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* SPELT. 433 SPENCER. SPELT (AS. spelt, from Lat. spelta, spelt). A species of wheat {Triticum Spelta), character- ized by grains held tightly within the chaff and not hulled out in threshing. It is grown chiefly where wheat fails on the poorer soils of the mountainous regions of Germany, Italy, Spain, and France, and is mainly employed as a stock food. It is little grown in America. The grain commonly called spelt in the United States and Russia is emmer (Trilicum dicoccuin). which has a much shorter and more cgnipaot head than spelt, and is much hardier as regards cold, drought, and rust resistance. Both spelt and emmer are grown and harvested like wheat. SPENCE, Hekry Donald M.urice (1836—). An English clergyman and theological writer, born in London. He was educated at Westmin- ster School and Cambridge University; took orders in the Church of England; held various important charges; and in 1886 became Dean of Gloucester. Among his numerous published works are: Cloister Life in the Days of Cceur de Lion (1892) ; The Church of England; o History for the People (4 vols., 1897-99) ; The White Robe of Churches of the XL Century (1900); and Early Christianity and Paganism (1902). SPENCE, Joseph (1699-1768). An English anecdotist, born at ICingselere, in Hampshire. He was sent to Eton and Winchester, whence he passed to Oxford. Elected fellow of New College in 1720, he took orders in 1724. An Essay on Pope's Odyssey (1726) led to an intimate friend- ship with the poet, and to Spence's appointment as professor of poetr3' at Oxford (1727). He afterwards held the professorsbij) of modern his- tory and several ecclesiastical appointments. In 1749 he was presented by a former pupil with a small estate at Byfleet, in Surrey, where he amused himself with gardening. He was found dead in a canal in his garden. While associated with Pope he noted down the conversations of the poet and his friends. These most vRlual)le anec- dotes, after circulating in manuscript for the benefit of Warburton, Joseph Warton, Dr. John- son. JIalone. and other critics, were published in 1820. Among Spence's other works is the pleas- ant Polymetis (1747), dialogues on the Roman poets and artists. Consult the Anecdotes, edited from Spence's own manuscript, by S. W. Singer (London. 1820: reprint, 1859) ; Selections, edited by Underbill (Camelot Series. London, 1890); Dobson's essay on Spence in Eighteenth Century Vignettes (first series. New York, 1892). SPEN'CER. The county-seat of Clay County, Iowa, 152 miles northwest of Des jMoines: on the Little Sioux River, and on the Chicago, Milwau- kee and Saint Paul and the Minneapolis and Saint Louis railroads (Jlap: Iowa, B 1). It has a public library and a fine court house. Spencer is known for its large hay interests. There are also some manufactures. The water-works and the electric light plant are owned bv the munici- pality. Population, in 1890. 181.3: in 1900. .3095. SPENCER. A town, including several villages, in Worcester County, Mass., 12 miles west by south of Worcester; on the Boston and Albany Railroad (Map: Massachusetts, D 3). It has the Richard Sugden Library, with more than • 11,000 volumes, and Spencer Public Park. Boots and shoes, wire, and woolen goods are manu- factured. The government is administered by town meetings. The water works are owned and operated by the town. Population, in 1890, 8747; in 1900, 7627. Settled in 1720, Spencer formed a part of Leicester until 1733, when it was sepa- rately incorporated. Consult: Draper, History of Spencer ( orcester, 1860) ; Tower, Historical Sketches Relating to Spencer, Slassachusetts (Spencer, 1901-02). SPENCER, Ambrose (1765-1848). An Ameri- can jurist, born in Salisbury. Conn. He was edu- cated at Yale and Harvard ; was admitted to the bar in New York; in 1794 entered the State Assembly, and the next year became a member of the State Senate, to which he was reelected in 1798. From 1802 to 1804 he was Attorney-Geijeral of the State, and in the latter year he became one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and was its Chief .Justice from 1819 to 1823, when he resumed his private practice. Froin 1824 to 1826 he was Mayor of Albany, and from 1829 to 1831 a member of Con- gress. Eight years later he retired to a farm near Albany, but continued to take an interest in politics, and in 1844 he presided over the Na- tional Whig Convention at Baltimore. He se- cured the aljolition in New York of the death sen- tence in all cases except those of murder and treason; took an important part in the State Constitutional Convention of 1821 ; and later op- posed an amendment making the judiciary elect- ive. Constilt Memorial of Ambrose Spencer (Al- bany, 1849). SPENCER, Charles, third Earl of Sunder- land. An English statesman. See Sunderland, Charles Spencer, third Earl of. SPENCER, Herbert (1820-1903). A distin- guished English philosopher. He was born at Derby, April 27, 1820. His father was a teacher by profession, with views in advance of his time. He believed in training the student's mind in ob- servation and in reflection on objective facts in- stead of mere ideas. Herbert's health was deli- cate in childhood, and he was largely educated at home with as much outdoor life as possible. A little later he was put in charge of his imcle, a clergyman of the Church of England. He early showed a fondness for studies in nature, and for a good many years his favorite occupation was the catching and preserving of insects and the rearing of moths and butterflies; he also studied botany with some passion, and in these ways laid the foundation for the scientific character and in- terest of his later work. His parents were both originally Methodists, but his father became a Quaker. The boy's mind, however, being an in- dependent one, and having early been brought into contact with the intellectual influences cen- tring about .John Stuart Mill and with the scien- tific spirit, he imbibed the tendencies of the age toward extreme liberalism in theological matters. An uncle planned to send him to Cambridge, but the boy 'perseveringly objected,' and con- tinued to study privately. He had no aptitude for languages, and made little progress in the classics, but showed original constructive power in mathematics and mechanics. His father wanted him to take up teaphing. but an acciden- tal opportunity decided in favor of another voca- tion more suitable to his tastes. In the autumn of 1837 work was offered to him under the chief engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway,