Produced by KD Weeks, Juliet Sutherland and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. The topic
headings were printed in =boldface= type, and are delimited with ‘_’.
The original volume promised many illustrations. However, the edition
used here had none of them. The List of Illustrations is retained;
however, the pages indicated, which were struck out and corrected with
hand-written notes, were not valid and have been removed.
The text was printed with two columns per page, which could not be
reproduced in this format.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
The following less-common characters are found in this book: ă (a with
breve), ā (a with macron), ĕ (e with breve), ē (e with macron), ĭ (i
with breve), ī (i with macron), ŏ (o with breve), ō (o with macron), ŭ
(u with breve), ū (u with macron). If they do not display properly,
please try changing your font.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES
OF ROMANCE, FICTION
AND THE DRAMA::::
A REVISED AMERICAN EDITION
OF THE READER’S HANDBOOK
BY
THE REV. E. COBHAM BREWER, LL.D.
EDITED BY
MARION HARLAND
----------
VOLUME IV
[Illustration: colophon]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK SELMAR HESS PUBLISHER
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MDCCCXCII
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, 1892, by
SELMAR HESS.
PHOTOGRAVURES PRINTED ON THE
HESS PRESS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
-------
VOLUME IV.
-------
PHOTOGRAVURES AND ETCHINGS.
_Illustration_ _Artist_
KATRINA VAN TASSEL (_colored_) E. A. ABBEY
RICHELIEU (BOOTH AS)
ROSALIND AND ORLANDO
SHOP (THE) OF FIGARO J. J. ARANDA
THEODORA BENJAMIN CONSTANT
TINY TIM (BOB CRACHIT AND) FREDERICK BARNARD
WELLERS (THE TWO) FREDERICK BARNARD
WOTAN TAKES LEAVE OF BRUNHILD K. DIELITZ
WOOD ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES.
ROSINA AND COUNT ALMAVIVA FERD. KELLER
SALLY IN OUR ALLEY E. S. KENNEDY
SALOME DANCING BEFORE KING HEROD G. ROCHEGROSSE
SAMSON AND DELILAH J. ECHENA
SANCHO AND THE DUCHESS C. R. LESLIE
SAPPHO W. KRAY
SARAGOSSA (AUGUSTINA, THE MAID
OF) SIR DAVID WILKIE
SATAN WOUNDED GUSTAVE DORÉ
SATURDAY NIGHT (THE COTTER’S) THOMAS FAED
SAVILLE (THERON) AND HIS WIFE FREDERICK DIELMAN
SAYE-AND-SELE (LORD) BROUGHT
BEFORE JACK CADE CHAS. LUCY
SCHARLOT (HUON KILLS) GABRIEL MAX
SCHEHERAZADE FERD. KELLER
SELLERS (COLONEL), RAYMOND AS
SENATORS (OTHELLO BEFORE THE) CARL BECKER
SGANARELLE AND PANCRACE GRANVILLE
SHARP (BECKY) FREDERICK BARNARD
SHIP (THE BUILDING OF THE) TOBY ROSENTHAL
SHORE (JANE)
SHYLOCK (IRVING AS)
SIEGFRIED AWAKENS BRUNHILD OTTO DONNER VON
RICHTER
SIEGFRIED’S BIER (KRIEMHILD AT) EMIL LAUFFER
SIGYN (LOKI AND) CARL GEBHARDT
SILVIA C. E. PERUGINI
SLEEPING BEAUTY (THE): ARRIVAL
OF THE PRINCE GUSTAVE DORÉ
SLENDER (ANNE PAGE AND) SIR A. W. CALLCOTT
SNOW-WHITE ALBERT TSCHAUTSCH
STEENIE STEENSON AND REDGAUNTLET W. B. HOLE
STUART (MARY) AND RIZZIO DAVID NEAL
SULTAN SALADIN (THE) AND HIS
SISTER SITTAH
SURFACE (JOSEPH) AND LADY TEAZLE
SWIVELLER (DICK) AND THE
MARCHIONESS FREDERICK BARNARD
SYKES (BILL) FREDERICK BARNARD
TAM O’SHANTER AND THE WITCHES JOHN FAED
TARQUIN (LUCRETIA AND SEXTUS) ALEX. CABANEL
TARTUFFE (ELMIRE AND) CARL HOFF
TELEMACHUS AND CALYPSO JEAN RAOUX
TELL (WILLIAM) AND CONRAD
BAUMGARTEN A. BAUER
THETIS BRINGING THE ARMOR TO
ACHILLES BENJAMIN WEST
THISBE E. LONG
THOU (CINQ MARS AND DE) LED TO
EXECUTION
TITANIA EPHRAIM KEYSER
TOBY (UNCLE) AND THE WIDOW WADMAN C. R. LESLIE
TOSCA (LA) L. LELOIR
TRISTRAM (THE DEATH OF)
TROIL (MAGNUS) AND HIS DAUGHTERS ROB. HERDMAN
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA V. W. BROMLEY
TROLL (ATTA), FROM
TULLIA ERNST HILDEBRAND
ULYSSES AND TELEMACHUS (THE
MEETING BETWEEN)
UNDINE MULLER
URSUS AND HOMO G. ROCHEGROSSE
VALJEAN (JEAN) EMILE BAYARD
VALKYRIE (THE)
VALLIÈRE AT THE CONVENT (LOUISE EMMANUEL VAN DEN
DE LA) BUSSCHE
VAN WINKLE (JEFFERSON AS RIP)
VASHTI ERNST NORMAND
VILLAGE (THE PRIDE OF THE) J. CALLCOTT HORSLEY
VIMPANY (MISS HENLEY AND MRS.) A. FORESTIER
VIOLA AND OLIVIA CARL BECKER
VIRGIL (DANTE AND) CROSSING THE
STYX EUGÈNE DELACROIX
VIRGINIA (ALTERCATION BETWEEN
GERVAISE AND) ADRIEN MARIE
VIRGINIA (THE DEATH OF) A. ZICK
VOSS (MILLER) AND THE CHASSEUR CONRAD BECKMANN
WALLENSTEIN (DEATH OF) CARL VON PILOTY
WAVERLEY AND ROSE BRADWARDINE ROB. HERDMAN
WEDDING (PETRUCHIO’S)
WELCOME, SIR OLUF W. KRAY
WERNER AND JOSEPHINE
WERNER THE TRUMPETER AND
MARGARET VON SACKINGEN E. LIMMER
WERTHER AND CHARLOTTE
WITCH (FLORIMEL AND THE) F. R. PICKERSGILL
WOFFINGTON (PEG) AND RICH F. SMALLFIELD
WOHLFART (ANTON) AND LENORE WISNIESKI
WRESTLER (ORLANDO AND THE) D. MACLISE
YORICK AND THE CHAISE-VAMPER’S
WIFE CHAS. R. LESLIE
YVETOT (THE KING OF) EMILE BAYARD
[Illustration]
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE,
FICTION, AND THE DRAMA.
