Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 142

=Schemsel'nihar=, the favorite sultana of Haroun-al-Raschid, caliph of Bagdad. She fell in love with Aboulha.s.san Ali ebn Becar, prince of Persia. From the first moment of their meeting they began to pine for each other, and fell sick. Though miles apart, they died at the same hour, and were both buried in the same grave.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Aboulha.s.sen and Schemselnihar").

=Schlemihl= (_Peter_), the hero of a popular German legend. Peter sells his shadow to an "old man in grey," who meets him while fretting under a disappointment. The name is a household term for one who makes a desperate and silly bargain.--Chamisso, _Peter Schlemihl_ (1813).

=Schmidt= (_Mr._), a German of kindly spirit and refined tastes, "in his talk gently cynical." "To know him a little was to dislike him, but to know him well was to love him." At the feet of a pretty Quaker dame, he laid an homage, which he felt to be hopeless of result, while he was schooled by sorrowful fortunes to accept the position as one which he hardly ever wished to change.--Silas Weir Mitch.e.l.l, _Hephzibah Guinness_ (1880).

=Scholastic= (_The_), Epipha'nius, an Italian scholar (sixth century).

=Scholastic Doctor= (_The_), Anselm, of Laon (1050-1117).

=Scholey= (_Lawrence_), servant at Burgh-Westra. His master is Magnus Troil, the udaller of Zetland.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

? Udaller, one who holds land by allodial tenure.

=Schonfelt=, lieutenant of Sir Archibald von Hagenbach, a German n.o.ble.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=School of Husbands=, (_L'ecole des Maris_, "wives trained by men"), a comedy by Moliere (1661). Ariste and Sganarelle, two brothers, bring up Leonor and Isabelle, two orphan sisters, according to their systems for making them in time their model wives. Sganarelle's system was to make the women dress plainly, live retired, attend to domestic duties, and have few indulgences. Ariste's system was to give the woman great liberty, and trust to her honor. Isabelle, brought up by Sganarelle, deceived him and married another; but Leonor, brought up by Ariste, made him a fond and faithful wife.

Sganarelle's plan:

J'entend que la mienne vive a ma fantaisie-- Que d'une serge honnete elle ait son vetement, Et ne porte le noir, qu' aux bons jours seulement; Qu' enfermee au logis, en personne bien sage, Elle s'applique toute aux choses du menage, A recoudre mon linge aux heures de loisir, Ou bien a tricoter quelques bas par plasir;[TN-161]

Qu' aux discours des muguets elle ferme l'oreille, Et ne sorte jamais sans avoir qui la veille.

Ariste's plan:

Leur s.e.xe aime a jouir d'un peu de liberte; On le retient fort mal par tant d'austerite; Et les soins defiants les verroux et les grilles, Ne font pas la vertu des femmes ni des filles; C'est l'honneur qui les doit tenir dans le devoir, Non la severite que nous leur faisons voir ...

Je trouve que le cur est ce qu'il faut gagner.

Act i. 2.

=School for Wives= (_L'ecole des Femmes_, "training for wives"), a comedy by Moliere (1662). Arnolphe has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme upon Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant's cottage, and designs in due time to make his wife. He sends her from early childhood to a convent, where difference of s.e.x and the conventions of society are wholly ignored. When removed from the convent she treats men as if they were schoolgirls, kisses them, plays with them, and treats them with girlish familiarity. The consequence is, a young man named Horace falls in love with her and makes her his wife, but Arnolphe loses his pains.

=Schoolmen.= (For a list of the schoolmen of each of the three periods, see _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, 794.)

=Schoolmistress= (_The_), a poem in Spenserian metre, by Shenstone (1758).

The "schoolmistress" was Sarah Lloyd, who taught the poet himself in infancy. She lived in a thatched cottage, before which grew a birch tree, to which allusion is made in the poem.

There dwells, in lowly shed and mean attire, A matron old, whom we schoolmistress name ...

And all in sight doth rise a birchen tree.

Stanzas 2, 3.

=Schreckenwald= (_Ital._), steward of Count Albert.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Schwaker= (_Jonas_), jester of Leopold, archduke of Austria.--Sir W.

Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Scian Muse= (_The_), Simon'des, born at Scia, or Cea, now _Zia_, one of the Cyclades.

The Scian and the Teian Muse [_Anacreon_] ...

Have found the fame your sh.o.r.es refuse.

Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. ("The Isles of Greece," 1820).

=Science= (_The prince of_), Tehuhe, "The Aristotle of China" (died A.D.

1200).

=Scio= (now called _Chios_), one of the seven cities which claimed to be the birthplace of Homer. Hence he is sometimes called "Scio's Blind Old Bard." The seven cities referred to make an hexameter verse:

Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenae; _or_ Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Ithaca, Pylos, Argos, Athenae.

Antipater Sidonius, _A Greek Epigram_.

=Sciol'to= (3 _syl._), a proud Genoese n.o.bleman, the father of Calista.

Calista was the bride of Altamont, a young man proud and fond of her, but it was discovered on the wedding day that she had been seduced by Lothario. This led to a series of calamities: (1) Lothario was killed in a duel by Altamont; (2) a street riot was created, in which Sciolto received his death-wound; and (3) Calista stabbed herself.--N. Rowe, _The Fair Penitent_ (1703).

(In Italian, _Sciolto_ forms but two syllables, but Rowe has made it three in every case.)

=Scipio= "dismissed the Iberian maid" (Milton, _Paradise Regained_, ii.).

The poet refers to the tale of Scipio's restoring a captive princess to her lover, Allucius, and giving to her, as a wedding present, the money of her ransom. (See CONTINENCE.)

During his command in Spain a circ.u.mstance occurred which contributed more to his fame and glory than all his military exploits. At the taking of New Carthage, a lady of extraordinary beauty was brought to Scipio, who found himself greatly affected by her charms. Understanding, however, that she was betrothed to a Celtiberian prince named Allucius, he resolved to conquer his rising pa.s.sion, and sent her to her lover without recompense. A silver s.h.i.+eld, on which this interesting event is depicted, was found in the river Rhone by some fishermen in the seventeenth century.--Goldsmith, _History of Rome_, xiv. 3. (Whittaker's improved edition contains a fac-simile of the s.h.i.+eld on p. 215.)

_Scipio_, son of the gypsy woman, Coscolina, and the soldier, Torribio Scipio. Scipio becomes the secretary of Gil Blas, and settles down with him at "the castle of Lirias." His character and adventures are very similar to those of Gil Blas himself, but he never rises to the same level. Scipio begins by being a rogue, who pilfered and plundered all who employed him, but in the service of Gil Blas he was a model of fidelity and integrity.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_ (1715).

=Sciro'nian Rocks=, between Meg'ara and Corinth. So called because the bones of Sciron, the robber of Attica, were changed into these rocks when Theseus (2 _syl._) hurled him from a cliff into the sea. It was from these rocks that Ino cast herself into the Corinthian bay.--_Greek Fable._

=Scirum.= The men of Scirum used to shoot against the stars.