Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is ess, or es- in compounds such as es-hook.
In most writing systems that use the Latin alphabet, as well as the International Phonetic Alphabet, the letter [s] corresponds to a voiceless alveolar sibilant.
You have crossed your S
(French). You have cheated me in your account; you have charged me pounds where you ought to have charged shillings, or shillings where you ought to have charged pence. In the old French accounts, f (= s) stood for sous or pence, and f for francs. To cross your f meant therefore to turn it fraudulently into f.
S.P.Q.R
Senatus Populus Que Romanus (the Roman Senate and People). Letters inscribed on the standards of ancient Rome.
S.S. Collar
The collar consists of a series of the letter S in gold, either linked together or set in close order, on a blue and white ribbon. (See Collar Of S.S. )
“On the Wednesday preceding Easter, 1465, as Sir Anthony was speaking to his royal sister, on his knees, all the ladies of the court gathered round him, and bound to his left knee a band of gold, adorned with stones fashioned into the letters S.S. (souvenance, or remembrance) and to this band was suspended an enamelled Forget—me—not.”— Lord Lytton: Last of the Barons, bk. iv. 5.
S.S.S
(Latin stratum super stratum). Layer over layer.
S.T.P
stands for Sanctae Theologiae Professor. Professor is the Latin for Doctor. D.D.— i.e. Divinity Doctor or Doctor of Divinity— is the English equivalent of the Latin S.T.P.
Saadia
(Al). A cuirass of silver which belonged to King Saul, and was lent to David when he was armed for the encounter with Goliath. This cuirass fell into the hands of Mahomet, being part of the property confiscated from the Jews on their expulsion from Medina.
Sabbath Day's Journey (Exodus xvi. 29; Acts i. 12), with the Jews was not to exceed the distance between the ark and the extreme end of the camp. This was 2,000 cubits, somewhat short of an English mile. (Exodus xvi. 29: Acts i. 12.)
“Up to the hill by Hebron, seat of giants old,
No journey of a Sabbath Day, and loaded so.”
Milton: Samson Agonistes.
Sabbath of Sound
(The). Silence.
Sabbathians
The disciples of Sabbathais Zwi, the most remarkable “Messiah" of modern times. At the age of fifteen he had mastered the Talmud, and at eighteen the Cabbala. (1641—1677.)
Sabbatical Year
One year in seven, when all land with the ancient Jews was to lie fallow for twelve months. This law was founded on Exodus xxiii. 10, etc.; Leviticus xxv. 2—7; Deuteronomy xv. 1—11.
Sabeans
An ancient religious sect; so called from Sabi, son of Seth, who, with his father and brother Enoch, lies buried in the Pyramids. The Sabeans worshipped one God, but approached Him indirectly through some created representative, such as the sun, moon, stars, etc. Their system is called Sabeanism or the Sabean faith. The Arabs were chiefly Sabeans before their conversion.
Sabeanism
The worship of the sun, moon, and host of heaven. (Chaldee, tzaba, a host.)
Sabeism
means baptism— that is, the “religion of many baptisms;” founded by Boudasp or Bodhisattva, a wise Chaldean. This sect was the root of the party called “Christians of St. John,” and by the Arabs El Mogtasila.
Sabellians
A religious sect; so called from Sabellius, a Libyan priest of the third century. They believed in the unity of God, and said that the Trinity merely expressed three relations or states of one and the same God.
Sabiens
is the Aramean equivalent of the word “Baptists.” (See below.)
“The sects of Hemerobaptists, Baptists, and Sabiens (the Mogtasila of the Arabian writers) in the second century filled Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia.”— Reman: Life of Jesus, chap. xii.
Sable
denotes— of the ages of man, the last; of attributes, wisdom, prudence, integrity, singleness of mind; of birds, the raven or crow; of elements, the earth; of metals, iron or lead; of planets, Saturn; of precious stones, the diamond; of trees, the olive; of animals, a sort of weasel.
Sable
black. Expressed in heraldry by horizontal lines crossing perpendicular ones. In English heraldry escutcheons are varied by seven colours; foreign heralds add two more
A suit of sables. A rich courtly dress. By the statute of apparel (24 Henry VIII. c. 13) it is ordained that none under the degree of an earl shall use sables. Bishop tells us that a thousand ducats were sometimes given for a “face of sables” (Blossoms, 1577). Ben Johnson says, “Would you not laugh to meet a great councillor of state in a flat cap, with trunk—hose ... and yond haberdasher in a velvet gown trimmed with sables?” (Discoveries.
“So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables.”— Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 2.
Sablonnière
(La). The sand—pits. So the Tuileries were called to the fourteenth century. Towards the end of that century tiles were made there, but the sand—pits were first called the Tile—works or Tuileries in 1416. At
the beginning of the sixteenth century, Nicolas de Neuville built a house in the vicinity, which he called the “Hotel des Tuileries.” This property was purchased in 1518 by Francois I. for his mother.
Sabra
Daughter of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, rescued by St. George from the fangs of the giant, and ultimately married to her deliverer. She is represented as pure in mind, saintly in character, a perfect citizen, daughter, and wife. Her three sons, born at a birth, were named Guy, Alexander, and David. Sabra died from the “pricks of a thorny brake.”
Sabreur
Le beau sabreur [the handsome or famous swordsman]. Joachim Murat (1767—1815).
Sabrina
(Latin). The Severn. In Milton's Comus we are told she is the daughter of Locrine “that had the sceptre from his father, Brute,” and was living in concubinage with Estrildis. His queen, Guendolen, vowed vengeance against Estrildis and her daughter, gathered an army together, and overthrew Locrine by the river Sture. Sabrina fled and jumped into the river. Nereus took pity on her, and made her “goddess of the Severn.” which is poetically called Sabrina.
Saccharine Principle in Things
(The). Mr. Emerson means by this phrase, the adaptation of living beings to their conditions— the becoming callous to pains that have to be borne, and the acquirement of liking for labours that are necessary.
Saccharissa
A name bestowed by Waller on Lady Dorothea Sidney, eldest daughter of the Earl of Leicester, for whose hand he was an unsuccessful suitor, for she married the Earl of Sunderland.
“The Earl of Leicester, father of Algernon Sidney, the patriot, and of Waller's Saccharissa built for himself a stately house at the north corner of a square plot of `Lammas land' belonging to the parish of St. Martin's, which plot henceforth became known to Londoners as `Leicester Fields.' ”— Cassell's Magazine: London Legends, ii.
Saccharissa turns to Joan (Fenton: The Platonic Spell ). The gloss of novelty being gone, that which was once thought unparalleled proves only ordinary. Fenton says before marriage many a woman seems a Saccharissa, faultless in make and wit, but scarcely is “half Hymen's taper wasted” when the “spell is dissolved,” and “Saccharissa turns to Joan.”
Sacco Benedetto
or Saco Bendito [the blessed sack or cloak]. A yellow garment with two crosses on it, and painted over with flames and devils. In this linen robe persons condemned by the Spanish Inquisition were arrayed when they went to the stake. The word sack was used for any loose upper garment hanging down the back from the shoulders; hence “sac—friars” or fratres saccati
Sachem
A chief among some of the North American Indian tribes.
Sachentege
(3 syl.). An instrument of torture used in Stephen's reign, and thus described in the Anglo—Saxon Chronicle: “It was fastened to a beam, having a sharp iron to go round the throat and neck, so that the person tortured could in no wise sit, lie, nor sleep, but that he must at all times bear all the iron.”
Sack
Any dry wine, as sherry sack, Madeira sack, Canary sack, and Palm sack. (A corruption of the French sec, dry.)
Sack
A bag. According to tradition, it was the last word uttered before the tongues were confounded at Babel. (Saxon, saec; German, sack; Welsh, sach; Irish, sac; French, sac, Latin, saccus; Italian, sacco; Spanish, sáco; Greek, sakkos, Hebrew, sak; Swedish, sáck; etc., etc.)
To get the sack or To give one the sack. To get discharged by one's employer. Mechanics travelling in quest
of work carried their implements in a bag or sack; when discharged, they received back the bag that they might replace in it their tools, and seek a job elsewhere. Workmen still often carry a bag of tools, but so much is done by machines that bags of tools are decreasing.
The Sultan puts into a sack, and throws into the Bosphorus, any one of his harem he wishes out of the way There are many cognate phrases, as To give one the bag, and Get the bag, which is merely substitutional. To receive the canvas is a very old expression, referring to the substance of which the sack or bag was made. The French Trousser vos quilles (pack up your ninepins or toys) is another idea, similar to “Pack up your tatters and follow the drum.” (See Cashier.)
Sack Race
(A). A village sport in which each runner is tied up to the neck in a sack. In some cases the candidates have to make short leaps, in other cases they are at liberty to run as well as the limits of the sack will allow them.
Sackbut
A corruption of sambuca. (Spanish, sacabuche; Portuguese, saquebuxo; French, saquebute; Latin, sacra buccina, sacred trumpet.)
Sackerson
The famous bear kept at “Paris Garden” in Shakespeare's time, (See Paris Garden .)
Sacrament
Literally, “a military oath” taken by the Roman soldiers not to desert their standard, turn their back on the enemy, or abandon their general. We also, in the sacrament of baptism, take a military oath “to fight manfully under the banner of Christ.” The early Christians used the word to signify “a sacred mystery,” and hence its application to the Baptism and Eucharist, and in the Roman Catholic Church to marriage, confirmation, etc.
The five sacraments are Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction. (See Thirty—nine Articles, Article xxxv.)
The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction.
The two sacraments of the Protestant Church are Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Sacramentarians
Those who believe that no change takes place in the eucharistic elements after consecration, but that the bread and wine are simply emblems of the body and blood of Christ. They we, e a party among the Reformers who separated from Luther.
Sacred Anchors
in Greek vessels, were never let go till the ship was in the extremity of danger.
Sacred City
That city which the religious consider most especially connected with their religious faith, thus: Allahabad' is the Holy City of the Indian Mahometans.
Benares (3 syl.) of the Hindus.
Cuzco of the ancient Incas.
Fez of the Western Arabs.
Jerusalem of the Jews and Christians.
Kairwan. near Tunis. It contains the Okbar Mosque, in which is the tomb of the prophet's barber.
Kief, the Jerusalem of Russia, the cradle of Christianity in that country.
Mecca and Medina of the Mahometans.
Moscow and Kief of the Russians.
Solovetsk, in the Frozen Sea, is a holy Island much visited by pilgrims.
Sacred Heart
The “Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” owes its origin to a French nun, named Mary Margaret Alacoque, of Burgundy, who practised devotion to the Saviour's heart in consequence of a vision. The devotion was sanctioned by Pope Clement XII. in 1732.
Sacred Isle
or Holy Island. Ireland was so called because of its many saints, and Guernsey for its many monks. The island referred to by Thomas Moore in his Irish Melodies (No. II.) is Scattery, to which St. Senanus retired, and vowed that no woman should set foot thereon.
“Oh, haste and leave this sacred isle,
Unholy bark, ere morning smile.”
St. Senanus and the Lady.
Enhallow (from the Norse Eyinhalga, Holy Isle) is the name of a small island in the Orkney group, where cells of the Irish anchorite fathers are said still to exist.
Sacred War
(1) A war undertaken by the Amphictyonic League against the Cirrhaeans, in defence of Delphi. (B.C. 594—587.)
(2) A war waged by the Athenians for the restoration of Delphi to the Phocians, from whom it had been taken. (B.C. 448—447.)
(3) A war in which the Phocians, who had seized Delphi, were conquered by Philip of Macedon. (B.C. 346.)
Sacred Way
(The) in ancient Rome, was the street where Romulus and Tatius (the Sabine) swore mutual alliance. It does not mean the “holy street,” but the “street of the oath.”
Sacred Weed
(The). Vervain. (See Herba Sacra .)
Sacrifice
Never sacrifice a white cock, was one of the doctrines of Pythagoras, because it was sacred to the moon. The Greeks went further, and said, “Nourish a cock, but sacrifice it not,” for all cockerels were sacred either to the sun or moon, as they announced the hours. The cock was sacred also to the goddess of wisdom, and to Esculapios, the god of health; it therefore represented time, wisdom, and health, none of which are ever to be sacrificed. (See Iamblichus Protreptics, symbol xviii.)
Sacrifice to the Graces
is to render oneself agreeable by courteous conduct, suavity of manners, and fastidiousness of dress. The allusion is to the three Graces of classic mythology.
