827 



SULZER, JOHANN QEORG. 



SUMNER, JOHN BIRD, D.D. 



823 



and is full of miraculous events in the life of his hero. It was how- 

 ever not published till after the death of Martinus about 400. The 

 work is preceded by an epistle ' Ad Desiderium Fratretn,' and at the end 

 of it there are three letters describing the death, burial, and those vir- 

 tues of Martinus which were not sufficiently set forth ic the biography 

 itself. 2. ' Historia Sacra,' or ' Chronica Sacra,' in two books. This is 

 a brief history of religion from the creation down to the consulship of 

 Stilicho and Aurelian (A.D. 400). The first book and the first twei.ty- 

 six chapters of the second treat of the history of the Jews ; and the 

 remaining portion chiefly contains accounts of the life of Christ, the 

 persecutions of Nero, the history of Constantino, and in general of the 

 most important events in the early history of Christianity. Here too, 

 as in his life of Martinus, the author shows a great partiality for what 

 is marvellous. 3. ' Dialogi Tres,' or it should rather be ' Dialog! Duo,' 

 as the second dialogue is only part of the first : the principal object of 

 these dialogues is to describe the merits and virtues of the monks and 

 hermits of the East. 4. ' Epistolze,' the genuineness of some of which 

 is very doubtfuL 



Notwithstanding the superstitious tone which pervades all the works 

 of Sulpicius, they have a charm arising from their purity of diction 

 which scarcely any other writer of this age possesses. His language 

 is clear and concise, and he seems to have taken Sallust as his model 

 in this respect. Some writers have therefore called him the Christian 

 Sallust. 



His ' Vita Martini ' has often been printed. The editio princeps of 

 his ' Historia Sacra' appeared at Basel, 1556, 8vo. ; it was followed by 

 the editions of Signonius with a commentary, Svo, Bononise, 1581 ; 

 and of J. Drusius, Svo, Arnhemii, 1607. A collection of his works 

 appeared under the title 'Severi Opera emendata et illustrata h. V. 

 Giselino,' Svo, Antwerp, 1574, and fol., Paris, 1575. The latter how- 

 ever only contains his ' Vita Martini ' and the ' Historia Sacra.' Other 

 editions of all the works of Severus are those by G. Horuius, Svo, 

 Lugdun. Bat., 1647, 1654, 1665; by J. Vorstius, 12mo, Berolini, 1668, 

 Svo, Lipsitc, 1703, 1709. The best edition is that by Hieronynaus 

 de Prato, 4to, Veronse, 1741 and 1754, which however does not con- 

 tain the letters. His works are also printed in the 'Bibliotheca Pa- 

 trum Max.' Lu^dun., vol. vi. p. 324, &c., and in Galland's ' Bibliotheca 

 Patrum,' vol viii., p. 355, &c. 



(G. Vossius, De Historicis Latinis, p. 209, &c. ; Bahr, Geschichte der 

 Rom. Lit., 2te abtheil, Die Christlick-ROmische Theologie, p. 219, &c.) 



SULZER, JOHANN GEORG, the youngest of a family of twenty- 

 five children, was born October 16th, 1720, at Wintherthur, in the 

 canton of Ziirich, where his father held the office of ' Seckelmeister,' 

 or registrar of public accounts. Losing his parents, both of whom 

 died on the same day, while he was yet in early youth, it was with 

 difficulty that he was enabled to pursue his education for the church, 

 according to their wishes, but with little inclination on his own part. 

