530 SAINT-ELME SAINT FRANCIS EIVER SAINT-ELME, Ida, the nom de plume of a French courtesan (LSELIXA VANAYL DE YOXGH), born at Valambrose, S. France, in 1778, died in Brussels, May 23, 1845. She is known chiefly by her publication entitled Me- moires (Tune contemporaine (8 vols., Paris, 1827; new ed., 1863), purporting to contain her recollections of eminent personages under the republic, the consulate, the empire, and the restoration. As the mistress of several of Na- poleon's generals and marshals, she professed to have peculiar materials of secret history. After the revolution of 1830 she resided in London, and made an attempt to levy black- mail upon Louis Philippe by forcing him to purchase letters written by him in' 1809. She ended her life in a hospital of nuns. Ml M I ->l IKUKUIl K. See LERIXS ISLANDS. SAIMKS (anc. Santones), a town of France, in the department of Charente-lnferieure, on the right bank of the Charente, 86 m. N. W. of La Rochelle ; pop. in 1872, 9,998. It has many Roman antiquities, and a renovated cathedral which originated with Charlemagne. The crypt of the church of St. Eutrope forms the largest subterranean chapel in France. The trade is chiefly in wine, brandy, and grain. It is of great antiquity, and was one of the principal cities of Aquitania. In the middle ages it was the capital of the province of Saintonge. It suffered much during the reli- gious wars. MIYl-Kl 1KK. a town of France, capital of the department of Loire, on the Furens, a branch of the Loire, 82 m. S. W. of Lyons; pop. in 1872, 110,814. It has several spacious streets lined with substantial houses built of freestone, originally white, but soiled from coal smoke. Among the churches, St. Etienne and Notre Dame are most noteworthy, and oth- er public buildings are the town hall, theatre, museum of industry, gallery and school of tine arts, school of mines, and communal college. It was a place of some importance in the 15th century, and in recent times has become one of the principal manufacturing centres in Eu- rope. It owes its recent rapid rise to the water power furnished by the Furens, and its situa- tion in the midst of the most productive coal fields of France. The ribbon manufacture, the largest in the world, employs 40,000 weavers in the town and adjacent districts, and pro- duces goods to the value of 80,000,000 francs per annum. The firearms factories employ 6,000 men, and in 1868 turned out 90,000 pieces, and the national arms factory, employ- ing 4,500 men, made in 1868 200,000 Chasse- pot rifles. Sixty cutlery establishments em- ploy 7,000 workmen and produce goods to the value of about 3,500,000 francs annually. The manufacture of Bessemer and Martin steel is extensive. Hemp cables for mines and in- clined railway planes are made. Of coal about 500,000 tons a year are exported. SAINT ECSTATICS, an island of the West In- dies, belonging to the Netherlands, in the Lee- ward group, 12 m. N. W. of St. Christopher ; area, about 8 sq. m. ; pop. about 2,200. The N. part is broken into rugged hills from 500 to 900 ft. high ; the S. is occupied by an ex- tinct volcano, the summit of which is 1,950 ft. high. The climate is warm, but healthful. The soil is fertile, but covered with a wilder- ness of weeds ; the chief product is yams, be- sides which the sugar cane is cultivated, yield- ing an average of 80,000 Ibs. of sugar per an- num. Orange, the chief town, is on the S. W. side, built partly on a small beach and partly on a steep cliff 130 ft. high ; this cliff is com- posed of white argillaceous earth, which makes excellent cement for subaqueous as well as ordinary works. The only accessible point is on the beach under the town, and here the surf is dangerous. The landing is defended by a fort and several batteries. It has been a Dutch colony since about 1635, but was sev- eral times taken by the French and English, and the English language is spoken. It was at one time a place of great importance, being the seat of an extensive contraband trade, and the population in 1780 was 25,000; but it now has little trade. SAINT-EVREMOND, Charles de MarjmetH de Saint- Denis, seigneur de, a French author, born near Coutances, April 1, 1618, died in London, Sept. 20, 1703. He early acquired military and social distinction, but gave offence to Ma- zarin while holding a high command in which he amassed a fortune, and was imprisoned for three months in the Bastile. In 1661 he was banished for disparaging the treaty of the Pyrenees. In London, where he passed the rest of his life, he became an oracle in fash- ionable and political society, and Charles II. gave him a pension of 300. His principal works are: Comedie de* aeademistet (1650); Reflexion* ur leg divers genie* du people ro- main (1664) ; Jiigementt et ol*ertution ur Seneque, Plutarque, &c. ; and minor essays and dissertations on ancient and modern tra- gedy and ancient poetry. The first authentic edition of his works was partly prepared by himself and Des Maizeaux, and finished by the latter in conjunction with Silvestre (3 vols., London, 1705, with an English translation and biographical notice). A select edition was published in 1804 by Desessarts. SAINT FRANCIS, an E. county of Arkansas, drained by the St. Francis and L'Anguille rivers ; area, about 625 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,714, of whom 2,446 were colored. The sur- face is nearly level, and the soil productive. It is intersected by the Memphis and Little Rock railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 141,911 bushels of Indian corn, 8,850 of sweet and 2,440 of Irish potatoes, and 3,757 bales of cotton. There were 1,014 horses, 659 mules and asses, 1,662 milch cows, 368 working oxen, 2,449 other cattle, 924 sheep, and 8,060 swine. Capital, Madison. SAINT FRANCIS RIVER. See ARKANSAS, vol. i., p. 714,