=Skeggs= (_Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia_), the companion of “Lady
Blarney.” These were two flash women, introduced by Squire Tuthill to
the Primrose family, with a view of beguiling the two eldest daughters,
who were both very beautiful. Sir William Thornhill thwarted their
infamous purpose.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).
=Skeleton= (_Sam_), a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time,
George III.).
=Sketchley= (_Arthur_), George Rose, author of _Mrs. Brown_ (her
observations on men and objects, politics and manners, etc.).
=Skettles= (_Sir Barnet_), of Fulham. He expressed his importance by an
antique gold snuff-box and a silk handkerchief. His hobby was to extend
his acquaintances, and to introduce people to each other. Skettles,
junior, was a pupil of Dr. Blimber.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_
(1846).
=Skevington’s Daughter=, an instrument of torture invented by
Skevington, lieutenant of the Tower, in the reign of Henry VIII. It
consisted of a broad iron hoop, in two parts, jointed with a hinge. The
victim was put into the hoop, which was then squeezed close and locked.
Here he remained for about an hour and a half in the most inexpressible
torture. (Generally corrupted into the “Scavenger’s Daughter.”)
=Skewton= (_The Hon. Mrs._), mother of Edith (Mr. Dombey’s second wife).
Having once been a beauty, she painted when old and shrivelled, became
enthusiastic about the “charms of nature,” and reclined in her
bath-chair in the attitude she assumed in her barouche when young and
well off. A fashionable artist had painted her likeness in this
attitude, and called his picture “Cleopatra.” The Hon. Mrs. Skewton was
the sister of the late Lord Feenix, and aunt to the present lord.--C.
Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).
=Skiffins= (_Miss_), an angular, middle-aged woman, who wears “green kid
gloves when dressed for company.” She marries Wemmick.--C. Dickens,
_Great Expectations_ (1860).
=Skimpole= (_Harold_), an amateur artist, always sponging on his
friends. Under a plausible, light-hearted manner he was intensely
selfish, but Mr. Jarndyce looked on him as a mere child, and believed in
him implicitly.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1852).
(The original of this character was Leigh Hunt, who was greatly
displeased at the skit.)
=Skin= (_The Man without a_), Richard Cumberland. So called by Garrick,
on account of his painful sensitiveness of all criticism. The same
irritability of temper made Sheridan caricature him in _The Critic_ as
“Sir Fretful Plagiary” (1732-1811).
=Skinfaxi= (“_shining mane_”), the horse which draws the chariot of
day.--_Scandinavian Mythology._
=Skofnung=, the sword of King Rolf, the Norway hero, preserved for
centuries in Iceland.
=Skogan.= (See SCOGAN.)
=Skreigh= (_Mr._), the precentor at the Gordon Arms inn,
Kippletringan.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Skulls at Banquets.= Plutarch tells us that towards the close of an
Egyptian feast a servant brought in a skeleton, and cried to the guests,
“Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you die!”
Like skulls at Memphian banquets.
Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 65 (1820).
=Skurliewhitter= (_Andrew_), the scrivener.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of
Nigel_ (time, James I.).
=Sky-Lark=, a lark with the “skies,” or ’scīs. The Westminster boys used
to style themselves _Romans_, and the “town,” _Volsci_; the latter word
was curtailed to _’sci_ [_sky_]. A row between the Westminsterians and
the town roughs was called a _’sci-lark_, or a lark with the Volsci.
=Skyresh Bol´golam=, the high admiral or galbert of the realm of
Lilliput.--Swift, _Gulliver’s Travels_ (“Voyage to Lilliput,” iii.,
1726).
=Slackbridge=, one of the “hands” in Bounderby’s mill at Coketown.
Slackbridge is an ill-conditioned fellow, ill-made, with lowering
eyebrows, and though inferior to many of the others, exercises over them
a great influence. He is the orator, who stirs up his fellow-workmen to
strike.--C. Dickens, _Hard Times_ (1854).
=Slammerkin= (_Mrs._). Captain Macheath says of her, “She is careless
and genteel.” “All you fine ladies,” he adds, “who know your own beauty,
affect an undress.”--Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_, ii. 1 (1727).
=Slander=, an old hag, of “ragged, rude attyre, and filthy lockes,” who
sucked venom out of her nails. It was her nature to abuse all goodness,
to frame groundless charges, to “steale away the crowne of a good name,”
and “never thing so well was doen, but she with blame would blot, and of
due praise deprive.”
A foule and loathly creature sure in sight,
And in condition to be loathed no lesse:
For she was stuft with rancor and despight
Up to the throat, that oft with bitternesse
It forth would breake and gush in great excesse,
Pouring out streames of poyson and of gall
’Gainst all that truth or vertue doe professe,
Whom she with leasings lewdly did miscall,
And wickedly backbite. Her name men “Slaunder” call.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, IV. viii. 24 (1596).
=Slang=, from Slangenberg, a Dutch general, noted for his abusive and
exaggerated epithets when he reproved the men under his command. The
etymon is suited to this dictionary, and the following are not without
wit:--Italian, _s-lingua_, _s_ negative and _lingua_ = “bad language;”
French, _esclandre_, “an event which gives rise to scandal,” hence,
_faire esclandre_, “to expose one to scandal,” _causer de l’escandre_,
“to give ground for scandal;” Greek, _skandălon_, “an offense, a
scandal.” “Slangs,” fetters for malefactors.
