Chapter II: Part 2

_Solomon’s Favorite Wife._ Prior, in his epic poem called _Solomon_ (bk. ii.), makes Abra the favorite.

The apples she had gathered smelt most sweet;
The cake she kneaded was the savory meat;
All fruits their odor lost and meats their taste,
If gentle Abra had not decked the feast;
Dishonored did the sparkling goblet stand,
Unless received from gentle Abra’s hand; ...
Nor could my soul approve the music’s tone,
Till all was hushed, and Abra sung alone.

Al Beidâwi, Jallâlo´ddin, and Abulfeda, give Amīna, daughter of Jerâda, king of Tyre, as his favorite concubine.

_Solomon Kills His Horses._ Solomon bought a thousand horses, and went to examine them. The examination took him the whole day, so that he omitted the prayers which he ought to have repeated. This neglect came into his mind at sunset, and, by way of atonement, he slew all the horses except a hundred of the best “as an offering to God;” and God, to make him amends for his loss, gave him the dominion of the winds. Mahomet refers to this in the following passage:--

When the horses, standing on three feet, and touching the ground with
the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were set in parade
before him [_Solomon_] in the evening, he said, “Verily I have loved
the love of earthly good above the remembrance of my Lord; and I have
spent the time in viewing these horses till the sun is hidden by the
veil of night. Bring the horses back unto me.” And when they were
brought back, he began to cut off their legs and their necks.--_Al
Korân_, xxxvii.

_Solomon’s Mode of Travelling._ Solomon had a carpet of green silk, on which his throne was placed. This carpet was large enough for all his army to stand on. When his soldiers had stationed themselves on his right hand, and the spirits on his left, Solomon commanded the winds to convey him whither he listed. Whereupon the winds buoyed up the carpet, and transported it to the place the king wished to go to, and while passing thus through the air, the birds of heaven hovered overhead forming a canopy with their wings to ward off the heat of the sun. Mahomet takes this legend as an historic fact, for he says in reference to it:

Unto Solomon We subjected the strong wind, and it ran at his command
to the land whereon We had bestowed our blessing.--_Al Korân_, xxi.

And again:

We made the wind subject to him, and it ran gently at his command
whithersoever he desired.--_Al Korân_, xxxviii.

_Solomon’s Signet-Ring._ The rabbins say that Solomon wore a ring in which was set a chased stone that told him everything he wished to know.

_Solomon Loses His Signet-Ring._ Solomon’s favorite concubine was Amīna, daughter of Jerâda, king of Tyre, and when he went to bathe, it was to Amina that he entrusted his signet-ring. One day the devil, Sakhar, assumed the likeness of Solomon, and so got possession of the ring, and for forty days reigned in Jerusalem, while Solomon himself was a wanderer living on alms. At the end of the forty days, Sakhar flung the ring into the sea; it was swallowed by a fish, which was given to Solomon. Having thus obtained his ring again, Solomon took Sakhar captive, and cast him into the sea of Galilee.--_Al Korân_ (Sale’s notes, ch. xxxviii.). (See JOVIAN.)

⁂ Mahomet, in the _Korân_, takes this legend as an historic fact, for he says: “We [_God_], also tried Solomon, and placed on his throne a counterfeit body [_i.e._, _Sakhar, the Devil_].”--Ch. xxxviii.

Uffan, the sage, saw Solomon asleep, and wishing to take off his signet-ring, gave three arrows to Aboutaleb, saying, “When the serpent springs upon me, and strikes me dead, shoot one of these arrows at me, and I shall instantly come to life again.” Uffan tugged at the ring, was stung to death, but, being struck by one of the arrows, revived. This happened twice. After the third attempt, the heavens grew so black, and the thunder was so alarming, that Aboutaleb was afraid to shoot, and throwing down the bow and arrow, fled with precipitation from the dreadful place.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Aboutaleb,” 1743).

_Solomon_ (_The Second_), James I. of England (1566, 1603-1625).

The French king (_Henri IV._) said, in the presence of Lord Sanquhar,
to one that called James _a second Solomon_. “I hope he is not the son
of David the fiddler” [_David Rizzio_].--Osborne, _Secret History_, i.
231.

Sully called him “The Wisest Fool in Christendom.”

_Solomon_, a tedious, consequential, old butler, in the service of Count Wintersen. He has two idiosyncrasies: One is that he receives letters of confidential importance from all parts of the civilized world, but “has received no communication from abroad to tell him who Mrs. Haller is.” One letter “from Constantinople” turns out to be from his nephew, Tim Twist, the tailor, about a waistcoat, which had been turned three times. In regard to the other idiosyncrasy, he boasts of his cellar of wine, provided in a “most frugal and provident way,” and of his alterations in the park, “all done with the most economical economy.” He is very proud of his son, Peter, a half-witted lad, and thinks Mrs. Haller “casts eyes at him.”--Benj. Thompson, _The Stranger_ (1797).

=Solomon Daisy=, parish clerk and bellringer, of Chigwell. He had little, round, black, shiny eyes like beads; wore rusty black breeches, a rusty black coat, and a long-flapped waistcoat, with little queer buttons like his eyes. As he sat in the firelight, he seemed all eyes, from head to foot.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Solomon of China= (_The_), Taetsong I., whose real name was Lee-chemen. He reformed the calendar, founded a very extensive library, established schools in his palace, built places of worship for the Nestorian Christians, and was noted for his wise maxims (*, 618-626).

=Solomon of England= (_The_), Henry VII. (1457, 1485-1509). (See SOLOMON THE SECOND.)

=Solomon of France= (_The_), Charles V. _le Sage_ (1337, 1364-1380).

⁂ Louis IX. (_i.e._, St. Louis) is also called “The Solomon of France” (1215, 1226-1270).

=Solon of French Prose= (_The_), Balzac (1596-1655).

=Solon of Parnassus= (_The_). Boileau is so called by Voltaire, in allusion to his _Art of Poetry_ (1636-1711).

=Solsgrace= (_Master Nehemiah_), a Presbyterian pastor.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Solus=, an old bachelor, who greatly wished to be a married man. When he saw the bright sides of domestic life, he resolved he would marry; but when he saw the reverse sides, he determined to remain single. Ultimately, he takes to the altar Miss Spinster.--Inchbald, _Every One has His Fault_ (1794).

=Solymæan Rout= (_The_), the London rabble and rebels. Solymæa was an ancient name of Jerusalem, subsequently called Hiero-solyma, that is “sacred Solyma.” As Charles II. is called “David,” and London “Jerusalem,” the London rebels are called “the Solymæan rout,” or the rabble of Jerusalem.

