de Retz and Madame de Longueville, he entered the household of Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti, whose marriage with Mazarin's niece he helped to negotiate. He died of fever at Pézénas, in Languedoc on the 5th of December 1654. His biographers have variously stated on inadequate evidence that his death was caused by the prince de Conti in a moment of passion, or that he was poisoned by a jealous husband. The most considerable of his poems were the epic fragments of Rollon conquérant, la guerre espagnole, with Dulot vaincu and the Pompe funèbre in honour of Voiture. As a poet he was overrated, but he was the author of two excellent pieces of prose narration, the Histoire du siége de Dunkerque (1649) and the unfinished Conspiration de Walstein (1651). The Walstein has been compared for elegance and simplicity of style to Voltaire’s Charles XII.
His Œuvres appeared in 1656, Nouvelles Œuvres (2 vols.) in 1674. His Poésies were edited in 1877 by Octave Uzanne' with an introductory note. Much of his correspondence is preserved in the library of the Arsenal, Paris. See Albert Mennung’s Jean François Sarasins Leben und Werke (2 vols., Halle, 1902–1904).
SARASUATI, in early Hindu mythology, a river-goddess; in later myths the wife of Brahma, goddess of wisdom and science, mother of the Vedas, and inventor of the Devanagari letters. There has been much dispute as to the stream of which she is a personification. Some have identified it with the Avestan river, Haragaiti, in Afghanistan, while others think the term a general one for any great river, and in particular the sacred name for the Indus, Sindhu being the popular one.
Two small but sacred rivers in India are still called Saraswati, one in the Punjab and the other in Gujarat, both of which ultimately lose themselves in the sand. According to one legend, the Punjab river reappears to unite with the Ganges and Iumna at Allahabad. From this river is derived the name of the Sarswat Brahmans, the most numerous and influential of the priestly class in the Punjab, with whom the Gaur Sarswats or Shenvis of the Konkan claim Connexion.
SARATOGA, BATTLES OF. The British campaign for the year 1777 in America (see American War of Independence)
involved the operations of two armies moving from opposite
and distant points. The lack of co-operation between the two
led to the loss of one of them. This was General Burgoyne’s
force of 7000 men which marched from Canada in June 1777
with the view of reaching the upper Hudson and combining with
British troops from New York to isolate New England from
the colonies below. Lord Howe, commander-in-chief of the
British in America, who had received no instructions binding
him in detail to co-operate with Burgoyne, moved southward
and captured Philadelphia. In drawing Washington after him
he claimed to be assisting Burgoyne. Burgoyne pushed down
by way of Lakes Champlain and George and approached the
American army under General Horatio Gates in its fortified
camp near Stillwater on the W. bank of the Hudson, 'about
24 rn. N. of Albany. On the 19th Burgoyne attacked the
American left under General Benedict Arnold. The battle,
fought in densely wooded country till nightfall, was severe but
indecisive. The British suffered heavy losses, especially in
officers. This is variously known as the First Battle of Saratoga,
the Battle of Freeman’s Farm, the First Battle of Bemis
Heights or the First Battle of Stillwater. Burgoyne fortified
himself on the site of the action, and on October 7th made
another attempt to turn the American left. An engagement
still more severe than that of the 19th, known as the Second
Battle of Saratoga, followed, in which the Americans under
Benedict Arnold, E. Poor and D. Morgan drove the enemy
into their works. Among many British officers killed was
Brigadier-General Simon Fraser, who had been the life of the
expedition. Crippled to an alarming extent, Burgoyne retreated.
He was closely followed and harassed, and on the 16th
of October nearly surrounded. On the 17th he surrendered, with
about 6000 men, near the present village of Saratoga Springs.
See W. L. Stone, Campaign of Lieut.-Gen. John Burgoyne (Albany, 1877).
SARATOGA SPRINGS, a village of Saratoga county, New York, U.S.A., about 38 m. N. of Albany, and about 12 m.
W. of the Hudson river. Pop. (1900) 12,409, of whom 1684
were foreign-born and 619 were negroes; (1910) 12,693.