=Slango=, a lad, servant of Gaylove, a young barrister. He dresses up as
a woman, and when Squire Sapskull comes from Yorkshire for a wife,
Slango passes himself off as Arbella. In the mean time, Gaylove assumes
the airs and manners of a Yorkshire tike, and marries Arbella, with whom
he is in love.--Carey, _The Honest Yorkshireman_ (1736).
=Slawken-Ber´gius Hafen=, an imaginary author, distinguished for the
great length of his nose. In the _Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy_
(by Sterne), Slawken-Bergius is referred to as a great authority on all
lore connected with noses, and a curious tale is introduced from his
hypothetical works about a man with an enormously long nose.
No nose can be justly amputated by the public, not even the nose of
Slawken-Bergius himself.--Carlyle.
=Slaygood= (_Giant_), master of a gang of thieves which infested the
King’s highway. Mr. Greatheart slew him, and rescued Feeblemind from his
grasp in a duel.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, ii. (1684).
=Sleary=, proprietor of the circus at Coketown. A stout man with one eye
fixed and one loose, a voice like the efforts of a broken pair of
bellows, a flabby skin, and muddled head. He was never sober and never
drunk, but always kind-hearted. Tom Gradgrind, after robbing the bank,
lay concealed in this circus as a black servant till Sleary connived at
his escape. This Sleary did in gratitude to Thomas Gradgrind, Esq.,
M.P., who adopted and educated Cecilia Jupe, daughter of his clown,
Signor Jupe.
_Josephine Sleary_, daughter of the circus proprietor, a pretty girl of
18, who had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will
at 12. This will she carried about with her, and in it she signified her
desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies. Josephine married
E. W. B. Childers, of her father’s circus.--C. Dickens, _Hard Times_
(1854).
=Sleek= (_Aminadab_), in _The Serious Family_, a comedy by Morris
Barnett.
=Sleeper= (_The_). Almost all nations have a tradition about some
sleeper who will wake after a long period of dormancy.
_American_ (_North_). RIP VAN WINKLE, a Dutch colonist, of New York,
slept twenty years in the Catskill Mountains.--Washington Irving.
_American_ (_South_). SEBASTIAN I., supposed to have fallen in the
battle of Alcazarquebir, in 1578, is only asleep, and will in due time
awake, return to life, and make Brazil the chief kingdom of the earth.
_Arabian Legends._ MAHOMMED MOHADI, the twelfth imân, is only sleeping,
like Charlemagne, till Antichrist appears, when he will awake in his
strength, and overthrow the great enemy of all true believers.
NOURJAHAD is only in a temporary sleep, waiting the fulness of time.
_British Traditions._ KING ARTHUR is not dead in Avillon, but is merely
metamorphosed into a raven. In due time he will awake, resume his proper
person, claim the throne of Britain, and make it the head and front of
all the kingdoms of the globe. “Because King Arthur bears for the nonce
the semblance of a raven, the people of Britain never kill a raven”
(Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. ii. 5).
GYNETH slept 500 years by the enchantment of Merlin. She was the natural
daughter of King Arthur and Guendolen, and was thus punished because she
would not put an end to a combat in which twenty knights were mortally
wounded, including Merlin’s son.--Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_
(1813).
MERLIN, the enchanter, is not dead, but “sleeps and sighs in an old
tree, spell-bound by Vivien.”--_British Legend._
ST. DAVID was thrown into an enchanted sleep by Ormandine, but after
sleeping for seven years, was awoke by Merlin.
_French Legend._ The French slain in the SICILIAN VESPERS are not really
dead, but they sleep for the time being, awaiting the day of
retribution.
_German Legends._ BARBAROSSA, with six of his knights, sleeps in
Kyffhaüsberg, in Thuringia, till the fulness of time, when they will
awake and make Germany the foremost kingdom of the earth. The beard of
the red king has already grown through the table slab at which he is
sitting, but it must wind itself three times round the table before his
second event. Barbarossa occasionally wakes and asks, “Is it time?” when
a voice replies, “Not yet. Sleep on.”
CHARLEMAGNE is not dead, but only asleep in Untersberg, near Saltzburg,
waiting for the advent of Antichrist, when he will rouse from his
slumber, go forth conquering, and will deliver Christendom that it may
be fit for the second advent and personal reign of Christ.
CHARLES V., kaiser of Germany, is only asleep, waiting his time, when he
will awake, return to earth, “resume the monarchy over Germany,
Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark, putting all
enemies under his feet.”
KNEZ LAZAR, of Servia, supposed to have been slain by the Turks in 1389,
is not really dead, but has put on sleep for a while, and at an allotted
moment he will re-appear in his full strength.
_Grecian Legends._ ENDYM´ION, a beautiful youth, sleeps a perpetual
sleep in Latmos. Selēnê (the moon) fell in love with him, kissed him,
and still lies by his side. In the British Museum is an exquisite statue
of Endymion asleep.--_Greek Fable._
EPIMEN´IDES (5 _syl._), the Cretan poet, was sent in boyhood to search
for a stray sheep; being heated and weary, he stepped into a cave, and
fell asleep for fifty-seven years. Epimenidês, we are told, attained the
age of 154, 157, 229, and some say 289 years.--Pliny, _History_, vii.
12.
_Irish Traditions._ BRIAN, surnamed “Boroimhe,” king of Ireland, who
conquered the Danes in twenty pitched battles, and was supposed to have
been slain in the battle of Clontarf, in 1014, was only stunned. He
still sleeps in his castle of Kincora, and the day of Ireland’s
necessity will be Brian’s opportunity.
DESMOND OF KILMALLOCK, in Limerick, supposed to have perished in the
reign of Elizabeth, is only sleeping under the waters of lough Gur.
Every seventh year he re-appears in full armor, rides round the lake
early in the morning, and will ultimately reappear and claim the family
estates.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_.
