The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood

Part 48 out of 53



STROMNESS, a seaport on the Orkney island of Pomona.


STROUD (10), a busy manufacturing town of Gloucestershire; stands on
rising ground overlooking the confluence of the Frome and Slade, which
unite to form the Frome or Stroud Water, 10 m. SE. of Gloucester;
numerous cloth and dye works are built along the banks of the river; in
the town are several woollen factories.


STRUCK JURY, a jury of men who possess special qualifications to
judge of the facts of a case.


STRUENSEE, Danish statesman, bred to medicine; became minister of
Charles VII., took advantage of his imbecility and directed the affairs
of government, roused the jealousy of the nobles, and he was arrested,
tried on false charges, and was beheaded (1737-1776).


STRUTT, JOSEPH, antiquary, born in Essex; wrote the "Regal and
Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England," followed by other works on the
manners and customs of the English people, that on their "Sports and
Pastimes" the chief (1742-1802).


STRYPE, JOHN, historian and biographer, born in London; was a
voluminous writer, wrote Lives of eminent English Churchmen and upon the
English Reformation (1643-1737).


STUART, ARABELLA, daughter of the Earl of Lennox, and, as descended
from Margaret Tudor, heiress to the English throne in default of James
VI. of Scotland and his family, and towards whom James all along
cherished a jealous feeling, and who was subjected to persecution at his
hands; when she chose to marry contrary to his wish he confined her in
the Tower, where she went mad and died.


STUART DYNASTY, a dynasty of Scotch and finally English kings as
well, commenced with Robert II., who was the son of Marjory, Robert the
Bruce's daughter, who married Walter, the Lord High Steward of Scotland,
hence the name, his successors being Robert III., James I., James II.,
James III., James IV., and James V., Mary Queen of Scots, and James VI.
in Scotland, and ended with James II. of England, who was expelled from
the throne for an obstinacy of temper which characterised all the members
of his house, "an unfortunate dynasty," too, being appointed at length to
rule at a time and over a people that thought kings were born for the
country and not the country for kings, a dictum which they stubbornly
refused to concede, thinking that the nation existed for them instead of
them for the nation. The line became extinct by the death of Cardinal
York in 1807, who survived his brother Charles Edward 19 years.


STUART, GILBERT CHARLES, American portrait-painter, born at
Narragansett, Rhode Island; was taken up by a Scotch painter named
Alexander, whom he accompanied to Edinburgh, but was set adrift by the
death of his patron, and for some years led a wandering life in America
and London till his great gift of portrait-painting was recognised; in
1792 returned to America, and there painted portraits of Washington,
Jefferson, and other noted Americans (1756-1828).


STUART, JOHN, Scottish antiquary; author of "The Sculptured Stones
of Scotland," "The Book of Deer," and frequent contributor to the
_Proceedings of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries_; held a post in the
Register House for 24 years (1813-1877).


STUBBS, C. W., English clergyman, born in Liverpool; has held
several incumbencies; is rector at Wavertree, near Liverpool, and takes a
great interest in the working-classes and in social subjects; is liberal
both in his political and in his theological opinions; has written on
questions of the day in a Christian reference; _b_. 1845.


STUBBS, WILLIAM, historian, born at Knaresborough; studied at
Oxford; became a Fellow of Trinity and of Oriel, professor of Modern
History at Oxford, and finally bishop; was author of "Constitutional
History of England," an epoch-making book in three volumes, and editor of
a collection of mediaeval Chronicles, with valuable prefaces accompanying;
his writings are distinguished by their learning and accuracy; _b_. 1825.


STUHLWEISSENBURG (25), an old historic Hungarian town, 42 m. SW. of
Pesth; was for long the residence of the Hungarian kings, in the
cathedral of which they were crowned and buried.


STUKELEY, WILLIAM, antiquary, born at Holbeach, Lincolnshire;
graduated in medicine at Cambridge, and practised in London and elsewhere
till 1729, when he took holy orders, and, after holding livings at
Stamford and Somerby, was presented in 1747 to the rectory of St George
the Martyr in London; maintained a lifelong interest in antiquarian
research, and published many volumes on British and Roman antiquities, in
which he displays unflagging industry and an exuberant fancifulness; "I
have used his materials," says Gibbon, "and rejected most of his fanciful
conjectures"; his credulous works on the supposed Druidical remains at
Stonehenge and elsewhere gained him the title of the "Arch-Druid"
(1687-1765).


STUMP ORATOR, one who is ready to take up any question of the day,
usually a political one, and harangue upon it from any platform offhand;
the class, the whole merely a talking one, form the subject, in a pretty
wide reference, of one of Carlyle's scathing "Latter-Day Pamphlets."


STURM, JOHANN, educational reformer, born In Luxemburg; settled in
Paris; established a school there for dialectics and rhetoric for a time,
but left it on account of his Protestantism for Strasburg at the
invitation of the civic authorities, and became rector of the gymnasium
there, which under him acquired such repute that the Emperor Maximilian
constituted it a university with him at the head; his adoption of the
theological views of Zwingli in opposition to those of Luther made him
many enemies, and he was dismissed from office, but was allowed a
pension; he was a great student of Cicero; he wrote many works in Latin
in a style so pure and elegant that he was named the German Cicero
(1507-1589).


STURM-UND-DRANG. See STORM-AND-STRESS.


STURT, CHARLES, a noted Australian explorer, and a captain in the
army; during 1828-45 was the determined leader of three important
exploratory expeditions into Central Australia, the results of which he
embodied in two works; became colonial secretary of South Australia, but
failing health and eyesight led to his retirement, and he was pensioned
by the first Parliament of South Australia; he returned to England
totally blind (1795-1869).


STUTTGART (140), capital of Wuertemberg, stands amid beautiful
vine-clad hills in a district called the "Swabian Paradise," on an
affluent of the Neckar, 127 m. SE. of Frankfort; is a handsome city with
several royal palaces, a 16th-century castle, interesting old churches, a
royal library (450,000 vols.), a splendid royal park, conservatory of
music, picture gallery, and various educational establishments; ranks
next to Leipzig as a book mart, and has flourishing manufactures of
textiles, beer, pianofortes, chemicals, &c.


STYLITES. See PILLAR-SAINTS.


STYMPHALIAN BIRDS, fabulous birds with brazen claws, wings, and
beaks, that used their feathers as arrows, ate human flesh, and infested
Arcadia; Hercules startled them with a rattle, and with his arrows either
shot them or drove them off.


STYRIA (1,281), a central duchy of Austria, stretching in a
semicircle from Upper Austria and Salzburg on the NW. to Croatia and
Slavonia on the SE., and flanked by Hungary on the E.; a mountainous
region crossed by various eastern ranges of the Alpine system, and
drained by the Drave, Save, Inn, and other rivers; more than half lies
under forest; agriculture flourishes, but mineral products, iron, salt,
coal, &c., constitute the chief wealth. The principal manufactures are
connected therewith; was joined to the Austrian crown in 1192.


STYX, name (from the Greek verb signifying "to abhor") of the
principal river of the nether world, which it flows sluggishly round
seven times; is properly the river of death, which all must cross to
enter the unseen world, and of which, in the Greek mythology, Charon was
the ferryman. In their solemn engagements it was by this river the gods
took oath to signify that they would forego their godhood if they swore
falsely. The Styx was a branch of the Great Ocean which girds the
universe. See OCEANUS.


SUAKIN or SAWAKIN (11), a seaport under Egyptian control, and
since the Mahdi's revolt garrisoned by the English, on the Nubian coast
of the Red Sea; stands on a rocky islet, and is connected with El Keff on
the mainland by a causeway; is the starting-point of caravans to Berber
and Khartoum, and as such has a large transit trade, exporting silver
ornaments, ivory, gums, hides, gold, &c.; here African pilgrims to Mecca
embark to the number of 6000 or 7000 annually.


SUAREZ, FRANCISCO, scholastic philosopher, born at Grenada; after
joining the Jesuit body became professor of Theology at Coimbra,
attempted to reconcile realism with nominalism, and adopted in theology a
system called "Congruism," being a modification of Molinism; wrote a
"Defence of the Catholic Faith against the Errors of the Anglican Sect"
at the instance of the Pope against the claims of James I. in his oath of
allegiance (1548-1617).


SUBAHDAR, a title given to governors of provinces in the times of
the Mogul dynasty, now bestowed upon native officers in the Indian army
holding rank equivalent to an English captaincy.


SUBIACO (7), an ancient and interesting town of Central Italy;
occupies a pleasant site amid encircling hills on the Teverone, 32 m. E.
by N. of Rome; has a quaint, mediaeval appearance, and is overlooked by an
old castle, a former residence of the Popes; there are two Benedictine
monasteries dating from the 6th century, and in a grotto near St.
Benedictine lived, in his youth, a hermit life for three years.


SUBJECTIVE, THE, that, in contrast to objective, which rests on the
sole authority of consciousness, and has no higher warrant.


SUBJECTIVISM, the doctrine of the pure relativity of knowledge, or
that it is purely subjective.


SUBLAPSARIANISM, same as INFRALAPSARIANISM (q. v.).


SUBLIMATION, the vaporisation of a solid body and its resumption
thereafter of the solid form.


SUBLIME PORTE, a name given to the Ottoman Government, so called
from a lofty gateway leading into the residence of the Vizier.


SUBSTITUTION, in theology the doctrine that Christ in His obedience
and death stood in the place of the sinner, so that His merits on their
faith in Him are imputed to them.


SUBTLE DOCTOR, name given to DUNS SCOTUS (q. v.) for his
hairsplitting acuteness and extreme subtlety of distinction.


SUCCESSION WARS, the general title of several European wars which
arose in the 18th century consequent on a failure of issue in certain
royal lines, most important of which are (1) WAR OF THE SPANISH
SUCCESSION (1701-1713). The death (1700) of Charles II. of Spain
without direct issue caused Louis XIV. of France and the Emperor Leopold
I. (the former married to the elder sister of Charles, the latter to the
younger sister, and both grandsons of Philip III. of Spain) to put forth
claims to the crown, the one on behalf of his grandson, Philip of Anjou,
the other for his second son, the Archduke Charles. War broke out on the
entry of Philip into Madrid and his assumption of the crown, England and
the United Netherlands uniting with the emperor to curb the ambition of
Louis. During the long struggle the transcendent military genius of
Marlborough asserted itself in the great victories of Blenheim,
Ramillies, and Oudenarde, but the lukewarmness of England in the
struggle, the political fall of Marlborough, and the Tory vote for peace
prevented the allies reaping the full benefit of their successes. The
Treaty of Utrecht (1713) left Philip in possession of his Spanish
kingdom, but the condition was exacted that the crowns of Spain and
France should not be united. The emperor (the Archduke Charles since
1711) attempted to carry on the struggle, but was forced to sign the
Treaty of Rastadt (1714), acknowledging Philip king of Spain. Spain,
however, ceded her Netherlands Sardinia, &c., to the emperor, while
Gibraltar, Minorca, and parts of North America fell to England. (2) WAR
OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION (1740-1748) followed on the death (1740)
of the Emperor Charles VI. without male issue. His daughter, Maria
Theresa, entered into possession of Bohemia, Hungary, and the Archduchy
of Austria, but was immediately attacked by the Elector Charles Albert of
Bavaria and Augustus of Saxony and Poland, both rival claimants for the
imperial crown, while Frederick II. of Prussia seized the opportunity of
Maria's embarrassment to annex Silesia. France, Spain, and England were
drawn into the struggle, the last in support of Maria. Success oscillated
from side to side, but the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which brought the
war to a close, left Maria pretty well in possession of her inheritance
save the loss of Silesia to Frederick.


