Schlemihl (shlem´el), Peter.—The name of the hero of a little work by Chamisso, a man who sells his shadow to the devil. The name has become a byword for any poor, silly, and unfortunate fellow.
Schneider (shnī´der).—Rip Van Winkle’s dog, in Boucicault’s dramatization of Irving’s Rip Van Winkle. The name of the dog in the story is “Wolf.”
School for Scandal, The.—A comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, produced at Covent Garden, London, in 1777, and characterized by Hazlitt as, “if not the most original, perhaps the most finished and faultless comedy which we have. The scene in which Charles Surface sells all the old family pictures but his uncle’s, who is the purchaser in disguise, and that of the discovery of Lady Teazle when the screen falls, are among the happiest and most highly wrought that comedy, in its wide and brilliant range, can boast. Besides the art and ingenuity of this play, there is a genial spirit of frankness and generosity that relieves the heart as well as clears the lungs. While it strips off the mask of hypocrisy, it inspires a confidence between man and man.”
School for Wives [L’Ecole des Femmes (lä-kol´ dā fam´)].—A comedy by Molière. Arnolph has a crotchet about the proper training of girls to make good wives, and tries his scheme upon Agnes, whom he adopts from a peasant’s cottage, and designs in due time to make his wife. He sends her from early childhood to a convent, where difference of sex and the conventions of society are wholly ignored. When removed from the convent, she treats men as if they were schoolgirls, kisses them, plays with them, and treats them with girlish familiarity. The consequence is, a young man name Horace falls in love with her, and makes her his wife, and Arnolph loses his painstaking.
School of Husbands [L’Ecole des Maris (lä-kol´ da mä-re´)] A comedy by Molière. Ariste and Sganarelle, two brothers, bring up Léonor and Isabelle, two orphan sisters, according to their systems for making them in time their model wives. Sganarelle’s system was to make the woman dress plainly, live retired, attend to domestic duties, and have few indulgences. Ariste’s system was to give the woman great liberty, and trust to her honor. Isabelle, brought up by Sganarelle, deceived him and married another; but Léonor, brought up by Ariste, made him a fond and faithful wife.
Scottish Chiefs, The.—A romantic story by Jane Porter, published in 1810, and counting among its heroes Robert Bruce and Sir William Wallace.
Scourge of God.—Attila, king of the Huns. A. P. Stanley says the term was first applied to Attila in the Hungarian Chronicles. It is found in a legend belonging to the eighth or ninth century.
Scrooge (skröj), Ebenezer.—Christmas Carol, Dickens. The prominent character, made partner, executor, and heir of old Jacob Marley, stockbroker.
Seasons, The.—A series of poems by James Thomson, which appeared in the following order: Winter; Summer; Spring; and Autumn; the whole being republished, with the famous Hymn. Horace Walpole said that he would rather have written the most absurd lines by Lee than The Seasons; but Wordsworth, on the other hand, speaks of it as “a work of inspiration. Much of it,” he says, “is written from himself, and nobly from himself.”
Sebastian (se-bas´tian).—(1) Brother of Viola, in Twelfth Night. They were twins, and so much alike that they could not be distinguished except by their dress. Sebastian and his sister being shipwrecked, escaped to Illyria. Here Sebastian was mistaken for his sister (who had assumed man’s apparel), and was invited by the Countess Olivia to take shelter in her house from a street broil. Olivia was in love with Viola, and thinking Sebastian to be the object of her love, married him. (2) Brother of Alfonso, king of Naples, in The Tempest. (3) Father of Valentine and Alice, in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Mons. Thomas.