Chapter LXXIII: Part 73
SANDERSON, BURDON, English physiologist; professor of Physiology first at University College, London, and since 1882 at Oxford; is one of the greatest authorities on the subject; _b_. 1828.
SANDERSON, ROBERT, English prelate, great casuist; became chaplain to Charles I. in 1631, and bishop of Lincoln in 1660 (1587-1663).
SANDHURST or BENDIGO (27), a mining city of Victoria, Australia, on Bendigo Creek, 101 m. NW. of Melbourne; came into existence with the "gold rush" of 1851; mines are still of value; a good trade in grain, brewing, iron-founding, &c., is also done.
SANDRINGHAM, an estate in Norfolk of over 7000 acres, 7½ m. NE. of Lynn, the property of the Prince of Wales since 1862.
SANDWICH (3), one of the old CINQUE PORTS (q. v.) in Kent, on the Stour, and once on the sea, but now, by the receding of the sea, 2 m. distant; 12 m. E. of Canterbury; an interesting place of many historical associations; has a splendid golf course, which attracts summer visitors.
SANDWICH ISLANDS. See HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
SANGHA, the Buddhist Church, and the third term of the Triratna or Buddhist trinity, the two other being Buddha and Dharma, his law.
SANGRAAL. See GRAAL, HOLY.
SANHEDRIM, a council of the Jews which held its sittings in Jerusalem, and claimed authority and jurisdiction over the whole Jewish people; it was an aristocratic body, and was presided over by the high-priest; its authority was limited from time to time, and it ceased to exist with the fall of Jerusalem; there is no note of its existence prior to the Grecian period of Jewish history.
SANKARA, a Hindu teacher of the philosophy or the Vedas, who lived some time between 800 and 200 B.C., and was the author of a number of commentaries on the sacred writings of the Hindus, the teachings of which he contributed to develop.
SANKHYA, one of three systems of Hindu philosophy, Yoga and Vedânta being the other two, and the system which is most in affinity with the doctrine of Buddha.
SANNAZARO, JACOPO, an Italian poet, enjoyed the favour of King Frederick III. of Naples, and wrote amongst other things a pastoral medley in verse and prose called "Arcadia," which ranks as an Italian classic (1458-1530).
SANS SOUCI (i. e. No Bother), "an elegant, commodious little 'country box,' one storey high, on a pleasant hill-top near Potsdam"; the retreat of Frederick the Great after his wars were over, and in part sketched by himself, and where he spent the last 40 years of his life, specially as years advanced; it is 20 m. from Berlin, and the name is Frederick's own invention.
SANSCULOTTES (i. e. fellows without breeches), a name of contempt applied by the aristocratic party in France to the Revolutionists, and at length accepted by the latter as a term of honour, as men who asserted their claim to regard on their naked manhood.
SANSCULOTTISM, belief in the rights of man, stript of all the conventional vestures and badges by which alone, and without any other ground of right, one man maintains an ascendency over another.
SANSKRIT, the name given to the ancient literary language of the Hindus, still preserved in their literature, belongs to the Aryan family of languages, in their purest form and most perfect development.
SANTA-ANNA, ANTONIO DE, a noted soldier and President of Mexico, entered the army as a boy, and from the proclamation of the Republic in 1822 till his final exile in 1867 was embroiled in all the wars, intrigues, and revolutions of his country; was four times President, and on the last occasion (1853) was appointed for life, but his habitual harshness alienated the people in two years; fled the country as on many former crises in his life; intrigued against the newly-established empire, but was captured and sentenced to death (1867); allowed to expatriate himself, and died in exile; he was one of the most forceful characters in Mexican history (1795-1876).
SANTA CLAUS, contraction of ST. NICHOLAS (q. v.).
SANTA CRUZ or NITENDI (5), the largest of the Queen Charlotte or Santa Cruz Islands, in the South Pacific, 100 m. N. of the New Hebrides; on one of the smaller islands Bishop Patteson was brutally murdered by the natives in 1871.
SANTA CRUZ or ST. CROIX (20), one of the Virgin Islands; produces sugar, rum, and cotton; ceded by France to Denmark in 1733; a serious nigger revolt took place in 1878; capital is Christianstadt (6).