The Solymæan rout, well versed of old,
In godly faction, and in treason bold, ...
Saw with disdain an Ethnic plot [_popish plot_] begun,
And scorned by Jebusites [_papists_] to be outdone.
Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i. (1681).

=Sol´yman=, king of the Saracens, whose capital was Nice. Being driven from his kingdom, he fled to Egypt, and was there appointed leader of the Arabs (bk. ix.). Solyman and Argantês were by far the most doughty of the pagan knights. The former was slain by Rinaldo (bk. xx.), and the latter by Tancred.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Somnambulus.= Sir W. Scott so signs _The Visionary_ (political satires, 1819).--Olphar Hamst [Ralph Thomas], _Handbook of Fictitious Names_.

=Somo Sala= (_Like the Father of_), a dreamer of air-castles, like the milkmaid Perrette, in Lafontaine. (See COUNT NOT, etc.)

=Son of Be´lial= (_A_), a wicked person, a rebel, an infidel.

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial: they knew not [i.e.,
_acknowledged not_] the Lord.--_1 Sam._ ii. 12.

=Son of Consolation=, St. Barnabas of Cyprus (first century).--_Acts_ iv. 36.

=Son of Perdition= (_The_), Judas Iscariot.--_John_ xvii. 12.

_Son of Perdition_, Antichrist.--_2 Thess._ ii. 3.

=Son of a Star= (_The_), Barcochebas, or Barchochab, who gave himself out to be the “star” predicted by Balaam (died A.D. 135).

There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the
children of Sheth.--_Numb._ xxiv. 17.

=Son of the Last Man.= Charles II. was so called by the parliamentarians. His father, Charles I., was called by them “The Last Man.”

=Son of the Rock=, echo.

She went. She called on Armar. Nought answered but the son of the
rock.--Ossian, _The Songs of Selma_.

=Sons of Phidias=, sculptors.

=Sons of Thunder=, or _Boanerges_, James and John, sons of Zebedee.--_Mark_ iii. 17.

=Sonderby= (_John_), a school-teacher who, after dallying with an evil temptation all through one summer, shakes himself free of it, and resolves “to make a man of himself, to go where human life is thick and the push keen and strong, to earn a place there by using the talent given him, and to work with hope, courage and belief, with a heart open to his humankind.”--Bliss Perry, _The Broughton House_ (1890).

=Song.= _The Father of Modern French Songs_, C. F. Panard (1691-1765).

_Song._ _What! all this for a song?_ So said William Cecil, Lord Burghley, when Queen Elizabeth ordered him to give Edmund Spenser £100 as an expression of her pleasure at some verses he had presented to her. When a pension of £50 a year was settled on the poet, Lord Burghley did all in his power to oppose the grant. To this Spenser alludes in the lines following:--

O, grief of griefs! O, gall of all good hearts!
To see that virtue should despisèd be
Of him that first was raised for virtuous parts;
And now, broad-spreading like an aged tree,
Lets none shoot up that nigh him planted be.
Oh, let the man of whom the Muse is scorned,
Alive nor dead be of the Muse adorned!
Spenser, _The Ruins of Time_ (1591).

=Sonnam´bula= (_La_), Ami´na, the miller’s daughter. She was betrothed to Elvi´no, a rich young farmer, but the night before the wedding was discovered in the bed of Conte Rodolpho. This very ugly circumstance made the farmer break off the match and promise marriage to Lisa, the innkeeper’s daughter. The count now interfered, and assured Elvino that the miller’s daughter was a sleep-walker, and while they were still talking she was seen walking on the edge of the mill-roof, while the huge mill-wheel was turning rapidly. She then crossed a crazy old bridge, and came into the midst of the assembly, when she woke and ran to the arms of her lover. Elvino, convinced of her innocence, married her, and Lisa was resigned to Alessio, whose paramour she was.--Bellini’s opera, _La Sonnambula_ (1831).

(Taken from a melodrama by Romani, and adapted as a libretto by Scribe.)

=Sophi=, in Arabic, means “pure,” and therefore one of the pure or true faith. As a royal title it is tantamount to “Catholic,” or “most Christian.”--Selden, _Titles of Honor_, vi, 76-7 (1614).

=Sophi´a=, mother of Rollo and Otto, dukes of Normandy. Rollo is the “bloody brother.”--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Bloody Brother_ (1639).

_Sophia_, wife of Mathīas, a Bohemian knight. When Mathias went to take service with King Ladislaus of Bohemia, the queen, Honoria, fell in love with him, and sent Ubaldo and Ricardo to tempt Sophia to infidelity. But immediately Sophia perceived their purpose she had them confined in separate chambers, and compelled them to earn their living by spinning.

_Sophia’s Picture._ When Mathias left, Sophia gave him a magic picture, which turned _yellow_ if she were tempted, and black if she yielded to the temptation.--Massinger, _The Picture_ (1629).

_Sophia_ (_St._) or AGIA [_Aya_] SOFI´A, the most celebrated mosque of Constantinople, once a Christian church, but now a Mohammedan jamih. It is 260 feet long and 230 feet broad. Its dome is supported on pillars of marble, granite, and green jasper, said to have belonged to the temple of Diana at Ephesus.

Sophia’s cupola with golden gleam.
Byron, _Don Juan_, v. 3 (1820).

_Sophia_ (_The princess_), only child of the old king of Lombardy, in love with Paladore, a Briton, who saved her life by killing a boar which had gored her horse to death. She was unjustly accused of wantonness by Duke Birēno, whom the king wished her to marry, but whom she rejected. By the law of Lombardy, this offence was punishable by death, but the accuser was bound to support his charge by single combat, if any champion chose to fight in her defence. Paladore challenged the duke, and slew him. The whole villainy of the charge was then exposed, the character of the princess was cleared, and her marriage with Paladore concludes the play.--Robert Jephson, _The Law of Lombardy_ (1779).

_Sophia_ [FREELOVE], daughter of the Widow Warren by her first husband. She is a lovely, innocent girl, passionately attached to Harry Dornton, the baker’s son, to whom ultimately she is married.--T. Holcroft, _The Road to Ruin_ (1792).

_Sophia_ [PRIMROSE], the younger daughter of the vicar of Wakefield; soft, modest, and alluring. Being thrown from her horse into a deep stream, she was rescued by Sir William Thornhill _alias_ Mr. Burchell. Being abducted, she was again rescued by him, and finally married him.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).

_Sophia_ [SPRIGHTLY], a young lady of high spirits and up to fun. Tukely loves her sincerely, and knowing her partiality for the Hon. Mr. Daffodil, exposes him as a “male coquette,” of mean spirit and without manly courage; after which she rejects him with scorn, and gives her hand and heart to Tukely.--Garrick, _The Male Coquette_ (1758).