Sacring Bell
The little bell rung to give notice that the “Host” is approaching. Now called sanctus bell, from the words “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, dominus, Dcus Sabaoth, pronounced by the priest. (French, sacrer; Latin, sacer.)
“He heard a little sacring bell ring to the elevation of a to—morrow mass.”— Reginald Scott: Discovery of Witchcraft (1584).
“The sacring of the kings of France.”— Temple.
Sacripant
A braggart, a noisy hectorer. He is introduced by Alexander Passoni, in a mock—heroic poem called The Rape of the Bucket.
Sacripant (in Orlando Furioso). King of Circassia, and a Saracen.
Sad Bread
(Latin, pavis gravis). Heavy bread, ill—made bread. Shakespeare calls it “distressful bread”— not the bread of distress, but the panis gravis or ill—made bread eaten by the poor.
Sad Dog
(He's a). Un triste sujet. A playful way of saying a man is a debauchee.
Sadah
The sixteenth night of the month Bayaman. (Persian mythology.)
Sadda
One of the sacred books of the Guebres or Parsis containing a summary of the Zend—Avesta.
Sadder and a Wiser Man
(A).
“A sadder and a wiser man
He rose the morrow morn.”
Coleridge: The Ancient Mariner.
Saddle Set the saddle on the right horse. Lay the blame on those who deserve it.
Lose the horse and win the saddle. (See Lose.)
Saddletree
(Mr. Bartoline). The learned saddler. (Sir Walter Scott: The Heart of Midlothian.)
Sadducees
A Jewish party which denied the existence of spirits and angels, and, of course, disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead; so called from Sadoc (righteous man), thought to be the name of a priest or rabbi some three centuries before the birth of Christ. As they did not believe in future punishments, they punished offences with the utmost severity.
Sadi
or Saadi. A Persian poet styled the “nightingale of thousand songs,” and “one of the four monarchs of eloquence.” His poems are the Gulistan or Garden of Roses, the Bostan or Garden of Fruits, and the Pend—Nameh, a moral poem. He is admired for his sententious march. (1184—1263.)
Sadler's Wells
(London). There was a well at this place called Holy Well, once noted for “its extraordinary cures.” The priests of Clerkenwell Priory used to boast of its virtues. At the Reformation it was stopped up, and was wholly forgotten till 1683, when a Mr. Sadler, in digging gravel for his garden, accidentally discovered it again. Hence the name. In 1765 Mr. Rosoman converted Sadler's garden into a theatre.
Sadlerian Lectures
Lectures on Algebra delivered in the University of Cambridge, and founded in 1710 by Lady Sadler.
Saehrimnir
[Sza—rim'—ner]. The boar served to the gods in Valhalla every evening; by next morning the part eaten was miraculously restored. (Scandinavian mythology)
Safa
in Arabia, according to Arabian legend, is the hill on which Adam and Eve came together, after having been parted for two hundred years, during which time they wandered homeless over the face of the earth.
Safety Matches
In 1847 Schrötter, an Austrian chemist, discovered that red phosphorus gives off no fumes, and is virtually inert; but being mixed with chlorate of potash under slight pressure it explodes with violence. In 1855 Herr Böttger, of Sweden, put the red phosphorus on the box and the phosphorus on the match, so that the match must be rubbed on the box to bring the two together. (See Prometheans, Lucifers .)
Saffron
He hath slept in a bed of saffron. In Latin dormivit in sacco croci. meaning he has a very light heart, in reference to the exhilarating effects of saffron,
“With genial joy to warm his soul
Helen mixed saffron in the bowl.”
Saffron Veil
The Greek and Latin brides wore a flammeum or yellow veil, which wholly enveloped them. (See Saophron .)
Saga
(plural Sagas). The northern mythological and historical traditions, chiefly compiled in the twelfth and three following centuries. The most remarkable are those of Lodbrok, Hervara, Vilkina, Volsunga, Blomsturvalla, Ynglinga, Olaf Tryggva—Sonar, with those of Jomsvikingia and of Knytlinga (which contain the legendary history of Norway and Denmark), those of Sturlinga and of knytlinga (which contain the legendary history of Iceland), the Heuns—Kringla and New Edda, due to Snorro—Sturleson.
All these legends are short, abrupt, concise, full of bold metaphor and graphic descriptions.
Sagan of Jerusalem
in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, is designed for Dr. Compton, Bishop of London; he was son of the Earl of Northampton, who fell in the royal cause at the battle of Hopton Heath. The Jewish sagan was the vicar of the sovereign pontiff. According to tradition, Moses was Aaron's sagan.
The Sagan was the vicar of the Jewish pontiff. Thus they called Moses “Aaron's Sagan.”
Sages
(The Seven). (See Wise Men .)
Sagittarius
the archer, represents the Centaur Chiron, who at death was converted into the constellation so called. (See next article.)
Sagittary
A terrible archer, half beast and half man, whose eyes sparkled like fire, and struck dead like lightning. He is introduced into the Trojan armies by Guido da Colonna.
“The dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers.”
Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, v. 5
Sagramour le Desirus
A knight of the Round Table, introduced in the Morte d'Arthur, Lancelot du lac, etc.
Sahib
(in Bengalee, Saheb). Equal to our Mr., or rather to such gentlemen as we term “Esquires.” Sahiba is the lady. (Arabic for lord, master.)
Sail
You may hoist sail. Cut your stick, be off. Maria saucily says to Viola, dressed in man's apparel—
“Will you hoist sail, sir? Here lies your way.” — Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, i.5
. To set sail. To start on a voyage. To strike sail. (See Strike.)
Sail before the Wind
(To). To prosper, to go on swimmingly, to meet with great success, to go as smoothly and rapidly as a ship before the wind.
Sailing under False Colours
Pretending to be what you are not. The allusion is to pirate vessels, which hoist any colours to elude detection.
Sailing within the Wind
or Sailing close to the Wind. Going to the very verge of propriety, or acting so as just to escape the letter of the law. The phrase, of course, is nautical.
“The jokes [of our predecessors] might have been broader than modern manners allow, but ... the masher sails nearer the wind than did his ruder forefathers.”— Nineteenth Century, November, 1892, p. 795.
“Ea defended himself by declaring that he did not tell Hasisadra anything; he only sent her a dream. This was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind.”— Nineteenth Century, June, 1891,
p. 911.
Sailor King
William IV. of England, who entered the navy as midshipman in 1779, and was made Lord High Admiral in 1827. (1765, 1830—1837.)
Saint
Kings and princes so called: — Edward the Martyr (961, 975—978). Edward the Confessor (1004, 1042—1066).
Eric IX. of Sweden (*, 1155—1161).
Etherlred I., King of Wessex (*, 866—871).
Eugenius I., pope (*, 654—657).
Felix I., pope (*, 269—274).
Ferdinand III. of Castile and Leon (1200, 1217—1252). Julius I., pope (*, 337—352).
Kâng—he, second of the Manchoo dynasty of China, who assumed the name of Chin—tsou—jin (1661—1722). Lawrence Justiniani, Patriarch of Venice (1380, 1451—1465).
Leo IX., pope (1002, 1049—1054).
Louis IX. of France (1215, 1226—1270).
Olaus II. of Norway, brother of Harald III., called “St. Olaf the Double Beard” (984, 1026—1030). Stephen I. of Hungary (979, 997—1038).
Dom Fernando, son of King John of Portugal, was, with his brother Henry, taken prisoner by the Moors at the siege of Tangier. The Portuguese general promised to give Ceuta for their ransom, and left Fernando in prison as their surety. The Portuguese government refused to ratify the condition, and Fernando was left in the hands of the Moors till he died. For this patriotic act he is regarded as a saint, and his day is June 5th. His brother Edward was king at the time. (1402—1443.)
St. Bees' College
(Cumberland), situated on the bay formed by St. Bees' Head, founded by Dr. Law, Bishop of Chester, in 1816. St. Bees' was so called from a nunnery founded here in 650, and dedicated to the Irish saint named Bega. A “man of wax” is a “Bees' man.”
St. Cecilia
born of noble Roman parents, and fostered from her cradle in the Christian faith, married Valirlan. One day she told him that an angel, “whether she was awake or asleep, was ever beside her.” Valirian requested to see this angel, and she said he must be baptised first. Valirian was baptised and suffered martyrdom. When Cecilia was brought before the Prefect Almachius, and refused to worship the Roman deities, she was “shut fast in a bath kept hot both night and day with great fires,” but “felt of it no woe.” Almachius then sent an executioner to cut off her head, “but for no manner of chance could he smite her fair neck in two.” Three days she lingered with her neck bleeding, preaching Christ and Him crucified all the while; then she died, and Pope Urban buried the body. “Her house the church of St. Cecily is hight” unto this day. (Chaucer Secounde Nonnes Tale.) (See Cecilia .)
Towards the close of the seventeenth century an annual musical festival was held in Stationers' Hall in honour of St. Cecilia.
St. Cuthbert's Duck
The eider duck.
St. Distaff
(See Distaff .)
St. Elmo called by the French St. Elme. The electric light seen playing about the masts of ships in stormy weather. (See Castor And Pollux .)
“And sudden breaking on their raptured sight,
Appeared the splendour of St. Elmo's light.”
Hoole's Furioso, book ix.
St. Francis
(See Francis .)
St. George's Cross
in heraldry, is a Greek cross gules upon a field argent. The field is represented in the Union Jack by a narrow fimbriation. It is the distinguishing badge of the British navy.
St. George's flag is a smaller flag, without the Union Jack.
St. John Long
An illiterate quack, who professed to have discovered a liniment which had the power of distinguishing between disease and health. The body was rubbed with it, and if irritation appeared it announced secret disease, which the quack undertook to cure. He was twice tried for manslaughter: once in 1830, when he was fined for his treatment of Miss Cashan, who died; and next in 1831, for the death of Mrs. Lloyd. Being acquitted, he was driven in triumph from the Old Bailey in a nobleman's carriage, amid the congratulations of the aristocracy.
St. John is pronounced Sinjin, as in that verse of Pope's—
“A wake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition and the pride of kings.”
Essay on Man.
St. John's Eve, St. Mark's Eve
and Allhallow Even, are times when poets say the forms of all such persons as are about to die in the ensuing twelve months make their solemn entry into the churches of their respective parishes. On these eves all sorts of goblins are about. Brand says, “On the Eve of John the Baptist's nativity bonfires are made to purify the air (vol. i. p. 305).
St. Johnstone's Tippet
A halter; so called from Johnstone the hangman.
“Sent to heaven wi' a St. Johnston's tippit about my hause.”— Sir Walter Scott: Old Mortality. chap. viii
St. Leger Sweepstakes
The St. Leger race was instituted in 1776, by Colonel St. Leger, of Park Hill, near Doncaster, but was not called the “St. Leger" till two years afterwards, when the Marquis of Rockingham's horse Allabaculia won the race. (See Derby, Leger .)
St. Leon
became possessed of the elixir of life, and the power of transmuting the baser metals into gold, but these acquisitions only brought him increased misery. (William Goodwin: St Leon.)
St. Lundi
(La). St. Monday. Monday spent by workmen in idleness. One of the rules enjoined by the Sheffield unionists was that no work should be permitted to be done on a Monday by any of their members.
St. Michael's Chair
The projecting stone lantern of a tower erected on St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. It is said that the rock received its name from a religious house built to commemorate the apparition of St. Michael on one of its craggy heights. (See Michael .)
St. Monday
A holiday observed by journeyman shoemakers and other inferior mechanics, and well—to—do merchants.
In the Journal of the Folk—lore Society, vol. i. p. 245, we read that, “While Cromwell's army lay encamped at Perth, one of his zealous partisans, named Monday, died, and Cromwell offered a reward for the best lines on his death. A shoemaker of Perth brought the following, which so pleased Cromwell that he not only gave the promised reward, but made also a decree that shoemakers should be allowed to make Monday a standing holiday.
“Blessed be the Sabbath Day,
And cursed be worldly pelf:
Tuesday will begin the week,
Since Monday's hanged himself.”
St. Simonism
The social and political system of St. Simon. He proposed the institution of a European parliament, to arbitrate in all matters affecting Europe, and the establishment of a social hierarchy based on capacity and labour. He was led to his “social system” by the apparition of Charlemagne, which appeared to him one night in the Luxembourg, where he was suffering a temporary imprisonment. (1760—1825.)
