and afterwards made chamberlains to the pope. Most of the scholars were taken from the Roman orphan asylum, whence the singing school was also called orphanotrophium. The same pope sent Augustin or Austin as a missionary to England, accompanied by many assistants and singers. Augustus and king Alfred, at the end of the ninth century, spread the art of singing in Great Britain. Charlemagne introduced it into France and Germany. He sent singers to Rome, who were there instructed, and, on their return, founded singing schools, first at Metz and Soissons, afterwards in many other towns. Charlemagne often presided in his principal school, and directed the instruction; his daughters practised music three hours daily. All the music masters were taken from the clergy. From the time of Pepin, a royal chapel was always connected with the royal palace, under the inspection of a music master, called menestrel. The so called gay science of the Provençals embraced music as well as poetry. The troubadours diffused it from the eleventh to the fourteenth century; the schools of the minnesingers originated from them; the most flourishing period of the German minnesingers was in the thirteenth century; among them were emperors, kings, princes, and counts; but when, at a later period, the use of court fools prevailed, these noble singers became extinct at court, and the art fell into the hands of common mastersingers. (q. v.) In the middle of the fifteenth century, figurate music was already taught in the singing schools at Augsburg. French and German compositions were principally sung. The principal singing choirs of the north of Germany, sprung from the religious zeal of Luther, who advised the study of music, and the cultivation of it, as a part of the religious service. In those early times, when the custom prevailed of performing mysteries, and celebrating many other religious festivals, singing choirs often assisted in these performances. Another kind of singing school, which existed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, must also be mentioned. In Italy, princes and states, in the middle ages, had in their service whole companies of singers and players, who appeared in numbers at all the chief festivals. Guido of Arezzo, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, did much for the improvement of singing, and founded new schools. In the sixteenth century, a higher and purer taste for music was awakened, chiefly by Palestrina (q. v.), the famous master, of the 36

VOL. XI.

old Roman school. The same powerful influence which he exercised over the ancient Italian school of singing, Francesco Durante (q. v.) had over the modern. At the end of the seventeenth century, the singing school of Francesco Antonio Pistochi, in Bologna, was distinguished, which was continued by his famous scholars, Ant. Bernachi and Ant. Pasi. In the eighteenth century, the following schools were celebrated: that of Brivio, in Milan; Franc. Peli, in Modena; Redi, in Florence; Amadori, in Rome; but, particularly, those of Nic. Porpora (q. v.), Leonardo Leo, and Franc. Feo, in Naples. (See Italian Music.) These conservatorios (q. v.), or public singing and music schools, had the greatest influence, both in Italy and France, in perfecting music.

SINIGAGLIA, in the papal delegation of Urbino, between Rimini and Ancona; a small fortified place with 6200 inhabitants, celebrated for its annual fair, which lasts from July 20 to August 10. During this time, loggie or booths are erected along the canal, which are crowded with foreign and native traders, and the place, thronged with jugglers, dancers, &c., exhibits a panorama of Italy in miniature.

SINKING FUND. The term sinking fund is applied to a fund appropriated by a government to the purchase or extinguishment of its own debts. Where a government merely directs its treasurer to apply moneys, accruing from permanent sources of revenue, to the payment of the public debt, the term sinking fund can only signify the excess of the current revenues over the current expenditures. But the term is not ordinarily applied in such a case. In England, as early as 1716, sir Robert Walpole projected the sinking fund system, which was partially applied at that time, but brought into operation more fully in 1786, by Mr. Pitt. New taxes were imposed to such an amount as, upon estimation, would leave a surplus revenue of £900,000 beyond the current annual expenditure, and the payment of interest on the public debt. Assuming that, for a given number of years, the expenditure of the government would not exceed the estimated amount, and that the resources would yield this surplus, it followed, of course, that the public debt would eventually be extinguished by the application of this surplus to this purpose. And if the revenues, and expenditures for other purposes than the payment of the interest and principal of the public debt were kept at the same amount, it would follow that a greater