SUCHET, LOUIS GABRIEL, DUC D'ALBUFERA, marshal of France, born in
Lyons; distinguished himself in Italy, Egypt, Austria, and Prussia, and
became general in command in Aragon, by his success in ruling which last
he gained the marshal's baton and a dukedom; he rejoined Napoleon during
the Hundred Days; after Waterloo he lost his peerage, but recovered it in
1819 (1770-1826).


SUCKLING, SIR JOHN, poet, born, of good parentage, at Whitton,
Middlesex; quitted Cambridge in 1628 to travel on the Continent, and for
a time served in the army of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany; returning to
England about 1632 he became a favourite at Court, where he was noted for
his wit, prodigality, and verses; supported Charles in the Bishops' Wars
against the Scots; sat in the Long Parliament; was involved in a plot to
rescue Strafford, and to bring foreign troops to the aid of the king, but
discovered, had to flee the country; died, probably by his own hand, in
Paris; wrote several forgotten plays, a prose treatise on "Religion by
Reason," and miscellaneous poems, amongst which are his charming songs
and ballads, his title to fame (1609-1642).


SUDARIUM, the handkerchief given by ST. VERONICA (q. v.) to
Christ as He was passing to crucifixion, and on which His face was
miraculously impressed as He wiped the sweat off it.


SUDBURY (7), a borough of Suffolk, on the Stour, where it crosses
the Essex border, 58 m. NE. of London; has three old churches
(Perpendicular style), a grammar-school founded in the 15th century, a
corn-exchange, &c.; manufactures embrace cocoa-nut matting, silk, &c.


SUDETIC MOUNTAINS stretch in irregular broken masses and subsidiary
chains for 120 m. across South-East Germany, separating Bohemia and
Moravia from Saxony and Prussian Silesia, and forming a link between the
Carpathians and mountains of Franconia; highest and central position is
known as the RIESENGEBIRGE (q. v.); Schneekoppe is the culminating point
of the range.


SUDRAS, the fourth and lowest of the HINDU CASTES (q. v.);
are by some alleged to be of the aboriginal race of India who to retain
their freedom adopted Brahmanism.


SUE, MARIE-JOSEPH-EUGENE, a writer of sensational novels, born at
Paris; was for some years an army surgeon, and served in the Spanish
campaign of 1823; his father's death (1829) bringing him a handsome
fortune, he retired from the army to devote himself to literature; his
reputation as a writer rests mainly on his well-known works "The
Mysteries of Paris" (1842) and "The Wandering Jew" (1845), which,
displaying little skill on the artistic side, yet rivet their readers'
attention by a wealth of exciting incident and plot; was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies in 1850, but the _coup d'etat_ of 1852 drove him an
exile to Annecy, in Savoy, where he died (1804-1859).


SUETONIUS, TRANQUILLUS, Roman historian; practised as an advocate in
Rome in the reign of Trajan; was a friend of the Younger Pliny, became
private secretary to Hadrian, but was deprived of this post through an
indiscretion; wrote several works, and of those extant the chief is the
"Lives of the Twelve Caesars," beginning with Julius Caesar and ending with
Domitian, a work which relates a great number of anecdotes illustrating
the characters of the emperors; _b_. A.D. 70.


SUEZ (13), a town of Egypt, stands at the edge of the desert at the
head of a gulf of the same name and at the S. end of the Suez Canal, 75
m. E. of Cairo, with which it is connected by railway; as a trading
place, dating back to the times of the Ptolemies, has had a fluctuating
prosperity, but since the completion of the canal is growing steadily in
importance; is still for the most part an ill-built and ill-kept town;
has a large English hospital and ship-stores.


SUEZ CANAL, a great artificial channel cutting the isthmus of Suez,
and thus forming a waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea;
was planned and undertaken by the French engineer Lesseps, through whose
untiring efforts a company was formed and the necessary capital raised;
occupied 10 years in the construction (1859-69), and cost some 20 million
pounds; from Port Said on the Mediterranean to Suez at the head of the
Red Sea the length is about 100 m., a portion of which lies through Lakes
Menzaleh, Ballah, Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes; as widened and deepened
in 1886 it has a minimum depth of 28 ft., and varies from 150 to 300 ft.
in width; traffic is facilitated by electric light during the night, and
the passage occupies little more than 24 hours; has been neutralised and
exempted from blockade, vessels of all nations in peace or war being free
to pass through; now the highway to India and the East, shortening the
voyage to India by 7600 m.; three-fourths of the ships passing through
are English; an annual toll is drawn of close on three million pounds,
the net profit of which falls to be divided amongst the shareholders, of
whom since 1875 the British Government has been one of the largest.


SUFFOLK (371), eastmost county of England, fronts the North Sea
between Norfolk (N.) and Essex (S.); is a pleasant undulating county with
pretty woods and eastward-flowing streams (Waveney, Aide, Orwell, Stour,
&c.); long tracts of heathland skirt the coast; agriculture is still the
staple industry, wheat the principal crop; is famed for its antiquities,
architecture, historic associations, and long list of worthies. Ipswich
is the county town.


SUFFREN, BAILLI DE, a celebrated French admiral, who entered the
navy a boy of 14 during the wars with England, and rose to be one of his
country's greatest naval heroes, especially distinguishing himself as
commander of a squadron in the West Indies, proving himself a master of
naval tactics in more or less successful engagements with the English; is
regarded by Professor Laughton as "the most illustrious officer that has
ever held command in the French navy"; sprang from good Provence stock
(1729-1788).


SUFISM, the doctrine of the Sufis, a sect of Mohammedan mystics;
imported into Mohammedanism the idea that the soul is the subject of
ecstasies of Divine inspiration in virtue of its direct emanation from
the Deity, and this in the teeth of the fundamental article of the
Mohammedan creed, which exalts God as a being passing all comprehension
and ruling it by a law which is equally mysterious, which we have only to
obey; this doctrine is associated with the idea that the body is the
soul's prison, and death the return of it to its original home, a
doctrine of the dervish fraternity, of which the Madhi is high-priest.


SUGER, ABBE, abbot of St. Denis, minister of Louis VI. and Louis
VII.; reformed the discipline in his abbey, emancipated the serfs
connected with it, maintained the authority of the king against the great
vassals; he was regent of the kingdom during the second Crusade, and
earned the title of Father of his Country; he wrote a Life of Louis VI.
(1082-1152).


SUIDAS, name of a grammarian and lexicographer of the 10th or 11th
century; his "Lexicon" is a kind of encyclopaedic work, and is valuable
chiefly for the extracts it contains from ancient writers.


SUIR, a river of Ireland which rises in Tipperary and joins the
Barrow after a course of 100 m.


SUKKUR (29), a town on the Indus (here spanned by a fine bridge), 28
m. SE. of Shikarpur; has rail communication with Kurrachee and
Afghanistan, and considerable trade in various textiles, opium,
saltpetre, sugar, &c.; 1 m. distant is Old Sukkur; the island of Bukkur,
in the river-channel and affording support to the bridge, is occupied and
fortified by the British.


SULEIMAN PASHA, a distinguished Turkish general, born in Roumelia;
entered the army in 1854, fought in various wars, became director of the
Military Academy at Constantinople; distinguished himself in the Servian
War of 1876, and was elected governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina; during
the Russian-Turkish War made a gallant attempt to clear the enemy from
the Shipka Pass, but as commander of the Danube army was defeated near
Philippopolis (1878), and subsequently court-martialled and sentenced to
15 years' imprisonment, but was pardoned by the sultan (1838-1883).


SULIMAN or SULEIMAN MOUNTAINS, a bare and rugged range,
stretching N. and S. for upwards of 350 m. from the Kyber Pass almost to
the Arabian Sea, and forming the boundary between Afghanistan and the
Punjab, India.


SULIOTES, a Graeco-Albanian race who in the 17th century, to escape
their Turkish oppressors, fled from their old settlement in Epirus to the
mountains of Suli, in South Albania, where they prospered in the
following century in independence; driven out by the Turks in 1803, they
emigrated to the Ionian Islands; came to the aid of Ali Pasha against the
sultan in 1820, but, defeated and scattered, found refuge in Cephalonia,
and later gave valuable assistance to the Greeks in their struggle for
independence. The treaty of 1829 left their district of Suli in the hands
of the Turks, and since then they have dwelt among the Greeks, many of
them holding high government rank.


SULLA, LUCIUS CORNELIUS, a Roman of patrician birth; leader of the
aristocratic party in Rome, and the rival of Marius (q. v.), under whom
he got his first lessons in war; rose to distinction in arms afterwards,
and during his absence the popular party gained the ascendency, and
Marius, who had been banished, was recalled; the blood of his friends had
been shed in torrents, and himself proscribed; on the death of Marius he
returned with his army, glutted his vengeance by the sacrifice of
thousands of the opposite faction, celebrated his victory by a triumph of
unprecedented splendour, and caused himself to be proclaimed Dictator 81
B.C.; he ruled with absolute power two years after, and then resigning
his dictatorship retired into private life; _d_. 76 B.C. at the age of
60.


SULLAN PROSCRIPTIONS, sentences of proscription issued by Sulla
against Roman citizens in 81 B.C. under his dictatorship.


SULLIVAN, SIR ARTHUR SEYMOUR, English composer, born in London; won
the Mendelssohn scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, and by means
of it completed his musical education at Leipzig; in 1862 composed
incidental music for "The Tempest," well received at the Crystal Palace;
since then has been a prolific writer of all kinds of music, ranging from
hymns and oratorios to popular songs and comic operas; his oratorios
include "The Prodigal Son" (1868), "The Light of the World," "The Golden
Legend," &c., but it is as a writer of light and tuneful operas
(librettos by W. S. GILBERT, q. v.) that he is best known; these
began with "Cox and Box" (1866), and include "Trial by Jury," "The
Sorcerer" (1877), "Pinafore," "Patience" (1881), "Mikado" (1885), &c., in
all of which he displays great gifts as a melodist, and wonderful
resource in clever piquant orchestration; received the Legion of Honour
in 1878, and was knighted in 1883; _b_. 1842.


SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, a long and narrow island, a favourite sea-bathing
resort, on the N. of the entrance to Charleston Harbour, South Carolina,
U.S.


SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE, DUKE OF, celebrated minister of Henry
IV. of France, born at the Chateau of Rosny, near Mantes, whence he was
known at first as the Baron de Rosny; at first a ward of Henry IV. of
Navarre, he joined the Huguenot ranks along with him, and distinguished
himself at Coutras and Ivry, and approved of Henry's policy in changing
his colours on his accession to the throne, remaining ever after by his
side as most trusted adviser, directing the finances of the country with
economy, and encouraging the peasantry in the cultivation of the soil;
used to say, "Labourage et pasteurage, voila les deux mamelles dont La
France est alimentee, les vraies mines et tresors de Perou," "Tillage and
cattle-tending are the two paps whence France sucks nourishment; these
are the true mines and treasures of Peru;" on the death of the king he
retired from court, and occupied his leisure in writing his celebrated
"Memoirs," which, while they show the author to be a great statesman,
give no very pleasant idea of his character (1560-1611).