=Sophonis´ba=, daughter of Asdrubal, and reared to detest Rome. She was affianced to Masinissa, king of the Numidians, but married Syphax. In B.C. 203 she fell into the hands of Lelius and Masinissa, and, to prevent being made a captive, married the Numidian prince. This subject and that of Cleopatra have furnished more dramas than any other whatsoever.

_French:_ J. Mairet, _Sophonisbe_ (1630); Pierre Corneille; Lagrange-Chancel; rewritten by Voltaire. _Italian:_ Trissino (1514); Alfieri (1749-1863). _English:_ John Marston, _The Wonder of Women_, or _the Tragedy of Sophonisba_ (1605); James Thomson, _Sophonisba_ (1729).

(In Thomson’s tragedy occurs the line, “Oh, Sophonisba! Sophonisba, oh!” and a wit set all the town laughing with “Oh, Jemmy Thomson! Jemmy Thomson, oh!”)

=Sophronia=, a young lady who was taught Greek, and to hate men who were not scholars. Her wisdom taught her to gauge the wisdom of her suitors, and to discover their shortcomings. She never found one up to the mark, and now she is wrinkled with age, and talks about the “beauties of the mind.”--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxviii. (1759).

_Sophronia._ (See =Sofronia=.)

=Sophros´yne= (4 _syl._), one of Logistilla’s handmaids, noted for her purity. Sophrosynê was sent with Andronīca to conduct Astolpho safely from India to Arabia.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Sophy=, the eldest of a large family. She is engaged to Traddles, and is always spoken of by him as “the dearest girl in the world.”--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Sora´no=, a Neapolitan noble, brother of Evanthe (3 _syl._) “the wife for a month,” and the infamous instrument of Frederick, the licentious brother of Alphonso, king of Naples.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _A Wife for a Month_ (1624).

=Sordello=, a Provençal poet, whom Dantê meets in purgatory, sitting apart. On seeing Virgil, Sordello springs forward to embrace him.

⁂ R. Browning has a poem called _Sordello_, and makes Sordello typical of liberty and human perfectibility.

=Sorel= (_Agnes_), surnamed _La dame de Beauté_, not from her personal beauty, but from the “château de Beauté,” on the banks of the Marne, given to her by Charles VII. (1409-1450).

=Sorento= (in Naples), the birthplace of Torquato Tasso, the Italian poet.

=Sorrows of Werther=, a mawkish, sentimental novel by Goethe (1774), once extremely popular. Werther, the hero of the story, loves a married woman, and becomes disgusted with life because Charlotte [Lotte] is the wife of his friend, Kestner.

_Werther_, infusing itself into the core and whole spirit of
literature, gave birth to a race of sentimentalists, who raged and
wailed in every part of the world till better light dawned on them,
or, at any rate, till exhausted nature laid itself to sleep, and it
was discovered that lamenting was an unproductive labor.--Carlyle.

=Sosia= (in Molière, _Sosie_), the slave of Amphitryon. When Mercury assumes the form of Sosia, and Jupiter that of Amphitryon, the mistakes and confusion which arise resemble those of the brothers Antiph´olus and their servants, the brothers Dromio, in Shakespeare’s _Comedy of Errors_.--Plautus, Molière (1668), and Dryden (1690), _Amphitryon_.

His first name ... looks out upon him like another Sosia, or as if a
man should suddenly encounter his own duplicate.--C. Lamb.

=Sosii=, brothers, the name of two booksellers at Rome, referred to by Horace.

=So´tenville= (_Mon. le baron de_), father of Angélique, and father-in-law of George Dandin. His wife was of the house of Prudoterie, and both boasted that in 300 years no one of their distinguished lines ever swerved from virtue. “La bravoure n’y est pas plus hérdéitaire aux mâles que la chasteté aux femelles.” They lived with their son-in-law, who was allowed the honor of paying their debts, and receiving a snubbing every time he opened his mouth, that he might be taught the mysteries of the _haut monde_.--Molière, _George Dandin_ (1668).

=Soulis= (_Lord William_), a man of prodigious strength, cruelty, avarice and treachery. Old Redcap gave him a charmed life, which nothing could affect “till threefold ropes of sand were twisted round his body.” Lord Soulis waylaid May, the lady-love of the heir of Branxholm, and kept her in durance till she promised to become his bride. Walter, the brother of the young heir, raised his father’s liegemen, and invested the castle. Lord Soulis having fallen into the hands of the liegemen, “they wrapped him in lead, and flung him into a caldron, till lead, bones, and all were melted.”--John Leyden (1802).

(The caldron is still shown in the Skelfhill, at Ninestane Rig, part of the range of hills which separates Liddesdale and Teviotdale.)

=South= (_Squire_), the Archduke Charles of Austria.--Arbuthnot, _History of John Bull_ (1712).

=Southampton= (_The earl of_), the friend of the earl of Essex, and involved with him in the charge of treason, but pardoned.--Henry Jones, _The Earl of Essex_ (1745).

=Sovereigns of England= (_Mortual Days of the_).

SUNDAY: six, viz., Henry I., Edward III., James I., William III., Anne, George I.

MONDAY: six, viz., Stephen, Henry IV., Henry V., Richard III., Elizabeth, Mary II. (Richard II. _deposed_).

TUESDAY: four, viz., Richard I., Charles I., Charles II., William IV. (Edward II. _resigned_, and James II. _abdicated_).

WEDNESDAY: four, viz., John, Henry III., Edward IV., Edward V. (Henry VI. _deposed_).

THURSDAY: five, viz., William I., William II., Henry II., Edward VI., Mary I.

FRIDAY: three, viz., Edward I., Henry VIII., Cromwell.

SATURDAY: four, viz., Henry VII., George II., George III., George IV.

That is, 6 Sunday and Monday; 5 Thursday; 4 Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday; and 3 Friday.

ANNE, August 1 (Old Style), August 12 (New Style), 1714.

CHARLES I., January 30, 1648-9; CHARLES II. February 6, 1684-5;
CROMWELL died September 3, 1658; burnt at Tyburn, January 30, 1661.

EDWARD I., July 7, 1307; EDWARD III., June 21, 1377; EDWARD IV., April
9, 1483; EDWARD V., June 25, 1483; EDWARD VI., July 6, 1553;
ELIZABETH, March 24, 1602-3.

GEORGE I., June 11, 1727; GEORGE II., October 25, 1760; GEORGE III.,
January 29, 1820; GEORGE IV., June 26, 1830.

HENRY I., December 1, 1135; HENRY II., July 6, 1189; HENRY III.,
November 16, 1272; HENRY IV., March 20, 1412-3; HENRY V., August 31,
1422; HENRY VI., _deposed_ March 4, 1460-1; HENRY VII., April 21,
1509; HENRY VIII., January 28, 1546-7.

