Part 49

=Scythian= (_That Brave_), Darius, the Persian. According to Herod´otus, all the south-east of Europe used to be called Scythia, and Xenophon calls the dwellers south of the Caspian Sea “Scythians,” also. In fact, by Scythia was meant the south of Russia and west of Asia; hence, the Hungarians, a Tartar horde, settled on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, who, in 889, crossed into Europe, are spoken of as “Scythians,” and Lord Brooke calls the Persians “Scythians.” The reference below is to the following event in Persian history:--The death of Smerdis was kept for a time a profound secret, and one of the officers about the court who resembled him usurped the crown, calling himself brother of the late monarch. Seven of the high nobles conspired together, and slew the usurper, but it then became a question to which of the seven the crown should be offered. They did not toss for it, but they did much the same thing. They agreed to give the crown to him whose horse neighed first. Darius’s horse won, and thus Darius became king of the Persian empire.

That brave Scythian, Who found more sweetness in his horse’s neighing Than all the Phrygian, Dorian, Lydian playing.

Lord Brooke, (1554-1628).

⁂ Marlowe calls Tamburlaine of Tartary “a Scythian.”

You shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine Threatening the world with high astounding terms.

Marlowe, _Tamburlaine_ (prologue, 1587).

=Scythian’s Name= (_The_). Humber or Humbert, king of the Huns, invaded England during the reign of Locrin, some 1000 years B.C. In his flight, he was drowned in the river Abus, which has ever since been called the Humber, after “the Scythian’s name.”--Geoffrey, _British History_, ii. 2 (1142); and Milton’s _History of England_.

Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian’s name.

Milton, _Vacation Exercise_ (1627).

=Sea-Captain= (_The_), a drama by Lord Lytton (1839). Norman, “the sea-captain,” was the son of Lady Arundel by her first husband, who was murdered. He was born three days after his father’s murder, and was brought up by Onslow, a village priest. At 14 he went to sea, and became the captain of a man-of-war. Lady Arundel married again, and had another son named Percy. She wished to ignore Norman, and to settle the title and estates on Percy, but it was not to be. Norman and Percy both loved Violet, a ward of Lady Arundel. Violet, however, loved Norman only. A scheme was laid to murder Norman, but failed; and at the end Norman was acknowledged by his mother, reconciled to his brother, and married to the ward.

=Seaforth= (_The earl of_), a royalist, in the service of King Charles I.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Seasons= (_The_), a descriptive poem in blank verse, by James Thomson, “Winter” (1726), “Summer” (1727), “Spring” (1728), “Autumn” (1730). “Winter” is inscribed to the earl of Wilmington; “Summer” to Mr. Doddington; “Spring” to the countess of Hertford; and “Autumn” to Mr. Onslow.

1. In “Winter,” after describing the season, the poet introduces his episode of a traveller lost in a snowstorm, “the creeping cold lays him along the snow, a stiffened corse,”[TN-164] of wife, of children, and of friends unseen. The whole book containing 1069 lines.

2. “Summer” begins with a description of the season, and the rural pursuits of haymaking and sheep-shearing; passes on to the hot noon, when “nature pants, and every stream looks languid.” After describing the tumultuous character of the season in the torrid zone, he returns to England, and describes a thunder-storm, in which Celădon and Amelia are overtaken. The thunder growls, the lightnings flash, louder and louder crashes the aggravated roar, “convulsing heaven and earth.” The maiden, terrified, clings to her lover for protection. “Fear not, sweet innocence,” he says. “He who involves yon skies in darkness ever smiles on thee. ’Tis safety to be near thee, sure, and thus to clasp protection.” As he speaks the words, a flash of lightning strikes the maid, and lays her a blackened corpse at the young man’s feet. The poem concludes with the more peaceful scenery of a summer’s evening, when the story of Damon and Musidōra is introduced. Damon had long loved the beautiful Musidora, but met with scant encouragement. One summer’s evening he accidently[TN-165] came upon her bathing, and the respectful modesty of his love so won upon the damsel that she wrote upon a tree, “Damon, the time may come when you need not fly.” The whole book contains 1804 lines.

