STONEMASONS, St. Peter, (_John_ i. 42).
STUDENTS, St. Katherine, noted for her great learning.
SURGEONS, St. Cosme, who practised medicine in Cilicia gratuitously
(died 310).
SWEETHEARTS, St. Valentine, because in the Middle Ages ladies held their
“courts of love” about this time. (See VALENTINE.)
SWINEHERDS and SWINE, St. Anthony.
TAILORS, St. Goodman, who was a tailor.
TANNERS, St. Clement, the son of a tanner.
TAX-COLLECTORS, St. Matthew, (_Matt._ ix. 9).
TENTMAKERS, St. Paul and St. Aquila, who were tentmakers (_Acts_ xviii.
3).
THIEVES, St. Dismas, the penitent thief. St. Ethelbert and St. Elian
ward off thieves.
TRAVELLERS, St. Raphael, because he assumed the guise of a traveller in
order to guide Tobias from Nineveh to Ragês (_Tobit_ v.).
VINTNERS and VINEYARDS, St. Urban.
VIRGINS, St. Winifred and St. Nicholas.
WHEELWRIGHTS, St. Boniface, the son of a wheelwright.
WIGMAKERS, St. Louis.
WISE MEN, St. Cosme, St. Damian, and St. Catherine.
WOOLCOMBERS and STAPLERS, St. Blaise, who was torn to pieces by “combes
of yren.”
=Sakhar=, the devil who stole Solomon’s signet. The tale is that Solomon,
when he washed, entrusted his signet-ring to his favorite concubine,
Amina. Sakhar one day assumed the appearance of Solomon, got possession
of the ring, and sat on the throne as the king. During this usurpation,
Solomon became a beggar, but in forty days Sakhar flew away, and flung
the signet-ring into the sea. It was swallowed by a fish, the fish was
caught and sold to Solomon, the ring was recovered, and Sakhar was
thrown into the sea of Galilee with a great stone round his
neck.--Jallâlo´ddin, _Al Zamakh_. (See FISH AND THE RING.)
=Sa´kia=, the dispenser of rain, one of the four gods of the Adites (2
_syl._).
Sakia, we invoked for rain;
We called on Razeka for food;
They did not hear our prayers--they could not hear.
No cloud appeared in heaven,
No nightly dews came down.
Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, i. 24 (1797).
=Sakunta´la=, daughter of Viswamita and a water-nymph, abandoned by her
parents, and brought up by a hermit. One day, King Dushyanta came to the
hermitage, and persuaded Sakuntala to marry him. In due time a son was
born, but Dushyanta left his bride at the hermitage. When the boy was
six years old, his mother took him to the king, and Dushyanta recognized
his wife by a ring which he had given her. Sakuntala was now publicly
proclaimed queen, and the boy (whose name was Bhârata) became the
founder of the glorious race of the Bhâratas.
This story forms the plot of the famous drama, _Sakuntala_, by Kâlidasa,
well known to us through the translation of Sir W. Jones.
=Sakya-Muni=, the founder of Buddhism. Sakya is the family name of
Siddharta, and _muni_ means “a recluse.” Buddha (“perfection”) is a
title given to Siddharta.
=Sal´ace= (3 _syl._) or SALACIA, wife of Neptune, and mother of Triton.
Triton, who boasts his high Neptunian race,
Sprung from the god by Salace’s embrace.
Camoens, _Lusiad_, vi. (1672).
=Sal´adin=, the soldan of the East. Sir W. Scott introduces him in _The
Talisman_, first as Sheerkohf, emir of Kurdistan, and subsequently as
Adonbeck el Hakim, the physician.
=Salamanca= (_The Bachelor of_), the title and hero of a novel by Lesage.
The name of the bachelor is Don Cherubim, who is placed in all sorts of
situations suitable to the author’s vein of satire (1704)[TN-151]
=Sala´nio=, a friend to Antonio and Bassānio.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of
Venice_ (1598).
=Salari´no=, a friend to Antonio and Bassānio.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of
Venice_ (1598).
=Sa´leh.= The Thamûdites (3 _syl._), proposed that Sâleh should, by
miracle, prove that Jehovah was a God superior to their own. Prince
Jonda said he would believe it if Sâleh made a camel, big with young,
come out of a certain rock which he pointed out. Sâleh did so, and Jonda
was converted.
(The Thamûdites were idolaters, and Sâleh, the prophet, was sent to
bring them back to the worship of Jehovah.)
_Sâleh’s Camel._ The camel thus miraculously produced, used to go about
the town, crying aloud, “Ho! every one that wanteth milk, let him come,
and I will give it him.”--Sale, _Al Korân_, vii. notes. (See _Isaiah_
lv. 1).
_Saleh_, a son of Faras´chê (3 _syl._) queen of a powerful under-sea
empire. His sister was Gulna´rê (3 _syl._), empress of Persia. Saleh
asked the king of Samandal, another under-sea emperor, to give his
daughter, Giauha´rê, in marriage to Prince Beder, son of Gulnarê; but
the proud, passionate despot ordered the prince’s head to be cut off for
such presumptuous insolence. However, Saleh made his escape, invaded
Samandal, took the king prisoner, and the marriage between Beder and the
Princess Giauharê was duly celebrated.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Beder and
Giauharê”).
=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_[TN-152] (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[TN-153]
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_)[TN-154] John Hamilton Mortimer
(1741-1779.[TN-155]
=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[TN-156] 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,[TN-157] 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_)[TN-158] 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)[TN-159]
=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
Re__formation_) 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.”[TN-160]
=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;[TN-161]
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.