Snowe, Lucy. The heroine of Charlotte Brottél's nosei. Volwette 1982. Snubbm, Sergeant. In Dickens Pickwicz Papera, a lawyer retained by Mr. Perker for the defence in the famous case of Bardet. r. Pickwick." His clerk was named Mallard, and his junior Phunky, an infant barrister." very much locked | down upon by his senior. Snug. In rakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, the joiner, who takes part in the “lamentable comedy" of Pyramus and Thisne, played before the Duke and Duchess of Athens on their wedding day at night." His role was the "* lion's part." He asked the manager (Peter Quince) if he had the lion's part written out, for." maid ne. I am slow of memory"; but being told he could do it extempore, for it was nothing but roaring, he consented to undertake it. Soames Forsyte. See Forsyte Saga. Soap, or Soft Soap. Flattery especially of an oily, unctuous kind. Sob Stuff. An Americanism describing newspaper, film, or other stories of a bighly sentimental kind. Sobersides. A grave, steady-going, serious-minded person, called by some "a stick-in-the-mud"; generally Old Sobersides. 6 Sobri no. In Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, one of the most valiant of the Saracen army, called The Sage." He counselled Agramant to entrust the fate of the war to a single combat, stipulating that the nation whose champion was worsted should be tributary to the other. Rogero was chosen for the pagan champion, and Rinaldo for the Christian army; but when Rogero was overthrown, Agramant broke the compact. Sobrino was greatly displeased, and soon afterwards received the rite of Christian baptism. Social Contract, The (Le Contrat Social) A political treatise by Jean Jacques Rousseau (Fr. 1762) which had a great influence upon the trend of the times. Socrates. The great Greek philosopher, born and died at Athens (about B.C. 470-399). He used to call himself "the midwife of men's thoughts"; and out of his intellectual school sprang those of Plato and the Dialectic system, Euclid and the Megaric, Aristippus and the Cyrena'ic, Antis'thenes and the Cynic. Cicero said of him that " he brought down philosophy from the heavens to earth." He was condemned to death for the corruption of youth by introducing new gods (thus being guilty of impiety) and drank The English Socrates. Dr. Samuel John son, so called by Boswell. The Jewish Socrates. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). Sodom and Gomorrah. In the C14 Testament, two cities of the plains that were destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven because of their wickednes Abraham persuaded Jehovah to spare Sodom if ten righteous men evuld be found there, but this condition was 2N fulfilled. Lot (q.r.) and his wife and daughters were the only inhabitants wh escaped from the doomed city, and Let's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt. Sofronia. A young Christian of Jerasalem, the heroine of an episode in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1575). The tale is this: Aladine, king of Jerusalem. stole from a Christian church an image of the Virgin, being told by a magician that it was a palladium, and if it were set up in a mosque, the Virgin would forsake the Christian army, and favor the Mokammedan. The image was accordingly set up in a mosque, but during the night was carried off by some one. Aladine, greatly enraged, ordered the instant execution of all his Christian subjects, but to prevent this massacre, Sofronia accused herself of the offence. Her lover Olindo, hearing that Sofronia was sentenced to death, presented himself before the King, and said that he and not Sofronia was the real offender; whereupon the King ordered both to instant execution; but Clorinda. the Amazon, obtained their pardon, and Sofronia left the stake to join Olindo at the altar of matrimony. Sohrab and Rustum. A narrative poem in blank verse by Matthew Arnold (1822-1825), dealing with the legendary Persian hero Rustum (q.v.) and his son Sohrab. The two meet in single combat, in ignorance of their relationship, and Sohrab is slain. Soi-disant (Fr.). Self-styled, would-be; generally used of pretenders, as "a soidisant gentleman," i.e. a snob. Sola'no. Ask no favor during the Solano. A popular Spanish proverb, meaning Ask no favor during a time The solano of trouble or adversity. (solanus, sun) of Spain is a southeast wind, extremely hot, and loaded with fine dust; it produces giddiness and irritation. Soldan or Sowdan. A corruption of sultan, meaning in medieval romance the Saracen king; but, with the usual inaccuracy of these writers, we have the Soldan of Egypt, the Soudan of Persia, the Sowdan of Babylon, etc., all represented as accompanied by grim Saracens to torment Christians. In Spenser's Faërie Queene (V. viii) the Soldan typifies Philip II of Spain who used all his power to bribe and seduce the subjects of Elizabeth, here figuring as Queen Mercilla. from Soloi, a town in Cilicia, the Attic colonists of which spoke a debased form of Greek. The word is also applied to any impropriety or breach of good manners. Solemn. Solemn Doctor. See under Doctor. The Solemn