S (continued 2)

Scanderbeg (i. e. Prince or Bey Alexander), the patriot chief of Albania, and the great hero of Albanian independence, who in the 15th century renounced Islamism for Christianity, and by his military prowess and skill freed Albania from the Turkish yoke; throughout his lifetime maintained its independence, crushing again and again the Turkish armies; was known among the Christians as George Castriot (1403-1468).

Scanderoon or Alexandretta (2), the port of Aleppo, in Turkey in Asia, situated in the Gulf of Scanderoon, in the NE. of the Levant, 77 m. NW. of Aleppo; is itself an insignificant place, but has a large transit trade.

Scandinavia, the ancient name (still used) of the great northern peninsula of Europe, which embraces Norway (q. v.) and Sweden (q. v.); also used in a broader sense to include Denmark and Iceland.

Scarborough (34), a popular seaside town and watering-place on the Yorkshire coast; built on rising ground on the shores of a fine bay; is a place of great antiquity, with interesting ruins; has churches, harbour, piers, and a fine promenade; noted for the manufacture of jet.

Scarpa, Antonio, Italian anatomist, professor at Pavia (1747-1832).

Scarron, Paul, a French humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in Paris; entered the Church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbé of Mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in Paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his "Virgile Travesti" and "Le Roman Comique," which "gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of Le Sage, Defoe, Fielding, and Smollett"; married in 1652 Françoise d'Aubigné, a girl of fifteen, afterwards the famous Madame de Maintenon (q. v.); was a man who both suffered much and laughed much (1610-1660).

Scattery Island, in the Shannon estuary, 3 m. SW. of Kilrush; an early Christian place of pilgrimage, with ruins and a "round tower"; is fortified and marked by a lighthouse.

Scepticism, primarily doubt respecting, and ultimately disbelief in, the reality of the super-sensible, or the transcendental, or the validity of the evidence on which the belief in it is founded, such as reason or revelation, and in religious matters is tantamount to infidelity more or less sweeping.

Sceptre, the symbol of royal power, power to command and compel, originally a club, the crown being the symbol of dominion.

Schadow, Johannes Gottfried, sculptor, born in Berlin; was trained in Rome under the best masters, returned to Berlin, and became Director of the Academy of Arts; laboured here for 62 years, and produced works which placed him among the first rank of artists; he had two sons, one of whom distinguished himself as a sculptor, and the other as a painter (1764-1850).

Schaff, Philip, a theologian, born in Switzerland; studied in Germany; came recommended by high names to the United States, and became professor first in Pennsylvania, and finally in New York (1819-1893).

Schaffhausen (38), a canton in the extreme N. of Switzerland, surrounded NE. and W. by Baden; the Rhine flanks it on the S.; is hilly, with fertile valleys sloping to the Rhine, and is chiefly given up to agriculture. The capital, Schaffhausen (19), occupies a picturesque site on the Rhine, 31 m. NW. of Constance; has a 12th-century cathedral, an interesting old castle, &c. The famous falls, the finest on the Rhine, are 3 m. below the town.

Schäffle, Dr. Albert, eminent German economist, born in Würtemberg; has written, besides other works, "The Quintessence of Socialism," an able exposé; b. 1831.

Schall, Johann Adam von, Jesuit missionary to China, born at Cologne; was received with honours at the Imperial Court; obtained permission to preach, and founded churches to the spread of Christianity, a privilege which was revoked by the next emperor; he was subjected to imprisonment, which shortened his life (1591-1669).

Schamyl. See Shamyl.

Scharnhorst, Gerhard von, a Prussian general, distinguished as the organiser of the Prussian army, to the establishment of a national force instead of a mercenary; died of a wound in battle (1756-1813).

Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, Swedish chemist, born in Pomerania, was an apothecary at Upsala and Köping; during his residence at the latter made numerous important discoveries, and published many chemical papers, his chief work "Experiments on Air and Fire" (1742-1786).

Scheffel, Joseph Victor von, German poet, bred to law, but abandoned it for literature; his first and best work "Der Trompeter von Sakkingen," a charming tale in verse of the Thirty Years' War, succeeded by "Gaudeamus," a collection of songs and ballads familiar to the German students all over the Fatherland (1826-1886).

Scheffer, Ary, painter, born at Dordrecht, of German and Dutch parentage; settled in Paris; began as a genre-painter; illustrated Dante, Goethe, and Byron, and in the end painted religious subjects; he did excellent portraits also; was of the Romantic school (1795-1858).

Scheherazade, daughter of the grand vizier, who, in the "Arabian Nights," marries the Sultan and saves her life by entertaining him night after night with her tales.

Scheldt, an important river of Belgium and Holland, rises in the French dep. of Aisne, and flows northwards past Cambrai (its highest navigable point) and Valenciennes, entering Belgium a little S. of Tournay and continuing northward, with Oudenarde, Ghent, and Antwerp on its banks; enters Holland, and at the island of S. Beveland splits into the Wester Scheldt and the Ooster Scheldt, which enter the North Sea, the former at Flushing, the latter at Bergen-op-Zoom; length 267 m., much the greater part being in Belgium.

Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph, German philosopher, born in Würtemberg; studied at Tübingen, where he became acquainted with Hegel; wrote first on theological subjects and then on philosophical; went to Jena and became a disciple and follower of Fichte; gradually abandoned Fichte's position and began to develop ideas of his own, and in conjunction with Hegel edited the Critical Journal of Philosophy; held afterwards a professorship at Münich and a lectureship at Berlin; his philosophy is no finished or completed system, but is essentially a history of the progressive stages through which he himself passed; during the reign of Hegel he kept silence, and only broke it when Hegel was dead; thought to outstrip him by another philosophy, but the attempt has proved fruitless of any important results (1775-1854).

Schemnitz (15), a town of Hungary, noted as a mining centre since Roman times, situated in the midst of a mountainous region, 65 m. N. by W. of Pesth; gold, silver, copper, and lead are largely wrought, chiefly in the interests of the State.

Schenkel, David, German theologian, born in Switzerland, became, after a pastorate at Schaffhausen, professor first at Basel and then at Heidelberg; was a man of liberal principles, and was zealous for the union of the Protestants, Lutheran and Reformed, in one body on a broad basis; is noted as author of a work entitled "Das Characterbild Jesu," being an attempt to construe the character of Christ on rationalistic lines (1813-1885).

Scherer, Edmond, French critic, born in Paris, spent his early years in England, his mother being English; was for some time devoted to theology and the Church, but changed his views; settled in Paris, and took to journalism and politics, distinguishing himself more especially in literary criticism (1815-1889).

Schiller, Friedrich, German poet and dramatist, born at Marbach on the Neckar, son of an army-surgeon; bred first to law and then to medicine, but took chief interest in philosophy and literature, to the cultivation of which he by-and-by devoted his life; his first work, a play, "The Robbers," which on its publication in 1782 produced quite a ferment, and was followed in 1783 by two tragedies, "Fresco" and "Kabale und Liebe"; but it was with "Don Carlos" in 1787 his mature authorship began, and this was followed by the "History of the Netherlands" and "History of the Thirty Years' War," to be succeeded by "Wallenstein" (1799), "Maria Stuart" (1800), "The Maid of Orleans" (1801), "The Bride of Messina" (1803), and "Wilhelm Tell" (1804); he Wrote besides a number of ballads and lyrics; in 1794 his friendship with Goethe began, and it was a friendship which was grounded on their common love for art, and lasted with life; he was an earnest man and a serious writer, and much beloved by the great Goethe (1759-1805). See Carlyle's "Life of Schiller," and his essay on him in his "Miscellanies."

Schlegel, August Wilhelm von, German man of letters, born at Hanover; studied theology at first, but turned to literature and began with poetry; settled in Jena, and in 1798 became professor of Fine Arts there; was associated in literary work with Madame de Staël for 14 years; delivered "Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature" at Vienna in 1708, and finished with a professorship of Literature at Bonn, having previously distinguished himself by translations into German of Shakespeare, Dante, &c.; he devoted himself to the study of Sanskrit when at Bonn, where he had Heine for pupil (1767-1845).

Schlegel, Friedrich von, German critic and author, born at Hanover, brother of preceding, joined his brother at Jena, and collaborated with him; became a zealous promoter of all the Romantic movements, and sought relief for his yearnings in the bosom of the Catholic Church; wrote lectures, severally published, on the "Philosophy of History," of "Literature," of "Life," and on "Modern History," and book on Sanskrit and the philosophy of India (1772-1829).

Schleicher, August, German philologist, did eminent service by his studies in the Indo-Germanic languages, and particularly in the Slavonic languages (1821-1868).

Schleiermacher, Friedrich Ernest Daniel, great German theologian, born at Breslau; brought up among the Moravians, his mind revolted against the narrow orthodoxy of their creed, which was confirmed by his study of Plato and the philosophy of the school of Kant, as it for him culminated in Schelling, though the religious feeling he inherited never left him; under these influences he addressed himself to the task of elaborating a theology in which justice should be done to the claims of the intellect and the emotions of the heart, and he began by translating Plato; soon he formed a school, which included among its members men such as Neander and others, distinguished at once for their learning and their piety, and to which all the schools of theology in Germany since have been more or less affiliated; his great merit lay in the importance he attached to the religious consciousness as derived from that of Christ, and the development therefrom in the life and history of the Church of Christ; it was to the religious interest he dedicated his life and consecrated all his learning, which was immense (1768-1834).

Schlemihl, Peter, the name of a man who in Chamisso's tale sold his shadow to the devil, a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain.

Schliemann, Heinrich, a German explorer, born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin; excavated at his own cost the ruins, among others in Greece, of Hissarlik, in the Troad, believing them to be those of Troy; spent 12 years in this enterprise, collecting the spoils and depositing them in safe keeping in Berlin; died at Naples before his excavations were complete (1822-1890).

Schlossner, Friedrich Christoph, German historian, born in Oldenburg; was studios of the moral factor in history, and gave especial prominence to it (1776-1861).

Schmalkaldic League, a league of the Protestant States of Germany concluded in 1531 at Schmalkalden, Prussia, in defence of their religious and civil liberties against the Emperor Charles V. and the Catholic States.

Schnitzer, Eduard, physician, born in Breslau; went to Turkey, entered the Turkish medical service, adopted the name Emin Pasha, and was appointed by Gordon medical officer of the Equatorial Province of Egypt, and raised to the rank of Pasha; soon after the outbreak of the Mahdist insurrection he was cut off from civilisation, but was discovered by Stanley in 1889 and brought to Zanzibar, after which he was murdered by Arabs (1840-1893).

