824. Ramiro I.; he put 70,000 Saracens to the 1474. Ferdinand V., the Catholic, in whom, sword in one battle. 850. Ordogno I. 862. Alphonsus III.; surnamed the Great; deposed by his son. 910. Garcias. 914. Ordogno II. 923 Froila II. 924. Alphonsus IV.; abdicated. 931. Ramiro II.; killed in battle. 950. Ordogno III. 955. Ordogno IV. 956. Sancho I., the Fat; poisoned with an 967. Ramiro III. 982. Veremund II., the Gouty. 999. Alphonsus V.; killed at the siege of 1028. Veremund III.; killed in battle. 1065. Sancho II., the Strong, king of Castile; 1072. Alphonsus VI., the Valiant ; in Castile, 1109. Alphonsus VII. 1122. Alphonsus VIII. 1157. Sancho III., the Beloved, in Castile ; 1158. Alphonsus IX., in Castile. by his marriage with Isabella, the kingdoms of Castile and Arragon were united. 1504. Philip L., of Austria, and his queen Joan. 1506. Joan alone over both kingdoms. 1516. Charles I., and emperor of Germany; resigned both crowns, and retired to a monastery. 1555. Philip II., married Mary, queen-regnant of England. 1598. Philip III., son of the preceding; he drove the Moors from Grenada and the adjacent provinces. 1621. Philip IV., his son; a reign of nearly 1665. Charles II. 1724. Lewis I.; who reigned only a few months. 1745. Ferdinand VI., surnamed the Wise; he distinguished his reign by acts of libe rality and beneficence. 1759. Charles III., king of the Two Sicilies. 1808. Ferdinand VII, whom Napoleon, of 1226. Ferdinand III., the Holy; in him Cas- 1814. 1252. Alphonsus the Wise; doposed. 1833. Ferdinand VII.; restored; succeeded by his daughter, Isabella II., Sept. 29; who came to the throne when three years of age. While nearly all the other nations of the world have been at peace, this country, for the last quarter of a century, has been a prey to the most deplorable commotions, and almost continuous and destructive civil war. From the death of Ferdinand, the intrigues of Christina, the queen-mother, and the parties in her interest, have led to successive revolutions in the state, and caused, in 1840, her own abdication of the regency, and expulsion from the kingdom; and now, the marriage proposed between the prince of Asturias, son of Don Carlos, and the queen-regnant, seems to be the only event likely to restore tranquillity to the Spanish empire. SPANISH ARMADA AGAINST ENGLAND. See article Armada. SPARTA. The capital of Laconia, one of the most considerable republics of the Peloponnesus, and the formidable rival of Athens. Though without walls, it resisted the attacks of its enemies by the valour of its citizens, for eight centuries. The epoch of its foundation is much disputed. Lelex is supposed to have been the first king. From Lacedæmon the fourth king, and his wife Sparta, who are also spoken of as the founders of the city, it obtained the names by which it is most known. The history of Lacedæmon may be divided into five æras, viz., 1st. Under the ancient kings, from Lelex to the settlement of the Heraclidæ, comprising about four hundred and twelve years. 2d. Under the Heraclidae as absolute monarchs, till Lycurgus instituted a senate, by which the people obtained a share in the government, including about two hundred and twenty years. 3d. From the establishment of the senate, to the introduction of ephori, or five inspectors, by Theopompus, about one hundred and twenty-four years. 4th. From the appointment of the ephori, to the total abolition of royalty, about five hundred and forty years. From the abolition of the monarchy, to the subjugation of the country by the Roman power, a period of about seventy-two years, 147 B. C.-Abbé Lenglet. [First state of Sparta.] The Messenians revolt, and league with [This war lasts fourteen years.] 5th. 685 . 675 . . 1213 1201 1198 :. 1193 After a war of ten years, and a disastrous 1176 Helen is banished from the Pelopon- An earthquake at Sparta destroys thirty thousand persons . 466 Platea taken by the Spartans This celebrated battle was fought between 300 select heroes of each nation, and all perished except two Argives and one Spartan. The latter remained on the field, whilst the two former repaired to Argos to announce their victory. Each party claimed the advantage; the Argives, because they had lost the fewest men; the Lacedæmonians, because they remained masters of the field. A second battle was fought, in which the Argives were beaten.-Pausanias. The Lacedæmonians were a nation of soldiers. They cultivated neither the arts, sciences, commerce, nor agriculture. All their laws, all their institutions, all their education, in a word, the very constitution of their republic, were calculated to make them warriors. And never were men brought into the field more capable of enduring fatigue. They hardened their bodies by stripes, and by manly exercises, accustoming themselves to undergo hardships, and even to die, without fear or regret. The women were as courageous as the men, and celebrated with festivals the fall of their sons, when killed in battle, or coolly put them to death with their own hands, if, by a shameful flight, or the loss of their arms, they brought disgrace upon their country. -Abbé Lenglet. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Peter de Montfort, afterwards killed at the battle of Evesham, was the first speaker, 45 Henry III. 1260. But sir Petre de la Mare is supposed to have been the first regular speaker, 50 Edward III., 1376. The king refused his assent to the choice of sir Edward Seymour as speaker, March 6, 1678; when sergeant William Gregory was chosen in his room. Sir John Trevor was expelled the chair and the house for taking a gratuity after the act for the benefit of orphans had passed, March 20, 1694. SPEAKING-TRUMPET. One is said to have been used by Alexander, 335 B.c. One was constructed from Kircher's description by Saland, 1652. Philosophically explained and brought into notice by Moreland, 1671. SPECTACLES AND READING-GLASSES. See Optics. Spectacles were unknown to the ancients. They are generally supposed to have been invented in the 13th century, by Alexander de Spina, a