 In 1736 he was placed at the gymnasium at Ziirich, and immediately 

 on quitting it, thrt e years afterwards, was ordained and became curate 

 to the pastor of Ma^chwanden. Ill health however soon compelled 

 him to resign his clerical duties nor did he ever re-assume them. He 

 now returned to his first and favourite studies of natural history, 

 mathematics, and philosophy, and after residing about four years at 

 Magdeburg as private tutor in the family of a wealthy merchant, 

 received the appointment of professor of mathematics at the Joachim- 

 sthal gymnasium at Berlin, in 1747, and so recommended himself 

 both by his ability as a teacher and by his attainments, that in 1750 

 he was admitted into the Academy of Sciences. The same year was 

 that of his marriage with an amiable woman, whom he had the misfor- 

 tune to lose in 1760 ; in consequence of which bereavement he quitted 

 Berlin, and made a visit to his native country, where he recovered his 

 wonted health and spirits, and where he first conceived the plan of his 

 great work, the ' Theory of the Fine Arts.' He would have gladly 

 remained in Switzerland, and he made application to that effect, but 

 instead of listening to it, the king made him a professor at the newly- 

 established ' Ritter-Academie,' or military college, with a very consider- 

 able pension, and also bestowed on him a piece of ground in the 

 immediate environs of Berlin, where he afterwards built himself a 

 villa and laid out a botanical garden. He accordingly returned to 

 Prussia in 1763, where he remained till 1775, when he was advised to 

 travel for the benefit of his health, then greatly impaired. He visited 

 the south of France, Switzerland, and Lombardy, of which tour he 

 kept a journal that was published shortly after his death. On his 

 return to Berlin, his health, which had been considerably improved, 

 again declined. He died February 25, 1779. 



Great a? was the distinction he acquired among his contemporaries 

 in other and far different branches of knowledge, Sulzer's fame now 

 rests chiefly upon his ' Allgemeine Theorie der Schonen Kunste,' a 

 cyclopcedia of literature and the fine arts ; and, as Herder says of it, 

 " one that is in itself an entire academy." Although this work was 

 announced by its author in 1760, it did not appear till 1771-74, for 

 Sulzer had not calculat d upon the time it would take to render its 

 execution satisfactory to himself as well as the public. The second 

 edition, in four volumes Svo, with a supplement containing additions 

 and corrections, was published in 1792-94 ; and in 1799 came out an 

 appendix to it, forming a complete Index of all the writers, artists, 

 &c. referred to in it. There are also distinct works intended as accom- 

 paniments to the ' Allgemeine Theorie ' one by Blankenburg, entitled 



' Literary Additions,' &c., 3 vols. Svo, 1796-98 ; the other ' Nachtrage' 

 (supplementary articles), by Schatz and Dyck, 8 vols. Svo, 1792-1808. 

 Of Sulzer's other writings the principal are ' Moral Reflections on 

 the Works of Nature,' Berlin, 1741 ; and ' Philosophical Pieces,' 1773-86. 



SUMAROKOV, ALEXANDER PETROVITCH, whose name was 

 after that of his contemporary and literary rival Lomonosov, almost 

 the only one that, until of late years, was known in this country as 

 that of a Russian poet, was born at St. Petersburg in 1718, and was 

 the son of a general officer. He was educated first at home, and after- 

 wards in the Land Cadet Corps, where he soon distinguished himself 

 by his ability. The study of Corneille and Racine inspired him with 

 a taste for dramatic composition ; and at about the age of twenty-five 

 he began to attempt it. His tragedies were at first performed at court 

 before the Empress Elizabeth, for there was then no public theatre, 

 and as they satisfied the principal person, they were loudly applauded 

 by the rest of the audience. This success encouraged Sumarokov, 

 who was naturally of a vain disposition, and he determined to establish 

 a permanent theatre in the capital ; an attempt in which he was greatly 

 aided by the influence of his father (Peter Pankratievich), who, besides 

 being a person of some consequence in other respects, held a post near 

 the person of the grandduke Peter, The result was, that the theatre 

 was opened in 1756, under the immediate patronage of the court, and 

 Sumarokov appointed its director ; whence he has been generally con- 

 sidered the founder both of the Russian theatre and the Russian 

 drama. But dramatic entertainments were not totally unknown to 

 his countrymen before his time, for they had been introduced at court 

 at the close of the preceding century, and the scriptural pieces of 

 Demetrius, bishop of Rostov (b. 1651, d. 1709), had been performed. 

