Shuffles (Robert). One of the “bad boys,” whose misdemeanors and reformation are sketched in Outward Bound, by William T. Adams (Oliver Optic).
Shuffleton (The Hon. Tom), a man of very slender estate, who borrows of all who will lend, but always forgets to repay or return the loans. When spoken to about it, he interrupts the speaker before he comes to the point, and diverts the conversation to some other subject. He is one of the new school, always emotionless, looks on money as the summum bonum, and all as fair that puts money in his purse. The Hon. Tom Shuffleton marries Lady Caroline Braymore, who has £4000 a year. (See Dimanche.)—G. Colman, Jr., John Bull.
Shylock, the Jew, who lends Antonio (a Venetian merchant) 3000 ducats for three months, on these conditions: If repaid within the time, only the principal would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to cut from Antonio’s body a pound of flesh. The ships of Antonio being delayed by contrary winds, the merchant was unable to meet his bill, and the Jew claimed the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the trial, and when the Jew was about to take his bond, reminded him that he must shed no drop of blood, nor must he cut either more or less than an exact pound. If these conditions were infringed his life would be forfeit. The Jew, feeling it to be impossible to exact the bond under such conditions, gave up the claim, but was heavily fined for seeking the life of a Venetian citizen.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1598).
Among modern actors, Henry Irving, as Shylock, stands unsurpassed.
According to the kindred authority of Shylock, no man hates the thing he would not kill.—Sir W. Scott.
*** Paul Secchi tells us a similar tale: A merchant of Venice, having been informed by private letter that Drake had taken and plundered St. Domingo, sent word to Sampson Ceneda, a Jewish usurer. Ceneda would not believe it, and bet a pound of flesh it was not true. When the report was confirmed the pope told Secchi he might lawfully claim his bet if he chose, only he must draw no blood, nor take either more or less than an exact pound, on the penalty of being hanged.—Gregorio Leti, Life of Sextus V. (1666).
Sibbald, an attendant on the earl of Menteith.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).
Sibylla, the sibyl. (See [Sibyls].)
And thou, Alecto, feede me wyth thy foode ...
And thou, Sibilla, when thou seest me faynte,
Addres thyselfe the gyde of my complaynte.
Sackville, Mirrour for Magistraytes (“Complaynte,” etc., (1557).
Sibyls. Plato speaks of only one sibyl; Martian Capella says there were two (the Erythræan or Cumæan sibyl, and the Phrygian); Pliny speaks of the three sibyls; Jackson maintains, on the authority of Ælian, that there were four; Shakespeare speaks of the nine sibyls of old Rome (1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 2); Varro says they were ten (the sibyls of Libya, Samos, Cumæ (in Italy), Cumæ (in Asia Minor), Erythræ, Persia, Tiburtis, Delphi, Ancy´ra (in Phrygia), and Marpessa), in reference to which Rabelais says, “she may be the eleventh sibyl” (Pantagruel, iii. 16); the mediæval monks made the number to be twelve, and gave to each a distinct prophecy respecting Christ. But whatever the number, there was but one “sibyl of old Rome” (the Cumæan), who offered to Tarquin the nine Sibylline books.