SANTA CRUZ or TENERIFFE (13), capital and chief seaport of the Canary Islands, situated on the NE. side of Teneriffe; has an excellent and strongly-fortified harbour; is an important coaling port for ocean steamers; cochineal, wine, and garden-produce are the chief exports.
SANTA FÉ, 1, on the Rio Solado, capital (15) of a rich agricultural province (240) of the Argentine Republic, lying N. of Buenos Ayres. 2, Capital (7) of New Mexico, U.S.; holds an elevated site amid the Rockies; is the centre of a good mining district; has the oldest Spanish cathedral in the United States.
SANTALS, one of the aboriginal tribes of India, inhabiting a district in the province of Bengal, which stretches southward from the Ganges; they are chiefly hunters, but also agriculturists; dwell by the forest edges, are fond of music, and are sun-worshippers; number considerably over a million.
SANTANDER (42), a flourishing port of North Spain, stands on a fine bay facing the Bay of Biscay, 316 m. N. of Madrid; actively engaged in cigar-making, brewing, cotton-spinning, flour-milling, &c.; exports flour, wine, and cereals; a popular seaside resort.
SANTERRE, ANTOINE JOSEPH, a popular wealthy brewer, born in Paris; assisted at the fall of the Bastille; played a conspicuous part during the Revolution; became commander of the National Guard in 1792; proposed as a relief in famine that every citizen should live two days a week on potatoes, and that every man should hang his dog; conducted King Louis into the judgment, holding him by the arm; with a stamp of his foot ordered him to mount the guillotine; failed in quelling the insurrection in La Vendée, and was recalled; was made brigadier-general by Napoleon as a reward for keeping the peace which he would fain have disturbed on the 18th Brumaire in 1797 (1752-1809).
SANTIAGO (393), capital of Chile, beautifully situated on a wide fertile and elevated plain overhung on the N. and E. by the snow-clad peaks of the Andes, 90 m. SE. of Valparaiso; the Mapocho, a mountain stream, passes through the N. part of the city, is handsomely laid out with spacious plazas, a noble alameda, and well-paved streets; has many fine public buildings, hotels, a cathedral, a university, art, agricultural, and military schools, botanical and zoological gardens, &c.; in the pretty neighbourhood there is a popular racecourse; is an important commercial centre, with a stock exchange, law-courts, and manufactures of cloth, flour, ships' biscuits, beer, ice, &c.
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA (23), a city of Spain, in Galicia, of which it was formerly the capital, 26 m. NE. of Carril, on the coast; has an interesting old Romanesque cathedral, a noted place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, a university, and several ruined monasteries; manufactures linen, leather, &c.
SANTIAGO DE CUBA (71), formerly capital of Cuba, on a beautiful land-locked bay on the S. coast; the harbour is strongly fortified; is the see of an archbishop, and has an old Spanish cathedral, also flourishing sugar-factories, foundries, &c.
SANTLEY, CHARLES, a well-known baritone singer, born in Liverpool; studied at Milan; made his _début_ in 1857, and ever since has been an accepted favourite with the public both as an oratorio and operatic singer; has published a volume of reminiscences; _b_. 1834.
SANTORIN or THERA (17), a volcanic island in the Ægean, one of the Cyclades; is the southmost of the group, and lies 70 m. N. of Crete; the vine grows luxuriantly, and there is a good wine trade; has many interesting prehistoric remains; chief town, Thera or Phera, on the W. coast.
SÃO FRANCISCO, one of the great rivers of Brazil, for the most part navigable; rises in the SW., near the source of the Paraná, and flows N., NE., and SE. till it reaches the S. Atlantic after a course of 1800 m., forming in its lower part the boundary between the maritime provinces Sergipe and Alagoas; higher it divides Bahia and Pernambuco.
SÃO PAULO (35), a manufacturing town of Brazil (minerals, coffee); capital of a productive and healthy State (1,387) of the same name, situated on a plain 310 m. W. by S. from Rio de Janeiro; has pretty suburbs, electric light, &c.; is the chief centre of the Brazilian coffee trade, and has manufactories of cotton, tobacco, spirits, &c.; is the seat of a law-school.
