Chapter Sea-girt Isle to Seian Horse of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Sea-girt Isle to Seian Horse

Sea-girt Isle England. So called because, as Shakespeare has it, it is “hedged in with the main, that water-wallëd bulwark” (King John, ii. 1).

“This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands.”
Shakespeare: King Richard II., ii. 1.

Sea-green Incorruptible (The). So Carlyle called Robespierre in his French Revolution.

“The song is a short one, and may perhaps serve to qualify our judgment of the `sea-green incorruptible.' ”- Notes and Queries, September 19th, 1891, p. 226.

Sea Legs He has got his sea legs. Is able to walk on deck when the ship is rolling; able to bear the motion of the ship without sea-sickness.

Sea Serpent Pontoppidan, in his Natural History of Norway, speaks of sea serpents 600 feet long. The great sea serpent was said to have been seen off the coast of Norway in 1819, 1822, 1837. Hans Egede affirms that it was seen on the coast of Greenland in 1734. In 1815, 1817, 1819, 1833, and in 1869, it made its appearance near Boston. In 1841 it was “seen” by the crew of Her Majesty's frigate Daedalus, in the South Atlantic Ocean. In 1875 it was seen by the crew of the barque Pauline. Girth, nine feet.

Seaboard That part of a country which borders on the sea; the coast-line. It should be seabord. (French, bord, the edge.)

Seal The sire is called a bull, its females are cows, the offspring are called pups; the breeding-place is called a rookery, a group of young seals is called a pod. The male seal till it is full grown is called a bachelor. A colony of seals is called a herd. A sealer is a seal-hunter, seal-hunting is called sealing, and the seal trade sealery.

Seamy Side (The). The “wrong” or worst side; as, the “seamy side of Australia,” “the seamy side of life.” Thus, in velvet, in Brussels carpets, in tapestry, etc., the “wrong” side shows the seams or threads of the pattern exhibited on the right side.

“You see the seamy side of human nature in its most seamy attire.”- Review of R. Buchanan's play Alone in London, November, 1885.

“My present purpose is to call attention to the seamy side of the Australian colonies. There is, as we know, such a thing as cotton-backed satin; but the colonists take care to show us only the face of the goods.”- Nineteenth Century, April, 1891, p. 524.

Seasons (The). In art. The four seasons have often been sculptured or painted by artists:
   POUSSIN drew his symbolic characters from the Old Testament. Thus, Adam and Eve in Paradise represent Spring; Ruth in the cornfields represents Summer; Joshua and Caleb bringing grapes from the Land of Promise represent Autumn; and the Deluge represents Winter.
   The Ancient Greeks characterised Spring by Mercury, Summer by Apollo, Autumn by Bacchus, and Winter by Hercules.
   M. Girondet painted for the King of Spain four pictures, with allegoric character, from the Herculaneum.

Sebaraim (4 syl.). Rabbis who lived after the Talmud was finished, and gave their judgment on traditionary difficulties (Al derek sebaroth, “by way of opinion”). (Buxtorf.)

Sebastian (St.). Patron saint of archers, because he was bound to a tree and shot at with arrows. As the arrows stuck in his body, thick as pins in a pin-cushion, he was also made patron saint of pin-makers. And as he was a centurion, he is patron saint of soldiers.
   The English St. Sebastian. St. Edmund, the martyr-king of East Anglia. He gave himself up to his enemies under the hope of saving his people by this sacrifice. The Danes first scourged him with rods, and then, binding him to a tree, shot arrows at him, and finally cut off his head. A legend tells how a wolf guarded the head till it was duly interred. The monastery and cathedral of St. Edmundsbury were erected on the place of his martyrdom.