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SICKLES

SIDNEY

Roger, Count-of Sicily, in 1130 took the title of King of Sicily and Italy. In 1194 the crown went by marriage to the German emperor until 1264, when Pope Urban IV, a Frenchman, gave Sicily to Charles, Count of Anjou. Manfred, the last native ruler, died nghting against the invader, and his son-in-law, Peter of Aragon, continued the contest, ending with the crowning of his son, Frederick, in 1296. The contests of France and Spain for Sicily and Italy continued, and in 1502 Ferdinand of Aragon defeated the French at Mola and became king of Naples and Sicily. The peace of Utrecht (1713) gave Sicily to the duke of Savoy, who in 1720 exchanged it with Charles VI of Austria for Sardinia, but in 1738 Don Carlos of Spain was king of the Two Sicilies. The Bonaparte rule began with the taking of Naples in 1798, lasting until 1808, when Ferdinand IV was allowed to remain king of Sicily, afterwards taking by the treaty of Paris his old kingdom of the Two Sicilies. At last, on May n, 1860, Garibaldi, with his thousand heroes, took Palermo and entered Naples in triumph, and the people by popular vote joined themselves to the Sardinian kingdom. The chief cities of Sicily are Palermo (population 309,694), Messina (149,778) and Catania (149,295).

THE Two SICILIES, a kingdom of southern Italy, included Sicily, several smaller islands and the kingdom of Naples. Consult E. A. Freeman's History of Sicily; his shorter history in the Story of the Nations Series; and Frances Elliot's Diary of an Idle Woman.

Sick'les, Daniel Edgar, an American general, was born at New York, Oct. 20, 1825. In 1847 he was sent to the legislature, and in 1853 went to England as secretary of legation, and in 1856 became a member of Congress. When the Civil War broke out, he was made colonel of a regiment he had raised in New York, and as brigadier-general commanded in the battles of Chick-ahominy. At Antietam and Fredericksburg he commanded Hooker's division of the 3d corps, and with the rank of major-general served at the head of the ^d corps at the battles of Chancellorsville ana Gettysburg. After the war he was commander of the military district of North and South Carolina until 1867, and in 1869 was appointed minister to Spain. In 1892 he was elected to Congress from New York City.

Sidd'ons, Sarah (Kemble), tlie great tragic actress of England, was born at Brecon, Wales, July 5, 1755. Her father

GENERAL SICKLES

was the manager of a small, traveling, theatrical company, and she took part in the performance® from earliest childhood, and at 17 married Siddons, a member of the company. Her first appearance at Drury Lane, Dec. 29, 1775, in the character of Portia was a failure, and for six years her acting was confined to the provinces. In 1782 she reappeared in London as Isabella in The Fatal Marriage, and was the queen of the English stage from that time until, as Lady Macbeth, she took leave of it, June 29, 1812. She gave public readings from Shakespeare and Milton, and appeared occasionally for charitable objects after leaving the stage. She died at London, June 8, 1831. See Life, by Mrs. Ken-nard, in the Eminent Women Series.

Sid'ney, Sir Philip, an English courtier and writer, was born on Nov. 29, 1554, at Penshurst in Kent. He studied at Oxford, finishing his education, after the fashion of the day, by travel in France, Germany and Italy. Leicester, his uncle, being all-powerful at the court of Elizabeth, Sidney at once began his public life. He was sent as ambassador to Rudolph II of Austria and then to William, Prince of Orange. At first a favorite of the queen, he lost her influence by his defense of his father against her ingratitude and by his opposition to her proposed marriage with the Duke of Anjou. In 1580 he retired from court, living with Lady Pembroke, his sister, where he probably wrote his Arcadia. His associations with Spenser and perhaps the circulation of his writings in manuscript had already given him a wide reputation, which was well-sustained by Arcadia, written in 1578-80, which appeared in 1590 and for a century retained its great popularity. It is a pastoral romance written in poetical prose. Though not free from the "conceits" of the age, still is well-worth reading. His Apology for Poetry (Defense of Poesy), written about 1580, displays vast reading, and, while criticising severely the crowd of common versifiers, names as the best English poets Chaucer, Sackville, Surrey and his friend, Spenser. His own poems, Astrophel and Stella, a series of 108 sonnets and n songs, were inspired by his love for Penelope, a daughter of Lord Essex, and place him near Chaucer. He returned to court, was knighted, and in 1583 received from Elizabeth a grant of 30,000,000 acres in "certain parts of America not yet discovered," and planned to accompany Drake to America. He was ordered, however, to go with Leicester to the Netherlands, where, after a brilliant exploit in a chivalrous conflict, he was fatally wounded under the walls of Zutphen, Oct. 2, 1586. Faint from the loss of blood, he called for a drink, but, seeing a poor soldier carried by, looking longingly at the water, he handed the