Part 50

=Sentimental Journey= (_The_), by Laurence Sterne (1768). It was intended to be sentimental sketches of his tour through Italy in 1764, but he died soon after completing the first part. The tourist lands at Calais, and the first incident is his interview with a poor monk of St. Francis, who begged alms for his convent. Sterne refused to give anything, but his heart smote him for his churlishness to the meek old man. From Calais he goes to Montriul (Montreuil-sur-Mer) and thence to Nampont, near Cressy. Here occurred the incident, which is one of the most touching of all the sentimental sketches, that of “The Dead Ass.” His next stage was Amiens, and thence to Paris. While looking at the Bastille, he heard a voice crying, “I can’t get out! I can’t get out!” He thought it was a child, but it was only a caged starling. This led him to reflect on the delights of liberty and miseries of captivity. Giving reins to his fancy, he imaged to himself a prisoner who for thirty years had been confined in a dungeon, during all which time “he had seen no sun, no moon, nor had the voice of kinsman breathed through his lattice.” Carried away by his feelings, he burst into tears, for he “could not sustain the picture of confinement which his fancy had drawn.” While at Paris, our tourist visited Versailles, and introduces an incident which he had witnessed some years previously at Rennes, in Brittany. It was that of a marquis reclaiming his sword and “patent of nobility.” Any nobleman in France who engaged in trade, forfeited his rank; but there was a law in Brittany that a nobleman of reduced circumstances might deposit his sword temporarily with the local magistracy, and if better times dawned upon him, he might reclaim it. Sterne was present at one of these interesting ceremonies. A marquis had laid down his sword to mend his fortune by trade, and after a successful career at Martinico for twenty years, returned home, and reclaimed it. On receiving his deposit from the president, he drew it slowly from the scabbard, and, observing a spot of rust near the point, dropped a tear on it. As he wiped the blade lovingly, he remarked, “I shall find some other way to get it off.” Returning to Paris, our tourist starts for Italy; but the book ends with his arrival at Moulines (Moulins). Some half a league from this city he encountered Maria, whose pathetic story had been told him by Mr. Shandy. She had lost her goat when Sterne saw her, but had instead a little dog named Silvio, led by a string. She was sitting under a poplar, playing on a pipe her vespers to the Virgin. Poor Maria had been crossed in love, or, to speak more strictly, the curé of Moulines had forbidden her banns, and the maiden lost her reason. Her story is exquisitely told, and Sterne says, “Could the traces be ever worn out of her brain, and those of Eliza out of mine, she should not only eat of my bread and drink of my cup, but Maria should lie in my bosom, and be unto me as a daughter.”

=Sentinel and St. Paul’s Clock= (_The_). The sentinel condemned to death by court-martial for falling asleep on his watch, but pardoned because he affirmed that he heard St. Paul’s clock strike thirteen instead of twelve, was John Hatfield, who died at the age of 102, June, 1770.

=Sentry= (_Captain_), one of the members of the club under whose auspices the _Spectator_ was professedly issued.

=September Massacre= (_The_), the slaughter of loyalists confined in the Abbaye. This massacre took place in Paris between September 2 and 5, 1792, on receipt of the news of the capture of Verdun. The number of victims was not less than 1200, and some place it as high as 4000.

=September the Third= was Cromwell’s day. On September 3, 1650, he won the battle of Dunbar. On September 3, 1651, he won the battle of Worcester. On September 3, 1658, he died.

=Seraphic Doctor= (_The_), St. Bonaventura, placed by Dantê among the saints of his _Paradiso_ (1221-1274).

=Seraphic Saint= (_The_), St. Francis d’Assisi (1182-1226).

Of all the saints, St. Francis was the most blameless and gentle.--Dean Milman.

=Seraphina Arthuret= (_Miss_), a papist. Her sister is Miss Angelica Arthuret.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Sera´pis=, an Egyptian deity symbolizing the Nile, and fertility in general.

=Seraskier´= (3 _syl._), a name given by the Turks to a general of division, generally a pacha with two or three tails. (Persian, _seri asker_, “head of the army.”)

... three thousand Moslems perished here, And sixteen bayonets pierced the seraskier.

Byron, _Don Juan_, viii. 81 (1824).

=Serb=, a Servian or native of Servia.

=Sereme´nes= (4 _syl._), brother-in-law of King Sardanapālus, to whom he entrusts his signet-ring to put down the rebellion headed by Arbācês, the Mede, and Belĕsis, the Chaldēan soothsayer. Seremēnês was slain in a battle with the insurgents.--Byron, _Sardanapalus_ (1819).

