SEVERALTY 



SEVERUS 



335 



Austrian entrenchments at Burkersdorf, and, follow- 

 ing up this success, routed Daun at Reichenbach 

 (August 16) and took Schweidnitz (October 9), 



n?,_ -_ *~1 1-- lit- 



thus recovering Silesia. Contemporaneously with 

 5 events his brother, Prince Henry, by a serii 



these i 



of fortunate manoeuvres possessed himself of the 

 passes of the Erzgebirge, and overthrew the im- 

 perial forces at Freiberg (October 29). In the 

 west the Duke of Brunswick still held his ground 

 gloriously against the French, routing them at 

 Wilhelmsthal (June 24), capturing Cassel, and 

 recovering the whole of Hesse. France now gave 

 up a contest from which she had gathered nothing 

 but military disgrace, and concluded treaties with 

 Britain and Prussia; and towards the end of the 

 year the minor German states also withdrew from 

 the coalition. Maria Theresa was now left alone, 

 and, Austria being exhausted as well as Prussia, 

 was compelled, sorely against her will, to conclude 

 the peace of Hubertsbnrg (February 15, 1763; 

 England made peace with France by the treaty of 

 Paris on the 10th), which finally acknowledged 

 Frederick as the lord of Silesia. 



This long and desperate struggle cost Europe a 

 million lives, and prostrated the strength of almost 

 all the powers who had engaged in it. It made 

 no change in the territorial distribution of Europe, 

 but it increased tenfold the moral power of Prussia, 

 and gave its army a prestige which it retained till 

 the battle of Jena. But outside of Europe, in 

 North America and India, it brought aliout a new 

 epoch. According to Parkman, it crippled the 

 commerce of France and blighted her colonial 

 power ; it gave England the mastery of North 

 America and India, and made her the first com- 

 mercial nation. 



See Carlyle's Hittory of Frederick the Great ; Frederick 

 II., Hittoire de la Guerre de Sept Ant; and histories by 

 Anchenholz ( llth ed. 1879), the officers of the Prussian 

 General Staff (8 vols. 1827-47), Maslowski (Russian 

 account ; Ger. trans. Berlin, 1888 ft *'/.), Longman (in 

 ' Epochs of History' series ), and H. Lloyd (2 vols. Lond. 

 1781-90); also the article FREDERICK II. And for 

 America and India, see Parkman, N'mtcalm and Wolfe 

 (1884); Seeley, Tke Expaiuion of England (1883); and 

 the articles CANADA, CLIVE, COLONY, HAWKE, INDIA, 

 WOLFE. 



Severally. An estate in severally is held by 

 one owner, without being joined with others having 

 common interests, as opposed to Coparcenary (q.v.), 

 Joint-tenancy, and Tenancy-in-common. In the 

 Indian legislation of the united States land in 

 severally is that allotted to individuals which was 

 once held by the trilie. In English law a contract 

 of several persons is joint and not several i.e. one 

 cannot be sued separately, bnt they must all be 

 sued together unless the -words we jointly and 

 severally promise 'are introduced into the contract, 

 promissory-note, &c. In Scotland the general rule 

 is the reverse ; in a conjunct contract each is liable 

 for the whole. 



Severn (Lat. Snbrina), one of the most im- 

 portant and beautiful and, after the Thames, the 

 largest of the rivers of England, rises, 1500 feet 

 above sea-level, from a chalybeate spring on the 

 eastern side of Plinlimmon, 12 miles west of Llan- 

 idloes, in Montgomeryshire, North Wales. Flow- 

 ing eastward from its source to Llanidloes, to 

 which town it retains its original British name of 

 Hafren, it afterwards flows north-east past New- 

 town (465 feet) and Welshpool to the eastern 

 boundary of Montgomeryshire, then east-south- 

 east past Shrewsbury ami Bridgnorth in Salop, 

 and finally southward through Worcester and 

 Gloucester, in which last it begins to form the 

 estuary that merges in the Bristol Channel (n. v. ). 

