370 



SECKENDORF, VEIT LUDWIG VON. 



SEDAINE, MICHEL JEAN. 



380 



chamber in favour of the project for fortifying Paris. Ill health 

 compelled him soon afterwards to retire from public business, and 

 the unfortunate fate of hia daughter, the Duchesse de Praslin, 

 darkened the latter years of his life. He died however suddenly 

 while at breakfast, on July 20, 1851. Ho was buried in the church 

 of the Invalides, and during the funeral some of the hangings caught 

 fire, endangering the whole building, but the fire was fortunately sub- 

 dued with only the loss of several of the military trophies. 



SE'CKENDORF, VEIT LUDWIG VON, was born on the 20th of 

 December 1626, at Herzo'genaurach near Erlangen. He belonged to 

 an old and noble family of Franconia, and his father held a high post 

 in the army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' war. 

 The boy lived with his mother partly at Coburg, partly at Miihlhausen, 

 and partly at Erfurt. He began his studies at the gymnasium of 

 Coburg in 1638 ; but Ernest, duke of Gotha, invited him to the gym- 

 nasium of Gotha; and after the death of his father, who was executed 

 in 1642 by a Swedish court-martial, the duke acted to wards the youth 

 with all the care of a father. The young man showed great talent 

 and unusual diligence, and persons of the highest rank gave him their 

 protection and encouragement. From 1643 till 1646 he studied in the 

 university of Strasbourg ; and applied most zealously not only to 

 jurisprudence, history, and classical literature, but to philosophy and 

 theology. After he had completed his studies, he made a journey 

 through the Netherlands, and was appointed page to the Duke of 

 Gotha, who not only superintended his practical training as a states- 

 man, but intrusted him with the care of his library. Seckendorf now 

 gradually rose from the lower to the highest offices in the duke's 

 service, and in 1 664 he was appointed privy councillor and chancellor. 

 In all his offices he took a most active part in the important changes 

 which the duke ma ie in the administration of his dominions, as well 

 as in the affairs of religion and the education of the people. For 

 reasons which are not known, Seckendorf, at the close of the year 

 1664, left tho service of the Duke of Gotha, and entered that of 

 Moritz, duke of Zeitz, who appointed him his privy councillor, 

 chancellor, and president of the consistory. In his new sphere Secken- 

 dorf showed the same activity and good-will towards the people as 

 before ; but owing to some measures which he had proposed, he 

 became involved in disputes with the clergy ; and when Duke Moritz 

 died- in 1681, he laid down his offices, and retired to his country-seat, 

 Meuselwitz near Altenburg. In 1691 Frederic III., elector of Branden- 

 burg, invited him to Berlin as his privy councillor, and also appointed 

 him chancellor of the newly established university of Halle. Secken- 

 dorf accepted the offer, but died in the year following, 1692, at 

 Halle. 



Seckendorf as a statesman showed great judgment and skill in the 

 complicated affairs of the various houses of Saxony, but he was more 

 distinguished as a political writer, an historian, a scholar, and a theo- 

 logian. His principal political work is 'Deutscher Fiirstenstaat," 

 Gotha, 1665, which for a long time was thought the most useful 

 manual of political science. His theological and historical works are : 

 'Compendium Historise Ecclesiasticaj,' Leipzig, 1666; this work was 

 completed by Artopseus ; ' Der Christenstaat,' Leipzig, 1685; 'Com- 

 mentarius Historicus et Apologeticus de Lutheranismo,' &c., 3 vols. 

 fol., Leipzig, 1688, &c. : it is chiefly directed against Maimbourg, 

 'Histoire du Lutheranisme.' Seckendorf also wrote several smaller 

 discourses in German, and sacred hymns, some of which are still 

 sung in the Protestant churches of Germany. See Schreber, 

 ' Historia Vita) et Meritorum Viti Ludovici b, Seckendorf/ 4to, 

 Leipzig, 1733. 



SECKER, THOMAS, a learned and eminent prelate of the English 

 church, who was successively bishop of Bristol and Oxford, and arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury, was born at Sibthorpe in Nottinghamshire in 

 1693. 



The early history of this distinguished person is essentially different 

 from that of many other persons whose early life, progress, and final 

 success in the church wo have had to describe ; for while they have 

 usually gone from the endowed grammar-schools to the universities of 

 the realm, Seeker (being born of parents who were not members of the 

 Church of England, but dissenters from it), after he had been trained 

 in the grammar-school at Chesterfield in Derbyshire, where a sister 

 much older than himself and her husband Mr. Milnes resided (two 

 relatives who had much to do with 'his early training), was sent to an 

 academy which the dissenters of the north of England had established 

 at a village called Attercliffe, about fourteen miles from Chesterfield. 

 It was intended for the education of dissenting ministers, and for that 

 profession young Seeker was designed. But after a residence of two 

 or three years, he was removed to another establishment of the same 

 kind, in which the studies appear to have been of a more liberal kind, 

 and the learning communicated to the pupil more exact and critical 

 This academy was kept at Tewkesbury, and at the head of it was 

 Mr. Jones, a divine of considerable eminence. Here Seeker found 

 Samuel Chandler going through the same course with himself, who 

 was a minister of much celebrity among the dissenters, and author of 

 various critical works, and Butler, the author of ' The Analogy of 

 Natural and Revealed Religion,' who conformed and became bTshop 

 of Durham. With both of these divines Seeker formed an intimacy, 

 and they remained on friendly terms during tho remainder of their 

 lives. It was in these academies that the foundation was laid of those 



eminent theological attainments by which he was distinguished, of 

 which his printed works are some proof, but there is still stronger 

 evidence in his manuscript notes on the Scriptures, which still remain 

 in the library at Lambeth. 



