=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,[TN-180] 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,[TN-181] 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).