Part 48

=School for Wives= (_L’école des Femmes_, “training for wives”), a comedy by Molière (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 sex 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´dês, born at Scia, or Cea, now _Zia_, one of the Cyclades.

The Scian and the Teian Muse [_Anacreon_] ... Have found the fame your shores 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, Colophôn, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenæ; _or_ Smyrna, Chios, Colophôn, Ithacâ, Pylos, Argos, Athenæ.

Antipater Sidonius, _A Greek Epigram_.

=Sciol´to= (3 _syl._), a proud Genoese nobleman, 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 circumstance 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 Celtibērian prince named Allucius, he resolved to conquer his rising passion, and sent her to her lover without recompense. A silver shield, 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 shield on p. 215.)

_Scipio_, son of the gypsy woman, Coscolīna, 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.

Like ... men of wit bereaven, Which howle and shoote against the lights of heaven.

Wm. Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, iv. (1613).

=Scogan= (_Henry_), M.A., a poet, contemporary with Chaucer. He lived in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and probably Henry V. Among the gentry who had letters of protection to attend Richard II. in his expedition into Ireland, in 1399, is “Henricus Scogan, Armiger.”--Tyrwhitt’s _Chaucer_, v. 15 (1773).

Scogan? What was he? Oh, a fine gentleman and a master of arts Of Henry the Fourth’s time, that made disguises For the king’s sons, and writ in ballad royal Daintily well.

Ben Jonson, _The Fortunate Isles_ (1626).

_Scogan_ (_John_), the favorite jester and buffoon of Edward IV. “Scogan’s jests” were published by Andrew Borde, a physician in the reign of Henry VIII.

The same Sir John [_Falstaff_], the very same. I saw him break Skogan’s head at the court-gate, when he was a crack not thus high.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act iii. sc. 2.

⁂ Shakespeare has confounded Henry Scogan, M.A., the poet, who lived in the reign of Henry IV., with John Scogan, the jester, who lived about a century later, in the reign of Edward IV.; and, of course, Sir John Falstaff, could not have known him when “he was a mere crack.”

=Scogan’s Jest.= Scogan and some companions, being in lack of money, agreed to the following trick: A peasant, driving sheep, was accosted by one of the accomplices, who laid a wager that his sheep were hogs, and agreed to abide by the decision of the first person they met. This, of course, was Scogan, who instantly gave judgment against the herdsman.

A similar joke is related in the _Hitopadesa_, an abridged version of Pilpay’s _Fables_. In this case, the “peasant” is represented by a Brahmin carrying a goat, and the joke was to persuade the Brahmin that he was carrying a dog. “How is this, friend,” says one, “that you, a Brahmin, carry on your back such an unclean animal as a dog?” “It is not a dog,” says the Brahmin, “but a goat;” and trudged on. Presently another made the same remark, and the Brahmin, beginning to doubt, took down the goat to look at it. Convinced that the creature was really a goat, he went on, when presently a third made the same remark. The Brahmin, now fully persuaded that his eyes were befooling him, threw down the goat and went away without it; whereupon the three companions took possession of it and cooked it.

In _Tyll Eulenspiegel_ we have a similar hoax. Eulenspiegel sees a man with a piece of green cloth, which he resolves to obtain. He employs two confederates, both priests. Says Eulenspiegel to the man, “What a famous piece of blue cloth! Where did you get it?” “Blue, you fool! why, it is green.” After a short contention, a bet is made, and the question in dispute is referred to the first comer. This was a confederate, and he at once decided that the cloth was blue. “You are both in the same boat,” says the man, “which I will prove by the priest yonder.” The question being put to the priest, is decided against the man, and the three rogues divide the cloth amongst them.

Another version is in novel 8 of Fortini. The joke was that certain kids he had for sale were capons.--See Dunlop, _History of Fiction_, viii. art. “Ser Giovanni.”