3. In “Spring” the poet describes its general features, and its influence on the vegetable and animal world. He describes a garden with its harem of flowers, a grove with its orchestry of song-birds making melody in their love, the rough world of brutes, furious and fierce with their strong desire, and lastly man tempered by its infusive influence. The book contains 1173 lines.

4. In “Autumn” we are taken to the harvest-field, where the poet introduces a story similar to that of Ruth and Boaz. His Ruth he calls “Lavinia,” and his Boaz “Palēmon.” He then describes partridge and pheasant shooting, hare and fox hunting, all of which he condemns. After luxuriating in the orchard and vineyard, he speaks of the emigration of birds, the falling of the sear and yellow leaf, and concludes with a eulogy of country life. The whole book contains 1371 lines.

⁂ It is much to be regretted that the poet’s order has not been preserved. The arrangement of the seasons into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, is unnatural, and mars the harmony of the poet’s plan.

=Seatonian Prize.= The Rev. Thomas Seaton, Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, bequeathed the rents of his Kislingbury estate for a yearly prize of £40 to the best English poem on a sacred subject announced in January, and sent in on or before September 29 following.

Shall hoary Granta call her sable sons.... Shall these approach the Muse? Ah, no! she flies, And even spurns the great Seatonian prize.

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

=Sebastes of Mytile´ne= (4 _syl._), the assassin in the “Immortal Guards.”--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Sebastian=, a young gentleman of Messalinê, brother to Viola. They were twins, and so much alike that they could not be distinguished except by their dress. Sebastian and his sister, being shipwrecked, escaped to Illyria. Here Sebastian was mistaken for his sister (who had assumed man’s apparel), and was invited by the Countess Olivia to take shelter in her house from a street broil. Olivia was in love with Viola, and thinking Sebastian to be the object of her love, married him.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1614).

_Sebastian_, brother of Alonso, king of Naples, in _The Tempest_ (1609).

_Sebastian_, father of Valentine and Alice.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons. Thomas_ (1619).

_Sebastian_ (_Don_), king of Portugal, is defeated in battle and taken prisoner by the Moors (1574). He is saved from death by Dorax, a noble Portuguese, then a renegade in the court of the emperor of Barbary. The train being dismissed, Dorax takes off his turban, assumes his Portuguese dress, and is recognized as Alonzo of Alcazar.--Dryden, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).

The quarrel and reconcilation[TN-166] of Sebastian and Dorax [_alias Alonzo of Alcazar_] is a masterly copy from a similar scene between Brutus and Cassius [_in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar_].--R. Chambers, _English Literature_, i. 380.

_Don Sebastian_, a name of terror to Moorish children.

Nor shall Sebastian’s formidable name Be longer used to still the crying babe.

Dryden, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).

=Sebastian I. of Brazil=, who fell in the battle of Alcazarquebir in 1578. The legend is that he is not dead, but is patiently biding the fulness of time, when he will return, and make Brazil the chief kingdom of the earth. (See BARBAROSSA.)

=Sebastoc´rator= (_The_), the chief officer of state in the empire of Greece. Same as Protosebastos.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Sebile= (2 _syl._), la Dame du Lac, in the romance called _Perceforest_. Her castle was surrounded by a river, on which rested so thick a fog that no one could see across it. Alexander the Great abode with her a fortnight to be cured of his wounds, and King Arthur was the result of this amour (vol. i. 42).

=Secret Hill= (_The_). Ossian said to Oscar, when he resigned to him the command of the morrow’s battle, “Be thine the secret hill to-night,” referring to the Gaelic custom of the commander of an army retiring to a secret hill the night before a battle, to hold communion with the ghosts of departed heroes.--Ossian, _Cathlin of Clutha_.

=Secret Tribunal= (_The_), the count of the Holy Vehme.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Sedgwick= (_Doomsday_), William Sedgwick, a fanatical “prophet” in the Commonwealth, who pretended that it had been revealed to him in a vision that the day of doom was at hand.

=Sedillo=, the licentiate, with whom Gil Blas took service as a footman. Sedillo was a gouty old gourmand of 69. Being ill, he sent for Dr. Sangrado, who took from him six porringers of blood every day, and dosed him incessantly with warm water, giving him two or three pints at a time, saying, “a patient cannot be blooded too much; for it is a great error to suppose that blood is needful for the preservation of life. Warm water,” he maintained, “drunk in abundance, is the true specific in all distempers.” When the licentiate died under this treatment, the doctor insisted it was because his patient had neither lost blood enough nor drunk enough warm water.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, ii. 1, 2 (1715).

