Hawes (1506) should end with a.

“The Deerslayer” should read “The Deerslayer,”

Rocky Mountains. has an extra . at the end

of Dorchester, should read of Dorchester.

St Patrick should read St. Patrick

etc.. should read etc.,

Bonarparte should read Bonaparte

St Remi should read St. Remi (2 times)

d’ane should read d’âne

Zaïda should read Zaïde

Pedrè should read Pèdre (3 times)

[Thrift) should read (Thrift)

Boundderby should read Bounderby

pcn should read pen

sc. 2 (1589) should read sc. 2 (1589).

Dr Parker should read Dr. Parker

101, 102. should read 101, 102).

—See Notes should read (See Notes

“excess.”). should read “excess.”)

Po tau should read Pot au

(1768-1848. should read (1768-1848).

Fennimore should read Fenimore

syl.) should read syl.).

him thirty should read him “thirty

(1214-1292; should read (1214-1292);

(1627-1691; should read (1627-1691);

(B.C.) 106 should read (B.C. 106

breathe-therein. should read breathe-therein.”

Elfenseigen. should read Elfenseigen.)

“(The incident of” either should not have a ( or a ) is missing at the end of the sentence.

notas, should read notas.

garralous should read garrulous

“Antinöus, should read “Antinöus,”

“songs,” should read “songs.”

Enggland should read England

Friesingen should read Freisingen

conscrated should read consecrated

Lequien should read Le Quien

who stabbed should read who “stabbed

Quarakhata. should read Quarakhata.”

Docter should read Doctor

reions should read regions

protegé should read protégé

forgiven should read forgiven.

caligraphist should read calligraphist

i.e, should read i.e.,

(Pwyll should read (“Pwyll

Monnema should read Monema

act. i. should read act i.

Pyrnne should read Prynne

rantipolish, should read rantipolish.

met should read meet

refered should read referred

king- should read kingdom

Cathaginians should read Carthaginians

VerborumSignificatione should read Verborum Significatione

entititled should read entitled

Resolute Doctor should read Resolute Doctor”

“The “saint” should read The “saint”

thierepos should read Thierepos

(bk. vii.) should read (bk. vii.).

Perveril should read Peveril

See Ormandine. This entry does not exist

Mortham, was should read Mortham was

Henry IV.) should read Henry IV.).

(q.v.) should read (q.v.).

The marquis should read “The marquis

npon should read upon

R.C. should read B.C.

(St) should read (St.)

Shakepeare should read Shakespeare

Edward II. and Edward I. should read Edward II. and Edward I.

Innamarato should read Innamorato

Inis-Thorna should read Inis-Thona

to part!” should read to part!’

a friar should read “a friar

exqusite should read exquisite

into a river. should end with )

and and should read and

heirarchy should read hierarchy

(1474-1566): should read (1474-1566);

(died 251. should read (died 251).

inkeeper should read innkeeper

Arnold should read Arnold

martydom should read martyrdom

satire (1704) should read satire (1704).

Bibliothèques Orientale should read Bibliothèque Orientale

folly should read folly.

English) should read English),

for Uncle should read for “Uncle

(1741-1779 should end with a )

serpant should read serpent

(The) Pythagoras should read (The), Pythagoras

(1605-15) should read (1605-15).

father of “Lucia.” should end with )

plasir should read plaisir

instalment should read installment

hemlet should read helmet

corse should read corpse

accidently should read accidentally

reconcilation should read reconciliation

πλέιους should read πλείους

fron should read from

Cumberland) has extra )

Whitehall 1607 should read Whitehall, 1607

Whitehall 1604 should read Whitehall, 1604

Meres 1598 should read Meres, 1598

n’etait should read n’était

lady,and should read lady, and

November; should read November:

(1651-1610) should read (B.C. 1651-1610)

the administration should read The administration

etc., (1557) has extra (

villian should read villain

inland should read island

bresst should read breast

The following words had inconsistent spelling:

Aboulhassan / Aboulhassen
François / Francois
Khrosrou-schah / Khrosru-schar
Pullicenella / Pullicinella
Sulla / Sylla

The following words had inconsistent hyphenation:

brick-dust / brickdust
day-break / daybreak
East-cheap / Eastcheap
grand-son / grandson
Hawk-eye / Hawkeye
heart-sick / heartsick
May-pole / Maypole
moon-light / moonlight
Nôman-al-Aôuar / Nômanal-Aôuar
out-witted /outwitted
Puss-in-Boots / Puss in Boots
re-united / reunited
Ros-crana / Roscrana
step-mother / stepmother
Un-born / Unborn

Other inconsistencies:

i.e. / i. e
The inclusion of the "or" in the italics for two-part titles connected by ", or"