Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/257

SKE poet satirist could not abandon his freedom of style even in the pulpit, and it is said that his language excited general censure. He seems to have directed his satirical powers chiefly against the mendicant friars, Cardinal Wolsey, and Lilly the mathematician. He was suspended from his clerical functions, it was said, by his diocesan the bishop of Norwich, who punished him, according to Fuller, for keeping a concubine, an act which was at that time less condemned in a clergyman than marriage. It may well be, however, that Skelton's satire provoked his enemies to find fault with his sermons, and that he was, as Erasmus describes him, Britannicarum litterarum lumen et decus. Skelton on his deathbed declared that he conscientiously considered the woman he lived with to be his wife, but was afraid to own her as such. From this confession and his bold attacks upon the vices of the clergy, it is not improbable that he had imbibed some of the principles of the Reformation, although he had not the courage fully to avow them. He was bold enough, however, publicly to attack Wolsey, then in the zenith of his power. The cardinal discovered him as the author of the satires upon himself, and ordered him to be apprehended, upon which Skelton took refuge in the sanctuary of Westminster abbey, where the Abbot Islife afforded him protection until his death, which occurred on 21st June, 1529. Skelton was buried in St. Margaret's churchyard. Warton thus describes Skelton's poetry:—"His characteristic vein of humour is capricious and grotesque. If his whimsical extravagancies ever move our laughter, at the same time they shock our sensibility. His festive levities are not only vulgar and indelicate, but frequently want truth and propriety. His subjects are often as ridiculous as his metre, but he sometimes debases his matter by his versification. On the whole his genius seems better suited to low burlesque than to liberal and manly satire. It is supposed by Caxton that he improved our language, but he sometimes affects obscurity, and sometimes adopts the most familiar phraseology of the people."—F.  SKELTON,, an Irish divine, was born in the parish of Derriaghly, near Lisburn, in February, 1707. Having been ordained deacon about 1729, he was in 1750 presented to the living of Pettigo in Donegal, in 1759 to Devinish in Fermanagh, and in 1766 to Fintona in Tyrone. He was a zealous defender of orthodox opinions, and was the author of many works upon theological and other subjects. He died May 4, 1787.—D. W. R.  SKINNER,, author of "Tullochgorum," was born in Aberdeenshire in 1721. His father was parish schoolmaster of Birse. At thirteen years of age he entered Marischal college, Aberdeen, and on completing his academical education he became assistant to the parish schoolmaster, first of Kenmay and then of Monymusk. Having gone over to episcopacy, he was, in 1742, ordained by Bishop Dunbar of Peterhead, and shortly after was appointed to the charge of the episcopal congregation of Longside, near that town, over which he presided for the long space of sixty-five years. Along with his brethren he was subjected to considerable suffering after the suppression of the rebellion in 1745; his chapel was burned by the soldiers of the duke of Cumberland, and he was even imprisoned for six months (in 1753) for having, contrary to law, officiated to more than four persons. Meanwhile he had become an author. His first publication was a pamphlet entitled "A Reservation against Presbytery." His "Dissertation on Job's Prophecy" appeared in 1757. His "Ecclesiastical History of Scotland" was published in 1788, in 2 vols. 8vo. But by far the most popular of his writings are the capital songs, "Tullochgorum;" "The Ewie wi' the crooked horn;" "O why should old age so much wound us, O;" "John of Badenyon," &c. He was a correspondent of Burns, who greatly admired his songs. This excellent, learned, and genial clergyman reared a large family upon a very slender income, in a small cottage consisting simply of a kitchen and parlour. Long before his decease he had the gratification to see his eldest son become his own bishop, and his grandson is now primus of the Scotch Episcopal Church. Mr. Skinner died in 1807, in his eighty-sixth year.—J. T.  