father assisted him in pursuing the requisite preparatory studies. At what time he went to Rome, where, through the influence of M. de Saint-Aignant, the ambassador, he was admitted as a pensionary at the French academy, is not precisely known, but he remained there three years, after which he spent several more at Lyon where he commenced the practice of his profession; and besides the Exchange (afterwards converted into the Protestant church), and some other works of less importance, he executed one of the largest public edifices in that city, the Great Hospital, the façade of which is somewhat more than 1000 feet in extent. The distinction he thus acquired caused him to be invited to Paris, where he was admitted into the Royal Academy of Architecture. Within a short time an opportunity presenting itself of revisiting Italy, in company with M. de Marigny (Madame Pompadour's brother), the superintendent of the crown buildings, he availed himself of it, and examined the antiquities of Pæstum in 1750. In 1754 he was again employed at Lyon to erect the Grand Theatre, which was capable of containing 2000 spectators, and was considered to be excellently contrived in every respect, but has since been replaced by another structure.

It having been determined to rebuild the ancient and greatly decayed church of St. Généviève, several architects presented designs for the new edifice, among which those by Soufflot obtained the preference; and in 1757 the works commenced, but they proceeded so slowly, that the ceremony of laying the first stone by Louis XV. did not take place till the 6th of September, 1764. In this work Soufflot entirely changed the system which had till then prevailed in all the modern churches of Paris; and although he could not attempt to rival the magnitude of St. Peter's at Rome, or St. Paul's, London, his aim seems to have been to produce greatness of effect of a different kind, together with decided difference of character. Avoiding two orders, as in the latter building, and the attached columns and heavy attic of the former, he has employed a single order of insulated columns 60 feet high as a prostyle, occupying the entire width of the façade at that extremity of the cross; and has moreover confined the order to that feature of the building, the entablature alone being continued along the other elevations, which else present little more than unbroken surface of solid wall, a circumstance that gives the whole a degree of severity, not to call it nakedness, that contrasts most strongly with the breaks and multiplicity of parts in the two other buildings. The portico itself is therefore a feature which strikingly distinguishes this from both the Italian and the English churches. Like St. Paul's, Soufflot's edifice has a Corinthian peristyle of thirty columns, encircling the tambour of the dome, with the difference that all the columns are insulated, whereas in the other instance eight of them are attached to four massifs, or piers. Another marked distinction in regard to the effect of the dome in the exterior composition generally is, that the plan of the building being a Greek cross, it comes in the centre, consequently is not thrown so far back from the front as in the other two instances. In the interior, again, Soufflot's design differs from them still more: it has colonnades, comparatively shallow as to depth, instead of aisles separated from the naves by massive piers and arches; neither has it any windows, except in the tambour of the dome and the arches in the vaultings of the roof, so that the light is admitted entirely from above. In consequence however of settlements and fractures taking place, it was afterwards found necessary to deviate from the original plan, filling up the spaces between the columns at the four angles beneath the dome, so as to convert them into solid piers. Soufflot did not live to see his great work completed, for he died on the 29th of August, 1780, after which period many repairs in the construction took place, an account of which, and criticisms upon the building, may be found in Wood's 'Letters of an Architect,' vol. i. At the time of the Revolution, the destination of the building was changed, and it was then called the Pantheon, by which name it is still generally spoken of, although now restored to its original purpose, and the dome, &c. decorated with paintings by Gros and others. Among other buildings by Soufflot may be mentioned the École de Droit (1775) in the Place du Panthéon (which last formed part of his plan for a uniform architectural area round the church), the Orangery at the Château de Menars, the sacristy of Notre Dame, and several private hotels. SOULIE, MELCHIOR-FRÉDÉRIC, one of the most fertile writers of the French Romantic school, was the son of a teacher of philosophy at Toulouse, and was born at Foix, in the department of Ariège, December 23, 1800. In 1808, his father having obtained employment at Nantes, Frédéric Soulié commenced his studies at the Lycée of that city; and afterwards completed them at Poitiers, Paris, and Rennes, so migratory was his early life. In 1820 he accompanied his father to Laval, where the elder Soulié had received an appointment in a public office, and in this office the future novelist laboured also assiduously for several years. The object of his father had been to prepare him for the bar, and young Soulié having spent several years in the study of law, was admitted an avocat, and waited for his briefs, like other barristers. But his inclinations were for literature; he wrote pretty verses for his amusement, his letters already displayed an elegant style, and a vein of exquisite pathos, if not of deep reflection, pervaded all he produced. About the year 1825 his father's desultory life brought the family once more to Paris; when the young

poet published a volume of fugitive pieces under the title of 'Amours Françaises.' The book did not sell; but several of the poems it contained have since been well spoken of. Frédéric Soulié at once took his resolution, and unwilling to trust for his maintenance to literature alone, sought for and accepted a situation as foreman to an upholsterer. In this laborious employment he passed ten hours a day, and at night he devoted one or two more to the production of his first drama, Romeo et Juliette.' This play, though founded on the great tragedy of Shakspere, which consequently afforded its adapter nearly all his materials, took him three years to prepare. Nearly another year was spent in vain endeavours to obtain from the managers permission to read it; at last he was fortunate enough to secure the intervention of Jules Janin, who had read and admired some of his poems, and Soulie's drama was represented with some éclat at the theatre in 1828. From that day be took his place as a man of letters. In 1829 he produced at the Odeon his 'Christine à Fontainebleau,' but it failed; and in 1830 he began to write critical articles for the Mercure,' the 'Figaro,' and the Voleur,' in all of which his genial spirit sought consolation for his own failure, by his cordial panegyrics of other dramatists. His 'Lusigny,' which was produced at the Théâtre Français in 1831 with better success, was followed in 1832 by his Clotilde,' the triumph of which, both on the stage and in the drawing-room, was absolute.

