SIXTUS V. SKIN. 



277 



trality, and enjoined silence on the Jesuits, whom 

 he never loved, when they contended with the uni- 

 versity of Louvain. But in the political events of 

 his time, he took a more active share. The project 

 of restoring Germany to its former dependence on 

 the papal see failed; but Sixtus excited the emperor 

 Rodolph IL to a violent persecution of heretics. 

 Two Protestant sovereigns, Henry of Navarre, and 

 Elizabeth, queen of England, he excommunicated, 

 though it would seem only for the sake of appearances, 

 since he sincerely esteemed them both for their in- 

 tellectual vigour, and would never seriously support 

 Spain against Henry, because he deemed the views 

 of Philip II. dangerous. He, however, aided this 

 monarch with funds to equip the armada against 

 England, but at the same time gave the British 

 envoys an opportunity to see that he would not 

 disapprove of a more energetic participation in the 

 war for the independence of the Netherlands, in 

 order to curtail the Spanish power. After the as- 

 sassination of the Guises, he excommunicated Henry 

 III., yet without giving direct support to the 

 league. But while Sixtus V. conducted with mo- 

 deration towards all the princes of his time, he 

 weakened one by means of another, and made them 

 all dependent on himself. His mind was occupied 

 with extensive plans for the enlargement of his 

 temporal and spiritual power. He always called 

 Naples his kingdom, and made the Spanish viceroy 

 feel his importance on all occasions. It was his 

 design to subject Russia to his dominion through 

 Stephen Bathori, king of Poland, and Egypt through 

 the grand-duke of Tuscany ; but the death of these 

 two princes frustrated his bold projects. By his 

 numerous spies, not only his special informers, who 

 were royally paid, but also the father confessors of 

 the Roman Catholic church, he gained a knowledge 

 of every thing that was passing. Hence he was 

 always prepared for emergencies, and consulted 

 with the cardinals only for the sake of appearance. 

 His thorough knowledge of business, and the supe- 

 riority of his bold, able and lofty mind, filled every/ 

 one that approached him with respect and admira- 

 tion. He was famous for humorous remarks and 

 pithy repartees, by which he often overcame oppo- 

 sition and effected his objects. Plain in his exterior, 

 and free from anxiety about a nice etiquette, he 

 maintained his princely dignity by a majestic de- 

 meanour and strict consistency. The sternness of 

 his deportment was rarely interrupted by displays 

 of good nature, though this sometimes happened, 

 as in his marks of favour to his old acquaintances of 

 the time of his humble condition. He was reserved 

 towards those around him, and firm even to obsti- 

 nacy in all that he undertook. Though politics 

 occupied the greatest share of his attention, yet he 

 was wanting in nothing which became the head of 

 the church. In no case did he abuse his power to 

 gratify personal feelings of revenge. Though never- 

 beloved, he was universally feared. After his death, 

 which happened August 24, 1590, the populace, 

 irritated by the pressure of taxes, overturned the 

 statues which the senate had erected to him in the 

 capitol. The conjecture that his death was hastened 

 by poison, at the instigation of the Spanish court, 

 which he had offended by his coldness towards the 

 league, and by the manifestation of favour t.owards 

 Henry IV., is not supported by sufficient evidence. 

 All that could be effected in so few years, by com- 

 manding talents and force of character, with the 

 feeble means which were left to the papal see by 

 the reformation, Sixtus accomplished: and he was 



the last head of the Roman Catholic church whoa* 

 kings have had reason to fear. 



SKALDS. See Scalds. 



SKATING; one of the finest gymnastic exer- 

 cises, by which man, as Klopstock says, "like the 

 Homeric gods, strides with winged feet over the 

 sea, transmuted into solid ground." It is one ot 

 the healthiest exercises, bringing the body into ac- 

 tion by a great variety of motions. The best skaters 

 are found in Holland (where both men and women 

 often skate to market, and not unfrequently ladies 

 practise the exercise), Germany, and Russia. Skat- 

 ing is mentioned in the Edda, written 800 years 

 ago, in which the god Uller is represented as distin- 

 guished by his beauty, arrows, and skates. Klop- 

 stock has sung its praises in several odes. Gothe, 

 Herder, and other German poets, have celebrated 

 it. See Salzmann's Gymnastics, and Garcin's Le 

 vrai Patineur ; &c. 



SKELETON (from <r*ax, I dry) is the assem- 

 blage and combination of all the bones in the 

 animal body, with a few exceptions, as the bone 

 of the tongue (os hyoides}, and certain other 

 bones in certain animals. Red-blooded animals 

 only possess a true skeleton, to which their 

 muscles are attached, and on which the general 

 form, as well as the greater or less flexibility of the 

 body, depends. The skeleton is of the greatest 

 importance, both in comparative anatomy and in the 



animal mechanism See the five first chapters of 



Blumenbach's Comparative Anatomy, with Notes by 

 Lawrence (2d ed., by W. Coulson, London, 1827), 

 and the numbers on Animal Mechanism in the Li- 

 brary of Useful Knowledge; also Arnott's Elements 

 of Physics. See, also, Cuvier's Lecons d' Anatomic 

 Comparee. 



SKELTON, JOHN; an English poet, born to- 

 wards the latter part of the fifteenth century, at 

 Oxford, where, about 1489, he received the laureate- 

 ship as a degree. (See Poet Laureate.*) He 

 took orders in 1498, and was remarkable for his 

 buffooneries in the pulpit. There were three ob- 

 jects at which he delighted to aim his satire the 

 mendicant friars, Lily, the grammarian, and cardinal 

 Wolsey. His attacks on Wolsey at length roused 

 the resentment of that prelate, and an order being 

 issued for his apprehension, he took refuge in the 

 sanctuary at Westminster, where the abbot afforded 

 him protection until his death, June 21, 1529, not 

 long before the fall of Wolsey. His works, con- 

 sisting of comedies, satires, short poems, were pub- 

 lished in 1512, and are contained in Chalmers's 

 edition of the English poets, with the exception of 

 a few, omitted on account of their coarseness. The 

 whole are enumerated by Ritson. 



SKETCHES. See Drawing. 



SKIDDAW; one of the highest mountains of 

 England, in Cumberland, distinguished for its grand 

 and romantic scenery, as well as for the lakes in its 

 different hollows and near its base ; height 3022 

 feet. It is three miles north of Keswick. 



SKIFF. See Boat. 



SKIN; the porous organ which forms the ex. 

 ternal covering of the body, and which, besides its 

 use as a covering, performs the functions of perspi- 

 ration and absorption. It consists of two separate 

 organs the epidermis or scarf-skin, and the cutis or 

 proper skin ; between lies the rete mucosum. The 

 epidermis may be separated from the cutis by soak 

 ing in water. It is raised by the application ot 

 blisters, and, in some diseases of the skin, peels off 

 of itself. The complexion of negroes is owing io 