amount could annually be applied to the payment of the principal of the debt, since a smaller amount would be requisite for the payment of the interest, in consequence of the constant reduction of the debt. All this is quite plain, and it would be equally true whether the payments were the extinguishment of a certain portion of the debt, or the purchase of it by the commissioners, or by trustees, who should hold the amount redeemed, and receive interest upon it, like any other creditors of the government, applying the interest so received to the further purchase of stock. This latter system was adopted in Great Britain, so that, in 1813, when this system of the sinking fund had been in operation twenty-seven years, a little more than £210,000,000 sterling had been redeemed, leaving the net amount of the public debt about £575,000,000, though the nominal amount was then above £812,000,000. In 1786, the debt was about £238,000,000. When this system was adopted, it was represented that, by some mysterious operation, it would infallibly result in the extinguishment of the debt; and the system was celebrated as a grand economical discovery. But after infinite arguments and calculations, and some ridicule on the part of unbelievers, it was found that there was no advantage obtained by buying up a part of the debt, and at the same time contracting an equal or greater amount at an equivalent rate of interest. A sinking fund, in the plain and intelligible sense of being a system of provisions and guaranties for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the public debt, is undoubtedly of great importance, and necessary to sustain the public credit. When no part of the debt is made redeemable, such a system can be carried into operation only by buying up the public securities. But the still continuing to call the part so bought up a portion of the public debt, and receiving interest upon it, and keeping accounts respecting it, are a mere idle ceremony. A sinking fund was early established under the government of the United States. From 1803 down to 1817, the sum of $8,000,000 annually was appropriated to that fund, and the stock bought up or paid off by the commissioners, was registered in the treasury office, to the credit of the commissioners of that fund; and the interest accruing on such stock constituted a part of the fund for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the unredeemed part of the debt; and in 1814, a little more than $33,000,000

was entered in the books of the treasury to the credit of those commissioners. Certain revenues were appropriated to this fund, it being intended, like any other similar one, as a sort of pledge of the public faith and resources to the public creditors. But before the close of that war, the fund had, from time to time, been charged with the payment of amounts to which it was inadequate, so that it no longer held out sufficient security to the public creditors. Accordingly, in 1817, a larger amount of appropriations was made to the fund, and by the act of congress of the third of March of that year, it was provided that the certificates of the stock redeemed should be cancelled; that is, the commissioners of this fund did not any longer appear as the creditors of the government on the treasury books. The ordinary and plain mode of proceeding was adopted: when any part of the debt was paid, the securities were cancelled, and did not afterwards appear in the public accounts.

SION; one of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem was built. The part of the city on mount Sion was also called the "city of David," and the lower city, on mount Acra, was called the "daughter of Sion." (See Jerusalem.)

SIOUX, OF DAHCOTAH INDIANS; a family of Indian tribes dwelling to the west of the Mississippi. (See Indians, American.)

SIPHON; a bent tube with one leg shorter than the other, used for transferring a liquid from one vessel to another. This is effected by exhausting the siphon of the air which it contains, or at least so rarefying it that the pressure of the atmosphere on the surface of the water will force up the liquid beyond the highest point of the curve of the siphon, when it will descend by the opposite leg. The power of the siphon is limited merely to decanting, and cannot be applied to raise the liquid above its level in the original vessel; nor will it continue to act after the level of the vessel into which it is decanted becomes equal to that from which it is drawn off. Instead of exhausting the siphon of air, it may be inverted and filled with water; if both ends are then stopped, and the shorter leg immersed in the water to be drawn off, on removing the plugs, the water will flow. If the siphon is large, as is the case where it is used for carrying water over a hill, it may be filled by an orifice in the upper point of the curve, which may then be plugged; and, on removing the plugs of the ends,

the water will flow, as in the case last mentioned. A Würtemberg siphon is one in which the extremities of the legs are turned upwards, and which can be kept constantly filled. (See Hydrostatics, and Air.)

SIR; a term of courtesy, now applied, without distinction of rank, to all persons, formerly confined to gentlemen (probably derived from sieur, seigneur, lord). It is also the title of honor of knights and baronets, and as such is always prefixed to the Christian name.-Sire, in France, is a term of respect, by which the king is addressed.

