Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 53.djvu/408

 tinue in the office of justice of the pleas coram rege by Edward II. In February 1311 he was sent by the king on a mission to the papal court, along with John de Benstede (, ii. 128). On 8 March 1312 he was sent with twelve others to the bishops and earls and barons of the province of Canterbury about to assemble at London to explain certain matters touching the ordinances. According to the credible statement of the ‘Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon’ (, Chron. of Edw. I and Edw. II, p. 43), he and William Inge, when on circuit in May 1312 (cf. Patent Roll, Edw. II), had Piers Gaveston brought before them by the Earl of Warwick, and condemned him by the authority of the ‘ordinances,’ ‘whose repeal was not fully known to that county.’ On 29 May 1314 he and five others were ordered to be at Westminster on 19 June, prepared to set out as the king's envoys beyond the sea. In January 1315 he was again acting as justice of assize. On 19 Nov. he and the other justices for holding pleas coram rege were ordered to sit permanently on the bench, and forbidden to absent themselves without the king's special order or for infirmity. He was summoned to the parliament of 14 Jan. 1316. Although he was over sixty years of age in 1323–4 (17 Edward II), he still continued to act as justice until as late as 17 Sept. 1327, the year before his death, which took place in 1328.

In the ‘Outlaw's Song of Traillebaston’ Spigurnel and Roger de Bella Fago, ‘gent de cruelté,’ are contrasted with William Martyn and Gilbert de Knovill, ‘gent de pieté,’ all four being named by a commission of 6 April 1305 commissioners to judge the trailbastons in the west of England (, Political Songs, p. 233;, Fœdera, i. 970).

Spigurnel lived at Kenilworth, and, according to his own return in 1316, was lord or joint lord of various townships in the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Oxford, and Northampton. He had also property in Essex and Leicestershire. His sons represented the county of Bedford in the parliaments of 1 and 14 Edward II.

[Foss's Judges of England, iii. 301; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edw. I, 1292–1300, pp. 494, 549, 619, 629, &c.; Cal. of Close Rolls, Edw. II, 1307–13, pp. 41, 451, et passim, and 1313–18, pp. 24, 101, 145, 208, 316, 320, et passim; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward III, 1327–30, pp. 87, 206, et passim; Parl. Writs, vol. ii. div. iii., Alphabetical Digest, p. 1448; and authorities cited in text.]  SPILLAN, DANIEL (d. 1854), scholar and medical writer, graduated B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1822, and proceeded M.A. and M.B. in 1826. On 13 April 1826 he was admitted a licentiate of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, and was elected a fellow on 7 June 1830. He removed to London, and made a vain effort to maintain himself there by practising his profession. He was equally unsuccessful in his literary enterprises, and being reduced to destitution, died in St. Pancras workhouse on 20 June 1854, leaving a wife and family. A son of his died of phthisis in the workhouse immediately after.

Spillan was the author of: 1. ‘A Manual of Chemistry,’ London, 1837, 24mo. 2. ‘A Manual of Percussion and Auscultation as employed in the Diagnosis of Diseases of the Chest and Abdomen,’ London, 1837, 24mo. 3. ‘Libamenta Praxeos Medicæ,’ London, 1838, 16mo. 4. ‘A Collection of Medical Formulæ from the most Eminent Physicians,’ London, 1838, 24mo. 5. ‘A Manual of General Therapeutics,’ London, 1841, 8vo. 6. ‘A Manual of Clinical Medicine,’ London, 1842, 12mo. 7. ‘Thesaurus Medicaminum,’ London, 1842, 12mo. 8. ‘The Homœopathic Prescribers' Pharmacopœia,’ London, 1850, 16mo.

He also wrote a preface to Ray's ‘Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity,’ and he translated: 1. Andral's ‘Clinique Médicale,’ London, 1836, 8vo. 2. Schill's ‘Outlines of Pathological Semeiology,’ London, 1839, 8vo. 3. Teste's ‘Practical Manual of Animal Magnetism,’ London, 1843, 8vo. 4. Jahr's ‘Homœopathic Handbook,’ London, 1851, 8vo.

In addition to his medical works, Spillan, who was a good classical scholar, translated with critical notes: 5. ‘The Oration of Æschines against Ctesiphon,’ Dublin, 1823, 12mo. 6. Sophocles's ‘Antigone’ and ‘Œdipus Colonæus,’ Dublin, 1831, 8vo. 7. Tacitus's ‘Germania’ and ‘Agricola,’ 1833, 12mo. 8. ‘The History of Rome by Titus Livius,’ vol. i. (Bohn's Classical Library), 1848, 8vo.

[Gent. Mag. 1854, ii. 203; Cat. of Dublin Graduates, p. 530; Register of College of Physicians in Ireland, pp. 96, 107; Lancet, 24 June 1854.]  SPILLER, JAMES (1692–1730), comedian, the son of ‘the’ Gloucester carrier, was born in 1692, and apprenticed to a landscape-painter named Ross. He obtained some proficiency, but, soon wearying of his occupation, joined a company of strolling players, of which, as low comedian, he became the principal support. Such absurd experiments as Alexander the Great and Mithridates were essayed by him. His genuine gifts were, however, soon recognised. From