=Sedley= (_Mr._), a wealthy London stock-broker, brought to ruin by the fall of the Funds just prior to the battle of Waterloo. The old merchant then tried to earn a meagre pittance by selling wine, coals, or lottery-tickets by commission, but his bad wine and cheap coals found but few customers.

_Mrs. Sedley_, wife of Mr. Sedley. A homely, kind-hearted motherly woman in her prosperous days, but soured by adversity, and quick to take offence.

_Amelia Sedley_, daughter of the stock-broker, educated at Miss Pinkerton’s academy, Chiswick Mall, and engaged to Captain George Osborne, son of a rich London merchant. After the ruin of old Sedley, George married Amelia, and was disinherited by his father. He was adored by his young wife, but fell on the field of Waterloo. Amelia then returned to her father, and lived in great indigence, but Captain Dobbin greatly loved her, and did much to relieve her worst wants. Captain Dobbin rose in his profession to the rank of colonel, and married the young widow.

_Joseph Sedley_, a collector, of Boggley Wollah; a fat, sensual, conceited dandy, vain, shy, and vulgar. “His Excellency” fled from Brussels on the day of the battle between Napoleon and Wellington, and returned to Calcutta, where he bragged of his brave deeds, and made appear that he was Wellington’s right hand; so that he obtained the sobriquet of “Waterloo Sedley.” He again returned to England, and became the “patron” of Becky Sharp (then Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, but separated from her husband). But this lady proved a terrible dragon, fleeced him of all his money, and in six months he died under very suspicious circumstances.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_ (1848).

_Sedley_ (_Sir Charles_), in the court of Charles II.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Seelencooper= (_Captain_), superintendent of the military hospital at Ryde.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Seer= (_The Poughkeepsie_), Andrew Jackson Davis.

=Seicen´to= (3 _syl._), the sixteenth century of Italian notables, the period of bad taste and degenerate art. The degraded art is termed _Seicentista_, and the notables of the period the _Seicentisti_. The style of writing was inflated and bombastic, and that of art was what is termed “rococo.” The chief poet was Marini (1569-1615), the chief painter Caravaggio (1569-1609), the chief sculptor Bernini (1593-1680), and the chief architect Borromini (1599-1667).

=Sede=, in Voltaire’s tragedy of _Mahomet_, was the character in which Talma, the great French tragedian, made his _début_ in 1787.

=Seidel-Beckir=, the most famous of all talismanists. He made three of extraordinary power: viz., a little golden fish, which would fetch from the sea whatever was desired of it; a poniard, which rendered the person who bore it invisible, and all others whom he wished to be so; and a steel ring, which enabled the wearer to read the secrets of another’s heart.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“The Four Talismans,” 1743).

=Sejanus= (_Ælius_), a minister of Tibērius, and commander of the Prætorian Guards. His affability made him a great favorite. In order that he might be the foremost man of Rome, all the children and grandchildren of the emperor were put to death under sundry pretences. Drusus, the son of Tiberius, then fell a victim. He next persuaded the emperor to retire, and Tiberius went to Campania, leaving to Sejānus the sole management of affairs. He now called himself emperor; but Tiberius, roused from his lethargy, accused his minister of treason. The senate condemned him to be strangled, and his remains, being treated with the grossest insolence, were kicked into the Tiber, A.D. 31. This was the subject of Ben Jonson’s first historical play, entitled _Sejanus_ (1603).

=Sejjin= or =Sejn=, the record of all evil deeds, whether by men or the genii, kept by the recording angel. It also means that dungeon beneath the seventh earth, where Eblis and his companions are confined.

Verily, the register of the deeds of the wicked is surely in Sejjin.--Sale, _Al Korân_, lxxxiii.

=Selby= (_Captain_), an officer in the guards.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Self-Admiration Society= (_The_). _Poets_: Morris, Rosetti and Swinburne. _Painters_: Brown, Mudon, Whistler and some others.