 At the very time too that Sumarokov was organising his plans, there 

 was not only a small theatre at Yaroslav, but it was thence that 

 he obtained his chief performers, including the celebrated Volkov 

 [VOLKOV, P. G.] and Dmitrevsky, who afterwards obtained the appel- 

 lation of the Russian Garrick. 



Still, if not literally the originate! 1 , Sumarokov may be regarded as 

 the founder of the drama in Russia : he brought it at once to com- 

 parative perfection ; and frequently approached and perhaps would 

 have surpassed his models, if he had not allowed himself to be tram- 

 melled by them, and if he had not, while aiming at the merits, adopted 

 all the defects, the conventionalities, and rigorous poetical etiquette of 

 the French stage and its rhymed Alexandrine versification. Among 

 his tragedies, his ' Semira,' and ' Sinov and Truvor,' are his best and 

 most original productions, notwithstanding they are not, like his 

 ' Demetrius/ on the list of acting pieces. As a comic writer, he hardly 

 deserves mention, for his dramas of that class are little more than 

 farces, occasionally coarse in expression, but less gross and less immoral 

 than many comedies that, being less indelicate, are tolerated as decent. 

 They have one merit, that of setting the example of prose dialogue 

 as the most suitable for the drama of ordinary life : but their language 

 is now become quite antiquated : a disadvantage more sensibly felt in 

 Sumarokov's prose than in his poetry. There are indeed many 

 exceedingly beautiful passages in his tragedies ; so poetical in senti- 

 ment, and so felicitously turned, that they hardly suffer at all by com- 

 parison with any specimens of Russian poetry at the present day. 

 Sumarokov attempted not only every species of the drama, including 

 operas, but almost every form of poetical composition. He versified 

 the ' Psalms ' in ten books, and wrote a vast number of odes, satires, 

 epistles, fables, eclogues, elegies, sonnets, epigrams, songs, and other 

 pieces, besides several in prose, including some historical and didactic 

 ones, and his ' Dialogues of the Dead,' &c. The first complete edition 

 of his works was published in ten volumes, Svo, in 17^7, ten years 

 after his death, which happened at Moscow, October 1, 1777. 



* SUMNER, JOHN BIRD, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, was 

 born in 1780, at Kenilworth, Warwickshire. His father, the Rev. 

 Robert Sumner, vicar of Kenilworth and Stoneleigh, was the son of 

 Dr. John Sumner, provost of King's College, Cambridge. He was 

 educated at Eton and at King's College ; and obtained university 

 honours as Browne's Medallist, and Hulse's Prizeman. In 1815 he pub- 

 lished his first work, entitled 'Apostolical Preaching.' In 1816 

 appeared his 'Records of Creation.' To this remarkable work was 

 awarded the second prize of 400Z., under the will of a Scotch gentle- 

 man, named Burnett. All his numerous theological works are dis- 

 tinguished by their earnest piety, their depth of thought, and elegance 

 of language. When a Fellow of Eton College he addressed a series 

 of discourses to the scholars, and the effect of his winning and impres- 

 sive eloquence was a marked improvement in the moral habits of the 

 whole school. Dr. Sumner, who was a cauon of Durham in 1820, was 

 consecrated bishop of Chester in 1S28. In this district he gave a 

 most remarkable impetus to the building of churches, and the founda- 

 tion of schools, especially of infant schools. In 1848 he was translated 

 to the archbishopric of Canterbury. 



SOMNER, CHARLES RICHARD, D.D., Bishop of Winchester, younger 

 brother of the archbishop, was born at Kenilworth in 1790. He 

 was educated at Eton, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1824, 

 being then librarian and historiographer to King George IV., he was 

 chosen to superintend the publication of Milton's Latin Treatise on 

 Christian Doctrine, which was discovered in the State Paper Office ; 

 of which work he made a translation, which was published in 1825. 

 Dr. Sumner was then a prebendary of Canterbury. He was promoted 



