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Singing in Tribulation

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Confessing when put to the torture. Such a person is termed in gaol slang a “canary bird.”

“‘This man, sir, is condemned to the galleys for being a canary-bird.ʹ ‘A canary-bird! exclaimed the knight. ‘Yes, sir,ʹ added the arch-thief; ‘I mean that he is very famous for his singing.ʹ ‘What!ʹ said Don Quixote: ‘are people to be sent to the galleys for singing?ʹ ‘Marry, that they are,ʹ answered the slave, ‘for there is nothing more dangerous than singing in tribulation.”—Cervantes: Don Quixote, iii. 8.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Sing a Song o Sixpence
Sing my Music, and not Yours
Sing Old Rose
Sing Out
Sing-su-hay
Singapores
Singing Apple
Singing-Bread
Singing Chambermaids
Singing Tree
Singing in Tribulation
Single-Speech Hamilton
Sinister (Latin, on the left hand)
Sinning One’s Mercies
Sinon
Sintram
Sir
Sir Oracle
Sir Roger de Coverley
Siren
Sirius