Shortly after his 'Clotilde,' which established his reputation as a dramatic writer, Frédéric Soulié began to contribute a series of romances in the shape of feuilletons to the newspapers. In this new and lucrative class of literature, he became and continued for twelve years, 1833-45, the most popular of French romancists. The 'Deux Cadavres was published in this form in 1833; the Vicomte de Beziers' in 1834; the 'Comte de Toulouse' in 1835; the Comte de Foix' in 1836; Un Été à Meudon' and 'Deux Séjours: Provence et Paris' in 1837; 'L'homme de Lettres' in 1838. In this manner upwards of thirty fictions, some of them of considerable length, were produced. In 1842 appeared his 'Mémoires du Diable,' the sale of which was immense. It was the universal popularity of this novel which stimulated Eugène Sue to undertake his 'Mystères de Paris.' Soon after this the success of Sue and Dumas in the same class of writing somewhat obscured the fame of Frédéric Soulié, who witnessed their sudden popularity without jealousy. But he never gave up his connection with the newspapers, whose proprietors to the last paid him liberally for his works. In 1846 he bought an estate at Bièvre, where he died September 22, 1847.

SOULT, NICOLAS JEAN-DE-DIEU, MARECHAL DUC DE DALMATIE, was born at Saint Amand-du-Tarn, on the 29th of March 1769, or, according to some biographers, in 1765. He was the son of a notary, but not being inclined to follow his father's calling, and having made, it is said, but little progress at college, it was considered best to devote him to a military life, for which he manifested more inclination. Consequently he was allowed to enlist as a private in the regiment of the Royale-Infanterie, on the 15th of April 1785. So slow was his early advancement, that six years after, in 1791, he had reached no higher grade than that of sergeant. In that year he was noticed by old Marshal Luckner, who appointed him to discipline a regiment of volunteers of the Upper Rhine, giving him a commission of sub-lieutenant for that service. The great war shortly after opened new paths to talent, and men of true capacity and courage were no longer prevented, by court favour to high birth and family interest, from ascending by degrees to the highest ranks for which nature had fitted them.

On the 29th of March 1793, Lieutenant Soult obtained credit for his conduct at the combat of Oberfelsheim, under General Custine. In November 1793, Hoche placed him on the staff of the army of La Moselle, when, as captain, Soult led the attack of the left at the battle of Weissenberg, and repulsed a body of Austrians. His next service was in the Palatinate under General Lefebvre, who entrusted him with the post of chief of the staff in the vanguard of his army. In 1794, Soult was created colonel, and was one of the most distinguished officers present at the great battle of Fleurus, June 26. He displayed great skill by his dispositions in this action, and in the very crisis of it, when General Marceau, deserted by his troops, had resigned himself to despair, Soult arrested the panic, and restored the battle. For this feat of arms he was promoted to a brigade, October 11, 1794, in the division of General Harty, and assisted at the blockade of Luxemburg. At the battle of Altenkirchen, in 1796, he commanded the attack of the left against the Austrians, who were entirely defeated. Shortly after this victory, being detached with 500 horse to cover the left of the army at Herborn, he was suddenly hemmed in by the enemy's cavalry, amounting, it is said, to 4000; repulsed seven charges without his ranks being broken; and at length drew off his troop without the loss of a single soldier. This brilliant retreat covered him with honour, and has always been cited among the most memorable actions of the war. His excellent manoeuvres at the battle of Friedberg, in 1796, contributed most effectually to its success. At this epoch, and during the whole period of the Revolution, Soult was a constant frequenter of the clubs, a flatterer of the men then in power, and no voice more loudly denounced the "ancien régime;" conduct which was not forgotten in after days.

In 1799 he joined the army on the Upper Rhine, under Jourdan,

and at the head of the vanguard of the left wing was present and acted with distinguished bravery and ability at the battle of Stockach, March 25. Though the battle was eventually won, after a fierce struggle, by the Archduke Charles and the Austrians, such was the opinion entertained of Soult's skilful conduct, that the Directory promoted him to a division on April 21st, whilst Jourdan, the commander. in-chief, lost credit and command by the same action. Soon after, he found himself under the orders of Massena, who, besides his own army in the Alps, had lately succeeded to the command of that on the Rhine, after Jourdan's disgrace. Under that able general he took part in the battle of Zurich, June 4, 1779, when the Austrians were defeated, and France preserved from invasion. In 1800, when Massena shut himself up in the walls of Genoa, General Soult was one of the most active of its defenders during the siege, distinguishing himself highly in the numerous skirmishes which took place beneath its walls. He was wounded and taken prisoner in one of these sorties, but recovered his liberty after Napoleon's victory of Marengo.

After the battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800, the military command of Piedmont was conferred upon General Soult; who was next despatched with a corps of 15,000 men to occupy the peninsula of Otranto; but after the peace of Amiens, he was superseded in this government by General Saint-Cyr. Soult returned to France during the suspension of hostilities, and though, for some unexplained cause, he was not personally a favourite with Bonaparte, on the recommendation of Massena he became one of the four colonels of the Consular Guard. The rupture between England and France soon followed, and it was General Soult who organised the vast armament collected on the heights of Boulogne, known as the Army of England. Meanwhile, the French Empire had been formed, and so assiduous had been the court paid by Soult to the First Consul during the short period of transition, that although he had served neither in the first campaigns in Italy, 1796-97, nor in that of Egypt, 1798-99, nor even yet fought under Napoleon, nor commanded an army in the field, his name was included in the list of French marshals created at the coronation.

