The Project Gutenberg EBook of Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol 4 of 4, by E. Cobham Brewer This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol 4 of 4 Author: E. Cobham Brewer Release Date: February 28, 2019 [EBook #58988] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARACTER SKETCHES *** Produced by KD Weeks, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber’s Note: The original volume promised many illustrations. However, the edition used here had none of them. The List of Illustrations is retained; however, the pages indicated, which were struck out and corrected with hand-written notes, were not valid and have been removed. The text was printed with two columns per page, which could not be reproduced in this format. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. The following less-common characters are found in this book: ă (a with breve), ā (a with macron), ĕ (e with breve), ē (e with macron), ĭ (i with breve), ī (i with macron), ŏ (o with breve), ō (o with macron), ŭ (u with breve), ū (u with macron). If they do not display properly, please try changing your font. The scope of this volume includes topics from ‘Falkland’ to ‘Mark’. There are numerous cross- references between topics, many of themm to be found in other volumes of this edition. Several of these are already provided by Project Gutenberg, but without the mechanism of allowing for external hyperlinks. To avoid any confusion, none of the references were linked. Corrections are indicated using an underline highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the original text in a small popup. HARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION AND THE DRAMA:::: A REVISED AMERICAN EDITION OF THE READER’S HANDBOOK BY THE REV. E. COBHAM BREWER, LL.D. EDITED BY MARION HARLAND VOLUME IV colophon NEW YORK SELMAR HESS PUBLISHER MDCCCXCII Copyright, 1892, by SELMAR HESS. PHOTOGRAVURES PRINTED ON THE HESS PRESS. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOLUME IV. PHOTOGRAVURES AND ETCHINGS. Illustration Artist KATRINA VAN TASSEL (colored) E. A. Abbey RICHELIEU (BOOTH AS) ROSALIND AND ORLANDO SHOP (THE) OF FIGARO J. J. Aranda THEODORA Benjamin Constant TINY TIM (BOB CRACHIT AND) Frederick Barnard WELLERS (THE TWO) Frederick Barnard WOTAN TAKES LEAVE OF BRUNHILD K. Dielitz WOOD ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES. ROSINA AND COUNT ALMAVIVA Ferd. Keller SALLY IN OUR ALLEY E. S. Kennedy SALOME DANCING BEFORE KING HEROD G. Rochegrosse SAMSON AND DELILAH J. Echena SANCHO AND THE DUCHESS C. R. Leslie SAPPHO W. Kray SARAGOSSA (AUGUSTINA, THE MAID OF) Sir David Wilkie SATAN WOUNDED Gustave Doré SATURDAY NIGHT (THE COTTER’S) Thomas Faed SAVILLE (THERON) AND HIS WIFE Frederick Dielman SAYE-AND-SELE (LORD) BROUGHT BEFORE JACK CADE Chas. Lucy SCHARLOT (HUON KILLS) Gabriel Max SCHEHERAZADE Ferd. Keller SELLERS (COLONEL), RAYMOND AS SENATORS (OTHELLO BEFORE THE) Carl Becker SGANARELLE AND PANCRACE Granville SHARP (BECKY) Frederick Barnard SHIP (THE BUILDING OF THE) Toby Rosenthal SHORE (JANE) SHYLOCK (IRVING AS) SIEGFRIED AWAKENS BRUNHILD Otto Donner von Richter SIEGFRIED’S BIER (KRIEMHILD AT) Emil Lauffer SIGYN (LOKI AND) Carl Gebhardt SILVIA C. E. Perugini SLEEPING BEAUTY (THE): ARRIVAL OF THE PRINCE Gustave Doré SLENDER (ANNE PAGE AND) Sir A. W. Callcott SNOW-WHITE Albert Tschautsch STEENIE STEENSON AND REDGAUNTLET W. B. Hole STUART (MARY) AND RIZZIO David Neal SULTAN SALADIN (THE) AND HIS SISTER SITTAH SURFACE (JOSEPH) AND LADY TEAZLE SWIVELLER (DICK) AND THE MARCHIONESS Frederick Barnard SYKES (BILL) Frederick Barnard TAM O’SHANTER AND THE WITCHES John Faed TARQUIN (LUCRETIA AND SEXTUS) Alex. Cabanel TARTUFFE (ELMIRE AND) Carl Hoff iii iv v TELEMACHUS AND CALYPSO Jean Raoux TELL (WILLIAM) AND CONRAD BAUMGARTEN A. Bauer THETIS BRINGING THE ARMOR TO ACHILLES Benjamin West THISBE E. Long THOU (CINQ MARS AND DE) LED TO EXECUTION TITANIA Ephraim Keyser TOBY (UNCLE) AND THE WIDOW WADMAN C. R. Leslie TOSCA (LA) L. Leloir TRISTRAM (THE DEATH OF) TROIL (MAGNUS) AND HIS DAUGHTERS Rob. Herdman TROILUS AND CRESSIDA V. W. Bromley TROLL (ATTA), FROM TULLIA Ernst Hildebrand ULYSSES AND TELEMACHUS (THE MEETING BETWEEN) UNDINE Muller URSUS AND HOMO G. Rochegrosse VALJEAN (JEAN) Emile Bayard VALKYRIE (THE) VALLIÈRE AT THE CONVENT (LOUISE DE LA) Emmanuel van den Bussche VAN WINKLE (JEFFERSON AS RIP) VASHTI Ernst Normand VILLAGE (THE PRIDE OF THE) J. Callcott Horsley VIMPANY (MISS HENLEY AND MRS.) A. Forestier VIOLA AND OLIVIA Carl Becker VIRGIL (DANTE AND) CROSSING THE STYX Eugène Delacroix VIRGINIA (ALTERCATION BETWEEN GERVAISE AND) Adrien Marie VIRGINIA (THE DEATH OF) A. Zick VOSS (MILLER) AND THE CHASSEUR Conrad Beckmann WALLENSTEIN (DEATH OF) Carl von Piloty WAVERLEY AND ROSE BRADWARDINE Rob. Herdman WEDDING (PETRUCHIO’S) WELCOME, SIR OLUF W. Kray WERNER AND JOSEPHINE WERNER THE TRUMPETER AND MARGARET VON SACKINGEN E. Limmer WERTHER AND CHARLOTTE WITCH (FLORIMEL AND THE) F. R. Pickersgill WOFFINGTON (PEG) AND RICH F. Smallfield WOHLFART (ANTON) AND LENORE Wisnieski WRESTLER (ORLANDO AND THE) D. Maclise YORICK AND THE CHAISE-VAMPER’S WIFE Chas. R. Leslie YVETOT (THE KING OF) Emile Bayard CHARACTER SKETCHES OF ROMANCE, FICTION, AND THE DRAMA. vi 1 keggs (Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia), the companion of “Lady Blarney.” These were two flash women, introduced by Squire Tuthill to the Primrose family, with a view of beguiling the two eldest daughters, who were both very beautiful. Sir William Thornhill thwarted their infamous purpose.--Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield (1766). Skeleton (Sam), a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.). Sketchley (Arthur), George Rose, author of Mrs. Brown (her observations on men and objects, politics and manners, etc.). Skettles (Sir Barnet), of Fulham. He expressed his importance by an antique gold snuff-box and a silk handkerchief. His hobby was to extend his acquaintances, and to introduce people to each other. Skettles, junior, was a pupil of Dr. Blimber.