SESTETTO SETTLE. 



205 



manner in which the Romans expressed numerical 

 values, (see Notation.) As a weight, a sestertius 

 amounted to about fifteen and three fourths French 

 grains (about 12-91 grains Troy). 



SESTETTO; a musical piece for six indepen- 

 dent voices, whether instrumental or vocal. The 

 former is particularly used for wind instruments, 

 and often employed for serenades or notturni. Mos- 

 cheles, Beethoven and others have composed ses- 

 tettos for wind and stringed instruments. Vocal 

 sestettos are used in operas; and that of Mozart, in 

 the second act of Don Juan, is celebrated. 



SESTINA; a lyric form of versification, which 

 comprises six strophes of six lines, and one of three 

 lines. The verse is generally the iambic of five 

 feet. The characteristic of the sestina is, that in 

 each of the six strophes the six final words of the 

 first are repeated in such an order that the final 

 word of the sixth verse of the first strophe, becomes 

 the final word of the first verse of the second 

 strophe ; the other five verses of the second strophe 

 end with the final words of the five first verses of 

 the first strophe in an arbitrary succession. The 

 third strophe is formed in the same way from the 

 second as this was from the first, and so on; so 

 that each of the six final words is once the first and 

 once the last word in each strophe, and the last 

 verse of the sixth strophe ends with the final word 

 of the first verse of the first strophe. The strophe 

 of three lines, with which the sestina ends, repeats 

 the six final words again in the same order as they 

 stand in the first strophe: each verse contains two 

 of them, one in the middle and one at the end. 

 There is no other rhyme in the sestina. Petrarca 

 has made successful essays in this form. In general, 

 the Italians, and next to them the Spaniards, have 

 most cultivated it. It has been attempted, also, in 

 German. It can be readily imagined how easily 

 this form leads to an idle play upon words; yet it 

 is astonishing with what skill some poets have con- 

 trived to attach different ideas and feelings to the 

 same words*. 



SESTINI, DOMENICO, the most learned numis- 

 matist of Europe, in regard to ancient coins, as far 

 as the knowledge of them can be acquired by in- 

 spection, was born at Florence, in 1750. After 

 having completed his studies at the school of St 

 Marco, he entered the clerical order; but, in 1774, 

 he left his native city, and visited Rome, Naples, 

 and the Sicilies. In order to prosecute his studies 

 with more effect, he went from Sicily, through 

 Malta and Smyrna to Constantinople, where he 

 prepared his observations on the plague, which then 

 prevailed. He made short journeys from Constan- 

 tinople into Asia and Europe, and lived awhile in 

 the house of prince Ypsilanti, hospodar of Wala- 

 chia. At length, he went to Vienna, and returned 

 along the Danube and over the Black sea to Con- 

 stantinople. The British ambassador at the Porte, 

 Sir Robert Ainslie, was then forming a collection 

 of ancient coins. For sixteen years Sestini was 

 his agent, and in the course of his travels collected 

 the celebrated cabinet which he has described in 

 Iris Lett, e Dissertazioni numismatiche sopra alcune 

 Medaglie rare della Callezione AinsUena (4 vols., 

 1789 90, 4to.); Descr. Numor. vett. ex Museis 

 Ainslie, Bellini, etc., necnon Animadverss. in Opus 

 Eckhel. Doctrina Numorum vett. (Leghorn, 1796. 

 4to.). To gain a thorough knowledge of ancient 

 coins, he travelled through Germany, visited Gotha, 

 Dresden, and Berlin, where he settled, and was ap- 

 pointed, by the king, superintendent of the collec- 



tion there. In 1810, he went to Paris, where he 

 was elected a corresponding member of the Acade- 

 mie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, and, two 

 years later, he received the appointment of anti- 

 quary and librarian of the princess Eliza, then 

 grand-duchess of Tuscany. When Ferdinand III. 

 ascended the throne, he confirmed him in this office, 

 and added the title of honorary professor of the 

 university of Pisa. In November, 1825, he was 

 living with count Viczay at Hedervan. His princi- 

 pal writings are Diss. intorno al Virgilio di Apro- 

 niano (Flor., 1774, 4to.); Della Peste di Constan- 

 tinopoli del 1778 (Yverdun [Flor.], 1779, 12mo.); 

 Letters Odeporiche, ossia Viaggio per la Penisola 

 di Cizico (2 vols., Leghorn, 1785) ; Viaggio di Con- 

 stantinopoli a Bassora (Yverd. [Leghorn], 1786) ; 

 Viaggio di Ritorno da Bassora a Constantinopoli 

 (Leghorn, 1788) ; Letters e Dissertazioni numisma- 

 tiche, which appeared at Leghorn, Rome, Berb'n, 

 Milan, Pisa, and Florence, from 1789 to 1820, in 

 18 vols., 4to., with many engravings; the Descrip- 

 tio Nummorum veterum ex variis Museis (Leipsic, 

 1796, 4to.) ; the Catalogus Nummorum veterum Mu- 

 SCEI Aragoniani (Berl., 1805, fol.); the Descr. selec- 

 tiorum Numismatum in jEre niaximi Moduli Museo 

 olim Ab. de Ca?nps, posteaque Mareschalli d'Etrees, 

 etc. (Berl., 1808, 4to.); Descr. dells Medaglie 

 Greeks e Romans del fu Benkowitz (Berl., 1800, 

 4to.); Descr. degli Stateri antichi illustr. con le 

 Medaglie (Flor., 1817); Diss. sopra le Medaglie 

 antiche relative alia Confederaz. degli Achei (Milan, 

 1817, 4to.); and the Descr. dette Medaglie Ispane 

 appartenenti alia Lusitania Betica e alia Tarrago- 

 nese del Museo Hedervariano (Flor., 1818, 4to.). 

 His Classes generales seu Moneta vetus Urbium, 

 Populorum et Regum Ordine Geographico et Chrono- 

 logico descr. (Flor., 1821, 4to., 2d ed.), may serve, 

 in many respects, as a general index to all these 

 works. There is but little prospect that his Sys 

 tema geographicum Numismaticum (written by his 

 own hand, in 16 vols., folio), the fruit of fifty years 

 of study and investigation, will be given to the 

 world. 



SESTOS; a fortress of European Turkey, op- 

 posite to Abydos, from which it is 2700 yards dis- 

 tant. The castles of the Dardanelles, sometimes 

 called the Sestos and Abydos, are built near the 

 sites of the ancient towns so called, famous for the 

 loves of Leander and Hero. 



SET-OFF, in law, is when the defendant ac- 

 knowledges the justice of the plaintiff's demand on 

 the one hand, but on the other sets up a demand of 

 his own, to counterbalance that of the plaintiff, 

 either in the whole or in part; as if the plaintiff 

 sue for 100 dollars due on a note of hand, the de- 

 fendant may set off 90 dollars to himself for mer- 

 chandise sold to the plaintiff, or for any other de. 

 mand, the amount of which is ascertained in da- 

 mages. 



SETTLE, ELKANAH, an English poet, was born 

 in 1648. At the age of eighteen, he entered at 

 Oxford, but quitted the university without taking 

 a degree, and, going to London, commenced author 

 by profession. He wrote numerous political pam- 

 phlets, and, in reply to Dryden's poem entitled the 

 Medal, occasioned by the whig party striking a 

 medal to commemorate the throwing out of the 

 bill against the earl of Shaftesbury, a piece called 

 the Medal Reversed; and, soon after, a poem en- 

 titled Azaria and Hushai, designed as an answer to 

 the Absalom and Achitophel. In 1685, he pub- 

 lished a poem on the coronation of James II. , and, 



