[Spoleto] (8), an ancient city of Central Italy, built on the rocky slopes of a hill, in the province of Umbria, 75 m. NE. of Rome; is protected by an ancient citadel, and has an interesting old cathedral with frescoes by Lippo Lippi, and an imposing 7th-century aqueduct; was capital of a Lombard duchy, and in 1220 was joined to the Papal States.
[Spontini, Gasparo], Italian operatic composer, born at Majolati; settled in Paris in 1803, and a year later made his mark with the little opera "Milton," and subsequently established his fame with the three grand operas, "La Vestale," "Ferdinand Cortez," and "Olympia"; from 1820 to 1842 was stationed at Berlin under court patronage, and in the face of public and press opposition continued to write in a strain of elevated and melodious music various operas, including his greatest work "Agnes von Hohenstaufen" (1774-1851).
[Sporades], a group of islands in the Ægean Sea, of which the largest is the Mitylene.
[Spottiswoode, John], archbishop of St. Andrews; accompanied James VI. to London, was zealous for the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland; was archbishop of Glasgow before he was translated to St. Andrews; officiated at coronation of Charles I. at Holyrood in 1633, and was two years after made Chancellor of Scotland; wrote a "History of the Church of Scotland"; was buried in Westminster (1565-1639).
[Spottiswoode, William], mathematician and physician, born in London; was Queen's printer, as his father had been before him; published numerous important papers on scientific subjects, his greatest work "The Polarization of Light," a subject on which he was a great authority (1825-1883).
[Spree], a river of Prussia, rises in East Saxony close to the Bohemian border, follows a winding and generally N. and NW. course of 227 m. till its Junction with the Havel at Spandau; chief towns on its banks are Bautzen, Kottbus, Lübben, and Berlin; is connected with the Oder by the Frederick William Canal.
[Sprengel, Carl], physician and botanist, born in Pomerania; held professorship in Halle; wrote on the history of both medicine and botany (1766-1833).
[Sprenger, Aloys], eminent Orientalist, born in the Tyrol; studied in Vienna; went to India in 1843, where he diligently occupied his mind in study, and on his return in 1857 was appointed professor of Oriental Languages at Bern, from which he was translated to Heidelberg; edited Persian and Arabic works, and wrote the "Life and Doctrine of Mohammed"; b. 1813.
[Springfield], 1, capital (34) of Illinois, situated in a flourishing coal district, 185 m. SW. of Chicago; has an arsenal, two colleges, and a handsome marble capitol; coal-mining, foundries, and flour, cotton, and paper mills are the chief industries; the burial-place of Abraham Lincoln. 2, A nicely laid out and flourishing city (62) of Massachusetts, capital of Hampden County, on the Connecticut River (spanned here by five bridges), 99 m. W. by S. of Boston; settled in 1635; has important manufactories of cottons, woollens, paper, and a variety of other articles, besides the United States armoury. 3, Capital (22) of Greene County, Missouri, 232 m. WSW. of St. Louis; has rapidly increasing manufactories of cottons, woollens, machinery, &c.; in the vicinity was fought the battle of Wilson's Creek, 10th August 1861. 4, Capital (38) of Clark County, Ohio, on Lagonda Creek and Mad River, 80 m. NE. of Cincinnati; is an important railway centre, and possesses numerous factories of machinery, bicycles, paper, &c.
[Spurgeon, Charles Haddon], a great preacher, born at Kelvedon, Essex; had no college training; connected himself with the Baptists; commenced as an evangelist at Cambridge when he was but a boy, and was only 17 when he was appointed to a pastorate; by-and-by on invitation he settled in Southwark, and held meetings which were always requiring larger and larger accommodation; at length in 1861 the Metropolitan Tabernacle, capable of accommodating 6000, was opened, where he drew about him large congregations, and round which he, in course of time, established a number of institutions in the interest at once of humanity and religion; his pulpit addresses were listened to by thousands every Sunday, and were one and all printed the week following, and circulated all over the land and beyond it till they filled volumes; no preacher of the time had such an audience, and none such a wide popularity; he preached the old Puritan gospel, but it was presented in such a form and in such simple, idiomatic phrase, as to commend it as no less a gospel to his own generation: besides his sermons as published, other works were also widely circulated; special mention may be made of "John Ploughman's Talk" (1834-1892).