SKINNER,, an English etymologist and antiquary, was born in or near London about 1622. He entered Christ Church college, Oxford, in 1638, made rapid progress in his studies, but was interrupted by the breaking out of the civil war, and having determined upon following the medical profession, visited the chief schools in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, to perfect his knowledge by information gained from the most celebrated practitioners in those countries. He took the degree of doctor of medicine at Heidelberg in 1654, and having returned to Oxford, graduated M.A., and settled as a physician at Lincoln, where he practised his art with much success. But in the midst of his numerous professional labours he found leisure to cultivate his taste for philosophic pursuits, and to enter into a wide correspondence with the learned men in different parts of Europe. He left in manuscript the following unfinished works—"Prolegomena Etymologica;" "Etymologicon linguæ Anglicanæ;" "Etymologicon Botanicum;" "Etymologica Expositio vocum forensium;" "Etymologicon vocum omnium Anglicarum;" "Etymologicon Onomasticon;" all of which were edited after his death by Thomas Henshaw, and with the latter's addenda and notes, published in 1671 under the title "Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanæ." Skinner died at Lincoln in 1667.—F.  SKOVORODA,, a Russian ecclesiastic was born about 1730 in a village near Kieff, where his father was sub-deacon. From being a servant in the theological seminary at Kieff he became a student; and when he had exhausted the fountains of knowledge in that school, he made his escape to Pesth on foot. The name of Wolff drew him farther west to Halle, where he spent three years in arduous study, and translated the Homilies of St. Chrysostom into Little Russian. On his return to Kieff, finding no employment, he engaged voluntarily in the delicate task of assuaging the spirit of persecution which animated the inhabitants of the Ukraine against the Uniats, a sect which, belonging to the Greek church in rite and doctrine, yet acknowledges the supremacy of the pope. He went from village to village, preaching parables and singing hymns of his own composition on the virtue of toleration. His conduct was not well regarded at St. Petersburg, and he was obliged to take refuge in the house of a noble who protected him. Here he died in the forty-eighth year of his age.—R. H.  SKRZYNECKI,, Generalissimo of the Polish armies in the revolution of 1831, was born at Leopold, Galicia, in 1787, and commenced his military career in his twentieth year, when Polish regiments were raised in what was then (1807) called the grand duchy of Warsaw. He served under Napoleon in the campaigns of 1809, 1812, and 1814, and at Arcis sur l'Aube saved the emperor from a position of some danger. He subsequently took a command under the Russian government at Warsaw. His aristocratic tendencies made him unpopular with his republican fellow-countrymen; and when the revolution of 1831 broke out, he hesitated for a while which side to take. Yielding at length to the popular impulse, he skilfully led the brave insurgents in several battles. On the resignation of Prince Radzivil he was elected to the post of generalissimo. He has been accused of self-seeking, wilful delay, and even treason in the management of his important duties. After the triumph of the Russians he retired to Lintz in Austria.—R. H.  SLATER or SLATYER,, an English poet and divine, was born in Somersetshire in 1587, and educated at St. Mary's hall, Oxford. He subsequently took holy orders and resided on his benefice at Otterden in Kent. His works are "Threnodia," elegies and epitaphs in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English verses, published in 1619; "Palæ-Albion," a history of Great Britain in Latin and English verse, with historical notes; "Genethliacon," a genealogy of King James I., written in Latin and English, and traced from Adam; and "The Psalms of David" in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, set to church tunes, and said to contain the finest examples of engraving during the seventeenth century. The English version is almost exactly that of Sternhold's. Slater died towards the end of 1647.—F.  SLEEMAN,, Major-general, K.C.B., an Anglo-Indian official, was born in 1789. He entered the military service of the East India Company in 1808, and was afterwards employed as a "political," being during the earlier portion of his official career assistant in the Saugor and Nerbudda districts. In 1843 he was president at Gwalior, when the obstinacy of the Durbar led to the occupation of the country by British troops and to the battle of Maharajpore, at which the governor-general, Lord Ellenborough, was present. His services were appreciated and rewarded by Lords Ellenborough, Hardinge, and Dalhousie; and he is said to have been the person who organized the arrangements for the suppression of Thuggism. Latterly, Colonel Sleeman was resident in Oude—a very important post, for he filled it during the period just preceding the annexation of that kingdom, which took place in 1854, while he was absent from ill health. Succeeded by Sir James Outram <section end="257Zcontin" />