 It is navigable for barges to Welshpool in Mont- 

 gomeryshire, 180 miles from its mouth. Its entire 



length is 210 miles (though the distance from 

 source to mouth as the crow flies is only 80), and it 

 drains an area of more than 6000 sq. m. The chief 

 affluents of the Severn are the Tevne and the Upper 

 and Lower Avon on the east, and the Teme and 

 Wye on the west. A canal 18J miles long, and 

 navigable for vessels of 350 tons, extends from 

 Gloucester to the upper portion of the estuary of 

 the river, and thus materially shortens the navi- 

 gation of its lower course ; and in the summer of 

 1891 works were undertaken, to cost 30,000, for 

 the improvement of the navigation to Worcester. 

 The Montgomery Canal extends from Welshpool to 

 Newtown, and other canals establish communica- 

 tion l>et\veeii the Severn and the Thames, Trent, 

 Mersey, and the other important rivers of the 

 middle districts of England. In some of the 

 reaches below Gloucester, especially near Newn- 

 ham, the tide, which flows with great velocity, 

 produces from the peculiar configuration of the 

 estuary a l>ore (locally termed hygre) or wave 

 sometimes 5 or 6 feet liigh, which not infrequently 

 overwhelms lighters navigating the river. The 

 railway twice crosses the estuary near Berkeley 

 by a viaduct (1879), 1194 yards long, and near 

 Chepstow by a tunnel ( 1873-85), 4J miles long. 



Severn. JOSEPH (1793-1879), an artist chiefly 

 known as the faithful friend of Keats ( q. v. ). From 

 1861 to 1872 he was British consul at Home. See 

 Sharp, The Life, Friendships, and Letters of Joseph 

 *< // (1892). 



Severe, CAPE. See CHELYUSKIN. 



Severus, L. SEPTIMIUS, a Roman emperor and 

 a soldier of great vigour and courage, was born 

 of equestrian rank, near Leptis Magna in Africa, 

 146 A.D. He became prfetor at Rome in 178, and 

 was at length appointed to the command of the 

 army in Pannonia and Illyria. After the murder 

 of Pertinax (193) he was proclaimed emperor at 

 Carnutum, and promptly marched upon Rome, 

 where the puppet Julianus had by purchase ob- 

 tained the imperial purple. His arrival l>efore 

 Rome was the death-signal for Julianus ; and after 

 taking vengeance on the murderers of Pertinax, 

 converting his most formidable rival, Clodius 

 Albinus, into an ally by creating him C?sar, and 

 distributing an extravagant largess to his soldiers, 

 he marched against his second rival, Pescennius 

 Niger, and conquered him at Issus (195). A 

 glorious campaign in the East, and the three years' 

 siege and capture of Byzantium, were followed Ky 

 a desperate struggle with his jealous rival, Clodius 

 AlliiiiiiH, whom, after an obstinate conflict near 

 Lyons, he conquered (197). After the usual 

 games to the degenerate citizens of Rome and 

 largesses to the troops, Severus returned to Asia, 

 accompanied by his sons Caracalla and Geta, had 

 the most brilliant success in the campaign of 198 

 against the Parthian*, and took and plundered 

 their capital, Ctesiphon. He returned to Rome in 

 202, and gratified the popular taste by the ex- 

 hibition of shows of unparalleled magnificence, also 

 distributing another extravagant largess to the 

 citizens and pnetorians. A rebellion in Britain 

 drew him thither in 208, and at the head of an 

 immense army he marched, it is said, to the ex- 

 treme north of the island, encountering enormous 

 hardships. To secure to some extent the natives 

 of Soutn Britain from the incursions of the Meat;e 

 and Caledonians, Severus repaired or partially 

 built the wall which is often called after him, and 

 died soon after at Eboraciim (York), 4th February 

 211. Some recent authorities believe that the wall 

 has as much right to bear his name as that of 

 Hadrian ; see HADRIAN'S WALL, and G. Neilson's 

 Per Lineam Valli (Glasgow, 1891). For the 

 emperor ALEXANDER SEVERUS, see that article. 



