Robin-Redbreast-Call for the ROBIN-REDBREAST and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, And with leaves and flowers do cover WEBSTER, The White Devil, act i. sc. 2. 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. In a 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 high and palmy state of ROME, - A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead Ibid., Hamlet, act i. sc. 1. While stands the Coliseum, ROME shall stand; 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: "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, Epistle XXXVI. to Casulanus. Room.--Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race; Rose. 'Tis the last ROSE of summer, GRAY, The Bard, II. 1, line 1. Left blooming alone.-MOORE, Last Rose of Summer. Ross, Man of.-Rise, honest muse! and sing the MAN OF Ross. POPE, Moral Essays, epistle iii. 1. 250. Round Table.-A huge circular marble table, at which, according to 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, which the Roman generals were prohibited from passing while in command of an armed force. Cæsar crossed it at the breaking out of the civil war. Rubies,-Some asked me where the RUBIES grew And nothing I did say, But with my finger pointed to The lips of Julia. HERRICK, The Rock of Rubies and Quarrie of Pearls. Ruffles.-Give RUFFLES to a man who wants a shirt.-SORBIERE, The French Anas. TOM BROWN, Laconics. Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; GOLDSMITH, The Haunch of Venison. Rump Parliament.-A derisive epithet applied to a remnant of the 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. S. Sabbath.-Hail SABBATH! thee I hail, the poor man's day. GRAHAME, The Sabbath, 1. 40. Sack.-Oh monstrous! but one halfpenny-worth of bread to this intol erable deal of SACK! SHAKESPERE, Lenry 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; 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, Perhaps turn out a sermon.—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. Satan.-Get thee behind me, SATAN.-Matthew, xvi. 23. High on a throne of royal state, which far To that bad eminence.-MILTON, Paradise Lost, book ii. 1. 1. SATAN; so call him now, his former name Is heard no more in heaven.--Ibid., book v. 1. 658. SATAN trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees. COWPER, Exhortation to Prayer. Satanic School, The.-A name often given to a class of writers whose productions are thought to be characterised by an impatience of all restraint, a disgust at the whole constitution of society, an impassioned and extravagant strain of sentimentality, and a presumptuous scorn of all moral rules, as well as of the holiest truths of religion. Southey, in the preface to his "Vision of Judgment," was the first to use this degrading appellation. Of the writers who have been included under it, Byron, Shelley, Moore, Bulwer, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Paul de Kock, and Georges Sand are the most prominent. Satire. SATIRE or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? POPE, To Arbuthnot, 1. 307. SATIRE should, like a polish'd razor keen, LADY M. W. MONTAGUE. SATIRE'S my weapon, but I'm too discreet POPE, Horace, Satire i. book ii. 1. 69. Sauce. What is SAUCE for the goose is sauce for the gander. TOM BROWN, New Maxims, vol. iv. p. 123. Saul. The young king SAUL was very tall, And never king was taller; But tho' King Saul was very tall, Far better kings were smaller. For all his size, he was not wise; Nor was he long anointed Ere people said, with shaking head, "We're sadly disappointed."-ANON. Sawney. A sportive designation applied by the English to the It is a corruption of Sandie, the Scottish abbreviation of Scotch. Alexander. 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 lectures. 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 Miser, act iii. sc. 2. CIBBER, Rival Fools, act ii.; Fall of British Tyranny, act iv. sc. 2. Scandal. Her tea she sweetens as she sips with SCANDAL. S. ROGERS, Epil. written for Mrs. Siddons. NO SCANDAL about Queen Elizabeth, I hope. SHERIDAN, The Critic, act. ii. sc. 1. Scandals. And there's a lust in man no charm can tame 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. Scene. Ibid., Romeo and Juliet, act. ii. sc. 2. View each well-known SCENE: Think what is now, and what hath been. SCOTT, Lay of the Last Minstrel, canto vi. st. 2. Schemes.-The best laid SCHEMES o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy.- BURNS, To a Mouse. Schoolmaster.-Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do 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. Scion.-SCION of chiefs and monarchs, where art thou? Fond hope of many nations, art thou dead? Some less majestic, less beloved head? BYRON, Childe Harold, canto iv. st. 168. |