When he left the academy, the natural course would have been that 

 he should have settled as the minister of a dissenting congregation. 

 He preached among the dissenters occasionally, but he never became 

 the settled pastor of any dissenting congregation. Perhaps the excel- 

 lences of his character were not appreciated as they ought to have 

 been by the persons amongst whom he fell. However, it is certain 

 that he soon determined to abandon the path which had been chalked 

 out for him, and he devoted himself to the study of medicine, attending 

 lectures in London, and going afterwards to Paris. 



There were persons however who were unwilling that the talents 

 and attainments of Seeker should not ba made available in the way 

 that was first intended, though not as a nonconformist, but as a minister 

 of the Established Church ; and particularly his early friend Butler, 

 who had conformed and was become preacher at the Rolls, and Mr. 

 Talbot, to whom Butler introduced him', a son of the Bishop of 

 Durham. Seeker was induced to enter fully into the question of con- 

 formity, and his deliberations issued in the determination to enter 

 the church. He entered himself at Exeter College, Oxford, and in 

 a very short time was ordained by the Bishop of Durham ; this was 

 in 1723. 



His progress in the church was rapid. He was made chaplain to 

 Bishop Talbot; had the living of Houghton-le-Spring, which he soon 

 exchanged for that of Ryton, both in the diocese of Durham ; but in 

 1732 he was brought into a more public sphere of action, being 

 nominated one of the king's chaplains, and rector of St. James's, 

 Piccadilly. Early in 1735 he was made Bishop of Bristol; in 1737 he 

 was translated to Oxford. In 1750 he gave up the rectory of St. 

 James's, in which parish he had accomplished some useful reforms, 

 and was made Dean of St. Paul's. In 1758 he became Archbishop 

 of Canterbury. In all the various situations which he was called to 

 fill, his conduct was that of a conscientious, liberal, and pious man ; 

 assiduous in the discharge of all his duties, acting with moderation 

 and discretion. His printed works consist only of sermons, lectures, 

 and charges. He died on the 3rd of August 1768, and is buried in an 

 humble grave in the churchyard of Lauibeth parish. 



SECUNDUS, JOHANNES, born in 1511, is one of the most esteemed 

 of modern Latin poets. His verses are chiefly amatory, and modelled 

 after Catullus, whose passionate and tender spirit he had caught, without 

 descending to the extent of his licentiousness. Like other learned 

 men of the age, he took a Latin name : why that of Secundus, does 

 not clearly appear. His family name was Everts, which in other 

 languages is softened into that of Everardi and Everard. His father 

 Nicholas or Klaas Everts, himself a learned man, and a distinguished 

 jurist and magistrate, had five sons, all more or less eminent, among 

 whom however John's fame stands highest. He early showed that 

 taste for Latin poetry to which he owes his reputation ; but he adopted 

 the law as his profession, and graduated with distinction at Bourges, 

 in 1533. That his talents and acquirements were well known may 

 be inferred from the archbishop of Toledo having chosen him for 

 private secretary. Through this connection he obtained the notice 

 and esteem of Charles V., whom he accompanied to Tunis in 1534. 

 Unfortunately the climate of Africa sowed in him the seeds of a 

 mortal disease ; and he was fain, instead of following up his fortunes 

 by accepting an important post at Rome, to return to his native 

 climate, only to die at Tournai, ^October 8, 1536, at the early age 

 of twenty-five. 



His Latin poems are Elegies (3 books), ' Basia,' Epigrams, Odes, 

 Epistles, Funera (elegies in the English meaning), and Miscellanies, 

 one book each. There are many editions, among which that of 

 Leyden, 2 vols. 8vo, 1821, is recommended. His works are published 

 jointly with those of his brothers Nicholas and Adrian, who assumed 

 respectively the names of Grudius and Marius, under the title 

 ' Poemata et Effigies Trium Fratrum Belgarum.' There are transla- 

 tions of the ' Basia ' into English, French, &c. Of the former, that of 

 1775, with the Life of Secundus, and of the latter, that by Tissot, 

 1806, are said to be the best. 



SEDAINE, MICHEL JEAN, a dramatic writer of considerable 

 merit, was born at Paris, July 4, 1719. On the death of his father, 

 who was an architect, he was reduced to follow the trade of a stone- 

 mason. He continued however to study, and casually attracted the 

 notice of his employer, an architect named Buron, who, on discovering 

 his talents, gave him instruction, and finally took him into partner- 

 ship. This service he afterwards repaid by educating the painter 

 David, who was Buron's grandson. Sedaine made his first appearance 

 as a dramatist in a piece taken from the 'Devil on Two Sticks,' 

 played at the Opera Coinique in 1756, which was very popular. After 

 writing for that theatre during several years with brilliant success, he 

 took a bolder flight, and brought out his ' Philosophe sans le Savoir,' 

 on the more classical stage of the Come"die Franaise. This, which is 

 esteemed his most sterling piece, had a great run. He also wrote for 

 the Grand-0pe"ra ; and thus, it has been observed, shone at once on 

 three of the chief theatres of France. The well-known opera of 

 'Richard Cceur-de-Lion,' for which, and many other of Sedaine's 

 works, Gretry composed the music, procured for him, at the age of 