For other saints, see the names.
St. Stephen's
The Houses of Parliament are so called, because, at one time, the Commons used to sit in St. Stephen's Chapel.
St. Stephen's Loaves
Stones.
“Having said this, he took up one of St. Stephen's loaves, and was going to hit him with it.”— Rabelais Pantagruel, v. 8.
St. Thomas's Castle
The penitentiary in St. Thomas's parish, Oxford, where women of frail morals are kept under surveillance.
St. Wilfrid's Needle
often called “St. Winifred's Needle.” In the crypt of Ripon Minster is a passage regarded as a test of chastity.
Saints
City of Saints. (See under City and Holy City .)
Saivas
(2 syl.). Worshippers of Siva, one of the three great Indian sects; they are at present divided into— (1) Dandins or staff—bearers, the Hindu mendicants; so called because they carry a danda or small staff, with a piece of red cloth fixed on it. In this piece of cloth the Brahmanical cord is enshrined.
(2) Yogins. Followers of Yoga, who practise the most difficult austerities.
(3) Lingavats, who wear the Linga emblem on some part of their dress.
(4) Paramahansas, ascetics who go naked, and never express any want or wish.
(5) Aghorins, who eat and drink whatever is given them, even ordure and carrion.
(6) Urdhabahus, who extend one or both arms over their head till they become rigidly fixed in this position. (7) Akasmukhins, who hold up their faces to the sky till the muscles of the neck become contracted.
Saker
A piece of light artillery. The word is borrowed from the saker hawk. (See Falcon .)
“The cannon, blunderbuss, and saker,
He was the inventor of and maker.”
Butler: Hudibras, i. 2.
Sakhrat [Sak—rah']. A sacred stone, one grain of which endows the possessor with miraculous powers. It is of an emerald colour; its reflection makes the sky blue. (Mahometan mythology.)
Sakta
A worshipper of a Sakti, or female deity, in Hindu mythology. The Saktas are divided into two branches, the Dakshinacharins and the Vamacharins (the followers of the right—hand and left—hand ritual). The latter practise the grossest impurities. (Sanskrit, sakti, power, energy.)
Sa—kuntala
Daughter of St. Viswamita, and Menakâ a water—nymph. Abandoned by her parents, she was brought up by a hermit. One day King Dushyanta came to the hermitage during a hunt, and persuaded Sakuntala to marry him, and in due time a son was born. When the boy was six years old, she took it to its father, and the king recognised his wife by a ring which he had given her. She was now publicly proclaimed his queen, and Bhârata, his son and heir, became the founder of the glorious race of the Bhâratas. This story forms the plot of the celebrated drama of Kâlidasa, called Sakuntala, made known to us by Sir W. Jones.
Sakya—Muni
Sakya, the hermit, founder of Buddhism.
Sal Prunella
A mixture of refined nitre and soda for sore throats. Prunella is a corruption of Brunelle, in French scl de brunelle, from the German breune (a sore throat), braune (the quinsy).
Salacacabia
or Salacacaby of Apicius. An uneatable soup of great pretensions. King, in his Art of Cookery, gives the recipe of this soup: “Bruise in a mortar parsley—seed, dried peneryal, dried mint, ginger, green coriander, stoned raisins, honey, vinegar, oil, and wine. Put them into a cacabulum, with three crusts of Pycentine bread, the flesh of a pullet, vestine cheese, pine—kernels, cucumbers, and dried onions, minced small; pour soup over all, garnish with snow, and serve up in the cacabulum.”
“At each end there are dishes of the salacacabia of the Romans: one is made of parsley,
penny—royal, cheese, pinetops, honey, vinegar, brine, eggs, cucumbers, onions, and
hen—livers; the other is much the same as soup maigre.”— Smollett: Peregrine Pickle.
Salace
(3 syl.). The sea, or rather the salt or briny deep; the wife of Neptune.
“Triton, who boasts his high Neptunian race,
Sprung from the god by Salace's embrace.”
Camoens: Lusiad, book vi.
Salad Days
Days of inexperience, when persons are very green.
“My salad days.
When I was green in judgment.”
Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, i. 5.
A pen'orth of salad oil. A strapping; a castigation. It is a joke on All Fools' Day to send one to the saddler's for a “penorth of salad oil.” The pun is between “salad oil,” as above, and the French avoir de la salade, “to be flogged.” The French salader and salade are derived from the salle or saddle on which schoolboys were at one time birched. A block for the purpose used to be kept in some of our public schools. Oudin translates the phrase “Donner la salle à un escolier” by “Scopar un scolari innanzi à tutti gli altri.” (Recherches Italiennes et Francoises, part ii. 508.)
Salamander
in Egyptian hieroglyphics, is a human form pinched to death with the cold. (See Undines .)
Salamander. A sort of lizard, fabled to live in fire, which, however, it quenched by the chill of its body. Pliny tells us he tried the experiment once, but the creature was soon burnt to a powder. (Natural History, x. 67; xxix. 4.) Salamanders are not uncommon, especially the spotted European kind (Greek, salamandria).
Salamander. Francois I. of France adopted as his badge “a lizard in the midst of flames,” with the legend “Nutrisco et extinguo” (“I nourish and extinguish"). The Italian motto from which this legend was borrowed was, “Nudrisco il buono e spengo il reo” (“I nourish the good and extinguish the bad"). Fire purifies good metal, but consumes rubbish. (See ante.
Salamander. Anything of a fiery—red colour. Falstaff calls Bardolph's nose “a burning lamp,” “a salamander,” and the drink that made such “a fiery meteor” he calls “fire.”
“I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two—and—thirty years.”— Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., iv. 3.
Salamander's Wool
Asbestos, a fibrous mineral, affirmed by the Tartars to be made “of the root of a tree.” It is sometimes called “mountain flax,” and is not combustible.
Salary
The salt rations. The Romans served out rations of salt and other necessaries to their soldiers and civil servants. The rations altogether were called by the general name of salt, and when money was substituted for the rations the stipend went by the same name. (Latin, salarium, from sal, salt.)
Salchichon
A huge Italian sausage. Thomas, Duke of Genoa, a boy of Harrow school, was so called, when he was thrust forward by General Prim as an “inflated candidate” for the Spanish throne.
Sale by the Candle
A species of auction. An inch of candle being lighted, he who made the bid as the candle gave its expiring wink was declared the buyer; sometimes a pin is stuck in a candle, and the last bidder before the pin falls out is the buyer.
Salem
is Jireh—Salem, or Jerusalem.
“Melchisedec, King of Salem ... being by interpretation ... King of peace.”— Hebrews vii. 1, 2.
Salic Law
The law so called is one chapter of the Salian code regarding succession to salic lands, which was limited to heirs male to the exclusion of females, chiefly because certain military duties were connected with the holding of those lands. In the fourteenth century females were excluded from the throne of France by the application of the Salic law to the succession of the crown.
“Which Salique, as I said, twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany called Meisen.”
Shakespeare: Henry V., i. 2.
Philippe VI. of France, in order to raise money, exacted a tax on salt, called Gabelle, which was most unpopular and most unjustly levied. Edward III. called this iniquitous tax “Philippe's Salic law.” (Latin, sal, salt.)
Saliens
(The). A college of twelve priests of Mars instituted by Numa. The tale is that a shield fell from heaven, and the nymph Egeria predicted that wherever that shield was preserved the people would be the dominant people of the earth. To prevent the shield from being surreptitiously taken away, Numa had eleven others made exactly like it, and appointed twelve priests for guardians. Every year these young patricians promenaded the city, singing and dancing, and they finished the day with a most sumptuous banquet, insomuch that saliares coena became proverbial for a most sumptuous feast. The word “saliens” means dancing.
“Nunc est bibendum ...
... nunc Saliaribus
Ornare pulvinar Deorum
Tempus erat dapibus.”
Horace: 1 Odes, xxxvii. 2—4.
Salient Angles
in fortification, are those angles in a rampart which point outwards towards the country; those which point inwards towards the place fortified are called “re—entering angles.”
Salisbury Cathedral
Begun in 1220, and finished in 1258; noted for having the loftiest spire in the United Kingdom. It is 400 feet high, or thirty feet higher than the dome of St. Paul's.
Salisbury Craigs
Rocks near Edinburgh; so called from the Earl of Salisbury, who accompanied Edward III. on an expedition against the Scots.
Sallee
A seaport on the west coast of Morocco. The inhabitants were formerly notorious for their piracy.
Sallust of France
César Vichard, Abbé de St. Réal; so called by Voltaire. (1639—1692.)
Sally
Saddle. (Latin, sella; French, selle.)
“The horse ... stopped his course by degrees, and went with his rider ... into a pond to drink; and there sat his lordship upon the sally.”— Lives of the Norths.
“Vaulting ambition ... o'erleaps its sell,
And falls o' the other ...”
Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 7.
Sally Lunn
A tea—cake; so called from Sally Lunn, the pastrycook of Bath, who used to cry them about in a basket at the close of the eighteenth century. Dalmer, the baker, bought her recipe, and made a song about the buns.
Sallyport
The postern in fortifications. It is a small door or port whence troops may issue unseen to make sallies, etc. (Latin, salio, to leap.)
Salmacis
A fountain of Caria, which rendered effeminate all those who bathed therein. It was in this fountain that Hermaphroditus changed his sex. (Ovid: Metamorphoses, iv. 285, and xvi. 319.)
“Thy moist limbs melted into Salmacis.”
Swinburne: Hermaphroditus.
Salmagundi
A mixture of minced veal, chicken, or turkey, anchovies or pickled herrings, and onions, all chopped together, and served with lemon—juice and oil; said to be so called from Salmagondi, one of the ladies attached to the suite of Mary de Medicis, wife of Henri IV. of France. She either invented the dish or was so fond of it that it went by her name.
Salmon (Latin, salmo, to leap). The leaping fish.
Salmon
as food for servants. At one time apprentices and servants stipulated that they should not be obliged to feed on salmon more than five days in a week. Salmon was one penny a pound.
“A large boiled salmon would now—a—days have indicated most liberal housekeeping; but at that period salmon was caught in such plenty (1679) ... that, instead of being accounted a delicacy, it was generally applied to feed the servants, who are said sometimes to have stipulated that they should not be required to eat food so luscious and surfeiting ... above five times a week.”— Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality, chap. vii.
Salmoneus
(3 syl.). A king of Elis, noted for his arrogancè and impiety. He wished to be called a god, and to receive divine honour from his subjects. To imitate Jove's thunder he used to drive his chariot over a brazen bridge, and darted burning torches on every side to imitate lightning, for which impiety the king of gods and men hurled a thunder—bolt at him, and sent him to the infernal regions.
Salsabil
A fountain in Paradise. (Al Koran, xxvi.)
“Mahomet was taking his afternoon nap in his Paradise. A houri had rolled a cloud under his head, and he was snoring serenely near the fountain of Salsabil.”— Croquemitaine, ii. 8.
Salt
Flavour, smack. The salt of youth is that vigour and strong passion which then predominates. Shakespeare uses the term on several occasions for strong amorous passion. Thus Iago refers to it as “hot as monkeys, salt as wolves in pride” (Othello, iii. 3). The Duke calls Angelo's base passion his “salt imagination,” because he supposed his victim to be Isabella, and not his betrothed wife whom the Duke forced him to marry. (Measure for Measure, v. 1.)
“Though we are justices, and doctors, and churchmen, Master Page, we have some salt of our youth in us.”— Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 3.
Spilling salt was held to be an unlucky omen by the Romans, and the superstition has descended to ourselves. In Leonardo da Vinci's famous picture of the Lord's Supper, Judas Iscariot is known by the
salt—cellar knocked over accidentally by his arm. Salt was used in sacrifice by the Jews, as well as by the Greeks and Romans; and it is still used in baptism by the Roman Catholic clergy. It was an emblem of purity and the sanctifying influence of a holy life on others. Hence our Lord tells His disciples they are “the salt of the earth.” Spilling the salt after it was placed on the head of the victim was a bad omen, hence the superstition.
A covenant of salt (Numbers xviii. 19). A covenant which could not be broken. As salt was a symbol of incorruption, it, of course, symbolised perpetuity.
“The Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom ... to David ... by a covenant of salt.”— 2 Chronicles xiii. 5.
Cum grano salis. With great limitation; with its grain of salt, or truth. As salt is sparingly used in condiments, so is truth in the remark just made.