JAMES I., March 27, 1625; JAMES II., _abdicated_ December 11, 1688;
JOHN, October 19, 1216.

MARY I., November 17, 1558; MARY II., December 27, 1694.

RICHARD I., April 6, 1199; RICHARD II. _deposed_ September 29, 1399;
RICHARD III., August 22, 1485.

STEPHEN, October 25, 1154.

WILLIAM I., September 9, 1087; WILLIAM II., August 2, 1100; WILLIAM
III., March 8, 1701-2; WILLIAM IV., June 20, 1837.

⁂ Edward II. _resigned_ Tuesday, January 20, 1327, and was _murdered_
Monday, September 21, 1327. Henry VI. _deposed_ Wednesday, March 4,
1461, again Sunday, April 14, 1471, and _died_ Wednesday, May 22,
1471. James II. _abdicated_ Tuesday, December 11, 1688, and _died_ at
St. Germain’s, 1701. Richard II. _deposed_ Monday, September 29, 1399,
_died_ the last week in February, 1400; but his death was not
announced till Friday, March 12, 1400, when a dead body was exhibited
said to be that of the deceased king.

Of the sovereigns, eight have died between the ages of 60 and 70, two
between 70 and 80, and one has exceeded 80 years of age.

William I. 60, Henry I. 67, Henry III. 65, Edward I. 68, Edward III.
65, Elizabeth 69, George I. 69, George IV. 68.

George II. 77. William IV. 72. George III. 82.

_Length of reign._ Five have reigned between 20 and 30 years, seven
between 30 and 40 years, one between 40 and 50 years, and three above
50 years.

William I., 20 years 8 months 16 days; Richard II., 22 years 3 months
8 days; Henry VII., 23 years 8 months; James I., 22 years 4 days;
Charles I., 23 years 10 months 4 days.

Henry I., 35 years 3 months 27 days; Henry II., 34 years 6 months 17
days; Edward I., 34 years 7 months 18 days; Henry VI., 38 years 6
months and 4 days; Henry VIII., 37 years 9 months 7 days; Charles II.
+ Cromwell, 36 years 8 days; George II., 33 years 4 months 15 days.

Elizabeth, 44 years 4 months 8 days.

Henry III., 56 years 20 days; Edward III., 50 years 4 months 28 days;
George III., 59 years 3 months 4 days.

=Sow= (_A_), a machine of war. It was a wooden shed which went on wheels, the roof being ridged like a hog’s back. Being thrust close to the wall of a place besieged, it served to protect the besieging party from the arrows hurled against them from the walls. When the countess of March (called “Black Agnes”), in 1335, saw one of those engines advancing towards her castle, she called out to the earl of Salisbury, who commanded the engineers:

Beware Montagow,
For farrow shall thy sow;

and then had such a huge fragment of rock rolled on the engine that it dashed it to pieces. When she saw the English soldiers running away, the countess called out, “Lo! lo! the litter of English pigs!”

=Sow of Dallweir=, named “Henwen,” went burrowing through Wales, and leaving in one place a grain of barley, in another a little pig, a few bees, a grain or two of wheat, and so on, and these made the places celebrated for the particular produce ever after.

It is supposed that the sow was really a ship, and that the keeper of the sow, named Coll ab Collfrewi, was the captain of the vessel.--_Welsh Triads_, lvi.

=Sowerberry=, the parochial undertaker, to whom Oliver Twist is bound when he quits the workhouse. Sowerberry was not a badly disposed man, and he treated Oliver with a certain measure of kindness and consideration; but Oliver was ill-treated by Mrs. Sowerberry, and bullied by a big boy called Noah Claypole. Being one day greatly exasperated by the bully, Oliver gave him a thorough “drubbing,” whereupon Charlotte, the maidservant, set upon him like a fury, scratched his face, and held him fast till Noah Claypole had pummelled him within an inch of his life. Three against one was too much for the lad, so he ran away.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

_Sowerberry_, a misanthrope.--W. Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock_.

=Sowerbrowst= (_Mr._), the maltster.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Soyer= (_Alexis_), a celebrated cook, appointed, in 1837, _chef de cuisine_ to the Reform Club, London, was the author of several useful works, as _The Gastronomic Regenerator_, _The Poor Man’s Regenerator_, _The Modern Housewife_, etc. (died 1858).

=Spado=, an impudent rascal, in the band of Don Cæsar (called “Captain Ramirez”), who tricks every one, and delights in mischief.--O’Keefe, _Castle of Andalusia_ (1798).

Quick’s great parts were “Isaac,” “Tony Lumpkin,” “Spado,” and “Sir
Christopher Curry.”--_Records of a Stage Veteran._

(“Isaac,” in the _Duenna_, by Sheridan; “Tony Lumpkin,” in _She Stoops to Conquer_, by Goldsmith; “Sir Christopher Curry,” in _Inkle and Yarico_, by G. Colman.)

=Spahis=, native Algerian cavalry, officered by Frenchmen. The infantry are called _Turcos_.

=Spanish Brutus= (_The_), Alfonso Perez de Guzman, governor of Tarifa, in 1293. Here he was besieged by the infant, Don Juan, who had Guzman’s son in his power, and threatened to kill him unless Tarifa was given up. Alfonso replied, “Sooner than be guilty of such treason, I will lend Juan a dagger to carry out his threat;” and so saying, he tossed his dagger over the wall. Juan, unable to appreciate this patriotism, slew the young man without remorse.

⁂ Lopê de Vega has dramatized this incident.

=Spanish Curate= (_The_), Lopez.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).

=Spanish Fryar= (_The_), a drama by Dryden (1680). It contains two plots, wholly independent of each other. The serious element is this: Leonora, the usurping queen of Aragon, is promised in marriage to Duke Bertran, a prince of the blood; but is in love with Torrismond, general of the army, who turns out to be the son and heir of King Sancho, supposed to be dead. Sancho is restored to his throne, and Leonora marries Torrismond. The comic element is the illicit love of Colonel Lorenzo for Elvīra, the wife of Gomez, a rich old banker. Dominick (the Spanish fryar) helps on this scandalous amour, but it turns out that Lorenzo and Elvira are brother and sister.

=Spanish Lady= (_The_), a ballad contained in Percy’s _Reliques_, ii. 23. A Spanish lady fell in love with Captain Popham, whose prisoner she was. A command being sent to set all the prisoners free, the lady prayed the gallant captain to make her his wife. The Englishman replied that he could not do so, as he was married already. On hearing this the Spanish lady gave him a chain of gold and a pearl bracelet to take to his wife, and told him that she should retire to a nunnery and spend the rest of her life praying for their happiness.

