Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/308

SPO vede." He now resolved on gratifying his wish to visit Paris, and on his arrival there gave his "Finta Filosofa" at the opera-buffa, and afterwards "La Petite Maison" at the Opera comique. He was appointed director of the Italian theatre at Paris. In 1807 and 1809, his two French operas, "La Vestale" and "Fernand-Cortez," were brought out at the Académie impériale. The former obtained the prize given by the government of that period for the best dramatic composition. For a period of ten years Spontini remained inactive as a theatrical composer, partly owing to the political state of the times. But in 1819 he brought out at the Académie his "Olympie," an opera of great merit. The fatal event which robbed France of one of her newly-returned princes also deprived Spontini of a zealous protector, and induced him to accept the liberal offers of the Prussian monarch, who invited him to undertake the direction of the opera-house in Berlin, with a salary of nearly £1500 per annum. He there produced "Lalla Rookh," "Alcildor," and in 1825 "Agnes de Hohenstaufen." In Berlin he was perpetually in hot water. He was attacked by Rellstab, the critic, with such vigour that he was unable to avoid a continued discussion as to the charges of plagiarism brought against him. Eventually he came in contact with the court, and was condemned for a libel on the king of Prussia, who, however, pardoned the acrimonious musician. Spontini subsequently quitted Berlin for France, where he was elected an academician (one of the five members of the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts for the section of Music) in 1839. Ten years afterwards he returned to his native place to pass the winter, in the hope of re-establishing his health, and was received at Ancona by the cardinal and authorities with great pomp. He expired on the 24th of January, 1851, in the arms of his wife, the sister of Erard, the celebrated manufacturer of pianos. Spontini was the beau-ideal of a petit maître of 1810. He wore the spencer over his coat in autumn; the carrick with seven capes in winter; the light pantaloon and the top boot; the high cravat, with watch-chain and jewels to correspond; hat, wig, and frill, all of the same fashion. His language, manner, and ideas, were all of the period of Madame Recamier.—E. F. R.  SPOTSWOOD,, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was born in 1565, and was sent at an early age to the university of Glasgow. He soon distinguished himself there by the precocity of his talents, and is said to have "received his degrees" at the age of sixteen; and when he was still under twenty, he was appointed to succeed his father as minister of Calder. At this period he was a stanch adherent of the presbyterian party, and went along with them in their opposition to the attempts of the government to restore episcopacy. In 1601, when the duke of Lennox was sent on an embassy to France, Spotswood attended him as his chaplain; but in spite of his professed zeal for presbyterianism, he "made no scruple to go to mass" along with the duke—an act of defection for which he was afterwards rebuked by the assembly. When King James set out to take possession of the English throne in 1603, Spotswood was one of five parish ministers whom he selected to attend him, along with the bishops of Ross and Dunkeld, the duke of Lennox, and other noblemen and gentlemen. When the cortege reached Burleigh house, near Stamford, the king received intelligence of the death at Paris of James Bethune, the expatriated archbishop of Glasgow, and immediately appointed Spotswood to the vacant see, and also nominated him a member of the privy council of Scotland. His consecration, however, did not take place till 1610, when he was summoned to London for that purpose, along with the bishops of Brechin and Galloway. He had in the previous year been appointed an extraordinary lord of session; and soon after his consecration he was placed at the head of one of the two courts of high commission, which were now established for the trial of ecclesiastical offences in Scotland. He exerted himself zealously to strengthen the ecclesiastical system of which he had thus been appointed one of the chief dignitaries; but the measures which he adopted for this purpose were highly unpopular, and only partially successful. On the death of Archbishop Gladstanes in 1615, Spotswood was translated to the metropolitan see of St. Andrews. He had greatly improved the dilapidated revenues of his former diocese, and he now exerted himself, and with no small measure of success, to recover such portions of the ancient patrimony of his see as had not been irretrievably alienated. "He was also," says his biographer, "the prime instrument used by King James in several assemblies for restoring the