Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 153

=She Stoops to Conquer=, a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith (1773). Miss Hardcastle, knowing how bashful young Marlow is before ladies, _stoops_ to the manners and condition of a barmaid, with whom he feels quite at his ease, and by this artifice wins the man of her choice.

? It is said that when Goldsmith was about 16 years old, he set out for Edgworthstown, and finding night coming on when at Ardagh, asked a man "which was the best house in town"--meaning the best inn. The man, who was Cornelius O'Kelly, the great fencing-master, pointed to that of Mr.

Ralph Fetherstone, as being the best house in the vicinity. Oliver entered the parlor, found the master of the mansion sitting over a good fire, and said he intended to pa.s.s the night there, and should like to have supper. Mr. Fetherstone happened to know Goldsmith's father, and, to humor the joke, pretended to be the landlord of "the public," nor did he reveal himself till next morning at breakfast, when Oliver called for his bill. It was not Sir Ralph Fetherstone, as is generally said, but Mr. Ralph Fetherstone, whose grandson was Sir Thomas.

=Sheba.= The queen of Sheba, or Saba (_i.e._ the Sabeans) came to visit Solomon, and tested his wisdom by sundry questions, but affirmed that his wisdom and wealth exceeded even her expectations.--1 _Kings_ x.; 2 _Chron._ ix.

No, not to answer, madam, all those hard things That Sheba came to ask of Solomon.

Tennyson, _The Princess_, ii.

? The Arabs call her name Balkis, or Belkis; the Abyssinians, Macqueda; and others, Aazis.

_Sheba_ (_The queen of_), a name given to Mde. Montreville (the Begum Mootee Mahul).--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Shebdiz=, the Persian Bucephalos, the favorite charger of Chosroes II., or Khosrou Parvis, of Persia (590-628).

=Shedad=, king of Ad, who built a most magnificent palace, and laid out a garden called "The Garden of Irem," like "the bowers of Eden." All men admired this palace and garden, except the prophet Houd, who told the king that the foundation of his palace was not secure. And so it was, that G.o.d, to punish his pride, first sent a drought of three years'

duration, and then the Sarsar, or icy wind, for seven days, in which the garden was destroyed, the palace ruined, and Shedad, with all his subjects, died.

It is said that the palace of Shedad, or Shuddaud, took 500 years in building, and when it was finished the angel of death would not allow him even to enter his garden, but struck him dead, and the rose garden of Irem was ever after invisible to the eye of man.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, 1. (1797).

=Sheep-Dog= (_A_), a lady-companion, who occupies the back seat of the barouche, carries wraps, etc., goes to church with the lady,and[TN-174]

"guards her from the wolves," as much as the lady wishes to be guarded, but no more.

"Rawdon," said Becky, ... "I must have a sheep-dog ... I mean a _moral_ shepherd's dog ... to keep the wolves off me." ... "A sheep-dog, a companion! Becky Sharp with a sheep-dog! Isn't that good fun!"--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_, x.x.xvii. (1848).

=Sheep of the Prisons=, a cant term in the French Revolution for a spy under the jailers.--C. d.i.c.kens, _A Tale of Two Cities_, iii. 7 (1859).

=Sheep Tilted at.= Don Quixote saw the dust of two flocks of sheep coming in opposite directions, and told Sancho they were two armies--one commanded by the Emperor Alifanfaron, sovereign of the island of Trap'oban, and the other by the king of the Garaman'teans, called "Pentap'olin with the Naked Arm." He said that Alifanfaron was in love with Pentapolin's daughter, but Pentapolin refused to sanction the alliance, because Alifanfaron was a Mohammedan. The mad knight rushed on the flock "led by Alifanfaron," and killed seven of the sheep, but was stunned by stones thrown at him by the shepherds. When Sancho told his master that the two armies were only two flocks of sheep, the knight replied that the enchanter Freston had "metamorphosed the two grand armies" in order to show his malice.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii.

4 (1605).

? After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses both claimed the armor of Hector. The dispute was settled by the sons of Atreus (2 _syl._), who awarded the prize to Ulysses. This so enraged Ajax that it drove him mad, and he fell upon a flock of sheep driven at night into the camp, supposing it to be an army led by Ulysses and the sons of Atreus. When he found out his mistake, he stabbed himself. This is the subject of a tragedy by Soph'ocles called _Ajax Mad_.

? Orlando in his madness also fell foul of a flock of sheep.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Sheffield= (_The Bard of_), James Montgomery, author of _The Wanderer of Switzerland_, etc. (1771-1854).

With broken lyre and cheek serenely pale, Lo! Sad Alcaens wanders down the vale ...

O'er his lost works let cla.s.sic Sheffield weep; May no rude hand disturb their early sleep!

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

=Sheila=, pretty, simple-hearted girl, whose father is a magnate among his neighbors in the Orkney Islands. Sheila is won by a Londoner--Lavender by name--who visits her island home. He transplants the Northern wild flower into a London home, where she pines for a while, homesick and heart-sick. In time, her sound sense enables her to adjust herself to altered conditions, and her stronger nature raises and enn.o.bles her husband's.--William Black, _A Princess of Thule_.

=Shelby= (_Mr._), Uncle Tom's first master. Being in commercial difficulties, he was obliged to sell his faithful slave. His son afterwards endeavored to buy Uncle Tom back again, but found that he had been whipped to death by the villain Legree.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1852).

