Part 158 (1/2)

=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.).