He won't earn salt for his porridge. He will never earn a penny.
Not worth one's salt. Not worth the expense of the food he eats. To eat a man's salt. To partake of his hospitality. Among the Arabs to eat a man's salt was a sacred bond between the host and guest. No one who has eaten of another's salt should speak ill of him or do him an ill turn.
“One does not eat a man's salt ... at these dinners. There is nothing sacred in ... London hospitality.”— Thackeray.
To sit above the salt— in a place of distinction. Formerly the family saler (salt cellar) was of massive silver, and placed in the middle of the table. Persons of distinction sat above the “saler”— i.e. between it and the head of the table; dependents and inferior guests sat below.
“We took him up above the salt and made much of him.”— Kingsley: Westward Ho / chap. xv.
True to his salt. Faithful to his employers. Here salt means salary or interests. (See above, To eat a man's salt.
“M. Waddington owes his fortune and his consideration to his father's adopted country [France], and he is true to his salt.”— Newspaper paragraph, March 6, 1893.
Salt
A sailor, especially an old sailor; e.g. an old salt.
Salt Bread
or Bitter Bread. The bread of affiction or humiliation. Bread too salt is both disagreeable to the taste and indigestible.
“Learning how hard it is to get back when once exiled, and how salt is the bread of others.”— Mrs. Oliphant: Makers of Florence, p. 85.
Salt—cellar
(A). A table salt—stand. (French, salière; Latin, salarium.)
Salt Hill
(Eton). The mound at Eton where the Eton scholars used to collect money from the visitors on Montem day. The mound is still called Salt Hill, and the money given was called salt. The word salt is similar to the Latin salarium (salary), the pay given to Roman soldiers and civil officers. (See Montem, Salary .)
Cakes of salt are still used for money in A byssinia and Thibet.
Salt Junk
(See Junk .)
Salt Lake
It has been stated that three buckets of this water will yield one of solid salt. This cannot be true, as water will not hold in solution more than twenty—five per cent. of saline matter. The Mormons engaged in procuring it state that they obtain one bucket of salt for every five buckets of water. (Quebec Morning Chronicle.)
Salt Ring
An attempt to monopolise the sale of salt by a ring or company which bought up some of the largest of our salt—mines.
Salt River
To row up Salt River. A defeated political party is said to be rowed up Salt River, and those who attempt to uphold the party have the task of rowing up this ungracious stream. J. Inman says the allusion is to a small stream in Kentucky, the passage of which is rendered both difficult and dangerous by shallows, bars, and an extremely tortuous channel.
Salt an Invoice
(To) is to put the extreme value upon each article, and even something more, to give it piquancy and raise its market value, according to the maxim, sal sapit omnia. The French have the same expression: as “Vendre bien salé” (to sell very dear); “it Il me l'a bien salé” (He charged me an exorbitant price); and generally it saler is to pigeon one.
Salt in Beer In Scotland it was customary to throw a handful of salt on the top of the mash to keep the witches from it. Salt really has the effect of moderating the fermentation and fining the liquor.
Salt in a Coffin
It is still not uncommon to put salt into a coffin, and Moresin tells us the reason; Satan hates salt, because it is the symbol of incorruption and immortality. (Papatus, p. 154.)
Salt Losing its Savour
“If salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?” If men fall from grace, how shall they be restored? The reference is to rock—salt, which loses its saltness if exposed to the hot sun.
“Along one side of the Valley of Salt (that towards Gibul) there is a small precipice about two men's lengths, occasioned by taking away of the salt. I broke a piece off that was exposed to the sun, rain, and air; though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savour. The inner part, however, retained its saltness.”— Maundrel, quoted by Dr. Adam Clarke.
Salt on His Tail
(Lay). Catch or apprehend him. The phrase is based on the direction given to small children to lay salt on a bird's tail if they want to catch it.
“His intelligence is so good, that were you to come near him with soldiers or constables, ... I shall answer for it you will never lay salt on his tail.”— Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet. chap. xi.
Saltarello
“le fils de la Folie et de Pulcinello.” A supposititious Italian dancer, sent to amuse Bettina in the court of the Grand Duke Laurent. Bettina was a servant on a farm, in love with the shepherd Pippo. But when she was taken to court and made a countess, Pippo was forbidden to approach her. Bettina languished, and to amuse her a troop of Italian dancers was sent for, of which Saltarello was the leader. He soon made himself known to Bettina, and married her. Bettina was a “mascotte” (q.v.), but, as the children of mascottes are mascottes also, the prince became reconciled with the promise that he should be allowed to adopt her first child. (La Mascotte.)
Hence a Saltarello is an assumed covert to bring about a forbidden marriage and hoodwink those who forbade it.
Saltpetre
(French, saltpetre), sel de pierre, parcequ'il forme des efflorescences salines sur les murs. (Bouillet: Dict. des Sciences.)
Salute
(2 syl.). According to tradition, on the triumphant return of Maximilian to Germany, after his second campaign, the town of Augsburg ordered 100 rounds of cannon to be discharged. The officer on service, fearing to have fallen short of the number, caused an extra round to be added. The town of Nuremberg ordered a like salute, and the custom became established.
Salute, in the British navy, between two ships of equal rank, is made by firing an equal number of guns. If the vessels are of unequal rank, the superior fires the fewer rounds.
Royal salute, in the British navy, consists (1) in firing twenty—one great guns, (2) in the officers lowering their sword—points, and (3) in dipping the colours.
Salutations
Shaking hands. A relic of the ancient custom of adversaries, in treating of a truce, taking hold of the weapon—hand to ensure against treachery.
Lady's curtsey. A relic of the ancient custom of women going on the knee to men of rank and power, originally to beg mercy, afterwards to acknowledge superiority.
Taking off the hat. A relic of the ancient custom of taking off the helmet when no danger is nigh. A man takes off his hat to show that he dares stand unarmed in your presence.
Discharging guns as a salute. To show that no fear exists, and therefore no guns will be required. This is like “burying the hatchet” (q.v.).
Presenting arms— i.e. offering to give them up, from the full persuasion of the peaceful and friendly disposition of the person so honoured.
Lowering swords. To express a willingness to put yourself unarmed in the power of the person saluted, from a full persuasion of his friendly feeling.
Salve
(1 syl.) is the Latin salvia (sage), one of the most efficient of mediæval remedies.
“To other woundes, and to broken armes.
Some hadde salve, and some hadde charmes.”
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, line 2,715.
Salve. To flatter, to wheedle. The allusion is to salving a wound.
Salve
(2 syl.). Latin “hail,” “welcome.” The word is often woven on door—mats.
Sam
Uncle Sam. The United States Government. Mr. Frost tells us that the inspectors of Elbert Anderson's store on the Hudson were Ebenezer Wilson and his uncle Samuel Wilson, the latter of whom superintended in person the workmen, and went by the name of “Uncle Sam.” The stores were marked E.A.— U.S. (Elbert Anderson, United States). and one of the employers, being asked the meaning, said U.S. stood for “Uncle Sam.” The joke took, and in the War of Independence the men carried it with them, and it became stereotyped.
To stand Sam. To be made to pay the reckoning. This is an Americanism, and arose from the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the soldiers. The government of Uncle Sam has to pay, or “stand Sam” for all. (See above.
Sam Weller
Servant of Mr. Pickwick, famous for his metaphors. He is meant to impersonate the wit, shrewdness, quaint humour, and best qualities of London low life. (Charles Dickens: Pickwick Papers.)
Samael
The prince of demons, who, in the guise of a serpent, tempted Eve; also called the angel of death. (Jewish demonology.)
Samanides
(3 syl.). A dynasty of ten kings in Western Persia (902—1004), founded by Ismail al Samani.
Samaria
according to 1 Kings xvi. 24, means the hill of Shemer. Omri “bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of [his] city ... after the name of Shemer ... Samaria.” (B.C. 925.)
Samaritan
A good Samaritan. A philanthropist, one who attends upon the poor to aid them and give them relief. (Luke x. 30—37.)
Sambo
A pet name given to anyone of the negro race. The term is properly applied to the male offspring of a negro and mulatto, the female offspring being called Zamba. (Spanish, zambo, bowlegged; Latin, scambus.)
Samedi
(French). Saturday. A contraction of Saturni—dies. In French, m and n are interchangeable, whence Saturne is changed to Saturme, and contracted into Same. M. Masson, in his French etymologies, says it is Sabbati dies, but this cannot be correct. MARDI is Martis—dies, VENDREDI is Veneris dies, JEUDI is Jovis—dies, etc. (The day of Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jove, etc.)
Samian
The Samian poet. Simonides the satirist, born at Samos.
Samian Letter
(The). The letter Y, used by Pythagoras as an emblem of the straight narrow path of virtue, which is one, but, if once deviated from, the farther the lines are extended the wider becomes the breach.
“When reason doubtful, like the Samian letter,
Points him two ways, the narrower the better.” Dunciad, iv.
Samian Sage
(The). Pythagoras born at Samos; sometimes called “the Samian.” (Sixth century B.C.)
“Tis enough,
In this late age, adventurous to have touched
Light on the numbers of the Samian sage.”
Thomson.
Samiasa
A seraph, who fell in love with Aholibamah, a granddaughter of Cain, and when the flood came, carried her under his wing to some other planet. (Byron: Heaven and Earth.)
Samiel
the Black Huntsman of the Wolf's Glen. A satanic spirit, who gave to a marksman who entered into compact with him seven balls, six of which were to hit infallibly whatever was aimed at, but the seventh was to deceive. The person who made this compact was termed Der Freischutz. (Weber: Der Freischutz, libretto by Kind.)
Samiel Wind
or Simoom'. A hot suffocating wind that blows occasionally in Africa and Arabia. (Arabic, samma, suffocatingly hot.)
“Burning and beadlong as the Samiel wind.”
Thomas Moore: Lalla Rookh, pt. i.
Sammael
The chief of evil spirits, who is for ever gnashing his teeth over the damned. Next to him is Ashmedai (Asmodeus). (Cabalists. )
Samoor
The south wind of Persia, which so softens the strings of lutes, that they can never be tuned while it lasts. (Stephen: Persia.)
“Like the wind of the south o'er a summer lute blowing,
Hushed all its music, and withered its frame.”
Thomas Moore The Fire Worshippers.
Samosatian Philosopher
Lucian of Samosata. (Properly Samos'a—tan.)
Sampford Ghost
(The). A kind of exaggerated “Cock Lane ghost” (q.v. ), which “haunted” Sampford Peverell for about three years in the first decade of the 19th century. The house selected was occupied by a man named Chave, and besides the usual knockings, the inmates were beaten; in one instance a powerful “unattached
arm” flung a folio Greek Testament from a bed into the middle of a room. The Rev. Charles Caled Colton (credited as the author of these freaks) offered 100 to anyone who could explain the matter except on supernatural grounds. No one, however, claimed the reward. Colton died 1832.
Sampi
A Greek numeral. (See Episemon .)
Sampler
A pattern, A piece of fancy—sewed or embroidered work done by girls for practice.
Sampson
A dominie Sampson. A humble pedantic scholar, awkward, irascible, and very old—fashioned. The character occurs in Sir Walter Scott's Guy Mannering.
Samson
Any man of unusual strength; so called from the Judge of Israel.
The British Samson. Thomas Topham, son of a London carpenter. He lifted three hogsheads of water, weighing 1,836 pounds, in the presence of thousands of spectators assembled in Bath Street, Coldbath Fields, May 28th, 1741. Being plagued by a faithless woman, he put an end to his life in the flower of his age.
(1710—1753.)
The Kentish Samson. Richard Joy, who died 1742, at the age of 67. His tombstone is in St. Peter's
churchyard, Isle of Thanet.
Samson Carrasco
(See Don Quixote, pt. ii. bk. i. chap. iv.)
San Benito
(The). The vest of penitence. It was a coarse yellow tunic worn by persons condemned to death by the Inquisition on their way to the auto da fé; it was painted over with flames, demons, etc. In the case of those who expressed repentance for their errors, the flames were directed downwards. Penitents who had been taken before the Inquisition had to wear this badge for a stated period. Those worn by Jews, sorcerers, and renegades bore a St. Andrew's cross in red on back and front.
San Christobal
A mountain in Granada, seen by ships arriving from the African coast; so called because colossal images of St. Christopher were erected in places of danger, from the superstitious notion that whoever cast his eye on the gigantic saint would be free from peril for the whole day.