--C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846). Skevington’s Daughter, an instrument of torture invented by Skevington, lieutenant of the Tower, in the reign of Henry VIII. It consisted of a broad iron hoop, in two parts, jointed with a hinge. The victim was put into the hoop, which was then squeezed close and locked. Here he remained for about an hour and a half in the most inexpressible torture. (Generally corrupted into the “Scavenger’s Daughter.”) Skewton (The Hon. Mrs.), mother of Edith (Mr. Dombey’s second wife). Having once been a beauty, she painted when old and shrivelled, became enthusiastic about the “charms of nature,” and reclined in her bath-chair in the attitude she assumed in her barouche when young and well off. A fashionable artist had painted her likeness in this attitude, and called his picture “Cleopatra.” The Hon. Mrs. Skewton was the sister of the late Lord Feenix, and aunt to the present lord.--C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846). Skiffins (Miss), an angular, middle-aged woman, who wears “green kid gloves when dressed for company.” She marries Wemmick.--C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860). Skimpole (Harold), an amateur artist, always sponging on his friends. Under a plausible, light-hearted manner he was intensely selfish, but Mr. Jarndyce looked on him as a mere child, and believed in him implicitly.--C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852). (The original of this character was Leigh Hunt, who was greatly displeased at the skit.) Skin (The Man without a), Richard Cumberland. So called by Garrick, on account of his painful sensitiveness of all criticism. The same irritability of temper made Sheridan caricature him in The Critic as “Sir Fretful Plagiary” (1732-1811). Skinfaxi (“shining mane”), the horse which draws the chariot of day.--Scandinavian Mythology. Skofnung, the sword of King Rolf, the Norway hero, preserved for centuries in Iceland. Skogan. (See Scogan.) Skreigh (Mr.), the precentor at the Gordon Arms inn, Kippletringan.--Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.). Skulls at Banquets. Plutarch tells us that towards the close of an Egyptian feast a servant brought in a skeleton, and cried to the guests, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you die!” Like skulls at Memphian banquets. Byron, Don Juan, iii. 65 (1820). Skurliewhitter (Andrew), the scrivener.--Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.). Sky-Lark, a lark with the “skies,” or ’scīs. The Westminster boys used to style themselves Romans, and the “town,” Volsci; the latter word was curtailed to ’sci [sky]. A row between the Westminsterians and the town roughs was called a ’sci-lark, or a lark with the Volsci. Skyresh Bol´golam, the high admiral or galbert of the realm of Lilliput.--Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Lilliput,” iii., 1726). Slackbridge, one of the “hands” in Bounderby’s mill at Coketown. Slackbridge is an ill-conditioned fellow, ill-made, with lowering eyebrows, and though inferior to many of the others, exercises over them a great influence. He is the orator, who stirs up his fellow-workmen to strike.--C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854). Slammerkin (Mrs.). Captain Macheath says of her, “She is careless and genteel.” “All you fine ladies,” he adds, “who know your own beauty, affect an undress.”--Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, ii. 1 (1727). Slander, an old hag, of “ragged, rude attyre, and filthy lockes,” who sucked venom out of her nails. It was her nature to abuse all goodness, to frame groundless charges, to “steale away the crowne of a good name,” and “never thing so well 2 was doen, but she with blame would blot, and of due praise deprive.” A foule and loathly creature sure in sight, And in condition to be loathed no lesse: For she was stuft with rancor and despight Up to the throat, that oft with bitternesse It forth would breake and gush in great excesse, Pouring out streames of poyson and of gall ’Gainst all that truth or vertue doe professe, Whom she with leasings lewdly did miscall, And wickedly backbite. Her name men “Slaunder” call. Spenser, Faëry Queen, IV. viii. 24 (1596). Slang, from Slangenberg, a Dutch general, noted for his abusive and exaggerated epithets when he reproved the men under his command. The etymon is suited to this dictionary, and the following are not without wit:--Italian, s-lingua, s negative and lingua = “bad language;” French, esclandre, “an event which gives rise to scandal,” hence, faire esclandre, “to expose one to scandal,” causer de l’escandre, “to give ground for scandal;” Greek, skandălon, “an offense, a scandal.” “Slangs,” fetters for malefactors. Slango, a lad, servant of Gaylove, a young barrister. He dresses up as a woman, and when Squire Sapskull comes from Yorkshire for a wife, Slango passes himself off as Arbella. In the mean time, Gaylove assumes the airs and manners of a Yorkshire tike, and marries Arbella, with whom he is in love.--Carey, The Honest Yorkshireman (1736). Slawken-Ber´gius Hafen, an imaginary author, distinguished for the great length of his nose. In the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (by Sterne), Slawken-Bergius is referred to as a great authority on all lore connected with noses, and a curious tale is introduced from his hypothetical works about a man with an enormously long nose. No nose can be justly amputated by the public, not even the nose of Slawken-Bergius himself.--Carlyle. Slaygood (Giant), master of a gang of thieves which infested the King’s highway. Mr. Greatheart slew him, and rescued Feeblemind from his grasp in a duel.--Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii. (1684). Sleary, proprietor of the circus at Coketown. A stout man with one eye fixed and one loose, a voice like the efforts of a broken pair of bellows, a flabby skin, and muddled head. He was never sober and never drunk, but always kind- hearted. Tom Gradgrind, after robbing the bank, lay concealed in this circus as a black servant till Sleary connived at his escape. This Sleary did in gratitude to Thomas Gradgrind, Esq., M.P., who adopted and educated Cecilia Jupe, daughter of his clown, Signor Jupe. Josephine Sleary, daughter of the circus proprietor, a pretty girl of 18, who had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at 12. This will she carried about with her, and in it she signified her desire to be drawn to the grave by two piebald ponies. Josephine married E. W. B. Childers, of her father’s circus.