ancient discipline, and bringing the church to some degree of uniformity with her sister Church of England . . . For the effecting of this, and what else conduced to the recovery of that church in patrimony and discipline, they who knew the passages of his life have computed that he made no less than fifty journeys from Scotland to London." So ardent, indeed, was his zeal in enforcing the innovations he had made on the ancient ritual of the Scottish church, that he deprived a considerable number of the clergy of their livings for noncompliance. The archbishop continued a favourite at court under the successor of James, whom he crowned in the abbey church of Holyrood on the 18th of June, 1633. Two years after this, on the death of the earl of Kinnoul, he was made lord high-chancellor of Scotland. A court favourite is rarely held in much esteem by the public, and Spotswood's zeal in behalf of prelacy rendered him very obnoxious to the Scottish people. Their dislike to him was greatly aggravated by his conduct in instigating the prosecution of Lord Balmerino, who was condemned to death on the sole ground of his having had in his possession a statement of grievances which had been drawn up to be presented to parliament by a number of nobles, and which had been treacherously carried to Spotswood. This shameful proceeding excited such general indignation that it was found necessary to pardon Lord Balmerino, after he had undergone a long imprisonment. Spotswood, who cherished a hereditary enmity to the unfortunate noble, incurred great and deserved odium by the prominent part he took in this prosecution, which contributed in no small degree to swell the tide of disaffection that a few years later swept away the entire fabric he had laboured so zealously to erect. When the ill-judged attempt of Charles and Laud to impose a liturgy upon the church kindled a flame throughout Scotland, Spotswood who had disapproved of this innovation, was deposed from his office, and excommunicated by the famous assembly which met at Glasgow in November, 1638. He died on the 26th November of the following year, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey. Spotswood was a man of excellent abilities, but ambitious and worldly. "He was a prudent and mild man," says Burnet, "but of no great decency in his course of life." His "History of the Church of Scotland," published in 1655, in one volume, folio, is a valuable work, though displaying a strong party feeling, which has led the author to frequent suppressions and perversions of facts.—J. T.  SPOTSWOOD,, President of the court of session, was the second son of the archbishop, and was born in 1596. He was educated at the grammar-school and university of Glasgow, and afterwards at Exeter college, Oxford, under the celebrated Dr. Prideaux. On completing his studies he spent nine years in France, Italy, and Germany, studying the laws of those countries. On his return home he received a cordial welcome from the king, and was nominated one of the extraordinary judges of the court of session. On the accession of Charles I. he was appointed, in 1626, an ordinary lord of session; and in 1633 he was nominated president of the college of justice, with the title of Lord Dunipace. Like the other members of his family, Sir Robert was very obnoxious to the Scottish people; and when the insurrection broke out in 1637, he was obliged, like his father, to take refuge in England. He was a zealous adherent of the king throughout the civil war, and was appointed by him secretary of state for Scotland in 1645. He accompanied the marquis of Montrose in his march to the south, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Philiphaugh, conveyed to St. Andrews, and tried before the parliament on a charge of high treason. In spite of a masterly defence he was found guilty, and was beheaded at the cross of St. Andrews, January 17, 1646. Sir Robert was not only a profound lawyer and an upright judge, but was well skilled both in the Oriental and in the modern European languages. He was the author of a legal treatise, entitled "The Practicks of the Law of Scotland."—J. T.  SPRAGGE,, a gallant English admiral, "who," says Campbell, "with a fine person and a gentle temper, had as solid an understanding and as bold a spirit as any counsellor or captain of that age." His martial fame was gained chiefly in battles with the Dutch, whose famous Van Tromp met in Spragge a worthy antagonist. The latter first came into notice in the engagement of the 3rd of June, 1665, when he was knighted for his services by the duke of York on board the Royal Charles. In June of the following year he further distinguished himself in the four days' battle fought under the duke of Albemarle. When the Dutch came up the Thames in 1667, he caused them considerable loss by harassing attacks. After the peace with 