SAÔNE, a tributary of the Rhône; rises among the Faucelles Mountains, in Vosges, and flows SW. and S. to the Rhône at Lyons; length 282 m., of which one-half is navigable.
SAÔNE, HAUTE- (281), a department in the E. of France, near the Alsace border, between Vosges (N.) and Doubs (S.); forests abound; about one-half is under cultivation, and there are fine cherry orchards; watered by the Saône and its affluents.
SAÔNE-ET-LOIRE (620), an east-midland department of France, bounded SE. and W. by the Saône and Loire; has a fine fertile surface, and is noted for its cattle and abundant output of wine; iron and coal are wrought, and its towns are busy with the manufacture of cotton goods, pottery, machinery, &c.
SAPPHIRE, a precious stone of the corundum class, and differing from the RUBY (q. v.) only in colour, which is a blue of various shades; the finest specimens are found in Ceylon; its value depends chiefly on quality, and not so much (like the ruby) on size.
SAPPHO, a lyric poetess of Greece of the 7th century B.C., and a contemporary of Alcæus; was a woman of strong passions and of questionable morality, but of undoubted genius, her lyrics being among the masterpieces of antiquity, though only two of her odes and some short fragments of others remain; of her history little is known, and what is known is far from reliable.
SARACENS, the name given in mediæval times to the Arabs or Mohammedans, and extended to all the non-Christian races with whom the Crusaders or Christian races came to grips.
SARAGOSSA (95), an interesting city of Spain, and capital of Aragon, on the Ebro, which flows through it, 212 m. NE. of Madrid; its history goes back to far Roman times, and includes fierce struggles between Goths, Moors, and Spaniards, and a memorable siege by the French in 1808; being one of the earliest Christian cities of Spain it contains many interesting relics, cathedrals, &c.; there is a university, citadel, archiepiscopal palace, &c.; manufactures embrace cloth, silks, leather, &c.
SARASATE, MARTIN MELITON, a Spanish violinist, and one of the most finished of the day, a Basque by birth, but educated at Paris; has travelled over the world, winning fame and a fortune; made his first appearance in London in 1874; is composer of some light pieces; _b_. 1844.
SARASVATI, a Hindu goddess, and ultimately the wife of Brahma and goddess of music and eloquence.
SARATOFF (122), a handsome city of Russia, on the Volga, 500 m. SE. of Moscow; has thriving industries in distilling, flour, oil, and tobacco, and trades in corn, salt, textiles, &c.; the government of Saratoff (2,433) is a prosperous agricultural district.
SARATOGA SPRINGS (12), one of the best-known watering-places of the United States, in New York State, 38 m. N. of Albany; plentifully supplied with mineral springs; once a village, now growing into a town of hotels, &c.; 12 m. to the E. is the scene of Burgoyne's surrender to Gates, October 17, 1777.
SARA`WAK (320), a principality of North-West Borneo, fronting the Chinese Sea on the NW. and contiguous to Dutch Borneo; was granted as an independent Rajahship to Sir James Brooke by the sultan of Borneo in 1841, and governed by him and afterwards by his son, by whom it was put under British protection in 1888; is very fertile, and grows sugar, coco-nuts, rice, sago, rubber, tea, &c.; is rich in minerals, and mining is carried on of antimony, quicksilver, gold, and coal; capital Kuching (25), on the Sarawak River.
SARDANAPÁLUS, the last king of Assyria; led a luxurious, effeminate life, but surprised when at his ease by a large army of invaders he suddenly developed into a hero, till hard pressed at length and shut up in Nineveh, and after two years' defence finding resistance hopeless, he reared a funeral pile, and setting fire to it, threw himself upon it and perished in the flames.
SARDINIA (682), an island of the Mediterranean, 170 m. long and 75 m. broad, the second largest, Sicily being larger, and to the S. of Corsica; is since 1859 part of the kingdom of Italy; it has a fruitful soil, and presents a diversified surface of hill and valley; the chief export is salt, and there are extensive fisheries; the capital is Cagliari, in the S.; it is rich in mineral resources, but the exploitation of these is in a backward state.
