Chapter XXIV: Book I: Satan presents himself as an old peasant, and, entering into (14)

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

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

_Nina Sforza_, the duke’s daughter.--Massinger, _The Duke of Milan_ (1622).

⁂ This tragedy is obviously an imitation of Shakespeare’s _Othello_ (1611).

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

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

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

Molière wrote _Sganarelle ou Le Cocu Imaginaire_ (_q.v._) as a supplement to this comedy.

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

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

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

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

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

Cabricias arci thuram, catalamus, singulariter, nominativo, hæc
musa, _la muse_, bonus, bona, bonum. Deus sanctus, estne oratio
Latinas? etiam, _oui_, quare? _pourquoi?_ quia substantivo et
adjectivum concordat in generi, numerum, et casus.” “Wonderful
man!” says the father.--Act iii.

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

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

=Shaccabac=, in _Blue Beard_. (See SCHACABAC.)

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

“Macbeth,” “Othello,” “Iago” (in _Othello_), “Shylock” (_Merchant of Venice_), “Romeo” and “Mercutio” (in _Romeo and Juliet_), all by Shakespeare: “George Barnwell” (Lillo’s tragedy so called); “Penruddock” (in _The Wheel of Fortune_), by Cumberland);[TN-169] “Octavian” (in Colman’s drama so called); “Archer” (in _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, by Farquhar).

=Shackfords= (_The_). _Lemuel Shackford_, “a hard, avaricious, passionate man, holding his own way remorselessly.... A prominent character because of his wealth, endless lawsuits and eccentricity.”

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

=Shaddai= (_King_), who made war upon Diabolus for the regaining of Mansoul.--John Bunyan, _The Holy War_ (1682).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dryden, _MacFlecknoe_ (1682).

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

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

_The Dunciad_, iii. 21, 22 (1728).

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

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

_Pyramus._ Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

_Thisbe._ As Shafalus to Procrus; I to you.

Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1592).

=Shaftesbury= (_Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of_), introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Shafton= (_Ned_), one of the prisoners in Newgate with old Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

_Shafton_ (_Sir Piercie_), called “The knight of Wolverton,” a fashionable cavaliero, grandson of old Overstitch, the tailor, of Holderness. Sir Piercie talks in the pedantic style of the Elizabethan courtiers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

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

=Shakebag= (_Dick_), a highwayman with Captain Colepepper.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

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

⁂ In _Woodstock_ there is a conversation about Shakespeare.

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

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

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

_Shakespeare’s Plays_, quarto editions:

ROMEO AND JULIET: 1597, John Danter; 1599, Thomas Creede for Cuthbert Burby; 1609, 1637. Supposed to have been written, 1595.

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

KING RICHARD III.: 1597, ditto; 1598, 1602, 1612, 1622.

LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST; 1598, W. W. for Cuthbert Burby. Supposed to have been written, 1594.

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

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

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

MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: 1600, Thomas Fisher; 1600, James Roberts. Mentioned by Meres, 1598. Supposed to have been written, 1592.

MERCHANT OF VENICE: 1600, I. R. for Thomas Heyes; 1600, James Roberts; 1637. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: 1600, V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: 1602, T. C. for Arthur Johnson; 1619. Supposed to have been written, 1596.

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

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

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

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

The rest of the dramas are:

_All’s Well that Ends Well_, 1598. First title supposed to be
_Love’s Labor’s Won_.

_Antony and Cleopatra_, 1608. No early mention made of this play.

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

_Comedy of Errors_, 1593. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

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

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

1 _Henry VI._ Alluded to by Nash in _Pierce Penniless_, 1592.

2 _Henry VI._ Original title, _First Part of the Contention_, 1594.

3 _Henry VI._ Original title, _True Tragedy of Richard Duke of
York_, 1595.

_Henry VIII._, 1601. Acted at the Globe Theatre, 1613.

_John_ (_King_), 1596. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

_Julius Cæsar_, 1607. No early mention made of this play.

_Lear_, 1605. Acted at Whitehall[TN-170] 1607. Printed 1608.

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

_Measure for Measure_, 1603. Acted at Whitehall[TN-171] 1604.

_Merry Wives of Windsor_, 1596. Printed 1602.

_Pericles Prince of Tyre._ Printed 1609.

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

_Tempest_, 1609. Acted at Whitehall, 1611.

_Timon of Athens_, 1609. No early mention made of this play.

_Titus Andronicus_, 1593. Printed 1600.

_Twelfth Night._ Acted in the Middle Temple Hall, 1602.

_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, 1595. Mentioned by Meres[TN-172] 1598.

_Winter’s Tale_, 1604. Acted at Whitehall, 1611.

