cess is in love with Polydore, the brother of General
Memnon, ("the mad brother").--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_
(1617).

=Sir Oracle=, a dictatorial prig; a dogmatic pedant.

I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.

Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_, act i. sc. 1 (1598).

=Sirens=, three sea-nymphs, whose usual abode was a small island near Cape
Pel[=o]rus, in Sicily. They enticed sailors ashore by their melodious
singing, and then killed them. Their names are Parthen[)o]p[^e], Ligeia,
and Leucoth[)e]a.--_Greek Fable._

=Sirloin of Beef.= James I., on his return from a hunting excursion, so
much enjoyed his dinner, consisting of a loin of roast beef, that he
laid his sword across it, and dubbed it Sir Loin. At Chingford, in
Essex, is a place called "Friday Hill House," in one of the rooms of
which is an oak table with a brass plate let into it, inscribed with the
following words:--"ALL LOVERS OF ROAST BEEF WILL LIKE TO KNOW THAT ON
THIS TABLE A LOIN WAS KNIGHTED BY KING JAMES THE FIRST ON HIS RETURN
FROM HUNTING IN EPPING FOREST."

Knighting the loin of beef is also ascribed to Charles II.

Our second Charles, of fame facete,
On loin of beef did dine;
He held his sword, pleased, o'er the meat.
"Arise, thou famed Sir Loin."

_Ballad of the New Sir John Barleycorn._

=Sister Anne=, sister of Fat[)i]ma (the seventh and last wife of
Bluebeard). Fatima, being condemned to death by her tyrannical husband,
requested sister Anne to ascend to the highest tower of the castle to
watch for her brothers, who were momentarily expected. Bluebeard kept
roaring below stairs for Fatima to be quick; Fatima was constantly
calling out from her chamber, "Sister Anne, do you see them coming?" and
sister Anne was on the watch-tower, mistaking every cloud of dust for
the mounted brothers. They arrived at last, rescued Fatima, and put
Bluebeard to death.--Charles Perrault, _Contes_ ("La Barbe Bleue,"
1697).

This is a Scandinavian tale taken from the _Folks Sagas_.

=Sis'yphos=, in Latin =Sisyphus=, a king of Corinth, noted for his avarice
and fraud. He was punished in the infernal regions by having to roll
uphill a huge stone, which always rolled down again as soon as it
reached the top. Sisyphos is a type of avarice, never satisfied. The
avaricious man reaches the summit of his ambition, and no sooner does he
so than he finds the object of his d