Scholasticism, the name given to the philosophy that prevailed in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in the second half of them, and has been generally characterised as an attempt at conciliation between dogma and thought, between faith and reason, an attempt to form a scientific system on that basis, founded on the pre-supposition that the creed of the Church was absolutely true, and capable of rationalisation.

Scholiasts, name given to a class of grammarians who appended annotations to the margins of the MSS. of the classics.

Scholium, a marginal note explanatory of the text of a classic author.

Scholten, Hendrik, a Dutch theologian of the rationalistic school (1811-1885).

Schomberg, Duke of, French marshal, of German origin and the Protestant persuasion; took service under the Prince of Orange, and fell at the battle of the Boyne (1618-1690).

Schönbrunn, imperial palace near Vienna, built by Maria Theresa in 1744.

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, a noted American ethnologist, born in New York State; at 24 was geologist to an exploring expedition undertaken by General Cass to Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi; married the educated daughter of an Ojibway chief; founded the Historical Society of Michigan and the Algic Society at Detroit; discovered the sources of the Mississippi in 1832; was an active and friendly agent for the Indians, and in 1847 began, under Government authorisation, his great work of gathering together all possible information regarding the Indian tribes of the United States, an invaluable work embodied in six great volumes; author also of many other works treating of Indian life, exploration, etc. (1793-1864).

Schoolmen, teachers of the scholastic philosophy (q. v.).

Schopenhauer, Arthur, a bold metaphysical thinker, born in Danzig, of Dutch descent; was early dissatisfied with life, and conceived pessimistic views of it; in 1814 jotted down in a note-book, "Inward discord is the very bane of human nature so long as a man lives," and on this fact he brooded for years; at length the problem solved itself, and the solution appears in his great work, "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung" ("The World as Will and Idea"), which he published in 1718; in it, as in others of his writings, to use the words of the late Professor Wallace of Oxford, Schopenhauer "draws close to the great heart of life, and tries to see clearly what man's existence and hopes and destiny really are, which recognises the peaceful creations of art as the most adequate representation the sense-world can give of the true inward being of all things, and which holds the best life to be that of one who has pierced, through the illusions dividing one conscious individuality from another, into that great heart of eternal rest where we are each members one of another essentially united in the great ocean of Being, in which, and by which, we alone live." Goethe gives a similar solution in his "Wilhelm Meister"; is usually characterised as a pessimist, and so discarded, but such were all the wise men who have contributed anything to the emancipation of the world, which they never would have attempted but for a like sense of the evil at the root of the world's misery; and as for his philosophy, it is a protest against treating it as a science instead of an art which has to do not merely with the reasoning powers, but with the whole inmost nature of man (1788-1860).

Schouvaloff, Count Peter, a Russian ambassador, born at St. Petersburg; became in 1806 head of the secret police; came to England in 1873 on a secret mission to arrange the marriage of the Emperor Alexander II.'s daughter with the Duke of Edinburgh; was one of Russia's representatives at the Congress of Berlin (1827-1889). His brother, Count Paul, fought in the Crimean War, helped to liberate the Russian serfs, fought in the Russo-Turkish War, and was governor of Warsaw during 1895-1897; b. 1830.

Schreiner, Olive, authoress, daughter of a Lutheran clergyman at Cape Town; achieved a great success by "The Story of an African Farm" in 1883, which was followed in 1890 by "Dreams," also later "Dream Life and Real Life"; she is opposed to the South African policy of Mr. Rhodes.

Schreiner, Right Hon. W. P., Premier of the Cape Parliament, brother of preceding; bred to the bar, favours arbitration in the South African difficulty, and is a supporter of the Africander Bond in politics.

Schubert, Franz Peter, composer, born, the son of a Moravian schoolmaster, at Vienna; at 11 was one of the leading choristers in the court-chapel, later on became leading violinist in the school band; his talent for composition in all modes soon revealed itself, and by the time he became an assistant in his father's school (1813) his supreme gift of lyric melody showed itself in the song "Erl King," the "Mass in F," etc.; his too brief life, spent chiefly in the drudgery of teaching, was harassed by pecuniary embarrassment, embittered by the slow recognition his work won, though he was cheered by the friendly encouragement of Beethoven; his output of work was remarkable for its variety and quantity, embracing some 500 songs, 10 symphonies, 6 masses, operas, sonatas, etc.; his abiding fame rests on his songs, which are infused, as none other are, by an intensity of poetic feeling—"divine fire" Beethoven called it (1797-1828).

Schulze-Delitzsch, Hermann, founder of the system of "people's savings-banks," born at Delitzsch, and trained to the law; he settled in his native town and give himself to social reform, sat in the National Assembly in Berlin on the Progressionist side, but opposed Lasalle's socialistic programme; his project of "people's savings-banks" was started in 1850, and immediately took root, spreading over the country and into Austria, Italy, Belgium, etc. (1808-1883).

Schumann, Robert, an eminent German composer and musical critic, born at Zwickau, in Saxony; law, philosophy, and travel occupied his early youth, but in 1831 he was allowed to follow his bent for music, and settled to study it at Leipzig; two years later started a musical paper, which for more than 10 years was the vehicle of essays in musical criticism; during these years appeared also his greatest pianoforte works, songs, symphonies, and varied chamber music; "Paradise and the Part" and scenes from "Faust" appeared in 1843; symptoms of cerebral disease which in the end proved fatal, began to manifest themselves, and he withdrew to a quieter life at Dresden, where much of his operatic and other music was written; during 1850-54 he acted as musical director at Düsseldorf, but insanity at length supervened, and after attempting suicide in the Rhine he was placed in an asylum, where he died two years later; his work is full of the fresh colour and variety of Romanticism, his songs being especially beautiful (1810-1856).

Schürer, Emil, biblical scholar, born at Augsburg, professor of Theology at Kiel, author of "History of the Jewish People"; b. 1844.

Schuyler, Philip John, leader in the American War of Independence, born at Albany, of Dutch descent; served in arms under Washington, and health failing for action, became one of Washington's most sagacious advisers (1733-1804).

Schuylkill, a river of Pennsylvania, rises on the N. side of the Blue Mountains and flows SE. 130 m. to its junction with the Delaware River at Philadelphia; is an important waterway for the coal-mining industry of Pennsylvania.

Schwann, Theodor, German physiologist, born at Neuss; made several discoveries in physiology, and established the cell theory (1810-1882).

Schwanthaler, Ludwig, German sculptor, born at Münich, of an old family of sculptors; studied at Rome; has adorned his native city with his works both in bas-reliefs and statues, at once in single figures and in groups; did frescoes and cartoons also (1802-1848).

Schwärmerei (lit. going off in swarms, as bees under their queen), name given to a more or less insane enthusiasm with which a mass of men is affected.

Schwarz, Berthold, an alchemist of the 13th century, born at Fribourg, a monk of the order of Cordeliers; is credited with the discovery of gunpowder when making experiments with nitre.

Schwarz, Christian Friedrich, German missionary in India, born in Brandenburg; laboured 16 years at Trichinopoly, gained the friendship of the Rajah of Tanjore, and settled there in 1778; succeeded also in winning the favour of Hyder Ali of Mysore, and proved himself to be in all senses a minister of the gospel of peace (1726-1798).

Schwarzburg, House of, one of the oldest noble families of Germany; first comes into authentic history in the 12th century with Count Sizzo IV. (the first to take the title of Schwarzburg), and in the 16th century divides into the two existing branches, the Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt—which give their names to two sovereign principalities of Central Germany wedged in between Prussia and the lesser Saxon States, the latter embracing part of the Thuringian Forest; both are prosperous agricultural and mining regions.

Schwarzenburg, Karl Philip, Prince von, Austrian general, born at Vienna, of a noble family there; entered the army and distinguished himself in the wars against the Turks, the French Republic, and Napoleon; fought at Austerlitz and Wagram, negotiated the marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louisa, commanded the Austrian contingent sent to aid France in 1812, but joined the allies against Napoleon at Dresden and Leipzig, and captured Paris in 1814 at the head of the army of the Rhine (1771-1820).

Schwarzwald, the Black Forest in Germany.

Schwegler, Albert, theologian, born at Würtemberg; treated first on theological subjects, then on philosophical; is best known among us by his "History of Philosophy," translated into English by Dr. Hutcheson Stirling, "written, so to speak, at a single stroke of the pen, as, in the first instance, an article for an encyclopædia," ... the author being "a remarkably ripe, full man" (1819-1857).

Schweinfurth, Georg August, German traveller in Africa, born at Riga; wrote "The Heart of Africa," which gives an account of his travels among the mid-African tribes; b. 1836.

Schwenckfeld, Caspar von, a Protestant sectary, born in Lower Silesia, of a noble family; as a student of the Scriptures embraced the Reformation, but differed from Luther on the matter of the dependence of the divine life on external ordinances, insisting, as George Fox afterwards did, on its derivation from within; like Fox he travelled from place to place proclaiming this, and winning not a few disciples, and exposed himself to much persecution at the hands of men of whom better things were to be expected, but he bore it all with a Christ-like meekness; died at Ulm; his writings were treated with the same indignity as himself, and his followers were after his death driven from one place of refuge to another, till the last remnant of them found shelter under the friendly wing of Count Zinzendorf (q. v.) (1490-1561).

Schwerin (34), capital of the grand-duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; has a pretty site on Lake of Schwerin (14 m. by 3), 47 m. SE. of Lübeck; has a 14th-century cathedral, Renaissance castle, arsenal, &c., and manufactures of lacquered ware, machinery, &c.

Schwyz (50), one of the three original cantons of Switzerland, German speaking and Catholic; Lake Zurich forms part of the N. border, and Lake Lucerne part of the S.; Zug with its lake is on the W.; is mountainous, but good pasturage favours cattle-breeding, sheep and goat rearing, &c.; important industries in cotton and silk are carried on; Einsiedeln, with its famous monastery, attracts thousands of pilgrims, and the Rigi is a favourite resort of summer visitors. The capital (7), same name, is prettily situated 26 m. E. of Lucerne.

Science, as it has been said, "has for its province the world of phenomena, and deals exclusively with their relations, consequences, or sequences. It can never tell us what a thing really and intrinsically is, but only why it has become so; it can only, in other words, refer us to one inscrutable as the ground and explanation of another inscrutable." "A science," says Schopenhauer, "anybody can learn, one perhaps with more, another with less trouble; but from art each receives only so much as he brings, yet latent within him.... Art has not, like science, to do merely with the reasoning powers, but with the inmost nature of man, where each must count only for what he really is."

