Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/342

Rh 322 S A T S A U old as the 4th century B.C. The first certain mention of the star of Cronus (Saturn) is in Aristotle (Metaphysics, p. 1073b, 35). The uame also occurs in the Epinomis (p. 987b), a dialogue of uncertain date, wrongly ascribed to Plato. In Latin, Cicero (1st century B.C. ) is the first author who speaks of the planet Saturn. The applica- tion of the name Saturn to a day of the week (Saturni dies, Saturday) id first found in Tibullus (L 3, 18). (J. G. FR.) SATYR. In ancient Greek mythology the satyrs were spirits, half-human half-bestial, that haunted the woods and mountains, companions of Pan and Dionysus. Fancy represented them as strongly built, with flat noses, pointed ears, and the tails of horses or goats. They were a roguish and wanton but faint-hearted folk, lovers of wine and women, ever roaming the wild to the music of pipes and cymbals, castanets and bagpipes, dancing with the nymphs or pursuing them, striking terror into men, whose cattle they killed and whose women they made love to. In the earlier Greek art they appear as old and ugly, much like wild apes; but in later art, especially in works of the Attic school, this savage character is softened into a more youthful and graceful aspect. There is a famous statue supposed to be a copy of a work of Praxiteles, representing a graceful satyr leaning against a tree with a flute in his hand. In Attica there was a species of drama known as the Satyric drama ; it parodied the legends of gods and heroes, and the chorus was composed of satyrs. Euripides's play of the Cyclops is the only extant example of this kind of drama. The symbol of the shy and timid satyr was the hare. In some districts of modern Greece the spirits known as Calicantsars offer points of resemblance to the ancient satyrs ; they have goats' ears and the feet of asses or goats, are covered with hair, and love women and the dance. The herdsmen of Parnassus believe in a demon of the mountain who is lord of hares and goats. In the Authorized Version of Isa. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14 the word "satyr" is used to render the Hebrew sS'trtm, "hairy ones." A kind of demon or supernatural being known to Hebrew folk-lore as inhabiting waste places is meant ; a practice of sacrificing to the si'irtm is alluded to in Lev. xviL 7, 'where E. V. has "devils." They correspond to the "shaggy demon of the mountain-pass" (azabb al-'akaba) of old Arab superstition. But the satyrs of the gloomy Semitic deserts, faith in which is not yet extinct, are much more terrible than those of Greece. SAUL, son of Kish, king of Israel. (See ISRAEL, vol. xiii. p. 403 sq.) The name of Saul's father Kish (Bp) seems to be identical with the Arabic proper name and god- name Kais. SAUMAISE. See SALMASITTS. SAUMAREZ, JAMES SAUMAREZ or SAUSMAREZ, BARON DE (1757-1836), English admiral, was descended from an old family, and was born at St Peter Port, Guernsey, llth March 1757. Many of his ancestors had distinguished themselves in the naval service, and he entered it as mid- shipman at the age of thirteen. For his bravery at the attack of Charleston in 1775 on board the "Bristol" he was raised to the rank of lieutenant, and he was pro- moted commander for his gallant services off the Dogger Bank, 5th August 1781, when he was wounded. In com- mand of the " Russell," he contributed to Rodney's victory over De Grasse, 12th April 1782. For the capture of "La Reunion," a French frigate, in 1793 he received the honour of knighthood. While in command of a small squadron he was on 5th June 1794 attacked by a superior French force on the way from Plymouth to Guernsey, but by his seamanship and coolness succeeded in gaining a safe anchorage in the harbour of that island. After being promoted to the "Orion" of 74 guns in 1795, he took part in the defeat of the French fleet off L'Orient, 22d June, distinguished himself in the battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797, and was present at the blockade of Cadiz from February 1797 to April 1798, and at the battle of the Nile, 1st August 1798, where he was wounded. On his return from Egypt he received the command of the "Cfesar," 84 guns, with orders to watch the French fleet off Brest during the winters of 1799 and 1800. In 1801 he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, was created a baronet, and received the command of a small squadron which was destined to watch the movements of the Spanish fleet at Cadiz. To prevent a fleet of British merchantmen from falling into the hands of the enemy, he engaged the French and Spanish fleets, which outnumbered his own small squadron by two to one, inflicting on them a severe defeat with a loss of 3000 men. Regarding this achievement Lord Nelson remarked that "a greater action was never fought." For his services Saumarez was rewarded with the order of the Bath, and he also received the freedom of the city of London, together with a magnificent sword. In 1803 he received a pension of 1200 a year. On the outbreak of the war with Russia in 1809 he was entrusted with the command of the Baltic fleet, and in recognition of his services Charles XIII. of Sweden bestowed on him the grand cross of the military order of the Sword. At the peace of 1814 he attained the rank of admiral; and in 1819 he was made rear- admiral, in 1821 vice-admiral of Great Britain. He was raised to the peerage as Baron de Saumarez in 1831, and died at Guernsey, 9th October 1836. See Memoirs of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, by Sir John Ross, 2 vols., 1838. SAUMUR, a town of France, at the head of an arrondissement in the department of Maine-et-Loire, is situated on an island and on the left bank of the Loire, 38 miles south-west of Tours, and 27 miles south-east of Angers. A large metal bridge connects the Tours-Angers railway with that of Montreuil-Bellay by which Saumur communi- cates with Poitiers and Niort. Two stone bridges (755 and 905 feet long) also unite the town on the island with the two banks of the river. Several of the Saumur churches are interesting. St Pierre, of the 12th century, has a 17th-century fa9ade and a Renaissance nave; and Notre Dame of Nantilly (often visited by Louis XL) has a remarkable though greatly damaged facade, a doorway and choir of the 12th century, and a nave of the llth. Both these churches contain curious tapestries, and in the latter, fixed in the wall, is the copper cross of Gilles de Tyr, keeper of the seals to St Louis. St Jean is a charming little building in the Angevine Gothic style. Notre Dame of Ardiliers, of the 16th century, was enlarged in the following century by Richelieu and Madame de Montespan. The town-house is an elegant 16th-century edifice; and the whole town is rich in graceful and interesting examples of the best period of French domestic architecture. The castle, built between the llth century and the 13th, and remodelled in the 16th, is used as an arsenal and powder magazine. There is also an interesting almshouse, with its chambers in part dug out in the rock. The cavalry school, founded in 1768, and after various interruptions reorganized in 1824 and 1853, has at the present time (1886) 400 pupils, of whom 125 are officers. Other establishments are a public library, a museum of natural history and local Roman and Celtic antiquities, a horticultural garden, with a school of vines in which eight hundred kinds of grapes are cultivated. Saumur carries on a large trade in sparkling white wines grown in the neighbourhood, as well as in brandy, grain, flax, and hemp ; and it manufactures enamels and rosaries. The population in 1881 was 13,439 (14,186 in the commune). The Saumur caves along the Loire and on both sides of the valley of the Thouet (a left-hand tributary) must have been occupied at a very remote period. The Tour dti Trone (9th century) served as a place of refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding district during foreign invasions, and became the nucleus of a monastery built by monks escaped from St Florent le Vieil. On the same site rose the castle of Saumur two hundred years later. The town fell into the hands of Foulques Nerra, duke of Anjou, in 1025, and