S E S 



S E S 



to advife it himfelf, or to advife with the whole lords upon 

 it. And if any of the parties think themfelves wronged by 

 the fentence of the ordinary, they may complain to the lords, 

 and get their anfwer upon a bill. 



An appeal lies from this court to the houfe of lords. 

 The lords of fejfton were firft appointed by James I. of 

 Scotland, who felefled, among the eftates of parliament, a 

 certain number of perfons, and diftinguifhed them by this 

 appellation. They were empowered to hold courts for de- 

 termining civil caufes three times a-year, and forty days at a 

 time, in whatever place he pleafed to name. James IV. on 

 pretence of remedying the inconveniences arifing from the 

 fliort terms of the court of fejjions, appointed other judges, 

 called lords of daily council. The ieflion was an ambulatory 

 court, and met feldom ; the daily council was fixed, and fat 

 conftantly at Edinburgh ; and though not compofed of 

 members of parliament, the fame powers which the lords of 

 feflion enjoyed, were veiled in it. At laft, James V. erefted 

 the new court tliat itill fubfilts, and which he called the col- 

 lege ofjufiice, the judges or fenators of which were called lords 

 of counc'd and fejion. Robertfon's Hilt, of Scotland, 1776, 

 8vo. vol. i. p. 40. 



Sessions, Kirk. See Kirk. 



SESSLACH, in Geography, a town in the duchy of 

 Wurzburg ; 50 miles N.E. of Wurzburg. 



SESSOAH, a town of Bengal ; 21 miles S. of Doefa. 

 SESTA, a town of the Ligurian republic ; 5 miles N.W. 

 of Brugnetto. 



Sesta, Ital. the interval and confonant of the fixth, in 

 Mujic. See Hexachord, and Hexachordon. 



SESTERCE, Sestertius, afilvercoin, in ufe among 

 the ancient Romans, called alfo fimply nummus, and fome- 

 times nummus feflertius. 



The felterce was the fourth psrt of the denarius, and ori- 

 ginally contained two alies and a half. 



The fefteree was at firft denoted by LLS ; the two L's 

 lignifying two librse, and the S half. But the librarii, after- 

 wards converting the two L's into an H, expreffed the fef- 

 teree by HS. 



The word feflert'tus was fird introduced by way of abbre- 

 yiatioB for fem'ijlert'ius, which fignifies two, and a half of a 

 third, or, literally, only half a third ; for in exprcfling half 

 a third, it was underflood tliat there were two before. Hence 

 feftertius came to he the great ellimate of Roman money. 



Some authors make two kinds of lelterces : the lefs, called 

 feftertius, in the mafculine gender ; and the great one, called 

 fejlertium, in the neuter : the firlt, that which we have al- 

 ready defcribed ; the latter containing a thoufand of the 

 other. Others will have any fuch dillindtion of great and 

 little fcllerces unknown to tlie Romans : feftertius, fay they, 

 was an adjeSive, and fignifiud eis feftertius, or two allcs and a 

 half; and when ufed pfurally, as in quinquaginta fjlertium, 

 or ftjlertia, it was only by way of abbreviation, and there was 

 always underltood cenlena, milUa, &c. 



This matter has been accurately Hated by Mr. Raper, in 

 , the following manner. The fubltaiitive to whicli feftertius 

 referred is either at, or pondut ; and fejlerlius as is two aft'es 

 and a half ; feftertium pondus, two pondera and a half, or two 

 hundred and fifty denarii. When the denarius parted for 

 ten aflcs, the fefteree of two afTes and a half was a quarter of 

 it ; and the Romans continued to keep tlitfir accounts in 

 thefe feltcrces long after the denarius pafled for fixteen affes ; 

 till, growing rich, they found it more convenient to reckon 

 by quarters of the denarius, which they called nummi, and 

 ufed the wordi nummus and fefertius indifferently, as fynoni- 

 mous terms, and fometimes both together, as fejlerlius num- 

 jaus ; in which cafe, the word feftertius having loll its original 

 Vol. XXXII. 