_Jewish Legend._ ELIJAH, the prophet, is not dead, but sleeps in
Abraham’s bosom till Antichrist appears, when he will return to
Jerusalem and restore all things.
_Russian Tradition._ ELIJAH MANSUR, warrior, prophet, and priest in
Asiatic Russia, tried to teach a more tolerant form of Islâm, but was
looked on as a heretic, and condemned to imprisonment in the bowels of a
mountain. There he sleeps, waiting patiently the summons which will be
given him, when he will awake, and wave his conquering sword to the
terror of the Muscovite.--Milner, _Gallery of Geography_, 781.
_Scandinavian Tradition._ OLAF TRYGGVASON, king of Norway, who was
baptized in London, and introduced Christianity into Norway, Iceland and
Greenland. Being overthrown by Swolde, king of Sweden (A.D. 1000), he
threw himself into the sea and swam to the Holy Land, became an
anchorite, and fell asleep at a greatly advanced age; but he is only
waiting his opportunity, when he will sever Norway from Sweden, and
raise it to a first-class power.
_Scottish Tradition._ THOMAS OF ERCELDOUNE sleeps beneath the Eildon
Hills, in Scotland. One day an elfin lady led him into a cavern in these
hills, and he fell asleep for seven years, when he revisited the upper
earth, under a bond that he would return immediately the elfin lady
summoned him. One day, as he was making merry with his friends, he heard
the summons, kept his word, and has never since been seen.--Sir W.
Scott, _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_.
_Spanish Tradition._ BOBADIL EL CHICO, last of the Moorish kings of
Granada, lies spell-bound near the Alhambra, but in the day appointed he
will return to earth and restore the Moorish government in Spain.
_Swiss Legend._ Three of the family of TELL sleep a semi-death at Rütli,
waiting for the hour of their country’s need, when they will wake up and
deliver it.
⁂ See SEVEN SLEEPERS.
=Sleeper Awakened= (_The_). Abou Hassan, the son of a rich merchant at
Bagdad, inherited a good fortune; but, being a prudent man, made a vow
to divide it into two parts: all that came to him from rents he
determined to set apart, but all that was of the nature of cash he
resolved to spend on pleasure. In the course of a year he ran through
this fund, and then made a resolve in future to ask only one guest at a
time to his board. This guest was to be a stranger, and never to be
asked a second time. It so happened that the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid,
disguised as a merchant, was on one occasion his guest, and heard Abou
Hassan say that he wished he were caliph for one day, and he would
punish a certain imân for tittle-tattling. Haroun-al-Raschid thought
that he could make capital of this wish for a little diversion; so,
drugging the merchant’s wine, he fell into a profound sleep, was
conveyed to the palace, and, on waking, was treated as the caliph. He
ordered the imân to be punished, and sent his mother a handsome gift;
but at night, another sleeping draught being given him, he was carried
back to his own house. When he woke he could not decide if he had been
in a dream or not, but his conduct was so strange that he was taken to a
mad-house. He was confined for several days, and, being discharged, the
caliph in disguise again visited him, and repeated the same game, so
that next day he could not tell which had been the dream. At length the
mystery was cleared up, and he was given a post about the caliph’s
person, and the sultana gave him a beautiful slave for his wife. Abou
Hassan now played a trick on the caliph. He pretended to be dead, and
sent his young wife to the sultana to announce the sad news. Zobeida,
the sultana, was very much grieved, and gave her favorite a sum of money
for the funeral expenses. On her return she played the dead woman, and
Abou Hassan went to the caliph to announce his loss. The caliph
expressed his sympathy, and, having given him a sum of money for the
funeral expenses, went to the sultana to speak of the sad news of the
death of the young bride. “The bride?” cried Zobeida; “you mean the
bridegroom, commander of the faithful.” “No, I mean the bride,” answered
the caliph, “for Abou Hassan has but just left me.” “That cannot be,
sire,” retorted Zobeida, “for it is not an hour ago that the bride was
here to announce his death.” To settle this moot point, the chief of the
eunuchs was sent to see which of the two was dead; and Abou, who saw him
coming, got the bride to pretend to be dead, and set himself at her head
bewailing, so the man returned with the report that it was the bride who
was dead, and not the bridegroom. The sultana would not believe him, and
sent her aged nurse to ascertain the fact. As she approached, Abou
Hassan pretended to be dead, and the bride to be the wailing widow;
accordingly, the nurse contradicted the report of the eunuch. The caliph
and sultana, with the nurse and eunuch, then all went to see for
themselves, and found both apparently dead. The caliph now said he would
give 1000 pieces of gold to know which died first, when Abou Hassan
cried, “Commander of the faithful, it was I who died first.” The trick
was found out, the caliph nearly died with laughter, and the jest proved
a little mine of wealth to the court favorite.--_Arabian Nights._
=Sleepers.= (See SEVEN SLEEPERS.)
=Sleeping Beauty= (_The_), a lady who sleeps in a castle a hundred
years, during which time an impenetrable wood springs up around the
castle; but being at length disenchanted by a young prince, she marries
him. The brothers Grimm have reproduced this tale in German. The old
Norse tale of Brynhild and Sigurd seems to be the original of _The
Sleeping Beauty_.--Perrault, _Contes du Temps_ (“La Belle au Bois
Dormant,” 1697).
(Tennyson has poetized this nursery story.)
=Sleepner=, the horse of Odin.
=Slender=, one of the suitors of “sweet Anne Page.” His servant’s name
is Simple. Slender is a country lout, cousin of Justice
Shallow.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1596).
=Slick Mose=, idiot boy, yet with animal instinct and dogged fidelity
enough to make him signally useful to those to whom he is attached.
“Della sets a heap by Slick Mose’s notions in things,” said the Colonel.
“Well, there’s no tellin’ ’bout these half-witted creatures. And more
people _are_ half-witted than is suspected.”--Octave Thanet, _Expiation_
(1890).
=Slick= (_Sam_), Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, of Nova Scotia,
author of _The Clockmaker_ (1837).