San Suen'a
Zaragoza.
Sance—bell
Same as “Sanctus—bell.” (See Sacring—Bell .)
Sancha
Daughter of Garcias, King of Navare, and wife of Fernan Gonsalez of Castile. She twice saved the life of the count her husband, once on his road to Navarre, being waylaid by personal enemies and cast into a dungeon, she liberated him by bribing the gaoler. The next time was when Fernan was waylaid and held prisoner at Leon. On this occasion she effected his escape by changing clothes with him.
The tale resembles that of the Countess of Nithsdale, who effected the escape of her husband from the Tower on February 23rd, 1715; and that of the Countess de Lavalette, who, in 1815, liberated the count her husband from prison by changing clothes with him.
Sancho Panza
the squire of Don Quixote, was governor of Barataria, according to Cervantes. He is described as a short, pot—bellied rustic, full of common sense, but without a grain of “spirituality.” He rode upon an ass, Dapple, and was famous for his proverbs. Panza, in Spanish, means paunch.
A Sancho Panza. A justice of the peace. In allusion to Sancho, as judge in the isle of Barataria. Sancho Panza's wife, called Terea, pt. ii. i. 5; Maria, pt. ii. iv. 7; Juaa, pt. i. 7; and Joan, pt. i. 21. Sancho. The model painting of this squire is Leslie's Sancho and the Duchess.
Sanchoniatho
A forgery of the nine books of this “author” was printed at Bremen in 1837 The “original” was said to have been discovered in the convent of St. Maria de Merinhâo by Colonel Pereira, a Portuguese; but it was soon discovered (1) that no such convent existed, (2) that there was no colonel in the Portuguese service of the name, and (3) that the paper of the MS. displayed the water—mark of an Osnabrück paper—mill. (See Richard Of Cirencester .)
Sanctum Sanctorum
A private room into which no one uninvited enters. The reference is to the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple, a small chamber into which none but the high priest might enter, and that only
on the Great Day of Atonement. A man's private house is his sanctuary; his own special private room in that house is the sanctuary of the sanctuary, or the sanctum sanctorum.
Sancy Diamond
So called from Nicholas de Harlay, Sieur de Sancy, who bought it for 70,000 francs (25,000. Louis XV. wore it at his coronation, but during the Revolution it was again sold. Napoleon in his high and palmy days bought it, but it was sold in 1835 to Prince Paul Demidoff for 80,000. The prince sold it in 1830 to
M. Levrat, administrator of the Mining Society, who was to pay for it in four instalments; but his failing to fulfil his engagement became, in 1832, the subject of a lawsuit, which was given in favour of the prince. We next hear of it in Bombay; and in 1867 it was transmitted to England by the firm of Forbes & Co. It now belongs to the Czar.
Sand
(George). The nom de plume of Madame Dudevant, a French authoress, assumed out of attachment to Jules Sand or Sandeau, a young student, in conjunction with whom she published her first novel, Rose et Blanche, under the name of “Jules Sand.” (1804—1876.)
Sand
A rope of sand. Something nominally effective and strong, but in reality worthless and untrustworthy.
My sand of life is almost run. The allusion is to the hour—glass.
“Alas! dread lord, you see the case wherein I stand, and how little sand is left to run in my poor glass.”— Reynard the Fox, iv
Sand—blind
Virtually blind, but not wholly so, what the French call ber—lue; our parblind. (Old English suffix sam, half; or Old High German sand, virtually.) It is only fit for a Launcelot Gobbo to derive it from sand, a sort of earth.
“This is my true—begotten father, who, being more than sand—blind, high—gravel blind, knows me not.”— Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 2.
Sand—man is about
Dustman has arrived. (The), or “The sandman is about.” It is bedtime, for the children rub their eyes, as if dust or sand was in them.
Sands
Footprints on the sands of Time (Longfellow: Psalm of Life). This beautiful expression was probably suggested by a letter of the First Napoleon to his Minister of the Interior respecting the poor—laws:— “It is melancholy [he says] to see time passing away without being put to its full value. Surely in a matter of this kind we should endeavour to do something, that we may say that we have not lived in vain, that we may leave some impress of our lives on the sands of Time.”
To number sands. To undertake an endless or impossible task.
“Alas! poor duke, the task he undertakes
Is numbering sands and drinking oceans dry.”
Shakespeare: Richard II., ii. 2.
Sandabar
An Arabian writer, celebrated for his Parables. He lived about a century before the Christian era.
Sandal
A man without sandals. A prodigal; so called by the ancient Jews, because the seller gave his sandals to the buyer as a ratification of his bargain. (Ruth iv. 7.)
Sandals of Theramenes
(4 syl.), which would fit any foot. Theramenes, one of the Athenian oligarchy, was nicknamed “the trimmer” (cothurnus, a sandal or boot which might be worn on either foot), because no dependence could be placed on him. He blew hot and cold with the same breath. The proverb is applied to a trimmer.
Sandalphon One of the three angels who receive the prayers of the Israelites, and weave crowns for them. (Longfellow.)
Sandalwood
A corruption of Santalwood, a plant of the genus Santalum and natural order Santalaceae.
Sandbanks
Wynants, a Dutch artist, is famous for his homely pictures, where sandbanks form a most striking feature.
Sandemanians
or Glassites. A religious party expelled from the Church of Scotland for maintaining that national churches, being “kingdoms of this world,” are unlawful. Called Glassites from John Glass, the founder (1728), and called Sandemanians from Robert Sandeman, who published a series of letters on the subject in 1755.
Sanden
[sandy—den]. The great palace of King Lion, in the tale of Reynard the Fox.
Sandford and Merton
Thomas Day's tale so called.
Sandjar
One of the Seljuke Sultans of Persia; so called from the place of his birth. Generally considered the Persian Alexander. (1117—1158.)
Sandschaki
or Sandschaki—sherif [the standard of green silk ]. The sacred banner of the Mussulmans. It is now enveloped in four coverings of green taffeta, enclosed in a case of green cloth. The standard is twelve feet high, and the golden ornament (a closed hand) which surmounts it holds a copy of the Koran written by the Calif Osman III. In times of peace this banner is guarded in the hall of the “noble vestment,” as the dress worn by “the prophet” is styled. In the same hall are preserved the sacred teeth, the holy beard, the sacred stirrup, the sabre, and the bow of Mahomet.
Sandwich
A piece of meat between two slices of bread; so called from the Earl of Sandwich (the noted “Jemmy Twitcher"), who passed whole days in gambling, bidding the waiter bring him for refreshment a piece of meat between two pieces of bread, which he ate without stopping from play. This contrivance was not first hit upon by the earl in the reign of George III., as the Romans were very fond of “sandwiches,” called by them offula.
Sandwichman
(A). A perambulating advertisement displayer, with an advertisement board before and behind.
“The Earl of Shaftesbury desired to say a word on behalf of a very respectable body of men, ordinarily called `sandwiches.' ”— The Times, March 16th, 1867.
Sang Bleu
Of high aristocratic descent. The words are French, and mean blue blood, but the notion is Spanish. The old families of Spain who trace their pedigree beyond the time of the Moorish conquest say that their venous blood is blue, but that of common people is black.
Sang Froid
(French, “cool blood"), meaning indifference, without temper or irritation.
Sangaree'
A West Indian drink, consisting of Madeira wine, syrup, water, and nutmeg.
Sanglamore
(3 syl.). Braggadochio's sword. (Spenser Faërie Queene.)
Sanglier
(Sir). Meant for Shan O'Neil, leader of the Irish insurgents in 1567. (Spenser : Faërie Queene, v.)
Sanglier des Ardennes. Guillaume de la Marck, driven from Lièe, for the murder of the Bishop of Lièe, and beheaded by the Archduke Maximilian. (1446—1485.)
Sangrado
(Dr.), in the romance of Gil Blas, prescribes warm water and bleeding for every ailment. The character is a satire on Helvetius. (Book ii. 2.)
“If the Sangrados were ignorant, there was at any rate more to spare in the veins then than there is now.”— Daily Telegraph.
Sangreal
The vessel from which our Saviour drank at the Last Supper, and which (as it is said) was afterwards filled by Joseph of Arimathe'a with the blood that flowed from His wounds. This blood was reported to have the power of prolonging life and preserving chastity. The quest of this cup forms the most fertile source of adventures to the knights of the Round Table. The story of the Sangreal or Sangraal was first written in verse by Chrestien de Troyes (end of the tenth century), thence Latinised (thirteenth century), and finally turned into French prose by Gautier Map, by “order of Lord Henry” (Henry III.). It commences with the genealogy of our Saviour, and details the whole Gospel history; but the prose romance begins with Joseph of Arimathe'a. Its quest is continued in Percival, a romance of the fifteenth century, which gives the adventures of a young Welshman, raw and inexperienced, but admitted to knighthood. At his death the sangreal, the sacred lance, and the silver trencher were carried up to heaven in the presence of attendants, and have never since been seen on earth.
Tennyson has a poem entitled The Holy Grail.
Sanguine [murrey ]. One of the nine colours used by foreign heralds in escutcheons. It is expressed by lines of vert and purpure crossed, that is, diagonals from right to left crossing diagonals from left to right. (See Tenne .)
Tenné and Sanguine are not used by English heralds. (See Heralds.)
Sanguinary James
(A). A sheep's head not singed. A jemmy is a sheep's head; so called from James I., who introduced into England the national Scotch dish of “singed sheep's head and trotters.” No real Scotch dinner is complete without a haggis, a sheep's head and trotters, and a hotch—potch (in summer), or cocky leekie (in winter).
A cocky leekie is a fowl boiled or stewed with leeks or kale— i.e. salt beef and curly greens. Gimmer (a sheep) cannot be the origin of Jemmy, as the G is always soft.
Sanhedrim
The Jewish Sanhedrim probably took its form from the seventy elders appointed to assist Moses in the government. After the captivity it seems to have been a permanent consistory court. The president was called “Ha Nasi” (the prince), and the vice—president “Abba” (father). The seventy sat in a semicircle,
thirty—five on each side of the president; the “father” being on his right hand, and the “hacan,” or sub—deputy, on his left. All questions of the “Law” were dogmatically settled by the Sanhedrim, and those who refused obedience were excommunicated. (Greek, sunedrion, a sitting together.)
Sanhedrim, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, stands for the British Parliament.
“The Sanhedrim long time as chief he ruled,
Their reason guided, and their passion cooled.
Sanjaksherif
The flag of the prophet. (Turkish, sanjak, a standard.)
Sans Culottes
(French, without trousers). A name given by the aristocratic section during the French Revolution to the popular party, the favourite leader of which was Henriot. (1793.)
Sans Culottides
The five complementary days added to the twelve months of the Revolutionary Calendar. Each month being made to consist of thirty days, the riff—raff days which would not conform to the law were named in honour of the sans culottes, and made idle days or holidays.
sans—culottism. Red republicanism.
Sans Peur et Sans Reproche
Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard, was called Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche. (1476—1524.)
Sans Souci
(French). Free and easy, void of care. There is a place so called near Potsdam, where Frederick II. (the Great) built a royal palace.
Enfans Sans Souci. The Tradesmen's company of actors, as opposed to the Lawyers', called “Basochians” (q.v.). This company was organised in France in the reign of Charles VIII., for the performance of short comedies, in which public characters and the manners of the day were turned into ridicule. The manager of the “Care—for—Nothings” (sans souci) was called “The Prince of Fools.” One of their dramatic pieces, entitled Master Pierre Pathelin, was an immense favourite with the Parisians.
Sanscara
The ten essential rites of Hindus of the first three castes. (1) at the conception of a child; (2) at the quickening; (3) at birth; (4) at naming; (5) carrying the child out to see the moon; (6) giving him food to eat;
(7) the ceremony of tonsure; (8) investiture with the string; (9) the close of his studies; (10) the ceremony of “marriage,” when he is qualified to perform the sacrifices ordained
Sansfoy
[Infidelity ]. A Saracen “who cared for neither God nor man,” encountered by St. George and slain. (Spenser Faërie Queene, book i. 2.)
Sansjoy [Without the peace of God ]. Brother of Sansfoy (Infidelity) and Sansloy (Without the law of God). He is a paynim knight, who fights with St. George in the palace grounds of Pride, and would have been slain if Duessa had not rescued him. He is carried in the car of Night to the infernal regions, where he is healed of his wounds by Esculapius. (Spenser. Faërie Queene, book i. 4, 5.)