It will be stuck up with the ballad of _Margaret’s Ghost_ [_q.v._] and
the _Spanish Lady_, against the walls of every cottage in the
country.--Isaac Bickerstaff, _Love in a Village_ (1763).

=Spanish Tragedy= (_The_), by T. Kyd (1597). Horatio (son of Hieronimo) is murdered while he is sitting in an arbor with Belimperia. Balthazar, the rival of Horatio, commits the murder, assisted by Belimperia’s brother, Lorenzo. The murderers hang the dead body on a tree in the garden, where Hieronimo, roused by the cries of Belimperia, discovers it, and goes raving mad.

=Spanker= (_Lady Gay_), in _London Assurance_, by D. Boucicault (1841).

Dazzle and Lady Gay Spanker “act themselves,” and will never be
dropped out of the list of acting plays.--Percy Fitzgerald.

=Sparabel´la=, a shepherdess, in love with D’Urfey, but D’Urfey loves Clum´silis, “the fairest shepherd wooed the foulest lass.” Sparabella resolves to kill herself; but how? Shall she cut her windpipe with a penknife? “No,” she says, “squeaking pigs die so.” Shall she suspend herself to a tree? “No,” she says, “dogs die in that fashion.” Shall she drown herself in a pool? “No,” she says, “scolding queans die so.” And while in doubt how to kill herself, the sun goes down, and

The prudent maiden deemed it then too late,
And till to-morrow came deferred her fate.
Gay, _Pastoral_, iii. (1714).

=Sparkish=, “the prince of coxcombs,” a fashionable fool, and “a cuckold before marriage.” Sparkish is engaged to Alithēa Moody, but introduces to her his friend, Harcourt, allows him to make love to her before his face, and, of course, is jilted.--_The Country Girl_ (Garrick, altered from Wycherly’s _Country Wife_, 1675).

=Sparkler= (_Edmund_), son of Mrs. Merdle by her first husband. He married Fanny, sister of Little Dorrit. Edmund Sparkler was a very large man, called in his own regiment “Quinbus Flestrin, junior, or the Young Man-Mountain.”

_Mrs. Sparkler_, Edmund’s wife. She was very pretty, very self-willed, and snubbed her husband in most approved fashion.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Sparrowgrass=, pen-name of Frederic S. Cozzens, under which he depicted the blunders and mishaps of a pair of city-bred people, who set up their Lares and Penates in Yonkers, N.Y.--Frederic Swartwout Cozzens, _The Sparrowgrass Papers_ (1856).

=Sparsit= (_Mrs._), housekeeper to Josiah Bounderby, banker and mill-owner at Coketown. Mrs. Sparsit is a “highly connected lady,” being the great-niece of Lady Scadgers. She had a “Coriolanian nose and dense black eyebrows,” was much believed in by her master, who, when he married, made her “keeper of the bank.” Mrs. Sparsit, in collusion with the light porter, Bitzer, then acted the spy on Mr. Bounderby and his young wife.--C. Dickens, _Hard Times_ (1854).

=Spasmodic School= (_The_), certain authors of the nineteenth century, whose writings abound in spasmodic phrases, startling expressions, and words used out of their common acceptation. Carlyle, noted for his Germanic English, is the chief of this school. Others are Bailey, author of _Festus_, Sydney Dobell, Gilfillan, and Alexander Smith.

⁂ Professor Aytoun has gibbeted this class of writers in his _Firmilian_, a _Spasmodic Tragedy_ (1854).

=Spear of Achillês.= Telĕphos, son-in-law of Priam, opposed the Greeks in their voyage to Troy. A severe contest ensued, and Achillês, with his spear, wounded the Mysian king severely. He was told by an oracle that the wound could be cured only by the instrument which gave it; so he sent to Achillês to effect his cure. The surly Greek replied he was no physician, and would have dismissed the messengers with scant courtesy, but Ulysses whispered in his ear that the aid of Telephos was required to direct them on their way to Troy. Achillês now scraped some rust from his spear, which, being applied to the wound, healed it. This so conciliated Telephos that he conducted the fleet to Troy, and even took part in the war against his father-in-law.

Achillês’ and his father’s javelin caused
Pain first, and then the boon of health restored.
Dantê, _Hell_, xxxi. (1300).

And fell in speche of Telephus, the king,
And of Achilles for his queinte spere,
For he coude with it both hele and dere (_i.e._, wound).
Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Squire’s Tale”).

Whose smile and frown, like to Achillês’ spear,
Is able with the change to kill and cure.
Shakespeare, _2 Henry VI._ act v. sc. 1 (1591).

⁂ The plant milfoil or yarrow, called by the old herbalists, _Achilles_, is still used in medicine as a tonic. The leaves were at one time much used for healing wounds, and are still employed for this purpose in Scotland, Germany, France, and other countries.

=Spearman= (_Rosanna_). Housemaid in the employ of Lady Verinder, and a reformed thief. She is infatuated with Franklin Blake, who is quite ignorant of her passion. Learning, accidentally, that he has, as a sleep-walker, stolen the diamond, she tries to use the knowledge to establish a hold upon him. Failing in this, she drowns herself in a quicksand, leaving behind her a confession of her hopeless love and the means she had used to avert suspicion from him.--Wilkie Collins, _The Moonstone_.

=Spears of Spyinghow= (_The Three_), in the troop of Fitzurse.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Speech ascribed to Dumb Animals.= Al Borak, the animal which conveyed Mahomet to the seventh heaven; Arīon, the wonderful horse which Herculês gave to Adrastos; Balaam’s ass (_Numb._ xxii. 28-30); the black pigeons of Dodōna; Comrade, Fortunio’s horse; Katmîr, the dog of the Seven Sleepers; Sâleh’s camel; Temliha, king of the serpents; Xanthos, the horse of Achillês. Frithjof’s ship, _Ellīda_, could not speak, but it understood what was said to it.

=Speech given to Conceal Thought.= _La parole a été donnée a l’homme pour déguiser la pensée or pour l’aider à cacher sa pensée._ Talleyrand is usually credited with this sentence, but Captain Gronow, in his _Recollections and Anecdotes_, asserts that the words were those of Count Montrond, a wit and poet, called “the most agreeable scoundrel and most pleasant reprobate in the court of Marie Antoinette.”

Voltaire, in _Le Chapon et la Poularde_, says: “Ils n’employent les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pensées.”

Goldsmith, in _The Bee_, iii. (October 20, 1759), has borrowed the same thought: “the true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”

=Speech-Makers= (_Bad_).

ADDISON could not make a speech. He attempted one in the House of Commons, and said, “Mr. Speaker, I conceive--I conceive, sir--sir, I conceive----” Whereupon a member exclaimed, “The right honorable secretary of state has conceived thrice, and brought forth nothing.”