_Sam Slick_, a Yankee clockmaker and pedlar, wonderfully ’cute, a great
observer, full of quaint ideas, droll wit, odd fancies, surprising
illustrations, and plenty of “soft sawder.” Judge Haliburton wrote the
two series called _Sam Slick, or the Clockmaker_ (1837).
=Sliderskew= (_Peg_), the hag-like housekeeper of Arthur Gride. She robs
her master of some deeds, and thereby brings on his ruin.--C. Dickens,
_Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
=Sligo= (_Dr._), of Ireland. He looks with contempt on his countryman,
Dr. Osasafras, because he is but a _parvenu_.
Osasafras? That’s a name of no note. He is not a Milesian, I am sure.
The family, I suppose, came over the other day with Strongbow, not
above seven or eight hundred years ago.--Foote, _The Devil Upon Two
Sticks_ (1768).
=Slingsby= (_Jonathan Freke_), John Francis Waller, author of _The
Slingsby Papers_ (1852), etc.
_Slingsby_ (_Philip_), pseudonym of N. P. Willis, in the series of
essays and tales published as _The Slingsby Papers_. Chief among these
is _Love in the Library_ (184-).
=Slip=, the valet of young Harlowe (son of Sir Harry Harlowe, of
Dorsetshire). He schemes with Martin, a fellow-servant, to contract a
marriage between Martin and Miss Stockwell (daughter of a wealthy
merchant), in order to get possession of £10,000, the wedding portion.
The plan was this: Martin was to pass himself off as young Harlowe, and
marry the lady or secure the dot; but Jenny (Miss Stockwell’s maid)
informs Belford, the lover of Miss Stockwell, and he arrests the two
knaves just in time to prevent mischief.--Garrick, _Neck or Nothing_
(1766).
=Slippers=, which enabled the feet to walk, _knives_ that cut of
themselves, and _sabres_ which dealt blows at a wish, were presents
brought to Vathek by a hideous monster without a name.--W. Beckford,
_Vathek_ (1784).
=Slippery Sam=, a highwayman in Captain Macheath’s gang. Peachum says he
should dismiss him, because “the villain hath the impudence to have
views of following his trade as a tailor, which he calls an honest
employment.”--Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_, i. (1727).
=Slipslop= (_Mrs._), a lady of frail morals.--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_
(1742).
=Slocums= (_The_), _Rowland Slocum_, the head of a large marble-yard,
and a good citizen. He gives Richard Shackford employment, and lets him
become an inmate of his family.
_Margaret Slocum_, a motherless, only child, her father’s housekeeper,
Richard Shackford’s fast friend, and, in time, his wife.--T. B. Aldrich,
_The Stillwater Tragedy_ (1880).
=Slop= (_Dr._), Sir John Stoddart, M.D., editor of the _New Times_, who
entertained an insane hatred of Napoleon Bonaparte, called by him “The
Corsican Fiend.” William Hone devised the name from Stoddart’s book
entitled _Slop’s Shave at a Broken Hone_ (1820), and Thomas Moore helped
to popularize it (1773-1856).
_Slop_ (_Dr._), a choleric, enthusiastic, and bigoted physician. He
breaks down Tristram’s nose, and crushes Uncle Toby’s fingers to a
jelly, in attempting to demonstrate the use and virtues of a newly
invented pair of obstetrical forceps.--Sterne, _The Life and Opinions of
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_ (1759).
(Under this name, Sterne ridiculed Dr. Burton, a man mid-wife of York.)
=Slopard= (_Dame_), wife of Grimbard, the brock or badger, in the
beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).
=Sloppy=, a love-child, brought up by Betty Higden, for whom he turned
the mangle. When Betty died, Mr. Boffin apprenticed him to a
cabinet-maker. Sloppy is described as “a very long boy, with a very
little head, and an open mouth of disproportionate capacity that seemed
to assist his eyes in staring.” It is hinted that he became “the prince”
of Jenny Wren, the doll’s dressmaker.
Of an ungainly make was Sloppy. There was too much of him longwise,
too little of him broadwise, and too many sharp angles of him
angle-wise.... He had a considerable capital of knee, and elbow, and
wrist, and ankle. Full-private Number One in the awkward squad was
Sloppy.--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_, I. i. 16 (1864).
=Slote= (_Hon. Bardwell_). Member of Congress, who condenses phrases
into initials, expressing himself phonetically as “H. K.” for Hard Cash,
and “G. F.” for Jug Full.--B. E. Woolf, _The Mighty Dollar_ (1875).
=Slough of Despond= (_The_), a deep bog, which Christian had to pass on
his way to the Wicket Gate. Neighbor Pliable would not attempt it, and
turned back. While Christian was floundering in the slough, Help came to
his aid, and assisted him over.
The name of the slough was Despond. Here they wallowed for a time, and
Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink
into the mire. This miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended.
It is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction
of sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of
Despond; for still, as the sinner is awakened about his lost
condition, there arise in his soul many fears and doubts and
discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle
in this place, and this is the reason of the badness of this
ground.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).
=Slowboy= (_Tilly_), nurse and general help of Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle.
She “was of a spare and straight shape, insomuch that her garments
appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off her shoulders. Her
costume was remarkable for its very partial development, and always
afforded glimpses at the back of a pair of dead-green stays.” Miss Tilly
was very fond of baby, but had a surprising talent for getting it into
difficulties, bringing its head into perpetual contact with doors,
dressers, stair-rails, bedposts, and so on. Tilly, who had been a
foundling, looked upon the house of Peerybingle, the carrier, as a royal
residence, and loved both Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle with all the
intensity of an undivided affection.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the
Hearth_ (1845).
=Sludge= (_Gammer_), the landlady of Erasmus Holiday, the schoolmaster
in White Horse Vale.
_Dickie Sludge_, or “Flibbertigibbet,” her dwarf grandson.--Sir W.
Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Slum= (_Mr._), a patter poet, who dressed _en militaire_. He called on
Mrs. Jarley, exhibitor of wax-works, all by accident. “What, Mr. Slum?”
cried the lady of the wax-works; “who’d have thought of seeing you
here?” “’Pon my soul and honor,” said Mr. Slum, “that’s a good remark!