In the campaign of 1805 Marshal Soult obtained still greater distinction; his services at the battle of Austerlitz, December 2, being so efficient, that Napoleon thanked him on the battle-ground, before his whole staff, calling him one of the first of living strategists. Thenceforward, and until the end of the war, he ranked as one of the leading generals of France, to whom the greatest undertakings might be committed when Napoleon himself was elsewhere. With the same success, he took part in the campaigns of 1806 and 1807. After the battle of Jena, October 14, 1806, he defeated Marshal Kalkreuth, captured Magdeburg, and put to flight the Prussian general Blücher, and the Russian General Lestocq. Again he signalised himself at the battle of Eylau, February 8, 1807, and captured Königsberg the same year. He had now been fifteen years in constant service in the field, and had fought under the ablest and most experienced commanders, with all of whom he had enjoyed the same confidence. He had now fully acquired the confidence of Napoleon himself, who for the rest of his career treated Soult as his lieutenant, by honouring him with the chief command he had to bestow after the one he filled in his own person.

When the ambition of the French Emperor had turned towards Spain, Marshal Soult was appointed to command the 2nd corps, with which he was despatched, in November 1808, to attack Belveder's corps of 20,000 men, at Burgos. In this battle, fought on the 10th of November, the Spanish army was defeated, although one of Soult's divisions alone (Maison's) was engaged. Madrid having surrendered to the French, after its fall Napoleon marched against the British army under Sir John Moore, then on its way from Portugal. Marshal Soult was at first directed upon Sahagun; but Sir John Moore, seeing the risk to which he was exposed of being intercepted and hemmed in, lost no time in commencing his retreat upon Corunna. Napoleon was averse to dilatory war, and was moreover unwilling to fatigue the troops under his command unnecessarily; he therefore recalled the marshal, with injunctions to pursue Sir John, and "drive the English into the sea." At the same time Marshal Ney was commanded to support the operation with the 6th corps. Some French generals, and other military historians, with the anxiety so common with them to explain away any failure of the French arms, have, on this occasion severely censured Marshal Soult for inactivity and negligence, "in halting at every defile to collect the sick and loiterers, by which the almost total destruction of the British army," according to them, was prevented. On the other hand, the marshal always expressed his astonishment at the skilful retreat of his enemies. At length, on the 16th of January 1809, the British army, having approached Corunna, the place intended for their embarcation, made a stand, and a blocdy engagement ensued. In this action Sir John Moore was mortally wounded, but the French met with a decisive repulse [MOORE, SIR JOHN]. The British troops effected their passage to their ships unmolested by the French, and it was not until the 20th that the Spanish governor capitulated.

Soon after, Marshal Soult entered the Portuguese territory with the 2nd and the 8th corps; and having defeated the Portuguese troops under Romana, he appeared before Oporto, which was carried by storm on the 29th of March 1809. Instead of marching at once upon Lisbon, the marshal lingered at Oporto, where he is said to have con

ceived the plan of making himself king of Portugal, and to have postponed the interests of his imperial master, whilst indulging this intrigue. Meanwhile, Wellington had landed, collected his forces, and made his preparations; on the 8th of May, he reached Coimbra with the English army, whilst Beresford at the head of the Portuguese troops was advancing towards Chaves and Amarante to turn the French army. After passing the Douro with his usual boldness and promp titude, Wellington fell upon the marshal, drove him from his position, and captured his sick, his baggage, and almost all his guns. Soult then retreated upon Galicia, with a loss upon his route of 2000 men; whence, after leaving Ney, with his single corps, to defend that province, he continued his retreat to Zamora. The retreat was conducted in a manner creditable to his military talent, but he suffered his troops to commit atrocities on the helpless peasantry which have left an ineffaceable stain on his memory.

After the battle of Talavera, July 28, 1809, Soult was appointed to replace Marshal Jourdan as Major-general of the army in Spain, the chief command being nominally left in the hands of King Joseph, a man without any capacity for war, but faithful and devoted to his brother's plans. On the 19th November 1809, he won the battle of Ocana, and soon after resolved upon an expedition into Andalusia, ono of the richest provinces in Spain. Accordingly, in January 1810, he collected a strong army, consisting of four corps, and taking his way through Andujar and Seville, appeared before Cadiz on the 5th of February; but was disappointed of taking the place. Soon after this check, King Joseph returned to Madrid, leaving the marshal in command of the army of the South, consisting of the 1st, 4th, and 5th corps. The year 1810 was almost entirely occupied by the marshal in establishing his position in Andalusia; but the wide cantonments over which bis troops were dispersed, constantly exposed them to loss in petty skirmishes with the enemy, who, supported by the strong fortress of Badajoz to fall back upon, had a great advantage over him. In the beginning of 1811, Napoleon, who felt the urgent necessity of supporting Massena in Portugal, ordered Soult to besiege Badajoz. The marshal obeyed; but although he captured the place on the 11th of March 1811, the Prince of Essling, unable to penetrate the strong lines of Torres Vedras, had found it necessary to abandon Portugal.

The departure of Massena having relieved the English army from one of their most formidable opponents, Lord Wellington determined to recapture Badajoz, for which purpose he despatched Beresford to invest it. The siege was opened on the 7th of May 1811; Soult came to its relief, and on the 16th had to fight the battle of Albuera, in which-though by means of his great superiority in numbers he inflicted great loss upon Beresford's army-he was thoroughly defeated. The fall of Badajoz now appeared inevitable, when Napoleon, apprised of Soult's recent defeat, ordered Marshal Marmont, who had super seded Massena in the command of the army of Portugal, to push forward to his support. This movement rendered it necessary for Wellington to raise the siege on the 16th of June. However, in the following spring, encouraged by the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, Wellington laid siege a second time to the fort of Badajoz, and though not without terrible loss-the place was carried on the 6th of April 1812. Soult was in consequence compelled to retreat from Seville, his rear-guard being severely cut up at Villa Garcia.