SULLY-PRUDHOMME, French poet, born in Paris; published a volume of
poems in 1865 entitled "Stances and Poemes," which commanded instant
regard, and have been succeeded by others which have deepened the
impression, and entitled him to the highest rank as a poet; they give
evidence of a serious mind occupied with serious problems; was elected to
the Academy in 1881; _b_. 1839.


SULPICIUS SEVERUS, an ecclesiastical historian, born in Aquitaine;
wrote a "Historia Sacra," and a Life of St. Martin (363-406).


SULTAN, the title of a Mohammedan sovereign, Sultana being the
feminine form.


SULU ISLANDS (75), an archipelago of 162 islands in Asiatic waters,
lying to the NE. of Borneo, and extending to the Philippines; belongs to
the Spaniards who, in 1876, subdued the piratical Malay inhabitants; the
trade in pearls and edible nests is mainly carried on by Chinese.


SUMATRA (3,572, including adjacent islands), after Borneo the
largest of the East Indian islands, stretches SE. across the Equator
between the Malay Peninsula (from whose SW. coast it is separated by the
Strait of Malacca) to Java (Strait of Sunda separating them); has an
extreme length of 1115 m., and an area more than three times that of
England; is mountainous, volcanic, covered in central parts by virgin
forest, abounds in rivers and lakes, and possesses an exceptionally rich
flora and peculiar fauna; rainfall is abundant; some gold and coal are
worked, but the chief products are rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco,
petroleum, pepper, &c.; the island is mainly under Dutch control, but
much of the unexplored centre is still in the hands of savage tribes who
have waged continual warfare with their European invaders. Padang (150)
is the official Dutch capital.


SUMBAWA (150), one of the Sunda Islands, lying between Lombok (W.)
and Flores (E.); mountainous and dangerously volcanic; yields rice,
tobacco, cotton, &c.; is divided among four native rulers under Dutch
authority.


SUMNER, CHARLES, American statesman and abolitionist, born in
Boston; graduated at Harvard (1830), and was called to the bar in 1834,
but found a more congenial sphere in writing and lecturing; during
1837-40 pursued his favourite study of jurisprudence in France, Germany,
and England; was brought into public notice by his 4th of July oration
(1845) on "The True Grandeur of Nations," an eloquent condemnation of
war; became an uncompromising opponent of the slave-trade; was one of the
founders of the Free Soil Party, and in 1851 was elected to the National
Senate, a position he held until the close of his life, and where he did
much by his eloquent speeches to prepare the way for emancipation, and
afterwards to win for the blacks the rights of citizenship (1811-1874).


SUMNER, JOHN BIRD, archbishop of Canterbury; rose by a succession of
preferments to the Primacy, an office which he discharged with discretion
and moderation (1780-1862).


SUMPTUARY LAWS, passed in various lands and ages to restrict excess
in dress, food, and luxuries generally; are to be found in the codes of
Solon, Julius Caesar, and other ancient rulers; Charles VI. of France
restricted dinners to one soup and two other dishes; appear at various
times in English statutes down to the 16th century against the use of
"costly meats," furs, silks, &c., by those unable to afford them; were
issued by the Scottish Parliament against the extravagance of ladies in
the matter of dress to relieve "the puir gentlemen their husbands and
fathers"; were repealed in England in the reign of James I.; at no time
were they carefully observed.


SUMTER, FORT, a fort on a shoal in Charleston harbour, 31/2 m. from
the town; occupied by Major Anderson with 80 men and 62 guns in the
interest of the secession of South Carolina from the Union, and the
attack on which by General Beauregard on 12th April 1861 was the
commencement of the Civil War; it held out against attack and bombardment
till the month of July following.


SUN, THE, is a star; is the centre of the solar system, as it is in
consequence called, is a globe consisting of a mass of vapour at white
heat, and of such enormous size that it is 500 times larger than all the
planets of the system put together, or of a bulk one million and a half
times greater than the earth, from which it is ninety-two and a half
million miles distant; the bright surface of it is called the
_photosphere_, and this brightness is diversified with brighter spots
called _faculae_, and dark ones called _sun-spots_, and by watching which
latter as they move over the sun's disk we find it takes 25 days to
revolve on its axis, and by means of SPECTRUM ANALYSIS (q. v.)
find it is composed of hydrogen and a number of vaporised metals.


SUNDA ISLANDS, a name sometimes applied to the long chain of islands
stretching SE. from the Malay Peninsula to North Australia, including
Sumatra, Timor, &c., but more correctly designates the islands Bali,
Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sandalwood Island, &c., which lie between Java
and Timor, are under Dutch suzerainty, and produce the usual East Indian
products. See various islands named.


SUNDERBUNDS or SUNDARBANS, a great tract of jungle, swamp, and
alluvial plain, forming the lower portion of the Ganges delta; extends
from the Hooghly on the W. to the Meghna on the E., a distance of 165 m.;
rice is cultivated on the upper part by a sparse population; the lower
part forms a dense belt of wild jungle reaching to the sea, and is
infested by numerous tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, pythons, cobras, &c.


SUNDERLAND (142), a flourishing seaport of Durham, situated at the
mouth of the Wear, 12 m. SE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; embraces some very
old parishes, but as a commercial town has entirely developed within the
present century, and is of quite modern appearance, with the usual public
buildings; owes its prosperity mainly to neighbouring coal-fields, the
product of which it exports in great quantities; has four large docks
covering 50 acres; also famous iron shipbuilding yards, large iron-works,
glass and bottle works, roperies, &c.


SUNDERLAND, CHARLES SPENCER, THIRD EARL, son of succeeding, and son
in law of the Duke of Marlborough; was a Secretary of State in Queen
Anne's reign during 1706-1710, and in the following reign, as leader of
the Whigs, exercised unbounded influence over George I.; narrowly
escaped, chiefly through Walpole's help, being found guilty of accepting
heavy bribes from the South Sea Company; lost office, and was displaying
his father's propensity to underhand scheming by intriguing with the
Tories and the Pretender's party when death cut short his career
(1675-1722).


SUNDERLAND, ROBERT SPENCER, SECOND EARL OF, an English statesman
prominent in the reign of Charles II., James II., and William III.; was
for some years engaged in embassies abroad before being appointed
Secretary of State in 1679; adroit and insinuating, and with great
capacity for business, he soon became a leading minister; attached
himself to the Duchess of Portsmouth, and in the corrupt politics of the
two Stuart kings played his own hand with consummate if unscrupulous
skill, standing high in King James's favour as Prime Minister, although
he had formerly intrigued in favour of Monmouth; supported the Exclusion
Bill, and even then was in secret communication with the Prince of
Orange; after the Revolution rose to high office under William; was
instrumental in bringing the Whigs into power, and during 1695-1697 was
acknowledged head of his Government (1640-1702).


SUNNITES, the orthodox Mohammedans, a name given to them because
they accept the _Sunna_, i. e. traditional teaching of the Prophet, as
of the same authority as the Koran, in the matter of both faith and
morals, agreeably to a fundamental article of Mohammedanism, that not
only the rule of life, but the interpretation of it, is of divine
dictation.


SUN-WORSHIP, the worship of the sun is conceived of as an
impersonation of the deity, that originated among races so far advanced
in civilisation as to recognise what they owed to its benignant
influence, in particular as tillers of the soil, and, is associated with
advance as the worship of Bacchus was, which could not originate prior to
cultivation of the vine.


SUONADA, the Inland Sea of Japan, separating Kyushu and Shikoku from
the Main Island, Honshiu, a fine sheet of water (250 m. by 50),
picturesquely studded with islands which, however, render navigation
difficult.


SUPEREROGATION, WORKS OF, name given in the Roman Catholic theology
to works or good deeds performed by saints over and above what is
required for their own salvation, and the merit of which is held to be
transferable to others in need of indulgence.


SUPER-GRAMMATICAM (above grammar), name given to Sigismund, emperor
of Germany, from his rejoinder to a cardinal who one day on a high
occasion mildly corrected a grammatical mistake he had made in a grand
oration, "I am King of the Romans, and above grammar."


SUPERIOR, LAKE, largest fresh-water lake on the globe, lies between
the United States and Canada, the boundary line passing through the
centre; area, 31,200 sq. m., almost the size of Ireland; maximum depth,
1008 ft.; St. Mary's River, the only outlet, a short rapid stream,
carries the overflow to Lake Huron; receives upwards of 200 rivers, but
none of first-class importance, largest is the St. Louis; is dotted with
numerous islands; water is singularly clear and pure, and abounds with
fish; navigation is hindered in winter by shore-ice, but the lake never
freezes over.


SUPERSTITION, the fear of that which is not God, as if it were God,
or the fear of that which is not the devil, as if it were the devil; or,
as it has in more detail been defined by Ruskin, "the fear of a spirit
whose passions and acts are those of a man present in some places and not
others; kind to one person and unkind to another, pleased or angry,
according to the degree of attention you pay him, or the praise you
refuse him; hostile generally to human pleasure, but may be bribed by
sacrificing part of that pleasure into permitting the rest."


SUPRALAPSARIANISM, the doctrine of the extreme Calvinists, that the
decree of God as regards the eternal salvation of some and the eternal
reprobation of others is unconditional.


SUPREMACY, ROYAL, the supremacy of the sovereign in matters
ecclesiastical and matters of civil right to the exclusion of matters
spiritual and the jurisdiction in the former claimed by the Pope.


SURABAYA (127), a seaport on the NE. coast or Java, is the
head-quarters of the Dutch military, and exports tropical products; of
the population 6000 are European, and 7000 or so Chinese.


SURAT (109), a city of India, Bombay Presidency, on the Tapti, 14 m.
from its entrance into the Gulf of Bombay; stretches along the S. bank of
the river, presenting no architectural features of interest save some
Mohammedan, Parsee, and Hindu temples, and an old castle or fortress;
chief exports are cotton and grain; the English erected here their first
factory on the Indian continent in 1612, and with Portuguese and Dutch
traders added, it became one of the principal commercial centres of
India; in the 18th century the removal of the English East India Company
to Bombay drew off a considerable portion of the trade of Surat, which it
has never recovered.


SURINAM. See GUIANA, DUTCH.


SURPLICE, a linen robe with wide sleeves worn by officiating
clergymen and choristers, originating in the rochet or alb of early
times.


SURREY (1,731), an inland county, and one of the fairest of England,
in the SE. between Kent (E.) and Hampshire (W.), with Sussex on the S.,
separated from Middlesex on the N. by the Thames; the North Downs
traverse the county E. and W., slope gently to the Thames, and
precipitously in the S. to the level Weald; generally presents a
beautiful prospect of hill and heatherland adorned with splendid woods;
the Wey and the Mole are the principal streams; hops are extensively
grown round Farnham; largest town is Croydon; the county town, Guildford.


SURREY, HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF, poet, son of the Duke of Norfolk;
early attached to the court of Henry VIII., he attended his royal master
at the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," and took part in the coronation
ceremony of Anne Boleyn (1533); was created a Knight of the Garter in
1542, and two years later led the English army in France with varying
success; imprisoned along with his father on a charge of high treason,
for which there was no adequate evidence, he was condemned and executed;
as one of the early leaders of the poetic renaissance, and introducer of
the sonnet and originator of blank verse, he deservedly holds a high
place in the history of English literature (1516-1547).