--C. Dickens, Hard Times (1854). Sleek (Aminadab), in The Serious Family, a comedy by Morris Barnett. Sleeper (The). Almost all nations have a tradition about some sleeper who will wake after a long period of dormancy. American (North). Rip van Winkle, a Dutch colonist, of New York, slept twenty years in the Catskill Mountains.-- Washington Irving. American (South). Sebastian I., supposed to have fallen in the battle of Alcazarquebir, in 1578, is only asleep, and will in due time awake, return to life, and make Brazil the chief kingdom of the earth. Arabian Legends. Mahommed Mohadi, the twelfth imân, is only sleeping, like Charlemagne, till Antichrist appears, when he will awake in his strength, and overthrow the great enemy of all true believers. Nourjahad is only in a temporary sleep, waiting the fulness of time. British Traditions. King Arthur is not dead in Avillon, but is merely metamorphosed into a raven. In due time he will awake, resume his proper person, claim the throne of Britain, and make it the head and front of all the kingdoms of the globe. “Because King Arthur bears for the nonce the semblance of a raven, the people of Britain never kill a raven” (Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. ii. 5). Gyneth slept 500 years by the enchantment of Merlin. She was the natural daughter of King Arthur and Guendolen, and was thus punished because she would not put an end to a combat in which twenty knights were mortally wounded, including Merlin’s son.--Sir W. Scott, Bridal of Triermain (1813). Merlin, the enchanter, is not dead, but “sleeps and sighs in an old tree, spell-bound by Vivien.”--British Legend. St. David was thrown into an enchanted sleep by Ormandine, but after sleeping for seven years, was awoke by Merlin. French Legend. The French slain in the Sicilian Vespers are not really dead, but they sleep for the time being, awaiting the day of retribution. German Legends. Barbarossa, with six of his knights, sleeps in Kyffhaüsberg, in Thuringia, till the fulness of time, when they will awake and make Germany the foremost kingdom of the earth. The beard of the red king has already grown through the table slab at which he is sitting, but it must wind itself three times round the table before his second event. Barbarossa occasionally wakes and asks, “Is it time?” when a voice replies, “Not yet. Sleep on.” Charlemagne is not dead, but only asleep in Untersberg, near Saltzburg, waiting for the advent of Antichrist, when he will rouse from his slumber, go forth conquering, and will deliver Christendom that it may be fit for the second advent and 3 4 personal reign of Christ. Charles V., kaiser of Germany, is only asleep, waiting his time, when he will awake, return to earth, “resume the monarchy over Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark, putting all enemies under his feet.” Knez Lazar, of Servia, supposed to have been slain by the Turks in 1389, is not really dead, but has put on sleep for a while, and at an allotted moment he will re-appear in his full strength. Grecian Legends. Endym´ion, a beautiful youth, sleeps a perpetual sleep in Latmos. Selēnê (the moon) fell in love with him, kissed him, and still lies by his side. In the British Museum is an exquisite statue of Endymion asleep.--Greek Fable. Epimen´ides (5 syl.), the Cretan poet, was sent in boyhood to search for a stray sheep; being heated and weary, he stepped into a cave, and fell asleep for fifty-seven years. Epimenidês, we are told, attained the age of 154, 157, 229, and some say 289 years.--Pliny, History, vii. 12. Irish Traditions. Brian, surnamed “Boroimhe,” king of Ireland, who conquered the Danes in twenty pitched battles, and was supposed to have been slain in the battle of Clontarf, in 1014, was only stunned. He still sleeps in his castle of Kincora, and the day of Ireland’s necessity will be Brian’s opportunity. Desmond of Kilmallock, in Limerick, supposed to have perished in the reign of Elizabeth, is only sleeping under the waters of lough Gur. Every seventh year he re-appears in full armor, rides round the lake early in the morning, and will ultimately reappear and claim the family estates.--Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel. Jewish Legend. Elijah, the prophet, is not dead, but sleeps in Abraham’s bosom till Antichrist appears, when he will return to Jerusalem and restore all things. Russian Tradition. Elijah Mansur, warrior, prophet, and priest in Asiatic Russia, tried to teach a more tolerant form of Islâm, but was looked on as a heretic, and condemned to imprisonment in the bowels of a mountain. There he sleeps, waiting patiently the summons which will be given him, when he will awake, and wave his conquering sword to the terror of the Muscovite.--Milner, Gallery of Geography, 781. Scandinavian Tradition. Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway, who was baptized in London, and introduced Christianity into Norway, Iceland and Greenland. Being overthrown by Swolde, king of Sweden (A.D. 1000), he threw himself into the sea and swam to the Holy Land, became an anchorite, and fell asleep at a greatly advanced age; but he is only waiting his opportunity, when he will sever Norway from Sweden, and raise it to a first-class power. Scottish Tradition. Thomas of Erceldoune sleeps beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day an elfin lady led him into a cavern in these hills, and he fell asleep for seven years, when he revisited the upper earth, under a bond that he would return immediately the elfin lady summoned him. One day, as he was making merry with his friends, he heard the summons, kept his word, and has never since been seen.--Sir W. Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Spanish Tradition. Bobadil el Chico, last of the Moorish kings of Granada, lies spell-bound near the Alhambra, but in the day appointed he will return to earth and restore the Moorish government in Spain. Swiss Legend. Three of the family of Tell sleep a semi-death at Rütli, waiting for the hour of their country’s need, when they will wake up and deliver it. ⁂ See Seven Sleepers. Sleeper Awakened (The). Abou Hassan, the son of a rich merchant at Bagdad, inherited a good fortune; but, being a prudent man, made a vow to divide it into two parts: all that came to him from rents he determined to set apart, but all that was of the nature of cash he resolved to spend on pleasure. In the course of a year he ran through this fund, and then made a resolve in future to ask only one guest at a time to his board. This guest was to be a stranger, and never to be asked a second time. It so happened that the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, disguised as a merchant, was on one occasion his guest, and heard Abou Hassan say that he wished he were caliph for one day, and he would punish a certain imân for tittle- tattling. Haroun-al-Raschid thought that he could make capital of this wish for a little diversion; so, drugging the merchant’s wine, he fell into a profound sleep, was conveyed to the palace, and, on waking, was treated as the caliph. He ordered the imân to be punished, and sent his mother a handsome gift; but at night, another sleeping draught being given him, he was carried back to his own house. When he woke he could not decide if he had been in a dream or not, but his conduct was so strange that he was taken to a mad-house. He was confined for several days, and, being discharged, the caliph in disguise again visited him, and repeated the same game, so that next day he could not tell which had been the dream. At length the mystery was cleared up, and he was given a post about the caliph’s person, and the sultana gave him a beautiful slave for his wife. Abou Hassan now played a trick on the caliph. He pretended to be dead, and sent his young wife to the sultana to announce the sad news. Zobeida, the sultana, was very much grieved, and gave her favorite a sum of money for the funeral expenses. On her return she played the dead woman, and Abou Hassan went to the caliph to announce his loss. The caliph expressed his sympathy, and, having given him a sum of money for the funeral expenses, went to the sultana to speak of the sad news of the death of the young bride. “The bride?” cried Zobeida; “you mean the bridegroom, commander of the faithful.” “No, I mean the bride,” answered the caliph, “for Abou Hassan has but just left me.” “That cannot be, sire,” retorted Zobeida, “for it is not an hour ago that the bride was here to announce his death.” To settle this moot point, the chief of the eunuchs was sent to see which of the two was dead; and Abou, who saw him coming, got the bride to pretend to be dead, and set himself at her head bewailing, so the man returned with the report that it was the bride who was dead, and not the bridegroom. The sultana would not believe him, and sent her aged nurse to ascertain the fact. As she approached, Abou Hassan pretended to be dead, and the bride to be the wailing widow; accordingly, the nurse contradicted the report of the eunuch. The caliph and sultana, with the nurse and eunuch, then all went to see for themselves, and found both apparently dead. The caliph now said he would give 1000 pieces of gold to know which died first, when Abou Hassan cried, “Commander of the faithful, it was I who died first.” The trick was found out, the caliph nearly died with laughter, and the jest proved a little mine of wealth to the court favorite.--Arabian Nights. 5 6 Sleepers. (See Seven Sleepers.) Sleeping Beauty (The), a lady who sleeps in a castle a hundred years, during which time an impenetrable wood springs up around the castle; but being at length disenchanted by a young prince, she marries him. The brothers Grimm have reproduced this tale in German. The old Norse tale of Brynhild and Sigurd seems to be the original of The Sleeping Beauty.--Perrault, Contes du Temps (“La Belle au Bois Dormant,” 1697). (Tennyson has poetized this nursery story.) Sleepner, the horse of Odin. Slender, one of the suitors of “sweet Anne Page.” His servant’s name is Simple. Slender is a country lout, cousin of Justice Shallow.--Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor (1596). Slick Mose, idiot boy, yet with animal instinct and dogged fidelity enough to make him signally useful to those to whom he is attached. “Della sets a heap by Slick Mose’s notions in things,” said the Colonel. “Well, there’s no tellin’ ’bout these half-witted creatures. And more people are half-witted than is suspected.”--Octave Thanet, Expiation (1890). Slick (Sam), Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, of Nova Scotia, author of The Clockmaker (1837). Sam Slick, a Yankee clockmaker and pedlar, wonderfully ’cute, a great observer, full of quaint ideas, droll wit, odd fancies, surprising illustrations, and plenty of “soft sawder.” Judge Haliburton wrote the two series called Sam Slick, or the Clockmaker (1837). Sliderskew (Peg), the hag-like housekeeper of Arthur Gride. She robs her master of some deeds, and thereby brings on his ruin.--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838). Sligo (Dr.), of Ireland. He looks with contempt on his countryman, Dr. Osasafras, because he is but a parvenu. Osasafras? That’s a name of no note. He is not a Milesian, I am sure. The family, I suppose, came over the other day with Strongbow, not above seven or eight hundred years ago.--Foote, The Devil Upon Two Sticks (1768). Slingsby (Jonathan Freke), John Francis Waller, author of The Slingsby Papers (1852), etc. Slingsby (Philip), pseudonym of N. P. Willis, in the series of essays and tales published as The Slingsby Papers. Chief among these is Love in the Library (184-). Slip, the valet of young Harlowe (son of Sir Harry Harlowe, of Dorsetshire). He schemes with Martin, a fellow-servant, to contract a marriage between Martin and Miss Stockwell (daughter of a wealthy merchant), in order to get possession of £10,000, the wedding portion. The plan was this: Martin was to pass himself off as young Harlowe, and marry the lady or secure the dot; but Jenny (Miss Stockwell’s maid) informs Belford, the lover of Miss Stockwell, and he arrests the two knaves just in time to prevent mischief.