=Scone= [_Skoon_], a palladium stone. It was erected in Icolmkil for the coronation of Fergus Eric, and was called the _Lia-Fail_ of Ireland. Fergus, the son of Fergus Eric, who led the Dalriads to Argyllshire, removed it to Scone; and Edward I. took it to London. It still remains in Westminster Abbey, where it forms the support of Edward the Confessor’s chair, which forms the coronation chair of the British monarchs.

Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.

Lardner, _History of Scotland_, i. 67 (1832).

Where’er this stone is placed, the fates decree, The Scottish race shall there the sovereigns be.

⁂ Of course, the “Scottish race” is the dynasty of the Stuarts and their successors.

=Scotch Guards=, in the service of the French kings, were called his _garde du corps_. The origin of the guard was this: When St. Louis entered upon his first crusade, he was twice saved from death by the valor of a small band of Scotch auxiliaries under the commands of the earls of March and Dunbar, Walter Stuart, and Sir David Lindsay. In gratitude thereof, it was resolved that “a standing guard of Scotchmen, recommended by the king of Scotland, should ever more form the body-guard of the king of France.” This decree remained in force for five centuries.--Grant, _The Scottish Cavalier_, xx.

=Scotland.= So called, according to legend, from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. What gives this legend especial interest is, that when Edward I. laid claim to the country as a fief of England, he pleaded that Brute, the British king, in the days of Eli and Samuel, had conquered it. The Scotch, in their defence, pleaded their independence in virtue of descent from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. This is not fable, but sober history.--Rymer, _Fœdera_, I. ii. (1703).

=Scotland a Fief of England.= When Edward I. laid claim to Scotland as a fief of the English crown, his great plea was that it was awarded to Adelstan, by direct miracle, and, therefore, could never be alienated. His advocates seriously read from _The Life and Miracles of St. John of Beverley_, this extract: Adelstan went to drive back the Scotch, who had crossed the border, and, on reaching the Tyne, St. John of Beverley appeared to him, and bade him cross the river at daybreak. Adelstan obeyed, and reduced the whole kingdom to submission. On reaching Dunbar, in the return march, Adelstan prayed that some sign might be given, to testify to all ages that God had delivered the kingdom into his hands. Whereupon he was commanded to strike the basaltic rock with his sword. This did he, and the blade sank into the rock “as if it had been butter,” cleaving it asunder for “an ell or more.” As the cleft remains to the present hour, in testimony of this miracle, why, of course, _cela va sans dire_.--Rymer, _Fœdera_, I. ii. 771 (1703).

=Scotland’s Scourge=, Edward I. His son, Edward II., buried him in Westminster Abbey, where his tomb is still to be seen, with the following inscription:--

Edwardus Longus, Scotorum Malleus, hic est. (Our Longshanks, “Scotland’s Scourge,” lies here).

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvii. (1613).

So Longshanks, Scotland’s Scourge, the land laid waste.

Ditto, xxix. (1622).

=Scots= (_scuite_, “a wanderer, a rover”), the inhabitants of the western coast of Scotland. As this part is very hilly and barren, it is unfit for tillage; and the inhabitants used to live a roving life on the produce of the chase, their chief employment being the rearing of cattle.

_Scots_ (_The Royal_). The hundred cuirassiers, called _hommes des armes_, which formed the body-guard of the French king, were sent to Scotland in 1633, by Louis XIII., to attend the coronation of Charles I., at Edinburgh. On the outbreak of the civil war, eight years afterwards, these cuirassiers loyally adhered to the crown, and received the title of “The Royal Scots.” At the downfall of the king, the _hommes des armes_ returned to France.

=Scott= (_The Southern_). Ariosto is so called by Lord Byron.

First rose The Tuscan father’s “comedy divine” [_Dantê_]; Then, not unequal to the Florentine, The southern Scott, the minstrel who called forth A new creation with his magic line, And, like the Ariosto of the north [_Sir W. Scott_], Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth.

Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 40 (1817).

⁂ Dante was born at Florence.

=Scott of Belgium= (_The Walter_), Hendrick Conscience (1812- ).

=Scottish Anacreon= (_The_), Alexander Scot is so called by Pinkerton.

=Scottish Boanerges= (_The_), Robert and James Haldane (nineteenth century). Robert died 1842, aged 79, and James 1851.

