SEVERUS LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS 355 SEVILLE into the Bristol Channel. It receives the Tern, Upper Avon, and Lower Avon on the left, and the Teme and Wye on the right. Its basin has an area of 8,580 square miles. It is navigable to Welsh- pool, about 178 miles above its mouth and 225 feet above sea-level. Below Gloucester its navigation is much impeded, but this has been obviated by a canal from this city to a point on the estuary 2 miles from Berkeley, capable of carrying ves- sels of 350 tons. Below Gloucester the banks become so low that destructive inundations have not infrequently oc- curred. These have been partly caused by one of the most remarkable features of the river, its bore, or by the height of the tides, which at the mouth of the Avon sometimes exceed 48 feet, and at Chepstow attain even 60 feet. A railway tunnel 4% miles long has been driven below the river from near Avonmouth, in Gloucestershire, across to Monmouth- shire, and a railway bridge, 3,581 feet long, crossing the river at Sharpness higher up. SEVERUS LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS, a Roman emperor ; born near Leptis Magna, on the coast of Africa, April 4, 146. After holding the highest offices under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, he obtained command of the legions in Gaul, and when in 193 news came of the murder of Per- tinax, he was proclaimed emperor and immediately marched on Rome. Julianus, to whom the praetorian guard had sold the imperial purple, was deposed and exe- cuted. Meanwhile the Roman legions in Asia had proclaimed their general, Pes- cennius Niger, emperor. Severus over- threw him at Issus in 194. After a suc- cessful campaign against the Parthians, he returned to Rome, but was soon en- gaged in a struggle with another rival, Clodius Albinus, whom he conquered at Lugdunum in 197. New campaigns in the E. were ended by the capture of Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital. Severus then spent several years (202-208) at Rome, gratify- ing the people by his magnificence, and distributing large donations to the troops. In 208, he hastened to Britain to quell a rebellion there. He died in Eboracum (York), Feb. 4, 211. SEVERUS, WALL OF, the name given to the wall or barrier formed at the boun- dary of the Roman empire in Britain between the Solway and the Tyne by the Roman emperor Severus about A. D. 210, following the line of a similar structure made in the reign of Hadrian (a. d. 120), and usually called Hadrian's Wall. It was more than 70 miles long; on the N. toward Scotland was a great ditch, on the S. edge of this was a stone wall vary- ing from 6 to 9 feet in breadth and about 16 feet high, with towers between 50 and 60 feet square at intervals of about a Roman mile. Remains of it are still to be seen over long ranges of country. SEVIGNE, MARIE DE RABUTIN- CHANTAL, MARQUISE DE (sav-en- ya'), a French letter-writer; born in Paris, France, Feb. 6, 1626. Left an or- phan young, she was reared by a maternal uncle, receiving an excellent education and having access to the court. In 1644 she married Henri, Marquis de Sevigne, who fell in a duel in 1651. It was to her daughter, Mme. de Grignan, that she wrote her letters, which are of value both from an historical point of view and for their charm of style. She died in the Castle of Grignan, Dauphiny, April 17, 1696. SEVILLE (Spanish, Sevilla), a fa- mous city of Spain; capital of the prov- ince of the same name; on the left bank of the Guadalquivir, 80 miles from its mouth, and 353% miles S. S. W. of Ma- drid. The river is crossed by a fine iron bridge connecting Seville with Triana (the gipsy quarter), one of its suburbs. The city proper, which is surrounded by old Moorish walls, 5 miles in circumfer- ence, with 66 towers and 15 gates, con- tains a labyrinth of narrow crooked streets. The houses are mostly built in the Moorish style, and are seldom more than two stories high, with flat roofs, and an inner square court surrounded with colonnades and adorned with flowers and fountains. The windows generally look into this court ; to the street there is most frequently only a balcony. The city has many fine promenades, of which the most frequented are the Alameda Vieja, El Passeo de Christina and Las Delicias. Of its 111 squares, the largest are Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza de la Encarna- cion, Plaza del Duque, and the Quemadero — the scene of the autos-da-fe; while of its numerous streets, the chief are Calle de la Sierpe and Calle Francos. Most of the more notable public edifices are at the S. extremity near the river, and within a short distance from each other. Here are the Cathedral (Santa Maria de la Sede), the Giralda, the Alcazar, the Lonja, and (outside the wall), the royal Fabrica de Tabacos. The Cathedral (1401-1519), on the site of the grand mosque of the Moors, is one of the most imposing Gothic edifices in Europe. It is 431 feet long, 315 feet wide, 145 feet high under the transept dome, has seven aisles, 93 windows, sev- eral of which are beautifully painted, and an organ with 5,400 pipes. It contains the "Biblioteca Columbiana" of 42,000 volumes, bequeathed by Ferdinand Colum-