=Sere´na=, allured by the mildness of the weather, went into the fields to gather wild flowers for a garland, when she was attacked by the Blatant Beast, who carried her off in its mouth. Her cries attracted to the spot Sir Calidore, who compelled the beast to drop its prey.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 3 (1596).

=Sergis= (_Sir_), the attendant on Irēna. He informs Sir Artegal that Irena is the captive of Grantorto, who has sworn to take her life within ten days, unless some knight will volunteer to be her champion, and in single combat prove her innocent of the crime laid to her charge.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 11 (1596).

=Sergius=, a Nestorian monk, said to be the same as Boheira, who resided at Bosra, in Syria. This monk, we are told, helped Mahomet in writing the _Korân_. Some say it was Saïd or Felix Boheira.

Boheira’s name, in the books of Christians, is Sergius.--Masudi, _History_, 24 (A.D. 956).

=Serimner=, the wild boar whose lard fed the vast multitude in Einheriar, the hall of Odin. Though fed on daily, the boar never diminished in size. Odin himself gave his own portion of the lard to his two wolves, Geri and Freki.--_Scandinavian Mythology._ (See RUSTICUS’S PIG.)

=Seri´na=, daughter of Lord Acasto, plighted to Chamont (the brother of Monimia, “the orphan”).--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

=Seriswattee=, the Janus of Hindû mythology.

=The Serpent and Satan.= There is an Arabian tradition that the devil begged all the animals, one after another, to carry him into the garden, that he might speak to Adam and Eve, but they all refused except the serpent, who took him between two of its teeth. It was then the most beautiful of all the animals, and walked upon legs and feet.--Masudi, _History_, 22 (A.D. 956).

_The Serpent’s Punishment._ The punishment of the serpent for tempting Eve was this: (1) Michael was commanded to cut off its legs; and (2) the serpent was doomed to feed on human excrements ever after.

=Serpent d’Isabit=, an enormous monster, whose head rested on the top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, its body filled the whole valley of Luz, St. Sauveur, and Gèdres, and its tail was coiled in the hollow below the cirque of Gavarnie. It fed once in three months, and supplied itself by making a very strong inspiration of its breath, whereupon every living thing around was drawn into its maw. It was ultimately killed by making a huge bonfire, and waking it from its torpor, when it became enraged, and drawing a deep breath, drew the bonfire into its maw, and died in agony.--Rev. W. Webster, _A Pyrenean Legend_ (1877).

=Served My God.= WOLSEY said, in his fall, “Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.”--Shakespeare, _Henry VIII._ act iii. sc. 2 (1601).

SAMRAH, when he was deposed from the government of Basorah by the Caliph Moawiyah, said, “If I had served God so well as I have served the caliph, He would never have condemned me to all eternity.”

ANTONIO PEREZ, the favorite of Philip II. of Spain, said, “Mon zele etoit si grand vers ces benignes puissances [i.e. _Turin_] qui si j’en eusse eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu’il ne m’eut deja recompensé de son paradis.”

The earl of GOWRIE, when, in 1854, he was led to execution, said, “If I had served God as faithfully as I have done the king [_James VI._], I should not have come to this end.”--Spotswood, _History of the Church of Scotland_, 332, 333 (1653).

=Sesostris= (_The Modern_), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769, 1804-1815, 1821).

But where is he, the modern, mightier far, Who, born no king, made monarchs draw his car; The new Sesostris, whose unharnessed kings, Freed from the bit, believe themselves with wings, And spurn the dust o’er which they crawled of late, Chained to the chariot of the chieftain’s state?

Byron, _Age of Bronze_ (1821).

⁂ “Sesostris,” in Fénelon’s _Télémaque_, is meant for Louis XIV.

=Set´ebos=, a deity of the Patagonians.

His art is of such power, It would control my dam’s god Setebos.

Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).

The giants, when they found themselves fettered, roared like bulls, and cried upon Setebos to help them.--Eden, _History of Travayle_.

=Seth=, a servant of the Jew at Ashby. Reuben is his fellow-servant.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Seth Fairchild.= Young countryman, who is almost persuaded to be in love with Isabel, the wife of his brother, Albert. Albert is killed--it is supposed, accidentally--and Isabel, assuming that Seth has murdered him, and for her sake, promises to keep the deed secret. The horror of the supposition and her readiness to believe him capable of the crime, dispels Seth’s unholy illusion and sends him back to his first love, who has always been his good angel.--Harold Frederic, _Seth’s Brother’s Wife_ (1887).