The subsequent defeat of Marmont at the battle of Salamanca (July 22, 1812), and the surrender of Madrid to the British general, compelled Joseph Bonaparte to withdraw behind the Tagus with his army, and Marshal Soult received orders to join him. Accordingly, to his deep regret, he marched out of Andalusia, and on the 10th of November took the command of the three combined French armies stationed on the Tormes. This junction of forces was too powerful to be attacked; Lord Wellington therefore fell back upon Ciudad Rodrigo, with a heavy loss of troops on his route, and went into winter quarters. After his departure from the rich province of Andalusia, which he had occupied for nearly three years, the strongest charges were brought against Marshal Soult for the cruel extortions levied on the people by himself and his agents, and his shameless and unbridled robbery of pictures and articles of value. The reports of military men of every army engaged in the Peninsular war have fully corroborated the charges; while the enormous wealth which he ostentatiously displayed after the peace seemed to indicate that he did not feel the disgrace his atrocious conduct had drawn down upon his name. For a few months during the year 1813 Soult was employed in the German campaign, having been summoned by Napoleon to take the command of his guard, after the death of Marshal Bessières at Weissenfels.

But the disastrous defeat of Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria, on the 21st of June 1813, having threatened, not only the loss of Spain, after an occupation of five years, but the security of the French soil, Napoleon was once more compelled to employ Soult in the Peninsula, though it was not without some sense of shame that he sent him there. Accordingly, in July, Soult returned to Spain as commanderin-chief of the French armies. Then followed the most arduous period in his career; and although-overmatched by the genius of Wellington-nearly every enterprise was a failure, and every battle a defeat, we cannot refuse to Soult the credit due to resolute perse

verance and dauntless bravery. The fall of Pampeluna, the battles of San Marcial and Sorauren, succeeded, in all of which the marshal was worsted; then he took up a strong position on the banks of the Bidassoa, but was driven from it by the leader before whom so many marshals had succumbed. The losses of Napoleon in Champagne required some relief, and thousands of Soult's veterans were drafted off; bis German troops deserted him. Still, wherever the ground enabled him to defend himself the marshal formed a new position. First, he fortified himself on the Nivelle; driven from that river, he took up a new position on the Nive, whence his impetuous enemy dislodged him; but without being depressed, he offered the English battle at St. Pierre, and was again defeated. Wellington had at last entered the French territory in the south, whilst in the north Napo leon was falling back before the allied armies. But even then he did not despair. A truce of a few weeks was forced upon the opposing armies after November, when both sought winter quarters. But early in February 1814 the war was renewed. The battle on the Adour, the battle of Orthes, the battle of Tarbes, succeeded each other, and were lost by the marshal. To complete his embarrass ment, he had been informed of the surrender of Bordeaux to the Bourbons, and the subsequent capitulation of Paris. Yet, even when the three allied armies were in possession of the capital, when Lyon had submitted, when so many marshals and generals were deserting Napoleon at Fontainebleau, he fell back upon Toulouse, and formed that admirable position which not even the impetuous valour of British troops could force without a carnage so fearful as almost to balance their own victory. The loss of the French was however more than commensurate, and their defeat was complete. This was Soult's last and the greatest of his battles; it was fought with consummate skill, April 10, 1814, eleven days after the fall of Paris: Soult evacuated Toulouse on the 11th.

On the escape of Napoleon from Elba, Soult, who had attached himself to the restored king, and who was then in office as minister of war, published an order of the day, March 8, 1815, calling on the army "to rally round their legitimate and well-beloved sovereign, and resist the adventurer, who wanted to seize again that usurped power of which he had made so pernicious a use." But on the 25th of March he saw the emperor at the Tuileries, was easily reconciled to him, and accepted the post of quarter-master-general to the army preparing to open the campaign. In this quality he was present at the battle of Waterloo, on the 18th of June 1815. Soult was banished from France in July; but in 1819 he was once more permitted to return, and his baton was restored to him. Charles X. showed him great favour throughout his reign: he created him a peer on the 5th of November 1827. During the reign of Louis-Philippe he was made Minister of War, Ambassador Extraordinary to Queen Victoria's court at her coronation, and on two occasions President of the Council, or prime minister. Whilst filling this office for the second time, in September 1847, he wrote to the king requesting leave to resign. His request was granted; but in order to mark his appreciation of the services of the marshal, Louis-Philippe re-established in his favour the ancient but disused dignity of Marshal-General of France, which had not been borne by any subject since the death of Marshal Turenne. From that time the marshal went to live in retirement, to which he confined himself more closely still after the revolution of February 1848. His health and strength had long been severely shaken; the marshal grew worse during the year 1851, and breathed his last at the castle of Soult-Berg, on the 26th of November in that year. After his death his splendid gallery of Spanish pictures collected by him during his Spanish campaigns was sold by auction, and realised a very large sum: several of the best of these pictures are now in the Imperial Galleries of France. The 'Mémoires du Maréchal General Soult, duc de Dalmatie, publiés par son fils. 1ère partie. Histoire des guerres de la Révolution,' appeared in 3 vols. 8vo, with an atlas, Paris,

1854.

SOUTH, SIR JAMES, F.R.S., L. & E.; Hon. M.R.I.A., F.L.S., F.R.A.S., the eminent astronomer, is the eldest son of a chemist and druggist who carried on business in Blackman Street, Southwark, was educated for the medical profession, received the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons of London, and practised as such for some years. But he was devoted to astronomical science, and possessing visual organs of remarkable sensibility and accuracy, he acquired distinction as an observer. In the year 1820, he assisted in founding the "Astronomical Society of London," which, during his occupation of the Chair, received a charter from the crown, and became the "Royal Astronomical Society." On the 15th of February, 1821, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In the Report of the Council to the Sixth Annual General Meeting of the Astronomical Society, February 10, 1826, prior to stating the award of the Gold Medal to Mr. (now Sir) John F. W. Herschel [HERSCHEL, SIR JOHN F. W.] and Mr. South, for their laborious and valuable researches and observations relative to double stars, is the following passage:

"The indefatigable ardour of Mr. South in the cause of Astronomy, induced him to follow up his researches on the same subject whilst he was in France; and he has recently made a communication to the Royal Society of some new observations, of equal, if not superior importance, and which will appear in a subsequent volume of the

SOUTH, SIR JAMES.