--Garrick, Neck or Nothing (1766). Slippers, which enabled the feet to walk, knives that cut of themselves, and sabres which dealt blows at a wish, were presents brought to Vathek by a hideous monster without a name.--W. Beckford, Vathek (1784). Slippery Sam, a highwayman in Captain Macheath’s gang. Peachum says he should dismiss him, because “the villain hath the impudence to have views of following his trade as a tailor, which he calls an honest employment.”--Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, i. (1727). Slipslop (Mrs.), a lady of frail morals.--Fielding, Joseph Andrews (1742). Slocums (The), Rowland Slocum, the head of a large marble-yard, and a good citizen. He gives Richard Shackford employment, and lets him become an inmate of his family. Margaret Slocum, a motherless, only child, her father’s housekeeper, Richard Shackford’s fast friend, and, in time, his wife.--T. B. Aldrich, The Stillwater Tragedy (1880). Slop (Dr.), Sir John Stoddart, M.D., editor of the New Times, who entertained an insane hatred of Napoleon Bonaparte, called by him “The Corsican Fiend.” William Hone devised the name from Stoddart’s book entitled Slop’s Shave at a Broken Hone (1820), and Thomas Moore helped to popularize it (1773-1856). Slop (Dr.), a choleric, enthusiastic, and bigoted physician. He breaks down Tristram’s nose, and crushes Uncle Toby’s fingers to a jelly, in attempting to demonstrate the use and virtues of a newly invented pair of obstetrical forceps.--Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759). (Under this name, Sterne ridiculed Dr. Burton, a man mid-wife of York.) Slopard (Dame), wife of Grimbard, the brock or badger, in the beast-epic of Reynard the Fox (1498). Sloppy, a love-child, brought up by Betty Higden, for whom he turned the mangle. When Betty died, Mr. Boffin apprenticed him to a cabinet-maker. Sloppy is described as “a very long boy, with a very little head, and an open mouth of disproportionate capacity that seemed to assist his eyes in staring.” It is hinted that he became “the prince” of Jenny Wren, 7 8 the doll’s dressmaker. Of an ungainly make was Sloppy. There was too much of him longwise, too little of him broadwise, and too many sharp angles of him angle-wise.... He had a considerable capital of knee, and elbow, and wrist, and ankle. Full-private Number One in the awkward squad was Sloppy.--C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, I. i. 16 (1864). Slote (Hon. Bardwell). Member of Congress, who condenses phrases into initials, expressing himself phonetically as “H. K.” for Hard Cash, and “G. F.” for Jug Full.--B. E. Woolf, The Mighty Dollar (1875). Slough of Despond (The), a deep bog, which Christian had to pass on his way to the Wicket Gate. Neighbor Pliable would not attempt it, and turned back. While Christian was floundering in the slough, Help came to his aid, and assisted him over. The name of the slough was Despond. Here they wallowed for a time, and Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink into the mire. This miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended. It is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction of sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond; for still, as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there arise in his soul many fears and doubts and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place, and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.--Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress , i. (1678). Slowboy (Tilly), nurse and general help of Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle. She “was of a spare and straight shape, insomuch that her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off her shoulders. Her costume was remarkable for its very partial development, and always afforded glimpses at the back of a pair of dead-green stays.” Miss Tilly was very fond of baby, but had a surprising talent for getting it into difficulties, bringing its head into perpetual contact with doors, dressers, stair-rails, bedposts, and so on. Tilly, who had been a foundling, looked upon the house of Peerybingle, the carrier, as a royal residence, and loved both Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle with all the intensity of an undivided affection.--C. Dickens, The Cricket on the Hearth (1845). Sludge (Gammer), the landlady of Erasmus Holiday, the schoolmaster in White Horse Vale. Dickie Sludge, or “Flibbertigibbet,” her dwarf grandson.--Sir W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth). Slum (Mr.), a patter poet, who dressed en militaire. He called on Mrs. Jarley, exhibitor of wax-works, all by accident. “What, Mr. Slum?” cried the lady of the wax-works; “who’d have thought of seeing you here?” “’Pon my soul and honor,” said Mr. Slum, “that’s a good remark! ’Pon my soul and honor, that’s a wise remark.... Why I came here? ’Pon my soul and honor, I hardly know what I came here for.... What a splendid classical thing is this, Mrs. Jarley! ’Pon my soul and honor, it is quite Minervian!” “It’ll look well, I fancy,” observed Mrs. Jarley. “Well!” said Mr. Slum; “It would be the delight of my life, ’pon my soul and honor, to exercise my Muse on such a delightful theme. By the way--any orders, madam? Is there anything I can do for you?” (ch. xxviii.). “Ask the perfumers,” said the military gentleman, “ask the blacking-makers, ask the hatters, ask the old lottery office keepers, ask any man among ’em what poetry has done for him, and mark my word, he blesses the name of Slum.”--C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840). Slumkey (Samuel), “blue” candidate for the representation of the borough of Eatanswill in parliament. His opponent is Horatio Fizkin, who represents the “buff” interest.--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836). Sly (Christopher), a keeper of bears, and a tinker. In the induction of Shakespeare’s comedy called Taming of the Shrew, Christopher is found dead drunk by a nobleman, who commands his servant to take him to his mansion and attend on him as a lord. The trick is played, and the “commonty” of Taming of the Shrew is performed for the delectation of the ephemeral lord. A similar trick was played by Haroun-al-Raschid on a rich merchant, named Abou Hassan (see Arabian Nights, “The Sleeper Awakened”). Also by Philippe le Bon of Burgundy, on his marriage with Eleanora (see Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, ii. 2, 4; 1624). Slyne (Chevy), one of old Martin Chuzzlewit’s numerous relations. He is a drunken, good-for-nothing vagabond, but his friend, Montague Tigg, considers him “an unappreciated genius.” His chief peculiarity consists in his always being “round the corner.”