=Settle= (_Elkana_), the poet, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Seven Champions of Christendom= (_The_): St. George for England; St. Andrew for Scotland; St. Patrick for Ireland; St. David for Wales; St. Denis for France; St. James for Spain; and St. Anthony for Italy.

⁂ Richard Johnson wrote _The Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom_ (1617).

=Seven=, Rienzi’s Number.

October 7, Rienzi’s foes yielded to his power. 7 months Rienzi reigned as tribune. 7 years he was absent in exile. 7 weeks of return saw him without an enemy (Oct. 7). 7 was the number of the crowns the Roman convents and the Roman council awarded him.

=Seven Sleepers= (_The_). The tale of these sleepers is told in divers manners. The best accounts are those in the _Korân_ xviii., entitled, “The Cave, Revealed at Mecca;” _The Golden Legends_, by Jacques de Voragine; the _De Gloria Martyrum_, i. 9, by Gregory of Tours; and the _Oriental Tales_, by Comte de Caylus (1743).

_Names of the Seven Sleepers._ Gregory of Tours says their names were: Constantine, Dionysius, John, Maximian, Malchus, Martinian or Marcian, and Serapĭon. In the _Oriental Tales_ the names given are: Jemlikha, Mekchilinia, Mechlima, Merlima, Debermouch, Charnouch, and the shepherd Keschetiouch. Their names are not given in the _Korân_.

_Number of the Sleepers._ Al Seyid, a Jacobite Christian of Najrân, says the sleepers were only three, with their dog; others maintain that their number was five, besides the dog; but Al Beidâwi, who is followed by most authorities, says they were seven, besides the dog.

_Duration of the Sleep._ The _Korân_ says it was “300 years and nine years over;” the _Oriental Tales_ say the same; but if Gregory of Tours is followed, the duration of the sleep was barely 230 years.

_The Legend of the Seven Sleepers._ (1) According to Gregory of Tours. Gregory says they were seven noble youths of Ephesus, who fled in the Decian persecution to a cave in Mount Celion, the mouth of which was blocked up by stones. After 230 years they were discovered, and awoke, but died within a few days, and were taken in a large stone coffin to Marseilles. Visitors are still shown, in St. Victor’s Church, the stone coffin.

If there is any truth at all in the legend, it amounts to this: In A.D. 250, some youths (three or seven) suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Decius, “fell asleep in the Lord,” and were buried in a cave of Mount Celion. In 479 (the reign of Theodosius) their bodies were discovered, and, being consecrated as holy relics, were removed to Marseilles.

(2) According to the _Oriental Tales_. Six Grecian youths were slaves in the palace of Dakiānos (_Decianus_, _Decius_). This Dakianos had risen from low degrees to kingly honors, and gave himself out to be a god. Jemlikha was led to doubt the divinity of his master, because he was unable to keep off a fly which persistently tormented him, and being roused to reflection, came to the conclusion that there must be a god to whom both Dakianos and the fly were subject. He communicated his thoughts to his companions, and they all fled from the Ephesian court till they met the shepherd Keschetiouch, whom they converted, and who showed them a cave, which no one but himself knew of. Here they fell asleep, and Dakianos, having discovered them, commanded the mouth of the cave to be closed up. Here the sleepers remained 309 years, at the expiration of which time they all awoke, but died a few hours afterwards.

_The Dog of the Seven Sleepers._ In the notes of the _Korân_, by Sale, the dog’s name is Kratim, Kratimer, or Katmir. In the _Oriental Tales_ it is Catnier, which looks like a clerical blunder for Catmer, only it occurs frequently. It is one of the ten animals admitted into Mahomet’s paradise. The _Korân_ tells us that the dog followed the seven young men into the cave, but they tried to drive him away, and even broke three of its legs with stones, when the dog said to them, “I love those who love God. Sleep, masters, and I will keep guard.” In the _Oriental Tales_ the dog is made to say, “You go to seek God, but am not I also a child of God?” Hearing this, the young men were so astounded, they went immediately, and carried the dog into the cave.

_The Place of Sepulture of the Seven Sleepers._ Gregory of Tours tells us that the bodies were removed from Mount Celion in a stone coffin to Marseilles. The _Korân_, with Sale’s notes, informs us they were buried in the cave, and a chapel was built there to mark the site. (See SLEEPER.)