603 Philosophical Transactions."" On the same occasion, the late Mr. Baily [BAILY, FRANCIS], then president, in his address on presenting the medals, stated that Mr. Herschel having determined to follow up the intentions of his father, by a review of all the double stars inserted in his catalogues, Mr. South, "being disposed to pursue the same inquiry, suggested the plan of carrying on their observations in concert, and, with the aid of two excellent achromatic telescopes, belonging to the latter, they employed the years 1821, 1822, and 1823 in this research. The result of their labours was presented to the Royal Society, and published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1824 at the expense of the Board of Longitude." The number of double stars observed jointly by these two astronomers amounted to 380, many thousand measurements of distance and position having been made to obtain accurate results. In his personal address to Mr. South, Mr. Baily said, "The ardent zeal which you have always evinced in the cause of astronomy, the patience and perseverance which you have shown in conducting so many and so valuable observations, of no ordinary kind, and the skill and accuracy which you have displayed in these delicate measurements, are subjects that are duly estimated by this Society. Possessed of a princely collection of instruments, of exquisite workmanship and considerable magnitude, such as have never yet fallen to the lot of a private individual, you have not suffered them to remain idle in your hands, but have set an example to the world how much may be done by a single person, animated with zeal in the cause of science." The "new observations" alluded to by the Council in the Report, consisting of the apparent distances and positions of 458 double and triple stars, were published in the Philosophical Transactions' for 1826. For this "noble series of measures' as they were termed by Sir J. F. W. Herschel, the Council of the Royal Society awarded the Copley medal, which was presented to Mr. South, accordingly, by the president, Sir Humphry Davy, at the anniversary meeting of November 30, 1826. About this period he removed his collection of instruments to the Observatory at Campden-Hill, Kensington, London, where he still resides.

At the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society on February 8th, 1828, Mr. South, as one of the vice-presidents, addressed the Society on presenting the gold medal to Miss Caroline Herschel, the sister of Sir William, and the aunt of Sir John Herschel, for her observations and discoveries in astronomy during half a century, the office of presi dent being then filled by the latter. In the same year he was again associated with Sir John in the endeavour to verify M. Schwabe's observation of the inequality of the dark space between the body of the planet Saturn and its ring. This however they were unable to do; but the superior micrometrical means in the possession of M. Struve enabled him to confirm the accuracy of Schwabe.

The views which were entertained by certain cultivators of natural knowledge, shortly after the first quarter of the present century had clapsed, respecting the alleged decline in this country not merely of the public encouragement of science, but of science itself, were deeply participated in by Mr. South. He contemplated, in consequence, about 1830, a removal to France, whither he intended to transport his collection of instruments. He wrote to the French government on the subject, and received a grant of free ingress and egress, without the payment of any duty or even the examination of his packages. But this intention was arrested by the patriotic conduct of the English government. King George IV., shortly before his demise, had signified to the late Sir Robert l'eel "his intention of taking the first opportu nity of marking his high sense of Mr. South's honourable and disin terested zeal in the cause of science, and especially of his unwearied and successful exertions to perfect and increase our knowledge of the position, distances, and relations of the heavenly bodies." On the accession of William IV., accordingly, the honour of knighthood was conferred upon him (on the 21st of July 1830), and the letter from Sir R. Peel just cited was accompanied by another, intimating the pleasure of that monarch that the sum of 300l. per annum should be placed at Sir James South's disposal, "to be applied by him to the promotion of astronomy." Sir R. Peel expressed in this letter his own desire that the country should bear some portion of the enormous expense which Sir J. South had incurred in pursuing his researches; not, he said, with a view of depriving Sir James of the honour and reputation which such services insured, but "to relieve the country from the charge of perfect indifference to subjects of a scientific nature." Sir J. South had taken an active part in the discussions which had, for some years, taken place with Dr. Young [YOUNG, THOMAS], on the state of the 'Nautical Almanac,' just complaints of which had been made, as not keeping pace with the progress of astronomy and navigation. After the decease of Dr. Young, which occurred in 1820, pending these discussions, the Board of Admiralty requested the opinion and advice of the Astronomical Society on the alterations and additions that it would be proper to make in the national work alluded to. The Society appointed a numerous committee to consider the subject, of whom a sub-committee undertook the practical details; of this sub-committee Sir J. South was an active member. The result, as is well known, was the production of the present 'Nautical Almanac,' which is fully worthy of our national preeminence in nautical astronomy and navigation, and with which, even for pure astronomy, only the French Connoissance des Tems' and the Berlin Astronomical Ephemeris are alone comparable.

In February 1829, Sir James was elected President of the Astronomical Society, which office, in conformity with the statutes, he held for the two following years. During this term, as already stated, the Society received its charter; and while occupying this conspicuous position, Sir James became the possessor by purchase from M. Couchoix of Paris, of an object-glass of eleven inches and threequarters in diameter, of exquisite perfection and corresponding power. We refrain from entering here into the history of the series of unfortunate circumstances and painful discussions, to which this acquisition eventually led; it must suffice to say that, in consequence of them, scarcely any observations made with this beautiful lens have been recorded.

In the years 1831 and 1832 he communicated to the Royal Society two papers on the extensive atmosphere of the planet Mars, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions' for those years.