Saratoga Springs is served by the Delaware & Hudson and the
Boston & Maine railways and by several interurban electric
lines. The village is in a region of great historic interest, is famous
for its medicinal mineral springs, and has long been one of the
most popular watering places in America. Its hotels accommodate
more than 20,000 guests. Of the hotels, the best known
are the United States, Congress Hall, the Grand Union and the
American-Adelphi. The springs, of which there are more than
forty, were known in colonial times.
The waters, all having the same ingredients but in varying proportions, are heavily charged with carbonic acid gas, and contain considerable quantities of bicarbonates of lime and magnesium, and chloride o sodium. They rise in a stratum of Potsdam sandstone, under laid by Laurentian gneiss, &c., and reach the surface after passing through a bed of blue clay. The most noteworthy springs are Congress, Vichy, Arondack, Hathorn, Patterson, High Rock, Putnam, Star, Red, Lincoln, Victoria, Carlsbad and Geyser. Some of the springs originally rose above the surface by their own force, but with the boring of new springs and the pumping for carbonic acid gas south of the village the pressure was greatly lessened; the courts interfered to stop the pumping and it was prohibited by the state legislature. These measures, however, were not effective, and in May 1909 an act was passed establishing a state reservation at Saratoga, creating a commission of three to select the lands to be taken over by the state, and providing for an issue of bonds for $600,000 to buy the springs. Saratoga Lake, a beautiful body of water 6 m. long and I m. wide, 3% m. south-east of the village, is a favourite resort.
The streets are well-shaded and broad, with side stretches of lawn between the sidewalk and the curb. There is a speedway and a famous race-track, where there are annual running races. In the village are Woodlawn, Park (1200 acres), a town-hall, a state armoury, a public library, several theatres and a number of private hospitals and sanatoriums. The Convention Hall has been the meeting place of many conventions; near it is a reproduction of the House of Pansa at Pompeii, built by Franklin W. Smith. The principal business is the bottling and shipping of the mineral waters which are sold in large quantities and exported to many foreign countries. Among the manufactures are patent medicines, druggists' preparations and chemicals, silk gloves, textiles, foundry products and boilers and engines. In 1905 the value of the factory product was $1,709,073, an increase of 28.1% since 1900.
The Saratoga country was a favourite summer camping ground of the Iroquois, particularly the Mohawks, who were attracted thither by the medicinal value of the springs long before Europeans visited the region. The Indian name, “Sa-ragh-to-ga” or “Se-rach-ta-gue,” is said to have meant “ hillside country of the great water ” or “ place of the swift water.” The district became during the colonial wars a theatre of hostilities between the French and English colonists and their Indian allies. In 1693 a French expedition was checked in a sharp conflict near Mt McGregor by an English and colonial force under Governor Benjamin Fletcher and Peter Schuyler. Early in the 18th century the region along the upper Hudson began to be settled, the settlement on the Hudson at the mouth of the Fishkill, directly east of the present Saratoga Springs, being known first as Saratoga (later “Old Saratoga”) and finally as Schuylerville (pop. in 1905, 1529), in honour of the Schuyler family. Upon the settlement the French and Indians descended in 1745, and massacred many of the inhabitants. After the close of the Seven Years' War, there was a new influx of settlers. Near Stillwater (pop. in 1905, 973), about 5 m. south-east of the present village, the battles of Saratoga (q.v.) were 'fought during the War of Independence. On the site of the present village a small log lodging house for the reception of visitors was built in 1771. After the close of the War of Independence, the fame of the Springs as a health resort spread abroad, and many sought them annually. In 1791 Gideon Putnam (1764–1812), a nephew of Major-General Israel Putnam, bought a large tract of land here; he built the first inn (on the site of the present Grand Union Hotel). Other hotels were erected within the next few years; between 1820 and 1830, by which time the Springs had become one of the most popular of American resorts, several large barnlike wooden hotels were constructed; and Saratoga Springs was incorporated as a village in 1826.