_The Seven Sleepers turning on their sides._ William of Malmesbury says that Edward the Confessor, in his mind’s eye, saw the seven sleepers turn from their right sides to their left, and (he adds) whenever they turn on their sides, it indicates great disasters to Christendom.

Woe, woe to England! I have seen a vision: The seven sleepers in the cave of Ephesus Have turned from right to left.

Tennyson, _Harold_, i. 1.

=Seven Wise Masters.= Lucien, the son of Dolopathos, was placed under the charge of Virgil, and was tempted in manhood by his step-mother. He repelled her advances, and she accused him to the king of taking liberties with her. By consulting the stars it was discovered that if he could tide over seven days his life would be spared; so seven wise masters undertook to tell the king a tale each, in illustration of rash judgments. When they had all told their tales, the prince related, under the disguise of a tale, the story of the queen’s wantonness; whereupon Lucien was restored to favor, and the queen was put to death.--Sandabar, _Parables_ (contemporary with King Courou).

⁂ John Rolland, of Dalkeith, has rendered this legend into Scotch verse. There is an Arabic version by Nasr Allah (twelfth century), borrowed from the Indian by Sandabar. In the Hebrew version by Rabbi Joel (1270), the legend is called _Kalilah and Dimnah_.

=Seven Wise Men= (_The_).

One of Plutarch’s _brochures_ in the _Moralia_ is entitled “The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men,” in which Periander is made to give an account of a contest at Chalcis between Homer and Hesiod, in which the latter wins the prize, and receives a tripod, on which he caused to be engraved this inscription:

This Hesiod vows to the Heliconian nine, In Chalcis won from Homer the divine.

=Seven Wise Men of Greece= (_The_), seven Greeks of the sixth century B.C., noted for their maxims.

BIAS. His maxim was, “Most men are bad” (“There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” _Psalm_ xiv. 3): Οἱ πλέιους κακοὶ[TN-167] (fl. B.C. 550).

CHILO. “Consider the end:” Τέλος ὁρᾳν μακροῦ βίου (fl. B.C. 590).

CLEOBŪLOS. “Avoid extremes” (the golden mean): Ἄριστον μέτρον (fl. B.C. 580).

PERIANDER. “Nothing is impossible to industry” (patience and perseverance overcome mountains): Μελέτη τὸ πᾶν (B.C. 665-585).

PITTĂCOS. “Know thy opportunity” (seize time by the forelock): Καιρὸν γνῶθι (B.C. 652-569).

SOLON. “Know thyself:” Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν (B.C. 638-558).

THĀLES (2 _syl._). “Suretyship is the forerunner of ruin.” (“He that hateth suretyship is sure,” _Prov._ xi. 15): Εγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτη (B.C. 636-546).

First Solon, who made the Athenian laws, While Chilo, in Sparta, was famed for his saws; In Milētos did Thalês astronomy teach; Bias used in Priēnê his morals to preach; Cleobūlos of Lindos, was handsome and wise; Mitylēnê, gainst thraldom saw Pittăcos rise; Periander is said to have gained, thro’ his court, The title that Myson, the Chenian, ought.

⁂ It is Plato who says that Myson should take the place of Periander as one of the Seven Wise Men.

=Seven Years.=

Barbarossa changes his position in his sleep every seven years.

Charlemagne starts in his chair from sleep every seven years.

Ogier, the Dane, stamps his iron mace on the floor every seven years.

Olaf Redbeard of Sweden uncloses his eyes every seven years.

=Seven Year’s War= (_The_), the war maintained by Frederick II. of Prussia against Austria, Russia, and France (1756-1763).

=Seven Against Thebes= (_The_). At the death of Œdĭpus, his two sons, Eteŏclês and Polynīcês, agreed to reign alternate years, but at the expiration of the first year Eteoclês refused to resign the crown to his brother. Whereupon, Polynicês induced six others to join him in besieging Thebes, but the expedition was a failure. The names of the seven Grecian chiefs who marched against Thebes were: Adrastos, Amphiarāos, Kapaneus, Hippomedon (_Argives_), Parthenopæos (_an Arcadian_), Polynicês (_a Theban_), and Tydeus (_an Æolian_). (See EPIGONI.)

Æschylos has a tragedy on the subject.