’Pon my soul and honor, that’s a wise remark.... Why I came here? ’Pon
my soul and honor, I hardly know what I came here for.... What a
splendid classical thing is this, Mrs. Jarley! ’Pon my soul and honor,
it is quite Minervian!” “It’ll look well, I fancy,” observed Mrs.
Jarley. “Well!” said Mr. Slum; “It would be the delight of my life, ’pon
my soul and honor, to exercise my Muse on such a delightful theme. By
the way--any orders, madam? Is there anything I can do for you?” (ch.
xxviii.).
“Ask the perfumers,” said the military gentleman, “ask the
blacking-makers, ask the hatters, ask the old lottery office keepers,
ask any man among ’em what poetry has done for him, and mark my word,
he blesses the name of Slum.”--C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_
(1840).
=Slumkey= (_Samuel_), “blue” candidate for the representation of the
borough of Eatanswill in parliament. His opponent is Horatio Fizkin, who
represents the “buff” interest.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_
(1836).
=Sly= (_Christopher_), a keeper of bears, and a tinker. In the induction
of Shakespeare’s comedy called _Taming of the Shrew_, Christopher is
found dead drunk by a nobleman, who commands his servant to take him to
his mansion and attend on him as a lord. The trick is played, and the
“commonty” of _Taming of the Shrew_ is performed for the delectation of
the ephemeral lord.
A similar trick was played by Haroun-al-Raschid on a rich merchant,
named Abou Hassan (see _Arabian Nights_, “The Sleeper Awakened”). Also
by Philippe _le Bon_ of Burgundy, on his marriage with Eleanora (see
Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, ii. 2, 4; 1624).
=Slyne= (_Chevy_), one of old Martin Chuzzlewit’s numerous relations. He
is a drunken, good-for-nothing vagabond, but his friend, Montague Tigg,
considers him “an unappreciated genius.” His chief peculiarity consists
in his always being “round the corner.”--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_
(1844).
=Small= (_Gilbert_), the pinmaker, a hard-working old man, who loves his
son most dearly.
_Thomas Small_, the son of Gilbert, a would-be man of fashion and
maccaroni. Very conceited of his fine person, he thinks himself the very
glass of fashion. Thomas Small resolves to make a fortune by marriage,
and allies himself to Kate, who turns out to be the daughter of Strap,
the cobbler.--S. Knowles, _The Beggar of Bethnal Green_ (1834).
=Small Beer Poet= (_The_). W. Thomas Fitzgerald. He is now known only
for one line, quoted in the _Rejected Addresses_: “The tree of freedom
is the British oak.”--Cobbett gave him the sobriquet (1759-1829).
=Small-Endians=, a “religious sect” in Lilliput, who made it an article
of orthodoxy to break their eggs at the small end. By the Small-endians
is meant the Protestant party; the Roman Catholics are called the
Big-endians, from their making it a _sine quâ non_ for all true
Churchmen to break their eggs at the big end.--Swift, _Gulliver’s
Travels_ (“Voyage to Lilliput,” 1726).
=Smallweed Family= (_The_), a grasping, ill-conditioned lot, consisting
of grandfather, grandmother, and the twins, Bartholomew and Judy. The
grandfather indulges in vituperative exclamations against his aged wife,
with or without provocation, and flings at her anything he can lay his
hand on. He becomes, however, so dilapidated at last that he has to be
shaken up by his amiable grand-daughter, Judy, in order to be aroused to
consciousness.
_Bart._, i.e., _Bartholomew Smallweed_, a youth, who moulds himself on
the model of Mr. Gruppy, the lawyer’s clerk, in the office of Kenge and
Carboy. He prides himself on being “a limb of the law,” though under 15
years of age; indeed it is reported of him that his first long clothes
were made out of a lawyer’s blue bag.--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1852).
=Sma´trash= (_Eppie_), the ale-woman at Wolf’s Hope village.--Sir W.
Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
=Smauker= (_John_), footman of Angelo Cyrus Bantam. He invites Sam
Weller to a “swarry” of “biled mutton.”--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick
Papers_ (1836).
=Smectym´nuus=, the title of a celebrated pamphlet containing an attack
upon episcopacy (1641). The title is composed of the initial letters of
the five writers, =SM= (Stephen Marshall), =EC= (Edmund Calamy), =TY=
(Thomas Young), =MN= (Matthew Newcomen), =UUS= (William Spurstow).
Sometimes one U is omitted. Butler says the business of synods is:
To find in lines of beard and face.
The physiognomy of “Grace;”
And by the sound and twang of nose,
If all be sound within disclose ...
The handkerchief about the neck
(Canonical cravat of Smeck,
From whom the institution came
When Church and State they set on flame ...)
Judge rightly if “regeneration”
Be of the newest cut in fashion.
_Hudibras_, i. 3 (1663).
=Smelfungus.= Smollett was so called by Sterne, because his volume of
_Travels through France and Italy_ is one perpetual snarl from beginning
to end.
The lamented Smelfungus travelled from Boulogne to Paris, from Paris
to Rome, and so on; but he set out with the spleen and jaundice, and
every object he passed by was discolored or distorted. He wrote an
account of them, but ’twas nothing but the account of his own
miserable feelings.--Sterne, _Sentimental Journey_ (1768).
=Smell a Voice.= When a young prince had clandestinely visited the young
princess brought up in the palace of the Flower Mountain, the fairy
mother, Violenta, said, “I smell the voice of a man,” and commanded the
dragon on which she rode to make search for the intruder.--Comtesse
D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The White Cat,” 1682).
Bottom says, in the part of “Pyramus:”
I see a voice, now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisbe’s face.
Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act v. sc. 1 (1592).
=Smike= (1 _syl._), a poor, half-starved, half-witted boy, the son of
Ralph Nickleby. As the marriage was clandestine, the child was put out
to nurse, and neither its father or mother went to see it. When about
seven years old, the child was stolen by one Brooker, out of revenge,
and put to school at Dotheboys Hall, Yorkshire. Brooker paid the school
fees for six years, and being then transported, the payment ceased, and
the boy was made a sort of drudge. Nicholas Nickleby took pity on him,
and when he left, Smike ran away to join his friend, who took care of
the poor half-witted creature till he died.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas
Nickleby_ (1838).