Scilly Islands, a rugged group of islands belonging to Cornwall, 27 m. SW. of Land's End; consists of six larger islands—St. Mary's (1528 acres, pop. 1200), the largest—and some 30 smaller, besides numerous rock clusters, the name Scilly being strictly applicable to a rocky islet in the NW. of the group; climate is damp and mild; the cultivation and export of large quantities of lilies is the principal industry, but generally industries have decayed, lighthouses have reduced greatly the hereditary occupation of pilotage, and emigration goes on; the only town is Hugh Town (with two hotels, banks, pier, &c.), on St. Mary's; there are some interesting ecclesiastical ruins, &c.; since 1834 much has been done to improve the condition of the islanders by the then proprietor Mr. A. J. Smith, and his nephew, T. A. Darien Smith, who succeeded in 1872.

Scioppius, Caspar, a Protestant renegade, born in the Palatinate; turned Catholic on a visit to Rome, and devoted his life to vilify his former co-religionists, and to invoke the Catholic powers to combine to their extermination; he was a man of learning, but of most infirm temper (1576-1649).

Scipio, P. Cornelius, the Elder, surnamed Africanus Major, a celebrated Roman general; was present at the engagement near the Tacinus and at Cannæ; was appointed proconsul of Spain at the age of 24, and made himself master of nearly the whole of it against the Carthaginians; on his return to Rome was made consul; transferred the seat of war against Carthage to Africa, and landed at Utica; met Hannibal on the field of Zama, and totally defeated him, and ended the Second Punic War in 202 B.C. (234-183 B.C.).

Scipio, P. Cornelius, the Younger, surnamed Africanus Minor, adopted by the preceding, the proper name being L. Paullus Æmelius; after distinguishing himself in Spain proceeded to Africa to take part in the Third Punic War; laid siege to Carthage, took it by storm, and levelled it with the ground in 146 B.C.; he was afterwards sent to Spain, where he captured Numantia after a stubborn resistance, to the extension of the sway of Rome; he was an upright and magnanimous man, but his character was not proof against assault; he died by the hand of an assassin.

Scone (pronounced Scoon), a, village in Perthshire, on the left bank of the Tay, 2 m. N. of Perth; once the capital of the Pictish kingdom, and the place of the coronation of the Scottish kings; near it is the seat of the Earl of Mansfield.

Scopas, Greek sculptor, born at Paros, who flourished in 4th century B.C.

Scoresby, William, scientist, born at Whitby; began life as a sailor; visited the Arctic regions twice over, and wrote an account of his explorations; took to the Church, and held several clerical charges, but retired in 1849, and gave himself to scientific researches, both at home and abroad (1787-1857).

Scory, John, a Cambridge Dominican friar in 1530, who became bishop of Rochester in 1551, and later of Chichester; was deprived of his living on Queen Mary's accession; recanted, but fled abroad, whence he issued his "Epistle to the Faytheful in Pryson in England"; returned in Elizabeth's reign, and became bishop of Hereford; d. 1585.

Scot, Reginald, author of a famous work, "The Discoverie of Witchcraft" (1584), remarkable as one of the earliest exposures of the absurdities of witchcraft and kindred superstitions, which provoked King James's foolish defence "Dæmonology"; son of a Kentish baronet; educated at Oxford, and spent a peaceful life gardening and studying; wrote also "The Hoppe Garden" (1538-1599).

Scotland (4,026), the northern portion of the island of Great Britain, separated from England by the Solway, Cheviots, and Tweed, and bounded N. and W. by the Atlantic and E. by the German Ocean; inclusive of 788 islands (600 uninhabited), its area, divided into 33 counties, is slightly more than one-half of England's, but has a coast-line longer by 700 m.; greatest length from Dunnet Head (most northerly point) to Mull of Galloway (most southerly) is 288 m., while the breadth varies from 32 to 175, Buchan Ness being the eastmost point and Ardnamurchan Point the westmost; from rich pastoral uplands in the S.—Cheviots, Moffat Hills, Lowthers, Moorfoots, and Lammermoors—the country slopes down to the wide, fertile lowland plain—growing fine crops of oats barley, wheat, &c.—which stretches, with a varying breadth of from 30 to 60 m., up to the Grampians (highest peak Ben Nevis, 4406 ft.), whence the country sweeps northwards, a wild and beautiful tract of mountain, valley, and moorland, diversified by some of the finest loch and river scenery in the world; the east and west coasts present remarkable contrasts, the latter rugged, irregular, and often precipitous, penetrated by long sea-lochs and fringed with numerous islands, and mild and humid in climate; the former low and regular, with few islands or inlets, and cold, dry, and bracing; of rivers the Tweed, Forth, Tay, Dee, and Clyde are the principal, and the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides the chief island groups; coal and iron abound in the lowlands, more especially in the plain of the Forth and Clyde, and granite in the Grampians; staple industries are the manufacture of cottons, woollens, linen, jute, machinery, hardware, paper, and shipbuilding, of which Glasgow is the centre and commercial metropolis, while Edinburgh (capital) is the chief seat of law, education, &c.; of cultivated land the percentage varies from 74.8 in Fife to 2.4 in Sutherland, and over all is only 24.2; good roads, canals, extensive railway and telegraph systems knit all parts of the country together; Presbyterianism is the established form of religion, and in 1872 the old parish schools were supplanted by a national system under school-boards similar to England; the lowlanders and highlanders still retain distinctive characteristics of their Teutonic and Celtic progenitors, the latter speaking in many parts of the Highlands their native Gaelic; originally the home of the Picts (q. v.), and by them called Alban or Albyn, the country, already occupied as far as the Forth and Clyde by the Romans, was in the 5th century successfully invaded by the Scots, a Celtic tribe from Ireland; in 843 their king Kenneth was crowned king of Picts and Scots, and by the 10th century the country (known to the Romans as Caledonia) began to be called Scotia or Scotland; government and power gradually centred in the richer lowlands, which, through contact with England, and from the number of English immigrants, became distinctively Anglo-Saxon; since the Union with England (q. v.) the prosperity of Scotland has been of steady and rapid growth, manufactures, commerce, and literature (in all branches) having flourished wonderfully.

Scots, The, a tribe of Celts from Ireland who settled in the W. of North Britain, and who, having gained the ascendency of the Picts in the E., gave to the whole country the name of Scotland.

Scott, David, Scotch painter, born in Edinburgh; he was an artist of great imaginative power, and excelled in the weird; his best picture, exhibited in 1828, was "The Hopes of Early Genius Dispelled by Death," though his first achievements in art were his illustrations of the "Ancient Mariner"; but his masterpiece is "Vasco da Gama encountering the Spirit of the Cape"; he was a sensitive man, and disappointment hastened his death (1806-1849).

Scott, Sir George Gilbert, English architect, born in Buckinghamshire, son of Scott the commentator; was the builder or restorer of buildings both in England and on the Continent after the Gothic, and wrote several works on architecture.

Scott, Michael, a sage with the reputation of a wizard, who lived about the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, of whose art as a magician many legends are related.

Scott, Thomas, commentator, born in Lincolnshire; became rector of Aston Sandford, Bucks; was a Calvinist in theology, author of the "Force of Truth" and "Essays on Religion," the work by which he is best known being his "Commentary on the Bible," a scholarly exposition (1747-1821).

Scott, Sir Walter, the great romancer, born in Edinburgh, through both father and mother of Scottish Border blood; his father, a lawyer, a man "who passed from the cradle to the grave without making an enemy or losing a friend," his mother a little kindly woman, full of most vivid memories, awakening an interest in him to which he owed much; was a healthy child, but from teething and other causes lost the use of his right limb when 18 months old, which determined, to a marked extent, the course of his life; spent many of the months of his childhood in the country, where he acquired that affection for all natural objects which never left him, and a kindliness of soul which all the lower animals that approached him were quick to recognise; he was from the first home-bred, and to realise the like around his own person was his fondest dream, and if he failed, as it chanced he did, his vexation was due not to the material loss it involved, but to the blight it shed on his home life and the disaster on his domestic relationships; his school training yielded results of the smallest account to his general education, and a writer of books himself, he owed less to book-knowledge than his own shrewd observation; he proceeded from the school (the High School, it was) at 15 to his father's office and classes at the University, and at both he continued to develop his own bent more than the study of law or learning; at his sixteenth year the bursting of a blood-vessel prostrated him in bed and enforced a period of perfect stillness, but during this time he was able to prosecute sundry quiet studies, and laid up in his memory great stores of knowledge, for his mind was of that healthy quality which assimilated all that was congenial to it and let all that did not concern it slip idly through, achieving thereby his greatest victory, that of becoming an altogether whole man. Professionally he was a lawyer, and a good lawyer, but the duties of his profession were not his chief interest, and though he received at length a sheriffship worth £300 a year, and a clerkship to the court worth £1500, he early turned his mind to seek promotion elsewhere, and chose a literary career. His first literary efforts were translations in verse from the German, but his first great literary success was the publication, in 1802, of "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," and in this he first gave evidence both of the native force and bent of his genius; it gave the keynote of all that subsequently proceeded from his pen. This was followed the same year by "Cadzow Castle," a poem instinct with military ardour, and this by "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" in 1805; the first poem which gained him popular favour, by "Marmion" in 1808, and by "The Lord of the Isles" in 1814. Much as the rise of Scott's fame was owing to his poetical works, it is on the ground of his prose writings, as the freest and fullest exhibition of his genius, that it is now mainly founded. The period of his productivity in this line extended over 18 years in all, commencing with the year 1814. This was the year of the publication of "Waverley," which was followed by that of "Guy Mannering," "The Antiquary," "Rob Roy," "Old Mortality," and "The Heart of Midlothian" in the year 1819, when he was smitten down by an illness, the effects of which was seen in his after-work. "The Bride of Lammermoor," "Ivanhoe," "The Monastery," "The Abbot," "Kenilworth," and "The Pirate" belong to the years that succeeded that illness, and all more or less witness to its sorrowful effects, of which last "The Abbot" and "The Monastery" are reckoned the best, as still illustrating the "essential powers" of Scott, to which may be added "Redgauntlet" and "The Fortunes of Nigel," characterised by Ruskin as "quite noble ones," together with "Quentin Durward" and "Woodstock," as "both of high value." Sir Walter's own life was, in its inner essence, an even-flowing one, for there were in it no crises such as to require a reversal of the poles of it, and a spiritual new birth, with crucifixion of the old nature, and hence it is easily divisible, as it has been divided throughout, into the three natural periods of growth, activity, and death. His active life, which ranges from 1796 to 1826, lay in picturing things and traditions of things as in youth, a 25 years' period of continuous crescent expansiveness, he had learned to view them, and his slow death was the result, not of mere weariness in working, but of the adverse circumstances that thwarted and finally wrecked the one unworthy ambition that had fatally taken possession of his heart. Of Scott Ruskin says, "What good Scott had in him to do, I find no words full enough to express... Scott is beyond comparison the greatest intellectual force manifested in Europe since Shakespeare... All Scott's great writings were the recreations of a mind confirmed in dutiful labour, and rich with organic gathering of boundless resource" (1771-1832).