--C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844). Small (Gilbert), the pinmaker, a hard-working old man, who loves his son most dearly. Thomas Small, the son of Gilbert, a would-be man of fashion and maccaroni. Very conceited of his fine person, he thinks himself the very glass of fashion. Thomas Small resolves to make a fortune by marriage, and allies himself to Kate, who turns out to be the daughter of Strap, the cobbler.--S. Knowles, The Beggar of Bethnal Green (1834). Small Beer Poet (The). W. Thomas Fitzgerald. He is now known only for one line, quoted in the Rejected Addresses: “The tree of freedom is the British oak.”--Cobbett gave him the sobriquet (1759-1829). Small-Endians, a “religious sect” in Lilliput, who made it an article of orthodoxy to break their eggs at the small end. By the Small-endians is meant the Protestant party; the Roman Catholics are called the Big-endians, from their making it a sine quâ non for all true Churchmen to break their eggs at the big end.--Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Lilliput,” 1726). 9 Smallweed Family (The), a grasping, ill-conditioned lot, consisting of grandfather, grandmother, and the twins, Bartholomew and Judy. The grandfather indulges in vituperative exclamations against his aged wife, with or without provocation, and flings at her anything he can lay his hand on. He becomes, however, so dilapidated at last that he has to be shaken up by his amiable grand-daughter, Judy, in order to be aroused to consciousness. Bart., i.e., Bartholomew Smallweed, a youth, who moulds himself on the model of Mr. Gruppy, the lawyer’s clerk, in the office of Kenge and Carboy. He prides himself on being “a limb of the law,” though under 15 years of age; indeed it is reported of him that his first long clothes were made out of a lawyer’s blue bag.--C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852). Sma´trash (Eppie), the ale-woman at Wolf’s Hope village.--Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.). Smauker (John), footman of Angelo Cyrus Bantam. He invites Sam Weller to a “swarry” of “biled mutton.”--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836). Smectym´nuus, the title of a celebrated pamphlet containing an attack upon episcopacy (1641). The title is composed of the initial letters of the five writers, SM (Stephen Marshall), EC (Edmund Calamy), TY (Thomas Young), MN (Matthew Newcomen), UUS (William Spurstow). Sometimes one U is omitted. Butler says the business of synods is: To find in lines of beard and face. The physiognomy of “Grace;” And by the sound and twang of nose, If all be sound within disclose ... The handkerchief about the neck (Canonical cravat of Smeck, From whom the institution came When Church and State they set on flame ...) Judge rightly if “regeneration” Be of the newest cut in fashion. Hudibras, i. 3 (1663). Smelfungus. Smollett was so called by Sterne, because his volume of Travels through France and Italy is one perpetual snarl from beginning to end. The lamented Smelfungus travelled from Boulogne to Paris, from Paris to Rome, and so on; but he set out with the spleen and jaundice, and every object he passed by was discolored or distorted. He wrote an account of them, but ’twas nothing but the account of his own miserable feelings.--Sterne, Sentimental Journey (1768). Smell a Voice. When a young prince had clandestinely visited the young princess brought up in the palace of the Flower Mountain, the fairy mother, Violenta, said, “I smell the voice of a man,” and commanded the dragon on which she rode to make search for the intruder.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The White Cat,” 1682). Bottom says, in the part of “Pyramus:” I see a voice, now will I to the chink, To spy an I can hear my Thisbe’s face. Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream, act v. sc. 1 (1592). Smike (1 syl.), a poor, half-starved, half-witted boy, the son of Ralph Nickleby. As the marriage was clandestine, the child was put out to nurse, and neither its father or mother went to see it. When about seven years old, the child was stolen by one Brooker, out of revenge, and put to school at Dotheboys Hall, Yorkshire. Brooker paid the school fees for six years, and being then transported, the payment ceased, and the boy was made a sort of drudge. Nicholas Nickleby took pity on him, and when he left, Smike ran away to join his friend, who took care of the poor half-witted creature till he died.--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838). Smiler, a sheriff’s officer, in A Regular Fix, by J. M. Morton. Smilinda, a lovelorn maiden, to whom Sharper was untrue. Pope, in his eclogue called The Basset Table (1715), makes Cordelia and Smilinda contend on this knotty point, “Who suffers most, she who loses at basset, or she who loses her lover?” They refer the question to Betty Lovet. Cordelia stakes her “lady’s companion, made by Mathers, and worth fifty guineas,” on the point; and Smilinda stakes a snuff-box, won at Corticelli’s in a raffle, as her pledge. When Cordelia has stated the iron agony of loss at cards, and Smilinda the crushing grief of losing a sweetheart, “strong as a footman, and as his master sweet,” Lovet awards the lady’s companion to Smilinda, and the snuff-box to Cordelia, and bids both give over, “for she wants her tea.” Of course, this was suggested by Virgil’s Eclogue, iii. Smiley (Jim), the champion better of Calaveras County, and owner of a trained frog.--Mark Twain, The Jumping Frog (1867). Smith (Henry), alias “Henry Gow,” alias “Gow Chrom,” alias “Hal of the Wynd,” the armorer, and lover of Catharine Glover, whom at the end he marries.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.) Smith (Mr.), a faithful, confidential clerk in the bank of Dornton and Sulky.