=Smiler=, a sheriff’s officer, in _A Regular Fix_, by J. M. Morton.
=Smilinda=, a lovelorn maiden, to whom Sharper was untrue. Pope, in his
eclogue called _The Basset Table_ (1715), makes Cordelia and Smilinda
contend on this knotty point, “Who suffers most, she who loses at
basset, or she who loses her lover?” They refer the question to Betty
Lovet. Cordelia stakes her “lady’s companion, made by Mathers, and worth
fifty guineas,” on the point; and Smilinda stakes a snuff-box, won at
Corticelli’s in a raffle, as her pledge. When Cordelia has stated the
iron agony of loss at cards, and Smilinda the crushing grief of losing a
sweetheart, “strong as a footman, and as his master sweet,” Lovet awards
the lady’s companion to Smilinda, and the snuff-box to Cordelia, and
bids both give over, “for she wants her tea.” Of course, this was
suggested by Virgil’s _Eclogue_, iii.
=Smiley= (_Jim_), the champion better of Calaveras County, and owner of
a trained frog.--Mark Twain, _The Jumping Frog_ (1867).
=Smith= (_Henry_), _alias_ “Henry Gow,” _alias_ “Gow Chrom,” _alias_
“Hal of the Wynd,” the armorer, and lover of Catharine Glover, whom at
the end he marries.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry
IV.)
_Smith_ (_Mr._), a faithful, confidential clerk in the bank of Dornton
and Sulky.--Holcroft, _The Road to Ruin_ (1792).
_Smith_ (_Rainy Day_), John Thomas Smith, _Antiquary_ (1766-1833).
_Smith_ (_Wayland_), an invisible farrier, who haunted the “Vale of
White Horse,” in Berkshire, where three flat stones supporting a fourth,
commemorate the place of his stithy. His fee was sixpence, and he was
offended if more were offered him.
Sir W. Scott has introduced him in _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Smith’s Prizeman=, one who has obtained the prize (£25) founded in the
University of Cambridge, by Robert Smith, D.D., once Master of Trinity.
Two prizes are awarded annually to two commencing bachelors of arts for
proficiency in mathematics and natural philosophy.
=Smolkin=, a punic spirit.
Peace, Smolkin, peace, thou fiend!
Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iii. sc. 4 (1605).
=Smollett of the Stage= (_The_), George Farquhar (1678-1707).
=Smotherwell= (_Stephen_), the executioner.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of
Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
=Smyr´nean Poet= (_The_), Mimnermos, born at Smyrna (fl. B.C. 630).
=Snacks=, the hard, grinding steward of Lord Lackwit, who, by grasping,
got together £26,000. When Lord Lackwit died, and the property came to
Robin Roughhead, he toadied him with the greatest servility, but Robin
dismissed him, and gave the post to Frank.--Allingham, _Fortune’s
Frolic_.
=Snaffle= (_Erastus_), a successful speculator in “wild cat” stocks,
especially ingenious in “standing from under” when the crash
comes.--Arlo Bates, _The Philistines_ (1888).
=Snaggs=, a village portrait-taker and tooth-drawer. He says, “I draws
off heads, and draws out teeth,” or “I takes off heads, and takes out
teeth.” Major Touchwood, having dressed himself up to look like his
uncle, the colonel, pretends to have the tooth-ache. Snaggs being sent
for, prepares to operate on the colonel, and the colonel, in a towering
rage, sends him to the right about.--T. Dibdin, _What Next?_
=Snags´by= (_Mr._), the law-stationer in Cook’s Court, Cursitor Street.
A very mild specimen of the “spear half,” in terrible awe of his
termagant wife, whom he calls euphemistically “his little woman.” He
preceded most of his remarks by the words, “not to put too fine a point
upon it.”--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1852).
=Snail=, the collector of customs, near Ellangowan House.--Sir W. Scott,
_Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Snailsfoot= (_Bryce_), the jagger or pedlar.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Pirate_ (time, William III.).
=Snake= (_Mr._), a traitorous ally of Lady Sneerwell, who has the
effrontery to say to her, “you paid me extremely liberally for
propagating the lie, but, unfortunately, I have been offered double to
speak the truth.” He says:
Ah, sir, consider; I live by the baseness of my character; and if it
were once known that I have been betrayed into an honest action, I
shall lose every friend I have in the world.--Sheridan, _School for
Scandal_, v. 3 (1777).
=Snaw´ley=, “in the oil and color line.” A “sleek, flat-nosed man,
bearing in his countenance an expression of mortification and
sanctity.”--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_, iii. (1838).
=Sneak= (_Jerry_), a hen-pecked pinmaker; a paltry, pitiful, prying
sneak. If ever he summoned up a little manliness, his wife would begin
to cry, and Jerry was instantly softened.
Master Sneak, ... the ancient corporation of Garratt, in consideration
of your great parts and abilities, and out of respect to their
landlord, Sir Jacob, have unanimously chosen you mayor.--Act ii.
Jerry Sneak has become the type of hen-pecked husbands.--_Temple Bar_,
456 (1875).
_Mrs. Sneak_, wife of Jerry, a domineering tartar of a woman, who keeps
her lord and master well under her thumb. She is the daughter of Sir
Jacob Jollup.--S. Foote, _The Mayor of Garratt_ (1763).
_Jerry Sneak Russell._ So Samuel Russell, the actor, was called, because
of his inimitable representation of “Jerry Sneak,” which was quite a hit
(1766-1845).
=Sneer=, a double-faced critic, who carps at authors behind their backs,
but fawns on them when they are present (see act i. 1).--Sheridan, _The
Critic_ (1779).
=Sneerwell= (_Lady_), the widow of a City knight. Mr. Snake says, “Every
one allows that Lady Sneerwell can do more with a word or a look than
many can with the most labored detail, even when they happen to have a
little truth on their side to support it.”
Wounded myself, in the early part of my life, by the envenomed tongue
of slander, I confess I have since known no pleasure equal to the
reducing of others to the level of my own reputation.--Sheridan,
_School for Scandal_, i. 1 (1777).