Scott, William Bell, painter and poet, brother of David Scott, born in Edinburgh; did criticism and wrote on artists; is best known by his autobiography (1811-1890).

Scranton (102), capital of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, on the Lackawanna River, 144 m. NW. of New York; does a large trade in coal, and is the centre of a busy steel, iron, and machinery industry.

Scribe, Eugene, French dramatist, a prolific and a successful, who produced plays for half a century, well adapted for the stage, if otherwise worthless (1791-1861).

Scribes, The (i. e. writers), a non-priestly class among the Jews devoted to the study and exposition of the Law, and who rose to a position of importance and influence in the Jewish community, were known in the days of Christ also by the name of Lawyers, and were addressed as Rabbis; their disciples were taught to regard them, and did regard them with a reverence superior to that paid to father or mother, the spiritual parent being reckoned as much above the natural, as the spirit and its interests are above the flesh and its interests.

Scriblerus, Martinus, the subject of a fictitious memoir published in Pope's works and ascribed to Arbuthnot (q. v.), intended to ridicule the pedantry which affects to know everything, but knows nothing to any purpose.

Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose, New Testament critic, born at Bermondsey, Surrey, educated at Cambridge; head-master of Falmouth School from 1846 to 1856, and after 15 years' rectorship of Gerrans, became vicar of Hendon and prebendary of Exeter; his "Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament" ranks as a standard work; was editor of the Cambridge Paragraph Bible, and one of the New Testament revisers (1813-1891).

Scroggs, Sir William, an infamous Judge of Charles II.'s reign, who became Chief-Justice of the King's Bench in 1678, and whose name is associated with all manner of injustice and legal corruption; was impeached in 1680, and pensioned off by the king; d. 1683.

Scudéry, Madeleine de, French novelist, born at Havre, came to Paris in her youth, and there lived to an extreme old age; was a prominent figure in the social and literary life of the city; collaborated at first with her brother Georges, but subsequently was responsible herself for a set of love romances of an inordinate length, but of great popularity in their day, e. g. "Le Grand Cyrus" and "Clélie," &c., in which a real gift for sparkling dialogue is swallowed up in a mass of improbable adventures and prudish sentimentalism (1607-1701).

Sculptured Stones, a name specially applied to certain varieties of commemorative monuments (usually rough-hewn slabs or boulders, and in a few cases well-shaped crosses) of early Christian date found in various parts of the British Isles, bearing lettered and symbolic inscriptions of a rude sort and ornamental designs resembling those found on Celtic MSS. of the Gospels; lettered inscriptions are in Latin, Ogam (q. v.), and Scandinavian and Anglican runes, while some are uninscribed; usually found near ancient ecclesiastical sites, and their date is approximately fixed according to the character of the ornamentation; some of these stones date as late as the 11th century; the Scottish stones are remarkable for their elaborate decoration and for certain symbolic characters to which as yet no interpretation has been found.

Scutari (50), a town of Turkey in Asia, on the Bosporus, opposite Constantinople; has several fine mosques, bazaars, &c.; large barracks on the outskirts were used as hospitals by Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War; has large and impressive cemeteries; chief manufactures are of silks, cottons, &c. Also name of a small town (5) in European Turkey, situated at the S. end of Lake Scutari, 18 by 16 m., in North Albania.

Scylla and Charybdis, two rocks opposite each other at a narrow pass of the strait between Italy and Sicily, in the cave of one of which dwelt the former, a fierce monster that barked like a dog, and under the cliff of the other of which dwelt the latter, a monster that sucked up everything that came near it, so that any ship passing between in avoiding the one become a prey to the other.

Scythians, the name of a people of various tribes that occupied the steppes of SE. of Europe and W. of Asia adjoining eastward, were of nomadic habit; kept herds of cattle and horses, and were mostly in a semi-savage state beyond the pale of civilisation; the region they occupied is called Scythia.

Seabury, Samuel, American prelate, born at Groton, Connecticut, graduated at Yale and studied medicine in Edinburgh; entered the Church of England in 1753, and devoted himself at first to missionary work; subsequently held "livings" in Long Island and New York State in 1782; was appointed bishop by the clergy of Connecticut; sought consecration at the hands of the English archbishops who were afraid to grant it, and had to resort to the bishops of the Scotch Episcopal Church for the purpose; did notable work in establishing and consolidating Episcopacy in America (1729-1796).

Sealed Orders, the orders given the commanding officer of a ship or squadron that are sealed up, which he is not allowed to open till he has proceeded a certain length into the high seas; an arrangement in order to ensure secrecy in a time of war.

Sea-Serpent, a marine monster of serpent-like shape whose existence is still a matter of question, although several seemingly authentic accounts have been circulated in attestation. The subject has given rise to much disputation and conjecture on the part of naturalists, but opinion mostly favours the supposition that these gigantic serpent-like appearances are caused by enormous cuttlefish swimming on the surface of the water, with their 20 ft. long tentacles elongated fore and aft. Other fishes which might also be mistaken for the sea-serpent are the barking-shark, tape-fish, marine snake, &c.

Sebastian. St., a Roman soldier at Narbonne, and martyred under Diocletian when it was discovered he was a Christian; is depicted in art bound naked to a tree and pierced with arrows, and sometimes with arrows in his hand offering them to Heaven on his knees, he having been shot first with arrows and then beaten to death.

Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter, born at Venice; was an excellent colourist, and collaborated with Michael Angelo (1485-1547).

Sebastopol (34), a fortified seaport of Russia, situated on a splendid natural harbour (4½ m. by ½), on the SW. of the Crimea; during the Crimean War was destroyed and captured by the French and English after a siege lasting from October 9, 1854, to September 18, 1855; has, since 1885, been restored, and is now an important naval station; exports large quantities of grain.

Sebillot, Paul, celebrated French folk-lorist; b. 1843.

Secker, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire; first studied medicine and graduated at Leyden in 1721, but was induced to take orders, and after a year at Oxford was ordained a priest in 1723; held various livings till his appointment to the Primacy in 1758; noted as a wise and kindly ecclesiastic (1693-1768).

Second-Sight, name given to the power of seeing things future or distant; a power superstitiously ascribed to certain people in the Highlands of Scotland.

Secularist, name given to one who, discarding as irrelevant all theories and observances bearing upon the other world and its interests, holds that we ought to confine our attention solely to the immediate problems and duties of this, independently of all presumed dependence on revelation and communications from a higher sphere.

Sedan (20), a town of France, in department of Ardennes, on the Maas, 164 m. NE. of Paris; once a strong fortress, but dismantled in 1875, where in 1870 Napoleon III. and 86,000 men under Marshal Macmahon surrendered to the Germans; noted for its cloth manufactories. Previous to the Edict of Nantes was a celebrated centre of Huguenot industry and theological learning.

Sedgemoor, district in central Somersetshire, 5 m. SE. of Bridgwater, scene of a famous battle between the troops of James II. and those of the Duke of Monmouth on July 6, 1685, in which the latter were completely routed.

Sedgwick, Adam, geologist, born at Dent, Yorkshire; graduated at Cambridge in 1808, became a Fellow in the same year, and in 1818 was elected to the Woodward chair of Geology; co-operated with Murchison in the study of the geological formation of the Alps and the Devonian system of England; strongly conservative in his scientific theories, he stoutly opposed the Darwinian theory of the origin of species; his best work was contributed in papers to the Geological Society of London, of which he was President 1829-1831; published "British Palæozoic Rocks and Fossils" (1785-1873).

Seeley, Sir John Robert, author of "Ecce Homo," born in London; studied at Cambridge, became professor of History there in 1869 on Kingsley's retirement; his "Ecce Homo" was published in 1865, a piece of perfect literary workmanship, but which in its denial of the self-originated spirit of Christ offended orthodox belief and excited much adverse criticism; wrote in 1882 a work entitled "Natural Religion," in which he showed the same want of sympathy with supernatural ideas, as also several historical works (1834-1895).

Segovia (14), a quaint old Spanish city, capital of a province (154) of the same name; crowns a rocky height looking down on the river Eresma, 32 m. NW. of Madrid; its importance dates from Roman times; has a great aqueduct, built in Trajan's reign, and a fine Moorish castle and Gothic cathedral; cloth-weaving the only important industry.

Segu (36), a town of West Africa, on the Joliba, 400 m. SW. of Timbuctoo; chiefly occupied by trading Arabs; once the capital of a now decayed native State.

Seine, an important river of France, rises in the tableland of Langres, takes a winding course to the NW., passing many important towns, Troyes, Fontainebleau, Paris, St. Denis, Rouen, &c., and discharges into the English Channel by a broad estuary after a course of 482 m., of which 350 are navigable.

Seine (3,142), the smallest but most populous department of France, entirely surrounded by the department of Seine-et-Oise; Paris and its adjacent villages cover a considerable portion of the area; presents a richly wooded, undulating surface, traversed by the Seine in a NW. direction.

Seine-et-Marne (356), a north-midland department of France lying E. of Seine; the Marne crosses the N. and the Seine the S.; has a fertile soil, which grows in abundance cereals, vegetables, and fruits; many fine woods, including Fontainebleau Forest, diversify its undulating surface. Melun (capital) and Fontainebleau are among its important towns.

Seine-et-Oise (628), a department of NW. France, encloses the department of Seine; grain is grown in well-cultivated plains and the vine on pleasant hill slopes; is intersected by several tributaries of the Seine, and the N. is prettily wooded. Versailles is the capital; Sèvres and St. Cloud are other interesting places.

