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SPR Holland he went to the Mediterranean, and inflicted severe punishment on the Algerine corsairs. In the second Dutch war he justified the favour shown to him by the duke of York. In the fight at Solebay, May, 1672, he sank a Dutch ship of sixty guns. He was also employed on negotiations, both in the Netherlands and at Paris. In a desperate fight with Van Tromp on the 28th May, 1673, he drove the brave Dutchman from one ship to another three times, being himself also compelled to change his ship twice. Two similar contests occurred in the following June and August. In the last, when Sir Edward was leaving his ship the St. George to go on board the Royal Charles a cannon ball pierced his boat, and the admiral was drowned, to the regret even of his brave enemies.—(Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, ii., 337.)—R. H.  SPRANGER,, was born at Antwerp in 1546; studied first in Haarlem, then in France, and finally in Rome, where he met with great success, being patronized by Pius V. He found a patron also in the Emperor Maximilian II., who invited him to Prague in 1575. The Emperor Rudolph II. continued the favours of his predecessor, and ennobled the painter with the title of Van den Schilde. He died at Prague about 1625. Few painters out of Italy had much merit in the time of Spranger, and the importers of Italian art beyond the Alps were among the least worthy. Of these Spranger was one of the coarsest and most mannered in his taste; he had, however, great facility of execution, and is immortalized by his immense success. His most tolerable works are in the gallery at Vienna.—(Sandrart, Teutsche Academie, &c.)—R. N. W.  SPRAT,, Bishop of Rochester, was born in 1636 at Tallaton in Devonshire, his father being incumbent of the place. He was educated at Wadham college, Oxford, entering in 1651, becoming A.M. and a fellow in 1657. On the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1659 he wrote a Pindaric ode of adulation, and another poem in Cowley's style, called "the Plague of Athens." Entering into orders after the Restoration, he became chaplain to the duke of Buckingham, whom he aided in composing the Rehearsal. He afterwards became a royal chaplain, and through his intimacy with Bishop Wilkins was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, of which in 1667 he published the history. In 1668 he became a prebend of Westminster, in 1683 dean of Westminster and minister of St. Margaret's, and in the following year bishop of Rochester. In 1685 Sprat published "a True Account and Declaration of the horrid Conspiracy against the late King, his present Majesty, and the present Government." This task of writing the history of the Rye-house plot, he says, was undertaken at the king's command, and he afterwards made an apology for some parts of it. James II. appointed him one of the seven ecclesiastical commissioners, and Sprat, hoping to get the see of York, consented. But he was harmless, and acted with good-nature and his usual indolence. In 1688 he read, as dean, the declaration of indulgence in Westminster, but his hands so trembled that the noise of the people crowding out of the sanctuary drowned his voice, and it was empty by the time he had finished. Sprat at length resigned his seat in the commission; he was of too easy a temper to persecute his brethren, and the defection of one like him, lax in principle, and meanly ambitious, was a death-blow to the unconstitutional board. On the abdication of James he proposed a regency, but he afterwards took the oaths to the new government, and assisted at the coronation of William and Mary. Under William he became one of a commission to consider the situation of dissenters, and what concessions might be made to them in liturgical reform; but for some scruples of conscience he soon withdrew. The most remarkable event in his subsequent life was the attempt, in 1692, to implicate him and other persons of note in a conspiracy for restoring James. But the plot against him was easily detected, and the instigators, who betrayed one another, were punished. Sprat died at his palace at Bromley, Kent, May 30, 1713. The verses of Sprat, once so applauded, and even favourably mentioned by Johnson, are now little known; but his prose is racy and vigorous. He also wrote a "Life of Cowley," several sermons, several letters to political leaders, and an account of the plot against himself—"A Relation of the wicked Contrivance of Blackhead, and R. Young," &c., London, 1692.—J. E.  