=Scottish Hogarth= (_The_), David Allan (1744-1796).

=Scottish Homer= (_The_), William Wilkie, author of an epic poem in rhyme, entitled _The Epigoniad_ (1753).

=Scottish Solomon= (_The_), James VI. of Scotland, subsequently called James I. of England (1566, 1603-1625).

⁂ The French king called him far more aptly, “The Wisest Fool in Christendom.”

=Scottish Terriers= (_The_), Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841).

=Scottish Theoc´ritos= (_The_), Allan Ramsay (1685-1758).

=Scotus.= There were two schoolmen of this name: (1) John Scotus _Erigena_, a native of Ireland, who died 886, in the reign of King Alfred; (2) John Duns Scotus, a Scotchman, who died 1308. Longfellow confounds these two in his _Golden Legend_ when he attributes the Latin version of _St. Dionysius_, _the Areopagite_, to the latter schoolman.

And done into Latin by that Scottish beast, Erigena Johannes.

Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_ (1851).

=Scourers=, a class of dissolute young men, often of the better class, who infested the streets of London, in the seventeenth century, and thought it capital fun to break windows, upset sedan-chairs, beat quiet citizens, and molest young women. These young blades called themselves at different times, Muns, Hectors, Scourers, Nickers, Hawcabites, and Mohawks or Mohocks.

=Scourge of Christians= (_The_), Noureddin-Mahmûd, of Damascus (1116-1174).

=Scourge of God= (_The_), Attila, king of the Huns, called _Flagellum Dei_ (died A.D. 453). Gensĕric, king of the Vandals, called _Virga Dei_ (*, reigned 429-477).

=Scourge of Princes= (_The_), Pietro Aretino, of Arezzo, a merciless satirist of kings and princes, but very obscene and licentious. He called himself “Aretino the Divine” (1492-1557).

Thus Aretin of late got reputation By scourging kings, as Lucian did of old By scorning gods.

Lord Brooke, _Inquisition Upon Fame_ (1554-1628).

Suidas called Lucian “The Blasphemer;” and he added that he was torn to pieces by dogs for his impiety. Some of his works attack the heathen philosophy and religion. His _Jupiter Convicted_ shows Jupiter to be powerless, and _Jupiter, the Tragedian_, shows Jupiter and the other gods to be myths (120-200).

=Scourge of Scotland=, Edward I., _Scotōrum Malleus_ (1239, 1272-1307).

=Scrape-All=, a soapy, psalm-singing hypocrite, who combines with Cheatly to supply young heirs with cash at most exorbitant usury. (See CHEATLY.)--Shadwell, _Squire of Alsatia_ (1688).

=Scrape on, Gentlemen.= Hadrian went once to the public baths, and, seeing an old soldier scraping himself with a potsherd, for want of a flesh-brush, sent him a sum of money. Next day the bath was crowded with potsherd scrapers; but the emperor said when he saw them, “Scrape on, gentlemen, but you will not scrape an acquaintance with me.”

=Scribble=, an attorney’s clerk, who tries to get married to Polly Honeycombe, a silly, novel-struck girl, but well off. He is happily foiled in his scheme, and Polly is saved from the consequences of a most unsuitable match.--G. Colman, the elder, _Polly Honeycombe_ (1760).

=Scrible´rus= (_Cornelius_), father of Martinus. He was noted for his pedantry, and his odd whims about the education of his son.

_Martīnus Scriblērus_, a man of capacity, who had read everything; but his judgment was worthless, and his taste perverted.--(?) Arbuthnot, _Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martin Scriblerus_.

⁂ These “memoirs” were intended to be the first instalment[TN-162] of a general satire on the false taste in literature prevalent in the time of Pope. The only parts of any moment that were written of this intended series, were Pope’s _Treatise of the Bathos, or Art of Sinking in Poetry_, and his _Memoirs of P. P., Clerk of this Parish_ (1727), in ridicule of Dr. Burnett’s _History of His Own Time_. The _Dunciad_ is, however, preceded by a _Prolegomena_, ascribed to Martinus Scriblerus, and contains his notes and illustrations on the poem, thus connecting this merciless satire with the original design.