Seine-Inférieure (839), a maritime department of North-West France, in Normandy, facing the English Channel; is for the most part a fertile plain, watered by the Seine and smaller streams, and diversified by fine woods and the hills of Caux; is a fruit and cider producing district; has flourishing manufactures. Rouen is the capital, and Havre and Dieppe are important trading centres.

Selborne, Roundell Palmer, Earl of, Lord Chancellor, born in Oxfordshire; called to the bar in 1837, and after a brilliant career at Oxford entered Parliament in 1847, and in 1861 became Solicitor-General in Palmerston's ministry, receiving at the same time a knighthood; two years later was advanced to the Attorney-Generalship; in 1872 was elected Lord Chancellor, a position he retained till 1874, and again held from 1880 to 1885; refused to adopt Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule policy for Ireland and joined the Liberal-Unionists, but declined to take office under Lord Salisbury; was raised to an earldom in 1882, received various honorary degrees; greatly interested himself in hymnology, and edited "The Book of Praise"; wrote also several works on Church questions (1812-1895).

Selby (6), a market-town of Yorkshire, on the Ouse, 15 m. S. of York; has a noted cruciform abbey church, founded in the 12th century, and exhibiting various styles of architecture; has some boat-building; manufactures flax, ropes, leather, bricks, &c.

Selden, John, born at Salvington, Sussex; adopted law as a profession, and was trained at Clifford's Inn and the Inner Temple, London; successful as a lawyer, he yet found time for scholarly pursuits, and acquired a great reputation by the publication of various erudite works bearing on old English jurisprudence and antiquities generally; a "History of Tithes" (1618), in which he combats the idea that "tithes" are divinely instituted, got him into trouble with the Church; was imprisoned in 1621 for encouraging Parliament to repudiate James's absolutist claims; from his entrance into Parliament in 1623 continued to play an important part throughout the troublous reign of Charles; sincerely attached to the Parliamentary side, he was one of the framers of the Petition of Right, and suffered imprisonment with Holies and the others; sat in the Long Parliament, but, all through out of sympathy with the extremists, disapproved of the execution of Charles; held various offices, e. g. Keeper of the Rolls and Records in the Tower; continued to write learned and voluminous works on biblical and historical subjects, but is best remembered for his charming 'Table-talk, a book of which Coleridge remarked, "There is more weighty bullion sense in this book than I can find in the same number of pages of any uninspired writer" (1584-1654).

Selene, in the Greek mythology the moon-goddess, the sister of Helios, and designated Phoebe as he was Phoebus; she became by Endymion the mother of 50 daughters.

Self-denying Ordinance, a resolution of the Long Parliament passed in 1644, whereby the members bound themselves not to accept certain executive offices, particularly commands in the army.

Selim I., a warlike sultan of Turkey, who, having dethroned and put to death his father, Bajazet II., entered upon a victorious career of military aggrandisement, overcoming the Persians in 1515, conquering and annexing Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz in 1517, finally winning for himself the position of Imâm or head of the Mohammedan world; greatly strengthened his country, and strove according to his lights to deal justly with and ameliorate the condition of the peoples whom he conquered (1467-1520).

Seljuks, a Turkish people who in the 10th century, headed by a chief named Seljuk (whence their name), broke away from their allegiance to the khan of Kirghiz, adopted the Mohammedan faith, and subsequently conquered Bokhara, but were driven across the Oxus and settled HI Khorassan; under Toghril Beg, grandson of Seljuk, they in the 11th century won for themselves a wide empire in Asia, including the provinces of Syria and Asia Minor, whose rulers, by their cruel persecution of Christian pilgrims, led to the Crusade movement in Europe. The Seljuks were in part gradually absorbed by the advancing Mongol tribes, while numbers fled westward, where they were at length incorporated in the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century.

Selkirk (6), county town of Selkirkshire, on the Ettrick, 40 m. SE. of Edinburgh; famed at one time for its "Souters"; is a centre of the manufacture of tweeds.

Selkirkshire (27), a south inland county of Scotland; extends S. from the corner of Midlothian to Dumfriesshire, between Peebles (W.) and Roxburgh (E.); the grassy slopes of its hills afford splendid pasturage, and sheep-farming is a flourishing industry; manufactures are mainly confined to Galashiels and Selkirk; is traversed by the Ettrick and the Yarrow, whose romantic valleys are associated with much of the finest ballad literature of Scotland.

Selwyn, George, a noted wit in the social and literary life of London in Horace Walpole's time, born, of good parentage, in Gloucestershire; was expelled from Oxford in 1743 for blasphemy; four years later entered Parliament, and supported the Court party, and received various government favours; his vivacious wit won him ready entrance into the best London and Parisian society; is the chief figure in Jesse's entertaining "George Selwyn and his Contemporaries" (1719-1791).

Selwyn, George Augustus, the first bishop of New Zealand, in which capacity he wrought so zealously, that his diocese, by his extension of Episcopacy, was subdivided into seven; on his return to England he was made bishop of Lichfield (1809-1878).

Semaphore, a name applied to the mechanism employed for telegraphing purposes prior to the discovery of the electric telegraph; invented in 1767 by Richard Edgeworth, but first extensively used by the French in 1794, and afterwards adopted by the Admiralty in England; consisted at first of six shutters set in two rotating circular frames, which, by opening and shutting in various ways, were capable of conveying sixty-three distinct signals; these were raised on the tops of wooden towers erected on hills; later a different form was adopted consisting of a mast and two arms worked by winches. The speed at which messages could be transmitted was very great; thus a message could be sent from London to Portsmouth and an answer be received all within 45 seconds. The railway signal now in use is a form of semaphore.

Semele, in the Greek mythology the daughter of Cadmus and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus, was tempted by Hera to pray Zeus to show himself to her in his glory, who, as pledged to give her all she asked, appeared before her as the god of thunder, and consumed her by the lightning. See Dionysus.

Seminoles, a nomadic tribe of American Indians who from 1832 to 1839 offered a desperate resistance to the Americans before yielding up their territory SE. of the Mississippi (Florida, etc.); finally settled in the Indian Territory, where they now number some 3000, and receive an annuity from the American Government; missionary enterprise among them has been successful in establishing schools and churches.

Semipalatinsk (586), a mountainous province of Asiatic Russia, stretching between Lake Balkash (S.) and Tomsk; encloses stretches of steppe-land on which cattle and horses are reared; some mining of silver, lead, and copper is also done. Semipalatinsk, the capital (18), stands on the Irtish; has two annual fairs, and is an important trading mart.

Semi-Pelagianism. See Pelagius.

Semiramis, legendary queen of Assyria, to whom tradition ascribes the founding of Babylon with its hanging gardens, and is said to have surpassed in valour and glory her husband Ninus, the founder of Nineveh; she seems to have in reality been the Venus or Astarte of the Assyrian mythology. The story goes that when a child she was deserted by her mother and fed by doves.

Semiramis of the North, a name given to Margaret, Queen of Denmark; also to Catharine II. of Russia.

Semiretchinsk (758), a mountainous province of Asiatic Russia, stretches S. of Lake Balkash to East Turkestan and Ferghana on the S.; is traversed E. and W. by the lofty ranges of the Alatau and Tian-Shan Mountains; the vast bulk of the inhabitants are Kirghiz, and engaged in raising horses, camels, and sheep.

Semitic Races, races reputed descendants of Shem, including the Jews, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, and the Arabs, and are "all marked," as the editor has observed elsewhere, "by common features; such appear in their language, their literature, their modes of thinking, social organisation, and religious belief. Their language is poor in inflection, has few or no compound verbs or substantives, has next to no power of expressing abstract ideas, and is of simple primitive structure or syntax. Their literature has neither the breadth nor the flow of that of Greece or Rome, but it is instinct with a passion which often holds of the very depths of being, and appeals to the ends of the earth. In their modes of thinking they are taken up with concrete realities instead of abstractions, and hence they have contributed nothing to science or philosophy, much as they have to faith. Their social order is patriarchal, with a leaning to a despotism, which in certain of them, such as the Jews and Arabs, goes higher and higher till it reaches God; called, therefore, by Jude 'the Only Despot.'"

Semmering, a mountain of Styria, Austria, 60 m. SW. of Vienna, 4577 ft. above sea-level; is crossed by the Vienna and Trieste railway, which passes through 15 tunnels and over 16 viaducts.

Sempach (1), a small Swiss town, 9 m. NW. of Lucerne, on the Lake of Sempach; here on the 9th of July 1386 a body of 1500 Swiss soldiers completely routed the Austrians, 4000 strong, under Leopold, Duke of Austria.

Sen, Chunder. See Chunder Sen.

Sénancour, Étienne Pivert de, French writer, born at Paris; delicate in his youth; was driven by an unsympathetic father to quit his home at 19, and for some time lived at Geneva and Fribourg, where a brief period of happy married life was closed by the death of his young wife; returned to Paris in 1798; supported himself by writing, and latterly by a small Government pension granted by Louis Philippe; is best known as the author of "Obermann," a work of which Matthew Arnold wrote, "The stir of all the main forces by which modern life is and has been impelled, lives in the letters of Obermann.... To me, indeed, it will always seem that the impressiveness of this production can hardly be rated too high" (1770-1846).

Senate (i. e. "an assembly of elders"), a name first bestowed by the Romans on their supreme legislative and administrative assembly; its formation is traditionally ascribed to Romulus; its powers, at their greatest during the Republic, gradually diminished under the Emperors; in modern times is used to designate the "Upper House" in the legislature of various countries, e. g. France and the United States of America; is also the title of the governing body in many universities.

Seneca, Annæus, rhetorician, born at Cordova; taught rhetoric at Rome, whither he went at the time of Augustus, and where he died A.D. 32.

Seneca, L. Annæus, philosopher, son of the preceding, born at Cordova, and brought to Rome when a child; practised as a pleader at the bar, studied philosophy, and became the tutor of Nero; acquired great riches; was charged with conspiracy by Nero as a pretext, it is believed, to procure his wealth, and ordered to kill himself, which he did by opening his veins till he bled to death, a slow process and an agonising, owing to his age; he was of the Stoic school in philosophy, and wrote a number of treatises bearing chiefly on morals; d. A.D. 65.

Senegal, an important river of West Africa, formed by the junction, at Bafulabé, of two head-streams rising in the highlands of Western Soudan; flows NW., W., and SW., a course of 706 m., and discharges into the Atlantic 10 m. below St. Louis; navigation is somewhat impeded by a sand-bar at its mouth, and by cataracts and rapids in the upper reaches.