CAMPBELL (_Thomas_), once tried to make a speech, but so stuttered and stammered, that the whole table was convulsed with laughter.

CICERO, the great orator, never got over his nervous terror till he warmed to his subject.

IRVING (_Washington_), even with a speech written out, and laid before him, could not deliver it without a breakdown. In fact, he could hardly utter a word in public without trembling.

MOORE (_Thomas_) could never make a speech.

(Dickens and Prince Albert always spoke well and fluently.)

=Speed=, an inveterate punster, and the clownish servant of Valentine, one of the two “gentlemen of Verona.”--Shakespeare, _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (1594).

=Speed the Plough=, a comedy by Thomas Morton (1798). Farmer Ashfield brings up a boy named Henry, greatly beloved by every one. This Henry is in reality the son of “Morrington,” younger brother of Sir Philip Blandford. The two brothers fixed their love on the same lady, but the younger married her, whereupon Sir Philip stabbed him to the heart, and fully thought him to be dead, but after twenty years, the wounded man reappeared, and claimed his son. Henry marries his cousin, Emma Blandford; and the farmer’s daughter, Susan, marries Robert, only son of Sir Abel Handy.

=Spenlow= (_Mr._), father of Dora (_q.v._). He was a proctor, to whom David Copperfield was articled. Mr. Spenlow was killed in a carriage accident.

_Misses Lavinia_ and _Clarissa Spenlow_, two spinster aunts of Dora Spenlow, with whom she lived at the death of her father.

They were not unlike birds altogether, having a sharp, brisk, sudden
manner, and a little, short, spruce way of adjusting themselves, like
canaries.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_, xli. (1849).

=Spens= (_Sir Patrick_), a Scotch hero, sent, in the winter-time, on a mission to Norway. His ship, in its home passage, was wrecked off the coast of Aberdeen, and every one on board was lost. The incident has furnished the subject of a spirited Scotch ballad by Lady Lindsay.

=Spenser.= _The Spenser of English Prose Writers_, Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667).

_Spenser._ _From Spenser to Flecknoe_, that is, from the top to the bottom of all poetry; from the sublime to the ridiculous.--Dryden, _Comment on Spenser, etc._

=Spenser’s Monument=, in Westminster Abbey, was erected by Anne Clifford, countess of Dorset.

=Spider’s Net= (_A_). When Mahomet fled from Mecca, he hid in a cave, and a spider wove its net over the entrance. When the Koreishites came thither, they passed on, being fully persuaded that no one had entered the cave, because the cobweb was not broken.

In the _Talmud_, we are told that David, in his flight, hid himself in the cave of Adullam, and a spider spun its net over the opening. When Saul came up and saw the cobweb, he passed on, under the same persuasion.

=Spindle= (_Jack_), the son of a man of fortune. Having wasted his money in riotous living, he went to a friend to borrow £100. “Let me see, you want £100, Mr. Spindle; let me see, would not £50 do for the present?” “Well,” said Jack, “if you have not £100, I must be contented with £50.” “Dear me, Mr. Spindle!” said the friend, “I find I have but £20 about me.” “Never mind,” said Jack, “I must borrow the other £30 of some other friend.” “Just so, Mr. Spindle, just so. By-the-by would it not be far better to borrow the whole of that friend, and then one note of hand will serve for the whole sum? Good morning, Mr. Spindle; delighted to see you! Tom, see the gentleman down.”--Goldsmith, _The Bee_, iii. (1759).

=Spirit of the Cape= (_The_), Adamastor, a hideous phantom, of unearthly pallor, “erect his hair uprose of withered red,” his lips were black, his teeth blue and disjointed, his beard haggard, his face scarred by lightning, his eyes “shot livid fire,” his voice roared. The sailors trembled at the sight of him, and the fiend demanded how they dared to trespass “where never hero braved his rage before?” He then told them “that every year the shipwrecked should be made to deplore their foolhardiness.” According to Barreto the “Spirit of the Cape” was one of the giants who stormed heaven.--Camoens, _The Lusiad_ (1572).

In me the Spirit of the Cape behold ...
That rock by you the “Cape of Tempests” named ...
With wide-stretched piles I guard ...
Great Adamastor is my dreaded name.
Canto v.

=Spiri´to=, the Holy Ghost as the friend of man, personified in canto ix. of _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). He was married to Urania, and their offspring are: Knowledge, Contemplation, Care, Humility, Obedience, Faith or Fido, Penitence, Elpi´nus or Hope, and Love, the foster-son of Gratitude. (Latin, _spirĭtus_, “spirit.”)

=Spitfire= (_Will_), or WILL SPITTAL, serving-boy of Roger Wildrake, the dissipated royalist.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Spontaneous Combustion.= There are above thirty cases on record of death by spontaneous combustion, the most famous being that of the Countess Cornelia di Baudi Cesenatê, which was most minutely investigated, in 1731, by Guiseppê Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona.

The next most noted instance occurred at Rheims, in 1725, and is authenticated by no less an authority than Mon. Le Cat, the celebrated physician.

Messrs. Foderé and Mere investigated the subject of spontaneous combustion, and gave it as their fixed opinion that instances of death from such a cause cannot be doubted.

In vol. vi. of the _Philosophical Transactions_, and in the _English Medical Jurisprudence_, the subject is carefully investigated, and several examples are cited in confirmation of the fact.

Joseph Battaglia, a surgeon of Ponte Bosio, gives in detail the case of Don G. Maria Bertholi, a priest of Mount Valerius. While reading his breviary the body of this priest burst into flames in several parts, as the arms, back and head. The sleeves of his shirt, a handkerchief and his skull-cap were all more or less consumed. He survived the injury four days. (This seems to me more like an electrical attack than an instance of spontaneous combustion.)

=Spontoon=, the old confidential servant of Colonel Talbot.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Spoons= (_Gossip_). It was customary at one time for sponsors at christenings to give gilt spoons as an offering to their godchild. These spoons had on the handle the figure of one of the apostles or evangelists, and hence were called “Apostle spoons.” The wealthy would give the twelve apostles, those of less opulence the four evangelists, and others again a single spoon. When Henry VIII. asks Cranmer to be godfather to “a fair young maid,” Cranmer replies, “How may I deserve such honor, that am a poor and humble subject?” The king rejoins, “Come, come, my lord, you’d spare your spoons.”--Shakespeare, _Henry VIII._ act v. sc. 2 (1601).

=Sporus.= Under this name Pope satirized Lord John Hervey, generally called “Lord Fanny” from his effeminate habits and appearance. He was “half wit, half fool, half man, half beau.” Lord John Hervey was vice-chamberlain in 1736, and lord privy seal in 1740.