SURYA, in the Hindu mythology the sun conceived of as a female
deity.


SUSA (the Shushan of Daniel, Esther, &c.), an ancient city of
Persia, now in ruins, that spread over an area of 3 sq. m., on the
Kerkha, 250 m. SE. of Bagdad; was for long the favourite residence of the
Persian kings, the ruins of whose famous palace, described in Esther, are
still extant.


SUSAN, ST., the patron saint and guardian of innocence and saviour
from infamy and reproach. See SUSANNA.


SUSANNA, THE HISTORY OF, a story in the Apocrypha, evidently
conceived to glorify Daniel as a judge, and which appears to have been
originally written by a Jew in Greek. She had been accused of adultery by
two of the elders and condemned to death, but was acquitted on Daniel's
examination of her accusers to their confusion and condemnation to death
in her stead. The story has been allegorised by the Church, and Susanna
made to represent the Church, and the two elders her persecutors.


SUSQUEHANNA, a river of America, formed by the junction at
Northumberland, Pennsylvania, of the North Branch (350 m.) flowing out of
Schuyler Lake, central New York, and the West Branch (250 m.) rising in
the Alleghany Mountains; flows in a shallow, rapid, unnavigable course S.
and SE. through beautiful scenery to Port Deposit, at the N. end of
Chesapeake Bay; length, 150 m.


SUSSEX (550), a S. maritime county of England, fronts the English
Channel between Hampshire (W.) and Kent (E.), with Surrey on its northern
border; is traversed E. and W. by the South Downs, which afford splendid
pasturage for half a million sheep, and terminates in Beachy Head; in the
N. lies the wide, fertile, and richly-wooded plain of the Weald; chief
rivers are the Arun, Adur, Ouse, and Rother, of no great size; is a fine
agricultural county, more than two-thirds of its area being under
cultivation; was the scene of Caesar's landing (55 B.C.), of AElla's, the
leader of the South Saxons (whence the name Sussex), and of William the
Conqueror's (1066); throughout the country are interesting antiquities;
largest town, Brighton; county town, Lewes.


SUTHERLAND (22), a maritime county of N. Scotland; presents a N. and
a W. shore to the Atlantic, between Ross and Cromarty (S.) and Caithness
(E.), and faces the North Sea on the SE., whence the land slopes upwards
to the great mountain region and wild, precipitous loch-indented coasts
of the W. and N.; scarcely 3 per cent, of the area is cultivated, but
large numbers of sheep and cattle are raised; the Oykell is the longest
(35 m.) of many streams, and Loch Shin the largest of 300 lochs; there
are extensive deer forests and grouse moors, while valuable salmon and
herring fisheries exist round the coasts; is the most sparsely populated
county in Scotland. Dornoch is the county town.


SUTLEJ, the eastmost of the five rivers of the Punjab; its
head-waters flow from two Thibetan lakes at an elevation of 15,200 ft.,
whence it turns NW. and W. to break through a wild gorge of the
Himalayas, thence bends to the SW., forms the eastern boundary of the
Punjab, and joins the Indus at Mithankot after a course of 900 m.


SUTRAS, name given to a collection of aphorisms, summaries of the
teachings of the Brahmans, and of rules regulative of ritual or religious
observances, and also given to these aphorisms and rules themselves.


SUTTEE, a Hindu widow who immolates herself on the funeral pile of
her husband, a term applied to the practice itself. The practice was of
very ancient date, but the custom was proclaimed illegal in 1829 under
Lord William Bentinck's administration, and it is now very seldom that a
widow seeks to violate the law. In 1823, in Bengal alone, 575 widows gave
themselves to be so burned, of whom 109 were above sixty, 226 above
forty, 209 above twenty, and 32 under twenty.


SUWARROW or SUVOROFF, Russian field-marshal, born at Moscow;
entered the army as a private soldier, distinguished himself in the Seven
Years' War, and after 20 years' service rose to command; in command of a
division he in 1773 routed an army of the Turks beyond the Danube, and in
1783 he reduced a tribe of Tartars under the Russian yoke; his greatest
exploit perhaps was his storming of Ismail, which had resisted all
attempts to reduce it for seven months, and which he, but with revolting
barbarities however, in three days succeeded by an indiscriminate
massacre of 40,000 of the inhabitants; his despatch thereafter to Queen
Catharine was "Glory to God and the Empress, Ismail is ours!" he after
this conducted a cruel campaign in Poland, which ended in its partition,
and a campaign in Italy to the disaster of the French and his elevation
to the peerage as a prince, with the title of Italinski; he was all along
the agent of the ruthless purposes of POTEMKIN (q. v.) (1730-1800).


SVEABORG, a strong fortress in Finland, protecting Helsingfors, in
the Baltic, 3 m. distant from that town, and called the "Gibraltar of the
North."


SVIR, a Russian river that flows into Lake Ladoga.


SWABIA, an ancient duchy in the SW. of Germany, and most fertile
part, so called from the Suevi, who in the 1st century displaced the
aboriginal Celts, and which, along with Bavaria, formed the nucleus of
the Fatherland; was separated by the Rhine from France and Switzerland,
having for capital Augsburg, and being divided now into Wuertemberg,
Bavaria, Baden, and Lichtenstein.


SWAHILI (i. e. coast people), a people of mixed Bantu and Arab
stock occupying Zanzibar and the adjoining territory from nearly Mombasa
to Mozambique; they are an enterprising race, and are dispersed as
traders, hunters, carriers, &c., far and wide over Central Africa.


SWALE, a river in the North Riding of Yorkshire, uniting, after a
course of 60 miles, with the Ure to form the Ouse.


SWAMMERDAM, JAN, a Dutch entomologist, born at Amsterdam, where he
settled as a doctor, but turning with enthusiasm to the study of insect
life, made important contributions to, and practically laid the
foundations of, entomological science (1637-1680).


SWAN OF AVON, sweet name given by Ben Jonson to Shakespeare.


SWAN OF MANTUA, name given to Virgil, as born at Mantua.


SWANSEA (90), a flourishing and progressive seaport of
Glamorganshire, at the entrance of the Tawe, 45 m. into Swansea Bay; has
a splendid harbour, 60 acres of docks, a castle, old grammar-school, &c.;
is the chief seat of the copper-smelting and of the tin-plate manufacture
of England, and exports the products of these works, as well as coal,
zinc, and other minerals, in large quantities.


SWATOW (30), a seaport of China, at the mouth of the Han, 225 m. E.
of Canton; has large sugar-refineries, factories for bean-cake and
grass-cloth; since the policy of "the open door" was adopted in 1867 has
had a growing export trade.


SWAZILAND (64), a small South African native State to the E. of the
Transvaal, of which in 1893 it became a dependency, retaining, however,
its own laws and native chief; is mountainous, fertile, and rich in
minerals; the Swazis are of Zulu stock, jealous of the Boers, and
friendly to Britain.


SWEATING SICKNESS, an epidemic of extraordinary malignity which
swept over Europe, and especially England, in the 15th and 16th
centuries, attacking with equal virulence all classes and all ages, and
carrying off enormous numbers of people; was characterised by a sharp
sudden seizure, high fever, followed by a foetid perspiration; first
appeared in England in 1485, and for the last time in 1551.


SWEATING SYSTEM, a term which began to be used about 1848 to
describe an iniquitous system of sub-contracting in the tailoring trade.
Orders from master-tailors were undertaken by sub-contractors, who
themselves farmed the work out to needy workers, who made the articles in
their own crowded and foetid homes, receiving "starvation wages." The
term is now used in reference to all trades in cases where the conditions
imposed by masters tend to grind the rate of payment down to a bare
living wage and to subject the workers to insanitary surroundings by
overcrowding, &c., and to unduly long hours. Kingsley's pamphlet, "Cheap
Clothes and Nasty," and novel, "Alton Locke," did much to draw public
attention to the evil. In 1890 an elaborate report by a committee of the
House of Lords was published, and led in the following year to the
passing of the Factory and Workshops Act and the Public Health Act, which
have greatly mitigated the evil.


SWEDEN (4,785), a kingdom of Northern Europe, occupying the eastern
portion of the great Scandinavian Peninsula, bounded W. by Norway, E. by
Russian Finland, Gulf of Bothnia, and the Baltic, and on the N. stretches
across the Arctic circle between Norway (NW.) and Russia (NE.), while its
southern serrated shores are washed by the Skager-Rack, Cattegat, and
Baltic. From the mountain-barrier of Norway the country slopes down in
broad terrace-like plains to the sea, intersected by many useful rivers
and diversified by numerous lakes, of which Lakes Wenner, Wetter, and
Maelar (properly an arm of the sea) are the largest, and lying under
forest to the extent of nearly one-half its area; is divided into three
great divisions: 1, Norrland in the N., a wide and wild tract of
mountainous country, thickly forested, infested by the wolf, bear, and
lynx, in summer the home of the wood-cutter, and sparsely inhabited by
Lapps. 2, Svealand or Sweden proper occupies the centre, and is the
region of the great lakes and of the principal mineral wealth (iron,
copper, &c.) of the country. 3, Gothland, the southern portion, embraces
the fertile plains sloping to the Cattegat, and is the chief agricultural
district, besides possessing iron and coal. Climate is fairly dry, with a
warm summer and long cold winter. Agriculture (potatoes, grain, rye,
beet), although scarcely 8 per cent. of the land is under cultivation, is
the principal industry, and with dairy-farming, stock-raising, &c., gives
employment to more than one-half of the people; mining and timber-felling
are only less important; chief industries are iron-works,
sugar-refineries, cotton-mills, &c.; principal exports timber (much the
largest), iron, steel, butter, &c., while textiles and dry-goods are the
chiefly needed imports. Transit is greatly facilitated by the numerous
canals and by the rivers and lakes. Railways and telegraphs are well
developed in proportion to the population. As in Norway, the national
religion is Lutheranism; education is free and compulsory. Government is
vested in the king, who with the advice of a council controls the
executive, and two legislative chambers which have equal powers, but the
members of the one are elected for nine years by provincial councils,
while those of the other are elected by the suffrages of the people,
receive salaries, and sit only for three years. The national debt amounts
to 141/2 million pounds. In the 14th century the country became an appanage
of the Danish crown, and continued as such until freedom was again won in
the 16th century by the patriot king, Gustavus Vasa. By the 17th century
had extended her rule across the seas into certain portions of the
empire, but selling these in the beginning of the 18th century, fell from
her rank as a first-rate power. In 1814 Norway was annexed, and the two
countries, each enjoying complete autonomy, are now united under one
crown.


