THIEVES SCREENED 
 
 
    Tell me, oh, tell me then, thou holy Muse, 
    Sacred Thespio. 
 Phineas Fletcher, The-Purple Island, vii. (1633). 
 
   Thespis, the father of the Greek drama. 
   Thespis, the first professor of our art, 
   At country wakes sang ballads from a cart. 
      Dryden, Prologue to Sophonisba (1729). 
 
   Thes'tylis, a female slave; any rustic 
 maiden.-Theocritos, Idylls. 
     With Thestylis to bind the sheaves. 
                  Milton, lAllegro (1638). 
 
   Thet'is, mother of Achilles. She was 
 a sea-nymph, daughter of Nereus, the sea- 
 god.-Grecian Story. 
 
   Theuerdank, a sobriquet of Kaiser 
Maximilian I. of Germany (1459, 1493- 
1519). 
 
   Thiebalt, a Provenqal, one of Arthur's 
escorts to Aix.-Sir W. Scott, Anne oj 
Geierstein (time, Edward IV.). 
 
  Thieves (The Two). The penitent thief 
crucified with Jesus, has been called by 
sundry names, as Demas, Dismas, Titus, 
Matha, and Vicimus. 
  The impenitent thief, has been called 
Gestas, Dumachas, Joca, and Justinus. 
  In the Aprocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, 
the former is called Dysmas and the 
latter Gestas. In the Story of Joseph of 
Arimathea, the former is called Demas and 
the latter Gestas.  Longfellow's Golden 
Leqend, calls them Titus and Dumachus. 
A legend says that they attacked Joseph in 
his flight into Egypt. Titus said, "Let 
the good .people go;" but Dumachus 
refused to do so till he "paid a ransom for 
himself and family." Upon this, Titus 
gave his fellow forty groats; and the in- 
fant Jesus said, "In thirty years I shall 
die, and you two with Me. We shall be 
 
 
crucified together; but in that day, Titus, 
this deed shall be remembered." 
 
   Thieves (His ancestors proved). It is 
 Sir Walter Scott who wrote and proved 
 his "ancestors were thieves," in the Lay of 
 the Last Minstrel, iv. 9. 
   A modern author spends a hundred leaves 
   To prove his ancestors notorious thieves. 
                       The Town Ecolgue. 
 
   Thieves Screened. It is said of Ed- 
 ward the Confessor, that one day, while 
 lying on his bed for his afternoon's nap, a 
 courtier stole into his chamber and seeing 
 the kiug's casket, helped himself freely 
 from it. He returned a second time, and 
 on his third entrance, Edward said, "Be 
 quick, or Hugoline (the chamberlain) will 
 see you." The courtier was scarcely gone, 
 when the chamberlain entered and in- 
 stantly detected the theft. The king said, 
 "Never mind, Hugoline; the fellow who 
 has taken it no doubt has greater need of 
 it than either you or I." (Reigned 1042- 
 1066). 
 Several similar anecdotes are told of 
 Robert the Pious, of France. One time he 
 saw a man steal a silver candlo-stick off 
 the altar, and said, "Friend Ogger, run 
 for your life, or you will be found out." 
 At another time, one of the twelve poor 
 men in his train cut off a rich gold pendant 
 from the royal robe, and Robert, turning 
 to the man, said to him, "Hide it quickly, 
 friend, before any one sees it." (Reigned 
 996-1031.) 
 The following is told of two or three 
 kings, amongst others of Ludwig the 
 Pious, who had a very overbearing wife. 
 A beggar under the table, picking up the 
 crumbs which the king let down, cut off 
the gold fringe of the royal robe, and the 
king whispered to him, "Take care the 
queen doesn't see you." 
 
 
THESPIO 
 
 
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