is ever redeemed by a fine fancy. For his time he was largely learned, and steeped in the classical literature of Greece and Italy, and as a master of harmonious versification he has never been surpassed.—J. F. W.
SPERANSKI, Michael, Count, an eminent Russian statesman and legist, was born in 1771 at a village in the government of Vladimir. At an early age he was placed by his father, who was a priest, in an ecclesiastical seminary, whence he was transferred to the clerical academy at St. Petersburg. His singular aptitude for mathematics and the exact sciences, diverted his career from the church. He became professor of physics at the convent of St. Alexander Nevski. Among his private pupils were the sons of Prince Alexis Kourakin, brother to the then chancellor of the empire. Under the auspices of this powerful family he entered the civil service, and obtained rapid promotion. In 1801 he was secretary to the privy council, and distinguished himself by his skill in drawing up important state papers. In 1803 he was charged by Count Kotchoubey to reorganize the ministry of the interior. Five years afterwards he began his great task of directing the codification of the laws. As colleague of the minister of justice, he administered the affairs of Finland immediately after its conquest. Brought into frequent communication with the emperor, his lofty views and eloquent language captivated the monarch, who bestowed on him his entire confidence. Innovations and reforms in every department of state were the consequence, paving the way virtually to a constitutional government. Such sweeping changes alarmed the conservative portion of the community, and in the trying year of 1812 Speranski was sacrificed to the intrigues of his enemies. He was arrested when quitting the imperial palace, and taken to Nijni Novgorod, and thence removed to Perm, which he left in 1815 for a small estate near St. Petersburg. In 1816 he was restored to favour, and became governor of Penza, and received a grant of land. In 1819 he was appointed governor-general of Siberia, where his administrative ability rendered lasting services to the country. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1821, and was admitted into the council of the empire. The rest of his life was spent in tranquillity, and in completing the great work of digesting the mass of imperial ukazes which constitute the law of Russia. This "Svod" or Digest, was completed in the reign of the Emperor Nicholas, and is Speranski's chief title to the gratitude of his countrymen. He died in January, 1839.—(Schnitzler's History of Russia, ii., 492.)—R. H.
SPEUSIPPUS, the nephew and pupil of Plato, and his successor as head of the academic school, was born early in the fourth century b.c. He was early instructed by Plato in the principles of philosophy, and accompanied him on his third voyage to Sicily, upon the conquest of Syracuse by Dion. Plato selected Speusippus as his successor in his school, and he held the office for eight years until his own death. Of his writings only a few fragments remain. He differed from Plato on some points, while he extended and developed his uncle's views on others. On various abstruse points of metaphysical philosophy Speusippus was at issue with Aristotle, who showed his respect for his opponent by a lengthened refutation of his doctrines.—(Vide Ritter's History of Philosophy.)—G.
SPIGELIUS or VAN DEN SPIEGHEL, Adrian, a celebrated anatomist and writer on medicine, was born at Brussels in 1578. He studied at Louvain and Padua, and afterwards received the appointment of state physician in Moravia. In 1616 he was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery at Padua; there he was held in high repute, and was decorated with the order of St. Mark. He died April 7, 1625. The name of Spigelius is perpetuated by the circumstance that anatomists have named one of the five lobes of the liver the "Spigelian lobe." Amongst his writings is an account of a case in which coagula (mistaken by him for intestinal worms) were found in the vena portæ ( Sepulchret. I. 2). He also wrote on intermittent fever (De Febre Semit.). But his chief works are—"De Formato Fœtu," lib. sing.; and "De Humani Corporis Fabrica," libr. x., Ven. 1627. His works were collected and published by Vander Sinden, 2 vols. folio, 1645.—F. C. W.
SPINCKES, Nathaniel, born at Castor, Northamptonshire, in 1653 or 1654, was a prebend of Salisbury, and held various preferments, which he lost in 1690, having refused to swear to William and Mary. In 1713 he was ordained one of the bishops of the nonjurors. He died July 28, 1727.—D. W. R.