SIRACH. Jesus, son of Sirach, was a Jew of Palestine, who, about B. C. 140, after his arrival in Egypt, translated into Greek, for the use of the Alexandrian Jews, the book of Proverbs, which his grandfather, of the same name, had originally composed in Hebrew. The Catholic church admits this book (Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus) into the canon; by the Protestants it is ranked among the apocryphal books. It is written in a deep religious tone, and abounds in excellent practical rules of life.

SIREN. (See Salamander.)

SIRENS; inferior goddesses, who, by their singing, fascinated those that sailed by their island, and then destroyed them. Homer mentions but two, and represents them as young women, without informing us of their origin. Later poets, who give a different account of their persons, number, names, and place of residence, usually describe them as daughters of the Ætolian river god Achelous, by Sterope, daughter of Amythaon, or by the muse Melpomene, or Terpsichore, sometimes as having sprung from the blood which flowed to the earth from the horn of Achelous, broken in his struggle with Hercules. Euripides, in reference to the latter account, calls them the daughters of the Earth. Sophocles calls them daughters of Phorcus; and this is, perhaps, the oldest account. The author of the Orphic Argonautics places them on a projecting rock on the shore near Etna, alluring the Argonauts by their fatal singing. But Orpheus sang a heroic song to his lute, and the Sirens flung away their flutes and lyres, and threw themselves into the sea, where they became formidable rocks. These Sirens, thus converted to stone, could not be dangerous to Ulysses, and the poet assumes others in the Tyrrhenean sea, whom he encountered. Plato feigns eight Sirens, who are borne round on the eight heavenly circles, and who make the music of the

spheres, which others attribute to the nine Muses. There is likewise a story of their trial of skill in singing, with the Muses. The latter were victorious, and, plucking the feathers from the wings of the Sirens, made garlands of them. According to Hyginus, the Sirens received these wings from Ceres, after the rape of Proserpine, because, although in her train, they had not rendered her assistance.

SIRIUS (dogstar); the most brilliant of the fixed stars, and the largest in the constellation of the Great Dog. (See Constellations, and Dogdays.)

SIROCCO; a hot, relaxing and oppressive south-east wind, which blows in Sicily and Italy. Some have supposed it to be the same as the simoom, tempered by its passage across the water.

SISMONDI, John Charles Leonard Simonde de, a celebrated historian and political economist, was born at Geneva, in 1773, of a family originally from Pisa, but which had long been settled in the south of France, and in Switzerland. The father of Sismondi, a member of the old Genevan government, retired to England with his family, in consequence of the troubles in 1792. (See Geneva.) On his return, in 1794, he was arrested, with his son, and both were sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and a heavy fine. Having recovered his liberty after the 9th Thermidor, Sismondi went to Tuscany (1795), but was there subjected to new persecutions. The French first threw him into prison as an aristocrat; and, Geneva having been meanwhile annexed to France, the insurgent Italians next confined him as a Frenchman. In the autumn of 1800, he returned to Geneva, and soon after published his first work, Tavieau de l'Agriculture Toscane (1801), which was soon after followed by several valuable works, particularly the treatise entitled De la Richesse Commerciale (2 vols., 8vo., 1803). His studies were not confined to history, politics and the sciences auxiliary to them; he also paid much attention to polite literature. His extensive knowledge of foreign literatures, particularly the German school of poetry and criticism, contributed to raise his views above the narrow conventional rules then predominant in French æsthetics; and his Littérature du Midi de l'Europe (2d edition, 4 vols., 1829, translated into English) forms an epoch in literary history. In the field of history, Sismondi has acquired a high reputation by his two great works, Histoire des Républiques Italiennes du Moyen Age (16 vols., 8vo., 3d edition, 1826), and Histoire