SPRENGEL,, an eminent physician and botanist, was born at Bolderkow in Pomerania, on the 3rd August, 1766, and died of apoplexy on the 15th March, 1833. His father, who was a clergyman, took charge of his early studies. He acquired a good knowledge of languages. In 1784 he prosecuted his medical studies at Halle, and took his degree in 1787. He afterwards was elected professor of medicine in the university. He continued to occupy the chair at Halle notwithstanding many solicitations to become a professor in other universities. His fame spread over Europe, and he was elected a member of a vast number of societies. Besides directing his attention to medicine, he cultivated botany with assiduity, and acquired a high reputation in this department. He occupied the chair of botany at Halle. Among his published works may he mentioned the following—"History of Medicine;" "Manual of Pathology;" "Institutiones Medicæ;" "Historia Rei Herbariæ;" "Flora Hallensis;" an edition of Systema vegetabilium of Linnæus, and of his Genera plantarum; and a physiological work entitled, "Von dem Bau und der Natur der Gewächse."—J. H. B.  * SPRUNER,, a German historian and geographer, was born at Stuttgart in 1803. Having lost his parents in early childhood, he was educated by some relations at Ingoldstadt and Saltzburg, and then entered of the military academy at Munich. In 1825 he received a lieutenant's commission, but was never promoted until the present king ascended the throne. Spruner owes his fame to his "Historical Atlas," Gotha, 1837-52, which is truly indispensable to every student of history and geography, and has met with universal success both in and out of Germany. The other works of Major Spruner mostly refer to the local history and geography of Bavaria. We note Baiern's Gane, Bamberg, 1831; "Historical Atlas of Bavaria," Gotha, 1838; and "Leitfaden zur Geschichte von Baiern."—K. E.  SPURINNA,, a Roman general, served with distinction under Otho against Vitellius. He successfully defended the important city of Placentia, and repulsed the attack of Cæcina upon that place. After the fall of Otho we hear little of Spurinna until the reign of Trajan, under whom he gained a decisive victory over the Bructeri. He was a cordial friend of the younger Pliny, who speaks in high terms of his poetical compositions, and assigns him a high place as a lyric poet. Some fragments discovered since the revival of letters have been ascribed to Spurinna, but on very doubtful evidence. They will be found in Wernsdorff's edition of the minor Latin poets.—G.  SPURSTOW,, D.D., an English divine, died in 1666. He was a member of the Westminster assembly, had been ejected from the principalship of Catherine hall, Cambridge, and subsequently was deprived of the living of Hackney for nonconformity. He was author of some practical works on religion.  SPURZHEIM,, one of the founders of the pseudo-science of phrenology, was born at Longwich, near Treves, in 1776. He obtained his general education at the university of Treves, and having chosen the profession of medicine, went to Vienna for the purpose of study, where he formed an acquaintance with Gall, who at the time was promulgating his new views in that school. He attended Dr. Gall's lectures during four years; and having become a convert to his doctrines, he joined Gall in a tour of observation and proselytism. They left Vienna in 1805, and visited together the principal towns of Germany, France, Prussia, and Denmark. In 1807 they settled and lectured together in Paris. Their partnership continued until 1813. Spurzheim then returned to Vienna, and there graduated at the university as a doctor of medicine. He next visited England, where he remained three years actively employed in lecturing in the principal towns, publishing numerous works on phrenology, and defending his doctrines from the criticisms and objections which met it on all sides. In 1817 he again went to Paris, and remained there until 1825, still engaged in active propagandism. In that year the French government forbade the delivery of lectures except by special permission; and Spurzheim's career as a teacher being thus cut short, he returned to England. There he found that the seed he had previously sown had borne fruit, and that his doctrines had obtained many supporters. He again engaged actively in lecturing and writing until the year 1832, when he embarked for America. His death occurred at Boston a few months after his arrival. The chief merit of Gall and Spurzheim as scientific observers must rest on their original observations on the anatomical structure of the brain. Phrenology, or the System of mapping out the surface of the cranium into a number of divisions corresponding with the mental faculties and instincts, has now scarcely a supporter amongst men of science. It may be that some of the broader principles enunciated by Gall and Spurzheim have an <section end="309Zcontin" />