=Severn=, a corruption of Averne, daughter of Astrild. The legend is this: King Locryn was engaged to Gwendolen, daughter of Corīneus, but seeing Astrild (daughter of the king of Germany), who came to this island with Homber, king of Hungary, fell in love with her. While Corineus lived he durst not offend him, so he married Gwendolen, but kept Astrild as his mistress, and had by her a daughter (Averne). When Corineus died, he divorced Gwendolen, and declared Astrild queen, but Gwendolen summoned her vassals, dethroned Locryn, and caused both Astrild and Averne to be cast into the river, ever since called Severn fron[TN-168] Averne “the kinges dohter.”

=Sevier= (_Dr._), New Orleans physician. “His inner heart was all of flesh, but his demands for the rectitude of mankind pointed out like the muzzles of cannon through the embrasures of his virtues.” He befriends the struggling Richlings, setting John upon his feet time and again, and in his last illness, never leaving him until he goes out and closes the door upon the dying man, reunited to his wife and child. Dr. Sevier finds work for the widow, and educates little Alice, named for his own dead wife.

“And oh! when they two, who have never joined hands on this earth, go to meet John and Alice,--which GOD grant may be at one and the same time,--what weeping there will be among GOD’S poor!”--George W. Cable, _Dr. Sevier_ (1883).

=Sewall= (_Judge_) Colonial judge in Massachusetts. He has left in his diary a circumstantial account of his courtship of Madam Winthrop, also a curious “confession” made by him in church of the “Guilt contracted upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer, at Salem.”--_Sewall Papers_ (1697).

_Sewall_ (_Rev. Mr._). Boston clergyman, liberal in opinion, and large of heart. He counsels the Lapham parents in their family perplexities, and becomes the not-too-willing sponsor of Lemuel Barker, a rustic aspirant after literary honors.--W. L. Howells, _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ and _The Minister’s Charge_.

=Sex.= Milton says that spirits can assume either sex at pleasure, and Michael Psellus asserts that demons can take what sex, shape, and color they please, and can also contract or dilate their forms at pleasure.

For spirits when they please, Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure; Not tied or manacled with joint and limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh.

_Paradise Lost_, i. 423, etc. (1665).

_Sex._ Cæneus and Tire´sias were at one part of their lives of the male sex, and at another part of their lives of the female sex. (See these names.)

Iphis was first a woman, and then a man.--Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, ix. 12; xiv 699.

=Sextus [Tarquinius].= There are several points of resemblance in the story of Sextus and that of Paris, son of Priam. (1) Paris was the guest of Menelāos, when he eloped with his wife, Helen; and Sextus was the guest of Lucretia when he defiled her. (2) The elopement of Helen was the cause of a national war between the Greek cities and the allied cities of Troy; and the defilement of Lucretia was the cause of a national war between Rome and the allied cities under Por´sena. (3) The contest between Greece and Troy terminated in the victory of Greece, the injured party; and the contest between Rome and the supporters of Tarquin terminated in favor of Rome, the injured party. (4) In the Trojan war, Paris, the aggressor, showed himself before the Trojan ranks, and defied the bravest of the Greeks to single combat, but when Menelaos appeared, he took to flight; and so Sextus rode vauntingly against the Roman host, but when Herminius appeared, fled to the rear like a coward. (5) In the Trojan contest, Priam and his sons fell in battle; and in the battle of Lake Regillus, Tarquin and his sons were slain.

⁂ Lord Macaulay has taken the “Battle of Lake Regillus” as the subject of one of his _Lays of Ancient Rome_. Another of his lays, called “Horatius,” is the attempt of Porsĕna to re-establish Tarquin on the throne.

=Seyd=, pacha of the Morea, assassinated by Gulnare (2 _syl._), his favorite concubine. Gulnare was rescued from the burning harem by Conrad, “the Corsair.” Conrad, in the disguise of a dervise, was detected and seized in the palace of Seyd, and Gulnare, to effect his liberation, murdered the pacha.--Byron, _The Corsair_ (1814).

=Seyton= (_Lord_), a supporter of Queen Mary’s cause.

_Catherine Seyton_, daughter of Lord Seyton, a maid of honor in the Court of Queen Mary. She appears at Kinross village in disguise.

_Henry Seyton_, son of Lord Seyton.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Sforza=, of Lombardy. He with his two brothers (Achilles and Palamēdês) were in the squadron of adventurers in the allied Christian army.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

⁂ The word Sforza means “force,” and, according to tradition, was derived thus: Giacomuzzo Attendolo, the son of a day laborer, being desirous of going to the wars, consulted his hatchet, resolving to enlist if it stuck fast in the tree at which he flung it. He threw it with such _force_ that the whole blade was completely buried in the trunk (fifteenth century).