RYMER SAADI 505 many sermons and several volumes on theo- logical topics. RYMER, Thomas, an English antiquary, born in Yorkshire about 1640, died in London, Dec. 14, 1713. He became a member of Gray's Inn in 1666, and was appointed historiographer to King William in 1692. Rymer was chosen to edit the whole body of existing documents re- lating to state transactions between England and other countries, and the result was the collection entitled Foedera, Conventiones, Lite- rs et cujuscumque Generis Acta Publica inter Beges Anglm et alios quosvis Imperatores, &c., commonly called " Eymer's Foedera." Fifteen volumes were printed before Rynier's death, and Robert Sanderson, who was appointed his assistant in 1707, published the remainder (to- gether 20 vols. fol., 1704-'35). Rymer wrote a play entitled "Edgar, or the English Mon- arch" (1678), and "A Short View of Tragedy of the Last Age," with reflections on Shake- speare and " other Practitioners for the Stage " (1693); and left several volumes in manu- script on the history and government of Eng- land, which are in the British museum. KVSWKk (Dutch, Ryswylc or RijswijTc a village of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, 2 m. S. E. of the Hague; pop. about 2,900. A treaty of peace was con- cluded here in 1697 by Louis XIV. of France on the one part and the German empire, Eng- land, Spain, and Holland on the other, which terminated the long war that followed the league of Augsburg in 1686. By that treaty Louis acknowledged "William of Orange as king of Great Britain and Ireland, and restored his conquests in Catalonia, and a large part of Flanders to Spain, and others on the Rhine, as well as Lorraine, to the German empire ; but Strasburg and other places in Alsace were defin- itively ceded to France. The villa where the treaty was concluded was demolished in 1783, and a commemorative pyramid was erected on the spot in 1792. S THE 19th letter, 15th consonant, and . chief sibilant in the English alphabet. It is a linguo-dental, and represents the hissing made by driving the breath between the end of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, just above the upper incisors. It is found in most languages, and is one of the most abundant consonants in English. Its sound varies, being strong, like c soft, in this, sun, and softer, like 2, in these, wise. Among the Hebrews, the tribe of Ephraim uttered s for the aspirated sh, which they could not articulate (Judg. xii. 6) ; and lisping, which is not uncommon, especially in children, consists in uttering the aspirated th for s. Its symbol in Hebrew signifies tooth, and in its original shape it may have represent- ed three teeth, since in Hebrew, Greek, and Etruscan it consists of three strokes, which in altered positions have the same relative situa- tion to each other. In the Phoenician the an- gles are rounded, and approach the serpentine form of the Roman character. In words com- mon to the Greek and Latin, the latter language often has an s initial in place of the aspirate in the former ; thus eg, ITTTO., jj>/Uof, vSup, vkri, vq, become sex, septem, sol, sudor, sylva, sus. Be- fore words borrowed from the Latin having s initial, the French often prefix a vowel ; thus spiritus, spatium, spes, become esprit, espace, esperance ; and by an abbreviation schola, scri- bere, status, become ecole, ecrire, etat. In the middle of words the dropped s is replaced by a circumflex ( A ) ; thus tempestas, magister, bestia, epistola, become tempete, maitre, bete, epitre ; and the Italian medesimo, testa, presto, become meme, tete, pret. In modern English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, a final is the usual sign of the plural of nouns. In some declensions of Greek, Latin, and the Teutonic languages (in English in all substantives singu- lar) it serves to mark the genitive. It is sub- ject to interchanges with t (Ger. das and dass, Fuss, gross, Biss, Eng. that, foot, great, bite), th (loves, loveth, hates, hateth), z (in the Somerset- shire dialect of England ; Dutch euster, zomer, Eng. sister, summer), sch (Ger. schlagen, Eng. slay}, and other consonants. As an abbre- viation it stands for societas or socius, for the proper name Sextus, anciently for the numeral 7, for solo in Italian music, and for south in books of navigation and geography. SAAIH, Sheik Moslih ed-Dln, a Persian poet, born in Shiraz, died in 1291, at the age of 102, or according to some authorities at a still higher age. He studied at Bagdad, became a dervish, made 15 pilgrimages on foot to Mecca, travel- led in India and Egypt, and fought against the crusaders in Syria, where he was taken prison- er. A merchant of Aleppo ransomed him and gave him his daughter in marriage, with whom he led an unhappy life. After 30 years' wan- derings, he returned to Shiraz and built him- self a hermitage, where he passed his remain- ing years. He possessed great scientific knowl- edge, and was familiar with the principal ori- ental languages and Latin. His collected pro- ductions include the Gulistan ("Flower Gar- den "), Bostan (" Fruit Garden "), Fend Nameh ("Book of Counsels"), numerous gazels or odes, elegies, &c. The whole, in Persian and Arabic, edited by Harrington, were printed at Calcutta in 1791 (2 vols. small fol.); and of the Gulistan editions have been published with a parallel English translation by James Du- moulin (Calcutta, 1807), and with a vocabulary by Eastwick (Hertford, 1850), who translated