SARDIS, capital of ancient Lydia, in Asia Minor, at the foot of Mount Tmolus, celebrated for its wealth, its trade, and luxury, through the market-place of which the river Pactolus flowed with its sands of gold.
SARDOU, VICTORIEN, a popular French playwright, born at Paris; gave up medicine for literature, and his first successes were "Monsieur Garat" and "Les Prés Saint-Gervais," both in 1800; from that date his popularity and wealth began to flow in upon him; his work has been taken up by Sarah Bernhardt, for whom he wrote "Fédora," "Théodora," and "La Tosca" (1887); a number of his plays have been translated into English, such as "A Scrap of Paper," "Diplomacy," &c.; was elected to the Academy in 1877; his plays are characterised by clever dialogue and stage effects, and an emotionalism rather French than English; _b_. 1831.
SARMATIANS or SARMATS, an ancient race, embracing several warlike nomadic tribes, who spoke the Scythian language, and inhabited the shores of the Black Sea and Eastern Europe as far as the Caucasus; fought with Mithridates against the Romans; were overwhelmed by the Goths in the 4th century A.D., and afterwards gradually absorbed by the Slavs.
SARPEDON, the "Nestor" and king of the Lycians, was son of Zeus and Europa.
SARPI, PAUL, an Italian historian of the monastic order, born at Venice; was a man of wide attainments and liberal views; was the champion of the Republic against the Pope; was summoned to Rome, and on his refusal to obey, excommunicated; his life being in peril he retired into his monastery, and wrote the "History of the Council of Trent," with which his name has ever since been associated; he was held in high honour by the Venetians, and was honoured at his death by a public funeral (1565-1623).
SARTO, ANDREO DEL (i. e. Andrew, the tailors son), a Florentine artist; painted in oil and fresco numerous works; died of the plague at Florence, his work displays accuracy of drawing and delicacy of feeling (1486-1531).
SARTOR RESARTUS (i. e. the tailor patched), a book written by Carlyle at CRAIGENPUTTOCK (q. v.) in 1831, published piecemeal in _Frazer's Magazine_ in 1833-34, and that first appeared in a book form in America, under Emerson's auspices, in 1836, but not in England till 1838. It professes to be on the PHILOSOPHY OF "CLOTHES" (q. v.), and is divided into three sections, the first in exposition of the philosophy, the second on the life of the philosopher, and the third on the practical bearings of his idea. It is a book in many respects unparalleled in literature, and for spiritual significance and worth the most remarkable that has been written in the century. It was written _in_ the time and _for_ the time by one who understood the time as not another of his contemporaries succeeded in doing, and who interprets it in a light in which every man must read it who would solve its problems to any purpose. Its style is an offence to many, but not to any one who loves wisdom and has faith in God. For it is a brave book, and a reassuring, as well as a wise, the author of it regarding the universe not as a dead thing but a living, and athwart the fire deluges that from time to time sweep it, and seem to threaten with ruin everything in it we hold sacred, descrying nothing more appalling than the phoenix-bird immolating herself in flames that she may the sooner rise renewed out of her ashes and soar aloft with healing in her wings. See CARLYLE, THOMAS, EXODUS FROM HOUNDSDITCH, NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM, &C.
SASKATCHEWAN, one of the great and navigable rivers of Canada, rises among the Rockies in two great branches, called respectively the North and South Saskatchewan, 770 and 810 m., which flowing generally E., unite, and after a course of 282 m. pass into Lake Winnipeg, whence it issues as the Nelson, and flows 400 m. NE. to Hudson's Bay. The upper branches traverse and give their name to one of the western territories of Canada.
SASSARI (32), the second city of Sardinia, in the NW., prettily situated amid olive and orange groves, 12 m. from the Gulf of Asinara; has an old cathedral, castle, and university, and does a good trade in olive-oil, grain, &c.
SATAN, an archangel who, according to the Talmud, revolted against the Most High, particularly when required to do homage to Adam, and who for his disobedience was with all his following cast into the abyss of hell. See DEVIL.
SATANIC SCHOOL, name applied by Southey to a class of writers headed by Byron and Shelley, because, according to him, their productions were "characterised by a Satanic spirit of pride and audacious impiety," and who, according to Carlyle, wasted their breath in a fierce wrangle with the devil, and had not the courage to fairly face and honestly fight him.