The following communications by the subject of this notice are inserted in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society:'-'Observations on the best mode of examining the double or compound Stars; together with a Catalogue of those [479 in number] whose places have been identified' (produced in due preparation for the author's own observations of these objects); Observations on the Collimation Adjustment of a Transit Instrument,' &c. Vol. iii., On the Occultation of Piscium by the Moon; references to recorded Observations of Occultations, in which peculiarities have been apparently seen, either at the Moon's limb, or upon her Disk; with an Enquiry into Hypotheses on the subject.' (To the interesting subject of which this paper gives a general view, as then known, the results of Professor Hansen's recent investigations on the structure of the moon, indicating a possible constitution of her atmosphere, which might give rise to the peculiarities in question, would appear to impart a new interest.) Vol. iv., Observations of Cache's Comet.' Vol. v., other communications. For some years he communicated to the Annals of Philosophy,' tables of the mean places of certain stars, important in practical astronomy, and he is also the author of similar communications to the Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts,' formerly conducted by Professor Brande. In addition to the British societies indicated in the title of this article, Sir James South is a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and of the Royal Society of Sciences of Brussels. [See SUPPLEMENT.] *JOHN F. SOUTH, brother to Sir James, one of the surgeons of St. Thomas's Hospital, sometime President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (London), is the author of a 'Description of the Bones;' 'Dissector's Manual;' a valuable popular guide in cases of accidental injury, entitled Household Surgery, or Hints on Emer gencies;' and of some zoological works.

SOUTH, ROBERT, D.D., was the son of Mr. South, an eminent London merchant. He was born at Hackney, in Middlesex, in 1633. In 1648 he was a king's scholar in the college of Westminster, at which time Dr. Busby was master of the school. He read the Latin prayers in the school on the day of the execution of Charles I., and prayed for his majesty by name; apparently an indication that even then he had embraced those principles of attachment to the established form of government in church and state, of which he was all through his long life a most strenuous and able champion. In 1651 he was admitted a student of Christchurch, Oxford, having been elected at the same time with John Locke. In 1655, in which year he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts, he wrote a copy of Latin verses for the purpose of congratulating Oliver Cromwell on the peace which he had made with the Dutch. Those who have reflected upon South for this compliment to the Protector, need to be informed that the copy of Latin verses was a university exercise of the kind which was then usually imposed on bachelors of arts and undergraduates. He met with some opposition to taking his degree of Master of Arts, in 1657, from Dr. John Owen, who then filled the place of dean of Christchurch, and was favourable to the principles of those who were then in power. In 1658 South was ordained by a deprived bishop, and in 1660 he was made University orator, for which he was perhaps partly indebted to his excellent sermon preached before the king's commissioners, entitled the 'Scribe Instructed.' (Matth. xiii. 52.) After describing the qualifications of a scribe as the result of habitual preparation, by study and exercise, he takes the opportunity of observing on the qualifications of the sectarists then lately in power, and this passage is a good sample of the kind of warfare which he carried on to the end of his life against those who dissented from the ecclesiastical constitution as established by law, and also of his style. The teachers of those days, he says, "first of all seize upon some text, from whence they draw something (which they call doctrine), and well may it be said to be drawn from the words, forasmuch as it seldom naturally flows or results from them. In the next place, being thus provided, they branch it into several heads, perhaps twenty or thirty or upwards. Whereupon for the prosecution of these, they repair to some trusty concordance, which never fails them; and by the help of that they range six or seven scriptures under each head; which scriptures they prosecute one by one: First amplifying and enlarging upon one for Bome considerable time, till they have spoiled it; and then that being done, they pass to another, which in its turn suffers accordingly. And these impertinent and unpremeditated enlargements they look upon as the motions, effects, and breathings of the spirit, and therefore much

BIOG. DIV. VOL. V.

beyond those carnal ordinances of sense and reason, supported by industry and study; and this they call a saving way of preaching, as it must be confessed to be a way to save much labour, and nothing else, that I know of." The Chancellor Clarendon made South his domestic chaplain, in consideration of an oration delivered by South as public orator on the occasion of Clarendon being installed chancellor of the University of Oxford. In 1663 he was made a prebendary of Westminster, and took his degree of Doctor in Divinity; and in 1670 he was made a canon of Christchurch, Oxford. Charles II. having appointed Lawrence Hyde, son of the Chancellor Clarendon, and afterwards Earl of Rochester, as ambassador extraordinary to congratulate John Sobieski on being elected king of Poland, the ambassador took South with him as his chaplain. South had been his tutor, and Hyde was much attached to him. A long letter from South, dated Danzig, December 16th, 1677, to Dr. Edward Pococke, Regius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford, contains his remarks on Poland: it is printed in the volume of his posthumous works. This letter, from a man of South's observation and ability, is a very curious and valuable historical record. He says that Sobieski spoke Latin with great facility, and was acquainted with French, Italian, German, and Turkish, besides his own language. Altogether the doctor formed a high opinion of Sobieski's abilities. South's remarks on the ecclesiastical state and constitution of Poland are marked by his usual penetration and good sense.

Soon after his return from Poland, South was presented to the rectory of Islip in Oxfordshire by the dean and chapter of Westminster. He rebuilt the chancel of the church, as appears from a Latin inscription over the entrance; and also the parsonage house. In 1681 he preached before Charles II., being then one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary, on these words, "The lot is cast into the lap, but the disposing of it is of the Lord." This sermon, which is a good specimen of his vehement invective, contains the following singular passage, which is not much in favour of the doctor's good taste, particularly considering the occasion:-" And who that had beheld such a bankrupt beggarly fellow as Cromwell, first entering the parliament-house with a threadbare-torn cloak and greasy hat (perhaps neither of them paid for), could have suspected that in the space of so few years he should, by the murder of one king and the banishment of another, ascend the throne." On which the king fell into a violent fit of laughter, and turning to Lord Rochester, said, "Ods fish, your chaplain must be a bishop, therefore put me in mind of him at the next death." But the chaplain did not preach in order to please those in power, or with a view to promotion in the church. He would not take any preferment either during the reign of Charles or James, or after the Revolution of 1688, though he was often pressed to accept the highest dignities in the church.

