Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 134

SCHOOL CHILDREN, St. Nicholas and St. Gregory.

SCOTCH REFORMERS. Knox is "The Apostle of the Scotch Reformers"

(1505-72).

SEAMAN, St. Nicholas, who once was in danger of shipwreck; and St.

Christopher, who was a ferryman.

SHEPHERDS and their FLOCKS, St. Windeline, who kept sheep, like David.

SHOEMAKERS, St. Crispin, who made shoes.

SILVERSMITHS, St. Eloy, who worked in gold and silver.

SLAVES, St. Cyril. This is a pun; he was "The Apostle of the Slavi."

SOOTHSAYERS, etc., St. Agabus (_Acts_ xxi. 10).

SPORTSMEN, St. Hubert. (See "Huntsmen.")

STATUARIES, St. Veronica. (See above, "Portrait-painters.")

STONEMASONS, St. Peter, (_John_ i. 42).

STUDENTS, St. Katherine, noted for her great learning.

SURGEONS, St. Cosme, who practised medicine in Cilicia gratuitously (died 310).

SWEETHEARTS, St. Valentine, because in the Middle Ages ladies held their "courts of love" about this time. (See VALENTINE.)

SWINEHERDS and SWINE, St. Anthony.

TAILORS, St. Goodman, who was a tailor.

TANNERS, St. Clement, the son of a tanner.

TAX-COLLECTORS, St. Matthew, (_Matt._ ix. 9).

TENTMAKERS, St. Paul and St. Aquila, who were tentmakers (_Acts_ xviii.

3).

THIEVES, St. Dismas, the penitent thief. St. Ethelbert and St. Elian ward off thieves.

TRAVELLERS, St. Raphael, because he a.s.sumed the guise of a traveller in order to guide Tobias from Nineveh to Rages (_Tobit_ v.).

VINTNERS and VINEYARDS, St. Urban.

VIRGINS, St. Winifred and St. Nicholas.

WHEELWRIGHTS, St. Boniface, the son of a wheelwright.

WIGMAKERS, St. Louis.

WISE MEN, St. Cosme, St. Damian, and St. Catherine.

WOOLCOMBERS and STAPLERS, St. Blaise, who was torn to pieces by "combes of yren."

=Sakhar=, the devil who stole Solomon's signet. The tale is that Solomon, when he washed, entrusted his signet-ring to his favorite concubine, Amina. Sakhar one day a.s.sumed the appearance of Solomon, got possession of the ring, and sat on the throne as the king. During this usurpation, Solomon became a beggar, but in forty days Sakhar flew away, and flung the signet-ring into the sea. It was swallowed by a fish, the fish was caught and sold to Solomon, the ring was recovered, and Sakhar was thrown into the sea of Galilee with a great stone round his neck.--Jallalo'ddin, _Al Zamakh_. (See FISH AND THE RING.)

=Sa'kia=, the dispenser of rain, one of the four G.o.ds of the Adites (2 _syl._).

Sakia, we invoked for rain; We called on Razeka for food; They did not hear our prayers--they could not hear.

No cloud appeared in heaven, No nightly dews came down.

Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, i. 24 (1797).

=Sakunta'la=, daughter of Viswamita and a water-nymph, abandoned by her parents, and brought up by a hermit. One day, King Dushyanta came to the hermitage, and persuaded Sakuntala to marry him. In due time a son was born, but Dushyanta left his bride at the hermitage. When the boy was six years old, his mother took him to the king, and Dushyanta recognized his wife by a ring which he had given her. Sakuntala was now publicly proclaimed queen, and the boy (whose name was Bharata) became the founder of the glorious race of the Bharatas.

This story forms the plot of the famous drama, _Sakuntala_, by Kalidasa, well known to us through the translation of Sir W. Jones.

=Sakya-Muni=, the founder of Buddhism. Sakya is the family name of Siddharta, and _muni_ means "a recluse." Buddha ("perfection") is a t.i.tle given to Siddharta.

=Sal'ace= (3 _syl._) or SALACIA, wife of Neptune, and mother of Triton.

Triton, who boasts his high Neptunian race, Sprung from the G.o.d by Salace's embrace.

Camoens, _Lusiad_, vi. (1672).

=Sal'adin=, the soldan of the East. Sir W. Scott introduces him in _The Talisman_, first as Sheerkohf, emir of Kurdistan, and subsequently as Adonbeck el Hakim, the physician.

=Salamanca= (_The Bachelor of_), the t.i.tle and hero of a novel by Lesage.

The name of the bachelor is Don Cherubim, who is placed in all sorts of situations suitable to the author's vein of satire (1704)[TN-151]

=Sala'nio=, a friend to Antonio and Ba.s.sanio.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

=Salari'no=, a friend to Antonio and Ba.s.sanio.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

=Sa'leh.= The Thamudites (3 _syl._), proposed that Saleh should, by miracle, prove that Jehovah was a G.o.d superior to their own. Prince Jonda said he would believe it if Saleh made a camel, big with young, come out of a certain rock which he pointed out. Saleh did so, and Jonda was converted.