Part 155 (2/2)

=Shuffleton= (_The Hon. Tom_), a man of very slender estate, who borrows of all who will lend, but always forgets to repay or return the loans.

When spoken to about it, he interrupts the speaker before he comes to the point, and diverts the conversation to some other subject. He is one of the new school, always emotionless, looks on money as the _summum bonum_, and all as fair that puts money in his purse. The Hon. Tom Shuffleton marries Lady Caroline Braymore, who has 4000 a year. (See DIMANCHE.)--G. Colman, Jr., _John Bull_.

=Shylock=, the Jew, who lends Antonio (a Venetian merchant) 3000 ducats for three months, on these conditions: If repaid within the time, only the princ.i.p.al would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to cut from Antonio's body a pound of flesh. The s.h.i.+ps of Antonio being delayed by contrary winds, the merchant was unable to meet his bill, and the Jew claimed the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the trial, and when the Jew was about to take his bond, reminded him that he must shed no drop of blood, nor must he cut either more or less than an exact pound. If these conditions were infringed his life would be forfeit. The Jew, feeling it to be impossible to exact the bond under such conditions, gave up the claim, but was heavily fined for seeking the life of a Venetian citizen.--Shakespeare, _The Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

Among modern actors, _Henry Irving_, as Shylock, stands unsurpa.s.sed.

According to the kindred authority of Shylock, no man hates the thing he would not kill.--Sir W. Scott.

? Paul Secchi tells us a similar tale: A merchant of Venice, having been informed by private letter that Drake had taken and plundered St.

Domingo, sent word to Sampson Ceneda, a Jewish usurer. Ceneda would not believe it, and bet a pound of flesh it was not true. When the report was confirmed the pope told Secchi he might lawfully claim his bet if he chose, only he must draw no blood, nor take either more or less than an exact pound, on the penalty of being hanged.--Gregorio Leti, _Life of s.e.xtus V._ (1666).

=Sibbald=, an attendant on the earl of Menteith.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Sibylla=, the sibyl. (See SIBYLS.)

And thou, Alecto, feede me wyth thy foode ...

And thou, Sibilla, when thou seest me faynte, Addres thyselfe the gyde of my complaynte.

Sackville, _Mirrour for Magistraytes_ (”Complaynte,” etc., (1557).[TN-178]

=Sibyls.= Plato speaks of only _one_ sibyl; Martian Capella says there were _two_ (the _Erythraean_ or _c.u.maean_ sibyl, and the _Phrygian_); Pliny speaks of the _three_ sibyls; Jackson maintains, on the authority of aelian, that there were _four_; Shakespeare speaks of the _nine_ sibyls of old Rome (1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2); Varro says they were _ten_ (the sibyls of Libya, Samos, c.u.mae (in Italy), c.u.mae (in Asia Minor), Erythrae, Persia, Tiburtis, Delphi, Ancy'ra (in Phrygia), and Marpessa), in reference to which Rabelais says, ”she may be the _eleventh_ sibyl” (_Pantagruel_, iii. 16); the mediaeval monks made the number to be _twelve_, and gave to each a distinct prophecy respecting Christ. But whatever the number, there was but _one_ ”sibyl of old Rome”

(the c.u.maean), who offered to Tarquin the nine Sibylline books.

=Sibyl's Books= (_The_). We are told that the sibyl of c.u.mae (in aeolis) offered Tarquin nine volumes of predictions for a certain sum of money, but the king, deeming the price exorbitant, refused to purchase them; whereupon she burnt three of the volumes, and next year offered Tarquin the remaining six at the same price. Again he refused, and the sibyl burnt three more. The following year she again returned, and asked the original price for the three which remained. At the advice of the augurs the king purchased the books, and they were preserved with great care under guardians specially appointed for the purpose.

=Sicilian Bull= (_The_), the brazen bull invented by Perillos for the tyrant Phalaris, as an engine of torture. Perillos himself was the first victim enclosed in the bull.

As the Sicilian bull that rightfully His cries echoed who had shaped the mould, Did so rebellow with the voice of him Tormented, that the brazen monster seemed Pierced through with pain.

Dante, _h.e.l.l_, xxvii. (1300).

=Sicilian Vespers= (_The_), the ma.s.sacre of the French in Sicily, which began at Palermo, March 30, 1282, at the hour of vespers, on Easter Monday. This wholesale slaughter was provoked by the brutal conduct of Charles d'Anjou (the governor) and his soldiers towards the islanders.

A similar ma.s.sacre of the Danes was made in England, on St. Bryce's Day (November 13), 1002.

Another similar slaughter took place at Bruges, March 24, 1302.

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