382 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



again complains that his heart is desolate. Thenot is an 

 old shepherd bent with age, who tells Cuddy, the herds- 

 man's boy, the fable of the oak and the briar, one of the 

 best-known fables included in the calendar. 



Sheridan's Ride. A lyric by T. B. Read, one <>f the 

 few things written during the heat of the Civil War that 

 is likely to survive. 



She Stoops to Conquer. This well-known comedy 

 by Oliver Goldsmith is said to have been founded on an 

 incident which actually occurred to its author. When 

 Goldsmith was sixteen years of age, a wan rending at 

 Ardagh directed him, when passing through that village, 

 to Squire Fetherstone's house as the village inn. The 

 mistake was not discovered for some time, but all con- 

 cerned enjoyed the joke. "She Stoops to Conquer" is 

 one of the gayest, pleasantest, and most amusing pieces 

 of English comedy. 



Shin'gebis. In Longfellow's "Hiawatha," the diver 

 who challenged the North Wind and put him to flight 

 in combat. 



Shocky. The Hoosier School-master, Edw. 

 Eggloston. The little lad from the poorhouse who 

 adores the schoolmaster and early warns him of plans 

 for upsetting his authority. He is also a small poet, 

 not in rhyming, but in comprehension of things about 

 him and in his way of looking at life, and he grows to be a 

 helper in the "Church of the Best Licks, " founded by 

 the school-master. He is brother to Hannah whom the 

 master loves. Shocky and Hannah and their compan- 

 ions in the story bring the speech and life of their people 

 and their time into American literature. 



Shy'lock. A sordid, avaricious, revengeful Jew, in 

 Shakespere's "Merchant of Venice." 



Siege Perilous, The. The Round Table contained 

 sieges or seats in the names of different knights. One 

 was reserved for him who was destined to achieve the 

 quest of the holy graal. This seat was called "perilous," 

 because if any one sat therein except he for whom it was 

 reserved it would be his death. This seat finally bore 

 the name of Sir Galahad. 



Siegfried. The hero of various Scandinavian and 

 Teutonic legends, particularly of the old German epic 

 poem, the "Nibelungen Lied." He is represented as a 

 young warrior of physical strength and beauty, and in 

 valor superior to all men of his time. He cannot easily 

 be identified with any historical personage. 



Sikes, Bill. A brutal thief and housebreaker in Dick- 

 ens's novel "Oliver Twist." He murders his mistress, 

 Nancy, and in trying to lower himself by a rope from 

 the roof of a building where he had taken refuge from 

 the crowd, he falls and is choked in a noose of his own 

 making. Sikes had an ill-conditioned savage dog, the 

 beast-image of his master, which he kicked and loved, 

 ill-treated and fondled. 



Silken Thread. Gulliver's Travels. In the king- 

 dom of Lilliput, the three great prizes of honor are "fine 

 silk threads six inches long, one blue, another red, and a 

 third green." The thread is girt about the loins, and 

 no ribbon of the Legion of Honor, or Knight of the Garter, 

 is won more worthily or worn more proudly. 



Sind'bad the Sailor. A character in the "Arabian 

 Nights," in which is related the story of his strange 

 voyages and wonderful adventures. 



Si'non. In Virgil's "JEneid" the cunning Greek, 

 who, by a false tale, induced the Trojans to drag the 

 Wooden Horse into Troy. 



Sleeping Beauty. The heroine of a celebrated nurse- 

 ry tale which relates how a princess was shut up by 

 fairy enchantment, to sleep a hundred years in a cast le, 

 around which sprung up a dense, impenetrable wood. 

 At the expiration of the appointed time, she was delivered 

 from her imprisonment and her trance by a gallant 

 young prince, before whom the forest opened itself to 

 afford him passage. Grimm derives this popular and 

 widely diffused tale from the old northern mythology. 



Slender. A silly youth in Shakespere's " Merry Wives 

 of Windsor," who is an unsuccessful suitor for the hand 

 of "Sweet Anne Page." 



Slick, Sam. The title and hero of various humorous 

 narratives, illustrating and exaggerating the peculiarities 

 of the Yankee character and dialect written by .Judge 

 Thomas C. Haliburton. Sam Slick is represent ed as a 

 Yankee clockmaker and peddler, full of quaint drollery. 

 unsophisticated wit, knowledge of human nature, and 

 aptitude in the use of what he calls "soft sawder." 



Slop, Dr. The name of a choleric and uncharitable 

 physician in Sterne's novel, " The Life and Opinions of 

 Tristram Shandy, Gent." 



Slough of Despond. Pilgrim's Progress, Bun- 

 yan. A deep bog, which Christian had to pass on his way 

 to the Wicket Gate. Neighbor Pliable would not at- 

 tempt to pass it, and turned back. While Christian was 



floundering in the slough, Help came to his aid, and as- 

 him over. 



si\ . Christopher. Taming of the Shrew, Shakcs- 

 perc. A keeper of bears and a tinker, son of a ped- 

 lar, and a sad drinker. 



