Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/67

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SIMON SIMONIN 59 Romances of backwoods life: "Guy Eiveps" (1834); "Richard Hurdis" (1838); "Border Beagles " (1840) ; " Beauchampe, or the Ken- tucky Tragedy" (1842); "Helen Halsey " (1845); "The Golden Christmas, a Chronicle of St. John's, Berkeley" (1852) ; and " Charle- mont, or the Pride of the Village " (1856). A selected edition of his novels appeared in 1865 (17 vols., New York). To history and biog- raphy he contributed a " History of South Carolina," " South Carolina in the Revolu- tion" (1854), and lives of Gen. Marion, Capt. John Smith, the chevalier Bayard, and Gen. Greene. Under this head may also be inclu- ded a " Geography of South Carolina." His remaining works include " Views and Reviews in American Literature;" "Egeria, or Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside," a collection of aphorisms in prose and verse ; " Father Abbot, or the Home Tour- ist, a Medley;" "Southward Ho!" (1854); "The Morals of Slavery," &c. He also edited with notes the seven dramas ascribed to Shake- speare, but not published among his works, under the title of "A Supplement to Shake- speare's Plays." SIMON, Jnles (JULES FRANQOIS SUISSE-SIMON), a French statesman, born in Lorient, Dec. 31, 1814. After teaching in various places, he lectured in 1838 at the normal school in Paris. In 1839 he succeeded Victor Cousin as profes- sor of philosophy at the Sorbonne, from which post he was removed in 1851 on account of his >pposition to the coup d'etat. In 1848 he en- tered the constituent assembly, which early in 1849 elected him to the council of state; but not being confirmed by the legislative assem- bly, he retired in 1850. In 1855 and subse- quently he lectured in Belgium on philosophy. He was elected to the legislative body in 1863, and reflected in 1869 in two departments. He advocated popular education, free trade, the abolition of capital punishment, and the in- terests of the working classes; and in 1870 he opposed the plebiscitum in favor of Louis Napoleon and the declaration of war against Prussia. After the establishment of the re- public (Sept. 4), he became a member of the government for the national defence, as min- ister of education, religion, and fine arts, and instituted many reforms, the most prominent of which was the obligatory school law. Af- ter the capitulation of Paris he went to Bor- deaux to put an end to Gambetta's arbitrary proceedings. On Feb. 19, 1871, he became minister of education and religion under Thiers, with whom he retired, May 24, 1873. He re- tained his seat in the national assembly, and in 1875 received from the government a pen- sion of 6,000 francs. His works include His- toire de Tecole d> Alexandrie (2 vols., 1844-'5) ; Le devoir (1854; 6th ed., 1859); La religion naturelle (1856 ; 5th ed., 1859 ; English transla- tion by I. W. Cole, London, 1857) ; La liberte de conscience (3d ed., 1859) ; La liberte (2 vols., 1859) ; L'ficole (1864) ; Le travail (1866) ; La politique radicals (1868); Le libre-ecJiange (1870); and Souvenirs du 4 Septemlre (1874- new ed., 1875). SIMON, Richard, a French Biblical critic, born in Dieppe, May 13, 1638, died there, April 11, 1712. He entered the congregation of the Ora- tory in 1662, was professor of philosophy suc- cessively in the college of Juilly and in that of the Oratory in Paris, and in 1671 became in- volved in a controversy with the Port Royal- ists by a publication entitled Fides Ecclesia Orientalis. In 1678 appeared his Histoire critique du Vieux Testament, in which he at- tributes the authorship of the Pentateuch to scribes of the time of Ezra. It was violently* assailed by Bossuet and suppressed, and the author excluded from the Oratory. The opin- ions of Simon have since been adopted by many rationalistic theologians. Among his other works are : Histoire critique de la cre- ance et des coutumes des nations du Levant (Amsterdam, 1684); Histoire critique du texte du Nouveau Testament (Rotterdam, 1689) ; Histoires critiques des principaux commenta- teurs du Nouveau Testament (Rotterdam, 1692) ; and Nouvelles observations sur le texte et les versions du Nouveau Testament (Paris, 1695). SIMONE DI MARTI NO. See MEMMI. SIMONIDES, a Greek lyric poet, born at lulis, in the island of Ceos, about 556 B. C., died in Syracuse about 467. His family is said to have held some hereditary office in connection with the worship of Bacchus. After reaching manhood he was invited by Hipparchus to Athens, where, with an interval of a few years, he lived until his 80th year, when he was crowned for his victory in the dithyrambic chorus. His elegies on those who fell at Mara- thon and PlatsBa, his epigram on the tombs of the Spartans slain at Thermopylse, and his odes on the sea fights at Artemisium and Salamis, were celebrated. His latter years were passed in Sicily, at the court of Hiero of Syracuse. He is reproached by Pindar with avarice, hav- ing been the first poet on record who wrote for money. He was the most prolific and prob- ably the most popular lyric poet that Greece ever produced. A few fragments are all that remain of his writings, the " Lament of Danae " being the most celebrated. The best edition is that of Schneidewin, Simonidis Cei Car- minum Reliquia (8vo, Brunswick, 1835). A writer considered by some his grandson, and known as SIMONIDES THE YOUNGER, was the author of a genealogical work in three books, and of a treatise " On Inventions." A few fragments remain, including a satire on wo- men, of SIMONIDES THE ELDER, of Amorgos, who flourished about 650 B. C. SIMONIN, Lonis Laurent, a French author, born in Marseilles in 1830. He completed his studies at the mining school of St. Etienne, and was employed by the government in mineralogical explorations in the island of Reunion and in Madagascar. He has several times visited the United States, sketches of which he has writ-