South strongly disapproved of all James's measures towards the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion, being a most zealous upholder of the Protestant Church. But he had also strong opinions of the duty of submission to his lawful prince; and accordingly, when the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops who signed the invitation to the Prince of Orange to come over, wanted him to do the same, he replied that "His religion taught him to bear all things; and however it should please God that he should suffer, he would, by the divine assistance, continue to abide by his allegiance, and use no other weapons but his prayers and tears for the recovery of his sovereign from the wicked and unadvised councils wherewith he was entangled." On the abdication of James and the settlement of the crown on the Prince and Princess of Orange, South at first made some opposition, but ultimately he acknowledged the new government; yet he would accept nothing, though certain persons when in power offered to exert themselves in his behalf on the vacating of several of the sees by the bishops who refused the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary. He declared "that notwithstanding he himself saw nothing that was contrary to the laws of God and the common practice of all nations to submit to princes in possession of the throne, yet others might have their reasons for a contrary opinion; and he blessed God that he was neither so ambitious, nor in want of preferment, as for the sake of it to build his rise upon the ruins of any one father of the church who, for piety, good morals, and strictness of life, which every one of the deprived bishops were famed for, might be said not to have left their equal."

South did not like the Act of Toleration, and he vigorously exerted himself with the commissioners appointed by the king in 1689 for a union with dissenting Protestants, in behalf of the Liturgy and forms of prayer, and entreated them to part with none of its ceremonies. He continued to preach against dissent, exposing the insufficiency of the dissenting ministers, and pouring forth upon them his inexhaustible sarcasm, ridicule and contempt. One of his strongest sermons to this effect was preached in the Abbey Church of Westminster in 1692, on the text, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit" (1 Cor., xii. 4). His controversy with Dr. Sherlock, then dean of St. Paul's, who had written a book entitled 'A Vindication of the Holy and Ever-blessed Trinity,' was carried on with great power of argument, and infinite wit and humour, more indeed than suited the solemnity of the subject. South was admitted to have the better in the discussion. The king at last interposed by his royal authority, by directions addressed to the archbishops and bishops, that no

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"A dean and prebendary

Had once a new vagary," &c. turned the two combatants into ridicule, together with Dr. Burnet, master of the Charter-House, who, about the same time, published his 'Archæologia.' South lived till the 8th of July 1716. He was buried in Westminster Abbey near the grave of his old master Busby. Neither children nor wife are mentioned by his biographers. By his will he disposed of a good deal of his property for charitable purposes, having all through life been a most generous giver. The residue, after the legacies and charities were satisfied, he gave to his executrix Mrs. Margaret Hammond, his housekeeper, who had lived with him above five and thirty years. There is a Life of South in a volume of his Posthumous Works,' London, 1717, which is the authority for what has been stated. This volume also contains three of his sermons, his will, and his Latin poems and orations delivered in his capacity of public orator in the University of Oxford. Though South is only known by his sermons, he must be viewed both as a political and a theological writer. He defended by argument and by his example he enforced, passive obedience and the divine right of kings. He says that the "absolute subjection" which men yield to princes comes from "a secret work of the divine power." He believed the Church of England to be perfect, and the express image of the primitive ordinances. Many of his sermons are directed against the Puritans, whom he attacks with the keenest wit and the bitterest sarcasm. According as a man's affections are disposed, he will view South as a furious bigot, or as an uncompromising defender of the state and the church as established.

As a writer he is conspicuous for sound practical good sense, for a deep insight into human character, for liveliness of imagination, and exuberant invention, and wit that knew not always the limits of propriety. In perspicuity, copiousness, and force of expression he is almost unrivalled among English writers; and these great qualities fully compensate for the "forced conceits, unnatural metaphors, absurd similes, and turgid and verbose language which occasionally disfigure his pages." With all his faults he was a truly honest man, a firm friend, and a generous benefactor. The sincerity of his principles is shown in the purity of his life, and the vigour of his understanding is stamped on all that he wrote.

SOUTHCOTT, JOANNA, was born in Devonshire about the year 1750, of humble parents. She was employed, chiefly at Exeter, as a domestic servant, and up to the age of forty or thereabouts seems to have aspired to no higher occupation; but having joined the Methodists, and become acquainted with a man of the name of Sanderson, who laid claim to the spirit of prophecy, the notion of a like pretension was gradually communicated to Joanna. She appears to have first put forth her claims to the character of a prophetess in 1792. She wrote prophecies, and she dictated prophecies, sometimes in prose and sometimes in rhymed doggrel; her influence extended, and the number of her followers increased; she announced herself as the woman spoken of in the 12th chapter of Revelations, and obtained considerable sums by the sale of seals, or sealed packets, which were to secure the salvation of those who purchased them. Her confidence increased with her reputation, and she challenged the bishop and clergy of Exeter to a public investigation of her miraculous powers, but they treated her challenge with contemptuous neglect, which she and her converts imputed to fear. By degrees Exeter became too narrow a stage for her performances, and she came to London on the invitation and at the expense of Sharp the engraver. [SHARP, WILLIAM.] She was very illiterate, but wrote numerous letters and pamphlets, and her prophecies, nearly unintelligible as they were, had a large sale. In 1803 she published A Warning to the whole World, from the sealed Prophecies of Joanna Southcott, and other Communications given since the Writings were opened on the 12th of January 1803,' 8vo, London. In 1804 appeared 'Copies and Parts of Copies of Letters and Communications written from Joanna Southcott, and transmitted by Miss Townley to Mr. W. Sharp in London.' In 1813-14 she published The Book of Wonders, in Five Parts,' 8vo, London; and also, in 1814, 'Prophecies concerning the Birth of the Prince of Peace, extracted from the works of Joanna Southcott,' 8vo, London. Of the Prince of Peace she announced that she was to be delivered on the 19th of October 1814, at midnight, being then upwards of sixty years of age. There was indeed the external appearance of pregnancy, and in consequence the enthusiasm of her followers, who are said to have amounted at that time to not fewer than 100,000, was greatly excited. An expensive cradle was made, and considerable sums were contributed, in order to have other things prepared in a style worthy of the expected 'Second Shiloh.' On the night of the 19th of October a very large number of persons assembled in the street where she lived, to hear the announcement of the looked-for advent; but the hour of midnight passed over, and the crowd were only induced to disperse by being informed that Joanna had fallen into a trance. On the 27th of December 1814, she died, having a short time previously