SATELLITES (lit. attendants), name given to the secondary bodies which revolve round the planets of the solar system, of which the Earth has one, Mars two, Jupiter four, Saturn eight, Uranus four, and Neptune is known to have at least one, as Venus is surmised to have.
SATIRE, a species of poetry or prose writing in which the vice or folly of the times is held up to ridicule, a species in which Horace and Juvenal excelled among the Romans, and Dryden, Pope, and Swift among us.
SATRAP, a governor of a province under the ancient Persian monarchy, with large military and civil powers; when the central authority began to wane, some of them set up as independent rulers.
SATURN, in the Roman mythology a primitive god of agriculture in Italy, often confounded with the Greek Kronos, the father of Zeus, and sovereign of the Golden Age; was represented as an old man bearing a sickle.
SATURN, the planet of the solar system whose orbit is outside that of Jupiter, is 880 millions of miles from the sun, round which it takes 10,759 days or nearly 30 years to revolve, revolving on its own axis in about 10½ hours; its diameter is nine times greater than that of the earth; it is surrounded by bright rings that appear as three, and is accompanied by eight moons; the rings are solid, and are supposed to consist of a continuous belt of moons.
SATURNALIA, a festival in ancient Rome in honour of Saturn, in which all classes, free and bond, and young and old, enjoyed and indulged in all kinds of merriment without restraint.
SATYRS, in the Greek mythology semi-animal woodland deities who roamed the hills generally in the train of DIONYSUS (q. v.), dancing to rustic music; represented with long pointed ears, flat noses, short horns, and a hair-clad man's body, with the legs and hoofs of a goat; they are of lustful nature, and fond of sensual pleasure generally.
SAUERKRAUT, a favourite article of food in Germany and elsewhere in North Europe; formed of thinly sliced young cabbage laid in layers, with salt and spice-seeds, pressed in casks and allowed to ferment.
SAUERTEIG (i. e. leaven), an imaginary authority alive to the "celestial infernal" fermentation that goes on in the world, who has an eye specially to the evil elements at work, and to whose opinion Carlyle frequently appeals in his condemnatory verdict on sublunary things.
SAUL, a Benjamite, the son of Kish, who fell in with Samuel as he was on the way in search of his father's asses that had gone astray, and from his stature and stately bearing was anointed by him to be first king of Israel; he distinguished himself in the field against the enemies of his people, but fell at the hands of the Philistines after a reign of 40 years, and after several insane attempts on the life of David, who had been elected to succeed him.
SAUMAREZ, JAMES, BARON DE, English admiral, born at Guernsey; entered the navy at 13, distinguished himself in the American War, captured a French frigate in 1793, which brought him knighthood; was second in command at the battle of the Nile, and gained a great victory off Cadiz in 1801; was raised to the peerage in 1831 (1757-1836).
SAUMUR (14), a town of France, in the department of Maine-et-Loire, situated on the Loire and partly on an island in the river, 32 m. SE. of Angers; once famous for its Protestant theological seminary, and till the Edict of Nantes a stronghold of the Huguenots; has interesting churches, a castle (still used as an arsenal), and a noted cavalry school; has trade in grain, dried fruits, rosaries, &c.
SAUSSURE, HORACE BENEDICT DE, geologist and physicist, born in Geneva; was the first to ascend Mont Blanc in the interest of science, and was distinguished for his researches in the same interest all over the Alps and on other mountain ranges; he invented or improved several scientific instruments (1740-1799).
SAVAGE, RICHARD, English poet, with a worthless character, who gained the regard of Johnson; his chief poem, "The Wanderer," of no poetic merit (1697-1743).
SAVANNAH, a name used chiefly in Florida and neighbouring States to designate the wide treeless plains of these parts; is practically an equivalent for "pampa," "prairie," &c.; comes from a Spanish word meaning "a sheet."
SAVANNAH (54), a city and port of the United States, capital of Chatham County, Georgia, on the Savannah River, 18 m. from its mouth; well equipped with parks, electric light, handsome churches, government buildings, &c., an important naval stores station and second cotton port of the U.S., and has foundries, rice, flour, cotton, and paper-mills, &c.
