104 



S A VILE SAVONAROLA. 



hiniM'lf in elegant literaturi', and, on hi* return, 

 was appointed tutor in Greek and mathematics to 

 queen Elizabeth, Seven \oars a ft or. tho wardon- 

 ship of his college, which he held for about six- 

 and-thirty years, the provostship of Eton being 

 added to it in 159(5, was conferred on him. In 

 I;i!>, he founded two professorships, in geometry 

 and astronomy, at Oxford, besides conferring several 

 other valuable benefactions, both in property and 

 book?;, many of the latter forming still a part of 

 the Modlciun library. Among his works, the prin- 

 cipal are his Commentaries on Roman Warfare; 

 11 mm AiK/lifarutn post Bedam Scriptores ; Preelec- 

 tion,* in i'.lementa Euclidis; and his edition of the 

 writings of St Chrysostom, in eight folio volumes. 

 Sir Henry Savile was the correspondent of J. Scali- 

 ger, Meibomius, Isaac Casaubon, and most of the 

 h-anied men of his day. His death took place in 



loss. 



SAVILE, GEORGE, marquis of Halifax, a states- 

 man and writer, was born in 1630. On the death 

 of Cromwell, he distinguished himself by his exer- 

 tions in favour of the absent king, and on the re- 

 storation was raised to the peerage. He was re- 

 moved from the council in 1675, through the 

 influence of the duke of York (see James .//.), in 

 consequence of his opposition to that prince's mea- 

 sures in favour of the Roman Catholic religion. 

 But when the bill for excluding the duke from the 

 succession was in agitation, his repugnance to that 

 measure brought him into disgrace with the party 

 with which he had hitherto acted. In 1682, he 

 was created marquis of Halifax, keeper of the privy 

 seal, and president of the council, which dignities 

 he retained in the early part of the succeeding reign, 

 till his opposition to the proposed repeal of the 

 test acts caused his abrupt dismissal. From this 

 moment lord Halifax continued in opposition, till 

 the flight of James II., when he was chosen speaker 

 of the house of lords in the convention parliament, 

 and contributed mainly to the elevation of William 

 III. to the throne. But, soon after the revolution, 

 he resigned the privy seal, and, during the remain- 

 der of his life, voted against the court. A morti- 

 fication in the bowels carried him off in 1G95. He 

 was the author of Advice to a Daughter, and of a 

 variety of political tracts, the principal of which 

 are, Maxims of State; the Character of a Trim- 

 mer ; Character of King Charles II. ; Anatomy of 

 an Equivalent; Letter to a Dissenter, &c. 



SAVIN. See Juniper. 



SAVINGS BANKS. See Banks. 



SAVONAROLA, GERONIMO, an Italian monk, 

 celebrated for his eloquence, and his melancholy 

 fate, was born at Ferrara, September 21, 1452, 

 and was designed for the medical profession. Re- 

 ligious enthusiasm led him, at the age of fourteen, 

 to leave his father's house secretly, and enter the 

 order of Dominicans. Several years later, he 

 began to preach at Florence, but with so little 

 success that he determined to abandon the pulpit; 

 and, retiring to Bologna, he devoted himself to 

 metaphysical and physical studies. The reputation 

 of his talents and learning induced Lorenzo de' 

 Medici to invite him to return to Florence. Here 

 Savonarola began to preach again; and his dis- 

 courses attracted such crowds that the church 

 could not contain them. His extraordinary sanctity 

 and his powerful eloquence gained him great influ- 

 ence over the minds of the Florentines, and he 

 was emboldened to assume a prophetic tone, and 

 to urge with vehemence, and in public, the neces- 



sit- of a reform in the church. The multitude 

 looked upon him as divinely inspired, while some 

 ridiculed lam as a fanatic, and others denounced 

 him as an impostor. He soon broke off all con- 

 nexion with his patron Lorenzo, whose character 

 he assailed, with prophecies of his approaching fall. 

 He refused to make the customary visit to that 

 chief, which it was his duty to do as prior of St 

 Marks, and, when Lorenzo went himself to St 

 Marks, refused to see him. Although Lorenzo de' 

 Medici was repeatedly urged to adopt severe 

 measures against him, he refused, either from 

 leiity, or from his respect for the character of the 

 preacher. When Lorenzo lay on his death-bed 

 (1492), Savonarola obtained admission to him, and 

 spoke to the dying man with the dignity of his 

 office. After the death of Lorenzo, and the expul- 

 sion of his son Pietro, Savonarola took the most 

 active part in the political affairs of Florence. He 

 put himself at the head of those who demanded 

 a more democratical form of government, asserted 

 that God had commissioned him to declare that the 

 legislative power must be extended to the citizens, 

 that he himself had been the ambassador of the 

 Florentines to heaven, and that Christ had consented 

 to be their king. The newly elected magistrates 

 accordingly laid down their offices, and the legisla- 

 tive functions were intrusted to a council of the 

 citizens, which chose a committee of their own 

 number for the discharge of the duty. Dissensions, 

 however, distracted the new republic; the aristo- 

 cratical and democratical parties persecuted each 

 other with great fury, the former consisting of the 

 friends of the old order of things, and the latter 

 of the devout admirers of the monk. 'But the zeal 

 of Savonarola was not content with revolutionizing 

 Florence; he meditated the reform of the Roman 

 court, and of the irregularities of the clergy. The 

 pontificate of Alexander VI. could not fail to sup- 

 ply causes of complaint on both heads. He accord- 

 ingly wrote, as his eulogists assure us, to the 

 Christian princes, declaring that the church was 

 going to ruin, and that it was their duty to con- 

 voke a general council, before which he was ready 

 to prove that the church was without a head, and 

 that the reigning pope was not a true bishop, had 

 never been worthy of the title, nor even of the 

 name of a Christian. Alexander excommunicated 

 him, and the bull of excommunication was read in 

 the cathedral at Florence; but Savonarola despised 

 the thunders of the Vatican, and continued to 

 preach. His influence was still further increased 

 by the failure of an attempt of Pietro de Medici 

 to restore his family authority. But another party 

 had, meanwhile, arisen in opposition to him. His 

 innovations in St Mark 'sand other monasteries had 

 excited the enmity of the monks, especially of the 

 Franciscans of the strict observance, who denounced 

 him from the pulpit as an excommunicated heretic. 

 Fra Domenico da Rescia, a monk of his convent, 

 offered, in the heat of his fanatical zeal, to prove 

 the truth of his master's doctrines, by passing 

 through fire, if one of his opponents would undergo 

 the same ordeal in defence of their opinions. The 

 challenge was accepted by a Franciscan monk, and 

 Savonarola, with his champion, appeared at the 

 head of a large procession, chanting the Psalm 

 Ixviii, " Let God arise, and let his enemies be scat- 

 tered." The Franciscan also presented himself, 

 the fire was kindled, and Domenico was ready to 

 enter the rlames, bearing the host in his hands. 

 But the crowd exclaimed against this sacrilege, 