SWEDENBORG, EMMANUEL, a mystic of the mystics, founder of the "New
Church," born at Stockholm, son of a bishop, a boy of extraordinary gifts
and natural seriousness of mind; carefully educated under his father,
attended the university of Upsala and took his degree in philosophy in
1709; in eager quest of knowledge visited England, Holland, France, and
Germany; on his return, after four years, was at 28 appointed by Charles
XII. assessor of the Royal College of Mines; in 1721 went to examine the
mines and smelting-works of Europe; from 1716 spent 30 years in the
composition and publication of scientific works, when of a sudden he
threw himself into theology; in 1743 his period of illumination began,
and the publication of voluminous theological treatises; the Swedish
clergy interfered a little with the publication of his works, but he kept
the friendship of people in power. He was never married, his habits were
simple, lived on bread, milk, and vegetables, occupied a house situated
in a large garden; visited England several times, but attracted no
special attention; died in London of apoplexy in his eighty-fifth year.
"He is described, in London, as a man of quiet, clerical habit, not
averse to tea and coffee, and kind to children. He wore a sword when in
full velvet dress, and whenever he walked out carried a gold-headed
cane." This is Emerson's account in brief of his outer man, but for a
glimpse or two of his ways of thinking and his views the reader is
referred to Emerson's "Representative Men." The man was a seer; what he
saw only himself could tell, and only those could see, he would say, who
had the power of transporting themselves into the same spiritual centre;
to him the only real world was the spirit-world and the world of sense
only in so far as it reflected to the soul the great invisible
(1688-1772).


SWEDENBORGIANS, the members of the "New Jerusalem Church," founded
on the teaching of EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG (q. v.) on a belief in
direct communion with the world of spirits, and in God as properly
incarnate in the divine humanity of Christ.


SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE, name popularly given to JENNY LIND (q. v.).


SWERGA or SVARGA, the summit of Mount Meru, the Hindu Olympus,
the heaven or abode of INDRA (q. v.) and of the gods in general.


SWETCHINE, MADAME, a Russian lady, Sophie Soymanof, born at Moscow,
who married General Swetchine, and, after turning Catholic, became
celebrated in Paris during 1817-51 as the gracious hostess of a salon
where much religious and ethical discussion went on; plain and unimposing
in appearance, she yet exercised a remarkable fascination over her
"coterie" by the elevation of her character and eager spiritual nature
(1782-1857).


SWIFT, JONATHAN, born at Dublin, a posthumous son, of well-connected
parents; educated at Kilkenny, where he had Congreve for companion, and
at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a somewhat riotous and a by no
means studious undergraduate, only receiving his B.A. by "special grace"
in 1686; two years later the Revolution drove him to England; became
amanuensis to his mother's distinguished relative Sir William Temple,
whose service, however, was uncongenial to his proud independent nature,
and after taking a Master's degree at Oxford he returned to Dublin, took
orders, and was presented to the canonry of Kilroot, near Belfast; the
quiet of country life palling upon him, he was glad to resume secretarial
service in Temple's household (1696), where during the next three years
he remained, mastering the craft of politics, reading enormously, and
falling in love with STELLA (q. v.); was set adrift by Temple's
death in 1699, but shortly afterwards became secretary to Lord Berkeley,
one of the Lord-Deputies to Ireland, and was soon settled in the vicarage
of Laracor, West Meath; in 1704 appeared anonymously his famous satires,
the "Battle of the Books" and the "Tale of a Tub," masterpieces of
English prose; various squibs and pamphlets followed, "On the
Inconvenience of Abolishing Christianity," &c.; but politics more and
more engaged his attention; and neglected by the Whigs and hating their
war policy, he turned Tory, attacked with deadly effect, during his
editorship of the _Examiner_ (1710-11), the war party and its leader
Marlborough; crushed Steele's defence in his "Public Spirit of the
Whigs," and after the publication of "The Conduct of the Allies" stood
easily the foremost political writer of his time; disappointed of an
English bishopric, in 1713 reluctantly accepted the deanery of St.
Patrick's, Dublin, a position he held until the close of his life; became
loved in the country he despised by eloquently voicing the wrongs of
Ireland in a series of tracts, "Drapier's Letters," &c., fruitful of good
results; crowned his great reputation by the publication (1726) of his
masterpiece "Gulliver's Travels," the most daring, savage, and amusing
satire contained in the world's literature; "Stella's" death and the slow
progress of a brain disease, ending in insanity, cast an ever-deepening
gloom over his later years (1667-1745).


SWILLY, LOUGH, a narrow inlet of the Atlantic, on the coast of
Donegal, North Ireland, running in between Dunaff Head (E.) and Fanad
Point (W.), a distance of 25 m.; is from 3 to 4 m. broad; the entrance is
fortified.


SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES, poet and prose writer, born in London,
son of Admiral Swinburne; educated at Balliol College, Oxford, went to
Florence and spent some time there; his first productions were plays, two
of them tragedies, and "Poems and Ballads," his later "A Song of Italy,"
essay on "William Blake," and "Songs before Sunrise," instinct with
pantheistic and republican ideas, besides "Studies in Song," "Studies in
Prose and Poetry," &c.; he ranks as the successor of Landor, of whom he
is a great admirer, stands high both as a poet and a critic, and is a man
of broad and generous sympathies; his admirers regard it as a reproach to
his generation that due honour is not paid by it to his genius; _b_.
1837.


SWINDON (32), a town in Wiltshire, 77 m. W. of London; contains the
Great Western Company's engineering works, which cover 200 acres, and
employ 10,000 hands.


SWINEMUeNDE (9), a fortified seaport on the island of Usedom, in the
Baltic, near the mouth of the Swine, one of the outlets of the Oder.


SWISS CONFEDERATION, a league of the several Swiss cantons to resist
an attempt on the part of the Emperor Albrecht to incorporate certain of
the free towns into his family possessions.


SWISS GUARDS. See GARDES SUISSES.


SWITHIN, ST., bishop of Winchester from 852 to 862; was buried by
his own request in Winchester Churchyard, "where passers-by might tread
above his head, and the dews of heaven fall on his grave." On his
canonisation, a century after, the chapter resolved to remove his body to
a shrine in the cathedral, but their purpose was hindered on account of a
rain which lasted 40 days from the 15th July; hence the popular notion
that if it rained that day it would be followed by rain for 40 days
after.


SWITZERLAND (2,918), a republic of Central Europe, bounded by
Germany (N.), France (W.), Italy (S.), and Austria and Germany (E.); in
size is slightly more than one-half of Scotland, of semicircular shape,
having the Jura Alps on its French border, and divided from Italy by the
great central ranges of the Alpine system, whence radiate the Swiss
Alps--Pennine, Lepontine, Bernese, &c.--covering the E. and S., and
occupying with intervening valleys two-thirds of the country; the
remaining third is occupied by an elevated fertile plain, extending
between Lakes of Constance and Geneva (largest of numerous lakes), and
studded with picturesque hills; principal rivers are the Upper Rhone, the
Aar, Ticino, and Inn; climate varies with the elevation, from the high
regions of perpetual snow to warm valleys where ripen the vine, fig,
almond, and olive; about one-third of the land surface is under forest,
and one quarter arable, the grain grown forming only one-half of what is
required; flourishing dairy farms exist, prospered by the fine meadows
and mountain pastures which, together with the forests, comprise the
country's greatest wealth; minerals are exceedingly scarce, coal being
entirely absent. Despite its restricted arable area and lack of minerals
the country has attained a high pitch of prosperity through the thrift
and energy of its people, who have skilfully utilised the inexhaustible
motive-power of innumerable waterfalls and mountain streams to drive
great factories of silks, cottons, watches, and jewellery. The beauty of
its mountain, lake, and river scenery has long made Switzerland the
sanatorium and recreation ground of Europe; more than 500 health resorts
exist, and the country has been described as one vast hotel. The Alpine
barriers are crossed by splendid roads and railways, the great tunnels
through St. Gothard and the Simplon being triumphs of engineering skill
and enterprise. In 1848, after the suppression of the SONDERBUND
(q. v.), the existing league of 22 semi-independent States
(constituting since 1798 the Helvetic Republic) formed a closer federal
union, and a constitution (amended in 1874) was drawn up conserving as
far as possible the distinctive laws of the cantons and local
institutions of their communes. The President is elected annually by the
Federal Assembly (which consists of two chambers constituting the
legislative power), and is assisted in the executive government by a
Federal Council of seven members. By an institution known as the
"Referendum" all legislative acts passed in the Cantonal or Federal
Assemblies may under certain conditions be referred to the mass of the
electors, and this is frequently done. The public debt amounts to over
two million pounds. The national army is maintained by conscription; 71
per cent. of the people speak German, 22 per cent. French, and 5 per
cent. Italian; 59 per cent. are Protestants, and 41 per cent. Catholics.
Education is splendidly organised, free, and compulsory; there are five
universities, and many fine technical schools.


SYBARIS, an ancient city of Magna Graecia, on the Gulf of Tarentum,
flourished in the 17th century B.C., but in 510 B.C. was captured and
totally obliterated by the rival colonists of Crotona; at the height of
its prosperity the luxury and voluptuousness of the inhabitants was such
as to become a byword throughout the ancient world, and henceforth a
Sybaris city is a city of luxurious indulgence, and Sybarite a devotee of
pleasure.


SYBEL, HEINRICH VON, German historian, born at Duesseldorf; was a
pupil of RANKE'S (q. v.), and became professor of History at
Muenich and Bonn; he was a Liberal in politics; his great works are a
"History of the Period of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1795, and
then to 1800," in five volumes, and the "History of the Founding of the
German Empire under William I.," in five volumes; he has also written a
"History of the First Crusade" (1817-1895).


SYCORAX, a hag in the "Tempest," the dam of Caliban.


SYDENHAM, a district of Kent and suburb of London, to the SE. of
which it lies 7 m., includes the Surrey parish of Lambeth, where in
1852-54 the Crystal Palace was erected and still stands, a far-famed
sight of London, containing valuable collections illustrative of the arts
and sciences, and surrounded by a magnificent park and gardens.


SYDENHAM, FLOYER, Greek scholar; translated some of the Dialogues of
Plato into English, and wrote a dissertation on Heraclitus, which failed
of being appreciated, and involved in embarrassment, he was thrown into
prison because he could not pay a small bill for provisions, and there
died; his sad fate led to the foundation of the Literary Fund
(1710-1787).


SYDENHAM, THOMAS, the "English Hippocrates," born in Dorsetshire,
educated at Oxford, and a Fellow of All Souls'; practised medicine in
London, where, though regarded with disfavour by the faculty, he stood in
high regard, and had an extensive practice, from his study of the
symptoms of disease, and the respect he paid to the constitution of the
patient; he used his own sense and judgment in each case, and his
treatment was uniformly successful; he commanded the regard of his
contemporaries Locke and Boyle, and his memory was revered by such
experts as Boerhaave, Stahl, Pinel, and Haller; he ranks as a great
reformer in the healing art (1624-1689).


SYDNEY (488), the capital of New South Wales, the oldest city in
Australia, and one of the first in the world, on the S. shore of the
basin of Port Jackson; and the entrance of a magnificent, almost
land-locked, harbour for shipping of the largest tonnage; the situation
of the city is superb, and it is surrounded by the richest scenery; the
shores of the basin are covered with luxuriant vegetation, studded with
islands and indented with pretty bays; it is well paved, has broad
streets, and some fine buildings, the principal being the university, the
two cathedrals, the post-office, and the town hall. It is a commercial
rather than a manufacturing city, though its resources for manufacture
are considerable, for it is in the centre of a large coal-field, in
connection with which manufacturing industries may yet develop.


SYDNEY, ALGERNON. See SIDNEY, ALGERNON.


SYLLOGISM, an argument consisting of three propositions, of which
two are called premises, major and minor, and the one that necessarily
follows from them the conclusion.