=Sh.e.l.l= (_A_). Amongst the ancient Gaels a sh.e.l.l was emblematic of peace.

Hence when Bosmi'na, Fingal's daughter, was sent to propitiate King Erragon, who had invaded Morven, she carried with her a "sparkling sh.e.l.l as a symbol of peace, and a golden arrow as a symbol of war."--Ossian, _The Battle of Lora_.

=Sh.e.l.ls=, _i.e._, hospitality. "Semo, king of sh.e.l.ls" ("hospitality").

When Cuthullin invites Swaran to a banquet, his messenger says, "Cuthullin gives the joy of sh.e.l.ls; come and partake the feast of Erin's blue-eyed chief." The ancient Gaels drank from sh.e.l.ls; and hence such phrases as "chief of sh.e.l.ls," "hall of sh.e.l.ls," "king of sh.e.l.ls," etc.

(king of hospitality). "To rejoice in the sh.e.l.l" is to feast sumptuously and drink freely.

=Shemus-an-Snachad=, or "James of the Needle," M'Ivor's tailor at Edinburgh.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.)

=Shepheardes Calendar= (_The_), twelve eclogues in various metres, by Spenser, one for each month. _January_: Colin Clout (_Spenser_) bewails that Rosalind does not return his love, and compares his forlorn condition to the season itself. _February_: Cuddy, a lad, complains of the cold, and Thenot laments the degeneracy of pastoral life. _March_: Willie and Thomalin discourse of love (described as a person just aroused from sleep). _April_: Hobbinol sings a song on Eliza, queen of shepherds. _May_: Palinode (3 _syl._) exhorts Piers to join the festivities of May, but Piers replies that good shepherds who seek their own indulgence expose their flocks to the wolves. He then relates the fable of the kid and her dam. _June_: Hobbinol exhorts Colin to greater cheerfulness, but Colin replies there is no cheer for him while Rosalind remains unkind and loves Menalcas better than himself. _July_: Morrel, a goat-herd, invites Thomalin to come with him to the uplands, but Thomalin replies that humility better becomes a shepherd (_i.e._, a pastor or clergyman). _August_: Perigot and Willie contend in song, and Cuddy is appointed arbiter. _September_: Diggon Davie complains to Hobbinol of clerical abuses. _October_: On poetry, which Cuddy says has no encouragement, and laments that Colin neglects it, being crossed in love. _November_;[TN-175] Colin, being asked by Thenot to sing, excuses himself because of his grief for Dido, but finally he sings her elegy.

_December_: Colin again complains that his heart is desolate because Rosalind loves him not (1579).

=Shepheards Hunting= (_The_), four "eglogues" by George Wither, while confined in the Marshalsea (1615). The shepherd, Roget, is the poet himself, and his "hunting" is a satire called _Abuses Stript and Whipt_, for which he was imprisoned. The first three eglogues are upon the subject of Roget's imprisonment, and the fourth is on his love of poetry. "w.i.l.l.y" is the poet's friend, William Browne, of the Inner Temple, author of _Britannia's Pastorals_. He was two years the junior of Wither.

=Shepherd= (_The_), Moses, who for forty years fed the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law.

Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, "In the beginning," how the heaven and earth Rose out of chaos.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. (1665).

_Shepherd_ (_The Gentle_), George Grenville, the statesman. One day, in addressing the House, George Grenville said, "Tell me where! tell me where!..." Pitt hummed the line of a song then very popular, beginning, "Gentle shepherd, tell me where!" and the whole House was convulsed with laughter (1712-1770).

? Allan Ramsay has a beautiful Scotch pastoral called _The Gentle Shepherd_ (1725).

_Shepherd_ (_John Claridge_), the signature adopted by the author of _The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules to Judge of the Changes of Weather, etc._ (1744). Supposed to be Dr. John Campbell, author of _A Political Survey of Britain_.

=Shepherd-Kings= (_The_), or _Hyksos_. These Hyksos were a tribe of Cuthites driven from a.s.syria by Aralius and the Shemites. Their names were: (1) SAITeS or Salates, called by the Arabs El-Weleed, and said to be a descendant of Esau (B.C. 1870-1851); (2) BEON, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan, son of El-Weleed (B.C. 1851-1811); (3) APACHNAS (B.C.

1811-1750); (4) APOPHIS, called by the Arabs Er-Reiyan II., in whose reign Joseph was sold into Egypt and was made viceroy (B.C. 1750-1700); (5) JANIAS (B.C. 1700-1651); (6) a.s.sETH (1651-1610).[TN-176] The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt by Amosis or Thetmosis, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and retired to Palestine, where they formed the chiefs or lords of the Philistines. (Hyksos is compounded of _hyk_, "king," and _sos_, "shepherd.")

? Apophis or Aphophis was not a shepherd-king, but a pharaoh or native ruler, who made Apachnas tributary, and succeeded him, but on the death of Aphophis the hyksos were restored.

=Shepherd Lord= (_The_), Lord Henry de Clifford, brought up by his mother as a shepherd to save him from the vengeance of the Yorkists. Henry VII.

restored him to his birthright and estates (1455-1543).

The gracious fairy, Who loved the shepherd lord to meet In his wanderings solitary.