Senegal (136), a French colony of West Africa, lying along the banks of the Senegal River. See Senegambia.

Senegambia, a tract of territory lying chiefly within the basins of the rivers Senegal and Gambia, West Africa, stretching from the Atlantic, between Cape Blanco and the mouth of the Gambia, inland to the Niger; embraces the French colony of Senegal, and various ill-defined native States under the suzerainty of France; the interior part is also called the French Soudan; the vast expanse of the contiguous Sahara in the N., and stretches of territory on the S., extending to the Gulf of Guinea, are also within the French sphere of influence, altogether forming an immense territory (1,000), of which St. Louis (q. v.) in Senegambia proper, is considered the capital; ground-nuts, gums, india-rubber, &c., are the chief exports.

Seneschal, an important functionary at the courts of Frankish princes, whose duty it was to superintend household feasts and ceremonies, functions equivalent to those of the English High Steward.

Sennaar (8), capital of a district of the Eastern Soudan, which lies between the Blue and the White Nile, situated on the Blue Nile, 160 m. SE. of Khartoum.

Sennacherib, a king of Assyria, whose reign extended from 702 to 681 B.C., and was distinguished by the projection and execution of extensive public works; he endeavoured to extend his conquests westward, but was baffled in Judea by the miraculous destruction of his army. See 2 Kings xix. 35.

Sens (14), an old cathedral town of France, on the Yonne, 70 m. SE. of Paris; the cathedral is a fine Gothic structure of the 12th century; has also an archbishop's palace, and is still surrounded by massive stone walls; does a good trade in corn, wine, and wool.

Senussi, a Mohammedan brotherhood in the Soudan, founded by Mohammed-es-Senussi from Mostaganem, in Algeria, who flourished between 1830 and 1860. The brotherhood, remarkable for its austere and fanatical zeal, has ramified into many parts of N Africa, and exercises considerable influence, fostering resistance to the encroachments of the invading European powers.

Sepoy, the name given to a native of India employed as a soldier in the British service in India.

September, the ninth month of the year, so called as having been the seventh in the Roman calendar.

September Massacres. An indiscriminate slaughter in Paris which commenced on Sunday afternoon, September 2, 1792, "a black day in the annals of men," when 30 priests on their way to prison were torn from the carriages that conveyed them, and massacred one after the other, all save Abbé Secard, in the streets by an infuriated mob; and continued thereafter through horror after horror for a hundred hours long, all done in the name of justice and in mock form of law—a true Reign of Terror.

Septuagint, a version, and the oldest of any known to us, of the Hebrew Scriptures in Greek, executed at Alexandria, in Egypt, by different translators at different periods, commencing with 280 B.C.; it is known as the Alexandria version, while the name Septuagint, or LXX., was given to it on the ground of the tradition that it was the work of 70, or rather 72, Jews, who had, it is alleged, been Drought from Palestine for the purpose, and were fabled, according to one tradition, to have executed the whole in as many days, and, according to another, to have each done the whole apart from the rest, with the result that the version of each was found to correspond word for word with that of all the others; it began with the translation of the Pentateuch and was continued from that time till 130 B.C. by the translation of the rest, the whole being in reality the achievement of several independent workmen, who executed their parts, some with greater some with less ability and success; it is often literal to a painful degree, and it swarms with such pronounced Hebraisms, that a pure Greek would often fail to understand it. It was the version current everywhere at the time of the planting of the Christian Church, and the numerous quotations in the New Testament from the Old are, with few exceptions, quotations from it.

Sepulveda, Juan Gines, Spanish historian, born at Pozo-Blanco, near Cordova; in 1536 became historiographer to Charles V. and tutor to the future Philip II.; was subsequently canon of Salamanca; author of several historical works, of which a "History of Charles V." is the most important, a work characterised by broad humanistic proclivities unusual in his day and country; d. 1574.

Seraglio, in its restricted sense applied in the East to a harem or women's quarters in a royal household; the former residence of the sultan of Turkey, occupies a beautiful site on the E. side of Constantinople, on a projecting piece of land between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmora, enclosing within its 3 m. of wall government buildings, mosques, gardens, &c., chief of which is the harem, which occupies an inner enclosure.

Seraing (34), a manufacturing town of Belgium, on the Meuse, 4 m. SW. of Liège; noted for its extensive machine-shops (locomotives, &c.); established in 1817 by John Cockerill, and now, with forges, coal-mines, &c., giving employment to some 12,000 men.

Serampur (36), a town of modern aspect in India, on the Hooghly, 13 m. N. of Calcutta; originally Danish, was purchased by the British in 1845; manufactures paper and mats, and is associated with the successful missionary enterprise of the Baptists Carey, Marshman, and Ward.

Seraphic Doctor, appellation applied to St. Bonaventura (q. v.); also by Carlyle to the doctors of the modern school of Enlightenment, or march-of-intellect school. See Aufklärung.

Seraphim, angels of the highest order and of etheriel temper, represented as guarding with veiled faces the Divine glory, and considered to have originally denoted the lightning darting out from the black thunder-cloud.

Serapis, an Egyptian divinity of partly Greek derivation and partly Egyptian, and identified with Apis.

Seraskier, a Turkish general, in especial the commander-in-chief or minister of war.

Serbonian Bog, a quagmire in Egypt in which armies were fabled to be swallowed up and lost; applied to any situation in which one is entangled from which extrication is difficult.

Serfs, under the feudal system a class of labourers whose position differed only from that of slaves in being attached to the soil and so protected from being sold from hand to hand like a chattel, although they could be transferred along with the land; liberty could be won by purchase, military service, or by residing a year and a day in a borough; these and economic changes brought about their gradual emancipation in the 15th and 16th centuries; mining serfs, however, existed in Scotland as recently as the 18th century, and in Russia their emancipation only took place in 1861.

Seringapatam (10), a decayed city of S. India, formerly capital of Mysore State, situated on an island in the Kaveri, 10 m. NE. of Mysore city; in the later 18th century was the stronghold of Tippoo Sahib, who was successfully besieged and slain by the British in 1799; has interesting ruins.

Serjeant-at-Arms, an officer attendant on the Speaker of the House of Commons, whose duty it is to preserve order and arrest any offender against the rules of the House.

Serpent, The, is used symbolically to represent veneration from the shedding of its skin, and sometimes eternity, and not unfrequently a guardian spirit; also prudence and cunning, especially as embodied in Satan; is an attribute of several saints as expressive of their power over the evil one.

Serpukoff (21), an ancient and still prosperous town of Russia, on the Nara, 57 m. S. of Moscow; has a cathedral, and manufactures of cottons, woollens, &c.

Serrano y Dominguez, Duke de la Torre, Spanish statesman and marshal; won distinction in the wars against the Carlists, and turning politician, became in 1845 a senator and favourite of Queen Isabella; was prominent during the political unrest and changes of her reign; joined Prim in the revolution of 1868, defeated the queen's troops; became president of the Ministry; commander-in-chief of the army, and in 1869 Regent of Spain, a position he held till Amadeus's succession in 1871; won victories against the Carlists in 1872 and 1874; was again at the head of the executive during the last months of the republic, but retired on the accession of Alfonso XII.; continued in active politics till his death (1810-1885).

Sertorius, Roman statesman and general; joined the democratic party under Marius (q. v.) against Sulla; retired to Spain on the return of Sulla to Rome, where he sought to introduce Roman civilisation; was assassinated 73 B.C.

Servetus, Michael, physician, born at Tudela, in Navarre; had a leaning to theology, and passing into Germany associated with the Reformers; adopted Socinianism, and came under ban of the orthodox, and was burnt alive at Geneva, after a trial of two months, under sanction, it is said, of Calvin (1511-1553).

Servia (2,227), a kingdom of Europe occupying a central position in the Balkan Peninsula between Austria (N.) and Turkey (S. and W.), with Roumania and Bulgaria on the E.; one-third the size of England and Wales; its surface is mountainous and in many parts thickly forested, but wide fertile valleys produce in great abundance wheat, maize, and other cereals, grapes and plums (an important export when dried), while immense herds of swine are reared on the outskirts of the oak-forests; is well watered by the Morava flowing through the centre and by the Save and Danube on the N.; climate varies considerably according to elevation; not much manufacturing is done, but minerals abound and are partially wrought; the Servians are of Slavonic stock, high-spirited and patriotic, clinging tenaciously to old-fashioned methods and ideas; have produced a notable national literature, rich in lyric poetry; a good system of national education exists; belong to the Greek Church; the monarchy is limited and hereditary; government is vested in the King, Senate, and National Assembly; originally emigrants in the 7th century from districts round the Carpathians, the Servians had by the 14th century established a kingdom considerably larger than their present domain; were conquered by the Turks in 1389, and held in subjection till 1815, when a national rising won them Home Rule, but remained tributary to Turkey until 1877, when they proclaimed their independence, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.

Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome from 578 to 534 B.C., divided the Roman territory into 30 tribes, and the people into 5 classes, which were further divided into centuries.

Sesostris, a legendary monarch of Egypt, alleged to have achieved universal empire at a very remote antiquity, and to have executed a variety of public works by means of the captives he brought home from his conquests.

Sestertius, a Roman coin either bronze or silver one-fourth of a denarius, originally worth 2½ asses but afterwards 4 asses, up to the time of Augustus was worth fully 2d., and subsequently one-eighth less; Sestertium, a Roman "money of account," never a coin, equalled 1000 sestertii, and was valued at £8, 15s.

Settle, Elkanah, a playwright who lives in the pages of Dryden's satire "Absalom and Achitophel"; was an Oxford man and littérateur in London; enjoyed a brief season of popularity as author of "Cambyses," and "The Empress of Morocco"; degenerated into a "city poet and a puppet-show keeper," and died in the Charterhouse; was the object of Dryden's and Pope's scathing sarcasms (1648-1723).

Setubal (English, St. Ubes) (15), a fortified seaport of Portugal, at the mouth of the Sado, on a bay of the same name, 17 m. SE. of Lisbon; has a good trade in wine, salt, and oranges; in the neighbourhood is a remarkable stalactite cave.

Seven Champions of Christendom, St. George, of England; St. Denis, of France; St. James, of Spain; St. Anthony, of Italy; St. Andrew, of Scotland; St. Patrick, of Ireland; and St. David, of Wales—often alluded to by old writers.

Seven Deadly Sins, Pride, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, and Sloth.