SAVE, a tributary of the Danube, rises in the Julian Alps and flows SE. across Southern Austria till it joins the Danube at Belgrade after a course of 556 m., of which 366 are navigable.
SAVIGNY, KARL VON, a German jurist, born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, of French parentage; wrote a treatise on the Right of Property, became professor of Roman Law at Berlin; his chief works were the "History of Roman Law in the Middle Ages" and the "History of Roman Law in Modern Times" (1779-1861).
SAVILLE, SIR HENRY, a learned scholar, born in Yorkshire; was tutor to Queen Elizabeth and provost of Eton, and founder of the Savilian professorships of Geometry and Astronomy at Oxford (1549-1642).
SAVONA (24), a seaport of Italy, on the Gulf of Genoa, in the Riviera, 26 m. SW. of Genoa, in the midst of orange groves, &c.; handsomely laid out; has a 16th-century cathedral, castle, palace, picture gallery, &c.; exports pottery and has prosperous iron-works, glass-works, tanneries, &c.
SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO, Italian reformer, born at Ferrara of a noble family; was in his youth of a studious ascetic turn, became at 24 a Dominican monk, was fired with a holy zeal for the purity of the Church, and issued forth from his privacy to denounce the vices that everywhere prevailed under her sanction, with threats of divine judgment on her head, so that the impressions his denunciations made were deep and wide-spread; the effect was especially marked in Florence, where for three years the reformer's influence became supreme, till a combination of enemies headed by the Pope succeeded in subverting it to his ejection from the Church, his imprisonment, and final execution, preceded by that of his confederates Fra Domenico and Fra Silvestro; it was as a reformer of the morals of the Church and nowise of its dogmas that Savonarolo presented himself, while the effect of his efforts was limited pretty much to his own day and generation (1452-1498).
SAVOY, DUCHY OF (532), in the SE. of France, on the Italian frontier, comprises the two departments of Haute-Savoie and Savoie; previous to 1860 constituted a province of the kingdom of Sardinia; Lake of Geneva bounds it on the N. and the lofty Graian Alps flank it on the E., forming part of the Alpine highlands; it is charmingly picturesque, with mountain, forest, and river (numerous tributaries of the Rhône); has excellent grazing lands; grows the vine abundantly, besides the usual cereals; the people are industrious and thrifty, but for the most part poor. Aix-les-Bains, Evian, and Challes are popular watering-places. Chambéry was the old capital.
SAVOY, HOUSE OF, an ancient royal house of Europe (represented now by the king of Italy), whose territorial possessions were constituted a county of the empire in the 12th century under the name Savoy; was created a duchy in the 15th century. By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) the island of Sicily was ceded to Savoy and the title of king bestowed upon the duke; in 1720 Victor Amadeus II. was forced to cede Sicily to Austria in exchange for Sardinia, which with Savoy and Piedmont, &c., constituted the kingdom of Sardinia till its dissolution in 1860, when Savoy was ceded to France and the remaining portion merged in the new Italian kingdom under Victor Emmanuel.
SAVOY, THE, a district of the Strand, London, in which a palace was built in 1245 called of the Savoy, in which John of France was confined after his capture at Poitiers; was burnt at the time of the Wat Tyler insurrection, but rebuilt in 1505 as a hospital; it included a chapel, which was damaged by fire in 1864, but restored by the Queen.
SAXE, MAURICE, marshal of France, natural son of Augustus II., king of POLAND (q. v.) distinguished himself under various war captains, Marlborough and Prince Eugene in particular, and eventually entered the service of France; commanding in the War of the Austrian Succession he took Prague and Egra, and was made a marshal, and appointed to the command of the army of Flanders, in which he gained victories and captured fortresses, and was thereafter loaded with honours by Louis XV.; was one of the strongest and most dissolute men of his age; died of dropsy, the result of his debaucheries (1698-1750).
SAXE-COBURG, DUKE OF, second son of the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh; married a daughter of Alexander II., czar of Russia; succeeded to the dukedom in 1893; retains his annuity as an English prince of £10,000; _b_. 1844.