monk of Florence, in Italy, about A.D. 1285.Gen. Hist. They were invented by Roger Bacon, our own illustrious countryman, according to Dr. Plott. The hint was certainly given by Bacon about 1280. Some affirm that the real inventor was Salvino; and Mr. Manni gives proofs in favour of Salvino in his Treatise on Spectacles. SPHERES. The celestial and terrestrial globes, and also sun-dials, were invented by Anaximander, 552 B.C. The armillary sphere is said to have been invented by Eratosthenes about 255 B.C. The planetarium was constructed by Archimedes before 212 B.C. It was maintained by Pythagoras that the motions of the twelve spheres must produce delightful sounds, inaudible to the ears of mortals, which he called the music of the spheres. SPINNING. The art of spinning was ascribed by the ancients to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, such was their veneration for it. Arcas, king of Arcadia, taught his subjects the art of spinning about 1500 B.C. Lucretia with her maids was found spinning, when her husband Collatinus paid a visit to her from the camp. The wife of Tarquin was an excellent spinner; and a garment made by her, worn by Servius Tullius, was preserved in the temple of Fortune. Augustus Cæsar usually wore no garments but such as were made by his wife, sister, or daughter. The spinning-wheel was invented at Brunswick, about A.D. 1530. Till 1767, the spinning of cotton was performed by the hand-spinning-wheel, when Hargrave, an ingenious mechanic, near Blackburn, made a spinning-jenny, with eight spindles. Hargrave also erected the first carding-machine, with cylinders. Arkwright's machine for spinning by water was an extension of the principle of Hargrave's; but he also applied a large and small roller to expand the thread, and, for this ingenious contrivance, took out a patent in 1769. At first, he worked his machinery by horses; but in 1771 he built a mill on the stream of the Derwent, at Cromford. In 1779, Crompton invented the mule, which is a further and wonderful improvement of this art.-Phillips. SPIRES. In ancient times the emperors held many diets at Spires, and it was the seat of the imperial chamber till 1689, when the city was burnt by the French, and not rebuilt till after the peace of Ryswick in 1697. The diet to condemn the reformers was held at Spires, called there by the emperor Charles V. 1529. This was the era of Protestantism. See Protestants. SPIRITS. See Distillation. No human invention has ever tended more to corrupt the morals, and ruin the character, constitution, and circumstances of numbers of mankind, than distillation. In all nations spirituous liquors have been considered as a proper subject of heavy taxation for the support of the state. In 1840 England made about ten millions of gallons of spirits, Scotland made about seven millions of gallons, and Ireland about nine millions of gallons. In England, Ireland, and Scotland, duty was paid, in 1840, on the following quantities of spirits, viz.-Rum, 2,830,263 gallons; brandy, 1,167,756 gallons; Geneva, 18,640 gallons; on other foreign spirits, 8,758 gallons; and on British, Irish, and Scotch spirits, 25,190,843 gallons; making in the whole nearly thirty millions of gallons, upon which the duty amounted to about eight millions of pounds sterling!-Parl. Returns. SPITZBERGEN. Discovered in 1533, by sir Hugh Willoughby, who called it Greenland, supposing it to be a part of the western continent. In 1595 it was visited by Barentz and Cornelius, two Dutchmen, who pretended to be the original discoverers, and called it Spitzbergen, or sharp mountains, from the many sharp-pointed and rocky mountains with which it abounds. See Phipps. SPURS. Anciently the difference between the knight and esquire was, that the knight wore gilt spurs (eques auratus) and the esquire silver ones. Two sorts of spurs seem to have been in use at the time of the Conquest, one called a pryck, having only a single point, the other a number of points of considerable size. Spurs near to the present kind came into use about A.D. 1400. See article Plating. STAGE COACHES. The stage-coach duty act passed in 1785. These coaches were made subject to salutary provisions for the safety of passengers, 50 George III. 1809. They were made subject to mileage duties, 55 George III. 1814. The duty upon stage coaches is about half a million sterling. See Coaches; Hackney Coaches; Mail Coaches, &c. STAMP-OFFICE. The first institution of stamp-duties was by statute 5 and 6 William and Mary, June 23, 1694, when a duty was imposed upon paper, vellum, and parchment. The stamp-duty on newspapers was commenced in 1713, and every year added to the list of articles upon which stamp-duty was made payable. The American Stamp Act, a memorable statute, one of those imposts levied by the parliament of Great Britain which produced the American war, and led to the independence of that country, was passed March 22, 1765. Stamp-duties in Ireland commenced 1774. Stamps on notes and bills of exchange in 1782. The stampduties produced in England, in 1800, the revenue of 3,126,535.; and in 1840, for the United Kingdom, 6,726,8171. See Newspapers, &c. STANDARD. First fixed by law for gold and silver in England, A.D. 1300. Standard gold is 22 parts out of 24 of pure gold, the other two parts or carats being silver or copper. The standard of silver is 11 oz. 2 dwts. of fine silver alloyed with 18 dwts. of copper, or 37 parts out of 40 of pure silver, and 3 parts copper. In A.D. 1300, these 12 oz. of silver were coined into 20 shillings. In 1412 they were coined into 30 shillings; and in 1527 into 45 shillings. In 1545, Henry VIII. coined 6 oz. of silver and 6 oz. of alloy into 48 shillings; and the next year he coined 4 oz. of silver and 8 oz. of alloy into the same sum. Elizabeth, in 1560, restored the old standard in 60 shillings; and in 1601 in 62 shillings. It is now 66 shillings. The average proportions of silver to gold at the Royal Mint are 15 to 1. The standard of plate and silver manufactures was affirmed, 6 George I. 1719, et seq. |