Sansloy
[Irreligion ], brother of Sansfoy (q.v.). Having torn off the disguise of Archimago and wounded the lion, he carries off Una into the wilderness. Her shrieks arouse the fauns and satyrs, who come to her rescue, and Sansloy flees. Una is Truth, and, being without Holiness (the Red—Cross Knight), is deceived by Hypocrisy. As soon as Truth joins Hypocrisy, instead of Holiness, Irreligion breaks in and carries her away. The reference is to the reign of Queen Mary, when the Reformation was carried captive, and the lion was wounded by the “False—law of God.” (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i. 2.)
In book ii. Sansloy appears again as the cavalier of Perissa or Prodigality.
Sansonetto
(in Orlando Furioso). A Christian regent of Mecca, vicegerent of Charlemagne.
Santa Casa
(Italian, the holy house). The reputed house in which the Virgin Mary lived at Nazareth, miraculously translated to Fiume, in Dalmatia, in 1291, thence to Recanati in 1294, and finally to Macerata, in Italy, to a piece of land belonging to the Lady Loretto
Santa Claus
or Santa Klaus. A corrupt contraction of Sankt Nikolaus (Sankni kolaus— i.e. St. Nicolas), the patron saint of children. The vigil of his feast is still held in some places, but for the most part his name is now associated with Christmas—tide. The old custom used to be for someone, on December 5th, to assume the costume of a bishop and distribute small gifts to “good children.” The present custom is to put toys and other little presents into a stocking or pillow—case late on Christmas Eve, when the children are asleep, and when they wake on Christmas morn each child finds in the stocking or bag hung at the bedside the gift sent by Santa Claus. St. Nicholas' day is December 6. The Dutch Kriss Kringle.
Saophron
The girdle worn by Grecian women, whether married or not. The bridegroom loosed the bride's girdle, whence “to loose the girdle” came to mean to deflower a woman, and a prostitute was called “a woman whose girdle is unloosed"
Sapphics
A Greek and Latin metre, so named from Sappho, the inventor. Horace always writes this metre in
four—line stanzas, the last being an Adonic. There must be a caesura at the fifth foot of each of the first three lines, which runs thus:—
The Adonic is—
The first and third stanzas of the famous Ode of Horace (i. 22) may be translated thus, preserving the metre:—
He of sound life, who ne'er with sinners wendeth, Needs no Maurish bow, such as malice bendeth, Nor with poisoned darts life from harm defendeth,
Fuscus believe me. Once I, unarmed, was in a forest roaming, Singing love lays, when i' the secret gloaming Rushed a huge wolf, which, though in fury foaming,
Did not aggrieve me. E.C.B.
Sappho of Toulouse
Clémence Isaure (2 syl.), a wealthy lady of Toulouse, who instituted in 1490 the “Jeux Floraux,” and left funds to defray their annual expenses. She composed a beautiful Ode to Spring. (1463—1513.)
Saracen Wheat
(French, Blé—sarrasin). Buckwheat; so called because it was brought into Spain by the Moors or Saracens. (See Buckwheat .)
Saracens
Ducange derives this word from Sarah (Abraham's wife); Hottinger from the Arabic saraca (to steal); Forster from sahra (a desert); but probably it is the Arabic sharakyoun or sharkeyn (the eastern people), as opposed to Magharibë (the western people— i.e. of Morocco). Any unbaptised person was called a Saracen in mediaeval romance. (Greek, Surakenos.)
“So the Arabs, or Saracens, as they are called ... gave men the choice of three things.”— E. A. Freeman: General Sketch, chap. vi. p. 117.
Saragoz'a
The Maid of Saragoza. Augustina, who was only twenty—two when, her lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French, after besieging the town for two months, had to retreat, August 15th, 1808
Saraswati
Wife of Brahma, and goddess of fine arts. (Hindu mythology ).
Sarcasm
A flaying or plucking off of the skin; a cutting taunt (Greek, sarkazo, to flay, etc.)
Sarcenet
(2 syl.). A corruption of Saracennet, from its Saracenic or Oriental origin.
Sarcenet Chidings
Loving rebukes, as those of a mother to a young child— “You little rogue,” etc.
“The child reddened ... and hesitated, while the mother, with many a fye ... and such sarcenet chidings as tender mothers give to spoiled children ...”— Sir W. Scott: The Monastery, ii.
Sarcophagus
A stone, according to Pliny, which consumed the flesh, and was therefore chosen by the ancients for coffins. It is called sometimes lapis Assius, because it was found at Assos of Lycia. (Greek, sarx, flesh; phagein, to eat or consume.)
Sardanapalus
King of Nineveh and Assyria, noted for his luxury and voluptuousness. His effeminacy induced Arbaces, the Mede, to conspire against him. Myrra, an Ionian slave, and his favourite concubine, roused him from his lethargy, and induced him to appear at the head of his armies. He won three successive battles, but being then defeated, was induced by Myrra to place himself on a funeral pile, which she herself set fire to, and then jumping into the flames, perished with her beloved master. (Died B.C. 817.) (Byron: Sardanapalus.)
A Sardanapalus. Any luxurious, extravagant, self—willed tyrant. (See above. Sardanapalus of China. Cheo—tsin, who shut himself and his queen in his palace, and set fire to the building, that he might not fall into the hands of Woo—wong, who founded the dynasty of Tchow (B.C. 1154—1122). It was cheo—tsin who invented the chopsticks.
Sardinian Laugh
Laughing on the wrong side of one's mouth. The Edinburgh Review says: “The ancient Sardinians used to get rid of their old relations by throwing them into deep pits, and the sufferers were expected to feel delighted at this attention to their well—being.” (July, 1849.)
Sardonic Smile, Grin, or Laughter
A smile of contempt: so used by Homer.
“The Sardonic or Sardinian laugh. A laugh caused, it was supposed, by a plant growing in Sardinia, of which they who ate died laughing.”— Trench: Words, lecture iv. p. 176.
The Herba Sardonia (so called from Sardis, in Asia Minor) is so acrid that it produces a convulsive movement of the nerves of the face, resembling a painful grin. Byron says of the Corsair, There was a laughing devil in his sneer.
“ `Tis envy's safest, surest rule
To hide her rage in ridicule;
The vulgar eye the best begniles
When all her snakes are decked with smiles,
Sardonic smilesby rancour raised.”
Swift: Pheasant and Lork.
Sardonyx
An orange—brown cornelian. Pliny says it is called sard from Sardis, in Asia Minor, where it is found, and onyx, the nail, because its colour resembles that of the skin under the nail (xxxvii. 6).
Sarnia
Guernsey Adjective, sar—man
“Sometimes ... mistakes occur in our little bits of Sarnian intelligence.”— Mrs. Edwardes: A Girton Girl. chap. iii.
Sarpedon
A favourite of the gods, who assisted Priam when Troy was besieged by the allied Greeks. When Achilles refused to fight, Sarpedon made great havoc in battle, but was slain by Patroclos. (Homer. Iliad.)
Sarsen Stones
The “Druidical” sandstones of Wiltshire and Berkshire are so called. The early Christian Saxons used the word Saresyn as a synonym of pagan or heathen, and as these stones were popularly associated with Druid worship, they were called Saresyn or heathen stones. Robert Ricart says of Duke Rollo, “He was a Saresyn come out of Denmark into France.” Another derivation is the Phoenician sarsen (a rock), applied to any huge mass of stone that has been drawn from the quarry in its rude state.
These boulders are no more connected with the Druids than Stonehenge is (q.v.).
Sartor Resartus
(The Tailor Patched.) By Thomas Carlyle.
Diogenes Teufelsdröckh is Carlyle himself, and Entepfuhl is his native village of Ecclefechan. The Rose Goddess, according to Froude, is Margaret Gordon, but Strachey is Blumine, i.e. Kitty Kirkpatrick, daughter of Colonel Achilles Kirkpatrick, and Rose Garden is Strachey's garden at Shooter's Hill. The duenna is Mrs. Strachey.
The Zahdarms are Mr. and Mrs. Buller, and Toughgut is Charles Buller. Philistine is the Rev. Edward Irving.
Sash Window is a window that moves up and down in a groove. (French, chassis, a sash or groove.)
Sassanides
(4 syl.). The first Persian dynasty of the historic period; so named because Ardeshir, the founder, was son of Sassan, a lineal descendant of Xerxes.
Sassenach
(ch = k). A Keltic word for a Saxon, or for the English language.
Satan
in Hebrew, means enemy.
“To whom the Arch—enemy (And hence in heaven called Satan).”
Milton: Paradise Lost, bk. i. 81, 82.
Satan's Journey to Earth
(Milton: Paradise Lost, iii. 418 to the end). He starts from Hell, and wanders a long time about the confines of the Universe, where he sees Chaos and Limbo. The Universe is a vast extended plain, fortified by part of the ethereal quintessence out of which the stars were created. There is a gap in the fortification, through which angels pass when they visit our earth. Being weary, Satan rests awhile at this gap, and contemplates the vast Universe. He then transforms himself into an angel of light and visits Uriel, whom he finds in the Sun. He asks Uriel the way to Paradise, and Uriel points out to him our earth. Then plunging through the starry vault, the waters above the firmament, and the firmament itself, he alights safely on Mount Niphates, in Armenia.
Satanic
The Satanic School. So Southey called Lord Byron and his imitators, who set at defiance the generally received notions of religion. Of English writers, Byron, Shelley, Moore, and Bulwer are the most prominent; of French writers Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Paul de Kock, and George Sand.
Satire
(2 syl.). Scaliger's derivation of this word from satyr is untenable. It is from satura (full of variety), satura lanx a hotchpotch or olla podrida. As maxumus, optumus, etc., became maximus, optimus, so “satura” became satira. (See Dryden's Dedication prefixed to his Satires.)
Father of satire. Archilochos of Paros (B.C. seventh century). Father of French satire. Mathurin Regnier (1573—1613). Father of Roman satire. Lucilius (B.C. 148—103).
“Lucilius was the man who, bravely bold,
To Roman vices did the mirror hold;
Protected humble goodness from reproach,
Showed worth on foot, and rascals in a coach.” Dryden: Art of Poetry, c. ii.
Saturday
Black Saturday.August 4th, 1621; so called in Scotland, because a violent storm occurred at the very moment the Parliament was sitting to enforce episcopacy on the people.
Saturn
or Kronos [Time ] devoured all his children except Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. Jupiter means air, Neptune water, and Pluto the grave. These Time cannot consume.
Saturn is a very evil planet to be born under. “The children of the sayd Saturne shall be great jangeleres and chyders ... and they will never forgyve tyll they be revenged of theyr quarell.” (Compost of Ptholomeus.
Saturn
with the ancient alchemists, designated lead.
Saturn's Tree
in alchemy, is a deposit of crystallised lead, massed together in the form of a “tree.” It is produced by a shaving of zinc in a solution of the acetate of lead. In alchemy Saturn = lead. (See Diana's Tree.)
Saturnalia A time of licensed disorder and misrule. With the Romans it was the festival of Saturn, and was celebrated the 17th, 18th, and 19th of December. During its continuance no public business could be transacted, the law courts were closed, the schools kept holiday, no war could be commenced, and no malefactor punished. Under the empire the festival was extended to seven days.
Saturnian Days
Days of dulness, when everything is venal.
“Then rose the seed of Chaos and of Night
To blot oat order and extinguish light,
Of dull and venal a new world to mould,
And bring Saturnian days of lead and gold.”
Dunciad, iv.
They are lead to indicate dulness, and gold to indicate venality.
Saturnian Verses
Old—fashioned. A rude composition employed in satire among the ancient Romans. Also a peculiar metre, consisting of three iambics and a syllable over, joined to three trochees, according to the following nursery metre:—
“The queen was in the par—lour ...
The maids were in the garden ...”
“The Fescennine and Saturnian were the same, for as they were called Saturnian from their ancientness, when Saturn reigned in Italy, they were called Fescennine from Fescennina [sic
], where they were first practised.”— Dryden: Dedication of Juvenal.
Saturnine
(3 syl.). A grave, phlegmatic disposition, dull and heavy. Astrologers affirm that such is the disposition of those who are born under the influence of the leaden planet Saturn.
Satyr
The most famous representation of these goat—men is that of Praxiteles, a sculptor of Athens in the fourth century B.C.