SAXE-WEIMAR, AMALIA, DUCHESS OF, was of the Guelph family, and married to the duke, and in two years was left a widow and in government of the duchy, attracting to her court all the literary notabilities of the day, Goethe the chief, till in 1775 she resigned her authority to her son, who followed in her footsteps (1739-1807).
SAXO GRAMMATICUS, a Danish chronicler who flourished in the 12th century; wrote "Gesta Danorum," which brings the history of Denmark down to the year 1158, and is in the later sections of great value.
SAXON SWITZERLAND, name given to a mountainous region in Saxony, SE. of Dresden.
SAXONS, a people of the Teutonic stock who settled early on the estuary of the Elbe and the adjoining islands, who in their piratical excursions infested and finally settled in Britain and part of Gaul, and who, under the name of Anglo-Saxons, now hold sovereign sway over large sections of the globe.
SAXONY (3,502), a kingdom of Germany, lies within the basin of the Elbe, facing on the E., between Bavaria (S.) and Prussia (N.), the mountainous frontier of Bohemia; a little less in size than Yorkshire, but very densely inhabited; spurs of the Erzgebirge, Fichtelgebirge, and Riesengebirge diversify the surface; is a flourishing mining and manufacturing country; Dresden is the capital, and other important towns are Leipzig, Chemnitz, and Freiburg; the government is vested in the king and two legislative chambers; is represented in the Reichstag and Reichsrath of the empire; by the time of the Thirty Years' War the electorate of Saxony, which in its heyday had stretched to the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Elbe, had sadly dwindled away; it suffered much at the hands of Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War, and in 1815, having sided with Napoleon, a portion of its territory was, by the Congress of Vienna, ceded to Prussia; was defeated along with Austria in 1866, and thus joined the North German Confederation, to be incorporated afterwards in the new German Empire.
SAXONY, PRUSSIAN (2,580), a province of Prussia, chiefly comprises that part of SAXONY (q. v.) added to Prussia in 1815; situated in the centre of Prussia, N. of the kingdom of Saxony; is watered by the Elbe and its numerous affluents, and diversified by the Harz Mountains and Thuringian Forest; contains some of the finest growing land in Prussia; salt and lignite are valuable products, and copper is also mined; the capital is Magdeburg, and other notable towns are Halle (with its university), Erfurt, &c.
SAYCE, ALEXANDER HENRY, philologist, born near Bristol; has written works on the monuments of the East, bearing chiefly on Old Testament history; _b_. 1846.
SCÆVOLA, CAIUS MUCIUS, a patriotic Roman who, when sentenced to be burnt alive by Lars Porsena the Etrurian, then invading Rome, for attempting to murder him, unflinchingly held his right hand in a burning brazier till it was consumed, as a mark of his contempt for the sentence. Porsena, moved by his courage, both pardoned him, and on hearing that 300 as defiant had sworn his death, made peace with Rome and departed. The name Scævola (i. e. left-handed) was given him from the loss of his right hand on the occasion.
SCAFELL, a Cumberland mountain on the borders of Westmorland, with two peaks, one 3210 ft., and the other 3161 ft. high, the highest in England.
SCALE, DELFA, a prince of Verona, and a general of the Ghibellines in Lombardy, who offered Dante an asylum when expelled from Florence (1291-1329).
SCALIGER, JOSEPH JUSTUS, eminent scholar, son of the following, born at Agen; educated by his father; followed in his father's footsteps, and far surpassed him in scholarship; travelled over Europe, and became a zealous Protestant; accepted the chair of _belles lettres_ in the University of Leyden on condition that he should not be called upon to lecture, and gave himself up to a life of study, especially on matters philological and literary; was a man of universal knowledge, and the creator of modern chronology (1540-1609).
SCALIGER, JULIUS CÆSAR, surnamed the Elder, classical scholar, became page to the Emperor Maximilian, and served him in war and peace for 17 years; at 40 quitted the army, and took to study the learned languages among other subjects; wrote a treatise on poetics and a commentary on the physics and metaphysics of Aristotle, and became an authority on the Aristotelian philosophy (1484-1558).
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.
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The Nuttall encyclopædiaChapter LXXIII: Part 73
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