SYLPHS, elemental spirits of the air, as salamanders, are of fire,
of light figure with gliding movements and procreative power.


SYLVESTER, ST., the name of three popes: S. I., Pope from 314
to 335; S. II., Pope from 999 to 1003, alleged, from his recondite
knowledge as an alchemist, to have been in league with the devil; and S.
III., Anti-Pope from 1041 to 1046.


SYLVESTER, ST., the first Pope of the name, said to have converted
Constantine and his mother by restoring a dead ox to life which a
magician for a trial of skill killed, but could not restore to life; is
usually represented by an ox lying beside him, and sometimes in baptizing
Constantine.


SYMBOLISM has been divided into two kinds, symbolism of colour and
symbolism of form. Of colours, BLACK typifies grief and death; BLUE,
hope, love of divine works, divine contemplation, piety, sincerity; PALE
BLUE, power, Christian prudence, love of good works, serene conscience;
GOLD, glory and power; GREEN, faith, immortality, resurrection, gladness;
PALE GREEN, baptism; GREY, tribulation; PURPLE, justice, royalty; RED,
martyrdom for faith, charity, divine love; ROSE-COLOUR, martyrdom;
SAFFRON, confessors; SCARLET, fervour and glory; SILVER, chastity and
purity; VIOLET, penitence; WHITE, purity, temperance, innocence,
chastity, and faith in God. Instances of form: ANCHOR typifies hope;
PALM, victory; SWORD, death or martyrdom; the LAMB, christ; UNICORN,
purity. Of stones, moreover, the AMETHYST typifies humility; DIAMOND,
invulnerable faith; SARDONYX, sincerity; SAPPHIRE, hope, &c.


SYME, JAMES, a great surgeon, born in Edinburgh; was demonstrator
under Liston; was elected to the chair of Clinical Surgery in 1833; gave
up the chair to succeed Liston in London in 1848, but returned a few
months after; was re-elected to the chair he had vacated; he was much
honoured by his pupils, and by none more than Dr. John Brown, who
characterised him as "the best, ablest, and most beneficent of men"; he
wrote treatises and papers on surgery (1799-1870).


SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON, English man of letters, born at Bristol;
educated at Harrow and Oxford; author of "The Renaissance in Italy," a
work which shows an extensive knowledge of the subject, and is written in
a finished but rather flowery style, and a number of other works of a
kindred nature showing equal ability and literary skill; his translation
of Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography is particularly noteworthy; was
consumptive, and spent his later years at Davos, in the Engadine
(1840-1893).


SYMPHLAGADES, two fabulous floating rocks at the entrance of the
Euxine, which, when driven by the winds, crushed every vessel that
attempted to pass between them; the ship ARGO (q. v.) managed to
pass between them, but with the loss of part of her stern, after which
they became fixed.


SYMPHONY, an elaborate orchestral composition consisting usually of
four contrasted and related movements; began to take distinctive shape in
the 17th century, and was for long merely a form of overture to operas,
&c., but as its possibilities were perceived was elevated into an
independent concert-piece, and as such exercised the genius of Mozart and
Haydn, reaching its perfection of form in the symphonies of Beethoven.


SYNAGOGUE, a Jewish institution for worship and religious
instruction which dates from the period of the Babylonian Captivity,
specially to keep alive in the minds of the people a knowledge of the
law. The decree ordaining it required the families of a district to meet
twice every Sabbath for this purpose, and so religiously did the Jewish
people observe it that it continues a characteristic ordinance of Judaism
to this day. The study of the law became henceforth their one vocation,
and the synagogue was instituted both to instruct them in it and to
remind them of the purpose of their separate existence among the nations
of the earth. High as the Temple and its service still stood in the
esteem of every Jew, from the period of the Captivity it began to be felt
of secondary importance to the synagogue and its service. With the
erection and extension of the latter the people were being slowly trained
into a truer sense of the nature of religious worship, and gradually made
to feel that to know the will of God and do it was a more genuine act of
homage to Him than the offering of sacrifices upon an altar or the
observance of any religious rite. Under such training the issue between
the Jew and the Samaritan became of less and less consequence, and he and
not the Samaritan was on the pathway which led direct to the final
worship of God in spirit and in truth (John iv. 22).


SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT, the name given to a council at Jerusalem,
consisting of 120 members, there assembled about the year 410 B.C. to
give final form to the service and worship of the Jewish Church. A Jewish
tradition says Moses received the law from Sinai; he transmitted it to
Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, to the men of
the Great Assembly, who added thereto these words: "Be circumspect in
judgment, make many disciples, and set a hedge about the law." To them
belong the final settlement and arrangement of the Jewish Scriptures, the
introduction of a new alphabet, the regulation of the synagogue worship,
and the adoption of sundry liturgical forms, as well as the establishment
of the FEAST OF PURIM (q. v.), and probably the "schools" of the
Scribes.


SYNCRETISM, name given to an attempted blending of different, more
or less antagonist, speculative or religious systems into one, such as
Catholic and Protestant or Lutheran and Reformed.


SYNDICATE, in commercial parlance is a name given to a number of
capitalists associated together for the purpose of carrying through some
important business scheme, usually having in view the controlling and
raising of prices by means of a monopoly or "corner."


SYNERGISM, the theological doctrine that divine grace requires a
correspondent action of the human will to render it effective, a doctrine
defended by Melanchthon when he ascribes to the will the "power of
seeking grace," the term "synergy" meaning co-operation.


SYNESIUS, BISHOP PTOLEMAIS, born at Cyrene; became a pupil of
HYPATIA (q. v.) and was to the last a disciple, "a father of the
Church without having been her son," and is styled by Kingsley "the
squire bishop," from his love of the chase; "books and the chase," on one
occasion he writes, "make up my life"; wrote one or two curious books,
and several hymns expressive of a longing after divine things (375-414).


SYNOD, name given to any assembly of bishops in council, and in the
Presbyterian Church to an assembly of a district or a general assembly.


SYNOPTIC GOSPELS, the first three Gospels, so called because they
are summaries of the chief events in the story, and all go over the same
ground, while the author of the fourth follows lines of his own.


SYRA (31), an island of the Cyclades group, in the AEgean Sea, 10 m,
by 5 m., with a capital called also Hermoupolis; on the E. coast is the
seat of the government of the islands, and the chief port.


SYRACUSE, 1, one of the great cities of antiquity (19), occupied a
wide triangular tableland on the SE. coast of Sicily, 80 m. SW. of
Messina, and also the small island Ortygia, lying close to the shore;
founded by Corinthian settlers about 733 B.C.; amongst its rulers were
the tyrants DIONYSIUS THE ELDER and DIONYSIUS THE YOUNGER
(q. v.) and Hiero, the patron of AEschylus, Pindar, &c.; successfully
resisted the long siege of the Athenians in 414 B.C., and rose to a
great pitch of renown after its struggle with the Carthaginians in 397
B.C., but siding with Hannibal in the Punic Wars, was taken after a two
years' siege by the Romans (212 B.C.), in whose hands it slowly
declined, and finally was sacked and destroyed by the Saracens in 878 A.D.
Only the portion on Ortygia was rebuilt, and this constitutes the
modern city, which has interesting relics of its former greatness, but is
otherwise a crowded and dirty place, surrounded by walls, and fortified;
exports fruit, olive-oil, and wine. 2, A city (108) of New York State,
United States, 148 m. W. of Albany, in the beautiful valley of Onondaga;
is a spacious and handsomely laid-out city, with university, &c.; has
flourishing steel-works, foundries, rolling-mills, &c., and enormous salt
manufactures.


SYRIA (2,000), one of three divisions of Asiatic Turkey, slightly
larger than Italy, forms a long strip of mountains and tableland
intersected by fertile valleys, lying along the eastern end of the
Mediterranean from the Taurus range in the N. to the Egyptian border on
the 8., and extending to the Euphrates and Arabian desert The coastal
strip and waters fall within the LEVANT (q. v.). In the S. lies
Palestine, embracing Jordan, Dead Sea, Lake of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee),
Jerusalem, Gaza, &c.; in the N., between the parallel ranges of Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon, lies the valley of Coele-Syria, through which flows the
Orontes. Important towns are Aleppo, Damascus, Beyrout (chief port), &c.;
principal exports are silk, wool, olive-oil, and fruits. Four-fifths of
the people are Mohammedans of Aramaean (ancient Syrian) and Arabic stock.
Once a portion of the ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (q. v.), it became a
possession successively of the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs,
Egyptians, and finally fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1516,
under whose rule it now languishes. For further particulars see various
names and places mentioned.


SYRIANUS, a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher of the 5th century; had
PROCLUS (q. v.) for a disciple; left a valuable commentary on
the metaphysics of Aristotle.


SYRINX, an Arcadian nymph, who, being pursued by Pan, fled into a
river, was metamorphosed into a reed, of which Pan made his flute.


SYRTIS, MAJOR AND MINOR, the ancient names of the Gulfs of Sidra and
Cabes on the N. coast of Africa, the former between Tripoli and Barca,
the latter between Tunis and Tripoli.


SYRUS, PUBLIUS, a slave brought to Rome, and on account of his wit
manumitted by his master; made his mark by composing memoirs and a
collection of pithy sayings that appear to have been used as a
school-book; flourished in 45 B.C.


SYSTEME DE LA NATURE, a book, the authorship of which is ascribed to
BARON HOLBACH (q. v.), which appeared in 1770, advocating a
philosophical materialism and maintaining that nothing exists but matter,
and that mind is either naught or only a finer kind of matter; there is
nowhere anything, it insists, except matter and motion; it is the
farthest step yet taken in the direction of speculative as opposed to
political nihilism.


SYZYGY, the point on the orbit of a planet, or the moon when it is
in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the sun.


SZECHUAN (71,000), the largest province of China, lies in the W.
between Thibet (NW.) and Yunnan (SW.); more than twice the size of Great
Britain; a hilly country, rich in coal, iron, &c., and traversed by the
Yangtse-kiang and large tributaries; Chingtu is the capital; two towns
have been opened to foreign trade, opium, silk, tobacco, musk, white wax,
&c., being chief exports.


SZEGEDIN (89), a royal free city of Hungary, situated at the
confluence of the Maros and Theiss, 118 m. SE. of Budapest, to which it
ranks next in importance as a commercial and manufacturing centre; has
been largely rebuilt since the terribly destructive flood of 1879, and
presents a handsome modern appearance.




T


TABARD, a tunic without sleeves worn by military nobles over their
arms, generally emblazoned with heraldic devices. "Toom Tabard," empty
king's cloak, nickname given by the Scotch to John Balliol as nothing
more.


TABERNACLE, a movable structure of the nature of a temple, erected
by the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness; it was a
parallelogram in shape, constructed of boards lined with curtains, the
roof flat and of skins, while the floor was the naked earth, included a
sanctum and a sanctum sanctorum, and contained altars for sacrifice and
symbols of sacred import, especially of the Divine presence, and was
accessible only to the priests. See FEASTS, JEWISH.


TABLE MOUNTAIN, a flat-topped eminence in the SW. of Cape Colony,
rising to a height of 3600 ft. behind Cape Town and overlooking it, often
surmounted by a drapery of mist.


TABLES, THE TWELVE, the tables of the Roman laws engraven on brass
brought from Athens to Rome by the decemvirs.