fignification, was ufed as a fubftantive ; ior feftertius nummut 

 was not two nummi and a half, but a fingle nummus of four 

 aft'es. They called any fum under two thoufand fefterces fo 

 fo mmyfejlertii in the mafculine gender ; two thoufand fef- 

 terces they called duo or bina fejlertia, in the neuter ; fo many 

 quarters making five hundred denarii, which was twice the 

 feftertium ; and they faid dena, vicena, &c. fejlertia, till the 

 fum amounted to a thoufand feftertia, which was a milbon of 

 fefterces. But, to avoid ambiguity, they did not ufe the 

 neuter fjlertium in the Angular number, when the whole fum 

 amounted to no more than a thoufand fefterces, or one fef- 

 tertium. They called a million of fefterces, decies nummiim, 

 or decies feftertium, for decies centena millia nummorum, or 

 feftertiorum (in the mafculine gender), omitting centena 

 miUia, for the fake of brevity. They hkewife called the fame 

 fum decies feftertium (in the neuter gender) for decies centies 

 feftertium, omitting centies for the fame reafon ; or fimply 

 decies, omitting centena millia feflertium, or centies fejlertium ; 

 and with the numeral adverbs, decies, vicies, centies, millies, 

 and the like, either centena millia, or centies, was always under- 

 ftood. Thefe were their moft ufual forms of expreflion ; 

 though for bina, dena, vicena fejlertia, they frequently faid 

 bina, dena, vicena millia nummiim. If the confular denarius 

 contained fixty troy grains of fine filver, it was worth fome- 

 what more than eight-pence farthing and a half fterling ; and 

 the as, of fixteen to the denarius, a little more than a half, 

 penny. To reduce the ancient fefterces of two aftes and a 

 half, when the denarius paffed for fixteen, to pounds fterling, 

 multiply the given numljer by 5454, and cut off fix figures 

 on the right hand for decimals. To reduce nummi fejlertii, 

 or quarters of the denarius, to pounds fterling ; if the given 

 fum be confular money, multiply it by 8727, and cut off fix 

 figures on tlie right hand for decimals ; but for imperial 

 money, diminidi the faid produft by one-eighth of itfclf. 

 Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixi. part ii. art. 48. See Denakius and 

 Drachm. 



To be qualified for a Roman kpiight, an eftate of four 

 hundred thoufand fefterces was required ; and for a fenator, 

 of eight hundred thoufand. 



Authors alfo mention a copper fefteree, worth about one- 

 third of a penny Englifti. 



Sesterce, Sejlerlius, was alfo uled, in Antiquity, for a 

 thing containing two wholes and a half of another : as as was 

 taken for any whole, or integer. 



SESTINI, Z/flSiCNOitA,in Biography, cng^^eA as a prima 

 buffa in the comic opera, arrived in England from Lilbon in 

 1 774 ; and her firft performance was in Aufoffi's comic opera, 

 entitled " LaMarchcfaGiardinicra." Her face was beautiful, 

 her figure elegant, and lier aftion graceful. Her voice, 

 though by nature not perfedtly clear and fwectly toned, had 

 been well diredtcd in her ftudies, and ftie fung with con- 

 fiderablc agility, as well as taftc and cxpreffion. 



She was married to a young man of family at Lilbon, by 

 which imprudent Uep he had totally loft all parental favour, 

 and even fupport ; fo that, inftead of being an aufpicious 

 match for herfelf, file had him and a large family to maintain 

 by her talents; which not being of the firft clals, were foon 

 difrcgarded by the public. And after languidiing fome 

 years unemployed, (lie went with her helplefs huftiand and 

 family to Italy, where, it is to be feared, tlK-y fnffered all 

 the melancholy mortifications of extreme indigence. 



SESTO, Cesaue, known by the name of Ccfirc Mi- 

 lanefe, was a native of Milan, and flourifiied about the year 

 1500. He is one of thofe painters by whom probably were 

 executed fome of the many i)iftures attributed to Lionardo 

 da Vinci ; and in tlic Ambrofian library was a head by him 

 often attributed to Lionardo. In fome of his works he alfo 

 X X imitated 