SPINDLER, Karl, a German novelist and dramatist, was born at Breslau about 1795, the son of a musician. His first novel appeared in 1824, and two years later he published "The Bastard," which was followed in 1827 by "The Jew," the most highly esteemed of his very numerous publications. His plays met with success on the stage, and for twenty-five years he was the editor of the Forget-me-not a well-known annual. At the time of his death, which occurred at Baden on the 12th July, 1855, his works numbered more than a hundred volumes.—R. H.
SPINELLI, the name of two very celebrated early Italian painters of the fourteenth century, father and son:—Spinello di Luca Spinelli was born at Arezzo about 1330, and is commonly known as Spinello Aretino. He was the scholar of Jacopo di Casentino, and was early employed by the monks of Camaldoli, and in the monastery of San Miniato, near Florence; the works of the latter still exist. In 1384 he was employed at the convent of Monte Oliveto, near Florence. Four years later he visited Pisa, and was engaged to paint part of the corridor of the Campo Santo there. Spinelli painted three frescoes in the Campo Santo from the lives of Saints Efeso and Potito, and received about £10 a piece for them; they are considered his masterpieces. He finally returned home in 1394, and there painted the celebrated "Fall of the Angels," in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, now destroyed, but engraved in the Affreschi Celebri of Carlo Lasinio, 1821. Mr. A. H. Layard, M.P., is in possession of a portion of the original fresco. In 1405-8 Spinelii was in Siena, where he was engaged with his son, Parri Spinelii, at the monthly pay of fifteen golden florins for the two, besides maintenance; this would be about a shilling a day each, equivalent to at least a pound at the present time, and high payment for that age. Spinelii died at an advanced age at Arezzo, in consequence, it is said, of a dream he had, that Satan appeared to him complaining of the ugly figure he had made him in his picture of the fallen angels.—Parri or Gasparri Spinelli, who was a good colourist, was still living in 1444. He was the assistant of Lorenzo Ghiberti in his celebrated Gates; and of Masolino da Panicale, who painted the Brancacci chapel. Parri excelled chiefly as a practical fresco painter; the proportions of his figures were not good, they were too long.—(Vasari, Vite dei Pittori, &c.; Milanesi, Documenti per la Storia dell' arte Senese, 1854.)—R. N. W.
SPINOLA, Ambrosio, Marquis of, one of the greatest generals of the seventeenth century, was born in 1569. His family came originally from Spinola, a small town in the north of Italy. One branch of it settled in Genoa, where they amassed vast wealth by mercantile pursuits, acquired great influence in the affairs of the republic, and became liberal patrons of art. Frederick, a younger brother of Ambrosio, having entered the service of Philip III. of Spain, and attained to the rank of admiral, prevailed on his brother in 1602 to take the command of the land forces intended to operate against the Flemish insurgents. The marquis raised an army of nine thousand men in the duchy of Milan, whom he armed and promised to pay for three years, and marched at their head into the Low Countries, where the affairs of Philip were at a very low ebb. His first service was an unsuccessful attempt to relieve Grave, which surrendered to Prince Maurice on the 20th of September, 1602. Frederick Spinola was killed in a naval engagement with the Dutch in May of the ensuing year. Shortly after, the marquis was appointed commander-in-chief of the Spanish forces in the Low Countries. An attempt which he made to relieve the town of Sluys, which was besieged by his great rival. Prince Maurice, failed; but he was successful in bringing to a termination the siege of Ostend, which had lasted three years and two months, and had cost upwards of one hundred and thirty thousand lives. The capture of this town (14th September, 1604) though reduced to a mere heap of ruins, at once established the reputation of Spinola throughout Europe. After this illustrious achievement he quitted Flanders and repaired to Madrid, where he was received with every mark of distinction, and was appointed commander-in-chief of all the Spanish and Italian forces in the Netherlands. On his return he had an interview with Henry IV. of France, who was secretly in league with the Dutch, and misled that prince as to his plans by the ingenious device of telling him the simple truth. Spinola now changed the theatre of his operations, and endeavoured to carry the war into the heart of the United Provinces. He took Rhinberg and Linghen before Maurice could transfer his forces to the new scene of warfare; but though that prince ultimately kept his wary and skilful