TABLETS, name given to thin boards coated with wax and included in a
frame for writing on with a stylus.


TABLE-TURNING, movement of a table ascribed to the agency of spirits
or some recondite spiritual force acting through the media of a circle of
people standing round the edge touching it with their finger-tips in
contact with those of the rest.


TABOO or TABU, a solemn prohibition or interdict among the
Polynesians under which a particular person or thing is pronounced
inviolable, and so sacred, the violation of which entails malediction at
the hands of the supernatural powers.


TABOR, MOUNT, an isolated cone-shaped hill, 1000 ft. in height and
clothed with olive-trees, on the NE. borders of ESDRAELON (q. v.),
7 m. E. of Nazareth. A tradition of the 2nd century identifies it
as the scene of the Tranfiguration, and ruins of a church, built by the
Crusaders to commemorate the event, crown the summit.


TABRIZ (170), an ancient and still important commercial city of
Persia, 320 m. SE. of Tiflis, 4500 ft. above sea-level; occupies an
elevated site on the Aji, 40 m. E. of its entrance into Lake Urumiah;
carries on a flourishing transit trade and has notable manufactures of
leather, silk, and gold and silver ware; has been on several occasions
visited by severe earthquakes.


TACITUS, CORNELIUS, Roman historian, born presumably at Rome, of
equestrian rank, early famous as an orator; married a daughter of
Agricola, held office under the Emperors Vespasian, Domitian, and Nerva,
and conducted along with the younger Pliny the prosecution of Marius
Priscus; he is best known and most celebrated as a historian, and of
writings extant the chief are his "Life of Agricola," his "Germania," his
"Histories" and his "Annals"; his "Agricola" is admired as a model
biography, while his "Histories" and "Annales" are distinguished for
"their conciseness, their vigour, and the pregnancy of meaning; a single
word sometimes gives effect to a whole sentence, and if the meaning of
the word is missed, the sense of the writer is not reached"; his great
power lies in his insight into character and the construing of motives,
but the picture he draws of imperial Rome is revolting; _b_. about A.D.
54.


TACNA (14), capital of a province (32) in North Chile, 38 m. N. of
Arica, with which it is connected by rail; trades in wool and minerals;
taken from Peru in 1883.


TACOMA (38), a flourishing manufacturing town and port of Washington
State, on Puget Sound; has practically sprung into existence within the
last 15 years, and is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural
and mining district.


TADMOR. See PALMYRA.


TAEL, a Chinese money of account of varying local value, and rising
and falling with the price of silver, but may be approximately valued at
between 6s. and 5s. 6d. The customs tael, equivalent in value to about 4s
9d., has been superseded by the new dollar of 1890, which is equal to
that of the United States.


TAGANROG (50), a Russian seaport on the N. shore of the Sea of Azov;
is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural district, wheat,
linseed, and hempseed being the chief exports. Founded by Peter the Great
in 1698.


TAGLIONI, MARIA, a famous ballet-dancer, born at Stockholm, the
daughter of an Italian ballet-master; made her _debut_ in Paris in 1827
and soon became the foremost _danseuse_ of Europe; married Count de
Voisins in 1832; retired from the stage in 1847 with a fortune, which she
subsequently lost, a misfortune which compelled her to set up as a
teacher of deportment in London (1804-1884).


TAGUS, the largest river of the Spanish peninsula, issues from the
watershed between the provinces of Guadalajara and Teruel; follows a more
or less westerly course across the centre of the peninsula, and, after
dividing into two portions below Salvaterra, its united waters enter the
Atlantic by a noble estuary 20 m. long; total length 566 m., of which 190
are in Portugal; navigable as far as Abrantes.


TAHITI (11), the principal island of a group in the South Pacific;
sometimes called the Society Islands, situated 2000 m. NE. of New
Zealand; are mountainous, of volcanic origin, beautifully wooded, and
girt by coral reefs; a fertile soil grows abundant fruit, cotton, sugar,
&c., which, with mother-of-pearl, are the principal exports; capital and
chief harbour is Papeete (3); the whole group since 1880 has become a
French possession.


TAILLANDIER, SAINT-RENE, French litterateur and professor, born at
Paris; filled the chair of Literature at the Sorbonne from 1863; wrote
various works of literary, historical, and philosophical interest, and
did much by his writings to extend the knowledge of German art and
literature in France; was a frequent contributor to the _Revue des Deux
Mondes_, and in 1873 was elected a member of the Academy (1817-1879).


TAILORS, Carlyle's humorsome name in "Sartor" for the architects of
the customs and costumes woven for human wear by society, the inventors
of our spiritual toggery, the truly _poetic_ class.


TAILORS, THE THREE, OF TOOLEY STREET, three characters said by
Canning to have held a meeting there for redress of grievances, and to
have addressed a petition to the House of Commons beginning "We, the
people of England."


TAIN (2), a royal burgh of Ross-shire, on the S. shore of the
Dornoch Firth, 44 m. NE. of Inverness; has interesting ruins of a
13th-century chapel, a 15th-century collegiate church, an academy, &c.


TAINE, HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE, an eminent French critic and historian,
born at Vouziers, in Ardennes; after some years of scholastic drudgery in
the provinces returned to Paris, and there, by the originality of his
critical method and brilliancy of style soon took rank among the foremost
French writers; in 1854 the Academy crowned his essay on Livy; ten years
later became professor of AEsthetics at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
and in 1878 was admitted to the French Academy; his voluminous writings
embrace works on the philosophy of art, essays critical and historical,
volumes of travel-impressions in various parts of Europe; but his finest
work is contained in his vivid and masterly studies on "Les Origines de
la France Contemporaine" and in his "History of English Literature"
(1833-4; Eng. trans, by Van Laun), the most penetrative and sympathetic
survey of English literature yet done by a foreigner; he was a disciple
of Sainte-Beuve, but went beyond his master in ascribing character too
much to external environment (1828-1893).


TAI-PINGS, a name bestowed upon the followers of Hung Hsiu-ch`wan, a
village schoolmaster of China, who, coming under the influence of
Christian teaching, sought to subvert the religion and ruling dynasty of
China; he himself was styled "Heavenly King," his reign "Kingdom of
Heaven," and his dynasty "Tai-Ping" (Grand Peace); between 1851 and 1855
the rising assumed formidable dimensions, but from 1855 began to decline;
the religious enthusiasm died away; foreign auxiliaries were called in,
and under the leadership of GORDON (q. v.) the rebellion was
stamped out by 1865.


TAIT, ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, archbishop of Canterbury, of Scotch
descent, born in Edinburgh; educated at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Oxford;
when at Oxford led the opposition to the Tractarian Movement; in 1842
succeeded Arnold as head-master at Rugby; in 1850 became Dean of
Carlisle; in 1856 Bishop of London; and in 1868 Primate. This last office
he held at a critical period, and his episcopate was distinguished by
great discretion and moderation (1811-1882).


TAIT, PETER GUTHRIE, physicist and mathematician, born at Dalkeith;
educated in Edinburgh; became senior wrangler at Cambridge, and Smith's
prizeman in 1852; was in 1854 elected professor of Mathematics at
Belfast, and in 1860 professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh; has
done a great deal of experimental work, especially in thermo-electricity,
and has contributed important papers on pure mathematics; wrote, along
with Lord Kelvin, "Treatise on Natural Philosophy," and along with
Balfour Stewart "The Unseen Universe," followed by "Paradoxical
Philosophy"; _b_. 1831.


TAI-WAN (70), capital of FORMOSA (q. v.), an important
commercial emporium, situated about 3 m. from the SW. coast, on which,
however, it has a port, ranking as a treaty-port.


TAJ MAHAL. See AGRA.


TALARIA, wings attached to the ankles or sandals of Mercury as the
messenger of the gods.


TALAVERA DE LA REINA (10), a picturesque old Spanish town on the
Tagus, situated amid vineyards, 75 m. SE. of Madrid; scene of a great
victory under Sir Arthur Wellesley over a French army commanded by Joseph
Bonaparte, Marshals Jourdan and Victor, 27th July 1809.


TALBOT, WILLIAM HENRY FOX, one of the earliest experimenters and a
discoverer in photography, born in Chippenham, which he represented in
Parliament; was also one of the first to decipher the Assyrian cuneiform
inscriptions (1800-1877).


TALE OF A TUB, a great work of Swift's, characterised by Professor
Saintsbury as "one of the very greatest books of the world, in which a
great drift of universal thought receives consummate literary form ...
the first great book," he announces, "in prose or verse, of the 18th
century, and in more ways than one the herald and champion at once of its
special achievements in literature."


TALENT, a weight, coin, or sum of money among the ancients, of
variable value among different nations and at different periods; the
Attic weight being equal to about 57 lbs. troy, and the money to L243,
15s.; among the Romans the great talent was worth L99, and the little
worth L75.


TALFOURD, SIR THOMAS NOON, lawyer and dramatist, born at Doxey, near
Stafford; was called to the bar in 1821, and practised with notable
success, becoming in 1849 a justice of Common Pleas and a knight; was for
some years a member of Parliament; author of four tragedies, of which
"Ion" is the best known; was the intimate friend and literary executor of
Charles Lamb (1795-1854).


TALISMAN, a magical figure of an astrological nature carved on a
stone or piece of metal under certain superstitious observances, to which
certain wonderful effects are ascribed; is of the nature of a charm to
avert evil.


TALLARD, COMTE DE, marshal of France; served in the War of the
Spanish Succession; was taken prisoner by Marlborough at Hochstaedt, on
which occasion he said to the duke, "Your Grace has beaten the finest
troops in Europe," when the duke replied, "You will except, I hope, those
who defeated them" (1652-1728).


TALLEMANT DES REAUX, GEDEON, French writer, native of La Rochelle;
author of a voluminous collection of gossipy biographies, or anecdotes
rather, "Historiettes," filling five volumes, which throw a flood of
light on the manners and customs of 17th-century life in France, though
allowance must be made for exaggerations (1619-1692).


TALLEYRAND DE PERIGORD, CHARLES MAURICE, PRINCE OF BENEVENTO, French
statesman and diplomatist, born in Paris, of an illustrious family;
rendered lame by an accident, was cut off from a military career; was
educated for the Church, and made bishop of Autun; chosen deputy of the
clergy of his diocese to the States-General in 1789, threw himself with
zeal into the popular side, officiated in his pontifical robes at the
feast of the Federation in the Champs de Mars, and was the first to take
the oath on that side, but on being excommunicated by the Pope resigned
his bishopric, and embarked on a statesman's career; sent on a mission to
England in 1792, remained two years as an _emigre_, and had to deport
himself to the United States, where he employed himself in commercial
transactions; recalled in 1796, was appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs; supported Bonaparte in his ambitious schemes, and on the latter
becoming Emperor, was made Grand Chamberlain and Duke of Benevento, while
he retained the portfolio of Foreign Affairs; in a fit of irritation
Napoleon one day discharged him, and he refused to accept office again
when twice over recalled; he attached himself to the Bourbons on their
return, and becoming Foreign Minister to Louis XVIII., was made a peer,
and sent ambassador to the Congress of Vienna; went into opposition till
the fall of Charles X., and attached himself to Louis Philippe in 1830;
Carlyle in his "Revolution" pronounced him "a man living in falsehood and
on falsehood, yet, as the specialty of him, not what you can call a false
man ... an enigma possible only in an age of paper and the burning of
paper," in an age in which the false was the only real (1754-1838).