League and Covenant. A league entered into by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Westminster Assembly of English Divines, and the English Parliament in 1643, for the establishment of Presbyterianism and suppression of Roman Catholicism in both countries. Charles II swore to the Scots that he would abide by it and therefore they crowned him in 1651 at Dunbar; but at the Restoration he not only rejected the Covenant, but had it burnt by the common hangman. Solid South. An expression denoting the political unity of the American states south of Mason and Dixon's line, which in any general election, can be counted upon in advance to go Democratic. Sir Artegal demands of the Soldan the release of the damsel " held as wrongSoli'nus. In Shakespeare's Comedy of ful prisoner," and the Soldan "swearing Errors, the Duke of Ephesus. He was and banning most blasphemously," mounts his high chariot," and prepares to obliged to pass the sentence of the law on Prince Arthur en- Ege'on, a Syracusian merchant, who had maintain his cause. dared to set foot in Ephesus. When, howcounters him on the green," and after a ever, the Duke discovered that the man severe combat uncovers his shield, at who had saved his life, and whom he best sight of which the Soldan and all his followers take to flight. The "swearing loved, was the son of Egeon he released and banning" typify the excommunica- his prisoner, who thereupon settled in tions thundered out against Elizabeth; Ephesus. Solness, Halvard. is the Spanish the "high chariot is the sea; the Ibsen's Master Builder (q.v.). Arma'da; the " green "" indicates uncovering of the shield that the Arma'da was put to flight, not by man's might, but by the power of God. 66 Soldiers of Fortune. Men who live by their wits; chevaliers de l'industrie. Referring to those men in medieval times who let themselves for hire into any army. The phrase was used as the title of a novel of adventure by Richard Harding Davis (Am. 1897) dealing with a revolution in a South American republic. The hero is Robert Clay, a young engineer, general manager of the Valencia Mining Company in Olancho. The novel was dramatized in 1902. Soldiers Three and Other Stories. A volume of short stories of life in India by Rudyard Kipling (Eng. 1895). The "soldiers three are the famous trio, Ortheris, Learoyd and Mulvaney (q.v.). Solecism. A deviation from correct idiom or grammar; from the Greek soloikos, speaking incorrectly, so named Titular hero of Solomine. In Turgenev's Virgin Soil (q.v.), a manufacturer whose practical reforms are in sharp contrast to the schemes of the idealistic young Nihilists. Solomon. The wisest and most magnificent of the kings of Israel, son of David and Bathsheba. Aside from his wise choice of "an understanding heart," he is perhaps most celebrated for his building of the famous temple that bore his name and his entertainment of the Queen of The Biblical narrative Sheba (q.v.). (1 Kings ii-xi) relates that "he had The English Solomon. James I (16031625), whom Sully called "the wisest fool in Christendom." The Second Solomon. (1) Henry VII | of England; (2) James I. The Solomon of France. Charles V. (1364-1380) le Sage. Solomon's Carpet. See Carpet, The Magic. Solomon's Ring. Rabbinical fable has it that Solomon wore a ring with a gem that told him all he desired to know. Solomon Daisy. See Daisy, Solomon. Solomon Gundy. See Swap, Solomon. Solomon Swap. See Swap, Solomon. Solon. A wiseacre or sage; from the great lawgiver of ancient Athens (d. about B. C. 560), one of the Seven Sages of Greece. The Solon of Parnassus. So Voltaire called Boileau (1636–1711), in allusion to his Art of Poetry. Solon Shingle. See Shingle, Solon. Sol'stice. The summer solstice is June 21st; the winter solstice is December 22nd; so called because on or about these dates the sun reaches its extreme northern and southern points in the ecliptic and appears to stand still (Lat. sol, sun, sistit, stands) before it turns back on its apparent course. Solveig. In Ibsen's Peer Gynt (q.v.), the bride whom Peer carried off from her wedding and later deserted. She remained faithful and welcomed him home long | years after. Sol'yman. King of the Turks (in Jerusalem Delivered), whose capital was Nice. Being driven from his kingdom, he fled to Egypt, and was there appointed leader of the Arabs (Bk. ix). He and Argantes were by far the most doughty of the pagan knights. Solyman was slain by Rinaldo (Bk. xx), and Argantes by Tancred. Soma. An intoxicating drink anciently made, with mystic rites and incantations, from the juice of some Indian plant by the priests, and drunk by the Brahmins as well as offered as libations to their gods. It was fabled to have been brought from heaven by a falcon, or by the daughters of the Sun; and it was itself personified as a god. Soma is one of the most important of the old Vedic deities, a sort of Hindu Bacchus. All of the 114 hymns in the ninth book of the Rig Veda are invocations in his honor. In later mythology Soma represented the moon which was supposed to be gradually drunk up by the gods and then filled up again. To drink the Soma. To become immortal, or as a god. Somerset. Hero of Thomas Hardy's novel A Laodicean (q.v.). Somewhere in France. An uncertain locality; the address used for overseas soldiers in the World War when more exact information as to their whereabouts seemed unwise. Somnus. In classic myth, the god of Sleep, the son of Night (Nox) and the brother of Death (Mors). Sompnour's Tale. See Sumpnor's Tale. Son. Son of Be'lial. One of a wicked disposition; a companion of the wicked. (Judges xix. 22.) Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. 1 Samuel ii, 12. Son of Perdition. Judas Iscariot. (John xvii. 12); Antichrist (2 Thess. ii. 3). Son of the Last Man. Charles II of England, in allusion to the belief of the Puritans that his father Charles I was the last English king who should reign. Son of the Morning. A traveller. An Oriental phrase, alluding to the custom of rising early in the morning to avoid the mid-day heat, when on one's travels. Sons of Phidias. Sculptors. Sons of Thunder or Boanerges. James and John, sons of Zebedee. (Mark iii. 17). Song of Myself. The best-known and probably most characteristic poem of Walt Whitman (Am. 1819–1892). begins: I celebrate and sing myself And what I assume, you shall assume, It For every atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass. Song of Roland (Chanson de Roland). See under Roland. Song of Solomon. One of the books of the Old Testament, a love idyll, sometimes interpreted as an allegory of the union between Christ and his Church. Song of Songs, The. (Das Hohe Lied). A novel by Hermann Sudermann (Ger. 1908), tracing the gradual degeneration of the heroine Lily Czepanek, a girl of great gifts but little moral fiber. Song of the Lark, The. A novel by Willa Cather (Am. 1915), a study of musical genius. The heroine is a Swedish girl, Thea Kronberg, who grows up in the little western town of Moonstone, Colorado. The long years of struggle before she wins through to success on the operatic stage are vividly portrayed, as is the simple powerful nature of the creative genius that will not let her rest until she finds an outlet for it. In Chicago, in the early days of her musical education she Sonia. The heroine of Dostoievski's Crime and Punishment (q.v.). Sonnam'bula, La (The Sleepwalker). An opera by Bellini (1831), book by Romani. The sleepwalker" was Ami'na, the miller's daughter. She was betrothed to Elvino, a rich young farmer, but the night before the wedding was discovered in the bed of Count Rodolpho. This very ugly circumstance made the farmer break off the match, and promise marriage to Lisa, the innkeeper's daughter. The Count now interfered, and assured Elvino that the miller's daughter was a sleepwalker, and while they were still talking she was seen walking on the edge of the mill-roof while the huge mill-wheel was turning rapidly. She then crossed a crazy old bridge, and came into the midst of the assembly, woke and ran to the arms of her lover. Elvino, convinced of her innocence, married her, and Lisa was resigned to Alessio, whose paramour she was. Sonnet. A poetic form of fourteen heroic lines, that is, fourteen lines of fivefoot iambic verse. There are two main types of sonnet (1) the Shakespearean sonnet in which the lines are grouped in three quatrains (wth six alternating rhymes) followed by a detached rhymed couplet, which is apt to be epigrammatic; (2) the Italian form illustrated by Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, etc., in which the fourteen lines are divided into an octave of two rhyme-sounds arranged abba abba and a sestet of two additional rhymesounds that may be variously arranged. The latter form tends to divide the thought into two opposing or complementary phases of the same idea. The two types of sonnet are illustrated below Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, But thy eternal summer shall not fade So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold Then felt I like some watcher of the skies Keats: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer. Sophia Primrose. (In Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield.) See Primrose. Sophist, Sophistry, Sophism, Sophisticator, etc. These words have quite run from their legitimate meaning. Before the time of Pythagoras (B.C. 586-506) the sages of Greece were called sophists (wise men). Pythagoras out of modesty called himself a philosopher (a wisdom-lover). A century later Protag'oras of Abde'ra resumed the title, and a set of quibblers appeared in Athens who professed to answer any question on any subject, and took up the title discarded by the Wise Samian. From this moment sophos and all its family of words were applied to wisdom falsely so called," and philosophos to the "modest search after truth." Sophonis'ba. In Roman legendary history, daughter of the Carthaginian general, Hasdrubal, and, like her brother Hannibal, reared to detest Rome. She was affianced to Masinissa, king of the Numi dians, but was given by her father in marriage to Syphax. Scipio insisted that this marriage should be annulled, but the Numidian sent her a bowl of poison, which she drank without hesitation. This