That thing of silk,
Sporus, that mere white curd of asses’ milk;
Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel,
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
A. Pope, _Prologue to the Satires_ (1734).

⁂ This Lord John Hervey married the beautiful Molly Lapel; hence Pope says:

So perfect a beau and a belle
As when Hervey, the handsome, was wedded
To the beautiful Molly Lapel.

=S.P.Q.R.=, the Romans. The letters are the initials of _Senatus Populus-Que Romanus_.

New blood must be pumped into the veins and arteries of the
S.P.Q.R.--G.A. Sala (_Belgravia_, April, 1871).

=Spotswood= (_Lady_). A singular letter to this lady (widow of Governor Spotswood of Virginia) is preserved in the family. It was written by Rev. John Thompson, rector of St. Mark’s Church, Culpepper County, Virginia, and contains an elaborate and apparently dispassionate argument for marrying a clergyman. The only outbreak of loverly feeling is in the expressed hope that if he should convince her reason, she will “keep him no longer in suspense and misery, but consummate his happiness” (1742).

=Sprackling= (_Joseph_), a money-lender and a self-made man.

_Thomas Sprackling_, his brother and equal in roguery.--Wybert Reeve, _Parted_.

=Spregner= (_Louis_), Annette Veilchen’s bachelor.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Sprightly= (_Miss Kitty_), the ward of Sir Gilbert Pumpkin of Strawberry Hall. Miss Kitty is a great heiress, but stage-struck, and when Captain Charles Stanley is introduced she falls in love with him, first as a “play-actor,” and then in reality.--I. Jackman, _All the World’s a Stage_.

=Spring= (_A Sacred_). The ancient Sabines, in times of great national danger, vowed to the gods “a sacred spring” (_ver sacrum_), if they would remove the danger. That is, all the children born during the next spring were “held sacred,” and at the age of twenty were compelled to leave their country and seek for themselves a new home.

=Spring-Heel Jack.= The marquis of Waterford, in the early part of the nineteenth century, used to amuse himself by springing on travellers unawares, to terrify them; and from time to time others have followed his silly example. Even so late as 1877-8, an officer in her majesty’s service caused much excitement in the garrisons stationed at Aldershot, Colchester, and elsewhere by his “spring-heel” pranks. In Colchester and its neighborhood the tales told of this adventurer caused quite a little panic, and many nervous people were afraid to venture out after sunset, for fear of being “sprung” upon. I myself investigated some of the cases reported to me, but found them for the most part Fakenham ghost tales.

=Springer= (_The_). Ludwig Margrave, of Thuringia, was so called, because he escaped from Giebichenstein, in the eleventh century, by leaping over the river Saale.

=Sprowles= (_The_). New England village _parvenus_.

_Hezekiah Sprowle_, esquire and colonel is “a retired India merchant,” _i.e._, he used to deal in West India rum, molasses, etc. His wife was an heiress, and helps him push their way up the social ladder.

_Miss Matilda Sprowle_, just out of school. “There’s one piece o’goods,” said the colonel to his wife, “that we han’t disposed of, nor got a customer for yet. That’s Matildy. I don’t mean to set _her_ up at vaandoo, I guess she can have her pick of a dozen.”--Oliver Wendell Holmes, _Elsie Venner_ (1861).

=Spruce, M.C.= (_Captain_), in _Lend Me Five Shillings_, by J. M. Morton (1764-1838).

=Spruch-Sprecher= (_The_) or “sayer of sayings” to the archduke of Austria.--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Spuma´dor=, Prince Arthur’s horse. So called from the foam of its mouth, which indicated its fiery temper.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. (1590).

⁂ In the _Mabinogion_, his favorite mare is called Llamrei (“the curveter”).

=Spurs= (_The Battle of_), the battle of Guinnegate, in 1513, between Henry VIII. and the duc de Longueville. So called because the French used their spurs in flight more than their swords in fight. (See SPURS OF GOLD, etc.)

=Squab= (_The Poet_). Dryden was so called by Lord Rochester.

=Square= (_Mr._), a “philosopher,” in Fielding’s novel called _The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling_ (1749).

=Squeers= (_Mr. Wackford_), of Dotheboy’s Hall, Yorkshire, a vulgar, conceited, ignorant schoolmaster, overbearing, grasping, and mean. He steals the boys’ pocket money, clothes his son in their best suits, half starves them, and teaches them next to nothing. Ultimately, he is transported for purloining a deed.

_Mrs. Squeers_, wife of Mr. Wackford, a raw-boned, harsh, heartless virago, without one spark of womanly feeling for the boys put under her charge.

_Miss Fanny Squeers_, daughter of the schoolmaster, “not tall like her mother, but short like her father. From the former she inherited a voice of hoarse quality, and from the latter a remarkable expression of the right eye.” Miss Fanny falls in love with Nicholas Nickleby, but hates him and spites him because he is insensible of the soft impeachment.

_Master Wackford Squeers_, son of the schoolmaster, a spoilt boy, who was dressed in the best clothes of the scholars. He was over-bearing, self-willed, and passionate.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

The person who suggested the character of Squeers was a Mr. Shaw, of
Bowes. He married a Miss Laidman. The satire ruined the school, and
was the death both of Mr. and Mrs. Shaw.--_Notes and Queries_, October
25, 1873.

=Squeeze= (_Miss_), a pawnbroker’s daughter. Her father had early taught her that money is the “one thing needful,” and at death left her a moderate competence. She was so fully convinced of the value of money that she would never part with a farthing without an equivalent, and refused several offers, because she felt persuaded her suitors sought her money and not herself. Now she is old and ill-natured, marked with the small-pox, and neglected by every one.--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxviii. (1759).

=Squint= (_Lawyer_), the great politician of society. He makes speeches for members of parliament, writes addresses, gives the history of every new play, and finds “seasonable thought” upon every possible subject.--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxix. (1759).

=Squint-Eyed.= [Guercīno] Gian-Francesco Barbieri, the painter (1590-1666).

=Squintum= (_Dr._), George Whitefield is so called by Foote in his farce entitled _The Minor_ (1614-1770).

_Squintum_ (_Dr._). The Rev. Edward Irving, who had an obliquity of the eyes, was so called by Theodore Hook (1792-1834).

=Squire of Dames= (_The_), a young knight, in love with Col´umbell, who appointed him a year’s service before she would consent to become his bride. The “squire” was to travel for twelve months, to rescue distressed ladies, and bring pledges of his exploits to Columbell. At the end of the year he placed 300 pledges in her hands, but instead of rewarding him by becoming his bride, she set him another task, viz., to travel about the world on foot, and not present himself again till he could bring her pledges from 300 damsels that they would live in chastity all their life. The squire told Columbell that in three years he had found only three persons who would take the pledge, and only one of these, he said (a rustic cottager) took it from a “principle of virtue;” the other two (a nun and a courtezan) promised to do so, but did not voluntarily join the “virgin martyrs.” This “Squire of Dames” turned out to be Britomart.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 7 (1590).

