Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 160

There lurks the trembling mouse with bated breath, And, hid from sight, avoids his instant death.

=Siward= [_Se.'ward_], the earl of Northumberland, and general of the English forces, acting against Macbeth.--Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ (1606).

=Six Chronicles= (_The_). Dr. Giles compiled and edited six Old English Chronicles for Bohn's series in 1848. They are: Ethelwerd's _Chronicle_, a.s.ser's _Life of Alfred_, Geoffrey of Monmouth's _British History, Gildas the Wise_, Nennius's _History of the Britons_, and Richard of Cirencester _On the Ancient State of Britain_. The last three were edited in 1757, by Professor Bertram, in his _Scriptores Tres_, but great doubt exists as to the genuineness of the chronicles contained in Dr. Bertram's compilation. (See THREE WRITERS.)

=Sixteen-String-Jack=, John Rann, a highwayman. He was a great fop, and wore sixteen tags to his breeches, eight at each knee (hanged 1774).

Dr. Johnson said that Gray's poetry towered above the ordinary run of verse, as Sixteen-String-Jack above the ordinary foot-pad.--Boswell, _Life of Johnson_ (1791).

=Skeffington=, author of _Sleeping Beauty_, _Maids and Bachelors_, etc.

And sure _great_ Skeffington must claim our praise For skirtless coats, and skeletons of plays.

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).