=Scriever= (_Jock_), the apprentice of Duncan Macwheeble (bailie at Tully Veolan to Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, baron of Bradwardine and Tully Veolan).--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time George II.).

=Scriptores Decem=, a collection of ten ancient chronicles on English history, in one vol., folio, London, 1652, edited by Roger Twysden and John Selden. The volume contains: (1) Simeon Dunelmensis [Simeon of Durham], _Historia_; (2) Johannes Hagustaldensis [John of Hexham], _Historia Continuata_; (3) Richardus Hagustaldensis [Richard of Hexham], _De Gestis Regis Stephani_; (4) Ailredus Rievallensis [Ailred of Rieval], _Historia_ (genealogy of the kings); (5) Radulphus de Diceto [Ralph of Diceto], _Abbreviationes Chronicorum_ and _Ymagines Historiarum_; (6) Johannes Brompton, _Chronicon_; (7) Gervasius Dorobornensis [Gervais of Dover], _Chronica, etc._ (burning and repair of Dover Church; contentions between the monks of Canterbury and Archbishop Baldwin; and lives of the archbishops of Canterbury); (8) Thomas Stubbs (a Dominican), _Chronica Pontificum ecc. Eboraci_ [_i.e._ York]; (9) Guilielmus Thorn Cantuariensis [of Canterbury], _Chronica_; and (10) Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis [of Leicester], _Chronica_. (The last three are chronicles of “pontiffs” or archbishops.)

=Scriptores Quinque=, better known as _Scriptores Post Bedam_, published at Frankfürt, 1601, in one vol., folio, and containing: (1) Willielm Malmesburiensis, _De Gestis Regum Anglorum_, _Historiæ Novellæ_, and _De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum_; (2) Henry Huntindoniensis, _Historia_; (3) Roger Hovedeni [Hoveden], _Annales_; (4) Ethelwerd, _Chronica_; and (5) Ingulphus Croylandensis [of Croyland], _Historia_.

=Scriptores Tres=, three “hypothetical” writers on ancient history, which Dr. Bertram professed to have discovered between the years 1747 and 1757. They are called Richardus Corinensis [of Cirencester], _De Situ Britanniæ_; Gildas Badonĭcus; and Nennius Banchorensis [of Bangor].--J. E. Mayor, in his preface to _Ricardi de Cirencestria Speculum Historiale_, has laid bare this literary forgery.

=Scripture.= Parson Adams’s wife said to her husband that in her opinion “it was blasphemous to talk of Scriptures out of church.”--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_.

A great impression in my youth Was made by Mrs. Adams, where she cries, “That Scriptures out of church are blasphemous.”

Byron, _Don Juan_, xiii. 96 (1824).

=Scroggen=, a poor hack author, celebrated by Goldsmith in his _Description of an Author’s Bedchamber_.

=Scroggens=, (_Giles_), a peasant, who courted Molly Bawn, but died just before the wedding day. Molly cried and cried for him, till she cried herself fast asleep. Fancying that she saw Giles Scroggens’s ghost standing at her bedside, she exclaimed in terror, “What do you want?” “You for to come for to go along with me,” replied the ghost. “I ben’t dead, you fool!” said Molly; but the ghost rejoined, “Why, that’s no rule.” Then, clasping her round the waist, he exclaimed, “Come, come with me, ere morning beam.” “I won’t!” shrieked Molly, and woke to find “‘twas nothing but a dream.”--_A Comic Ballad._

