Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/170

SCA dramatic recitation; nor loss so in the invention of melodies of a character noble, grand, and strikingly expressive, and in a free, judicious style of instrumental accompaniment. Fully acknowledged as the reformer of each of these kinds of music, it may well be said of him that he was a century in advance of his time; that he powerfully influenced the taste of his contemporaries; and that by kindling in his brother artists a spirit of emulation, he prepared the way to that eminence which the art of sound attained in the period immediately following, and which was greatly promoted by the pupils of his own formation in the Neapolitan school, the dawning of whose glory he survived to witness.—E. F. R.  SCARLATTI,, a musician, son of the above composer, was born in 1683, and died at Madrid in 1751. He manifested an early genius for music, and at the age of fifteen set out on his musical travels. He successively visited the different schools of Italy, and at length took up his residence at Venice, which, with respect to melody, had at this time become the rival of Naples. After having fully imbibed the principles of the Venetian school, Domenico boldly made an essay of his talents, and his compositions were received with applause. At Venice he became acquainted with Handel, whom he followed to Rome, profiting by his counsel, advice, and even by his conversation. He only quitted him to repair to Portugal, where he was engaged as chapel-master. He composed operas and sacred music at Lisbon, which were as successful as those produced at Venice. He quitted Portugal in 1726, and made some stay at Rome, where he became acquainted with Quantz. At Naples his compositions for the church and the theatre obtained the unanimous approbation of his countrymen. Hasse, known by the title of Il Sassone (the Saxon), was then studying at Naples, and witnessing the success of Domenico Scarlatti, solicited and obtained his friendship: he was heard to say fifty years after, that no composer had ever greater enthusiasm and taste for his art. The fame of his talents had now spread over Europe, and he received offers from various quarters, which he declined, till at length, in 1735, he was prevailed upon to accept an engagement at Madrid, where he introduced himself by his opera of "Merope." Besides the situation of maestro to the royal chapel, he was also nominated harpsichord-master to the queen, who had been his pupil at Lisbon before she married the prince of Asturias. This composer is now chiefly remembered by his charming harpsichord sonatas, two collections of which were published and dedicated to his illustrious pupil and patroness, the queen of Spain. A large number of those works still exist in MS., many of which are in the possession of the writer of this notice.—E. F. R.  SCARLETT,, Lord Abinger, and chief baron of the exchequer from 1835 to 1844, was born in Jamaica of wealthy parents in 1769. He was sent to England at an early age to be educated, and in his eighteenth year was entered as a fellow commoner at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A., 1790; M.A., 1794. Having been admitted a member of the Inner temple, he was called to the bar, on 8th July, 1791. The following year he married, and he joined the Lancashire sessions and the northern circuit at the age of twenty-five. Wanting the ordinary stimulus of limited fortune, during his earlier years at the bar he was not distinguished by close application to business. Not until 1801 does his name appear in any cause of importance. His road to eminence was through practice at sessions. His singular sagacity and good sense compensated for any deficiency in technical knowledge of law that may have resulted from insufficient reading. His tact in managing juries, whom he cajoled with a show of the greatest deference, soon became known; and while still a junior counsel he justified the epithet of "verdict-getter," and entered upon that career of prosperous business which produced at last an income of £17,000 a year. He had assumed the position of a leader on the circuit in 1810; but owing to Lord Eldon's dislike of Scarlett's professed whiggism, he did not receive a silk gown till 1816. Yet he rarely engaged in political causes. In connection with the antislavery question, he was counsel for Mr. Hatchard in 1817; he defended Sir F. Burdett in 1820, and was engaged on the queen's trial, in which, however, he took no prominent part. He strove, indeed, to get into parliament twice without success, but in 1818 was elected for Peterborough under the protection of Lord Fitzwilliam. He spoke but rarely in parliament, and then generally on legal questions, supporting Romilly and Mackintosh in their efforts for the