Song of Roland. An ancient song recounting the 

 deeds of Roland, the renowned nephew of Charlemagne, 

 slain in the pass of Koncesvalles. At the battle of Hast- 

 ing, I aillefer advanced on horseback before the invad- 

 ing army, and gave the signal for onset by singing this 

 famous song. (Set- Roland.) 



Sonus of the Sierras. A collection of poems by 

 JoaquiD Miller, which made him known on two conti- 

 nents within a year of their publication. The title ex- 

 plains the chief subject of the songs. 



Spectator! The. A periodical famous in literature 

 in which most of the articles were written by Addison 

 or Sir Richard Steele. The first number was published 

 in London in the year 1711, the last, No. 635, was issued 

 in December, 1714. The most noted of Addison's writ- 

 ings is said to be the series of sketches in "The Spec- 

 tator." of which Sir Roger de Coverley is the central 

 figure, and Sir Andrew Freeport and Will Honeycomb 

 the side ones. Sir Roger himself is an absolute creation; 

 the gentle yet vivid imagination, the gay spirit of humor 

 and the keen shrewd observation mark it a work of 

 pure genius. In this Addison has given a delicacy to 

 English sentiment, and a modesty to English wit which 

 it never knew before. Dr. Johnson says, " to attain an 

 English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant, but 

 not ostentatious, one must give his days and nights to 

 the volumes of Addison." 



Sphinx. A Greek word, applied to certain symboli- 

 cal forms of Egyptian origin. The most remarkable 

 Sphinx is the Great Sphinx at Gizeh, a colossal form, 

 hewn out of the natural rock. Immediately in front of 

 the breast is a small naos, or chapel, formed of three 

 hieroglyphical tablets. Votive inscriptions of the Ro- 

 man period, some as late as the Third Century, were 

 discovered in the walls and constructions. On the second 

 digit of the left claw of the Sphinx, an inscription, in 

 pentameter Greek verses, by Arrian, was discovered. 

 Another metrical and prosaic inscription was also found. 

 In Assyria and Babylonia, representations of Sphinxes 

 have been found, and the same are not uncommon on 

 Phenician works of art. 



Squeers. Name of a family prominent in Dickens's 

 "Nicholas Nickleby." Wackford Squeers, master of 

 Dotheboy's Hall, Yorkshire, a vulgar, conceited, igno- 

 rant schoolmaster, overbearing and mean. He steals the 

 boys' pocket money, clothes his son in their best suits, 

 half starves them, and teaches them next to nothing. 

 Ultimately he is transported for theft. Mrs. Squeers, a 

 raw-boned, harsh, heartless virago, with no womanly 

 feeling for the boys put under her charge. Miss Fanny 

 Squeers, daughter of the schoolmaster. Miss Fanny falls 

 in love with Nicholas Nickleby, but later hates him be- 

 cause he is insensible to the soft impeachment. Master 

 Wackford Squeers, overbearing, self-willed and pas- 

 sionate. The picture of this family and their ways had 

 great influence on the schools of England, by rousing the 

 people to a knowledge of their management. 



Squire of Dames. A personage introduced by Spen- 

 ser in the "Faerie Queen," and whose curious adventures 

 are there recorded. It is often used to express a person 

 devoted to the fair sex. 



Steer'forth. David Copperfleld, Dickens. The 

 young man who led little Emly astray. When tired of 

 his toy, he proposed to her to marry his valet. Steer- 

 forth, being shipwrecked off the coast of Yarmouth, 

 Ham Peggotty tried to rescue him, but both were 

 drowned. 



Sten'tor. A Grecian herald in the Trojan War, whom 

 Homer describes as "great-hearted, brazen-voiced Sten- 

 tor, accustomed to shout as loud as fifty other men." 



Steph'a-no. (1) A drunken butler, in Shakespere's 

 "Tempest." (2) A servant to Portia, in Shakespere's 

 "Merchant of Venice." 



Stlg'gins, Rev. Mr. A red-nosed, hypocritical 

 "shepherd," or Methodist parson, in Dickens's "Pick- 

 wick Papers," with a great appetite for pineapple rum. 

 He is the spiritual adviser of Mrs. Weller, and lectures on 

 temperance. 



Stone of Sar'dis. The Great Stone of Sardis, 

 Stockton. In this stone the imaginary science of the 

 iuiuic is joined to the actual science of to-day in an 

 extremely plausible way. The North Pole is visited by a 

 submarine vessel, a light is found capable of penetrating 

 for miles into the frfterior of the earth, and finally the 

 center of that earth is discovered to be an enormous 

 diamond. 



Storm-and-stress Period. In the literary history 

 of Germany, the name given to a period of great intel- 