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

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

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

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

_Voltaire says of Shakespeare_: “Rimer had very good reason to say that Shakespeare _n’etait[TN-173] q’un vilain singe_.” Voltaire, in 1765, said, “Shakespeare is a savage with some imagination, whose plays can please only in London and Canada.” In 1735 he wrote to M. de Cideville, “Shakespeare is the Corneille of London, but everywhere else he is a great fool (_grand fou d’ailleur_).”

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

Taylor, the Shakespeare of divines.--Emerson.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=Shamho´zai= (3 _syl._), the angel who debauched himself with women, repented, and hung himself up between earth and heaven.--Bereshit rabbi (in _Gen._ vi. 2).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Sharp_ (_Timothy_), the “lying valet” of Charles Gayless. His object is to make his master, who has not a sixpence in the world, pass for a man of wealth in the eyes of Melissa, to whom he is engaged.--Garrick, _The Lying Valet_ (1741).

=Sharp-Beak=, the crow’s wife, in the beast-epic called _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).

=Sharpe= (_The Right Rev. James_), archbishop of St. Andrew’s, murdered by John Balfour (a leader in the covenanters’ army) and his party.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Sharper= (_Master_), the cutler in the Strand.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Sharpitlaw= (_Gideon_), a police officer.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

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

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

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

=Sheba.= The queen of Sheba, or Saba (_i.e._ the Sabeans) came to visit Solomon, and tested his wisdom by sundry questions, but affirmed that his wisdom and wealth exceeded even her expectations.--1 _Kings_ x.; 2 _Chron._ ix.

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

Tennyson, _The Princess_, ii.

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

_Sheba_ (_The queen of_), a name given to Mde. Montreville (the Begum Mootee Mahul).--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

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

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

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

=Sheep-Dog= (_A_), a lady-companion, who occupies the back seat of the barouche, carries wraps, etc., goes to church with the lady,and[TN-174] “guards her from the wolves,” as much as the lady wishes to be guarded, but no more.

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

=Sheep of the Prisons=, a cant term in the French Revolution for a spy under the jailers.--C. Dickens, _A Tale of Two Cities_, iii. 7 (1859).

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

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

⁂ Orlando in his madness also fell foul of a flock of sheep.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Sheffield= (_The Bard of_), James Montgomery, author of _The Wanderer of Switzerland_, etc. (1771-1854).

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

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

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

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

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

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

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

=Shepheardes Calendar= (_The_), twelve eclogues in various metres, by Spenser, one for each month. _January_: Colin Clout (_Spenser_) bewails that Rosalind does not return his love, and compares his forlorn condition to the season itself. _February_: Cuddy, a lad, complains of the cold, and Thenot laments the degeneracy of pastoral life. _March_: Willie and Thomalin discourse of love (described as a person just aroused from sleep). _April_: Hobbinol sings a song on Eliza, queen of shepherds. _May_: Palinode (3 _syl._) exhorts Piers to join the festivities of May, but Piers replies that good shepherds who seek their own indulgence expose their flocks to the wolves. He then relates the fable of the kid and her dam. _June_: Hobbinol exhorts Colin to greater cheerfulness, but Colin replies there is no cheer for him while Rosalind remains unkind and loves Menalcas better than himself. _July_: Morrel, a goat-herd, invites Thomalin to come with him to the uplands, but Thomalin replies that humility better becomes a shepherd (_i.e._, a pastor or clergyman). _August_: Perigot and Willie contend in song, and Cuddy is appointed arbiter. _September_: Diggon Davie complains to Hobbinol of clerical abuses. _October_: On poetry, which Cuddy says has no encouragement, and laments that Colin neglects it, being crossed in love. _November_;[TN-175] Colin, being asked by Thenot to sing, excuses himself because of his grief for Dido, but finally he sings her elegy. _December_: Colin again complains that his heart is desolate because Rosalind loves him not (1579).

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

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

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

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. (1665).

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

⁂ Allan Ramsay has a beautiful Scotch pastoral called _The Gentle Shepherd_ (1725).

_Shepherd_ (_John Claridge_), the signature adopted by the author of _The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules to Judge of the Changes of Weather, etc._ (1744). Supposed to be Dr. John Campbell, author of _A Political Survey of Britain_.