amelioration of the criminal code. A sweeping measure for remodelling the poor laws and abolishing the law of settlement, which he introduced in 1821, drew from Sydney Smith a lively critique, and a quaint eulogium of Scarlett's political disinterestedness. Nevertheless, in April, 1827, the attorney-general in Canning's ministry was Scarlett, who was knighted. The following January he resigned, but had been near enough to the tories to accept the same office under the duke of Wellington in 1829. The whigs were advancing too rapidly in the road of reform for him, and he strenuously opposed Lord Russell's measures as extreme. His strong attachment to what are called gentlemanlike opinions and practices was the origin of some of the best points, and some of the weaknesses of his character. He could see no good reasons for handing over the political power of the country to what he considered the unwashed multitude. Resigning office in 1830, he was returned for Norwich, as a conservative, to the first reformed parliament. When in 1834 Lord Lyndhurst became chancellor, Scarlett succeeded him as chief baron of the exchequer, and was created a peer. He presided over the court for nine years without any particular distinction, and died in the execution of his duty on circuit, at Bury St. Edmunds, 7th April, 1844.—R. H.  SCARPA,, a famous Italian anatomist, born of humble parentage in 1748 at La Motta, a small village in Friuli; received his education at Padua; and at the age of twenty-four was appointed to the chair of anatomy in the university of Modena. After visiting France, Holland, and England, he was appointed in 1783, by the Emperor Joseph II., professor of anatomy at Pavia. Here his researches into the anatomy of the organs of smelling and hearing, his treatises on the anatomy of bone, and especially on the nerves of the heart, soon raised him to a European reputation; the last mentioned work deciding in the affirmative the long-agitated question, whether the heart is supplied with nerves. In 1801 he published a treatise on the diseases of the eye; in 1804 observations on the cure of aneurism; and in 1809 a work on hernia, which greatly enhanced his reputation. Three years afterwards, obliged to withdraw from the laborious duties of his chair, he was appointed director of the Medical Faculty of Pavia. He was also a member of the Institute of France, and of nearly all the learned societies of Europe. His last publication was a dissertation on the operation for the stone. Afflicted with almost total blindness for the last few years of his life, he was carried off by inflammation of the bladder at Pavia on the 30th October, 1832. Scarpa united to indefatigable industry in the pursuit of his professional studies, the tastes and accomplishments of an elegant scholar; and he was equally at home in the criticism of the fine arts, and in the details of scientific agriculture.  SCARRON,, a French poet and novelist, the son of a gentleman of wealth and family, was born at Paris about the end of 1610 or the beginning of 1611. His mother died while Scarron was yet a boy, and his stepmother made home so uncomfortable for the young poet that he was glad to accept his father's offer of a small allowance, and to take up his residence alone at Charleville. Freed from paternal control, Paul plunged into all kinds of dissipation, and so injured his health as to make him thereafter, as he said, "an epitome of human misery." He became an ecclesiastic, not because of any predilection for religious studies, but to appease his father's anger; yet continued as far as he was able to lead a licentious life. The ruin of his fortune, however, soon followed that of his health; his father, who for some unknown political offence had been banished by Cardinal Richelieu, died in exile; and young Scarron's patrimony, or as much of it as remained, was appropriated by his stepmother. Forced thus by necessity to labour, he betook himself to literature, and produced a great number of comedies, novels, burlesques, &c., many of which still retain their popularity. The "Roman Comique" (translated into English by Oliver Goldsmith), "L'Ænéide Travestie," "Jodelet," and "L'Héritier Ridicule," are the best known. Scarron married a Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, who subsequently, as Madame de Maintenon, became celebrated as the mistress of Louis XIV. Under the names of Scarron and Lyriane, Madle. de Scudery has in one of her romances depicted with great truth and skill the characters of both Scarron and his wife. He died in 1660.—F.  SCAURUS, Family of, a celebrated Roman house of patrician rank which had fallen into obscurity, but was raised to great eminence by, who was born in 163 . His father left him a very slender patrimony, but he 