Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/19

* SETTLERS AND DEFENDERS. claim of eligibility through (1) or (2) is valid whii-h does not also lueet the requirements of (3). SETUBAL, sfi-tUo'lKil (formerly called in English iSaint Ubca and Saint Yces). An impor- tant seaport of Portugal, in the District of Lisl)on, on the north shore of the Baj* of Setubal, 18 miles southeast of hisbon (Jlap: Portugal, A3). It is the fourth city in size in the kingdom, and the third in commercial importance. The harbor is second only to that of Lisbon; it is defended by several forts and provided with broad and hand- some quays. The shipping in 1800 amounted to 247,005 tons. The chief exports are wine, fruit, salt, and corks. Population, in 1890, 17,581; in 1000. -2 1,8 19. SEXJME, zoi'me, Johann Gottfried (1703- 1810). A German author and poet, born at Po- serna, near Weisscnfels, Prussian Saxonv. Aban- doning his theological studies at Leipzig, he set out for Paris, but was kidnapped by Hessian re- cruiting officers and sold to England to serve against her American rebels. On his return from Canada he fell again into the hands of the mili- tary authorities, but finally obtained his liberty and settled at Leipzig, whither he returned in 1796, having gone to Warsaw in 1792, acted there as secretary to General Tgelstriim, and experi- enced the terrors of the Polish insurrection of 1794. Employed in an editorial capacit.v by his friend Goschen, the publisher, at Grimma, he un- dertook during that lime two extended journey^;. The first was a pedestrian tour nf nine months' duration, from December. 1801, through Austria and Ital.v to Sicily and back through Switzerland and via Paris to Leipzig, which he described in his well-known 8pa::iergaiig nach 8i/rcikus (1803; new ed., 1868). In 1805 he made a similar trip to Russia, Finland, and Sweden, commemorated in ilein Homnicr ini Jalirc ISOo (1807), which gives a vivid picture of the Napoleonic era. Im- paired in health since then, he died at Teplitz, during a watering cure. His autobiography, Mein Leben, was completed by Clodius (1813), A recent edition of his Siinitliche Werke appeared in Hempel's 'Xntionalbihliothek (Berlin, 1879). SEVANGA, sy6-viin'ga. A lake of Transcau- casia. See GoKTCirA. SEVASTOPOL, se-vas't6-p6l. A seaport of Russia. See Sebastopol. SEVEN (AS. seofon, Goth., OHG. sibun, Ger. sieben. seven; connected with Lat, scptem, Gk. enrdjiepta. Olr. sccht, OChurcli Slav, sedmi, Lith. srpthii. Skt. s'l/jtiiii, seven). A mystical and spnbolical number in the Bible, as well as among the principal nations of antiquity (the Persians, Indians, Egj-ptians, Greeks, Romans, etc.). The reason for the preference of this number for sacred use has been found in its consisting of three — the number of the sides of a triangle — and four — the sides of a square, these being the simplest rectilineal figures — or in other equally vague circumstances. In numerical symbolism, also, three stands for the spiritual (e.g. the Trinity) and four for the material (four ele- ments), and the combination represents the medi- al or supernatural sphere. The original reason, however, seems to be astronomical, or rather astrological, viz. the observation of the seven planets and the phases of the moon — changing every seventh day, (See Week.) As instances of tiie use of this numl)er in the Old Testament r SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES. we find the creation completed in seven days, wherefore the hcventh day was kept sacred; every seventh year was sabbatical, and the seven times .seventh year ushered in the jobel-year. The three rcijaliin, or pilgrim festivals (passah, festival of weeks, and tabernacles), lasted seven days; and between the first and second of these feasts were counted seven weeks. The first day of the seventh month was a 'holy convocation.' The Levitical purifications lasted seven days, and the same space of time was allotted to the celel)ration of weddings and the mournings for the dead. In Proverbs ix. 1 Wisdom builds her house with seven pillars. In the New Testament we have the churches, candlesticks, stars, trum- pets, spirits, all to the nnmljcr of seven; and the seven horns, and seven eyes of the Lamb, The same number appears again either divided into half {'31-2 years, Rev. xiii. 5, xi. 3, xii. 6, etc.), or multiplied by 10 — 70 Israelites go to Egypt, the exile lasts 70 years, there are 70 elders, and at a later period tlu're are supposed to be 70 languages and 70 nations upon earth. To go back to the earlier documents, we find in a similar way the dove sent out the second time seven daj's after her first mission. Pharaoh's dream shows him twice seven kine and twice seven ears of corn. Among the Greeks the seven was sacred to Apollo and to Dionysus, who, according to Orphic legends, was torn into seven pieces; and it was particularly sacred in Euba'a, where the number was found to pervade, as it were, almost every sacred, private, or domestic relation. The Pythagoreans made much of this number, giving it the name of Athene, Hermes, Hepha'stus, Her- cules, the virgin unbegotten and unbegetting (i.e. not to be obtained by multiplication), Dionysus, Rex, etc. The 'seven sacraments,' the "seven free arts,' the 'seven wise men,' and many more instances, prove the importance attached to this nvunber in the eyes not only of ancient, but even of our own times. A learned article, based on Hammer-Purgstall, Ueber die Zahl Sieben, is con- tained in the Essfii/s of James Hadley (1873). SEVEN AGAINST THEBES, The (Lat. Septeni contra Thebas, Gk. 'Eirrd iirl 6///3af, Hepta epi Thebas). A tragedy by ^Eschylus produced in B.C. 407 with the Laius and (Uilipux. Its theme is tlic fulfillment of tlic curse pro- novmced by Qidipus on his sons Eteocles and PoljTiices. In the attack on the city the brothers find themselves opposed and each falls by the hand of the other. At the close of the play Antigone declares her intention of burying her brother Polynices in spite of the prohibition, and the scene paves the way for the Antigone of Sophocles. SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES, A series of battles fought, -June 25-,Tuly 1, 1802, during the Peninsular campaign of the Civil War in Ameri- ca, between the Federal Army of the Potomac under General McClellan and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee. They were fought a short distance east of Rich- mond. Va., between the Chickahominy River and the James River, much of the fighting occurring while IMcClellan was efi'ecting his change of base from White House on the Paniunkey to Harri- son's Landing on the .lames. The principal en- gagements during this period were those of Mechanicsville (June 20th), (iaines's Mill (.hine 27th), Savage's Station (June 2yth), Frazier's