declared that "if she was deceived, she was at all events misled by some spirit, either good or evil.” Her body was opened after her decease, and the appearance which had deceived her followers, and perhaps herself, was found to have arisen from dropsy. Dr. Reece, one of the medical men by whom she had been examined, and who had publicly expressed his belief in her pregnancy, published, 'A correct Statement of the Circumstances that attended the last Illness

and Death of Mrs. Southcott; by Richard Reece, M.D.,' London, 1815. The number of her followers continued to be very great for many years after her death; they believed that there would be a resurrection of her body, and that she was still to be the mother of the promised Shiloh. There are still (1857) believers in Joanna Southcott. At the census of 1851 there were in England four congregations of persous holding this belief: the attendance at their four places of worship on the census Sunday (March 30, 1851) was in the morning 68, and in the evening 198 persons.

SOUTHERN, THOMAS, an English dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, in the county of Dublin, in 1660. He was admitted a student of Trinity College, Dublin, in his seventeenth year, March 13, 1676, and in 1678 entered the Middle Temple, London. Preferring poetry to law, he became a popular writer of plays, the first of which was the Persian Prince,' acted in 1682: in the character of the Loyal Brother in this drama, a compliment to the Duke of York was intended, according to the biographer of Southern, in the Life prefixed to his works, 1774. At the time of the Duke of Monmouth's landing Southern served in the king's army as ensign in Lord Ferrers's regiment, and was afterwards presented with a company by the Duke of Berwick, to whom he had been recommended by Colonel Sarsfield. At the duke's request he wrote the 'Spartan Dame,' which however was not acted till 1721. For the copyright of this play he received 1207.—a large sum in those days. After quitting the army Southern continued to write plays, enjoying great popularity as an author, and living on terms of intimacy with those of his contemporaries most distinguished for wit or rank. Dryden, for whom he finished the play of 'Cleomenes,' and afterwards Pope, were among his friends. Southern died on the 26th of May 1746, at a very advanced age. In the delineation of character, the conduct of plots, and all the niceties of dramatic art, Southern shows but little skill; he is neither imaginative, as were the elder English dramatists, nor witty in his comic dialogues, like Congreve and others, his contemporaries. But his language is pure, and free from affectation; his verse has a pleasant fluency, and he has been successful in the expression of simple and natural pathos, particularly in the last scenes of the Fatal Marriage,' a tragedy which has been much and deservedly admired, and which Isabella. Some of his plays were published by Tonson, 12mo, 1721, was popular on the stage in the last century, under the title of a complete edition of his works in 1774; they consist of comedies, and of tragedies with an infelicitous mixture of comic scenes. short account of Southern prefixed to this edition, and in the prefaces to the plays are a few particulars of his life, stated by himself. He is wrongly inserted in the Athenæ Oxonienses' by Wood. See his Life in that work, ed. Bliss, where will be found a letter from Southern to Dr. Rawlinson, denying that he ever was at Oxford. See also Malone, 'Life of Dryden,' i. 176.

There is a

SOUTHEY, ROBERT, was the second but eldest surviving son of a linendraper in Wine-street, Bristol, where he was born on the 12th of August 1774; but from his second year he lived chiefly at Bath, in the house of an aunt, Miss Tyler-a lady of very eccentric habits, and possessed with a perfect passion for the theatre, of whom he has given an amusing description in his autobiographic sketch. His first teacher was a Baptist minister named Foote, to whose school at Bristol he was sent when he was six years old, and who treated him with much cruelty. He was next sent to a Mr. Flower, at Corston, near Newton St. Loe, where, he says, "one year of my life was spent with little profit, and with a good deal of suffering. There could not be a worse school in all respects;" though Flower himself he describes as "a remarkable man, worthy of a better station in life, but utterly unfit for that in which he was placed." He then went to another Bristol school, kept by a Mr. William Williams, a Welshman. At last, in 1788, he proceeded to Westminster School (having first been placed for preparation with Mr. Lewis, a clergyman in Bristol, for a brief space), the expense of his education from this time being borne by the Rev. Herbert Hill, chaplain to the British Factory at Lisbon, a brother of his mother. From Westminster School he was dismissed however in 1792. A periodical called the Flagellant' had been started by Southey and some of the other youths in the upper classes of the school, and in the ninth number was printed a sarcastic attack upon corporal punishment, then practised with great severity in the school. The head-master, Dr. Vincent, immediately commenced a prosecution for libel against the publisher, upon which Southey avowed himself the author, and offered an apology; but the master was implacable, and Southey, though he had made a distinguished reputation in the school, was ignominiously dismissed. About the same time his father's affairs became hopelessly embarrassed, and the old man died broken in spirit a few months later. Southey's uncle did not however desert him: in January 1793 he went up to Oxford, but the Dean of Christchurch (Cyril Jackson) refused to admit him, on account of his dismissal from Westminster, and he was entered of