--Holcroft, The Road to Ruin (1792). 10 11 Smith (Rainy Day), John Thomas Smith, Antiquary (1766-1833). Smith (Wayland), an invisible farrier, who haunted the “Vale of White Horse,” in Berkshire, where three flat stones supporting a fourth, commemorate the place of his stithy. His fee was sixpence, and he was offended if more were offered him. Sir W. Scott has introduced him in Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth). Smith’s Prizeman, one who has obtained the prize (£25) founded in the University of Cambridge, by Robert Smith, D.D., once Master of Trinity. Two prizes are awarded annually to two commencing bachelors of arts for proficiency in mathematics and natural philosophy. Smolkin, a punic spirit. Peace, Smolkin, peace, thou fiend! Shakespeare, King Lear, act iii. sc. 4 (1605). Smollett of the Stage (The), George Farquhar (1678-1707). Smotherwell (Stephen), the executioner.--Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.). Smyr´nean Poet (The), Mimnermos, born at Smyrna (fl. B.C. 630). Snacks, the hard, grinding steward of Lord Lackwit, who, by grasping, got together £26,000. When Lord Lackwit died, and the property came to Robin Roughhead, he toadied him with the greatest servility, but Robin dismissed him, and gave the post to Frank.--Allingham, Fortune’s Frolic. Snaffle (Erastus), a successful speculator in “wild cat” stocks, especially ingenious in “standing from under” when the crash comes.--Arlo Bates, The Philistines (1888). Snaggs, a village portrait-taker and tooth-drawer. He says, “I draws off heads, and draws out teeth,” or “I takes off heads, and takes out teeth.” Major Touchwood, having dressed himself up to look like his uncle, the colonel, pretends to have the tooth-ache. Snaggs being sent for, prepares to operate on the colonel, and the colonel, in a towering rage, sends him to the right about.--T. Dibdin, What Next? Snags´by (Mr.), the law-stationer in Cook’s Court, Cursitor Street. A very mild specimen of the “spear half,” in terrible awe of his termagant wife, whom he calls euphemistically “his little woman.” He preceded most of his remarks by the words, “not to put too fine a point upon it.”--C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852). Snail, the collector of customs, near Ellangowan House.--Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.). Snailsfoot (Bryce), the jagger or pedlar.--Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.). Snake (Mr.), a traitorous ally of Lady Sneerwell, who has the effrontery to say to her, “you paid me extremely liberally for propagating the lie, but, unfortunately, I have been offered double to speak the truth.” He says: Ah, sir, consider; I live by the baseness of my character; and if it were once known that I have been betrayed into an honest action, I shall lose every friend I have in the world.--Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 3 (1777). Snaw´ley, “in the oil and color line.” A “sleek, flat-nosed man, bearing in his countenance an expression of mortification and sanctity.”--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, iii. (1838). Sneak (Jerry), a hen-pecked pinmaker; a paltry, pitiful, prying sneak. If ever he summoned up a little manliness, his wife would begin to cry, and Jerry was instantly softened. Master Sneak, ... the ancient corporation of Garratt, in consideration of your great parts and abilities, and out of respect to their landlord, Sir Jacob, have unanimously chosen you mayor.--Act ii. Jerry Sneak has become the type of hen-pecked husbands.--Temple Bar, 456 (1875). Mrs. Sneak, wife of Jerry, a domineering tartar of a woman, who keeps her lord and master well under her thumb. She is the daughter of Sir Jacob Jollup.--S. Foote, The Mayor of Garratt (1763). Jerry Sneak Russell. So Samuel Russell, the actor, was called, because of his inimitable representation of “Jerry Sneak,” which was quite a hit (1766-1845). Sneer, a double-faced critic, who carps at authors behind their backs, but fawns on them when they are present (see act i. 1).--Sheridan, The Critic (1779). Sneerwell (Lady), the widow of a City knight. Mr. Snake says, “Every one allows that Lady Sneerwell can do more with a word or a look than many can with the most labored detail, even when they happen to have a little truth on their side to support it.” 12 Wounded myself, in the early part of my life, by the envenomed tongue of slander, I confess I have since known no pleasure equal to the reducing of others to the level of my own reputation.--Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1 (1777). Snevellicci (Mr.), in Crummle’s company of actors. Mr. Snevellicci plays the military swell, and is great in the character of speechless noblemen. Mrs. Snevellicci, wife of the above, a dancer in the same theatrical company. Miss Snevellicci, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Snevellicci, also of the Portsmouth Theatre. “She could do anything from a medley dance to Lady Macbeth.” Miss Snevellicci laid her toils to catch Nicholas Nickleby, but “the bird escaped from the nets of the toiler.”--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838). Snitchey and Craggs, lawyers. It was the opinion of Mr. Thomas Craggs that “everything is too easy,” especially law; that it is the duty of wise men to make everything as difficult as possible, and as hard to go as rusty locks and hinges which will not turn for want of greasing. He was a cold, hard, dry man, dressed in grey-and-white like a flint, with small twinkles in his eyes. Jonathan Snitchey was like a magpie or raven. He generally finished by saying, “I speak for Self and Craggs,” and, after the death of his partner, “for Self and Craggs, deceased.” Mrs. Snitchey and Mrs. Craggs, wives of the two lawyers. Mrs. Snitchey was, on principle, suspicious of Mr. Craggs; and Mrs. Craggs was, on principle, suspicious of Mr. Snitchey. Mrs. Craggs would say to her lord and master: Your Snitcheys, indeed! I don’t see what you want with your Snitcheys, for my part. You trust a great deal too much to your Snitcheys, I think, and I hope you may never find my words come true. Mrs. Snitchey would observe to Mr. Snitchey: Snitchey, if ever you were led away by man, take my word for it you are led away by Craggs; and if ever I can read a double purpose in mortal eye, I can read it in Craggs’s eye.