⁂ This story is imitated from “The Host’s Tale,” in _Orlando Furioso_, xxviii.

=Squires= (_Milton_), servant in the Fairchild family, boorish, vindictive hind who murders one brother and tries to fasten the deed upon another.--Harold Frederic, _Seth’s Brother’s Wife_ (1886).

=Squirt=, the apothecary’s boy in Garth’s _Dispensary_; hence any apprentice lad or errand boy.

Here sauntering ’prentices o’er Otway weep.
O’er Congreve smile, or over D’Urfey sleep,
Pleased sempstresses the Lock’s famed Rape unfold,
And Squirts read Garth till Apozems grow cold.
J. Gay, _Trivia_ (1712).

(Pope wrote _The Rape of the Lock_, 1712.)

=Squod= (_Phil_), a grotesque little fellow, faithfully attached to Mr. George, the son of Mrs. Rouncewell (housekeeper at Chesney Wold). George had rescued the little street arab from the gutter, and the boy lived at George’s “Shooting Gallery” in Leicester Square (London). Phil was remarkable for limping along sideways, as if “tacking.”--C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1852).

=Stael= (_Madame de_), called by Heine [_Hi.ne_] “a whirlwind in petticoats,” and a “sultana of mind.”

=Stagg= (_Benjamin_), the proprietor of the cellar in the Barbican where the secret society of “Prentice Knights” used to convene. He was a blind man, who fawned on Mr. Sim Tappertit, “the ’prentices glory” and captain of the “’Prentice Knights.” But there was a disparity between his words and sentiments, if we may judge from this specimen: “Good-night, most noble captain! farewell, brave general! bye-bye illustrious commander! a conceited, bragging, empty-headed, duck-legged idiot!” Benjamin Stagg was shot by the soldiery in the Gordon riots.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Staggchase= (_Mrs. Frederick_), descendant of an old Boston family, and one of the cleverest women in her set.--Arlo Bates, _The Philistines_ (1888).

=Stagirite= (3 _syl._). Aristotle is called the Stagirite, because he was born at Stagīra, in Macedon. Almost all our English poets call the word Stagĭrite: as Pope, Thomson, Swift, Byron, Wordsworth, B. Browning, etc. The Greek would be Stag´īrite.

Thick like a glory round the Stagyrite,
Your rivals throng, the Sages.
R. Browning, _Paracelsus_, i.

All the wisdom of the Stagirite.
Wordsworth.

Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully joined.
Thomson.

As if the Stagirite o’erlooked the line.
Pope.

Is rightly censured by the Stagirite,
Who says his numbers do not fadge aright.
Swift, _To Dr. Sheridan_ (1718).

=Stammerer= (_The_). Louis II. of France, _le Bégué_ (846, 877-879).

Michael II., Emperor of the East (*, 820-829).

Notker or Notger, of St. Gall (830-912).

=Stanchells=, head jailer at the Glasgow tolbooth.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Standard.= A substantial building for water supplies, as the Water Standard of Cornhill, the Standard in Cheap, opposite Honey Lane, “which John Wells, grocer, caused to be made [? _rebuilt_] in his mayoralty, 1430.”--Stow, _Survey_ (“Cheapside”).

_The Cheapside Standard._ This Standard was in existence in the reign of Edward I. In the reign of Edward III. two fishmongers were beheaded at the Cheapside Standard, for aiding in a riot. Henry IV. caused “the blank charter of Richard II.” to be burnt at this place.

_The Standard, Cornhill._ This was a conduit with four spouts, made by Peter Morris, a German, in 1582, and supplied with Thames water, conveyed by leaden pipes over the steeple of St. Magnus’s Church. It stood at the east end of Cornhill, at its junction with Gracechurch Street, Bishopsgate Street, and Leadenhall Street. The water ceased to run between 1598 and 1603, but the Standard itself remained long after. Distances from London were measured from this spot.

In the year 1775, there stood upon the borders of Epping Forest, at a
distance of about twelve miles from London, measuring from the
Standard in Cornhill, or rather from the spot on which the Standard
used to be, a house of public entertainment, called the
Maypole.--Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_, i. (1841).

_Standard_ (_The Battle of the_), the battle of Luton Moor, near Northallerton, between the English and the Scotch, in 1138. So called from the “standard,” which was raised on a wagon, and placed in the centre of the English army. The pole displayed the standards of St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfred of Ripon, surmounted by a little silver casket, containing a consecrated wafer.--Hailes, _Annals of Scotland_, i. 85 (1779).

The Battle of the Standard, was so called from the banner of St.
Cuthbert, which was thought always to secure success. It came forth at
the battle of Nevil’s Cross, and was again victorious. It was
preserved with great reverence till the Reformation, when, in 1549,
Catharine Whittingham (a French lady), wife of the dean of Durham,
burnt it out of zeal against popery.--Miss Yonge, _Cameos of English
History_, 126-8 (1868).

=Standing= (_To die_). Vespasian said, “An emperor of Rome ought to die standing.” Louis XVIII. of France, said, “A king of France ought to die standing.” This notion is not confined to crowned heads.

=Standish= (_Miles_), the puritan captain, was short of stature, strongly built, broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, and with sinews like iron. His wife, Rose, was the first to die “of all who came in the _Mayflower_.” Being desirous to marry Priscilla, “the beautiful puritan,” he sent young Alden to plead his cause; but the maiden answered archly, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” Soon after this, Standish was supposed to have been killed, and John Alden did speak for himself, and prevailed.--Longfellow, _Courtship of Miles Standish_ (1858).

_Standish_ (_Mrs. Justice_), a brother magistrate with Bailie Trumbull.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Stanley=, in the earl of Sussex’s train.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Stanley_ (_Captain Charles_), introduced by his friend, Captain Stukely, to the family at Strawberry Hall. Here he meets Miss Kitty Sprightly, an heiress, who has a theatrical twist. The captain makes love to her under the mask of acting, induces her to run off with him and get married, then, returning to the hall, introduces her as his wife. All the family fancy he is only “acting,” but discover too late that their “play” is a life-long reality.--I. Jackman, _All the World’s a Stage_.

=Stanley Crest= (_The_). On a chapeau gu. an eagle feeding on an infant in its nest. The legend is that Sir Thomas de Lathom, having no male issue, was walking with his wife one day, and heard the cries of an infant in an eagle’s nest. They looked on the child as a gift from God, and adopted it, and it became the founder of the Stanley race (time, Edward III.).