sign-of-the-saracen's-head

Updated: May 6, 2025

Fechter's is the Iago who could, and did, make friends, who could dissect his master's soul, without flourishing his scalpel as if it were a walking-stick, who could overpower Emilia by other arts than a sign-of-the-Saracen's-Head grimness; who could be a boon companion without ipso facto warning all beholders off by the portentous phenomenon; who could sing a song and clink a can naturally enough, and stab men really in the dark, not in a transparent notification of himself as going about seeking whom to stab.

Charles Dickens - Miscellaneous Papers