Chapter Sibyl's Books to Siegfried of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Sidney (Sir Philip). Sir Philip Sidney, though suffering extreme thirst from the agony of wounds received in the battle of Zutphen, gave his own draught of water to a wounded private lying at his side, saying. “Poor fellow, thy necessity is greater than mine.”

A similar incident is recorded of Alexander “the Great,” in the desert of Gedrosia.—Quintus Curtius.

David, fighting against the Philistines, became so parched with thirst that he cried out, “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines and brought him water; nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out unto the Lord.—2 Sam. xxiii. 15–17.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his last illness, stopped at the castle of Maganza, the residence of his niece Francisca. He had quite lost his appetite; but one day expressed a wish for a little piece of a certain fish. The fish mentioned was not to be found in all Italy, but after diligent search elsewhere was procured. When cooked and brought to the dying man, he refused to eat of it, but gave it as an offering to the Lord.—Alban Butler: Lives of the Saints (1745).

Sidneys Sister, Pembrokes Mother, Mary Herbert (born Sidney), countess of Pembroke, who died 1621.

Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse—
Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother.
Death, ere thou hast killed another
Fair and good and learned as she,
Time shall throw his dart at thee.
   —W. Browne (1645. See Lansdowne Collection No.777, in the British Museum).

Sidonian Tincture, purple dye, Tyrian purple. The Tyrians and Sidonians were world-famed for their purple dye.

Not in that proud Sidonian tincture dyed.
   —P. Fletcher: The Purple Island, xii. (1633).

Sidrophel [the star-lover], William Lilly, the astrologer.

Quoth Ralph, “Not far from hence doth dwell
A cunning man, hight Sidrophel,
That deals in destiny’s dark counsels,
And sage opinions of the moon sells;
To whom all people, far and near,
On deep importances repair.”
   —S. Butler: Hudibras, ii. 3 (1664).

Siebel, Margherita’s rejected lover, in the opera of Faust e Margherita, by Gounod (1859).

Siége. Mon siége est fait, my opinion is fixed, and I cannot change it. This proverb rose thus: The abbé de Vertot wrote the history of a certain siege, and applied to a friend for some geographical particulars. These particulars did not arrive till the matter had passed the press; so the abbé remarked with a shrug, “Bah! mon siége est fait.”

Siege Perilous (The). The Round Table contained sieges for 150 knights, but three of them were “reserved.” Of these, two were posts of honour, but the third was reserved for him who was destined to achieve the quest of the holy graal. This seat was called “perilous,” because if any one sat therein except he for whom it was reserved, it would be his death. Every seat of the table bore the name of its rightful occupant in letters of gold, and the name on the “Siege Perilous” was sir Galahad (son of sir Launcelot and Elaine).

Said Merlin, “There shall no man sit in the two void places but they that shall be of most worship. But in the Siege Perilous there shall no man sit but one, and if any other be so hardy as to do it, he shall be destroyed.”—Pt. i. 48.

Then the old man made sir Galahad unarm; and he put on him a coat of red sandel, with a mantel upon his shoulder furred with fine ermines,…and he brought him unto the Siege Perilous, when he sat beside