SEVERN 



5320 



SEVILLE 



Si (esia and Saxony. A severe defeat at Kuners- 

 dorf in 1759 reduced Prussia well-nigh to a 

 state of exhaustion, but the victories of the 

 English over the French in that same year bet- 

 tered matters somewhat. Frederick won two 

 brilliant victories in 1760, but the death of 

 George II of England and Pitt's fall from 

 power took from Prussia its only ally and 

 made its ruin seem inevitable. 



In 1762, at the most critical time, Elizabeth 

 of Russia d'ed and was succeeded by Peter III, 

 an enthusiastic admirer of Frederick. Prussia 

 made a treaty with Russia, and Frederick won 

 several minor victories, but Peter was deposed 

 and plans for an active alliance between Russia 

 and Prussia were at an end. Russia did not, 

 however, again join Austria, and as both sides 

 were practically exhausted, peace was concluded 

 at Huberteburg early in 1763. Frederick was 

 allowed to keep possession of Silesia, and mat- 

 ters were adjusted as they had been before the 

 war. 



Influence in America. By no means the least 

 important part of this conflict was the struggle 

 between France and England which ended by 

 wresting from France its colonial possessions in 

 America and making England supreme in India. 

 In United States history this struggle is known 

 as the French and Indian War. A.MC c. 



Consult Carlisle's Life of Frederick the Great; 

 Longman's Frederick the Great and the Seven 

 Years' War. 



Related Subjects. Further information about 

 the Seven Years' War in its various phases may 

 be gained from the following articles in these 

 volumes : 



Clive, Robert Montcalm de Saint- 



Frederick II (Prussia) Veran, Marquis de 

 French and Indian Pitt, William 



Wars Pompadour, Marquise de 



Kaunitz, Prince Silesia 



Maria Theresa Wolfe, James 



SEVERN, one of the principal rivers of 

 England, formed by the union of two small 

 streams which rise in Mount Plinlimmon, in 

 Wales. It flows in a circuitous route through 

 England and discharges into the Bristol Chan- 

 nel through an estuary several miles wide, un- 

 der which runs a tunnel about four miles long. 

 Its total length is 210 miles, and it is naviga- 

 ble as far as Welshpool, a distance of 180 miles. 

 Great tidal waves have frequently caused seri- 

 ous inundations on its banks. The principal 

 cities on the Severn are Gloucester, Worcester 

 and Shrewsbury. 



SEVERUS, seve'rus, Lucius SEPTIMIUS 

 (146-211), a Roman emperor, of whose family 

 and early life little is known. He was in Gaul 



when the Emperor Pertinax was assassinated 

 in March, A. D. 193, and at once set out for 

 Rome with his troops, who had declared him 

 emperor. 



Julianus meanwhile had purchased the impe- 

 rial dignity from the praetorian guards at 

 Rome, but his own soldiers turned upon him 

 and put him to death on the approach of Seve- 

 rus, who at once became emperor. 



He punished the murderers of Pertinax, and 

 then went to the East to put down a rival to 

 the throne, Pescennius Niger, whom he de- 

 feated in 194. On his way back he took By- 

 zantium, after a siege which lasted over two 

 years, and there in A. D. 197 he overthrew Al- 

 binius, another rival. After a successful cam- 

 paign against the Parthians he went to Britain, 

 where he penetrated to the extreme north of 

 the island, losing many of his men; and to 

 guard the people of the south from the inva- 

 sions of the Highlanders he built a wall across 

 the island from the Tyne to the Solway Firth 

 (see ROMAN WALLS). 



SEVILLE, se vil' , an important city of Spain, 

 famed in poetry and song. It is situated on the 

 Guadalquivir River, about sixty-two miles 

 northeast of Cadiz, in the midst of a country of 

 sunny vineyards, orange and olive groves, and 

 is variously called "The White City on the 

 Guadalquivir" and "Queen of Andalusia." It 

 has an added fame in being the birthplace of 

 Spain's two greatest masters of painting Ve- 

 lasquez and Murillo. 



For many centuries Seville was the home of 

 the Moors, and its architecture now presents a 

 curious mingling of Moorish and Christian 

 forms. In recent years it has lost much of its 

 picturesque Moorish atmosphere, apparent in 

 the network of small, shaded streets, the quaint, 

 balconied houses built around handsome court- 

 yards and gardens, and the fine squares studded 

 with fountains, for Seville is being enlarged and 

 beautified in a modern sense. Its narrower 

 quarters are being cleared away to make room 

 for modern homes and shops. However, there 

 are still to be found many of the old foot 

 streets, where no carriages go, and which are 

 lined with bazarlike shops overhung with "sails" 

 drawn from roof to roof. There one brushes 

 shoulders with the picturesque cigarette girls 

 and the gayly-dressed peasants and vendors, 

 recalling days of long ago. 



Only a few remains are now visible of the 

 wall of sixty-four towers, which once encircled 

 the city. The greatest ornament of Seville is 

 its cathedral, built in 1401-1519, on the site of 



