Sofronia (sof-rō´ni-ä).—A young Christian of Jerusalem, the heroine of an episode in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. She and her lover, Olinda, are condemned to death by Aladine, king of Jerusalem. The king finally, at the solicitation of Clorinda, spares them and they are married.
Sohrab (sö-hrâb´) and Rustum.—An episode, or narrative in verse, by Matthew Arnold. The story is told in prose in Sir John Malcolm’s History of Persia. “The powerful conception of the relation between the two chieftains, and the slaying of the son by the father, are,” says Stedman, “tragical and heroic. The descriptive passage at the close beginning—
But the majestic river floated on,
for diction and breadth of tone would do honor to any living poet.”
Song of Roland.—An ancient song recounting the deeds of Roland, the renowned nephew of Charlemagne, slain in the pass of Roncesvalles. At the battle of Hastings, Taillefer advanced on horseback before the invading army, and gave the signal for onset by singing this famous song.
Spanker, Lady Gay.—In London Assurance, by Boucicault, is a woman of great spirit, devoted to the chase.
Speed.—An inveterate punster and the clownish servant of Valentine, one of the two “gentlemen” in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Spenlow (spen´lō).—Lavinia and Clarissa, in Dickens’ David Copperfield, two spinster aunts of Dora Spenlow, with whom she lived at the death of her father.
Squeers.—Name of a family prominent in Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby. Wackford Squeers, master of Dotheboys Hall, in Yorkshire, is a vulgar, conceited, ignorant schoolmaster, overbearing and mean. He steals the boys’ pocket money, clothes his son in their best suits, half starves them, and teaches them next to nothing. Ultimately he is transported for theft. Mrs. Squeers, a raw-boned, harsh, heartless virago, with no womanly feeling for the boys put under her charge. Miss Fanny Squeers, daughter of the schoolmaster. Miss Fanny falls in love with Nicholas Nickleby, but later hates him because he is insensible to the soft impeachment. Master Wackford Squeers, over-bearing, self-willed and passionate.
Squire of Dames.—A personage introduced by Spenser in the Faërie Queene, and whose curious adventures are there recorded. The expression is sometimes applied to a person devoted to the fair sex.