Satyrane
(3 syl.). A blunt but noble knight who delivered Una from the fauns and satyrs. The meaning is this: Truth, being driven from the towns and cities, took refuge in caves and dens, where for a time it lay concealed. At length Sir Satyrane (Luther) rescues Una from bondage; but no sooner is this the case than she falls in with Archimago, to show how very difficult it was at the Reformation to separate Truth from Error.
(Spenser: Faërie Queene, bk. i.)
Sauce means “salted food,” for giving a relish to meat, as pickled roots, herbs, and so on. (Latin, salsus.)
The sauce was better than the fish. The accessories were better than the main part. This may be said of a book in which the plates and getting up are better than the matter it contains.
To serve the same sauce. To retaliate; to give as good as you take; to serve in the same manner.
“After him another came unto her, and served her with the same sauce; then a third ...”— The Man in the Moon, etc. (1609).
Sauce
(To). To intermix.
“Then she fell to sauce her desires with threatenings.”— Sidney.
“Folly sauced with discretion.”— Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, i. 2.
Sauce to the Goose is Sauce to the Gander
(See Gander .)
Saucer Eyes
Big, round, glaring eyes.
“Yet when a child (bless me!) I thought
That thou a pair of horns had'st got,
With eyes like saucers staring.”
Peter Pindar: Ode to the Devil.
Saucer Oath
When a Chinese is put in the witness—box, he says: “If I do not speak the truth may my soul be cracked and broken like this saucer.” So saying, he dashes the saucer on the ground. The Roman Catholic imprecation, known as “Bell, Book, and Candle” (q.v.), and the Jewish marriage custom of breaking a wine—glass, are of a similar character.
Saucy
Rakish, irresistible; or rather that care—for—nobody, jaunty, daring behaviour which has won for many of our regiments the term as a compliment. It is also applied metaphorically to some inanimate things, as
“saucy waves,” which dare attack the very moon; the “saucy world,” which dares defy the very gods; the
“saucy mountains,” “winds,” “wit,” and so on.
“But still the little petrel was saucy as the waves.”
Eliza Cook: The Young Marimers stanza 7.
Saul
in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Oliver Cromwell. As Saul persecuted David and drove him from Jerusalem, so Cromwell persecuted Charles II. and drove him from England.
“They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow Made foolish Ishbosheth [Richard Cromwell] the crown forego.” Part i. lines 57, 58.
Saul among the prophets? The Jews said of our Lord, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John vii. 15.) Similarly at the conversion of Saul, afterwards called Paul, the Jews said in substance, “Is it possible that Saul can be a convert?” (Acts ix. 21.) The proverb applies to a person who unexpectedly bears tribute to a party or doctrine that he has hitherto vigorously assailed. (1 Sam. x. 12.)
Saut Lairds o' Dunscore
(The). Lords or gentlefolk who have only a name but no money. The tale is that the “puir wee lairds of Dunscore” clubbed together to buy a stone of salt, which was doled out to the subscribers in small spoonfuls, that no one should get more than his due quota.
Savage (2 syl.). One who lives in a wood (Greek, hule, a forest; Latin, silva; Spanish, salvage; Italian, selvaggio; French, sauvage).
Save
To save appearances. To do something to obviate or prevent exposure or embarrassment.
Save the Mark
In archery when an archer shot well it was customary to cry out “God save the mark!”— i.e. prevent anyone coming after to hit the same mark and displace my arrow. Ironically it is said to a novice whose arrow is nowhere.
God save the mark! (1 Henry IV., i. 3). Hotspur, apologising to the king for not sending the prisoners according to command, says the messenger was a “popinjay,” who made him mad with his unmanly ways, and who talked “like a waiting gentlewoman of guns, drums, and wounds (God save the mark!)”— meaning that he himself had been in the brunt of battle, and it would be sad indeed if “his mark” was displaced by this court butterfly. It was an ejaculation of derision and contempt.
So (in Othello, i. 1) Iago says he was “his Moorship's ancient; bless the mark!” expressive of derision and contempt.
In like manner (in The Merchant of Venice, ii. 2), Launcelot Gobbo says his master [Shylock] is a kind of devil, “God bless the mark!”
So (in The Ring and the Book) Browning says:
“Deny myself [to] pleasure you,
The sacred and superior. Save the mark!”
The Observer (Oct. 26, 1894) speaks of “the comic operas (save the mark!) that have lately been before us.” An ejaculation of derision and contempt.
And Mr. Chamberlain (in his speech, September 5th, 1894) says:
“The policy of this government, which calls itself (God save the mark!) an English government ...”
Sometimes it refers simply to the perverted natural order of things, as “travelling by night and resting (save the mark!) by day.” (U. S. Magazine, October, 1894.)
And sometimes it is an ejaculated prayer to avert the ill omen of an observation, as (in Romeo and Juliet) where the nurse says:
“I saw the wonud, I saw it with mine eyes (God save the mark!) upon his manly breast.”
Savoir Faire
(French). Ready wit; skill in getting out of a scrape; hence “Vivre de son savoir—faire,” to live by one's wits; “Avoir du savoir—faire,” to be up to snuff, to know a thing or two.
“He had great confidence in his savoir—faire.”— Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xxxiv.
Savoy
(The). A precinct of the Strand, London, noted for the palace of Savoy, originally the seat of Peter, Earl of Savoy, who came to England to visit his niece Eleanor, wife of Henry III. At the death of the earl the house became the property of the queen, who gave it to her second son, Edmund (Earl of Lancaster), and from this period it was attached to the Duchy of Lancaster. When the Black Prince brought Jean le Bon, King of France, captive to London (1356), he lodged him in the Savoy Palace, where he remained till 1359, when he was removed to Somerton Castle, in Lincolnshire. In 1360 he was lodged in the Tower; but, two months afterwards, was allowed to return to France on certain conditions. These conditions being violated by the royal hostages, Jean voluntarily returned to London, and had his old quarters again assigned to him, and died in 1364. The rebels under Wat Tyler burnt down the old palace in 1381; but it was rebuilt in 1505 by Henry VII., and converted into a hospital for the poor, under the name of St. John's Hospital. Charles II. used it for
wounded soldiers and sailors. St. Mary—le—Savoy or the Chapel of St. John still stands in the precinct, and has recently been restored.
N.B. Here, in 1552, was established the first flint—glass manufactory.
Saw
In Christian art an attribute of St. Simon and St. James the Less, in allusion to the tradition of their being sawn to death in martyrdom.
Sawdust Parlance
(In). Circus parlance. Of course, the allusion is to the custom of sifting sawdust over the arena to prevent the horses from slipping.
Sawny
or Sandy. A Scotchman; a contraction of “Alexander.”
Saxifrage
So called because its tender rootlets will penetrate the hardest rock, and break it up.
Saxon Castles
Alnwick Castle, given to Ivo de Vesey by the Conqueror.
Bamborough Castle (Northumberland), the palace of the kings of Northumberland, and built by King Ida, who began to reign 559; now converted into charity schools and signal—stations.
Carisbrook Castle, enlarged by Fitz—Osborne, five centuries later.
Conisborough Castle (York).
Goodrich Castle (Herefordshire).
Kenilworth Castle, built by Kenelm, King of Mercia. Kenilworth means Kenhelm's dwelling. Richmond Castle (York), belonging to the Saxon earl Edwin, given by the Conqueror to his nephew Alan, Earl of Bretagne; a ruin for three centuries. The keep remains.
Rochester Castle, given to Odo, natural brother of the Conqueror.
Saxon Characteristics
(architectural). (1) The quoining consists of a long stone set at the corner, and a short one lying on it and bonding into the wall.
(2) The use of large heavy blocks of stone in some parts, while the rest is built of Roman bricks.
(3) An arch with straight sides to the upper part instead of curves.
(4) The absence of buttresses.
(5) The use in windows of rude balusters.
(6) A rude round staircase west of the tower, for the purpose of access to the upper floors.
(7) Rude carvings in imitation of Roman work. (Rickman.)
Saxon Duke
(in Hudibras). John Frederick, Duke of Saxony, a very corpulent man. When taken prisoner, Charles V. said, “I have gone hunting many a time, but never saw I such a swine before.”
Saxon English
The “Lord's Prayer” is almost all of it Anglo—Saxon. The words trespasses, trespass, and temptation are of Latin origin. The substitution of “debts” and “debtors” (as “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors") is objectionable. Perhaps “Forgive us our wrongdoings, as we forgive them who do wrong to us” would be less objectionable. The latter clause, “lead us not into temptation,” is far more difficult to convert into Anglo—Saxon. The best suggestion I can think of is “lead us not in the ways of sinners,” but the real meaning is “put us not to the test.” We have the word assay (Assay us not), which would be an excellent translation, but the word is not a familiar one.
Saxon Relics
The church of Earl's Barton (Northamptonshire). The tower and west doorway.
The church of St. Michael's (St. Albans), erected by the Abbot of St. Albans in 948. The tower of Bosham church (Sussex)
The east side of the dark and principal cloisters of Westminster Abbey, from the college dormitory on the south to the chapter—house on the north. Edward the Confessor's chapel in Westminster Abbey, now used as the Pix office.
The church of Darenth (Kent) contains some windows of manifest Saxon architecture. With many others, some of which are rather doubtful.
Saxon Shore
The coast of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire, where were castles and garrisons, under the charge of a court or military officer, called Comës Lïttoris Saxonici per Britanniam.
Fort Branodunum (Brancaster) was on the Norfolk coast. Gariannonum (Burgh) was on the Suffolk coast. Othona (Ithanchester) was on the Essex coast. Regulbium (Reculver), Rutupiae (Richborough), Dubris
(Dover), P. Lemanis (Lyme), were on the Kentish coast. Anderida (Hastings or Pevensey), Portus Adurni (Worthing), were on the Sussex coast.
Say
To take the say. To taste meat or wine before it is presented, in order to prove that it is not poisoned. The phrase was common in the reign of Queen Elizabeth
“Nor deem it meet that you to him convey
The proffered bowl, unless you taste the say”
Rose: Orlando Furioso, xxi. 61
Sbirri
(Italian). A police—force which existed in the pope's dominions. They were domiciled in private houses.
“He points them out to his sbirri and armed ruffians The Daily Telegraph.
Scaevola
[left—handed ]. So Caius Mucius was called, because, when he entered the camp of Porsenna as a spy, and was taken before the king he deliberately held his hand over a lamp till it was burnt off, to show the Etruscan that he would not shrink from torture.
Scaffold, Scaffolding
A temporary gallery for workmen. In its secondary sense it means the postulates and rough scheme of a system or sustained story. (French, échafaud, échafaudage.) (See Cinter .)
Scagliola
Imitation marble, like the pillars of the Pantheon, London. The word is from the Italian scáglia (the dust and chips of marble); it is so called because the substance (which is gypsum and Flanders glue) is studded with chips and dust of marble.
Scales
The Koran says, at the judgment day everyone will be weighed in the scales of the archangel Gabriel. His good deeds will be put in the scale called “Light,” and his evil ones in the scale called “Darkness;" after which they will have to cross the bridge A1 Serát, not wider than the edge of a scimitar. The faithful will pass over in safety, but the rest will fall into the dreary realms of Jehennam.
Scallop Shell
Emblem of St. James of Compostella, adopted, says Erasmus, because the shore of the adjacent sea abounds in them. Pilgrims used them for cup, spoon, and dish; hence the punning crest of the Disington family is a scallop shell. On returning home, the pilgrim placed his scallop shell in his hat to command admiration, and adopted it in his coat—armous. (Danish, schelp, a shell; French, escalope. )
“I will give thee a palmer's staff of iyory and a scallop—shell of beaten gold.”— The Old Wives' Tale. (1595.)
Scalloped [scollopt ]. Having an edge like that of a scallop shell.
Scammozzi's Rule
The jointed two—foot rule used by builders and invented by Vincent Scammozzi, the famous Italian architect. (1540—1609.)
Scamp
[qui exit ex campo ]. A deserter from the field; one who decamps without paying his debts. S privative and camp. (See Snob .)
Scandal
means properly a pitfall or snare laid for an enemy; hence a stumbling—block, and morally an aspersion. (Greek, skandalon.)
“We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a [scandal].”— 1 Cor. i. 23.
The Hill of scandal So Milton calls the Mount of Olives, because King Solomon built thereon “an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab; and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon” (1 Kings xi. 7).
