SACKVILLE. 407 SACRAMENT. SACKVILLE, Lionel Sackville-West, Baron (1S27 — ). An Knglish diplomat. The son of tile littli Eiirl <lc la Wnrr, he was born at Bourn Hall, Cambridgeshire. He received a pri- vate ediuation; entered the di]diimatic service in ]847, and prior to 18G8 was attached successively to the British legations at Lisbon, Naples, .Stutt- gart. Berlin, Turin, and Paris. He became Brit- ish Minister to the Argentine Keiniblic in 1873, to Spain in 1878, and to the L'nit<'d Slates in 1881. He was a member of the North American Fisheries Commission in 1888. The same year, in the American Presidential campaign, a decoy letter now known as the 'Jlurchison letter,' pre- sumably sent by a naturalized citizen of British birth, requested his views on the attitude of the Administration toward England. His answer, which claimed that the reelection of Cleveland would be advantageous to British interests, was published, and gave offense to the President, who sent him his passports, thus terminating his career at Washington, and, incidentally, his polit- ical life. SACKVILLE, TiiOM.s (1536-1608). The first Earl of Dorset and Baron Buckhurst, an En- glish poet and statesman. He was born at Buck- hurst, Sussex, in 1536. He joined the Inner Temple and was called to the bar. In conjunc- tion with Thomas Norton (q.v.) he wrote the first English tragedy in blank verse, Ferrex and Forres, ■afterwards called Gorboduc (q.v.), performed at the Inner Temple on Twelfth Night, 1560-61. It is founded on British legend and is molded to the form of Latin tragedy. It has no dramatic life or energy, but the style is pure and stately, evincing eloquence and power of thought. Sack- ville's other productions (first published in 1503) are the Induction, a poetical preface to the Mir- ror for Magistrates, and the Complaint of the Dutc of Bticliinghom, which was designed to con- clude the work. The Induction is a noble poem, uniting, as Hallam says, "the school of Chaucer and Lydgate to the Fairi/ Queen." Soon after his father's death in 1560, he was created Lord Buckhurst. and became a favorite with the Queen, who employed him in foreign di])lomacy. He went to Parliament as early as 1557. In the spring of 1568 he was sent to France, where he twice negotiated for the Queen's marriage. In 1587 he incurred her displeasure bv what she called his shallow judgment in diplomacy and he was confined to his own house as a prisoner for six months. On the death of Ijcicester he returned to favor. He succeeded Burleigh as Lord High Treasurer (1590). On the accession of James his patent of office was renewed for life, and in the following year he was cre- ated Earl of Dorset. He was buried in Westminster Abbev. Consult his ll'oW,-s, ed. by R. W. Sackville-West (London. 1859); and Gorboduc. as ed. by W. D. Cooper for the Shakespeare Society (ib., 1847), and by Toul- min Smith in VollmiiUer's Enfjlische Sprach- rind Littcraturdcnkmiilcr (Heilbronn, 1883). I . SACO, sa'k6. A river of New England, rising in the White ilountnins of New Hampshire, flow- ing southeast through the southwestern ]inrt of Maine, and emptying through Saco Bay into the Atlantic Ocean (Maj): Maine, B S). It passes through the mountains in the famous Crawford Notch, whose sides are formed bv imjiosing Tocky peaks. Its course of 160 miles is almost a continuous succession of fulls, airording c«- cellent water power. One of these fulls is 72 feet high, and the hist is but 4 miles from the mouth of the river. SACO. A city in York Countv, Me., 15 miles southwest of Portland, on the baco River, hero spanned by four brid-jes, and on the Boston and Maine Railroad I.Map: Maine. C 8). it has Pepperel Park, Thornton Academy, the Dyer Library of 12.000 volumes, the York institute Library, and a scientific and historical society, with a museum. The Saco River, which fulls .55 feet near the city, alfords abundant water power. The industrial establishments include cotton mills, cotton-machinery works, and manufactories of brick, box shooks, belting, and carriages. Old Orchard Beach, four miles distant, is a popular sunuuer resort. Population, in 1890, 0075; in 1900, 6122. The site of Saco was visited by De Monts and Champlain in 1004-05 and by Captain .lohn Smith in 1614, but no permanent settlement was made here until 1631. Until 1762, when it was sepa- rately inc<n porated as PepperelUxno, Saco formed part of Biddeford (incorporated in 1718). In 1805 the present name, which before 1718 had been applied to Biddeford also, was re- adopted, and in 1867 Saco was chartered as a city. Consult: Owen, Old Times in Saco, A Brief Monograph on Local Events (Saco, 1891) ; and Clavton, History of York Counlij (Philadelphia, 1880). SACRAMENT (Lat. sacravienlum, sacra- ment, mystery, engagement, military oath, from sacrare, to dedicate, consecrate, from saccr, sa- cred). The name given to certain religious rites of the Christian Church, as to whose number and etTccts there has been nnieh controversy, especial- ly since the Reformation. .According to the traditional ami most widely held view, a sacra- ment is composed of two parts, an outward and visible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace conveyed tij' the sacrament to those who receive it worthily". This twofold nature is su])posed to correspond to the needs of man, as organized with bod,v and s<ml. This doctrine is most definitely and olearly tauglit in modern times by the Roman Catholic Church, though the Eastern churches are in sub- stantial a.t'reement with it. It holds that the sacraments contain grace within them.selvcs as instruments and convey it ex opcrc operalo. that is by the fact of the performance of the sacra- mental act, to those who have the proper dispo- sitions and so [ilace no obstacle in the way of its reception. The opus oprraiifis. or the independent act of the receiver, may add to the effect, but does not produce it. The sacraments are seven in munber — baptism, confirmation, conununion, penance, uncticm. orders, and matrimony — all of them held to have been instituted by Christ directly. They are divided into sacra- ments of the "dead aiid of the living; the for- mer class includes those which are held to give supernatural life or sanctifying grace to the spiritually dead — baptism and penance; the latter are supposed to be received by those who are alread.v in a state of grace. Three of them, baptism, confirmation, and orders, are held to impress a certain character or stamp upon the soul, and therefore cannot be repeated; they are administered conditionally if there is any doubt
