Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 158

=Simmons= (_Widow_), the seamstress; a neighbor of the Ramsays.--Sir W.

Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Simon= (_Martin_), proprietor of the village Bout du Monde, and miller of Gren.o.ble. He is called "The king of Pelvoux," and in reality is the Baron de Peyras, who has given up all his estates to his nephew, the young chevalier, Marcellin de Peyras, and retired to Gren.o.ble, where he lived as a villager. Martin Simon is in secret possession of a gold-mine, left him by his father, with the stipulation that he should place it beyond the reach of any private man, on the day it becomes a "source of woe and crime." Rabisson, a travelling tinker, the only person who knows about it, being murdered, Simon is suspected; but Eusebe Noel confesses the crime. Simon then makes the mine over to the king of France, as it had proved the source both "of woe and crime."--E.

Stirling, _The Gold Mine_, or _Miller of Gren.o.ble_ (1854).

=Simonides=, benevolent Jew, father of Esther, and friend of Ben Hur.--Lew Wallace, _Ben Hur: a Tale of the Christ_ (1880).

=Simon Pure=, a young quaker from Pennsylvania, on a visit to Obadiah Prim (a Bristol Quaker, and one of the guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress). Colonel Feignwell personated Simon Pure, and obtained Obadiah's consent to marry his ward. When the real Simon Pure presented himself, the colonel denounced him as an impostor; but after he had obtained the guardian's signature, he confessed the trick, and showed how he had obtained the consent of the other three guardians.--Mrs.

Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

? This name has become a household word for "the real man," the _ipsissimus ego_.

=Si'monie= or SI'MONY, the friar, in the beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498). So called from Simon Magus (_Acts._ viii. 9-24.)

=Simony= (_Dr._), in Foote's farce, called _The Cozeners_, was meant for Dr. Dodd.

=Sim'org=, a bird "which hath seen the world thrice destroyed." It is found in Kaf, but as Hafiz says, "searching for the simorg is like searching for the philosopher's stone." This does not agree with Beckford's account. (See SIMURGH.)

In Kaf the simorg hath its dwelling-place, The all-knowing bird of ages, who hath seen The world with all its children thrice destroyed.

Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, viii. 19 (1797).

=Simpc.o.x= (_Saunder_), a lame man, who a.s.serted he was born blind, and to whom St. Alban said, "Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee."

Being brought before Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, the lord protector, he was asked how he became lame; and Simpc.o.x replied he fell from a tree which he had climbed to gather plums for his wife. The duke then asked if his sight had been restored? "Yes," said the man; and, being shown divers colors, could readily distinguish between red, blue, brown, and so on. The duke told the rascal that a _blind_ man does not climb trees to gather their fruits; and one born blind might, if his sight were restored, know that one color differed from another, but could not possibly know which was which. He then placed a stool before him and ordered the constables to whip him till he jumped over it; whereupon the lame man jumped over it, and ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. Sir Thomas More tells this story, and Shakespeare introduces it in 2 _Henry VI_. act ii. sc. 1 (1591).

=Simple=, the servant of Slender (cousin of Justice Shallow).--Shakespeare, _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1596).

_Simple_ (_The_), Charles III. of France (879, 893-929).

_Simple_ (_Peter_), the hero and t.i.tle of a novel by Captain Marryat (1833).

=Simple Simon=, a man more sinned against than sinning, whose misfortunes arose from his wife Margery's cruelty, which began the very morning of their marriage.

We do not know whether it is necessary to seek for a Teutonic or Northern original for this once popular book.--_Quarterly Review._

=Simpson= (_Tam_), the drunken barber.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).

=Simson= (_Jean_), an old woman at Middlemas village.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Simurgh=, a fabulous Eastern bird, endowed with reason and knowing all languages. It had seen the great cycle of 7000 years twelve times, and, during that period, it declared it had seen the earth wholly without inhabitant seven times.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (notes, 1784). This does not agree with Southey's account. (See SIMORG.)

=Sin=, twin-keeper, with Death, of h.e.l.lgate. She sprang, full-grown, from the head of Satan.

Woman to the waist, and fair, But ending foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed With mortal sting.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. (1665).

=Sin'adone= (_The lady of_), metamorphosed by enchantment into a serpent.

Sir Lybius (one of Arthur's knights) slew the enchantress, and the serpent, coiling about his neck, kissed him; whereupon the spell was broken, the serpent became a lovely princess, and Sir Lybius made her his wife.--_Libeaux_ (a romance).

=Sindbad=, a merchant of Bagdad, who acquired great wealth by merchandise.

He went seven voyages, which he related to a poor, discontented porter named Hindbad, to show him that wealth must be obtained by enterprise and personal exertion.

_First Voyage._ Being becalmed in the Indian Ocean, he and some others of the crew visited what they supposed to be an island, but which was in reality a huge whale asleep. They lighted a fire on the whale, and the heat woke the creature, which instantly dived under water. Sindbad was picked up by some merchants, and in due time returned home.

_Second Voyage._ Sindbad was left, during sleep, on a desert island, and discovered a roc's egg, "fifty paces in circ.u.mference." He fastened himself to the claw of the bird, and was deposited in the valley of diamonds. Next day some merchants came to the top of the crags, and threw into the valley huge joints of raw meat, to which the diamonds stuck, and when the eagles picked up the meat, the merchants scared them from their nests, and carried off the diamonds. Sindbad fastened himself to a piece of meat, was carried by an eagle to its nest, and, being rescued by the merchants, returned home laden with diamonds.

_Third Voyage_ is the encounter with the Cyclops. (See ULYSSES AND POLYPHEMOS, where the account is given in detail.)

_Fourth Voyage._ Sindbad married a lady of rank in a strange island on which he was cast; and when his wife died he was buried alive with the dead body, according to the custom of the land. He made his way out of the catacomb, and returned to Bagdad greatly enriched by valuables rifled from the dead bodies.

_Fifth Voyage._ The s.h.i.+p in which he sailed was dashed to pieces by huge stones let down from the talons of two angry rocs. Sindbad swam to a desert inland,[TN-180] where he threw stones at the monkeys, and the monkeys threw back cocoa-nuts. On this island Sindbad encountered and killed the Old Man of the Sea.

_Sixth Voyage._ Sindbad visited the island of Serendib (or Ceylon), and climbed to the top of the mountain "where Adam was placed on his expulsion from paradise."

_Seventh Voyage._ He was attacked by corsairs, sold to slavery, and employed in shooting elephants from a tree. He discovered a tract of hill country completely covered with elephants' tusks, communicated his discovery to his master, obtained his liberty, and returned home.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Sindbad the Sailor").

=Sindbad, Ulysses, and the Cyclops.= (See ULYSSES AND POLYPHEMOS.)

=Sin'el=, thane of Glamis, and father of Macbeth. He married the younger daughter of Malcolm II. of Scotland.

=Sinfire=, brilliant, seductive, and wicked heroine of Julian Hawthorne's novel of the same name.

=Sing= (_Sadha_), the mourner of the desert.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon's Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Sing de Racine= (_Le_), Campistron, the French dramatic poet (1656-1723).