=Selim=, son of Abdallah, who was murdered by his brother, Giaffir (pacha of Aby´dos). After the death of his brother, Giaffir (2 _syl._) took Selim under his charge and brought him up, but treated him with considerable cruelty. Giaffir had a daughter named Zuleika (3 _syl._), with whom Selim fell in love; but Zuleika thought he was her brother. As soon as Giaffir discovered the attachment of the two cousins for each other, he informed his daughter that he intended her to marry Osmyn Bey; but Zuleika eloped with Selim, the pacha pursued them, Selim was shot, Zuleika killed herself, and Giaffir was left childless and alone.--Byron, _Bride of Abydos_ (1813).

_Selim_, son of Acbar. Jehanguire was called Selim before his accession to the throne. He married Nourmahal, the “Light of the Haram,” but a coolness rose up between them. One night Nourmahal entered the sultan’s banquet-room as a lute-player, and so charmed young Selim that he exclaimed, “If Nourmahal had so sung, I could have forgiven her!” It was enough. Nourmahal threw off her disguise, and became reconciled to her husband.--T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“Light of the Haram,” 1817).

_Selim_, son of the Moorish king of Algiers. [Horush] Barbarossa, the Greek renegade, having made himself master of Algiers, slew the reigning king, but Selim escaped. After the lapse of seven years, he returned under the assumed name of Achmet, and headed an uprising of the Moors. The insurgents succeeded, Barbarossa was slain, the widowed Queen Zaphīra was restored to her husband’s throne, and Selim, her son, married Irēnê, daughter of Barbarossa.--J. Brown, _Barbarossa_ (1742 or 1755).

_Selim_, friend of Etan (the supposed son of Zamti, the mandarin).--Murphy, _The Orphan of China_ (1759).

=Sel´ima=, daughter of Bajazet, sultan of Turkey, in love with Prince Axalla, but promised by her father in marriage to Omar. When Selima refused to marry Omar, Bajazet would have slain her; but Tamerlane commanded both Bajazet and Omar to be seized. So every obstacle was removed from the union of Selima and Axalla.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).

_Selima_, one of the six Wise Men from the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, v. (1771).

=Se´lith=, one of the two guardian angels of the Virgin Mary, and of John the Divine.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, ix. (1771).

=Sellock= (_Cisly_), a servant girl in the service of Lady and Sir Geoffrey Peveril, of the Peak.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Selvaggio=, the father of Sir Industry, and the hero of Thomson’s _Castle of Indolence_.

In Fairy-land there lived a knight of old, Of feature stern, Selvaggio well y-clept; A rough, unpolished man, robust and bold, But wondrous poor. He neither sowed nor reaped; No stores in summer for cold winter heaped. In hunting all his days away he wore-- Now scorched by June, now in November steeped, Now pinched by biting January sore. He still in woods pursued the libbard and the boar.

Thomson, _Castle of Indolence_, ii. 5 (1745).

=Sem´ele= (3 _syl._), ambitious of enjoying Jupiter in all his glory, perished from the sublime effulgence of the god. This is substantially the tale of the second story of T. Moore’s _Loves of the Angels_. Liris requested her angel lover to come to her in all his angelic brightness; but was burnt to ashes as she fell into his embrace.

For majesty gives nought to subjects, ... A royal smile, a guinea’s glorious rays, Like Semelê, would kill us with its blaze.

Peter Pindar [Dr. Wolcot], _Progress of Admiration_ (1809).

=Semi´da=, the young man, the only son of a widow, raised from the dead by Jesus, as he was being carried from the walls of Nain. He was deeply in love with Cidli, the daughter of Jairus.

He was in the bloom of life. His hair hung in curls on his shoulders, and he appeared as beautiful as David, when, sitting by the stream of Bethlehem, he was ravished at the voice of God.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).

=Semir´amis=, queen of Assyria, wife of Ninus. She survived her husband, and reigned. The glory of her reign stands out so prominently that she quite eclipses all the monarchs of ancient Assyria. After a reign of forty-two years she resigned the crown to her son, Ninyas, and took her flight to heaven in the form of a dove. Semiramis was the daughter of Dercĕto, the fish-goddess, and a Syrian youth, and, being exposed in infancy, was brought up by doves.