TALLIEN, JEAN LAMBERT, a notable French Revolutionist, born in
Paris; a lawyer's clerk; threw in his lot with the Revolution, and became
prominent as the editor of a Jacobin journal, _L'Ami des Citoyens_; took
an active part in the sanguinary proceedings during the ascendency of
Robespierre, notably terrorising the disaffected of Bordeaux by a
merciless use of the guillotine; recalled to Paris, and became President
of the Convention, but fearing Robespierre, headed the attack which
brought the Dictator to the block; enjoyed, with his celebrated wife,
Madame de Fontenay, considerable influence; accompanied Napoleon to
Egypt; was captured by the English, and for a season lionised by the
Whigs; his political influence at an end, he was glad to accept the post
of consul at Alicante, and subsequently died in poverty (1769-1820).


TALLIS, THOMAS, "the father of English cathedral music," born in the
reign of Henry VIII., lived well into the reign of Elizabeth; was an
organist, and probably "a gentleman of the Chapel Royal"; composed
various anthems, hymns, Te Deums, etc., including "The Song of the Forty
Parts" (c. 1515-1585).


TALLY, a notched stick used in commercial and Exchequer transactions
when writing was yet a rare accomplishment; the marks, of varying
breadth, indicated sums paid by a purchaser; the stick was split
longitudinally, and one-half retained by the seller and one by the buyer
as a receipt. As a means of receipt for sums paid into the Exchequer, the
tally was in common use until 1782, and was not entirely abolished till
1812. Tally System, a mode of credit-dealing by which a merchant provides
a customer with goods, and receives in return weekly or monthly payments
to account.


TALMA, FRANCOIS JOSEPH, a famous French tragedian, born in Paris,
where in 1787 he made his _debut_; from the first his great gifts were
apparent, and during the Revolution he was the foremost actor at the
Theatre de la Republique, and subsequently enjoyed the favour of
Napoleon; his noble carriage and matchless elocution enabled him to play
with great dignity such characters as Othello, Nero, Orestes, Leicester,
etc.; introduced, like Kemble in England, a greater regard for historical
accuracy in scenery and dress (1763-1826).


TALMUD, a huge limbo, in chaotic arrangement, consisting of the
Mishna, or text, and Gemara, or commentary, of Rabbinical speculations,
subtleties, fancies, and traditions connected with the Hebrew Bible, and
claiming to possess co-ordinate rank with it as expository of its meaning
and application, the whole collection dating from a period subsequent to
the Captivity and the close of the canon of Scripture. There are two
Talmuds, one named the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the other the Talmud of
Babylon, the former, the earlier of the two, belonging in its present
form to the close of the 4th century, and the latter to at least a
century later. See HAGGADAH and HALACHA.


TALUS, a man of brass, the work of Hephaestos, given to Minos to
guard the island of Crete; he walked round the island thrice a day, and
if he saw any stranger approaching he made himself red-hot and embraced
him.


TAMATAVE, the chief town of Madagascar, on a bay on the E. coast.


TAMERLANE or TIMUR, a great Asiatic conqueror, born at Hesh,
near Samarcand; the son of a Mongol chief, raised himself by military
conquest to the throne of Samarcand (1369), and having firmly established
his rule over Turkestan, inspired by lust of conquest began the wonderful
series of military invasions which enabled him to build up an empire that
at the time of his death extended from the Ganges to the Grecian
Archipelago; died whilst leading an expedition against China; was a
typical Asiatic despot, merciless in the conduct of war, but in
peace-time a patron of science and art, and solicitous for his subjects'
welfare (1336-1405).


TAMESIS, the Latin name for the Thames, and so named by Cesar in his
"Gallic War."


TAMIL, a branch of the Dravidian language, spoken in the S. of India
and among the coolies of Ceylon.


TAMMANY SOCIETY, a powerful political organisation of New York
City, whose ostensible objects, on its formation in 1805, were charity
and reform of the franchise; its growth was rapid, and from the first it
exercised, under a central committee and chairman, known as the "Boss,"
remarkable political influence on the Democratic side. Since the gigantic
frauds practised in 1870-1871 on the municipal revenues by the then
"Boss," William M. Tweed, and his "ring," the society has remained under
public suspicion as "a party machine" not too scrupulous about its ways
and means. The name is derived from a celebrated Indian chief who lived
in Penn's day, and who has become the centre of a cycle of legendary
tales.


TAMMERFORS (20), an important manufacturing city of Finland,
situated on a rapid stream, which drives its cotton, linen, and woollen
factories, 50 m. NW. of Tavastehuus.


TAMMUZ, a god mentioned in Ezekiel, generally identified with the
GREEK ADONIS (q. v.), the memory of whose fall was annually
celebrated with expressions first of mourning and then of joy all over
Asia Minor. Adonis appears to have been a symbol of the sun, departing in
winter and returning as youthful as ever in spring, and the worship of
him a combined expression of gloom, connected with the presence of
winter, and of joy, associated with the approach of summer.


TAMPICO (5), a port of Mexico, on the Panuco, 9 m. from its entrance
into the Gulf of Mexico; the harbour accommodation has been improved, and
trade is growing.


TAMWORTH (7), an old English town on the Stafford and Warwickshire
border, 7 m. SE. of Lichfield; its history goes back to the time of the
Danes, by whom it was destroyed in 911; an old castle, and the church of
St. Edith, are interesting buildings; has prosperous manufactures of
elastic, paper, &c.; has a bronze statue of Sir Robert Peel, who
represented the borough in Parliament.


TANAIS, the Latin name for the Don.


TANCRED, a famous crusader, hero of Tasso's great poem; was the son
of Palgrave Otho the Good, and of Emma, Robert Guiscard's sister; for
great deeds done in the first crusade he was rewarded with the
principality of Tiberias; in the "Jerusalem Delivered" Tasso, following
the chroniclers, represents him as the very "flower and pattern of
chivalry"; stands as the type of "a very gentle perfect knight"; died at
Antioch of a wound received in battle (1078-1112).


TANDY, JAMES NAPPER, Irish patriot, born in Dublin, where he became
a well-to-do merchant, and first secretary to the United Irishmen
association; got into trouble through the treasonable schemes of the
United Irishmen, and fled to America; subsequently served in the French
army, took part in the abortive invasion of Ireland (1798); ultimately
fell into the hands of the English Government, and was sentenced to death
(1801), but was permitted to live an exile in France (1740-1803).


TANGANYIKA, a lake of East Central Africa, stretching between the
Congo Free State (W.) and German East Africa (E.); discovered by Speke
and Burton in 1858; more carefully explored by Livingstone and Stanley in
1871; the overflow is carried off by the Lukuga into the Upper Congo; is
girt round by lofty mountains; length 420 m., breadth from 15 to 80 m.


TANGIER or TANGIERS (20), a seaport of Morocco, on a small bay
of the Strait of Gibraltar; occupies a picturesque site on two hills, but
within its old walls presents a dirty and crowded appearance; has a
considerable shipping trade; was a British possession from 1662 to 1683,
but was abandoned by them, and subsequently became infested by pirates.


TANIS, an ancient city of Egypt, whose ruins mark its site on the
NE. of the Nile delta; once the commercial metropolis of Egypt, and a
royal residence; fell into decay owing to the silting up of the Tanitic
mouth of the Nile, and was destroyed in A.D. 174 for rebellion.


TANIST STONE, monolith erected by the Celts on a coronation,
agreeably to an ancient custom (Judges ix. 6).


TANISTRY, a method of tenure which prevailed among the Gaelic Celts;
according to this custom succession, whether in office or land, was
determined by the family as a whole, who on the death of one holder
elected another from its number; the practice was designed probably to
prevent family estates falling into the hands of an incompetent or
worthless heir.


TANJORE (54), capital of a district (2,130) of the same name, in
Madras Province, India, situated in a fertile plain 180 m. SW. of Madras,
and about 45 m. from the sea; surrounded by walls; contains a rajah's
palace, a British residency, and manufactures silk, muslin, and cotton.


TANNAHILL, ROBERT, Scottish poet, born at Paisley; the son of a
weaver, was bred to the hand-loom, and with the exception of a two years'
residence in Lancashire, passed his life in his native town; an
enthusiastic admirer of Burns, Fergusson, and Ramsay, he soon began to
emulate them, and in 1807 published a volume of "Poems and Songs," which,
containing such songs as "Gloomy Winter's noo Awa," "Jessie the Flower o'
Dunblane," "The Wood o' Craigielea," &c., proved an immediate success;
disappointment at the rejection by Constable of his proffered MSS. of a
new and enlarged edition of his works and a sense of failing health led
to his committing suicide in a canal near Paisley; his songs are marked
by tenderness and grace, but lack the force and passion of Burns
(1774-1810).


TANNER, THOMAS, bishop and antiquary, born at Market Lavington,
Wiltshire; became a graduate and Fellow of Oxford; took orders, and rose
to be bishop of St. Asaph; his reputation as a learned and accurate
antiquary rests on his two great works "Notitia Monastica, or a Short
Account of the Religious Houses in England and Wales," and "Bibliotheca
Britannico-Hibernica," a veritable mine of biographical and
bibliographical erudition; bequeathed valuable collections of charters,
deeds, &c., to the Bodleian Library (1674-1735).


TANNHAeUSER, a knight of medieval legend, who wins the affection of a
lady, but leaves her to worship in the cave-palace of Venus, on learning
which the lady plunges a dagger into her heart and dies; smitten with
remorse he visits her grave, weeps over it, and hastens to Rome to
confess his sin to Pope Urban; the Pope refuses absolution, and protests
it is no more possible for him to receive pardon than for the dry wand in
his hand to bud again and blossom; in his despair he flees from Rome, but
is met by Venus, who lures him back to her cave, there to remain till the
day of judgment; meanwhile the wand he left at Rome begins to put forth
green leaves, and Urban, alarmed, sends off messengers in quest of the
unhappy knight, but they fail to find him.


TANNIN, an astringent principle found in gallnuts and the bark
chiefly of the oak.


TANTALUS, in the Greek mythology a Lydian king, who, being admitted
from blood relationship to the banquets of the gods, incurred their
displeasure by betraying their secrets, and was consigned to the nether
world and compelled to suffer the constant pangs of hunger and thirst,
though he stood up to the chin in water, and had ever before him the
offer of the richest fruits, both of which receded from him as he
attempted to reach them, while a huge rock hung over him, ever
threatening to fall and crush him with its weight.


TANTIA TOPEE, the most daring and stubborn of Nana Sahib's
lieutenants during the Indian Mutiny; in alliance with the Rani of Jhansi
he upheld for a time the mutiny after the flight of his chief, but was
finally captured and executed in 1859.


TAOISM, the religious system of LAOTZE (q. v.).


TAORMINA (2), a town of Sicily; crowns the summit of Monte Tauro, 35
m. SW. of Messina; chiefly celebrated for its splendid ruins of an
ancient theatre, aqueducts, sepulchres, &c.


TAPAJOS, one of the greater affluents of the Amazon; its head-waters
rise in the Serra Diamantina, in the S. of Matto-Grosso State; has a
northward course of over 1000 m. before it joins the Amazon; is a broad


 


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