--C. Dickens, The Battle of Life, ii. (1846). Snodgrass (Augustus), M.P.C., a poetical young man, who travels about with Mr. Pickwick, “to inquire into the source of the Hampstead ponds.” He marries Emily Wardle.--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836). Snoring (Great). “Rector of Great Snoring,” a dull, prosy preacher. Snorro Sturleson, last of the great Icelandic scalds or court poets. He was author of the Younger Edda, in prose, and of the Heimskringla, a chronicle, in verse, of the history of Norway, from the earliest times to the year 1177. The Younger Edda is an abridgement of the Rhythmical Edda (see Sæmund Sigfusson). The Heimskringla appeared in 1230, and the Younger Edda is often called the Snorro Edda. Snorro Sturleson incurred the displeasure of Hakon, king of Norway, who employed assassins to murder him (1178-1241). ⁂ The Heimskringla was translated into English by Samuel Laing, in 1844. Snout (Tom), the tinker who takes part in the “tragedy” of Pyrămus and Thisbe, played before the duke and duchess of Athens “on their wedding day at night.” Next to Peter Quince and Nick Bottom, the weaver, Snout was by far the most self-important man of the troupe. He was cast for Pyramus’s father, but has nothing to say, and does not even put in an appearance during the play.--Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592). Snow King (The), Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, king of Sweden, killed in the Thirty Years’ War, at the battle of Lutzen. The cabinet of Vienna said, in derision of him, “The Snow King is come, but he can live only in the north, and will melt away as soon as he feels the sun” (1594, 1611-1632). At Vienna he was called, in derision, “The Snow King” who was kept together by the cold, but would melt and disappear as he approached a warmer soil.--Dr. Crichton, Scandinavia (“Gustavus Adolphus,” ii. 61). Snow King (The), Frederick, elector palatine, made king of Bohemia by the Protestants in the autumn of 1619, but defeated and set aside in the following autumn. The winter king, king in times of frost, a snow king, altogether soluble in the spring, is the name which Frederick obtained in German histories.--Carlyle. Snow Queen (The), Christiana, queen of Sweden (1626, 1633-1689). The Princess Elizabeth of England, who married Frederick V., elector palatine, in 1613, and induced him to accept the crown of Bohemia in 1619. She was crowned with her husband, October 25, 1619, but fled, in November, 1620, and was put under the ban of the empire in 1621. Elizabeth was queen of Bohemia during the time of snow, but was melted by the heat of the ensuing summer. Snubbin (Serjeant), retained by Mr. Perker for the defence in the famous case of “Bardell v. Pickwick.” His clerk was named Mallard, and his junior, Phunky, “an infant barrister,” very much looked down upon by his senior.--C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836). Snuffim (Sir Tumley), the doctor who attends Mrs. Wititterly.--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838). Snuffle (Simon), the sexton of Garratt, and one of the corporation. He was called a “scollard, for he could read a written hand.”--S. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, ii. 1 (1763). 13 14 Snug, the joiner, who takes part in the “lamentable comedy” of Pyramus and Thisbe, played before the duke and duchess of Athens “on their wedding day at night.” His rôle was the “lion’s part.” He asked the manager (Peter Quince) if he had the “lion’s part written out, for,” said he, “I am slow of memory;” but being told he could do it extempore, “for it was nothing but roaring,” he consented to undertake it.--Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592). Sobri´no, one of the most valiant of the Saracen army, and called “The Sage.” He counselled Agrămant to entrust the fate of the war to a single combat, stipulating that the nation whose champion was worsted should be tributary to the other. Rogēro was chosen for the pagan champion, and Rinaldo for the Christian army; but when Rogero was overthrown, Agramant broke the compact. Sobrino was greatly displeased, and soon afterwards received the rite of Christian baptism.--Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516). Who more prudent than Sobrino?--Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605). Soc´ratês (The English), Dr. Johnson is so called by Boswell (1709-1784). Mr. South’s amiable manners and attachment to our Socrătês at once united me to him.--Life of Johnson (1791). Sofronia, a young Christian of Jerusalem, the heroine of an episode in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (1575). The tale is this: Aladine, king of Jerusalem, stole from a Christian church an image of the Virgin, being told by a magician that it was a palladium, and, if set up in a mosque, the Virgin would forsake the Christian army, and favor the Mohammedan. The image was accordingly set up in a mosque, but during the night was carried off by some one. Aladine, greatly enraged, ordered the instant execution of all his Christian subjects, but, to prevent this massacre, Sofronia accused herself of the offence. Her lover, Olindo, hearing that Sofronia was sentenced to death, presented himself before the king, and said that he and not Sofronia was the real offender; whereupon the king ordered both to instant execution; but Clorinda, the Amăzon, pleading for them, obtained their pardon, and Sofronia left the stake to join Olindo at the altar of matrimony.-- Bk. ii. This episode may have been suggested by a well-known incident in ecclesiastical history. At Merum, a city of Phrygia, Amachius, the governor of the province, ordered the temple to be opened, and the idols to be cleansed. Three Christians, inflamed with Christian zeal, went by night and broke all the images. The governor, unable to discover the culprits, commanded all the Christians of Merum to be put to death; but the three who had been guilty of the act confessed their offence, and were executed.--Socratês, Ecclesiastical History, iii. 15 (A.D. 4...