subject and that of Cleopatra have furnished more dramas than any other whatsoever. For example, we have in French dramas by J. Mairet, Sophonisbe (1630); Pierre Corneille (1663); and Voltaire. In Italian: Trissino (1514); Alfieri (1749-1803). In English: John Marston, The Wonder of Women or The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1605); Nathaniel Lee, Sophonisba or Hannibal's Overthrow (1676) and Thomson, Sophonisba (1729). In Thomson's tragedy occurs the line, "Oh Sophonisba! Sophonisba oh! "which was parodied by "Oh Jemmy Thomson! Jemmy Thomson oh!" Sophronia. The heroine of Boccaccio's tale, Titus and Gisippus, in the Decameron x. 8. Sophy. See Rulers, Titles of. Sorbonne. The institution of theology, science, and literature in Paris founded by Robert de Sorbon, canon of Cambrai, in 1252. In 1808 the buildings, erected by Richelieu in the 17th century, were given to the University, and since 1821 have been the Académie universitaire de Paris. Sordello. A Provençal troubadour (d. about 1255), mentioned a number of times by Dante in the Purgatorio, now remembered because of Browning's very obscure poem of this name (1840). It details, in a setting which shows the restless condition of northern Italy in the early 13th century, the conflict of a poet about the best way of making his influence felt, whether personally or by the power of song. Browning said of it: The historical decoration was purposely of no more importance than a background requires; and my stress lay on the incidents in the development of a soul; little else is worth study. I, at least, always thought so. Tennyson's reference to Sordello is well known. He said he had done his best with it, but there were only two lines he understood the first and the last were both untrue. These are: and they Who will, may hear Sordello's story told. Who would has heard Sordello's story told. Sorel, Julien. The leading character in Stendhal's realistic novel Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black). He is actuated by the most ruthless sort of selfish ambition, adopts the "black of the church instead of military "red" (the two opposing parties of the state religion) purely for its material advantages and badly abuses the women who love him. The novel has had a great influence on the modern realistic and psychological school of fiction. Sorrel, Hetty. One of the principal characters in George Eliot's Adam Bede (q.v.). Sorrows of Werther. See Werther. Sotadics or Sotad'ic Verse. One, that reads backwards and forwards the same, as "llewd did I live, and evil I did dwell.” So called from Sot'ades, the inventor. These verses are also called palindromic. Sour Grapes. Things despised because they are beyond our reach. Many men of low degree call titles and dignities sour grapes; and men of no parts turn up their noses at literary honors. The phrase is from Æsop's fable called The Fox and the Grapes. Sour Grapeism. An assumed contempt or indifference to the unattainable. South, Marty. In Hardy's Woodlanders the daughter of John South, secretly in love with Giles Winterborne but to no avail. Though she has little to do with the plot, she is considered one of the best of Hardy's women characters. South-Sea Scheme or Bubble. A stockjobbing scheme devised by Sir John Blunt, a lawyer, in 1710, and floated by the Earl of Oxford in the following year. The object of the company was to buy up the National Debt, and to be allowed the sole privilege of trading in the South Seas. Spain refused to give trading facilities, so the money was used in other speculative ventures and, by careful" rigging of the market, £100 shares were run up to over ten times that sum. The bubble burst in 1720 and ruined thousands. The term is applied to any hollow scheme which has a splendid promise, but whose collapse will be sudden and ruinous. Cp. Mississippi Bubble. Southey, Robert (1774-1843). English poet, best known for his Thalaba the Destroyer and The Curse of Kehama. See those entries. Sowdan. See Soldan. Spanish. For the Spanish Molière, the Spanish Shakespeare, etc., see under Molière, Shakespeare. Spanish Fryar, The. A drama by Dryden (1680). It contains two plots, wholly independent of each other. The serious element is this: Leonora, the usurping queen of Aragon, is promised in marriage to Duke Bertran, a prince of the blood; but is in love with Torrismond, Sorti, Caterina. The Italian heroine of George Eliot's Mr. Gilfil's Love Story (q.v.). Sos'ia. The living double of another, as the brothers Antiph'olus and brothers Dromio in the Comedy of Errors, and the Corsican brothers in the drama so called. Sosia is a servant of Amphit'-general of the army, who turns out to be ryon, in Plautus' comedy so called. It is Mercury who assumes the double of Sosia, till Sosia doubts his own identity. Both Dryden and Molière have adapted this play to the modern stage. Amphitryon. See the son and heir of King Sancho, supposed to be dead. Sancho is restored to his throne, and Leonora marries Torrismond. The comic element is the illicit love of Colonel Lorenzo for Elvira, the wife of Gomez, a rich old banker. Dominick (the |