Scandal—broth
Tea. The reference is to the gossip held by some of the womenkind over their “cups which cheer but not inebriate.” Also called “Chatter—broth.”
“ `I proposed to my venerated visitor. to summon my ... housekeeper ... with the tea—equipage but he rejected my proposal with disdain ...' `No scandal—broth,' he exclaimed, `No unidea'd woman's chatter for me.' ”— Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (Prefatory letter).
Scandalum Magnatum
[scandal of the magnates ]. Words in derogation of peers, judges, and other great officers of the realm. What St. Paul calls “speaking evil of dignities.”
Scanderbeg
A name given by the Turks to George Castriota, the patriot chief of Epirus. The word is a corruption of Iskander—beg, Prince Alexander (1414—1467).
Scanderbeg's Sword must have Scanderbeg's Arm
— i.e. None but Ulysses can draw Ulysses' bow. Scanderbeg is a corruption of Iskander—beg (Alexander the Great), not the Macedonian, but George Castriota, Prince of Albania, so called by the Turks. Mahomet wanted to see his scimitar, but when presented no one could draw it; whereupon the Turkish emperor sent it back as an imposition; but Iskander—beg replied, he had only sent his majesty the sword without sending the arm that drew it. (See Robin Hood .)
Scandinavia
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. Pliny speaks of Scandia as an island.
Scant—of—grace
(A). A madcap; a wild, disorderly, graceless fellow.
“You, a gentleman of birth and breeding ... associate yourself with a sort of scant—of—grace, as men call me.”— Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, iii.
Scantling
a small quantity, is the French échantillon, a specimen or pattern.
“A scantling of wit.”— Dryden.
Scapegoat
The Biajùs or aborigenes of Borneo observe a custom bearing a considerable resemblance to that of the scapegoat. They annually launch a small bark laden with all the sins and misfortunes of the nation, which, says Dr. Leyden, “they imagine will fall on the unhappy crew that first meets with it.”
The scapegoat of the family. One made to bear the blame of the rest of the family; one always chidden and
found fault with, let who may be in the wrong. The allusion is to a Jewish custom: Two goats being brought to the altar of the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement, the high priest cast lots; one was for the Lord, and the other for Azazel. The goat on which the first lot fell was sacrificed, the other was the scapegoat; and the high priest having, by confession, transferred his own sins and the sins of the people to it, the goat was taken to the wilderness and suffered to escape.
Scaphism
Locking up a criminal in the trunk of a tree, bored through so as just to admit the body. Five holes were made— one for the head, and the others for the hands and legs. These parts were anointed with honey to invite the wasps. In this situation the criminal would linger in the burning sun for several days. (Greek, skaphe, anything scooped out.)
Scapin
A “barber of Seville;” a knavish valet who makes his master his tool. (Molière: Les Fourberies de Scapin.)
Scaramouch
A braggart and fool, very valiant in words, but a poltroon. According to Dyche, the Italian posturemaster, Tiberio Fiurelli, was surnamed Scaramouch Fiurelli. He came to England in 1673, and astonished John Bull with feats of agility.
“Stout Scaramoucha with rush—lance rode in,
And ran a tilt with centaure Arlequin.”
Dryden: The Silent Woman (Epilogue).
Scaramouch Dress
(A), in Molière's time, was black from top to toe; hence he says, “Night has put on her `scaramouch dress.' “
Scarborough Warning
No warning at all; blow first, then warning. In Scarborough robbers used to be dealt with in a very summary manner by a sort of Halifax gibbet—law, lynch—law, or an à la lanterne. Another origin is given of this phrase: It is said that Thomas Stafford, in the reign of Queen Mary, seized the castle of Scarborough, not only without warning, but even before the townsfolk knew he was afoot (1557). (See Gone Up .)
“This term Scarborrow warning grew, some say,
By hasty hanging for rank robbery there.
Who that was met, but suspect in that way,
Straight he was trust up, whatever he were.”
T. Heywood.
Scarlet
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow (Isa. i. 18). The allusion is to the scarlet fillet tied round the head of the scapegoat. Though your sins be as scarlet as the fillet on the head of the goat to which the high priest has transferred the sins of the whole nation, yet shall they be forgiven and wiped out.
Scarlet
(Will). One of the companions of Robin Hood.
Scarlet Coat
Worn by fox—hunters. (See Red Coat .)
Scarlet Woman Some controversial Protestants apply the words to the Church of Rome, and some Romanists, with equal “good taste,” apply them to London. The Book of Revelation says, “It is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” and terms the city “Babylon" (chap. xvii.).
Scavenger's Daughter
An instrument of torture invented by Sir William Skevington, lieutenant of the Tower in the reign of Henry VIII. As Skevington was the father of the instrument, the instrument was his daughter.
Sceatta
Anglo—Saxon for “money,” or a little silver coin. A sceat was an Anglo—Saxon coin.
Scene Painters
The most celebrated are—
Inigo Jones, who introduced the first appropriate decorations for masques. D'Avenant, who produced perspective scenes in 1656, for The Siege of Rhodes. Betterton was the first to improve the scenic effects in “Dorset Gardens:” his artist was Streater. John Rich may be called the great reformer of stage scenery in “Covent Garden.”
Richards, secretary of the Royal Academy; especially successful in The Maid of the Mill. His son was one of the most celebrated of our scenepainters.
Philip James de Loutherbourg was the greatest scene—artist up to Garrick's time. He produced the scenes for The Winter's Tale, at the request of that great actor.
John Kemble engaged William Capon, a pupil of Novosielski, to furnish him with scenery for Shakespeare's historic plays.
Patrick Nasmyth, in the North, produced several unrivalled scenes.
Stanfield is well known for his scene of Acis and Galate'a.
William Beverley is the greatest scene—painter of modern times.
Frank Hayman, Thomas Dall, John Laguerre, William Hogarth, Robert Dighton, Charles Dibdin, David Roberts, Grieve, and Phillips have all aided in improving scene—painting.
Scene Plot
(See Plot .)
Scent
We are not yet on the right scent. We have not yet got the right clue. The allusion is to dogs following game by their scent.
Sceptic
(Greek) means one who thinks for himself, and does not receive on another's testimony. Pyrrho founded the philosophic sect called “Sceptics,” and Epictetus combated their dogmas. In theology we apply the word to those who will not accept Revelation.
Sceptre
That of Agamemnon is the most noted. Homer says it was made by Vulcan, who gave it to the son of Saturn. It then passed successively to Jupiter, to Mercury, to Pelops, to Atreus (2 syl.), to Thyestes (3 syl.), and then to Agamemnon. It was found at Phocis, whither it had been taken by Electra. It was looked on with great reverence, and several miracles are attributed to it. It was preserved for many years after the time of Homer, but ultimately disappeared.
Scheherazade
[She—he'—ra—zay'—de ]. Daughter of the Grand Vizier of the Indies. The Sultan Schahriah, having discovered the infidelity of his sultana, resolved to marry a fresh wife every night and have her strangled at day—break. Scheherazade entreated to become his wife, and so amused him with tales for a thousand and one nights that he revoked his cruel decree, bestowed his affection on his amiable and talented wife, and called her “the liberator of the sex.” (Arabian Nights. )
Scheltrum
An army drawn up in a circle instead of in a square.
Scheme
is something entertained. Scheme is a Greek word meaning what is had or held (scheo) and entertain is the Latin tenco, to have or hold, also.
Schiedam Hollands gin, so called from Schiedam, a town where it is principally manufactured.
Schiites
Shiites the second largest branch of Islam, Shiites currently account for 10%–15% of all Muslims. Shiite Islam originated as a political movement supporting Ali (cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam) as the rightful leader of the Islamic state.
Schlemihl
(Peter). The name of a man who sold his shadow to the devil, in Chamisso's tale so called. It is a synonym for any person who makes a desperate and silly bargain.
Scholastic
Anselm of Laon, Doctor Scholasticus. (1050—1117.)
Epiphanius the Scholastic. An Italian scholar. (Sixth century.)
Scholastic Divinity
Divinity subjected to the test of reason and argument, or at least “darkened by the counsel of words.” The Athanasian creed is a favourable specimen of this attempt to reduce the mysteries of religion to “right reason;” and the attempts to reconcile the Mosaic cosmogony with modern geology smack of the same school.
Schools
The six old schools: Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Charterhouse, Westminster, and Rugby. Some add St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors', and Shrewsbury.
The six modern schools: Marlborough, Wellington, Clifton, Cheltenham, Repton, and Haileybury. Charterhouse has been removed to the hills of Surrey.
St. Paul's has migrated to the West End.
Schoolmaster Abroad
(The). Lord Brougham said, in a speech (Jan. 29, 1828) on the general diffusion of education, and of intelligence arising therefrom, “Let the soldier be abroad, if he will; he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage abroad ... the schoolmaster is abroad; and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array.”
Schoolmen
Certain theologians of the Middle Ages; so called because they lectured in the cloisters or cathedral schools founded by Charlemagne and his immediate successors. They followed the fathers, from whom they differed in reducing every subject to a system, and may be grouped under three periods—
First Period. PLATONISTS (from ninth to twelfth century). (1) Pierre Abélard (1079—1142).
(2) Flacius Albinus Alcuin (735—804).
(3) John Scotus Erigena.
(4) Anselm. Doctor Scholasticus. (1050—1117.)
(5) Berengarius of Tours (1000—1088).
(6) Gerbert of Aurillac, afterwards Pope Sylvester II. (930—1003). (7) John of Salisbury (1110—1180).
(8) Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. (1005—1089.)
(9) Pierre Lombard. Master of the Sentences, sometimes called the founder of school divinity. (1100—1164.) (10) John Roscelinus (eleventh century).
Second Period, or Golden Age of Scholasticism. ARISTOTELIANS (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). (1) Alain de Lille. Universal Doctor. (1114—1203.)
(2) Albertus Magnus, of Padua. (1193—1280.)
(3) Thomas Aquinas. The Angelic Doctor. (1224—1274.)
(4) Augustine Triumphans, Archbishop of Aix. The Eloquent Doctor.
(5) John Fidanza Bonaventure. The Seraphic Doctor. (1221—1274.)
(6) Alexander of Hales. Irrefrangible Doctor. (Died 1245.)
(7) John Duns Scotus. The Subtle Doctor. (1265—1308.)
Third Period. NOMINALISM REVIVED. (To the seventeenth century.) (1) Thomas de Bradwardine. The Profound Doctor (1290—1348.)
(2) John Buridan (1295—1360). (3) William Durandus de Pourcain. The Most Resolving or Resolute Doctor. (Died 1332.) (4) Giles, Archbishop of Bourges. The Doctor with Good Foundation.
(5) Gregory of Rimini. The Authentic Doctor. (Died 1357.)
(6) Robert Holkot. An English divine.
(7) Raymond Lully. The Illuminated Doctor. (1234—1315.)
(8) Francis Mairon, of Digne, in Provence.
(9) William Occam. The Singular or Invincible Doctor. (Died 1347.)
(10) Francois Suarez, the last of the schoolmen. (1548—1617.)
Schoolmistress
(The), by Shenstone, is designed for a “portrait of Sarah Lloyd,” the dame who first taught the poet himself. She lived in a thatched house before which grew a birch tree.
Scian
(See Cean .)
Science
The Gay Science or “Gay Saber.” The poetry of the Troubadours, and in its extended meaning poetry generally.
Science Persecuted
(1) Anaxagoras of Clazomenae held opinions in natural science so far in advance of his age that he was accused of impiety, thrown into prison, and condemned to death. Pericles, with great difficulty, got his sentence commuted to fine and banishment.
(2) Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg, denounced as a heretic by St. Boniface for asserting the existence of antipodes. (Died 784.)
(3) Galileo was imprisoned by the Inquisition for maintaining that the earth moved. In order to get his liberty he “abjured the heresy,” but as he went his way whispered half—audibly, “E pur si muove” (“but nevertheless it does move"). (1564—1642.)
(4) Gebert, who introduced algebra into Christendom, was accused of dealing in the black arts, and shunned as a magician.
(5) Friar Bacon was excommunicated and imprisoned for diabolical knowledge, chiefly on account of his chemical researches. (1214—1294.)
(6) Dr. Faust, the German philosopher, suffered in a similar way in the sixteenth century.
(7) John Dee. (See Dee.)
(8) Robert Grosseteste. (See Grosted.)
(9) Averroes, the Arabian philosopher, who flourished in the twelfth century, was denounced as a heretic and