Chapter Shepherd Lord to Shield of Gold of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

(For other possessions which carry with them ill luck, see GOLD OF TOLOSA, p. 434; GOLD OF NIBELUNGEN, p. 434; GRAYSTEEL, p. 445; HARMONIA’S NECKLACE, p. 470; ILL LUCK, p. 520; etc.)

Sherborne, in Vivian Grey, a novel by Disraeli (lord Beaconsfield, 1826).

Sheridan. Byron says, in his monody, that Nature broke the die after moulding Sheridan.

Sheva, the philanthropic Jew, most modest but most benevolent. He “stints his appetite to pamper his affections, and lives in poverty that the poor may live in plenty.” Sheva is “the widow’s friend, the orphan’s father, the poor man’s protector, and the universal dispenser of charity; but he ever shrank to let his left hand know what his right hand did.” Ratcliffe’s father rescued him at Cadiz from an auto da fe, and Ratcliffe himself rescued him from a howling London mob. This noble heart settled £10,000 on Miss Ratcliffe at her marriage, and left Charles the heir of all his property.—Cumberland: The few (1776).

(The Jews of England made up a very handsome purse, which they presented to the dramatist for this championship of their race.)

Sheva, in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is designed for sir Roger Lestrange, censor of the press in the reign of Charles II. Sheva was one of David’s scribes (2 Sam. xx. 25), and sir Roger was editor of the Observator, in which he vindicated the court measures, for which he was knighted.

Than Sheva, none more loyal zeal have shown,
Wakeful as Judah’s lion for the crown.

Absalom and Achitophel, ii. 1025-6 (1682).

Shibboleth, the test pass-word of a secret society. When the Ephraimites tried to pass the Jordan after their defeat by Jephthah, the guard tested whether they were Ephraimites or not by asking them to say the word “Shibboleth,” which the Ephraimites pronounced “Sibboleth” (Judg. xii. 1-6)

In the Sicilian Vespers, a word was given as a test of nationality. Some dried peas (ciceri) were shown to a suspect: if he called them cheecharee, he was a Sicilian, and allowed to pass; but if siseri, he was a Frenchman, and was put to death (March 30, 1282).

In the great Danish slaughter on St. Bryce’s Day (November 13), 1002, according to tradition, a similar test was made with the words “Chichester Church,” which, being pronounced hard or soft, decided whether the speaker was Dane or Saxon.

The shibboleth of Wat Tyler’s rebels was “Bread and cheese.”

Shield. When a hero fell in fight, his shields left at home used to become bloody.—Gaelic Legendary Lore.

The mother of Culmin remains in the hall.… His shield is bloody in the hall. “Art thou fallen, my fair-haired son, in Erin’s dismal war?”—Ossian: Temora, v.

The point of a shield. When a flag emblazoned with a shield had the point upwards, it denoted peace; and when a combatant approached with his shield reversed, it meant the same thing in mediæval times.

And behold, one of the ships outstripped the others, and they saw a shield lifted up above the side of the ship, and the point of the shield was upwards, in token of peace.—The Mabinogion (“Branwen,” etc., twelfth century).

Striking the shield. When a leader was appointed to take the command of an army, and the choice was doubtful, those who were the most eligible went to some distant hill, and he who struck his shield the loudest was chosen leader.