des Français (yet incomplete, vols. 1-15, 1821-31). His other works are Nouveaux Principes d'Économie politique, ou de la Richesse dans ses Rapports avec la Population (2 vols., 2d edition, 1829); Julia Severa (3 vols., 1822)—a historical romance, illustrating the state of Gaul at the time of the invasion by Clovis, towards the end of the fifth century; History of the Italian Republics, being a View of the Rise, Progress and Fall of Italian Freedom (in English, 1 vol., and French, 2 vols., 8vo., 1832); and Des Espérances et des Besoins de l'Italie (1832). He was also a frequent contributor to the Revue Encyclopédique previously to its adoption of St. Simonian principles; and most of the notices of the distinguished historical personages of Italy in the Biographie Universelle are from his pen. In his political principles, Sismondi is aristocratico-republican; and, although he had previously appeared, if not opposed, at least indifferent, to the imperial government, yet, after Napoleon's return from Elba, he published a warm eulogium on the acte additionnel (Examen de la Constitution Française), in which he called upon all Frenchmen to rally round the emperor, in defence of the national independence. Napoleon, in consequence, named him a member of the legion of honor; but Sismondi declined receiving any mark of favor. As a historian, he is distinguished for his full and accurate narrative, drawn with great scrupulousness from original sources; and his works are replete with instruction in regard to facts, and in their pictures of the changes in the social condition. But he is sometimes prolix, and we often miss the profound views and large conclusions of the philosophical his

torian.

SISTINE CHAPEL (Cappella Sistina); a chapel in the Vatican, so called from pope Sixtus IV, who erected it, and destined it for the religious services performed during Passion Week, for which it is still chiefly used. Its dimensions are very large. The whole wall behind the altar is covered by Michael Angelo's picture of the last Judgment a great poem in itself. On the vaulted ceiling, the same master has painted the creation of the world, and around it prophets and sibyls. The other walls contain, in twelve compartments, the productions of Signorelli, Filippi, Perugino, Roselli, &c., which relieve the mind, tasked by the gigantic and overpowering conceptions of the immortal Angelo. Words are inadequate to describe the effect of the celebration of the passion of

the Savior by the pope and cardinals in this chapel during Passion Week, when grand and appropriate ceremonies, aided by incomparable music, combine with the noblest productions of the pencil, to produce the highest effect of Catholic worship.

SISTRA. (See Indian Literature.)

SISTRUM; a musical instrument of the ancients. The Egyptians used it in the worship of Isis, and it is still found in Egypt and Abyssinia. It consists of an oval hoop of metal with a handle. Through this hoop are bored holes, in which are metal bars, which, on agitating or beating the instrument, produce the sound. The finer the metal, and the more perfect the proportion of the holes, the more agreeable is the tone of the instrument. The German guitar has also been called sistrum.

SISYPHUS; king of Corinth (which, according to some, he built), and son of Eolus and Enarete. He married Merope, the daughter of Atlas. The Attic poets relate many instances of his art. Theseus, whose dominions he disturbed, slew him. Some impute his death to Jupiter, in revenge for his having informed Esopus of the rape of his daughter. He is said to have put Death in fetters, so that, for some time, no one died. He afterwards overreached Pluto, by getting leave to visit the upper regions, whence he did not return till he had lived out the natural term of his life. In consequence of this, he was obliged to roll a heavy stone to the top of a hill in the infernal regions. The stone no sooner reached the summit than it fell back, thus rendering his punishment eternal.

SIWAH; one of the oases in the desert of Libya, to the west of Egypt, interesting from the ruins which it contains. It lies in lat. 29° 12′ N.; lon. 26° 6′ E.; 120 miles W. from the Nile, and is about six miles long by four or five wide. It is supposed to contain 8000 inhabitants, of whom 2500 are in the town of Siwah. The soil is fertile, yielding dates, pomegranates, figs, olives and grapes. Tepid springs, holding salt in solution, are nu merous. This oasis is supposed to be the site of the celebrated temple of Jupiter Ammon, the ruins of which travellers think they have discovered at the distance of a league and a half from the town, covering an area of 360 feet by 300. The ruins are in the Egyptian style of architecture, and covered with a profusion of hieroglyphical and other sculptures in relief and painted. Nearly a mile from these

