Chapter Siegfried von Lindenberg to Silent Woman of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Silent Man (The), the barber of Bagdad, the greatest chatterbox that ever lived. Being sent for to shave the head and beard of a young man who was to visit the cadi’s daughter at noon, he kept him from daybreak to midday, prating, to the unspeakable annoyance of the customer. Being subsequently taken before the caliph, he ran on telling story after story about his six brothers. He was called the “Silent Man,” because on one occasion, being accidentally taken up with ten robbers, he never said he was not one of the gang. His six brothers were Bacbouc the hunchback, Bakbarah the toothless, Bakac the one- eyed, Alcouz the blind, Alnaschar the earless, and Schacabac the hare-lipped.—Arabian Nights (“The Barber,” and “The Barber’s Six Brothers”).

(Napoleon III. was called “The Silent Man,” or “The Man of Silence.” See Silent.)

Silent Woman (The), a comedy by Ben Jonson (1609). Morose, a miserly old fellow, who hates to hear any voice but his own, has a young nephew, sir Dauphine, who wants to wring from him a third of his property; and the way he gains his point is this: He induces a lad to pretend to be a “silent woman.” Morose is so delighted with the phenomenon that he consents to marry the prodigy; but the moment the ceremony is over, the boy-wife assumes the character of a virago, whose tongue is a ceaseless clack. Morose is in despair, and signs away a third of his property to his nephew, on condition of being rid of this intolerable pest. The trick is now revealed, Morose retires into private life, and sir Dauphine remains master of the situation.