100 



SARTO SATIRE. 



and one hundred Russian horns, besides the usual 

 instruments. 



SARTO, ANDREA DEL (his proper name is An- 

 drea Vunnucchi) ; a celebrated painter, of the 

 Florentine school, born at Florence, in 1438. His 

 teachers were not of a high order, and he cultivated 

 liis talents principally by the study of great masters, 

 such as Leonardo and Michael Angelo. Some main- 

 tain that he was deficient in invention; whence, 

 in some of his compositions, he made use of the 

 engravings of Albert Diirer, which had then become 

 known. He painted many pieces for his native city. 

 Francis I. induced him, by a considerable salary, to 

 go to France in 1518. But his extravagant wife 

 led him into acts of ingratitude against the prince. 

 He soon went back to Italy, and appropriated to 

 the use of himself and his wife large sums, which 

 had been given him, by his royal patron, to purchase 

 the pictures of great masters in Italy. He repented, 

 it is true, of his faults, but could not recover the 

 king's favour. Among other works, he painted, 

 about this time, the beautiful Sacrifice of Abraham, 

 which has since been placed in the gallery of Dres- 

 den. The following anecdote is related of his won- 

 derful skill in imitation He copied Raphael's por- 

 trait of Leo X. so exquisitely as even to deceive 

 Giulio Romano, who had aided Raphael in the 

 drapery. Among his most celebrated works is a 

 Burial in the palace Pitti, and the Dead Saviour with 

 Mary and the Saints, in the gallery of the grand- 

 duke ; also a beautiful Madonna, in the church of 

 rAnnunziata, called Madonna del sacco, and several 

 others in Florence ; a Charity, now in Basle ; Tobias 

 with the Angel; and several Holy Families; the 

 History of Joseph, in two paintings, in the Paris 

 museum. In 1529, when Florence was taken, the 

 soldiers, on entering the refectory which contained 

 his picture of the Last Supper, were struck with 

 awe, and retired without committing any violence. 

 He died of the plague, in 1530. His colouring in 

 fresco, as well as in oil, was full of sweetness and 

 force: his draperies are easy and graceful. The 

 naked, in his compositions, is excellently designed, 

 but his figures want that force and vivacity which 

 animate the works of other great painters, though 

 they possess correctness, truth and simplicity. 

 Sometimes he is too anxious to produce effect. 

 Giacomo de Pontormo was his pupil. 



SARUM, OLD; an ancient and now deserted 

 borough in Wiltshire, two miles north of Salisbury. 

 It was anciently a considerable city, and by the 

 Romans called Sorbiodunum, though at present re- 

 duced to some ruins and intrenchments. Two 

 members, however, up to the passing of the Re- 

 form Bill, continued to be returned to parliament 

 by the proprietors, and the election took place in 

 the field, on the spot where the last houses of the 

 city stood. The present proprietor of Old Sarum 

 (lord Caledon) paid about 60,000 for the small 

 estate on which the borough stands. It was the 

 original situation of Salisbury, and the bishop had 

 a castle here ; but the see was removed to the pre- 

 sent situation of Salisbury (q. v.), in the year 1219. 

 Before the reformation in England, the most cele- 

 brated liturgy in use in that country was that styled 

 secundum usum Sarum, compiled by the bishop of 

 Salisbury, in the eleventh century. 



SASSAFRAS. See Laurel. 



SASSOFERATO; a painter, so called from the 

 place of his birth, a town in the duchy of Urbino, 

 States of the Church. His true name was Giam- 

 batthta Salvi. He was born in 1605, learned the 



elements of his art from his father, and afterwards 

 studied under Domenichino, Guido and Albani. 

 His works resemble those of the latter, and are 

 executed with the same care. His paintings were 

 chiefly the Madonna and Child, the latter sleeping. 

 His heads are expressive and lovely. 



SATAN. See Devil. 



SATE; an Egyptian goddess. See Hierogly- 

 phics. 



SATIN; a soft, closely-woven silk, with a glossy 

 surface. In the manufacture of othtjr silken stuiis, 

 each half of the warp is raised alternately; but in 

 weaving satin, the workman only raises the fifth or 

 the eighth part of the warp ; thus the woof is hid- 

 den beneath the warp, which, presenting an even, 

 close and smooth surface, is the more capable of re- 

 flecting the rays of light. In this way satin ac- 

 quires that lustre and brilliancy which distinguish it 

 from most other kinds of silks. The chief seats 

 of this branch of manufacture are Lyons in France, 

 and Genoa and Florence in Italy. From the East 

 Indies are imported those light stuffs called Indian 

 or Chinese satins. They are either plain, damasked, 

 striped, open-worked, or embroidered. Both in 

 lustre and execution, they are far inferior to the 

 Lyonese satins; they, however, possess this pecu- 

 liar property, that, even after scouring, they retain 

 their original gloss. 



SATIN-SPAR; carbonate of lime, in delicate, 

 almost compact, white fibres. See Lime. 



SATIRE; in the widest sense of the word, 

 pungent ridicule or cutting censure of faults, vices 

 or weaknesses; hence the phrase a "satirical per- 

 son." In a narrower sense, in which it is more 

 commonly used, it is a poem, of which ridicule and 

 censure are the object and chief characteristic. 

 This species of poetry had its origin with the 

 Romans: the name is derived from satur (by no 

 means from satyr~), and refers, originally, to the 

 mixture of subjects treated, and of metres used, in 

 the earlier productions of this kind. Satire is one 

 of the latest branches of poetry cultivated, because 

 it presupposes not merely much natural wit, but 

 also acute observation, and much variety of life and 

 manners to call this wit into exercise. In fact, it 

 is only in an advanced state of society, where folly 

 and vice force themselves on the public eye, that a 

 taste can exist for this species of production. As 

 the object of satire is always castigation, it is dis- 

 tinguished from mere wit, which may occupy itself 

 simply with the ludicrousness of particular rela- 

 tions. The form of satire is very varied. It 

 may be in the shape of epistles, tales, dialogues, 

 dramas (as with Aristophanes), songs, epics, fables, 

 &c. The most common form of satire, however, 

 is that of a simply didactic composition. The an- 

 cients wrote their satires in iambic and dactylic 

 verse. The moderns generally use the iambus, 

 sometimes the Alexandrine, sometimes the iambic 

 verse of five feet, the latter sometimes with, some- 

 times without rhyme. The proper didactic satire 

 originated, as we have said, with the Romans; and 

 its inventor was Lucilius: Horace, Juvenal and 

 Persius developed it. Vulpius, Casaubon and K6- 

 nig have written on the Roman satire. Of the 

 modern satirists, we may mention, among the Ita- 

 lians, Ariosto, Alamanni, Salvator Rosa, Menzini, 

 Dotti, Gasparo Gozzi, Alfieri, &c. ; among the 

 Spaniards, Cervantes, Quevedo and Saavedra; 

 among the French, Regnier, Boileau, and Voltaire, 

 &c. ; among the Germans, Seb. Brand, Ulr. Hut- 

 ten, Fischart, Haller, Rabener, Lichtenberg, Falk. 



