In a a Robin-Redbreast.- Call for the ROBIN-REDBREAST and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, WEBSTER, The White Devil, act i. sc. Robinson, Jack.-A name used in the phrase “Before one could say JACK ROBINSON,” meaning a very short time. This saying is said by Grose to have originated from a very volatile gentleman of that appellation who would call on his neighbours and be gone before his name could be announced. The following lines“ from an old play" are elsewhere given as the original phrase : “ A warke it ys as easie to be doone, As tys to saye, Jack ! robys on.” Rocket.— The final event to himself (Mr. Burke) has been that, as he rose like a ROCKET, he fell like the stick.—THOMAS PAINE, Letter to the Addressers. Rod.-Love is a boy by poets styl'd; Then spare the ROD and spoil the child. BUTLER, Hudibras, pt. ii. canto i. 1. 843. Rogues.—When ROGUES fall out, honest men get their own. case before Sir Matthew Hale, the two litigants unwittingly let out, that at a former period, they had, in conjunction, leased a ferry to the injury of the proprietor, on which Sir Matthew made the above remark. Roman.—I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a ROMAN.—SHAKESPERE, Julius Cæsar, act iv. sc. 3. Rome.--In the most and palmy state of ROME, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, Ibid., Hamlet, act i. sc. I. BYRON, Childe Harold, canto iv. st. 145. When they are at ROME, they do there as they see done. — BURTON, Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 4, mem. 2, subs. 1. St. Augustine was in the habit of dining upon Saturday as upon Sunday; but, being puzzled with the different practices then prevailing (for they had began to fast at Rome on Saturday), he consulted St. Ambrose on the subject. Now at Milan they did not fast on Saturday, and the answer of the Milan saint was this: 6. When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome I do fast on Saturday. Quando hic sum, non jejuno Sabbato; quando Romæ sum, jejuno Sabbato."-ST. AUGUSTINE, Epistlé XXXVI. to Casulanus. Room.--Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race; GRAY, The Bard, II. 1, line 1. Left blooming alone.-MOORE, Last Rose of Summer. POPE, Moral Essays, epistle iii. 1. 250. the old romancers, King Arthur and his knights were accustomed to sit. Some say there were only thirteen seats around it, in memory of the thirteen apostles. Twelve only were occupied, and by knights of the highest fame. The thirteenth represented the seat of the traitor Judas. According to others there were seats for fifty or sixty, and an empty place was left for the sangreal. Rowland for an Oliver.-Rowland and Oliver were two of the most famous in the list of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers that from thence arose that saying, amongst our plain and sensible ancestors, of giving one a ROWLAND FOR HIS OLIVER," to signify the matching one incredible lie with another. -THOMAS WARBURTON. Rubicon.—Passing the RUBICON. Taking up a decisive position. The Rubicon was a small stream in the northern boundary of Italy, of the civil war. And nothing I did say, HERRICK, The Rock of Rubies and Quarrie of Pearls. French Anas. TOM BROWN, Laconics. Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; GOLDSMITH, The Hauncil of Venison. famous Long Parliament of England, which re-assembled on the 6th of May, 1659, after the dissolution of the Parliament summoned by Richard Cromwell on the 27th of January, and dissolved by him on the 22nd of April of the same year. Sabbath.-Hail SABBATE ! thee I hail, the poor man's day. GRAHAME, The Sabbath, 1. 10. Sack.-Oh monstrous! but one halfrenny-worth of bread to this intol erable deal of SACK! SHAKESPER3, alonry IV. part 1, act ii. sc. 4. Safe Bind.—Dry sun, dry wind, SAFE BIND, safe find.–TUSSER, Points of Husbandry. Saint.-SAINT abroad, and a devil at home. BUNYAN, Pilgrim's Progress, part 1. 'Tis from high life high characters are drawn; A SAINT in crape is twice a saint in lawn. POPE, Moral Essays, ep. i. 1. 135. Saints.-That SAINTS will aid if men will call : COLERIDGE, Christabel, conclusion of part i. Salt.—Alas! you know the cause too well The SALT is spilt, to me it fell.-GAY, Fable 37. Sambo. A cant designation of the negro race. No race has ever shown such capabilities of adaptation to varying soil and circumstances as the negro. Alike to them the snows of Canada, the hard, rocky land of New England, or the gorgeous profusion of the Southern States. SAMBO and Cuffey expand under them all.-H. B. Stowe. Sang.–Perhaps it may turn out a SANG, -BURNS, Epistle to a Young Friend. Sangreal.--A vessel made of a single precious stone (usually said to be an emerald, from which our Saviour was supposed to have drunk at the last supper, and which was afterwards filled with the blood which flowed from the wounds with which he was pierced at the crucifixion. It is fabled to have been preserved by Joseph of Arimathea. Various miraculous properties are attributed to this dish, such as the power of prolonging life, preserving chastity, and the like; and it is a frequent subject of allusion in some of the old romances as an object in search of which numerous knights-errant, particularly those of the Round Table, spent their lives. 1 Satan.—Get thee behind me, SATAN.—Matthew, xvi. 23. High on a throne of royal state, which far COWPER, Exhortation to Prayer. whose productions are thought to be characterised by an impa. Sand are the most prominent. POPE, To Arbuthnot, 1. 307. LADY M. W. MONTAGUE. POPE, Horace, Satire i. book ii. 1. 69. TOM BROWN, New Maxims, vol. iv. p. 123. And never king was taller ; Far better kings were smaller. Nor was he long anointed “We're sadly disappointed.”-ANON. Scotch. It is a corruption of Sandie, the Scottish abbreviation of Sawney -I muse how any man can say that the Scotch, as a people, are deficient in humour ! Why, SAWNEY has a humour of his own so strong and irrepressible that it broke out all the stronger in spite of worldly thrift, kirk-session, cutty-stool, and lecturee. HARTLEY COLERIDGE. Say -Though I say it that should not say it.-BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, Wit at Several Weapons, act ii. sc. 2. FIELDING, The Tyranny, act iv. sc. 2. S. ROGERS, Epil. written for Mrs. Siddons. SHERIDAN, The Critic, act. ii. sc. 1. Scandals. And there's a lust in man no charm can tame Of loudly publishing our neighbour's shame; STEPHEN HARVEY, Juvenal. Scarecrows.-A mad fellow met me on the way, and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets, and pressed the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such SCARECROWS. I'll not march through Coventry with them, that's flat: nay, and the villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on; for, indeed, I had the most of them out of prison. There's but a shirt and a half in all my company; and the half-shirt is two napkins, tacked together and thrown over the shoulders like a herald's coat without sleeves. SHAKESPERE, Henry IV., Part i. act iv. sc. 2. Scars.--He jests at SCARS that never felt a wound. Ibid., Romeo and Juliet, act. ii. sc. 2. Scene. View each well-known SCENE : Think what is now, and what hath been. SCOTT, Lay of the Last Vinstre, canto vi. st. 2. Schemes. The best laid SCHEMES O' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; For promised joy.- BURNS, To a Mouse. nothing in this age. There is another personage, a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The SCHOOLMASTER is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array.-LORD BROUGHAM, Speech, January 29, 1828. Fond hope of many nations, art thou dead ? BYRON, Childe Harold, canto iv. st. 168. |