Seven Dolours of the Virgin, the prediction of Simeon (Luke ii. 35); the flight into Egypt; the loss of the child in Jerusalem; the sight of her Son bearing the cross; the sight of Him upon the cross; the descent from the cross; and the entombment—the festival in connection with which is celebrated on the Friday before Palm Sunday.

Seven Sages of Greece, Solon of Athens, his motto "Know thyself"; Chilo of Sparta, his motto "Consider the end"; Thales of Miletus, his motto "Whoso hateth suretyship is sure"; Bias of Priene, his motto "Most men are bad"; Cleobulus of Lindos, his motto "Avoid extremes"; Pittacus of Mitylene, his motto "Seize Time by the forelock"; Periander of Corinth, his motto "Nothing is impossible to industry."

Seven Sleepers, seven noble youths of Ephesus who, to escape the persecution of Decius, fled into a cave, where they fell asleep and woke up at the end of two centuries.

Seven Wise Masters, the title of a famous cycle of mediæval tales which centre round the story of a young prince who, after baffling all efforts of former tutors, is at last, at the age of 20, instructed in all knowledge by Sindibad, one of the king's wise men, but having cast his horoscope Sindibad perceives the prince will die unless, after presentation at the court, he keeps silence for seven days; one of the king's wives, having in vain attempted to seduce the young man, in baffled rage accuses him to the king with tempting her virtue, and procures his death-sentence; the seven sages delay the execution by beguiling the king with stories till the seven days are passed, when the prince speaks and reveals the plot; an extraordinary number of variants exist in Eastern and Western languages, the earliest written version being an Arabian text of the 10th century: a great mass of literature has grown round the subject, which is one of the most perplexing as well as interesting problems of storiology.

Seven Wonders of the World, the pyramids of Egypt, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the tomb of Mausolus, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the statue of Jupiter by Phidias at Olympia, and the Pharos at Alexandria.

Seven Years' War, the name given to the third and most terrible struggle between Frederick the Great of Prussia and Maria Theresa, empress of Austria, for, the possession of Silesia, which embroiled almost all Europe in war, and which had far-reaching effects on the destinies of England and France as well as Prussia; began in 1756 by Frederick's successful advance on Dresden, anticipating Maria Theresa's intention of attempting the recovery of Silesia, lost to her in the previous two wars. With Austria were allied France, Sweden, Poland, and Russia, while Prussia was supported till 1761 by England. In 1762 Peter III. of Russia changed sides, and Frederick, sometimes victorious, often defeated, finally emerged successful in 1763, when the war was brought to a close by the Peace of Hubertsburg. Besides demonstrating the strength and genius of Frederick and raising immensely the prestige of Prussia, it enabled England to make complete her predominance in North America and to establish herself securely in India, while at the same time it gave the death-blow to French hopes of a colonial empire.

Severn, the second river of England, rises on the E. side of Plinlimmon, in Montgomeryshire, and flows in a circuitous southerly direction through Montgomeryshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire, falling into the Bristol Channel after a course of 210 m.; is navigable to Welshpool (180 m.); chief tributaries are the Terne, Wye, and the Stratford Avon; there is a "bore" perceptible 180 m. from the mouth.

Severus, L. Septimius, Roman emperor, born in Leptis Magna, in Africa; was in command at Pannonia, and elected emperor on the murder of Pertinax, and after conquering his rivals achieved victories in the East, especially against the Parthians, and thereafter subdued a rebellion in Britain, and secured South Britain against invasions from the north by a wall; died at York (146-211).

Sévigné, Madame de, maiden name Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, the most charming of letter-writers, born at Paris; married at 18 the dissolute Marquis de Sévigné, who left her a widow at 25; her beauty and rare charms attracted many suitors, to one and all of whom, however, she turned a deaf ear, devoting herself with touching fidelity to her son and daughter, and finding all her happiness in their affection and in the social intercourse of a wide circle of friends; her fame rests on her letters, written chiefly to her daughter in Provence, which reflect the brightest and purest side of Parisian life, and contain the tender outpourings of her mother's heart in language of unstudied grace (1626-1696).

Seville (144), a celebrated Spanish city and river port on the Guadalquivir, 62 m. NE. of Cadiz; an iron bridge connects it with Triana, a large suburb on the other side of the river; many of the old picturesque Moorish buildings have given place to modern and more commodious structures and broader streets; the great Gothic cathedral (15th century), containing paintings by Murillo, &c., is among the finest in Europe; the Moorish royal palace, the great Roman aqueduct (in use until 1883), the museum, with masterpieces of Murillo, Velasquez, &c., the university, archbishop's palace, Giralda Campanile, and the vast bull-ring, are noteworthy; chief manufactures embrace cigars, machinery, pottery, textiles, &c.; while lead, quicksilver, wines, olive-oil, and fruits are exported; is capital of a province (545).

Sèvres (7), a French town on the Seine, 10½ m. SW. of Paris, celebrated for its fine porcelain ware (especially vases), the manufacture of which was established in 1755; has a school of mosaic work and museums for pottery ware of all ages and countries.

Sèvres, Deux- (354), a department of West France; is watered by two rivers, and in the N. thickly wooded; a varied agriculture, cattle and mule breeding, and cloth manufacture are the principal industries. Niort is the capital.

Seward, Anna, poetess, born at Eyam, Derbyshire, but from the age of seven spent her life at Lichfield, where her father was residentiary canon; was a friend and indefatigable correspondent of Mrs. Piozzi, Dr. Darwin, Southey, Scott, and others; author of "Louisa," a novel in poetry, "Sonnets" and other poems, which had in their day considerable popularity; her correspondence is collected in 6 vols. (1747-1809).

Seward, William Henry, American statesman, born at Florida, New York State; was called to the bar at Utica in 1822, and soon took rank as one of the finest forensic orators of his country; engaged actively in the politics of his State, of which he was governor in 1838 and 1840; entered the U.S. senate in 1849 as an abolitionist, becoming soon the recognised leader of the Anti-Slavery party; was put forward by the Republican party as a candidate for presidential nomination, but failing in this he zealously supported Lincoln, under whom he served as Secretary of State, conducting with notable success the foreign affairs of the country during the Civil War and up to the accession of President Grant in 1869; spent his closing years in travel and retirement (1801-1872).

Sextant, an instrument used in navigation (sometimes also in land-surveying) for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies and their angular distances; consists of a graduated brass sector, the sixth part of a circle, and an arrangement of two small mirrors and telescope; invented in 1730 by John Hadley.

Seychelles (16), a group of some 30 islands, largest Mahé (59 sq. m.), situated in the Indian Ocean, 600 m. NE. of Madagascar; taken from the French by Britain in 1798, and now under the governor of Mauritius; are mountainous and mostly surrounded by coral reefs; export fibres, nuts, palm-oil, &c.; Victoria, in Mahé, is the chief town, and an imperial coaling station.

Sforza (i. e. stormer), Italian family celebrated during the 15th and 16th centuries, founded by a military adventurer, a peasant of the name of Muzia Allendolo, and who received the name; they became dukes of Milan, and began by hiring their services in war, in which they were always victorious, to the highest bidder, the first of the number to attain that rank being Francesco Sforza, the son of the founder, in 1450 (1401-1466), the last of the series being François-Marie (1492-1535).

Sgraffito, a decorative wall painting, produced by layers of plaster applied to a moistened surface and afterwards operated on so as to produce a picture.

Shadwell, Thomas, dramatist, who lives as the "MacFlecknoe" of Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel," born, of a good family, in Norfolk; studied law and adopted literature, in which he made a successful start with the comedy "The Sullen Lovers" (1668); his numerous plays, chiefly comedies, are of little poetic value, but serve as useful commentaries on the Restoration period; quarrelled with and satirised Dryden in the "Medal of John Bayes," which drew forth the crushing retort in Dryden's famous satire; succeeded Dryden as poet-laureate in 1688 (1640-1692).

Shafites, a sect of the Sunnites or orthodox Mohammedans, so called from Shafei, a descendant of Mohammed.

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, a notable politician, prominent in the times of Cromwell and Charles II., born, of good parentage, in Dorsetshire; passed through Oxford and entered Lincoln's Inn; sat in the Short Parliament of 1640; changed from the Royalist to the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, and was a member of Cromwell's Council of State, but latterly attacked the Protector's Government, and was one of the chief promoters of the Restoration; Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1661, and later a member of the "Cabal"; he in 1672 was created an earl and Lord Chancellor, but, hoodwinked by Charles in the secret Treaty of Dover, went over to the Opposition, lost his chancellorship, supported an Anti-Catholic policy, leagued himself with the Country Party, and intrigued with the Prince of Orange; came into power again, after the "Popish Plot," as the champion of toleration and Protestantism, became President of the Council, and passed the Habeas Corpus Act; his virulent attacks on James and espousal of Monmouth's cause brought about his arrest on a charge of high treason (1681), and although acquitted he deemed it expedient to flee to Holland, where he died; one of the ablest men of his age, but of somewhat inscrutable character, whose shifting policy seems to have been chiefly dominated by a regard for self; is the "Achitophel" of Dryden's great satire (1621-1683).

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, grandson of the preceding, philosopher, born in London; was an ardent student in his youth, made the grand tour, and entered Parliament in 1694, moving to the Upper House on the death of his father in 1699, where, as a staunch Whig, he gave steady support to William III.; withdrew from politics, never a congenial sphere to him, on the accession of Anne, and followed his bent for literature and philosophy; in 1711 his collected writings appeared under the title "Characteristics," in which he expounds, in the polite style of the 18th century, with much ingenuity and at times force, a somewhat uncritical optimism, enunciating, among other things, the doubtful maxim that ridicule is the test of truth (1671-1713).

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh Earl of, statesman and philanthropist, born in London; was a distinguished graduate of Oxford, and entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1826, took office under Wellington in 1828, and was a lord of the Admiralty in Peel's ministry of 1834; succeeded to the earldom in 1851; but his name lives by virtue of his noble and lifelong philanthropy, which took shape in numerous Acts of Parliament, such as the Mines and Collieries Act (1842), excluding women and boys under 13 working in mines; the Better Treatment of Lunatics Act (1845), called the Magna Charta of the insane; the Factory Acts (1867); and the Workshop Regulation Act (1878); while outside Parliament he wrought with rare devotion in behalf of countless benevolent and religious schemes of all sorts, notably the Ragged School movement and the better housing of the London poor; received the freedom of Edinburgh and London; was the friend and adviser of the Prince Consort and the Queen (1801-1885).

