[Sèvres] (7), a French town on the Seine, 10½ m. SW. of Paris, celebrated for its fine porcelain ware (especially vases), the manufacture of which was established in 1755; has a school of mosaic work and museums for pottery ware of all ages and countries.
[Sèvres, Deux-] (354), a department of West France; is watered by two rivers, and in the N. thickly wooded; a varied agriculture, cattle and mule breeding, and cloth manufacture are the principal industries. Niort is the capital.
[Seward, Anna], poetess, born at Eyam, Derbyshire, but from the age of seven spent her life at Lichfield, where her father was residentiary canon; was a friend and indefatigable correspondent of Mrs. Piozzi, Dr. Darwin, Southey, Scott, and others; author of "Louisa," a novel in poetry, "Sonnets" and other poems, which had in their day considerable popularity; her correspondence is collected in 6 vols. (1747-1809).
[Seward, William Henry], American statesman, born at Florida, New York State; was called to the bar at Utica in 1822, and soon took rank as one of the finest forensic orators of his country; engaged actively in the politics of his State, of which he was governor in 1838 and 1840; entered the U.S. senate in 1849 as an abolitionist, becoming soon the recognised leader of the Anti-Slavery party; was put forward by the Republican party as a candidate for presidential nomination, but failing in this he zealously supported Lincoln, under whom he served as Secretary of State, conducting with notable success the foreign affairs of the country during the Civil War and up to the accession of President Grant in 1869; spent his closing years in travel and retirement (1801-1872).
[Sextant], an instrument used in navigation (sometimes also in land-surveying) for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies and their angular distances; consists of a graduated brass sector, the sixth part of a circle, and an arrangement of two small mirrors and telescope; invented in 1730 by John Hadley.
[Seychelles] (16), a group of some 30 islands, largest Mahé (59 sq. m.), situated in the Indian Ocean, 600 m. NE. of Madagascar; taken from the French by Britain in 1798, and now under the governor of Mauritius; are mountainous and mostly surrounded by coral reefs; export fibres, nuts, palm-oil, &c.; Victoria, in Mahé, is the chief town, and an imperial coaling station.
[Sforza] (i. e. stormer), Italian family celebrated during the 15th and 16th centuries, founded by a military adventurer, a peasant of the name of Muzia Allendolo, and who received the name; they became dukes of Milan, and began by hiring their services in war, in which they were always victorious, to the highest bidder, the first of the number to attain that rank being Francesco Sforza, the son of the founder, in 1450 (1401-1466), the last of the series being François-Marie (1492-1535).
[Sgraffito], a decorative wall painting, produced by layers of plaster applied to a moistened surface and afterwards operated on so as to produce a picture.
[Shadwell, Thomas], dramatist, who lives as the "MacFlecknoe" of Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel," born, of a good family, in Norfolk; studied law and adopted literature, in which he made a successful start with the comedy "The Sullen Lovers" (1668); his numerous plays, chiefly comedies, are of little poetic value, but serve as useful commentaries on the Restoration period; quarrelled with and satirised Dryden in the "Medal of John Bayes," which drew forth the crushing retort in Dryden's famous satire; succeeded Dryden as poet-laureate in 1688 (1640-1692).
[Shafites], a sect of the Sunnites or orthodox Mohammedans, so called from Shafei, a descendant of Mohammed.