Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 146

=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 circ.u.mstances.--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 _debut_ 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).

=Seja.n.u.s= (_aelius_), a minister of Tiberius, and commander of the Praetorian 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 Seja.n.u.s 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, ent.i.tled _Seja.n.u.s_ (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 Koran_, lx.x.xiii.

=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 a.s.sumed name of Achmet, and headed an uprising of the Moors.

The insurgents succeeded, Barbarossa was slain, the widowed Queen Zaphira was restored to her husband's throne, and Selim, her son, married Irene, 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 G.o.d. 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 Semele, 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 G.o.d.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).