Shah (Pers. "King"), an abbreviation of Shah-in-Shah ("King of Kings"), the title by which the monarchs of Persia are known; may also be used in Afghanistan and other Asiatic countries, but more generally the less assuming title of Khan is taken.

Shah-Jehan ("King of the World"), fifth of the Mogul emperors of Delhi; succeeded his father in 1627; a man of great administrative ability and a skilled warrior; conquered the Deccan and the kingdom of Golconda, and generally raised the Mogul Empire to its zenith; his court was truly Eastern in its sumptuous magnificence; the "Peacock Throne" alone cost £7,000,000; died in prison, a victim to the perfidy of his usurping son Aurungzebe; d. 1666.

Shakers, a fanatical sect founded by one Ann Lee, so called from their extravagant gestures in worship; they are agamists and communists.

Shakespeare, William, great world-poet and dramatist, born in Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire; his father, John Shakespeare, a respected burgess; his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer, through whom the family acquired some property; was at school at Stratford, married Anne Hathaway, a yeoman's daughter, at 18, she eight years older, and had by her three daughters; left for London somewhere between 1585 and 1587, in consequence, it is said, of some deer-stealing frolic; took charge of horses at the theatre door, and by-and-by became an actor. His first work, "Venus and Adonis," appeared in 1593, and "Lucrece" the year after; became connected with different theatres, and a shareholder in certain of them, in some of which he took part as actor, with the result, in a pecuniary point of view, that he bought a house in his native place, extended it afterwards, where he chiefly resided for the ten years preceding his death. Not much more than this is known of the poet's external history, and what there is contributes nothing towards accounting for either him or the genius revealed in his dramas. Of the man, says Carlyle, "the best judgment not of this country, but of Europe at large, is slowly pointing to the conclusion that he is the chief of all poets hitherto—the greatest intellect, in our recorded world, that has left record of himself in the way of literature. On the whole, I know not such a power of vision, such a faculty of thought, if we take all the characters of it, in any other man—such a calmness of depth, placid, joyous strength, all things in that great soul of his so true and clear, as in a tranquil, unfathomable sea.... It is not a transitory glance of insight that will suffice; it is a deliberate illumination of the whole matter; it is a calmly seeing eye—a great intellect, in short.... It is in delineating of men and things, especially of men, that Shakespeare is great.... The thing he looks at reveals not this or that face, but its inmost heart, its generic secret; it dissolves itself as in light before him, so that he discerns the perfect structure of it.... It is a perfectly level mirror we have here; no twisted, poor convex-concave mirror reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities, that is to say, withal a man justly related to all things and men, a good man.... And his intellect is an unconscious intellect; there is more virtue in it than he himself is aware of.... His art is not artifice; the noblest worth of it is not there by plan or pre-contrivance. It grows up from the deeps of Nature, through this noble sincere soul, who is a voice of Nature.... It is Nature's highest reward to a true, simple, great soul that he got thus to be part of herself." Of his works nothing can or need be said here; enough to add, as Carlyle further says, "His works are so many windows through which we see a glimpse of the world that was in him.... Alas! Shakespeare had to write for the Globe Playhouse; his great soul had to crush itself, as it could, into that and no other mould. It was with him, then, as it is with us all. No man works save under conditions. The sculptor cannot set his own free thought before us, but his thought as he could translate into the stone that was given, with the tools that were given. Disjecta membra are all that we find of any poet, or of any man." Shakespeare's plays, with the order of their publication, are as follows: "Love's Labour's Lost," 1590; "Comedy of Errors," 1591; 1, 2, 3 "Henry VI.," 1590-1592; "Two Gentlemen of Verona," 1592-1593; "Midsummer-Night's Dream," 1593-1594; "Richard III.," 1593; "Romeo and Juliet," 1591-1596 (?); "Richard II.," 1594; "King John," 1595; "Merchant of Venice," 1596; 1 and 2 "Henry IV.," 1597-1598; "Henry V.," 1599; "Taming of the Shrew," 1597 (?); "Merry Wives of Windsor," 1598; "Much Ado about Nothing," 1598; "As You Like It," 1599; "Twelfth Night," 1600-1601; "Julius Cæsar," 1601; "All's Well," 1601-1602 (?); "Hamlet," 1602, "Measure for Measure," 1603; "Troilus and Cressida," 1603-1607 (?); "Othello," 1604; "Lear," 1605; "Macbeth," 1606; "Antony and Cleopatra," 1607; "Coriolanus," 1608; "Timon," 1608; "Pericles," 1608; "Cymbeline," 1609; "Tempest," 1610; "Winter's Tale," 1610-1611; "Henry VIII.," 1612-1613 (1564-1616).

Shakespeare of Divines, an epithet sometimes applied to Jeremy Taylor (q. v.) on account of his poetic style.

Shalott, Lady of, subject of a poem of Tennyson's in love with Lancelot; wove a web which she must not rise from, otherwise a curse would fall on her; saw Lancelot pass one day, entered a boat and glided down to Camelot, but died on the way.

Shamanism, the religion of the native savage races of North Siberia, being a belief in spirits, both good and evil, who can be persuaded to bless or curse by the incantations of a Priest called a Shaman.

Shammai, an eminent Jewish rabbi of the time of Herod, who held the position of supreme judge in the Sanhedrim under the presidency of Hillel (q. v.), and whose narrow, rigid orthodoxy and repressive policy became the leading principles of his school, "the House of Shammai," which, however, carried the system to a pitch of fanatical zeal not contemplated by its originator.

Shamrock, a small trefoil plant, the national emblem of Ireland; it is matter of dispute whether it is the wood-sorrel, a species of clover, or some other allied trefoil; the lesser yellow trefoil is perhaps the most commonly accepted symbol.

Shamyl, a great Caucasian chief, head of the Lesghians, who combined the functions of priest and warrior; consolidated the Caucasian tribes in their resistance to the Russians, and carried on a successful struggle in his mountain fastnesses for thirty years, till his forces were worn out and himself made captive in 1859; d. 1871.

Shanghai (380), the chief commercial city and port of China, on the Wusung, an affluent of the Yangtse-kiang, 12 m. from the coast, and 160 m. SE. of Nanking; large, densely-peopled suburbs have grown round the closely-packed and walled city, which, with its narrow, unclean streets, presents a slovenly appearance; the French and English occupy the broad-streeted and well-built suburbs in the N.; the low-lying site exposes the city to great heat in the summer, and to frequent epidemics of cholera and fever; an extensive system of canals draws down a great part of the interior produce, and swells the export trade in tea, silk, cotton, rice, sugar, &c.

Shannon, the first river of Ireland, and largest in the British Islands, rises in the Cuilcagh Mountains, Co. Cavan; flows in a south-westerly direction through Loughs Allen, Ree, and Derg, besides forming several lough expansions, to Limerick, whence it turns due W., and opens out on the Atlantic in a wide estuary between Kerry (S.) and Clare (N.); has an entire course of 254 m., and is navigable to Lough Allen, a distance of 213 m.

Shans or Laos, the name of a people, descendants of aborigines of China, forming several large tribes scattered round the frontiers of Burma, Siam, and South China, whose territory, roughly speaking, extends N. as far as the Yunnan Plateau of South China; some are independent, but the bulk of the tribes are subject to Siam, China, and the British in Burma; practise slavery, are Buddhists, somewhat superstitious, indolent, pleasure-loving, and for the most part peaceable and content; chased gold and silver work, rice, cotton, tobacco, &c., are their chief exports.

Sharon, a fertile region in Palestine of the maritime plain between Carmel and Philistia.

Sharp, Abraham, a schoolmaster of Liverpool, and subsequent bookkeeper in London, whose wide knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, &c., attracted Flamsteed (q. v.), by whom he was invited in 1688 to enter the Greenwich Royal Observatory, where he did notable work, improving instruments, and showing great skill as a calculator; published "Geometry Improved," logarithmic tables, &c. (1651-1742).

Sharp, Becky, an intriguing character in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," very clever, but without heart.

Sharp, Granville, a noted abolitionist, born in London; trained for the bar, but accepted a post in the London Ordnance Office, which he held until the outbreak of the American War; was a voluminous writer on philology, law, theology, &c., but mainly devoted himself to the cause of negro emancipation, co-operating with Clarkson in founding the Association for the Abolition of Negro Slavery, and taking an active interest in the new colony for freedom in Sierra Leone; won a famous decision in the law-courts to the effect that whenever a slave set foot on English soil he becomes free; he was also one of the founders of the Bible Society (1734-1813).

Sharp, James, archbishop of St. Andrews, born in Banff Castle; educated at Aberdeen University, visited England, where he formed important friendships, and in 1643 was appointed "regent" or professor of Philosophy at St. Andrews, a post he resigned five years later to become minister of Crail; during the Protectorate he sided with the "Resolutioners" or Moderates, and appeared before Cromwell in London to plead their cause; in 1660 received a commission to go to London to safeguard the interests of the Scottish Church, a trust he shamefully betrayed by intriguing with Charles at Breda, and with Clarendon and the magnates of the English Church to restore Prelacy in Scotland, he himself (by way of reward) being appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews; henceforward he was but a pliant tool in the hands of his English employers, and an object of intense hatred to the Covenanters; in 1668 his life was attempted in Edinburgh by Robert Mitchell, a covenanting preacher, and ultimately on Magus Muir, May 1679, he was mercilessly hacked to pieces by a band of Covenanters headed by Hackston and John Balfour (1618-1679).

Shaster, a book containing the institutes of the Hindu religion or its legal requirements.

Shawnees, a tribe of American Indians located originally in the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies, but now removed to Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory.

Sheba, believed to be a region in South Arabia, along the shore of the Red Sea.

Shechinah, a glory as of the Divine presence over the mercy-seat in the Jewish Tabernacle, and reflected from the winged cherubim which overshadowed it, the reality of which it is the symbol being the Divine presence in man.

Sheepshanks, John, art collector, born at Leeds, son of a manufacturer; presented in 1856 a collection of works by British artists to the nation, now housed in South Kensington (1787-1863).

Sheerness (14), a fortified seaport and important garrison town with important naval dockyards in Kent, occupying the NW. corner of Sheppey Isle, where the Medway joins the Thames, 52 m. E. of London; is divided into Blue-town (within the garrison, and enclosing the 60 acres of docks), Mile-town, Banks-town, and Marina-town (noted for sea-bathing).