ruins, in a grove of date palms, is the celebrated Fountain of the Sun, dedicated to Ammon. It is ninety feet in length by sixty, and appears to be warmer by night than by day. Close by this spring are traces of a temple supposed to be the relics of a sanctuary mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. A mountain in the neighborhood has been converted into catacombs, some of the tombs of which are on a magnificent scale, resembling the celebrated sepulchral chambers of Thebes in decoration, sculpture and painting. A succession of lakes and temples stretches into the desert towards the west, and tombs, catacombs and churches, are scattered over the waste. At a short distance from the sacred lake there is a temple of Roman or Greek construction, the architecture of which is of the Doric order-a singular circumstance in a country surrounded by immense deserts, and 400 miles distant from the ancient seats of civilization. (See Browne's Travels in Africa and Syria.)

SIX NATIONS. (See Iroquois.) SIXTUS V, the greatest ruler and statesman among the popes of the three last centuries, was born in 1521, at Grotta a Mare, not far from the little town of Montalto, in the mark of Ancona. His proper name was Felix Peretti. He gave early indications of an aspiring spirit, and was delivered by his uncle, a Franciscan, at Montalto, from the humble labors by which his indigent parents procured their bread. In the schools of this order at Montalto, Pesaro, Fermo, Bologna, &c., Peretti, having joined the Franciscans in 1534, received the usual strict education and instruction of the monasteries. His active spirit soon made him conversant with the scholastic philosophy and theology and Roman literature. In 1544, he gave instruction in the canon law at Rimini, and, in 1546, at Sienna. In 1548, he was made priest, doctor of divinity, and superintendent of the monastic school of Sienna. He made himself famous in Rome, likewise, as an acute logician and preacher, where, in 1551, the favor of some cardinals procured him a permanent residence. Here he gained much reputation, not only by his pulpit performances, but also by his pious works, as the founding of brotherhood for solemnly carrying the host to the sick, under the name of the society of the holy sacrament, and an asylum for indigent young girls, according to the rule of St. Clara. His work on mystical divinity, and his Golden Register, extracted from the writings of

Aristotle and his commentator Averroes, were also fruits of this residence at Rome, which, however, was embittered by the vexatious controversies in which his unquiet spirit, and his aversion to the monastic life, involved him. Cardinal Capri, the protector of his order, defended him from the violence of his associates; but he was continually plunged into new difficulties by his own intolerance, and the jealousy of the monks, arising from the reputation which he had acquired as a preacher on his visits to the principal cities of Italy. His situation was not improved by his removal to Venice, where, in 1556, he was appointed superintendent of the Franciscan school, and, in 1557, inquisitor-general. He discharged these offices with great strictness, and not without some danger; for the abhorrence in which the Venetians held the inquisition compelled him several times to flee from the city. In 1560, he gladly returned to Rome, where the pope made him a counsellor of the holy office (the inquisition), and professor in the university; and his order, at the suggestion of Capri, chose him their procurator-general. He attended the papal legate to Spain, in 1565, as the theologian of the embassy. Here he became acquainted with the policy of the Spanish court, and, by his sermons, obtained the esteem of Philip II and his nobles. The cardinal of Alessandria being made pope, in 1566, under the name of Pius V, elevated his old friend Peretti to the rank of vicar-general of the Franciscans, bishop of St. Agata de' Goti, and father confessor to the pope. Peretti now labored to repress the disorders which had arisen among the Franciscans, and to improve by pastoral letters the morals of the clergy of his diocese, which he never visited but once: moreover, he generously pardoned his former enemies. In 1570, he was made a cardinal, and assumed the name of Montalto, because cardinals of low birth are accustomed to exchange their family name for the name of their native place. Well acquainted with the policy of his colleagues, he believed the surest way to gain the triple crown-the great object of his ambitionwas to pursue a course of conduct which should not awaken the jealousy of the other cardinals. Till then, violent, ambitious, active, and strong in body, he seemed to have adopted with the purple all the opposite qualities. His influence over Pius V he used with moderation, and, after his death, avoided connecting himself with any party in the conclave.