=Shepherd-Kings= (_The_), or _Hyksos_. These Hyksos were a tribe of Cuthites driven from Assyria by Aralius and the Shemites. Their names were: (1) SAĪTÊS or Salātês, called by the Arabs El-Weleed, and said to be a descendant of Esau (B.C. 1870-1851); (2) BEON, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan, son of El-Weleed (B.C. 1851-1811); (3) APACHNAS (B.C. 1811-1750); (4) APŌPHIS, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan II., in whose reign Joseph was sold into Egypt and was made viceroy (B.C. 1750-1700); (5) JANIAS (B.C. 1700-1651); (6) ASSETH (1651-1610).[TN-176] The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt by Amŏsis or Thetmosis, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and retired to Palestine, where they formed the chiefs or lords of the Philistines. (Hyksos is compounded of _hyk_, “king,” and _sos_, “shepherd.”)

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

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

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

Wordsworth, _The White Doe of Rylstone_ (1815).

=Shepherd of Banbury.= (See SHEPHERD, JOHN CLARIDGE.)

=Shepherd of Filida.=

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

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

=Shepherd of the Ocean.= So Colin Clout (_Spenser_) calls Sir Walter Raleigh in his _Colin Clout’s Come Home Again_ (1591).

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

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

⁂ Daniel Defoe made _Jack Sheppard_ the hero of a romance in 1724, and W. H. Ainsworth, in 1839.

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

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

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

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

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

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

(For other possessions which carry with them ill luck, see GOLD OF TOLOSA, GOLD OF NIBELUNGEN, GRAYSTEEL, HARMONIA’S NECKLACE, etc.)

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

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

Thomas Buchanan Read, _Sheridan’s Ride_.

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

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

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

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

Tate, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=Shingle= (_Solon_), prominent personage in J. S. Jones’s farce, _The People’s Lawyer_.

=Ship= (_The Intelligent_). _Ellīda_ (Frithjof’s ship) understood what was said to it; hence in the _Frithjof Saga_ the son of Thornsten constantly addresses it, and the ship always obeys what is said to it.--Tegner, _Frithjof Saga_, x. (1825).

=Shipton= (_Mother_), the heroine of an ancient tale entitled _The Strange and Wonderful History and Prophecies of Mother Shipton_, etc.--T. Evan Preece.

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

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

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

=Shoolbred= (_Dame_), the foster-mother of Henry Smith.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

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

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

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

=Shorne= (_Sir John_) noted for his feat of conjuring the devil into a boot.

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

_Fantassie of Idolatrie._

=Short-Lived Administration= (_The_). the[TN-177] administration formed February 12, 1746, by William Pulteney. It lasted only two days.

=Shortcake= (_Mrs._), the baker’s wife, one of Mrs. Mailsetter’s friends.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Shortell= (_Master_), the mercer at Liverpool.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Short´hose= (2 _syl._), a clown, servant to Lady Hartwell, the widow.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Wit Without Money_ (1539).

=Shorthouse= (_Tom_), epitaph of.

_Hic Jacet_ Tom Shorthouse, _sine_ Tom, _sine_ Sheets, _sine_ Riches;
_Qui Vixit sine_ Gown, _sine_ Cloak, _sine_ Shirt, _sine_ Breeches.

_Old London_ (taken from the _Magna Britannia_)

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

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

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

=Shewsberry= (_Lord_), the earl marshall in the court of Queen Elizabeth.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

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

=Shuffles= (_Robert_). One of the “bad boys,” whose misdemeanors and reformation are sketched in _Outward Bound_, by William T. Adams (Oliver Optic).

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

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

Among modern actors, _Henry Irving_, as Shylock, stands unsurpassed.

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

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

=Sibbald=, an attendant on the earl of Menteith.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Sibylla=, the sibyl. (See SIBYLS.)

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

Sackville, _Mirrour for Magistraytes_ (“Complaynte,” etc.,
(1557).[TN-178]

=Sibyls.= Plato speaks of only _one_ sibyl; Martian Capella says there were _two_ (the _Erythræan_ or _Cumæan_ sibyl, and the _Phrygian_); Pliny speaks of the _three_ sibyls; Jackson maintains, on the authority of Ælian, that there were _four_; Shakespeare speaks of the _nine_ sibyls of old Rome (1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2); Varro says they were _ten_ (the sibyls of Libya, Samos, Cumæ (in Italy), Cumæ (in Asia Minor), Erythræ, Persia, Tiburtis, Delphi, Ancy´ra (in Phrygia), and Marpessa), in reference to which Rabelais says, “she may be the _eleventh_ sibyl” (_Pantagruel_, iii. 16); the mediæval monks made the number to be _twelve_, and gave to each a distinct prophecy respecting Christ. But whatever the number, there was but _one_ “sibyl of old Rome” (the Cumæan), who offered to Tarquin the nine Sibylline books.

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

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

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

Dantê, _Hell_, xxvii. (1300).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Jonson (1574-1637).

=Sid´rophel=, William Lily, the astrologer.

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

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

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

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

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