=Scroggs= (_Sir William_), one of the judges.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Scrooge= (_Ebenezer_), partner, executor, and heir of old Jacob Marley, stock-broker. When first introduced, he is “a squeezing, grasping, covetous old hunks, sharp and hard as a flint;” without one particle of sympathy, loving no one, and by none beloved. One Christmas Day Ebenezer Scrooge sees three ghosts; The Ghost of Christmas Past; Ghost of Christmas Present; and the Ghost of Christmas To-come. The first takes him back to his young life, shows him what Christmas was to him when a schoolboy, and when he was an apprentice; reminds him of his courting a young girl, whom he forsook as he grew rich; and shows him that sweetheart of his young days married to another, and the mother of a happy family. The second ghost shows him the joyous home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who has nine people to keep on 15_s._ a week, and yet could find wherewithal to make merry on this day; it also shows him the family of his nephew, and of others. The third ghost shows him what would be his lot if he died as he then was, the prey of harpies, the jest of his friends on ‘Change, the world’s uncared-for waif. These visions wholly changed his nature, and he becomes benevolent, charitable, and cheerful, loving all, and by all beloved.--C. Dickens, _A Christmas Carol_ (in five staves, 1843).

=Scrow=, the clerk of Lawyer Glossin.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time George II.).

=Scrub=, a man-of-all-work to Lady Bountiful. He describes his duties thus;

Of a Monday I drive the coach, of a Tuesday I drive the plough, on Wednesday I follow the hounds, on Thursday I dun the tenants, on Friday I go to market, on Saturday I draw warrants, and on Sunday I draw beer.--Geo. Farquhar, _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, iii. 4 (1707).

=Scrubin´da=, the lady who “lived by the scouring of pots in Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square.”

Oh, was I a quart, pint, or gill, To be scrubbed by her delicate hands!... My parlor that’s next to the sky I’d quit, her blest mansion to share; So happy to live and to die In Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square.

W. B. Rhodes, _Bombastes Furioso_ (1790).

=Scruple=, the friend of Random. He is too honest for a rogue, and too conscientious for a rake. At Calais he met Harriet, the elder daughter of Sir David Dunder, of Dunder Hall, near Dover, and fell in love with her. Scruple subsequently got invited to Dunder Hall, and was told that his Harriet was to be married next day to Lord Snolt, a stumpy, “gummy” fogey of five and forty. Harriet hated the idea, and agreed to elope with Scruple; but her father discovered by accident the intention, and intercepted it. However, to prevent scandal, he gave his consent to the union, and discovered that Scruple, both in family and fortune, was quite suitable for a son-in-law.--G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788).

=Scu´damour= (_Sir_), the knight beloved by Am´oret (whom Britomart delivered from Busyrane, the enchanter), and whom she ultimately married. He is called Scudamour (3 _syl._) from [_e_]_scu d’amour_ (“the shield of love”), which he carried (bk. iv. 10). This shield was hung by golden bands in the temple of Venus, and under it was written: “WHOSOEVER BE THIS SHIELD, FAIRE AMORET BE HIS.” Sir Scudamour, determined to win the prize, had to fight with twenty combatants, overthrew them all, and the shield was his. When he saw Amoret in the company of Britomart, dressed as a knight, he was racked with jealousy, and went on his wanderings, accompanied by nurse Glaucê for “his squire;” but somewhat later, seeing Britomart, without her hemlet,[TN-163] he felt that his jealousy was groundless (bk. iv. 6). His tale is told by himself (bk. iv. 10).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii., iv. (1590-6).

=Sculpture= (_Father of French_), Jean Goujon (1510-1572). G. Pilon is so called also (1515-1590).

=Scyld=, the king of Denmark preceding Beowulf. The Anglo-Saxon epic poem called _Beowulf_ (sixth century) begins with the death of Scyld.

At his appointed time, Scyld deceased, very decrepit, and went into the peace of the Lord. They ... bore him to the sea-shore as he himself requested.... There on the beach stood the ring-prowed ship, the vehicle of the noble ... ready to set out. They laid down the dear prince, the distributer of rings, in the bosom of the ship, the mighty one beside the mast ... they set up a golden ensign high overhead ... they gave him to the deep. Sad was their spirit, mournful their mood.--Kemble, _Beowulf_ (an Anglo-Saxon poem, 1833).

=Scylla and Charybdis.= The former was a rock, in which dwelt Scylla, a hideous monster, encompassed with dogs and wolves. The latter was a whirlpool, into which Charybdis was metamorphosed.--_Classic Fable._