=Semiramis of the North=, Margaret, daughter of Waldemar III. of Denmark. At the death of her father she succeeded him; by the death of her husband, Haco VIII., king of Norway, she succeeded to that kingdom also; and, having conquered Albert of Sweden, she added Sweden to her empire. Thus was she queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1353-1412).

_Semirămis of the North_, Catherine of Russia, a powerful and ambitious sovereign, but in morals a law unto herself (1729-1796).

=Semkail=, the angel of the winds and waves.

I keep the winds in awe with the hand which you see in the air, and prevent the wind Haidge from coming forth. If I gave it freedom it would reduce the universe to powder. With my other hand I hinder the sea from overflowing, without which precaution it would cover the face of the whole earth.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Abdal Motalleb,” 1743).

=Semo= (_Son of_), Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes.

=Sempro´nius=, one of the “friends” of Timon of Athens, and “the first man that e’er received a gift from him.” When Timon sent to borrow a sum of money of “his friend,” he excused himself thus: As Timon did not think proper to apply to me first, but asked others before he sent to me, I consider his present application an insult. “Go,” said he to the servant, “and tell your master:

Who bates mine honor shall not know my coin.”

Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_, act iii. sc. 3 (1600).

_Sempronius_, a treacherous friend of Cato while in Utĭca. Sempronius tried to mask his treason by excessive zeal and unmeasured animosity against Cæsar, with whom he was acting in alliance. He loved Marcia, Cato’s daughter, but his love was not honorable love; and when he attempted to carry off the lady by force, he was slain by Juba, the Numidian prince.--J. Addison, _Cato_ (1713).

I’ll conceal My thoughts in passion, ’tis the surest way. I’ll bellow out for Rome, and for my country, And mouth at Cæsar till I shake the senate. Your cold hypocrisy’s a stale device, A worn-out trick.

## Act i. 1.

=Sena´nus= (_St._), the saint who fled to the island of Scattery, and resolved that no woman should ever step upon the isle. An angel led St. Can´ara to the isle, but Senanus refused to admit her.--T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ (“St. Senanus and the Lady,” 1814).

=Sen´eca= (_The Christian_), Bishop Hall, of Norwich (1574-1656).

=Sene´na= (3 _syl._), a Welsh maiden, in love with Car´adoc. She dressed in boy’s clothes, and, under the assumed name of Mervyn, became the page of the Princess Goervyl, that she might follow her lover to America, when Madoc colonized Caer-Madoc. Senena was promised in marriage to another; but when the wedding day arrived and all was ready, the bride was nowhere to be found.

... she doffed Her bridal robes, and clipt her golden locks, And put on boy’s attire, thro’ wood and wild To seek her own true love; and over sea, Forsaking all for him, she followed him.

Southey, _Madoc_, ii. 23 (1805).

=Sennac´herib=, called by the Orientals King Moussal.--D’Herbelot, _Notes to the Korân_ (seventeenth century).

=Sennamar=, a very skilful architect, who built at Hirah, for Nôman-al-Aôuar, king of Hirah, a most magnificent palace. In order that he might not build another equal or superior to it, for some other monarch, Nôman cast him headlong from the highest tower of the building.--D’Herbelot, _Bibliothèque Orientale_ (1697).

⁂ A parallel tale is told of Neim´heid (2 _syl._), who employed four architects to build for him a palace in Ireland, and then, jealous lest they should build one like it, or superior to it, for another monarch, he had them all privately put to death.--O’Halloran, _History of Ireland_.

=Sensitive= (_Lord_), a young nobleman of amorous proclivities, who marries Sabīna Rosny, a French refugee, in Padua, but leaves her, more from recklessness than wickedness. He comes to England and pays court to Lady Ruby, a rich young widow; but Lady Ruby knows of his marriage to the young French girl, and so hints at it that his lordship, who is no libertine, and has a great regard for his honor, sees that his marriage is known, and tells Lady Ruby he will start without delay to Padua, and bring his young wife home. This, however, was not needful, as Sabina was at the time the guest of Lady Ruby. She is called forth, and Lord Sensitive openly avows her to be his wife.--Cumberland, _First Love_ (1796).