=Snevellicci= (_Mr._), in Crummle’s company of actors. Mr. Snevellicci
plays the military swell, and is great in the character of speechless
noblemen.
_Mrs. Snevellicci_, wife of the above, a dancer in the same theatrical
company.
_Miss Snevellicci_, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Snevellicci, also of the
Portsmouth Theatre. “She could do anything from a medley dance to Lady
Macbeth.” Miss Snevellicci laid her toils to catch Nicholas Nickleby,
but “the bird escaped from the nets of the toiler.”--C. Dickens,
_Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
=Snitchey and Craggs=, lawyers. It was the opinion of Mr. Thomas Craggs
that “everything is too easy,” especially law; that it is the duty of
wise men to make everything as difficult as possible, and as hard to go
as rusty locks and hinges which will not turn for want of greasing. He
was a cold, hard, dry man, dressed in grey-and-white like a flint, with
small twinkles in his eyes. Jonathan Snitchey was like a magpie or
raven. He generally finished by saying, “I speak for Self and Craggs,”
and, after the death of his partner, “for Self and Craggs, deceased.”
_Mrs. Snitchey and Mrs. Craggs_, wives of the two lawyers. Mrs. Snitchey
was, on principle, suspicious of Mr. Craggs; and Mrs. Craggs was, on
principle, suspicious of Mr. Snitchey. Mrs. Craggs would say to her lord
and master:
Your Snitcheys, indeed! I don’t see what you want with your Snitcheys,
for my part. You trust a great deal too much to your Snitcheys, I
think, and I hope you may never find my words come true.
Mrs. Snitchey would observe to Mr. Snitchey:
Snitchey, if ever you were led away by man, take my word for it you
are led away by Craggs; and if ever I can read a double purpose in
mortal eye, I can read it in Craggs’s eye.--C. Dickens, _The Battle of
Life_, ii. (1846).
=Snodgrass= (_Augustus_), M.P.C., a poetical young man, who travels
about with Mr. Pickwick, “to inquire into the source of the Hampstead
ponds.” He marries Emily Wardle.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_
(1836).
=Snoring= (_Great_). “Rector of Great Snoring,” a dull, prosy preacher.
=Snorro Sturleson=, last of the great Icelandic scalds or court poets.
He was author of the _Younger Edda_, in prose, and of the
_Heimskringla_, a chronicle, in verse, of the history of Norway, from
the earliest times to the year 1177. The _Younger Edda_ is an
abridgement of the _Rhythmical Edda_ (see SÆMUND SIGFUSSON). The
_Heimskringla_ appeared in 1230, and the _Younger Edda_ is often called
the _Snorro Edda_. Snorro Sturleson incurred the displeasure of Hakon,
king of Norway, who employed assassins to murder him (1178-1241).
⁂ The _Heimskringla_ was translated into English by Samuel Laing, in
1844.
=Snout= (_Tom_), the tinker who takes part in the “tragedy” of _Pyrămus
and Thisbe_, played before the duke and duchess of Athens “on their
wedding day at night.” Next to Peter Quince and Nick Bottom, the weaver,
Snout was by far the most self-important man of the troupe. He was cast
for Pyramus’s father, but has nothing to say, and does not even put in
an appearance during the play.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_
(1592).
=Snow King= (_The_), Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, king of Sweden, killed
in the Thirty Years’ War, at the battle of Lutzen. The cabinet of Vienna
said, in derision of him, “The Snow King is come, but he can live only
in the north, and will melt away as soon as he feels the sun” (1594,
1611-1632).
At Vienna he was called, in derision, “The Snow King” who was kept
together by the cold, but would melt and disappear as he approached a
warmer soil.--Dr. Crichton, _Scandinavia_ (“Gustavus Adolphus,” ii.
61).
_Snow King_ (_The_), Frederick, elector palatine, made king of Bohemia
by the Protestants in the autumn of 1619, but defeated and set aside in
the following autumn.
The winter king, king in times of frost, a snow king, altogether
soluble in the spring, is the name which Frederick obtained in German
histories.--Carlyle.
=Snow Queen= (_The_), Christiana, queen of Sweden (1626, 1633-1689).
The Princess Elizabeth of England, who married Frederick V., elector
palatine, in 1613, and induced him to accept the crown of Bohemia in
1619. She was crowned with her husband, October 25, 1619, but fled, in
November, 1620, and was put under the ban of the empire in 1621.
Elizabeth was queen of Bohemia during the time of snow, but was melted
by the heat of the ensuing summer.
=Snubbin= (_Serjeant_), retained by Mr. Perker for the defence in the
famous case of “Bardell _v._ Pickwick.” His clerk was named Mallard, and
his junior, Phunky, “an infant barrister,” very much looked down upon by
his senior.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
=Snuffim= (_Sir Tumley_), the doctor who attends Mrs. Wititterly.--C.
Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
=Snuffle= (_Simon_), the sexton of Garratt, and one of the corporation.
He was called a “scollard, for he could read a written hand.”--S. Foote,
_Mayor of Garratt_, ii. 1 (1763).
=Snug=, the joiner, who takes part in the “lamentable comedy” of
_Pyramus and Thisbe_, played before the duke and duchess of Athens “on
their wedding day at night.” His _rôle_ was the “lion’s part.” He asked
the manager (Peter Quince) if he had the “lion’s part written out, for,”
said he, “I am slow of memory;” but being told he could do it extempore,
“for it was nothing but roaring,” he consented to undertake
it.--Shakespeare, _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1592).
=Sobri´no=, one of the most valiant of the Saracen army, and called “The
Sage.” He counselled Agrămant to entrust the fate of the war to a single
combat, stipulating that the nation whose champion was worsted should be
tributary to the other. Rogēro was chosen for the pagan champion, and
Rinaldo for the Christian army; but when Rogero was overthrown, Agramant
broke the compact. Sobrino was greatly displeased, and soon afterwards
received the rite of Christian baptism.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_
(1516).
Who more prudent than Sobrino?--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_ (1605).